2013 - a year in review

2013 has turned out to be a pretty amazing year. The kids have been growing up so fast that I feel that if we blink we'll miss them being little. Here is a recap of some of the pretty cool trips we went on in 2013:

In July, we drove to Nashville to visit our friend Val. Val used to live across the street, but landed a job with the Nashville Zoo. It took 2 days to drive. We started our trip at 3:30 in the morning with the hopes we would make it far, and that the kids could continue to sleep. No such luck for us...Matthew talked from 3:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. when we told him that if he didn't stop talking we were leaving him on the side of the road! We stopped at Luray Caverns in Virginia and the kids had a blast.







We ended up camping at Nashville Shores. The camp ground was ok - but we won't go back. There was a water park as part of the campground and that was an extra charge, and there was nowhere else to swim. David and Dominic did a ropes course, and Dominic and I went Jet Skiing while there as well. We spent lots of time with Val and she ended up taking us on a behind the scenes tour of the zoo too!












On Labor Day Weekend, we decided to do one last camping trip with the kids and we went to Falmouth, Cape Cod. The weather was cold, rainy and raw, which doesn't make for any fun camping, swimming, or being at the Cape. We tried to make the best of it. Grammie and Grampa came do visit one day and we took a ride to the light house. We ended up packing up a day early to head home because the weather was so bad. We did take the kids to the beach one day and I'm not sure how they went in the water, as the air was so cold that day!

















In October, David and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. We celebrated with a trip to Mexico November 3-10. We ended up going back to the same resort we went to for our honeymoon 10 years ago. The weather wasn't the best, but it was better than the 40/50 degree weather we had here. We had 80 degree weather in Mexico, but it rained and was overcast most days. Regardless, we had fun. We didn't do any excursions this trip, we just laid on the beach, or laid by the pool for 7 days! We met a great family from New Jersey and hung out with them every day too! We are already talking about going back for David's 40th birthday in 2016 - going to charter a plane and try to get as many friends / family to come with us! The kids are already talking about it.

















Finally we end with Christmas. The kids had their holiday concert for Pre-K2 and they were superstars! Matthew sung his heart out and Ari, well she was just a doll. We took the kids out for frozen yogurt to celebrate after their concert. Christmas Eve Eve celebration in Fall River was fun too. We did our annual cupcake wars, and this year I took the prize! I made Tiramisu cupcakes and Snickers Candy Bar cupcakes...yum. My sister had a plaque made up for our annual tradition.

Christmas Eve was celebrated at David's brother's house this year. I don't remember too much of that because apparently the 1 drink I had put me over the edge and I got sick...whoops...Speaking of sick, 4:30 a.m. on Christmas Day Matthew woke up with the stomach bug. The poor thing was stuck in bed all day. When we let him come downstairs, he had to wear a face mask so he wouldn't spread any germs.























This year has been a fun year with many blessings. Some friends got married, had babies and got new jobs. We are lucky for our parents health and we are looking forward to see what 2014 has to bring. Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Soccer Sunday

The kids started soccer, and mom is the assistant coach! So far they're having a blast!!

Never a dull moment!

This past Sunday was rather INTERESTING! It started off with us excited about the kids first Soccer game! Part of getting ready was getting the kids bathed, dressed and for Arianna - it meant taking out her earrings!

She came into the bathroom to ask if I could take her earrings out, but my finger nails were too long that she didn't' want me to do it...so I said Go ask Dad! About 2 minutes later she came up and said Daddy wants you to look at my right ear. I took a look at it and the front looked perfectly normal...but the back...did not! I asked Ari what she did and if her ear hurt - she said she did nothing and there was no pain. Now you see...her earring back was somehow lodged into the back of her ear (like under the skin). I called David upstairs and said we really need to bring her to the ER - this isn't good! What does David do...Disappear for 2 minutes and came back up with tools.



He had a pair of pliers and thought he was going to cut her earring out! Both Ari and I looked at each other and said NO way! We called our neighbors to see if they could take Matthew, because I knew I needed reinforcement at the ER with Arianna.

We went to the hospital and usually there is a LONG wait - but we timed it just right! We got right in within 5 minutes of being there - we saw a nurse within 10 and the doc by 15 min...I was like Yes! We will still make it to the game! Boy was I wrong...

After the 2nd Nurse came in, he put lidocane cream on her ear to numb it so the numbing shot wouldn't hurt. The doc came back about 20 minutes later and tried to get the needle behind her ear, but she was screaming so bad he stopped instantly! He explained that if it were his child, he wouldn't put them through this torture, so he recommended that we sedate her. He explained that it would knock her out for about 20-30 minutes and then she'd be ready to go home.

So - We had to wheel to another room in the ER, because the initial room was a "non emergency" room - and where they were going to sedate her and cut the earring back out of her ear, they needed a better spot. Ari got hooked to all of the heart monitors and the respiratory machine. Once she was all set, both the Doc and the Nurse came in - Ari looked at me and said...I have to pee! Are you kidding me??? Now we had to unhook her, bring her to the bathroom and then hook her up again.



Once she came back, two nurses and the doctor came in to administer the Ketamine shot. They told me to talk about nice things like kitties, princesses, puppies, etc. She started talking about Grammie's kitties and I asked her which one was the fluffiest and she didn't answer me - she was just staring into space. I continued to rub her head and said close your eyes...the doc responded with she's not going to...so I was a little freaked out seeing her laying there, unresponsive with her eyes wide open and tears streaming down her cheek. It made you want to cry - but I knew I couldn't!

The Doc made his first slice and then got paged to another room in the ER - STAT...so he went running - and came back within seconds to apologize. Apparently the other doctor went to lunch and no one told him! It took about 3 minutes to remove the earring from her ear and he didn't put any stitches in because there was a risk of infection.

So about 10 minutes went by and Ari's eyes started flickering and widening and you could tell she was starting to come out of her sedation. The nurse turned her head towards me and I got a BIG smile! She then mumbled VERY slowly - "Mooooooommmmmy" - my response: yes baby girl - time to wake up - "Iiiiiiiiii loooooooooovvvvvveeeeee yyyyoooouuuuuuu" - I burst into tears as did the nurse! She said she has never seen anyone do that and for her to say that after being out was just so adorable.

Ari woke up a bit more and started crying - stating that she had to go to the bathroom again. The ER didn't have any "baby bed pans" so the nurse recommended that I carry her to the bathroom. So - all 48lbs of DEAD weight I carried to the bathroom and then after the door shut I thought to myself..."shit - how am I going to pull down her pants and sit her on the toilet by myself - she can't stand up!" Well, just like everything in life - I improvised and managed. The poor thing did head back to the bathroom with no pants on and her little butt was hanging out of the Johnny...but hey! I got them off one handed - there was NO way I was putting them back on.



We got back to her room and she started to lose her color. She was breaking out into a cold sweat and her heart beat was going from 106 - 165! Her lips were very pale and she didn't look right. She ended up getting sick and was throwing up. After throwing up the first time, she went back to sleep for a bit. She then woke up and got sick again. This went on for 2.5 hours! Finally around 3:15, the Nurse said that I could take her home - there was nothing more they could do for her at the hospital. So - I brought her back home and she slept for another 2.5 hours! So - for a medicine that you are supposed to come out of after 20-30 minutes, it took her 6 hours! In my mind I knew something wasn't right!

So now we fast forward 3 days and she woke up saying her feet hurt. I checked the bottom of her feet and couldn't figure out what the problem was! I told her I don't see anything on your feet. She then had breakfast and went upstairs to get ready for school. I happened to walk into her room while she was getting dressed and that's when I saw them...HIVES all over her body! I gave her a dose of Benedryl and brought her off to school. I told the teacher if she starts to get worse, to call us. Around 12:45 we received the call from school saying the hives have spread all over her body! So...David went to pick her up and I made the call to the doctor. We were able to be seen at 2:45. They checked her from head to toe and turns out the hives are from an allergy she had to the sedation drug they gave her while in the ER! The Pediatrician called the Allergist and he was even able to come look at her - and did indeed confirm that the hives were the result of a drug allergy! So...my mind went back to Sunday in the ER and I knew something was not right! What's that saying...Mom's always right!!!

Here are a few photos I took of her last night - she does look much better today after putting the cortisone cream on her.