Giving into the pressure to "BLOG"

So, to be honest, I have probably only looked at a total of 5 different people's blogs in my lifetime and I am unfamiliar with the whole idea. However, I have had many people tell me that I would be the perfect "blogger" and they are surprised that I have never started one. Therefore, after thinking it through, I decided that I would at least attempt to "blog" - especially since we live across the country from all our family and a lot of our friends. And this is a perfect time b/c of the new baby and this will give us an opportunity to share pictures of her. YEAHHH....i am actually kind of excited to get this going!!

She is here!!!

Seneka Leigh Scott

January 10, 2008 ~ 3:17 pm

7 lbs 7.7 oz ~ 20 1/2 inches

~

Seneka made her grand appearance on Jan. 10th...two days past her due date. Mistie was induced because she was already dilated to almost a 4 and 90% effaced but little missy still wasn't coming, so we just helped her along a bit!!

Everyone asks where we got her name. The answer is... that over the summer, we were visiting Palmyra, NY (upper-state NY) to see the Hill Comorah Pageant and at the time we were trying to think of names for the baby. We had an extra day to kill, so we drove north up to Seneca Valley. We were completely taken back by the beauty of this area. There was Seneca Falls, Seneca Lake, Seneca River, etc.... and the country was just beautiful. I remember looking over at Troy and saying, "What about SENECA for a name?" And he said, "I actually like that" and from there in the back of our minds we started really considering it for her name. We looked up the name in the baby book and it actually means "leader." In addition, it is also the name of an indian tribe...the Seneca Indians. And once we saw her, we couldn't deny both of our feelings b/c it just fit her....so, she was named SENEKA LEIGH. Troy and Mistie both have the middle names of Leigh/Lee...so that is where she got that part of it.

We already love her so much. She is such a sweetheart and overall is really a good baby. She loves kisses and hugs and likes to be held close and snuggled. This is good for mommy b/c mommy also likes to snuggle and Troy and Ashton get sick of me trying to beg them to snuggle me, so now i can have my own personal snuggler.

She has beautiful dark skin and lots of dark hair. She has a perfectly round little face and chubby cheeks. It is indeniable that she has her daddy's nose and we think she might have her mommy's eyes. We'll see. They change so much each day. At the end of the day though, she will just look like Seneka..so i guess it doesnt really matter anyway!

Pictures too cute to leave out

"FLOWER" Ashton always called the baby "flower" when I was pregnant and he says he still wants to call her that. So, I thought this headband says it all... (i realize it is as big as her head, but still was cute for a picture!!) In addition, the shirt she is wearing has a story behind it as well. I was given a baby shower by Troy's family and Sylvia put on the invitation that it was for "Mistie and Flower." Many of the recipients thought that was really the name we were giving her. Therefore, i received this shirt for a shower gift that reads "say it with flowers" b/c they were trying to coordinate it with her name. We all had a good laugh when they realized it was only a joke that her name was "Flower!"

Seneka catching some ZZZZZZZs

**SLEEPING BEAUTY**

Sweet Seneka loves to sleep. And the cutest part of it all is how she positions herself, especially her hands. She always puts them up by her face and almost frames her face with them. Also, she prefers to be held while she sleeps. This rings true during the night as well. After she finishes eating and we try to lay her in her bed, she immediately starts crying. But once we pick her up and snuggle her up to us in our bed, she is instantly silent and silent until the next time she is due to eat. How could you not love her?!!

BIG BROTHER!!!!!!!!

Ashton was excited to help make pink rice crispy treats shaped like ducks and teddy bears to pass out to his Pre-K class. He was very anxious to show them a picture of the baby also. His teacher said that he would tell the class each day something new like that "his baby" had her first bath, etc... and he was very proud. Each of the children colored mommy a picture and sent them home with Ashton...it was sweet.

I think at first, it was a bit of a rough transition for Ashton...which should be expected, i guess. I think he was questioning whether he wanted this new addition around. But each day has gotten SO MUCH better. Now Ashton is such a helper and so excited to have his sister around. He told me that he wants to marry her when she is bigger because he loves her. He likes to read her books and shake a rattle at her. He is looking forward to her getting bigger so he can play better with her. Really, he is so careful with her and such a good BIG BROTHER!!

Proud Parents...

Granny, Papa and Mimi's visit

We were so lucky to have Granny come and stay with us for 2 1/2 weeks. She was even here for a week before the baby (b/c we were certain that i was going to go early!). She was such a wonderful help and also a great friend for Ashton to have before and after the baby. It really was so nice to have her here.

And then the last 5 days of her stay, Mimi and Papa came and stayed. It was fun to be able to show the baby to family and of course Ashton was thrilled to have people to play with him as well. It worked out great too b/c they were all able to go with Ashton to help chaperone on his field trip to a children's museum, which just happened to be while they were visiting.

The hospital

Our NYC baby girl!!!

Even though we live in NJ, we decided to have our baby in NYC. We live very close to NYC, Troy works in NYC and my OBGYN was in NYC...therefore, we decided to go ahead and have a NYC BABY! We delivered at NYU Medical Center on 31st Street and 1st Ave. With no traffic, it took us less than 30 minutes to get there...so, really not too bad. Originally, Mistie was stressed because depending on when I went into labor, we had to worry about the Holland Tunnel being backed up, how Troy would get to me if he was working in the City, what to do with Ashton, would I make it to the hospital in enough time, etc... However, a lot of these delimmas were resolved when A. my mom came out earlier than planned "just in case" and B. my delivery in the end was scheduled and so we didnt need to worry about all those other details b/c it was 6am on a Thursday morning (with no traffic yet) that we needed to be to the hospital. YEAHHH!! What a relief!!

Hello World!!!

Grandma Maxwell took a taxi and arrived with Ashton about 45 minutes after Seneka was born.

Ashton was so worried about mommy and the baby being hurt and having blood on us. So, he was relieved to see we were all right. What a good big brother he was already!! He colored pictures for each of us and brought them to the hospital. He also brought the baby a Disney Princess shirt (b/c he says the baby will be a princess) and a stuffed animal...all wrapped up.

Granny

Our family is more complete now...

The proud daddy. Troy just kept saying how beautiful she was. And also he was so excited that she looked so much like him. He was so ecstatic to have a little girl...she already had him wrapped!!

It read "Delivered with Love at NYU Medical Center" on her beanie hat

Seneka's basinet had a picture of Ashton in it, as well as the stuffed animal that Ashton gave her...so that she felt more at home in the hospital.

My "ROOM" (or lack thereof)

I feel a movie could have been made about my stay in the hospital after the delivery. Let's just say it is NOTHING like having a baby in Utah. I will spare you all the little details but I will give you an overview. I sat in my room and stared at dirty drapes that surrounded me and didn't really close all the way, so my roomate and her 20 guests could just take a peak whenever they walked by. The babys bassinet barely fit inside my draped room b/c there was no space. I was woken up many times during the night by the lights coming on or the nurses talking loudly to my roomate or the loud intercom. My roomate and her guests could hear any word spoken or whispered, as well as i could hear the same from them. The bathroom that we shared was filthy and never cleaned and not sanitary, in addition to my room. I took a shower down the hall in a communinity shower that was also disgusting. In addition, you have to pay $24 to park for 2 hours in the garage there. And if you leave for an hour and come back, you pay the $24 again. I will stop there. I guess it just wasn't what i expected. Or maybe it is just SOOO different from Utah, which is all we've known. It is over now but at the time, i really had a struggle. After a baby, you really need some privacy in my opinion and a window to see outside isnt bad to lift the spirits! Oh well. Seneka is here and healthy and she was born in the middle of it all -in NYC- and that will be a fun story to tell so it was worth it in the end.

Getting ready to leave the hospital...what a CUTIE

The Missionaries

We love the cute missionaries. Troy is the ward mission leader so he works with them on a weekly basis. We had been meaning to have them over for dinner for months. So, we decided New Years Day would be a great opportunity to have all 6 over-since we were going to be alone anyway. We had sloppy joes...i think they each ate 3 or 4, which was great! One elder was from Somoa, one was from Brazil and the others I believe were from California and Utah. Ashton has always loved the missionaries, so he was in heaven to have them all there. One even sat at his little table with him to eat dinner, which he thought was the best. I was reminded at how humble they are to be out serving for 2 years of their life...they really do have such a great spirit about them...it was great having them in our home.