SLEEP was WHAT we needed!!!

I hesistate to post this to prematurely because it has only been 3 days and I hope its not just a treat, but a trend.......but.....so far, SLEEP seems to be the magic medicine for both Addy and mom and dad!!! 

We had Addy's 2 month check up Wednesday and as we were talking to Dr. Simmons about Addy's fussiness and suspected colic, he asked us how much she was sleeping.  (His son apparantly had similar symptoms at Addy's age) We shared with him about how the ONLY way she would sleep was on us and that really the only decent sleep she was getting was at night from like 8 pm to around 3 am.  The rest of the time she was restless and during the day only sleeping in 20-30 minute chunks! This of course is not super normal for a newborn who is "supposed" to sleep ALL the time...or at least this was my expectation....It was correct, but this is not how Addy slept.  He gave us some tips on how to get her to sleep better and in her crib--Praise Jesus!!  We love her more than anything, but she is getting big and therefore uncomfortable (10 lbs 1.5 ounces to be exact & 23 inches--long and lean baby were Dr. Simmons exact words)!!!  She was not getting good sleep and nor were we, but the second we would lay her in her crib she would cry about 10 minutes later...and in order to get sleep, we let her sleep on us.  :) 

His tips along with some great coaching from my friend Jen has really helped her a ton.  She is much much more content (or at least she has been so far) and feeds better and is SLEEPING, well at least at night (and in her crib--for a while I thought I had bought her crib for no reason--ha!!).  Her naps are still a bit of a challenge--but she is getting better. 

We have had to let her cry a bit so that she could learn to self soothe, which kills me since I have soothed and held her and prevented most crying for the first 2 months of her life non-stop, but for her health and our sanity...we tried it.  She really adjusted well to it truthfully and only 3 days in generally only cries around 5-10 minutes before falling asleep on her own.  At night she has been crying none the last 2 nights!!!  The method was a lot gentler than some that I have read about because it allows her to cry for a bit, and then be loved on  and held by mom and dad after 10 minutes if still crying, then 15, and so on!!  She never made it past 25 minutes before falling asleep--thank God--I am not sure I would have had the strength to let her. Needless to say this process has truly been the hardest thing I have ever done...in fact I think on Thursday I cried more than she did!!! But things are improving for sure. 

(Disclaimer:  I have no problem at all with those who co-sleep with their babies--in fact, I am thankful for that sweet time we had with Addy during her first few weeks--that turned into first 2 months :).  It just started to not work out for all of us--Addy included and so we had to do what worked for us...but for some...co-sleeping even longer works great...and it is so great and healthy for the babies security and even health!! It is also precious bonding time. We just had to make a change for Addy's health because well, sleep is pretty important for us all) 

Anyways...if you read this...please PRAY that this continues!  God has been so faithful to help us through this hard, but also amazing time.  We are thankful for a baby that seems to be a lot happier and content, which probably means even healthier!! (We would still be thankful even if she was still super fussy and cranky, but of course it is nicer when she is happier).

I am not sure I could post this blog without including my favorite sleeping picture of Addy!! :) Love you all!!!

The First 8 Weeks!! How time STANDS STILL and FLYS BY at the same time

It is hard to believe that Darrick and I welcomed a new life into this world almost 8 weeks ago.  Addy will be 8 weeks old on Saturday.  I can hardly believe it.  Here are a couple pics of her since the last time we posted.

Darrick and Addy in the Nursery

Trying to get a big/little sister pic--neither one would cooperate. ;) Ha!!!

Momma and her angel!!

Here are a few pics from the informal photo shoot that Sarah Barrow did for us one afternoon!!! She is super talented.  She is 1 month old in these pics.



Look at that booty!! Precious!



I love when she smiles and sleeps

So precious!

I was hoping to post this blog weeks ago, but I have learned that you only can do so much and well....blogging had not made it into the priority list, but I have been thinking about this blog for so long and so I thought i would reflect on the last 8 weeks by sharing how time can STAND STILL and also FLY BY at the very same time. 

I always like to end on the positive, so we will start with the harder one. 

HOW TIME STANDS STILL WITH A NEWBORN:

• When you spend your entire day walking and bouncing your baby because when you sit down, she starts screaming--symptom of colic we think
• When at night you are exhausted and the only way your sweet baby will sleep is on your chest
• When you have fed her all you have and she still seems hungry--thank God for expressed and stored milk!!
• When her pacifier falls out every 5 seconds--duct tape anyone
• When at 5 weeks you finally decide that your baby probably has colic!
• When you drive anywhere--she for some reason hates her car seat and SCREAMS the entire time!!
• When she unloads and massive diaper everytime she rides in the car seat :)

HOW TIME FLYS BY:

• When you see her smile at you for the first time (especially after saying the phrase: Do you love your momma?)
• When you see your husband soothe her and love her and kiss her and hold her!
• When you see her sleeping soundly on your husbands chest!
• When your sweet but sometimes crazy dog Lily kisses her on the hand or head when she is crying uncontrollably--and she stops
• When you remove her from her carseat after a drive and she immediately stops crying and melts in your arms. 
• When you watch her sleep and your see her smile
• When she starts to coo and talk to you
• When she recognizes you and follows you with her eyes wherever you go
• When she immediately calms at your touch
• Bathtime--she loves it, loves it, loves it now-it's a fun time every night for us to see her so relaxed

Those are just a few!!  Raising a baby is so amazing, but also so so so incredibly hard at times, but for sure all of the good totally outweighs the bad.  She is such a precious gift to us.  Before we know it she will be walking, and then running, and then running from us, and then hopefully running back to us. 

We pray daily for our precious gift.  She is so beautiful, but truly we pray that her beauty on the inside would be the most important, that she would be a girl that loves and seeks Christ in all aspects of her life. 

We thank God daily for this gift, even in the midst of all the fussing and all the crying...we love our precious Addison Grace Seaton.  Here are a few more pics from Sarah's photoshoot! Enjoy!!

Our Sleeping Beauty (Sarah made her headband...so so cute)

Addy and Daddy's Hand

Her massive feet, let's hope she grows into them. ;)

It's amazing how much you can love someone!!!

There are so many more, but I will save that for another post!!!  Les and D

Our Snow Angel Blizzard 2011!!!

After being home for a week with Addy, we got a lot more quality home time (2 weeks worth pretty much) with the blizzard of 2011!!!  One week we got about 6 inches of snow which is a lot for this area normally, but that was nothing in comparison to the 2 feet of snow (literally 24 inches) that we got the next week.  It was a record amount for sure.  The snow was over our retaining wall in our front yard.

Here are a few pics. 

It is hard to tell, but we have 2 feet of snow!!

Lily looked like a horse galloping through the snow.  It was over her head.  She loved it...every moment. :)


Darrick thought it would be fun to make snow angels with Addy, so he did...check it out!!

I will end this blog with a precious picture of Darrick and Addy!!!

Blizzard 2011: Thanks for the fun memories and for keeping my husband stuck at home during the early weeks of Addy's life!! :)  What a blessing. 

Our Precious Addition--Addison Grace Seaton

Our New Family!!!

Darrick and I proudly (and painfully I might add) welcomed our little girl Addison (Addy) Grace Seaton into this world on Saturday January 22nd, at 12:49 pm!!!  After 38 hours of labor, she finally came.  I had an emergency C-Section (that turned out to not be much of an emergency--oh well) so I did not get to hold her until about an hour after I had her.  Here is the picture of our first meeting.

She weighed a whopping 8 pounds 5 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.  Here are a couple of pictures!



Notice the Caddo Heart on her forehead




I love how she sleeps!!



We had tons of visitors at the hospital!  I would love to add a picture of you all, but that would be a ton of pics.  I will at least include some of family. ;)



Darrick and his Dad Bill



Darrick's mom Marsha



 

My mom and dad--Charley and Terrye



Leaving the hospital was a bit scary to say the least, but we were also ready to be home.  Here are a few going home pics. ;)

It is crazy to think that we have had her for two weeks now.  Oh how time flies.  Our first week was a bit of a rollercoaster with us both figuring out how to get her to sleep and eat, but with the help of my incredible husband Darrick (and he has been amazing to say the least) we have managed!  The first week was hard because I was starving her...not purposely of course, but I just did not have much to give the poor child.  She lost 17 ounces in a matter of 4 days--gripes!  With the help of our doctor though, we were able to put on 18 ounces in a matter of  days after that!!  The doctor was actually in shock that she gained that much weight!  That was our only homework from the doctor and we got and A++++.  She is perfectly healthly now and no longer starving! 

The next project will be to learn how to get her to sleep on her own.  Currently the only way or place she will sleep is on our chest!  She loves the comfort and the warmth I guess.  I know you can't spoil them this early, and we love love love holding her, but we are getting to the point where we are ready for her to sleep on her own!  Any tips are welcomed.  I will say I am not emotionally ready for her to "Cry It Out" yet, so that suggestion will  have to wait.

We have also been a little stir crazy.  We have pretty much been confined to our house for the last two weeks.  The first with just staying home to attend to her needs, and the second with a massive snow storm! :)  I finally can drive again, so I pray this week that the weather is nice to me.

One thing it has done so far is strengthen our marriage.  It has been teamwork for sure.  In fact it has made me fall even more in love with Darrick.  He loves her so much.  He loves to hold her and care for her and he has been the most amazing servant to me through it all!  Here are a few pics of them together.



Doesn't this just melt your heart





 Maybe now that we have her we will do a better job of actually adding to our family blog!!  That is my hope.

Signing off with one of my favorite new pics of Addy!! 

Our AMAZING Dog LILY :)

Wow...what a pleasure a dog can bring to your life. I had tons of pets growing up, but never an inside pet, so I never realized how they become part of the family. I decided that I should at least post a few pictures and thoughts about the dog that has become such a huge part of Darrick's and I's life.

Lily is an Australian Shepard, although, she looks somewhat like a Border Collie, but has a bobbed tail...(which is super fun to watch wag...especially when she is excited). We got Lily from a nice farmer south of Fayetteville. Why did we decide on an Aussie you might ask...well...they are known to be one of the smartest breeds, they are very active and love to play (which is good for all the running that I do), they are great with kids, and are very loyal. Lily has proved this true in all areas.

When we first met Lily, she was 6 weeks old, but we couldn't bring her home yet. Here is a picture of her at 6 weeks. :)


We got Lilly when she was 9 weeks old...she was so so shy at first...we thought that she would never warm up...but after about 5 days..she did. Here is Lily at that stage. :)









Things I love about her being a puppy...how she plays, how she sleeps, and how curious she is/was. Lily had some weird sleeping positions.
We took some fun family pictures at about 3 months!!!


They grow up so so fast...Lily was potty trained in about two weeks for the most part...she can sit, lay down, shake, give a high five, fetch, and sometimes on a really good day, she can play dead. She loves people, running, the park, other dogs, playing, the snow, and of course eating. She also loves her time at camp...what a blessing she is for sure. She does not like....baths, grooming, and being told no. :) Surprise surprise. Here are a few more pics...she is looking like a big dog now. Well...Lily and I are signing off!!! :)

Reflections from Spain

Well...now I am home and I am able to reflect on this amazing and crazy trip. I have to say one...I love home and I am glad to be back...but there were so many amazing things there.

Some of the best things were:

• The slow pace: Even though it drove me crazy...it was good for me to slow down a little, reflect, relax, and spend time with the Lord. (I mean...crazy by...taking 4 hours to eat...because....that is how it is done)
• Spending time with my cousins and Laura and meeting some really nice German girls that room with Chels and Laura--I miss the time we have together for sure, and that was so great
• The food was so great...rich, great, interesting and unique.....my favorite being Paella (an amazing rice dish that I will learn how to make)
  
• The beautiful Architecture (Not only the city, but the parks, the City of Arts and Sciences, the Cathedrals, the Flats, the Flowers, everything)
• Celebrating my birthday there with family...fireworks...and fun
• The Fallas...it made the city crazy...but exciting...I will show the fires below.
  
• The Aquarium and The Dolphin Show...so fun
• Our day in the park...playing four square
• The Amazing fireworks at night
• Eating dinner in the flat...love talking
• Tea Time....3 times a day
  

Some of my least favorite things:

• Our Iberia Flight...somewhat nasty...I wouldn't use them...but it was cheap
• Spanish Men and Women making out everywhere...get a room please
• Rude people...teenagers the most...but people just shove you and never say sorry
• Guys peeing in the street
• Having to watch ever step so a teenager would not throw a Cherry Bomb at my feet to blow up
• The Bombs...it never was quiet...for the first 5 days (Fireworks...24/7)

but...for sure the good outweigh the bad...I am very different from their culture for sure, my life is fast paced, I like a schedule, I don't sleep until 2 pm each day, and I don't go to bed at 4 am...but hey...like I said, no jet lag. I loved seeing the different culture for sure. I guess that is why God put me in America. :) right???

To end it off...here are the finale pictures of the Burning of the Fallas. Fireworks almost flew inside our flat from the burning of this one. So fun and scary as well.



Well...that is about it...Great Trip...signing off. :)

Living in a War Zone--Valencia part 2

So much is going on here....it is normally not this crazy from what my cousin says, but right now, there is constant booms and fireworks, etc. We are here during Las Fallas...so that is why. It is really fun though. Las Fallas is a festival of Fire...basically, the entire city of Valencia makes a Fallas for their little area of town. A Fallas is a Statue Type thing that is wood in the middle and then styrofoam on the outside, but made to look like a float/statue type thing. Then on the last night, the burn them all...it is like the whole city is on fire. Here is our Fallas and another before the burn.












I have to say that I had a super amazing birthday though...very eventful on Saturday....not sure it could be more exciting. I started out the day and Chels had given me birthday croisants...they had chocolate in the middle with a candle to wish on. ;) Here is a pic of my birthday breakfast.

Then we toured Valencia. We went to another Muscleta (lots of really loud fireworks and booms) where I got in a shoving fight with a 14 year boy on a bike....you see...Spanish Teens here have no respect for anyone or any thing...he kept rolling over my toe on purpose and so....finally I got so peaved off that I shoved him. :) Ahh....the nerve. Then...we toured the city for about 8 hours...on foot...I loved it. :) One thing that is so funny and weird here is that spanish men and women make out like crazy.... I mean tongue and all right in front of everyone...it is so awkward and kind of gross in public....

Then we came home nad the German girls that we are here with (Chels roomies) made me Birthday Schnitzel---so great...also with birthday candles.

We topped off the night with the most amazing fireworks I have seen. 20 minutes long...Then...as I thought the night was over, it was not...we went to an outside Dancing Disco Tech, until 4:30 in the morning...what.....these people are crazy and never sleep....but it was really fun. I think that my body tells me I am too old for that....but....I guess, I will make the most of it. :)

Sunday, was a little more relaxing for sure. :) I needed that. We slept till about 11:30 our time, but considering we went to bed at 5:30 am, it was good.we then ventured into the suburbs of Valencia to an amazing park and had a BBQ/picnic.It was so nice.Then we just hung out there all day long....laid in the sun, played 4 square for about 3 hours with a bunch of Germans (Chelsea's roomates friends), talked, etc. It was great and relaxing. Then we came back and I was able to have some Jesus time, and then....took a nap at 9:30 pm...woke up...ate dinner (that is when they do it here....weird huh?Then of course a parade at 12:30 am and fireworks again at 1 am...then.....tea and talking....and bedtime at around 4 am....well at least when I come home, I will be on about the same schedule...since that is 10 pm Arkansas time currently.

Monday the 17th (yes I forgot to wear green) was a super eventful one as well. We went to the City of Arts and Sciences today....(sounds boring) but it is really amazing. Here are some outside pics of it.


IT had a huge aquariam, we watched a dolphin show, and then went to an IMAX film. It got pretty cold though, so that stunk and I was in shorts....but...hey...what can you do? Then we came back to the flat...relaxed until about 10 pm and then and ate some Paella....so so good. I loved it. We watched a parade and watched them put flowers on the Virgin Mary here (part of their celebration of Easter) Here is the Virgin with Flowers.


Then we went to a Jazz Bar for some live music...it was funny because most of the people there were exchange students who spoke English and all the songs were American Rock Songs, so that was a nice part of home. It was fun, but, my feet were about to kill me..not from my shoes, just from being on them for so long....ahh....it was crazy. Oh...and the German guy I was talking to had not a clue what a summer camp was...he kept thinking I taught Summer School for my job...anyways.....We went home at about 3:45 am...

Today (Tuesday the 18th), we are heading to the Beach..I am excited to read, relax, and sleep some....yeah for the beach.

I will say, that even though it is great here, I miss the states, and some of its comforts for sure....being away from Darrick this long is a challenge and also being away from my precious little Dog Lily as well....she is not so little anymore...I need to add her to this blog. :)

Alright...off to the beach.... Leslie

Trip to Valencia--Day One

We (my cousin Ash and I) arrived in Valencia at 1:30 pm (about 7:30 am Central time)...we are about 6 hours later than Ark time are just to give you an idea. We dropped all of our luggage off at Chelsea's house and then immediately ....got into action. We went to a thing called a Muscleta today at 2 pm (It happens every day here for the Las Falles Festival and it basically is a lot of fireworks (I mean a lot--sound like Armageddon is coming--so loud for so long). Then we searched a long time for a place to eat....finally just ate at the Pizza place...not the best, but oh well...food is so expensive here....everything is really. But oh well. I got 200 Euros out of the bank today....then thought...yikes...that is 300 dollars...but i have saved about 500 to spend..so I should be okay. ;)Then we came back to their Flat (apt) and hung out. They have two German roomates that are so so so sweet and really funny and very beautiful but so down to earth. We talked for about 2 hours...drank tea...and just had fun...I am super tired so I just took a shower to wake up...they say not to sleep or take a nap till night or you will get Jet Lag...so I hope I can hold on. The flight was really not that bad...6 hours only. But I really couldn't sleep at all...not much room...kind of hot...you know..the works.Then when we got to Madrid...we only had like 45 min to make our connection...which sounds like a lot, but we had to go through Passport check and also security checkpoints like three times and really walk at least 1.5 miles to get there...crazy.Then on the plane to Valencia....the stewardess....somehow dumped the entire drink tray thing....and Orange Juice and Ice went flying on the tiny plane...I was far enough back that nothing happend, but Ash got a good spray of OJ in the face. :) Needless to say, things are great, I am excited to have some down time. Tonight we went to market to cook dinner..I had some amazing conversations with Laura about her walk with God and I was able to share what the Lord was doing in my life as well.....

Pictures of the city of Valencia:

My cousins and I in a park in the city:

The Bull Fighting Arena: (Sad...I know)