Into the Unknown

This morning in Sunday School, we talked about the Prophet Jeremiah (chapters 42-43).  Israel asked him to seek God’s will for their lives as their enemies were coming.  What God told them was completely illogical, and went against what they thought they wanted to do.  We also talked about other examples in the Bible where God asked his people to do crazy things—Noah and the ark, Abraham leaving his country to follow God to an unknown place, Jesus asking us to love our enemies, and on and on.  As the students were reminded, there will be times that God asks us to step out in faith and do something that goes against what the world says is logical.  And when that time comes, if we choose to follow Him, he has something better planned for our futures than anything we could dream up for ourselves.

 

We are at that place in our lives.  We absolutely LOVE our students, youth parents/families, church staff, and Wesley.  However, we have felt God calling us to something new, and we know that when God leads us, we must follow.

 

Words cannot describe the heaviness in our hearts as we deliver this news.  We will miss so many people, and we thank God for the time that He has given us together.  If we only focused on the leaving part, we wouldn’t be able to make it.  But we know that God has a bigger plan and purpose than any of us could imagine.  He has a plan for our family, and He has a plan for the Wesley Youth and their families.  Since He is calling us to begin a new chapter, we also believe that He is already preparing someone to come and love the students and minister to all of the youth families.

 

We would also like to give some insight into this decision.  As most of you know, Staci’s family is in Oklahoma, and Michael’s family is in San Antonio.  This means we are almost 9 hours from Staci’s family, and 5 from Michael’s.  As Josiah has gotten older, it has been difficult being so far away.  It is our desire for him to grow up closer to his grandparents and other family.  As we began to feel God drawing us to a new stage, we felt Him leading us towards the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.  This will be a great central location between our families (3-4 hours for each).  Staci also has a lot of family in Dallas, including her grandpa who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  Many of you also know that we went to school in Dallas and met there.  All that to say, we feel the DFW area will be a great next step for our family.  We have also considered the Tyler area, because of our love for Pine Cove, the area, and Staci has family there as well.

 

In August, Michael began pursuing his Alternative Teaching Certification in Middle School Math.  One of his favorite parts of youth ministry is teaching the students, and we are looking forward to this new career choice.  We also feel that this will be a great springboard for ministry to students in a different setting, because we all know how much impact teachers can have on students.  While we have absolutely loved working with students for 5.5 years (over 3 of which have been at Wesley), we feel it is time for a different pace.  We will still be a part of ministry at whatever church God leads us to, but it will be on a volunteer basis.  This will also give Michael the opportunity to become more involved in the worship ministry of the church, which has always been one of his passions.

 

We have also applied for a ministry called Apartment Life.  If we are accepted into this program, we will be able to minister to people at our future apartment complex by planning a monthly event, welcoming new tenants, celebrating new babies, etc. in exchange for a portion of our rent.  We will also be encouraged and empowered to build relationships with our neighbors, possibly start an apartment Bible Study, and invite them to church.  Our prayer is that this will allow Staci to stay home with Josiah.

 

Please keep our family in your prayers during this time of transition.  We are trying to sell our house, and Michael is currently applying for teaching jobs.  We have no clue how God is going to work all of this out…all we know is that He is calling us to step out in faith.

 

We will continue to pray for the students, families, and Wesley as they are also in a time of transition.  As we mentioned earlier, we believe wholeheartedly that God has someone wonderful planned to come in and work with the students.

 

After visiting with our pastor and sharing all of this, we have collectively decided that our last Sunday will be January 5, unless Michael gets a job and needs to start before then.  It’s all coming so quickly…and it’s taking a lot of faith to resign without having something else lined up.  But we just keep on praying that God will provide and that He will help us rely on Him wholeheartedly in this time.  And while we are so sad to leave everyone here, we are excited to see what He has in store for our family.

 

Thank you to all of our friends and family, both here and away, for all of your encouragement and support.  We are so blessed to be a part of the ministry at Wesley.  While leaving our students and the youth families is the absolute hardest part of all of this, we know that God has a plan.  And just like we learned in Sunday School, His plan is always better than anything we could dream up for ourselves.

.

.

–Michael and Staci

.

P.S. If you’d like to read about our decision to move down here over three years ago, you can click HERE.  It’s a great reminder of how God orchestrates everything and how His plan is always the best.

.

Happy New Year! – By M

2012 came to a close so quickly!  It was like all of a sudden we’re into 2013… a whole week into 2013!  So I realize this Happy New Years post is a tad late, but better than none at all, right?

.

Since the last time I wrote on the blog we have celebrated Thanksgiving, vacationed at Disney World with my family, went to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios, played the part of the holy family (you know Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus) twice, vacationed in Oklahoma and spent time with family over Christmas, had both our cars die on us while traveling on vacation, experienced two snows, and now our baby boy is starting to sit up all on his own!

2012 was definitely a great year –full of change and new beginnings.  I look forward to 2013 and all that is in store for our family and seeing Josiah get bigger every day.

I hope that you and your family are well and are getting off to a great start to the year!  May you continually  experience God’s blessings.

.

What is the best thing you can look back on from last year?  What do you look forward to this coming year?

.

.

-M

A Post Of Thankfulness Part 2 – By M

Hopefully you caught part one of my Thankfulness List.  If you didn’t you can check it our by clicking HERE.

Here is the second half of my list, starting with number 16 through 30 (and as mentioned before, this is in no particular order).

.

16.) Friends – I’ve had a lot come and go in my life, but I’m thankful for all the ones that have meant so much to me.  I don’t really have many anymore.  I guess that’s a part of growing up.  But for those that I do have, I am thankful.

17.) District Youth Director Meetings – Speaking of not having many friends, the UM Youth Directors in our area are beginning to meat monthly and I am really excited for the connections we’ve already made and will continue to make.  It’s so nice to be around other adults who totally get where we’re coming from 🙂

18.) Fusion – On a similar note, I’m proud to be a part of a new youth movement here in Southeast Texas that we’re calling Fusion.  A group of Youth ministers have come together, crossing denominational boundaries, to bring our students together for passionate worship with the ultimate goal of breaking down barriers and helping students into a deeper walk with God.

19.) My Guitar (acoustic) – Love my Larrivee!  It’s been a big part of my ministry for 8 years and I still love that it’s not a Taylor or a Martin 🙂   (this is a picture from a while back… you can tell cause of the hair)

20.) My Guitar (electric) – The second addition to my musical family.  I’ve had my Peavey amp for many ears because I got a killer deal on it and never had a good guitar to play through it.  It’s a big part of my ministry through music today and a big part of my contribution to Fusion.

21.) Music – You’ve probably seen some of our music posts on this blog.  I love to listen to it.  I love to play.  Music is awesome

22.) Thanksgiving – (put it at 22 cause that’s Thanksgiving day this year)  What is there to really say… family, food, fun, football!  Second or third best holiday in my opinion.

23.) Christmas Season – This would be the day after Thanksgiving also known as Black Friday.  I hope you’ve experienced the joys of Black Friday, but I digress.  I love Christmas and I love the Christmas season!  The music, the lights, the atmosphere, the weather… it’s all so perfect!  (And another vintage picture)

And now things take a bit of a material/superficial turn:

24.) My Bed – It’s warm, it’s comfy, it’s soft, I love it!

25.) iPhone/iPad/iMac – OK, so I don’t want to sound like an Apple fan boy or anything; I promise I’m not.  But I do love our computer and the iPad is just so convenient and fun.  I always thought the iPhone could be overrated, but I’ve really enjoyed my 4.  It may be 2 generations old, but it works great, it’s easy to use, and I love the apps.

26.) MyFitnessPal/RunKeeper – Speaking of apps; I’ve been really trying to work on getting in better shape and losing some weight.  RunKeeper helps me track my running and I like being able to actually gauge my progress.  MyFitnessPal is a calorie counter and I started using it Labor day weekend.  As I’ve followed the daily plans and cut back on my calorie intake, I’ve lost 16 pounds in just 2 months.

27.) New dSLR camera/HD video camera – Staci is big into photography and I love doing video work.  These new cameras have been awesome for our family and documenting Josiah’s early life and our family experiences.

28.) DVD/Bluray Collection – I know, it’s nerdy.  But Staci and I never watch live TV (The few TV shows we actually keep up with we watch on Hulu), so we pride ourselves in our collection of movies and TV shows.  Superficial? yes.  Awesome?  Heck Yes!

29.) Modern Conveniences – I know this is kind of general and vague, but I was running out of space, and I’m just so glad for electricity and plumbing, and cell phones, cars, planes, etc.  It’s just nice.

30.) Upcoming Family Vacation – Family time is something I’ve always cherished and now that we live so far part it’s very hard to come by.  So it will be really special spending so much time with all the family.  I’m glad everyone wil get to spend so much with Josiah too!

.

So these are a few things I am especially thankful for this season.

What are some of the things you are thankful for this year?

.

.

– M

A Post Of Thankfulness Part 1- By M

I’m not on Facebook all the time, but I get on enough.  Anyway… I guess the popular thing to do for the month of November is to post something everyday that you are thankful for.  I think this is a great idea and awesome way to remember the true heart of the Thanksgiving holiday (Turkey and football are nice, but you get my point).

The only thing with posting something you are thankful for each day, most people start strong and by the second week of November most people stop.  So I decided to make sure I get all 30 days of thankfulness in, I’m going to post all thirty things right here, right now… but so I don’t bore everyone to death I’m actually going to break this into 2 posts –15 today and 15 later this week– and I’m going to try to keep each one relatively short so you can read through them all.  (Lastly, they are in no particular order)

Here we go!

.

1.) My faith – It has made me who I am today

2.) My wife – The way I’ve described it before is that we are so much better together than apart.  Staci helps me be a better person in so many ways and challenges me to always grow and mature in my faith and in my daily life…. and we have so much fun together and so so so much more!

3.) My son – He is a sweet little guy and has already shown me so much about life, unconditional love, and so much more.

4.) My family – Since I already mention my personal family unit (Staci and Josiah), this one is for my immediate family.  Couldn’t be blessed with better mom, dad, brother/sister-in-law, and sister.  Also, all of Staci’s family is so special to me.  You hear all kinds of in-law horror stories… none here!  🙂

5.) My family – I know I already said family; this is for all the extended family!  I love my aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. And once again, all the in-laws are awesome too!

6.) My job – Working with Staci is awesome. And getting to hang out with our students is awesome!

7.) Our students – We have an amazing group of kids at Wesley.  Love them to death!

8.) The Wesley Staff – While I’m still focused on the job front, we do have an incredible staff at Wesley

9.) Wesley Church Members – OK, one more for Wesley.  We do have some really awesome people in our congregation who care so much about their faith and each other.  What a great church family for Josiah to be raised in!

10.) Our house – Being able to build it from the ground up was a pretty cool experience. We love it and couldn’t be more happy to be here.

11.) My Heritage – Can’t lie… I love being a Mexican.

12.) The Spurs – Grew up loving them, going to games, watching them on TV.  I have lots of great (and not so great) memories with this team.  Love the way the Spurs really bring the city of San Antonio together… which brings me to…

13.) San Antonio – My home town.  It was an awesome city to grow up in.  I still love going to visit when I get the chance.  Mom, Dad, you better never move from there or I will be mad!

14.) The internet – Let’s face it… you wouldn’t be reading this if it weren’t for the inter webs!  But honestly, I love it for the quick and easy access to information and for how easy it makes keeping in touch with friends and family through email, facebook, blogs and…

15.) Facetime/Skype – I love that even though my immediate family are hundreds of miles apart we can still keep in touch through video chat!  And, it’s not like the really choppy stuff from back in the day; we’re talking quality audio and video here.  It’s especially nice with Josiah here so that he can see his family and they can see him even though we are so far apart.
.

So those are a few… I’ll have more up soon so stay posted!

During this month of Thanksgiving, what are some things that you are thankful for?

.

.

– M

Josiah’s Visitors

I (Staci) started working on this back in July, and forgot to post it.  Oops–we’ll call it “Mommy Brain” since I can no longer blame it on “Pregnancy Brain.”

.

We’ve been so blessed by all of the friends and family who have come to visit little Josiah.  We thought it’d be fun to do a post of all of his visitors thus far. (Now, through the first month or so…)

We have TONS of pictures of him with our immediate family, but I’ll just choose my favorite of him with each person.

.

Grandparents

Vovo’ (sounds like Vaw-Vaw: Portuguese for Grandma) – Staci’s Mom

Vovo (sounds like Voe-Voe) – Staci’s Dad

Grammy – Michael’s Mom

Pops – Michael’s Dad

.

Aunts & Uncles

Tia Emmy – Staci’s Sister

Aunt Mandy & Uncle Rico – Michael’s Brother & Sister-in-Law

Titio Marcos and Titia Maddie – Staci’s Brother and Sister-in-law (we don’t have a pic with just him and Maddie, but here’s all of us together)

.

Cousin

Elias – Staci’s Nephew

.

Other Family

Meme – Staci’s Grandma

Pawpaw – Staci’s Grandpa

Auntie B – Staci’s Cousin, Bethany

Paul & Elizabeth – Staci’s Cousin & Wife (and soon to be babies!)

A – Staci’s Cousin’s little girl

Dodo – Staci’s “uncle”

Angie – Staci’s “aunt”

Trace – Staci’s “cousin”

Kylee – Staci’s “cousin”

Aunt Laura – Staci’s Aunt

Uncle Terry – Staci’s Uncle

Missy & C – Staci’s Cousin and her daughter

Michael & Paix (Daron, Michael’s husband also came, but we forgot to get a pic…) – Staci’s family

Uncle Kenny – Staci’s Uncle

.

Friends

Amy & Sherry (& Amy’s son, B – not pictured) – One of Staci’s Best Friends from HS & her mom

.

Church Family

Carly & Gracie – our youth

Pastor Robert – our pastor

Gail – friend & fellow church staff

Tyler – our summer intern (and friend from OK)

Barrett – our youth

Craig – our youth

Cal – our youth

M – one of the sweet girls from church

Elizabeth – one of our friends and youth moms

Courtlyn – our youth

Carlie – our youth

.

Thank you SOOO much to everyone who came and loved on our little guy.  We are so thankful for all of our friends and family (and those who weren’t able to make it to visit, also).  We love you all!

.

–Staci & Michael

.

2 Years Later – By M

2 years ago (just a few days back) marks when we moved from Oklahoma down to southeast Texas.  It’s funny how time has flown so much and how much can change in such a relatively short amount of time.

It’s been such a blessing to be a part of Wesley church over these past two years.  I can’t lie that there are things that we miss –being far from basically any family (especially immediate), and experience the seasons with the weather (down here it’s basically hot, not so hot, and really hot!)– but we have also loved being at our new church and new home.

.

Here’s sort of a Trip down memory lane since our move (PS… Some have links to previous blog posts):

– when we first arrived, we found out on a very first day at church about the Wesley Pumpkin Patch.  It was crazy overwhelming and made for a very long day, but after two complete Pumpkin seasons and heading into our third it’s been a blast and a great part of our ministry here.  It’s also been a fun opportunity for me to make it onto our local news stations every year.  In fact, one of my most memorable moments was being interviewed by Fox news my 3rd day on the job.  I had fun with that.

– That same day we left for IKEA in Houston and bought some new furniture!  It was my first trip and now I’m hooked.

– Staci went to her first Spurs game at the AT&T Center!

– We celebrated our 2nd anniversary up in Dallas!

– We spent our 3rd Christmas together in our third house, so we had to figure out how to decorate all over again.

– Went on my first Ski Trip!

– We began searching the housing market for when our apartment lease was up.

– My brother got married in Memphis and we got to road trip it up there together which was pretty fun!

– We jumped out of a plane!!!

– We found where we wanted to build our new home and began the process!  Before we new it we were moving in!

– Built my first porch on mission trip!

– Read all the Harry Potter Books and saw all the movies… umm… maybe 3 times….

– Found lots of new good music for all seasons!

– Moved to a new house!

– Got Pregnant!  And shared our story!  And found out he was a boy!

– Celebrated another holiday as a family… the first one in our new home!

– Celebrated our 3rd anniversary together in San Antonio!

– Had countless youth activities including: Christmas Parties, Halloween Parties, Mission Trips, Summer Camps, Retreats, A trip to Sacramento, CA, Beach Trips, Pool Parties, and tons more!

– Our Baby Boy was born!

And here we are starting our 3rd Pumpkin Patch season!  We can’t believe that it’s all flown by so fast (even though sometimes it feels like it’s been a really long, long journey)!  We have been so blessed in so many ways over these past 2 years and we are very thankful!  We look forward to the coming years with our sweet son and our new family unit!

.

What have you been up to these past 2 years?
.

.

– M

Our Sweet Boy part 1

This post is very long overdue.  But we’ve been just a little bit busy over the past two and a half weeks.  In a matter of minutes our lives were forever changed.  And neither of us would trade one moment of the past two weeks and five days.

Even the nearly sleepless nights are worth it because we get to see our precious little boy.  We’re constantly in awe of this gift that God has given us.

I’d like to take a few minutes to introduce you all to the little guy who has stolen our hearts.  Here’s a glimpse into the story (so far) of Josiah Michael.

.

On July 3 I was scheduled to try to turn him at 7:00 a.m.  We got to the hospital at 5:45 and they prepped me for a C-Section in case the turning wasn’t successful.  If it was, I would go to Labor & Delivery to be induced.  Either way, we knew we would have our little boy by the end of the day!

The attempted turning was the most painful thing I’ve ever been through.  I should have listened to my cousin when she told me to skip it and go straight for the C.  But I really wanted to try to get him turned.  After 4 unsuccessful attempts with my doctor pushing on my stomach with all her strength, she and I both knew that it was time for the C-Section.  Our boy just didn’t want to turn around!

While I was given my spinal block and prepared for the C, Michael waited outside the room.  He would get to come in when they made sure I was nice and numb.

When he came in the surgery room, he told me that the way he felt waiting to come in was the same way he felt waiting to see me before we got married.  We both knew that this was going to be one of the biggest days of our lives.

We were talking and in a matter of minutes (less than 3 to be exact), we heard Josiah make little noises.  As Michael said, “I’ll never forget that sound for the rest of my life.”  Then they held our little boy up above the partition and we were able to see him for the first time.  Even though he was all messy, he was absolutely perfect!

After a couple of minutes, Michael was able to go back to where the nurses were cleaning him up.  Then he came back to me and one of the nurses brought Josiah to him.  The head surgery nurse and the anesthesiologist took some pictures of us meeting him.

Even though I couldn’t hold him, my heart completely melted as I got to see him and touch him for the first time.  He was OURS.  And he was finally here!

While I went to recovery, Michael was able to go to the nursery and be with our boy.  Here are a couple of sweet pictures of their time together.  I absolutely love this one.  It’s so incredible that such a tiny little guy can grasp his daddy’s finger so tightly.

I love the pride, love and joy on Michael’s face.

Michael came in to my recovery room and told me his birth time, height, and weight:

Josiah Michael born 8:16 a.m.  7 lbs even, 19 inches even.  🙂  We were both just so proud of him!

After a few minutes, they wheeled me into my room and I was finally able to hold our sweet son!

There is nothing that can describe that feeling.  I was just overwhelmed with love and awe.  This perfect little baby had been inside of me.  And now he was in my arms!  Michael and I had prayed and tried for him for so long.  It truly felt like a miracle to be able to hold him.

It was so wonderful to have our family there.  My parents and sister and Michael’s parents were there.  Later that day my grandparents and cousin came.  Michael’s brother and sister-in-law came that weekend, and we had other special visitors throughout my stay and once we got home as well.  We’ll do a post with all of Josiah’s visitors soon.

We decided to have Josiah room in with us.  Even though we knew we’d be up a lot during the night, we wanted every second we could have with our little boy.  We were just so thankful that he was finally here!  Some of our sweetest times were during the nights while we were in the hospital.  Words can’t describe the feeling of being the three of us.  We were completely in awe of him.  Even though he stayed in his little crib part of the time, most of the time we took turns snuggling with him.  He loved being on our chests.  We knew he would be a snuggler because of the way he acted in my stomach–if we put our hands on my belly, he’d push himself up against our hands.  But it was just so sweet to have him snuggling in real life.

Look at this precious face!  Even though we weren’t getting much sleep, we wouldn’t trade seeing this for the world.

I loved (and still love) our time nursing.  It’s just incredible to know that God has given me the ability to give him the nourishment he needs.  And it’s such an incredible time of bonding.  Here we are sharing a special moment before it was time for him to eat.  I’m so in love.

One down-side to having a C-Section is that I couldn’t get up at all for the first 24 hours, and after that I was still in a lot of pain, which made getting up and down really difficult.  As a result, Michael was left to do all of the diaper changes, swaddling, and anything else our son needed that couldn’t be done with me laying down in bed.  He was amazing!  I was completely blown away by the way he took such good care of our son.  I always knew he would be an incredible father, but I fell in love with him on a whole new level when I watched him caring for our little boy in the night.  See what a great job Daddy did swaddling?

Here we are snuggling before he got dressed for the day.

The next day was the Fourth of July.  So even though it was a little big, we had to put him in his little “My First Fourth of July” shirt.  Some ladies had knitted little patriotic hats for all of the babies in the nursery.  Here he is all dressed up for Independence Day.

Here are a few of my favorites from day 2.

Look at those eyes!

That night was full of more snuggling with Mommy and Daddy for little Josiah.

I think that this morning was the first time that I was able to get up and help change his diaper.  Even though it was something so small, I loved being able to help.  It helped me feel like I was really recovering.

After we changed him that morning, our little guy decided to suck his thumb!  Michael captured the moment, and it’s become one of our favorite pictures of him.

The next day, we were able to go home!  Here’s Michael getting our little boy all dressed and ready for his first day at home:

I forget how tiny he was (6 lbs 6 oz when we came home) until I see pictures like this!

We couldn’t wait to go home and finally be taking care of him in our house.

Getting ready to get in the car!

Home sweet home!

It’s been such an incredible journey with our little boy so far.  There have been so many times that we just look at him and are filled with awe and love.  We had no clue that this is what it felt like to be parents.  Our hearts are literally swelling for our little boy.  And it’s made us love each other in a whole new way as well.

Thank you all for following along on our journey into parenthood.  We are so excited to continue to share this wonderful time of our lives with you.

.

–Staci and Michael

.

An Overdue Mother’s Day & Father’s Day Post – By M

I realize that in reading the title of this blog post your probably thinking to yourself, “Why is this weirdo just now putting up a post about Mother’s day and Father’s day?”  Well I have a perfectly good explanation:

1) With how busy we’ve been in the past months it was hard to write blog posts and

2) Now that I am officially a father (for nearly a week to be exact) I definitely have a new appreciation for what it means to be a mom or a dad –not that I didn’t appreciate mine before, but you get what I mean.

.

Experiencing the miracle of the birth of a new baby is something that can’t be described.  Even in knowing for 9 months that our little one was on the way, it never seemed like the whole thing was real until I heard the first whimpers/cries from our little boy in the surgery room.  I don’t want to go into too much detail here, because Staci and I will be working on a write-up of the whole experience (well maybe not the whole experience) of Josiah’s birthday. But the sense of pride, love and joy that comes from your very own child is something that can only be experienced first hand.

Within these first few days, however I have seen how one’s life completely changes once there is a baby in the mix, and even still, I know that this is only the beginning.  I’m not sure I’ve run consistently on this little sleep ever in my life, I’ve been stretched in ways that I never thought possible, and I’ve experienced more “firsts” in one week than I have in probably an entire year.

With all that said… it is so easy to take our parents for granted.  Ever since being a new born baby, there is so much that goes into raising a child.  Obviously I don’t remember my parents changing my dirty diapers or rocking me to sleep, or putting up with my in-suppressible, blood-curling screams, but now I see just how much work it is to take care of a newborn.  And when it comes to things like money, even when my family had to live on a very tight budget, it always seemed like there was just an endless flow of it no matter how many times my parents said “Money doesn’t grow on trees!”, but now I know money is not always there.  Then there are all the bad attitudes, ungratefulness, and other things that parents have to put up with after all their hard work raising their child.

So even though this is a little bit late… I want to say a BIG “THANK YOU!” to my mom and dad for all that they have done for me, and for all that they have done and will do to be a part of Josiah’s life.  And, of course, I have to say a big thank you to my wife (and, now, baby-momma) for all that she has already done for our baby boy!  From carrying him around for 9 months (including a full month of morning sickness), getting his bedroom ready, researching and ordering cloth diapers, and all that she’s already done for him in his first week, and so much more!

.

If there’s one thing that I am glad that my parents always instilled in me it’s to never take family for granted.  I have been so blessed to have the incredible family (including my in-laws) that God has given me, and I am so excited to continue on the legacy with our little boy Josiah!

.

.

-M

Baby Update: HE’S HERE!

Introducing Josiah Michael Elizondo!

Born July 3 at 8:16 a.m.

7 lbs 0 oz, 19 inches long

We are blessed beyond belief that God has given us this precious little boy.

My doctor tried over and over to turn him (which is Super painful by the way) and he would just flip back or not budge. So they did a c section. Everything went great!

He’s healthy, I’m recovering well, and we are just soooooo thankful that God has blessed us with our sweet little boy.

I’ve already fed him and he’s snuggled with Daddy and Mommy. He is a sweet snuggler, by the way! He’s getting all checked out in the nursery for a little while longer and then he will be able to stay with us the rest of the time.

We are just overwhelmed with love and thankfulness.

.

–Michael and Staci

Baby Update: The Plan

Well, a lot has been going on in the life of little Josiah. We wanted to give you a quick update since he’ll probably be here before too long!

• He’s getting so big!  1.5 weeks ago, we had an ultrasound and he measured to weigh approximately 6 lbs, 11 oz.  So he’s probably in the middle 7 lbs by now.
• I’ve officially been off all bedrest since June 7.  It’s been great to be able to move around and do whatever I feel like doing.  Needless to say, there’s been LOTS of nesting going on.
• I’ve finally been able to start going on walks and doing my pregnancy workout video again.  It makes all the difference in the world to be able to be active.  (By the way, I highly recommend Lindsay Brin’s Pregnancy DVD Workout Videos; they’re separated into each trimester and a postnatal workout.)
• Josiah is a little nut!  He makes my entire stomach move around constantly.  He gets hiccups multiple times a day, plays with Michael every time he touches my stomach or talks to him, and does some crazy moves.  He’s been too big to really kick for a while now, but it hasn’t kept him from moving around!

.

Before I give an update on the Baby Plan (aka when we’re expecting him to come), here are the past few Pregnancy Bump Pictures.  I feel like I’ve stopped growing around…I guess he just looks different since he’s so much lower now.

Week 34

Week 35

Week 36

Week 37

Week 38

I haven’t taken a picture this week, but I’ll take one tonight because Michael and I are going on what will probably be our last date for a while.  We’re going to celebrate his 25th Birthday!  His actual birthday is the 2nd, but….

……

JOSIAH WILL PROBABLY BE HERE THE 3RD!!!

……

Yep, that’s right.  Our little guy will most likely be making his debut in 4 days!!!

How do we know?  Our little stinker is still breech.  He is already super strong willed, and he has refused to do anything the normal way this pregnancy.  First, it took a long time to actually get pregnant with him, then there was the marginal placenta previa, then he had echogenic bowels, then he tried to come super early…and now he wants to wait it out and stay in the position he wants to stay in…no matter what we try.

We’ve tried so many things to get him to turn, and he’s had fairly similar responses to each:

• Michael has been talking to the lower part of my belly for months now.  Result: a kick in the mouth…or a punch in the cheek.
• Shining a flashlight on my lower belly.  Result: he kicks the light.
• Playing music on my lower belly.  Result: he LOVES the music.  He moves around…and he kicks the headphones, phone, etc.
• I’ve even tried putting my shoulders on the ground and my rear in the air to make him confused so he’ll turn.  Result: lots of squirming and his head moving up to my ribs.  Oh, and dizziness and shortness of breath on my part.  Oh, and of course he kicks me with this too.

So, unless I have him this weekend (I’ve been having more contractions and other signs, but nothing to make me think he’ll be here in the next day), we’re scheduled to go back to the doctor on Monday and hopefully have him on Tuesday.  If I do go into labor before Tuesday, I’ll be having a c-section since he’s breech.

My doctor has scheduled to try to turn him (by pushing on him on the outside of my belly) on Tuesday.  Yes, I know this has the potential to be super painful.  But depending on his cooperation, it could make it where I can avoid a c-section.  And I’ve heard that sometimes it can even be a relatively quick and painless process.  It just depends.

Depending on my visit on Monday, we’ll know if she is going to induce me after the turning (if it’s successful).  If I’m progressed enough, (and I think I will be) I’ll be induced.  If not, we will wait until later in the week to try to induce me.  The reason for this is that she doesn’t want him to turn back around after he’s been turned.

There’s also a chance that the turning will distress him, in which case we’ll go straight to a c-section.  Also, if she can’t get him to turn or I’m in too much pain in the process, I think we go ahead and have a c-section.  I’m not sure if this will be on Tuesday or if we’ll just have one when I go into labor.  I’ll have to ask Monday.

So there’s the deal.  Josiah will more than likely be here in 4 days!! 

.

I have to admit I’m a little nervous about the turning and about possibly having a c-section.  I texted with my cousin last night, and she reassured me about the c (she’s had two).  One of my friends here in town also had one recently and gave me a few pointers.  And I’ve talked to a few youth moms who have had kids turned.  But I’m still a little apprehensive about both.  So if you have any tips, I’m all ears!!

.

We are getting SOOOOO excited for Josiah to finally be here!

I’ve done about 40 tubs of laundry (cloth diapers have to be “prepped”–more on this later; baby clothes; pillows; curtains; and more–pretty much anything I could wash in our house has been washed).

We’ve also gotten his room all ready (post on that SOON!).  I’m so thankful that Michael loves being involved in all of the baby stuff.

My mom cleaned like a pro when she was here a few weeks ago.  She did all of the baseboards, ceiling fans, dusting (including frames!), and more.

We’ve pretty much done everything we can to get ready for his arrival.  Now I just have to get a move-on with these thank you notes!  We’ve been SOOOO BLESSED.  And I want to make sure we say thank you before things get crazy with our little guy being here.

.

I guess that’s pretty much it in the way of baby news.  We will let you all know when he’s finally here!  (In fact, I’ve already made a post draft with fill-in-the-blanks for his birth information!)

Thanks so much for reading along!  We’re excited to share all of this with you!

.

.

–Staci and Michael

.

PS. I’d love to hear any “turning”, c-section, or baby tips!  Click to leave a comment.

.