Rants and Raves of a New Mommy

I thought blogging would be easy...Not so much! Doing a blog, just confirms how boring I've become!! I think "Humm...Maybe I'll do a blog today. But later, that way I can blog about my day"...But then nothing exciting happens! :/

Well, a lot of exciting things happen watching my baby girl grow and learn more and more everyday. BUT I'm sure lots of you get tired of seeing my OBSESSIVE postings on my wall of her & her pictures!! I talk about Julisa a ton on facebook, I know! But she's just so amazing I can't keep it to my self!

11/12/2011

01/28/2012

Today, as I changed her diaper I realized that she was ready for
SIZE. TWO. DIAPERS!

O_O

I can't believe how big shes getting, and fast!! She grows like a little weed!! ♥

(she obviously does better with baths now!)

She's fitting into 0-3 months in clothes. Yesterday, I put on a 6mon onsie on her, and it was just a TAD too big!!

HOLLY MOLLY!!!

(As Brianna would say!)

Dr.s of course were worried about her weight when she was born. Now, not so much! Her Dr. even had the NERVE to call my baby an aggressive eater!! LOL! I just say she's a HEALTHY, GROWING baby girl!! :) I'm happy that she is an "aggressive eater"! I'd rather her be eating good, and growing, than not eating, and sick! She is FINALLY starting to smile more, and shes becoming more and more aware of whats going on around her. She's hitting milestones perfectly. Before I thought she was a little behind. I was right, and wrong at the same time. I didn't know that I needed to calculate an "Adjusted age" for her. She was born November 9th but wasn't due until December 13th. 5 weeks early, so subtract the 5 weeks from her actual age, and that's her adjusted age. (which is 6 weeks and 4 days, her actual age is 11 weeks and 3 days, Oy! confusing I know!) So she'll be just a little behind until she gets a little older, and catches up with babies her actual age.

I love her so much, and I just want to show her off to the world!
Like "Look at my cute little baby!!"

I get sad sometimes though, knowing that she didn't get to meet her Great Grandpa George. Before, seeing him interact with his grand kids was always so amazing to me. I remember him holding the kids and dancing around with them!! I always thought, "one day, he'll do that with my kids" Sadly he passed away 2 years (Sept. 2009) before I even got pregnant. I miss him a lot and still have dreams about him all the time. Even though he is gone, I will make sure that Julisa knows who he is. I'll share lots of pictures and memories! I can never see a Mariners game or Mariners memorabilia with out thinking of him!

I still have the magnet I bought for him!
"Seattle Mariners #1 Fan, George"

When I was little, my grandpa used to call me "Miss Betty". One time I was going to church with them, and I came out after my Grandma Jane got me ready in my pretty dress, and he whistled at me and said "WOW! Miss Betty!!" (I still don't get it!♥) and it stuck!! As I got older he dropped the misses and called me Betty. :) I miss him dearly, and hold EVERY memory of him, close to my heart.

Grandpa George & Grandpa Jane

When I told my Grandma Jane that I was pregnant, she couldn't stop thinking about it!! Every day she would ask my mom and my aunt about me and when was I going to have the baby! My grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer about 8 years ago. She doesn't remember much, but for some reason, remembered that I was pregnant. Even after Julisa was born, she asked and still does ask about her ALL the time. I am SO thankful that Julisa still has her Great Grandma Jane! :) I love my grandma!! Along with my mom, she is the MOST amazing woman I've ever known!!♥

Not a whole lot to say today.

Just kinda put down what was on my mind.

But thanks again for reading my blog!! :)

George Trevino Perez * March 19, 1926 - September 25, 2009

HOLY SMOKES!! Has it really been 13 weeks since my water broke, and had Julisa!? Wow! You know it's true about what they say: "Time flies when you're having fun". Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that at age 25 I'd be married with a baby!! Most girls my age are living it up in some club with some random dude they just met at the bar. Not that I'm complaining, I am the happiest I've ever been! Not only do I have the BEST husband in the world, but I've got the most beautifulest baby girl in the world, as my daughter!

Going back to my pregnancy, I had a pretty tough time! I struggled with high blood pressure, hip pains, the worst morning sickness ever and HORRIBLE heart burn! Not to mention the embarrassing swollen face and feet! During my pregnancy I experienced happiness, sadness and maybe just A LITTLE depression. The last few months were the hardest. Hubby worked ALL the time. He left a 6:30am and didn't get back home until 7 at night, and sometimes even worked the weekends. I was home pretty much all day by my self. The only company I had was from my puppy (okay he was 4yrs, not so much a puppy I know!) and my brothers dog Heidi; who we were taking care of for a few months while he was away at work. I love animals, so I kinda enjoyed their company. But talking to something, and not getting a response back, well, could get kinda boring! I was getting pretty lonely being home all alone all the time. All of my family was 4 hours away. Sure, I went to visit some friends, but nothing made me feel better. I just wanted to come back home, and have my husband there with me. Hubby even had to work all day on my 25th birthday. I wasn't happy. Thinking back to that house (which was my brothers. Where we were staying while he was gone) I almost get this sick feeling in my stomach. Such a sad, depressing time there. I mean don't get me wrong, the small amount of time hubby was home, we had lots of fun. I just hated the fact that I was ALWAYS alone. But I new that he had to do, what he had to do, to pay bills and get ready for our new baby!

♥Me & Kilo December, 8th 2010

Kilo's urn (in a box) on my desk

Another thing that happened there at that house that makes it such a depressing place for me is on August 15th, 2011, after a 2 month battle with cancer, Kilo passed away. I was 23 weeks pregnant. I took it very hard. Even though I new it was coming, my reaction was as if I had no idea he even had cancer. And to make things worse, I was the one who found him in the back yard. When I saw him, my heart sunk into my stomach, and I dropped to my knees and just started sobbing hysterically. After about 5 minutes, I got my self together long enough to call my husband at work and tell him to come home. I've experienced the heartache that death brings upon people, but nothing ever like this. I felt like I had just lost my best friend. I loved my Kilo, and spoiled him and treated him as if he were my son. I tried to keep my cool, and not freak out too much. I didn't want to stress my baby. I had a VERY hard time keeping my cool.

We made the decision to have him cremated. In a way it made, and still does make me feel better to know that he's right here. He sits on my desk with his collar, water & food bowl and his favorite toy; his frisbee. I would give ANYTHING, just short of my family to have him home with us again.

I MISS HIM SO MUCH.

Fast forward 2 months to October 23rd, 2011 @ 6:30am 32 weeks pregnant. We were back home for the weekend and I woke up to this weird feeling like I was peeing my pants! When I stood up and ran to the bathroom, it got worse. The first thing I thought was "OMG, my baby!". I new in my head that a baby born at just 32 weeks had a strong chance at living outside of the womb, (after having a miscarriage a few years ago, I had researched this A LOT) but I couldn't help but to be so scared for my baby girl! I came in the room and sat down on the edge of the bed and very calmly woke my husband up and told him that I needed to go to the hospital that I thought my water had broke. I swear hubby did cartwheels outa bed! On the car ride to the hospital it was pretty quite. I'm sure hubby, like me, had ALL KINDS OF DIFFERENT thoughts running threw our minds. "Is she gonna make?" "Is our baby okay?". We got to the hospital and they tested me and sure enough, my water had broke. They then transferred me from Kennewick General Hospital to Kadlec Regional Medical Center because KGH didn't have the proper "equipment" to help a baby born at 32 weeks survive, and KRMC did. My Dr. there at KRMC was Dr. Ortolano or "Dr. O". He was AWESOME!! He made the decision to keep me pregnant for 3 more weeks. Which was the best decision ever. Julisa came out not having to spend ANY time in the NICU, which I was dreading. Our plan was to get me to 35 weeks and if my body hadn't started labor on its own, he would induce me. 35 weeks was just 3 days off of 11/11/11. So I, of course asked if we could do it on that date. Dr. O. was all for 11/11/11! So we had our plan, I'd be induced in the early morning and Julisa would be born on November 11th, 2011, right?... WRONG! She had her own plans! I started having contracts on November 8th in the middle of the night. They got VERY STRONG early morning of the 9th. I let my nurses know, so they hooked me up to a monitor and the next thing I new the were putting in an IV and starting up the potocin! My nurse quietly called on her hospital cell phone for the anesthesiologist to come up and give me my epidural! HOLY CRAP! It all starting happening so fast! 3 hours and about 5 pushes later out popped Miss Julisa Marcela Reyes! Weighing in at whoppin 5lb 5oz! Never had I ever felt so much love for something ever in my life! She was the most perfect, gorgeous, amazing thing I have ever seen!

When she came out, the NICU nurses came and swooped her right out of Dr. O's hands and started examining her. They wanted to monitor her, to make sure she was getting enough oxygen. Pretty much making sure that her lungs were strong enough to work on their own. And boy! Were they strong! My family who had their ears pressed up against the door listening to everything that was going on in the room, said she cried EXTREMELY loud! I BARELY remember her crying!! Soon as the nurses brought her over to me I teared up and couldn't stop crying!! I felt so many different emotions! I was happy, scared, nervous, all of the above. She had a little trouble breathing to start with but soon started doing it like she had been doing it ALL HER LIFE! ;) She didn't spend any time in the NICU and was able to be in the room with us the whole time! The first night with her was HARD! We were extremely exhausted from being up all night the night before with my contractions. I had been up for just a little over 48 hours, I gave birth, and was now trying to take care of a new born baby! Phew we're we tired!! At about 3-4 in the morning my nurse came in and wanted to take Julisa to get a bath and take her first pictures. When the nurse walked out the door with her, I started crying!! She was only gone for about 30 minutes but I swear she was with the nurse for about 3 hours!

After 3 weeks in the hospital, 2 of those days were with baby, we were READY to finally go home! It took what seemed like an eternity for our nurse to get all the paper work together to discharge us. As we made our way to the car my heart was racing. I couldn't believe we were finally going home! And all those different emotions we're coming back. We were now leaving the hospital, we wouldn't have a little red "nurse button" on our TV remote to call in the nurse if we had a question. It was ALL on us now. I swear hubby drove about 5 MPH on the way home! Auntie Angie, Grandma Mary Jane, uncle Gabe and cousins Brianna, Reina and Alex were all there to greet us when we came home! It was a great homecoming. Everyone was so excited to hold, hug and kiss Miss Julisa! We had been waiting for her to get here for SOOOO LONG! When we got home we had A LOT to do. We had NOTHING ready for her because when we left 3 weeks ago I wasn't due for another 6 weeks!! Hubby went right to work putting together all her things. Shelves, swing, bassinet etc...

Fast forward another 2months.

Julisa has been for the most part very healthy, beside a few things like acid reflux and a little bit of collic. She never really cried, just grunted, A LOT! BUT, she has recently learned the art of crying!! And when she starts, watch out! She is such a good baby though. She was born early and defied all odds, came out as healthy as a baby who made it 40 weeks in the womb. We are very lucky and blessed!

We come to her 2month check up and its times for immunizations O.O Ugh! I didn't want her to get them! But I new she had to! She actually did very good! I cried WAY more than she did!! She now weighs 10lbs 7oz! She doubled her birth weight in 2 months! And people wonder why I call her my Chubbies!! She's almost starting to sleep threw the night... ALMOST! When we first came home we were getting about 3-4 hours of sleep each, night. Now were getting about 5-6 hours each! WHOOP! She's a little backwards right now though. Sleeping most of the day and up most of the night... but when we DO get her to fall asleep, she stays sleeping for 5-6 hours! (That's why its an ALMOST! LOL)
Few hours after her shots, we started to see some of the symptoms of the immunizations. She was VERY fussy and didn't want anyone messing with her, talking to her or anything. After a dose of Tylenol and a bottle she went right to sleep. We'll see how the rest of the night goes!

Me, Hubby & Julisa♥

That's all that matters now.

I some times stare at her and think "Wow, she's AMAZING, and we made her". This little small person totally relies on me and her dad. The feeling is awesome. I LOVE BEING A MOM!♥

My husband has stepped up so much. We are a great team. Julisa and I are so lucky to have him! For the past 5 years he's been the best husband to me. Now, he gets to be the best daddy to Julisa. All the love that he shows me, he now gets to show to her! I love him dearly, and always will!

Thank you for reading my first blog! I hope you enjoyed reading all about me and my family!!

And thank you to Amanda for sharing her blogs!!

She's the reason I decided to start doing blogs of my own!

Read all about her & her family here: Chronicles of Mommyhood

MEETING HER FAMILY!