A to Z

Borrowing this too from Manda at Inside Dog, because it is easier than thinking at 10pm.

A. Age: 28

B. Bed size: King, co-sleeping means you need lots of space!

C. Chore that you hate: Dishes and Ironing

D. Dogs: Don't want the responsibility of taking care of them, but I like them and that my neighbors have them.

E. Essential start to your day: Breakfast with something sugary in it.

F. Favorite color: Orange

G. Gold or silver: Silver

H. Height: 5'10".

I. Instruments that you play: I used to play French Horn in high school, haven't picked it up since.

J. Job title: Mom.

K. Kids: Benjamin, age 23 months. Ephraim, age 3 months.

L. Live: Cleveland

M. Mother's name: Annetta

N. Nicknames: I haven't had one in a long time, used to be called by my last name, and my husband calls me Love, Love.  So, I guess that's one.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Having babies 2010 and 2011.

P. Pet peeves: Not replacing the toilet paper after its empty.  Leaving time left on the microwave.

Q. Quote from a movie: "What's with today, today" Empire Records

S: Siblings: Sister, 33, Brother, 32, Brother, 27

T: Travel favorite: Plane or train, or something not requiring a car seat.

U. Underwear: Functional.

V. Vegetable(s) you hate: Carrots, but I force myself to eat them anyway.

W. What makes you run late: Children, always the children and getting them into cars.  Uggh.

X. X-rays you've had: Too many to count.  I was an athlete all throughout college, and I've broken multiple bones in my body.

Y. Yummy food that you make: Beer Bread, Creamy Chicken Enchiladas.

Z. Zoo animal: Alligator, or Elephant

a picture is worth a thousand words

And since it seems I have little time to write these days with these crazy kids. Of worthy note however, Ephraim was baptized on Sunday, January 29.  Here's a pic witnessing the entrance of one the Church's newest members.

Here's what his brother was up to during the baptism.

And a happy family in the end, godparents included.  (If only we didn't all look so goofy!)

Baptism set!

Finally put together a baptism invite for the baby.  You can tell this is the second kiddo because one its on the verge of being late, and two I am not doing them by hand obviously. 

Filigree Cross Blue Baptism Invitation

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blog post with a baby

Well it's snowing outside and its cozy inside (though I could totally go for some good snow shoveling since I'm weird like that). But it will have to wait as the husband and toddler are out at the grandparents indulging in toy trains.  We have had a lot of train play, watching and obsessing going with the toddler, so much that I am constantly looking for places that have train displays for Christmas.
We found on in a greenhouse that entertained the little guy for a while. Part of it looked like this:

It was a pretty well done display, almost a mini version of the Toy Train museum that we went to over Thanksgiving.  

Well, the baby ended up having a rough afternoon, so I'm now blogging at night but its all good.  All I can say is that I honestly love lake-effect snow days where they under predict the snow fall amounts because usually its the opposite.

If you don't hear from me before the start of Christmas, have a wonderful 12 days of Christmas! Cheers!

Advent reflections in a coffee shop

Well, here it goes.  I’m away from both of my children for the second time, the first time was about 30 minutes so I could go to confession.  It’s my me time.  But you know what it always takes me a little while to not worry about the baby and what his needs are.  I’m fine with leaving the toddler he’s independent of me, the baby not so much.  Needless to say here I am in a coffee shop in Tremont drinking some frou-frou coffee drink.  But its good, well except for the fact that I spilled a decent amount of it while trying to sit down.  I thought out loud usually it’s the small children that I have to clean up after but today its just clumsy me, no excuses. 

My husband despite having a super long work day yesterday is being a rock star and taking care of the two kiddos right now.  He lost his voice sometime yesterday so we shall see how it goes.  I hope to keep this up at least twice a month for sanity’s sake.

So how is advent going for you?  I myself have been given the task of reflecting on the Christ child coming as one anticipates a new baby coming.  A baby comes on his or her own time without little say from the mama unless hopefully (it seems weird to say hopefully here but it is due to elective caesarian sections) there is some reason that it needs to be born sooner. So the mamas out there that have had more kids than me can probably attest to the waiting on a baby to come thing especially when overdue is a pain in the butt.  Pregnancy is a weird thing, because by the end even though its easier to take care of the child in the womb you really want them out of you, because 1.) you want to meet them, and 2.) you are so uncomfortable that you just want to be comfortable again.  Now, how does that relate to the Jewish folks anticipating their savior coming?  Well, now its time to hash it out.

First of all we are so used to knowing when Jesus’s birthday is, its December 25^th every year, but they didn’t know when their savior was to be born.  They didn’t know how he was to be born.  They really wanted to meet him.  They were tired of being oppressed, and hopefully living in anticipation for ‘The One”.  I know for myself as I said before I was tired of being pregnant, but unfortunately I probably wasn’t the most patient person.  I wonder if the Jewish folks acted irrationally in anticipation of their savior. Maybe or maybe not, but I know I was a little crazy by the end.

So when he did come, they didn’t know how he would show up but he did it awesomely.  And if I think about the little one that was 8 days late! His arrival really was pretty awesome too.  He surprised us all, just as Jesus surprised everyone by arriving in a manger to young engaged Jewish girl. Hmm.

Last, well how did Mary feel.  Honestly being a convert, I still don’t have the relationship with Mary that I want to have.  But little by little I can relate more.  Mary must have had to be in total trust of someone else to let go of all the comments being thrown at her and then to travel at the end of the pregnancy on a donkey, can we say ouch?!  I only liked my birthing ball at the end of pregnancy.  But  the one thing I think she did that I probably could have reacted better in doing, is knowing that all of the pain and suffering she was going through was for something greater than her, and so much better and indescribable when it all came together. 

And these are my thoughts for my first time out in the coffee shop.  Until next time, Happy Advent!!!!

Ephraim's birth part 2

So at this point we were on the way to the hospital, and for me since you have to sit in the car, it was a pain in the butt to get there, as I totally hate not being able to move in labor and this time was no different.  But we made the 25 minute trek and I think I ate a pack of fruit snacks in the process of it all.

At the hospital we went to the ER as that was where they wanted us to be, we checked in there and waited for what seemed forever for a nurse from the maternity ward to come down.  Probably about 10 minutes later she had arrived and even though they wanted to sit me in a wheel chair to get there, I insisted on walking there, so I did while holding on to my husband, my stronghold thru this whole thing.  Seriously wanted to hold on to him during each contraction, which was different than last time but I guess I really needed him as my rock this time.

So we made it to the maternity ward, and we walked down the hall to the Holistic Birthing Center Suite, and on the way saw St. Gerard's statue and I remember saying if this baby is a boy that Gerard is going to be his middle name. When we got in the room, the nurse turned on the water for the tub, and then wanted to check my dilation status.  I really was having issues being on my back so she checked me when I was on my side.  She kind of freaked me out by saying that she didn't feel a cervix anymore, and I really had no idea what that meant at the time and when I learned that I was fully dilated at this moment, I was in disbelief.  I had only been in labor for a little over 4 hours, and only consistently for a little over 3 hours.  My last labor was 30 hours!

Because I was in transition, the nurse called in the on call doctor, because apparently my midwife wasn't there yet.  I got up in the meantime and decided that I felt like using the bathroom.  My water broke over the toilet and then I knew it was close.  The doctor came in and I was told I had to be on the bed and deliver on my back.  This was the last thing I wanted to do, because for the whole labor and even in pushing I wanted to be on my hands and knees, but in OB land this isn't a possible delivery position.  So I reluctantly obliged. The only thing I had going at this point was that it only took a few pushes to get the  baby out probably because it was a second baby, and not my first which took about 2 hours to push out.

When the baby was out, I learned he had his cord wrapped around his neck twice, but they got it off, and it he screamed almost instantly.  My husband said he was bluish at first, but I never saw him that way.  And when we knew he was a boy we named him Ephraim Gerard.  A few unfortunate things happened due to being in OB land, such as getting a shot of pitocin because I apparently was bleeding a lot, the cord being cut too early, and my placenta being pulled out.

To not end on a bad note, there were good things about his birth. They didn't wisk him away but allowed me to do kangaroo (skin to skin) care for 2 hours post birth, and there was no monitoring of fetal heart rate due to lack of time.  So even though it wasn't the ideal water-midwife birth, Ephraim was healthy and beautiful with a full head of hair.

The END.

The birth of my second son...part 1 of 2

So here is,  the birth story of Ephraim.  Now where to start,  let's start with the fact that he was overdue.  This in itself threw me for a loop because Ben was almost a week early. So those last few weeks were hard, and when the baby was a week overdue, I had hit a block in my mind that I was never going to have the baby and felt like it was going to go on forever! So I went to visit my neighbor and vented to her, and she listened and suggested a unorthodox way of calming down, which seemed to work.

The next day I woke up and praying and thinking about this baby in the womb and had an attitude change.  That day I decided to think differently from the day before by saying that instead of the baby never coming, the baby would come.

My friend K had invited Ben and I over to hang out with her and her kiddos, so we drove over to her house and had the kids play together and chatted.  We left after lunch and came back home for Ben to take his nap. After not being able to nap for about a week I actually fell asleep during nap time. When I woke up I felt sick and just off.  I did some laundry and then when Ben woke up I fed him some yogurt and as usual finished it off for him.  Oddly though it didn't taste right, something was off.  I wanted to take him to the library that afternoon to get some more books in case the baby came because we had missed story time that morning where I would have normally exchanged and acquired said books.

We didn't get to the library because I started to feel sick a little after 4 o'clock, so we went to town drawing with crayons in the coloring books at his little table.  I called my husband a few minutes later saying something wasn't right and I was being to feel cramps, and I asked him if he thought I should call the midwife. He said that probably was a good idea. In between calling the midwife, I called a friend and asked her if this was labor I was experiencing because it was nothing like I remembered, all the pains were low, and it felt like bad cramps.  Last time it was like full out contracting of the uterus, or at least that was how I remembered it.  She said it probably was, and to again call the midwife, so I did.  The office assistant told me I could come in and be checked, but I said well I don't really want to drive and my husband isn't home yet, so I'll wait it out till I know this is for real.

Well things quickly got intense, and after my husband got home at 5:30, I was pretty sure this was labor, it was getting worse not better.  I attempted to write and email and got no where, and then I decided to attempt some tub laboring, and that totally didn't feel good either.  All I wanted to do was be on my hands and knees by leaning over my exercise labor ball.  So that's what I did.  I managed to eat some chicken nuggets with the kiddo for dinner and then by 7-7:30 I told my husband to call his parents to get them to take Ben.  Well they were at a concert for his youngest brother, so we had to call the neighbor to take him and she thankfully could. We still had some hospital bag packing to do, so my husband quickly threw things in the bags and off we went.

part 1 of 2. part 2 coming soon...