Our Christmas photo shoot.

I bathed both the kids at 7pm on a tuesday night and dressed them all up in their Christmas outfits. The photo shoot that followed took less than 20 minutes and came out much better than I thought. Liesl cried most of the time, we'd stick a binky in her mouth till she settled down then pull it out and take pictures. (I'm so mean) Couldn't resist taking a few of her crying too, afterall that is her normal state.

Overachiever

My little angel rolled over!! Belly to back for the first time before she was even 6 weeks old. At first I thought it was an accident, but she did it over and over again without assistance. Doesn't this baby know that I want her to stay tiny forever. She is already growing way to fast.

Look at ALL that hair!!!

Ever since Liesl was born and people stopped asking me when I was due, it seems the ONLY thing we hear when someone sees her is: "Look at ALL that hair!!"

I promised her that before long someone would have something to say to her besides that. Like maybe...."What a pretty smile". Though at this point it will probably be "Have you tried a pacifier?" (She cries ALOT)

Big Brother Braeden!

Braeden just can't get enough of his little sister! He took her pictures to school and showed everyone including the bus driver.

He loves holding her and feeding her and is especially proud of his "magic touch" when it comes to burping her.

He is a BIG helper, getting extra clothes, binky's and bottles. He even wants to help change diapers!!

Once when he heard her crying in the middle of the night he even got out of bed to see how he could help me. :)

He has been super understanding when I can't get up in the morning to wait for his bus with him, and when we can't play games after dinner because that's Liesl's fussy time. She is very lucky to have such a wonderful big brother.

a child is born.

Liesl Victoria Seidel

11-10-09

6lbs 8oz 19inches

8:00a.m.

I know this comes a month late, but that's just how much she has consumed us. We all love her sooo much.

removing my rose colored glasses

In a flu season like none other in recent memory, Southwest General is temporarily modifying its visitor policy to prevent the spread of the H1N1 and seasonal flu to our health care workforce, our patients and their visitors. The new limited visitation policy is effective Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009, and includes the following temporary visitation changes:

•Visitors seeing patients will be limited to those 18 years and older. This includes visitors and siblings to the Maternity Unit.
•Visitors will be limited to one visitor per inpatient. Two visitors are allowed in the waiting rooms to accompany patients having procedural treatments such as surgery, cardiac catheterization, etc.
•Visitors who have been diagnosed with the flu in the last seven days or who have flu-like symptoms are not permitted in the hospital.



In anticipation of mothers being admitted to Southwest General with the flu or ILI during delivery, we have developed a policy following the most current CDC guidelines. Click here for more information.

•When entering the Maternity Unit, you and your significant other will be instructed to wear a surgical mask.
•A new Maternity Unit policy that applies to ALL patient visitors: Visitors, including siblings, must be aged 18 or older. The father of the baby is not considered a visitor. Two visitors are permitted with mom in the Labor and Delivery area. After delivery and in a postpartum bed, mom is permitted one visitor, and baby also is permitted one visitor (consistent with hospital policy of one visitor per patient in a bed). All visitors will be screened for ILI or ILI exposure prior to visiting. Visitors with flu or ILI are not allowed on the Maternity Unit.
•When delivering, you will need to wear a mask to prevent the spread of the flu to your newborn.
•After you deliver, you will recover in a private room. Your baby will need to go to the Nursery to be placed in a warmer separate from the other babies in the Nursery.
•Because your baby is particularly susceptible to this illness, we also need to make sure the baby doesn't come in contact with anyone with the flu. Unfortunately, this also includes you. Until you have been on anti-viral medications or have had no symptoms (fever, sore throat, cough) for 48 hours, you will be unable to have contact with your baby.
•If you are breastfeeding, it is recommended that you pump and express your milk. It is okay to breastfeed while taking anti-viral medications.
•Your significant other will be able to enter the Nursery to feed and hold your baby. He/she will be instructed to wear a cover gown while in the Nursery.


Sooo. My little shiny happy memory is getting a bit more sterile. I am so sad that Braeden will not get to come to the hospital to meet his new baby sister. Or to see me and make sure that I'm ok. I will not have the wonderful moment of him crawling up on the bed and everybody smooshing together to take a photo. No big brother peering through the nursery window.

I realize that these precautions are for our own safety and all that blah blah blah, but I am still super sad for me and for Braeden.

Add to that, The ex called to say he will be having his kidney stones removed on the wednesday that I am in the hospital and will not be able to take care of Braeden on the 3 days that he was supposed to. Of course, I can handle this because I always do, but still it aggravates me that he scheduled his procedure without even thinking about who would care for his son and made NO effort what so ever to find someone to help while he was out of commission. Just leave it to good ol' reliable Leslie.

reflecting on my pregnancy... Who's ass is this anyway??

Faced with only 7 days of pregnancy to go, I thought it would be fitting to take a few minutes to reflect on this miracle.

I am blessed and lucky to have been able to concieve and carry a healthy full term baby.

I have gained nearly 40 lbs. I hear that a lot of this weight is dispersed in various areas, blood volume, placenta, baby, etc. but I'm pretty sure most of it just went straight to my ass.

It is cool to park in the "expectant mothers only" spot at the mall and grocery store.

I have given up alcohol and caffeine for 39 weeks. This is a miracle in itself.

Strangers and friends wait on you and treat you like you're handicapped for 9 months, carrying things, opening doors, smile at you and congratulate you when they see your tummy. ("your cute little baby bump" )

Strangers and friends ask you "when are you due?" and " do you know what you are having?" a million times a day. To them its small talk. To me its really annoying and... there is nothing little about this "bump".

The first time you feel the baby move you're filled with joy and wonder and can't wait to get everyone else to feel the miracle of the life inside you.

At 9 1/2 months this child, with its own free will, is doing yoga, jumping jacks and kick boxing in there at all hours of the day and night with absolutely no concern for my sleep patterns or daily routine. I swear its like abuse and one morning I'm going to look down and see limbs actually sticking out.

I have been lucky enough to never have experienced morning sickness.

I have, however, experienced pain in every single cell of my body. My back hurts, my legs hurt, even my skin hurts. I have some new little red spots on my face and neck that dont go away. I simply don't recognize my own ass or the logs that have replaced my legs. My once tiny and bejeweled belly button is barely an indentation now. My feet are so swollen that I can only stuff them into one pair of flat slide ons that are barely a step up from crocks.

My boobs have grown 3 cup sizes. I am a full C for the first time in my life!!

Having full C's is pretty irrelevant when your belly is 38 inches around. The boob to belly ratio is a definate factor.

I spent a small fortune on some pretty adorable maternity clothes.

There is nothing adorable about the belly panel on maternity pants or maternity underwear.

Its a GIRL!!!!!!

There is no con to this one. :)

I got to paint a room in my house PINK and buy frilly dresses, hair bows, tights with ruffles on the butt, and patent leather mary janes.

See above. We are going to be broke.

I am having a scheduled C-section in 7 days and don't have to suffer through a long painful labor.

I am having a scheduled C-section in 7 days and will have my stomach cut open and a child removed from it. I will have to go home and recover while taking care of a newborn. I am scared.


Ok, ok. All in all I have had a super easy pregnancy with no complications. I am thrilled to no end to be having the little girl that I'd wished for for so long. I may never get to experience this again if Scott gets his way and am glad that I journaled through the whole thing. In a few days it will no longer be just me and my little boy and that makes me a little sad. (but he is sooo super excited and I am glad for that) I'm excited to watch Scott become a father and Braeden become a big brother. I can't wait to see what color her hair is!!!!! :) I look forward to holding her and rocking her and seeing her in all of her little outfits.

I am definately ready to have this baby!! 7 days are going to DRAGGGGGG by.

Trick or Treat

I was lucky enough this year to be able to visit Braeden's school for his Halloween parade and party. That's his teacher Miss Green. We like her alot.

Here he is waving at me!! Hi Bud!! I do have to say, that even though the school sent home a note that said no weapons, masks, or gruesome costumes there were still alot of them. (see the kid 3 in front of him with the full face mask. I don't even know what he is supposed to be, how is that safe??)

During the party the kids did a mummy wrap game. That's B under all the toilet paper! :)

He was an awesome Luke Skywalker if I must say so myself...and the only one in his whole school.

Our blow ups were a big hit in the neighborhood. It was Braedens job to plug them and unplug them everyday.

This was our first year in the new neighborhood, and we weren't real sure what to expect as far as Trick or Treating goes. There aren't a whole lot of little kids on the block. We only had about 40 kids come to the house but I was happy to see that just about every house in the development was home and passed out candy.

As you can see he got quite a load!! We will be eating candy for a while. When he got home he poured it all out on the floor, separated it by candy and made a worksheet with tally marks to see what he got the most of. Suckers, jawbreakers and M&M's were the top three, followed by snickers and reeses.

"Pumpkins not punkins, Mom"

These are our pumkins!! We always pick pumpkins that match our family. Tall one for Scott, Medium for Braeden,... this year mine had to be FAT. :) and B picked a tiny one for baby. He is suddenly attached to Bubbin again(the stuffed rabbit) and this pick shows where Bubbin fits in our family. "He's older than Liesl".

"Mom, I can make this face too."

Braeden did all the carving by himself this year, all I did was scoop out the guts because I just can't sit for any length of time on the floor. But he did an awesome job!!

We are looking forward to Trick or Treating in our new neighborhood this year.

preparing for baby

Baby's room!!!! I just fell in love with this bedding, mostly because of the quilt (even though I know you can't even use it). So I thought it was pretty clever to hang it on the wall.

We've been getting ready for the baby to come for a long time now. I finally got her room finished. Doing so also meant re-doing Braedens room since he was using the baby furniture. Above is the little flower border I painted, it matches her bedding.

Her bassinet, it has lamby sheets that I just love and the blankey was mine.
I have always loved this furniture even when it was Braeden's.

This is the project I made out of the old cards I found. They were the cards my mom recieved when she had me. I thought they were so pretty and dainty. The little booties hanging on it were mine too.

Her crib set. The little bear was a gift to Scott's little cousin Keith from Scott's Mom. Keith was very generous to give it up for her.

This is what Braeden's room looks like now. We drove 120 miles to IKEA to get him this bed and desk. It took days to put together and then parts of it didn't fit. My dad had to come over and cut 5 inces off the bottom and 4 inches off the end of the desktop.

Then he had to remove the exisiting ceiling fan and install a new light fixture so Braeden could get in and out of bed.

He loves having a bunk bed, I miss being able to lay in bed with him to read at night, and
when I check in on him at night
I just have to listen for breathing because I can't see his sleeping face. :(