Conversations with a 2 year old

Trey and his younger cousin Charlie often fight for attention

Me: Trey, did you share with your cousin, Charlie, today?
Trey: No
Me: Were you nice to Charlie?
Trey: No
Me: You know, Trey, when little boys want to be nice big boys, they learn how to share. Do you want to be a nice big boy?
Trey: No
Me: Well, what kind of boy do you want to be?
Trey: Saturn


After "someone" had apparently dumped a whole bottle of glitter on Trey's head at Julie's

Me: Trey, did you dump glitter on your head?
Trey: No
Me: Well who did?
Trey: Ella did it
Me: Why did Ella dump glitter on your head?
Trey: Because I asked her to

Differences

Me the morning before I delivered Marie

Me 2 days before I delivered Trey

Marie at 7lbs 8 oz

Trey at 9 lbs 10oz

Our first picture with Marie

Our first picture with Trey

Marie in her car seat on her way home

Trey in his car seat on his way home

Sibling Snuggles

Our Sweet Angel

Best Morning Snuggles Ever!

So for those of you that are interested...

I had my regular weekly check-up on Tuesday, April 12th. By this time, I was still only about 1.5cm dilated (no progress for the past 3 weeks). My doctor had asked me about induction and I had told her I was not interested in induction. I was about 1.5 weeks away from my due date and she said she didn't think the baby would be coming any time soon (at least not within the next week). Since Trey was such a big baby (9lb 10oz), she didn't want me to go past my due date and have the chance of delivering a 10 pounder. So she casually said, "Let's just have this baby on Thursday." I was like, "This Thursday???" "Sure, why?"

So after some thought and deliberation, Deo and I decided let's just go ahead and get induced on Thursday, April 14th. We figured the chances of us having to get induced anyways was probably pretty likely, and this way it could help us plan for work and Trey better.

Thursday, April 14th we woke up at 5:00am to get ready to head to the hospital. Trey was surprisingly in a good mood when we actually woke up him because we had been telling him he was going to have a pajama party at Auntie Julie's. So he got to stay in his PJ's when we dropped him off. We got to St. Joe's for our 7:30am induction. It was a very different experience walking in and checking in for the birth of our baby. Waiting in the waiting room, walking back to the room with no labor pain, knowing when we leave with it would be with out new little one. After the long and grueling "check-in" questions, our doctor came in, put on some gloves, and broke my water. Wow...that was fast! They next hooked me up to my IV and started the pitocin.

About 30 minutes after the pitocin started flowing, I started to get some contractions. They started pretty frequently about every 5 minutes. About 2 hours into it, they were coming more frequently, about every 2.5 minutes, and started to come on stronger, but still manageable. I knew I had wanted to get an epidural but they had a scheduled c-section that day so the doctor wouldn't be available to administer it from 11:40am until after 1pm. By about 11:00am, I basically had to decide if now if I wanted it or couldn't get it until after 1pm. The pain wasn't that bad, but not knowing what was in store over the next 2 hours made me nervous so I opted to go ahead and get it started. And good thing I did.

The epidural was administered, and working, at around 11:30am (after the first stick didn't work). Around Noon, I convinced Deo to go get something to eat because he hadn't had anything to eat all day. The last I was checked I was at 4.5 cm so we figured we still had some time.

Around 12:30, I started to get really bad contraction in one specific spot on my right side that would shoot to my back. After not feeling much of the contractions after the epidural, I started to get worried it was wearing off. I started pumping the medicine in with no avail. I finally called my nurse in and told her what was happening. She did a quick pelvic exam and told me the reason I was having such bad contractions was because I was 10 cm and ready to push. I started to cry, not feeling ready to deliver this baby. I thought I had at least a few more hours. I called Deo and luckily he was just walking back into the hospital after a quick bite to eat.

Deo walked through the door, the doctor followed shortly after. I got in position. Deo was making some joke and I started laughing and my doctor said, "whoa, wait...you're going to laugh this baby out." I three contractions (9 pushes) and Marie was welcomed into this world at 1:36pm.

Marie Ann Diaz
7lbs 8oz
18.5 in

So Close yet So Far

This arrival of this baby seems so close yet still so far away. I'm inching in on my due date (which is just over 2 weeks away). It doesn't seem that far away, but each day seems to be getting longer and longer. I'm trying to hone in on my maternity instincts as well as utilize my experience and skills from the last pregnancy, to try and predict when this baby will make her arrival. Shortly after going through labor with Trey, I remember thinking, "I will definitely know when it is time next time around," yet it's crazy how quickly you forget what it really did feel like.

I think it's especially hard this time around because I have been getting crazy Braxton Hicks and lower back pain probably for the last 3 weeks now (increasingly this last week). I never had any Braxton Hicks with Trey, which is why for the first part of labor and I actually thought it was false labor for a few hours. I had hopes that the increase in these false labor pains would mean that she would be maker her arrival sooner than later, but realize that may not always be the case. For one, I'm not really progressing at all "down there." My doctor put it so kindly when she checked me last time, "geez, someone should tell your cervix this is your second baby." My sister-in-law said that with her last one, she felt like this for the whole last month.

I'm still having weird nervousness that our little girl with come out as a brother, since we know the predictions are never 100% accurate. I really don't care either way but just more so that I don't have a boy name picked out. Deo has basically removed himself from the name picking process since he claims he had full dibs on Trey's name, but I would still like his input. I think it's just a way of avoiding making a decision rather than giving me full decision making authority.

That's all to report right now. We'll see how the next couple of weeks goes!

Choo-Choo...Trey Turned Two!

My little boy is growing up...already TWO! He is completely obsessed with anything trains thanks, in part, to his cousin Cole is equally obsessed with trains. For about a month now, Trey has been very excited about his "choo-choo party" and would even ask to go to the store to buy choo-choo stuff for his choo-choo party.

The morning of his Birthday, he woke up so excited! He even got into his choo-choo cupcakes first thing!




It was a beautiful day for the party, although we just can't win with the wind in March. From here on out we may just have to settle for in-door parties.





Trey was so excited about his choo-choo cake! I was decorating it the morning of when Deo took him to get his hair cut and when he walked through the door he exlaimed, "WOW...Choo Choo CAKE!"








Trey had so much fun in the jumping castle. We got one last year and he jumped in it a little bit. Boy what a difference a year makes! He was ALL about the jumping castle this year!


Trey's present from Mommy and Daddy was a ride-on train. We set it up at the park and I have to admit, it was quite a hit with all the kids. They loved riding it around all day.


Uncle Mikey helping Trey with his Thomas Pinata. Unfortunately, now my kid is addicted to suckers and will eat them all day long if we allowed him.


Happy Birthday to Trey! Happy Birthday to YOU!








I'm so glad we got this picture. This is Trey's very expressive, "YES!" face. Whenever you ask him a question and the answer is yes, he says it so forcefully and holds his hands out like this. It's so cute! Did Trey like his Choo-Choo party? YES!!!

Spring Sprinkles

My sister-in-law was kind of enough to throw me a baby "sprinkle" in honor of Baby Marie. I hadn't wanted to do another full-blown shower since I already did that with Trey and we really have all the basics covered (crib, high chair, pump, even lots of gender neutral baby clothes). But Julie insisted saying that people love to shop for little girl stuff (which I do admit is very fun). It ended up being just the perfect little sprinkle; small, intimate, and casual. I didn't do a registry or anything since I really didn't even want people bringing gifts, but the idea was that we really only needed diapers and clothes....and boy did we we get a lot, which I think proves that women really do love shopping for little girl stuff. I am going to have to change her outfits by the hour to get her through all of the adorable clothes.

I am so appreciate of everyone who supports us and are helping us celebrate the arrival of our new bundle of joy! It just makes me think how lucky I am to be welcoming our second child!

My perfect hosts; Julie and Ella

Lots of gifts...wow! So unexpected but very appreciative!

Julie's cake that she claimed was an experiment but it was so yummy, I think I ate half of it!

Of course my sprinkle landed exactly during the UA basketball game,
but the adorable Arizona onesies brought us luck that day!

The Name Game

I've been getting the name question for awhile now and I realized never officially announced our little girl's name. I think probably because I'm one of the most indecisive persons in the world and we've been debating between 3 names for a long time. We started calling her one of the names to give it a feel and see how we liked it, and it just kind of stuck, unofficially. So unless I see our little girl and the name just doesn't seem to fit for some reason (or unless our little girl turns out to be a little boy), her name will be....

Marie Ann Diaz!

I'm traditional and like traditional names, but still wanted something unique. I also really wanted to use family names if possible. Marie is my middle name and Ann is both my mom's and Deo's mom middle name. Although Marie is fairly common, I feel like it is a much more common middle name than first name which makes it feel a little more unique to me. I also realize that her initials will be MAD...but I've just come to accept that. Hopefully the meaning of the name doesn't really have that much to do with her personality, because I looked up the meaning of Marie and it means 'bitter.' Hopepfully we will not have a mad, bitter, little girl. Ann means 'gracious' so maybe at least she will be graciously mad and bitter.

32 Weeks

Any differences?

32 weeks with our baby girl...

32 weeks with our baby boy...

Panic Attacks

Up until this point, I think my pregnancy has been pretty care-free and uneventful. I haven't had any of annoying symptoms I had with Trey; no acne, swelling as been to a minimum, no upper back pain, and I'm still down 35 lbs from where I was with Trey (hopefully I don't gain that 35lbs in next 7 weeks which some days it feels like I will). I joke around with people saying that sometimes I even "forget" that I'm pregnant. I also recently posted about how I've been so carefree and just excited to welcome our new baby into our world and haven't really worrying about anything. Well, that stopped last night at about 10:30pm.

I got into bed, all cozied up and exhausted, ready to fall asleep. Deo has been in Vegas for the past week and I started to think about what would happen if I went into labor right then and there. Being that Deo drove instead of flew, it would be a long trip back unless he decided to purchase a last minute flight which he would most likely have to do. Then my thoughts started to race to how the crib was wasn't changed back to a "crib" from being a toddler bed...we don't have our car seat down from the attic...oh, we needed to buy a new car seat cover...I need to buy nursing pads...do my nursing bras still fit me...where is my pump...uhhh, I don't want to pump at work again....work....I need to get my maternity plan together for my boss...I need to drop off my FMLA forms to HR.....

My heart started pounding out of my chest (similar to what it is doing right now as I'm typing this). My hands got cold and clammy. I couldn't catch my breath. I breathed in and out slowly, trying to calm myself down. I was having a legitimate panic attack. The same exact thing happened to me this morning as I was on my way to work.

I think what may have happened is my 8 months of care free, non-worrying has simply bottle-necked and decided to explode all over me at this point in time. Maybe because now it's all becoming a little too real that we will have 2 kids instead of 1. Maybe it's just because we don't really have much done with respect to "preparing" our house or me preparing from my absence of work, and once that's done I'll feel better. Maybe it's just me nesting. Who knows? All I do know is that the fear and worry are definitely letting themselves known finally and it doesn't feel good!

Too Tired to Blog

It doesn't sound like I'm the only one who is going through a difficult transition of their life. For some reason, February sounds like it's been a grueling month for just about everyone I talk to. Lately, I haven't even found the time to catch up on my blog reading...or writing.

I've started a new position at work which has been quite a big transition for me, definitely more than I thought it was going to mean. I've been feeling a lot of pressure with my work and with my time. February is one of our hugest months at work with some of our biggest events going on all in the same week. It's been a lot of early mornings and late nights. Add that to the fact that this is one of Deo's busiest travel seasons so he's pretty gone 60% of the time. Oh ya, and I'm a 7 months pregnant! I feel almost dead to the outside world, especially when Deo is gone, since pretty much I pass out right when I get home and finally get the baby fed and to sleep. Which, by the way, makes me feel so sorry for Trey. He's had some long days at the sitters and I'm not really in the best mood by the time I pick him up and pretty much pray he goes to bed early. It makes me feel like such a horrible mom since during these weeks I literally only get to see him for a few hours of the day. Realizing this helps me make a conscious effort to give him the best 3 hours I can...but it's still a struggle.

I've also been super emotional lately. Call it the hormones, or the stress, but most likely it's a combination of them both. I get very emotional when I'm stressed out anyways, so add that to the emotional roller coaster of having a toddler and a baby on the way, and to put it nicely, I've been kind of a wreck. I'm having those feelings of debating what I'm doing with my life and trying to figure out what is best for my family. My only saving grace is in about 2 months I will be on maternity and hopefully can only focus on my family and not have the stresses of work playing in my head even while I'm home.

In addition to everything else going on in our lives, our sitter told us she will no longer watching kids due to some personal issues. Overall, I really do think things will work out for the best as this is giving us the opportunity to have my sister-in-law way Trey. I have mixed emotions about this. I have reservations with her watching Trey...she is wonderful and I think it is so great he will get to spend this time with his aunt, uncle, and cousins everyday. I'm more worried about how it will or could affect our relationship with them. I don't want anything to come between us as a family and I hope this doesn't. We decided to give it a trial run until I have the new baby (since then I'll be on maternity), and then we can evaluate things then to see if it's working. If not, that give us plenty of time to find other arrangements.

It does break my heart to think of changing things up on Trey because he loves it at his sitters so much. On the weekends all he talks about his Nic-Nic, Sheyanne, 'Lique, and Tink-Tink. He gets so excited when I tell him we're going to see Sheyanne (which then he get a huge grin on his face and even blushes a little). We hope to stay in their lives as Angelique and her family has been such an important part of our lives.

With all the changes and busy-ness of our lives the past few months, it's been hard to keep up with family and friends...and this blog. Hopefully you haven't given up on me yet...I'm still here!

More Excited

I feel guilty for saying this, but I feel almost more excited for our new little bundle of joy to arrive than I felt for our first one. I'm about 3 months out still but I lie in bed at night so anxious with anticipation. I feel like I cannot wait for her to get here.

I think I may feel more excited than before is because I know more now about what to expect (and no I still haven't read the dreaded "What to Expect When your Expecting book). With the first one, I was worried. I was worried if I would be a good mom. I was worried about not knowing what to do. I was worried about labor. I was worried if I could handle the sleepless nights. I was worried about changing gross diapers. I was worried about missing out "child-free" nights. But now, I know that even with all of the struggles and worries and sleepless nights and poopy diapers a baby brings, it does not even compare to the complete happiness she will bring. I know that it is all worth it in the end to see that little person you helped create look up into your eyes and melt your heart. I know the giggles will flood our house. I know the pride I will feel when she rolls over or wobbles up to her two feet for the first time.

Even though I may still dread a little the sound of the breast pump, the crying in the baby monitor at 1am...2am...3am..., the seemingly endless tar-like poopy diapers....I know now...and I cannot wait!

Welcome 2011

Since Ella, Cole and Charlie were all sick for Christmas Eve, we post-poned our celebration until New Year's Eve. It was fun to still get to have a nice dinner and open gifts even after all the hub-bub was over. The kids all had fun playing together. I was amazed that Adam's kids all made it until Midnight, but poor Trey tuckered out at 11:40pm missing the ringing in of 2011.

Charlie, who will already be the big ONE in just a couple weeks.

All the kids playing together.

Ella and Trey snuggle buddies!

Trying to get a picture of the Thompson clan. This is the best one we could get.

At 11:40pm and Trey finally passes out.

Snow Play

On our way home from Deo's parents, we drove through Flagstaff and headed up to Snow Bowl to play in some snow. They had quite a bit so it was good for me to get my snow fix...I haven't seen this much in a while! Trey didn't really like it, he cried the whole time. Although afterwards, he kept talking about "playing in the snow" so maybe he did like it but was just wasn't used to being so cold!

Merry Christmas

What a fabulous Christmas we had this year! It was a nice a long break for all of us. I was so grateful to be able to spend over a week at home with my family. I loved waking up and just hanging out with Deo, Trey and the dogs all day! I actually cried taking Trey to the sitter this morning because it was so nice being home with him...and I think he liked it, too. Although I am a little sad to say that he was excited to go back to the sitter and see "Nic-Nic" (he'd been asking to see his friend for a few days now) but I guess that's a good sign that they treat him well!

We usually do Christmas Eve with my family and Deo's side on xmas day, but my brother and sister-in-law's kiddos ended up being pretty sick so we decided to do our family xmas a day early and head up to his Deo's parent's house a day early. Christmas Eve morning came around and here is Trey being super cute about Santa visiting:



We played it pretty low key this year with Trey's gifts, his "big" present was a Toy Story table and chairs that he loves to color on and play with his new Handy Mandy tools.


After we opened up our gifts, we headed up to Northern AZ (about an hour outside of Flagstaff) and got to wake up xmas morning with his family. He had such a good time just hanging out with family. We stayed up there for a few days, got to play in some snow, and then headed back to Tucson for the remainder of year.

So What Do We Think? Take After Deo or Not?

Turns out Deo and my instincts were right; we are having a baby GIRL! It kind of freaks me out still that our doctor said, "I'll give you 98% assurance it's a girl." That's a big 2%! I know it's never 100% anyways, but hopefully I can get past the 'what ifs' in the next 4 months.

I didn't realize how excited I would be to have a little girl. But I am SUPER excited now it's official (confident to the 2nd standard deviation). We both told the doctor beforehand we would be shocked if it was a boy. Yes, there are benefits to having another boy, especially since they'll be sharing a room for the time being. But all those are now thrown out the window that I can buy cute little dresses and outfits; let's face it, the selection for girls is just way better (1 rack of boys compared to an entire floor of girls).

Well, you can decide for yourself if you hope she takes after Deo....

Early Christmas Present

My hubby and I went cyber-Monday shopping and purchased a new camera....Canon Rebel T2i! It finally came in and I couldn't wait to start playing around with it. Here some of my amature photo taking and editing results...just playing around trying to figure out all the neat features.