A Fresh Beginning

The End of 2011: A Blur...

2012-01-05T20:43:00.017-06:00

If you don't know yet, here's our big news of 2011. Another Apicella is brewing. Yeah! Four kids. Not just that. But four kids, four years and under!?!? Don't know what's harder, multiples or having one after another...I think multiples has GOT to be harder. My Busia (Polish- had 7 kids, one passed) and Situ (Lebanese - had 13 kids, two passed) had one kid after another. Sometimes two within 12 months!! Don't worry, we're not trying to keep up with them, but man I can't believe they kept this up for so many years. I am barely keeping my head above water.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how many pics I actually did take this season. Usually when I'm pregnant, the first four months are totally unrecorded because I am so out of commission. Well enjoy the update. We had a blessed season.

The Apicellas Christmas 2011

So we began the Christmas season with a trip to the theatre. Rori's friend Madeline joined us and we all saw the Nutcracker. It was a beautiful performance. The girls did so well. It wasn't a "kids" production but there were a lot of little dancers so that was awesome. They both ended up on my lap by the end of the performance but that's all Rori could talk about for the weeks to come.

Rori is in preschool and her class had a Christmas performance. They sang some songs and her class were the angels.

We were SO blessed to have my mom, bro, sis, bro in law and three sweet nephews stay at our house for the Christmas holiday. They flew in from California for 9 days. We spent Christmas in a warm, non-snowy Naperville (BOO!). Then we headed to Michigan to catch up with my mom and dad's family. My nephews are all within a couple months of each of my kids so it was perfect playgroup, all day everyday! The kids got along great and played so well. It was not chaotic or crazy, or destructive like I thought it would be. It was a blessed time of enjoying the company of family far away.

Babcia likes to buy matching jammies for everyone during this season. They were very cozy and cute!

Even the men matched!

Of course the ladies!

Merry Christmas Eve Santa Micah.

Josiah's favorite place. In the high chair with food.

A special love.

Doug's beautiful sisters.

Gabriel and Marissa Garbarino with their youngest.

Merry Christmas morning. It was awesome. We ate a fantastic breakfast and the kids waited patiently. Then we let them find and pass out gifts and go at it. It was a sea or wrapping paper. They loved it. Babcia wanted to clean everything up but we let the kids play in it for a while. They were having so much fun!

Luke's favorite gift - dinosaurs!

For Christmas dinner the two chefs of the family made us some amazing homemade pizza. We had a white pizza with prosciutto, Margarita, and pepperoni for Paul and the kids. It was delicious.

Then we headed to Michigan. Here are some of my cousins on my mom's side.

These are all of my cousins kids. These represent only six of us.

Here are the cousins with spouses. And Micah who wanted to be in on the action:)

Here is my dad and three of his kids.

Out of all of my dad's 10 siblings, he has the most grand-kids, so far...

My siblings. Wow, are we getting older.

For New Years Eve our playgroup got together at the Andersons. We celebrated NY at 6:35pm. Woo-hoo!!

In Fall Swing

2011-10-10T19:38:00.006-05:00

So here we are!

Well my little girl is officially in pre-school. I know it's true because I actually had parent teacher conferences last week. Wow! Now I'm on the other end. And the circle continues. She is doing great and making us proud. Although she did give her teacher a taste of her furrowed-brow look. I thought - oh no. It's now coming out at school. I thought I could contain it to home! - not quite. So I guess the secrets out. My little girl has some sass to her. We are praying it can be contained and molded into something for the Lord. But man she sure is her own person. Now to become the student again...

So we went on our annual camping trip with our friends again. This was year three and better than ever! It's so awesome to see our children grow together and us as well. The kids were finally old enough to stay up late enough to watch us start the fire. Maybe next year they'll get to enjoy smores:)

Our family of five in a our tent of 7. Let's see how long we can all sleep together in this one.

Micah B enjoying Saturday morning breakfast thanks to the Hay family!

These two are little fairies together. Madeline and Rori.

Scooter fest. Next year actually bikes?!?

This little man was a crawling fool. Eating everything in his site. Not the best age to introduce your child to the wonderful world of camping.

We also said good bye to Jessica at the end of the summer. It was bittersweet as we had such a great time with her during the summer but bitter because it had to come to an end. She went back to Calvin. A couple weeks following they asked when Aunt Jessica was coming back or when she would wake up. Now they're looking forward to sleeping at her house in Grand Rapids and eating candy and watching princess movies...

We also had some big birthday celebrations recently. Micah is one! Rori is 4! We had a pirate/mermaid theme. Fixed with crowns and hats and oceans in a bottle. The kids had a blast and I the parents enjoyed the short respite. We love birthdays!

Here Rori is modeling her fairy wings from Logan and her robe from Babcia. Can we say couture?

Our pieces of heaven.

Mermaid cake! Not ariel. just generic mermaid in case you were wondering...she will NOT see that movie till she's 10!

Here are the little models showing off their crowns and hats they made. Of course Rori's ticky tacky doll has a hat too. My ever-so-talented mother in law sewed by hand this doll because of a book we read from the library. Ticky (as she's been named) is now escorting us everywhere!

One of the favorites of the kids. The Jump Jump!

Our dear sweet Babcia on Micah patrol

My son is one!

My daughter is 4!

Doug's amazing cakes. Which by the way he put together in record timing this year. We've been very busy remodeling our basement and bathroom. He's been working on them overtime. So the cakes took a backseat. They came down to the 11th hour but my man put them together without a hitch!

Some of the coolest moms I know!

Hot Fun in the Summertime

2011-07-27T13:19:00.010-05:00

Well here we are again. Another summer passing us by. I'm starting to associate seasons with how old my children are. 2011 will be the summer of Baby Micah. We've had a great summer so far. Starting out with enjoying our neighborhood. Parks, walks, and finally getting to the beach! Almost every afternoon, after naps we head to Centennial Beach. It's so nice to have Jessica here this summer. She's been tagging along to all our outings and been a great help. She is seen so much holding Micah that many passerbyers this he's hers. :)

We celebrated 4th of July at my friend's house. The girls loves sparklers but enjoyed watching Tinkerbell inside the house rather than watch the show in the street.

We've been spending a lot time with playgroup and did a family beach dinner day at Centennial Park one Friday evening. We all ate pizza and played and even jumped off the diving board!

Of course everyone has one of these pics. I was literally on the phone with the hospital when my dad was in the hospital (he's fine but just facing progression of our lovely heart issue). The phone call was literally 15 minutes long. I get off the phone and race upstairs to where I know they've been quiet the last 5 minutes. I almost run into them because they are coming downstairs to show off their new artwork. I burst out laughing, am in no way to discipline them. We have a good laugh, take some pictures and they promise never to do it again. So far, they've kept their word!

Here's another shot of our playgroup. A whole lotta girls!

We have a horse stable near our house we are allowed to walk around and see the horses in action. Either in lessons or being fed or just taking a walk. It's open all year round and best of all, it's FREE!

Micah is weaning his way off of baby food. He's starting to eat solids now. I can't believe it. Just in time though. I'm all out of the soft stuff just about. Here is a great shot of him enjoying beets!

Our family was able to serve at Bair Lake Bible Camp. Doug and somewhat me cooked in the kitchen for the week. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed serving and being in touch with long ago friends.

Here are Sharon (lifers at BLBC who's been cooking in the kitchen over 35 years!) and Doug. Doug made his famous cinnamon rolls. Many were skeptical at first but they were yummy!

We spent time swimming at the lake too. The girls loved their new swimmies and took to them so quickly.

Here and Rori and Avery and some of their new friends they met this week.

Can you believe both girls did the zip line? I think it was a 40 ft drop. Doug held Rori and I did it with Avery. They loved it and said next year they want to do it by themselves!

Here's the old group! Shannon, Sarah, Heather, Farah and Sarah. Good times growing up in my faith and life with these women.

We also spent time at the craft barn.

In the pool.

And of course at home we LOVE hanging in the backyard with a sprinkler.

And last but not least we love our Dr. Shah. Avery got her ears pierced during this visit. Dr. Shah is near and dear to our hearts. The girls love playing dr and pretend to be her all the time.

Avery turned two and other adventures

2011-05-23T20:56:00.007-05:00

Happy Birthday Aves! I can't believe our little baby is already turning into a big girl. The other day I was thinking how I can never put frilly little bloomers on our little girl because she's not a baby anymore. Not that I ever would. I never dressed my girls like that but the fact that my baby girls aren't babies anymore saddens me. Avery is so unique and just a gem to have in our family. She is so easy going and introspective. Just like a her dad! Here are some shots from her bday. We celebrated at home with friends and family.

This was one of her favorite gifts - a dress up nurse/doctor kit. She and Rori take turns giving each other a check up.

Famiglia Apicella

Here are some of Rori and Avery's friends - Erin, Ella, and Nora

The three crazies!

Doug outdid himself again! Piping an entire elmo cake for Aves. It was delicious too.

With 17 kids in the house we thought it best to let them jump around on a bounce house that fit in the basement (thank God!)

Babcia of course bought Avery such a cute outfit for the occasion.

Micah almost 6 months. Starting to sit up like a champ!

Aves with some special gifts. She appreciates them all!

Another favorite toy - tricycle. Although I can see there will be some competition...

Chillin' with the cousins.

We thought it would be special to take the family to see a children's musical. It was performed at the Mac (College of DuPage's performing arts center). We had great seats and it was only 45 minutes long. Perfect for the kids. There was music, dancing and lights and just a whole lot of fun. We all enjoyed the show and will be going back again for sure!

1st Quarter

2011-03-24T20:13:00.014-05:00

Yes, it's true. I'm going to blog about the first quarter of the year. I realize that there is still a month to go but I don't think you'll mind. Well, I'm thankful for all the pictures I take. These lend me a timeline to my life. They document things fairly well. Please follow along:

January
1. My cousins Laurhn and Lydiah (and of course sweet baby chase) visit for a few days. Awesome time. They got to see the mundane yet very active day-to-day life of mine. I got to get to know some pretty cool cousins of mine in a deeper way!

2. My Gezers - Heather and Shannon visit with their eldest boys - Charlie and Nolan. I get a glimpse of what life will be like with 5 year olds running around and we all got quality time to catch up on a long overdue visit!

3. Doug and I take our crazy family to Florida to bother my poor unsuspecting in-laws. The weather was definetly nicer than here but it was not swimming nor flip-flop weather. The kids were up at the crack of dawn and totally exhausted all of us. Part of us couldn't wait to get back home.

February
1. Snowpacolypse! Witnessed the most snowfall I can remember since my childhood. 18 inches here in Naperville.

2. My mom visited and gave Doug and I a much needed break. The girls LOVE "waking Babcia up" and crawling in bed with her and "playing her iphone" This allows Doug and I for 30- 60min of extra sleep. THANK YOU BABCIA!

3. Back to Florida. This time Lauren and Elise joined us. I can't lie, I wasn't looking forward to this trip - especially with what we had to put up with last month, but boy was I glad for answered prayers. The kids slept AMAZINGLY!!! AND we ALL (5 of us!) slept in the same room. Doug and I in my in-laaws bed, Rori on an air-mattress on the floor, Aves and Micah in a pak-n-play. It was awesome. THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!

March
1. Mardi Gras Party. Our group of friends like to have monthly parties, especially in the winter months when we don't see the light of sun for weeks. Maureen and Adam cooked us up some Louisiana jumbalya and it was fantastic. I've even bought all the ingredients to make it myself. The kids had a Mardi Gras parade and still love marching around the house with their beads and masks to "When the Saints go Marching In" by Louie Armstrong.

2. Regroup - we were suppose to go to CA for a week to visit my sister but in the 11th hour cancelled our trip due to extreme illnesses over there. We've rescheduled it for May. I guess it's a good thing. We will most likely have better weather and it gives the Apicellas time to get back into the swing of things. Like - life. As I've been home these past few weeks, I've realized
a. Rori is getting sassy
b. Rori is starting to ask "why" and saying "show me" (she can write her name)
c. Avery is getting defiant
d. Avery is standing up for herself and not letting Rori command her every move
e. Micah is almost 6 months old!! Gone is his infancy!!!
f. He is the emulsifier with our oil and water personalities
Point in case: Micah was on the ground chewing on whatever he could reach. Rori and Aves were jumping all around him. Scaring the living daylights out of me. Micah rolls over on his belly and rori proceeds to lay on top of him with her whole body and bounce up and down. Aves begins to follow suit. I shout - NO GET OFF OF HIM - Avery jumps back in fear of my raised voice - I feel a slight twinge of guilt but glad she stopped in her tracks. Rori looks up at me and slowly rolls of of him. Micah pops his head up with a HUGE smile on it. All the while I'm trying to explain how he's a baby and you can hurt him and he doesn't like that. His smile greets me with relief and I begin to see how he brings such a peace and calmness to this family.

Enjoy the pics - wish I more time and space to show more

Happy New Year

2011-01-02T20:58:00.011-06:00

Happy 2011 Everyone.

My life is becoming, well, it's quite full. Very full. Blogging has almost disappeared, as can be seen from me not doing it in over a month! These sweet chillin' of mine are requiring two of me. I wish I had three arms and I also wish there was a sleep bank, so I could make withdraws every morning. Unfortunately I am unable to keep up with normal things like brushing my teeth or changing my clothes everyday. I know this sounds crazy to many but I just don't think it's priority to change my shirt from the previous day when I know Micah's going to spit up on me again, I'm going to wipe Avery's boogers and Rori's paint off her arm. So I've resigned myself to taking a back seat for another few months. Until a full night's sleep is on the horizon and spit up is a distant memory, what's the use, right? On the flip side, I have felt overwhelming love from family and friends this season. Doug and I have hosted many people and parties and have loved every minute of it. Here are a few memories from our busy and fun month.

We went to Detroit for my cousin's wedding. We were able to spend time with many family members we don't see on a regular basis. Here are my aunt's Marci and Maria (mom's sises)

My cousin's Laurhn (Chase - Laurhn's baby) and Lydiah.

My Uncle George and Aunt Diane

Uncle Steve, Aunt Deb and clan.

My dad and my munchkins.

Doug, Micah and I were Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus at our church's Live Nativity. The funny story about that is last year we did it with Avery and when the pastor of our church thanked us for doing it, I said, no
problem, maybe we'll help you out next year as well. Who knew that would be TRUE!!

This year we did our advent reading, prayer and activies with the girls. Although I wasn't as "active" as I was last year, we did manage to get a few things in. One day we strung popcorn.

Another day we painted our nativity scene with the help of Nana and Papa. Would you believe they carved out the figurines so we could hand paint them?!?!! They are amazing!

We also attended some Christmas parties for the kids!

We made Christmas cookies. The girls LOVE helping to cook. Here are the beginnings of Mystic Ritz. Yum. My new favorite.

We spent a morning making Italian cookies with Nana.

When my bro got here we spent a ton of time outside, sledding, making snowmen (snow boys, they were small) and just playing in the snow. It was so much fun. Unfortunately at the time of this writing all the snow has melted because of the rain we got at New Years. Our snow pants are waiting in the wings!!

We took a trip to the mall to ride the carousel.

Rori sang many times at church. The children's musical, the cantata and Christmas Eve too. I must say, it was fun being that video-taping parent. Wanting to catch every moment. I had to keep telling myself this is the first of many...

We hosted Christmas Eve at our house with Doug's family. We ate hearty appetizers and sweets. It was a nice evening.

So

Christmas morning was great. I had to beg the kids to keeping opening gifts. They were fine with the first one. I'm glad we only got them three gifts (just like Jesus). They had tons to open from family. Don't tell, but I've put some away for later...

On Dec. 26 (Doug's 32nd bday) we also were blessed to celebrate Micah's baptism. Everyone held it together considering we had been celebrating the last 2 days.

Our favorite game of the season was Settlers of Catan.

For New Years, my friend Patty, and the Gelatts came to visit. Here we are enjoying our 40 degree weather with a walk in the puddles.

It was so nice to be able to go out to eat with the adults. The Gelatt kids watched Rori and Avery and we took Micah along. It was a great season to celebrate with family and friends. Micah is already 3 months old. If I get around to it, I'll post more pics of him. He is so stinking cute!

It's sad when I think about this will be my last baby experience. Micah is such a good/easy baby. It makes me happy to think of ending on such a good note. He's in his own room now. So far, not up more than 2x's a night. Rori and Avery are playing SO WELL together. They can play with no fighting for like 20-30 minutes. I know that doesn't seem long but it's an eternity to me. I love it. I'll sit and be nursing and watch them play "mommy" "cook food" "noah's ark" or "bake cookies" it's a beautiful thing. Thankfully Avery does what Rori says for the most part and Rori takes turns and gives Avery "roles".

Doug and I are enjoying the evenings as the kids are down by 7-7:30. We play Settlers, watch TV or talk. It's pretty nice. Even though I'm crazy busy all day, I love my life. God has blessed our family.

Long November

2010-11-29T20:29:00.006-06:00

This month started off with a GREAT surprise. My dear friends the Gelatts (Josh, Amy, Caleb, Remi and Peter) drove over 5 hours to surprise me for my bday. They unfortunately stayed only overnight but it was lovely to see them! It meant so much to me. The girls saw them early in the morning and loved it. They can't wait to see them again soon.

We hope we'll all be together again for New Years. This time in Chicago!

I've turned 34 this year. 10 year ago I was boarding a plane to China. My mom and sis waited with me at the gate as I tearfully said goodbye and boarded the plane. This was before 9/11 when family and friends could sit at the gate with you before you got on the plane. Seems like forever ago right? Well with this passing year, I hope to be more assertive and honest. At times I inconvience those I love the most, as to not step on others toes. Why do we do this to our loved ones? This year, I want to stop doing this!

So all I wanted for my birthday was to spend time outside with my family. After a pumpkin pancake breakfast from my MIL, we took the girls to the arboretum and then to portillos. It was so nice. I just love doing things like this with all of us! Especially when everyone's well-rested, fed and obeying!

Here are some lovely flowers from my MIL, my NEW polaroid camera (can't wait to use it!!) and a homemade Vermont Spice Cake made by Doug. yum, hello! Don't I look happy?

Micah is getting so big. The girls still love to hold him. He's starting to laugh at them now so it's so fun to watch them interact.

We had some old dear friends come and visit for a couple days right before Thanksgiving. Ben and Haley (who is preggo with twins!) and their two lovely girls, Eden and Selah were on their way to Iowa. They used to live here and we all had a great time reminiscing and hanging out like old times.

The girls played so well together. It was like, they had known each other for years!

Doug had left for work already...

Uncle Paul and Hailey came to visit for Thanksgiving. Avery's new thing is laying down in the water. She has no fear of it getting into her mouth or eyes. She just loves submerging herself. Rori of course had to try it too!

All three - whoppie!

Paul's new favorite. The first thing he said when he held Micah, "Oh Micah, I will have lots of advice for you with two older sisters." They have a lot in common.

Our boy! He reminds me a lot of my 2nd cousin - Nolan (doesn't he Shannon?)

Oh where is sleep, is hiding in the trees?

2010-10-24T20:17:00.005-05:00

The Family of Five

Micah is growing bigger and my sleep is getting better. For all your breastfeeding moms, I'm up just about twice a night. He has his last feeding between 9-10pm. Is up around 1am and 4am. Then sleeps until 7ish. Not bad eh? I cannot take any credit but I'm so glad there's a little consistency. It will help immensely when I'm home by myself on Wednesday...Oh dear, will I make it through the day without crying? Any bets?

These last few weeks have been AWESOME! Doug took nearly two weeks off and my mom will have been here for 9 days. She's leaving Tues - waaa! When Doug was home he was a STAR! At first I think it was very overwhelming for him but once he got the knack of it, he was a #1 Dad. Remembering snacks, extra diapers, etc. He could take over my job with ease. We had friends bring us meals. This was such a blessing. I remember our first meal altogether as a family. I was SO happy. I remember looking around at all these people I get to spend my life with and it brought tears to my eyes. Is this really my life? wow. Doug took the girls to playgroup, park, museum, walks, shopping, library, etc. He and the girls got some great bonding time in. Which left me home with Micah. We got some great bonding time in too!

Jessica came to visit for a weekend. It was great. She took some awesome pics of the kids and of course the girls loved it! They ate her up and got a full charge of ougie power! My mom is here now. Oh my word, what a blessing she is! As I speak she's cleaning, and I'm talking deep cleaning, my fridge. I don't think it's been cleaned that well in 2.5 years (when we moved in) and if I remember correctly, my mother in law cleaned it...She takes the girls in the morning. This is super great bc they're up at the butt-crack of dawn. Oh the tragedy - when she leaves! She also has been taking them out, to parks, music class, etc. Every day, Rori tells her, "don't go!" It's so sad that she knows whenever Babcia comes, she must ultimately leave. I wish she were closer. But she has been a blessing beyond all measure. I don't know how I would have made it through last week. She leaves on Tues and so my reality will begin. Here are some pics of the things we've been up to...

Jessica and Avery on a walk.

Jessica and the girls in the back yard.

Micah wonders if this is better than being inside...

We had some 70 degree weather so we thought it would be great to take the family to the pumpkin patch. We went on a Tuesday and were the first ones there. Had most activities all to ourselves. It was awesome!

Yes Micah is in there.

Unto us a son was given

2010-10-04T20:53:00.011-05:00

"Who is like the Lord" Micah Joseph Apicella
October 2, 2010 1:06am 7lbs 10oz 2o in

It is finished.

We now are a family of 5. Actually, just like my own upbringing. 2 girls, then a boy. We can't believe it. Our family has grown once again. We are over the moon about Micah's arrival. The girls are as well. And even though it's only day 3, they are showing signs of wonder, care and love towards him. It all started on Thursday night...
(beware, this birth account isn't for the weak - all the gory details are included :)

My "due date" was September 30th. I padded it by a few days because I did not want to get induced again. I was induced with pitocin with Rori and Avery and hated every minute of it. I wanted to experience labor naturally without forced contractions. My doc induces at 41 1/2 weeks so I wanted to be sure that I had plenty of time to go on my own. So I may have skewed my due date a few days...So the evening of September 30th I was ready to start using natural remedies to bring on labor. These included things like, spicy food, lots of walking, whoopie, etc. So Thursday we had a little whoopie and then I used Evening Primrose Oil. We used that and more for the other two but it never worked. As I fell asleep that night, I planned full on getting up that next morning and caring on as usual. I was wrong.

At 3:30am Friday morning I was woken up by a fairly strong contraction I had to breath through. This continued every 8-10 min until about 6:30 am. I even moaned through a few too, into the pillow of course, so not to wake sleeping beauty next to me. I knew if this were it, I would need his strength through the day. The girls came into our beds around 6am. I remember moaning through a contraction and then rolling over and playing tickles with Avery. It's so strange how your body gives you breaks with contractions. At 6:30am we started getting out of bed and potty, etc and my contractions dwindled. They were every 30-40 min now, still strong. Doug took Rori to school and Avery and I were home all morning. They slowed to every hour but when they happened, I had to moan and breath. They were pretty strong. My MIL came over for lunch and helped with the girls. When I got them both down I took a nap. Slept for nearly an hour.

At 2:20pm I was woken up again by a strong contraction. Soon both girls were up and I noticed that I had about 3 contractions within a 30-40 minutes span. This meant they were about 12 min apart again. I got a call from my friend Jen during this and I had a contraction on the phone with her. I think this scared her a bit. She asked if I was alone and I said yes. She volunteered to come over and I accepted her offer. The girls were distracted by their afternoon video and Jen continued to monitor my contractions. They were getting closer and closer. She kindly mentioned I should call Doug. Doug was then on his way home and my doc was notified that contractions were close but still not close enough to come in.

5:30pm Doug came home, we got the girls to his parents and headed to the hospital. I still felt like I would be turned away. I didn't feel I was in active labor yet. But they were 5-7 apart and I didn't want my doc to miss my labor. He lived an hour away. So we got to the hospital and I was 5 cm. Wow. This was it. YEAH! No pitocin. No induction. I was excited but nervous because I realized that I had to endure labor, yet again...Oh the pain!

For the next two hours I roamed the halls, sat on the ball and beat Doug in cards. It was fun. We were texting everyone and updating them. On the other hand I was getting discouraged because the contractions were not as painful or consistent, so I thought...

I got checked at 9:00 - to my surprise I was now at a 7! Wow. That was easy. Now comes the unfun part. Do I let them break my water to speed things along and get this baby out, or do I continue to labor and let nature take its course? I thought it would be neat to have the baby's bday be 10/01/10 so they broke my water. Now the pain was back and full force! But this time, back labor had begun. It was horrible. Now there were no breaks in between contractions. It was all PAIN!! Horrible, excruciating pain. I'm not going to lie, it was too much for me. And the worst of it was I stopped progressing at a 9. I had a lip of cervix that wouldn't budge, why? The baby was posterior - causing back labor. And the nurse would not let me out of the bed. I asked several times to stand up, squat, walk around - nope! "Laying on your side is the best way to move the baby" Ugh, really? I was in so much pain and I couldn't go with my instincts, which were to stand up, and get moving! So I labored in bed, reeling in pain for over 2 hours. The nurse tried everything in her book and nothing was working. I was relentless in my pursuit to move. Finally she let me get on my hands and knees on the bed. I was swaying my hips and doing cats cradle. I had a contraction and BOOM, the baby moved into place. Instantly I had to push.

I wanted to push it out right there, but no no, that's not how we push here. I had to get back on my back laying down (ugh so not natural) and push the baby out. It took about three contractions - maybe 15-20 minutes and out came Micah! He was perfect. Hardly any mucky yucky stuff. Crying well and good color. 9/9 apgar. I had my eyes closed during the pushing, so when he came out I heard 2-3 people say, it's a boy. I looked up and saw his penis, then I looked over to doug and he was crying. It was so beautiful. I was so happy. So relived too. Finally, no more pain! Now onto the fun part of breastfeeding and baby cuddles. By the way, in case you're wondering, my heart was a star. No weird rhythms or fast beats. Praise God! Now just pray it remains stable and in good shape for the next 40-50 years! :)

Update: We are home and adjusting to our new life as a family of 5. The girls are doing fairly well. Rori wants to hold him constantly. "Should I hold baby Micah?" she asks, all day long. Avery just wants to touch him or should I say, poke him. I think she's having a little trouble because she's not able to cuddle with me as much as she used to, nor am I able to hold her as much. She's been crying more than usual. Sleep deprivation isn't too severe yet. But I'm sure it will catch up with me soon. This morning the girls came in at 5:30 and of course I was doing a feeding. So usually they would just cuddle and lay there, now they were all wide-eyed and hovering. A different scene for us, but one we must get used to!

Thank you for all your well wishes and prayers. We are so blessed. God is giving us a season of pure joy. So with humble hearts we give Him all our praise for this occasion!

The New Famiglia Apicella

Rori's 3rd Birthday Party

2010-09-21T16:15:00.008-05:00

Happy Birthday Rori! Wow can't believe my first born girl is already 3, in school, potty trained, talking, singing, oh man. I am so proud of her. She is such a great girl.

We had her party a couple weeks early for a few reasons. Her birthday isn't until Oct 4 but with the baby coming, I didn't want to take a chance and miss it. I also didn't want to be totally incapacitated even if we waited until I was overdue. So my gracious inlaws offered to host her a party at their place, which took a TON of stress and work off of Doug and me. I was ready to throw in the towel and not do a party at all but again, thank you mom and dad for coming through for Rori! We had 46 in attendance. Family and friends. Thank God the rain held off and we were able to bounce around outside and play in their yard. We ordered yummy and cheap costco pizza and had apps, salad and fruit too. Doug spent all day Sat making Rori's cake. It was a success. He used fondant and did an amazing job. I love that he loves being creative and doing this for the girls. Lord, knows I do'nt have a creative bone in my body...

Here are some pics from the party.
Avery, Mackie (2rd cousin) and Rori on the bouncy slide.

Friends eating dinner together.

Me and my birthday girl.

As you can see she was very excited to open gifts.

My girls.

Avery wasn't interested in opening gifts. She was entertaining the crowd with a bag on her head.

Nana and Papa in one of her favorite colors.

Aunt Lauren and Miss Elise in the other.

More friends.

Avery's Aunt Lauren and Miss Elise were so sweet to think of Avery. They wrapped some bracelets for her and she got to open her own gift and was very pleased!

Rori is totally into dressing up nowadays. She has always been a clothes changer but since these play clothes have come into the pic, they take the cake! We also found a craig's list scooter for her. She's ridden it every day.

Here are all the cousins. Doug's cousin's kids, and his siblings kids. Oh how they're growing...

Our family. (Next time I'll take this pic at the beginning of the party, as opposed to 7:30pm, when the girls should have been in bed for 30 min already...)

August and Everything After

2010-09-06T21:29:00.011-05:00

Well it's been a very busy August and summer's come to an end around here. No more pool, or sprinkler in the morning. Nights are cool and my belly's swelled. Autumn is well on its way. It's a good thing. So, who are these women, you may ask yourself? These are the moms from the playgroup I've been in for coming up on 3 years! These women are amazing, each in their own way. I've learned so much about parenting, discipline, and just coping. Lara, the woman in the peach shirt on the left, top photo is moving to Green Bay, WI in the coming month. This was our last night out with all the girls. We saw "eat pray love" and dined at Maggiano's. It was a great evening. We'll all miss Lara.

Mid- August I went to Michigan for the week. We got to spend some quality time with Poppy(my dad), Babcia (my mom) and cousins.
Here is my dad helping Avery putting on shoes that are WAY too big for her.

Antoinette was so good with the girls. She played with them and Rori still asks when she's going to see her again.

Avery's favorite position.

Fun at the splash pad.

Here is my mom with the girls. She took half days so they got a lot of time with Babcia. Rori didn't want to go home. Avery missed Daddy a lot though.

Laying out with cousins.

This is Nolan. Avery's 3rd cousin.

Nolan's dad is a tennis guru. Avery was trying some moves.

This is my cousin Shannon and her husband Matt and Nolan and Hadley. They hosted us one day. It was so fun. We played, ate and the girls even napped there. It was a lot of fun.

Movers and shakers!

My cousin Laurhn had her first baby boy. The girls LOVED him. They couldn't get their hands on him enough. Is this foreshadowing for me of what's to come?

Helping Babcia water the plants.

Four hungry people

Avery modeling her new boots that she wears all over the house.

My little Rores.

I bought Doug a tree for our fifth wedding anniversary. Here's how we transported it from the store. Poor Jess had to sit in the back with it. Unfortunately they just watered it so she kept getting water draining into her underwear. Thanks Jess!

Sausage stealer!

Planting the tree. This is my life.
Doug trying to get something done. The kids running around like crazy and me sitting there with my bump.

The girls LOVED having Jessica around for the week. As did I. Avery calls her "Guess-ca"

We found an empty lawn near a Thai restaurant we ate at. We decided to run around a bit before we ate. The girls loved and Jess got some cute shots.

These girls love their dad!

Our old, dear friend Ben came in town for a night. We were delighted to have him for dinner and talked for hours. We miss him and his family!

Playing and having fun.

I took Jess to see a concert at Lincoln Park Zoo with Doug's sis and her friend Elise. We saw Griffin House and Guster. It was a nice evening.

The big news around here is that Rori started preschool. We were all so nervous. She usually hates leaving us, even for sunday school. But she was so excited to start school and did great. No tears and returned to me with smiles and fun stories about what she did. I'm so so happy for her.

Finally, last weekend we went apple picking at Kuipers Family Farm. We had a great time and are enjoying delicious apples and the treats that come with it. Cider, donuts, carmel, etc. Yum. And this is the start of our Autumn...

Fading Summer

2010-08-09T20:33:00.006-05:00

This is a pic of Rori dressed as a little Japanese girl. Her latest favorite Seseame Street video is Big Bird goes to Japan. So she's been wanting to wear this little kimono outfit my dad bought her a couple years ago when he went to Japan. She knows a few Japanese words too!

It's already mid-August and I only have 8 more weeks until Baby #3 joins our family. We've been keeping busy going to Centennial Beach, playing in the sprinkler and on hot days, going to the museum and library. There is so much to do here in Naperville. We'd be at the beach everyday but if it's too hot I can't go. It's very difficult for me to have to watch both girls going in two different directions and then have to keep myself hydrated and coherent. It's hard to say no to them when it's become habit - after naps, let's go to the beach - but when it's over 85 with no clouds, I have to say no.

Rori and Avery are very excited for the new baby. Rori thinks it's a girl (she has from day 1) and she's named it Curly Bear because she thinks it will have curly hair like her and Aves. Whenever my belly is bared, the girls hug it, kiss it and talk to it. Rori has felt the baby move many times. Avery doesn't get the concept though. I can't believe our family is expanding yet again but I'm getting very excited for the sweet little baby moments we're about to experience.

My mom, bro and Haily came to Chicago for 4th of July. the girls absolutely LOVE them and ask about them all the time. Rori has started answering the phone and every time she answers it she says, "Is it Babcia?" Here's Aves showing us she's "soooo big"

My brother Paul and Avery - July 2010

The girls love love love dogs. Whenever Haily comes around they love on her as much as possible. Thankfully Hailey is gracious and let's the girls love on her without much complaint.

Rori was able to experience her first sparkler with uncle paul. She loved it. Although she didn't get it was fire. She kept pointing it to me wanting to show me.

Here is Doug's aunt char and his mama (in the red). And of course our decadent homemade desserts.

Our friends.

Babcia and Avery

A couple of weeks ago our friend Elise invited us to the Shedd when her sis came down from GR. It was Rori's second time there (she went when she was 10 mon) but she appreciated it so much more this year. And even Avery got into it and excited about the different sea life and shows we saw.

These polka dotted sting ray were one of their faves.

elise and Rori and some amazon fish.

Rori feeling shark teeth. These sharks were huge and scary but the girls ate it all up!

Shedd just built a new place for little ones that had touch and feel stuff. They both could have stayed here all morning and afternoon.

These were alive!

So our most recent happening was Doug's triathalon. He swam 1/4 mile, biked 13, and ran 5K. It was so fun to watch him. The girls made a sign and we cheered him on. He finished 13 seconds faster than last year and trained less. He can't wait until next year. His goal is to buy a road bike because he uses a mountain bike and it's a lot harder, so that would probably cut a lot of time off.

Approaching the finish line!

Here we are Centennial Beach. It's huge. Half beach, half pool. The girls like both a lot!

This is Centennial Park, just down the path from the beach. We love this park.

Our family on July 4th, 2010

concrete basement

2010-08-01T11:39:00.002-05:00

Warren Dunes - Michigan

2010-06-28T12:21:00.007-05:00

So here are some great memories from our 2nd annual playgroup camping trip. This year we headed out to Warren Dunes in Sawyer, MI. A little under 2hrs from Naperville. We also stayed for 3 days, 2 nights (longer than last year). And we added another family (6 total). We had a total of 21 people. 12 adults, 8 kids, 1 baby. It was busy but lots of fun. The kids all had a great time swimming, playing, pretending, playing music, eating dirt, etc. Us adults had a great time chasing kids, cooking, swimming and relaxing by the fire making s'mores.

We arrived on Friday afternoon set up camp and hung around and waited for everyone to arrive. After dinner we pretty much just watched the kids play and then they headed to bed. We had a nice night around the fire. Doug and I did not put up our fly because there wasn't going to be any rain until the next day. Our new tent is sweet. It has a fully open ceiling so when you're in bed you can watch the stars and see the trees above. Everyone else put up their fly. Well that night at around 2-3am I got up to go pee and then as I was falling back asleep I starting to feel random drizzle. I didn't think anything until I notice Doug get up. Then I started to feel it more. It was starting to rain!! We scrambled to put our fly up so our sleeping kids wouldn't get soaked. Thank God, it was just a short-lived misting. That is until about 30 min later a downpour occurred. We were so lucky we didn't get soaked. Thank you Lord! Needless to say we left our fly up the rest of the weekend even though it didn't rain...

Saturday we headed to the beach for most of the day. We ate lunch, made sand castles, swam, flew a kite. It was lovely. Saturady evening the kids all went down fairly early bc they were so wiped out from the day at the beach. Us adults were too. We had a nice fire and good conversation. How is it that we end up talking mostly about our kids...

Sunday we all got up early (of course bc of our munchkins) and ate breakfast and packed up. Rori cried and said as we were packing up to go home, "Don't go home Mommy. I like camping so day long." It's a good thing we headed out early because another violent storm front was on its way and we drove through it as we headed back to IL. All in all it was a great time. Good friends, food and fun. We're blessed.

Rori and Alyssa playing with playdough, waiting for dinner and friends.

Bode, Rori and Mees having fun with the baby tree.

Chicken Ka-bobs and rice!

Pancakes and sausage for breakfast.

Music time - Doug played his guitar and we brought instruments for the kids. We took turns singing and playing together. The kids really enjoyed it.

Beach day!

Can we ever get a rip-roaring fire?

Nora, Erin, Madeline, Avery and Rori

The clan. One child is missing from this photo. Can you believe she was still sleeping!!

Field Museum - Chicago

2010-06-17T18:08:00.006-05:00

The girls and I headed downtown today with a friend from church and her little munchkins to the Field Museum. It is quite a trek (at least for my preggo self) to go downtown for the day, the kids as well. Well, mine at least, who like to get up at 5am.

so Mary picked us up at about 8:30. We didn't get into the museum until about 10:30ish. Rori absolutely loved and only cared about seeing Sue (the T-Rex). Avery just wanted to walk around in the big open space. Here are a few shots from our fun-filled day.

The girls picking, collecting, and cooking corn.

The girls in Africa riding a moto, selling cassette tapes

Excavating dino bones.

Tracing fossils

Frolicking among the dino nests and eggs.

Cool tribal mask
Riding the African bus

Man-eating lions

African elephants

The famous Sue - T-Rex. Best kept T-rex this side of the Atlantic!

Race Towards Summer

2010-06-07T20:23:00.007-05:00

Avery Scott - 14 months

So this is going to be out of order but here are the last few weeks of the Apicella's journey...
We just went to MI last weekend for my cousin Laurhn's baby shower. She's the one in the black/white dress. It was a great shower and she really made out well. We also got to spend QT with Babcia, Uncle Paul and Hailey!

Here are two of Rori's favorite people. My cousins Laurhn and Lydiah.

Don't know how this happened but Rori managed to convince my mom to paint her toe nails. She was so happy and sat so still to let it dry. Every time she sees someone new she points to her toes for some acknowledgment. What a ham!

Avery is beginning to love the camera and smile on command. What a cutie. She's growing up so fast and losing her "babyness." Thank goodness another one is on the way...

Here are a few shots at home at what we've been up to lately.
Rori and AVery like to stick their heads through the rails on the stairs and call down to me for no apparent reason. I just had to get a shot of it.

Rori absolutely LOVES olives. Looks in the cabinets for cans and asks me to open them immediately. Here she is holding out her FIVE olives. I think she ate about 25 this time. Are there any vitamins or minerals in olives????

Look at this cutie-pie!

We took the family out to the Memorial Day Parade downtown Naperville. It was fun and entertaining until the dark clouds in the background opened up 20 min into the parade and the announcer said (no joke) "The parade is cancel, seek shelter immediately. Violent weather is approaching. Seek shelter immediately. The parade is canceled."
Needless to say we got really wet, but it was ok.

Here is Avery who somehow stole Rori's prize possession (her pacifier). Notice how she doesn't really know what to do with it. Thank God!

My brother just purchased Doug's Vulcan and drove it from Naperville to Harrison Twp with my cousin Sean. Long road trip but well worth it according to Paul. Doug's first love is gone...
Our first taste of summer was 90 degree weather in May! It was awesome. We set up the sprinkler and had a blast.

My friend Jessica flew in from Spain and spent the night at our place with her friend Rachel. The girls ate them up and misses them already.

Doug's baby...

The VanSlykes have their daughter back!

Mahalo Hawai'i

2010-05-16T19:39:00.008-05:00

So a couple years ago Doug learned about this award trip to Hawai'i Shane's (his family's business) had the opportunity to earn. If they had so much growth in sales we could win free trips to Hawai'i. Well at the time I think we were pregnant with Avery and thought, oh that's our 5th year of marriage and the baby will be 14 months so it's plausible that it could be our anniversary trip. How special since we honeymooned in Hawai'i. Well here we are almost 2 years later and we just got back from our 6 day trip to Oahu.
It was a lovely trip although I must say we were quite nervous about leaving the girls. We had never been away from both of them together. Doug a couple days here and same to me, but both of us for about a week - never. Would they survive without us?? Of course they would. And thrive at that. My generous, generous mother took a week off of work to come stay with the girls and take care of them. They all had a wonderful week, which made our time in Oahu that much more splendid and relaxing.

Here are some pics from our time there. Enjoy! (we sure did...)

Here is a plumeria tree that smelled so wonderful. The aroma just wafted throughout our resort (or the island for that matter). This is the flower commonly found behind the ears of hula dancers.

This is a pic of the lagoon that our resort was on. It was man-made so that the it broke the ocean's big waves. Also the natural shoreline is quite rocky so I'm assuming they brought the sand in too. Almost every morning Doug would swim the lagoon several times and I would sit on the sand and read my book (Eat, Pray, Love and Three Cups of Tea - thanks Jennifer!)

One day we were able to choose activities to do on the island. Choices were snorkeling, hiking, golfing, massage, etc. Well I had been snorkeling before so I decided I wanted to go deep sea fishing and catch a marlin or mahi mahi. Doug wanted to snorkel so I ventured on my own. Well I was so excited so go fishing. My dad took me fishing all the time with him when I was younger. I thought, how cool to fish for the big ones. Well the only big one I caught was sea sickness...I vomited the WHOLE TIME! About ever 20-30 min for 5 1/2 hours. It was horrible. The only redeeming fact was that 5 out of 6 of us on the boat got sick too. Me and another lady were sick the most, but anyway, it was horrible. I can't believe that happened to me. I thought I was strong like wolf...Needless to say, I'm not stepping on a boat again for a long time.

This is the tackle we used.
Here are the poles.

20 weeks pregnant!

This was a great night. The company who hosted our trip set up a kind of Ravina-feel for an outdoor concert. It was a grammy-winning Hawaiian artist. We ate food outside on chairs and at night, gazed through a telescope. I saw Saturn (all its moons and the ring!) and Cirrius sp? (the brightest star in the sky out there). It was amazing! And Doug the Astronomy guru was all over it.

Doug sipping a pina colada in a chilled pineapple by the pool. Ah the life...

A hike on the rocks.

An Oahuan sunset

Avery is 1

2010-04-12T20:08:00.005-05:00

So it's been a year since our little Avery came into this world. What a great girl she is turning out to be. She has a very mild mannered personality. Quite passive. I guess she doesn't have much of a choice with a 2-year-old sister. When she wants to play with a toy that Rori has or that Rori has taken away from her, she just sits and waits. When Rori leaves, she continues play. No whines or complaints. When Rori gets too physical with her or lays on top of her or hugs her too tight or too long I'll start hearing her whine.

Avery also is very cuddly. She loves sucking her thumb and pulling on my hair. Whenever she sees a lambie she crawls right up to it and lays her head and pulls as the hair. It so sweet! She is a great eater too. She eats fruits and veggies and loves her goat milk. She also is sleeping once a day unless she wakes up early - like before 6am. Her and Rori overlap a bit in naps so I usually get a good hour to myself. I know that will come in handy towards the end of this pregnancy. She just about totally weaned too. I was nursing her in the mornings but my milk is pretty much gone. Only little drops come out. So anyway she's fed up with that. I nursed her yesterday so we'll see how tomorrow morning goes. Otherwise we are a happy, healthy family - PRAISE GOD. Enjoy her birthday pics!

Our little girl

This is Rori's friend, Ella, who is so sweet and loves Avery so much. Always wants to hold her:)

Uncle Paul always wants to squeeze her face off. So far, it's still on.

Daddy's curls are coming through.

Avery's cake - Doug decorated it. It has no sugar and whole wheat flour. Cream cheese frosting. She didn't really go for it.

Avery is so cute. Walking is on her to-do list.

Opening her gifts with big sister hovering over.

Happy Birthday to you!

Spring Feeling

2010-03-28T12:36:00.008-05:00

Avery turned One this week! More pictures and stories to come, but first...

Well it's been way too long since I've posted. The last three months I've been VERY under the weather but for good reason, I'm pregnant. Due before Rori turns 3. I know crazy wack-funky. But it is what it is. I can't believe I'm going to have 3 CHILDREN!! Wow. Anyway the first trimester was HORRIBLE. The works - I won't go into details but you can imagine. But thank God the veil has been lifted. I'm beginning to feel better. The nausea still pokes it head around in the evening but if I just go to sleep it fades away as I spit myself to sleep. Yes the spitting is back. I did not have spitting for Rori's pregnancy but I had it for Avery's. The whole pregnancy just about. It did not go away until I gave birth. So here I am at 13 weeks, excited for the "new baby" (as the girls say) growing inside. I can't wait for the weather to take a turn and let us outside for more than 15 min...

Here are some pictures from our trip to FL. We visit Doug's parents every year. This year we were able to stay for 2 weeks! It was a nice trip. The weather was unseasonably cool but we did get the girls in the water a couple of times. Rori and I also went to the beach but only to play in the sand, chase birds and look for shells. Now we're back home and in the routine. What's next? Home improvements???

Here's where Rori ORIGINALLY gets her curls from - nonna!

Our morning at the beach.
Our girls!
One of the nicer days.
Our trip out to eat.
Avery BEFORE she dumped a whole bowl of rice on her head.

We found a great kids park that we went to three or four time. Both girls loved it. Avery learned to crawl around in the chips. It took her a while because has been used to crawling around on soft carpet.
Rori's favorite part was the sand.
Another sunny day.
The girls loved driving around on the golf cart. Papa took them for quite a few rides.
So cute!

2009

2010-01-04T21:34:00.005-06:00

Christmas has come and gone. Here are a few snapshots from Famiglia Apicella

Since I've joined the apicellas, Doug's mom and I have been making Christmas cookies every year. Rori is finallly old enough to take part in our tradition. We make Italian cookies, pizelles, and spritz. Mystic ritz have also been added to the list.

For advent, in addition to the scripture, praying and singing we did an activity every day. This day's activity was sledding. Rori enjoyed watching rather than partaking. Avery, on the other hand, couldn't get enough.

This a petticoat given to me by my grandparents (dad's side) when I was born. It was a special gift bc I was the first girl to be born after 5 boys. Now my daughter is wearing it. Thank you mom for keeping it in such good shape all these years. Can't wait to keep passing it down!

Oh my baby Avery...

Christmas Eve - my mom, bro, bro's gf and hailey (bro's dog) visited us for christmas. it was wonderful!

The night before Christmas...

We get together with Doug's fam Christmas eve after church. we all bring apps and desserts and play games and open gifts. It's very laid back and very yummy!!

Christmas morning. Rori got many gifts from her family. Her favorite was actually Avery's hand-me-down gift - a raggady Ann doll.

Happy 31st Birthday Doug!

Our Day in the City

2009-11-18T19:45:00.004-06:00

On November 17, 2009 I bravely and courageously forged my way downtown Chicago alone with my girls. My dad was downtown for a seminar and the only way for us to see him would be for us to go to him. I was hesitant but it turned out to be a great trip. The girls and I headed out on a morning express train to Union Station. The train filled up very quickly but we thankfully got our own seat of four. It was necessary because I plopped Avery in the stroller and fed her breakfast. Once we got downtown we took the bus to the hotel where my dad was staying. It was so easy. The bus has these hydrolics that dropped it down so I didn't have to that far down with the stroller. Once at the hotel we found the swimming pool. It was NOT KID FRIENDLY at all. Only stairs into the 4ft shallow pool. So, I brought a swim thing for Rori and I ended up holding Avery. Thankfully my babies didn't make me work too hard.

After our pool adventure we headed out again for lunch. One of my favorite deli places is Corner Bakery. It was a little crazy trying to get our food and a seat but once we were seated my little girls ate their lunch, kept most of it on the table and even made me laugh!

Avery had bananas for lunch.

Rori had a pb&j, cheese, strawberries, and chicken pomodorra.

This part of our day was very nerve-racking for me. How in the world would I get two little ones down in one small hotel room? Well thankfully there were room-darkening shades and Rori stayed in her bed and I held Avery till she fell asleep. The girls slept two good hours. It was AWESOME!!

Later in the afternoon my dad caught up with us. We ate pizza together at Pizanos.

All in all it was a great trip downtown. I loved the energy and feel of the city. I can't wait until our next trip downtown.

Autumn Joy

2009-11-12T20:28:00.005-06:00

November is well on its way, yet I can smell winter in the air. Do you ever get that feeling when you look out the window, or come in from the cold? That feeling that change is in the air. We've been blessed with some mild weather these past weeks and the girls and I are taking it all in. We're outside almost everyday with hats and coats. Getting in all the swings and walks and leaf- collecting we can. It's beautiful. Today we went to a craft store to buy some scissors and ended up buying an advent calendar. Rori's new obsession is Baby Jesus. She wants to hold him and give him a hug. How exciting for me, I get to teach her about this amazing child named Jesus!

Avery has started DANCING! Yes! She's got some rhythm too let me just say. I will post video and pics as soon as I can get her show it off for the camera. Enjoy the snapshots of our lives.

"So my mom feeds me beets. What's it to ya? Got a problem?"

My girl.

Here is Rori at her music class playing with "sounds"

Rori's first self-portrait.

Had to post this little picture of our garage mouse. We were going out to play in the front and Rori passed by our recylcle bin and looked inside and said - ugh yuck. I did the same as I passed but had to take a double-take and noticed a MOUSE!! So instead of freaking out and shreeking like I wanted to, I calmly said, oh wow, a mouse, let's try to feed it. So we took it in the middle of our yard and fed it, talked to it and then let it run free. Of course it ran over half the yard, back to its familiar place - our garage. Maybe we'll meet again someday...

Halloween and Other Blessings!

2009-11-01T21:07:00.006-06:00

Happy Halloween! We had a lot of fun this year trick or treating. Rori had more stamina and she totally got excited about getting chocolate from all our neighbors!

On Halloween night Rori was piglet. At our Halloween party earlier in the week - for the little ones, she was a China Doll - not a geisha. A geisha is a prostitute. My daughter was NOT a prostitute.

We also spent a morning at Cosley Zoo in Wheaton, IL.

Here is our group from the Halloween Party.

Ok, random picture of Rori after her hair was in pigtails.

Avery was a How Now Brown Cow. Doug deemed it too cold for her to go trick or treating but we still got some cute pics!

We had another blessing this weekend - Our little Avery was baptized today! It was a great morning and Avery did so well. Very happy and very verbal!

Babcia was here since Wed to help poor old me. Doug was in FL all week and I welcomed the extra hands and company. The girls just LOVE Babcia and it will be so sad to say goodbye to her. Rori just doesn't understand that she lives so far away.

Amazing Autumn

2009-10-18T21:31:00.004-05:00

Girl's weekend in Grand Rapids!

Me, Amy, Patty
Shannon, Heather

Ok, so my friend Patty just bought her first home! My cousins and I decided she was well-deserving of a bonifide house-warming party. So we invited all her friends had a great party at her place on a Saturday afternoon. Amy could only be there for the half the time but she supplied us with fresh eggs from her chickens and jam from her berries. A woman after my own heart!

So here's the spread. It was so yummy! We had great apps and desserts. It was fall themed.

The hostesses with the mostesses!

I must admit I couldn't have done this weekend without Jessica! As you know, Avery's still on the boob and so she came with while Rori stayed home with dad. Jessica hung out with us all weekend and watched Avery while I was hosting the party and cooking and cleaning.

Long story short, Avery had a tough weekend; being in a new environment, getting burned, not napping well, etc. Sat night she was not sleeping well. She kept waking up every couple hours or so. I was DREDDING the drive home as the ride up was PURE HELL. Avery cried 80% of the time and lost her voice bc of her crying. My kids hate the car. Slept only 30 min. Anyway, at 12:30am Sunday morning, I decided that if she wakes up again, I'm loading the car and going home, no matter what time. I wasn't going to get any sleep anyway, so I might as well be driving. Well Avery woke up 3 hours later and we hit the road. HOWEVER my angel, Jessica, drove home with us to Naperville - helping me soothe Avery the whole way home. We got to Naperville at 6:30am, took a nap, relaxed and had a nice lunch. Then she hopped back into the car with some of her floormates and drove back to GR. She sacrificed her whole Sunday just to help me with Avery. It was amazing and a beauitful gesture of thoughtfulness. She blessed me.

Here is proof she was in Chicago!

Just this weekend Doug was in NY vising some college friends. On Sun Rori and I got to hang out at the pumpkin farm for a while. It was loads of fun. Here we are LOST in the corn maze. It really was a maze. I had a very hard time finding our way out...

Rori's favorite part was the corn kernel sand box.

Oink, Cluck, Moo - Rori is TWO!

2009-10-04T20:58:00.007-05:00

Happy Birthday to my happy, beautiful baby girl - Rori Scott Apicella!

I can't believe that it's been two years since our first daughter was born. Since then our lives have been turned upside downed and enriched in ways we could never have articulated before. It's been a wild ride and I couldn't be happier!

On Sat we invited friends and family over to celebrate Rori's second year. We had a full house - 40 people, including babies, kids and adults. We had a blast. I had been telling Rori all week about her party and as the house began to change and decorations were put up, it became more and more real to her. When she woke up from her nap on Sat afternoon she was so excited. She was running around the house shouting - barn, barn - because we made her a barn cake. She was running around the house hitting balloons everywhere and playing in the tent full of balls that I bought earlier this summer at a garage sale but had tucked away for this special occasion.

She got to drink juice boxes and eat a sugar cake. She had a ball! And we did too. Doug and I feel so blessed with our family. Our girls are healthy and happy and they love each other. What more could parents ask for?

I had a couple activities planned for the little kids. Here are Rori and her friends, Alyssa and Logan, painting. We also had playdough for them too.

Doug and I moved the furniture around in our front room and it makes it looks a lot bigger and more inviting. Here are Elise, Lauren (Doug's younger sis), Nicole (Doug's older sis), and Jeanie enjoying our rarely used room!

Here are the kids who were able to sit on the couch as all the parents were quickly taking shots.

Another thing that Rori was looking forward to was seeing her Babcia (bab-she - grandma in Polish). All she could talk about was Babcia - airplane - more. She knew Babcia and Uncle Paul were coming on an airplane and she just couldn't wait. They were two peas in a pod!

We finally got a pic of Avery's lip-sucking act. It's like, I think she thinks she's nursing and so she sucks her top lip. It's the sweetest thing!

Here is the famous barn cake - made with all the normal sugar we desire. Doug made me promise no healthy sweets this year as her first bday cake was sugarless and sweetened with apple juice and carrots. Didn't the cake turned out great. I wish I could take credit for decorating but my jack-of-all-trades husband decorated this barn, silo and hay stacks. All by himself. He did a great job. Rori LOVED it!

So exicted!

Rori hugging her Nonna.

Our family room turned play room turned eating room turned...

Uncle Paul and Avery

Rori had many gifts to open from our generous family and friends. She started out slow but once she got the hang of it she wanted more, more, more...

Famiglia ApicellaRori's been wanting and waiting for a kitchen for a long time. Well Craigslist finally produced and Doug and Paul spent over 2 hours putting this thing together for her. As you can see, she loves it!

Thank you to everyone who came, called and joined us in this wonderful celebration!

Indiana Dunes Camping Trip

2009-09-13T19:56:00.008-05:00

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

I had been looking forward to this weekend for a while and it exceeded my expectations. Some of my friends from playgroup and I decided to go camping for the weekend. We were stoked about it but a bit nervous too. We all have little ones just 2 and under. The youngest baby was only 3 months old! Would they take a nap, wake up at dawn, share their toys? The brave young women that we are, we decided to throw caution to the wind and carpe diem! And boy was it worth it.

All of us arrived around 9:30-10am at the Indiana Dunes State Park. We set up our tents and set out our chairs, then headed to the beach. It was perfect weather. Warm and sunny but not too overwhelming. We had a nice shaded area for the little ones to take respit at and gentle waves for the kids to play in.

Avery was chilling in the backpack, while Madeline was standing by, watching guard.

After spending a few hours at the beach we headed back to see if the kids would take a nap. Well they didn't but it didn't create any meltdowns. The kids layed in their respective tents for a while and then eventually ventured out. We all just hung out and relaxed. The kids had playdough time together. It was so sweet how all the kids just plopped themselves down together at the picnic table and went to town.

It was a nice time to chill out, chat and...

take cat naps too!

The evening went well. Kids took a while to all get to sleep, but nothing crazy. Doug and I won the contest getting BOTH our girls to sleep FIRST, however...We also won the contest of first kids getting up in the night, lucky us? We made s'mores, gazed at stars, and had thoughtful conversation. It was so nice to talk with friends around a fire.

The morning came to soon, but we all slept fairly well together. Avery woke up a couple times because she was cold and her socks kept falling off. I finally brought her onto the air matress with me and tucked her little feet next to me and she warmed up and slept soundly. Rori was actually the last one to wake up in our tent. All the kids slept until 7am!!

Here are Rori and Erin having a morning snack.

Avery chilled out a lot in the stroller. She loved watching the kids run around.

All in all it was a fantastic time with great new friends! I would definetly do this again. The only thing I would change is I would camp there longer.

Holding on to Summer

2009-09-03T20:29:00.005-05:00

Ah, the end of summer is drawing near. We have been having a grand old time in the Apicella household! As time goes on, I love my life more and more. The girls are becoming more and more acclamated to each other. Just today Rori was playing peek-a-boo with Avery. I went upstairs to grab something and heard laughing. I ran downstairs and realized it was BOTH of them laughing. Rori kept peeking her head up and down and Avery was just hysterically laughing. Ahhh, brings so much joy to my heart!

Avery is growing so fast! Completing so many milestones. Here she is sitting in the highchair for the first time. She had a little help from poo-bear but looks fairly sturdy.

Here she is sitting up all by herself. She is such a great baby. We're having some issues with her sleeping. I don't know what to say besides she is SO inconsistent. She has trouble getting to sleep at night and still wakes up 1-3 times a night. She only gets fed once but surely tries to get more by screaming her head off! Thank God Doug and I are on the same team here. He's been helping so much and soothing her.

We've also attended some birthday parties of friends. Check out this train cake! It was so yummy too!

At Erin's birthday party Rori found little Mees (Mace) very intriging. She talks about him all the time.
Oh no they didn't!

A couple weeks ago we had an amazing friend come to visit us for the week - Jessie color a picture - visited us and charged up my girls with lots of ougie power! It was so fun to talk, reminisce, eat and just hang with Jess. We haven't done that for like decades! And to think, she visited me at Calvin when she was just 4 years old!!! I can't believe her parents entrusted me with her. My girls miss her already and are looking forward to her return.

Here's a shot of me and Jess with the timer that Rori snuck in on.

This little ones always finds her way into the toy basket!

Avery's found her voice...

Triatholon Weekend

2009-08-10T10:40:00.008-05:00

Man of the Hour On Sunday August 9th at approximately 7:20am Douglas Scott Apicella begun his first triatholon at Centennial Beach in Naperville, IL. He started by swimming 400m, then biking 22k, and finally running 5k. He completed the race in 1:33min. He placed in the 953 out of 2200. AWESOME for a first-timer. Of course after analyzing all the stats he thinks he could shave off time here and there and get in the top 500 easy. Well, there's always next year. Actually at dinner tonight he said there was a 5k he was interested in running. Amazing.

The morning of, I fed Avery at about 4:30am and then 15 min later Doug got up to go get checked into the race. I got up at about 5:15am, got myself ready and then woke the girls up and got them dressed and me and my parents were out the door by 6:30am. Doug's parents and sister went too. It was hard to find Doug amongst the 2200 people waiting to swim at the beach but his mom found him and we finally made contact! It was so exciting watching him race. Going from point to point, waiting with cameras in hand. Cheering him on while he swam, biked and ran. So, so exciting! I'm so proud of him.

Here is a pic of the transition area. It was HUGE! Over 2200 bikes! This picture only shows about 1/3 of the area.

Here is Doug exiting the beach. He's the guy on the right.

Unfortunately I didn't have the camera ready when he biked by but here he is running to the finish line.

Here is Rori just after he ran by. She wants her Daddy!

Also going on that weekend was a family visit from my entire family. It was so cool. We had a blast. A lot of quality time spent with cousins and siblings and parents. Of course we have the token bath picture!

On Saturday afternoon my mom, sis and I took the little ones to the pool. Luc had a great time. Made use of the slide, and all the other fun stuff the pool had to offer.

Avery was home with dad. It was nice because I got to go into the water more with Rori. Usually I am carrying Avery and can't get down into the water but as you can see, this day I did.

My dad has four grandchildren. Two boys and two girls. On his side of the family, he has the most grandchildren. Here is a precious shot.

And here is one with my mom.

It was a full, busy weekend but thankfully, a lot of great memories.

July Fun

2009-08-04T21:54:00.004-05:00

Chilling like a villan.

Here's Avery - just over 4 months old. She's the ultimate tummy-timer. She loves being on her belly and rolls over all the time now. She's starting to squirm and grab at things I'm holding. She loves watching me fill my water glass from the fridge. She's getting cuter each day.
Well we've finall done it - pierced Rori's ears that is. I've been wanting to since she was born. I had mine pierced when I was a baby and wanted to keep the tradition. Rori did great. She cried when it happened but 15 seconds later forgot about it. She was a champ too when it came to cleaning her ears too. She would find the peroxide and hand it to us and shake her head up and down. But only daddy could clean them. She wouldn't let me do it. Don't worry, I'm not going to be changing the earrings. She can only wear posts until she's 13.

We also went to a friend's bday party, Bode. The lone boy on the left. He turned two. We had a great time with friends and the kids loved it. It's a lot of fun to be spending time with families in the same life chapter as yourself. We're blessed!

Rori loved the sprinkler they had at the bday party.

We were lucky enough to have Aunt Pat in town with us during that time and she was a gem with the kidlins. She put Avery to bed at least twice and made it look like a breeze. Here's a good shot of her in action.

Aunt Pat also LOVES motorcycles and Doug was happy to give her a ride. Don't tell Doug's mom or Uncle Dan it's legal to drive without a helmet.

I took Aunt Pat downtown Naperville and we walked the Riverwalk and found a covered bridge to take a group shot. It was a lovely day in July.

Doug's cousin got married a couple weeks ago too and Rori stayed home and we took Avery to the wedding. It was a nice time and fun to get dressed up.

Avery got all our attention that night.

Here are Doug's beautiful sisters and mother. I love this picture of three of them.

Last but not least, my sweet little babies! Rori continues to want to hold Avery throughout the day. How can I say no, when they both love each other so much!

For you mommy!

2009-08-02T17:34:00.001-05:00

Avery & Rori's new room - not yet done

Northern Wisconsin

2009-07-18T21:54:00.004-05:00

(Brothers from other mothers)

Doug was finally able to reunite with his long lost friend, Dan. It was a long trip up but well worth it. Rori slept fairly normal time for her naps. Unfortunatly Avery was another story. She cried a lot. Poor thing. Just like her sis when she was a baby. HATED the car. Well she's got to get used to it sometime right?

The kids played really well with Dan and Lauren's children. Dan and Lauren have a new one for themselves too. There were lots of kids but everyone got along well and had a lot of fun.

Sunday was the best. We got to hear Dan preach again and at a farm nonetheless. The kids got to pet some farm animals and we sat on stacks of hay as Dan talked about feeding our stomachs as well as our souls. It was awesome.

Kate let Rori come up on her bunk bed and the kids fed each other cheerios.

We went on a hike and Dan jumped in the river and caught a crawfish for the kids.

Here we are at the farm. Rori fed goats!And pet a sheep.Rori loved holding Luke's hand and I don't think he minded at all...

Avery's now in the bumbo often and looks great. They are SO CUTE together right now! Avery laughs the hardest when Rori's around. It's so sweet. Today Rori was putting my jewelry on Avery and she was cracking up. I would have put a stop to it but since she was enjoying it so much I thought I should too!

Here's a shot of Rori and her friend Logan at the pool. They were loving the water spurts!

Independence Day

2009-07-07T19:05:00.005-05:00

Happy 4th of July!

Rori (I) made these cute crafts at the library's celebration.

We had my mom, bro and dog over for the 4th weekend. It was a lot of fun. We had a lot of family time. Here is a shot of us at the park. Doug and Paul were at the movies. Rori climbed the "climbing wall" for the first time. With my mom's help, she made it to the top. It was so great to see her get so into it!

Avery and I sat by and watching. My darling Avery is so sweet. Content as can be. Except in the car...She really is a sweet girl and is just in love with her big sister. She's getting to reactive to Rori and just loves interacting with her. Likewise Rori is finally becoming more gentle with Avery. She loves holding her. She asks me about 5 times a day if she can hold her. She can't wait until Avery wakes us. She runs up the stairs and jumps on our bed, leans over the pak n play tries to jump in. I love how they're getting more and more into each other in a positive way. I pray they'll be best buds! Hey, they've got to talk to someone about Doug and I when they get older...

Rori loves chilling in the mei tai. Especially when she can take Hailey for a walk.

Our early risers. The girls have been getting up earlier and earlier these days. For a while they were getting up around 6:15-6:30am but now it's getting into the 5o'clock hour - yuk! I hope this too will pass!

Here is my mom and Avery watching Doug and Paul light fireworks. Note to everyone: Fireworks are more fun to watch at night.

My family

Whoever heard of tummy time on the couch?

Babcia and her favorite granddaughters.

Summer 's just begun

2009-06-28T20:39:00.004-05:00

Many updates are due. This summer is in full swing and I have so much to share.
Most recently we were at BLBC teaching classes for CIT. Doug taught about masculinity and I taught about femininity. I think it went well. For our classes we went over at least 20 min and the kids still asked questions so I think that it was a success. Doug did exceptionally well. He has such a gift. Spending time at BLBC was great family time for us too. The girls got tons of attention and love and did so well in the new environment.

Here's Doug and Avery getting ready for bed.

Rori loves the swings.

Lots of ougies!

Josh even found time to snuggle with Avery.

Jessica was so proud to finally teach Rori ougie power. She caught on quickly!

Remi babysat Rori when Doug and I were teaching our class.

On memorial day weekend Patty came to visit and I went out for dinner BY MYSELF for the first time. It was AWESOME!

My girls.

We had a great Father's Day. Doug got to sleep in and I fixed him Grand Cinnamon Rolls. Doug said for Father's Day he wanted to spend time with his kids but not take care of them. Probably every parent's wish.

Mid-June we went to MI for a few days. My extended family got to meet Avery for the first time. It was busy but good to see everyone.

Mini-gezers...

My dad and his granddaughters

Avery's first long distance trip. She was all smiles here but a couple hours later...

Family Times

2009-05-23T20:52:00.004-05:00

Too cool for words

Mother's Day portrait in purple!

Mother's Day weekend and my mom and I were finally together. IT was a wonderful weekend. My mom and brother flew in for the weekend. Paul met Avery for the first time. Doug treated my mom and I to manicures and pedicures and an hour massage. It was the first time I was away from Avery for an extendd amount of time. She did great. Slept the whole time. Which is good because she's still not taking a bottle or pacifier so I did'nt want Doug to be stuck with a grumpy baby. It was a very relaxing time and because everything went so well I think Doug may let me get out in the future...

Here is Avery sleeping on Paul. She loves taking naps like this. Who wouldn't?

Here is a pashmina scarf my mom got me for mother's day. Rori took a real liking to it.

It's a rare moment that Rori does her business on the toliet. But apparently she was showing off for my family and did it right in the living room. She got some chocolate as a reward.

Paul is using the moby here so well!

Three lovely generations!

My friend from Calvin, Stefanie, just had her first baby girl (#3) a few weeks ago. The girls and I visited them and got to meet Annika. It was so fun. Rori's having a good time playing with Travis, her second child. Ethan, her oldest, was at school.

Avery and Annika - future roommates at Calvin??

Rori learning the piano from her older cousins?

Summer days are coming closer

Friends

2009-05-11T19:30:00.004-05:00

Erin and I met long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. Ok, we met in January 2001 in Tokyo airport on our way to China. Our phone call before we met was, ok I have long dark hair and dark eyes. Her response was "me too." It was kindred spirit at first sight. She's an intelligent woman and patient mom. She brought her two munchkins from KS to visit me and meet my littlest new one, Avery. We had a great long weekend together. We went garage saling and played at the park. Fed our little ones and ate great food. Here are a few snapshots from her visit.

Fun times on the slide.

Erin and I both noticed our kids ate great. I think they enjoyed watching each other and encouraged each other subliminally. "He ate a bite, so I'll eat a bite" kind of thing. Erin also introduced our family to animal pancakes. Here is a cute bear that Rori dug right into!

Another bathtime shot. We hope one day these will end. Rori was fascinated by the boy's you know what. I guess it's all a part of growing up.

Group hug and bous!

Our expenentially growing families! - Rori 19mon, Leonardo 3 in July, Avery 5wks, Dominic 18mon.

Us and our littlest ones.

There's a first time for everything...

2009-05-06T20:20:00.005-05:00

First time on her new slide from Aunt Nikki and Uncle Mike

First time Avery pooped on our wall. I hope it's our last.

First time Rori discovered she can color on surfaces other than paper. ie. the coffee table

First realization of a hand!

Rori helping me dust for the first time.

First successful bottle! This hasn't happened since...

First time Rori held Avery. After I took this picture she just about folded Avery in half getting up and out of this pose.

First bath together which I so boldly (stupidly) undertook by myself. Happy to say, no one drowned!

First Easter egg hunt! Fun for all of us.

First pacifier that stayed. Although this picture was taken at about one and half weeks old. Since then, she hasn't taken one again. Although we've tried and tried!!

Lights, Camera...

2009-04-19T17:43:00.006-05:00

Rori Scott - 18 months

Avery Scott - 2 weeks

Photo Shoot!

It's that time again. During Doug's week at home we conducted a photo shoot with the girls. I'm too cheap to take them to a professional photographer. Plus we have a great camera. Doug's a fairly good photographer so we thought we'd try our hands at it. It turned out pretty good.

This past week was my first week "alone" with the girls. But it still didn't feel like reality. My mother-in-law graciously took Rori every day this week. They ran errands, went on walks and played together. She even fed her lunch. so the mornings were time for my and Avery to bond or for me to catch up on housework. It was a great week. Flew by. I wonder if this is what's to come. Weeks flying by - with just routine life. It's strange because the days crawl by, weeks go slow from time to time but our baby's almost a month old and Rori's well on her way to "two". A month in pregnancy time is LONG! Ask anyone who's pregnant.

We've also been fed VERY well. Doug's mom has had us over numerous times and women from our church are cooking for us too! We've got meals coming to us three times this week alone! Which is a GREAT thing. Especially because I'm still "housebound". I know I mention it often and I don't mean to complain but it's funny because grocery shopping is one of my favorite pasttimes. It's the only place I spend money. I know before I know it, summer will be in full swing and I'll be whisking the girls off to the pool and park and revel in the times spent at home with my sleeping baby and inventive Rori!

So my sweet "diet" is in full swing. I've given up sweets. Not sure for how long. It's the only thing I can do now to "diet". Doc said no exercise until he sees me again (about 2 more weeks). I've gone for walks with the girls but I really can't wait to start a regime that can help me get my body back. It's hard saying no to sweets. Especially with people from church bringing dessert with EVERY meal and Doug's family NEVER gets eats a dinner without dessert sure to follow. But it's good practice for me to be disciplined!

Well enjoy the pics from our photo shoot.

Amazed and Renewed

2009-04-07T08:31:00.004-05:00

NOT - dazed and confused!

Well the first couple weeks have flown by and already I see changes in Avery. She is a GREAT baby. Sleeps and eats so well. I do get up 3 times a night but she falls fast asleep after I nurse her and then I roll over and back into dream land again. It's great. And Avery has a long nap in the afternoon (3-4 hours) which is when Rori naps so that means Mommy naps - YEA!!

My mom has left and we miss her so. It was so nice to have an extra set of hands around. Thankfully Doug has taken this week off. He's been amazing for Rori. Taking her places and playing with her. Rori has loved it. Doug finally said to me the words I've been waiting for him to say since we had Rori "I don't know how you do it." Oh - like music to my ears. Rori has been a bit of rascal these past few days. She knows something's different. She's also taken to hitting Avery on the head - which makes me so sad. She's not an agresssive or rambuctious girl by nature so I'm surprised to see this behavior. I hope it ends soon. We're trying time outs in the corner. I hope this remedies the problem. Any suggestions??

I still haven't left the house. Doug doesn't want me to take Avery out until she's 6 weeks old. AHHH! That's seems so long but I know he's right and it's good to protect her these early weeks. I would hate for her to catch something especially during this change of seasons. Doug will allow me to have visitors though so that's good. Well my in-laws are coming home this week. It will be the first time they see Avery. And finally Rori will have her Daisy!! (their dog...)

Smiles on her first day home!

Rori is still a little sick here but happy to look at her new "baybee" sister.

Any resemblence?

Already Avery is looking up to her big sister.

I am in a playgroup that meets every other week and my terrific mom took Rori to playgroup and hung out with 30-something yr old moms and their little ones. Rori had a great time playing and getting out of the house. Thanks Mom!!

The moby is back in action!

Our little squirt!

Rori loves to look at Avery. She'll climb any type of furniture to get to her.

Welcome, Avery Scott Apicella

2009-03-28T10:29:00.011-05:00

It is finished.

We are so so proud to introduce you to our daughter, Avery Scott Apicella. Born on Thursday, March 26, 2009 AD at 14:50. 6lbs 1oz, 19 1/2 inches. But the real story begins the night before...
At about 11:30p, just when Doug and I were about to begin our last attempt at inducing natural labor on our own we heard cries and unusual coughs coming from Rori's room. When they didn't stop on their own Doug went in and he and my mom found Rori crying in a pools of vomit. She was burning up. We tried to give her some tylenol but that made her vomit even more. She ended up sleeping with us that night. This meant, 2 hours of sleep for Doug and me. Maybe a few 20 min naps here or there. So now Thurs morning arrives and we're suppose to be at the hospital at 8am for our induction. I almost called the doc to reschedule but resisted bc I knew Rori would be well taken care of by mom and aunt marci.

Anyway here are the details as follows:

8am - arrive at hospital

9am - first check (before pitocin) 2cm dialated, 70% effaced -2 station

9:45a - start pitocin. Thankfully they start off slow, so the contractions feel like bad period cramps. But eventually it gets pretty heavy duty.

11:30a - contractions becoming increasingly harder. I'm managing to moan, rock, squeeze, breath my way through them.

1:30p - nurse noticing that the contractions are very regular and I'm having the shakes more often than not. She checks me - 5-6cm with a bulging bag.

The nurse tells us that this is our window for pain meds. If I want an epidural it must be administered now. I don't want one. I really want to experience labor as nature intended and as milllions of women have experienced it for thousands of years - med-free. Doug is a bit more concerned and is encouraging me to have the epidural for my heart. Fearing with the intense pain to come, my heart may not be able to handle it and go into VT or even worse, my ICD fire. We call my OB and my heart doc. They both recommend the epidural but leave the decision up to us. We call my sis for some advice - she doesn't pick up. We call my friend Erin in KS who has had two med-free deliveries. She gives us some good advice. Says, we're almost finished and yes the pain will get worse but it won't be much longer and you'll have an amazing baby when it's all through. Some other things but I started having a contraction so Doug finished the phone call.

We decide not to get an epidural. We pray. At this point I'm scared out of my mind but so happy Doug and I are on the same page.

2:00p - The nurse calls the doc and gives him our decision. He's now on his way. We also find out I'm 8cm and my bag is bulging even more. Now we now we're in the home stretch. The contractions are VERY hard now. I lose control of a couple of them and almost start to cry. But for themost part, Doug lending me his hand and telling me when they're peaking and when they're starting to go down helps tremendously. I am also SO amazed how "normal" I feel when the contrations are over. I feel like I'm not in labor. With Rori, I felt HORRIBLE the whole time even though I had an epidural.

2:30p - the doc arrives. I'm 9+ and he breaks my water. Immediately I felt the baby's head drop into the birth canal. I said, I'm ready to push. Everyone was telling me not to and saying blow. I was like NO, I'M PUSHING. So I pushed and Doug saw the head start to emerge. Everyone was scrambling. It was unbelieveable the feeling I had during these last couple minutes of her delivery. She came out in 2 contractions - about 5 minutes. Pushing was very "out of body" experience for me. I felt drunk yet extremely powerful.

2:50p - our little girl was born. She was pink as ever. They put her on my chest and brought Doug and I to tears! She scored a 10 on her apgar scar. My OB was very relieved (they were all worried through the pregnancy) but Doug and I knew it all along. Our child was just fine. Healthy and strong enough to endure labor!

Because mom and baby were doing just fine we decided to go home a day earlier than planned. They originally wanted us to stay until Sat but because I had a sick daughter at home I thought I needed to be home for her too. Rori's temp continued to increase and thankfully Doug got home for a few important parts of the day, naps and putting her to bed. But she still was very lethargic and clingy. Not herself and barely eating/drinking.

Coming home has been very overwhelming. I'm grateful we have my mom and aunt here helping out. But Rori is needing the most attention she's ever needed and we can't give her what she wants. Avery is a trooper, eating and sleeping fairly well for only getting colostrum. My milk still hasn't come in yet. I'm praying it will happen SOON!! I know once she gets milk she'll have better sleeps. Our first night home she slept on me the entire night. Every time I put her down she'd wake up. But at least she slept. Doug and I are so grateful and still in shock we have another one. Rori is SO curious about Avery but unfortunately we haven't been able to let her see, touch, smell, Avery (bc of her sickness). I can't wait until she feels better and we can let her discover her new baby sister! Enjoy the pics of the newest and precious member of our family - Avery

Thurs Mar 26, 2009. 41 weeks, 3 days preggo!

Getting colder (notice the robe) and starting to move around because the contractions are starting to pick up.

Avery Scott - this time they let her sit on my chest before whisking her away. We didn't get any pictures of my active labor bc it was just me and Doug and the mood really isn't set for photo opps.

Mother and Baby

This is our nurse, Laura. Very helpful and encouraging with our choice of natural labor.

First family photo.

I love this pic of her!

Finally coming home!

With Child

2009-03-23T12:31:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm almost a week late. The baby is still snug as a bug inside. No signs of labor either. The doc checked me last week and I wasn't dilated with a posterior cervix, but 70% effaced. They wanted to induce TODAY (Monday), but I politely declined. They'll give me until Thurs and then they said, WE'RE INDUCING! Ugh. I hate that I may I have this baby forced out of me. I wish that it would come naturally. Like contractions or water break. I don't want my body pumped full of artificial meds to force it out. But what will be will be. I'm praying for a natural delivery - tonight! My mom comes in tomorrow afternoon, so that would work out great with everything for Rori. My sister in law is on call too.

The baby is still moving around great. We have another BPP tomorrow morning to check fluids, blood flow, and movement. If that's all good then we still have a couple days. If not, then we may be meeting our little one TOMORROW!! Doug and I are doing a lot of things to try and encourage labor. All the natural remedies you read about. Let's hope they work!! Please continue to pray for this baby's healthy delivery.

Here's Rori giving many "bouses" (kisses) to the "bay-bee"

She loves helping me in the kitchen. Especially when it comes to using the mits!

This is such a sweet thing Doug does with Rori every morning during the week. He brings her downstairs and they share a bowl of cereal together. She's so proud to eat with him. I come down a few minutes after them and she's eager to show off how she can drink from the bowl, just like her dad!

Baby on the way...

2009-03-16T20:14:00.002-05:00

Well tomorrow's the day, Tuesday March 17, 2009. Our baby is due. Will it come? As some of you may know, we've been under a tight watch of the docs because they believe our baby has IUGR. We're so grateful though that all the tests (BPP, growths, and NST) have checked out ok. Which means my normal doc will let me go up to 10 days past my due date.

I am SO excited to meet this baby. I feel so good about its size and am not "worried" about it. I'm more worried about being induced, AGAIN, and having "fake" labor. So Doug and I are doing all we can to initiate this labor on our own. When I was preggers with Rori I cut the grass with a push mower (.25 acres) at 41 weeks. It did NOTHING. I'm hoping this one will be different.

Keep checking this blog for the most up-to-date info on our newest arrival!!

February Fun

2009-03-01T19:59:00.004-06:00

Why do they look so happy???
Lucky Doug...

Doug entered our company - Fresh Family Organics - into a contest from HP. They asked companies to print any piece of marketing materials on their new paper and send it in. The best marketing piece wins a NEW touch screen HP computer - valued at $1600 retail. Well, Doug printed our brochure on the HP paper, sent it in and forgot about it (July 08). About a week ago he got a phone call that he FREAKING WON!! So above is a picture of proud Doug and Rori looks pretty excited too. But the funny part is, the contest actually went out to office supply dealers (Shane's) and asked them to promote the contest to their customers (Fresh FAmily ORganics). The customer who wins (Fresh Family ORganics) wins a computer AND the dealer who supplies them (Shane's) wins a computer too. In other words, we have TWO HP touchsmart computers in our home right now. Now comes the question, where to put them....

We went to a birthday part of a friend from our old Bible Study. It was at this bounce place. Rori was way too small to participate but her awesome dad, Doug, was eager to help her explore with security and confidence.

As you can see, she wasn't too sure of herself.

Doug keeping a watchful eye and hand on his precious little girl.

She had more fun running around with the balls in her hands.

I wanted to share this sweet video of Rori's cousin, Elizabeth, feeding her. I LOVED it. Not only did it give me a break, but Elizabeth enjoyed it too.

February in Florida

2009-02-16T15:09:00.007-06:00

Well our vacation has come and gone just as quick as I thought it would. It is such a blessing to be able to go down to FL every winter. Doug's parents have a place down there and they stay from Jan-April. Because we have a new little munchkin joining our family in March we thought we should go earlier in the winter. Good for us, bad for our pyschy.

We spent the days taking walks, playing tennis, swimming, laying out, golfing (Doug), napping (me), and celebrity cipher-ing. Doug's sis, Lauren and her friend Elise were down there too, so there were plenty of people around. Rori was thoroughly entertained. She finally saw Daisy (their dog). A word she'd been saying since they left town after the 1st of the year. EVERY freaking morning the first two words out of her mouth were, Daisy and Nonna. It was nice to have a week's break. It's interesting though how she kept saying their names even though she didn't see them. She did see pics of them but for 6 weeks no Nonna or Daisy. Rori was in heaven. She adjusted almost seemlessly to EST and the warm weather.

My OB doesn't know I went down there. I didn't want to tell him, thinking for sure he'd tell me it wasn't safe to go being so late in my pregnancy. So tomorrow when I see him for my 36 week appt I will ask for forgiveness rather than permission. I was so active too. It felt great! Rori and I walked every morning. I played tennis almost everyday. Doubles - of course. And took a few dips in the pool too. Sometimes even an afternoon walk. And when timed right, I got a nap in too!

We also played cards EVERY night. I'm happy to say my team won!!! Me, doug's sis, Lauren and his dad played double euchre and WON WON WON!! I wo'nt gloat or anything but I must say it feels really good on this side!

So enjoy the pics and video of sun in the fun. And know that warmer weather is only 1/4 year away...

Rori's two favorite things to say upon waking and pretty much throughout the day, "daisy" and "nonna"

The Apicellas - I'm 35 1/2 weeks pregnant here.

The tennis players. - Elisa, Lauren, Doug, and me Farah

Doug's Aunt MaryLou and Uncle Stan came to visit one afternoon.

Rori in her little swimmy thing which she didn't enjoy as much as she did last year in Mexico. But she loved wading in the water and kicking her feet.

Before her nap she and Daisy would run around the tennis courts. This was great because she could run around and have fun while we volleyed. Then I took her back and she went right to sleep!

Rori's first skinned knee. She didn't even cry. What a trouper!

All smiles with 9 teeth!! 16 months

Rori and her best friend!

This video is so cute! Rori is trying to hold as many balls as possible. She also has learned a new sign. See if you can tell...

January Fun

2009-01-26T13:55:00.004-06:00

I just had the best weekend ever. Why you ask? Because I napped for at least 1 hour 3 DAYS IN A ROW!!

It doesn't get much better than that. And my first day back at normal life, I am not napping. In fact, I'm working and feeling crappier than ever! My poor body thought it was getting a nap today, boy was it WRONG!

Ok, enough of my lamenting. My mom helped out immensely this weekend. Rori just loves when we have company. Poor thing. I don't get out much these days...

Well we did manage to make it to the museum though. Here are some pics and video.

PS. I'm going to FL in less than two weeks. Is it too early to pack my bags?

Rori and Logan exploring the water world at the Children's Museum of DuPage.

This is a wind tunnel at the museum. You need to wear goggles to go in. Once she "understood" that you can see she had a lot of fun with her pinwheel.

Babcia and Rori at Changers. YUM!!

Doug and Rori's new hats from Auntie Marci.

Rori chasing boys already...

Brrrrrrrrrr!

2009-01-17T07:14:00.005-06:00

Rori loves peanut butter. She eats it by the spoonful, just like her mom!

Well January has been true to its calling. It's been a cold, COLD month. And not only that but lots and lots of snow. We've had quite a few "storms" come through and our mail box is almost NOT visible because the snow is burying it. The temperature has also not disappointed. We've had sub-degree temps for many days in a row. School cancelling and frost growing inside our window sills. I haven't gone out much these days. Not like I really want to anyway. I am tiring. The belly continues to grow and I continue to slow. I haven't even had the energy to exercise lately. I've really had to push myself in a few instances but otherwise, I just say forget it!

Rori is doing exceptionally well. Of course all parents feel that their child is so smart and perfect. And while I know good and well that Rori is far from perfect, I am so proud of her developments. She recognizes so many different people and animals in her life in photos, she has a wide range of vocabulary, I can teach her a sign in a matter of a day, and she can put 12 different shapes into a box. Ok, ok, I know I'm probably bragging but never having gone through this before, I am in amazment about the development of a child!

Doug is doing ok. Work is stressing him. He's got a lot of responsibility and with his dad not there it really puts it into reality. He wants to do such a good job. Not only for the sake of the family but for himself. He's learning a lot about himself and about dealing with people and making tough decisions. I'm so proud of him, I just wish he wouldn't be so anxious and stressed. But when he comes home and spends time with Rori and me, he makes a bonifide effort to leave work at work.

Well teaching has resumed. I'm back at work Mon/Wed evening and I'm still tutoring too. I'm also on a rotating schedule for teaching Sunday school. I'm looking forward to leavning some of these responsibilities behind when the new baby comes.

My mom is coming in next weekend and we go to Florida in early Feb. Both I'm greatly looking forward to. Here are a few pics and videos of our family.

Playing, or should I say, sitting in the snow!

Doug's new beard. Like a wise woman once said, "A kiss without a beard is like a soup without salt."

My attempt at shoveling snow at 30 weeks pregnant. I said I did 1/4 of the driveway, Doug said it was 1/16. Whatever...Rori was helping to mow the snow.

Here is a video of Rori enjoying her piano from Uncle Paul - don't mind the squaker in the backgroud...

(from the front)

(from the back)

Christmas has come and gone

2009-01-03T20:38:00.007-06:00

Whew

What a season it has been. Such an amazing time spent with family and friends. My mom and bro came to IL to spend Christmas with us, even though we should have gone to Detroit this year. I guess I just wanted to spend Christmas at our new house with Rori. She's at an age where she can begin to understand some things. It's been such a great experience. We hosted Christmas Eve at our house and Christmas Day was at Doug's parents. It snowed a lot earlier in the week so it was really beautiful. We made lots of yummy cookies: pb balls, spritz, italian cookies, mystic ritz and yummy appetizers too.

Karen, Nicole, Dad, (Doug's) and Mom (mine). Playing the Wii

All the Apicella grandkids

Duh my name is Doug and Paul

Rori got three gifts from Doug and I (Jesus got three, our kids will get three - not including their ornament). A box of crayons, bath toy (letters and numbers) and a toothbrush. Of course she got fun stuff from family members. My bro got her a keyboard, my mom a doll and Doug's parents Lincoln logs. She loves and plays with them all.

My mom, bro and us at the Apicellas on Christmas Day. 7 months prego.

The day after Christmas was Doug's bday. We gave him a surprise party the week before. My gift to him was an overnight stay ALONE at a bed and breakfast in Grand Haven, MI. And a massge (professional one). It was a little nerve-wracking at first knowing Rori would be without either of us for a 24 hour period but she did great and we got to relax, knowing that she was just fine! It was a great night out, great dinner, great conversion and great XXX - hee hee!

Doug is 30!!!

Then we were in MI for a few days celebrating Christmas with my family. It was a lot of traveling but necessary since we don't get back to Detroit much these days. It's very hard to travel with a little one and my big belly. The baby's due in March so we won't be going there until Spring I think.

3rd cousins from me, Allison and Shannon

Me, Matt Duhaime, Dougie and Paul my bro

My mom, Aunt Maria and Theresa and Uncle Tim

My dad and Rori

Rori, Tita Antoinette and Lula

Then we went to Muskegon, MI to celebrate the coming of 2009 with my very good friends whom I hardly ever get to see. It was WONDERFUL to be all together again. It was too short though. Time with good friends always is. We went out to din din without kids and then stayed up WAY TOO LATE (for parents with babies) - but had a blast! Ate well and laughed a lot.

Kids from the Apicellas, Gelatts and Eszes

The boys...

The girls...

Back to the grind. Back to work. And back to routine. I just need to keep this baby healthy and inside until Mid-march. We're going to FL early Feb. I know, I know, I'm cutting it close, but hey, it wouldn't be that terrible having a baby in FL, would it?

One cute random video

Christmas is Coming...

2008-12-18T15:45:00.003-06:00

As my dear friend, Fin, from China would ALWAYS say. And in fact it is.

Things are pretty crazy right now. I can't wait for my mom and bro to come and then I feel like the storm will come to a halt. It's like I'm so busy I barely have time to enjoy this season. But thanks to my dear husband, he has showed me to slow down and enjoy the season. He's been a great help around the kitchen and with Rori since I'm gone most evenings. We go to bed so early too!! By 9:30p lights are out and we're snoozing. Last night we went up at 8:30p!! I really hope Rori will learn to sleep through that bottle feeding. Sometimes she's up at 5:30a, sometimes it's 2:30a. There's no consistency! I do'nt know what's going on!! Why can't she sleep from 7-7 like other babies her age!! Ugh. And she's starting to get picky with eating. Thank God she still eats her breakfast up - which has EVERY food from the food groups in it. I love that she eats it up so well but lunch and dinner are touch and go. Well anyway I've still got lots of cookies to make and parties to host. Check back soon...

Rori and my mom, Babcia.

My mom and I at my mother-in-law's Christmas tea. Have I mentioned that Rori is getting to know the "toliet"

She goes at least twice a day, as long as I can remember. She's even gone poo-poo! So my goal is to get her to be able to communicate with me about this before the new baby comes. After the new year, I will be more consistent with it. But so far she enjoys it and smiles after she's gone. I think she's getting it....

Thanksgiving Weekend and sorts

2008-12-04T10:53:00.004-06:00

Thank you for the clothes Aunt Marcie and Babcia (grandma in Polish)

We had a lovely holiday here at home. We got all the decorations up and Doug decorated outside with lights. It's beautiful. Rori finally understands she can't touch the tree or ornaments but we're still working on the gifts. She will pick them up and we'll chase her around the house trying to get it from her. Now I understand why parents wait until Christmas Eve to put out the gifts. It's just that they look so beautiful under there!!

Well not much is new around here. We're all healthy and hope to remain that way the next month or so. I've got a lot on my plate. I don't know why I do this to myself. I just see opportunities and I take them. So I'm working twice a week on Mon and Wed evening in West Chicago. I just took on a tutoring job in Naperville on Tues and Thurs nights. So now all my week nights are booked. Thankfully Rori is either with me or Doug or my mother-in-law. But I really am starting to feel whipped. I am teaching Sunday school once a month which isn't hard but it is something else I have to do. Oh and I'm 25 weeks pregnant and still sick. I feel naseous EVERY day in one way or another. I'm stil spitting and my sciatica nerve hurts me. Not all the time but when it does sometimes it's hard to walk because of the pain. But I'm keep it together.

I love this time of year and Rori is such a sweet girl. I love playing with her. She would play cat and mouse with me all day if I'd let her. It's funny sometimes I feel like she plays with my tupperware and pots and pans more than her toys. Maybe I should put her toys in my cupboards and my pots and pans in her play basket...Well enjoy the pics!

Raking leaves with dad

Picking out our tree and cutting it down. Rori loved it and so did we. We couldn't do this last year because she was just 7 weeks old. It was fun to get back out there again.

My ever-expanding belly.Sometimes I'll find Rori just sitting, looking at the tree.

This video is when Doug was raking leaves. We could tell she was just soaking it all in.

Thankfulness

2008-11-23T20:52:00.003-06:00

As Thanksgiving is upon us, I am drawn to think about the blessings in my life. I have much to be thankful for. Of course my family, near and far. I have an amazing husband who loves and cherishes me beyond belief. I thought he was crazy to fall in love with a sort like me, but really, all he was was crazy in love. I have a beautiful daughter whose smile lights up the sky. Her infectious laugh travels through the rooms of our house everyday. Inside me, grows an active little person who we can't wait to meet. I also have family in California and Michigan who are very dear to my heart. I think of them almost everyday. And my friends are some of the greatest in the world. I have a good job, a warm home and a full fridge. But the thing that I loathe the most in my life I feel like I should be grateful for, my heart. I hate what it has done to my body. How it limits me, frightens me, and tires me. However, it has not failed me. People who are in my same condition deal with lengthy hospital stays, cocktails of meds, and even heart transplants. It scares me thinking about how long I want this heart to last me (another 50 years at least) and the reality of the situation. But this season I choose NOT to think about the what-ifs. I can only be thankful for what God has given me. I know all this is for the glory of God. I am thankful for the heart God has given me. "He is the breath that makes my heart beat."

Best Birthday Weekend ever!

2008-11-10T10:12:00.009-06:00

Well my AMAZING husband did it again! He managed to surprise me without me seeing it coming AT ALL! Usually when Doug tries to surprise me I know something's up. I may not have known the exact surprise but I knew that something was up. This time - NADA! I was going about my normal Wednesday of Dr. appts and errands when upon my arrival at home, one of my best friends, Amy Gelatt, was waiting for me with two dozen roses for a birthday surprise. You see, Amy lives in Indian River, MI, which is basically 7 hours away. We haven't seen each other much in the past few years since she's moved up there. It's just so far. But my amazing husband flew her to Chicago for a few days of relaxation and celebration with me!

My homemade Vermont Spice birthday cake with maple cream cheese frosting. Yum!!

Amy and Rori having a blast!

Then on Friday more of my friends joined us for a fabulous weekend of food, fun and relaxing! Heather and Ben and family came from Detroit area and Patty from GR. I was so excited to have everyone in NAperville. These moments don't come along that often and I treasured them all!

Here are Rori and Charlie posing nicely for the camera.

How many babies am I holding??? WRONG, 3 - don't forget about the one in my belly!

Oliver and Rori getting ready for bedtime.

And the coolest girls in the world! Heather, me, Patty and Amy. Such fun we all had together. Wish we could do this more often!

Here we are at a restaurant called, Two Toots. It's very small but there are tons of trains all around. On the edge of the bar is a track and the trains come around and bring you your food. It's very cool and the kids loved it. Here is my STUD of a husband who made this weekend all possible!

I love you Doug!

And finally some cute videos of our weekend:

Two Toots

And last but not least...

Happy Halloween

2008-11-03T12:03:00.005-06:00

My hero!

Well, we had a great weekend. We celebrated our first Halloween with Rori and went trick-or-treating. We only made it to a few houses but it was fun nonetheless. She started to get the hang of it and most people just loved how cute she was so we - I MEAN SHE - got two pieces of candy... Doug's work dressed up too for the day and I bought Doug his dream identity - SUPERMAN! And what a trooper, he wore it!!! Wig and all... He looked great. I was so impressed. I brought Rori in and we took some pics. What a blessing!

Nonna and Papa

On Sat I got a free day and went to WI to go to my friend's baby shower - Kristi. She's due on Dec 6. It was my first time away from Rori for more than 3 hours. She did great and had a blast with Dad.

I am 20 weeks prego here. 20 down, 20 to go...

I just had to share this video of Rori. She's started to feed herself and it is just the cutest thing. Sometimes she gets frustrated and throws everything but for the most part, she tried really hard!!