Birmingham, California

First full day at home...

2010-09-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

The girls spent their first night at home and daddy already misses the nursing staff! But we are really enjoying being able to deal with both girls at once. While we were in the hospital, we had to put one of the girls on a portable monitor to bring them close to each other.

So when we came home, I had to get a couple pictures with the girls together. I hope to take some more artistic pictures (or at least try to).
Later in the evening, Sonia and her family came by to see the babies. While they couldn't stay that long, we were happy have them.

22 Days in the NICU and their home

2010-09-04T21:51:00.000-07:00

Susana, Don Ofilio and I went to the hospital and were pleasantly suprpised to hear that both girls would be coming home today. Not only that, but McKenzie crested 5 pounds today. (5 lbs 0.2 ozs) So we have two girls that actually look like small newborns and not tiny preemies.

In the picture above, Susana and the girls pose with one of our NICU nurses Yvonne. Yvonne had the girls for probably 6-9 day shifts over the three weeks we were there. Some of the other nurses that had the girls for multiple days are: Debbie, Elizabeth, Sarah, Stacey, Christine, Christopher, Jossy, Korena, Tori and a host of others. Thanks to all the wonderful nurses for a job well done. Now if only we could have them at home too!

Granny, Rebecca, and Andy went to Briseis' 1st birthday party this afternoon. Susana and I would have gone, but with the twins home, we stayed with them. Rebecca reported that everyone had a good time, though.

3 Weeks old and almost ready to come home

2010-09-03T17:38:00.001-07:00

Ana Lucia and McKenzie Rose crossed their 3 week mark today. Ana weighed in at 5 lbs 5.6 ozs and McKenzie weighed in at 4 lbs 14.6 ozs. Ana has been bradycardia free since Aug 28 and McKenzie has been brady free since Aug 29.

What that means is that as long as nothing goes wrong, they will end up coming home this weekend. Granny Birmingham came into town Thursday afternoon just in time to see the girls come home.

Soon we will introduce the twins to Andy and our family will be complete!

Over 5 lbs and Brady free (so far)

2010-08-31T23:21:00.000-07:00

We had some good news over the last couple of days. Yesterday, Ana Lucia crested 5 lbs. Today she weighed in at a healthy 5 lbs 2.8 ozs. When I hold her you can really tell the difference between what she weighs now and where she was a couple of weeks ago. McKenzie is doing her best to catch her sister. Today she weighed in at 4 lbs 11 ozs. She'll be over 5 lbs in no time.

In other excellent news, neither Ana nor McKenzie has had a bradycardia event since 9 pm on the 29th of September. This is the longest stretch in with neither girl has had a relapse. This is really promising and is a sign of their continued maturing.

There are now three sets of twins in the NICU and two singletons. Of course, McKenzie and Ana are the only girls, so we have our pick of the clothes bin right now.

During my trip to the hospital this morning I decided to take a bunch of pictures in the hopes of getting some good shots. These are a few of the matched sets that I was able to shoot. I was even able to catch Ana with her eyes open. (which has been rare these first few weeks) If you haven't guessed Ana is on the left and McKenzie is on the right. These pictures all but confirm for me that our girls are fraternal.

Tia Idis and another Brady

2010-08-29T23:13:00.000-07:00

Tia Idis came to the hospital with Susana and I today. She hadn't been able to make it to see the girls since they were first born. They enjoyed being held my their Tia. In the picture, McKenzie is getting her turn.

Unfortunately, we still had some bad news, on the 28th Ana Lucia had what amounts to the worst bradycardia event of either girl. She didn't recover her heart rate until the nurse actually picked her up. This definitely reset her clock, so the earliest we will see her home is either Saturday the 4th or Sunday the 5th.

And then, not to feel left out McKenzie had another brady this evening. Thankfully, she self corrected quickly but that still means that her clock has reset as well. At this point I would love to see them come home this weekend, but the most important thing is that they come home healthy!

Of Video's and Brady's

2010-08-28T22:25:00.000-07:00

Susana took this video earlier this morning and I wanted to post it (even though you can't really hear the purring we were hearing). I think it gives a better perspective to see my hand as a reference to the girls size, even though the girls were pretty still.

On, sadder news, Ana had another Bradycardia event today after eating with Susana and unlike past events, this one lasted long enough that Debbie our nurse had to pick her up to bring her heart rate back up. (it had dipped into the low 40's). This is the first time that either one of the girls has had to be touched to get the heart rate to correct. One thought is that breast feeding followed by the bottle is tiring the girls out. If that is true they may get their feeding tubes back. It sometimes seems that we are on a rollercoaster with our little ones, but I have faith we'll get there.

At this point, however, it is likely that they won't be home before labor day. We'll just have to wait and see.

Look Mom, No tubes!!

2010-08-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

Today was a big milestone for Ana Lucia and McKenzie. Overnight the NICU took our the feeding tubes for both of them. Now we can see their beautiful faces without those pesky tubes and tape. This also means that for now, the girls have checked another box on their way to coming home. Without a feeding tube, the nurses will be giving them all of their feedings from a bottle or breast. This had to happen before they could go home.

Over the next few days they will be monitoring the girls to make sure they get enough to eat and continue to grow. Now if only we could get them to stop the Bradycardia's.

Speaking of growing, the girls are now 15 days old and Ana Lucia is about to crest the 5 pound mark. Today she weighed in at 4 pounds 14.8 ozs. McKenzie is trying to keep up with her sister and weighed in at 4 pounds 6.4 ozs today. We are also happy with their growth and hope that it continues at a good pace.

Now that Ana and McKenzie are getting older, both Susana and I believe they are fraternal. Today just added to that because it is getting easier and easier to tell them apart in photos. For those that can't do it, in these pictures today, Ana is on the right and McKenzie is on the left.

Uncle Derek, Dawn, and Lissette come to visit

2010-08-26T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today Uncle Derek got up early and met me at the hospital. This was the first time he got the chance to see the girls. When they were born, he was on a fishing trip with Raymond. I told him, that next year, Andy and I may need to join him to get some Men time with all the women that will be running around the house for the next xx years. Here he is pictured with McKenzie. I was feeding Ana at the time.

Later, that day, Lissette and Dawn took Susana to the hospital (Susana still isn't allowed to drive). This was also their first time with the girls. Susana told me that our nurse, mentioned that Irving was very liberal with his co-workers. "He gave his friend one of the babies without blinking an eye." Susana then told her that Derk is our Brother in law. I found that humorous.

The girls are both above their birth weight...

2010-08-25T17:38:00.000-07:00

Susana has started to go to the hospital twice a day to try to breastfeed the girls. They are slowly getting the hang of it. However, we don't think they are getting enough, so they still end up getting the full bottle feeding afterwards.

Ana is getting 43 ml of fortified breast milk and McKenzie is getting 37 ml of fortified breast milk every 3 hours. The good news is that McKenzie went past her birth weight today as well. So hopefully they are both on their way to 5 lbs, however, the Doctor confirmed that the min weight for them to come home is 1900 grams so both of them have crossed that threshold.

Unfortunately, McKenzie continues to have Bradycardia episodes. Most recently she dropped to 60 beats per minute while Susana was holding her this morning. So McKenzie won't be coming home any earlier than Sept 1 and most likely longer. Ana is doing better and has not had any repeat episodes of Bradycardia or Apnea. It is possible that Ana may come home before McKenzie, but I still hoping that McKenzie will find her legs and really take off.

All in all the girls are doing well and as always we look forward to bringing them home.

Two steps forward, one step back...

2010-08-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

We had some good news today, McKenzie is finally back above four pounds! This was a great milestone that I have been looking forward too. Unfortunately, she also had another case of Bradycardia Sunday afternoon (but none on Monday). That means her seven day clock has reset such that she can't come home any earlier than next Sunday.

Susana was able to make it in to see the kids twice today, spending a good amount of time each time. She also talked to the Neonatologist on duty. This doctor gave us mixed signals. On the one hand he said that both girls are doing very well, but then he went on to say that it may be three weeks before they come home.

Unfortunately, I wasn't there to ask him what he meant by that, because up to this point all the docs have been saying probably around 35 weeks. Needless to say we want the girls home, but we also want them to get the 24/7 care that they need...

Susana also got a chance to sit down with the lactation consultant who helped her out today and both girls actually did pretty well breastfeeding and that is another good sign.

As for the pictures, today. I decided to take some closeups of the girls and put them in a collage, as well as get Susana with each of them.

Bradycardia and Birthday Parties

2010-08-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

To start the day off, Susana and I went into to the hospital to meet with an occupational therapist who took us through some information on preemies developmental cycles. She also gave us some helpful stretches and exercises that we can use to help the twins sleep and eat better. Unfortunately we also got some not so great news (not terrible, just not so great). That is, last night both Ana and McKenzie had a spat of Bradycardia. Now for those like me, that don't have a clue what Bradycardia is, it is when a heart rate suddenly drops. For preemies a drop is getting down to below 80 beats a min.

What this means to our twins is that each time the NICU sees a case of Bradycardia, they reset a seven day clock. The twins can't come home before seven days passes without a case of Bradycardia. So for us, this means the twins won't be coming home any sooner than next Saturday Aug 28. Hopefully those issues are over, but I guess that is why they are in the NICU.
On a different note, after we got back from the hospital, I got Andy and Rebecca ready to go to a Birthday Party. My friend Kathy's daughter Ally (pictured above) celebrated her first birthday at a local park. We joined the Schumacher's, Bainotti's, Bishop's and others in enjoying cupcakes, banana splits, and the water features the park had to offer.

Of course, being there by myself with two kids, got me thinking of the challenges I would have going to a similar function with all four kids by myself. Wow, this is going to be a challenge!!

Two is much more fun!

2010-08-20T11:03:00.001-07:00

It has been a week since they were born and for the first time, I was able to hold my two littlest daughters simultaneously. I must say that it felt great to do so.

While I was at the NICU I found out that overnight McKenzie was also taken out of her isolette and put into a bassinet. So now both of the girls are regulating their temperature without assistance. This is another important milestone on their road to coming home.

Weight wise, they both continue to gain weight. Ana Lucia now weighs 4 lbs 4.6 ozs and McKenzie Rose weighs 3 lbs 15 ozs.

We are now waiting for them to eat consistently and fully before they will be allowed to come home. Keep up the good work little ladies...

Back to School!

2010-08-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

Since everything isn't about our youngest two, I wanted to post about a significant day in the life of our oldest daughter.

Rebecca had her first day of four year old Pre-school today. Tita got her all ready and then Andy and her put their shades on got ready to walk to school.

Across the street, Rebecca met up with the Berner's. Their oldest, Coen, is in Rebecca's class again this year. Aislyn watched on as her big brother and Rebecca got some of their first day of school energy out by running down the sidewalk to school.

Once at school, Rebecca quickly got with some of her old friends and got back into the swing of things. This year, Rebecca is going to school three days a week. M-W-F. As she continues to prepare for Kindergarten.

The school year got off to a good start as one of Rebecca's classmates brought in goodies to help celebrate their birthday. We think this will be a great year for Rebeccca...

Ana gets out of her isolette

2010-08-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

Ana Lucia (4 lbs 2 ozs), made more progress in the night. She is now regulating her temperature well enough that the NICU took her out of her Isolette and put her in a simple basinet. Her space in the room looks so empty now that the big monstronsity of a warmer is out of the way.

McKenzie Rose (3lbs 12 ozs), is slowly making her way to that same milestone, but for now she is still in the Isolette. Dr Sosas came by and talked to me at lunch. He let me know that he was very happy with both of the girls progress. Unfortunately, when I asked if that means they would be able to come home earlier, he replied probably not because most Preemies don't make it home until after 35 weeks to do feeding issues.

We will see how it goes with the girls.

Four days old

2010-08-17T18:51:00.000-07:00

Susana was discharged today and is now at home where she will continue to recover from the surgery. In addition to recovering she is providing much needed breast milk for the girls.

Speaking of Ana Lucia and McKenzie, today for the first time since they were born, we were able to get them together. In the top picture, McKenzie is on the left and Ana Lucia is on the right. I'm holding McKenzie and Susana is holding Ana Lucia.

They gained weight for the first time at this morning's weigh in and we hope to get them back to their birth weight by the weekend. They have also been able to remove most of the extra wires they had. Now all they have is a feeding tube (shown in the picture) that is used if they don't finish their meals by nipple and the heart and respitory rate monitor cables. We are really excited that are doing so well and look forward to bringing them home.

Back on the home front, Rebecca starts another year of Preschool tomorrow, and Andy is trying to get over a cold, hopefully before the twins come home.

Rebecca's Artwork

2010-08-15T16:31:00.000-07:00

Rebecca showed me her artwork this morning. She drew this one on Thursday or Friday after Mom and Dad went to the hospital. This morning when I asked her who was in the picture, she said, Mommy and the two babies. I asked her who was who and she said the little one is McKenzie Rose and the bigger one is Ana Lucia.

It is really good that Rebecca is enjoying the concept of having two little sisters. Hopefully that attitude continues when we get them home and they start taking more time away from her.

Granny comes and goes

2010-08-14T23:06:00.000-07:00

Granny flew in from Cleveland on Friday. (where she was helping to celebrate her mother's 90th birthday on Thursday 12 Aug) That first day she was able to hold Ana Lucia (on right) as she has been doing the best of the two girls. Today she got the chance to hold McKenzie (on left). McKenzie took the opportunity to open her eyes and try to find out who was holding her.

Unfortunately, Granny had to leave this evening headed back to Memphis so she could work in Missouri this coming week, but she promised to be back!

Twin Girls!!!!!

2010-08-13T12:55:00.001-07:00

Wow so we are now a family of 6. Ana Lucia (shown in the picture on the right) was born at 1:36 am on August 13, 2010 and McKenzie Rose (shown in the picture on the left) was born at 1:37 am.

Ana weighed in at 4 lbs 8 ozs and 16" long and McKenzie weighed in at 4 lbs 3 ozs and 17 1/4" long. They have put the girls in adjoining rooms right now in the NICU. And they each have a nurse looking after them. So we are really happy so far. McKenzie had to be put on CPAP (forced Air) initially but she is now doing well enough on her own that she doesn't need it anymore.

We are expecting them to be in the hospital for a couple weeks at this point, but we will know more as time goes on. Susana is still recovering from the c-section will be in the hosptial for the next few days. Soon enough we will have all of the girls home and then the fun will really start.

Fund Raising for Pre School

2010-05-08T03:26:00.000-07:00

Rebecca's very First Fund Raising Event.

The Rockcreek Preschool Trick-Athon 2009.

Ready... Set... Go!

Andy sheered and had as much fun as Rebecca that day. She raised a total of $50.00 for her class that day. She had a total of 5 minutes to raise and she made 4 trips around the short track.

Rebecca was having a bit of a dificult time manuvering her Tricycle.

Or maybe turning is just not her thing right now.

Ok starit ahead might not be her thing either.

The good thing was that nobody was hurt.

Family Reunion

2010-05-08T02:36:00.000-07:00

We had so mush going on last year ... This post is almost a year old... Sorry.

Here we are in Ohio for the Lewis Wimberly Family Reunion.

We are all wearing our LWS t-shirts for the picnic. Everyone did a great job putting everything together for the entire family.

Rebecca and Andy were introduced to yet another side of Daddy's family.

Thanks to cousin Angy for hosting us at her home. We had a wonderful time with cousins Mark and Angie. Were welcomed and as always, very well fed. I think we all gained a few pounds that week.

Rebecca had a blast finding her very first fire flyes. She thought they were scarry at first, but soon found them to be very beautiful. She wanted to know why we didn't have any at home.

The video was taken at the Reunion. Rebecca is just finding out that all the kids here are her cousins. She was so shy at first, but as you can see... she got over it quickly.

She still lets us know she has more cousins than either Mami or Daddy.

Hubbard-Persons Family Reunion

2009-11-09T21:28:00.001-08:00

With some pictures from my cousin Angie, I made a video of the most recent family reunion. Here is a low quality preview of that video.

Andy's Firsts

2009-08-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

Andy is now 7 months old. He is now starting a lot of new firsts.

One of which is Foods.

His very first food was banana. He devowered a whole half in under 10 minutes without wasting a single bit.

We have now moved on to the usual foods: Peas, corn, apple sauce, baby cereals and we will soon start in meats.

But so far he is a pro, and he looks like a 12 month old in his entire 21lb self.

The latest 'New' is a first baby tooth.

Thats right, he is now in the possetion of a dangerous and very sharp weapon.

He is a drool machine, with the power of an open faucet. He is also chewing on everything he can get his hands on. Which means everything and anything is in danger of getting slobbered on.

He is not very selective either so, Rebecca is in constant danger.

Rebecca is trying to teach him how to eat her food too because he always seems hungry even after all his food is gone. But that will be a different first when he does start eating all her food.

Pre-School Days

2009-08-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

August 18th 2009 was Rebeccas' very First day of school (Pre-School that is).

Ok, so it is only a 3hr day and it starts in the afternoon, but our girl was ready to go by 9am. She picked out her favorite "dancing" dress (she has been wearing this dress since she was 2 years old, i'ts fairly worn out, but she loves it.) She got her backpack, put one pull up inside and we were ready to go.

Of course we could not have the first day of "school" with out our entourage (Abuelito, Tita and of course Andy) who were all ready to go an hour before class time.

The Walk from our front door to the classroom door is just over 5 minutes, but Miss Rebecca decided that walking was just not going to cut it. So she ran most of the way.

Mind you it was a very hot day, so even though she was perfectly ready and pristine at 9am, by the time we got to school she was less than perfect.

But that was nothing compared to how I found her on 'Pick-up' time.

She was very happy, content and exited to see us (Andy was awake this time) but her face told me that she had a great snack that day, something that left her face a nice purple and blue, but most of all sticky.

It was a great day for a new School Girl.

Updates

2009-07-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

O.K. So we have been fairly busy with Rebecca and Andy lately. It definitely changes everything having two kids. Who Knew?

At Andy's 6 month Checkup, he weighed in at a whopping 19lbs. Rebecca on the other hand, Just had her 3 yr Checkup and weighed in at a slim 28lbs. HHMMM. I think someone might be eating a bit more than his share.

That's right, we are looking at a 6 month old baby and a 3 year old kids. Tita (or Abuelita) has to sit down to hold either now. But They sure do have fun together.

We do have a lot of Firsts going on this time around.

How can we get them all in on time for you to enjoy?

The most resent one is that Andy and Rebecca are now eating together. They actually eat at the same time and can eat at the counter together which is a great change for us at home.

The difference is that Rebecca will eat only a portion of her food, while Andy will eat his cereal, milk and start crying for more. Since Rebecca has left half of her food on her plate, I think he wants to eat her food too. Too bad he has no teeth to speak of.

I am proud to announce that our little girl is definitely growing up. We are scheduled to

attend her first day of Preschool in Mid August.

This of course requires her to be potty trained. She does very well when she wants to, but then there are those times that she (believe it or not) will go ahead and change her own dipper.

I have never heard of a kid completely changing their own dipper before. She actually, takes hers off, wipes, and will take a new dipper, open it, sit on it, and strap it on.

If she has figured out how to do all that, she is definitely ready for Pull Ups. So we are now using Pull Ups. Which she has also learned to change on her own.

Now if only Andy could learn to do that too. Whishfull thinking.

Ok These are just a few pictures of Lazzy Mornings at home.

This is one of Rebecca and Andy wearing their matching Tigger and Pooh PJ's courtesy of cousin Sonia. We recieved this gift upon Andy's arrival. So we have been waiting five months for them to fit. Fortunately Rebecca is still not quite out of her 2T clothes and the PJ's fit just right.

Rebecca and Andy

2009-02-12T18:45:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of Rebecca and her little brother. Rebecca loves to help Mom out and occasionally she gets the opportunity. Granny left today and we are sad to see her go, especially Susana, because now she gets the opportunity to try to handle two little ones throughout the day.

This weekend we are expecting Susana's cousins Sonia, Issac, and Heather and then next week Auntie Camille is coming out for a week, so we will still have lots of visitors coming through.

Back to his birthweight

2009-02-09T20:12:00.000-08:00

Andy had his 1 month appt last Friday. He finally made it back to his birthweight. He weighed in at 5 lbs 14 ozs. He is doing very well, the only thing we have been worried about is his extremely bloated stomach. We had an ultrasound this week and so far it looks like it is just gas. We hope that he grows into it soon.

Here is a picture of Andy, Rebecca and their cousin Raymond. We are so very excited to have these three little ones in our life!

Granny comes back

2009-01-21T22:38:00.000-08:00

Granny came back to California this last Monday to spend some time with here grandchildren. Rebecca and Andy are enjoying having her around. Especially Rebecca, who loves having her Granny and Abuelita to bug on a regular basis.

Andy is doing well as he reaches his 2 week mark. He had us worried for a little while because he continued to loose weight after we brought him home, bottoming out at 4 pounds 12 ounces on Friday January Ninth.

Thankfully he started putting some weight back on over the last few days and today the Doctor weighed him in at 5 pounds 1.5 ounces. He is not going to make it back to his birth weight by 2 weeks like the doctors would like, but he'll get there.

Susana is also doing well, albeit tired from the regular feedings Andy is demanding. We are both hoping that he starts sleeping a little more between feedings to allow us both to get more sleep. I head back to work on Saturday so my time off is quickly coming to an end.

We are also expecting to see Auntie Camille out this way in a few weeks and her neice and nephew will be excited to see her. This week she was some visitors that came out for the Obama Inaugration. I will say that Tuesday was the most television I think I have ever seen my Mom watch. Pretty much all day following the events, definitely a historic day.

Discharge Day

2009-01-12T18:38:00.000-08:00

Andy was discharged this morning. Even though he lost 2 ounces (4 pounds 14 ounces) since yesterday, the pediatrician thought we could be released. We were excited to get Andy home, though we will still be going to the doctors office often to get him checked out until he starts putting on weight.

Speaking of weight, since we weren't expecting to bring home a baby that was under 5 pounds, our take home clothes outfit (a classic pooh ensamble) were way to big for Andy. So a couple of nights ago, I went to Babies R Us and picked up a preemie outfit for him that fits just right. (though we only expect to wear it for a hot minute, hopefully).

Now that we are at home, we are also going to start the process of getting everything ready for Rebecca tranistion into her new room, so that Andy can take over the nursery in a few months.

We are taking our first steps into our new family life. It should be interesting, thanks for coming along for the ride.

Day 3 at the hospital

2009-01-11T22:13:00.000-08:00

So today has been a good day. Andy, is learning how to poop on his own without the help of the suppository. He also gained 2 ounces, so he is back at 5 pounds. This morning the pediatrician felt that Andy wasn't quite ready to go home yet, so we are spending another night in the room.

We are hopeful however that we should be able to go home soon. Until then we continue to get new visitors. Today we had a visit from Uncle Derek. Of course we had to take the requisite picture.

Susana continues to do well, though I am sure she is ready to get out of the hospital. The last thing I will mention is where we got the name. We took Andres from Susana's Great-Grandfather on her Mother's side as well her Uncle. And of course Irving came from Dad, Granddad, and Great-Granddad.

He Pooped!

2009-01-10T17:27:00.000-08:00

Normally a title like

He pooped!

would not get me excited but in this case it does. Andy just passed a very important milestone on his way to being able to go home with us. Hopefully we are getting closer to taking him home.

On a different note, Rebecca, Raymond, Tia Idis and the Abuelitos came by for a visit and we were able to catch another meeting between Rebecca and Andy. Here it is:

Day 2 at the hospital

2009-01-10T17:00:00.000-08:00

Day 2 at the hospital saw Susana officially get discharged. However since we are still waiting for Andy to poop, he is not going to get discharged. Luckily however, the hospital is going to transfer Susana's room to Andy, so Mom can continue to rest comfortably at the hospital and feed Andy.

Andy also got a new visitor this morning. Tio Ofilio came by just to see the little one before heading back to the bay. We are very happy he was able to make it visit.

Andy also said "gahhh" to his Granny and Auntie Millie via the phone. They were both happy to hear that he has a good set of lungs. At first Granny thought it was little Miss Rebecca but was happy to find out it was Andy instead.

The only things we are currently concerned about is getting Andy to poop and trying to make sure he doesn't lose a lot of weight. This morning he weighed 5 pounds 3 ounces which is the limit of weight loss we want see over 48 hours for a preemie. So we are also trying to make sure he gets enough to eat.

As far at the poop goes, the nurses gave him a glycerine suppository so we are hoping he will poop soon. As Nehal says Poop is good fun, in this case it is an important milestone.

We have visitors

2009-01-09T19:59:00.001-08:00

So Mom and Andy have been doing well today. Well enough that we were able to have some visitors. Finally Rebecca got the chance to meet the little brother she has been telling everyone is in Mommy's tummy. Of course the first meeting was very cautious but she soon opened up and wanted to look at him.

With Dad getting the chance to hang out with the kids, Mom also had to get in on the action. Though this time around Becca was a little happier.

Susana's Sister Idis has been watching Rebecca for the last few days so Susana and Irving could focus on Andy. This meant that not only did she have to deal with her own 3 year old son, but also Rebecca. I am sure it has been fun.

Idis also went down to Sacramento to pick up Susana's parents from the train station. It just so happened that they arrived back from a visit to Nicaraqua earlier this morning. That allowed us to get this picture of Abuelito and Abuelita with all three of their grandkids.

Which left us with the opportunity to catch each of the kids giving Andy a kiss. We'll see if that behavior lasts once he gets older and starts to annoy them both. :) The big group was here for a couple of hours and we expect to see some of Andy's Uncles around tomorrow. If things continue to go well (Andy needs to poop) we may be able to go home with him tomorrow. If he isn't discharged, we will be spending a lot of time in the Nursery waiting to bring him home.

Now we only need to get the car seat, crib, bassinet and everything else ready since the little guy was so early!

A Picture you can blow up

2009-01-09T06:07:00.000-08:00

So, after taking a look, I forgot that blogspot doesn't allow you to download "large" pictures, which is silly to me. Anyway, I am going to load the best pic we have so far of the little one as a smaller image so that you can click on it to download the full size pic for better viewing. (We will have more pics later on in the day, after little Andy has had his bath.

Also here is the first picture we have of the little one, right after he was given to a very happy Mommy. Mommy and Andy continue to do fine, we are going to start the whole breastfeeding process again in a little bit. (Andy latched on and fed for about 10 minutes last night but since then has had some glucose water and formula)

Last but not least here is a video of him being checked out by one of the nurses about 50 minutes after birth. He is more calm now than he was when he was born.

More to come....

And here is the newest addition to Birmingham, CA

2009-01-09T02:54:00.000-08:00

It is with greastest pride and deepest pleasure that we welcome Irving Andres Birmingham into the world. Even though he wasn't supposed to be born until Feb 23, 2009, Andy (what we will be calling him), couldn't wait to see us and forced Mommy to go to the Hosiptal three times this week before finally coming out to greet the world at 10:41 PM, January 08, 2009 at Sutter Roseville Medical Center in Roseville, California.

We were initially very worried about having a baby so many weeks before full term, but as it turned out, little Andy was actually developing very well and despite our expectation that he would be immediately admitted into the Sutter NICU, he managed to avoid that ward altogether. In fact his Apgar scores were better than Rebecca's were when she was born. Andy, weighed in at 5 pounds 9 ounces and 18 1/4" long with Apgar scores of 9 at 1 minute after birth and 10 at 5 minutes after birth.

Andy was so excited to get out of Mommy that the birthing team wasn't even all in place and out he was coming. I think Mom did the whole birthing process in one big, long push. Definitely a lot quicker than Rebecca (and she wasn't a slow poke) After the initial exam, Andy was allowed to spend some time with Mom and Dad (hence the picture above) before being taken to the Nursery for a series of tests.

The good news is that despite some low blood sugar levels, he is now doing resting comfortably and we are hoping to be bring him home with Mom in a couple of days. Mom is also doing great and is getting some much deserved rest.

Now without further ado here is Irving Andres Birmingham! (Picture taken under the warmer in the Nursery)

May God Bless you all as he continues to bless us!

It's Been a while....

2008-12-29T12:00:00.000-08:00

Well its been a while since you all heard anything from our small part of California, and for that we apologize. But we are back and hopefully on track to get this blog rolling again. I will start by saying that we are all doing fine, Rebecca continues to light up our life on a daily basis. We can't wait for the next addition to the Birmingham Family to come next year. But first, lets close out 2008.

With that in mind, I wanted to share a quick rundown on our first family Christmas in California. Up until 2008, we have been heading to Memphis/Mississippi to celebrate Christmas. This year we went to Tennessee for Thanksgiving because we didn't want Susana traveling during her third trimester. Luckily we were able to be joined by Granny Birmingham (out in Cali for work), Tio Ofilio (from the bay), and Capt Joe and Caroline Nason (Co-worker of Irving)

A good time was had by all as we each got to play with a few new toys, of course Rebecca made out the best (as it should be). Though the big kids got a chance to play some Guitar Hero with Drum set on the Wii as well. Rebecca even got her own guitar that she could rock out with. See the video below for some of her strumming! (Granny is on the phone in the background)

All in all it was great Christmas Holiday. Best wishes to all of you in the New Year.

Memorial Day trip

2008-05-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

This is just an example of the planning ahead we do....

We received a call at around 10:30am, Papa, Rebecca and mommy were all outside "gardening" (ie: making wholes in the back yard) when Daddy says "Want to go out today?"

Of course Mommy says "yes!"

Daddy "We have twenty minutes to get ready. Will you make it?"

Mommy looks around, Rebecca is brown with dirt, hair has little rocks in it from digging, and then looks at herself, and looks the same as Rebecca. But she also looked around and saw that she had two choices, 1- stay home and do some "gardening" with Papa or 2- go out have fun with family and friends.

Mommy quickly replied "Yes! we can make it in 25 minutes."

An hour and 45 minutes later we were in Truckee, Ca. sitting and having lunch at our friends' pub the Half/Half with eight other friends and two, 2 yr olds. We ended up at a little beach shore, were and walked across to the Safeway and had some good Starbucks.

We were all freezing. On the way home, we encountered rain, snow, and a beautiful wintery road.

Thanks Daddy for driving us out and giving us a great day to remember.

Is this Gardening?

2008-05-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

We had a date with Papa today.

He wanted to do something called "Gardening" in our back yard.

I don't think Rebacca understood the idea behind this activity.

Mommy calls going out in the back yard "weeding" we tend to pull everything the grows back there, out. Papa wanted to make wholes and take rocks out all day. What was that about?

All weekend, Rebecca has been preparing herself for this date with Papa. Today, she picked out her clothes, as you can see, she picked a skirt (not what she would wear for weeding) and was ready to go when Papa got here today.
To her surprise, they headed out back, grabbed different tools than what mommy uses, and started "gardening."
I really don't think Papa was prepared for what he found back there. We do live in the city of Rocklin and it has that name for a reason. the ground here is all rock.

Irving says 'it was a rock quarry before the houses started being built.'

I think he should have spoken up sooner.

At the County Fare

2008-05-26T21:09:00.000-07:00

Our very first County fare!

I have to admit, this was sooo much fun. We invited Rebecca's best buddy Jordyn to come along.

I think they started to get a whiff of what having a large pet is like on this picture.

Here they are by the stables eating waffle cones (no ice cream:

Rebecca does not even know what ice cream is yet.)

Rebecca cannot believe how big cows are in person. She was so happy to have seen baby caff as well. It took me 15 minutes to get her out of the 4-H club section. She wanted to see everything, from cows, to bunnies, to chicken and ducks, we saw sheep being sheered and pigs being pigs.

She loved it. And again, we had a great day, and this time she was so tired she didn't even want to get out of her stroller when we got to the car on our way out. She walked all day.

Trip to FairyTale Town

2008-05-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

Fairytale Town

is the place where all the fairy tales come to life.

Here Rebecca is sliding down the Jack and the Bean Stock slide. We had just come from visiting Eeyore, and Owl, who as you may all know, are great friends of Winnie the Pooh.

This was a trip we took with some of our Mamis from Mami Latina. Rebecca is the one with the green Coconut Tree sun glasses, her best buddy Jordyn is styling the pink sun glasses, and the two boys are just going to hang back the rest of the day.

This was only a two hour event, and they were all exited and terribly exhausted by noon.

It was a great day.

Side Walk Fun

2008-05-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

We are here again in the middle of three digit weather.

This time we are waiting for Daddy to come home for dinner. So we were in the front lawn, under the shade of out big oak tree.

The great opportunity came along, and the neighbors sprinklers started to water the lawn. Of course, Rebecca found it very opportune and decided to make the best of it.

I think I have also mentioned this, that Rebecca does not like getting too dirty, or messy.

Here she is sitting beside the sprinkles, with her juice beside her, enjoying the spray of the water while staying just out of the main sprinklers' way.

There are some of her ingenious ways of getting cool, staying clean, but getting the most out of her fun all at the same time.

Did I mention what a genius Rebecca is?

Lunch with Daddy

2008-05-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

On the rare occasion, Rebecca and Mommy go to Beale Air Force Base and actually get to visit Daddy.

Today was one of those days. We visited the PX, The Airman's Attic and got Rebacca a couple of shorts for this wonderful weather we have been having.
But the best part was that we actually got very lucky and were able to have a great lunch with Daddy at The Pub.
So now Rebecca knows that Daddy works at Beale, and that he is working there til he comes home for dinner.
She is still trying to say Beale A.F.B., but comes out as Bill ABC.

A Great Day

2008-05-18T20:09:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed a great day today. Thought the temp was triple digits again, we stayed cool the entire time.

Here we are at the Nugget Market yet again. This time we needed a few lemons for tonight's chicken dinner. But if anyone is familiar with this grocery store, you know that they have wonderful food too.

Mommy is so smart to have scheduled the day just so, and we could enjoy a great noodle lunch at The Nugget. Rebecca is enjoying her fresh squeezed lemon and Orange blend. Nice and cold just perfect for the walk back home. The pictures with the noodles are never going to be seen in public. Sorry but we are trying to teach Rebecca that being sloppy and gross is not what we do.

(But they are pretty funny, so you can always come see us in person if you ever want to see any of "those" pics.)

We were still enjoying the day even for dinner.

We had our Mami Latina group come for our monthly meeting. Rebecca was so excited to have her friends over, she kept opening the front door and saying "Come in, Please!"

We see all the kids playing in Rebeccas' play room. the biggest surprise here is that she is actually enjoying herself and not being terribly sad about everyone grabbing and playing with her toys. She was actually being a great host.

The kids seemed to have forgotten their moms were present at all, and were having the greatest of times. Of course because it was a late meeting, all kids that attended were asleep before arriving home.

The kids were well aware that Irving was present. He was in fact the person who cooked for them and was supposed to be watching them while us moms discussed the group and future events. Rebecca seemed so proud of her Daddy, that she continued introducing him to everyone. But of course he is the one next to the Blue M&M man.

On this night, Rebecca slept so well, she didn't wake up till 7:30am the next morning.

Did I mention it was a great day?

Working in the Garden

2008-05-18T19:36:00.000-07:00

We had great weather for doing yard work today. Rebecca and I got an early start to beat the three digit temp. As you can see, Rebecca is a pro at this now. She is ready in her sweats, gardening shoes and blue gloves. As is her usual, she heads straight to the flowers, so she can smell them.

But as we can see in these pictures, she is not a light weight. Rebecca is not known to shy away from hard and heavy labor.

But just so everyone knows, she is using the proper lifting technique. She is lifting with her knees, not her back.

But in case you are worried about a two year old doing heavy lifting, this is not a full bucket, and she does have a smaller one she uses to fill with weeds and rocks.

Here we are after a well deserved bath, very hungry and eating fresh, juicy oranges. On this day, Rebacca actually ate everything on her tray. She had chicken taquitos and milk juice and of course orange slices.

Walking the Nature Center

2008-05-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

A wonderful Mothers Day Trip to the Effie Yaew Nature Center.

Here we are, my mom and I with Rebecca in between having had enjoyed a nice walk and some great warm weather.

After having maneuvered our way down to the lake over so many rocks.
Tireless Rebecca and Daddy staying on the path back to the Center.

It could not have been a better day for this trip.

Thanks Daddy for an unforgettable day.

Hanging out with TiTa

2008-05-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

Today we had a great time with Tita.

Since we are now spending all our afternoons with Tita, we decided to do something a little different. Instead of going to her apartment, we decided to bring her home with us instead.

Rebecca is trying to look like Tita in this picture. As we can see, she is doing a good job at it.

Because we were all feeling so great after nap time, which we all took part. We decided to go for a walk, one mile each way, to our closest market and get some great fresh fruits and veggies for snack.

Rebecca of course had a great time at the Nugget. She ran and tasted everything on all the fresh produce isles and tired herself out by the time we got to the check out counter. From the looks of Rebeccas' stroller, you can see we grabbed more than we could carry. So really it was a great workout for Tita and myself, since we started taking turns pushing Rebecca home.

Gymnastics Class

2008-05-12T19:58:00.000-07:00

Rebecca is going to gymnastics now.

Here she is going through an obstacle course. There is lots of jumping, tumbling, going through and over things. She is learning to walk on a balance beam, do the double bars and all that sort of thing.

Here we see Rebecca doing part of the obstacle course. She had to go through the giant donut, into the ball pit, and next she is to crawl around the flat donut.

This next part, she is working on her arm strength. She also had to balance and pull herself towards the next obstacle.

Green Day

2008-05-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

Today was all about Green for us. Rebecca decide early today that she was going to wear this very green dress her Tio Ofilio brought her all the way from Nicaragua.

After a day with Tio Ofilio, to show him that Rebecca loves his present, Rebecca decided to practice her pedaling.

She is concentrating very hard, trying not to drop Bunny and ride at the same time.

As soon as she saw the camera out, she started to pose. this is the shy look, the over the shoulder glance, I think, she has perfected. There were a lot more, but there is only so much space we can use.

Discovering and trying to keep her discoveries in her pockets.

Today Rebecca is pocketing everything the color green, leaves and other little objects that can fit in her two little pockets.

Just something new she started doing. Mommy gets to find all sorts of things, some yucky, some indescribable, some living and others not so much alive.

Meet and Greet

2008-05-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend we attended the Official Introduction of Lucca Binotti to the world of other kids and adults.

Here we see Lucca and hid Daddy having a snack. Being the center of attention is a hard job, not everyone can do it.

But then, he's lucky to have Irving, who can teach him a thing or two. Or maybe they are discussing trade secretes and technique.
The kids were having a great time playing and monkeying around on the living room floor.

Irving and Rebecca enjoying a great get together in more ways than one. Did anyone notice how the dads in these pictures all match their kids?

Celebrating Summer

2008-04-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

Rebecca's legs finally reach the petals!

OK, so it was a bit cool out today, but we still wore short.

Rebecca decide that today we were going to attempt to use the petals on her tricycle. This is the first time her legs actually reach and she is trying to move forward by using them.

Now all she has to learn is to pump her legs and guide the front wheel. But most importantly, she needs to learn to stop.

Of course, she could not leave her white bunny behind, so we have him sitting on her basket.

Outings with Mami Latina Group

2008-04-30T19:37:00.000-07:00

Rebecca and I have joined a Mami Latina Playgroup, which I organize and schedule events and activities for. Of course this is great for us because we get to do just what we want. Mommy tends to plan activities around what Rebecca is into. You are welcome to check out our group and see even more pictures of what we are up to.

Here we are on out way out to the Explorit Science Center in Davis. Rebecca is ready for a fun and sunny day. Again she choose her accessories for the day. Don't ask me where she gets her sense of style.

As soon as we got there, she was attracted to the microscopes, but we spent most of the day in the puzzles and building blocks room.

We had so much fun the first time we went that we invited our group to enjoy the center with us the next month.

This time, there were different things to see and do. Here we see Rebecca petting a Boa Constrictor. She was so happy to have done it she got patiently in line two more times just to pet it again.

Dance Class

2008-04-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

Rebecca in her Dance for Tots class this weekend.

She has really enjoyed going. Here she is practicing her ballerina arms during her stretching exercises.

Celebrating Summer

2008-04-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

The First 80 degree day in Rocklin.

Rebecca chose to wear a blue tank and yellow short. She was very insistent on those two colors.

The day gave us the chance to try out some of the fun presents Auntie Camille sent Rebecca for her birthday. The bubble making cow is a total hit. Once Rebecca figured out how it worked, shes been using it every day.

Thanks Auntie Millie!

Now all we have to do is keep up with the supply of bubble liquid.

Meet and Greet

2008-04-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

Rebecca was visited by the newest member of the Bainotti Family, Lucca! He brought her a cute clothes for her birthday. He has great taste, but of course his mommy is Hamraz.

After opening her present, Rebecca could not keep her big brown eyes off Lucca. She wanted to touch him and see what this little person was all about.

Lucca in turn could not keep his cute little eyes off Rebeccas big fro.

Birthday Celebration Part II - Zoo Time

2008-04-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

Since Rebecca's actual birthday was on Monday the 14th, we planned to have her actual birthday party on the weekend. This year we had her birthday party at the Folsom Zoo with a picnic at the neighboring park afterwards. It was a nice day, unfortunately it was a little chilly in the morning so we had chase the sun to stay warm!

The Folsom Zoo is a nice small zoo, the best thing being that kids 4 & under are free so most of the kids in attendance were free. The group got to see a peacock spreads its feathers.

We also saw, bears, tigers, cougars, and wolves, among the many animals. It was nice to see the kids having a good time watching through the fences. After a little while in the zoo the group headed out to the park where Nehal and I cooked some hot dogs and hamburgers while the kids played in the playground.

Despite the wind, we were able to keep the candle lit long enough for Rebecca to blow it out. (she did a really good job of blowing!) She even managed to put most of the cake in her mouth and not in her dress. It was good to see all the kids and adults out and about, thanks to all that came.

It was a very good day and Rebecca really enjoyed it!

Gymnastics class

2008-04-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

In addition to her dance class, Rebecca is also taking a weekly gymnastics class. I finally got to attend one of her classes last week. It is a pretty fast paced class that focuses on circuits. Each of the circuits has multiple activities, varying from climbing, hanging, jumping, etc. The stations allow each of the kids to work alone with some piece of equipment. The quick pace helps the kids to keep their attention which is definitely a good thing. The picture above is of Rebecca walking the balance beam. They also have minature parrallel bars, mini-uneven bars and lots of trampolines. (see below.)

Birthday for 'becca

2008-04-15T22:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Rebecca's Birthday, it was also Granny's last full day with us, so we tried to make the most of it. We started the day shopping, which I am hoping to get Rebecca to avoid in the future, but as long as Granny's paying, then I am good with it!

After an afternoon nap, we went to a local restaurant (John's Incredible Pizza) with the Schumacher's. At the dinner Granny shared her most recent purchases with our two-year old cousins. They both had a good time trying on the hats they were given. (along with the accompanying outfits)

Rebecca and Granny were able to ride a small merry-go-round and everything. Rebecca also played some of the other games that were there, unfortuantely she will have to wait until she is a little taller and older to ride some of the larger rides. We still had fun however.

We ended the day by talking to Auntie Millie while we opened up her packages. Rebecca has learned how to attack wrapping paper with the appropriate furvor and she doesn't stop until everything is open.

It was a good day, though we still plan to have a bigger celebration for her this coming weekend.

Granny comes to town

2008-04-15T22:28:00.000-07:00

Granny came to town last Thursday. Rebecca really enjoyed having her grandmother around. Granny went with Susana and Rebecca to Rebecca's dance class, where she got to see the various dance moves Rebecca attempts to do.

Granny also got to see how much Rebecca babbles when she is not on the phone. For whatever reason, Rebecca tends to stare at the phone, but she can be really talkative in the house and we are happy Granny got to see that.

Kite Festival

2008-04-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

Rebecca's has now had the pleasure of experiencing the great sport of Kite Flying.
She colored on her kite, very creative squiggles if I do say so my self, and then helped tie the strings on. She was very patient, looking at what everyone else in the park was doing before attempting it herself.
It was difficult, its not as easy as it looks. She found that she needed the wind and to keep moving if she wanted to be successful at this sport.
To her surprise, she did it. Take a look.

Activation Ceremony

2008-04-06T17:06:00.000-07:00

On April 1st the California Air National Guard (ANG) had a redesignation/activation ceremony for the guard at Beale. While this didn't change my current active duty status in the 48th Intelligence Squadron. I did participate and assume command of the 222nd Communications Maintenance Flight (222 CMXF).

The 222 CMXF is now one of four ANG units on base. My previous unit the 234th Intelligence Squadron is now focusing solely on Intel Analysis, while the 222 Intelligence Support Squadron is taking on the Intel Comm Support role of the DCGS and the 222 CMXF is going to focus on the RQ-4 Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle communications maintenance.

The ceremony lasted a little less than an hour and was attended by the CA ANG Commander, Maj General Lucas and the 9th Reconnaissance Wing Commander Brig General Polumbo as well as other O-7s and 0-6s.

Susana and Rebecca were both there to support me. Rebecca even gave the crowd some occasions to chuckle as she proudly proclaimed "Daddy" throughout the ceremony. :)

All in all it was a very good day.

Time for a quick recap

2008-04-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

Since this is our first post, I figured we should start it off with a quick recap of the year so far.

Starting up with the Christmas, 2007, we have Rebecca and Granny Birmingham on the left as granny prepares to blow out her candles. And on the right we have Rebecca and her Great-Grandmother (we call her GG) Rebecca. We had a great time in Hattiesburg, Mississippi with my mom's family.

In January, we started Rebecca in her first Dance Class. She goes to a local studio every Saturday along with other 18-24 month little girls.

She has gotten much better at following along with Miss Katie, but still needs the occasional help from Mom:

On the 16th of March, we went to the California Capital Airshow with the Susana's sister, Idis, and her family. Rebecca got to see multiple helicopters and airplanes, including the Blue Angels. Despite the noise of the planes a great time was had by all.

The Saturday before Easter we went up to Beale AFB to enjoy a 0-2 year old Easter egg hunt. Rebecca got a good collection of eggs and candy, she even saw the Easter Bunny.

We followed that easter egg hunt with another one at the Schumacher's house, where Rebecca looked for eggs with her cousin Raymond and his neighbors.

Abuelita was there as well, watching Rebecca search in the garden.

A good time was had by all, and afterwards the kids inspected their loot.

All in all, we have had a great year, and we are looking forward to celebrating Rebecca's second birthday and seeing what the rest of the year brings us.