Three months old :)

My little love bug,

It is true what they say, "the days are long but the years are short" - I can hardly believe how quickly three months have flown by, especially when some of the nights seem to last for eternity when you wake up every hour or two! For the most part you have settled into a better sleep routine - I give you a bath around 8:30 and then feed you and you fall asleep around 9:30 or so. Sometimes you will sleep all the way until 6:00 and other times you wake up sometime in the middle - around 2:00 or 3:00. Either way I am happy that you have stopped waking up every few hours like you were in the past :)

You are just the sweetest little guy - always smiling when daddy or I walk in the room. You have gotten used to your bouncy seat and will sit in there for quite awhile if you have a full belly and just talk away or suck on your fist. You have started showing an interest in some of your toys as well, especially your plastic keys and can pick them up out of your lap and get them to your mouth. Your hand eye coordination is developing nicely and I'm hoping your toys will entertain you more in the coming months. You also love your little green security blanket from Aunt Rhonda - you finger the fabric and try to stuff the whole thing in your mouth. You have gotten used to being in your car seat as well and will even fall asleep most car rides. You go out running errands with mommy quite frequently and do very well - you even seem to enjoy Target as you always wake up when I put your seat in the cart :) You are wearing 9 month clothes now - you have grown so quickly! I can hardly believe you were a tiny newborn just three months ago.

My favorite thing that you have learned this month is how to laugh. You just think your daddy is the funniest guy around - you lay on your changing table and laugh and smile away while he talks to you - it is the cutest thing I have ever seen or heard. I will be going back to work very soon and will miss you so much - I have gotten used to spending my days with you and watching you grow and learn. Luckily daddy has secured a job that will allow him to stay home with you. I must admit I am a bit jealous of the bond that you will surely grow with him however I feel so blessed that you will be in such good care and I won't worry as much about you while I am gone. You have certainly turned our lives upside down little guy in a good way - I am so happy being your mommy.

Here are a couple of pictures taken on your three month birthday . . .



and of course your bear pic:


Two month pic on top, three month on bottom :)

Month three pics :)

Here's just a couple of my favorite pics from the month:

Shots yuck!

I know I mentioned Christian's two month well check in his last month post but that's only because I was behind in posting so it had already happened :P His two month well check was actually not until well into his third month because there was no sooner appointments. The doctor checked him out and once again declared him "perfect" and then it was time for his shots. I had had a sick feeling in my stomach all morning and the night before knowing that he'd be getting them that day - there's nothing worse than seeing your child in pain :( I just had to keep telling myself that we are preventing a greater pain by having him immunized. The nurse came in and gave him three shots in his legs - he cried for a few minutes but was easily calmed and I thought the worst was over. I was very wrong - he slept a little after the appointment and when he woke up he was just miserable - crying harder than he ever had and whimpering as if he were still in pain :( I gave him tylenol as the doctor instructed and he finally fell asleep after a few hours of crying. After sleeping a couple of hours (longest nap ever!) he woke up in a much better mood - here he is recovering on the couch with daddy . . .

The next morning he woke up happy again - he did throw up once but it didn't seem to bother him so we aren't sure if it was related to the shots or just a fluke. I will be dreading his next appt coming up in November when he has to get more :(

San Diego!

On Christian's two month birthday we left for San Diego to spend the week with daddy while he was working down there. My mom was working there that week as well so she just upgraded her room to a suite so we could all stay together :) The first day we spent visiting with some friends of mine in San Clemente - they hadn't met Christian yet and I hadn't seen them in months so the day just flew by. We made it to the hotel in San Diego around 8:00 and Christian stayed with my mom and grandma so Joe and I could go grab some dinner. The next day Christian, my grandma and I headed over to the outlets - Christian is growing like a weed and needs new jammies every couple of weeks! After a bit of shopping we had lunch at In N Out and then headed back to the hotel to hang out until my mom got home. We had dinner at the hotel and then relaxed until Joe got off work to spend some time with us. Thursday morning Joe picked up his mom who was staying with some family in San Diego before heading back to Mexico and brought her to the hotel to see Christian. Then we all headed to the restaurant Joe was working out to meet Aaron and Kathie for lunch. Christian slept through most of it but I took a few pics anyhow :)


Friday we got up and packed everything up to head home. Joe had to stay and work another day but we were happy we got to spend the few evenings with him that we did and check out the new menu that he created :) It was nice to see Joe's mom one more time before she had to head home as well - Christian lit up as soon as he saw her - I know he misses spending his days in his abuelita's arms.

My happy boy :)

Another video I love :)

A little video of Christian "talking" :)

Two months old :)

My sweet boy,

Yet another month has flown by and you have grown and changed so much in the past few weeks. At your two month well check you weighed 13 lbs 10 oz and were 23 3/4 inches - a big boy! You also had your first set of shots which of course you hated. You calmed down very quickly after the injections but had a hard time the rest of the evening and the next day. This is something I will dread every time - it just hurts my heart so much to see you in any pain. We struggled a bit with your tummy this month but the doctor prescribed Prevacid and you seem to be responding very well to it - I'm hoping you don't grow up to have mommy's sensitive belly. You are such a strong boy - you can hold your neck up steady for quite a long time - even your doctor commented on that. You are also started to push up with your legs while we are holding you almost as if you are trying to stand up already! You have found your voice and will lay on your changing table "talking" up a storm - it is the cutest thing I have ever heard. You love watching the movement and colors on the tv and you definetly recognize voices as you perk up as soon as you hear your daddy or I talking. You smile in response to us as well :) You track very well - following objects placed in your line of sight or me or daddy if we are close to you in a room. You are becoming a much better sleeper - waking up only once or twice a night now to eat. I am so amazed at all you have learned in just a few short weeks - I can't wait to see what developments the next month brings. While I can't wait until you are big enough to interact with us more, a part of me wants to bottle you up just as you are - you are just growing way too fast.

You had quite an eventful month - you were baptized the day after your one month birthday, spent a week getting to know your cousin Abigail while your grandpa was baby-sitting her for the week, got a new tummy time play mat that you love, attended the wedding of a friend of mommy and the 60th wedding anniversary dinner of great grandpa and grandma Lanoye, met baby Abigail and baby Blake who will hopefully become playmates of yours, took your first trip to the lake and first trip to the beach (although you didn't even make it to the sand at either place :P), took a trip to San Clemente to meet some good friends of mommys and then on to San Diego to spend a week with daddy while he was working, and of course had lots of little photo shoots with mommy :) You spent lots of your days with your abuelita and she finally had to go home on your two month birthday - I know you will both miss each other very much.

In two months you have changed our lives immensely - I can't even remember what my life was like before you and I don't want to. I love you more than I ever imagined it was possible to love someone . . .

Mommy

Here are a couple pics that were taken on your two month birthday . . .




and a comparison of your one and two month pics with your bear - you are much chunkier now :)

1st Lake Trip!

Every summer my parent's rent a spot to park our RV on Lake Elsinore for the summer. This year since we were expecting Christian in the summer they decided it wouldn't be worth it since they'd be here waiting for him to come and then he'd be too little to go for some time. They did however take it down there for Labor day weekend which is also my dad's birthday so Joe and his mom and Christian and I went down Saturday and Sunday to spend some time with the family and have a small birthday celebration. It was much too hot outside for Christian to spend any time by the water so he and I hung in the camper most of the day until it cooled off in the evening but Joe got to do a little jet-skiing and his mom spent some time down by the water. Next year Christian will be big enough to play in the water with his cousins :)

Month 2 pics

Here are just a few of my favorite pics from Christian's second month . . .









A few days shy of his two month birthday we had a little photo shoot on Grandma's bed and he was in such a good mood that I got tons of pics that I loved so I made a little collage of all his cute little expressions :) I want to remember all of them.

Baptism

I can't believe another month has passed since I updated this blog - Christian keeps us very very busy! On Sunday, August 8th Christian was baptized at St. Catherine Laboure church in Torrance. His godparents are my brother William and my very best friend Jennifer who was also my maid of honor. He slept through the entire ceremony including when they poured the water on him! Quite a few people came to celebrate this occasion with us - all of the grandparents and great-grandparents, uncles and aunts and a few of Joe's friends from his softball team. After the ceremony we had everyone over for tacos and cupcakes to celebrate his special day. Here are a few pictures . . .





Christian's awesome cupcakes were made by For the Love of Sugar - they were delicious!

For once in my life . . .

after nine long months of waiting for our bundle of joy Joe and I were blessed with a healthy baby boy on Wednesday, July 7th at 5:37pm. Christian Joe was 8 lbs 4oz and 19.5 inches and is just perfect. We are so in love with our little guy. My bestie Erica came to visit us in the hospital when baby was just two days old and captured these our first family pic and a great pic of daddy and his baby boy - both of which I will cherish always:




Just a day after we finished the nursery I noticed that I wasn't feeling Christian move as much as I had been so I paged the doctor and he said to head over to the hospital to get checked out. We grabbed the hospital bag just in case and rushed over there where baby's heartbeat was monitored and an ultrasound was done to check his fluid level. They discovered that his fluid was just 2.3 when it should be at least 5 so the nurse paged the doctor and he instructed the nurse to send us home and have us come back the next day to be rechecked. The next morning we headed back to the hospital where they repeated the tests and found that while his fluid level had increased a bit to 3.2 it was still too low. We headed over to the doctors office to discuss our options and it was decided that I would be induced that evening since low fluid carries some risks to the baby such as cord collapse. We went home and tried to pass the next few hours until we had to go back to the hospital - both of us were super nervous but excited as well since we would finally be meeting our baby boy!

We got to the hospital at 11:00pm on Tuesday, July 6th and they started the drugs to induce labor. I had only mild contractions all night so both of us were able to get a bit of sleep as we waited for the labor to progress. The next morning the nurse checked me only to find that I hadn't made any progress at all. She discussed it with the doctor and he said to continue with the induction meds and he would be in to check me at noon that day. When he got there I still had made no progess so he told us that the safest option for the baby given the slow progression of the labor would be to schedule a c-section for 5:00pm. While this was not our preferred choice, we decided to do what was safest and best for the baby and agreed to the section. My mom was working in San Diego that day so my dad called her to let her know she should head home. We spent the next few hours anxiously awaiting 5:00. I was experiencing some pretty bad contractions by then so the time seemed to crawl by.

A few minutes before 5:00 we were waiting for the doctor to arrive when my mom noticed the cabinet she was leaning on was moving - we quickly realized that we were having an earthquake which turned out to be a 5.4 centered close to Palm Springs. Christian was surely announcing his impending arrival :P 5:00pm came and they came to get me prepped for surgery. A few months ago Joe mentioned that the song "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder described exactly how he felt about his new family and we decided it would be our "family song". The lyrics are:

For once in my life
I have someone who needs me
Someone I've needed so long
For once unafraid
I can go where life leads me
And somehow I know I'll be strong
For once I can touch
What my heart used to dream of
Long before I knew
Someone warm like you
Could make my dream come true
For once in my life
I won't let sorrow hurt me
Not like it's hurt me before
For once I've got someone
I know won't desert me
I'm not alone anymore
For once I can say
This is mine, you can't take it
As long as I've got love
I know I can make it
For once in my life
I've got someone who needs me

When I walked into the operating room with the nurse to get my spinal "For Once In My Life" was playing on the radio. I immediately teared up - it was so perfect that our song was playing when I walked in the room where we would actually become a family of three. I must admit I was terrified of the procedure coming up - I had never had surgery before with the exception of my wisdom teeth but the doctors and nurses were really great and Joe was awesome even though I could tell he was scared as well. After what seemed like forever but was really only 5 or so minutes I heard them say they were pulling him out and I finally heard my baby boy's cry. There's no way to describe the feeling that comes over you when you finally hear that little cry but it's pretty much the best feeling ever. And seeing your husband holding your new baby boy is the next best thing. You just fall in love all over again. Joe stayed with Christian while he was being weighed and measured and then Joe got to cut the umbilical cord while they were closing me up. When I finally got moved to recovery my parents and brother came in to meet Christian.

We had to spend the next four days in the hospital due to my surgery and the baby being slightly jaundice. Suprisingly though I actually enjoyed our time there with my hubby and new baby boy - it was nice not having anything to do but bond with our new little guy and I was actually a little sad to go home since I knew we would be surrounded by the hustle and bustle of every day life once again. My recovery has been much easier than I expected with only minor pain. I was up and walking by the day after the procedure and am feeling about 80 percent better now at a little past the two week mark.

Joe has spent the last two weeks home with Christian and I and we have been trying to adjust to our new lifestyle. Christian is on European time and doesn't sleep very well at night but snoozes all day so we are trying to get him turned around. His jaundice has cleared up almost completely and he has been declared "perfect" by his doctor at both of his visits so far. We are so in love with our new little guy and are loving every minute with him. I have of course taken tons of pics and we also had another shoot with my awesome friend Erica yesterday so I'll be posting more pics soon :)

A place of his own . . .

well it's a good thing we finished the nursery up when we did because the very next day we found out that baby's fluid was too low and that he would be coming a bit sooner than we thought - more about that in the next post. Joe and I spent nearly a whole day getting the crib put together and everything organized so that baby's room would be perfect before he arrived. Here are a few pics . . .

his shelf with lots of supplies, his wish book from his shower, his two piggies and of course a pic of my grandpa whom he was named for:

his changing table/dresser:

the awesome name letters my friend and client Lauren made for him to go with his bedding:

his diaper stacker which of course has a tiger on it :)

his mobile:

his crib bedding which Joe and I picked out together and of course had to have a tiger which you can't see because it's in the top corner which is folded over the crib:

the whole room :)


I love the way it turned out and had a blast putting everything together with Joe - definetly a labor of love :)

The Saldana Family :)

Sorry for the lack of updates lately - life has been a bit busy planning two weddings, working and getting ready for the little guy to come. Tomorrow we will be 38 weeks pregnant so now it's just a waiting game to see when he will decide to come. His room is just about ready and we have everything we need. Car seats are installed and hospital bag is packed. We are as ready as two people who have never been parents can be :)

Christian was nice enough to stay put until after our wedding. We were married this past Saturday in a Catholic ceremony at St. Catherine LaBoure with a lunch following at Macaroni Grill. It was a very small affair with just immediate family - we are going to do a much bigger wedding next year on our year anniversary :) Joe's mom is here visiting from Mexico and will hopefully be with us until the baby is baptized in August so baby will be surrounded by lots of love in his first few weeks <3

My bestie was nice enough to take a family pic for us before baby arrives . . .



I will post pics of his room as soon as it's done - hopefully this weekend :)

Ultrasound pics and engaged!!

This morning we had our 30 week 4D ultrasound - baby is still pretty small at just under 3 lbs so he has some growing to do before he comes out. Here are a couple pics . . .



He looks like he's smiling here :)


We have some exciting news to share as well - just after the ultrasound Joe proposed so we will be getting married in the near future :) We are very excited to start our life together as a family <3

Ultrasound pictures and video coming up this weekend!

So we have about 10 weeks left of full night sleep - and we are looking forward to it!

This coming Saturday we have a 4D ultrasound and we'll be able to see what he's going to look like, pretty cool stuff. I'll post a video over the weekend.