East Lake 2012

"Fishing" from the shore

Happy Boy!

There were lots of butterflies

East Lake

Lucy and Marc

Jake wasn't too fond of the lifejacket

Golden Girl

Jake and Marc

Evan, Sean, Jake and Lucy

At the hidden pond

Robin and Marc with some of their fishing bounty. Robin is known as the harvester!

View of Paulina Lake from Paulina Peak

The Miranda Family

Daddy and Jake, on top of the world!

Little Lucy on Paulina Peak

Group shot in front of our cabin

Annual shot by the bear!

Paulina Creek Falls

For the past several years we have spent our anniversary weekend at East Lake, which is in the Newberry Caldera, one of Oregon's most beautiful natural areas. This year, however, our anniversary was just after Jake's birth, so we moved our trip to the end of July, and invited our good friends Rose and Robin to join us. It was our first trip as a family of four, and while it was exhausting at times, we had a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful, and the company was great, as Lucy had her good friend Evan to play with, Rose and I had the babies Jake and Sean, and Marc and Robin fished in the morning. We are lucky to have such good friends!

Enjoying summer!

Lucy Kat!

So sweet

Jake and Auntie Diana

Uncle Nick, Jake and Lucy

So happy!

Look at his little elf ears!

Making everybody smile!

Aunt Ronda, Jake, Lucy and TuTu

Blueberry picking with Evan. I told them to get close for the photo, and Lucy went to put her arm around Evan, and  he scooted away!

Lucy was so proud of all of the berries she picked

Little buddy loves taking baths!

August is here, and we are enjoying the warm summer days and nights here in Portland. Jake is a happy little baby boy, and Lucy is a great big sister. Jake is smiling and starting to coo a little bit. He is becoming more and more aware of his environment, and checking things out. He really likes being outside under trees. He is growing and growing, and is bigger then Lucy was at three months old, and he is only 8 weeks! He really likes to take baths, it is one of his favorite things. Tonight he was crying as we got the bath ready, but as soon as we got him in the bath he was like "ohh, this again, I like this!" He is sleeping fairly well, I can't complain there. We love him so much.  Lucy is doing well and sure loves her role as the big sister. She LOVES to help, with anything she can...diaper changes, baths, she even tried to help with nursing, like she was a little lactation consultant or something! I love talking with her now, she is so expressive and observant. She often says things like "when Daddy gets home, he is going to say Wow Lucy you cleaned your toys up!" She has learned how to skip, and it is so cute to watch her skip around.  I wish I could press "pause" and soak up the kids where they are right now, and halt the relentless forward marching of time just for a little bit! Even with all of the hard effort it takes to parent young children, it really is such a special time in all of our lives.

We have had some wonderful visitors, including my brother Nick and his wife Diana, and Marc's Mom Randy and her sister Ronda. Jake and Aunt Ronda share a birthday! We are so lucky to be surrounded by so many people that love and care about us. I am grateful for this life.

Jakey-Boy is one month old!

Just home from the hospital!

Jake, furrowed brow. 

Snuggling with Daddy, three days old

Auntie Katie is here!

Lucy loves her baby brother

Baby toes

So tiny! I can't believe how much he has already grown

Marc is a good sport

So sleepy!

Lucy and her puppies

Sean and Jake

Grammie Pam and Grampy Dave got Jake a swing!

So serious!

Special girl! 

Lucy loves her Grandparents. At Portland's Rose Garden.

Grampy Dave with his first grandson

In love!

Jake's first concert!

We had a good time at the show

Lucy danced the night away!

So sleepy!

Happy 4th!

Jake slept through most of the 4th

Little Buddy

Jake is now one month old! It has been a great month of getting to know Jake, having family and friends visit, and adjusting to being a family of four. Jake has begun to smile, which is the best! It is still unpredictable as to when you might catch a smile, but when you get one it is fabulous. He squints his little eyes, coos a little...it is so sweet. He is a good sleeper as newborns go, and usually we get two 3-4 hour stretches of sleep at night. It is great. Like most babies, he loves to nurse! His eyes are grey, but look blue if he is wearing blue...we will see what they do over time. When he was three weeks old a birthmark showed up on his left shin! I guess birthmarks can appear anytime in the first month. He has grown a lot...it is hard to believe how big he has already gotten. He loves to snuggle and be held in the daytime.  He is a happy and healthy baby boy!

Lucy is adjusting and is a fantastic big sister. She likes to help change his diaper, get his clothes on, and will tell me "Mom, he's doing his lips, he needs Momma's nummies." This means he is rooting, and needs to nurse. She helps with his baths as well. She sometimes spontaneously comes up and squeezes his chubby cheeks, and gives him kisses. She loves taking care of her babies just like I take care of Jake. She has "nursed" her baby, changes their diapers, puts them in their jammies, and even wears them in a sling. A few days after we got back from the hospital she put her baby doll crib next to her bed, just like Jake's bassinet is next to my bed. My hormones were going and it made me cry, knowing that she still identifies with me. It has been hard at times as I am so busy with the baby, and she understands to a point, but I also know she has probably felt let down by me as well. Lucy has needed lots of extra attention from Marc and I, but she is starting to settle into our new normal. She is still really into doing artwork, and her favorite thing at the moment is cutting pictures out of magazines and using them in collages and cards. She adds stickers and paint...some of her creations are really quite cool. Before the baby, she had found a picture of a pregnant Mom and daughter which she cut out, and after the baby she started cutting out all sorts of pictures of babies. It's pretty cute. Lucy often says, "I love you really much." Lucy, we love you really much!

My sister Katie came to town for a bit, as did my parents. We were happy for their help, and so glad to introduce them to Jake. Lots of friends have come to visit, and we have spent a ton of time out at the farm. Rose and Robin's second son Sean was born 4 days after Jake. It is so exciting having a friend with a newborn at the same time. Lucy and Evan's birthdays are 4 days apart as well (plus a year)...it is clear that our families are connected! We took Jake to his first concert at the Oregon Zoo, and appropriately it was to see Jake Shimabukuro, his ukulele playing namesake. Leo Kottke played as well. Several of our friends came and we all enjoyed the show. Summer is in full swing here in Oregon, and although we aren't quite able to do all of the things we generally do in summer, we are loving getting to spend time with our little Jakey-Boy. We are so blessed to have such a happy, healthy family, and so lucky to have each other.

Welcome to the world, Jake Carson!

Minutes after Jake's birth...what just happened??? :)

Daddy, Mommy and Jake

Jake was crying...probably thinking the same thing I was, what just happened to me??!!

Proud Papa

Lucy sees Jake for the first time!

Grammy TuTu and Lucy admire Jake

Siblings!

Happy Family

Jake and GrandPappy Bobby

Jake Carson

Lucy and Jake

Baby Jake Carson Leisenring was born on June 12, 2012 at 8:10 pm, 12 minutes after we got to the hospital. He was 8 lb, 11 oz and 20 3/4 in.  His birth was quite the adventure, as all births are! 

The day before he was born, Lucy and I had a really fun day together. We walked to Starbucks, then to the park, then the library and finally to lunch at a Thai restaurant and then home. We did quite a bit of walking, and had a really nice day together. It has proved to be the last Mommy-and-Lucy day as that night, at 11pm I woke up to the feeling of a release and a gush of fluid...my water broke! What a strange sensation!  After talking with the midwife, I decided to try and get some sleep. This was easier said then done, as the anticipation really takes over...once your water breaks you know the baby is coming sooner rather then later! I got a few winks here and there, in between mild contractions. Once morning arrived, I got Lucy up. I told her we were taking her to her friend Yulana's house, because my body was telling me it was time for Baby Jake to be born. Lucy looked at me, covered her eyes with her hands, and fell back onto her pillow. She stayed that way for a while. Lucy knew there was big change coming, and now it was coming soon!

Marc and I went to the midwives clinic to check on the baby and make sure everything was ok. We were given the option of going to the hospital and starting pitocin as I was not in active labor yet, or I could go home, try to rest and see what happened. We decided to give it more time and headed home. I actually did take a nap, and when I got up my contractions were stronger and more regular, but manageable. Marc's parents arrived from North Idaho at about 4pm, and I was still able to hang out, and chat in between contractions. I talked with the midwife and said I wanted to wait until morning to start pitocin, to see if my labor could really get going on its own overnight. Although I was having contractions, I did not feel they were long enough, and I was able to breathe through them, so I did not want to get to the hospital too early. I really wanted to avoid pitocin, as long as Baby Jake was ok. I was disappointed a bit though, as my co-worker had had her baby earlier in the day, and as we had such similar pregnancies, I had a feeling our babies would be born on the same day. I resigned myself to Jake being born on his due date, June 13th. 

Little did I know that in the space of an hour I would go from coping with labor just fine to totally loosing it internally. All of the sudden things got very intense, and I decided I should try and lay down. I started to think that this was crazy, women were crazy to do this, what was I thinking, why would I not want to be at the hospital with an epidural...I started feeling like I needed to get to where I was going and I was also having the urge to push, which I didn't give too much credit as I had the urge to push way to early with Lucy. Good thing that the instinct to get to the hospital was so strong, and that I didn't delay further. 

The car ride was crazy and I felt like I was barely hanging on. We got to the hospital, found a wheelchair and made it to the maternity floor. Marc was irritated with me as I insisted we bring all of the luggage. He was envisioning hours of labor. It was a relief to be there. I told the staff that I had the urge to push but that it was probably nothing...good thing they did not believe me, and started getting things ready for delivery! The midwife got there right after we did and when she checked me she said I could push...this made me feel both relieved and scared out of my mind. I did not want to face pushing out a baby without an epidural, even though in visualizing the birth I had been hoping to go without. I guess most everyone wants one in the moment, labor is hard!  The nurse teased me later for calmly asking if it was too late for one when my baby was crowning. Once I accepted my fate, I got down to pushing and 12 minutes after we arrived to the floor, Baby Jake was on my chest and screaming! It was like, what just happened??? It took a while to catch up. Hours, really. Jake was perfect and beautiful and screamed for 2 hours. It was great. I apologized for being so out of control, and everyone said I was so calm the whole time. Marc had no idea it would happen so quickly as he said I was so calm on the car ride over. He says, "I wasn't even speeding!" All I can say is that I was nowhere near calm internally and my perception was that I was shouting and screaming. Interesting how what was going on on the inside was not what I was projecting! What a wild ride! Welcome to the world, Jake Carson. May you always take us by surprise, and keep life interesting! We all love him so much.