September Sun

We've had some gorgeous September weather! And just like always, the kids love being outside. But since moving, now we have some great neighborhood friends and a great flat yard to play in, and a basically quiet street. We have really settled in well.

While the kids play in the yard, Aaron usually watches (or sleeps.)

Caleb found a new interrest this summer.

He really impresses me how much he's learned.

Alisia and I got pampered!

It was her first time!

And we just love how they turned out!

Here's a picture of some cuteness until I can get some more up!

More Soon!

Let Me Explain

I promised life hasn't stopped for us now that Aaron is born. We are still here. Let me explain.

I used to wake up to a beautiful sleeping baby in front of me every morning! I couldn't get enough of him and would just watch in amazement his peaceful sleeping body.

And take pictures of course.

And more pictures.

Then, I started to wake up to a beautiful alert baby, looking all around his home and gazing back into my eyes. I couldn't get enough of him and just had to lay beside him in amazement as we gazed at each other.

And take more pictures of course.

Now I wake up every morning to a very happy baby smiling and cooing. And I just can't get enough of him. I am still in amazement how beautiful he is!

I have to make sure I don't miss any of these big beautiful smiles!

So I also take more pictures!

Not forgetting to mention these two other beautiful children who are growing much faster than I am comfortable with and are about to start school again next week. I can't get enough of them. Thanking God for every moment I have with my three children.

Understand?

Birth Story and Pics

Well, with a new baby at home, we have lots of stories and lots of pics.

For now, here's Aaron's first pics from the hospital and coming home. There's still lots of adjusting going on, but we've also been enjoying lots of lovin' on this little guy!

It's not much of an exciting birth story. The cool thing was it happened on July 3rd, Angel and I were both off work because of the 4th holiday. I tried staying home as long as I could. I woke up twice early in the morning and wondered if it was because of contractions. I told Angel I thought it was happening, but still wasn't sure. When we finally got out of bed and going for the day, I started telling him everytime I had a contraction and he would write it down. They were about every 10 minutes at 9:30 (am). A few hours later Angel kept loosing the paper and pen, so Alisia took over recording them. They were't very hard, but they were consistent, so we knew it was happening and rejoiced that I wouldn't be getting induced!

While we were home, I tried to stay distracted and threw in a load of laundry, did some dishes, Angel mowed the yard, Alisia and I played a card game, updated the blog, we walked around Wal-Mart and stopped by my parents house. By that time, around 5:00, they were getting harder and every 4-5 minutes. We went home, Angel grabed a shower, got the suitcase, and headed to the hospital. We checked in about 7:45. When we got up the floor it was about 8 pm and I was at 5 cm. I was discouraged because I had been going through this all day. I was hoping I would be closer. We spent two hours breathing through contractions and different positions. By 10 pm I was so tired and ready for some Meds. Everyone was happy when I started to get angry at the way Angel was holding my hand. They said that's a "good sign" and I was almost done. They checked me and I was already at 9 1/2 cm and decided I could make it to the end. Me, my mom, Angel, a midwife-in-training, the midwife observing, the doctor observing, and the labor delivery nurse were all just waiting for the next contraction. 2-3 contractions later I was pushing him out. He was born at 10:24 pm.

First pic: They placed him right up on my belly when he was born.

Yup. 8.12 No Meds. :)

Proud Papi:

Proud siblings! Love at first sight!

Proud big sister! And proud Grammy (who helped me SO much in the delivery room)!

Caleb was SO curious about everything they were doing to the baby and mommy! He kept asking tons of questions, the good thing was the nurse was patient enough to answer most of them. She thought he was so cute. "Why does the baby have to be in that cart, Where are they taking him, why is his face have that stuff on it, why do you have those things hooked up to you, did you scream" And so many more!

He was also so proud of his little brother and very eager to hold him.

In awe and in love:

Birth record:

My mom had to work while we were in the hospital and came to check on us every chance she got:

Have to fight her down if you want to hold him:

Right after delivery the nurse asked me "what did you have? A boy or a girl" I guess I'm not use to that question yet because my responce was "I have one of each" after she looked at me strangly, I realized that I have one girl and two boys. Then I responded "no, I had a boy."

Happy Mommy with her three kids!

On Sunday, Uncle Jarrod and Aunt Stephanie came to meet their new nephew:




And help us back up to go home:

Yay, going home!

Angel was scheduled to give the message on Sunday. I had to miss it, but I heard he did great!! Right after church, we all went home.

First car ride. Those things sure don't help keep their head up like they're supposed to.

At home:

Still in Awe:

Hanging out with Aunt Stephanie:

And many more adventures to come!

Aaron Samuel Garcia

Born: 7/3/09 at 10:24 pm
8 lb 12 oz
19 1/2 in

"Yet you brought me safely from my mother's womb and led me to trust you at my mother's breast. I was thrust into your arms at my birth. You have been my God from the moment I was born."
Psalm 22:9 & 10

Counting Blessings

Caleb woke up on Tuesday and reminded me that it was the last day of June and said "the baby has to come today because you said he'd come in June."

I had an appointment this week with the midwife and we talked about inducing on Monday if he doesn't come by this weekend. I don't know how I feel about being induced because both Alisia and Caleb came a few days before their due date. But we also talked about the risks involved with going past 42 weeks. We're just praying he'll decide to come out on his own. And yes we are trying every trick in the book.

Waiting has been challenging. But God has revealed himself in so many ways these past few days. Since my due date, God has showered down so many blessings unexpectedly and shown me that He really does has every detail under his perfect control. These blessings have been reminders to me of His amazing love.

Blessing #1: Compared to how I was feeling this time last month, God has definitely filled my spirit with peace and I'm so ready to bring this little guy into the world!

Blessing #2: We just finished cleaning up our old house and turned the keys in Tuesday night. I don't know how that would have gotten done if we were in the hospital.

Blessing #3: We've been able to settle into our new house and set up the baby's room! This has been so exciting! And again, God providing! Take a look at what we have started so far:

Blessing #4: These clothes are from the bin I found during the move from when Caleb was born.

Blessing #5: Last week we sat down to seriously discuss names. Angel prayed before we began our discussion. It took only a few minutes for us to agree! It's not even a name that were considering before. We wrote it down and sealed the envelope!

Blessing #6: My parents. I haven't had childcare lined up for this week well, because I thought I wouldn't still be pregnant and working. My parents have been great working with our schedules and watching the kids. They also have freely given up many evenings to help us finnish cleaning our old house.

Blessing #7: These two have been playing so well together with all our crazy schedules going on. They keep eachother entertained and pitch in to help when or before they are asked. They are both so excited to meet their new sibling and have been so patient waiting.

Blessing #8: Don't laugh, but AFLAC. I signed up for AFLAC knowing we wanted to get pregnant. I signed up the end of August and the man said I'd have to wait 10 months from September 1st to have the baby. That put us right at July 1st. With a due date of June 26, I worried we signed up for it for nothing. But now it looks like it'll go through without any problems.

Blessing #9: God's people. We've had a lot going on at our church recently and it seems this is just not a good time to have a baby because every one is busy planning mission trips (including us). There's so much going on in the life of the church, and it's so easy to feel drowned out by it all. But through it all, God has faithfully brought people to our side to support us in so many ways. This has really helped me see the body of Christ as a whole body- globally, not just the people we worship with on Sunday's. We have been blessed countless times by fellow believers, not only from our own church body. This has also helped me be more aware of how I can help others.

All of these things have happened just since my due date. How Great is our God!

Here's another shot of my belly recently. It's not so clear, but you can really see how round it is and sticks way out there.

UPDATE:

BLESSING #10: Even more exciting than my round belly, we've been timing contractions today! Will this be a July 3rd baby or a July 4th?

Waiting

My due date was June 26th.

Today is July 1st.

Enough said.

I'll update more soon. For now, enjoy these most recent shots.