Just stopped in to post some pictures...

Because I never posted a picture of my favorite haircut...here it is :)

The last walk of the season before it got too cold and snowy!

This is our beautiful house that we love soooo much

What a proud uncle!  Showing off his niece and nephew on his birthday!

This boy loooooves to find the guitar! Plus he looks really cute in daddy's hat.

My always smiling boy!

And because I don't think I ever posted this...I LOVE this picture. SO funny! 

I guess I need to upload the pictures from our camera because some of these are out of date...next time. 

Where to begin?

Tristan had his first Halloween this year!  He dressed up as a lion, I went as a white witch and Nick was a wardrobe. So we were "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe"!  We thought it was pretty clever.  Tristan was sooooo cute in his lion costume!

 

 Here are just a few pictures of our funny little boy: 

"Hi Mom!"     

mmmmmm fingers

 For my birthday Nick took Tristan and me and our friends Derek and Julie and their daughter Rhian (who is just a few weeks younger than Tristan) to Benihana's for dinner.  It was SO good!  Afterwards we went home and Tristan and Rhian played for a while. It was fun to watch them play...

On the 23rd Tristan turned 8 months old!  I know I say this every time, but I really can't believe I have an 8 month-old! He's so active and always happy!  The morning of the 23rd we got a huge surprise when we woke up and 4 cute and tiny furry puppies were in the whelping box we made for Lady.  Oh my goodness they are so cute! I'm pretty content about keeping them around for the cute puppy stage and then handing them off to some other people to raise them. However, Nick thinks we should keep one.  I don't think we could handle 3 dogs but we are very tempted to keep one of them all the same (There is one dark brown one that I am in loooove with...but also the runt of the litter is SUPER cute). I think they are the first Shiba Inu, Cocker Spaniel, Border Collie, Australian Shepherd Mix ever.   I think they will be pretty cute when they are grown up a bit :)

 

I think that about catches our life up!  I love our little family :)

6 months old, can you believe it!?

I sure can't believe it.  My little baby is beginning to be not so much of a baby anymore! He's more like half baby half toddler.  I can't keep him out of anything!  He weighs 15 lbs. 4 oz. and is 26 (something) inches long.  He's getting so smart and already says "hi" and "dada" and "yeah!".  He's not quite crawling, although he does scoot along quite well, and his little knees are getting red from trying so hard.  He's the best part of my day and I am so lucky to be able to stay at home with him.  He constantly amazes me and keeps me on my toes. 

As for me, I think I'm finally seeing a break in the clouds.  PPD isn't fun, and I am slowly but surely getting out of my funk.  Zumba and running have been helping a LOT and I really really really love our gym!   A couple of weeks ago Tristan and I were in a car accident (he wasn't hurt THANK GOODNESS!) and I've been seeing a Chiropractor for my neck which was injured when we were rear-ended.   Long story short, the woman didn't have insurance and everything has been a nightmare, BUT we're all fine and moving on with our lives.  The car even got fixed (thanks to our uninsured motorist coverage)!

Now, Tristan and I are in Vail with my mom this week taking a much-needed vacation from Denver.  We miss Nick, but he's at home doing much more important things like working and going to grad school.  He's awesome, I wish I was more like him. 

Now...more news.  Nick's sister (and my best friend) Azalea who got married at the end of July is pregnant! She called us yesterday to let us know and I am so happy for them!!!  THEN as soon as we found out Az. was pregnant, Ar. called and SHE IS PREGNANT TOO!  ......I'm happy for her!  BUT also shocked for the simple reason that she had a baby 2 weeks after I did...as in less than 6 months ago.  And I am NOT ready to be pregnant again.  I need to lose 25 lbs, get my body back to some form of normalcy and start getting more sleep before we even go there again.  I'm not judging by any means...maybe I feel a little left out. It's always been my dream for Az. and me to have babies at the same time so they could grow up being close as cousins.   I guess T.  is also trying to get pregnant...and they all had bets going on who could get pregnant the fastest.  So all of Nick's siblings who are married are getting pregnant right now and WE are not.  I'm a little sad that I wasn't clued in to this arrangement. Now they will all have kids exactly the same age and our kids will be the odd ones out.  I know how that feels. My 2 girl cousins were only a year and 18 months older than me and they never let me play with them. I guess I'm just worried that Tristan won't have any kids to play with or that he'll be like an only child and not get socialized to be nice to the other kiddies.   I guess we don't live in Utah so it's not a big deal, he'll only see them on holidays anyways.  But really though... I am not ready to get pregnant, so why do I feel so left out?  I'm being ridiculous, right?  I hope no one reads this and gets the wrong idea. I can't stress enough how excited I am for them.  I am just a little sad about not being a part of the whole fun of getting pregnant together thing.  Oh well...complaining session over.

Aperture and Shutter Speed!

So, I've been trying to take semi-alright pictures for a long time.  Nick got a new camera for his birthday this February and I have been trying to figure out how it works ever since.  SO...today I learned something that I probably should have learned before: How to use aperture! 

I've been looking at photography blogs, tutorials, etc...and finally learned this:

If you want a very shallow depth of field (background blurry), you’d choose a very large aperture opening, which would be a very low number. (f2.8)

If you want a very large depth of field (everything in focus), you’d choose a very small aperture opening, which would be a higher number. (like f22)

 Everything makes sense now!!! WOO!
I'll probably be posting more photography wisdom as I learn it... Anyways, I hope I've helped at least one person to realize what aperture is and how to use it.

Oh~ and I figured this out from this website: http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/2008/05/what-the-heck-is-an-aperture-part-one/

Pioneer Woman has many tutorials on how to do things with your camera!

 OK- now that we have aperture figured out, on to shutter speed! 
this website has a handy dandy chart!  http://www.digicamhelp.com/taking-photos/advanced-techniques/shutter-speed-chart/
If you're too lazy to click on the link, this is essentially what the page says: 

If a slow shutter speed is selected, movement is captured. Using a fast shutter speed will freeze the action.
Here are suggested shutter speeds for photographing a variety of subjects.

SUGGESTED SHUTTER SPEEDS
TO FREEZE ACTION*	TO CAPTURE MOTION**
Children – 1/250 – 1/1000 seconds	Amusement park rides: +/- one second
Moving water/waterfalls: 1/1000 seconds or more	Moving water/waterfalls: 4 or more seconds
Sporting event: 1/500 – 1/2000 seconds	Fireworks: 1/2 – 4 seconds
Birds in flight: 1/1000th a second and above	Moving cars at night: 8-10 seconds
	Night photography – one or more seconds

P.S. I LOVE THIS BLOG!!! http://thatwifeblog.com/photography/

Love this quote!

Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all. Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last; but feelings come and go. And in fact, whatever people say, the state called “being in love” usually does not last. If the old fairy-tale ending “They lived happily ever after” is taken to mean “They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married,” then it says what probably never was nor ever could be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships?
But, of course, ceasing to be “in love” need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense–love as distinct from “being in love”–is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by the grace which both ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be “in love” with someone else.
“Being in love” first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise.
It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.
—C.S. Lewis

15 weeks old!

Tristan is 15 weeks old this week and boy have things changed quickly!  Two weeks ago Tristan got to go on an airplane for the first time because we flew to Las Vegas for Dalein Taylor's wedding (Nick's cousin on his mom's side).  Tristan really loved all of the lights and fun things to look at in Vegas, although traveling messed with his sleep schedule and he started waking up in the night and then waking up at 4 a.m. again.  When we got home on Sunday, the 3rd of the month, Nick, Tristan and I had a nap and then drove 2 hours to Vail to spend the 3rd and 4th with my mom at her condo.  Tristan really liked the fireworks, but not the noise.   Nick had to go home to work, but Tristan and I stayed the whole week in Vail with my mom and spent our time swimming (Tristan) and getting the stomach flu (me).  Also on the trip,  he started blowing raspberries with his lips.  It is the cutest thing ever!  He also laughs a TON now.  He laughs when someone says something that sounds funny, he laughs when we tickle him, he laughs when we smile at him (ok, so maybe his laugh is the cutest thing ever!).  On the 14th, Tristan got to eat rice cereal for the first time. AND he LOVED it!  I'm so glad he liked it because it will help with the GERD a lot if he can get some solid food in his stomach.  Lots of little milestones this month.
Tristan is also:
Holding his head up really well,
Trying to communicate with little squeaks, squeals and vowel sounds,
Become really good at saying the "p" sound,
Looking people in the eyes and smiling
Recognizing people he knows like both sets of grandparents
watching people eat, following the food from the plate to their mouths (I think he's getting ready to eat baby food!)

I'm so proud of our little boy! He has his 4 month doctor's appointment on the 29th (the day before Azalea's birthday) and we will see how much he weighs and how long he is...I think he's about 25 inches long and I'm sure he's around 14 lbs.  but we'll just have to wait and see!

Here are a few links to videos of Tristan:
He has a crush on Emily from the Bachelor : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw_PKb643ns

He likes to blow raspberries and smile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHrwVTtGGzQ&feature=related

AND he LOVES his daddy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFSen0OBLTs

What a month!

Oh boy, it's been a long time since I updated this again.  Lots of things happened this month!  Nick got into grad school at the University of Colorado Denver. He's going to get his masters degree in Environmental Engineering. I'm not quite 100% sure what that is, but he's really excited about it, so that makes me excited about it.  Tristan is growing incredibly fast.  He's smiling, laughing and "talking".
His favorite words to say are:
Aaooooouu and Aguuu.

It's the cutest thing to watch EVER!  He also LOVES baths.  Just so you can see how cute he is, I will post a video.  (it is a short one, because for some reason the other ones won't upload)

He's the happiest baby ever!
On Wednesday of this week he had surgery to repair two inguinal hernias. The procedure lasted less than an hour and I think the worst part for him was being hungry.   I fed him as soon as he woke up and the nurses monitored him for an hour after the surgery to make sure his oxygen level was good before sending us home.  Tristan's nurse thought he was so cute that she had to walk around and show him to everyone. She kept telling people that he was the reason she was so busy (but really, when she came to check on him she stayed longer than usual just to see him smile and laugh).   She was really nice and Tristan liked her.  My mom also came with us to the hospital to wait and we played Monopoly Deal to take my mind off of the idea of my son in surgery.  I was freaking out inside the whole time, but I feel pretty lucky that nothing serious was wrong with him.  A lot of the parents in the waiting room had children with much more frightening surgeries.

Well, now I'd like to take a nap because Tristan woke up really early this morning and just now fell back to sleep. Maybe I can get another hour in!
But here are some pictures: 

  
 

Pictures!

  Feeling contractions

Nick was awesome :)

Mom and Morgan

He was SO excited!

Tristan getting some oxygen because he was a little bit blue

The light was too bright!

Holding my baby for the first time

Baby Tristan is here!

Tristan Nicolas Sanchez was born on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 at 4:34pm after 21 1/2 hours of labor (from the time we got to the hospital...who knows how long I was in labor before that...I didn't even know!) .  He weighed in at 7 lbs. 1.6 oz. and 21 inches long (he's really long and skinny!). 
          I was scheduled to go in to the hospital on Tuesday night at 8 pm to be induced the next morning.  When we showed up at 8pm we had to wait in the ER to check in since the regular admissions desk is closed after 6.  It took an hour for them to call my name since there were a lot of people in the ER that night.  With the fires burning in the mountains and all of the smoke in the air a lot of people were having trouble breathing.  So at 9pm we finally got up to the 3rd floor of Rose Medical Center and got settled into the L&D room.  Our nurse Steffanee hooked me up to the fetal monitor and the contraction monitor and said "did you know that you're having regular contractions?"  I had no idea!!! I'd been feeling some tightness in my stomach for a few hours, but it sort of felt like the beginnings of a gall bladder episode so I just ignored it for most of the afternoon.  I guess that's what those first contractions feel like!  I was so excited because the fact that I was having 5-1-1 contractions meant that we would have been at the hospital that night to deliver the baby anyways!  I am so glad that he was ready to come out all on his own since I'd been praying that he would for several weeks!  I was still only dilated to 3 cm so they gave me Cervidil to open and efface my cervix some more.   I could definitely feel the contractions at about 10pm but they didn't hurt so I felt really good.  Nick and I watched a couple of movies, talked and napped until 8 am. 
          Dr. Zarlengo came in at 8 to break my water and after that things started getting pretty intense.  They were going to put me on Pitocin at 9, but I asked if I could walk around for a bit before just to see how things progressed on their own. So until 9 Nick and I walked through the halls and every time I had a contraction I'd hold onto him and rock my hips side to side until the pain stopped.  At 9 when Steffanee checked me again I was only 4 cm. dilated but 100% effaced.  Then I got in bed and they turned on the Pitocin.  I did okay for a little while but then the contractions started getting really really intense and because I was hooked up to Pitocin, I had to stay in bed.  All of my natural childbirth class prep went out the window.  I couldn't stand up and have Nick hold me while I rocked or get on my hands and knees, or use the birthing ball or sit in the jaccuzzi tub (which I was pretty excited about). I just had to sit in the bed and try to breathe through the contractions. 
          Well, I only could handle that for so long. At 11am I couldn't handle my contractions and was starting to black out, so Nick and I decided it was time to ask for an epidural.  I now know what labor feels like, but the epidural helped SO much.  I felt like a bit of a baby asking for an epidural when my plan was to go all natural, but I'm really glad that I got it because sitting in bed through contractions is not fun.  The rest of labor went really well. At 1:30 I was fully dilated and ready to push.  By that time we had a new nurse, Jessica who had me do 5 practice pushes.  At the 4th push she went and got another nurse and I pushed one last time.They both agreed that they should call the doctor because his head was visible on the last 2 pushes.  Dr. Zarlengo was at another hospital delivering 2 other babies, so we waited an hour or so for him to arrive. I felt the urge to push but it didn't hurt, it just felt like pressure, so it wasn't too hard to stop myself from pushing.  Nick and Morgan and my mom and I all played Monopoly Deal to keep my mind off of the pressure and the strong contractions, which I could feel but didn't hurt.   Then at around 4:15 pm Dr. Zarlengo walked in.  He asked me to push through one contraction and then said that the next push I would have the baby!  I ended up needing an episiotomy, so he made me stop half way through the push and then I gave one last little push and Tristan was born!  
       He was pretty blue so I only got to hold him for a few moments before they took him to the corner of the room and gave him oxygen.  I was so happy that tears were streaming down my face.  I was being stitched up, so Nick went over and watched as they took his vitals and gave him his shots.   When he wasn't so blue anymore and he'd been cleaned up a bit the nurses brought him back to me.  We hadn't picked a name yet so Nick asked me what my first impression was and I decided I needed to think for a few minutes.  But then when I asked Nick what his first impression was he said "Tristan".  It had been his least favorite name on our list and my favorite so it was a surprise to me (a nice surprise though).  I love him sooooo much!!!!

I'll post pictures later :)

36 weeks and 2 more to go!

Yesterday I had my doctor's appointment and it looks like I will be induced a bit early.  Nick and I will go to the hospital on the night of the 22nd and they will start inducing labor then.  Exciting! And a bit nerve-racking.  Just two more weeks until he's here!  We still don't have anything set up in the baby's room, but it is all painted and it looks beautiful! The bassinet is in our room and our dresser is big enough to become our changing table for a while.

This is all just so surreal.  I can't believe how much our life is about to change.  It's going to be a great change, but I'm getting nervous about whether or not I'll be a good mom, how I'll do those first few weeks and how labor will go.  I guess those are all normal concerns. 

I hope we will make some kind of decision on a baby name too... So far we have Tristan, Gabriel, Azrael (Nick's choice, not mine) Xzander ( I like Xander, but Nick likes to spell it this way), Declan (not my fav.).  I think we still need to add to this list because so far I'm not a fan of most of them.  Anyways, I just hope that the right name will magically come to us.

32 weeks

Wow... it's been 10 weeks since I posted on here and that is just too long!  This blog has become like my journal- I don't even care if no one reads it- I read it later and it makes me happy.  To update the situation...I am HUGE. And I mean GARGANTUAN!  My belly is so large I can no longer see my feet!  I'm feeling the baby move a TON now. He stretches across my entire stomach and kicks me in the ribs more times a day than I can count.   But with the baby in there and less room for all of my other important organs I've been in pain a lot.  Long story short, my gallbladder is a retarded organ and decided to go and fill itself up with about 10 stones which fall into the bile duct on a fairly regular basis.  My doctor thinks this has happened 5 times (mostly because I "forgot"/ didn't want to tell him about the other times) but actually it's happened 15 times with 3 of those being within the last 10 days.  The doctor thinks that he wants to induce me a few weeks early so that I can have my gall bladder removed.  I think it's best that he doesn't know that it's happened 15 times or he'd freak out at me for not having scheduled an appointment -to see the surgeon he recommended me to like 4 months ago- sooner.   It's been a rough couple of weeks with my mom having surgery and then with having all sorts of stuff go on with me while she's here. I feel bad that she's had to witness my episodes because they really are pretty horrible for anyone watching.  Anyways, I think I'm holding up pretty well considering, and I'm so relieved that the gall bladder problems aren't hurting the baby (I've asked my OB about 20 times just to be sure).  I've been doing baby mama yoga which is helping my other little aches and pains and I've been going to the gym every other day which I LOVE!  I can't believe it's already been 32 weeks!  Only 8 (or 6?) to go!  I'm getting REALLY excited for this little boy to arrive- although I don't have the room ready just yet.  I've been looking at all sorts of baby stuff online and at Babies R Us and having fun buying cute Classic Winnie the Pooh stuff for his room.  It's going to be a really cute room for him!
All things considered, I feel like life is pretty good right now and I'm just happy to be here and I'm so so SO happy to be waiting for this little boy. He's going to be such an amazing addition to our little family!