For 9 months I walked around pregnant. I watched my belly grow from looking like I was eating too much cake to looking like I swallowed a basketball. Layers of muscle and fat and skin kept me away from seeing what was between me and the baby growing inside of me. For 9 months all I had was wonder. I wondered, is this baby going to make it? Will I ever meet it? Are we adding another girl to the group or will this one be a boy. Are these boy symptoms I’m feeling or girl symptoms? I wasn’t sure. One thing I did know was that this baby was very active. I remember feeling flutters super early, way before 12 weeks. After three pregancy I knew the familiar feeling of flutters. As the baby continued to grow, the movements continued to increase, reassuring me throughout the day that it was there and it was ok. I loved that feeling. I remember at work, when we had the pre-schoolers rehearsing for graduation, this little one would flip and move with excitement as the kids sang there songs. I noticed the same thing while sitting in the auditorium, listening to my daughters holiday concerts. The response to music continued as we’d sit in our entry room listening to the girls playing their flutes. I’d think to myself “this kid really likes music”. This kid also made me very nauseous! I was nauseous for the whole pregnancy. It was awful. I was hungry but nothing delighted me. Well, except for cake! I had no cravings just hunger and naseau. Towards the end of the 2nd trimester I started experiencing numbness and pain in my right arm. The pain was so bad that I couldnt cut or write anything with my right arm. I couldnt even get thru stirring chopped meat for taco night! The nights were even worse. I had to ice my shoulders and hands to relieve pain in my arms. I’d never experienced such a thing in my other pregnancies. I cried alot, not cause of hormones but because I was in so much pain. I was so worried that it would never go away. How would I function? I couldnt drive or push the cart at the supermarket without my hand going dumb and pain striking my arms. At times I’d think to myself, what have I done. What if I put myself self through all of this and something goes wrong and it was all for nothing. But one little kick and a smile would appear on my face. The pain, the unknown, the naseau, the sleepless nights, they would prove to be worth it! One thing I did notice in this pregnancy was my hormones. I wasnt emotional or sensitive like I had been with the prior pregnancies. No one really got on my nerves and if they did I didnt meow about it like a cat, I roared like a lion. Almost like I had testosterone inside of me. Most of the time it was the kind that caused me to chase my husband morning, noon and night! Otherwise I was as cool as a cucumber or picante like a spicey pepper. Amir believed that the cause of all of this was a little boy. An energetic, high testosterone little boy. And he was right. I dont know how Liam entered the world, did he come out screaming and crying or was he silent. Due to an emergency c- section, that is a question we will never know the answer to. But I do know that Liam loves to cuddle. He doesnt like a soiled diaper, not even a barely soiled diaper. But he hates to be changed, go figure! You feel like your in a battle, the way he moves his legs and arms all over the place, desitin ends up all over the place, sometimes the diaper rips cause I’m trying to go as fast as I can so I dont have to hear the angry, high pitched scream he makes and to top it off he pees and has been known to poop all over me. Thats completely new to me. My little girls never did that to their mama. He frets if hes hungry, like hes been starving for days. Hes delighted by the hugs of his big sisters and absolutely loves to be in his daddy’s strong arms. He does not like to be alone, loves to be ooed and cooed at. He loves being outdoors and looking up at the trees. He loves to sleep. Thank you for those 5 to 6 hour stretches in the early evening! Hes not a big fan of the car seat, luckily the car ride always puts him to sleep. Theres so many things we are learning about him every day and so much hes learning about each and everyone of us. So thankful for him. Two months ago we didnt know if he would be Liam or Natalia and now I cant imagine this life without him. So glad you are here Liam.
Raising Children
Underground Barbie AKA B.I.T.B
You’ll often hear my girls say to eachother B.I.T.B? This is what they say to one another when one of them wants to play Barbies In The Basement. It’s become one of their go to activity together. My girls have a love for barbie. I love that they are all into it and that it’s something they love to play together. Since we moved two years ago, their barbie collection has grown immensely. They have free range of our entire unfinished basement and have used almost every square inch of space to build an entire barbie community. They have scenerios they come up with and then they play it out. For instance, one day they plan a birthday party, or a baby shower or a family is playing a soccer tournament and all of the girls play based on this event. The barbies have real families and stories. They have jobs and responsibilities. Some of the families have foster and adopted children. They all have names and the girls can name each and every one of them. They can get lost in playing for hours, but the play sometimes comes to an abrupt ending due to a disagreement between what the barbies should and should not be doing. I love how their imagination sparks. It’s not just playing but theres alot of creativity going on too. 
They built bunk beds out of card board, book cases, and other household furnishings. They’ve made bounce and play areas, and mini books using magazine cut outs. They’ve built laundry rooms, custom made beds, closets, garages. Theres so much thought and detail involved. I tell them when they get older the three of them should open a real Barbie Land where little girls and boys can go and play everything and anything barbie. 
I wish I was their sister! We would have had so much fun together and fights too, but the fun definatley outweighs the fights. I hope they remember these days forever. They are so blessed to be here on this earth together as sisters and have the opportunity to play together.
One picture. A thousand words.
I love how a picture can come to life, even if it was taken 38 years ago. Like this picture of my mother in law with my husband (what a cutie). Her smile, her hands locking with her sweet baby boy, I can feel her in the moment. The warmth of the sun on their skin. Her eyes say so much and he just has no clue yet! He’s just happy to have someone holding him up. Helping him to stand. He’s so happy just having his mom close to him. He doesn’t have a care in the world. She probably has so many, but right now all she cares about is keeping him on his two little feet. She seems so casual, so natural. Someone just caught her in the moment. What a beautiful moment.
I didn’t know her as a young mother, but this picture tells me so much. She was a happy mom, a beautiful, sexy mom. She was loving, caring and true.
I did get to know her as the mother of a grown man. She helped him to grow up and stand all by himself. Guiding him, but not controlling him. Loving him, but not smothering him. She held him close but knew how to let go. She always stood beside him, never in front and never behind him. They were equal. He loved her very much and she the same.
Lets Go Mets!
Spring training is here! Welcome back baseball! This past year, the Mets gained three new little fans! Hmmmm, maybe four! I guess I’m taking a liking to baseball myself. My husbands’ yelling and screaming make it hard for me not to wonder what is going on in the game! The love for baseball can be handed down from generation to generation in many different ways. Sometimes from fathers to sons, sometimes from uncles to nephews. For my husband, the love for baseball wasn’t handed down, but rather grew in him as a young child. He began his love affair with the New York Mets when he was 7 years old in 1985. His love for the team spread quickly to his mother. She understood nothing about the game when this all started, but little by little as he explained the game to her she fell in love with it too. The love of baseball, and in particular, the love for the Mets was something special that they shared. Even though the team struggled for many years, they followed them faithfully. Some of his happiest memories are lazy summer afternoons sitting in the backyard listening to the game on the radio together and summer nights watching the games on TV cheering them on.
The two of them would go to Shea Stadium and cheer for the team they loved. Maybe baseball was just an excuse for him to spend time with the mother he adored and looked up to. Maybe baseball was just her excuse to sit next to her youngest son and cheer about a common love. Their relationship was a special one, they enjoyed a lot of the same things, but none more than the New York Mets.
When we had our 3 little girls, my husband never pushed baseball upon them. He never imagined that they would one day learn to love the team he has faithfully followed now for more than 30 years. But as they watched him root for the team they too, started to root right there along beside him. It’s been really sweet to watch my little girls share in the love of baseball with their daddy. My girls have learned to the love the Mets…to love the game of baseball…to love the time spent watching the games with their dad. Can you guess who their favorite player is?
This post is dedicated to my mother in law who was the biggest Met fan of all. Unfortunately she passed away August 31, 2015 right before the Mets went to the world series. We have a feeling she was watching and had the best seat in the house!
PJ Library
Our family is an interfaith one. My husband is Jewish and I’m Catholic. We are raising the girls Jewish, but are also teaching them about many of my Catholic traditions. In our home, it always seems like we are celebrating something! It’s been fun for me learning all of the wonderful Jewish traditions and holidays as I experience them with my husband and daughters. I am always looking for ways to incorporate Judaism into the girls daily lives. Being Catholic though, it doesn’t always come natural for me to teach them about Judiasm, but I do try in any way that I can. A few years ago my sister in law told us about this wonderful program Called PJ LIBRARY. They mail us free Jewish children’s books and music to families on a monthly basis. (you can go to pjlibrary.org to find out more) Every month we look forward to a new book or music CD. The books are usually sent in accordance with a holiday or tradition that we are celebrating! It’s been so great and helpful in teaching the girls more about their religion and holidays. And I have learned so much as well, even my husband enjoys reading them with the girls! It makes them feel connected and special when we receive the books! Signing up was so simple and since then we have received well over 24 books!!!!
Pardon the mess, my children are making memories
I don’t know what it is but when all three of my children are home together, they can not help but turn their play room and bedroom into a ginormous mess! I know one reason may be because I only allow them to watch TV in the morning and maybe if there is time, a half hour before they have to get ready for bed. So in between that time, they have to find things to keep them busy! And they definitely do! I have to admit, it’s taking some time for me to accept that this is just how they play and if I want to keep them away from wasting their day on TV and electronics that I can not keep getting in the way of how they choose to play. Up until not to long ago (maybe a month ago) I literally would follow them in and out of each room, cleaning up after them constantly, never allowing the rooms to look like the photos above (and I think this was definitely extreme!! Not sure what they were thinking today!). My whole day was literally spent picking up and putting their toys away and complaining about all of the stuff they had. It’s definitely great exercise but I knew I had to start letting go a little bit (This is bad though, and probably will never happen again! Not to this extreme!). And so, little by little instead of cleaning up right away or nagging them to clean up (I don’t want to be a nag!) I have decided that as long as the mess stays in their room and the playroom they can leave it until they are done playing (can’t promise I will last that long but I will try). They have to clean it up and everything has to go back where it belongs at least an hour before bedtime. Today was really the first day I didn’t nag them about the mess. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of ignoring it. But I did take the pictures so that one day I can remind them! They really do play so nice and I really do enjoy having these memories of my little girls playing together as they should. I want them to look back at their childhood and remember how much fun they had together!
So thankful!
I am so thankful for this incredible life, my husband, my family and these amazing little girls who are forever creating something!!!! I could not ask for anything more! This life is my heaven on earth!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Girls just wanna have fun!
These little girls just love to have fun! From the minute they wake up until their very last minute before bedtime, these girls are just loving life and Im just so lucky to be witnessing it. They live in a world of fun. Sometimes I feel like we live in a children’s museum where the fun never ends. Every single one of them adds such joy and life into my life. I love how they dress up and play pretend. How they head over to the playroom in the morning and start writing on their white board pretending to be teachers. How they collect every book in the house and set up a bookstore. How they take clothes from their closets and make little price tags and pretend to have a boutique. How they create little menus and play restaurant. How they go into my closet and put on my high heels. How they take anything in my house and turn it into something fun. Yes, EVERYTHING they do causes a HUGE mess, and yes sometimes I have to yell and scream for them to clean it up but they are making so many memories together and I’m so happy to be their mom. I’m so happy to be the mom that cleans up after them. That I’m the one who gets to clean up after another incredible memory that they have made. I love you girls!
Love This Little Lady
Will this little lady ever know how much I love her? This is Isabel, my beautiful, smart, caring, compassionate 7 year old. She is the oldest of my three beautiful daughters. She is funny, fierce and sometimes sassy. She is a thinker, she is an observer. She is the one who gets to make me a cup of coffee. She is the one that dad asks for help when he needs to measure something. She is the one who walks her sisters to the bathroom when they are too scared to go by themselves. She is the one who has learned to do homework while her younger sisters sing and scream and cause chaos. She is the one who has had to wait for my attention because I was busy changing or feeding or cleaning up someone or something. She is also my little helper and the one who sometimes gets blamed for the things her little sisters do. The one who has had to deal with her stuff getting ruined by a three year old. The one who has lost story time because her toddler sibling wasn’t cooperating. The one who doesn’t remember that before her sisters came we would sit and lay with her for hours. We played and read books. Went for walks and long car rides. We sat and played with playdough and painted and sang songs, collected leaves and sat outside on a blanket just looking at the sky. I’d hold her in my arms for hours. If she didn’t want to walk, I’d carry her. I Carried her around while she would rest her leg over my 9 month pregnant belly when I was pregnant with my second child. Does she remember that I carried her even if my back was killing me just so she felt safe? Does she remember us making a big fuss over every little thing she learned? I notice now that when we make a big deal about her little sisters learning to read or skip or snap their fingers that she doesn’t realize we also made a big deal about her little and big accomplishments. Does she remember that she too got away with a lot of the same stuff her younger sisters get away with. As the older child she will remember less about her earlier years and more about her life with two sisters. Her sisters are her best friends. I know there are times she would love to have me all to herself, but my God she misses her sisters when they are not around. Having three children so close in age makes it more challenging to have special time with each one but I do make sure everyday to kiss and hug them, read and play with them and make sure they know how much I love them! Each and everyone of them!
