At fifteen days...

... she's still pretty little, even swimming inside that bonnet that Grandma gave her 

Visiting Aleta

Grandma Eleanor and Grandpa Ken Leftwich came to see Aleta in the hospital just a few hours after she was born.
Grandma Jean Hedley spending some quiet time with her new granddaughter

Uncle Glenn came from Regina to see his new niece the first weekend after she came home.

Parisa Sheermohammadi and Lotfi Haji and their youngest, Farah, came all the way from Saskatoon last weekend to see Aleta!

Various cousins came by this week too, but we missed getting pictures of all of them. Here are Lee & Linda (with Dale, Lotfi & Farah), and Debbie.

Family picture

Somehow it's hard to get a good family picture, but this will suffice for now... 

Popsicles

Anyone have a good recipe for popsicles? It has been so hot here since way before Aleta was born, and lacking air conditioning, I have been so happy to have popsicles. But I would like some variation from my recipe for popsicles, which is about 20% jello mix and the rest some kind of juice. I use this mix, because using just juice tends to have the flavour pool up at one end so by the end all you have is ice. But as I say, variety would be nice too. So if anyone has a recipe that they find particularly good, please let me know.

Aleta is still a bit young for popsicles. I feel sorry for her having to drink body-temperature liquid all the time, but she doesn't seem to be complaining. In fact, she's starting to pudge up nicely!!!

Embarking on a new phase of life

Aleta (pronounced Aleeta) is now 8 days old.

This last week has been quite the beginning to our journey with her. We are in complete awe of this perfect, beautiful, little girl (no bias here). The birth went fairly well, despite having to be induced after my waters broke at 2:40 a.m. and the contractions had not started by noon. I had no idea that getting induced generally means a stronger (read: more painful) labour. Honestly, even Bill Cosby's characterization of birth as having your bottom lip pulled up and over your head comes no where near to reality (but it was a nice try). Apparently I will forget it and will go on to have three more children (if my brother, who says the Hedley standard is four -- we were four, and two of my brothers each have four -- is at all accurate in his predictions). The thing is, it is painful and it is hell but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything, because it means that we have this precious angel at the end of it all.

Dale and my mom were both there through the entire labour and birth, and the nurses were really great. The doctor showed up a couple of times and good thing he was there because, well, without getting too graphic, there were a few complications, nothing too life-threatening but let's just say I'm glad I didn't try to give birth at home. But she was born after about 3 and a half hours of active labour, which I'm told is pretty good. The thing I want to know is, how can anyone give birth silently? One of my friends in Toronto said she was thinking about me that whole afternoon and I said she must have heard me screaming from all the way over here.

We came home on Monday the 10th and have been getting used to our new life ever since. My mom will still be here for at least another week, and in between helping with the baby and cooking and cleaning, is weeding the garden and entertaining the cat. Zeddie, by the way, is still trying to come to terms with this new creature we brought home, who seems to have more priority than she does now.

I was happy to hear that two other babies were born this week to dear friends of mine. Congratulations to Elin and Dominic on the arrival of Jamila Nyamwiza, and to Michael and Sevda on the birth of their second child, Adib Alexander!

She has finally arrived!

We are happy to announce the arrival of our daughter!

Aleta Grace Leftwich














Born on 7 July 2006, at 4:30 p.m.
Yorkton General Hospital, Yorkton, Saskatchewan

Stats: Weight 3180 g (7 lb ¼ oz); Height 51 cm (20 inches)

Historical note: She is named in honour of Aleta Hedley and Gracie Leftwich, the mothers of both of her grandfathers.