Abigail's Room

Jennifer had her 34 week check-up on Tuesday of this week. All is well with Abigail and she has settled into a head down position in preparation for delivery. She is approximately 4.5 pounds and 17 inches long. Jennifer can now tell the difference between her sleeping movements and her waking movements. We really enjoy watching her movements and are getting more and more excited to meet her.

We spent most of this week finishing up Abby's nursery. Ginger and Frodo both love the rug in Abby's room and we often find them laying in there while we are putting other items away. There are only a few more things to finish up before Abby's arrival in 5 weeks or so.

This weekend we also had a special visit from Grandma Ledezma, Uncle Samuel and Uncle Saul. Grandma made us a special dinner that we both loved and we were very excited to show them the finished room.

Birth Classes and Moving Around...

Today we finished the last of our birth classes in preparation for Abigail's arrival. We took all the classes offered through our hospital and it was a lot of fun for us to learn about the birth process, breastfeeding, CPR and baby care. Below is Jennifer with all the other expectant mothers from our prepared birth class.

We both enjoyed the time we got to spend with other first time parents. It was interesting to hear the different perspectives from everyone. Our instructors were fantastic and super helpful. Of course, Jennifer read over (and over) every piece of material the instructors gave us. Moises is now ready for all the diaper changes that are headed our way.

Finally, Moises cleared out the rest of what is to be Abigail's room. With the help of Paul, Armando and Francis all the excess furniture has been cleared out to make way for all of Abby's things. Moises already has the crib and dresser set up. We plan on picking up the chair tomorrow and getting the rest her nursery items put away this week. Thanks to Paul, Armando and Francis for all your help!
Much love,

Moises & Jennifer

Baby Shower

Wow, it's been far too long between posts! Sorry everyone for the delay. Just to give you a quick update on all things Abby; we are now only about 7 weeks away from her due date and we are working on getting everything prepared for her arrival.

Abigail had her first shower on April 16. Aunt GiGi and Chia hosted the shower. It was so wonderful to see all our Arkansas family and friends. We really appreciate all the work that GiGi and Chia did to make it a special day for us. Uncle Saul acted as photographer and as always he did a great job.

Abby got lots of great gifts to welcome her into the world, but one of the most unique gifts was the "babi kini" that Aunt Jennifer got her. It was a string bikini for newborns! How cute is that?! Mommy thought it was pretty cute, but the jury is still out on what Daddy has to say about that!

Much love,

Moises & Jennifer

28th Week Update

Well, we're really getting close to the birth of little Abigail. We're now in the the third trimester and have only about 10 weeks to go. Jennifer is really starting to show off that belly and can feel Abby's movements almost all the time. We started the prepared birth classes last Monday and have really enjoyed spending time learning from other couples who are going through the same things we are. Here is Jennifer in front of our beautiful rose bush in the back yard.

Moises has really been working hard to get the back yard in shape to be a little more kid friendly. He started by removing all the old tree stumps from the dead or dying trees that were present when we moved into the house. He then tilled the entire yard to remove all the weeds and pulled out all the bushes that Jennifer couldn't stand. Last Saturday he spent laying down the sod. We chose Zoysia Pallisades, which is a grass developed at A&M to be both durable and resistant to shade and drought. You get two guesses at who chose the grass...

We really struggled to decide how on earth we were going to transport the sod from point A to our house. We needed just enough sod for it to not fit in his Yukon and we were just out of delivery range from the sod dealer. Thankfully, Moises' brother, Saul, stepped up and let us use his truck to get the job done. Saul made a very happy mommy and a very exhausted daddy.

Below are the before and after pictures of Moises' hard work.

BEFORE

AFTER

100 Days to Go!

Well, we are well past the half way mark and only have 100 days to go. Tomorrow, Jennifer will be going in to the doctor for her glucose tolerance test, so send positive thoughts and prayers that all goes well. Little Abigail is now the size of an eggplant and measures 9.2 inches and is about 2 pounds in weight.

As we mentioned before, in preparation for the arrival of Abigail our dogs went through a two week boot camp to learn a few more manners. They both did very well, but were VERY glad to be back home with us. It took them about a week to recover from the trauma.



Last Friday, we took Ginger in to get fixed so the poor girl now has to wear an e-collar for the next ten days so she won't mess with her sutures. It's quite a pitiful sight. She's had a rough March, but Frodo has been keeping her company as she recovers.





This past weeked was a great time for both of us to spend some time with our families. Moises flew to his home town to visit his uncle, mom, dad & siblings. It had been a while since he had made the trip to the Valley and he was very happy to see everyone. He loves visiting with his neice and nephews and as you can tell they do too.

Jennifer's mom, mema and aunt Terri drove through Dallas this weekend so she got to spend some time with them. They went to dinner and she showed them all the work we've done on the house (and it's a lot!). It was great for her to see them; she wishes she could see them more often.

Home Sweet Home...

Well, we just made it back from the 2nd annual cruise. It was the first cruise with all the girls and their husbands and the last one with only one little one. A good time was had by all between the lounging by the pool, going to comedy shows and, of course, EATING! Each of us probably gained 10 pounds by the end of the trip as we seemed to eat almost every two hours. Little Abigail certainly enjoyed the smorgasbord of food and we seem to be having a hard time adjusting back to the old schedule of small snacks throughout the day.

We really enjoyed all the time we got to spend with Papa & BB and Chris & Ashley and Ryan & Alisha. They are each some of our favorite people in the world and we don't get to see them nearly enough, so it was very special to get to spend a full week seeing them daily. Of course, we LOVED spending extra special time with Little miss Ella Faith. Uncle Moises and JJ love that little girl and it seems that she really loves her Uncle Moises. He was one of her "go to" people on this trip and he loved every minute of it.

Throughout most of the trip we commented on what a difference a year makes. Last year Chia (Alisha) and Jennifer were both single women about to be married, Ella Faith was the only child on the horizon, and none of the son-in-laws got to join the cruise. This year Chia and Jennifer are both pregnant and married and all of the son-in-laws joined the trip. No beer on this trip for either one of those girls, but GiGi enjoyed! Here are pictures from last year to this year!

Abby girl also got her first pajamas from Aunt GiGi (Ashley) and Uncle Chris. We are so excited to dress her up in these and can't wait to have her looking like a princess every night before bed. Thank you GiGi and Chris!

We are so thankful that Papa and BB work so hard to bring all of us together once a year to spend quality time together in such a unique environment. We love them both very much and are blessed to be a part of the Petersen, Altman, Cain, Ledezma clan! Thanks you guys, we can't express our gratitude enough.

Much love,

Moises & Jennifer

22 weeks...only 125 more days to go!

We've started a new week of pregnancy. Right now baby Abby is approximately 11 inches long (about the length of a spaghetti squash) and weighs about a pound. Her lips, eyelids and eybrows are becoming more distinct and even her tooth buds have formed under the gums. Her eyes have formed, but the irises do not have pigment yet.

Every week since about week 12, we've been taking baby bump pictures. This is the picture that we took yesterday and the bump is becoming more pronounced. As you can see Ginger enjoys being in the photo too, because she's special like that.