CRAZY snowfall!

Yesterday, the storm of the season hit us. We ended up with about 2 feet of snow in all. Alex went outside for a total of about 15 mintes before he grew really tired of the cold and the wind and actually ran to our door wanting to go back inside. I can't say I blame the poor boy. It was beyond freezing and the snow was almost up to his chest! So we spent most of the day inside, playing and watching good ole TV all day. He actually grew so bored of his toys and being inside the house that we gave him a small Christmas present early! LOL. Amaya spent the entire day inside and chilled in her swing for a few minutes while we let her brother experience the "great outdoors" and let her Daddy attempt to shovel. Now we're just hanging around, and planning what Christmas shopping still needs to be done. Hopefully, we will be able to do some shopping tomorrow. We will see! Enjoy some of our photos in the snow!

Abe and Alex in the snow

Up to his waist by noon yesterday

Pointing at the snow with his tongue out

Alex standing on our walkway with Abe shoveling in the background

Miss Amaya hanging out on her playmat during all of the excitement

Amaya's First Smiles!

A babys first "real" smile is the best thing in the world, isn't it? After 5 weeks of dipaers changes, pumping in the middle of the night, and 3 AM feedings and rocking back to sleep session, Amaya finally smiled back at me last night. I was up late feeidng her and rocking her in her room, trying to get her back to sleep around 1 AM, and she just looked up and smiled a couple times before drifting off to sleep . This morning I was able to catch her precious smile on camera, so enjoy these first cute smiles. I know we are!

 

Christmas Portraits

Just wanted to share some of our Christmas portraits. They're mostly of Amaya. Like I said in the last post, Alex did not want to cooperate! Oh well, there's always next year? :)

Holiday Craziness and the Unpredictable Toddler

Alex will be entering the phase notoriously known as the "terrible twos" in about 3 months. We all know that. And anyone who has children knows why this lovely stage of childhood development gets the famous title. We have seen signs of "terrible two" coming for quite awhile now though, and I am here to say, the terrible twos could be extended to include pretty much all of toddlerhood, starting with about 12 Months. So with all of the craziness lately surrounding Thanksgiving and preparing for Christmas, Alex has been a little crazy with a capital C. Throw in a brand new baby sister, and you get some interesting moments around here. He has generally been much better than we expected with the addition of Amaya to our family, but with all of the traveling lately and shopping and decorating, we have had our share of more tantrums and break downs than usual. We attempted to get Christmas pictures done today, and we're grateful to get one of Alex with the family. After that he was done, and w expected that would happen, so we didn't push. Thus we have Christmas pics of Amaya, but none of Alex. LOL. Oh well..there's always next year, though some have said age 3 is worse than age 2..oh boy.

Amaya's First Holiday--Thanksgiving! She is posing with the foam turkey her brother made at daycare! :)

Alex posing in front of our Christmas tree

Amaya relaxing in her bouncer..her due date was Sunday. Instead, she turned 3 weeks old on Saturday!

Alex's first carousel ride with Daddy at Festival of Trees in Timonium.

Me and Amaya (in my moby wrap). I love this thing and she seems to as well!

Giving me a silly smile before bed. He usually spends the first 15 minutes of wearing these pajamas pointing at all of thr balls and telling me what they are. LOL.

 

Adjusting...

The question we are getting a lot these days is "How is Alex adjusting to his new baby sister?" Well to answer that question--he has good days and bad days, but he is generally doing better than we expected. He's only 20 months old, and still pretty non-verbal, so we weren't sure how his lack of communication skills would affect this adjustment period, seeing that he can;t express himself very well yet. But he is doing pretty well. He does notice the baby, and recognizes that "baby" is what she is. He will pint to her and say "baby" over and over. He also has an interest in touching her hands and patting her head, though sometimes he gets a little rough when showing her love and we have to remind him to be gentle. At bedtime, he looks for her several times before going to sleep by looking over the bedside to peek into her bassinet. It's really cute to watch him want to interact with her. That being said, we have had some more tantrums lately, and I am thinking it's probably due to the changes he is going through with his new sister. He is doing things like not wanting to take his hat and jacket off when he gets home, and then throwing a major screaming tantrum when we make him. He also has been playing around mre before bed and not wanting to go to sleep. He usually goes to sleep around 8, but tonight it was around 9 before he finally settled down enough to drift off. He mainly sings to himself or talks to himself instead of laying down and sleeping. We've also seen more issues with him not wanting Abe to leave him at daycare. This doesn't happen every morning, but has happened a few times more recently. All in all I would say he's "adjusting" fine--as good as could be expected for a 20 month old. Amaya's "adjusting" to us as well. She's growing some finally and can now wear newborn diapers instead of preemie ones. She's defintelystill in preemie clothes and we keep washing the same 5 outfits because we don't want to go out and buy a bunch of stuff she may not wear for long. Her eating has really picked up and I feel like she'll hit a growth spurt before long. She also lost her umbilical cord stump this morning, so I was able to give her first bath, which she absolutely hated. The girl does NOT like to be cold. She's a pretty easy going little baby. She doesn't even cry at night when she's hungry. She kind of whimpers and I'm a very light sleeper, so I always wake up. I ahve to wake up and pump every two hours anyway, so I always check to see if she's awake and hungry. I'll be excited to take her to her 2 week well visit on Nov. 23rd to see if she is up to 6 lbs. by then or not.

Our little girl has arrived!

Amaya Soleil Arceo

Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 9:48 PM

5 lbs. 3 oz.  and 18.5 in.

We have a brand new member of our family! Our daughter arrived Saturday night,and we couldn't be more in love. We named her Amaya Soleil. The first name we got from a baby name book as we were looking for a special "A" name to fit in with our family. We both really liked it, and it was always a top contender among the names we were considering. We though it sounded really sweet and feminine, and once we saw Amaya we knew that was the name we wanted to go with. It is a Japanese name meaning "night rain". Her middle name is one we always had picked out. It's French an means "Sun". She made a pretty quick entrance into the world. On our way to a quarter auction for our daycare lady's son's soccer team, my water broke in the car. So I called Abe's sister, then the doctor, and we headed to Franklin Square instead of the quarter auction. As soon as the water broke, I immediately started ocntracting and when they checked me upon arrival I was 5 cm. Maria picked Alex up from the hospital and entertained him for the next day and half and we couldn;t be more thankful. We KNOW that is not easy! They moved me to a delivery room about 7:30, I got an epidural about 8:30, and around 9:30 felt intense pressure out of nowhere. It was so bad I had to grab the side of the bed, so the nurse rushed out and grabbed the doctor. I remember telling the doctor, "I feel like I am holding her in at this point." So she checked me and said "Yeah, you are." It was pretty painful. She told me to push and with one push Amaya's head and hand came out. She then told me to hold off for a second,and I tried, but Amaya had other plans and the rest of her body slid out without me even pushing! The doctor was shocked and literally caught her before handing her to me. It was crazy! Labor form start to finish was 3 and half hours! I just have super fast labors. I know I am extremely lucky, and have been told that by just about every mother I've ever met! LOL. Alex is adjusting very well so far to hi new sister. He loves to touch her hand and points at her and says" baby" over and over again. Tonight after a little coaxing, he even kissed her, which was so sweet to watch. I am so glad everything is over and done, and so happy to have an early and super tiny, but healthy baby girl.

Amaya right after her birth

Getting checked out by the nurse

Getting weighed in--a petite 5 lbs. 3 oz.

Me holding Amaya

Abe holding Amaya

All dressed up and getting ready to leave the hospital

Arriving home

Filipino pride..lol Guess who staged this one...

Wide awake

Alex's first picture with his sister--Abe has his hands full here! 2 under 2..oh my

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween! I can't believe it's come and gone, but Halloween was a blast this year. Alex dressed up as a pumpkin and he was perfect for the role with his chubby cheeks. Sometimes the classic costumes can be the cutest! He thoroughly enjoyed Halloween and trick or treating this year. We went to the Avenue at White Marsh for their afternoon trick or treating and met our nephews and our niece there--Dylan (Bobo fett), Daniel (Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe), Matthew (Duke from G.I. Joe) and Julia (Cinderella). It was insanely busy, so we made our rounds and then headed to Abe's Mom's in Dundalk for dinner and then some evening trick or treating around her neighborhood. I was actually pretty impressed that Alex held his cousin Dylan's hand the whole time, walked the whole way without wanting to be held or anything. He was quite a little trooper,despite the long distance and the off and on rain. We all had a great time.Now we are gearing up for the next big event , which will be the birth of our daughter sometime this month. I can't believe there's only 27 days until my due date! I returned to work today from bed rest, and I am definitely feeling it. So tired and sore, and I just can't wait to meet our daughter and lose some instant weight! Here's to hoping sooner rather than later!

The kids in their costumes--Alex wanted nothing to do with posing for a picture! LOL

Getting ready to leave for trick or treating--had to stop and pick up a pumpkin first

Checking out his bag in the car

My two pumpkins--one out of the belly and one in the belly!

Helping Mommy bake Halloween cupcakes

Wound up from candy and dancing in the kitchen

Taking a much needed bath after trick or treating

Rainy Fall Weather and Freedom!

 

I finally got to leave the house this weekend as my bed rest was reduced to modified since I am now 34 weeks preggers! Yay! It was so nice just to be somewhere other than my couch or my ned, let me tell you. Unfortunately the weather was less than desirable this weekendwith the really chilly rain all weekend, so our annual trip to Weber's Farm in Parkville wasn't as exciting as it could have been. We were able to take Alex to the pumpkin bins and let him pick a pumpkin for himself, which he loved. They all looked like big orange balls to him, so you can imagine his excitement! LOL. As soon as I handed himhis pumkin he grasped it tight and wouldn't let it go. We also were able to pick up some homemade apple cider, cider donuts (which were delicious, and may warrant a return trip!) , fresh apple butter and really good fudge. Trust me, the baby liked the peanut butter fudge, since my pregnant self pretty much finished the whole thing in two days! We also got a chance to see Abe's family and hang out with my nephew, Matthew and niece Julia on Sunday. Unfortunately our other nephew Daniel had the flu, so he had to stay home with his parents and brother. :( We definitelymissed them though! I can't believe how big Matthew and Julia are getting though! Julia is just as tall as Alex, and so talkative and social! Alex is definitely the shyer of the two--perhaps it's a "girl" thing. LOL.We'll find out soon enough. I for sure want this baby to cook to full term, but I am praying after the measures to keep her in longer, she doesn't decide to be stubborn and wait until December or something. I think  I would probably go crazy!

Me and Alex at Weber's

Alex in his favorite PJs. He actually cries when we have to take them off!

Giggling with Oscar. He loves his kitties!

Alex and Daddy getting ready to race their ride-on cars!

Julia in her cute fall jacket and boots!

Alex (19 Months) and Julia (15 Months)

Posing with our pumpkin family!

Mr.Personality

Alex is 19 Months old now, and I can't even describe the amount of growing he has done in the past two months! He has become so much more verbal and even developed more of an "attitude" when he doesn't get his way or when he wants somehting in particular. He is repeating almost anything and everything we say now, and can even say a few simple sentences. The other day, he handed me his stuffed giraffe at bedtime to hold it for him,and he said "There you go." It was the cutest thing ever! He'salso saying short sentences like, "all done" or "all gone", "thank you" and "love you." I would estimate he's probably saying 30-50 words now. Some of the ones he says most often are "choo choo", because he loves his trains, "Ball", "Eat", "Go", "Nuggets", and "Baby." Though, I am sure he has no idea what a baby will really entail when his sister gets here, he does say the word pretty clearly. He also LOVES to sing. He cab mimic almost any tune, and this amazes us! He sings the ABC song, Wheels on the Bus, Old MacDonald,and Twinkle Twinkle just to name a few. I think his favorite is probably the ABC song, which he kind of half knows the words to as well. It's cool to see him starting to have distinct interests aside from just playing with whatever toys he can find.He defintely gravitates to any kind of sports balls, mathbox cars, or motorized trains that he can find and spends most of his time playing with those things. He'sdefinitely very boyish in his interests! We can't believe how much of a personality he has developed in the past two months! We'll be very interested to see how he reacts when our daughter arrives in the next month or so. Speaking of her, the pregnancy isprogressing well at this point.I am a little stir crazy on bed rest and actuallymiss work, but I know it'sfor the best until she matures enough to be born without complications. It's hard to believe, but she'll probably be here in less than a month.My prediction is the first week of November..we shall see.

Getting a lift from Daddy

Playing outside with his bubbles

Posing with his toys

Alex is already amazingly adept at sports..he can kick a soccer ball all the way up the yard without stopping!

Eating dinner for the first time in his booster--no more high chair!

My HUGE belly at 33 weeks!