2 months

The following are images of Belen taken on April 9th, 2010, two months after she was born. The pics were snapshots taken from Belen's Flip video camera. Jen and I were at the hospital with her on this day. We were actually going to bring her home on that day, but the doctor insisted that she get her first three immunizations and spend another day at the hospital before she could be released from the NICU.

1 month

The following are images of Belen taken on March 9th, 2010, one month after she was born. Jen and I were at the hospital with her on this very special day.

Belen Time

12:00 midnight - Either Jen feeds Belen via breastfeed or I feed her from Jen's breast milk supply.
2:30 am - Belen has been waking around this time and Jen feeds her for about five to ten minutes.
12:00 - 4:00 am Belen usually sleeps, unless she is being a cranky pants at which time Jen or I administer to her needs.
4:00 am - I wake up finding Jen feeding Belen so I go back to bed.
5:00 am - Jen asks me to help her with Belen. Jen will usually have a bottle of about 2 oz milk ready for Belen. Since Belen arrived home, I have been waking up around this time to feed her.

This is a pivotal time for Belen and I because if I do not get her to fall asleep before 6 am, she will be awake on the hour till about 9 am. I have found that feeding her in the living room, as we both relax on the couch works best. After she finishes with the first 2 ounces, I observe to see if she is done. If I feel that she is not full, I will warm her up a couple more ounces.

I will burp her and hold her on my chest for about fifteen minutes, then she falls asleep and will pretty much sleep until 8:00 am. This is typical after each meal.

8:00 am - This time of the day Belen is usually real good at maintaining her daily routine. I begin by changing her diaper which is immediately followed by a feeding. On occasion, I warm up her milk before I begin changing her diaper. This allows the milk to be ready as soon as I finish changing her. We typically go to the living room and spend about thirty minutes eating, burping and falling asleep.

12:00 pm - Belen will sleep until about noon and the cycle continues, again. There has been a couple of times when I had to wake her up so that she may eat. The information that I have read states that I should not allow her to go more than three hours before eating again. I don't let her sleep but I also don't shake her so that she may wake up. I find that changing her diaper gives her a boost in waking up.

My goal is to maintain a four hour routine, and Belen does very well for the first part of the day till about 4 pm. The routine of taking care of Belen is pretty straight forward. She sleeps for three hours, wakes up, gets a new diaper which obviously requires a wipe down of her privates then she will eat from 2 to 4 ounces of milk. I have given her as much as 5 ounces in one session, never more and most of the time she will take an average of three ounces.

Lately, Belen tends to shift into a 2 to 4 hour schedule from 4 pm till about midnight and sometimes as late as 1 am. I don't understand why she goes off into this weird schedule, but if you think about it, she does it on a daily basis that perhaps this is simply part of her routine. Jen and I have become accustomed to it, we record all her feedings and spoils and simply do our best to keep her on track towards a healthy feeding schedule.

I absolutely do not mind taking care of my baby girl. I have been pretty good about getting up early in the am, though there have been a couple of days when I would much rather stay in bed. When I am home alone with Belen, I will take a nap between 9 and 11 am to catch up on the previous night's wake up calls. Belen will begin waking up around 11:30 and by noon she is on her schedule.

Belen Times are not to the minute but they are real. There is a fifteen minute flux but the general time, "Belen Time" is consistent throughout the day. Furthermore, I have learned more about babies since Belen arrived home on the 10th of April, than I have done my entire life. I am thankful to my siblings' kids because I did not arrive to this point without any experience. Does that make any sense?

I am thankful to Heavenly Father for this blessing and I love my wife for her dedication, love and compassion. I love spending the day fulfilling my role as a father simply because I love my family. I can't believe that there is another body in our home and now there is three of us to fill this humble abode.

what to do...

It has been only one week and three days since Jen returned to work and I take the reigns of house mother. The part of holding Belen and talking to her is the easiest and most rewarding. There is an eternal bond that I feel each moment that I hold my precious daughter and with each moment that I hold her near to my heart, I can't help to visualize what the future has already reserved for us.

This may sound a bit corny but I see her attending prom and walking down an aisle wearing a beautiful white gown and she can barely lift her tiny chest off the pillow when she is doing "tummy time." It is silly to think these thoughts but I just can't help myself when these scary moments immerse into my mind. Even more frightening was the thought that one day I will be a grandpa to Belen's children. What am I thinking?

I know that when these moments actually become a reality I will be attending to her very needs and I will be there to advise her, support her and simply love her; so in fact, those scary moments will seize to exist and will be replaced by tears of joy. Am I really saying all this "girly" stuff. Being a "Stay Home Parent" is bringing out the feminine side in me. These are the thoughts I think stay home moms think about their precious babies or daughters, for that matter.

Getting back to the reality of what it literally means to stay at home and provide love, care and nourishment for my little one is the purpose of my report. I aim to tell hour by hour, minute by minute reflections of daddy/daughter moments and what I am doing to keep my sanity. Fact is, there is nothing more special and more meaningful than to hold my baby girl next to my chest and whisper that I love her every chance that I get.

Each day begins at at exactly midnight and it ends at midnight. This part of life is one that has really caught me by surprise because I honestly did not understand what the entire world was telling me when they were telling me that my life was going to change. Belen has brought an immense amount of change to my life and I honestly do not know what to do next every time I place her down to sleep for 2 to 3 hours.

My life has now been broken down to spurts of 2 to 3 hours of doing chores around the house, front or backyard fixer uppers, driving to see the doctor, driving to the tire store to get the tires of our vehicle rotated and balanced, and walking around the mall as we wait for a phone call stating that the tires are balanced and it's time to stop browsing around shops of over priced baby clothes so that we can get back in the vehicle and make it home in time to start the 2 to 3 hours home rituals and unexpected baby calls.

If that just felt like a long sentence it is because that is exactly what my life is becoming and I have to do it all within 2 to 3 hours at a time. Therefore, I have to get as much done as I possibly can before I have to stop everything so that I can change Belen's diaper, hold her in my arms and warm her next 2 to 4 ounces of mommy milk so that I can place her down and rush through the next 2 to 3 hours of allowed time.

In fact, I need to get off this computer right now and go tend to one of those unexpected baby calls. I guess it's time for a short pc break and time for Belen. bbs.

getting home ready...

actually, I was getting rid of about a ton of dirt that I dug out so that I could pour a slab on our backyard patio about a month ago. yeah, NOT fun at all.

Jen and I are waiting for a car seat bed which we ordered about a week ago so that we can bring our daughter home. It is scheduled to arrive by 4:30 pm. I stopped a UPS truck on our neighborhood earlier today and asked him if he had a shipment for us. He looked it up on his gizmo and said that it must be on a different guy's route. He also mentioned that the other driver usually does the 5 o'clock route. hmmm. I hope that we do not have to wait too long after 4:30.

Rush hour traffic to Roseville would be crazy, but it will not deter us from making the 20 mile drive to get our baby girl.

just doing some last minute cleaning around the house before she gets home. BUT, I don't think that I will EVER finish that feat. The mess goes and comes and goes and comes... and the "honey-doo's" NEVER end, either.

I will be off from work all next week; it will work out great since I will be the primary babysitter until the job market nabs me. If it were up to me, I would be the primary bread winner, but I am thankful for my dear wife for stepping up to the plate and bringing home the bacon. Hey, they wanted equal rights, right... so, no complaining!

I love my wife. I love my baby girl, Belen...

oh yeah. Oreo and Mocha are a handful, as well. I took them to the dog park this morning and we played ball for almost an hour. good times.

3 hours of sleep... Priceless.

Today, Jen and I are at the hospital next to Belen inside NICU parent room 1B. It is 7:05 in the am and have been awake for about an hour. I arrived here at the hospital around 2am, fell asleep around 3 and, yes, I woke up around 6.

It is a special day because Belen might be allowed to go home today. I was scheduled to be at work at the Home Depot from 1-9pm today and 2-10 pm tomorrow, but I asked to be off both days simply because I need to be here for my daughter on her first day at home. I am anticipating Belen coming home today. I want to be with her on her first day at home. She is tucked in her bed right now. We changed her diaper, then fed her since 6 this morning.

Mom breast fed her for nearly 20 minutes then she took in almost 20cc's from the bottle. She is resting and sleeping, now. I could hear her sweet squirms, quiet breathing and some unique sounds as she fell asleep. (Mom just woke) Are you going to change her, she just asked. I'm not going to feed her til she starts crying, I said and immediately we hear a cute, sudden baby "waaah". I laugh! (Mom just went back to sleep)

Another special moment was captured this past Tuesday. I was here at the hospital visiting Belen doing a routine father/daddy care time. She drank 90cc's or mL for the first time. She drank them straight out of the bottle as I held her. I fed my baby all this milk... I was cheering her on because the nurse had told me that it would be the most she's ever fed if she finishes the next 30 mil's. The first bottle was full at 60.

I was very happy, not necessarily because she broke her all time record(up to that point) but because I had been struggling in getting her to feed. I was feeling a bit discouraged and wondered if I would be able to ever get her to eat. On previous attempts, I was lucky if I could get her to drink half a bottle. It's a scary thing because she is still learning to eat, swallow and breathe at the same time. She tends to choke on the milk and this causes her to turn red, in turn she may stop breathing.... It's a scary deal. I had to call the nurse because I noticed that she was turning red; by the time the nurse came, Belen had continued on her breathing, but not before she handed me a scare.

Learning to care for Belen has been a treat and that is a primary reason why we are here at the hospital next to her. It is customary for parents to stay in a room with their baby a day or two before the baby's discharge. Parents use this time as a practice run and since the baby's have just graduated to this point, the nurses are here just in case we have any questions and to perform routine check-ups. Basically, it is time for mom and dad to spread their own wings and take it from here. yeah...

There are no instructions when the baby's go home. It is up to mom and dad to be exactly that... mom and dad.

The feeling is both scary and exciting and I would not trade it for anything in this world. I love my baby girl and learning to be a daddy is a priceless moment. I love holding her and whispering to her about how my day went and about my goals and dreams. She listens to me for a few moments with her eyes wide open, then immediately falls asleep. lol... I know her sweet spirit understands me and hopes that my dreams to be able to provide for my family succeed.

Looking directly into her eyes wide open brings me this feeling of hope. Heavenly Father has allowed me to be a parent and He knows that I am capable and ready to do this. I know this because He would not have allowed it to happen if He did not think that I were ready... If you know who I am, you would hope to agree simply because of the experiences that I faced or failed to face in my past.

This beautiful girl depends on mom and dad for all of her daily needs. I feel it a privelege that she has been sent here for love and to teach. I hope that I will be a great parent; I know that I will always love her and I hope that I will also be wise in the things that I choose to teach her.

I don't understand why people always told us to "get plenty of sleep, because you're going to need it" or commenting on how we should get as much sleep as we can. WHY? It's not like we will be able to tap into some type of reserve and fuel our bodies with stored "sleep" when our baby keeps us awake in the early AM.

Yeah. that's a useless thing to do; furthermore, I can be more productive without all this "sleep" that I'm supposed to be getting.


With only three hours of sleep since I arrived here this morning, this moment is simply "priceless" and I will sleep when I am sleeping. get out of here!

Baby Shower

Belen's baby shower was yesterday at 1pm. I spent all week preparing for the festive day. First, I made sure that the yard was clean. I had been working on our backyard for some time now. It still lacks some tlc. I picked up leaves on our front porch and lawn. I rearranged some of the flower pots and simply cleaned up the area. The entrance into our home seems much nicer than the overall view of our backyard.

Jen and I spent Friday cleaning the interior of our home. We cleaned each room, one at a time, beginning in our bedroom, the baby room and slowly progressing towards the livingroom. Jen left to spend time with Belen at the usual time. We, she typically leaves home around 10:30 am and returns home around 1 or 2...

I think that I finished installing new sliding closet doors inside Belen's room on Thursday. The older ones were outdated.

Melissa arrived around 11:30 am, Vanessa about an hour later... Other people arrived shortly after 1. Our neighbors, the Schrimps, loaned us some chairs. I don't know exactly how many ladies showed up because I took Oreo and Mocha to the dog park.

I stayed at the dog park til about 3pm. We parked at the soccer field, then walked to the dog park. Oreo and Mocha have a great time. Oreo seems to enjoy scouting the area on his own and can often be found wandering the perimeter. Mocha is more of a social butterfly and especially likes to chase the smaller dogs and play catch, not fetch. I throw the slimy tennis ball directly up into the air and Mocha jumps nearly six feet up in the air to catch the ball. I think she's part kangaroo.