Emilie!!!

Before I forget- I am SO sorry I have not picked up my phone for the past 4 days. It isn't because I didn't want to!! In the rush of life after Emilie's birth, we put my jacket (with my cell phone in the pocket) in the washing machine!! So- it died a very wet death... but I'm up and working today, so I am returning to the real world.

More importantly, EMILIE IS HERE!!!

This birth was a lot easier than Madeleine, so I happy to say that I agree with most that giving birth usually gets easier? Well, giving birth and easy shouldn't be in the same sentence, but you know what I mean!

Here are the details for those of you who want to know- but if you don't, just skip to the pictures!!

Wednesday Night: We took a trip to the hospital for some p gel to start my body to go into contractions. Luckily, it started... so it was a night of mild contractions about 5 minutes apart... which should be the time that you go into the hospital, but I didn't feel like they were bad enough.

Thursday Morning: Went into the hospital after taking with my midwife and checked in at around 8 am.

Thursday 8 am-2 pm: Started out with strong contractions, but then they started going away. "No" I said... I don't want to go home. "I think today is the day."

Thursday 2pm: Vitamin P (aka Pitocin or Oxytocin). We started on the lowest dose, and started to rev up.

Thursday 4 pm: Death. Pretty bad. I know some of you have heard this before, but I always thought of it as a marathon, that you can get through it... but once you get to the "transition" stage... all you want to do is die. I wanted to cave and get an epidural, but my midwife suggested that I get into the shower...

Thursday 5 pm: The worst pain imaginable. I don't even want to know what I looked like, but Steve said that I clawed my nails into his arms. It was a back labor- meaning that Emilie was looking down instead of up, so we did most of the labor on my side.

The rest is up to your imagination. I can't believe I did it without an epidural. I really truly and honestly thought I was going to die. I kept on screaming that I couldn't do it. And, after a while, I guess I did it. I was so glad it was over.

We decided her name will be Emilie Christine Leeflang.

Being an only child, I am so touched by having another daughter. Seeing Maddie obsess over her is amazing, and I can't wait for them to grow up together and have eachother for the rest of their lives. Families are beautiful.

Here are a couple of other photos- I haven't taken that many as I've been recovering, but I'll post more soon.

She doesn't really look like Maddie- we think she will have blond hair and blue eyes, but it's only a guess because she doesn't have that much hair or eye lashes...

The little feet.

Here is my favorite little sidekick. She is so excited about "Baby Emi."

Eclairs

Before I had children, Chocolate was a close second to all things salty. But, probably for the change in hormones, I have become a glutton for chocolate like I never thought I would.

This weeks temptation has been eclairs. Steve's birthday was last week- and he is pretty choosy about what eclairs he likes. His mom always made them for him growing up, and filled them with custard, not cream. Unfortunately, most places fill them with cream, so he is really disappointed.

This year, instead of making a cake, I thought I would try to track down the best cream filled eclair I could. And, I think I did it!!!

Maddie and I bought two giant eclairs filled with vanilla custard, wrapped them up in a box and decorated it with little bows. He was swimming on the floor with happiness as he devoured each bite... and I was seriously SERIOUSLY jealous.

This weekend I made my first attempt at not only the eclair, but the gluten free eclair. Luckily, I don't think it makes a difference what type of flour you use, so I was pleasantly surprised.

They were beyond delicious. I had one on Sunday morning right in front of the fridge, and I couldn't stop eating. YUM.

I can't stop thinking about these little friends, so I think I'm going to make another batch tonight...

Excitement and dread

As the days come quickly towards my due date, I feel both excited and extremely nervous/anxious for the hard work and sleepless nights. I've seen many around me stumble through the first 3 months, so I would be lying if I didn't say that I am not excited for that part.

But, as are most things in life, the best things are hard work and are the most fulfilling. Those first 3 months will pass quickly by...

I'm going in for another doctor's appointment tomorrow to see what we can do to not go 2 weeks over again, so my fingers are crossed for this weekend.

Routines

Since our move, we are starting to get into our normal routines again. We haven't done that many thrilling/exciting things, but I have really enjoyed the simple things of life lately.

I love waking up in the morning with "mom, mommy," and bringing little M into our bed, having breakfast and dinner with my small little family, and playing with PlayDough with M for hours in the afternoon. (She is currently obsessed with cutting everything... I make long snakes and she cuts them, I make cakes, and she cuts them, I make spaghetti, and you guessed it, she cuts them). Although switching to the slower pace of toddlerhood can be frustrating, when I try to embrace it, life goes a lot smoother.

I have also loved loved LOVED Steve coming home for the night? Is it too good to be true? It's almost weird to have him come home for dinner and stay- it has been a long time coming. We actually have had a couple of conversations and played some tournaments of Uno! Welcome back Steve!

I have been also trying to take it easy to enjoy the calm before the storm of a newborn, taking naps when I can (especially when I wake up at 3 am(!) like today.) It has been a struggle since I look around and stare at the trim that I want to sand and paint on all of our windows, but I know I won't have moments of peace like this for a while.

Here's to the beautiful routines of life!

We finally moved in (kind of).

So, after a couple of crazy busy days, we moved in the essentials into our new house. The house is not close to being done for a long while, but it has heat, hot water and the kitchen works... so we are very greatful.

The first night we slept in the house, Steve was surprised it didn't burn down because he did all the wiring and was surprised that it all worked.

Here are a couple of quick photos for those of you who live far away....
This is the front room when you walk in the house. We have $0.oo dollars, so this will be our furniture for now :)

The front/guest bathroom.

Another look...

The front den.

The family room in the back.

The kitchen from the family room.

Maddie's room.

Another pic of Maddie's room.

Our room.Maddie's bathroom. Yes she is spoiled.

Steve's garage. I cannot touch it.

Our second girl is due on January 24th- so it was perfect timing to move in when we did. I think I need to take 100 yoga classes to destress or maybe take a trip to the Bahamas (mentally of course) in the next week, but I am very greatful for the extra space and new neighborhood.

Remember that stuff is bad

Packing and moving is all it takes to remind me that stuff is bad. Trinkets, decorations, clothes, and yes, even books are unecessary. (Why did we keep so many books from undergrad and grad school? I should have sold them the second I had the chance!)

Right now all I want to own is 1 outfit, a bed, a can of beans and my toothbrush. That's it. Because- really, we have way way too much stuff, and moving it is no fun at all.

I finished packing our "den," the bookshelves, most of the kitchen and food, and have the bedroom, bath and 5 million little things left :)

We were planning on sleeping in the new house tonight, but it seems that PG & E forgot to tell us that it is a multiple day process to hook up your power. So, the waiting game continues and hopefully we'll be sleeping in a warm house in the next couple of days.

Backbreaking work

For the past two weeks, we have been working around the clock to get the house in a state where we can move in. Steve has been there 12-16 hours a day, and I try to be there as much as I can with poor Maddie entertaining herself (with the help of her new play kitchen and some DVD's).

Wednesday is our goal- as PG&E will be hooking us up to some power.

I have a new found respect for construction workers. It is hard, monotonous, backbreaking work...and I think sitting behind a desk is sooo much easier. I can't wait to be a normal person again.

These are the exciting things we have been doing:

This is my friend. For those of you who don't know, when you put trim around a window, there are large gaps between the trim and the wall which is usually filled with calk... but we opted for wood putty as the gaps were so large. Wood putty is also sandable, so it makes it a lot easier when you prime and paint.

Putting trim on the windows was quite an ordeal. But- they are done... (this is a picture of trim around windows for those of you who have been asking me what trim is :) hee hee )

This is me putting putty inbetween the gaps. I have aged quite a bit as you can see... as well as am starting to look like a middle aged man.

Why I decided to paint our windows white- I sure don't know. It has been the biggest pain in the universe... painting these divided window panels takes SOOOOO long. (probably 12 hours per window? At least that's what it feels like!!)

One of my other favorite things to do is put calk/wood putty over all the staples in the baseboard and trim around doors! My fingers are totally shot.

Steve has been installing all of the doors and putting in the trim... he should be done tonight!!!

And, finally- I called our best friends... the cleaning service to help us get all of the sawdust out of our house before we start moving in tomorrow. This is our conversation about this topic:

Alie: I called a cleaning service to clean the house.

Steve: Huh? We don't have any money! I was planning on doing that.

Alie: (with a look of determination of a woman due to have a baby in 10 days). I called the cleaning service to clean the house. They are coming on Tuesday morning.

Steve: Ok.

(Poor guy!)