Christmas Time Was Here...

And is now gone. Christmas was rather hectic. I've decided we have too much family :-) Don't get me wrong, I love getting together with family, it's just that after 4 days worth, it's tiring. Lily made out like a bandit when it comes to Chrismas presents. I bought her some clothes (I couldnt help it!), and some neat little cups that stack and they can be put together into little balls that roll around. She got a play mat, which she loves, and a bumbo seat, which she also loves. She got two nice warm cozy bunting suits, and some other toys.

Today we tried Lily's first cereal. It was actually oatmeal, instead of rice. I dont think she thought it was too horrible, as she ate it with no problem. Of course, she has yet to figure out the whole spoon thing, but what else can you expect from a 4 month old?


She's getting to be such a big girl. This time last year we were struggling to keep our pregnancy a secret and look at where we are now. It's amazing, isn't it?

I'd never go back!

Thanksgiving

First of all, I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving. We had 2 1/2 Thanksgiving meals this long weekend. On Thursday, we went to my parent's house and had the traditional yummy turkey dinner with all the fixin's. It was fun to hang out with my family, which included my parents, my sister and her husband and kid, my sister's friend, and my aunt and uncle. We all played Quelf, which if you haven't ever played it, you need to! It's hilarious and so off the wall!

Friday was fairly quiet. I was bored out of my gourd, but there was no way I was going anywhere near a store. I'm not that brave! We ended up going back to my parent's house and had leftovers for dinner and played some more games. We played Conga, which is made by the same makers of Cranium. It's similar, but less complicated. It was really fun! We also played Scrabble Slam, which was fun, and Blink, which I DOMINATED!! I'm undefeated! (except for one game, but I let Jesus win)

Saturday was Jesus' family's day. We went up to his parent's house for the day. We had turkey, stuffing, and tostadas. They were yummy! I just wish I had thought to make a turkey tostada then instead of 5 minutes ago. The tostadas were beans, lettuce, sour cream (which is good on stuffing, I discovered), salsa, and goat cheese. On home fried tostadas. Man they were good. Makes me drool just thinking about it. We played games there too, but they were all on the Wii or the Playstation. Not really my kind of games. It was fun regardless.

Yesterday, we went wine tasting after work. That was fun, I hadn't been wine tasting in a long time. We went to Domaine Serene and got in free because Jesus worked there. They had mostly reds, so I didn't like them as much. Then we went to Kramer, which is so yummy! They always have the best food/snacks there. They had some yummy cranberrry cheese stuff. I'm pretty sure I am responsible for eating half the block! We did not buy any wine yesterday, so our whole wine tasting trip yesterday cost us $5 plus gas. Not too shabby! We then went to a friend's house for some spaghetti and hanging out.

So we've had a fairly busy/wild Thanksgiving weekend. I'm ready to relax a little and starting tomorrow, I can start decorating for Christmas. I should probably take down the Halloween stuff first...

Back to Work

I've successfully completed a whole week back at work. As much as I miss my baby, it is nice to be back. I feel so much more productive at work. When I was at home (when the baby wasn't crying or pooping) I didn't do much. I could always think of something better to do than clean the living room, or laundry, or the dishes.

But now that I'm back at work, I don't have to make up excuses for why I didn't do the laundry or the dishes. Now my excuse is "Because I was earning money, that's why". I can't even blame Jesus for not doing it this week, though, because he's working all week. Which also means that we have to drop Lily off at somebodys house for the day. Today was my dad's turn to play with her all day, and tomorrow it'll be my fabulous aunt who agreed to watch her a few days this week. I haven't quite worked out the timing of dropping her off and then getting to work. I was 15 minutes early to work this morning. I've never been there that early! It's amazing what a couple minutes earlier does to traffic! But it was kind of nice to be able to leave a couple minutes early. It helps with traffic on that end too. Tomorrow is Jesus' turn to drop off Lily, so maybe my timing will be a little better tomorrow.

Halloween

For Halloween, we dressed Lily up as a lobster. I wanted to be a chef, but we decided it would be a little morbid. So I was a lobster fisherman. Jesus dressed up as Shaggy from Scooby Doo. We were happily surprised that Lily didn't mind the lobster outfit as much as we thought she would. (Our little secret is that this is picture number 8 or so. She wasn't so happy in the first 7.)

Lily and Daddy wandered the Harvest Festival at church. She fell asleep and he didnt even notice. We've decided that the cushiony front of the costume was a big help, it kept her head from flopping.


Jesus drew a pirate on his pumpkin and chisled off the top skin of the pumpkin.


Here's the finished product. It was pretty cool.


I call mine "Swine Flew":


It won 3rd place at the pumpkin contest at my work.

The finished products, guarding our door from Trick or Treaters.

Talkie Talkie

I wish this picture wasn't washed out, it would have been so cute!


Tonight Lily was laying on the couch babbling away, so I thought I'd get a video of it because it was so cute and she was going on and on and on. This is what I got:

She still babbles a bit in the video, but not nearly as much as she was before the camera came into the picture. Oh well, she's still cute!

A Day in the Life of Liliana

When I wake up, I eat, then join Daddy watching the Disney Channel. I think I'm picking up his tv watching skills like a pro! Repeat after me "Just stare, it doesnt matter what's on, as long as you're staring at the tv you have an excuse to ignore Mommy".

Then after a couple hours of tv watching, Daddy puts me in my swing so I can take a nap while I'm swinging through the air. It's almost like flying, you should try it.

Then after I nap, Mommy wakes me up and makes me take pictures with her. I'm not really a fan of the little blue box that flashes and blinds me. So I try not to look.

But eventually she catches a picture of me looking. This is my "Bad Girl" pose. You like?

Then finally, it's off to the bouncy chair for a bit of bouncing and squirming. Shhh.. don't tell Mommy that I know how to do it myself. She thinks that she needs to continually bounce the chair. I just lay back and relax.

It really is tough being me. I scream, Mommy picks me up. I poop, Mommy changes my diaper. My favorite is when I'm hungry, Mommy sticks her boob in my face and all I have to do is lay around and she feeds me. Yep, it's rough being me!

6 Weeks Old Already?!?

I can't believe she's already 6 weeks old! Wasn't I just pregnant? Now my tiny little thing is almost 10 lbs and 23" long. She's grown 4" already! You'll have to excuse the bad quality of these pictures because since my laptop and camera are still fighting, I have to use the pictures off my cell phone.


Sleepy Girl



I love this picture, it's so cute! It's actually the picture I have as the wallpaper on my phone.

Lily's First Beach Trip

Lily's first Sunday at church. We decided that we needed to take this cute four generation picture. Aren't we cute?


Lily and Daddy taking a nekkid nap. Aren't they cute?

On Tuesday we decided that it was supposed to be a be-yoo-ty-ful day at the beach, and since we haven't really made it to the beach this year, we headed out. I finally convinced Jesus that he needed to take his shoes off and dip them in the water. It felt sooooo good! Lily didn't get to dip her toes. We thought it would be rather cruel to dip her toes in the icy water while she was sound asleep.

While we were walking along the water, we noticed this sea lion just out in the surf. We think it was trying to figure out why its (dead) buddy on the beach wouldn't come back and play. (I spared you the 14 pictures that Jesus thought we needed of its dead buddy)

What a cute family! Look, she's even awake!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Okay, so his birthday isn't until the end of the month. But his favorite band, Blink 182, decided to reunite and go on tour again, and I thought he needed to go to the concert for his birthday. While I'm so jealous and really wanted to go, it's kind of hard to do with a 2 week old. Especially since the concert venue is 3 hrs away. So I called up his brother and said "Hey, take Jesus with you when you go to the concert, but don't tell him about it". Of course, after we bought the tickets, they added the local stop to their tour. Oh well, too late now.

The original plan was to get him to go to his brother's house "to play video games" and then they'd take off from there and not tell him where they were going. But I decided that since it was my idea and my surprise, I wanted to see his face when he found out what was going on. So before he went to his brother's, I told him that he should stop by the bank and get some money out because he wasn't going to go play video games, he was going to the Blink concert. He was so surprised, the look on his face was priceless. He didn't believe me at first, but it finally sunk in. It was so great!

So Lily and I have been on our own since he left at about noon. I'm thinking it'll be a long night until Jesus gets home. I don't know how single moms do it. So far, I'm really glad that I have such a supportive and loving husband! I couldn't do this day after day without him!

More Pictures

Just arrived home from the hospital. Daddy's a little excited to be home with his little girl.



Chica has been such a good dog with the baby. She is rather curious, but doesn't lick Lily, just sniffs. Which I'm very happy about.

We got a Pack 'n' Play from my parents, and it's been so nice to have downstairs. It has a changing table and a bassinet attached. It saves us from having to run upstairs everytime she needs to be changed and every time she falls asleep and we're too hot to hold her. That kid is such a heater!! I love this picture because it shows her tiny little dimples.

This picture is so stinkin' cute! It's her "Feed me Mama!" face. I just love it!

Cousin Riley is facinated with his new little cousin. He gets so worried when she cries and will sit there and watch and watch and watch her.

Grandpa and his new little grandbaby.

The proud Daddy and his little girl.

Here are the long-awaited pictures of our new little girl!

5 days old:



Grammy & Lily:



The new family!

She's Heeerrrre!

Liliana Olivia, born Aug 26, 2009 at 11:49pm. She was 7 lbs., 12 oz and 19" long. She's so stinkin' cute! I apologize because my computer doesnt want to read my camera when I plug it in and we don't have a card reader yet, so there are no pictures with this post. I promise I'll post some as soon as I can!

But the delivery went really well. We went in on Wed at 7:30am to be induced and by 9am, I had started with the contractions. Let me just tell you now, future mothers-to-be that may read this blog. If they ask you if you want the pill or the Pitocin, the pill may sound easier since you dont have to have an IV until the epidural and you can get up and walk around and blah blah blah, but it hurts! It's not an oral pill! I didnt know that when my doctor asked me which I wanted to do. But I did only have to have one dose, which is a major plus.

They did eventually start me on Pitocin about 5 hours later or so. Then things really got rockin' and it was quickly time for an epidural. I got the epidural at about 3pm, and felt soo much better!! Then, since I was feeling so muchbetter, it was time to kick everybody out and take a nap. I took about a 2 hr nap, woke up at about 9:30 when the nurse came in to check my progress. It was a welcome surprise to hear that I had gone from 4cm to 9cm while I was sleeping! I always knew naps were good for you! At about 10:15, it was push time, and little Lily popped out about an hour and a half later. Did I say that epidurals are good? I felt no pain with the delivery. We were talking and laughing through the whole thing, it was great.

But the epidural has long since worn off, and I never knew that my whole body could hurt so badly. My arms are sore from pushing (holding my legs, the sheet, etc), my left arm hurts from the tetanus shot I got, my you-know-what hurts because, well, it does, my tailbone gets sore quickly, my legs are sore from having to make so much effort going up the stairs and having to walk and do everything so slowly. Did I mention that my body hurt? :-) But it's all worth it for the cute little girl that's in her daddy's arms downstairs. I think we'll keep her.

Due Date

Our due date has finally come, and Miss Lily's showing no signs of coming today. But we do still have about 11 hours, so maybe she'll cooperate. Either way, we just had our final kidless weekend. And how did we celebrate that weekend? We watched some tv, sat on the couch, hung out, ate some ice cream. It was a very exciting weekend.

We had our final doctor appointment this morning, nothing has changed. She didnt check me, but that's because on Wednesday, I was at 1-2 cm. That won't go back and I'm not having contractions. I have a feeling that tomorrow will either be the longest day, because we're mostly ready to go, or a really short day because we still do have a couple of things to do before we can go to the hospital Wednesday morning. I think Tuesday night will be much like the night before Jesus and I left to go to Disney World. We slept all of about 2 hours because of the anticipation. But this event and it's results will last a whole lot longer than a week!

Eviction!

We had our latest doctor appointment yesterday. We're still at 1-2 cm, and still sitting and waiting. Since our doctor will be gone the weekend after our due date (which is Monday), we've decided that since we don't want Lily to come while the doctor is gone, we're going in Wednesday to begin the eviction process. If she doesn't come out and play by 7:30am Wednesday morning, we're going to be induced. So we should have a baby by Thursday the 27th! Hurray! So I guess we're going to have an August baby. I'm so ready to sleep on my stomach, even if it will only be for a night. Something about having to feed her...

Maternity Leave & Fantasy Football Draft

Finally! Friday was my last day at work for 12 weeks. We have quite a bit to do around the house before the baby comes. It's a disaster and I would like to start out with a clean house. I know it won't last, but it would still be nice to at least not come home to a giant pig sty. Lily's room (her half at least) is ready for her. The office/music room half is better than it was. We just have so much stuff that we're not sure what to do with. It doesn't help that both Jesus and I hate to get rid of things. "But I've had it since high school!" or "I might use it someday!" It's only going to get worse with one more little life around. "She had it when she was born!" "My great aunt's mom's brother's kid's dog's uncle gave it to her!" Could be fun!

Preseason football has also begun, which means that the Fantasy Football draft is Labor Day weekend. I probably won't have the pleasure of being there. It takes a good 3 or 4 hours for them to get through everybody and pick all the players. I'm thinking that my time will be better spent elsewhere. Especially with a 1-2 week old. We're hoping closer to 2 weeks old. 3 weeks old would even be okay with me.

Come out Lily! We're all waiting patiently! Okay, impatiently, but who's counting?

Moving Along Nicely

We had the latest weekly doctor appointment this morning. I had her check how things were progressing (if at all) just for the fun of it. She stripped my membranes, which didnt hurt at all. My sister said it hurt like a you-know-what, but I think she's just a big weenie :-) Love ya Sis!! Anyways, the doctor said that I'm now at 2cm, Station 2 (baby's headed south) and about 50% effaced. If you dont know what all these terms mean, it may be for the better. So all in all, we're moving along nicely! Only a week and a half until my due date!

Maternity Photos

This evening Jesus and I embarked on a new adventure with Jessica, a gal from my office. I had convinced Jesus that I wanted to have maternity pictures done. He didn't really see the reason for them, but I finally persuaded him that it would be fun and would create some good memories of our first pregnancy. I was discussing this with Jessica one day at work and how it's kind of expensive, when we came up with a brilliant idea. She should do our pictures!! That's a fabulous idea!

So today, after work, the 3 of us went over to my parent's house (they have a much more interesting backyard than we do) to do the photo session. It was so much fun! She got so many cute pictures, I don't know how I'm ever going to decide which ones to print.

She also got some cute ones of the dog that my parents are watching for the week.


This is one of my very favorites. We're going to have this one printed and put it in a big frame over Lily's crib.


I really wanted to take this one because Jesus and I forgot to have our wedding photographer take a picture of our rings when we got married. So this will do just fine. Though Jesus' hands make me look rather pale. Guess that goes with the territory of marrying a Mexican!

Jessica and I thought found one like this online when we were searching for examples. We thought it would be really fun to do. I like how it turned out. I think it looks really good in black and white.

Did We Move?

Did we move without me knowing it? Why does it seem like we're living in the middle of the Mojave Desert? The high (according to Google) is 106 for both today and tomorrow. The high for Eastern oregon is in the upper 90's. Why is it hotter here than over there in the real desert? What's going on? I blame global warming. Why not, everything else gets blamed on global warming.

Last night, when I went to bed, it was 90 or so degrees in our bedroom. I did end up falling asleep and I actually slept fairly well. But it wasnt without both fans on high (high does not equal quiet) and the window wide open. We're talking not even the blinds were pulled. I'm sorry to all my neighbors who had to see prego lady walking around in her underwear. Actually, just deal with it. If you dont want to see it, dont look in my window! :-)

Luckily, my wonderful husband has tracked down the last air conditioner window unit in stores. He finally found the very last one at KMart. It was the display model, so he got them to knock of $75. I knew I kept him around for some reason! I'm so excited to be able to sleep without laying in a pool of sweat (gross, I know, sorry). He just has to figure out how to mount it in the window. It's 10,000 btus so it should cool the downstairs sufficiently.

My Clothes Don't Fit

I've finally realized yesterday that the maternity jeans I've been wearing since I couldn't fit into my regular jeans no longer fit me. It takes too much effort to get them on (I actually ripped the belt loop on one pair. Sorry Em!) and once I get them on, I feel like they're falling down but they won't pull up any farther. They're already pulled up as far as they can go. I hate that feeling! So yesterday, in a fit of dispair as I realized all my capris, the ones that actually do fit, were in the washing machine and soaking wet (thanks for doing the laundry, Babe!), I saw Jesus' shorts laying on the bed. Hey! I'll just wear his shorts! They're big enough, they're just like capris anyways, right? So I put his shorts on and had a good 3-4 inches before the button would even thing about fitting into the buttonhole :-( Boo!

I went downstairs to whine and cry to Jesus, and it turns out I picked the smallest pair of shorts he has. He barely even fits into them. So he dropped trou right there in the living room and gave me the pair of shorts he was wearing. Isn't that sweet? I've heard of people giving you the shirt of their backs, but how about the pants/shorts off their butt? I've decided that I really like his shorts. They're comfy! But I did have to wear his belt with them (my belts dont fit), and he had to buckle it for me because I can't see it to get everything lined up to go in the holes. The good thing is that I still had another hole before the belt was maxed out. Yay! (we won't mention that he usually wears his belt on the next to smallest hole)

Childbirth Classes

Jesus and I have begun our childbirth classes at the hospital. Our second class was last night. We've both decided that it's not nearly as bad and boring as we thought it would be. It really helps that the instructor has a sense of humor. She reminds us of a certain Type A, "red" (very red) woman at church. She has the same mannerisms and it's just funny! Last night we did some massage and relaxation techniques. The instructor needed a volunteer, so I gave Jesus the "go be the volunteer" elbow. He's so glad he did! She used him to show everyone how to do the massages. What an awful thing to volunteer for! The massage and relaxation is our homework for the week. It's going to be a terrible week. She also had the birthing ball out for everyone to try. Jesus decided that we were stopping by Fred Meyer to get one on the way home. And we did! I'm just surprised it didn't get pumped up last night. I'm sure it will be by the time I get home tonight.

Bye-Bye Camping

Goodbye my camping friends. That's right, we've had our last camping trip for the summer. Gone are the days when Jesus and I could decide that we wanted to go camping last minute, throw the cooler, tent & dog in the car, and head off. I just dont have the energy anymore! Do you have any idea how hard it is to roll your big fat self over in a little sleeping bag? It's hard enough to roll over in my bed at the moment, not to mention trying to keep the sleeping bag from rolling over with me, not waking up the dog (or husband), or to keep from rolling off the air mattress onto the cold hard ground. I've given it up for now, my friends.

This last weekend, Jesus and I, the dog, and my parents headed out to Barview for the weekend. When we got there, the weather was nice, though windy. Purdy blue sky 'n ever-thing! Saturday morning was beautiful as well. Jesus & my dad went out crabbing & fishing while us girls spent the morning walking on the beach. Chica had a blast. As soon as she was off leash on the beach, she headed straight to the ocean. The tide was so far out, and there were small puddles that were perfect for her to lounge in.

That afternoon was not so hot. The wind picked up by the time my sister & her family arrived. It's hard to keep sand out of a one year-old's face when he's only 2 feet from the blowing sand. But fun was had by all, and it was a pretty relaxing weekend, all things considered. We had to stop by Tillamook Cheese Factory on the way back, of course. Baby wanted ice cream, and what baby wants, baby gets! I'll miss not being able to camp for the rest of the summer, but it'll be worth it in the end.

Baby Shower!

My wonderful cousin & sister threw me a baby shower on Saturday, and even though we had to move it to the church last minute because of rain, it was so great! They didn't make us play any dumb baby shower games where everybody guesses how big around my belly is and so forth, plus they had Ding Dongs and cupcakes and swiss cheese! The cheese was another friend's doing, but they recruited her, so they get some of the credit.

Jesus crashed the party, which, I guess since he did have a hand in the whole reason for the shower, it was okay. He helped me open presents, and we got all kinds of wonderful stuff. Among other things, we received adorable, tiny little clothes, all kinds of bath stuff, a bunch of cute teeny socks, awesome hand-made afghans and quilts, and a book in Spanish about Walter the Farting Dog.

I have a feeling that this book will be a favorite in this household. While I have read the book before and kind of know how it goes, it's in Spanish so Jesus will most likely be the one to read it to our little sweetpea. He'll be more fun with it anyways. He'll probably make sound effects. Not real ones... hopefully.

Bye-bye Road Trips

I have officially hit the stage where I can't go on my long road trips to cell sites anymore. I've decided it's more efficient for somebody else to go that doesn't have to stop every 35 miles or so to pee. It takes so much longer to get to places now! I'm also starting to feel every tiny bump in the road, and it only makes it worse. Not to mention that a majority of the cell sites that I have to go to are along winding logging roads in the middle of nowhere. Ever had to pee so bad that your teeth are floating, while you're on your way to a cell site along a twisting, bumpy logging road? Sure, you say, just stop on the side of the road and go. It's in the middle of nowhere, right? Yes, it is, but there's also the chance that the architect, or the surveyor, or the cell company people will drive by while I'm squatting there, bare-butt and all. That's be lovely!! I don't really want to attempt to squat anyways. I'd fall over into blackberries or something fun like that.

So I've handed over the torch to the other gals in the office. They complain that they don't get out of the office enough anyways. I have a feeling I'll get rather tired of being stuck in the office though. But that's a sacrifice that I'm willing to make for my little wiggle baby.

Speaking of wiggle baby, she's running out of room in there. I don't think there is one position that I can sit, stand, or lay in without feeling like my guts are being squished. She moves so much, and seems to be pushing on the same exact place, that I'm convinced she's turning me black and blue from the inside out. Her tiny little heels are so stinking pointy & pokey!! Ow! Stop that little girl!! She's already stubborn, just like her father.

Prego Camping

This last weekend, the 3 1/2 of us (that's me, Jesus, Chica, and the little bean for those of you counting) went camping out at Fisherman's Bend outside of Mill City. It was soo relaxing! We did absolutely nothing all weekend long. The campground wasn't too full, so that was nice. Our campsite was in a pretty good spot as well. We didnt realize when we reserved the spot that we couldnt park at our site. We had to park about 100' down the road in the parking spots. But it wasn't that big of a deal. It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but about 20' behind our tent is the mighty Santiam River. The river was high, fast, and cold, so no swimming for us. There weren't any fish being caught either, much to Jesus' dismay.


We spent a lot of our time doing this:


I think we played a bazillion games of Phase 10 (which Jesus kicked my butt every time), and other card games like "Knock" (or Golf), "Kings Corners", and "Speed" (which I kicked his butt at, so we only got to play it a couple of times. Whiner!). It was nice to be able to just sit back, enjoy life, and not worry about anything. We had nowhere to be, nobody to answer to, and nothing that had to be done. We made no specific plans for the weekend, other than relaxing and hanging out.

On Sunday, we decided to go to Olallie Lake. The sign in Detroit said that Olallie Lake was 38 miles, and we figured that wasn't all that far, so we headed out with lunch makin's and fishing gear. We estimate we were only a few miles away, if that, when we ran into this:



Sure, it looks like we could make it as long as we followed the existing tracks, but what you can't see is that those tracks don't go all the way through, and there's a log across the road that's been cut so there's just enough room for a vehicle (not slipping and sliding on snow/slush/ice) to slip through. So we chickened out and pulled over to make lunch. There were a couple other vehicles that came up while we were eating lunch, but none of them made it all the way through, though there were a couple of attempts. Jesus walked up to the top of the hill hoping the lake was right there, but there was just more road, and more snow.

Chica, our weird dog, has a penchant for finding any bit of water and laying down in it. Apparently snow is no exception. She jumped out of the car, sniffed around a bit, and promptly laid down in the snow. I won't even begin to try to figure that one out. She's just strange.

Jesus took this picture of my making him sandwiches. I had forgotten how hard it is to spread extra chunky peanut butter on really soft white bread! But those sandwiches were oh, so yummy! For some reason peanut butter & jelly sandwiches always taste so much better when you're camping, or pulled over on the side of the road for lunch. This picture is also doubling as a belly picture. You'll have to ignore the fact that there's a battle going on for my middle earth, and both my shirt and my pants are losing. Until I saw this picture, I hadn't realized how big I've gotten. I guess from my perspective I can't see it all.


This camping trip made me want to go again while I can still get off the air mattress in the morning with minimal help. Maybe we'll go to the beach next time. Or somewhere I can go swimming. That should be interesting!

Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

Little Lily is going to be a very busy girl, I can tell. I've recently been able to feel little knees, fists, elbows, and whatever else poking at my stomach. It's a weird feeling to have a little creature moving around inside your body. I can feel little hard spots that move around, especially when I push on them. Those spots poke back! I recently read a little blurb online somewhere that at about 25 weeks, her little hearbeat may be able to be heard if Jesus puts his ear to my stomach, depending on her position. We tried, she kicked him. He coudn't hear her hearbeat, but it was almost more fun just to have her kick him. His new game is to tap on my belly to see if he can get her to kick. It works sometimes.

A lot of the time, Jesus will put his hand on my belly to feel for kicks, but since he's also watching tv, he forgets to pay attention. So when she kicks me so hard I feel it in my toes and it makes my eyes water, he barely notices. Must be a good show on tv! The other day I got his attention long enough to feel her moving around just below the surface. He thought that was crazy. I agree. Now I know to hit the pause button. I love the pause button.

Life Without Waldo

It's been about 6 weeks since our beloved Waldo went to pee on the big fire hydrant in the sky, and Jesus and I have discovered subtle differences in how we do things at home.

For instance, we havent had to buy any dog food since. The dog food tub doesnt even look like the dent has gotten deeper. Instead of going through 6 cups of food a day, we're only going to 2. And that's if Chica eats all her food. What's the point of giving her more food if she didn't eat what was in her bowl in the first place?

Also, we've noticed that we're getting rather lax about leaving food on the counters. Waldo was tall enough that his nose would reach the counter and he'd snag anything he could get ahold of. If it was too far back and he really wanted it, he just had to hop up on his back legs and Voila! within reach! So we kept the counters fairly free of food. Chica's a lot shorter, but she can still reach the counter, as we learned yesterday. We came home from the monthly doctor appointment yesterday morning and discovered Chica looking really guilty by the back door and a chewed on bag of pepperoni on the floor. When we had left, the bag was full and on the counter. When we returned, there were 2 sticks left and it was in the middle of the living room. The fun part is that last time Chica got a bunch of meat, she left a really bad, stinky mess. I dont think she's had carne asada since. So Jesus watched her closely all day yesterday, and put her outside everytime she looked a little green. So far, we've avoided any messes. I havent been out in the backyard, and I dont plan to. Ignorance is bliss when it comes to that!

We also dont fill the water bowl nearly as much as we used to. When Waldo was around, we had to fill the water bowl a few times a day. Chica doesnt drink nearly as much water, so she only empties it once every couple of days. So usually when I do refill the water bowl, it's to dump out the old water and give her fresh stuff. She's so spoiled.

People keep asking if we'll get another dog, but as much as I would love to have another dog, I dont think I can deal with a new dog and a new baby at the same time. One is time consuming enough without the other. Maybe when Lily's 5 or 6 we'll think about getting another one. In the mean time, Chica's our girl.

Registering

On Saturday, which was beautiful by the way, Jesus and I went to Babies R Us to register for our little bundle of joy. When we walked in, there was another couple that was getting all set up to go register as well, so the gal at the registration desk just gave us all the "This is How You Register for Stuff" speech as a group. But this also meant that we were both free to be overwhelmed by the huge list of stuff to register for at the same time.

When you sign up, they give you the scanner gun (I let Jesus be manly and wield the gun) and a little packet that has a list of stuff that you will want to be sure to register for. Stuff like crib sheets, bottles, pacifiers, etc. If you follow the list, it will take you in a little.. okay, big.. circle around the store. The first stop was breast pumps, bottles and other paraphernalia of that nature, stuff that both Jesus and I have extensive knowledge of (ha!). And since both of us couples were released at the same time, we both kind of stood there like "What kind are they getting?" "Are they getting the right one?" "Am I getting the wrong one?" I know, we're not supposed to care what other people buy, we're supposed to get what we want. But, we're human, okay? Then, once you decided on one of the 9,438 different types of bottle to choose from, there were 579 different types of nipples to put on the bottles. So needless to say, we have a couple (thousand) combos on our list. We should be covered... hopefully.

We soon got into a rhythm picking out stuff. I think Jesus scanned every "I Love Daddy" thing there was. I've noticed that all the "I Love Mommy" stuff is for boys and all the "I Love Daddy" stuff is for girls. What the heck?? Do girls not love their Mommies? Do boys not love their daddies? Jesus has also decided that we are not doing Dora or Tinkerbell because Dora shows her bellybutton and Tinkerbell has too much cleavage and her skirt is too short. We're also not doing the "Princess" or "Diva" thing because he doesn't like that either. I will continue to smile & nod.

Hiccups

Sitting here at my desk, I noticed that Lily has been very active today. She's been constantly on the move all day, flopping from one side to the other. Feeling her jab me in my stomach while simultaneously jabbing me in the back is quite an experience! I also noticed that her movements were kind of rhythmic. That's when I realized that she's not just flopping around, she's got hiccups! I hadn't felt her have hiccups yet, it was kind of funny! She's learned to hold very still when Daddy has his hand on Mommy's belly to fell little Lily move. He's caught her a few times, but those times are few and far between. But now, hopefully, he can catch her with hiccups and feel how cool it is. Guess we know what our entertainment will be this evening!

And Here's the Inside!

Well, we had a mostly cooperative baby. She (yes, I said she) had no problem spreadin' 'em, but she wouldnt give us a good profile shot. So this picture is the best I got. I took the picture of the ultrasound picture with my phone, so it's not the best. But it's still her! Hurray! Now we can go register and go shopping!!

Liliana Olivia Gonzalez

Here's The Outside

Here's an updated belly bump picture. We took this picture last night, so it's about as recent as you are going to get. The plan is to get pictures of the inside posted tomorrow. Hopefully, we will also have an answer to the big question. Cross your fingers for a spread eagle baby!!!

Halfway There!

We've officially made it half way, and hit the 20-week mark on the prego calender! The only problem is the last half will seem longer because we didn't know about the first 6 weeks or so of the first half. So the first half was really about 14 weeks, the second half will be 20 weeks. Oh well.

Now the most popular question is "Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?" The answer to that is no, but we go in on Wednesday for our next ultrasound, and if we have a cooperative kid, we should be able to find out if we have a little hot dog or a hamburger. We have a couple of votes in both directions. My mom says girl, while Jesus' mom says boy. Jesus also says boy, his dad and uncle say girl. I don't care either way. But since I always have to do everything opposite my sister, it'll probably be a girl. And since I bought a blue camo crib bumper (it was on clearance, and I wanted it, okay?), it'll be a girl. But the bumper will be used regardless. So there.

Baby Kicked Daddy

Jesus finally felt Baby G move Tuesday night. He's been waiting forever, trying so hard to feel the baby. I would tell him when it moved, and he'd put his hand on my belly. Of course, the kid would freeze, and not move until he moved his hand. So finally, he was patient enough and felt a few good kicks. Now he's as giddy as a school girl :-)

Action Shots

I was going through the pictures on my computer and came across these action shots.

Starring:

Chica-bica!!!!

and Waldo-faldo!!

It's amazing what dogs will do for treats.