Meet Oscar

Oscar

Born Thursday, November 7, 2013.

11:53 pm. 8 lbs 3 oz. 19 1/2 inches long.

I had an awesome delivery in the hospital, delivered him 3 hours after we were admitted. But I really did have 4 days previous of contractions at home, mostly through the night. Which means I was getting very little sleep and feeling very frustrated and discouraged by the time Thursday came around. And I was in a lot of pain!

On Thursday I picked Juan up from work in tears. I just couldn't do this for 5 more days. I needed sleep, I needed more than a 20 min break between contractions. The contractions were irregular, but very painful so I really just lived in fear of when that next contraction would hit. By Thursday afternoon, the contractions were consistently 10 min apart, and they didn't stop when we went for a long walk around the neighborhood. This was my first sign that it was the real thing. Then we went to visit a friend, went to dinner, soon it was 3 consecutive hours with contractions about 7-10 min apart. I started to really believe that I was finally in real labor! Juan wasn't so sure... he didn't think I was in that much pain. Silly Juan.

I got home, did dishes, packed my bag, set out the girls' clothes and wrote instructions. In that one hour, my contractions were suddenly 3-4 min apart! It was really so exciting! So that was it, we headed to the hospital. I did have my doubts, the contractions were terrible, but were they painful enough? I guessed I was a 3 and that maybe they'd take sympathy on me and admit me since it was my 3rd child and I had the potential to move fast.

After 25 min of questions at the hospital, they finally checked me. I was dilated to a 6. Seriously, I have never been so happy in my life! I was in heaven. After an hour, I got the epidural. And I was so comfortable. And then 2 hours after that, we had our baby boy!

Life at home has been a smooth transition. My parents are in town and my mom has been amazing. She does all the cleaning, entertains the girls, lets me nap twice each day. I am the most well-rested new mother of three! Amelia adores Oscar, and Maya follows suit. Maya at first seemed to be uninterested and just copied Amelia, but now she gets these spurts of just uncontrollable love where she hugs him 20 times in a row and is filled with pure joy.

 Juan and Amelia, headed out on a lunch and movie date.

 I took Oscar outside since it was a perfect day out, 70 degrees. This is what he thought. Too bright.

 Maya's pure joy.

 The girls huddled around the Kindle, in a rare moment of cooperation and no fighting.

The girls are each vying for attention in their own ways. Amelia threw a full on tantrum today as she was yelling down a 10 minute rant from her bedroom because Juan surprised Maya with some cheetos and failed to acknowledge they are suddenly Amelia's favorite too and Amelia wants her own bag, she doesn't want any from Maya's bag. Drama. Maya is focused on teasing Amelia 100%, she does it with a sly grin and suddenly loves to cause trouble. This is all expected, and I know it will continue.

 Remember just last week, I thought she was so tiny?

Welcome to our world, Oscar.

Cruise Control

We are on cruise control over here. Ok well maybe that's not exactly true considering the day we had yesterday when we put the girls down to bed a full hour early because we just didn't have the energy to deal with them any longer. Energy levels over here are very low these days with me at 39 weeks pregnant and Juan who picks up all the slack. He is superman. He is pretty incredible.

But when days go according to plan, and the girls actually nap and behave like they aren't monsters, then it feels good. We are ready for this baby, 100%. I am SO excited to have him in my arms and just watch him as he snuggles in and sleeps (that's how my newborns have been so far at least, this little boy of mine just might give us a reality check :). Halloween is over and it was the best. These years with young kids, can anything beat it? It is a lot of fun watching them get so happy over simple things.

I think a lot about how life is going to change. The girls are used to seeing a mom who is pretty tired. But I still spend all my time with them. We are 3 amigos during the days. We read a lot of books and we spend a lot of time playing, baking, going on walks, going to the park. Now there will be another child that demands a lot of attention and I'm afraid of what that will do to my little girlies. Yesterday Maya snuggled me in the morning after she woke up a little early. She had her hand on my cheek just staring at me, waiting patiently for me to get my booty out of bed. I opened my eyes to look at her, and my little Maya is so so tiny. I feel like she could fit in my belly right now, she is still a baby. And here she is going to be a big sister. And a middle child for life. Oh Maya, we are in love with her. She has the sweetest smile and she doesn't give it away to just anyone. She has a lot of sass and is always silly and lively. And miss Amelia, she is my sidekick. She asks me conversational questions and we just have the best time together. She is only 3, but so often I treat her like she is grown and expect so much out of her, and what amazes me is that she steps up to the challenge. She always surprises us and I am so proud of my oldest girl. 

And after all that chatter, some pictures from the last couple weeks:

 Matching Minnie Mouses from our church trunk or treat.

 Family picture. I was a monkey and Juan was a very sweaty gorilla. 

 Playing a real carnival game! She is just growing up too fast.

 This is my husband. Juan is hilarious. For years he has put up with my lame, home-made costumes, always talking about how he wants to be a gorilla. Life dream for him, no joke. And he had the best time of his life scaring way too many people, including me and the girls! I love this man.

 Millie and a photo shoot.

 Time for trick or treating! Please know that after this picture was taken, I could not stand up again on my own. Bad idea.

 The girls with Mickey and their friend Andy!

 Off they go with Daddy!

 Maya too busy for pictures, "Open that!"

  My beautiful Maya.

Twinkle Twinkle.

Pumpkins and a Quilt!

Life is a little chaotic over here these days. The house seems to be a constant mess. Dinner rarely gets done in time or at all. There are kids screaming and running and jumping all over us. I'm exhausted! But we're having fun! And if there's ever going to be a time my house falls apart, it may as well be when I'm 8 months pregnant and have a 3 year old and 1 year old.

Last weekend, we hit up 2 pumpkin patches! We went to one here in town with our friends Amanda and Brian, like we do every year. Such a fun tradition. And then Juan and I ventured way out of town to the middle of nowhere to another Pumpkin Patch the next day! Two days in a row of girls yelling, Pumpkins!

 Thank you to Amanda, our photographer. So nice to have someone to capture a full family shot! Here we are last year, and the year before!

 Juan and I are getting such good pictures together. He just loves it :)

And with a 3rd child comes a 3rd quilt! I sometimes pretend I am a person who sews. But the truth is, I've only ever made 3 quilts. But they are important ones, one for each of my babies. I present to you:

Oscar's quilt! Oscar is the pretty set in stone name for our baby boy. And I love how the quilt turned out. There was a lot of rearranging and dropping some fabric, going to find more. Girl fabric seems to be more abundant in fabric stores. A refresher on each of the girl's quilts: here and here.

And 36 weeks.

Date Night

Date nights out are pretty rare around here. I like to think we make the most of our time together after the kids go to bed. And Juan and I are both the type that prefer to be in sweats and at home anyway. We don't necessarily love dressing up and getting out. But every now and then, it is a lot of fun. We got out this last weekend and went on a food truck crawl. I love how charming and full of character downtown Austin is, and the food trucks are a big part of that. We ended up hitting 4 trucks: asian fusion, philly cheesesteak, mexican, and dessert. Here are pictures from our night:

 Delicious and very fresh food from Pueblo Viejo. And quite authentic mexican food.

 And Gourdough's. After 2+ years of living here, we finally made it to Gourdough's. And it hasn't left my mind ever since, we both died over how delicious it was. Juan, you up for another trip there this weekend?

 I'm obviously not awesome at taking food pictures in the dark. Those are grilled bananas if you can't tell.

And more stuff going on:

 I got a dresser from Craig's list and the girls helped me put a new layer of white on it.

 Finished product. I love.

Last week at 33 weeks. I am 34 weeks now.

And my cute family, slide racing.

How Many Babies? + Videos!

My pregnancy is relatively easy but the exhaustion this pregnancy has been through the roof. I am already born with somewhat lazy genes, and then tag on 2 toddlers and being 7 months pregnant, Juan has been doing it all. We had a particularly hard 6th month of pregnancy where we really had the conversation of, can we do this again? I already know that I love babies, I will always want a baby. But then in the evenings, when we're all together and the girls are just so fun I'll ask Juan, can you really tell me you won't yearn for that cute voice of a 3 year old in our home? Or can you really handle being done with one year olds in our home in just 2 years? Age 1 is just the best. Did I skip over age 2? Yes, yes I did (mostly because she was a runner!). My girls are the best ages right now. I LOVE to hear Amelia talk and sing and her imagination is taking off and her curiosity is the best thing ever. I always wanted to know what my babies were thinking, and with my 3 year old, she tells me everything that's on her mind. It is glorious.

I have been trying to take more video because I want these ages etched in my mind forever. I want to always remember how cute they are.

My Baby Shower

Yes I had a baby shower for baby #3. People here are just too nice and it was a very nice night to celebrate my sweet baby boy. I do love my friends, they are just the best. Steph and I are due 2 weeks apart, so we combined our shower and invited just a few friends. It was so chill and fun and we had ice cream sundaes. It was at my place! My passion is NOT hosting parties (or maybe the turn off is cleaning the house before said party). But every now and then it is nice to have people over to our home. Here are some pictures from the night.

 Amber made us these cute banners for decorations and then we get to keep them for the baby's room! Mine (above) is still up in my entry way. I love it.

 Jen, Amber, Sherry. 

Amber is the one who made the decorations and threw the shower for us. Such a good friend, thanks Amber!

 And here's the whole group! I loved all my cute boy gifts, it really gets me excited to get this guy here and dressed in his cute clothes. In 2 months. I keep feeling like it's closer, still 2 months away.

In other news we did a photo shoot with Amelia today. She watched a few minutes of Project Runway with me the other day and ever since she has been talking about Fashion Shows. And she is the one that came up with walking with her hands on her hips:

 It was the perfect opportunity to snap a few pictures.

 And this outfit was a splurge ($15 for the outfit, more than what I usually spend). But I couldn't pass up that cute shirt!

 Well worth it.

And last weekend, some friends and I went and got pedicures! Jen is due in 9 days with a boy, I am on edge with excitement. Her first.

 Jen

 All of us out to lunch afterwards.\

 Steph, Allison, Kasee.

As I said, I love my friends. I am so lucky to have all of them in my life. Thank you ladies!