family | The Big White Farmhouse

January 16, 2017

{family} Patrick’s Birth Story

I’ve never written a birth story before! The births of my first five were far from exciting: a few inductions, always an epidural, a few pushes and a healthy baby at the end. But Patrick…oh boy. His birth was an adventure and after reflecting on it for a few weeks now, I’m writing it down so I don’t forget.

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A little back story… Throughout the entire pregnancy, I had consistently “slightly higher than normal” blood pressure. I Googled myself into a scared stupor, but my doctors were very vigilant and assured me that there was nothing to worry about yet. As I began my weekly visits at the end, my blood pressure fluctuated a bit higher and there was more talk of possible preeclampsia. I had a blood screening done and thankfully, all of the preeclampsia markers were normal. The only factor that concerned my doctors was my declining platelet counts, so we decided that the best course of action would be to induce right after I hit 39 weeks. She also put me on as much bed rest as I could manage, which really put a damper on my crazy lady last minute nesting spree, hah! It was a good lesson on surrender. My prayer during that week was one that St. Gianna Molla said: “Whatever God wants.”

On induction day, we arrived at the hospital right at 7:30. I was excited and nervous and all the feelings you have on labor and delivery day. I changed into my gown and got in bed. The first snag of the day was the nurse’s inability to find a good vein to put my IV in. I have never had a problem with this in the past! She actually blew a vessel on my right hand (resulting in a HUGE bruise lasting for weeks) but finally was able to find a good one on the opposite hand.

At 8:30, I was started on just an itty bit of Pitocin and contractions started right
away. When I was checked a few days earlier, I was already 4cm and 75% effaced, so my doctor knew it wouldn’t take much to get things going. She broke my water around 9:30 and
contractions quickly picked up in intensity. I labored for about 45 minutes to make sure things were steady before asking for an epidural. And 30 minutes
later…

Probably the scariest experience of my life! I should preface this by saying that I’m a big fan of epidurals and have a five for five track record. But this time around, nothing seemed to go according to plan. The anesthesiologist had trouble placing it in my back, audibly mumbling, “Hmmm” multiple times. Not words you want to hear, haha! I was sweating profusely and my pulse and blood pressure were through the roof. When she finally finished, I expected the instant feeling of relief and…it wasn’t there. The anesthesiologist asked if I felt the tingling in my legs and when I said I didn’t, all she could say was, “Interesting.”

The rest of the morning is one big blur. Short story: the epidural did not work. They continually upped my dosage and even put me in the princess position (??) to help push the medicine to my legs, but nothing helped. In hindsight, they think I was
progressing so quickly that the epidural couldn’t keep up. So essentially, I had
my first sort-of natural birth! It was disconcerting, especially when I was expecting that epidural, but I kept praying “Whatever God wants” through each contraction…and then quickly adding, “But God, if you want to get that epidural to work, I’m totally good with that too.” A saint I am not, haha.)

Thankfully, I progressed quickly. I felt pressure, pushed three times (holy ring of fire!!) and he was out!

But the fun didn’t stop there! Immediately after delivery, he was very quiet. They discovered
that he had had the cord wrapped around his neck as well as two fairly tight knots. The nurses quickly whisked him away to the warming bed and I was in a weird haze of relief and confusion. (His 1 minute APGAR score was 4/10) After what felt like forever, he finally cried, pinked up and was able to nurse. We left the hospital with a perfectly healthy baby 24 hours later.

As I reflected on the entire pregnancy and the adventure-filled birth, I came to believe that my blood pressure problems were all part of a plan to save my son’s life. We had so many doctors and nurses tell us how critical it was to have him arrive just at that time and because of the cord knots, how quickly we could have lost him. We don’t always see past the next step but this experience has shown me how critical it is to trust. I mean, REALLY trust in Him who loves me and sees the entire picture when I only see a sliver. Patrick is, without a doubt, my proof.

Pitocin started 8:30am, birth at 1:18pm

December 6, 2016

{family} Introducing our Newest Addition

He’s here! Born on 12/2 and weighing 7lb. 3oz.

The labor and delivery was just as eventful as the pregnancy and I know I’ll be pondering it all for weeks to come.

What a lesson-filled adventure he has been for me.

We are so in love.

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Wishing you a wonderful Advent and Christmas season, friends. See you in the New Year. xoxo

August 15, 2016

{family} His Name

I’ve mentioned it off and on through the years about my struggle with anxiety. Most of the time these days, I’m in a really good place. But there are also days that knock me off my feet: my thoughts go haywire and it’s sometimes hard to leave the house.

As a perfectionist, I also tend to frequently doubt my ability to do anything well: my roles as wife and mother, the size of my family, my business. The voice in my head claims that if I were JUST a bit smarter, a bit thinner, a bit more patient…only then could I fulfill that role in the way I imagine.

While anxiety usually stays on the back burner and I’m able to live a full life despite its presence in the back seat, hormones really mess everything up. (hah, understatement!) This spring, as I weaned TJ and (unknowingly) become pregnant for the sixth time, I was gripped with a new round of restlessness. It was hard.

During this time, the kids and I stumbled upon a book about Saint Patrick. As I read about his incredible bravery and trust that God would look out for him, I had a lump in my throat. I desired that trust, that letting go of fear of the unknown, in such a deep way.

So I started praying part of Saint Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer whenever I felt that dread rising in my gut. In case you’ve never heard it, this is the prayer:

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me

Christ in me, Christ over me,

Christ to the right of me

Christ to the left of me.

Christ in lying down, Christ in sitting, Christ in rising up,

Christ in the heart of every person who may think of me,

Christ in the mouth of every person who may speak of me,

Christ in every eye, which may look on me!

Christ in every ear, which may hear me!

I can’t tell you how helpful this prayer has been in my life. When I panicked at the idea of a sixth baby when I didn’t feel like it was in “my plan”, I prayed this prayer. When I woke up in a sweat from terrifying dreams, I prayed this prayer. When the news filled with horror and death and destruction and hate, I prayed this prayer. When I felt inadequate and all alone, I prayed this prayer.

Fast forward to mid-May. I had done a first trimester screening for chromosomal abnormalities and had the option to know the sex of the baby at eight weeks. And in a very anti-climactic telephone call from the office, we received the news that the testing came back normal AND he was a boy.

Our sixth child. Our fifth son.

Mark and I spent that evening hashing out baby names. Nothing seemed right until Mark threw out, “What do you think about Patrick?” With goosebumps immediately prickling my skin, I knew that was it. Of course it was.

This baby will always be known as the one who helped his mama step (albeit a bit unwillingly) into the unknown. He will be the one who helped his mama face fear head-on. He will be the one who taught his mama how to really trust.

Our little Patrick. We can’t wait to meet you.
Saint Patrick, continue to pray for us.

June 16, 2015

{family} One Fun Thing a Day: Update No.01

We are entering our third week of One Fun Thing a Day and already, I think it has been so fruitful for us as a family. As you’ll see below, the activities are super simple, don’t require a lot of money, and often are completed within 15-20 minutes.

While the kids always love a good surprise, I think the real reason they are continually excited is because it’s a full family experience. I’m not just the teacher, directing the show and standing to the side. I’m right in there with them (and Daddy too on the weekends): flying my airplane, eating my lunch on the picnic blanket, and pushing them on the swings at the park.

One Fun Thing a Day is another lesson in what really matters most: time.

Day 01 // Cooking School: English Muffin Pizzas. The boys have been asking to learn how to make food on their own, so we started with an easy culinary favorite. I set out all of the ingredients and we all went to town. Their favorite part was “decorating” with mini pepperonis.

Day 02 // Paper Airplanes. After trying a Youtube video for a complicated design and getting super confused, we scrapped that idea and I taught them how to fold a classic paper airplane. They colored and decorated and then we had a throwing challenge (this was my inspiration).

Day 03 // Indoor Picnic and a Movie. It was a rainy day, so instead of a picnic at the park, we had a picnic and a movie inside. I made them each a paper bag lunch, complete with a juice box and cookies. It was a big hit.

Day 04 // Cooking School: Chocolate Covered Strawberries. It was another rainy day, so we had cooking class again. We melted milk chocolate chips in a homemade double broiler and then the kids each had five strawberries to dip as they pleased. I saved mine for Mark.

Day 05 // National Doughnut Day! Thank goodness for social media. After hearing that this was a “thing”, the day practically wrote itself. We always love a good doughnut!

Day 06 // Decorating Plates using a MakIt Kit. The kids are so excited about this project. We completed step one of the kit, which was drawing designs on special paper. The finish products totally fit their personalities. Now to get them in the mail to be turned into plates.

Day 07 // Homemade Shooting Range. Mark recently went to the shooting range and the boys thought it sounded so cool. We made them their own with cardboard boxes and tissue paper. It was a great opportunity to talk about responsibility and safety and it was fun for all of us too!

Day 08 // Sumo Wrestling. I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. If you were a fly on the wall, you have seen three boys with pillows stuffed into their daddy’s t-shirts, a mama who tried to do the same (let’s just say there was a little less room, ahem…) and Sophie and a baby looking at us like we’d lost our minds.

Day 09 // Rubberband Powered Lego Cars. After about 20 minutes of digging through Lego bins to find the right pieces, I thought this may be our first dud. (I think I was more frustrated than they were, hah). Fortunately, their perseverance paid off, we found what we needed and it even worked! We used this tutorial.

Day 10 // Fan fort. With this picture as inspiration, we made a fort using a big fan and a queen sized fitted sheet. All four were able to squeeze in (I could only fit with two of them) and they loved it. They even requested snacks!

Day 11 // Discover a new playground. We set out bright and early on our adventure to find a new playground. We stayed over an hour and when they were sufficiently exhausted and sweaty, we found the nearest Chick-Fil-A for lemonades.

Day 12 // DIY Slushies. It was over 90 degrees, so the obvious choice was to make something cool and refreshing. We tried this recipe and it worked like a charm! The kids loved it, but since I’ve been reducing all forms of sugar in my diet, I couldn’t drink more than a sip or two. I found it sicky sweet, but the kids didn’t have a problem.

Day 13 // Lowes Build & Grow Clinic. This was the first time we’ve taken advantage of this clinic (it’s FREE!) and it was great! Mark took the three oldest and they really enjoyed it. The summer series is all about super heroes and they made Ironman and his Avenjet (“and I even got to use a hammer, mama!”). They can’t wait to go again.

Day 14 // New Lego Set. We surprised the kids with a new Lego set of just different colored pieces and we used our imaginations to build something new. (Namely, anything other than Star Wars and super heroes…)

Day 15 // Tissue Paper Suncatchers. We were long overdue for a craft! This was an easy one that used items we already had at home (you just need contact paper and different colored tissue paper). I love the end result!

Our Favorites so Far:

M: Slushies and Sumo

D: Lowe’s Build & Grow and Designing Plates

J: Fan fort and English Muffin Pizzas

S: New Playground

June 3, 2015

{family} One Fun Thing a Day 2015: The Plan

It’s summertime and I have one goal for the next few months: Have fun and make memories as a family.

Homeschooling has been very rewarding for us this year, but I’m ready to put down my teacher hat for awhile and just be mom. Sure, I still deal with daily discipline, but I’m so ready to simply enjoy my kids. So inspired by Little Bit Funky, we are starting One Fun Thing a Day. The rules are simple: the kids are responsible for getting their morning chores completed without a fuss (getting dressed, brushing teeth, making their bed, helping clean up breakfast) and then they can participate in the activity. Every day, we’ll do something new and I want to join in too!

Now please don’t misunderstand me. This isn’t one of those projects to over-schedule and micro-manage every minute of my children’s day. I don’t have lots of money to spend and nothing will really be mind-blowing in terms of excitement. Some days, we may be finished in 10 minutes! I just want us to spend time together. My hope is that, ten years down the line, they will look back at this summer (and the summers to come) with fondness. Not because anything was out-of-this-world spectacular (no trips to Disney or Hawaii are in our near future!), but because we made memories together with lots of laughs and probably a few messes.

Here are a few of the ideas I’ve jotted down:

Cooking Class: make English Muffin pizzas
Paper airplanes
Take a picnic lunch to the park
Design your own plate with a MakIt kit
Cooking Class: make chocolate covered strawberries
Sweet Frog visit
Build a huge fort with blankets: try a fan fort?
Find a new playground
Cooking Class: make chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches
Lowe’s Build & Grow Clinic
DIY Slurpees
Visit Daddy at his office and take him out to lunch
Build rubber band powered Lego cars
Chopped Challenge: Daddy team vs. Mamma team
New water guns
Attend a kids program at the library
Cooking Class: make a Fourth of July flag cake
Make marbled paper with shaving cream
Take the kids to 5 Below and let them pick anything in the store
Tie-dye T-shirts
Water balloon fight
$1 movie at the theater

I plan to do another post (maybe monthly?) sharing what we did, but you can also follow our hashtag on Instagram, #bwfonefunthingaday2015, for daily updates too!

UPDATE: Check out the details for Days 1-15 here!

September 22, 2014

{family} Introducing our Sweet Baby Boy!

Our sweet boy is here!

Our littlest peanut to date, weighing in at 7lbs. 1oz.

He is absolutely perfect and we are all smitten,

although Little Miss may just love him the very most!

March 26, 2014

Is it almost April Already? Where I’ve Been…

We are thrilled to announce that baby number five is on the way and due to arrive in late September! It’s been a rough winter, but I am so thankful to be out of the first trimester funk and starting to feel like myself again. Can’t wait to write more in this space.

Hope you all are well, friends!

July 29, 2013

{family} Our 2013 Family Vacation + Two Tips that Worked for Us

Our summer vacation this year was magical. Maine is always a magical place for me, but this year was something else. My four children experienced so much of what I remember as a child: days spent swimming in the lake, BBQs at our little camp, playing on the front porch of the farmhouse, exploring the sites. It was surreal and amazing. I will remember this summer forever.

Highlights of time in Maine:
+ Sunsets on the water that leave you breathless
+ Watching my boys go from timid swimmers to confident ones
+ Watching J love on my aunt and uncle’s cat, Little Miss (he LOVES animals!)
+ Foggy mornings on the lake
+ Teaching the big boys how to play the card game, War
+ Iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts when the heat reached into the 90’s (!!)
+ Seeing all of the renovations done at the real big white farmhouse
+ After dinner fishin’
+ Watching S devour her first blueberry pancake
+ Kayak rides at sunset
+ Running my very first 6.1 miles and living to tell the tale!
+ Mickey Mouse pancakes in the morning (a BIG favorite with the boys)
+ Getting tan (and sometimes burnt)
+ Running 2 miles in my leg of the family triathlon in record time (7:30/mi!)
+ Picnic lunches and flying kites at Portland Headlight
+ Morning hike with some of the fam
+ Seeing “the big boot” at LL Bean
+ Lobster night
+ Seeing the relationships grow between my children and my grandmothers, aunt, uncle, and cousins

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Two Traveling Tips that Worked for Us

Our road trip to Maine took about ten hours. That could be a recipe for disaster with four children! I thought I would share two things that made our vacation run a little smoother…maybe it can help you with your next adventure!

No. 1: Individual Backpacks. We were so blessed to receive these personalized backpacks from Personal Creations awhile back. I can’t believe it has taken me this long to share about them! They are the small size, which make them perfect for road trips. I spent two or three weeks before the trip finding surprises to tuck inside: coloring books and crayons, little readers, and action figures all were huge hits. The front pocket held snacks in resealable baggies. Huge money saver and we avoided both fast food and unnecessary pit stops! 🙂

No. 2: Individual Toy Tubs. Since we were going to be gone for 2+ weeks, I knew we would need to pack some toys for the boys to play with. I decided to use these plastic tubs (with their names written in scrapbook letters!) and then they had free reign to choose what they’d like to bring. Any item could come as long as it fit in the bin!

September 30, 2012

{family} Introducing our Newest Addition!

I am so excited to announce our sweet girl’s arrival!

She is a doll and we are so in love.

July 9, 2012

{family} Monday’s Musings…

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? Ours was wonderful, but went by much too fast…why is that always the case?

Around the House
We are in full house prep around here! I am trying not to get discouraged or frustrated: as fast as my to-dos are getting checked off, the list just seems to get longer with new things. The weather should hopefully be out of the 100’s next weekend, so I’m looking forward to getting Operation: Curb Appeal started.

From the Kitchen
My husband is just a little obsessed with the show BBQ Pitmasters, so he couldn’t wait to break out the grill this weekend. Ribs and pork were on the menu…his best yet!

Homeschooling
I’ve been working on our lessons plans for Kindergarten and the books have been trickling in. I’m thinking of starting at the beginning of August: I know M is dying to begin and it will give me a head start before our Little Miss is born.

On the Blog
I have lots of ideas for this little blog of mine! I only hope I have the time to make most of them become a reality. Look for some business talk, a summer Mamma Support Swap and even a giveaway in the next few weeks!

Reading
I’m wild and crazy and reading two books at the same time: Just Start: Take Action, Embrace Uncertainty, Create the Future and Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth, and Everyday Magic. Opinions and recommendations to come soon.

June 26, 2012

{family} Slow Down

“Being in a hurry. Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me. I cannot think of a single advantage I’ve ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing…. Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it away.” –Ann Voskamp

What is it about summer and why does it go by so fast? I can’t believe that we’re almost to July already. I ran across the quote above and it really made me stop and think. Preparing for all of these new life changes has put me in an “in the future” mentality – my thoughts seem always to fall to “when the baby arrives”, “when we put this house on the market”, “when we open the boutique”, etc etc.

And while all of that preparation is important, am I missing out on the here and now? Am I not seeing the beauty and the goodness right in front of my eyes…today? Am I not soaking in my three boys at the ages and stages they are at? Lots to think about and my new goal for July: slow down and enjoy today.