Birth Announcement

I went onto the Shutterfly website this morning uploaded pictures and created this beautiful birth announcement while Christian was napping.  It was very easy to do and because of discount codes sent to me from Shutterfly I get 10 birth announcements  and 100 4X6 prints FREE!  Next look forward to putting together a few hard bound photo books through Shutterfly to give as gifts! :-) I LOVE Shutterfly!!

Stationery Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Christian's 1 month Well Check & Photos

On May 17th I did a quick photo shoot with Christian.  After I finished taking pictures and had changed his clothes I noticed you could see the big spot where he had spit up in all the pictures. Oh well "Spit Happens"! Christian had his 1 month well check on May 20th.  He is now 22 inches long and weighs 10 pounds!  It's awesome to see him thriving.  The pediatrician was impressed with how alert he was.  He encouraged me to get him on a strict schedule sooner rather than later.  This mama isn't sold on not feeding her baby when he's hungry so it will be a slow process before I put him on a strict schedule and not feed him at night.  I am going to start by documenting when he eats and sleeps, see what kind of pattern we have and go from there.  It's unreal that he's already a month old.  He stills seems so little but I can tell he's growing too.  He's starting to look at us a little more, practicing his smile and making more noises.  He was also blessed this last weekend by meeting his Grammy & Grampy (John's folks).  It was a great visit!

I love my brother!

LeAnne absolutely adores her little brother.  She loves kissing him, reading to him and talking about him.  She loves helping me and loves to hold her little brother.  On Wednesday May 1st when Christian was one week old she took him for Share (show & tell) at school.  She was so proud of her little brother!  Today it was hilarious when Christian was grunting LeAnne says "That's my boy"! It was precious!

While working on the blend TH LeAnne came up with the word brother and completely on her own wrote the sentence I love my brother! Her teacher took a picture of it and sent it to me in a text. It totally made my day!!

My prayer is that these two will be close. I cherish the relationship I had with my brother growing up, always wanted to marry a man who was a combination of my dad & my brother and LOVE my little brother with all my heart! :-)

Newborn Photo Shoot with LeAnne & Christian

On May 7th John & I did a photo shoot of Christian and LeAnne using some ideas I had found on Pinterest.

LeAnne's shirt says Big Sister to a Little Mister and Christian's says Lil Mister

Firsts for Christian

Daddy gave Christian his first bath at home when he was two days old.  

Christian had his first floor time and wore his first pair of Jeans on Mother's Day May 10th.

Christian wore his first cloth diaper on May 12th. I am planning to transition to cloth diapers as soon as we can afford to get my fluff stash built up (cloth diapers & supplies purchased).  I've been asking my friend who is cloth diapering tons of questions, she sent me some to try and I've been watching tons of youtube videos. Cloth diapers have come along way since I wore them. I want to use cloth diapers because it will save us a significant amount of money.  

Unmistakably Siblings & 1 week photo shoot

Our first week at home was wonderful!  Christian is a very mellow baby.  He caught onto nursing fairly quick.  At his one week appointment he weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces.  LeAnne is adjusting very well !  It is amazing how much LeAnne and Christian looked alike when they were born. My husband tried to take the same picture of Christian than he did 5 years earlier with LeAnne and put together an awesome collage. They look like twins.  Below is a photo shoot we did in our backyard when Christian was a week old.

First Days at home with Christian

LeAnne holding her little bro for the first time!

Trying to calm him as he cries. :-)

She adores her little brother!!

Baby burrito

Mama and baby resting

Christian Thomas Leonard's Birthday - April 17, 2013

Oh boy I wasn't aware I had anyone who was still following my blog! :-) So sorry to keep ya'll in suspense. Other ways to contact me are Facebook at Jana Leonard (https://www.facebook.com/jana.leonard.7?ref=tn_tnmn) and e-mail at dropcqueen@yahoo.com.

The evening of April 16th found my husband & I anxious for the induction/birth of our son.  We packed, picked up the house and dropped our daughter and dogs off with my mom.  I had no problem getting up and going April 17th because it was time to meet our son! 

April 17th - 39 weeks - Last belly shot!

 We checked into the hospital around 6:00 A M, the nurses got me settled, hooked up to an IV.  Dr. V came in a bit later, checked me, was pleased with my progress, broke my water and they got pitocin started. The nurse later told me labor kicked in around 9:30 A. M.  I was pleasantly surprised I was able to go deeper within myself using hypnosis for birth techniques.  I worked a lot a few weeks prior to his birth on getting deeper and turning down the volume on the pain.  I had to keep insisting to labor in a chair and not stay in bed.  During the peak of the contractions I would breath and tell myself to turn down the volume.  My husband was an amazing support.  He did say this time I was A LOT deeper, almost in a zombie state which scared him at times. The scary part of my labor was our son's heart rate going down during some of the contractions.  The decelerations happened less when I was in the chair. The nurse had me wear an oxygen mask the last part of my labor.  I was check for cervical change a lot more by my Dr. this time which was frustrating. When I felt a strong urge to push the nurse checked me and said don't push because you have a tiny bit of cervix left. I was like "Are you NUTS"!  Not being able to push was so intense and there were times I was just not able to stop myself.  Once Dr. V arrived he said baby was right there.  I didn't push for too long before Christian Thomas Leonard was born at 5:20 P.M.  He weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces and was 20 inches long. The nurse was correct, he had the heart decelerations because the cord was around his neck.  Thank God he was born perfectly healthy!  Even though I was able to get a lot deeper using hypnosis this labor and delivery was a lot more intense than my daughters. I was filled with great relief when our son was born!  

My nurse was amazing.  I loved how she made sure Christian was placed on my chest immediately and helped me to try nursing him shortly after birth. Those were awesome moments for me!   Introducing Christian to LeAnne was so precious.  She was a bit concerned to begin with because she saw the IV's in my hand.  Once I told her I was okay she crawled up next to me and met her baby brother.  Slowly she warmed up and was watching everything the nurse did with her little brother.  The most special moment was when LeAnne read Christian his first book right there in the hospital. She sat on daddy's lap and read Christian a book about Olivia's wedding. It was so special!  

We were released from the hospital the next night.  :-)

Daddy holding his boy shortly after he was born!

Grandma Marcia 

Holding my boy!

Christian Thomas

Blog desperately in need of updating - Happy One month Christian Thomas

Hellooooooooooooo!!!  I am back! Christian Thomas Leonard was born April 17th. I can't believe he is one month old today.  I have been meaning to update the blog with his status, memories and pictures. This  morning I spent my computer time unsubscribing to a ton of daily e-mails, mostly from blog giveaways I use to enter which was a lot of fun, I won a ton but its oh so time consuming.  I am also in the process of updating the look of our family blog.  My first task was to rewrite the About Us information and delete all the blog giveaway buttons.  In the coming weeks I hope to first write some updates about Christian and our new family dynamics then add some new buttons to give our blog a new look reflecting my interests.  Its time to get back to writing because I love writing, its fun to share our family with family who we don't see all the time and I've found this blog a huge resource when journal writing for my scrap books.  Off to give our stinky boy a bath... :-)