Year: 2014

This month had an interesting start to it.

Maryia was in a LOT of pain. We took her to Urgent Care who referred her to the ER. At the ER it was determined that she needed to have gallbladder surgery. Whaaaaaaat?!

Yeah, she would need to stay in the hospital for a while to recover as well. That means that I would need to take some time off of work and stay at home with the baby. I ended up using most of the vacation time that I had saved up so far this year.

I would return to the hospital each day. It was quite an ordeal having a newborn at home. As we did not expect something like this to happen, we also didn’t have a bunch of breast milk saved or anything – so for a little, if Arabella got hungry at home she had formula.

Guess who was worried? Yeah – that one cat we have. Jake would kind of sit there and stare at me – like hey! Where is mom? Ended up marking Maryia as a fall risk after the surgery too. She was not enjoying her time away (which I can’t blame her for).

We were finally given the all clear and mommy was back at home with her baby. She was pretty tired from the whole ordeal so she did a bit of sleeping – Arabella didn’t seem to mind. I even was holding Arabella at the hospital once and she fell asleep in my Blazers jacket. Oh yeah – I’m totally rasing this girl up as a Blazers fan (as if there was EVER any doubt about that)! She looks good in the red and black.

We won a contest from Huggies and ended up getting a YEARS SUPPLY of diapers. Yeah, not kidding. This is a HUGE blessing and something we really needed. See above for the photo of the wall of diapers.

A random photo for you: the 50-year anniversary of the Mustang this year – with that they recreated the event on the Empire state building (which I thought was pretty cool).

And I’ll leave you with a photo of the cat that wanted to cuddle. He came over and cuddled me when Arabella started to cry with me. There are many times when I try to hold her and she just screams and wants her mommy. In this instance, Jake saw and came over to me.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 09/28/22 but moved the publish date back to the middle of April 2014 to keep chronological order.

Baby Fever!

It was pretty cool because the day we brought Arabella home – there was a huge rainbow that spread as far as you could see. Followed by rain showers – rain?! In Arizona?! In March!? I’ll take it.

We brought little baby Arabella Hope and immediately Jake found a new favorite.

A new favorite? Yeah. Look at how he starts off, the normal position laying next to me. Give him a good 10 minutes and the baby makes ANY noise and he leaves me in the dust and sits watching over Arabella. That cat has my heart.

My parents made the trip out (after a few weeks by ourselves to allow for bonding with the girl). They were over the moon.

Speaking of that- we think we are going to keep her. 😉

Again, wanted to show how Jake decided that Arabella is his person. I’ve heard of pets doing this type of thing before – but seeing it in person is a whole other thing. We took her to church for the first time (Yes, to Central) – arrived super early, and took a photo of her first time.

We have been frequenting 5 & Diner – it has pretty much become our place. The people are starting to know us more and more. I like it. In a big city, it feels like something you would see on TV, or Cheers or something. We eat and Arabella sleeps – it works out well.

Arabella definitely does not need to ask for Kisses, but this outfit was too cute to pass up and the wife picked the perfect day for her to wear it.

I wanted to add a quick view of my work desk as well. I’ve mentioned it enough but never posted any photos. This photo was on a day when nobody was around me.

Arizona sunsets can’t be beaten. There is something about the desert that really make it look dramatic. Maybe it is the dust in the air? Maybe it’s the clear line of sight from no trees or big mountains?! I don’t know, but it’s pretty.

I leave you with a photo of Arabella sleeping on me in our living room. Baby fever… it’s a real thing!

just Pray

note: this post was published on 09/28/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of March 2014 to keep chronological order.

hey

Who would have thought I’d ever blog about having a baby when I started this whole thing some 11 years ago?

I went to work on the night of the 26th and didn’t expect to come home shortly after that. I did though, I got a call from Sky. Her water had broken, and it was go time! I had these images of every father seen on TV who couldn’t remember where anything is. Who would then forget the wife as he is rushing out the door to get to the hospital. I wasn’t like that. We planned ahead and had a bag that we needed to take. We knew this time would be coming.

We grabbed the bag, filled Jake’s bowl full of food and water, and headed out to the hospital. We waited, and waited, and waited some more. It was a long time in labor. We waited so long that the nurse eventually said that we would have to do a c-section. The baby wasn’t turning right and also the size was too small for the baby. This was after hours and hours of trying to have the baby vaginally. They scheduled an immediate c-section and we felt like we didn’t know what side was up. What a whirlwind of emotion. We were frustrated, especially since we knew the stats and how many women are forced into c-sections, especially in the US (even when it’s not needed).

Emotions aside we prepared for the coming baby. I waited in a room while they prepped Sky. Eventually, they brought me in (see photos of while I was waiting). I felt like I was Dr. Karev from Grey’s Anatomy (yeah I probably watch the show too much). Then I went inside the room and took photos of the baby being delivered. What a crazy experience. I was talking Sky through it because she couldn’t see what they were doing (which was probably for the best at that moment in time).

Then, at 6:29 pm we heard a little voice fill the operating room.

Welcome baby! This previous child that I was holding in my arms. After the baby was cleaned up, they had me walk with her to the room. On the way the nurse stopped me in the hall and asked if I’d like a photo of just me and my newborn daughter. You can see the photo below.

As time went on, we decided to post a photo on social media. We tagged Matthew West since his song “Hello, my name is” is so popular right now – plus we love the line “Child of the One True King!” How much of a greater welcome could we give her?! He saw it and apparently loved it. We started getting notices from everyone that they saw our baby on the page for Matthew West. The post soared and got over 110,000 likes. We were not use to this kind of popularity.

With this also came the negative side of social media. We read things that people were saying about our child – really mean things. Nothing I want to mention, but some of it was disgusting. Due to this, we ended up saying “this will be the only post” that we have. We would not have our baby on Facebook. Any photos would be on Instagram and locked down so that only friends and family could follow updates.

We decided on a name: Arabella Hope.

Arabella being “prayer answered” and “Hope” is pretty self-explanatory.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 09/07/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of February 2014 to keep chronological order.

February! We expect our lives to change pretty dramatically this month. The big question is: When?!

In the meantime, we have been keeping with our normal schedule. Before church, on Saturday we had some extra time so cruised the neighborhoods surrounding. We came across this horse – fondly named by us as Mr. Ed. After church, we took time out and went to our favorite pizzeria – Oreganos. That deep dish. Yum.

Online there has been news of a company opening up a new store called “Dumb Starbucks Coffee” – how funny! I think they will be taken down by the corporate lawyers quicker than they can open the shop.

Got an update from my parents that there was an accident at my dad’s work and he was injured. There was some hot liquid that came out of the car and got on his face and his arm. It looks pretty bad. It would be nice if he didn’t have to work anymore. I think this job will kill him. Ugh. Happier note: Jake gives great snuggles.

To make things a little more official with the Church, we decided to add a decal to our car. *gulps* this is like going steady with someone! We visited Oreganos again (the wife has some cravings for the pizza, and what the wife wants- she gets).

One of the things I really like about Central is that they have dedicated nights for just worship. Here is a picture of one of them. Think of it like a worship concert for God. No big lights for people on stage – no this is all about worshipping the God who loves us.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 09/28/22 but moved the publish date back towards the end of February 2014 to keep chronological order.

A new year! This is the year of the horse. We picked up this Starbucks card so our child will be able to have it – maybe they’d think it was cool. I would have.

My birthday came and went, and this year I got a mission belt. I thought the reflection of the Blazers logo on the belt was pretty cool. Why don’t they make a Blazer’s mission belt?

On November 30, 2013, Paul Walker died. We took a trip to go see the area where Paul Walker died (it is in the city my parents currently live). There was a bunch of stuff (car parts etc.) that had messages written on them to Paul and his family. The sidewalk also had been written all over with messages to Paul from his fans.

One thing that is nice about working so late, is that most places have little to no lines. We went to Mcdonald’s and we had to wait a bit for someone to come to the speaker for us to order. How funny.

Jake is being super cute and LOVES laying down between your legs. He snuggles right up next to you with his soft paws stretching out. We’ve been going to church each week- despite the fact that we live 45 minutes away we think that Central will be our home church – at least it feels that way.

The Coyotes! We ended up getting cheap tickets to a game, and considering that the Glendale arena isn’t super far away from us, we went to the game. While at the game why not get some Tim Hortons!? I don’t know if any other place stateside where you can get it.

The last photo is of the waiting room for the location that we go to for our appointments to checkup on the baby’s health. We see Dr. Damian Bass – outside of hating LA he isn’t so bad.

Pregnancy cravings are no joke. Maryia has been craving Popsicles and the like for some time now. We keep them stocked in our freezer. We have also been to target recently and shopping the clearance asiles. It has been a little hard to get things that can work for a baby boy or girl, BUT we figure sports is pretty safe.

Above is a candid photo of Jake and me taking a quick nap-a-rooni on the couch. The last photo is more of a status check to show how pregnant the wife has gotten.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 09/28/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of January 2014 to keep chronological order.