One day down, who knows how many more to go.

So Hector left for Haiti Saturday night.. we hope he will only be gone 2 months. Everything over there is getting worse everyday. But I can't think about it too much or I will drive myself crazy. Like yesterday I sat around the house all day with Nora and looked at pictures on the internet of Haiti and all the destruction that is over there.



I finally got out of the house around 7 ish and I felt so much better, So this morning I woke up at 9 and took a shower and bathed Nora Joy, then we got ready to go out just to do some errands. And even if I just go out to do 1 thing is is so much better than staying inside and crying all day. It is going to be a long 2 months but constantly thinking about him and worrying about him will only make it that much worse.
I am cooking dinner tonight for Sara since she just had baby Jessa! I feel so horrible she is home by herself with Emily and Jessa and Geoff is over in Haiti. So I am bringing her Italian sausage pasta!! Yummy! Mom is coming up tomorrow, her flight gets in at 2:30. I have a genius bar appointment in Durham (where I have to pick mom up from the airport) at 11:15 to get my computer back to the fastest that it could be. And that gives me a couple hours to spend in the mall!! Anthropologie and Urban here I come!
I am just planning my days so that I will have something productive to do everyday... just to keep from missing him.

here is a link of the news over in Haiti and Hector is on it..... for like 2 seconds and he is smiling of course!!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#34911184

I'll be writing more and more the longer that he is gone.
I love you hector!!

mother dearest.

last night mom got hurt, she had hot grease splash on her face, neck, chest, and stomach. She went to the hospital in Fayette and then got sent to Grady. When I found out I seriously had a mild panic attack. All Megan told me was that grease spilt on mom and she would probably have to have surgery. Later when we got to the hospital I heard that her lips were completely burnt off, and I FREAKED. I was too nervous to even go in there and see her. But once I did go see her I felt a lot better, it wasn't as bad as I was thinking but it is still a burn on the face. All of our family came, and that is soo nice to have a family like that. When I went in to see her, she said to me "little kids are going to think I'm a monster" and I just broke down, I couldn't imagine anyone thinking MY mom is a monster, but this kind of stuff can happen to anyone, even if they don't deserve it. After I got home from the hospital I was thinking about how if she were to be scared really badly, this is the only way Nora would remember her. She would never know mom as we all know her.OK I am just rambling. Just thinking way to much. I feel horrible about all of this, not that I could do anything to prevent it.I am sitting in mom's room right now, and she is snoring reeeeaaaly loud, and normally i would be annoyed, but now I couldn't be happier to hear that. Well enough of this cause I have cried a lot in the last 24 hours. I t probably doesn't help that earlier yesterday before mom got hurt I found out that a friend I used to hang out with committed suicide the following night. Just like that, life is gone. I guess I was just thinking how everything could have been much worse, good thing it wasn't. Love you mom.

Anywaysssss, I finally ordered a new phone, I will be in North Carolina in 5-7 business days, wooh! And tomorrow Nora has a doctor's appointment for her next set of shots, since she is on a different shot schedule she has to go every month. And I have a consultation about my stretch marks, I want them GONE! Then after all that is done, Nora and I are flying back to North Carolina! Hector gets out of the field tonight so we get to see him tomorrow! I am just worried about how I am going to get all my stuff back up there... yikes! Well i have a long day tomorrow, nighty.

laying it all out

Just in case someone is reading this that doesn't know my story.

I went to Sandy Creek high school. I played volleyball for Coach Paul Collins. I also played for several Tsunami coaches and Del Hughes of Atlanta Boom. Volleyball used to be my life! I wanted to go to college on a full scholarship, to any D1 college that would take me, and yes, I was good enough, but not focused enough. I played for Tsunami all the way through my 16's season, and I loved it!!!! Club volleyball was the only kind of volleyball I wanted to play.

Then my 17's season I didn't make the 1 team at Tsunami, they only kept 1 setter (I was a setter by the way) which was clearly a mistake made apparent by the way that team's season went. After that I never looked at volleyball the same, it was more of a job, not something I loved to do anymore. The Parents involved started turning on coaches who were once their favorite, and players who were once their friends, all in hopes for a scholarship to the best school for their very own daughter. After that, Mallie (my best friend) and I went to another club, Atlanta Boom. There I was placed on an 18's team, when I was only 17. Our team wasn't so good, but we did make the best of it. While on that team, I met Hector! At one of my volleyball tournaments, he was like a knight in shining armor!!!!! AMAZING.

My next seasons went well. Until my senior high school season, it was supposed to be the best year of my life. We had a great team, I had great friends, and I was dating the man of my dreams, although he lived in a different state, we worked it out! So we had summer workouts, and we taught summer camps to middle schoolers, and we did summer scrimmages. Then when tryouts were over. we were all stretching it out, there were not very many people there, just enough to fill up JV and Varsity, and since I had been on varsity since I was a freshmen, it was no sweat. This team we had been building since 7th grade, was about to dominate finally our senior year. So coach Chandler (assistant lady coach, has no idea how to play volleyball correctly) calls me over, and she says "Coach Collins needs to talk to you", I go over there, and he says "we have 3 setters here, and after evaluationg everyone today, we won't be keeping you on the team" it hit me like a ton of bricks...... you WHAT???????? and that was the end of my life as I knew it. No more Sandy Creek, no more championship, no more confidence.

I couldn't even show my face at Sandy Creek anymore, I was so embarrassed. the GHSA rules stated that I could not go to another school in Georgia and play volleyball unless I actually moved houses, and all schools already had their roster filled with D1 bound setters. So I moved. To North Carolina. Into an apartment, with Hector. I did research online of what high school near his military base had the best team. Jack Britt won in all my researching. So that's where I went. The volleyball there wasn't near as competitive, and I lost interest. It was horrifying going to a new school my senior year, leaving the friends I had since I was in Kindergarten. Hector was really the only thing that kept me sane, I just don't make friends that quickly, or easily. And everyone was already in their little clicks. I just really didn't fit in. But I told everyone back home that it was fun, and that everything was going good, but it wasn't. I cried pretty much everyday, I didn't eat lunch with anyone for the first week, and that's along time in the high school world. And when I finally did eat lunch with someone, it was a girl on my volleyball team, and we sat on the stairs because there were no other open spots to sit. It was nothing like Sandy Creek where me and my friends were so close we never had to worry about where to sit, we could sit anywhere! I only went to 1 football game my senior year.. it was pretty horrible, what's the point in a high school football game if you don't know anyone on the team, and you barely know the people in the stands. So I opted out of pretty much every event that went on. But life goes on.

After that season, Hector and I decided we wanted to get married!!! So we did, 3 weeks after I turned 18! And I didn't tell anyone back home..... I did online school and drove back and forth from North Carolina with Hector, to Georgia where my school was. Then Atlanta Boom season started and i was in Georgia a lot for practice. But mine and Hectors trip to New York for new years......I wound up PREGGO. Quit volleyball all together, became a full time Army wife... at the drop of a dime. What a change!

We got another apartment with an extra bedroom for a nursery, and the pregnancy began. 9 months......... that's a long time. And I spent it in an apartment, that has blue carpet. I spent the beginning without many friends to hang out with. I spent it without my family, which was the hardest part of it all. I had a horrible, unorganized doctor, and I gained a lot of weight. Pregnancy was just not for me. It was so hot outside I didn't even want to get out of the air conditioning.

But the pregnancy passed, and we ended up with a beautiful baby girl, who is currently trying to talk to me! We have a house ready for when we move back to Georgia and it is amazing. So I guess with all that I was saying above, I got a great husband and a great marriage. I also have a perfect little girl to raise in my perfect little house. Never thought the teenager who married an Army guy and got pregnant her senior year would make it this far? I'm just trying to beat the odds.

starting it back up

So my sister convinced me that I need to start my blog back up, as if anyone reads it except for them. Nora boo is sleeping right ow so i will write until she wakes up and it will be time for her to eat. She had a cold for a couple of days but it is much better now. She actually slept through the nigh t again last night (like 7 hours) then she woke up to eat and slept for another 4 hours after that. Mallie and Amanda came over last night and spent the night! They love the house. Hector is at work in NC while I am here in Georgia, better than being up there by myself. Today uncle Burt is installing Direct TV at the house.... so no more watching "That 70's show" in black and white, me Mallie and Amanda tried last night to make it not black and white, but couldn't seem to figure it out, uncle Burt came over this morning and made it color in about 5 min. He's amazing like that. I have a list of things I need to get done before I go back to NC, and I'm doing pretty good on it so far. I need to make Nora a doctor appointment for her January shots, since she is on the alternate shot schedule she needs to get them every moth pretty much, which isn't bad in my opinion because I always have concerns for the doctor to look at. And I looooove my doctors office, we mostly have just seen the nurse practitioner but I think she is great, it's just friendly and they didn't give me any shit for wanting to do Nora's shots differently. As long as she gets them all before she goes into kindergarden it wont be a big deal. Also on my list I need to mail my friend Ross something in Afghanistan, I don't really know what to mail him but I think anything will be nice. Any ideas? Writing in my blog is also on my list....... so CHECK! Direct TV, internet, garage door opener, and security system (all on my list also) and uncle burt can do most of that, so that's pretty convenient. I got a new lantern chandelier that Callie found for me (thanks Callie) it is soo perfect, exactly what I was looking for. That is pretty much what all is on my list, and I also need to hang up all my clothes, and Nora's clothes, but a lot of them are dirty and I left my whole bottle of Dreft at mom's house, I think Burt is getting it for me (since I don't have a car). Once I get that I can wash all her clothes she wore in Ohio and get those put away. Oh yea, Ohio was pretty great, wasn't as cold as I was expecting it to be, but maybe that is because I didn't ever just hang out outside, and I actually had a winter jacket. I am trying to pay my mortgage online, and they just make it so complicated, I guess I will figure it out eventually. Well my computer is about to die and there is no use in me going downstairs to get the charger when I am almost done with the blog anyways..... yes i said it ANYWAYSSSS, Megan hates that, because apparently that isn't a word, it is just anyway.. with no S, that just sounds weird. Oh and I love my hubby wubby who probably won't read this, but if you do it's nice to be included in my blog. I get to see him in like 7 days, the field time got cut down I assume because of weather, but who cares why, it happened and now it isn't a whole 10 days anymore!!! wooh. I will post some pictures later, I just uploaded a bunch on Facebook, Jillian, you need Facebook!!!!!!! OK well I am going to unload the dishwasher while Nora boo is still asleep.

Looooovvve.

3 weeks old!

So we have made it to 3 weeks and everything is going good! Up till now everyone has just been enjoying Nora Joy being here finally.. but now comes the harder stuff, making sure she gets on a schedule that works both for me and her. I am following the Babywise plan, otherwise know as the PDF way. The last 2 days we have been working really hard on getting her into this routine, and so far so good. Her early morning feeding is at 6:45 am and the feeding are consistent through about 9:45 pm. Leaving one middle of the night feeding normally around 4 am. Eventually we will work the middle of the night feeding out. It is all working out just how the book says!

We are also doing tummy time everyday! We lay her on a blanket on the floor on her tummy and it is supposed to help her strengthen her neck and legs, since she is trying to push herself along the blanket. I will definitely post pictures of that since it is just so darn cute! She has a passie (or bobo as Hector likes to call it) now and absolutely loves it! But she doesn't always want it, which is a good thing so she isn't dependent on it. She sleeps most of the time without it. It makes you feel so much better as a mom to know that your baby is actually getting the right amount of sleep and wake time without wearing you down mentally. It is possible to get 5 hours straight of sleep with a newborn! And then plus the and extra 2 or more hours!

She is currently crying herself to sleep and it is sooo hard not to go in there and hold her, but I know everything I ok with her and she just needs a nap. I cant ell she is getting more and more tired from crying. I have been a busy beaver today, since it is my first day home alone with Nora while Hector is at work. So I am finally doing all the stuff around the house that needs to be done. Errg that horrendous front coat closet!!! That is my project for the day, along with getting all Nora's insurance stuff done and the utilities for the new house. Hector is going to rugby tonight so no need to cook dinner. I also have to make my 4 week check up Ok now I'll get on all that stuff. I have a checklist for the week. Whew, Nora just stopped crying, I knew she would eventually fall asleep!

Nora Joy Tirado, October 5, 2009

whew!! So I have had Nora Joy now. I went in on Sunday morning and got checked into the hospital to be induced, once in robe and in bed, the doctor tells me that it was a mistake for them to ever schedule me an induction on a Sunday morning. So he tells me to get up and walk around for a few hours and try to soften my cervix, ummmm HELLO 41 weeks and 2 days didn't do the trick, so what makes him think a few hours more is gonna do anything? Since he is the doctor, I did what he said (very reluctantly). I got to hang out with Penny Callie, Jillian, Megan, Mom, and Hector the whole time until 11 am. And that is when I had my last meal, Zaxby's, who could ask for anything better!! So then I get back into bed and get what they call a cervix softener... 8 and a half hours later, my water breaks!!!!!!! After that I pretty much started to go into labor naturally, My contractions were getting pretty strong so I got the IV meds and they made me feel crazy loopy, they took a little edge off of the contractions, so I could at least stand them. At that point I was thinking hmm maybe I wont need and epidural, but... one hour later when the pain meds ran out, they informed me I couldn't have any more for another 3 hours! Yikes. So I went a little while without anything and Hector was so great. Not one time did he just lay down and not worry about me. He was constantly rubbing my legs or my back and just talking to me trying to keep my mind off the contractions. So finally I mention that I want the epidural, and Hector is kinda hesitant due tot he fact that my whole pregnancy I said I was gonna try not to get one, but then he realized how much pain I was in and how my contractions have became constant pain instead of like bursts of pain. So I got the epidural and my mom AND Hector had to go out of the room, so I was in there with just the anesthesiologist and my nurse. WOW!! That man must be like God in the hospital cause he took all my pain away!! My legs were so numb I kept thinking they were falling off the bed or something. After that I was just sitting up having conversation and my contractions on the monitor were crazy high and I couldn't even feel them!!! So I got the epidural at 1 am, and after that we stayed up for a while but Hector and I eventually fell asleep. Every 2 hours the nurse would come in and check my dilation to see how far along I was. At about 8 30 am she wakes me up and says that I am 10 cm dilated!!!! And the pushing begins!! Jillian, Mom, and Hector were in the room with me during the actual process of pushing. They had my legs up on these stirrups and I was sitting pretty much all the way up and That really helped with the whole process. Every time I pushed they would bring my legs real far back like to my chest, That was Hector and the nurse's job. Jillian and Hector watched the whole thing in live detail!! After an hour of pushing I finally had my baby girl at 9 23 am, October 5th, 2009!!!!! 8 lbs 3 ozs and 21 inches long, with a full head of black hair!!!!! She looked just like me when she came out, except with some huuuuggge lips!! One of the first thing Hector said was, "I have a white baby!?!" She was (is) sooo beautiful! I got to hold her as soon as she cam out right after Hector cut the cord. And then they cleaned her up (in the same room) and I got to nurse her right there! It was amazing! She latched on perfectly, but then they had to take her away for her tests and stuff, but good thing Hector got to go with her so there was no baby switching non-sense!!! Everyone came to visit that day (which was a bad idea considering I was so tired) and I was up walking around and stuff it was pretty great, my hips were the only thing that were sore on me from the position that I was pushing from. We spent 2 nights in the hospital with Nora Joy and everything was great. She had a mild case of Jaundice but all is well now. SO everything went good and we have a heathy, happy baby, I will write more later but I figured I would cover the birth and hospital stay first. (Nora Joy is now 2 weeks old and still perfect as can be!)

Ramble ramble...

I finally know what time on sunday that i will be induced, its crazy how hard that was to figure out. Cape Fear Birth and Women's Care is horrible, don't even consider it for you prenatal care. Being pregnant is supposed to be one of the happiest times in your life, yet it was my most stressful, and I didn't even have to work the whole time! My doctor's office drove me crazy from the beginning to end. Never did I feel like I was being well taken care of. So once I have her (Nora Joy) I really need to concentrate on getting back into shape, I don't feel like my self at all! So running everyday and hitting the weights! I want my volleyball body back, and to do that, I really have to train like a volleyball player. Wow... just look at my legs in these pics;

(Doing the "stanky leg")

Not really the best pics of me, but it shows how in shape I was. And I was a vegetarian, so I will probably go back to that also, but slowly, not just jump into it all at once. And I'm sure Nora Joy will be keeping me plenty busy, hopefully I won't even be thinking about food. If only I could get back into shape and lose these nasty stretch marks!! Definitely not something I will be posting pics of.

So only 3 more days till my little bundle of joy will be here! It's going to be nice to be in Georgia for the first month, I will have plenty of visitors! And we are closing on the new house while I'm there also! Oh so exciting. New baby and new house, what else could you ask for?! Oh I know, new furniture... lol. I want some soo bad because our apartment furniture is pretty bad, and it is definitely not enough to fill up a whole house. I guess I'll just have to buy a little bit by little bit to get all the specific things that I want. Anthropologie has the best furniture ever! Well I gotta go to sleep now even though rambling on about everything is pretty fun, I have to clean the apartment tomorrow before my fam gets here and more importantly before Nora Joy gets here! Oh and here's a pic of the necklace that I made Hector! I found that awesome glass pendant and he really likes it.