I love singing to Mia. It seems like a miracle to me, but my daughter loves to hear me sing. I probably would not ever let anyone else hear me because I know my family has a reputation for being more than a little off key. Every time I start to sing, she looks at me and smiles. It calms her when she's upset. So I sing, but not for anyone but Mia. Not even Troy . . .

Mia's First Christmas

Mia's first Christmas was a long one, but overall a very fun time. We started out with a trip to Pismo that I very carefully planned around Mia's feeding schedule. We left WAY later than we expected to, but it actually worked out better that way. Mia fell asleep for the first part of the trip while we listened to talk radio (Troy's new thing). They were playing some of Reagan's old speeches from when he was president and it was really interesting. I was fairly young when he was president so it was interesting to hear that some of the issues that were dealt with back then still have not been resolved.

We stopped along the freeway at a gas station to feed Mia. She was so funny! She started to eat and then would look up and smile at me. Then she would eat again. Then smile. She went on like this for the entire feeding. She just couldn't concentrate. She thought everything was funny! I had heard that at 4 months, babies start to look around while eating and are less interested, but this was just too funny! It didn't seem like she ate much, but we strapped her back into her carseat and took off again. She fell asleep shortly and slept until we reached Arroyo Grande. We arrived at the Vasquezes house at about 11pm, so I knew that I would feed Mia and put her right to bed. Troy started setting up the Pack N' Play and I sat down on the couch. Mia had woken up and was looking all around at the lights. She LOVED all the Christmas lights and I was thinking, "Great, now she'll never sleep." But she ate well and then I put her in her bed. She looked at me and smiled like she thought this was the best place in the world. I really didn't think she'd sleep, but she was out about 20 minutes later.

The next day, we woke up to a room full of presents. Linda had stockings for both of the girls. There was a Little People nativity set and a dancing snowman. It was very magical. Todd and Lisa showed up at about 9am, but we hadn't heard from Travis and Vanessa. Lisa called them and they said they had just woken up and were on their way. They were supposed to leave at 6am, but Troy and I had already bet on what time they would arrive (I said 10:30 and Troy said 10am). Todd got in on the bet and said 11am, which left Lisa with 11:30. Well, none of us were right. They arrived at 12:30! Needless to say, the schedule was a bit off, Trinity hadn't had a nap and we needed lunch, so we went to Splash Cafe and had clam chowder leaving Trinity behind with Grandma and Grandpa to take a nap. When we arrived back at the house, we opened presents, did our traditional present "hunt", and ate steak and potatoes for dinner. Troy and I cried when we got Mia's carseat because it means more time for me to stay home with my little girl because we won't have to spend the money. We, of course, watched videos on UTube and shared computer knowledge. Then we all settled in to watch the Ocean video on the new plasma tv.

We left for Fresno the next morning so that we could get back in time for Grandpa Jim to read the Christmas Story that evening.

The next day was Christmas Eve. We arrived at the Spaulding's for our traditional Christmas lunch (a little late so that Matt could work a few hours and get paid for a full day). We popped our poppers and told silly jokes and wore our paper hats. Mia received some really cute clothes and a musical ornament that she loved AND another carseat! With two, we have one for each car and no worries about buying one.

That night, we put Mia in her "princess" dress for Aunt Joanne's Christmas party. Mia hadn't napped well during the day and was a little bit grumpy. (I was probably more worried than she was grumpy). We ate, took family pictures, and sang (off key, but whatever). Mia loved the singing. She was tired but pushed through it. We tried to put her down for a nap, but there was too much excitement. By the time we got into the car, she was so tired, she cried half of the way home until she just conked out in the carseat.

The next morning was Christmas. We had a small celebration at home. Mia had her Christmas breakfast (Momma's milk) and opened her presents (a beanie and some socks). We took a few pictures and then it was off to Grandma's house.

Grandma's was the same as always, except that Grandpa didn't look as good as he usually does. We took the famous "kids" picture in front of the tree. We're all so tall and there are so many of us that you can't even see that we're standing in front of the tree anymore. Jaime played the part of Santa's elf and handed presents to Grandpa who said, "Now hear this!" to get out attention. We conspired and threw many paper wads at Uncle Greg and others. Grandma said her usual, "If you don't like it you can exchange it" bit and the kids left the room the minute all the gifts had been unwrapped. Mia had a good time. She loved the rattle from Grandma and slurped on it for a long time. We had the usual food; bread, turkey, ham, and other sandwich fixings, green and red jello, onion dip and chips, and Christmas cookies. This Christmas, I felt more than ever that every moment needed to be captured on camera or video because I wonder how long we will be able to continue having Christmases this way. I'm sure I annoyed people with my camera, but I don't want to miss any opportunities to capture our traditions.

That night, we went to my mom's for dinner, which is becoming a tradition of its own. Mia got her first doll (and it looks just like her). This was the first year that Matt, Mike, Heather, Troy, and I didn't exchange gifts. We chose to sponsor a family instead and I was really glad that we did. The gift exchange didn't feel any less full than before. I just kept thinking about the girls that we bought gifts for and wondering if they liked what we chose for them.

So, that's it in a nutshell (a really big nutshell), our neverending Christmas. We do it every year. This time Mia was just along for the ride. Next year, she'll be running the show!

These last 4 months

Mia is four months old now and I am absolutely loving every minute with her. I am astounded daily by what she can do and how much she understands. I watch every movement she makes with amazement. How can something so small learn so much so fast?

She's a good baby, so everyone tells me that if I have another one, it will be terrible. We'll see. Right now, I'm thankful that Mia is so scheduled. That makes her easy to read most of the time. I used to have to wake her up each morning at 7:30am, but not she wakes up on her own. You would think that she would cry or something to tell me that she is awake, but she doesn't. She just looks around the room and does this adorable thing where she puts her two chubby little hands together and kind of wrings her hands. When Troy or I get up and she sees us looking at her, she just smiles! Then she coos and babbles while I change her diaper and get her dressed. I love it!

For naptime, she's just as good. She wimpers once or twice. I change her diaper, wrap her in a blanket and sing a song. She chews on her hands and sucks her thumb while I sing. Sometimes she evens sings along with me! Then I put her in her crib awake and kiss her on the forehead. I tell her goodnight and she goes back to chewing on her hands. I can't imagine a better baby. Most days are like that. Of course she does fuss in the evening sometimes, but it is the exception more than the rule. Now I know why Troy's grandma called him Troy Joy. He must have been as pleasant as my Mia.

The pediatrician seems concerned that Mia has not rolled over yet, but I'm not worried. As a teacher, I know that all kids develop at different rates. She'll do it sooner or later. Right now she's just really enjoying grabbing things with her hands. It's fun to watch her concentrate. She can grab just about anything, so we have to be careful. Of course, everything goes in her mouth.

She's also a good eater. She has learned that when she gets up from her nap, the next event is a diaper change and then she eats. Sometimes, while I am changing her diaper, she opens her mouth (and keeps it open for quite some time) to let me know she is ready to eat. When she and I sit down in the chair where I feed her, she will often open her mouth too, as if to say, "Okay momma, I'm ready!"

I'm just really enjoying being a mommy!

What happened to easy?

Somehow, someone talked us into having Thanksgiving dinner at our house. Maybe we even volunteered (though that's not exactly what I remember). We were promised that everyone would help and that it would be "easy". It seemed like a good motivation for cleaning the garage since we decided to have the dinner in our "extra room". The garage did get clean and the room did look pretty much like an extra room. We even decided to use plastic plates. The set up wasn't too difficult and everything looked beautiful. I made some fabulous cranberries. Then everyone came over and chaos ensued. I'm sure someone was in charge, but I couldn't figure out who. Mia got most of my attention, so it's all a little blurry. There were about 25 cooks in the kitchen and food everywhere!

After we finished eating it didn't get much better. There was plenty of leftover food and everyone wanted to leave it with us. We don't mind taking extra food, but we're always short on storage containers, so there were plates and plastic bags loaded into the refrigerator. People took most of their serving dishes, but even after everyone left, I looked around the kitchen completely amazed at the amount of cleaning left to do. Thanksgiving dinner had clearly taken over. So much for easy!

Stuff

I have missed going to yoga since Mia was born. It was good to go back last night. My body is so different from what it was before I was pregnant that I don't even know what I can and can't do. In my mind, I can do certain things, but when I try, I am off balance, weak, or sore. Today, I am sore from last night, but I love the feeling because I know that means I worked out hard. Tonight, I think I'll go walking!

I talked to my principal today and she was very understanding about me taking more time off. She did ask that I find a way to keep in contact with the kids while I'm gone, but I can't think of an easy way. What I'd like to do is set up blogs or at least email for each of them so that I could read what they write while I am at home, but I don't know the district rules on that and I get a different answer from each person I talk to. I'm getting the impression that the district rules are not clear for blogging yet. I'm glad I got to talk to the principal though. I feel better being able to tell her in person what my plans are than if I had just extended my leave and let her get notice from the district.

Only 9 days until Thanksgiving at our house! How I got talked into that, I'll never know! I love having the motivation to clean the house though. It certainly is motivating to know that 26 people will be coming and everything needs to be cleaned up. I have so much to do!

I'm really enjoying staying at home. I've been able to finish two scrapbooks and I've done a good portion of a scrapbook for Mia. I've found a faster way to get them done and I love it. Now I just need to buy more books and pages because I've used them all up!

I'm also enjoying the time I've spent taking pictures lately. I've had some good practice with friends setting up shots and figuring out how to position people. It's been a good experience for me and I have more photos to add to my portfolio. Maybe someday, Troy and I will have enough confidence in our abilities to do photography more than as a hobby.

I've come to the conclusion that I enjoy stress. I like to be busy. I think that society tells us that we need to relax any chance we get and take time for ourselves, but being busy energizes me. I like to have a list of things to do each day, even if the list consists of just things around the house. It makes me feel that I have been productive if I can cross off things on the list at the end of the day.

This morning I saw my class off to camp. They were so excited to be going and I wished I could go with them. I will go up Thursday afternoon to visit with them, but it won't be the same as if I were there for the entire week. I do miss my class and the opportunities to get to know them. I'm also extremely disappointed that my sub decided not to go and didn't tell me. She's really missing out on an opportunity to get to know the kids in a different way and build a better relationship with them.

Time to go get some things done! More later . . . .

Creeping In

For a year before I got pregnant with Mia, I took medicine to help me deal with depression, but in order to get pregnant, I had to ditch the drugs. I was nervous, of course, to go without the drugs, but it was the only way. It took 3 or 4 days of feeling sick and dizzy to wean myself off the drugs. We had just moved out of our house into an apartment. Actually, one of the reasons we moved from that house was the fact that it faced north and south and was covered with large trees therefore not receiving much light. That was a contributor to my depression and we thought that a move to a place with more natural light might help.

After our move, I became pregnant relatively quickly. The hormones of preganancy took over and the nesting began. It was nice to have that nesting feeling that gave me little bursts of energy to get things done and urges to cook and clean. Though I felt tired from the added weight and soreness in my back, the depression did not come back. Even when I had vacation from work, I was able to stay home for six weeks and keep pretty busy, not allowing myself to sink into it again.

After Mia was born, I had a lot of healing to do and a lot of learning. I had to get to know my little girl well enough to understand her needs. It was difficult to hear her cry and not understand what she needed. I was fortunate to have Troy home with me for a week. There were times when I would just look at Mia while she was crying and not respond because I had NO IDEA what she wanted. I would call for Troy to take her because I had visions of hurting her. I knew I would never actually do anything to hurt my little one, but the fact that it even came to mind scared me enough that I knew I had to have a break.

I know that right after giving birth a woman's hormones plunge, and that was probably a great contributor to my feelings, so I toughed it out as any woman would have to do. I had my mom over many afternoons to just hold Mia while I sat down or slept. I thought that maybe once I healed completely, I might feel better. I figured that I was just feeling the same things as any other new mother.

Now, I would say I am completely healed (though not exactly the same as before I gave birth) and doing well most days. Some days though, I can feel the depression creeping in. I stay in bed longer, don't take a shower until after lunch, and sometimes forget to open the curtains to let the light in. These are danger signs for me. I feel overwhelmed easily and don't even attempt to take on regular chores around the house. In short, I accomplish nothing. When I planned to stay home with Mia, I knew there was a possibility of depression creeping in.

This week Troy and I started going back to the gym. We just walked on the treadmills, but it felt good to be doing something. I also got a call from school to help put on a cross country meet. Although I knew it would be a lot of work, I was excited about the opportunity to be out of the house with some sort of purpose. Pressure really gets me moving and it felt good. The only way I am going to be able to stay away from depression is to fight it off with exercise and prayer. I can do it, but it's going to be a battle, even with all of the sunlight in our new house.

Full Circle

When I was younger, all I wanted was to be a "Mommy". I thought I would have 5 or 6 kids, many of them adopted. I imagined a house with a playroom for the kids and a craft room for myself. I would enroll them all in dance lessons and karate, and I even considered the idea of homeschooling.

Then I became a teacher. The first year I thought I wouldn't make it. The second year I told myself I'd be able to quit once I got married. But by the third year, I was beginning to enjoy what I was doing. Students I once had came back to visit and told me that I had made a difference and because of me they were getting much better grades. Some even brought their report card for me to see. Many of my former students would pop into my classroom in the afternoons or find me out in the field coaching cross country and stay for HOURS to talk. By the fourth year, though I still struggled, I felt I could teach just about anything. I was "in the groove" and finally beginning to feel organized and successful as my students' test scores showed growth. I realized that it wasn't possible for all of them to achieve A's or even for all of them to score "Proficient" on state testing, but it was possible for all of "my kids" to improve. I showed them their test scores and talked about what I expected from them. We became like a family and I even taught them how to encourage each other. They cheered when we read the test scores each trimester and continually asked when we would get the results from the "Big Test". I felt like I was making a difference.

The work was difficult, overwhelming much of the time, and many weekends I would spend the entire weekend grading papers and entering grades into the computer. Sometimes, even with Troy's help, I wouldn't get my report cards finished on time and would turn them in 2 or 3 days late. The adminsitration didn't care because they knew I was a perfectionist and they would not need to edit my report cards. Most of the time, they did not even look at them.

It is my 7th year, though I have not taught yet this year. I imagined that after having Mia, I would go back to work after the holidays. I figured that by then I would be totally bored with staying at home. Although I miss my friends at work, I am not bored and have decided that I would like to stay at home as long as possible. It's funny how my job took me so far away from my original plan. I almost didn't make it back. I still look forward to teaching in the future, but it does not consume me the way that it did and I'm excited to stay at home and teach my own child. When I go back to work, I won't have missed so many of her "firsts" and perhaps I'll feel more comfortable leaving her.

Never in My Wildest Dreams

I scheduled way more things today than I could handle. Before I had a baby, today would have been no problem. We started with a trip to the eye doctor. I fed Mia before we left and it looked like she might fall asleep before we got there. No such luck. She was not fussy, but she was tired. She had a few fussy moments while I was getting my eyes checked. Then I heard an explosion. I didn't think much of it since she makes those noises all the time and many times it's nothing. When the doctor was finished with the initial tests I picked up her car seat to go to the other room. I felt something wet on my toe. I looked down and saw baby poop. Baby poop (especially when you're breastfeeding) is watery and orangy-yellow and unmistakable. I knew what it was and I knew where it had come from (the baby of course) but I couldn't figure out how it got onto my toe when the baby was in her car seat with a blanket covering her. I picked up the blanket and saw that it was completely clean. The baby herself even looked clean. I started to unbuckle her to take her out and then it all became clear. On both sides of her pants, I could see it leaking down into the openings where the belt buckles come out. She had exploded so hard that it leaked out of her diaper, out of her pants, and down into the crevices of the belt buckle which then dripped out the bottom of the car seat onto my foot. Mystery solved. Clean up ensued. The doctor laughed. I'll make sure to tell Mia this story when she is finally old enough to get her own glasses from Dr. Chinn. How embarrassing!

More than I Bargained For

I have to admit that this little 10 pound creature consumes a lot of time, energy, and most of my thoughts. I am constantly wondering if she is normal, if what I'm doing is right, and what the next step is. I never thought I would worry about some of the things that are now taking up much of the room in my over crowded brain. The rest of my time is spent feeding, changing, burping (the most time consuming part), teaching her to smile, playing with her in the few moments she is actually awake, getting her to sleep, and thinking about how soon she will be awake. My use of time has changed completely and I am beginning to truly understand the importance of multitasking and planning. Trips to the store are much better orchestrated than BMG (before Mia Grace) and take less time, because there just isn't any.

My newest concern is whether or not to vaccinate her. We have come to the conclusion that we are not ready to come to a conclusion before her 2 month old doctor appointment, so the decision is to wait until we find out more. I really thought I would be the type of parent who picked the binky up off the floor, wiped it on my shirt, and stuck it back in the baby's mouth. Instead, I find myself worrying that a binky is a bad idea in the first place.

Don't get me wrong. I do more than just worry. I look at my little angel's beautiful face while she's sleeping, enjoy rubbing her back while she's eating, and try to make her smile every chance I get. I just think she's amazing and wonderful . . . fearfully and wonderfully made.

Cleaning House

How important is it that I have a clean house? I struggle with this daily. I don't know if my desire for a clean house is to please other people (though I'm sure this plays a part) as much as it is a mental health issue for me. I feel frustrated in the midst of chaos and so I look around the house and have the desire to clean up, but not a strong enough motivation to actually get started. I know that when I start, I will not be able to make it look the way that I envision, with everything in its place.

There are things in this house that really just do not have a place. Take the photo albums for example. In our old house, they could be put on a shelf, since we had many. Here, there are no shelves, so the albums sit on coffee tables, the fireplace, and on the t.v. stand. This bothers me to no end because it is clutter. They do not truly have a place. We intend to build bookshelves, but that costs money. Another issue are the books. Again, the problem is the lack of shelves to put them on. Four boxes of books are still in the garage.

The biggest problem is that I like to start projects that are ongoing (such as scrapbooking) or that I don't always finish. These things sometimes sit out for weeks or, if they are put away, they are stashed in the closet that is already full. There doesn't seem to be an effective way to organize these projects. Then, of course, there are the dishes, the laundry, and all of the other daily chores. So, each day I make a choice. Either I will 1) Get some "chores" done or 2) Work on a project 3) Organize something 4) Run errands (real or imagined) 5) Do nothing. Many times (more than I would like to admit) I lean towards option five.

Today, I have imagined some errands for myself, so I am off to OSH to buy some flowers to replace the dead ones in the front yard. Productive, yes, but the house is still a mess. I'm still not sure how much I care.

Laughing!

Today Mia laughed! Just before Troy got home, I was playing with her and tickling her chin to get her to smile. Instead of just smiling, she laughed. We thought it was so amazing and we just kept trying to make her do it over and over. We got out the video camera and got a little on tape. It was really awesome to see her laugh.

Mia is one month old already!

I can't believe how fast this has gone already. Mia is growing so big! She is 10 pounds 1 ounce and growing more every second. She can hold her head up, and she's so alert! She looks around more and really likes to look at faces. We love her smiles. She is playful, especially with Daddy. He makes goofy faces at her. She pushes herself up with her arms and legs when she's on her tummy. We think we'll have a mobile child on our hands pretty soon! She's a really good sleeper and gives us a few good hours of sleep at night. We think she's the most beautiful little girl we've ever seen. Sometimes we just look at her for hours. Daddy loves dressing her in pink and I've given in . . . a little. She is pretty adorable in just about anything, even pink.

Shopping!

We successfully left the house today! It was just Mia and me. I felt pretty rested, and there was a sale at Kohl's, so I thought we'd give it a try. Just to make sure, I went on the internet and looked up postpartum driving because my mom thinks the doctor should have given me instructions not to drive. Everything I read said that it would be fine as long as I didn't have a C-section. I called Troy, almost expecting that he would reject the idea of us going out, but he was all for it. We were on our way. It felt good to put on real clothes and drive somewhere. It was actually pretty easy to pack up the baby and getting the stroller out wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Mia was perfect. She slept the whole time, and after going to Kohl's, I was feeling pretty confident that we slipped into Marshall's too. I bought Mia a Ralph Lauren dress for $20, that sells for $60 at Macy's. We didn't spend long on our outing, but it was a pleasant change of scenery from the nursing chair in Mia's room.

Later that afternoon, I read Mia a book for the first time. I was reading one of my books about babies last night and was surprised to learn that I should be reading to my newborn. She seems to small to really benefit or even be able to sit long enough for a story. I was shocked when I turned the pages and she focused on the pictures. She loved the bright colors and was quiet and focused as I read. She seemed to really enjoy the rhythm of my voice as I read to her. That must be because she heard me read to my 6th graders so often while I was pregnant.

We gave Mia another bath tonight. Again, I am amazed at how well she likes to be bathed. We haven't put her in a real bathtub yet, but she loves the sponge bathing. Troy soaps up her head first and then pours warm water over it to rinse. To look at her, you would think we had taken her for a baby spa treatment. She looks so content. I thought she would cry when we put the water on her, but she loves it!

Penguin by Troy

Today we had our first trip out with Mia. Of course the first shopping experience with a girl has to be at (you guessed it) Old Navy. We picked out her first Halloween outfit. We got her a little Penguin outfit. SO CUTE! I hope she is big enough by then to wear it. We will take many pictures.After going to Old Navy we went and got mom (Allison) and dad (Troy) a Jamba Juice. We got a "Strawberry Surf Rider." Mmmm good... with no extra boost.

Hardest thing I've ever done

We went downtown to the lactation specialist again today. She has been helping me with nursing Mia because we had a hard time. Lately, Mia has earned herself some nicknames while breastfeeding. When we first brought her home, I called her "little piggy" because she would snort each time I would get ready to feed her. Now, her nickname is "pirahna" because each time I try to feed her, she begins chomping her mouth before I can get her to latch on. It's actually pretty scary because her little mouth is chomping open and shut, and she'll clamp down and bite me three or four times before she latches on really well. It's somewhat humorous, but it can be very painful.

Alone

Today is the first day that Mia and I are alone. At first, I didn't know if I would be able to handle it. It's just so overwhelming to feed her every two hours and be alone and bear the pain of the feedings. When I look at what at angel she is, it helps me to focus. I feel that I can't give up though, because I want my baby to have the best I can give her. I want her to be healthy and happy.

Grandma Jeri

Today my mom came over to help with the baby. I don't think I really needed help; just someone to talk to and be there for support as I struggle to breastfeed. She says Mia reminds her of the infamous "Baby Allison". She says Mia seems familiar to her. Some of her mannerisms/facial expressions are similar to mine as a baby. We went on a short outing to Fresno Unified Payroll downtown and to the mall to exchange something. Because of the baby's tight feeding schedule and my discomfort walking, the outing was short, but it was nice to be out for a short time anyway.This afternoon, my mom got a big surprise while changing Mia's diaper. Once the diaper was off, she had a huge blowout. While my mom was trying to figure out how to get the baby out of the mess and get a diaper on her, she peed all over the changing table. It was quite a mess! I ended up cleaning up the baby on the floor while my mom washed the changing table cover.

It's off to work I go . . . by Troy

Today was my first full day back to work. I got to work about 30 mintes late. Allison and I were up at 2:00am and 4:00am and 6:00am. I wanted to sleep a little more. I got up and went to work at 9:00am. The day was busy and very stressful. We had a few problems last week and today I get to continue fixing them. For some reason when I leave the office everything starts to unravel. I would have liked to have been able to take more time off to spend with Allison and Mia but financially it will not work if we don't make money at the office. I could bore you with work stuff but I will fast forward to the end of the day at work.All day I had been looking at the clock counting down until I got to go home to see Allison and Mia. I look forward to going home and helping around the house and of course changing diapers. Allison's mom ,Jeri, stayed with her today to help with my transitioning back to work and we are very thankful that she was able to take a couple of days off from teaching to help out. We are very grateful that she could help. She will be coming by tomorrow as well. - TroyVisitors:Rosie Cutler brought by a great meal. She made Tri-Tip, Russett Potatoes, and vegetables. Mmmmmm... Can't wait for left-overs.

Ears by Troy

Visitors:Todd called to say congratulations

Activities:Today was my first day back to work. I went with Allison to the Lactation place at Community Medical Centers in Fresno. I went into work at noon and worked a half day. I was watching the clock to see how much longer I had to wait before I could race home and see Mia. I usually look at the clock during the day wondering where the time went but today the time was going so slowly. It was great to get home and hold her again. I have the wonderful job of burping and changing diapers. I never thought I would say this but I love to burp and change Mia. - Troy

Fun Stuff:Allison was nursing Mia and she had her hands on ears. It was so cute to see her holding her ears each time she goes to eat. We ended up taking pictures of it. - Troy

Explosion! by Troy

Visitors:Julie Wheelock and Dave & Karen Spaulding

Activities:We took pictures with Dave & Karen and had Panda Express for lunch. Very good. Also, Julie brought food over for us from the "Chicks" and we are going to be having ham for dinner. My job as dad is to keep Allison rested when I am here and also to wake up Mia before she eats. I have to wake her up, usually by striping her down to her diaper and mittens. The other thing I do as I wake her up is to change her diaper. Today when I was changing her I had just finished cleaning her off and was getting ready to put on the new diaper. I grabbed her legs to lift her up to put the diaper on and she "Let One Go" all over the changing table. This is not the first time this has happend. Usually I move Mia from side to side and she is good about finishing off her business. This time I didn't wait long enough.Fun Stuff:Put Mia on her stomache on the jungle mat. Very cute.

Mia Tortilla by Troy

Visitors:Grandma Radar, Jeri, Matthew

Activities:They dropped off dinner for us. Green enchiladas. Mmmm. Also, bought us a hamper for the babies clothes, shopping cart cover, hangers, and French baby words.Got a card from Sam and Marilyn gift card.

Fun Stuff: Took pictures of Mia’s little feet crossed like she was in the womb. Also, I love to call her, “Mia Tortilla” because she looks like a little rolled up tortilla. The other funny thing that she does is when she cries she has a little snort like a little piggy. We like to call her our little piggy too.Fun Stuff:Allison took pictures of Mia and Troy with matching white shirts.

Thanks

Visitors:Darrell Schmidt

Activities:Darrell dropped off food for us. Chicken salad sandwich, grapes, and cookies.

Houdini by Troy

Activities:Hospital to see lactation people. (Troy was sad throwing away diapers. For a split second I didn’t want to throw them away.)

Fun Stuff:We call Mia our little Houdini because we wrap you up in blankets and you continue to get your hands free. It is the funniest thing. We leave you and come back to see your hands out of the blankets.

Sleep Deprivation by Troy

Visitors:Jim, Jeri, Paul, Matthew, Heather, Ericlee, Dorina & Meilani - made dinner), Rosie to help Allison.

Activities:First bath by Papa Troy

Fun Stuff:Allison told me this morning that she tried to wake me up to get the blanket off the floor and I handed her my shorts instead with the belt dangling from it. Then she woke up again to see me burping the pillow. She said to me, “Troy, you are burping the pillow,” and I replied, “Ohhhh,” and went right back to sleep.

Help with the baby

Rosie to help Allison, Dave & Linda Vasquez

Meeting Mia

Anne Brandt, Dave & Linda Vasquez

More Visitors

Aunt Joanne, Aunt Kathy, Jeri, Paul

Mia's First Visitors

Aunt Joanne, Jim, Jeri, Paul, Dorina, Cori, Grandma & Grandpa Rader

Let the fun begin! by Troy

3:00am: “Troy… Troy… TROY!” Allison said as she was in the bathroom. “Haaaaaa,” I replied. “I think my water broke,” Allison said. I jumped out of bed and said, "What should I do." Allison was VERY calm and it was starting to scare me because she is never calm in stressful situations. Allison said not to rush and wanted me to calm down. She decided to go and take a shower and I told her I would pack her car (White 2000 Toyota Corolla.) Allison, being the perfectionist, already had everything packed and ready to go. All I had to do was move everything into the car. I kept running back and forth and back and forth, double and triple checking that we didn’t leave anything. Allison finally got out of the shower refreshed. I thought that meant that we could leave BUT of course that means we can blow dry our hair and put on our make-up. So, I made the bed and straightened up a few things before we left.Allison was finally ready and off we went to Clovis Community Hospital.

We decided to go down Herndon and ended up behind a drunk driver at around Cedar Avenue. Allison and I were trying to decide whether to call the police but decided to follow a little while longer. The person was going between lanes and ended up putting on their hazard lights as well. Then we decided that this person could really hurt someone and called the cops. I had Clovis PD saved in my cell phone (Nextel i730) because my office (200 W. Bullard, Suite B4, Clovis, CA 93612) was in Clovis and we had been burglarized before. So we called and spoke to a really nice lady on the phone. We described the situation and they said they had a cop coming the other way on Herndon. We turned off onto the freeway to get to the hospital and lost sight of the drunk. The cops called back because they couldn’t find them but we told them we already turned. Finally we were at the hospital.

We drove up to Clovis Community at about 4:15am and had to go to the emergency room side of the hospital. We had to go to this side because the regular hospital side is only there from 7:00am to 7:00pm. We gathered the essential items and made our way to the door. Allison was feeling good and hadn’t had any contractions yet. Little did we know what was to come. We walked up to the counter and filled out the paperwork and headed off to the elevators. The delivery and recovery was on the second floor. Allison was in a wheelchair and I wheeled her up to the second floor.We accidentally went to the recovery area and pressed the intercom button. No one answered the call. So we went to the other side and remembered that this areas was for delivery. I should have known this but it was a little too early to remember everything. As soon as I pressed the intercom button the doors opened. We walked (and rolled) up to the counter and they said keep going this way to door number 506. It was a straight shot from the hallway.

We got Allison up and she needed to change into her hospital gown.We started to get situated in the room that we were going to be for the next 12 hours. As Allison was getting ready to change into the hospital gown and asked me if she should put on her dress she brought. I told her to just put on the hospital gown and we will try it out for the beginning. The nurse came in a visited for a little and told us she was going to call the doctor to give him an update. It was about 4:30am. I said, “You are going to wake him up?” The nurse said that she has been bothering Dr. Peters all morning. The nurse wanted to give him an update and ask him what the next step was going to be.

So the nurse left and Allison got into her beautiful hospital gown. Allison, came out of the bathroom and got into the bed.A little time had passed and a second nurse came in and said she was going to start Allison's IV. I think this is when Allison started to get nervous. Allison doesn't like the site of needles and decided to turn away as the nurse started the IV. Allison told her not to tell her when it was going in because she thought she would faint. The nurse got the IV in and taped everything down. The nurse left and I told Allison to lay down and try and get some sleep because she was going to need it later. Allison laid down and tried to get comfortable.The first nurse came back in with another devise and told Allison that Dr. Peters said to start her on "Pitocin" which would help start the contractions. Up until this point Allison has not been feeling anything. So, they started the drip. They started her at 1.. then 2... and then the contractions started to really get big.At this point Allison was having a hard time getting through the contractions. We had spoken about getting an Epideral and Allison had not made up her mind. At this point the hospital started to get more active. Others were having babies and we could hear screaming.

The head nurse came into check on us and her name was Wendy Goodfellow. She was very nice and had an English accent. She asked how we were doing and Allison told her that she was in a lot of pain already. We asked Wendy how much worse is it going to get and she said a lot more.It was now about 7:00am in the morning and the nurse that put in the IV came back in to check on us and Allison told her that she had decided that she wanted an Epideral. The nurse looked back and said, "We don't usually give Epiderals to smiling happy patients." The nurse left and Wendy came back in to check on us again. We told her that Allison was going to want to have an Epideral and that we had told the other nurse. We told Wendy what the other nurse had said and Wendy said, "Well, is she in the bed with the pain?" Up to this point we had heard horror stories about people waiting too long and not being able to get an Epideral so we wanted to put in our request early. Wendy said she would try an catch the Anesthesiologist in between the five C-sections that were scheduled for today. She said it might be a little while.Well, two and a half hours later the Anesthesiologist still had not arrived. Wendy came back to check again and decided to give Allison something that would help her relax a little until the Anesthesiologist arrived. This calmed Allison down and helped her get through the next 30 minutes until the Anesthesiologist was able to break away.

It was now 10:00am and the Anesthesiologist was ready to give Allison the Epideral. This was very intemidating because you have to read the disclaimer that you could be paralized and tons of things could go wrong. Once again Wendy was right there by our side guiding us through the stress. She got Allison talking and so did the doctor and this helped her relax through the process. Allison told the doctor that she didn't want to know when the needle prick was going to happen. So, we continued talking and the doctor said that you might feel a little shock and right then Allison jumped. "Wow, it felt like I stuck my and in the light socket." The doctor started an infusion of the medicine and Allison's pain immediatly went away. So, the doctor finished up taping and organizing the cords. He finished up and then Wendy said she was going to put in a calthader and another monitoring device for the actual labor/pushing part.

Nurse:Wendy Goodfellow

Doctor:Dr. Alfred Peters

Visitors:Jeri (coffee in the morning), Jeri & Jim 10 minutes after birth), Dave & Karen

Activities:Moved to new room in hospital

Fun Stuff: We heard Mia’s cry and it sounded like she was saying, “Ah-Huh, Ah-Huh, Ah-Huh, Ah-Huh.” This was soooo cute.

I know we are going to the hospital tonight! by Troy

“Hey Troy, want to rake some rocks?” Well, Allison and I were getting ready to get into the pool at our house when she looked over and saw the rocks next to the pool with weeds all over the place. For some reason today she had more energy and had a “nesting moment.” So, I grabbed the trash can and wheel-barrow and started to help. I jokingly told her that I thought we would be heading to the hospital tonight. Little did I know at the time that I would be, right? We still had another 6 days before the actual due date.