My Dad is My Hero and Oh How I Miss Him

Stuck in traffic with four sleeping children gave me more than a few seconds to delve into thoughts of my own with no interruption. I found my thoughts settling on my father, my dad, my daddy. It was like I had never realize what an amazing man he is!!! I was reflecting back on these past few years. My father has taken his mishaps with a stride and ease that those of us on the outside have not achieved. He does not seem to have to work at this, that is just how this man rolls.

He is the only kind of dad I know. He is near and dear to my heart. He makes my world a better place. He puts the frosting on my cake. I am not sure how I will go on without him.

My dad and I chat on the phone at least 3 times a day. You see he is just not my dad, he is my friend. He offers me exactly what I need at any given time. He is the perfect father for me.

Recently, he has not been feeling up to par. So, we have not had our daily chats. I miss them more than words can say. The past couple of days have been ridiculously busy around our home, yet, I keep picking up the phone and dialing my dad, to be disappointed that yet again I hear the answering machine. I am not mad, just sad that he is not up to picking on his youngest for just a few minutes, something that I know brought chuckles to the two of us.

Because I feel he is not "here" like he once was, I find myself revisiting all of our most beautiful memories. I remember being a little girl and spending every morning with him before school. He got me dressed and fed me breakfast. I remember our two week long camping trips during winter break where we would feed the homeless Christmas Dinner. He was amazing, every kitchen that man stepped into he would take charge and get things going. I remember my dad beaming with pride each and every formal dance I went to, I also remember how proud he was to see me graduate high school. I remember when I shared with him that I was pregnant at 18, I remember sharing with him the birth of his first grandchild, I remember going out to dinner with him and my dear husband when he asked my dad permission for my hand in marriage, I remember my wedding day and walking down the aisle with my mom and him, and I remember all of the silly day to day nuances we would chat about.

But, what is most admirable to me about my father is his belief and will. He never once stopped believing. He has lived through numerous heart attacks and strokes. He has walked away from each of these stronger than before. He ran 15 marathons after having open heart surgery, he has went through rehabilitation to walk and talk after having strokes. Today, is not for him what it used to be. He no longer has the freeness to do everything he once did. But, he does more than his fair share of what he can do and he takes these "tasks" very seriously. He gives advice wanted or not as sees put. And trust me when he gives this advice it it because he feels it deems a very strong warrant. He cooks 3 meals a day for my mom and cleans the house till it is spic and span. When we visit I catch him picking up microscopic pieces of lint off the carpet. He still makes me laugh all of the time. Like I said he throws himself into what life has to offer him 100%.

I could go on and on and on about my father, my dad, my daddy. He is so very very important to me and I am hoping and praying that he rallies through the hardship he has going on right now. So, we can again chat 3 times a day at the very least.

xoxoxo

Momma to Momma

What I really want to do right now is write a lovely blog post about being a momma and my journey of sweet sweet motherhood. But it will have to happen another time as my little munchkins are crawling all over me and kicking the computer as I try to type. I think that they want to spend this next hour before bedtime with me on this very special day :)
So for now Happy Mother's Day to all you momma's reading!!!!

Some Pictures of Where We Have Been

Lillitha and Zari

We met up with a few friends for an afternoon at the park after our first time riding the local bus.

Aunt Lauren bought the girls a paint your own Tea Set.

Coral and Lillitha shared the honors of Artist.

Tye Dye Eggs

I really like how these turned out and I was very skeptical when we began the process. I liked them so much I bought 5 more boxes 75% off at Target to do throughout the year. We love eggs around here.

The good old fashioned way to dye eggs.

I am not sure what my deal is, but I LOVE dying eggs!!!

My husband and I decided it was about time to honor our sons request for a tree fort.

Jason appreciated all the help he could muster out of these two kiddos.

I am not sure why I could not find any of the pictures I had planned on posting.

I am hoping to post a few of the items the Easter Bunny came up with this year.

But, these pictures do tell a bit about our how time was well spent recently.

Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going

Where we have been:

-Playing Easter Bunny at night

-4 pairs of PJ pants made from a thrifted sheet Pattern From Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing

-3 Soothing Gremlin Softies

-Vintage Superman Comic Book I found at a local thrift store

-2 Vintage Paper Doll Patterns and Sewing Doll Printables ( I am so sorry to say, I cannot share the link as I do not remember who shared these with the blogging world)

-3 Of these books-- and I threw in a pile of 6x6 squares of scrap fabric for the kids to dress their little people with

-3 Wild Things Totes made from 2 thrifted messenger bags and 1 thrifted canvas tote. I highly recommend sticking with the canvas tote if you are going to paint stripes.

-3 Colored Pencil Rolls Amanda Soule has a pattern in her book, Creative Family for one using wool felt. My 3 year little girl was lucky enough to get this one. My other two kiddos rolls are made from a pattern by Martha Stewart using a placemat. And, yep, we thrifted the placemats.

-1 little bag made using the leftovers from the thrifted sheet and Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing Show Bag Pattern to hold 4 Soy Crayons

-4 Sketchbooks for 8 little hands to do a ton of creating

-Zari my littlest received 6 chamomile scented bean bags requested by her Big Sister Lillitha as a first Birthday gift, but momma just got around to finishing those up.

-A wool felted crocheted Princess Crown also made its way into Zari's basket. At one time this little crown was meant for Lillitha, time passed and it had Zari written all over it.

-We had 6 wool felted balls leftover from a Christmas Stocking Stuffer Exchange that needed a good home. The current issue of Mother Magazine has an article on creating activities to keep little ones active indoors. We made one of the ideas using a white Thrifted Shower Curtain. I folded the curtain in half length wise, cut out various size holes using a rotary cutter outlined them with fabric markers and printed how many points each hole was worth. I folded it up and threw it in the basket with the wool balls. Nishan loves that we can hang it in any doorway of our home, though it spends most of its time in our living room as it is so cool to throw the ball as hard as possible and have it hit the office door causing our old rickety house to shake and rattle a bit.



Quite a while back I joined a Vintage Swap. I received a very cool butterfly sheet that I immediately wanted to sew into a piece of clothing for myself. I used Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing Book and made a dress. The dress is AWESOME!!! Unfortunately, I did not realize that this sheet was not in any shape to be used as fabric for clothing. Total bummer that it has a few holes and smells like cigarette smoke.



My eyes and my mind are very sleepy so I am going to close here and come back soon to finish and share a bit more about what has been filling our days and some thoughts on what we would like to be doing.

A glimpse of the going ons in our home this morning

It is Tuesday and we are having a rather nice start to our day. We woke up and made some very yummy raspberry turnovers coupled with sliced apples and peanut butter, it made a delicious breakfast. While I cleaned up the kitchen and dining room, my kiddos rummaged through our scrap box and began making some very cool works of stuff.
Lillitha cut up a box into squares that she taped into a box to hold her "special trinkets". Nishan followed the directions on the inside of another cereal box to make a very cool spaceship. Zari was absolutely delighted to color with a pen and back of a cereal box and of course use scissors to pretend to cut. That girl of mine, she just gets right in there with the biggens', like no one has ever told her she is little. I am so happy that these kiddos of mine are putting all of these saved what nots to use with there rather large imaginations.
As I sit here typing, Lillitha is rocking out to a dvd of Music Videos that we some how acquired with a cd of Coral's. Zari and Lillitha are having a rock party of their own as Nishan gets a private screening.
Nishan is blowing up his sister's with the spaceship he made. He is now stuffing anything that will fit in it, to than shoot out the other end all over anyone who will have a BIG reaction.
Off to continue our day side by side creating many more memories to hold onto and treasure, as I am finding this time is flying by.

4149 days old today

Tuesday November 3rd, I had an afternoon Dr.s appointment. She stated, "You have at least another week, make another appointment on your way out and I will see you than.". I was thinking you have to be kidding me, that is completely absurd, she will NOT be seeing me in another week without the baby in my arms. I headed home to get ready to eat dinner out with my parents at Hennesy's Tavern. We frequented this restaurant for yummy burgers throughout my pregnancy. It was a gorgeous night, we sat outside around the fire pit. I was determined to do everything possible to get this baby out of me, so I ordered the spiciest burger on the menu and topped it with even more hot sauce. After dinner I decided to go on a very long walk, it was pretty late. Looking back I was probably in very early labor, but had no idea at the time. At this point I was pooped, took a shower and went to bed. I woke up around midnight and felt this terrible urge to pee over and over again. I kept lugging myself to the toilet, but I just could not go. I think around the tenth time I sat on the toilet my water broke. Oh shit, I am really in labor and it is my due date, very cool. Before I could think any further I had a HUGE contraction, a topple you over what the fuck is this kinda pain. Coral's dad was asleep so I woke him up and let him know what was going on, called the Dr.s office next. They informed me I needed to head to the hospital soon, where the Dr. would meet me. I called my parents, as I wanted them to meet us at the hospital. And than there was another one of those big ole crash me down knife stabbing contractions. I decided I was going to shower before leaving to the hospital. On my way to the shower, putting my leg in the shower, my other leg into the shower, trying to take a shower I kept having to curl up in a ball to cope with the feeling of death I was having. No kidding I was pretty sure I was going to die. After my shower I curled up in fetal position in the living room than on all fours back to fetal position where I did this for awhile and lost track of the real world. I am not sure why or what pushed me back into reality, but all of a sudden it was life or death feeling I needed to get us to the hospital. I had a rather difficult time getting my significant other to move as quickly as I would have liked, but we did eventually make it to the hospital around 5:30am. Upon our arrival my dad was pacing the entry way with a wheel chair in hand. I was literally climbing the doors and windows of the car. I plopped myself into the wheel chair faster than one can blink, thinking that the hospital gods were gonna save me, I do not know why. Little did I know that I was going to have sit in that chair to sign papers, to be taken to the room, where they seriously expected me to be able to change my clothes and put on a hospital gown by myself. I had been moaning and literally screaming throughout the wheel chair ride, now all of a sudden I was going to be thinking clearly enough to think I was not dying? A very unhappy nurse helped me out of my clothes into the ugly gown when I immediately fell to the bed writhing in pain. My mom really wanted me to breath, I really did not want to breath, all I could think about was getting rid of the pain that was going to take me to heaven. Finally the Dr. who was going to deliver my baby walked in when I sat straight up in bed and asked very matter o' factly, "That he immediately cut the baby out of me, now, right now.'! And just as matter o' factly he informed me that is not how they do things there. I would be ok and at that he walked out. So, this is when I tell the nurse she better do something so that I can stop feeling like I am ripping in two. After my epidural, which was pain stakingly scary to receive, was working, I lay there wondering what the hell as I supposed to do now. It was very surreal. I remember not liking how I was feeling, but knowing that there was nothing that I would do about it. I hate sitting still and now I was not only forced to sit in this bed, but I was so very nervous and could not do a single thing to mute those feelings being stuck in one position with eight or more eyes on me at all times. I had completely lost track of time at this point. It felt like all of a sudden there were about ten nurses in scrubs standing at the door to the room, and than abruptly walked in the Dr. declaring that we were going to have this baby in two pushes or I was having a cesarean. I was not having a cesarean folks, we were going to get that baby out. And, I cannot tell you how I did as I could not feel a thing, but I got that little girl out on the second push. Yes I did!!! I pushed her out, and I still have no idea how. The Dr. held her upside down like she was a trophy asking that the nurse write down he had just delivered a baby with her cord wrapped around her neck twice. Umm...okay that was really wierd, but is she okay, can I hold her, can I see her??? A lot, of commotion ensued, the nurses and little gals daddy were doing all the newborn baby numbers, bathing, and clothing of her. I was stuck delivering the placenta still on my back in that very uncomfortable bed. Finally the moment that made all of that worth it, I got to hold my little girl for the very first time. She was just beautiful, she could not have been more perfect. I felt so happy to have a healthy baby, to have not died (yes, I really thought I was dieing), and to have escaped a cesarean. I was a young woman, and I had survived labor, I would indeed be able to care for my first born at a mere 19 years old. And, my Dr. did not see me in another week without that baby in my arms, she saw me six weeks later for our postpartum visit proudly carrying in Coral Alisa Young.

Thank goodness it is Friday

oh my this morning has been quite the morning. As usual the kiddos did not eat a very scrumptious breakfast. Well, at least I thought is would be most delicious, Bulgar porridge, berries, brown sugar, and a bit of milk. Ten o'clock and they are disintegrating from lack of nourishment. I must mention that they did not eat dinner last night either, as it was icky also. I could spend a lot of time discussing in rounds the fact that my kids would never starve themselves, but definitely hold out until they can gorge themselves on something they love to eat.
Anyways, we have painted a bit this morning, colored a bit, did a bit of laundry...but all in the midst of a lot of whining and crying. I kinda love the chaoticness of it all, it is a bit amusing that literally all four of my kids seem to be misaligned at the same time most frequently. It is a good way for me to prioritize what is most important. And, obviously the needs in my house are currently a mommy who is giving 100% of herself to the kiddies.