Expelled

We just saw it last night. If you have not yet seen it, it would be worth checking it out.

This is how we do it

I believe the Kaza's had posts explaining the phenomenoms in their lives, so here is one that I have discovered about our family.

We have adorable babies (of course, I'm not biased) in the winter and therefore, colds and flus are all around us. Often a few family members are sick at the time of the baby's arrival. In this case, it was Sheila's entire family with some sort of cold.

I get some form of prolapse, try to take it easy, can't lift much...but fortunately, God blesses us with content babies who prefer to be held, but also enjoy cozy chairs. I have some crazy burst of energy about a week after the baby is born. In this case, it took Mario and I out on a date (with baby Sheila). We went to Outback (what nursing mom wouldn't want steak?) Sheila was a really great date. We almost forgot to take a picture, but got this fuzzy one of us afterwards.

Then at about 10 days after the baby is born, I get hit with a wave of achiness and fever... oh yes, I have mastitis again! Thank goodness my midwives believe me and prescribe antibiotics over the phone. I lay in bed for 2 days straight. This time, everyone else was sick too. Sunday was quite a site a our house. Mario and I slept nearly all day (because his cold hit him hard that day), but spent it in the family room so we could be half-vigilant. I think MJ was the only one who didn't nap on Sunday. Sheila was an angel and just let us sleep.

Now, I am at least feeling better, while coughs and sneezes are still around us. And in the end, we still have a pretty cute kid.

Oh yeah, and it IS Advent! We've been trying to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas by having a newborn around to love and hold. We do have Christmas lights, but they are incomplete and not to our satisfaction...pictures will come soon. Cookies are not being baked in abundance (which really, Christmas can go on without them... site the Grinch) but more will be baked at some point. Meanwhile, we bought Christmas Captain Crunch from the store, and since we succesfully got rid of sugar cereals in the morning, the boys thought this was a HUGE treat. We wish we had the camera when Joey took his first bite. He got the yummy cereal in his mouth, and as soon as he realized how good it tasted, he had the biggest smile on his face.

I've been spoiled

We had a wonderful visit with my mom for the first week of Sheila's life. It was very nice being taken care of, being told to lay down, and then waking up to a delicous meal and a clean kitchen. Here's Sheila getting cleaned up (she was even happy during this). So far, she's a pretty laid back kid like Joey was.


Although, after she was clean, she was clearly hungry. Too bad I don't look very clean.


Grandma and MJ built their own gingerbread house...okay it's nowhere near as amazing as Luke's, but MJ had a fun time.

Then Thursday, the Kaza's generously watched MJ and Joey and gave me a day of rest with Sheila. Mario was traveling in New York, so I had 8 hours to do whatever I wanted. It was nice being able to enjoy Sheila.
This video is not terribly exciting, but for those who miss the peace and quiet of newborn play, I thought I'd share this.

More Sheila pictures

It seems we don't like to do anything easy. Sheila was only 3 days old and Mario began working on another project in the house (we are opening up the stairway to the basement.) Those pictures are fun, but our growing family is a bit more fun.




















t

Sheila Mercedes Suarez

Since cell phones don't work in the hospital (but wireless does), we just want to share that Sheila Mercedes Suarez came at 7:38pm today. She's 8lbs, 7oz and very healthy (and hungry). When I can, I'll upload pictures.

Tricia asked me to add head size (14.0) and length (20.3) too.

before we get too busy...

We wanted to share something that has made us happy the last 2 days.... our fence. The neighbors (if they have caught us) are certainly calling us crazy as we frequently just go out and stare at our fence. I'm sad I didn't have any wide angles of the overgrown forest-yard that we used to have. But I'm happy that Mario had the vision to transform our yard into what it is today.

BEFORE:
This was one of the woodsy areas to the right of our house. And in the background you can see more woods/overgrowth that is at the back of the property.

Close up of side overgrowth.

AFTER:
Right front of the house showing the cleared overgrowth.
From the back of the property looking to the front. That big tree was surrounded by smaller overgrowth.

BEFORE:
Close up of overgrowth at back of property (it was basically about 15 feet that stretched the entire length across the back).





HALFWAY:
Our first step was to clear the growth, and then plant grass seed (which grew in quite nicely)

You can kind of see from the different shades of grass where the new greener grass was put in and grew.
AFTER:
As shot from the back corner of the property.

Still pregnant - 39 weeks

In case any of you were wondering. Mario has reminded me that I seem to have babies pretty much on time at 40 weeks, so I should be patient and enjoy these last few days. It has been good advice. Since I'm still pregnant, we've been able to get more work done around the house and have been able to finish up things. We've also had a chance to go on dates, which seems to be our favorite thing to do before babies arrive. The boys have joined us on a few of these outings. But we made it to see a movie - the one date that I find a bit more difficult with tiny babies - so, we're all set. We've also just had our house blessed (finally! yay!) MJ says there are more angels at our house now to protect us. It was fun having our priest and neighbor over. He has the exact floor plan of our house so we were comparing all of the fun things that can be done. They moved in around the same time we did in September. We had a fabulous Thanksgiving with the Kaza's as generous hosts. I don't have many pictures from that, but if you've seen the Suarez blog, you've gotten them. It was great spending time with cousins and Mario's parents and almost all of his siblings.

Cheers!



We also feel that Joey is at an absolutely adorable age (well, MJ is as well) but Joey is at the perfect age of obedience without much talking back, with all the curiosity of a toddler. MJ is just plain curious about everything, but has a much better understanding of rules and order. So we have been trying to take more pictures of them if possible.

For the most part, MJ and Joey stay in their own beds at night, but occasionally Joey will be in his crib or they will try to share a bed together. I got some night shots of this, but then tried with a flash and they didn't wake up. I guess they are pretty good friends. (You can see part of the wall where we painted the boys room... I really should do a before and after picture).

MJ still loves all tools. He also likes spending time outside even when it is cold. I'm not exactly sure what he is doing, but I've caught him simply staring at the tools, carefully arranging them, and pretending to use them. Joey joins him outside for a little while but then decides it's too cold.

MJ had an extra special fun day when Mario let him pretend to use the real tools. He was happy for hours!
With the beginning of Advent, we've started to find some of our Christmas decorations. The boys really love this snow globe of the Nativity.

belly, but for how much longer?

I thought I should probably take a belly shot as I haven't done that much with this baby. I have been 37 weeks as of Monday and had my appointment today. I am 3cm dilated, 70% effaced, and the baby is at 0 station. Any baby preditions for date of arrival, weight, length? Let's hope they were right about a girl b/c we have no baby boy names lined up. I have more "clues" to help guess the date of arrival, but we'll have to discuss that over email as Mario doesn't like sharing some stuff on blogs.



I realize that many women can walk around this ready to go for several weeks. With Joey, I hadn't felt really active contractions that kept going, so we decided to have my water broken. When I checked into the hospital I was 6cm and 80% effaced. I usually have quick labors, but I think I could also say that I have technically LONG labors. It depends on when you start the clock for labor... 1 cm, 2 cm? cx where you cannot breath? I guess for me the early stuff goes mostly unnoticed. Anyway, this girl will arrive when she is ready. And the braxton hicks I have been feeling have been a nice wake up call that she actually could arrive soon. So at least now our bags our mostly packed, she has clean clothes, and a clean car seat. We even have her special blanket picked out. It has been Joey approved.

Furry Friends

The Kazas aren't the only ones with woodland creatures in their home. Ours happen to be squirrels living in our attic. We know where they are getting in (at least the obvious whole) so are prepared to seal that up. But first we have to remove the little furry things. It seems the $35 trap works and the boys enjoy checking out the squirrel. We have a few videos of Joey talking to the squirrel too. This was the first one we caught, and Mario relocated him last night. Today we caught squirrel #2 and I've just returned from a LONG drive to make sure that he won't come back. Hopefully we only had 2 and can patch the whole this weekend. Tabitha and Babu, if you find any more of God's outdoor creatures in your home, you are welcome to borrow our trap.

On a fun note, my friends had a baby shower for Erin and I (the two girls in the middle). She is due January 18th (MJ's due date) with baby #4 (a boy). Actually, out of the 9 friends attending, 4 of us our pregnant. Mindy and Tara are next, but we will have other showers for them later. I'm really upset that I didn't turn to give you a good belly shot. I swear, I am HUGE, but she is all out in front of me.

Blue or Brown

Wow, I am having trouble making even the smallest decisions here. We are attempting to get our kitchen put back together after the new paint job, and these window treatments are hard for me.

Our color pallette in the kitchen is not ideal, but we seem to have the green from the counters, the brown from the floors and the cabinets, white trim, and then our light table (which we don't really love but just happen to have). Some might even add the silver from the stainless steel and fixtures/knobs. We're thinking of either going navy for the other color for the other color or a chocolate brown.

Navy:
seems to highlight the blue walls more
pros - the table will sort of work still; we have blue dishes/accent stuff already
cons - will the room be too blue?

Brown:
seems to leave the green counters as the dominant "color" of the room
pros - a more subtle look, i get to buy new pic frames and a new clock
cons - I don't think the light table works; so we'd likely spray paint it (it was a $150 IKEA table and as temporary of a purchase as it was, it's lasted 7 years and we don't mind if we get rid of it eventually).

I know it's hard to tell from these pictures, do you have any oppinions?