24 weeks

Well, December is flying by. We finally finished our Christmas shopping and now we need to wrap!

There was a cookie exchange with the WTS ladies on Friday the 11th, there were few of us but it was nice to be together and catch up on life. I made these guys:

I was having trouble keeping anything down on Saturday the 12th so after 12 hours of this we went to the ER. I had an IV put in and then they dismissed me and then I got sick again. So then I got re-admitted and another IV with more liquids and medicine. After this I felt a lot better and we went home. 24 hours of a liquid diet and then I was on my feet. 

Last Friday was the last day of seminary classes for Alberto (ever!) so Alberto and I celebrated by going to see the new Star Wars movie. It was pretty good but definitely left me with more questions at the end. I guess that's how they keep making money :)

We announced this past weekend that baby La Rosa is a boy! 

Our 24 week appointment isn't until next week due to the holidays. But here is a photo of my 24 week tummy:

Merry Christmas to all! 

22 weeks

We had our ultrasound last Thursday and baby is doing well! Weight is 1 lb 1 oz which is quite normal for 21 weeks they tell me. Also, we found out the gender! Keeping the gender a secret for now but here's baby so far :) 

AND Alberto felt the baby kick for the first time last night! Baby has been kicking quite a bit lately but the placing of my placenta makes it easy for me to feel than for others. So I was really happy to share that with him.

Also. I turned 28 last week. It's going to be a life changing year. I'm excited and very nervous at the same time. We celebrated with Thai food and it was delicious!

22 week tummy!

20 weeks

Thanksgiving week and halfway mark for baby La Rosa to be here!

Alberto has been gone at the American Academy of Religion conference in Atlanta this past weekend and I will meet him in Chicago tomorrow to celebrate Thanksgiving with the La Rosa-Rojas clan. He has been really busy writing applications for PhD programs and now hopefully making some connections while he is in Atlanta.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at church last Wednesday and I made crockpot sweet potatoes! I find it difficult to bring anything but a dessert to weeknight activities so I found that the crockpot is a great assist in prepping food for an event where some actual food is needed. It turned out really sweet but pretty still delicious!

Also, we had some apples that needed to be used last weekend so I made these amazing apple dumplings! Super easy and so so so good! I forget that I love baking and it's such a stress reliever (most of the time).

With Alberto out of town, I use this time to catch up with friends and tv. I had a coffee date on Friday and numerous phone dates over the weekend. Saturday it snowed a bit so staying inside was definitely the way to go. Iowa played Purdue so I watched that and then I started Gilmore Girls over from the beginning. I don't remember the first couple of seasons so I'm excited to relive the early 2000s :)


Everyone keeps telling me it's fine that I'm feeling so lazy because there is a human growing inside of me but it really bothers me that I don't have more gumption (or "no tengo ganas" as they say in Spanish). Maybe energy will come in the third trimester? I don't know but it sure would be nice. I got out all the Christmas stuff and now we shall see if it actually gets put up. :-/

20 week tummy!

18 weeks

Well I had planned to start this earlier in the pregnancy but here we are already at 18 weeks and I haven't written a single thing. Time sure did get away from me.

I experienced heartburn for the first time in my life and man was that a good time (sarcasm). I had no idea what was happening to me. I googled "burning throat when burping" and they tell me that's acid reflux or something. I'm not a big fan. But tums to the rescue and everything feels better :) An old wives tale would suggest that means we are going to have a hairy baby, I guess we will find out. Otherwise baby seems to be doing well, I finally stopped getting "morning" sickness (the name is quite misleading) and now I'm just impatient for baby to GROW!

In other news, last week we made a visit to Duke University to see if the PhD would be a good fit for us. We stayed with my dad's first cousin and she was a wonderful host! She took us out to eat on our last night and we had some delicious North Carolina BBQ. I would say it's definitely not the Midwest but the food was amazing! Again, just another thing we will have to wait until the spring to find out :)

The Chapel at Duke:

Taking a walk around the Sarah P Duke Gardens

And my 18 week tummy photo:

five years in photos!

Well it's been almost five years since I last blogged and thought I would pick it up again. A few updates since December of 2010:

• I graduated from the University of Iowa on May 14, 2011.
  
• I moved to Chicagoland to take an internship at United Airlines in July of 2011. 
  
• I started attending Bloomingdale Alliance Church and was pretty involved (and met Alberto there). 
  
• With my United flying benefits I visited  many different places. (here in Puerto Rico)
  
• Alberto and I started dating on 8.8.12. He moved to Holland, MI on 8.25.12 to begin his Master of Divinity at Western Theological Seminary. 
  
• We would visit each other often and he would come home on breaks from school. 
  
• He proposed on 8.8.13 (see full story at http://alandajwedding.wix.com/love). 
  
• The internship turned into a full time job and I worked at United until September of 2013 when I decided to move to Michigan to be closer to Alberto while wedding planning.  
  
• I started working at a non-profit in West Michigan called Ready for School as an administrative assistant. 
  
• Alberto and I were married on April 5, 2014. 
  
• I stopped working at Ready for School in August of 2014 and started working at Fellowship Reformed Church of Holland as their office manager and director of communications.
• For Christmas, we picked up this adorable kitty. His name is Padfoot. 
  
• Here is our first year of marriage in a collage. 
  
• We traveled to Peru in May 2015 to see Alberto's family and for Alberto to return for the first time in 14 years. 
  
• We moved from our first married home, the Red Bricks, to Zeeland, Michigan in July of 2015. 
  
• Alberto started his last semester of seminary in September.
• In October, we announced that we are pregnant and due April 12, 2016. 
  
• And that's where this story picks up...