Athlete in TRAINING

All the kids bikes have been fixed and their tires have been pumped. So, when Chet told all of them excitedly he would be taking them on a bike ride... they all disappeared to get "ready" and Ethan came out of his room looking like this

Is he my little athlete in training or WHAT?!?!

Usually he will also wear his gloves to go bike riding... one time he was only wearing one, and I asked him who he thought he was, Michael Jackson?

At that point he looked at me very matter of fact and proceeded to tell me, "No Mom! ALL bike riders wear these!!"
(duh to me! What was I thinking?)

How little Miss Molly entered the world......

Miss Molly was born at 1:07 pm on Dec. 28, 2009. Due to the single umbilical artery, my doctor wouldn't let me go past 38 weeks, so I was induced on Dec. 28th. It was my first time being induced- and that was pretty cool. At first it was weird to think I knew the date that she was going to be born and that everything was set and ready to go.

I went in at 7 AM that morning to get admitted and hooked up to all the cool, fun beeping machines- especially the blood pressure one- that would squeeze the life out of my arm every 5 seconds!! When I got there I was practically a 5... so the baby was coming close to the 28th no matter what, and not really waiting til' her due date on the 10th of Jan. At 8 AM the dr. came in and broke my water. I told the nurse I was ready for an epidural ASAP! I prefer not to feel ANY pain-- and she said that she wanted me to feel contractions to make sure that I'm moving along before the epidural guy came in. I was like-- ok.... she came back a little bit later and the contractions were getting pretty strong-- and so the epidural man came in and hooked me up to good medicine, and gave me an EXCELLENT epidural according to the nurses standards- but not according to mine! So, the epidural starts to work fairly quickly. The nurse has me lying on my right side and I start to feel this TERRIBLE pain- or what I thought was pain- but was "pressure" which I have NEVER felt before... EVER! So, whatever this "pressure/pain" was-- was REALLY bothering me- so I call the nurse back in, and was like, "I feel like I have to go to the bathroom REALLY bad! Like I'm about to poop on the bed!" She said- oh- that pressure may be a really big baby... let me check you.... she checks me- and I'm at a nine and the baby is close- but she wants me to wait a little longer because she doesn't want me pushing for long because the baby can go into distress due to the umbilical cord situation, so she wants the baby to drop further down.....

I said, "Yeah-- but it is SO uncomfortable, and it really hurts!!" So, she gave me my pain med button and said- click this and it will help take away the pain-- NOT the pressure just the pain.... so I started clicking away and switched over to my left side to see if that would help as well.

It eased it a little and the pressure then started moving towards the front of my body. Again- I have never felt what "pressure" is, so it was REALLY annoying! I hadn't seen my dr. since she broke my water and the nurse was out of my room more than in it- and had only checked me twice total! I kept feeling more and more pressure and the pressure started moving back towards the back-- (I hate feeling like I have to go to the bathroom but can't!) But- I wasn't thinking it was the baby-- then my body just kind of starts pushing, and the nurse comes back in- and I said- I feel like I have to push... and she is like- well, lets push then... and she checks me- and the baby is close-- and so I start pushing and I'm pretty sure you are supposed to count to 10-- but this is how it went.... READY push-- 1....2.....3.....4.... STOP!!! You can't push anymore! The dr. will be here any minute. I'm like what?? Don't push--- how am I supposed to just all of a sudden stop, when I HAVE to push?? So- the nurse leaves the room--- to go find my dr. because she is taking a little longer then expected to get to me. Meantime-- I'm left in the room and I'm looking at Chet like--- what the heck? This baby is coming!! I mean- I'm hurting BAD!! (again- not really pain- just pressure... but it HURT!) I've practically been asked to just hold that baby in... don't let it out... well Molly had a mind of her own.... the nurse for the baby came in to start setting up the baby station ... and that is when I felt Molly sliding out on her own-- and I'm TRYING SO HARD to not let her out because I don't want her coming out and flying onto the floor! But- she is just coming without me pushing-- and I started yelling, " Oh my gosh! This baby is coming! I'm NOT even pushing she is just coming! Then MY nurse runs back in and is like DR. RAMIREZ!!!!! The baby is coming and the dr. literally runs in the room- almost doesn't have time to put on her smock and the baby just pops out- one push and the baby was out! The head came out by itself-- and one push the rest of her was out!! They didn't have time to even prep the floor or anything for easy cleanup before Molly decided to make her entrance.

She was not happy about waiting that extra 20-30 min. either!! She came out screaming! No- need to suction out her mouth or anything and she didn't stop screaming until she had her bath and was nice and warm!! She was letting everyone know what she thought about her delivery!

AND that was the first time I EVER cried after delivering because it had been SO uncomfortable. Usually I'm in heaven after my epidural-- but that lasted for like 5 min. before I started to feel "pressure". I don't know how you women who can do it with feeling the pain AND the pressure at the same time do it!

Apparently all my other epidurals were not good one's because I had never felt the pressure before. I would have totally been in ignorant bliss if I had never felt the pressure- but I guess that just wasn't in the cards this time. :)

So, I rank my deliveries as Erin and Ethan tied for first (both in Utah and I said it then and I'll say it now--- I would fly back to Utah to have my babies... that is how awesome my deliveries were:)) Molly, and then Dante's delivery still ranks last- mainly due to the mean anesthesiologist who told me she would practically skin me alive if I moved while she was trying to put my epidural in and then she would leave and NEVER come back (talk about this lady having a bad day and taking it out on me- a first time mom to be- who is already scared enough about labor and doubling over in pain from my contractions!) Scariest day of MY life! (both Molly and Dante were born in Cali.)

But of course- every minute of pain or "pressure" was worth it to now have such sweet children in my life-- especially little Molly Mae (I gave her a Texas name- since she wasn't born in Texas:( )

Molly is such a good baby! She squawks instead of cries, eats like a champ, and is just perfect in every way and we all love her to pieces!!

Molly Mae - 5 lbs. 14 oz. 17 1/2 in.




Molly Mae- 1 week old!!

Molly Mae- 2 weeks old 5 lbs. 15 oz. 19 in. (below the 5th percentile)

And one of our favorite faces to laugh at and kiss!!!

WE LOVE YOU MOLLY MAE

and we are so glad you chose our family to come to:)

What would we do without DANTE???

Dante!

Our space case!

He knows how to make us laugh (mainly AFTER the fact) without even trying.

These are just a couple stories that I'm mainly sharing- so that when I go back through my blog and read, I will remember the silly things he does. (and maybe to embarrass him a little when he is older)

1. Pretty much EVERY morning (and you will think I'm kidding but I'm TOTALLY not)- but pretty much EVERY morning, Dante comes out of his room, ready for school with his shirt on BACKWARDS! Now, I can see how this can happen every once in a while- especially if the t-shirt is all one color with no logos, etc... but these t-shirts are NOT t-shirts, but polo's AND every morning?? C'mon NOW! Seriously- NOT kidding! That is old by now--- so to my COMPLETE surprise- a couple Sunday's ago- I give Dante his Sunday clothes to put on-- and when I see him 20 min. later (because this is how long it takes him to get dressed) do I see his shirt on backwards?? NOPE! Hallelujah- right?? Until I finish inspecting him and his PANTS are totally on BACKWARDS?? How in the heck does someone do that and NOT notice?? I dunno how it was done- but it was DONE-- and that is our Dante... the space case... who we love every so dearly:)


2. This last July- after the swim team season was over-- they had a big party for all the kids! This year it was cut short due to an out of no where "Texas Thunderstorm". Anyone who knows Dante knows he can pound down food with the BEST of them. He will go back for seconds, thirds, fourths and even eat everyone else's plates of food if they let him.

After Dante's first go around of food- we told him to go play for a little bit, swim, etc... and then if he wanted more he could have more. He went and played in the "broken" sprinklers OUTSIDE the pool area with some of his teammates- when we noticed some dark clouds rolling in. We didn't mind them-- they gave us some much needed relief from the hot Houston sun. Then the thunder starts CLAPPING and Chet and I look at each other like- "we have about .2 seconds before it starts storming- lets head to the car kind of look" As we are walking out- I yell to Dante to come on and go get in the car- it is going to start POURING any minute! Everyone else is doing the same and rushing to their cars, or under cover. We all make it to the car and hop in and I notice Dante isn't there yet... but he should have been the first since he was closest. SO-- I hop out of the car and start looking for him and calling out his name-- and where do I find him???? That's right- he went back by the pool and was sitting in our same eating spot before chowing down on a HOT DOG.... IN THE RAIN!!! WHAT?!?! Who does that?? That would be my space case... DANTE:)

AND YES WE WOULDN'T TRADE HIM FOR THE WORLD!