Little Miss Sunshine

The past few weeks I have finally gotten into a weekly "routine", or I should say that I've adapted to my weekend routine-and not having one during the week. Work is going well, I feel comfortable in my position more and more every weekend. Due to the sensitivity of the information-I won't be on my own for another 3-4 months, which is perfectly fine with me.

After almost 4 years of having to wake, get myself ready, and another 1 or 2 beings out the door by 7:30; it's such a welcome to ease myself and the kids into the day. And yes, there are some days when Alex doesn't have school, that we don't get out of our pj's til late afternoon. Laura, sometimes doesn't at all-and I'm perfectly alright with that. I bought Laura some Hello Kitty underwear, so when the time comes-she might find them interesting. Well she pulled a pair out last week and wanted to wear them, over her pj's. She left them on literally all day, and just before Jason walked through the door she sported a headband in her wild, uncombed hair. Let's just say it reminded me of the movie Little Miss Sunshine. Jason found her quite entertaining-and she didn't have a clue how crazy she looked. My only regret was that I didn't capture the moment!

Laura's vocabulary is evolving everyday, and I had to laugh the other day when my mom described her as "fiesty" after much hesitation. I hate comparing my kids-or any kids for that matter, I think they lose their individuality when they're constantly compared to their brother, sister, etc. But I love how different Alex and Laura's personalities are, Alex is generally pretty quiet, reserved, and goes with the flow. Laura is the one to voice her opinion in most things (even if we don't know what she is saying), she communicates with either a no-or an attempt to hit her brother. If you don't tell her what she wants to hear, it usually involves her throwing whatever it might be that she has in her hand-including her dinner. The only thing I don't like is that she's to the stage where she picks up on everything her brother does, and coming into 4-he's not exactly at a "lovable" stage. It was quite comical though the other day when we left the children's museum, Alex was throwing a tantrum-I used my "one, two" tactic and he promptly got up and followed me. Well that night Alex was being yelled at for something else, and Laura promptly walked up to him and said "one, two". Needless to say Alex didn't like it too much when she gave him a taste of his own medicine that is telling her what to do-I often have to remind him that he is her brother, not her mom.

So life as a sahm on the weekdays is going well; it's even better when you don't know what each day is going to bring w/ your kids.

Almost to the 1/2 way point

Due to the job change, trip to Colorado, and what I refer to as "medical drama" (meaning myself this time)I honestly haven't had a lot of time to think about the pregnancy. For the past 3 months I've been plagued by a nasty bladder/kidney infection that took a while to get rid of. I'm not a stranger to them in pregnancy, but damn-this last one was "bad" in the words of my midwife. There's really no way to describe how I've felt other than uncomfortable, and I can't really pair my intense nausea w/ the pg or the infection. It has consumed me to the point where I haven't had a lot of energy to think about anything other than what's on my plate for the day. I just recently got a good report back, and now I just keep my fingers crossed that we can keep them away from here on out-or at least catch them early. I know I'm feeling better though cause I finally got the ambition to walk 3 miles, and go workout the other day. I'm slowly building myself back up-cause I had been working out pretty regularly until the 6 week marker when it all just seemed to hit me.

Most people that know me, know I'm not one to share information-unless you ask. I don't like to whine when I'm not feeling well, and I don't like to talk to people about things they may not really care about. So don't take my not talking about the pg as not caring; I just prefer to keep things to myself unless people feel inclined to ask.

I've felt the baby move, yes the joys of having multiple pg's gives me that liberty of knowing those feelings early on. It's exciting to know these will be the last baby kicks I'll ever feel again.

We have our ultrasound in 3 weeks, no we won't find out what we're having; we found out w/ Alex mostly by Jason's choice and not w/ Laura by my choice-we both preferred the surprise. Everyone asks "what we want?", um a healthy baby is all we're really looking for.

Do we have a name picked out? A few, but we typically don't share that info until the baby is born. I don't know, call it superstitious-or boring, but there are few things in life that only 1 or 2 people know-Jason and I cherish the months leading up to the birth, and what is all unveiled that day.

Been awhile

Well it's been almost a month, so I felt like I should get back on here and give an update. The past few weeks have been filled with a lot of medical turmoil, I'm not really one that likes drama to begin with-so the past few weeks have been a hell ride for me. My oldest sister went in for what was supposed to be a routine cardiac cath, and the end result was that the dr. performing the cath perforated one of her arteries. The perforation caused clotting, and the release of enzymes from the tear which in turn resulted in a heart attack during the procedure. Once that was under wraps, they put 3 stents into her right coronary artery. The worst part, we learned what all happened a week later-at a different hospital, when a 2nd cath was performed. Little did the initial doctor realize, one of my other sister's is a nuclear med tech in a heart center out in Colorado-we knew very early that his description of what happened during the procedure wasn't exactly accurate-too many things weren't adding up. Because of that, it was no surprise to many of us that we had to admit her a 2nd time (yes, at a different hospital) and we were on pins and needles as to the damage that might have been caused. The good news is the 2nd cath showed blood flow was good in the right coronary artery, it also showed the perforation had begun to heal. And while it will take a while for it to heal, she is expected to make a full cardiac recovery.

She had surgery this morning, a week and a half later to remove a hematoma from her groin area, which was a result of the stint (which the cath is inserted) being removed improperly during the initial procedure. The surgery went well, and we are all hoping Sherry will have a nice hiatus from dr.'s and hospitals for a very long time.

It's moments like these, where you receive a phone call and have to listen to your own mother cry on the other end that makes you realize how hard life can be sometimes. Sherry endured the worst of it all, and will only come out a stronger person because of it; but I still went to bed every night with a deeper appreciation for my own family. Life is short, you don't realize it til it's too late-if you haven't hugged your sister, mom or dad lately-do so the next time you see them.