Maya's Blessing

Grandma Susan and Grandpa Tom came down to celebrate Maya's blessing in church today. They came only for five days so we had to make every moment count. As you can see, Maya is doing her part.

A couple of weeks ago, Maya got to know her Grandma and Aunt on the Knudsen side, and this weekend she enjoyed getting to know the Biggs side grandparents.

They brought presents for every day and the kids have enjoyed everyone of them. One of the days' present was a blow-up swimming pool that they actually brought from Aunts Rachel and Mary.

Grandma and Grandpa have been here before, so we didn't do a lot of sight seeing. However, we did go eat at a couple of taco places. But we had to get creative to figure out how to fit four adults, three toddlers, and a baby in a tiny Nissan Versa. (If any of you are law enforcement, we claim refuge in Mexico) The kids enjoyed seeing where we have been as they made faces at the cars behind us.

Here we are eating the best tacos al pastor that we have found. The kids have become pros at eating and enjoying hot Mexican food.

Here is Maya Susanna with 1/2 of her namesake. The other is Anna, Jenn's mother.

Maya's blessing day wearing a dress crocheted by Grandma Susan.

Here is a better look at the dress and the blanket, both made by Grandma Susan.

The kids sure are proud of their baby sister Maya. Thomas asks why Maya is so "Beautiful".

And here is the answer:

Just on a funny note. Thomas and Hyrum both like to play on Jenn's iPod, but they don't know the pass code. And every time you enter a wrong number, it locks for longer and longer. Now the iPod is disabled for the next 21+ million minutes (40+ years). I guess this will be a good present for Thomas' 44th birthday.

A Busy Few Weeks

Here is another post from Maya's Mother Land

Hopefully you will see all the activities that have gone on since the last post and will understand why it has been so long.

Here are a few pictures of our latest celebrity. Everywhere we go people love to stop us and look at our baby. Then they love her even more when they find out she is Mexicana.

Here are a few of Maya with her loving brothers

Hyrum is really starting to love his baby sister.

And here she is with a couple of her compatriots.

Kim Arcila

Daniella Arcila

Jenn has been superwoman. She hosted a lunch for all the other American wives ("The Wives Club") shortly after her c-section.

Here are Kirtlyn and Hyrum with a few of the new American kids in our Stake. (Yes, Hyrum has a headless Superman hanging by the cape in his mouth...he is in a comedic stage)

And a highlight of this time has been Grandma Anna and Aunt Trisha coming to visit from Mesa, AZ. The kids were so happy to see them.

Hyrum instantly looks older here.

Grandma Anna brought presents for everyone...shoes for the kids, clothes for Maya, and brown sugar for Jennifer and Thomas.

We went to Tarasco's to get Tacos al Pastor (You can see the meat cooking on the other side of the man in the blue shirt, notice the pineapple on top).

We also went to Tonola to get some typical Mexican shopping done. There, there is a good restaurant where you can get the best Mole (Thomas' plate), and the best Enchiladas (Jenn's plate)

Kirtlyn is the only one that we could get to sit next to the skeleton. But even she wanted to keep her distance.

HAVE A GOOD DAY!

Meet Miss Maya!!

We found internet in the hospital so we decided to share the photos we have.

Here is Jenn right when we got here. Obviously this is before the birth. The hospital is Hospital Country 2000. It is very Catholic, along with everything else in Mexico. The staff is very nice and very professional. Jenn says that this is her best post-c-section recovery. She compliments the doctors for that. We have been here for about 24 hours and have seen 6 doctors come in and out to check on her and the baby. If we need something, we can go talk to the doctor, who is in the nurses station, instead of asking the nurse, who then would have to call the doctor, who might not respond. Of course this is a private hospital that really knows how to treat the customer.
The doctors were great, they let me look over their shoulders and they explained everything. I had just finished my surgery class the day before so I was able to keep up with what they were doing.
Maya did great, but she was not happy to come into all that light.
Don't make the incubator worry you, all the babies spend ~4 hours in there to acclimate themselves to this new world.

Room 209, Time of Birth 3:10

This is Jenn right when they brought her back. She is doing great!
Babies stay in the nursery here all night and in the mother's room all day. So here she is through the nursery window.
Here are Annie and Tammi, they stayed with the kids all night last night while I stayed with Jenn. They really are a great blessing to our family.

Hyrum is mildly excited that he has a new sister. Thomas is the most interested. He is just so amazed at how small everything is. And he is excited that Hyrum is not the smallest in the family anymore. Kirtlyn is the most excited to take her home and get started mothering her. She is also the most concerned for Jenn. She had a lot of questions about the surgery and how they fixed the hole in Jenn's tummy.

Here is Maya. If any of you can suggest a good middle name, we are open. We have discussed Lorraine, Marie, and Susanna. We are not sure what color eyes she has yet. Jenn has brown, but all our kids have blue. Maya is also the first baby to have dark hair. The other kids' was so light that they looked bald. Thomas kept saying that she has short, dark, boy hair.

We are so glad to have this new angel in our lives. Maya will definitely fit right in.

As I have loved you...

Daniela Guilante on the left, Daniela Arcila on the Right.
We played many games, five or six. It was great!
Martha my visiting teacher on the left. Relief society president Rosita in the yellow on the Right.
Tami came over for the shower and helped me with translating the whole time.
The food was fantastic, Loved the tostada, a spice cake, rice pudding, and a lemon cake. It was just delicioso.
Truly spoiled, and tired after the four hour baby shower.
....Love one another

When asked how the baby was doing, Thomas mentioned to my visiting teacher that we may be having her a little early. Immediately she said she would support us. By the time we were out of our church meetings, the relief society had planned a time, place,some food, games, and a ride for me to my own baby shower to take place a couple of days later. While at the shower they spent at least one hour discussing every possible way to help me. From help with the kids, to dinners, to picking up my family from the airport if necessary, to bathing the baby.

This is it, this is the love He has spoken of.