If I had to describe today with emoji’s, I’d need a lot of them!
Exhaustion – Tuesdays are always difficult. I get very little sleep before having to come into work for the night. I do the best I can to nap when the kids are napping, but things just never seems to line up where we all sleep at the same time.
Confident – Recently I was presented with an opportunity that peaked my interest. It was one of those things that I really wasn’t searching for, but I looked at it very carefully. After much discussion and weighing all the pros and cons, I made a decision that I feel is best.
Afraid – At the same time, looking on the horizon, there is something I stumbled on that has positives and negatives. I took a leap of faith today. It would be a HUGE change. It has been something that has been on the back burner for some time. Whether or not anything comes of it is yet to be seen. If it does, there are some big things to think about and consider.
Angry – Annoyed – Exasperated – Done – One phone call can bring about so many emotions. How many times can the same things be rehashed? When do you just say “Forget it? I’m done?” An hour and 20 minutes of being on speaker phone being accused, judged, called every profane name imaginable, and treated like a piece of crap is not exactly how I want to spend my time. Once you apologize for something, you shouldn’t be expected to keep apologizing for it over and over again. Especially when the other party has said they forgive you. My God, it was a vicious circle of things that are from years ago, yet here we are talking about it again! Enough is enough. If you can’t get past it, I don’t know what to tell you. Don’t feel sorry for me or my family, because quite frankly, we are fine! Please just let it go!
Dedicated – It is time for me to stop letting the outside BS affect me and my family. I am dedicated to being the best husband and father I can be to those who will let me. I have found happiness and NO ONE will take that away from me. I love my family more than I will ever be able to express here, and intend to keep it together. Leave your negativity at the door or better yet, keep it away. There is LOVE, tenderness, faith, and joy in my house! I intend to increase those feelings with every moment I am alive!
Sadness – With every day my kids continue to grow up. Ella will be two this week. I am having a very difficult time wrapping my head around that. Andrew will be 4 months old this week and it seems like time won’t slow down. Sam has often said to me that she feels when she is done with work for the week, she feels like the look older and are bigger. I feel the same way. Despite having gone through this with my two older sons, it feels like time is going by even faster than before.
I will end on a positive emotion:
Happiness – This week, Ella started saying, “I love you, too, Daddy.” and “I love you, too, Mommy” after we tell her that we love her. There is nothing that will melt your heart faster.
Earlier today, Andrew was laying on the floor and he was giggling. I snapped a picture of him and Ella immediately came over and laid next to him and said, “My turn, Daddy!” In an absolute amazing moment, she grabbed his hand and I snapped the picture.
THAT IS WHAT MATTERS! Those two amazing kids (and my beautiful and wonderful wife) are the source of my happiness. There is nothing but joy connected with them. There is no negativity. There is no hate. There are no grudges. There are no hidden motives. There is LOVE. There is JOY. There is HAPPINESS. There is DELIGHT. There is LAUGHTER.
This is what is important! THEY are what is important.
On my bad days, those two special kids remind me to focus on what really matters!
When I was a kid, I remember having one of those Fisher Price Doctor kits. As a matter of fact, I think it remains a staple in every kid’s toy box!
I remember how cool it was that you could hear your heartbeat with the Stethoscope. Of course, you always had to give every one in your family a “shot!”
Today, my friend Margaret stopped by to drop off the kid’s Christmas presents. Naturally, Ella was excited to see her. She loves Aunt Margaret! She knew that she probably wasn’t going to get to see Ella before her birthday next month, so she also brought her birthday present.
I put the gift bag aside and figured I’d give it to her closer to her birthday. I was standing in the kitchen and Ella found the bag. She looked in it and started yelling “CoCo Mel!” “CoCo Mel!” which is Ella talk for Cocomelon. Aunt Margaret got her a Cocomelon doctor kit.
When you push the bandaid on the “bag” it sings and stuff. She was so excited to play with it, so she got her present early.
Of course, she had to give mommy, daddy, and baby brother a shot. Sam told me she was playing doctor all night. She takes liquid vitamin D in a dropper every day and AJ takes GERD meds in a syringe. So was walking up to him and giving him “medicine” (the shot) like his syringe.
When Sam told me this, I was reminded of an event that happened when I was probably a couple years older than Ella (maybe 5 or 6). I was playing doctor as well…and it put me in the hospital! Remember how Grey’s Anatomy had Dr. McDreamy and Dr. McSteamy? As a kid, I was Dr. McDummy!!
Growing up, when we had a fever, mom used to give us baby aspirin. It was orange flavored and I remember thinking it tasted like candy.
I want to say that the bottle did NOT have a child proof cap on it. I know that because of what happened.
My brother and I had gotten up and we were watching TV. My mom was still in bed sleeping. I grabbed the old Fisher Price doctor kit and we were playing. I told him he was sick and needed medicine. Mom kept the medicine up in a cupboard in the kitchen. It was a high cupboard and I had to work to get to it.
I pulled over a kitchen chair and climbed up on it. I don’t remember much, but I do remember grabbing the baby aspirin and taking my brother’s temperature with the fake thermometer. I said he needed medicine, but I was always the one who ate a baby aspirin. I don’t know how many I wound up taking. I do know that mom found me in the kitchen and I was off to the hospital to have my stomach pumped.
I don’t remember much about the hospital stay or any of the aftermath. I hadn’t thought about this incident in many years. Maybe I’ll call my dad this weekend and see how much he remembers. I can’t even imagine how scary this had to be for either one of them. I wonder if Dr. McDummy’s antics led to the child proof caps?
Another Christmas has come and gone. I hope that you had a Christmas full of wonderful memories! This Christmas was full of a lot of joy for us, but there were some things that left me sad. I will attempt to recap and keep it as happy as possible. Many of my Facebook friends have already seen these pictures, but that’s ok.
Thursday, December 23
After working the night before, I slept for a couple hours and went and picked up my son. His brother was working that night and was coming up after work so we could celebrate Christmas Eve Morning together.
My dad and Rose came over that afternoon. Neither had met AJ yet, so it was extra special to have them here. When then walked in, Ella ran to them SO excited. She was so happy to see them. She loves them both so much!!
There is something that is so amazing to me to see my dad hold his grandchildren. There is a special light in his eyes. There are almost tears. It is so special. He always kisses them gently on the head and talks to them.
Dad and AJ
Ella was all about Grandma Rose that night! Grandma made her a Mickey and Minnie blanket, which she just loves. One of my favorite pictures from that day is the two of them snuggled up on the chair with her blanket.
Ella and Grandma Rose
My Dad, being the silly guy that he is, heard Ella saying some of the alphabet. He immediately thought of “Violent is the Word for Curly,” the Three Stooges short which features the “Swingin’ the Alphabet” song.
B A Bay, B E Bee, B I Bicky By …
So Dad had to sing it to her …
Dad’s chart was a bit off….
I was glad to get the chance to visit with them, and I am glad that three of his four grandchildren were there for him to see. Papa and Rose were very good to all my kids!
Dad and me – wish the lighting had been a bit better
Dad and Rose left around 7, and Dante’ called about 8 to say he’d gotten off work and was on his way. I was exhausted and was actually on my way to bed when he called. He asked me to stay awake, so I did. He came in and gave he the biggest hug. We had some leftover pizza, so I told him to dig in and not stay up too late!
As I crawled in bed, my heart was full.
Christmas Eve
I’m sure the day is coming when the kids will be up at like 4am to open presents! We were blessed that they didn’t wake up until after 8am! I had to laugh, though, because ever since we put the tree up, there has been a gate around it. It served two purposes. First, it kept that cat out of the tree and second, it kept Ella from pulling on the ornaments and the lights.
When she woke up and came out the the living room, she walked over the the tree and saw all the presents under the tree – and no gate. She literally just stood there – not really sure what to make of things.
Ella – perplexed
After a few minutes, Sam said it was time to go in and wake up the boys. They were already going to be leaving earlier than I thought (so Dante’ didn’t have to drive in the dark), so we wanted to get things going. We told Ella to go in and wake them up.
She ran into their room yelling, “Wake up, Bruh! Wake up, Bruh!” It was quite funny to watch my older boys stir in bed … all they wanted to do was stay asleep. Dante’ asked to sleep for another 30 minutes. I told him, “You’re sister isn’t going to wait 30 minutes and wants to open presents!” Against their wishes, they crawled out of bed and joined us in the living room.
Last year, we had to help Ella open her gifts. She wasn’t quite where she understood how to do it yet. This year, however, she was able to jump right in and rip open her gifts!
Ella – wearing the very cute PJ’s that Sam’s dad got for her
It’s neat to see how the various kids react to Christmas now. Dante is 19, so he’s very laid back. Dimitri is 14 and it depends on what he’s opening as to how excited or how much emotion he shows. Ella, she’s excited for everything. Andrew has no clue as to what is happening.
The boys
The boys are SO hard to buy for. They never seem to have any real ideas for me. Dante’ is kind of at the “gift card/money” stage. He’s happy with those. Dimitri really liked this golf game I had for the Xbox, so I made sure to get it for him to play at home.
Par for the course …
Ella, being the helpful big sister, helped open up AJ’s presents.
AJ watching sissy open gifts for him
Of course, I had to put together Ella’s basketball hoop, so she could slam dunk a few before dinner.
Two points!
After a hearty breakfast, the boys went into their room and played games for a while. Knowing that they were going to be leaving early, I made sure that dinner was done early. Keeping with my family tradition, I made ravioli with my homemade sauce. I made sure to send a jar home with the boys, as Dante’ loves it.
Personal note: I used a bit too much wine this time. I felt that it was sweeter than normal.
About 3, the boys had to leave to go home to their mom. Ella was napping when they left. When she woke up, I picked her up out of her crib and as we passed the boy’s room, she said “Bruh”? “Bruh”? It ripped my heart out. All she wanted to do was see her brothers! Sadly, I don’t think they really know how much she loves them and how important they are to her. This was the saddest moment of the entire weekend for me.
A Christmas Eve tradition for Sam and I has always been to do the Drive Through Holiday Lights display at Crossroads Village. For $10 a car, you get to drive through and see the many Christmas lights that they have on display. When the kids are older, we plan on going and doing the Christmas train ride, which is truly amazing, but for now, we just drove through.
When we arrived, we got Ella out of her car seat and let her sit on Sam’s lap as we drove through. She was so excited. As we got close to the lights, she’s yell, “Here we go, Mommy! Here we go, Daddy!” It was so cute. Sam made the comment that she loves seeing things through Ella’s eyes. This is so true! We’ve been through there every year, but this year was so much more exciting because of Ella!
Sleigh ride!
We thought about driving downtown Flint, which has some great lights, too. We decided against it, as it was getting late and the kids were tired. We went through out bedtime routine and got the kids to bed just in time for me to play Santa. I had a few things to put together so that they were ready for they kids when they woke up Christmas morning.
Christmas Day 2021
Sam wanted to be in the living room so she could record Ella seeing her presents, so I got her out of bed and asked Sam if she was ready. She said she was, so I sent Ella running into the living room. The video is priceless. The smile on her face is something I will never forget. We got her one of those Little People Jungle Rainforest things. It came with animals and makes noises and everything. It is HUGE and takes up a good part of the living room.
Here’s the monkey!
AJ’s Santa gift was a very cool floor chair. It allows him to sit up while on the floor and it’s a lot better than those Bumpo seats.
Sitting pretty
I love that both kids had “Santa” jammies for Christmas morning. Sam and I actually got matching PJ bottoms to wear that morning, too. AJ was wide awake and just taking in all the sights. I love this picture of him and Sam. What I love about it is that just above Sam’s right shoulder is a picture of Ella on her lap and in this picture AJ is on her lap.
One of Ella’s favorite gifts was a Leap Frog Tea Party set. The pot talks and it came with cups and cake.
Must be good tea!
I joked many times about having tea parties with my daughter. I am excited to say that we’ve had our first already and I am looking forward to the next one!
Yummy!!
It was daddy’s turn to help AJ open gifts. So I grabbed his stuff and we opened them up. I was as surprised as he was! LOL. Sam got him a very cool “Floor time” pillow with lights, sounds, and more.
Wow!! What’s this, daddy?
It made him like floor time a lot more….
Mesmerized
Before we all showered and got dressed to visit Sam’s folks, we attempted to take a family selfie. We have a camera that I could have set up with a timer and all, but with my cell phone, I could snap 5-6 pictures in the time it would take to get one on the camera. Good thing we went with the cell phone – because it only took us about 57 tries before we finally got this one.
Merry Christmas!
Since it was AJ’s first Christmas, we had to be sure to get a picture with him in his “First Christmas” outfit. Sam came up with the silly saying on the board and it made me chuckle!
Got him smiling and everything!
After the kids napped, we went to Sam’s folks for Christmas dinner. Sam’s mom put out an amazing spread with turkey, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and so much more. I’m not sure why we didn’t get any pictures while we were there, and I am sad that we didn’t. We are so grateful for them and enjoyed family time together.
After we got home and got the kids in bed, Sam and I crawled into bed. Before I drifted off to sleep, I thought back over the many memories that were made and thanked God for the many blessings that He has given me. I am truly a lucky man.
December 26
Having the Christmas tree up was driving Sam crazy. Not because it was up, but because we literally had to move Ella’s toys out of that corner of the room. All of her toys were moved in front of the fireplace and it just seemed like we were always tripping over them. Long before Christmas, it was clear that on the 26th, the tree was coming down!
I spent the morning taking down ornaments, unstringing Christmas lights, folding up stockings, and putting them all downstairs until next year. Before I finished, there was one picture we had meant to get of Ella that we hadn’t gotten. So I hurried out to the garage and got the props ready before Ella and I walked the neighborhood. Here is the picture we had hoped to get earlier in the season ….
Hauling her Christmas tree
It’s back to work tonight for me, at least for a couple days. Looking back over this holiday weekend makes me smile. There are so many wonderful memories forever saved in snapshots that I will look back on often. Life is good. I am blessed.
Three more days until Christmas. I don’t even know where the time has gone, but the holiday is FAST approaching! This past weekend I was pretty busy, and at the same time there were plenty of wonderful family moments together.
After working four days and coming home, I feel like the kids have grown and are doing things that they weren’t just a day before. I’m not sure if it is the fact that he recognized my voice or my face, but AJ was smiling and babbling so much this weekend. Those baby smiles are exactly what I needed this weekend.
Saturday night, Ella and I were playing on the floor and Sam reminded me that I’d wanted to build a “fort.” So I pulled two chairs together and grabbed a comforter and tossed it over the chairs – instant “fort.” As a kid, I used to love when we’d sit in the fort and read books. Ella loved coming in … and going out. She was in and out and in and out. Believe me, it wasn’t easy to get her to stay still long enough to take a selfie…
This weekend we gave both kids a bath. Sam grabbed Ella and AJ’s bear PJ’s and gathered them up to read….
What book did we read first?? Well, of course, it had to be….
On Sunday, we placed a Meijer order for groceries. On Christmas Eve, it’s sort of been a tradition to have ravioli for dinner. Grandma always made them, and it is a tradition that I have tried to keep going. I refuse to use sauce in a jar for the holidays, so I made a list of everything I needed and spent the afternoon making sauce.
If you are new to this blog, let me explain. I have been trying to duplicate my grandma’s sauce for years. I have gotten close to doing so, and I have yet to master it. In doing so, I have kind of come up with my own sauce. I don’t tweak too much every time, because I don’t want to mess it up too much. This time around, there may be just a tad too much wine in it. Oh well….I will make a note of it and try again ….
While the sauce was cooking, Sam gathered up all the presents to wrap them as Ella took her afternoon nap. It’s always interesting to divide up the gifts. Ella and AJ will get TWO Christmases. We wake up Christmas Eve morning with my sons and open gifts, and then we wake up Christmas morning and open more. Sam bought some two sided wrapping paper from Sam’s Club. Being the smart woman that she is, she wrapped the gifts to open on Christmas Eve with one side and the Christmas Day gifts with the other side. She is brilliant!
After the sauce had simmered about 6 hours, Sam and I decided we’d take a short trip up to Frankenmuth to drive through town and look at Christmas lights. We put on the Christmas station, loaded the kids, and went for our drive. When the kids are a bit older, we want to go and just walk around town. We will definitely pile the kids into one of the horse drawn carriages and ride around town! For now, we just drove around.
We stopped at Bronner’s, which had all their lights outside lit up and it’s always neat to just drive through the parking lot. We weren’t the only ones who were doing it either. They have plenty of things around the parking lot that can be good for picture taking. I was afraid that Ella might run into the road/driveway that was by some of those, so instead, we went to a few that were well inside the lot. She loved it!
We had a feeling that winter time was going to drive Ella crazy! She loves to be outside. There is only so much that she can do in our house. We’ve been trying to limit her TV/Screen time, so she’s getting bored. Before I laid down for a nap before work, we grabbed her boots and coat and we went for a short walk around the neighborhood.
There is still a little bit of snow on the ground, but it will more than likely be gone by Christmas. We left without her gloves, so her hands got cold when she was picking up the snow. As we walked, she realized that we were at the house where her hound dog friend is usually outside during the summer. She kept asking where the doggy was, and I had to tell her it was probably too cold for her friend to be outside.
I was really surprised that she remembered the house!
When we got home, her hands and nose was a bit chilly, but she warmed up quick as mommy had lunch ready for her when we arrived.
There was a knock on the side door before I headed off to bed. The UPS man brought the kids a package from my brother. He had told me to watch for it. Inside were pajamas for AJ and a HUGE Daisy Duck stuffed animal for Ella. I had called him a week or so ago and told him that she was all about Daisy. She was so surprised when she saw it. I wish I had gotten pictures of her initial reaction. She had hands over her eyes and was so surprised. Then she grabbed it and hugged it!
It really was the cutest thing!!!
HA! I just looked at that picture and in it, you can totally see how I messed up hanging the stockings! Last year, we had 5 (Me, Sam, Dante’ Dimitri, and Ella). This year we added the small “My First Christmas” stocking for AJ. I use those 3M hooks to hang the socks. Somehow, I marked off 7 spots instead of 6, so there are three on one side of the fireplace and three on the other and a big space in the middle. URGH. I must have looked at it 5 times before I actually attached the hooks, but I never realized there were 7 spots! THAT is why I rarely build anything from scratch …
3 more days …. I’m looking forward to the holiday….
In 2003, the country group Lonestar had a hit with a song called My Front Porch Looking In. In it, the singer talks of the wonderful views from his porch as well as the various things he has seen in life. His favorite view, however, is from his front porch looking inside his house.
I’ve always been a fan of that song. There is no greater feeling than coming home and seeing the kids through the window. It doesn’t happen much for me now, as I come home in the early morning and the kids are often still asleep.
Instead, the lyrics of this song ring true when I leave for work. My daughter used to run to the window after I locked the door to leave for work. I would walk to the window and she’d put her palm against the window, and I’d put mine up to hers. Sometimes she’d put her pointer finger up against the window and I would point right up against hers. We’ve since moved the couch in front of the window, so she really can’t run up to it any more. Now, she has to climb up on the couch to “high five” or “point at” me. It always makes me smile.
Yesterday, before work, she came to the window, and Sam held up her brother so I could see both of them. I’m not going to lie, I started to tear up. I hate leaving for work. I miss my family when I am away. I was able to snap a picture of them before I left…
Ella looks sad in this picture because she had actually slipped and fell before I left, which made me hate leaving even more! It may seem silly to some, but I will continue to go to the window every time I leave for work, whether she “high fives” me or not. There is something so very special about looking at my family from the side porch looking in ….
Hard to believe that we are just 10 days away from Christmas! The past four days have been full of pre-holiday fun!
On Saturday, AJ turned two months old. It seems like I just posted about his birth, but here we are 2 months later. It’s been fun to watch his personality start to come through. He is cooing a lot now and we are starting to get smiles from him. My wife, who always gets the cutest clothes for our kids, had the perfect outfit for his two month photo shoot.
Originally, those PJ’s were supposed to be used in the Christmas pictures we had taken. We weren’t allowed any outfit changes there, so we just used the sweaters that the kids had.
Ella also had a pair of Christmas PJ’s that she was going to wear for pictures, as well as a very cute dress. We actually had her put the dress on one day and I got a couple nice pictures. It didn’t take long for her to express her dislike of the dress, however, and she took it off. We’re not sure if it was the frill on it or what, but I’m glad we got at least a few pictures in it.
We decided that we were going to take the kids to get their picture with Santa. We weren’t really sure about going to the mall and waiting in line and all that. We saw where Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops had a contact-free Santa photo opportunity and jumped on it. We made an appointment online and it was a very quick process.
I guess we thought that there would be a chair next to Santa, and we hoped that Ella would be able to hold her brother in it. There was a bench, however, and neither of us was comfortable with Ella holding AJ on it. So we all got to be in the picture! Even though Sam and I weren’t necessarily dressed for it, the picture came out ok. Best thing about it – it was free!
The highlight of the past few days has to be yesterday. Sam’s mom bought Ella some “indoor snowballs,” to play with.
They are basically big cotton balls. They don’t hurt and they have enough weight to them that you can actually throw them.
At first, she wasn’t really quite sure what to do with them. We were out in the living room and I was sitting on the floor with her. I grabbed one and threw it at her. She would go and get it and bring it back to me, and hand it to me to throw again. So I decided to toss one to Sam, who threw it at me. When I got hit, I overreacted and pretended to be thrown to the ground. At that point Ella picked them up and started to charge at me with them and knocking me over.
Eventually, we had our snowball fight. She mostly charged at me and pushed me down, but when she’d throw one and hit me, I’d be falling to the ground. We must have played for 90 minutes. It was constant chuckling from me and loud boisterous laughter from her! My God, her laugh!! What joy that brought to me! Sam even commented that it had been some time since she heard her laugh like that!
For 90 minutes, I was 5 years old. It was silly. I was fun. It is a memory that I will treasure for the rest of my days.
Over the weekend, Sam and I took Ella and AJ to get Christmas pictures done. We scheduled them a few weeks ago. We had a few different outfits that we wanted to get their pictures in, but we weren’t able to do more than one. We went back and forth as to whether or not we wanted to take them in their PJ’s or the dress outfits. We opted for the dress outfits and they came out great. So why only one outfit?
There was some sort of water main break at the mall and they closed the mall for a couple days. So they rescheduled people’s appointments for the weekend. In essence, they were double/triple booked. Our appointment was at 11:30am, which should have been the second appointment of the day. There were two families in there when we arrived for our appointment. The lady that was there was obviously already frazzled. She stated that her help had not arrived yet.
She had finished the first set of photos and the parents of the first child were in front of a computer clicking their favorites as she took the next family back. That second family had like 4 kids and they were doing family pictures as well as individual pictures. We were basically told that it would be a bit before we got called back and that we could walk the store, which we did.
It was not easy keeping Ella and AJ happy, though. We were close to lunch time and nap time, so the longer we waited, the more cranky they could become. It was closer to 12:45p by the time we got to go back. The entire time we waited, Sam and I were getting ticked. We thought for sure that because they were so overbooked, we’d be rushed in and rushed out. Thankfully that did not happen, and we got some really nice shots.
Kudos to my wife for this idea. You wouldn’t know that Ella would not really stand still for pictures. She was running all over the place. We love the one above because it looks like she is pointing at AJ.
The photographer asked her to give her brother a kiss, which she did. What makes me laugh is that he is still in the “return to Santa” box, which almost makes it like she is kissing him goodbye.
We got a couple of each of them alone, too, which came out nice.
Next up, pictures with Santa. Cabela’s has contact free photos and we’ve made our appointment. Hopefully, those will go well.
I feel like I haven’t really blogged about “life” lately. I kinda feel like I haven’t really even had a minute to sit down and write. Between wacky schedules at work and an even wackier sleep schedule, writing has been a challenge. So here are some highlights from the past couple weeks….
Right after Halloween, Sirius XM radio launched a bunch of their holiday channels and the Christmas music was readily available.
I took advantage of a rare 60 degree November day and put up the outside Christmas lights. I know, I know, people think I am rushing the season. The truth is, I don’t like putting them up in the cold. They have been up for a couple weeks now, and the only time I have turned them on is to make sure they looked ok.
The side porch takes the most lights. I always check the strands before stringing them up to make sure they work. For some reason, one of the strands had a cluster of lights in the middle that didn’t light up. Both ends lit up, but not the ones in the middle. I went through and tested bulbs, but couldn’t find the problem. So I put them up anyway! I just made sure the unlit portion of the lights was covered by lights I knew worked!
We don’t do much to the front porch, though I’d like to. I got razzed about how I didn’t get up and string lights on the roof by some friends. I’ve never been a fan of heights, so, these are the highest my lights will go. Besides, I only have a three step ladder!
Baby Milestone
AJ celebrated being one month old a week or so ago. It is amazing to come home from work and see just how different he looks to me after only one day! He is much more alert and his sister just loves him! He is starting to take notice of a lot of things around him. Recently he discovered the mobile on his swing.
Holiday Tradition
Every year, we take a trip up the Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth (“The World’s Largest Christmas Store”) and get an ornament for the Christmas tree that represents a big event from the past year. Sam and I have one for our engagement, our first Christmas as husband and wife, when Sam was pregnant with Ella, Ella’s first Christmas, and now we needed to go and get one for AJ’s first Christmas.
Obviously, life at our house is pretty crazy with two little ones. We had planned to all go to Bronner’s as a family day trip. AJ was napping and Sam suggested that Ella and I go, since we knew exactly what we wanted. There is an ornament that is exactly like Ella’s except it is blue for a baby boy.
Finding the ornament took all of 5 minutes. The line to get it personalized was long and we stood in line for almost 30 minutes (Thank goodness I had the PBS app on my phone, so Ella didn’t lose her mind waiting!). I had pictures of Ella’s ornament and how they did hers, and we wanted AJ’s to be done the same way. Ella and I walked around a little bit while they worked on the ornament. There are plenty of photo ops throughout the store and outside.
It was close to lunch time, so we snapped a couple pictures, picked up the ornament, and drove home. I hope to be able to take a drive up there one night when the lights are all lit up and grab a couple pictures.
Later that day, I took advantage of nap time and brought the tree up from downstairs. We’ve been trying to decide where to put it this year. We’ve moved everything around in our living room two or three times due to the addition of Ella toys or furniture, so it was unclear where it would go. There is a little nook in our living room where we had moved a lot of her toys, easel, toybox, etc…. We decided to find somewhere else for those things and that the tree should go there.
So, the tree is up and the lights are on it. However, we will decorate it this weekend or next weekend. I did have some help with the lights as I put it up …
…and, of course, little brother had to get into the act …
I’m excited for the holidays this year. Ella is at the perfect age for unwrapping presents! It is going to be a fun holiday season ….
Our son made his entrance into the world this week! As you know, there were a few times that we actually thought he’d be arriving very early. Needless to say, there was a lot of stress.
For the past three weeks, every time Sam had her OB/GYN appointment, I was ready with bags at the door. I knew that at any time, the doc could say that he was going to induce. Sam had a rough go this pregnancy. She had high blood pressure, and a few other things that may have led to an induction.
Thursday – Last Week (10-7)
The doctor visit the week before had the doc on the fence. Do we induce or not? After this appointment, he was pretty sure that the baby was going to come that weekend. Just to be safe, he scheduled an induction for Monday morning (10-11). Sam called me on her way home from the appointment and told me she was coming home.
I worked Wednesday night, so I stayed up anticipating us going to the hospital. When she got home, I went to sleep so I could get some rest before work. Every night last week, I was on edge, I had my phone on me awaiting the call. The doc had already told us that if the water broke, things were going to progress quickly. I work an hour away, so I was very worried. The last two nights, I only had one patient, so that if I had to leave, my coworkers wouldn’t be overwhelmed.
Sunday (10-10)
It became very obvious over the weekend that Sam was struggling. She was not feeling well and was in more pain than she had been in. We debated taking Ella to Nana and Papa’s Sunday night so we could just get up and go, but we elected to keep her home. Ella must have known something was up, because she spent lots of time snuggling mommy on the couch and daddy in my chair. It was wonderful.
After Ella went down for bed, Sam and I gathered what we needed and had everything ready by the door. Sam got very emotional, as any mom would. Things were going to change. We were going to have another little one at home. The “what ifs” start running through your head and those only make you a nervous wreck. It was all we could do to actually fall asleep.
Monday – Induction Day
We were all up at 4:30am Monday. Induction was set for 7am.
We got Ella up and took her to Nana’s. We got to her house at 6am. We had to call the hospital at 6 to make sure that they were still going to do the induction. Thankfully, we were still set. When we left, Ella really wasn’t sure what was happening, but she did well.
We stopped to grab a bite to eat, because once you get to the room, Sam wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything except ice chips. We arrived at the hospital about 15 minutes early and they checked us in and got us to our room. By 8am, the induction process began.
Sam had been dilated to 2 or 3 for about three weeks and nothing happened. They checked her again and she was still the same. Once they got her IV in (which was a challenge because she was so dehydrated), they gave her some pill which was supposed to thin the cervix and help kick start things. The pill takes about 4 hours to work, so they really never even came to check until then.
At about noon they came in and checked her and things were progressing. She was actually starting to feel some contractions toward the end of the fourth hour. They did not start Pitocin yet. They wanted to wait an hour or so and see how things were going. About 1pm they came back in and said that they would need to start the Pitocin. At about this time, Sam was given her epidural.
When they checked her she was still dilated to about 2 or 3. The waiting was driving me crazy! At one point, they knew she was contracting, but couldn’t really tell the intensity of them, and they added some sort of pressure thingy that went up next to the baby’s head. This showed the staff exactly what they needed.
A little after 6pm, she was dilated to 4. Most OB/GYN’s will tell you that you kinda “stall” at 4 and are there for awhile. I was watching the little strip that the fetal monitor was printing and I could see the contractions getting more consistent and more intense. Sam was actually starting to feel them, unlike with Ella. 40 minutes later they checked her and she was obviously ready, because the nurse looked surprised. She told one of the other nurses, “get him on the phone and tell him we’re gonna start pushing!”
My rock star wife went from 4cm to 10 cm in 40 minutes! As they got the rest of the room ready for delivery, we got ready to start pushing. The doc walked in just as Sam was getting ready to start. Once she started pushing, it became pretty clear that it wouldn’t be long. As the baby started to come out, there looked like there might be a problem and the doc told my wife that he was going to need the vacuum to help get the baby out due to the fact that he was turned a bit and that his hand was up next to his head.
As he mentioned this, she started to have another contraction and the nurse told her to push through it. She did and that was all our son needed and he was out. It was truly amazing to witness. My wife only pushed for 7 minutes! 7 minutes!!!! The doc handed me the scissors and I cut the cord, which is always a memorable moment. I noticed that the baby wasn’t crying. That freaked me out a bit. It freaked Sam out even more.
As they were cleaning him off, I heard a little cry, but nothing like I had heard with my other children. Once he was cleaned off, they brought him over to Sam for skin to skin time. There was our second little miracle and he was perfect!
Holding mommy’s hand
While I was pacing the floor, I posted on Facebook that people should give their guesses as to what time he’d be born and how much he would weigh. My friend Sharon from high school almost nailed it! She was closest with her guess of 7:11pm and 7 pounds 11 ounces. She was only off by 4 minutes and 4 ounces.
My boy!
When she was born, my daughter looked just like Sam. My son, however, tends to look a lot like me. I say that because he was making what I call “Grumpy Old Man” faces. One of the first pictures I took of him, he has the funniest grumpy look on his face. Even in the picture above, he looks a bit angry. The picture from his birthday that just cracks me up, and reminds me of a look I would make, is this one:
Grumpy!
I love that look and pose!
They keep you in the hospital for 24 hours and then they want to discharge you, as long as nothing is wrong. My son was jaundice and so they kept checking levels. The same thing happened with Ella and she would up being readmitted to the hospital after discharge. We wanted to avoid that at all costs if possible.
They came in at about the 24 hour mark and said that the levels weren’t bad and that we could go if we wanted to. They said if we left, we’d need to follow up with our pediatrician in the morning and have blood drawn again to check levels. We opted to stay one more night so they could check levels first thing in the morning.
Ready to go home
Wednesday morning the levels were fine and we were discharged. It was time for the little man to meet his big sister! We had video chatted with her a couple times and showed her the baby. “Baby!” she would say, but not really comprehending that this baby was her brother and would be coming home with us.
We were lucky that we were able to get discharged fairly quickly that morning. We headed straight to Nana’s to pick up our little princess. She hadn’t seen us almost three days. When we walked in the house, she screamed happily and clapped her hands. She was SO happy to see us. Then it was time to introduce her to AJ.
Not sure what to think….
I’m sure that there was a lot of confusion at that particular moment. She had a lot to process. Nana and Papa got to hold their grandson before we left to go home. The ride home was unusually quiet. For me, it was weird because as I looked in the rearview mirror, it was the first time that both kids were back there. It was an eyeopener!
When we got home, Ella seemed a little more comfortable. I know she still really has no clue how to process it all, but she seemed generally happy to have the baby home. I will be framing this picture – I think it is just marvelous!
Sibling love
We were up early again today for well visits for both kids. They both are doing great!
The events of the past week only reinforce what a lucky man I am. I am so blessed!
There was so much more I wanted to write, but AJ kinda sums up what we all feel like over here….
A lot of people complain about Mondays, but I really don’t because my “week” starts on Tuesday. It is usually the day that I sit back and reflect on the happenings of the weekend.
“Golf” With My Son
I came home from work on Saturday morning and slept for a couple hours before going to pick up my youngest son. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I haven’t really got the chance to see him much, so I was excited to have a day with him.
He is currently taking golf lessons and hopes to make the school golf team. I bought some foam practice golf balls for him to whack around in the back yard. He didn’t bring his clubs, so I let him hit with a few of mine. He’s actually not bad. He tends to overthink on occasion, but when he gets all the mechanics right, he can really connect with the ball.
I’d really hoped to find time to take him on the course this summer, but it never happened. I realize that there is still time and it is actually cheaper with the fall rates, but with the baby due any time, I don’t want to make plans.
I am actually happy that he has taken such an interest in the game. It is one thing that, if he continues, I know we can do together. We don’t get too much time together, and a round of golf would be perfect for spending quality time together.
He’s quite the video gamer, and probably spends too much time playing them. I have a golf game that I play on the XBox that I love. It is a perfect way for me to relieve some stress. I can play a full round of golf in about 20 minutes.
I let him try it this weekend and he loved it, too. I like the game because I actually shoot better on it than on a real golf course! In the game I shoot more birdies than bogies….in real life, it’s the other way around.
I took him home early Sunday because he was supposed to go the the orchard with his mom. Later that night I texted him and asked if he had fun at the orchard and he responded that they didn’t go. That made me feel bad, because it would have been nice to have spent more time with him.
Good Deed
Not my mower….
Our neighborhood has a Facebook group page. On Sunday I noticed that there was a neighbor that needed her lawn cut. After checking with my wife to make sure she didn’t have me running errands, I responded and said I could come and cut it. She asked how much I charged, and I told her I wasn’t going to do it for money. I just like being a good neighbor. We have so many people who help us with little things (more on that in a second), that I like to help when I can.
Come to find out the neighbor’s husband had surgery recently and is unable to do much walking. He can’t really cut the lawn right now. They had someone who cut it for a while, but they were not available this week.
I had been out walking with Ella and saw the house while I was walking. There was a big wood fence, but I wasn’t sure if it swung open. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get my riding mower in the back yard. So I called her at the number she posted. I asked if that gate moved and she said yes. Ella was playing in the back ground and she heard her.
Once I laid Ella down for her nap, I drove my lawnmower four streets over to cut her grass. As I started to go into the back yard, she came out to talk. Her husband was out in the backyard and she introduced me to him. We had a pleasant chat and she said that was going to leave a bag on the side porch for Ella.
When I got home, I placed the bag on our porch and cut our grass. When Ella woke up, I showed her the bag, which contained some chocolates and a unicorn Beanie Baby. She thought that was so cute. My neighbor didn’t have to do anything at all, I was just glad to be able to help her.
A Step in the Right Direction
Not our step.
Our neighbor two doors down is the best! He helps everyone. When I first moved in with Sam, he was mowing her lawn with his riding mower. One day I was outside with her and he drove up on the mower. He told me to sit down on it and he showed me everything I needed to know to mow. He told me I could come down and use it whenever I needed to. Since getting my mower, I have been able to help him out and let him borrow mine when he is down.
At any rate, we both happened to be outside and I was about the fix the side porch step. I had searched in the garage for some wood screws I thought I had, but couldn’t find them. He walked over and there was some small talk. I asked if he had any wood screws. I showed him the porch and he said he would be right back.
He came down with pieces of left over composite wood from when they built his deck this summer. He also has his saw and corner square tool. He pulled up the old wood, and measured out the size we’d need and cut a couple of pieces from that deck wood. He secured them with some really good screws and the job was done in like 10 minutes. I asked him what I owed him and his answer was the same that I gave the lady whose grass I cut – “Nothing.”
Needless to say, that step is about as secure as it has ever been and I am grateful for such great neighbors.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 