Belton: Zero Months

I am planning to document Belton's growth on this giraffe from month to month!

So, we had to start out with some "zero month" pictures! 

Belton Matthew Tovar

We are so grateful for our sweet miracle baby, Belton Matthew Tovar!

Belton joined our family on October 4, 2012 at 5:25 pm. 

I had a sonogram at 1:30 that afternoon and Belton failed the tests during it. My fluid was really low and he wasn't moving enough. My doctor, Dr. McCants talked to me and told me to go straight to labor and delivery and that she would see me there! I made my way from the office in Mesquite to the hospital in Dallas, calling family members to let them know he was on the way! The plan was to induce me over a period of about 12 hours to see how he tolerated contractions. Before they even started to induce me, I was hooked up to fetal heart rate monitors and I turned from my back to my side because I had been uncomfortable! A couple of minutes later, the doctor and nurses came into the room saying that his heart rate had just plummeted and that they needed to get him out of there! Matt wasn't even at the hospital yet, but he was on his way. Luckily, Mom was with me at that point. The doctor said that I was going to have a c section in the next hour or so. She told me that they were already prepping the OR for me. Luckily Matt got there just in time and we went down to the operating room. My doctor performed the surgery and when she got to him, she exclaimed "you have an acrobat!" and all of the doctors and nurses in the room gasped. Belton's cord had been wrapped around his neck three times and it had a true knot in it.  All of the nurses told each other the story in the recovery room and each one called him a "miracle baby". We are VERY blessed that he is here with us today, and he is perfectly healthy!

6 lbs. 7 oz. 19.25 in.

As we left the OR, Dr. McCants asked us if we are religious people. Of course we said yes, and she told us that she had had "no medical reason" to schedule me for a sonogram that day. She said that she just had a feeling that it needed to happen, so she went ahead and scheduled it. Dr. McCants told us that it is purely because of that prompting from God that our son is here today. 

I am of course incredibly grateful to her for acting on the inspiration that she received. And I'm grateful to the Lord for providing that inspiration. As we approach the holiday season, Thanksgiving has an even bigger meaning to me than it normally does. Although motherhood is hard, I already can't imagine my life without this sweet little boy. He has brought a lot of joy and love into our home already, and Matt and I are just so excited to watch him grow.

Headed home!

Football & A Dust Storm

I loved that the scoreboard warned us that the dust was coming!

So we went to the first game of the season against Texas State, but all we remembered by the time we left was the dust storm!

Here it comes!

From the north to the south, the dust took over the stadium!!

In true Lubbock fashion, the sky went from this...

...to this in about ten minutes!

The Science Spectrum

Another place we had never been was to The Science Spectrum! 

First we went to a movie in the OMNI Theater, it was different from any theater I've been in! And then we went and explored the museum!

We had fun spinning tops!

And then had fun spinning Matt!

:-)

We had a great time!

After the Science Spectrum, we had a late lunch and then Dad decided it was time for him to go back to Dallas. We had such a great time with him here and were sad to see him go! Thanks for coming Padre!!

Buffalo Springs Lake and Ransom Canyon

On Saturday morning, we got up and went exploring. We decided to do some things none of us had done yet. I have a list of things that I want to make sure Matt and I do during our last semester here at Tech, so we started out to Buffalo Springs Lake. 

After being at the lake we decided to keep going just a little bit farther and go to Ransom Canyon. They were basically connected, but it was neat to see the area from both sides!

We saw this crazy house-like-thing and had to get closer for more pictures!

Dad loved it!

This one was across the street...

What's up with people in Ransom Canyon??
They're creative, that's for sure!

Cagle's Steakhouse

Dad pointed out that the Cagle brand is made of horseshoes!

On one of our first weekends back in Lubbock for our final semester, Dad came to visit! He brought us the couch that Peter gave us and took back the futon that we were borrowing from Marshall and Jennifer. He stayed with us for about a day and a half and we were able to do some fun things together!

Friday night, after unloading and reloading the furniture, we went to Cagle's Steakhouse for dinner. Matt and I had never heard of this place, but we loved it and are so happy to know about it now!! It's on a ranch, and is only a few minutes from our apartment! 

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures inside!

I love this old Raiderland sign!

Good-bye Oregon!

A couple of pictures from the airplane of a mountain! 

We had a great time, but were also very happy to be headed home to Texas! :)

Green Portland

So, Portland is a very "green" city. We definitely felt like we were in a foreign country at times with the things we saw! I think they speak for themselves!!

In the Portland Airport

At The Bite of Oregon

Al Forno Ferruzza

While we were at The Bite of Oregon, I ate a piece of pizza and tried to take a picture of the guy tossing the dough in the air, remember?

Well, this pizza was the BEST pizza I've ever had in my life. So on Thursday night, before our Friday morning flight, we decided to get pizza from that place for dinner. 

We went in with our coupon from The Bite of Oregon and met the owner's father who served us. He told us that he is from Sicily and he immigrated to the USA and then got married and had children. His son decided that he wanted to open a pizza shop (because he is a FABULOUS chef!) and so he is helping his son out in the shop. They have an amazing thing going for them! I would go back to Portland just for another pizza from this place!!

Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera in to pick up the pizza, so these are phone pictures!

Ferruzza's Oven (the Ferruzza family owns the pizza shop)

The owner's father, who we talked to the whole time is the man in this mural.
The person who painted this mural is the guy who made our pizza.

Margarita Pizza, with Pepperoni on Half

Shakespeare Garden

Inside the Rose Test Garden there is a separate garden called the Shakespeare Garden. Every plant and flower in it are mentioned in something Shakespeare wrote.