We're Home!

So, we finally went home from the hospital on Friday morning! It was so exciting. I thought I would be nervous, but I wasn't... at that moment! I was so excited to get home and get in the swing of things and have Brady in his crib. It was so surreal driving in our car knowing that there were THREE of us coming home. I can't even explain how weird it was!!

Here are some pictures of our trip home!! We've had a great time so far... a lot of adjustments that have had to be made. Jeff has been a tremendous dad already!

Code Black.

I HAVE to blog at least once before leaving the hospital, but there is so much that has happened and so much I'd like to share with you that I think it will be coming out in the next few posts, so as not to overwhelm you with my scattered thoughts at the moment. I will attempt to keep this short and sweet, but I don't want to miss recording any of the juicy details either, so here goes....

The last few days have been incredibly exciting, to say the least. Our Little Man has come out of his shell in the last 24 hours and has been "talking" to us more and opening his eyes a lot more and looking at us and following the sound of my voice. I like to think that he already knows that I'm his mommy and Jeff's his dad. He may be crying with someone else, but Jeff has this incredible way of comforting him quickly and calming him down. I was so worried when he was first born because I kind of expected to hear this loud wailing coming from our child and I didn't hear anything. I kept making Jeff go over and make sure he was still breathing although the nurses and doctors kept swearing that he was doing fine, I seemed to not believe them. Well, I'm not worried anymore.... he definitely can wail when he's hungry or cold... or without his hat. He loves his hat. He has this incredibly cute way of holding onto the side of it (like he's a rapper or something) and pulling down on it... he's such a boy already!!

Jeff has become a Master Swaddler. I really think I"m going to make him some sort of certificate or something for this, because he really has mastered the art of making sure Brady's arms are all tightly packed into his little "bean pod" as I like to call it. I of course really couldn't get up and around for the first day or two to swaddle him, so Jeff was all alone in this feat, but now I am pretty good at it as well (although I do catch Jeff re-doing my swaddles every now and then when he thinks I'm not looking.)

We found out on Wednesday afternoon that Brady had a case of Jaundice and it was slightly more severe than we had thought it was originally, so they put him under strict orders to be under the lights at ALL times except for every three hours for 30 minutes he could come into our room to feed. What a horrible thing to do to a new mom and dad!! But thankfully, we survived all of that and after an extra day (yesterday) of keeping him under the lights, he seems to be doing much better and isn't nearly as tired and is feeling so much better.

There were a few surprises over the past couple of days... my brother came in from Aspen late on Monday night and is flying out today. Apparently everyone knew about this except for Jeff and I. (and it's REALLY hard to pull a surprise on me because I am the queen of snooping...) I really had no idea and it made this week even more special that Crazy Uncle Cam (he named himself that) was home for all the excitement.

So what's with the title, you might ask? Well.... you know those severe storms and high winds that came through on Wednesday night/ Thursday morning? They made us "take shelter" from the storm. That's right... 40 women who have just given birth in some way and their husbands, crammed into a medical supply "closet"in the center of the hospital... and the power was out! Thankfully, it happened to be a time when we were feeding Brady so he was in the room with us when they came over the loud speaker and said "Attention Everyone.... CODE BLACK.... I repeat... CODE BLACK." Jeff went into the hallway and asked the nurse what that meant because of course in Grey's Anatomy that meant that a bomb was inside of someones chest ready to go off at any moment and the hospital had to be completely evacuated. (And we all know that everything is true in that show.) Our sweet nurse looked at Jeff and said, "It just means to be on alert for severe weather but you can stay in your rooms... " Immediately after relaying this message to me, our nurse came back into our room and said, "Um... we're going to need you all to move to the center of the hallway."

So there we were, in the medical supply closet with half the women in wheelchairs, two who had JUST had their babies hours before and were in the whole hospital bed, and the power is off... only the emergency lights were on. (Have I already mentioned that?) Of course I am so grateful to have Brady there with me, as some women were freaking out because their babies are in the nursery... which is not really 'close' to our unit and of course the babies had all "taken shelter" with their nurses in the nursery!! After about 20 minutes of not really knowing what's going on, we got to go back to our rooms... but the power was still off. This meant NO A/C!! Not until 11:00 AM Thursday morning did the air come back on. This also meant no ice machine and no ice cold water, unless we got it out of the tap!!! Ugh!!

But we survived this too... and now we're onto our next 'battle'... going home. I'm so excited to take Brady home and I really feel that we're ready, but it's a weird feeling too... knowing that we're going to be there... all by ourselves... all the time. I can't wait for all of the "Firsts" that are to come in the next few days and I already feel like he's grown so much. I can't wait for him to 'meet the world'... and our Georgia. IF you think about it today, please pray that their first meeting goes well. It may seem like such a small thing but I really think it will make all the difference in the word!!!

Being a mom is the most incredible feeling in the world... and I'm sure Jeff can say the same thing about being a dad. It is the toughest thing I've ever done (and it's only been four days) but it's also the most rewarding (and it's only been four days)! I can't wait to share more stories... and I'm so sorry to go on... I promised to keep it short but I didn't... and there's so much more I could share!! I've added some of my favorite pics too at the bottom for your "enjoyment". I'll try to be 'faithful' in updating this since it's my only way of journaling right now and it's fun to share what's going on with others!

Much love to all of you who are reading this! Happy Friday!

Braden Walker Leach

Braden Walker Leach was born April 7th, 2008 at 4:53p.m., weighing 6 lbs 9 ounces and measuring 18.5 inches long.

Brady and mom are doing well, and dad is in awe of both.

Thanks so much for your prayers, encouragement and support.

Killing Time

So now that I have a week off of work and nothing to do, since the house is pretty much clean, I've been racking my brain to get other things to do! So today I headed off to help my mom at her job. She works for Sherry Peters Photography and they have a little "Market" in the Spring and in the Fall so I headed over there this afternoon to help tie some ribbons and to set up displays. Hey- it's something to do, right?



Then my mom took me "as payment for my hour of work" to get some new flowers for my front porch. The ones that she had put up there originally were starting to die. (We aren't quite sure if it's because it's starting to get hot outside or if it's from my lack of a green thumb- I kill everything in sight when it comes to plants... kind of scary that we're expecting a baby anytime, right?)



After I got done "planting" my plants and getting rid of the dead ones, I decided the next thing I wanted to do was play a little video game I like to call "Super Mario Brothers". If you all didn't know, this was my Christmas present from my brother- in - law who just completely hit it out of the park! (Good luck next year, Ryan... I don't know how you can top this one!) The only problem I was having was that the nintendo controller wouldn't reach my chair and I didn't want to sit on the floor like I have in the past... it's too uncomfortable now. So again, my darling husband comes to my rescue and moves the chair and the ottoman to the middle of the room, right in front of the t.v.! Of course I didn't last for very long because I get extremely frustrated with the ghosts in the last level. I always go into that level with 8 lives and somehow die before I get to beat it! Talk about annoying!!!



Tomorrow I think I'm going to go see a movie and finish cleaning out my closet. I've already watched American Idol twice, so I may have to hit the highlights one more time tomorrow before the results show. Don't get me wrong, it's great to relax... but how relaxing is it when you are anxious about something new that's coming?!?! If anyone has any ideas of more time killers let me know! I'm all ears!

That's all for now!

Still No News...

So I've been waiting for a long time to title an entry, "We're not in Kansas Anymore..." but still no such luck. We went to what we hoped to be our last official doctor's appointment, but that does not seem to be God's plan! Our little Man is still way up high, we don't even know if he's head down anymore. So, since I'm doing "fine" (I use that term loosely) and Brady seems to be enjoying himself, we're going to wait... patiently... or at least try to.

Thursday we are going to go back for a sonogram just to make sure he's not any bigger than we all think that he is... and then we'll see where to go from there. The good news is that he will not let us go past a week overdue... so I can begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

We're just so anxious for him to be here, and I started my maternity leave today and I fear that I'm already running out of things to do. Thanks to my sweet husband our whole house is clean. I mean, spotless. The toilet, the shower, the kitchen, the oven, EVERYTHING!! I did my laundry today and sterilized all of Brady's bottles, pacifiers, food cups (that he won't be using for a while) and anything else I could get my hands on today. I picked out what we're all going to wear when we come home from the hospital and I put together the diaper genie. Jeff hooked up the car seat and packed his bag as well. (Dr. Wells did say that things could very well change in an instant so we're hoping for that too...).

We're ready and we're just waiting for our little man to make his way into our arms!

A Newborn's Conversation with God

A friend at work forwarded this to me this morning to encourage me in my wait for our Little One to arrive!! Both Jeff and I thought it was so sweet, we had to post it on here. Enjoy!

A baby asked God, 'They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?' God said, 'Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.'

The child further inquired, 'But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.' God said, 'Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy.'

Again the child asked, 'And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?' God said, 'Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.'

'And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?' God said, 'Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.'

'Who will protect me?' God said, 'Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life.'

'But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.' God said, 'Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.'

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, 'God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.'

God said, 'You will simply call her, 'Mom.'

Thoughts on Pregnancy

This morning was a new morning for me... I have now officially turned over a new leaf. I found the strength to GENUINELY pray that God would give us our Little Brady in HIS perfect timing... not my earthly timing. Now, don't get me wrong, I have been praying for this for some time now, but I felt like this morning was the first morning that I genuinely had a peace about praying that instead of praying that he would come... um.... today? or yesterday maybe? or maybe tomorrow? Every time I've come to Him, I've asked for a specific time, but we all know that is not how our God works most times.

So here I am, having turned over a new leaf, and I get to work and I hear of TWO people that were due after I was, that have had their baby! Can you say aggravation? I tried desperately not get a little agitated and I went on with my morning, dwelling on the peace I had felt this morning during my little prayer time with the Lord! As I'm dwelling on this, I couldn't help but think about all the things that I will MISS about being pregnant.... yes, I said MISS. Although this list may be short at the moment, it definitely is special!!

At the top of the list HAS to be feeling him move and grow inside my belly. Although sometimes this is uncomfortable, unsettling, and disrupts my REM cycle, it truly is one of the most blessed things about carrying a child. This would go at the top of Jeff's list to, I believe, because he loves to feel our little boy kick around my stomach. (Of course, I believe these little "kicks" aren't actually kicks at all, but rather his arm motioning as if he were throwing the football to T.O. on the football field!)

The next thing on my list would have to be the way people treat you when they know you're pregnant. It really is fun being able to start a conversation with almost anybody in a split second. Whether we're in the mall, 7-11, or at church, people who you would never in the world dream were interested, all of a sudden have a million questions for you and your spouse. I also love the awkward moments that inevitably come when a guy doesn't know what to say to you. (Did anyone catch Ryan Seacrest interviewing Jessica Alba at the Oscars?) People truly go out of their way to help you with your groceries, open the door for you, and make sure that you are comfortable.

The last thing (for now anyway) would have to be how wonderful my husband has been to me. Now... please don't read this the wrong way.... he's always been wonderful, but now it's just an Extra-Special Wonderful that has brought me to appreciate him in a whole new light. He has been tremendously caring... not ever letting me pick something up that I've dropped on the floor, going grocery shopping with me--- or even FOR me, folding my laundry (which he probably did anyway), and making me peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at all hours of the day! I know that he is ready for this season to be over as much as I am, but he is the one that has been a real trooper. He has completely embraced my weepiness and my silliness... and all the gross and real things that come along with pregnancy. He even offered to paint my toenails! (My mom took me to get a pedicure instead.... but nonetheless, he DID offer). My new nasty habit that I've picked up is apparently snoring. (This one has just been in the last week). And whenever it's loud enough to wake him up, he'll gently let me know that I need to roll over so as not to snore anymore! What a husband!? :)

So all of this to say--- that as excited as I am to meet our Little Man, I am going to miss being pregnant too--- maybe not for the first few months.... but eventually! Sorry to write a book today, I just had to share!

Doctors and Coke Floats....

So to give everyone a little update, we walked all weekend! My precious husband walked with me on Friday night around our neighborhood for about an hour and a half, when I know that he wanted to be home watching basketball, and then we went with my mom to the Arboretum to walk for another three hours on Saturday! Saturday was GORGEOUS and Jeff had never been to the Arboretum before and as you can tell from the previous post, he had a load of fun with our new "Baby Camera" as we like to call it. I have to give him credit for every single picture taken (out of the 258 that were taken) and he even messed with them on his computer after loading them up. I think I'm going to get some of them developed and hang them around the house!
Anyway, sorry, I got sidetracked.... our doctor's appointment today. Okay, so I don't think that we've ever had a doctor's appointment this short. Jeff said he actually thinks that I was "collecting my urine sample" longer than we were actually in the exam room! Dr. Wells walked in, checked me and said... "You look good... Brady's still up in Kansas.... we'll see you next Monday." I was like, "WHAT??" I was for sure that he would have moved SOME with all the walking we did and the spicy food I ate!! Jeff even said before we went in that he thought my belly looked different. So, just like last week, we'll know more next week. He DID say that we could maybe start working on a "plan" next week if the news is still the same.... seeing as I AM due next week!!
Please do not hear me wrong.... we are SO thankful for a healthy baby and for the fact that I am healthy and although I feel swollen, tired, cranky and achey, I've had a pretty good pregnancy.... we're just anxious to meet our little man. The good news is that I have an extremely patient husband who has waited on me hand and foot and has never said an ill word to me when I ask him for something!!
For example, yesterday on the basketball games, I definitely saw a new coke commercial and it was a glass of three perfect scoops of vanilla ice cream, being filled with an ultra-fizzy coke... and then it comes up with "You had a nice run, root beer...." and I looked at Jeff and instantly he knew I needed one. So off to Sonic he went!! Thank you, Jeff for being such a wonderful care taker and friend during all of this!! I certainly do not give you enough credit at all!!

Spring at the Dallas Arboretum...

This afternoon we went to the Dallas Arboretum to enjoy the beautiful spring day, get some exercise and also to test out (and play with) our new camera that we got for Christmas. As you can tell from the pics below, it was a perfect day...

March Madness!!

I don't usually keep up with college basketball, but of course this year our Baylor Bears proved to be the "Feel Good Story" throughout the season. We of course were there when the scandal hit the campus, so to see the progress that we have made is absolutely incredible. Even though we lost in the first round, I have to say that it was a big feat for us to make it there in the first place. We are so excited for our team and for our University.
I stumbled upon this interview this morning of Coach Drew (obviously done before we lost) and I am so incredibly pumped that he is our coach. Not only is he obviously a good coach and a wonderful motivator, he seems like a wonderful Christian man as well. Now, if we could only get someone like him for our football team!!
As far as the rest of the tourney goes, I'm one game back on my bracket from my sweet husband. If you know me at all, you could say that I can get a wee bit competitive. So there has been just a little bit of "trash talk" in our house this week over our brackets... and I will still hold to the fact that I truly believe Jeff waited until I filled my bracket out and THEN he filled his out!! (He completely denies this of course). So Round 2 begins today and we'll see how I do....

Georgia's Getting Ready Too!

We realized the other night that we've been getting everything ready for Mr. Brady except for our Little Miss Georgia! (She reminded us of that when she came in from the backyard all muddy and itchy.) So at 10:00 on Wednesday night, Jeff gave Georgia a bath. Although she gets a little upset during the bath, she always loves Jeff afterward for making her smell good!
She's been such a good big sister already by only sniffing at Brady's toys and stuffed animals, even though they are out in a basket for her to see all day. We're so proud of her and hope that she only does even better once Brady gets here. We think that she may actually begin to think that he's her baby. She's a really sweet dog and I think once she gets used to him, she'll be a wonderful protector and playmate!

Northern Oklahoma or Maybe Kansas....

We went to the Doctor on Monday for my second official "exam". I was so glad that Jeff was able to go with me this time because it ended up being a very long appointment! I had been feeling a whole heck of a lot of pressure since last Thursday so I was sure that our little Brady had dropped and was getting himself ready to visit us this week. On Sunday night, we were both SURE that he was going to come this week. So sure, in fact, that we got our bags out from the attic to get packed for our trip to the hospital.
So I was ready for some "good" news at the doctor on Monday. Instead, during my "exam", Dr. Wells said... "I can't tell if he's head down so we're going to do a sonogram". Well of course the sonogram is the biggest treat because we get to see our little boy, but it kind of scared us a bit because he rushed out of the room. Turns out that he IS head-down (which is a good thing) but he's very high up in my belly. Dr. Wells described it as being in Northern Oklahoma or maybe even Kansas when he's supposed to be in Brownsville. So that gives you an idea of how far he has to go. The truly good news though is that Brady is happy and healthy in there and my blood pressure and weight is doing well so there is no reason to be concerned about that. This only ups my chances at having a C-Section, but we will know more next Monday! Only 14 more days until my due date!!

Almost There....

So it's almost time and I've been very lazy about updating the blog... so sorry!! The Nursery is pretty much finished and we're getting all packed for the hospital. I'm feeling very achey and sore but I have heard that is a good thing! I'm trying to stay active to encourage our little Brady to drop a some more... or any, for that matter!!
Here's a picture of the nursery... Jeff painted that little table red and some sweet friends from work did the glider for me, which fits perfectly in the room! The whole nursery has been one big collaborative effort and we so appreciate everyone's help and hardwork for it to all come together!

The Perfect Rug.

The closer it gets to the time Mr. Brady is supposed to arrive, the closer we get to having the nursery finished! This weekend, our big feat was to find a rug! I know it sounds so morbid, but I wanted a "moo moo cow" rug, so Jeff went on a mission to find one that was affordable. When we went to the store in De Soto that Jeff found online, they only had the "beef" cow hides... not exactly what I had pictured. I felt really terrible because the old lady there was incredibly sweet and helpful, and so proud of her 'hides', but they just weren't what I had in mind. So when we were leaving, I picked up a pillow that they had on one of their pieces of furniture and told her I was looking for a hide like the pillow.... and as it turned out, they had a whole bunch of those in the 'back'! They just normally don't sell those kind as hides! So we got incredibly lucky.

I was kind of worried about Georgia being upset at another "animal" being in our house, but she hasn't seemed to notice. She likes to walk around on it though because it kind of makes a funny noise, like a drum beat, when she does. She loves the nursery and has definitely picked up on the fact that something is going on. Sometimes at night when I get up for one of my four potty breaks, she goes into the nursery just to check it out one more time and makes a really soft "ruff" sound and then comes back to bed. I would LOVE to know what is going on in her mind!!

What is Mardi Gras Anyway?

This weekend we had a fantastic time going to our first ever Mardi Gras celebration. It was the Quick "Mystique" Festival and Parade down at Victory Park in Dallas. It definitely was an adventure! The Dallas Morning News says that there was supposedly 35,000 people there and I think I saw every single one of them.... and some of them, I saw too much of them! It was such a great time and I think it is so neat that Dallas is starting to do stuff like this!
It was like crossing the Red Sea of People to get out of there! Justin was in the parade and we all had hoped to catch a good blackmale picture of him in his green tights, however all of our batteries in the cameras ran out before we got to see him! So no pictures of that! We sported our Mardi Gras masks and had a great time watching the Grambling band in the parade! I definitely do not think we will be going to New Orleans anytime soon to celebrate Mardi Gras though, Dallas was racey enough for me!

Project #1 is Finished, Onto Project #2!

We stayed up late on Friday night (or should I say that JEFF stayed up late on Friday night) to finish our first nursery project... the covering of the letters! It ended up being a lot harder to maneuver it all than we thought it would be and I couldn't work the staple gun very well because you had to push really hard on it. So whenever I was trying to do a letter, Jeff would have to stop doing his letter and come help me on mine! :) So all in all the only letter that I really did was the "B" and Jeff did the rest of them. He did such a great job! I keep telling him how "craftsy" he's becoming!! He loved using the staple gun!

So now we're onto our second nursery project... the "art" for above Brady's crib! We decided that we really wanted to get all different sizes of tin stars and paint them to match the colors of his bedding. On Saturday we went to an iron shop in downtown Frisco and found all sorts of fun stars to put in his room. We're currently testing out the different arrangements we could do and trying to figure out what the colors will look like and where they should go! I'll post an update when it's all finished!

We Have Curtains!!!!

We have a new addition to our nursery... these beautiful curtains that Darlene made for us!! I can't believe that she made them herself! My favorite detail are the little tab tops with the buttons!! Thank you so much Darlene!! We love them!