The Countdown BEGINS

Three weeks left until my scheduled c-section date on March 31st! I'm 36 weeks now and by next week I'll be considered 'full term,' which basically means that the baby can safely arrive anytime between then and my delivery date. Everything is ready - including ME - to have this boy meet the world! Mira helped me re-arrange her room to make space for her baby's brother's clothes. We had the baby shower last weekend (thank you mom for hosting and to Carla, Brigitte, Maryan and Mommy Malu for helping organize!). Thank you to everyone who came to join in celebrating our new special arrival!

I attended a hospital tour since I will be delivering at a different hospital than where Mira was born. The hospital also had a sibling tour where I took Mira. They showed a video of being an older brother/sister and brought out dolls to have the kids carry, diaper change, feed and swaddle. I've been talking to Mira about Mama staying at the hospital for a few days while the nurses and doctors make sure that me and baby brother are ok before we come home. I think she is as prepared as she can be at this point. Of course, the real test will be when the baby actually arrives and how she will handle the shift in attention.

Mira also had her first real dental appt. She did great and loves her new light-up Barbie toothbrush. She even brought it to school to show it off to her friends and teachers!

She's still as girlie as ever and loves wearing her Belle dress when she comes home from school.

As for me, I've been on maternity leave as of last Friday, which was a big relief since I've gotten more and more uncomfortable with each passing week. At times, he sits on my sciatic nerve where the pain shoots from my lower back down my right leg when I go from sitting, or bending, to standing. I also get horrible, painful cramps in my calves (charley horse?) in the middle of the night. He sits on my bladder, so bathroom breaks are very frequent during the day, which I guess is better than having them that frequent at night. I've also discovered that the tightness I've been feeling on my belly are Braxton-Hicks contractions. I don't remember experiencing any of these symptoms with Mira, even though these are very normal during pregnancy. My pregnancy with her seemed much easier than this time around. Not sure if its just me, or maybe my age, or if its the difference between carrying a boy versus a girl. Or maybe I just feel like complaining... blame it on the hormones. :)

Less than 2 months and counting!

Mark and Mira came with me again this morning to my Week 31 OB appt since my doctor promised us another 3D picture and a DVD at this visit. He took measurements and said that baby boy is a good size! Around this time (~30 weeks) they're usually around 3 lbs or so. My doctor said baby boy Garcia is approx 4 lbs 5 oz! No wonder! I'm constantly in the restroom cuz he sits right on my bladder and there's no space in there! And every morning I wake up sore around my pelvic and pubic bone because he sits so low. My c-section is scheduled for March 31, but I have a feeling I may go into labor earlier cuz I may just run out of space in there for him! The doctor gave us a couple of 3D pictures, but they didn't turn out so good. Baby boy was hiding behind his hand and the cord so it was hard for the doctor to get a good angle. He was moving around a lot during the visit which the doctor said was "messing up his picture." haha. I don't know why baby boy was not in such a good mood today. Doesn't look like he was in such a good mood either, looking at the picture.

Don't know if you can make out his face, but looks like he may get Mark's nose too!

Mira explained to the doctor that when her baby brother comes she will show him how to brush his teeth and eat well. :)

Yesterday was Superbowl and we partied it up at Ray (Mark's cousin's house). After the game, we played Kinect Sports and Dance Central on Xbox. Even though Mira was the only kid there, she enjoyed herself so much she didn't want to leave! When we finally convinced her to leave (around 9pm), she knocked out in the car on the ride home. Mark and I didn't want to wake her to change her so we just put her in her bed. Around 2am she ended up in our bed and around 5am, Mark felt our bed was wet! :( The ONE night she has an accident is the ONE night we didn't change her into her pull-ups! Of course... Murphy's law...

Aside from the one accident, Mira is doing awesome! Still into princesses and sometimes refers to herself in the third person as "Princess": "The Princess is here!" "The Princess is eating!" Mark and I bought her a responsibilities chart that she completes everyday for the weeek. If she completes all her responsibilities for the week, she gets a suprise. We've done this for two weeks now and its working great. For her first suprise, she picked a Princess puzzle and it's kept her occupied EVERY day for the last two weeks! She loves doing puzzles, especially THIS one.

And as she gets older, we add more responsibilities to her chart to make it a little more challenging. :)

Here's Mira with her responsibilities chart:

And her most recent favorite thing, her Princess puzzle:

So, now I'm down to visits to the OB every two weeks, instead of monthly. I may be posting more, depending on how I feel or how my visits go. We're counting down the days and getting ready in the house - re-arranging Mira's room to make room for her baby brother's stuff. And Mira has been great helping me with getting everything ready. She's very excited! :) Since my belly button popped out, it's been Mira's little obssession. She tells all her teachers and classmates how big my belly button is! haha.

Week 28

We're getting closer! I'm scheduled for my c-section at 7:00am March 31st (OB says we have to be at the hospital at 5:30am to prep for surgery). Mira was an unplanned c-section, so I will be doing a repeat. Mark's birthday is April 1st, so I'm hoping to go into labor a couple of days ealier to spread out their birthdays a little.

I had my OB appointment this past Monday. Mira and Mark came with me to see the baby on the 3-D ultrasound. Mira was very adamant about going since I had mentioned it to both her and Mark over the weekend. Mark has been very busy at work so he almost didn't go, but since Mira really wanted to come and see her baby brother in mama's tummy, Mark decided last minute to join. :)

I'm so glad that they both came to see little baby boy's smiling face. He looks so cozy. We're all so excited to meet him in person!


In the meantime, Mira's personality has really been shining lately. She loves the Disney princesses and LOVES to sing. Her latest favorite song is a Whole New World. I may consider enrolling her into theatre one of these days. :)


I've read that the baby can hear external sounds so I encourage Mira to keep singing to her baby brother and I tell her that he LOVES her singing. :)

That's it for now.

The Holidays

Ahh... the holidays are finally over! Not to say I don't LOVE the holidays, but it is kind of nice to get back to the regular routine.

We spent Christmas in San Jose, mainly with the Garcia side of the family. We stayed at Mark's brother's house and the whole immediate Garcia family was present. It was nice for the cousins to play and bond and to have a complete family Christmas photo.

Mira had a blast. It was so nice to see her really get into Christmas this year and interact so well with her cousins.

Christmas Eve the kids made a gingerbread man with grandmama in preparation for Santa's visit.

That evening we drove up to San Bruno for a late post-mass Christmas Eve Dinner at Uncle Dindo/Tita Emy's house. Santa showed up right at midnight!

Cousins (left to right) Jordyn, Zach and Mira LOVED Santa's visit, but I think they figured out it was Grandpapa Oids... :)

The next day (Christmas Day) Mark's sister and family, Nicole, Jason and baby Helena joined us to celebrate Jesus' birthday, exchange presents and open presents from Santa.

Grandmama and Grandpapa bought all the grandkids Laker outfits for the basketball season!

(left to right) Garcia cousins Jordyn, Helena, Mira and Zach

The day after Christmas, we drove to Christine's (Mark's cousin) house in Brentwood. Mira was in awe when she first saw Angelina in her Rapunzel dress and was giddy when Angelina offered to let Mira borrow her Ariel dress. They were practically best 'princess' buddies for the rest of the night!

Hope everyone also had a safe and wonderful holiday!!