Newest Arrival

We welcomed Carolina Pilar on Monday, February 18, 2008 at 10:43am. It was a quick and almost ideal labor and delivery. Contractions began at 4am and I was in the hospital by about 6am. By that point I was already 6cm, 90% effaced and +1 station. I say almost ideal because the epidural took a little long to get...I remember looking at the clock for more than half an hour while I sat on the edge of the bed and they chatted about cleaning my back and other details of the epidural...and contractions were 4-5 minutes apart! By the time they were done at 8am I was 9cm, fully effaced and 0 station. The epidural slowed things a bit so I dozed until it was time to push at about 9:30am. Pushing wasn't productive until 10:30am because I was sitting too far up, but once I shifted positions every push was rewarding and made the end feel so close. Below is the first of many family pictures. We'll do a nicer version later.

What I can't decide is who is having a worse hair day. Mom or baby? This picture was taken on Saturday hair washing day or today. I didn't realize this would happen when I washed her hair...maybe that's why you should only do it on Saturday. When she was born I thought she looked like me when I was born, but in this picture I think she looks like her gramps. I guess if Xavi looked like his abuelito when he was born she could look like the other one. It's hard to tell because she doesn't open her eyes much but does she have Xavi's eyes or her father's? Compare the two...um try to look past her hair.

still waiting

Due date is 2.5 weeks away - February 27 - and I'm already dialating and having some uncomfortable contractions, both times on the weekends - last Saturday and last night. My ob said she doesn't think I'll make it past February 20. After last night I don't either. 4 hours of contractions that were anywhere between 10-20 minutes apart, but no pattern or consistency. The weather sucks, so some days I'd like to go as long as possible! I'm not thrilled about bringing the baby home as we get pelted with a foot of frozen rain/sleet/snow. But walking in this heavy, wet snow is no good either. Many co-workers have said I should just keep trudging through it to get things going...great, thanks, that should be loads of fun. Can you tell I'm cranky? Going through a third trimester during summer beats this any day of the week. People have asked about that and I have to say that my June-August trimester with Xavi was a piece of cake compared to this - even as hot as it was. I guess I wasn't also trying to keep up with a 2 year old back then...but I still think a summer final trimester works best. This is where things stand as of now:
Room is ready...Xavi likes to jump in her crib.
Bag is packed...We even have a little present for Xavi from the baby.
Car seat is in...Xavi keeps asking if the baby went bye bye.
Xavi is waiting...He sees other babies and asks if they belong to him. When I say no, he asks where his baby is.

He's also happier at school, using the potty occasionally again (though he wants to be bribed and will ask for his chocalate when he's done, even if he uses it in the middle of the night he remembers the next morning and asks for chocolate!) and talking about the baby all the time - well talking all the time period.

I'm just as ready to meet her and not be pregnant anymore! Stick a fork in me, I'm done! Will post pictures if I have time and energy...

A Real Update

So here's the state of toddlerhood...

Xavi's decided to do fewer one word grunts and is starting to speak in complete sentences. A lot of it is spanglish, but I'm hoping he'll figure out how to separate the two languages eventually.

Potty training is not going well - at all. Since he can express a lot more these days we've figured out (not that it should have been difficult to figure out) that he just doesn't want to use the bathroom. He likes to wear underwear on the weekends and recently asked to wear them rather than diapers. When I was putting them on I was telling him he would have to use the potty if he wore underwear. His celebration about wearing underwear quickly ended when I said this and he took them off and said I don't want underwear, I don't want pee pee in the potty...and asked to have the diaper put on him instead!

His friend Sarai is now at daycare with him, but there was still crying at drop off. 8 weeks until baby sister arrives, I'm hoping he'll learn to love it by then!

A lot of physical activity, no surprise there, but recently after yelling ready, set, go or 1, 2, 3 he jumps off furniture. No matter what it is or how high and will also attempt leaps from one piece of furniture to another. We should probably head back to gym class.

Xavi definitely has a will of his own and has started to want to wear the same (favorite) clothes day after day. Today it was a new bears jersey he got for christmas - he wore it yesterday, asked for it instead of PJs after his bath, wore it to bed and wanted to keep it on this morning. Thanks Mari. His father was not happy about that and is looking for a niners jersey as I write.

Here are some pictures from last night:

Here's a fun video - a friend gave me the idea to post this. She had her baby in November and had a similar post on her blog. I never did this with Xavi and it's the part of pregnancy that I have enjoyed most. The cat wouldn't budge for the video and the baby moved more when I ate - hence all the stuff around me. I turned the sound off because Kiko purred the entire time.

More Merry Christmas and...

That's what Xavi said everytime there were more presents for him to open - "More Merry Christmas" and this year there was a lot of Merry Christmas. Sorry, no pictures of opening presents in NY. It was all a blur. I can't say it was because of the flight, because the flight out was fantastic. Everyone (all 4 people on the plane) thought Xavi was a perfect toddler...even when he sang Old MacDonald had a Farm and Jingle Bells at the top of his lungs as we landed. They thought it was cute. Trip back, different story. No nap, 2.5 hour delay ON the plane and landing after his bedtime didn't help. Everything else about the trip was fantastic though. I think there are no pictures of the presents because we were excited to hang out with oma and gramps, meet new people and play in lots of snow. By the way, this is REAL sledding...sort of. More real than what we have in the flat midwest, but not real by adult standards. When Xavi is a little older he can go on the crazy scary hill I was dragged out to when I first came to the adirondacks.

Here is the start of some complaining about going back up the hill or getting his mittens wet from touching the snow...this tirade ended in a song. I thought it was hilarious. Here are the new people we met. Cousin Putu (AKA Elena) from Bali by way of CT these days. This is her first year at Wesleyan and since home is so far away we get her for christmas! Xavi loved her on day one. Until his cousin Connor arrived!
This was buddy the rest of the time. They were partners in crime and had a great time together.
Yes, he is saying cheese.

We had a surprise baby shower during our visit so the baby got lots of presents too. Lots of pink clothes so she won't always be seen in Xavi's blue clothes. 8 weeks and counting until we meet this little girl.

Oh...HAPPY NEW YEAR!