What A Fun Friday!

Since things have calmed down a bit now that I am bouncing back into the swing of things and the rush of Christmas is over, I went a little picture happy today. Bethany is just so playful and fun, especially in the mornings after she eats. This morning she was very calm and happy for a while after her mid-morning snack so I took some cute shots. The cute face ended when I decided to give her a bath. She screamed the entire time.

As if this child needed more pictures of her taken . . . I think we are well over 500 ++ pics taken in just this past month. We just can't help ourselves. Who can resist this precious face? She is starting to break out in semi-smiles. We have had an official smile a few times, but she mostly just smiles at our picture of Jesus Christ hanging on our wall. Aaahhh . . . Sweet!

In other news, she went to her one month check up yesterday and she is now 7 lbs 1 oz - exactly 2 lbs more than her birth weight! We are really pleased. She is filling out her cheeks a little and has a bit of a double chin. She finally fits into her newborn (NB) clothes. Hey, that is a BIG milestone.

Being Bethany's mommy is the best thing I could have ever asked for!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

One thing that we do enjoy about living in Las Vegas is visiting the Botanical Garden display at the Bellagio Hotel for all the seasons. We took Bethany out today for her first "official" outing and she was the star of the show. We got A LOT of attention from all the tourists. It was really fun to enjoy the beauty of Christmas.

Merry and Bright

Our attempt at a Christmas photo . . . Bethany wasn't exactly in the holiday spirit. Poor baby!

Working Out At The Gym

Bethany got some "gym" time in this morning on her Gymni. She was looking at all the toys and even batted her hands at some of them. She seemed to like her workout so we'll try again tomorrow.

Mommy and Daddy Time

Bethany is Daddy's little girl! She definately has him wrapped around her little finger.

Mommy and Bethany take as many naps as they can get!

A Terriffic Two Weeks

Bethany is two weeks old today already.We can hardly believe how fast the time really does go by. She is growing and changing everyday and we couldn't be happier with all the progress she's made.

Here is a small recap of the past two weeks:

Trips to Bethany's doctor = 2
Trips to Mommy's doctor = 2
Trips to the lab for blood work = 2
Lori's home-health nurse visits = 2 per day
Trips to the breastfeeding consultant = 2
Bathtime = 2
Photos Daddy has taken = over 200 ++
Hugs and Kisses for Bethany = there are never enough!

Hope you enjoy the photos!

In Other News

Aside from fun baby news these past two weeks, our little family has been dealing with some crazy adventures and headaches (or bellyaches in my case!) I thought I would share it with you now as things have calmed down quite a bit and I am feeling soooo much better today.

Victims of Vandalism ~

As you can see from the beautiful photo, there is something not right with my car windshield. Yes, well - last Friday morning around 1:00 am Ryan & I had just finished putting baby down after her feeding when we heard a loud banging-smashing noise outside. Ryan rushed out to find my poor car had been beaten up, apparently with a baseball bat. At the time we had a cute baby stork sign in the yard that displayed "It's a Girl" & it had been beaten up as well. Upon further investigation the neighbors who had come outside to see what happened discovered some Christmas decorations from another house had been taken and thrown down the street. We believe that some stupid kids with nothing better to do who may or may not have been drinking decided to pick on us, the people with a new baby. SAD! Well, the police were called but since it wasn't an "emergency" the nice officer didn't show up until 5:00 am. He took the police report & said there really wasn't anything else they could do about it. We got the windshield fixed pretty quickly for a good price. Agagaghhahahahgghgha!

On top of all that . . .

After coming home from the hospital last week I kept bleeding through my steri-strips holding my c-section incision together. I didn't think much of it until last Thurs & Friday when I started to hurt and the pain increased on my right side where the bleeding was. I called my doctor and they had me come in right away last Friday afternoon. I didn't know what to expect but I wasn't prepared for what was about to happen to me. Right there on the exam table the nurse practitioner started to push on my belly, took a look at my bleeding incision and "POP" she opened me up and the blood started to gush. Ryan was watching the whole thing and he started to get a little pale so I told him to leave the room and get a drink of water. The nice nurse lady said this was work for the doctor to do so she left to go find him. Wonderful ~ this wasn't shaping up to be a good day. My Dr. was out of the office so I got to be tortured by his partner. Since I wasn't his patient & we had just met one minute before he stared to poke me with long q-tip-stick things, I guess he felt that putting me in the second worse pain I had ever experienced was no big deal and I still had a stress hangover from the car thing the night before ~ yikes! Ryan was back in the room with me by now and I was sobbing uncontrollably as he tried to comfort me and keep me focused. At one point I managed to ask the Doc how much longer it would take and he said he would try to keep it under 10 minutes. Are you kidding me? Ten more minutes of this? It felt like hours, especially since I had complete feeling of everything and I was VERY awake through the whole ordeal.


After all that they discovered I had a post-surgery complication called a hematoma (a very icky blood clot under the skin) It apparently happens to some women after a c-section delivery. Lucky me!!! Why do I get all the fun?


Here is a likely explanation of what could have happened to me during surgery - I found it on the internet:

"The small hematoma was most likely caused by a small vessel that kept bleeding until it was stopped by either suturing or pressure. As the surgeon was sewing (and probably cauterizing any bleeding vessels) around the hematoma it appeared to be expanding, but apparently not enough to make him/her think that it would be a problem."

Anyway ~ since all that last week I have had a home-health nurse come over twice a day to change my dressings and bandage my wound. We finally get to go to once a day starting today! Hooray for progress. I have to see my OB once a week until this all gets cleared up. Thank goodness for really great drugs - I have become great friends with them since this all began.

. . . AND THAT'S THE REST OF THE STORY!

Tune in later for more Baby Bethany news.

Just Hanging Out

My mom and I decided to pose Miss Bethany for some cute, fun pictures. She has already gained up to 5 lbs 4 oz as of Tuesday. She's growing . . . Hooray! We are definately IN LOVE with our baby!

Week One Survival

Bethany did great with her first sponge bath. We all thought she would scream and cry but she actually stayed calm and seemed to enjoy it.



When she's awake Bethany likes to look around. She has been trying to focus her eyes more these past few days . . . maybe soon she'll start to recognize mom and dad!

Our little Leavitt family . . . we already have the "up all night, tired new parents" look down pretty well, huh?

Our precious sleeping princess . . . She is just so adorable when she is sleeping and all swaddled up . . we sometimes watch her snoozing just for fun!

Home From the Hospital

Getting ready to leave the hospital on Monday afternoon.

My first time to the car to go home!

Our precious "little ladybug" all snug in her bed.

WELCOME BABY GIRL

BETHANY RYANN LEAVITT

November 24, 2007 ~ 10:32 am

5 lbs. 1 oz 18 inches

Daddy cutting the cord

I have good lungs - look at me cry!

Mommy gets a quik look and a kiss

Someone please get me warm ~ I need clothes!

Finally, I get to see mommy.

'Twas the Night Before Baby

Only a few more hours to go . . . it seems like we've waited forever!

Here are a few last photos of Ryan and I as "married without children". We will be headed to the hospital at 8:00 am tomorrow morning for the baby birthday!

We will definately post pictures of the baby, etc. once we are home and settled after Monday or Tuesday next week. Keep checking!

The Dog Diva

Ryan took these great pics of our very needy dog Dulce this week. She needed her few moments of fame because she is about to have a whole lot less attention than she is used to. Poor Dulce! Good thing she is going to stay at Grandma Gloria's house across town for a few weeks until everything gets settled.

It won't be long now . . .

. . . That is what the monkey said when he got his tail cut off!

Baby Bethany is scheduled to make her arrival on Sat. November 24th. That is if she doesn't decide to go ahead and come along sooner. With that being only two days after Thanksgiving I am sure I will be feeling like a true plump turkey by then. We are so looking forward to having her here finally! Promise to keep you up to speed as things unfold.