Our walk

So me and Peyton went for our little walk around campus today. The weather was beautiful, and she loves riding in her stroller. I love getting out too. In the past week, I've been to Walgreens several times, and that's it! I can't believe that I'm not about to go absolutely crazy in our apartment....actually in just her room. We pretty much stay in her room all day. By the time I get up these days, it's around noon. Then Arnold comes home for lunch, and I jump in the shower. We shovel our food in our mouths because usually she is crying. Then he leaves, and I prepare for our walk...the highlight of our day. Now it takes me a seriously long time just to get out the door with her. But we both enjoy this walk immensely. I get some exercise, and she gets to sleep. If only I could stroll her around at 3 in the morning so that she would fall asleep. I've thought about putting her in the carseat several times and riding around just to get her to stop crying, but I'm too lazy or rather to exhausted. I'm not complaining though. I love being with her and get sad when I think about having to return to work. Today she has hardly slept, so I'm hoping that means tonight she's going to pass out. Lucky us, but I think our child just doesn't need that much sleep. Let's hope the weather continues to stay nice!

Joy

Almost Three Weeks Old

She is not happy with she gets hungry. Since Joy started nursing, I call her "hamburgers with cheese."




All dressed up and ready to go. We took her back for her check up and she weighed 7 pounds and 10 ounces. Most babies lose a little weight after they are born. Peyton weighed 6 pounds and 14 ounces when we took her home. Now you know why I call Joy "hamburgers with cheese."



Here is Joy giving her a sponge bath. It is hard to believe, but Peyton is almost three weeks old now. By my calculation that means we have almost completely figured out this whole parenting thing.

I started back to work last Friday. It has been hard balancing work, school and baby stuff. I am mostly tired, but still very excited to have Peyton... and I have to say that Joy looks fantastic. Keep me in your prayers this week as I submit a proposal for my dissertation. I changed my topic which has put me behind, but I think it is a great subject. The working title is, "A Contextualized Approach to Muslim Evangelism." I will submit it to my profs this week and to the division at the end of next week.

-Arnold

The crying baby and the dirty mama

So if I ever thought that taking care of a baby was simple and easy, that idea was dashed against the rocks last night. From about 1-3 am, Peyton screamed and could not be consoled. And from 1-2, I had been asleep in the next room and Arnold had been taking care of her. How I didn't hear her I will never know. I guess I was just that tired. Anyway, by the time I did hear her, she was screaming her head off. She was obviously having some major gas issues. None of the usual tricks helped...not the Mylicon...not the rocking, singing, patting...nothing. I know the neighbors thought we were totally beating the poor baby. But having your baby scream for this long, and I do mean scream, is extremely frustrating. You want to do something so bad, but there's nothing you can do. And it's kind of scary too. I would have given anything if it could have been me in pain instead of her.
And did I mention that I would have never dreamed how much spit up, pee, and poop I would wear on me every day. There's no point in putting on anything nice. Like right now, I have on a pair of pink pajama pants with butterflies on them and a red mission trip t-shirt. My hair is greasy. I have on my glasses, and I'm also wearing white socks with flip flops. Ooh...so attractive.
For those of you reading this, please say a prayer for her and her tummy problems. It is not fun for either party!

I am alive

Arnold has been telling me for a few days now that I need to blog. I have been wanting to, but every spare minute I have has been quite consumed lately! However, I have a few minutes tonight. Arnold is holding Peyton, and she's bright eyed and looking around at everything at the moment. Let's hope it lasts. (Last night was not fun...)
I wanted to start by commenting on my labor and delivery and to tell those of you who are having babies to GET AN EPIDURAL! Of course I was enduced, so I'm sure that made the contractions worse than normal, but the epidural is so wonderful. I wanted to kiss that anestheiologist(not sure if that's spelled correctly). Anyway, everything went pretty good. We had a "You're going to have to have a c-section" scare from the doctor right before she broke my water, but after some fluids and an oxygen mask, her heart rate stopped dipping. My hospital stay was wonderful, as crazy as that sounds. I highly recommend East Jefferson...extremely friendly staff, pretty good food. I was sad to come home because I like being waited on hand and foot. :)
Now since I've been home, it's been interesting. My mom came and stayed for a week. She worked herself to death cleaning and waking up very early in the morning to take a shift with the baby. Boy was that nice. Thank goodness for Arnold though. He's been so wonderful to stay up with her half the night. I get up and feed and then go back to bed for another two hours or so, however long it takes for her tummy to growl again. Then at some point he will go to bed and I will stay up. The pretty nursery has become our everything room. We moved the tv in there, we sleep in there, we eat in there sometimes. And you know, I've never been so sleep deprived in all my life. I'm sure there are plenty of mispelled words in this blog. But I'm loving every second with her. She is so adorable, as you can see from the pictures! She's only 13 days old and I love her so much! I get so worried over the least little thing, and I've never been a worry wart. I guess such is the life of a new parent.
For everyone who has brought food, said a prayer, or offered a helping hand, we say a BIG THANK YOU!
I hope to see some of you soon. If anyone wants to come by, please give me a call. We're not taking her out in public yet, but are happy to have company (unless you're sick).

Joy

Grammy and Me

This is my mom, Paula, an d Peyton this past week. Grammy is gone now, and we are sad :(

Father

She looks so small to me... all those little fingers and little toes. I just want to hug her and squeeze her all the time. I always wanted to be a father and play with my kids and stuff all day long. Not sure that I realized what it meant to be a father until she cried a couple of times. My natural impulse is to just "fix it" whatever it is. But trying to fix it is not as easy because Peyton can't really tell me what is wrong when she cries. You get a really helpless feeling when you can't figure out what is wrong... did she eat already? is her diaper dirty? or is she just tired?

She has her little eyes open a bit more...not much more, but she does try to look around from time to time. I wish she would just look at me and smile and know that I am her father. For now, she doesn't seem too interested in me and looks around at bright lights and such.

Still I wish she would somehow recognize me.

With time, I know that will come. All of the good memories with her are just waiting to be made... learning to ride a bike, color within the lines, and playing with her favorite toys together. I just love all of those little fingers and toes. I can't wait until she realizes how much I love her.

I always wondered why a divine creature like God decided to call Himself by such a common title as Father. If you think about it, He exists in eternity as the center of all worship and adoration. Why chose a title like father? It never really made any sense to me. At least it didn't until Peyton was born. I just want to love her and squeeze her all the time. All sorts of new feelings... some loving and some protective are rising to the top. I am sure as she grows that even more feelings will surface.

Why did God chose a title like Father? What is He trying to tell us? What does this say about His character and nature?

Father. It also describes me now. Its like seeing the world and my God in a whole new way.

-arnold

Proud Grand Parents

My parents, Joe and Esther Arredondo, came down to New Orleans to visit us while we were still in the hospital.

Getting Ready to go Home

I didn't realize how small she was until we got her into the car seat.

Friends

We have had several people stop by and visit Peyton, but I didn't think about taking pictures of everyone until later. I guess everyone needs to come back by again.

G.I. Jane

Hello World

We started out at 4am this morning. Here she is ... Peyton Lindsey Arredondo... 7 pounds 4 ounces and 20 1\2 inches long.

Peyton Lindsey

no baby Arredondo

There are probably some of you out there wondering if there is a baby Arredondo. The answer is NO! Today is my due date, but it is already 3pm and I am just watching the day go by. I guess if nothing else I don't have longer than two weeks to go...but that's just absolutely depressing to me. I know Arnold is sick of me complaining. He's probably ready to throw me outside to live at this point. I can't remember a time in my life of ever being so impatient, frustrated, and anxious as I am now. I go back to the doctor tomorrow, who, by the way, told me that she definintely thought I would have the baby before the due date. Doctors ought to be outlawed from saying anything of that sort.

On the bright side, I'm not working anymore. Not that work is that bad, but it's so nice to stay at home. I've been cleaning like a mad woman today, and then it's off to the grocery store later!

I hope everyone read Arnold's blog a few days ago titled "Rue de la Course". It was the sweetest thing ever. :)

Rue de la Course

Joy and I went to one of my favorite coffee shops in New Orleans last night. Rue de la Course is located on Magazine Street off the Garden District. A real artsy community resides in the area, but it is also a favorite location for University students.

I had been doing some basic research the last couple of days when I talked Joy into going down to Magazine Street for a cup of hot chocolate. Normally when we drive around in New Orleans, we like to take Ol'Peggy (our gold colored 1991 Buick LeSabre) because we don't care if she gets banged up a little bit. Ol'Peggy has seen many days, but she rides like a comfortable pair of shoes.

You can get one of the best cups of Joe you have ever had at Rue. New Orleans has a really strong coffee shop culture. Some of the best memories I have deal directly with my friends and I sitting around Rue and talking about nothing really for hours on end.

I took Joy on one of our first dates to Rue. It really is just a different type of atmosphere there with a really wide mix of people. Half the fun is just sitting there and watching the different types of people coming and going. I remember how Joy and I sat around one of those old wooden tables just talking and talking. Sometimes when you first go on a date with someone new, you feel compelled to keep the conversation going in hopes of finding a connection. I honestly cannot remember what we talked about, but I do remember thinking how much I hoped she would like this place as much as I did. It is funny looking back at those old dating expectations I used to dream up while trying to find 'the one.'

Last night we sat across each other drinking hot chocolate because Joy has to be careful about caffeine since she has gotten pregnant. I avoided a good cup of Joe because my days of staying up until 3 am are long gone. Yet we sat around like best friends as I read over some research papers on grounded study theory and she read some Jane Austin book that I really don't care to know anything about. We still sit around the same old wooden tables, but most of those old dating expectations are just funny memories. The best place you can find yourself is in a mutally loving God ordained relationship.

We are expecting our little girl to be born soon. One of the greatest gifts that God has ever given us is life itself. I used to wonder what I would be like as a husband. I used to wonder that exact thought many nights sitting at those old wooden tables inside of Rue. Last night I sat across Joy at one of those same tables wondering what I will be like as a father...wondering what it will be like to hold my little girl. Will she laugh at my dumb jokes? Will she sing my made up songs? and will she think that I am a cool dad?

It is not long before our little girl comes... not long at all now.

-arnold

Monster Contraction

This morning I got my first taste of a "real" contraction...and I think I scared poor Arnold to death! Probably about 5 am, I started having my normal little contractions, except they were a little painful, at least painful enough for me to not be able to go back to sleep. Then at 6:55am, I had THE monster contraction. Oh boy! If that is what it feels like, WOW! I let out a little yell and woke Arnold up. I think he thought I was having at bad dream at first. I'm not sure, but anyway, that was it! Only one! Sadness :(

Went to the doctor again though. She didn't really say anything of significance. I guess not much has changed, so once again....I just need more monster contractions!!!

Waiting

Let me say a word or two first before I get to the real stuff....
MY HUSBAND IS A GOOFBALL! I was ripping open the cereal box to get to the free children's book information on the inside of it. I have to admit though, it is pretty funny. I had no idea why he was being so sneaky at lunch, but I should have known he was up to something!

So, I know God has been trying to speak to me about the whole "waiting" thing...Waiting on the Lord's perfect timing for our little bundle of joy (and arnold ;) ) to arrive. Yesterday at church I heard an awesome sermon about not just praying that he would take away this waiting, but that he would use this seemingly idle time in our lives....and praising and thanking for him for everything that he does for us, even the small "insignificant" things. Today, I ran across an article from a blog that I'm going to post (they said to pass it along...so I don't think that constitutes thievery :) ). I hope the article will be a blessing to someone else who may be struggling with waiting, whatever your wait may be about...

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27 What are you waiting for today?
May these thoughts encourage you to make it a “Productive Delay:”

"Waiting on God isn't about the suspension of meaning and purpose. It's part of the meaning and purpose that God has brought into my life. Waiting on God isn't to be viewed as an obstruction in the way of the plan. Waiting is an essential part of the plan. For the child of God, waiting isn't simply about what I'll receive at the end of my wait. No, waiting is much more purposeful, efficient, and practical than that. Waiting is fundamentally about what I'll become as I wait. God is using the wait to do in and through me exactly what He's promised. Through the wait He's changing me. By means of the wait He's altering the fabric of my thoughts and desires. Through the wait He's causing me to see and experience new things about Him and His kingdom. And all of this sharpens me, enabling me to be a more useful tool in His redemptive hands."
Instead of focusing on what we’re waiting to receive, let’s turn our gaze to God and ask Him to make us “a more useful tool in His redemptive hands.”

By the way, this is from the blog http://girltalk.blogs.com/ Check it out. My friend Tara told me about it. It's Christian women posting blogs, etc. Thanks Tara for the heads up!

PS- Nursery pics are under the archived September posts. Please look them up if you haven't seen them. The nursery is so pretty!

Also, Michael that guy does look like Pastor Allen. Only you would have found his twin!

Hunger Pangs

Here is a box of cereal after Joy has finished with it. Can you tell she is only one week away from giving birth?