1/4 Birthday

Leslie is 3 months old today! I can't believe it. She is growing up so fast. Here are some of my favorite things about her:
-she smiles back at me every time I talk to her
-she giggles when Daddy kisses her neck
-she LOVES to talk, she does it all day long
-she follows Mommy and Daddy with her eyes when we walk by her
-when we pray she looks back and forth from Mom to Dad
-she plays with her hands
-she has long fingers and toes
-she sticks her tongue out all the time
-she holds my finger when I feed her
-she has a birthmark on her hand that looks like a triforce symbol :)
-she basically only cries when she is hungry
-she sleeps great (at least when she is in the car seat)
-she always kicks her legs in the bath
-she loves her pacifier
-she holds her head up pretty well now
-her eyes light up when she sees me
-she is so happy

Baby Blessing

Leslie Sharon Shreeve was blessed this Easter Sunday. It was such a tender experience. As Bryson was blessing Leslie I had a strong impression from the Spirit that our Father in Heaven loves her and is looking after her. He is there to help Bryson and I to teach her and take care of her. Bryson blessed her that she would be a great missionary to all those around her and that she would find a man who was preparing himself for her. He also blessed her to be healthy in this life to be able to do all the things Heavenly Father wants her to do in this life. Bryson's Dad was able to come for the blessing. It was great to have family to share this wonderful time with as well as all our friends in the ward.

I love this last one. She was so tired she just feel asleep on the couch sitting up. : ) What a cute girl.

A Rough Day

Leslie had her two month doctors appointment yesterday. She is doing well. She dropped down to the 25th percentile in weight from the 50th so we need to go back to check her weight again in three weeks. But I am not worried. She eats well and the doctor said she is probably just small and gaining weight normal for her but it is good to check. She had to get shots at this appointment and it was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. I had to try really hard not to cry myself. She did really well though and Bryson calmed her down quickly after. When I got home all she wanted to do was cuddle. She would scream if she wasn't being held. This is very different for her. She is usually very independent. By the evening she was doing much better. I'm grateful for vaccines to help her be healthy but I am glad to be done with the two month shots! Here she is cuddling with me on the couch.

A Very Green Birthday

Happy St. Patrick's day and Happy Birthday to my wonderful dad! I am so grateful for a such a loving and caring father. He has always been a great example to me and he is a wonderful grandpa. Leslie and I took some pictures for him. Happy Birthday Dad!

Nap Time

Leslie took a 2 hour nap in her crib on Tuesday! She has mostly been sleeping in her car seat because she does not like to lay on her back but I'm am trying to slowly work her up to sleeping in her crib. She finally did it. She also took a 2 hour nap in there yesterday so things are looking promising. Here is the picture for proof!

Photo Shoot

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Leslie.

Grandparents

After Leslie was born we were blessed to have both my parents come out to help. They were able to jump on a plane on the 20th and stayed until the 30th. We were so grateful for their help. Thirty years of experience with kids comes in handy when you have no idea what you are doing. While they were here my Dad got to touch the Atlantic ocean for the first time, we saw some turtles and some dolphins, but mostly they spent their time enjoying Leslie. She loved to be held by both of my parents! We had a great time while they were hear and I was very sad to see them go. We will just have to go visit them soon! :)

A week after my parents left, Bryson's mom, Jan, came to visit. I am blessed with the best Mother-in-Law in the whole world so I was way excited for her to visit. She came on Feb. 8th and stayed until the 12th. Her and Bryson's birthdays are on the 9th so we got to celebrate together. We also took a trip to the beach.  Leslie loved bath time with Grandma. It was so much fun to have Jan here. Here are some pictures of both visits.

Right on Time

Disclaimer: I use this blog as a sort of family journal so this may be long and boring for some, but I will post it anyways. :)

Our precious Leslie Sharon Shreeve was born on January 17, 2012 at 10:16 pm. I was sure that she was going to come at least a week late but she decided to come right on time (or a few hours before her due date). Early labor began around 2 am that morning. Then at around 4 am I thought that possibly my water broke so I woke Bryson up and we went to the hospital just in case. Turns out it didn't break. For any soon to be first time mother, when your water breaks it is a LOT of fluid. :) My doctor was at the hospital so he stopped by and told mus I was in early labor and I could stay at the hospital if I wanted or go home. I definitely choose to go home! It is no fun to be strapped to the bed monitors for hours. So we headed home and Bryson went to work and I went to pacing around the apartment and taking multiple hot showers. At around 1 pm the contractions started to get a lot more intense so I called my doctor and he said I could come into his office to see where I was. So Bryson came home and we headed to the doctors office. I was 6 cm dilated and definitely in labor so we headed over to the hospital. We got all checked in and into a delivery room and then the real contractions started. Bryson was so wonderful the whole time. I wanted to try for an unmedicated delivery but if it got too hard I was not opposed to an epidural. The contractions started to get really hard and the nurse suggested I stand up. At first I thought she was crazy but once I got up it was a lot better. After a few hours my doctor (Dr. McTammany) came in to check on me and I was still only at 6 cm! I couldn't believe after hours of contractions nothing had happened so we decided to break my water to speed things up. By that point I was considering an epidural but I thought I would wait till after my water was broken. Bryson was leaning towards the epidural but I wanted to wait. Well, I think it took a grand total of two contractions after my water broke for me to ask for the epidural. :) The anesthesiologist came in right away and put the epidural in. It was not bad at all. I was really worried something might happen but all went smoothly. After I got the epidural it was so nice that I could rest. It was around 7 pm so I had not slept in a long time. So while we waited Bryson and I tried to nap. Dr. McTammany came in and checked me around 9 pm and I was fully dilated and ready to push! I was so ready. :) So the nurse came in and I started pushing. When you push, you push when a contraction comes but mine were very irregular so we had some extra time to talk to the nurse. Finally she said it was time to get the doctor but it turns out he was heading into an emergency C-section right then so they told me to stop pushing and wait. It wasn't too bad waiting and while he was gone they gave me some pictocin to make my contractions more regular. Dr. McTammany came back in at around 10 and we started pushing again. After just a few pushes Leslie was born at 10:16 pm. It was so wonderful when they placed her on my chest. She was so beautiful and I felt so much love for her in that moment. I felt so strongly that she is truly a daughter of God that just left His presence. Bryson and I are so blessed to have her to raise and teach the gospel. After they cleaned her off, Bryson went with her to get her measurements and give her a bath while the nurses moved me to the Mother Baby room. My right leg was still numb so they took me over in a wheel chair. While Bryson was in the nursery he ran into a couple from our ward that had just had their baby too! She was not due for 3 more weeks but she usually has her babies early so we had joked that we might be in the hospital at the same time. Turns out we had our babies 3 hours apart! They had a little girl as well. We are excited for Leslie to have such a close friend in the ward. Here are some pictures from the hospital.

Baby Bumpers

I just couldn't find any bumpers for the crib that I liked and weren't ridiculously overpriced so I decided to make some. I borrowed my friend's sewing machine, dragged Bryson to Joann's to help me pick out the fabric, and made some of my own. Also, we found a great rocker at Goodwill for $25. It was a great find. I made a pillow for it to match the bumpers. The baby's room is starting to look complete. Now we just need the baby! Here is how they turned out:

My First Homemade Baby Toy!

So you all know, I am not a crafty person. I never have been. Those people that can make everything make me so jealous. Artistic ability was not something I was born with but I decided with the baby on the way maybe I would try it. I found this adorable infant toy that was shaped like an owl online and Bryson and I decided to have an owl themed baby room, so it was the perfect place to start. So I went out and got the materials to make it and with some sewing help of my wonderful friend Lisa, I made the toy! I think it turned out great and it wasn't too hard. I even had fun making it. Imagine that! I have some left over material so I am thinking I will make a pillow for the baby room. Maybe I can be a crafter too. :)  Here is how it turned out: