Bed Rest

Towards the end of every pregnancy my body starts doing all kinds of weird things. Most of them I will just keep to myself, but mainly I start pre-term labor way too early. A couple of weeks ago I was feeling soooo much tightening in my stomach and loads of pressure in that whole area. I remember showing a house and having a feeling that if I sneezed the baby was going to fall out. I went to the doc only for her to tell me what I already knew....time to stop working and get my feet up. It probably didn't help that during that week I was working real hard at getting my garden going which involved digging, shoveling and on my hands and knees trying to make those neat little hills that you see on farms. With out wasting any time after leaving to doc's office, I called my real estate friend and handed over all my files to her and put my feet up. Now my bed rest is the kind where I just have to take it easy and not spend so much time on my feet. I have absolutely enjoyed every second of it and it has been so nice to be home with the girls. I guess it is one of those things that when you are home all the time, you sometimes day dream about working and when you are working all the time, you wish you could be home. The never ending battle of being a mommy.

Busy, busy, busy!

Seems like just yesterday that I was blogging about those crazy 2 weeks, I don't know if the older you get the faster time flies or if the more kids you have the faster time flies??

Anyhow, the months of March and April have been non-stop. Finally purchased a membership to the zoo and have enjoyed using it. Don't know why I waited so long. Now when I need Mr. B and the little ones out, I have a place to send them.

My grandma on my moms side turned 80 and she threw herself a fabulous party in the big city of Miami, AZ. Hundreds of folks came out to celebrate, most of them my immediate family. The pictures show all my girls cousins and our children, and the other one is all my boy cousins. Last count I had over 40 first cousins. Much love to my grandma who had 12 children. Watching her surrounded by all of her children almost had me wishing for that large of a family, almost.

Then there was the exciting day when Ms. M declared that she was ready to take her training wheels off. It was so amazing to watch my little girl have so much determination to ride her bike all on her own. In the video, you can hear her say "I can do it this time!" Oh, she is so awesome. It took her a few days of trying and now she is all over the front and back yard.

After 8 years, Mr. B finally fulfilled his military obligation. We had a nice party where he was surrounded by family, friends and his Army buddies. The kids put camo on their face and the adults played pin the grenade on the tank. Now there are no more worries that he will be sent anywhere. When his retention SGT emailed him about reenlisting, I took it upon myself to respond and let him know that under no circumstances will Mr. B reenlist and that if he has a problem with that he could speak to me directly. Mr. B was not too happy that I did that. Something about being embarrassed that his wife was laying down the law. Whatever, mission accomplished...no reenlisting.

Easter was at our house again this year. I just love Easter. We had 3 egg hunts this year. One for the little ones, one for the tweens, and one for the adults (thanks for the idea T). Ms. D and I hid the eggs for the little ones while Tia T, T, and Ms. A played Easter Bunny for the tweens. The day was filled with food, games, eggs, Golden eggs, and the money egg! Now, I may be pregnant and moving slow, but guess who found the money egg??? ME!! 60 bucks was all mine. I can't wait until next year.

The last 2 weeks.....

If you would like to read how the last 2 weeks transpired, then scroll down to the entry titled My Baby Turns 1 and read up.

A beautiful wedding- SUNDAY

Today my cousin E got married at the Tempe Art Center. She looked awesome and everything about the wedding was perfect, including the 2 plates of food I devoured. I love weddings and am always very moved at the love that people feel for each other. The judge who married them was the same one that married Mr. B and I over 5 years ago. Hearing his voice took me back to the day that Mr. B and I were standing in my backyard exchanging our vowes and remembering how he looked at me as we stared in each other's eyes promising forever. Mr. B gets a lot of bad press in my blogs, but he really is an amazing man and it was nice to be able to take a moment and think back to that very special day for us. After such an emotional, tragic and overwhelming 2 weeks it was refreshing to end it with a new life for 2 people and most importantly, love.

A week of funerals - TUESDAY AND FRIDAY

We later learned that our renter died of natural causes. Baby Maria did not.

Tuesday was the services for the baby, something that I pray I never have to go to again. The church was full of police officers from both agencies, family and 2 parents that just lost their baby. There is really not a way to describe to absolute sadness and pain you feel for the parents as you cannot even imagine what they are going through. What do you say? It just makes no sense. Pink balloons were released at the cemetery as we all said good bye to a life that only arrived 17 days prior.

Friday was the service for Mr. P. Of course, I felt sadness for the family and the 3 children he left behind, but at least with Mr. P there could also be some peace knowing that he lived a full life and was now able to rest.

Heartbreaking News- THURSDAY

I woke up Thursday to a text from my mom asking if Mr. B knew the female police officer who lost her baby to a dog attack the night prior. In her text she said that the news said that she was married to a police officer from a different agency. Mr. B was still in bed, so I woke him up to ask him. He immediately knew who the news was talking about and after calling in to work, he confirmed that the unimaginable news was true. A friend and a co-worker who he graduated from the academy with, had just lost her 2 week old baby after the family dog attacked her. Mr. B spent the day in tears as his heart pained for her, her husband and their family. How could this happen?

Our Renter WEDNESDAY

So the day prior I was laid off. Bummer, but thankfully real estate has picked up a bit with the first time home buyer credit that is being offered. I needed to pick up the rent check for our rental property, something that I do at the beginning of each month, but had an appointment to show houses that afternoon. That left Mr. B to stop and pick it up from our renter Mr. P. I called and left a message for Mr. P, letting him know that Mr. B would be picking it up this month, just to make him aware that it would not be me. When Mr. B arrived, he realized really quickly that something was very wrong. The check was not under the mat, the yard was very over grown, mail was piling up in the box, the trash had not been thrown and no one was answering the door. ALL very unlike our very responsible renter that we had come to know over the last year. An older man, he moved here to take care of his handicap brother. He was the perfect renter.

The previous month, when I picked up the check he had mentioned that he had been sick. So when Mr. B called to tell me that he was not answering and that things did not look right I told him to call 911. Mr. B called back a bit later to tell me that the police found Mr. P dead in his bed. Oh my gosh. So sad. We had no idea how long he had been there and I will spare you the details.

The next several days were spent trying to find his family and trying to figure out what we were supposed to do. We finally learned that his daughter was serving in the Air Force in Afghanistan and it would take several days for her to get here. So sad.