Merry Christmas! It's our First Ultrasound

It's Baby's first picture!!!

Today we got to go for the first ultrasound! I can see how moms marvel at each new stage... I don't think it will ever get old. We heard the heartbeat again, and I could've lsitened for hours. As we looked at the image of our little one, we were overwhelmed with gratitude. Alejandro cried and I struggled not to laugh with joy through the whole thing!

There is indeed only one baby... no twins (at least not this time around). No word on the sex yet. We won't know until 15 or 20 weeks. But here is what we do know:
Baby measures 5.17 cm from head to rump.
I'm measuring at 12 weeks, even though I'm at 11 weeks and 2 days.
Everything looks healthy so far.

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¡¡¡La primera foto del bebé!!!

¡Hoy fuimos para el primer ultrasonido del bebé! Entiendo ahora porque las madres se asombran a cada nueva etapa... No creo que nunca me aburra de oir el latido del corazoncito, ni de ver imágenes del pequeño tesoro adentro. Ale y yo nos asombramos con gratitud hacia el Señor. Alejandro lloró y yo intenté no reirme por gozo durante el ultrasonido.

Confirmamos que tengo solamente un bebé... no hay jemelos (por lo menos no esta vez). No sabemos el sexo todavía. Hasta 15 o 20 semanas podemos averiguar. Lo siguiente es lo que sí sabemos:
El bebé mide 5.17 centímetros de cabeza a trasero.
Ya estoy midiendo a 12 semanas, aunque estoy todavía en 11 semanas con 2 días.
Todo parece bien hasta el momento.

First Appointment - Primer Cita con el doctor

Today was our very first prenatal appointment! The majority of it was pretty uneventful... you know, pee in a cup, take your weight (I'm at 135 now), get stuck with a needle, etc. But there were two highlights!

One great highlight was meeting our OB doctor, Dr. Baiza. He is hispanic, has a great sense of humor, knows the Lord and speaks openly of Him, and delivers about 350 babies a year! Yeah, my jaw dropped too! When he saw us, he had two women in labor at the moment. Wow!

But the 2nd, and most phenomenal highlight was that we got to hear Baby's heart beat!! It caught me off guard, because Dr. Baiza is kind of a fast-motion guy. And he warned that we might not hear it yet, and that it's perfectly normal. But no disappointment was to be had today! Baby's heartbeat was loud and clear! (and fast! babys' hearts beat really fast!) I lay there on the table and Alejandro and I were mesmerized. I was trying to hold very still, so as to not mess up the Doppler, and I kind of had my head turned toward the window and my eyes half closed. I'll never forget hearing the first lubdublubdublubdub as I looked out to blue sky, sunlight and white clouds. Alejandro and I were smiles from ear to ear! It was nothing short of amazing.

I wish I could somehow catch it in a picture, or a sound-byte for you. You moms and dads with experience are probably reminiscing about it yourselves right now. It was simply magical. Praise be to God, who knows us when we are formed in mommy's womb, who loves us, and who even at that tiny age, sent His son to die for us.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

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Hoy fue la primera cita con el doctor hoy. La mayoría de la cita fue muy normal... tomar el peso (peso 135 libras), sacar sangre, etc.´ Sin embargo, experimentamos dos eventos muy emocionantes!

Uno fue que conocimos nuestro doctor, el Dr. Baiza. Él habla español, tiene buen humor, conoce al Señor como su salvador, y ayuda en el parto con más o menos 350 bebés cada año! ¡Increíble!

¡El segundo evento fue lo más fenomenal... lo más emocionante! ¡Oimos el latido de nuestro bebé! Me sorpredió un poco, porque el Dr. Baiza nos avisó que puede ser que tal vez no lo oimos, y que no nos asustamo porque este punto, sería muy normal. ¡Pero no nos decepcionamos! El latido del corazoncito fue duro y claro... (y rápido... ¡Los corazones de bebés son muy rápidos!) Me acostaba ahí y Alejandro y yo estabamos cautivados. Yo me quedaba muy quieta para no interferir con el sonido, y tenía mi cara hacia la ventana con mis ojos medio cerrados. Nunca se me olvidará el snido del primer pumpumpumpumpum, mientras miraba por el cielo azul soleado con nubes blancos como algodón. Alejandro y yo teníamos unas sontrisas enormes después de eso. Fue simplemente increible.

Deseo poder mostrarles una foto, o tocar una grabación del latido para ustedes. Ustedes que son madres y padres y que han experimentado esto están probablemente recordando esa experiencia ahora mismo. Fue mágico. Alabamos a Dios, quién nos fabricó en el vientre de nuestra mamá, quién nos ama, y quien aún cuando no habíamos nacidó, Él envío su Hijo a morir por nosotros.

¡Les deseo una muy Felíz Navidad!

Tenth Week of Pregnancy / Décima Semana de Embarazo

Monday marks my 10th week of pregnancy! You can see pictures of me and a very small bump in the picture gallery. Though I'm not showing in a way that most others who don't know me well would notice, it's very apparent to me... especially when I try to zip up my jeans! (They won't, except for first thing in the morning, and that's so uncomfortable after an hour or two I don't even try. Yay for the "tummy sleeve"! It goes around your jeans so you can wear them unzipped and unbuttoned... makes all your pants last an extra couple months, and it makes me a much happier person!

I still have yet to experience very much "morning sickness," and I'm praising God and praying that will be the case through the whole thing! That hasn't immuned me from all of the other fun pregnancy symptoms though. The biggest and most frustratingly prohibitive has been fatigue. It's definitely cramping my fast-pace style that I'm so used to. I am constantly hungry, and it's bizarre to suddenly have the metabolism of an olympic athlete, but it's a problem that's pretty easy to solve.

If you think of our family and want to pray, Alejandro and I would be extremely honored and grateful. Please pray for God's grace and wisdom as we navigate through so many changes. Please pray for insurance people to do their job and paperwork to make its way through the system quickly so I an get to a doctor and get that first exam. Please pray for my energy to continue building my Mary Kay business so that I can stay home with Baby when he/she is here. And finally, please pray that Baby grows healthy and strong with a little heart that's already inclined to the Lord.

I always take what I find on the internet with a grain of salt, but above you can see some pictures of a 10 week fetus! My favorite are the tiny fingers!

At ten weeks:

The fetus is about 2-1/2 inches from head to rump, weighing about 1-1/2 ounces.
Fingers and toes are distinct and have nails.
The fetus begins small, random movements, too slight to be felt.
The fetal heartbeat can be detected with a doppler or heart monitor.
All major external body features have appeared.
Muscles continue to develop.

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¡El lunes empieza mi décima semana de embarazo! Arriba se pueden ver las fotos de una pancita pequeña. Aunque la mayoría de la gente que no me conoce muy bien no se da cuenta, para mí es muy obvio... ¡Especialmente cuando trato de ponderme mis jeans! (No me quedan los jeans, excepto que primera cosa de la mañana, y es tan incómodo después de una hora o dos que nisiquiera intento usarlos. Por dicha existe un invento que se llama "manga para pansa" que va alrededor de los pantalones así que se pueden usar con el boton abierto, así que todos los pantalones me quedarán uno o dos meses más.

Todavía no he tenido mucha nausea, y doy gracias a Dios por eso. ¡Oro que será el caso por todo el embarazo! Sin embargo, sí he experimentado casi cada otro síntoma de pansona. El más grande y más frustrante es el estar exhausta. Definitivamente no puedo seguir con el estilo rápido de vida que normalmente llevo. Tengo hambre constantemente, y es extraño tener de pronto el metabolismo de una atleta olímpica, pero es un problema fácil de resolver.

Si usted piensa en nuestra familia y quiere orar, Alejandro y yo estaríamos muy agradecidos. Favor de orar para el misericórdia de Dios y la sabiduría mientras experimentamos tantos cambios de vida. Pedimos que ore que los papeles pasan por la compañía de seguros rápido para que pueda ir para la primera visita del doctor. También pido que ore por mi energía para que pueda seguir desarollando mi negocio Mary Kay para que yo pueda quedarme en casa con el bebé cuando llegue. Finalmente, pido que ore que el bebé sea saludable y fuerte con un corazoncito ya dedicado a Dios.

Nunca confío completamente en cada cosa que leo o veo en el internét... pero arriba, puede ver fotos de un féto de 10 semanas. ¡Mi foto favorita es la de los deditos pequeños!

A las 10 semanas:

El féto está más o menos 6 centímetros de largo de cabeza a cadera, y pesa más o menos 1.5 onzas.
Tiene dedos distintos completas con uñas.
Empieza a hacer movimientos pequeños al azar, todavía muy leves para sentir.
Se puede notar el latido del corazón con un doppler o con un monitor de corazón.
Todas las características mayores del cuerpo han aparecido.
Sigue el desarollo de los músculos.

GUESS WHAT!?!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

...or maybe I should say small announcement...

Renee's pregnant!

We think our little one will be joining us in around the beginning of July. If I've counted correctly and followed all the books' directions right on how the doctors do the guess-work, July 10 is the estimated due date. We've got a doctor's confirmation on the bun in the oven, but no first visit yet. Just lots of books, dreams, and preparations happening around here for now. So at 7 weeks, what does baby look like? I was AMAZED to find this picture online:

Baby (our unofficial name until he or she appears) has a heart, ribs, kidneys, beginnings of eyes, ears, and a nose, and little webbed fingers and toes. How big is Baby? About the size of a grape or a blueberry. :) As expect, I'm not showing to anyone else who would notice, but there is a little pooch that pronounces itself more at the end of the day and after meal times.

Needless to say, Alejandro and I are VERY excited!

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¡EL GRAN ANUNCIO!

...o tal vez debería decir es un anuncio de algo pequeño...

¡Renee está embarazada!

Pensamos que nuestro hijito/a llegará alrededor del principio de Julio, si es que he contado bien según como hacen los doctores. Ya fui a la cínica y tengo que confirmación oficial que de verdád hay un pequeño bebé creciendo adentro, aunque no hemos tenido el la primera cita con el doctor. Me quedo por ahora con libros, sueños, y muchas preparaciones.
¿Cómo se ve el bebé ahora a las 7 semanas del embarazo?

(ver la foto arriba que encontré en el internet) ¡Que increible!
Bebé tiene un corazón, costillas, riñones, el principio de ojos, oidos y una naricita, y dedos palmeados chiquititos. Está más o menos el tamaño de una uva. Todavía no tengo pancita que se puede ver...

¡Estamos muy emocionados!

Picking it up!

Here we are... picking up that shiny red car!

I signed in ONE place, and the nice man named Travis took us all out to brief me on how all the buttons and gadgets work. ...yeah, like I was really paying attention! Oh well... that's what my husband and the manual are for!

Thanks again to all of you who helped us get here!

Love,
Renee

Hey everybody!

Hey everybody!!! So the big news is that on May 31st, I EARNED my very first Mary Kay CAR!!! Can you believe it?! Check out the picture of it. We'll be picking it up from the dealership in June.

Thanks to my most fabulous customers who have supported me and get all that great Mary Kay face-washin-good paroduct from me! You are the most important part of my business!!

Congratulations to my most amazing, wonderful, powerful, audacious, red-hot team, who helped make it happen! I can't wait to see YOU in your first Mary Kay car!

My friends and family have cheered me on and been my encouragement when I felt down. Alejandro, you ARE God's gift to me!

And to God be the glory!!! He is AMAZING and dreams up things for us we never would have imagined!!

Love,
Renee

Welcome!

Ok, so now we're up with the times and we have a SPACE of our own! I hope other people look at this besides me!!
Sign in by adding a comment so I know who's visiting.

We are so excited about life!! Jeremiah 29:11 God bless you all!

Love,
Renee

Goin' to the chapel courthouse...

On the morning of October 18th, 2003, I woke up at my uncle's condominium where I was living and I put on a yellow dress.  I grabbed the bouquet of yellow roses I'd put together the night before and I got in the car with my friend, Elizabeth. We drove to my parents' house where my fiancé was waiting. 



He was pretty excited to see me 

even though we gave attitude to the photographer my sister

because that day

after pictures were taken

we went to the courthouse to get married. 

With papers in hand and five friends and family by our sides, we walked in

and stood in line to get married.  It was all very romantic. 

Ok, well, except for the part about standing in line. 

Then we stood before a judge. 

She asked us if we were ready and we said, "Yep!"

And before we knew it, we were married!  The ceremony went so fast that we even missed a picture of the first kiss!  This is a shot my sister caught just afterward.   

I don't remember the ceremony itself or what exactly we said. We (obviously) didn't put much time into planning that day.  We saved the planning for our church wedding ceremony held eight months later.  But what I do remember, in the moment I said, "I do," was the deep-down-in-my-gut absolutely totally sure understanding that I was now joined to this man. 

In mind, in body and in spirit, we were then - in that very moment - one.  It's a mystery of marriage that awes and stills me when I think of the serverity of it.  Severity in a really wonderful absolutely amazing sort of way. 

I say often that marriage to the right man is incredibly wonderful and marriage to the wrong man can be hell on earth.  So choose wisely. 

I have been blessed with a whole lotta' heaven on earth.  Alejandro is God's best gift to me. 

After the papers were signed

and hugs were given

we decided a little celebration was in order.  So we headed back to my parents' house for lunch and a little cake. 

Literally. 

It was a cupcake with two kisses on top angled like wedding bells.

Then we went outside for more pictures before heading to the beach for a nice long stroll with our toes in the sand.

This is Chad, Alejandro's American exchange student (when they were in Costa Rica together) and host family (when they were in Kansas together).  He's sorta' responsible for Alejandro's love of the U.S.  So I kinda' like him.  Oh, and he also has a heart of gold. 

No, she's not my sister.  Elizabeth and I grew up together as neighbors. 

No, she's not my sister.  She's my mom. 

Yep.  She's my sister. 

And then

we lived happily ever after. 

Ok, maybe with a whole lot of Grace and refining by Holy Fire as we continue to figure this marriage-thing out.  But for the most part, we've lived happily and thankfully ever after. 

First Kiss

Written on April 20, 2011

Nine years ago on Tuesday of Holy Week, my husband and I started dating.

We had been head-over-heels in love with each other for a good two months by then, and pretty much everyone else knew it but me.

I was a missionary in Costa Rica, teaching English at a local Christian elementary school, renting a room from Alejandro's neighbor's house.  We listened to the same sirens, the same dogs, the same hollering neighbors, and the same rain on two separate tin roofs.  We met two months earlier when I got lost downtown and he rescued me and helped me get back home, but that's another story for another day.  After we got to know each other on the bus ride home, we looked for every excuse under the sun to spend time together.

He took me out on dates.  He walked on the street-side of the sidewalk and held my elbow as we walked across the street.  He even asked me if he could court me.  Twice.  He explained he would ask my Costa Rican host parents' permission and call on me at appointed times of the week regularly as it is custom to do in Costa Rica.  But I was not having any of it.

We were from two different countries and I was not gonna missionary date (literally).

So we hung out.  A lot.

Until one evening, the night before we were going to leave early the following morning to go to his uncle's ranch for the remainder of Holy Week.  This ranch was in a tiny town called Rincón, which means corner. That's pretty appropriate, because the tiny town of Rincón is in the corner of Costa Rica, practically in Panama on the west coast.  The ranch was right on a bay inlet of the Pacific Ocean, had a horse, fishing boats and (that particular weekend) about half a dozen aunts and uncles and twice as many cousins.

Anyway, it was the night before we were going to get on a bus to get there, at about 10 p.m. and we were starry-eyed and in-love, trying not to act like it.  Suddenly, Alejandro looked at me in the eyes and said, "I really feel like kissing you right now."

My heart flopped.

"No."  I said, in my eloquent Spanish. (Ha!)

"Are you sure?" he asked begged pleaded.

"Yes, I'm sure," I said in disappointment.

No, I'm not sure! My mind revolted.  I DO SO VERY MUCH want you to kiss me!  But I can't!  We're from different countries!  We speak different languages!  I'm a MISSIONARY for heaven's sake!  Ugh!


So I tried to explain.

"Well, no, I'm not sure...." I started.

And in my pause to figure out how to say the next phrase in Spanish...

SMOOCH!!

And then I sort of decided not to finish my sentence.  :-D  Yeah, he totally rushed in and capitalized on the moment.  I'm SO VERY GLAD he did!

So that's the story of how Alejandro stole a kiss from me, how he stole my heart for his own and how our dating days began!

Memory Lane Monday - Me at 10 months old

ORIGINAL POST WRITTEN APRIL 19, 2010:

This weekend we've been spending time with my Dad and his new wife, Jeanne, getting to know eachother better and hangin' out with our little bundle-of-energy almost-10-month-old.  It's been lots of fun and of course, as it goes when grandparents and grandbabies get together, a walk down memory lane is bound to occur.  There have been several such "strolls" this weekend, so I was inspired to start a new series of posts.  It's called Memory Lane Monday.  A chance for me to post and electronically scrap-book some photos from the past.  You'll get to read stories from our dating era, our childhood, and in between... and of course, embarrassing baby photos are sure to appear... 

Like this one! 

Yep, that's me on the right.  And the star on the left?  Well, I'll let her decide if she wants to stake her claim to fame.  ;)  And don't any of you who know her go ruining it for her!  Ha! 

But isn't she just so darn cute?! 

Oh, just another reason why I can't wait for summer... 

This one takes the cake!

Each week I'll post Memory Lane Monday under its chronological date, and then let you know at the top of my blog with a link that a new Memory Lane Monday has posted.  

If anyone's interested in joining in the fun, let me know in the comments' section and I'll put up a MckLinky so you can post your own Memory Lane Monday. 

Thanks, Mom, for finding this one for me! 

I'll be back before too long with photos from this weekend! 

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Memorias - Renee a los 10 meses de edad

Este fin de semana, hemos estado pasando tiempo con mi padre y la nueva esposa - Jeanne.  Hemos podido conocernos más y pasar mucho tiempo con Danilo.  Hemos disfrutado mucho y por supuesto, como es cuando estamos con abuelos y nietos, hablamos de memorias de cuando era niña.