Thursday, January 31, 2008

Happy Birthday, babygirl.

Wow, November 8th?  Oye vey!  Well, we've moved to Maine (as of early December).  It's beautiful up here!  Kaitlynne's loving her new school, babies are all doing well (sharing a cold, but well).  Mom's enjoying it, it seems, as well.  We've been very busy getting the restaurant and motel ready to open (which we did, last weekend...very busy, many compliments!).  I've had brief moments of home-sickness, but I've been so busy, hard to find the time to think about it.  The snow is really pretty (as long as you don't have to go out in it, lol).  For the most part, really nice people, too.  We're just a few miles from the ocean!  I'll get pics of the surrounding areas when the snow thaws more and the scenery can be seen.  We have a waterfall directly behind our house (owned on our property).  The restaurant actually overlooks the reservoir/waterfall :)

I actually just popped in to say Happy Birthday to our beautiful daughter, Marissa.  I just can't believe it's been 3 years.  I still keep in touch with many from the pregnant loops I was on, and it's hard to hear all of the things their toddlers are doing.  Marissa is forever a newborn, with her sweet face etched in our hearts and minds.  We love you so much, baby girl, and thank you for watching over us.  Whenever I feel down, I know you're there with me.  I can't wait to see you again.  I hope you had a huge party today with all of the precious angel babies.  Sending you sweet kisses.  "See you on the other side..."

Thursday, November 8, 2007

5 free minutes

Wow, it's been awhile...I'll try to give a quick recap.  We're still anxiously awaiting our move.  My FIL can't seem to decide on where he wants to buy a hotel, so we're just...waiting.  It's nice having Alex home, for sure...it's made the first few months with the twin so much easier than it would have been.  It's just hard not knowing where we're going to be and when.  We've outgrown our current house, and we're greatly looking forward to no longer being cramped up in here.  My incision finally healed up (thank God, without any infection).  My blood pressure never did go back down after the babies, tho, so I had to go on medication for that.  They tested my thyroid yesterday, hoping to get the results back tomorrow.  I've never hoped for anything to be wrong before, but this would explain so much.  My anxiety levels have peeked, and I'm having a hard time with things right now.  Mostly because of the impending move, I think, but there's just alot going on.  I was offered a medication, but I'm not sure want to start it just yet.  The doc told me that *if* my thyroid levels are off, than it can cause anxiety, as well.  Anywho, hopefully know soon.

Kaitlynne is having a hard time in school right now.  She gets frustrated, so rather than ask questions, she's been lying about having/doing homework, arguing when someone tries to help, etc...  The ESE teacher they got this year was a very last-minute replacement, and I have to say, I'm really disappointed in her.  She has such a horribly negative attitude about Kaitlynne.  Even Kaitlynne's mainstream teacher has called to tell me that this ESE teacher is always talking negatively about Kaitlynne when she sees her, too, and she's tired of it.  I've gone to the VP, as has the teacher, but I don't know what will be done.  I thought we would have moved by now, and she wouldn't have to deal w/ her anymore.  Like the reg teacher says, Kait shouldn't have to deal with it at all...ugh, it's a mess.

Brandon is doing great, tho having a hard time with his molars coming in.  He's such a joy.  He just lights up when he see's Kaitlynne (she's a goofball for him).  I'm so proud of the way Kaitlynne has taken to her siblings.  I was so unsure, since she was my one and only for so long.  She's really hard to be around sometimes lately (a combination of things), but she still surprises me in good ways.  She's turning into quite a lovely young lady, too (something hard for me to watch, but happy at the same time...the bittersweet part of being a parent, I guess).  Brandon, tho, is doing well.  Climbs all over everything, walking/running everywhere. 

The twins.  Wow.  They aren't as hard as I thought they would be.  They tagteam us at times, but it's amazing have 2 little ones at one time.  They're so completely different.  Anne-Marie is our flirty little drama queen.  Gabriel is our deep thinker with a smile that lights up the room.  We had feared Anne-Marie was born with a dislocated hip, but thankfully it turned out ok.  Gabriel was born with torticollus.  We've been trying to do exercises and positioning at home until we can get him in for physical therapy (again, thought we'd be moved by now...I'm going to try and start it here anyway).  Gabriel has been smiling since 4 wks, and cooing like crazy since 5 wks.  Anne-Marie saved her pretty smile for about 6 wks, coo's very softly at you when you tell her what a pretty girl she is.

I'll add a few photos for y'all that aren't on my email lists.  Hope all are well :)

Kaitlynne's Halloween pic:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/DELLA2577/Picture060.jpg

Brandon's Halloween pic:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/DELLA2577/Picture061.jpg

Anne-Marie and Gabriel

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/DELLA2577/Babies030.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/DELLA2577/Babies024.jpg

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Like Noah's Ark, they came in 2's!

Just a quick update (I don't get much time online now lol).  We got to the hospital (on Aug 23) for our csection at 730am.  However, getting the IV in was another story (I have horrid veins).  It took 3 anesthesiologists almost 3 hours to get it in.  Needless to say, we lost our place for the OR, and had to wait.  We got in around 145 or so.  Spinal went fairly well (that part always scares the crap out of me).  They opted to do a classical incision this time (up and down vs side to side).  At that point, I didn't care, I just wanted my babies here.  Soooo, here's the stats:

Born at 237pm, Gabriel Roman Michael B.  He weighed 7lbs 3oz, 18.75'' long.  He's such a little peanut (which is what we call him...lol).  Clean bill of health :)

Born at 239pm (they had a time getting her out cuz of her size), Anne-Marie Aryanna Rose B.  She weighed in at a whopping 7lbs 14oz, 19.25'' long!  She actually eats less than he does, tho...LOL!  She had a slight heart murmur, but it wasn't detectable by the time we left the hospital.  She also has a hip that pops in/out easily that the ped is watching...hoping that corrects itself :(

Both took to the breast wonderfully, but as usual, the pain from the vasospasms and bleeding/cracked nipples was a bit much.  I now pumping, as well as supplimenting with formula.  They're such wonderful babies.  They let me 3-4 hours at a time at night!  Woohoo!  Kaitlynne adores them, she's all over them and in with me in the bedroom most of the day (I'm still resting from surgery).  Brandon usually doesn't notice them, but when he does he's very sweet with them (lays his head down on them to give hugs, or 'pets' them...lol).  He doesn't twitch at night when they get up, thank goodness.  They're all in our bed, too!  Me, who swore she'd never co-sleep, loves it...love having my babies near me.  The twins are in a co-sleeper type thing, Brandon is all up in Daddy's space (loves to snuggle up close to him). 

My incision has opted to not close up the way it should :(  It's not infected, thank God, and I'm praying it stays that way.  They did remove my staples last Friday, and I'm just keeping it clean right now.  I go back next Friday to have it checked.  I'm so scared it's going to get infected, I've heard horror stories :(  I've also been battling extreme back pain (which, the anesthesologist had told me that spinals can make already-existing back pain worse...he was right), and residual headaches (from the spinal).  I actually had a blinding migraine on Sunday when we were about to discharge.  I had to stay overnight again to get special meds (in an IV...which I had to get a new one done, it was horrid).  I am walking around good, tho.  Feels good to get around.  We went to the mall in the next town over and I walked it!  I cleaned my own kitchen!  I walked Wal-Mart to get groceries!  It's huge to me, since I was wheelchair bound everywhere for weeks, and couldn't bend over to even get my own clothes on.  All well worth it, tho, no doubt.

Now we're concentrating on the move.  We haven't heard a specific date yet, hoping my father-in-law will be down soon to talk about it.  My SIL in Canada did go into remission from the leukemia, however she was given a 14% chance of survival over the next 5 years :(  How horrible to have to hear that.  So, my FIL has been busy with that, of course, so we've not mentioned anything else.  My brother and Pete left for Missouri last Tuesday (they did come over Monday, lucky for them...I would have disowned him had they not).  Alex's brother left the day before for Kansas.  Sad, everyone's leaving. 

Kait's doing well in school, so far.  Updated her IEP (told the counselor I wanted it done before we left, since they knew her and I wouldn't have to fight for what I think she needs).  She's missed a few days already, tho.  I wish that didn't have to happen, but with babies coming and all these appts in another town, it's been hard not to keep her out sometimes.

Anywho, I guess that's about it...time to feed a couple of cuties :)  I'm going to add a pic of my friend, Kim, holding thebabies.  Anne-Marie is on the left, Gabriel on the right.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Bad Blogger..Bad Bad

Wow, it's certainly been awhile, hasn't it?  I'll try and do a summarized update here. 

We had Alex's daughter here for the summer.  She has since gone "home" (to a hotel room-we wanted to keep her here, but her mom finds that whopping child support check more important than her child's actual welfare, so she took her back anyway).  The girls were at each other a good deal of the time, too, which made things difficult.  They're both hitting the pre-hormonal stage (EEK!), and Katie has the added bonus of learning the 'tricks of the trade', so-to-speak, of a child from a divorced home.  The playing one off the other makes crap got old (tho I know it well, Alex isn't familiar with it so it was a cause of tension between he and I). 

Kaitlynne is doing well, overall.  She has been a TREMENDOUS help to me this summer around the house and with Brandon.  She's wonderful with him, and has gotten good at picking up where my body has told me to leave off at.  She now earns an allowance, which she enjoys.  Her attitude leaves alot to be desired, but I'm keeping in mind it's her age (and the end of summer vacation-she's bored!).  There's also so much going on with the babies coming and our impending move.  She did have one VERY LARGE meltdown last weekend.  We've hoped to move past it and that it won't be the step back that I thought it might be.  She starts school this coming Monday.  We've had a hard time with her being so upset that she won't have the same teacher as last year.  I figured atleast she'd have the same ESE teacher (also a wonderful person), but I was told by the Guidance Counselor that she, too, has moved on :(  I believe school starts in September up north, so hopefully she won't miss too much of the initial bonding that happens in the beginning of the year.

Now for the babies.  We did get transferred to the highrisk clinic that we didn't want.  My doc saw me on a Thursday, transferred me on a Friday...I was ok with it by then, however I wish he would have just done it face-to-face in the office so we could say our 'goodbyes'.  I needed insulin treatments badly, and this was the only way to go.  The new place told me I had to take the 3 hour glucose screening, which I refused.  I have Gestational Diabetes-period.  The testing makes me so incredibly ill, which I told them, and was pointless.  Soooo, they let me record my sugars for a week and went from there.  The babies gained 3lbs EACH in one months time, so I was getting incredibly worried about how this was going to go.  Thankfully, I got on insulin and the sugars have been under control for weeks now.  The babies growth has slowed down to a 'normal' pace.  Two weeks ago they were measuring 6.5lbs (girl) and 5.15lbs (boy).  By the doctors count, I just turned 36 wks on this past Tuesday, tho my count says I'll be 37 wks this coming Saturday.  Either way, we're all doing well.  I go weekly to my appointments, where they check them with ultrasound and NST's.  We have an amnio scheduled for next Wednesday, and if that shows lung maturity, then we'll be delivering our little ones on Thursday.  Hard to believe, in one week my child count will double!!

We also having our impending move stressing us out.  Alex has been home from work for a few weeks now, but has had to pick up the 'wifely' duties of the house, as I'm barely able to get around these days.  Not a whole lot of packing done yet.  We're moving to Maine in October sometime, don't know much else yet.  My SIL, who lives in Canada, has been diagnosed with leukemia.  Obviously, the families concern is with her and her family right now, so we have no idea about details as far as job and housing yet.

My brother is also packing it up and heading back to Missouri.  They just aren't making the money here that they were and can there, so they're selling their home before they go into bankruptcy with it.  They have the 'champagne taste on a beer budget' attitude, tho, so it's partially their own fault.  However, up there they can make up what they lose on their spending habits.

We also ran into Kaitlynne's brother, Matt.  I won't get into all the nonsense surrounding my exhusband, but he took full advantage of Matt and than tossed him aside.  The alcohol has completely consumed whatever might have been left of the man I knew.  Sad, really, but I'm happy Matt has seen it for what it is and has stepped back.  He's dating a girl who seems to think that walking on him is the answer, too, and I know he doesn't want to be alone...I'm hoping he can see her the same way, and end it.  He's been keeping in touch with us, tho...even came to Kaitlynne's birthday dinner, which made her very happy.  He's turned out to be quite a handsome young man, and actually fairly 'stable' for all he's been through.  I hope he can continue on the path he's on now...taking him up from the crud he's been in so far.

Anywho, I guess that's about all.  Congrats to Tina on having her baby girl, Megan, today (I haven't seen any stats yet, but so excited to see pics!!!).  I'll try to come back and add pics of us later :)  Take care, all. 

Monday, June 25, 2007

Don't know how to feel about it...

Chris Benoit, WWE wrestling superstar, and his family (wife and young son) were found dead today in their home.  My first thought was shock, and of course sadness.  I kept thinking carbon monoxide poisoning.  Now it's been released that it's a double murder-suicide.  He killed his child, his wife...and than later, himself.  I obviously know that someone has to be in such a deep depression that they can't think rationally to do something like this.  But I'm angry.  Like suicide isn't a selfish enough answer to problems, you kill your innocent son and wife??  I still hold much resentment towards my exhusband's exwife for killing herself and taking her son with her.  I just don't know how to feel.  He was one of my favorite entertainers, now I see him as some sort of monster.  Yet I know he had to have been troubled.  I don't know, it's all jumbled in my mind.  I pray for the family and friends left behind...

I'll post a *regular* entry in the next day or two, I just had to get this out.

 

 

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Birthdays all-around

Well, I celebrated my...*deep breath* 30th birthday on the 2nd.  Pretty quiet night, which is a-ok!  We're going to combine b-day and Mother's Day for something when we get the time.  Things have been hectic. 

On May 4th, we found out that we're having boy/girl twins and that they're healthy as far as they can tell.  Baby boy (on the right...baby A) is 1lb and very active.  He's harder to feel kick because of the placenta lying lower.  Baby girl is also very active, and 14oz.

On the 6th, we had Brandon's birthday party.  I was a bit worried about the turnout at first, since people I had really expected to come-cancelled or didn't bother showing at all. However, many friends and family did show...and we had a wonderful time.  Little man dug right in to that cake, it was too cute.  Anyone reading that came, thank you for showing how much you care...it was more than appreciated!  He had a wonderful birthday (actually on the 8th).

We've learned that we might be moving a bit sooner than we thought, soooooooo we're going to start going thru room-by-room to clean some of this crap out.  Amazing how quickly it accumulates.  We'll definitely be here long enough to have the babies, but we hadn't expected a move until next year some time.  We'll see, tho, nothing written in stone.

I guess that's about it for now.  I included a couple of bday pics. 

Monday, April 30, 2007

3 wonderful years that weren't stolen (like my &$*# purse).

Just a quick update.  Bad first.  Alex and I went to Orlando on Saturday, had a great time.  Came back late, and stopped at Walmart to get something for Brandon.  As we were leaving, we managed to get right in the middle of something close to a riot?  There was about 25 young girls/boys there, yelling at the managers (one was telling them to get out, other was on the phone with the police).  It was pretty scary, and all I could think of was to get Brandon OUT (Kaitlynne was at my mom's).  So, we grabbed little man, our stuff, and darted (there were about 25 more outside, yelling, trashing the place).  Found out the next day that in the rush, I had left my purse in the cart :(  Of course it wasn't at Walmart, Alex even went and helped go thru garbage cans outside.  When I filed the police report, I just said I was at Walmart that night and every officer I spoke to, knew what I was talking about.  I'm one of those dumbies who carried SS cards (everything else can be taken care of, I was freaking because of those, tho).  My bank acct and cell phone hadn't been touched, so I am *hoping* that whoever took it looked for cash and trashed everything else.  It's been a nightmare the last couple of days.  I've taken care of about 3/4's of it.  Sucks big time, but we're all safe...that's what matters most. 

On a happy note, today is the anniversary of sorts, celebrating 3 years with Alex.  We haven't spent one night apart (loon's going crazy over that part, I know) since we met at Dunkin Donuts for coffee that night.  They've been the most powerful 3 years of my life, and I can't wait to spend many more with him...he's my best friend, and so much more.  I love you, honey <3

Brandon's bday party is this Sunday, and he'll be a year on the 8th.  Where did the time go???  Everyone else and everything else is going well :)

*Prayers for Lissa, who had a stroke this past week...God speed for a full recovery!*

That's about it, hope all are well in cyberland :)