Siena's Supreme Court Lesson

With Kagan's confirmation hearing underway, Siena offered us her views on the Supreme Court.

Siena Update: Pool time with Picky!

With my nursing board exam looming and a newborn to feed, I have been extremely grateful for all of the help I've received lately. Especially helpful have been Joe and Picky, who have spent countless hours entertaining Siena while I study. Picky and Siena have taken almost daily trips to the pool, and she's becoming quite the fan! She was very excited about trying out her new "floaty suit," as you can tell...

2 Weeks Old... Recent Pics

These first 2 weeks as a family of four have flown by! Elizabeth is growing rapidly and has already well-surpassed her birth weight. She loves to eat, for sure! Other favorite activities right now are snuggling up to Mommy in the sling, getting kisses from her big sister, burping, and grunting. Nothing ladylike about this one! Her grunts are sometimes so loud at night that it's hard to sleep, but I'm gradually getting used to her noises (or I'm just too exhausted to care!). Some recent pics:

You have to envy the life of a newborn, with all of the sleep they get! You can see that Libby's coloring is very fair, with reddish-brown hair, very light eyebrows and eyelashes, and fair skin. I'm not sure where her coloring came from -- the only person on either side I can think of with similar coloring is her Uncle Andy. She'll be our sunscreen baby, for sure!

Ready to play! The handmade blanket was a gift from an old friend of Winnie and Picky's, Mary Colvig. Beautiful.

Siena decided it was time to hold the baby after one of her trips to the pool. Libby didn't seem to mind.

Kisses for Elizabeth! These two are already great sisters.

First Week at Home

Elizabeth's first week at home has been fun and relaxing, albeit sleep-deprived! We've been laying low at home for the most part, adjusting to life as a family of four. Siena has been a GREAT big sister and can't get enough of the baby. She continues to be her happy, fun-loving self despite the occasional baby cries and the little person that has taken over Mommy's lap. Having Joe at home to help has been wonderful, not only for my sake but also for Siena's. We really couldn't have timed this birth better! :) The only tweak in the timing is my upcoming nursing board exam, for which I have to devote study time every day. Yuck! I'll be SO happy in a couple of weeks to be able to focus solely on my family and not try to juggle family time with study time (assuming I pass, that is!).

As for baby Libby, she is an easy-going little one who basically just sleeps and eats at this point. She has been very patient with her older sister's less-than-gentle handling, and has only fussed once when Siena accidentally hit her in the face with a toy. :) I'm sure there will be lots more of that to come! We couldn't be happier with our little family.

We were lucky enough to have Joe's parents in town for Libby's first few days at home, which was a huge help as we adjusted to the sleepless nights and juggling responsibilities with two little ones. Siena LOVED having Grandma and Grandpa "Yak" in town, and hasn't stopped talking about them since. We can't wait to see them again soon.

Grandpa's chest is a favorite napping spot

Relaxing with the fam, getting lots of kisses from big sister.

Meeting the Family

Elizabeth's most anticipated introduction was of course to big sister Siena, and it didn't disappoint. Siena was in love with her baby sister at first sight, although she soon was more interested in the ducks on the baby's blanket. These two are going to be best friends forever... such a fun moment.

Hi li'l sis!

Happy family of four... It's hard to believe we have TWO kiddos now!

Winnie is tickled pink at her second granddaughter.

Uncle Andy happened to be in town for the birth -- what a special treat!

Elizabeth Jane's Arrival

I apologize for taking over a week to post photos of Elizabeth's debut -- life has been busy, to say the least! Please enjoy these photos of Elizabeth's birth. My good friend JJ acted as my "doula" (backing up Joe, of course), and took these amazing pictures of the birth. I had to scale down the pixels quite a bit for them to upload to the webpage, but you get the idea. THANK YOU, JJ! It was another beautiful natural delivery, and we couldn't be happier with our little blessing. Life is good!

The first of many walks down the hospital hallway. My contractions had started Thursday morning along with chills and a fever, so my doctor recommended coming in right away rather than waiting at home. As I was already 5-6 cm when we arrived I expected the labor to progress fairly quickly, but Elizabeth had other plans. By 8:30 pm that evening I still hadn't progressed, and contractions were still easy to manage. I was resistant to augmentation since I desired a natural birth, but my doctor was still concerned about my fever (although it had broken soon after our arrival at the hospital). We decided on a plan to walk briskly for the next hour to see if we could get things moving, since that had worked well with Siena's birth. I'd spent more time in the bed than I would've liked due to my low energy level with the fever, so I was happy to go along with the plan...

...and it worked! After an hour of good walking I was 8 cm and already entering transition. After some time on the birth ball Elizabeth was ready to arrive, and came out after just 2 pushes. Talk about a quick end to a long day! Such a joyous arrival.

Hello world!!

Bonding with Mama

Meeting Daddy

Our alert little one -- with her daddy's chin!

With Jen (aka JJ), our friend and doula

Dr. Dixon admiring his latest delivery. How blessed we were to have such a wonderful doctor present for Libby's arrival.

Junebug has arrived!

Joe and I are overjoyed to announce the birth of our daughter Elizabeth Jane Sustar, born 6/10/10 at 10:19 pm, 7 lbs 9 oz and 20 inches long. We had another beautiful natural birth, and mother and baby are doing great. We are overwhelmed by our many blessings! We can't wait for Siena to meet her little sister "baby Libby" tomorrow morning. More pictures, birth story, etc, to come.

Recent Happenings

Well, since there's still no baby news to report (even though we're 2 days past the due date), here is a little post on our recent activities. We've had a busy few days as Auntie Putz and Uncle Andy have been in town for Winnie and Picky's 35th anniversary celebration. We had a great party with our family friends the Azars, who share the same anniversary date. Siena has had a blast hanging out with her extended family, and we spent a fun-filled afternoon at the zoo yesterday. Hopefully Auntie Putz will be sending pictures soon, as I didn't have my camera along. Siena is definitely a HUGE fan of animals... Every morning when Daddy asks her what she wants to do that day, she says "animals!". Having Daddy around every day has also been a huge bonus this past week -- you can't beat a teacher's schedule!

Other news and events from the week:

Our new van! We are officially a minivan family now, just in time for the new baby's arrival. It's a Toyota Sienna (ha ha) that we purchased from some family friends. A great deal for a great car! We couldn't be happier with it, and it'll hopefully serve us well as our family grows.

My growing belly. Yes, we've officially passed 40 weeks of pregnancy! It's all a matter of time now. I still don't think anything is imminent, but we'll see. Keep checking the blog for updates -- we'll post as soon as we have some news!