It's A Boy!!!

The newest member of our family, an adorable, sweet-smelling, normally-named, little boy was born early Saturday morning. Apparently I am not too good at willing labor to stop.

He weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and is 22 inches long.

My delivery was probably the fastest and easiest I've ever had.

I just got home from the hospital and will report more when I am feeling a little less tired.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

T-9

Ok, saying I am going to blog everyday until the baby is born, after months of lazy blogging, was a tad-bit ambitious on my part. So, this won't be long.

This morning was my weekly check-up. Not a lot has changed in the last week, cervically speaking. That was disappointing.

But, now I am sitting here trying to decide if I am in real labor, or annoying false labor. I have had hours of contractions now, pretty regular, but not really intensifying.

???

I really don't want to get turned away from the hospital having my fourth child, but at the same time, I don't want to get stuck in Big City Friday night traffic and miss the blessed-epidural-window-of-opportunity.

I'M NOT READY. And, I am interviewing a new muchacha tomorrow morning at 9:00, so I kind-of have to be here. I don't think I've ever hoped for false-labor before. It feels odd, watching the clock, hoping my contractions are getting farther and farther apart.

If I don't post by tomorrow night, you'll know where I'm at!

T-10 Days

10 days until my due date.

I plan to do a little update every day until the child leaves me. If you've been pregnant, you know how bad the last few days can be, so you can expect a lot of whining and moaning. I'll totally understand if you pass on my blog.

So here's an update:

Maid Situation: After getting rid of the temporary maid that didn't like kids, I talked to the maid that I actually like with the ovarian cyst. She has been receiving medical advice from her cousin who is a doctor. OF PODIATRY (yes, that is sarcasm you can hear). The podiatrist/cousin told her she needs AT LEAST a month's rest to recover. So we are currently muchacha-free which is kind-of refreshing.

What I've Been Up To:

Cleaning: see above.

Nesting: check out my pantry.

Cooking: My nice friend came over last week and we made 31 freezer meals, or "frozen delights" as Guapo calls them. I'm set.

One Act of Desperation:

These are the overalls I vowed NEVER to wear again after my last pregnancy. I kept them only to use them to be a farmer for Halloween.

I have been driven back into my overalls by the new fangled low-rise maternity pants. They look so cute in the store-then you get them home and they fall down every time you move. You'd have to wear suspenders to make them practical.

Of course the shoulder straps of the overalls are kind-of a pain seeing that I have to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes.

Guapo's Most Recent Addition to the Name Pool: Mort and Fannie.

One Cute Juan Carlos Quote: He asked me the other day, "How does the baby sleep in you with out a pillow and a blanket?"

See you tomorrow!

8 Months-The Final Stretch!!!

Yay!!! Would you look at the little ticker above? Only 26 days to go (or less). I am so anally punctual that no child of mine would dare to be born after my due date.

Did I just jinx myself? Probably.

The last month seems so short and so long all at the same time. Sometimes I say "26 days" and I think, "That's nothing!!!" and other times I say "26 days" and I think, "How on earth can I possibly make it 26 more days?"

Other Random Notes

Guapo's Latest Name Suggestion: Earl.

Juan Carlos Wrestles with Death (well, the idea of it at least): We had a turtle pass this week which was very sad for everyone. Guapo aptly fulfilled one of his "Man/Dad" jobs and buried the little guy in the garden. Juan Carlos just doesn't get it. And who can blame him? He's not yet 4. He came up with some great suggestions as to how to revive the poor thing.

1. open up his eyes
2. open up his mouth and put food in and wait
3. dig him up, kiss him and put him back in the water

I tried to explain, "His body doesn't work anymore, but his spirit is with Heavenly Father." To which he replied with a quizzical look, "Heavenly Father lives in the dirt?"

I love it when they say cute things like that!

The Name Game

Object of the game: To choose a suitable name for our soon-to-be born child

# of Players: Two. Me and Guapo

How the Game is Played: I suggest a name; Guapo shoots it down and proceeds to give me a name that he supposedly likes. This goes back and forth until I end up leaving the room trying to decide if he would actually name a child of ours some of the names he suggests, or if he just likes to see a very pregnant woman get riled up. I think it's probably the latter as our other children have fairly normal names (they are not really named Margarita, Julio, and Juan Carlos, in case you were wondering!), but he is SO CONVINCING, that sometimes I really don't know.

Some of his most recent suggestions (I apologize in advance if these are names of your children, but you have to admit, as a group of names they are not the most, ummmmm, normal to call a baby):

Guapo's names for boys:
Les
Guy
Sal
Zeek
Frank
Milt
Hank
Bob
Fred
Ralph
Gus
Bert
Ernie
Barney

Guapo's names for girls:
Harriet
Mabel
Ruth
Gertrude
Bertha
Mildred
Wilma
Freida

Winner of the Game: To be determined in 6 weeks!

7 months

Here I am, 7 months along now. I'm feeling fine, it's just getting harder and harder to bend over and the heartburn is a little rough, but other than that all is well.

Belly Shot: 22 Weeks

My mom has been asking for a new belly shot.

So, here I am last Saturday:


And closer up:


As you can see, I am still refusing to put on a pair of maternity pants. I rather suffer in my regular jeans than put on those dreaded panel pants.

I employ the rubberband method. Are you familiar with it? Here let me show you what I mean:

Pants won't quite close?



No Problem! Just add one rubberband:



And Voila! Your pants can last for at least another month depending on the size of the rubberband used.

And there you go!

Ultrasound News: It's a ______________!!!

Will I be buying this:

Or this?:

The answer is: (drum roll please. . .)

Both.

No, I'm not having twins, thank goodness, it's just that we never find out what we're having (and I'm not crazy about gender-neutral clothes).

Isn't that annoying? I always want other people to find out and then I don't do it. Guapo says it's one of the few surprises you can have in this life. So, we always wait.

With the other three it wasn't that hard for me. Today when we went to the ultrasound, I really wanted to know. First of all, I feel like I should prepare mentally if it's another boy, and more than anything, just for convenience. Clothes are so outrageously priced here and we are going to the States for New Year's, so it would make sense to find out so we could buy the little thing some clothes. I warned Guapo that if we didn't find out, I would have to buy for both. He didn't budge.

The baby is healthy and well from what the doctor could see but appears not to be a very cooperative baby as it wanted to remain in a ball the entire 1 hour ultrasound session making it very difficult for the doctor to take her measurements. She kept making me roll this way and that way and prodding the poor little critter with her instrument to get it to stretch out.

I'm thinking it's another boy because when she had us look away so she could check out the nether-regions it didn't take her too long. But, according to the ancient-Chinese-gender-predictor-calendar, it's a girl. Of course it also claims that Julio (6 years old) should have been a girl, so I'm thinking I can't put too much stock in it.

Hmmmmm. Who knows. 5 more months of wondering and waiting.

Good News and Somthing Funny

Well, it's official.

I have just finished my first barf-free week in 11 weeks. Yay!!!

And, here's a little somthing to check out that is totally cracking Guapo up lately. It's very short, I promise.

Have a great weekend!

First Belly Picture-17w3d

Ok, before I show you what I look like I have to tell you that I have a weird body. I have a disproportionally small waist compared to my rear/thigh region. I buy pants that fit my legs so they are always loose around my middle.

When I am pregnant, my sides fill out first and then I start to poke out in the front. Guapo says I look like I have a tire around my waist. Thank you very much Guapo.

So that's what's happening right now. My sides are filling out, and because I have extra space in my jeans around the waist I can still wear them.

By the end I look totally normal and huge.




And as you can see, I've already had my pregnancy hair-chop episode. There is this Colombian lady in our ward with the cutest hair and when I mentioned how much I liked it to her, she offered to cut mine.

"Sure, why not?" I answered.

So, she showed up at my house and cut off a good portion of my hair. I like it though, thank goodness. I am finally embracing my waviness!