Memorial Day weekend....

Oh my gosh this weekend felt like it was crazy! We had a great time though. Saturday my sister-in-law graduated (with honors) from Juan Diego Catholic High School. Syd and Dom had slept at my parents house the night before, so just Anth, me, Tasia and Bella went to the graduation. It was packed! We ended up in standing room only spots, but luckily got an aisle so we were able to sit on the ground and still see everything perfect. Afterwards we hung out at the school for a few and took lots of pics with her, and she took lots of pics with her friends and teachers. She is off to school back East in the fall, and I think Anth is going to worry about her as much as he would our own kids lol After pictures we all went out to eat at La Hacienda. It was yummy!!!! Anth wants to go back there this weekend again.

Sunday my in-laws threw a great graduation party at an amazing fine dining restraunt called Vuz that just opened up in Draper. Everyone just sat around and visited and ate some of their yummy food. If you get a chance to try it out I definitely recommend it. Everyone was in love with our little Bella. Everytime I turned around a different person was holding her. Anth went to offer to take her from his Aunt Edith at one point, but my father-in-law stepped in front of him and said "Don't even think about it" and took off with her lol Even my sister-in-laws friends parents were holding her. One lady said her daughter told her they should go to the adoption agency to find a baby like her lol After the party we went back to my in-laws and watched old family videos from when Anth and his siblings were all younger. I love watching old stuff like that! Anth had a hard time watching one video that had their Grandma Anderson on it. She passed away 6 years ago, and he was extremely close to her. He still misses her so much everyday. We didn't end up getting home that night until about 10:30, so needless to say by the time Monday came around we laid in bed all day and did absolutely nothing!

This week is a busy one for us, and it seems like it's going by so fast already. Dom has 4 baseball games this week, because they are trying to make up for all of the ones that have been rained out these last few weeks. Anth has 2 games. We live at the baseball fields in the summer. Dom's season was actually suppose to be over tomorrow, but because of the rain it won't be over until the end of June I think. Who knows lol Friday we are taking Bella to get her ears pierced. I am so excited!!! I love when little girls have their ears pierced, and I think it's easier to do them at a younger age. Then they don't mess with them. Plus when Syd got hers done she was 3, and she screamed!!! I felt so bad. She loved them, but she screamed. When Tasia got hers done at 2 months she slept through the whole thing. She was asleep on my shoulder when they did the first ear, and she picked up her head and made a little grunt then laid back on my shoulder and slept through the second ear. I will post pictures after we get them done :)

Preschool graduation and math awards :)

Last week Tasia had her preschool graduation. I am so proud of her, and yet sad that she is getting so big already!!! Her teacher rented the clubhouse and had it all decorated cute. The kids sang some of their favorite songs for us. When they were sitting in front of everyone Tasia leaned over to the kid next to her and said, "Why is everyone taking pictures of me?" His response was..."I think it's because you have a flower in your hair" LOL!!! I love the way kids think. Each kid got a diploma, a congrats grad balloon and some flash cards from the teacher. I think I am going to miss her teacher more than Tasia will. She really is amazing, so for any of you looking for a preschool teacher for next year let me know. I would be happy to give you her information!

Yesterday we got to go to an awards ceremony for the 2nd graders, because Dom received an award for passing both his addition and subtraction time tests. They have to do 100 addition in 5 minutes, and the same for subtraction. Dom came up short on both almost the whole year, but has worked really hard and pulled through this last term. We are so proud of him! Friday is the last day of school, so I expect to say goodbye to my sanity by Monday morning lol We'll start counting down the days for next school year soon I'm sure. I can't believe I will have a kindergartener, a 3rd grader and a 6th grader next year!

Bella Baby Photography photoshoot

This is what they do instead of the cheesy hospital pics now! I love every single one of them, so even though it was a lot I had to post them all. My sweet mom bought the cd and gave it to me for Mother's Day. I can't wait to get some of them printed out, and hang them up in our house :)

Labor story

I know I am a little slow, but like I said I don't actually get on here much anymore. I just play on facebook from my phone. Our sweet baby girl is now a month old, and is already growing (she's 8 lbs 8 oz now) and changing. She is starting to smile at people, and no it isn't just the gas smiles. She gets a full blown toothless grin. I love it!!!!


Ok where to begin...Well I guess the whole process started Sunday night. It was quite a weekend! We took the kids Sunday April 10th to have a sleepover at my in-laws house, so that if we had to head into the hospital right at 5:30 in the morning when I called they wouldn't have to get up so early. As soon as we walked in the door their dog decided he didn't like Dominic, and latched on to his leg right on his calf and his upper thigh :( Anth and I ran him to the after hours clinic in Sandy to have it checked out. Luckily he didn't need stitches, but he did have to be put on antibiotics to avoid infection and he had 2 major bruises that lasted a couple weeks. After all that we finally headed home to try to rest, but of course we were extremely anxious so it was next to impossible. I woke up at 4:30 to shower and get ready, because labor can make you look like hell anyways so I had to at least try to look decent for pics during and after. We had to be to the hospital at 7:30, and they started me on pitocin right away and tried to break my water but Bella was in the way. I was already contracting on my own, so the pitocin just made them extra strong and almost back to back. They checked me thinking I would have progressed since I was already a 2 1/2 when I got there, but I was barely a 3. Now with my other 3 kids once I hit a 3 I was at a 10 20 minutes later, so I kept waiting to get that urge to push but this little woman was stubborn and decided to take me each and every step of dialation. After a while my contractions were basically nonstop, and Bella didn't like that and her heartrate dropped scary low so they had to take me off the pitocin for a while to let her calm down. I was still having contractions, but they were getting farther apart and Bella wasn't moving down into the birth canal much at all. After a total of 3 attempts they were able to break my water and they started the pitocin again, and found out that Bella was turned sideways so that's why she wasn't moving down. They had me lay on my left side to try to get her to turn, but my blood pressure dropped to 90/52 so they had me lay on my right side to see if it'd come back up. After a while we tried the left side again, but my blood pressure really didn't like my being that way. Bella wasn't turning, so they decided to give up and either my dr would turn her while I pushed or I would push her out sideways. At one point my epidural stopped working as good as it should have been, so I had to have a booster shot put into it because I was feeling every contraction! My kids were at the hospital most of the day, and were so unbelievably good. My sister took Syd and Dom and my nephews to play at McDonald's and to go shopping, but Tasia wouldn't leave my side. She even booked it out of the elevator on the wrong floor when Anth's mom tried to take her down to get a snack in the cafeteria downstairs. She finally crashed at 5:00 that night, and was able to nap. At 7:00 I was dialated to a 10, but surprisingly wasn't having that sensation to push. I had it with my other 3, but Bella's whole labor proved to be completely different from my others. I had a really sweet nurse all day long that I loved and was hoping she'd be there for delivery, but she got off at 6:00. My new nurse wasn't quite as pleasant and even stood in Anth's way when I was trying to push. He was pissed! I pushed for a half hour and our little angel came out. I expected her to be no bigger than 7 lbs (all my other kids were under that), but she was a healthy 7 lbs 8 oz. She came out sideways and with her hand up by her face. It was a little rough lol We had so much family there with us that came into the room to see her right after she was born. It was a little overwhelming, but nobody stayed too long. Tasia sat outside the door while I was pushing, and said she could hear me trying to get her out. Within 10 minutes of her being born we had the dr and nurses, Anth, our kids, my parents, Anth's parents, my 2 sisters and 2 nephews, Anth's sister, Anth's aunt, his cousin and her 2 girls all in there. That's the most I've ever had at the hospital with me. It was a little crazy!

Easter 2011

I know I still have to post my labor story, but I swear everytime I try to sit down at the computer or do anything for that matter a little sensor goes off in Bella's head that says "Oh mom is about to be productive I think it's time to fuss" LOL It's amazing how they learn that so early, and how quickly we forget that! I hope everyone had a good Easter. Ours could have been better, but my kids thought it was great so that's all that matters right :) Here is a pic of my cute kiddos from yesterday. Arabella wasn't too thrilled, because she wanted to eat right that second.


I'm not sure if you can see, but I painted Arabella's toenails and fingernails. I love when babies have that done! It looks so cute. Plus I am one of those crazy moms who thinks that for special occasions my girl's nails need to match their outfits and we might as well get her used to that early right. I know it just creates more work for myself, but I love sitting with my girls and having conversations while we paint their nails :)

Arabella Lu Quintana

She's here! She's here! She's here! Monday night after a bit of a rough labor (I'll save that story for another day) our baby girl was born at 7:30 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 8 oz (my biggest baby!), and was 18 1/2 inches long. She is perfect as can be! We are all enjoying every minute of having her around. Tasia says she loves being a big sister. Syd and Dom can't get enough of kissing her. I am still trying to figure out my new camera, so I haven't had a chance to upload the pics on there yet. Here are some from my cellphone for now though. Also if you go to bellababyphotography.com, view photos and put password 0411arabellaquintana you can see her gorgeous photoshoot they did at the hospital. This was about 5 Monday night. The kids had been so good the whole time I was in labor, and Tasia finally couldn't take it anymore and crashed! She didn't want to leave my side all day. Here is our baby just minutes old! She looks so much like Anth and Tasia :)

She seems to like that fist :)

Look at all that dark hair!!! I love it!

Seriously, I can't get enough of this little girl!

This was just this morning. We were taking a picture to send to Daddy to tell him good morning. Can you believe her dark piercing eyes?!?!

Ok so like I said, it's just a few pics from my phone, and you can see more on that website. I will try to get my camera figured out and get the rest uploaded soon, so I can post them. Then next week I will post the fun labor story, because I know you are all dying to read it lol Well I am dying to document it at least :)

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

At my appointment yesterday I was dialated to a 2 and 70% thinned. My dr said it's possible I will go on my own this weekend, but if I don't he is starting me Monday!!!!! There's an end in sight. YAY!!!!!!!!!!! I have to call at 5:30 Monday morning to find out what time to come in for induction. The kids are going to have a sleepover with Grandma Quintana in case I have to go in right away, so they can spend the day with their aunties. Then after I have Bella they will come to the hospital to meet her, and sleep at my parents house Monday night. Tasia says that as soon as she wakes up Monday morning she will be a big kid, because she is going to be a big sister that day lol I can't wait to hold our baby girl! My next post will hopefully be pictures :)

Still hanging in there...

We are 8 days away from our sweet baby girl's due date, and I am feeling it lol I tried going and having a pedicure, because I had heard it can put you in labor but all I got out of that was cute toes :) I am still contracting a lot, but according to my dr it isn't doing much. I am thinned out, but not quite dialated to a 1 (as of this past Friday). My heart has decided to play tricks on us, so we are constantly monitoring it. I have a bit of an irregular heartbeat, and it has been beating really fast. My dr says it's normal, but if it gets up to 120 then call him. The highest it has gotten so far is 111, and let me tell you it's not a pleasant feeling. I am pretty sure this little girl is sitting right on my pelvis, because I can barely move most days. My funny mom tried to tell me to get on my treadmill today to try and get contractions moving, but she is up in the night! Anth is pretty sure I will have her before the end of the week. I am starting to feel like she will never come, and that I am going to raise a toddler in my stomach but I know that isn't true. Sorry I know I have done a lot of complaining lately, but if pregnancy gets worse with each one I don't know how people keep having kids. I swear soon you guys will get all the sweet, mushy stories of our new baby girl, and it'll make up for all of the complaints you've so patiently sat through recently. I bought Castor Oil, and am considering taking that tomorrow night. We shall see. It worked with Tasia, so I am hoping it'll work with Bella if it comes down to that. Wish me luck!

My babies are headed home!!!!

My parents and kids left Cali this morning to start their trip home. I can't wait to see them. I have missed them so much! Tasia is going nuts without them too. She asked me 3 times yesterday when they will be home lol It's too quiet around here. Tasia has slept with us the entire time they have been gone, because she is so used to having someone to sleep with at night. Last night when we told her it was bedtime she didn't even bother going into her room she just went straight to ours. I'm used to her climbing in bed with us at night, but it's different having her there from the start. I have talked to my mom everyday since the kids have been gone, and most of the time they were too busy playing to come talk to me. When I talked to them in Vegas they were just winding down for the night, and Dom had had so much fun that he said he wished they could stay there for a week lol They had been playing in the hotels arcade, and had gone on 3 different motion rides. They each had 4 new stuffed animals they'd won to bring home. My poor little man had a rough time sleeping that night though, because he told my mom he isn't used to being so far away from us. He's such a little sweetheart. I love my mama's boy! I guess Syd had won a few games in a row when they had been downstairs playing, so she purposely let Dom win and then made a big deal about how he had beaten her. She is such a good big sister! I am going to go enjoy some quiet time with my little Tasia, but I will leave you with this picture. This was the first morning in Cali at about 8, and the kids were already trying to convince my mom to let them go swim in my aunt's pool. She made them wait until the sun was at least shining on the pool some, so it wouldn't be too cold though :)

So proud of my Sydney!

Syd came to me yesterday and tells me, "Mom I need to talk to you." Pretty scary words coming out of your child's mouth, but I tried not to show that lol She asked me to read a note that her and a boy had been writing to each other that day, because she was worried about him. She noticed the boy was upset, and like the sweet girl that she is passed him a note to see if he was ok and ask what was wrong. The boy proceeded to pour his heart out to her and tell her that some girls have been telling him at lunch and recess that they want to kill him, and that everyone would be better off dead. Syd told him she didn't feel that way, and that she thought of him as a friend and asked if he had talked to the teacher about it. The poor guy said he was afraid to, so she came to me to see what I thought she should do. I wanted to cry knowing that this poor boy is going through something like that in 5th grade! Kids can be ruthless (girls especially!). I told Syd that I'm proud of her for being so kind to him that he felt he could open up to her like that. I also explained to her that she needed to show the note to her teacher, because something needed to be done about it and I can't help him. We talked about how sometimes kids get bullied for so long that they can't take it anymore and they end up hurting themselves, so if she let the teacher know what was going on and she could put a stop to things that it could make a huge difference in this boys life. I have always told my kids that they should be nice to everyone no matter what race, age, boy/girl, what they look like or how rich/poor, etc. they might be, and it makes me feel good to know that Sydney is listening to me. I'm glad that she knew it was serious enough that she needed to talk to someone about it. She has such a kind heart, and I hope she continues to be that way as she grows older.

Wow!

I swear when you are told you should be on bedrest (even light bedrest) that is when life picks up and goes crazy!!! Anth's bp wasn't going anywhere with the one med, so they went ahead and put him back on the one with 2 different meds in it. So far he is doing great on it! His bp isn't perfect, but it's close. That's one thing I can quit stressing about lol

Today we had to register Tasia for kindergarten, and I am just shocked that she is even old enough for that yet. She told me she doesn't want to go. In fact our conversation went something like this...

Tasia: Mom I don't want to go to kindergarten. I want to stay in preschool with my teacher and my friends I have now.

Me: Honey, you'll have lots of fun in kindergarten. Some of your friends from preschool might even be in your class, and you'll have lots of new friends.

Tasia: I'm not going!

Me: If you don't go a police officer will come and take mommy away for not sending you.

Tasia: That's ok. I'll still have daddy.

....I feel loved lol Dom told her there is a playground for the kindergarten kids though, so she is starting to warm up to the idea some. When we went today we saw Syd eating with her class, and she thought it was kind of cool to see her so maybe seeing her big brother and sister will make her even more excited to be there.

Syd and I have to go to the maturation program on Tuesday, and they will teach her not just about the girl stuff (which she already knows from the program last year) but also the boy stuff. I'm not quite ready for that at all! I like her being young, innocent and clueless. Well as far as I know she is still clueless, and I kind of like thinking that so the school is really bursting my bubble on this one!

Then on Wednesday Sydney and Dominic are leaving us for a whole week to go to California with my parents. They can't wait. I am a little nervous! I'm secretly glad that Tasia didn't want to go, because I don't know what I'd do if all my kids were gone lol They have lots of fun plans for while they are gone. They get to stop in Vegas, and are excited to sleep at the "castle hotel" (Excalibur). My mom has even promised them a trip to the M&M factory while they are there. They have every toy and little thing they want to take to keep them busy on the drive planned out too. My cousin is planning a sleepover for Syd and my other cousin's daughter, and Dom gets to have a special night with my parents while she is gone. I'm pretty sure by the time I get them back they are both going to be exhausted, but it'll be well worth it!

Last but not least....pregnancy (ugh!). Yes I am finally at a point where I am uncomfortable and not exactly enjoying it. I love feeling this sweet little girl moving inside me! What I don't love is that I am having contractions EVERY SINGLE DAY to a point where I start to wonder if I should go into the hospital and I am in tears, but at my appointment today I was told everything is still closed like it should be and that unfortunately I am probably just going to have a really uncomfortable last month. I also don't love the waking up nonstop to pee lol I don't get much sleep, so I have no energy anymore ever. Sorry I know I shouldn't complain, because at this point we are both really healthy and honestly that's what matters the most. I just want to be comfortable and normal again, but hey just over 5 weeks and this will all be done and over with and I'll probably be missing having her inside me feeling her move :)

Jealousy

I think we may have a bit of a jealousy issue between Tasia and Arabella already, and Arabella isn't even here yet. We could be in for trouble lol Tasia has decided she needs to sleep with us almost every night. She doesn't start out there, but at some point in the middle of the night probably 5 nights a week she ends up right in the middle of us. She has also started having separation issues. She has gone to church with my mom every Sunday for probably close to 2 years, and the last couple of weeks she has cried that she doesn't want to leave us. My parents are going to California next month, and they planned to take our kids but Tasia won't go because she doesn't want to leave us. Also she was crying to me this morning about not wanting me to sleep in the hospital when the baby is born, and that she doesn't want Anth to sleep there too. She says she doesn't want to stay with Grandma, because she wants us. She has never been so attached to us in her life, and has always loved sleepovers with her Grandmas. I tried to explain to her that it'll probably only be one night (I don't like staying in the hospital any longer if I don't have to), and that she can even come visit us in the hospital but she didn't care. I knew there would be some jealousy, and we have let her be involved in picking clothes out, hearing the heartbeat, seeing the ultrasound etc. We have also told her that she can help us with the baby if she wants when she is born, and tried to amp up how great it will be to be a big sister. She seems excited, but obviously there is some jealousy there. I don't know what else to do, and it may just be something she'll just have to get used to because I am out of ideas as far as how to prepare her for things to come. We have explained to her what babies are like, and have told her that at first she will just eat, sleep, cry and poop but when she gets bigger she will be able to play with her. I guess we will see in about 8 weeks how things turn out :)

Update on Anth

Anth went back to the dr last Friday to have his blood pressure checked again, and his dr decided to put him on a medication that had 2 medcines in one pill to try to give his blood pressure a boost in getting lower. It seemed to be working well, but when I took his bp Sunday night it was clear down to 100/50! Apparently he has no in between which is a little frustrating. We had to go back into the dr again Monday morning, and they took him off of the stronger pill and put him back on the original pill he was taking. Now the stupid thing is back up. It's not quite as bad as it was (it's 157/102), but it still needs to come down. I guess we'll just have to be patient, but Anth is having a hard time with that because they won't let him back on a forklift at work until it's 140/90 and he hates busy work!

Never a dull moment!

Anth had his yearly physical scheduled yesterday which at the time we thought was no big deal. Boy were we wrong!!! When he got to his physical the nurse took his blood pressure then she gave him a look and just said, "Are you serious? Umm...let me take that again!". So she takes it again and this time she says, "I'll be right back. I'm going to get the dr!". Way to leave him hanging huh! Come to find out his blood pressure was sky high. I'm talking there is no way my husband should have felt fine, and was on the verge of a stroke high :( The dr told him he needed to go straight to his dr, because there was no way they would do anything more for him there and he wouldn't allow him to go back to work with it that bad. Anth called me from his dr to let me know what was going on, so I sat on pins and needles for the next hour or so waiting to hear from him. At his dr his blood pressure was 180/120...like I said, scary high!!! His dr put him on some strong meds to bring it down, told him to go home for the day to monitor it and go back today to the clinic dr and to him to have it checked again. They also drew about 3 vials of blood and did an EKG on him. The EKG came out fine, and we are still waiting on the bloodwork results. Last night I checked his bp 3 more times, and each time it seemed to go down. It was still up there, but way down from earlier. His final reading last night was 152/99. He got up this morning and went to the clinic, but when he got there his bp was 160/113. Right back up! The dr wouldn't release him back to work until his bottom number was below 110, so he had to lay in the clinic for about 2 1/2 hours trying to relax and make it go down. He finally had a reading of 142/102, so the dr released him back to work but he isn't allowed to run the forklifts which irritates him. That's all he does all day is run a forklift basically, so he's kind of stuck on paperwork and busy work which he doesn't like. He also feels stupid for being sent home for his blood pressure. I don't think he realized how big of a deal it was until he found out he could have a stroke at any minute. Plus he felt bad, because he knew they had trucks coming in that they needed to get unloaded. Leave it to Anth to worry about making things inconvenient for others when his life is on the line huh. Anyway...at this point we are kind of left hanging until we get the bloodwork, and until the meds really start to work (which I hope is fast!). I will keep everyone posted, but for now prayers that we get this under control would be very much appreciated :)

Baby update...

We are in the home stretch waiting for this baby. She is due in 9 1/2 weeks, and everyday that goes by I become more and more anxious!!!! We went and bought all her carseat, bed, stroller and of course some clothes last week. I even made her a blanket, and have been picking up diapers when we go to Walmart. We are doing everything possible to be prepared for her to come, because at this point we really don't know when that will be. I am still having major contractions all the time. My dr checked my cervix when I went last week, and he said everything is still closed like it should be but that that can change pretty fast so I am suppose to be resting and taking it easy. Good luck with that!!! I try, because I really don't want her to come early but with 3 kids and being the homemaker it is REALLY HARD!!! The OCD in me doesn't do well with sitting around while messes are being made either. Anthony is a huge help though, so I am incredibly lucky and thankful for that. I am going to my appointments more often now too. My dr scheduled me for 3 weeks instead of a full month, and after that I will go every 2 weeks. I really can't believe how fast it has gone by so far. I might not be saying that in a couple more weeks, but for now I feel like it has flown by!

Happy 8th Birthday Dominic (better late than never)!

On January 22nd my little man turned 8! I can't believe how fast time has flown by. He's so grown up in every way. He's so much help around here. He will make Tasia breakfast if she wakes up before me, so that I can sleep in. He helps me clean up all the time. He even wants to smell more grown up lol He wanted his own Axe body wash and body spray like Anth has. We had a great day for his birthday. We had family over for cake and ice cream, and that night my sister and her 2 boys slept over and we had a movie night. It was pretty crowded in our livng room, but we had a blast!!!