Elizabeth's Baptism

We recently celebrated Elizabeth's Baptism.  She did a great job, not making a peep.  Fr. Than really doused her with the water and it seemed like he shampooed her hair with the oil!
Elizabeth also had her 2 month check up a few weeks ago.  She weighed 10 lbs (25%) and measured 22.5 in (50%).  She's a petite little thing, but she's definitely growing.    

From Halloween to Thanksgiving

Hi!  We are still here, adjusting to being working parents of 2.  I am very thankful that we were able to send Elizabeth to daycare with William, it made the transition much easier already having a relationship with her caregivers and knowing that she is in great hands.  We are staying busy around here with Halloween, football season, and now holiday season.

The little fireman trick or treated down sorority row and then again with a group of his friends from school.  He had so much fun and when we were getting in the car afterward he said, "I wasn't so shy today, Mama." 

 

Elizabeth has already made two trips to the Chi O house, first for Halloween and secondly for the Homecoming parade.  She also has an owl stroller toy, lunch box and outfit ...it's never to early to start recruiting!  William watched the parade intently, he loves a marching band. 

 

We traveled to the camp in Mississippi for a few days then to Rayne for Thanksgiving Day.  We had a great time everywhere we went.

 William shows his love for his baby sister by giving her lots and lots of kisses.  It is the sweetest thing! 

 

We tried several different times to get a picture of William and Elizabeth together for a Christmas card, but weren't too successful.  We got some really good ones of William or Elizabeth, but not of them both together. They were both good sports about it.

 

We also took a family picture, the first since the hospital of all four of us.  Elizabeth has really started cooing and gooing and smiling at us and her toys.  We have so much to be thankful for this year!

First Mississippi Trip

We made our first trip of the season to Mississippi this past weekend.  It was nice to get away and relax. Everybody was sad to leave.

 Almost a full smile!

 The best picture I got of the three cousins. 

 Modeling his new camo.

 Trucks and tractors are definitely William's favorite thing to play with (except for IPads and IPhones).

 The boys got to enjoy some 4 wheeler rides.

Sibling picture-and William is eating a sucker again.  I think it's safe to say he has my sweet tooth. 

Happy One Month Birthday, Baby Girl

How has it already been one month???  Sweet baby girl is one month old today and I am reminded again how fast time flies.  Elizabeth is growing and doing well.  She is starting to stay awake for longer periods during the day, make sweet baby noises, and is almost giving me a full smile.  She is a pretty good eater and napper, and "knock on wood" has been giving me at least one period of 4-5 hour sleep a night.  I've started reading the Babywise book and I plan on starting to implement it soon.  I'm trying not to think too much about going back to work and will be soaking up as much of this precious baby that I can over the next 2 weeks. 

Elizabeth Margaret Ledet

Our family was blessed with our little girl Saturday, September 22 at 12:04 pm.  Elizabeth weighed in at 7 lbs, 7 oz and measured 19 1/2 inches long.

  

Her birth story began around 1:00 in the morning on Saturday.  I woke up with the worst back pain, it felt like my back was literally breaking in half.  Patrick had fallen asleep with William, so I thought I'd let him sleep and wake him later if things started happening.  I started watching the clock, trying to gauge how frequent these back pains were.  My stomach was doing it regular tightening thing along with the back pain, but I'd been having so many Braxton Hicks contractions that I wasn't sure if it was the real thing.  I could not sleep.  I went into the den and watched a couple of On Demand episodes of Royal Pains to catch up with the season.  I was still timing things, and in the back of my mind I was thinking "I'll wake up Patrick at 5:00 if things are still going like this."  The contractions weren't terribly consistent, they'd go from 15 to 7 or 8 minutes apart, then slack off for a little while.  Around 5:00 I ended up taking a bath then laid back in bed and actually got about an hour of sleep.  When Patrick woke up around 7:00 I let him know what was going on and he asked if I wanted to go to the hospital.  I still doubted that I was really in labor and decided to time the next set of contractions, then we'd make a decision.  I knew that if I went in they wouldn't send me home because I was already 4cm as of Wednesday, so I wanted to be sure that I was in labor before I went in.  It ended up being about 20 minutes before another contraction, so I gave Patrick the go ahead to go into work for a few hours to get some things done.  

When William woke up he wanted doughnuts, so off to Mary Lee we went.  As soon as we sat down with our doughnuts the contractions picked up in frequency and intensity, as in every 5 minutes.  I did my best to patiently hurry William with his doughnuts, then called Patrick to come home as soon as we got in the car.  On his way home, Patrick started making phone calls to make plans for William.  I called my mom and the doctor, and thankfully my doctor happened to be the one on call.  When Patrick got home I was wandering around the house, barely able to stand up and trying to focus on packing a bag.  We were not the most prepared.  We brought William to the neighbor and it was all I could do to not lose it telling him goodbye. 

 

We got to the hospital around 10:00 and there were a few other people waiting in the assessment center.  The nurse came out, asked who was first, then looked at me and asked everybody if it was okay for me to go back because I looked like I was in pain.  They quickly checked me and I was at 8cm.  From then on it was quite hectic getting me checked in and up to a room.  I told them I wanted an epidural, so we had to get things processed before that could happen.  When they wheeled me into the labor and delivery room, I looked at one of the nurses and recognized her as the same nurse from William's delivery.  When I mentioned the coincidence, she switched with another nurse to stay on my case.  She is awesome and I'm so thankful I had her with me again.  Again, lots of organized chaos getting everything ready but the anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetist made it with the meds.  I was so far along it took several combinations to get the pain to go away - I wanted none! By the time that was finished Dr. Gautreau was back to break my water and I was ready to push.  Patrick was texting the family with the play by play and my mom made it in time to bring me my grandma's rosary to hold.  Two pushes with the nurse and one with Dr.Gautreau and our baby girl was born at 12:04.  It had been a whirlwind 2 hours. 

 

 I kept saying I wanted the "drama" of going into labor on my own and I got just enough.  We spent our 2 nights in the hospital then headed to Thibodaux for a few days because our house was a wreck with the construction.  We came home Wednesday and all are doing great, adjusting to being a family of 4, and very thankful for the help from our families.  We are blessed.  

Making Progress

I think we've made enough progress in the bathroom to justify a blog update.  But first, here's a picture of the little guy helping Daddy with cleanup after Isaac.  The news kept predicting a storm that would affect BR like Gustave did (thankfully this was not the case), so I tried my best to get myself mentally prepared.  However, after about 20 hours without power my psyche was cracking.  Thankfully our power was restored after about 24 hours while we were making plans to get out of town. 
William is obsessed with all things Apple.  I have to really limit his iphone/ipad time!  His favorites are youtube videos (kid-friendly) and the PBS kids app.

Onto the bathroom:  William's room no longer has a door that enters the bathroom.  The sheetrock finishers are working on floating/texturing the walls.  As soon as the construction is finished the changing table will be moved to Elizabeth's room.

The bathroom is officially two rooms.  The picture below is looking into the closet/laundry.  I had my first freak out today when I thought I no longer had a receptacle for the washer/dryer.  Thankfully I just didn't notice the extension cord hanging from the wall!  A pocket door will go in the metal slot on the left.

Another view of the laundry/closet.  See the white extension cord?  Now I do, too.  We've decided to stack our new washer/dryer to maximize closet space.

This is looking from the laundry/closet into the bathroom.  The unsheetrocked portion is for the shower, and the vanity is adjacent to that on the left.  Plumbing for that has been "roughed in".

The tub, which should arrive tomorrow, will go in this general area under the window.  We can't do the plumbing for that until the tub is actually here because it's a clawfoot tub and the pipes will show.

This is the corner for the toilet.  We'll have a cabinet over the toilet for more storage.

And in the meantime, this is what the nursery looks like!  Everything from my closet is either in this tiny closet, on the bed, or in big black garbage bags.

And this is our front room where the rest of the materials are being stored. 

We have about 3 1/2 weeks until my due date.  I'd love for things to be finished a good week or so before that because I would like to be able to get the nursery cleaned and set up.  The bedding is being made right now.  I've started the weekly doctor appointments, and had a sonogram yesterday.  Elizabeth looks good, weighs about 6 lb 2 oz and has a good amount of hair according to the tech.  Things are starting to progress, but hopefully everything will go at a nice, slow, steady pace for the next few weeks.  It's kinda hard not to laugh at the doctor when she tells me to get out the carseat and pack my bag.  If I only knew where my bags were!!!

Under Construction

We have a little renovation project going on right now.  The timing is pretty crazy, I know, but the end result should make it all worth it.  Here are some before pictures of my bathroom:

Pink and white tile, leaky pink bathtub, pink sink, rigged shower that only allows you to shower at an angle.

Leaky pink toilet

Looking at my closet

The laundry room

Patrick and Mr. Chris spent the weekend demolishing the bathroom.  I was not sad when I took my last bath in the pink bathtub.  The room currently looks like this:

 

The plan is to divide the space in two:  half bathroom, half closet/laundry.  We have two sinks and a new toilet, and a clawfoot tub and shower base are on the way.  We're looking at front loading washer/dryers to put in a cabinet of sorts in the closet.  I'll keep y'all updated as the work progresses.  Say some prayers for everyone involved!

Little Fisherman

We spent the weekend in Grand Isle a few weeks ago. William woke up while Patrick and Pops were getting ready to go fishing, so they decided to take him with them. He was so happy when they got back and was all about picking up and cleaning the fish.


I think he's the cutest little fisherman I've ever seen!

Happy Birthday Patrick!

Happy birthday to a great husband and daddy! William and I are so lucky to have you in our lives and are so thankful for the great friend, playmate, and provider you are. We love you!

Destin 2012

We just returned from our beach trip to The Aegean in Destin. William loved being in the water. He has no fear and would jump in the pool repeatedly, learning new tricks like a cannon ball and pencil jump. I finally tracked down a puddle jumper and he loved wearing it to float in the Gulf.


William also enjoyed playing with his dump trucks in the sand and building sand castles, as long as he could knock them down afterwards.


He also got in some quality time with his cousin, Hayes.


Thanks for the trip, Grandy and Pops! We can't wait to go back next year!

Catch Up

It seems like all I've been trying to do lately is catch up with things:  laundry, emails, cleaning, sleep, etc.  We've had two weeks of summer vacation already, but they've been so packed full of things that I haven't had a chance to catch my breath yet.  First we went to Rayne for John Daniel's 8th grade graduation. 

Doesn't he look thrilled?

I couldn't be prouder of my little brothers.  John Daniel won the same citizenship type award that Klein won in eighth grade.  He'll be a freshman at Notre Dame in the fall, and Klein has decided to transfer there as well for his junior and senior years.  It looks like my parents may actually end up with all four of their children graduating from Catholic high schools, and three of them from the same school. 

William and Uncle Klein at the graduation

Next up was a week in Thibodaux for swimming lessons.  William did pretty good, he's definitely not afraid of the water.  He was so focused on either me or the pool toys the whole time that I'm anxious to get him back in the pool with Patrick to see how he does.  It was a great introduction to pool safety, and I learned just as much from Ms. Mary about what to do with William in the water as he did.  Thanks Grandy and Ms. Mary for the great opportunity! 

After swimming we rushed back to Baton Rouge to cheer on the Tigers in the baseball super regionals.  We caught the end of game 1 and games 2 and 3.  I really think the weather cost us game 2, but we'll try again for Omaha next year.  I've said it before, but William loves baseball.  Right now his favorite is the catcher and he'll squat down to catch the ball like he does.  He'll hit the ball off his tee and run around the yard to run the bases. 

Ready to go to the game

And not to leave her out, baby girl seems to be doing fine.  I went to the doctor this week for my check up and she confirmed (which I was pretty certain of) that I am carrying really low.  It's funny to me how differently my body has grown with a girl as opposed to how I carried William.  Her heart rate was 162 and apparently she really likes my doctor because as soon as she touched my belly the baby wouldn't stop moving and kicking.  We could hear it constantly between the heartbeats on the doppler and it made us laugh.  She still doesn't have a middle name yet, but her first name will be Elizabeth after my maternal grandmother.  It also happens to be my middle name and I have wanted to use it forever.  We will call her Elizabeth, too.  I feel like I'm following in my mom's no nickname footsteps!  As for her middle name, we can't agree on one yet.  I'd like to incorporate another family name from either of our grandmothers and Patrick keeps coming up with other random options to complicate things.  We have 16 more weeks to decide!