Paige's Quote of the Day

While trying to get Paige ready for school this morning, I was calling her over to me to get her shoes and jacket on. She was engrossed in the television...

1st time: "Honey, come here and get your shoes and jacket on."

No reaction.

2nd time: "Paige can you please come here and get your shoes and jacket on so we can leave for school."

No reaction.

3rd time: "PAIGE!! GET OVER HERE NOW TO GET YOUR SHOES AND JACKET ON!!"

She looks at me. Sad eyes. Doesn't say anything and walks over to me and sits down. I begin to put her shoes on.

"Sweetheart, I am sorry I yelled, but I had to ask you 3 times to come over here."

"Why weren't you listening to me?"

Her casual response, "Sorry mommy, I didn't have my brain turned on."

Preservatives and Chemicals? No, Thank You.

Alyssa is now 7 months old. About a month ago, I began my journey into the art of making baby food...for the 3rd time. Yes, I have successfully made baby food for all 3 of my children. It is really not that hard and a hell of a lot cheaper (and better) than that jar stuff.

When I was pregnant with Paige, I attended a baby fair sort of thing at Sports Basement in the Presidio. You know, because that's the kind of stuff you do when you are expecting your first baby. There happened to be a woman speaking there that day about her cookbook regarding making baby food. I was extremely intrigued. I had already been thinking about making my own baby food, but hadn't done any research yet and didn't know where to start. Her little seminar was about 30 minutes long, if I remember correctly. She touched on so many positive reasons for doing this. By the end, I was completely inspired and handed her cash immediately to buy her book.

The Petit Appetit, by Lisa Barnes

Buy it on Amazon!

Below are a few reasons the author pointed out in her seminar and I discovered were true, to making your own baby food:

1. Cost: It is so much cheaper. Those jars can cost almost $1.00 per jar. Organic ones are over $1.00. Each jar is one serving, basically one meal. Now take one bag of apples, make it organic apples at $4.99 per bag. Turn that entire bag into pureed apples. Now you have a full ziploc bag of many many meals for baby. For $5.00!! One large butternut squash yields a full ziploc bag of meals also...for like $1.69.
2. Waste: There is virtually no waste with making your own food. Say you try butternut squash...your baby doesn't like it or maybe is allergic. Your bag full of butternut squash puree can now be turned into a soup for the rest of your family. Bet you wouldn't do that with the jar stuff.
3. Taste: Bottom line...the homemade stuff tastes way better and way fresher. I know, I tasted everything before it went into Paige's mouth, including the jar food.
   
4. Knowing what is going into your baby: You bought the pears, cored them, peeled them, steamed them and pureed them. No chemicals, no preservatives, no added anything.
5. Easy: It is unbelievably easy to make your own food. Take a bag of apples, core them, peel them and throw them in the steamer. When they are tender, run them through a food processor or blender. Add a bit of the water from the steamer if you need to thin it out. Take the puree and fill up ice cube trays. Freeze. Pop them out into ziploc bags. One cube is approximately 1 tablespoon. Done.

At the time we had Paige, we were an almost completely organic household. I am a huge supporter of buying organic, but upon the arrival of Alyssa, buying organic was something we had to sacrifice when we moved to a one income household. Organic is much more expensive. I am sad to not be a weekly supporter of Rainbow Grocery anymore, but unfortunately it is not in the budget. When the time came to begin making baby food for Alyssa, I had a bit of guilt that she wasn't going to get the organic goodness that Paige & Jimmy had started out with. I put that guilt to rest and went to Rainbow just to shop for her baby food. My children have the rest of their life to make poor eating choices. I at least want to start them off right.

Jimmy's Quote of the Day

I am sitting at the computer trying to put together our weekly menu and grocery list so I can get to the store. Jimmy rolls up to the table and is bugging me about playing games on the computer. I keep trying to tell him that he can take over when I am done.

He pulls up his chair next to mine.
Jimmy: "Mommy I want to to go the games on your computer."

Me: "OK, but first I have to finish the menu, then I have to put together the list, then I need to take the computer out to the office to print out the list. Then I can set you up with the computer."

Jimmy: "Mom! That is not a great idea."

Paige's Quote of the Day

So this one is more of a cute quote than a funny one...

I am driving home from swimming lessons this morning with Paige in the car. It is raining pretty hard and I am driving a little slower and being extra cautious. The kids lessons are at UCSF Mission Bay Gym in San Francisco, so we are on 280, headed out of the city.

Paige: "Mom? Are we in Pacifica yet?"

Me: "No, not yet honey. We are still in San Francisco. When you see the ocean, then we are in Pacifica."

Paige: "Oh. I don't see the ocean. I just see lots of houses, cars and...rain."

Why Can't I Protect Them?

For the last few weeks, at some point during the night, Paige will wake up and make her way down the hall to our room. Some nights, she pit stops at the bathroom and other nights she comes straight to us. She doesn't say anything, just crawls up the middle of our bed with her pillow and night night in hand. Puts her pillow right between Doug and I, just so. Then lays down, curls up and pulls her blanket over her. Almost immediately she is right back to sleep. During the remainder of the night, she is usually nudged right up against Doug's back. Which is fine by me, because I can't sleep with anyone touching me. Next to me is fine, just don't touch me. Weird, I know. If you ask her why she comes to our bed, her standard answer, complete with the droopy eyes and little voice, is, "I wanted you."

Last night, Paige moved into our bed around 2:00am. I barely noticed her arrival. At 4:00am, I was up tending to Alyssa. I changed her, fed her and got her settled back to bed. I nuzzled back into my own bed and turned over to look at Paige. The moon was glowing bright amongst a few clouds and lit up our room through the sliding glass door. Laying there, peacefully sleeping, Paige looked like a little angel. I just gazed at her. Rubbed her soft little cheeks. Kissed her gently on the forehead. This sweet, innocent little child. How amazing and beautiful she is. I sat there and thought about how much I love her and how I wish I could protect her from all the bad in the world. But I can't. Kids will make fun of her at school, boys will break her heart, scrapes, bumps and bruises will happen...and let's hope that will be the worst of it. All I can do is be there when she is down, kiss her boo boos and let her cry on my shoulder when her heart gets broken.

Now I may do a lot of ranting on this blog about taking care of the kids and how much things suck sometimes. Being a stay at home mom of 3 kids under the age of 3.5 is hard. In fact, being a full time mom is harder than any other job I have ever had. What a lot of moms don't talk about is the good stuff. All the amazing moments and fun times with their kids. The funny, cute, adorable and hilarious things they do and say on a daily basis. I follow a blog written by Sara Olsher and in one of her postings about parenting, she said it best... "I also now understand why parents never talk about the joyous part of it - because I won't either (unless asked).  It's totally nauseating and I would never want to inflict that upon unsuspecting friends and relatives." (Sara Olsher is the only bride that I kept in touch with in my 3 years working with my brother. During that time, I worked with over 100 brides...she really was my favorite one to work with.)

Anyway, I digress...regardless of how hard my days can be, how much ranting you have read and will read in the future on my blog...I love my children so much. Which is why I wish I could protect them from all things horrible. I have to try not to worry...but I will. Guess it just goes with the territory of raising kids.

Bath Time

Bath time...always a fun time in our house, usually. Lots of toys, lots of bubbles. Hopefully not too much splashing. I try to tell them, splashing is allowed in the swimming pool, not the bath. I hate cleaning up after. Regardless, it makes getting clean, fun!

Now, somewhere between 7 or 8 months, I ditched the baby tub and set them right in the bath. The less baby gear I have to use, the better. So here we are, Alyssa is almost 7 months old and she has had her first bath experience in the tub. I let her have some of her own time to splash around and get acquainted before I called the other 2 natives in!

Tasting the Bubbles, Yummy!

She was too cute, splashing her little hands around. Now, she is allowed to splash because #1) she doesn't understand "no, stop doing that" and #2) her splashes don't have much impact yet. Then I yelled, "BATH TIME!" to Paige and Jimmy and they come running down the hall. Jimmy: "What!" "BATH TIME!" "OOOHHH BUBBLES!" Paige: "Do we get to take a bath with Lissy?" Me: "Yes, you get to take a bath with Lis. Please stay calm and don't knock her over, I don't want her to drown."

Paige cared more about washing Alyssa. Jimmy cared less.

Alyssa makes Paige & Jimmy look so big

Good times. Once Alyssa was out, then Paige & Jimmy were allowed to move around more. This was just another of those moments I try to relish in. I am going to blink and they will be teenagers. Good thing I love taking pictures.

Paige - 8 Months

Jimmy - 8 Months

Paige's Quote of the Day

We were talking about babies at the dinner table and Doug asked Paige, "how old do you think you will be when you have a real baby?"

She responded, "13."

I mumbled, "OH god, I hope not."

Doug looked at me in agreement and laughed.

He turned to Paige and said, "Well maybe more like 24."

Paige paused, looked at Doug and said, "that's old."

Oh man...

Scrapbooking

I am sure many of you are well aware of this phenomenon called Scrapbooking. Holy crap. This stuff is crazy...and expensive. I had no idea that the Michaels in Colma practically has half their store dedicated to this area of crafting. My sister-in-law Melissa is really into scrapbooking. I personally have not seen her "stash", but I hear it is quite impressive. From a beautiful range of papers to decorative scissors, paper punches, embellishments and who knows what else.

In going through my garage one day, I came across a bag of cards and miscellaneous items from my wedding and bridal shower. I told Melissa I had this stuff and wondered if she would be willing to do a scrapbook of my bridal shower for me. She jumped at the opportunity! I went and bought a book, a few extra pages and ordered all the pictures I wanted displayed. When I had all my stuff organized, I handed her the bag and said have at it. About 2 months later, she handed me back a beautiful product. I was so impressed! I haven't given her all the stuff to do my wedding one yet, but will be excited to see what she does with it.

I have always liked scrapbooking. The finished product is so nice. Great idea for keepsake albums of weddings, babies, vacations and numerous other memories. But even being the crafty, creative person that I am, I never had much interest in venturing into this unknown world. 

Growing up, my mom did baby books for both me and my brother. To this day, I still enjoy looking through that book. Seeing my newborn pics, how I grew through the months and all the little tidbits of info my mom jotted down. I really wanted to have these keepsakes for my kids in hopes that they too, would enjoy them in the years to come. So I embark on my first scrapbooking journey. My goal is to complete one for each of my 3 kids. I started with Jimmy's because he is the middle child and I didn't want him to feel like I never did anything for him!

I must say the book is coming along quite nicely. And so I don't get sucked into the scrapbooking vortex, I am working on one book at a time. Taking it to full completion before moving onto the next. But man, I do have to say, I thought Facebook sucked the time out of my day...this is worse!

Paige's Quote of the Day

I gave Paige a gentle kiss on the cheek. She looked at me and proceeded to wipe it away.

"Mommy, I wiped away your kiss."

Saddened, I replied, "Why?"

"Because I wanted to put it in my heart." She then wiped her chest.  :-)

Paige's Quote of the Day

"Mommy, I need to go to the dentist!"

"What for?"

"Because my feet hurt!"

A Break Down of the Night...Or Should I Say, A Night With a Breakdown

Fortunately nights like last night are becoming fewer. But being one who really needs some decent sleep, I don't handle nights like last night very well. Handling the following day in this state is another story (see my post on Sleep Deprivation).

I sometimes wonder where my kids get their tempers...I don't want to admit, it is probably from me.

• 10:28 pm - I turn off the light and nestle my head into my pillow. A big, happy sigh and I am off to a wonderful dream filled sleep within 5 minutes.
• 11:28 pm - Jimmy starts crying and moaning. Damn. I drag my groggy self down the hall to his room. "What's wrong honey?" "My ear hurts." "OK, let me get you some ear drops." Here we go with another ear infection. Note to self, call Kaiser in the morning.
• 11:41 pm - As I head back down the hall to nestle back into my bed, Alyssa crys. Really? Shit! I pit stop at her room, stick a pacifier back in her mouth and tip toe out of the room.
• 11:42 pm - Aaahhh. Sleep, here I come.
• 11:47 pm - Alyssa begins to cry. Pacifier is not working. F@&K!! I roll out of bed and try to put the pacifier back in. No. That is proceeding to make her more agitated. I am standing over her crib, annoyed. This beautiful baby that I love so much, fussing, crying, eyes are still closed...I hate you right now. I pick her up and feed her.
• 12:05 am - I am nursing Alyssa and thinking the night is not a total loss yet. It is only midnight. After I am done here, I can go right to sleep. Then I can sleep until 7am and all will be good. I start to relax.
• 12:12 am - Jimmy begins to cry again. Shit, I am nursing the baby. Do I pull her off and upset her? Do I let Jimmy cry until I am done? Doug is sound asleep.
• 12:15 am - I pull Alyssa off, put a pacifier in her mouth, lay her in her crib and move on to tend to Jimmy. "What's the matter baby?" "My ear still hurts." "OK, let me get you some Tylenol." Paige sits up in her bed. I look over at her. "What are you doing honey?" "I need to go potty." Great. For such small people, they seem to have the loudest footsteps on the hardwood floors. I realize Alyssa has gone back to sleep, so to not risk waking her up when Godzilla makes her way down the hall, I carry Paige to the bathroom. Jimmy continues to cry until I return with the Tylenol. "Here you go sweetheart, now close your eyes and try to get some sleep."
• 12:22 am - OK, I am back in bed. All 3 kids have been tended to and we should all be entering dream land and not emerging until at least 6:30 am.
• 1:26 am - I am exiting dream land. Jimmy is saying something. He is not really crying, but he is moaning a sentence over and over. F@&K! WHAT NOW! I pull the covers up over my head. Maybe if I pretend I don't hear him, he will stop. His moaning begins to escalate. Now I am pissed. I bolt up out of bed, throw on my robe then pick up a slipper and throw it at the closet door while quietly screaming profanities. No, I am not pregnant. Doug wakes up.
• 1:30 am - "Jimmy what is the matter?" "I need you to take my band-aid off." Are you fucking serious? Of course, I didn't say that to him, but I wanted to. I pull the band-aid off and with as much calm as I can muster up at that very moment, I looked at his sweet little face and said, "mommy is trying to sleep, so please go to sleep. I love you." Sweet kisses to the forehead. I am out.
• 1:34 am - I release a big sigh as my head hits the pillow. Ooohhh, the bed is still warm, Nice. Doug: "What's going on?" Me: "Jimmy's ear hurts. I will call Kaiser in the morning." Re-entering dream land.
• 2:24 am - Alyssa begins to cry. Oh my fucking god! I pull the covers over my head and pretend I don't exist. Doug gets up. He puts the pacifier back in and returns to bed. She hasn't stopped crying. "I just fed her 2 hours ago, she can't be hungry!" I scream.
• 2:26 am - I am becoming increasingly agitated. Why am I not allowed to sleep tonight? Doug gets up. I hear fumbling around, mobile goes on and quiet. He returns. Me: "What did you do?" Doug: "Put baby Orajel on her gums." Excellent.
• 2:30 am - Back to sleep.
• 3:22 am - Alyssa starts to cry again. Doug is asleep. I get up, go to her room, grab the Tylenol, squirt a dose into her tiny mouth and plug it with a pacifier. I climb back into bed. The night is a total loss. I can't even be mad anymore.
• 6:30 am - I hear a baby crying. I feel like I am coming out of a coma. I look at the clock, it is morning. I fade out.
• 7:12 am - I hear voices. Little voices. It is a school day, I need to get up. In exactly one hour I need to call Kaiser, get dressed, feed 3 little people, dress 3 little people, make sure I have Paige's medicine, toys and show & tell and pack a diaper bag with all the necessities to last me until 1:00 pm. A shower? Who has time for that luxury?

How to Loose the Last of the Baby Weight?

Keep yourself busy taking care of the kids. It is 2:30pm and you wonder why you are starving to death...OH I forgot to feed myself today!

Enjoying the Moments

Most days it seems as though life is just whizzing by. I wake up each morning and go about my daily routine with the kids, then I blink and it is 3:00 pm. What?! Not to mention how fast a year goes by now. Paige is turning 4 this year and Jimmy 3. Seriously? Time is going by too quickly and it is making them grow faster...I want it to stop!

Due to this phenomenon of time moving at a much faster pace than when I was a kid, I am really trying to enjoy the moments with them. Sometimes I get caught up in cooking, laundry, cleaning, managing rental properties, Facebooking, Blogging and emailing, that I don't stop and actually play with the kids. I need to do more of this, and today, that is what I did. I feel much more relaxed and I laugh a lot more when I realize the laundry can wait, or I can put off dinner for another half hour.

I am silly with my kids. I would like to say that is why my kids are so silly, they lead by example. Maybe because I still feel like a kid and maybe because my kids bring out the kid in me. Today, I was sitting on the floor playing with Alyssa in the living room, relishing in her new found ability to sit up and how she seems to lean into my face for a kiss. Paige and Jimmy were drumming up some imaginary adventure in the hallway outside Alyssa's room. I could here them whispering to each other and I slowly started crawling towards the hallway opening. They couldn't see me yet and didn't hear me coming. On all fours, I started to crawl loudly by banging my hands and knees on the floor and began to turn the corner with some speed. They both screamed at the top of their lungs, then laughed and fled into Alyssa's room. I stopped dead in my tracks and put my head down...I was laughing so hard at their reaction. I scared the crap out of them, but they thought it was hilarious. Jimmy says, "mommy you really scared me." Huge grin on his face. "Do it again mama, come get us!"

Life is moving along and it is so important to find and enjoy these little moments everyday.

Pregnant Me

Now let me start off this posting by saying I think it is absolutely beyond incredible that a woman's body can produce another living, breathing, human being (with a little help from dad). Let me also precede my coming words by saying, I am extremely sensitive to the fact that a lot of people have a difficult time having a baby. This saddens me. We know too many people who have tried numerous ways, some with success and some with failures, to have a child and/or children. It is truly unfair. I wish all those people could have the fertility I have. I would pass it on to each and every one of them if I could.

Since I have been inspired to write so much lately on my blog, I felt compelled to write about this unruly experience I tortured myself with...not once, not twice, but 3 times. So here we go...

Pregnancy. Such a wonderful and glorious time. So much joy and anticipation. So much fear and anxiousness too. Wondering what each day is going to bring. Feeling this little thing growing inside of you. Bringing a new life into the world. This precious little baby to hold, hug, kiss and cuddle. A little being, that from the moment you hold them, your life is forever changed. A baby brings true meaning to the phrase "love at first sight."

Prior to having Paige, I only knew of women who thought pregnancy was wonderful and amazing. Women who LOVE being pregnant. So that is what I expected when I discovered I was pregnant with my first child in April of 2006. It took us 5 months to conceive and we were overjoyed. Yeah! I was about 6 weeks along when I found out and it is right about that time that any symptoms will start showing up. For most, this is when the morning sickness kicks in. The constant nausea and vomiting at any and all hours of the day. Living on soda crackers and 7up for the next 6 weeks. Oh joy. I was fortunate enough to have missed this extravaganza. However, I was exhausted beyond belief. How could anyone really be this tired? All the time. Physically drained, like I hadn't slept in days. Yet each night I got my full 8 hours. Prior to being pregnant, I was surfing 5 days a week thanks to my sporadic work schedule. I had received the A-OK from my doctor to continue surfing until it was uncomfortable to lay on my belly. I was so damn tired, I could barely move an arm to paddle the board. As the early weeks started passing, I was beginning to wonder what was to love about this pregnancy thing. I feel like shit and I wasn't even sick!

Onto the second trimester, which begins at 14 weeks. The exhaustion starts to fade away and my energy level begins to return as I am approaching 20 weeks (5 months). Great! Maybe I can get back in the water now. Nope. Now I have started to show a bit and my abdomen is rather tight. Laying my little bump down on a hard surfboard bouncing on the choppy ocean is not my idea of comfortable. Plus, what is my poor baby feeling in there? Not only that, now I am paranoid that some freak wipe-out is going to happen and I am going to get pummeled in the belly with a surfboard.

It has been almost 4 years since my first pregnancy and I have to admit, the 2nd trimester details are fading from memory. It was uneventful. I was annoyed a lot. But things really started to go awry as we moved into the 3rd trimester. By 27 weeks, I am getting big. The belly has definitely become fuller, rounder, harder. Sleep is a serious issue. See, I am a stomach sleeper, so you can see how this is a problem. Can't sleep on my back either, because that is like having a boulder resting on your mid-section. Spending my nights tossing, turning from side to side, shifting the obnoxious body pillow that I need to have between my legs to feel even remotely comfortable. What a joke. Oh and never mind the numerous times I had to wake up to pee in the middle of the night. I am constantly grouchy, cranky, bitchy, whiny, annoyed, tired and uncomfortable at all times. Who in their right mind finds this experience lovable?

36 weeks. This is technically the week that baby can come and all would be fine. At this point I was begging for labor to start. I felt I could endure any kind of pain I was in for because I knew it would be the end of this pregnancy. 39 weeks exactly, I started feeling funny during Christmas dinner. By 11pm that night, the contractions had started. When I arrived at the hospital the next evening, I had many drugs and an epidural...life was good. My pregnancy was coming to an end any time now. Paige arrived after 30 hours of labor. My precious baby girl. Wow!

Paige - A few minutes old

They say all the pitfalls of pregnancy fade from your memory after you give birth...not for this chick. It was so disappointing to realize and come to terms with how much I actually hated the process of having a child. During the experience, I felt very alone. There was no comfort in other people, because I thought what I was feeling was odd...like I was the only one. It was wrong to be feeling this way, this was my baby inside of me. My own mother actually had doubts about what kind of mother I would be, because I literally hated being pregnant so much.

When Paige was 3 months old, I made a disturbing discovery. I was pregnant, again. I watched that little stick produce its purple plus sign in a matter of seconds. My heart sunk. I went into Paige's room, picked her up out of her crib, held her and sat on the floor and cried. When Doug arrived home, he thought someone had died because I was so distraught. I was barely over the fact that I hated being pregnant the first time. I was dealing with a newborn, no sleep, the failures of breastfeeding and adjusting to being a first time mom and now I have to go through this horrendous process again. This was seriously some kind of cruel joke.

My pregnancy with Jimmy was worse. I was taking care of a baby and I was pregnant. Therefore,  grouchy, cranky, bitchy, whiny, annoyed, tired and uncomfortable at all times, returned times 10. And I carried differently with Jimmy, so by the 3rd trimester I had horrible back pain. Pretty much every muscle and joint from my ribcage down hurt. Yeah. Fortunately Jimmy arrived at 36-1/2 weeks and after only 6 hours of labor!! My precious baby boy. Wow!

Jimmy - A few minutes old.

 Jimmy was 3 weeks old and all of my maternity clothes hit the donation bag. I AM NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN!! I have a boy and a girl. I am DONE! I will not torture myself with pregnancy again ever. Doug couldn't even look at me without some form of contraception in place.

In August of 2008, when Jimmy was 7 months old, I began feeling as if my family was not yet complete. I kept having these insane thoughts of wanting another child. What? Really? No, no, I can't go through that again. No way. But the feeling would not go away. Doug wanted another child, but left the final decision solely up to me because I had to be pregnant. It took me 6 months to ponder, "do I really want to go through another pregnancy?" "Do I really want to put myself through this again?" The desire for another child ended up out-weighing the annoying discomforts of pregnancy. How bad can it be? I have done this twice now, I am well prepared to deal.

In June of 2009, I found out I was about 5 weeks along with Alyssa. This pregnancy was the worst of them all! I actually had nausea this time. Mild, yet annoying. Now don't forget, during this pregnancy, I am also taking care of a 1 year old and a 2 year old. Therefore,  grouchy, cranky, bitchy, whiny, annoyed, tired and uncomfortable at all times, returned times 100. By the 8th month, I was getting so big I could hardly walk anymore and had excruciating back pain. I had no control over my emotions. Literally. It was unreal. I didn't even know myself anymore. Crazy hormonal bitch. I am surprised my other 2 children survived the 8th and 9th month. I am also surprised my husband didn't leave me. I kept saying it was a good thing we didn't have a baseball bat in the house, because every window would have been broken. I was so angry, I just wanted to break things. The depression was unreal. Guess it was a good thing I had two other kids to take care of because most days I didn't want to get out of bed. I was so mental, that my doctor sent me to talk to the women's counselor more than once. My doctor actually asked me if "I had feelings of harming myself." I knew there was an end to this torturous experience, so the answer to that was obviously no. Anyone who told me, "oh you are almost there, just a couple more weeks", I wanted to punch them in the face. To top it all off, Alyssa felt very comfortable floating around in there and decided to overstay her welcome. At 40 weeks, there was no sign of her arrival. At 40 weeks and 2 days, I was begging my doctor to let me be induced. Begging and crying to be exact. She agreed and the pitocen drip started at 9:30 pm on 3/24/10. I had never felt more relaxed and...my sanity was returning. 5 hours later, Alyssa graced us with her presence. My precious baby girl. Wow! At 8lbs. 2oz. she was fully cooked.

Alyssa - A few minutes old.

My family is complete. I will never be pregnant again. My marriage, my family, myself, will not survive another pregnancy. Now, you do need to know that settled my mother's doubts. I absolutely love my children more than anything in the whole wide world. Was it worth 27 months of misery? You bet. I have 3 beautiful and amazing children. I love being a mother. It is like no other feeling I have ever had. Mere words are inadequate to describe what being a mom is like. You truly have to experience it to fully understand.

But the bottom line still remains...PREGNANCY F@*%ING SUCKS!

Jimmy's Quote of the Day

I scolded Jimmy for singing too loud during Alyssa's nap this morning. He put his little hands to his eyes and his mouth turned down as he began to moan. I said, "oh, what's wrong honey?" His response: "Mommy you hurt my voices."