January 2019

We survived the chaotic holiday season this year! With being in my third trimester we didn't travel for the holidays, and spent majority of the month of January at home preparing for baby number two's arrival. Some things to highlight.....


James finished up his first round of swimming lessons! It was touch and go there for a while, but he ended strong. We haven't enrolled him in any more classes yet, but hoping to do so soon!

Cousin Brittany came to visit and helped us transform James' room to a big boy room and put some finishing touches on Ben's room. We enjoyed every minute of her visit and as always, love her art work! She spoils us!

We had some surprisingly mild weather to start the New Year, but it sure made for some perfect maternity pictures!

James continued to battle his usual respiratory junk. A cough and fever had me suspicious of that pneumonia was brewing. We had gotten him evaluated at an urgent care and started antibiotics. Later that night he spiked a high fever and started vomiting so we went in to the ER and landed ourselves an immediate admission with IV antibiotics. Poor guy had a rough time, but thank goodness for fast and good care!

I continued to progress through my pregnancy with baby #2. I still battled a lot of anxiety and stress related to it. I had several trips to triage  due to high blood pressure, but that just meant more monitoring for baby. January was a busy one, but got us a month closer to meeting our baby boy!

Behind...so behind...

Well, here I am again. Severely behind in the blogging world. I've got a boat load of posts to make and I'm going to start chipping away. Let's face it, blogging with an addition of another child around is basically non-existent (poor, Ben!). Bare with me as I sift through the memories of the last 6 months!

Three

James boy...how is it that you are already three? And also, how is it that your mama is 2 months behind on blogging about your birthday? Sigh...


Three. Where do I even begin to describe you at three? Here are some things that instantly come to mind.

• You are funny. So funny! You crack jokes, make up new remixes to songs with random words, and are a jokester. A day is never dull with you. Ever!
• You are becoming more sensitive and aware of feelings. You don't like to be reprimanded for things and sometimes get really teary if mommy and daddy have to get after you about something that is unsafe.
• You are completely potty trained (and have been for several months). You still wear pull ups at bedtime, but otherwise rock your big boy underpants throughout the day with minimal accidents.
• You say some of the funniest things. I think my favorite phrase to date is "Mommy, what's this called 'bout?" (aka- Mommy what is this about.)
• You are full of energy! From the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed, you are 110% energy!
• Sleep- for the most part you do great. You occasionally have some random nights where you wake up, but for the most part you do great. You still want to snuggle at bedtime and read a lot of books. Lately it's been close to 9:00 most nights when you are finally in bed and asleep, so we need to work on that before baby brother arrives. :)
• You are smart. So smart! You daddy and I are legit starting to worry that you will be so bored in Kindergarten. You know all of your colors, shapes, numbers, and alphabet. You can spell some basic words and just have an overwhelming knowledge and awareness for anything around you. You seriously amaze us daily with something new! :)

All-in-all, we couldn't love you anymore than we already do! You make us proud on a daily basis and fill our lives with so much joy! We are so grateful for you each and every day and pray that you continue to grow into a healthy young boy and always lean on us and God through your life.

We love you, James Michael!

1 Day Old

1 Week Old

One!!

Two!!

Two!!

Three!

Three!

Three!

Life Lately with the Leaches

Well, here I am again. Severely behind on my blogging with James, Baby L and just life in general. Life has been busy and we are all just trying to stay afloat. Some major recent highlights.....

• I have finally reached my third trimester with Baby Leach. I'm 29 weeks today and just grateful to have made it this far and praying our next 10-ish weeks are smooth. We are slowly (and I mean slowly) but surely making progress with his room, etc.  And when I say progress, all I've done so far is hang curtains and bug John to move furniture and clean out the closet, etc. We finally decided to move all of the "nautical themed" items from James' current room to the baby room. James agreed to hand them over so we've started planning a new theme for his room and have let him be involved. As of right now he wants trucks, trains, and construction type things in his room. John's cousin Brittany will be paying us a visit in January to make all of these changes come to fruition! :)

• We spent Thanksgiving at the Widmer's with the boy cousins and Grammy and Grandad. The boys had so much fun together and played hard. Many good plates of food and desserts were had by all!

• James turned 3 (back in October)! I am in the progress of working on his special birthday post and will get that updated asap!!

Our big 3 year old!!

• We are busy prepping for the upcoming Christmas holiday. James has been so fun to experience the holidays with this year! His awareness and understanding of everything that is going on around him makes me in awe. We've been reading a lot of books about Christmas and talking about Santa. James is really into the Grinch (original version) and does a good job of pointing out that the Grinch is mean to steal all of the presents and is mean to his dog Max. The kid clearly doesn't miss anything! I love to hear what is on his Christmas list and I hope he will be excited on Christmas day to see what Santa brings him.

• James also had his Christmas program last night at school. As to be expected, it was absolutely adorable! He did great and I will get some pictures up in a separate post.

• James saw Santa. The verdict this year? He loved him!!! He ran right up to him and gave him a hug. Total 360 change from the last two years!

2018

2017

2016



Baby Update

I hit the 22 week mark this week and things are starting to feel more real each day. This pregnancy has been quite the rollercoaster so far. I had my anatomy scan on the 3rd. Things were relayed to look great until the end when the sonographer shared that there were some "spots" in baby's abdomen raising concern. This alerted the high risk doctor and the genetics counselor to do more testing. Also worth noting- I went to the appointment alone. John and I had been I the ER until 3:00 in the morning with James that day for Croup. It was a rough night for all of us. James had finally fallen asleep at 5:30 that morning and we both felt it was best he slept, so John stayed home and I went to the appointment solo assuming all would be fine.


I left the doctor a complete sobbing mess, terrified that something terminal was wrong with this sweet peanut. They drew blood for the genetics tests that I wouldn't get back for a few weeks, which felt like pure torture to my anxiety. Here we are a few weeks later and all of my testing came back normal...praise Jesus!!! I will still have another scan on the 31st just to see if the spots have resolved, or what could be the cause. Otherwise this peanut is doing great and growing/developing appropriately.


My belly is really starting to expand now and starting to make me a little more uncomfortable. This babe often dances on my bladder and likes to kick my cervix from time-to-time. But, I can't complain as I love to feel his movements!


I'm hopeful that in the next few weeks we'll start to work on his nursery. We have already migrated the rocking chair from James' room to the baby's room. next step will likely be to clear out the bed to make room for the crib and get the closet cleaned out so mama can start nesting.


This pregnancy has felt so fast and so slow at the same time. I can't believe in just 6 weeks I'll be in my 3rd trimester....crazy!


Keep on growing little man! We can't wait to meet you.

Life Lately

Summer has come and gone and Fall is quickly upon us! Our Fall schedule seems to be rapidly filling up. And although we go into weekends not anticipating any plans, we end up with a weekend full of plans. That being said, here is what's been going on in the Leach residence lately.

James continues to keep us on his toes! He is opinionated, independent, and funny. The kid truly is a riot. From conversations with friends at school to asserting his own opinion just in everyday life- it truly is fun. Right now, he's super into pretend play, dinosaurs, Toy Story, and PJ Masks. He continues to love peanut butter and anything sweet (just like mama!). I love watching him develop a passion for something and really dive in and give it his all. I believe that trait will serve him well in life!

Baby Leach continues to grow! I will be 17 weeks tomorrow. It's crazy that I'm almost "halfway" in this pregnancy. I only continue to pray that things continue to go well. We have our 20 week anatomy scan in a few weeks so I think it will be helpful to get through that milestone. We are anxious to start feeling consistent movement from our sweet babe!

James is also excited to be a big brother. We do a lot of talking about the baby, etc. He is always interested in discussing the baby, where the baby is, and what his/her name will be. Still assuming we are having a boy, James has named his baby brother, which I find totally endearing. I love that we will have that story to share for many years to come.

Pregnancy Update

Here we are, 13 weeks pregnant today! We feel so blessed to have gotten this far to date. I'll admit, I've done an awful job of keeping up-to-date this pregnancy while chasing a toddler, but I'm going to do my best to catch up. Here goes....

This pregnancy has brought forward a whole new level of emotions. I'm trying my hardest to not let my fear taint my joy and excitement, but will say IT. IS. HARD. I'm trying my best to just take it one day at a time and celebrate each small milestone. 

I'm starting to feel a little more human. The fatigue this week hasn't been as bad, and the nausea seems to be letting up a little. I've been doing acupuncture, so I think between that and my medication it has made a different. I'm looking forward to getting even more energy back as I get into my second trimester. 

I've had a few OB apts and scans so far. Last week we had the 12 week scan and all looked well! We left feeling so upbeat and relieved. We were even surprised that it's possible we have another sweet BOY brewing. :) I had my 13 week OB appointment today. Baby's heartbeat was 158 and the visit overall went well. We scheduled my next several appointments through November and then scheduled my 20 week anatomy scan on October 3rd so we'll know officially if we are having another boy. 

James has been so fun to talk about this pregnancy to. He is excited to be a big brother and is always interested in the baby whenever I listen for the heartbeat. We keep talking to him regularly about it to keep him engaged. 

Again, we are thankful for this journey so far. Keep growing little one! We love you to pieces already!

8 weeks!

Sweet baby at 12 week scan- arm and spine picture.

12 week profile

13 week bump picture with my assistant.

"Shhh, mommy, do you hear da baby?"