Carter's Almost 1!

Along with the most exciting season of the year (HAPPY DECEMBER EVERYONE!), it's my perfect little bundle of joy's birthday time! He will officially be 1 years old on December 23, but we are having his birthday party on the 5th in order to accomodate all family members! I'm so excited for this coming Sunday I can hardly contain myself! It's going to be a great day filled with people we love and who love us :)

It's funny because it was on this day last year (December 2nd) that I worked my last day at Ricca Donna Salon in Brea. I loved working there! It was a great atmosphere and what was even more awesome was that my hair stylist was only 2 weeks behind me in her pregnancy, and another stylist was 3 months behind us! So we were always talking about baby issues such as whether or not to get the H1N1 shot (hahaha oh, we were debating for weeks!), our plans for going into labor early, and just about everything else you can think of when you're expecting your first baby! My due date was December 11th, so I figured I was giving myself just enough time to finish up the school semester and sit on my lilly pad awaiting a contraction or two.

Little did I know that I would NOT go into labor on my own despite my best efforts. I walked probably 50 miles between December 2nd and December 11th, at which point I was exhausted and cranky because I was humongous and I wasn't even experiencing the smallest cramp! It was also terrible because that's when Chad and I lived in Yorba Linda and in order to visit my family in Mission Viejo I ran the risk of going into labor too far away from the hospital! I know now that those fears were a little off base, but with your first bambino you can never be too cautious!

Another thing that put me in a bad mood was when Chad and I went to my doctor's appointment on December 11th only to find out that I had not dilated 1 centimeter! After that appointment Chad had to go to work and I was left alone to sulk. On our next doctors appointment (I was a week overdue), good old Dr. B informed us that I still had not dilated, and that I was welcome to come on in to the hospital that night at 7:00 to start the induction process. We were so excited, but I all of a sudden got super nervous. So that night we went to dinner with Mama Paplia and Vince (my little brother), and off we headed to the hospital (which is when I burst into tears because I was so anxious). The next morning the doctor broke my water and we started the pitocin at 8:00 am and I delivered after a super easy labor at 9:12 pm. He was 8 lbs. 7 oz.s and 21 inches long! His foot was so big it wouldn't even fit in the little spot allotted for the foot print! His head was also the most perfect shape I had ever seen on a new born baby! It was a great day and man, did I hit the hay after the delivery when he was safe in the nursery!

The next day was Christmas Eve, and that night after all the visitors left we watched the Disneyland fireworks from our hospital room and had california burritos from Rigobertos (which I found out later I was not supposed to eat because it was incompatible with nursing! Oops!). On Christmas Day I will never forget the drive home from St. Jude's! It was hilarious! Chad was driving about 12 miles per hour the entire way down Yorba Linda Blvd., where my mom and the Cisneros's awaited our arrival! It was a fabulous couple of days! And now my little man is 1 years old! Where the heck did the time go??