Sylvie

Today-upset at being put down.

Last week-happy being held.

Picnic at the temple

Last Saturday we took a picnic up to the Sacramento Temple grounds. It was a beautiful day and the kids loved being in that peaceful setting. We've got to do things like that more often-it makes life more enjoyable.

Ranting

So today, after waiting two months to get an appointment, I packed up my three little ones and drove out to North Highlands (the ghetto) to the WIC office to recertify for our vouchers. After filling out paperwork and waiting for 10 minutes, the WIC counselor told me our income is $6 over the limit to qualify!!! I was fuming mad! Could they not tell me this over the phone?!! I yelled at her. It wasn't her fault, but this state system makes you jump through a lot of hoops for nothing. She felt bad and gave me one month's worth of vouchers for just me since I am nursing. So I had to wait another 10 minutes while Sylvie was screaming and Marco was running all over the place. I was at my wits end and ready to get out of there! At least I don't have to deal with the embarrassment of holding up grocery lines while the cashier manually puts each voucher through for each WIC item while impatient customers tap their toes and roll their eyes behind me. I won't have to sit through one of their "classes" on nutrition and breastfeeding for ignorant people again. And finally, I won't have to wait on hold for 15 minutes to talk to a WIC rep or go to that blasted office ever again!!! (For those of you who don't know what WIC is, they give women, infants and children under age 5 vouchers for groceries such as milk, cheese, eggs, cereal, juice and peanut butter. It saved us a ton of money each month, but now Julio's $400 raise is going straight to groceries :-()
So now Julio needs to find another job pronto. He has applied at two firms who hire people without their Bar cards. So we are waiting to hear from them. He's still looking, but most places won't consider him without his Bar card. So pray for us please! I know we've asked for a lot of prayers lately, but hopefully it will all pan out soon. Thanks for reading.

Catching up

We haven't posted pictures of Sylvie for a while because we ran out of memory and had to do some clean up on our computer. She is 3 weeks old now and doing great! She had a dr. appt on Wed. and she's up to 6 lb. 13 oz. She is such a sweet baby. She sleeps through most nights and doesn't fuss a whole lot. Lucia and Marco are doing really well with her. Marco is antagonizing Lucia more and she's being more of a crybaby, but we're dealing with that. I started getting back into a routine this week-we did our ward playgroup on Tuesday, library storytime on Thursday. It is definitely a handful and a challenge with three kids. Marco doesn't like sitting in the double stroller, so it is hard to keep him in tow. Thursday night I got to go to my book club where we discussed the book "Eat, Pray, Love" If any of you have read it, tell me what you think! Anyway, Sylvie slept the whole evening, I stayed up way to late, and then she wanted to be wide awake at 3 am. I didn't get much sleep that night. Yesterday, I got to go out to lunch with two long time friends Julie and Tiffany. We had so much to catch up on, we talked non-stop for almost 2 hours. We've decided to do a monthly reunion lunch. It felt so nice to talk and reminisce with old friends. So, now the weekend...I love having Julio home and available to do stuff! Hope you all have a good one.
Here are some pictures of Sylvie

Just recovering...

From mastitis (if you know what it is, you can sympathize) and a $450 car repair. Ugh!

Brotherly Love

Marco and Sylvie sharing a moment.

Sylvia's Birth

I know you're all dying to hear the details, so hear they are. ;-) Last Thursday I went to my 38 week check-up with the midwife. She asked me if I was ready to have the baby and I said, Sure! So she stripped my membranes and told me I had a day or two until I went into labor. So, I went home and went about my business. My mom had a play to go to that night and told me not to go into labor until the next day! So, I was determined not to go into labor until Friday. Didn't you all know, you have no control over your labor? I found that out the hard way. I started feeling contractions about 9 pm and so I decided to go to bed and see if I could "sleep them off". I woke up at 11 and thought the contractions were getting stronger, but decided to go back to sleep. Finally at 12:30 I thought, these are not going away, I better get up and get ready to go. It was getting painful and they were already 5 minutes apart. So I took a shower, ate and called my mom at 1:30. She got there at 2 am and we left for South Sac. It took us 20 min. to get there. By the time we got in, my contractions were 2 minutes apart and very strong! They put me right into the labor room. I started begging for an epidural, but those cruel nurses and doctor wouldn't do it. They said it was too late! I was dilated to 8 cm. I was not mentally prepared to go the natural route and so I started to freak out! I don't do pain! They wanted me to start pushing and I wasn't ready. Finally after about 45 minutes of pointless pushing, they gave me some narcotic in my IV that made my head spin-but did calm me down a bit. Didn't take away the pain though-I thought I was going to die! When she came out I felt that "ring of fire" you hear about. It was the worste feeling ever. But, once she was out-it was over! I felt a big gush of relief and happiness. She is so beautiful and I fell in love with her immediately.
Unfortunately, on her two day appointment they tested her for jaundice and she had it. So we were admitted to the hospital yesterday for phototherapy. I had to stay the night with her and didn't get a wink of sleep. I'm exhausted! She's ok now and we're home. I'll keep you posted on her.