So here's the thing. You remember that girl you saw bouncing on the horse? Acting like a fool? Turns out when she's not practicing for her days in the circus, she's begging to be picked up and held. Most of the time I try to ignore her, and redirect her pleas. However more recently when we've been out walking, or in a store, Noelle is refusing to be anywhere other than in my arms. I really have no problem with this, but my back truly does. I've suffered from lumbar issues since the day that Jon and I returned home from our honeymoon. I ended up flat on my back for almost a week due to an unknown back injury... It was B-A-D. I've re-injured it quite a few times since then, but nothing like that first time... Lets all knock on wood together here :) Anyway this all leads me to this post... I have, since the girls were born, been relying solely on my Hotsling. While I love it, it's not the best sling for what I'm using it for. Noelle is currently weighing in at 21 lbs and my only option for carrying her in that sling is on my hip... I love that it keeps my hands free, but I fear that it's hurting my back. I have a wonderful friend who has made me a Mei Tai, and I'm eager to try that out, and see how she adapts to it's new style... But after reading an email from my friend Jennifer, and doing some research on my own, I recognized that if Noelle continues needing to be carried everywhere I'm going to need an Ergo. I'm ok with that. What I'm not ok with, is the $92 price tag attached to the carrier. I've searched Craigs List, Ebay, and every other online marketplace known to man... Every person is selling their used Ergo for $80+ dollars... Wow. Do you know how much ground beef I can buy with that? So anyway, do you know anyone that is looking to part with their Ergo? I will happily return it to you in probably 6 months! :) I can't fathom that this stage will last too much longer... Goodness knows... My back certainly won't last that long.
In the short time that Noelle has been alive, we've realized that she has nine lives. It's pretty apparent. She likes to grab life by the tail and swing it around over her head. While in the NICU, we definitely worried about her more than Lilley. Then after leaving the NICU, she gave us many reasons to stay up at night and lose sleep. In the following months she's grown into quite the little monkey... She'll climb onto and over anything. While she was the last one to walk, she was not the last one to get into trouble. She's mischievous. People that come over to visit, typically take one look at her and giggle and then say, "boy you're really going to have your hands full with her in a few years". Fortunately, we've truly got our hands pretty full with her now. She's a spitfire. A delight, but a true redheaded spitfire. One of Ellie's favorite things in the whole world is her horse. She has three. An old wooden rocking horse that was handed down from a friend, a fisher price rocking giraffe that Santa brought her, and her favorite... The Radio Flyer Rock & Bounce Pony. We got this as a gift for the boys last year for Christmas, and while the boys have liked it only so-so, the girls have adored it. Noelle especially... She's insane. She rides it calmly, bouncing up and down, and then decides she'll ride with no hands, and then she decides she'll rock back and forth as hard as possible, and THEN she decides that she'll try to stand on it like a circus horse rider. It's quite the show, and pretty scary. Every time I try to get a good video of her doing all of this, she promptly stops (you know how it is) So this video really doesn't do her justice... But you'll get the point... And to answer your question in advance, Yes, she's eating a quarter of a grilled cheese sandwich.
On the way. Just in time. Today's the day. Canape... Are you ever late? Bird. We can't wait to meet you. You're arriving just in time. Made our week complete...
Canape's water broke last night... It's a big waiting game now. I can't wait to hear all about Bird's arrival. A new baby... The excitement is killing me!!
Today was the day that we have been waiting for. We've been waiting since July for today to come...Thankfully it was very uneventful, so unexciting in fact that I wasn't even there...
Jon had his final Chemotherapy treatment.
Our book is closed.
The final chapter is written.
I'm so unbelievably happy to be putting this journey behind us. SO happy. I won't miss the Doctor's visits. I loved spending the time with Jonny, but I feel like I can schedule time somewhere else in our otherwise full lives.
And in my life, where there is good news, we always know... There typically will be bad news.
I got a call after returning home from picking Jon up this afternoon... My Mom called to let me know that one of our very close friends had been diagnosed with breast cancer. My Mom? she cried. I thought that was appropriate... I on the other hand, wanted to poke God in the eye. I thought that would be appropriate too.
How ironic that just as we're finishing our journey, our friend is now embarking on her own journey. One we all know too well. One that none of us wanted to hear about again...
I have faith for her, I have such hope for her, and I have unbelievable love for her... But regardless I feel so bad... I wish that every person that I know was somehow not touched by this terrible, nasty, disease...
This week has been hard, not so much this week, but this past few days... What with my sisters "anniversary", Jon's recent illness, WhyMommy's surgery, and now this... It's all weighing on me. It's a lot. A whole lot.
Say some prayers... Pray for W. Pray for her family. Pray for me, and help me apologize for poking God in the eye today... But mostly, pray for her to have the strength, the courage, and the wisdom to journey through this courageously...
Jon is going to KILL me. But truly, this one, this was NOT my fault. This is all Stefanie's fault. I'm totally and absolutely over the moon right now. Remember, back in the summer, when I told you all that I had bought my last stroller? That I wasn't going to buy anymore strollers... I didn't need anymore... The last one I had bought was "perfect"? gah.
I Lied.
Stefanie and I were chatting today about this stroller she wanted. She told me she wanted to go to Target to look at a Sit & Stand stroller. I asked her why, especially since she has triplets... One kid would still not have a place to sit, or stand. Anyway, she said "they have a double one, I saw it." I almost died. Fingers flying across my keyboard, I found two different styles. One manufactured by BabyTrend, and the other... Oh my... It's glorious. It's perfect. It's going to be my newest addiction... And oh my goodness... It's RED. So it would match the girls stroller! Hold me back people! Somebody hold onto my credit card... please. Do you have any idea how much this would cut down on the stares? The gawking? The questions? I love it. I adore it. I HAVE TO HAVE IT.
It's OK folks... Dr. Noelle is on the case. Elmo is going to be juuust fine. You think she's been around a few Doctors? I didn't show her how to do that, and that's one of my old stethoscopes... We never "play" Doctor here at our house... It's clear that she was just destined for the medical profession. CLEARLY.
A lot of people ask us how we do it. And frankly I have no idea. We have schedules, we have helpers, we have a lot of love, and only sometimes do we have a lot of patience. Our Au Pair Wilciara is here with me Monday through Friday from 9am - 6pm. This allows me time to get the house cleaned up, prepare meals (typically), as well as get any chores and errands run. It also allows me to spend one on one time with the kids, whereas if I was here alone, I probably would have to wait until the weekend or a day when I had help to be able to do that. It's very nice having her help, and while I wouldn't say that I'd die without her, she's a real godsend to me. I don't like to think about how different my life would be if we chose to go without help. And my life would be incredibly different. On Monday's & Wednesday's Will goes to school from 9-12 and, after dropping him off I do our grocery shopping. I typically have to go to all three of the big name stores in our area to get the "deals" that I'm hoping for. I go to Wal Mart for all of our necessities, meats, fruits, and staple items. I hit Costco for all the things the kids eat in bulk; chicken nuggets, tortellini, cheese, Mac & Cheese, & sometimes diapers. Then it's off to typically one of the big name grocery vendors... We've got Martin's, Food Lion, & Safeway. I never ever go to
Safeway. EVER. They just opened a Food Lion very close to us, and I find myself popping in there for random things, but rarely "shop" there. I typically end up at Martins and do a quick once over of the bargains of the week. The one thing I buy in bulk is bread. We have a box freezer in the garage, devoted solely to the bread. Once every month or so, Martins sells their Italian bread, 10 loaves for $10. A buck a loaf. Not too shabby. I'll happily pay that for the quality of this bread. It comes in white, wheat, and seedless... We like it all. It freezes SO well. We currently have about 45 loaves of this bread in our freezer. I kid you not. The only reason I know this is because the last time it went on sale it had been awhile in between sales and I was getting nervous that I might have to ::gasp:: Full Price for bread... The Travesty! Anyway, it went on sale and all was well. But don't you know that when those suckers went on sale, I bought the whole shelf... Yes indeedy I did. Don't think I didn't. Whole cart full. Yep. And sure I got stares, but guess who's got bread? That's right. Me. Anyway. What the HECK was I talking about... Right... My life... I digress. So the rest of the week aside from Mon & Wed... I'm just flying by the seat of my pants. Hoping for something exciting to happen (it usually does) and praying nobody gets sick (they usually don't... I pray hard). I spend a lot of time online... Jon hates that about me, I think he thinks I need Webaholics Anonymous. Truth is, I probably am in some ways addicted to the internet, but not really. I'm addicted to my friends here, I'm addicted to the love I get here, I'm addicted to my email... But really, I could walk away at anytime... See? I just walked away. I mean, I'm back... But that doesn't prove anything really. And what does he know anyway? For all I know it could be the chemo talking, we have no idea of how those drugs are affecting his personality after all... So the internet and I are friends. We play well together. I don't have a ton of time to hang out with friends in real life socially, but I do try. In fact just Monday... Karen came over... oy. She's real people. In the flesh. I SAW HER. And get this... She had a baby with her?!?!?! Oh my. The cuteness. I'm sure Karen thought I was a total dolt, I opened the door said hello and promptly began drooling. It was the worst case of baby fever I've EVER had. EVER. E-V-E-R. She and I then spent the rest of the day trying to convince Jon that one baby would be a breeze (what the HELL do she and I know!?! We BOTH have triplets...) And oh my goodness, wouldn't it be SOOOOOO fun to do it all over again... Jon held steadfast in his opinion. I totally didn't. Vasectomy or NO Vasectomy... There will be more babies in this house gosh darn it!! He then told me I'd probably need to find another dude to father them... He apparently thought that would deter me!! Kidding, Kidding!! (right?) Anyway, Karen was awesome we missed her as soon as her little minivan left our driveway... It was sad. It totally reminded me of WHY I need real life friends. The companionship that my computer provides is just not the same... My Virtual Best friend Stefanie, lives millions of miles away. Ok, totally not millions of miles, but it may as well be, because I can't see her when I want to. Truthfully, she's my bestest friend and I've never even met her... Is that normal? Not so sure. But I don't think either one of us care, know why? We're there for each other... We care about each other... That's all. But man, if she only lived closer. blah. ::Rambling:: ::Rambling:: Jon usually comes home around 5ish. This works out well... The kids are all eating dinner at this time and are in their highchairs. So many people have asked how we do mealtimes with so many kids. It's a great question... We don't. Mealtime is right now for the kids... I would LOVE to have a "family" meal, but truthfully, we don't have a table that's big enough. It's kind of sad. So we've got the kids in their highchairs enjoying their meal. It's usually Wilciara and I hanging out with them helping them with any feeding problems and such... Jon comes in, acts like a nut, makes them giggle, does the typical Daddy things... We get them cleaned up and then they get let out into the main area of the house to play with Jon and I before bedtime. That usually looks a little something like this...
We call that "kids gone wild". We usually let them run around for a bit before getting them cleaned up and changed for bedtime. We get the kiddos into bed by 7pm and it's at that point that Jonny and I get dinner for ourselves. We actually at this point enjoy having dinner without the kiddos. It allows us time to talk, and enjoy our food. Since Jon's folks moved out, we don't have as much time to get out of the house alone. However, we do have time in the evenings to ourselves. We're really blessed on most nights that the kids sleep from 7p until 7a. If one of the kids wakes in the middle of the night, Jon still gets up with them. And yes, for the record he is SuperDad. So... That's about it. Not sure if I answered all the questions you guys have asked. Not sure if I answered even one of them really... :) But hey, if there's questions out there to be had, lay them on me. I'll do a post on FAQ's. Maybe that would be easier... :) I just figured a day in the life would be easy... Turns out I have terrible ADD. Medication would be helpful...
So I really owe you all an update. I'm sorry I've left you in limbo... It's so not fair of me at all. What with Heath Ledger "POSSIBLY" killing himself, and Props N Pans giving away fun shoes and all, I've been preoccupied. As you can tell, Jon is fine. He's really doing so much better. I give credit to all of you who said prayers, sent well wishes, the whole nine... It was all you. As for the rest of the story... Friday progressed pretty smoothly after the red faced monkey incident. The unfortunate end of things was that we were in those chairs ALL DAY LONG. My butt... Oh my... My butt... It actually wasn't my butt as much as it was my tailbone. This really isn't about me though. Needless to say we closed that place down, Nurses were putting on their coats, shutting off computers, we were THE last people in that place. It was a little bizarre. We got home (hadn't eaten all day long) ate some dinner, and put Jonny McRedface to bed. He had a couple dots on the radar as far as fever was concerned, but nothing too crazy. We were instructed, when we left, to come back to the hospital if his fever went above 102, or he felt worse. Luckily neither happened. We also needed to go back to the hospital in the morning for a blood draw as well as another shot of Neupogen. In the morning we were blessed with no line at the lab, a relatively quick and painless blood draw, and no 2nd Neupogen shot. Saturday was our day... We should've played the lotto. The Neupogen wasn't given to him on Saturday because his WBC's went from 1100 to 6700 well within normal range... The days since then have been really calm, no fevers, and he went back to work this morning. He seems pretty well for what it's worth. Now, we are still planning on doing his final chemotherapy treatment this Thursday. Jon would like to have some kind of a plan in place though to ensure that this doesn't happen again 2 weeks from now... Can you blame him?
So Heath Ledger apparently killed himself. I'm really pissed off. 10 Things I Hate About You is probably one of my all time favorite movies, and he's what made me love Julia Stiles... And I LOVE Julia Stiles... But that's a whole other post. Anyway...man...Heath Ledger...Gah. Senseless... Pointless post? Yes. Bitter? Yes. Sad? Uh huh.
**Edited**
Dear "Anon"... I never made any uncaring remarks about my buddy Heath committing suicide. I never said he was stupid, or said anything negative about him. In fact if you look at when I composed the post, it was "assumed" that he had in fact committed suicide. Hence the reason that I wrote apparently. I'm upset that he's dead. Get off my back. Thanks.
The Redden Kids' College Fund! We've got to send our kids to college somehow, this is the wonderful link that gives you all the info you need to help us out!!
So many of you so kindly ask Jon and I what the kiddos are needing these days! Truth be told, if you're not planning on wrapping up diapers, we don't need much! However, we are always putting money from Birthdays & Holidays into their College Savings accounts. Please click on the VEST button above & you'll find all of the information necessary to contribute...Thank You!
So here's the thing. You remember that girl you saw bouncing on the horse? Acting like a fool? Turns out when she's not practicing for her days in the circus, she's begging to be picked up and held. Most of the time I try to ignore her, and redirect her pleas. However more recently when we've been out walking, or in a store, Noelle is refusing to be anywhere other than in my arms. I really have no problem with this, but my back truly does. 
