A birth I will remember forever!

Introducing Caleb Xavier Alicea!!!

I've been so excited to make this post. I finally can today because I got some cute pictures of this precious little boy. Monday, March 14, 2011 Caleb Xavier Alicea was born. He arrived at 1:32pm and weighed in a 8 pds 12oz and is 20 inches long. He is the most handsome little newborn ever!

I will remember this birth as long as I live because it was my first live birth(besides my own of course.) I have never experienced something so beautiful other than giving birth myself. Mommy Sarah did amazing and daddy Jose was great too. I'm so honored that they allowed me to experience that with them. I am on my way to being a doula. I still have a long ways to go but I needed to experience a birth to find out if I could truly handle the whole experience and my questions have been answered. If I can do this the rest of my life I will. The feeling I get while being there with the mom and dad while they are anxiously waiting, doing whatever I can to help and being able to watch the miracle of birth gives me a high that I can't explain. I felt calm and peaceful the whole time I was there. Sarah, Jose and I had some great conversation and learned a lot about each other. I know this will probably be one of the easiest births I'll experience but it was still so amazing. Knowing how calm I was even when she was in pain and pushing and while she was recovering from the birth just reassures me that I am going to be able to be the supportive doula like I want to be. Knowing that I can handle the ups and downs and take the stress well is very reassuring for me also. Sarah had a great labor. I think things went really well and she didn't have to push long at all before he was out! This is something I will live for and love doing for the rest of my life. Thank you Sarah and Jose for allowing me to be there with you all and have an amazing FIRST birth experience!

I'm going to put myself out there a little bit. I need all the experience I can get before I can become a doula. If you or someone you know would like to have a "doula in training" at your birth or wouldn't mind if I just sat in on your birth I'd really appreciate the experience! I'm sure Sarah and Jose wouldn't mind talking to you about the experience they had with me so you can better determine if it's something for you or not.

Somebody pinch me...

I guess I just love bragging about my boys but check THIS out! 

This is why I love my husband so much! Thanks babe! I'm such a lucky woman!!!

Just Sayin...

Isn't he CUTE?? I'm just sayin...I JUST LOVE THIS LITTLE BOY! 

Thanks for giving me my minute to brag.

(thanks for the pic Ashley)

:)

I've enjoyed our last few days spending time with Ashley, Ryan, Mylei and Tristen! We've had an interesting time together to say the least. Marland got put in "The Doghouse" as Ashley put it because he got us caught up in rush hour traffic in unfamiliar terrains by ourselves. It's bad when Ryan and Ashley(not from Columbus) are giving ME directions on how to get home! We've had a great time and I just LOVE their kids. Mylei was a great helper with Josiah and Tristen read Josiah his bedtime stories! <3 that WHOLE family! :)

Marland and I got the chance to take Josiah to the mall TOGETHER for a change. We had a great time. I really cherish those times. 

He loved this ride so much he had to ride it twice!

This is my new favorite picture.

Eggs on Your Head!!

This morning, Josiah was eating eggs for breakfast. I was happy because I can't hardly get him to eat them most of the time. Anyways, he was eating them from this bowl that is supposed to stick to the high chair so he can't pick it up and dump things out of the bowl. Well, that didn't work. As you know he has been making ANYTHING his hat lately. Well, I turned around and there he was sitting with the bowl on his head and little pieces of eggs ALL stuck in his hair. I didn't think to take a picture but this is about what it looked like.

I love my silly boy

I've also spent some of my time this morning scratching a yellow crayon off of my stove! Some little boy around here stuck the crayon down in the burner of the stove and it melted while I was using the oven last night! Oh toddlers...

Josiah has been so affectionate lately. He'll give me hugs and kisses anytime I ask and even when I don't! And they are good ones too! I love my son.

Sleepy Baby

So, I know I've been fussing a lot about how hard it is to get Josiah to bed. I just wanted to let you know that he is starting to sleep much better. He's been asleep by 7:30 every night this week and he's taking one 2-3 hour nap every morning.  He wakes up around 6:45-7:00am but he's not waking up in the middle of the night anymore at all so it's much easier on everyone. Ideally, I'd like him to take another nap in the afternoon but I think he's doing ok because he's going to bed earlier than he's used to.

It's an adjustment for me right now because I'm used to doing things later like bible study and such but everyone I've talked to and everything I've read has said to be very rigid with the bedtime so that he gets used to it. I'm hoping later it will be ok if he goes to bed a little later every now and then. I'm excluded from pretty much everything at our church right now because everything goes on later in the evening so it makes it tough to be able to connect with my church friends and family but I know Josiah needs to get on a better sleeping routine and I need it to. Long nights are not good for this family!

Marland has had a pretty long week. He has an extra class added to his schedule this week from 7pm-9pm. It makes for a really long day for him. And to make things more stressful he has been studying for his MPRE test(some part to the BAR exam) that he has to take this Saturday. I just hope I'm doing everything I can to make things easier on him here so he can focus on his school work. It's pretty tough running everything all day by myself with Josiah and now Evan but it's totally worth it. Poor Josiah misses his daddy though.

Some Recent Pictures Of Josiah

Josiah signing "baby" for you

Our little ET

Big Boy

1st time on a ride in the mall