An Update

I know it hasn't been as long since my last post as it has in the past, but I know I need to start posting on our blog more often since babies change so quickly and we don't get to see you all very often. Our little Abbigaile will be 4 weeks old on Wednesday! Its crazy how fast the time flies and how much she's changed since we brought her home. She's so sweet and such a good baby! She's still sleeping a ton, as most infants do; however, there have been a few rough nights here and there. She usually only wakes up a few times a night to eat and have her little bum changed, but there are times when we're ready to sleep and she just wants to be up and awake; the other night it was from 4-5:30 AM—ugh. Luckily Mark and Jody were willing to take Jack to church, so Abbigaile and I were able to sleep a little later (thanks again!).

Jack has adjusted to having her here for the most part, but still has a hard sometimes especially when he first wakes up from his nap in the afternoon. I think the hardest part about having two kids, at least right now, is that Abbigaile loves to be held almost constantly sometimes and sometimes Jack just needs some cuddle time. It's always fun when one child is crying and so the other starts up too. We're definitely having fun though (and that's not sarcastic). One thing I love, that I think has made it a little easier for me, is my Ergo Baby Carrier! I love this thing! It makes getting things done and tending to Jack easier when she just wants to be held or I don't want Jack to touch her, and it doesn't hurt my back.

Oh, Abbigaile has already been sick with a few things (poor girl). Just after we brought her home, actually that Sunday, her right eye started getting really goopy—I don't know if that's a real word ;-). We took her in the following day and they gave us some ointment to put in her little eye three times a day; luckily that helped to clear it up although they said it might also partially be due to a clogged tear duct (but who knows). I can happily say that she no longer has any eye gunk left! We also had to go to the doctor several times because of her jaundice; I think I had her blood drawn about three times over the span of a week and a half—it was so sad to hear her cry. Her levels are now okay, I just have to be sure to expose her to sunlight to keep everything regulated (sounds a bit like a plant, doesn't it). Now she has a bit of a cold, thanks to her loving big brother. Jack really likes to kiss her and be in her face, and since he has a cold she does too. Fortunately no one has green boogies and I think they are both finally starting to clear up.

Now for some of the fun I was talking about. A couple of weeks ago, Justin was changing Abbigaile's diaper in her bassinet and she pooped on his hand before he could put the new diaper on, so he called me to have me finish changing her. As I went to lift her bum she decided to poop again; this time the poo shot up and over the side of the bassinet and onto the carpet in our room. We just had to laugh and now I'm writing about it so we don't forget for the future.

Jack is such a good big brother. He loves kissing his sister, sometimes a little too much, and is very concerned if she cries. He'll often try to comfort her by kissing her head (and often leaves some saliva behind in the process) and now he even has his monkey (binky) George (Choch) give Abbigaile's head kisses, too. Jack loves to dance to music that comes on the television and even some in the car and he always makes sure someone is watching him. If he's dancing, or even stacking blocks or running in circles, he'll say "Daddy! Mom!" to get our attention and will keep saying our names if we don't respond and acknowledge him. The other day he was dancing and said "Daddy! Mom! Baby!" I thought it was so cute that he decided to include Abbigaile and wanted to make sure she was watching him, too. It's so cute; he'll also try to tickle her when she's awake. Jack seems to like/love his sister most of the time; however, he will hit her head sometimes, but I think it's just to see what he can get away with. I think we're very blessed that the transition has gone as smoothly as it has.

I feel like things are somewhat returning to normal around here. I haven't done much for activities with Jack, but that's just because I'm not ready to have Abbigaile around tons of germy little ones that don't know not to touch her hands or face. I think I'll start to go back to that whole routine slowly, as Jack doesn't seem to be suffering horribly. We do have interaction with others when we go to do errands, when he goes to church, when Jeremiah comes over to study, or when we visit Justin's work. I do look forward to seeing my friends again and resuming life as normal. I know it'll happen soon.

I don't think much has changed with Justin. He's still working and going to school full-time. I think I've said it before, but this is Justin's last semester of school! His graduation ceremony date is May 16^th at 3:00 PM. We can give you all more details closer to the date for anyone who's interested.

As for me, not much has changed. We're definitely changing many more diapers and are now really looking forward to potty training Jack; we didn't want to do it before because we thought too many changes at once wouldn't be good for him. Now that we've been at the new house for a while, gotten rid of the binky, and Abbigaile's arrived—we're gonna do it! So, anyone who has tips for us . . . just pass them along. The cheer season is done until tryouts, so as of now I'm done. I miss my girls, but it's also nice to stay home with the kiddos and not have to rush anywhere. I'm still really excited about the whole freezer-cooking thing (I know I still need to post some of the recipes I made) and I'm checking out lots of books from the library for different recipes. I just love knowing that our freezer is stocked with yummy meals, so we have dinner on hand and I know what's in them. The other day I made a large batch of my meatballs and baked them; they're now ready to go in freezer bags whenever we want spaghetti and meatballs or some meatball sandwiches (yummy!).

I think that's about it for right now. I'll post more very soon and I'll also get some pictures added to this post. As for now, Abbigaile's starting to fuss and I have to go check on Jack. We love you all!

She’s Here!

I figured I'd write a new post briefly while Jack is playing and Abbigaile is sleeping. We're happy to announce that Abbigaile Ann was born on Wednesday, February 18 at 2:48 PM. She weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 19 inches long.

For those of you we haven't actually had a chance to talk to yet, I'll give a brief rundown of the day's events. Justin and I reported to the hospital at 6:00 AM on Wednesday, finished the check-in process and were finally in our delivery room around 7:00 AM. I had all of my IVs in and they finally started me on the pitocin around 8. My doctor came in to check my progress at 10, but found that I hadn't progressed very far, only about 50 % effaced and 1 cm dilated, so he didn't break my water. I continued on the pitocin and Dr. B came back around 1:30 to find that I'd progressed to about 80% effaced and 4 ½ cm dilated and broke my water; they told us we'd probably be having Abbigaile sometime between 6 and 8 that evening. I told them "hopefully it won't be 8:00 and it'll be closer to 6" and everyone laughed. About an hour later I was ready to push and Dr. B got there just in time; I had to try not to push and I think that is one of the hardest urges to fight. Apparently once my water breaks, things really start to happen rather quickly so it's good my water didn't break at home or we may not have made it to the hospital. After just two pushes Abbigaile made her entrance into the world at 2:48 PM. She was pretty puffy and her face was bruised, but they told us that happens when the baby comes quickly. I'm happy to say that this time I delivered with no pain medication at all! I don't think I'll ever get to have an "all natural" childbirth (without pitocin) so this is as close as it gets.

Jack came to visit us in the hospital that evening, as did many other friends and family members, but really didn't want to even come near me. Justin held Abbigaile and told Jack, "this is Abbigaile." His reply was "no." I'm happy to say he's not saying "no" anymore although we're definitely still adjusting her at home. Justin, Abbigaile, and I came home on Thursday and have been resting a lot. Justin is as wonderful as he always is and is making an extra-special effort to spend some one-on-one time with Jack. They went to school yesterday and played outside and today they went to church to make copies and Jack got to run around when Justin checked-in at work.

Jack has been giving Abbigaile lots of kisses on her head, but we're still working on the whole "gentle" concept and it'll take some time. We asked him if he wanted to hold her today and he tried to take her out of the little bouncer seat on his own . . . he wanted to hold her, just not sitting down. Justin helped Jack hold her standing up in the end and he did a very nice job. I'll continue to update everyone as things change and become a bit more settled around here—I know I definitely will be taking more pictures! We love you all!

Oh yeah, I’m still itching, but it’s not nearly as bad as it was. I’ll let everyone know when it completely stops!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Okay, it's well past due for a family update—a lot has happened over the past several months in our family. I know we've seen or talked to most of you, but I'll still try and give a big update. I'm pretty sure everyone knows we're having a baby girl and we're naming her Abbigaile and I'm due on the 26^th of this month. However, unless she comes sooner on her own (which you never know) I'll be induced, yet again, next Wednesday on the 18^th. Personally, I'm itching to have this little girl . . . literally. I have Cholestasis, just like I did with Jack, and so I'm super itchy; my new doctor has been monitoring me closely each week with blood tests and we've decided to induce at 39 weeks. Although there's no guarantee that I won't go into labor before then, It's just nice to know that we have a concrete date that we'll have her by so we can finish preparing and getting things lined up for our little Jack-man.

Jack's doing well, but we think he knows the arrival of his little sister is fast-approaching; he seems to want us to hold him a lot more and wants us to give him more attention, too. Jack's still very into cars and trucks of every kind, the Cars movie, and trains. Jack currently has an interest in letters, shapes, and colors; although he doesn't always get them all right (he just turned 2) he likes to point things out to us wherever we go. I think his all-time favorite food right now is cereal of any kind, but he also really likes scrambled eggs. One big thing that has happened for Jack within the past couple of weeks is that Jack no longer uses the binky! He was only using it for when he slept, but we figured it was time for him to give it up; we tried to wean him by snipping a little off the tip at a time so he'd gradually get used to not having one at all, but that didn't work for him. He would just cry for a new binky and say the other "breaked," so we finally just took it away completely and dealt with crying for a couple of nights. Jack now has a "Twilight Turtle" that he turns on before he goes to sleep. The turtle shines stars, in a color of his choosing, onto his ceiling at night and that seems to have made the transition a bit easier for him. Jack's still very active and never seems to stop running and jumping on things—he's definitely a boy! Jack has become much more verbal and we're able to understand more of what he's saying to us, finally, so it's all pretty exciting. However, it makes things a bit more difficult at times because now he really knows what he wants! We love him to death, but there are some days when he's so defiant that I'll think, "What happened to my sweet little boy?" I know this will pass and is just part of the age—I'm very grateful for that. Oh, he's actually a very polite little boy—he thanks us for everything. He'll thank up for bringing him food, changing his diaper (the next thing to go), wiping his nose, reading a story, brushing his teeth, etc. it's actually quite cute and very nice to be thanked for everything.

I'm still coaching cheer, although not for much longer as Abbigaile will be arriving very shortly. We just had our first competition and took first place! The girls did very well and had a lot of fun performing. I don't know how much had really changed with me over this period of time. I'm pregnant, so I've obviously gotten bigger and a lot more tired than I was; it's hard right now because I can't run after Jack—my body just won't let me and it seems that he's gotten a lot quicker. I feel prepared for the arrival of our little girl in most aspects, but at the same time I don't. I love that I'm a bit more prepared for what happens after we all come home, but it's a whole new ballgame because now we'll have two little ones at home; that means no more long naps for me when the baby sleeps (bummer!). I just hope she's as good of a baby as Jack was because it'll definitely make the transition easier. I'm still trying to get the house more in order before she arrives, although if everything doesn't get done it'll always be there afterward. I'm getting into freezer cooking and have our freezer pretty well stocked for the next little while, although I need to take some inventory of all that we have in there (maybe I'll try to do that tonight). I've made a lot of new recipes and am still looking for more for the future. I figure if I can take just a couple of days to do a whole lot of cooking to make my life easier in the future. I may need to pay a sitter, or hire my sister, to come over and tend to the kids while I cook it'll save me a ton of time and money in the future as we'll be a little less tempted to go out and get fast-food. As of right now I have sloppy joes, chicken chimichangas, a lasagna, little mini beef pies, meat sauce (to be morphed into 3 different meals), pre-cooked ground beef (for another 3 meals), 3 chicken casseroles, and stuffed bell peppers all ready to go in our freezer. There may be more, but I can't think of anything at the moment. I can post the recipes later for those of you who want them, or I can email them to you too. I'm a little less stressed knowing that there's plenty of food in the freezer so my family won't starve ;-) I want to make some more food, but I think I need to do a bit of rearranging (or we need to eat some food) before that can happen. If any of you have any great make/freeze ahead meals please let me know.

As for Justin, he's started his last semester of school and we're so excited! He is taking about 4 classes and participating in the Business College's senior experience program. Because of this program, he and a group of other students get to act as a consulting firm for a local company. He's working so hard right now, not that he doesn't always, to make sure he has all of his school things in order before the baby arrives so he'll be available to help me with whatever is needed; I'm so grateful for that. Justin is still working at the Grand Tradition and, even though we've moved, Jack and I try to take Justin lunch once a week so we can see him during the day. Justin works so hard to support our family and make sure all of our needs are met (even before his own) . . . he amazes me and I love him so much! Oh, he's also applied for a volunteer position at the local fire station doing administrative work and he has an interview next week, so that may be one more thing he'll be doing.

As I'm pretty sure all of you know, we had the opportunity to purchase a home of our own at the end of October! It's was definitely an adventure, especially in the beginning when we were trying to get the other tenants to move out and then prepare and clean everything so we could move in. We are definitely blessed to have had so much help in getting our house ready. There is still plenty to be done, but the house has come a long way from where it was when we bought it. I'll see what I can post picture-wise of our home, but I may not get it all done today so check back again when I have a chance.

Oh, my computer crashed in December so if I didn't send you an email about the new blog please don't be offended. Also, you may want to email me with your updated mailing address, email address, phone numbers, etc . (and anyone else I may be missing) so I can update everything in my online email address book. Thanks for all you help.

We love you all and will definitely be posting a new entry this week after we get home with our little Abbigaile. If you want an update on everything with her, before we get to post a blog, and we haven't called you, feel free to give us a call on our home or cell lines. Oh, please forgive my grammar as I'm a bit scatter-brained at the moment (I actually started this post on Wednesday and finished it today). Again, we love you all and will try our best to keep everyone updated.

We're having a . . .

Hello everyone, it’s been about a two months since the last blog so it’s definitely time for a big update. Justin’s still going to school and working full-time; however, he’s now only taking 15 units instead of the original 19. This allows him to be home a little earlier on school days and gives him less homework (obviously). He’s a little stressed out with everything but says his family doesn’t stress him out (thank goodness). Even with all Justin does he’s always helpful to me and doesn’t take his own stresses out on our family. Justin’s currently taking and preparing for his midterms and our friend Jeremiah is often over for study sessions (and some good junk food prepared by me).

Jack is still growing like a weed and happy as can be. He’s talking a lot more and his little words are slowly becoming more understandable. Just today we were sitting outside, at the high school football game, and Jack heard an airplane fly over the school; very clearly he said “air plane” and said it several times. I was so excited to hear him speak that clearly and I think he was excited he knew what the sound was. He still loves reading books and his current favorites are The Very Hungry Caterpillar and In My Backyard (a book I found for 50 cents at a resale shop), although he loves reading all books. Jack loves helping us around the house and although at times it's a little hard to let him because it takes longer its fun to see how his capabilities are changing. He's especially helpful when it comes to packing, or rather unpacking, and stacking up boxes. It's amazing to see how fast he's growing and changing and I know he's going to be such a loving helper big brother. Jack likes to point at my belly and he says "baby" and then kisses my belly; he's just such a sweet boy.

Jack has always been extremely active but seems to be even more so now; I’m not sure if he really is more active than in the past or if it’s because I’m pregnant (I think it’s the former rather than the latter). Unfortunately, Jack’s become pickier in his eating and although we still try to feed him what we’re having for dinner, we sometimes have to settle for a hummus sandwich, cereal, or toast. We’re hoping this phase will pass quickly. I guess I can’t complain too much because Jack is happy, healthy, and thriving. Oh yeah, Jack went poo-poo on the potty for the first time (although somewhat against his will because he was originally in the bath tub), but I’ll spare you the rest of the details and just say it’s a step in the right direction. We’ll leave it at that.

The last time I wrote, we were searching for a home. We’ve found one and are currently in escrow! Everything is set to close on the 29th of this month, but that largely hinges on the current tenants vacating the property. Although the house will need some paint and hardcore cleaning it’s generally move in ready and we’re excited about owning our first home. The home, it’s 4 bed 2 bath, is still here in Fallbrook and is only about 5 minutes away from Justin’s work; I promise I’ll post pictures after we move in (if all goes well).

As for me, I’m still coaching cheer at the high school and we have about a month left for football season. The girls are really excited because our freshman football team is currently undefeated! My team has had two pep rallies and we’re now preparing for competition (I can let you know when our games or competitions are if you’d like to come watch). In addition to coaching cheer, I’m taking yoga two nights a week although I’m not always great about going even though I enjoy the class when I do. We found out this past Wednesday that we are having a . . . baby girl! We would have been happy with either a boy or a girl, but are absolutely thrilled to welcome a little princess into our family. She seems to be healthy, thriving at around a pound, and extremely active. It was amazing to see the clarity of this ultrasound compared to the one we had when I was pregnant with Jack . . . it makes me wonder where technology will be in another couple of years when we’re having more children.

Something a little frightening happened yesterday when I was experiencing excruciating pain in my left side. Justin ended up taking me to the hospital where they gave me some fluids and pain medication, and ran some blood tests. The tests all came back normal and they diagnosed my condition as lower back pain. I went to see our chiropractor this morning to get my body straightened out and everything is fine now although I’m a little sore and trying to take it easy, which isn’t always easy with a toddler. I’m am so grateful that Justin works so close to home and that his bosses are so loving and flexible with our family’s needs (we love you Scott and Des and thank you). Other than that whole situation everything seems to be going well with this pregnancy, thus far; we’ll find out more next Tuesday at our next baby appointment (I promise I’ll try to update sooner than two months from now).

I can’t think of anything else to update everyone about so I’ll end here. You can always comment and ask for updates on anything I may have forgotten. Please know that we love you all and think of you often (even if we haven’t seen or talked to you recently). Oh, last thing before I forget . . . Californians please vote YES on Prop 8. It’s something our family feels very strongly about and we can get you more information if you don’t already know what this proposition entails.

A little family update . . .

So . . . I think my goal for blogging will be every other month because I don’t always seem to have time every month and it’s just about 2 months to the day.

We’ve been pretty busy since I last wrote. At the end of June, Justin and I went to Hawaii (just the two of us) and had a blast. We stayed in Waikaloa on the Big Island and it couldn’t have been a more beautiful place. We swam and snorkeled a lot, visited a botanical garden, swam with a sea turtle, did some night snorkeling with about 12 manta rays (one of the most amazing experiences ever!), visited a volcano and some amazing waterfalls, and just had a great time all around. At the end of July our family went on a cruise with the rest of the Rizzo Clan; thank you Papa Tony! We had so much fun spending time and catching up with the family. Jack ate tons of fruit and French fries and our waiters seemed to become especially fond of him; they always brought him a fruit cup as soon as we were seated and brought an abundant supply of cookies for his dessert. Needless to say, Jack knew who his friends were and also seemed to have fun entertaining our family at meal times.

I had a two day cheer camp with the cheerleaders the day we got back from the cruise. I am so impressed at how well the girls work together, get along, and help their teammates who may be having difficulties. Practices started the following week and we’ve been having practices Monday through Thursday; Jack comes with me and snacks, plays with cars and balls, runs around, and entertains the girls while I coach. He’s such a good boy! So, as of now, cheer and naptime seem to take up most of our days because of the time schedule we’re on right now.

Jack is growing like crazy and is just as cute as ever. He’s gotten so much better at building Lego towers and loves playing with cars and balls. It has become almost an obsession of his. He likes helping with everything even when it not that great of a help and he has now figured out how to work his CD player. I’ll be somewhere in the house, hear his music playing, and then go into his room to find him dancing; it’s so cute! He’s talking more and although he doesn’t usually say “no!” (he just shakes his head) he is definitely gaining an opinion. We love him to death!

Justin’s still working full-time and resumes school in just a couple of weeks. He’s taking 19 units (12 is considered full-time) so it’s sure to be a busy semester. He’s currently working with his uncle on his days off getting a rental property fixed-up and ready for new tenants. Even after his long days he is willing to come home and help me with dinner, Jack, laundry, etc. just to make my life a little easier. I love and appreciate him soooo much and I hope he knows that. He’s just an amazing man and father all around.

Justin and I just celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary on July 31! Can you believe it’s already been four whole years? We went to Ruth’s Chris for dinner and then he surprised me and we went to see The Phantom of the Opera in Downtown San Diego. It was amazing! I loved it and I’m pretty sure he enjoyed it too.

In addition to normal everyday life, we’re currently looking for our first home and we’re praying that we find the right one for our little family before the market starts to rise too quickly. It’s proving slightly difficult to find one that’s in just the right location with the right amount of space, for the right price. However, we have a great realtor and he’s helping us out quite a bit. We’ll let you all know if we find one!

I think that about sums up our lives right now except . . . we’re pregnant! I’m currently about 11 ½ weeks pregnant and we’re so excited! I’m thinking it might be a girl, but who knows—we’ll be happy with either as long as the baby is healthy. I’m totally starving and nauseous all of the time and completely exhausted, as well. But other than that it’s all good; we’ve already been to the doctor and there’s a heartbeat (only one!), the baby’s moving around like crazy and we’re due February 26!

That’s it for now . . . we love you all and hope your families are happy and safe!