Welcome, Gabriel!! You're a gift from God.

We welcomed Gabriel Timothy Rice into the world on April 8, 2014 at 12:48 pm, with joyful hearts and elated spirits.  Neither Tim nor I can believe the wonder of it all, as this experience stands diabolically opposite to Sophia’s birth.  Before I continue, I should start with a photo of our little tyke!

Gabriel Timothy Rice

I apologize for the delay of online photos, but one way to celebrate everything going well this time around was to capture these precious first moments in an extra special way.  So we got a professional photographer..!   We had so much excitement about Sophia's first glimpse of her much anticipated brother, so we had to make it just right.  Thank you all for your patience, and continued patience since we’re still waiting on most of the photos.  

 Sophia arrives to the hospital, with congratulatory balloon in hand.  No sister has ever been so eager to meet their little brother!

 Here is Sophia's first glimpse of Gabriel.  She was curious and also relieved to learn he was real.  :)

 With Sophia’s birth almost four years ago, I had an emergency c-section to a slightly premature baby who was immediately intubated before I could hold her, and had to stay in three different hospitals over the course of 30 days, recovering from pneumonia, persistent pulmonary hypertension, pneumo-paracadiam and an early-developed addiction to morphine.   

Given this experience, suffice it to say Tim and I are in complete shock and overcome with joy that we just had a full-term baby by a planned and normal c-section, and there is no need for the NICU, much less three of them!!  In fact, for the past three weeks, Tim and I had unspoken anxiety that Gabriel would come early.  But as God would have it, Gabriel waited patiently.  (I hope Sophia forgives me for referencing these unhappy memories; obviously she’s perfect today so the past is behind us..!)

 Soph continues to gaze in astonishment.  

 Grammy gets some quality time with an already-spoiled Gabriel.

 Yesterday, I woke up at a decent hour, knowing ahead of time that my 39-week full-term baby would arrive by c-section around noon that day.  I took a shower, washed my hair, put on my make up, and Tim and I bid our farewells to Sophia and Grammy for the afternoon, one last time as single-child-parents.  Instead of driving in pain to a hospital 20 miles from home, as happened with Soph, we took a leisurely 3-mile-drive from our new house in Baltimore to a city hospital called Mercy Medical Center.  

We used valet parking upon arrival at Mercy, as if we were going to see a movie on date night, and were quickly checked in to make preparations in the PACU which lasted about 2 hours.  Tim was perturbed with our nurse at first because he asked her what “PACU” stood for, and she skirted the question.  It turns out she was actually quite nice, and perhaps she was merely trying to save face because she forgot the words “Post Anesthesia Care Unit”.  (Thanks to Eric Pope for clarifying via text message).  After walking into the operating room (again, distinguish this from having to be wheeled in under emergency circumstances), I was happy to see my regular doctor in a cheerful mood, making me laugh with stories about her own childbirth.  My anesthesiologist had great bedside manner as well, and he reacted quickly when I felt nauseous after he administered the spinal block.  Tim was allowed to enter the room soon after as he took a seat by my head.  Probably because of nerves, I peculiarly asked him to massage my hand “really hard”.  I later learned that Tim’s hands started cramping after five minutes, but he courageously powered through, thankful that he wasn’t having a c-section himself. What a sacrifice! 

Thirty minutes later, after a nerve-racking but otherwise smooth operation, there arrived a healthy 7 pound, 2 ounce and 20-inch-long Gabriel Timothy.  There was only happiness to follow.  The nurses didn’t turn their backs to us like last time, slapping the baby’s back in efforts to spur breathing.  Nope.  Gabriel was showing off his lung power all by himself, just like it’s supposed to work!  The nurses placed him in Tim’s hands within five minutes as the doctor completed the operation, and I got to watch my little son start acclimating to his new environment.  Beautiful skin, shy hair, curious eyes and a vocal yet modest cry.  Heaven on earth.

Thanks to all of your for your thoughts and prayers.  We will do our best to stay in touch, but let's be real... We'll see you all in about six months! 

If you give me a lemon.....

I have been TIRED. SLEEPY. Have had very little energy.  It's to be expected at 9.5 months pregnant.  But, I needed a boost...something other than a caffeine boost, because I've chosen to only drink about 1 regular cup of coffee a day while pregnant (ok sometimes 3, but who is judging?).  I'm certainly not judging the pregnant mom who is sitting in Dunkin Donuts sipping her blueberry coffee looking like she hasn't slept in days, with her toddler talking her ear off at a super high volume.

So, I decided to branch out.  The problem is that I don't like hot tea...hate it, actually.  I wish I did, because people rave about all of the different flavors and health benefits.  But, nope..I've been strictly a plain black, no cream or sugar, coffee addict for at least 10 years now.  If you know me well, then you would obviously think, "Haleigh drinking something other than plain black coffee?  It would be a miracle".

So, I bought some lemons....

We've all seen the pinterest pictures of a lemon with the caption: Warm Lemon Water to Start Your Day (or something similar)  Who the heck wants to drink warm lemon water?  I can understand ice cold water with half of a lemon thrown in, but what's the big deal with warm water if it doesn't taste like coffee?  So, I started researching a bit and found these SUPPOSED health benefits.  I'm a bit skeptical of trends (probably because of my husbands cynicism towards many things, lol).

A few benefits that this morning ritual claims:

-aids digestion
-helps maximize enzyme function, which stimulates the liver and aids in detoxification
-clears skin
-energizes you and enhances mood
-boosts immune system

Why warm?:  it takes more energy for your body to process ice cold water, rather than warm water.  Warm water is more sensitive on your system first thing in the morning.

Taste test: I sliced half a lemon, squeezed the juice into a coffee mug, filled with water, nuked it for a minute, and then threw in the lemon half.  I was scared it would taste like hot tea...but no, it tastes more like warm water with lemon, actually.  haha.  I actually LOVE it.  I had 3 cups yesterday, and not 1 cup of coffee  I'm pretty sure Tim thinks i'm going crazy. 

 LOVE THE TASTE

Now, there are ALWAYS opposing views and research.  BUT since I'm pregnant, don't like the coffee crash, and am always looking for ways to boost my mood and energy levels, I figured I'd give it a whirl and trust these purported health benefits of drinking warm lemon water to start my day.  And even if these benefits don't ring true, it could become a mind over matter thing.  I feel more energized already, and I haven't even taken my first sip this morning! haha

I'm definitely not giving up my coffee, but I will continue to drink a cup of warm lemon water every morning before I guzzle my 16 oz of cold water (that's something I've been doing for months now right when I wake up).

Sidenote: I also made homemade blueberry muffins with streusal  topping (thanks pinterest).  Perfect combo at 8pm. 

FYI:  I wrote this at 6am on this Saturday morning.  Who am I?  I love sleep!  #pregnancyinsomnia  

Remember that time....

Remember that time you told someone about how you are planning to home educate your kids and they DIDN'T express their concern regarding socialization?  Yeah, ME EITHER. 

Oh, would it be nice to not have to explain, "my daughter is already more outgoing (at almost 4) than I ever was in all of my 13 years in public school", or "she takes dance, does this, does that, etc".  It would be so nice to not have to try and convince people..."i promise my kids won't be weird, I know what I'm doing!".  Am I weird and socially inept or something? lol  I really want to go all Katniss from The Hunger Games on people, but I never seem to have my bow and arrow at those times. 

Ok, back to mature Haleigh.  I realize that I didn't understand what home education was all about at a time.  I understand that people express concern because they have seen a weird, socially awkward kid who was homeschooled.  I also realize that there is a wrong way to go about it.  But, for the sake of my sanity, can we all assume that my kids will be just fine because of that fact that I've done hundreds of hours of research, read many books on the subject, and talked with other homeschooling families?  awesome!  :) 

I an more than happy to discuss my reasons for choosing to home educate, when people inquire.  I love talking about it! (maybe that will be a future blog entry)  It's the dreaded socialization concern that causes me to become a bit cross.  I suppose by now I should expect it and not get offended; take it as a sort of opportunity to enlighten those that don't fully understand it (because I certainly didn't either).  Ok, I choose to not be offended anymore.  I will no longer be shocked by people's unsolicited thoughts and opinions; I welcome them...to an extent, lol.  My inner Katniss is now suppressed. Whew, glad I got that out. 


This article sums up this debate for me:
Socialization Debate

I "ain't got no" socially awkward child.  But she is my little hilarious nut.  :)

Numero Uno

Should there be pressure in starting a blog?  For some weird reason, I feel pressure to make these entries interesting and cool.  But, honestly, I'm creating this for me.  And maybe somewhere along the way other moms or non moms will comment and say, "YES, I CAN IDENTIFY, WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER!". 

My life is about to drastically change, again.  It obviously changed when I got married and again when I had Sophia, but going from one kid to two is a whole new level of intimidation.  Therefore, I'm creating this blog as a sort of outlet; A place to reflect on the good, the bad and the ugly.  And by ugly, I mean night feedings when I'm ugly and cranky, haha.  But mostly the good. :)  Things will get chaotic.  Life will become a different kind of interesting.  We'll have to find a new normal.  But it will be fun!  It will be awesome to look back at blog entries in the future and realize, "it's all worth it!".  

I'll be sharing fun adventures I take with the kids (omg, kids, plural!), frustrations with life, homeschooling insights as I navigate through that new territory, books I've read, funny things Sophia says, baby stories, and random life happenings.  Not that anyone cares, but like I said, it's more for me to look back on, :) 

and of course a picture to kick off my first blog....I love being a mom (has anyone really said otherwise, though?)