New love

Ryan has been very careful around Leia in trying not to pass on any germs to her. In fact, he didn't hold her the first two weeks to make sure she would not get whatever sickness everyone caught the day after she was born. Finally, the past few day he held her and then finally today he really snuggled with her. It was truely sad to see the lack of contact between the two. It's just not right, but you never know what he could bring home from the ER.

No Rest For The Wicked

I must be very wicked because I have not been getting a decent amount of sleep lately. Since Leia was born she has these crazy feeding frenzies. They usually start around 10pm and last until 4 or 5 am. During that time I constantly go through the routine of changing her diaper, feeding and burping her, then set her down and 10-30 minutes later she cries and I go through the routine again... and again... and again... until she finally falls asleep. You should see the stack of dirty diapers I accumulate by the end of the frenzy.

Jonathan wakes up around 7:30am to 8am and quietly goes downstairs to watch TV. During this time he gets to watch his shows or play the Wii. Ella wakes up around 9am which I try to drag myself out of bed by 8:30am. Leia's night time snacks have woken Ella up several nights but she isn't cranky, it just sounds like a party in her room... lots of giggling and talking. So the "partying" at night causes her to sleep in.

Ryan's currently in the ICU and wakes up around 4:30am so just as he gets up I'm trying to wrap things up with Leia and get to bed. My good night is his good morning. Rather crazy if you ask me.

The past two nights Leia has not woken up every half hour so I actually got some sleep... must not be as wicked. Today I was up by 7am, before Jonathan! Oh it felt like I was almost on my normal schedule. I miss my normal scheule.

I must start waking up early again because school starts in 2 weeks! I was thinking how in the world will I wake up on time for Jonathan to catch the bus and then I remembered I did it all the time after I had Ella and went back to work... sooo I will survive, I've done it before. With Ella I only fed her twice during the night but I would wake up around 5:30 to 6am to get ready for work so I was definitely sleep deprived BUT I got through it! I will get through this. I will get through this. I just have to keep repeating it so it comes true... I will get through this!

I must say Ryan has been awesome and just when my body has begun to shut down from lack of sleep, he has taken the kids for a few hours and I get a much needed rest and he gets some time with the kids... something rare these days. He even went to Chuck E. Cheese, a place he tries to avoid at all costs, but that's where the kids wanted to go so he took them. What a man!

Some random pictures of Leia I took during her "chillin' on the floor" time...

"Chill Time" has begun. There are times Leia is unhappy even though all the bases were covered, she was fed, clean diaper and burp free. Bewildered, I set her on the floor to "chill" and she contently looked around. She really likes to look at the fan. Also, it was during one of these times she smiled at me... and it wasn't gas!

She's getting a little wrest less but not too bad.


She's getting grouchy. I think she looks like Popeye in this pic.

"Chill time" is officially over and feeding time needs to start NOW!

Public Enemy #1...

... Leia's hands. Those things always get in the way and it is driving me crazy. I can't bundle them because she has a major fit and will wiggle around like mad until she sets them free. I have been covering them and filing her nails so hopefully that will end the scratches on her face. Here's a pic of the damage her nails created during our stay at the hospital.

Luckily the scars have almost healed. Oh, here's a picture of Leia's full head of hair... enjoy!

Ryan's b-day

On August 7th Ryan turned 34! Boy, we are getting old... I'm not too far behind him. I guess the biggest gift was bringing his new daughter home from the hospital. The kids made cards for him earlier in the week and we hid them and the present under Jonathan's bed just in case I would be in the hospital for the big day. So Jonathan was in charge of keeping the birthday stuff hidden.

Everything ended up being low key since the kids were still recovering from whatever they had. I did not make a cake because the kids were not well enough to eat it and I thought it would be torture to make it, sing Happy Birthday and then tell them, "sorry you can't have cake, you're sick." That's just mean. Ryan did get few pieces of cake from the store which we ate after the kids went to bed. Modifications need to be made at times to keep a happy home.


Jonathan showing Ryan the card he made. He drew a picture of Bumblebee, one of daddy's favorite Transformers, and made it pop out of the card.

I restored Ryan's childhood blanket, something Ryan has asked for many times but I never got around to. I can't remember if it was later that night or the next day the boys hung out together with their blankets. Every Southworth has one ( at least from Ryan's generation), so they are a BIG deal in our home.

Best Friend

After Ryan went back to work I became the manager of the sickies. I tried to spend more time with Ella since I wasn't able to for a few days. I ended up painting her nails a sparkly pink color, we played together and just sat next to each other while watching TV. She snuggled super close and at one point reached over, put her arm around my neck, pulled me in and said, "best friend Mommy!" Needless to say it melted my heart.

I told Ryan and so the next day after playing a little bit with her he asked Ella who her best friend was. That's Ryan trying to stir things up! Anyway, she looks at him and replied, "Leia." I have been bumped but that's OK. Leia is cute.

Newest member of the family...

Leia Dianne Southworth

Born August 5, 2009 at 11:26am
8lbs 7oz 22 inches long

We finally had a baby born with hair!... pretty, beautiful brown hair.

Her time at the hospital consisted of learning how to eat, scratching her face with her long girlie girl nails, keeping mommy awake at night and spending one on one time with mommy.

Dislikes: getting her diaper changed, having to wait for mommy to feed her.

The day after she was born Ryan stopped by with the kids to visit. I was surprised how quiet they walked into the room. Once they saw me they instantly climbed on the bed to look at their new sister and of course hold her. It was very sweet to watch them interact with her. Many hugs and kisses were exchanged.

Ella was looking at Leia while Jonathan attempted to put booties on her feet.

Then disaster struck. On the way home Ella began to feel sick. Once home she threw up on the couch and then on the floor. A couple hours later Jonathan felt sick and threw up into a bucket and continually threw up until about 2am. He finally fell asleep on the bathroom floor. Ryan called me and let me know what had happened. All those cute hugs and kisses that were exchanged earlier have now become one huge worry wart that Leia will get sick.

The next day, Ryan's birthday, the family came to pick us up. Leia has spent most of the time in my room away from the kids. Poor Ella just wants to see the baby and spend more time with her mommy so she has not been a happy camper.

Ryan started to feel sick during the evening and then he spent the night praying to the porcelain god. He got up the next day, today, and went off to work. A little over an hour later he came home. He was sent home because he was too sick to see patients. All these sickies makes me nervous about Leia and her health. If she gets a fever she will need to have a spinal tap and I do not want her to go through that. Needless to say our house is sprayed down constantly with Lysol and I am continuously washing my hands and using hand sanitizer.

With all of that said, it's wonderful to be home, all together. Hopefully the sickness will pass quickly and we can start our normal activities again.

I'm waiting for Leia's face to heal before I take more pictures. She spent today sleeping, eating and getting a manicure. Not too shabby of a life so far.

just so you know...

still pregnant. I have not posted because nothing exciting has happened. Just working on the normal day to day life of cleaning, laundry, and dealing with the random screams and cries of the kids while waddling around wishing I could bend at the waist to pick up things instead of feeling shots of pain, hoping my skin did not split because it feels like it can't stretch any further. But hey, we're finally tackling the job of cleaning/ organizing Jonathan's room, yet again, and it's lookin' pretty good, so life is good.