3 Months!!! say what?! ;)

Another month has flown by and both boys are growing like weeds! Victor is now 3 months old and still hovering around 14lbs, according to our home scale. He's fitting into 3-6month size clothes and has been wearing size 2 diapers for over a month! He pretty much went from newborn to size 2 in a couple weeks haha. Adrian was always so small (still is), so it's fun having a chunky little guy :)
Victor is still sleeping well at night, which is great considering that Adrian wakes up in the middle of the night yelling, hitting and crying at least 4-5days per week. This all started when we took away the pacifier (6 weeks ago) and I have no idea how to deal with it anymore...a couple weeks is understandable, but it's getting really ridiculous (and exhausting) now. I know that part of it is due to Victor being with us now and Adrian not being the center of attention anymore, but it's like he's completely lost his mind during those times and there's no reasoning with him. I suppose that he's also teething too so that doesn't help either. He used to have a lot of episodes like that during the day too, but that's getting better (except now he chooses to ignore me completely at times). Hopefully this passes soon. The good thing out of this is that he's been sleeping in his room more :)

Adrian's vocabulary and pronunciation is expanding and getting clearer every day. I have a few voice recordings of him on my phone, and its so cute to hear & fun to remember how he used to say things (ex. Peek-a-boo was "peety boo," Abuelo= ah bee dee, and Mando (armando)= DA!) It's amazing how quickly they catch onto the language & words (if only I could learn Spanish as easily). And speaking of speaking, Victor has been babbling more these days, especially the past couple days. It's so cute to see him try to form words & he gets such a serious look on his face. He is also smiling more, and he was even giggling the other day too! So adorable! We had gone to a friend's house and there was a simple picture on the wall of a fat chef that he kept staring at. So I started to lift him up and towards the picture & he thought that was so funny. I loved it! And the best part was that Manny got to witness this milestone along with me :)

Our two little blessings are wonderful (yet exhausting), and I can't think of what we'd do without them in our lives. The joy they bring and the ability to witness such rapid growth and development in such little people is amazing. We are so lucky & fortunate to have two healthy and bright little boys!

THREE MONTHS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love their smiles!!

 

Victor's beautiful quilt from Grandma Nita! :)

 

Victor's PJs say it all: Thank Heaven For Little Boys! (I write this as Adrian yells back at me because he's messing with something he shouldn't...oh boy!)

2 month update, a birth announcement & other happenings

Our baby has aged another month & has grown by leaps and bounds. His 2 month checkup was yesterday and he now weighs 12lbs 6oz and is 23 1/2 inches long! He is so good at nursing (although its a little tiring during the day how frequently he eats) and I'd have to say that I'm having an easier time this time producing than with Adrian, which I've heard that that is normal with 2nd babies. This month, Victor has started to coo and smile in response to being talked to. He gave a couple huge smiles for my neighbor's mom last night. It was so cute. He also rolled over for the first time as well, so that's exciting! He tries really hard to get his knees underneath him when he's doing tummy time, so we'll see if he starts crawling before Adrian did :) He certainly seems eager to want to get moving and go places already. When he's awake, he's very alert and curious...and he loves staring at things on the ceiling haha. He's still a pretty happy and calm baby, except in his carseat (Megan can vouch for that lol) and he sleeps very well at night. Now, I just have to work on me and I need to start laying him in the crib more because I'm already beginning to feel like our bed is shrinking.

  

Adrian is growing into quite the big boy and he has been binki free for 2 weeks now. It hasn't been easy, and I gave up for about 5 mins last week and gave it back to him. It had seemed that when I took it away, he lost his ability to cope with anything, so I had had enough screaming and crying that I gave it back to see if it'd calm him down. It didn't and he continued to yell & cry with it in his mouth. So I took it back & I know I need to deal with his tantrums another way. He rarely asks for it anymore, but it may be a couple more weeks until he completely stops asking. Potty training will be next, but I'm not in a rush since Victor still requires so much attention right now. Other than that, besides the meltdows, Adrian is doing really well and has an amazing vocabulary and comprehension. I think that because he has to understand 2 languages, it's really an advantage to him. I often wonder if Victor will be the same or if he will be slower to talk...only time will tell :) He is a very good brother to Victor and loves to hug him and give him kisses. I look forward to when Victor really starts interacting with him :)

 

 I have to say that I absolutely love my boys and I can't imagine my life without them, but life is definitely much more complicated with 2 kids as opposed to 1. There are days when I get everything accomplished that I planned on doing, and then there are days that no matter how hard I try, the boys go back and forth in needing me for something. I'm not a perfect mom, and I don't think anyone ever could be, but I'm pretty hard on myself at times because I feel like I should be doing more. I feel that it's important to spend quality time with both boys and housework can usually wait. The problem is is that Victor needs me so much right now that I don't get to spend as much quality time with Adrian as I'd like and that he'd like. I know it'll get better, but when your 2 1/2 year old tells you that he misses you (and he had just woken up from sleeping next to me), it breaks your heart and makes you feel like a horrible mom. This parenthood thing is certainly not easy with 2 kids. I'm not sure how people do it with more than 2, but they must have something extra special from the Lord to be able to handle all of them. One day at a time & little victories is how I get by these days.

 

Anyway, it's definitely much sweeter these days when I can get a break from the chaos, and when my sister asked me to go get pedicures on Wednesday, I gladly took her up on her offer. Well, little did I know that she surprised me with my cousin Megan who came all the way from Modesto! We had such a great time together and it was nice having someone that has so much experience with children (she's a teacher) because it could have been extra stressful if she hadn't. Adrian's meltdowns didn't phase her and she was actually a great help with him. I do not usually like surprises too much (because I'm a little bit of a control freak), but her being here was exactly what I needed. It was a really busy 4 days for us...we did the pedicures, went to the strip, went to the Springs Preserve, and even went wedding dress shopping for me. I found the perfect dress & even bought it. It was a lot of fun and a great break from being home so much. Victor had just about had it by Saturday though from being in his carseat and getting in and out of the car. Adrian was quite the trooper and for getting up early and going to bed late with maybe a 20-30 min nap some days, he did really well and he had a good time with "gayben" ...that's what he called Megan haha.

 

 Another exciting event that occurred on Friday, April 5th, was my cousin Barbara and her husband welcomed their beautiful daughter, Rhylyn Laurel, into the world. She weighed 6lbs 13oz and is 19inches long. She is perfect and they look like such a happy family of 4 now. I pray for health and happiness for the 4 of you & I'm excited to watch Cole & Rhylyn grow up together. We love you all! Congrats again on your newest bundle of joy!!

 

The fun continues this week because my dad and Annitta will be getting here on Friday and we'll be going to see Thomas the train on Saturday! I bet that we'll all have a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to them being here...its been awhile since they've visited us in NV :) My friend Stephanie is also in town with her new baby & husband as well. They flew in on Saturday night from Italy, and I got to meet little miss Veronica this morning! :)  She is so adorable and really liked Adrian.  She tried talking to him and was giving him huge smiles :)  I'm so glad they could stop by and visit a bit :)

 

 Here are a couple pictures from Easter as well :) Victor's 1st!!

This was my attempt at getting a picture of the boys together...some times things aren't perfect, but that's what makes the world not boring.  Adrian was trying to calm Victor down which I thought was so sweet and just shows what a good and caring brother he is :)

 

 

Well that's it for now...we need to get to the store :)  Thanks for reading! I know it was a lot, but blogging is a luxury these days (along with showers and a clean house) haha

Tell me it isn't so...1 month already!!! *Picture overload*

Our little baby boy is one month old today (Mar. 7)! Unbelieveable!  It seems like just the other day he arrived!  He is such a sweet baby and he is growing very well!  I don't know his official weight & length yet because his checkup is on Monday, but when I weighed him on our scale the other day, he was a little over 8 lbs!  We can definitely tell the difference because he feels heavier and his body is filling out now instead of being just a skinny mini :)  He still sleeps pretty well at night, but the past 2 weeks or so his tummy has been bothering him, so he makes me sit on my exercise ball and bounce him to sleep.  The other night he was awake for 2.5 hrs straight before he fell asleep (and just bouncing in bed is not satisfactory and he'll cry because he prefers to be upright).  Last night was a long night as well because he strains to poop, but not much has come out since yesterday morning, so he was/is pretty uncomfortable when he's not sleeping.  I was remembering this morning that the exact thing happened with Adrian when we went to Oregon when he was a month old.  I was so worried about the lack of poop and the increased fussiness, and then on Halloween he officially christened me into motherhood and literally exploded all over me.  After that, he was fine :)  So, I expect and hope that Victor has a great big poop soon to relieve the gas & stomach pain, but I hope the explosion stays confined to his diaper haha (Update: this was written in the morning of 3/7 and by the evening, he made a very big poop [that remained in his diaper] and he seemed so much more comfortable after that...he didn't give me too much trouble going to bed woo hoo...but he wanted to be awake very early this morning)
We finally got his ultrasound for his spine scheduled for Wednesday, so we pray that we only hear great news and then I can finally relax and not be so worried. *For those reading that may not know, Victor has a closed hole in his skin at the bottom of his spine, and we are getting the ultrasound to make sure that all things are attached as they should be and that nothing is irregular besides the hole in the skin.  Because his legs work just fine and he is having normal bowel movements and peeing just fine, we are optimistic that everything is fine, but the reassurance from the ultrasound will definitely bring us peace of mind :)

Adrian is such a good brother and will ask where Victor is if he doesn't see him.  He asks to give him hugs and kisses too.  He is generally a good helper and follows directions pretty well, but he has his stubborn times and has been doing time out more often than before (sometimes by his request...I guess he knows when he needs a break).  Hopefully with the weather getting nicer we can get outside more and he can get rid of all that energy that I think being inside has pent up inside him.
I think we're all transitioning pretty well into life as a family of four, and I look forward to watching my boys grow up together.  I'm still working on getting into some routine, so I've been bad at phone calls, but feel free to call after 9 and I'm sure to answer :)  (In fact, I'd love to chat to loved ones)

Watch me grow! 1 month old!

 

Here's a comparison pic :)

 

Our little men

In addition to his strawberry birthmark on his neck,

our baby boy has another unique feature:

a two-toned tummy! :)

I think the lighter part is a normal birthmark

 

Handsome little Adrian, as of last week, has gotten in two more teeth!!

His last bottom 2 molars came in!

 

Dreamy smiles

 

 

 

 

Teddy thinks he's okay too ;)

 

All clean!!

 

Not sure if he'll be a true thumb sucker, but he finds it every so often :)

 

 

In the words of Mickey Mouse, "Thanks for stoppin' by!"



Birth Story of our precious Victor!

Date of Birth: February 7, 2013 at 8:07am

Original Due Date: February 4, 2013

Weeks Pregnant: 40 weeks & 2.5 days

Weight: 6lbs even (my boys like even birth weights I guess haha)

Height: 20 inches long

My weight Gain: I got up to 169.2 lbs (I weighed myself when i was in labor haha)..so a total of 45-46lbs...I weighed myself a couple hours after delivered and I had immediately lost 12lbs and as of 2/13, I've lost 20lbs!...On my way to trying on those bridal gowns and sooner to wearing normal pants again lol :)

 

Birth Story: On Feb 6th, I had called my mom to come over to get out of the house and to go to lunch together. After lunch, we went to walmart, got a couple of things and then we headed towards home. On the way, we decided to take Adrian to the park to play a bit, and I had walked a quarter mile lap around the park just to keep active and see if I could get some contractions started. Around 3:30pm or so we headed home and I laid down with Adrian to get him to take a nap, but also to rest a bit myself.

I started feeling some contractions, but ignored them at first because I had been feeling contractions for weeks and I didn't want to get my hopes up that I would actually go into labor then. Starting around 4:30pm I started timing them and they were anywhere from 6 minutes to 10 minutes apart. They were so mild that I felt normal, just had tightening every so often. Since Adrian was asleep, I decided to walk around the house and up and down the stairs in hopes of keeping the momentum up. By 6pm they were around 7 mins apart, but still nothing that I had to breathe through or anything. I had manny bring dinner home because I just didn't feel up to making anything. I probably could have, but I was SO ready to go into labor that I just wanted to continue walking around the house and focus and prepare my mind for labor so that if this was the real deal, I'd be relaxed and ready. I had texted my mom, sister, Margie and Tina around 7pm that I had been having contractions and this could be it, but that it was still too early for me to be confident it was time. After we had eaten, Manny had the T.V. on, Adrian was running around making a bunch of noise, and I just lost my focus at that point. I was still walking around the house and rocking on my exercise ball, but with all the noise around me, I couldn't feel contractions anymore and eventually conceded that I wasn't in labor yet. I texted everyone back around 9:45pm that the contractions had slowed a lot, that they'd probably stop like before, and to not lose sleep over me.

Once I laid down to sleep and got Adrian sleeping (Manny went to shave just in case this was the real thing haha), I was feeling contractions and they actually started getting stronger. I texted my mom at 10:30pm and said I felt silly for saying they were stopping because they hadn't and asked her if she'd come stay the night over here just in case. At 10:50pm I texted Margie and let her know that contractions hadn't stopped and they were coming about every 9 mins or so. I told her we'd call once things were more serious and she told me to try and get some sleep. I tried laying down, but eventually I felt like I needed to sit on my exercise ball to be more comfortable and possibly try and sleep that way by leaning on the bed. Once my mom got to the house, we tried to get Adrian to sleep with her (he had been sleeping in our bed), but he woke up and didn't want to. Manny took him into his room to sleep in his own bed and manny laid on the floor next to him. :) Manny slept off and on in there the whole night (I think it was his way of spending the last moments with him as an only child).

Things started picking up around 11:40pm or so and contractions were coming around 2-4mins apart so I had my mom call Margie at 12:30am and then Karla, and Tina were called shortly thereafter and notified that things were definitely moving along now and all of them were soon on their way over. Even though the contractions were so close, I was still talking and laughing between them, so I knew we were still pretty early in labor, but being my 2nd time, things could progress much more quickly. Once Margie got there, she checked me and I was only 4.5cm (she said "it's more than 4 but I don't want to call it 5, so we'll call it 4.5") dilated. At that point I was satisfied that today was the day our baby Victor would be born, but we still had a ways to go still. Margie went and laid down in the spare room, Manny went back to Adrian's, and mom, Karla and Tina stayed in the room for a bit and we chatted and joked for a bit (in between contractions of course). Tina even said "you are the only person I know that laughs during labor" hahaha. Eventually we decided we all needed to rest as much as possible because this was looking like it was going to be a long night. I stayed on my exercise ball with my head on my pillow on the bed, mom and Karla slept on our bed and Tina went downstairs. I was able to sleep between contractions which came anywhere from 2.5 to 6 minutes apart. Around 4-4:30, I got tired of sitting and wanted to try and speed things up, so I started walking back and forth in the upstairs hallway in the dark and quiet while everyone else slept. During contractions I remember thinking that they were definitely getting stronger and I felt myself tensing up, so I just reminded myself to stay "open," focus on the end result and not so much on the pain, and to just breathe.

Around 5:40am there was a change in my contractions. They started coming every 6-7 minutes, but they were longer and much stronger. I woke my mom up and told her I needed counter pressure now on my back because I started having back labor. My mom, sister and Manny took turns pressing on my back during contractions and I slept in between (and I know I was sleeping because there were a couple times I wiped drool off my face LOL).

At 6am I requested to be checked again because the contractions were very strong and I felt like I should be close to push time. She said that I was 7cm dilated, and I felt a little discouraged. When I was in labor with Adrian and measured 7cm, it was at least another 5 hours before he was born, so I thought (and my mom, Karla, and Manny thought) that we had many more hours to go until Victor would arrive. Around 6:30am Adrian woke up and he was taken downstairs where Tina entertained him, and I could hear him giggling and having fun. I eventually wanted to get off my exercise ball and onto my side on the bed. I had several contractions that way and Manny helped press on my back through the contractions. My mom switched out with him at one point, and I was told later it was because Adrian started fussing downstairs (I had made a loud noise and he became concerned and wanted mommy) so Manny went to console him. That was probably around 7am. Karla had gone downstairs as well to play a bit with Adrian because she figured it'd be several hours until I'd be pushing. Well, at 7:35ish, I told my mom I was pushing and she said, "no, don't push Vicki." I said, "I can't help it, I'm not doing it." At that point, Margie was in the room again and they told me I needed to get my shorts off...let me tell you that when you feel your body pushing and then you try to move from your side to your back to prepare for actual pushing, it is not only difficult but p.a.i.n.f.u.l! Lol. We got the shorts off, Margie got all the pads under me and ready and she listened to his heartbeat...just perfect! At that moment, I asked with urgency, "where's Manny and Karla?!" They were still downstairs and my mom called them up. Karla said she thought "well that was fast!" Haha. I tried giving a couple simple pushes because Margie said I had just a little lip of cervix left. Then at 7:55am, my body took over and MADE me push.. I wanted to take it easy, but my body said "oh no, we're pushing this baby out!" I definitely felt the "ring of fire" and oh it was not fun! My water finally broke right before he started crowning. Once his head was out, it was a relief...but everyone was like "you need to keep pushing Vicki, you need to push him out!" I said "I can't!" because I didn't want to feel the burning again, and like I said before, I feel like I personally wasn't pushing him out, my body was. So I gathered courage (haha) and started to push, and just that little push initiated my body to take over and push again, and he was out! Just 3 pushes and our sweet baby Victor was born Feb 7th at 8:07am!

He was put on my chest, and we all cried with joy that he was finally here. I wiped him down with the receiving blankets, and he let out little peeps and squeals. He was just too precious and so calm. I counted fingers and toes, 10 & 10, perfect!

Adrian was brought up to meet his brother and he wasn't too impressed at first, but now he wants to hold, hug, and kiss him. He's still adjusting and it'll probably take a bit, but I think they're going to be best friends as they grow.

Although my labor was essentially the same length this time as it was with Adrian, I felt great and had much more energy probably because I was much more relaxed since it wasn't my first time, and I actually slept, in short bursts, throughout labor. I remember being in some pain for at least a week with Adrian, but I've had none. Healing and recovery has been a breeze and I am truly thankful for that :) I am happy that we chose home birth for both our boys because they were wonderful experiences for us. There's nothing like being home in a relaxed atmosphere, giving birth in a calm, peaceful setting, and enjoying every second with your brand new babies without all the lights and sirens and people coming and going in the hospital all night & day. It's a decision that's not made lightly and was done with much reading and research, but in the end, we decided it was the best thing for our family and I couldn't be happier we chose to do it even though many criticized us the first time around.

Both our babies are perfect, healthy, and our family feels complete. I can't imagine life without our boys and I look forward to our future and watching them grow!

 

Thanks for reading! We love you all and have appreciated all the love and support we've received from all our family & friends.

 

 

 

 

 

Introducing our sweet Victor Manuel!!

 

First Bath

 

Watch Me Grow: 3 days old

 

2nd Bath