We are VERA Smitten!

As you may know I have been pregnant for the last 41 weeks… Finally, after all that time a little baby girl was born. I could tell you that she is the most adorable baby ever, which she is haha but I have since learned that it’s different. Yes, other people have beautiful babies, etc. but when it’s your own it’s different. I catch myself staring at her while she sleeps when really I need sleep too but I just can’t help it! It’s even more amazing that she is ours!

Aaron and I are absolutely in love with her!

Vera was born

            At 6:25 AM

            On August 24, 2011

            She weighed in at 7.4 pounds

            At a length of 20 inches

The story of my labor… well, I literally had just gotten done unpacking almost everything into our new place and it was about 7pm and I had just finally laid down on our bed to rest and called Aaron asking when he was going to be home, and he said a couple of minutes so I got back up to finish dinner and as I was standing there in the kitchen my water broke! At first I was headed for the bathroom and then soon realized that I should probably go for the shower instead. I kept asking myself, did I just water just break, and then I followed it with well it can’t be I don’t have any cramps or contractions. So I finished my shower, Aaron got home I finished dinner we ate, we went to go drop off some things at donation, went and saw my mom and it was then when I told her she said, Mercedes you need to call your doctor and go to the hospital! So I called the doctor, no answer we drove home the doctor called said to go to the hospital to check everything out… so we got our stuff together it was about 9pm by this time. Got to the hospital started having contractions which felt like period cramps at first, they admitted me and we hung out for 45 minutes and then I got an epidural. The epidural was not what I expected, I expected the worst through this whole thing. I thought it was supposed to be unimaginable pain! Well I think I just had a really good anesthesiologist. Didn’t feel any pain, and then I slept tell about 5 am and I woke up and called the nurse and told her I think it’s time. She checked and I was right! And then she came! It was awesome! Everything went smoothly and we couldn’t have asked for better!

It has almost been a week since Vera entered our lives and it has been a whirlwind, but it has been pretty good. Also, people asking you if you’re breastfeeding, you say yes and then they say, O that’s so good for your baby. They forget to leave out the part HOW HARD IT IS!! I mean breastfeeding was the least of my worries and until now I’m just starting to feel better about it. I thought about just giving her formula and then the tender mercies happened and I made it through. I feel pretty good overall. So finally, here are some pictures! I can’t believe how fast she is growing!! Thanks everyone for being so supportive and sweet!

The View from my room! It was like staying in a 5 star hotel! And they have amazing spritzers!!

I sure love my husband!

FACE MASKS? I think yes. I think this picture is so funny, every time I see it I laugh. Aaron let me put this face mask on him and he can't smile because the mask has been on and has dried so it's really tight! It was even funnier when he would try to laugh.

I absolutely love getting facials and doing them myself. If you asked me to choose between a massage and a facial I would get a facial, especially since I have a hubby who can rub my back and feet :) Well between the clairisonic and at home masks and lotion I KNOW my skin will be pretty good for a while if I take care of it. 

The clairisonic is AWESOME! It's amazing how much more it picks up even after makeup remover. I don't even put that much makeup on I just have a powder, blush, eyeliner, and mascara which is all very light. I take my makeup off with a wipe and then use the clairisonic. Aaron sees me using it and I know secretly he likes using it too :) 

TODAY is my due date...

Yes, TODAY is my due date and there is still no sign of Vera wanting to come out! Well today I have planned a plethora of things to do, to hopefully change that. I am ready for my whole body to stop aching, especially my back! So here is my list... and we will see if any of them work!

-bike ride to the store
-maybe get some castro oil
-jumping jacks
-lunges
-go on another bike ride and go off a few curbs or speed bumps since I don't have access to a golf cart!
-walk
-do laundry
-pack
-maybe get a massage... I liked that one!

I'm pretty sure she has definitley bruised or even broken one of my right ribs... She either likes to kick it or stick her foot there which is so uncomfortable and painful! For some odd reason as much as I want to do all of these things I don't want to at the same time! Anyway, off I go I'm gonna start NOW!!!

A Story to Remember

Okay, so yes I have graduated except I had to take 3 GE classes this summer in order to finalize it. I took Philosophy, Anthropology, and Geography. All of which had tons of writing and reading... I took it through BYU Independent Study which is online so that I didn't have to stay in Utah and be away even longer from Aaron. If you have taken an online class you know that usually you have 1 year to complete it, and it takes discipline to actually sit down and actually do the class. Well because of graduation and other reasons my deadline for all of these class is August 11, 2011 (tomorrow). I had managed in 3-4 weeks to finish the all the work that needed to be submitted and the midterms for all the classes. I ordered my last 2 finals last Monday, expecting them to get here around Friday and then mail it back that day. Well Friday came around and the proctor had only gotten one of my finals. So I figured okay I'll wait tell Monday and see if the other final comes and then I'll just express it back to BYU.

Well now it's Monday and I'm calling the proctor and she explains that the test still had not arrived. I go to the testing center anyway and take the final that had come on Friday, hoping that while I was there my other final might have come in the mail or something, but after I got done there still wasn't a second final. So I call BYU, I explain that my test still hasn't arrived and my deadline is Thursday. She had two options for me 1. I wait and hope the final comes or 2. I pay a $15 cancellation fee for the test they sent out (which if it showed up that day, I would no longer be able to take), a $30 fee for them to express it to me there and back, and then a $20 fee just to take the test. 

So it's Monday and I have no idea what to do and I decide that I'm just going to wait and hope that it either comes Monday afternoon, which the lady said it didn't, or that it would come in the morning on Tuesday. The proctor was very nice, but she must have been annoyed with me calling through out the day asking for my test. I kept asking are you sure it's not in the mail warehouse or something? and every time she would assure me that the mail guys were very good at delivering tests as soon as they came in. 

Well now it's Tuesday, I call the proctor in the morning and there is still no test. I call BYU and the girl tells me I have tell 12pm to call and reorder the test so that it could be shipped out by 1pm, hopefully get there Wednesday take the final and then ship it back Wednesday hoping it gets there Thursday. Well, I'm still in shock that it would take more than a week for the test to get to the proctor and I really really don't want to pay all those fees. So it's 10:15am California time, making it 11:15am Utah time. I decide to drive over to the testing center, I talk to the proctor which she is shocked to see me and I ask her is it here yet? She calls the mail warehouse no answer... I was like okay where is the warehouse? She was like uhhh it's over in this area of campus but I don't know the exact room address and then she persisted to tell me that these mail guys were really good and that she had complete faith in them that they would bring it over if it was there. Well, I don't know the mail guys and I'm not sure I trust them. It's now 10:45am and I'm running around 9 months pregnant trying to find the mail warehouse, I find it... there's nobody there at first and then I see someone. I explain to him I'm looking for a test and he says fed ex just dropped one off and someone is dropping off the test right now. Well, than I remember mine didn't come fed ex so that couldn't be it I said to him. I said it was shipped last Monday... and he gasps and says oo then it's here somewhere it would never take that long to get here. We start looking and he goes over to one bin and says well I don't think it's in here because this was yesterdays and BINGO! he pulls out 10 envelopes and 2 of them are from BYU. So he's like are you going over to the testing center now, and I say yes and we take over all the envelopes. I give them to my proctor and she's in shock and disbelief that the mail warehouse failed her... She opens the first and it's not mine, and then she opens the second and it's my final! 

I am so happy it's my final, I don't even care how ridiculous this whole thing was. The fact that I had to go running around their campus to find the warehouse and then look for it! I was just hoping that my water wasn't going to break, and although it would have made the story better it didn't! 

There's always something to learn, but ultimately you can't trust others with your fate/deadline, sometimes you're going to have to do it all yourself to make what you want happen and you're gonna have to work for it! 

39 Weeks!!!

Yes... I can't believe I am having a kid!

Can you believe it! I'm 39 weeks pregnant, I could go into labor at any moment... But honestly I feel fine and I'm wondering if I'm just getting big and there is nothing there! Well that's obviously not true but it just feels that way. If Vera would listen to me, I would tell her to get her little feet out of my side and ribs and to come soon!!!

Good ol side profile

How I feel: Well, I feel great... I just feel uncomfortable and let me be honest but my butt feels so big! We got nervous a couple of weeks ago when my doctor asked me to get an ultra sound because I was measuring too small... I was measuring at 31 weeks and I was 37 weeks and I mean all they do to measure is use a tape measure and measure the length of your stomach... I mean I eat, I don't eat for 2 people though because then I think my stomach would just burst! But I eat through out the day so I don't get that starving feeling. That's the worst! So I had the ultra sound, it doesn't help when the technician is nervous for me too. She was able to measure everything from the length of the femur bone to how much she weighs, etc... at one point we were both like screaming because we could see her open her eyes and close them as if she was waking up and not just ONCE, it was several! It was kinda creepy but awesome at the same time! Anyway, after and hour of her taking measurements and checking everything out... the result was GOOD! She was perfectly fine according to all data and everything measured out perfectly, in fact she said she would be coming 1 day earlier... That would mean she is coming on Monday, August 15th!

I am going to say, that she is going to come exactly on the 15th... I would like her to come earlier, but I don't think she will because I haven't had any signs.

I'm trying not to laugh 

It's weird to think that at least with in the next week and half I am going to have a little person to take care of... I'm excited for her to come! I have just been hanging out, finishing online classes, cooking/baking, being all crafty, etc...

I set Vera up an e-mail account too, inspired by the Dear Sophie video that google chrome put out... So adorable and I can't wait tell one day she can open all the e-mails and read them! If you want to send her an e-mail let me know and I'll give you her e-mail address!!

US Surf Open/Angeles Games

US Surf Open. TONS of tan people, bathing suits galore, clear, sunny, music, free giveaways, surfing, and LOTS of traffic!!! We went on Saturday and Aaron and I didn't even look for a parking spot we just saw a spot and parked... It was definitely a walk, but it wasn't too hot and he walked slow for me :) We hung out for a bit and Aaron went into the water (he is obsessed with boogie boarding right now, so we are always at the beach), we just hung out and people watched for the most part... We almost saw a fight but the guy ended up backing down thank goodness. I hate watching people beat each other up. And right now I just had a sudden craving for a slurpie :( too bad it's Sunday... O well

We love going to Angeles Games, and this weekend we went with our awesome friends Becca and Steve and their little boy Danny :) Maybe one day Danny and Vera will date, or we could just arrange the marriage now ;) hahaha I'm already setting up my daughter and she isn't even born yet! The Angels game was the most boring game I have ever been to!! The most exciting thing that happened the whole game was a broken bat... We ended up leaving at the bottom of the 9th and the Angels scored in the 10th to win it... Boo I can't believe it took 10 innings to score! Anyway, we still love going and always have fun!

Acai Bowl

Go to Bonzai Bowls and get yourself and Acai Bowl... I am loving them right now and it has a lot of negative calorie foods that make you feel great especially after a good workout or in my case my doctor's appointment... it's perfect!!!

Chanel and Cameron...oo yeah they got married by the wayyyy!

My sister Chanel got married July 23, 2011 in the Newport Beach Temple and it was a pretty dang good day! They were very cute and everyone had a good time. One of my favorite parts of the whole day was when they did the ring ceremony down on the beach. They had a reception at one of the houses down in the streets of Newport and so as we were preparing for the reception and of course the neighbors all around knew that later that day they would get to see a little ceremony take place and they were just as excited about it! It was fun to watch the people on their balconies and the people around the beach watch from the distance as Chanel walked up to walk down the isle. As soon as the ceremony was over and we all started cheering and clapping so did everyone else at the beach! It was pretty and a lot of fun and Chanel and Cameron did a good job putting it together.

China... but more to come later

Finally, I get to blog about my trip to China! It has been long but so much fun, and definitely a once in a lifetime experience. So my golf team gets to go on international trip every four years and that is why we are in China. Sixteen travelers, fifteen days, twelve golf balls, eleven golf bags, ten women, nine different modes of transportation (Plane, train, charter bus, scooter taxi, bike taxi, boat ferry, subway, walking, and taxi), six rounds of golf, five cities, four different roommates, three Chinese speakers, two great coaches, and one awesome trip.

We started our trip in the out skirts of Beijing at Pine Valley Resort and Golf. The CEO of Red Bull I guess owns this vast property. It is basically his play ground, we were the only guests in this huge palace. We rode bikes around the place and through the golf course it was so much fun. The golf course was beautiful, but the smog is what shocked me the most in Beijing. I played four holes before the smog made it hard for me to take a deep breathe. We each had our own individual caddie for each round and my caddy at Pine Valley was awesome. Her English wasn't very good, but her golf lingo was. She only went to school tell 7th grade and that was the case with all of my caddies. I never saw a male caddy throughout my whole trip, which was interesting. We then spent a couple of days in the city of Beijing. We climbed the GREAT WALL! Not just to one tower, but eight of them. We got to the third tower and we agreed at least I think to hike two more towers. Well we sort of got seprated especially since I took more stops than normal and when I finally got the 5th tower they weren't there and I could see in the distance they had kept going. Well I couldn't just stop, I had to keep going too. I'm not kidding 7 towers later there was a dead end...finally! I'm thinking it was at least a couple of miles. Also, I thought the Great Wall consisted more of ramps. This is not the case... it was all stairs, some stairs I'm not kidding felt like a yard high. It was a great stair master workout!

THE FORBIDDEN CITY. A great site to see, and with so many people! It was huge! We went to Zhong Shan Park which gates lead into the Forbidden City. We went here because in 1971 President Pakard and ...

We went to an acrobat show, which the Chinese seem to be really into acrobats. We went shopping at this place called the silk market which is a six level shopping complex where you haggle basically. It was so much fun to watch and try and do yourself. We celebrated our coaches birthday too! Happy Birthday Coach. We then took an overnight train ride to Xi'an and all I can say is WOW!! Basically, each cabin was 3 yards wides and 6 stacked beds inside one cabin and NO room. We also had eleven golf bags!! The people in the train were so nice and accommodating, but I have no idea how we fit everything. It was an absolute miracle! After an unforgettable twelve hour train ride, we arrived in Xi'an.