A Smile!

Gabrielle has smiled before of course, but mostly while she is sleeping! Today was a full fledged smile while wide awake, and God was watching down on me because I had my camera in my hand and on! I hope that you can see her smiling in the picture!

Putting Together A Kitchen

The kitchen that Grandpa bought the girls for Christmas couldn't fit in out van so Grandpa had to drive it to our house on Saturday. We had to take our tree down and clean up the house a bit to make room. The box wouldn't even fit up the stairs so Lou had to bring it up in pieces.

I started to put it together on Saturday afternoon, but sadly I didn't feel to well so I had to stop. Thankfully I woke up Sunday morning feeling better and was able to finish putting the kitchen together. The girls love it and have played with it every day all day since! That is a first for them! They are usually so overhwelmed with their toys and easily bored. I hope that they continue to enjoy this for a long time!

Merry Christmas

What at a Christmas! Emma and Kailee really understood it this year. We stayed home and organized all the things we needed to bring with us on Christmas Eve's to Papa's house and Christmas Day's to Great Grandma's house.

Lou called to say that he was getting out of work early so I got the girls dressed, took some pictures and packed the car. They all looked so beautiful in their Christmas Eve outfits!

Christmas Eve was fun at Papa's we ate a great dinner, had good conversation and opened gifts. The girls got beautiful dolls from Papa and Gigi, money "pengas" from Uncle Chris along with some princess make-up. Gabrielle got beautiful clothes and a lennox ornament. We didn't leave Brooklyn until after 11! It was a great night, but I know that everyone was ready to leave, the girls were exhausted and so excited to get home so that Santa could come!

By the time we got home and got into the house the girls had woken up which I was glad, because we had to put out the cookies and milk, and spaghetti for the reindeer. The girls quickly went up to bed and got tucked in and were fast asleep and ready for so Santa to arrive!

Santa sure did come that's for sure, but I think it was really late by the time he was all done. I heard him make quite a few trips up and down the steps (we don't have a chimney). But in the end, he did a really good job, everything looked so beautiful!!

They were so excited to open presents, they couldn't get down the stairs fast enough! They were both so happy with all of their presents! Kailee kept saying, "Mom, he really came! He really, really came!" Emma was thrilled and couldn't believe that Santa knew exactly what she wanted and brought her everything she asked for!

The girls played for a while, and we watched the Disney parade, then started to get ready to head to New Jersey. We got the girls dressed, and again, they looked beautiful in their holiday dresses.

Aunt Carol and Uncle Jerry got to meet and spend time with Gabrielle for the first time. (I stupidly only took a picture of Uncle Jerry - Sorry Aunt Carol, I will take a picture of the two of you next time we are together).

Then the girls got more presents from Great Grandma, Aunt Amy, Aunt Carol, Cousin Jerry, Jaime, John & Sophia, and Grandpa. Grandpa made quite an entrance with his gift, the girls were overwhelemed and speachless!

Thoughtful gifts all the way from Hawaii....

Nicole was so thoughtful to send Gabrielle a gift and then of course included something special for Emma and Kailee! We loved them all! I did send you a thank you note from us via snail mail but of course it was sent back because I didn't put enough stamps! It's on it's way and contains something special from the girls!

Here are some photos of the girls enjoying their gifts! Thanks again! I love and miss you!

4.5, 3.4, 1 month, and now I'm MA

That's a mouth full. Well that's what today is for me. My oldest has turned 4.5! I could scream! Kailee is 3 years 4 months and Gabrielle is an entire month old. Time FLIES! There is no way to describe it. It seems as if yesterday I was a new mom, now I am a veteran mom to a pre-schooler, a toddler and a newborn. I am one lucky mama - oh I mean MA, that's what Emma has started calling me now. That hurts!

4 weeks, but not a month, yet...

Today Gabrielle is 4 weeks old. Time has flown and it makes me sad, but I've learned after two other children to embrace it, and enjoy it, even the tough times because they fly by!

Look Who Found her Thumb!

I can't believe it, but she did! Tonight while laying in bed. Emma and Kailee never did and I will do my best to make sure that Gabrielle doesn't either. I took the picture and the quickly swapped it with the paci!!

Playing in the Snow

Here is Kailee and Gabrielle out in the snow for the first time!!

Emma & Kailee had their very first taste of playing in the snow. Although it was no picnic for me, they really enjoyed it, Kailee had a ball of course running and making foot prints and throwing snow balls.

They also both got to make their very first snow angels, it was so cool to see! I don't think I've ever done that, so it was amazing to see them do it!

Also, Kailee did poochies on the potty today, twice!!! The first time was an accident, she went to go do peeps and out came the poochies, it was fantastic! The second time was on purpose! I'm so very proud of her to say the least!!!

First Time In The Swing

Today Gabrielle had her first ride in her swing. It started out slowly and with screaming of course, but as time wore on, and the music was played louder she finally fell asleep!!! At least I was able to cook dinner.

My problem really is the fact that the older girls just have to be involved with everything, I feel like I have to sneak around especially if I get Gabrielle quiet for a second, once they find out here they come to see what's going on and then she usually gets over stimulated and starts screaming her head off, and then everyone disappears again! UGH!!!

On another note, I would like to wish my beautiful angel, a happy second anniversary in heaven, Mommy misses you very much and thinks about you all the time. Thank you for sending Gabrielle to us, please continue to watch over all of us. I love you!

Three Weeks

It seems as if I only have time to post once per week. This was a crazy week! DH went back to work and we were on our own for most of the week, just us girls.

It was fine, Wednesday was a little hairy as I was back to driving for the first time, and we were doing well until I slammed the door on Kai's little hand on the way to taking Emma to school, of course it was just an accident but I felt horrible. It was all black and blue and she cried for a really long time, I still feel awful just thinking about it.

Wednesday night Munya came to stay so that Emma and I could go to school on Thursday to make a gingerbread house, and we weren't allowed to bring siblings, so I had to leave Kailee and then Gabrielle for the first time. It was fine she even got to have a bottle of breast milk.

Thursday night Emma woke up crying that she wasn't feeling well. We were scheduled to take Gabrielle to the doctor anyway, so we made it a group appointment. Good thing also, Emma had a bad throat and a UTI, fun times!

Saturday was spent at my sister's house celebrating Christmas with my sister and Mom. It was fun, and the girls got beautiful presents of course. We didn't stay long as everyone was pretty grumpy and tired.

Here is a picture of Gabrielle trying out her new play gym from Aunt Michelle & Uncle Chris, the first time she cried, but afterwards she loved it!

Sunday Aunt Colie, Maddie & Avery FINALLY got to meet Gabrielle! We had a very nice relaxing, early day, and it was a lot of fun. The girls were so thrilled to have Aunt Colie and the kids visiting! Earlier in the day, Emma & Kailee thought it would be a lot of fun to use baby shampoo to clean my night table, dvd player, television and cable box, FUN times!! Here are all three girls in the fantastic outfits that Nicole and Maddie picked out! They looked awesome!!!

Two Weeks Already

This was an eventful week. Gabrielle is two weeks old already. She is such a good baby. She is eating and sleeping so well, and starting to stay awake and look around a lot more. It is incredible how quickly time goes, and it makes me sad to think that two weeks of her life have passed already.

Emma is such a good big sister, and so is Kailee. They both love their sister so much. We went to see Santa this week, and I finally have a picture of all of my girls together. For the past three years someone was afraid of him, and skipped the picture, I'm guessing that Gabrielle will be afraid next year, so I'm glad that I was able to get one of the three of them this year.

We also took our Christmas pictures and Gabrielle's newborn pictures this week. Thanks to Amanda's generousity, we have a CD filled with incredible pictures. I'm so happy with how they came and can't wait to see them in person.

Today is Lou's last day of vacation, and I am okay with that. At least I can get some kind of routine going this week, I know it's going to take time to adjust to getting everyone ready and otu the door, but I'm confident enough that I can do it and I know it's going to take time and patience.

I've been working on my patience. I still loose it more often than I'd like, but it's a step in the right direction. Kailee is going for her evaluations on Monday and Tuesday, and since I've been home from the hospital, I've seen some major improvements on her part, she is dressing herself and showing more independence, the writing is still an issue, but we are going to get her the help that she needs to fix whatever the problem may be.

I want to add more photos, but I'm still learning how to use this blog, so once I figure out how to add pictures where I want them, I will. If anyone reads this and knows how to do that already please help!

One Week Later

Well, as usual I start things late, but I guess as they say it's better than ever. It's 3:30 in the morning and I am up feeding Gabrielle. Emma and Kailee are asleep in their beds, Lou is passed out next to me, and my mother is downstairs asleep on the couch.

I cannot believe 1 week has passed already since I became the mother of three girls, 3 GIRLS!! Can you believe that? I am so in love, and in awe that they are all mine. My hands are full, and it hasn't been easy, but I am here and ready to face what awaits me.

Gabrielle was born on Saturday, November 22, (continuing the "22" tradition that we started in June 2004), at 12:54 pm, she weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces, 20.5 inches long, and has dark hair and beautiful coloring. She looks just like Emma did when she was born.

I feel that my abilities to do things for her are so different than they were when Emma and Kailee were born, so I've decided to try and do something different for her, and keep this blog, unfortunately for her being the third child, there isn't much I can write about that will only be about her, but maybe I will change it one day and make seperate blogs for all of my girls, right now this is a work in progress, and a place for me to escape to, to help my thoughts and actions be under control.

A New Little Girl To Love

We have another beautiful daughter! It was a long day but she's here. I got to the hospital at 7:30 this morning and by the time I was checked and monitored it was around 8:30 when I was admitted. I was nervous this time, really, really nervous.

There was a lot of things to worry about this time around, I knew what I was doing going into delivery and I knew what to expect, that changes the experience. I was worried about Emma and Kailee, and I hated the thought of being away from them for so long. I was worried about how they were behaving and if they were going to get through me not being around for four days, all of this was on my mind as I waited.

As the time passed, one of the doctors who was going to assist with my c-section came to tell me that there was an emergency surgery and that I wouldn't be going in any time soon, I'd be waiting a couple of more hours. It was 9:30 at the time. Lou decided to go out to the waiting room and let everyone know. My Dad and Geri decided to take the girls home for a while, and they willingly went. Now I was just worried that they wouldn't get back in time.

In the meantime I tried to rest but that was not an easy thing to do. Finally it was my turn. I actually walked into the emergency room. That was so strange, it was so cold in there, but after bieng in recovery for so long with the heat blasting it felt so good. Now it was the dreaded epidural time, again like the previous two times it took long and they had a hard time getting the catheter in place, they had to stick me twice.

Once it was in place it happened quickly, I felt like I couldn't breathe and started to freak out, I was obsessed with throwing up and made sure that I had my cocktail (a mixture of three different anti-nausea medications) which Dr. Sklar promised me and told me that she suffers during surgery the same way and this is the only combination that worked for her.

I still couldn't breathe and was really freaking out. Dr. Sklar told me she understood and was talking me through it, I just wanted Lou. They allowed him to come in and he was rubbing my forehead, which was good cause it gave me something to concentrate on, as well as trying to regulate my breathing by concentrating on the air in my nose. I kept saying that I wanted to be done and that I wanted to go to sleep. I think I started to dose off a little cause I was finally calm, then all of a sudden there was relief, massive relief, and our daughter was born! I couldn't wait to see her, and hear her cry, which Dr. Sklar told me to give it a minute cause the cord was wrapped around her neck and around her body between her legs. Finally she cried, she sounded like a squawky bird!

Lou got up to see her and said she was beautiful and looked a lot like Emma. He cut the cord and then came back to sit with me again. He got to hold her and bring her to me so I could see her and kiss her. I was so relieved, Dr. Sklar then asked me if I was having any more babies and I said no, close me and be done! She laughed and told her associate that, that was not the case and that she knows me so well, and I had asked her just that week if I could have more children!

Needless to say, she knows me very well. She told Lou that he could go with Gabrielle and tell our family that she was born, but once he left he couldn't come back in, and he hesitated. I told him it was okay, and Dr. Sklar told him to go also, that she was going to take care of me, and that it was going to be a while to close, because I had a lot of scar tissue and she planned on cleaning it up so that when I have another baby she won't have to suffer! She was taking her time to make her job easier the next time around! I love her!

No one knew that we finally picked a name which hadn't happened until right before I went into surgery. I didn't want Lou to tell anyone because I wanted to do it in person with Gabrielle, and I wanted my sister to be first to hear it and hold her, but it didn't work out that way. Gabrielle wasn't ready to be seen for a while, so I just shared her name. Her full name is Gabrielle Michelle, using my sister's name as her middle name and her being the godmother.

She weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long, she was born at 12:54 pm.

We are in love! I kept her with me in the hospital all day and night despite attempts from the nurses to take her to the nursery. She is nursing like a champ, and did loose some weight (down to 7 pounds 11 ounces).

The girls are in love also. Emma REFUSED to leave the hospital before seeing her and me, she was a trooper and stayed at the hospital until after 8:00. I was so loopy from my medication and was throwing up off and on for several hours but nothing as bad as my previous surgeries.

On Sunday, I was up and in a chair before lunch, by the evening my catheter was removed and after two assisted trips to the bathroom, I was on my own. By Monday morning I was walking around the halls. I was determined to have a better recovery this time. I have my older girls to go home to!

I was released on Tuesday, which was Lou's bday, we went to my sister's house for dinner and cake, and then Lou, Emma & I came home. I am so happy to say that despite some family hiccups, our plans were well executed and as requested, Emma missed no school! She is such a trooper, and is going with the flow like she always does. She is an incredible help, and as Dr. Sklar said in surgery, to Gabrielle, you are going to have three mommy's! She indeed does!