Oh So Grateful!

Time to report on our Thanksgiving (less than a month late!)...

We were happy to host Turkey(less) Day this year in our humble 1800 square foot, dining-room-less home, all in the spirit of Thanksgivingness (it just didn't seem right to have our feast at a hotel). Papa Sam (Luke's dad) and his new wife, Lucinda, joined us from chilly Colorado, along with Great Grandma Q (aka "Crazy Grandma"), Luke's Uncle Karl, Aunt Tammy, and Uncle Leon, Mia, Les and the Wise cousins, bringing the feasting total to 14.

We were able to delegate a lot of dishes, including the turkey, to other family members to bring. I held onto my favorite green bean casserole, Pearson-style stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn bread and three pies. We borrowed some long tables and folding chairs from my parents and set them up in the living room so everyone could sit together.

It's no surprise to have a ton of food on Thanksgiving, however, when I say tons of food, I am only slightly exaggerating. All so yummy and abundant! A good time was had by all late into the night. Plenty of wine, good company, chatting, picture-taking, video-filming and laughing.

(forced to drink coffee within the baby mug... all in the name of love)

(just a joke... no underage drinking, here... though it would be the Q way, no doubt)

(wearing the hat Great Grandma made him... meant for a normal size head!)

Flint impressed everyone with his sweet, sleepy demeanor and stayed (mostly) calm and collected all night (there were a few "episodes" of "hunger"). Lyla "entertained" her cousins by locking them in her room and forcing them to play with her. And much like the time we hosted a couple years ago, all children ended up in the master bedroom, though this time rather than jumping on the bed and wrestling, they snuggled up and watched a movie together. Oh so cute!

Thanksgiving is my favorite. Delicious food, crisp weather, warm home, full bellies, happy family! My only disappointment from the day is forgetting to fulfill the Pearson Family tradition (all those dern Quattrochi's made me lose sight of what's truly important) of putting the baby on the turkey platter (that, and there was already an actual turkey on the platter and I wasn't about to add Flint to the main dish).

The day after Thanksgiving, Papa and Lucinda took Lyla, along with the Wise-guys, to the Gaylord to see the Ice show. They had lots of fun - Lyla talked on and on about the icy slide.

Another great perk to the holiday weekend was having my favorite man home for five straight days. It hadn't been that long since Luke had gone back to work from paternity leave, but boy did I miss having him home with me and the kiddos! I am thankful for all he does for the happiness of our family. As a grown-up, there is a lot to worry about in life, but my hubby alleviates so many of my worries. He makes me smile every day (even when he makes me mad... don't ask me how that works ;p), helps me get through all tasks - big and small, mundane and complicated. He loves me unconditionally, loves his children with every nook of his immense heart, and works his buns off to keep us all comfortable, safe, healthy and happy. And he's not too rough to look at, either.

I am also thankful for my two beautiful children. Lyla is our delightful, independent-thinking, brother-doting, Mommy-snuggling, Daddy-cuddling, crazy-dancing, pretend-playing, loud-singing, jibber-jabber-talking, unique and special little monster. Flint is our long-sleeping, much-eating, impressive-pooping, sweet-cooing, ceiling-fan-ogling, fast-growing, sister-tolerating, Mommy-snuggling, Daddy-cuddling, floppy-ear-having, wild-kicking, heart-melting, unique and special little stinker (literally). As I sit here typing this, a perpetual smile has invaded my ever-sleepy expression, thinking about my two favorite kiddos, perfect in spite of each imperfection, wonderful in spite of any difficult moment. They fill me with joy and give my life the most and best meaning.

I am also thankful for my two fantastic parents. My mom and dad have been the best support of all - always and forever. Yes, they are there to take in one or two kiddos when I need a hand, welcome me into their home just about every day (because being at home can be somewhat of a challenge for me), offer me much-needed advice on a regular basis, give me hugs, kisses, and tell me how much they love me. They do all those wonderful parenty-things, and more. I know I am the competent and confident mother I am today because I try my best to mother the way my mother did. And while I don't "father" my kids being that I'm not a father, I have learned as much from my dad about trying to find a balance between "work and play," structure and affection, to give my children a happy home, a life of learning and lots and lots of love. As a teacher, I know one of the best "methods" is modeling. If I can manage to model from my two favorite parents, I can only hope Lyla and Flint will one day try to do the same for their children, having learned just the same that their Mama is just plain awesome. And hopefully they will visit me as often as I visit my parents!

I am also thankful for our other dedicated family and friends. Not to lump "everyone else" into an auxiliary category, but I simply can't blog about all the brilliant people in my life. And of course just because there are lots of them doesn't make any one of them any less special and important. Our Q Family is very fortunate and we recognize that. Not a day goes by that I don't take a deep breath and realize how very wanted (and sometimes just needed!) all my favorite people are. Through sleepless nights and stressful days, sometimes it's hard to think about all that's right, but it really is. Heck, I am even grateful for my stress. I am pretty sure it means I'm living life! And what a great life it is!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Boxer Boy: A Tale of Two Ears

When Flint first arrived, he had these adorably delicate butterfly ears, that were so soft and floppy they looked like they were opening like flower petals in the morning, or unfolding like butterfly wings. And they did open, but not quite as beautifully or as fully as one might expect. Then again he's not a flower. Or a butterfly. But we didn't think much of it. I just figured they would fix themselves in a matter of time as he grew and his cartilage hardened.

At our first appointment with the pediatrician, she made a small (playful) fuss about his ears to implicate they would not actually fix themselves and we should consider "molding" them. He was actually missing the third fold that makes the ear flatter against the head. I took this topic home to discuss with the dad-man, who agreed and somehow knew something like this was going to come up. We did some research and concluded it would be best to give the molding a "go" for now and see where it gets us, rather than wait and poor Flint possibly have to undergo cosmetic surgery in the future...

Friday was Flint's follow-up appointment, and the doctor attached the molds to his sweet little ears, a process not so enjoyable for him or his Mama, though it seemed to be painless. Babies definitely don't like to be forced to hold still, however, and I'm fairly certain all the prodding was uncomfortable. She shaved the hair from around his ears and cleaned them up before sticking a plastic frame around them - literally sticking with adhesive. Once the frame was in place, several other silicon-coated components were placed in his ear to get it in the correct shape, then some kind of soft, breathable soft was fastened overtop to hold everything in place.

And now, our son looks like a wrestler (or boxer?)...

I can honestly say, I hate these molds and wish we didn't have to do them, but it's for the best. He will wear them for 6 weeks, having them changed every 2 weeks until then. The doc says 8 out of 10 cases have "excellent results." So here's hoping that Flint will be one of those eight. He doesn't seem to mind them, thank goodness.

In other news, Flint hit the one-month mark yesterday. Check out his Watch Me Grow album to see how much he's already changed. The pediatrician was pleased with his weight gain - already 12 lbs and the size of a 2-month old! Aside from his physical growth, we are seeing a lot more awake time from our boy, with lots more eye contact. He's even tried cooing a few times - the sweetest sound of all time! He's been a really easy-going guy, though he does not enjoy tummy-time so much. He's responding well to his big sister's constant kissing and smothering, making some improvements with nursing (my boobs really appreciate it!), and enjoying as much "vertical" time as he can get. He has even taken to sleeping up to 6 hours at night for me, provided Daddy swaddles him up really tight and snuggly-warm.

Lyla is adjusting slowly, but surely. She definitely loves her brother and hasn't shown any signs of jealousy, though she is struggling to behave off and on and we're seeing lots of tantrums. Who knows if that's 2-year-old related or big-sister related? Maybe a bit of both. I welcome any tips on getting wildly independent 2-year-old girls to listen and mind. :)

We can't believe it's already been a month - so much has changed!

Oh, October!

What I really wanted to do was blog individually about each of the following fun things we did in October. Well, as it turns out, newborns are about as much fans of blogging as two-year-olds are, which amounts to a slowly dying blog of no-post sadness. So, apart from springing forth a new life, here are some things we were up to in October...

Awaiting William Flint's birth, we took Lyla to Nash Farm in Grapevine and met Grandma there. It was particularly warm for a Fallish event, but that's Texas for ya! We drank a lot of Dr. Pepper, saw a ginormous cow (among other farmy animals) visited a small petting zoo (and petted said farmy animals), watched kids ride ponies (because we didn't want to wait in the longest line ever for Lyla to ride one, herself), posed on old tractors, galloped around on stick-horsies and watered an adorable veggie garden with a small tin watering can.

We had lots of fun taking all sorts of Fallish pictures in Grandpap's backyard...

A week after his birth, we went to the Pumpkin Farm by Grandma's house in Colleyville. We met up with Aunt Shannon and the girls to pick pumpkins, pose for pictures, visit some more farmy animals, get lost in a corn maze, eat kettle corn and play on some more old tractors, trucks and even a small playground. Lyla had tons of fun here with her cousins and family. And since it's across from Grandma's neighborhood, she continues to talk about the pumpkin place every time we go to Grandma's, which is almost every day!

We carved our pumpkins together a few days later. I was really hoping my girl would get elbow-deep into some guts with me, but she wasn't so much a fan. She decided which shapes each of the jack-o-lanterns' eyes, nose and mouth should be, though. She also found it amusing to sort pumpkin seeds from pumpkin guts so that I could cook them (yum!). Mostly, though, she wanted to "put fire in there" and "put it in the baffroom!" having recalled the pumpkin in the bathroom from the previous year, where Mommy must've placed it to show her its face in the pitch dark. What I anticipated to be an entertaining activity ended up being just that: Mommy entertaining Lyla with carving, scooping, cutting, and following all other directions regarding lighting and placement of the pumpkins.

We celebrated Halloween by trick-or-treating in Aunt Shannon's neighborhood. Lyla dressed as Jessie, the cowgirl from Toy Story, and Flint dressed appropriately as a cow. Her cow. Sort of. We were lucky to have Grandma with us to enjoy our sweet kiddos, and PapPap not far back at Shannon's house to order some much needed non-sugary food item (pizza) for dinner. Lyla took to trick-or-treating like a seasoned pro this year, and had no trouble knocking, holding out her pumpkin bucket and saying sweetly, "trick or treat." She followed each treat receipt with a pleasant, "Thank you. Happy Halloween," which made me tear up at every house. Every. Single. House. Thank you, hormones.

And that closes out October.

I'd better get on the ball. November is already halfway over! Ack!

(This post took approximately 1.5 weeks to do! Seriously.)

Oh yeah, and visit my Picasa for the rest of the insane amount of pictures...

Welcome William Flint!!!

The Quattrochi's are (VERY) proud to present, William Flint, our newest family member, and most adorable son and brother.

Flint arrived Wednesday, October 20th, 2010, at 5:21pm after his long 41-week-stay in my humble (fickle) womb. He weighed in at an impressive 9 lbs, 13.5 oz. We knew he'd be big, but we were shocked at just how big! Our midwives anticipated a big 8... and even when he came out, they guessed only 9lbs.

We scheduled a "natural induction" for Tuesday, but rescheduled it for Wednesday after I gave it some thought and wanted to see if one more day would do the trick. It was a wise move for two main reasons: 1, there were two other births that ended up taking place on Tuesday, and 2, I went into labor on my own overnight Tuesday to Wednesday. I woke up with contractions all throughout the night, which were very inconsistent until around 3am, when they started coming a consistent 8 minutes apart and continued even when I got up and walked around and ate a snack, which was what killed all my previous "false" labors.

We went ahead to the birth center at our scheduled time because I was not entirely convinced that my labor wouldn't peter off as it had done oh-so-many times in the last few weeks. I was so pleasantly surprised when Jean, one of the midwives, checked me and exclaimed, "Girl, you are a good 6. I'd call it a 7."

*blink*

So, it would appear as though all that false labor I had been having was actually getting a lot accomplished. I'd take weeks of occasional, weak labor over hours of pain any day! Go uterus!

Our birth story follows...

Luke and I spent the next several hours on an alternating 30-minute regiment of breast pumping and walking in order to stimulate more consistent, stronger contractions. About three hours into it, things started to pick up. When I was checked again, I was at an 8 and Jean suggested we leave the bag of water in tact for a while longer since I wasn't in serious pain, but was still making progress. At that point, we called the family to let them know they should start heading to the birth center. We figured I'd be in labor only a little while longer because transitioning from 8 to 10 usually goes very fast.

I spent the next hour in the tub after Emily, the midwife student who supported me through the whole labor, broke my water and things started to really pick up (ouch). I moved to the toilet for a little while, which apparently is a good place to labor due to the nature of the seat. At this point, I was surprising myself with how vocal I was quickly becoming in response to the pain of each contraction, much to Luke's amusement at a few points, when apparently I sounded like Dori (from Nemo) speaking "whale."

Needless to say, natural labor is extremely intense and painful... I didn't want to move, for fear of bringing on another contraction, or having to cope through one while moving from one place to another. But I was encouraged to get back into the bathtub for the comfort of the warm water, and though I complied, was shortly moved again to the bed to push. Jean thought due to the angle and size of the baby, it'd be easier to push lying flat on the bed, inclined slightly backward. At this point, three hours into "transition," the toughest part of labor, I just wanted him O-U-T. So I rolled with it, although not quietly.

I kept waiting for this magical moment when contractions are supposed to change from "dilating" contractions to "pushing" contractions and feel different. This relief never came for me, nor did the true urge to push. Mostly I just wanted someone to pull the baby out so it would all be over, but alas, it doesn't quite work that way. I think I pushed for a solid 20 minutes before Flint's head was out. I was very much surprised (read: in a shocking amount of sheer agony) by the pressure and immense burning on top of the pain of each contraction, and found it difficult to "release" and bear down. While in the middle of a push, I discovered that my body would sort of reflex into some kind of uber-mega push in response, much akin to the sensation of vomiting and very similar to the complete lack of control one has when doing so.

There was a glimpse of hope when one of the birth assistants placed my hand on the baby's head. I knew it would soon be over and I'd be able to greet the little booger. At this point, however, the tone in their voices shifted to something more urgent as I was directed to push to get the shoulders out. With that urgency in mind, I pushed with all my sanity ... two more, maybe three times... and ... at last! William Flint Quattrochi was placed on my chest, seeming almost as worn out as me, but had enough in him to holler lots of beautiful, loud screams. I found out later that his cord was pinned between his shoulders and his exit, so we couldn't waste too much time with him stuck there.

Now, I thought he seemed small, probably due to his lack of Lyla-like Michelin rolls. The birthing team all laughed at the notion of him being tiny, and made their guesses before taking him to get weighed. Seriously? Almost 10 pounds?

Wow.

He returned to me quickly for some Mommy-Baby bonding time. I spent the next two hours recovering energy, discovering my son, smiling at my husband, and shaking violently (thank you, hormones). They did my "repairs," saw that Baby Flint was nursing well, made sure I had a good meal, then sent us on our way. How nice to be able to go home to rest and start our lives as a family of four! Well, not just yet 4, since Grandma and PapPap kept Lyla for us. But I was very much looking forward to being home and not stuck in a hospital for days...

When we got home, Luke and I couldn't resist cleaning up the boy a little more. So, he got a quick sponge bath and hair-wash. All clean and eating well, he was already settling in!

Phew! What a day! One I won't forget any time soon! We were SO happy to have Flint home!

More pictures posted at Picasa, as usual! And more blog entries to come ASAP! We've got some catching up to do!