Random pictures

Hey everyone! Not a lot going on in our lives right now, at least nothing to blog about. I just wanted to add some pictures of the kids and especially Rayleigh since she is growing so fast, she is 8 wks now. Time really does fly by.

Happy New Year!!!

Wow, another year has come and gone. Time really does fly. We want to wish each of you a very happy and healthy New Year and may God's blessings rain down on you and your families.

Okay, so new year's eve holds new meaning when you have kids. There is no more going out to parties and enjoying a kid free evening, at least not in our case. That is fine though, as we make our own party and have fun. Last night we just ordered in pizza, had some sweet treats, watched a movie, played some Wii and watched the ball drop on TV (at 10pm but the boys didn't know the difference). Earlier in the day, while at the store, the boys saw some party hats and wanted some, so I decided we would go home and make our own party hats. I pulled out the craft box and let them decorate at will. Now, these are very simple hats as I am not too great at putting them together. The boys had a ball doing it though and wore there hats all night long.

This morning we got up and watched to Rose Bowl Parade. I love to see all the floats. Anyways, the boys favorite part was the marching bands. They would grab pillows and pretend they were drums or in Kaleb's case just marching around the living room making plenty of his own "music" with his vocal cords. Later, I went ahead and let them pull out some things from the kitchen and they made their own marching band. Let me tell you, it was loud and at times even sounded half way decent for kitchen items and little boys :)

This is what Rayleigh thought about the "music." I guess her ears are a little more discriminating than a proud mom's.

Sweet moments

We went home to Waco for Christmas and had a wonderful time with family and friends. There were a few instances that were especially sweet. Rayleigh met her maw-maw and two great grandmothers for the first time. It was so sweet seeing her maw-maw hold her. She usually keeps her hands very close to herself and can be hard for us to move but when we tried to give her Rayleigh to hold she dropped them down into a cradle hold position. She held her tight for quite a while, which is great since she doesn't regularly use those muscles. It was like she really knew and understood who this little baby was. It was a very sweet and touching moment.

Maw-maw with her boys & Rayleigh

Paw-Paw, Maw-Maw and Rayleigh The Leutwyler cousins- can you say trouble??

On Christmas eve we always go to my grandmothers. I have many special memories of these times and am sad that the day is nearing for that tradition to end, hopefully we have another five years or more though. Rayleigh is grandmas 14th great grandchild. While we were there we did a 4 generation picture. I hope Rayleigh can look at these pictures later and see the love in their eyes.

Here is Rayleigh with ma-maw. I can't even begin to count how many great grand kids she has as she even has great-great grand kids! Since she is blind she can't see Rayleigh but loved holding her and seeing her through sweet touches and descriptions. These moments are priceless.

I would love for Rayleigh to be able to grow up knowing these amazing women, but if not we have these pictures to document their love. God has blessed us immensely with wonderful family and friends and we are forever grateful.

The joy of baking

Yesterday the boys and I did some holiday baking. I was not up for the whole cut out cookie thing with the decorating and mess so we opted for a few other yummy goodies. We decided to make some chocolate chip cookies, chocolate no bake drop cookies (my personal favorite), brownies and coconut macaroons. They all turned out really well. Logan's teacher will be the lucky recipient of some of these goodies. It is a great inexpensive teacher gift and who doesnt like baked goods??? They all did really well, they love to help bake and cook. The only thing they are not good at is helping with the clean up ;) The one thing the boys do clean up is the beaters, they do a great job and then they are the ones needing cleaned up. They are also very good at cleaning up all the food! Between them and Dusty I am not sure how long everything will last. Here a few pictures of the cooks.

Dalton is very proud of his creations!

Kaleb is sharing his fun day with Nana, while Dalton contimplates eating yet another cookie.

Logan being very precise in mixing the macaroon mixture.

Mmmm, yummy condensed milk. Can you say fattening??

A little blurry, but a very proud cook.

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This will most likely be my last post before Christmas so I just wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas!! We will be heading out to Waco on Sunday night for a week. It will be a fun time. We will be able to see family and friends who will be able to finally meet Rayleigh. I am really looking forward to getting pictures of her with her great-grandmothers and especially her Maw-Maw (Dusty's mom). I only wish that she would be able to understand and recognize her as her new granddaughter. She always wanted a little girl but had 4 boys instead. I know she would be overjoyed with a granddaughter. We gave Rayleigh her middle name, Marie, in honor of her and my mom.

Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone, we love you!!!

Rayleigh in her Christmas dress from Aunt Julie.

She is so cute in this, but the hat is huge!

Our little princess.

2 weeks already?!?!

I cannot believe it has already been 2 wks since Rayleigh was born. Time is really going by too fast, or it could be that I haven't slept much so the days are just running together. We had her 2 wk appt on Friday and she is doing well. She is not an eater at all, she eats between 1-3 oz every 3-4 hours, so different than the boys who started out at 4oz every 2-3 hours. So with her light eating habits I wasnt surprised to find out that she has not gained any weight since leaving the hospital, she is still 6lbs 13oz, but she has grown 2 inches to 20.5 in. She really is a great baby. The only problem we are having is she has her days and nights confused so that means no sleep for me, but as Dusty says, we can sleep when we are dead. But, boy can it really wear you down! The boys are still so in love with her. I spend a lot of my time telling them to leave her alone. They always want to touch her and kiss her. Kaleb is the only one who really leaves her alone for the most part. He will give her hugs and kisses but really just isnt impressed by her like the other two. Dalton is my big helper, he is always trying to find ways to help with her be it throwing away dirty diapers to making sure she has her passy when she starts to fuss. We really are blessed to have her a part of our family and to have such wonderful, loving boys. Here are some pictures to enjoy.

This was her first bath, I was surprised she didnt fuss more.

Dalton was my photographer for this picture.

Introducing Rayleigh Marie Leutwyler

Rayleigh Marie Leutwyler made her debut on Friday, November 21, 2008 at 6:41am. She was a little bitty thing weighing in at 7 lbs even and 18 1/2 inches long.
We went into the Hospital Thursday night, close to midnight, after having contractions from my appointment on. We were admitted right away and I was dilated to a "strechy" 5 almost a 6. They put me on oxygen right away and I had to lay on my side. They said her heart rate was really fast, between 170-185 and didnt have much variability. It pretty much ran in a straight line on the monitor instead of jumping around a bit. Not a big concern. By 2:30 I was ready for my epidural, pain was getting pretty rough and I was super tired. By 3 I was at an 8, but my water had not broke yet. It was super bulgy and the nurse thought it would break at any moment and then the baby would be here so she cut down my epidural drip to basically nothing. Well, my water would not break and it was about 5:45 and I felt everything. She checked me again about 6:15 and I was complete so she called the doctor, who took his time coming. Finally, I was given the okay to push around 6:35 and my water broke and then with the next contraction I pushed and out came sweet Rayleigh in one fail swoop. We are home now and the boys are totally enamored by her, they will not leave her side and want to do everything for her. She is already on the path of spoiled little sister.

This is it!!!!

Okay, so I went to the doctor this afternoon and Rayleigh will be here tomorrow!!! I went in and was 4cm dialated. He asked about my contractions so I informed him of how many and often I have been having them. We decided to strip my membranes to try to give my body a little help. He told me I could have contractions right away and if I didnt have her tonight I could go to the ER at anytime as they would not turn me away. By the time I got home the doctor had called my house and told my mom if I did not have her tonight that I need to come in tomorrow morning after 7am and L&D would be waiting for me. He doesnt think it would take much of anything for me to have her, if he had to he would break my water and that is all it would take. So, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, Rayleigh will be here by tomorrow!!! Yeah, I am so ready and so excited!