Mali's 4th Birthday...with a cherry on top!

On November 23rd, Mali turned 4 year's old! This year we were able to have her party on the same day as her birthday. It was pretty crazy, but turned out really great. She is really becoming a beautiful, sweet (mostly), big girl! I can't believe she is this old already, but does look grown up. I love holding her hand when we walk and watching her learn and grow. Some days are still really challenging, but I don't expect that to ever ease up. We love her so much and are so thankful for the blessings, laughs, tears, and wonderful moments that she adds to our lives!
Mali wanted to decorate cupcakes for her birthday party. So that is what we did...with 8 three and four year olds! It went really well. Mali's friends from Lubbock were able to come as well as her new friends from here. She is so social (maybe a little like me) and kept adding friends to her "list". I think being with her friends was what mattered to her the most. She was also blessed to have family come. Grammie, Aunt Zina and Gabe came from Colorado. Auntie Kisha and Josh came from Dennison. She also had the "locals"; Aunt Megan and Uncle Chris, Uncle Brandon, Mimi and Papa, and Nana and Grandpa. It was a good, but crazy, time!:) I'm thankful for our wonderful home to house everyone and our wonderful friends and family that helped us out to make the party possible. The moment that is going in the "books" this year, is that Mali did not want any one to sing Happy Birthday to her and started crying, and then proceeded to scream for shrill-ly at everyone for singing. Then she wouldn't blow out her candles, but had help from her little friends. We didn't even get to cutting the cake, because Mali was so ready for presents (it tasted great by the way...thanks to help from Beth and Melissa). Mali received lots of great presents and love from everyone. The hit with all of the kids had to be the karaoke machine that Uncle Brandon got her. The guys (Eric and Brandon) set it up in our room the the kids were already playing with it. Mali loved her flashlight and sleeping bag from Nana and Papa, her cupcake outfit for Snowflake, clothes, and dance cam from Grammie, her raincoat/hat from Aunt Zina, her Hello Kitty toothpase and toothbrush, light up candy sucker, and babydolls from Aunt Megan and Uncle Chris, her clothes from Auntie Kisha, and I can't not mention her giant Bubble gum machine from Mimi and Papa. I asked her what her favorite was, and she said "lipgloss, because I wanted make-up and that was all the make up I got". We got her the lip gloss, because every time we went to Wal-Mart she would grab it and make sure we knew to "put it on the list". We also got her the book Pinkalicous and a Kid Tough Camera that she seems to really be enjoying. It was definitely a successful birthday. She received so many great gifts from friends to, not including their presence at her party. Thanks for loving our big girl!

Blessings at Eleri's baby shower

This past Saturday, we were so privileged and blessed to be thrown a baby shower for Eleri Cate. I wasn't sure that it would even happen being in a new town, 2nd baby and 2nd girl! But we were blessed by one! Thank you to every one who came and showered us!:) I've realized that baby girls get lots of clothes, it is just too hard to resist, so she will have a ton of cute outfits to wear! My mom also made a full bedding set for Eleri. Mali enjoyed her role of big sister and opened all the presents for me. It was nice to not have the spotlight so much on me. We enjoyed talking with friends and seeing our friends from Lubbock that drove in for the shower. Unfortunately, most of the shower is a blur to me, I think I need to video tape my life at this point, because ALL my blood seems to be bypassing my brain and going to baby Eleri. Eleri seems to be doing good. Still breech, which is fine, but means I can't always feel her moving as much, which can create sudden panic, but I'm trusting God that she is okay and laid back, but I probably do need to give her some rest and slow down a bit. Although it is nice to be really "trucking" along at this stage of pregnancy because I don't think I was with Mali! This week marks 30 weeks! Wow! I can not believe it. We feel so much better prepared since this wonderful blessing of a shower though!

Answered prayer at 29 weeks

Today I had my regular OB appointment because next week is Thanksgiving and they weren't seeing patients. Everything looked great, I measured 29 to 30 weeks and heartbeat was 158 and great. We briefly discussed what to do about delivery, but I wasn't ready to commit to anything. Plus Mali was with me (she was pretending to be the wind behind the changing curtain, you can probably imagine that) while I was talking with the doctor so he said January 26th looked great but we could schedule it as early as January 23rd. So Eric and I have some dates to talk about. I did talk with my OB about Eleri not moving very much this week, so he ordered a sonogram. I couldn't get a hold of Eric, so Mali and I went together. Eleri wouldn't really move much for the sonographer even when she "buzzed" her but we finally got a little kick. After looking around at her, her heart, blood flow, and brain all looked great. The sonographer said "she's just lazy or laid back". The whole time Mali was trying to "help" by pushing on my stomach and trying to rip off the pictures from the machine, so it was pretty quick. I'm sure the sonographer wanted us out! Anyway, to get to the point, ever since we got into the clear, the big dilemma and question weighing on my mind has been how to have this baby. I would love a normal delivery but was worried about having another c-section after laboring again. I also had a difficult time recovering from my last c-section, so I just didn't know what to do. I've been praying that God would make it very clear to me what we should do (secretly hoping I would just go into labor and be a 6 and have her normally). So today, during the sonogram we feel like we got our answer...Eleri is breech! That is why she hasn't really been moving, because her feet are down and her head is up! (The kicks to the bladder have not gone unnoticed though). We know she could turn, but Eric pointed out that God still answered our prayer. We will be scheduling a c-section at my next OB appointment. Today my prayer request at bible study was that God would give us a clear answer, and we feel like this is the answer. How much more clear can it be? Thank you GOD!!! I'm a little sad, but confident that God always does what is best for His children.

Here is a picture of Miss Eleri at a whopping 2lbs

White Swan

Today at preschool, Mali learned about Thanksgiving and American Indians. They made a stick horse, feather book, and drum. Mali also had her face painted with war paint and they made a headdress. Her "Indian" name was White Swan. Here is a picture of her, she was very very proud of it all!

Fancy Nancy Syndrome

Mali has "officially" been diagnosed with "Fancy Nancy Syndrome". What is this? Well, according to Mali's preschool teacher it IS legit and occurs in 3 and 4 year old girls, where all they want to wear is tutus, dresses and skirts. The main criteria is that it must be mismatched (or matched in their young mind) and inappropriate for the current weather conditions! This is our Mali! The last few weeks have been a struggle every morning getting ready for the day. My requirements for her are that if she is going to wear a dress/skirt she has to wear tights and a sweater. It still turns out interesting. And, she strips down as soon as she gets home from wherever we've been and typically changes into dress up clothes. I think it bothers Eric more than me, but I do hate that she has so many nice, beautiful clothes that she won't wear!:( So, I was thrilled the other day when I got a Parent's magazine and there was a feature article on this issue. Finally I would know what to do! Their advice? Allow your child to wear whatever they want, childhood is short, let them enjoy it! So here are some pictures of her attire (actually in a fairly mild form) and a link to Fancy Nancy if you are curious about it!




http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Fancy-Nancy/Jane-OConnor/e/9780060542092

Rejection

It seems the larger my belly grows, the more Mali is pulling away from me, and to not put it so nicely (but honestly) rejecting me. Part of it is so good and appropriate. I'm thrilled that she is getting to do some fun things with her Daddy and spend more time with him. To be honest though, it has been really really sad. She makes ugly faces at me, sasses me, disobeys me, cuddles only with her daddy, showers with her daddy, only wants daddy to read to her and sing to her at bedtime...the list could go on. Some of it is nice and will be helpful as we make the transition to a baby that needs me to feed it, etc. but I guess I just didn't see it being done so hatefully! Needless to say, the last few weeks have been a little sad, and I've found myself crying more and just missing my baby girl! I'm sure the hormones play a part too, and once life settles down (does that happen?) we will re-establish a close, loving relationship. Change is always hard because it is new and different!

UNDEFEATED!!!!!

Tonight was Eric's team's last game! It was bittersweet...but they won and finished the season 10-0 and undefeated! I'm so proud of him as a coach and especially as a first year coach for the freshman! Way to go Coach Gomez! Blow Sand Blow!

27 weeks

Today I had my 27 week appointment, which is exactly 3 months from my due date! Yikes! The doctor had to be in surgery so I just saw the Nurse practitioner. The appointment went great. I've gained weight and am measuring on target. Eleri's heart beat was 158 and the nurse said she sounded great. On Sunday night, I had two REAL contractions. The Braxton Hicks have continued, but this was painful and the real thing. The nurse wasn't worried, but said to stay off my feet, don't pick up Mali if I can help it, drink lots of water, and rest as much as possible. We all know the reality of those things happening the 2nd time around. But Sunday night was sort of a wake up call for me that I need to be more careful because we don't want our baby girl coming this soon. I've really felt great and have been going, going, going...which I do enjoy. Mali is enjoying my "big, fat tummy" and loves to point it out to everyone and laugh hysterically at it. Mali is also calling Baby Sister "Eleri Cate Plus 8". Our favorite family show is Jon and Kate Plus 8, so Mali thinks that's what Eleri's name is. Mali loves to scream and laugh when she sees Kate's
"big, fat tummy" on the intro of the show and asks me if I'm going to get that big...we'll see, I'm not carrying 6!
I will go back in 2 weeks for a regular appointment and will probably make a decision about delivery at that point. We've had issues getting my medical records, which my OB needs before he will even let me consider a V-BAC. I'm still praying about what to do! I go back and forth. I'd love the normal experience of a VBAC and not being so out of it and being able to hold and bond with my baby girl, but I'm also concerned about having another emergency c-section. We'll see! I'm just praying God makes the decision VERY clear to us!
I'm still so thankful for this little girl and think that is why this part of pregnancy has been so much more enjoyable. I'm trying not to complain at the discomforts, but to focus on her moving and the miracle of it all! I'm so blessed to get to experience this again!
Here is a picture of my belly at 27 weeks. Mali is getting less and less cooperative for these pictures!

Texas Tech...Long Live the Matador!

Tech is ranked #2 in football...just had to post that. My mom, dad and I all graduated from Texas Tech...so it is in our blood and I'm proud. Plus I had some cute pictures to share that Terry took from our Red Raider weekend. I'm just sad Eric was on the golf course and we didn't get a family picture!

Pinkalicious

This year Mali dressed up as Pinkalicious. We just threw the costume together and went to Trunk or Treat at our church, but I was pretty proud of it. I'm not too big into the holiday so I hate to buy costumes. I felt like I had a successful mommy moment and that maybe some of my mom's creativity had seeped down to me. Here is a picture of her and a picture of the cover of Pinkalicous (not many people knew who she was, but she was proud of being Pink-delicious). The story is about a girl who loves pink and makes pink cupcakes with her mom and eats too many and turns pink. It is right up Mali's alley! This is also our theme for her birthday party so it worked out great!

9-0

Eric's team is now 9-0!!! I'm so proud of him and his record this year at AHS as the head freshman coach! Way to go Coach Gomez! This week is the beginning of the end and is bittersweet. I can't believe the last football games will be played this week, but look forward to our schedule being less hectic. Next football season I'll be juggling two little girls while we watch the games! Eric starts soccer (for the first time ever) the day after Thanksgiving break, which will be interesting. He plans on ref-ing basketball games in between seasons to stay busy. Anyway, we are hoping for the end of the season to be an undefeated record after Thursdays game!
Another team that is 9-0 is TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS! We had so much fun watching the game and then listening the win last night. It makes me so proud to be a Texas Tech Alum. This is pretty huge, and very exciting. It does make us miss being in Lubbock with all of our other die hard Tech fans around us!