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