Happy Birthday Angel

Yesterday was Philip's 2nd birthday. Mom came in early and we spent some time visiting Philip at the cemetary. Afterward we have had cake at the house then mom watched Cristian while Carlos and I spent the afternoon and evening attending two weddings. Our friends Alex & Klaus and our next door neighbors Junella & Jason were all married yesterday. Both ceremonies were beautiful and the dresses georgeous! Mat god bless them with long, happy marriages. Is was nice for Carlos and I to have an evening out...even though I did miss Cristian. Mom stayed the night and after breakfast we went back to the cemetary and released a few ballons for Philip. We also replaced his flowers with some new ones that mom got for him. Compared to last year, this year's birthday was lovely and mostly stress free. I didn't cry as much as last year. Instead of pain I felt more happiness which was a good step in the right direction. Today is Philip's angel day, he passed March 8, 2007 at 11:05am. He blessed me for 9+ months on the inside and our entire family for 32 hours and 58 minutes on the outside. Now we carry him in our memories and our hearts.

Two Years Ago Right Now...

...I was at 8 centimeters dialated and getting ready to push. Little did I know that just a few hours and four epidurals later I would be in the OR having an emergency cesarean. Yep, that is really me, between contractions and looking oh so exhausted.

Philip Cole came into the world on March 7th at 2:07 am. Funny, I don't look half as loopy as I was.

So many of our family and friends gave up sleep to stick around and wait for his arrival. Mandy stayed with us all night and while Carlos slept...and I dosed...she rocked our little miracle...that's him, under the pile of blankets.

Two Years Ago Today...

...I was picked up by Mandy who drove me to my last doctors appt. After my appt, we walked next door to the hospital and I checked in. Mandy and I laughed with the triage nurse and I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. On a side note, the triage nurse, Andrea, was the most beautiful nurse I have ever seen. She was in her early thirties and just had such a striking look. After a few funny stories about smelly patients, Mandy asked about the age of the other moms. Andrea told us that just a few days before she had a patient so young that she was still wearing cartoon character underpants. I was so thankful that I waited to start my family. It broke my heart to think of such a young person tackling motherhood, how scary that must be. Carlos came to the hospital after work and my doctor gave me some meds to start induction. That was also the day I learned that my greatest enemy was to be the blood pressure cuff. (That darn cuff went off every hour on the hour for the next two days. I wouldn't really sleep because I was constantly anticipating the next round of cut-my-circulation-off-at-the-elbow. Oh how it hurt…even worse than the contractions…but those come later. After whining like a baby to my momma, she talked the nurse into giving me a break…but only after I had endured several sleepless nights.) This day was to be the first day of a series of best and worst days. In a little over 24 hours I would {finally} get to meet my angel Philip.

Not Just Teeth

Well, Cristian was sick. I mean really sick. So sick that he infected me, Grammie, all of my Aunts and my Uncle. We took him in to see the doctor Monday and he confirmed it was a stomach bug. No other issues, so we just had to wait it out. I took Tuesday off to care for the little guy, but by Wednesday I had it too. So Wednesday was a sick day for me. Carlos and I split today as Cristian was still not quite ready for school. He is doing so much better today, I am pretty sure he will go to school tomorrow. I have included pics of our weekend below. Despite the "bug" we had a good time, I think even Cristian had fun!

This is my favorite picture from the whole weekend. I love that the background is blurry, but Cristian is clear. I don't know who took it, but I wish I could take the credit!

Does this look like a sick kid to you? That smile was why it was so hard to not go to Mardi Gras. Instead we stayed at my Aunt's house and visited with family.
Cristian snoozing in the car

Izzy rockin' the mike
Belle concentrating on Guitar Hero

Cristian with Aunt Colleen & Uncle Eddie...as you can see, Cristian was completely mesmerized by the Cajun band...we even found him singing along! He may look like Carlos, but he is a little Cajun afteall!

Newly Engaged, Reina & Bubba!

Week in Pictures

Here are some new shots we took over the past two weeks. I have more from our weekend trip to East Texas, but I will load those tomorrow! Cristian is still crawling everywhere, but has started pulling up! He had his 1st Major Diaper Blow-out on Friday, five minutes before we left on our trip! I was alone and it was a mess, but I made it through only to have Carlos show up minutes after I was done cleaning everything up. How does he get such good luck? Cristian finished his antibiotics last week for his first ear infection, but was still pretty sick over this weekend. He made the drive over like a champ, but woke up Sat. in a mood. He refused to eat most of the day Sat. and continued to have "blow-outs" the entire weekend (including a huge one a half hour outside of Houston earlier today). Just like a good redneck, I cleaned him up in a Jack in the Box parking lot. ;-) The family concensus: teething. I am still not sold, as I think it might be a stomach thing. He ate today, but is still having stomach issues. We will see how tomorrow goes. I have tomorrow off, but he will go to school for a few hours in the morning so I can unpack and wash clothes. If they report more of the same it is off to the doctor we go. I don't want to risk him dehydrating. I'll give more info about the trip and some pics tomorrow!

I stood up all by myself!

Why sit in it when you can climb through it?
Whatcha eatin'? Homemade chocolate ice cream? Heck yeah!

Baby's 1st Mohawk, thanks Aunt Mandy!
Cristian in baby jail
the newest Moxley, sleeping beauty, Miss Ryleigh
Kelli & Braden Moxley

three sleepy little monkeys

Ups & Downs

I took a ½ day on Tuesday so I could take little man to the doctor and get our taxes done.

Cristian had a little cough that started last week and as it lasted longer that 4 days, we needed to have him checked out. It was a good thing we did because he has his first ear infection (and hopefully his last). It is only in the right ear and we caught it early on. He started on antibiotics Wednesday and I think he is getting better. He is very clingy (not a good sign) but the cough has disappeared (a very good sign).

After the doctor little man went back to school for a few hours while Carlos and I want to see the tax lady. I will spare you the details. In the end we have to PAY. I have never had to pay…ever. I was shocked. How did we? Why didn’t we? To summarize, Carlos’ 2nd job pushed us into a higher tax bracket and I did not calculate our deductions correctly. I hate being wrong, but I hate more when my wrong costs money. I was so angry (at myself mostly). Anyway, we definitely learned from the situation and immediately made a few changes to our current deductions.

So after all that I woke up Thursday to find my throat a little scratchy. I do NOT get sick, ever. But, when I do my first sign is the throat. The minute my throat hurts I know it is only going to get worse. I bought some meds at the pharmacy and started sucking on cough drops. After the boys left the house this morning I took a (uninterrupted) one hour nap. It made me feel so much better. I had to come into work, so I am toughing it out until 4.

Shortly after I got here this morning I got a call from my good friend Kelli. She is a busy mom of two so we don’t see each other often. She had some time today so we were able to catch lunch. Her son, Braden, is a few weeks younger that Philip and her daughter, Ryleigh, was born a little over a month ago. We went to this great burger place that has a jungle gym. Braden had fun with the other kids while Kelli and I talked. Little Ryleigh is super cute and made me want to have a girl of my own (almost). Kelli lives near my office so we usually catch-up over lunch. Unfortunately, that means she has only seen Cristian once and it was many months ago. I am hoping we can get together soon, over a weekend, so the kids can meet again and play.

My mom is coming tonight to help me with the munchkin. I need to get some sleep so I can feel better instead of worse. Carlos will be working all day tomorrow (because of Valentines), so I am very glad my mom is coming. I have some new pics of Cristian that I will post later!

GriefShare

My first GriefShare class was last night. I practiced introducing myself all the way there in the car. With confidence I approached the room, said Hi to Jan, and sat down. As the introductions began I was holding strong. And, wouldn't you know it, I totally lost it when it was my turn! Why does that always happen? Carlos can talk about Philip to complete strangers and he doesn't tear up...me, I just think about him and there go the water works. I mean, I practiced for goodness sake, I prepared! It has been a hard two years always feeling like no one could hurt as much as I am hurting. It was, in a way, enlightening to hear about other people's grief. The loved ones they missed and the everyday things that brought up the hurt. Their relationships are different, but their pain the same. It was a hard class but I am excited to go again next week. We even got a workbook with homework in it. That really works for me for a couple of reasons. I totally love homework (yes, I am a dork and I miss school). I know the homework is going to bring on lots of tears, snot and the "ugly crying face" so I feel better about doing that at home without strangers to face.