Sunday, November 30, 2008

Giving Thanks in November

Now its the last day in November, here are the things I am thankful for that my wonderful family does

Jimmy..
My only son. Im thankful I had you first so you can look after your sisters! Everyday when you wake up you make your bed and clean up your bedroom, and then move on to the girls rooms to clean for me without me asking! You are a big helper around the house and that is so needed right now! You think everything I cook is chicken and look at me with the straightest face and say "That chicken was good Mom". You are a really great shack builder, spending endless hours outside hammering. You stole our porch plant and attached to the side of your houses porch! You're so creative. You draw cards and pictures for us all of the time. You're always so excited to join in on helping me cook, bake, decorate for holidays. You're joyful and fun-loving!


Gia..
Im thankful for beautiful blonde curls and big pretty eyes. Everyday you say "Hi Mom" to me when I walk past you. You are now starting to listen to me when I talk to you and respond back. Your cute sayings like "Whats that!", or when I ask you a question and you shake your head yes or no. You're getting so big. You mimic cleaning the floor and feeding your little babies Livys bottles and burping them. You're the absolute most adorable little girl, especially in your little dresses. You make up little songs and hum them to yourself. You tap dance around the house, and hide by the basement door to play peek-a-boo when someone walks past.

Livy..
Im thankful you made it here healthy after that scary pregnancy. You already have your dads eyes and long lashes. You look more like your sister everyday. You smile in your sleep and its one of the very few things that makes me smile. Your funny sounding gulps while you drink your bottle! That even though you dont sleep at night, you sleep during the day so I can get things done. (Though I would like to sleep at night!) And that you are a girl

Husband Jim..
Im thankful you always apologize when you dont even know what you've done wrong yet, and sometimes didnt do anything. That you're here and defend me to your relatives of certifiable lunatics! You text me from work every day and tell me youre thankful to have me. How you tell me "Its going to be just fine" when I say the children are making me crazy. How you will run all of the errands if I ask you to without complaining even after working 10 hour days. For taking my many bitchy texts I send you when Im having bad days. For breakfast in bed on the weekends, even though Im cranky when you wake me up. For trying to cook for the kids. Thankful you love me.

Mommy..
Im thankful you're my mom. That you give when you dont have anything for yourself. Your child-like happiness at Christmas...cutting down your own tree, festive parades. For fighting with us to all show up for the holiday events, even though you sometimes later regret it. For sheltering me from my father and his family. For the girl scouts, cardboard bunny easter baskets, attorneys, checks to pay my bills, refridgerators, loans, Christmas gifts for Jimmy...twice, baptism dresses, computers, my trip to Woodstock...oh I mean skiing, books for college, fixing my hair. For loving me

Dad..
Im thankful you stayed. The joy in your eyes when you look at your grandchildren. Your dedication. Putting up with my brothers. Trying to keep the family calm on hectic holidays and everyday at that.

Dave..
Im thankful for you showing up when I really need you to. Answering your phone when I need to talk. Many other things I can't type in this blog! You're finacially stable and have great things to show for yourself in life so far.

TJ..
Im thankful you survived. Im happy when you smile, deeply happy. Your grades that are improving. Your many excuses to skip out of preschool through grade school and now high school. Your many boo boos. Your many disasters I took the blame for growing up (broken tv's). Not being a scary teenager, like many on the news today. Your pleads to drive my cars, even when you were too small to reach the pedals. Thankful you're a good uncle to Gia!

Saturday, November 29, 2008

I want Kindle!

I started reading Twilight yesterday finally. I really wanted to go to the movies yesterday with Jim but I didnt have a sitter. It probably was hectic anyway being Black Friday.
I also have the audiobook so I want to move it to my palm pilot so I can listen to it during the day when Im walking around doing things. Hopefully I can do that today. Jim is going to be gone for 2 days hunting so I will have more time to do things I want to do! :)
Im excited for that

Celebrate the Seasons Parade!

For some reason I never gave much thought until this year to the parade we have here in Pittsburgh. It seems pretty decent this year and Im bummed out I cant go :(
Jim is working at some guys house this morning, and my girls are too little for the cold. Livy is too new and Gia would probably scream her lungs out at the strange ppl that dare to stand next to her! Jimmy is still sound asleep and so is TJ. So Im making a point to go next year! And this year Ill have to settle for watching it on TV.
----------------------On the news this morning...
It is crazy to me how bad the crime rate is at local malls this year. Station Square had a high rate of rapes and robberies! I always drive to South Hills Village Mall and they were on there as well for indecent exposure and robberies, along with The Mall at Robinson, and Parkway Center. I realize with the slacking economy ppl may be stealing more but rapes and indecent exposure! No excuses for that, thats horrible.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Oh Christmas Tree




We are making progress! Gia had her cake pan waiting, ready to load it up with Christmas ornaments and ditch! Jimmy was really excited, as usual. He loves Christmas


Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another holiday passed! The house is just about all decorated for Christmas. I've cooked/baked for 2 days to make todays family dinner nice, and it turned out pretty good. The turkey and pies turned out really good so right away Im satisfied, the only other thing I need is the parade and Thanksgiving is complete. But we of course had all kinds of things to eat and my whole family came to spend it with us. As soon as they left i was on the couch snoozing! lol
So tomorrow I will finish decorating and start reading the Twilight series! I've been waiting to start those. Hopefully in the new year I can get caught up on bills and pay off Santa (mom) and buy Kindle!! And my other wish is for more sleep, of course :)
Jim and my father go off hunting so I can be lazy! Yay

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Funny thing about sleep

The funny thing about sleep is that most people take it for granted! As well you should. I always have until recently.
Jimmy had colic so once you comforted him he would snooze about 45 minutes top, I was also only 21 years old and able to handle a couple hours of sleep a night.
Well then Gianna came, what a wonderful baby she was. She slept all through the night and most of the day and up until she turned 1 she would smile at everyone and was quiet as a mouse. Absolute little angel.
Now we have Olivia. She sleeps on and off during the day. She gets in her crying moods where she screams on top of her lungs for a hour straight, then passes out. But when night time comes something strange happens to her. She transforms into the crankiest baby alive. Screams for hours on end! When 7am comes around, she transforms back again. Problem is by that time the other 2 are awake :(
Last night I was so tired from putting up the last of the decorations and baking I passed out through the screams and slept for 3 hours! Right through them! Amazing
Thats how worn out I am for ctaching about 3 hours a sleep total a night for weeks in a row. Then I get up in the morning and sleep walk through the house for hours until I get some energy together and I wash the children etc.
I really hope she starts sleeping sometime soon

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Martha's Turkeys


I have this habit of watching On-Demand Martha Stewarts in the middle of the night while Im feeding baby. Then I find projects and recipes I want to make. Problem is the normal grocery store doesnt ever carry the ingredients for the recipes!

The most recent: Turkey Cupcakes

The recipe called for Jet Puffed coconut marshmallows. No one had them!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Let it Snow!

Wow I cant believe its snowing already. Really Id rather it not but Jimmy loves the snow, so I really cant wait for us to get enough for him to go sled riding.
So another sleepless night! How long can you go without adequate sleep? My husbands aunt jokes around and tells me Im going to lose my mind and run out into the street naked! My body is sore to the touch...probably from being in the upright position so long!
My little baby Olivia has her pediatrician appointment tomorrow, she needs vaccinations :( I hate making my children get shots. I feel so bad for them
I do believe I will get Christmas decorations put up today. It makes my sleepy days brighter to have up the lights for the kids. And besides that I figured if I start now I will have it all up by Christmas, hopefully anyway!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Eye doctor

I noticed that one of the many things that has went haywire throughout these pregnancies is my vision. When I was pregnant with Gianna I noticed I could no longer see clearly through my contacts. My obgyn told me sometimes that occurs due to hormones so I neverminded it. Afetr having her I went to get my yearly vision check-up and was diagnosed with cataracts. My grandmother told me that its hereditary in my family.
Ok so I bought new glasses and contacts, stronger ones. I've had the same prescriptio since the 7th grade so Im a little worried but Im getting older :( Whatever
Another pregnancy goes by now and Im back again with even worse vision then last year! So my cataracts worsened! Great, now what. I mention I was told that my family all appears to have this problem and the doctor told me that normally cataracts start in the corners and move towards the center of your eye, then you have surgery to correct it. Mine has started in the center clouding my vision and is moving all around.
So why is mine different from my moms, grams, great aunts??... The doctor told me if you have had any head injuries like automobile accidents etc it can cause it and thats what my cataracts are from she said. Not the kind my family has.
She also informed me that once it was corrected that if I did not get the lenses specially for stigmatism I would need readers as well!
Im only 28!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Tales of the Truly Intolerant

So here I am, yet another sleepless night I suffered through. Last night was harder than the past ones. Olivia screamed in gassy pain, I gave her a ounce of water and she went to the bathroom within 45 min. then to bed. Awoke again about a hour later screaming, this time it seemed like acid was coming up, poor kid pukes constantly. We started her right away on hyperallergenic formula since our other two needed it and the pediatrician that visited in the hospital warned me if she didnt have stomach problems it could cause them. Our pediatrician said it would be fine....so which is it?
I have since given her a bottle of good old Carnation Good Start. And right to sleep she went!?? Shes intolerant to the formula for formula intolerant babies. Whatever works at this point.

Im not visiting much with the other children because Im sleeping when Jim gets home so I can stay up through the night. He keeps promising we are going to look back on these days and miss them. I disagree but in the back of my mind I do believe him and thats why Im afraid to get my tubligation done. I opted out for Mirena... I could possibly be hormonal and a little crazy right now, along with sleep deprived so who knows...my mind could change. I still do believe if I would not have conceived our son 8 years ago I wouldve never had kids and who knows where I would be now. But here we are, a big full family. I dont regret any of them. Even the ones who REFUSES to let me sleep! :)

Monday, November 10, 2008

Day 11 as a mother of three







Well I am really trying to adjust to getting 3 hours a sleep a night, taking care of my three children and husband on top of my tons of other responsibilities. I've broken down into tears a handful of times, which is not like me, but these days Im feeling a little crazy. Actually I believe
I can speak on behalf of the rest of my family as well when it comes to the insanity we are all feeling right now. Gianna is again having attention fits and hitting her head off of things, Jimmy will sing and dance if he has to to get attention and if that doesnt work out to his liking he then turns to aggrivating Gia. He asks questions from the time he wakes up until he falls asleep, constantly interrupts our conversations, refuses to let anyone else speak or have time with Jim without being disruptive. We've had movie night with him, they go to church together and boyscouts but no matter what we do he wont stop demanding more! I've noticed Gia has started to really beat him up once she has had enough of his torture. His hyper activity is frustrating as well.

Maybe I just need some sleep...

On a better note our baby is adorable. She sleeps all day long and is so pleasant. I cant wait for Christmas, our family seems so full now.



Sunday, November 9, 2008

Moving around











My mom bought me a sling to carry the baby around in and Im finally starting to get used to it and its been helpful. Olivia really likes it and it keeps her close. I can sweep and mop my floors, do Jimmys homework, fold clothes, etc.




Whats difficult for me right now is showering. I try to do it either when the girls are napping or when Jim is here at night. I have to bring one down at a time in the morning, vice versa upstairs at night. Sometimes they gang up on us and start crying all at once and you find yourself rapidly changing diapers, making bottles, grilled cheeses, filling sippy cups! It gets crazy.




Especially since my little Gia Bella is on the move all day! Such a big girl already








Saturday, November 8, 2008

Daddys little girls







My husband is such a sucker when it comes to Gianna and I can just tell hes going to be the same way with Olivia. He gives her whatever she wants to appease her, and the latest was his cell phone. So far she has totally lost his company phone, we believe she may have thrown it away and his personal cell phone is broken. I have to order a new one, thank goodness hes due for his upgrade! Cant wait until she starts driving!



Monday, November 3, 2008

Baby Olivia






















So we brought Olivia home Sunday afternoon and she is the most pleasant baby you ever saw. What a perfect angel, she sleeps all day. Does not cry and only wakes up to eat. She is so precious.




Yesterday we had family over to visit. My parents bought dinner and baby items we needed. My brother stopped by to see the kids last night and Jims aunt made us a full dinner for today. My friends stopped by today to visit and tomorrow we have our first pediatrician appointment.


She only woke up twice through the night but she makes her little coos in her sleep and I stayed up almost all night with the exception of catnaps making sure everything was ok!


Hopefully I can sleep more tonight. What a perfect family in everyway. We are so happy and proud of our children.