We survived!!

November was absolutely CRAZY!!! Great, but crazy busy!! The first weekend, Robert and I able to go to FamilyLife's Weekend To Remember weekend marriage retreat! The conference we went to was in beautiful Monterey and Robert and I thoroughly enjoyed the speakers and learning how to better our relationship with each other. =)

The following weekend we moved all of our stuff in our new home in Sacramento!! The week after that, Robert and I went to Vegas for a week to work on the upgrades and work the house needed. Robert did a wonderful job! I helped where I could, but I was mostly the painter for two of the bedrooms and a bathroom and doing the detail stuff. But I did become a pro with the nail gun!! I was freaked out to use it, but it was actually a lot of fun! =) Robert and I were a great team at putting up the trim around all of the windows, if I do say so myself. =)

We were blessed with a renter for the Vegas house!!!!! We are so happy and it was wonderful how God worked it all out! Our former next door neighbor, James, moved from his house during the summer into an apartment, but he realized apartment living is not for him. He worked it out with the leasing office where he's at, and he'll officially start renting our house in February! We already gave him the keys, so he's going to start moving his things over whenever he likes! We're definitely happy! The price we gave him is less than what he's paying, so we're both helping each other out! =) God is good!

We originally thought we'd be done with the house on Wednesday morning, drive out to Sacramento, unload, spend the night there, then head to San Jose to spend time with our family. But, of course, that was not how it happened! We didn't end up leaving Las Vegas until 10:ooam Thanksgiving morning, but we stopped at Sunrise Children's Hospital to give them a Thanksgiving card with pictures of Mia. We were so happy that Blanca was the receptionist that morning! Blanca totally fell in love with Mercedes during Mia's 10 week stay at Sunrise. Everyday, Mercedes would carry around her little photo album of Mia's pictures and she's always show them off! She's tell them all about "Mia Amornay"!

Walking into the the hospital brought back memories, but when I used their hand sanitizer, the smooth silky feel of it brought the memories flooding back. Seeing Blanca totally helped me fight back the tears! We went up to the NICU floor and weren't too sure which Pod to go to, so we just went to the where Mia's very first bed was. We were looking through the window seeing the bed spot where another little baby girl was.... we were looking around for a nurse to give the card to, but we didn't see anybody. We walked over to the double doors, then I see somebody! I got soo excited and I was knocking on the window, then she turned around! It was Patricia! She was the nurse who admitted Mia the day she was born and she was also Mia's first primary nurse. It was a great surprise to be able to catch up with her and tell her how Mia is progressing. I showed her a few videos and such... it totally made my day seeing both Blanca and Patricia. =)

We arrived to San Jose in time to see Mia wide awake on Thanksgiving!! We have this tradition going with all of the Cortez grandkids... on the baby's first Thanksgiving, we get a picture of them wrapped in a particular blanket wearing their "Turkey Feathers"! It was a little more challenging with Mia since she's not holding her head up extremely well, but we made it work! =)

We all woke up not feeling the greatest, so we didn't see Mia all weekend, but we went up to Sacramento to get the house a little bit in order and had a yard sale to get rid of some off the stuff we didn't need anymore. We did sell some, but none of the big stuff! Robert would have GIVEN everything away if I would have let him, but we do need to have some money to replace the furniture we're getting rid of! =) Some things are selling, thanks to CraigsList, but we still have all the big stuff left. Anybody want a 4 piece bedroom set or entertainment center?? ;-)

My parents and Renee went up to Sacramento as well. We met up at my Grandma's house to visit with her. My grandma's so beautiful!! It was great being able to spend time together with extended family. Having Thanksgiving left overs was great, too! Thanks, Aunt Ida! =) Mercedes knew we were going to our new house, so she kept asking when we were leaving because she wanted to see the new house again!! She was SO excited!! My family was able to spend two nights with us and they helped quite a bit with the unpacking and organizing, which was so helpful! Mercedes' and Mia's rooms are now almost totally set up. Just gotta get everything hung up on the walls! =) When it was time to head back to San Jose, Mercedes didn't want to leave. She told my Mom "No, I want to stay at the new house with my Daddy. I don't want to go to San Jose." She put her beloved Buzz Lightyear toy and Woody's hat in a box with her Daddy's tools so she didn't have to leave. =( It totally broke my heart! OF COURSE she wants to stay at her new house with her daddy!! I don't blame her... hopefully soon we'll have a little bit of normalcy.

It's been hard not seeing Mia as often as I'd like! I was gone for an entire week, then I wasn't feeling well for several days so I've only seen her about twice in the last 2 weeks. I miss my baby!! She's doing alright... weaning is proving to be more challenging than they initially expected. She does not tolerate being weaned to 22 bpm. Her Co2 went up again, so they had to raise her settings again. She's now back up to 26 bpm. She's stable now, so they're going to let her stay comfortable where she's at. She's also requiring a little more oxygen than is typical, so pray that she's not getting sick or anything.

One bit of good news is she has her two top teeth now!!! She's such a big girl with her 4 teeth! She likes grinding them which I don't like! haha... such a terrible sound! I had a meeting yesterday regarding Mia's health progress, and she's doing pretty good! The great news is that they are happy that she's interacting more and is much more aware of her surroundings and such. She's made a lot of progress developmentally!

While we were in Vegas, the eye doctor came to evaluate Mia. The wonderful news is that her vision is perfect!!! The doctor called me and answered questions that I had and the one thing he told me that I will never forget was this, "Don't you ever believe anybody when they say she [Mia] can't see. Her vision is perfect!" It seems as though that all of the doctors who have seen her, except for the geneticist, think Mia has Mobius Syndrome.

Mia has an appointment on Wednesday with the Pulmonologist at Stanford, so we'll see how that goes. We just found out this morning that her ear tube surgery has also been scheduled for January 8th, so also be praying for that!

Pray for my parents and sis as they travel to Oregon tomorrow for the week. It's been a planned trip for several weeks, but now they realized that God had them going for a different reason! My Uncle went to be with the Lord this morning, so the memorial service will be on Monday. He had been fighting illness for a few months and my Mom really wanted to visit with her sister and all the family for so long, she decided they should make the trip. Of course she had wanted to visit with him, too, but God had other plans! =) His ways are perfect..... and Uncle Lupe is peaceful now and not suffering any more! =) I'm going to miss my Mexican Santa!! He always scared me when I was little. haha Good memories! =) Pray for the entire Martinez family and especially his wife (my Mom's sister), Janie.

Hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving and are having the beginning of a joyous Christmas!! =)

God bless,
Rachael <3