9 weeks

sofia's 2 month dr's appointment was today. i can tell she's doing great, but it's always reassuring to talk with the doctor, just to be sure. before we went in, i guessed she was 12 lbs. i was just about right!

here are her stats:
weight: 12 lbs 3 oz / 80th percentile
length: 23 in / 75th percentile
head: 40 cm / 80th percentile

she is tracking just about where bez was tracking at 2 mos. apparently, we make big babies. i was reading back through old blogs and can't believe it was only 3 weeks ago where she was at her peak fussiness. it's hard to believe that this chubby-cheeked, smiling, laughing baby was a fussy newborn just a few weeks ago. she's changing so fast! it's so different having an almost-six year old - the changes happen so much slower, but are so much more significant (he can read! tie his shoes! do the monkey bars! swing by himself!). sofia changes are less significant (she can lift her head! she grabs my hair!), but come so much more frequently.

one of the things the dr and i discussed was sleeping. sofia has been sleeping with us (don't judge!), but i'm feeling like it's probably time to start transitioning into her crib. it's so hard because i LOVE sleeping with my babies - i find it so comforting to have them right there instead of across the room or in a different room. that being said, we transitioned bez to his crib when he was about 6 months (i think?) and it was pretty hard. when we had her we agreed to do it sooner. the dr. also advised that babies who are in their own bed tend to sleep for longer periods at night. so here we go! tonight i am going to attempt to put her in the crib next to our bed - wish me luck!

in addition to her stats, sofia also got four shots. bez was so nervous for her - "mom, i wish that shots were bad for you, like ice cream". he has decided to invent vaccines that can be taken by mouth and taste like "juice and candy and other stuff" so babies don't have to get them. he's a good big brother.

last weekend we went up to my mom's house on whidbey island. bez loves to be there and it was nice to get a little mom time. being on whidbey on a sunny day reminds me of why i live here. it's so beautiful. being with my mom reminds me how much we do every day between working and the kids and the house. when she's there, i feel like i'm able to take a deep breath and just really and deeply enjoy it all. thanks mom.

Planning

planning, planning, planning... it's summer in seattle, which means we have to cram in events and parties in between t-ball, bday parties, shows, baby showers, weddings, bbqs and etc. in the weekends we have left before it starts raining again (did it ever stop raining?).

this year it's tony's 20th high school reunion in las vegas at the end of september. we are trying to cram a vacation to the california coast during the same week without breaking the bank. it will also be my first month back at work, so it will take some creative planning in order to make it work. right now we are trying to decide between san diego (sd zoo, beaches, etc) and the orange county beaches (our favorite book store in laguna, disneyland, etc) for a three day jaunt before heading back to las vegas for the rest of the week. tony's high school band, isolation, has been asked to perform at one of the reunion events. i'm so excited to hear him play with his hs friends cj and joe!

since this is our second baby, we decided not to have a baby shower, but decided instead to lift the idea of having a "meet the baby" party from one of my favorite blogs. once again, because it is seattle and summer, we have baby showers, bbqs, vacations, etc to plan around. looking at the calendar, july 3rd is the only free weekend we had to plan the party. it's a weird date to have a party, but the weather should be nice, so we compromise. i love making cupcakes and i am excited to make super-girly cupcakes, chocolate with strawberry buttercream frosting (also lifted from helen jane's blog). we'll also have sangria for the grownups and i'm going to cheat and use the super-easy and super-yummy red sangria mix from dish d'lish. it's also going to be the weekend after i turn 30 (ack!) so we will be "celebrating" that as well.

bez is turning six this year and we've decided to celebrate his birthday by hosting a party at stone gardens in ballard. we can't think of anything better than allowing 5 six yr old boys and 1 five year old girl to climb to their hearts content! it's always weird to plan birthdays for bez, because the weather can never be counted on and it seems like everything books up in seattle a long time out. we originally wanted to have his party at this great park near our house, but the park is reserved for every weekend from june 1 - september 30! oh the joys of living in a big city with only 3 months of predictable weather per year. the good thing is that it forced us to think outside of the box and he is really excited about having his party at stone gardens!

amongst all of this planning, and baby-having, i managed to squeeze in a mom-baby yoga class yesterday. it was so nice to do yoga for the first time in 6-7 months, but it made me wish i had kept up yoga through my pregnancy. i was surprised by how much my body had forgotten! hopefully it won't be a long road back to where i was before i got pregnant.

sofia continues to be a sweet, easy and sleepy baby and we relish the moments when her eyes are open. i'm looking forward to having both my babies home this summer!

day 1

...and here it is, my inagural post! i'm using this blog to record, for family and friends, what is happening with the kids (bez and sofia), tony and me.

the biggest news in the zuniga household is the birth of our baby girl, sofia, almost 3 weeks ago. what a magical experience it has been welcoming this sweet little girl into our family. what a surprise she was, too! here is the story...

on may 18th (1 week before sofia's due date), i was finishing up a conference call with my boss at 11:00am and headed out the door to go to my 39-week dr appointment at 11:40am. i was having contractions every 15 mins or so, but nothing too strong or regular, so i was expecting a run-of-the-mill dr appointment (listen to the baby, blood pressure, cervical check and out). my last words to my boss were "ok, i'll talk to you this afternoon".

during my appointment, i had my doctor check to see if i was leaking amniotic fluid. sure enough, i was and the dr asked me to go check into the hospital so she could get labor started right away. oh boy! we weren't quite ready for the suddenness of it all! i called tony and had him head over to the hospital from work asap while i checked in and got my paperwork completed. tony arrived around 12:45pm and they got my antibiotics, fluids and pitocin hooked up and started. from about 1:00pm to about 6:50pm, my contractions were slowly increasing in frequency and strength, but nothing too difficult so i decided to forego any pain relief.

around 6:50pm, the doctor (not my doctor, but one from the office we had met with before) came in and checked me, i was right at transition (6cm, 90%, +1), but they needed to completely break my water before we could move forward. She broke my water and went to eat some dinner. my next contraction was immediately much stronger.

it seemed like an eternity that we were in transition - the contractions were extremely strong and i tried really hard (for all of my pregnant friends) to remember what it felt like. unfortunately, the maternity-amnesia has set in and all i can say is that it was very intense and very painful, but i know it was not any more than i was capable of handling. eventhough it seemed like an eternity, in reality it was only 7 or 8 contractions before i started pushing. They went to grab the doctor and let me start pushing at 7:30 - 7 pushes later and she was here!

sofia was/is perfect! 7 lbs 10 oz, 19.5 in long - sweet, sleepy and beautiful.

now i have given birth both ways - with bez, i had an epidural during transition and delivery (that was an 16+ hour labor) and this time we went natural. i can say that i wouldn't change a thing about either birth experience. what an amazing thing to go through!

after she was born, bez came to the hospital in his jammies and had the chance to meet her. i am happy to report that he is proving to be the awesome big brother we knew he would be. tony was, as always, amazing - he held my hand through the labor, cut her cord and changed her first diaper. when we were all ready for bed, we wrapped her up and i snuggled her next to me and dozed off.

now it feels like she has always been here....