That ticker!

Is it sad that I can't remember how the heck to take that ticker down? My little man is already a month and a half and every time I see that ticker I look at my stomach and think, "Holy crap! I can't imagine being that pregnant!!"

Anyway, I started getting this crazy idea that I want to start a garden. I guess it all started when I was reading the latest entry on 'Enjoying the Small Things'. I swear ever since I started reading that blog, all I want to do now is bake, start a garden, and enjoy all the small things in my life.

Right now little Joel has been spending more and more time on his tummy. I really can't wait for him to start lifting that head of his on his own. Don't get me wrong I enjoy supporting him, and even lending a hand every now and then, but my jaw is really starting to hurt! Every he starts to get tired from holding it up by himself, that little noggin comes crashing down into the side of my face. And does he give up after the first time? No. He keeps going and going till mommy's jaw not only hurts from being hit, but her cheeks hurt from laughing so hard cause her "drunken" baby is a fighter!! Tummy time is going so great right now. It cracks Joel and I up every time, cause instead of lifting his head he likes to put his little butt and legs up in the air.

Far to cute.

Little Joel's hospital stay

I know I haven't updated in weeks up little Joel ended up in the hospital. He was diagnosed with plyoric stenosis. Which is where the muscle leading from the stomach to the small intestines closes shut from being over worked. So for about 10 days he hadn't been eating, just vomiting everything up that he ate. It was awful seeing him go through that. But here is the story of what happened, this was written on the 13th, the day of his surgery.

"I know I haven't been on in a while but little Joel needed me. He ended up having surgery and here is his story. On Thursday, Sept 30th he started spitting up his food. At first I wasn't concerned. I just figured I over fed him. Well on Friday he kept spitting up, so my husband and I cut back his feedings to strictly 2oz and see how he did on that. That whole weekend Joel kept spitting up. On Monday I called and made an appointment with his Peditrician And on Tuesday I took him in and was told to give him some pedialyte and if he kept spitting up bring him back in. He was doing fine for about a day and on Wednesday night the spitting had turned into vomiting after every 3-4 feedings. He was throwing up so much it literally filled my hand, covered his entire onesie, and turned what ever I was sitting on into a "lovely" shade of white. By then I was getting scared. I stopped sleeping, I stopped eating. My mom had called my godmother, who's a RN, who told me to put him on soy formula. That it sounded like he had a really bad milk allergy. After two days on that the vomiting was getting worse. Joel was running out of clothes, I was running out, my husband ended up wearing vomit covered pants to work cause he was running out. I felt Like I was doing laundry every couple of hours. So on Saturday I threw in the towel. At first he was doing good and holding down his feedings then out of no where I'm burping him and projectile Vomit comes shooting out of my little guy. That was the last straw. I grabbed him, strapped him in his car seat and hauled ass, but still obeying the law, to the ER (where I live). Once at the ER they rushed him in and checked him from head to toe. They drew blood, took a urine sample, poor little guy was poked and jabbed all night with something. Boy did we have fun, You know we were so lucky. We got to share out room with some dude that was so doped out that he thought it would be more fun to refuse a urine/blood test and fight with the cop and yell at the nurses. All the fun ended with him being escorted by the cops with a lovely pair of silver bracelets. Oh and on top of that there was a girl there waiting over an hour on a pending pregnancy test. Man, I love our hospital. (And yes its an actual hospital, not a clinic or anything) So after waiting a few hours Joel gets sent hime with a clean bill of health. The next day, Monday, Oct. 11, I went to his pediatrian for even more vomiting! He couldn't even hold in half an oz. When I got there I told the docor everything. Well he sent him for xrays and the xray tech sent me back to the doctor. Apparently his stomach muscle that leads to his Intestines is completely shut . We had to rush down to a children's specialist hospital, cause the only way I'd take Him to our home town hospital was if Hell froze over!! So here I sit hours after the surgery enjoying the sweetest sounds ever. The sucking on a bottle, the Ginormous burp, and the sweet, sweet sound of silence coming from a satisfied belly. I'm even Enjoyng the smell coming from a fresh poopy diaper. And now I bid you all a good night for I have to go change a diaper full of gold!"

So it's been over a week, but this is my little guy now:


He's such a happy camper!!!

Those little faces

Little Joel will be a month this coming Saturday. I swear this time if flying so quickly. I wish I can go back to September 9th to enjoy that first day with him in my arms. To look him all over again and hear everyone "ooh" and "ahh". Cause baby those first couple of minutes has to be my all time favorite moment in my life, and yes you may be getting older but that favorite moment keeps getting longer. Since that first day I have never enjoyed life so much. I long to wake up just to feed you or change you, for every little moment I get to hold you I feel that much closer to you. I love leaning over your crib just to watch you sleep. Seeing your tiny belly move up and down as you take every breath. And those eyes, oh baby I'm in love with those eyes.
I know I'm probably still fuzzy to you, but you know who I am. Every time I walk into the room you turn to face me, like you know that its me. And from what Joel has told me, you even follow me as I walk out. It makes my heart melt knowing that your looking for me, longing for me.

I know I should be doing a better job at updating and posting pictures that match his age but here are some from when he was only 4 days old and took his first spin in this swing. And lets just say, Monkey Man loves his swing. Plus you get a bonus, Monkey's facial expressions as he sleeps. You know when I look at these I just want to bite those chubby cheeks and kiss those little toes.

Welcome to the world baby!

I know yet again its been awhile since I've last updated but a lot has actually happened. Something big has actually happened. As you all know Joel and I decided not to find out what we were going to have well, on September 9th we finally found out. Our little bundle of joy was born and this is Peanut's story into this great big world.

I had my last OB appointment on the 7th and Dr. Hall told Joel and I that we were looking at a baby that was gonna be over 8 pounds. So we began discussing options. He told us we can either go with me being induced or we can wait 3 days and have some sort of test done. We decided on the latter but then Dr. Hall remembered he was going out of town on Thursday and he really wanted to be there to deliver the baby, also he was worried that if we waited for him to get back our little Peanut could end up to be a whooping 9 pounds! So in the end we all agreed that going with being induced would be the best option. Dr. Hall called the hospital and we were scheduled for 6 in the morning on Peanut's estimated due date, the 8th of September.

Joel and I head home and get everything ready for our little ones arrival. Hospital bag got doubled checked, car seat put into the back seat, then I checked the hospital bag one more time. I was far to excited to sleep, I laid there in bed next to Joel constantly looking at the clock. Getting mad that every time I looked at it clock it was only 5 minutes since the last time I check it. I never knew time could go by so slow.

Finally 5am came and I jumped out of bed and rushed to get ready, woke up Joel and ran around getting things together, once again, then off we went. We got to the hospital only to find out there was no room for me and I had to come back at noon. So, off to home we go to wait yet another 6 hours. Noon comes and we head back, same thing, still no room. It wasn't till 4 in the after noon that I got a room.

Once in the room the nurses came in took my blood pressure, found the baby's heartbeat, and asked me a bunch of questions. An hour later the finally came in and gave me a pill to start up my contractions. Four hours later they came back and gave me another one. In 8 hours I had only contracted 2cm. It wasn't till 1:30am on the 9th that they gave me the magic potion that got things rolling, and boy did they roll. Joel was on the phone calling mom to come over that my contractions were getting stronger. Things really started moving along now. My back was hurting so bad I couldn't handle it, I needed pain meds. I had been in a car accident the year before and laying on my back for a long period of time really kills me. So the nurses brought me some really good stuff, and I mean good! I literally felt like I was melting right there into my bed. Every time I closed my eyes and opened them the room looked like it was made out of pixels, and you want to know the best part of it. I hadn't slept for two days and with the meds they knocked me out and I got some much needed sleep for what was ahead.

It wasn't till 7:30 that the meds wore off and the contractions got stronger. I was laying there trying so hard not to push. All you heard in the room was my mom saying "don't push" and me yelling back, "I'm not pushing!" After awhile I started to feel like I was slipping away. I looked up at Joel and grabbed his hand. He smiled down at me and I looked him deep in the eyes and whispered, "I want to give up, I can't breathe any more." I felt my self slipping in and out of the room. My breath had shortened so much that they had to put an oxygen mask on me. I think if it wasn't for that my little one and me probably wouldn't be here. Its sad to admit but I was actually on the verge of calling it quits, my breathing was so shallow, I was out of my mind half the time, at that very moment I felt like honestly dying. But I fought it, I wanted to hold my little in my arms and cuddle him or her close.

Around 9am Dr. Hall came into the room and asked how I was doing, my mom told him that I wanted to push and he said, "well then lets get this baby out." So there I was ready to go. After pushing and cussing my doctor out (He told me that if I was in a Catholic hospital they would have me pack up and leave.) I hear the most wonderful noise in the world.

Next thing I know I have a small little body placed on my stomach holding the clamps the doctor used to clip Peanut's umbilical cord. Dr. Hall proudly announces, "It's a boy!"

I have a little boy, a handsome little boy! After 9 months of waiting I finally know what was moving around in my stomach. And Joel and I couldn't be any more proud.

So let me introduce to you, Joel Ryan Gandarilla Jr. And let me just say this handsome little guy is such a character. He keeps daddy and me laughing for hours on end. We love every facial expression of his, every movement, every cry, every breath. He is our world, and let me tell you guys something, I still can't believe that I, me, yes me, gave life to this amazing little guy.

For years I always said I never wanted children, but once I met Joel Sr. he changed my life and I'm glad he did. I'm so happy that I can share this wonderful experience with him. I would want it no other way.





So, our little man is now a week and 4 days old. I swear time is going by way to fast. I now understand what my mom means by you wish they could stay this little forever.

Its been awhile

I know, I know its been awhile since I've made a post. But I've been really busy, and to top it off I'm FULL TERM!! That means Peanut can come any time now.

Since my last post I've actually gotten Peanut's side of the room all put up. I even did a few DIY projects which I will post up next time, with pictures. I promise.

But here is a picture to pass the time..
This was taken in March at my Mom's "bachelorette" party, when I was just starting to show. I'm the one in the green dress, my mom is the second from the right and that's my grandma in the maroon sweater. We went to Paso Robles, wine country, to celebrate my mom's last couple days of being....well, she only renewed her vows with my dad so I guess nothing really changed. It was just an excuse to go out and have fun with the girls. Did I mention there was a limo?







And I'll end it off with a few pictures of my parent's renewal. Don't know why I'm posting pictures from past months but I thought you all would enjoy them. Their renewal was on April 10th so that shows you how "old" these are.

Here is one of my future sister-in-law and me standing up my mom. Look it's a baby bump poking out of my dress!





















Here is one of my brother and me as we are leaving the church.
















And lastly....My mom and dad:
My dad was so adorable. He brought tears to everyone's eyes. Its so funny how he didn't want to renew their vows but he is the one that broke down the most. It was great.













Well as of right now that's all I can think of posting about. Tomorrow I'll do a post on being 38 weeks. Then soon I'll post one about my DIY project.

What a week

So, all last week I basically spent asleep. My body pretty much crashed on me. For the past two months I was lucky if I got 3-4 hours of sleep, but the norm for me became 2 hours. I guess it finally caught up with me cause I spent 4 days last week asleep and never really woke up. Except for when Joel would wake me to make sure I ate before he went to work, and once I was done I crashed back out again.

A plus side to all that sleeping, on Sunday I woke up in a major nesting mood. I've washed all of Peanut's clothes, except for his/her bibs and thick blankets. And this week I'm going to work on lining the inside of my old dresser with either gift wrap or wall paper, depending on what I find that is cute. And maybe I'll even paint the outside of it, so it looks all pretty and new!

Also, I missed out on my 34 week post.

Yeah, that's my bare belly, and I don't care about showing it off. In fact I'm proud. Who cares if I'm big girl, that's my baby in there. If you don't like seeing it, then don't look!

Nothing exciting has happened this week. Except Monday I ended up back at the hospital only to be told I was having false labor pains. And if you were wondering, yes, I was embarrassed by that.

Now on to the good stuff!

I seriously can't wait for Peanut to be born to hear the stories Joel is going to tell her/him. Last night I was having trouble falling asleep and asked him to tell me a story. This is the story he made up and told me:

There once was a little boy who fell madly in love

with a little girl. One day the little boy and little girl

climbed up a really big hill. When they reached the top

of the hill they had planted a tree. Over time the

tree had grown into a giant peanut tree,

over flowing with peanuts. One day a huge swarm of bird

flew in and ate destroyed the peanut tree,

eating all the peanuts in sight. The little boy

and little girl were very sad because they put in a lot of

work taking care of this tree. As they sat there and

cried the little boy noticed that right next to

the stump of the old tree was a small little sprout growing

out of the ground with the tiniest peanut of all

on it. The little boy and little girl jumped up

and danced with joy for the birds didn't get them

all. And from that day they loved that

peanut with all the love in the world.

The End.

Yeah, I love that wonderful hubby of mine.

33 Weeks

Today I am 33 weeks pregnant, which means only 7 more weeks to go! Its really starting to get rough on me. I'm so uncomfortable, I no longer want to eat, and I have no clue what sleep is any more. Not to mention, my ribs feel like little one has a camp fire going on in there or something. They hurt so much that they are burning!

The best part is my mom gets on to me cause I can no longer keep my legs closed, and I don't mean like that. My belly has gotten so big I need to open my legs just to sit comfortable. Other then that there is really nothing new going on, except the belly is getting bigger and the kicks and punches are being replaced by rolls and stretches.

Baby is the size of a honeydew!

Things are heating up, baby may grow up to a full inch this week alone,

and his/her brain is developing like crazy. Pretty soon, he will be

able to coordinate breathing with sucking and swallowing.

Also, his bones are hardening, and he's starting to keep

his eyes open when he's awake.