Catching up on 2009

So here is the last of 2009 in pictures. It was hard to condense a month of activities into a few pictures but hopefully this is a good representation.

Haley's school put on a Christmas music presentation. It was precious! Haley did pretty good not getting nervous in front of everyone. When she saw me at the end of the presentation she shouted "there's my mommy!". Then started to shake her bells. We were very proud of her.

Before the show

Haley and Jackson on Santa's lap prior to the show. Haley was not a happy camper while Jackson was sound asleep.

Haley shaking her bells! Way to go big girl.

Jackson at 5 weeks

The weekend before Christmas we made a trip to San Antonio. Haley wanted to see Shamu.

Feeding the dolphins

Pretty girl

Jackson and Mommy

Let the Christmas festivities begin...

Haley making Christmas cookies

Daddy making faces at Jackson

Christmas morning. Haley trying on her new purple princess dress and opening up her Cinderella doll.

Christmas evening in El Paso.

Tia and Haley in her Snow White dress

Jackson on his first playdate. Zeke is 5 weeks younger.

After we returned home we ended a wonderful 2009 with a visit from the Kirkham boys (our old neighbors.)

Alex, Haley and Ben after some Double Daves. And Haley and Ben kissing....

Now on to 2010! We started it out with a bang and have been moving full speed since then...

Happy New Year

I'll warn you now I don't have any pictures to upload yet but they will be coming soon. This last month has been crazy in our family. I guess I should start with the weekend visit to Sea World San Antonio the weekend before Christmas. Haley had a great time seeing Shamu and Jackson did a good job sleeping most of the time. Haley keeps asking to see Shamu again so I'm thinking another visit to Sea World will be fun in the Spring.
Christmas was a blast. Haley had a little bit of present overload this year but this was the best Christmas yet. After her first few presents she just wanted to play with those instead of opening the rest. She asked for a Cinderella doll, a Snow White doll and a Mermaid doll from Santa. Santa brought two of the there and "Aunt" Kendall bought the Mermaid doll. Besides the dolls I would have to say her "Christmas Tree" (which is really a counting tree) and her bouncy house from Uncle Mark are her favorites. Jackson didn't ask for anything but got tons of new clothes. He will be styling for the next few months now. After a delicious Christmas meal we headed to the airport to catch a flight to El Paso where we had Christmas with Matt's family. While in El Paso we were able to visit with family and friends. Jackson hung out with our friend's baby who is 5 weeks younger. I guess that was officially Jackson's first play date :) Haley did awesome and had lots of fun with her grandparents, Tia and Uncle Michael.
Our next highlight was a play date with the Kirkham boys. Ben made quite the impression on Haley as she is still talking about him. Too bad they live half way around the world but hopefully they will come home soon! I have some really cute pictures of the kids I'll post when we get home.
And finally on New Year's Day we headed off to Seattle for a 10 trip to Seattle, Anacortes and Whistler. This was our first trip back to Anacortes since my Step-dad passed away. We were able to meet up with old friends, go on a Ferry ride to Friday Harbor for lunch, a see the picnic table donated in his name at the baseball park. Now we are in Whistler hitting the slopes (or at least thinking about hitting the slopes). The Winter Olympics are in Vancouver this year with the skiing up at Whistler so it's neat to see all the Olympic stuff. Matt is snowboarding today with my brothers and I hope to go tomorrow while my mom watches the kids. My brother Brian and nephew Matt from California joined us yesterday so Haley is having fun with them. Her new name for Uncle Brian is Uncle Poopies. I'll leave why that is for you to figure out. Thank goodness we have our own room.
We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Looking forward to sharing pictures of our adventures soon.

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