Christmas

Christmas was crazy! We had family in town, which was wonderful, but it kept us busy running around. We had an amazing time though. On Christmas Eve, my dad and Piti (my cousin) roasted a pig in a Chinese Box. I couldn't look at the pig (Bartolo) prior to eating him, because if I did I wouldn't have eaten any of it. We had a typical Puerto Rican feast. It was delicious! We had a great time with wonderful friends and family.

The holidays make you realize how truly blessed you are to be surrounded by so many people that love you and care about you. I am extremely lucky to have married into such an amazing family. I have the best sister-in-law and brothers-in-law ever. Our niece and nephew are wonderful and I know they'll be great with the baby once he comes. We are just so lucky that we all get along so well!

Thanks to Travis' parents, we now have our nursery set-up. They surprised us with our baby furniture for Christmas! I was speechless and Travis was shocked! I'll be posting pictures of it once it is finished. I might give you a little preview though.

We can't wait until next Christmas!!!!!!!

Family and Friends

This past weekend, we had our Friends' Christmas Dinner at our house. There was over 20 people at the house with their children. It is such a great tradition to get started. Our friends are like our family and we love them very much. Everyone made something for this dinner and it was all delicious. I made Red Velvet Cheesecake, Chocolate Chip/Heath Bar Pie, Mac and Cheese Casserole, and Sweet Potato Casserole. Piti, my cousin, made a fabulous turkey stuffed with a yucca mash, gravy, and helped with everything else. Travis made the dressing and it was delicious courtesy of Paula Dean. Then from there we had a delicious spread of casseroles, appetizers, and desserts. We had a great time. In the rush of it all, I forgot to take pictures. So sorry!

Having family in town is so wonderful. Everyone gathered together, laughing, joking, and giving each other a hard time is what family is all about. We are very blessed this Christmas to have our family in town. There is nothing better than 8 people gathered around my parents' dining room table, talking loud, and cracking jokes. We all love to joke and laugh a lot. We all love to give each other a hard time and crack up, so these are memories that we will be able to carry along forever.

On Sunday, we went to my dad's office to show my grandfather our baby. We had an ultrasound done and the baby is doing great. He was sucking along or already trying to talk. I think he's going to take after my mom with all the talking. She is never quiet! LOL! Kikito, my grandfather, was amazed at how a computer could show you the baby. He said it was amazing.

All in all, these holidays are going to be a sad time for us, because one of the people we loved most in this world is not going to be here with us. At least not in our presence, but I know she is watching over us and she is definitely in our hearts. One thing I do know is that we are all making it our duty to make sure Kikito has a good time filled with laughter and we will make sure he realizes that his life will and can go on without her here on earth.

Jonathan Likes to Jam out

Here lately, Jonathan has been kicking so hard and his kicks get stronger and stronger. Today, I decide to put my ear phones in my belly band and see what happens. He was kicking and moving so much. Yessss, he might have the Nieves' Rhythm instead of the Schievelhud's Rhythm. Sorry Baby!

Him kicking is the best feeling ever! That seems to be the only thing I love about being pregnant. My belly keeps growing and now it is matching the size of my butt! Lord knows I have a big one of those, but now my belly is matching my butt size. There are two perspectives to this: 1. My belly gets bigger= my butt looks smaller. 2. My butt is no longer the largest thing on my body. God help us all!

All I can say is that I can't wait to meet our baby. This week I am 26 weeks along. Not too much longer. This week seems eternal because I am so excited about Kikito, Alex, Piti, and Alina arriving. I am thrilled!

Travis read to the baby for the first time last night. It was so cute. We are going to read him a chapter a night from the book, "The Divinci Code." Great childrens' book, huh. Oh well, at least we are reading to him.

By the way, we are having a Friends' Christmas Party this Saturday, so I'll be sure to post lots of pictures of my belly on Sunday.

Thank goodness for my Travis and my Dad

This weekend was completely chaotic. Friday night we went over to my parents' house for dinner and we watched Four Christmas. It was a good, funny movie. Then Saturday we had two Children's birthday parties. The first one was Connor Eagle's. It was wonderful. Margaret, Andy, and her parents did such an amazing job with the food, drinks, entertainment. Everything was great. The best part was when we were cutting the cake and these people walk in the house. Oh, they were quite a lovely bunch of people by the way. They saw balloons and thought it was the same party they were going to. They came in and realized they were at the wrong house. It was priceless.

Afterwards, we went to Sandra's birthday party. She had a great time and she got great gifts. They were wild! Then we all went to eat dinner at Outback. When Travis and I got home, we had to organize everything that was in my desk. We threw away what needed to be thrown away, we shredded stuff and the rest was packed neatly in bins to put into the storage building.

My dad came over Sunday and they worked all day getting everything out of our house and over to my parents' house. Then they went to Sandra's house and got all her old baby things to give to my parents since Jonathan will have a nursery there as well. They worked so hard this weekend for a baby that they haven't met yet, but love so much already. Jonathan will be so loved!

We have to paint the room this week at our house and put together the crib and everything else at my parents' house before all their company and our company arrives for Christmas. We have a busy week ahead.

Family

Family to me, is the most important thing in the world. It is the foundation for my life and the family Travis and I have will be the foundation for our soon to be son Jonathan. I hope that I'm as good of a parent as my parents were with me. They are the greatest role models in my life and I thank God he gave me such amazing parents.

I was blessed with two sets of grandparents and our son will be blessed with the same. My mom will watch him while I continue to work. she is so much like my grandmother, Calla. I see so much in her now that she is about to become a grandmother. I loved all my grandparents, but the special bond I had with her was a bond I will never have with anyone. She was my adoration as a child and she continues to be the woman I aspire to be. I was spoiled rotten by her and I know Jonathan will be that way with my mom. I just hope she disciplines him as well. ;)

Our baby has no hope! He will be involved in sports as soon as I deliver between Travis and my dad. I think he'll be on the golf course before any of us take him to a mall. I have a feeling Travis will be a coach and my dad will be an assistant coach. As for Debbie, the runner, he will be in a jogging stroller from early on and learning how to have the stamina to run like no other. Phil will take him walking with the dogs his other two children. Winston is here and the girl is on her way. We can't wait to meet her.

I never had a sister or a brother, but again, I was blessed with an amazing brother and sister-in law. Ashley and Chad are some of the best and most genuine people I have ever met in my life. They are so loving and love being a family. Ashley is an amazing mom and I hope to be half the mom she is to her kids. She and Justin have the most beautiful and sweet family! Justin is an incredible dad. Ayden and Kendall are very lucky! Chad is the sweetest and most loving guy I have ever met. Sorry Travis! Any girl will be extremely lucky to have him in their life. I know we are lucky to have him in ours. 4 weeks ago, we took some family pictures. My good friend Jacob took them. We loved them! We have made prints, photo books, and framed pictures because they were great. These pictures are from that day. I was 20 weeks pregnant in these pictures.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. For us, it was great to spend time with our family and my good friend Laura Diaz!!!! Now, we can't wait until Christmas when we have a lot of family flying in to be with us. This will be an incredible Christmas, but a sad one because it'll be our first Christmas without Calla. We will miss you so much! I know you are in heaven watching over us. Calla, you were my guardian angel on earth and my guardian angel in heaven. We love you!

Inspiration

Thanks to my good friend Laura Diaz, she has let me know that we need a blog. Here it goes. Most of you know that I am pregnant. Now that I am finally feeling well and not feeling like I'm going to die, I sometimes forget that I am pregnant. On Monday, I took a spin class. Everything went well except for the fact that I got over-heated and almost puked on the instructor. Sorry Scott! Good thing he turned the fan on for me. Wednesday, I took a Power Flex Class. Bad idea. I'm so sore that in order to pee, I have to throw myself down on the toilet and pray to God that he helps me back up. I am walking so funny, but hey I can't be all jiggly when I'm in labor.

Speaking of jiggly. I was on the elevator and this man pointed at my belly and said, "What happened to you?" I said, "What do you mean?" He pointed again and said, "What happened to you?" I said, "I'm pregnant that's what's wrong with me." As if that wasn't enough said he proceeds to say, "I didn't ask what was wrong, I asked what happened to you." I was in shock. I had nothing to say to him. I just got off the elevator and walked off. I called Travis and told him what he said and he told me I should have said, "I got knocked up and my baby daddy left me." I should have said so many things, but my ability to speak was taken from me.

Pregnancy is a blessing, but it is so hard on our bodies. It's crazy what it does and how not attractive I feel. Cameras are no longer allowed to be pointed in my direction. Keep them away!