Daniel Javier Hernandez

SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2015

I had one of my last appointments with my OB doctor that day at 1:30pm. He stripped my membranes (for the 3rd time), said I was 3cm dilated and about 70% effaced with a "favorable cervix." He told me that if baby didn't come on his own he would be induced two days later on the 24th and explained to me how pitocin works. Baby must've been listening to that horrifying explanation because after we came home I took a short nap and woke up around 5:30pm with slightly more painful, consistent contractions than I had had the past few weeks. I kept timing them and could tell they were the real deal, so we packed the girls up to take to a family friend's house, and headed to the hospital by 7pm.

When I got there I got all checked in and they said I was already at a 6. After laboring for a while I had mentioned to the nurse that I really wanted my epidural and to make sure I got it. It's always right when you need it that the anesthesiologist seems like they take their sweet time to make it to your room. I was at 8cm for a while, got my epidural and finally got to rest. Unfortunately, I let the nurses dictate how the rest of my labor was going to go, which I sadly regret. I wish I had been more outspoken. While resting I felt comfortable, but my nurse kept asking almost every 10 minutes if I felt like pushing (which honestly got annoying..with Lydia they left the room and let me tell them when I felt like I was ready to push). After nothing for an hour, they were starting to get impatient so the OB on call wanted to give me some pitocin to speed things up (they had other women there waiting to be induced, but since I was delivering naturally I got priority and *I'm assuming* they wanted the baby out asap to be able to get to them). So they did that and I ended up feeling all the pressure from the extreme contractions, making it impossible to relax or rest. Finally I felt like pushing and they all came in and prepared for delivery. I can't imagine being induced with pitocin first, without an epidural. While I was pushing I could start to feel the baby's head come out, a stinging sensation, which made me laugh (that's how I handle pain apparently haha). The doctor laughed and everyone exclaimed, "Look! She's even smiling while she's pushing!" I do that normally during delivery, but this time it was to handle the pain, not because I was particularly enjoying it.

 

After a few minutes of pushing, sweet baby Daniel Javier Hernandez (middle name pronounced like ha-vee-air) came into this world at 11:28pm, weighing 8lbs 9oz, 21inches long, and was laid on my chest immediately after birth. It was a different feeling I had with him than I had with the girls. I started to get a little teary eyed when he was laid on my chest. Maybe it's a mother-son thing? Or perhaps it's the feeling of bringing your first son into the world. I felt such a connection to him. He laid there for a good while before he was taken to get cleaned up and then brought back to nurse. His temperature was low for about a day and a half which the nurses monitored but it eventually picked back up before we left. 

Also, he is a screamer. He hates getting his diaper changed, or bathing, or basically anything that makes him cold. He is JUST like his daddy, loves to be wrapped head to toe in blankets and is always freezing (I accidentally laid him naked on a cold pillow the other day, and boy did he let me know he hated it...oops.. I'm a mean mom ;) ). Not to mention he looked just like Jonathan when he was born. We showed this picture of Jonathan to the nurse and the nurse said, "Oh. My. Gosh. You just gave birth to your husband!"

Little baby Jonathan :)

Taking Hating his first bath

Who brought me into this cruel, cold world?

Unfortunately, during delivery he experienced some trauma so he's got a blood bruise on his head on his right side (which we are hoping will go away soon so Daddy can stop referring to him as Gumby ;) ). I personally think he got it because of the pitocin that they insisted on me having to rush my delivery and get him out fast. My girls always came on their own and let me progress naturally and they have never experienced cephalahematoma. I'm still mad at myself that I didn't take more control, and wish my OB had been there who had originally told me that he wanted everything to be how I wanted it to be. I think he would have let me decide what I wanted to do (or at least ask me if I wanted to do pitocin), instead of telling me what they all wanted to do. But anyway.. lesson learned I guess. 

Family Picture!

Daniel has so much hair you can barely tell in pictures that he has the large bruise on his head. 

September 24th was discharge day. After stopping by to say hi to my mom while before she got her biopsy done, we went home around 3pm and spent the rest of the day with the girls and Baby Boy, cuddling and loving on him. Every single day Lydia gives him hugs and kisses and tells him that she loves him. In the picture below she would whisper to him, over and over, "I love you... I love you so much."  It's so sweet. Both the girls love their baby brother. And I love my kids. 

She LOVES baby brother

Miss Me?

Hi....

It's been a whole year and a day since I've last posted. Oops. I kept promising myself that I would post for every big milestone or big event that happened within the last year and I obviously didn't pull through. Sorry! So, recapping everything since May 10th of last year.

Elena took her first steps

Lydia turned 3 in July

Went to the 4th of July parade (which Lydia is convinced was made for her since it's next to her birthday. That's all she wants this year.. a parade where people throw candy to her. Every kid's dream!)

Finished a hard, time-consuming semester with all straight As

Packed up and moved all our stuff into storage, drove to Colorado and flew to Alaska for a month (July 29-Sept 2)

Moved to a new apartment/ward once we got back

Officially decided we wanted to go to Alaska after we finished school

Had our first and last Christmas together in Rexburg where I made yummy Mexican pozole dinner and it snowed on Christmas Eve.

Rang in the New Year also in Rexburg, playing Call of Duty ;)

Got the surprise of our life finding out we are expecting another child early January 2015. Definitely a huge curve ball but we're determined to make this work amidst graduating and moving clear across the continent 6 weeks before I have this little child. It's absolutely kind of terrifying. Pray for us?

Passed another semester with straight As, including social science statistics. A miracle.

Surprised our family with baby news on Easter Sunday.

Took our last trip to Colorado to visit family for spring break, while Jonathan and his brothers flew to Texas for half the week to visit home. 

While in Colorado we celebrated Elena's 2nd birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. So fun!

Enjoyed my first trimester and most of the second practically symptom free (another way I was able to fool the majority of my friends hehe. I get so lucky in pregnancy. I truly am grateful.)

Found out we are having a baby boy and publicly announced it on May 4th, Star Wars style.

Have an interview scheduled for an internship that I desperately need. I want to cross that off my list before baby boy comes so when I graduate I can just focus on my family. 

And that's what's been going on in the Hernandez family so far. Trying to survive our last semester here and plan and prepare to sell our apartment contract, sell our car, get rid of a bunch of junk, clean, buy tickets for me and Lydia to fly up, and prepare for Jonathan, Elena and our friends to drive up. Then find housing, an internship/job and healthcare before September. Like I said, we'll need all the help we can get! We're taking a huge leap of faith. Lydia turned on the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration on Youtube last Sunday and we watched most of it before Church. In it, Joseph Smith says, 

"Perhaps I am meant to swim in deep waters. But better deep than shallow." 

I think that will be my new theme for this year.

I Never Want To Forget My 1 year old

Finally! I'm getting around to this post. I'm only almost a month late. Oops :) We're just so busy having fun (okay read: busy with school) I kind of neglect my little blog from time to time, as I'm sure you can tell.

Elena had a great birthday! We did lots of fun things (which I will save for another post). And now that she's officially 12 months, aka 1 YEAR OLD (sheesh, time really does fly) I want to post what I never ever want to forget about my sweet little girl.

I never want to forget

How she can say "hi" when prompted ..sounds more like "hi-eee" and "bye-bye" which sounds a lot like "ba ba" haha. Then when I ask her what a cow says and moo for her she goes, "mboo" and asking what a puppy says and bark for her she goes "ra!" and then tries to copy what a kitty says. Gosh it melts me to pieces. She is learning so fast!

On that note, she can sign milk, more, and is starting to fold her arms for prayer. She also can sign "father" and "mother" and "please." Again, smarty pants.

She has 8 "regular?" teeth..and 4 molars. And then the teeth in between those are on the verge of coming. I can see a lot of cranky days ahead of me...

She wants to do everything that Lydia does. Seriously. Drink from the same sippy cups, play with the same toys, bathe together, even jump on my bed when Lydia does it haha - I only know that because she whined as she stood at the foot of my bed while Lydia was doing it. Inseparable...despite their sibling rivalry.

She is still, hands down the easiest sleeper ever. When she does wake up in the night (usually a few hours after I put her down..proabably due to the nightlight Lydia needs to have in their room), I just make her a bottle and put her back into bed after it's done. It doesn't matter if she's just woken up, she'll go back to sleep eventually without crying. It's so nice. And when I ask her "you need to go ni-night?" She'll always look to her bedroom door, or aim her hand in that direction because she knows. :)

When she doesn't want to finish the rest of her bottle, she thinks it's just so fascinating to tip her bottle upside down and pour it on to the furniture or floor. Haha she knows it's naughty, little stinker!

She will lean in and give us kisses when we ask (usually).. and goes "mmm." It's the sweetest thing. Ever.

How she absolutely hates being cleaned up after eating. She squeals and screams. She hates it.. I have no idea why haha

I never want to forget

She's a year old and still only army crawls. It makes me laugh. She can't crawl on her hands and knees yet (although I saw her take a few ..crawls?..the other day before she fell on her tummy and started army crawling again). I know she'll get there. I was talking to my mom last night and she said she was impressed because how many babies do we know that crawl on their elbows and push off with their feet/knees while holding toys/objects in their hands (seriously, that's the main reason she won't crawl.. it's nicer to hold things in her hand and scoot haha). I guess that's pretty cool :)

She usually sleeps all night. Except for that since I put Lydia back in their room together she'll wake up randomly 2 hours after they go to sleep and she'll just talk and sing and click her tongue until Lydia wakes up and says, "shh! Be ka-wet (quiet)" lol

She has gotten kind of a 'tude now that she's turned one, ya gotta watch out! I'm convinced it's her teeth...I'm probably right since she normally has a very sweet disposition. :)

Sometimes while sitting in my (or someone else's lap that she is comfortable in), she will lay her head against your chest and look up at you and smile or softly moan or say "mmm." It's so sweet.

She likes to dump all the clothes she finds anywhere...on the ground. She'll take my nicely folded laundry and throw it to the floor. Not much different than when she's eating haha She knows she's not supposed to put food on the floor but she does it anyway. Little stinker.

As she's becoming more and more mobile she wants to sit with me less and less. It was sweet though, the other day she just laid on my tummy next to me as we cuddled. I told her not to grow up.

I never want to forget

Her face after I gave her some of my veggie juice lol. The first taste seemed kinda gross but she whined for more so I guess she liked it.

She can scale furniture. And she has stood for at least 10 seconds by herself today!

Her cute smile.

Her desire to put everything in her mouth...still.

Her love for other babies. We got her a fake baby for her birthday and boy was she excited to open that present! And she still loves her baby and likes to feed it its bottle. But she also loves real babies too and likes to "pet" them. :)

She has no problem drinking from a sippy cup and I've even put regular milk in one and she drinks it fine. I'm thinking we'll have no problem transitioning over. Yay!

She always, always loves sharing her food/milk with you. It's actually kind of cute. When she's drinking her bottle and she's drank..drunk? most of it, she'll offer some up to your lips. Or today during Church she kept offering her cracker to Jonathan and he'd pretend to take a bite and she'd start laughing, then do it again. Repeated like 10 times. It was cute.

She likes being dipped upside down and laughs while doing it.

I never want to forget

How she got a "birthday cake" hangover. I think it was too much chocolate cake. The next day she had a fever and a really gross diaper. But I think she felt better after the cake left her system haha.

She loves my green smoothies.

She likes watching movies with Lydia like Snow White.

She absolutely loves phones. I try not to let her play with mine. I don't want her to get attached, but every once in a while I'll click on the lock screen so she can see the picture of us 3 and that will make her laugh and smile.

She sometimes wears 2 year old clothes haha. Not because she's outgrown her 12 month clothes, but I like the way they look on her haha. Sheesh.. kids grow up too fast!

 How she dances. Oh man it just cracks me up. I love when she wiggles her body in dance!

Lately she's been going around saying "ba-ba BAP" haha over and over and over. And she likes hearing her echo in the Church bathroom. :)

I just mostly never want to forget my sweet, fun loving little 1 year old! She grew so fast over the last year. I just can't believe it. And now it's almost been a month since her birthday. Goodness, I love that little one. Earlier Jonathan said, "Man, I don't know what I ever did without Baby Sis. How did I live my life without her!" She is just a bright child that radiates happiness and her smile will no doubt make you smile. She is just incredibly sweet.

I Honor You

This Mother's Day, while I feel extremely grateful to have the opportunity to be a mom, and I am thankful for my own mom and mother-in-law, I can't help but think of the many women who desire to be a mom and aren't one yet. This Mother's Day all I can think of is my dear friend Whitney.

She is one of the selfless people I know. She always has your back. I've been blessed to know her for about 2 years now and I am so thankful she is in my life. I consider her one of my best friends, since being here at BYU-Idaho. She watches the girls and they absolutely love her. She invites us over for dinner and does as much as she can to make you comfortable, she's even taken the girls overnight so Jonathan and I could have a night to ourselves. She serves, she gives me advice, she cooks (for my own kids) changes their diapers, treats us out sometimes, and much more. She is incredibly Christ-like. She forgives, she encourages, she's a leader, she has patience, she loves; there are many things I admire about her.

You may not know this, but her and her husband have been wanting to have a baby for a long time now. My heart aches when I think about her pure desire that is not fulfilled at this time. I admire her (and their) strength and faith. I remember the first time we hung out with them (2 years ago) we had found out they had already been trying for 1.5 years. We went home that evening, knowing they would be great parents, and prayed that they might be able to start their family, thinking it would surely happen soon. We still pray for them. I get defensive about my dear friends when I hear insensitive comments toward them or others struggling with infertility (I had a tear fest at Broulims one night when she told me a terrible story that happened to her. I couldn't stop crying! It made me mad that some people have the nerve to say some things...anyway). I'm thankful that through knowing them I have learned a lot about infertility. I hope that I can sympathize with others who struggle through it. It has surely opened my eyes.

I  want to echo the words I wrote 2 years ago on Mother's Day in the post called "To All the Mothers Who Taught Me Something":

"I would like to thank those Moms, who desire to be a Mother, but can't - whether they must wait a few more, long, hopeful years to start their family, or their bodies are just physically unable. I can't even imagine how hard it would be to accept the fact that I couldn't have children, or couldn't have any more. Whenever I think I'm having a hard time, or feel discouraged in my parenting, all I have to do is be reminded of someone who can't carry their own child (or doesn't have the means to adopt), and I instantly count my many blessings. I have so much to be grateful for. Thank you for still having the longing to be a Mom, even though you feel your dreams seem far-reaching. Thank you for that desire. Blessed are the parents who desire to have children, and can't, over those who could but selfishly relinquish their parental duties. Thank you for reminding me of my ultimate desire and want - to be a Mother."


I understand that Mother's Day is probably the hardest holiday for women who simply want a child. But this Mother's Day, I want to let Whitney and all women out there know, especially those wanting to hold their own child in their arms, that I honor YOU as Mothers. You are mothers in my eyes.

You are mothers in eyes of the Lord.

"Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly that. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our very identity, our divine stature and nature, and the unique traits our Father gave us. For mother is the word that will define a righteous woman made perfect in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, a woman who has qualified for eternal increase in posterity, wisdom, joy, and influence." (Sheri Dew "Are We Not All Mothers?")

Activities!

While this week has been for the most part laid back and minimal in the homework department, I still needed Lydia to be engaged in some fun activities as I did the rest of my homework (online stuff - boring). So most of you know that I asked for toddler approved indoor activities on facebook. It really helped get my creative juices flowing. BUT.. I didn't do anything you guys mentioned..haha not yet anyway. Don't worry, it wasn't all for naught. They were some really good suggestions, but here is what we did do, that was probably equally as fun!!

For a long time I've thought about growing a garden (which is near impossible at an apartment complex..and after our recent laundry theft I'm not taking any chances of putting any personal item outside of our home)..so instead I wanted to teach Lydia about faith and patience and waiting for the flowers to grow. She's never really seen a seed in action, so while I was at the store I picked up some potting soil and some flower seeds (and chalk, even those aren't related at all haha). When I got home I asked Lydia if she wanted to do an activity with me. She was super excited! Using the pot I painted and had glazed while we were in Nebraska in 2011 (about the one good thing that came from being there - besides befriending Mandy :) ), I had Lydia help me pour the dirt, poke little holes in it, plant the itsy bitsy seeds, cover them up and pour water on it. She was super impatient and thought that the flowers would immediately pop out, however she liked this "ah-ta-bee" (activity).

Not so happy we have to wait a few days (or weeks?) to see our flowers...

Haha yeah, I can't wait to see some... Phlox... (never heard of it in my life ;) )

You try explaining plant growth to a two and a half year old. Yeah.

She was kind of upset but I told her it would take a few days before we would see anything. Lemme tell you, I'm super excited! I really hope we don't kill this plant-child. When friends have asked me to babysit their plants in the past I could never figure out why they started wilting as soon as I took care of them. I really hope Lydia is excited by this planting process as I am..and who knows, we might try to do different kinds of flowers or perhaps small vegetables in the future if we can prove we're good plant-parents!!


After that I brought out the chalk and after about an hour of trying to convince her to wear pants so we could go outside, we ventured out to the side walk path of our apartment and colored all over the place. I drew the ABC's and she traced over most of them; we drew some flowers, a dog and cat, our family, and a note to the neighbors as they come down the stairs telling them to "have a good day!" We were out there for a good half hour or so, thanks to the sun and the not-so-usual-windy weather.
Even Elena enjoyed being outside (even though she dove for the chalk a few times). She liked sitting on the grass and crawling around. Summer will be so good for us :)

Right before she drew a vertical rainbow haha.. I had to demonstrate later how rainbows looked.

Elena trying to eat some grass lol

Lydia...scolding Elena for eating said grass hahahaha

Jumping on the "Tangled" flower haha ;)

When we came in Lydia told me, "I like da ah-ta-bee." :) I really love how she can't pronounce that word.. it makes my heart giggle. Since I had been up since 7:45 and the girls had woken up earlier at 9:45, we all agreed it was in our best interest to take a nap. That felt so nice.

 I love having fun and spending time with my girls.

Family Time Is Sacred Time. It Should Be Protected and Respected.

Pres. Boyd K. Packer

I Never Want to Forget: My 11 M/O

I can't believe in one month I will have a one year old! This year flew by so fast. I remember where I was last March. My grandmother had just passed away, and that allowed my mom to visit me since the funeral was in Utah. I remember feeling huge (and no doubt, probably was ;) ), attending school (taking science, sewing, intro to soc, online BOM, and American foundations - yes I'm surprised I remembered). I also remember finding out I was actually a week ahead than I thought I was (which kind of changes things if you think about it - at least for planning around your due date).

Yeah, I just can't believe how much has slipped by these 11 months! I still need to get started on Elena's scrapbook of her first year. With Lydia I had no school and only her and lots of time, yet I started at 9 months and it seemed like it took me a while to complete. Elena's birthday is next month and I haven't put a single thing in. Yikes! I guess my only redemption is that I have these "I Never Want to Forget"s here on my lil ol' bloggy blog that I can just print and find a way to cutely paste in, with some other fun notes, stats, and stickers to make it specialized for her. I think I'm going to make a scrapbook for all my kids of their first year as a birthday present. I know as a 2.5 year old Lydia loves looking at her "baby book." Hopefully this tradition continues!


Anyway, here is what I Never Want to Forget about my 11 month old!

I Never Want to Forget

Thanks Aunty Jamie for the jammies :)

How one of her favorite things to do now is pull her self up and stand against anything - your legs, body, chairs, the couch, and her crib. Last night I must've laid her down at least 5 times before taking her out of her crib because she would just stand up and start singing while Lydia was trying to sleep. 

She seriously has an appetite for everything! I've found that she even loves spicy food! It's kinda funny :)

On that note, she must be going through a growth spurt or something. Kind of later last night I gave her a 4oz bottle and tried to put her to sleep in which she kept crying. So I took her out thinking maybe she's teething since she's never grumpy like this and always falls asleep when I put her down, so I also gave her some baby snacks. Then we played and I thought she'd be tired and tried laying her down again. Nope, still grumpy, standing up in her crib and crying. So I took her out and tried cuddling and rocking her (tried nursing too, even though I'm completely dry now; it's kinda sad :( ) and she was still being a grump. So I made another 4oz (so that's 8oz - she's never had that much before) and I finally found my happy lil thang again. It's funny how much you notice is wrong when your child's attitude is always happy and then grumpy all of a sudden. You just know something is up.
Also, this morning she had 7oz of milk and two bowls of yogurt, strawberries and granola. She kept grunting and shaking when I wasn't fast enough! haha then when we were all done I made myself a salad and sat down and what do you know, she crawled over to me and starting staring and whining at my plate! What the heck lol. Yup. Growth spurt.

I saw that she has broken another bottom tooth through. I want to say it's one of her molars, but it's hard to tell. 

How she still chooses to cuddle with me when she's sleepy. I absolutely love it. 

She is learning to fight back against Lydia. Often times when Lyd's too close Elena will reach over and grab her hair and just yank at it. I feel kinda bad... but then I think about all the times Lydia pushed(pushes) her over and would bite her..and then I don't feel as bad anymore ;)

I Never Want to Forget

 

How she likes to sometimes copy tunes! A few weeks ago Jonathan randomly sang the line "ash-es, ash-es" (to Ring around the Rosie), and Elena copied the tune (mostly something along the lines of "ahh-yuh ahh-yuh" over and over haha). Sometimes she copies the tune/sound of "UH-ohh" or "THANK-youu" :) It's cute. And it makes Lydia laugh when she hears her "sing."

She likes playing the musical puppy piano toy we have and knows what button to push to hear it play songs (instead of words). Then she lays there and wiggles one arm back and forth (kinda like you're trying to elbow someone), while giggling. She loves music. And I love her dancing. :)

 She loves, LOVES seeing pictures of herself, or even me just holding the camera out taking a picture, she will smile for me. :) 

She has fun when I hold her hands and we walk across the room. Gotta get those legs working! We'll see if she starts walking around the same time Lydia did :)

How I love the back of her hair that is starting to curl. It makes my heart happy. I hope she has beautiful curly hair!

The way she smiles when I come pick her up at the babysitter's. It's like she's my biggest fan and it makes my heart so incredibly happy.

I Never Want to Forget

My friend was over interviewing me for a class and she must've thought it was incredibly boring haha. She fell asleep on my lap after this picture. Also, don't mind the mess. I cleaned up but the kids destroyed it while she was over haha.

When she's laying on her side, in her awesome modeling pose, she likes to grab her leg or foot and go up and down with her leg while holding on to it, kind of like she's stretching haha it makes us (and the babysitters!) laugh. :)

How when she picks something off the floor and puts it in her mouth, I put my hand up to her mouth and say spit it out and she does! On command! She knows she's not supposed to be eating that. But, at other times when I see her about to eat, she grabs the item and quickly sticks it in while smiling lol. Little goon.

How cute she was when we took her to a Sunday Class and she started waving at a friend's husband, right off the bat, not prompted. It made us all smile. :) 

She is picking up signing pretty well (although it takes a little prompting to get her to do it). But she knows "more" and shakes her hands around for "all done" along with waving "hi" haha. I know this isn't a sign, but this is what I've always associated with food; when she puts her one pointer finger in her mouth while crying, I know she's hungry. It's a good little cue, and kinda funny how we just kinda picked up on it haha. When I see her finger in her mouth, I know it's time to get her something to eat other than milk. 

Lately I've been finding her asleep in the morning with her arms under her tummy and her bum in the air haha (hopefully she's not too cold :( ) But I think it's kinda adorable. 

I Never Want to Forget

 

Her face as I pushed her on the swing for the very first time.

The fact that she sleeps all night (I'm actually getting sleep at night - since I've separated them). It's been so nice :) 

When some people see her for the first time that day, she does this cute, funny shy thing where she smiles and then puts her head down haha. Then she pops it back up, smiles, and then puts it back down, like she's super bashful to see you. :)

*I just asked Jonathan what his favorite thing about her was* He said that she's always happy. It's so true. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful happy infant. She really lights up my life!

I love all you are, Elena.

Sometimes it's good for the heart to

 remember someone so tiny, precious, and pure.