Keeping Things Interesting

We have been anxiously awaiting Laura's arrival. This part of pregnancy is always hard for all of us as we never know when things are going to start. We've had a couple of false alerts and I'm sure it will be soon! We've been staying busy and trying to get caught up on everything I haven't been able to do for the past 5 months, along with doing everything we need to in order to be ready for the start of school next Tuesday and for Laura's birth. It makes me laugh how different our preparations are for our sixth baby when compared to our first. With Megan, we needed everything perfect and had to have all the extra baby stuff. With Laura, we got diapers, took out our baby clothes, and took out the bassinet and car seat. That's pretty much all you need at first :)

Anyway, Sunday night Jack decided to do his part in distracting us to make time pass by more quickly. He and Kylie snuck a couple of q-tips into his room, one of which he put in his ear. Following that, he managed to fall off his bed, with the q-tip in his ear, and land on that ear, pushing the q-tip through his eardrum. He came into our room crying and bleeding out of his ear (the q-tip had fallen out, so we didn't even know he had one in his ear until Kylie told us). We knew blood coming out of an ear was bad, so I texted two of my friends who are ER nurses. They told me he needed to go to the children's hospital ER and not to bother with urgent care or even a regular ER.

Kiki was working from home this week so she could meet Laura when she decided to show up, so we called her and she came right over to stay with the girls so both Rob and I could take Jack in. Rob kept him awake (we weren't sure if it was a skull fracture or a ruptured eardrum, which are the two major reasons for bleeding from your ear) while I drove. Even though the ER was pretty full, they got us back in just a few minutes and determined that it was a ruptured ear drum. Poor Jack :( He was very brave and was very good about letting the nurse and doctor look in his injured ear. He got a bit annoyed at the nurse though as she was checking for a skull fracture and kept checking to see if other parts of his head hurt. He knew it was just his ear and got tired of telling her ("Does this hurt?" "No, it's just my ear." " Does this hurt?" "NO, it's just my ear!" "Does this hurt?" "NO, I TOLD you, it's just my EAR!"). As usual, he was super cute, even with the frustration, and charmed everyone. The highlight of his night was getting a rainbow popsicle!

We were in and out in about an hour, which I thought was super fast for an ER visit, especially on a weekend night! Traffic was really light too, so we were home by midnight. Unfortunately, Jack didn't sleep much that night because his ear hurt. Eva didn't sleep very well either. I suppose it was better that they both chose the same night rather than picking different nights. We have Jack's follow up appointment this morning.

I had my 35 week check up on Monday afternoon. Everything looks good! I am now 50% effaced, but haven't started dilating yet. My doctor said he'd love for me to make it to Saturday as I'll be 36 weeks at that point, but having made it this far is amazing and we did really well! Honestly, I'm really, really hoping she shows up today or tomorrow. Friday at the latest. The first day of school is Tuesday and I'd really like to be home to see the girls off and especially to be there for Jack's very first day of school ever!

15 Years Together

What a difference 15 years makes! Although I can't believe we've been married that long :) Marrying Rob was one of the best decisions I ever made. It's been harder than I expected it to be, but more rewarding as well. We keep planning on doing something big for anniversaries that mark 5 year increments of married life, but Megan was born 2 weeks before our 5th anniversary, Jack showed up 3 days before our 10th, and Laura should be here any day. We already have plans for our 20th though! Kate is flying down to stay with the kids and we are going on a cruise :) Not that I'm complaining about how we've spent our anniversaries. I can't think of a better way to celebrate our marriage and the creation of our family than adding a new member to it!

This year Rob took the day off work (and the day after too, so he had a 4 day weekend) and Ashley came over in the morning to watch the kids so we had the whole day to spend together! We started with a chiropractor appointment for me. When Laura kept flipping sideways, I decided I needed to get checked out by a chiropractor. I discovered that one specializing in pregnancy and pediatric patients had opened an office less than five minutes from our house! She got me in right away and discovered that my hips were very out of alignment. She got them back into place and Laura immediately moved into the correct position and hasn't flipped since. I felt much better too! She is having me come in once or twice a week until Laura shows up to make sure things are staying where they should. She also gave me her cell number and said to call her if by some chance Laura flips again when I'm in labor as she will come to the hospital and flip her back so I don't need a c-section. She's a wonderful chiropractor and I'm so glad I found her!

Anyway, after my appointment, Rob and I headed to one of our favorite restaurants - a little Brazilian churrascaria (steak house that cooks meat on swords over an open fire). The big fancy ones are very pricy, but the one we found is incredibly inexpensive and much more intimate. We made an early reservation and ended up being the only ones in the restaurant. We finished in time to make it to an early showing of "The Dark Knight Rises", which was really good! Then we hit an outlet mall and picked up a few things we needed that I didn't want to buy online. We ended the day at Braums with ice cream and picked up burgers for the kids so we didn't have to make dinner. It was a really nice day!

Rob and I reflected on the past 15 years and how we've managed to stay together and grow closer. I'm typing our thoughts here as I'd like our children to be able to read them someday.

I think the most important choice we made was to both commit to the relationship. I think it's really important for both members of a relationship to make that choice, although I know that each individual person has no control over whether or not the other member decides to do so. We've been lucky that both of us chose to. We have also managed to take turns supporting each other. There have been times that both of us struggled, but the other one carried the relationship through that time. We didn't give up. We have also made sure to always make time for our relationship. Even with 5, almost 6 kids, we still go on dates at least once a month and spend one on one time at least once a week.

One of my favorite parts of our relationship is that we try to encourage the strengths of the other person and adjust our relationship to fit them. For example, I am better at putting things together (like bookshelves or windshield wipers), so even though that might be a traditionally "male" responsibility, I do those things. Rob is better at getting dishes and laundry done, so he does that "female" job. I also think it's really helped that we've worked to understand how much work each of us do. During the day, Rob works at his job and I take care of the children. When he gets home, both of us take care of the children. We split the housework. We've never considered Rob watching the children as "babysitting" as they are his children.

Something else that has helped is that both of us have worked to do what's best for our family as a unit rather than focusing on what we want individually. We've never worried about dividing bills or money. We've moved where we needed to move. We've supported each other through jobs and school. We try to always put our family first.

And now I will step off my soapbox :)

Rob really is my best friend. I can be myself around him and he still loves me, even when I'm super cranky. I can tell him anything (and have told him everything). I love spending time with him! I love the conversations we have. I am incredibly lucky to have found someone who loves me for who I am. Shortly after we were married, I mentioned to one of my youth group leaders that I couldn't sleep unless I was touching Rob somehow. She laughed and said that showed that we were newlyweds. She said by the time we hit our tenth anniversary, we would be happily sleeping on opposites sides of the bed. It's been 15 years and my favorite place to sleep is still in Rob's arms. I hope that never changes :)

After 15 years of marriage, 4 states, and almost 6 children, our relationship is the best it has ever been :) And this is only the beginning :) I can't wait to spend the rest of my life, and then eternity, with my best friend!

**********

Rob picked these two poems for me for our anniversary ~

Originally
The circle was small

As it held
Only the two of us

But then
We added another

And thought
She would be

The only
One

Yet we kept
Being given more

Until our circle
Held eight

How blessed
We are

To have
So many

Within
This never ending ring

--------------------

We have each
Carried

This relationship
Along

I am glad
When one of us

Was
Weak

The other
Was able to bear

The
Weight of it all

The longer
We spend together

The better
We are

143

35 Weeks!!!

I have now officially hit 35 weeks!!! By this time, Laura should be between 6-7 lbs! We are 6 days away from the point Jack was born at and 5 days away from the point Eva made her appearance :) I came really close to heading to L&D on Thursday night. I had contractions 4 mins apart for over an hour, but they weren't regular enough. We really thought that was it and Ashley even came over and spent the night here in case things picked up suddenly like they did with Eva. Laura wasn't quite ready to make her appearance yet though.

We are trying to race and get everything we've wanted to do for the last 5 months done. We're getting close to finishing our to do list :) We can't wait to meet her!

Official Name Change

A bit late in the game, but at least it's before Laura's birth :) We've decided not to use Alice as Laura's middle name anymore. We still love the name, but we've decided to name her Laura Sicilia instead :) We changed it to Sicilia in honor of Leah. Laura Leah didn't sound right to us, so we searched for other names that had Leah in them. We found Sicilia and decided it was perfect! Sicilia is the female name version of Sicily, which is where one side of my family is from. Most importantly, it ends with the sound -leah, so we can honor her and the role she has played in my life. I love that we've found a name that will honor two of my very best friends!

Laura and I have been friends since I was four (30 years ago!). Leah and I have been friends since we were fourteen (20 years ago!) when we met at church youth activities. Both have been there for me whenever I needed them. I am so blessed to have friends like them in my life!

34 Week Appointment

First an update on Jack's actual birthday day ~

The kids and I started off the day by having Kiki's cupcakes for breakfast :) We stuck a candle in Jack's and sung happy birthday to him again. Eva thought the candle and song were pretty cool and decided she needed both as well, so we put a candle in Eva's cupcake and sung to her too :)

We didn't do anything too special during the day. The pest control guy came by for his quarterly appointment. He has five kids of his own, one of which is a 4 year old boy, so he let Jack "help" him with spraying, which Jack thought was super cool! Jack got to hold the flashlight and show him where the rooms were. I had an OB appt, so Ashley babysat. As soon as Rob got home, we headed out to IHOP for Jack's birthday dinner, taking Ashley along with us of course! The kids and Rob are currently wrapping up the day by watching "Phineas and Ferb", except for Eva, who is chattering away at my side and helping me type.

My appointment went well. I gained 6 (!!!) lbs over the past two weeks, about which the nurse said "nice job!" and meant it. Apparently only gaining 12 lbs total over a pregnancy is not optimal. I'm now up to a total of 18 lbs, which still isn't even average. My OB doesn't agree with the chiropractor's estimate of Laura's current weight (she said Laura was about 7 lbs last week); he thinks she's currently between 5.5 and 6 lbs, an estimate I greatly prefer! She looks great! He said he'd like me to make it another week or two if possible and at this point, he would still try and stop labor to get the steroid shots in. We'll have to see what Laura's plans are!

Happy 5th Birthday Jack!!!

First a picture of Jack and Eva from last week. Jack had a bad dream or something and ended up in our room in the middle of the night. Eva ended up there early in the morning. After they both woke up, they spent some time cuddling and giggling in their "bed" on the floor next to ours :)

I can't believe my little boy is five today!!! He's growing up so fast!

As with all the kids' birthdays, we tried to stretch Jack's birthday out a bit with special activities planned over several days. On Saturday, Rob, Jack, and Josh (Betsy's son and Ashley and Caitlin's brother) went out to see the new Spiderman movie at the movie theater. Jack even got to use the money Grandpa and Grandma sent him to buy a HUGE container of popcorn! All three of them enjoyed the movie and Jack loved being the center of attention and having Josh play the role of older brother (Josh is 12). Josh is the only boy in his family too and it's been fun to see Jack and Josh become better friends over the past year or so.

Sunday night we had Jack's family birthday dinner/party. Kiki came over to celebrate with us :) Jack decided he wanted boxed macaroni and cheese with watermelon on the side. After dinner we let Jack open his presents. A month or so ago, while out shopping with Rob, Jack noticed a dinosaur toy with a bunch of cool accessories and decided he really, really wanted it. He saw it in several different stores and made sure to point it out each time. Betsy and I snuck out to get it for him last Friday.

I also picked out a Star Wars toy - a ship thingy with an Obi-Wan Kenobi figure. Jack has been really into Star Wars lately.

Beth and Kiki playing on the couch. Kiki was a bit tired having stayed up late the night before to watch the meteor shower :)

The Footes came over that evening for cake and to sing happy birthday. Jack picked out an oreo cake, mostly because of the cherries on top of it. He is very into cherries at the moment. Kiki brought over some cupcakes in case we needed extra cake and knowing how much Jack loves cherries, she even brought him a whole jar of maraschino cherries! 

Jack blew out 4 of his 6 candles (one for good luck) and Daddy helped with the last two ~

Happy birthday to my very favorite little boy!!! We love you and are so glad you are part of our family!!!

Life is Short

The past week or so has been hard. Morning sickness is back. My heart keeps doing this weird thing where it races and I feel horrible for 15 mins (my OB checked it out and I'm fine - apparently it's not uncommon in the third trimester, I just have never had it before). Everything hurts. I keep having really strong contractions, but they aren't close enough together to go to L&D. I'm sick of bed rest and it feels like these last few days are taking longer to get through than the whole other 5 months did.

But you know what? I have nothing to complain about. Seriously. I am incredibly blessed. I am married to my very best friend, who loves me even when I get emotional for no reason at all and get cranky because of it. I have the amazing blessing of getting to be the mother of five incredible kids (which is even more amazing when I remember all the doctors that told us we couldn't have children), who blow me away every day with their huge hearts and unknowingly hilarious comments. I've made it, against all odds, almost to 34 weeks with this pregnancy. At this point, even if Laura shows up tonight, she shouldn't have any permanent issues. Rob has a job, we have a house and two working cars and food to eat. And we are all in good health.

Often during times when I'm struggling, I come across people that make me refocus and recognize what's really important and how blessed I am. This is no exception.

A friend came by a couple of weeks ago to talk with me. She's pregnant with her fourth child and about 10 weeks behind me. They just found out that their baby has Trisomy 18. That is a chromosome disorder that is sort of similar to Down's Syndrome. Except it's fatal. Fifty percent of babies are stillborn and less than 10% make it to their first birthday. Due to other complications, she has been told that if he is delivered alive, they will probably have only minutes with him; best case scenario is 1-2 days. Bed rest for 5 months doesn't seem so bad anymore. 

A couple of days ago two young children were involved in an accident at a pool in the neighborhood across the street from ours. A three year old girl somehow got into water above her head and was struggling, so a four year old boy jumped in to try and save her. He did. But he is now being kept alive on life support and is completely brain dead. They are only keeping him alive long enough for him to donate his organs. It blows me away that a four year old would care enough to give his life for another little child. And it makes me want to hold my children tighter, have more patience with them, and make each day count.

Then I got a phone call tonight. In May, I asked for prayers for one of my best friends, Leah, who was in the ICU due to a significant brain bleed. It took her a while, but she managed to recover and eventually made it back home. It looked like she was getting better, although her speech and balance were still off. When I talked to her about a week or two ago, I could only understand part of what she was saying. I didn't know if it was just the cell phone connection though. It wasn't. She ended up back in the hospital a few days later, where they discovered several tumors near her brain stem. They operated immediately, but weren't able to remove more than part of the largest. They sent that one in to have a biopsy done. The results came back today. She has cancer. A very aggressive form of cancer. They are starting treatment, but she has been given 2-3 months to live. It was a hard day.

Life is short. You never know how much time you have with the people you love. Make sure you don't waste a day. Count your blessings.