Christmas Time is Here Again

I can't believe it's almost Christmas! How exciting to have our first Christmas as a family! He's a little young to appreciate the ripping of wrapping paper and the surprise of the gifts that are under the tree, but I am so happy to be able to share those things with him and watch him grow. My favorite part of the season doesn't come wrapped in packages though...it's being able to spend time with the ones I love and appreciate all of the intangible gifts life gives, like love, family and friendship. It does make me miss loved ones that are no longer with us, but they are with our savior, the one who this season is really about.


I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

He talks!!!

Maybe not words, but he's trying.  So cute...

Lots of stuff to update!

Wow, it has been too long since I've posted last, but thats probably because of all the crazyness that has been going on lately!  We finally got into our new house and are settling in very nicely.  It has taken a couple weeks to get everything in order, but I think now things are coming along nicely...we still have some boxes to go through, but for the most part, everything is done.  I just have the fun part to do now (decorating)  :) 

Since my last blog, Adrian has made some more milestones like cooing...his first word is "ah goo"  okay okay, so it's not a real word, but he says it pretty well...and uses it in all different occassions, like happy, sad, and angry...it's a versatile word I guess ;)  He also had his first shot and seemed to do pretty well, and he has his follow up ultrasound appointment on Friday.  I am getting nervous for it, although he is making all of his milestones and seems to be doing great, I still have that fear that the doctor will say something is not quite right... I guess I get anxious now with any kind of testing just because when we went into the ultrasound to find out his gender, I never expected to get bad news like we did, but obviously everything turned out fine.  This ultrasound is just for piece of mind, but is still nerve-wrecking beforehand nonetheless.

Adrian is such a great little baby and I am so glad that we have him in our lives.  He smiles a lot now which is SO great.  There was a time that he just constantly cried and I just couldn't calm him down...I was so envious of all the other moms because it seemed like all of their babies were being so great and I just happened to be the "lucky" one to get the baby that cried all the time...I felt like a horibble mom and called my mom on several occassions to tell her just that.  Manny would tell me that I was doing a great job and that I was a great mom, but I just couldn't believe him on those "bad" days.  Everyone would say that it would get better, but it just didn't seem to get better quickly enough...well, the time has come finally!  :)  Yes, he still cries, but it's usually only if he's hungry or when he's really tired and fighting sleep.  He sleeps really well at night and is only waking at least once to eat, but goes right back to sleep after burping.  I am looking forward to the day that he sleeps through the night, but him waking once at night is not bad at all :)

I have plenty of pictures to share, so I willl get right to it...I will also try and get before and after pictures of the house up soon too. Enjoy!! (if you click on the pics, you can see them bigger)

  

 Movies... :)  Pay no attention to me, I sound crazy lol

Goodbye Papa

On Thursday my Papa passed away without hardly any warning.  One moment he was in the hospital recovering from pneumonia and then the next moment I got a phone call saying that his time was limited and the leukemia was taking over.  At that moment I had wished that I had made it to his and Judi's wedding just days before.  So we hopped on a plane and made it in time to spend a couple hours with him.  It's hard to say goodbye to a loved one, but especially hard when we lost Grandma Betty less than 2 years ago, and especially heartbreaking that Papa and Judi had only just begun their married life together.  He cared for and loved her deeply, I could tell from our phone conversations and the way he looked at her.
I am so thankful out of all of this that Papa got to meet Adrian.  I only wish that it wasn't under those circumstances.  I wish that he had more time on this earth, but I find peace in the fact that he is no longer suffering and him and grandma are watching over us.

We love you Papa Boots.  You will be missed terribly. 

Picture time!

I love my little man...uh oh, he woke up, hold on just a sec........

Okay, I'm back. He has a tummy ache and is not a very happy baby today.  I hope he will sleep tonight, but I won't hold my breath either :)

So today I took some pictures (like I do every day) and I thought I'd share.  He is just too gosh darn cute, I can't get enough of him (even when he's fussy...it just makes me appreciate the times when he's happy even more)...let me tell you what though, grandmas must have the magic touch, and I really really really want the secret!  My mom and Manny's mom can calm him down like nothing...I don't know how they do it, but I am so thankful that we have them to help out when it seems like he just won't stop fussing. :)

Oh I don't think I ever posted about his Dr. appt.  His 4 week appt was last friday and the Dr. gave him an A+ again :)  He weighs 10lbs now and is 21in long.  His next appointment is in one month, and he'll be getting his first shot :( poor baby.  But I am so glad that he's happy (well, when he doesn't have a tummy ache) and healthy and growing big :)

Love Love Love this face :)

Booties from Grandma Nita :)

Don't even think about taking my blankie

Awww he melts my heart

4 weeks tomorrow!?! :)

So I cannot believe that Adrian will be 4 weeks already tomorrow.  It seems like just yesterday we were looking at our little newborn, amazed that he was finally here :)  He is such a good baby, and although I do get frustrated sometimes when he decides to wake up at 4am and stay up for 2.5 hours, I honestly couldn't imagine life without him now.  It is amazing how quickly you can fall in love with and want to dedicate your entire life to making sure that this little person is well taken care of and happy, and to just give them the world.

Adrian is so lucky to have family that loves him very much.  He has finally gotten to meet each of his grandparents, and it is so special to see each grandma and grandpa hold and talk or sing to him.  I hope that he will have a great relationship with each one of them as he grows up.

Friday is his 4 week appointment, and I am looking forward to seeing how much he's grown again in these 2 weeks.  He is definately getting bigger and heavier...I can't say it enough that it's crazy how fast they grow.  I am enjoying every moment I can while he's this little, but am looking forward to watching him grow up too :)

This past weekend was fun having Grandma nita and Papa Ken come down to visit, and hopefully we can get up there soon to visit some more :)  Annitta took some family pictures for us and I am so excited to see the finished products...I will be hanging them as soon as the paint dries in the new house when we move in in November :)  I will share them on here too once we get them back :)

I should probably keep up with this blog a little better, but I am still on Adrian's schedule and keeping busy with him.  Will do my best though :)
Until next time...

I wanna win!!!

Okay so everyone in the Las Vegas area should check out this website --> http://withoutaplace.blogspot.com/   Her name is Jessica and she is a fellow homebirther and an awesome photographer.  With that said, she is holding a contest, and I would LOVE so much to win to have adorable pics of my little one taken : )  So check out her site...her photos are great, and the birth section has great stories to go along with the photos of each of the births posted on there :)

He's Here!!!

Sorry it's taken so long to post this, but that's what happens I guess when you have a baby and the next week you're packing up to move :/  Anyway, here are the fun and exciting details :)

Date of Birth: September 23, 2010 @ 7:59am
Original Due Date: September 21, 2010 (I was given the due date of Sept 27 by the doctor at the first ultrasound, but I always thought (and hoped) that the Sept 21st date was more accurate...)
Weeks Pregnant: 40 weeks & 2 days
Weight: 7lbs even
Height: 20 inches long

My weight Gain: I got up to 165 lbs...so a total of 46lbs...I weighed myself the day Adrian was born and I had immediately lost 17lbs :)  To date, I've lost 24lbs so far in just the first week.
Stretch marks: Most definately! :(  I really believe what they say that stretch marks are genetic and no amount of lotion will make them not appear at all...I lotioned religiously every day even in the begining when I wasn't even showing, and about the week before Adrian was born they started to appear a lot on my sides...well once he came, I really saw the damage...hopefully with a bunch of sit-ups and running they will fade a little? maybe? lol

Birth Story:  The morning of Sept 22nd, I woke up around 3:50am or so following my normal routine of  getting up every hour to use the bathroom.  Once I laid back down in bed I realized that I was feeling some "period like" cramps, and tried to ignore it at first because I didn't want to get my hopes up.  I kept feeling the cramps, so I decided to time them by using my phone stopwatch.  I would press the lap button at the begining and end of each contraction so I could see the duration of the contraction as well as the spacing of each.  They were about 45-60 secs in duration and about 9 mins apart.  after about an hour of that, I just started writing down on a piece of paper how spaced out they were, and they remained about 9 mins long...I tried to go to sleep thinking that maybe they were false labor pains and would probably go away, but I would wake back up each time I had another one.  Manny had to go to work that day, so the alarm went off at 7:30am and I was so excited to tell him what was going on...He smiled and I could tell that he was excited too, but probably more nervous than I was :)
Since they weren't really strong or anything, it didn't seem right for Manny not to go to work, so he got ready for work and I just told him that if they start getting stronger or anything I would call him, so he better answer his phone lol
The contractions continued to be about 9 mins apart, and nothing unbearable...I decided to text people at that point because of course I was excited and I wanted to let everyone know that a baby would be born soon!  I was on bedrest because my blood pressure had been elevated and I was having problems with a lot of edema in my feet, so I laid in bed just watching TV.  At around 11:30am or so, I eventually fell asleep, and woke up at 12:30pm or so and the contractions I thought had stopped.  I was so disappointed because I thought for sure I'd be having a baby that night...so I texted everyone again and let them know it was a false alarm...of course everyone was really supported and said that he will come soon enough.
Well even though I was on bedrest, we had an appt with the realtor at 6pm to look at a couple houses, and I decided that it was probably okay to go and just make sure that I walked slow and didn't push myself too hard.  I started feeling some contractions again around 5pm or so, but they were probably every 15 mins, so I didn't think it was that big of a deal.  Well...every time I got out of the truck I would have to stop and take a break before walking because I would have a contractions...then every time I walked up the stairs, the same thing would happen...when we were at the 4th and final house, I had to sit down because the contractions were coming closer together and stronger than they had that morning.  Finally we left the house and were heading home and everyone was hungry and so was I but I told Manny that I really just wanted to get home soon because I needed to just relax because I thought maybe I pushed myself too hard.  We stopped at KFC first and picked up some food and went home (this was around 8:30pm-9pm or so).  At first I kneeled on the floor with my elbows on the couch while I forced myself to eat 2 chicken fingers.  The contractions were still bearable, but getting more uncomfortable and were about 9 mins apart again...so I called Margie again and let her know that my contractions had started again, and also that we had been out looking at houses...she was not happy at all about me not resting, but told me to call her once the contractions were about 5 mins apart.  Manny's parents were with us when we went looking at houses, so they were all sitting at the table eating and I overheard Manny mention to his parents that he was nervous...at that point I think I was still in denial because I had gotten all excited that morning and then the contractions stopped.  I pulled out the exercise ball though and leaned over it on the floor because that seemed to relieve some of the pressure.  Around 9:30 or so Manny's parents left and I decided to go lay down in bed to see if I could just rest and fall asleep...contractions kept coming and now were getting stronger.  Manny's mom had come back because of his earlier comment of being nervous...so I called my mom and told her that she could come over too if she wanted (but I kept saying that I probably just over did it walking around and it probably was just a false alarm again lol).  I think around 10:30pm I couldn't lay down anymore in bed and I brought the exercise ball in the room and sat on it while leaning over the bed...it really helped lessen the pain I started feeling in my lower back with each contraction, and at this point I was having to use breathing techniques to work through the contractions. 
Contractions kept coming stronger and felt like they were getting closer together...Manny started timing them and they were about 5 mins apart...we timed them for about 30 mins or so and I told my mom that she should probably call Margie to come over at that point...I think that was around 2:45am.  I said that I hoped that when she got there and checked me that I was at least 7cm dilated (I felt that I was in too much pain to only be 3 or 4cm).  Margie got to the house around 3:25am and checked me...I was 7cm!!! Thank goodness!  I told my mom to call Karla to let her know that I was dilated to 7cm and that if she wanted to come over she could.  Margie said that it would probably be another 4 hours or so before we would have a baby. 
At that point the contractions were waaayy stronger than I was ever told they would be ("they'll feel 10x worse than your worst period cramps" <-- haha, that is a flat out LIE!)  The main source of my pain was coming from my back.  With each contraction, my back would feel like it was twisting in knots and the only way to relieve the pain was to put pressure on my lower back...mom, Karla and Manny all took turns doing that for me.  This is the point where I lost all track of time, but I know that I asked if Margie could check me again, and this time I was 8cm...baby's heartrate sounded great!  I didn't feel like getting out of the bed, so I laid on my right side and Karla and Manny switched back and forth putting pressure on my back.  The pain got pretty crazy, but I kept my cool and kept breathing through each contraction.  At one point I said out loud "this is bad" and my mom said, "no, this is good"...it took me back to a conversation I had with Margie that you need to use positive thinking and positive words or else you're only going to hinder your progress...well I didn't care how rediculous I sounded and I kept repeating, "this is good...this is gooood...this is goooooooooooooood" through the contractions lol (I had my eyes closed or else I would have seen the faces of my support people trying not to burst out in laughter)...I had a feeling that I sounded pretty crazy, so I decided to make a joke to show that I still had a sense of humor about things, and it went like this..."this is goooooooooooood, but it hurts really really baaaaaaaaaaad, but this is goooooood."  I wish I could have seen their faces lol
I guess it was around 7:20ish when I told Margie I felt like pushing, and she said go ahead!  So with the first couple contractions, I pushed a little, but this was honestly the first time I felt a little fear about what was happening and that I was actually going to have to push a baby out of a small opening.  Finally Margie said, "Victoria, you need to push really hard with each contraction or else you will be pushing for 45 mins"...that was all the motivation I needed because I just wanted it to be over with already...so I pushed and pushed, and then they told me to open my eyes to look and see the top of his head (I don't think I had really opened my eyes since 3 or 4 am)...it looked so crazy and I thought that couldn't possibly be a baby's head!  I continued pushing and finally his head came out and I let out a scream (it was more a scream of nervousness than from pain).  His shoulders slipped out easily from there and he was immediately place on my chest.  September 23rd at 7:59 in the morning our beautiful baby boy arrived in this world. We cried tears of  joy...our baby boy was finally here.  He was so perfect, and so calm...he didn't cry, just yawned really big and looked around the room.  I continued to dry him off with the recieving blanket and then it was time to cut the cord.  Manny did the honors (even though he kept saying he didn't want to before Adrian was here).  About 20 mins after he was born, I breastfed Adrian and he latched on perfectly like we had done it a hundred times before.

So that's the story, I'm sure there are things missing, but if you made it this far in the blog, thn I'm sure you've read enough lol...I wouldn't change a thing about the whole birthing experience...I felt so safe and comfortable in our home, I was able to get up when I wanted and change positions and not be confined to a bed the whole time or to be pressured into something that I didn't really want to.  I'm not going to lie about the pain because it got pretty intense, but I would do it again no question.  I pushed for only 20mins and didn't tear at all.  He is perfectly healthy and a happy little guy!

We are so in love!!

Any day now...

I'm ready...I'm done...I just want to meet my son!  I go to bed every night thinking that tonight may be the night that I wake up and will go into labor...then nothing...so I am trying to give in to the fact that he will come when he's ready, and no matter how much I bounce on my exercise ball, walk, etc., he's not ready yet...but as I type this, he is kicking and moving around like crazy, probably trying to get comfortable in his ever decreasing-in-size home...I hope he won't get too comfortable tonight and just come out :)
Manny and our friend Manny put together the baby swing today...I was thinking today that we should probably put it together because he can't stay in the pack and play in our room all the time :)  so here are some pics...and a couple of my BIG round belly :)

Beautiful babies!!!!

Just within this week, two new additions have been added into the family...A new nephew: Lucas Ryan and a new cousin: Andrew Anthony Jeremiah.  How exciting!    So now the tally of new babies of my family and friends this year is 3 girls, 3 boys...and just to throw the number off, little Adrian would make it 4 boys :)  It's so hard being the last of the bunch!

Here are some cute pics of the babies (I don't have a pic of my neighbor or co-worker's babies in here, so just 1 girl and 3 boys)

My Nephew Jeffery Robert 6/24

My "Niece" Gradee Elizabeth 7/15

My Nephew Lucas Ryan 8/28

My Cousin Andrew Anthony Jeremiah 9/1

Saving the best for last ;) Just kidding :)

I'm the last of the bunch!!  All babies of friends and family are born...now it's getting close to my turn...finally!!!

How far along: 36 weeks 4 days today (going by 9/27 edd)

Weight gain: 42 :(  I hope it stops soon! lol Oh how I can't wait to get into my running shoes again!

Stretch marks: A couple...but nothing huge, and hopefully easily covered up later

Symptoms: tired most of the time from lack of sleep, cankles (lol), nervousness and excitement about actually counting down the DAYS instead of months, I'm pretty emotional and pretty much anything can make me cry...oh and indigestion the burning sensation never really goes away, for the most part it's not bad, but if I lay down soon after eating, I definately pay for it!  Aches & pains and waddling.

Sleep: Not too good any more...I actually can sleep in on the weekends, which just shows me that I'm not getting good enough rest during the night...but that won't be changing anytime soon, so I just see it as preparation for what's to come :)

Best Moment this Week: Two new babies into the family!!!     Adrian is still moving around like crazy, which I still cannot get enough of, even if it hurts...and I realized once again that I am actually going to be bringing a human being into the world and what a miracle and a blessing it really is!

Food Cravings: Nothing...sorry, still boring!

Labor Signs: Contractions more frequently now, but still nothing that progresses anywhere...still just practicing I guess!

Belly Button in or out?: flat...is that an option?...it's not in anymore, but I wouldn't consider it out either lol

Rings on or off?: Ring still on, but getting tighter...I considered not puting it back on again this morning, but after getting ready for work, the ring slid on just fine again

Movement: He moves side to side, and it's pretty painful now...the worst is when he gets under my ribs though...I get heartburn and it's hard to breathe all at the same time

Milestones: It's SEPTEMBER!!!  He is due this month!!!  24 days according to my pregnancy journal...but everyone is thinking (and some hoping) it will be sooner than that.

Thanks for taking the time to read...hopefully I'll be updating within the next 2 weeks about bringing little Adrian into the world.

Updates and some fun pictures :)

Went and saw Margie today!  Baby is continuing to measure 2 cm ahead, so that is GREAT news!  Means that he is continuing to grow big and strong...heart rate of 146 bpm...he was pretty active and moving around right before she used the doppler on me.  My blood pressure is just fine, and my urine checks out just fine as well :)
Next visit will start the begining of the weekly visits!  Hooray!

I have been feeling so great these past couple of months, but now I am wearing down again...back ache, hip pain, pelvic pain, swolen feet, waking several times per night, frequent urination, double chin etc, etc...good thing I'm pregnant or else I'd swear there's something wrong with me lol

I am SO ready to meet my little man...BUT I am completely content as well waiting for him to come when he is ready (2 more weeks though and I'll be counting the days since 37 weeks is technically full term) :)

Here's a couple pictures I made...my progression picture (from when I found out until now) , and my "Mom vs. Me" picture (Mom at 35 weeks with me, and me at 35 weeks)

(If you click on the picture, it will open up bigger for you to view better)

Our Anniversary!!

Four years ago a simple question was asked and so began our story :)  Last night Manny and I celebrated our anniversary, and he surprised me with a limo!!!  I was so excited...I've never riden in one before, and it was such a fun experience :)  He also kept the dinner place a secret, and he took us to Paris :)  It was such a wonderful evening, and I really couldn't ask for more...I'm sure that this will be our last fancy dinner for awhile, and I'm glad that it was so special.
I truly feel that I am one of the luckiest people in the world because I met the man who completely captured my heart and we are truly meant for one another.  I know that we've had our ups and downs, and honestly, who hasn't...but that is what makes us stronger, and our relationship grow.  Adrian is going to have an awesome dad and will be/ is exponentially loved by us both...I am so happy that I get to raise my child with such a great, sweet, caring, honest, and down to earth guy. 
One more chapter in life closed...thousands more waiting to be lived :)

Our limo in front of Paris

The view from our table :)