Im back!

I have neglected my blog for so long the thought of catching it up seems overwhelming, but the longer I put it off the worse its gonna be! So here we go.
Life as a mother of 2 has been very challenging. The first couple of months were rough, I'm not going to lie. I was scared to be alone with both of them, how would I do it? Thankfully those days are over and I have figured it out (for the most part). Ceci reaction to her little sister has improved a lot. In the beginning when I would go to feed Maya Ceci would run straight for the outlets and start playing with the cords. Of course I had to jump up, put Maya down and pay attention to Ceci. This went on for about a month and I would try to prevent it by giving Ceci a bottle at the same time. So I am feeding Maya and have Ceci hanging on my back drinking her bottle. It is quite the sight. After this phase Ceci started sobbing and crying in the corner whenever I would feed Maya. To tell you the truth I preferred it when she was playing with the cords. The sobbing and crying in the corner just broke my heart! Now Ceci lets me feed Maya with no reaction, she just goes about her business. Ceci has also been helping out a lot. In the beginning she just ignored her, now she checks up on her and tries to change her diaper. Things got better once Ceci started going to "school." It is a daycare down the street from Leto's parents. She has been a lot happier and has been sleeping a lot better.
Oh sleep, how I miss you. This summer has been the hottest on record here in Sao Paulo, land of no AC. We have a portable AC so for the past 3 months we have all been sleeping in mine and Leto's bedroom. We moved to huge house, with 4 bedrooms and there are 4 of us sleeping in 1 bedroom! Back to the sleep, or lack of. Maya was a good sleeper at about 2 months old, but something happened and now she is back to waking up every 2ish hours. Its rough. And when Ceci has a bad night im lucky if i get any sleep at all! Leto helps out as much as he can, but with Maya, he cant do anything and Ceci usually only likes it when I put her back to bed. I look at it as, "this wont last forever" right?????? There WILL come a time when they sleep through the night and i have to forcibly wake them up at 10am, right?????? I know that is many, MANY years away but I am hopeful!
I went back to work 2 weeks ago, if you can call it that. Its part time, just a few hours a week. Just enough to get me out of the house a few times a week and cover our health insurance. I think i will start looking for more of a real teaching job next semester, or next year. To be honest I think i am done just teaching English and I am ready to get into a full day, kids classroom.
Carnaval was a few days ago. Leto had to work all but Tuesday (when normal people get Friday - Wed off!) So we couldnt go anywhere far. We ended up going to a little Carnaval party at a friends house and we made it to the beach. Ceci LOVES the beach, but Leto and I only have the energy for a couple of hours. Leaving is not easy! Lots of bribing occurs!
Well, Maya is waking up.... got to get back to that mommy thing... It is amazing and I wouldnt trade it for all the sleep in the world!

Maya's Birth Story

Our baby Maya was born 2 weeks and 1 day ago! And I am finally getting around to posting the birth story! We have had our hands full, to say the least! So here it is, copy and pasted from my journal (so it might be a little rough around the edges...)

It was tuesday Oct 29th in the early morning. Ceci woke up at 2am, i went to change her diaper and put her back to sleep. While i was changing her i felt some liquid escape. I did think, Oh maybe my water is breaking, but i went on to lay down with her and put her back to sleep. While i was laying down, i felt more and more liquid escape. I also felt the need to go to the bathroom. Ceci was not falling back asleep, so i called for Leto to take over while i went to the bathroom. As i walked to our bathroom, i felt the liquid run down my leg. I got to the bathroom and my underwear were completely wet. I went to the bathroom and then laid down, hoping that Leto would be able to put Ceci back to sleep (haha). He was unsuccessful and i went to Ceci's room. I said "maybe she knows something we dont" and he said "what?" I said "i think my water broke" He really didnt know what to think. We took Ceci to our bed, and tried to get her to sleep. At this time I wasnt leaking so bad, but i was starting to have little contractions. Ceci was going nuts. There was no way she was going back to bed. I think she totally knew what was happening. The contractions came faster and progressively stronger. I told Leto that we should pack. So we started to get out stuff together while Leto was googleing what is happening and what we should do. He was funny, telling me what is happening or should be happening and what we should be doing.... Yes i know sweetie, i did all that research 2 years ago when i was prego with Ceci.

At about 330 I tell Leto to call Dra Katia, because the contractions are getting closer. She said to go to the hospital. So we finished packing and loaded everything in the car. I was going to make cookies and stuff for me to take to the hospital on Wed, so i had no cookies :-(  We left the house at 415. We decide to take Ceci to the in laws. Leto didnt call and we just show up at 430. The contraction are horrible in the car, on the super bumpy road... Of course when we get to the in laws Ceci is excited, then she knows we are leaving and she starts to cry, waking up Junior, making her more excited/agitated. We take our last picture as a family of three and we escape. (I guess she didnt go back to sleep until 6am...).
 
Leto and I drive to Hospital Sao Luiz, the contractions we getting worse with every bump. I could really feel it in my lower back. I comment on how we will probably meet Patricio and Marina in the check in, saying maybe we will get there first! (Patricio and Marina are our close friends, She was due on Nov 10, us Nov 11. She scheduled a c-section for Oct 28th, but had to reschedule for Oct 29th). Right at 5 we arrive at the hospital. I round the corner and see Marina sitting there. The look on their faces was priceless. We say that my water broke and i am having contractions. It takes about 30ish minutes for them to take me to the screening room. My water is not coming so much anymore. They hook me up to the baby monitor machine and the contraction machine. We can see, and i can feel that the contractions are coming one right after the other, but not lasting for very long. The on-call dr comes and sees me. She says that I still have a lot of liquid and im not dilated. they say that Dra Katia is coming at 730, so they take the machines off me and leave us for about 45 minutes. The contractions are still coming. They tell me I am going to the pre labor room. This is where lack of communication and my no portuguese makes things really confusing. The woman who took me to the prelabor room said that i was going to try for a natural birth. but i get to the pre labor room, and they dont hook me up to anything, they just tell me to change into the robes. Then Dra Katia comes in fully dressed in her surgery clothes. So i think to myself, looks like a c-section. While they were taking me to the pre labor room, Leto was checking us into the hospital. Things went really fast after that. They walked me to the OR and introduced me to the anesthesiologist, not the nice funny guy from Ceci's birth :-(. He told me to lay down and he would start the IV and the epidural. I knew form Ceci that they didnt want the father in the room for the epidural, but I didnt even know where Leto was, so I told them that i was not laying down until I knew where my husband was. It took about 15 minutes to finally find him Dra Katia called him on her cell phone and i got to talk to him. He said he was close by, but i didnt really believe him. Dra Katia said that he could come in, and i felt a lot better. He was there when i got the epidural. It wasnt bad at all. My legs went numb and they got started. Dra Katia said that she would do her best to take the scar from Ceci's c-section off and not leave another one. I didnt really care, my scar is my child, very proud to have it! It was pretty much the same as Ceci, just no laugh with the anesthesiologist. Leto was sitting down kinda in the corner. Then before we knew it they were ready to take her out. It was a lot faster and easier that Ceci, and she said there was a lot of liquid still in there.

At 818am Maya was born! They showed her to me all cheesy and then cleaned her off. I got to "hold" her with my one hand. She was just adorable! She weighed 3.67kilos and was 50 cm. Slightly bigger than Ceci. She had such a perfectly round head, and her father's eyes! They put me back together, and we get to be with Maya. Leto gets to hold her in the baby sling thing. Because the whole thing went so fast we didnt have the live webcam of the delivery. Leto stayed with me while everyone else left. Not like with Ceci when i was left alone in the OR for like 5 scary minutes. Because of that he didnt get to see her  "presented" at the nursery, but Lu was there to take pictures. They took me to the recovery room and put me right next to Marina! We chatted even though we were both exhausted.  Eduardo is bigger, 3.8, and everything went well with her c-section too. She had Eduardo at about 730. They took her to her room, and I was left there, it seemed like they forgot about me. I think i was in the recovery for about 2 hours. I was only there for about 45 min with Ceci. Finally they took me to the room, but it was locked, Leto was down in the nursery looking at Maya. The orderly tried to get his attention, and call him but he didnt notice. So i was hanging out on the hospital bed outside my room for about 15 minutes... Finally he comes up and they transfer me to my room bed. I was feeling pretty good. It took a few hours for them to bring Maya up to me... i hate that about Brazilian births... Finally they brought her to me, and i held her! The nurse asked me if i wanted to try breastfeeding, i said of course. She instantly took to my breast and started eating!!!! The first couple of rounds didnt hurt, but then the familiar pain came! Wow, i thought that i would be less sensitive because of breastfeeding Ceci, but that was not the case! It was magic! I was so happy to have her here with us! We had some visitors, Wa took Mae Pai and Ceci to see us. Ceci was concerned about why i was in bed, why i couldnt get out and the iv and bracelets i was wearing. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with the new baby. Mae held the baby, and brought her close to Ceci and Ceci turned away. I dont know what i was expecting, but i wasnt expecting that. The first night was a little rough just because i was sooooo tired from not sleeping hardly at all the night before. Breastfeeding was impossible to keep my eyes open. They took her and i slept hard. They brought her back and i fed her.
 
Then the morning came and LEto had to go and get my sister at the airport. I was a little nervous about him being gone for so long. He left a little before 6 and got back around 11. The pediatrician came in that time and told me that Maya had jaundice and would need to be put under the light. So my sister got there at 11! It was so great to see her. I felt bad that my master plan didnt work out, and she wasnt there while i was having her, but this way she would have one more day with Maya. Leto's sisters brought Ceci Dani and Junior that night. Maya was under the light so Ceci just ran in circles around the 5th floor. She still wanted nothing to do with her sister. They took her from under the light and everyone got to hold her. When Dani was holing her Ceci was a little curious, but just for a couple of seconds. The second and 3rd night sleep was better because they had Maya under the light in the nursery and only gave her to me when she needed to eat. Halloween was the 3rd day. We didnt get to see Ceci at all :-(  I felt bad, kinda like i was cheating on her with another kid...On the 31st while Maya was under the light we went to visit Marina and Patricio. Their baby has the chubbiest cheeks! Super cute. Marina and I talked mostly about the husbands... ;-)





We got released on Nov 1st. Leto didnt have our marriage certificate for the birth certificate so he had to go to our house, so he got Brenda. We got all our stuff together and had to wait a while. This ride home was sooooooooooooo much better than with Ceci. Maya slept the entire way and it was perfect! We got home and Leto went to go get Ceci. When Ceci got here she still didnt really want anything to do with baby sister.




So that is our birth story. Everyone is doing great... well, except for the bout of food poisoning Leto and I had yesterday, and the cold Ceci has from school that she has given to her sister.... 2 weeks old and a little sick already...  but all of our spirits are high, and we are so happy to complete our family!

Here are a couple of newborn pics that Leto's sister Sol took! She is magic with a camera!

35 weeks and our Diaper Party!

35 weeks and less than a month until we meet our baby!
We had another ultrasound last Tuesdays and the baby gained about 500g... thats about 1 lb. So now she is at about 2.9kg or 6.3 lbs. When Ceci was in the home stretch they said she was going to be very big and she turned out to only be 3.2kg or 7lbs. So we will see. She sure does look big on the ultrasound!

We had our "Diaper Party" yesterday. I decided that we didnt need a "baby shower" because we really have all we need, with all of Ceci's hand-me-downs, but we will need diapers, so we asked guests to just bring a pack of Pampers diapers. Pampers is really the only diapers that work well here in Brazil... We invited all of Leto's friends, men, women and children. We rented a "ball pool" and an inflatable slide for the kiddos, and we had some fun games and good food for the adults! The games included "ball belly," where the men had to stuff as many small balloons in their shirt in 30 seconds as they could. Leto's friend Toni won with 10 balloons! The women had to guess the size of my belly with a piece of ribbon. Ju, who was the first to cut the ribbon won within a millimeter! Super close! We also had a game where everyone had to draw a baby, and Leto and I judged the drawings for a winner.... only problem was they had to draw it on top of their head with out looking! Another game the guests play was "Toilet Paper diaper" where groups of 4 had to diaper one of their group members with TP. A lot of fun! We tried to play 2 other games that didnt go over very well. "Dirty diaper" where you had to guess the chocolate melted in the diaper (i think most thought it was too gross) and "Pin the diaper on the baby" (it was too easy, because they would just feel for the other diapers). I made some special "Dirty Diaper" cookies. Cookies in the shape of diapers filled with chocolate or lemon white chocolate. I thought it was cute, but it grossed some people out...
It was a great party, but by the time most of the guests arrived, Ceci was done. We went to a birthday party the night before and she didnt get to bed till 1130... then she had no nap, so needless to say she was one grumpy lady when mommy wasnt paying attention to her... And I was exhausted! Even though I had so much help from Leto's family I did a lot of work and now know why friends and family are supposed to throw the baby shower for the pregnant lady!

Our next doctor's appointment is on Oct 15 when we will have another ultrasound. So, until then, here are some pics from the party!

The "Dirty Diaper" cookies and cupcakes I made.

 

Ceci and her second cousin Manu, before Ceci got grumpy! 

 Early in the party.

"Balloon Belly" game

The "pregnant" guys and the preggo! 

The winner Toni

 "Draw a baby" game and the winner Carla

"Measure the belly" game winner Ju

 The failed attempt at "pin the diaper on the baby"

"TP Diaper" babies

And the winner, Brian, and his team

 Good times were had by all! Thanks to everyone who came!

32 weeks!

Here we are at 32 weeks. We just got back from a Dr's appointment. We had an ultrasound, and everything looked great, except she is huge! We are 32 weeks, and she is the size of a 35 week baby. 2.4 kilos or about 4.8 lbs. Our doc is a little concerned with her size so we will be having the doppler ultrasound every 2 weeks until she is born, just to make sure she is doing ok. The ultrasound doc saw some hair. Ceci was born with hair, but then it all fell out and she was the chubbiest, whitest, baldest baby you have ever seen, so we will what this one looks like! While she is growing like crazy, I lost 1 kilo (2.2lbs) in 2 weeks! Gotta love the gestational diabetes diet! Hopefully I can lose a few more lbs before the baby is born. She is now head down, in position. We have tentative plan to have her via c-section on Halloween, if she doesnt come sooner. If she decides to come sooner we will try naturally and see what happens, but I dont want another November baby, and I think it would be very fun to have a Halloween baby!
We had our maternity photos done by Leto's sister Sol 2 Sundays ago. Ceci did great, and we got some awesome pictures. We also went to the beach last Sunday. Ceci absolutely loves the beach, and im sure all the beach-goers had a nice laugh watching the giant preggo chase after the 2 year old! I sure got my exercise for the month! haha
Here is a sneak peak of the maternity photos, and a couple from the beach!

 

31 weeks!

We are 31 weeks into this pregnancy! Things have been going pretty well. We went to California in July ans saw friends and family. Leto had fun playing in his first softball game and going to the Temecula vineyards. Ceci had fun in the pool and running around with her cousins!
We got back to Sao Paulo and back to work. This semester I am only working Tuesday and Thursday nights, and Saturday morning, just enough to pay for the awesome health insurance my school provides!
I had my gestational diabetes test a couple of weeks ago and the results showed that I do have it again. So its back to my boring diet, but at least i will be keeping the baby safe, and my weight under control. I gained a lot of weight while in California, but for the month i have been home i havent gained any weight, and with my diet i think i will be losing a little more weight before the baby is born. I am a lot bigger than I was with Ceci. I am 31 weeks, but i look how i looked at 35/36 weeks with Ceci.... Big!
With another baby on the way we will be needing more space. Our super tiny apartment doesnt even fit us 3! So we have been looking and Leto signed a rental agreement for an awesome house, a lot closer to his work! It has 4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. It is right next to the horse club in Sao Paulo, in fact one of the rooms looks on to a horse trail! The house needs some work before we can move in, which is perfect because we have until November when our rental agreement on the apartment runs out. We are all ready to move, and it will be so nice to have a ton of space for the kids, and enough space to actually have people over! Not to mention how much closer it will be for Leto to get to work and back!

We will be taking our pregnancy photos this weekend so look for another post soon!

Here are some recent pics!

30 weeks

 3d 28 weeks

cute little foot! 28 weeks

Brazilian Father's Day 

Fun at a friend's 2nd birthday!

Fun in the pool in California 

21 weeks!

Yesterday we had our 21 week morphological ultrasound! Everything is normal and baby Depintor # 2 is doing great! We got confirmation of the sex, so i feel more at ease with our "gender reveal" party ;-) The last thing i want is this big party to reveal the sex and it turns out to be the opposite! That would be funny!
I am doing great. The belly is growing. It seems to be high, just like Ceci was. Blood work showed that i am a little anemic so iron pills are being added to the prenatal vitamins. Other than that we have been cleared for travel! We leave Sao Paulo the night of July 2nd and arrive in LA the morning of July 3rd. Just in time for the 4th of July! This year we have planed to go to Mariner's Park for their festival thing, then to an Angel's game. What better way to celebrate the 4th than with a baseball game!
Needless to say we are both extreamly excited and READY for our vacation! We hope we can see everyone and do all that we want to do!

Here are some ultrasound pics from yesterday!

And we are having a ....

Haha not so fast! We did have an ultrasound yesterday morning and we did find out the sex of Baby Depintor #2, but we will not be telling anyone until our "gender reveal" party in California, July 7th!! So, sorry you will just have to wait, while Leto, Ceci and I keep this amazing secret to ourselves ;-)
Everyone is doing great. I am feeling a lot better now that my first trimester is behind me. i am sure a lot bigger than I was with Ceci at this time, but that is to be expected with your second child, or so I hear. Leto is doing great as well. He is being a great daddy, and wonderful husband. He is very into running right now which keeps him busy some mornings! Ceci is more amazing everyday. She is HUGE to say the very least. She is almost 19 month, and some 2t clothes dont fit her anymore! She has quite a selective palate, which can be frustrating at times, but she is growing, so its all good! She loves to run, when she has the space (ie at Grandma and Grandpa's house) and while we are stuck in our small apartment she loves to watch movies, look through books and organize blocks. She has discovered stickers and loves to stick them everywhere, but we need to keep an eye on her because while she wont eat ANYTHING she will eat stickers... It is so funny to try and get them away from her when she has decided she is done playing with them would rather eat them. We love this girl! 

So, I havent been feeling the baby move as much as i thought i would and i told Leto. He said "dont worry, it will start moving today." And you know what... its spinning around in my belly right now! How did he do that? He/she is already daddy's boy/girl!!

Here are some pics!

 A different type of belly pic!

 19 weeks

 19 weeks

 Our American girl snackin on some goldfish!

 Festa Junina!