Last night Jim and I got to go on a date night. My MIL came over and watched the 4 boys (we got them all to bed before we left). We went to Applebee's for dinner then saw Jonah Hex at the movie theater.
We got home about 11:45pm, MIL told us that Josh and Jon played in their room for a bit and got quiet around 8pm. Joey was a little worse, calling for me and not wanting to go to sleep.
This was strange because that boy left the house about 9am yesterday to go to his friends for a birthday party and was there until 5pm in the evening! He was exhausted. He fell asleep in his dinner chair but after I put him in bed he woke back up.... must have gotten a 2nd wind with is 15min nap.
So DH and I go to bed. About 2am Jackson wakes up and needs to eat (totally expected that). I go in to get him and I always look at Joey to see that he's ok and where is he sleeping. He will sleep on the floor, under the crib etc.
He was MISSING! I'm feeling around all over and can't find him. I flip on the light and his comforter is gone and his window is open. I go out to the living room and check the couch, he's not there. Jim kinda sat up and I told him to get up NOW and that I can't find Joey. He jumps out of bed and we've got all the lights on. He's looking all over the house and I'm looking all over outside and calling him without waking the neighborhood and yet not caring so much either.
I go in the house and grab the cell, I'm in a panic now that I've never known before and this kid has given me plenty of scares in the past. I'm going to go check at the neighbors house (his friend) and if he's not there then I'm calling 911.
I walk in the back and see that the dad is sleeping in the all season room (saw him flip over) so I knock on the door. He gets up and I ask is Joey there? He's like yes, he's asleep on the couch!
OMG are you f'ing kidding me?? He invites me in and the mom gets up and is like, what's going on. He tells her that I didn't know Joey was there. They're both horrified at my not knowing. Telling me that the daughter (6yrs old) told them that Joey can sleep over and there he was in his PJ's and with his blanket.
I find him on their couch sound asleep. I picked him up and they apologized and I took him home.
I can't believe they would allow a 5yr old to just sleep over without talking to his mother directly!!!!
I got him home and to bed without him really stirring.
I then was awake for a long time. I think I was having a stress induced asthma attack and was debating for a long time whether to go to the hospital or not for a breathing treatment. I haven't used an inhaler since I was pregnant with Joey! He cured by asthma and now maybe he's brought it back again?
This morning he climbs into bed with me and tells me matter of factly that he slept over at his friends house (he's been begging me for a sleepover with them the past few days). I tried to talk to him about how he got there, when he left the house and did he go though the window which is a little widow up high. He had to climb onto the baby's closed changing table/ dresser to get to the window and it's at least a 6ft drop.... Or did MIL go to the bathroom or fall asleep in the living room and he just walked right though the front door without her knowing? I'll have to find out what time he showed up.
I had heard "something" when I was trying to fall asleep but couldn't figure out what the noise was so I dismissed it. If that was him then he did go out that window, there's no way he could get out the front door once we were home.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Eye sight?
A few weeks back Joey and I were laying on his bed doing flash cards. He appeared to be doing just fine then stated he couldn't see. I was holding them with the ceiling light behind them so I thought maybe the light was bothering him but when I readjusted them so the wall was behind instead, he said he still could not see. He took the card and held it right up to his face like daddy does when he's trying to read without his glasses.
Yesterday he had his 5yr old check up. He's a healthy kid, 39lbs and 41". He got 3 shots, MMR, DTaP and Polio. We did an eye exam... he failed miserably. However, neither I nor the nurse could tell if he really couldn't see the pictures (house, apple, umbrella) or he just didn't test well.
Now I have to take him to an eye doctor for an eye exam :( Not the end of the world, I was just hoping the kids would get MY sight. I can see the birds above the clouds according to my husband! LOL
Yesterday he had his 5yr old check up. He's a healthy kid, 39lbs and 41". He got 3 shots, MMR, DTaP and Polio. We did an eye exam... he failed miserably. However, neither I nor the nurse could tell if he really couldn't see the pictures (house, apple, umbrella) or he just didn't test well.
Now I have to take him to an eye doctor for an eye exam :( Not the end of the world, I was just hoping the kids would get MY sight. I can see the birds above the clouds according to my husband! LOL
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
5 years ago today
I became a mom to a beautiful healthy little miracle. I didn't take this day for granted, oh NO. I worked long and hard to have this miracle in my arms and yet not anywhere near long and hard as some of my friends have/had to. My Joey *sigh* you just can't help but love this kid! He is amazing, truly amazing. He's sharp as a tack and sly as a fox. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing and the most outgoing loving little boy that I've ever met! He so loves to help and learn new things. He's a wonderful big brother and Velcro to mommy's hip! His smile brightens the gloomy days while his mischievousness makes you want to strangle him!
We had his party May 1st because daddy wasn't supposed to be in town. We got lucky that daddy is in town so he had a very nice birthday, on his day, with his family. Daddy baked him a cookie cake and mommy spoiled him rotten with his Toy Story presents. His favorite restaurant is Red Robin so we went there for his birthday dinner.
After dinner I took him and baby Jack to Target. Joey had a $15 gift card from one of his school buddies who attended the party. I told Joey he could use it and made some suggestions. I am so proud of him. What he ultimately chose and was happy with was an extra set of sheets for his bed so when his sheets are dirty he will still have Toy Story sheets on his bed! How practical of him :) This way, what he doesn't know, is when we get him and Joshy bunk beds they both can have the sheets on at the same time! LOL But no I didn't push it, it was a suggestion and he just loved the idea!!
On the way to Target we had a talk too about the rules for turning 5yrs old.
1) No whining or screaming or crying (unless you're truly hurt)
2) Must do as your told by your bosses be it mom, dad, teacher etc.
3) No more destructive behavior. You can still explore and learn new things but do it carefully so as to not break or ruin things.
If these rules aren't followed then you have to go back to being 4 again ;)
He told me he understood and asked me if I'd help him remember those things. I told him "absolutely! That's my job as your mom." He said, "oh thank you mommy!"
Ok I've not figured out how to keep pictures in the order I want them so you'll have to deal with me here :) What we have to start with is, after his first T-ball practice on the 14th, he and daddy made his cookie cake while mommy took care of Jackson (aka getting Joey's bed made and toys set out!
We had his party May 1st because daddy wasn't supposed to be in town. We got lucky that daddy is in town so he had a very nice birthday, on his day, with his family. Daddy baked him a cookie cake and mommy spoiled him rotten with his Toy Story presents. His favorite restaurant is Red Robin so we went there for his birthday dinner.
After dinner I took him and baby Jack to Target. Joey had a $15 gift card from one of his school buddies who attended the party. I told Joey he could use it and made some suggestions. I am so proud of him. What he ultimately chose and was happy with was an extra set of sheets for his bed so when his sheets are dirty he will still have Toy Story sheets on his bed! How practical of him :) This way, what he doesn't know, is when we get him and Joshy bunk beds they both can have the sheets on at the same time! LOL But no I didn't push it, it was a suggestion and he just loved the idea!!
On the way to Target we had a talk too about the rules for turning 5yrs old.
1) No whining or screaming or crying (unless you're truly hurt)
2) Must do as your told by your bosses be it mom, dad, teacher etc.
3) No more destructive behavior. You can still explore and learn new things but do it carefully so as to not break or ruin things.
If these rules aren't followed then you have to go back to being 4 again ;)
He told me he understood and asked me if I'd help him remember those things. I told him "absolutely! That's my job as your mom." He said, "oh thank you mommy!"
Ok I've not figured out how to keep pictures in the order I want them so you'll have to deal with me here :) What we have to start with is, after his first T-ball practice on the 14th, he and daddy made his cookie cake while mommy took care of Jackson (aka getting Joey's bed made and toys set out!
It's as if I have triplets or something. They fight fight fight over the toys and no one is ever happy. They all love Toy Story so much that I broke the credit cards and had to buy some duplicates to stop the fighting. Here is Joey with the Buzz Lightyear that was supposed to be for Joshy when he earned it with good behavior. Didn't quite work out that way. We are now the proud owners of 2 Buzz Lightyears, 2 Woodys, 2 Buckets of Soldiers and one Jessie!! Everyone went to bed happy tonight :)
Monday, June 14, 2010
T-ball
Not much to say yet just that it was Joey's first T-ball practice with the CYC. He had a good time and lucky him, two of his friends from school are on his team and one of them is going to Kindergarten with him!!!! Yay!! He's the number 1!!! :) These girls coaching him are very good! They started out with teaching them the right way to step/throw, how to use two hands to keep the ball in the mitt, how to stand ready for grounders, how to hold the mitt if the ball is above or below the waist. Very good teaching. My Joey is starting out a little flighty. He reminded me of the girls when I was growing up, out in right field doing hand stands and cartwheels instead of playing ball. I'm hoping that Joey gets my love for sports, I'm preparing for him not to. Maybe it's immaturity right now but I have a feeling... We'll see how it pans out.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Weekend
The boys think that stickers are for decorating their bodies. Yesterday they included Jackson in on it too. One on his cheek and another by his ear! LOL It was so cute I had to take a picture and in doing so the boys wanted their pictures taken too so I got some good close-ups of my handsome clan. (see below)
We had a pretty good weekend, mostly relaxing for me. Jim cleaned up the house and I managed to finally go grocery shopping. I kept dragging my heels because we're trying to eat more healthfully but we have a problem. The refrigerator is acting up! It's too cold and freezing everything on me!! I turned the temperature gauge down and it's leaking water INSIDE and flooding my food. I can't win! It's really hard to keep fresh fruits and veggies when they're getting water logged and/or frozen. So it's back to frozen veggies and meats with fruits that can be kept in the pantry. I just can't run to the store daily to pick up fresh stuff all the time.
I took Joey and we ran to Aldi to return that pop up Gazebo. It got blown over by the wind and was trashed the first day we had it up! It still stood but it just wasn't right. We did the camping thing under it but the next morning it started to rain. We didn't get a ton of rain but because it was bent it collected water and bent even more. Finally I went out in the rain and pushed it off the tent so it didn't ruin the tent and that was all there was of it. Jim had to break it into pieces to get it compact enough to return. I guess you get what you pay for huh?
Then we went to Wal-mart for the groceries and some other odds and ends. I remembered I wanted to try the Crest 3D toothpaste. Oh man am I glad I did! I tried it last night for the first time and the difference in my teeth is absolutely AMAZING. I hope that if I were to stop using it that it wouldn't go back to where it was before just as fast! But after one brushing I highly recommend it!
I printed out a ton of things for "home schooling" Joey and Joshy over the summer and beyond and ran out of printer ink. Those sure don't go far. Good thing they're under $20 seeing as they're NOT refillable :( (Epson 68/69)
I then got like 3 loads of laundry done and burgers on the grill cooked. Outfits set out for today, 2 of 4 kids bathed and all 4 in bed and asleep before 8:30pm. I spent time reading to Joey (the others weren't behaving/interested so they had to just go to bed). We read 4 books and went though flashcards, uppercase letters and used the other set to play Go Fish for colored cards.
I had come across a website that had assessment tools for your preschooler/Kindergartner for like $1-$3 a piece. I looked at them and thought, "I can make those myself!" so I did. I used them on Joey and was shocked at the results. He knows all but a handful of the uppercase letters, only a handful of the lowercase, all the shapes (circle, square, triangle, star, heart, octagon, crescent) except rectangle, numbers up to only 6 and is missing black, white, brown, gray and purple! He can only rote count to 13... We have a LOT of work ahead of us this summer.
I then was searching all over the house for my instructions for my upcoming colonoscopy. I have rescheduled it 2x now and I am NOT rescheduling it again. I knew that I needed to do something yesterday, at least I thought I needed to, I needed my papers! Weeded out a bunch of trash and didn't find them until I'd gone though just about every paper on the first floor. I found the papers on the shelves in the kitchen. I'd asked Jim to gather them all for me seeing as I can't reach all the shelves without a step stool and he's 6 inches taller than I. Well he's blind and missed the dang papers I needed! Uggg! I was 5hrs late taking some meds but oh well, better late than never I guess.
Today Joshy has a dermatology appointment. He is reacting to all sunblocks, I need something he won't react to. Then Joey's got his 2nd to last day of school. Tomorrow I'm prepping for my colonoscopy, Wednesday is the procedure and Thursday and Friday I set up play dates!
Joey starts T-ball on the 14th. He's playing with the CYC and his team is "POWER" and his coach is Emily. That first day they get their t-shirts and their pictures taken. I love that this is free for us (not the pictures but the t-ball and t-shirt) because we're an active military family!
We had a pretty good weekend, mostly relaxing for me. Jim cleaned up the house and I managed to finally go grocery shopping. I kept dragging my heels because we're trying to eat more healthfully but we have a problem. The refrigerator is acting up! It's too cold and freezing everything on me!! I turned the temperature gauge down and it's leaking water INSIDE and flooding my food. I can't win! It's really hard to keep fresh fruits and veggies when they're getting water logged and/or frozen. So it's back to frozen veggies and meats with fruits that can be kept in the pantry. I just can't run to the store daily to pick up fresh stuff all the time.
I took Joey and we ran to Aldi to return that pop up Gazebo. It got blown over by the wind and was trashed the first day we had it up! It still stood but it just wasn't right. We did the camping thing under it but the next morning it started to rain. We didn't get a ton of rain but because it was bent it collected water and bent even more. Finally I went out in the rain and pushed it off the tent so it didn't ruin the tent and that was all there was of it. Jim had to break it into pieces to get it compact enough to return. I guess you get what you pay for huh?
Then we went to Wal-mart for the groceries and some other odds and ends. I remembered I wanted to try the Crest 3D toothpaste. Oh man am I glad I did! I tried it last night for the first time and the difference in my teeth is absolutely AMAZING. I hope that if I were to stop using it that it wouldn't go back to where it was before just as fast! But after one brushing I highly recommend it!
I printed out a ton of things for "home schooling" Joey and Joshy over the summer and beyond and ran out of printer ink. Those sure don't go far. Good thing they're under $20 seeing as they're NOT refillable :( (Epson 68/69)
I then got like 3 loads of laundry done and burgers on the grill cooked. Outfits set out for today, 2 of 4 kids bathed and all 4 in bed and asleep before 8:30pm. I spent time reading to Joey (the others weren't behaving/interested so they had to just go to bed). We read 4 books and went though flashcards, uppercase letters and used the other set to play Go Fish for colored cards.
I had come across a website that had assessment tools for your preschooler/Kindergartner for like $1-$3 a piece. I looked at them and thought, "I can make those myself!" so I did. I used them on Joey and was shocked at the results. He knows all but a handful of the uppercase letters, only a handful of the lowercase, all the shapes (circle, square, triangle, star, heart, octagon, crescent) except rectangle, numbers up to only 6 and is missing black, white, brown, gray and purple! He can only rote count to 13... We have a LOT of work ahead of us this summer.
I then was searching all over the house for my instructions for my upcoming colonoscopy. I have rescheduled it 2x now and I am NOT rescheduling it again. I knew that I needed to do something yesterday, at least I thought I needed to, I needed my papers! Weeded out a bunch of trash and didn't find them until I'd gone though just about every paper on the first floor. I found the papers on the shelves in the kitchen. I'd asked Jim to gather them all for me seeing as I can't reach all the shelves without a step stool and he's 6 inches taller than I. Well he's blind and missed the dang papers I needed! Uggg! I was 5hrs late taking some meds but oh well, better late than never I guess.
Today Joshy has a dermatology appointment. He is reacting to all sunblocks, I need something he won't react to. Then Joey's got his 2nd to last day of school. Tomorrow I'm prepping for my colonoscopy, Wednesday is the procedure and Thursday and Friday I set up play dates!
Joey starts T-ball on the 14th. He's playing with the CYC and his team is "POWER" and his coach is Emily. That first day they get their t-shirts and their pictures taken. I love that this is free for us (not the pictures but the t-ball and t-shirt) because we're an active military family!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Shelves are up and it's mostly done
final pictures:
This one you can see all the shelves from desk to ceiling
From the doorway
Closer look at the desk area. The shelf that the A-D are attached is for Joey's use.
The Desk from the Doorway. There's enough room on the 4ft desk for 4 small chairs
The upper shelves
On the top shelf I put the board and card games, puzzles, extra things like markers and glue and the workbooks I have to use with him. The 2nd from top is regular reading books, some teaching books (books for learning to read, alphabet and numbers), soft covers (so the little ones don't get to them and rip them up) and the library books. the last shelf is the hard cover books and other books that would only ever be for me to read to them, a basket of magnetic letters, the 5 drawer tower is for markers, glue and scissors and note cards. A couple little aqurium things they got at the dollar store, you fill with water and the fish grow 400%.
I have to say I LOVE how it came out. I wish I didn't need so many shelves since I lost all that wall space for the things I have to hang on the wall but so glad I have the shelves I need!!!
Boys will be Boys!
Joshy was outside playing today. He was grounded from going outside yesterday due to him leaving the yard without permission. Today was much better, he and Jon played for quite awhile until Jon needed to go down for nap. Joshy got bored and this is how I found him...
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
June is here again! (triggers)
In June of 2004 I was pregnant with our first baby, almost into my 2nd trimester. "She" was decidedly a war baby, conceived immediately after Jim returned home from Iraq in Apr 2004! We were surprised it happened so soon and thrilled beyond words. June 24th I started spotting. I immediately had my stomach fall and got ready to hear the bad news. I had this happen years before, I knew that bleeding at 11w4d was NOT a good sign.
I called my OB office and he was on vacation so his associate saw me... The next day on our 2yr anniversary of meeting I had a D&C to remove the baby we so desperately had wanted. Devastation seems just too weak a word.
I had a gut feeling that something was wrong with me and this was not just a fluke loss. I got online and found Web-Md. Better than that, I found their message boards. I ended up on Coping with Loss, a board dedicated to support for people (usually women) who'd lost a child. It was there I found an angel that lead me in the direction of a diagnosis. I had some funky blood work while pregnant. I had antibodies running around that took 4 labs to test to never find why! I also tested false positive for syphilis. In the past I'd tested on a titer that I didn't have enough immunity from Rubella and needed a booster. Never got the booster and then a year or so later tested another titer and was well within normal limits! Later I received the Hep B vaccine series, did a titer and wasn't immune. Did a booster and another titer and again wasn't immune!
So following my guardian angel's advice I had my OB test me for Lupus. Made sense, my mom has 2 cousins with systemic lupus so ... My ANA was positive so I went to a rheumatologist. I don't have systemic lupus, YET, but I do have lupus anticoagulant. We came up with a plan of action. Lovenox injection and low dose aspirin therapy were going to be my very best friends during pregnancy. We were given the go ahead to try to conceive again.
I then found TTCAL: Trying to conceive after loss. It was there that some of the most amazing friendships began to form. I was so very lucky, I was only on that board for about 6 or 7 weeks when I found out we were pregnant. It was Sweetest Day and was it a sweet day!! :)
The progression from TTCAL was PAL. What an acronym, never thought that PAL would mean I'd make pals... PAL: Pregnancy after Loss = friendship. Not all of us were on the exact same paths in life other than all of us had at some point suffered at least one pregnancy loss from early on to still birth and one was born too early and lived for only 2months. This commonality was so bonding to us it was amazing.
Through the years some have moved in different directions and didn't feel the need for the online friendship anymore but a few of us have remained close. Some of us have met in person and the rest of us wish we could!
I was lucky to meet Selena first. I was pregnant with Joshy and we were driving to Buffalo, NY and going though Chicago to get there. She lives in Chicago so we had lunch together to meet. I met her oldest boys, Adam and Charlie and her little girl Grace whom was born 17days before Joey. Selena and I have gotten together a few times over the years. Her mom invited us to her surprise 30th birthday party and we attended and had a blast! She had a new baby by that time, Eric. We've gone to the Museum of Science and Industry and Field Museum as well. Last year in June she stayed at a water park hotel near me and I was able to meet her last baby, Luke. I really enjoy her company, I wish that we both didn't have so many kids to keep us too busy and while we're an hour or so apart it's like pulling teeth to coordinate. But we get to talk online nearly daily!
I then got to meet Tricia. Jim was receiving an award at Ft. Snelling in Minnesota and Trica lived nearby. She's such a loving, trusting wonderful lady. Having never actually met in person she invited me and my family to stay at her house while we were there for the weekend! I was afraid that we'd not get along or something and didn't want to ruin our friendship so we stayed one wonderful night then the next night we stayed on the Air Force base hotel. It was really nice to meet her and her husband Bryn. Her kids are wonderful. She has Nathan, Megan, Joshua whom is a month younger than my Joey and then Katie whom is 6 weeks older than my Joshy. They were only like 4 or 5 months old I think when we met. Then last summer I made plans to head up to Tricia's again. Our friend Kela was coming to town and it was a great excuse to see Tricia again, meet Kela and occupy me and the kids while Jim was gone the entire month to California for AT.
It was so nice to meet Tricia and Kela but I wasn't doing so well at that time. I was very pregnant with Jackson, overly stressed from being a single mom of 3 little ones with Joey having just turned 4yrs old. I was a miserable person and while I'd planned on staying a whole week I had to change my mind and come home early. I again was afraid that I'd ruin our friendship with the way I was feeling/acting and that it would only get worse from there. I just needed to be at home where I was able to relax a little better. Worrying about my boys being naughty and hurting kids or breaking items and rules was just not working for me. At home I can let them break it or ruin it and only have to answer to myself. Unfortunately what I was attempting to prevent happened anyway. Our friendship has never been the same and neither have I.
During that time I didn't get to see a lot of Kela. The days I was there she was on the go go go with her husband Paul and son Paul III. What little time we did get to spend together was nice but hard as it wasn't one on one but there were three of us and oh good heaven, 8 kids ages (8, 5, 4, 4, 3,3, 2, and 1)
So anyway, June is upon us again as are the birthday's! Joey's birthday buddies are all turning 5yrs old now. We have a few that did it before June, Meghan in March, Tristan in April, Kelleigh Ann and Grace in May and now.... Reagan on the 1st, Tyler and Nathan on the 8th (twins), Kai on the 11th, Hannah on the 14th, Joey on the 15th and Lorelei on the 30th. We're missing a few of our buddies: Melanie shares her birthday with Joey. Gabrelle on the 14th with Hannah, and Lucas on the 4th. Then of course we have a few that were in July, Sept and Oct: Joshua, Campbell, Paul and Olivia plus a few others that have since left our lives.
It's also a big month across the PAL board for loss too. I know that too many other lost their pregnancies at the same time I was losing mine. So June is bittersweet for me. Watching my first baby getting too big too fast, missing my Kyrie Eleison who should be nearly 5 1/2yrs old now and being so thankful for all my friends who helped me though all the ups and downs of pregnancy and birth and infancy and toddler years and now school years! Yikes! WOW! Looking at my boy today bring me tears, he's gotten so tall and mature looking. I'm planning on teaching him how to read?! How in the world, he's just my baby! He can't learn that stuff yet...but he's got to :)
So I dedicate this to ALL of my wonderful PAL friends
And this to all our beautiful birthdaybabies Big Kids!
I called my OB office and he was on vacation so his associate saw me... The next day on our 2yr anniversary of meeting I had a D&C to remove the baby we so desperately had wanted. Devastation seems just too weak a word.
I had a gut feeling that something was wrong with me and this was not just a fluke loss. I got online and found Web-Md. Better than that, I found their message boards. I ended up on Coping with Loss, a board dedicated to support for people (usually women) who'd lost a child. It was there I found an angel that lead me in the direction of a diagnosis. I had some funky blood work while pregnant. I had antibodies running around that took 4 labs to test to never find why! I also tested false positive for syphilis. In the past I'd tested on a titer that I didn't have enough immunity from Rubella and needed a booster. Never got the booster and then a year or so later tested another titer and was well within normal limits! Later I received the Hep B vaccine series, did a titer and wasn't immune. Did a booster and another titer and again wasn't immune!
So following my guardian angel's advice I had my OB test me for Lupus. Made sense, my mom has 2 cousins with systemic lupus so ... My ANA was positive so I went to a rheumatologist. I don't have systemic lupus, YET, but I do have lupus anticoagulant. We came up with a plan of action. Lovenox injection and low dose aspirin therapy were going to be my very best friends during pregnancy. We were given the go ahead to try to conceive again.
I then found TTCAL: Trying to conceive after loss. It was there that some of the most amazing friendships began to form. I was so very lucky, I was only on that board for about 6 or 7 weeks when I found out we were pregnant. It was Sweetest Day and was it a sweet day!! :)
The progression from TTCAL was PAL. What an acronym, never thought that PAL would mean I'd make pals... PAL: Pregnancy after Loss = friendship. Not all of us were on the exact same paths in life other than all of us had at some point suffered at least one pregnancy loss from early on to still birth and one was born too early and lived for only 2months. This commonality was so bonding to us it was amazing.
Through the years some have moved in different directions and didn't feel the need for the online friendship anymore but a few of us have remained close. Some of us have met in person and the rest of us wish we could!
I was lucky to meet Selena first. I was pregnant with Joshy and we were driving to Buffalo, NY and going though Chicago to get there. She lives in Chicago so we had lunch together to meet. I met her oldest boys, Adam and Charlie and her little girl Grace whom was born 17days before Joey. Selena and I have gotten together a few times over the years. Her mom invited us to her surprise 30th birthday party and we attended and had a blast! She had a new baby by that time, Eric. We've gone to the Museum of Science and Industry and Field Museum as well. Last year in June she stayed at a water park hotel near me and I was able to meet her last baby, Luke. I really enjoy her company, I wish that we both didn't have so many kids to keep us too busy and while we're an hour or so apart it's like pulling teeth to coordinate. But we get to talk online nearly daily!
I then got to meet Tricia. Jim was receiving an award at Ft. Snelling in Minnesota and Trica lived nearby. She's such a loving, trusting wonderful lady. Having never actually met in person she invited me and my family to stay at her house while we were there for the weekend! I was afraid that we'd not get along or something and didn't want to ruin our friendship so we stayed one wonderful night then the next night we stayed on the Air Force base hotel. It was really nice to meet her and her husband Bryn. Her kids are wonderful. She has Nathan, Megan, Joshua whom is a month younger than my Joey and then Katie whom is 6 weeks older than my Joshy. They were only like 4 or 5 months old I think when we met. Then last summer I made plans to head up to Tricia's again. Our friend Kela was coming to town and it was a great excuse to see Tricia again, meet Kela and occupy me and the kids while Jim was gone the entire month to California for AT.
It was so nice to meet Tricia and Kela but I wasn't doing so well at that time. I was very pregnant with Jackson, overly stressed from being a single mom of 3 little ones with Joey having just turned 4yrs old. I was a miserable person and while I'd planned on staying a whole week I had to change my mind and come home early. I again was afraid that I'd ruin our friendship with the way I was feeling/acting and that it would only get worse from there. I just needed to be at home where I was able to relax a little better. Worrying about my boys being naughty and hurting kids or breaking items and rules was just not working for me. At home I can let them break it or ruin it and only have to answer to myself. Unfortunately what I was attempting to prevent happened anyway. Our friendship has never been the same and neither have I.
During that time I didn't get to see a lot of Kela. The days I was there she was on the go go go with her husband Paul and son Paul III. What little time we did get to spend together was nice but hard as it wasn't one on one but there were three of us and oh good heaven, 8 kids ages (8, 5, 4, 4, 3,3, 2, and 1)
So anyway, June is upon us again as are the birthday's! Joey's birthday buddies are all turning 5yrs old now. We have a few that did it before June, Meghan in March, Tristan in April, Kelleigh Ann and Grace in May and now.... Reagan on the 1st, Tyler and Nathan on the 8th (twins), Kai on the 11th, Hannah on the 14th, Joey on the 15th and Lorelei on the 30th. We're missing a few of our buddies: Melanie shares her birthday with Joey. Gabrelle on the 14th with Hannah, and Lucas on the 4th. Then of course we have a few that were in July, Sept and Oct: Joshua, Campbell, Paul and Olivia plus a few others that have since left our lives.
It's also a big month across the PAL board for loss too. I know that too many other lost their pregnancies at the same time I was losing mine. So June is bittersweet for me. Watching my first baby getting too big too fast, missing my Kyrie Eleison who should be nearly 5 1/2yrs old now and being so thankful for all my friends who helped me though all the ups and downs of pregnancy and birth and infancy and toddler years and now school years! Yikes! WOW! Looking at my boy today bring me tears, he's gotten so tall and mature looking. I'm planning on teaching him how to read?! How in the world, he's just my baby! He can't learn that stuff yet...but he's got to :)
So I dedicate this to ALL of my wonderful PAL friends
And this to all our beautiful birthday
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