Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Feliz dia del Pavo!!

We just had Thanksgiving Dinner here in our apartment...Turkey, Ham, Corn Souffle, green bean casserole, baked potato, and baked sweet potato, gravy, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. We haven't even gotten to the desserts yet...and I feel like a stuffed turkey!

Before dinner we all went around and said what we were thankful for...with tears in our eyes and our throats chocking us, we all gave our thanks for family, for eachother, for Anthony being here, and for the beginning of Peter and mine's new HOME and addition that is more than half baked in the oven, our baby boy.

Before the coma strikes, I wanted to write this little blurp...

I'm thankful for everything and everyone in my life. I'm most thankful for being surrounded by people that I love and love me!

Tuesday morning reflection...

Peter's Parent's arrive today...
Austin woke up with a nice cold front coming through to welcome them with the Holiday Spirit!

Walking this morning I could see the sun's rays splitting through the poofy cotton-balls that are up on the clear blue sky this morning. The 55 degrees that the thermometer reads feels like 50 with the nice cool breeze that rumbles through every 3 or 4 minutes. Today would be a beautiful day for a morning run. For now, it's a great day for a morning stroll. I thought about how smoothly this pregnancy has been going. Here I am 6 1/2 weeks from giving birth and I still don't feel too "handicapped" or "restricted".Yes my life has completely changed but for the most part everything has been kinda the same. I'm not running, but i'm walking and exercising. I able to do almost everything normal. Very few are the times that I've felt "sick" and by sick I mean nauseous or uneasy. My night sleep is sometimes interrupted by the freaquent visits to the bathroom, but I fall right to sleep once I get back to bed. My breathing is a little different and I feel my heart racing sometimes for no reason...but other than that, it's been smooth sailing.

It's nice to take time to take time to breathe in the fresh cool air. Life happens so fast. It feels as if a couple weeks ago I was taking hot, humid breaths in the early morning hours on the Panamanian countryside that I thought would be my home for the next two years. Little did I know I would have a lovely switch of plans that would place me in the beautiful city of Austin with Peter and I would get to celebrate Thanksgiving surrounded by family. Thanksgiving would have been spent with other Peace Corps volunteers at the IST (In-Service Training) probably eating rice, beans, and dried then fried steak(I'm sure it would have been great...but it would have been very different).

Life takes some crazy turns sometimes that we could never have even dreamed up. However, I would prefer that a millions times over than living a predictable life, boring life. When things are unplanned, they can be scary and frustrating but what is more scary and frustrating is living a life that you KNOW what will happen next at EVERY MOMENT.

People always wonder what the recipe for happiness is. I don't know for certain, but from the couple years that I've been alive, I've noticed that having things to look forward to (planned or unplanned) make all the difference.

Luckily for Peter and me, we're not much planners...we have short term and long term goals (some different, some the same), but when it comes to figure out exactly one path for us to reach them, we've realized that there is more than 1 option. We know that some of our decisions will make the path towards certain goals a little longer while making other paths shorter. The important thing is to stay attentive on our paths for any signs or inlets that may lead us closer to any of the many goals and dreams we have for our lives.

My Peace Corps agenda had a great quote on it:

"I find that the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving."-Oliver Wendell Holmes

What direction are you moving in?

ABUELITO IS COMING BACK!

Abuelito Luis is coming back to visit for Thanksgiving! A couple weeks ago we thought we were going to be spending Thanksgiving by ourselves here in Austin...However!!! That all changed in the last week.

Peter's parents, his brother, my parents, and snoopy are all going to be here on TURKEY day to celebrate! The celebration would be complete with Tia Manuela, but she will be in El Salvador with Juan celebrating Juan's best-friend's Wedding. They are a busy couple and were booked before we arranged our plans.

That makes 7 adults, 1 unborn baby, and 1 dog staying in our 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment. It is going to be a FULL HOUSE...shower schedules will need to be followed strictly!

This will be our FIRST FAMILY HOLIDAY!

Tio Anthony is BACK!

CPL Anthony Flores
flew back into the states Sunday Morning.
Abuelitos Pedro and Veronica were there to welcome him HOME!

If we are lucky, we will get to see him here in Austin in the next couple days to celebrate Thanksgiving together.

Rodriguez Family News Corner

My cousin, Gabriela Rodriguez, who lives in Barcelona,Spain, and is an interior designer/ restoration architect is 11 weeks PREGNANT! She found out a couple days ago. Her partner is from Portugal! She didn't know she was pregnant and a friend suggested she go to the doctor to get checked. She did and was met with a welcomed surprise! She is going to be a great MOM! Our kids will be able to talk Portuguese together!!!


My other cousin Carolina Rodriguez Ferrero, was in the Miss Colombia Pageant, where she placed 3rd, Primera Princesa. She is the current Miss Cundinamaraca. She will now begin a year of travels around Colombia participating in different events, modeling, and raising money for different causes.
(she's the one in the red dress below)

Dr.'s Appointment from HELL

In movies and in life you hear about women making a big deal about "liking their doctor" and "feeling comfortable with their doctor". I didn't understand why it was such a big deal until this past appointment. Our current ObGyn is Dr. Eng. The other woman in her practice is Dr. Winn. Dr. Eng recomended that we meet Dr. Winn because there is a 50% chance that she might be on Call when I go into labor.

My very first impression was great. She was confident outgoing, and loud. I thought I liked her until she started talking. She measured my stomach, heard the heartbeat of the baby, and asked me if he was moving normally. THAT'S IT!

From there on, the appointment was downhill. She talked about the risks involved in childbirth and how NO ONE is guaranteed a child when they get pregnant. She told me that they only way she could guarantee that I could go home with my live safe baby would be to have a C-Section on week 39 (one week before the due date). She said she would be willing to wait a week after the due date but then she would sit and have a serious TALK with me because the risks at that point would just be increasing and there would be NO benefits accumulating. At one point she even said that even if babies do survive, no one is to say they won't get cancer at the age of 8 and die, or get hit by a car at the age of 10. However true that may be, it is not the place or time to be discussing these possibilities.

Though Peter and I like Dr. Eng, knowing that there is such a high chance that this woman might be there at the time that I go into labor just makes me upset. So upset that Tears were rolling down my face as I walked out of the room. I couldn't believe everything that had just happend. She was very realistic and told me the truth, that there are risks involved in giving birth naturally. But I didn't like how she forced her own opinions on me.

I do hope that this terror of a doctor isn't there when I give birth. The idea of switching doctors, however late in the pregnancy this may be, is sounding more and more RIGHT!!!!
Peter wasn't at this appointment, but I really wish he would have been, so that he could have witnessed the natzi of a doctor who pummeled her way through our appointment with no regard to the emotions that her words were invoking.

Stay tuned to see what happens with the Odyssey of the ObGyn!

St. David's North Austin Medical Center Tour

Tuesday Night we took a Tour of St. David's North Austin Medical Center, which is about 3minutes from our apartment. It isn't the St. David's that our OBGYN delivers at but I went to a class there a couple weeks ago and fell in love with the NEW state of the Art facilities!re

Peter, my mom, snoopy, and I went on the Tour. The nurse was super nice. There were about 4 other pregnant women and their SUPPORT PERSON (that's what the babies daddy's or mother's partners are called in the medical world to not offend anyone.)

We went to the luxury suite where women are checked-in to to give birth. Wood floors, flat screen TVs, lounge chairs and couches for visitors, private bathroom, and an awesome room service food menu. What more could a person going into labor ask for?

We toured the nursury and the postpartum "recovery" rooms as well. The tour was very informative and welcoming. It was a warm, welcoming, and nerve settling environment.

I could see myself coming here to deliver the baby...we will see what the next couple weeks have in store for us...

Babies R Us time warp!

My mom and I went to Babies R Us Monday with some of our gift certificates looking for somethings, little did I know that Babies R Us would trap us in there and make us loose all sense of time!

There were a million styles, colors, and different features on EVERY PRODUCT. Some matched, some made sounds, some moved on their own, some even had fake heartbeats to soothe the babies. They sell things in light blue, pink, yellow, and green that you wouldn't even imagine that babies could use.

A headache, stomach ache, sore legs, and 5 hours later we made our way out of babies r us with what seemed like an ENTIRE NURSERY! I was unsure about every decision I made. And I asked myself 200 times, do you REALLY NEED that. I walked out only with objects who's answers were YES. The maybe's, I left behind along with the No's.

Here is what we walked out with:

Yay for the baby room!
Pictures of the Nursery will be put up after the Flores Abuelitos come visit.
They arrive on Tuesday, so don't worry, you don't have to wait too much longer!

Half Marathon and Austin Baby Shower

Peter and I both wrote this entry...

Peter:We had Valeria's parents(and Snoopy) in town last weekend. It was great to show them around, I think Luis wants to move here!
On Friday morning, we went to the County Clerk's office to pick up our Marriage Certificate! We have 30 days to fill in the blanks and bring it back, then we are official, almost. We will have our real wedding with the church and the party next summer, we just couldn't wait to start the process! I went to work, and Valeria showed her padres around Austin all day.
Valeria: I went with my parents to Maurie's Milagro for the yummiest tex-mex breakfast. Then we stopped by peter's old apartment so they could see where he used to live. There we hiked the first little hill to the cliff that oversees the Austin (red) Bridge. Then we went to a dog park on the Green Belt so that Snoopy could make friends. Our tour then continued to downtown where we stopped at Town Lake for a little stroll through the park!
Peter:On Saturday, Claire and Kristen organized a baby shower for us. It was a lot of fun, about 20 people came and brought a dish and gifts. We were so happy to see all the cool things that people had brought for us! The girls even let us watch some football in the back room!
Valeria: The baby shower was beautifully decorated! Claire went all Martha Stewart on us and made everything look awesome! Kristen and Claire even made a 3 layered diaper cake with 87 baby diapers! The finger foods were delicious. We got some Medela Breast pumps accessories, a swing, a blanket, a changing table pad, a sling, a grocery cart cover, a first-aid/grooming kit, and a JOGGING STROLLER. I even got a mommy only gift=a pregnant massage! It was like Christmas in November! After the baby shower we went to the Domain for a quick pasta dinner so that the RACERS could carbo-load for the race the next day.

Peter:Sunday was race day! Luis, Ashish and I all ran the San Antonio half marathon.
Valeria: Sunday morning at 4:30am movement started around the apartment. By 5:09am we were in the car and off to Ashish's house to pick him up and head down to San Antonio. There was so much fog on the drive home that I thought i was still dreaming. Once we got closer, we saw that traffic was going to be a problem for the racers to get to the start. Peter, Ashish, and my dad jump out of the car on the highway and ran toward the start...which was 2 miles away. I went to park the car by the finish and walked to a couple places along the course to cheer for the DADDYs and Ashish. Peter and Ashish finished in 1:43 minutes, my dad finished a couple minutes later with a PR of 1:53.

We hung around the finish area, grabbed snacks, and waited for peter and my dad to recover from the race. I was looking around at all the strollers (mainly BOB) that were at the race. I got really excited about getting back into race shape and running with the stroller past other racers =). The drive back was hard. We were all tired but someone had to drive...SO I DID. We got back to Austin with just enough time for my dad to shower, pack, and get back to the airport to fly out.

It was a great weekend! I was sad to see my dad go home, but at least my mom and snoopy stayed =).

November 14,2009!

Sorry we didn't post it on your Birthday! It has been a crazy couple of days...
We know you were camping! We hope you had fun...

22 years old!!!

From Abuelito and Abuelita Visit Austin!

WNYC - Radiolab » After Birth

RadioLab is a cool radio show that I have found via podcast recently. This episode talks about how a newborn baby may experience the world. It is kinda scientific and dorky, but interesting to me since I am sure we will be wondering a lot about what our little guy is thinking.



WNYC - Radiolab » After Birth

New Question ->

New Question on the top-right. Vote for:
"Where should we have our Wedding?"

Have some thoughts? Feel constricted by a check-box?
Comment your thoughts on this post...

Week 31 is done!

Our visit to Dr. Eng's office this week caught me a little by surprise when the nurse told me that I had in fact lost 1 lb in the last 2 weeks, instead of gaining...She said not to worry about for now but if I continued to loose weight, then she would look further into it.

My stomach measured 31 cm, and the babies heartbeat was at a strong 130.

This appointment we came prepared. We wrote down all our questions and made sure to ask them all. Questions ranged from; "Where can I get Pre-natal vitamin re-fills?" to "How far apart should my contractions be when I come into the hospital for labor?"

We have even set up our Tour of St. David's Hospital for Monday Nov.23

Friday I didn't have to teach so I walked 4 miles on TOWN LAKE after meeting a new spanish student for an assessment. The lake was beautiful. I saw a lot of people running and walking with their dogs and strollers. I also saw a couple other pregnant women. It was funny to see the looks that some women would give me...a look that was difficult to explain. It was funny cause it seemed like their smile was either saying...ahhh, I remember that stage of my life; or I know how you feel.

On the hour and 1/2 walk I also thought about our wedding plans a lot! We have starting making wedding plans but nothing concrete yet, just THINKIN! But I'm not gonna lie, I'm getting really excited. There is so much to think about, consider, and take into account. It's the most important day of our lives but also...a VERY IMPORTANT day in a lot of other people's lives. We want it to be special, different, and MEMORABLE! The more I think about it, the more questions I have. It seems to be a recurring pattern in my life. The more that you think about anything....THE MORE YOU REALIZE HOW LITTLE YOU ACTUALLY KNOW and how many unknowns are still out there.

On that walk I also thought about our baby. I wondered about how he is going to be? If he is going to love the smell of wet grass early in the morning, if he is going to like animals, if he is going to smile when he sees us, if he will like feeling the wind in his hair when he is playing and running outside, If he is going to be a good person, if he is going to want to help people when he sees them hurt or sad, if he is going to realize how much Peter, me, and so many other people love him already...EVEN THOUGH WE HAVEN'T met him yet.

Sometimes I wish I had supersonic x-ray vision so that I could see the baby through my stomach and see what he is doing in there. It would be cool to know what is going through his mind right now too...Somethings we'll never know.

Friday afternoon I baby-sat LOLA, Travis's new 9 week old black lab. With Lola and a friend who lives at our complex, I painted all afternoon. I started the FIRST of many projects for the BABY!

Saturday morning Peter installed his new roof rack...REAL DEAL! Now there is no excuse for not taking the Bike out for a spin around town.

Later we went to the UT vs UCF game...we got in at half time with FREE TICKETS! UT fans aren't very welcoming people, they were actually kinda mean to us! I guess they didn't like our attire. Peter's UF shirt and my UF hat made us stick out just a little. It was still fun. I guess we'll find out come January who actually is better! GO GATORS!

Today, Sunday, was kind of a slow day. The weather was very conducive to watching movies all day with the tapping of rain on the windows, and the darkness that was lingering over us. We checked out a new church is our area and I even managed to give a 1 hour session to a new spanish student. Peter even made a stop at Home Depot for a new TOOL BAG!!!

I was finally able to finish the first piece of baby art going in the baby's room:

____________________________________________________________

EXCITING NEWS!

EXCITING NEWS!

EXCITING NEWS!

EXCITING NEWS!

This week ABUELITOS: BEATRIZ and LUIS are coming to visit along with BIG BROTHER SNOOPY! We are all really excited for their arrival!

Next weekend is also the AUSTIN BABY SHOWER, hosted by Peter's friends from work!

AND Last but not least, Next weekend is the

SAN ANTONIO ROCK & ROLL MARATHON!

WOW Big week coming up! We all better rest up!!

Hope you have a great week =)

Birthday!

Un mensaje para la abuelita en su dia especial!

Happy Birthday mommy!

Con Mucho AMOR,

Valeria y Peter

Our Pumpkin Farm Adventure!

Halloween morning came and I didn't even realize it was the weekend. I asked Peter what time he had to go into work and everything. Then IT HIT ME!!! It was HALLOWEEN!!

We had a couple ideas for costumes but nothing for sure. After eliminating the options of being K-Fed & Brittney, and zombie mom & baby, we decided to run some last minute costume errands to be Mr. Pumpkin Farmer and his Prize winning Pumpkin! Between Goodwill and Walmart, our wardrobe ideas became a reality.

When it was finally time to get dressed for the evenings events, artist Peter took my stomach as his canvas. While the orange layer dried, I finished getting ready. Then Peter painted the eyes, nose, and mouth.

After some finishing touches, WE were READY!

First we went to a house party where was saw all kinds of creative costumes like: Inspector Gadget, SHAM WOW (commercial guy), Chicken from It's always sunny in Philadelphia, The sticky bandits from Home Alone, the bad kid from The Incredibles...and the list could keep going...but you get the picture.

From there we went to a Zombie PROM. Even though neither Peter nor I were dressed as Zombies. It was a lot of fun. Especially since we were finalists in the costume contest, a contest I didn't even want to do since we weren't dressed as ZOMBIES!! However, people really loved the "Pregnant Pumpkin & Pumpkin Farmer" so we won a DVD, House of the Dead.

The night ended by resetting our clocks back 1 hour. MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY!!

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

Here are some Halloween Costumes we saw:

There are more on the Picasa Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/valeria.rodez/MoreAustinLiving?feat=directlink