Conversations

Seth captured the video below of his evening conversation with Livi. It's so much fun when kids can express themselves well at 2 years (less frustrating for them as well!!)

It's long but pretty cute, in my opinion. 

But before the video, I will share a few recent quotes and Livi-isms.

"Buddy-buddy": Liv's word for anybody, everybody and somebody.

"Can I hold the baby?......I'm not going to eat her."

"I'll say yes and you say no." This is Livi's favorite game with me recently. She just smiles and nods her head yes and wants me to shake my head and say no. Apparently it's very entertaining for her. I don't know this is some sort of rehearsal for my future years of parenting her or what.

And one from Frank: "Mom, how much do you have to pay to work at McDonald's? " 

Me: "You don't have to pay to work at McDonald's. They pay you to work there."

Frank: "What?? That's awesome!!"

"Perfect"

Olivia learned a new word and has been trying it out. She loves to play house and give out roles to people. The other night she said, "I will be the Mommy, Frankie will be the baby, Coco will be the kitty, you (to Seth) will be the Daddy and Charlie will be a perfect Grandma!"

The next day I was upstairs, and she came looking for me. She was calling out, "Mom! Mo-om! Mother!...Perfect Mother!" 

And to go with these quotes, here's a video of Olivia singing. 

Cheap entertainment

 Olivia wandered into our bathroom the other day while I was getting ready. When I went to check on her this is what she was doing.

Movie Theater Adventures

 Back in January, Seth brought the older 4 kids to the new Spiderman movie. I haven't seen it yet and I apologize if this is a bit of a spoiler alert, but at some point something sad must happen in the movie. Right at that moment the movie (as well as the whole theater) got really quiet. Also right at that moment, Charlie farted. And it wasn't a "silent-but-deadly" or just a little "squeaker." It was a long, drawn-out, staccato type fart. 

On top of that, there was a couple sitting directly in front of him, and as the fart dragged on, the man kept leaning farther and farther over as if doing so would help him get away from it. Of course, all of this sent Sam and Elena into a fit of giggles. And I suspect that that scene from Spiderman will forever be a little bit funny to our family.

 

As long as we're on the topic, here's another Charlie moment. Sometime in January, when I was stuck on the couch with morning sickness, Charlie casually walked by in this getup. I couldn't resist taking a picture. 

More Quotes!

Frank: Can I have another syllable?

Me: Do you mean truffle?

Frank: Oh, yeah. A truffle.

Elena had made truffles earlier that day and gave one to Frank. At the same time, Charlie was writing a Haiku for his homework so we were discussing how many syllables are in each line. Frank wasn't really part of the conversation, but I suppose Frank was hearing both words at the same time and forgot which referred to the delicious chocolates in our freezer!

Me: (to Seth) Does it look like Olivia has pink eye?

Seth: Maybe...

Olivia: I don't have pink eyes! I have blue eyes!!

As we were saying prayers tonight, Charlie prayed for Grandpa at one point. Frank asked, "Which one?" "Grandpa Decock," Charlie said. Frank replied, "Oh! But we also really need to pray for Papi, too, because of his burning ears." (He seemed quite concerned about Papi's ears when he said this.) Luckily for me, I had overheard the same comment he must have heard earlier that evening when we were at a Fish Fry. Our priest had stopped by our table and said to my dad, "Your ears must have been burning earlier today because I was talking with Seth about you." Frank must have overheard this as well and took it literally. I tried to explain what it meant, but it took awhile. I'm still not sure he gets it.

Side note: Charlie found his new favorite job to do at fish fries: washing the dishes. It's tough to beat an industrial dishwasher that sterilizes dishes in about 30 seconds flat. He and Reed ran the dishwasher for a solid 2 hours, and I think they were a little disappointed when the dishes finally ran out. Here's a picture:

Best breakfast ever!

 Frank decided to have a bowl of yogurt for breakfast the other day. The only issue was that he grabbed the yogurt container I had used to store whipped cream. 

So Seth came down to find Frank eating a bowl full of whipped cream for breakfast, saying, "Dad! This is so awesome! We made whipped cream out of yogurt!! It's so good!"

Seth had to break it to him that it was really just a bowl of whipped cream and he would have to pick something better for breakfast. 

And this has nothing to do with his breakfast, but here's a video that Charlie and Frank made together that they wanted me to share: 

Flip-flopping Luck

Sam has been back and forth on his luck lately. A few weeks ago, his right MCL (knee ligament) was either sprained or torn during wrestling practice. After meeting with the physical therapists, they determined that he will have to be done wrestling for the season to allow his MCL to heal.

Not long after that we had the miscarriage. On the same day, St. Edward's had their Mardi Gras party (which was a nice distraction for the boys) and Sam won not 1 but 2 of the gift card trees - worth $55 each. The next day we went to the Flurry of Fun and Sam was there as a server. There were raffle tickets for a .22 cricket rifle single shot that he wanted - I don't know what any of that means, but apparently it's a good gun for youth. We weren't going to buy a ticket, but he wanted one so he said he would pay for it if Seth got a ticket. Lo and behold, he won the gun with just that one ticket!

And then a few days later, he dropped a 45lb weight on his left foot. He was weight lifting since he couldn't wrestle and someone didn't take their weights off the bar when the were done, leaving it for the next person who happened to be Sam. He was already limping because of his knee so I'm sure that didn't help. After 4.5 hours in the Emergency Room, they said he shouldn't put any weight on that foot until the orthopedic doctor has checked it out. So now he's on crutches, using his right leg again (which fortunately is feeling quite a bit better) with a boot on the left foot. 

(Update: his foot is not broken just very badly bruised. So he's still limping around on the boot, but we'll take it over a fracture!)

I don't have much for pictures of Sam other than this one I took of him and Elena after their Xmas concert. He decided to go with the "I'm too cool for a picture with my sister" look.

A few more Frank Quotes

Most of these are quotes I jotted down a year ago and forgot to share. The last one is more recent.

Elena: "Hey, Franks!"  

Frank: "Hey....Lance!" (his attempt at adding an "s" to Elena's name)

Me: "What did you have for breakfast?"
Frank: "Grupe-frate."

"I want spagarius with supper!" (It took a minute for me to figure out he meant asparagus)

Sam: (noticing some bumps on Frank's skin) "What's that on your neck, Frank?" 

Frank: "I think it's diabetes." 

All of us, laughing: "That's not diabetes."

The next day, Frank found another little bump on his stomach and asked me: "Is this diabetes?"

Lucia Josephina

Well so far 2022 has been a little rough for us to say the least. Week 1 Olivia has influenza and RSV. Weeks 2-3 the rest of us had COVID. Week for was even worse yet. I had been looking forward to the end of January as I would be hitting 12 weeks, which is when I typically start feeling better in my pregnancies. 

I did feel better for a few days, only to start getting sick on Wednesday with increasing bouts of fatigue, lightheadedness and vomiting. By the end of the week, Seth brought me into the Emergency Room because I had not kept any food or liquids down for over 24 hours and could barely stand without passing out. After getting fluids, I was not much better. We were back the next day for more fluids. The doctors' best guess was that I was still fighting off COVID and my symptoms were being exacerbated by pregnancy, causing a sort of hyperemesis gravidarum (severe morning sickness). 

I spent the next week lying on the couch, eating very small, very bland meals at a rate of one bite every 5-10 minutes and trying to stay hydrated. Anything more and I couldn't keep it down. Other than that I didn't do much other than send lesson plans in each day for my students (who sent me a very nice Get Well card - in Spanish, of course!) After that short experience with hyperemesis-like symptoms, I think women who go through months of HG deserve a medal of honor from the president. 

Seth was a trooper through it all - doing all the laundry and cooking, plus running the kids wherever they needed to go and bringing me back and forth from the hospital 4-5 times. We also had a ton of help from outside: our parents came to make meals, help with cleaning and laundry, run kids to appointments that Seth couldn't make, pick Olivia up from daycare, etc. We also received meals from several friends and from all the staff at St. Edward's school. 

By Thursday dealing with infection and the pregnancy proved to be too much for me and my water broke. We went in for an ultrasound, fully prepared to see the baby with no heartbeat. We were not prepared to see our baby alive and kicking with a strong heartbeat, just without an amniotic sack within which to grow and thrive. We were taken up to Labor and Delivery as we sadly waited overnight for the inevitable miscarriage. Seth's sister was there to be with us, which was nice and the nurses were fantastic.

The next day - February 4th at a little past noon, I passed little Lucia Josephina at 13.5 weeks, and we were able to bring her remains home with us. She was 5 inches long and had a perfect little body. It really was amazing to be able to see the tiny hands, feet, ribcage, collarbone, ears - even fingernails. 

She was only with us for 3 months, but she's still very much a part of our family and we look forward to meeting her in Heaven someday. From the start, I felt that she was here for a reason and had a specific purpose in life. I was thinking long-term, but she proved to impact our lives and teach us important life lessons about the sacredness of each and every life, trusting in God and letting go within a very short time. 

This is probably long enough for one post so I will leave you with this picture of Lucia's handprints and footprints (in our wedding rings) and maybe share more later. 

Big Brother Frankie

Note: I wrote this back in November 2019 and just found it in my drafts. I guess I forgot to hit publish. 

Frankie has been an absolutely fantastic big brother for Olivia. He is a huge help with her, never hesitating to get me a diaper or burp rag when I need it. And he often keeps her entertained for long periods of time by singing to her or dancing/playing while she watches.

When it comes to pictures, though, it is still apparent that he's a recently replaced youngest. If he's in the room, it's hard to get a picture of Olivia alone. Here are a few examples of him photobombing pictures.

These were taken on the day of Olivia's baptism. We wanted a picture of her in her dress, and the only way we could get one was to take one of Frankie as well in the same pose: