April Happenings...

This has been a busy month! It all started April 1st with my birthday. We spent time with the family in Orange Beach and on April 2nd Lucas started crawling on his hands and knees. He was "sniper crawling" before. He would pull with his arms and push with one leg - actually one toe!

The month has flown by, and I think part of the reason is because I keep trying to forget that Lucas is now 11 months old. Where has time gone?! It is such a mix of feelings! On one hand, I am so proud of my baby boy and all of the milestones he has achieved; but on the other hand, I am so sad to know that his "baby-days" are coming to an end! Don't get me wrong... he will ALWAYS be my sweet baby boy. But, from now on he will be considered a toddler. He is pulling up everywhere and cruising around the house. His favorite word is definitely "Ghack" (Jack, our dog), he loves to clap and sing. He says maa-ma and ball (more like bahw). We love to sing the FSU War Chant for him and watching swing his little hand in the tomahawk motion (Go 'Noles!) He makes all kinds of other noises that I just don't know how to spell. Lucas also says agua (water in Spanish) and absolutely loves the bath!

I love the fact the he has finally hit somewhat of separation anxiety. It's not too bad - normally he can be distracted with a toy and be okay - I just love the fact that he knows who we are and that we are here to love and protect him. The other day Lucas was napping and he woke up after 1 hour (which was weird cause he normally naps for 2 hours in the afternoon) so I went to check on him. He was crying, still with his eyes closed and it took me a little while to calm him down. I finally sat on the rocker and sat him on my lap, facing me, with his head on my chest and started to hum a song my mom used to sing for my sister and I. He went back to sleep, but if I tried to move he'd start making noises. It has been many months since I just sat and let my baby sleep on my chest; so I did! As I was sitting there I just started praying for him, every part of his body. It was such a sweet moment! I prayed for everything from his first steps to his walk with Christ. I prayed for guidance, obedience, contempt, strength, and love - among others. I prayed for his future as a child of God and his part in HIS perfect plan. I prayed for his future friend, girlfriends, and wife. After talking to a friend of mine, I decided to pray every day for his teachers, his wife, and his salvation. Thanks Christi! Anyways, all this to say that this was one of the sweetest moments I have spent with Lucas in a few months. I thank God for the privilege HE has given us by allowing us to be the parents of such a wonderful, healthy boy!

In other news, today Tyler and I are celebrating our 7th anniversary! YEAH!!!! We can hardly believe it has been that long! We are grateful to have each other to lean on everyday. We have seen some awesome moments and also some tough moments; but with Christ EVERYTHING is possible; God is love and love NEVER fails! We celebrated last friday (4/23) by going out to eat at Shark Fin and then to the movies. The plan was to pick up sushi and to watch the sunset at the beach. However, it rained all day so we went to plan B! Tyler's parents kept Lucas; it was wonderful to spend some time alone; even-though we talked about Lucas half of the time.

Also, this month my sister moved to Chile to pursue yet another degree. It has been a battle to take Victoria (her daughter) out of Costa Rica; but God has opened doors and she will be flying to Chile early in the month of May. Daniela won a scholarship that pays for her school and expenses so we are very proud of her! We hope to see them in December when we travel to Costa Rica. We pray for them daily; for God to continue working in her life and let her be light and salt in a foreign country.

It has been such a busy month, but here we are now at the end of it working the final details for Lucas's 1st birthday party. Today, a year ago I was 39 1/2 weeks pregnant and my mom was here with us waiting for the arrival of her first grandson. Today, we thank our Lord Jesus for an incredible year and look forward to the coming years.

Here are some pictures now...

Lucas and Kaison

Happy Easter!

Back... again!

I know I am a really bad blogger and I know I start all of my posts apologizing for taking so long from post to post. So here we are again. I will try to update monthly and you'll hope I do - lol!

So many things have happened since October... let's see; Lucas' Dedication, Fall, Christmas, New Years, Snow in Florida, Tyler's 30th Birthday, and of course, Lucas' milestones! So, to make a long list short - here we go:

Lucas' Dedication: Sunday, October 4, 2009 at Olive Baptist Church. It was a very special time for us to dedicate the child God has giving us back to him. We are so thankful that God gave us Lucas; we know he belongs to HIM but we are honored to be his earthly parents. Here is a picture from that day:

Fall: We had our annual Fall Festival at church and we went as a family this year. We normally volunteer and but dressed Lucas up and went to enjoy the activities. Lucas was a giraffe and he loved the attention. Later we went trick or treating with Jenny, Paul and Ella. We also went to pick a pumpkin that afternoon and carved it.

Christmas: We had a wonderful Christmas. We went to the Candlelight service at church on Christmas eve and then went to Tyler's parent's house for dinner and to open presents. Lucas enjoyed all the presents and particularly the bows! He went to bed and we stayed up opening presents. Afterwards, we came home and on Christmas morning had our first Christmas morning as a family of three. Tyler made pancakes and we checked out what Santa left for Lucas. Tyler read for us the "Christmas story" and we then headed to Jenny and Paul for lunch and fun with the family.

New Years: We welcomed the New Year at the Tyner's house. They had a bunch of people over and we enjoyed each other's babies. As usual we played Rock Band and Trivial Pursuit!

Snow in Florida: We had a very cold winter. So cold that it actually snowed in Pensacola. Not enough to stick but enough to cancel schools and close workplaces haha. We drove to Brewton to enjoy the 2 inches of snow (or so) and had a great time!

Tyler's 30th Birthday: I surprised Tyler with a trip for his 30th Birthday. I asked for his days off at work and church and we went to New York City for 4 days. There we met our friends Juan Carlos and Veronica . Tyler was so surprised! He had no clue about the trip and then even more surprised to see JC and Kena there! We had a wonderful time. It was hard to leave Lucas for the first time, but he was in great hands. He stayed with Jenny, Paul and Ella. I loved NYC! I can go back every year if we could!

Central Park

Brooklyn Bridge

Our friend Kena took these wonderful pictures at the Brooklyn Bridge; she is so talented that has won awards for her pictures. You can visit her awesome website VEMB Photography

Lucas's milestones: By now Lucas very mobile. He crawl (well... scoots!) pulls up on everything. He also has a walker which he loves and allows him to follow jack around the house. He also is "talking" a lot! Gahck (Jack) is probably his favorite word right now. Also, bah, and mamma. He said his first Spanish word: Agua (water) I am so proud! We are working on Daa-da. He makes a lot of funny noises too. He's such a little boy hitting everything together to make noise. Loves to be outside; specially the swings at the park. Lucas loves music; he starts dancing and I promise he sometimes sings!

He is 10 months old and 3 weeks. We are starting to think about his first birthday party... so bittersweet to me. The great thing is that he has many friends who's birthday are very close to his so I don't feel lonely about feeling sad that he's growing up. Our baby club is growing and so are our babies!

I will update again soon; lots to talk about and share.

After a few months w are back on!

I now it has been a loooong time since I've updated the blog; I want to be better about it and I will try. Lucas is growing fast and getting more and more fun every day. I love looking into his eyes and see how he's exploring the world around him. He has been sleeping through the night for a few months now and we love it! He can now roll over from his belly to his back. We have also introduced solids; he loves oatmeal cereal, green beans, sweet potatoes, and carrots. We tried sweet peas but that didn't go too well... he gagged, threw up, and cried bloody murder... Needless to say we haven't tried it again; but we will.

I have gone back to work; I am working part time which is nice, but I do wish I could spend all day long with my baby boy. While I'm at work Lucas goes to Marcus Pointe Daycare. We are very happy with the place. The teachers are very sweet and experienced. After I pick him up we come home and hang out. Now, since the weather has cooled down we are jogging in the afternoons before dinner time. I think we both have a good while exercising.

I have taken a bunch of pictures of Lucas (as you can imagine) so I put a slide show together with pictures from birth to now. Just a few of them...

Enjoy it.... 'till next time!

Greetings from Costa Rica!

I finally have some time to get online and check emails... I have been so busy! My mom took some time off and went to the beach with her husband so I am left alone to care for Lucas and Victoria, my 1 year and 7 months old niece. Thank the Lord my dad took this week off of work and is helping me with Victoria. She is a wonderful, full of energy little girl.

Few things have happened that I want to write about, however, Lucas just woke up and I have to go now. I do want to post a picture of Victoria meeting Lucas for the first time. It was early in the morning and he was asleep but she could not wait to give him a kiss... too sweet.

1 month old later...

So it has been a while since I update the blog and I know I keep saying that I'll be better about it but the truth is my days go by so fast and I feel like I'm so busy that I just forgot. It's funny that I feel so tired at the end of the day and all I do is care for a 7 week old all day and night.

Lucas is now 7 and 1/2 weeks old; he is growing very fast (13 lbs) and everyday a little bit cuter... ok, maybe I see it that way cause he's my son. He is a very good baby; stays in his crib even when he's awake and loves loves loves his swing. He can sleep in that swing for hours! He loves to look at the ducks on top and "talk" to them. He is very much into paying attention at his surroundings and smiles when we talk to him. I just love that smile so I figure I'd share it with you guys here in the blog's main picture.

Our daily routine is pretty much the same everyday and I have enjoyed having my mom here. She has been a wonderful help...specially the first few weeks and then when I got sick. Yes, I got sick and it was bad; I got mastitis which is an infection in the breast when you're breastfeeding. It's all flu-like symptoms plus really bad pain in one breast. I had 102 temperature and could not even hold Lucas since the pain went all the way down my arm. Tyler and my mom were a huge help; my mom even cared for Lucas one night so I could get a whole night of sleep. Like that was not bad enough I got mastitis a second time about 2 weeks ago. Apparently when you get it once it's very likely you get it again. TMI??? Sorry!

The good news is that Lucas and I are going to Costa Rica!!!! YAY!! I am so excited! My dad could not wait to meet his grandson so he's paying for our tickets to go down there the whole month of July! GLORY!!!! I was able to push back my return-to-work-date and my mom and I are flying together on July 07. I am a bit nervous about flying back with him; mainly cause I have to come back by myself. Also, I don't know how he'll do in the plain. I hope he's as good as he's at home; but you never know... Babies are full of surprises! Besides that, I am super excited cause my aunt and family from California will be in CR as well and we are going to have all kinds of family get-togethers.

I want to take Lucas to get some pictures taken at a studio and take my niece Victoria to take a picture with him and give it as a present to my parents... they would love that! My sister cannot wait to hold sweet Lucas and even mentioned "trading babies" for a little while hahaha she's so funny! I think now that she has a toddler she misses the baby stage.

Sine I mentioned that Lucas loves to smile, here is a video so you can see him and smile with him. I will take a bunch of pictures while in CR and share the best ones once we get back.

I have to say that I love motherhood! It's not easy, it's very tiring, and it's something new every day; but I won't change it for anything. Some days I feel like I got nothing done around the house and that my day went by and at 4pm I haven't even shower... But then I think about my sweet Lucas and how he takes all of my energy and time, and how it all goes away when I see him smile or sleep like an angel.

By the way!! Now that I said sleep like an angel; my sweet little angel is now sleeping 6 hours at night. It is SO NICE! It's a big step; the first week he was waking up every hour or so to eat; then every 2 or 3 hours that that was nice; then 4 hours and that was even nicer! But 6 hours?! Whooo hoooo!!! The first night I freaked out; I got up and checked that he was breathing; it scared me to death; but there he was snoring. The only down side to that is that he wakes up starving and therefore screaming his head off. But he eats and goes right back to sleep... I love that little boy!!

We have to see the pediatrician and get shots before we leave the country. I am so NOT looking forward to that appointment. It's going to be very bad for me to see him cry in pain; I'll have to write about that then.

Oh! There's my cue!! I hear crying!! 'Till next time...

...And Baby Makes Three!

I know it has been a month or so since I updated the blog and a lot has happened. The most important event: Lucas Tyler Kepner is here!!! He was born via emergency C-Section on May 1st at 5:10 pm; weighed 8 lbs 6.4 oz and was 20 3/4" long.  

About the delivery... since Lucas decided to hang out in mommy's belly up until my due date we decided to induce labor on May 1st. I was always told that he was a big baby so I really did not want to go past my due date. I was admitted to Sacred Heart Hospital at midnight on Friday; at about 1 am I was set up in a room with an IV, full hospital gown, oxygen, and ice chips. Tyler and my mom were there to support me but at this time we all decided to sleep. At 3:00 am my water broke (yes, on its own) so I thought this was going to be a nice and quick process. Oh the wishful thinking! After that, things started progressing pretty fast except for Lucas not dropping where he needed to be so I could push him out. I believe it was around noon time when I was finally 10 cm dilated and the contractions were so close together that it seemed like one big contraction that never stopped and I was ready to push him out! Well, Lucas was not ready; he was too comfy in there and was not any lower than what he was 6 hours before. At that moment We knew we had to sit and wait on the baby for a bit longer so I decided to call in for the epidural! After that I was able to rest and sleep for a little while.

Finally the nurse decided to let me push and see if baby had moved down; so I did. I pushed for about an hour and nothing! Then I rested some more and at about 3:30 pm started to push again with not much happening. The doctor finally made it to my room at about 4:00 pm and by this time I was worried that Lucas had been there for 13 hours without the amniotic fluid; also if I pushed some more and his head does come out - what about his shoulders? Are they going to "fit"? Also, I was exhausted; I did not have a drop of energy left in me. To make matters worse; I had nothing to eat since dinner the night before and ice chips were not doing it for me anymore. The doctor offer to use the forceps or "the vacuum" to help the baby come out. At this time I knew he was not coming out; something in me just felt it; I had been pushing for a total of 1 hour and 45 min approximately and he hadn't come out! I DID NOT want to use the "help" so I asked for a C-Section. Very quickly they prepared me for surgery and after signing some paper work I was on my way to the O.R.

Being in the OR was surreal - it was a totally different experience.  I guess cause I had never been in an OR before I could not help but looking around and try to figure out what they were going to do to me. However, I had a bad case of "the shakes"... Oh yes! I was shaking uncontrollably. It was pretty bad; my arms would shake so bad that kind of freak Tyler out. Everybody kept asking me if I was cold but I wasn't. They kept bringing warm blankets -which was nice- but nothing helped. Finally Tyler was able to come in and the surgery started. It was weird to lay there knowing they are cutting you open and getting the baby out and not feeling anything. Tyler was watching the whole thing - he was fascinated with the process. He also took some pretty graphic pictures when only the head was out, baby out, etc. He also got to cut the umbilical cord and was able to see the cleaning process. 

After surgery the doctor gave me some kind of drug to stop the shakes which made me very drowsy -let's just say that I was not making sense and speaking to Tyler in Spanish- I felt asleep and woke up in the recovery room where my mom was waiting on me. Tyler's family had the chance of meeting Lucas right after he was born. Even before they saw me they were able to meet him; They were all there waiting to meet him... Mom, Jenny and Ella had been there since the morning so I am sure they were super excited that he finally arrived!

We stayed in the hospital until Monday at 11:00 am. I was so ready to be back at home and eat some good food. You have to understand that I was on a liquid diet for two days at the hospital and it was getting very old very quick! We got home and my mom had made a delicious chicken and vegetable soup (unlike the broth I was having at the hospital). The first few days of recovery were hard. I needed help for everything. Could not get up or down by myself; could not sit or stand without help; and the list goes on. Tyler took a week off of work and that was very helpful. He would get up at night and change Lucas then handed him to me so I could feed him. 

Lucas is now 4 weeks old! Crazy fast!!! he is a very healthy baby boy. We are very happy and everyday we learn something new. He eats a lot and very often so I feel like that's all I do in my day. We thank our Lord Jesus everyday for the blessing Lucas is in our lives and the lives of our families. Here are few pictures now so you can enjoy him...

40 Weeks and still waiting

So here we are at 40 weeks and we are still waiting to meet our sweet baby Lucas. What can I say? Being uncomfortable is now part of my daily life and the fact that everyday I wake up expecting contraction is driving me crazy. I mean, who wakes up or goes to sleep praying for contractions?!?! 

We went to see the doctor yesterday and she asked me what I wanted to do. I am not a fan of keeping the baby in my belly any longer that the established time. Here is the thing; in the last 2 ultrasounds (28 and 35 weeks) Lucas' gestational age has been 2 weeks ahead of his time. Meaning he measured 30 and 37 respectively when he was only 28 and 35 weeks. I don't want him to be "overdone" lol! So, after much thought and consideration we decided on inducing labor on Friday, May 1st. We will be "checking in" at Sacred Heart Hospital at midnight and sometime that morning start having contractions...and hopefully later on have a baby. I know it can be a slow process and I have been trying to get myself ready. 

Tyler and my mom will be with me the whole time and then as soon as things start moving forward we will be making the call to Tyler's family. Once baby arrives then they (Tyler and family) will be calling and texting our long list of people. We are very excited about finally meeting sweet Lucas and about calling you and letting you know.  Please be praying for us.

We are hoping for a natural delivery... don't get me wrong; if medication is needed it will be requested soon; I think what I mean is that I would like to avoid the C-Section. HOWEVER, if that's what God has planned for us and the doctor recommends it then bring it on! Lucas seems to be a big baby but since I am not "narrow" then is hard to tell if he's going to "fit." In fact, we won't know until we try it. We are as ready as we can be - although I don't know if you can ever be completely ready - but I do know that I cannot wait to hold Lucas in my harms.

OK, so that's all I got for now... we will be blogging soon hopefully with baby pictures. Thank you all for your prayers.

Let the fun begin....