37 weeks

WHAT A WEEK! This has been an incredibly long and emotional week. A week ago Jose went away for the night for work. That evening I got two text messages within seconds of each other. One was from a dear friend saying they feared her babies heart had stopped beating (she was pregnant) and the other from a family member saying that Jose's aunt was in her final days battling cancer. Within a half hour of that news, I was called to pray for young boy we love who had smashed his hand in the car door (only when the news came to me, I heard that he had "mangled" his hand). Later I got a call that the high school youth pastors had been in a car accident (they were fine). Throw in the mix that the next day Jose's nephew had possible appendicitis and had to go to the ER (make it even more exciting, they were babysitting Aubri at the time and she had to stay with my mom at her work at the doctors office). We lost Jose's aunt, and the following day a sweet baby girl was birthed and is dancing in heaven. Jose and I took turns crying over the past few days.

Over the weekend, my amazing church family threw me a beautiful baby shower. It was so awesome to see different ladies who stepped up to help decorate and cook. It was sweet and special, but it was hard to not be mindful of missing my friend who was at home mourning the loss of her baby. Even still, I felt so blessed by the love everyone has for baby Ezra and feel so much more prepared for him coming!

I hate to admit it, but I turned to chocolate a lot more this week than I should have. The scale at the doctors office reflected my poor eating habits as I added 2 more pounds to the total in one week. I also got some bad news at the appointment that I have Group Beta Strep- a common bacteria that is oftentimes present in healthy people. It isn't dangerous or a big deal to most, but it changes a lot of what I have planned out for our labor. The first major bummer is I have to take at least 2 doses of antibiotics in labor before the baby is born. They are 4 hours apart, so in order to have time to administer it I have to get to the hospital at least 5 hours before Ezra is born, and the doctor wants me to come in at the first sign of labor. Since I only labored 7 hours at the hospital with Aubri, I planned on even less this time, and as a good Bradley student I intended to do the laboring at home. My midwife had told me I could leave the hospital in 12 hours, but now the minimum stay is 24 hours!! And as most people know, the reason I first became interested in natural childbirth was to avoid the dreaded needle. I didn't even have an IV with Aubri, but this time I get IV antibiotics, and then they leave the little saline lock in my hand in between doses!! I really am nervous for having to look at that thing in my hand.

This update is really turning into a bummer of a post. An update on Aubri will change that! Our little girl is something else. She has such an imagination. She is constantly "pretending". She always wants us to order pretend food for her to make, and told me yesterday she had a restaurant called "Panda Bear like Panda express." She wanted me to give her noodles to cook with, but instead she grabbed a box of goldfish crackers and insisted it was noodles. When she spilled them on the floor she would not respond to me asking to pick up the fishes until I called them noodles.

She is also very into pretend driving. I am constantly finding corners of the rooms piled with blankets, pillows and toys that she calls her cars. She gets under the blankets and starts driving most of the time to her great-grandparents or to Nana and Papa's house. This morning I was making her bed, and started picking up the teddy bears and pillows on the floor. She immediately started crying that I "broke the car!"

Yesterday I was having a conversation with my parents and she kept interrupting for my attention. I told her to hold on, and she said "Mom I need something!" I hadn't hear her say this so I stopped and asked her what she needed. She said " I need money." I told her I didn't have any and she said she wanted pretend money. After I pretended to give her money she happily went on her way!

Aubri has also decided it is fun to take off her clothes. Lately she strips her clothes off and sits herself on the toilet- can't really complain much about that one! But she also had a day where despite the house being chilly, she kept taking her shirt off. She kept saying she had a baby in her belly too and wanted to see him kick. She made it clear that she was "pweetening" that there was a baby. Silly girl!

She knows the baby is coming soon because we are putting the final touches on the room, packing his diaper bag, and getting ready for him. She keeps asking to hear the story of what will happen when it is time for mommy to push him out. It is so surreal that the day may be here in a week!

One final update- I'm typing my first post on our new Mac! No more dinosaur computer that takes 20 minutes to upload pictures too! Jose really wanted a mac, but I was nervous of the cost and learning how to use it. I gave in and got to admit I'm loving it! Only thing is I can't figure out how to drag things to the right spot!

36weeks

(photo taken by Uncle Jasen ;-)

I have been feeling anxious this week about the unfinished projects, clutter, mess, and to-do list! It seems like any way I look in my house there is some unfinished mess. So, apparently my nesting instinct has kicked in and I've been attacking it all with a frenzy! Drawers have been organized (goodbye crap/junk drawers, hello craft and coupon drawers!). A foot tall stack of papers, old bills, important docs has been shredded or filed leaving a corner of my kitchen cleared. The garage is cleaned up and organized a little better (talk about a pain in the back...and feet, and abs). Jose weeded our front walkway. A stack of hand me down clothes is finally either hung up or put in a donation bag. And on top of everything else I found matches for all of Jose's lost socks at the bottom of the hamper- success!!

Just remembering all we've done--and all that is left to do--is making me tired! Yet, I feel pretty satisfied that we accomplished a lot. I can't wait to post pictures soon as we finish up the gallery wall in Ezra's room. We literally ran in and out of a thrift store in less than 5 minutes, snatching up an assortment of random frames. Jose sprayed them navy blue, and we are in the process of arranging and filling them. I think it is going to look great, and the frames and paint cost us a whopping $12!!

This week we had an amazing weekend at our co-ed family babyshower!

It was so special to see how both sides of our families came together to make it so nice! My mom (and dad!) made the cutest decorations- starched yarn lanterns, fabric banners to match our nursery, mason jars with flowers and treats- WOW! Silvia organized the amazing food- tacos, rice, beans, salsas... Adriana made amazing cupcakes as always. And Jose's aunt Cuca went all out with the games she was in charge of. Sounds simple, but she and Nicole went above and beyond and made a beautiful diaper cake, the cutest favors, beautiful pretzel sticks, and SO much effort into everything that looked amazing!

Aubri asked me a few times "The baby shower Baby Brothers birthday party?" From her perspective it sure looked a lot like a birthday party! She had so much fun running around with her cousins and getting everyone to give her dessert. She had no jealousy as she helped put all the new clothes, toys, blankets,etc away in the baby's room. We can't believe how blessed we are!

At our weekly doctors appointments I was told Ezra is measuring average- not too big, not to small, and according to their records I've gained 23 pounds (my records show it is more like 25, but whose counting ;-). The midwife reminded us about when to come to the hospital, and it was so surreal that we are talking about delivery! It really could be in as little as 2 weeks! And now thanks to the baby shower, if he comes we are actually pretty close to being fully prepared!

One final note: cereal is the best thing ever. This past week I can't get enough of it, and it sounds good allll the time.

Little Princess

Yesterday my mom called Aubri her little princess. Aubri told her, "I'm not a princess! I don't have my princess dress!" Apparently now that she is in to dress-up, she is only a princess when she is in costume!

Velentines Day

We had a nice relaxing Valentines Day. We planned on getting away for the night, but the prices for the holiday are unreal, so we are hoping in the next week or two we can get a babymoon in our schedule.

Aubri got a special present from her daddy. She got a cute little Minnie Mouse bag with a stuffed frog, M&M's, heart tissues, and stickers. She loved it!

Before Jose left for work, I made us breakfast. Pink heart pancakes. Aubri's favorite part was the whip cream and sprinkle topping.

We both worked that day, but I was surprised with a rose bouquet at the office. A fun treat for sure!

Later that night, Jose and I had a nice relaxing dinner at our friends house, and Aubri got to hang out with her Grammy!

35 Weeks

I just realized I never got around to update 34 weeks, so we will combine the two!

34 weeks
and 35 weeks
Our little princess wanted to get in on the picture. She just discovered dress-up and this day wouldn't take off her princess outfit!

Over the past 2 weeks I've gained 2 pounds. The midwife has assured me that I should be gaining a pound a week from here on out, so I guess I'm ok with this. I don't notice the swelling, but occasionally my ring doesn't slide off. It is my goal to not have to take off my ring, so I check a bunch of times throughout the day that it can still spin around on my finger. Today it slides off easily so I guess the swelling comes and goes.

Over the past couple of days I have felt the strain bending over. Believe it or not, the stomach didn't seem to get in my way until this week, and now I'm noticing myself groan a bit putting my shoes on. On Sunday I especially felt a little soreness in my lower back and stomach, but thankfully that didn't last! Aubri can climb the stairs alone, but often wants a free ride up. I have to tell her that I can't carry her all the time and she tells me "Carry two babies mommy! Carry Aubri and baby brother!" Most times I give in and consider it exercise.

Speaking of exercise, I've finally been doing some of that. I'm trying to practice what I preach in the Bradley class (which by the way is going SOOO well- 5 couples!). I've gone walking with Aubri around the neighborhood, took the youth group on a walk to McDonalds and did our lesson there, and had a family day at Oso Flaco walking out to the beach. I'm also trying to do my pregnancy exercises that I teach, and squat instead of bend over.

I guess at 35 weeks it is about time to start the small bladder problems. Since first trimester, I haven't had to get up at night to pee. But now with a crowded abdomen and compressed bladder - you should see the picture I showed my class of a 8th month pregnancy bladder- I feel like I have to go all the time. The most frustrating thing is that when I go, it is barely more than a trickle.

Our last doctors appointment went great- we start going every week! Everything is great, Ezra is head down and growing just right! We are very excited that this weekend is our family baby shower. We are getting so close to our due date! Only 35 days until our due date. Only 2 weeks until I need to have our bags packed. WOW! I can't even wrap my mind around that right now!






Here are a few pictures from our Oso Flaco outing- it should be called Viento Fuerte instead! Man that place is windy!

The things she says!

Aubri makes us laugh all the time with the things she says. A few recent things....


We were asking her a list of 20 questions we plan on asking her every birthday (thanks Chrissie!). When we asked what she wants to be when she grows up she paused. I told Jose, " She doesn't know what that means." Aubri got upset and said "Uh huh mom! I know what that" means!!" I don't think she does, because she ended up saying, "I don't want grow up anymore."

I love cherry blossoms, and got excited when we were driving and I saw a tree full of pink blossoms. I said, " That's a pretty pink tree!" Aubri didn't see it and laughed and said "Silly Mama! Trees not pink! Trees green like grass."

A few days before her birthday, Jose asked Aubri what she wanted for her birthday. Her response? "No more toys. I have some already." Instead she said she wanted clothes. Hmmm...I wonder why she didn't seem to mind the toys on her birthday!

There have been lots more that I've wanted to write down, but I can't think of them right now!

33 weeks

What an exciting week! Aubri turned 2 and we had a great day celebrating her- I've got to get a post up about the festivities. She is such a crack-up. She knows exactly what she wants and made sure we knew what she wanted- down to the pink Elmo cupcakes. She had a little lunch party with her toddler cousins and a ice cream and cake party in the evening with extended family. Not to mention a Panera/Starbucks breakfast and an Olive Garden dinner (both her choices!).

Only 50 more days until my due date! With Aubri I was certain that I would go late, and went in to labor on my due date. This pregnancy I feel like I will have him early, so I really need to prepare myself in case he is late. The good news is I'm nowhere near being sick of being pregnant, and can hang in there if he decides to take his time making his appearence (lets see if I still say that in 7 weeks). But if he decides to come early, well that is great too!

I felt like we had sooo many things to get done before Ezra arrives, but thanks to Jose we got lots done this past weekend! The room is now completely painted and looks great! I loove the blue focal wall, and the tan is just the right soothing shade.

It is still a work in progress, but come in and take a look!

We got adventurous and did some original artwork. I had this football picture in mind and Jose executed it perfectly. We used paint we had on hand, and I bought the canvas 50% off. So inexpensive for a piece that we have some pride in!

Our big project was this football field growth chart. I've gotta admit I'm pretty proud with this idea I came up with all by myself. Again, Jose is the one who actually did most the work, but I still consider it a joint project! I colored matched the green in the bedding to find the perfect field color, and Jose used his new birthday power tools to cut the wood to size. Unfortunately the precision measuring,taping and painting took us a lot longer than expected, but that just might add to the sentimentality behind it. A true labor of love. Man I hope this kid likes football!

I made a banner to hang across one of his bare walls with fabric my mom and I picked out. I'm still looking for ideas to fill up this wall. Gallery wall photos? Three large frames? Anyone have any ideas??

I'm just excited the room is starting to come together! We still have a few touches we need to add- the crib bumper, new lamp, curtains, rug, frames, make the mobile....but that all will come in time (preferably after the baby showers ;-).

Other pregnancy news: no stretch marks, no weight gain this week, no cravings (unless you count junk food/sweets which I'm avoiding), no sickness, still no sign of braxton hicks, and no aches or pains. I do have lots of kicking and moving inside, a weird flat belly button, and an amazing husband who gives the best foot massages.

I started a new Bradley series! I'm teaching 3 couples who after the first week I already love. They are talkative, excited, and eager to learn. Jose is sitting in the class and we are participating along with them which is a lot of fun. I got an email from 2 more couples requesting to jump in the series, so we may be teaching 5 couples at once!

I am getting so excited to meet our little man. Glad there is only 5-9 more weeks!