Photos of Leah

Pictures of Leah over the last few days. We can hardly believe that she is a week old tonight. The time has already flown by.

Our Princess Leah Has Arrived!

Our little angel arrived Friday night- and quite unexpectedly. As to not bore you with the details, all I will say is that by the time I was convinced that I was having "real" contractions we really had to get our behinds in gear. As usual, I went from 10 minutes apart to 4 minutes apart within 5 minutes. We finished packing, got Isaac into bed, our fabulous neighbor came over and put Grace to bed (and waited for Nana to arrive from Albemarle) and we were off to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 9:15 and had to wait in triage for a while. I was finally admitted and begging for pain meds. Also, as usual, they had a very hard time getting my IV started. So the long and short of is, I did finally get my epidural, and it was a good one (the other two didn't work with Grace and Isaac) and Leah was born about 25 min later. But even that 25 minutes of pain relief was so welcome and helped me relax and push just two times. I know, I know, I am very blessed. Here are her stats:
Birthday: Jan 22nd, 2010 11:11pm
8lbs 1oz
21 inches

This photo was taken right before we gave the kids a bath and put them to bed. I knew it was going to be my last evening with just the two of them.

Actually she weighed in at 8lbs and .5oz.

Here she is!

My fabulous doctor. Came in to deliver me and then got to go back home. Must be rough.

Here she is after her annoying bath and "assessment." We all knew that her lungs were in great shape!

Big brother and sister came to visit the next day. They are both enamored with her.

Nana and her granddaughters (and me.)

Isaac being Isaac.

Getting ready to go home. Daddy and Leah.

Ready for Leah!

We finally have the nursery ready; the bottles, nipples and pacifiers sterilized; the clothes, blankets, bibs and a million other things washed; the diapers stacked. But most importantly we have her bows. I ordered some off of eBay and they have finally arrived. So now, we are officially ready!

Her name is in lights in the kid's bathroom.

This is the same crib that both Grace and Isaac used. I still love it. Leah's room is done in lavender and green and it is such a settling nursery. The lavender is very calming. In her crib is the "nap nanny." Both Grace and Isaac slept for months in their bouncy seats, swaddled, which makes buckling them in difficult. But some wonderful mother invented the nap nanny which is a huge, ergonomically correct chair that is super soft and covered in the plushest of fabrics- so the babies can sleep upright and be buckled in. Love it already!

This is the artwork that inspired the color of the room. A 9-yr old cancer patient at Duke Children's Hospital made this and we bought it several years ago at a silent auction. It is my most favorite piece of art.

This is Leah's armoir. Sid, being the handy-man that he is, installed a pull-out table for the changing pad. The nursery is small and I didn't want anymore furniture in it. It works beautifully!

This is the rocking corner. Actually, we have a plush new chair ordered for the nursery- and it should be here next week (hopefully before the baby gets here!). The corner looks very "purply," but with the new creme-colored chair, I think it will tone down the lavender. The most special thing in this room is the little green basket on the night stand. It is full of books that Grace and Isaac chose and donated for Baby Leah. Some of them a 6th grader couldn't read, but it is the thought that counts. They were both very excited to donate something to her nursery.

As for me, I am doing really well and feeling good . No hurry to bring Leah into this world until she is ready. I am measuring a little small, and apparently have been for a while (though my doctors did a good job keeping this info a secret so I wouldn't worry) and so had an ultra-sound last week to make sure that Leah was growing. She looks great. She was right at 7 pounds (from what they can best guess) which is exactly average. So by the time she hits her due date she should be at least 7 1/2 pounds if not more. Yet another reason I am content with her "baking" a little longer. We are not sure why I am small (and yes I have gained plenty of weight!!!) but more than likely it is because I began this surprise pregnancy underweight and have been trying to play catch-up ever since. It was fun to have another ultra-sound this late in the game at 38 weeks. She was wide awake and kept putting her hand up to her mouth. She is definitely a girl and head down. She didn't appear to have a whole lot of hair- so I guess I won't pack any bows. Only 6 more days until my due date. My guess is that I will not go early, but by the way things are already looking, this will be a very fast delivery. My prayer is that we make it to the hospital. Seriously. Thanks to all for your love, support and prayers. We'll keep you posted!!!

More Gymnastics

I should have waited a week to take pictures- but you just never know when babies are going to be born. Anyway, Grace's gymnastics class had their program on Monday. Daddy, Isaac, and I all came to watch. It was really cute and the girls were so excited to show off their skills. Truthfully, I was impressed to see what they could do. Off of the springboard onto the mat.

Grace and one of her instructors Ms. Elise- who is wonderful.

Hanging from the low bar...fairly nice form.

Check out those glutes. She gets that from both of her parents...all of our children will have the same booty.

TaDaaaaa!

Now for the balance beam. Grace was much stronger on this than the uneven bars.

Very nice...

This is in mid-turn.

And for the dismount. Wheeeeeee!

Dance v Gymnastics

Grace is about to finish up her dance/gymnastics class for the semester. She loves the gymnastics, but says she doesn't like the dance...though she always seems to have so much fun. She is signed up for 3 more months of gymnastics and then onto the spring and summer sports! Grace has on the blue skirt and white sweater.

Hanging from the high bar.

Balancing on the low bar.

Turning on the balance beam.

Showing off for the camera!

Having fun.

Mr. January

Yes- Isaac is potty trained! At the ripe old age of 2 years plus 1 month, our little guy declared he was finished with diapers. And he has done great! Almost at the end of our second week and no accidents. He still wears a diaper at naptime and bedtime (which we have to duct tape on or he will take off) but wakes up dry most of the time. Anyway, he LOVES his underwear. He chose super heroes and Thomas the Train. His favorites are his Spiderman underwear- so he is modeling them in the photos below. He is very proud of his accomplishment, as he should be, and will gladly show anyone his underwear. The other day he was showing off in a public play area and my good friend called him Mr. January. I think it fit perfectly!

Happy New Year!

Nana came to visit a couple of days before the New Year. We celebrated Christmas with her and then the kids fully wore her out for the next four days. Nana and Daddy were wonderful about letting me sleep in and get some much needed organization and "nesting" done around the house. With only 3 1/2 weeks to go before Leah arrives, I can finally say that the child has some clean clothes and a place to sleep. Still no bags are packed...but hopefully I have a couple more weeks before I need to be "that" ready. Today, Nana and Daddy took the kids to Home Depot for the their monthly Kid's Workshop. They made this cute little calendar thingy. I usually allow those things to be cute for a month or so and then they magically disappear. :-)

It appears that Isaac is sitting quietly. Must be an optical illusion.

Grace made the amazing gingerbread house in preschool. Since I didn't think it was something to keep for next year, I at least wanted to get a photo of it.