Leila Jade Keddington

Just a warning. This is going to be a long post with lots of pictures because, although this sweet baby girl is just 5 days old, we have taken about a million pictures!

Leila, (pronounced Layla, for those who don't know) was born on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 11:46am. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 5 oz. and measured 21" long. Brock and I went to the hospital for a scheduled induction at 6:00am, had the IV and petosin going by about 7:30, water broken at 9:30, contractions really kicking in and getting painful, so epidural at 10:30, ahh, much better. The nurse checked me at 11:30 and we are ready to go! They called my doctor and one contraction and a few good pushes later voila she's here. I have to admit, my whole pregnancy I worried that she was going to be a boy. Not that it really would have mattered, but I really feel like this is our last baby, and I really wanted a girl. Until the doctor said "It's a girl!", and I saw for myself, I wasn't convinced. I got a girl, and she is so beautiful.

Let the pictures begin...

This is the morning of. I'm HUGE!

Here I am just waiting around. I think this is pre-epidural and Brock was making me laugh. I told him not to since my face looks really extra swollen and fat when I laugh, but I couldn't stop. Oh, and I was eating a snow cone. When the nurse told me that was one of my options -ice chips, popsicle, or snowcone - I was so excited! Even at 8 in the morning. I had one every day I was there.

Meeting my daughter for the first time. Neither of us could contain ourselves, and we were both crying.

Getting all cleaned up, and in the picture below if you can't see it, its her weight. 8 lbs 5 oz!



Getting her first bath at the hospital. Such torture.

And here are the proud parents. Again with the laughing. Not a good look for me.

Jace and Nixon meeting their little sister for the first time. They weren't too sure about her at first, but after a little warming up they can't get enough of her! They both just want to see her first thing in the morning, and give her kisses. They are also so nice about making sure that she is covered in all of her blankets and that her purple stuffed bear from Uncle Justin is on her face. She likes it that way apparently. Jace likes to count his kisses to her. Usually around 15 at a time. Nixon likes to kiss her whole face. She is so lucky to have big brothers who love her so much already. We all think she looks a lot like Nixon, besides being so much chubbier than he was. He was born at 6 lb. 14 oz. , so quite a big difference!

She got to meet so many people on that first day. All of her aunts and uncles except Nolan and Treo in St. George, Maria who had school, and Julia who was on a cruise. Her grandma and grandpa K, and even great grandma B. Her great aunt Brenda and second cousins once removed (I think) Chloe and Chelsea. She got to meet her cousins Beckett, Leah, Bella, and Giada. Leah and Bella were in love I think. Leah said she was just beautiful, and when she saw her feet she said they were so adorable. Leah is 5, and just about the cutest thing ever. Here are Leah and Bella holding her.

Here is Brock getting her dressed to come home. She didn't like it very much. Its too cold!

And here is Brock with his little girl. I have loved seeing them together already, and can't wait for the years to come!

Here she is in the car on the way home. You've always got to get the carseat picture, right?

Jace was so funny when we got home. He noticed Leila's green hospital binkie, and went to our drawer of old binkies and got one for himself and Nixon. Silly boys. Oh, and no, Nixon isn't crying. That is him smiling for the camera.

And here she is getting her first home sponge bath. As you can see, she loved every second of it!

And here are a few favorites from her first photo shoot at one day old. The hospital has a service do this for everyone, and I thought they turned out pretty dang cute.

Easter 2010

We had a great Easter this year, like always. It started Saturday with a big Easter Egg hunt at Woods Cross Elementary. The boys got lots of eggs full of candy, and even got their picture with the Easter Bunny! They went with their cousin Beckett, and it was FREEZING! What is with the weather this year???









Then Sunday we woke up to snow on the ground and went to Grandma and Grandpa K's house for another egg hunt and breakfast. The boys had lots of fun looking around the house for eggs, and finding so much fun stuff in their baskets. We're so glad the Easter Bunny leaves stuff for us at their house since he never leaves stuff at our house! Brock and I even get to search the house high and low for our own eggs and baskets. Both this year and last year I have ended up not being able to find one of my eggs. Last year for Christmas the missing egg was in my stocking (they finally found it!) and I guess we'll see if they find the one from this year! Luckily for them, they are just the plastic eggs and they don't have to worry about it stinking up their house! We then went home to watch Conference and have naps, then to Grandma Bills for Easter dinner (Julia came with us) and grandma B's birthday celebration. She turned 88 on Easter this year. Thanks Dale and Shauna for everything! Oh, and try to ignore my huge belly in Nixon's Easter basket picture! I wasn't thinking about that, and of course, Brock didn't tell me to get out of the way!

Soccer

Soccer has started for the spring season and we just love watching Jace play. He is really into it at the beginning, and tries really hard - then scores a goal and feels like he's accomplished what he needs to to get to McDonald's so he stops caring after about the first five minutes. We're going to make it our goal to keep him interested the whole time by the end of the 4 game season! These 3-4 year olds have a really gruelling season.

Disney on Ice

A few weeks ago, my inlaws took the boys to Disney on Ice. They were featuring Cars, Lion King, and The Little Mermaid. Brock's sister Kallie's little boy Beckett is a little obsessed with Lightning Mcqueen lately and decided to go, and since Brock wasn't thrilled at the idea of seeing the show, they agreed to take the boys. Brock and I were able to have a night to ourselves and go to dinner and Alice In Wonderland. The boys had a blast until intermission, then the second half was all Tinkerbell and her friends. I guess they figure more girls are interested in this sort of thing than boys. Thanks ladies for letting us have a night to ourselves! (And for loving our boys so much!)

My Cute Boys

Okay, so this morning before my doctor's appointment (updated post below) I was ironing in the front room, and Jace had to go potty. Nixon started following him into the bathroom so Jace said (in his cutest mommy voice) "Do you want to come with me Bud?" I love when he talks in his high pitched sweet voice like that. Anyway, they were in there for quite a while just chatting away, and I got to listen. Jace used his sweet voice the whole time, and kept calling him bud and buddy. Then I hear Nixon say, "Wha Dat?" and Jace says (still talking sweetly), "Oh those were just some little farts, I'm going poo." Ah, do I have the cutest, sweetest boys or what? I can't wait to have a little girl in the house with me who doesn't burp, fart, poo, or talk about any of the above. (that is true isn't it?)

The Latest...

So I went in today, hoping to talk my doctor into inducing me this Friday (yeah, I know, wishful thinking) and walked out with an induction date a week later than we had talked about! How did that happen, you ask. Well, you see, my doctor forgot that next week is Spring Break for her kids, and she would rather spend time with them at home than a few hours with me! So last week, when I asked if she would take me a week early, and she quickly responded with, "Oh yeah, I was thinking more like 2 weeks early." She obviously wasn't thinking about Spring Break. I guess its a good thing. Every time we do the non stress tests the baby is great. She did an ultrasound again today (still a girl) and there is plenty of amniotic fluid, and she looks great. I guess I can be unselfish and let her lungs develop a little more. She asked if I wanted to go on the 13th or 14th, and just so that she won't ever have a birthday on Friday the 13th (lame, I know) I chose the 14th. So Wednesday April 14th it is. That is of course unless she decides to make her own early entrance. (I can still hope can't I?) This gives us a little more time to decide on a name (aaaaaahhhhhh!), maybe get her nursery ready (doubt it), and she'll only be 10 days old when my mom gets here, instead of 3 weeks! Anyway, that's the latest. I have to go in next week for more testing. I'll post, if anything changes!

Good News, Bad News

I had my regularly scheduled appointment with my doctor today, and surprise surprise, she had no idea about my hospital visit on Sunday. She was out of town, and when she got back in, she called the hospital to see if anyone had gone in, and they said no. Anyway, not a big deal I guess. I told her what happened, so she did the usual - checked the baby's heart rate, checked my urine, weighed me (and gasped, jk) - and then checked to see if I had dilated any further (no), and did the strep test (that's a fun one). Anyway, I am supposed to go in weekly from here on out, and she was originally going to make me have an ultrasound next week to see if the placenta had moved, but because of the bleeding, she asked if I could come back in at 1:00 for an ultrasound, this was at noon. So I took the boys to McDonald's and let them play for an hour, and then headed back up. The baby (who is still a girl, yes I made her check AGAIN!) looks great, plenty of amniotic fluid, heart beating, yada yada, and my placenta has completely moved out of the way of my cervix! I was so thrilled to hear that! That means no c-section (unless something else goes wrong). We went out and gave my doctor the good news, but now she is more concerned because she was sure that the low-lying placenta is what had caused me to start bleeding. And it still could have been low on Sunday, and moved since then, so it could have been the reason, but she doesn't know, so she wants me to come in on Friday for a NST (non-stress-test) to make sure all is well. I guess they will just monitor the baby and my contractions for a half hour or so. Then I go in next Tuesday for my normal appointment. I am supposed to take it "very easy" for the next little while, so sorry boys, you are on your own! I'll be in bed the next 5 weeks! Okay, so I'm not really sure what "very easy" means, but I assume I still have to feed my kids, and keep the house in one piece, so hopefully that won't affect anything. Anyway, I can still feel her kicking like crazy, so I haven't been too worried, but I hope I'm not too unconcerned. I am supposed to go to the hospital immediately if I bleed again, or start having contractions. Its always so comforting when your doctor tells you stuff like that while looking and sounding nervous herself. Anyway, I'll try to keep you all posted - if you care! And thanks to everyone for being so willing to offer help! I have the best friends and family!

A Little Scare

So yesterday, just as I was about to take a nap, I felt like my water broke and when I looked down on the bed it was blood. I ran to the bathroom, and made Jace go wake up Brock from his Sunday afternoon nap to get ready to go to the hospital. I have to admit, I was so so scared. I am 35 weeks, so I'm sure the baby would be just fine if I did have to deliver, but seeing blood just made me really nervous. We dropped the boys off at Brock's parent's house and were on our way. When we got there, the nurse hooked me up to the monitors, and the baby's heart rate was perfect, my blood pressure was great, and all seemed to be okay, besides the bleeding, which hadn't completely stopped, and the contractions that were about every 2 minutes. My doctor was off (of course) and the doctor on call was delivering a baby a couple of doors down, so we just had to wait. As I laid there, I couldn't help but to think of my sweet friend Talitha, who just 4 or 5 months ago lost her baby at 35 weeks. I was still pretty scared. I called a few people, including my parents who were about to leave for work (they are 14 hours ahead of us in Malaysia) just to let them know what was going on. I couldn't help but think that just the day before I had finally given in and gone shopping for this little one (a stroller, new diaper genie, lots of the cutest clothes you've ever seen...etc) and I had jinxed myself. I realized that other than that shopping, we have done NOTHING for this little one. We don't even have a name! The nursery is still blue, oh, and there is still a little boy living in it. We haven't moved Nixon to Jace's room. We haven't even gotten the baby car seat out, the pack and play that she will be in for the first little while, nothing. I started to get kind of stressed. This is all probably why I was having contractions when I got there. Anyway, the doctor came in after about an hour and a half and checked me. I am dilated to a 2, but only about 30 or 40% effaced, so he wasn't too worried. He said that because of my low-lying placenta, bleeding is pretty normal. I should go in if I bleed again, just to make sure everything is okay, but he wasn't too worried. He made me stay another half hour to make sure the contractions didn't come back, and said to take it easy (whatever that means) for the next couple of days until I could talk to my doctor. I have been feeling a little crampy, and some pressure today, but I think everything is good for now. I will talk to my doctor at my appointment tomorrow and see what she thinks. I had Brock give me a blessing yesterday, and I have just seen such an outpouring of kindness and generosity already. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law both offered to watch the boys today, Julia called to see if she could do anything, one neighbor called to see if she could take the boys or bring us dinner, while another called to see if we needed lunch, and another asked if she could watch the boys. I am just so grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful people. I know that everything is going to be okay, and while I hope this little girl stays put for at least a couple more weeks, I feel comfort in knowing that if she does make her appearance earlier than that, everything will be okay. Thanks to everyone who has offered help, or kind words, and I will keep you posted!

February Service Project

My parents "challenged" all of their kids families to do a service project once a month as a family. This month we sat down with the boys (Nixon didn't really understand) and explained to them that there are little boys and girls that don't have toys like they do. And since we have lots and lots of toys, we are going to share some of our toys with those other kids. They didn't put up a fight as we sifted through their millions of toys and put the less used ones in a bag for D.I.. We are thankful for all that we have, and that we are able to share what we have with others.

Nixon is 2!!

Nixon is still teeny tiny. I guess he got my genes on that one. Hopefully he'll have some sort of growth spurt in his life! Today, at his 2 year check-up he weighed 22 lb. 4 oz. (less than 5%), he was 33" long (20%), and his head circumference was 18.5" (10%). He is growing, but not very quickly!

We had two celebrations this year for Nixon starting on Sunday, his birthday, with a family party opening presents and having cupcakes and icecream. We have such a great family on both sides, and we thank everyone for coming! Nixon had so much fun. (I got spoiled too, since my birthday was just the Monday before, but this party was for Nixon.)

A Keddington tradition is to hang balloons for how old you are. This may have been Nixon's favorite present.

Here he is opening presents. Yes, Jace is picking his nose. Its the only "present opening" picture I got, so too bad. He also loved this huge Nemo balloon from Aunt Brenda.

Here is my attempt at an alligator. Nixon kept saying "My agater! My fav-wit!" It was really cute. I also made some lemon blueberry cupcakes for the adults. They were really yummy.

Then Monday, right before we left the house to pick Jace up from preschool Nixon was running to me, tripped a little to close to the wall, and SLAM! I promise I took these pictures after I had hugged him, and comforted him, and he was all better. He started crying again though when I asked him to look at the camera. I swear I didn't hear the slam and immediately think "Photo-Op!" It was awful, and now its yellow and green and blue. Lovely.

Then, Monday night we invited Nixon's cousins (that don't live in St. George) to come play at Kangaroo Zoo. There is one right by our house, and the kids had lots of fun. They had pizza, and drinks, and ran and jumped, and played. Lets just say the boys slept well that night! They slept from like 10:00 to 9:45! Not that they aren't always good sleepers, but they usually wake up around 8:30.

We are so grateful to have this happy little boy, oh, sorry Jace, BIG BOY in our lives. Jace says that now that Nixon is 2, he is a big boy. He is so easy-going, and melts our hearts when he says, "I you you, mommy (or daddy, or whomever he loves. You you means love you!) He has really become quite the talker, and can and does say everything. His favorite movie right now is Butt Year (Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story II), and he wants to watch it constantly. He loves to have stories read to him, and he loves his big brother and wants to do everything Jace does. Much to Jace's chagrin! Happy Birthday Nixon, we you you!