Baby Leah's Birth Story

The good news is, I'm still a blogger!

The greater news is, I'm now a blogger mom!!!!

Wow, what an amazing week and a half I've had.  I'm going to use this blog to tell you the story of Baby Leah Marie.  I've told this story to all of the visitors that we've had and the ending is such a happy one that I could tell it over and over and over again.  


By the way, here I am just a few days before Leah's birthday . . . 

Ok, here we go!

Friday, May 20th I began to feel just a little "different."  I called Marc in the afternoon while he was at work to let him know that I just wasn't feeling right and that I thought my body might be gearing up for baby within the next couple of days.  I was really thinking that Sunday the 22nd might be "the day."  I spent the day running errands and went out to lunch with my mom, nothing too crazy.  I was cramping throughout the day but nothing unbearable by any means.  By 4:00PM I realized that I was able to keep track of that cramping feeling as it was coming pretty consistently.  Then I did what most pregnant women do when they think labor is coming its way, I walked.  I wanted the cramps to turn to contractions and to get this show on the road.

As I was walking, my sister-in-law called me and wanted to do something fun that night.  She had been tied up in the house with my nephews for a while and just wanted to get out that night.  We decided that my mom and I and my brother and his family would go out to Irvine Spectrum to walk around and eat dinner and just get out of the house.  As I drove my mom out to Irvine (just a 20-25 minute drive) I felt the cramps turn to contractions and come on a little stronger.  We made it to The Spectrum and just walked around, watched my nephews on the carousel ride and window shopped a bit.  Then we went to Red Robin for dinner and that's when things got just a little stronger again.  After dinner we took the boys to Golden Spoon for some yogurt and that's when I decided to call Marc.  

I wanted to let Marc know that this seemed like it was for real and that he may need to leave work that night and come home so we can have a baby!  He spoke with his captain and they decided that it would be best if he came home right away rather than waiting until the middle of the night and that is just what Marc did.  He left work and we left the Spectrum and met back at home around 11PM.  

If you are truly counting the hours of labor at this point you could have said that I was in labor 7 hours technically.

Marc went to bed and I stayed up and labored throughout the night.  I bounced on my yoga ball, I walked around the house a bit, I tried different positions on the couch and by about 3:45AM I decided it was time to tell Marc that we needed to go to the hospital.  His response of course was, "ok you just tell me when."  I thought to myself, "isn't that what I'm telling you?"  So I went back downstairs for another 15 - 20 minutes and then decided that was enough, time to go.  We finally got to the hospital and settled in there about 5:00AM.  They checked me and I was already at 5-6 centimeters at that point.  This was such a relief because I kept telling Marc that I didn't want them to send me home! 

I had previously tested for Group B Strep which meant that they had to give me antibiotics before baby came out and it had to be in 4 hour increments.  The nurse told me to stay put and try not to progress too much because they had to give me one bag of antibiotics and then wait 4 hours before giving me a second bag.

Now, 15 hours into labor (technically), the nurse checked me again . . . yikes . . . 9 cm already!


They had to give me the second bag of antibiotics early before baby Leah made her way out.  They started the second bag and now fully dilated, my water finally broke!  Then came pushing time!  I pushed for 2 looooooong hours before Leah was born.  The pushing, although it felt better because I couldn't feel my contractions, still was very tiring.  By the second hour I was completely exhausted.


 I don't think I mentioned it yet, but I decided that I wanted to do this whole child birth thing completely natural.  So yeah, by the second hour of pushing I was tired to say the least.


They gave me oxygen and also wanted me to push while on my side because baby's blood pressure and heart rate were going wacky.  The nurse oh so casually mentioned that the cord must be around the baby's neck.  She also oh so casually mentioned that the baby had pooped meconium while still inside also.  This meant that the NICU staff had to come in our room and prepare to work on Leah right away.

After 18 hours of a natural labor (which really only felt like 5 hours while I was in the hospital) and two of those hours pushing, our baby girl Leah Marie was born at 10:41am.  Weighing in at a whopping 6 pounds 9 ounces and 20 inches long with a cone head like you've never seen!

The whole labor and delivery was an experience unlike anything else in this world.  Call me crazy, but I actually enjoyed that 18 hours of labor far more than I did the 9 months of pregnancy.  The contractions hurt, but they weren't going to kill me.  The pushing was exhausting, but I knew I'd get a baby in the end so it was well worth it.  Not only that, I had the best coaches in the room with me, my mom and my husband.  They would tell me when my contractions were coming, when they peaked and when they were going down.  That was extremely helpful.  I had back labor so Marc would push on my lower back, or massage it during my contractions as well.  The delivery room was very quiet, very low key, and very much a stress free situation.  I couldn't have asked for a better experience.


Now I'll give you what you have all been waiting for . . . pictures! :)


Please excuse Leah's lady parts here . . . but this is a picture of a very happy and proud daddy, I have to post it!

Our very first family picture, about 10 minutes after birth.

Leah's first bath . . . she wasn't a big fan.

Daddy's girl for sure.

Mama loves her little girl.

Leah's first outing to the doctor's office.

Haha, this happened last night . . . I guess Leah ate too much . . . 

And then this happened . . . so all is good in the world.

She loves to sleep on chests, this is her typical position before real bedtime.

She also loves to have her arms up when she sleeps, or maybe she just dreams of being a football referee one day, who knows?  Touchdown!

As a proud mommy, I could continue to post pictures of her all day long.  It goes without saying that Leah is perfect and beautiful and the greatest addition to our life.  Nothing in this world can compare to the love that we have for our new daughter.  Of course, as uncomfortable as the 9 months were leading up to the big day . . . we all know that I'll do it all over again just like so many of you.

Thanks for reading our baby girls birth story as I change from a full-time preggo to a full-time mom!  

Let the fun begin!

Happy Memorial Day!

XOXO

A Wedding, 2 Birthdays, Mother's Day, and No Baby Yet!

Wow.


What a lot of stuff going on in the Fiamengo/Watson household!


I must disclose now, I do not have any pictures from last weekend!  I know, how sad right?  I'm so sorry to all of you visual learners out there!  I do have a great video that you can watch though :) 


So lets start with the wedding because that was the first of the events from last weekend.  My brother-in-law, also Marc's twin, got hitched on Saturday!  Talk about a beautiful wedding and a stunning bride!  Oh and my brother-in-law (Bryan) was stunning in his tux and bow tie also :)


The wedding festivities began on Thursday with the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  Thursday was also Cinco De Mayo so it was only appropriate that the rehearsal dinner had a Mexican theme.  Not to mention food catered from El Farolito, only the best Mexican food in all of Placentia!  Yum!  On Friday, the girls went to this great nail place and got manicures and pedicures, it was really nice!  Let me preface by saying, I have nothing against Asians in any way . . . that being said, this nail place was awesome because they had signs posted that said something like this, "if you hear us speaking Vietnamese with our colleagues, your service is free."  You have no idea how appreciative the customers are to see that, it makes us really uncomfortable when you speak a language other than English in front of us and makes us feel like you are talking about us all the time!  Not only that, this place also gave complimentary champagne, water, juice or soda as well as a plate with some cookies and chocolate!  Awesome!  And it was only $29 dollars for a mani and pedi!  What a deal!  We went out to lunch afterwards also which was really nice, it was a beautiful day for us to sit on the patio and grub.  The boys did an all day golf extravaganza and of course had a fun time as well.


One of the best parts leading up to the wedding was the fact that I was a bridesmaid.  Being a bridesmaid allowed me to get closer to my new sister-in-law, Katie.  I feel like she and I have this new connection that we otherwise wouldn't have had if I wasn't in the wedding and didn't have the opportunity to spend as much time with her.


The wedding itself was perfect.  Every single part of the wedding from ceremony to reception went off perfectly.  It was such a beautiful wedding.  I'm a little biased, but one of my favorite parts of the wedding was listening to Marc's best man speech!  He did such a GREAT job!  I was so nervous for him as he was speaking because I already knew was he was going to say and do, but he did amazing!  He explained what a twin was by dictionary terms and then what a twin meant to him, it was so good.  I must say, my husband is an awfully good speaker and very good looking as well so I think everything he does is great, you be the judge though:

So . . . what do you think?  Pretty good right?  I was very proud of him!


Anyway, the wedding was just great.  Then, the next day was Mother's Day.  Like I said in my last post, we celebrated Mother's Day, my dad's birthday, and my brother's birthday all on Sunday.  It was a really nice day.  We started out the day over at Katie's parents house and watched Katie and Bryan open their gifts.  Marc's mom and grandma were both there so we could celebrate Mother's Day with them as well.


Then we made our way back to my parents house where Shane, Molly and the boys were.  My mom made a bunch of food and we celebrated the birthday's and Mothers day for the rest of the day.  We even had a delicious ice cream cake from 31 Flavors!  Yummo!  Oh, and my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins were at the Angels game (they won by the way) so they stopped by for a little while also.  It was a nice little family day.  Marc and I decided to clean up my mom's house at the end of the day since it looked like a tornado blew through there!  Being that it was Mother's Day and all we thought we could do that much for her, she did work the whole day!


Oh yeah, and that's right, no baby yet!  Granted, my due date isn't until May 24th so technically there shouldn't be a baby yet, but I just feel like there should have been one here by now.  It doesn't help that my doctor told me that Baby Fiamengo would come early!  I wish she would have never said that!  Plus by coming early did she mean 3 weeks early?  4 days early?  A couple hours early?  Who knows?  That is the worst part about the end of pregnancy, you just never know when you are going to go into labor or if your water is going to break!  "They" say that only 15% of pregnant ladies water actually breaks while at home and the rest of the women have to have their water broken in the hospital.  Still, you just never know, its a guessing game every day.


In the meantime, there are several reasons why I would like to have this baby, well, right now actually!  First of all, Bryan and Katie live in Boston.  They are in Las Vegas for their honeymoon so if I have the baby now, they can come back home to meet their niece or nephew before flying back home to Boston.  Secondly, tomorrow is my Aunt Glady's 90th birthday and really, how awesome would that be?????  Lastly, my grandparents who live in Mexico are going to be in the States this weekend so they could also meet the baby before having to go back home.  They really hate being in the States so they usually only come up if they really have to for doctors visits and things like that.  If they don't meet baby this weekend then we will be bringing baby to them in October! :)


Anyway, I ramble.


Just so you know, I'll be here just walking a lot, bouncing on an exercise ball, drinking raspberry leaf tea, eating pineapple and doing all of those things that supposedly induce labor naturally (all lies by the way, nothing works, baby comes when it wants too and when God says so!).  It just makes me feel better ok, don't judge me :)  I know, I'm NOT in control that's for sure!


Thank you all for reading about my life!  Hopefully I'll be writing a birth story to you in the very near future!


Much love to you all!


Jen :)

Mom, Mother, Mama, Mommy, Madre, Peggy

Mom, mom, mom . . .


This coming weekend is all about mom's!  Hooray for mom's I say!  Or at least hooray for MY mom!

Most of us think that our own moms are the best in the world.  To be honest though, MY mom really IS the best mom in the whole world!  If you ever met her you would agree too!  Seriously though :)


I don't know much about this mom thing yet, but I'm certainly getting close and am ready to experience it, I know that much!  Speaking of which, I'm at 37 weeks pregnant today leaving me with only 21 days to go . . . unless I go early or late that is . . . I mean, unless Baby Fia decides to go early or late.  It's already all about Baby Fia and he/she isn't even here yet!  If it were up to me this little bugger would have been here by now!  I guess I'll just keep pretending like I have some sort of control over this and walk, eat spicy food, bounce on a yoga ball and do all those so called natural induction methods that are out there.


Anyway, I took a little bird walk, sorry.  My mom is still the best :)

So this weekend is Mother's Day, what are you doing for your mom on Mother's Day?  My poor mom has to share this day every year, she never gets it all to herself.  She would never complain about that, but really that just stinks for her.  You see, my dad's birthday is May 8th (Mother's Day) and my brother's birthday is May 9th.  Just as we did last year, we will celebrate all three special occasions on the one day, Mother's Day.  As you know, Sunday is also Family Day for us Watson/Fiamengo's so really this coming Sunday won't be any different.  My poor mom will still cook for all of us, the only difference is, she will cook my brother's favorite meal.  She's a good mom.

Not only is this weekend Mother's Day, my dad's birthday and my brother's birthday . . . it's also my brother-in-law's wedding day on Saturday!  Yay!  What a busy weekend!  Oh and did I mention that this week starts the first week of my maternity leave?  We have a busy week and weekend ahead so I'll do the bulk of my nesting next week I suppose.

(The Bride and Groom)

Marc is the Best Man in his brother's wedding and I am a bridesmaid so we have some big roles to play this weekend.  Well, Marc has a big role to play, I'll just be big :)  I'm really excited for Marc's speech, its going to be a good one!  I have to help him with some of the pieces this week in order to make it perfect!


Back to Mother's Day again.


My mom has taught me that being a mom is the number one most selfless thing you can do on the planet.  She would do anything in the world for my brother or me.  She is my best friend, hence the reason for me living 2 doors down from her!  That is the best thing ever!  Even if she wasn't my mom, you would here others say that she is, kind-hearted, hard-working, completely selfless in every way, God-loving, BEAUTIFUL, nurturing, amazing and pretty much like Mary Poppins "Practically Perfect in Every Way!"  I'm just lucky because I get to call her mom.

(This picture is particularly funny because my mom doesn't drink, she could hardly pose for this picture even!)

It's my hope that I will take some of her traits and characteristics with me as I venture into motherhood very shortly.  I know that there are some sons and daughters out there that don't get to say such great things about their moms and that makes me sad for them.  Hopefully those people can break the cycles that have been created for generations, I'm guessing, and become more like Peggy :)

If you are a mom, I wish you the happiest of Mother's Days!  If you are going to be a mom soon I say good luck to us and Happy (almost) Mother's Day to us!  If this is your first Mother's Day I say Congratulations to you, enjoy being spoiled!  If you do not have a close relationship with your mom I say embrace those around you that act like they are your mom (even if you hate it sometimes).  If your mom is no longer with us I hope that you remember all of the great things that your mom taught you growing up and that you thank God for taking care of her now and spoiling her for once!


Have a Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderfully fabulous ladies out there!


Happy Mama's Day to YOU, Nana Times Three, I love you so much!

Have a great week and weekend my friends, give your moms a hug this weekend!


Jen :)

God who?

Happy Easter!


Well in some parts of the world it is Easter already, not quite yet here in California but Happy Easter anyway!


Growing up, Easter was never a huge holiday for our family.  Back when "Spring Break" actually used to be Easter Break and we would be off of school for a week because of this little thing called EASTER we would be in Mexico.  Well, whether it be Spring Break or Easter Break we still go to Mexico.  My point is, we used to go to Mexico the week BEFORE Easter and would therefore color our Easter eggs while in Mexico.  So we did your typical "Easter-y" things as a family.  My brother and I would find our colored Easter eggs and a few plastic ones and we would get our Easter baskets.  Oh yeah, and my brother and mom and I would do this little thing called "go to church."  Too bad Easter isn't really about going to church at all, but more about the candy that you get in your Easter basket.  


Sad.


Really, the whole church and God thing is getting really sad these days.  Example:  My nephew Dylan sang a Christmas concert type thing at his preschool back in December, you know what they sang????  "We wish you a Happy Holiday!"  Unbelievable!  Not, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, but We Wish You a Happy Holiday?  Really?   


Sad.


Remember when we had Christmas Break in December at school?  Now it's "Winter Break."


Sad.


Remember when we had Easter Break in April at school?  Now it's "Spring Break."


Sad. 


Remember when you could say "One nation under God?"  Where did that go?


Sad.


Sorry, I digress.  We were talking Easter!


So, God sent his only son to die on a cross for my sins and for your sins.  As I sit here days away from delivering a child of my own this is something that I can't grasp.  I haven't met my child yet, but I know all of his or her movements, what time of day he or she gets hiccups, what foods make him or her happy and which ones don't, the size and shape of his or her little foot in my ribs and so much more.  I love all of those things about this baby and I know that when I see him or her (as my co-worker Kim says) my heart will be stolen and live outside my body from then on.  I love baby Fiamengo and saying "ok kid, go die for all of these people who are going to sin and do horrible things and not even be allowed to say your name in school" is beyond me.  I can certainly tell you that I'm thankful to God and Jesus for that ultimate sacrifice that's for sure!


I have a friend from work who is also pregnant and she put it best.  She said something like this:


As I sit here just weeks away from giving birth and living in fear of the pain that I will be in on that day or days, it couldn't possibly be as much pain as wearing a crown of thorns, and being beaten and dragged to a hill to have my hands and feet nailed to a cross.  


Amongst our chocolate bunny ears and Easter egg hunts I hope we all take just one minute to give thanks to God for sacrificing his only son, and to give thanks to Jesus for dying on the cross and rising from the grave 3 days later for my sins and yours.  


Lots of love to you all and Happy Easter!   

Shower Time!

Well hello there! 


 I'd like to welcome myself back to the living.  I've been sick since my last post over a week ago and I'm still just barely hanging on here.  I didn't want you to think I went into labor early or anything like that, nope, just been dragging my butt from couch to bed every day trying to get healthy.


Anyway enough about me, lets talk more about . . . . well . . . ME! :)  Actually, lets talk about Baby Fia and the amazing baby shower that was given to Baby Fia back on April 10th!  

Baby Fia's shower was at El Cholo Restaurant from 11:30 - 2:30.  Let me tell you, the people at El Cholo are just the best!  The managers were great when booking the party and updating them on the people attending and the food we wanted.  The servers though, they were just amazing!  They really went above and beyond to make sure every single person at the party had everything they needed.  Not only that, the food at El Cholo is SO yummy!  We had chicken and carnitas tacos, chicken tamales and rice and beans with all the fixings.  Yum-O! 

So my mom, my sister-in-law Molly and Molly's parents Debbie and Eric were the ultimate party planners for this wonderful shindig!  

Molly and I

Mama and I

You have no idea how much work all of these people put into this baby shower, it was unbelievable!  The decorations were incredible.  Molly and her parents made cookies that looked like little sea turtles (the theme of the nursery) and they even had sugar in the bags that looked like sand!  So cute!

They also had giant sea turtle balloons around the room and the center pieces were little baby feet suckers in sand pails with crushed graham crackers as the sand! 

Super cute right? I thought so!

Molly's dad, Eric, also made me a vase out of children's blocks!  So creative and so cute! 

One of the highlights of the day was that my cousin Jan was able to make it to the party!  Not only that, she made the cake for the party!  Not just any cake either, a mama and baby turtle lemon cake with fresh raspberries and butter cream frosting in the middle!  Can you say delicious?  Not only delicious, the cutest cakes I've ever seen!!!!  You be the judge . . . 

I just can't believe how generous everybody was at the shower!  From my party planning family, to my cake making cousin to ALL 50 people that attended and were SO generous with their gifts.  We even had a couple of family members and one of my co-workers who took the time to hand make items for Baby Fiamengo!  By far one of the best gifts ever!

I can't tell you how thankful I am to all of my family and friends who made it out to Baby Fia's shower.  They all mean so very much to me and I know that they will mean just as much to Baby Fia.  

I have to show you a couple of miscellaneous pictures from the shower too, just because they make me smile :)

Wolff Buddy, Me, Jordan (2 weeks ahead of me and just minutes away from labor at the moment), and Molly :)

This one is my favorite!  This is how pregnant ladies have to hug, like 7th grades slow dancing! :)  

I don't have many pictures with my dad so I suppose I can throw one up here.  He's not big on smiling for pictures for some reason so this is the best you're gonna get! :)  Big Papa Wayne! 

After the baby shower I spent some time with my friends and then got to work on all those gifts!  My mom and I separated everything, put things together and then I did 7 loads of laundry for this child that is not even born yet!  You know what is even more crazy about the 7 loads of laundry?  I only got about 5 little outfits!  That means that those 7 loads included lots of blankets, sheets, changing pad covers and washcloths and towels!

I'm finally feeling more prepared for baby to be here after putting things together and putting things away.  Who knew that such a tiny little baby would take so many "things?"  

So, you can say that me and Baby Fia had a pretty darn good shower!  In fact, it was perfect!  I loved every minute of it and have great memories of that day.  

I have one more shower put on by my wonderful co-workers at the Yard House this Friday.  Its more like a Baby Shower Happy Hour which is my kind of party! :)  It should be another fun time for Baby and I! :)

So . . . 35 weeks down, only 35 days to go and baby is weighing in at a comfy 5lbs 6oz as of today's appointment!  Baby is estimated to be about 7 1/2 pounds by birth which I'd say is a pretty good size!  I can definitely tell you that according to the ultrasound pictures most of that weight is in the cheeks and feet! :)  Takes after its daddy already! :)

I'll keep you posted on all things baby as we get down to the end!

PS. If there are any of you out there that pray, I'd appreciate some prayers for my friend Jordan who was pictured above.  She's been having contractions for the past couple of days and they are getting closer together as you read this, Baby Will should be here shortly and both mama and baby can use your prayers.  

Have a great week my friends!

Love Jen :) 

Oh Mexico . . .

I just LOVE Mexico.  


There is really nothing more to it, I love it there.  I couldn't imagine my life without all of my Mexico memories in it.  What a great vacation we had, just like every single time we go.

That is a picture of the newest improvements they have made in Mexico.  They are getting pretty high tech with a sign like this actually.  They have also improved the roads there better than they do here!  There was a long period of time where they actually didn't have roads and it would add on about another 2-3 hours to our trip.  We used to drive on a dirt road that was like a washboard so you could only drive about 7MPH at the most, it was terrible.  So this sign is actually a huge deal.

My grandparents actually live 40 miles past San Felipe in a Camp called Campo San Martin.  Nobody knows about the camps that are passed San Felipe so it's easier for us to just say we went to San Felipe for the weekend.

So of course, the weather was beautiful as always!

Although the sun is really bad for us and can cause major damage, I can't help but just sit out in the sand and watch all that surrounds me out there.  Its amazing what things you can learn about yourself, others and just the world in general when you have no access to modern technology.  Its really nice.  No cellphones, no computers, no interruptions of your own thinking because your favorite show is on or the door bell rang . . . just straight peace and serenity.  

Sunrises and sunsets are the highlights of your day when in Mexico, they are amazing.

Not only that, it was a New Moon when we got there on Sunday which meant a pitch black sky and more stars than you could ever imagine.  We've seen the stars there for 28 years and they still amaze me every single time I see them.  Plus, since it was the New Moon that meant that the grunion would be running 3-4 days after the New Moon.  Sure enough, by Wednesday the grunion were out and about doing their thing!  A crazy site to see that's for sure!

At night time, if the solar was good, we would watch a little bit of TV.  The best part about watching TV in Mexico is watching it with my Aunt Glady (90 years old) and my Grandpa (78 years old).  Neither of them can hear very well, my Aunt Glady because of old age and my Grandpa because he worked in a machine shop for several years.  Since they can't hear well they have these things called "TV Ears" that they wear.  They just pop them in their ears and are able to hear the television just like you and I, its so cute!  They didn't know we were going to take the picture so they look angry, but they really aren't :)

Too cute.

One day it rained which is really really unusual for Mexico.  The great thing about rain in Mexico is that it literally lasts 3 minutes at the most and then the day clears up to be perfect again, its wonderful!

One of the other great highlights of the trip was the rest time we all got!  As you know, I cannot sleep on my tummy being 8 months pregnant, not a fun time.  So, Marc dug me a hole in the sand for my belly and I got some tummy time!  How awesome is that?  It felt so good to get to lay on my belly for a little while, I loved every second of it and miss it so much! The other incredible thing about Mexico is the famous hammock.  I actually got a nice little nap in on that sucker and it felt oh so amazing! :)

What else is so great about Mexico you ask?  I'll tell you, the food!  When there is nothing to do all day your biggest concern is food.  We discuss what we are going to eat for every meal every day multiple times a day.  The best part is when we decide to "go out" to eat.  Going out to eat in this part of Mexico means going to a Mexican families home and having them cook for us.  Or in one case, going to the local "market" and having them cook for us there.  Faly is the name of a lady who owns a little Market a few miles down the road.  She is so sweet and her and her husband cook for us whenever we are there, she makes killer huevos rancheros, I'm drooling just thinking about it right now!  Yum!

The Huevos Rancheros

Cute Lil Faly

Yes that is Faly's kitchen and despite the way it looks, that kitchen has all kinds of flavor in it!  Yum!

Anyway, I could go on for multiple blogs about Mexico.  That place is my second home and where all of my greatest memories are.  I'm so thankful that my grandparents live there and live a happy and healthy life down there.  

A visit to grandma's house for me is not your typical visit, but I couldn't imagine it any other way.

On a quick side note, today was my baby shower and it was beyond amazing!  I can't wait to tell you all about it in my next blog!!!!

Much love and a happy week to you!

XOXO 

Jen :)

Bienvenidos a Mexico!

The weekend is crackin up to be a good one already!


Last night my mom and I got to take Dylan (nephew) on date night!  Or in Dylan's words, "I get to go on a date with Nana and Tee Tee!"  He was very proud to be both of our dates for the night too, he even got dressed up for the occasion.

Yep.  That's Dylan all spiffied up in his button down shirt, shorts and Star Wars slip on faux vans, he was stylin and proud to hold both of our hands.

We started out date night with a little Red Robin, you can never go wrong with Clucks and Fries and a Strawberry Lemonade!  Then we headed to Brea Olinda High School to see a musical performance, Beauty and the Beast!  Dylan has never seen the movie but he has seen the commercials on TV for the real performance of Beauty and the Beast.  We were a little worried at first because Dylan tends to get bored a little easily and he also doesn't like loud noises, not a good combo for a musical performance.  To our surprise he loved it!  He sat on Nana's lap the whole time and didn't want to leave.  He had a great time for his first musical performance, I'm so glad that we got to experience it with him.  I must admit, the high schoolers that put on this performance were incredible!  They did an amazing job and its no wonder why they kept a 4 year old's attention for 2 1/2 hours, just incredible.

So that was the start of my weekend.

Then, this morning we headed to our first Childbirth class.  This class is put on by our hospital and is a series of 3 classes called Prepared Childbirth.  I'd say that's an oxymoron and I'm not even a mom yet . . . but . . . I assume that you can't really be "prepared" for childbirth, no?  I suppose every bit of education is helpful though.  Marc is not happy about having to go to these classes with me and my brother thinks that childbirth is a natural thing that we should just know how to do.  I agree to an extent, but I also think that if you are given the opportunity to further your education through classes or books then you might as well take advantage of it.  It won't hurt us, it will only benefit us.  I was actually pretty excited to go to the class this morning and it turned out to be really good, I really enjoyed it.  I'm excited to go again next week now!  Marc won't be with me next week which will be a big bummer and makes me sad but on the flip side at least I don't have to hear him complaining about being there for the whole 3 hours.  

What am I most excited for this weekend though?  Refer back to the title of the blog please. :)

Yep, it's that time of year again when we get to say Adios to crowded and polluted California and Hola to the beautiful clean and clear skies of San Felipe Mexico!  To those of you who haven't been to Mexico or who have only been to the tourist towns of Mexico I'm sure you're thinking, "um what?"  Most think of Mexico as a dirty, stinky and scary place to be . . . . some places are.  Then again, Los Angeles can be a dirty, stinky and scary place to be also.  This is what our Mexico looks like, you tell me what you think?

Stinky?  Nope.  Dirty?  Not even close.  Scary?  No way!  

Clean?  Yep.  Beautiful?  Absolutely.  Safe?  You bet!

My grandparents retired down there roughly 30 years ago so I've been going to Mexico at least twice a year since I was 6 months old.  I've never missed a Spring Break in Mexico in my 28 years and being 8 months pregnant isn't about to stop me now!  

The other great part about going to Mexico is the fact that my 90 year old Great Aunt Glady will be flying in from San Francisco tonight and will be traveling with us.  She is the best!  She is super funny and witty and certainly does not act like she is 90 years young!  In fact, she just about runs everywhere she goes because she doesn't want people to be waiting on her.  She is one of the greatest people on this earth.  The funny thing about 90 year old Aunt Glady is her day to day routines at home.  She goes to church every single morning except Sunday, she volunteers at places like the Boys and Girls Club and get this, in her words, "I deliver Meals on Wheels to the old people!"  Hilarious!  Anyway, Glady is my grandma's sister and about 12 years older than my grandma.  Its funny to see them together in Mexico because my grandma waits on her hand and foot, my grandma doesn't really do that with people so its great to watch!

Anyway, so yes, my weekend is cracking up to be a good one.  Can't wait to go to Mexico and can't wait to share my blog with you when I return.  On a side note, all of my Words With Friends people, don't worry when you don't get a play back from me for a few days, no cellphones in Mexico make for no play time.  So sorry, I will miss you all!  I have about 11 games going right now and you all rock!  

I hope everyone has a great week!  If any of you believe in a higher power please pray for save traveling for all of us . . . oh and no preterm labor either please :)  Thank you!

Adios Amigos! 

Jen :)