Born on the 4th of July

Meet the newest additions to our expanding family! We rescued these two little guys from a wiener shack on the very southern edge of Gilbert off Williams Field Road, approaching cattle country. In reality, we were lost trying to locate an apartment complex and ended up at a gas station where we noticed a sign for free kittens. In jest, Rudy asked if I wanted to go see the kitties, which I of course replied "Duh" and off we went.

The next thing I knew, Rudy had three kittens in his hands which landed on the passenger seat of the car. I looked them over and Rudy decided he didn't want a certain kitten while I clutched the other two to keep them from crawling under the seats. He came back out from behind the wiener shack and to my surprise he said we would take the other two! So we started for home and giggled about such a silly adventure. Saving strays from a wiener shack. How odd it sounds. Even odder was our quest for names.

I'm the kind of person who enjoys randomly weird names. I wanted to name my cat Chuck, regardless of whether or not it was a girl. Then I relayed the story of how Salem got his name, which gave birth to the names Stiffy and Cooter. After that we thought of patriotic names, since we saved them on the 4th of July, after all. I was still stuck on Chuck at that point. It really is an awesome name for a cat. Once home we started browsing online for interesting cat names such as Lolcat (how do you even say that?), Fluffling, and Dammit. I really liked Dammit. After that I told Rudy he should name his cat Fizz, and he said to name myself Fizz (no you!), and finally I giggled and said he should stop being such a Fizzle. We both broke out in laughter at the Family Guy reference, and Rudy told me there was no way I could name my cat Fizzle.

Guess what? I named her Fizzle. Oh, at this point I should let you know that both cats are female. Poor Rudy, he can't even rescue a male cat. He's doomed to be surrounded by females.

Rudy hasn't yet named his kitty, and we've had very many politically incorrect conversations about what to call her. In the meantime, the kitties are getting acquainted with being strangled by Afton and where it is appropriate to poop. They are fun to watch play, and I cannot wait for them to start really warming up to us!

Tough Times.

Oh how I long to have internet back at home. Our economic climate is a wee bit on the dismal side, and so now, with neither Rudy or I working, we are constantly struggling just to buy food. I never thought I would see a day where finding food would become an issue. I've lived without television and internet before (though I of course went through withdrawal like a drug addict!), but that was minor in comparison, especially when considering we have two children to feed.

Right now, with Rudy in school, we are mostly living off what little extra federal aid he can muster, as well as whatever we may borrow from family and friends. It is definitely no way to live. Stress has us yelling at each other all the time, as opposed to finding constructive solutions to our problems.

I just sit back, sometimes, and picture my babies in my head to try to remember who I'm struggling to be better for. I want them to have the world (when they earn it!), without having to worry if my lights will still be on when I get home.

I am sure there will be many hard decisions coming up fairly quickly, but I believe in the power of our family to survive, because alone I overcame hardship, and with family I can overcome anything.

Forever and a Day.

Ok! I cannot believe it has been so long, but that's what happens when you don't have internet at home and are far too busy to cart your computer somewhere else in order to update.

Or maybe I'm just a little lazy. Or maybe it's all of the above.

Delaney Virginia Gomez was born on May 13th at 10:20am via repeat c-section. I was totally scared to death of the spinal because my emergency c-section with Afton was traumatic to me. It took the resident five failures before the attending took over and managed a mostly successful spinal. Now, three weeks later, my back is in distress.
Delaney doesn't really look like me, or Rudy yet, but she does have some similarities to Afton, at least in the nose and ear area. She's been a great sleeper, usually going 3-4 hours between feedings, and she's a hungry girl! I keep having to supplement with formula to make up the lack in breastmilk. As long as I can get in a good six to eight weeks of breastfeeding, I will be happy.

Now, if somehow I can get my hormones under control, I will be great. I hate post-pardum depression. Hate hate hate it.

Yikes, it's been a long time.

I can't believe it's been over one month now since the last time I posted on here. It just doesn't seem even remotely possible. And now, with a mere...9 days left before Delaney arrives, I feel so insanely overwhelmed I can barely function!

Or maybe it's simply because I've morphed into a planet with my own gravitational pull?

Delaney will be delivered via C-Section on the 13th, should she not decide to ruffle things up sooner. Secretly (well, not so secretly anymore) I hope things progress faster as my blood pressure has now jumped and I'm having so many contractions I could kill with my eyes. Stupid hormones making me all crazy. I need a vacation from my body already, and my life, that would be grand.

The crib has been reassembled and all my old sheets are on it again. Still looks cute, of course, though I do wish for newer supplies every now and again. It's been a very tough time with the gas issue and then Rudy's job tanking terribly. We've been living on next to nothing and it's scary when you're trying to prep for another person to take care of. I desperately try not to think about it, but when you can't sleep for all the other pains in the world, it's almost impossible keeping it from the forefront of my mind. Ugh.

You gotta to do whatcha gotta do, whatcha gotta do.

Seven Weeks and Counting.

Wow, is there a lot to accomplish before Delaney arrives. One would think that with a second child, especially of the same gender, things would be fairly straight-forward and not much preparation involved. Wrong!

We have to finish cleaning up the kids' room, remove the old dresser (which I really wish would fit ANYWHERE because we could use the extra clothing storage), put the crib back together, find a new bumper for the crib, finish my art projects, get the newborn clothes rewashed...the list just seems to have multiplied out of the blue.

In the meantime, Rudy is being jerked around at work. It seems that his bosses are punishing him for going to school because it will interfere with their want to have him at work constantly as a salaried manager. So they've postponed his MIT from April until June, which is right in the middle of his summer classes, most likely because they want to push him out of the program entirely. It is a HUGE letdown for us, because we really need the money the promotion was going to bring. It almost feels like we've gone back to square one. This has been our luck for years.

And as I bring up luck, how lucky is it that the gas company accidentally turns off our gas, then comes back and turns it on, but somewhere in there someone manages to break something pertaining to the meter and fails to report it. After what seems like hundreds of calls to the gas company, we find that they are attempting to fix the problem, but in the meanwhile, we've been without hot water for an entire week. What.thehell.man.

I don't want to end this post on a negative note, so I'll say that tonight Afton was goofing around pretending to drink from a block and shaking her head a bunch of times. She was giggling and babbling and at one point Rudy and I imitated her babble by saying "nigh-nigh", to which she turned suddenly, said "nigh-nigh" back to us and began waving as she ran down the hall. We both just stopped and stared at her because we couldn't really believe that maybe, finally, we had happened upon a truly recognizable word! So we began saying it again, asking Afton if she wanted to go "nigh-nigh", and sure enough she continued to turn, wave and run down the hall toward her room. Rudy then picked her up, and to test the theory he put her to bed. Not a peep!

Talk about awesome.

Just a few weeks left now!

My insides are Bewitched!

I have been sick for an entire week now, and I am so absolutely tired of it I could scream! I understand that one's immune system takes a major hit when harboring a fetus, but for someone who never gets sick to fall ill twice in just a few months is, well...annoying to say the least. At least this time I didn't need to go to the hospital, which is a plus.

I feel bad for Afton, though, because I am so wasted tired that I can barely get out of bed/couch/floor/any surface I may be laying on, let alone actively play with her. Everything I do makes me want to fall over, or my heart will start racing and pounding. I can't even sleep anymore because I am so uncomfortable and because of my heart, it's wearing me out! My next appointment is on Tuesday and it cannot come soon enough.

In the meantime I need to muster enough strength to get the house cleaned up, the laundry completed and finish some work on an art project. Oh, and I guess it might be important to feed Afton at some point as well. Poor baby girl.

Did I mention I hate being sick?

10 Weeks and Counting.

Since Afton and Delaney will be sharing a room, it's important to me to have some sort of...well, symmetry. I've always had a knack for decorating, but I find myself going in ten-hundred thousand directions when it comes to what I want to do with the girls' room. I was exploring a website the other day and created the most beautiful crib bedding set for Delaney.

I was able to pick the patterns I wanted and attach them to each individual part of the set, creating something uniquely individual (because individual alone just doesn't cut it in Karlyville). I am absolutely in love with my crib set, but I couldn't possibly ever afford it, since the total is somewhere around $425. I'm sure many people wouldn't bat an eyelash at a price like that, but I don't even spend that much on my OWN bedding, which I lovingly buy from Ikea every few years.

It is a time like this that I wish I had a sewing machine, because I would love to add something like making a crib set to my to-do list. For you know, my kids' kids. Until then, I will just keep the crib set on my wish list and wish for a miracle.

The only other thing on my list for Delaney is a double stroller. I spent a lot of time watching mothers and children in double strollers to try to determine what would be the best buy for me and my family. In the end I came to this stroller:

The Baby Trend Sit N Stand. I learned from watching other families as well as talking to Mom that a lot of younger siblings have a high desire to help push the stroller with new baby on board. This leaves little desire to have a stroller that I would have to constantly buckle and unbuckle Afton into. The front seat of the stroller is made compatible so I can attach my Graco infant carseat easily, and the jumpseat in back would allow Afton to sit when tired, or stand when engaged, or to even step off and walk when she felt like it. And I won't have to be troubled with taking anything apart! This makes the stroller lighter than other doubles and more compact.

I did debate the jogging strollers for awhile because they are supposed to be easier to push and more maneuverable, but they are just gigantic and ill-equipped to handle small spaces and stores with narrow aisles. And since I am not a jogger, why bother? The reviews for the Sit N Stand seem to be pretty overwhelmingly positive and the product itself is only $129.99 at Babiesrus.com, which is remarkably inexpensive. I think I can convince my husband to go for it, I can hope!

In the meantime, I have several small projects to work on for the kids' room, but all this sitting around is starting to leave me frustrated and depressed. I need friends down here, and so far I have none. And I don't have any customers either. It's all very lonesome. So off to bed I go.