Belen Maria

I wrote the following thoughts about the birth of our daughter Belen Maria on February 09, 2010:

Today, at 9:17 am, Belen Maria was born. "Congratulations," the anesthesiologist gently informed Jen and I, immediately as Belen first entered into the room. These huge bright, round lights illuminated the room, but amazingly did not blind our sight. Jen's body was momentarily without feeling from her chest down as the doctors and nurses performed a c-section and brought Belen into our hearts.

A sheet kept Jen and I from viewing the operation, but a part of me was not in a hurry to witness this grand miracle orchestrate itself. I don't know if I would have collapsed or not had I witnessed Belen's arrival; you hear about the blood and the nasty gore that spills about; my mind was mostly aiming at keeping Jen comfortable and at bay. I could see the worry in Jen's face and the puffiness around her eyes told the story of a concerned mother.

They placed the tiny body on a special bassinett and the doctor and specialists immediately began taking care of Belen. Their goal was to bring Belen to breathe on her own. As tiny as she is and the early arrival is an obvious reason for her lungs to be fighting for air. Hearing the words, "good heartbeat," and "she's breathing now!" brought comfort to my soul.

Though they did succeed in getting Belen to breahte, they needed to place a breathing tube through her mouth so that it would assist her with the breathing. She is small and her lungs are not fully able to do all the breathing on their own. They will do as much as possible until her body gains the necessary strength. They will monitor Belen closely for the next month and do their best to prepare her to leave the hospital and into our humble abode.

The first glimpse towards Belen directed me to see her tiny feet. They were juggling around in thin air and my heart stopped beating for a moment. I turned to Jen and told her the small miracle that I had just witnessed. She choked for a moment then her eyes turned watery. I could see the love that she expressed toward Belen, our firstborn. "We are parents now," I lovingly said to her.

They took Belen to the NICU and Jen to the recovery room; I followed easefully behind Jen. We stayed there til about noon nearly three hours after Belen's birth. I was allowed to see Belen only from outside the NICU window, literally outside the building, because of the rare cold that I have, unfortunately, acquired. "Can you believe that I hardly ever get sick?" The time for this unfortunate cold to invade my body occurs only days before Belen's arrival and I am not happy about this unexpected virus, but since Belen's health is way more important than my miserable cold, I must sacrifice not being able to stand at her side and to hold my precious gift.

I can't believe how much I love her. This is simply unexplainable.

Among our guest today in order of their arrival:

Natasha Wunderlich- she totally went out of her way by showering Belen with multiple gifts and she even brought Jen a breast milk pump. We are truly blessed to have Natasha here at our side.

Mom, Dad and Gabriel. Mom and dad flew in from Dallas, yesterday, and arrived a day before Belen. I am very happy that they are here because it had been a very long time since I had seen them. I speak to them on the phone at least once a week, but it is simply great to have them here with us. Unfortunately, Belen will have to remain at the hospital for at least a month so they will not be able to see her at home. Mom and dad's trip here will be short lived because Ricky has already booked their flight tickets back to San Antonio.

Mom got Belen a "My First (pink)Teddy" bear and a baby stork carrying a baby bear. Very cute!
Yesterday, mom got us a porcelain angel being held by a set of hands. It is prety cool...

Gabriel, Adriana and the girls were here yesterday. Gabriel drove our parents over from his house today and he simply brings an amuzing spirit into our room. I love my brother.

Tucker, Melissa and McKenna Dowd. The Dowd's arrived shortly before 4pm. Tucker and I walked down to the NICU so that we could get a peek at Belen but we were not fortunate enough to see her. They moved her from the area where I had earlier stood and A rent-a-cop showed up and asked us not to be in this vicinity because the nurses did not like people hanging around outside and looking in at the tiny bodies. I did not want to make a big deal (Doctor Buxton had taken me to that exact area earlier so that I could see Belen, and she even said that I could bring people there) so Tucker and I headed back to room 341.

Tucker and Melissa brought us a load of goodies for my tummy, yesterday before noon.

Sarah Turner: Jen's visiting teacher stopped by for a few minutes. She brought Jen a crossword puzzle and a pocket held Tetris game. She offered a small and sincere prayer and as she did, I was reminded how great it is to have great friends and family amidst us. I enjoyed playing on Level 1 of the Tetris game for a short while.

Dale, Hannah and Joey: They brought me Quiznos. Yay! They stopped to see how we were all doing, as well.

We have been extremely blessed by our Father in Heaven. He has placed us at the right hospital and with the right staff. Everyone here at Kaiser-Roseville is totally amazing and we are fortunate to be here surrounded by their constant care.

Words cannot express how much I love Belen and I can't even begin to say enough about Jen. I never will, I'll never end but I will begin by saying that Jen is amazing.

almost Christmas break

Just one and a half more days folks and I will be on vacation...thank goodness!
School is wearing me down emotionally, mentally, physically. I don't want to deal with rude, obnoxious, disrespectful, selfish teenagers anymore!!!!

I am enjoying pregnancy. I hit 23 weeks tomorrow. I feel her moving more and more, which is very exciting and comforting. Luckily I have not experienced morning sickness, just a very sensitive gag reflex every time I brush my teeth... We are excited and are starting to shop for baby gear.

Lucio is chillin at home with the dogs as he hasn't had any work the last couple weeks. He makes a good house-husband! I am grateful for all he does and am looking forward to a nice "staycation"

At work but not working

So I am supposed to be making a quiz for my students to take tomorrow, but instead I got distracted by an email a colleague sent out. Clare Wiley, a good friend and teacher here, has been diagnosed with cancer for the 2nd time in her young life. She has a blog about it and so I was looking at it and then thought, we haven't written anything on our blog in a while, so here I am. I will make it short cause I do want to go home...I've had a headache most of the day...thank you freshmen.

with Friends at the Sac Zoo

McKenna relaxing on her stroller


Tucker posing next to a bronze statue of a gorilla's head. He's the one on the back


Lucio and Jen capturing a moment in front of flamingo paradise


The girls posing at the zoo


The red panda is on the move

A day at the zoo

We went to the Sac Zoo one fine, hot Saturday afternoon. McKenna, Melanie, Melissa, Tucker, Pat(Tucker's uncle from San Diego), Jen and I. Inosi was stuck at work.

There were monkeys, giraffes, fowl of all kinds and fishes in a pond. We heard parrots talking, hyenas laughing and the snow leopards were sleeping. The king of the jungle was simply chilling, ugly large birds were showing off and the monkeys were relaxing up high ropes.

The highlight was a toss up between Tucker buying us all Mexican ice cream bars or the ant eaters going at it. you decide...

Going Back to TX

Matthew will be flying back to TX this coming Tuesday. He has a job interview and hopes to make the best of the upcoming opportunity. His stay here in Sacramento has been short, but we have enjoyed having him with us.

He is a great young man and has a great future ahead of him. We hope the best. He has been a great guest and we will miss watching him texting his friends and listening to his IPOD all day. Signs of the time. Teenagers spend more time on those electronic gadgets than anything else.

Gabriel told him that he remembers purchasing a tape player for a hundred dollars when he was his age and he would never put it down. His first tape was LL Cool J. So, maybe in our time, we too, had similar characteristics. But a cell phone? No way Jose. Not unless you wanted to carry a briefcase around with you everywhere, because I remember seeing people walking around with mobile bags strapped around their shoulders. The classic was the cell phone the size of most home cordless phones that idiots would actually carry around in their tight back pockets.

Last night, Jen and I took Matt to the drive-in theatre. We watched Star Trek. It was free of charge. Inosi, Melanie, Anthony and Vanessa were also there. After a few minutes into the movie, Matthew went to the restroom but didn't return until the movie ended. He stayed at the concessions building texting and talking on his cell phone. go figure...

The nachos were only a dollar, so I obviously went to get me a fixin. I got some popcorn to go with those zesty nachos. After the movie, we all chatted for a few minutes, saw the prelude cartoon then called it a night. I was tired because I have been going to bed pretty late all week.

Today, we all visited Raley Field to watch the River Cats vs Memphis baseball PCL playoff. The Cats lost 6-0.

As we walked to our vehicle, top of the 7th, a high flying foul ball came only 4-5 feet from hitting Jen and I. It put the scare on us. That was probably the most exciting play of the day for us because the Cats were simply not hitting.

I did enjoy an amazing throw to home plate which took "out" a visiting player and the catcher throwing to second base and catching a runner from trying to steal the base. That was some great, awesome action.

This week we did some landscaping work for a client whose backyard slopes down towards their home. It's looking pretty nice. We will be building a waterfall and have cut some steps to walk to the top alongside the wooden fence.

We put a bid out on Tuesday for an interior painting job then yesterday met a couple of ladies in Rancho Cordova for a possbile remodeling of their homes' two bathrooms and kitchen. We will pretty much begin that project this coming Wednesday.

It's six minues past midnite. I need to be going to bed.

Tomorrow is revenge day. The Texas Longhorns will try to avenge last year's loss to the mighty Red Raiders from Texas Tech. That awesome last second pass from Harrell to Crabtree will go down as one of the greatest single plays in college history. We will be talking about this one forever. Both longhorn and RED RAIDER players, coaching staff and the great fans who rushed down field, twice, at the end of the game, will never forget this amazing, phenomenal play...

Of course, I predict Tech will win. What kind of Red Raider fan would I be if I didn't believe in my own team. We will win and we will prove America once again that we are the "real RED RAIDER deal.

Oh yeah. It's been great having you here in Cali Matt. We will miss you and hope to see you again. Don't forget about our reunion in TX next summer.

C U There! (p.s. don't forget to invite Gabriel and Halie)

Good Luck with your new career and make the best of it. Oh yeah, don't forget to leave the Ipod at home and turn off your cell phone during the interview.

just leave it in the stang.

Welcome to Cali, Matthew

My 18 year old nephew, Matthew arrived from TX, yesterday. My brother Gabriel brought him to the golden state on their way back from their vacation.

He seemed very happy to be here and simply loves this place. "It's beautiful!" he says as he steps out of the vehicle.

We took him to work with us today. As we returned home around 1pm, I drove over one of the bridges from West Sac and into downtown Sac. "I've never seen a boat," he says and you would have thought that he just won the lottery.

I have never seen anyone seem so excited to see a boat. He did see a big boat, I must add. It is the river boat docked over at Old Sac. So, it wasn't just any ole' small boat...

We are happy to welcome Matthew into our home and hope that he enjoys every bit of his stay here in California...