Thursday, December 31, 2009

Belly Baby Diary 12/31/09

Dear Belly Baby,

Today you are 14 and a half weeks old...in my tummy...and I think that I've been feeling you kick around. According to our last doctor's visit earlier this week you are about 4 ounces! Woohoo, what a chunk! ;) Oh, and you have a big head! Haha! Just like big brother! You should be around 3-4 inches from the top of your itty (big) bitty head to the bottom of your little heiny. And we can already tell that you have a cute face. Your little face on the sonogram was just beautiful. And man, were you moving around during the sono...another reason why I am almost positive it's you that I'm feeling and not gas bubbles! ;)

I am trying to take it easy today since I am still recovering from the procedure I had to keep you in my belly---but with big brother running around it is sort of hard to stay off of my feet! Your big brother sure has a ton of energy! ;)

Tomorrow is another new year, and the year that you'll be born! Time has already flown by since we found out that you were on the way, and I get more excited the closer each day gets to the day of your birth!

Bye-bye for now, little one. Mommy loves you!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Down for the count

Since I last posted our lives have been a whirlwind of activity. We spent over a week up in Dallas celebrating Christmas with both sides of the family. It was wonderful, and as usual it was hard to leave...but duty calls, and Aaron had to go back to work!

Yesterday morning I had the procedure to "sew the baby in" so that I can carry it to term. I had this same surgery with Johnathan so I knew what to expect---and in fact I was looking forward to going under---the feeling of being out of it and coming to is quite interesting! ;) So far everything is going well, and I am actually feeling a lot better than I did when I had this done the last time. The baby is doing well, and I got to hear it's sweet little heartbeat a couple of times yesterday. The previous day when I had my pre-op visit we even got to see it's precious little form via the sonogram...I'll have to post pics of that as soon as I get my "lazy" booty off of the couch! Oh, and speaking of my being lazy, I am so grateful that I have my wonderful mother in law here with me right now to help with Johnathan. I have to take it easy for the next week, so my MIL drove down Sunday to help us out, and then my sweet mommy is coming Saturday to stay until I can be up and about like normal. Aren't I blessed?!!! It's always sort of tough to accept help....even when you really need it...so I am learning to be humble and to graciously receive the care from people who love me.

I feel like I could go on and on about things right now...that's what laying around being lazy does to me...but for now I'll just jot down a few of the highlights of our Christmas vacation.

-Saturday the 19th marked the 6th anniversary of our sweet Gideon's homecoming to Heaven. We spent that day with Aaron's family, and had a wonderful (and delicious) Christmas celebration with them. One of the traditions in Aaron's family is the Christmas tamale dinner...and boy oh boy was it GOOD!!! I was really looking forward to that this year, and I was not let down. Everything was absolutely delicious!

-Monday the 21st we attended the surprise 80th birthday party for my Papa. All of his kids were there with their families and almost all of his 20+ grandkids were able to make it. We had a great time eating pizza and dancing and just honoring our sweet Papa. It was wonderful.

-Tuesday/Wednesday was cousin time at my folks' house. Johnathan dubbed his younger cousin, Levi, with the name "Elmo"...the first time he saw him little Levi was in a bright red sleeper, so I told Johnathan, "Look, it's Elmo"...and it stuck! Johnathan enjoyed the time he got to spend with his older cousin, Miles, and everyone else in the house got to see those two little guys get into a ton of mischief together---they even tried to sneak out of the house and got to the driveway all by themselves before we realized what they had just done! They were a handful, but they sure did have fun together.

-Thursday we braved the ice and snow to travel to my grandmother's Christmas Eve party. It took at least double the normal amount of time to get there, but it was worth it to be able to join in on one of the longest running traditions in my family. I just love going to my grandmother's Christmas Eve...it just wouldn't seem like Christmas without it!

-Friday of course was Christmas! We spent the morning opening stockings and enjoying my mom's Christmas morning breakfast...another tradition! I even made Johnathan his very own Christmas breakfast casserole (because of his milk/dairy allergy) so he was able to join in on the yumminess! Friday afternoon we visited the firehouse where my sister Gwen's husband works. We got a few cute pics of Johnathan on Uncle Matt's Fire Engine, and we enjoyed being able to bring some Christmas cheer to Matt as he worked his shift.

So there you go, just a few of the highlights of our trip. I'm sure I'll be back on here soon since I will be laying low the next week or so. Happy almost New Year!

*Grace*

Thursday, December 17, 2009

This Boy Ain't No Dummy!

Earlier today a funny (and telling) moment occurred. I had just stopped by Starbuck's for a little caffeine pick-me-up, and since it was rainy and because Johnathan was in the car with me I used the drive-thru. As we were about to pull out the guy who helped me wished us a wonderful afternoon and then I started to drive away...as soon as the car started moving I hear Johnathan say "fries?!!" No doubt my habit of hitting the drive-thru for burgers and sides has caught up with me! Isn't it funny how much a little toddler can pick up on?!!!!!!! Oh my goodness, if he knows when we're in the fast food drive thru I wonder just how many other things he understands! He will be a good little "conscience" just like Jiminy Cricket, that's for sure!

This week we took Johnathan and my cousin Arden out to see Christmas lights. We had noticed in the past couple of weeks how much Monkey enjoys looking at the few houses that are lit up in our neighborhood...each time we drive by them he says "more, more." So we knew that finding a neighborhood that was really in the Christmas spirit would be a fun place to take our little Baby J. We asked around and were told of a neighborhood fairly close by that really decks the halls. When we got there we let Johnathan out of his car seat, and as we inched slowly by each house he would exclaim his excitement as he crawled from window to window, trying to see all there was to take in. It was really fun, and as a parent I especially enjoyed seeing my sweet boy having a good time.

I am up to my elbows in gift-making & laundry, so I had better cut this short. I just wanted to update y'all really quick with a couple things that have gone on with us this week. Merry Christmas!

-Grace

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Walk a Mile in My Shoes...or not!!!

Yesterday I had one of those experiences that can't help but humble you...you know the kind...the incidents that just happen out of the blue and cause your face to flame and your pride to fall below the ground...they're good for us, but boy, are they embarrassing!

Johnathan and I got out of the house for a change, and I decided to make an afternoon of running some errands, finishing up Christmas shopping and maybe even getting in a little shoe shopping for myself. I realized a few days ago that I only had two, no make that three pairs of shoes that weren't sandals/flip flops/dress shoes! The weather here has been pretty chilly, and I've tried going without closed toed shoes for about as long as I can and have come home with frozen feet more than a couple of times. So, as I surveyed my shoe shelf, I figured that it was time to update to some more weather appropriate footwear. I simply added "look for shoes" to my mental list as Monkey and I headed out for our afternoon together.

After making a couple of quick stops to get some gifts and to get Baby J's second dose of the H1N1 vaccine I figured that it was time to look for shoes. The ones I had on were a favorite pair of mine...and I am pretty sure that I've had them for at least 10 or more years, so they had certainly held up well...or at least that's what I thought as I walked around the first shoe shop. I didn't have any luck on my first attempt...I didn't even try on any shoes...I went to Payless and they were totally out of everything besides sandals...and I already have too many of those!

Thankfully our Target is right next to Payless, so Johnathan and I made the short walk next door, glad that for the moment it wasn't raining, although it was a bit misty. I grabbed some popcorn and a juice to keep Monkey happy as I browsed the shoe aisles, but I still couldn't find anything that fit my ideal shoe description. So, not wanting to waste a trip to Target (I really like Target!) I decided to look at the maternity clothes, just for fun. While looking through the baby bump clothes section I kept feeling like I was tripping over something, but when I looked down I couldn't see anything on the floor. Thinking nothing of it I grabbed up a few things to try on and headed back for the dressing rooms. *Trip!* What was I tripping on?! I couldn't figure it out...not until I was in the room changing and saw that the sole on the bottom of my shoe had come completely unglued! No wonder I was tripping! The sole was completely unattached from the tip of my shoe all the way up the back of the shoe where the heel part went down to provide me with a couple inches of height. The sole on the bottom of the heel was still intact, but didn't do me any good since the main portion was just hanging on by a thread...a thread which I could not for the life of me break!

So, back to the shoe aisle I went, but of course I still didn't like what was there. I started to head to the registers at the front of the store, but I couldn't walk normally or the rubber sole would sort of flop off behind my shoe and trip me up. I did manage to sort of limp my way up to the cashier, keeping my right leg stiff and sort of just sliding my foot along the floor. The sole couldn't trip me up that way, but boy, did I sure feel self conscious about my walk.

After managing to limp out of the store I decided to try another shoe place in the same shopping area...still no luck...still having to walk with a limp, this time in the drizzle and through puddles...but all to no avail. Back in the refuge of the car I made the decision to try just one last store. After driving the 5 or so minutes to get there and dragging Johnathan out into the rain again, I finally made it into the store, right foot dragging and my pride completely gone out the window, washed away into the gutters by the rain. I spotted several cute shoes as soon as I entered and knew that I had finally arrived at my last shoe shopping destination. That was confirmed when the OTHER sole on my left shoe decided to come unglued too! So there I was, flopping and limping around until I finally said, forget it, and found the first most comfortable shoes on the shelf and decided to purchase them. My sad little shoes went into the shoe box and I simply wore the new ones out of the store...after purchasing them of course!

What a day, and what laughs I was having "on the inside" as I played my little sole-less shoe drama in my head! It was really quite comical, and thankfully I didn't have much pride to lose so I was able to see the humor in the situation! Isn't life grand?!!!!!!! ;)

Friday, December 11, 2009

How could I have forgotten???!!!

Yesterday when I posted Johnathan's word list I neglected to write down two of his most frequent words:

-This...which he says about any item or object which he doesn't know the name to. "Dis, dis, pease" is a popular (and frustrating) phrase that he often repeats until I figure out just what it is that he's wanting.

-"Ice"...which he says specifically for several items that have no relation to one another. He will say it for hat, anything that is worn on your head...headband (I wear those a lot), earrings, etc. He also says it when he wants his hands washed or if he sees me pull out the Purel hand sanitizer...at first I thought he was saying it for the sanitIZer...but he says it for so many other things. It is really quite comical. We'll try to get him to say hat by saying it really slowly...h-a-t, hat...and he responds with a very slow "ice!" Maybe one of these days we'll figure out just what ice means...but in the meantime we know that it means one of the things I mentioned above, we just have to put it into context of what we're doing at the moment!

Oh, he also loves to say the "amen" after we pray at meals. It is so precious. He loves to hold our hands when we pray and finishes with a very proud amen...sometimes when he's really hungry the "amen" comes right during the prayer!!! Every once in a while he will even offer up his own baby version of a prayer which I know God understands and loves.

Okay, well I'm off to continue my quest to finish up my Christmas gifts. I am sort of almost done! ;) Haha!

*Grace*

Thursday, December 10, 2009

What is he saying these days? (Take 2)

(For any of you that got the blog e-mail yesterday, I accidentally sent it before I was finished! Here is take 2!)

A few days ago my uncle asked if Johnathan was talking yet, to which I replied yes and gave him a few words for example. Anyways, I want to try to write down the words that are in Johnathan's vocabulary now...well, at least the ones that he uses on a frequent-usually daily-basis. So, what is he saying these days?

-More (a favorite word!)
-Please (he already knows it's the "magic" word and he tries it out anytime we say he can't have/do something..."pease" doesn't always work, but it sure is super cute when he tries!
-Thank You
-Help
-Agua
-Jugo (juice)
-Cracker
-Apple
-Oranges
-Snack
-Bo
-Mama
-Dada
-Chupi (our nickname for pacifiers)
-Puzzle
-Block
-Ball
-Football
-Baseball
-Bat
-Box
-Bird
-Bug
-Rascal (our cousins' dog)
-Arden (my cousin)
-Go
-Book
-Bye-Bye
-Fork
-Spoon
-Bowl
-Hotdog
-Hi
-Hello
-Back
-Noggin' (like on Finding Nemo)
-Nemo
-Hermie (this is what he calls all movies---since a lot of his movies are called Hermie & Friends...)
-Ear
-Eyes
-Nose
-Teeth
-Knuckles
-I love you...he's only said this once though!
-Boom
-Belly
-No...thankfully this isn't a frequent word right now!
-Candle

That's all that I can think of off the top of my head. We are really able to communicate with him more and more these days. He is getting pretty good at figuring out what we're saying to him too...although he still is quite independent and likes to do things his own way a lot of the time! We're working on the disciplining thing though, and time-outs and spankings are becoming a frequent part of our days! "Spare the rod, spoil the child"...not in our house, uh-uh! No sirree! ;)

In other "news", I had another roach incident today. It doesn't quite top my "original" roach nightmare which you can read here, but it was pretty traumatizing to me...and to Johnathan who looked on with utter horror!

~~~Johnathan and I had just settled down onto the couch after eating a tasty breakfast to enjoy a little mommy and son time watching Toy Story. Monkey was all snuggled up on my lap, and I was cherishing the time I had being just me and him. For some reason I looked down over the edge of the couch (I'm sure I sensed something!) and saw a big roach crawling up my leg on my pj's!!! I was up off the couch in a jiffy, flapping my pant leg and screaming bloody murder! Somehow I managed to deposit Johnathan on the floor without completely throwing him off of me and since the roach decided not to jump off my pants I had to resort to other measures to make sure it didn't "get" me. Screaming and flailing like a maniac I did the quickest strip search on myself possible. After I was convinced the roach was no longer on my person I gingerly put back on my pajamas and joined Aaron...who had run into the room, convinced Johnathan had died from the sound of my screams...and helped him hunt down the convicted trespasser! We turned the room upside down, literally, and after 10 minutes or so I found the bug next to the pack 'n' play...what a relief! I sucked that little sucker into my handy dandy vacuum and then went to pick up Johnathan who was more than confused and terrified by this point. You should have seen the look on his face after I had my there-was-just-a-roach-on-me panic attack. The little chin quiver that he did as he tried hard not to cry was just heartbreaking! All is well now though, and hopefully I've had my share of roach personal space invasions!~~~

Okay folks, I'm off! I'm sure I'll be back soon with more stories of our fun (sometimes dramatic) life here in the hive!

*Grace*

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Belly Baby Update & Some Pics of our "Baby J"

Last Friday I had another dr's appt. to check up on our little "belly baby"...all went well, and we were even able to hear the baby's heartbeat! It was such a sweet sound and as always I am so amazed at modern technology that allows us to see (or in this case hear) what's going on with our little one. I will have to have the same surgery done that I did with Johnathan, and that is scheduled for the 29th. Pray for things to go well!

Friday evening was the annual Resident's Christmas party which was held at the Aquarium like it was last year. Johnathan has really been into fish lately---thanks to watching Finding Nemo about a hundred times!---so of course he really enjoyed being able to go with us. He loved just running around and of course climbing over anything and everything that seemed to be an obstacle!

Saturday was my cousin Arden's 13th birthday, and Johnathan and I went with her when she got her ears pierced. It brought back memories for me...although they were of when I pierced my sister Glenna's ears...boy, was that a night to remember! Haha! I will just say that Glenna was a trooper!

Things here around the hive are going pretty well. I have been what I call "lazy but productive!" As I folded laundry a day or so ago I realized that all of my PJ's were in there but I only folded a few shirts of mine and a couple of pairs of jeans...and that's only because I went shopping for some maternity clothes that I washed! I have been living in my pajamas lately...mostly because they're comfy and I have spent pretty much all my free time making Christmas gifts! It has been so rainy here that we haven't gotten out of the house much, so I stay here at the house, comfortable in my pj's and getting stuff done in our cozy little home! ;)

Here are some pics to tide you over until my next post! Blessings on this happy Wednesday!

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For all of you PSYCH watchers, this is Johnathan's "Burton Guster" outfit! Doesn't he look just like Gus?!
Getting ready to climb!
Those railings were like a jungle gym for him, he just climbed and climbed constantly for at least 30 minutes!
Precious boy!
Mommy & Daddy at the party...and you can sort of see the "baby bump" that showed up a couple of weeks ago!
Sweet Arden and Johnathan!
Me with the sweetest girl in town!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Thanksgiving in Pictures!

Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is now fast approaching...but I still wanted to share some pictures of our fun Thanksgiving week---sorry for the delay, the lazy bug bit me last week and I didn't do too much of anything besides just the basic daily survival stuff! Anyways, here are our pictures from a very fun week! If you want to see more you can look at my facebook page...there are quite a bit more there, but here are some of my faves...


Johnathan with cousin Ava, Thanksgiving morning.
Preparing my "Tablescape" for Thanksgiving Day...who is that cute little dude in the background?!
Give Thanks!
Tablescaping continues...
The finished product!
The PIES! We had a French Silk, a Coconut Chess, a Pecan, and Apple and 3 Pumpkin!!! (The pie craving hit me bad!)
Me and my sweet niece, Ava.
Tio, Ava and Tia...Johnathan was napping!
The Aldape men, frying up the turkey.
Sweet Monkey enjoying a big bite of apple pie!
Me and my precious son!
Cute boy!
The kiddos sitting on the prize winning buck!
Aaron and brother David, hoisting up the deer in the tree so they could skin it.
Grabbing life by the horns---or are they antlers?!!
Sweetie boy!
Just chillin' by the palm trees.
"Re-planting" my flowers!
Kids and dirt, they just go together!
Sweet little sugary face after enjoying a powdered sugar donut!

Much love to you all!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Needed, Wanted, Loved

Last night I had an experience that I'm sure will play out again many times in the future. Sometime after midnight, while the whole house was enjoying peaceful slumber, the house suddenly came alive with a huge crack of thunder...you know the kind, one of those enormous booms that rattles all the windows and causes the walls to shake---okay, maybe only if you live in an older home like us, but still, you can imagine that we all woke up from the land of nod with a less than peaceful jerk! Of course, Johnathan immediately started crying his scared cry, and BoBo (who is pretty much afraid of any loud cracking noises) started pacing the floor by our bed. Aaron and I got up to go get our little Monkey who was more than relieved to see us. And, as we brought him to our bed and snuggled him under the covers between us, I couldn't help but think how such a simple thing as just our presence calmed him down. We were (and are) the essence of safety and security for our sweet son, and I felt an immense sense of being needed, wanted and loved as he cuddled up close to me, happy just to have me near to him.

As often happens when I'm awake at night, enjoying the little happenings of parenthood, my mind wanders to the spiritual realm. Just as Johnathan was calmed down by the presence of his mother and father, so we too can be comforted in the presence of our Heavenly Father...our Abba. I must admit that I struggle with this area myself though. When I am in need of peace and reassurance I often run to my "human" comfort zones...my husband, family, close friends, etc. Learning to rely on the One who is the true source of safety is something I have to work at, but hopefully over time it will come more naturally. However, parenting has caused me to see so many parallels between the love I have for my son and the love that I know God has for me and all His children. So I have a feeling that as my heart continues to expand with the extreme love and protection I feel for my kids I will continue to draw closer to the Lord and see in a different light just how much He cares for me.

Anyways, just a few thoughts about being a parent. Sometimes I wish that nights like last night could last forever. My precious son, clinging to me, feeling secure in my arms. I know that I will treasure these memories for a lifetime, and I'm sure we'll have plenty of thunderstorms in the future that will cause little feet to run into our room and jump into our bed!