Family Update

I've decided to reboot this blog! Instead of starting a new one I want to just continue with my old blog. I won't admit to being the best writer, but I love having these blogs to look back on. It's been a good way to keep friends and family updated, plus with so many new things going on in our lives you never know who you might be able to help out there!


2017 has been quite the year! Josue has continued with his new position at Lazy Dog. He really enjoys working for such a fantastic family-oriented company, it's a rare find in the hospitality business. When he became a manger there late last year they sent ME chocolate covered strawberries to welcome us to the Lazy Dog family. He really hopes to climb the corporate latter within the company. Which would be great for us financially as I continue to work one day a week at Macer Medical while the rest of the week I'm able to be home with the girls. Which brings me to my next announcement. I've been thinking about ways I could contribute a small income while still being home with the girls which has always been our dream. After much consideration I've decided to become and Ambassador for Poppy & Dot, and a Senegence distributor!! Both of which will get there own blog posts :)

Our girls, Olivia and Elizabeth are doing so well. Olivia who is four now just LOVES school, she makes tons of friends, is fun, creative, sweet, sensitive, and loves to snuggle. She really is my best little buddy. She enjoys ballet class, playing with her friends, and getting her way! Currently she's dealing with sleep apnea and all the not fun things that go along with that, but we're hoping things will improve for her after a smooth tonsillectomy in August.
Elizabeth who will be two in October is so much fun! She will try to talk your ear off, and is so incredibly funny! She still loves her Paci, and definitely loves to eat all the sweet things in life but she is just a bundle of joy and we so enjoy her every day!
Our family doesn't quite feel complete just yet but we LOVE our lives and can't imagine things any other way right now!


 I've personally taken this year to take care of myself. Both mentally and physically so that I can be the best Mom, Wife, and friend, by being the best possible me. We joined the local YMCA, and I 've really enjoyed taking many exercise classes. I've kept up with exercising 4-6/week and I don't plan on giving that up any time soon. I've lowered my sugar intake and gone gluten free. I feel so much stronger, and happier with myself. I feel like a better example for my children. I still have a ways to go but getting 30lbs off has been incredibly gratifying. Since my diagnosis of PCOS in 2008 I packed on way too many pounds between taking the Celexa, the hormone imbalance, and poor habits I just couldn't seem to get it off. Pregnancy certainly didn't help, but in the last 6 months I've managed to really make significant changes and get things back on a healthy trajectory. I've started journaling, praying more, and researching/reading more to help me mentally. I've restarted this blog in an effort to help me keep a positive outlook on life too. I can use all the help I can get because after my more recent diagnosis of the Auto-Immune disorder Sjoren's I've really felt down in the dumps. But through prayer, and venting I've been able to really see all that I have been blessed with, worked hard for, and the mostly good health we have. This diagnosis will not get the best of me and I plan to be the cause of continued awareness, and research. I want to learn how to work hard when I can, and take it easy and say no if I need to. I hope it doesn't come off as incredibly selfish but I've realized I need to take care of me too. I can be a generous, and giving person like my heart wants to without giving all of myself away!


I'm planning to add in some of my new favorite gluten free recipes, updates on all of us continually, travel, and lots more fun! Hopefully you will take the ride along with us :)

I need to take a new family photo. I realize we haven't had a good one of all four of us in Months!! 

Update

Ok so I am officially the worst blogger ever. I have been quite busy with a baby who doesn't nap. But in this rare occurrence that she is napping I'm taking advantage and trying to finish up my PPA post. Maybe this update can suffice as our Christmas letter that I never got around to making.

Olivia is 8 months old now and if I never see another pediatric specialist it will be too soon. We started with a Cardiologist, then a Urologist, now a Physical Therapist, and an orthopedic specialist. She's had jaundice, a heart murmur, two colds, a UTI, a stomach virus, and viral bug in her short time here on earth. I'm glad she's building up her immune system but I'm tired of seeing Doctors!  In spite of her health issues she is one amazing little girl. We thank God every day that her heart murmur closed, and that she's growing so very well! Her laugh is infectious and her smile is heart melting. She loves to play, suck her thumb, and be held. I don't mind because I LOVE Livi snuggles. She enjoys playing with her friends and helping Mommy with crafts. She sleeps well through the night and doesn't throughout the day. Her favorite animal seems to be Bella.45\
We did start her on a few purees so I can't say we did BLW, but we only did  them for a couple weeks. For the most part she is eating small pieces of what we are eating and still nursing. She is happy and constantly smiling and I couldn't have asked for a more precious sweet girl. Her personality is becoming more apparent each day and she is rapidly physically advancing. She can now crawl, lift to stand, and even stand on her own for seconds at a time. We love her more than anything and look forward to watching her grow.
I've decided to go back to school slowly. I guess if we ever want to buy a home in safer area I need to make more money (who would have thought!?)  ;) but for now we're taking it slow and enjoying the extra time I'll have with Olivia. I may keep my foot in the door with nursing and keep on at Macer Medical/MediLean working here and there.
Josue is still Manager at Claim Jumper in Costa Mesa and is working on becoming a regional manager. Sometimes I hope that means a move for us, but Long Beach is starting to grow on me. Especially now that we're making some amazing friends at Parkcrest and in my Mommy group. He's an amazing Daddy, and a wonderful support for me.

We're still content in our little Long Beach home, but aspire to moving to the Bixby area so that Olivia and maybe her sibling(s) can go to Longfellow with her little friends Lucas, Cole, and Nora. Olivia is going to have an amazing first Christmas and fun New Years vacation in Florida with family. She is one lucky little girl, and we are very blessed parents.

We hope everyone has a very happy holiday season. And be blessed with peace & joy.

 

 

 

Olivia's 5 months

Month: 5

Current Nicknames: Buggie, Lovebug, Liv, Angel, Pumpkin, Livi (yeah we call her everything) ;)

Current Likes: She loves all her new toys and singing songs. She also loves "clapping" noises.

Current Dislikes: Sleeping (well she likes it just fights it!)

This month's milestones: She sat up on her own!

Firsts: Went to Disneyland and the beach

Olivia's 4 Months

Month: 4

Current Nicknames: Doodlebug, Lovebug, Liv, and Livi (most popular by others)

Current Likes: She enjoys her exersaucer, listening to books, going swimming, she also likes to "talk"

Current Dislikes: Having a fever :(

This month's milestones: She laughed! (best sound in the world!), she has really started grasping objects, she's found her hands!

Firsts: Laugh 7/22, Overnight stay with Grammi (8/8)

Olivia 3 Months

Ok so I'm way behind with my posts. I'm still not finished writing the second part of her birth story but I first wanted to start posting a monthly update on Olivia Nikelle.

Month: 3

Current Nicknames: Lovebug has kind of turned into Bug. Sometimes since her initials are ONE I call her one the bug

Current Likes: She LOVES her Jenny jump up and her activity play mat. She's a big sleeper these days, and loves smiling especially when she wakes up.

Current Dislikes: Doesn't seem to like teething toys or anything plush yet

This month's milestones: She has been consistently rolling from tummy to back and back to side.

Olivia's Birth Story

I feel very fortunate that I had a relatively"easy" labor and Olivia was born healthy and the most precious thing I have ever seen! The days following were not so easy. This will be a two part post. I will tell her birth story here and go into PPA in another post. I apologize in advance, I'm sure this will be long and wordy.

I was diagnosed with gestational hypertension and mild preeclampsia towards the end of my pregnancy. It continued to get worse so my Doctor thought it would be best to induce me at 38 weeks. We drove to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, CA to be there at 5am on Monday April 8th to start the induction. After getting all settled in we started the process of adding pitocin to my IV at about 7am. I was already 3cm so I would probably have gone into labor on my own pretty soon. The contractions were getting intense and I had the feeling my water broke. At about 11am I was at 6cm and the Dr. said that indeed my water had broken on it's own. A little later my nurse told me that the anesthesiologist would be going in to surgery so if I wanted the epidural before he went in I needed to get it now. I decided to go ahead and get it as I'm a big wimp I knew I would eventually need one. It ended up being good timing because just after I agreed my contractions got even worse. Labor was really progressing! I had some family and friends come to visit me but unfortunately my blood pressure went super high and my nurse kicked everyone out! Plus I soon started to feel very intense contractions again. I had to get two addtionional spinal flushes because my epidural stopped working for me twice! I tried to distress by talking to Josue or play games on my phone. I think we may have even watched an episode of Full House on the TV. My nurse gave me a cherry Popsicle and some ice chips, I even got a major dose of of BP medication to help bring it down. Finally just before pushing at began at 4pm my blood pressure came back down to a reasonable number, but of course still not great. I pushed and breathed and pushed and breathed for about a 1/2 hour and at 4:30pm Olivia was born! She was placed straight on my chest for a few minutes of snuggling then they whisked her to get cleaned up and her apgar score. It was beautiful. Josue ran over to her and I've never seen him so in awe. I cried just seeing what a good father he was already. He brought her back over to me and she nursed. Olivia Nikelle Esquivias was born on that day April 8th, 2013 at 4:30pm. She was 7lbs 1.1oz and 20.5inches long. I had never seen a more beautiful thing in my life, bringing life into this world was amazing! I did have a second degree tear that needed to be stitched up, but I only felt the pressure and tugging no pain.

Josue and I had decided that it would just be us in the delivery room. Though sometimes I think that it would have been nice to have my Mom in the room for support, I'm glad it was Josue there to hold my hand. He was a great support and really helped me through the pain and then the pushing. I know he was nervous before it all began but in the room he wasn't scared at all. He was a big part of the day and even cut her cord. It all went by so fast I'm happy he was there to help me remember that special day. Just don't remind me about the pain or the rhogam injection, ok?!  ;)

 Just before we had my Mom and sister come in to meet the newest member of our family we had to make sure we wanted to go with the name Olivia. We were pretty positive that would be her name but hadn't really disclosed that to many people as we were not 100%. Naming Olivia was tough for us. We went back and forth and back and forth. In January Josue was positive he wanted to go with Emily, then in February it was Sophia. We pretty much had Olivia as a front runner since back before she was even conceived but we couldn't 100% go with it. Josue was so wishy washy and I wasn't sure I wanted to go with such a popular name for her. Just around my birthday we decided to each write a list of our top five names separately and see what we came up with. Josue's list was Alexandra, Emily, Sophia, Olivia, and Allison. My list was Aria, Sutton, Alexandra, Olivia, and Alexandria. We decided that since the two that matched; Alexandra & Olivia those are the names we would bring to the hospital and decide when she was born. Even though we were both almost positive it would be Olivia. When she was born we both knew that Olivia was the right choice! Nikelle is a name that we chose to honor close childhood friends of mine that passed way too young. Her name totally fits her and her initials O.N.E are just perfect! Although I think she could totally be an Aria or Sutton too, just don't tell Josue ;)

My Mom and Sister just adore her and took their turns holding her. They were followed by Nina & Nonno, great friends, and more family. It was the most amazing day in my life. It felt perfect. Her apgar score was a 9 and she looked like my perfect little angel. Even her cry was precious. I couldn't have prayed for a better day. It all went so smoothly and I was blessed with the most amazing gift at the end of the day. Josue and I wanted this day to come for so long, it was even the perfect timing. But as they say, that was only the beginning. And not to discount my perfect day or perfect daughter the story gets a little gray from here on so I will make that a different post. Now if you got through that you get pictures, yay!!

 This was just after the nurse took her for Apgar/cleaning and we finally remembered to grab the camera!

 

 First family photo :)

 

 

Grammi & Livi

Olivia is here!!

Ok well she has been here for awhile now. I've been so busy I haven't had time to update, but I promise her birth story and first few month posts very soon. Olivia Nikelle Esquivias was born on April 8th, 2013 at 4:30pm. She was 7lbs 1oz and 20.5inches long. These are the announcements we sent out. (Well most of them have been sent, I'm a little behind. I'm distracted by spending every moment I can soaking up my little girl!)