Birthday recap

Instead of my way back Wednesday post this week, I will instead dazzle you with pictures from Maria's Birthday week.

(yes when you almost die on the day of your actual birth you get an entire week...)

(and your mommy gets to be lazy and buy all the food from the Giant Eagle deli...)

(hey if anyone deserves it, IT'S US!)

Anyway, on Sunday we had her party and of course she had TONS of fun and got lots of really nice gifts. However, her favorite items from the party were THE CAKE (of course!). Gotta love the Backyardigans...

This picture is so Pia, it's not even funny. I love it (even though it's disgusting and every time I look at it my OCD kicks in). It's just her personality in a nutshell. She doesn't care what anyone thinks, she just wants to have fun.

...and the CARD! it was a musical one (also Backyardigans). She played with that more than any of her toys I think. It broke yesterday and I had to perform "open-card" surgery to try to fix it.

(yes, I am in fact, corny enough to find that funny)

(Don't worry, it survived and is now resting to let his "stitches" heal)

She also got all kinds of other fun stuff like a Leapster2 with a Dora game,

And clothes, and shoes, and chalk, and bubbles, and Chixos, and crafts...She loved it all. But alas, I was so engrossed in the actual day, I didn't take very many pictures to prove it. But the nicest thing of all, was that she got to see her family (one of whom, hasn't seen her in almost a year).

Then last night her only set of grandparents that didn't make it to the party, came over to visit.

She got BARBIES! and better yet, it was...BARBIES WITH BABIES!! Oh my goodness, it's so stinkin cute you would not believe it. I only wish I was a little girl again (of course that's how I feel with ALL of the cool new Barbie stuff they have now). There is actually a lever on the back of the nurse that will move the arm so she can rock the baby! AAhhhh soo cute.

But I digress....

Also, both of the girls got cute necklaces with a dog and a cat on them and books that match. This is a horrible picture but it's all I could really get at the time without annoying them too much so, it'll have to do.

5 years of miracles

This post is for the fetus who wasn't supposed to survive, who then became the baby who would have a severely decreased quality of life, who then became the toddler who was developmentally 2 years behind, who is now the preschooler that amazes me every single day. From 1 lb 2 oz and less than 12 inches long to 26 lbs and over 3 ft tall, we've shed tears of fear, joy, worry, pride and pure amazement at what our strong, smart, stubborn, sensitive little miracle can do over these past 5 years. It's been an emotional roller-coaster that we've often wished we could jump off of. But in the end, all of these things we've gone through have only made us love and appreciate her more and more every day.

10 days old (Josh doing "kangaroo care" so they took her cpap off because she was breathing so well on her own)

1 yr old (when we were building our house)

2 yrs old

3 yrs old (helping Josh build the deck)

4 years

Today...5 years old! (of COURSE wearing all pink and princess and glitter)

MHR

My husband rocks for many, many reasons. But the one I keep replaying in my head for the last 24 hours, occurred exactly 5 years ago today. Exactly five years ago today I went into the hospital with the worst pain I'd ever experienced in my life. I was told later that day that our baby girl had a 60% chance of survival and I had about a 70% chance. We were young and dumb and naive and we were not prepared for any of it. He'd only been my husband for 3 weeks and there we were, in the midst of hell. But he was there. Every minute, he was there. He was there from the beginning when they (as usual) couldn't get a line in me for over a half an hour and had to resort to a central line. He was the one yelling at the doctor for hurting me. He was there through it all. Sneaking me water and holding my hand. He did things for me that I can't even imagine doing for another person. Those days before and after she was born, were the scariest of our lives. But we got through it together. And he was there through her 3 months in the NICU keeping me from losing it every single day. There were days where he held me for hours and let me cry. And there were days that he knew I just needed to be left alone. He was the only one to recognize that I needed a break to save my sanity, towards the end. My husband is not an outwardly emotional person, but in those months, he wore his heart on his sleeve and I loved him sooo much more for it. I never knew I could love him as much as the day he held her for the first time and cried so incredibly hard on the drive home. I talked to my mom about it the next day and she said the best sentence I've ever heard. She said, "you will never love your husband more as a man, than when you see him as a father". It's unbelievably true. And for a man that just HAD to have a boy, he's been wrapped around that little girls finger since day one. I love it, and I love him. I wouldn't have made it through the last five years (exactly) with anyone other than him.

way back wednesday (and small update)

Here's another edition of way back Wednesday. These are some photos of my grandpa (my moms dad) and his family.

This is my grandpa with one of his many cars. Josh said he thought it looked like a Studebaker, but couldn't be sure because he couldn't see the front. Either way, I just think he looks so handsome (and check out the shoes! :D).

I LOOOVE this photo. It's my grandpa and his sister Peggie. The look on my grandpas face just cracks me up! And look how pretty my aunt peggie looks. ah. LOVE it.


These are my grandpas parents. The quality of the actual picture is much better than this one because this was scanned and printed for me on paper on my grandpas scanner, that isn't that great.

This is my grandpas, grandpa. If you knew my grandpa you would know that they look soooooo similar, it's crazy.

In other news, I survived my first day of the 30 day shred. Yes, survived is the best word to describe it. I was calling her names I didn't even know I knew. In the middle it started to get a little easier for me (because there was a some kick boxing which is what I used to do all.the.time.) and I thought it was near the end...then she said ok we have one more circuit left. If I had had the strength I would have punched a whole in my TV at the idea of me and my ahem...girls...doing another minute of jumping jacks. I'm surprised I don't have a black eye. Seriously. I'm pretty sure that there is a law that says anyone over a DD can't do jumping jacks. If not, there SHOULD be one. lol. I have no idea how I'm going to do it all again today when I can barely walk, but I'm going to at least try. But one thing's for sure, I have to find myself the tightest sports bra known to man. Wish me luck...on all acounts.

how much of a bitch IS jillian michaels, anyway?

So, I got Jillian Michael's 30 day shred the other day. I'm starting it tomorrow and will report back on the subsequent "shredding" that Ms. Michael's is going to be doing to my risidual baby belly (etcetera). I'm hoping to get a few pounds off before our family pics with her in about 6 wks.

I'm not one of those freaks that's all obsessed about exercising or how I look. Whatever. Do I want to look like I did in high school. Well, YAH. Don't you? But in the last 5 years my body has been put through hell and I'm not gonna go all Nazi spin bitch on it and flip out if I can't lose the weight that I want to. I just have more important things to worry about. And the fact that time is not exactly on my side here, is not helping.

I've been desperately trying to figure out when I will have the time and I'm thinking that if I do the thing (1 hr) and take a lightening speed shower, I might be able to get it done while the kids "nap" (which lately is not a nap, it's a giggle-fest in the girls room that spills over into Jacks room after about an hour. But we'll see how it goes. That is really my only choice b/c I'm NOT doing it after Josh gets home and I'm NOT waking up any earlier than I already do. So we'll see how it goes. It would definitely be nice to lose a little before the pics and a little more before VACATION (!!!). But we all know how well I do with any diet restrictions (esp on my sweets!). NOT WELL. lol. I could go the rest of my life without another chip or fast food or pop (ewwww! :-P). But try to take away my ice cream and be prepared to lose a hand. lol. So we'll see how this all goes.

Friday Night Leftovers (photo ed.)

This edition of Friday Night Leftovers will be a photographic one. Enjoy.

And for more leftover fun, visit Danifred

• The other day I went in to get Jack out of his crib and found this... they said they wanted to keep him company and since they couldn't get him out, the only logical thing to do....they got in, of course.

• Last week I redid the photos (and got new frames) in the hallway (see below). It hadn't been done since Maria came home from the NICU(!!!) yep, I apparently AM that lazy. So now I've moved on to another wall that will have all black and whites of our families (old pics of our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents). I've been having a lot of fun going through them and picking out my favorites. So, hopefully by next week I'll have a pic of that. I'm halfway done and I have all the frames already.

• Last night when Josh and I were getting into bed, I walked over to his side to fix his blankets and pillows and I found this... apparently our kids support "free love". LOL

• Because I'm slightly neurotic, I made Maria's birthday gift bags already. Yes, I am well aware of the fact that her birthday isn't for another two weeks. But I had the stuff and I just couldn't help myself. It was staring at me. I would like to point out that I, unlike some of the other mothers in the class, have not included "fun dip" in these Birthday bags. I am 100% sure that "fun dip" was created by someone without children. What other explanation can you give for a candy that is essentially a bag full of flavored sugar that you eat with a sucker. Why in the world would the parents of 4 and 5 yr olds send these things home? It boggles the mind. I think those mothers hate the rest of us. I was forced to throw them away (and strategically hide them under paper plates in the trash can) when they weren't looking. It was pathetic. But it was survival. Of course if I knew what some people considered acceptable nutrition for their children, I would probably fall off this chair, so maybe I should consider "fun dip" par for the course. Anyway, included in these (PINK, of course!!) bags are smarties, skittles, glow in the dark bracelets and bouncy balls. Maria helped me load them up and she handed them to me so I could tie them with the twist-tie.

1st and 10

I got this from Lindsay. So here are the rules...
1. Go to your pictures and open your first folder.
2. Go to the 10th photo and post it.
3. Tell the story behind the photo.
4. I'm tagging all of you. If you want to do it, do it. :D

I sort of cheated. My first folder only had 5 photos in it, so this is the 5th photo in my second folder. So technically, it's my 10th photo. lol

The story behind this photo is that we were at my mother-in-laws house for Memorial Day, 2 years ago. Maria had been acting weird all day. Earlier, she was sitting on a bench and just let go and fell backward! You can see in the pic, she doesn't look like herself. Well the next day she woke up unable to breath and couldn't stay awake for more than a minute or two. She ended up with a stay at Akron Children's for a couple days (and all the fun that goes along with that) because she had pneumonia and that is when they diagnosed her with "possible Asthma" (due to her prematurity, and the way she is when she gets sick etc.) But they said at her age, they can't definitively say if a child has asthma or not.

Thankfully, she hasn't needed her inhaler in probably over a year. She didn't even need it during the swine flu in November or whatever it is that we just had a couple weeks ago. So (knock on wood) she hopefully grew out of it. Either way, it was a very scary few days we had and it didn't help (me, anyway), having to be back in the place where Maria lived for her first 3 months.

I could have sworn...

I could have sworn we were raising girls....but apparently we're raising sailors.

Maria: (as she stands up on her chair and shakes her butt at Sophia) You wanna see my booty Pia?

Sophia: No. You wanna see my mouth Mia! (as she opens her mouth to show off her chewed up food)

Josh: What the hell are you teaching them every day!

Clearly, I am not the negative influence here. ;-)

Way Back Wednesday

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm a sucker for old photos. So I thought I would share some of our families with you. I might even make it a weekly thing. If it catches on, I'll get an icon and a mr. linky. But until then, feel free to join in and do a way back wed of your own. (remember to link to me)


These are pictures of Joshs grandpa (dad's dad) or pictures he took during the war. He was in WWII and for some of the time (1944) he was in Iraq and Iran (I didn't even realize people were stationed there back then).

The back of this one says "an old man making mud bricks". I just think it's a cool picture.







The back of this one says "Taken at the entrance of Daniel's Tomb in Iran -Dec 2, 1943"

His wife wrote "this is the one I like" on the back of this one. I like it too.