Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!!

Wow, I can't believe almost 4 months have gone by since our precious little girl came into our lives. Time flies and I have been hard pressed to find time to post in the blog. Sorry everyone! We have also taken a million pictures and videos of her since then and I couldn't decide which ones to post so I figured I'd post them all!!! (Well not literally "all" but a good percentage!! : ) )

We got some studio photos done of her on her first month birthday. When she was 1 month old she never cried--ever--not even when she was hungry. She got there and decided to take some family shots with all three of us. She would not stop crying!!! Then as soon as Jose and I let the pictures she was just fine. She just wanted to have all the spotlight to herself!! : )

"Huh? What??" haha When she was younger she always had this look on her face like she had no idea what was goin' on.

ha ha She always sleeps with her mouth wide open. Just like her Papi.

"If you think this dress looks good, you should see how it tastes! Yum"

Sunday is defintaly Maya's least favorite day. I always put her in really frilly and uncomfortable dresses. Poor girl. I always feel bad because she hates them so much but they are cute and I figure it's uncomfortable being a woman so she should get used to it. : ) But as soon as we get home the dress comes off and the smile comes on.

This day, however, she decided she wan't to try out Papi's tie.

Those of you who have ever seen Jose on Sunday after church know that this is how you are supposed to wear a tie if you have Lamanite blood.

Maya loves to sleep and cuddle with us, and I love it too, but I could never sleep when she was in our bed because I was so worried that she would suffocate or something like that so I pain-stakingly built her a mini-bed of her own to put in our bed. She loves it....

...but still perfers Mami's bed.

I finally graduated this semester!! Yay!!! I got my Associate of Arts from Weber. I was actually supposed to graduate in December but I didn't want to go to commencement 9 months preggers so I waited and it was nice to have Maya there.

She enjoyed it and thought that the dipoloma rightfully belongs to her.

Maya will get super chubby and then sprout up and get tall and skinny then start the whole process over again. Here's her during one of her chubby days...

"Rub my belly for good luck"

Almaya is such a good baby. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. She is so happy almost all the time. And so sweet and caring.

Her personality is starting to shine through more and more each day and I love getting to know her. She is definately one of my best friends. Some of her favorite things are giving hugs and kisses (very slobbery kisses), the color blue, chewing on anything, frogs, getting her diaper changed (wow, yes--she loves that), sleeping with mami for as long as mami will let her ( man, that girl would sleep all day if I let her), being outside (as long as there is no wind), and her favorite thing in the whole world is watching TV...

It doesn't matter if it's the news, and action flick, or Sesame Street, she could watch TV all day long. (and gets quite upset when mami doesn't let her.)

We love her very much and are so lucky to have gotten a little girl so patient and caring. (her mami loves all the hugs all day long!!)

I will try to update more often on the blog. Maya keeps me pretty busy because she thinks she is the center of my world (wonder where she gets that idea haha). But I will definately post sooner this time.

I haven't posted in the blog for so long because I was worried that maybe something I had written had offended someone else as well. I apologize if this is the case. My blog is a means for me to keep a diary of my and my little family's life. I, in no way, ever try to brag or search for pity in anything that I write. I know many times I complain or talk about the difficulties in my life in my posts. I realize there are many many more people that have it much tougher than me and I don't pretend to be blind to that. I write how I feel and say what happens to me from my personal prospective. I am not searching for any reaction from anyone. If people want to read my blog they are more than welcome--if not they don't have to. I would never wish to offend or hurt anyone and I apologize to anyone that has in any way felt offended by anything I have said. If you read this blog please keep in mind that you are reading a type of public diary entry that in no way takes into account others perspectives or experiences. I appreciate the two comments from Alysia and Allie--they gave me the courage to begin to post again and just try to ignore negativity. Thank you.

The last few weeks have been crazy. It's tough being a new mom--wow--a huge pat on the back for all those of you who have gone through motherhood--you are all amazing! : ) It's a challenge. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for those who have extra medical stresses on top of everything else. Alysia--I seriously respect you so much. I have no idea how you deal with so much on your plate everyday and have to watch Grace suffer so much.

That point was really driven home for me this last week because Maya has been very sick. It kills me to see her suffer. Maya had been a little sick and clingy all week but the Tuesday after her baby blessing she woke up just not looking good. By the end of the day she had a temperature of over 101 and was throwing up and diarrhea non-stop. Maya doesn't like to eat normally--in fact we have had to breast and bottle feed ever since she was born to try to force her to eat enough--so since she was sick she had absolutely no desire to eat. Every time we tried to force feed her she would just throw it up. By Wed. morning when we rushed her to the doctor she had not eaten anything for over 18 hours and hardly anything before that for a week. She was severely dehydrated and so lethargic that she couldn't even blink. It was so scary. When I looked at her she looked like she was dead, there was absolutely no sparkle of life in her dried out eyes. It was an all too familiar reminder of when I held her older brother. The doctor immediately sent us to the ER for testing and an IV. As soon as we walking in the ER door they took one look at her and rushed her into the ICU section of the ER. I was really worried about her before then be after seeing how all the doctors were reacting in the ER I started to get really panicked. She had 6 doctors working on her for almost 2 hours without leaving her side. An hour of that was just trying to get an IV in her. Her veins had collapsed from being so dehydrated. They tried 15 different times trying to find a vein--everywhere, in her head, her hands, her arms, her armpit...It was horrible. I have never heard her cry like that. After about the eighth time they pricked her I couldn't handle it anymore and just broke down bawling. Alysia--you are amazing--I will never know how you summon the strength to watch the doctors poke and prod and Grace so much, even though you know it's for her good it's still so hard.

After a while of the IV fluids Maya perked up enough to eat a little breast milk and they sent us home. The doctor kept saying what a miracle it was--how fast she turned around from being so far gone. Scary and horrible experience. Now, two days later, she is much better but still on lots of meds to keep her temperature down and try to help her have as little pain as possible. She still is throwing up almost everything she eats but we have been able to keep her at least hydrated. She is so strong--so brave. The whole time she has been sick she hasn't really even cried just lots and lots of moaning. Hopefully she will get better soon and not have to suffer anymore.

On a lighter note--I have some pictures of Maya from the last few weeks...

Here she is in her traditional Mexican outfit from her Aunt AlysiaWith Grandpa AndersenOn my birthday (feb. 3) I dressed her up in the dress I originally bought when I was pregnant with Helaman (I thought he was a girl--hehe) Jose has always said that Maya looks like a baby Orangutan--I hate to admit it but he's right. HahaOur little baby OrangutanJose and Maya look and act so much alike--she is like a whiter, calmer version of him. They even sleep alike : ) ....Maya LOVES to take baths...wow she would stay in her little jacuzzi bath all day if she could. This is what happens to her hair naturally if I don't comb it down while it's still wet. Poor girl...
She always looks like she stuck her finger in an electric outlet. haha

Maya got a chance to visit her Great-Grandma Talbot a while ago. That is who she gets her name "Paulina" from

Technical Note

Oh, by the way, if you haven't been able to figure out how to turn off the song to be able to hear the video scroll all the way down to the bottom of the blog--there are two song lists press pause on the one that is titled Maya's Theme Song. It is right above the family picture sticker. Enjoy!!

Almaya's Birth Video

Sorry it took me forever to figure out how to get this posted. Also, have no fear, there is no video of the actual birth--just before and about 30 seconds after. When the doctors checked me and found out that she was already popping out I called my mom but she didn't have time to get there before she was born to video tape the actual birth--although that is probably for the better. : ) It truly was a miracle though because my mom got there seriously just a few seconds after she was born so she was able to video tape all the cleaning-up and first few seconds and glances Almaya had of this world. Ahhhh

*The video is really long and probably very boring for most of you, haha--feel free to skip through to see the parts you want*

Maya's First Tanning Bed

The doctor said Maya's jaundice was bad enough that he wanted her to stay in a light bed for the weekend. It's not fun at all because all she wants is to be held but we can only take her out to change her diaper and feed her. Plus, someone has to be awake and in the same room as the machine the entire time it's on which means Jose and I haven't slept yet since we got it yesterday. It's so sad to see her cry and scream and not be able to pick her up. : (
She hates the blind fold that she has to wear. She's constantly taking it off. The stinker.

This is her "I'm just chillin'" pose. hehe

Here are a few pictures from the hospital of Maya wearing her first outfit. This is the outfit that I bought for Jose's birthday to tell him I was pregnant with Helaman (at the time I didn't know if it was a boy or a girl so I bought one of each).

She loves to wear tights--thank you Amy!!! She loves them. She was screaming, then the second we put them on she stopped and was so happy. : )

Almaya's Theme Song----Finally Home----Maya's Big Scare----and Possible Jaundice

Ever since I first got pregnant I heard this song and knew it was the perfect "Birth Song." "I'm a new soul. I came to this strange world hoping I could learn a thing about how to give and take." Ahh, the words are so perfect for the day a brand new soul enters into this world. I was planning ever since I heard it to put it on my very first post when Almaya was born but the internet at the hospital wouldn't let me enter the music website so it's a little late.


We got home yesterday afternoon and have just loved the past few hours together as a family in our very own home.

Because so many people came to visit and hold Maya the first day after she was born I didn't get a chance to feed her for almost five hours. I kept trying to steal her away from people nicely but could never accomplish it and kept letting it go because I wanted people to be able to hold her and be with her. The nurse stopped by after a while to run some tests on her and came back saying that her blood sugar was dangerously low and she was shaking from not eating for so long--in fact she was so weak that the nurse said they couldn't even get her to wake up long enough to eat anything. She gave me a bottle and told me to do whatever it takes to wake her up and either breastfeed her or bottle feed her right away. I felt so bad. I still feel bad. I was only a new mother for a few hours and I had already almost starved my child to death. So I did everything to try to get her to breastfeed but I couldn't get her to stay awake long enough to really get anything down. So I was worried that she hadn't gotten any nutrients so decided to bottle feed her a bit as well. I later learned that this was a huge mistake because since she was only getting colostrum from my breast her stomach was still the size of a marble and she felt full and satisfied with just the colostrum--however as soon as I gave her a little formula milk her stomach stretched out many times the size it was (which is normal but means that she will no longer feel full with just colostrum).

Every feeding after that she seemed so hungry. I was feeding her every two hours for more than an hour and a half every time but she was still acting like she was starving to death and completely miserable. I had no idea what was going on or what I was doing wrong. She was so fussy and that is not like her at all. Then, Tuesday night, Jose left for a few hours to do splits with the missionaries and that was the last straw for Almaya. She totally lost it a broke down without him there. She screamed without stopping for an hour (this coming from a baby that had never even screamed in her [short] lifetime). I was totally at a loss and had no idea what was wrong. After trying everything I called the nurse and told her I knew something was wrong. After doing some tests and talking to me for a while we figured out what had happened and determined that she would have to be supplemented with a bottle until my milk came in so she would feel full.

After I started supplementing her she was back to her old self and has not screamed like that ever since. Also, my milk finally came in last night so she is a very happy camper. Yay!

That experience made me realize that it's important to try to make people happy but it is even more important to keep my baby healthy. I still can't forgive myself for not sticking up for her and stealing her away to feed her. I could never forgive myself if something else happened to her in the future because I felt too bad to say anything. So I am making a general shout-out to everyone who plans on coming to visit Maya----

***We want everyone to come and visit her and hold her (we are so proud of our beautiful little girl) so please come visit, however because of RSV season her doctor advised us to ask that everyone washes their hands before they hold her and if they are sick to maybe wait a while to come see her.*** Not too bad right? We want everyone to come see her, just make sure you're healthy, also for some reason Maya's personality is such that she gets very overwhelmed with lots of people around and her blood pressure goes up so please don't ever be offended if there is a lot going on and I need to take her to a quiet place to calm her down a bit for a while.

Jaundice---the doctor is a little worried that Maya might have Jaundice so we are keeping our eye on that and should knew more by Friday. I will definitely update on that the second I know.

Jose and Maya

Jose has been so amazing taking care of Maya--changing her diaper, burping her, giving her the binki every two seconds, etc. Wow, his face just lights up every time he looks at her.

They were both pretty tired and I came out of the bathroom to find this...

Almaya has already learned that she doesn't have to sleep in her little bed--there is always someone who wants to hold her. : ) Uh-oh She has also learned that breastfeeding can also be used as a security blanket or a binki because her mother is the biggest softy in the world. I have made a goal to be strict with her and not let her take advantage for hours at a time. I think I will start tomorrow. ; )

It's a Girl!!

Almaya Paulina de la Luz Sanchez was born at 12:43 pm today. Sorry it's taken so long to update everything. I haven't been able to have two seconds without people visiting us in the room. So blame everyone else that came to visit us. haha

Here are the specs: 7.5 lbs 20 inches Blackish brown hair Brownish eyes Jose's nose Jose's mouth My eyes My forehead and Jose's dark skin

Once again I didn't have a very good experience with the epidural. It's didn't seem to do much, even after raising the dose--it just made it so I could feel the pain but couldn't move. So I was starting to really lose hope, honestly I was giving up. Jose gave me a blessing. They checked me about 20 min. later and I had gone from a 3 to a 6 (as previously mentioned). I found hope in that but figured it would still be another 4 or 5 hours. An hour later I asked Jose to help me turn over to my other side and he started freaking out because he said I was gushing blood. I got a little worried and called the nurse in. She took one look at me and said "she's coming" then ran out the door to get the doctor. The doctor came running in about 5 seconds later and they started running all over everywhere trying to get their scrubs on before she popped out. I was so confused and surprised. My mother was going to tape the birth for all of you guys to watch (a G-rated view of course). I asked the doctor if we could wait 10 min. for my mother to get there and he said "she's comin out right now!" So I pushed 9 times and she popped out. Very very different delivery from the last one. (Thank goodness). Thanks to all of your prayers and the power of the priesthood. The Lord definately had mercy on me and helped her pop right out.

Her personality? Just the same as we had experienced during utero. She is so calm and patient with everything. When she was born she didn't even cry. There was a bit of a whimper, then just wide eyes looking at everyone trying to figure out what was going on. She is so precious and such a blessing to us. We love her so much already.

Here are some pics of her (though she is much cuter in real life). : ) I will try to get the video to work as well so you can see her in motion.

Progress!!

I am dialated to a 6 and 90% efaced and throwing up. haha but the nurse says I am throwing up because she is coming so fast. Let's hope it stays that way. (maybe not the throwing up part)

Finally Got the Internet to Work!!

We have been wanting to update ever since we got here at midnight but couldn't get the internet to work. Urgh. Well, I suppose it was a mixture of the internet and my computer. So my mom brought up her computer and it works!!!

Here is what's been happening for the last 10 hours---NOTHING!!! We got here at midnight. By the time we got checked in and everything it was about 1 am when they finally started the potossin. By 7 am they checked me again and I had dialated from a 2 to a 2. Yeah, six hours of contractions for nothing. The nurse said that my body was still trying to fight the medicine thinking that it is still not time for Maya to be born and wouldn't get the hint until they broke my water. The doctor broke my water at 7:15 which definatly threw me into hard labor right away. Wow, very hard labor. I got the epidural a few minutes ago because the doctor said I wasn't going to progress because I was fighting the contractions too much.

They just checked me and I am dialated to a 3 and 80% efaced. Progress. Yay! That's a definate plus.

We will post every time there is an update now that we have a computer that works.

Trying to Sleep

Well here I am in bed at home watching Jose sleep and being jealous that I can't do the same. My wonderful family came over today and helped us finish cleaning the house so everything would be ready for Almaya to come home. We finished so early that Jose and I had a couple hours to take a nap before we head to the hospital at midnight. It's never easy to sleep while you are pregnant but I am finding it impossible to sleep tonight. I am a very large mixture of excited and terrified. I kept telling myself that I wasn't nervous to give birth this time around because I knew what to expect, but now that it's just around the corner I am beginning to actually remember what it's like and I think I am even more scared this time than the first time. With Helaman I had a horrible experience with the epidural--I was shaking and throwing up the whole time. So this time I am going to try to go as long as I can without it. Hrm, we will see how that goes. Well, I suppose I'd better try to get a few minutes rest before we head out. Love you all! We will keep you posted...

Happy 1st Birthday Helaman

Helaman's 1st birthday was the 6th of this month. It was tough but also happy. The Lord has blessed us with so much peace during this last year. It seems like much more than just a year has passed but it's also hard to believe that a whole year has already flown by.

It's often times hard to not think about what milestones he should have been reaching in his life by now but we just try to not think about that and concentrate on what he is probably accomplishing right now.

Jose made Heli a cake all by himself---it's was so yummy

Jose wanted me to post a few words about Heli and Maya--how they've been different and how they've been the same so far. We had the great blessing of getting to know Helaman very very well while he was still in utero. He has such a strong personality and it really showed through. Maya has been much more difficult to get to know. She is much much calmer and subdued. Heli always knew exactly what he wanted and would let us know the moment he was uncomfortable or unhappy. If Jose pushed his finger on my stomach Helaman would push back as hard as he could and not give up until Jose would move his finger. At night Helaman wanted his space. If Jose tried to get close to me Helaman would kick him until he moved. If fact, at the end of my pregnancy I had to sleep sitting up because Helaman wouldn't even let me lay down. He also had to be constantly entertained. If I wasn't talking to him or rubbing my belly he would kick and kick until I would give him attention. He loved any type of music with strong rhythms and he loved lots of people being around. I couldn't eat hardly anything other than spicy Mexican food and fruits and vegetables. He also seemed to prefer the sound of Spanish as opposed to English. I swear that kid never slept. There was one day that I think he slept for an entire hour--other than that he was constantly on the move and wanted to experience everything.

Maya, however, is completely opposite in every way. She is terrified of any type of loud noise. Lots of commotion also seems to upset her. I can't seem to eat anything remotely healthy. Fruits and vegetables make me nauseous. Chocolate and greasy foods and pretty much my staple. She only likes soft music--particularly anything with an organ playing. She doesn't seem to like the sound of Spanish (although maybe it is the tone that most Spanish speakers use is usually louder and more high pitched). If she is uncomfortable she will wait for quite a while to see if I move. If I don't she will kick a few times, but most often will give up and just deal with it. I can't believe how incredibly patient she is with Jose. He will push my stomach and blow raspberries and do everything to try to get her to react to him, but she will just put up with all of it. She also seems to be quite content in entertaining herself and doesn't require a lot of attention from me or Jose. She is impossible to wake up (that she gets from her dad). In fact, one day at the doctors office we had to do a test to count how many times she moved within 20 min. but she was asleep at the time so the doctor was trying to wake her up. He dug his fingers down into my belly below her head and firmly jiggled my stomach back and forth--all she did was stretch, turn over, and go back to sleep. haha

There are a few of the many differences between the two--the only real similarities that I have been able to gather are that they both loved to hear their daddy's voice and neither of them like when I am sitting or laying down.

Here is a photo update of me and Maya. I am now 39 weeks along. I have an appointment at midnight on Sunday night to start the induction. Yay! Only a few more days!! I can't wait to get to know Maya more. I hope she turns out looking like Jose, just like Helaman did, but we will just have to wait and see if we will have a little Morena (dark-skinned) or Gabacha (white-skinned). : )

Here is Jose at 39 weeks. haha He looks even more worn out by this pregnancy than I am!!!************* By the way--we will have our computer with us when we go to the hospital Sunday night so check the blog periodically for update on how the labor goes and to see the first pics of our precious Almaya!! (Hopefully we will stay on top of the blog entries so you can all experience it along with us). **************

Our Christmas Surprise

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope the holiday was a good one for all of you. It was nice for Jose and I--a little sad, but overall pretty good.

Maya, Heli and Me Notice the pajama pants--they were part of Alysia and Topher's present to Jose. He went to put them on in the morning but I stole them before he could. hehe They are SOOO comfy! In fact, I am wearing them right now. haha Poor Jose, one of these days I will let him wear them. : )
Jose making fun of me for crying when I read the Christmas letter he wrote for me. He really is a hopeless romantic and I love him for it!!

We were very blessed by all the presents we got from our family and friends. Thank you everyone--we love you all. [Not just because of the presents : ) ]

We almost got a pretty big Christmas surprise last night from Maya. I went into labor yesterday. We went to the hospital about nine at night and the nurses called my doctor to see if he wanted them to try to stop the contractions or if he wanted to let them keep going and let her be born. Poor Maya, she wants to come out so badly but the doctor was nervous letting her be born so early (about 35 1/2 weeks). So they kept me there in the hospital giving me injections every hour to try to stop the contractions. I was only dilated to a 1 but I was thinning out pretty quickly so although they were pretty much able to stop the contractions by about 1 AM, I am not sure how much longer we will be able to keep her in there. The nurse said that once I hit 36 weeks (in about 4 days) they most likely won't stop her from coming. The doctor wants to see her wait another 3 weeks, and Maya obviously is wanting to come out now--so we will have to see which one gets their way : ) Until then it's just a waiting and guessing game.

Long Lost Update

I haven't posted in forever. Sorry everyone. Life gets crazy. It always seems that just when you think, "if one more thing happens I know I will go insane from the stress," the Lord helps you stretch your limits a little bit more. Raising three teenage girls without the gospel and without the willingness of their mother is definitely a challenge. It hurts to see people whom you love so much go through such horrible things in their life, and know exactly what they need but not be able to help them because they won't accept it. I have learned a new respect for families who struggle with drugs and violence and what it feels like to have to betray your child in order to help them, and also what it feels like to love someone so much but at the same time be so afraid of them you have to lock them up. I have also learned how much it hurts as a parent to have to watch your child use their agency in a way that not only hurts them but many others as well and have to come to terms with the fact that they will most likely never be able to recover and you will have to continue to watch them hurt themselves, their unborn children, and your family. I do however, have a new respect for those who struggle with addiction problems. It is a horrible thing and I hope if any of you know anyone with a drug problem you will try to be a little bit less judgemental and little bit more patient.

Going through these experiences have changed my perspective as a mother drastically. It has made me much more aware, scared, nervous, and confident all at the same time. I have also learned that in moments when you think you can't possibly sink any lower, or have any more problems, or be struggling economically anymore---there is always a step lower. It can always ALWAYS get worse. So in times when I catch myself thinking that my life is too hard, I have to remind myself that it could be worse tomorrow and I should stop complaining and waiting for everything to work out and just start being grateful for the good in my life.

Speaking of good---

Some women from my parents ward threw me a baby shower a few weeks ago. It was so amazing. The food and decorations were wonderful and I was so excited to see everyone who came. Thank you so so so much to those women, as well as to all the people who came and who gave gifts. I can't explain how appreciated every gift was. We are so blessed and I know there are so many people who truly love our little family. Thank you!!!
Here is a picture of the "cake." It is made of diapers and baby shampoo and all sorts of other goodies. Isn't it amazing?!!! I was so impressed. It must have taken forever to make. I love it. Wow!!!

Another good thing that has happened lately is that Fidencio, the only other member of the church in Jose's family, received the Melchizedek priesthood. We had a dinner and game night with my family afterwards to celebrate. Congrats Fidencio! My amazing family took the week off this last week and came over to our house to help clean and organize. I am so grateful to them. I can't believe how hard they worked, inside and outside the house. Wow. They are truly incredible and I appreciate them so much. Thank you guys! I do feel really bad though because we were home almost the entire time they were here slaving away. I wish I could have spent more time with them.

Austin wearing my jacket while he cleans. haha (I not sure why) haha

Ahhh! Christmas! Jose and I bought our first Christmas Tree this year because we never ended up decorating last year. We had so much fun decorating it--and it smells so good! I bought Jose a video game set for Christmas. It was just a cheap little controller set that comes with games already installed. It has all of the old arcade video games from the '90's on it. He was so excited to use it he opened it that same day. The stinker. I told him he will have to re-wrap it to be able to open it again on Christmas. He is actually really good at all the games though and always kicks my trash on everything from Mario Bros. to Tetris.

I came in one night and saw him playing Duck Hunt but he had set himself up a little shooting range with the piano seat to make it more interesting he said. Haha I love him. He is so cute.

News on the baby....

I haven't been able to sleep well for a few weeks because of all the stress I have had. Sometimes I go a couple of days without even sleeping at all. The stress has also made it hard to eat. I have been throwing up almost everything. So when I went to the doctor I told him I was worried that maybe it was affecting the baby. He did some tests and found that the baby's heartbeat was beating irregularly and said that it was related to my stress level. So he said that I can't keep going like this and think that the baby is going to be ok and I have to find a way to get rid of as much stress in my life as possible. Ugh. That made me even more stressed. Jose has stayed home from work for the last couple days trying to take care of me and make me laugh and just generally loving me. He is amazing and loves me and Maya so much.

So that is the life and baby update. In case I don't post again before Christmas--Merry Christmas everyone!!!

I went to the Doctor this Morning...

This last week has been a really rough one for me. I have had quite a bit of pain and quite frequent and regular contractions, then this morning I started bleeding. I went to the doctor and he seemed to be a bit worried with the all the contractions and the bleeding so he checked everything out and said it all looks good but sentenced me to strict bed rest. Blah. He wanted to put me on a medication that would stop the contractions but quite frankly it scares me to be taking medication of any sort while I am pregnant so I asked if there was another option and he said that if I would take the bed rest seriously then he would see how I am doing at my next appointment to see if I need to get on the medication.

We also talked about when we could plan to deliver the baby. I wanted to deliver it at the end of 36 weeks but he was nervous that her lungs wouldn't be developed by then so he said he wants to see me every week to do a full check on everything--if there looks like anything is wrong he will deliver the baby starting at my next appointment. If everything looks good at all my appointments, and I haven't started into labor on my own, he will start me at 38 weeks which means anytime in between Jan. 8 and Jan. 15.

I am glad he will be doing so many checks and tests on everything during these last few weeks because I am definitely very nervous, to say the least. And I am also glad that we have finally set a date, more or less, so I can start planning.

Moving Day

No, we aren't moving again, but Jose's family moved out of our house so it's sort of like we have a whole new house. I realized I haven't even posted any pictures of our house since we moved last November to Clinton and most of you haven't seen it yet so I thought I would post a pic of the outside, there are also some pictures taken from the inside further down in the post. We absolutely love it here. Clinton is so beautiful and peaceful--lots of farms and young families. We love our house too. It has been such a blessing for us and I know the Lord definitely helped us find and buy it (thanks to Alysia and her family!). We began to remodel it to be more "ours" last Feb. but the projects got put on hold when Jose's family moved in and nothing got finished. Now that we have less bodies in the house we have started the projects back up and are trying to finish everything little by little. I told Jose I want everything (inside and out) done by the time Almaya is born but I think that's quite a lofty goal. : )

This Halloween was Almaya's first Halloween (well sort of). I figured I'd better dress her up as something and the only thing she really looks like right now is a pumpkin so that's what she was...

Since my belly button sticks out so far I figured in would make a great Jack-o-lantern nose. hehe Here is one of just Maya... (isn't she adorable? haha j/k)

Ever Growing

Well, I have gotten to the point in my pregnancy where people have begun to ask me how many babies I am carrying. It happened last pregnancy, but it's still depressing. It's fine to hear about how freakishly huge I am the first 200 times, but it gets old after that and is starting to chip away at my self esteem. Also, my belly button never popped back in after the birth of Helaman so now it sticks out so far that you can still see it even when I am wearing four layers--I guess that tricks people because they always think that means I'm about to give birth. Here is a picture of me this last week at 27 weeks...

While I have been ever growing so has Almaya...she has gotten so much more active these last couple of weeks. Her eyes have opened this last week or so and her ears have finished developing. I have definitely noticed a change in her behavior since these two things have happened. She is much more consistent to how she reacts to things happening both inside and outside her little utero world. She seems to be experimenting a lot more with her body and new-found control over it. I know this is happening at a usually pace, but it still seems really late because Helaman was developing these skills much much earlier.

One new joy that Maya has found is bouncing. A few days ago she discovered that when I lay down to go to sleep on my side she can turn sideways, put her feet against my belly so she can touch the surface of the bed, and kick off the bed as hard as she can with both feet. This will make her bounce which will in turn make her head hit the other side of my uterus. I am not sure why she enjoys this sensation, but she absolutely loves it. She will do it over and over and over for hours. Needless to say, I haven't slept in almost a week. It's cute, and funny to see from the outside because you can see the bed bounce as she kicks off it then her head hit the other side of my belly, but it's not very comfortable for me. : )

As for me...I am doing ok. I am getting very tired of being pregnant, although I still have quite a ways to go. I don't have as many charlie-horses in my legs as I did with Helaman but I have more in my back. The number of daily contractions has stayed about the same so I am grateful that they haven't worsened, but my legs and feet get swollen so fast that it's hard for me to be out of bed for very long. Jose, bless his heart, is being so incredible. I have been so emotional these last few weeks, between the physical pain and discomfort to the daily stress of life and the strong bitter-sweet memories of last Holiday Season ever looming near, it's been hard to handle all at once. But he has been so patient and always making me laugh even when all I want to do is cry.

That's pretty much it on the updates. I am still not sure on the exact due date. The doctor says we will have to wait and see how Almaya continues to develop. So we will both just keep growing and waiting...

Almaya's Daddy

This year has been a particularly difficult one for Jose and me. We have had to face losing a child, raising Jose's family--with the particular strain of 3 teenage girls--trying to buy two houses and building a life for our own family as well as Jose's family, losing our source of income, and dealing with the strains of a new marriage. Though I know there are many others in the world that deal with many more difficulties than these, it has been particularly challenging for me. However, among all the trials the Lord has blessed us and taught us to find refuge in our temple marriage. I can honestly say that as I have learned this I have never been more content in my life. Every time I just want to break down and give up, Jose is always there for me and always loving me, no matter what. I have been thinking a lot about him and our marriage over the last few months and I thought I'd post a quick thought about him and how grateful I am for him in my life...

I never really realized how truly lucky I was to find him when we first started dating. He has made my life happier and fuller than I had ever imagined. I honestly can never think of a single time when he has yelled at me or refused to do something for me--in fact, most of the time he does everything before I even have to ask him. I am not sure why he stays with me because I definitely don't treat him as good as he treats me [I think the Lord has blessed him with a blind love for me : ) ]

His life has never been easy, nor is it an easy burden now to provide emotionally and economically for 24 people, but he never complains--ever. Whether it's buying back-to-school supplies or a dress for a party, struggling with eating disorders or other health issues, or disciplining someone for ditching school or staying out too late; he is always there for his family as a father, a son, and a best friend. I have seen how much his family looks up to him, although they would never admit their gratitude to him. Many of them have never really known any other father than him and I know they love and respect him even though they don't voice it.

With having his hands so full of juggling work and the emotional and financial needs of so many I know it is incredibly hard for him to make time for his own little family--but he always manages to give me and the baby his undivided attention. He is so in love with Maya and talks to her and plays with her constantly. He is already completely wrapped around her finger. She is "Daddy's Little Girl" and has completely stolen his heart (hence the Tim McGraw song dedication on this blog). I know he worries about being the best father possible to her while still being the father of so many others in his family, but I have no doubt he will find a way to take care of everyone, as he always has. He has such a pure love for all those around him, not just in word but in deed as well. His life is more than discouraging as he tries to teach his family about the blessings of the gospel and prudent living--which almost always seems to be a failed attempt, but he keeps trucking on with an undying faith that the Lord with provide.

I know I don't make his trials any easier either. There are so many times when I just break down and want to get away from the responsibility of so many people. In those moments I can see the pain in his eyes as he is torn between wanting to give me and his children the best life possible and still having the responsibility of his family weighing on his conscious. I wish I could be as strong as him. So many times I hear husbands talk about their wives as their strength and rock--I wish I could be that for him, but he is definitely the one who plays that role in our marriage and I am so grateful for his perfect faith in Christ, his quiet patience in life, and his never failing kindness towards me.

I appreciate Jose in my life and look to him as an example of how I want to be someday. I am grateful for the love he has for "his little girl," his precious son Helaman, me, and the rest of his family. He strengthens me each and every day and I will always love and admire him for that.

Belly Update

After posting all those pictures of Almaya I figured I'd better post one of what she looks like from the outside since I have pretty much been a hermit and none of you have seen me lately.Here I am at 22 weeks. I am currently in my 23rd week and ever expanding. : )

To answer some questions...

I am doing fine so far as the bed rest. I just try to stay calm and I am usually fine. In fact, the last week or so I haven't had hardly any contractions so I think things are looking up.

The pronunciation of Maya's name is Alma (like the name in the Book of Mormon) mixed with Maya (like the fairly popular girl's name). For those who speak Spanish it has the same kind of ending as "playa" or beach.

Some updates on the pregnancy...Maya is still doing great. She is getting a lot more active the bigger she gets. She definitely doesn't like loud noises. I think they scare her. I am coaching volleyball for the Young Woman in my branch and she always gets so scared when everyone starts cheering. It makes me sad because I just want to cuddle her and cover her ears. We have our first big game today so we will see how Almaya reacts to even more cheering. : )

Oh, by the way, I added a "Followers Gadget" to the top right-hand side of the blog. Make sure to click on the "become a follower" button so I can see who all reads the blog. I know there are a lot of you out there that drop in from time to time but never leave comments so I never even know you were here. Also, those of you who have Blogs, I highly suggest setting up a following, it's really fun and makes it so much easier to keep track of your loved one's blogs. By the way, who else has blogs that I don't know about? Do you have one Amy? How about Alli? Anyone else? I love reading everyone's blogs and keeping up on what you are all doing. Sorry I hardly ever leave comments but know that I read them often!!

It's a Girl!!!

We got the ultrasound done yesterday and found out that we are going to have a little girl! I must admit I was hoping for a boy but a girl is good too! Jose was soooooo badly wanting a girl. I have never seen him happier or prouder. He has been on cloud nine since yesterday. He is already planning daddy-daughter dates and wanting to buy every pink think we see. : ) His excitement is starting to rub off on me--I even changed my background to pink in honor of our little baby girl!! He is such an amazing dad and husband I feel so blessed to be married to him. It gives me so much strength knowing how much he loves this baby and how much he loves me.

The baby is growing fine and everything looks normal. The official due date is the 29th of Jan. but the ultrasound date is the 4th of Feb. The doctor originally planned on letting me induce the 36th week of pregnancy which ends the 1st day of Jan. but we will have to see how the baby continues to grow during the last trimester.

We have decided to name her Almaya Paulina de la Luz Sanchez. Almaya is a name that I made up because I always wanted to have a boy named Alma but then I discovered that Alma is a very popular girl's name in Mexico so there is no way I could name one of my boys that, and to me, Alma is a boy's name so there is no way that I could name one of my girls that---so I created a new name in honor of Alma. Paulina is, of course, after me grandma Talbot, and Luz is after Jose's amazingly loving and christ-like older sister Maria de la Luz. I do realize poor Almaya will have quite a long name but she is, after all, half Mexican so that makes it ok. : ) : ) : )

Almaya is definitely smaller than Helaman. Helaman was always bigger than normal in his ultrasounds so it's been surprising to us and the doctor that Almaya has been smaller than average in all her appointments until now. She has finally had a growth spurt and caught up to the average size and weight. I am hoping she continues to grow quickly so we can deliver at 36 weeks, but what ever her timeline is we will be happy.

Almaya has very small feet. I guess they are normal for a baby, but Helaman always had such huge feet that when I compare the ultrasounds it makes her look like she has elf feet. : ) Here are her two tiny little feet side by side (how cute is that?!) and here are her feet while she is crossing her ankles...She is definitely different from Helaman in almost every way possible. She is very calm, rarely gets upset, and is not easily provoked. If you poke her, she will just patiently endure it (unlike Helaman who would poke you back even harder). She never gets mad at how I am positioned. With Helaman if I was sitting and he was uncomfortable he would kick me until I would move. I barely slept my entire pregnancy with him because he hated me laying down if he wanted to be up and moving. Almaya, however, is so patient. She lets me be however I want to be, and if she is uncomfortable SHE moves until she finds a more comfortable position. I never knew pregnancies could be this bearable! : )

I do, however, miss all the interaction that I had with Helaman. I always knew exactly how he was feeling and what he was doing. Almaya, on the otherhand, is so go-with-the-flow that it is hard to know what she is up to. She only actively responds to two things...soft, calming music, and her daddy's voice. She seems to be scared of any kind of music with strong beats or rhythms. She LOVES hymns and gets upset during church when we stop singing. She LOVES when her daddy reads to her and gets upset if she feels like it's been too long that she hasn't had attention from him. If she hears his voice after a while of not hearing him, and he doesn't come over immediately to talk to her, she gets jealous. I suppose she gets that from me. : )

The other thing I have learned is how much she loves to cuddle. My uterus has always grown much larger than normal which gives my babies much more space than most other babies. Helaman loved that and took advantage of it. He was always stretched straight out and never wanted to be squished. Almaya, on the other hand, is always curled up in a little ball snuggled tight against anything she can find. In fact, the doctor is always surprised and can never find her because she has this huge uterus to roam in but is always curled up in a far off corner. She recently got too big to snuggle between my pelvis bone and has finally moved up. I was so excited the day that she finally moved up because it was getting really hard to carry her with her being so low. But she couldn't find anything to snuggle against so she moved up even higher and has now discovered my lungs and spine. It is incredibly uncomfortable when she wedges herself between my spine and lungs, but she is a sweetheart and just loves to feel safe and warm. The first ultrasound photo that I posted of her profile was the most stretched out the nurse could get her. The nurse had kind of a hard time checking all of her organs and things because she was so tightly curled up and didn't want to move. In fact, when the nurse was trying to check and measure her upper lip Almaya was grabbing it with her hand so it took the nurse a while to get her to move her hand. (what a cutie right?!)

Other than those three things, however, I haven't been able to figure out much else about her personality. We are so excited to have her join our family and get to know her even more and we feel so incredibly blessed to have her in our lives. She has already blessed the lives of Jose and I and our marriage so much!!

Doctor's Orders: 1 Long, Hard Laugh 5 Times Daily

Life has definitely been crazy and stressful for Jose and I for the last few months (or years haha) so I figured it was high time we had a good laugh. My go-to-guy (after Jose, of course!) for a good laugh would definitely have to be Brian Regan.

Between Jose, me, and his family, I tend to be going to the Emergency Room quite frequently for various construction accidents, etc. but I haven’t been to the hospital in quite a while. I can’t say I have missed it but I figured I would post an ode to hospital visits anyway. : )

I couldn't find any single file that had the whole clip that I wanted so the first video has the first half and the second video has the last half. (There is also a few seconds overlap--sorry about that). I hope you all enjoy it and it gives everyone a good laugh for the day!!! And remember…SAY 8!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha

No I Have Not Fallen Off the Edge of the Planet

Wow...It has been an eternity since I last posted. Man, sorry everyone. Life has been really crazy. So here a run down of what has been going on in the Sanchez family for the last two months........

First of all, I am pregnant again. Don't feel bad if you are finding this out for the first time through the blog. I haven't told anyone yet. I'm not quite ready to tell people yet, but ready or not people will know the second they see me. I know it's really tacky to tell everyone through the blog. Sorry. I have been a lot sicker this pregnancy than my last, which I didn't think was possible but apparently it is. I haven't been going anywhere or talking to anyone. So I figured it was better to write it in the blog than not tell anyone at all.

Jose is so excited!!! Oh my gosh. He's such a proud father, and he does EVERYTHING for me. I haven't washed a single plate or picked up anything since I got pregnant. He's really worried about me so he is over zealous when it comes to babying me---and I love it! Neither of us see this baby as replacing Helaman. We would never want to replace Heli--this baby is a wonderful addition to our already blessed family.

I am 13 weeks along and everything is looking really good. I am definately very scared with this pregnancy but my doctor is taking good care of me. In fact, he is demanding that I have an appointment with him every week as soon as I hit 30 weeks to do a bunch of tests to make sure everything is going to be fine. The super nice thing about this pregnancy is that my doctor is allowing me to chose when I want the baby to be born. The baby is due the end of Janurary but he said as long as the tests look good he will let me decide to get started the end or middle of December. It's nice to count down eight months instead of nine. It makes it seem so much shorter!

Here is a pic of the ultrasound at eight weeks

And here is a pic of me at eight weeks...the ultrasound is a lot cuter. : )

Here is a pic of me at 13 weeks. I have lost a lot of weight in the last few weeks (about 17 pounds) because I haven't been able to eat anything. I've been trying to force-feed myself but I just throw it up. I was getting really worried but the doctor says the baby looks good so I don't might losing the extra weight. It's the closest to my pre-Helaman weight I've been!!
Ahh, that brings me to my next topic...I got a hair cut! Holy cow I was so scared. But Anni cut her hair and it turned SOOOO cute and I really needed a change and needed to do something for myself at this point in my life so I chopped off all my hair!! It's so different and really hard to get used to but I love it. It's nice to feel a little put together after so much time of feeling like a bloated whale.

Speaking of hair cuts I also cut Jose's hair a couple of days ago. I told him we needed to take a few headshots for the blog. I guess it got lost somewhere in translation because they turned out to be mugshots. Hrm. Go figure.

hahahahahahah I love it!!!!

In his pre-criminal days Jose took Meg to a daddy-daughter date while my parents were out of town. He had such a blast and it made him even more excited to have a little girl (I think that's what he's hope for with this pregnancy).

It was a dance so Jose had to brush up on his sweet moves
Jose also knew that a nice pot-belly is an essential pre-requisite to being a good father.

Jose is so amazing as soon as he got home he went right to work cleaning to house while we chilled out. I have no idea how I found such a perfect guy. I'm keeping my eye on him so he can't escape!!

Ahh, in other news look at my car!!!!! Jose was going over some train tracks and ran over something that was on the tracks which deployed all the air bags and shattered the windshield. Can you believe it!!! Jose is fine though, just a little started. It's kinda funny now though.

Last news of the night......for those of you who are still actually reading this post. Wow, it's turned out long. Sorry : )

We are buying a house for Jose's family so there are staying with us until we can close the contract or until we find a place for them to rent.

It has been so nice having them stay with us right now. I can't believe how much they clean! Everything is spotless. Jose's mom even washed all of my clothes which I hadn't washed since I got pregnant. In fact, I think she's still washing them all and it's been over a week! She is an angel. I am so grateful for all the help she has given me.

LA AMO TAN MUCHISIMO MAMA!!!!! GRACIAS POR TODO!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some pictures of my beautiful in-laws...

Pepe doing some sweet breakdance moves Miri playing games or watching Telenovelas

Pepe surfing the web. We finally got all their stuff unpacked from the moving van and thank goodness we found their computer. At my house with no Wii there are pretty much only two things to do: watch telenovelas and play on the computer. With seven people and only my one lap-top there were quite a few fights. We had an hourly schedule worked out to pass the computer from person to person to try to keep some peace. Thank goodness now there's two computer and three TV's. Yay! haha Here is the beautiful Karina who, by the way, is having her quincianera this September. It's going to be a blast and a great party for all those of you who want to come!!

For those few of you who have seen my house you know the guest room was just our excuse for another storage room. We had everything in there just thrown where ever we could fit it. I walked past the door the second day Jose's family was here and had to do a double take. Everything was organized, all the boxes were put away, the beds were made, and apparently that room actually has a floor, which up until now, we haven't seen yet! : ) Jose's family is amazing. Muchas Gracias a todos!!!!

I don't have hardly any photos of Jose's family here on the blog so here is one of the whole gang...almost

Well if you have made it all the way down to the bottom of this post congratulations!! and I promise my next one will be much sooner this time!!

My Birthday Prince!!

HAPPY 23 BIRTHDAY JOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jose's birthday was the 23 of May. His golden year. Thank you to all those of you who sent cards, letters, and presents. We love and appreciate you all.

I was so excited for Jose's birthday this year. I really wanted to do something special because he does so much for me all the time, so I had been planning a surprise birthday party for him for months. Well, I suppose not much for a party because there was no one there for me and him, but it was a blast for us.

I waited until he fell asleep on Thurs. then I got out of bed and spent all night decorating the house then snuck back into bed so he wouldn't suspect anything when he woke up. It was so much fun! When he woke up he was totally surprised!

The theme was Prince Charming because he is definitely my Prince Charming. He even had a little cardboard crown.

I gave him a phone and "National Treasure," and Heli gave him a soccer ball.

After that we went out to dinner and a movie. It was awesome just to be together. I love him so much.

After our little private party on Friday we went to my parents house on Sat. where they had planned a "Jose's AmaSing Olympics." haha It was so much fun! (Note: I would have taken the gold but I just didn't want you all to feel bad) haha Austin won by a landslide!!!

Jose got a brand new table saw and I can remember what the other thing is called but you use it to measure and cut things (haha I'm not sure exactly what they all do, but Jose was pretty stoked) from my parents and siblings, and a guitar and face cover (as previously mentioned) from Alysia and Topher. He absolutely loved all of it so thank you everyone!

Then we celebrated with Jose's family on Sunday with a dinner, playing on the tramp, and a very spirited game of baseball.

It was a great birthday. Thank you everyone (especially Jose for being born in the first place) hehe.

Rock Legends...or Crazed Lunatics???

Ahhh, Rock Band...how we love and loathe you.......

I am not sure if that game ever comes to an end. I think it is impossible to win. It just keeps going and going and going.

Our award winning band, THE LAMANITES, had finally reached super stardom and been invited to Moscow to play a 58 song set. Now, this set had to be played straight through---no breaks, no pausing--nothing. We are, however, the forever true Rock Band enthusiasts and decided that we must not let our fans down.

So, the fateful night finally approach...Austin, Me, Jose, Alysia and Topher all stood poised for the challenge. It took us a total of 5 hours, but we prevailed!!! We will now be the band to live in infamy.

Hehe It was a blast but very tiring. Here is some proof of our legendary show...

Topher, Alysia, Austin and me (and Anni and Meg and even my mom a few times) took turns shredding on the guitar and bass...




but poor Jose---he is the only one of us who can play the drums on medium and hard and still get above 98% every time--so he had to play the entire 5 hours without a break. I know, he's incredible, he gets it from me! This picture was taken right after finishing the 58 song set--haha Jose looks a bit worn out.


Check out that cool guitar that Topher's holding. It was Jose's birthday present from Topher and Alysia. Thanks guys!!!!


The Drum King

I Tag...

Now I tag Wendi and my mom!! Mom you better actually do it because you have been tagged twice now!!!! I love you both!

Tag!! I'm it!

I was looking at Topher and Alysia's blog a few days ago and found links to Dallin and Kalani's site as well as Tyler and Kristen's. I was so excited that they have blogs as well. I suppose it was a good thing that I checked them out because apparently Kalani had tagged me so it's my turn to tell 7 things interesting about me. Well, I thought about it and there really isn't anything very interesting about me but I suppose I could say 7 things anyway, haha...

1. If every store in the world went out of business other than Wal-mart and Lowes, I probably wouldn't even notice.

2. I absolutely love going dancing with my husband...Pasito Durangense (mexi-dancing) is our favorite.

3. I hate doing the dishes and laundry, yuck!

4. I would do anything for my husband, including doing the dishes and laundry ; )

5. My normal body temperature is between 95 and 96 degrees. I know, I'm a freak of nature.

6. I love learning to play different music instruments. I am not amazing at, but can play, the guitar, drums, bagpipes, harp, and piano. I am hoping one day to have enough money to buy a harp again. It was definitely my favorite instrument and I would like to pursue that.

7. I often have a hard time differentiating English and Spanish, they have become one language for me and I screw up using them both all the time. So if I am talking to you in Spanish just call me a dork and please forgive me! hehe

My Poor Baby...

Poor Jose has been so sick for the last few days. He's had a temperature over 102 degrees all day. I'm not sure what to do other than give him medicine and wipe his forehead with cold cloths and lots of kisses. He's such a trooper though, so still went to school today and even worked out in the garden this morning (against my urging!!). He even bought me flowers today to say thank you for taking care of him. Can you believe that?! He is definitely the best husband in the entire world. I love him so much. We are both praying that he gets better soon so that we will still be able to go to Gracie's baby blessing on Monday.

I love you baby!!!!!! Feel better soon!!!!!!!

Our Little Helaman

Well, this was the post that I have been putting off writing for quite a while. Chronologically it's what came next in the life of our little family, so I suppose it's a post that has to be written sooner or later.



Jose and I were engaged for a year so we had quite a while to talk about what we wanted from our marriage. The only thing Jose ever said was that he wanted to have 13 kids (mind you that's the number that I talked him DOWN to; he started at 32). I always said that I only wanted two, maybe three but he soon won me over and we were more than ready to start trying when we got married. I know it's really pathetic but I was completely crushed when two months passed after the wedding and I still wasn't pregnant. My heart goes out to those who try for years without being able to conceive because I only had to wait three months, and already my heart was breaking. We were completely estatic when I finally got pregnant. It was Jose's birthday so I bought a little baby girl outfit and a little baby boy outfit, wrapped them up, and gave them to him as his present. That's how I told him, he was so happy he cried, which is something that definately doesn't happen very often.


This is the little baby boy outfit that I bought Jose


It was a tough pregnancy. I remember just laying in bed wishing I could fall asleep at least for a few hours so that maybe the pregnancy would go by faster--I always wished that I could just skip a few days, to be closer to my due date which was the 28 of Jan. 2008. That's something that I don't think I will ever be able to forgive myself for. Though pregnancy is a very challenging time I will never again complain about the pain or nausea or the length because I would give anything now to be pregnant with Heli again.

I was completely anal about taking care of myself. I only ever missed 5 days my entire pregancy of taking my prenatal vitamins, I ate healthier than I had ever eaten in my life, and I never lifted anything or did hardly anything for fear that it would hurt the baby.

Helaman was definately a strong personality. I always knew exactly how he felt about everything, he always made sure I paid attention to him--and only him. : ) I first began feeling him move when I was about 10 weeks along. I asked the doctor if it was possible that I was actually feeling him move so early and he said no, that it was probably just gas, but later I learned what it actually felt like when he moved and kicked and I learned that it wasn't just gas--that was actually him. He was a big strong boy. We went on our honeymoon when I was two weeks pregnant and looking back on the pictures you can already see a little baby bump. I was already showing at only two weeks--the doctor said it was because my uterus grew two to three times bigger that normal which is good I suppose because he was huge baby and he just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger! Because of this he demanded all the space he could get. He always wanted me to be sitting while reclining back, or standing. He hated when I layed down. If I ever layed down he would put his feet against the bed and push as hard as he could trying to get me to get up, then if I ignored him he would kick and kick and kick until I sat up. In fact may times I had to sleep sitting up.

He hated when I showered. The water hitting my stomach bothered him, so whenever he heard the shower turn on he would start freaking out even before I got in the shower. He didn't like when I held other babies. He would kick them until I stopped holding them. My nephew Diego was born when I was 6 months pregnant, I was so excited to hold a newborn baby but as soon as I picked him up and rested him against my stomach Helaman started kicking him so hard that it actually made Diego cry--so I couldn't hold him anymore.

He absolutely adored Jose. Jose would always blown raspberries on my belly. At first Helaman was terrified because he had no idea what was happening but after a few weeks he realized that it was his daddy telling him hello so he would make bubbles back--I'm not quite sure how he did it, but he did. What a smart boy. Whenever he pushed his hand or foot or butt out Jose would poke it, which would make Helaman stick it out even harder, so Jose would poke harder; and they would fight back and forth to see who could push the hardest. Jose usually won which would make Helaman mad at Jose and he would ignore him for a while. haha If anyone had any doubts as to who Helaman takes after I can tell you he is 100% like his daddy. During the first 2/3 of my pregnancy Jose worked a lot so everyday as soon as he walked in the door and Helaman heard his voice Helaman started jumpin and kickin, wanting all of Jose's attention. The only times he did not absolutely adore Jose is if Jose ever made me cry. The first year of marriage is tough so we faught a few times which always made me cry. As soon as I would start crying Helaman would always--without fail--rub my belly with one hand trying to comfort me, and he wouldn't stop rubbing until I stopped crying. I've never heard of a baby doing that, but my little Helaman did it everytime. After I stopped crying and had forgiven Jose and Jose had forgiven me, Helaman would not forgive Jose. He would stay furious with him and completely ignore him for a few days. : ) He is definately very protective of me--just like his daddy. It feels good to be so completely loved by two amazing men. It is my greatest blessing in life.

So far as food cravings...I was so excited to get pregnant and be able to eat all I wanted, all the time, but I was sorely disappointed. I absolutely loathed food my entire pregnancy--Helaman, however, did not. He somehow figured out where my stomach and intestines were and whenever he got hungry (which was about every 45 mins) he would punch my stomach and kick my intestines like they were punching bags until I would either eat or throw up [I quickly learned to eat : ) ]. His favorite food of all time?...definately milk. Anything dairy as long as it didn't have sugar, (which ruled out ice cream, dang it), he was a very healthy boy and did not like fat, oil, sugar or junk food. He absolutely loved milk, cereal, and fruit.

A couple fun memories...one time he was stretching and somehow managed to claw me super hard with him nails. Ow! It hurt so bad I unintentionally let out a yep that really scared him so he immediately withdrew his hand and didn't move for about 5 seconds (which is a long time for him) then very slowly put his hand back up to where he had clawed me and began to rub it as if he was trying to say sorry. haha Another memory is the day he finally couldn't turn in complete circles. He loved to flip around and turn head over heels in circles over and over and over which always resulted in me throwing up but he didn't seem to mind that. : ) The day came when he finally got too big to do his summersaults--he was not expecting this. He tried a few times unsuccessfully to turn and became extremely frustrated when he was still unable to complete the turn an hour later. Helaman, being as stubborn as his father, decided he was not going to stand for this and continued to work for the next three hours to complete his summersault. After a lot of squeezing and a few times of his mother throwing up, he finally discovered that if he wedged his foot hard enough into my stomach he could use it as leverage for his turn. I could actually see the outline of his feet in my stomach as we walked himself around in his spin. He was so proud of himself, and very exhausted. He actually slept for a full 2 hours that day---ahhhhh I still remember how wonderful it felt to get a full 2 hours of uninterupted rest. One last memory...He had the hiccups almost the entire last trimester. For some reason he having hiccups often made me have hiccups as well (still can't figure that out). He would always get so frustrated at his hiccups, and even more at mine. Helaman, like I said, is a very intelligent being, so he actually figured out a cure for his hiccups. If he squeezed himself tight enough into a ball and tensed up every muscle in his body his hiccups would eventually stop. He was, however, never able to find a cure for my hiccups, which irked him incredibly.

The due date came closer and Helaman got bigger. The doctor started to get worried that if we let Helaman grow anymore he would not fit out of me so he sceduled a date to induce me..the 8th of Jan. I had been having quite strong labor pains since about the fifth month of pregnancy so the doctor guessed I wouldn't even make it until the induction date. I had been in quite strong labor the last week of Dec and the first week of Jan. I kept calling the doctor asking if I should come into the hospital but he said to wait it out until the labor pains became more regular. On Thur the 3 of Jan. I was choreographing a hip-hop dance for my dance classes and noticed a sharp decline in the way Helaman was acting. The following day I was really stressed out and knew that something was wrong but just wrote it off as me being nervous for Heli to be born and him not moving as much because I was getting closer to giving birth because my contractions were becoming much more regular. Because I was under such stress I got into a little fight with Jose and, of course, started to cry. It was the first time that Helaman didn't rub my belly until I stopped. I knew that something was wrong but just kept writting it off as pre-birth jitters. That night I woke up at about 2:15 and felt his spirit leave my body. That might sound really weird to all those who have never experienced the death of their unborn baby, but for those who have they know what I am talking about...that moment where you feel that lurch as if you were falling off something, then nothingness. Never having experienced labor, nor a pregnancy for that matter, I tried to talk myself into beleiving that it was me just freaking out about nothing. I tried everything I could think of to get Helaman to move, to respond to me, but there was nothing. After trying for 7 hours I finally woke up Jose around 9 am and told him I thought there was something wrong and we should go to the hospital.

When I got to the hospital the nurses hooked me up to the fetal monitors and said that I was in hard labor but they couldn't find a heart beat. I would write more details about what happened next, about the birthing process, etc but that is something that I still cannot express well. Helaman was born at 2:15 the next morning Sunday 6, 2008. The umbilical cord had gotten wrapped around his neck and he had basically starved to death--which must have been the worst sort of death for little Heli considering food was his favorite thing in the world next to his mommy and daddy. I don't remember all the stats of exact weight and height and I'm sure they are written down somewhere in the things the doctor gave us, but all those things are in Heli's room and I never go in there so I don't know. He weighed about eight pounds but the doctor said that was after he had lost a lot of weight. He said he was probably closer to about 10 1/2 pounds. Like I said, he was a big boy, just like his daddy, (Jose was born at 13 lbs.!!), and that was almost a month before his due date. He had a really big head and was very hard to birth. I kept pushing and pushing and pushing and I could never get him out and I just remember pushing and the doctor and nurses were screaming and then everything went quiet and dark then I felt totally relaxed and I felt like I was floating to a light. I know that's really cliche and it's almost embarassing to share--I haven't even told Jose this. But it's true. I really wanted to just go to the light, more than anything, but I remember thinking, "no, Helaman needs his body. I worked so hard to make his body as perfectly as I possibly could, I want it out in one peice." Then I felt that same sort of falling off a cliff feeling and I heard the doctors screaming again and I kept pushing. As weird as that whole experience sounds it's true, very cliche, but very true. My mom actually told me later that I had been pushing then I went limb for a split second and the doctor stopped everything and said "Misty are you with us?" Then I woke up and started pushing again like nothing had happened.


The first thing I thought when Helaman was born was "who painted his finger-nails?!"

I am quite proud of how cute Helaman turned out. He looks exactly like his dad...big ears and everything. It makes me sad that I will never know if he has dimples like his dad though. The only thing he has of mine were my eyes. He has bright green eyes, very dark skin, very big feet, and black hair--lots and lots of black hair.

For Heli's funeral I bought him some white shoes that were meant for 3-6 months. I was afraid they would be too big, but there were almost too small, we had to squeeze his feet in there!


This is Helaman's "I'm an old man with a pot belly" pose hehe

This picture is the easiest one to see how much Heli looks like Jose. Their profiles are exactly the same. Look at those ears!!

This is Helaman's eternity ring

I know that Helaman had to serve a mission in heaven, though it does not make me feel any better when people tell me that's why he had to leave. I used to be very angry that if God knew the whole time that Heli had to leave, why did he wait to take him until I was already in labor and ready to deliver. But then I felt the very distinct voice of Heli telling me that it was because Heli had begged the Lord to let him spent as much time as possible with me and Jose so the Lord allowed him up until the very hours until he was going to be born. That brings me a measure of peace knowing how much Helaman truly loves us, and how brave he is for allowing us to be so hurt so he could serve a mission. I know it was the hardest thing he will ever have to do, letting me cry without be able to rub my belly until I stop. His devotion and desire to serve a mission even though it cost him hurting the two people he loved most in the world so deeply inspires me and makes me very very proud.

The healing process has been anything but healing. I can't quite seem to come to grips with losing my precious baby. I can't function in social environments anymore, my marriage has been greatly strained, and I have grown to resent my in-laws for seemingly ingnoring me and consciously forgetting Helaman. I blame myself because I was dancing when the cord got wrapped around his neck. Helaman always hated it when I danced but I alwayst just ignored him because it was something that I loved to do and the doctor assured me that it was harmless. I will never be able to dance again for the guilt I feel for choosing my own selfish desires above my son. I also blame myself because I knew something was wrong, had I gone in earlier they could have saved him. The nurses told me I should have come in earlier because I was in hard labor for so long. Though everyone always says the cliche phrase "it's not your fault, you didn't know, you couldn't have done anything." None of that phases my guilt. On top of that I feel incredibly guilty for not being about to "have enough faith" to snap out of it. I'm not exactly sure what to do next or how to force myself to move on but I suppose life with move on, with or without me, so I am just trying to go along with it.

He looks like he's sleeping in this picture

I apologize if this post is depressing. I try to put on a ruse of strength and positivity in the other posts because I resent apathy, but this was an impossible task to accomplish in this particular post. Like I said, I resent apathy, and am in no way looking for it by posting my true feelings. I am simply trying to keep a diary of my life and at the same time despose of any feelings of hurt or anger that I have generated in my friends and family by being so distant and often times cold towards them since Helaman's death.

Jose's Baptism September 11, 2005

I forgot to post this earlier...chronologically speaking this should have been posted before my wedding post, but oh well. Jose was always interested in the church from the get-go. As soon as we started dating he noticed that I didn't drink alcohol, so he stopped. Then he noticed other little things like I didn't drink coffee or caffiene, so he stopped that too. He later told me that it was because he thought I was the most amazing person he has ever met so he wanted to be just like me, (ahhhhh, I know he's a stud). After only a few months of knowing me he asked me if he could get baptized. It took me quite by surprise and I said, "well I suppose you should go to church first at least once." hehe So we went to the spanish branch the next week and found the missionaries. They said they would be by that week to teach him the first discussion, but they never showed up. So the next week they apologized and said they would be by that week, once again they never showed up. Now, those of you who know Jose know that he is the world's best at holding grudges, and he was quite upset that he had been stood up for two weeks in a row, so when the missionaries finally came he decided he wanted to punish them so he didn't tell them that he wanted to be baptized for about a month. haha Bad boy, bad boy. But he finally did tell them and they, as well as I, were estatic. He didn't, however, tell his family until the day before. Needless to say they were not estatic. I would go more along the lines of furious--but they eventually got used to the idea and even showed up for a while to show their support.


Jose asked Topher a few days before if he would be willing to baptize him. Of course he was happy to do it; the only problem was that Jose wanted it in Spanish...so Topher had to learn to prayer in Spanish, but he did amazing! Not a single mistake. (He learns perfection from me hehe)






Elder Padget and Elder Lopez were the two missionaries that taught Jose the discussions. We will forever be indebted and grateful to them for serving a mission and for all the patience and prayers they had in Jose's behalf.

WE LOVE YOU ELDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




From them on Jose completely changed. There is no way I will ever be able to explain how exactly, but he had....a light, I suppose. He was so different, in ever aspect. I had liked the pre-baptism Jose, but I fell in love with who he became after---he had the light of Christ, and that has made all the difference in our relationship. It definately was not easy for him to change so much. It's still not easy for him, but he knows it's worth it, and I have a deeper respect for him than I can ever express for doing it each and every day. I love him with all my heart and admire who he has become.

Together Forever

Jose and I were sealed in the LDS temple in Salt Lake City on Feb. 22 2007. I think how he proposed was incredibly romantic, but I may be a bit bias. We had been fighting quite a bit pretty much our entire relationship because of the language and background barriers. We finally decided to call it quits and break up. We had a dinner scheduled with his family that Wednesday so we decided to go to that dinner then we would never have to see each other again. So Jose called me that morning and asked me to come up early from Provo and meet him in Temple Square in Salt Lake before the dinner. So I met him there and he took me to the reflection pond in front of the Temple and he said, "I know you think that you are better off without me, but I know that I can make you happier than any other man in the world because I know I love you more than any man could ever love you. Will you marry me?" What woman could resist that line?! So he won me over. That was the 22 of Feb. 2006. We were engaged for exactly a year almost to the hour. We have now been married for a year and I am happy to say that Jose has more than lived up to his promisel. He truely has made me happier than I ever thought was possible. I don't know what I ever did to deserve him but I honestly think that I am married to the absolute most perfect man on the planet.

Planning the wedding was definately stressful but also incredibly fun. Although I would never suggest being engaged for a year--wow that was tough. But it was worth it! It was made even better when the majority of Jose's family moved here from Mexico just a few weeks before we were married, which was a complete surprise. I don't think I had ever realized how much Jose had missed his family until he saw them again for the first time in four years. He truely loves his family without limit--I suppose that's just how he is--he has the pure love of Christ for everyone in his life. Anyway, back to planning the wedding...it was a blast, but by far the most fun part was when we took a trip down to Arches National Park for three days with Jose and my mom and sister, Anni, to get our bridal pictures taken. By the way the guy who took the pictures was Alan Johnson, Alysia's brother. I highly highly recommend him--he was incredible!!! In fact I have a link to his website here in this blog. Here are some random pictures from that adventure. It was sooooooo cold!!! But so much fun!

There's my beautiful and amazing mother!!Jose checkin' his teeth in the reflector

Can we say COLD???!!!!!!!! In between every photo we had to throw a blanket over me and warm up my ears and nose so they wouldn't look red in the photos.
Poor baby, he got a little tired
Always the gentleman he even carried my bouquet for me. Ahhh

Hola a la muchacha de Argentina...

Hi Guadalupe. It's nice to meet you. One of my neices is named Guadalupe. Here is a picture of her. She lives in Mexico. How are you?! Do you live in Argentina now or have you moved to the US?

The Andersen Fam

<-- We are the White ones : )





Ahhhhh, my precious family. Aren't they adorable?! My oldest brother Christopher "Topher" Curtis (23), me (21), AnnaLina "Anni" Ruby (15), Austin Max (17), Megumi "Meg" Marie (9), and my mom (Venice Talbot) my dad (Curtis Charles) both of which I'm pretty sure are upwards of 100 years old. hehe Sorry Alyisa I couldn't find a picture of you so as soon as I get a good one I'll put it on. For those of you who don't have the pleasure of knowing my amazing family Alysia is Topher's wife, 20 years old, and the only sane one. hehe

I just can't understand how my parents could say I was a difficult child...Look at that face--pure innocence.

Adorable, Lovable, Deplorable (hmm) MISTY!!

Now we can move on the the best part of the blog...baby pictures of ME!!! hehe

Well my life is a lot more boring than Jose's. I was born of goodly parents (hehe) and raised in Farmington Utah. I grew up dancing from the time I could walk and I now teach dance for Elite Dance Productions.

I have three brothers and two sisters (all of whom I absolutely adore!). I fall second in the family but was first to get married (but only by two weeks), I barely squeeked by my older brother on that one! In fact my brother and I have always tended to do things together...we were born the same day (although three years apart), and we also had our first child very close together. I think we were supposed to be twins but I didn't want to have to share the uterus with him. haha

Jose then and Now

I (Jose) was born the 23 of May 1985 in Rancho Pabileros Guanajuato Mexico. My dad died when I was three. Life was always very difficult. I have 6 other brothers and 6 sisters. I have to come here to the US in June 2003 in order to help support my family. I have been here ever since. My entire family (minus one brother and one sister) moved here as well in December of 2006. I like soccer and road biking and my wife. Here are some pictures of me growing up and my family.

An Intro to our Family

Hello everyone! Topher and Alyssia's blog inspired me to sit down and make one for my own family. Thanks guys!

I guess I should start out with an introduction to our little family...

Jose and I had our first date on Jan. 29 2005. We Jose (naturally) fell in love with me and proposed the next date. Haha I said no but he was persistant. After a year of wearing me down I finally said yes on Feb. 22 2006.

We were at last sealed in the Salt Lake Temple at 2:22 pm on the 22 of Feb. 2007.

He is my strength and the love of my life. Jose is my husband, my best friend, my example, and my unwaivering rod. In short, he is my "Moroni." I thank God everyday for sending him to me and for patiently guiding us through life's challenges to make it this far.