One Month Birthday!

Happy One Month Birthday sweet little Tessa Bear!

At one month:
• You want to be held all day long! You sleep so peacefully in my arms, but the second you are in your bassinet or lounger, you wake up immediately! You don’t like for Mommy to have her attention taken away from you!


• You fight off sleep during the day and re-open your eyes as you start to drift off as if you’re checking to make sure I’m still holding you and you aren’t missing out on anything interesting!
• You are a great sleeper at night, and have been since day one. Even though you want to be held all day, you go right down at night. You wake up about twice each night to eat, and then go right back to bed.
• You have become a good eater. This was our greatest challenge this month, but now we are starting to get into a rhythm. We both had a lot to learn this month!
• You smile and laugh in your sleep and while nursing! The awake smiles are coming more and more often, but as soon as I get the camera, you furl your brow at me!
• You make little squeaking sounds and Daddy says you’re his little seahorse!
• You love to be outdoors. We take a lot of walks, and even went down to the bay this week! When you get fussy during the day, I can take you out on the patio where the fresh air calms you down and you rest so peacefully.

• Daddy cheers every time you have a poopy diaper, which is very regularly!

• You love to suck and enjoy your Soothie pacifiers.

• You have met so many friends already! Your new baby friends include Abby, Aiden, David, Juliette, and Serenity.

• You had your starring moment on PregTASTIC episode 172 when Mommy and Daddy got to brag all about you!

• Your mommy and daddy love you more than we ever could have imagined!

Photo Shoot

I mentioned in my last post that my friend Ashley from my maternity group did a mini photo shoot session for a few of the new babies from our group. Yesterday, we met up again for tea (or wine and beer) and Ashley brought the photos with her. They are FABULOUS!! Here is a small sampling:





Aren't these great! If you are looking for a family photographer in the San Diego area, check out Ventana Kids!

Tessa's New Friends

Now that Tessa is two weeks old, it's time for her to make some friends! On her 2 week birthday, my oldest friend, Jaime, came to visit with her daughter, Abigail. Jaime and I have been friends for over 25 years! I hope when Abby and Tessa are in their 30s, they can say they've been friends for over 30 years! Abby is now 4 months old, but is still a petite girl! She isn't all that much bigger than Tessa!


Then, on Tuesday, a friend from my maternity group, (who is also a photographer) Ashley, held a mini photo shoot for the March babies from our group! There were four of us new mommies there with three girls and one boy, lucky fellow!

Can you tell which one is mine?


So now Tessa has four new friends! It's so great to have friends with children the same age as my Tessa.

She's here and she's PERFECT!!

Tessa has finally arrived! I can't believe how perfect and beautiful she is! She is a great sleeper and I'm only having to get up two times a night to feed her. In fact, I have to set my alarm for every three hours to wake her up and feed her, otherwise, I think she'd sleep straight through the night!


Ryan has had the last few weeks off, which has been a complete blessing. He is working his way toward Father of the Year! He is the master swaddler and he gets up early to take Tessa for a walk or play with her so I can sleep in.

I hope to keep our blog updated, but it is so hard to find time to get on the computer! I just can't peel my eyes away from Tessa long enough to focus on anything else! I know things will get better as I get used to being a mom, so stay tuned for updates!

Almost done!

The baby's still cooking, but she's getting ready to arrive soon! 10 days until her due date! I've had very few signs (like, none) of labor, so I think she's going to take her time. Tomorrow is my last day at work! HOORAY!! I'll be so happy to sleep in, take naps all throughout the day, and enjoy my last few days of real rest before our little one arrives. Life is good in the Lopez household, but we still haven't signed up for internet or cable, so if electronic response time is slow and updates are few and far between, that's why!

My sister came down for a short visit last weekend! It was so nice to have her come by! It was a 3-day weekend for me (we got Cesar Chavez Day off this year!) and I had rested all day Friday and Saturday, so when she came down on Sunday, I was ready to enjoy the beautiful San Diego day! We went down to Pacific Beach and walked down the boardwalk and Crystal Pier. It was really a perfect day for a nice walk and interesting people watching! Here's a picture of us at the end of the pier. If you look over Sarah's shoulder, you can see the great blue Pacific! It is a cell phone pic she took of the two of us, so it's as good as one can expect!

Now that school's almost out for Spring Break (and the rest of the year for me!!!) I'll try to update more often. You can for sure expect pictures once the baby's here, even if my mom or one of my sisters posts them for me...

24 Days and Counting Down!

We're coming to an end, and an even more important beginning very soon! I'm finally (already!) in my ninth month! Everything is still going well. I met with my midwife yesterday and had my 36 week sonogram. We only got one picture, but she's so big and crammed in my belly, it was really hard to tell what was what!

In the meantime, Ryan has built the crib, which is so adorable! I go into the baby's room everyday just to look at the crib and imagine what life will be like next month! We have almost everything we need before the baby comes. We still need our car seat, so the hospital will let us take her home! I'm actually in a rental car right now from my accident in January, so we couldn't install even if we had the car seat.

The most exciting news is that I found out this week I'll be able to take the rest of the school year off! HIP HIP HOORAY!! Now I just have to select a long-term sub to take care of my babies while I take care of MY BABY!! As of tonight, I only have 10 teaching days left! (Hopefully not forever. If you know the California budget and its lack of funding for education, you won't be surprised to hear I'm being pink slipped again this year.)

I have a bunch of new pictures, but they're on my other laptop, so I'm going to share a few I took from Ashley's blog. She's a professional photographer who is in my maternity group, so she has lots of pics! Me, I'm not so great with a camera and have to rely on others! Ryan insists I change this bad habit of carrying a camera and never taking pictures before the baby's here!

We went to a Meet-Up with my maternity group to learn about cloth diapering. This pic is of most of "the regulars" in our group. Look at those big bellies in the front row!


Here are Ryan, Frank, Rachel, and I toasting the babies. Rachel is due one week before me, but I think her little guy may come early, and I hope our little one comes a few days late!

Lopez Family Update

Hi all,
If you haven't noticed, we've been off line for a few weeks. It has been a very busy few weeks, too! First of all, we moved into a much bigger apartment. We finally have two bedrooms, so our little one will have a room to call her own once she gets here! That's why we've been off line. We decided to wait on hooking up internet and cable for as long as we can stand it! In the meantime, we've been going to Starbucks or McDonald's to get online whenever possible!

I am now 33 weeks pregnant! I've been keeping busy with my maternity group! My 32 week photo is from one of our walks around the San Diego Bay. It feels really good to get out and exercise, although my hips and back beg to differ!


Here are some of the other pregnant ladies from my group, post-walk. After our walk, we headed over to Souplanation and enjoyed all-you-can-eat salad bar, potatoes, muffins, soup, frozen yogurt, etc. A group of pregnant ladies redefines "all-you-can-eat"!!


I have also recorded a couple of podcasts this week for Pregtastic, a pregnancy podcast that records here in San Diego! That has been such a great experience!

Last week we talked about the H1N1 vaccine, and this week, our topic was WIC. You can download these free podcasts either at their website or on iTunes! Check them out, I think it's a great resource for everything pregnancy! If you've just had a baby, you should check out the "next step" podcast, New Moms, New Babies. Hopefully Ryan's mom will be a guest on that podcast soon!

The other big event going on in our lives is baby shower planning. We have 3 showers coming up, starting next weekend. I know 3 seems like a lot, but we have family and friends in all parts of Southern California, so we get to celebrate our little one 3 times over! I'll have to post about all of those soon! In the meantime, I've got lots of registering to do!