Meeting Her Cousins

It's so fun having Matt's kids close. My mom brought different groupings of the kids up to help during Katelyn's first week.

Carmen came up on Saturday with my mom. She was a huge help. She would be "my legs" as we sorted through piles in the nursery.

Cade was actually the first cousin to meet Katelyn. He and my mom came up on Friday and spent the majority of the day with Kate and me. They helped clean the house and get ready for the ward Christmas party. His favorite phrases were "Baby Kate is so cute! Baby Kate is so tiny." He would just look at her and smile.

AJ came up on Sunday for Israel's birthday dinner. He thought she was pretty cute too. However, when it came to holding her, he was done after the camera captured the moment. He came up another day the following week and raked leaves in the backyard. I still owe him 75 cents.

Coming Home

The doctors gave us a choice of staying one more day/night. At first I was ready to take them up on the offer thinking of the extra help. As the nurses and hospital staff starting leaving us alone Wednesday morning, I started reconsidering. Within hours, I was up packing up our stuff and waiting impatiently for the nurse to bring the discharge papers. I was ready to get home with our new bundle of joy. It's crazy to think they just let you take a baby home. I worried a little that Israel and I didn't know what we were doing and nobody would be there to tell us what to do. We made it through the first night though.

I absolutely love this picture. It looks like she's excited to get home too. The outfit and car seat dwarf her.

Katelyn's Visitors

My parents had to come in shifts because the hospital won't let kids that aren't siblings visit (Carmen, AJ, and Cade). My dad brought Israel much needed Taco Bell.

Whitney and Tabitha, my teacher friends from Frank came to see Katelyn. They brought me a much needed Sonic Strawberry Limeade.

After a switcheroo of the kids in the parking lot, my mom got to meet Katelyn. I love having my parents close.

Katelyn Arciniega

Katelyn entered this world on Tuesday, December 8th at 9:29 in the morning. She was 19" and weighed 6 lbs 11 ounces.

She had one or two visible hairs, she is super strong, and well a picture is worth a thousand words. We love our little daughter.

My Birthday

Yes, my birthday was over two months ago, but I haven't blogged for that long. I came home a few days before my birthday to find Israel putting the finishing touches on wrapping a box. This was a week after I was analyzing the credit card account and found a substansial purchase from Wal-mart. It was Saturday morning, so I went and woke him up to ask him about it. He "pretended" to fall back asleep and totally ignored my question. When he woke up for real, I asked him about it again. I wanted to make sure someone hadn't been using our card. He got a really sad face and said he knew about it. I smiled and said that's all I needed to know. I did spend the following week trying to figure out what it was. I've used the cricut to scrapbook a page of our honeymoon. There will be many more hours spent with the cricut.

My parents took me out to Valley Ranch, a local bbq favorite. I was able to get a baked potato with smoked turkey. Forget about the butter, sour cream, and cheese. Even without all the fixins, it still tasted super yummy.

Back to School

I was going to be so consistent with blogging every Sunday. School prep began and out goes the blog. I've been spending countless hours at school organizing and setting up my classroom for my new bunch of kids. Israel even joined in on the fun on Friday until 9:30. Only four of my new students showed up at Meet the Teacher, but I'm optimistic about the new year. I'm also very grateful that I'm at the same school, in the same classroom, and teaching the same grade and subject area. I'm going to try to focus on the positives this year and not get so frustrated with the imperfect school system. I really will miss teaching when I stay home with our baby. On the other hand I'm excited to be a mother and full time homemaker. Maybe I'll make dinner more than once a week. I was released as Activity Days assistant and called to be Activity Committee chair. I guess that's what I get for not going to any activity the last year we've been in this ward. I'm excited for the challenge though. I have really seen how activities can be a help in activation efforts and missionary work. That's all that's been going on the last two weeks, so maybe it's okay I missed last week's blog entry. :)

Emotional Rollercoaster

This picture really changes the story; it makes me look like I had something to do with the crib assembly. Israel did all the work completely by himself until he needed me to hold the grid in place.



Princess Carmen and Prince AJ in the story section of the museum.


Carmen playing in the sand. Cade just liked to eat it.

The art table.

The chalkboard car. The kids had a blast drawing all over this clunker and to think they could have turned it in for some government cash.

AJ digging for dinosaur bones.

Carmen and Cade. This is the are were they spent most of their time.

This week I've experienced the "emotional" side of being pregnant. So far I thought I had been pretty level-headed, but this week I've cried at the silliest things. Among the funniest is when Israel and I went out to Sweet Tomato. They have really good apple crisp, so I justified trying a little even though I'm sure it's loaded with fat. When I tasted it, I started crying because it tasted so good. I guess that's what two weeks of having 110 fat grams in total will do to you. Israel got a good laugh out of it.

Part of being emotional might have to do with the fact that I'm in pain and still can't eat "real" food besides apple crisp. I worked in my classroom on Thursday. Last year I moved and shifted all the tables by myself. Taking extra precaution due to my pregnant condition, I took Abby along this year to help. The classroom looked like a storage unit when we got there with all the furniture up against one wall, stacked on top of each other. We tackled the biggest table first and that was the end for me. By the time I left school, I was waddling or walking with a limp because I strained my lower back. When I got up twice that night I thought I was going to die as I hobbled to the restroom. Anyways... still feeling some of the pain, but it's getting better as long as I don't sit in a chair too long. Luckily, my mom saved the day when she came over to help move the rest of the furniture. Thanks She-Ra, I mean mom. Israel has also had his share of pain. Besides putting up with me, he's had a major ear infection.

We also purchased a crib this weekend, and Israel spent all Saturday putting it together. I went shopping with my mom and Abby for bridesmaid dresses. I swear Abby and I were just in the dressing rooms trying on dresses. Oh wait, we were a year ago for my wedding. The group shots at the wedding will be comical because so many of us just had a baby or are pregnant. Then I convinced them to stay at my house and play games. My dad also came up, and we ordered Chuy's to go. It was a lot of fun!

Abby and I took Matt's kids to the Woodlands Children Museum. It's not as neat as Utah's Children Museum, but worth the cost of admission.

It's a Girl!

She said: We found out on Friday that we're having a little girl. "Mama M" (my mom) has already purchased us some pink items. I had to go shopping while the "bug guy" was here on Saturday. I don't know how those cute little pink and purple outfits ended up at the register. Honestly, I did hold back because I figure I can't return anything usually after 90 days, so I guess I'll have to wait until the end of September just in case the tech was wrong. It was so neat to see our baby moving around and her heart beating. We're so excited!

He said: As Sarah knows, I had long known it was going to be a girl, and as such the results did not come as a shock to me. We're extremely excited and September will come too quickly because once Sarah starts school, there won't be much time to get our home ready for the newest addition. We are taking suggestions for names. Please provide us with your favorites.

Week 2

Week 2 of posting, we're on a roll. We don't have any pictures to post this week, but some things of note have happened. Israel's been hard at work on a new client this past week while I finished my Abydos Writing Institute this past Thursday. I had to send one of my pieces off to get published, yikes! Friday morning, Samara (the other Activity Day leader) and I took seven girls to a free play of Alice in Wonderland downtown at the Miller Outdoor Theater.

Early Saturday morning landed Israel and I in the ER. I woke up with intense pain under my ribs. After trying to read to distract my mind from the pain, I started moaning and groaning. It started affecting my breathing. Israel, not so sure what to do, asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. The $100 copay slowed down my desire to go, but it got to the point that money didn't matter. I also was afraid it might just be "gas" and thought this will be the most expensive gas on record. By the time I got to the hospital, the pain was getting better and by the time the doctor was in my room, I didn't feel all that bad. I explained that it was probably just gas, laughing from embarrassment. He didn't like that I was trying to diagnose my ailment and sent me to get an ultrasound and bloodwork. The ultrasound tech was only supposed to check out the upper right quadrant, but his instrument "slid" and we got a sneak peak at the baby. It was exciting to see the legs and arms and something that resembled a baby instead of a pulsating blob. We, however, didn't get to find out the gender. We'll have to wait until this coming Friday for that. Well, the real diagnosis is that I have gallstones. They would probably do surgery if I wasn't prego, but it will have to wait until after the baby comes. The doctor told me to expect it to get worse the more pregnant I am and put me on a very low fat diet. I guess all those years of not watching my diet have caught up to me. Lots of fruits, vegetables, crackers, beans, and rice are on the menu for quite sometime. Goodbye butter, pizza, sour cream, cheese, ice cream, meat, cream cheese, etc. It was quite sad to go to the grocery store yesterday. I walked down the aisles with Israel, "Can't eat that. Can't eat that. Can't eat that." Anyone have good recipes?

Vicksburg

She said: On Saturday, we went to the Vicksburg Military National Park. Here's what we learned. Vicksburg was a very key battle because it meant control of the Mississippi River. It was one of the two last Confederate holds on the river. After several attempts to take over the city and battles, General Grant positioned his troops in a strategic position. The Vicksburg siege lasted for several weeks until finally the Confederate troops surrendered.


We saw a "living history" demonstration of firing a cannon. Cover those ears!


A classic "Israel's arm" shot. You can see one of the monuments and a cannon behind us. Why don't we just ask someone to take the picture for us?


Illinois knows how to pay tribute to their soldiers. Each state has the responsibility of erecting their own monuments in the park.


Notice the contraption in Israel's hand. You can rent a GPS that has little videos pop up as you travel around the park. Pretty cool stuff, I think I've even put a GPS on the Christmas list.

Israel can't just stand there to take a picture. It does keep me entertained though. We didn't get out at every monument, but if there was a firing soldier or anything else Israel deemed "cool," we'd hike to it.

A tunnel built under a hill, so the soldiers didn't have to be exposed to get to the other side.

The Texas Monument.

Bed and Breakfast

What is he looking at?


In the ballroom/dining room. We ate a scrumptous "Southern" breakfast.


In the hallway. Check out the maternity shirt; my first day wearing one. I've decided after how huge it made me look, I'll continue looking chunky in my regular shirts for a few more weeks.


Our room had the cutest sitting area with a bay window and archway.


The Bonnie Blue Room
Our room's decor was done all in blue.


The Baer House Inn
The house was built in 1870 in the Victorian East Lake style. We were treated to the house's history at breakfast. The house had a ton of charm.

Fine Dining?

She said: This picture sums up our experiences with the restaurant industry. Every place we went besides the Bed and Breakfast messed something up. It provided for some good laughs though, at least one of us laughed.

He said: After an arduous journey and Sarah's trembling legs could go no further, we finally stumbled upon what one would think was an oasis...Borellos, one would be wrong.

Upon entering this establishment we had the highest of hopes (as it was one of two places which did not appear to have bar in the title). The entrance seemed normal enough, a bar and two options we were give. Would we like to be seated down stairs or up? After a questioning glance was exchanged, the boss responded with a tentative upstairs. This fateful decision turned out to be the beginnings of our interesting dining experience.

Climbing the creaky wooden stairs our eyes fell upon outdated wood paneling that had been far out of style - 20 years ago. Had that been the only problem, there would have been no tale of woe. The next thing I beheld was the nasty colored green carpet, the type of green that one would see on a garishly colored Christmas sweater that some long lost relative refuses to faze from their holiday attire. But wait, it appears that dear little Hansel walked this way; we see quite the impressive trail, or shall we say path strewn upon the floor. Not to be out done, it appears Gretel was snacking at the table which we were seated, as this too had crumbs aplenty.

As we were trying to take this all in, our server giggled "this is my first night", this could not bode well.....

After eventually getting settled and taking our order, we got our appetizer - fried pickles. The pickles were decent, and we ate most of them. When our teeny bopper server returned she decided to be very aggressive and take both the plate and the ramkin that held the tartar sauce. This task proved to be much too daunting. As can be seen I was the victim of this debacle.

After further consideration, the smell of the napkins I was brought to clean my shirt and shorts appears to have been that of napkins that are constantly rinsed off with water and never actually washed. I knew there was something strange with the smell of the napkins cleaning off the tartar sauce. It was odd to me that my shirt smelled much worse post cleaning. This picture was taken near the end of the meal... NO, she did not clean up the spill the entire time we were there. We were able to fully enjoy the ambiance the entire time.

To complete the lovely night our server failed to adjust the Boss's order (which we had changed to two sides, instead of the comparable meal that was more expensive). There was no renumeration for the incident and $40 dollars later and a stinky walk home, I'd decided that we may not frequent this fine establishment again.....

One Year and Posting!

She said: Today is our one year anniversary!

He said: After a memorable excursion, it was decided it was high time to share the adventures of the Arciniegas.

She said: Israel planned a weekend getaway to Vicksburg, Mississippi. How sweet of him to pick a historical spot. We left Friday, drove for eight hours, stayed in an adorable bed and breakfast, and came home late Saturday/early Sunday.