Aidan's Journey

Today my little boy turned 5, my oh my has time flied these last few years. I can sill remember like it was yesterday when we finally got to bring him home from the hospital. Aidan's journey to get here has surely been a special one that I'm going to share with you today. I initially did not find out I was pregnant with him until I was almost 12 weeks along, I know crazy right. I had been on the pill called seasonale where you only get a period 4 times a year so not having one was natural for me. But when aunt flo was suppose to arrive and she didn't I was a little concerned but not much. I schedule an appt at my doctors he did a pregnancy test came back negative and he even went as far as to run a blood test still nothing. So another month passes and no aunt flo, I go back again he does an ultrasound and low and behold there's a baby in my tummy. Let me tell you the shock I was in since my husband (boyfriend at the time) and I had only been for together for a FEW months. Yes you read that right I got preggers 4 months in. Talk about getting to know someone real quickly.

So as the pregnancy went on we were very excited awaiting the arrival of our baby. We found out at 20 weeks we were having a boy. For months and months we went back and forth on names. Then we decided that he would take my husbands first name Brandon and I got to pick his middle name. And since I am a big Sex in the City fan and I of course loved Aidan so that's what I decided. Yes I named my son after a character on SATC. So not to confuse our son we decided we would call him by his middle name Aidan. About 28 weeks I was shopping for maternity clothes and noticed something wasn't right I was having some bad cramping and discharge. My doctors appt was 2 days later and I informed him of this and he decided he was going to check and see if I was dilated. Sure enough I was already 50% effaced and 1cm dilated. I was ordered to be on strict bed rest. I was only allowed 5 min showers and walks to and from the bathroom. I thought he was crazy I had to spend the next 12 weeks in bed watching tv, reading books and doing nothing else. I was for sure going to go crazy. So for the first few weeks I was really good but then I decided to venture out of my bedroom and just go to the store to get a few quick things for the baby. Boy was that a bad idea a few days later that put me into labor and back in the hospital. Thank goodness they stopped labor and later that evening I was sent home.

As soon as I got to 37 weeks I could stop taking my meds that stopped labor and sure enough on December 8th was the day my little bundle of joy was coming. After 15 hours in labor I knew something was wrong and that he wasn't going to come naturally. I begged the doctor for a C-section and he gave in. While in the operating room he told me you know your body well that baby was really stuck and would of never come out naturally. Finally at 11:35 p.m. he arrived 7lb 11oz and 19 inches long.

In labor with horrible back pain

Waiting patiently for this baby to come out

He's finally here

My precious little boy

The next day his pediatrician came by to do his newborn check up and noticed he was breathing funny and asked the nurse to check his pulse/oxygen and realized it was low. So they sent him off to the NICU to do some further testing. As the day progress things took a turn for the worse. We found out he had a seizure while in the NICU and had a pretty bad infection in his lungs. We then learned our precious baby boy would have to spend some time there. We were told he may have sepsis and some neurological disorders and that he may not make it. Thats when I broke down I had waited and waited for him to be here and then to be told I may not have him for much longer was devastating. They ran more spinal taps, EEG and EKG and after about 5 days of him being there we learned he just had an infection in his lungs and he would be just fine. My boy was going to make it. And on day 10 in the NICU we finally got to take our little boy home.

Seeing my baby in the NICU for the 1st time

So many wires hooked up to my baby

Holding his bottle for the first time at 4 days old

We would soon learn that his homecoming would be short lived. At 7 weeks old he was running a really high fever, could not keep any milk down and cried non stop. Not knowing what to do I called my pediatrician and she stated to take him straight to the ER. Where we soon learned he had meningitis and was quickly transported by ambulance to a bigger hospital with a PICU. We were put in an isolation room for a few days and after a few days of antibiotics we were able to come out of isolation and into a normal room. After being there for several days we finally got to take our little boy home again. By now we were so afraid of him getting something else we wanted no one to touch our precious boy.

His second visit to the ICU

Don't think Aidan's journey is done just yet at his 1 year check up we learn he has two inguinal hernias and had to have surgery. At 2 we find out he had complication from his circumcision and had to have surgery on his man parts. And at 3 after 6 severe ear infections and chronic bronchitis he had his tonsils and adnoids removed. Phewwww this kid gave me grey hair before I turned 30. All in all his is the best gift we could of ever asked for and thank God everyday him. He is now 5, growing like a weed, loves his xbox and torchering his little sister.

Surgery #1

Surgery #2

Pictures from Surgery #3 are missing there on my computer in one of my 1000 files.

So my son I want you to know you I love you more and more each day and I'm so happy of the boy you have become. I can't wait to see what the next 5 years bring.

Thanksgiving Gandy Style

Well another holiday has come and gone. Wow time is sure flying by pretty fast these days. And with one holiday down that means another one is just around corner. This year my in laws were hosting Thanksgiving at there house and they were making turkey, ham and all the sides. I felt bad that they were doing all the cooking so I decided to whip up some things to bring as well. First was my mom's recipe of cheesy mash potatoes. Oh my let me tell you these potatoes are to die for so good I love them. Needless to say I ate two servings of them on turkey day. Next I made pigs in a blanket, apple crisp and pumpkin cream pie a recipe I found on www.thepioneerwoman.com. That pumpkin cream pie was delish. I will be making that every year from now on. It was a big hit at the party.

Making the crust

More than half eaten product...success

After we all stuffed our tummies with all the yummy goodness. We hung around by the fireplace talked about old times, played root beer pong which I've discovered I'm pretty good at. Made it in the cup while carry my daughter. How's that for multitasking. But most of all I was missing all of my family back in New Jersey. Hopefully next year I will be able to spend it with them. Here are some pics from our gobble gobble turkey party. Now to work off all the food I ate this weekend.

Hubby and I

Root beer Pong I rocked lol

Daddy and his mini me

Me and my mini me

My two little rascals how I love them so much.

Monkey, Snakes, and a Pumpkin Patch Oh My!!!

A couple weeks ago my best friend and I took our little rugrats to the pumpkin patch. When I arrived at my friends house I realized we were also bringing her two nieces, which brought our rugrat head count to 6. Wow were we out number by the little people 3 to 1. But the more the merrier and all they kids adore each other so this should be fun.

I took a pic of them after we arrived just in case we lost one, we knew what they were wearing.

Crystal and I wanted to go straight to pumpkin picking but our kids were easily distracted by all of the animals. So we decided to head over to the petting zoo and pony rides. First up pony rides.

While my son was waiting in line for the pony rides he noticed there was a man holding snakes next to us. I was not amused and kept telling Aidan don't even think about it you know Mommy is afraid of snakes. Well he wasn't buying it he wanted to go and touch those snakes. So I finally gave in and after a nice pony ride my son paid a dollar and went into the snake pit. And no I did not join him he was on his own at this point lol.

This damn Monitor scared the crap out of me when I was trying to take a picture of Aidan holding the snake.

The snake man tried to tell me the monitor is like his dog. I beg to differ lol

Ewwww it's the momma snake

Tell me why my son has a snake around his neck. Oh the joys of having a boy.

Finally the reptile torture was over, I was very happy and so were all the girls. They were all huddled together screaming in the corner. Poor Aidan was the only boy in the group. Next up was the petting zoo which had cute little fuzzy animals and a little monkey that danced and shook your hand for a dollar.

This little monkey reminds me of Pippi Longstockings

Ashlyn already made friends with the goats.

My poor BF and some of the girls wanted nothing to do with the furry friends.

Finally after petting, riding and visiting all of these wonderful animals we were so exhausted and had no desire to actually pick a pumpkin. So we cheated a little and went to the area where all the nice pumpkins were sitting and waiting for someone to take them home. All in all we had a great time even with people staring at us like we were nuts to take so many kids. We came with six kids and left with six kids, 8 pumpkins and memories to last forever.

My two beautiful babies.

Of course Aidan had to be silly in this picture. I think he was going crazy with all the females

He found his pumpkin

The whole gang with all there pumpkin finds.

Our family trip to NYC/Jersey/D.C. Part 1

This past week we went to visit my folks in Jersey. We try to make it out there at least once or twice a year. Having parents that live on the east coast is a great benefit. There 5 mins away from Manhattan where some the greatest shopping and amazing restaurants can be found. Then there's Jersey (aka Joisey) where you can GTL it up with Jersey Shore kids and throw a good smack down with the RHONJ ladies LOL. Just kidding to all you Jersey folks out there. But Jersey is pretty amazing too my parents live in a great area and have some awesome neighbors that have become family to them.

On this trip back east my husband did not want to do the Manhattan shopping rendezvous we drag him and my poor dad on. He wanted to visit and do things we have never done before. So we decided Washington D.C. is a great place to check out. After a 3.5 hour ride we were finally there. We got in late at night so decided to get some sleep so we can get up early and start exploring. Now if only my kids thought that was a great idea, but since they napped on the way out there they were wired beyond belief. Yay for me =( finally by 2 am they feel asleep and then by 8 am my mother's lovely alarm clock went off. We only had a day and half in DC so we needed to get up to make the best of it.

First stop was the Arlington Cemetery. We bought tickets for the tour around the cemetery. We visited the Kennedy Eternal Flame, Tombs of the unknown soldiers where they have the change of arms ceremony. This ceremony is done every 30 mins, 7 days a week rain, snow or shine. It really is an amazing show to watch and great respect to those who have lost there life fighting for our freedom. Last stop on the tour was Lee's house. Here are some pics from our tour.

My two munchkins and I

Taking cover from the rain

Change of Arms ceremony

My hubby was seriously like a kid in a candy store he loved D.C. so much

Don't the look so studious studying the map

Next up was the Smithsonian. Now I thought the Smithsonian was one big museum little did I know there were like 10 different ones. So first up was the Natural History Museum and then my hubby and sons fave Air & Space Museum. That's about all we got to before we were starving and headed out the Georgetown for some great food. But before we went out to eat I need to find DC Cupcakes since I love watching there show I needed to try there cupcakes. And if you know me you know I'm a cupcake fanatic. Of course I got my favorite red velvet and have to say it was pretty amazing, not as good as my Sprinkles Cupcakes but it's pretty close. Tomorrow I will blog more about our trip and about my daughter's poopy situation in Bloomingdale's.

My little pilot

My little family at the Smithsonian Garden

These two are always entertaining

Wordless Wednesday!!

My Little Diva

The Pocket Protectors to the Rescue

Well folks I did it I ran my first race ever, and my body is asking "what the heck were you thinking". The Great Urban race was absolutely so much fun and amazing. It's a great way for couples, family and friends to bond. You really learn that you have to work together in order to succeed. At the beginning of the race I was full of stamina and excitement I was ready to go and find clue after clue. Then about 1 hour into the race my asthma started acting up and my body was giving up, I had no clue how I was going to finish this race. But my sisters constant support (and yelling) kept me going. I knew I had to finish, I teach my kids never to give up and I had to do the same.

For those of you who do not know what the Great Urban Race is, its pretty much a scavenger hunt between downtown L.A and West Hollywood. You are not allowed to get a taxi, ride a bike, roller skate or hitch a ride from anyone, you have to use your own two feet or public transportation i.e bus or subway. You have 12 clues that you must figure out within 5 hours the team with the shortest time wins. Our first clue we tried to complete our tic tac toe which was pretty much finding people with certain clothes, hair do's, or posters. Some were easier than others and some people were down right rude and refused to take pictures with you because they were scared there wife would see this pics and wonder why he was in LA. Well hello wanna be Tiger Woods don't lie to your wife idiot. Ok I got off course a little then we had to donate either 2 pairs of new socks or 3 toothbrushes to a shelter that was set up on our course. Well thank goodness I had bought some extra socks at Target the night before and didn't have to run around town finding a store that sold these items. So that was a score for our team. Then we found a nice group of gentlemen with ties to take a pic with us. As you can see this race will take you way out of your comfort zone. Then we hopped on the subway to WEHO and finshed 4 clues there.

We we're making good time until we got wrong directions a few times which cut into 30 mins of our time. After that back to Downtown LA we went heading to the Staples Center, PAWS, Nokia Place and finding some mysterious statue that no one has ever seen before. Which was up a pretty steep hill and at this point I was really done I can feel my feet we're wet which I knew was blood in my shoes and I just wanted to sit down and cry I was in so much pain. But we were almost there and I couldn't give up and we did it in 3 hours and 50 mins. I was finally done I did it. I might of had 2 bloody toes, a rash down my leg and a pretty good bruise but I finished. I know next year that I will be in better shape and get a decent pair of running shoes.

Here's some of pics from the race.

Life is too short....

Well it's been awhile since I've blogged, I went from working 6 days a week and having no time to blog to being laid off and having all the time in the world but too lost to blog. And what I mean by being too lost is that when you go from being in a routine everyday of going to work, coming home making dinner, getting the kids off to bed and the husband out the door to work and when one of those elements is taken away you become lost. The first two weeks I didn't know what to do with all the extra time I had in the day and I started to become somewhat depressed and wished I was back at work. Some of you are thinking you should be happy your at home with your kids and should being spending all your time with them. Don't get me wrong I was loving every extra moment with my kids, but then you start to think all the extra money from your paychecks you were receiving to pay bills and put food on the table will no longer be coming in you go into panic mode. How will we survive was the big question. My husband is the ultimate optimist, saying we will just have to spend less, cut down on things that were luxuries to us and not to worry. On the hand I'm the ultimate pessimist always worrying and stressing on what will happen. (opposites really do attract, we kind of balance each other out)

So here we are going on week 4 of being laid off and I've come to term with things and enjoying my moments with my kids. I get to be there to make breakfast, lunch and dinner for them, we go to the park, I even to get to visit friends and have play dates which I never was able to do before since I was working all the time. As I see it this was sort of a blessing in disguise, since my grandmother (Oma) can also have time to relax since she was the one watching my kids everyday. And it's not a easy task for a 78 year old lady to keep up with a 4 year old and a 2 year old. But she has managed to watch kids for the last 18 years and I think it is what keeps her going everyday. But now it is her turn to relax, visit her friends and go to her favorite place the casino.

Now that brings me to why I titled this blog "Life is too short". A few months ago I stumbled upon a blog called http://laylagrace.org After reading the stories of this beautiful little girl, I became so touch and admired by this family. Layla is losing her battle to Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. I started to cry as I read each blog post and wondered why God does such things to children. I can only imagine what these parents are going through to have to watch there child pass away right before there eyes. Everyday I think about this little girl and her family and how incredibly strong they are to share there journey with the world. After reading there stories I don't take anything for granted anymore. I make sure to kiss my kids 10x more each day, hug them tighter and know that everyday they are blessing to my husband and I. I want to thank Layla and her family for touching my life and making me stop and think that life is too short and we never know when our journey here will end. That we should take nothing for granted, spend less time in front of our computers and TV's and more time living our lives with our family and friends. Those are memories you will cherish forever.

Now that it is way pass my bed time I'm off to sleepy land and before I do I'm going to give my kids one last kiss good night. Before I go here is some pictures of what we have been up to the past few months.

Disneyland with the Tombs Family

New Years Day with family and great friends.

Ashlyn's 2nd Birthday Piggy Style

Christmas 2009

Aidan's 4th Birthday...vrrroooom Race Car style.