It's a Smile
It's a smile! I know, I have heard that babies don't smile at such a young age, and that it's just gas.... they are WRONG! This little guy is always smiling and making the best faces! London gets a kick out of him, my mom told her the other day that angels are playing with him and talking with him. You could see her little mind working and processing what grandma said as she watched him smile and make sweet noises. He is such a sweetheart, you can really feel his little spirit fill our home!

KINGSTON MARK LUECK

He is here!!! Yeah! Friday April 25, 2008 at 6:16am he arrived a whopping 8lbs 4oz , 21 inches. The delivery was quick, however the preparation for the c-section was 2 hours long and my recovery is still in progress. Everything went well, we have a healthy baby boy, a happy big sister and a proud daddy.... and I am doing great!

We brought Kingston home Sunday morning. I am not one to hang out in the hospital, I get restless. However, this time I had such a great experience and my over all stay was great I could not have asked for a better Dr, nurses or facility. I just could not wait to take our little guy home!!!

I told Rob that things feel so complete at this time of our lives. I love my little family, Kingston has made his place in our home and our hearts at the perfect time! We are so grateful that we have Grandma McNicol here with us to help out... I love my mom and am so grateful for her love and support as our family breaks into a great new adventure of life. It is so exciting that our family is growing!

Here are a few pictures of our sweet Kingston... London calls him prince Kingston.

Look at those big feet.. his toes are long little things!

Our Family!!!!

Prepping for the big arrival 4am.....

What is that basketball under my robe?! UHH! He will be here sooon! (sigh of relief)

Kingston in his Glory

Big sister, Dad and Kingston

Grandma McNicol giving little Kings some Grandma Love...

Our Surprise Visitor!!! Emily Eagar, a special and dear friend was in town and called us up to see if we could get together ( not knowing we had just had the baby).... She came the next day gifting beautiful yellow Tulips (my favorite) and bringing her sunshine! Love you Em!

OVER DUE AnD VENTING!
YES! & NO! Yes I m still pregnant and.... still NO baby boy in my arms! This has been the longest week of my life! I have been dilated to a one for the last week with no progress. My cervix is still thick and still no progress. Ughhhh! I cannot help but feel frustration flow through my body as this week has gone by. I have walked and walked, tried other natural suggested options and nothing. I have felt contractions throughout last weekend and some this week and thought, hmm this is it! Unfortunately not! I have a wonderful Doctor who is very optimistic and has cheered me on the whole way and supported me in my decision to try this delivery VBAC. Tuesday I meet with my Dr. and still no change! Unfortunately after discussing options and circumstances it looks as if this delivery will be another c-section.
I was crushed and disappointed, but my doctor would still say, you have a few more days lets see if you'll go into labor. I of course was very emotional.. poor guy and felt as if my stubborn body was winning. I had felt so liberated that I was making a choice for me and my body to have this baby differently than things happened with London.
I have to tell you the sweetness of my little princess. As I was all emotional at the Dr's office, trying to hold back tears I had my face covered with my hands and all of a sudden I felt a hand touch my leg ( mind you I am sitting on the table just after being checked with the lovely paper blanket draped over my nude body) I looked down to see who was holding my leg and little miss London was looking up at me with her beautiful big blue eyes with the most concerned look I have ever seen her have and said "mom, it's okay", everything is going to be okay." I am so grateful for my little person who touches me with the purest love and makes me feel complete when I am broken at times. When we got into the car.. me still crying, London again assures me that everything is going to be alright and asks me to give her my hand, " I will make you better!" I love her! I am so grateful for her in our little family, she is soo cool!
Well, I went home depressed and an emotional wreck. I felt alone as if this situation was out of my control. I knelt down and addressed my heartache to heavenly father. With instant comfort and assurance that everything would be alright, I knew I was not alone. The next morning with fervent prayer I wanted to know if it was possible to have this baby the way I wanted to have him! In humility and love, I knew that my desires as pure and simple, where not the ideal. Since that morning prayer I have felt confident that making the decision to go forward with another c-section is necessary.
My Dr. and I discussed that possibly my pelvis is to narrow and the baby cannot drop far down enough to thin the cervix as needed. For whatever reason, things are not working as we hoped and he cannot let me go over 41 weeks, it is just not healthy for the baby, the placenta and for myself as I have the scar tissue from the previous cesarean. Things with London never happened, she never even dropped nor did I even dilate, they induced me after she was 4 days over her due date and was measuring smaller than previous weeks.. so they induced and things didn't go as planned.
I don't know the reasons, but I know I have tried all that I could, my Dr. has been patient and we discussed all that we could do with my previous situation and with our situation now. If any of you reading this and wondering if he could just induce me, the answer is no! Too many risks! If I was dilating and I was a three he could insert a monitor on the baby's head and regulate the baby and uterus and start me on a light patosine, making sure there was not a rupture in the uterus and the baby was fine. That isn't even an option as I am having no progress and even stripping the membranes was impossible this last Tuesday.
So, all in all I have not gone into labor, not even feeling any more contractions.. nothing! We have set a time to take this little guy tomorrow morning at 6am. My mom is flying out tonight so she can be here with Londs and see little Jr. I am nervous but so excited to have a healthy baby boy in my arms!
For those of you that have called to check in, Thank you!! It means a lot to know I have loyal friends who love me. Sorry I have been a bum and have not answered the calls. I just haven't felt like talking about things and then explaining it over and over again. I love you all and thanks for all your prayers and thoughts! I will keep you posted on everything, especially on the arrival of baby boy Lueck!

39 Week Maternity Pictures

I never thought about taking maternity pictures with London, now I wish I would have. When you register with Baby R Us for the baby, they give you a free 8x10 maternity picture. So, I found the offer the other day while cleaning through everything.. (that nesting thing) and decided to take pictures with Londs and the belly.

Today we did it! It was fun! We always go to Kiddie Kandids for our pictures, if it be for London or even for our family photos. They are so good with the kids, they have so many options and don't have a sitting fee, we love it! These turned out okay! I love London in the pictures, she is so sweet and sincere! The more I got to thinking about maternity pictures, the thought came to me that most people take them earlier on. This little guy is going to be here anyday (crossing my fingers) and here I am taking pictures. HAAA! I had to laugh at myself!

PROJECTS
Here are a few projects we have been working on. We finally finished my childhood bed for little miss London. I grew up in this bed from the age two through high school, now we are passing it onto my little princess. It has been fun working on it, well..... really Robbie has done the majority of the work... sanding, priming and fixing the side rails on the drawers. Lots of work!!! We still need to have it painted, but it will be painted white just as it looks.
I have kept myself busy with a few of my own projects as you see below. I have made birp clothes, decorated Londs letters, bow making and making gifts for friends having little princesses. It has been fun! I am just getting ready for this baby boy to get here! Rock ON!

Two post in one
My little Ant Hunter...

London loves to be outside. What little toddler would oppose the outdoors, not this one! Everywhere we go she is picking up little leaves, sticks, rocks and gifting them to me. The other day we were at the store and she asked if I would get her this bug magnifying catcher. I asked her "what are you going to do with this?" Thinking she had no clue to what it was for, she replied "to catch ants mom!" Alright, I was taken back as I thought she wanted the big blue magnifer for her blue collection. That is another post!

To my surprise she knew what it was and what she was going to do with it. Soo, as soon as we woke up from our nap we set out to find ants! To our disapointment we found the ground to be antless. I didn't even think that it would be too cold still. Robbie gently reminded me of that small detail. We even left a popcicle out to grab their attention, but still the next day no ants. London is now just waiting for the day we can go ant hunting!







Here we have my little bug sitting quite at a babyshower. I love this girl! We have so much fun together!!!

Fourteen Days..... and Counting!!!

My friend Keli and I are due within just days from each other, so we thought it would be fun to get a belly shot. We are both expecting boys. This is Keli's first and we are so excited for her!


Soooo... fourteen days and counting! I went into my appointment today and so far nothing much is happening. My doctor said I have dropped a little, but a little is 2 cm.. not much! I am really hoping we can have this baby differently this time. London was C-section and I have a new doctor this time around who is willing to let me try a VBAC. I hope all goes successful!
Here are a few recent pictures of the belly. I have had several people ask if I am due any day... What?! Do I look that huge? When I tell them we still have weeks they act surprised and say are you sure your not having twins?! I love how people communicate with pregnant women!!!!

Easter 2008

Easter was exhausting this year! Besides having a swelling belly and being tired, Robbie was sick all weekend along with little miss London. I know, every time I post I make mention that our sick infested family is ill again. I have no idea why this season has been a sick one for us, but we tend to catch everything that this sick season has to offer!
So, with Robs laid up in bed, Londs and I tried our best to manage. Saturday evening we decorated Easter eggs Princess style!!! Rob came out to help, but we didn't get pictures just video! Sunday morning I was the camera man and videographer, which does not work well. So I just have a few pictures of the Easter basket unveiling. London was a quick one this year... she was out getting into all the baskets before I could even get the camera ready! It is fun to see her get excited about each holiday and what it has to offer.
It was special to talk with London about what Easter is all about besides all the fun foo foo stuff. It amazes me how much she already knows about the Savior and that she complies to the things I teach her about the spiritual part of life. I appreciate Easter being on the Sabbath day when you take the time to go to church with your family and feel of the spirit that attending church has to offer.
Here we have our photo shoot after church, all dressed up! As you can see, London was not very thrilled with picture taking. I had to post some of the faces and poses she made... she cracks me up!!! Funny girl!
This dress has a special place in London's heart, she had to have it!!!! It was a rare find at TJ Max and every time we would go back in the last month she had to find her dress and try it on! The second time we went back to find it, it was no where to be found... needless to say she cried and cried and said " mom that was my most favorite dress, we should have taken it home last time!" I felt so bad! So, to my amazement we found it the third time just to see if it happened to be there, because she kept talking about her princess dress we didn't get. We found it! The same dress, the only dress and only in her size. She even got posessive when we went into the changing room to try it on again. The lady helping us in the changing room took the dress along with a few others to count them before going into the dressing room, London lost it! She told the lady that it wasn't her dress over and over and started crying. I was taken back by her response (trying not to laugh) I explained that she wasn't taking her dress. I guess she didn't want to loose it again, because she kept asking me... "can we take this dress home this time?!"(sigh) I guess in all, it was meant for this princess!

These are a few flowers and bows I made to coordinate with her Easter dress, I love making my own bows, clippies and accessories. Little girls are so fun to dress up!

Princess, Princess, Princess..... that's what the Easter Bunny brought! Her first Princess watch.

Listening to her Disney Princess books on CD.

Baby Layla's Blessing, Family and a few adventures........

Old news is better than no news, right?! Almost two weeks ago we made our way up to the cold Utah climate for a family gathering, baby Layla's blessing. It was a quick trip, up Friday evening and back Sunday afternoon. It was so worth every moment we had with family. Upon our arrival I came down with a stinky cold, rather a pain all over! I was sick and pregnant, what better shape to travel.. if you know what I mean. It was a great time to all be together for such a wonderful occasion.
We stopped in Mapleton and stayed with the Tuttles. Ty and Tiff are always so awesome to see. Thanks for the warm bed and yummy food! Tiff took Londs for a ride on Spot, which she loved! It was so great to feel the cold, see the beautiful mountains topped with white snow and enjoy fresh air!
Baby Layla's blessing was perfect and such a great time to reflect on the blessings we have been given, family and the restored gospel. It makes me so excited to have this little guy join our family. It is always humbling to see a worthy priesthood hold a small infant in hand and give a name and blessing. What an appealing sight!

Beautiful Baby Layla, dressed all in white.......

The Lueck Clan L to R: Kelli, Ricky, Mama Lueck, David, King Lueck, Robbie, Ash & Todd

The Robster and me!

Londs and her horsey ride.......

London and Grandma Lueck.

Singing In The Rain!!!!

Need I say More?! Vegas doesn't get much rain, but when we do get rain, we run outside singing and splashing in the puddles! London loves her little umbrella, she asks everyday if it is raining so she can use it. She is my sweet pea! I don't have an umbrella mainly because it doesn't rain enough to pack and store something so useless and secretly, I love the rain and I love to feel it on my face and skin, so why have an umbrella? London cannot get over why Dad has an umbrella and mom doesn't. As we were walking outside to play in the rain, London says " Mom I need to buy you an umbrella." LOL She is always so thoughtful of others and such a sweetheart!
We love when nature brings sweetness to the earth and makes our typical day full of surprises!

"These are the goods that keep your feet dry while splashing in puddles and they are my most favorite!" (London)