June 16, 2011 (con't)- Announcements

I'm always weary about announcing my pregnancy to friends and family. There's always that small thought in the back of my mind...What if I loose this baby? So I wait. When I was pregnant with Alexa I told some close friends and family after the first ultrasound showing a heartbeat. Others I waited for the 12 week ultrasound. Waiting is hard. It's especially hard in regards to Abby and Nathan. They have super sonic hearing and hear everything. If the kids were to be left in the dark Burt and I just wouldn't be able to talk about this pregnancy. I wasn't quite sure what to do. Burt fixed that for me. Shortly after he learned of the news he came out to the living room where the kids and I were sitting. He made it short and sweet and blurted it out. "Mommy is pregnant guys". I'd be lying if I wasn't a bit shocked but mostly I felt relief. Abby seemed a bit reserved at first. Nathan was excited immediately. We all talked about how nice it would be to have a little boy to round out the bunch. Soon after that Daddy left for work I talked more with Abby. Her initial response to the news had me a little worried. What was she thinking? After talking with her for a few minutes I realized my fears were silly. She was very excited! Probably more so then Nathan, but both kids talked about it all day. Before we announced it to anyone else I knew we had to find a cute way to tell my Mom and Amanda. I decided on buying Alexa a "Big Sister" t-shirt from Carters and wrapping it in a box. We let Alexa open the gift right after cake that night. Burt held it up and there was complete silence. Did they not understand it Were they not happy? I finally said, "if Alexa is a big sister, what does that mean?" and then it dawned on them. Everyone was a bit quiet after that. I'm pretty sure that most of it had to do with the tension that was already there about my mom moving to Amsterdam. Maybe she was sad about the idea of missing out on a grandchild. I'll never know, but I was definitely disappointed. After we broke the news to them everyone else was just easy. I think I called Cindy and told her. Shannon knew even before Burt. I blurted it out on rose's facebook page in hopes that it would make her call me ASAP. And of course my JB Mommas knew right away. I still hadn't made a general facebook announcement though. Those people could wait until I had my ultrasound. Giving immediate friend and family bad news would be much easier then having to tell the 150 something facebook acquaintances I have.

June 16th, 2011- A welcomed surprise!

I'm pretty sure I don't have to go into all the details about how this welcomed surprise came into our life. You can probably figure that out. Although it is important to recall some details. May 28th was definitely the day. I remember it well. Not because I was charting or in trying to conceive mode this time. I remember it because it was our first oops moment since Alexa had been born. I remember checking my calendar right after the fact. I was only cd 18, still could've been too early to ovulate. I made a short note in my "My Days" app and we went about our night. 5 days later I had laser surgery on my cervix. I hope that doesn't play a major role in this pregnancy but in case it does the facts are here. The morning of the laser surgery they did a blood pregnancy test. It came out negative of course because even though I must've been preggo my body showed no signs of it yet. The egg may not have even implanted by that time. The days passed. I was so consumed by Alexa's party planning that I gave the idea of pregnancy little thought. Only when I checked my "My Days" app again did I even realize that on June 15th I would've been on cd 35. Even for me that was getting to be a bit long. That night I dug in the bathroom cabinet and discovered I had a digital pregnancy test still left over from my pregnancy with the youngest McCabe. I checked the expiration date . Not expired until July. Score! I left the test in the cabinet and went to bed. I knew if I didn't have my period by the morning that I should take the test. June 16th I woke up ready to celebrate my little miracle's 1st birthday! I stumbled into the bathroom and put in my contacts, peed, and took the test. I sat there as the little hour glass blinked. I wonder if the people who invented those tests thought about the effect that that little hourglass would have on millions of women trying to conceive. I remember staring at that hour glass time and time again when we were trying to get pregnant almost two years prior. I used to stare as it blinked and blinked and I'd imagine the word pregnant there. This time was quite different. I really don't think I was expecting to see the result that I did, but POP! There it was. Clear as day. PREGNANT. I hurried up and hid the test. I had a birthday girl to get out of her crib. Abby, Nathan and I walked into her room singing "Happy Birthday". My baby girl was one. What a happy day! The rest of the morning time seemed as if time was standing still. I got Alexa dressed in her special "Birthday Girl" shirt and bib. We waited for Daddy to get back from a quick run to his friend's house. The wait seemed like hours. I was worried about how he'd take the news. We had always talked about wanting to have another baby close in age to Alexa. We loved watching Abby and Nathan grow into best friends and we always assumed it was because of how close in age they were. We knew we wanted the same for Alexa. We just didn't know that we wanted it right now. When he came in he made a beeline to the sink. There was a sinkful of dishes from the night before calling his name. As he washed the dishes I grabbed Alexa and handed her the pregnancy test. I stood her up a few feet from Burt and let her walk towards him. I said to Burt, "The birthday girl is behind you". He immediately turned around and started singing "Happy Birthday" to her. He sang the whole song and never once saw the test in her hand. It wasn't until I said, "Alexa, Daddy isn't very observant today" that he turned around and took notice. "You're pregnant?!?!?!", he said. I just looked at him and nodded. We both stood there in shock for a few minutes. We discussed how Alexa would be 20 or 21 months old before the baby was even born. By the end of the conversation Burt was feeling overwhelmed but excited. My mind was still racing though. I just has this laser surgery. What effect did the anesthesia have on the baby? Would my cervix be capable of even carrying this pregnancy to term? And of course with our passed pregnancies not far from my thoughts...was this little baby okay in there? All of these thoughts had to wait. Afterall, I had a one year old to celebrate!

Changes on the way

I made a mistake. Sometime in July I started a new blog for pregnancy number 6/wombmate number 7/ living child number 4. I had a few people tell me I should just continue on with the same blog but I wanted Alexa and Scooby Snack to have their own baby book of sorts. I felt like I'd be a bit more organized if I kept them separate, but it seems like keeping up with two separate blogs is next to impossible. So now I've decided to combine the two and yet I don't know how to bring the new blog over here. I've tried copy and pasting it to no avail. I think the only option I'm left with is to retype everything. The task seems like too much to handle but I think in the end it will be worth it.

Who ticked off Mother Nature?

So in one weeks time we've experienced/lived thru one earthquake of 5.9 magnitude, several tornado warnings, and one category 1 hurricane named Irene. I can't help but think that Mother Nature is trying to tell us something. Pennsylvania never has any of these things! Thursday night I started taking all of this hurricane talk a bit more serious. I talked with Burt and we decided we'd stock up on a few things. Friday I took my sister and the kids out. We bought a few flashlights, candles, snacks, non-perishables, water and juice. We brought in all the kid's outdoor toys and brought up any totes of importance from the basement. As far as I was concerned we'd be good to go if the power did go out for any period of time. Saturday night came and so did the wind and rain. We pretty much stayed glued to the TV watching the news. The kids entertained themselves with a new box of dominos, cards, and lots of jumping on Mommy and Daddy's mattress. Around 10pm we heard that dreadful sound come across the TV. There was a tornado warning for Delaware County. We quickly gathered up a few things and all headed down the basement. The winds were roaring by this time and everyone was on edge. Alexa was tired and cranky. She most definitely did not want to be cooped up on that couch. Soon the time had expired and we headed back upstairs. No sooner did we hit the top of the stairs that we heard the warning again and turned right back around. This was getting serious. Abby was an emotional wreck by this point. She turned to me with tears running down her face and said, "I just want to grow up". Poor baby! I comforted her and soon she laid her head on me and tried to sleep a bit. I reassured her that I'd wake her up if anything happened. Finally 11pm hit and we again headed upstairs. This time we pulled the mattresses down from upstairs and tried to settle the kids. We laid Alexa in her pack and play and the kids on the mattresses on the floor. If we all were going to survive this night they needed to get some sleep. Alexa of course fought her sleep until I finally laid down in bed with her. We both passed right out. I woke up several times thru the night just to see the weather updates. Burt stayed up pretty late. By the morning the winds had died down and we were left with a huge puddle in our backyard and minimal flooding in the basement. I most certainly counted my blessings in the morning. This was an experience that I could do without ever experiencing again.

We've lived thru the earthquake of 2011

I'm being told by a friend's mom that when I was little I'd experienced a few little earthquakes. Must not have been very strong or memorable because I have no memory of it. This earthquake was a 5.8 magnitude quake in VA but was felt up and down the east coast. It was about 1:45pm. I was in the kitchen getting a drink of water and the big kids were in the living room watching TV. Alexa was taking a nap. For about 45 seconds the cabinet doors shook, the basement door rattled and the floor vibrated. When I eventually figured out what was going on I walked to the kitchen door to check on the kids. They just looked at me and asked what was going on. Nothing traumatic. No scared kids. Fairly quick. A couple minutes later the news was plastered with evacuations of the pentagon and many skyscrapers in the city. Facebook too was littered with status' about the quake. It was definitely not something that happens here often and I'm sure it will be talked about for a few days. Congratulations Alexa! I can now officially say you could sleep thru an earthquake (although about 5 minutes later you were awake)!

She's got personality!

Oh my! My daughter is so full of personality these days. I probably won't remember half of what I wanted to document here. She is definitely the center of attention in this family and keeps us laughing constantly. She has learned how much fun it can be to climb up onto things and sit there. She first started with her little people bus, then graduated to sitting on the folded up pack and play and today I found her sitting on top of the old boxy radio that my Mom and Matt gave the big kids. She makes the most adorable faces but I have yet to be able to capture them with the camera. She has become quite the disco dancing queen. Anytime she hears music she busts a move. She moves her little feet so quick and is a good little booty shaker. She is in love with Yo Gabba Gabba and will dance every time the theme song comes on. She is also understanding so much these days. If I say "Come on let's go seepie nigh nights" she grabs the closest bink and starts heading for the stairs. She climbs all the way up the stairs (with me right behind her of course) and walks right to her room. If I ask "Are you hungry? Do you want some nummies?" she quickly starts walking to the kitchen. I'm hoping she soon has a vocabulary explosion. I've noticed that she's getting frustrated now when we don't understand what she wants. If she is out in the kitchen and wants a drink she will stand by the sink and cry. Every once in awhile when I forget and start to walk away she gets really angry and starts screaming. If someone tells her no or takes something away from her she angrily smacks herself in the head three or four times. I love spending every minute of my day with her. Sometimes I sit back and just watch her. It's almost like I can see her brain working and her ideas forming. Such an amazing little person!

Bad bad Mommy!

As I checked on this blog today I realized that I haven't written anything since Alexa's 1st birthday. Can you say slacker?!?! I guess it doesn't help that the monster has broken a few of my laptop keys which makes it difficult to type a lot.

June 25th- Alexa's 1st Birthday Party

The day started out super chaotic! I still had tons of things to do and woke up with killer morning sickness. Lovely! I did all the party prep that needed to be done at the house and then called in for reinforcement...my Mom. She came and sat with the kids while Burt and I did out last minute running around. The party was to start at 3pm and we were still running around at 2:30pm. I finally made it home in time to pay the lady for the cake and to meet the photographer. The photographer took pictures of the kids together as I finished a few things. Soon the guests started to arrive and it was party time! Everyone loved all of the decorations and I have to say I was quite pleased with it myself. Alexa was in a good mood but was being very shy. I think she was a bit overwhelmed with all of the people. She loved her smash cake and really enjoyed the ladybug release. She loved letting them crawl on her arm and then watching them sly away. I still can't believe my baby is one.