Chupando y lloriqueando

Here's a little teaser for all the aunties who can't wait to meet Olivia in a few days.


She is a binky lover, but can't always keep it in her mouth.

Mi casa es tu casa

Welcome to the Leiningers!

As promised, here are pics of our new place. We're not done (is a homeowner ever really done?) but at least it's looking like a home now, instead of a construction zone or a warehouse. Here's the photographic grand tour (the photos didn't actually turn out that great) floor by floor.

(I REALLY wish I would have taken "before" pictures...my mom worked miracles on this place...seriously)

Main Level:

The "dining room", and what you basically see when you enter the house. (Note the lack of dining room chairs.)


The step down "living room" (they kept turning out really dark...sorry).


Staircase and wall adjacent to dining room. I love these shelves, but not quite sure what to do with them (since I'm not really a knick knack person...and they are too deep for books)...any suggestions?

Kitchen.

Dining area of kitchen.

Back deck (just off kitchen). There is a bit of backyard beyond the deck as well.
Not pictured: half-bath (aka powder room)

Upstairs:

Master bedroom (artwork not yet hung, and yes that is Olivia sleeping on our bed).


Perpetually open closets in master bedroom. I miss the walk-in in our old apartment.
Guest bedroom (pretty blah).


Olivia's room (you've already seen photos, so I won't apologize for the pathetic quality of this one).

Not pictured: hall bathroom & master bathroom

Basement:

Family room.

Family room from another angle.

Not pictured: laundry room & storage room (with potential...could be an office, workshop, or maybe even a bedroom someday)


So there you have it! As you can see, we have a bit of room to grow/room for visitors, so if you're planning a trip to the east coast any time soon...come stay with us! (And if you're not planning a trip to the east coast any time soon...maybe you should start thinking about it!)

A tiny American wishes you a happy Independence Day!

We think she is a sweet little patriotic baby.

We had a great 4th of July weekend! We started on Friday, celebrating with Lisa & Bill's family and Alisha & John's family. It was a blast!

Here's mama and Livi hanging out on the couch.


Lisa and Bill with Michael and Benjamin (Sammy was attached to Jon) on a little hike we took to a park. It was a blast!

After we barbecued (delicious steak!) we did sparklers and a few little "fireworks" with the kids. I think this picture of Alisha's Lincoln is adorable.


All the kids (minus Livi, who was sleeping).


All the adults. John is tall, but I think we were on a hill, because he's not that much taller... Note the baby monitor in my hand.


On Saturday, Jon, Livi and I took an impromptu day trip to Annapolis, which was awesome! We loved the small city that is our state capital, and we had a great time.
Jon and Livi resting in the garden of an old colonial house.


We visited the Naval Academy, and this is the only "family" picture we took the entire weekend.

And now for a compare and contrast...

Here's Jon last year on the 4th. We were in DC hanging out for the day.


Here's Jon and Livi listening to the Navy band concert while waiting for the fireworks to begin.

Same blanket, same guy, but how much can change in a year...


Olivia actually watched the fireworks, and seemed to like them (until she fell asleep). It was a great weekend, and we hope you had a great one too!

Happy MONTH Day to Livi!

Olivia is one month old today. I can hardly believe it! She celebrated by sleeping four hour stretches through the night, instead of three, which meant only one middle of the night feeding, and another early morning one. I celebrated by (almost) finishing her nursery. I am waiting for one picture for the wall to arrive in the mail, and I need to go buy a changing table (the current one is part of her pack 'n play). I'll post pictures anyway, because who knows if I'll ever get around to doing it again. Interestingly enough, these are the first pictures I'm posting of our new house. Probably because even though we are unpacked, I haven't hung any pictures yet, so it looks pretty boring. I'll do it soon, though, and then I promise to post. (Not that any of you have been dying to see pictures...mostly for my own records...)

At Livi's one month check up she was 9 lbs 3 oz (she's up just over 2 lbs from her birth weight) and 21 1/2 inches long (grown almost an inch). I knew all that eating (and pooping) had to be doing something. Anyway, she is sweeter than ever and I'm still so crazy about her. I'm just a little sad that she's not really a "newborn" anymore, but I have to admit that she gets cuter and cuter every day, so I can't really complain.

Here are a few things she is doing at one month...

Holding her head up by herself.
Rolling from her back to her side.
Making cute peeps and squeaks.
Pushing up with her arms and her legs when lying on her tummy on our chests.
Smiling!
Looking around at the world.
Recognizing her parents' faces and voices.
Recognizing routines (i.e. I always lift her up and kiss her twice on the forehead before I nurse her, and she always calms right down, knowing food is on the way).

We think she's a little smarty-pants (but we're her parents).

Happy Month Day, sweet Livi! We love you!

The Grand Poopmeister

Before I was married, I heard that once people become parents, suddenly all they seem to be able to talk about is poop. I thought it was ridiculous that otherwise intelligent, educated people were suddenly reduced to conversing primarily about one of the less pleasant bodily functions. Well, now that I'm a mom, I'm falling into that trap (and with good reason). Here are five of Livi's poop tricks (just don't tell her I wrote this about her when she's a teenager...)

1. Olivia likes to poop in a fresh diaper. Pretty much without fail, she poops as soon as we put a new diaper on her. I think she is trying to break the bank with how many pampers we have gone through already. Speaking of pampers, she also seems to know which one is mommy's favorite (it has the baby big bird and baby snuffy on it...they are just so much cuter than baby elmo...sorry elmo lovers). Whenever I put the big bird and snuffy diaper on her, she seems to dirty it extra fast. Maybe she just dislikes big bird. Hmph.

2. When she's not pooping in a fresh diaper, she's pooping as soon as we take her diaper off. While not as much of a financial problem, this little trick has its own set of issues. Like her poop running all over her changing table, up her back, all over her clothes, all over mommy's hands, etc. This happens even when her diaper is already poopy. She saves up a little extra to let out when bum meets air.

3. Air isn't the only thing that brings on a poopy situation. The other day, while I was bathing her in her little baby bath tub, she pooped in the water. Gross. So much for a bath getting you clean. After I rinsed her off, I wrapped her up in her hoodie towel and took her straight to the changing table to put a diaper on her. She was too quick for me. As soon as I set her down, she pooped all over the cute towel. Bummer. (No pun intended.)

4. I have heard all kinds of stories about little boys spraying innocent diaper changers, and I must confess that I was a bit smug when I was having a girl while all my friends are having boys. I would avoid being sprayed by pee. My smugness has come back to bite me. This girl has the special talent of being able to projectile poo. (I've heard of projectile vomit, but this one was new to me.) This usually happens when we are changing her diaper (see #2). Once, she surprised me by shooting out a stream of poo over the edge of her changing table and onto our bed. A couple days later, Jon was changing her in the middle of the night. I started at a loud sound and an exclamation from Jon. I thought he had dropped her (not that he would ever do that) and got up frantically to see what was the matter. Turns out she had projectiled right onto him and fairly covered him in poo. I finished the diaper change while he cleaned up. So much for midnight help. Then the other night (while Jon was out of town) she struck again. Only this time, she beat her previous records. I managed to get out of the way, but she shot her poo over the edge of the changing table and, no kidding, five feet across the room and all over our brand new (and very expensive) carpet. I'm not lying about the five feet. I measured. Anyway, I cleaned it up with wet wipes right then, and thought I had taken care of it, but apparently the lighting in our room isn't so good at two am. Today I noticed yellow baby poo stains streaking our beautiful floor. Thank goodness for Reslove. I think I got it all. And I'm keeping it close by for future poop episodes.

5. As amazing as projectile pooing five feet is, this next one might be her best trick yet. I had laid her on my chest and was patting her back (she likes to go to sleep this way) and heard her doing her duty in her diaper. "Oh no", I thought, "now I'll have to change her diaper before I put her down for a nap." But before I could get up to change her, I felt a strange warm sensation all over my tummy. I looked down, and sure enough, I was covered in baby poop. Enough that it soaked through all my layers. But that's not the amazing part. (Obviously. I mean, any old baby can poop on its mom.) When I went to change her, I was shocked to find that she did not have one speck of poop on her own clothes. I guess she liked that outfit and aimed right out the side of her diaper. (And onesie, and bloomers.)

Another unbelievable thing I heard about poop before I was married was that mom's don't mind their own baby's poop so much. Believe it or not, turns out that that one's true too! All I can do through each of these poopy tricks is laugh, and clean up my little sweetheart to make sure she's comfortable. And I still think she's the best baby in the world.

And now, for Grandma, here are a few recent pics of the best baby in the world...

Olivia's Story

I have been working on this for awhile...it is the detailed account of Olivia's birth. I was in labor for 24 hours, so it's long (just a warning). Happy reading!

My due date was Sunday, May 24^th, and it came and went without being admitted to the hospital. (I did show up a couple times, only to be turned away…) So when another Sunday came and went, it was final that I would go in to be induced. I had hoped to go into labor on my own, but I guess Livi was a little too comfy inside to seriously consider coming out. So after a relaxing day at home, at 8 pm on Monday, June 1^st, Jon and I headed to the hospital to begin the induction process. My mom had been with us for a couple of weeks already, and my dad had arrived the previous Saturday. They stayed home, waiting for news that things were progressing. We arrived at the hospital and waited awhile to be checked in. My nurse, Amy, introduced herself, and we headed to the labor and delivery room, which was spacious and comfortable.

We started out by being “checked”, only to find that I was still only dilated 1 ½ cm. I’d been this way for about a week, so that was a little disappointing. Because of this, they stripped the membranes (for a second time- I had been into Dr. Rogers’ office for this purpose earlier in the day). It was less than comfortable, but not the worst thing in the world. Then they used some gels to help soften the cervix and prepare it to dilate more. I was then informed that they would check me again in four hours. (By the time they applied the gels, it was 10 pm, so that meant I would get checked again at 2 am). The gels seemed to work—I began to have lots of contractions pretty much right off the bat, but it was basically a lot of waiting. I tried to sleep, but was too uncomfortable, so Jon and I just hung out. He had some snacks, and I had some ice chips. When two o’clock finally rolled around, they came back to check me and after all those contractions, I had only progressed from a 1 ½ to a 2. We decided on another round of gels before starting the pitocen, and I asked when I might be ready for an epidural. The doctor told me that technically I could get the epidural whenever I wanted it, but that it could slow down labor, so I opted to wait another four hours.

The next four hours were not very pleasant at all. Jon and I watched a movie (okay, Jon watched a movie, and I tried to watch a movie, but spent most of the time breathing through contractions). My nurse told me that I was doing a great job with the breathing, which was a miracle, because I didn’t really pay attention to the whole breathing thing in our birthing classes. We joked that we would just get the epidural and call it good, plus, it made me laugh to pretend to have contractions while we “practiced breathing”. Apparently I have natural breathing skills though, and they came in handy. At six am, I got checked again and was at a 3. When they asked if I was ready for an epidural, I said “um, yes”. Good thing I said that when I did, because they had to start giving me fluids through an IV before I could get the epidural, and by the time the anesthesiologist was actually in my room, it was eight am, and I had been in painful labor for ten hours. I had actually considered going natural (even though I didn’t pay attention in birthing class) because my mom always had really fast labors, and I figured it couldn’t be that bad if it was going to be over really fast, but under the circumstances, I am so glad I opted for the epidural. After ten hours (really after about three or four) I was not the nicest person in the world. I’m so grateful to Jon for putting up with me in my crankiness. I started to feel a lot better, and they started me on a very low dose of pitocen (they didn’t want to start at a high dose since I wasn’t really progressing well on my own yet…I guess they wanted to ease my body in). Around the time I got the epidural, the shifts at the hospital changed, and I got a new nurse, Jenelle. She was really fantastic- super friendly and caring.

The hours crawled by, and Jon and I kept hanging out. We read some of our book together, Dr. Rogers arrived and came to check on me. Still at a 3. We called my parents to let them know that no, they hadn’t missed the birth, we were still working on it. We called Jon’s parents and laughed at how excited they sounded when they answered the phone. Sorry, no baby yet. At some point they upped my dose of pitocen just a little bit. Unfortunately, when they did that, the baby’s heart rate started dipping with each contraction, so they took me off pitocen altogether, which slowed my contractions down even more. I began to worry that my body really wouldn’t go into labor for real, and I would have to have a c-section, which was my very last choice of how to give birth. Somewhere along the line nausea hit me like a brick wall, and I threw up all over the floor (not that there was anything in my stomach…I hadn’t eaten since six the night before). While I was throwing up, I felt a strange gush, and thought I might have peed. When the nurse came in, she said there was a lot of fluid, and it looked like my water had broken! The contractions started to regulate a little more after that.

In the afternoon I started feeling the contractions again, and I realized that there was some sort of liquid running down my back. I didn’t think I was sweating, so I called the nurse, and we decided that it was the epidural tubing leaking. The anesthesiologist who had administered the epidural was great (and his name was Charlie Brown, no kidding) but the shifts had changed, and a different one came in. He seemed a little cranky, and didn’t really believe us that the tubing could be leaking until he saw it for himself. He repaired it, but a couple hours later, I was feeling even worse. The contractions felt like they had before I got the epidural at all, so I called the nurse, and she called the anesthesiologist back. He lectured me about how an epidural doesn’t get rid of all the pain, that it was never meant to, and that it was normal to still feel some pressure. Believe me, doctor, I was feeling a lot more than pressure! He begrudgingly added some medicine to the mix, which made me super numb to the point that I couldn’t move my legs (I had been able to move them before, although they were very tingly). Our awesome nurse Jenelle chewed him out in the hallway for not treating me nicely, and told him that she had been with me all day and knew that I wasn’t a whiner- if I said I was in pain, I was really in pain. It’s great when people advocate for you.

It had been a little while since I had thrown up, and I was STARVING! My doctor had told me that when I got to the hospital I could have a clear liquid diet, like juice, Italian ice, jello, etc, but when I got there…no such luck. So I convinced Jon to sneak me a couple of almonds from the trail mix we had brought. Since they are high in protein, I thought they might help give me a little energy for the rest of labor. I also had a tiny sip of his soda. Too bad I threw all that up too an hour later. I stuck to the ice chips after that.

Since the baby’s heart rate was still dipping a bit with each contraction, my doctor decided to put a monitor on her scalp to monitor her heart more closely. When they did this, Doctor Rogers told me I was at a 3 ½ , and then said, “Oh, now you’re at a 4! Wow, you’re almost a 5!” So after hours and hours of getting to a 3, I dilated two more centimeters within 30 seconds. Since I was still off the pitocen, it took awhile to progress much further, but a couple hours later, they had stabilized the baby’s heart rate really well and I was at a 7, so they turned the pitocen back on at a low dose and I started to have more regular contractions. We also called my parents, who headed to the hospital to hang out and wait for the big arrival. They arrived around 7:30 pm and it was great to have them there for some extra moral support. My parents hadn't been there too long when my contractions were looking pretty strong and Dr. Rogers came to check me again. She told me that I was finally at a 10! At that point, we had been at the hospital for 24 hours. They told me that the baby was also fully engaged in the pelvis, and that I could start pushing. I couldn’t really believe it…it seemed surreal that it was finally time for her to be born! I was still so numb from the extra medicine the cranky anesthesiologist had given me that I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t know how to push, but I started pushing with each contraction around 8:45 pm. At 7, the nurses had changed shifts again, and our nurse Amy from the night before switched patients with another nurse so she could be with us again. We were glad to have a familiar face, and she was so wonderful to work with. My contractions were still about four minutes apart, so we had some wait time between each one. After a couple contractions, they noticed that the baby’s heart rate was dipping again, so they put me on oxygen. I pushed a couple more times and then felt the wall of nausea hit again. I took off the oxygen mask, and this time they were prepared with something to catch the vomit. When I was done with that little episode, we went back to pushing. The doctors and nurse told me that I was doing an amazing job pushing for a first time mom. Another hidden talent I guess. Jon said that he could see her head, and that got me pretty excited. The nurse asked if I would like a mirror to watch her be born. I had heard that this is sometimes done, and I thought there was no way I would want to watch, but suddenly I really wanted to, so I said yes. It was really amazing, and motivating to see Olivia be born. I could see how far she was coming, and it helped me push harder and longer to bring her into the world. Suddenly, after a couple more pushes, her head was out. I looked in the mirror and realized that I could see her little face, and I just started to cry for joy. She was so beautiful! I don’t remember pushing anymore after that. After they suctioned her nose and mouth, Dr. Rogers delivered the rest of her body. They wiped her off and put a little hat on her. She cried her first cry, and I cried some more as they put her on my chest. Jon cut the umbilical cord, and I just cuddled sweet little Olivia, and looked into her eyes. It was the most amazing feeling.

I was getting stitched up, so I couldn’t sit up to nurse her for a few minutes, and I remember feeling a little anxious. I just really had an urge to feed her. When the doctors were finally finished with me, I got to sit and nurse her. She did great! In fact, we noticed a little sore on her wrist, and when we asked what it was, they told us that it looked like a sucking blister. She had been sucking away at her wrist before she was born! So nursing came pretty naturally to her. She was so alert right after she was born, and just looked up at me. I can’t even describe the love I felt for her. We are still falling more in love with her every day, and I absolutely love being a mother. Bienvenida a nuestra familia, Olivia.

Father's Day Photo Shoot

First of all, I would like to give a shout out to the fathers in my life. Jon, who is turning out to be an amazing father, my father in law who is so kind and generous, and my own dad, who taught me what a father should be like and helped me set the standard in looking for my own husband. Thank you to all of you! I love you!

We decided to have a little photo shoot with Jon and Olivia after church yesterday to help us remember Jon's first fathers day. Livi is just so cute, though, that most of the photos ended up being of just her. (Not that Jon's not cute...I obviously think he is...) Anyway, here are a few of the favorites (and believe me, it was hard to pick!)

Daddy loves me.

Oh no, not a cheek pincher!

This is a classic Olivia face.

Her mischievous face. :)

I just love this picture! It reminds me of a picture of me when I was a baby.

Another classic Livi face.

Open up!

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads! We couldn't (or sure wouldn't want to) do it without you!