Four Incredible Years

It is hard to believe that Gustavo and I have been married for four years! In some ways that seems short, and in other ways it seems like a very significant amount of time. I've been thinking about all of the incredible things that have happened during our four years together.

2005- the year of HUGE changes!
- We were married February 26, 2005
- I graduated and got my first job teaching first grade at Meadow Elementary School
- We bought our house

2006
- We fixed up the house and made it ours
- We decided to finally take a trip together and went to Las Vegas
(I can't find our pictures)

2007
- We went back east for 2 weeks to visit Emily & Laz in Virginia and Meg & John in Pennsylvania. While we were there we also went to Washington D.C., Palmyra, NY, and New York City.
-We went with Laz to an Orioles vs. Yankees game in Baltimore

-We saw all the sights in NYC

-Our favorite part of New York was definitely when Gustavo won 2 tickets in the Wicked lottery. We both strongly recommend seeing it. It was amazing!

2008
- Gustavo graduated with his degree in Business Management
- We went on a cruise with Adam & Jennie to Catalina and Mexico
- I got pregnant so we spent lots of time getting ready for Ella
- We went on one last vacation as just the 2 of us to Vegas with Levi & Jessie

2009

- We had Ella and our whole world changed!

I love you so much Gustavo. Thank you for being my best friend and the love of my life. I feel so blessed to be your wife. I appreciate all that you do for me, especially right now!

One Week

Ella is a week old! This week has been full of excitement and adjustments. As you can see by looking at Ella's very chubby cheeks, she is back to her birth weight! During our 2 days at the hospital Ella lost 11 ounces. Now after being home for only 5 days she has gained it all back! We love our adorable chubby baby. Gustavo has always said that he wanted our babies to have chubby cheeks and he definitely got his wish.

We can't get enough of our little girl.

She is so kissable!

A lot of you have inquired about Gustavo's ankle. He went to the specialist yesterday and was told that it is broken, but it is a small chip so he won't need a hard cast or surgery. He is just supposed to keep it wrapped and wear this boot. He hates the boot, but it isn't too bad.

Thank You

We feel so blessed to be surrounded by wonderful friends and family who have been so generous. I had 4 different baby showers during my pregnancy. My ward, family, school, and class each threw a shower for me. My room mom organized a surprise baby shower as the Valentine's Day party so I unfortunately missed it, but it was so sweet to look through the cards and valentines from students when I got home from the hospital. We really feel so loved by all of you.
Thanks for everything you've done for us!

Ella Marie Gonzalez

Ella Marie Gonzalez was born February 11, 2009 at 5:29 a.m.

She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 19 inches long.

On Tuesday I went to school feeling horrible! Everyone at work can unfortunately attest to that because they either saw me waddling around, or laying in the faculty lounge. The only reason I survived both Monday and Tuesday was my student teacher who started her lead teaching on Monday. I wasn't sure if my body was preparing me for labor or if I had the flu. I had an appointment on Tuesday after school where I found out that I was dilated to a 3 1/2 and 80% effaced. The doctor told me the same thing; he would possibly see me that night or at my next appointment. I came home from my appointment and called Gustavo to find out that he was in terrible pain from almost breaking his ankle. He had spent his afternoon in the emergency room.When he got home my contractions were mild, but I was feeling achy and nauseous. I quickly realized that Gustavo was in so much pain that we definitely needed to go and get his prescriptions filled. We hobbled to Albertsons where Gustavo waited in line and I waddled around to get 7 Up and saltines for my stomach. Gustavo felt bad because we was using me as a crutch and I was leaning over the cart during each contraction. We got home and started timing the contractions. I called my sisters and at 8:30 finally decided I'd better go to the hospital. I was admitted at about 10:15 and was all settled in with my epidural at midnight. At 5:00 I started pushing. Right away we knew that she would come quickly, but her hear rate started dropping so respiratory nurses were called in along with some extra back up. The doctor decided to use forceps to help her get out as quickly as possible. I pushed through 3 or 4 contractions and she was here. I was so reassured to hear that everything was fine. We were able to keep her with us for an hour or 2 while I was stitched (the forceps left me with 3rd degree tearing which I'm not excited about) and then able to nurse.
As soon as Gustavo came from the nursery with our beautiful little Ella he received a call where he was informed that his ankle was broken. He spent a significant amount of time during our stay at the hospital trying to get everything taken care of with insurance and specialists. Ella scared every nurse with her "grunting." Gustavo took this video so you can all hear.

Although every nurse worried this meant she was struggling to breath, they soon found after checking her that her oxygen saturation was between 97 and 100 percent. Even though everyone reported that, each nurse wanted to test it for themselves. I was only sad when this meant she had to be hooked to a monitor that I was supposed to watch and alert the nurse if it ever went below 90 percent. She is healthy and her breathing was always great. Now that she is eating better she doesn't ever grunt!

We love our little Ella more and more every minute. As cheesy as it sounds it is true. She is amazing!

37, 38 or 39?

When I went to the doctor for what I thought was my 36th week check up on January 29th I was informed that I have been measuring 2 weeks big and the computer said I was really 37 weeks. I got panicked because my new due date was February 19th- the 2nd day of Parent Teacher Conferences. I have really been telling myself during this whole pregnancy that the baby would come late and hoped she would come on Saturday the 28th. During that Dr.'s appointment I also found out I was dilated to a 2. I calmed myself down, but still had some sort of a "reality check" that the baby really may come early. On Thursday Feb. 5th I had my next check up and found out I'm dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. I'm still really hoping that the baby will stay in until the 20th or 21st. Yes, many of you may think I'm crazy, but February is a crazy month at school. I have a student teacher right now who is just starting her lead teaching Monday. I would feel terrible if I abandoned her during her 2 weeks of lead teaching. I really hope to make it through as much of her time as possible. Her last day is the 20th so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! As I mentioned earlier, I also have Parent Teacher Conferences on the 18th and 19th. Grades are due the 27th and our report cards are pretty intense. We grade each standard from the state core. Beyond all of those reasons I really want to work for as long as possible so I can go back for the shortest amount of time possible. My plan is to work part time after my 6 weeks of maternity leave. I'll work mornings M-Th and full days each Friday. My sub will work the afternoons so things should go smoothly. It will make for some really sad paychecks, but I'll get to be with my baby a lot and I know that will definitely be worth it. Although I'd love to have a few more weeks to work and get everything ready all of this excitement has really helped it settle in that we are really having a baby! We are both very excited to finally see her. If it were up to Gustavo I'd go into labor right now. I'm still hoping for the 21st though! We'll just wait and see. I'll make sure to keep you all updated.