Where did the year go?

Lucy at her second party, celebrating Mexican style.

Look at my balloons!

Loves playing with balls... (that just does not sound right, but I'm leaving it in!)

Birthday party at home with close friends and family, American style.

Too much has happened over the past months since I wrote to recount everything. Here are the highlights:

1) July '09: Lucy met her Abuelitos (Fernando's parents) as they came along with Fernando's brother David & family from Mexico during the summer. Lucy loved swimming in the pool and swinging at playgrounds.

2) Sept '09: First family trip. We went to Asheville, NC to the Biltmore on our anniversary weekend. Lucy did very well in car and in the hotel, much to our delight! Crawling everywhere.

3) Oct '09: Lucy was a ladybug for Halloween compliments of Grammy making her costume. We did not go out trick-or-treating though. Cruising everywhere.

4) Dec '09: Two parties to celebrate #1. Lucy loved it. She was not sure about the cake, but tried it. Lots of excitement around Christmas. Lots of family time. Lucy liked opening gifts at Christmas which we had at our house. Walking to and from mom & dad, etc.

5) Jan '10: First airplane ride...off to Mexico to meet all family there. Another party for Lucy's birthday. Lots of cousins to meet! Lucy loved playing with everyone and captured their hearts as she signed for "more", "please" and "all done". Started officially walking Jan. 25 complete with starts, stops, turns etc.

6) Feb '10: Lucy has 11 teeth and one on the way. So cute and now almost running around the house. Loves Elmo doll, little stuffed bear, Dolly (her doll) and carries them all over the house. Loves giving hugs and kisses to them and us. Loves playing ring-around-the-rosey song/game. Eating like a Ballesteros...which is to say...A LOT! Not like her mom as a child that is for sure.

So, now you are up-to-date if there is still anyone who looks at this from time to time.

More as news happens...I am busy running after a toddler! Wow!

Misc Pics...

Just so you can see more Lucy cuteness and growth!

Made up Songs

Since having Lucy I have discovered how everything we do now has a song. I don't sing very well, but Lucy doesn't seem to care and loves it. Here are some of her favorites that I have made up...

Hungry hungry hippo walking through the forest,
Hungry hungry hippo looking for something to eat.
(isn't there a Little Bunny Foo-Foo song? I realized that is the tune for this after I created this song out of desperation from Lucy crying for food)

This is the way we clean your tummy, arms, legs, feet etc. (used at bathtime in tune of "wheels on the bus")

Monkeys like... bananas, Papi likes... bananas, Lucy likes... bananas, Mami (doesn't) like bananas. (Obviously used first time we introduced bananas to Lucy. Also a real song just modified lyrics.)

Other favorites include:

• Old McDonald (I think I sing every animal sound imaginable to get her to stop crying when getting dressed after a bath. Old McDonald also has been known to have a baby...wahh waahh here and wahh waahh there...)
• This Little Piggy (Lucy's piggies do other things besides eat roast beef and go to the market...they get to go to the movies, the library, the zoo, and they even buy shoes! sometimes depending on what Mami remembers to sing.)
• Itsy Bitsy Spider (only song sung with original lyrics!)
• I Want a Hippopotomus for Christmas (with this song I got my first spontaneous giggles out of Lucy as she thought this was a funny song. She had previously laughed with me, but this was the first time SHE thought something was funny on her own.)

Fernando has a whole other list of songs he relies on. Lucy gets to hear all of his songs in Spanish. Not sure if I mentioned this but Fernando is only speaking in Spanish to Lucy and I pretty much only speak in English (with a few Spanish phrases).

I must say even though singing all the time can get a bit old, if Lucy loves it then we shall continue. One day she will sing along...I cannot wait!

6 months

TEETH! I have two bottom teeth that are SO adorable!

I look so much like my Papi in this picture...

Happy in my chair...

I am a movie star...

Lucy weighed in at 17 lbs 15 oz at her 6 month check-up. She is in the 70-90% for weight, height is 25% and head in right in the middle at 50%. She is doing well and we love this new stage. She is so much fun now!

Sorry for the lack of posts but I think these three make up for it. Not much to say other than we are all doing well. We have a bunch of family coming up from Mexico in July. Lucy will get to meet her Abuelitos (grandparents) and some uncles and cousins. I have rented a 15 passenger van for the week...I think that says is all. ;o)

6 month activities

Playing on the floor...

The last days of baby tub...

Loves her tongue...

Happy playing with Mami...

Teething...

Eating & Sitting...

Look at me mom, I can sit and play!

I LOVE my exercisor gym!

Making faces, but eating good!

Happy eating face...look at my food!

Lucy has been eating since 4 1/2 months...she LOVES avocado (cannot blame her!) and banana (don't understand that! since I told my parents as a child, " no be-as"...still cannot stand them!). Her other foods include: pears, apples, peas, green beans, carrots, squash, sweet potato, and of course rice & oatmeal cereals. She is a good eater but definitely lets us know when finished...she closes her mouth tightly and tucks her chin under and grunts, "mm".

She is very chatty too...lots of squeals and baby babbles. She loves to giggle too.

Bautizo-Baptism, April 18

We baptized Lucy on April 18. We had a lot of Fernando's family, my parents and a few friends. Lucy did pretty good and was asleep by the end of it. We had a party at our house for everyone afterwards with homemade tamales, pizza for the gringos & kids and a very pretty cake shaped like Lucy's dress. I only have a couple of pictures from the day on this computer...

Our Little Doll

Just had to post these as well...

Time is Flying By

Valentine's Day photo...I had no idea her tongue was sticking out at the camera or I would have done the same!We love those bunny slippers...Lucy's favorite sleeping position. It hasn't changed since birth. Funny how I like to sleep like that too!
Smiling...

So Lucy's 2nd & 3rd months flew by. She turned 4 months old yesterday! I am back at work...very sad. I hate missing everything! I so wish it were possible to spend more time with her! Let me rephrase that...financially possible. I suppose we could seriously downgrade...lose the house, only have one car, etc. Ha! If only this city had reliable public transportation. Anyway..a topic for another time.

Lucy weighed in at 14 lbs 4.4 oz yesterday. She is becoming a big girl. She loves to sit up and stand (assisted of course). She started squealing and we have heard a few little giggles. At 3 months she was cooing...the favorite being "ah-oo" or just "ohh". She has been sleeping 9 hours a night since about 8-9 weeks, although bedtime hasn't changed from 11pm. We have a nightowl on our hands. The good part is she sleeps 9 hours no matter the bedtime. So on weekends I get to sleep in with her. No 5AM wakeup calls for us! Hurray!

We are lucky to have Fernando's cousin's wife, Irma, taking care of Lucy during the week. She comes to the house so it makes my morning routine easy. Lucy is asleep when I leave. That was SO hard at first, but it does make getting ready for work a breeze. Weekends are that much more special to me since I can see her waking up.

Lucy & me the weekend before I return to work. (3 months old)

Lucy's First Month

So, Lucy is now 8 weeks old and I have not added new pics. Here are a few from Christmas and just her looking cute and growing bigger every day. More news later...

A few more pictures...

Happy new Grandparents and Great Grandparents!
My mom (aka Grammy) and Dad (aka G-pa)...those are their chosen names for now...

Christmas tree on top of hospital. We could see it from our window.

Sleeping princess...

Lucy's Arrival on Saturday 12/6

Friday evening, Dec 5- Fernando and I had dinner and talked about all we needed to do on his weekend off to prepare for Lucy's arrival in the coming weeks. It was only week 37, we had time! Ha! We were going to pack the bags for the hospital and go to Babies R Us for a few more things. Fernando was going to finish up some shelves he was working on for her room.
9:30 PM, I am SO tired and go to bed early.

During the night...I get up to pee WAY more than I have been. Looking back, I think my system was cleaning itself out.

WARNING: possibly too much info!

Saturday morning, Dec 6- 6:30AM I go to bathroom for what seemed like the 10th time...back to bed and gush of water...however, I think it is just mucus plug as lots of mucus coming out. I check birth book and it says labor is anywhere from 1-7 days when mucus plug comes out. I feel fine so go back to bed. I tell Fernando that I lost mucus plug. We go to sleep.

7AM- Start feeling not so great. Abdomen starts hurting. I still do not think these are contractions.

8AM- I am pretty sure what I feel are contractions but we have a hard time timing them. Fernando is now awake and I am stating to be in pain, but not SO bad.

9AM- Fer is running around packing bags, calling parents, etc. I am in bed trying not to lose it from the pain. I am in shock and cannot believe these contractions are the real thing although I cannot stand up my legs are shaking so bad.

I take a HOT shower somewhere in here. Fer said I was in there for at least 30-45 minutes.

10AM- We call the doctor's office as I am sweating uncontrollably after getting out of the shower. The midwife asked me questions and decided I should come to hospital. I am still in shock and wonder if I can withstand labor if this is early labor without epidural. I had not submitted my early hospital registration or have chosen a pediatrician!

Midwife sounds very skeptical on the phone that this is the real thing. We agree to meet at hospital in an hour. Fer helps me dress.

10:30 AM- We drive to hospital. Me with my eyes closed the whole time. Still cannot believe this is happening...we are not ready!

11AM- Arrive at hospital...I have to tell the nurse all my registration info. She apologizes but I was not preregistered! AH!

11:30 or so- We are checked into a labor/delivery room. Midwife arrives a short while later. She has monitors attached to me and checks to see status of dilation. She is SO surprised...I am at 7 1/2 centimeters!! She asks if I want epidural. I decide to hold off as I am much more calm, although in shock still, and feel better just being at hospital in good hands.

Midwife and main nurse were wonderful and so calm and reassuring the whole time. Fer was by my side and even though I had several opportunities the midwife agreed that I could deliver the baby naturally within a few hours! Wow!

2:00PM- Pushing started....longest hour and 41 minutes of my life! I was getting so tired...I had not had breakfast or lunch. I did get to have water and then ice chips since I did not have epidural. IV was pumping fluids into me though as I was near exhaustion.

3:41PM- Lucy finally arrived! Her shoulder did get stuck on my pelvis which resulted in some tearing...I think worse than the pushing...butt recovery!

Anyway, that is the story...we are sleep deprived and happy and I am starting to get get cabin fever. Breast feeding is a whole other saga...but I will leave that out.

Merry Christmas to all! Our present is here early!!

LUCY MARCELLA

Born: Saturday, December 6, 2008, 3:41 PM

7 pounds 5 oz

20 inches long

Full head of black hair!

And she is cute cute cute!!

More pictures and story to follow...

Surprise at 37 1/2 weeks!!

The reason for not adding pictures sooner is the surprise arrival of our little girl on Saturday! One day after I posted! I am resurfacing just now from everything! The whole story follows...

Catching up at 37 weeks

So I know I have been really bad about keeping this up. I had every intention of getting everyone caught up with pictures, etc today. I went to plug the camera into the computer and I had the wrong cord!

I apologize for the long delay. At this rate we will have our little girl here before I get the past two months of news, showers, etc. posted.

Short update:
I am still on schedule for Christmas Eve. I really think she will come after Christmas though. Work is fine, but I am SO over the daily comments and questions!

"When are you due? You're still here? You are HUGE! Oh...a Christmas baby...you better make sure you give her two presents and a proper birthday! I know someone with a Christmas b-day and they hate it! Did you plan a Christmas baby? You must be ready. You are getting there. Waddle-waddle."

I could go on...

I think one of the worst though was from a guy in the elevator on my way home to my car. This is a stranger and he said, " I have already had a terrible day. Don't you go into labor in this elevator!"

Nice, right? People are such joys to be around. I have been protecting my belly so no one has dared reach out and rub it. I suppose it helps wearing winter clothes.

Well, that is all for now. I will get some pictures up soon!

9 Months Pregnant Quote

Quote of the day:

Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater.
If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.
Give her a house, she'll give you a home.
Give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.
Give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.
She multiplies and enlarges what is given.
So,if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of $#!+.

La La Land at 30 weeks

Yesterday marked 30 weeks for me. 10 weeks to go!

I am finding it increasingly hard to concentrate and the sleepiness I felt in the first trimester is coming back in full force. It is going to be interesting to see how I survive these next weeks at work. And as the days are getting shorter with less daylight...that is not helping!

One exciting update...I met some neighbors yesterday evening (not new neighbors, but we do not know anyone hardly, quite sad). I would tell you their names, but seeing how my brain is starting not to function on top of I am already crap at remembering names upon introduction...I do not remember their names! The exciting part is she is pregnant, due January 3rd, with a girl! This is also their first child. She works as a dietician so of course she looks great. They live right down the street from us. I hope to run into them again sometime. At least it looks like there will be someone to walk/stroll with during the 3 months I will be home. Hurray!

More of our trip to FL

Here is another belly shot of me in FL apartment. I am at 7 months.












We had several rounds of very competitive ping-pong and pool (billiards). I managed to beat Fernando several times at pool! I was surprising myself at my skills...or luck!







Here I am at the beach. We actually got in...very nice bath water...calm and pretty. I don't mind baring my pregnancy belly on this beach. However, I don't think I will post the bathing suit pic. I do look pretty darn good compared to all the wrinkles and tan, leathery skin of the retirees living in Naples.