All about Joshua William

I am finally online and able to share a bit myself about this sweet little boy who has joined our family :)

The birth was fairly similar to Katya's... woke up in the middle of the night (about 3am) with some pretty intense contractions, was at the hospital by 5am (already 8cm dilated), and gave birth at 6:40. The pushing stage was longer (40min) and significantly painful despite the epidural, but I think that has a lot to do with having stayed in shape with Katya and being on bed rest this time.

Right from the beginning we've noticed that he is a very different personality than his sister. More laid back and relaxed. Katya had serious bouts of crying those first several weeks...Joshua just kind of fusses a bit, whimpers and groans (much less stressful, even if we are up in the night with him). Katya was very active, trying to hold her head up that first week, hated to be swaddled. Joshua enjoyed being swaddled at least at first, and just recently really started working on holding his head up. Katya wanted to nurse 24/7, it was her answer to all of life's problems. Joshua eats, then is done. And if I try to offer before he's ready (for example, to avoid a meltdown in the car), he has no interest. So it should be very interesting to see this little person/personality emerge and watch the differences between him and his sister.

He's been a decent sleeper from the get-go, in terms of newborns. He's slept about 4 hours the first part of the night since our first night home. On good nights, he gives us another 4ish hours after nursing and pooping around 3am. On bad nights, he grunts and groans and fusses for a couple of hours. Plus, we had one week where he caught a cough from his big sister, and no one was sleeping well. But overall, not bad. And the fussiness has been getting better.

Joshua is officially huge. At 3 weeks, he had gained 4 lbs already, which put him at the 95th%ile. (For a little perspective, Katya gained 3lbs in the first month). I'm pretty sure that he weighs somewhere around 13 lbs at this point. He'll be 6 weeks on Saturday.

Katya just loves her little brother, had since day one. She's always kissing him and hugging him, wanting to hold him. She's my big helper, always willing to run and get a diaper or burp cloth, handing me his change of clothes, etc. The first few days she cried if any visitor tried to hold him, saying he belonged to me. She's quick to respond to him, saying loudly, "God bless you!" every time he sneezes, hugging him and apologizing for any and all bumps or knocks, or calling out to him if she hears him fussing, "I'm coming, Joshua!"

Everyone has been really impressed with my quick recovery from birth, but a natural childbirth is nothing compared to major surgery. And after that recovery, and all the bedrest, and just the normal hard to move cuz your pregnant stuff, I've felt great. it is so nice to be able to move around normally, hold Katya, get housework done, etc. And it hasn't been nearly as hard as I imagined getting into some kind of household routine. I haven't had any help other than Herme since my mom left a week after he was born, and sure there are days where I feel like I do more nursing and changing of poopy diapers than anything else, but overall things are getting done. It does help that he is a pretty laid back little guy, and that he doesn't want to be glued to the breast like his big sister did. Plus, compared to not being allowed to do anything around the house, just doing a little bit of the basic stuff done is exciting. Nothing like major surgery and weeks of bed rest to put things in perspective for you!

PS: Sorry some picture go published 2x, not sure what that's about!

Pics of Joshua William

Hey all, Sheila's brother stepping in, just thought I'd share a couple of pictures of the new and handsome baby boy in the family. Again, baby and mother are doing fine, Grandma (Sheila's mom) went down this morning for the week to help out and reports all is well.

Here's the pictures

Quick pregnancy update

So, here you can see how the belly was growing last pregnancy.

This pregnancy, I was obviously showing by 2 months, and here is a picture shown today - about 4 months. I've gotten lots of comments about how I appear to be more like 6 months pregnant, and lots of people asking if I'm not having twins or something.



Considering I looked like this by the end of the last pregnancy, and considering that at 4 months I already look like I did around 6months last time, I'm a little nervous about what the last trimester will be like this time.

We did finally go in for a check-up a couple of weeks ago (insurance issues still haven't been resolved, so we shelled out money we didn't really have for a private exam with ultrasound). Thanks to the ultrasound, we are now sure that the larger belly is NOT due to multiple babies. There is only 1 in there. And the Dr seemed pretty sure that it is a boy, but we are trying not to get carried away until we get that confirmed at a later date. Interestingly, although my tummy is quickly growing, I have barely gained any weight - about 3 or 4 pounds in the 1st 14 weeks.

Here are a couple of other pictures for fun - Katya playing with her friend Clara, and one of the three (well, 4) of us.





Ok, I am on borrowed time. Looking forward to seeing lots of you soon :)

Hello again...

I am at a friend's house (an American like me!) with internet access, and my busy, curious, attention demanding toddler is sound asleep :)

So, let's see if I can fill you all in a little on my life...

Herme's job got a slow, slow start...bad weather, holidays, train yourself with a handful of manuals...these things do not make finding your own clients very easy. And remember, this job is 100% commissions. But he's got several clients under his belt now, a potential big-paying deal with a company looking to insure 70ish cars, and they are finally giving him the actual training on what it is he is selling (which, by the way, includes a variety of insurance policies, credit cards and loans, and investment opportunities). Keep praying for a steady client base and encouragement (salesmen get lots of no's in-between the yes's).

Katya and I have settled into our new, no-daddy, routine pretty well at this point. The first week or 2 there were a lot of tantrums while Katya missed her dad and adjusted to less attention and less outings. But now she generally has a nice mix of playing on her own and trying to 'help' me in-between looking for my attention. She only takes 2 half hour naps all day though, so I am generally on the go pretty much all day. But it keeps the day moving quickly.

According to my baby development book, 15-18 months (she is 16mo) is generally a time of language explosion, but I've read that children in bilingual families take a little longer to start talking. Katya says Mama (well, usually she says Mamama), Dada, mira (look in Spanish), meh (more or mas), and bo (boots or botas), and she has a couple of "names" for cousins, etc. She obviously wants to talk a lot... she is always 'saying' things to us, and I am really starting to get very curious about what all she is saying. And she has a little repertoire of hand signs she uses (like patting her own chest to ask to nurse, or putting my hand on something to signal what she wants me to do).

She is just a little cutie, and I am not just saying that because I am her mom :) She is one of those kids that everyone wants to say hi to and win her over as a friend. Everyday brings something new she has learned or something to laugh at. This week I have noticed that she knows how to lift up her feet to put one leg at a time in her pants. Yesterday she walked 10 minutes or more with her hands in her pockets. She loves to try on people's sunglasses (she puts them on herself). She cares about what shoes we put on her (thus, learning to say boots, because they have been her favorites lately). She has very politely gives everyone a kiss on the cheek in greeting or good-bye, and loves to give her daddy kisses (I get very few).

She just got her 1st haircut last week, so she is finally no longer sporting the baby mullet (it was a little out of control!) (Pictures are from today's visit, courtesy of my friend's camera - mine is currently broken)





What else? We're getting settled pretty well at the new church. Katya is finally learning to stay in her class, which is awesome for me! We're getting to know people, had one person over a week or 2 ago, looking to invite a family over soon. Learning names, knowing that there are certain people I can count on chatting with, etc. At the same time, maintaining relationships with friends from the old church. It's nice that we live so close to several of those families, and Katya and I can walk over in about 10 min (Katya speed) to visit on the days that seem slow. It was nice, for example, this week when I was a little heavy hearted, to know that I could pop over and ask them to be praying (I still prefer face to face over phone conversations in Spanish).

Speaking of Spanish, I am getting pretty darn fluent these days. I can have a conversation easily with anyone, only occasionally not knowing a word I want or that they say. My grammar is getting there - I know my more complicated verb tenses still need work.

I often have ideas about things I should blog if only given the opportunity, but of course now that I am here, I am all out of ideas. But that was a pretty decent update, don't you think?

My love to all...I miss being better connected to you all...

Wow, it´s been a LONG TIME

I am going to write as much as I can and post as many pictures as I can before Herme and Katya can´t handle waiting for me any more... pictures taken since around early August till the present, and include first birthday celebrations :) (They are in reverse order, and my husband wants it clarified that his pants are only dirty because he had just sat down on a dusty bench....)

Let´s see, where do I start??

Well, still no job. My poor husband has applied for things ´beneath him´, for things recommened by friends, anything within his ability....and no one even wants to interview him (beyond an initial screening anyways), much less hire him. We don´t know what to think. He just keeps looking, keeps applying. The whole state of the economy doesn´t help any - there just aren`t a lot of jobs out there, and there are so many people looking for work.

My parents came to visit for a weekend, just in time to celebrate Katya´s 1st birthday. That was awesome, especially since Mom coming was a complete surprise to me! It was quick, part of a business trip, but we enjoyed every minute of it :) So special to have them here for the birthday party and everything.

Living so far, far enough to make travel expensive and therefore not common, was not a part of how I saw my life, and yet here I am. I am happy here, wouldn´t trade my husband or how this has all come together for anyting, but it is really hard to be so hard from family and friends sometimes. Speaking of which, this lack of internet time has started to wear on me...I feel really out of touch with all my U.S. folks. Sometimes I feel like you all have moved on with your lives without me, if you know what I mean. I know it isn´t really the case, but with communication a little harder of late, thats how it feels. Oh how I´d love to be able to use skype in my house and talk to you all whenever the mood strikes!

What else? CAn´t believe that my baby girl is already a toddler! What a fun age, learning something new everyday, showing off for us. Of course, there´s the tantrums and tired breakdowns and vomiting 9x between the hours of 1:30am and 8am, but it´s all worth it of course :) She started walking at 9 months, got scared by a fall, and didn´t find her confidence to walk alone until 11 months. But then she just took off running! She is always on the move, or at least it often feels like that. She loves to read, together or alone. She loves animals, no fear, says ´ruff!´ every time she hears a dog bark. She´s generally a very happy, smiley, friendly girl, although she is a bit discriminating in who she wants to be friends with, gie kisses to, etc. She knows where her nose is (or mine, or yours), she can tell you she is ´so big!´, she loves it when you applaud her. She likes to play peek-a-boo, palms facing out, elbows sticking out to the sides. She waves to the moon every single time she sees it, even if that means 5 times in 6 minutes :P

Ok, I think my time is up. So good to connect with you all :) I love and miss every one, and will try to figure out how to get online more often.

8 months and growing

Pictures appear in reverse order...most recent are first. The last/oldest is from early Marchish, but just too cute to leave out (and I thought Carole would enjoy seeing the pjs). The rest are from the last month and a half or so. I tried to include some of our favorite fashion statemtents (pigtails, auntie´s hat, dresses from Gramma, showing off her belly) as well as some of her favorite activities (first time in the walker, loves to be on her feet, eating avocado, cold baths in hot weather, drumming on tupperware). She´s been growing like a weed lately (she fills 12mo and sometimes 18mo clothes already...) - I´ll have to try and take some more pictures to post that show just how big she´s getting. I´m guessing she weighs close to 20 pounds these days, and shé close in hight to babies at church that are 2mo to 1 year older.