Happiest of days

September 15. One of the happiest days of my life. This is the day we celebrate my little man entering our world.

I should really start from the beginning...or the end of 2007, to be precise. After having a couple of strokes in December of '07, it was discovered that my FIL had pancreatic cancer. We had been trying for our second child for almost a year, when we found out in January that he or she was on their way. We were happy that we were able to share this news with Larry who, due to his last stroke, lost his ability to speak but happily gave us two thumbs up. 55 days after his first stroke, Larry lost his battle and went to Heaven. Ellie was only 19 months at the the time and was very confused, one moment Gundpa Warry was here, in the next, he was gone and everybody was crying.
Because I was going to be 35 at the time of the birth, I had to have extra blood tests, to make sure the baby was healthy. For some reason my blood work came back showing high numbers for Trisomy 18. A condition I had NEVER heard of before. I quickly sought it out on the Internet. Within minutes, I was in tears. I then had to make the appointment to go down to Marshfield and speak with someone in Genetics, discuss "the numbers", have an amniocentesis and decide what to do if the results were positive. If the baby did have this condition, most likely the pregnancy would terminate itself (in a miscarriage), if not, you could deliver a still born or a live baby, only for it to pass away a short time after delivery. Some babies do survive a year or more. I was informed that, if positive, it was early enough, if we choose to, terminate the pregnancy. My husband and I were just besides ourselves. We had just buried Larry, the thought of picking out a tiny coffin...was just unbearable. But, the thought of "terminating" this pregnancy...was just unthinkable. I'm not passing any judgement on anyone who's had to make the decision in this similar situation. We just couldn't or just didn't want to. We decided to leave it in God's hands and take one step at a time. Deep breath in, deep breath out. A lot of prayers.
We had a wonderful family member watch our little girl as we drove in silence, holding hands to the Marshfield Clinic.
As I lay there, having this long needle inserted into my tummy, looking at the screen, we were told that our baby was just fine. Very active, hand opening and closing. C and I both broke down and cried. Our prayers had been answered, our Me Too was alright, he was healthy.
Now, he's a big three year old. Just as healthy. Just as active. Just as beautiful and just as precious.
Today, I made the same drive, by myself, to the same town, same clinic for a similar ultrasound (no amnio) and I received the same wonderful news about baby #3. Healthy, active
beautiful, precious. Full circle kind of day. I cried all the way home, thanking God for all
of the miracles in my life.

2 years old (big fan of Thomas the Train)

Pooh Bear

3 year old boy (huge Dragon fan)

1 year old

9/11. I remember, very clearly, where I was on that tragic day when a two planes intentionally crashed into the Twin Towers, another into the Pentagon and yet another that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. I remember feeling confused, shocked, terrified & just horrified in the notion that another country could hate the United States so much, that they could just plan the murder of so many innocent people. I remember feeling sick to my stomach.

I will never forget the first anniversary of that fateful day or the many others that followed.

Now, ten years later, I still remember. Only now, I have a family, a wonderful, wonderful husband, two precious little people & another on the way. I want to protect & keep them safe from all the evil in this world.

Around here, we're big on giving tight squeezes & sloppy kisses many times thru out the day. But today, I'm squeezing 'till they poop & are drenched from my sloppy kisses.

God Bless the families that lost a loved one on that horrific day. May they feel comfort & peace. God Bless & guide to safety the many men & women that fight for our freedom and this wonderful country. God Bless my family. Please protect & keep them safe from any evil that means them harm. But most of all, God Bless America.

In the beginning...

My husband and I had been married for three years when we decided to start our family. However, it wasn't as easy as we thought it would be. After three years of "trying", by that point, having sex had become a chore, like emptying out the dishwasher (pretty sad, huh?) and a miscarriage (followed by an emergency D&C), we were blessed to have a healthy baby girl. Elena Leigh Maria. Elena is my middle name, Leigh is Grandma Karen's and Auntie Laura's middle name and Maria is Tita Socorro's first name. But Ellie is what we call her and that is her own.

Two years and two months later, we were equally blessed with a healthy baby boy. Christopher Revie Ned. Christopher after Daddy, Revie Ned after Great Grandpa Ned Revie. But because of too many Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin stories to big sister, she decided his name was to be Pooh. And that is what he is lovingly called by many, Pooh. Ask him what his name is and he'll happily say, "I Pooh Bear"

I wish I would have started this when Ellie was just a baby because we have a lot of funny, beautiful and touching memories of her (and of Pooh), I may have flashbacks and write them down from time to time.

One of those memories being how I came up with the title for this blog. When Ellie was just starting to "talk", she just adored her bottle (ba-toe) and would often caress the nipple as in a trance and repeat "Lodi, Lodi, Lodi", so Chris started calling her Lodi Doo, as a fun little (one of many) pet name that was shared between the three of us. One night, as we were cuddling our precious little "Lodi Doo", we were discussing about adding on to our party of three. Imagining a bigger party of our offspring, how we'd say, "C'mon, Lodi Doo", where then the second child would eagerly add, "Me Too!" I always wanted more than two children, I come from a family with three kids. And in the back of my mind and heart, I could faintly hear a little voice whispering, "What About Me?"

We eagerly await the arrival of our third in March 2012.