Saturday, August 27, 2011

What's he getting ready to do?

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Thursday, August 25, 2011

a memory for my boys . . .

8/23/2011...

It will be a day that I will never forget. It might not seem like much to west coasters but us east coasters are not well prepared for earthquakes.

Everyone's experience was different, some less scarier than others. I kinda wish we were in the less scarier of the two. But, we weren't.

It happened to be a gorgeous day with a slight breeze, you could not ask for a better day. We started it off meeting the new pediatrician for the boys, who turned out to be amazing! Success in my book. Followed it up with a flu shot, which Will was non too happy about but he got to pick out a toy from the treasure box, which he thought was totally cool. Came home and had a snack. Then we were off again, this time to Will's swim class. My little fishy did wonderfully. Jumping off the side, swimming with one noodle, awesome kicks, and going under water to grab rings. He always comes out looking so happy and content. Did I mention that I cried when I saw him jump off the side, unassisted? Good thing Lew wasn't there. We decided to take a shower there because we were going to head to Target and pick up a couple things that we needed.

I'm putting every moment in there because it is helping me come to terms that we were where we were because that's where God wanted us to be at that moment. Otherwise the what if's would drive me insane.

We got to Target around 1:00. Parked further back in the parking garage than normal but near the cart return. We picked up a couple items, definitely not a big Target shop for us and I let Will pick out a toy because he did not cry at the Pediatrician appointment. Surprisingly he picked out a toy quite quickly and we were ready to check out. I found a line that had one lady in it, in and out I thought. She was signing up for a Target red card, and their computers were acting up.

Clue 1. Something is up. Did not figure this out tell later. They moved her to another register next to us. Same problem, she wasn't able to get the key pad working in order to sign up for the card. Clue 2. Something definitely had been up. But, we were all going about our day as if nothing was going to happen in the next 10 minutes.

Decided after the busy morning, and frankly tired of drinking water that I would get myself a iced tea from the Starbucks. Took maybe 4 minutes. On our way to the elevator, which Will wanted to take.

Got off and headed to the car where I first put our bags and water in. Then I grabbed Will and put him in his seat, pulled out his toy for him. Dropped the cart off just across the way from us. Went back to Will to open up his toy, as he was being pretty persistent.

Felt nauseus and thought there must be a lot of cars coming up the parking garage because you can feel them drive up. Feeling past and then all of sudden, I was thrown off balance. I looked up from Will's toy and saw the huge cement columns swaying. Literally moving sideways. The ground beneath us was rolling, like it was a wave, and was lifting it with such ease. I threw the toy down, unhooked Will and hugged him close to my chest like never before. To see these cement columns and cement walls tilting sideways was like nothing your mind could have imagined. All I thought was this sucker is coming down and I better have Will in my arms.

Cars were still driving up because they say that cars didn't really feel much, maybe a rumble or two. Customers were quickly getting to their cars. The weird thing is, there was no screaming. Then you see people racing down the steps in Target and an you hear the store alarm. To be honest, I thought I had just hallucinated. Did I really see tons of cement tilted on it's side? I couldn't have. Thank goodnesss Will had no idea what was going on. I think I pressed his head so tightly to my body that he just closed his eyes. I quickly grabbed him and put him back in the seat, with my hands shaking and my eyes starting to fill up with tears. Cars were still pulling in and that is when I thought, I must have just imagined what had happened.

As I got towards the exit awaiting to go down, I noticed the line going down the hill to get out. Then I saw people running and jumping in their cars. As we got out of the garage, I could see the sun shining and thought just get me the f*** out of here! Hands shaking, body numb and tears welling in my eyes, I then knew we had been threw an earthquake. I instantly tried calling Lew, no answer. Called my sister. No answer. Called my good friend. No answer. Kept calling Lew. No answer. Finally, I got a text from my sister that said, "We just had an earthquake!" She was on the fifth floor of her office building and was out safely.

I drove home so fast, I just wanted to be in the safety of my own home and away from the parking garage. Ella was quite scared when we got home. She had pulled up an area rug because she had been trying to hide. This is a 100lb Rottweiler we are talking about. Scared out of her mind. Pictures on the wall were sideways, dvds and games on the floor. Luckily nothing was broken but honestly I could care less. I was just happy we made it out of that stinkin' garage!

After about an hour, I had heard from Lew, my sister (a couple of times) and my Pape. All were safe.

To my boys...as your mommy I am so glad that we were all together. To my first baby Will, I am sorry if I squeezed you so tight (which you told daddy later) but I wanted to make sure that if the gargage was falling down, you were with me. Thank you for holding on to me tightly too and for covering up your little baby brother. You were amazing. Such a strong boy. To my second baby boy, thank you for being right where you were. I could not imagine how I would have managed a newborn and a toddler during this. You were tucked nicely in there, probably lulled to sleep by the rolling cement under my feet. My arms were wrapped around your big brother, his around mine and together I was in one giant hug with my boys. With you both so close, everything was going to be okay. And it was.

So Will and baby boy that is our story. The story of how we made it through our first and hopefully last earthquake. Together.

p.s. we love you too daddy. we wish you would have been there to protect us.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Thankful . . .


After our scary day today...hugging him tighter.



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Saturday, August 20, 2011

Ahhh..Beach...The Big Scare !

It was Sunday. The first full day in the OBX. On tap, a walk on the beach in the morning for some family sea shelling and a couple jumps in the waves of course. Then we had decided to do the pool early and then the beach in the afternoon. Simple. And a perfect first day in my opinion.

After eating my Kashi cereal with milk AND a full glass of orange juice, I started to get us ready for the pool. Making sure to drink a bottle of water while doing this, since it was going to be a hot day. After I got everything together and Lew loaded the car, we were on our way to the pool which is just a couple of minutes away.

The pool was nice and cool and just felt so good on this hot day. I got out after about an hour or so to read my book. Mean while, I have finished another bottle of water. Getting a little too hot, I decided to get back in the pool after about 30 minutes of reading. Let Lew have a break from watching Will and played with Will and practiced his swimming with him.

An hour or so had past, everyone was in the water once again and I felt a cramp. I thought it was from swimming since Will and I had been playing around. But when we started to pack up and go back to the house for lunch, I could barely stand up straight. I thought, how could I pull a muscle? I am in pretty good shape and have been swimming with Wil all summer long. As we got to the car and I sat down, I felt my stomach tighten and I couldn't breathe for a second. The tightness went away. Thank goodness.

As we got to the house I had another tightening followed by that cramp again. I didn't tell Lew because I didn't want to freak him out. So, I quickly got into the house and went to our room to lay down. Looking at the digital clock on the night stand, I realized that these were more than braxton hicks contractions, because they were coming almost every 40 seconds. Lew came looking for me and he could see the worry in my eyes.

We decided that I should just rest and try and take a nap, that the heat probably just took it out of me. Paranoid, I watched the clock and the contractions slowly started to slow down and come less frequently. I finally fell asleep for about an hour but was quickly woken up but a really hard contraction. I went to the bathroom to check to make sure everything was okay and it was but I was still freaking out. By this time it is nearly 3:30, I haven't had anything to eat since the morning and I haven't had anything to drink in about 2 hours.

I go upstairs to the family room and sit down and the contractions really start coming and they are fierce! Like, my poor little guy was looking like an alien in my stomach bad. We called my ob's on call service but knew at this point that we were going to the hospital. Lew gave me some water which I started drinking but between the contractions and being worried, I could barely get it down. By 4:30 my ob hadn't called us back so, we just left. Lew's mom watched Will and we were headed back to the main land that was an hour away!

The contractions were so bad that I had to stop and wait for each one to pass before I could walk down all the stairs to the car. I could see the panic on Lew's face and the determination to get us there. The hour drive turned into a 40 minute drive thanks to Lew's efficient and safe driving!

The contractions were not that bad at the hospital, so I was hoping nothing was wrong at all. They quickly checked us in and a wonderful nurse from labor and delievery came and got us. She asked a round of questions and was so nice to us, I didn't even feel like I was at a hospital. I got changed into one of the lovely gowns and peed in a cup. I got hooked up to monitors and we were relieved to hear our little guy moving and his heart rate nice and steady. BIG SIGH here.

She checked my urine levels and said I was so dehydrated, I was almost of the ph scale. Yikes! All that I had to drink that day was clearly not sufficient enough and she said I should be drinking a bottle of water for every hour I am awake in the heat. She was sure with some fluids and a muscle relaxer to calm down the contractions, that I would be okay.

A blown out vein, 1 bag of iv fluids, some weird muscle relaxer, graham crackers, apple juice, an italian ice and one jug of water later. I was free to go. Thank goodness. The contractions had stopped and I was feeling better besides my abs and back hurting like crazy.

So for the rest of the trip I drink about 120 ounces of water a day. By Friday I had to include a gatorade in there because I felt like I was going to float away. I normally drink a lot of water but being that I am hydrating for two, I needed a lot more than I had anticipated.

Note to self, if you question how much water you have had to drink, drink more!

My lovely souvenier from the OBX. And not to worry, my little dude is very active and I am seeing my ob this week. And yes, we did give them a piece of our mind as to why we never got a return phone call.

With this scare, we have now started to get all baby stuff out, cleaned and ready. But, he better stay in there tell Halloween!


Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Beach . . . Ahhhhhh

We were lucky enough to squeeze in one more vacation before our second little bubsy makes his appearance in the fall. The OBX were calling our name and we had such an amazing time with a few hiccups. More on that in the next post.

Will is such a water boy and I have a feeling that he will be just like his daddy, a beach boy. We had a great time swimming in the pool, the ocean and playing in the sand. It could not have been better!


The boys at the Avon pier...doing what they love...fishing!


We love doing those shots where you hold the camera out with one hand!



The boys doing their mad faces...




My handsome hubby...looking so...so...cute!



Not totally perfect but good enough for us!



My tuckered out bubsy after a long day at the beach and swimming at the pool. And of course he has his blue blanket.


How can you not resist that smile?! Love this little guy so much!




That was just a snippet of our vacation...I will tell you what happened on day 2 of our vacation...stay tuned!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Getting Bigger . .

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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Always Laughing...That's the Secret!



I am linking up with Natalie @ Mommy of a Monster to share some photos of my walk down the isle with Lew. It was an amazingly beautiful day with tons of "romantic" pictures taken but I chose to show the fun side of Lew and myself.

Lew and I have always said that laughter really is the best medicine...it helps you when your down, having a bad day and want to take it out on one another, when your preschooler has a major meltdown, when you have a crisis at work. Smiling and laughing about it, makes it all better, especially when you are doing it with the one you love!

Now head on over to Natalie's, link up or just check out some other wedding photos! Natalie's picture is absolutely beautiful!
























Monday, August 15, 2011

Because it has choo choos on it . .

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Friday, August 5, 2011

Yep. That's me. I'm that mom.

We are off on an adventure soon. Nana is coming to town and we cannot wait. We will be driving which always makes for a fun adventure and stories to tell. Will is generally a good car traveler but when we went to Florida in April, we were both getting over a two week cold, not fun at all.

Here is the story of that journey and heres' to hoping this next beach trip will be less eventful!

I should have known something was a bit a miss when my normal little guy still did not look well that morning. He even refused his donut. This was all before we even got 50 miles from our house. It was still early and I was hoping he would drift off into dream land for a couple hours, to make this car ride a bit easier.

We ended up going through the southwest part of VA which is full of mountains and different elevations. A definite different drive from our last couple Chicago drives. Will was in the process of potty training but we were not actively forcing him on the potty. I saw a restaurant along the way that I love, and me being my pregnant sick self wanted to stop. Lew agreed, after all we had been driving for a good four hours without stopping. What happened next should have been yet another clue for this momma, but I ignored it. Totally oblivious. Yep. That's me.

Will refused to get out of the car. Didn't want to go in at all. Didn't want to eat. Didn't want to go with me into the bathroom. He ended up having a little blow out in his diaper that had to be changed which we did but did I forget to tell you that he had this happening to him for a week straight? Yeah. Another reason this was a bad idea. Changed his butt, getting ready to be seated and Will pitched a royal fit. I mean, I literally had to carry him out with his little squirming body going everywhere. We got back in the car and Lew was like, what do you think is the matter with him? I just chalked it up to being sick for the last couple of weeks and a car ride should have been the last thing we were doing.

Literally, not 20 minutes back on the road, Will vomited. I was totally not prepared for this and what did I do, I put my hands under his mouth to catch it. Yeah. Me. The major germ-a-phob was the bowl for my son's throw up. Will was so upset and finally ended up falling asleep. Meanwhile, I was scrubbing my hands with hand sanitizer and wipes trying to get the nasty vomit off of me. Still makes me cringe thinking about it. My dear, sweet husband thought it was just mucus, since that is what it looked like and Will had thrown up during the week for the very same reason. Okay. I guess. Right?
'
For a blissful hour and half, my baby slept but was suddenly awoken with a "shart" as we call it in our house and was ticked to say the least. This kid's rear was so red. I felt horrible. No amount of butt paste was taking this pain away. After a quick change, I thought he would fall back asleep. Nope.

Vomit. It happened again and again. Let's just say it repeated about 3 more times. Once more in my hands, once on his beloved blue blankie and finally we got smart and had a bag available. The funny thing is, after he would vomit, he felt so much better and wanted to eat. Who seriously wants to eat after they vomit?

Then a light bulb went off, only 5 hours too late. Will was car sick. Yep. I am that mom who chalked it up to our two week bug. We were about 5 hours from Atlanta, our pit stop to see Lew's sister. And I did it. I am not proud of this by any means, but I could not have my baby who had been sick for two weeks straight be subjected to anything else. After all isn't liquid poop, runny noses, wretched coughs, fevers and vomiting at night enough before a vacation?

I moved Will out of his car seat and he and I had a movie fest on the ground of our rented mini-van that has huge, gaping windows, that my kid is not used to. Hence car sick. And he actually loved it and stayed on the ground, the whole time. When we got to Aunt Lisa's house we got dramamene for the second part of our car ride the next day. Blue blankie and clothes were washed and never thought about again!

This time around. I am hoping we will be okay. We are taking my Jeep. Which we are all used to. We are not sick. Knock on wood. Will is normally a great car trip kid, so betting on that. But. Just in case. I am spiking his morning drink with some dramamene.

Yes. I am that mom who doesn't feel like catching vomit in her hands.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Belly Perspective . .

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Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Feeling Left Out . . .

When I became a mom I thought for sure it would be easy to make other mom friends, well I have come to the conclusion that it just isn't. I am definitely not the most outgoing person, but I did try and make conversation with other moms when I picked Will up at school. But, it is kind of hard to get to know another mom when you have 5 minutes to talk to them. This year it will be even more unlikely that I will meet other moms, since we will now be in the drop off line.

I thought joning our local pool would be great for Will and myself to meet others and so far it hasn't. Two of his friends go there from school but somehow we never can meet up. I really like one of the mom's but she just told me that her son will be going to a different school in order to work with her schedule. Another bummer.

I see all these moms talking at the pool and wonder how they all know each other. They are all talking and laughing, having a grand old time. Then I see that most of them have older children so they must all go to the same school and probably have known each other for a while. Will has no problem going and playing with other children but sometimes they won't play with them because of their older siblings or they have friends already there.

I feel left out for him. And I feel left out for me.

Sometimes it is lonely being a mom. I wish I had more friends here. But I don't. I grew up in Virginia, my family is there, and friends.

I probably should join a mom's group or something but, juggling training, lew's schedule, and Will. Sometimes it is just not possible. I thought about taking a cake decorating class and hopefully I would be able to meet some new friends.

I am totally having a pity party for myself today. Last night, Lew had to work and I sat on the couch eating chocolate and crying. My Dad was going to go to the beach with us, but now he can't come. I am disappointed about that because he just went with my sister on a last minute vacation in June and we have had this planned and set since April. I feel like she is defnitely his favorite, they are most alike, and he is always over at her house. It just sucks!

It's hard because I know if my mom were here, she would be coming with us on this trip to spend time with me and she would be soaking up Will. She loved her grand babies so much. Again, I feel left out for Will and myself. No parent around and no grandparent. Will has his Nana, but being in Chicago we don't get to see her much. Lew's dad past a year after my mom. Lew and I often feel like the parents that got taken away from us, would be the ones loving on our Will the most. It's just frustrating and disappointing. I told myself, I cannot cry over this anymore because, its on my Dad's conscience and not mine.

Enough of the cry fest, on my part. Will and I are going to make Lew some cookies and surprise him at work. Baking is very therapeutic for me and I need it.

Monday, August 1, 2011

What's Been Going On . . .

We have been super busy this summer with lots of fun things happening and tons of outdoor activities! Here are some things that we have been up too...



~Pool visits...almost daily. We definitely have gotten our moneys worth!

~Swim lessons at a local swim school. At first I thought Will might need more individual attention, so we signed him up for some private ones at the end of August but ....

~We officially have a little swimmer on our hands. He watched Peppa Pig swim and the next day at the pool he said he wanted to swim to me like Peppa. What did he do? He swam under water! He is getting better each day we go to the pool. I am thankful for this because knowing how to swim is key where we live. Plus, as a former swim team member, I am hoping he will want to join the swim team when he gets older.

~We have had many park visits but early because we are in the middle of a heat wave here in MD. These days, are usually followed by naps on the couch which I don't mind at all!

~We saw Cars 2 and we are looking forward to the new Thomas movie that comes out in the fall. It will probably be the last movie we see before we welcome our new little guy into our family.

~Will has become such a social butterfly, which I love because last year, he was so shy and quiet. Now he loves playing and interacting with kids, even if he doesn't know them. I have always been a shy person, so this makes me happy to think he might be a bit more outgoing than myself. Lew is very outgoing and will pretty much talk to anyone, maybe he gets it from Daddy.

~Lots of bbqs with cousin Lilly and even a couple pool visits with her too. He calls her his best friend. She is really patient with him too, which is good for a soon to be 4th grader.

~A couple lunch dates and even a dinner date with my main little bubsy have been really wonderful. I am relishing in all things Will lately. Just trying to soak him up, while its just the the two of us.

~He is totally potty trained, we have only had one accident at night which I think was to just being over tired. A long day at the pool, the heat and play with Daddy, may have been the culprit.

~Will loves to cuddle and often asks to snuggle at night, which I totally love!

~Did I mention that he loves babies! Every time we see one he has to check them out and then he tells the mom that we are going to have a baby too. That he is the big brother to his little brother. Makes. Me. Melt.

~At the last obgyn appointment I had, Will and Daddy couldn't come because it was during Will's swim class. When he came home, he rushed over to me and asked, "Did the dr. get our baby out?" I think he is getting excited! One thing I am afraid of is that he will get a little jealous at first, I just have to remember and be good about giving him as much if not a little more attention during the whole transition.

~Speaking of that, any big brother gift ideas? I wanted to get him something and tell him it was from his little brother. Will lately has been obsessed with stuffed dogs, so I was thinking of getting him a build a bear dog. I saw that they had little dog house boxes now too. Which I think he will get a kick out of.

~In 4 days we will be picking up Nana (lew's mom) at the airport from Chicago because we are headed to the beach! We are going to be going to the OBX, which I grew up going to, and I cannot wait to take Will. Lew's mom has never been and I think she is going to fall in love with it! We all need a vacation at this point, and Lew is at the top of the list. He works such long hours for us and September is going to be a busy month for him. So fishing and lots of fun time spent on the beach is in store for us!

~When we get back Will gets to meet his new pediatritian, hopefully get his flu shot and meet all his new class mates for a play date at his school.


I have a feeling August is going to fly by!