My daughter likes shoes like her mom...

Some Addie Pics...

There is an update and some pics on Addie's website. Non-Addie post coming soon.

Addie...

To get an update on Addison you can go here.

If I had been born just a little earlier...

There is this website circulating around the internet right now called Yearbook Yourself. You should go check it out. This is what I would have looked like if I had graduated in 1974, which is when my parents did. I am putting a picture of me and then my mom in 1974 up and you can see the eerie resemblance. Well at least the hair. :-)

Sorry mom to post your picture. I think you look pretty though.

God Loves You...

God loves us no matter what, but how come we can't always wrap our brains around this? If you are a parent you love your child no matter what they do. Right? God loves us the same way, yet I think we just get into the daily routine of life and forget this (I know I'm generalizing and this isn't everyone). God loves us in a completely unconditional way. This means under any circumstance that we may encounter he loves us. This means that no matter how much we think we've sinned he still loves us. I try communicating this to my students all the time: No matter what you do God will always love you even if you feel like you have the crappiest life and it seems like no one is there. I write this because I know that there is a lot of hurting people out there and a lot of people who think they have to do it on their own.

So... remember today when you think you are all alone or you may have done something stupid that God loves you for who you are, flaws and all.

Check It Out...

My friend Sarah just started a blog. She's a pretty awesome person and amazing youth worker. Go check it out!

A Video

I figured out how to post videos on youtube and below is my first Addison video. I know I have now officially entered the mommy world when you can hear me talking in a higher pitched voice than usual on the video.



I hope you enjoyed this little video. I'm sure there are a lot more to come.

Some New Pics...

I have a few moments while my daughter is happily sitting in her bouncer to post a few new pictures of Addison. She is now 5 weeks old and still doesn't have her nights and days figured out, but hopefully she will figure it out soon. Enjoy the pics...

Introducing Addison Rose Lovato...

We Did It!

Addie has finally arrived! She came into this world on Wednesday, July 23rd at 5:28am. She was 20 inches long and 9 pounds 13 ounces. If you would like to see pictures of her you can check out her blog here.

Once I get the hang of this parenting thing :-) I will post more blogs.

I've got hobbit feet and I'm ready for some action...

My feet are pretty much swollen all the time right now unless I don't walk on them all day. When I do elevate my feet though the swelling goes down pretty much to nothing. I'm hoping that Addie will come any day now (actually any minute would be even better).

People keep telling me that "the first one always comes late." Not true. I came a week early and I was the first one. None of my moms kids came late. I'm pretty much set out to prove all those people wrong so I'm hoping this girl gets here within the next week. Even the nurses at my NST appointment saw that I was scheduled to come in this morning and they said they actually checked to see if I'd already had the baby. One of the nurses said that I've been coming in so long that she thought surely by now I've popped this baby out. Obviously not the case when they saw me.

I will be 39 weeks on Monday. Pregnancy is sooooo long the last few weeks.

In my family both my sister and I are born on our grandma and grandpas birthdays, my brothers birthday is the day before my other grandmas birthday. So, my moms birthday is Tuesday. I 'm thinking that Addie is just waiting to come out and share her birthday with her grandma.

Let's just hope she comes out soon, like tonight... or maybe tomorrow... because tonight would be too quick and I'm gonna need that epidural!

Kaiser must think I'm a single mom...

On Tuesday night I had signed up for a class at Kaiser. This class was all about teaching you to breastfeed your baby (sorry for the explicitness) :-) ! Mike and I had decided a while ago that he didn't need to come, after all he's not going to be the one feeding the baby so what would he really need to know. Apparently I didn't get the memo that said you should bring your husband because out of the 15 people that were there I was the only one without a significant other. It's a bit awkward to simulate feeding a baby with 7 other men in the room. (This coming from me and I'm not super shy about things). The nurse kept shooting me these sad looks every time she would say something about your spouse bringing you the baby at night, etc. I thought it was a little bit rude, but mostly funny. One of the other nurses had to be my partner to show me what it will be like when my spouse hands me the baby at night. This nurse preceded to ask me if my husband wasn't here because he was working. I said that he sort of was (he was supposed to be working on his message for Wednesday night). I told her he was a pastor and working on his message and she asked me, "Wow! How did you snag a minister?" I was a little caught off guard and told her we just happened to meet in college. After this we didn't talk again, so I didn't have to explain anything more to her. Overall, the class was pretty informative, but it's a bit hard to simulate feeding a doll as opposed to a baby that actually moves. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully soon! :-)

A website for our daughter...

I set up a blog to post pictures of Addie and to update people on her life once she arrives. You can check it out here. Enjoy!

Any day now...

Addison has three more weeks till she is supposed to arrive but I'm okay with her coming any day now. Everything is pretty much as ready as it can be for her to come. I'm excited for her to get here so we can see what she looks like. Above are some pictures of her room. All we have left is to get a mattress, but she won't need that for another month or so. All my tests have been looking good, so we just have to wait and see how everything goes when she finally gets here. Thank you for all you prayers and encouragement during this time. We truly appreciate it!

An Update on Addison Rose...

I'm sorry for those who read my blog that I haven't updated in a while. It's been a crazy few weeks. I have seven more weeks to go and everything aches. My back, my belly, my feet, my back, my sides. Did I mention my back? :-) I have to go in twice a week for non stress tests and every two weeks to a special doctor. They found some extra fluid by Addie's heart, so please be praying that she comes out healthy. The one great thing about going to the "special" doctor every two weeks is that we get to have new ultrasound pics of our daughter all the time. I'll post them below so you can see how cool they are and they also did those creepy 3D pics, but ours look pretty awesome and we didn't have to pay any money for them.

Our Baby is a Cutie...

I had to have another ultrasound today, which resulted in us getting to see more pictures of Addie. I will post them below. I would ask that you continue to keep us in your prayers because I have a few more tests and a doctor's appointment this week. I'll try writing a post to update you next week on everything that has gone on this week.

And now for the fun stuff:

This was cute because we got to see her little tongue moving. I'm glad to know that my kid has a tongue so she can eat and talk. Her face is turned to the side looking out at everyone. Her mouth and tongue are down by her arm.

This is the fae looking at us again. The large black area is her brain area.


This is a profile of her. That would be her foot. sticking up not what you may think. She is definitely a girl, but I decided I wouldn't expose her this time since her anatomy is much more defined. :-)


This was the most awesome pic which if you can't tell one of her feet.

She is already 3.5 pounds, which in all the books I read it says she should be around 2.5 or 2.7 pounds at 29 weeks. Either I'm further along or she's super big. We'll know more tomorrow. Once again, thanks for all your prayers during this time. They are very much appreciated.

2.5 Months to Go...

I am sooooo ready to have this baby. I am still on "modified bed rest" so my life hasn't been particularly interesting these last few weeks. I go on Monday to have another ultrasound to make sure with my high blood pressure and everything that Addison is growing right. I then go on Tuesday to see my midwife and hopefully everything goes well with her and all my blood work. Above are some of my seventh month pictures. Hope you enjoy!!

My Weekend...

My weekend was not a very exciting one but had a little more action than my week. My wonderful husband was gone at a retreat this weekend.

This is my husband after Mexico with the "lovely" beard he grew while down there.

.I had to have blood drawn on Thursday and this is what my arm looks like:


I think it was the lab techs first time becasue it took her forever to draw two viles of blood and she pinched my arm when pulling the needle out. Not to mention the lovely bruise she left for me. I have never bruised while giving blood before and I had to give five viles one time and it probably took the lady no more than a minute to take all that. It took this lady about two minutes. Oh well.

On Friday I hung out on my couch and my mom and sister brought me dinner. Then on Saturday my whole family (mom, dad, bro, sis) came over and mowed the front and backyards and cleaned up our patio and pulled about a hundred weeds. It was amazing. I love my parents. Not just because they did this but because they are just so willing to do those things at anytime. They also made it easier for Mike when he comes home not to have to do that. I don't have any before pics but it was pretty bad. The side yard was so bad my dad used the weed whacker to take the grass down to a normal level. My dad also felt bad because he weed whacked an alligator lizard in half. Here are some after pics and all the bags they filled up:

They also filled up the entire green waste can. It was pretty crazy.

In the afternoon my mom took me to get a pedicure. This was extremely nice and since all I was doing was sitting down during it we figured this could count as "couch" rest.

I apologize to anyone who thinks feet are gross, but mine aren't too bad in this picture especially given that I just had a pedicure.

I spent the night at my parents house and came home this morning to sit on my couch some more. And that folks was my weekend in words and pictures.

I'm a Couch Potato...

On Monday morning I had a regular doctors appointment. When I got to the nurses station she weighted me like they always do and took my blood pressure. I ended up having high blood pressure and I had gained about 11 pounds in three weeks. Now I know I'm supposed to gain weight during pregnancy but this seemed a bit odd. They weighted me about three times and took my blood pressure. After talking with my mid wife the end result was that they needed to take some more blood, (I had already had blood drawn before my appointment that morning.) and I had to do this thing they call a non stress test (NST). The non stress test is where they check my blood pressure and the babies blood pressure and also they check to make sure the fluids are all good. My test turned out great. Everything looked fine. My blood tests came back negative also. I was also put on couch rest. This basically means that I can go to the bathroom and that I shouldn't do any housework or stand for long periods of time. Needless to say, I have been pretty bored all week sitting on my couch.

I had to take another NST on Thursday and the nurse looked at me kind of crazy and asked why I still had to come in if all my lab results looked good. I didn't know, so she talked to my doctor and my doctor ordered one last test to see if I have high levels of protein in my urine. If this is the case I could possibly be developing hypertension in pregnancy (PIH) or preeclampsia. There are things they can do to help with these, but the best remedy is giving birth (weird, I know). It can be pretty common for women to get these things in their first pregnancies. So... from Friday morning to Saturday morning I had to collect my pee in a large jug and then drop it off at the Kaiser Lab on Saturday. It was sort of funny having to carry a large jug of pee (in a brown bag) to the lab and stand in a line for a few minutes.

I have a doctors appointment on Wednesday, so hopefully my lab results will be negative and I just had a weird moment of high blood pressure. :-)

My Husband...

He comes home tomorrow! Yeah!!!! I am so excited! He has been in Mexico all week building a house with about 25 other adults and students! I don't typically get too sad when he's gone because I can usually talk to him and update him on every detail of my life at the moment. Unfortunately he has no cell service in Mexico so I can't have any discussions with him until tomorrow. I did get a message from his intern Ben who went down for a day. That was nice, but not the same as hearing Mike actually deliver it. It will be soooo nice to have him back home and spend a few days hanging out and relaxing together because I'm sure he will need it. So, tomorrow at five I will be super excited to see my husband in all his glory covered in Mexico dirt and possibly a "beard." I'll post a picture if he has a beard. :-)