home...

Here are some pictures of our first week at home...

This is the first time we held her in her room at home!

First nap at home...

First Valentine's Day -- Miss Highpockets couldn't fit into any of the cute things she had to wear on her first Valentine's Day.

First Valentine's kisses... blown to her Aunt Leslie

(What we aren't telling Leslie is this is actually Leah's "I'm 'bout to poop BIG" face.)

Is she a precious little girl or a little old man with no teeth and pants up to his nipples?

First nap with Daddy and Beans on the couch...

First snooze in her crib!

Precious faces...

First swing...

First trip to the doctor's office for a weight check!

In the waiting room...

First time to be completely bored in a waiting room...

After her first exam... gained back up to 6lb 12oz by 1 week old thanks to mom's force feeding... what Leah really wanted was some sleep but these crazy people keep waking her up!

After a tiring day at the doctor...

First bow... not too big though...

First time in her new stroller.....

For our first family walk...

Just another ensemble...

First straight jacket....

Lazy morning...

First bath!!!


Leah thinks this was the longest but BEST week of her life so far.

MORE

Here are a few more of the "early days." There are seriously so many photos that it makes my head spin... and when I get overwhelmed, I just ignore the problem, which is why I haven't posted much. So much to sift through! There is something to be said for the old roll of film... you just point and shoot... ONCE... and hope for the best. Now, we take 6 or 7 of the exact same thing! But I'm getting motivated so look for more photos soon.

Her first operating room... maybe she'll love guts as much as I do and be the surgeon I always wanted to be. :)

First time we held hands... they put her next to me on the stretcher before we rolled out of the O.R.

Skin to skin... the most wonderful practice at many hospitals these days! We were like this for several hours... I highly recommend holding a baby next to your skin as often as possible... there is nothing like it. :)

Yawning in Daddy's arms... those arms will do that to you.

Ready to go home...

Except everything she had to wear was WAY TOO BIG! And we were worried she would not ever get to wear some of that tiny newborn stuff. Who knew we would have such a petite little lady?

On our way home on Friday the 13th!!

Leah Caroline

She's here!

Leah Caroline Curley arrived Monday 2/9/2009 at 11:57 am.

7 lbs..... 19 inches long
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Excuse the delay in posting photos but I haven't picked up my computer until tonight... and I can barely stand not looking at her right now... who can blog when there is a precious little baby girl to stare at for hours on end?
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So here are just a few of the HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of photos that have been snapped of her so far. (I've just put a couple of the early ones up... she doesn't even look like this anymore... she changes every day!!)

That's my favorite! Her first kiss!!

We can't believe how much we love her. Thank you for all your kind words, encouragement and prayers for her safe arrival!

Big Belly Chronicles - The FINAL Volume

Here are a few final photos of Leah's old room and Leah's new room! Next time we post we will be the most proud parents of a baby girl... who may even have a middle name! :)

Her old room (underneath that famous stretchy top that just barely made it to 39 weeks!)

Her new room! With so much help from Sally and her awesome bunch (at sallyjdesigns.com). They did the bedding and drapes and made the banner for Leah's wall. I stole the idea from a framed piece that my Aunt Diane gave me when I went off to college... It said "God is watching over you, I know because I asked him to." And its always been so special to me!

Kevin thinks I forgot, but he promised to do a post of his own about a recent hunting trip that his VERY pregnant wife went on with him... it was part of the agreement that he would blog about it. So everyone has ALOT to look forward to on the Curley blog.

Last picture of me taken tonight... I'm GIVING BIRTH TOMORROW!
I'm tired and so excited!!!

Dermit...Dermie...Dermita

At first I called it Dermit. Dermit the blob, like Kermit the frog! Then I became a little attached to it and began to call it Dermie (you know, how Miss Piggy says Kermie...) But then I realized she's a girl... because she lives on an ovary... and boys don't have those...

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At our first big ultrasound, not only did we find out that our little Curley was going to be a baby girl… but we also found out that she has a little monster friend with her! Dermita – the Dermoid ovarian tumor.

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I toyed with whether or not to share this info with the world wide web… its not a great big scary deal... most of our friends and family know... and we would really like every prayer we can get since it has to be removed. I decided that Dermita is just another character in our lives, who has taken up more than her fair share of time and energy as we discussed her presence in my body and the implications she has on our lives and on my ovary. But she is a character nonetheless and therefore deserves a spot in our blog. (And hopefully a spot on a shelf in our home one day if they let me keep her when she’s removed!) We have been taking a look at it every 4 weeks to make sure it didn't grow throughout the pregnancy and it didn't! But... its pretty large and puts me at risk for further complications if left alone.

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And so, I'll be having a c-section delivery tomorrow (Monday 2/9) so they can remove the tumor through the surgical site. Leah is the star of the show of course, but Dermita is going to be very intriguing as well. Dermoid tumors (or cysts) are made up of dermal stem cells that, as they grow, can turn into all kinds of cool things like skin, teeth, hair, sweat glands etc.... Awesome and disgusting! One of my perinatologists said the way they used to diagnose this type of growth was to put an ice pack over your abdomen and if you hear chattering teeth, you know its a dermoid! :) I wanted to try this test, but I had the more sophisticated diagnostic MRI.

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I have imagined all along that Leah's little friend in there looks like this...

or maybe a little "Bubba" like this...

My sister was most concerned that Dermita might bite the baby! But she has been a rather good tenant... I mean... if you have to have a hairy, toothy tumor residing in your body.

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We appreciate your prayers so much. God has had his hand on every moment of our lives all the way through this and we know He will continue to be in control. We ask that you continue to pray that above all... Leah is born healthy!

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(I promise NOT to post a picture of Dermita if they let me take one... but will email by request only...)

Lil Kev

For our last New Year's Eve as a childless couple, Kevin and I had Japanese food (no sushi for me though) with some of our great friends, Brandon and Lisa... and then he took me to a bar. That's right... just a few friends and our fetus at a tavern on NYE 2008! One with a little karaoke action no less (but NO SMOKING!) You should know that while in law school, my husband perfected his Lil Jon impression and received many standing ovations and performed many an encore. My precious husband can rap! And so... he does... occasionally... if the "mood" strikes him. :-)

Remember I said no smoking, but the giant bull on the wall blew smoke out of his nose every once in a while. (Kevin tells me it only blows for the best performances.) Notice a couple of the Eastside Boyz doing a little backup (although we think their mic was off, because you could hear nothing but Kevin hollering at us to stop and wiggle wit it and bend over and touch our toes.... skeet skeet skeet... or something like that.)


Their song truly got the most audience participation of the entire evening, and a couple of strangers came up to me and said "Is that YOUR husband? He looked so sweet..." Not sure what that means. Sweet boys don't rap? Or maybe white boys with their "white collars" tucked in to their slacks don't rap?


And this, I believe, is a photo of Brandon and Kevin vogueing?
Or raising the roof after their stellar performance?
Lisa and I can't figure out what makes them act this way when they get together.


Another belated blog entry.
I know Kevin will LOVE that I finally documented this night. Happy 2009!

I may never need another shower

I promise to bathe though! These are LONG overdue, as are all my posts this month, but I wanted to share a few pictures from the sweet showers given for me and Leah by my friends, family and co-workers.

My sweet hostesses... Sweetest friends in the world!

Jennifer, Brandie, Leslie, Marci and Amber

My moms (Real mom, Betty, on the left... Mom-in-law, Julie, on the right)

My vertically challenged cousin Hillary... my tummy could sit right up on top of hers... until she had sweet baby Ryan on 12/30/08!

My nurses... Cherish and Linda

My attorneys... Marci, Kevin and Amber

My family -- a fraction of the girls on my moms side of the family, but I love any picture we can get of a bunch of us together... one boy snuck in the picture, but he's too cute to care!

My friend Monica and I had our shower at work together! She had Mary Grace on 1/29/09. She's the one on the right... friend Laney on the left.

My (former) boss Patti - the greatest one ever! This is funny cause I'm usually the one with my mouth wide open in pictures.

And my dear friends from church gave us another shower that was so sweet.

I love these girls! Kelly, Loree, Cassie and Lisa

Our dining room looked like this (with a new variety of piles of pink things rotating on a weekly basis) from December to February... We are so grateful! It brings me to tears (and it would even if I wasn't a hormonal wreck.)

Oh, and I can't forget the surpirse shower given by my friends at the clinic a couple of weeks ago! I don't have any photos, but I will be forever grateful.

Thanks to everyone!