Big brother watching after baby sister

Ruben has already designated himself his little sister's keeper. He has to know where she is at all times and as soon as he gets up he wants to know "where's my baby?" Every time he leaves the house or go to bed he has to give her a beso. It's just the sweetest thing and makes my heart melt every time I see him with her.

There have been a few times where he will want my attention and tell me to put his baby sister down. And the other day Deana was holding her and he told her to "put her down now, that's mommy's baby."

Kiesha Meets Marissa Kaylee For 1st Time

This is one of the favorite pictures of everyone that I have shown the entire collection of photos at the hospital. The photo captures the unbridled and raw joy Kiesha felt at first seeing lil Marissa Kaylee. I have to put the photo in a bit of a context.

When Ruben was born Kiesha was awake for the c-section, so she got to see Ruben soon after birth and she was happy and smiling. That is my favorite picture of Ruben's birth. The picture above is my favorite picture of Marissa's birth.

This time around the doctors at the hospital informed Kiesha that she would be completely under for the c-section and gall bladder surgery and that I could not take pictures in the OR. Well Kiesha was highly upset and emotional at the time. She worried that she would not be awake if something were wrong with lil Marissa.

After coming to consciousness in the recovery room no one would give her a status report on Marissa. So she was worried. Hence, when she first sees Marissa we were able to capture her reation on film. :)

Daddy & Me

In this picture you can see the pin hole in her throat, it doesn't show up that much because of her little fat rolls but you can kinda of get an idea of what it is. We will have to go to Nashville
to see a pediatric surgeon in 2 months.

Ms. Clause

She now weighs 7 lbs 12 ounces and is doing great. She eats and sleeps and that's about it right now. I will post more pics later.

Marissa's Birth Story

My due date was not until Dec 18th but they had scheduled a c-section for Dec 8th, due to my previous pelvic fracture. However, on Sunday night Nov. 26, I started having severe cramps in my right side and vomiting. I knew it was not contractions but the doctor wanted me to come in anyway. So they keep me overnight and gave me pain meds and the next morning they do an ultrasound and found gallstones in my gallbladder, the doctor said I had a ton of them. They did an ultrasound of the baby too and said she was 6lbs and they were a little concerned that her head was too small.

The surgeon that did my gallbladder wanted to wait to take it out 3 to 4 weeks after the baby was born. He did not want to do it at the same time as the c-section. They waited until Tuesday hoping that I would get better and they could keep her in a little longer but, on Tuesday my ob doc told the surgeon that was going to take my gallbladder that it could not wait.
I was in too much pain and I could not keep any food or liquids down. So on Tuesday Nov.28 they took her and my gallbladder, I wasn't able to be awake I had to be put to sleep. It was disappointing not being able to see the birth but she was healthy and that is all that matters. Jose was in there but we were not allowed to take pictures because it was done in the main OR and not the maternity one. They were afraid she was going to have problems and have to be put on a ventilator but she was perfect. She weighed 6 lbs 14 ounces and 18 inches long.My doctor said that my gallblader was 4 times the normal size and that he has never seen one that big. I guess that's why this pregnancy has been so hard but I just attributed it to the pregnancy never thought about gallstones.

She does have this small pin hole in the middle of her throat,it is not open but they want us to see a surgeon in 2 months. They are hoping it will close up on it's on but right now it doesn't affect her in any way. We just have to be careful and keep it clean.

I got out of the hospital on Thursday because I begged my doc to let me come home. It took me a few days to be able to move without being in severe pain, I have four small incisions and one long one from the c-section. The pain is not as severe now, I'm just exhausted.
She is doing great, only wakes to eat and then goes back to sleep for 3 hrs until her next feeding. My mom and aunt are here to help and they take the night shift some for us.

She was born at 3:30 pm and I did not get to see her until 7pm. Jose has the pics of when I first saw her and I was crying like a baby. I have threatened his life if he posts them lol

If this is all jumbled and doesn't make sense just remember I am on drugs lol

Our little Angel

More Pics of our Princess

Mommy and Marissa in the hospital

Ruben holding baby sister for the first time

Mommy kissing baby Marissa

Marissa's first photo shoot!

I will post her birth story soon, it was quite the ordeal. But we are both fine now. We have her here earlier than expected and we're so happy :)

The Magnificat

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.

(Luke 1:46-47; 49-50)

And the winner is.....

Ok, since we have FINALLY decided on a name and I am 99.9% sure we will not change it, I will officially announce it. Our little girl's name
is Marissa Kaylee Dawn. I found the name Marissa in the baby name book a few weeks ago and it was just what we had been looking for, a name that was unique but not too off the wall. I was also drawn to it because the book said that it is a combination of Maria and Luisa. Maria is Jose's mom's first name and Luis is Jose's middle name. So her first name is after Jose and her grandmother. We came up with Kaylee from Kathryn, my mom's name, and Kimberly my sister's name. And Dawn is my sister's middle name and I really wanted to use one of her names in the original form. Also Kay is Deb's (one of my bestfriends)middle name and sissy's (my little sister) middle name. So she will be named after 5 people but her name will still be very unique to her. I think the three names flow really well together and it just fits.

So unless she is a he, we are done with the name game :)
Just 13 more days to go! Dec. 8th will be here soon but it seems to be taking FOREVER!

Movie Night on Thanksgiving

Last night after we had all stuffed ourselves with turkey, dressing, potatoes since 1:00 p.m., I decided to insert some movies we had recorded when Ruben was just several months old. He was such a butterball back then. He rarely laughed or giggled on camera. He would always wait until the stop button was pushed.

Well, Ruben was sitting on my lap and he was just fixated on the monitor. He couldn't take his eyes off the movies. He recognized himself and just couldn't turn away. It was so cute.

I'll look into the possibility of posting some video on here and share those movies with you all.

Thanksgiving Day Pictures

Roo & Maw Maw

Nana & Mommy

Roo & Mommy

Ruben and Dad playing game cube before Thanksgiving Dinner!!

28 Days!

It's so close! She will be here very very soon. I'm so glad because this bedrest is driving me insane. I am so tired of our room and our bed. The walls seem to be closing in on me but it's necessary because the more I am up the more pain I am in.

Ruben is taking it all pretty well. His Nana and Mamaw have been staying with us and helping out with him. He loves to have us all in one place. When they were coming in the door the other day he was standing on the porch and yelled "Mommy, Nana and Mamaw are home!" It was so cute!

We have most everything ready for her. DD and Jose brought her cradle, crib mattress, dresser, and a rocking chair from my mom's today. So everything is set up and ready for her.
We have also decided on a name. However, I don't want to jinx it so I may not tell until she is born. We have went through so many names and I really want to stick with this one this time around. It's actually not one that has been on any of our lists. We are not sure of what middle name or names we will put with it though. I want to name her after my sister and my mom so we may go with two middle names or try and combine my mom and sister's names. For one middle name we may go with Kaylee, combo of Kathryn and Kimberly. It's not so obvious but we will know the reason we chose it and she will know she was named after two very special people.

Well, it's time for me to go back to my cave!

More Halloween Pics

 

Our Little Leo!

Roo was Leo from  Little Einsteins for Halloween. He loved his rocket ship that we ordered for him.
We sprayed his hair with red paint, though it doesn't show up that well in these pictures.
He only went trick-or-treating at the center where Jose works but he had a blast and got a lot of candy.

Roo on Bedrest too!

Ruben has joined mommy's lazy days of being in bed! He has to have his dvd player, Little Einstein's dvd, pringles, juice and his Oso and he's set.

Belly Pictures FINALLY!

Here are the belly pics,
taken today before my doctors appointment.
Baby is doing fine. I'm on pain meds for my pelvic pain and they are helping and they will not harm the baby. I tried to talk Dr. G into taking her at 38 weeks but he said that while most doctors would take her at 37 or 38 he does not like to do that because they can sometimes have breathing problems and we don't want that. So Dec. 8th it is, unless they have to take her earlier like they did Ruben due to my blood pressure going up.

We toured the maternity ward, well the part I didn't see this weekend :)

I have a terrible terrible toothache, it even hurts to drink. I think my filling came out but my doc said I would probably not be able to find a dentist to see me at 32 weeks pregnant. Great, just another thing to deal with! Oh well, 7 more weeks and it will be over and she will be here!

Our Own Little Einstein

Kiesha may have mentioned that we bought Ruben a halloween costume that is the rocket ship from Little Einsteins. We spray painted his hair red, put some silver rimmed glasses on him, and made him a composer's batton and he was Leo from Little Einsteins.

We dressed him up and took him to our church Halloween Carnival. All the older ladies thought he was so cute. He didn't want to do anything at the carnival except jump around in the bouncer. Well he did play well at one of the carnival games and got some candy. I ended up buying a plate full of brownies that are so delicious. Each brownie must weigh about 6 ounces.

Not everyone knew who the Little Einsteins are. One lady thought that Ruben was Jimmy Neutron. Hahahahahaha. Of course our priest Father Thomas didn't know who the Little Einsteins are so he was not impressed. He had a real fun time but it was awful on the way back because he just did not want to leave and he just threw a crying fit.

Rough Weekend For My Sweetie

Kiesha warned me before I posted on our rough weekend that I be sure not to make myself sound like a saint.  Now do I look like someone that would do that?  :-)

Kiesha has had ever increasing pelvic pain now that she is 32 weeks pregnant.  We went twice to our local hospital to help her with her pain.  We were happy to know the first time around that she wasn't going into labor and that our baby was okay.  The second time we went we stayed the entire night and did not leave until 10:00 a.m. the following morning.  Thankfully we have an appointment with her doctor tomorrow afternoon.

One of the difficult things in life is that when a loved one is ill or in pain there is not much one can do but comfort them and love them.  I guess that is some comfort but I know I feel powerless in such situations.  Lets hope our appointment goes well tomorrow.

PLAYING THE NAME GAME!!!

Most of you I am sure are so tired of me having a new name every few weeks. But it's just not as easy as it was with Ruben. We knew his name at 4 months and never once questioned our decision. Well, this time it's a different name every few weeks even after I am sure I have found 'the one.' We struggled for 7 months to come up with a name that would fit with my sister's name, who passed away at age 18 in 1992. Her name was Kimberly Dawn. We tried for months to find a name that fit with Kimberly or even Dawn. I wanted to use them as middle names but nothing ever really clicked.

Then I decided to go with Kathryn as a middle name after my mother. I guess it is more important to name your child after someone who is living after all and it would be the highlight of my moms life. So Sophia Kathryn was the name. Until 2 weeks of calling her that and then oneday it just didn't seem right. It's really gaining popularity, and we do not want a common name. I don't want her to have to be Sophia Q in school. Two other names that did not make it past the 2 week mark are Stella and Addison, even though at the time I thought they were 'the one.'

So I guess we will take a list in the hospital and see which one fits her and if worse comes to worse the day we go home and still do not have a name we can just throw them in a bag and draw one :)
Other ones we are considering are:
Sophia Kathryn (Sophie) still on list
Lila Kathryn
Olivia Kathryn
Riley Kathryn
Alexa Kathryn
Audrey Kathryn
Maya Kathryn
Natasha Kathryn (Jose's pic)
Mariah Kathryn
These are just some of the ones we like and the first few we are strongly considering.
Please give us your imput, can't promise we will go that way but we need all the help we can get. And please add new suggestions if you have any.
Remember....7 more weeks to go!

Ruben & Daddy Bowling

Ruben and I have been at mom's all week because we both have been sick. We came home today and Ruben was so happy to see Daddy. They went bowling in the living room and had a blast.

Mr. Fix It

Here is Ruben at my mom's looking under the sink. It was leaking and he is trying to figure out where the water is coming from.

9 more weeks to go!

Sophie will be here in 9 weeks! I am so ready for her to be here. I have gained 30 pounds already and I'm having a lot of pain due to my pelvis being fractured so many years ago. We have almost everything ready for her, we just need to purchase a bassinet and a few other items. Deana is going to Ashland this weekend to pick up the rest of Elaina's stuff for the baby. We have not had to buy a lot of baby stuff because Deb gave us all of Elaina's stuff and she was born the end of Nov. so the clothes were the same season.

When you ask Ruben what he is getting for Christmas he says 'my baby sister.' He is so cute when he talks about her. He loves feeling her kick and talking to her.

Roo is going to be Leo from the Little Einsteins for Halloween, I ordered his rocket costume the beginning of this week and will be sure to post pictures. All he has talked about this week is being Leo and wearing his rocket costume.


Well I will try to post pics of my belly and Ruben's :) this week.

Our Lil Guy Can Take It Like a Man - The First Time

We took Ruben this afternoon to have some lab work done. We prepared him for the needle prodding that was going to take place and we were afraid of how he would react to being stuck by a needle to draw blood. Well, the nurse inserted the needle and he did not even flinch. The nurse got two viles of blood and he was taking it in stride.

They were so impressed by him. They said he did better than some adults. Me included. Well, second time around they didn't hit the vein right and he cried that time. What do you expect? He's only 2 and 1/2. :-)

The Rubenator!

Ruben loves his cowboy hat and rarely leaves home without it. He also has a black one with cowboy boots to match lol

The picture of the two of us was taken at the mall on Grandparents day in Sept. Tammy is giving Ruben rabbit ears.

Catching up!

I did not realize it had been a year since we had updated our family site. We will get pictures up soon. As most everyone knows we are having a girl. My c-section is scheduled for Dec 8th. I'm 29 weeks pregnant and ready for it to be over.
We are pretty sure that her name is going to be Sophia Kathryn, Kathryn after my mom. I will call her Sophie but Jose says he will stick with Sophia.

Ruben is so sweet he has to sleep with his baby sister's bear and her blanket. He will pull up his shirt and say 'Ruben has a baby in his belly too' and he will let you feel the baby 'kick.' It's so cute!

We Are Back! We Hope.

Well it looks as if Kiesha and I have been AWOL on our blog. I know I keep telling Kiesha that I will post news, pictures, and other items on our blog to keep you posted. Now I had much more time when I was unemployed, but now that the Senior Center is keeping me busy I have less time. Besides, I also keep busy on my other blog and on an online bible study forum.

With a little more commitment and devotion, Kiesha and I will bring our family back online. I promise. :-)

Stay tuned for more photos and news.

Jose Out.