thankfulness

What a wonderful time of year it is! We are so very blessed to have the family and friends that we do in our lives. It's amazing how quickly time FLIES when you have a child. As we were having our Thanksgiving dinner all I could think about was how much everyone has changed over the course of a year. Our families have expanded and we are all learning to grow together and are so very blessed. I'm so thankful that God has provided so much for our families and that He will continue to bless us each and every day!

sorry...

Ok I know that I have been TERRIBLE about keeping up with this thing...but please forgive me! We are all doing great nonetheless. Sofia is such a sponge and must know 500+ words already. And if you ask her she'll tell you "ha ha I'm so funny!" Promise she said it to me Friday night! We are very excited about the holidays coming up and the fact that Art actually has some time off to spend with us which is not normally case due to work! We will be taking family pictures coming up and I haev new pictures of Sofia from her 18 month photo shoot.

I do need to tell you all that I was teacher of the week, which was AMAZING!!! So I had the honor of parking in the "teacher of the week" parking spot :) New and updated pictures will be up shortly!

ok so....

So I had Sofia's one year pictures taken finally....well a few weeks ago...and I can't post them since our scanner is not wanting to work! So hopefully they will be up for all to see very soon...cross our fingers:) Also, Sofia will be dedicated this Sunday, Mother's Day at the church we have been attending, Ark Church. We are VERY excited to have Sofia be a part of this special day to dedicate our lives to making Sofia aware of the awesomeness of our Wonderful Maker!

When it rains it pours!

Well I am so glad that this month is coming to a close!!! As some of you know we were in a car accident at the end of March that totalled my car. Thankfully we all walked away without a scratch. Shortly after the car accident Sofia was put into Texsa Childrens (April 4th). Her knee had swollen up and she was refusing to bear any weight on it. We took her to the pediatrician and she did xrays and decided it was a dislocated hip (this was the day before her knee swole up) and gave us instructions to watch carefully for redness, swelling, and fever and to go to the ER if any of those symptoms occured. While in the ER at Texas Childrens they were able to drain a large portion and have immediate swelling reoccur so they said that they would be doing emergency knee surgery to clean out whatever was in her knee. This was at 5am Sunday morning...we finally went into surgery at 4pm Sunday...surgery lasted an hour and it was very difficult to have to walk away from Sofia and not be able to be there with her. We stayed in the hospital until April 9th when the culture that was taken during surgery finally grew a bacteria. The bacteria Kingella is what caused Sofia to be diagnosed with Septic Arthritis. Kingella is a bacteria that everyone is born with in their throat and settles in the upper respritory system and infests the joints. When this happens the infection can eat away the bone if not treated immediately. We did have to return to Texas Childrens ER on the 14th because the swelling had returned in her knee. After all of the blood tests they saw that her levels were fine and that it was just inflamation and sent us home...thank GOD!!! We just have to watch her knee for swelling and make sure she is taking her medicine.

Right now we are just so thankful that God was protecting us through it all and has brought us out of this situation stronger and closer to Him:)

1 year already!

I can't believe Sofia's first year has already flown by! Thank you so very much to all that were able to come to help us in celebrating Sofia's first year accomplishments. The turn out was overwhelming! Never in our wildest dreams did Art or I think that many people would show up!!! ON another note...

Saturday at Lisa's baby shower (honoring handsome Eli) Sofia decided to say GiGi (that is what my Mom is called) mind you she's never said that before. Also, on our way home yesterday Sofia began asking for "her PawPaw" she just kept repeating over and over "my PawPaw" so we have a genuis on our hands folks. Oh and our adorable daughter also was put in time-out yesterday for the first time...imagine that...Sofia was testing her limits:)

wow 3:46pm is sneaking up on us!

so it's the night before my sweet baby turns 1!!! i can't believe that time has flown by so fast! art and i were talking about what we were doing last year at this time...it was crazy...he was taking a nap...like always...and i was freaking out about the fact that my sweet angel was going to be in my arms in just 24 hours! i remember the hospital calling about 10ish to tell us to be there at midnight to check in and all i could think was "crap i have got to wash my hair before we can leave cause i know i'm going to have to have it lookin halfway ok for pictures" it's so insane how much our lives have changed for the better in such a short time. we are so blessed to have sofia mychelle zarate in our lives! i can't thank God enough for giving sofia to us!

Sofia's Birthday

As you all know Sofia will be turning one very soon!!!! I can't believe this time is already here! I never realized how quickly time flies until I had Sofia! Please mark your calendars for February 28th. Invitations will be coming shortly...I am not going to do them until after my science test on January 31st. So look for them in the first of February. I really really REALLY would LOVE for all of Sofia's Great Grandparents and Grandparents to be there if possible...so I'm telling you VERY far in advance. Hugs and kisses to all. Also, please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I take my science certification test January 31st.