Just a few pictures

Alex and Zach asleep on the floor.

Klara playing "school" at her table. She is writing on a calculator!

Check out her hair....totally an 80's style!

My little baby is getting so big!

Klara did NOT like the snow at all.

She looks so grown up with her hair pulled back! And she loves playing with my bracelets!

This was the week I had to feed Zach formula because I was on really strong antibiotics for my infected c-section incision. In case you didn't know, I have a small hole in my stomach because my internal stitches separated!! You would think they would stitch it up, but NO.....they said it should just heal on its own. That was five weeks ago....the hole is still here, but at least it is not infected.

This one just makes me laugh!

Klara's first time holding Zach

Watch Me Grow with Teddy

I decided to do the same thing with Zach that I did with Klara. Each week on Tuesday I take a new picture of Zach with my teddy bear from my childhood. It is as easy way to see how much Zach is growing. I debated doing it or not, just because it is hard to remember every Tuesday to take his picture, but I love looking back at Klara's album and that inspired me to do it all over again with Zach. I will be more diligent with Zach's pictures though. I only took about 35 weeks worth of pictures for Klara, so I hopefully will do the entire year for Zach. The most amazing transformations take place the first few weeks, so here are Zach's first 5 weeks of pictures with Teddy.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

I can't believe how fast he is growing up!

Zachary Alexander Sandoval

I finally have time to sit down and write about the birth of our little Zach! I cannot believe that I have had him with me now for two weeks! On November 10 Alex and I arrived at Women's East at 4:30 am. We were shown to my room around 5:15, and the nurses started their usual routine. Everything was going well until I had my IV put in. About five minutes afterwards I started feeling sick and I could tell I was losing my hearing....the sure signs that I about to pass out. Alex started fanning me and the nurse stuck something smelly under my nose. I was saved! The nurse told me that I probably had a vasovegal reaction....basically just fainting. She said she would warn the doctors in the OR just in case it happened again. Sure enough, it did. As soon as I had my spinal block in the OR, I started feeling sick and my blood pressure dropped to 60/30....not too great. They continually injected more meds into my IV which kept me from completely passing out or puking. Nice, huh? Anyways, after all that drama it seemed like no time that Zach was born. He was officially born at 7:58 am, weighed 7 lbs 15 ozs, and was 20 inches long. Right after he was born the nurses told us that he had to go straight to the NICU because he had fluid in his lungs. The fluid was causing his breathing to be too rapid and his little body was working too hard. Alex was able to hold him for a few minutes before he left, but I was not able to hold him until much later. It was so sad not being able to hold my precious boy right after he was born! Of course I was pretty much spaced out from all the medicines in my body, but after I got back to our room the fact that my baby was not with me hit me pretty hard. I was so upset! I finally got to hold and feed him a few hours later when they brought him to my room. Klara and my family were able to meet Zach during this time. Klara was all smiles as she looked at her new baby brother! However, after I fed him they had to take him back to the NICU because he started making a funny gasping noise. Very scary. He remained in the NICU for all of Tuesday and until late Wednesday afternoon. After I gained the feeling back in my legs, my nurses let me walk to the NICU and visit Zach, but it was not the same as having your baby with you in the privacy of your own room. But I knew it was for his own safety and well being, so I had to be content with that. After he was released back to us, we spent a nice Wednesday night in our own room and were discharged Thursday around 11:00 am. I was so thankful to be able to take my little baby home with me! He is absolutely precious and all my fears about having a baby boy completely disappeared the moment I saw him!

My Klara

This is my last week alone with my precious girl! All through my pregnancy I have wished things would speed up, but now that the last 7 days are here, I wish things would slow down! I am so scared that I will not have the same precious time with Klara that I have had over the past 18 1/2 months. That scares me to death! However, I know that Zach will fit into our routine just fine and I will not be able to imagine life without him once he is here. I am also still a tad bit afraid because he is a BOY! I know all about baby dolls and coloring books, but I am not sure I am that updated on cars and dump trucks! Since my next post will more than likely be about the birth of my son, I thought I would give a few random updates about Klara before Zach gets here and keeps me busy 24/7.

-Klara is saying tons of words! Some of her favorites are mommy, dada, mimi, papaw, wawa (Wade), baby, bowbow (dog), cat, book, Caillou (favorite cartoon), ball, home, bubbles, moon, more, moo, yay!, no, yes, up, help, umbrella, peepee, poopoo, eat, pup (cup), bapple (apple), beep beep (car), and there are a few others I can't think of right now.

-She can also recognize and say the following letters: A, B, C, D, E, G, I, J, K, L, O, P, Q, S, T, U, W, and Y. I am very proud of her!

-Her favorite things to do are color (she holds the crayons correctly!), read, watch Caillou, take baths, and play outside.

-I started singing "Baby Mine" (from Dumbo) to Klara when she was born and still sing it to her every night before she goes to bed. She now holds her baby dolls, rocks them, and sings the same song to them! She can only get out the first 2 words of the song, but it is still precious!

-She is generally grouchy every afternoon about the time Alex gets home. She will cling to my legs (so annoying) and warm up after about 5 minutes of doing this.

I love my girl so much! Here are her most recent pictures! I think I take too many pictures of her. When she sees the camera now she says "NO!" and walks away!

My little strawberry!

Pumpkin Patch

We had a great time on Saturday at Guthrie Pumpkin Farm with our friends and children! It was our first trip to a pumpkin patch, and I believe that now it will become a yearly tradition. I thought the day was going to turn out rather rough because Klara was in a rotten mood when we arrived. She missed her nap....enough said. However, as soon as we saw the animals in the little petting zoo she began to perk up. Thank goodness! Klara, Sadie, and Jeremiah had tons of fun playing with each other and running through the pumpkin patch. Here are some pictures of the experience!

The Stongs, Sandovals, and Gallahers

We tried FOREVER to get the babies to all look the same way!

strolling through the pumpkins

Daddy and Klara on the hayride

Klara's light hair amazes me! She does not look like our child!

playing with pumpkins

sharing popcorn

This was Klara's favorite pumpkin. She would barely put it down!

Sadie peeking out over the hayride

cute Jeremiah!

Apple Festival

I love going to different festivals each fall! I was so excited to go to the Apple Festival, but it turned out not-so-great this year. The weather was very cold, and I did not think they had as many vendors this year. However, it was still fun to get out of the house and do something as a family. Klara loves any chance to walk, so I am positive that she had a great time! For some reason she did not want me AT ALL that day. Most of the pictures below are with Alex because she would scream for dada if I tried to hold her.

Picking apples

As you can see, she did not want me at all!

Walking happily with daddy and the balloon

Klara loves her daddy!

She LOVES balloons!

Morning at Deer Park

Yesterday was so beautiful that I just could not keep Klara inside. We headed off to the park for some fun! Thankfully my mom met me there so she could chase Klara around since I am rather slow these days! Klara loved running around and playing in the car (or whatever that thing is), but she is still scared of swings. Oh well!

Giving Mimi kisses

Driving Mimi in the car

Ignore the huge belly and focus on the cute kid!

Peek-a-boo!

Playing with the blocks

Where is Klara?

Last night, Alex and I were relaxing in the playroom while Klara ran back and forth through the playroom, Zach's room, and her room. She finally ended up in the bathroom where she played with some foam letters we have underneath her sink. She was being awfully quite, so I got up to investigate.....and here is what I found.

She evidently wanted to play in the bath a little bit longer! She had a great time, but also managed to get her pajamas wet from the water left in the tub. What a silly girl!

My Little Cheetah Girl

Like many toddlers, Klara LOVES animals! Yesterday after watching her favorite cartoon, Caillou, she still wanted to watch tv. I usually only let her watch tv for about an hour or two each day, but I figured if I found something educational on tv that it would be okay to watch a little bit more. I turned the tv to National Geographic and a program about cheetahs was playing. Klara recently saw a cheetah at the Memphis Zoo and loved it! It is the only animal name that I could get her to say at the time. Needless to say, she loved the program on tv. Here is a short video of her excitement!

4D Ultrasound Pictures

Here are the 4D pictures of my precious baby boy! He moved around the whole time we had the ultrasound done, so we did not get very many good pictures. Below are my favorites! I think that our little Zachary is going to look like Alex!

Party Like It's 1999!!!!!!

For the past 8-9 months, I have been helping plan my 10 year reunion for Bradley Central High School. Man, what a job that was!!!! It was stressful at times, but worth it in the end. We had a great time Saturday night at the Convention Center in Chattanooga. The ballroom looked great, and about 114 people attended. That does not sound like very many for a graduating class of 502 people, but it was just enough for us! I had a great time seeing almost all of my best friends from high school. It is amazing how some people seem to stay the same while others are very different than what you remember. I had a great time but don't plan on planning any other reunions any time soon.

The planning committee Shemayah, Me, Autumn, Ami

The ballroom
Autumn and I put our husbands to work so we could mingle! Go Alex and Lynn!
My very handsome husband.....sweater vests are so hot! My best friends!

The Golden Girls reunite! Karrie, Brooke, Me, and Hollie
My best friends from high school! Jaclyn, Brooke, Karrie, Me, Hollie, Autumn, Jessica, Jaclyn

Autumn and I showing off our bellies! I have 8 weeks left and she has 11!