Sleepy Boy

My kid can sleep anywhere. Here is a little collection of him sleeping.

09/08/09 - AJ is only 4 days old here. I love how he had his hand propping up his head just like a little man.

09/09/09 - Seeing AJ hold his daddy's thumb really puts into perspective how amazing life is. Looking at this picture, it's hard to believe that someday his hands will be as big as his dad's.

09/10/09 - Catching flies in Grandma's arms.

09/11/09 - Fell asleep in dad's hand but felt like someone was watching him. He gives this look a lot. We call it "shifty eye". It's like he thinks there's a party going on at all times and doesn't wanna miss it, so he cracks open an eye to see what he might be missing.

09/13/09 - Fell asleep in mom's lap with his little hands up. In every ultrasound, his fists were up like this protecting his little face.

09/15/09 - Sweet baby boy fell asleep swaddled in his swing.

09/16/09 - Here's AJ in his bassinet shielding his little eyes from the light.

09/30/09 - This is my favorite picture of him sleeping. He literally fell asleep while sitting up in my hand.

Rough Life!

As you can see, AJ has it really rough. He acts like such a big boy already - holding his own pacifier and lounging with his hands behind his head.

Doing Laundry

I'm trying to get AJ started early with his chores. He sat on the couch with me while I folded laundry. AJ helped fold a couple of daddy's socks which are huge next to my little man. I told AJ that someday those socks would fit him....crazy to think about actually!

Visiting My Salon Girls

AJ is almost 2 weeks old, but I was getting a little stir crazy in the house so I took him to visit all the girls at the Salon I go to. I actually used to be the receptionist at a different salon that they used to work at - it was my first job - and I later became a nanny for Debi, one of the owners. Here I am with my little man. He looks so tiny in this picture.

Grandpa Holds AJ

Here's my dad, Grandpa Tahran, holding little AJ. We've been having a hard time getting him to hold AJ - I think it's a 'man' thing.

Leaving the Hospital

After staying only one night in the hospital, we were informed that mom and baby are both healthy enough to go home if we would like to. Of course we would rather be home. Before we left the hospital, we had a few visitors and took some pictures.

Meet Nevaeh. She is 2 months older than AJ. I think she's hungry.

This is Nevaeh's mom Starr.

Antonio wanted to try out the hospital bed. He slept on a luxurious squeaky cot all night.

AJ sleeping in his dad's arms.

Our Stay in the Hospital

Here are a few pictures of our little guy in the hospital.

yawning

sleeping

looking at daddy

Welcome Baby AJ!

We would like to introduce our son, Antonio D. Valencia, Jr., born on September 4th, 2009 at 12:32pm. He weighed in at 6lbs 5oz and was 19 inches long. Daddy managed to get this awesome picture of AJ immediately after he was born. I cannot begin to tell you how amazing and perfect he is. We are definitely blessed!

We're REALLY Having a Baby!!!

After 18 hours of pitocin and dilating to 3cm, the doctor broke my water at 9am on Friday, September 4, 2009. Words cannot describe the pain of contractions. Everyone tells you that it is unimaginable pain, and you think to yourself "Yeah, I know it's gonna hurt. My body is opening up to have a human." But nothing, absolutely nothing, can prepare you for this kind of hurt. I can honestly say that if someone offered me death, or to keep going, during that first contraction, I would have definitely chosen death.

Because I knew that having a baby was probably going to hurt, I had but one item on my birthing plan: Epidural. Many women want to try to do it "naturally" so that they get the full experience. I had absolutely no desire to do anything naturally or feel any of it. My desire was to play cards or take a nap my entire labor and only partake in the pushing. Unfortunately, life had a different plan for me. The problem I was facing was that during the child birth class, I completely tuned out the breathing portion since I was going to be drugged up. Antonio actually even asked the instructor for another partner in class because I wasn't paying any attention. I told him "I don't need to know this, I'm going to get drugs". I am an idiot.

Anywho, I immediately asked for an epidural when the first contraction came and they told me I would have to wait a bit since they just broke my water. They wanted to make sure the baby didn't go into shock. I about when into shock. I'm sorry, 'have to wait'? How many of those bone splitting contractions was I going to have to endure before getting the sweet taste of epidural? After watching the spikes of about 3 or 4 more contractions, the nurse got the anesthesiologist. I cannot stress this enough to all of the "natural" birth women out there - GET THE EPIDURAL. You get no medal for having a baby naturally. You get no extra respect when you tell people you did it naturally either. They will all just look at you like you're crazy, not admirable.

I have heard many stories of my friends getting the epidural and feeling nothing the entire birth. I wish that was the case for me. Although I didn't feel the contractions, I felt everything else. Everything. The pressure was so uncomfortable that in between contractions, I was throwing up. My poor mom was holding a leg while I pushed and then holding a bowl for me to throw up in. I began pushing at 12:03pm and the doctor told me to push 3 times during each contraction. I did this a few times and then just covered my face and began to cry. There is no way humanly possible that this baby is going to come out. It hurt so bad. I could feel every tear each time I pushed. On the last set of 3 pushes, the doctor looked at me and said "if you have one more push in you, this baby will be out." I grabbed my knees and pushed. I wanted this over with.

At 12:32pm Antonio Jr. (AJ) entered the world. Thank God I only had to push for about 30 minutes. I was so exhausted just from that. They put AJ on my chest, he looked me right in the eyes and I instantly began to cry. AJ then looked over at Antonio very slowly and then back at me. He was so quiet and perfect and an absolute miracle. I cannot believe he's mine.