Glowing Light

The Blog Has Moved!

2012-01-02T06:56:00.002-07:00

In case you didn't know...the blog has moved!
Alex has recreated my blog in squarespace. Blogger has been a fun platform but it's time to move on, and Alex is a big fan of squarespace. My URL is still the same: www.glowinglightblog.com

I hope you will continue to follow our adventures in 2012 over on the new blog, be sure to update your links so you don't miss a thing. I promise that 2012 is going to be an amazing year and I hope that we can continue to interact and grow together. Thanks for being faithful readers. I am always humbled when someone tells me that they read and enjoy my blog. Those words warm my heart. I'll see you over on the new blog! Be sure to drop a comment over there so I know you're still reading. :-) Be blessed, friends.

Liam's First Christmas

2011-12-26T10:35:00.002-07:00

I have to say, Liam's first Christmas was a great success! He received many wonderful gifts (thank you to all!) and had so much fun with family. Alex and I love this little boy so much.

How cute are we in our matching gray/black/green outfits??!!

We hope your Christmas was just as joyous as ours was. We're looking forward to the new year with all its blessings, challenges, victories, and changes. Life just keeps getting better and better.

My handsome men.

Mama and Baby.

Look at those teefers!!!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T06:11:00.003-07:00

The Acevedos are having a wonderful time with family and friends in Miami, but we wanted to drop in and wish you all a very Merry Christmas. It's hard to believe that last Christmas we surprised everyone with the news that we were expecting...and this year we have our handsome Liam with us to celebrate his first Christmas. What a blessing!

We pray that every single one of you enjoys this day to the fullest. Remember to celebrate the wonderful gift we have in Jesus. “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Guest Blog: Christmas DIY Gifts

2011-12-24T08:07:00.003-07:00

While I'm off enjoying vacation I lined up some guest bloggers to share their Christmas themed posts with you. Up next is my awesome friend, Steph. We became friends in high school physics class. She has beautiful hair, a winning personality, and more artistic talent than anyone I know. Here she shares some fun DIY projects for Christmas gifts. Enjoy!

Hello everyone! I'm Stephanie and I'm on a budget. haha I love giving gifts. I love finding things for everyone dear to me. This year, it can't happen. Its reality. Kinda sucks, but it forces me to get a little creative. Reading through my google reader helps with the inspiration. DIY. It always saves the day. Of course you have to set some time apart to get it all done nicely.

I recently made a book for a couple's wedding. It came out awesome. I'm really proud of it honestly. You can make one too! Here are some pics of the process. Here's a step by step on how to make another kind of book. Be warned...its a bit overwhelming, but if you've got the patience, do it.

Here are other DIY I found at Ruche blog. They look adorable and easy!

These two images pretty much go hand in hand. You can make someone a snow globe! I'm pretty sure they'll love it. Who makes snowglobes??? Nobody, and for you to make one for them will make them feel special.

This DIY is for making Votives or candleholders. Depending on which container you use. You can make a set of candleholders for a couple! They can use it for any occasion around the home, as a tablescape, etc. I'm in love with it. I'm planning on making some for New Year's!

This final one is those of you (including myself) who plan on baking goods as gifts. I love cupcakes! Presentation is important. It's what makes a cupcake a gift instead of an everyday ordinary treat (i have cupcakes a lot haha). The ladies at Red Velvet had this great idea. They even included a little recipe!

Hope you all have a great holiday! DIY it up! <3

Guest Blog: Have Yourself a Crafty Little Christmas

2011-12-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

While I'm off enjoying vacation I lined up some guest bloggers to share their Christmas themed posts with you. Next up we have Chanti. I've known Chanti since our high school days and I so admire the woman she has become. She's giving and self-less and creative and talented to boot. You must check out her blog and say hello.

Hello, I'm Chanti from "Live Freely"!

Thank you, Kristel, for inviting me to share a little post on your blog. I live in Miami, FL with my family and 2 dogs, Xena & Rainer. I love coffee, tea, ice cream, books, films, nice people, Jesus and adventures. I'll stop rambling now and get to the good stuff. So, without further ado ... here are a few things that make me terribly happy during Christmas.

DIY Crafts!
DIY Bright lights. This is a great, fun craft for the holiday season. Who doesn't want to have brighter lights than their neighbor? I mean, seriously.

That’s a Wrap!
There's nothing like seeing beautifully wrapped gifts under the tree. I love getting creative when it comes to wrapping gifts. I guess there's just something so sweet about personalizing each package.

Tis the Season to Look Lovely!
So… I can’t say I typically prance around in glitter and heels but, for some reason, the holidays just seem like the perfect time to try something different and fun. Check these outfits out for a little inspiration.

Everything Christmas!
Finally, there’s nothing greater than filling every moment with Christmas cheer and details. These are some favorite things …

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Be love, be joy, be happiness for someone who may not be as blessed as you this holiday season.

xx.
Oh Chanti

Guest Blog: Christmas Decor DIY

2011-12-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

While I'm enjoying vacation time I lined up some guest bloggers to share their Christmas themed posts with you. Today we have Megan sharing all about some great Christmas decorating tips. I always love the way Megan decorates her house for all the different seasons and holidays. It's definitely inspired me to decorate my own home. Enjoy!

When Kristel asked me to guest blog for her, I immediately had the idea of sharing all of my pictures of Liam. Sure, they aren't the same quality as Alex and Kristel's pictures of their sweet guy but who wouldn't want to see more pictures of Liam?? Is he not absolutely adorable? I figured it would be best to refrain from doing that, so instead I will share some of my own tips for doing Christmas decorations on a budget.-Try to use what you already own and then incorporate cheap Christmas goodies. For this idea I used a white appetizer plate, votive candles, and candy canes. I already had the votive candles (from showers that I have thrown) and the white appetizer plate came with my dishes. The candy canes are the cheap Christmas goody that I'm talking about here. Candy canes are pretty cheap at around $2 for 2 dozen or so. This is true decorating on a budget people!-Another cheap Christmas item that you can decorate with is Christmas ornaments. I would pick a color scheme and run with it! Some people love silver and white together and some people like non-traditional colors together like pinks and greens and I really like plain old red and green together. Most craft stores will have their ornament sets for 50% off at some point before Christmas so it's a good idea to stock up when there is a sale. I have seen people decorate with lots of ornaments in one vase (like I did) or several small vases with a single ornament in each one. There are lots of directions you could go with this but decorating with ornaments is pretty budget friendly.-Stock up on ornaments and stick them in whatever type vases or bowls that you have. Goodwill is a great place to find vases and jars of all sizes.-Know what else is cheap and really Christmasy looking?? Bows! I just carried my color scheme right on over when I picked out my bows. I found a bag of bows for $3.50. I threw about 30 or so candy canes in the other apothecary jar so that was probably another $4 or so.-Decorate with cranberries! I bought 2 bags of cranberries ($5 total) and threw them in these hurricane jars with candles. These are on my dining room table. -If you choose to stay on budget with the majority of your items then you can splurge a little bit on a few things-I chose these kitchen towels and pillow. I would figure out what you want to splurge on and plan around that if you are decorating for the first time. If you decorate with candy canes and cranberries, you might not feel so bad about spending a little extra on a couple of things : )I absolute love decorating for Christmas but even more than that I love staying under budget when I decorate. So, figure out the colors that you like and run with it! You can easily have a very Christmasy looking home for the holidays without having to spend a ton of money. Thanks for reading! Head on over to Our Little Urban Life and say Hi! I'd love to hear from you!And just because I can't help myself, here is a picture of Liam I took when I was babysitting. He's just too cute for me to not include a picture.

Julian Santiago

2011-12-19T23:07:00.000-07:00

On Friday, December 16th, in the wee hours of the morning, my nephew was born. His name is Julian and he is beautiful. I was able to go see him on Saturday and Sunday and I can't believe how tiny he is! As I held him I tried to remember Liam when he was that small. At four months Liam weighs double what Julian does now. Crazy how fast they grow!

I am so happy for my sister and brother-in-law. They have an amazing journey ahead of them and they're going to rock this parenting thing. Congratulations to the new mama and papa! We love you, Julian.

Guest Blog: Oh, Christmas Tree

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

While I'm off enjoying vacation time I have a few guest bloggers lined up to share their Christmas themed posts with you. Next up, Lauren of Becoming Vanderburg. She and her husband moved out to Denver shortly after we did to help out with our church plant. Enjoy her post!

Hey Glowing Light readers! This is Lauren, another crazy one who moved to cross-country to Denver this year with the Acevedos and the Summit. Since Kristel’s soaking up the sunshine and warmth of South Florida, I’m sharing a few thoughts on Christmas.

During our move from North Carolina, there was much that got tossed. One thing that did not was our Christmas tree stand. I grew up in Central Florida, and I remember my parents using this particular stand year after year to hold a live tree. Being that we lived in a warm climate, my family clung to feelings of “a traditional Christmas,” including a live tree. Thus – the stand. This particular stand held a wonderfully pine-scented, living tree by clamping the trunk in a red, metal bowl. It was held up by three green legs that screwed into the trunk. You know the kind, right? When my family moved from Florida to Tennessee, the stand went with. Dad’s traditional yells, foul language and general discontent about the stand also made it to Tennessee. Yet, we persisted. Christmas traditions, right? ;)

After college, when I moved out on my own, my parents “gifted” me with that Christmas tree stand so I could have a tree of my own in my apartment. For four years in North Carolina, the stand served me well with no fuss or muss. Why wouldn’t we take it to Colorado with us?

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. My husband, knowing my Christmas tradition of a live tree, took me to pick one out the Saturday after Thanksgiving. At 11:30 at night. That’s when The Christmas Tree Debacle of 2011 began.

1st mistake: Picking out a tree after normal tree-hours from a grocery store. None of the workers there knew how to re-bundle a tree after looking at it, so we just chose a tree that was still tied up and prayed it would work. It didn’t.

2nd mistake: Not bringing the stand with us to see if the tree would fit in it. It wouldn’t.

3rd mistake: Spending hours on Sunday afternoon sawing the trunk to try and fit it into the stand. We wanted to use the few daylight hours left of the weekend, so sandwiched between family leaving and going to church, we began to work on that Christmas tree.

Once we realized the trunk was too fat to fit in the stand, we began sawing off portions to wedge it into the stand. For 2 hours, I laid across the tree, which was laid across our deck furniture, holding it steady while Adrian sawed and sawed and sawed. Four big chunks made the trunk small enough, and after much ado – it was time.

4th mistake: We screwed the tree into the stand. Technically, we screwed two screws, and drove a long nail into the third leg, since we realized too late we had lost a screw in the move. That proved to be a costly mistake.

It wasn’t until after we had moved the tree inside and set it upright in the stand that we realized all the sawing had made the trunk lopsided. The tree wouldn’t stay up. Even tied up and leaning against the wall, there was no hope. Once again, we drug it outside to the deck to remove the tree from the stand and rectify the situation. Unfortunately, the 6-inch long nail didn’t come out from the trunk as easily as the two screws did. We wiggled and pried and tried our darndest. No use. Tree and stand were stuck together like dogs after mating (that’s for you, Kristel ;) So, Adrian spent another hour sawing off the bottom of the trunk (and the stand that was rigidly attached to it).

5th mistake: Repeating the third mistake. After much pounding and prying, we finally separated the stand from the lopsided part of the trunk. After church on Sunday, and after daylight was long gone, we were back on the deck – respectively holding the tree steady and sawing the trunk to make it small enough for the stand again.

6th mistake: Using three nails to hold the trunk and stand together. Since we had bent the legs prying the trunk and stand apart earlier, we figured three nails would work better than two screws and a nail. We were, once again, wrong.

7th mistake: Taking the tree (still bundled up) back inside the apartment.

8th mistake: Thinking if we just untied the tree maybe it would balance itself and would stand upright. It didn’t.

After literally hours upon hours spent sawing and wedging and prying that dang tree into that dang stand – it still wouldn’t cooperate. At some point in hour 4 or so, I heard that same Christmas tree stand elicit the same kind of language from my husband as it had from my father. Ah, traditions. Unlike my traditional family Christmas experience though – we admitted defeat in the VanderHouse. There was no way that tree was going to work with that stand. It just wouldn’t.

Tuesday night, Adrian once again picked up the tree and moved it to the deck. He once again sawed the trunk off to separate it from the stand. He once again pried the nails out of the sawed-off trunk. We threw the tree into the bed of our truck and, after all of it – we returned the tree to the store. We threw away the severely mangled Christmas tree stand that had been in my family for years. We got a new, smaller Christmas tree and we found a new, sturdier stand at the store. We tested the tree in the stand before we ever left the parking lot, and once we knew it would stand upright – we brought it all home. No sawing required.

I’m thankful to tell you we have been enjoying our fully-functional Christmas tree for a couple of weeks now. We’ve also kept part of the old tree – one of the many 5-inch sections of the sawed-off trunk – as a reminder. It’s sitting on our counter, nail still sticking out of it, and I’m reminded that sometimes – a square trunk won’t fit into a round hole, no matter how many ways you slice it.

Guest Blog: Don't Let Awkward Family Christmas Photos Happen to You!

2011-12-16T00:54:00.000-07:00

While I'm off enjoying vacation time with my family I have a few guest bloggers lined up to share their Christmas themed posts with you. First up is my dear friend, Merari. She's a talented photographer based in Miami, FL but she loves to travel. You should definitely book her to shoot your next big event...especially if it's an exotic destination wedding.

It's that time of year again. Sleighbells ring, snow is glistening, Starbucks has fancy flavored coffee. yay! It's also that time when everyone sends family photo christmas cards to loved ones. They're kinda like the cool, short version of old-school family newsletters: "Dear ____, this is what we look like this year! Merry Christmas! Love, us"

I've had the comedic pleasure of seeing some incredibly horrible family photos.

Photos from Awkwardfamilyphotos.com

Need I say more? Now these are all lovely, loving families who have had horrible pictures happen to them.

Don't let that happen to you!

I'm here to share some important awkward-saving tips for your own Christmas family portraits.

Tip #1. As a professional photographer, I may be biased on this one, but I can attest to the investment of hiring a professional.

Do you research and hire someone you can trust to capture your family in a genuine way. I know the Holidays are money-spending days, but it's worth it. No one ever regrets hiring someone awesome to take pictures of their family. If you don't know any photographers, ask friends, or use Google, Facebook and even Pinterest to find a photographer whose style you like and personality you click with.

Tip #2. The days of matching Christmas sweater vests are over! Unless you're into their ironic hipster use, it's best to steer clear. Wear something comfortable and flattering. If you're feeling awkward, it will show. If you'd like to be coordinated, you can have a color palette and pick outfits based on that. It'll look great in pictures! You can even get creative and bring some props.

For example, Rey, Lauren and Zoe did a primary color palette and added balloons. Very cute and un-awkward!

Tip #3. Have fun! If you're feeling awkward and self-conscious, it will show. If your kids are not into posing, it's okay! This is why you got a professional who can work around them and get great candids.

We've all had embarrassing, awkward photos taken of us (I had to pay my mom to stop showing them to friends). With these few tips, you can leave those days behind and make your loved ones unashamed of putting your Christmas card on the fridge.

Christmas Came Early

2011-12-12T17:56:00.001-07:00

Liam and I will soon be off to Miami (yeah, I'm gonna get on a plane...alone...with a teething baby... Pray for me, folks!) so we decided to celebrate Christmas as our little family of four just a little bit early. We opted to just do stocking stuffers this year so we all had fun seeing what sweet little gifts we had all gotten for each other.

Can't wait to celebrate with our family in Miami!

teething?

2011-12-12T07:55:00.002-07:00

Well, it seems like our Little Man is cutting some teeth. This could explain some of the sleeping issues we've been having. We were hanging out in bed this morning when he grabbed my finger and stuck it in his mouth (as is his usual practice these days) but this time I felt something kind of hard and sharp. So I pulled back his lips and you can kind of see two little white teeth starting to poke through the gums. Talk about big boy status!

Alex and I tried to take a photo and this is the best we could get:

Can you see it?

Now what?? I guess I'll call his pediatrician later today to see what recommendations they have. So congratulations, Liam, on your first two teeth. Hopefully some day we'll all sleep again and you'll have a gorgeous toothy grin.

sleep training?

2011-12-11T11:22:00.001-07:00

Well, Liam's sleeping has been getting worse and worse. He wakes up frequently throughout the night and it's not always because he's hungry. Sometimes he just doesn't feel like sleeping, I guess. We've been trying to be consistent with a bedtime routine and for about a week we've been successfully getting him to bed before 8 o'clock with no fussing...except for last night. He was not wanting to go to sleep. And when he finally went to sleep he kept waking up every two hours like clock work. ::SIGH::

I'm wondering if we should do some sleep training...maybe try transferring him to his crib to sleep at night. Here's the thing...I'm not into the "cry it out" method. I'd like to try a gentler approach. I will only resort to "cry it out" if absolutely necessary. I'm also not going to start him on cereal until six months of age. I know a lot of people say to give your baby cereal at night to make him sleep longer...but I've read that this is a myth. Is it? Either way, our pediatrician suggests exclusive breastfeeding for six months and I am in full agreement.

I'm not expecting him to sleep 12 hours straight right away. The fact of the matter is that he is exclusively breastfed and that means he digests his milk faster than formula, which means he gets hungry sooner. I'm okay with a night feeding or two until he starts solids but this is getting ridiculous. I know he's not always waking up because he's hungry.

So let me hear it, mamas and papas. How have you helped your little one sleep better at night? I'm so nervous about doing any kind of sleep training...but I need my rest! Thanks, friends.

Check me out in my doggie jam jams!

Such an angel when he's actually asleep. ;-)

Kreativ Blogger Award

2011-12-08T17:24:00.001-07:00

My friend, Michelle, passed on the Kreativ Blogger Award to me a few weeks ago and I'm finally getting around to saying THANKS. And now I'm supposed to list seven random things about myself. Here we go...

I was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras while my parents were fleeing Nicaragua and coming to the United States.
I had lasik eye surgery when I was 21...by the time I was 25 I was wearing glasses again. Lame.
I have lived in Miami, FL, Raleigh, NC, and Denver, CO.
My favorite color is always changing. I think right now it's teal.
I have a hard time liking new music. It takes me a while to warm up to it. So, no, I probably haven't heard of that new band or that new song from that old band. Sorry, hipsters and music snobs.
Tres leches is my favorite dessert...I'm pretty sure. But only when my grandma makes it. :-)
I love watching movies and tv shows. Looove it. I find it annoying when people brag about never watching tv. I like tv and I don't care who knows it.

There you go. Seven random things. Thanks again for the award, Michelle. I would like to pass this award to some of the most creative ladies I know: Steph and Tammie.

four months

2011-12-04T12:21:00.001-07:00

Four. Months. Old. For some reason that seems so old to me. Liam continues to amaze me with how much he is learning on a daily basis. Over the past couple of weeks he has rolled from belly to back several times and from back to belly twice. He's vocal as can be and sometimes his little screams are so loud! He loves to talk with his grandparents and tia on FaceTime. He's starting to actually stay awake on outings. I took him to the aquarium and he was fascinated with all the fish. He still loves bath time. He's starting to splash the water with his legs and laugh while doing it. He's not sleeping through the night, not even close! The longest he sleeps for is 3.5 hours, on a good night! And then he's pretty much up every two hours. So I am one tired mama.

He's a little drool monster, but I can't feel any teeth coming in yet. I don't think we're going to start solids with him just yet. I'm planning on waiting until he's six months but we'll see. If he's ready before then, we may start. Right now I just don't think he's ready. Besides, he gets everything he needs from his mommy milk. ;-)

christmas traditions

2011-12-01T09:32:00.001-07:00

I've mentioned before that I would like to start some fun family traditions now that Liam is in the picture. I want him to have special memories of the holidays. So I've been thinking about what we could do for Christmas...and I'm at a loss! Alex and I started doing stocking stuffers since we got married, which is fun because neither one of us grew up with stockings as a part of our Christmases. I like filling up his stocking with cute inexpensive gifts. So that's something we will continue to do with Liam (and Jaxon of course!). And then I read on earlymama.com that they do not want to get a bunch of useless gifts for their son so every year they give him something to read, something to wear, and something to play with. I love that idea because I don't want Liam just getting a bunch of toys for Christmas. I would like him to grow up loving books the way I did and a practical (or just fun) clothing item is nice to get too. So Alex and I have decided that's something we would like to establish with Liam and any future children.

But what else? Any other fun Christmas traditions out there? I'd like to continue my family's tradition of staying up until midnight on Christmas Eve to open gifts (as opposed to waking up early on Christmas morning) and I'm not sure how I feel about Santa Claus. I'm certainly not anti-Santa, but I just don't see him as a necessary part of Christmas. I don't remember believing in Santa growing up. My parents always said our gifts were brought by el niñito Dios. So we'll see where we go with that one. We'll probably take him to get his photo taken with Santa this year...just for fun. :-)

What fun Christmas traditions do you have in your family? Any suggestions for the Acevedos?

By the way, it's snowing today! Happy December to all!

baby travel tips

2011-11-29T09:33:00.001-07:00

Soon Liam and I will get on a plane headed towards Miami. I am so excited to finally introduce him to so many that are near and dear to our hearts. I think my aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends will just go crazy over this little guy.

As excited as I am, I'm also terrified to get on a plane...alone...with a baby. I know I'll have to breastfeed at some point during the plane ride and those seats are so small and close together. I'm hoping he won't have a fit on the plane. That would be so embarrassing and annoying for the other travelers. And how will he handle the two hour time difference? I already decided I'm checking our luggage because I cannot handle keeping track of our bags and making sure he's okay. And thankfully I won't have to bring a car seat, stroller, etc because I'll be borrowing those items from my sister. So I figure I'll take Liam in his baby carrier. Any other tips from seasoned traveling mamas out there?? What must have items should I include in his diaper bag? What are some good soothing techniques? What's the best way to keep him from getting sick? How can I prepare him for the plane trip and the time change? How do I keep myself sane?!? :-)

Thanks in advance for your responses!

Liam stretching his dedos de gallina after nap time.

First Family Photo Session

2011-11-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

On Thanksgiving Day Alex's co-worker, who captured these lovely images, took us up to Boulder to have our first family portrait session with Little Liam. We wanted to go for a folk-y, rustic look with the mountains in the background. Jessica did a great job! Especially considering Liam wasn't in the best of moods. I can't wait to choose one of these photos for our Christmas card this year.

Thanks Jessica!

happy thanksgiving

2011-11-24T10:23:00.001-07:00

Wanted to write a quick post wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
This time last year I was already pregnant...I just didn't know it yet. [Denial?? Haha]
Now we have been blessed with this wonderful little turkey. We are so thankful!

Hope you all have a great day celebrating with loved ones. I can't wait to stuff my face!

mom hair

2011-11-21T09:41:00.001-07:00

Hello. My name is Kristel Acevedo and I have mom hair. I always said I wouldn't fall into the "ponytail rut," but here I am. How did this happen? It seems that I have a lot less time to groom myself these days. Don't get me wrong, I haven't turned into a slob. I still shower everyday and put on real clothes, even if it's almost always jeans and a v-neck t-shirt. I put on a little blush and mascara to try and mask my exhaustion. And everyday I brush my hair into a messy ponytail or bun. I'm stuck. I don't have time to blow dry and iron my hair. My hair isn't long enough to braid. And I'm not very skilled in the hair styling department anyway so I have no inspiration. I had decided that I wanted to grow my hair out [it seems I'm constantly in the process of growing my hair out] but now I'm thinking it may be easier to cut it all off. It'll be easier to style that way and I can get away from this ponytail rut. What say you, blog readers? To cut or not to cut? Any other solutions from hair style experts out there?

P.S. It's scary how much my hair falls out these days?! They weren't lying about that post-pregnancy symptom. It's a wonder I'm not bald already.

BabyConnect

2011-11-15T12:38:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to write a post about the BabyConnect app and now I finally have the time! I have to say that I love this app. Some people may think I'm neurotic, but I'm honestly not. It is just a big help to me since my memory fails me a lot these days and I didn't know much about babies prior to Liam being born.

This app, which I use on my iPad and iPhone, keeps track of everything! How often Liam eats and for how long. How many wet/poopy diapers. How much he's sleeping. Weight gain. How much I pump. What milestones he's reaching. Ev-er-y-thing. Sometimes when Liam is being crabby and I have no idea why, I'll look at the app and realize he's been awake for an hour and a half and is probably tired...or it's been two hours since he ate so he's probably hungry. I try to read his cues the best I can but when I'm lost or confused the app is a big help to me. It also helps me notice patterns. That's how I learned that when he's been up for more than an hour he gets cranky. That's how I learned that he sleeps an average of 8-9 hours a night (though certainly not in one block unfortunately!). That's how I learned that he can only go four hours from his last feeding of the night to his first feeding the next day (major bummer!). And that he's a once-a-week pooper.

I would definitely be lost without this app and will forever sing its praises! This app is available for iPhone, iPad, and Android...and is also available on the web. I say if you're a new mommy you should download it ASAP.

And here are some cute photos of Liam, because it's not a complete blogpost without some Liam cute-ness.

Gap jeans and H&M cardigan...this kid is stylin'!

Playing with his o-ball.

Rolling from back to side!

daylight savings time is dumb

2011-11-09T16:56:00.001-07:00

I've never been a fan of daylight savings time. What's the point? It just messes everything up. People get confused about what time it really is. And, sure, our phones and computers change time automatically, but what about the clocks in ovens, microwaves, cars...changing car clocks is the worst! And having a baby makes the time change even more annoying. Liam never got the memo and his nighttime schedule has been all outta whack. Poor guy has no idea what's going on.

So this is just my little rant. Abolish daylight savings time! It's dumb.

I love this guy. Even with all the lack of sleep.

three months

2011-11-05T08:29:00.001-06:00

Today Liam is three months old! That's halfway to six months! Which is halfway to a year! Which means soon he'll be off to college! My sweet little man is growing up before my very eyes. I read this article yesterday and it totally resonated with me. I never imagined myself with a son but now that I have one I am head over heels in love.

At three months Liam is developing quite rapidly. He is starting to reach out to his toys and grab them. The first time he did it I was so excited! I took pictures and put them on instagram, twitter, and facebook! I just had to share with the world. Now when I put him on his activity mat he swats at the animals hanging down. I know it sounds like nothing. I think before I had kids I wouldn't have been very impressed but just seeing how he's gone from this floppy tiny little baby to this boy who is grabbing toys all by himself in just three months...well, I can't help but be impressed. He is also starting to sit in his bumbo. He looks so cute and grown up.

Liam is a very curious little boy. He likes to take in his surroundings. His eyes are always darting all around the room taking in every detail. He is smiling and laughing a lot too. When he wakes up in the morning and I say, "Hello, handsome. Good morning," he looks up to me and smiles. Melt my heart! He thinks Alex is just the most hilarious human being on the planet. Have you seen this video of him laughing at daddy's funny voices? I love it.

Without further ado, here is Liam's three month photo:

He is rockin' those leg warmers!

why I don't hate midnight feedings

2011-11-04T10:50:00.001-06:00

Part of me really wishes Liam would sleep for 10 hours every night without disrupting me even once. I miss sleep, I crave sleep. But I get it. He's a baby. He's growing. He has a tiny belly that digests milk quickly and he needs to fill it up again. And despite missing out on some much needed sleep I really don't hate waking up in the middle of the night to feed my boy. I think those quiet and still moments where he's snuggled up to me are some of the sweetest moments I'll ever experience with him. This time I get to nurse him is so short in the grand scheme of things.

Also, it helps that he always goes right back to sleep when he's done eating. He looks so adorable when he stretches his little arms in the air. gives a little grunt, and drifts off to sleep. [I, on the other hand, have been having a terrible time trying to get back to sleep. It's so frustrating! Any tips??]

As much as I enjoy those sweet moments with Liam I'd like to start stretching his nighttime sleep a little more...five or six straight hours of sleep would be amazing! I ordered "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" and started reading it. So far it seems pretty great, we'll see what happens when I start implementing the suggestions in the book. I ended up choosing this book over some others because I do not want to make Liam "cry it out" and I don't really want to impose a strict schedule on him. So again, we'll see what happens. Pray for us, friends. :-)

Sushi Baby!

2011-11-01T16:04:00.003-06:00

I love celebrating all of Liam's firsts, especially when it comes to holidays. It's so much fun to celebrate with him.

I wasn't going to dress him up for Halloween but at the last minute I got some scrap pieces of fabric and a hot glue gun and put together this little costume for our little man. He looked delicious!

I think next Halloween will be even more fun because we'll actually go trick-or-treating. I can't wait!

And here is our spray painted pumpkin family...

I'm already planning on how I want to decorate next year's pumpkins!

Hope everyone had a fun and candy-filled Halloween.

Liam's First Snow

2011-10-29T14:10:00.000-06:00

Denver weather is crazy. On Monday it was 80 degrees with sunny skies and on Wednesday we got our first snow of the season! It's mostly melted away by now and it's supposed to be in the 60s on Halloween.

Anyway, it was fun to introduce Liam to the snow. Alex had to go to work, but my friend, Shannon, came over and took a few pictures of Liam in the snow. I realized quickly that we're going to have to get him some more snow-appropriate clothing. Maybe a one-piece snow suit that covers his hands and feet...and some moccassin-type shoes to keep his little toes warm.

Anyway, here are the photos of Liam experiencing his first snow! Thanks for the photos, Shannon.

"Uhh, mom, what's going on here? What's all this white stuff?"

Chillin' in the snow.

View from above. Those shoes were way too big and kept falling off.

What a cute little eskimo.

"Okay mom, let's get inside, it's cold out here!"

the hard days

2011-10-28T12:12:00.002-06:00

I am beyond thankful for the blessing that Liam is to our lives. I am also beyond thankful that I am able to stay home with him everyday. But that doesn't mean it's all rainbows and butterflies. There are some days when I want to crawl into a hole and hide for hours. I just want to sleep and watch a movie without having to press pause ten times and get some work done without interruption and have peace and quiet. Yesterday was one of those days where I just wanted to get away. I was tired and we were having breastfeeding issues and Liam was just being crabby. Thank God Alex had the day off from work so he was able to help out quite a bit. And today I woke up feeling much better. The hard days are certainly no fun but they make me really appreciate all the good days.

Check out this sweet video Alex made. Mornings with Liam are my favorite.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-26T13:19:00.002-06:00

I don't think I had ever been to a real pumpkin patch before last Sunday. Now that we have Liam we are trying to create fun family traditions. The obvious tradition for the Fall/Halloween season is visiting a pumpkin patch and decorating pumpkins. [I would also like to pick apples at an apple orchard! I think I'll wait until next year though.] Alex found Rock Creek Farm in Broomfield and we were on our way.

It was such a beautiful day! Warm with clear skies and a light breeze. Predictably, Liam fell asleep in the car on the way there. I usually don't like waking him up when he's napping, but I didn't want him to miss our first ever pumpkin patch visit. We didn't bring Jaxon with us this time (sorry Jaxon!) but we did get him his very own pumpkin. Everyone in the family got one. Now, the next step will be decorating them. That's tomorrow's project.

Love those mountains.

Sleepy Boy.

Picking out the perfect pumpkin with Papa.

Me - Liam - Jaxon - Alex

Alex

2011-10-25T14:02:00.001-06:00

Source: photosandquotes.net via Kristel on Pinterest

I don't remember the first time I met Alex. I know we went to the same high school. I remember seeing him around. And I remember the girl he dated (I have to say, I didn't think much of her, so I didn't really think much of him either). I even have a couple of pictures of him in my scrap book. He played with the youth band at my church for a while so he's in the pictures of the band that I took. I don't really ever remember saying two words to him. So I guess we must have been introduced at some point in high school or at church. But we had different groups of friends so we just never interacted much. I thought he was just some guy I would never see again and he probably thought the same of me. I graduated high school in 2003 (he graduated 2004) and moved on with my life.

Two years later I walked into Guitar Center with a friend of mine and there he was. He worked there and we recognized each other. Eventually he and my friend became friends. He started coming to my church. We started hanging out. I still didn't think we would ever be more than acquaintances. Somehow that all changed and Alex became the most important person in the world to me. We fell in love, got married, moved to North Carolina, got pregnant, moved to Colorado...and now, here we are. When I saw the above quote on Pinterest (my new favorite website!) it resonated with me.

Alex, I really didn't think you would be so important to me, but you are. I love you.

Guest Blog on Live Freely

2011-10-21T10:41:00.000-06:00

I wrote a guest blog post on my friend's blog, Live Freely. I wrote about stylish clothing options for baby boys (like our handsome Liam). Click over to Chanti's blog and check it out... And if you're not already reading this blog regularly, you should! It's beautiful and inspiring.
Happy reading!

Life Changer

2011-10-18T21:00:00.000-06:00

I saw this shirt on Zulily last month and knew I had to have it for Liam.
He certainly is a Life Changer. It's been just over two months since he came into this world and my life is forever changed. I have experienced a love like no other. I've been pushed to be more self-less than ever before. And I certainly don't get as much sleep as I used to. My current life is much different from my former life. Sometimes I miss the carefree days, but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. Liam is the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me and I thank God for bringing this little Life Changer into our family.

Shirt from: Oh Baby London

Diaper from: Fuzzibunz

Shoes from: They were Alex's when he was a baby! Cute.

[If you'd like to join Zulily click this link...I love this site! So much good stuff on sale all the time]

married with children

2011-10-15T12:33:00.000-06:00

Bringing children into a marriage really does change everything. I really didn't think it would, but it does.

In the beginning, I have to say that it was a struggle. Finding that balance of being married, taking care of a baby, fulfilling responsibilities, and still having fun was tough. I think I resented Alex because I felt like his life really wasn't changing that much. He could still go to work. Still wear the same clothes. Still get some good sleep at night. He was still able to do pretty much everything he did before Liam arrived. Whereas my life was rocked. Most of my clothes didn't fit (some still don't) and finding something nursing-friendly in my closet was a challenge (still is sometimes). My body is...completely different. The physical toll of labor and delivery had me feeling weak and tired. I had this baby constantly attached to my boob, which were always in pain (still are). My emotions were (and sometimes still are) all over the place. There would be times when I would be up feeding the baby at 3am and I would stare at Alex snoring next to me and, well, let's just say I wasn't thinking happy thoughts.

Ten weeks later I think we've really gotten into a groove. Yes, we still struggle sometimes, but for the most part we've figured out how to work as a team. I'm really thankful for Alex and I know I wouldn't be able to raise this kid on my own. Because Alex goes to work everyday I am able to stay home and be with our baby. I'm Liam's main caregiver because Alex works so hard to provide for us. When Alex gets home from work he often cooks dinner, takes the trash out, spends time with the baby while I take a break or finish up chores, walks Jaxon... He never turns his nose up at changing a diaper or helping me in any way I ask him to. On his days off we take turns taking care of Liam. When one of us needs a break or has something to do the other will take over. Really, the only thing Alex doesn't do is breastfeed...and we can't really blame him for that.

We have even slowly been figuring out how to spend time alone together...whether that's getting a baby sitter so we can go out on a date or catching up on tv shows (thanks hulu!) while Liam is sleeping. We definitely don't go out as much as we used to and we're still figuring out how to make time for friends, but I'm sure it'll be okay. We're only two months into this parenting thing, we're still adjusting.

We also started reading this book together called "Just Stay Married." We don't get to it everyday, but when we do it's a nice little way to get us thinking and talking about the spiritual condition of our marriage. Like I said, we're adjusting. Some days are harder than others, but all I know is I am thankful to have Alex as a partner in life. Being married with children (or even just one child) changes everything, but I'm kind of glad it does.

Picnic at City Park

Testing out my sling.

Family Photo!

Reading time.

skype baby shower

2011-10-10T11:46:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my sister's baby shower in Miami.
I really really wanted to be there...but in the end, it just didn't work out. Thankfully the venue where the shower was being held had wifi and I was able to skype into the party. Hallelujah! I still wish I could have been there, but I am so thankful for modern technology that allows me to be a part of the special moments when I can't be present physically.

I love you, Danibel! I can't wait to meet my nephew, Julian. See you in December.

Saying HI to my sister.

Liam and I watching one of the games.

Liam meeting his cousin Aiden and Tia Reima.

Liam really enjoyed seeing his family in Miami. :-)

date night

2011-10-07T15:56:00.003-06:00

In just a few hours Alex and I will be on our way to Boulder to see Switchfoot in concert. I have felt mixed emotions about tonight. We planned this months ago. I know Alex is excited. Switchfoot is one of his favorite bands and he's been wanting some alone time with me. Sweet husband. :-)

I'm excited to go to the concert also. And I do miss having uninterrupted quality time with my husband...but I am so nervous to leave our baby! He will be in capable hands. Our friends, the Barleys, will be watching him. I have no doubt that he will be well cared for...but man, I'm going to miss him! And, of course, I worry. I worry that he'll miss me. I worry that something will happen and we'll be all the way in Boulder. I worry that he'll be fussy and sad. I worry that he won't have enough milk. It's silly but I guess that's what happens when you're a mom.

This won't be the first time we leave him. My parents watched him for a couple of hours last weekend when they were in town. Alex and I went to a party and I definitely cried in the car on the way there. Liam was fine, of course. When we got home he was cooing in his bassinet ready to go to sleep with a belly full of pumped breast milk and a fresh diaper on. But this is different! We'll be gone for six hours (at least!) and we'll be in another town! I'm going to miss my little booger and I just pray that he will be fine without me.

I think our next date night will be a little closer to home because I don't think I can stand being away from my handsome guy for so long. At least I'll be in the company of my other handsome guy. I love you, dear husband of mine! :-)

Parents, how was it for you the first time you left your baby with a sitter?

two months

2011-10-05T08:47:00.001-06:00

Liam is now two months old! He's a pretty great kid. He has his fussy moments (I mean, c'mon, he's a baby) but for the most part he's a happy baby. Lately he's discovering his hands and learning to hold his head up. He wakes up about two times a night to eat but always goes right back to sleep when he's done. He's also starting to smile more. I love seeing that adorable toothless grin. I also love hearing him babble. Cuteness overload! He has the stinkiest farts but I kinda love them. He really enjoys bath time. He's so calm as the warm water pours over him. He's not a huge fan of tummy time, but we're working on it. Tomorrow he has his two month appointment with the pediatrician so we'll get his official growth stats then. I'm going to predict that he weighs around 11 pounds...we'll see!

P.S. I wrote a guest post for the Walking Worthy blog on trust, worry, and being a new mom. Check it out here.

Cloth Diapering, so far

2011-09-28T10:44:00.001-06:00

The number one question I get these days is, "So, how's the cloth diapering going?" I can say with full confidence that it's great. We started using the cloth diapers when Liam was around four weeks old. We use a mix of bumgenius and fuzzibunz. Right now my favorite are the bumgenius diapers. The fit is a lot more trim and they're generally easier to use. Whenever Liam wears a fuzzibunz diaper his booty looks ginormous! It's comical. The nice thing about the fuzzibunz is all the adjustable features, but this also makes them a little more complicated to use. I hate having to adjust the elastics on the legs and I never seem to get it right which has led to a few leaks. It's annoying to have to deal with. With the bumgenius you just adjust the rise with a few simple snaps and you're ready to go. I think as Liam gets better I will like the fuzzibunz more but I really love the bumgenius diapers and will probably buy a few more of those so I don't have to rely on the fuzzibunz so much.

Washing the diapers is ridiculously easy and really not as gross as one might imagine. Whenever we change Liam's diaper we remove it, take the insert out, and stick it along with the actual diaper into our Planetwise wet bag. If it's a poopy diaper I spray it down over the toilet with our diaper sprayer and then into the wet bag it goes. This step is not really necessary because Liam is exclusively breastfed and breastfed poo is water soluble and can go straight into the washing machine, but I like to get the diaper as clean as possible before sticking it in the wet bag. I think it might also help with stains. When the bag gets full it's time to wash. [Liam has about 20 diapers or so, which means I wash them every two to three days] I dump the contents of the bag into the washing machine and do a cold rinse. After that I wash them on hot with 1/3 the amount of recommended detergent. Right now we are using Seventh Generation Free & Clear. It seems to be getting the job done just fine. I have a few samples of Rocking Green detergent that I'll be trying to figure out if I like it or not. I'm also interested in trying Charlie's Soap because I hear good things. We'll see. After they're done washing I put them in the dryer on low for 30-45 minutes and we're done! I take them out, stuff the inserts back in the pockets, and put them away in Liam's dresser. It's really not too much trouble to go through to save some money on diapers. If we used disposable all the time (which we did for the first month of his life) we would be buying a lot of diapers and wasting a lot of money. With the cloth diapers he can use them up until the day he's potty trained (which will hopefully be sooner rather than later, supposedly cloth diaper babies potty train earlier than disposable diaper babies) and if we have more kids they can use these diapers too.

I should mention that we do use disposables on occasion, mostly at night. It's just easier that way for now. I am considering using a night time cloth diapering system (maybe doubling up on inserts?) but for now I'm okay with using disposables. Even when we go out he still wears cloth. We just bring a mini wet bag in his diaper bag. When we change him the dirty one goes in there until we get home and can put it in the big wet bag.

So there you have it. Cloth diapering is amazing. I love it. Alex loves it. And I think Liam loves it too. :-)

A Response to M. Turner

2011-09-25T10:50:00.001-06:00

First of all, I want to thank everyone who commented on my previous blog post, on here and on Facebook. It means a lot to me to have so much support. Being a mother is difficult enough as it is without having a good support system cheering you on. So, thank you!

I wanted to quickly respond to a comment left by M. Turner.

I'm totally not trying to be a crazy controversialist and I'm a dude so I might just be weirded out by this whole thing.

But... don't you think that there are a lot of other natural things that are not shameful but are best left in private? I think of husband and wife activities or bathroom habits as two particular examples.

Again, I think your blog emphasizes modesty and discreetness so I am not really opposed to what you are saying. I have just been in a few situations (once on a train ride to Philadelphia and another in a shopping mall) where it seemed that a mother was being totally immodest and awkward.

Please, please, please see my comments as those from a confused husband rather than a criticizing misogynist.

Thanks for commenting and expressing your concern. I don't think you are a misogynist, but I do think you're mistaken in a few areas. You compared breastfeeding to sexual relations between a man and a woman and going to the bathroom to relieve yourself. Breastfeeding is not like either of these things. Take the first example, what a man and woman do in the privacy of their own bedroom is sexual in nature, breastfeeding isn't. Believe me, there is nothing sexual about me feeding my son. My breasts are not sexual objects, they are a tool to keep my son alive by providing him the nutrients that he needs. America has really oversexualized breasts and made them taboo, but I really don't see my breasts as sexual objects. Their main purpose is to feed my son. Now, can they pull double duty and become sexual? Yes. But again, that is not their main purpose. And if we didn't make breasts so taboo, then breastfeeding in public wouldn't be such a big deal. The second example, relieving oneself in the bathroom...well, it's gross. Let's face it, human excrement is just nasty. It smells, it isn't pleasant to look at, it's best left in a toilet and flushed away where no one ever has to see or smell it...ever. There is nothing gross about my baby eating his dinner. As I said in my previous post, if a bottle-fed baby can have his dinner in public then so can a breastfed baby.

I'd like to also mention that being confined to your home because you're breastfeeding your baby can really lead to depression issues. Right now Liam eats about every two hours, like clockwork! That's every two hours from the time he starts! Meaning if he eats at 12, by 2 o'clock he's ready for another round. And it can take anywhere from half an hour to an hour to feed him. That means if he ate at 12 and finished at 1 that leaves me an hour of freedom before he's back at the breast. An hour is not enough time to go to the grocery store or have lunch with friends. What am I supposed to do? Become a hermit? As I mentioned above, being a mother is hard, especially when you're new to the game, being stuck at home can only fuel feelings of loneliness and desperation, which isn't healthy for anyone. The mother suffers, the baby suffers, and the spouse will also suffer.

Maybe if more public places were more accommodating to nursing mothers, providing a nice space to feed your baby, I could understand...but most places don't have much more than a public restroom to offer. And I'm sorry, but we all know public restrooms are disgusting. I barely want to take my baby in there to change his diaper, much less feed him!

Again, thank you for your comment, M. Turner. I hope my response has helped to change your mind about breastfeeding a little bit...and if it hasnt then all I can say is, next time you're on the train and a woman takes her breast out to feed her hungry baby, just look away (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). I guarantee you that she doesn't want to be stared at. She doesn't even want to make a political statement. She just wants to make sure her baby isnt starving and wants to give him the best nutrition possible. And if that means that she must courageously expose her breast and be ridiculed and judged for it, so be it. But baby comes first. And if baby wants the boob, baby gets the boob. :-)

Also, thank you to Jenni for her words of wisdom on the matter...check out her comment in my previous post for her perspective.

breastfeeding in public

2011-09-19T14:38:00.000-06:00

Not only is it really important to me to exclusively breastfeed my baby, it's also important that I breastfeed him in public. Why? Because I want the world to know that it's normal. When my baby is hungry, he needs to eat. Right now this is the way he eats and there's nothing shameful about that. I was actually really nervous to publicly breastfeed Liam in the beginning. I would make sure to go out right after I fed him so he would be satisfied and I would return home before he would be hungry again. This would make for very hurried outings. Little by little, though, I have become more comfortable with nursing him where ever I am. Here are a few tips that I've picked up along the way. If you're a new mother who is exclusively breastfeeding and need a bit of help getting comfortable doing it in public I hope these tips help you...

Start small. The first "public" place that I nursed Liam was at a friend's house. It was the first time I nursed him out of the privacy of my own home, but it still wasn't out in public in front of strangers. I was in the company of trusted friends who didn't make me feel weird about it at all. Next I nursed Liam in the back of the car in front of a coffee shop. Again, not too public, but I was getting out there. Now I've nursed him at Starbucks, church, and restaurants while eating lunch. Baby steps.
Dress appropriately. You have to have easy access to the boob in order to nurse in public. I like wearing v-neck shirts (easy to pull down), button-up shirts (just un-do a few buttons), or anything with a zipper in front. Also, I don't find much use for nursing tanks. They're either expensive, ugly, or not very comfortable. I just use regular camis if I need to. They're easy enough to pull down.
Be modest. This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the previous point. I don't know about you, but I don't exactly want the whole world seeing my breasts. No, I'm not ashamed of them...and no, I don't think there's anything obscene about breastfeeding...but I'd rather not make anyone else feel uncomfortable with the sight of my breasts (even though it's perfectly acceptable to hang giant Victoria's Secret ads with half-naked women in the middle of a mall...dumb). That's why I always use a nursing cover. I have to say, nursing covers are not my favorite. I find them a bit clumsy to use, but I am not yet a nursing ninja. [Nursing ninjas are what I call those women who nurse their babies while they're in a sling as they stroll the aisles of Target. Amazing. I'm just not there yet, but maybe some day.]
Stop caring about what others think. In my experience, people absolutely do not care that you are nursing your baby in public. I've never gotten any nasty stares or comments. Most people just mind their own business. I think if you don't act weird about it, neither will anyone else. And even if you do get weird looks, who cares? You are doing something so important, you are nourishing your child. If a bottle-fed baby can have his dinner in public, then so can a breast-fed baby. Just relax and don't even worry about it.
Look at helpful resources. It is within your legal rights to nurse anywhere you need to. Maybe you could read up on breastfeeding laws so that you are well-informed and feel more comfortable. I also looked at a few youtube videos of women talking about how they nurse in public and read some blogposts to get tips, like this one and this one. Also, I love milkfriendly.com. It's helped me feel empowered and see what fashionable nursing-friendly clothes are out there.

Happy breastfeeding to all! :-)

Nursing at the Starbucks inside Target.

Cute little legs peeking out from under the nursing cover.

Abuelita Carmen

2011-09-17T10:47:00.000-06:00

My grandmother is in town for a little while spending time with Liam and cooking delicious Nicaraguan food. Talk about blessed! She has been such a tremendous help so far. I don't know how she does it all but she is more active than I have ever been.

It's so special to me that she gets to be here with us and that she gets to meet Liam. She moved in with our family when I was about eight years old and by the time I was in college it was just the two of us living in that house because my parents had moved to Texas and my sister was in Gainesville. Needless to say, I think the world of her and I know Liam will too.

What a gorgeous great grandma!

Another Rose Guest Post

2011-09-15T19:34:00.000-06:00

I did another guest blog post for Rose Medical Center's blog, Rose Knows Health.
I want to thank Rose once again for giving me the opportunity to share my story. I really feel blessed by my birthing experience and by this hospital that really supported me every step of the way.
Please check out my guest post here and feel free to leave your comments.

P.S. I had an entire post written out about cloth diapering and it somehow got deleted. Verrry annoying for a new first time mom with not a lot of free time. I hope to re-write it soon and share it with everyone who has been wondering how it's been going for us so far.

My Star

2011-09-08T20:02:00.000-06:00

That's the truth.

one month

2011-09-05T14:40:00.000-06:00

Liam is one month old today! Can you believe it? To celebrate we got Boyz II Men to perform a special concert in his honor. Okay, so really they're in town for Taste of Colorado. We'll be heading over there in just a bit to enjoy the food, fun, and music.

But back to this little one... He's already a month old! We're getting the hang of this parenting thing, thank God. We're learning his little mannerisms, his likes and dislikes. He's a pretty awesome little dude. I feel blessed to be his mommy.

And here is his one month photo...I'm so looking forward to doing one of these every month to see how he grows and changes. I hope you all enjoy it too!

Check out that cute mint colored cloth diaper! I die.

how to survive the first four weeks

2011-09-02T15:13:00.000-06:00

No doubt about it, having a baby is an adjustment. Your world is turned upside down by this tiny little creature. It can definitely be overwhelming at times so I wanted to share a few thoughts on how to survive the first four weeks of your baby's life. Everyone is different, but this is just what worked for us.

Get help. Seriously, don't be afraid to ask for help. We have been so blessed to have my mom, dad, sister, and mother-in-law all out here to visit and help with the baby in some capacity. Hallelujah! When I was still pregnant I was worried about having so many visitors but now I am so glad they have all been helping. I seriously couldn't have done it on my own...especially with Alex being sick the first few days of Liam's life and having to go back to work so quickly.
Meal help. Another great help has been our church family bringing us meals every other night since Liam was born. I already hate cooking, so I could not imagine having to cook dinner every night with a newborn. Megan used foodtidings.com to coordinate meals for us and again, I am so thankful! In fact, check out this very helpful post she wrote about bringing a family meals when they have a new baby. She provides lots of great little tips. If no one offers to do this for you I say you shamelessly ask a friend if they'd be willing to get some people to bring meals for you. Or if you know someone who is pregnant, please coordinate meals for them! Seriously, do it.
Let it go. I am an organization/clean freak. I like my dishwasher loaded in a certain way, my bathrooms to be cleaned a certain way, my pantry to be stocked a certain way. I'm very particular. But since Liam has been born I've had to just let things go. My mom didn't always do things the way that I would do them, but I just kept my big mouth shut and focused on resting and breast feeding. Which brings me to my next point...
Rest! Labor is hard work. Your body has been through a lot and you need to rest and recuperate. Don't feel bad about being "lazy." You're not being lazy, you are making sure you get back to 100% so you can take care of your baby. If you want to know what it's like to deal with a postpartum body and mindset, just ask, I'll talk about anything and everything. But just so you know... there will be blood, aches, inflammation, baby blues, tears... Don't worry, it won't last forever. Oh, and nap when the baby naps, at least once in the day. You'll need it.
Cry it out. I'm not talking about letting the baby cry it out, I'm saying you need to cry it out. There are so many emotions that are felt when a new baby arrives. Don't feel guilty if you're feeling frustrated, sad, or upset. Sometimes you just need to cry and complain to your spouse about everything you're feeling, both emotionally and physically. You need to get it out so you can refocus on taking care of your baby.
Focus on the good. It's easy to get sucked into all the negative aspects of being a new mom. You're sleep deprived, your body is in pain, you don't know what to do when the baby cries... But stop, focus on the good stuff. Is your baby healthy? Praise God! Do you have clean diapers so your baby doesn't have to sit in his own waste? Hallelujah! Are you able to feed your baby when he's hungry, whether it's breast milk or formula? Be thankful! These are all good things. And your baby is the ultimate good thing. Plus, they are pretty darn cute when they're not screaming their heads off at two in the morning. I mean, just look at this face:

Pillow Baby

2011-09-01T13:34:00.000-06:00

One of the hardest parts of being a new mom is the middle of the night feedings. I'm the kind of person who loves my sleep...I need my sleep. Being woken up in the middle of the night to feed and calm a crying baby can be a challenge. On top of that, I'm a light sleeper and every little noise Liam makes wakes me up. AND I'm constantly having dreams where I'm nursing Liam which only confuses me when I wake up to a hungry baby at 4am. Wait, didn't I just feed you??? [Thank God for the Baby Connect app for my iPad, otherwise I'd be totally lost]

The funniest thing that's happened to me so far is that I will wake up trying to nurse my pillow. I'll have my trusty little pillow grasped close to my chest and I'll really think it's my baby... Until I open my eyes and realize it's not. Whoops! I'm not alone either. My friend, Tati, who had her baby just two days before I did, has done the same thing.

My Pillow Baby

Any other mamas do weird things from sheer exhaustion in those early weeks with a new baby? I'd love to hear about it...so I know I'm not the only crazy one.

bottle-feeding advice?

2011-08-31T18:36:00.000-06:00

I wanted to drop in on the blog to ask all the mamas out there for some advice.

Today Liam had his first official bottle of pumped breast milk. You have no idea how nervous I was! I didn't think that I would hate giving him a bottle this much. It made me so sad that I wasn't the one feeding him. Which is funny considering the rough start to breast feeding that we had. The truth is, I love nursing him now. It really is a nice little quiet bonding time for us...and yes, it's still painful sometimes (that initial latch is killer!), but I think it'll only get better from here. Anyway, I thought we should give him a bottle before it's too late. I know sometimes if you wait too long to introduce the bottle to a baby he'll never take it. He ended up taking it pretty well. We used a breastflow bottle because supposedly it's the most like the real thing. He fussed a bit and spilled some but in the end I think his hunger was satisfied. He ended up taking about 3.5 ounces.

Alex feeding Liam for the first time.

Okay, so here's where I need some advice. How do I know how much milk to give him in the bottle??? It makes me so nervous that he won't get enough or that he may even get too much. I read somewhere to follow the "one ounce for every hour" rule. Basically if it's been two hours since his last feeding he gets two ounces, if it's been three hours he gets three ounces, etc. Does that sound right? Any other bottle-feeding tips?

Thank you in advance to everyone who responds. I appreciate the support and wisdom of other mothers out there. :-)

Photos by Shannon

2011-08-30T11:50:00.000-06:00

Our friend, Shannon, came over about a week and a half ago to take a few photos of Liam. Unfortunately, he wasn't really cooperating. Fussy baby. But she still managed to get a few cute shots.
Could I love this little guy any more?!? Seriously. He's the best.
Thanks for the photos, Shannon!

three weeks

2011-08-26T17:33:00.000-06:00

Our Little Man is three weeks old today. Time flies.
He had his two week appointment yesterday and he weighs a whopping nine pounds! And he is now 21.5 inches long. I can't believe how big he's getting, though he's still only wearing newborn size clothing still. He seems to be thriving. He still sleeps a lot but has been spending some time awake and just looking around. I love seeing his curious little face as he tries to focus on what's going on around him.

I'm feeling almost 100% again. Still very tired. What can I say? I have a newborn. Sleep deprivation is the name of the game. Breast feeding is okay. I still don't love it. We've had a few issues and it's still a bit painful. It has gotten easier over the weeks, but it's still not easy. I'm just going to keep praying until it is easy. Pray with me! :-) Even though we've had our issues with nursing I'm so hesitant to give him a bottle. I've pumped a few times and have been storing my milk in the freezer...but I'm just not ready to introduce the bottle. I'm scared he won't get enough. When he nurses I let him keep eating until he lets go...with a bottle there's only so much in there. I don't know. As much as it is a burden to be the only one that can feed him all the time, it's still easier than bottle feeding him pumped milk or formula. We'll see how it goes. I know Alex is just waiting for me to give the green light on letting him feed Liam with the bottle.

That's the latest in the Acevedo home. Thank you, friends, for being so patient with my lack of blogging lately. I hope to get back into the swing of things when I get more settled with the baby. Until then, prayers are always welcome and appreciated! :-)

Handsome Fellow.

Liam's Nursery

2011-08-23T11:36:00.000-06:00

I'm finally sharing some photos of Liam's nursery. I love how it turned out. Granted, we don't spend much time in there because he sleeps in our room at night in his bassinet...but he does like to nap in there during the day if we're hanging out in the basement. And as he gets older we will eventually transition him into his room. Anyway, here are the photos...enjoy! [I apologize they're a little dark]

His lovely Jenny Lind crib...and you can see his little red race car next to it...can't wait until he's big enough to play with it!

Love that little storage bench. It's nice to have a little extra seating in the room.

Those shelves are jam-packed with stuffed animals, paintings, old toys, etc. Maybe one day I'll feature a few of the special details in the room.

The rain gutter shelves with all his books. A map of the world. And we'll have to take some family photos to put in those frames.

Thrift store dresser that Alex lovingly repainted.

I love my Eames-inspired rocker and his little piano.

ode to grandparents

2011-08-22T12:04:00.001-06:00

My mom arrived in Denver just two days before Liam was born. I'm glad she's been here for the whole Liam ride because she has been an enormous help. I really can't imagine surviving the past two weeks without her. She's displayed so much patience and wisdom. I call her the baby whisperer. She's only going to be in town for another week and I'm already dreading her departure. Thankfully Alex's mom will arrive the same day my mom is leaving and I'm sure she'll be a big help as well. Also, my dad has been in town the past couple days (he's leaving today though!) and he has also been so helpful. He obviously loves his grandbaby and his eyes light up whenever he gets to hold Little Liam.

Again, I can't imagine doing it without the help of these amazing grandparents. If only I could somehow convince them to stay forever. :-)

Liam on his activity mat.

A photo of my mom and dad in Frisco yesterday:

my body

2011-08-15T20:09:00.000-06:00

Towards the end of my pregnancy I would tell Alex, "I can't wait to have my body back!" I wanted the kid out so I could feel normal again. Hah! Little did I know that my body would be less my own now that he's out than when he was in. I'm talking, of course, about breastfeeding. My body is constantly feeding this little boy. About every two to three hours we're at it again, and it's exhausting. I wasn't expecting breastfeeding to be quite so taxing. Honestly, the first week was hell. There were times that I cried my way through feedings. The pain, the constant demand on my body. I was really feeling the pressure that I was the only one who could feed my little boy. Others can cuddle him, change his diaper, rock him to sleep...but only I can feed him. The anxiety was almost too much for me. And the soreness...oh my!

Now my precious boy is ten days old and it's gotten a lot easier...we're finding our groove...but we have a ways to go before I feel completely comfortable. There are still times when I want to give up, but I won't, because I know breastfeeding is one of the greatest gifts I can give my son. If there are any other new moms out there struggling with breastfeeding I just want to share what's helped me so far:

1. Prayer. I pray all the time! Especially when I'm nursing because I don't want to have a negative attitude in the process. I don't want to be transferring any negative energy to my son and I don't want my tension or anxiety to affect my milk letting down. So I try to relax and pray for it to get easier.

2. Talking to friends. I have a few friends that have been breastfeeding their babies for a while now and it's been encouraging to get their advice. Us new mamas have to stick together and be there for each other.

3. Perspective. This won't last forever. My body and my baby need time to adjust to this "new normal." Eventually we will get the hang of it and it won't be so bad anymore. Hey, I might even begin to enjoy it more and more.

And here's a photo of Liam...because he is so darn cute.

one week old

2011-08-12T19:03:00.000-06:00

Today Liam is one week old.

In his one week of life he's been on outings to eat a sushi dinner, lunch at 16th Street Mall, and afternoon tea at the Brown Palace Hotel. He's been learning to breastfeed. He's met family members and friends. He's cried and slept and peed and sneezed and had the hiccups. He's had his picture taken...a lot.

In the past week we've had ups and downs. I've felt the baby blues but I've also felt the greatest joy I've ever known. It's probably been the hardest week of my life but it's also been a great beginning with our son. Can't wait to see how the rest of his story unfolds.

Liam's Birth Story

2011-08-09T16:47:00.000-06:00

Many of you have been asking about Liam's birth story so I am taking a few minutes to write it out. I feel really blessed to have had the labor experience that I had. And I love my little boy so much! So here we go...

I woke up on Friday morning around 4:30 because I could feel myself "leaking." I rushed to the bathroom and sure enough I had been leaking. I wasn't 100% positive that my water had broken because it was more of a trickle than a gush and I wasn't experiencing any contractions. I called the midwife and she said to wait an hour to see what happened. I kept leaking so I thought, "this has to be it." Still no contractions though. I decided to take a shower and around then I started feeling something, it was around 6am. I began timing the contractions on my phone and they were about two to three minutes apart. They started getting stronger and all I could think about was, "we have to get to the hospital...now." I had planned on staying at home as long as possible before heading to the hospital but I just knew we had to go even though I had only really been in labor a couple of hours. Alex got my mom up (she had flown in on Wednesday) and we all got ready to go. I forced down some breakfast, Alex dropped of Jaxon at Shannon's house, we all piled into the car and went on our way.

In the zone, hah.

By 8:30am I was all checked into the hospital and sitting in a bed in the labor and delivery suite. I was already dilated about 9 1/2 centimeters. I was surprised and happy to hear that bit of news...but also terrified because that meant I wasn't allowed to start pushing yet and with the intense pain I was in I wasn't sure I could last another minute. I kept waiting for someone to offer me an epidural, but they had all read my birth plan and knew I didn't want that. One of the nurses suggested I try sitting in the hot tub so I did. It was nice but I kept feeling the urge to push...and sometimes I couldn't even hold back and my body would start instinctively pushing. I got out and just tried to breathe through the contractions. Everyone was so encouraging and supportive. The midwife and nurses kept telling me I was doing a great job. Alex was by my side the whole time telling me I could do it. My mom became the official photographer and I could see her pacing back and forth and praying on my behalf. I really didn't think I could make it, but all these people believed in me and it helped me a lot. By 9:30am I was fully dilated and ready to push. It was such a relief to finally be able to push. They set up a mirror in front of me so I could see the progress. When I first saw his head beginning to peep out I was so happy but I quickly became frustrated because his head would peek out and then go back in. I started praying that with each next contraction he would finally pop out. It took an hour of pushing and my handsome man was born at 10:33am. Alex and I were both sobbing. I couldn't believe it. All these months of anticipation and we finally had our son. They immediately placed him on my chest where we marveled at him. He was perfect. They let him stay on my chest for as long as I wanted which I was really appreciative of. The midwife delivered my placenta and stitched me up (yeah, ouch) and I barely noticed what was going on because I was just staring at my beautiful boy in my arms.

In love!

Everyone has commented how fast my labor was...and it was...but it's seriously the most intense pain I've ever felt...and it was worth it. I wouldn't say I'm ready to do it all over again. Give me a couple years to recuperate. But everything I've gone through these past ten months has been worth it to have my little man. He's pretty awesome.

Family Update

2011-08-08T08:49:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to pop in and let you know how our little family is doing...

Baby: Liam spent his first night at home yesterday. He did great in his little bassinet. We are going to see the pediatrician today for his first check-up. So far he's a very healthy baby. He's taken to breastfeeding like a champ. He sleeps a lot. He's not too fussy yet. I really can't complain.

Mama: I'm pretty sore all over. I wasn't expecting to feel like this. My entire body is just sore or swollen or in some kind of pain. I'm also a little anemic because of the amount of blood loss I had so getting around is a challenge. I get tired easily. It's kind of a bummer because there's so much I want to do but I really need to take it easy for the next few weeks. Thankfully my mom is here and she's helped out so much. I can't imagine doing it without her.

Papa: Unfortunately, Alex has come down with a cold. Major bummer. He can't be as hands on as he would like because he's achey and tired and doesn't want to harm the baby. We'll see how it goes. Pray for quick healing. He's off from work for the next week so hopefully he can really recover and spend time with Liam.

Jaxon: What a great dog. He's been very obedient and patient. He met Liam yesterday, sniffed him a bit, and lost interest. Maybe when Liam is more mobile they can play together.

That's the update. Thank you to everyone for all the phone calls, text messages, blog comments, facebook comments, etc etc. We feel the love and support. Seriously, thank you!

Week 39

2011-08-06T10:12:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned in my previous weekly post, we were running out of ideas for places to take pictures. So it's a good thing Liam made his appearance this week!

He was born on Friday, August 5th at 10:33am.
He weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces. 20 inches long.
He's perfect.

So without further ado, here's the Week 39 photo...the final photo in the Belly Series. I'll be back to write a proper birth story post. In the mean time, feel free to come visit us at Rose Medical Center to meet our little man. He'd love to say hey.

Seven Links Flashback

2011-08-02T06:59:00.000-06:00

My friend, Michelle, tagged me to participate in Tripbase's 7 Links Blog Project. It sounded like fun so I agreed to participate. According to Tripbase the goal of this project is: To unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.

Here are my 7 links:

Most Beautiful Post:
This is a tough one. What exactly makes a post beautiful??? If I had to choose I'd say this short post on when I visited my grandparents in Nicaragua a few years ago. This was the last time I saw my grandmother alive and I knew it would be.

Most Popular Post:
Apparently the blog post with the most page views is this one about being accepted to Southeastern Seminary. Which I think is pretty funny...but the one with the most comments is this one where I asked for votes on whether Baby Ace would be a boy or girl.

Most Controversial Post:
I don't find my writing to be especially controversial...maybe once in a while I'll get a little riled up on a certain subject but I think for the most part this is a happy place. But this post I wrote back in 2007 about homemaking was probably my most controversial, if you could call it that. Funny enough, four years later, I'm a homemaker! God is funny...I still think the idea of earning a "homemaking degree" is ridiculous though.

Most Helpful Post:
I try to be helpful in some of my posts, especially lately with being a first-time mom. I wrote this one on cloth diapering. And this one on "being ready" for a baby. I think this one on choosing a midwife is helpful. Or this one on developing a birth plan. A while ago I wrote about how you should always check your bank statements for errors, practical advice I say. But probably my most helpful post was this one about learning to trust God for who you are. I know it was personally extremely helpful and I've received a lot of feedback from friends that thanked me for writing this post as well.

Post With Most Surprising Success:
This is another tough one. I'm honestly surprised when any of my posts are "successful," whatever that means. I guess this one on raising a man was pretty successful in that I received quite a few comments on it. I didn't know how this blog post would be received and I'm happy that everyone was so encouraging in their feedback.

Post Without Attention It Deserved:
Probably this one on learning to trust God. Or this one on celebrating three years of marriage with Alex. These posts deserved more comment love. ;-)

Post Most Proud Of:
There are so many posts I'm proud of. I don't want that to come out sounding snobby. I don't mean it that way. I just think that I've been blogging for a long time and I've come a long way with it (and have a ways to go). Choosing one post is difficult but as a proud mama-to-be I choose this one where we announced our pregnancy. Because I'm more proud of this little boy that hasn't even been born yet than anything else I've ever done in my life.

My nominees to participate:
Our Little Urban Life
A Life Well Photographed
Becoming Vanderburg
Everything Crane
OhChanti

Week 38

2011-08-01T10:03:00.000-06:00

It's August! That means it's Baby Month! Soon enough our precious baby will be here. I can't believe it's so close. Last night our dear friends, Andy and Angela, got married and I danced the night away. Was hoping to shake the baby out, but no such luck. [By the way, Alex was the wedding photographer and I assisted him...I can't wait to share the photos!]

At my week 38 midwife appointment I was told that Liam is verrry low. He's at +1 station, which explains all the lower back pain and pressure I've been feeling. I'm hoping that means he'll be here soon, but we'll see. He'll come when he's good and ready. My mom arrives into town on Wednesday. I can't wait for her to be here!

I'm not gonna lie, it's getting tougher and tougher to do these weekly photos...so it's a good thing we are nearing the end. We had grand plans of visiting a yummy Thai restaurant on 38th on the west side of town but we ran out of time this weekend so we just quickly went over to some abandoned warehouses right near our house on 38th ave. I have big dreams for these warehouses. I would love to see them developed into a nice business complex filled with coffee shops, small design firms, and boutiques. Eh, we'll see. For now it just serves as the back drop to my 38th week photo.

Guest Post on Rose Knows Health

2011-07-30T08:20:00.000-06:00

I was asked by Rose Medical Center (the hospital where I will be delivering Liam) to write a post on their blog about why I chose Rose and unmedicated childbirth. It was a lot of fun to do this little write up and I'm flattered that they even asked me to do it.

Check out the blog post here and feel free to leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you! Have a great weekend.

Ikea Comes to Denver!

2011-07-29T10:14:00.000-06:00

This week Ikea had their grand opening in Denver! (Okay, technically it's in Centennial which is less than half an hour away) I have been waiting for this for a long time. I've never lived in such close proximity to an Ikea before.

Some of the girls and I had to check it out. See how excited we were:

*I seriously look crazy, hah.

Even though it was opening week everything went so smoothly. Parking was easy, it wasn't too crowded, the lines weren't too long. It felt like any regular trip to Ikea. Kudos to them for making this shopping trip so painless.

I am SO thankful that they're here because we really needed to add some extra seating to our living room. I feel horrible when people come over and have to sit on the floor. And with Liam making his arrival soon I know we'll have many visitors. I was able to get two very comfy chairs for $70 each. Wowzers!

Love it!

I plan to return soon to pick up some curtains that they were sold out of. I loathe the closet doors in Liam's room so I plan on removing them and putting up curtains instead. Can't wait!

Birth Plan

2011-07-26T10:35:00.002-06:00

I have to say, I was not a fan of coming up with a birth plan. Every time I thought about writing one up I instantly felt lethargic and thought, "Do I really have to write up a birth plan??" I just didn't want to be that lady that waddled into labor and delivery with a thick manual dictating every little detail of what I wanted my experience to be like. It seemed like that would just be setting myself up for disappointment. Plus, those ladies are just annoying (uhhh...no offense to any of those ladies out there...).

However, after talking to my midwife at my last appointment I decided I would come up with a little one page bullet-point list of desires so that we are all on the same page. I'm sure I won't want to be discussing my wants in the middle of painful contractions so it's easier if everyone knows up front.

I thought I'd share a little bit of my birth plan on here to give you an idea of what I came up with and maybe it'll help some other mamas-to-be who are feeling a little overwhelmed with writing up a birth plan.

My labor support person is: My husband, Alexander Acevedo.
I would like the following people to attend the birth of my baby: Alex Acevedo - husband. Kristabel Lopez - mother.
I would like to walk as much as possible during labor.
I would like to use the hot tub during labor.
I would like to use the following comfort measures during labor: breathing techniques, birth ball, different positions, squat bar, walking, massage, hot tub, music, cold compresses, warm compresses, whatever works.
Please do not offer medications to me. I will request them if I feel they are needed.
I prefer intermittent rather than continuous fetal monitoring.
I would like to take photos and video during labor and birth.
I would like to avoid an episiotomy as much as possible.
I would like coaching on when and when not to push.
I would like to avoid a C-section unless absolutely necessary.
I would like my husband and I to be a part of the decision-making process.
I would like the baby placed on my chest right after delivery.
I would like my husband to cut the umbilical cord.
I do not want to be separated from my newborn during procedures.
I plan to breastfeed exclusively.
I would like to meet with a lactation consultant while at the hospital.
Please do not give my baby any supplemental feedings or offer a pacifier without discussing it with me first.
I do not want my baby to be circumcised.

That's the gist of it all. I know things don't always go to plan and that giving birth can be unpredictable. Right now sitting in a hot tub during contractions sounds fantastic...but maybe when the time comes I won't want to. And that's okay. I'm willing to be flexible and listen to my body. I just want to let my body do its thing, my body was made for this and knows what to do.

Week 37

2011-07-23T09:23:00.002-06:00

We've made it to full term! That means Baby can come any time now and he'll be perfectly fine. I have to say though, I don't feel he'll be coming any time soon. I haven't had any signs of labor, not even braxton hicks. Oh well, I'm okay with that. I really want him to wait until my mom's in town.

So here's a quick update on the nursery in case you were wondering... Insurance isn't covering anything, but that's okay because there honestly was not much damage done. We're very blessed. We have decided to buy a window bubble for that window to hopefully prevent any water from leaking through. We have also contacted a carpet cleaning company to take care of that room and leave it looking and smelling good. They're coming on Monday which means we have to move all the furniture out. That's right. We have to take everything out of that room and then put it all back again. A tedious process but that means the room will be absolutely perfect once Liam makes his arrival.

Also, I've been sooo procrastinating on packing my hospital bag. I debated even packing one since so many people say you won't need half the stuff you bring. But yesterday I finally made a list of the essentials and will be putting it all together this week. Any final recommendations from the mamas out there?

For week 37 we wanted to introduce you to 37th ave. in Stapleton. This is one of the newer communities in Denver and actually used to be Denver's main airport. They've torn that down and built a whole new community with lots of nice residences, businesses, schools, etc. This Denver neighborhood is filled with the cutest little houses you'll ever see. It's also a bit on the ritzy side so we probably wouldn't ever live there. I think the best part of Stapleton, though, is that this is the location of the Super Target we frequent. I looove Super Target and having one just ten minutes from my front door is great.

It's A Boy!

2011-07-22T10:14:00.000-06:00

My sister is 18 weeks pregnant now and today we found out...it's a boy! I guess the Lopez girls are good at producing males (our other sister has a boy named Aiden already). I can't wait to get these three boy cousins together. They're going to have so much fun.

I love you Nephew! We'll meet you soon.

Goodbye Red

2011-07-21T10:44:00.000-06:00

Jaxon isn't the only one who made a trip to the salon this week. I decided that it was time for me to say goodbye to the red hair. I love red hair. I'm jealous of every natural redhead in this world. It's such a unique, fun, vibrant color. So for the past year I was attempting to fit in with all the beautiful redheads out there...but it's high maintenance...especially for a girl like me with such naturally dark hair.

So with Liam on the way I decided that it was time for a more low-maintenace color that I wouldn't have to worry about retouching so much. I visited The Parlour in the Highlands and met with Chad to figure out what to do with my mane. Let me just say, I loved my experience. The salon itself has a great atmosphere and Chad was amazing to work with. He's so friendly and talented. I'm relieved that after six months of living in Denver I have finally found my hair stylist. Every girl knows how important the hairstylist-client relationship is. You have to find the perfect match!

In the end we dyed my hair very dark (close to my natural color) and left a few medium brown pieces sticking out underneath to add a bit of dimension. Next time we may try to make those pieces a bit more blonde.

It was fun being a redhead for a while and maybe some day I'll give it another shot, but for now I'm loving my dark color...we all know I can't go too long without changing my hair up just a little bit. ;-)

Before and After

2011-07-20T20:58:00.000-06:00

Poor Jaxon was looking like a Scruff McGuff with all his fur. These summer days are too hot for him to walk around like that. We made an appointment to get him all groomed up and he is looking fine. Now he looks less like a bear and more like a lion. What a cutie.

Before:

After:

Week 36

2011-07-17T09:50:00.000-06:00

It's hard to believe how fast the weeks seems to be rolling by. I've started my weekly midwife appointments. This week's appointment was great. Liam is still healthy and growing. The midwife felt my belly and determined that he's approximately 5.5-6 pounds and he's in the head down position. But he's also "sunny side up." It's not a huge problem, but if he stays in that position for labor it'll be extra painful. From what I hear back labor is no picnic. She gave me some exercises to do to hopefully move him to the anterior position.

We also found a pediatric practice that we really like for Liam. We were able to tour the facility and ask questions about their philosophies and I think we'll really like this place. They seem to be really open with their patients and willing to take the time to discuss everything to make the parents comfortable. They have an integrative approach to medicine that I really appreciate.

For this week's photo we went just two blocks down from our house to Schafer Park. Jaxon and I walk here everyday. There's a lot of grass and trees and a little playground for kids. I imagine when Liam is here we'll all walk down together. I love that Denver is full of parks and playgrounds and that we don't even have to get into our car to enjoy one of these lovely parks.

Civic Center Eats!

2011-07-15T13:26:00.000-06:00

I had been hearing about these food trucks that gather at the Civic Center Park every Tuesday and Thursday during the summer and really wanted to check it out. Lucky for us, Thursday is Alex's day off from work (yay!) so yesterday we headed out with our friend, Brian, to see what all the fuss was about.

The event is called Civic Center EATS and, as I mentioned above, it occurs every Tuesday and Thursday from 11am - 2pm. It's pretty massive. I think there were about 30 food trucks serving up everything from pizza to burgers to salads to ice cream to biscuits to gyros... So much food! I decided to try a delicious arepa stuffed with cheese and sweet plantains. Alex had a concoction that he created from the "build-your-own-bowl" truck. Brian had a biscuit from the Biscuit Bus and the most delicious fried mashed potato balls from Stick It To Me.

There was so much I wanted to try that I think we'll be going back every Thursday until the event ends in September. I think it's my duty as a Denver citizen to make sure that all these food trucks are providing the most delicious food possible. :-) Let us know if you'd like to join us on our weekly culinary adventure!

I wish we had taken more pictures, but we were too busy stuffing our faces.

flooding update...yep, another one

2011-07-13T09:46:00.001-06:00

We had another crazy storm last night. It was scary. I haven't seen that much lightning in a long time. The water was just pouring down and once again it was seeping into Liam's room. Fortunately, we were prepared this time! We knew exactly where it would be coming in from so we armed ourselves with towels and a wet vac and soaked up as much water as we could as it was coming in. We did a pretty good job and thankfully the carpet is just a little moist and only right next to the exterior wall.

Still waiting to hear back from our insurance...though it looks like they may not cover anything...lame. Either way, I woke up in a pretty good mood this morning because we were able to prevent a lot of damage to the room. I know many people haven't been quite so lucky. So yeah, it sucks, and it's inconvenient, but we're blessed to not have any considerable damage to any of Liam's furniture. Now I'm just praying no mold starts growing in there while we wait to get it fixed. Mold is gross.

Thanks for prayers, friends. We truly appreciate them!

Film Fun

2011-07-11T15:09:00.000-06:00

I love digital photography, I do. But there's nothing like film. I don't shoot nearly as often as I should...but every once in a while I'll pull out my beloved Olympus OM-10 or Canon AE-1 and do some shooting.

Here are just a few photos from last month...

P.S. I finally joined Pinterest... Still trying to figure out how it all works. If you want an invite, let me know!

Week 35

2011-07-10T08:33:00.000-06:00

This week in the pregnancy has certainly been an interesting one. I was hoping to show you pictures of the baby's room this week (since we finally had everything ready!) but the flooding issue I blogged about previously has put a halt to those plans. Oh well. You'll have to wait a little while longer.

I've been growing increasingly uncomfortable and I can't believe there's still about a month to go. I kind of don't know what to do with myself. Other than pre-washing all the cloth diapers, I'm pretty much ready for baby to be here. I keep having dreams about labor and delivery. In one that I had last night I had a fast delivery (just a few hours, wouldn't that be nice?!) and Liam turned out to be a girl so we changed his name to Isabel. Hah. I definitely would not want that to happen. I've fallen in love with this little boy in my belly and will be very confused if a girl pops out.

My back pain is pretty much constant, sleeping consistently throughout the night isn't happening, my appetite is kind of up and down, and I have to pee constantly. But I'm really okay with all of that because my boy is healthy ad growing and always wiggling around. I guess that's a mama's love. Liam is pretty much done developing all his organs, etc and is now just putting on weight. Hopefully he doesn't put on too much weight! It's crazy to think that he could be born at any moment and be perfectly healthy. I'm hoping he'll bake a little longer though...at last until my mom arrives to help us out.

For this week's picture we went to Platter River on 35th. I've seen people kayaking and even swimming in this river. People bring their dogs here to have some water play time...Jaxon isn't a water dog...we tried once and it didn't work out. There's also a bike trail along the river. Maybe I'll bring my good ol' bike out here once the baby is born. I also wouldn't mind giving kayaking a try. For now I'll just enjoy looking at the water.

[It's been raining every day this week, which is why I have the umbrella]

flooding update

2011-07-09T09:08:00.002-06:00

Well...it seems that we're going to have to tear up that carpet as well as some dry wall to fix the flooding problem in Liam's room. Right now we're waiting to hear from our insurance and then we'll have to get a contractor for the job. I'm not going to lie...I cried when I first heard about all the work that would need to be done. At 35 weeks pregnant the last thing I want to hear is that we have to tear up the baby's room that we've been working so hard on for the past several weeks. It was finally all coming together and now it'll have to be taken apart. ::BIG SIGH::

I've made my peace with the situation. Liam will be sleeping in our room anyway. I know it'll all work out and it's best to remedy the situation now rather than later. I'm not stressing over it anymore. It's hard not to be upset...I want to meet the guy that flipped this house and yell at him for cutting corners that put us in this situation. But it's best to remain as stress-free as possible and remember that God is in control of the situation. He will provide the right contractor to finish the job as quickly as possible (without cutting corners!) and He will provide the money we need to make our baby's room safe and comfortable.

Thanks again for all your prayers. We really appreciate them and would ask that you continue to remember us...pray especially for my attitude and to remain joyful as we wait for Liam to make his way into the world. :-)

flooding

2011-07-08T09:50:00.000-06:00

Well, it seems we have a slight flooding problem in Liam's room...

Yesterday, after enjoying a gorgeous sunny morning with my husband on his day off, we arrived at home just in time before the sky turned black and hail and rain came pouring down. All the thunder and lightning was pretty scary but I was relieved we had made it home and taken Jaxon on a walk before all the craziness ensued. We decided to check on Liam's room since just a few weeks before, our neighbor who lives on the other side of the duplex had experienced a pretty bad flooding problem in the bedroom downstairs. I walked into Liam's room and there were little wet spots on the carpet. I still didn't think it was the rain...I thought maybe Jaxon had a few accidents while we were gone...but upon further inspection we realized the rain water was seeping in through the floor on the side of the room that faces the outside. It got pretty bad. That entire side of the room quickly became soaked and we moved everything out of there so it wouldn't get damaged. We tweeted what was going on and soon the Barleys braved the flooded streets of Denver (the streets were seriously like rivers!) and came over to help Alex build a make-shift tarp to cover the window to the room. They also helped us lay down towels on the carpet to soak up the moisture. Soon after that the Turneys (who just moved here this week!) offered to let us use their wet vac to really soak up all that water. So Alex worked really hard last night and some this morning before going to work to get that room dry. It's still a little wet but much better than it was before.

We have someone coming out this afternoon to take a look at the window, basement, room, etc to see what the problem is and how to fix it asap! The fact that our baby is due in about a month makes me both annoyed and grateful... I'm annoyed because this feels like the last thing I need to worry about when I'm making final preparations for our boy to join us in this home. But I'm also grateful it happened now and not when the baby is here and living in that room. No first-time mom wants to deal with a newborn and a flood problem at the same time. I probably would have broken down into tears if that were the case.

I'm thankful for friends who helped us out yesterday and for everyone who offered up prayers. I think the situation is really not as bad as it could have been had we not discovered the leak early on. And I'm confident that the problem will be fixed and we will no longer have flooding issues to deal with. My only prayer now is that it isn't too expensive. Having a baby is expensive enough without adding all these extra costs to it. Either way, God will bring us through it and soon this will just be a memory that we will share with Liam when he's older.

Again thank you everyone for your help and prayers...please continue to pray that no more water comes in the room (it's supposed to rain all weekend and into next week) and that we can fix the problem as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible.

rain gutter bookshelves

2011-07-06T14:11:00.000-06:00

In an effort to keep costs down with the nursery I've been looking all over the internet for inexpensive DIY ideas. I stumbled upon these ideas on babble.com and fell in love with the rain gutter bookshelves featured. I showed the idea to Alex and he was on board. We went down to Home Depot, paid five bucks for a long rain gutter, and Alex cut them down to size at home using a saw. He drilled them to the wall the other night and it looks great! I love how easily accessible the books will be for Liam. And I really love how inexpensive and easy this was to do. Tomorrow I'll be going down to the used book store to see what children's books I can find. I hope they have a good selection.

The nursery is allllmost finished, which is good because we've only got about a month to go until Liam is here! Can't wait to share the finished product.

Another Maternity Shoot

2011-07-04T16:52:00.000-06:00

I love having talented friends! One of Alex's co-workers is a photographer and she offered to do a maternity session for us. Of course I jumped on the offer because I love photos and I thought it would be fun to have some portraits done in our new city.

We were finally able to schedule the photo shoot last week and I am so happy with the result! The photos look amazing. I can't thank Jessica enough for taking these photographs for us. Please check out her website and hire her!

Week 34

2011-07-02T20:43:00.000-06:00

We've made it to week 34 and I'm feeling...well, I'm feeling a roller coaster of emotions! Most of the time I am just so excited, sometimes I'm gripped by fear or anxiety. Alex is a champ of a husband and deals with me in the best way possible. I had another midwife appointment this week and everything is just perfect with Liam. At this point I've gained 30 pounds, eek! My midwife says my weight gain is perfect but I can't help but feel freaked out by that number. My next appointment is at 36 weeks and then I'll be going every week after that...crazy! The day when Liam makes his appearance into the world is getting closer and closer.

For this week's picture we would like to welcome you to our home just off of 34th Ave. It's a cozy little duplex that we love. We purchased this home in December and moved into it in January. I feel so blessed to live here. Decorating our first home has been so much fun. It's constantly evolving as we come up with new ideas and make room for baby. Feel free to stop on by to pay a visit to the Acevedo family.

Cloth Diapering

2011-06-30T12:23:00.001-06:00

Alex and I made the commitment a while ago to cloth diaper our baby. It's kind of a big investment up front but in the long run we'll end up saving a lot of money. Cloth diapering really isn't as bad as people think it is. Cloth diapers have come a long way since your grandma's day. They're so cute and easy to use. So far we've purchased some BumGenius 4.0's, FuzziBunz, and a few Bummis fitted diapers with Rumparooz covers for when he's teeny tiny. If you're not familiar with cloth diapers that probably sounds like a bunch of gibberish but I think it's a pretty good stash. I've done a LOT of research and I've asked friends who cloth diaper their kids and these seem to be the favorites.

The basic main reasons we want to cloth diaper are because:

We will end up saving a lot of money on diapers over the years...considering these diapers last from birth until potty-trained and you can use them on multiple kids.
Diaper rashes seem to be a lot less common with cloth vs. disposable.
Potty training seems to be easier with cloth vs. disposable because cloth doesn't wick away moisture in the same way and kids learn to associate the feeling of wetness as uncomfortable and will want to use the toilet.
They are seriously adorable with all the fun colors and patterns! :-)

Last Sunday Alex and I went to a local baby shop and took a free class on cloth diapering. I'm so glad we went because all the online research in the world doesn't compare to talking with someone face to face about this stuff. There are so many options out there, it can get confusing. Taking this class really cleared up a lot of the confusion for me and I feel really ready now to cloth diaper.

Although we have a good variety of cloth diapers we still need to buy more because we only have a few of each. I hear you need a decent sized stash, at least 30-35 diapers, to not have to be doing round-the-clock washing. We also still need to purchase some wetbags, detergent, and cloth wipes to really be ready. I imagine we'll use disposables sometimes. I'm thinking maybe for the first couple weeks of Liam's life and every once in a while if it's convenient, but I'm determined to cloth diaper practically full-time. And thankfully so is Alex. He's very supportive and I think just as excited as I am about this.

Here are a few online resources I have found very helpful in my research on cloth diapers. Let me know if you have any questions. Granted I haven't started yet, seeing as Liam is still in the womb. I'm sure I'll learn a lot more once he's actually here and we establish a routine and system that works best for us.

Cloth Diapers by JenLovesKev
The Much Requested Cloth Diaper Post by YoungHouseLove
Cloth Diapering 101 by dearbaby
Cloth Diapering 102 by dearbaby
All About Cloth Diapers

Happy 26th, Alex!

2011-06-28T07:32:00.000-06:00

Today is my husband's 26th birthday!
All I can say is, I am blessed to even know this man...but the fact that I'm married to him and he's the father of our baby...well, I am uber-blessed.

I love you, handsome. Have a wonderful day.

Week 33

2011-06-26T22:09:00.000-06:00

It's been a fun week of purchasing baby items (yay gift cards!), taking inventory of what we have and what we need, and learning all about cloth diapering. I'm in full on nesting mode and I can't wait until the nursery is all set up. This is the fun part of pregnancy that makes all the aches and pains worth it. We also finished up our birthing class this week. It was a really great and informative class. I think Alex will be a great coach and hopefully labor and delivery will be a good experience. Now we just have to practice what we learned, all the breathing techniques and different laboring positions.

For this week's photo we headed to our friend's house. Shannon lives on 33rd avenue just a block down from our house. Jaxon and I sometimes walk over there to hang out. Shannon is a great friend to us and I'm so glad that she's our neighbor. She's sweet and kind and I love having her as a friend. She's also a talented photographer, specializing in children and family photography. Check her out.

Papa-to-Be Day

2011-06-23T11:38:00.001-06:00

Just like Alex celebrated me on Mother's Day this year, I wanted to honor him on Father's Day. Alex is already an excellent father. He has lots of hopes and dreams for Liam. He talks to him through my belly and he really loves his son already. He's also an excellent doggie dad to Jaxon. He walks him early every morning, brushes his beard out, plays with him. I think Jaxon prefers Alex over me, you should see how excited he gets when Alex comes home from work. ;-)

Alex has been wanting a grill forever...so I gathered up my pennies, checked out the sale at Target, and got him a nice little Weber grill. We'll be trying it out this weekend for the first time. Can't wait!

Garden of the Gods

2011-06-22T12:30:00.000-06:00

The scenery in Colorado is beautiful, no doubt about it.

Last week we decided to spontaneously take a trip down to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs when Alex got out of work. It was so much fun and Alex took amazing photos with our 60D. I took a few photos as well with one of our 35mm cameras (Canon AE-1), but the film hasn't been developed yet so I can't share those. Instead I'll share a few of Alex's photos, you can see the rest on his flickr page. Seriously, they're amazing.

Check out that gorgeous view.

A fellow photog, Cameron, visiting from NC.

In a cave.

Shabby Apple - Winner!

2011-06-21T12:00:00.001-06:00

I recently started following a fashion blog called 'Stylish White Female' because Terra, the stylish female behind the blog, is currently pregnant and I wanted to see what creative outfits she came up with during her pregnancy. Inspiration! She hosted a dress give away courtesy of Shabby Apple and I decided to enter. Shabby Apple has some of the cutest dresses I've seen. I'm a sucker for a cute dress and my closet would be filled to the brim with them if I didn't exercise self-control.

Well, I actually won the giveaway! My dress arrived in the mail yesterday and it is gorgeous. I'll have to wait until post-pregnancy to wear it, but that's okay. In the mean time I'll just admire it on the hanger.

Thank you, Terra and Shabby Apple!

Week 32

2011-06-20T08:13:00.000-06:00

We're getting closer! This week I felt Liam hiccuping on three separate occasions. It's the cutest thing I've ever felt him do. I could just imagine his tiny little self in my belly hiccuping away. Alex was able to feel it once and he laughed. Little things like this make it all more real in my head...which makes it's just slightly more scary too. I just don't know what "Mama Kristel" is like. I mean, I'm not really worried about it. I know I'll be fine. I know I'll love my child and mother him to the best of my ability. And I know a lot of it will come naturally. But I can't help but feel...old? I'm not sure if that's the exact word I'm looking for. It's just that whenever I imagine a mom, I picture someone much older and wiser than myself. And I still feel young and immature. I don't know. These are just the random thoughts that go through my head. All I can really do is pray for God to prepare me as much as possible...and I'll learn from experience along the way.

This week we headed to Happy Cakes on 32nd ave in the Highlands. First, let me say that I love 32nd ave! This street is lined with the cutest shops and restaurants...like this cute place to eat, or this amazing baby store. It's such a fun place. When we went to go take my picture they had this street fair going on. We didn't even realize it was happening. I'm glad we were able to enjoy it and check out all the vendors. I think it's safe to say that I love the Highlands...I wouldn't mind moving to this Denver neighborhood someday. Back to the photo...my favorite destination on 32nd ave is Happy Cakes. I have a sweet tooth and pregnancy has only made it sweeter. I love ice cream, donuts, brownies, and I love cupcakes. (Don't worry, mom, I don't indulge in all these sweets on a regular basis, I stick to fruit most of the time) I think the cupcakes at Happy Cakes are the perfect size with a good amount of icing (I'm a little picky about my cake to icing ratio). And if you're not into cupcakes check out their menu for all their other goodies.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T07:22:00.000-06:00

I have been blessed with one amazing dad. He's always been there and I know he always will be. He loves his daughters with a fierce love. He's taught me a lot...and in many ways I am just like him.

He's a deep thinker...he's the type of man who chooses his words carefully...he loves music and reading and Star Wars. He's a writer. He loves writing, it's his passion. He's on a constant pursuit of knowledge. He never grows tired of being a student. He enjoys cooking and will call up my grandma for cooking advice. He loves his family deeply. He's a loyal son and brother. He plays the guitar and sings. My favorite is when he sings "Woman" by John Lennon or old Nicaraguan songs. I really feel his love for me. It's not just something he says and I acknowledge. I know it's true. I know he loves me and it's a great feeling.

Thank you, Papi, for everything. Thank you for always being there for me and Alex. Thank you for doing our taxes and answering all my finance questions. Thank you for little packages that you send in the mail. Thank you for writing poetry. Thank you for singing songs. Thank you for making breakfasts. Thank you for loving me and being a great dad. Happy Father's Day! Love you!

Riding on my Papi's shoulders when I was just a little one.

My dad with his three daughters and adorable grandson, Aiden.

Jaxon, one year later

2011-06-17T22:50:00.000-06:00

It's been about a year since we welcomed Jaxon into our home. In that one year I have fallen in love with this pooch. He really has become such an important part of our family. I often refer to him as our fur baby and that's exactly what he is. He's so lovable and loyal...and his fur is so soft...and he has a great face with that beard.

Recently we noticed his right eye looking a little weird. He wasn't acting any differently...he was still his normal happy self...but something was off. We finally took him to the vet this week and she confirmed that he has a cataract in his eye. They did some testing and he doesn't have diabetes (yay!) so it's probably congenital. Poor little guy was basically born with this problem. Turns out it's a common schnauzer issue...who knew? We need to go back to the vet in a couple weeks to figure out our options. I'm really hoping there's something we can do to prevent the problem from getting worse. I would hate for my poor pup to go blind. He's already lost some peripheral vision in his right eye.

I'm glad that his personality hasn't really been affected though. He's still lovable and happy and I think he has many many years left in him. I'm glad too, because I sure do love him.

On his favorite spot on the couch

Cuddling with Liam.

Hiking in Colorado Springs.

Denver Art

2011-06-14T13:37:00.003-06:00

We had an empty wall in our dining room that I've been wondering what to do with. I'm not a fan of empty walls. I like displaying photos and art all over the house. Alex and I finally decided on a "Denver-themed" wall. It started with one of my friend's pieces for one of her art classes. Steph is so talented. I love all her work. She dabbles in a little bit of everything and recently opened up her own little shop selling headbands. Check it out! Anyway, I know this piece isn't about Denver in particular but the mountains reminded me of the Rockies, so I'm saying that it's Denver art. :-) Then I found a really neat print on Etsy displaying a map of all the neighborhoods in Denver. I love the typography and the different colors the print comes in. It makes me happy.

I love the start of our Denver art wall. We may add to it the future, but I think it looks great for now.

Liam's First Piano

2011-06-13T13:25:00.000-06:00

I love music. One of the reasons I fell in love with Alex was because of his musical talents and I want Liam to grow up in a musical household. Maybe he'll be a musician, maybe he won't...but I'd certainly like to encourage him in that direction. ;-)

When I saw that Gilt was having a sale on Schoenhut musical toys I just had to purchase this adorable little piano. I think Liam will have a lot of fun banging on the keys and maybe some day he'll get a real piano and be an accomplished pianist. Hey, you never know.

By the way, I love Gilt! Are you wondering what Gilt is? "Gilt Groupe provides instant insider access to today’s top designer labels, at up to 60% off retail. Become a member and find something new every day for women, men, kids and home as well as exclusive local services and experiences, and one-of-a-kind travel packages. Sign in and see what inspires you today."
They always have a lot of great sales going on...if you want to join click this link.

Week 31

2011-06-11T11:07:00.000-06:00

I feel like I'm on an emotional roller coaster lately. Pregnancy hormones are no joke. I'm up and down and I cry at the drop of a hat. It's crazy...and a little embarrassing. But hey, it comes with the territory. I know it's temporary (well, actually I've always been a little moody) and I have a very understanding husband who deals with my insanity quite well. Kudos to you, Mr Acevedo. I'm also tiiired a lot these days. I would be perfectly content to just sit around dozing in and out of consciousness...but there's so much to do so that's not really an option.

Liam is quite the active little guy. Sometimes his jabs are a bit painful. That's when I tap my belly and say, "Calm down in there, be nice to mommy!" But it's also comforting to know that he's good in there. Sometimes Alex and I will watch him move around in my belly...it looks like he's rolling from side to side and it's kinda creepy, not gonna lie. We can't get over it. Is it crazy that I still can't believe I'm going to be a mom soon?!

For this week's photo we went down to Curtis Park on 31st St. This is a great little park not far from home. There's a big open field, a playground for the kiddies, and now that summer is here the pool is open. Glory! I need to make quite a few trips down there to enjoy the water. Who's with me??

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

2011-06-10T14:40:00.000-06:00

I've been slowly making my way through Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and I can't even begin to tell you how much of a blessing it has been to me. I have really felt comforted, empowered, and encouraged reading this book. If you don't know, Ina May Gaskin is an incredible midwife, but she's also so much more. She really advocates for the best maternity care women can receive and doesn't believe in ever making a woman feel "less than." The experience she has gained throughout her years as a midwife is really invaluable. She owns a midwifery center in Tennessee called The Farm and their stats speak for themselves. Before the first C-section was necessary they had 186 births and the second C-section wasn't necessary until the 324th birth. Compare that to the rate of C-sections in US hospitals, which is between 30-40%...ridiculous!

I'm just really thankful for Ina May and her experience with childbirth. The lady really knows what she is talking about. She is so reassuring in her view that women can birth healthy babies without the need of medical interventions. Our bodies are capable.

I hope that this blog post (or any of my other posts on unmedicated childbirth) don't come across as snobby or insulting in any way. Believe me, that is not my intention. I believe that women can make their own choices...and if you really want to have an epidural or other drugs to help you cope with the pain of childbirth, go right ahead, no judgment here. I just find it annoying that so many women practically laugh in my face when I tell them of my plans to go unmedicated. I'm not dumb or naive. I have done the research and I believe in the body God gave me. I understand the need for medical interventions, but I also am concerned with the rate of women who are consenting to medical interventions unnecessarily because they haven't done the research or because medical professionals are making them feel pressured or inadequate. So this is just my little post to say that I have found great encouragement in this book by Ina May and if you are even the slightest bit curious about unmedicated childbirth you should pick up this book and read it.

Serve Denver 2011

2011-06-08T15:05:00.001-06:00

This week our church has been serving Denver. We have been partnering with various organizations to help this amazing city we live in. There are several different service projects going on with schools, churches, and homeless relief efforts. We even had several churches from North Carolina fly out to help with this week of service. It's been nice having all these people in the city with us and helping out in any way they can. Thanks everyone!

I decided the best way I could help was to document it all with my camera (because at 31 weeks pregnant I'm not very useful when it comes to manual labor). Here are just a few photos from this week.

Week 30

2011-06-04T22:00:00.000-06:00

Just about ten more weeks (or so) until Liam makes his grand entrance into the world. I can't believe it. Our sweet boy will be here before we know it. I had my 30 week midwife appointment and she said everything with Liam is just perfect. He's in the 58th percentile for growth and his heartbeat is steady. And I'm at 135 pounds now so she said I'm doing great with my weight gain. The only bad thing I discovered this week were....stretch marks. They're small, not very noticeable at the moment, but they're there. *sigh* Oh well, it's a small price to pay for a healthy baby boy.

For this week's photo we went to the intersection of Larimer and 30th, to the Block Building. This is where our church has been meeting. It's such a great space. It used to be an art gallery and is now an architecture firm with an event space that they rent out on the weekends. It's right in the heart of the RiNo Art District. I love that we get to have our gatherings here every Sunday night. Our church has really been blessed. If you're in Denver you should definitely come check us out.

birthing class

2011-06-03T10:10:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Alex and I attended our first unmedicated childbirth class at our hospital. I have to say that I really enjoyed it. The teacher seems really nice and knowledgeable. She's been doing this since the 70s, so she knows what she's talking about.

For our first class we did a lot of discussion of what our fears and expectations are for labor and delivery. It was really helpful to just get everything out there and have the teacher respond to each of these points. She also talked a lot about what exactly happens to our bodies during pregnancy and childbirth and what the first signs of labor are. I'm excited for the next few weeks when we discuss pain management, etc. I'm really happy Alex and I signed up for this class.

I'll let you know my review of the class once it's over!

Anniversary Picnic

2011-06-01T11:44:00.000-06:00

Alex wrote a post about our wonderful day yesterday celebrating our third anniversary. Check it out and marvel at the beautiful photos he took. The man is talented!

I love living in Denver and I love being married to this amazing man. :-)

Three Years

2011-05-31T05:27:00.000-06:00

Alex and I are celebrating three years of marriage today.

I was thinking that three years doesn't sound like a very long time at all. But in those three years we've done so much.

We traveled overseas together all on our own.
We moved to North Carolina and lived in two different apartments together.
We started paying our own bills, cooking our own meals, cleaning up after ourselves. This is huge considering neither one of us had ever lived on our own before.
We survived our first snow together.
We traveled to Mexico on a mission trip together.
We decided that we wanted to be a part of a church plant.
We have traveled together...Miami, Orlando, DC, the NC coast, Denver, etc.
We have learned what it means to be married and how to best honor each other...this is a lifetime lesson.
We have worked together on photo shoots and other creative projects. He inspires me.
We adopted an adorable little schnauzer. Our fur baby.
We survived being a one-car family for a while.
We moved to Denver, CO in order to live in community with the Summit Church.
We bought a house. We're homeowners!
We got pregnant and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our Little Man.

All this in just three short years. I'm so blessed to experience life with this amazing man. Since we first met (at just 15 years old!) I have seen him grow and mature into the God-fearing, hard-working, loving, kind, gentle, strong man that he is today. When I first laid eyes on him in high school, I would never have dated him. When we met again after high school and started dating (we were 20 years old!) I could see the potential in him. And when he asked me to marry him (we were 22 years old!) I knew that he was the one for me...and I'm glad that he saw the potential in me and decided I was the one for him. Life together just keeps getting better and better.

Happy Anniversary!

Mustache Tee

2011-05-30T10:03:00.000-06:00

I saw a cute maternity shirt on Etsy a while back that I just HAD to have.
But money is tight and I thought, "Surely, I can make this on my own."

My first attempt was with an iron-on transfer. I failed. Mostly because I didn't have the directions for the transfers and I messed up a step along the way.

Thankfully, one of Alex's co-workers screen prints t-shirts! So I gave him one of my Hanes V-neck undershirts and he made it happen. I love it.

Liam is definitely a Little Man with a cute little mustache.

Week 29

2011-05-28T20:35:00.000-06:00

The closer we get to Week 40 the more I freak out. On the one hand I can't wait to meet my Little Man...on the other hand, I feel sooo unprepared. We really need to get organized. I'm hoping over the next few weekends we can finish fixing up the dresser and get all his clothes and crib bedding ready.

As for how the pregnancy is going, I guess I can't really complain. I'm not sleeping as well as I used to. But hey, that's pregnancy. My pelvic pain is probably here to stay but I just need to do stretches to help me in that department. God has truly blessed us with this pregnancy and I'm glad it's been smooth sailing so far.

This week we went to Fuller Dog Park on 29th Ave. Jaxon just loves going to the dog park. It's so cute to see him running around with the other dogs. We always say he's like the Patrol Dog because whenever some dogs are rough housing he has to go check it out and bark at them...and as soon as they stop he trots away all proud of himself for "breaking up the fight." Hah. I love our pup. We usually take him to Josephine Dog Park, it's a bit further away but we just like it more. Fuller works in a pinch though.

By the way, maxi dresses are the best invention of life! I was hesitant to try this trend out but Alex kept insisting I get one, so I finally picked this one up at Macy's. SO comfy. It really is the perfect pregnancy dress. I feel like such a hippie mom wearing it, hah, but I love it.

Belly Laughs

2011-05-27T09:54:00.000-06:00

I've heard such good things about Jenny McCarthy's book "Belly Laughs" that I decided to check it out from the library. It was definitely worth the read. Jenny is hilarious and does not hold back on any of the more embarrassing details of pregnancy. I was literally laughing out loud at some of the chapters. I was reading it in our hotel room in Texas a couple weeks ago and Alex had to walk over to see what I kept laughing about. Reading this book made me feel like I'm not alone in some of the things I've experienced in this pregnancy and it also made me very glad that I haven't experienced some of the things that she has (so far no stretch marks and no peeing in my pants, woo-hoo!).

So if you're pregnant go ahead and give this book a read, believe me, you'll appreciate it.

Growth Ultrasound

2011-05-26T10:02:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday morning I had to go in for a growth ultrasound to make sure our Little Man was progressing properly. My belly is a bit on the small side so they wanted to make sure he was growing and getting adequate nutrition.

Well, I may have a small belly but I certainly don't have a small baby! Liam is actually measuring about a week and a half ahead and is weighing in at a little over three pounds already. Yikes. I have to say, I'm not really surprised. He was measuring big at my 20 week ultrasound as well and I've always felt that he may come a little earlier than expected. But hey, I'm just a first time mom, I'm no expert.

The U/S tech could even see that Liam has some hair! How crazy is that? Alex and I were both born with heads full of black spiky hair so Liam may take after his mommy and daddy.

I'm thankful that Liam is so healthy and that he's growing. Alex is especially proud and keeps calling him his Big Boy. Hopefully he isn't TOO big upon delivery...ouch.

Liam at 28 weeks, 7 days.

P.S. Don't forget to check out our maternity photo session on Maloman's blog. The photos are so sweet!

Maternity Photo Session

2011-05-25T22:20:00.001-06:00

While we were in Miami we decided to have a maternity photo session with Maloman Photographers. Stephan and Candace shot our engagement and wedding. They also did a "just-for-fun" session for us back in December (that's where we got this image to announce my pregnancy). We love their work and trust them fully to capture all of these important milestones in our life together.

They posted a blog post with some of the images from our maternity session on their blog and I love them! I can't thank Stephan and Candace enough for taking these photos. And I can't wait to order some prints to display on our walls.

Click here to check out the photos and leave a comment letting them know what you think.

Baby Shower!

2011-05-25T07:49:00.000-06:00

It must be said that I absolutely loved my baby shower. I am still astounded at how beautiful everything looked and how many people came out to celebrate Little Liam. The theme was owls (of course!) and the colors were yellow and gray. I did absolutely nothing to help pull this off. My mom, sister, and mother-in-law lovingly planned out every detail and several other family members contributed their talents to help make it memorable. My dad, grandmother, aunts...everyone had their part and I feel so blessed. All I did was show up and it makes me happy that so many people love this little baby already.

I just want to thank everyone who helped...thank you Mami, Papi, Abuelita, Danibel, Reima, Patty, Mima, Mercedes, Maria Elena, the Ortegas, my Tios...everyone. I know it was no easy task but you all did an amazing job! And thank you to everyone who showed up. It really is weird not living in Miami anymore but still feeling all the love and support from our friends and family there. I know we have not been forgotten and that you all still think of us and will even buy presents for a baby you won't be able to see and enjoy everyday. It really amazes me how much love we feel from all of you. It's humbling. And I really can't thank you enough for contributing to Liam's nursery...diapers, clothing, bottles, toys...he has all of these things because you are generous enough to supply them. I promise to post many photos of him enjoying his gifts...and we will be visiting as often as possible. We will definitely be coming by Christmas time so that you all can meet him and we can meet my new niece or nephew who should be joining us by that time (yay, Danibel is pregnant!). And our door is always open to anyone who wants to visit us in beautiful Denver, Colorado. We love you all and miss you. Again, thank you!

Week 28

2011-05-24T07:24:00.000-06:00

Third Trimester!
I can't believe how fast the time is going. I'm already in the final trimester of this pregnancy. Before we know it, our Little Man will be out in the world with us. It's an exciting yet somewhat stressful thought. I don't feel at all prepared. We have a crib and a dresser that's still being worked on...and a few other things...but man, I just really need to get organized and make sure we have all those newborn essentials.

This week has been great. We were in Miami for the big baby shower weekend. I'll write a separate post with pictures and everything but for now let me just say that I had an amazing time. I have the best family and the best friends in the universe. Liam is so blessed.

Okay, so we cheated with the location for this week's belly photo. I know we're supposed to go to 28th street in Denver but while we were at the beach yesterday we couldn't help ourselves. We had such a wonderful time in Miami and the beach is so beautiful that we decided to take the Week 28 photo there. Who knows when we'll be able to go to the beach again, so I hope Liam enjoyed his first time there. ;-)

Ain't No Mom Jeans - Feature

2011-05-20T07:02:00.000-06:00

I have been featured on the very lovely blog: Ain't No Mom Jeans, as part of their Mom Street Style series. I am so honored that they liked my Belly Series pictures enough to put them up on their blog. It's been so much fun taking these photos every week and it's nice to know that others appreciate it too. So if you have a minute click here to check out the feature and leave a comment with your thoughts.

Thanks Ain't No Mom Jeans!

A Very Special Day!

2011-05-18T07:25:00.000-06:00

Today is my 26th birthday! I don't know about you, but 26 sounds like it'll be a good year to me. I have a midwife appointment this morning, then I need to get some work done, and then I'm pretty sure Alex has a little something up his sleeve. ;-)

Also, I am officially in my third trimester for this pregnancy! Third trimester. As in, the last one. As in, it won't be long until Liam is here and we'll be celebrating his birthday.

I praise God for bringing me this far...both in my life and in my pregnancy. He is truly good.

[image via weheartit]

[image via my phone!]

Brooke Fraser

2011-05-17T11:16:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, Alex and I were able to see Brooke Fraser live at the Bluebird Theater along with a couple friends. It was such a great concert! I believe it's our first show here in Denver and I do love a good show. There's just something very special about live music. In fact, I hope Liam likes live music as much as we do because I'm determined to get him these so we can bring him along with us while we enjoy our favorite bands.

Anyway, I really enjoyed seeing Brooke Fraser live. I haven't been a fan for very long but when I finally got around to giving her music a listen I fell in love. Her voice is phenomenal and it sounds just as great in person as it does on her records. Plus, she's hilarious. Admittedly I could not always understand her accent (she's from New Zealand) but her personality and sense of humor are so quirky and lovable. I'm really happy Alex and I were able to get out and see her.