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June 20, 2010 Today was Father's day. We went over to see Grandma and Grandpa at their house where we helped them unload the van from the Oklahoma trip yesterday. We also showed them how Mario Galaxy 2 is played. Grandpa was impressed with how well Angelina knew how to play the game. She is going to be a Mario master! Uncle Bob showed up around lunchtime and we all chowed down on Dominoes Pizza. They are much better since changing their recipes. We also gave Grandpa a Father's day gift from HobbyTown USA. Angelina and I had found a device that shoots soda from a 2 liter bottle into the air by dropping Mentos into it. We were able to do it twice. The first time, Angelina almost got all of it to come down on top of her! Luckily, she is a fast runner. The second time, she ran away and turned around to see soda flying into the air. She also was able to pet some rabbits that a lady had accidentally left at the rabbit show. Grandma and Grandpa kept the bunnies safe for the lady overnight which gave Geli the chance to feed them a little grass. Daddy and Uncle Bob helped put some orders together and we all enjoyed a nice day together. Angelina and Daddy then went home to spend a little time with Mommy and then Grandma Kisses showed up with some food from a Father's day party at Tita's house. We all enjoyed the sausage, potato salad and corn. Mommy took a nap before work, Daddy worked on his computer and Geli & Grandma Kisses watched some movies including Cars and 9. Overall, it was a great day! |
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April 30, 2009 This week, we are preparing to go to the coast! Angelina has been taking swimming lessons with Grandma the past two weeks, so hopefully, she will be ready to have some fun going down the slide and playing with her uncles in the water. Lately, my girl has been picking up words and phrases quickly. She is starting to communicate more with words and less with grunts and crying. She still seems to have her own language. Angelina will just start rolling off the words, explaining something very important, but I guess I need to take a class to brush up on my gibberish skills. Grandpa also bought a Wii for Angelina to play with. I have set up the machine at our house for now to make sure I understand how everything works. We plan to bring it to the coast for those times when we are not in the pool. There will also be the opportunity to play some games at night when the pool is closed. Angelina so far loves driving the dinosaur(Yoshi) in Mario Kart and has enjoyed playing some tennis. Personally, I have been getting a great workout from the baseball, bowling and tennis games. Mommy has been enjoying the fishing game and the cow racing game. I borrowed some party games from some of the guys I work with and an extra controller. I think much fun will be had by all. I do plan to hand out notepads for everyone to write their blogs. Sadly, I am only expecting to get back a couple of them. I hope to have a nice long blog to enter in after next week! Love Daddy |
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April 8, 2009 This year has been flying by so quickly, as most of them do now that Angelina is around. She continues to impress us all with her learning abilities and the new words that she seems to pick up daily. Luckily, she hasn't gotten stuck on any bad words that she may have heard. Angelina is becoming almost fearless. She loves to jump around on her trampoline, hang from a monkey bar (or daddy's weight bar when he is working out), flying high on her swing and just running around and jumping in general. She doesn't seem to have any fear of the dark, fear of heights, or fear of water. She does however fear strangers, which we think is a phase, but are happy that she will let us know if she is being touched by someone she doesn't know. She fears being upside down, but is getting a handle on that day by day. She really fears being left alone, either in her bedroom or when she is just playing inside the house and mommy or daddy go to the other room. Overall, Angelina has been a great little girl. We really cannot complain about anything she does because she doesn't test our limits much at all. She will occassionally try to hang off of us or play too aggressive, but we remember that she is a toddler and has energy to exert. Going to the potty is a bit of sticky issue (literally), but she has made strides there lately. Tomorrow night we are taking her to Disney On Ice. I hope she enjoys herself and doesn't try to go join the skaters. Love Daddy |
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12/26/2008 Merry Christmas! Angelina loves saying that phrase. I am not sure if she picked it up after listening to 'Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer', or if she just heard the family saying it a lot over the past month. She also has been enjoying the songs Jingle Bells and especially the Alvin and the Chipmunks. Chipmunk fever has rocked our household with the live action movie showing on cable and daddy playing their song in the green truck. |
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10/7/2008
This past weekend, we took Angelina to Inks Lake. Albert Padilla turned 35 years old recently and decided to have a camping birthday party. We went and joined his family and friends up at Inks Lake Park on their camping grounds. Angelina loved the fajitas that Albert made (even though it was his birthday) and she enjoyed throwing her toy horse into the water. There were tons of bugs and fireflies that were annoying to her, but she was having too much fun running around and checking out the sites to mind. After the late dinner, we left the party and headed to Marble Falls to spend the night at Hill Country Inn. We had a nice King Sized bed where she sat back after a refreshing bath with mommy and we watch Bill Maher. She is really into the Presidental election and wants to keep herself up to date on the topics. We all fell asleep at some point during the broadcast and slept in late the next morning. We went down to look at the continental breakfast and found it was lacking. So we headed out in the 'green truck', as Geli likes to call it, to find a place for some good breakfast tacos. Geli pointed out a place called Peppers that had a breakfast buffet! We all went inside and checked the food out. It was a mixture of american and mexican breakfast foods: hash browns, pappas, eggs, tortillas, french toast, menudo, etc. The best part, the cost was only $5.99 a person and Geli was free! We filled our tummies and then We swung by HEB for some drinks and other necessities. Of course Geli found a new unicorn that she had to have and then We headed back to the room to check out. The drive back to the park was very pretty as all the trees were very green and were growing over the road in some places. I have to admit, it was a bit scary for Angelina when we drove through the area at night. But the day was much brighter and happier. We picked up some stuff at the campsite and met Albert and his family at the general store for the park. Geli got to go on a paddleboat ride where she helped me and mommy paddle around the lake to see some ducks and fish. We then headed to the park to go down their slides and then played a little volleyball. Daddy wore himself out playing with Albert's brothers, Alex and David. We then said goodbye to everyone and headed home. It was a great little getaway for the three of us. I hope we can do it again soon. Daddy |
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9/15/2008
Angelina's crib was taken apart last night. I was talking with Grandma and Grandpa yesterday about how Angelina was frustrated with the crib and that maybe she should get a new bed. Of course they have EVERYTHING and pointed me to a Dora the Explorer bed they had in the living room that she could use. Grandpa and I packed it up in the truck and I brought it home. It is set up similar to where her crib was, but is turned so that she is not right next to the window. After we got it set up and the crib removed, Angelina loved jumping on her bed and laying down under the covers. It was the best thing since sliced bread in her mind. Mommy was sleeping in the next room, so I had to ask her to leave her bed alone until later. As long as we could watch 101 dalmations, that was alright with her. Mommy went to work a little later and then it was time for little Geli to go to sleep in her new bed. She went to lay down and got under the covers. I started to read some of Peter Pan to her and her eyes got droopy. I said goodnight and turned off the light... screaming ensued. Angelina was not happy with the idea of sleeping alone on her first night in the new bed. So, daddy got a pillow and sat down to get comfortable on the tile floor. 10 minutes later, Geli was asleep in her new bed and daddy was pulling himself off of the hard floor to go lay down on his Sleep Number bed. I can't wait to see how tonight goes. Daddy |
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9/8/2008
Angelina is growing up in so many ways. It is amazing how quickly kids seem to learn new things... including bad habits. Marcela and I have learned that we really need to watch what we are saying. Not neccessarily the words, but the phrases we say. Angelina loves to repeat what she hears. She has been singing a lot to the music we listen to in the car. One of my friends from work gave us a CD with seasame Street, Mickey Mouse and other current kid show songs. Angelina likes the new Mickey Mouse songs, but also enjoys the classics like 'C is for Cookie' by Cookie Monster. Yesterday, we went to the zoo for my companies annual picnic. She loved looking at some of the strange birds, the fish, lions, tigers and especially the rhinoceros. She couldn't stop talking about rhinos and wanted to see pictures of them when we got home. Thankfully, the internet gives us easy access to anything we want to look at. After searching for images of rhinos, we looked a few of them and had a good laugh about how funny they looked. Disney's Cars is just the most amazing movie Angelina has ever seen, but this weekend, she picked out 101 Dalmations from my video library. She enjoyed watching the puppies try to get away from Cruela DeVille. I have quite a few Disney movies on video, so she should have plenty of new stories to enjoy. I can't wait to see what she picks out next. I am currently working on a new web page design for Angelina's web page. I believe it will make her page look slick and have a smoother transition for seeing her pictures. It is also helping to train me on some new software that will make web page design easier. Only time will tell. 2 years and 3 months have passed by so quickly, yet they really haven't. I look back at the pictures from last year and I know the time has gone by at the same pace it always has. I guess since Angelina has changed so much and as adults we change so slowly, I get the feeling that a lot of time has passed in a short amount of time. As she learns more words, phrases and abilities, I see that time will continue to seem like it is going by quickly. But all I need to do is look back at her web page and see that I am building so many more memories than before she came into our lives. Love, Daddy |
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7/29/08 New swingset! What a great little girl I have. She listens so well already. I can ask her to put her cars back into the box they are stored in and she does it quickly and without complaining. It's just amazing how quick she is becoming a productive member of the household. Recently, we put together her birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa... a swingset! She has a slide, a swing, a merry go round and a double rocking swing for two kids. She sits in the middle of the double rocking swing and swings by herself right now. She loves the slide and has already learned how to climb up the ladder. She likes the merry go round, but it is quickly a bore since there are no other kids to enjoy it with. She likes the swing, but is still not totally comfortable with her balance yet. I also put up an outdoor table and umbrella set(also from Grandma and Grandpa) so that me and mommy and sit outside and enjoy some fresh air while the little one plays. We are trying to get the grass to grow a little better in the back yard, but the lack of rain this year has made it tough. It is catching on in a few places though, so we just need to keep it up. Mommy's garden is still not completed, but we hope to have it done soon. I can see Angelina working in the garden this time next year. I wonder if she will like flowers or vegetables in the garden. Angelina has been such a surprise to me. She is like my best friend, but I still understand when I have to be daddy. I can't wait for her sentences to make more sense and we can talk about everything that comes to mind. Love, Daddy |
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7/14/08 Birthday blog. Today I turn 36. It's an amazing age to be at. I still feel strong enough to do anything I want physically, and I have learned enough that I can do anything I want mentally. But there is no way I can keep up with Geli. No matter how much energy I think I have, she can last longer. No matter how high I can kick my legs, she can kick higher. No matter how quickly I can learn to do something, she learns quicker. Geli offers many challenges for me to make myself better. A better person, a better husband, a better father. It is the only way I can keep up with her. Saturday, we celebrated my birthday by going to Kobe's steakhouse and sushi restaurant. Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Bob, Ernest, Mommy, Geli and I all had a good time eating on some chicken and some raw fish. Geli wasn't really interested in the fish, but loved the rice. She also gave me a present that ran all the way down my leg. After a quick trip to the bathroom though, we were both ready to continue the party. Geli fell asleep on my lap after getting exhausted from all the fun. We went home and watched movies the rest of the day. Sunday, we helped Grandma and Grandpa at the bunny farm and Grandma chicken came over in the evening to watch movies with Geli while Mommy and I rested. My hope for tonight is that we get to have some fun outside for a bit before coming back in to dance, talk and have fun. I also hope that I can continue working on improving myself to keep up with Geli. Love, Daddy |
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6/4/08 I decided to write a blog to celebrate my little girl turning 2. What a ride it has been so far. Currently, we are going through the 'word learning' stage. Geli loves to repeat all sorts of words. Of course we have to be careful what words we say or little miss Parrot will say them over and over and over and... She has learned a lot of animals from a pack of flash cards I bought her. Spider is still 'bug' and she confuses the Rhino with an Elephant, the Tiger with a Lion(though she usually gets it right on the second try), and Alligator is still too difficult. Otherwise, Cat, Dolphin, Bird, Giraffe, Cow, Chicken, Goat, Lion, Elephant, and Horsey are sounding better every day! She really seems interested in everything I do now. She likes to go outside and help water the garden (though the heat lately has been horrible). She helps with cleaning up the trimmed trees around the yard. She helps throw away any trash that we find. She even washes the TV tables after we finish eating! I guess she is going to be a clean freak :) Lately, we have been playing with her Disney Cars while watching the movie on DVD. She likes to pick them out of the box and ask 'Who's that'? I tell her the names of the characters and we also work on what color the cars are. She has become very knowledgable on the names, but since most of the cars have multiple colors, she gets a bit confused on which color is which. She is really into Pixar and other computer animated movies. She LOVES Finding Nemo. Ice Age 2, Cars and Bugs Life are on the top of her list as well. She is starting to enjoy Monsters Inc, but it is a bit scary at times. We have tried watching some regular animated movies, but she loses interest quickly. I guess they are not real enough for her. Plus, all the Playhouse Disney shows she watches are computer animated instead of hand drawn. Her birthday party will be at Incredible Pizza and we are expecting close to 40 people to show! There will be a lot of family, but there should be 4 or 5 kids around her age to play with. There will be some other older kids too, but I figure they will be busy playing games most of the time. I hope she has a great time and gets lots of fun toys. Well not too many. We are running out of room to store them. The swing set from Grandma and Grandpa Vanecek should be exciting! I love you Angelina Daddy |
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12/12/07 I am such a terrible blogger. It should not be my day job! Anyway, tonight will be a night of peace for me and mommy. Geli is sleeping over at grandma and grandpa's house, and we are just sleeping. Ah sleep, I have missed you so much. Lately, I have had problems getting Angelina to go to bed at a decent hour. Sometimes she is asleep by 9pm, but most of the time... it's later. I can't totally blame anyone for this issue because mommy works overnight and I know the little girl just wants to say goodbye in the evenings. She also loves to stay up late and play with daddy. We love to play with her new mega blocks, draw on all of mommys pictures, play with Derka and the boys, and just read a good book together. With christmas around the corner, we have also been watching a bunch of animated christmas shows. Hopefully, she won't be as scared of watching the Snow Monster in Rudolph as I was! I had to shut my eyes when he would come on the screen. Angelina doesn't seem to be scared of anything though. She takes on any challenge. Well, she is afraid of strangers, but I can't be upset about her being a little shy. Daddy |
| 8/10/07 So, Grandma asked how the sweetest baby in the world slept last night. Here was my response: Well, we played a bit outside … she wanted to play with the water hose… and then we talked with the dogs. She was no longer interested in being in the water though as bathtime was a pain in the butt, literally. She had a bit of a rash. We changed clothes and got some milk. All was good with the world around 8:15 to 8:30. After she finished her bottle though, she decided to tell me all about the past 2 days. She talked and talked and talked while laying on my chest for over an hour. Around 9:45, I had to force her to lay on her stomach and she finally passed out. She slept through the night. :D |
| 3/23/07: After much screaming, crying and pouting, I have given into my family's peer pressure and put together a new blog. I regret not
putting more blogs up because I think that it would be interesting for any child to read their parents thoughts from when they are growing up.
The first thing that comes to mind about these last nine months is where did my free time go? The second thing that comes to mind is, why don't
I really miss it? The answer? Angelina! It is not easy to put into words how a child makes a parent feel. I would like to say that she is
a bright light that shines upon my entire day. On the roughest day, I can just look at her smile and she makes life worth living. I wish that
everyone could enjoy the feeling of seeing their child smile at them. It is almost magical. As for Angelina's growth, well, the doctor measured her at 28 inches and 17 1/2 lbs. That puts her in the 50-75 percentile in height and 25-50 percentile in weight. So basically, she is heading towards that tall petite look, but I think we all know that can change. I don't worry about her size though. She is happy so often, it is hard to worry about anything. There are things that we are doing to reduce any worries even more. I have started plugging up power sockets. You never know how many you have until you start putting a piece of plastic in any open one. This weekend, we are going to put latches on most of the cabinets and lower her crib one level. She is ready to jump out! I plan on reading to her more often, in English and Spanish. I may not know what I am reading, but I figure we can learn the words together. Sigh, looking back at this blog, I feel that my thoughts become very random when I am thinking of Geli. I believe it would be best to start organizing those thoughts better, but then I remember that life shouldn't be controlled so much. Just enough to keep you content, but free and happy. |
| 8/23: Angelina and I have done much better at night. There are still those times where she wakes me after only a couple hours of sleep but hopefully that will end once we start feeding her some solid foods. At this point, we are about 2 weeks away from trying that. Grandpa Ken and Grandma Pat have made coming over on Saturdays a family get together we all enjoy. Grandpa and I almost have the new computer room fixed up, so Geli's room will be next! I am pretty excited about working on her room since it is already set up pretty well. We just need to pick out a wall pattern and move the full size bed out of there. I am going to try and put my thoughts here more often so that my little girl can come back here some day and read about things that happened when she was born. Lately, I have started to think back to the time when I was young and I yearn more and more to be able to be a kid again. I feel that she will help make me younger, not older. |
8/15: Geli and I have had a few sleepless nights. But, I must say it has been much easier than I expected. The first couple of nights were a bit of a chore as daddy tried to get into a good frame of mind about waking up after going to sleep one hour before and baby was getting used to momma not being at home to feed from. Angelina has really taken to bottle feedings now. At first she seemed to reject the idea of drinking from a bottle, but I guess need overrides want. Now, she is sleeping 6 to 7 straight hours and I have been able to get some pretty good sleep with her. Other than that, the little girl is growing up very quickly. We have already measured her up to 24 inches, so she has grown 6 inches in a little over two months. She is smiling a lot now and is trying to communicate with us more. She will swing her arms around to get our attention, make cooing sounds to talk to us and has learn to cry REAL loud. :) Things are becoming much more fun for me becuase I can talk with her more. It was rough the first two months as she just seemed to be a hungry, unresponsive little human. |
8/2: Well, tonight is the night. I get my first night alone as a daddy. Geli and I have already had a long talk about this. We agreed that she will not cry and sleep through the night. At this point, I wake up from my dream. Anyway, I am actually kind of excited about the prospect. I have helped on occasion with Angelina at night, but since most of the wake up calls are for feeding, and Marcela has been breastfeeding, I can only really sit back and be a backseat driver. Because of the frustration this can cause, Marcela usually lets me sleep through it. We have discussed my options and have a good plan for tonight, but who knows what will happen. The anticipation grows... |
7/25: Yeah Yeah Yeah, I am getting really lax about my blogs. Things got a bit crazy for me after we got back from the trip to Indiana. All of a sudden, I had too many things to do and not enough time. I felt I was taking time away from Marcela and Angelina, so I have tried to back off on things that used to be priorities to spend more time with them. I also have been trying to take a little time for myself to keep sane. My weekends have just been full since Geli came around. I don't think I have had one day where I have just sat back and relaxed w/ my wife and baby. There are grandparents to see, friends to call, projects to finish around the house and just general tasks that seem to be piling up. I am hoping to find a daily pattern to follow so that I am not forgetting the things that must be done. I have a white board that we will be using to track projects, but unless we are disciplined, that can always just become a waste of space. Anyway, I would not give up Angelina for any of the things that I am supposed to be missing out on. I just don't feel that she has taken away any of my time... it's all the side projects that I am doing! I know that Marcela is going to look at this a laugh because currently, she is Geli's main caregiver until she goes back to work next week. So starting next week, I will actually have to be the main caregiver while Marcela is at work. I will not have her to back me up anymore. I am actually excited about the challenge, but I figure that will only last so long. |
7/10: So, I got yelled at by a couple people this weekend for not putting up more timely blogs. To them I must apologize. Things have been a bit hectic at home as I have been trying to put together Angelina's first DVD!!! I completed it last night and have started making copies. I handed out a couple to the people I work with today so they could test them for me. Hopefully I should have plenty to take with us to Indiana to hand out to family members. The last couple of nights Angelina has been a bit cranky. We think it may be the formula she is eating. Marcela is going to try to stay with breastfeeding for a few days to see if her stomach issues calm down. The dogs are really getting used to having a third party take up Marcela's time. They used to be super spoiled, but now are only kinda spoiled. They are more understanding when it comes to baby time. Just as an FYI, I don't think we will have any opportunity to update pictures and video while we are gone, but I hope to have a few blogs up. |
7/3: I almost feel guilty waiting this long to add another entry. Life to me seems normal. I don't really feel the big change that most people said there would be. To me, Angelina has always been a part of my life, I just didn't realize it till June 6th though. :D The past week, I have put a lot of time into the new computer room and some old trees in the yard. Grandpa Vanecek helped me with the trees and the light fixtures in the room on Saturday. It is coming along great and has taught me new things that I will be able to apply once we start on the baby's room. Tomorrow, we are headed to the ole' Bunny Farm to celebrate 4th of July. Angelina can't wait to watch the World Cup game. She herself is a big kicker. I'm not sure what she would think about fireworks yet. |
| 6/26: Hey! Only 4 days this time. This weekend was relaxing, stressful, and exhausting. It's hard to fit all of that in just 2 days, but Saturday we took it easy and watched a couple of movies. I started ramping up on fixing a couple of rooms in the house and by Sunday, we were in full swing. We are converting one of the bedrooms into a new computer room which should actually help us prepare to get Angelina's room ready in a couple of months. Yeah, that sounds strange, but it works. Between all of the work done on the room and waking up because Angelina had some bad gas, I can really say that I have truly entered fatherhood. I seem to be ready to work my butt off to the point of passing out, but want to keep going so that I can do something great for my daughter. What an interesting twist to life. |
| 6/22: 5 days again. Okay, cut me some slack. I had to go back to work this week, so trying to put up pictures and videos was my main concern. Angelina is growing up quick. Watching her gain more motor skills is amazing. She is really getting great at moving her head around. She is also learning to punch and kick Marcela while feeding! It's my job to try and calm her down. ;) Anyway, even though I'm not at home most of the day now, I still get to spend a good amount of time w/ Geli when I get home. She seems to be awake more in the late evening, so I do see her when she is looking around and learning. I can't wait to start reading stories to her that she comprehends. Right now, stories just make her look at me funny. |
| 6/17: Wow! Has it been 5 days since my last blog? Time is passing quicker than I thought. I guess you can be told that time speeds up after having a baby, but experiencing it is something different altogether. Angelina seems to be getting better about how many times she wakes up at night. The last 2 nights, she has only woken up once or twice and usually not for 3 to 4 hours. She went to her first birthday party (for my mom) and met her great Aunt Deborah for the first time. They smiled at each other a lot. She got a little sun, but not more than a couple minutes here or there. We are heading to a father's day party at Marcela's uncle's house tomorrow. I figure she may get a little more sun tomorrow, but we will work our best to make sure she doesn't get burned. |
| 6/12: Last night was the worst. Angelina decided she was going to cause a fuss and kept Marcela up most of the night. Only because I have such a wonderful wife, did I get any sleep. From about 1:30 to 7:00, Angelina was awake or in a half-sleep. Mommy kept trying to do things to relax baby, but nothing seemed to work. Nothing appeared to be wrong with Angelina, so we decided to check on her when we saw the doctor later that day. The doctor said that she is doing great and calmed some of our concerns. Her weight is back to 7 lbs, which is very good. Supposedly, it can take 2 weeks to get back to birth weight, but Angelina is packing on the pounds quickly. Tonight, our plan is to try and get to bed much earlier to prepare for another long night. Our goal, if possible, is to try and get Angelina on a night time sleeping schedule. We figure she is more of a night owl because Marcela works nights. We will see. :) |
| 6/11: Friday night was our first night taking care of the baby ourselves. Wow. No one is lying when they say that the first night can be rough. Marcela and I got a decent amount of sleep, but sleeping for 2 to 3 hours and being waken is not fun. We survived though and had a pretty good day yesterday. Grandma Pat and Grandpa Ken stopped by to bring over some of my old blankets. We also got a pink dress that my grandmother had once given to my mom in case I was a girl! :) Grandpa and I set up the crib. I also put together her vibrating chair. They brought us lunch and we chatted for a while before they left. Angelina is eating very well from mommy and is using up her diapers quick! Her first appointment with her doctor is tomorrow, so we are anxious to see what happens. We are just so proud that the baby is doing well and doesn't really make a fuss unless she is hungry. We can deal with that for now. ;) Today will be another rest day for Marcela as she tries to heal. I am going to work on putting together a few more of Angelina's toys and start finding a place to put everything! I am going to try and get Marcela to put up a blog today for all of you wondering how she is feeling. |
| 6/9 afternoon: Baby and Mom are home! The check out process took over 2 hours, but we finally got Marcela and Angelina in the car and drove home. We picked up some Arbys on the way, but Angelina said she would rather have some milk. After their lunch, baby and mommy decided to take a nap while I tried to update some more information on the web page. I also figured out how to use the Diaper Genie! Tonight's plan will be to clean house with Grandma Maria and make sure we have things set up for easy access during the first night at home. Marcela still seems pretty sore, but is starting to get more comfortable with moving around herself. |
| 6/9: Yesterday was just an exhausting day, but still wonderful. I went back to work for the last time this week and made my way back to the hospital. Mommy was working on trying to feed Angelina, but the baby kept falling asleep! The two grandmas stopped by during the daytime to lend their support. Marcela was doing great and on par to be discharged this morning. I JUST GOT THE CALL! Mommy and baby are about to come home! Before I leave, I also wanted to let everyone know that last night around 9 pm, Angelina finally figured out her mommy's body and nursed on her for around 20 minutes! I could not be prouder of Marcela and Angelina. More updates today as they come home. |
| 6/7: I went into work today. We figured that if I can work a couple days while she stays in the hospital, I can take some time next week to help her and and the baby. Grandma Maria has already taken the week off, so she is going to wait on Marcela and Angelina hand and foot along with the hospital nurses. Marcela is doing great with her recovery. The nurses say that her cut is healing clean and she is already walking with little help. She was able to eat some jello and chicken broth last night. Hopefully she will be eating solids today. As I was driving home yesterday, it really hit me for the first time. Not that I was a father, but really how beautiful my daughter is. I can explain how lucky I feel to have a happy and healthy child. I see her beautiful button nose and I see a part of Marcela's that I fell in love with. She has the most incredible eyes I have ever seen. Maybe that is because I have never really seen a newborn when they first open their eyes. Watching her take in the world for the first time, staring at me, looking at her mother is one of the most wonderful feelings in the world. I imagine this is just the first of many suprises waiting for me in fatherhood. |
| 6/6: As most of you have either heard or saw on the main page, Angelina Tigerlily Vanecek was born today at 12:21 pm. She is healthy and happy so far. Mother on the other hand has a few days of work and rest before getting out of the hospital, but Angelina will be there with her. I got the call from Marcela at 7:00 this morning that they were adding the medicine to help her have contractions. I took a shower and fed the animals before heading off. When I got there, the doctor had pulled the strip to thin the cervix and we were just waiting to start contractions. Around 8:15, the doctor showed back up and manually broke Marcela's water. I was on the phone with Albert at this point and probably scared the crap out of him. Anyways, after that, everything seemed to be pointing to an afternoon birth. Marcela went through some tough labor pains for the next couple hours as both grandmas, grandpa and Andy showed up for support. The nurse could not find the head while trying to check how many centimeters Marcela was open, so she asked for a sonogram to check. The baby was breached! At this point, they turned off the medicine to help with contractions and we were scheduled for a C-section. The process was incredibly quick and Angelina joined our world soon after. At this point, Marcela will be in the hospital for 72 hours as she rebuilds the muscles in her stomach and relearns to walk. The numbness is pretty much gone by the time I am typing this. She and Angelina are currently resting, but expecting me and a few other family members this evening before visiting hours are over. We hope to have her home by Friday. |
| 6/5 late evening: Well, I have come back from the hospital and left Marcela there. What a jerk I am. But I wasn't going to do much good there and the baby and mommy are going to need me at full strength tomorrow, so we decided for me to come home. My plan is to give all of you an update, add some more pictures and video. I also am supposed to take care of the other babies in the house. In otherwords, the animals. :) The doctor started and inducing process around 8:45 pm. Don't ask me why so late. Anyway, the process is supposed to take around 10 hours. WHAT!? Yeah, 10 hours. It is supposed to weaken the wall of the cervix and get her ready for the baby to come out. They have another process that they are going to start her on at 6 am tomorrow (can't remember what it is called), but hopefully it will make the labor begin. At this point, the baby could come tomorrow morning, or tomorrow afternoon, so you will all have to be patient like we are trying to be. I hope to update everyone as soon as possible. Thanks for all the love and support. |
| 6/5: It's going to happen very soon. I got the call this morning at work that labor will be induced this afternoon. After telling my boss Caleb, I was out the door and home to do some last minute things. I also wanted to put something on the web site to let everyone know! |
| 6/3: So today I decided to work some more on the web page to take my mind off of things. I was able to put up our first video on the site. Hopefully, it works well for almost everyone out there. Sorry to you dial up users. :D As time ticks down towards being a father, I really have to wonder how much different I will be as a person. Will I be happy more often? Will I be agitated a lot? It boggles the mind to think about having different needs in a matter of a few months. I do have to admit though, it is a new adventure. One I am excited to journey on with my best friend and wife, Marcela. |
| 6/2: As I figured, the baby will be delayed a few more days. Currently, we are looking at a possible C-section on Tuesday, June 6th. I am trying to control my excitement by keeping busy. I have been going to work with the intention of not spending time talking about the baby, but the people I work with just keep dragging me into it! I don't mind much though because it just reminds me of how the kindness of people helps us all. I would like to thank everyone who has called, sent emails or posted on the message board. All of your thoughts and prayers make this stressful time in the last few days bearable. |
| 6/1: I finished getting the web site up last night. Marcela came up with the name babybegins.com. I can't believe it was open! Anyway, I am taking Marcela to the doctors office this morning. They are going to check on her blood pressure and basically decide again whether inducing labor, getting a c-section or just waiting is the best option. She seems in very high spirits, and looks to be feeling much better than last week. If I were a doctor, which I'm not, I would guess that they are going to let her wait a few more days. But we will see... - tim |
| 5/30: My stress level was at an all time high as I waited at work, wondering whether today was the day. Marcela was taken to the doctor's office by her mother and cousin, so I really didn't have much to do other than try to make some money. I got the call at 11:20 that the baby was going to hang around in their mother's stomach for a little while longer. I am not sure I will be able to take another day like this one. :) -tim |