ANNOUNCING!!

Baby Eliezer Manuel Perez!!!! He was born at 6:22 this morning! He weighs 7 lbs 10 oz and measured at 20 in long!! Everyone is doing fine! What a wonderful blessing! :)

Update about Casey and Eliezer

Casey has had continuous contractions all day. She started to get worried when she hadn't felt any baby movement for over an hour. Casey knows that you should feel 10 movements in 1 hour. So, she and Eliezer went to the hospital to make sure the baby is ok. Please keep them in prayer. I'm hoping it's just the fact that baby Manny is asleep. But let's just pray that he is fine, and healthy...and that Casey will keep calm and have peace!

Baby Eliezer Manuel Perez might be here sooner than we thought!

For those of you who know Casey and Eliezer, they might get to meet their little son sooner than their expected due date - May 7th! Aside from the fact that Casey's belly is measuring much larger than it should at 37 weeks...I just kind of always had a feeling she'd deliver early.



Anyway...I just received an email from Casey, telling me not to get too excited, but just informing me that she has been having some contractions. It's not time to go to the hospital yet, but Manny could be here today or tomorrow...or very, very soon! We'll just have to wait and see! Right now Casey is just trying to keep distracted and relaxed. Please keep this soon-to-be mommy in prayer! I will update you when more exciting news happens!!

A few more pictures... :)

Jenn and Jess working so hard to make my life easier. :) They organized so beautifully!

The amazing organization skills of Jenn and Jess!!

Nylis enjoying some of the toys and presents. :)

You can't see him....but Nylis had already begun the unwrapping of the box next to me. He was a great help, because it was a big box to unwrap! :)

Sheavoynne did a great job at keeping me fed! :)

Baby Shower Picture Time!

Thanks to Haley, I have some great pictures to post of my baby shower. SO, here they are....

My dad's cousin Teri had this little stool specially made for our little girl Sophie! I LOVE it! :)

LAOG girls from my childhood and teen years! What a blessing to have everyone there, plus Nylis (and baby Sophie). They made me wear all my ribbons and bows.

The cute cake my mom's co-worker made.

This cabbage patch doll has a very special story behind it. It was given to me by Jenn DeSanto. This will be a tradition hopefully carried on by myself and my our girls. :)

Random chickens and maybe roosters too? I'm not a farm girl, so I can't tell which is which. But they were a nice touch, lol.

Preggo picture!

This is me all pregnant at my baby shower. I'll put more up later. :) My belly has actually grown much more since then. Yesterday, I went to the little general store near my house and the ladies behind the counter were talking about how I looked like a "tick ready to pop." They then asked me if I was due next month or so...and when I said no, and my due date was July 11th, they found it hard to believe. SO...I guess I'm pretty big now. All I know is I'm SO itchy! :)

A little story about last night :)

Last night, Paul tricked me into going to Home Depot to look at paint samples for his new little office last night and then go to a place called Angelo's for dinner because he was "craving thier cheesy garlic bread." So, I agreed without hesitation. When I arrived at Home Depot, he already picked out a paint sample, and I wondered why he needed ME if he already picked it out. But, that was the extent of my wondering. Then, we were on our way to Angelo's. We walked in, and Paul walked back to a room and I said "Hey Paul! We need to wait to be seated!" And when I went to get him, I looked in and saw a room full of the women I work with. My first thought was "Aww, they're ALL here, and they didn't invite me!" LOL. Then, I quickly realized that it was a surprise baby shower for me. :)

I have never been surprised before, so I didn't realize this was all a trick on me that Paul was playing. He did a really good job. Apparently, when Paul had called in to talk to me one day, one of the girls who answered the phone asked for his email address to plan this surprise and have him get me there. It worked really well! :) And I had a great time! :) We were blessed with wonderful gifts just the feeling of knowing people care about me. :)

Why the Bible says to be anxious for nothing :)

I had a feeling I was worrying about nothing, and tried not to. What's the point of worrying? It doesn't do any good. :)

Anyway, I'm still glad I had my pain checked out. My doctor said that even though I might not see any physical signs of skin irritation...the sunburn feeling I have is because my skin is stretching and is sensitive in that area. Also, I do have muscles and ligaments in that area, so all these pains are because of my growing belly. :) Thank God!

Also, like Amy experienced in her pregnancy...my heart burn is just heart burn. But man does it hurt!! :)

Thank you for praying! I really appreciate it! :)

Trying not to worry...

1 Peter 5:7 - Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you.

I really need to let that verse sink into my mind. Today I decided to google around about a pain I've had for the last 2 weeks. Right now, I'm hoping I'm making myself think what I'm experiencing is worse than it really is, but if you could please just keep me in prayer, I'd really appreciate it. Here's what's been going on with me:

For the past two weeks, I have had a weird pain in the upper right side of my abdomen, and it feels like an internal rug burn that is just ALWAYS there. The pain gets really bad if I move suddenly to the right, and surges deep down...when that happens, it is so painful that it wakes me up if i'm sleeping. Anyway...on top of that pain, I've been having heart burn, but when I have heart burn, I get pain in my back (its obvious the pain in my back is a result from the heartburn). So, I was reading these symptoms online, and sometimes pre-eclampsia can be associated with these symptoms. I don't want to make myself paranoid, but I still want to get checked out. So, I have an appt. tomorrow morning.

Please keep me in prayer so I can not worry about this, and actually sleep tonight and not stress out. I won't have access to email at all tomorrow, but I will let you know how everything goes on Wed. Thanks for your friendship and thanks for your prayers! :)

Baby Shower!

I had an incredible time at my baby shower. Things couldn't have gone any smoother with out the help of my mom, cousin, Jess D, Jenn F, Haley, Sheavoynne, Sarah Graham and the caterers at the Apple Farm (if there was anyone else I forgot or maybe didn't see behind me, please forgive me...I want to give you credit too!) Jess and Jenn did an amazing job at organizing everything and laying it all out on the table. I really didn't need to do a thing! Because of their organization, I was able to fit everything but the big boxes in my car. I should be able to fit everything else in my car on my next trip home!

Haley took pictures, and I am patiently waiting to see how they came out (and post some on here). Sarah took down the notes of who gave me what, and Sheavoynne took the trash and fed me my cake! And Nylis was just an amazing little boy who didn't fuss at all. He was so content to just watch everything happening. :)

I was completely blessed! I got so many things that I will need and so many cute outfits! With my relatives and church friends there, I really felt like the entire room was filled with family. Thanks to everyone who helped! I am totally blessed to have you in my life! :)

I'm not sure when I'll get pictures, but I'll definitely post some on here when I can!

Massachusetts!

I took the day off work (I must say I am very blessed to have a job that gives me 4 weeks paid vacation) and started on my way to MA by 9am this morning. I have a hard time doing night trips lately...because my body is usually ready for bed by 9:30...sometimes earlier. :) I'm just so excited to be seeing a lot of friends tomorrow! It's good to be "home"!

Anyway...last night was the 3rd night in a row that I have woken up around 3am. I was hot, sweaty and uncomfortable. I've heard about other pregnant women going through this in their 3rd trimester, but I wasn't expecting this for another few weeks. I really hope I will get a full night's sleep tonight. But, if not...I guess this is just God's way of preparing my body for night time feedings. :) SO, I guess I'll count it all joy, lol.

I guess I didn't have much to write about tonight, but I'm sure I will tomorrow after the baby shower! :)

My First Blog!

I decided to give in and try this blogging thing out. I used to blog a lot in college, but soon gave it up when I moved out on my own and didn't have the internet. But I see so many wonderful people who are keeping me updated on their lives, and I love being informed. I thought I'd join in, since I have a little girl on the way, and I'm sure many people will want updates and pics when that happens.

So, what's going on for the Marklund's right now? Since October, Paul and I have become part-time youth leaders at our church. Its going really well. Paul and I have always seen the potential in of what we call "the bus kids," and now we're starting to see some really positive change taking place. Segregation between the regular Sunday church attendees and the "bus kids" seems to be almost non-existant. We see more interaction and more questions being asked. Also, more consistancy with who is there each week, which makes it a whole lot easier to get to know them more on a personal level when their attendance is consistant.

I also have a baby shower this weekend! This is something that makes it more of a reality that I'm going to have a baby in just under 3 months!! We've asked Jenn Farnsworth to capture some moments on film, so hopefully I'll have some baby shower pictures to share with you after the weekend (thanks again Jenn!).

I guess I'll leave it at that for now. I'll see all my LAOG peeps this weekend! Yay!! :)