HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their family and friends. This was the first official holiday celebration at our house with my family and Marcos' family together. We had such a great time and it was such a stress reliever because everyone was working together and it came out beautifully. We ended the evening by heading to Marcos' Aunt Pat's house where some of the rest of the Reza family was gathered. They waited for us to have their dessert (so nice!!) and it was great to be with all of them as well. Here are a few pics from the day...waiting for a few more from Julia's camera and will add those later on as well.




As you can see we still have not picked out any dining room furniture...it's been a challenge considering so many furniture stores have gone out of business in the last 6 months (I digress). Anyway, it is amazing what you can do with some folding tables (thanks Anna & Javier) and some decorations (thanks Mom)!!!

Marcos and I at his Auntie Pat's house for dessert. Look at my belly....23 weeks! :) I guess you could call this our first official family portrait - haha!

Julia, Dad, Mom, Marcos and me at Auntie Pat's house! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!!

I PASSED!!!!

It is almost official...this morning I passed my second state board exam, the Written Clinical Vignette, and am finally a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. I say almost because I have to send in my dues of course before they actually issue me a license number.

A little reflection on this accomplishment...I decided to go back to school and began graduate school at Cal State Fullerton in January 2003. In May of 2005 (on my birthday, the 28th :) ) I graduated with a Masters of Science in Counseling - Marriage and Family Therapy. The journey was far from ending on that day when I became an intern and then had 3,000 clinical hours to complete before I was even eligible to take the two state board exams. I passed the first exam on September 24th and then made it to this day and now I am DONE!!!

It is such a huge relief to finally be here I cannot even describe it. I am thankful to my family and friends who have been so supportive and understanding especially all of the times when I had to pass on an invitation, etc. because I was studying. It is so great to have this hurdle behind me and to really enjoy the holidays without the test hanging over my head. And even better...I was not a victim of the "pregnant brain" and was able to pass both tests before our baby girl joined this world. (Side note - I received an article after my test from a supervisor at work that reported that the pregnant brain has been found to "shrink a little during pregnancy" and "brain volume diminishes by about 4 percent". Isn't that CRAZY!!!!!)

That's all for now...I am SOOOO ready for Thanksgiving! YUMMY!!!! :)

Baby GIRL Reza on Her Way!!!

Hello Everyone!!!

Sorry for the delay today in getting the news posted. It has been a long day, not to mention many, many ounces of water later that we finally have this news to share. Long story short we went to Fontana this morning for the ultrasound only to find out that we were supposed to be at the Radiology place right down the street from our house. Ugh!! Try holding 32 oz. plus of water in your bladder for nearly 2 hours. Needless to say they squeezed us in at the hospital but to save my bladder from exploding I had to use the restroom and then drink another 32 oz. for the real deal...it's been awhile since I've had my daily intake of water completed by 2:00 in the afternoon!!!

We finally were seen at the hospital for the ultrasound. The tech first did his job of checking to make sure everything was looking good from head to toe on the baby, and it did! Then it was our turn and he told us he was certain he knew what we were having if we wanted to know. You don't often hear that when it's a girl but our little one was moving all over the place so he could get all of the shots he needed to confirm. The tell all shot, as you'll see below, is basically a picture of her bum and special parts from the bottom up. Imagine if you had a camera and were taking a picture of someone through a glass bottom chair and you were underneath the chair taking the picture. Is that descriptive enough?!?! :)

The other news is that my due date is actually March 27th according to fetal age and all of the other calculations that they take. (The original estimate from the doctor was April 6th.) So now it's time to decide on a name, pick out decorations for the nursery and shop for all of the cute girl stuff that is awaiting us! Time to get ready for the first game of CIF...LOHS vs. Elsinore (wish us luck!!!)

Click on picture for a better view...

These may be hard to see but from top L: a foot; top R: legs and bum (legs are pointing to the right); bottom L: up close profile; bottom R: profile w/ torso. :)

The BIG Week!!

Hello All!! So I don't have any backyard pictures to share just yet. As most of you know jobs around the house never seem to go along the timeline you first anticipate so I am waiting until a few more things get finished back there before letting you all have a peek. It is really exciting and being in a new home it is fun to see everything develop from the ground up...literally. When Marcos first moved in 3 years ago I gave him a photo album of all the pics I took along the way that it was being built. When we would make an unplanned visit to the "work site" sometimes all I had was my camera phone to take pictures with but it was so worth it. We now have a album that we can add to as we make changes and improvements around the house. Anyway...back to my subject.

This week is a BIG week on many levels. On Friday we will be finding out the sex of the baby and we are SO excited! I am anxious just to see our little one again since we haven't seen him/her since the 12 week ultrasound...that seems like forever ago! I will of course update the blog that day with all the news from that appointment.

The other BIG thing on our calendar is Los Osos made it to the CIF Football Playoffs!!!! We knew they would but for some reason it seems extra exciting this year. For more info go to this link: http://www.cifss.org/ click on 'Enter Football Playoff Pairings' to see all of the brackets. LOHS is in the the Central Division and they took the second seed in the whole division...GO GRIZZLIES!!! Marcos and his team/coaches are so excited. Friday will be the first game against Elsinore who took 3rd place in their league. It is a home game for us so even better!!! Another link that is fun to check out is the LOHS football website: http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?cmenuid=1&url=lohsfootball&sid=164697938

Enjoy and have a great week!! :)

Belly: Before & After

It is finally time to show off some pics of my growing belly. First, here is a before picture for some perspective:



(I'll admit, this picture is from last Christmas but it was one of the only ones of me by myself where you could see a good belly profile! :)

And after: Here are my sad self-portait skills in action...





I have been feeling really good and it had been nice to have the a more normal level of energy back. We are getting excited for our next Dr's appointment on Wednesday, November 19th and then the BIG ultrasound on the 21st that will hopefully tell us what we are having!! Stayed tuned for more info.

Coming soon: Backyard - Before & After

Week 16 Dr.'s Appointment

Yesterday we had an appointment with Dr. Hillabrand for a week 16 check up. We were able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time, good and strong at 140 bpm. At the last appointment when I was 12 weeks we tried to listen to the hearthbeat but the doctor said that the baby was still too low in my pelvis to pick up the heartbeat clearly over all the other valve noises going on. You might remember from the post that week that we did have an ultrasound and were able to see the heartbeat and the baby moving all around so we were pleased with that.



We learned that the doctor isn't the one who will tell us the sex of the baby! We had no idea! In 4 weeks I am scheduled for the 2o week check up and at that appoontment she will refer us to the hospital - San Antonio Community for the ultrasound that checks out all the baby's major systems - heart, brain, etc and that's when we find out the sex of the baby. That appointment at the hospital is not scheduled yet but hopefully we will be able to go the week before Thanksgiving.



I must admit as we get closer I have been going online looking at myths, etc. on how to tell if you are having a boy or girl. So far I found just about equal signs that it both a boy and a girl and depending on the website this sign means boy and on another it means girl. I decided that I can't let myself get caught up in any of that anymore and will just have to be patient for 4 more weeks. Any guesses??

I've been feeling good now that I am well into the 2nd trimester. I am not feeling as tired and it is nice to feel like I have a normal energy level back. I have been experiencing some acid reflux which can be uncomfortable so I carry tums around with me all the time and that seems to be working so far. Otherwise everything is going great!! This weekend we are all looking forward to the Game of The Week - Los Osos vs. Uplanp High School. It should be a GREAT game and will be on TV at 7:30pm on Friday on PRIME on Dish Network that is Channel 411. I think Marcos has invited everyone he knows and every night he comes home and says another person or 2 or 3 are coming to the game. Our fan section is going to be huge. I will take some pictures and post the excitement this weekend. Check us out on TV if you can! :)

Denver Wedding, Ozzie meets Gracie, & Baby Update

Sorry it has been a while since my first post. I feel like a blogger tease...starting this thing and then making everyone wait more than 2 weeks for an update. I will try and get better and post more frequently. So... what's been going on? Two weeks ago I went with two of my best friends, Amy and Jenn to Sarah and Tony's wedding in Denver, CO. Sarah is a close friend from high school and it was so great to be able to celebrate her special day with her! It was really great to see downtown Denver as well and thanks to Amy's brother, Brian, we were able to get around and see some of the sights. Here are a couple pics from the night of the wedding reception:

This past week we have been dog-sitting Marcos' family dog, Ozzie. He has been enjoying all of the new sights, sounds and smells of our backyard and neighborhood. Our kitten, Gracie, met him one time before and was fascinated by him when he was in the back yard and she was safe inside but when he came inside it was a whole other story. Long story short, they are far from cuddling up and sleeping next to one another! Here are pictures from their first meeting:

Baby Update: I have been feeling good these past few weeks. My appetite gets the best of me sometimes and I really start to feel it when I haven't eaten for long periods of time. As you can see from the wedding pics two weeks ago I don't really have a baby bump that is very noticeable. I am in that "in between" stage where you can't really tell I'm pregnant (if you didn't already know) or if I have just packed on a few pounds. I promise to post some pics once I have a baby bump that is blog-worthy!

I hope everyone is doing well and have a great week! :)