My last post about breastfeeding then I'll shut up.

I never dreamed that breastfeeding would be such an emotional rollercoaster.  I never thought that I would fight so hard to get it to work and I never thought I would be brought to my knees at the thought of stopping.  The floodgates open when I think about it.  I'm not even sure what it is exactly that is so upsetting to me.  It's not like I ever felt like it brought us closer because I know we just ARE close.  Today is the second day of not letting Harrison nurse.  They have been mildly difficult and sad but he has been easily distracted when he has tried real hard to lift my shirt so that's made it a little easier.  I think I expected him to be distraught and it would just kill me.

The timing worked out because Chris and I went away for 4 days to Quebec City and I needed to increase some medication that would dry up the milk anyway.  I was lucky it wasn't uncomfortable for me to not breastfeed for those 4 days.  I expected it to be much worse.  When we walked into Chris's parents' house to pick up the kids Harrison ran right into my arms and was demanding I go in the other room to sit on the couch by pointing madly and saying "DEE DEE DEE" (his word for basically everything that he wants but doesn't know the word for LOL).  We were able to distract him but I felt so bad :-(

I wish I had kept a list of the places we nursed or I pumped milk.  It would have been quite funny.  I remember pumping in my car during a bar mitzvah I was photographing and in a garage area of a function hall while I was photographing a wedding.  I'm drawing a blank on any other places but obviously there were way more.

I guess that's it.  The end of nursing.  

Mid year update

School's out, the pool's open, and we are ready for summer! 

5th grade came to a close so quickly.  Madison and Jackson had high points and low points throughout the year but overall they were very happy about their first full year at their new school.  They both played in the band again this year and plan to next year as well which makes me very happy!  Jackson is doing very well on the clarinet and Madison is owning the trumpet.

They got to watch the puberty video this year and go to their first dance.  Luckily they didn't understand why the other kids were all weirded out by the puberty video.  We aren't shy talking about things here so it all seemed like no big deal to them.  They went with friends to the dance although Jackson did ask a girl friend to go with him but she said "Well, I'm 10 so I can't"  LOL

Jackson's club soccer team (with whom he has trained since he was 5) had a great season this spring.  Practices and games were quite tricky with Harrison being a toddler and not wanting to sit still.  He had games in Portland, Maine, Braintree, MA, as well as more local.  His team has a goal keeper but Jackson had to step in quite a few times and luckily he is pretty good there.  My heart is in my throat watching him though.  I much prefer to watch him in a field position.  He has been playing defense this year and doing very well at it.  He does prefer to play forward though.

Jackson has been seeing an orthodontist for a couple years now.  He had a palette expander to make some room for his baby teeth to fall out and adult teeth to grow in.  He got it out last December and now we are just waiting for the rest of his baby teeth to fall out.  I think he still has 4 or 5!

Madison just had her dance recital last weekend.  She did a Lyrical class and I love seeing her mature in her body control and confidence.  She's been doing great with her guitar lessons.  She and her teacher work on learning a song to play then they record it then they record her singing too.  She won't let ANYONE listen to them which is such a bummer.  Madison has not had to see an orthodontist.  Her baby teeth have all fallen out (the last baby tooth is holding on by a thread at the moment) just fine and her adult teeth have grown in perfectly.

Harrison at 21 months has 23 words and uses them a LOT.  He makes the CUTEST facial expressions and knows when he's being funny or naughty.  Madison and Jackson absolutely adore him and love to play with him every day.  They love to chase him around and pretend to get hurt and fall down when he bumps into them.  He cracks up.  Harrison continues to be a very easy baby.  He is almost always happy and if he's not it's very easy to make happy again. He has recently learned that TV has good stuff on it and always hands the remote to us and says "Cuh" which means "Color Crew" a show on the baby channel.  Not a day goes by when I don't marvel in how lucky we are to have him.

Exciting news for me is that since my miles were up on my minivan lease I had to look for a new car.  I was able to get a great deal on my ultimate dream car.  I'm completely in love with it and all of the amazing features it has.  It essentially drives itself by keeping it in the lane and keeping a certain distance from the car in front of you as well as stopping automatically if you miss something.  If you're looking for a seriously cool, fun to drive SUV I highly recommend the 2019 Volvo XC40 in red :-)

Harrison's First Birthday (last September)

I knew Harrison's first birthday would sneak up on me so I started planning a few months before even sending out invitations so no one would have any other plans!  It was going to be the first time we were having a party at our new house so I invited basically everyone I knew.  At least 90 people were invited which doesn't include their kids and we ended up with around 50 adults plus 23 kids which was a very packed house.  Luckily it was a beautiful day so people were able to be out on the deck and the kids outside.  The party was a complete blur for me.  I felt like I barely talked to anyone.  I kept getting pulled away to deal with something else.  I had made it through the first year with the diapers I received at my baby shower so my goal was to make it through the next year by asking for diapers for his birthday.  We might not make it ALL the way but it will definitely be close.  He got a bunch of toys and clothes as well.

12 months!

12 month cake smash!

12 months!

Birthday cake made by Lynanne who has done all of our cakes since our wedding in 2001

All of his monthly photos from the past year

Proud big sister

Cake smash!

That face!!!

With Grandpa and Grandma

Proud parents

With Grandpa and Great Grandma

With one of his favorite toys

Breastfeeding

The next thing I want to talk about is breastfeeding.  You probably don't care.  You can stop reading now.

When I had Madison and Jackson I was determined to breastfeed them.  With them being born 4 weeks early I tried over and over to get them to latch but I was told (by nurses and LCs) they were too little.  I pumped as much as I could and bottle fed them that but the majority of their food was formula.  I was suffering with postpartum depression and not taking care of myself.  I had zero support on the breastfeeding front so when my milk stopped coming out I just gave up.  I didn't know I had options

When I miraculously got pregnant with Harrison NOTHING was going to stop me.  The first 4 weeks were an absolute uphill battle.  I had no idea how hard it would be.  I almost gave up a few times.  One of my saving graces was a nipple shield that a LC gave me in the hospital.  Harrison was having the same problem latching as the twins did but he wasn't early.  The shield was a god send and I was able to feed my baby!  But my most important saving grace was my friend Shauna who refused to let me give up even when I was in the throes of anxiety and depression and not eating or drinking and losing my supply and watching Harrison LOSE weight.  It was scary for a bit and at 2 weeks old his pediatrician insisted I give him formula.  I cried and cried in the room with my mother and doctor and because of Shauna's support I told the doctor no, that I would make it work, I just needed help.  Instead of giving up and giving him formula we came up with a plan.  My mother (I was living with her at the time) would make sure I was fed and hydrated and I would breastfeed Harrison then pump until I was empty in order to signal my body to make more milk.  I froze what I pumped.  We did that for a week.  My depression and anxiety cleared up immediately thank god but Harrison didn't gain as much weight as the doctor wanted.  So we tweaked the plan by now bottle feeding him what I pumped after each breastfeeding.  By 4 weeks he had gained enough weight and my supply was great.  I'm sure there were some small issues after that but very quickly it became such an easy thing.  I just can't describe how thankful I am for Shauna's support.

At 5 months old he was still waking in the middle of the night but I was able to get him back to sleep without feeding him.  I resisted so hard to let him cry it out but at 6 months I did it and it only took one bad night which wasn't even that bad.  He's been an amazing napper and sleeper since then.  I did seek the help of a professional sleep consultant in order to get that to happen and I know there is no way I could have gotten him to that point without her.

At 10 months old now he is breastfeeding 4 times a day and has some food here and there for practice.  He will eat anything I give him but I mostly give him avocado, whole milk plain greek yogurt, blueberries, and chicken.  He is easily pulling up to standing, got his first tooth last week, does lots of babbling and absolutely lights up when ever he sees Madison or Jackson.  He just adores them and the feeling is mutual.

10 months old.  I seriously couldn't love him more.

July 26th

AAAANNNNDDD it's July.  I hate how fast time goes.  I never even made a post about Madison and Jackson's 10th birthday.  I need to do that next.  But first I want to talk about our house.

Obviously my last house update from August 28th was very grim.  I know this is silly to some but I was kind of amazed by it.  I was feeling very depressed last August and on a whim I went in to have my tarot cards read.  She told me that my baby would be healthy, that I would have a very long and happy marriage and that we would find a house before the baby was born.  She specifically said we wouldn't be IN the house before he was born but that it would be under agreement.  I wanted nothing more than to believe her but I was just in such a dark place.  It seemed like the impossible.

On August 31st, a house popped up in our daily email listings.  It caught my attention and I shortly got a text from Chris telling me to look at it.  The price had just dropped $15K so it was now in our price range.  There was an open house scheduled for the next evening but we immediately called to see if we could get in that night.  I showed it to my father and he said "you should be prepared to put an offer in tonight".  I had been thinking the same thing and so had Chris.  My father and I drove up with Madison and Jackson and met Chris and Billy at the house in Groveland.  I would have bought the house just based on the pictures but I wanted to see what the area was like.  As I drove up the quiet dead end street lined with beautiful spaced out colonial houses I said "This is it".  I walked in the kitchen door and was overcome with tears.  Jackson was jumping up and down yelling "Can we buy it? Can we buy it??  PLEEEEAAAASSSSEE??".  We walked through the rest of the house but I honestly wasn't looking at anything.  Chris and I got together out in the driveway and both smiled at each other.  It was the first time (except for the New Hampshire house) we were on the same page.  After looking at so many houses and feeling like we were literally on different teams it was such an amazing moment.  All we needed to do now was make an offer and pray the biggest prayer of our lives that it was accepted.

We offered asking price along with a letter pleading that they accept it.  Billy called me the next morning and said "I have bad news...they are canceling the open house....BECAUSE THEY ACCEPTED YOUR OFFER!!!!  I stood in my parents living room and cried fantastically happy tears for the first time in a long time.  Within a few days we had an inspection (with some issues but we just didn't care).  Harrison was born 15 days after the offer was accepted.  The psychic was oddly specifically right on with her prediction.

The mortgage paperwork seemed to take forever and ever but almost two months after seeing the house for the first time we closed on the house and moved in that night.  Harrison was 5 weeks old.

Our house high up on a hill

The view our my bedroom window.  The sky never disappoints up here!

The view out the 3rd floor (Jackson's bedroom)

Another view out my bedroom window.  That's a ski hill way in the distance.  We can see people skiing from our house and hear the snow makers.

Our holiday card last year

Our house as you drive back down the road

Some cool things we were lucky enough to find in this home that I really never dreamed we would...
1.  a fireplace
2.  on top of a  hill for a fantastic view all around
3.  underground electricity!
4.  central air
5.  A POOL!!!
6.  plenty of space
7.  a master bathroom
8.  a finished attic where all of the kids toys go!
9.  first floor laundry (better than no laundry but I HATED going to my basement to do it in my old house)

Since moving in I have painted Jackson's room, Madison's room, Harrison's room, our bathroom, the first floor bathroom, the kitchen and main hall.  I have the kids bathroom started and just need to buckle down and finish it.  We had to get a new washer and dryer which I love!  I took a bunch of pictures of the inside when the rooms were empty but I haven't taken any since we've been all moved in.  I should do that.

Our wishlist for improvements...
1.  take up carpet in living room/put in wood floors and build some built ins around the fireplace
2.  update all of the bathrooms
3.  update the kitchen with a new layout
4.  new carpet on second and third floor
5.  paint the master bedroom, the second floor hall, and the playroom

Baby Harrison

He was born at the end of the summer.  It's now winter and I'm finally making the time (at 12:51 am) to write a post.  By now he's not a floppy baby anymore.  The clothes he wore when he was born are already packed away.  He can see us and smile and coo at us and can even roll over from front to back.  He can get his hands to his mouth so he can suck on his fingers.  He is an amazing sleeper and has been since the day he was born.  Except for a 3 week period around 4-7 weeks old, he has slept from 11pm to at least 7am.  This baby has rocked our world like nothing I ever imagined.  I knew once he was here I would wonder how on earth we ever lived without him and I was spot on.  He has changed our lives in every aspect while also managing to make it feel like this is the way it's always been.

Harrison William Goodwin 9/15/2016

  My heart literally bursts with love every time I see his face. He is seriously a precious, special baby.

For now I just want to talk about his birth and our hospital stay.

On September 15th I went to the city for my twice weekly NSTs.  My blood pressure was elevated and my platelet count had been going down.  They didn't want to wait to deliver him any longer and risk them going down so low that I would need general anesthesia to deliver him.  I was sent to the hospital and about 7 hours later (9:37pm) he was born while listening to "Home" by Phillip Phillips play over the speakers.  I cried listening to the words and how fitting they were and that it was playing as they were taking him out of me.

He was perfectly healthy and stole our hearts.  Unfortunately I just don't deal well with anesthesia and I continued to throw up for 12 hours after getting my spinal.  I remember desperately wanting to look at him but every time I would open my eyes the room would spin and I would throw up.  Around 10am the next morning I finally started to feel human again aside from the horrible pain from the c-section and I could start to focus on Harrison.

The thing I was most excited about was seeing Madison and Jackson meet their baby brother for the first time.  They were so genuinely happy to welcome this baby into our family.  They never talked about anything negative or selfish.  They just couldn't wait to have him with us. As usual their reactions weren't quite as animated as I expected but the video is still so sweet.

Madison holding her baby brother for the first time

Jackson holding his baby brother for the first time

Our first picture as a family of 5

They kicked me out of bed so they could lay with him

The second night in the hospital Harrison's blood sugar was in the 30s and even though I was trying to breast feed him all day I just had nothing in there to give.  I remember pumping 5 ml of colostrum and feeding it to him with a dropper hoping it would get his sugar up.  It would work but then it would go down again.  The doctor told me he was going to need to go to the NICU if I didn't give him formula to get his sugar up so I told them to go ahead.  He spent that night in the nursery drinking formula.  When he came back he spit up for hours and smelled horrible so I was determined at that point for him to never have formula again.  I pumped and breastfed my butt off and we never had another issue while in the hospital.

Harrison had many visitors while in the hospital including my parents, Chris's parents, Shauna, Bryan, Keira, Aunt Karen, my grandmother, Ana, Danielle, Uncle Mike, Aunt Kristen, Raphael and Alyssa, Brenda, Rachael and Nichole (hope I didn't forget anyone!).

My 97 year old grandmother holding Harrison

I continued to have high blood pressure the whole time I was in the hospital so I had to stay a 6th day.  

And just like that it was time to go home...to my parents house.

These pictures already seem like a lifetime ago.

36 weeks 4 days

I started having some contractions this evening which did slow down so I think I'm good but it got me thinking that I really haven't updated much so I better get one in.

I am officially the most pregnant I've ever been.  I had Madison and Jackson at 36 weeks 2 days.  The kids start 4th grade tomorrow morning and I was so upset thinking that I would miss their first day of school.  It's bad enough we aren't in our home for me to take their first day of school picture and now I was going to miss it all together??  Tomorrow night...fine.  Just not tonight.

I had a lovely baby shower last weekend organized by my amazing friend Shauna with tons of help from my mother and mother in law and other friends too.  We got everything we need for the baby that Shauna hadn't already supplied us as loners.  It is all filling up my parents' living room at the moment.

I really did breeze through this pregnancy aside from the hassle of gestational diabetes like I had with the twins.  That is, up until about 5 weeks ago.  I just started getting very achey in my back and hips and the sciatic nerve pain.  All of that has gotten worse and worse over the weeks.  I did WAY too much activity two nights ago and now I can't walk at all without the sciatica shocking me.  Physically I'm so ready to have this baby but emotionally I'm a wreck (nothing to do with hormones) and I really would just love for things to be all ironed out before I have a baby.

I had only one name that I wanted for this baby.  I really had no interest in any other name but I didn't want to get  my hopes up that Chris would agree to it.  Thankfully a couple weeks ago he said we could use the name.  Still no middle name but I guess we will figure it out eventually.  We are keeping the name a surprise mostly because people can't keep their opinions to themselves.

The house hunt is basically a shit show at this point.  The stress I have endured over it is just so unfair.  I know other people go through worse but for me this has been the hardest year of my life and I still don't see a light at the end of the tunnel.

As of this weekend the kids and I are living with my parents.  There is a bed here next to a bathroom for me for all those middle of the night trips.  Hopefully Chris will join us soon but for now he is still at his parents' house.

At the baby's weight check last week he was 7lb 7oz.  80 something percentile!  Madison and Jackson were roughly 5th percentile at birth! (5lbs each).

I'm still alive...

but a part of me definitely died a little.  As if it wasn't hard enough to have to leave the house for the last time we added a ton of stress by not being fully prepared/packed for the actual moving truck day.  I could barely do anything at all.  I would get up to empty a cabinet and a minute later my back was toast and I would have to sit down.  My sciatic nerve was also an issue (still is) so it was even hard to sit and sort through things.  The yard was full of basement/shed items which we had sorted into trash/keep/yard sale piles.  The house still had all of our furniture in it and the kitchen, bathroom, and closet still needed to be boxed up.  I don't even remember what Chris and I accomplished that morning but my mom came over around noon and got to work on the kitchen.  I had to run some errands around 2 so the kids and I left.  We got back home at 3:30 and all three bedrooms were empty!!!  My dad had come over with the moving truck and they got right to work.  They moved all of the furniture out on to the lawn.  That struck me as really sad so I did some crying there.  I believe they loaded up the truck and the two of them brought it to the storage unit and unloaded it.  Mind you it was over 90 out and so incredibly humid and the house has no air conditioning.  I think I worked with my mother in the kitchen the best I could but I honestly don't even have any memory of what I did exactly.  I mostly felt completely useless.  When they brought the truck back they emptied more furniture out of the living room.  Eventually Chris's brother and our 17 year old nephew came over to help along with our friend Dave.  My mom and I went out to pick up chinese food for dinner.  After dinner they loaded the truck one more time and brought it to storage.  My dad returned the truck and came back with his car and anything that was left at the house was small enough to fit in our cars to be moved.  Everyone kept telling me I had to leave and get some rest but there was just too much to do and supervise.  I couldn't rest unless I knew everything was going to the right place (storage, my in law's house, or my parents house).  At 9:30 (the kids were still up and with us) everyone but my parents had left and Chris was starting to panic because the house needed to be empty and it really didn't even seem close.  The walk through was the next day and Chris and my parents were all working and I couldn't do anything!  We had to call it quits for the night and we all left for my in laws to sleep for the first time.  We managed to have the walk through pushed off until the next evening and Chris decided to only go in to work in the morning.  The kids were invited to go to the beach with friends the next day so they got picked up early and I was able to go up to the house and do a little bit.  I boxed up the bathroom and emptied the front closet but that is seriously all I could do in 3 hours.  Well that and cry.  When Chris got out of work he came to the house with his mother and she helped me finish up the kitchen.  While I was there alone I was whining to my friend Shauna how hopeless it seemed that we would get this done so she packed up at work in Boston and came right up.  She is a TASK MASTER!  She got there around 1.  I had an appointment I had to go to from 3-4 and when I got back the house was completely empty.  I couldn't even believe my eyes.  The kids were back at the house at that point too.  A junk truck came at 4:30 and took everything away from the trash pile and a bunch of old junk that was still in the basement.  All of our cars were filled with stuff to be brought to my parents house then the fun times began.  I went in each room and bawled my eyes out trying to soak in all the memories I could possibly remember.  Room by room I said goodbye with such an ache in my heart.  The kids were following me around and hugging me.  Luckily they didn't cry at all!  They are such easy going kids.  I made Chris come in and we all hugged in the front hall for the last time.  We all left and closed the door and drove away for the last time.

We went back to my inlaws, had dinner then went out to buy an air mattress to sleep on in the basement.  

Today I had a baby appointment in the morning and Chris's mom took the kids to the movies then Chris and I had to go to the closing.  I tried so hard to not cry but I did at the very end and I ended up giving the girl a hug (she's pregnant too and due next week).  Someone said "can you even reach each other with those bellies??"  It was just the perfect thing to make me laugh.  I think I made her cry too.  

Chris and I went to lunch at Bertucci's after then I tried to do a little retail therapy at the Vineyard Vines warehouse sale but they really didn't have anything good.  I went back to my inlaws to an empty house.  Chris's mom had taken the kids to her friends pool.  I made the most of the quiet and cool AC.

Finding a house is continuing to be impossible.  Anything in our budget is either too small, needs too much work, or is on a main road. Everyone thinks we are being too picky but the move in ready houses, in quiet neighborhoods, in our budget are more like first time home buyers homes which is what we just left!  We are in our 40s now are are ready for a grown up house that we are proud to have our friends and family over to.  I think we deserve that much.

The plan is to stay with Chris's parents until closer to my due date so that I can be with my parents after the baby is born.  I'll be recovering from surgery, hopefully nursing a newborn, and possibly dealing with postpartum depression so I will want to be with my mother for all of that.

30 Weeks

Unfortunately after 82 days on the market with no offers, another person put an offer in on the house I wanted on the same day we did.  It wasn't as much as our offer but we still had to get our house on the market and they accepted the other offer which didn't have a contingency.  I have never lost an immediate family member (not even a grandparent since I've been alive) so I can honestly say finding out we wouldn't be getting the house was the saddest day of my life.  I cried so hard I couldn't breathe.  I cried for 11 hours STRAIGHT which included picking up the kids from school, bringing Madison to guitar lessons and getting us all home.  I believe Jackson had a soccer practice that evening and Chris had to take him.  I couldn't even see out of my swollen eyes.

I did my best to get back in the saddle and continue to look for houses with absolutely no luck.  A few weeks later Chris jokingly showed me a listing for a house in New Hampshire.  I've been adamantly saying no to New Hampshire because it's so far away from our family but also because the real estate taxes are so much higher there.  I took one look at the house and the price for the house and I said, "Great, now I have to move to New Hampshire."  It was impossible to pass up.  We drove up there to see what the area and the street were like and fell head over heals in love.  It was a tiny town and so quiet.  The house had been on the market for one day and we put an offer in 5K over the asking price.  (This is a link to it but it probably won't be up forever) They flat out rejected the offer because we had a contingency to sell our house (it was officially going on the market 4 days later).  We offered another 5K over and at that point they had another offer that wasn't as high but they wanted to take the lower offer because of our contingency.  We offered ANOTHER 5K and they just went ahead and accepted the other offer.  I was once again heart broken.  So horribly sad.  I just can't even describe the tears that I cried over it.

Our house went on the market on June 6th.  8 days later we had an offer 20K under our asking price.  We were annoyed but countered basically just to buy us some time to see if any other offers came in.  We countered at 5K below asking and she countered with 12K below asking.  During the last counter we got a second offer of 5K above asking and on the 17th (our 15th wedding anniversary) we accepted that offer.  The inspection went very well for a 200 year old house and we only have a couple of minor things to fix up.  We signed the P&S last week and they want to close on July 27th.  The buyer is due with a baby on August 4th and wants to be in the house before then.

I've already had a few crying sessions when I've thought of leaving my house.  I'm crying now just thinking about it again.  

After 16 years how do you walk out of each room for the last time?  How do you turn off the lights and lock the door and stand on the porch and drive away for the last time?  The tears just stream like a faucet when I think of it.  I know lots of people do it every single day but how do I leave the house I got ready for my wedding in (when we had no desire for a family)?  How do I leave the house we spent three years living in while doing fertility treatments?  How do I leave the house where I grew my two babies in my belly?  How do I leave the house I brought those two miracles home to?  I literally don't know how I'm going to physically do it.  I fear I will need to be carried away.  It's going to crush me and I feel like no one understands.  Everyone tells me I'm too sensitive and that better things are coming and I'm sure they are but I honestly don't see how I'm going to be able to walk away from that house in 10 days.  I feel like it could kill me and for once I just wish someone would say "I understand how hard this must be for you", or "Wow, this really sucks for you".  I understand there are much more awful things going on in the world or other peoples' lives and I need to keep things in perspective, but THIS is MY life and this is crushing me.  I feel like I can't breathe again.

MAYBE if we had a house lined up to buy I would feel better but we just don't.  We don't agree on anything.  I thought maybe we had decided to put an offer in on a house in Groveland which there is really nothing wrong with (except that it's on a (not busy) main road but Chris just told me today he wants to hold out for a house in neighborhood.  The problem is any house that is in a neighborhood is out of our price range.  That's just the way real estate works.  Houses on main roads are less valuable and the price reflects that.  We can wait for years and it will just never happen.  We are waiting for something that doesn't exist.  With a baby on the way, needing to figure out where to send Madison and Jackson to school at the end of August, and needing to move in with family and feel like a complete and utter burden, it's all just too much.  A few months back I was sure I would have seen the light at the end of the tunnel by now but I just don't.  The tunnel is in fact getting smaller and darker and this is just not where I would have ever wanted to be in my life.

We found out out a couple weeks ago that Jackson made the Peabody travel A team this year which we were really happy about (he was on the B or C team last year...we never really figured out which).  I'm pretty sure he will just continue playing on that team for the next year even if we move out of Peabody since any town we move to will have already filled their teams and won't have room for him.

Since school got on on June 22nd the kids and I have kept very busy.  I've had a lot of doctor appointments, I got a new car (honda odyssey), spent a week in Vermont with friends then drove straight to cape cod to spend a couple of days with other friends (typing from there now).

Of course the bright side to everything is that baby Goodwin is growing and doing great.  I have gestational diabetes again so I'm taking insulin and checking my readings after every meal.  It's no fun but better than being in the hospital for pre term labor like I was at this point with the twins AND having gestational diabetes.

I'm sure I have a lot more to write about but this updates our housing situation for now.

Madison and Jackson turn 9

I blinked again and they got another year older.  Here they are on their 9th birthday/St. Patrick's day.

Jackson is seriously everything I could ask for in a son.  He is kind and gentle with animals and babies.  He is sensitive and caring and I wouldn't want him to be any other way.  He does love to push Madison's buttons and make her upset but if she's ever really sad over something he's the first to hug her and sometimes cry himself.  He is an extrovert like nothing I've ever seen.  He is obsessed with friends and being with people.  The only thing he's willing to do alone is play xbox or play on his phone.  He has a great outgoing personality and is very very funny.

Jackson had tryouts last spring for the town travel U10 soccer team and made one of the three teams along with his best friend James.  The team was fantastic and if I remember correctly they were undefeated (maybe lost one??) the whole fall season.  During the winter they joined an indoor soccer league for 5 months.  Somehow they did not do so well there.  They seemed to play much older kids and they just didn't stand a chance.  Also last spring Jackson had tryouts for a U9 team for his club soccer that he has been training with since kindergarten.  He made it and was very excited for his league games in the fall.  The team has some very good players but they always seemed to play teams with much older kids and they lost most games 20-1.  I believe they tied one game and it felt like a win.  That team did not join any winter leagues but they did have one tournament that didn't go well.  His spring league was supposed to start last Sunday but it was cancelled because of snow!  I don't care if they win their games or not I just hope the games are at least more evenly matched.  It's really hard on the boys.  Starting this week he is back to 4 practices a week between the two teams and 1-3 games every weekend.

Jackson does well in school but it's not his favorite thing in the world.  Just like his mama (although his grades may be a tad better than mine but we will see how he is as he gets older).  All of his teachers have loved him and I can't ask for any more than that.

Madison is such an easy kid.  Most of the time she's very serious and quiet and keeps to herself although she does have a very silly streak and will sometimes let loose and act crazy.  She is a classic introvert and much prefers to be alone.  She adores music and loves to listen to her playlist on her phone and sing while playing with legos.  Her grades are close to above grade level and she really adores school and learning.  She's also a great artist and gets really upset when they have to miss school on a day they have art.

Madison has a very special relationship with my mother.  They absolutely adore spending time with each other.  My mom says Madison doesn't stop talking the whole time they are together.  My mother loves to sew and do crafty things (that's not really my jam) so Madison really enjoys that.

Madison has been doing a recreational gymnastics class since she was 3 and still enjoys it.  Now she goes with two of her best friends Michelle (James' twin sister) and Lily.  Madison also does a modern dance class once a week which she loves.  I signed her up for guitar lessons too in the late fall and though she whines every time I tell her to practice she really likes learning it.  Her teacher says she's a natural and retains everything he teaches her even when she doesn't get a chance to practice it during the week.

As you can see our weeks are insanely busy and the thought of adding a baby and a move to it is a tad overwhelming but I'm grateful for lots of help from friends and family.

3rd grade is going to be the last grade they will be in the same class.  Their current teacher thinks they have different strengths and weaknesses and feels like they should each be placed with a teacher who will best fit their individual needs.  I agree with her so they will split up next year.  Madison will be thrilled but I think we may have an issue with Jackson.  I'm sure he will be fine in the long run but he's not going to like not being with her.

Their difference in personality is sometimes hard to referee.  He's always begging her to play with him but she wants to be alone so he usually ends up in tears with his feelings hurt.  I feel for both of them so it's hard to know how to handle the situation.

I couldn't be more proud of these kids and the people they are becoming and I couldn't love them more.

Announcement

This is the announcement I put on facebook on St. Patrick's day.  It was so fun seeing everyone's reactions.

16 Weeks

I'm 16 weeks now and even though it feels like a long road ahead with all we need to accomplish before this baby is born the time is flying.  He is apparently the size of an avocado at the moment.

At my 11 week appointment I had blood drawn to do the DNA testing to find out the gender and if the baby had any health issues.  They told me the results would be back in 5-10 days.  On the 9th day (March 14th) I called and they had just gotten the results in.  The wait was agonizing because once we found out we could tell Madison and Jackson and I was so excited to do that.  The results were that he is perfectly healthy and is male.  We told the kids that night.  Jackson was over the moon jumping up and down  yelling "We're having a baby brother!!!!"  Madison was confused I think.  Her reaction was much more reserved but that's normal for her personality anyway.

Chris and I have been having a difficult time deciding where to move.  By this point I would have hoped to already be at least close to moving in to a new house but we've spent so much time pleading our cases that we have made no progress.  Chris wants a nice new house in a neighborhood which in Peabody (and anywhere close to here) is out of our budget so he was hoping to move to a town about 40 minutes away from our families and all of my friends and all of the kids friends in order to find one in our budget.  I want a nice new house in a neighborhood too but my friends and family are WAY more important to me especially where I will now have THREE kids to take care of while he is at work (in Peabody....) all day long.

On January 19th I drove the kids to school in the morning.  I came back home and took the pregnancy test.  When I went to pick them up that afternoon, now knowing we needed a bigger house, there was a for sale sign on one of my favorite houses that I drive by everyday to get to school.  The sign was not there in the morning when I dropped them off.  My heart started racing and as soon as I parked my car I looked up the listing thinking it would never be in our budget because it's so big.  My jaw fell to the ground when I saw the price and that it had 4 bedrooms (It's listed as a 4 bedroom but it's actually 5!) and the pictures looked decent.  I immediately made an appointment to see it and fell in love.  The house is on a main road so Chris said absolutely not.  I spent the next two months daydreaming about the house and being so sad that I would probably never live in it.    Last week Chris and I finally had a long discussion about how unhappy the kids and I would be moving 40 (or more) minutes away and how incredibly happy I would be in the Peabody house.  He shockingly agreed to put an offer in on it!  I felt so much relief and was over the moon happy.  Until then I had no motivation to even do the things to our current house that need to be done to get it on the market.  In less that a week we have cleaned out the basement (with the help of my father), packed up some unnecessary items in the living room and kitchen and kids rooms and have a handy man here doing some odd jobs.  We still have a long list to go but it's all scheduled and is very doable.

We will be putting in an offer hopefully in the next week. The hard part was getting Chris to agree so hopefully the rest of the process goes smoothly!  The kids and all of our friends and family are so happy for us.  Fingers crossed this will be our new home for our new family!

Most shocking news of my life

January 26, 2016

Ten years ago this month I had to cancel the embryo transfer of my first IVF cycle.  I was so physically sick and emotionally drained.  If you told me then that TEN years later I would be taking a pregnancy test with a positive result I would have thought you were certifiably insane.  But crazy enough, that's exactly what happened.

Since May of 2015 my period decided to be regular like never before in my entire life.  In October of 2015 I stopped eating flour and sugar and lost 21 pounds in two months.  In December I was finally back to the weight I was when I got pregnant with the twins 9.5 years ago.  On January 19th I was 5 days late for my period so I grabbed a pregnancy test because I was curious.

February 8, 2016 (7.7 weeks)

The last three weeks have been fun and challenging.  Starting all over from scratch is a bit much to wrap our minds around but I think for the last 9 years I was always secretly hoping this would happen naturally.  Everyone said it would right?  HAHA.

Telling people has been so much fun.  My parents were thrilled.  We had to wait a couple of weeks to tell Chris's family because his mother's birthday was on February 6th and we wanted to tell her then.  It was so hard to keep it from them!  Chris said to his mother "Kerry and I were trying to figure out what to get you for your birthday and we decided on another grandchild."  She looked skeptical and said "You're getting another cat?" and I said "No a human child".  Eileen, Bruce, Courtney, Mike, Kristen, Raph, Karen, Jackie, and Mary all cheered and couldn't believe it.

My friends are all so excited and we have been offered all of the baby items we could possibly need.  They are excited I get to have another shower but I really don't want one!

As of now we haven't told Madison and Jackson yet and it's driving me crazy!  Chris says he "isn't ready" but doesn't give any other detail.

I have my first ultrasound apt on the 10th and my mother is going to go with me since Chris has a meeting at work and can't make it.

So far I'm feeling fantastic and wouldn't even know I was pregnant.

February 13 (8.5 weeks)

I had two rough days of solid morning sickness at the beginning of this week but I have been fine since then.

My parents both came with me to the ultrasound.  My father asked if the doctor could confirm the baby wasn't an alien.  The doctor said based on the picture he that he could not say either way.  LOL  He did say that the heartbeat was fantastic (168?) and everything looked perfectly normal.
After the ultrasound I had an appointment with my OB where she was very shocked to see me after so many years.  When she first saw me she started to say "it's nice to meet...wait a minute...you look familiar!"  I'm going back on March 1st for all of the genetic testing.

Most of our close friends and family know about the pregnancy at this point but I haven't posted anything on facebook about it yet.  I'll probably wait until after the genetic testing.  I suppose Chris will want to wait until after that to tell the kids too.  He says he's not ready for them to know they aren't the "only" children anymore.  He's very emotional about it.

First day of 2nd grade

Every 6 months is good enough for a post right?  I thought so.  I wish I had more time :-(  I want to write about all the things we've done but it's so overwhelming.  We went to Water Country a few times, went to Boston Public Garden with Nana, Auntie, Auntie Karen, Jackie, Nicky, Sophie, and Jill met us there, visited Lily on the Cape at her vacation house, the beach a few times (with Gia, Melanie, Auntie, and the kids went with Nana a couple times without me), Gia's pool twice, Uncle Matt's pool once, Visited Adele in Maine with her 3 month old twin boys, York with my mom, the zoo with my parents without me, all capped off by a week long stay at Children's Hospital for Madison (which obviously deserves a post of its own but for now she's fine).  I'm sure we did more than that but that's just what I saw glancing at my calendar and details on all of this would be fantastic too but I'm not holding my breath.

Off to edit 1800 pictures now!

7th Birthday Part

For their 7th birthday party they both wanted an ice skating party.  They both love ice skating and we really don't go enough!  We had a couple of friends from our days at Tower (preschool), another set of boy girl twins we met at gymnastics, their cousins, and the rest were all from their kindergarten class that they have stayed close with.  Auntie and Uncle Steve, Auntie Kristen, Grandma and Grandpa, Papa, and even Nana Fitzy also came to celebrate.
Our fabulous cake lady came through with amazing Frozen cakes.  I made favors of little jelly jars filled with blue chocolate candies and a ring of blue glittery tape.  Since everything Frozen themed is not able to be found I at least wanted to make the table all blue.  With the cakes it was clear what the theme of the party was.

I'm not sure how the pictures will show up and function below.  It's been so long since I've posted that flickr changed its interface and I haven't even attempted to embed any pictures since then.  I THINK these are going to be a slide show but maybe you need to click the arrows to advance?

7 Years Old

How are my babies 7 years old??  I guess everyone is caught off guard how quickly time goes by but this is really ridiculous.  

I really couldn't ask for better kids.  I love them both so much and they are told multiple times a day.  They are doing great in 1st grade (same class still).  They are very well behaved and the teacher says they are great roll models for the rest of the class.  What more could parents ask for?

Their birthday (St. Patrick's day) fell on a Monday so we had their party the Saturday before.  Jackson had soccer Monday afternoon and we asked if he wanted to take the day off so we could go to the Irish pub we usually go to on their birthday but he said no!  So all four of us went to to soccer and watched him.  After he was done we went to the pub.  It was crowded!