Christmas reflections

We had a very nice, actually wonderful Christmas.


The weekend before we spent in Iowa with Carmen's family. We always have quite the crowd with over 20 some people at the gathering. That is just the immediate family. You can always count on never having a dull moment with the Luna family!


We had Christmas at home with our kids on the Sunday before. They delighted in their gifts, no disappointments here. Which is good cause I had my occasional guilt that I didn't get them enough or that it's not what they wanted. They got very practical gifts this year like new comforters for their beds, monogrammed backpacks, etc. They had fun gifts too, like John's spyware gear....a whole whoppin' $6 at WalMart, but loads of fun and enjoyment for a young boy. They did each get MP3 players and now we can't step foot in our van without them hollering to take their players. It has been much more quiet in the van the last few trips out. It was so nice to sit back & watch my children's faces light up. We may not be rich in money, but we are so rich in love and that is one of the greatest reminders this Christmas season!!!!


Christmas Day was spent with Jim's family. It makes for a long day, but we get up & drive 4 hours to get there, spend about 4 hours there and then drive the 4 hours home. But it's such tradition for us to spend the day there. It wouldn't be Christmas without it. Grandpa & Grandma Wilson do such an excellent job of not only cooking such good food, but spoiling the grandkids with presents.


Since then we've really spent a lot of down time just hanging at home. The kids are fully enjoying their presents and mom & dad enjoy not having any of that pre-holiday stress. In hindsight it was such a simple Christmas. I do think I could have been a little more prepared and done so much more earlier in the month. I now realize I stressed a little too much over the birth & arrival of Carmen, when I could have devoted all that time & energy to Christmas. Since I didn't though it is what forced me to keep things so simple and that actually made for a great holiday season.


Even though it's a little late we wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Here is a pic of the kids taken a few days before Christmas. If we had more time we would've printed it out & included it in the Christmas letter (that was mailed AFTER Christmas).


And a picture of Carmen, taken on Christmas Day, that is too cute to pass up.

December pictures/slideshows

Well, if you know me & how camera crazy I can be then you know I have been busy taking A LOT of pictures. It doesn't even begin to make a dent in the over 300 pictures we have (from December alone), but it's a peek at some we wanted to share that had not already been posted in one way or another. Enjoy!

December pictures

more December pictures

Our newest animal has arrived!

On December 16, 2007 at 6:09 p.m. we welcomed Carmen Rose into our family. She weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz. and was 20 1/4" long.


Everything about the labor & delivery was ideal & wonderful. I'd say our best birthing experience yet. All together it was about 6 hours long, but only 2 of it was hard & intense. 10 minutes of pushing & out she came. Andrew was the only other child present. Which is the exact oppisite of what we expected, but it worked well and made it more memorable. You can hear on the video moments afterwards as he's exclaiming "BABY! BABY! YEEEAAAH!"


My mom was able to be there for the delivery as well. A big family tradition as she has now been present for all 12 of her grandchildren's births.


All of the kids have done wonderfully in adjusting to her arrival. We have a lot of other pictures of each sibling with the baby. Too many to post (you know how camera happy Carmen can be). Here is the big group picture with mom & all her kids.


The big family picture:



And of course, 2 very happy parents:

Choosing her name was not an easy task. It's been a tradition that each of our children has been named after someone specific, either a family member or close friend. We went round and round about who specifically to name her after. (We just love so many of you!) It was Jim who had the light bulb moment and said "well if we really must name her after someone.....who better to honor than YOU, her mother." I had never really thought of that aspect, but it suddenly did make sense. Not to mention that she does tend to favor all of my physical qualities, as well. So that is how we came up with her name. Yes, we do intend to call her just that....Carmen. We've got a few years before it gets tricky as to which Carmen one might be referring to in conversation. For now it's pretty obvious and if not just then call her little Carmen or Carmen jr. Time will tell if she is in fact a little mini me. Until then we just continue to relish in the simple first days of her life.

Disney on Ice & Roller Skating

Last saturday we took the kids to go see Disney on Ice. The kids enjoyed the show quite a bit. Andrew was the most enthused and vocal about it. He kept yelling "FISH, FISH" (from Finding Nemo) and "MeMowe" (which is his way of saying Mickey Mouse). We had great seats, about 10 rows up from rink side. It's still hard to get good pictures when the place is all dark. I really enjoyed this picture I got of Andrew as he showing his delight in what he saw.

A special thanks to Grandpa & Grandma Luna who gave us the tickets to go. Otherwise it's something we probably wouldn't have done on our own.

We also enjoyed some time at the roller skating rink over the weekend. Upon arrival we knew the older kids would be skating, but assumed that Andrew would still be too little and probably scared to try such a skill. In his own toddler talk way he kept saying & showing that he did want to skate. We reluctantly got him some skates and figured we'd amuse him with the gesture, even though it would be short lived and a "waste of our time".

However from the second he stood up in those skates, you'd think he was born with them on. No fear, no hesitation, no teaching of skill even necessary. The kid is a natural. You can't keep him off the skate floor.

The other kids are good skaters as well. I made sure I snapped pictures of everyone. I would have gotten out there myself as I enjoy the activity as well. I grew up a block away from our local rink and frequently spent time there. (Ahhh, memories of Skateland!) I'm no pro, but I can certainly go pretty fast. Can you see me now....40 weeks pregnant, wind sailing through my hair as I wiz around the roller rink. Hehehe, I'm sure I'd be a sight for sore eyes and causing quite a comotion. I'll get out there next time!

Due Date

It's offical. I have made it to my due date. 40 weeks....FULL weeks of pregnancy. This is nothing unusual or out of the ordinary for me to reach my due date. Only one time did I give birth before my due date (that was only 2 days early) All the others, including now this one, have gone past my due date. Ranging from 5 days to 14 days past my due date. It somehow doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

According to my dr.'s office the new ob standard is to not let a patient go past 41 weeks (vs. the old standard of 42 weeks). This gives us a better idea of a target date. It should, no matter what, happen within the next week! I could either go into labor (fat chance!) or be medically induced. I have been medically induced with 4 others already, it's what I'm counting on. We promise to keep everyone updated as soon as we know anything more.

Through out my pregnancy I've taken what we call belly shots. Pictures of me, mostly from a side angle view, to show off my growing belly. It's funny to look back now at those first few pictures and think that I felt "so big". If you're like 99% other people out there you'll say I still look so little and not near big enough to be full term. It doesn't really matter how you all think I look....I feel HUGE! So I created a slide show to showcase my bellyshot journey through this pregnancy. Enjoy! (click on link)

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a135/petefamzoo/?action=view&current=d13cec5c.pbw

FALSE ALARM!

I went into the dr.'s office today for a regular check up. A few hours before I went though I was sure my water had broken. So once I got there there was a lot of hoopla. Poking & proding, measuring of fluid via ultrasound. All to find out that nope, my water had not broken. So it's offical I've had a false alarm.

I know, I know....BABY WILL BE HERE SOON!

FYI

I may be overstating the obvious, but I did not give birth to our baby yesterday. Baby has gone & messed up this perfect number theory I had for their birthdays. Although no two of our children have been born in the same month, so we are sucessful in accomplishing that.

I need to go make up a sign to tape to my back while out in public. It shall clearly read...."NO I HAVE NOT HAD THIS BABY YET!" Maybe that will ward off the infamous and quite annoying first words out of each persons mouth...."you haven't had that baby yet?"

I only have 1 week until my due date. The dr.'s will only let me go one week past that. So to look on the bright side it will be at the most two more weeks and we WILL have this baby. I promise to keep any & all posted on this special event!