We live!!!

I was laying in bed this morning watching my little son sleep and realized that we haven't posted on the blog in quite a while!  It's been 7 weeks since our little guy was born, and we've been busy with recovering, adjusting to having two children, traveling and being sick.  Lilyana, Jessica and I caught the dreaded flu.  Thanks to a loving husband, homeopathics, oils and LOTS of water, I was only down for 24 hours.  Poor Lilyana was sick for over a week and her runny nose still lingers.  Big sister germs found little brother and Tristan is a little congested, but Ben managed to make it through the plague just fine!  Jessica came home with us and she's in the same boat as Lilyana, only she is still pretty congested.  So we've been laying low for longer than we wanted to and now we're all itching to get out!  

We were very happy to make the trip back East to see my family and have a belated Christmas with them.  Our trip was shorter than we had originally planned due to the baby's birth, but we had a grand time.  Hopefully the photos I picked will show the highlights of our trip and what we were up to right after we got home.  I'll get our Hector Christmas/Super Bowl weekend pictures downloaded soon...

Not his first ride in the car seat, but his first big trip!  He was a fantastic flyer...slept the entire flight!!!


Our little world traveler waiting for the plane...she's an expert and loves take-off, landing and turbulence!

Okay, admit it...we have the best stroller out there!  Two kiddos, three duffle bags, a diaper bag, computer bag, my big leather bag, and the car seat.  Pretty cool, huh?  You're jealous, I know. *grin*

 The ever growing McDonald Clan!  And no, that isn't a fake back-drop, and yes, it was freezing.

 Grandmommy time!

 Auntie Jill made the adorable hat Lilyana is showing off.

 Our sweet Little Man.  Look at those wrinkles on his brow!!!  So cute!!!

Little treasures in the laundry basket.

It was so sweet to have my dad baptize our son.  He also baptized Lilyana on our first anniversary.
   

 Sleepy baby.

 Sleepy baby puts other people to sleep, too!

 Adorable, precious baby sporting another Jill Diane creation!

Jess and I at my favorite bakery in Peoria.  The place where we got our lovely wedding cake.

My darling sister, Abigail.  It's so weird to have children of my own when I remember Abigail as a baby!  Wasn't that just yesterday?

The girls loved having another little girl in the house to dress up.
 

 The guys put in a new floor for mom.  The bathroom looks so lovely now!!

More sleepy boys.


 It's a PJ morning!

 Uncle Bubby is so good with the kiddos!  He's going to be a good father someday.

William and Lilyana were best friends!  Cars, trains, books, oh my!  Wish we lived closer!

 Grandpoppy and the little lady.

 This makes me happy.


*love*  Oh, I can't wait to get this one framed!

Once we were back home in the warm California sunshine, we headed over to the coast to soak up the rays...well, sort of.  It wasn't that warm...definitely not warm enough for me to get in the water! :P

 Sisters....and Ben photo bombing our picture.


Ben and Lilyana are always willing to brave the cold water.

 Okay, does it get any cuter?!?!?

Good friends!

After a fun weekend on the coast, we started settling down back home.  Granddad and Grandmum were in the valley so we met them for sushi!  YUM!

 Out in the lovely sunshine for new pictures and the little man is all smiles!

Now so serious, but oh-so-precious!
He's growing so fast!  Already up to 18 pounds!  It won't be long before he weighs more than Lilyana!

 Jess and her little Zorro.

 Aunties are fun!

My darling little girl, sweeter than ever!

 :D

 Brother-sister love.  Check out those fishie lips!

 Oh how I love my babies!
It's always nice when there is somebody else around to take pictures!

So, that's sort of what we've been up to recently.  Not very many pictures from our sick week, but as I said at the beginning, I'll get the Hector Christmas/Super Bowl Sunday pictures downloaded soon!

Now, off to get some much needed sleep.  Tristan is snoozing, so I should get some beauty rest while I can!

Cheerio!!

Tiffany for BTLT

And He Shall Be Called...

Tristan Primus Hector

Currently we are enjoying some time with the Illinois part of the family, so you will have to wait a bit for more pictures. Until then, here are the shots from our Christmas Card.

BFH

for

BLTT

The "End of the World"...

Anyone who failed, for even one brief moment, to consider that the world might truly be ending missed out on an interesting opportunity. Tiff's reaction was "I did not spend that much time pregnant just for it all to end in four days!" For all of our jokes about Mayans predicting the end of  Twinkies, or "better this than the fiscal cliff!", it was rather fun to stop and think about what would happen if the world really ended. The exercise keeps things in perspective.

Tiffany and I had a front row seat for the final few minutes. Those of you who were not keeping up with Mayan history, or the end thereof,  may not know that the official time of the "big kablewie" was 3:11am PST. Not a time we would normally sit, poised for the plunge into nothingness, but the baby woke up at 3am to eat, so we decided to hold vigil for the last moments. 3:10am rolled around, I kissed my wife, and told her it was nice knowing her, and counted to 60. Nothing happened, a fact most of you probably are aware of. 

One of the other theories was not the end of the world, but rather a step in our evolution, a jump to a higher mental plane, or something of that sort. Maybe it happened somewhere else, but Tiffany and I both agreed that we seemed to be thinking in the same manner as we always have. No telepathy or views of other dimensions. Then we looked down at little Zorro, and realized that perhaps the world jumped to a new level, the Mayans just did not realize they were predicting the change for a single family, in the middle of California.

We had always planned on a home birth, but this time the Lord had other ideas. After a Sunday afternoon was transformed into chaos by Tiff's water breaking, we called the midwife, doula, masseuse, family, everyone, because this was it! All that we had waited for, prepared for, longed for was about to happen! The midwife arrived, agreed that Tiffany's water had broken, and then we waited, and waited, and waited. One would think that the monumental act of her water breaking would send this woman, who was on bed-rest for six weeks due to pre-term labor, careening over the edge into a raging abyss of contractions on a vast scale! The result was.....nothing. A few contractions, one or two, with her husband faithfully recording the timing, length and intensity, then they would skip away like a seven year old enjoying a flowery meadow, only to return awhile later, with some new discovery, before skipping off again. Exercise was to no avail, oils only made a bit of progress, massages, pressure points, walks, the exercise ball, all was tried, with very little change.

This pushme-pullyou game of labor went on for twenty-four hours, before we ran into the rules regarding potential infection. At that point, the hard decision had to be made, and our home birth was put on the back burner, and the health of mother and baby, on the admittedly small chance of infection made us fall back on our "backup plan". There is one hospital in our area that is VERY friendly to midwives, and home-birthers in general, so a few calls were made, and we trundled off to the hospital.

To condense the next twelve hours into a few sentences, with only the intervention of a minimal amount of pitocin, no pain meds, and an excellent nursing staff and doctor, who let our able midwife take center stage until it was time to push, we welcomed a massive young man into the world. Neither Tiff nor I understand why the Lord had us scrap the plan for a home birth, but sometimes trusting means not knowing, and being willing to say, "that is how it played out, we did our best". As long as you know, deep down inside that you did your best, that is all that matters. Baby is home, mother is safe, and we are now home, enjoying the new normal, and praising God for the "End of the World".

Here are a few pictures from our grand adventure:

Sometimes, plans change. 

Was it worth it?

Oh yeah, definitely....

Does he have a belly button?

A proud big sister. 

Grandmum looking for red hair. 

Mama was missed. 

Nine months of rest wasn't enough, you have to yawn and take a nap?

Back at home, Bella makes her inspection of the new cousin. "Hold him higher daddy. I can't see!" 

Another new baby! This one was easier to get....

Ok, now we know that just one WAS easier. 

Guarding, faithfully. 

This tears me up every time.

The ten mile stare.

Big hands!

Complete cuteness.

For unto us a child is born, and we call his name, unto us a son is given; and his name shall be called.....well, you will have to wait and see. Zorro, for now.

BFH

for

BLTZ

"For there must always, always be a Zorro. And some day, when he's needed, we will see him again..."

...and he's here!!!

It is with great pride that we introduce to you our little son...

Little Zorro

Born Monday, Decemer 17th at 10:44 PM

11 pounds 6.6 ounces

21 1/2 inches long

As we did with Lilyana, he won't be officially named until his Christening, but we hope you enjoy his current name. *grin*

More pictures and details to follow!

BLTZ