Lucy

Lucy Marie Leavitt came into the world on a rainy monday evening, April 25, 2011 at the Lakewood Hospital. I went into the hospital that morning at 6am to get induced and start the pitocin. Things were progressing, but very slowly and mom was loving life since it wasn't too painful. I wanted to try a waterbirth, but the midwife was afraid if they turned off the pitocin to do that she would stop dilating. So I just read some magazines and ate a ton of popsicles and watched some t.v., while dad took a nap and hung out, waiting for things to start happening. I tried sitting on the birthing ball, but that didnt get things going either, I still had a smile on my face, which wasnt what the midwife wanted to see :) (I think I was relieved/suprised that the contractions weren't too bad at all, since everyone had warned me that when you get pitocin, it makes labor 100x's more painful!).

So eventually around 3pm or so, the midwife decided to take things up a notch (I dont think she wanted to be there all night! lol). She super-upped my pitocin, and also stretched me to an 8 (OUCH!). That really got things going, let me tell you! I was immediately in pain, and the contractions started to come a lot faster and stronger. I was breathing through them at first, but they were getting really bad and intense. The midwife (julie), was an awesome coach though! She kept me going, and was providing counter-pressure against my knees everytime a contraction came along, which helped a lot. Until it didnt! The midwife decided to lower the pitocin, cuz the contractions were not giving me a break in between, I had no time to rest and regroup. But by then, I think my body had taken over! I was in sooooo much pain and was pretty much BEGGING for an epidural, or anything else they could give me :) (sadly, nothing would have helped!). I was pretty scared at this point, I was in transition (the most painful part where you dilate to a 10 and get to the pushing part!). I had been really terrified about the pushing part, because with Easton, that was by far the worst part. This time, not so much! The contractions were so excruciating (yep, un-imaginable pain!), that all the sudden i felt the urge to push, and it kinda felt good. I was ready to be done!! I was screaming up a storm (which the midwives told me to stop doing, they said, "put your energy into pushing, not screaming!". lol, do NOT say that to a pushing preggers lady! Hahaha I screamed anyways (and probably cursed a little, kinda expected that since i was doing this all-natural, no pain-killers!). But I pushed like crazy for 5 mins, and then I got to meet my sweet daughter!

She was born around 6:30pm, and was 8lbs, 3oz (way chubbier than easton! probably cuz she baked in my belly a week and a half longer), and was 20.5 inches. She came out screaming, but was a super good, sleepy, happy, good eater baby. For the first week. Then she started projectile spitting up/vomiting all over mom and dad, which was not fun! lol. Then I decided to cut dairy out of my diet, thinking that it didnt agree w/ her. Seemed to help, but now she is just a really gassy, fussy baby who does not like to sleep at night. At all. So i'm going a little crazy with sleep deprivation, but hoping this is just a short phase :)

Edmonton, my home away from home

Well, our trip to Canada was so fun! Easton and I both got spoiled nicely (I got to sleep in a lot, and Easton always had someone to play baseball with!). I got to eat lots of the good food I was looking forward to (including vietnemese food at the lemongrass cafe, and the best pizza i have ever eaten, authentic italian at "famoso", both in edmonton.), went for lots of walks with my dad in the ravine (and worked off all that food! lol), a couple dates with my friends, and a little bit of shopping :) We also got to go to my cousin's wedding in Lethbridge, and Easton had a blast playing with his long-lost older, "cool" cousins whom he absolutely adored!! And he also got to do some fun country stuff at josh's parent's house (quading, climbing on hay bales, playing with baby kittens, and finding an owl in the barn with grandpa!). The month went by so fast though, and everyone was sad to see Easton go! But we will be going back to canada in dec. for the month, so they wont have to wait too long to see him again :) And I think E was ready to come home and see his daddy! We both missed him, but ever since we got home, Easton has not let josh out of his sight, and even told me yesterday to "go away" so he could have alone time with daddy! Too cute :)

2 posts in one day, has the world turned upside down?!?

So I have more to say! Fancy that.I am going home for the month of october to stay with my parents in Edmonton, Ab. The hubby will be gone on a school externship, far away in the great city of Philly. *sniff*sniff*. And as Easton and I couldn't go with him (nowhere for us to stay!), we are doing the next best thing :) vacation in canada! I am so excited to see my parents/sisters and friends, for all the fun we will have, and to just be able to visit, catch up w/ everyone and relax! Easton has been so cute lately, and it will be so fun for my family to be able to see him and how much he has changed, even since we last saw them in May. He has been talking way more, and saying adorable things. "I done, I eat it all gone!", "eastie got a baby too!" (he thinks he has a baby in his tummy like mommy!). And everytime he sees and airplane, he gets super excited and says "See grandpa!". So fun.

And not to mention all the extra help I will get w/ easton! (yesssssssss!). Can't wait. But one of the things I am most looking forward to is all the tasty food Edmonton has to offer! I dont know if it's the pregnancy or what, but I have seriously been making a list in my head of all the places I am planning to eat when I am up there! HAhahaha how lame, but I am so excited. Wanna hear? Ok, here's my list!

Tokyo Express- 2 mins from my parents house, best grilled salmon rice bowl in the entire world, their miso soup, and tasty fast-food sushi. What could be better?!?

Mikado- Japanese restaurant w/ the best maki rolls, "dragon eyes", and to-kill-for bento boxes (this is always a mother-daughter date! Maybe father this year?!)

Block 1912- On Whyte ave, yummy hedgehog (chocolate hazelnut) and coconut gelato!

Timmy Ho's (Tim Hortons)- A canadian classic, fast food doughnut/coffee/sandwich shop, super tasty (love the toasted 12 grain bagel w/ herb and garlic cream cheese and the assorted tim-bit dougnut holes!)

Dadeos- One of my best friends introduced me to this funky little cajun/creole restaurant last year, and oh man it is soooooo good! I got the blackened catfish po'boy and the best sweet potato fries w/ some mayo dipping sauce. *drool* i have dreamed about it ever since!! Can't wait to go back.

The King and I/Tropika Thai restaurants- Such good thai food, good coconut rice, and awesome flavorful dishes! Not sure how adventurous I will be able to get here, spicy food has been killing me lately! oi.

Steeps Tea- BEST PLACE EVER to just chill with your friends on a chilly day and drink some scrumptious herbal/rooibos tea to warm you up! Flavours like strawberry cream....mmmmmmm

And also super excited to eat some junk I have been craving that is only in canada, can't get in in the states! : miss vickies salt and vinegar chips, old dutch jalapeno & cheddar chips, nibs, licorice (is way different in cananda!!), smoked applewood cheese from save-on-foods, poutine, and canadian chocolate (beats u.s. chocolate into a pulp! it's way richer and less waxy).

Anyways, I hope that I have made all of you hungry now! mwahahahahaha. And mary, I wish you were going to be in Edmonton too, but I'm not too sad for you as you get to live in hawaii, right next to the ocean!

Being crafty

Ok, I will confess I seriously do not have one crafty bone in my body. Growing up, my sister Julie was always the crafty one, making all sorts of cute things (jewelry, cards, picture frames, etc). And I was okay with that! It was her thing, she was really good at it, and I didnt care that I pretty much sucked at that sort of thing. I had better things to do! (lol). In fact, I probably would have failed junior high home-ec if my mom hadn't helped me with most of my assignments. Thats't how bad I was! And even when I would occasionally try something, I would mess it up terribly or ruin it, and it just wasn't fun for me. It was dang frustrating! So i said to heck with that.

But now, being a boring old stay-at-home momma with not a lot to do has got me thinking about being creative again. And how I want to become more crafty! And I would say the main reason for that is because the majority of girls I am friends with down here in cleveland are incredibly crafty and very talented! And they are always making so many cute things for their kids, homes, baby shower gifts, etc. And I feel so lame compared to them! It seems to come so easy to them, they can just go to the store, get materials, and ta-da, they have made 10 things! lol. I feel like I should be doing something productive with all the free time I have (instead of wasting it all on the internet!). And so this is my new goal for the next 7 months until baby #2 comes, I am going to learn some fun crafty things, and ENJOY them! Wish me luck :)

Magic Bullet love

So, when Josh and I got married, we got a magic bullet for one of our gifts. My friend raved to me about how sweet it was, but i guess I just never caught on and was kind of skeptical, thinking it didn't look that great. Anyways, fast forward to this past july, when the in-laws were down here visiting. They were talking about how they have been trying to get healthier, and have been making health shakes every morning before they go to work. And they were using the best thing ever, the magic bullet! Fancy that. So we mentioned that we have a magic bullet, sitting downstairs in our storage room, but have never, ever used it! They were shocked, because they too think it is the best thing ever, and can't believe that we have never even opened it. So we pulled it out and they gave us a demonstration. And viola, it is super easy, way less messy than using out regular monster blender, and so convenient! We are converted, the magic bullet is awesome:)

Cooking when preggers

Normally, i quite enjoy cooking dinner for my family and finding new and delicious things to make. But when i am pregnant (like i currently am), it is seriously like torture! So when i can make something that will guarantee leftovers (which means a day i dont have to stomach being in the kitchen!) and more than enough to freeze, it makes my day. Tonight i made one of my faves, a huge batch of spicy chicken tortilla soup, with fresh avocado and homemade tortilla strips (and it freezes great!). I loooooove spicy, flavourful foods, but my morning sickness has put a damper on my love of that :( So i'm really hoping that dinner will taste good AND not trigger any nausea!! Crossing my fingers....(and if all else fails, at least i wont have to cook for a couple days!!)

Spring training in January

Well my wife the master blogger hasn't blogged here in a while. So I am going to use her blog to post some video's so I can link to them. Here goes.
Just to appease our avid fan base I will comment on the above video as a good blogger should. The above video is ample evidence as to why I was so happy to have a boy....look how fun the little sucker is. Not to mention he is a future Chase Utley from the right side. OK with my genes maybe more of a David Eckstein. Odds are good nobody ever reads this, odds are even better that anybody who does read this hasn't heard of either guy, as blogging is a female sport. Man I'm still waiting for this video to upload, so much for putting about 10 on here if it takes an hour a video. Speaking of girl sports, I've been shopping online and actually bought a car and paid the 500 dollar deposit only to have the ebay seller tell me they couldn't sell me a car without a social security number. What a crock

Hot Hot Heat

It has been so warm here the past few days, mid 80's and supposed to hit 90 today! Which is crazy, because I was talking to my mom yesterday, and she said the weather in edmonton is so chilly and that it feels like it's going to snow! Yikes. So that definitely makes me happy that i'm roasting here in ohio :) Anyways, that leads me to what I did this morning! A couple weeks ago, myself and some of the other podiatry wives decided to start a walking group! There are a lot of nice places to go walking in Parma + surrounding area, and so we've been going a couple times a week. It has been so nice for me to get out of the house and socialize with the other wives (something I sometimes have a hard time getting motivated to do!), while doing something I enjoy and burning off some of my preggo weight :). Well, we went this morning at 10 and it was ALREADY super hot out!! And I think the heat was what lead easton to start getting fussy :( I had to take him out of the stroller and put him in the baby bjorn! Funny enough though, he seemed to really enjoy it, and didnt seem to hot even though the sun was shining right on him. Go figure! I sure hope it's cooler on friday when we go....I'm definitely looking forward to the cooler weeks ahead!! (It's the canadian blood in me :)

Home Sweet Home

After waking up at 5 am yesterday and about 6 hours of flying, Easton and I finally made it home! He was so good on both plane rides, I couldn't believe it (and neither could the people sitting around us!). I had pumped some milk before we left, and that helped a lot. I didnt have to breastfeed him on the plane, just fed him with the bottles then he happily went to sleep. I think Easton was pretty confused though, with only Josh and I to hang out with! Our whole time in Canada, he was pretty much surrounded by my family or josh's, and he was so used to being held ALL the time! So he's been pretty fussy today, anytime I try to put him down, (unless I hold him up and let him walk, it's his favourite thing to do! He thinks he's such a big boy). I cannot wait for him to be able to hold his head up, so we can put him in the jolly jumper!!! He is going to love it so much. But on a positive note, he has been smiling a lot now, after I feed him or change his diaper. And he's also starting to make cute noises, and it's so fun because he looks so suprised and happy when something pops out of his mouth! I always knew parenthood would be a ton of work, but I could never comprehend how much love would come along with it. I am soooo in love with my little boy. He is so sweet! Anyways, we are very happy to be home and to see Josh! (We both missed him a lot).

Too long

It has been way too long since I last posted anything on here! And my parents have been on my case to get a blog started, (they didn't even know I already had one..............that's how bad I am for updating! ). So I guess I need to spend at least a quarter of the time I spend on facebook on here! Anyways, I'm currently at my parent's house in Canada right now....much to Josh's dismay. I let him go back to Ohio without me, because my sister's were coming up here for their short summer break (they're currently living in Harlingen,Texas attending dental hygiene school), they hadn't seen Easton yet, and were dying to meet the little guy!! So Josh kindly let me stay an extra ten days. I felt bad that he wouldn't see his son for a while, but the time has gone by really fast and we're flying home in less than two days!!

Anyways, it has been a really nice vacation. Not a lot of action or excitement (hard to achieve with a two month old baby!), but it's been great to see all our close and extended family, and they were all super happy to meet Easton. We even managed to squeeze in a mini vacation to Fairmont Hot Springs in British Columbia for a few days, and gave Easton his first swim in the pool!! He wasn't too thrilled though, as it was a really hot and sunny day. He had a lot more fun hanging out in the shade on his blanket, having tummy time!!