The Boys Room.......

Here is what the Theme looks like and the colors of the room.

I know, I know, I know. I should have posted this months ago. Well for those who know me well know that I have a hard time finishing a project. What was taking so long was I needed Ralph to move things around and put the heavy items back on the self in the closet. Since I am unable to lift for at least another week. I also was hoping I could get a girlfriend to come over to help with the final decor and help me decide on how to arrange the items on the wall. As you can see I still have not done that. I am going to get wooden letters of each boys name and hang them above each bed. And I also have photos and shelves to hang up to put Marcello's items from his last room on.




This is the view from the doorway. So you can see both beds. They have matching bedding.






Another view of the room so you can see the Boat Bed. As you can see they have lots of room to play.





Here is a closer look at the Boat bed. Marcello loves this bed. And one day it will be Finn's.





A closer look at the Quilt. We also bought the matching Twin Quilt for when Marcello gets bigger so they still share a room and Seb can keep a room to himself.








Hope you like the room, please leave comments about it. Once I do complete it I will post new photos.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING...

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We just hung out at home and cooked an early dinner. Ralph got up with the boys and started the bird in the oven, and I prepared the casseroles. We had a small dinner since it was just us this year. Seb helped me make the sweet potato casserole and boy was it good. I really wanted to bake a few item the night before, but we didn't get organized to do it. We just ended up just chillin at home.

Wednesday we ate lunch with Seb in his classroom. They made a Thanksgiving dinner for the parents. And the kids did such a great job. It was very good. Seb made the Pumpkin Pie and it was very tasty. So we asked him if he would help make ours, he ended up not wanting to when we got around to making it. This year Ralph made the pie crust, and boy it does make a difference in making your own instead of store bought. I was always to lazy to make my own.



Here I am with Marcello and Finn, we didn't have anyone over so I don't have makeup on.



Well, I gotta say this was the quietest Thanksgiving I think I ever had. The past 2 years I went back to the states to visit family while Ralph was gone. And the first year we were married we had around 10 single sailors over for dinner. I guess you can say I am used to being surrounded by family and friends for the holidays. And in some ways I am very home sick when it comes to the gatherings. I really wanted company this year since I was feeling good after I had the baby, but everyone already had plans. I really think Ralph is missing family also. He tried to call and talk to everyone, but with time difference he couldn't get anyone. I know Ralph is really looking forward for his father coming to visit in January.




Here is a photo of Finn 1 week 6 days. He has grown an inch and now weighs 7 pounds and 4 oz. One Oz from his birth weight. He eats all the time.











Here is a photo of Mr sour Puss. He was sooooooo sad he didn't have anyone to play with today. It seems all he cares about lately is playing with friends.


I HOPE EVERYONE HAD A VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I am now getting the house ready for Christmas and for Ralph's parents to visit.

Random Photos of the boys......

Just wanted to post a few photos of the boys chillin at home over the past few months.




I guess you can tell the boys love each other. Marcello fell asleep cuddling with Seb.














Seb and Marcello watching a movie.













MARCELLO IN A BOX.







This is the box from Finnegans car seat. It became Marcello play house for a while. He loved hiding in it.



















This is how we found Marcello in his room during nap time. He crawled into his chair instead of his bed. We just let him nap there that day.
















Geez I wonder where he gets this face from. Hmmm and WHO does he look like in this picture.




Sorry its fuzzy I tried to zoom in, but I took this photo at a very low resolution. So the quality is not that great.

HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS OF THE BOYS. I WILL BE TAKING PHOTOS OF ALL THREE TOGETHER SOON.

The first week home.

FINNEGAN LIAM ONE WEEK OLD

Wow what a long week it has been. Finnegan is now a week old, and I am very spoiled having Ralph home with me. Just to let everyone know, I am healing fine. This time around I am able to get up and move around without complications and am feeling good. I think this is the best I have felt after a birth. The first few day of course I was sore and week, and very sleep deprived. I wasn't able to get hardly any sleep in the hospital at all. The staff came in almost every hour to run test and check on baby Finn. And I sent Ralph home late each night to take care of Marcello. So the first night home was very rough. But it got better each day. We also have had PWOC (my bible study group) bring us meals every other night to help us out. It has been great having that. I wish we had it when I had Marcello.

Finn is feeding well and I am able to get sleep each night. We had the visiting nurse come by to check on us and he lost some weight. They said if he doesn't gain on the next visit in 2 days, then I will have to start him on bottles. We went through this with Marcello so I wasn't too worried. Ralph fed Marcello bottles in between nursing and we were able to get his weight up. And after he gained I didn't have any problems going back to nursing again. I ended up nursing Marcello until he was one. So on her next visit which was Friday, she weighed him and it showed he gained back to the weight he was released from the hospital. So I was relieved.


So far things are going very well. He is very alert and vocal when he wants something. It just amazes me seeing the difference in Finn and Marcello. It has been too long for me to really remember how Seb was as a newborn. Marcello slept a lot and hardly made a peep. We had to wake him to feed and change him. He was also a cuddle bug while Ralph was gone. To this day Marcello is still a very loving child, he loves to give hugs and cuddle up with you. Finn came out a lot stronger in areas. He is very feisty, and already holds his head up and looks around, just like a normal newborn. He seems to get really mad sometimes. I hope he doesn't get my temper, LOL.

The past few days Ralph and I have been working hard on the house, getting things back in order. It is all coming together. Our house is finally starting to feel like a home. We finally hung up most of the pictures from our vacations that I have had framed. And have been cleaning out the closets. We filled 3 trash bag with clothes, jackets, and other stuff to donate to the thrift shop here on base. It is just coming to that time to update every ones wardrobe.

Ralph is trying to help me get into a good routine with all the boys before he has to go back to work. He has been the one getting Seb up for school and taking care of Marcello and I. So now I am feeling better I can start to take over the household duty's again. I am actually looking forward to living a normal life again. (Well as normal as you can get living on this island.) Getting up with the boys, being able to play with Marcello again, and run errands when and where I want too. FREEDOM.

Well, not much more has been going on with us. I have just been trying to get the house in order for the Holidays. I am hoping to have company for Thanksgiving. I am disappointed I waited to long to get decor items for the Holiday. I wanted to get a new table cloth and a few new items. I haven't been home for Thanksgiving in a few years, and I never hosted a dinner before.

HOPE EVERYONE HAS A HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Welcome to this world...The newest Schmitz

WELCOME TO THIS WORLD FINNEGAN LIAM SCHMITZ

I just wanted to post a quick update on our latest addition to our family. I went in Friday November 14, 2008 for a schedule C-section to have our baby. Everything went fine for me, but poor Finnegan had a little rough start. He was born around 9 am and weighted 7 pounds 5 oz and was 20.5 inches long. And as you can see has a head full of black hair.

Finn was having difficult breathing. I could hear him crying non stop, but he was very pale and was turning blue. They put him in the oxygen tent to bring up his oxygen level. He was hooked up to a few machines and was under the warmer to keep him warm. They ran several test to make sure everything was OK. Ralph got to see him and be by his side while I had to wait in my room recouping. They also took X-rays and came and told us he had a broken collar bone. And if any of the test come back with any issues he was going to have to go to the hospital in Catania. It's what no parent wants to hear.

Finally after more test and the Doctors monitoring him, he came around and was fine. His Oxygen level rose to normal and was taken out of the tent. He was brought to me finally at 6 pm with an IV in his arm and one monitor to watch his O2 levels and heart rate. I finally got to hold my baby. Poor little guy, they had a splint on his arm to hold the IV in his arm to keep him from pulling it out.



Here is a photo of the poor little guy, he had to stay naked with just several blankets wrapped around him and you can see the splint on his arm. I had his IV machine on one side of the bed and mine on the other. It was a rough first night, but I had great help at the hospital. Ralph went home late so he and Marcello could sleep in there beds.


They took another X-ray the next morning and told us they were wrong about the broken Collar bone and still waiting on the blood results to come back. But so far he was fine and was breathing normal. We were relieved. They finally took him off the IV and the other monitor. So by Sunday morning they said we were cleared to go home. Everything came back normal and he is healthy and fine.

I am so thankful to have another healthy baby boy, he is doing well. He is very alert and feeding good. Seb is a very proud older brother, he can't keep his eyes off the baby and says how cute he is. Marcello seems to be doing well with the new baby also, he smiles at him. If he hears him cry he walks over the the bed and peaks in and looks at the baby.



A photo of Marcello and Finnegan, he loves his new baby brother.

Coming soon.....

I forgot to mention, We did a family photo shoot and I did some Prego shots. Once I get them I will be posting them on here. I am hoping to post the one of all of us as my new main photo.

Hope to talk to you guys soon and post photos of our new baby boy.

A quick post....

I am sorry I have not been updating much. I like to finish projects before I post them. I am going to try and finish up the boys room today. I was hoping a girlfriend would have come over to help with the final touches. All I have to do is hang stuff on the wall and reorganize the dresser so Finn has his own for clothes. Marcello is sleeping in his new bed and plays in the room, so that also has been keeping me from finishing a few things. Hard to do things with him in there either napping for playing with his toys. I might just clean up the room to take photos so everyone can see the theme, then take more when I finish the room. I know some of you keep asking to see photos.

Well there goes that idea, LOL. I was able to but all the clothes away finally in the room and finish packing all our bags. I started to clean things up, but Marcello ended up in his room today. So toys are everywhere. I napped most of the day, knowing after today naps will be hard to come by. So I guess you can say the room is not done. After I heal I will get in there and finish. It's frustrating, I really would like to finish things.

Well, for those that do not know, I go in tomorrow morning for my C-section. I have felt fine, I don't even think the baby has dropped. I am 39 weeks today. I am getting nervous about it of course. But at the same time cannot wait to hold him in my arms. I have not seen a clear photo of him yet, so we have no idea who he will look like.

Please keep us in your prayers. All we want is a healthy baby and no complications during the C-section.

I will post photos of Finnegan Liam Schmitz after I get home from the hospital.

I am now off to finish final things, and then to bed for the final full night sleep for a while.

Halloween Spoiled......

Well it's that time of year and we were all looking forward to it this year. Ralph is home for the first time, Seb is old enough to go with friends and Marcello is at that cute age to walk up to the houses. We bought pumpkin's to carve and candy to hand out to other kids that might come by. This year I didn't put up any decor, just too tired and had other things I needed to take care of inside the house. And I knew I wasn't going to dress up this year being 37 weeks prego.

This year things were planned out different. Seb was invited to a Halloween party and they were going to go Trick-or-Treating together. And we also have every year the Autumn Fest, which they have carnival rides, booths of food, Trick-or-Treating for the kids and lots more. I have had fun the past two years going. But this year the kids night at Autumn Fest fell the same night our housing was having Trick-or-Treating for the kids. Which I thought they should have changed it to the night before like the other housing was doing. So we decided to not go to the first night of Autumn Fest and let Seb go with friends and we take Marcello.

The first thing I feel that spoiled Halloween was I tried to get Ralph to carve the Pumpkin with Seb as a Father and Son project. Of course I could have done it, but he needs to spend more time with him. Seb needs one on one time with Ralph. I am finding him spending most of his time with Marcello and not enough with Seb. It actually upsets me when he does this. For the past two weeks I have tried to get them to carve the pumpkins, and something seems to come up. Last weekend we had something everyday that took most of our time up, and Ralph has been busy doing other things around the house. But sometimes you just have to put things off and spend a few mins with the kids.

HALLOWEEN DAY

Well the day started out slow and I woke up a zombie, kinda funny saying that since its Halloween. I have not been sleeping well at all. And when Ralph woke me I was finally in a good sleep, I so didn't want to get up. I just wasn't feeling well. He said he should get off early, so I was excited to get things ready for the day and hope they would have enough time to carve the pumpkin before dark. I was just in one of those Blah moods, after a phone call I felt better. Seb was being so good and just sitting at the table painting waiting for it to be time to see if friends could play. Finally I let him out of the house to find Friends. He shows back up with a friend and they go up and play in his room, the day is going well. Then another friend comes over to join them. They all play great together and having a good time. I am trying to get Marcello to play in his room so I can shower and get ready for the day. Also Housing is suppose to show up sometime today, so I cant go anywhere.

The day is going fine, but I am not feeling well. Seb's friends had to leave and I let him continue playing his game on the TV since Marcello is still napping. Ralph calls to let me know he is still at work and doesn't know when he can get off. I start to get a little upset, because I don't want to take Marcello Trick-or-Treating alone. Then Seb does the one thing that is unacceptable. And I put my foot down and told him if it happens ONE more time, he will eat dinner and go to bed, no going to the party. So what happens, when its time to start getting the boys ready, he does it again. I will not go into what he has been doing, just that he is 7 and he knows better, and I am not going to tolerate it any more.

So I just break down, and send Ralph a message that Seb is eating dinner at home and is in bed. Not only is his behaviour keeping him from going out, but its punishing both Marcello and I. It is now 5 PM and I have to call the parent of Seb's friend and let them know he will not make it. Ralph calls and says he is still stuck at work and it doesn't look like he is getting off any time soon. I start to get really sad because I really want to dress Marcello up and take him out. I also really need to get out of the house, I have been cooped up too much lately with me being at the tail end of my pregnancy. People can think I am a bad parent all they want, but there comes a time where you have to put your foot down. This is nothing new to Seb, he knows what he did, and everything else has not worked. So maybe him missing this will help it sink in that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

So I just curl up on the couch, and wait for Ralph to come home. He finally makes it home at 730 PM. Marcello is already in bed so he cant take him, and our pumpkin is still sitting on the table out front not carved. This is my life story, something always has to go wrong. Normally I brush it off and move on, but lately, I am just giving up.



Marcello sad he didn't get to go.







HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE