October 18th 2010

Abraham's actual birthday day was full of quality time. I love that. For breakfast, we gave him his first chocolate croissant :) (a megan and saul favorite). We also got donuts from our new favorite local donut shop. After his morning/ afternoon nap we headed over to the Santa Ana Zoo and my parents met us there. Abraham LOVED it (I actually don't know who loved it more - Saul or Abraham...) It's a cute little zoo with lots of monkeys, kangaroos, llamas, anteaters, horses, goats (which were Abraham's favorite), ducks, etcetera. We had a lot of fun. Later, we went to Ruby's with Gagi, my parents, Papi and Mireya. It was fun and mellow - just good quality time with family.

The Most Beautiful (and fastest) Year of Our Lives

A year ago today (10/17/2009), I was admitted into the hospital a week before my actual due date. I want to write down this WONDERFUL

memory to share it (with the few people who read this), and so that I can always read it again and again.

It was a saturday, and Saul had made me breakfast in bed. We went on a pretty long walk, and when we came back to our condo at 21 Anil, I went to the bathroom and I was bleeding. I was SO scared. We immediately called my OB/GYN and he said to go to the hospital. The amniotic fluid levels were minimal and had been really low for about 2 weeks, and I was scheduled to be induced on monday. The only reason that our OB/GYN hadn't scheduled me to be induced earlier was because Mission Hospital had told him that they were packed full of patients this particular weekend. SO.... Saul is nervously driving us to the hospital.... he was praying, I was praying, and we were listening to David Crowder. It's about a 15 minutes drive to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, and we were admitted without any hindrance. The nurses were so sweet, and they told us that they had been really busy in the morning, but by this time is was 2 pm, and they were really empty! They seemed so glad to see us and could tell that we were so excited/ nervous. The nurses hooked me up to a monitor and told me I was in labor, but very barely. They said that they could give me petosin (spelling??), a drug that speeds up the labor process, or go home and probably come back tomorrow morning to have the baby. Saul looked at me, and we decided to have the baby now. It took the petosin about 4 hours to give it's effect, and I still had a long way to go. My entire body started shaking when the contractions came, and I was in a lot of pain. Saul was really scared when my body shook. I had told my nurses that I was hoping to deliver naturally; by this point, my nurse told me that the epidural may speed up the labor process because it would allow me to relax. I asked Saul what I should do, and I told me that if this was him having the contractions, he would take the epidural. I just did it. I remember that I couldn't smile - even though I wanted to so badly because I knew what a joy was coming... and that really freaked me out. I was in so much pain. But after I got the epidural, within 15 minutes, I could smile again. I could feel pressure, but I could speak normally, smile gigantically, and enjoy the moments. I LOVED it! Within an hour and a half, I was pushing. And 15 minutes later, I have the last 2 pushes and Dr. Thein announced, "It's baby Abraham!" Hahaha... I was SO surprised! He immediately put him on my chest, and I cannot express the unfathomable love that I felt for Abraham Shaul Moreno. This is our son, a blessing from The Lord, and I love him SO much. It was at 2:18 am, sunday, October 18th, 2009. He was 6 pounds, 15 ounces, and totally healthy. Praise The Lord!!!!

Abraham's 1st Birthday Celebration!!!

Abraham's 1st Birthday party was so so so fun! So many family members and friends were a part of it; it was so much fun and Abraham had a great time. It was at the RSM "central park" also known as the city hall park. We had costco pizza and costco cake :) and my sister made Abraham a funfetti cake! It was a perfect sunny day - we wouldn't have changed a thing. My auntie Kim turned 50 on October 9th, 2010 and it was so nice of her to share that day for Abraham's 1st birthday celebration! This weekend my sister was able to come out from Texas and stay for even longer because it was her fall break. Later that day, all of the family went out for dinner to celebrate auntie Kim's birthday. Abraham had never had a cake before, so he didn't really know what to do. Saul had to show him that it was okay to grab it. After a little while cake was everywhere (especially in his hair).

The day after his party, we dedicated Abraham before our church. We had met with our pastor and told him our hopes of raising Abraham by teaching him the laws of The Lord and raising him to be a follower and lover of Him. So, sunday morning most all of our family (and church family) prayed with us that we would raise him in that way. It was very special. Funny side-note is that while we were praying, Pastor John was holding Abraham and Abraham started slapping his face!!! :) we had to hold Abraham's hands for the last bit of the prayer. haha

The Colors Have Changed

September. So many changes; both the colors in the leaves and the weather, and also in our living situations and lives. Gagi stayed at our condo for about a week and a half at the end of August when she was released from the therapy place, and during that time shared with us that she thinks it would be good for us to live together. We had just recently payed the rent, so we have until the 28th of September to move out. We are glad to be moving in the Gagi, and the hope of pleasing The Lord is our strength. But no doubt, we will miss this place SO much. We have lived here for 14 months and have so many beautiful memories here.

Gagi settled back into her house on September 6th, and we all have been working so hard to organize, baby-proof, and sort through the things that Gagi wants to keep and things she wants to sell, donate, or throw away. We started with the family room, went to her bedroom in the front of the house, then the master bedroom (which we will have because she doesn't want to walk down the long hallway), then the backroom (which will be Abraham's room), then the dining room.

We moved in on the 22nd of September. We were so glad that we decided to move in early so that we could peacefully clean the condo before giving the keys back to our landlady while continuing to unpack our things at Gagi's.

Saul has the wonderful ability to organize VERY well, and he enjoys doing it! I know... I am a very blessed lady! :) We usually leave the organizing to him, and the cleaning to me. We try to act as Gagi's muscles and she sorts through her things and directs is as to where to put them.

Saul has done a great work with Gagi's home, and she has loved getting her house back to what it once was. Before having this hip replacement, it was hard for her to do many ordinary things. We are so glad to see her gain simplicity and peace from having a clean and organized home. We have been watering her front and back yard, and her grass and plants are growing again! We laid some seed before moving in, and now the lawn in the front yard is nearly covered with healthy grass. It's beautiful!

Abraham has been sleeping through the night and he has been loving his new room. It is sailboat themed. He has an adorable sailboat crib set, and I found an antique sailboat model that we have displayed high in his room. I hope to paint a sailboat on a giant canvas and hang it next to his crib. On the floor in his room we have foam squares of the alphabet and numbers. It really unites his room and it is so adorable. He loves the colors and loves to play on it. Our ikea billy bookcases that we had in our condo are now in Abraham's room. His room looks awesome and it is really organized.

The day that we gave our keys back to our landlady, Nena and Savi and Lucca (Saul's sister and our nephews that live in Santa Rosa) came down for a visit. We had a fun family dinner with them that evening, and Gagi was able to meet Lucca for the first time! They stayed for a few days and we were able to spend some good quality times throughout the days that they were here.

We can't believe that Abraham is getting so big! We are encouraging him to walk by holding his hands and walking with him. We try to only give him one hand to hold onto so that he has to balance more on his own. He seems to be improving day by day. He's getting so big and so old!!

August Memories

So, I'm kind-of cheating by editing the post date, but I'm doing it anyways. :)

August was a very fun, and eventful month! It really flew by and there were so many good things that happened... Abraham started cruising this month by holding on to furniture, walls, and pretty much anything he can grasp, and walks himself around! It is so adorable to watch. You know what people say about babies being better readers if they are good crawlers? Because of this, I discouraged Abraham's early attempts at walking and even the beginning of this kind of cruising... but Saul and I have come to realize that he will walk when he is able to walk. To hinder his development that he wants to happen more of a hindrance to him than anything else!

Something that we were glad to do this month was to care for Saul's grandma (we call Gagi/ Gaga). She had her second hip replacement, and we were able to taker her to the hospital August 10th for her surgery. She stayed in the hospital for about a week and then went to a rehabilitation/ therapy place for recovery.

Saul went on a mission trip to Ecuador August 22 and returns on September 1st. Saul is fluent in Spanish, and knew that God could greatly use that gift of his on this trip. In Ecuador, he and the rest of the group are paving the way for a bible college to be founded in Cuenca, Ecuador. They are meeting with pastors, discipling leaders, and handling the practical parts of it too. Saul and some of the other guys on the trip shared the love of Christ to some men at a heavy metal concert one night, and one man gave his life to The Lord! They visited orphanages, attended a small wedding, and visited children with cancer at a children's hospital. Some of the children accepted Christ and have their lives to Him. Hallelujah! Saul has had a great experience there.

One thing that God had put on Saul's heart and my heart was to move in with Gagi and live together. We felt we should do this to help care for her (to help her in recovery, help with her home, and just help her with some practical chores that may be hard for her), and to just live life together for a while. We present this idea to her a couple of days before Saul left for Ecuador and asked her to pray about it and think it over.

August, like I wrote before, has FLOWN by! Maddy left for college on August 10th, and we have missed her SO much. She seems to be loving life and has come to meet some great people in Texas. She is blessed with a wonderful roommate, and there are so many fun things for her to do. She is part of the sorority Delta Gamma, which my cousin Alexis is part of at a different college. I guess DGs run in the family. haha.

peace.

Goodness, Encouragement, and Love

July. I hope to be posting more than once a month, but I haven't gotten much better at this. On the Fourth of July, Saul, Abraham, and I went to Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Margarita for the first time (and Abraham went to his first Sunday School nursery for the first time!) Since this day, God has confirmed time and time again that this is where He wants us to be! It is so good to know this and has brought so much peace and rejuvenation to our family. Saul has benefitted so much by the Men's Bible study - and I have grown because of Saul. There are some great friends that Saul has now. I am so excited for the women's bible study to start in September! We have already made some awesome friends at CCRSM - one of which is the mission/ bible college teacher. We met with him just a couple of days ago and told him about our passion for "uncovering the islands of Indonesia." He traveled to Indonesia 5 years ago, and has wanted to go back for years. Talking with him, telling him our story, sharing with him what God has done and how He has inspired us - it is so good and such confirmation to us to have a like-minded mission pastor who can spur us on and build us up in God's love and wisdom! There are many areas around the world (and around RSM) that CCRSM is involved in

Abraham is now a "professional" crawler! :) He is so speedy on his hands and knees! He can also pull himself up and is in the beginning stages of "cruising." His new favorite food are the gerber berry yogurt drops. He can snack on those all day long. At the moment, I think Abraham has his very first cold - poor guy. We will be going to the doctors tomorrow. :( We at first thought that it was teething... but still NO teeth.

Maddy leaves for college at TCU SO soon! We are going to miss her so much. The next time she will be out here in California will for Abraham's birthday in October. I have some special surprises planned for her before she leaves :)

June Summed Up

Okay. Keeping up with this blog is harder than I thought. I am going to make a point to keep up with this more often. (my apologies for all who read it)

Can being busy be a good thing? This past month of June has been a really fun time for the Moreno family! This month Abraham has started crawling, pulling himself up, and sitting himself back down again. He is the cutest person I have every seen and I could watch him move his little self around all day long and love it! (and I literally do) At first he started with the "army crawl," and now he getting up on his knees and hands. My little sister, Maddy, graduated from high school this month! It wasn't too long ago that I did that - and it is SO funny/ weird for me to see her in this light. She will be going to TCU (Texas Christian University) this coming semester and leaving to move in there in 5 weeks!! So hard for me to believe it. Another great happening this month is that our good friend Andy came to stay with us for a week. Saul loves to spend time with Andy; they met at Westmont and played soccer together; he is a brother to Saul. We hit all of the places we usually take him to: the lake, Inka Mamas (our favorite restaurant), the tennis courts, the pool... and oh yeah! Saul and Andy ran up and down Saddleback Mountain - 22 miles long in 9 hours (they were hurting). Overall it was a good time of fellowship, encouragement, and quality times. In the last few days of June, we finally made a trip up to Santa Rosa to meet our nephew, Lucca! We have learned our lesson: when babies are born, you just have to drop everything and go meet them. Amen. Lucca is 3 months old now and such a tank! He is adorable, mellow, sweet, and solid. :) Savi is just as cute and smart as always and it was so good to see all of the Coons. We were able to stay with them for 3 nights and 4 days, which I loved - quality time is so good. Nena (Saul's sister Christina) and Nate showed us around Santa Rosa. We hiked (when it was like 102 degrees), shopped, watched "Remember Me" (don't ever see it), and toured the city. I just loved seeing Abraham with his cousins. I hope that they will be close - Lucca and Abraham are just 5 months apart.

June was a lot of fun.

Look for more posts more often! :)

Hola Senior

Saul and I are now Seniors at Liberty University Online. We finished these last courses (with much help from my mama taking care of Abraham while we worked on projects) and we have started another 2 classes. Liberty is on the quarter system, so we take 2 classes a quarter, 4 a semester, for a full work load! We take classes year-round, and we are hoping to be finished by the end of August of 2011. Possibly sooner, possibly later. Part of us wants to take it easier and take just one class a qaurter, and another part of us just wants to finish and be done!! :) How nice it will be when we ARE done. Sigh.

We got back a couple days ago from my cousin's/wonderful sister in Christ/one of my best friend's college graduation from Fresno State. She is going on to receive her teaching credentials, and it is so funny to see her do that because we would play "school" so often when we were young. I have always seen her as a teacher, and now she will professionally be one. :) She makes me smile. Her graduation party was so fun! There was dancing, and Saul and I actually got to dance. In high school we LOVED dancing together - not only at school dances, but we would go dancing at shows, or concerts, or on our own. Same in college - we would take ipod speakers and find an empty field and dance our hearts out! I miss that. Well it was hard for me to dance the way I wanted to while I was pregnant, and since Abraham has been born we haven't thought to go dancing. We loved dancing at the party! Our moves were a little rusty... hahahaha. Saul and I are planning on going dancing very soon! :)

While we were there, Abraham slept okay in his crib for the first 3 or 4 hours, and then would wake up crying. Because we were staying with my auntie and uncle, I didn't want to wake everyone up from his crying. We brought Abraham to sleep with us while we were there and when we got back home, he slept great back in his crib!

The Time is Now! :/

I talked to lactation consultants. We took Abraham to the pediatrician.

He was only eating 15-20 ounces of formula a day, and nursing at night with me. What the lactation consultant and our pediatrician said was that Abraham was stocking up on milk at night (nursing much more than I realized while I slept) and not wanting to eat during the day. I guess it makes sense - with so many fun things to do and discover during the day, who would want to stop and eat ?? So what they told us is that Abraham just isn't that hungry during the day because he eats so much at night. The solution? Time for the crib. Ahhhhh!!! I wasn't ready for it - was Abraham? The advice of our pediatrician: "Just do it." He thought I was foolish for co-sleeping. But after our experience of co-sleeping, it has worked so well for us (at least for the first 6 months) that we want to do it again with our next child. (Which won't be for many years to come.) There are also so many articles and statistics that prove that co-sleeping is SO beneficial for the child. The only down-side that I have ever read about (and now experienced) is when children becomes aware and mobile that they nurse because they can.

So! Abraham is officially in his crib. The first night was definitely the hardest. After talking with friends and family I thought I was prepared. Definitely NOT. Ohhh it was so sad and so hard to hear him cry. But the advice of my sister-in-law echoed in my head. "He is learning to self-soothe himself - this is an ability that he will have for the rest of his life." That first night he woke up 5 or 6 times. The longest he cried was about an hour... :( The second night he woke up 4 times, and the longest he cried was about 20 minutes. The third night he woke up 4 times as well, but went to sleep really easy and the longest he cried was about 15 minutes. The schedule he has been at for the last couple days is going to bed at 9 pm, waking up at 12 and putting himself to sleep in about 10 minutes of fussing, waking up a 3 am and I nurse him, waking up at 7 am and I nurse him, and then waking up at 10 am for the day. In a little while I will stop nursing his at 3 am and let him soothe himself. It's nice that he sleeps in so much. Now that he is in his crib, it gives me the freedom to have some of the morning to do what I want to do. This transition to the crib I dreaded since he was born, but now that he has done it I am so relieved and actually like it better this way now. We'll see how he does on our trip to Fresno this weekend... it will be his first time sleeping in his portable crib! :/

First Mother's Day

I remember last May of 2009 Saul woke me up singing a song he thought up, "You're a mother to be..." To be honest, I wasn't too excited about this Mother's day because as restaurant people know - Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year for restaurants. Saul had to work, and my expectations for the day were very minimal. I was so surprised what the day turned out to be!

Saul woke me up and told me to put my hiking boots on. Oh man, I didn't feel like going on a hike first thing in the morning on Mother's Day of all days... He got Abraham ready while I got ready. We drove for a couple minutes and parked. And then I saw what he had done. In a beautiful field of grasses and wildflowers he had set up a table with breakfast and flowers! I love romantic things like this! I just love acts of kindness that take thought and planning. It makes me feel so loved when he surprises me like this. :)

After breakfast, Saul went to work and Abraham and I went to my parents' house for a Mother's Day get together with family. My parents, sister, grandparents, auntie, uncle, and cousins were there. I love family celebrations. Later in the evening Saul and I went to dinner at a restauraunt we hadn't tried before - Gordon's in San Clemente. The whole day was a lot of fun; I wish Saul hadn't had to work, but the day totally exceeded my expectations 10 times over.

Rolling Round & Round

Abraham has been able to roll from his back onto his belly for quite some time now... probably since he was about 4 1/2 months old. This past week he has been both turning in circles on his belly, and then flipping over from his belly onto his back again!

He's still kind-of slow about it, but he's beginning to understand that he can move himself to get someplace. I set his giraffe (his favorite toy - it winds up and plays a song) on the other side of his floor blanket, and he was able to roll from back to belly to his back and finally to his belly again to reach it. He's growing up SO fast!

Sitting Up Tall and Eating Solid Foods

Pretty much when Abraham turned 6 months, he was able to sit up for more than a couple seconds without help. Now, he's getting better and better at balancing himself. And since he's 6 months old now, we are really trying to have him eat some solid food at least once a day. Our pediatrician thinks he should eat solid food 3 times a day (we've only done that once, but getting better...) He is still learning how to use his tongue to swallow and how to keep the food actually in his mouth. :)

My mom is SO caring. She comes over once a week to give me time to focus on getting my homework done for Liberty University Online. Saul and I have one year left from the end of this summer to finish our bachelor's degrees and we are taking full quarters until then. It makes getting the work done so much easier with my mom's help. (I think she likes it, too) Well anyways, when she was over this past week we put Abraham in his Inglesina table-seat (it's not really a highchair, but more like a portable highchair and it attaches to our table; they have to sit up on their own to sit in it). He was able to totally sit up in it, and she fed him some baby oatmeal (more than he's ever eaten at one time before!)

{ Reminisce }

Abraham just fell asleep (ahhh). Tomorrow he turns 6 months old - half a year already! Goodness, it has FLOWN by. I feel like I can remember everything about these last six months perfectly - when we brought him home from the hospital, he barely fit in his carseat and I sat in the back seat trying to make the car ride as smooth as possible for him; his first bath where he screamed the whole time; going to NYC and walking around the city in the rain and snow (he was perfectly content); his first smile, and first laugh. (sigh) Its hard for me to remember what our lives were like before Abraham.

I don't have a picture of Abraham when he's [super] little posted, so here's one.

Working out with Patience

The day after Easter we got a new family pet. As most of the people who know me know.... I LOVE animals. Haha. We recently found a new home for our much loved Beagle named Pana (a word for Buddy in Venezuela) about 2 months ago. The reason being is that he was a little too hyper for Abraham, especially that Abraham will be crawling soon. I love to have pets. After doing some research, I found that rabbits make very good pets. :) They can be litter-trained and don't require much work, but appreciate lovingkindness. In no time I found a very wonderful family in Coto de Caza that breeds rabbits. All kinds of rabbits. We picked out our favorite baby rabbit (a velveteen lop, the newest breed of rabbits she told us...) and picked her up when she turned 2 months old - the day after easter! We named her Patience.

Saul, Abraham, and I have made a habit to go to the field right by our house for a "work out" time every monday, wednesday, and friday to stay fit. While Saul runs around the field (usually 5 times) I walk with Abraham or sit on a blanket and stretch. Today we went on a thursday, and we brought Patience. This may seem weird, but Petco sells harnesses and leashes for rabbits... we got one. I think it's kinda cool.

Cloudy days are my favorite

Something about Abraham that I appreciate SO much is how great of a sleeper at night he is. He sleeps with Saul and me (we both love it), and we usually go to bed around 11:00 at night. Lately, Abraham has been going to sleep at 8:00 which gives us some nice quality time to be together and also for me to get some much needed chores done. Abraham usually wakes up around 7 or 8, but I nurse him and we go back to sleep until about 9:00 in the morning. The only times I nurse him, since the chocolate fiasco, are once during the daytime, and at night. It's how he falls asleep and stays asleep with me.

It's almost his 6-month birthday (April 18th!), and Saul and I were thinking of making the switch for Abraham to sleep on his own in his crib... haha - I keep on postponing the day when we actually WILL make the switch; I think I even sleep better when Abraham's with me. But, we definitely do not want him sleeping with us forever. Maybe just until he wants to stop nursing altogether? We don't know. Let's wait and see... :)

Here goes something new...

To family, friends, acquaintances, and maybe even strangers...

This is a blog about the Moreno family, but mostly about Abraham Shaul Moreno. I have been wanting to journal about all of the memorable things we have done together so far, but I always seem to forget! Having this blog has 2 main benefits: 1 - It will keep me accountable to record our times together. 2 - All of you can share in our experiences, too! I call this blog, The Adventures of Abraham.