So Thankful...

Thanksgiving this year...what a wonderful week! Kristy came to visit, mom was here and the Hortons came in on Tuesday. It was such fun to have Christina and all the rest of us here. Very nice that we could come together from our families and meet. Bunny, Bill and Danny came from Florida to join us for a few days over Thanksgiving. Mom was here and Kristy arrived the Saturday night before turkey day. The evening evolved into quite the conversation about my dad, which was good. Mom, Kristy and I had pretty much resolved our issues, which were related to my dad’s death. All of us grieve differently and I was having my moment. Mom and Kristy did well in trying to understand me and my schizo ways. It’s an odd thing, this dealing with death and family. I never knew it would be this way, this complex and that I would have these varied feelings. I’ve always heard death can change your life, but I just didn’t know how it would be and it changes daily. Even now, I think that maybe I haven’t a clue about what all of this really means. I feel finality but then again I feel the presence of my dad. It is difficult, but yet a comfort, knowing that dad is up there watching and guiding. I feel comfort for my family because I know he’s there with us all the time. Mom and Kristy went back to Winnemucca for Thanksgiving. It was hard to see her go and we know she’s working on what she wants to do, so we will wait and see what the future brings. Mom plans to come back after the first of the year.

Thanksgiving day was wonderful! Bunny did her traditional Cuban turkey, which was WONDERFUL! We had all the trimmings going right after Bunny put the 21 lb. bird in the oven. Christina made a butterscotch pie which was amazing and of course we had to have pumpkin pie from Costco. I’ve never had a better pumpkin pie than Costco’s. Deann and Carlos Tello joined us for Thanksgiving for the 2nd year. It was so good to visit with them! Great company and fantastic wine. They saw the babies for the first time too. The babies loved all the hugs from Hortons and the Tellos.

Halloween and 2nd baby check up at the pediatrician - 8 Weeks old!

Halloween was so fun around here! It was the boys first one and we just had to dress them up in the photo above. I love the hats...just too cute. We had so many trick or treaters! We needed 7 bags of candy. 6 of them were wiped out that night. Christina and mom are here and we all shared in the festivities. The girls carved some really cool pumpkins too. Mom was very crafty and made candle holders out of mini pumpkins. Of course the boys had no idea what was going on, but it was fun for us adults. The girls went out trick or treating with their dad and brought home a ton of candy.

We had to schedule a pediatrician appointment for our little Ben because his belly button looked funny. That little guy (he was the smallest) is now 8lbs. 5 oz. as of 11/3/07. We learned that his belly button is herniated. It doesn’t hurt him at all. His stomach muscles haven’t grown together yet which cause it to enlarge. He looks like his belly button is a button you would press. It looks weird, but it’s not a big deal. Ben also had a well check at the same time and received his 2nd Hepatitis B shot. Didn’t make him happy, but it’s over quick. We waited almost 2 hours, which was NOT fun and we decided we’ll be looking for a new pediatrician. It was so discouraging because as we were leaving at 5 ish when our appointment was scheduled at 3:20. Dear god it was agony. Standing room only in the waiting room. We also learned that the other 2 boys would not be able to get an appointment until after Thanksgiving. Chip and I were so frustrated. Dr. Conti told us that he would see us at 8:45 if we came in on the next Monday, 11/5/07. We told him we’d be there early!

As we agreed we took the other two munchkins in on Monday morning. Gary weighed in at 8lbs. 15oz., and Ryan weighs 8lbs. 11oz. The boys are doing great and both of them also needed the Hepatitis B shot. Gary’s belly button is also a little herniated, but nothing like Ben’s. We also talked about the Synagis injections that will help them not get RSV, which is a respiratory virus that is very dangerous for preemies. It’s hard add more immunizations and they will need it monthly from October until April, but could make the impact much less worse than it could be. Dr. Conti said he wouldn’t poke each little guy more than 3 times in a visit, which brought a little comfort but it’s not easy on any of us. RSV is the leading cause of newborns being hospitalized. It has been complicated to make this happen due to our wonderful insurance . We’ll see what happens. The doctor also said he would ALWAYS see us early, which is really good and was encouraging that he spend more time with us as well as committed to trying to help us be seen early to alleviate the pain of being around other kids and waiting for an eternity to see him. He’s a fantastic pediatrician, but we were really thinking twice about keep him. We’ll see how things go.