Slacker.

I have been the world's biggest slacker these past many months and I have the cutest little boy to blame for that [well, sort of]. I must admit I am no super mom like I thought I would be. Taking care of a four month old, my husband and my two adorable [yet annoying at the same time] hound dogs is so much work. Notice that I didn't even included all the cleaning, cooking, laundry, errands and the list could go on forever. At this point, I am lucky if I get to shower. BUT I must say that I would not want it any other way. Well maybe more showers but in all honesty, my life has flourished in so many ways. Canaan has brought both Gabe and I so much joy and happiness and all those stresses and worries quickly fade away with one look at our boy.

These last four months which have been Canaan's first four months of life has been full of so many new things. These are the changes that have happened for me....

First of all I am no longer a full time bank teller, which is what I have done for seven years. I have now entered into full time mommy along with part time insurance sales lady. I most definitely enjoy being able to spend countless hours with my son, playing, singing, crying, dancing, laughing, pooping.... but I do miss interacting with people. I am a big social bug or I should say I used to be a big social bug. Now I just chat Canaan's ears off and have come to realize that he is just as chatty as his mom, oops! So adjusting to life with a baby, working from home, dealing with my crazy hound dogs 24/7, I have also had to do a food makeover. It seems that dairy really affects my son's little tummy and causes him terrible pain and chunky spit up [which breaks my heart], so I have had to completely eliminate all dairy from my diet. Do you know how much I LOVE ice cream?! Well, I love my son so much more and will do anything to make him happy and pain free. Since this new elimination of diary, I am actually a pant size smaller than I was before my pregnancy! How fun is that! The only problem is that my clothes look so frumpy on me and I cannot afford to run out and buy a whole new wardrobe. I guess I will just have to pull out my trusty sewing machine and alter my clothes myself. Speaking of sewing, I finally dusted off my machine a few days ago and made Canaan some pants out of Gabe's old t-shirts he no longer wears. Pretty smart, right?! So, that's about it for me. Let's move on to Canaan.

Canaan is now four months old, weighing 15 pounds and is 25 inches long. He has been teething since he was about two months old but we still haven't seen any teeth. We have been working on getting him on a schedule which was working out wonderfully until he got his first cold. Poor baby. Unfortunately there wasn't any cold medicine that he could take because of his age so we just followed the treatment that the pediatrician gave and about two weeks later, zero cold. Praise the Lord. Canaan is such a happy baby who loves attention. He laughs and talks a lot and is holding himself up so good that we think he will roll over soon. He really enjoys his Exersaucer and has very little to do with his swing these days. We were just told that we can start feeding him rice cereal for a week or two and then introduce the veggies! Gabe and I have noticed that Canaan is starting to understand what we are doing when we eat and he actually tries to eat our food. It is the funniest thing ever. He reaches for bowls with his mouth wide open while grunting. I am pretty sure he will love this new food source.

I know how boring blogs can be without pictures, SO here are a few to keep you entertained. Enjoy!

Oh baby!

On Friday, June 24th at 5:34 am, my husband and I welcomed our sweet baby boy, Canaan Davis Aguilar into this world. I thought it might be fun to give you the full story of his arrival. Sit back and relax because this might take some time...

I had been having contractions pretty often throughout my third trimester but it wasn't until Tuesday, June 21st, that I started noticing how close they were getting. Wednesday morning I had my 37 week appointment and after the doctor checked me, she said that I was dilated to a three and that I was 80% effaced. I took that as good news but she told me that I could go on like that for another week or two and that I should keep track of my contractions because once they were five minutes or less apart, that meant go time. Well, I headed to work and started tracking my contractions and realized that they were about seven minutes apart and getting stronger as the day went on. Gabe decided to let his parent know so they could hit the road, just in case Canaan decided to make his arrival that night. Later that evening I noticed that my contractions were around five to six minutes apart, so around 8:00 we packed up and headed to the hospital.

On our way to the hospital, I noticed that my contractions started to slow down a bit, but we still went just to be sure. Once we got there, they got me set up to monitor my baby's heartbeat and my contractions and they told me that I was dilated to a four but still 80% effaced. After two hours they sent me home because my contractions were not progressing. This was a little upsetting but I figured it would be better for me to be home as long as I could before the baby came.

The next morning I woke up to hardly any contractions, which was so frustrating because all I wanted was to have my baby here with us. Gabe and I decided to take a really long walk to hopefully get things moving along and it actually helped. My contractions started coming about every six to seven minutes and boy, were they stronger than the day before. Gabe decided to go into work since it didn't look like we were going to be having a baby any time soon and I ran around town with my in-laws, laboring my day away. Finally, around 7:30 we decided to head to the hospital because by this point, I was having strong contractions every three to four minutes. I was a little hesitant to go back to the hospital because the last thing I wanted them to do was send me home again but I just knew this was the real deal.

When we arrived, they sent me to triage and got me settled. The nurse I had the night before was fabulous, but this new lady was not the friendliest. She acted almost as if I wasn't in labor or as if I was just another false labor patient. While I was lying there having terribly painful, very low contractions, Canaan's heart rate was at the lowest 175 and at the highest 195! The average heart rate is 150. Each time I had a contractions, his little heart rate would increase to about 180-195 and it hardly ever dropped below 175 the entire time. After about two hours, the nurse came in to check me and said that I was not dilating but that I was about 100% effaced and that she was planning on sending me home once Canaan's heart rate dropped. I was very concerned about his heart rate being so high and when I asked her about it she said I must have a happy baby....lame answer. My thought was that if I just had a happy baby, why aren't you sending me home now and why are you having to wait until his heart rate drops?

After another hour of monitoring, the nurse gave me the discharge papers and sent me home, again. This was heartbreaking for me because I was following all the labor signs and at this point I didn't know what to do anymore. I tried so hard to not let the not-so-friendly nurse see me cry and as soon as we left the room, I broke into tears. I felt like a failure and I remember telling Gabe that this was my walk of shame, as we headed down the long hallway back to the car.

At this point all our family thought we were in the hospital laboring our (my) way to having our baby. So as we drove home (me - a complete mess of tears and boogers) I called my mom to tell her the sad news. She was so wonderful and covered us with pray and gave me encouraging words which brought me peace. I finished my phone call and as we pulled into the driveway I got a really strong contraction. I asked Gabe to keep the car running because I needed the AC since this contraction was so intense. I pushed myself back into the seat and all of a sudden I heard a "pop" and felt a warm mess in my pants.

SERIOUSLY?! Did my water bag just break?

I cannot even explain to you how much pressure was relieved once my water broke. I looked over at Gabe and told him that I thought my water just broke. I kid you not, he had just put the car in park, the clock struck midnight and my contraction hit (which caused my water bag to break) and this all happened at the same time!! I got out of the car and stood up to see if it was really my water breaking and not just pee, and sure enough, the fluid leaked out and I had no control of it. Gabe grabbed the towel that I had in the car for this very reason and we headed back to the hospital.

By this point my contractions were SO intense that I thought I was going to have our baby in the car on the way to the hospital. I remember telling Gabe to drive faster because we were not going to make it. When we got to the hospital (mind you, I am soaked from my water breaking...so gross) they rushed me in and check me to be sure I had ruptured. Sure enough I did and I was already dilated to a 6.5 at this point. They went and found a room for me and not even ten minutes later, once I was in my room, they checked me again and I was already dilated to an 8! I kept telling the nurses that I felt like I was going to poop and they just kept telling me that it was the pressure of my baby's head. I made sure they knew I wanted an epidural and was hoping that I could still get one since I was dilating so quickly. While I was lying there on they bed, I started to feel faint and told the nurse that I was going to pass out. Well, it turns out that I needed to throw up instead.

Finally the anesthesiologist showed up and got me set up. Man, those epidurals are AMAZING! I kept on thanking the doctor for giving me the magic drug. Literally, that epidural was a life saver. Women that have babies without any drugs are troopers. Once the epidural was in place the nurse checked me again and I was dilated to a 9! They told me that I was so close to having to birth my baby without any drugs because of how quickly I labored. I went from a 4 to 9 in about an hour and a half. The nurse was so proud of me and said I pretty much labored the entire thing without any drugs.

After the epideral was in place and doing it's thing, I rested for about two hours or so. I must say that I have an amazing husband. He was incredibly supportive throughout the entire process and did a great job at keep me calm. After my resting time, my nurse (her name was Ashley) came in and checked me one last time. She said that Canaan was sitting really low and that it was time to push. I got this rush of energy and was ready to push so we could finally meet our little guy.

Pushing was actually the easiest part of the entire labor process. Ashley sat at the foot of my bed and Gabe was off to my left. The lights were dim and the room was so peaceful. She gave me all the tips I needed to help make this a quick and smooth process and then it was push time. It didn't take too long before Gabe and Ashley could see the top of Canaan's head. After a few more pushes, Ashley called in the doctor so we could finally deliver Canaan and that's when everything got real. I was going to be holding my baby soon. MY baby. Well, our baby.

What will he look like? How big will he be? Will he be healthy and whole? Will he know my voice?

I had so many things going through my head at this point. Oh, I forgot to mention that Canaan had pooped inside the uterus, so NICU nurses were in the room to do whatever it is they do. Another crazy thing, the doctor and nurse who delivered our baby were wearing face shields! That was a little strange to me. Thankfully none of my bodily fluids splattered on their face masks. Oh and the room was full of people and they brought in a big table loaded with medical tools. Okay so back to the story....

The doctor was ready and so was I. I wanted Canaan out SO badly to see and to hold and to love. I pushed and pushed some more and the doctor snipped and snipped some more...eek! I was really hoping to avoid getting an episiotomy but that didn't happen. I guess that is much better than tearing or having a c-section, right? So finally with a few more pushes, out came Canaan!!! I wasn't able to get a good look at him because they had to suction his mouth and nose and then immediately gave him to the NICU nurses. Gabe was able to stay by Canaan's side the entire time he was being treated and finally after about an hour (okay more like 15 minutes) I got to get a quick glimps of my son. My heart melted and I just wanted to keep him all to myself, forever. Once they measured and weighed him (6 pounds, 5 ounces and 17 inches long) they finally handed him over to me.

I did it. We did it. We brought our beautiful baby boy into this world and everything was so perfect. Everything is so perfect.

Paternity Photos

I just wanted to share a few pictures of my baby daddy with you all. He is super handsome and charming. His talent is post climbing in TOMS and I'd say he is pretty dang good at it. I am really hoping that our little guy takes after his dad, not only his talents but his looks as well. Enjoy!

Eight

While we were in New Mexico visiting family and friends, Gabe and I decided to go out and snap a few maternity pictures. We went out at about six in the morning for great light and cool weather and I was very pleased with the outcome. Here are a few pictures from out photo shoot but to see more check out our photo blog at The Photo Affair.

Seven

That's right, I have made it to month seven of my pregnancy. To be more specific I am actually 29 weeks, so just a little more than seven months. That means that Gabe and I have 11 more weeks until our sweet, little Canaan makes his appearance. At my last appointment, I was told that Canaan is measuring a week and a half ahead of his gestational size, so when I said "our sweet, little Canaan..." I should have put "our sweet, healthy Canaan."

Anyways, as Gabe and I were out and about we stopped by this church's baby consignment sale to see what good deals we could score. There really wasn't much to my liking but we were able to get a few outfits and some lovely maternity photos out of it. Here is a sneak peek of the photo shoot Gabe took of me and Canaan. Enjoy!

The Land of Canaan - Part 2

I am one of those people who love to decorate, so trying to come up with something unique and "us" for Canaan's room has been a little challenging but very exciting. This room started off as our guest room/junk collector room that we hardly ever went in. We set up a sofa sleeper, a t.v. with the stand, along with a large mirror and a rug. It has pretty much been a waste of space since we moved here a year ago. The only time we used this room was Halloween night. We didn't want anyone to know we were home so we camped out with our dogs and watches movies all night, which also happened to be the night we found out we were having a baby, pretty crazy!!

Before we knew what we were having, I had some fabulous girl room ideas floating around in my head but never really settled on anything for a boy. Once we were told that Canaan was a boy, I had to scratch all my girl ideas and get to work on some boy ones. I have never really been big on themes so I knew this would be a little harder but totally worth it in the end. At first, I wasn't sure about the paint color in the room and considered changing to the teal color I painted my kitchen, but once I put up my $2.50 handmade curtains, everything started coming together. I will definitely give you all the details once the room is complete, but for now here is part 2 of Canaan's room. I still need to get him a dresser/changing table and some floating shelves to put above the couch but for the most part, I'd say his room is looking might fine. Enjoy!

 

 

A little side note:

Maggie is Gabe's right hand man (or lady). She truly believes that she is Gabe's little helper and any time he works on a project, she is right by his side. Miles on the other hand is a big sissy who runs away when he hears you wrinkle up a piece of paper. We wanted to be sure to include our pooches in the makings of Canaan's room and I know for certain Maggie had a blast. As you can see in the pictures, she is double checking our work to be sure it's ready for her sweet little brother.

The Land of Canaan - Part 1

Guess what? Canaan's crib came in!!! Be sure to check back later for some progress pictures. I tried uploading them but had some complications. For now, here is a little peek inside The Land of Canaan. His room is going to be stinkin' awesome once it all comes together. Enjoy!

Oh Oleander....

Thanks to a kind friend, I was just told that my lovely oleander shrubs are very toxic. Boo to you oleander! So, if you plan on purchasing some oleander plants or shrubs, read up on them first and be sure to plant them in a place away from pets and kids. I guess Gabe has some work to do this weekend. We will probably move them to the front yard away from the dogs. This explains why Maggie vomited in our yard later that day we planted them...eek! Thank the Lord she is fine now and thanks Catalina for the warning.

A Foot or an Inch?

When we bought our house a year ago both the front and back yard were in pretty bad shape. There were weeds the size of trees and massive dead grass spots all over the place. Gabe and I worked really hard at getting our front yard presentable but ran out of time to focus on the back.

Now that spring is here we figured we better get to work on the back yard soon, especially since we are having our little guy this summer and he will eventually need a big yard to play in. A big yard of lush, green grass not scratchy weeds that is. I will share some grass growing pictures with you another day but for now, we can talk about these lovely shrubs.

As we were shopping around Home Depot for project needs, I thought it would be fun to get some green shrubs. Our backyard has been in need of a little color boost since half of the yard is still dirt (patiently waiting on those grass sprouts). I saw these pretty oleander shrubs and thought that the cute pink flowers and pretty green leaves would compliment my blue $6 plastic pots. When we got home I read the plant info on the back of the tag and realized I had made a small mistake. The tag said that these shrubs grow anywhere from 6' to 10' tall and 10' wide ( ' means feet, not inches), but for some reason I read that a little differently while I was looking for my shrubs at Home Depot. I even asked Gabe if he thought our pots were wide enough to hold a plant that might grow up to 10 inches wide... oh silly me! Needless to say, these shrubs have a new home along the side of our fence. I can't wait to see how pretty they are once they reach their 6 to 10 feet.

P.S. I really think the picture on the front of the shrub tag was deceiving and made me think inches, not feet. Why would they put such a large shrub in a pot??? Come on guys!

Meet the Parents

It has been a little over a year and a half since Gabe and I moved from the beautiful state of California. We absolutely miss that place and would love to head back "home" one of these days (not happening anytime soon) but until then, we will just make frequent visits.

Speaking of visits, I was able to go see my family and friends last month and really enjoyed the sunny, cool, spring weather. While I was there I decided to take advantage of the beauty of both the weather and my wonderful parents. Here are just a few photos of them on a lovely California afternoon. If you would like to see more pictures from their photo shoot, head over to our photo blog here. Enjoy!

Stuffed Owl

I thought it would be fun to start some kid projects now that I know I am having a boy. I had a few things in mind for our little guy but I decided to start with a cute little owl tutorial I found while blog browsing. I had never made a stuffed animal (except for my tiny stuffed birds) before nor had I ever really followed a sewing pattern, so I knew this would be a good challenge. The owl turned out pretty cute but a little smaller than I thought it would be. Plus, not too long after I finished the owl, Maggie made it hers but chewing off one of his eyes. At least I got some cute pictures of the owl before Maggie destroyed it. Enjoy!

P.S. That is Maggie's nose in the third picture. I should have known!

Oh boy!

Since we found out I was pregnant, we have only had one ultrasound done of our little baby and that was at 7 weeks. Yes, it was pretty awesome to see a little, gummy bear sized, white blob sitting in my belly and even better hearing the little heartbeat, but nothing really clicked with us until we had our 20 week appointment. The moment we got to see our little baby in human form was incredible! To see those little legs, arms, spine, ribs, face, lips, eyes, tongue...well pretty much everything about our child, brought so much joy to us. I must say that our 20 week ultrasound was the best experience ever! My heart was literally overflowing with joy when I saw our child that God has created for us to care for and love unconditionally. Oh and I can't leave out the best part, we found out that we are having a boy! Our precious, little Canaan Davis will soon make his appearance in July and we couldn't be happier.