The past 7 weeks

Been thinking a lot about getting a post on here since the last but thinking and getting it done are two very different things I am learning theses days. Life with 4, specifically life with 2 little ones so close in age is busy busy busy!

To get you up to speed on what we have been doing for the past few weeks lets start from the beginning. About a week and a half after having Dominique I went in and they discovered once again I had retained placenta. I had surgery to remove it but at my post op check a week later they discovered they hadn't gotten it all. Pathology on what they did get showed placenta and muscle meaning it was a focal placenta accreta. I had this before and luckily although I did have alot of blood loss they were able to control it. They decided not to chance another surgery since they would risk putting a hole in my very thin uterus and causing some major problems so they decided to give me treatment with a chemotherapy drug in the hopes that it would dissolve whatever was left behind. I went in a few weeks later and it was still there. So they want me to go back 3 months from when I got the shot and check to see if it has dissolved.(I guess that's how long the shot stays in your system) Its not causing me any major problems except for the annoyance of still bleeding some but I'm hopeful it will dissolve because I had this treatment before and it worked.

At 2 weeks of age Dominique was still struggling with jaundice and a very low hemoglobin from the antibodies attacking his red blood cells, so our little guy had to have a blood transfusion. His hemoglobin, we found out just the other day  is finally rising so that is a huge relief to know his body is ridding the antibodies. Our little precious baby is 2 months old today and growing like a weed. His last weight was 13pds last week. I feel so proud that all that growth comes from me since breastfeeding is going amazing!

Gabriel has adjusted very well to his baby brother, kinda like he has always been here. We are just trying to teach him to be more gentle with his touch. Romeo has recently started basketball and has been really worn out but he sure is enjoying it. I am so glad he is starting to want to get involved in sports! Olivia has been decorating for the holidays and got her and Gabriel's room all festive with a tree, lights and decorations. The only problem is Gabe really likes to mess with it all!

 Prob recently got his citizenship so that was a very exciting day for him! My mom got him a cute cake. Other than that just trying to keep up with the housework and get a shower in each day. I am home more than ever now because taking two babies anywhere (especially when one is at a stage where he is mobile, yet doesn't understand much) is just way too much to handle alone. 

Gabriel playing in the snow for the first time!

 Lately my thoughts seem to be mostly about family, how I can make each day special and meaningful with my children and about being mindful about being present in the moment and enjoying it for what it is because you can never get time back that you waste. I have also been thinking about the meaning of Christmas and something we can do as a family to bring joy to others in this special season. The children and I have come up with a few ideas so I am looking forward to it. 

The gang and their cousins on halloween

Dom's footprint on his first pumpkin

 Gabriel's first time trick or treating, you should have seen him go, one of the moments that makes motherhood so special!

Stationery card

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A new life begins

What a different experience from last year. A very different experience from my first 3 labor and deliveries. Finally

My water broke about 7pm on October 5th  while celebrating Romeos 12th  birthday at my mothers house with all of us, my mother and grandmother. After getting to the hospital and settling in everything went smoothly from there. I got my long awaited epidural and delivered my beautiful baby boy. It was such an amazing experience to go through without all the pain and suffering. I almost had no pain at all. I think the worst was getting the IV'S and the allergic reaction I had to the antibiotics they had given me. After the placenta delivered we had a bit of a scare with a rapid blood loss, low blood pressure and a case of the after delivery shakes. The very well trained staff got it under control with some medications and fundal massage though and everything was ok.

A Moment you wish could last forever

Dominique Nisay(Cambodian for, " Loved from afar; love at first sight") was born October 6th 2011 @ 5:24am weighing 7lbs 6oz and 20 1/2 inches long. We spent 3 days at the hospital because of jaundice in the baby, he had to be treated with the phototherapy and was sent home on a "Bilibed" for continued jaundice treatment. We have been to the doctor everyday to have bilirubun levels checked and they continue to rise. His hemoglobin also has dropped a bit. Tomorrow if the levels are up he will have to have more aggressive treatment with the hospital grade phototherapy but the pediatrician said the medical supply company can bring that to our house.

Its a bit hard because the only time he has been able to be out of the therapy bed is to be fed. Hopefully his numbers start going down so we can all snuggle him soon and hold him all the time. His jaundice and hemoglobin problems have been related to the whole antibody issues we had during the pregnancy. I never would have thought that would affect him after he was born but I think its just a small bump in the road. He'll get better and be ok.

This time around breastfeeding is going smoothly, the baby is latching great, gaining weight and thriving. While we were at the hospital my mother did all of our laundry, cleaned the house and welcomed us home with great meals. She even exercised the dogs. I don't know what we'd do without her. Prob also had and has been doing a great job taking care of the older kids, nurturing Gabriel and loving me. We were having a bit of a rocky road before the baby was born but his birth has been such a bonding experience for us. I saw a quote the other day that fits just that;

 “Children make you want to start life over.”

~Muhammad Ali

I like that, and that's how I feel, like Dominique is a new start for us, our relationship, our family. A new start for me with a better experience to remember and best of all the beginning of a precious new life. We may not have expected for our family to grow so quickly but I guess we never know where life will take us and I am glad we are here. Welcome to the world beautiful Dominique, Welcome.

School, Fall and more

Here we are at the beginning of the new school year. The children had their first day last Tuesday and luckily are able to be attending the school we love without me having to be their transportation this year considering I have my hands full with Gabriel and a new baby due here in about a month.

I love this time of year. I always have since I was a little girl. I think my favorite things about it are the changing colors, the way the air smells in the mornings when you first step outside, the excitement of a new school year and to me it always feels like a fresh start somehow. Fall makes me happy and cheery.

I am 2 days shy of being 35 weeks pregnant. At our 33 week appointment the doctor said they wanted to do an amniocentesis to check the baby's lungs for maturity and induce if they were indeed mature. The reason she said this was because I guess once you reach 36 weeks gestation the testing to check the baby for anemia are no longer very accurate. At my 34 week appointment, a different doctor thought it would be ok to just wait until labor begins on its own since most likely the baby will be unaffected by theses antibodies since he hasn't thus far meaning my placenta is doing a good job not allowing those antibodies to reach the baby.

I don't know what to think. All I know is I want to do whatever is best for the baby. I know my body is spent and ready to be done as soon as possible. I know I have a 11 month old that is very attached to mommy lately and doesn't realize its hard for mommy to carry him around 24/7, only that he needs me. A husband that doesn't understand how hard it is to be pregnant only that he is worn out too from long days of work.  2 older kids that don't see that I need them to be more responsible and two dogs that don't care that I'm almost 9 months pregnant but know that they crave exercise.

That's life I guess as a mother. Its all worth it though and things will get easier. I am looking forward to taking the family to the pumpkin patch soon, Gabriel's first birthday party this weekend and Romeos football games. Oh and I cant forget sweatshirts and bonfires. Beautiful Fall.

A weekend with Grandma

This past weekend my mother had planned for my niece and nephew from Brainerd to visit and spend the weekend with her. She decided to make it a fun filled weekend with our 2 oldest as well. Saturday she also watched Gabriel for the afternoon and Evening so that Prob and I could attend a wedding for an old friend of mine.

Our 2 eldest children spent 3 nights in a row over at Grandmas, which was the longest we had ever had them away from home. I had forgotten how very easy it is with just one child to take care of. The peace and quiet was nice and a break was much needed from the everyday battles of older siblings but I think Gabriel missed them and was wondering where they were.

The children had a great time with their cousins and Romeo and Olivia have always loved spending time with my mother. They went to a waterpark on Friday, Minnehaha falls Saturday and we all went to the pool on Sunday. In between all of that Grandma rented them movies, made them good meals and kept them busy with arts and craft projects.

I feel very lucky that my children have my mother who is very hands on with them. She always makes an effort to spend time with them and esteem them as individuals. She is really the only grandparent they have that plays an active role in their lives and one of the only people I can always count on and trust to help us with them and I don't know what we'd do without her. Thanks Mom for being a really good Grandma!

Busy Busy Busy

Less than a month to go before school begins for the children. Every day, week, year, seems to fly by since I started having children. This summer is going by especially fast, probably because it took so long to get nice weather, then it was so hot you could hardly stand it and now the weather is finally nice and warm... ahh.

I find myself looking ahead to these next weeks and months to follow and am seeing nothing but a busy schedule in my final few months of pregnancy. Romeo starts football Monday with practices 3 times a week and a game usually once a week. Olivia is going to start gymnastics soon as well. My mom's 50th birthday is at the beginning of September and my three children have birthdays that follow that. Gabriel's 1st birthday is at the end of September and the other 2 in October and of course I am due October 20th with the next one. 4 birthdays so close to eachother is nutty and I still have no idea how it happened that way. My husband of course was very slow and now is slammed with work when its the busiest at home.

I have doctors appointments every week now and my body is very tired and beat from being pregnant back to back. Today I went in to see an orthopedic doctor and they gave me cortisone shots in my wrists for my carpel tunnel syndrome due to the pregnancy. The doctor said I should feel some much needed relief in about 7-10 days, I hope so. My husband and I also have weekend engagements that we have committed to for the next few weeks and we still have yet to take the children school shopping, probably get that done later this week.

In the midst of it all is a house that needs to be tended to,  bored kids and animals, that need to eat and be entertained, and a marriage that needs nurturing. It gets to be alot, but each day at the end of the day I remember to remind myself how much I am blessed with and am thankful.

Tonight after dinner with my swollen feet and numb hands and a husband at work, I couldn't say no when the kids asked to walk to the park. So we went and even though there were small tradgedies and whining, the weather was nice and we were all together and thats all that matters.

The fun of being a kid

Gabriel's cute self loves anything furry or hairy lol

First Steps

 The exciting moments for our little Gabriel just keep coming and what kind of a mom would I be if I didn't brag about them?

The other evening, August 5th, while we were all hanging out in the living room, Gabriel took his first few steps. He was kind of confused by the uproar it created and I think wondered what the heck was going on. Watching Romeo and Olivia's reaction to it was just as cute. The look on their faces with grins from ear to ear and the praise and excitement they showed was that of a parent. It was a very heartwarming moment. I also noticed that in the past two days two more little teeth have come through on the bottom. So now our little guy has 3 teeth, just like that!

A Day to Celebrate

August 4th may not mean a lot to the whole world, but to me it is a day that will change the course of my life forever. It is the day 3 years ago that I gave up smoking.

I started smoking at 14 years of age and I had always struggled with trying to quit. In June 2008 a second aunt of mine passed away at a young age from an unexpected brain aneurysm. I wasn't very close to her but it got me thinking about life. I started to think of how much she was going to miss out on, her children's weddings, her grandchildren growing up, just a whole lot of things she wouldn't be here for.

My aunt had no way of knowing this would happen or any way of being able to prevent it, things like that just happen. That made me think of my own life and my own mortality, I DID have a choice, a way to prevent something that I knew would eventually catch up with me. So with alot of praying and struggling, God gave me the strength to overcome something that had such a tight grip on me, addiction. August 3rd 2008 was the last day I ever smoked a cigarette and the beginning of a longer healthier life for me.

So many people die unexepectly or much too prematurely. In life, for the most part, we never know how or when when we will die. I realized though that I didn't want to dig myself an early grave when I didn't have to. I didn't want to miss out on my children growing up, getting married, and having a family of their own. I didn't want to have any regrets. I wanted it to be my time naturally, accidently, unexpectedly but not regretfully.

A few months after I quit smoking, my uncle got diagnosed with terminal throat cancer, due to smoking. He underwent a surgery to remove his voice box, lots of miserable chemotherapy and radiation but worst of all he had so much regret. 9 months after his diagnosis he passed away. Before he died he told me over and over again, don't worry about anything and  please don't ever smoke again. I haven't and won't.

Instead of living and learning which is usually what it takes for me, I opened my eyes and gave it to God, trusted myself and trusted the words of someone who learned the hard way. I have never been so proud of myself for anything I have accomplished in my whole life. I know this is definitely a day to celebrate, every year for the rest of my longer life.

Nesting, Meals for a week and more Nesting

In the past few weeks I went from not wanting to do anything, into a cleaning, organizing, donating, planning frenzy. I am getting so much done its nuts. I am very happy with the results of all of this but I realize I am really overdoing it because I am swollen and my feet and legs have been hurting pretty bad. I  feel like I am on a roll though and cannot seem to stop myself. In the midst of it all I have been thinking about how I could make mealtime easier on myself. Alot of the days I feel overwhelmed with deciding on what to make for lunch and dinner and then realizing I don't having everything i need on hand. I usually end up at the store most days picking up some ingredient I need and that gets very stressful, especially when I have three kids in tow on top of being uncomfortably pregnant now.

I decided to try planning all of our lunch and dinner meals for a week, compiling a shopping list of all the needed ingredients and going shopping just one time a week for everything. I did that Sunday, made my trip to the store alone that evening and started the menu yesterday. So far I already feel good about it and hope I can keep it up. Today on the menu was homemade chicken nuggets and French fries for lunch.  For dinner I have cooking in the slow cooker Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches at Romeo's request. I love slow cooker meals because you start them in the morning and don't have to think about dinner til then.

First Little Chomper

I have been wondering when Gabriel's first tooth was going to emerge. I figured it would have to be soon since he is a little over 10 months now and his upper gums have been super swollen. I have been checking with my finger for the last few days because I didn't want to miss the exact day of the big event! Well this evening was the time, I checked earlier and it hadn't but when I checked after dinner, there it was, a brand new little tooth, of course only the sharp little bottom of it but it had finally popped through. More exciting for me than him! I am glad that we are now on our way to more teeth because Gabriel wants to eat everything we do and its been a bit hard without teeth. Such a happy moment of development.

Today the children and I went to Minnehaha Park and rode on a bike cart, something Romeo has wanted to do for a long time. It was really fun even though it was a bit hot for it, we still had a good time. It was a little harder than it looked. My swollen feet are paying for it tonight, but my body definitely needed the workout.

Egg Rolls

Here is another yummy popular asian appetizer. My sister in law and mother in law taught me how to make these.  Personally I think their recipe beats any restaurants. The kids love egg rolls and whenever I make these they eat so many that it becomes the meal. Not as healthy as spring rolls, but who cares, they are great!

EGG ROLLS

•  1 small cabbage, sliced thin
•  3 carrots, shredded
•  3-4  squares from a bag of sulafane noodles ( in a pink mesh bag found in the asian section or at an asian grocery store) 
•  1 pound of ground pork or ground beef browned and drained
•  1 large onion sliced in thin strips & cooked with the pork
•  40 count egg roll wraps- I like the ones that when fried the shell is smooth, Cub foods has them in their freezer section or most asian grocery stores. Otherwise in the produce section of most grocery stores they sell the ones that fry with a bubbly shell.
• Eggroll sauce- we like the sweet and sour chili sauce that comes in a tall glass bottle, it has a picture of eggrolls on it.
•  Salt, pepper and sugar to your taste
• 1 beaten egg in a separate bowl
•  Enough cooking oil to deep fry

First put dry noodles in a bowl of hot water to soften, set aside. Combine cooked meat and onion mixture with cut veggies. Add salt, pepper and sugar. Chop softened sulafane noodles so they aren't so long, add to mixture and mix everything well until the mixture gets soggy. Add desired amounts to egg roll wrap and roll like a burrito, seal with dabs of beaten egg. Deep fry til golden brown.

Spring Rolls

Spring rolls are one of my all time favorite asian foods. Yesterday I was craving something fresh and healthy so I decided to make spring rolls. This recipe is traditionally made with seasoned red pork but since I already had a rotisserie chicken ready to go I used that. Any meat you like will do.

SPRING ROLLS

• Boiled, or pan browned pork, sliced into small strips
• Lettuce chopped- of your choice
• fresh herbs such as cilantro, mint, basil
• shredded carrots
• cucumber, sliced into small strips
• Spring roll wraps (Rice paper) found at asian grocery stores
• spring roll sauce (also found at the asian store) or you can use Hoisin sauce 
• crushed peanuts to put in your sauce 
• vermicelli noodles cooked and then rinsed in cold water

First you put your rice paper in hot water til softened (only takes about 20 seconds)

Next lay flat on a plate and add your ingredients, then roll like a burrito.

Dip in sauce topped with peanuts.


You can use any variety of these herbs and veggies or add new ones that you like, there really isn't a way to go wrong with these. For mine today I used lettuce, mint, basil, and cucumber. So delicious!

Raising Organized People

One of my biggest pet peeves-Messes, clutter, and unorganization. I think that teaching my children to clean up after themselves and be organized is one of the most annoying things I have faced in parenting. Olivia already seems to like organization and clean space but she definitely has a long way to go. Romeo on the other hand I swear could live in a landfill. He is very messy and careless, I'm sure part of being a boy, but still. I think its funny how he is that way but when he goes to a messy house of a friend or someone else he lets me know he really dislikes it. Another hard thing is having them do their daily routine and little chores without being reminded. They only have a few things to do but somehow seem to forget quite often. Its crazy because they say that repetition is the best way to remember things but you'd think each day was the first time they were told to brush their teeth or take a shower.

This past school year I made them both weekly charts of their daily routine and they had to check off each thing that they were suppose to do in the morning and then report to me when they were done. No nagging on my part at all, they had a certain time to get it all done by. That worked out quite well. Of course once I stopped doing these charts thinking they had it down, noone could remember a thing. So here we are, back to charts because I hate asking them to do things more than once and constantly nagging for things to get picked up.

I talked to my mother the other day about this and how much it bothers me because it puts a lot of extra stress on me and I, a good amount of the time just end up doing everything myself. My mother said, " I have been telling your brother Dan for over 20 years now not to leave his shoes in front of the door and he still does it when he comes to visit to this day." She said," Sometimes they never get it! I remember her saying to me and my brothers when we were younger that she wonders how our houses would look when we grew up because we made such messes.

Funny thing is, is that all of us are neat people, and my brother Dan well, he never leaves his shoes in front of the door at his own house so we must have learned something even if we didn't show it living with her. Maybe its just the comfort of her and knowing she could take care of it and did it well, not knowing how much she did need us to do our part. Maybe that's how my children feel. Thing is though, I don't think I can stand to see if it happens until they move out, especially with another child on the way. I guess its a work in progress as is everything else when you are raising kids but for now charts it is!

HOT HOT Summer-Finally!

The weather here has been hot and humid lately, I do not mind at all! It seemed that we would never get a summer this year and now here it is full strength, it has been in the upper 90's with a heat index of 105-115! We finally upgraded our little plastic baby pool to a more appropriate size for an 11 and 8 year old. They love it so much and have been taking full advantage of the weather to use it.

Little Gabriel will be 10 months this Thursday, cant believe it! I enjoy everyday watching him grow and learn new things. He is now crawling at full speed, pulling up to standing and his newest milestone is standing without holding on to anything. I am quite sure he will walk before his first birthday. He is such a strong willed little boy and wants to do everything for himself. He has let us know lately that baby food and being fed by us just isn't going to happen anymore, so our biggest challenge has been finding good things he can feed himself that are soft enough ( since he has yet to get any teeth) but easy enough for him to pick up. Its been a bit hard.

I planted a few different vegetables and herbs this year and they are doing very well considering they are in big pots. My first few tomatoes are turning red and I cant wait to make pico de gallo salsa and eat warm tomatoes fresh off the plant, my absolute favorite! My mint plant is huge so I am going to have to make fresh spring rolls and start drying some for winter. I love summer and am not going to complain about the heat, after all before we know it , there will be snow on the ground once again and we will be longing for these dog days of summer.

So Far so Good

Since I haven't blogged in awhile let me start by catching you up on this crazy pregnancy. We are now at 26 weeks. I can't believe how fast the time is going by. At 15 weeks we had an amniocentesis and found out that the baby does infact have the E antigen that my body is making such high antibodies against. The name of the condition is Anti-E alloimmunization. Since then we have been going to the doctor about every 10-14 days for ultrasounds to measure blood velocity in an artery in the baby's brain to see if any signs of anemia are apparent. So far all of our appointments have resulted in good news. Starting at 28 weeks we have to go in every 7 days for fetal non-stress testing on top of our ultrasounds and regular ob checkups.

I am in good spirits about it all still and know that what we have to do is what we have to do for a healthy baby. I have been getting quite uncomfortable early on though so I do dream of the day when my body has a chance to recover from being pregnant for what seems like so long, I actually don't even feel like I had a 4 month break inbetween. I look forward to next summer when I have no restrictions and have my wonderful family all here, healthy, to enjoy it with!

Bad Blogger

When It comes to blogging, I am terrible at it. I honestly would rather write in my journal or Facebook. Its so much less time consuming to just update your status about your life in a nutshell or pour out your heart to a piece of paper that wont ever be able to judge you. I also would rather pick up the phone and talk to someone personally. I do like blogging though because its a place to keep memories, something i am big on.

This Thursday I will be 15 weeks along in my pregnancy and that is also the day we find out more about how the baby is doing, I can't wait. We did get the blood results back from Prob and it turns out he does have the antigen that my body is making antibodies to so that is scary because the baby probably does too. We'll know more Thursday and I'll try to remember to post a blog.

Here are some pictures to catch you up on whats been going on around here.

Our trip to Duluth-Gabriel was so afraid of the waterpark and snuggled me the whole time, I didn't mind that part. The older children had a blast and some very nice people we didn't even know paid for our meal the first day we were there. Thank You whoever you are!We walked the boardwalk on Lake Superior, it was beautiful and the kids loved it!



Gabriel's first time playing outside in the trampoline, he loves outside

Romeo teaching Gabe how to play guns, he seemed to like it to, go figure, all boy already!

Gabriel's first time at the park, he was so happy!

My first knit project, Romeo got me into trying to learn. I am currently working on booties originally for Gabe but I finished the first one and it is too small for him so I guess they'll be for the new baby. The first bootie looks great though.



At the Cambodian temple for the New Year, our first time going since I met my husband, good experience for the children and I also liked it even though it was yucky out.



Gabe just had his first sickness, took him to the Dr and he had an ear infection and a terrible cold, antibiotics are helping him recover. He got to sleep with Mommy and Daddy for 4 nights.



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Our very neat Easter eggs that we dyed with Men's silk ties from an idea we got from a thrift store, so cool. Check out the recipe below and give it a try!

My First Easter

Our friends Florence and Eleanor

HAPPY EASTER!

Uncle Dan ( who is going skydiving next week) and the boys

Daddy and Gabe at our trip to Linder's to check out the beautiful flowers I can't wait to buy and plant!

Also, to anyone who I am friends with on Facebook, alot of my friends got deleted by accident and whoever I noticed I re added but please check and see if I overlooked you and re add me ( if u want lol)! Have a great rest of the week (: