Little Londyn Belle Valenzuela

Londyn Belle Valenzuela

Born January 30, 2012

at 6:20 P.m.

Weighed 7 lb. 11 oz.

20" long

Here is her story :)

Londyn's original due date was February 6, 2012. I talked with my doctor about his feelings on inducing her close to her due date or just a couple days before so that my mom could fly in and be here when Londyn came. He said he had no problem with it as long as Londyn was healthy and my body was ready for labor. I went to the doctor a week before the 30th and I was already dialating and effaced. I was hoping Londyn would come on her own a little early but no such luck. She loved her waterbed. Dr. Erickson said they would call the hospital and set up an induction date. The hospital called me back and said that they put me on the waiting list starting on the day of my 39th week. They told me not to get my hopes up and that there were a lot of people on the waiting list. They called back a couple days later and told me that I was off the waiting list and I would be having my baby the 30th of January! This was 3 days before then. We quickly scurried into nesting gear and got the house completely baby ready. My mom booked a last minute flight and I squeezed in every last one of my lash clients, which is not easy to do at 9 months pregnant. I was scheduled to go in on the 29th, sunday night at 10 o'clock to start the process. That sunday finally came. It was such a pretty day. The sun was shining, the sky was blue. We even rode to church with the top down in the bug. It was a beautiful day. I was so happy, not feeling nervous or even overly excited, just really peaceful. After church, and while we were waiting for my mom's plane to come in the hospital called and said that my room was all ready for us and that we could come anytime. As soon as my mom flew in, we grubbed dinner, Gabe gave me a blessing, and we were off. We got to the hospital at about 7:30 and began the process. Gabe and my mom set up shop, popped popcorn, ate candy and watched movies. It was an awesome slumber party for them. :) I on the other hand enjoyed my smaller contractions all night and my apple juice. Gabe and my mom finally fell asleep at about 1 am. I stayed up all night with contractions and listening to her little heart beat. I couldn't fall asleep. Finally at 7 am after what seemed like the longest night in the world, my doctor came in and broke my water. And then began the worst hour of my life until that blessed epidural. For those of you that have babies natural... you are my hero. But I'm not going to lie. That epidural made me more comfortable than I had been in the last 6 months. Heavenly. The day dragged on. I of course couldn't sleep, I just kept waiting for some progress, which wasn't happening. Finally at about 5:45 we were ready to push! Londyn finally came at 6:20. She came out crying and they layed her on my chest. It was amazing. One of the most spiritual, happiest moments of my life. I of course couldn't stop crying. She was just so beautiful and perfect and her cry sounded like a little kitten. She was perfectly healthy. Gabe and I felt so blessed. In the short two and half weeks she has brightened up our lives. i didnt know i could fall in love with someone so little and so quickly. Gabe is the best daddy. He sure loves his little girl.

Here are some pictures... ok a lot of pictures from our stay at the hospital. I have lots more pics from her first couple weeks home, but I'll get to those on a little later.

On our way into the hospital... the last pic being awesomely huge!

Getting all settled in the delivery room. Not knowing we'd be in there a good long 23 hours!

Before the good contractions hit. Notice my hot nylons... for swollen swollen feet.

And after 23 long hours she finally made it!! Getting all her measurements.

And weighing in at 7.11!

My amazing amazing Dr. Erickson that delivered her. He is awesome! I just love him!

Getting held by her

And back to mama after all her measurements.

Falling in love with Londyn Belle
Our first family picture. Ignore the swollen cry eyes.

Our family of three

Our first night we spent as a family. i of course still couldn't sleep.

And my amazing mama and now grammy of 3! I was so glad she was there.She was such a huge help to us.

One of the thousand pictures we snapped of her on our phones.

The next day after a little bit of recovery.

We spent the days in the hospital cuddling.

Dad came back to visit after school and brought presents.

Our amazing friends! Thanks for coming to visit!

We love you guys!

Catching some z's....

presents from grammy. A darling picture to hang in her room and carnations with dollar bills tied on. So cute!

And dad brought flowers and a new cute jacket for us

Getting her newborn pics in the hospital. They turned out so cute. I'll post those next!

Her going home outfit

Look how bintsy she is in her car seat
And trying to keep her head from floppin around on the way home.

Leaving the hospital!

Welcome home Londyn Belle! The cute ballons my mom put out to welcome us home!

Called to Serve!!

My little sister Laur Laur has decided to serve a mission!!! So AWESOME! We are so excited for her and proud of her. It was such a fun night. She practically had the entire university of Utah and then some at our house supporting her in opening her call. Gabe was actually flying home from Houston in the airport so we face timed him. Wes and Ash and the kids were on skype so we could all see her. It was so fun. And where is she headed??!!!!!............BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA!!! Seriously! I am so jealous! What a fun place to go. The food, the people, the culture! I would love to experience that! She leaves for the MTC on March 7. She is going to be an awesome missionary. Those people are so lucky to have her. We love you Laur and are so so excited for you!!!

(Do you love the balloons? They're from the baby shower the night before. A blog post about that coming soon too :) )

Christmas Festivities...

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! I think I could sit here for days and type about all the fun things we did. Instead, I'm just going to do a picture overload. And mind you, I didn't even get half the pictures I should have. We were having so much fun I guess, my camera never really left my purse. But here are a few...

These are from the awesome party we had with our friends at our place about a week before we left for Utah. We did dinner and games and a white elephant exchange... Along with the awesome ugly sweaters. So fun. We are so lucky to have such great friends here in Arizona!

We had the Yates 'n' Mates family Christmas Party a few days before Christmas. This has always been one of my most favorite Christmas traditions and I was so glad we were able to make it this year (We've missed the last 2!) We did the nativity, exchanged gift cards and played the infamous dice game. We loved it!

We braved the bitter cold to go see the zoo lights with my parents. It turned out to be a really fun night, especially after we filled our tummies with hot coco.

We definitely are not used to the cold. And had to take extreme caution when taking Tex on his nightly walk.

We had the most delicious food. My mom and Gabe's mom were amazing.

This is Christmas morning on our way to church. I decided after this pic that I wasn't too fond of prego pics anymore and my camera went in the purse for good. ;)

Like I said, I should have gotten way way more pics! I feel bad. I didn't get any with Laur Laur, all my girl friends I went to lunch with or the Valenzuela's. I seriously didn't even think about my camera after the first three days. It was an awesome Christmas though. We were up in Utah for 3 weeks and it was amazing to see everyone and spend the quality time that we missed. Next time I'll be a little better at documenting. :)

My thoughts at 38 weeks...

38. 38 Weeks today. I never even thought I would say that. We are so close. But yet, having never done this, I feel like I might be pregnant forever. Babies do like to come out of their warm cocoon right? Although, if she did come today, would I be ready? I'm not really sure. Are you ever ready for your first baby? Ok so yes, her nursery is completely done and SO cute. I'll put pics up soon. Gabe has had school off for the last two weeks that we've been home from Utah and all we've done is baby prep. Our room is rearranged and clean, the house is clean, the laundry is done. All of her clothes are washed and put away. Her many blankets folded and tucked away. My body feels like it is ready to pop. (And looks like it too) Not only my tummy, but my feet, my hands, my face... the whole bit. To top it off, my immune system is a no go. I've had an awesome head cold since we've been home from Utah, going on 2 weeks now. Last Tuesday I had the stomach flu. I haven't had the stomach flu since I was 10 maybe. Let me tell you though, it was not fun having a baby sit on top of your sick belly. I thought for sure she would want out that day. She loves her water bed though. I'm feeling a little better now, hoping to kick this cold completely by D-day. A lot of rest the doc tells me... and I laugh. I hope someday in the future to have a complete nights sleep. I'm told that won't happen for a long while. Oh well. I guess I'm about as ready as I'll ever be. Now I'm playing that waiting game that I've never been good at.

As the days go by I get more and more anxious. More and more excited. I've been picturing for 9 months what she'll look like, her little toes and fingers, her eye color, hoping she'll have Gabe's smile, maybe my nose. I can't wait until she gets here. I feel like this is sort of surreal. Sometimes I sit at the Dr's office, waiting for him to come in, thinking, "am I really here? Am I really here checking on my baby?" Crazy feeling. We are so so so excited for her to come though. Even though I'm so nervous, I hope she knows how excited I am. I hope she's excited to come to us. I've been thinking a lot lately about what she's doing right at this very moment, ya know, up in heaven. I've been wondering about who she is spending time with, her family, her favorite friends. I wonder if she's excited to come to us, maybe nervous. Maybe she's feeling just like I am. Excited and nervous all at the same time. I've had this discussion with a lot of my friends and family. I've asked them their opinion on when her spirit is with her body. Is she there in my tummy right now? Or does she come when she takes that first breath of air? I don't really know. I know everyone has their own opinion and I'm not one to say who is right or wrong. I do feel her little spirit though. I had an interesting conversation over thanksgiving with my family about feeling "homesick". I can't stop thinking about this conversation. Do you ever get that feeling in your stomach like your "homesick"? Even if you're home? I get it every once in a while. And I get it all of a sudden, not even when thinking about it. Its not even a feeling like you miss your family or your house, like I said, sometimes I get it even at home. But it's usually in my stomach, that aching for "home". Over Thanksgiving while we were eating breakfast one morning my sister said she had that "homesick" feeling. I told her that I get it too, relieved that someone else has felt that feeling. My mom told us that she gets the feeling too, but she loves it. She thinks it is a feeling of longing for "home". Our real home in Heaven with our Heavenly Father. And it reminds her where she came from. I've thought about it a lot since then because I get that feeling so much more with Londyn in my tummy. I used to get it a lot when I was younger. It sort of faded to every once in a while and since I've been pregnant, I get it a lot more. A lot of times when I feel it is when she is moving around in there. Its like she hits the "homesick" button. But since that conversation, I've had a different perspective. I love it when I feel "homesick". I personally feel like she is up in Heaven, waiting to come here to earth to join our family. But I know her little spirit is close to us. And when I feel "homesick" I feel close to home with her. I wonder what that is like up there, leaving family and friends to come to us. I'm excited for her. I wish she could tell us all about it. I can't wait to meet her.

Just my own thoughts. I didn't even really intend to share but as I get closer to her coming, that is something I want to remember.

Alright. I am ready... I think. Ready or not she's coming right?! We can't wait. I'll update more pics and such from our vacation up in Utah. It's on the list of things to do before her grand entrance. Maybe tomorrow? We'll see.

3 years...

Yesterday, Gabe and I celebrated 3 years together as Husband and Wife. I love this picture of us on our wedding day. Look at our smiles. We were sure excited to be married. Today I smile way bigger. I am married to the man of my dreams. He makes me happier than I could have ever imagined. Last night he wrote me a letter about all the adventures we've been on and how much he loves me. It took me a while to read it through all my tears... I'm such a baby. Such a sweetheart I married. He makes life fun and exciting. He makes everyday happy. I love being his girl. Happy Anniversary Babe! Yesterday was perfect, I loved reminiscing with you about our fun wedding day. I love you so so much. Can't wait to spend forevers with you!

A Christmas Tradition...

A couple weeks ago, we made the trek out to Mesa to see the Mesa temple christmas lights with The Blands. We went last year at about the same time and decided this year to keep the tradition going. We started the night out with a little Cafe Rio (the only one in the state) and then hit the temple to see the lights. It was awesome. It had actually been raining all night. We questioned whether or not we should actually drive the 45 minutes out there, but we couldn't mess with tradition. :) It rained the whole time we were driving and the whole time we were at dinner. Then as soon as we got to the temple, it stopped. It was a beautiful night! Well, Gabe was freezing. I on the other hand was perfectly content with my little toaster baby keeping me warm. And... nobody was there. It was awesome. We could take all the pics we wanted without any random eddies in the background. Loved it.

The lights were BEAUTIFUL! Where else can you get a lighted orange tree other than AZ?!

The manger scene with that awesome star.

The classic "red lit" tree

Seriously. How beautiful is the Mesa temple?

Meg and I

And our baby bellies... We've grown a little bit since last year!

Thank you Blands for the fun fun night. I think it was the end of our tradition at the Mesa temple lights. This next year will be a big year for both our little families and will probably take us away from Arizona. But we'll never forget our amazing friends The Blands and our fun dinners and outings! Love you guys!

A look back at our little tradition...

We came in 2009 with Kreig and Brittany Lewis, looking for a house and getting excited to move to Arizona!

Last year in 2010 we came with the Blands. Meg and I were then running buddies, running up to 15 miles on the weekends. Gabe and I were deciding on MBA school.

And this year, 2011 with the Blands. Meg and I, no longer running, just baking little babies in our bellies. And Gabe and I loving our life in Arizona. Looking forward to 2012... Baby Londyn Bell, Graduating, and moving forward with the next steps of life. We're so blessed!

What a fun tradition we've started!