Falling for Fall and Baby Update

Monday morning Jared and I decided to go on a free date - walking! It was BEAUTIFUL outside. 82 degrees, light breeze, and the leaves were turning colors. We drove to the Prince William Forest Park and went for a walk! We also figured this might help speed up Baby's arrival!

There couldn't have been a more perfect autumn day EVER! Though the past days have also been beautiful! We spent 2 and a half  hours walking, talking, relaxing, training Bella, watching her fascination with the leaves and all the forest animals, and falling in love with fall. And who couldn't fall in love with this season?! After our walk, i became a "fall" person - and I must admit, I never was before! 

It was the best! We had not had the chance to have such a relaxing time in a very long time!

After our great date we thought for sure the baby would come soon! But Tuesday's appointment confirmed a very, VERY happy baby with a crazy strong heartbeat who would prefer to stay inside my tummy! Seems he's more stubborn than his parents! 38 weeks today, 2 more until his "due date", though the way we're going, it now seems it'll be later than that!!

Chasing Crickets

A couple nights ago Bella, our crazy puppy, decided she needed to go outside. I kept opening the door and letting her out because I kept thinking she REALLY needed to go to the bathroom. However, she kept getting distracted by everything she saw: a little bit of dust on the tiles in the back patio, the spider that for some reason thought she could outsmart the dog, the cars around, and of course the crickets. Those always get her!
I did this little exercise three times (open door, watch Bella get distracted, decide she really didn't "need" to go potty, call her in, close door, get settled on couch to watch a movie). By the fourth time I decided to be nice and let her play some. Maybe if she was able to get some more energy out she would finally go potty and come back in for the night. I opened the door and let her out. I watched her play with the crickets for a bit, she was chasing one cricket in the grass but staying where I could see her, so I turned around to make sure the door was closed. I turned back around and Bella was gone.
Usually when Bella gets distracted and decides to run chasing something (or someone) she also barks... A LOT. This time though, there was no barking; she didn't run away, she was completely focused trying to get the cricket. I called her name and she wouldn't answer. so I freaked. It was late, and I walked around trying to find her, calling her name. It felt like an eternity, I thought something happened to her. I checked the road thinking maybe she got hit by a car. Where was my dog?
After five minutes of trying to find her in the dark, she finally came from behind the neighbor's trees- she wasn't even far away!
At first I was upset, but when she came running and squatted down in front of me, like she does only when she knows she did something wrong, I couldn't be upset. With tears running down my cheeks, I grabbed my dog and held her close! I was so happy she was ok - even though half the time she drives me crazy!!

This reminded me of the story of the Prodigal Son, and it made me wonder how many times in my life I have left my Heavenly Father to quietly chase after crickets?! I know that if I stay with him, I'll have all the things I need ( food, water, treats, love, comfort etc!) I hear him calling, but somehow, those crickets seem so appealing I lose my way chasing them. 

What crickets are you chasing?
It's wonderful to know that when I turn around and look for Him, He's there to hug me and bring me back home. He's always waiting for us to come back to Him - why not stop chasing silly insects and just stay in the comfort of our Father's arms?

37 week update

We went to the doctor yesterday for our weekly check up. After a long night of little sleep and timing super irregular contractions i was hoping to hear some crazy news- like that the baby was ready or almost ready... or something like that! Jared and i drove to the doctor's with bags ready to go. We even talked to Bella and attempted to explain that maybe a baby would come with us next time we saw her.
BUT.. NOT YET!!!
Baby is is "perfect" position, ready whenever he so desires, but we've made no progress toward actually having the baby in our arms! He is a good 6 to 6 1/2 pounds which is great news. The news was somewhat bittersweet. I shall miss having him kick and move in my tummy, but i cannot wait to see him and hold him and watch him grow!
Jared and i came back home with our bags and no baby... maybe next week?!

We did get to enjoy a little date to Subway and last night did our day 2 training of walking Bella on the treadmill and it WORKED!! She walked for a good five minutes, after she got over her fear of a moving floor. This means our puppy can exercise and get some energy out even when the baby is here and i can't walk outside in the cold! :) yay!!!

The longest update EVER!

So  i noticed i hadn't updated this in over a month! SORRY!! i have been meaning to do it, i just keep putting it off! So here is an update on our lives this past month.

We are now 3 weeks away from our due date. In the past 7 weeks:

• My mom had a graduation celebration for Felipe and i which was so much fun!! It was so good to share the day with friends and family. We felt extremely blessed to have so many people around us, celebrating with us!
• Both Felipe and Jaclyn have left for college and seem to be having a BLAST!
• We celebrated Javier's 7th birthday and Julia's and Jordan's birthday too!
• We had our first baby shower which was incredible! God has surrounded us by wonderful family and friends! This baby is loved
  by so many people! All we can do is thank God for His love and provision!
• We went to the hospital tour which answered many questions and calmed many of my fears - still not sure if i'm ready!
• Jared and i signed covenant at Grace Baptist! It is so good to be back. It's crazy how much it has grown since we were there before! God has trully blessed that church and every ministry!
• Last week we took pictures!!! it was our birthday gifts from the parents and it was the best idea EVER!! we love them! can't wait to print them out and frame them! I'm so glad we got them.

Since we last blogged, Jared and i both had multiple job interviews in different places but nothing had come through. After some conversations and prayer, we decided that i would wait to have the baby to continue applying to jobs and going to more interviews. We decided to let God work, and trust that He would continue providing for our needs - He has been so good to us! We continued to pray for a better job for Jared - a better schedule, pay and possibly benefits, and waited on the Lord to provide... and provide He did!!!

On September 1st, Jared got a call and an email from a potential job. They needed someone to start two days later. He called, talked to the recruiter, and got all the details. We prayed about it and two days later Jared started his new job! it is everything we prayed for and more! God continues to astonish us with His love for us and His wonderful providing ways.



Jared setting up the baby swing



Baby continues to grow (so do i). He also loves to move! Jared and i have sat down to watch him kick and move around - we can spend over an hour absolutely fascinated! We have a video of the baby moving but can't edit it to put it on here :( Every doctor's appointment brings better news, and as of last week the baby is ready to join us! So we're waiting!! Everything is pretty much set up and waiting for his arrival. Jared has installed car seats, bags are packed and ready, and the "plan" is all prepared!! CAN'T WAIT!!!

Tomorrow is our next doctor's appointment. We will see what he says. We are ready for just about anything since i've already started having contractions,though not regular enough to send us to the hospital.

I will update on any progress!! As ready as i am to meet our baby, i'm also overwhelmed by the thought that soon i will have this little one in my arms! AND i will definitelly miss the kicks and movements in my belly - they have been such a source of joy and laughter the past weeks!

Now i think i might try to see if i can sleep!!

Looooong, Sleepless nights!

The past months have been such an exciting time with this pregnancy. Everything is new and fascinating!! Everything EXCEPT the sleepless nights! At first, i would try to stay in bed hoping to go back to sleep at some point. Now, i have a list of things that i can do while the rest of the house sleeps. Here are some ideas for when you find yourself awake all night long - and need to occupy your time!

• Watch House re-runs (thank you Sleuth!!!)
• Read books and/or magazines
• Stare at the wall - sometimes there is just not enough energy to do anything else.
• Prenatal Yoga (regular yoga works too)
• Manicure and pedicure
• Jesus time
• Write down to-do list (not very proactive since it mostly requires turning on lights and doing things that would most likely wake someone up!)
• Stalk people on Facebook
• Eat snacks!
• When House is NOT on, change channels a hundred times in hopes of finding something good to watch.
• Watch the sunrise - really the upside to my sleepless nights!
• Do kick counts :) Baby is mostly the reason i'm up... though the doctor doesn't really care if he kicks more than 10 times in 3 hours... by the time i hit 50, we start counting again! lol (only applicable if there is a baby!)