my favorite way to spend the weekend!

surprises

One of the things i love about being a mom are the surprises. For example, on Sunday, our 1 month and 1 day old baby surprised us by rolling over from his belly to his back. 3 different times to prove it wasn't a fluke!

And one of the funnest things about having a 3 yr old is the random things they say that shows the connections their little incredible minds are making. Tonight during our Bible story time, we were talking about times when we need God's help. Suzy's response: "We need God to help in case a fox goes into your house and he can just take the roof off and get the fox out."

Speaking of Bible stories, apparently she is remembering what we talk about, although not sure if all the concepts are clear yet. For example, yesterday she was playing with her buddy Micah and they were pretending to go to work. They were construction workers. So Micah says, "OK let's go to work...I've got the hammer" to which Suzy responds, "OK I'm ready, i've got the birthright!"

Might need to review the story of Jacob and Esau again.....

expanding our culinary horizons

Elvis has always been interested in learning to cook new dishes from around the world. Once he tried Indian food for the first time  in NC (thanks to Kelly and Brian! remember that?), he was determined to learn how to make everything back in El Salvador. So he went to a local market, found all the spices and started making his own curries. Delish.

Then he went through a homemade bagel making phase. Delish.

Once we moved to LA, he has perfected his Salvadoran dishes and we have also been introduced to new cuisines that we had never tried before, like vegan Ethiopian (also thanks to Kelly and Brian!). LA has to be the best place on earth to get authentic food from around the world. This week we had Korean food for the first time (we had been avoiding it b/c of my severe sesame allergy, but our pastor brought over some yummy sesame free Korean food this week) and Elvis also went with his co-workers to a Persian restaurant this week. He loved it, and wanted to replicate it for me today. It may look like your normal chicken and shish-kabob, but he used some amazing spices that i've never tasted nor do i know the names of:

not sure why my computer insists on loading this picture sideways...

So thankful for an awesome chef husband who cooked this lunch for me while I fed Emory, then held Emory while I ate first. Delish!


In other news, happy birthday to Nana, baby Anderson, and happy one-month bday to Emory!!! We love you all!

we survived!

That's right, we all survived my first week at home with the two kiddos by myself (during the day)! And everyone got fed everyday and also bathed a decent percentage of the time. I call it a success! I am so thankful for friends who brought meals and who came by to play with Suz. I'm also thankful that Elvis got up with both kiddos yesterday at 7:30 and let me sleep in til the next feeding time. It appears that Emory is going through his 3 week growth spurt this weekend, which I'm glad I had read about it or I might have become worried about his bottomless pit-ness.

Here's a picture of our little dude from today when he decided to take a breather from eating...i love how he scrunches up his forehead!

this...

...describes my life right now better than i could write...

http://www.rantsfrommommyland.com/2013/08/5-things-i-forgot-about-newborns.html

just like the writer of this awesome blog post, E also goes right back to sleep after nursing at night. And last night we even had a couple three hour sleep stretches, which is his personal record so far! Just when i thought the stars were lining up for me to get a decent night's sleep, Suz woke up early.  Oh well...at least i have a friend coming over today to play with suz so i might get a quick nap...or a shower...

entertaining suz

It has been great having mom and dad here to entertain Suzy, especially since Elvis went back to work last week and i'm spending half of each day in the rocking chair feeding a cute little snuggle bunny. 

game night...aka the night suzy ate 5 pieces of pizza...

dance party

 Suzy has also had some special adventures...in addition to Emory's bday, we also celebrated my bday (the big 3-0!!) and dad's bday all in the same week. For dad's bday, Elvis and Suzy took him to a rainbow trout hatchery in the mountains to go fishing. Suzy caught 4 fish! We grilled them up for his bday dinner.

Dad left on Saturday, and on Sunday, Elvis took Suz for a 5 mile hike up the mountains. They even saw a cougar!! Glad i wasnt there. 

listening to music on the way back down the mtn

new title

As soon as Emory was born, Suzy decided we no longer had to call her "Big Friend"; she likes "Big Sister" now. And she is a great big sister!

Bienvenido, Baby Emory!

Look at who stole our hearts this week!

Introducing: Emory Cruz Henriquez Baldwin 

Born: Wed, July 17th at 6:59 am, 6 lbs 4 oz 18.5 inches long

So here's how it all went down...so fast and crazy I still cant believe it wasn't just a dream....

Wednesday, July 17th:

2:30 am: I wake up, feeling an anxiousness like something is going on, but no contractions. Wait, did my water just break? Not sure. I wake Elvis up just in case, and we get something to eat and put away some laundry, trying to figure out why I feel an urgency to go to the hospital. 

3:30 am: Call my friend Christy to come on over to stay with Suz so we can go to the hospital. Contractions start as soon as I get in the car, 4 minutes apart but not unbearable. 

4 am: Get to the hospital, go to the observation room for them to determine whether to admit me or not. Contractions continue. 

5 am: Nurse/midwife from Australia named Suzy (i took that as a good sign!) checks me and tells me I'm at 4 cm, 70% effaced. My water had not broken, but she wants to admit me. 

5:15 am: A random male doctor comes in, doesn't even examine me or ask me anything, and tells me that many women come in all the time at 4 cm and they aren't really in labor. He says I could have already been at 4 cm for several days without knowing it. He's not convinced I'm actually in labor, and tells me to walk around the garden of the hospital for 1-2 hours and then come back to the observation room for them to determine whether to officially admit me or not. At this point, my attitude towards male doctors who haven't ever experienced labor personally is pretty negative. 

5:30 am: Elvis and I start walking around the garden. Contractions start coming every 2 minutes. 

6 am: I go back after only walking 30 min (instead of 1-2 hours they told me) and asked to be checked b/c the contractions were getting faster and harder. They tell me to keep walking b/c the doctor said to walk for an hour or two. 

6:15 am: We walked for 15 minutes, contractions 1.5 minutes apart and HARD. I go back and when they see me, they realize that this is FOR REAL. They check me and tell me that my bag of waters is about to bust, and as soon as it does, his head is coming! Basically, I went from 4 to 10 cm in 45 minutes. 

6:30 Everyone is freaking out, running me to a delivery room (since I hadn't been officially admitted to a room yet). I was Strep B positive and needed the antibiotics, but there was not time to get me an IV. 

6:45ish: I feel the need to push and start doing so without really anyone telling me it was time. My water breaks everywhere and the doctor is rushing to put on some gloves to catch this baby. 

6:59 am: Emory is born!!

 

Although overall I wasn't to happy with how the doctors didn't really take me serious and therefore, I couldn't get the antibiotics Emory needed, I did really like how baby friendly the hospital was and how much help they offered later with nursing, etc. We though we were going to have to stay 48 hours since we didn't get the strep b antibiotics, but they let us go home the next day. 

Nana and Granddaddy got here on the first plane out of RDU and were here Wednesday night to met Emory and to stay with Suz. They are all completely smitten, as you can tell:


Although this pregnancy was physically very easy, there were lots of emotions and fears to work through during the past 9 months, mostly dealing with how hard everything was after Suzy was born due to my sickness and her consequential sickness. God really healed a lot of fears and anxiety about going through that all again.

 Instead of seeing Emory's super quick and natural delivery as a result of anything I did or just "good luck", I clearly see His redeeming and healing grace through Emory's birth and through how well recovery, bonding, nursing, etc has gone this time around.

So thankful for this little 6 lb proof of God's grace!!!!

last days with only 1 kiddo

Suzy has been living up these last few days of being an only child. First of all, she learned to ride a bike (with training wheels!) One sad thing about our community is that people are always moving in and moving out since most are just on furlough. When Suzy's buddy left last week, she left her bike for her! She didn't have much luck with a tricycle we had gotten off of Craigslist, but was zooming around the first day she tried this one out. What a relief to be able to sit outside and watch her go around in circles!

 We also took Suzy to her first Jamaican ska concert! It was part of Pasadena's 50 free concerts each summer. They played a tribute to the Skatalites...remember when our band got to open for them in El Salvador?

On Sunday, we had a somewhat impromptu "Big Friend" party for Suzy (as in, a Big Sister party). As you can see on the sofa, all her dolls came, we made balloon animals, banana bread cake, had games, and had a dance party. I think she felt really special!

Papi, stop pretending like you're a ballerina froggie....

...and my belly officially does not fit in the camera angle anymore. 

the dance party leader

beware of princess on a sugar rush!!

Cravin' kale

We are so ready for our little man to get here! I think Elvis might be the most ready...mainly so then I'll stop nesting and giving him tons of projects, rearranging furniture, and cleaning to do! =) 

In the meantime, I'm trying to be very conscientious this pregnancy about eating healthy and getting everything the baby needs. I've been drinking a ton of homemade smoothies with fruits and spinach...can't taste the spinach at all!

 Also, Elvis came up with the plan for us to incorporate one new veggie each week into our diet. The first week was beets....not my fave. The next week was kale...and I fell in love and have not stopped buying it since! It also helps that I can buy a big fresh hunk of it for 33 cents! 

We had a kale fiasco a couple of years ago with a terrible recipe that even Elvis would not eat, so it was pretty much on my vow-to-never-eat-again list. But I did a little research online, and found that if you massage the leaves first with some lemon/lime juice and salt, they are much less tough. 

So that's the first step to this salad that I have been eating practically every single day and it's very important step! You can even put a few drops of olive oil to massage in there too if you want it even more tender. 

We've just been cutting up avocado and grapefruit to put on top with some sunflower seeds, although pretty much any citrus fruit will do and any seed or nut will do. We have tried it with mango (yum! especially if it's on the greener side) and with nectarines. You can also throw some cilantro on there if you want. 

For the dressing, just mix approximately even parts of olive oil, honey, and lime juice. Adjust measurements to your liking. And try to restrain yourself from drinking it straight. 

Pour the dressing on there and let your mouth have its on post-4th-of-July fireworks show! It's so fresh and invigorating and healthy...makes me feel like I can eat a tub of ice cream afterwards because I ingested so much healthy stuff in my salad. 

Tonight we ate it with my friend Kate's recipe for Egyptian lemony red lentil soup. Kate is an awesome and adventurous cook who used to host our monthly vegetarian cooking night from around the world. You should definitely check out her blog if you want some new fun recipes!