Welcome Jackson

Wow, so much to catch up on I'll have to split it into a few posts. First, we would like to announce the arrival of our newest family member, Jackson Matthew Vara. Jackson was born on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 6:59am. He weighed in at 6 lbs 5 oz and 19 inches.

Our little guy made quite the entrance into the world. Here's the short version...I had been on bedrest for 2 weeks with slightly elevated blood pressure and a dilated cervix but it appeared that we were going to have to evict this baby just like his sister. We had scheduled an induction for Tuesday, Nov 17, but Jackson had other plans. At around 6 am I woke up with very mild cramps. I decided to take a shower and they would not go away. So I woke up Matt and told him I think we are going to have a baby today, thinking several hours down the road. He took a shower and my pain got a little stronger but nothing major. We called the dr. and she said to go ahead and go to the hospital since I was already dilated. Once we were in the car and outside the subdivision, I had a big contraction and my water broke. I could immediately feel the baby coming. I told Matt there was no way we were making it to the hospital and we decided to try to make it to the fire station which was just off the road on the way to the hospital. We pulled into the fire station and Matt jumped out to get help. The fireman came over expecting it to be a false alarm and to their surprise...SURPRISE...a baby is coming now! So after one push the head was out and a second the body was out. We had a baby boy! Best of all he was healthy and crying. The ambulance then arrived and cut the cord and moved me to the stretcher. My mom came by with Haley before we left and off we were to the hospital with our special delivery.

I left out all the funny conversations, calls to the dr. and panic but overall I think we did pretty good keeping it under control considering the situation. Looking back I think of all that could have gone wrong and I'm so thankful it turned out so good. The firemen were very excited as it was their first delivery at the fire station and even came by the hospital to bring Jackson some gifts. I know Jackson will always have a special place in their hearts and they will in ours.

Here are some of the first pics of Jackson.

Haley's first look at her baby brother. In the ambulance before we left for the hospital

About to leave

Jackson Matthew Vara

Daddy and Jackson

Haley, Daddy and Jackson

Proud big sister

Jackson checking out Grandma

3 of the 4 Firemen who delivered Jackson

Wonderful Weekend Weather

The weekend weather was beautiful here in Houston so we decided to take full advantage. Friday night we enjoyed a nice dinner outside watching the boaters go by on the lake. Uncle John came home from College Station and Haley was excited to see him. I was a little surprised she remembered him since he hadn't been home in more then a month but she did. Saturday we did Little Gym, looked at a few houses and enjoyed lunch at Market Street. We had found a house we liked and wouldn't you know someone beat us to it! Oh well, it just wasn't meant to be and we'll find another.
Today we headed to the pumpkin patch at the Merry Christmas Tree Farm in Spring. Uncle Mark, Grandma, Uncle John and Kendall joined us as well (Uncle Nate had to work). It was really busy, guess because it was such a beautiful day. Haley enjoyed the train ride and the hay ride best of all. She did really good for having to wait in line. Her favorite treat was the cherry snow cone Uncle Mark bought her. She wouldn't put it down and by the end her face was dyed red! Oh well, she enjoyed it. The only down side was that I had to use the bathroom 3 times, which is not fun in a stinky port-a-pot :( At least I brought my hand sanitizer. The joys of being pregnant!
Tomorrow I will be 35 weeks! I see the dr. again on Friday so I am anxious to see how it is going. When I was pregnant with Haley, it was the exact same dr. appt where I found out she was coming soon. We'll see what this one does...
Have a great week and enjoy the pics.

Haley and Daddy enjoying the weather outside


Mommy and Haley on the swing



Haley giving the baby a kiss :)


Haley resting on the baby

Pretty girl at the pumpkin patch

Trick or Treat

Evidence of the cherry snow cone on my face

Grandma, Uncle John, Kendall, Mommy, Haley and Uncle Mark waiting for the train ride

Uncle Mark, Mommy and Haley on the train (Haley wasn't too excited yet because she had a stinky! We changed it on the train and then she was happy again)

Haley and Daddy on the train (after the diaper change)

The group on the hay ride

Part 2 of 2

As promised, 2 posts in 1 week, WOW! For Labor Day we made a trip to El Paso to visit Matt's family. Haley had a good time playing in the pool and with the dogs (2 yellow labs) as well as all the cool toys Grandma and Grandpa Vara bought her. Here are a few of the photos from our fun filled weekend.

Haley with Elysia (Matt's Goddaughter and the flower girl at our wedding!) and her sister Jordin. The girls are getting so big.


Seve (Matt's good friend), Daddy and Haley at Cattleman's Steakhouse. A Vara Family tradition



Great Aunt Gloria, Grandma Vara, Grandpa Vara, Uncle Michael, Daddy, Haley and Seve in front of Cattleman's.


Haley watching over Grandpa. Why are you putting the chair in the pool Grandpa???

Grandpa and Haley at the Zoo.

Part 1 of 2

I've finally uploaded a few pictures. We still don't have our computer setup so I had to select a handful out of the 300+ on the camera, which is hard to do on a small screen! I have set a goal to finish her video montage as soon as I have access to my pictures again. I started it before the move but look where the time has gone. She is already 2 and no montage :( Hopefully soon!
On the Haley front, she has been such a character lately. She is getting very good at talking and now repeats everything you say. Sometimes she is still hard to understand but her vocabulary is just exploding. It's so much fun to listen to. Today she walked into McDonald's and ordered her own food! She told the lady she wanted chicken nuggets and sench sries (French Fries). She hasn't learned to call it a Happy Meal yet but loves their chicken nuggets. She was so excited to tell me on the phone when I called at lunch. And tonight we painted our toe nails pink. She had to make sure Grandma's were pink too, which they already were. I had to explain Daddy doesn't get pink toe nails, just girls. I've decided her favorite colors are pink and purple because that is all she ever wants, which is fine by me.
Oh, almost forgot about Haley's big 2 year checkup. The Dr. said she is doing great. She had to get 3 shots which was very dramatic for her but she managed. She weighs a whopping 21 lbs 6 ozs which puts her in the 3%. She is 34 inches tall which is in the 50% and her head is 19+ inches which was measuring in the 75%. She was charting that way around 12 months so the Dr. was not concerned. He just thinks she will be petite, imagine that?
On the baby front, 6 more weeks from today is the due date! Which also means 6 weeks until Thanksgiving, can you believe that? I had a checkup with the specialist on Tuesday and she said the baby is weighing in at 4.5 lbs, which is perfect. She wanted to see me again in 6 weeks until I explained I had Haley almost 3 weeks early, so now I have to see her again in 4 weeks. I also met with my regular OB on Friday and everything was good. So now it's just a waiting game until baby #2 decides to make the big debut. We are hoping for at least a November birth and I have a feeling since the Dr. thinks the baby will be early that it will be stubborn and come right on time.

More to come.... enjoy the pictures...

Haley and Kourtney playing with Kourtney's birthday present (we missed her birthday back in July)


Mommy and Haley at Sarah and Abby's soccer game (Sarah and Abby our my cousin's twin girls)


Great Aunt Jan helping Haley high five the soccer players after the win (that is Abby going by)


Sarah, Haley and Abby




Matt and Me at the Aggie game at Cowboy Stadium

Look who is 2!

Chuck E. Cheese wishing Haley a Happy Birthday

Blowing out the candle

Catching Up

Wow, it has been a LONG time since I h ave posted! We have a good excuse. We are officially homeless. We sold our house and have moved in with my mom temporarily until we find our next house. It was a lot of hard work moving so this next house we hope to be in for a long time. As far as Ms. Haley, she is adjusting well finally. It took her awhile to figure out why we were staying at Grandma's and what happened to her house but now she is doing good. She is also getting better at school. After a successful first week, she had a tough time with separation anxiety the next few weeks. The teacher said she was fine after the first 10 minutes but would cry as soon as she was dropped off. Now though she is doing a little better and the reports are that she does very well at school.
This past Friday was Haley's 2nd birthday! It started off a little rough as she was throwing up all morning but that passed by early afternoon and we were able to take our trip to Ft. Worth. We visited our family and friends and had a great time. Matt and I went to the Aggie game at Cowboy Stadium. The best part was the checking out the new stadium as our team still was awful but Matt and I enjoyed a date night. On Sunday we had a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese for Haley and she did great. She was a little freaked at first by Chuck by she warmed up and even gave him a high five.
Since our computer is still not hooked up I only have pictures from my phone. Hopefully we'll get our other pictures downloaded soon and I'll be able to post on a regular basis again. Time to get Haley in the bath...hope you enjoy the few pics I had.

Eating parmesan cheese

Yes, that is a roma tomato. She climbed up on the chair and started to eat it like an apple!

Ready for school one morning

Baby Aggie #2! It's growing and growing

First Day of School

Today was Haley's big first day of school! I think Matt and I were more worried then she was. We had both taken the morning off so we could see her off for the first day. Lucky for everyone Haley woke up really happy this morning. The big day started with the car ride to school. I had to (of course!) take some pictures at home which she was giving BIG smiles. Then when it was time to get in the car to "go to school" I had to chase her down the drive way. She was laughing and I'm thinking she thought she got to ride the bus like the other kids that walk in front of our house to the bus stop. We finally all got in the car and she wanted to sing songs the entire way to school, which mom and dad were happy to do. When we got there she was super excited. I tried to take some more pictures but Haley was more interested in running, yes running, into the school. When I was signing her into class she turned to Matt and said, "come on Dada". We got into the class and Haley started playing right away with another little girl and the puzzle on the table. So Matt and I got her things all situated, talked to the teacher a minute and just left. We felt bad for not saying goodbye but didn't want to cause a scene. We stood outside the door for a few minutes and heard her ask the teacher "where's Mama and Dada"? The teacher said, they'll be back soon and off Haley went playing. So much for missing us!

After 5 long hours, it was time to go get our little munchkin. She was happy to see us and the report from the teacher was she did great. She did cry a little in the morning once she realized we were gone but got over it pretty fast. They skipped music today since it was the first day but they did go outside to play later in the day. In true Haley fashion, she pushed her baby doll around the playground in a stroller the entire time. She ate most of her lunch and even went down for a nap on the cot, which I didn't think she would nap. They even did their first art class in coloring an apple, although the teacher couldn't find Haley's when we got there? Oh well. On Wednesday Grandma is going to take her so hopefully she will do just as good!

I did notice she learned a few things in school already, ok...truth be told she didn't pick these up from school. We've been working on numbers and counting lately. Today she actually counted to 10 all by herself! I had heard a rumor that she did it once at Grandma's but Uncle Nathan was the only one that heard and when she got home it was 1,2,6,3,10 so I had my doubts. But today, she really did it several times by herself. I guess signing 10 little monkeys over and over again really helps.

And the last funny story, tonight at dinner out of nowhere she said some pretty funny stuff. I noticed she started to call out Matt's privates the other night after bath and we would reply with, "yes, that is Daddy's pito" and then change the subject. Well today she announced at the dinner table out of nowhere, "Daddy's Big Pito". My response, "What? Daddy has a pito?" And Haley replied again, "No, Daddy BIG Pito". Matt and I died laughing, which we know is the wrong thing to do but it was too funny. Hopefully she doesn't go announcing this anywhere in public or people might be wondering what we teach our child.

Here are some pictures from the big morning. Enjoy.

About to get in the car at home

Big smile!

Daddy and Haley at school getting ready to walk in

Haley turning around long enough for me to take a picture

And we're off running into school

One last picture with Mom

In the classroom

Home stretch

I decided to start off this post with some news about the baby! I sometimes feel bad that we aren't more prepared for the little one but it just hasn't worked out that way this time. Not only is it a surprise, which we are super excited about but makes it hard to buy things, but we are now officially in the process of moving so we have no room to decorate yet anyways. We'll make up for it once the baby arrives and we have our new house, which will also be a surprise since we don't have one yet :) On the baby front, I'm officially in the 3rd trimester now, 13 more weeks to go. We saw the specialist again this past week and everything still looks great. She can't see any problems with either the baby or me so what is classified as a "high risk pregnancy" has been very normal, minus all the dr. appts. I go see my normal dr. this week to get cleared to fly to El Paso for Labor Day weekend. We're going to visit the grandparents, which I know they are excited to see Ms. Haley.

Haley will be starting "school" on Monday. I can't believe our girl is getting so big. She is going to a two day a week program at the Methodist Church from 9 - 2:30. It's more of a Mother's Day out, or in her case Grandma's Day out, but it should be fun. We met the teacher on Thursday and some of the kids in her class. They seem to have a busy schedule, going to music class, then gym, followed by "art", lunch and a nap. At her age the room is more of a play room then true classroom but I think being around other kids will be good for her. Matt and I are going to take her and pick her up the first day, which will be harder on us then her but I know she is in good hands.

Other then that, it was a pretty normal week :) We didn't take too many pictures this week, shame on me, but we'll have some of the first day of school on Monday and our trip to El Paso starting on Friday.

Haley taking her first nap in our bed at home. I have always put Haley down in her own bed but we made an exception this once for nap time. She was sleeping with Grandma in San Antonio so when she came back home she thought she could do the same in our bed. While we think it is so cute, I've heard over and over from friends to never start that habit. We decided she can take a nap in our bed on weekends only but no spending the entire night! Luckily, she went right back to sleep on her own in her bed that night...whew!

Working at the computer in my shoes.

Our fish

This weekend proved yet again that Haley is a fish at heart. I would have thought swimming everyday at Grandma's would be enough, but no, we spent all weekend in the water too. We went to Market Street Friday night to try out the new pizza place. Haley loves pizza and she didn't disappoint us. After checking it out we went to the fountains where she played and then rolled around the grass some. She has a new gesture that you'll have to check out in the picture below. We're getting her ready for Football season!
Saturday we were busy with Little Gym then we went to check out a petting zoo. While the place has tons of potential, it's in need of a major clean up so not sure we'll be back anytime soon. Haley didn't seem to mind and enjoyed petting the goats even though it was 100+ outside. Guess next time we'll take her to the real zoo. Later in the afternoon we took her swimming and bought some new swim toys. They were a hit as you can see from the dorky mom and dad pictures :) The stuff you do for your kids!
Today Haley left for San Antonio with Grandma. They have already hit up the pool and lazy river at the hotel. I've been told Grandma has been replaced by Sarah and Abby, my cousin's 7 year old twins. Haley has been following them around and is enjoying playing with them, and I think they love Haley too! Tomorrow they are going to Sea World. We've been practicing the Shamu wave at home getting Haley excited. We miss her but I know she is having fun with Grandma.

I posted extra pictures since I won't get too many this week...

Chilling at home

Watering the flowers at Market Street

Eating more pizza...too busy to look at the camera

Gig 'Em!!! Getting ready for football

Checking out my new goggles...Daddy has to wear them too

And now Mama's turn

Look at me swim all by myself

Help! The alligator is getting me

One little monkey jumping on the bed

I love Mac N Cheese too...can you tell?

All clean