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Saturday, August 27, 2011
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.
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
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!
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!
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
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!
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