Introducing...

Bowen West Guzman

Born 1-21-2012

6 lbs. 4 oz

18 inches

Absolutely Perfect

Even though Bowen was 19 days early, he was expected at any time. Sawyer was early too and I was feeling every symptom I had the day Sawyer was born a week before Bowen's debut. In fact, I had a spa pedicure the day before I went into labor with Sawyer so I scheduled a spa pedicure this time around and went into labor the next day! I don't know if that had any correlation but it's my thing now :)

I was expecting this labor to go even faster since that's what people kept saying and since Sawyer was so fast. I arrived at the hospital and about 12 hours later Bowen finally arrived! I had an epidural this time and it completely stopped my contractions and dilation, ugggg. So I had to get pitocin and then I could still feel all the contractions on my left side! Maybe it works out for some people but I'm not a huge fan of the epidural after having 1 natural birth and one with "help." Nevertheless, Bowen arrived healthy and perfect so we couldn't be more blessed!

He was supposed to regain to his birthweight by 2 weeks but at his first appointment 5 days after his birth, he had already made it back to his birthweight and added 4 ounces! That's our little chow hound!

Giacomo has been on vacation at grammie and papa's house to make it easier on me for a little bit but he came to visit. When he came in the door he immediately kissed Bowen then ran upstairs. Such a good boy, I'm sure he'll have no problem adjusting when he comes back home. Sawyer is an amazing brother and loves to "pet" Bowen and give him kisses. He asks where Bowen is all the time and loves being close to him :) We try to make Sawyer feel extra special and praise him for all the wonderful things he does for his brother. So far we've been pleasantly surprised by his reaction to his brother's arrival! I can't wait to see these boys become best friends!

In Loving Memory

Sonia Guzman & Joel Rodriguez

Today would have been Sonia's 35th birthday. Willie and a bunch of family and friends flew to Cabo yesterday to spend some time together and scatter her ashes. She passed away on March 17 this year and about 2 months later Willie's cousin Joel was killed in a motorcycle accident by a young driver who was texting. Needless to say it's been a hard year but this weekend Willie and his family are hopefully going to be able to share beautiful stories and laughter together as they scatter both Sonia and Joel's ashes and remember what joyful people they were. They are deeply missed and thought of often.

Sawyer wore this shirt today in honor of his Tia Sonia. She gave it to him (it has a bean on it and it says "Frijolito," and she used to get so excited when she saw him wearing it. When he sees her picture he still remembers her--our goal is for him to never forget her and to share what a lovely person she was with his little brother.

Lots of Updates...

Here's our little guy who is coming in less than 4 months!!!! I feel him kick all the time and even the doctor said he's an active little guy. Now that my belly is getting big my kindregarteners love to hug it and some of them even sneak in a kiss. It's so cute. We're thinking that his name will probably be Bowen Edison but we'll see...

...and back to our little bundle of joy that keeps up busy, busy, busy--a few weeks ago we had a power outage that even closed San Diego County Schools down the next day. Luckily, I'm married to an electician who has all kinds of little gadgets because he works in the dark most of the time. Willie put this head lamp on Sawyer and he lit up the hallway for us!

Last weekend we went to Bates Nut Farm and Sawyer LOVED climbing on the pumpkins. He's little so he could barely pick up the regular sized ones but he enoyed standing on them and climbing all around. Giacomo got to come too and he was such a good boy! I think it was a much better pumpkin patch experience than in the past--we skipped tons of traffic by going the "secret way" which put Willie in a good mood, and having Sawyer and Giacomo there together was just a blast. By the end of the day I was tired though!

The results are in...

IT'S Another BOY!!!!!

1 on the Way...

It's official... we're expecting another little bundle in February! Today we went to our 12 week appointment and got to hear the heart beat again. I ask Sawyer everyday what he wants to name the baby...usually he says "baby Bob" (he has a sponge Bob pajama set), but sometimes he says "Bobbies," and sometimes he says, "No baby, no baby." Today he said he wanted a girl named "Mommy's Girl." So far I've felt pretty good--a little yucky feeling in the afternoons and evenings but nothing major, thank goodness! I'm loving being off work during my first trimester but I'll be going back in a few more weeks. We don't care if it's a boy or a girl, we just pray that we have a healthy baby and that Sawyer is an amazing big brother! We should find out the end of September if it's a boy or a girl...can't wait!

The Birthday Boy

It's official...last week our little guy turned 2!!!!! I know, we can't believe it either...we had a fun pool party for him on a beautiful day with cute beachy/shark cupcakes and he loved every bit of his party. He's such a water baby--he lasted hours going in and out of the pool and ended up falling asleep on auntie Danika's shoulder on the walk back home. He's growing up so fast...and still looks just like daddy! I don't mind that EVERYONE still says that--daddy's cute so I'll take it as a compliment!

Now that I'm off for the summer with him he's my little cling-on. Aside from him being sick last week, we've been going to all kinds of parks, Kidville--for open playtime, gymnastics, and music class, Play Werks, swim lessons at the YMCA, Barnes and Noble for story time (although he only lasted 9 minutes when he walked away and went to play with the train set for 45 minutes!), our pool, Lawrence Welk Resort, etc. Our days are busy but so much fun!

I'm trying to potty train him and so far he's loving going poo in the potty! He's been going #1 for a while but I was having a hard time getting him to go #2 until a few weeks ago. I have to bribe him with M&M's but hey, whatever works, right? He gets so excited every time he goes and says, "Mommy, poo poo M," meaning he wants to go poo poo so he can get an M&M. After he goes he claps and says "Bye bye, poo poo" as he flushes it away. Maybe the picture is just TMI but this was his first one and we were both so proud! I called grammie as it was happening to tell her that Sawyer went poo poo in the potty but her ears aren't the best ever and she said, "What???? Sawyer is scuba diving in the toilet?" Oh, grammie...just look what your boy did!

Jeremiah 29:11

It's been a long time since I've blogged and there's lots to talk about so I'll start with this...

Willie's sister, Sonia, went home to Heaven on March 17th after battling cancer for the past 16 months. It's still hard to believe we'll never get to see her bright smile again here on Earth and it makes me sad that Sawyer probably won't remember all the wonderful moments with his tia Sonia who loved him so dearly. There is also comfort though through all of this and a hope that someday we will see her again. She's not in pain anymore and we feel like it's not a goodbye, but rather, a "see you later."

I think about Sonia all throughout the day and still cry often, but I also have a sense of peace. Sonia's favorite verse was Jeremiah 29:11 and I know God's plans for us are so much greater than we can ever know. There have been so many blessings through all the sorrow. We miss her dearly but we know it's not goodbye forever.

Sunrise: October 13, 1976

Sunset: March 17, 2011

Family Photos

My Brother Kier flew down for Christmas so on my Mom's birthday (Dec. 28th) we all went and had an updated family photo taken--we did this last year but Sawyer was much smaller and was sick with what turned out to be his first ear infections...so needless to say, he was a little grumpy last time...

But look how super cute he is now! Oh, how I just love that boy!

I like these photos way better than last year's...and I bet no one could even tell that Willie is standing on a box :)

Here are some of the photos we got...

Brendan, me (Dominique), Danika, and Kier...The "Lugo Kids"

sawyer.lincoln.love

The Boys--minus Giacomo


The Girls...mom's quote of the day..."Boy, this blonde hair is really making me look gray!" lol

Happy Halloweenie!

We had a wonderful weekend--one that in my opinion doesn't get much better. On Saturday we drove to Downey to visit Danika and my parents also met us there. My cousins Kelly & Chris came and spent the day with us too and it was so much fun. We started off at the farmer's market where we got some yummy veggies (and candied pecans--sooo good!) to make dinner...homemade enchiladas. Too bad for mom and dad, they had to skip dinner and leave early to go to a surprise birthday party for a friend. We had lunch and dinner together--homemade of course, then carved pumpkins and baked the seeds, which were a HUGE hit!

Then on Sunday (Halloween), my parents came to our house for dinner. We dressed up Sawyer in his Shark outfit (towel), and Giacomo in his Sawyer outfit (but the shorts kept falling off). We trick-or-treated (to about 6 houses) and I think we were the only ones in our whole community out there. It was so cute watching Sawyer walk around as a shark! Babies don't need candy and we certainly don't either so 6 houses was enough for us, so we came home and topped off the night with cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. Yum!

A weekend full of family and fun...doen't get much better!

Happy Birthday Sonia!

Sonia turned 34 and we threw her the biggest birthday bash ever this past weekend. There were about 150 people all celebrating how wonderful Sonia is. She took the month of October off of chemo so she could be feeling a little better and she could not have looked more beautiful! The evening was filled with lots of love, tears, laughs, pictures, auctions, candy, pinata bashing, and of course, dancing!

Willie with Nana Twice...They both worked so hard to make everything perfect...among many other people of course :)

Me and my honey...

I was in charge of the candy station. To be honest, I was a little overwhelmed at first with the amount of candy we had. I thought for sure we'd have TONS left over. We had M&M's, skittles, ring pops, lollipos galore, sour balls, Hot Tamales, Mike & Ike, gum, gummy bears, Hershey bars, etc. and I even made 200 peanut butter crunch balls and 100 Oreo balls. Needless to say everything was devoured and the adults were like little kids! We took home 1 ziplock of skittles and that was it...I'd say it was a big hit.

And Willie was in charge of the cupcake dress...Sonia had seen something like this on Cupcake Wars but the estimate to make it was way too much...until Willie decided to do it himself and wala!

We had Tatti come over a few days before for the "fitting." It had wheels so Tatti could roll it around. I have to say...I was very impressed :)

Overall it was a blast and something we will always remember. Everyone else agreed that they wanted a birthday bash like this too! Happy Birthday Sonia!!!!!

Sawyer and the Giant Pumpkin...

Sawyer turned 15 months on Sunday so we went to Bates Nut Farm. He had lots of fun climbing on pumkpkins, petting the goats, eating kettle corn and hanging out with his auntie Danika and his grandparents...

...and he even kept his hat on since it was warm that day!

Such good-looking boys!

These days Sawyer comes equipt with 12 teeth and a mind of his own! He's always into everything but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Happy 15 months Sawyer!

Happy 14 Months Sawyer!

Our little guy is 14 months today! He's so much fun and it's incredible how much he understands and what he can do each day!

The other day he walked into his room and took out a book and was just sitting there flipping the pages and looking at it. Who cares that it was upsidedown...he was looking through a book! Maybe it's the teacher in me but I was so proud :)

We were making breakfast on Labor Day so we put on Veggietales for the first time. Sawyer climbed in the chair was rocking back and forth to the music...so cute!

He would only turn around to get another cracker :)

Such an awesome little boy!

We're still Here...

It's been almost 2 months since I've updated the blog...sorry to everyone who checks...here's what we've been up to...

Cousin Anderson turned 1 a few weeks after Sawyer did so we went went to their new place in West Hills for his birthday bash. Sawyer quickly took over Jake's chair and he and Anderson got books and posed all by themselves! Such smart boys :)

Sawyer was way over due for a nap so he decided that Anderson looked pretty cozy...

And here's Sawyer in his cool glasses...we took out the lenses on these 3D glasses and he loved wearing them. He seems so much older every day...babbling more, pointing to things we talk about, looking at books and turning the pages, pretty much running, not to mention the 2 new molars he has on the bottom...that makes 10 teeth total and a lot of biting (mostly mommy)!

This one is Willie's favorite...

He definitely keeps up busy but he's tons of fun and full of joy!

Sawyer in Paradise...

Sawyer and I decided last minute to go to Kauai so we booked our flight on the 27th and left 2 days later... Willie couldn't get it off work with such short notice so we went and met Sonia, Sophia, and Ciria there (they left the day before us), and I also convinced Danika that she wanted to go too. Thank goodness, because she was a huge help, especially with Sawyer and the plane ride. Here's what we did...

We saw tons of beautiful places and I can't imagine a more perfect place to vacation...waterfalls everywhere...just mesmerizing...and all the wild roosters were cute too!

We stayed in a different place from Willie's family but we were still really close by so we saw each other a lot. Sonia was going to have to start chemo as soon as she got back so we wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. Here we all are at Fern Grotto on our last morning in paradise...

We drove to the top of the canyon on the west side of the island and found the MOST breathtaking sight ever...I felt like we were in the clouds...

Sawyer's first trip to paradise...here he is in happier times...most of our photos of him are not so happy, but he had a good reason....

Waimea Canyon Lookout...

We met some awesome people...Larry and Linda Eyestone...we actually met them 17 years ago when our families were vacationing and our parents told us to give them a call. We didnt' even remember that so we made our parents call first, but we ended up talking to them for 3 hours one night and then on our last day in Kauai, Larry was our own personal tour guide and drove us around for hours. It was so amazing...and Linda had a friend who worked for our airline so she totally hooked us up and we ended up with an empty seat in 0ur row (one of about 2 on the flight). They were soooo nice and we are so grateful for them!

Everyone was so into Sawyer...I felt like we were treated royally. Everyone wanted to hold him and kiss his hands and just oogle over him...so cute!

But the poor little muffin got sick toward the beginning and had to go to the doctor. The nurses were amazing and he ended up wth a shot of antibiotics for an ear infection. The next day he kept spiking fevers over and over and he vomited so to the ER he went for day 2 of doctor's visits. By the end he was feeling much better and if you've gotta be sick, it may as well be in paradise, right?

Our Hawaiian Luau...

The beach bum...before he got sick...love those wrinkly feet!

Sawyer exploring the sand on our first day in Kauai...

I love this becuase he hates crawling on grass. Instead, he poses like a dog and tries to go on all 4's.

The view from our lanai...

This was the flight to Kauai...we didn't have much room but thankfully we had a wonderful "seatmate" who played with Sawyer and let him crawl on her. Let's just say he didn't sleep all that much on this flight...

Our "seatmate" Kaylee...

It's hard packing and carrying everything for yourself and a baby...thankfully Danika was there to help me...this was just after we had arrived in Kauai...

And this was on the way home...it was a red eye flight and Sawyer slept almost the entire time...it was wonderful.

Danika and I both agreed that we definitely want to go back to beautiful Kauai. Even though Sawyer was sick most of the time we still felt like we got to see a lot and would love to return!