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). **************