Chiara Isabella

Well, I had written a long post about the birthing process and saved it to post later with pics, but of course it has disappeared into the universe somewhere.... So how it all went down is like this. I went in for my appointment the day before my due date. I was dilated to a 3, so my doc stripped my membranes and gave me a few "suggestions" as to how to get my contractions going. Needless to say they worked and by three in the afternoon I was getting regular contractions. By 7:00 pm they were a few minutes apart so we went in. When they hooked me up to the monitor they noticed that every time I had a contraction that the baby's heart rate would drop really low. The problem was that I was only dilated to a four at this point and putting me on pitocin would only put the baby in further distress. After about an hour of this my doc decided we needed to take her by c-section. I was not ready for that, but in the moment you don't have much of a choice. Why is it that I know so many women who have their last baby by an unplanned c-section? Anyways, next thing we know, Joel is putting on some super tight scrubs, we're making lots of jokes with my doctor, and then I'm hauled off for surgery. It was just like in Gray's Anatomy where there is music playing and everyone operating on me were talking about what plans they had for the weekend, and who won that game, like it wasn't weird at all that they were about to pull a baby out of my stomach! It was surreal! I felt a lot of tugging and the next thing I know my beautiful little girl was screaming the most beautiful high pitched squeal you've ever heard! It was so hard to not be able to hold her as my arms were strapped down, but I was so happy when Joel put her little peanut head next to mine so I could kiss her. She was 21 1/2 inches and 8 lbs 2 oz. First and foremost... C-Sections suck!!! It is so frustrating having two normal deliveries where I could walk around and feel pretty normal after a couple days, to being in agonizing pain every time I had to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. Joel was my super hero! He was there with me the whole time. He took care of the baby the whole time and loved every minute of it. These two have a special bond. We decided to name her Chiara (key-ar-a) Isabella. She is so sweet and peaceful. She really is an easy baby (knock on wood). I can't believe she is already one month! Our home has been a revolving door for visitors. My mom was here for 10 days, Joel's mom for three weeks, then my father-in-law came, my parents, and sisters for the baby blessing. They all have helped us so much with the kids and our house. We are super grateful. Now Tio Christian is here and we are having a lot of fun. Allegra and Gianluca have been in heaven! They also love and adore Chiara. Allegra is a bit of a smother mother, but she's learning. I'm so happy she loves her sis so much. Anyways, I'll update more details later. That is the initial story. Joel's tight scrubs. He likes to call them his wrangler scrubs! Too funny! The Proud Daddy Our first meeting! All of my labor and delivery glory! Best Friends Already! Well at least while she can't talk yet! Mom, Darci, Kim, and me. I love these awesome women!It was a blast having them here! Abu Maggie, Allegra, and the baby The proud siblings More pictures and updates to come soon!

Baby Name Poll

Just saw on my pregnancy countdown that I have 42 days left!!! I'm not ready! I'm so not ready! And she's coming no matter what! Ok, so we don't even have a name picked out. Here's what we are thinking.... and keep in mind that our other two have Italian names so I'm trying to think of something that is unique and still is something that people can pronounce here in America without slaughtering it. When Joel says the names in his fancy Italian accent it sounds amazing, but I know all of us normal red-neck English speakers will just kill the name! I've had to axe a bunch of the names he liked for that reason. So here is our short list.

1. Giuliana (Juliana)
2. Chiara (Kiara)
3. Giada/ Gia for short
4. Alessandra/ Alessa for short
5. Aviana
6. Liliana (Lilly)

And I might add that we are not in love with any of these. And I change my mind every day. I used to like Isabella and Sofia (ok I still like Sofia a lot) until everyone and there dog named their daughters that around the time Allegra was born. So I need the name to be beautiful, easy to pronounce, and unique like my other kids. What do you think?

The Dude's 7th Birthday!

Well a lot has happened over the past month. Maggie (Joel's mom) came out for Gianluca's birthday and to help out. We had a great time with her. Gianluca was especially happy to have his own personal masseuse in town. She'd give him a foot massage almost every night before bed. He was in Heaven! I'm excited to also show you pictures of this toothless monster! He lost his two front teeth (one of which was knocked out while wrestling with Abu Maggie) and it is so freaking adorable that I love to see that enormous gap! You could parallel park your car in there I swear! But that space is quickly filling up with two big teeth. I can't believe that only seven years ago I had Gianluca on Superbowl Sunday and watched Justin Timberlake reveal Janet Jackson's boob the day the Patriots won. I was sitting there thinking, Did I just see that???? Yes, yes I did. What a great memory for his birth day!

Fast forward seven years and probably 6 moves later, we have this crazy passionate, wild child who is way more like his Dad every day. Apparently all of those people who cursed Joel to "have a child just like he was" got there wish! But I wouldn't have it any other way. He loves life, and he feels and loves and gets angry, but that is what makes him so special! It's amazing we've not had any problems with him at school (knock on wood!!!) and his teacher is always telling me how well behaved he is in class. I can't believe it because when he comes home, it's like opening the gates of animal kingdom! Oh well, he's our boy and we love the dude! For his b-day Allegra and I had lunch with him and took his class cupcakes and for dinner he wanted to go to Benihana's, his favorite restaurant. We had a blast and he loved talking trash to the cook and making jokes. We had a great time. He loves eating dumplings and shrimp there. Then we had a party at Chuck E Cheese for him with some neighborhood kids. He had a blast and got more presents than he had for Christmas. It was crazy! He wanted a giant cookie cake for his birthday, and because I'm a cheap skate and didn't want to by the $38 one from the mall, I made one for him. It wasn't pretty, but it sure tasted good!

Maggie helped refinish my rocking chair and finish some curtains. And of course made pajamas for Allegra and her doll. I always call her my little Juanita because she is always working non-stop while she is here. We can barely get her to relax! We really appreciate all she does for us!

That pretty much sums it up! Oh we got new granite and it looks amazing! I'll put pics up later. I'm still huge and uncomfortable. I have less than 7 weeks to go! AAAAAHHHHH!!! Scary! We still haven't got a name picked out. She might be nameless for awhile! Maybe I'll do a poll and see what names you guys like. Or maybe I don't want all of your opinions! :) I don't know!


Toothless Grin


Allegra loves bath time


Gianluca holding up his tooth fairy money and letter


Allegra's new jammies Abu Maggie sewed. Don't look at me, I look like a cow!

Dinner at Bennihannas with our funny and awesome cook Scott.


GL and Abu Maggie


His new found obsession, Mario Brothers. He and Joel play almost every night!


B-day money from Grandma and Grandpa Decker. He still hasn't spent it because he loves counting all of those ones!


The birthday boy and his sis

Murphy's Law and a lot of Complaining!

We have had the worst luck since we've moved here! I'm serious! On the drive out here in August our van brakes started going out and everything needed to be replaced $450 later, then I had to go to the ER in September because they thought I was having a heart attack or a pulmonary embolism. Luckily I was fine but petrified that my baby would come out extra limbs because of the test they ran on me with all that radiation... $1200 later. Then Joel's 10 year old mazda has had one problem after another, another $1000 later. Our brand new dishwasher's mother board was fried and we were without a dishwasher for several weeks and had two different repairmen come out, garbage disposal motor went out and it took two weeks and three repairmen visits to get it fixed, $200 later. Our brand new dryer keeps going out and I've been without a dryer for almost three weeks and by tomorrow will have the third repairman come out. Then my airbag light came on and just to have it checked out and get the light turned off it cost me $100!!!!!!! Did I mention that our computer is shot and runs as slow as a dinosaur, but because of all of the above we can't afford to buy a new one and Joel desperately needs a new car, but we don't want two car payments... what to do??? Can you believe it! So I guess I'm supposed to make lemonade or something!

What else-- Here's some TMI, this pregnancy has been awful for me. So I had the ER visit, the throwing up all the time, heart burn, acid reflux, and feeling like someone was sitting on my chest all the time in the first trimester. The second trimester I've had vulvar varacosities, which if you don't know are varicose veins in my "delicate region". This makes it so swollen and horrifying to look at (not that I usually do) but, it's not pretty and I can't stand for more than 5-10 minutes without being in a great deal of pain. Luckily I found this really sexy jock strap for pregnant women with this problem and it actually helps me a ton! It just sucks to wear. Not comfy, but better than swaying back and forth in pain. Now I have some sort of pinched nerve in my hip, and all the while, I'm still trying to get my house settled! Most days I upgrade from my p.j's to sweats because I really don't care or feel good enough about how I look. Is this just third pregnancies in general? I don't know!


I told you it was sexy!

Other than that, GL lost his front tooth and the other one is hanging on by a thread. It is seriously the funniest thing ever! I had the dentist just pull it out while we were at his dentist appointments getting yes 6 cavities filled and two crowns, $700 later! I swear we make him brush his teeth every day! Allegra was jealous that he has two "star" teeth and she only has one. I told her, you don't want more than one! What else, GL also has a nasty rash on his elbows called molluscum contagiousum which looks like a bunch of warts. It just goes away on it's own and can last up to 2 years! I did some more looking on the internet and found a wheat grass spray and it is almost cleared up! The doc said you can't do anything for it except pop them or cut them out. I'm glad I found this stuff.



Ok, enough complaining, just wanted to vent!

December and the Ever Growing Baby Bump

Well another holiday season has come and gone and to be honest, I am relieved! I know I sound like the Grinch, but I am so exhausted that it is nice to know nothing much is going on for awhile. We are settling into our house and finally have all of our appliances functioning. We have just two rooms that have boxes left, but one will hopefully be finished this week because we got our bookcase from Ikea to organize and put in our office. I know this is all boring and I really have no reason to blog about this except that I am so tired that I can't think about much at all (let alone be witty or funny)!!!

Gianluca and Allegra were all very excited for Santa and I had to threaten them about a million times that he would not be coming if they would not get along. We even had the Elf on the Shelf hang out at our house to report back to Santa each night and that really only worked so-so. Although Gianluca and Allegra loved searching for him each morning. They named him Kriddle. But Christmas came and we stayed at home for a nice quiet holiday. Joel had two weeks off of work and we went to Dallas for a couple days to visit my college roommate Karen, and then we came home and hung out. I missed my fam terribly as they were all together yet again! It sucks to live far away! At least we were able to spend Christmas Eve with our awesome friends who are like family.

Allegra got her "American Doll" from Santa and the princess magic rising oven. Gianluca got some fish and a Transformers race track from Santa. Joel and I decided that this year, having a new home and new appliances were enough! Side note, last week Allegra cut the bangs off her new doll because she thought they looked funny. Aaaaah! I'm glad it wasn't a real American Doll.

New Year's Eve we went to dinner with our friends Betsy and Seth and Darla and Neil to Landry's. We ate way to much and had a lot of fun. Then we came home got the kids and went to a bonfire at Bonnie and Skeeter's house. It was a lot of fun!

So other than that, I'm growing a ton in the muffin top region. And this pregnancy has left me with a lot of pressure and pain just like Allegra. Lets just say that it's just not right what pregnancy does to your body!!!! So here are the pics of my belly bump. It's really not as glamorous or exciting as the first pregnancy! I'm sounding like a grumpy pregnant woman... probably because I am!!!



Before our big night out for New Year's. I'm 26 weeks (I think). 14 more to go!


I realize that wearing black does not show the full effect of the bump.


GL took these of me and he is very proud of that. Don't mind the crazy after breakfast kitchen mess. We were without our dishwasher for over a month, so it was a constant battle to keep it clean and constantly wash the dishes by hand. DON'T JUDGE! I KNOW YOUR KITCHEN HAS SEEN SOME BAD DAYS! Actually I don't, but it's a safe assumption!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Surprise! It's a....

Ok, so I may have failed to mention to many of you that I'm pregnant. I am 19 weeks along, and it has been so crazy that I just have not had time, internet connection, or many cell phone minutes to make the big annoucement. Not to mention the move and puking my guts out every day! In fact we just found out the sex of the baby yesterday and I'm having another girl! I have never ever been right about what I am having and I wasn't right this time. I was thinking it was a boy, but a las there was nothing dangling between her little legs. When I was explaining to Gianluca (who wants five brothers) that I was getting an ultrasound, I said if we see on the picture a little weener (I'm not sure what the correct spelling on that is), it's a boy, if not its a girl. He said "I want a picture of a weener!!!" I told him he probably shouldn't be going around saying that to other people! Needless to say we don't have the picture he wanted. He's super disappointed, but I'm sure he'll get over the fact that girls are whiny and cry and scream all the time! Okay maybe not. Joel and I are not sure we can handle another bi-polar girl. Allegra's mood swings are crazy! I think I need a prescription for mood swings stat!

Other than the fact that I'm prego, we've been running around like a bunch of chickens! In the last three months we've moved back to Texas, lived in temporary housing for 2 1/2 months, driving Gianluca to and from school or the bus stop, bought a house, tried to unpack as much as possible, had my mom come to visit for a few days, and now Joel's parents and brother are here for two weeks. I don't have pictures of Halloween, since my camera died and the charger was packed away in some unknown box, and well-- We are just a bunch of crazy Gypsy's!!!

Gianluca has tons of boys his age on our street and poor Allegra went from having 4 girls to play with on our old street to basically no one her age! She's pretty sad, but loves to play with her toys and keep me company. She is so excited for the new baby.

Anyways, just thought you'd like an update! Miss all of you back in Idaho and Utah like crazy!!!

Back to Texas

Well, it's official! We are moving back to the Woodlands. This last year and a half has been a crazy roller coaster ride! I did not want to move out to Utah at all. I loved the Woodlands, loved my friends who were like family, I didn't want to leave. But Joel was miserable in his job and had a chance to do something he loved! Plus being close to family made the move worth it. I can't say I love living in Utah. It just doesn't feel like home to me, but I do love the summers and the mountains. I made some great friends while I was here too. And many of them saved my life while Joel worked two weeks on, two weeks off. It's a hard life style, but I got used to being a single mom half the time. I truly loved being able to do all of the little family get togethers with my family, things I couldn't when I lived thousands of miles away. That was amazing! I have an amazing family. We are all about 4-5 years apart and yet we are all close. I will miss them very much! Gianluca and Allegra will miss their cousins like crazy! It's time to get skype I suppose!

For the last year Gianluca has really struggled without Joel around, well it's hard on everyone. And Joel missed out on all of the every day stuff. He missed our birthdays, Thanksgiving, Gianluca learning to ride his bike... stuff that means a lot. He truly loves his job, but wanted to be with us. So we prayed to find something he would love and that would bring home to us every evening. Soon enough his trainer from Halliburton called him up to apply for a job to train people to be drilling fluids engineer's on the oil rigs. He flew out two weeks ago and interviewed and got his offer yesterday. He is so happy he found a job that is not a desk job and that is also a huge step up in his career. He will also be home every day!!!! We are thrilled! Right now we are ironing out all the details, but we will probably be moving in 2-3 weeks. Crazy right!!!! Luckily we have a company moving us! So if you need any enticement to come visit check out The Woodlands website and you'll see why we love it there!!! I'll keep you posted.