Sunday, December 7, 2008

Oh Christmas Tree!



As we decorated our Christmas tree, Isabella directed our every move. She’s so bossy!

No really, it has been such a joy to enjoy her first Christmas along with her, even though she has no idea what it’s all about....yet. But we’re hoping that next year she’ll have a better idea of who that little baby is in her Little People nativity scene. Right now she just looks at the big tree in our house with a face of confusion.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Domesticated Daddy


My Beauty just made a delicious dinner ... so now it’s daddy’s responsibility to wash the dishes. Our sweet little girl is sleeping in her swing, although I think we’re going to walk to the neighborhood ice cream store for a tasty treat. Off to wash the dishes ... I CAN’T WAIT ... want to?

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Heart Melting Smile


I’m sure you parents have all had this experience, when your daughter or son smiles at you responsively for the first time.

Just this morning she did it again, I had just fed her and was talking to her about her last name when she looked into my eyes and smiled, tickling my heart in the most unique way.

My Beauty’s going to have a tough time keeping me honest with this little girl, she already has me wrapped around her finger!


And for the record ... the hole in the garage was caused by the tip of the arrow barely going through the garage so please don’t send the authorities over here.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Hole in the Wall... I Mean, Hole in the Door


Men...can’t live with them, can’t live without them.

So Mark just purchased a new bow and has had fun hunting with his new boy toy at the 777 Ranch. I’m so glad he has such a passion for hunting, but not too happy about the new hole.

Apparently he has been doing some target practice INSIDE the house. He stands in the kitchen, opens the door leading into the garage and aims toward a target placed against the garage door. You can guess what happened.


So, don’t walk your dog around the Carvajal house.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Are We Almost There?


Our grandpa passed away Friday, October 17th, exactly a week before his 97th birthday. He lived such a full life. The passing of a loved one is never fun, but it usually does bring family together.

Why hop on a plane to El Paso when we could drive 600 miles? We loaded up the three car seats and loads of bags and made the 9 hour trek across Texas. We left on Tuesday at 9:30 pm and arrived in El Paso at 6:30 am Wednesday morning. Mark and Rick were so sweet and did all the driving, while Brisa and I watched the kiddos sleep in the back. (Many hugs and kisses to the guys for getting us there safely.)

Despite a speeding ticket, lack of sleep and sore necks, the trip was fun and a memory that will never be forgotten.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Our Little Girl is Crying Right Now



It is 5:25 pm Central and our little girl is crying, likely because she’s hungry. Her nap time is from 4:30 - 6 pm, but we think she’s going through a growth spurt. This morning she woke up at 2:30 am and my Beauty woke up to change and feed her, the previous two nights she had slept through the night from 9:30 pm - 6:30 am, what a relief! I just love to sneak in there and watch her sleeping, and when I come home I love to see my Beauty and Isabella hanging out together, we are so blessed to have a healthy family.


We’re looking forward to our first Halloween together, think we’ve found a cute, little costume for Isabella.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Meet You In Gruene




Auntie Cynthia was in town (San Antonio) for the weekend for a wedding. Isabella had never met her so we just had to find a way to meet up with her before she headed back home to Seattle. We met halfway between San Antonio and Austin in historic Gruene, TX. We had a great time with Mimi and Great-Grandma who came along as well. The visit was short but sweet!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

So Much Personality



How can something so tiny and young already show signs of a personality? We can already tell she’s going to be an animated little girl. Not only does she speak to us with her shrill cries, but she also speaks her mind with her hands.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Rookies



Well, we’re figuring things out as we go. We decided to go for a walk at Town Lake, Isabella’s FIRST walk outside of our neighborhood. Yea! When we arrived, we realized that I had forgotten to bring her diaper bag. What kind of mother forgets the diaper bag? A new mother. On this hot Sunday morning we were also not prepared with a hat or sunscreen for our little girl. What were we thinking? Plus, we know to load up the BOB instead of sweating another river trying to carry her in the Bjorn. Well, we still had a great time and learned a lesson .... one of many many lessons to be learned I’m sure.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Isabella's First Week

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Isabella Will Not Be Denied


Isabella has arrived, Monday August 25, 2008 at 11:53 am! What an ordeal. Rosanna woke me up just before midnight on Sunday August 24th and told me her water broke. Of course I was half asleep half awake when I heard these sweet, terrifying words so I did what any strong husband would do ... I rolled out of bed straight onto the floor, face first. As I was getting up, Rosanna explained that she had just gone to the bathroom and realized her water broke. I called the doc to let him know and he asked a few questions then determined we should go in to see what’s going on. Rosanna went to tell her father who had come in from out of town and was staying in our guest room, he was playing the odds that Isabella would come in the next couple of days. I loaded up the car and we left the house around 12:30 am. We arrived at the hospital at !:30 am, the drive there was pretty uneventful, Rosanna was not in much pain. For the next hour I filled out paperwork as our unenthusiastic nurse attended to Rosanna. The nurse had hooked up a monitor to Rosanna that showed she was having small contractions. In addition she checked Rosanna and determined she was 1 cm dilated. Being skeptical that this Rosanna’s water really did break she did an additional test and told us the results would take 15 mins to receive. The results showed that her water did not break and she recommended we go home.


So Rosanna, her father (Robert) and I all left the hospital dejected, but on our drive down MoPac toward home Rosanna’s contractions were not so small anymore. She was really starting to feel pain. We got home close to 2:15 am and Robert went straight to bed, Rosanna tried to find a comfortable position, and I was looking forward to a few hours of good sleep. Right. From 2:47 am to 4:21 am Rosanna had serious contractions, she could not find a comfortable position to deal with them. I was recording each contraction, when it started, ended and how long in between each contraction. We had been to our birthing classes and they had told us if the contractions met the following criteria then you should call the doctor:


  1. -contraction lasts longer than 1 min

  2. -time between contractions is less than 5 mins

  3. -the above to go on continuously for at least 1 hour


I was motivated to record every contractions for two reasons, I wanted to stay up and support My Beauty, but also wanted to be double sure (have proof) before calling the doc again. I recorded 24 contractions at home, from 2:47:33 am to 4:21:15 am, each lasting anywhere from 1 1/2 - 2 mins and gradually got closer together (3-4 mins apart). No matter what the position Rosanna could not get comfortable. There was no escaping the pain of the contractions. She kept saying, “I can’t do this”, but she did. It was hard to see My Beauty in so much pain and not be able to a thing about it. At 3:45 am we both decided that if the contractions continued for 30 more mins then we were going to call the doc again. We were a bit gun shy to call the doc because the nurses had already given us the Heisman once.


At 4:21 am we finally decided to call the doc for the 2nd time and said, “Hey doc, this is Mark Carvajal and my wife and I called you earlier this morning about her water breaking. Well we came into the hospital and were sent home. But I think this is the real thing this time.” I explained how here contractions were 3-4 mins apart and lasting more than 1 min each. He suggested we come in and take a look. So we got out of bed and gathered our things. Rosanna was in serious pain when we finally headed out the door. I had told Robert to continue sleeping until he gets a phone call from me that it’s indeed the real thing,


On our way to the hospital this time, Rosanna was not so sweet, demanding me to forget about fuel economy and just get to the hospital! I was just hoping they would not send us home again. By the time we arrived at the Seton parking garage off 38th and Lamar Rosanna was in serious pain, so much so that she could not even make into the hospital. The walk from the parking garage to the hospital entrance was a couple hundred yards, plenty far enough when your in labor. Just outside the hospital doors Rosanna could go no further and sat down on some steps to power through another contraction. Thankfully a nurse, Felicity, came to help us with a wheel chair. Felicity was just arriving to work and ran over to us because she saw Rosanna in pain on the steps. She asked if we’d like a wheel chair and then ran inside and brought one out. There were two others that got out of their cars to help and provide encouragement. The generosity and compassion of these complete strangers were one of the sweetest moments of the pregnancy. It was 4:52 am when Rosanna was wheeled into the hospital by Felicity, I was following with a few bags in tow.


The admin for the ER told Felicity that she did not have to take us up to Labor and Delivery (L&D) because she had called for two nurses to come down and get us, but Felicity was so sweet, she insisted on wheeling us up to the 2nd floor, Labor and Delivery. Half way there we ran into the nurses that were called for and they took over. I thanked Felicity and were whisked away by the nurses. The L&D nurses first took us to the Admin desk to check in, but nobody was there so we went straight to a room. One of the nurses with us was on of the two that had send us home only hours before. She felt bad for doing so and I saw it in her eyes. She said something to the effect that it’s just hard to tell sometimes and that they don’t have a crystal ball. I reassured her we appreciated her help and were just glad to be there.


Following are the actual notes I took on a scratch pad:


  1. -5:23 am Nurse Rochelle has just come into the room to determine how much Rosanna was dilated, they do this check before hooking up an IV and everything else b/c they need to be convinced the mom is in fact in labor. Rochelle determined that Rosanna is 3-4 cm dilated, so in just 5 hrs Rosanna has gone from 1 cm to 3-4 cm, that’s what all those contractions at home did. Rochelle looked at me kneeling by Rosanna’s side and said, “We’re having a baby today.”

  2. -5:30 am Nurse Rochelle just started the IV in Rosanna’s left arm.

  3. -5:45 am Rosanna is having another intense contraction and now we can watch them come and go on the monitor next to the bed.

  4. -5:50 am Rosanna continues to suffer and really wants the epidural but has to wait for the lab results to come back.

  5. -6:07 am Dr. Hayes arrived with the epidural and spent about 10 minutes preparing the concoction.

  6. -6:16 am Epidural is administered and catheter is inserted.

  7. -6:20 am Isabella’s heartbeat dips into the low 80’s and nurses are concerned.

  8. -6:30 am Dr. Seeker comes to visit and Rochelle nervously points to the monitor. The doctor stays calm and calls the low heartbeat the “epidural dip” and is not concerned.

  9. -6:34 am Isabella’s heartbeat is back to normal and Rosanna is now 5cm dilated and 100% effaced. Dr. Seeker broke Rosanna’s water with a hook and predicted a delivery time around 12 pm.

  10. -6:55 am Nurses Elise and Tessa arrive for a shift change and Rochelle has just left us. Reading Pop’s e-mail and talking with him on the phone got me teary-eyed and emotional. The joy I was having became more real as I was going to share it with my Pop, my best friend.

  11. -7:15 am Just spoke with Pop and Patsy. Robert (my father-in-law) just showed up all smiles.

  12. -8:20 am Since 7:15 I worked on the computer tying up loose ends at work so that I could concentrate entirely on my wife giving birth. Rosanna is now 8 cm dilated.

  13. -8:50 am Pop and Kathy just showed up and I’m barely holding it together. The joy I feel right now is welling up from deep within. We know Isabella is on her way and we have family there with us to share in the moment.

  14. -9:50 am Liz calls to let me know that the Lord would not let her fall asleep the previous night and was placing it on her hear to pray, so at 10:30 pm on Sunday evening Liz decided to pray for Rosanna and Isabella.

  15. -10:15 am The five of us gathered close to Rosanna’s bed to pray as we all held hands. I was doing fine up until I wrapped up the prayer with a request to provide protection for my wife and daughter. The love I had and have for both had grown exponentially in the span of 10 hours and I teared up with the thought of something happening to My Beauty.

  16. -10:35 am Rosanna is now 11-12 cm dilated.

  17. -10:50 am The grandparents are ushered out and Dr. Seeker is paged.

  18. -11:15 am My Beauty has been pushing for 15 minutes. We’re in our 7th cycle so far and the word from the nurses on the other side is that Isabella has long hair! Elise and Tessa are counting out loud and I am whispering words of encouragement softly in to My Beauty’s ear.

  19. -11:45 am We’re down to the final pushes now. The nurses call for Dr. Seeker. Things are happening faster now.

  20. -11:50 am We are close. Rosanna is asked to stop pushing until the doctor arrives.

  21. -11:53 am Isabella was just born and she was blue, blue, blue!

  22. -12:00 pm We have a baby girl! She weighs 7 pounds 6 ounces and is 19 3/4 inches long.

  23. -12:10 pm I went outside to tell family and to show a few pictures. I raised my hands up in joy and let them know we had a baby girl and again I teared up.

  24. -12:15 pm First picture of the three of us is taken! On the iPod the song “We Love You Lord We Love You” by David Crowder plays next to Rosanna’s bed.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Man vs. Wild


Mark's getting ready for deer season....in the backyard.



Not bad.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Latest and hopefully last belly photo


At this week's appointment, the doc said that I'm 1cm dialated! Yea for progress! She's dropping more and more each day which makes it a bit uncomfy. Now I know why pregos waddle.

Friday, August 8, 2008

We're Ready!

All summer we've been working on Isabella's nursery. And with help, I think we're ready!

Christina was a trooper. I couldn't have finished painting the room without her.


After a few mishaps (and a few drinks), Nana and Mimi finally got those curtains hung.


Mark's adding some finishing touches.


Ta - da!

Nesting

So I may be instinctively preparing our nest by cleaning every single cabinet and labeling pantry shelves, but I'm not alone. Mark has been hard at work with home improvement projects as well. Thank goodness for friends who are willing to help during these dog days of summer.



Showered with Love

We have been so blessed by our friends and family who have showered Isabella with generosity and thoughtfulness.



First, co-workers at Dawson Elementary showered her in May.



Then in June, Isabella was showered back home in El Paso.


Then, back in Austin, Isabella was showered with love once more in July.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Sono Pics

This was Isabella during week 12!



This is Isabella this week, week 29!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Mamma's Beautiful, Growing Tummy

Notice how my Beauty's belly is growing over time as our precious Isabella is growing and developing! This is February 2008.


This is May 2008 .