Team Espinoza

Annabelle and DA-da-DA!

My Aunt Norma took a few photos of our newest addition. She posted these two on her blog and thought I would share them here. Thank you Aunt Norma for taking them!

I do want to upload and post more photos, but lately my time has been limited. I am still adjusting to nursing a newborn every two hours and entertaining a toddler at the same time with little sleep. It is an adjustment, but being my second I know these few weeks are going to go by fast!

Roman Anton Espinoza

9lbs 1oz

Amanda went into labor this morning about 5:45 a.m. We got to the Birth Center at 12:45 and he was born about an hour and a half later. Amanda did an amazing job in having a great natural birth.

I had the amazing honor to catch Roman as he was being born. Catch in this setting meant actually pulling him out and then catching. I was the first one to know his gender (we didn’t find out before). Then Amanda got to find out.

It was such a joy-filled day. The midwife thought Amanda wasn’t in full labor at the time we arrived because we were joking and laughing. After she checked and saw that Amanda was 7-8 cm she knew it was go time.

The 20 min of pushing seemed to last 20 hours. But at the end of the pain, we had a perfect little boy.

We’re home now and glad to be sleeping in our bed.  Roman seems to approve of his bassinet.

Here are some pictures taken by the wonderful Kara:

This is Roman with his mommy about a minute after he was born.

My big boy tipping the scales.

We were glad to finally know who was making all that ruckus in Amanda’s belly.

Grandma Fefe holding her first grandson.

Aunt Denise enjoying some time with our little dude.

Here is a photo taken of me today. As you can see the baby is still lounging around in the comfort of his or her own swimming pool. At my appointment last Thursday the midwife said the baby may come this week. I sure hope so!

I am due three weeks from today on the 16th. Nothing is going on with us. Daniel is working and I am waiting! We are also getting everything together to lead 2 mission trips this year.

Saturday I had a ton of braxton hicks contractions and got all freaked out, so we hurried up and got everything ready. The car seat is installed, our bags are packed, the bassinet is set up and clean, the onesies are washed.

Come on baby!

For real. If you missed the first episode of ‘The Amazing Race’ (TAR) Sunday you can still watch it online here.

It comes on Sunday evenings. 12 teams of 2 race around the world for $1 million. This season is looking promising and has some great teams. The host, Phil, has a blog on EW.com and mentioned that they did some spring cleaning of the show and will try to highlight the countries more and less airport. So if you have watched it in the past and were annoyed with teams or the production, then please try it again.

There is a reason why this show always wins the Emmy for Best Reality Show. Check it out!

We are rooting for the stuntmen, the lawyers, and the flight attendants. (I am so glad that flight attendants didn’t get eliminated!)

Not much is going on with us. Here is bulleted list of the randomness in my head.

• Daniel got taken down by the flu last week. He is finally recovering and feeling more normal today. He wasn’t able to work as much as he normally does, because he was so tired and trying to recover.
• I have been fighting a head cold myself and fatigue. And I have started to have hot flashes with my pregnancy. Fun! Now I know what it feels like to be in menopause. Seriously, your neck and your face get burning hot and your whole body feels hot. It’s awesome.
• I saved $21 in groceries last week with sales and coupons!
• We watched ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and really liked it! We are rooting for them at the Oscars.
• We also watched ‘Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.’ It was totally entertaining. It kind of reminded me of an updated ‘License to Drive.’
• Thankfully Annabelle has not been affected by our illnesses.
• Our Saturday nights look different now with a toddler. We like going out to a restaurant between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., then going for a little drive, stopping at a park, and getting home before bedtime!
• I am still reading ‘Middlemarch’ and I am totally enjoying it. It is a great slow, calming book to read before bed with a few really interesting parts. I like getting to know more about the culture and political climate of provincial England in the 1830s other than just who is marrying whom.
• On Tuesday I will be 36 weeks along in my pregnancy – which means I am full-term and I can give birth anytime after Tuesday! Annabelle came 2 weeks early, so technically I could only have 2 weeks left! but I am still not counting on having a February baby.
• We are more anxious to know the gender of baby number 2, than we were with the first.

• 29 Years

Last Wednesday I turned 29. I had a GREAT birthday. Daniel made me french toast for breakfast. Then I headed off to my Beth Moore Esther Bible study. Afterwords, Barb and Rachel joined me for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with our little ones in tow. My favorite – Luau Salad was awesome. When I got home Daniel had a bouquet of red roses for me. That afternoon I just hung out with Annabelle and then we had life group that night.

Our life group was already meeting at a restaurant and Daniel had them surprise me with a balloon, cake, and Breanna’s banana pudding. Awesome. It was so much fun. To use a Michele-InterVarsity term – I felt celebrated!

Friday night was my baby shower and birthday party. It was an evening dessert party with no kiddos! We ended up eating tons of chocolate and talking all night. Sarah Pena cracks me up! Thank you Barb for hosting! I am incredibly thankful for all the toys, blankets, and gifts I received!

• 21 Months

Annabelle turned 21 months old yesterday. A few weeks ago she got the stomach virus that has been going around and then she was incredibly fussy for about a week afterwords. Now she is back to her normal banana-eating self. Seriously, she eats 2 bananas every morning for breakfast. The other morning I looked over and saw her holding my balloon in one hand and the banana in the other. Too cute!

She is doing well. I am not sure if she knows she has a brother or sister coming. We try to explain it, but I am not sure she gets it. I think she is going to do well, though. I am working on teaching her to go up the stairs herself with playing or doddling on the stairs. She has also recently learned that she can only eat and drink at the table. In that process she decided that she hates booster seats and high chairs. She climbs up the chair and eats on her knees. This is also fun at restaurants!

• 5 Weeks

I have 5 weeks left until my due date! Not that I am counting or anything. I am incredibly excited to hold my baby in my arms and be done with heartburn, backaches, and charlie horses in the middle of the night. I would much rather hear a crying baby and lose sleep nursing in the middle of the night.

Daniel and I had the opportunity to stay in an empty house for free in Austin, so we jumped at the chance to stay in one of our favorite cities.

Thursday evening we got to see our friends, Chris and Adrienne Coggins and their family. They are church planting in south Austin. they had never been to Hula Hut, so we went there for dinner.

Adrienne is due any day now!

Daniel: Thanks for posting this one honey.

On Friday we just took it easy and headed to the original Kerbey Lane for breakfast/lunch. Afterward we went to check out the Mueller Development. The old airport is being turned into a community with its own housing, school, hospital, and retail space. We walked through the model homes and weren’t that impressed, but they are always neat to check out. The park next to the man-made lake was fun! Now that I am a playground connoisseur I can honestly say it is the most unique park I have ever been too. I also liked that it was fenced in!

Daniel: I found the company that put it together – a Dutch company named Kompan. It had great design and function.

Saturday we had a wonderful time walking around the neighborhood we stayed in.

On the walk we saw a herd of peacocks that belong to the oldest restaurant in Austin. The guy in a house across the street was feeding them cat food in his front lawn!

We also had a great time looking at some of the modern houses in the neighborhood. Daniel was drooling all over himself.

Daniel: Seriously. Super cool architecture. I want my home to look like a museum. Amanda doesn’t so we’ll have to meet in the middle. These homes were a treat to the eye.

We also got to meet the young couple that own this house. It took them 2 years to build it and have only lived there for 3 weeks. The husband was a computer programmer like Daniel and talked code, while the wife and I chatted.

Daniel: I’m sure they thought we were crazy, but it was neat to talk to someone that went through the process of building a super cool house. The architect is MJ Neil. You can see some more pics of the red house, or “Ramp House” at their website.

On the way back from our walk we stopped at a Mexican Bakery for some cookies, then at Austin Baby and bought Annabelle a puzzle, and then at another Mexican restaurant for some Horchata and Jamica drinks. Living at that neighborhood could get very expensive for us if we stayed there longer! And we never even made it to the bakery called Sugar Mama’s that made cupcakes.

The House

The house we stayed in has been recently renovated into a modern/retro style. Daniel and I subscribe to Dwell magazine, so we really like contemporary homes. It was great to stay in one to see what we like and don’t like about it. The house also didn’t have any cable or internet access. It was weird being completely unplugged from the world. We were thankful for the stash of Disney movies to entertain Annabelle. Overall, it was a great relaxing weekend.

Daniel: Being cut off from the internet (other than email on my blackberry) was difficult. I kept thinking of things that I needed to check on or research, but after 48 hours I was ok with not being totally connected. And the master sinks pictured below: all design and poor function.

Daniel: The books were in alphabetical order – for real!

Fun Video with good info and great infographics.