One Month Check-up

Hugo is officially one month old today.

Yay, Hugo! You survived a month with parents who don't know what they're doing!!

Good for him. :)

I took him to the doctor yesterday for his one month wellness check. And he is doing wonderfully! I'm usually worrying that he's not getting enough milk when he nurses (because he falls asleep sooo easily!!), but all my fears were put to rest. Here are his stats:

weight: 11 lbs 1 oz 75th percentile
length: 23 1/4" 95th percentile!!!

I have a looong baby. The nurses kept asking where his length came from because obviously it's not from mom. But I assured them that this will probably be the only time in his life that he'll be one of the taller kids. Too bad he can't really enjoy it.

It was actually kind of funny because the nurse that was recording the measurements didn't quite believe the other nurse measured right so she measured him again and got a longer number! So, she stuck with the smaller measurement of the two.

I'm glad he's doing well and gaining weight. Here's what he's been up to lately:



Getting his hair combed. He loves it.



Playing with dad.



Being surprised by the camera






Getting sleepy...



Waiting for clean clothes with dad around 3 a.m.



This is a picture of him right now. Sleeping. :)

Hugolicious

So, life has been good lately. Hugo is doing really well. He's getting bigger every day and is staying awake a lot more now. He actually was awake for the majority of the afternoon today. I was really surprised. Hopefully he will sleep well tonight. Last night we had a relapse and he was awake for a few hours at 3 am.

Another cool thing is that he is starting to look like a baby and not so newborny. Not as squishy as before (although his cheeks are still quite squishy!). Hugo is starting to look like himself. Taylor and I love him. He is a great baby. Anyway, here is just a little bit of who I get to spend every minute of the day with. :)




I love my baby

Daddy and Hugo

Taylor celebrated his 25th birthday on Saturday! Hugo and I are so grateful to have Taylor in our lives. I couldn't ask for a better husband and partner and Hugo couldn't ask for a better daddy. Taylor makes me healthy smoothies (so I get my veggies in some way!), helps burp Hugo when I can't seem to get him to burp, and makes sure Hugo gets tummy time. So, thank you Taylor for all that you do for us!

A couple of shots of Taylor and Hugo:

Hugo is good at making those funny faces. :)






Hugo is so sweet asleep...

Swinging

Hugo has been doing really well lately. He had a couple of nights that he thought it was daytime, but its been improving. Yesterday, we went out and bought some batteries for Hugo's swing. We thought we'd try it out and I think he is a big fan. It's hard to read his newborn expressions. :)

The room was pretty dim. So, the video is a little dark.

Waking up with Hugo

I found some videos of Hugo. I'm pretty sure some of you may not find them all that interesting, but I love them. :)



Hugo is so cute. We just love him.

Sorry about the spit-up, but that's true life there. :)

Our little Hugo

So, life with Hugo is wonderful. I really like the slow-paced life. Everything in my life revolves around Hugo and I really love it. I love being a mother. Anyway, we went to Taylor's parents the other day to put up the Christmas Tree and make sugar cookies. Hugo slept for the most part. But he was awake for a little bit. Anyway, we are very happy with our little Hugo. I feel bad that we are going to get him circumcised here soon. I told Taylor I can't go to that one. I'm pretty sure I will cry. Actually, I'm positive that I will.



Hugo enjoys naps on the bed with mommy and daddy, but we have to be careful. He also has become really good at rolling onto his side.



Taylor loves to play with Hugo. :)



Hugo thinking.



One of the few family pictures we have. I love my new family.

Just like me...

What do you think?

Some pictures!

Hugo is a wonderful baby! I'll start with that. He is very calm and such a cute kid! Those cheeks! I can't get enough of his cheeks! Anyway...I get carried away.

Hugo basically just eats, sleeps, and poops. But it is so fun to have him around. I never knew all the funny sounds newborns makes. My favorite one sounds like a little mouse. Very high-pitched and random. I actually took him to his first check-up and the doctor said that they usually like the babies to be back to their birth weight in two weeks (they lose 10% apparently during the entire birthing process). Well, Hugo was 9 lbs 1 oz at birth and today he was 9 lbs even! Only took 6 days. The doctor was impressed...well done, Hugo. Well done.

I'll just say that Hugo is the spitting image of me when I was a baby. I always thought he would look like Taylor, but it turns out that he is his mother's son. Except he does have Taylor's crooked pinky-toe and he is not dark. hehe

Anyway, here are some pictures of Hugo. I can't find our camera with the videos. Taylor is reaarranging our room and it is lost in the mess at the moment...

Finally blogging

Sooo much has happened. I know a lot of you feel like you're way in the dark! I sent a text message of me going into the hospital and then was never heard of again. Here is what happened!

I woke up that morning at 7:00 and sat up in bed and realized that my water broke! How exciting! Finally! A sign of labor after 10 days past the due date!!

Taylor and I called our doctor and she told us to go to the hospital. I asked if I could take a shower and she said yes.

I took a shower and ate breakfast and then Taylor and I did research that said, do not go to the hospital there is no rush! You may have a higher risk of infection, because they will want to check your cervix and the amnionitic sac is no longer protecting the entire area.

So, Taylor and I decided to go on a walk and try to start labor that way. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

We decided to go into the hospital (against our better judgement). The first thing they did, Check my cervix! I was only a 2! Still a 2 after 2 weeks of being a 2!

I got checked in and they started me on Pitocin (which I didn't want to begin with. It was the beginning of a lot of things that I never expected). I didn't dilate from a 2 for about 10 hours. My water broke, but there was no labor.

They upped my pitocin and I started having contractions, but they just felt like bad menstrual cramps.

Soon, I became very aware that I was in for a long labor. At about 8 pm we decided to get an epidural to maybe relax my cervix and because I wanted to be able to sleep that night and I wanted Taylor to be able to sleep. And I was still only at a 2, but labor with a broken amniontic sac is pretty painful especially with pitocin.

That night I got a fever (an indication of infection). I had a fever all night. It went up to 103.2. The nurse was pretty worried and they called my doctor to let her know. I was shaking uncontrollably in bed and I thought i was just cold, but I was just feverish.

The next morning I still had a fever and the baby's heart rate was close to 200. The doctor was worried for the baby, but I had dilated to a 5 at least. They gave me medicine and my fever went down and the baby's heart rate went down too.

At about 8 am, the doctor checked my cervix and I was at a 7. She gave me two hours to get to a full 10 and if not I was going to have a c-section.

At 10, there was no change. The doctor said the baby was at the canal, but couldn't move down. They said it was time to get a c-section.

I got prepped by the anesthesiologist and given powerful drugs and soon I was being wheeled down the hall to surgery.

And the sleepiness began...

I felt so drowsy. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I asked the nurse if I could sleep and she said that was fine. She would wake me up during baby time.

I was in and out during the surgery. Taylor tried to get me to concentrate on him, but I couldn't. My eyes would keep drooping down. I only recognized it was him by his eyes, because he was all scrubbed up. I think I was only there for 30 minutes, but I did hear the doctor say, "there is no way this baby is coming out with these cheeks!"

One of the nurses told me that Hugo would have to be in the Neonatal intensive care for 5 to 7 days. I couldn't make out what she was saying. I just heard 5 to 7 days.

The rest of Tuesday I was asleep or dopey. I couldn't make sense of anything. I couldn't go see my baby either.

Anyway, Hugo was in the NICU for 4 days. He was on oxygen for 2 and they were checking him for infection. They took blood cultures (sp?) and placenta tests.

Most of the days I was just visiting Hugo during feeding periods and pumping for him what I could at the time.

His blood cultures came back negative for infection, but they wanted to check the placenta just in case.

The placenta was infected, but only on the mother side. Hugo's side was not infected and his umbilical cord was clean. He could go home! We roomed in the last night and went home Saturday.

Now, our adventures with our little one has begun.

The New Addittion to Our Family...it's not what you think

So, we'd like to announce the newest addition to our family.....Toto the Toyota!



(sorry, no baby yet!)

We got a 2010 Toyota Corolla. It is our first purchase and we're really happy with it. We got a great deal. Taylor is really good at bargaining and bargain hunting.
However, he is really sad to see Betty the Buick go. Yes, she was an "old-lady car," but she was really comfortable and very reliable. As you can see, Taylor will miss her.




We're excited about our new car and especially excited for the new baby that will come. Betty was our newlywed life and Toto is our family life. A nice way to mark such big transition in our lives. :)




And, yes, that is me at 41 weeks...Update...the doctor will induce on Tuesday. We go in on Monday to see how far I'm dilated. Hopefully he'll come on his own between now and then.

Sick!

So, I tried to deny it on Sunday night when I felt my throat a little itchy, but there is no denying it now....I'm sick! I've been healthy my whole pregnancy and at the very end I get sick! When I'm not surrounded by germy children. haha I'm just really congested and it makes it hard to sleep at night (on top of the big awkward belly). I took a warm shower today so the steam could clear me up a little bit and it worked. I can breathe from at least one nostril now. I just hope that it goes completely away before Hugo comes. Aren't sick people usually not allowed around new born babies? What if it's the mom? Anyone know? Maybe Hugo knows momma is sick and that is why he's taking his time. He's making sure I'm all better before his arrival. What a considerate baby!

What I am doing with all my free time...

So, like most of you know, the baby has still yet to arrive. But, I've already started my maternity leave from work so I've been home these past two days. I was hoping to have a little baby to fuss over and take care of, but not yet. So what am I doing with all my wonderful, free time? Well, frankly, I'm working!

Maternity leave for a teacher is a little different. Even though, I'm not at work for 12 weeks I still have to create lesson plans which is hard from home since I don't have all my stuff here with my because I'm sure the permanent sub needs it. But, I'm making do. Some stuff I have access to online and that is extremely helpful. So, yesterday all morning I was grading papers because the 6 weeks was over. Then I was finishing lesson plans that the sub can (hopefully!) read. I did the same today. But on the bright side, I don't have to grade papers while I'm gone! :) Also, I have newsletters to write for the sub. Which isn't too bad really. I think I'm only going to try to be two weeks ahead. I'll devote one day a week to "work." Probably a Monday when Taylor will be home to take care of Hugo. So, that's my plan!

Anyway, until then, I keep thinking of my little class and how I miss them and I pray that my sub is able to really teach them and that they will really learn something while I'm gone. It's a pretty critical 12 weeks to be gone. But, I don't want to worry too much while I have my new baby. This kind of opportunity with your child only knocks once!!



My little class

The waiting game

The due date has come and gone. I expected that. I just had a feeling he wasn't going to come on time. However, I'm keeping my chin up and trying to be positive. I'm just excited to see baby Hugo and to hold him for the first time. I've waited 9 months, I figure I can wait just a little bit more. Plus, I don't really want to be induced. The doctor said she would induce me either Thursday night or Sunday night. It's my choice. I think I'm going to wait till Sunday. Between then and now I'm sure I'll be taking a lot of long walks with Taylor, and that isn't so bad. :)

39 weeks 2 days...but who's counting?

All I can say is...wow...let's have this baby soon. :)

Accidental anecdotes

So, it has been quite a bit of time since we've updated our blog. Really, there has not been anything interesting happening...until now. Friday started off as any Friday would have. I went to work, taught some kids, and Taylor picked me up. Except he picked me up with his dad. Taylor's parents live about a 5 minute drive from us and we see them often so its not a big deal or huge surprise. Usually on Fridays we go to Taylor's parents for dinner and to play the wii. Taylor said we were going to swing by the house and pick up the wii and then head on over to the Seibold's (Seniors). We went to the house and spent more time there then planned (my dad and Danny got to talking). We left and headed down the route between my house and Taylor's parent's house we've driven over a thousand times I'm sure. However, Friday was different. We later discussed that our odds were up and we had met our number. The 1 out of 1000 time had come. We got into a car accident....

As we were driving on this access road (the roads that parallel the highway) I was sitting on the passenger side on the phone with a good friend. Danny was sitting behind me and Taylor was driving. So, I was not paying attention at all to the road. I just hear Danny exclaim, "Taylor!! That cars gonna run the stop sign!!" Our road was a straight shot. No light. No stop sign. No yield. Just go. However, there is another road that intersects it that does have a stop sign. But, this car didn't stop. At first, I thought it was going to hit me. But, then I thought it was going to hit Danny. But, thankfully, she hit the passenger trunk's side and the back wheel. We fish tailed quite a bit and thankfully there was no oncoming traffic. Taylor turned around and drove back to the lady. I called the police and then I called my doctor. She told me to go to Baylor Hospital to get monitored.

Unfortunately, our (only) car received quite a bit of damage. Although, it looked only cosmetic, when my dad and I followed Taylor back to the house the car looked and drove like a crab! Taylor said he had to have the steering wheel at a 90 degree angle to drive it straight and the tail was swinging back and forth. Now, we are just waiting for the claims to be processed and for us to get a check so we can put it toward's a new (new for us at least) car.

Taylor and I went to the hospital where they hooked me up for an hour for fetal monitoring. The baby was perfectly fine and I was too. I figured that much, but my doctor wanted to be sure. It also had a part that showed my contractions I didn't know i was having. They are just Braxton-Hicks ones. The nurse touched my stomach and said, "you're having a mild contraction." I said, "I am?" I'm pretty sure when they are the real deal I'll know and not mistake it for bad gas pains...hopefully! Anyway, it was a sad day for Taylor to lose his Betty (that's the name of his car). She was a good car for us. And hopefully we'll fine a new one soon that we will be able to afford.

Nursery updates!

The nursery is still very much a work in progress. There is just stuff everywhere. But I am still working on projects here and there. Taylor got the crib up the other week and it looks great.



Taylor inspecting his work.



There's even more stuff in the crib now...



Baby's real first bed. This will probably be in our room for the first few weeks. It's a hand-me-down from my sister.

I've also been working on some crafty projects. I'm in the middle of one right now and I have got one down. I made this lamp for the baby's room and I got the idea from a real cute book called, Kid Made Modern. It was really easy and fun to do.








The other project that is in the works is a bumper for the crib. I found the cutest fabric at a small fabric store in the cultural district of FTW. I just need to sew it together. I think I'll try to do that today so that I can post pictures soon.

Projects are fun! I have many more that I still want to do. I'll keep you updated.

Babyshower!

My wonderful, long-time friend Courtney threw a beautiful baby shower for me last Saturday and she did it while she was on vacation. What a sweetheart! It was great to have her there since she really lives thousands and thousands of miles away from me. It was fun and the decorations were beautiful and best of all the company was fantastic. I am so grateful to be surrounded by so many wonderful women who care for me. That is the wonderful thing about relief society: the strong sisterhood that develops between people who otherwise would probably never known each other existed. Anyway, I got amazing gifts, cutest outfits, and sage advice. Thank you to all of those who made it happen. ;)








I really liked the decorations and the food! I'm keeping the, "It's a Boy!" for my nursery. Courtney made them. :)



The plates were in the color palette of the nursery. Great idea! I hear that was Keishah's idea!




The women drew designs on onesies and a lot of them were super cute! What a great idea!




Absolutely LOVE these shoes! Thank you to Courtney and Co. for these cute shoes!




Adorable baby. I love having a friend that I've known since I was a geeky 12 year old. It's the best. I hope we always stay in contact and get to take a picture together when we're both old and gray (or have fake dyed black/brown hair). :)

Nursery Color Palette

So, I've decided on a color palette. I was on the phone last night with my good friend, Cgar, and while discussing baby stuff with her I found my colors! Yay! Basically all colors which appear in this painting (the one on the bottom right):



It makes me excited because I'm not limited to just greens and blues. Thoughts? Like or dislike?

Also, I found a bumper thanks to Cgar!!




See post below for other items that will enter the nursery. Soon I'll be able to start actually start putting it together. :)

The Great Nursery Debate

So, I know a baby doesn't really care about the colors or the patterns or the decorations that are in his room. A baby doesn't care if things match. A baby doesn't care about knobs. A baby really just cares if his needs are met. But I care. And unfortunately, I care a lot! I didn't think I really would, but an obsession has creeped into my life and I'm captivated by mommy blogs. More particularly, nursery blogs. It's amazing to me how creative people are....and how creative I am not. I go on a daily basis to Spearmint Baby blog to check out her collection of nursery photos to get inspiration, but the more I look at the countless photos the more confused I am with what I want to do.

This is what I have so far:
Paint color: arctic blue


Painting I must have in the room: Monsieur under the rain


Crib: White from IKEA-the Gulliver


Dresser: My old white antique dresser (love it for the old feel I get from it, but I don't have pictures right now)

Lighting: Adorable night lights from IKEA





I'm not too sure how the night lights will look, but I thought since the monsieur was so colorful it would be alright. And I still haven't found the bedding I'm looking for that will unite all of the colors as well. And I don't even know what all of the colors are! haha Any helpful hints or ideas from my creative friends? What do you think of what I have?

Belly pic time: 25 weeks and 5 days!

So, its obviously been awhile since I've posted a belly pic. I have a good friend (Elizabeth Martinez) who took these for me this morning out by Trinity River. It was so much fun. We both just practiced our photography skills. Maybe I'll have her take my pictures from now on. :) Anyway, I'm feeling great! My pregnancy has been perfect so far and I'm just enjoying the little (or sometimes big) movements my little one is making right now. Anyway, enjoy!!







And my beautiful photographer, Elizabeth: