Leila's song...

For a while now, Leila has been singing this song she learned from Dora the Explorer to Simione. She substituted the first words with Simione's name. She sings it every time he cries or whines or whenever we ask her to. And everytime, no joke, Simione stops crying and smiles when she sings it. The tune is so catchy, everyone in the house gets it stuck in their minds. During any given moment, you will hear anyone of us humming or singing the song.
Most recently, Maxi's started taking Leila's job with the singing when she's not here. Simione stops crying for the most part, but only when Leila sings the song does he completely stop crying and smile.
He absolutely loves his cousins! His eyes are always glued on them when they're in the room. He seriously lights up everytime he sees them. Can you blame him? They're amazing!

I wish I had a video to post of her singing to him. Alma has it on his phone, but I'm not sure how to post it and besides our current computer is evil, and erases pictures/videos whenever we try to upload them. ugh. (that's a whole diff blog)

"BABY SIMIONE GUENOS NOCHES, BABY SIMIONE GUENOS NOCHES..." My mom tried correcting Leila's espanol, but she just could not pronounce Buenos and so Guenos it is! lol. I blame Dora for not enunciating her words while singing the song. lol

How blessed I am to have these lovelies in my life!

He likes it!!!

We have been feeding Simione rice cereal mixed in with his bedtime bottle to help him sleep during the night and to satisfy is ever growing appetite. My past blog, I wrote about my first attempt at spoon feeding him the baby cereal and how it was a no go. He just spit it back out.
I told myself to keep trying especially since I know that it may take up to 10 tries for a child to eat/try a new food. Do you think I did? NOPE. I know, I'm terrible.

Well, tonight I decided to try spoon feeding Simione. I sat him in baby Sai's high chair and gave him a small amt. And whatta' know, he ATE it! In fact, he wanted more!!! I was going to slow, so he started screaming a bit and slamming his hands on his tray. What a brat. lol
yay! I'm so happy! I really wanted him to try eating his baby cereal first via spoon before I started him on other baby foods.

He's also sitting up better. Not quite on his own, but better. yay for milesones!!! Love you my beautiful baby.

"The RS is throwing us a party"

3 years ago, Alma and I were married and sealed for time and all eternity. Alma and I knew he would be in Salem today working and wouldn't return until Friday. It's okay. We decided to do something special when he came back.
Monday night, we went to a very late dinner to spend some much needed time alone. We discussed our plans for the weekend...

Me: "Babe, since we're already spending money on dinner tonight, we don't have to go out this weekend"

Alma: "No, we can still go somewhere. Well, they're throwing us a party this weekend anyways."
Me: "Huh? Whos' throwing us a party?"
Alma: *SMILE* "The RS. They're throwing us an anniversary party. That IS where we met."
Me: "LOL!"

So for our 3 year anniversary, Alma and I will be doing it BIG at the RS b/day party this Friday. They don't know it, but it's actually our anniversary party! And only to be fair to Alma, since it's a RS activity, I will be taking HIM. hahaha!

Alma Toelupe, you really are the man of my dreams. You are proof God answers prayers. Here's to eternity, my love! :)

5 months ago today...

I gave birth to a beautiful hairy, little monkey named Simione. :) Time has passed to quickly! He's such a good little boy. He's such a happy baby. It's so easy to make him smile and laugh! He has a bit of a staring problem, which is a bit worrisome, but I'm hoping it's just a stage. Being a creep really isn't something I want for my son. lol He's learned how to roll over now which is both exciting and very scary for me.
At his 4 month check up he weighed 18.5 lbs! A week later, he weighed in at 18.8 lbs. lol He wears a size 3, soon to be 4 in diapers. He also has a bad habit of eating with his middle finger sticking up. It's very rude. I'm gonna blame that on his daddy. :)

My beautiful boy, I really never knew I could love someone as much as I love you. Stop flipping us off while you eat. It's hurtful. lol

Simione.

Today Simione got his first taste of baby cereal. I spoke with his pediatrician on Monday regarding his ongoing cold and when I can start feeding him baby cereal. He gave me the "okay" and so this morning I decided to give it a try.
Last night he ate 8 oz of formula/baby cereal before bed! He was knocked out all night and didn't wake up until 6:30 this morning for his feeding. Even through his feeding, he was half asleep. He had another bottle at 930-ish, but only ate half of it.
This morning, I decided to spoon feed him the baby cereal. Mom strapped him in Baby Sai's high chair while I prepped his food. He was so cute! I wish I took pics, but I can't find my camera. :(
My "little" guy was excited to eat! Who are we kidding, he's always excited to eat! lol. He's always got his fists, yes I said fists in his mouth and if ANYTHING is even remotely close to his mouth, he's trying to eat it. :) Seriously. My shoulders are always soaked when I carry him. Last night, while I was carrying him, Alma had his arm around me and all you hear is a sucking noise. Alma starts cracking up. I look over to see what was going on, only to find Simione sucking away on daddy's hand. DISGUSTING. lol
Even now, as I type Simione is in his jumper nawing on the toys and on his hands. All I see is drool. He goes through 5-6 bibs/day and I'm constantly changing his clothes because it's wet from his drool. He's so gross. lol jk.
After mom gets him settled I give Simione a small spoon of the baby cereal. He, of course opens WIIIDE and immediately spits the food back out. I tried a couple times, but each time he decides he doesn't like it and spits it back out. *sigh* oh well, there's always tomorrow.
Simione, I love you so much. You make being a mommy awesome. :)

simione

It's been 4 almost 5 months since Simione was born. I can't believe how fast time has flown by! I look at him everyday and am amazed at how beautiful he is. I'm a total creep when he's sleeping. lol I just stare at him and cover him with kisses. :)
He spends a lot of time in his jumper and loves it! The progress that he's made in his jumper alone is awesome! He is now able to pull himself towards the toys and naw on them like it's a piece of meat. lol It's so cute! He loves to watch his cousins play around him all the while sucking on his lips. He looks like an old man without his teeth when he does this. lol
He farts and poops like his dad, wears 6-9 month clothing, fiesty like his mama, and drools like a dog. haha.
Time, please slow down. You're going way too fast for me!
Simione, you are the most beautiful person I have ever laid eyes on! Daddy and I love you more than you will ever know...

It's after midnight and I should go to bed, but I'm waiting for Alma to put Simione back to sleep so I don't have to do it...lol I know, I'm terrible.

Simione Reuben Toelupe

On October 14th, 2011, at 11:31 pm, Simione Reuben Toelupe was born. Alma and I checked in to the hospital the day before at around 11:30 pm. Mom, Alma, and I walked...well, they walked, I wobbled into the ER. The security guard is the first person I see and immediately walks up to me asking if I need any help or need a wheelchair. I tell him we need to go to Labor and Delivery. He suggests I get into the wheelchair. I told him I could walk. He looks at me funny and says, "uh, I think it's a good idea that you use the wheelchair. It's a long walk from here." I get in.

After we check in, a staff member came and wheeled me to L & D. When we arrive, the nurse shows mom and Alma our room and wheels me over to the dreaded scale. DUN, dun, dun.... She gets my weight, and I convince myself the baby weighs 100lbs because that's the only way my weight can be explained. Don't judge me.

After getting settled into my room/bed, an IV is started with my first round of antibiotics. Doctor comes in at some point and decides it's time to get induced. The nurse keeps asking me if I'm feeling any pain, because I'm having contractions. I just tell her I feel a "burning" sensation on my back, but nothing terrible. She smiles and tell me I'm having back contractions. I smile back and say, "grrreat" The contractions weren't terrible at all, they were just uncomfortable. My nurse is amazing. She says, "well, there isn't any sense in you being uncomfortable. Why don't we just get your epidural now?"

The whole epidural process was a weird feeling. When the anasthesiologists inserts the needle into my spine, I feel something. I can't describe it, but I immediately tell her that I can feel it. She tells me to give it a second, it'll pass. It did and man did the drugs help. I was finally able to sleep! that was the best sleep I've had since before I found out I was pregnant!

The induction process to giving birth was such a loooooong time coming. Simione's heart rate kept dropping because of the pitocin. Doctor kept taking me off and then putting me back on the pitocin to see if baby would change. In the middle of all that, he's checking to see if I've dialited. It was really scary hearing the doctor tell us multiple times baby's heart rate keeps dropping with the pitocin and even more scary to see the look on the staff's faces when he heart rate was actually dropping. We were hoping that I would be dialited enough to push during all of this, but no that would be too easy. After what seem to be a lifetime, doctor decides to break my water to help speed up the process. Even after that, I was still not dialiating fast enough. Baby's heart rate continued to drop while on the pitocin and so we decreased the dosage and continued to watch. I FINALLY dialate to 10 cm and was given the okay to push. yay!!!

I'm thinking this is going to go by quickly. At least faster than what we've just been doing, right? OF COURSE NOT! I'm pushing and pushing and pushing and NOTHING. Baby's head is stuck at my cervix and is started to swell. 3 hours into pushing, I'm exhausted and frustrated. Baby is making no progress. He is STILL in the same spot. We decide it's time for a c-section.

The anasthesiologists and I decide to keep my epidural in and use that to numb me up vs. getting a spinal tap. She would just increase my medications. If I could go back to the moment where I said, "yes" I would slap myself in my face. My C-section was so very scary and painful! I could feel the doctor pushing and pulling, but my anasthesiologist would just shoot more drugs into my IV and within a 0.5 seconds the pain would be gone. It was like that during my whole procedure. She really was amazing. Alma was there during my procedure, but truth is I don't really remember him. I just remember the anasthesiologist. She was amazing. Maybe it's because she was the one giving me all the drugs. IDK. ;)

At 11:31 pm, Simione Reuben Toelupe was FINALLY pulled out with a "grabber" (according to Leila). The nurse showed him to me, but I couldn't quite see him through my tears and all the drugs I was on. Alma took baby to another room with the nurses while the docs stuff my insides back in and sew me up. That part seemed to take FOREVER! I could feel the doctor pulling and pushing. It really felt as if he was stepping on my guts! But no worries, my dealer was right there with me, holding my hand with her one hand and pumping me up with drugs with the other. I loved her! haha.

While in the recovery room, Alma comes back out with Simione so I can see him. I was so drugged up, I could barely keep my eyes open. lol. My family came in to see us, but all I could do is mumble some words and fall back asleep. He was finally here. My beautiful baby boy. At least I think was beautiful. I couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to focus on him. ;) I can totally understand why people do drugs. lol!