Monday, December 29, 2008

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Milestone... in my eyes at least!


It may not seem like much, but to me it is a milestone: Macy took a nap in her crib today for over 2 hours! Okay, before you start laughing at how something so seemingly minor as this gets me excited, let me explain.
For the past two months I've hardly been able to set the sleeping Macy down for fear that she will wake up and break the peaceful quite that had fallen over the house. Sometimes as I get up to try to set her down, I swear that Taz and Lucy are giving me the eye saying "Please Mom, just keep holding her to keep her from screaming - it's driving us nuts!" The past week or so, I've sometimes been able to lay her on the couch once she falls asleep and slowwwllyyy easy myself away from her. As I ease away, I have to quickly snuggle a blanket or pillow on each side to make her think I am still there. If I'm lucky, she will sleep there on the couch for 2 1/2 - 3 hours. A good block of time, yes, however since she is not safe to be unmonitored sleeping on the couch, I'm left confined to the family room and unable to do anything that I want to / need to do. And as you know, I can hardly sit still at home. There is always some cleaning or rearranging or if nothing else, baking to be done! So there I sit - for roughly 3 hours a day watching TV (thank God for TIVO and Oprah) and updating my facebook status.
Today I decided it was time she learn how to take naps in her crib which will, in turn, help with the transition from the bassinet in our room for night time sleeping, to her crib when the time comes. I was well prepared for her to wake up several times and told myself to stay strong and don't cave in. I was determined to keep setting her in her crib no matter how many times she woke and and I picked her up. To my surprise, she went down fine on the first try and here it is, two hours later and she is still asleep. Of course, I'm still checking to make sure she is breathing every 15 minutes (call me a paranoid first time Mom, it's okay, I can take it).
I've had so much freedom this afternoon I can hardly stand it! I wrapped presents, got the mail, did dishes, blogged, and started dinner! I feel so great and happy that I might even take her shopping with me tomorrow... on second thought, I better not get ahead of myself. We still haven't been able to manage the screaming in the store issue yet... first things first.
So yes, it is definitely the small things that make me happy these days. But no matter how difficult the days and nights are, when I see this precious little girl smile at me and gooo and gaaa, it is all worth it!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Macy meets Santa



Well, needless to say based on the above photo, Macy was not impressed with her first introduction to Santa!

On Saturday, we took a trip to San Francisco with the Lydays for the kids to tell Santa what they want for Christmas this year. Why all the way to the city to see Santa you ask. Well, we thought it would be a fun day trip and also Tricia has a customer that sets the entire Santa display up at the Macy's in Union Square. She offered Tricia a free package deal for her and a guest so we took the bait! In retrospect, a day trip to the city is not as much fun with a two month old.

Macy did well in the car ride to the Lyday's (about an hour and fifteen min). After a quick pit stop there for a diaper change and a feeding, we were off to the BART station. Macy slept for the BART ride into the city (a little over an hour). She woke up once we got to Union Square and after a short crying spell, she fell back asleep in the carrier strapped to my chest. Although I was pretty stressed the entire day, it proved to be unnecessary as Macy did pretty well with only a few outbursts. The worst outburst was directed at poor Santa. We think she could tell he was an impostor!

As we waited in line for Santa (over an hour), Aaron noticed that there was a section for children to write letters to Santa. A sign posted, stated that for every letter received, $1 would be donated to The Make-A-Wish Foundation. Aaron pointed this out to Brandon & Adam so they each wrote a letter to Santa. Brandon's started by saying, "Dear Santa, I suggest you move out of the North Pole, it's melting don't you know..." So even poor Santa is being affected by global warming and leave it to the logical Brandon to point that out.

Macy's first trip to the city and to meet Santa was definitely memorable... for us at least. Macy's second trip to the city will not be until she is much older and grown out of her "fussy" stage.



Thursday, December 4, 2008

Monday, November 17, 2008

Slideshow and Video Link

Below is a link to a slide show and a few short video clips from Macy's birthday courtesy of Chris Lyday.

http://ctlyday.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=6286379&AlbumKey=bWaNM

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Introducing Macy Elizabeth Leff



Macy Elizabeth Leff

October 17, 2008 9:57 a.m.
6 lbs. 15 oz. 19 in.



After 41 exciting weeks and another 28 long hours of labor, Macy Elizabeth decided to make her debut to her anxiously waiting family.


With the Doctor's advice, we checked into the hospital Thursday morning (16th) at 7:30 a.m. in order to give Macy a little "boost". I had been having mild contractions since Wednesday evening which continued in the hospital the next day. They were not painful or even uncomfortable at that point. In fact, until she was hooked up to the monitors, I didn't even realize that's what they were! Eventually the contractions became stronger and by about 3pm, they were getting painful. As the night wore on, the pain increased considerably. I finally asked for an epidural at midnight. I have to say, I have no idea how women give birth without pain medication! I certainly have a new found respect for anyone who goes through the process naturally.

The epidural kicked in within a few minutes and although I was still uncomfortable overall, it definitely eased the pain. My body didn't particularly like the medicine I guess, because my blood pressure began dropping soon after the epidural. At one point it dropped as low as 60/35. Aaron, having the medical knowledge that he does, was extremely concerned as he knew what was going on by the conversations between the nurses. I, on the other hand, was clueless other than I knew I felt nauseous. After a while of closely being monitored, and some medication and oxygen, my blood pressure leveled back out. I was on oxygen the rest of the night to ensure that Macy's heart rate stayed within normal ranges.

Soon after the epidural, I was dilated to 4 and from that point forward, I started to progress much quicker. My water broke around 3 or 4 a.m. It was a long night for both Aaron and myself with nurses coming in and out and getting only about a half hour of sleep total. By around 7:00 am, I was fully dilated. The nurse (named Kelley!) called my Dr. to start making her way in and started getting things prepared for delivery. She had me do some "practice pushes" starting at 8:10 a.m. while waiting for the Dr. My Dr. arrived after a few practice pushes and without a pause, we started real pushing. Early in pushing, Macy's heart rate was dropping between contractions. My Dr. warned me that if that persisted, then they would have to vacuum her out. To try to level out her heart rate and avoid that, I put on the oxygen mask between each contraction. Fortunately, that was never necessary and after almost two hours of pushing, Macy was born, sunny side up at 9:57 a. m. They were not aware that she was in the face up position. In fact, had they realized that she was face up instead of the normal face down position; they would have went straight to a c-section.

Aaron was an awesome coach! Toward the end of pushing, right when I was getting to the point of over-exhaustion, he was right there to encourage me to keep going. Seeing her for the first time was the most amazing experience. It was a mixture of exhaustion, overwhelming love, disbelief and joy. Everything was so surreal after that. I felt like I was in a daze. Perhaps it was the sheer exhaustion or more likely it was the stunned disbelief that I actually just gave birth!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Baby Leff and the "ATC"


It seems as though Baby Leff is following the "ATC" (Aaron Time Conversion) as coined by our good friends, Chris and Tricia. The ATC refers to Aaron's optimistic view of of how fast things can happen, or how long things will take. Aaron commonly will say something will take "...only 'X' minutes (or hours)," when the referenced task actually takes much longer! This will sometimes result in us running late for casual get togethers. Following after her father, Baby Leff has decided to keep us all waiting by letting her due date of the 12th come and go.

I am now 40 weeks and 1 day pregnant with still not the slightest sign of a contraction. I find myself wishing for contractions to start and then quickly remind myself of the pain which will accompany them! Nevertheless, I am desperately hoping for her to make her appearance, albeit fashionably late, by this weekend!

Today we went to the hospital for a "non-stress test". Because I am overdue, they want to monitor the baby twice a week to make sure she is still happy and healthy. They hooked me up to a couple monitors to check the baby's heart rate and also monitor me for any contractions. Her heart rate was perfect and she was nice and active, which they like to see. No contractions showed up on the monitor. They also did an ultrasound to check the level of amniotic fluid, which was also fine. The nursing staff was friendly, knowledgable and very experienced which made us feel really comfortable. The nurse that did the non-stress test also teaches at Sacramento State University.

So all in all, Baby Leff is doing great and doesnt seem to be in any hurry to come meet her Mom & Dad!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Maternity Photos



The countdown is on and we are getting more and more anxious, excited and nervous as the days go by! I am certainly ready to meet our daughter and wonder all the time what she will look like and what her personality will be like. Will she be inquisitive, like her Dad? Will she be my little shoe shopping partner or will she prefer extreme sports, again like her Dad?


This photo was one of a few "pregnancy" photos that we had taken and is our absolute favorite.


She is certainly getting me ready for sleepless nights to come as she wakes me up between 4 -5 every morning shifting and rolling around. Taz and Lucy are confused by the early mornings and although they never pass up an early breakfast, they are quick to climb back to their beds and sleep the rest of the morning until Aaron gets home from work.


Saturday, September 20, 2008

Three Weeks Out!




Welcome to our BLOG site. Kelly and I created this site as a way to keep our family and friends in the loop through our adventures of parenthood. Kelly and I will both be posting pictures, and thoughts, as time passes.
As you all know, Kelly and I are expecting our first child. We are anxiously anticipating the birth of our daughter...who's name is being withheld. We are 37 weeks into the pregnancy today. Kelly is currently 1cm dilated, and our daughter is constantly squirming around. As crazy as it is to watch Kelly's belly shift, it's all still a bit surreal to me. I am still not sure if I have realized that I am about to be a father!
Our nursery is decorated and ready for the big day when our new little arrival comes home. I will post some pictures of how the nursery project turned out. What a nightmare that was. I've decided she will be stuck with the paint scheme until the day she moves out. If we ever have a son, he is stuck with his older sister's scheme as well! Okay, so I might change the colors, but it will be solid from wall to wall and floor to ceiling. We have received a ton of incredible gifts, and she has a wardrobe for her first year of life! All of her tiny clothes have been washed and put away in her mini dresser and hung in the closet from mini hangers. We have all the necessities (including fun little/large toys) set aside until she needs them. Kelly is getting a lot of practice sitting in our new glider when she can manage to drag me out of it! We thank everyone for your generosity and thoughtfulness.
Keep checking back in with us frequently, as we hope to update the site often. Thanks for stopping in, and feel free to share the site with mutual friends!