Yearbook yourself!

This is so funny. http://www.yearbookyourself.com/

I think there is a real picture of my Aunt somewhere that looks like this. HA HA!! This picture was the 1974 picture.

8 years!

Today is our 8 year wedding anniversary! WOW!! 8 years. It does seem like we have been together forever, but when you put a number on it it seems unreal.

In those 8 years, we have lived in Kansas and Texas, lived in 3 different houses. Massimo finished college. We have 1 gorgeous daughter and 2 handsome sons. Massimo has done well with work and moved up in pay. He built an electric car. We bought 12 acres of land (that we will one day build a house on). I have become a stay at home mom, and we homeschool our kids.

If you had told me all that 8 years ago. Heck, 6 years ago, I would have thought you were crazy. I wasn't always this crunchy. Well down deep I was but I just wasn't expressing it to the world.

Chubby Baby.

Well he isn't officially chubby yet, but he gained 1 lb in 1 week. Go little buddy! I was amazed that he gained 10 oz the first week. Well the second week it was a whole pound. He is now 8lb. 1oz. Awesome.

We have been really blessed with friends coming over to play with us and bringing us food. Just having others here to play with the kids keeps them out of trouble. I have even had time to do a little sewing. I made 2 more slings and started some Christmas gifts.

More baby stuff.

Our days are consumed with baby. This is a good thing though. :) He really is an excellent baby. Friends are bringing us meals this week. That is always nice. Not having to cook dinner is excellent when you have 2 young kids and a baby. I also hired a friend of ours to clean the house. She will start Friday and come every two weeks. YEAH!!

I also found out that the baby's placenta was unusual. Basically one of the veins was in a weird spot. It has a name and only occurs in about 1% of pregnancies. It can be dangerous but luckily ours was not. It is also one of those "can't do anything about it" things. I did read that it can cause early birth and lower birth weight. Which is interesting because he was 1.5 lbs smaller than the others and 8 days early. Not really a LOW birth weight and not significantly early but it could explain the difference in him and my other two births. Neat stuff. Also glad I did not know about it during my pregnancy. I would have just worried. Now instead I am just thanking God that he is healthy and fine.

Still alive!

Well DH went back to work for half a day today and we are all still alive! Ha ha~ Actually it was an awesome day. Baby was awake for about two hours this morning and he sat in his little seat so good. I got to make breakfast, eat it AND take a shower before he started fussing for me. Thank you baby!! I just realized that makes it sound like he was in his seat for two hours. No..... :) Just off and on during that time. The bigger kids played so nice together. Then my friend and her son came and played.

This afternoon we had my 1 week checkup. So we took our first car trip. Luca just slept through it all. He got weighed and he is 7lb 1 oz. That means he gained 10 ounces in 6 days. GO BREASTMILK! I am doing great too. Check out the cheeks. :)

A regular day.

Yesterday evening was not good. The kids were BRATS! I don't like to say that but its the only word for it. Gioia was in Timeout several times. No one was listening or minding us parents. DH about freaked out. Gioia was seconds from spending the rest of the night in her room. Finally DH bundled them up in coats and hats and took them outside to RUN.

So last night we talked and tried to come up with a game plan for today. It was SOOO much better, dare I say Normal. We got up, ate breakfast and DH ran to the store. The he took them to Pump it Up, (moonbounce play place). I went back to bed with baby and slept. Then lunch and play outside. Later they watched a movie and I took another nap with baby. Then here we are at evening time. No one has been in trouble all day. Dh is gonna mow the yard and I even folded some clothes.

It sounds really boring, but when you add a family member and everyone is adjusting then boring is good. :)

Day 3.

Well the first few days are kind of a blur. We were nursing and snuggling baby. Not much sleep involved. Friday night we basically didn't sleep but a few hours. That means since Wed. night I hadn't slept but only a few hours. AHH! But thankfully my milk is here now and he can get full faster and sleep longer. Last night was half way a normal night. I still nursed him about 4-5 times but he would sleep in between.


I am fascinated by his head. When he was born it was kind of squished and you could see the bones that go across kind of sticking up. In the first 24 hours it had moved and was perfectly round. He has the most perfect head of any of my kids. He has blonde almost none existent eyebrows, light eyelashes and much lighter hair than the 1st two. I think he is going to have blue eyes as well. All those things combined with his long fingers and toes has us thinking he is taking after my side of the family a lot! He is positive with his blood type so that means I have to get that Rhogam shot. I am negative. My midwife will bring it to my home visit tonight or tomorrow.

I feel really great overall. I can't say enough good things about being home. The labor was intense but I could eat or drink. Hang out with my husband (in my underpants) and not worry about people poking and prodding me. But the very best thing is afterwards! It is awesome being home in my own comfortable bed. I can take a shower, be on my computer, watch a movie with the family, all of that! I was telling my husband that if we had a hospital birth, we would just be coming home today. Geez. I know the nurses would not have grilled me steaks yesterday, gave me a glass of wine or bought a carrot cake for the new baby's birthday.

Its a boy!

Our new son was born on September 5th at 2:24am at home in the water! He is so tiny! Only 6lb 7oz, 18 inches long. His name is Luca Jasper Perreca. He is an eaten, poopin' champ! HA HA!! We are all doing well. I feel great, just tired from having a baby in the night. The kids love him and like to look at him and hold him. My friend Kara was here for the birth, both for moral support and to help with the kids if we needed it. She took a bunch of pictures and i will post them later when I get them. The kids never even woke up! I was worried I would wake them up, but all my support people said I wasn't that loud. Also here was my midwife Cheryl and her assistant Melanie. They were great!

Something funny I wanted to write down. Dominic woke up at 5:30am and saw the lights on downstairs and came down. I told him I had a surprise and showed him the baby. Kara was holding the baby at the time. He kind of looked at him, looked around the room and picked up his new baseball glove. He said, Kara, I got a new glove! 3 year olds! Really impressed by that baby huh?! LOL! When my mom talked to him on the phone she asked if he had a new baby, he said, Yes, and KARA is here!

Dead cowboys.

My mom and sister came on Monday and the birthday celebration carried on. She got Dominic all the cowboy gear a 3 year old could ever need. Guns and holster, cowboy hat, spurs, whip, handcuffs, sheriffs badge, etc.. He and Gioia have been playing it non-stop since then. When you shoot him he falls down and sticks his tongue out. He reminds me SOOO much of my little brother. John (brother) was known to wear nothing but his holsters, boots and a smile. HA HA!

Birthday fun!

So for the big day we went to Chuck E Cheese. It was fun. We had so many tokens that we played for 3 hours. Our friends met us there and all the kids had a good time. Dominic got a baseball bat, glove, and ball. Also some animal toys, a couple new trains and some clothes.