The McDanal Peanuts

Cori update - 2years and 9 months

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:22:00 +0000

Cori
We are just having so much fun with you. Everyday you learn something new and you teach us something new.
We love to hear you talk and explain things to us; we also love to listen to you when you play with your toys (friends) especially before going to bed.
You are such a big girl now. I am afraid that your baby hood is almost over; it is sad to think that but we are enjoying every second of you.
On Saturday you will be getting your first hair cut. I finally caved in to the pressure of Tia Chola, Toto, Mayuca, etc. I love your crazy, all over the place hair but I do see the value of getting a hair cut; and quite honestly you do need one; it will be fun and Daddy, Lola, Tia Chola and Tia Emi will be there.
Today you told us you were drawing a picture of your family which included (Papi, Mami, Lola, Nana Melida and Cori). I love it!!!
Cori thanks for being so wonderful, so fun, so lovely; and for letting us live and enjoy with you this wonderful journey. We love you so much.

Lolita Update - 4 Months old

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:01:00 +0000

Lolita
Today was your 4 month check up.
You are doing just great. Growing steadily and staying within the 75th percentile of the growth curve. At 4 months you weight 14 pounds and measure 25 inches. You are 12 ounces heavier and a quarter of an inch shorter than your Big Sister Cori.
You are smiling, laughing, babbling, starting to roll over and just being a complete delight!
You were kind of sleeping through the night but for the past two days you have reversed that waking at 3 and 5. Don't worry I am OK with that for now. I guess I am used to it.
We decided to delay your shots until your sixth month check up. I feel comfortable with that decision and would rather for your immune system to be stronger to deal with the shots. You will only get one shot at a time and in total you will get 3 vaccines (DTAP, PC, HIB).

We are really enjoying you and can't wait to see what is ahead of us the next few months.
We love you!!!

Lola smiles in the morning

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:06:00 +0000

L
Lola's Waking up Ritual!!

Itsy bitsy spider

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:59:00 +0000

The Itsy Bitsy Spider (Bilingual version)

Sneezing song

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:57:00 +0000

One of her favorite songs from Miss Ashley's class!! Love the Music Together program

Cori's excitement getting the Christmas Tree ready

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:55:00 +0000

Cori has never been more excited than when we put up the Christmas Tree. Far more excited than opening presents Christmas Day. It was the highlight of the Holiday season

Lola- First 3 months

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 23:42:00 +0000

Mi querida Lolita
These first 3 months have been nothing but delightful. You came into this world on a delightful way and everything after that has been nothing short of pure delight.
You are so chill, nothing seems to bother you; as long as you are fed, clean and have someone talking to you, you will just hang out. You rarely cry and so far you haven't had a long crying spell, well neither did Cori but she got a lot more attention.
During your first month we had a lot of visitors, your Abuelos from Quito stayed with us that first month and Toto made sure to take excellent care of both of us and your sister. It was great having them here and that period of time after you and your sister were born and Toto stayed with us were probably the most wonderful times of my life. They were challenging because we were all getting used to a new lifestyle but they were wonderful as well.
After your first week appointment Dr. Kramer thought you were a bit jaundiced, nothing to worry since you were gaining weight, eating, peeing and pooping normally; but he suggested we give you some sun baths and just keep an eye in case it doesn't improve. So Toto and I put you in the sun a lot; unfortunately it was one of the coldest Decembers in record in Miami so we couldn't take you outside; but your bedroom gets plenty of sun in the mornings so it worked out well. By your 1st month check up you were still quite jaundiced, your skin was pretty orange and your eyes had a yellow tint; so Dr. Kramer suggested we see a GI just to make sure everything was fine. And everything was just fine, you had breast milk jaundice which is caused by a hormone in my milk and is harmless; and it can take up to six months to go away; yours was gone by the 2nd month check up.
During your first month of life you went to the park a couple times, as I said it was pretty cold throughout the month so we couldn't take you out much, but we managed to have a few outings. We also went once to Patagonia for breakfast and to Faith's class at Mercy; today was our last class since I will be going back to the office starting next week.
When you were about six weeks your Birmingham grandparents came to visit; we had a great time in spite of Grandaddy Mackey feeling a bit under the weather. We were all very stressed because we didn't want either you or your sister to get sick but we did just fine. We all have gotten sick in the last couple of weeks in this house and you are the only one who has managed to not catch any of our bugs (Good Job Lolita).
While your grandparents were visiting you fell off the bed. One night after nursing you in the middle of the night I fell asleep while burping and I guess I went limp and let you go. I heard you hitting the ground and woke right up to find you peacefully sleeping.... on the floor!!! I was a bit freaked out and felt like a horrible parent. I thought parenting skills improved with the 2nd kid and in this case I was clearly not improving. I woke you up to make sure you were OK and as soon as you opened your eyes you gave me your first smile!! I kept you up for an hour and then we both went to sleep. You were fine and nothing happened but it was very scary for me and Daddy.
During your second month we both took an Infant massage class, we learned a lot and you love to get your legs massaged every night after taking a bath. You are not too crazy about Tummy, Back, Chest, Arms, head and back massages but you love the Leg massage; and it is very fun to share that time with you. I will like to give Cori a massage too but she thinks it is something for babies and not for big girls.
You are hitting every milestone and this time around I am much more relaxed about it. I am not comparing you to your peers and I am not freaking out if you are not the first kid to roll, crawl, walk, etc.
You smile a lot especially when we talk to you after you wake up and when you are getting your massage; you are also starting to talk when you get excited, you make this very cute sounds when you are playing in your play mat or with your bee and giraffe.
You are pretty good about holding your head and are starting to push up with your arms, I feel you are a lot stronger than Cori was at this age, maybe because I let you take naps on your tummy. Soon you will be rolling but that hasn't happened yet, not even accidental rolls; but that is fine you will roll when you are ready. UPDATE !!! You rolled today, maybe accidentally but its a start!!!!
In terms of growth chart stuff by your 2nd month check up you were at 11.7lbs and 23 inches, and Dr. Kramer said you were doing just perfect.
Daddy and I have had so much fun with you and your sister this last couple of months. It has been fun to be a family of 4, yes it has taken time to adapt and become more organized in terms of time management but I think we are doing just fine.
We love you so much and we are so excited of seeing you grow!!

Cori

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:12:00 +0000

Cori mia. As Daddy and I always say you are THE BEST.
You and Lola are the best daughters to us; you are the best Big Sister to Lola and so on the list can just keep on going. I am sure all parents feel like that about their kids but I just want to make sure I say it in case I ever forget.
You have grown so much, and every day you wow us with a new thing you have learned. You also have the best Nana ever; and Nana Melida makes sure to keep teaching you wonderful things; like how to say Hippopotamus which we love to hear it over and over.
You have done really well with Lola; I understand it might have been hard for you to share all that is yours with your new sister but you have done just great; even moving you out of your crib to the big bed so that Lola can use the crib was not a big issue; and although you now think that your old baby toys are cooler than your new toddler toys you still share them with your sister and let her lay on the play-mat to play. You are not going to school yet but hopefully you will get in next fall. Mommy didn't knew that kids have to be signed up before birth on the preschools close to our house, so we are on the waiting list of both schools; but I think you will get in no problem. You have been asking about going to school, so I think you are ready. Some days you will pack your little toy bag with your favorite toys (which happen to be little cars) and come to say bye to daddy and me and tell us you are going to Antonia's school; and you have asked several times about wanting to go. Antonia is one of your friends from the park and a neighbor.
You spend your mornings @ the park, the community center's jungle gym or the library; then you come home for lunch and nap (some days at least) and the afternoon you basically play at home. On Fridays you an I go to Music Class, which you love and are quite the dancer of the class; Ms. Ashley loves seeing you move around. After class we usually grab a bite to eat at the taco place across the street from the class and you always tell me after class that you want a TACO for lunch. It is a lot of fun and it is our weekly date; I love spending that time with you and I hope to keep the tradition as long as we live in the same town.
I tried to keep you from watching TV for as long as possible but after we had to spend time in the hospital and the TV was practically all we had for entertainment you started to ask for it. We have limited as much as we can; sometimes it is hard but you are pretty good about turning it off when we say you can't watch more. You are growing up on a world where media exposure is everywhere and it amazes me how you can use your daddy's IPOD and Abuelo Gringo's IPAD better than many adults; it seems sometimes your are wired to deal with this digital world. Your first favorite show used to be Mickey Mouse Playhouse and Dora, then you moved to Diego who I personally think is a lot cooler than Dora; now you love to watch a documentary about the ocean called The Deep Blue and a Swedish show about a Penguin called Pingu. Sometimes you still ask for Mickey and Special agent Oso but the Ocean stuff and Pingu are on your list of favorites for now. On the weekends we usually get one movie for you to watch and we eat pizza while we watch it. You love it!!!
You are obsessed with the ocean and marine life and whales and dolphins are definitely your favorite animals. We have taken you to the Miami Seaquarium a few times and you love it. You want to go every time we drive by. You love the Lolita and Flipper shows and you enjoy looking at the fish tank and seeing the manatees, sea lions and sharks. Some day maybe you will get to swim with the Dolphins. You call all your dolls and plush toys "Friends" and you like to go to bed with every single one of them and more. I don't mind that and I usually clean your bed up before going to bed to make sure you sleep comfortably. Your favorite "Friends" are Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Loui (a green parrot from a tongue twisters book Dede gave you), and lately Bulls eye and Captain Pork chop from Toy Story. You also like your toy Lolita and baby Lolita (the whales), Mickey and Minnie and of course all your cars and your Thomas train set. You have a lot of toys but you pretty much play with all of them. One of your favorite games is to play Ariel & Loui with Mommy; this game pretty much consists of me sitting on the floor with Ariel and Loui and I watch you play with the other Toys, usually with Thomas or Play Dough. If I suggest something else you will remind me that Ariel and Loui want to watch you play.
I have learned so much from playing with you. I have learned how valuable it is for me to play with you when you ask and how I have to give you all my attention during those precious moments we play together; I am sorry if sometimes I forget but I have realized that in a few years I won't be as fun of a playmate as I am now and you will rather play with your friends more. I have also learned to be creative, which I never thought I was. I have to invent games and songs in a wink of an eye to keep the fun. I love it and sometimes I laugh about myself and the silly things we invent. It is so much fun.
As I said on a previous post you slept with us for quite sometime. Well first I couldn't bear with the idea of having you on your own room so I kept you on the co sleeper until you were almost able to come out of it by yourself. Then we moved you to your crib on your own room but since you nursed for 21months you kept waking up in the middle of the night asking for some warm milk; at the beginning I will just go to your room and nurse you on the chair but ended up falling asleep and waking up the next day with my neck killing me and not very rested; so I decided to just bring you to our bed every time you woke up and let you sleep with us for the rest of the night. This worked out pretty good and both daddy and I loved snuggling with you. After you were weaned you kept coming to our bed and we loved it but when we found out a baby sister was coming we realized we needed to get you used to sleep through the night on your own room. It was a process and you were doing good with it but every time you were finally sleeping all night in your room something will happen. First I had to go out of town so that threw everything off and you ended up sleeping with Daddy; then Lola was born and you were sharing a room with your grandparents you ended up sleeping on their bed or out in the balcony with Toto who will rock you back to sleep. After all the visitors were gone I thought it was going to be impossible to get you sleep on your own but it just worked. I guess you were just ready because from day 1 you slept through the night. Then we moved you to your Big Girl Bed and thought we will have to deal with you coming out of your bed every so often but you didn't. Again you surprised us with your maturity and didn't have any problem with the idea of sleeping on a Big Bed. You do come out of the bed sometimes but it is usually because you need to go to the bathroom.
You have become quite a talker and now when we ride together to go somewhere we will talk all the way. I once said I needed to slow down because I was going too fast and the police might stop me; since that day you will always remind me to slow down if I don't want to go to jail. It is amazing how you absorb everything you hear. You also happen to remember things I will rather you forget; like when I ACCIDENTALLY locked you in the car; you will still ask me when we go out if I am going to lock you in. As I have said I promise that will never happen again; I will glue that car key to my arm if needed to prevent that from happening again.
I can say you are pretty much bilingual by now. You know to speak Spanish to Nana and Mommy and English to Daddy; you favor English a bit over Spanish but I think it is just because most of your books and the little TV you watch is in English.
You have WOW us with your ability to remember things; the other day we heard you playing and saying " Too Tall throw to the middle" while you were running sideways like quite a seasoned Football player (American football not real football); that night we watched a Bernstein Bear's episode in which the cubs played Football just like that. You love to play Football and American Football but are a bit more into American Football lately.
You are pretty good about going to bed and know exactly how to get mommy and daddy to do what you want. Usually we put you to bed between 8:30 and 9:00; you go to the bathroom, brush your teeth and Daddy reads you two books; then you get in bed and stay there (usually playing with friends) until you get tired. After I am done with Lola I usually come into your room and for the most part you are still awake; you will say Hi and ask me if I want to sleep with you for a little bit; and then you will show me that you have made space in the bed for me as well. After I hear that I will automatically get in your bed with you and your friends, we will say your nightly prayers, sing Rudolph the Red nose Reindeer (in English and Spanish), A Whole New World and Prince Ali; and for the most part you will then let me get up and go to sleep. Some nights you will snuggle me in a way I can't let go or ask me to tell Daddy to come see you and do the same to him. I don't know if you are taking advantage of us; or manipulating us, and maybe a parenting expert will tell me not to fall for your tricks; but I love so much every time you tell me you had made space in your bed for me to be able to sleep (un piquitito) with you!!

I can't believe you are almost 3 years old and will be going to school soon. That day always seemed so far away and now it is around the corner. Sometimes I want to keep time still, I am enjoying you so much that I don't want anything to change but I know next year and the following ones will be just as fun. Maybe I won't be the top choice when it comes to playmates but I hope I remain fun for you for quite some time.
I am going back to work after maternity leave soon and I am going to miss playing with you so much. I had so much fun running around in the park and going down the slides; I also had fun sitting on the floor of your room playing "Ariel & Loui". We will still play and I promise to make time on my day for uninterrupted Cori playtime!!!
I am looking forward for what lays ahead of us but this past 2.5 years have been amazing. Daddy and I love you so much and we feel so blessed to have you in our lives.
We love you Loca Mia.

Lola

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:39:00 +0000

Mi querida Lolita
You arrived Thanksgiving day 2010 (Nov 25th) and gave Thanksgiving a complete new meaning; now we will always be extra Thankful during that date. It was the best Thanksgiving ever and we will remember that every year.
I am sorry I haven't been as diligent as I was with your big sister blogging about my pregnancy and how I was getting ready to receive you. Trust me we were as excited but it was hard to find time between work and taking care of Cori. I promise I will blog as much as possible so that you both can have a recollection of these first years of life.
My pregnancy was wonderful, besides the normal morning sickness during the 2nd half of the first trimester; everything was great; and even the morning sickness was a sign that the pregnancy was progressing as it should, so I tried not to complain too much about it. I started showing a lot quicker than with your sister; by 18 weeks you could tell I was pregnant; so although I got bigger quicker I did end up at about the same size as with Cori and gained more or less the same amount of weight (15 to 16 lbs). You were 0.5lbs bigger than Corina at birth and about the same lenght; and look a lot like her too.
You took a lot of trips while on mommy's tummy. Before we even knew you were coming we went to Birmingham to spend Easter with your McDanal Grandparents. We also got to spend time with Aunt Emily and her fiance Matt. At 12 weeks we went to Quito to visit the Mantilla Grandparents, we had a great time with the family and everyone was getting very excited about you; at that time we didn't know if you will be Lola or Baby Boy McDanal; but I secretly knew it was going to be another beautiful girl.
In July I had to go to New York for work so we all decided to go; Daddy and Cori spent some great quality time touring through the streets and subways of Manhattan. Your sister loved the city and the mass transportation system. In August we went back to Birmingham to visit the McDanals, by this time we have confirmed that it was Lola who will be arriving at the end of the year and we were all very very excited.
In October I had to travel for work to Austin TX; I was pretty sad I had to leave your sister for 1 week; I had never done that in over 2 years, since she was born, but we all did great. I don't know when I will have to leave you overnight but I hope it is not anytime soon. I know it will have to happen someday but I promise you I will do whatever I can to delay that date as much as possible. So in your short life you have been quite a traveler even before you made your appearance into this world.
You started moving inside my tummy, or I started feeling you move a lot sooner than I did with Cori; they say this is normal b/c we mommas know what we are supposed to feel and are more aware of it. That was the greatest feeling and I enjoyed so much every move, kick, punch, etc. you did while in my tummy. Even as I was pushing you out you still kept on moving!!

Your arrival (Couldn't be more perfect)
Since before you came into this world you have been the most considerate little baby. It seems you knew since before day 1 how to behave to make the process of adapting to a family of 4 easier.
You arrived the morning after your grandparents (Toto and Gringo) had arrived from Ecuador. This worked great because it would have been a challenge for us if you would have come any earlier; but you knew how to do it and when you let us know you were coming everything was set up. Toto and Gringo were home to take care of Cori and Daddy was able to come with me to the hospital to see you arrive. Only Tia Chola was left out with no Thanksgiving dinner but I think she was more excited about meeting you than about any dinner anyway.
The delivery was as when your sister was born; just perfect. I woke up with contractions at around 6:30am but tried to convince myself I was NOT having contractions; my mind was set on the plan we had for Thanksgiving day of cooking lunch and having Tia Chola, Carlos and Emi over. I didn't say anything about the contractions and move on as usual for the next 2 hours when I realized I was in fact having contractions; and that considering I can deliver pretty quick it might be a good idea to let Daddy know. I woke up Daddy and we timed the contractions, they were consistently 5 to 6 minutes apart. I remembered with Cori my contractions were like that when I was just 2 cm dilated so I didn't worry much. I laid down for a while and then decided to get into the shower. While I was in the shower (which felt amazing) I could tell the contractions were coming closer together so we called the Dr. who recommended going to the hospital. I finished packing the bag, Daddy had breakfast, hung out a bit with Cori and left to the hospital at around 9:25am. We got there, I got changed, checked (I was @10cm and ready to push) and 10m or so later you were born. It was peaceful, relaxing and amazing. I am so so blessed God had given me this body that loves to have babies and that allows me to have the best experiences ever when my babies are born. I am sorry if I am being cocky but I love delivering babies!!!
You came out perfect, beautiful and screaming. The Dr. that delivered you, Dr. Gregory Guell was amazing and very supportive of all of mommy's demands; I can't thank him enough for being so great. I requested that he doesn't clamp the cord for a few minutes after delivery and he gently put you on my tummy until it was time to clamp it; this gave us some very good quality bonding time and gave you some top quality blood to start your life outside of the womb. After that they quickly took your weight and lenght (6lbs 15.6 oz and 19 inches) wrapped you up and handed you back to me. You latched on and nursed right away for about 1 hour when they had to take you to the nursery, but we got a good amount of bonding time, and about an hour later you were back in my arms. Those first moments of holding you were probably the happiest moments of my life, both when your sister and you were born I have been the happiest ever. (Sorry Daddy, marrying you also made me very very happy but nothing tops holding your newborn child, I do have to thank you for allowing for this to happen)

As I said before you are a very chill and relaxed baby. You rarely cry, usually you complain and grunt when you need to be picked up, changed or fed but you rarely throw crying spells. On top of that it seems that you know that mommy and daddy have to share their attention between you and Cori and you don't seem to mind that at all. Cori was also very relaxed but she did get to have our undivided attention. Maybe it is a 2nd child thing but I feel you even understand that at this point sometimes we need to give your big sister Cori a bit more of attention. She loves you very much, every day more I will say, but she is getting used to share mommy, daddy and nana's time, and that is harder when you have had their complete attention for 2 years. But she is doing great and comes to give you kisses when she wakes up from her nap and early in the morning. She will be your best friend and will teach you many many things. I am so excited for you two and the sisterly love you guys will share.
Mi Lolita thanks for coming into our life, for being so perfect, for being so easy, for making us so happy. We love you so much and we can't wait to see what will lie in front of us as a family of 4. I will keep posting updates on your development as much as I can.

First Time away!!

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:50:00 +0000

During the summer I was informed by my boss that I had been picked for the company's Top Gun Leadership Training program. This was extremely exciting; Top Gun is a leadership training program the company puts together for a small group of people each year; so I felt extremely honored to be part of that group.
Going to Top Gun however, also meant that I will have to leave Cori for 5 nights and 6 days and that seemed awfully long; especially since I had never in almost 2.5 years left her for an overnight stay.
I started to stress out a month before Top Gun; just thinking about the day I will have to go will make me cry. I started to tell Cori about it so that she gets used to the idea of Mommy being away and that Daddy will be putting her down to bed (up until then I was the only one putting her to sleep, maybe a side effect of 21 months of nursing her down to sleep) for a few days, and every time she will respond "Mommy don't go on an airplane..", of course that made things more difficult.
Anyway everything turned out better than expected. Cori came to drop me off at the airport and was not even upset, she just mentioned that she will like to ride on a plane too. I was a bit upset but it was easier that what I had imagined. While I was away things worked out great. Cori did great, talked on the phone with me every morning and night and had a great time with Daddy, Nana and Granny J who came to visit. I did better than expected too. I was very busy on the training program and had little time to think about being away; but it was good to have some time just for myself. It felt nice to come back to the hotel room and have absolutely nothing to do. I missed my little one a lot and won't be able to handle more than 5 days away but it was good to realize that I could do it; that I could be away and everything and everyone would be just fine.
It was very exciting to get back and see her slightly nervous/I don't know how to act face when I got in the car. I was happy to be back and I has happy I had gone since I met some amazing people and learned a lot. It made me realize also how much more scared we are of things that turned out to be not scary at all.

Its been a long long time.......

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:50:00 +0000

It has been way too long; I have been quite a slacker about keeping up with what started as a recollection of Corina's life so that I can show it to her when she grows up. But now, I just realized that over 1 year of her 2.5 years has not been recorded. I will try to make a short synopsis of what life has shown us during the past year and a half.

End of 2009 .- Disney World, Ambulance, Hospital, WPW, Galapagos Islands.....

At the end of October we got invited to go visit the Mouse!!! Cori's first trip to Disney World. She didn't care much about the characters, it actually scared her to realize they were alive and not just sitting still. She didn't care about the rides much either; although I was trying to have her on a strict schedule of doing all the rides I thought she would like. Her favorite attraction was playing at the Pooh Playground in The Magic Kingdom. She might have been a bit too young for Disney but we had a great time anyway.
A few weeks ago (over a year after the trip) she listened in the Radio to Its a Small World and she suddenly said "Mommy this is Mickey Mouse song".... now I am starting to believe in Disney's subliminal power to captivate kids.

On November 17th, 2009 one of my biggest fears as a parent came a bit too close for comfort; Cori had to be rushed to the ER and I received that dreaded call at work. First I was told she had choked, then we thought it was seizure due to fever (she had a fever of 102.8) and lastly we were told she had suffered a cardiac syncope because she has WPW. While the Drs. keep telling us WPW is a common and benign heart condition that causes arrhythmia and very very rarely a syncope; just the idea of my little one having it was extremely scary. They kept us in the hospital for 3 days to see if she had any arrhythmia which she never did and sent us home with a prescription of Beta Blockers to keep her heart from speeding up too fast. I was relieved to know it is something that can be controlled with medication but devastated by the idea of having her on Beta Blockers for the rest of her life; especially considering she had never had even an antibiotic at that time.
As the days went by I became more comfortable with the idea of the medication and life went back to normal. I realized how weak I was and how much I admire parents of kids with serious diseases, including my own parents, since it was not easy for me to deal with a non serious, common type of diagnosis.
Life returned to normal after a few weeks and things I thought I would never be able to do again became normal. Cori returned to her routine of spending mornings at the park; we took trips to both Birmingham and Quito as we have planned and we even went to the Galapagos Islands for New Years. What one cardiologist has told me that it was never going to happen again started to sink in and become a reality.
Cori was getting cuter by the day. Her vocabulary kept expanding and she started to be quite a socialite. She was quite the entertainer both at the Christmas Eve party at my Grandfather's house and at the Galapagos cruise ship; dancing and singing all around. She was becoming so much fun to be around

2010
The new year started great. We greeted 2010 at one of the most amazing places on Earth, The Galapagos Islands. On New Year's day we spent part of the day on a beautiful white sand beach and we even got to see a sea turtle nesting its eggs. It was awesome!! I will never be able to thank my parents enough for that trip and for putting up with staying on board the ship for most of the trip taking care of Cori. Cori was way to young and not allowed to be off the ship.
Life was back to normal and we had gotten used to give Cori her heart medicine three times a day. We went to visit the Alabama Grandparents for Easter and to celebrate Aunt Emily's engagement; it was a great time and Cori enjoyed herself a lot with Granny J and Granddaddy Mackey; and had a blast looking for Easter Eggs.
A week after we had come back however she had another fainting episode at the park. I got a call from Melida (her wonderful nanny) as I was walking out of the bathroom with a positive pregnancy test. I just remember telling Dave that Cori had fainted and running as fast as I could to the park. Thanks to God and to the wonderful Staff at the KBCC that were there to help her out until the rescue came; she was fine by the time we got there and again we rushed her to the hospital thinking that the thing Drs. had said will never happen again did happened again. However, when we got there the cardiologist let us know that it was not her heart, her EKG came out normal and since she was running a fever it seemed that when her heart does speed up it happens to behave more normal than when she has a normal heart beat. This was good news, really good news since it meant 1.) weaning her off the medicine; 2) Although she does have WPW it was not showing any signs of concern so even an ablation (surgery) at the age of 5 was not necessary at the moment. While at the ER however she had another episode of losing consciousness and shaking; it was the first time I was around for that and it was extremely scary; it felt like it lasted for ever and that the ER staff was not doing anything (they actually were doing a lot); Cori had just had a seizure. Since we arrived with a cardiac diagnosis to the ER no one realized she was running a high fever and apparently what had happened @ the park earlier, and also what had happened back in November were not cardiac syncope but Febrile Fits/Seizure. These are extremely scary but harmless episodes; you just need to 1. Monitor every fever closely and keep the child comfortable and away from choking during a seizure; it is easier said than done. The first time I experienced one with Cori I did everything wrong in spite of having read over and over what I was supposed to do. Although I really hope she won't have more seizures and I have become quite neurotic about giving her fever reducing medicine whenever her temperature slightly goes above 98; I think that if it does happens I will be more calm and better prepared. Both Dave and I had them growing up so the gene pool is not on our favor when it comes to febrile fits.

As I briefly mentioned before I got pregnant with Peanut #2. It was a rough start for my little Peanut since the first week after I found out she was completely ignored; but starting on week #6 she started reminding me she was there with Morning Sickness. After 6 weeks of dry nausea and just not enjoying food I started to enjoy my 2nd pregnancy.
During the summer we took a trip to Ecuador, New York for my work and Birmingham for a weekend. Cori loved the mass transportation system in NY, she really enjoyed riding the subway and Dave became quite a pro in dealing with Subway, Stroller and Toddler throughout the city.
We also found out we were having another baby girl and we decided to name her Lola.

15 MONTHS AND COUNTING

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:38:00 +0000

Mi Loca
Que rápido estás creciendo. Ya eres todo una niña, se me están yendo de las manos tus días de bebe, talvez por eso te sigo amamantando porque solo en esos momentos siento que sigues siendo una bebe dependiente de mamá!! No sabes como gozamos papá y yo de tenerte, eres lo máximo, pasamos tan tan bien contigo y te queremos muchísimo. No nos podemos imaginar nuestra vida sin tí!!
So you are almost 16 months; 22 pounds and 32 inches. I feel every month goes faster and faster and I honestly want to put a stop. It is wonderful to see you grow, change, develop and become a more independent person by the day; but sometimes I just want to hold time still.
In the last 3 months you have learned so many things. One day you just decided it was time to walk. It happened a little bit after your 1st birthday and from one day to the other you stopped crawling and started walking. At the beginning you were a bit unstable and fell a lot but every day you gained some stability and confidence and soon enough you were running around. Your latest motor skill development is expert climbing;you love to climb on the benches and table at our dining room, and since you have a strong character it is hard to convince you to do something else. The other day your nanny Melida went to the bathroom and when she came out there you were on top of the dining table pretending to be a center piece. I have tried everything to take your attention from it but you are determined to get up there, I hope that soon you will grow out of it because we get all very nervous about you falling down.

Maybe your major development has been language. I heard that kids at bilingual households have a little bit more of a challenge with language development since they are learning 2 languages at a time, but in your case it has been the opossite; you talk a lot!!.. and lately you are repeating every thing we say to you. Your favorite words are Cacuu which means Cat, Thing, dog, duck and Shoes, Agua, mama, papi or daddi, calle (you love to get out of the house), baby, and tete when you want milk. You also know some of your body parts like your eyes, nose, head, hair, hands (you love to say mano too), feet, and your favorite body part is your belly button and you love to show it to everyone; you lift your shirt or dress, point to it an say PUPO!!! During the past weeks you have also learned to say Bravo and clap at the same time, it is so adorable to see you do that; you also say carro for car, bououou or avo for plane and barco for boat; you get very excited when you see a plane flying by or a boat on the water, you usually wave at them. And your latest language development is your maternal grandmother´s name; thanks to your nanny´s patience and teaching ability you now know that your abuela is Toto and you say so when you see a picture of her. Now we have to learn to say Granny when you see a picture of your Grandmother Judy and after that we´ll move to learn your abuelo and granddaddy´s names.

You are extremely friendly and independent. You love to wave at people at all times and when we are out and about you have now problem exploring the surroundings on your own, you also have no problem becoming friendly with people you don´t know. The other day at Starbucks you were playing with a guy who was buying a cup a coffee and a very nice old lady said you will live long, because you know how to flirt just like her!!!. It really amazes me how independent you are at your short age, you just seem so secure of what you are doing. I remember at a child development class I took a few years ago we were discussing if co-sleeping is beneficial or detrimental to children. Some argued that parents who co-sleep and practice attachment parenting with their children are hampering their kid´s sense of independence and security; one of my classmates argued the opposite. She said that her 1 year old with whom she co-sleeps and applied all the principles of attachment parenting is the most independent, secure little girl. At that time of my life I could not really pick a side; both arguments seem to have their pros and cons; but now I can certainly say that attachment parenting and co-sleeping does foster security and independence and I love it. Some nights I just look at you sleeping next to us and I can only thank God for giving me the opportunity of having you next to me. Some people ask me when I am going to get you out of our bed but I know that before I am ready to give that up you will be telling me you want your own bed. So I might as well enjoy these priceless moments that will happen just once.

During the last 3 months we enjoyed the summer going a lot to the beach, taking walks, playing at the park and playing at the fountain which you loved to do. Both your Abuelos and Grandparents visited and we had a great time with them.
We also took a short trip to Jamaica and you had a great time, it was your first time on a catamaran and you even got a chance to snorkel with mommy but I am not sure how much you liked that, you were really annoyed with the life vest but I had to put it on for your own safety.

It has been a lot of fun having you with us and we can only look forward to what is to come. It is true it seems that your babyhood, toddler hood, childhood is just slipping through my fingers, and yes I wish I can make time stand still.. But it is wonderful to see you grow and I am sure that every phase of your life I am going to enjoy it more and more.

We love you so much

1 year old!!

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:58:00 +0000

Mi reinita adorada
Ya vas a cumplir un año y no lo puedo creer. Como voló este año pero que maravilloso ha sido. Verte como cambias cada día y como vas aprendiendo más del mundo ha sido increible. Tambien verte como te vuelves una personita más independiente, aunque de cierto modo a mi me pone un poquito triste ver lo rápido que creces es también algo maravilloso. A ratos quiero que dejes de crecer, que el tiempo pare, en parte tengo miedo de que en un abrir y cerrar de ojos vas ha estar lista a irte a la universidad, casandote y viviendo lo que yo estoy viviendo ahora. Ojala pueda ser la mamá que tu abuela fue para mí y que tu bisabuela fue para tu abuela para que crezcas feliz, segura y llena de amor. Te prometo que hago todo lo que está en mis manos para que así sea.
Well now we will switch to english to recount these past 3 months.
You are a master crawler and can do it really fast, you can definetely beat me when it comes to crawling especially if it is over tile. It really hurts mommy on her knees and I was a bit worried if it will hurt you, but I learned that babies do not have knee caps, or if they do they are soft and that is why it is so easy for you to just crawl away even on the tile. Isn't it amazing how perfect the human body is!
During the past 3 months you definitely perfected your crawling, standing and cruising abilities, you also learned to climb. You can now climb up the stairs and you love to climb on the little rocking chair Aunt Eddie Mae gave you. It is really cute to see you climbing over it but a bit scary when you decide to stand up on it and rock, so daddy and I decided to make the chair available only when we are around; you want to climb over everything that seems climbable to you. You have also mastered the skill of getting off your Bumbo Chair, so we can't use it much any more since you don't really enjoy sitting on it and can get off pretty quick.

You are eating almost everything now. I have still kept you away from red meat, and the foods that you are not supposed to try yet (peanuts, shellfish, candy, fresh berries) but besides that you have liked almost everything. Mommy was a bit paranoid about you chocking so I was a bit slow introducing you to chunky food. Since I really worked on pureeing your food you didn't like chunky stuff at the beginning and will gag to anything that was not finely pureed. Thanks God some persistence paid off and now you can eat some soft chunky stuff. You can master cheerios and you enjoy pear chunks, chicken chunks, sweet potato fries, mango chunks, avocado, egg yolks, etc. I still puree a lot of your food but I am trying to introduce mostly normal food to you.
It will be 1year in a few days from the day that you were born and I am happy to announce that we made it!!!! Next Tuesday you will have nursed for a complete year and guess what I am not ready to give it up yet!! and I hope you don't want to give it up either. I stopped pumping at work a few weeks ago since you will not be drinking milk during the day after we are done with the milk I have frozen; but I want to keep nursing when I am at home (morning, night, to go to bed, on the weekends, the days I don't have to go to the office, etc). I have to thank you though because you were such a good sport on the nursing field. You never gave me any problems and always liked mommy's milk. Thanks so much because it has been such an amazing experience to be a long term nursing mom. I hope that I was and will be able to give you all sorts of good stuff through my milk.
At the end of April we went to Birmingham to visit Granny J and Grandpa Mackey and for Uncle Bill's trip to heaven ceremony. He was daddy's great uncle but more of grandfather to him and a great grandfather to you. The few days he spent with you over Thanksgiving he was so happy and excited to see you and hold you, he was such great person and will be missed. Rest in peace Uncle Bill.
You took another trip to Ecuador a few weeks ago. We went to visit mommy's family and friends and we had such a great time. Every morning we'll go visit Papapa (your great-grandfather) and you loved playing with him, you learned to do so many things around him (blowing kisses, hand games, smiles, sounds, etc) for some reason some of the skills learned from Papapa have been forgotten but I hope you pick them up soon. We also went to Machachi (Grandma's Toto's farm) and it brought so many childhood memories back to mommy. I was so happy I was able to show you this beautiful place, you rode a horse and we spent a great day there; I hope that maybe next time we go to Ecuador we spent some more time in Machachi. We also celebrated your first birthday with a little party at Grandma's house. Your cousins, your mom's friend's kids, your great aunts and your great grandfather were all there. We played in the yard, had some contests for the older kids, had a piñata, blew the candles and had cake. I baked you from scratch carrot/apple cake with cream cheese frosting (Aunt Dani's recipe). You didn't seem to care much about it although you did take a few bites. You loved the animal crackers though. We are going to have another party for you here in Miami on the 14th along with your BFFs Sarah and Sadie who will be turning one this month too, and I will give it another try to the carrot cake.
You still wake up sometimes at night. Some days you go for longer stretches than others. Although I would really appreciate a full night sleep, I do like picking you up in the middle of night and just snuggling with you on the chair; sometimes I have fallen sleep and woken up hours later without knowing what I was doing in your room. In spite of the craziness it is wonderful and I am sure you will snooze through the night soon when you are ready. You love to sleep on your tummy with your butt up and surprisingly for you that seems very comfy.
Anyway, to say the least it has been a wonderful year. Thanks for being so great, Daddy and I love you so much and are so excited for many more fun years of fun with you.

March 31, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:30:00 +0000

Today you pulled up to a stand consistently. You have been doing this but today you did it over and over on your crib, at Faith's class and the last one was on the coffee table. You are moving so fast with everything. I am not sure if I want you to grow so fast!!! I love it though. You are so much fun!!

9 Months......

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:17:00 +0000

My dear Peanut
I wanted to keep this blog updated every month to track your first year of life, but I have been lazy and this is just the second time I do it. I remember though most of the dates of your milestones so I am going to list them here so that we have a record of when each thing happened.
-June 14th, 2008.- You lost your belly button. I always wanted to have the kid who will reach milestones at the front of the pack, but not this milestone (if it is even considered one). I freaked out and for some strange reason thought you were going to bleed out from your belly button; but everything was fine. As fast as you wanted to come out of mommy's belly you also wanted to loose the last thing that was evidence of being connected to me.
- At about 4 weeks I offered you a bottle (with mommy's milk) and you took it without any hesitation about it. In a way it broke my heart. I wanted you to put a fight; a bottle can never be as appealing as Mommy!! but you took it. I was afraid you would not want to nurse any more but I was wrong. You did just fine nursing and taking the bottle when needed. That made it pretty easy when mommy returned to work. Thanks for being so wonderful!!
-July 26, 2008 .- You consciously laugh for the first time. You were sitting on your bouncy chair and I was trying to get a good picture of you and you just laugh. I got the perfect picture!! Thank you!!

- At about 9 weeks you rolled over for the first time. I was so excited and proud of you. I think it was just an accident though because you never did it again until of course you were ready for it.
- October 24th, 2008 you took your first plane ride and you did great!!. We went to visit your great grandmother Mamama who went to heaven after meeting you. Thanks so much!! You made her so happy the last few days she was with us!!! And you made us all happy. Your uncle Diego Jose who is not that into babies complained at 7pm that he had been waiting all day to hold you. Thanks so much for being so great and bringing us joy on those sad moments when were saying good by to Mamama. Life is such a paradox!!
- Nov 3th 2008 you rolled over, and it was not an accident!! you were conscious of what you were doing and you were enjoying (finally) being on your tummy
-Nov 8th, 2008.- We did our first 5K together and we got 3th place on the Key Biscayne Residents division!! Good Job!!!
- Nov 18th, 2008 you sat without support for the first time. We were at the baby class I take you to at Mercy and I decided to experiment if maybe you were sitting up and you did it!! I was so proud of you. You were not the first kid to roll but you were definitely on the front on the pack when it came to sitting without support.
- Nov 27th, 2008 you sat for the first time on a high chair during Thanksgiving lunch. You even had your own name tag at the table.
- Dec 12, 2008, The Dr. gave us the green light to start giving you solid foods, you were 6 months old. We started with Sweet potato and you took it well. Not too excited about the new texture but after a few tries you became the sweet potato master eater. After a few days we went to visit Grandpa and Grandma Mantilla in Ecuador and you tried a whole variety of sweet potatoes, parsnips and squash during our visit. You did great!!!
Some time during December you also started babbling!! It is so cute to listen to you "ma..ma...ma...pa...pa...pa..etc".
-Dec 21, 2008 .- You got baptized in Quito. You looked so beautiful that day and all of mommy's army of cousins, aunts and uncles wanted to hold you. You did so good being nice to everyone.
-Dec 24, 2008.- First Christmas eve!! You dressed as Santa Claus and looked adorable.
-Jan 2009 By this time you were about to turn 7 months and I was expecting you to be crawling, but you showed no interest on that. Rolling will get you everywhere and it seemed to be a lot easier than getting in all fours and trying to coordinate hand and leg movement.
I always wanted you to be the in the front of the pack when reaching milestones but I was learning that each baby goes as its own pace!!, and I was loving it too.
- Feb 2009 You got your first tooth!! it was the middle lower tooth and from one day to another it just showed up in your mouth. It didn't seemed to bother you much so I thought we were through the teething problem.
- March 2009.- You are close to crawl, you can sit up from being on your tummy and you can get on all 4s and move your little butt back and forth, you just need to move forward.
- March 6th and 7th, 2009 You had your first fever :( . It was so sad see you so uncomfortable. I don't know if it was teething or a bit of a cold but you started to feel warm Friday. Friday evening that we went to visit Aunt Rachel you were really warm. I took your temp when we got home and you had 100 which is not technically considered a fever yet but it scared me enough to give you some Tylenol. The next day you had a low grade fever all day but you were not feeling good. You wanted to be with mommy all day long. I didn't mind and enjoyed holding you all day, taking naps with you and sleeping with you at night. Daddy had to go to the other room. By Sunday you were fine, enjoying again your beach walks and playing as always. I felt so much better!!! oh and you got another tooth (at the bottom) and I can see there is one on top wanting to come out as well.
- March 15th, 2009 YOU CRAWLED!!!!. On this "milestone" you were maybe at the back of the pack, not the last one but close to. I was so excited. Out of nowhere you started moving forward on all 4s. After a few "steps" you will get tired and decided to slide on your tummy but a few days later you were crawling like a champ and a week later you were getting out of sight in no time. We had to child proof the house and make sure it was safe for you to move around. You do prefer though to go for those few "non child friendly" places we have like Daddy's computer and the bikes.
-March 22nd, 2009 Mommy and Daddy went on a date and you stayed with your Godmother. You did so good, never cried, went on a walk and played with both of your Godparents. Your Godmother decided to style your hair with some gel!!!! I didn't like it, I love your puffy hair!!
This week you also started to consciously wave good night to daddy. You have been waving and clapping for a while now but this week it became a conscious effort. You clap when you are happy and you wave good night to daddy.
- March 29, 2009 This weekend you pulled yourself up to a stand!!! so we had to lower your crib to make sure you didn't follow your cousins in trying and being successful diving out of the crib. You also fell off my bed :(!!!. It was early in the morning and I was trying to get a few extra minutes of sleep, you were playing between daddy and myself and neither of us realized you had crawled to the edge and kept crawling out of it. I heard a big BONG!! and heard you crying. My heart stopped but Thanks God you were fine, just a bit scared!!! I promise I will be more careful the next time and wake up to play with you!! I am so sorry you fell.

I promise to keep better track of the milestones you keep reaching, in the past two weeks it has been so many things and so fast that it is sometimes hard.

You are still a nursing baby and I love it!! I plan on nursing you through your first year of life and more if you want to. It is our alone time and it is awesome!!

I am looking forward for the next 9 months, we are going to have so much fun.

Enjoyment

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 03:36:00 +0000

I would have never imagined that it will take motherhood for me to realize how enjoyable a run can be. When I started running 8 years ago I did it as something that will make me feel good after wards but not something I will enjoy or look forward to. I did it because I knew it was good for me, I felt great after a run and awful when I didn't do it. I kept signing up for races to keep myself motivated but only on very few occasions I was able to reach that runners high experienced runners usually talk about. I was always running against time trying to beat my pace per mile and stressing out way too much the days that my body just wanted to go slow; and I think that is why I was not being able to find true enjoyment on a run.
Once I became pregnant and afraid that motherhood will keep me away from exercising the first item I put on my registry was a jogging stroller; I wanted to make sure I had the tools to keep training the same way as before the baby; little did I know that my whole perspective on training and running will shift once I had my little one in my arms.
I started walking a few weeks after having Corina and slowly got myself into running again. It was hard since I didn't run while pregnant but slowly after a few weeks I was up to 3 to 4 miles at a time. At that point I still felt that I was running because it was healthy and good for me but not because I was enjoying or having a lot of fun while doing it. I will wake up early after nursing the baby and run out before she woke up for another nursing session. Once she was old enough to ride on the jogging stroller I started taking her out on the runs with me and the sole act of running became a lot more difficult but a lot more fun too.
I signed up for a local 5K and I really loved not being worried about beating my previous time and trying to PR I just ran with Corina on the stroller. I enjoyed every step of the way, every bump of the road and every cheer that came along the way from the few runners I was able to to pass. We even got 3th place among Key Biscayne residents.
Today we went for a 4th mile run along the beach and it was then when I realized how enjoyable a run with my little one on the stroller could be. I was not about beating my pace anymore, I did not even took a watch with me, but it was about enjoying a time with my daughter. I even stopped, took a break, to show her the beautiful things we saw on the way: the ocean, the beach, the sea gulls, the sun rising on top of the water.... maybe she will never remember this but I will never forget these precious moments I am sharing with her when it is just the 2 of us listening to the pounding of my feet in the ground.
I do not see my runs as something that has to be done anymore but as something I want to do. I look forward for the next run maybe the sunrise will be even brighter............

Corina in bathtub

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:12:00 +0000

Here she is having fun in the tub

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phDF_FeLRi4

Your first 6 months!!

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:23:00 +0000

My dear Corina
Soon you will be 6 months old. I can not believe how fast time has passed since you were born. It seems like yesterday; yet so many things have happened.
Both of your grandparents came to visit you. The Mantilla's stay for almost a month and The McDanal's for a week. We had a great time and you got a lot of attention during those weeks. I also learned a lot about taking care of you. It seems like if all that time that I was at home after having you just went by on a blink of an eye.
These first 6 months of your life have been wonderful. Dad and I can not stop looking at you, you are so beautiful, and everyday you "wow" us with some thing new you have just learned. You are still sleeping next to us on your co-sleeper and to be honest I don't want you to outgrow it, although there is just a few inches left between the tip of your toes and the edge of it. I don't know what I am going to do when I have to transfer you to your own room, I really don't even want to think about it; I might have to move to your room with you. I am going to miss listening to your breath and having you right to next to me all the time; it has been one of the most wonderful experiences. On the weekends when I can sleep in I look forward to sleeping in with you next to me; it is just so amazing. I think we can keep doing that even after you move to your room; it can be like a weekend tradition.
You have grown so much, it is almost unreal to think how tiny you were a few months ago; you did not even fit on your coming home outfit and now you are outgrowing even the 6 month old outfits pretty fast. You have hit every developmental milestone and it has been wonderful for us to see it happen; you have made us already very proud. A week short of your 5th month birthday you rolled over for the first time from back to tummy. You had roll from tummy to back a few times before that but I think those where more of accidental rolls. This time however it was real, you rolled over and started to push up with your arms; and since then you roll all the time. We love to see you doing it; and we bought you a new mat so that you can have more space to keep rolling and moving. In the last 2 weeks you have learned to sit on your own; you can now hold a sitting up unsupported sit for a long period of time and you are discovering the world through this. We can now play more together, we sit with you and play with your rattles, books, pots, etc. I love every second of it and you seem to enjoy it a lot as well. You have also discovered the wonders of splashing the water during your bath and it is just so fun and cute to see you sitting on your bath tub splashing as much water as you and I can handle. In spite of ending soaked I love it. I think you love water play too. Every little think you learn makes us so happy and proud.

CORINA IS HERE!!

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:58:00 +0000

I thought I will have a couple more of pre-natal posts the last time I wrote; however I was wrong. My little one decided to make her grand appearance 2 weeks ahead of time and caught us all by surprise.
Corina was born on Monday June 9th,2008 at 4:13pm!
I woke up that morning feeling fine except for the feeling of some strange cramps which I thought it was just part of the process of getting to full term and I didn't give them much attention. I went to my swim class as usual, I was sure that swimming will take care of the cramps as it always does; however the cramps kept coming every 100 to 200 meters so I started wondering if maybe I was actually having contractions but decided not to think about it. I had enjoy being pregnant a lot and I could totally be pregnant for a couple more weeks until my parents come to town. I swam for 2500m as usual, a lot slower than usual but it felt good. I came home and started to get more suspicious so I called Dave to was out of town to tell him to take an earlier flight home just as a precaution. I had a Dr.'s appointment scheduled for 10:45 and I was pretty much sure he was going to tell me that I was just having fake labor pains. Most first time moms make it to their due date and even go beyond it so I had nothing to worry.
As a precaution and since the cramps have not stopped coming I decided to stay home until the Dr's appointment to avoid driving to much and then go to work.
Dr. saw me and told me that I was 2cm dilated and that I was not going to make it to my due date; I asked him about a time frame and he said 2 to 3 days max with a pretty confident tone of voice. I asked him about the contractions and since they had slow down since I got to the Dr. he told me to call him if they get very strong and very frequent (5 minutes or less apart). I decided to call off work that day since my goal was to lay down and slow down the contractions to have at least another 3 days to get my mom and Dave home. By the time I got home I was having contractions every 3 to 5 minutes and they were in fact getting stronger. I still thought that by laying down I was going to be able to slow down the apparent labor process I was going in to. I called my cousin Clara to come help me out so that I can keep my self as motionless as possible. Motion or no motion the contractions will not slow down and at about 2 pm a very strong one broke my water. At that point I realized that there was no way back I was in labor. I called Dave who had just landed and told him to meet me at the hospital; and I called to Dr. to let him know. He told me to go to the hospital and meet him there. I was so happy that that morning while I was thinking that I was just having fake labor pains I had decided to pack up my bag for the hospital; otherwise there would have been no time at all.
On the drive to the hospital I literally felt the baby was going to come out, Clara was driving as fast as she could and on every bump of the road I could feel my little one pressing to get out. After almost running over a pedestrian on the way there and being pushed by my cousin at almost 15mph (I am exaggerating) through the hospital hallways we finally made it to labor and delivery. After getting ready on the gown they checked me up and I was 10cm dilated and ready to push. The Dr. came in, Dave walked in and I started pushing. After 20 minutes that seemed like 2 hours and 2 marathons back to back Corina was born!!! It was the happiest moment of my life when I finally saw her and heard her loud scream!! I will do it all over again!!
I am very thankful for the labor experience I had, it was great since I didn't realize I was in labor until I was almost 10cm dilated and I am sure that helped a lot but knowing that each pain, contraction, cramp had such a great purpose to be helped a lot. I was never stressed or freaked out about it; I just had this calm feeling that it is how it is supposed to be and at the end everything was going to be great. I think that the prenatal yoga class I took along with my hypno-birthing class helped a lot in taking away any fear related to child birth and to maintain a very calm state of being while I was going through all the craziness. It even seems unreal to me now but I just knew everything was going to be OK. I didn't have time to use any of my planned relaxation that I have prepared so much for my labor, everything happened so fast!! but I think I was singing the tunes in my mind with every push and every contraction.
Now I am a mom and I am loving every second of it. I feel like when I was a child after Christmas that you want to play over and over with a new toy; with the difference that my new toy is this precious human being that I can't stop looking at, and to whom I won't be able to stop looking at for the rest of my life.
I am posting a picture of Corina for you guys to meet her.

Almost Full Term 37W

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:29:00 +0000

So this week on Wednesday I will be 37 weeks and considered full term. That means that my little girl is big and strong enough to come out whenever she wants. However I am pretty sure she has already picked her birthday and she will be one of the 10% of babies who are actually born on their due date (June 25th). I feel it is just meant to be.
I have been feeling pretty good. Besides sometimes forgetting that I can not bend down to tie my shoes and that getting up from laying down on my back is a bit challenging I am not uncomfortable. I am still swimming 3 times a week and although I am slower that before being pregnant my times have not come up that much. I can still keep up with the class!!. I hope to swim until my last week; it makes me feel really good and think Corina loves it too.
Two weeks ago we had a Dr's. appointment, he said everything looked good. I asked about my belly measuring smaller and he said not to worry about it, that is not an accurate measure plus the 32nd week ultrasound showed that my girl was developing just perfectly and was perfect in size and weight for the age. We have another appointment this week and I think that after this one we are supposed to go in every week.
We also got her room practically done. We moved the furniture, took all the office stuff out, cleaned as much as we could from the closet, built the crib and dresser/changing table and washed her clothes. We have received so many gifts from friends that Corina is set with clothes and diapers for the first 4 or 5 months of live. The crib looks really good and the room surprisingly looks very nice and cozy as well. I say surprisingly because neither Dave or I are very good decorators but I guess that sometimes just by keeping things simple it all works out for the best.
This week I got the car seat but they sent a model that had been recalled last year so I have to send it back and get a new one; at least we have a back up which was a handy me down from my brother that we could use in case we don't get a seat on time. That one is washed and ready to go. I also got the co-sleeper bassinet and I love it. It was so easy to assemble, it takes barely any room and it securely attaches to the bed so we will be able to sleep with our little girl avoiding at the same time all the risks that co-sleeping can bring. It is the best of both worlds. It also works as a changing table and as a free standing bassinet you can take to the balcony for a sun bath or to the living room; it folds up in a little package and it only weights 24 pounds.
Work has been better; still pretty busy but I am handling work stress a lot better, just not worrying too much about it and doing my best. I do have a great job and I just need to get used to the up and downs of it.
Well thanks for visiting. I will try to have weekly updates from now on!!

35W Drs' appointment, Baby Shower, lots of work

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Mon, 19 May 2008 02:03:00 +0000

Last week we had our 33th week Drs' appointment. Everything is on track in spite of my belly measuring a bit smaller than what it should. The Dr. said that the belly should measure from the top of your uterus to your pubic bone as much cm as the # of weeks you are pregnant. Well my belly measured 30 instead of 33; the Dr. didn't seem concerned though since the 32nd week ultrasound showed that our little girl was measuring exactly as she should for 32 weeks and my fluid levels were outstanding (as he put it). I guess I just have a smaller frame and my belly can not expand much more; that is maybe why I feel Corina moving all the time; she might be running out of space in my belly, but she needs to stay put for another 4 to 5 weeks. I have another Dr.s appointment this week (now I am seeing the Dr every other week until week 37th when I will start seeing them every week). Hopefully my belly have grown a bit more; although I just can't imagine it has any more skin, muscle or space to grow.
This past weekend my friends and cousin threw me a baby shower. It was a very nice brunch at my cousin's place and also my aunt who was visiting was able to attend. We all had a good time and everyone brought some very useful and pretty things for Corina. We have been so lucky with the stuff we have gotten; I can say we are pretty much covered with the essentials. Thanks so much to everyone who came to the shower, it was great seeing everyone and thanks so much for the gifts as well.
Today we had a brunch in our house for 2 couples friends of ours who we met at the Hypnobirthing class. We had a great time; it is a lot of fun to get together with people that are going through the same experiences we are going through; plus we are all due at around the same time so it will be fun in the future since our kids could definetely be buddies. They are also very much into natural birthing; one of them is even having a home birth which I think I might have been open to if I would have a bigger place to put the birthing tube. I wish hospitals here will offer the choice of birthing in water, it just seems to be so much easier than a regular birth. They are also questioning the American vaccine schedule and considering, like us, to selectively vaccinate as well as delaying the shots.
I have had lots of work on the past two weeks; I don't mind it because I do enjoy what I do but it has gotten a bit out of hand and I have gotten a bit stressed with that and getting closer to my due date. I have tried to manage that stress as much as possible so that it doesn't affect me, the pregnancy or the baby; the last thing I want is to go into labor before it is time because of that. I have discover that swimming helps me a lot to relax, and just letting it go and leaving work at the office. Although last Saturday I did have to work all day, but it wasn't too bad.

That is it for today's updates. I will update everyone on this week's Dr.s appointment and any other interesting things I might go through during this last month and a half. (A month from today my baby could be here), well she needs to wait until at least June 21st when my parents arrive.

33 W, Pediatrician, Baby Shower, Ultrasound.........

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:52:00 +0000

So we are getting closer, and it seems that time has decided to fly. I am really excited about the arrival of our little one but at sometimes I do want to put a stop in time; just for a few weeks and figure out all the things I need to figure out before Corina decides to make her appearance.
We met the guy we are considering for to be her pediatrician. We liked him and we liked the fact that he is a sole practitioner and not part of a big group where they treat you more like a big factory assembly line. In addition we liked that he has the philosophy of doing whatever is necessary to avoid unnecessary antibiotics or visits to the hospital. He was open to delaying vaccines and to not administer some vaccines as long as we have a plan in place and tell him in advance; and of course as long as we sign all the corresponding release forms needed. So far we are considering a couple vaccines (DTaP and IPV) which stand for Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis (DTaP) and Polio (IPV). We do want to delay their administration though until Corina is at least 9 months or 1 year old. Of course I want to share this information with the Dr. before so that he knows we have a plan and we are not wasting his time on the actual appointment trying to make him make a recommendation. I have to say though, I am still a bit scared. I have read a lot of info about vaccines (pros and cons) and it is definetely a difficult area to make a decision on, you want the best for your child and neither side seems to offer an answer; and the anti-vaccine group seems to offer more sound research on the dangers of vaccines than the pro-vaccine group on the benefits of them. In addition the other diseases they administer vaccines for such as Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Chicken pox, hepatitis A and B, Flu, Rota virus are not life threatening diseases and can be easily treated.
I am also debating about the Vitamin K shot that newborns receive at birth as a standard practice in the US. This shot is administered to babies because many babies are born with a deficiency in Vitamin K mainly due to their underdeveloped digestive system; Vitamin K deficiency occurs because there is an absence of bacteria in the gut flora which helps in the production of it in newborns. Since Vitamin K is needed in blood clotting, this deficiency can lead to HDN (Hemorrhagic Disease of the newborn) especially after a difficult delivery, the use of forceps, circumcision, or the use of certain types of anti-convulsive drugs or some pain killers sometimes used on epidural. The risk for this disease is about 1 y 10,000 and although it is a dangerous condition it can be controlled by administering Vitamin K when it happens. If everything goes as planned my kid will not fall under any of the risk conditions and shouldn't be in need of this shot; apparently they can also test to see if the baby's blood is clotting property; however, here in the US it is just a standard for all babies. It appears pretty harmless but I have come across a lot of information linking this shot to an increased risk of Leukemia and other childhood cancers, and an increased risk of developing bacterial meningitis among other less serious side effects. In addition, synthetic vitamin K is not well absorbed by the body so it makes you wonder if it really make sense to inject it to newborns as a precaution when
1.- they might not even need it,
2.- It is not doing much and
3.- It can be toxic and has dangerous side effects.
On the other hand, there are also studies saying that infant cases of HDN and mortality due to it has decreased since administration of Vitamin K became routine; and that exclusively breastfed babies are at a slight higher risk because breast milk does not com fortified with this vitamin as formula does. I plan to exclusively breastfeed so there is another dilemma to solve. I will like to know if in my country this is also a standard procedure, if it is not it will make me feel better to opt out of it unless there are difficulties delivering the baby that will put her at the high risk category. Other wise I have found more evidence of the dangers rather than the benefits of it.
Those are my big time dilemmas now.

Then I am still deciding on a crib and dresser/changing table. I have found some that I like but need to make a decision on and soon. Some of them are available only online and I don't know if I am 100% into buying that type of stuff without ever seeing it or feeling it..

Last weekend we went to Birmingham for a Baby Shower that Dave's family put together for us. Everything was very beautiful and we got some very nice gifts including our most desired Jogging Stroller and a brand new bed for ourselves. I tested the stroller today with my 4 yr old nice and we both loved it. We are very thankful for all the work the family put into the shower and the generosity of everyone; many of who I have just met. Thanks so much!!

This week we had our 32W Ultrasound to take measures of the baby and track her growth. She is growing as a champ, every measurement is on track and everything looks very healthy. She is already turned and in a good position; the ultrasound technician doesn't think that she will turn back up b/c there is not enough space for her to do so. She already weights 4pounds 6 ounces and should be gaining 1/2 a pound a week. So if she keeps that rate of growth and wants to stay in there until the 40th week she should be an 8pound baby!! Big baby for my Ecuadorian standards!! Our technician was really nice and got us some 3D pictures of the baby, she didn't want to show us her mouth, she was enjoying very much her tasty hand but we were able to get her to move it. I am posting a picture of my growing belly and the beautiful life growing inside of it.

If anyone who visits has any advice on my Vaccine/Vitamin K dilemma please post a comment or send me an email!!

Thanks for visiting.

Baby Bottles

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:51:00 +0000

Hi,
Below is some really good information on baby bottles and the materials they are made off. Having your child use conventional polycarbonate bottles will not cause immediate harm in them but you do not know what the exposure to all those toxins will cause in the future. I think we live in a world where we are exposed to toxins every day but we should definitely do what it takes to keep this exposure low.
I am going for a BPA free bottles and glass bottles!!

Hope it is helpful

PA - Also known as Bisphenol-A
is an estrogen-like chemical in plastic could be harming the development of children's brains and reproductive organs. It is found in #7 POLYCARBONATE plastics that are bottles, microwave ovenware, eating utencils and the plastic coatings used inside metal cans. BPA interferes with hormones by simulating the action of estrogen.

"An ingredient of polycarbonate plastic, BPA is one of the most widely used synthetic chemicals in industry today. It can seep from hard plastic beverage containers such as baby bottles, as well as from liners in cans containing food and infant formula." - LA Times article. Read more below.

Phthalates
"plasticizers" that soften PVC plastic (#3) into it's flexible form.
Most cling wraps are made of PVC and traces of phthalates and another chemical called adipates can leak out of PVC when in contact with food, especially heated, fatty food. Phthalates are suspected of interefering with hormones and the reproductive development of baby boys.

So what is a mom to do with this information?
First thing - ditch all your polycarbonate bottles! These are the #7 PC or PLA (polycarbonate/polylactide) bottles, also avoid #3 PVC (polyvinyl chloride), #6 Polystyrene (better known as styrofoam).

When using plastics look for these safer plastics: #2 HDPE (High Density Polyethylene), #4 LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene), and #5 PP (Polypropylene).

Avoid using the #7 plycarbonate bottles that are the very clear plastic bottles like Avent, Dr. Brown's, Gerber, and Evenflo.

So, what bottles are safe to use?
BPA-Free Baby bottles like Born-Free and Think Baby (Medela bottles have always been BPA-free!) are #5 Polypropolyne. They tend to have a cloudy or yellowish tint to them. Also a great sippy cup option is stainless steel - like the Safe Sippy from Kid Basix

31W – The work has started

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:29:00 +0000

Well, I guess we have been kind of procrastinating for past few months in regards on getting the house ready for our little girl. We started last weekend and we still have a lot of work to do specially on her room. At least we got the living room figured out. We got a new bookcase, which made us realize that we have been accumulating quite a collection of all kinds of books. Cooking books, exercise books, religion, self help, business, leadership and quite a collection of pregnancy related books, form part of our new found library. We are planning on going through them and maybe donating some of them to the local library here in the key. We also got a new TV stand and we are so happy about it since the old one was just out of place on our living room; now our house is starting to get rid of its hodge-podge look and turn more into a grown up looking house. It has been a lot of work though; yesterday it was a 9 to 6 day; with a 1 hour break I got for a prenatal massage which was awesome. Today we had friends over for breakfast / brunch and we started working at around 2pm and just got done a few minutes ago (it is 11pm).

The problem is that as of now all the old furniture that we need to get rid of is at Corina’s room; so we need to get rid of it in order to start cleaning up that room and making room for her furniture. I am also realizing that I might have to hire a professional cleaning service, at least to clean the carpet and the window screens that get filled with dust. I tried to clean those screens with a hand vacuum, a lint brush and tape, and after 30 minutes of hard work they looked as dirty as before.

Regarding my pregnancy everything is going great, well I am loosing a bit of flexibility of movement; I mean that I can’t be bending down much because I can feel my little girl getting uncomfortable and throwing some kicks to make me move or stretch, but besides that I feel great. The appointment I had with Dr. Serious a few weeks ago was good; although he did have a smart ass comment about me picking a pediatrician whose office is 20 minutes away from home. But oh well, I took his advice and told him I will think about it; I didn’t feel comfortable telling him that the reason that I wasn’t choosing the pediatricians next o my house was because I want to selectively vaccinate and delay the shots for at least 6 to 9 months. I know that the Drs close to my house are very traditional and pro-vaccines; and Dr. Serious seems that way too.

This coming weekend we are going to Birmingham for a Baby Shower Dave’s family is putting together for us. We are super excited about the trip and about seeing all the family. It will be a short trip (leaving Friday and driving back Sunday), but it will be worth it. After that we are going to have to spend almost every weekend until Corina’s birthday getting her room all set up. I don’t want my little girl to feel rejected because we do not yet have her room ready; although, as our breastfeeding teacher said it, a newborn just needs love, milk and a place to sleep; and they can literally sleep in a drawer; but we’ll get everything ready for our little one before she gets here; so that she feels welcome into our home.

We took a breastfeeding class this week and it was amazing; we learned so much about the benefits of breastfeeding for as long as possible (12 months is the recommendation of the American Association of Pediatrics). We also learned how to properly hold the baby while breastfeeding, it seems easy but it was quite a challenge.

We found out about some products that are sold as essentials for babies and are actually completely useless such as sterilizers, wiper warmers and diaper genies among others. It was very encouraging to hear that every woman should be able to nurse and should produce enough milk for her child if that is what she wants to do; it is not easy and takes work but it is how it is supposed to be. I get a bit annoyed sometimes at work when I said I plan to breastfeed for 1 year and they tell me “What if you have no milk”, "It has no effect after 6 months", "my friend didn't breastfed and her kid is super healthy", etc. I am thinking if all the other mammals in this world do not have that problem why would I? Aren’t we the highest level creatures in this universe? plus all the long term benefits for mother and child that breastfeeding has? wouldn't that be enough reasons to do it as long as possible?...

I will update you all in a week or 2, as we are getting closer to the date and busier getting ready for the baby it is becoming harder to keep this updated but my goal is to have at lease 2 updates per month.

Thanks for visiting.

29W , Quito, leg cramps, my orchid

noreply@blogger.com (Melco) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 03:12:00 +0000

I am now 29W!!. It seems unreal that I am already in the 3th and last trimester of my pregnancy. At the beginning it seemed that it was going to slow and that 9 months were going to seem forever; now on the other hand, I feel it was yesterday when I first took the pregnancy test. I am getting very excited about having my little girl in my arms; a bit nervous about being a mother and a bit nostalgic about my pregnancy coming to an end. I have truly enjoyed these past 7 months especially my 2nd trimester. I didn't follow the Dr.'s advice on getting the nursery and everything ready before the 3th trimester; everything is still on the works; we need to buy the furniture, set up the computer on the living room and set up the nursery/guest room; and of course get rid of a lot of stuff. I want to get most of it done before the end of the month when we are planning a trip to Birmingham to visit Dave's family.
Regarding my pregnancy I am still feeling great. Yes I get tired at night and on Saturday mornings I can take up to a 1hr nap after my yoga class; but I do have the same energy I had before getting pregnant. I feel great at my swim class and at my morning walks. The only strange thing that has happened to me is that for the first time in my life I felt a cramp on my leg. I honestly never expected it. I have run marathons, triathlons and century rides and never ever had cramps; but the other night a cramp on my calf woke me up. My left calf felt like a rock and it hurt really bad; I was able to get it loose after 30 seconds or so and it felt better. I started doing more calf stretches and some exercises that I learned in my prenatal yoga class and I haven't had other cramps since then so hopefully I won't have another one in the next 2.5 months; but apparently leg cramps are very normal and common during pregnancy; and I have had such a great pregnancy that I shouldn't complain.
Last weekend I went to Quito for my cousin's wedding. I had a great time although the trip was only 2 days. The wedding was so beautiful and I was so happy to see how happy my little cousin was. It was also good to see my grandma who was not doing too well a few months ago and is much better now. My little niece, nephew and little cousin (I have 50 first cousins) walked in the wedding and they looked so precious. My niece felt she was truly living a princess story and wanted to follow the bride (Main Princess) everywhere.
I was afraid of getting altitude sickness since Quito is over 9,000 ft above sea level; however, I did great and did not even felt tired throughout the weekend. I think that exercising throughout the pregnancy and having been raised at high altitude really helped.
This week I want to make an appointment with the pediatrician. My yoga teacher says he is very holistic in the way he treats his patients and very open to selective and alternative vaccination schedules; so I am nervous and excited to see what he has to say and what he will recommend. I have also heard really good things about him from a good friend of mine who takes her kid there, so I am hoping that this will be the right Dr. for my little one.
I have my 29th week appointment this week as well; and I will have to see the very serious Dr. this time. I do not know if he has already seen my birth plan and talked to my other Dr. about my natural birth philosophy; we'll see how it goes. The first time I saw this serious Dr. I almost change practices.

My orchid
I got an orchid a year ago. Usually I would have thrown away the plant once the flowers fell off; however, this time the lady who sold me the orchid told me that orchids are very strong plants and that eventually they will bloom again. Surprisingly the flowers didn't fall for 6 months which is unreal for orchids and I was super excited. Once they felt I kept the plant; it looked kind of weird in my living room but I just watered it once a week or so. I am very happy to announce that this week my orchid bloomed again. Don't ask me why but I am very excited about it. I heard once that if you are able to keep a plant alive for a year or so and then a pet you are ready to have kids. I have been successful with the plant so far and I will skip the pet part since I am not a fan of indoor pets and my building doesn't allow them; but I do feel ready for my little baby.

I will keep updating everyone on my progress on a weekly or biweekly basis. So keep visiting us!