Monday, March 29, 2010
Baby B AKA- Aaron William Michael England
If you read the previous blog you can see the details of my pregnancy as Aaron shared the same living space with Abbey for 40 weeks. I will add this part in though, I always imagined that I would have a house full of boys probably because I grew up on the streets with my brothers playing street hockey or in the belford's backyard playing soccer. We often made forts and I would pee in them just to see what Terry and Michael would say..they were never pleased!
I was 17 weeks pregnant when they did the "sex of the baby" ultra sound and they checked out baby A first (abbey) the ultra sound tech stated these exact words..not me "ohhhh she has a vagina" at that moment I thought oh dang, I am going to have three girls...as she smothered my over sized belly in the really cold jelly and pressed the instrument across my mountainous lump she looked at me and said "ohhhhh he has a penis" I have never in my life heard the word penis before and got so excited...I was getting my BOY!!
When Aaron was a baby he talked himself to sleep at night. The children's grandmother Barbara told me to record the sound of him talking to himself or I would regret it someday. It is someday and I do regret not taking the time to do that. At night when the twins were in their crib I would sneak in when they were almost asleep to hear Aaron, he had the sweetest little voice and it was almost as though he was talking to someone out there about his day.
Grandma England always made blankets for the twins and they were quilts that had "fluffies" on them (the little pieces of yarn that are tied onto the quilt) Aaron still inserts a fluffy into his ear at night to fall asleep..if you watch him it makes his eyes roll back into his head. He has two blankets that he will not allow me to throw out both of which has lost their fluffies but he has one lonely fluffy stored above his bed.
If you were to watch Aaron from a distance he seeks out little girls (not in a bad way) I am sure it has to do with his protective nature over Abbey. He looks for little girls that no one plays with and he will make a huge effort to include them in everything.
Aaron is a goof ball, but he thinks his mom is pretty cool..I love that! He tells me all the time that all he has to do is touch me and he feels better, what he doesn't know is, it is the other way around. When he hugs me his face fits perfectly against mine especially now that he is the same height as me.
Mr England is not innocent by any means, in fact he is quite Boyd-like, let me explain. In a crowded grocery store when we were standing in line he casually turned to me and said "mom, I still cannot believe you got a tattoo on your boob" the man standing in front of us turned slowly around as to not make it look so obvious...I wanted to sink into a hole. He loves to laugh and he is known as the "class clown" not too sure I like that. Aaron loves to go to Canada to see his Grandpa Boyd. When my dad was healthier he would take the kids fishing and tell them stories of when he was in the war. He took them all to an airplane museum and Aaron has a picture of it in his bedroom. My dad gave him his badge from the pen and it is displayed proudly above Aaron's bed.
I am so grateful for my son and how much fun he brings into our home. He is going to make the most amazing husband someday. He lives and breaths with 3 females..heaven help the poor kid:)
I was 17 weeks pregnant when they did the "sex of the baby" ultra sound and they checked out baby A first (abbey) the ultra sound tech stated these exact words..not me "ohhhh she has a vagina" at that moment I thought oh dang, I am going to have three girls...as she smothered my over sized belly in the really cold jelly and pressed the instrument across my mountainous lump she looked at me and said "ohhhhh he has a penis" I have never in my life heard the word penis before and got so excited...I was getting my BOY!!
When Aaron was a baby he talked himself to sleep at night. The children's grandmother Barbara told me to record the sound of him talking to himself or I would regret it someday. It is someday and I do regret not taking the time to do that. At night when the twins were in their crib I would sneak in when they were almost asleep to hear Aaron, he had the sweetest little voice and it was almost as though he was talking to someone out there about his day.
Grandma England always made blankets for the twins and they were quilts that had "fluffies" on them (the little pieces of yarn that are tied onto the quilt) Aaron still inserts a fluffy into his ear at night to fall asleep..if you watch him it makes his eyes roll back into his head. He has two blankets that he will not allow me to throw out both of which has lost their fluffies but he has one lonely fluffy stored above his bed.
If you were to watch Aaron from a distance he seeks out little girls (not in a bad way) I am sure it has to do with his protective nature over Abbey. He looks for little girls that no one plays with and he will make a huge effort to include them in everything.
Aaron is a goof ball, but he thinks his mom is pretty cool..I love that! He tells me all the time that all he has to do is touch me and he feels better, what he doesn't know is, it is the other way around. When he hugs me his face fits perfectly against mine especially now that he is the same height as me.
Mr England is not innocent by any means, in fact he is quite Boyd-like, let me explain. In a crowded grocery store when we were standing in line he casually turned to me and said "mom, I still cannot believe you got a tattoo on your boob" the man standing in front of us turned slowly around as to not make it look so obvious...I wanted to sink into a hole. He loves to laugh and he is known as the "class clown" not too sure I like that. Aaron loves to go to Canada to see his Grandpa Boyd. When my dad was healthier he would take the kids fishing and tell them stories of when he was in the war. He took them all to an airplane museum and Aaron has a picture of it in his bedroom. My dad gave him his badge from the pen and it is displayed proudly above Aaron's bed.
I am so grateful for my son and how much fun he brings into our home. He is going to make the most amazing husband someday. He lives and breaths with 3 females..heaven help the poor kid:)
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Abbey Jean Michelle England
Abbey was born May 27th 1997 at noon, 48 minutes before her twin brother Aaron. Bret, Cierra and I lived in Flagstaff Arizona when we found out that not only were we expecting, but that we were going to have two babies. Abbey was known as baby "A" for 9 months and because having twins is considered a high-risk pregnancy we were at the doctor's office non-stop.
At 28 weeks of pregnancy I went into pre-term labor and was put on bed rest. For anyone who has ever been put on bed rest knows that it is almost impossible to remain off your feet especially when you have a very active two year old and at that time a husband that worked 18 hours a day.
When I was 30 weeks pregnant we decided to move to Wyoming to be closer to family. Ironically I began my pregnancy with my oldest daughter Cierra in Wyoming with an incredible OBGYN who's name was Robert Fagnant. I was really upset when we moved to Hawaii and our OBGYN changed. When we returned to the Wyoming area, Dr. Fagnant delivered my twins. It was an incredible experience and I was excited to have him be apart of our lives again.
During the last 10 weeks of my pregnancy Bret's mom Barbara brought dinner over at least 3 times a week. She was there to help with Cierra and because they lived right across the street it was easy to let Cierra run over and play.
So at 36 weeks the Dr took me off of all medication to stop labor and at 38 weeks after nothing happened they induced labor. My mom came to stay with us for the last month to help with my babies and I would have died without my mom.
On May 27th we headed to the hospital and checked in at 8 am and Abbey arrived at noon. She was 5 pounds 11 ounces and had a head full of black hair. (she took after grandma boyd). I remember the first day Abbey must have slept at least 5 hours straight without eating. I would get worried and wake her to feed her. After having my brute Cierra at 8 pound 12 ounces, Abbey was so tiny and made me worry constantly. I look back on that time now and realize she loves to sleep. When she is tired she heads straight to her bed and it takes two seconds for her to fall asleep.
Abbey was a very easy baby, but with the combination of both her and Aaron, life was pretty difficult. To be honest, it was such a busy time that I do not remember at what age she first started crawling, she started walking at 12 months and has not stopped running since.
The twin thing is an experience that no one will understand unless they have been there themselves. Where Aaron goes, Abbey is close behind.
When the twins started kindergarten I decided to put them in the same class. The did very well except when Aaron would stumble with an answer, Abbey would answer for him. When the twins had their centers Abbey would go to Aaron's table and grab his hand and take him to where he was supposed to go. She adores Aaron and he adores her.
Abbey has always been a very athletic young lady. She loves sports and is involved in many teams. She has played basketball, soccer, and would love to be on a football team. She has a love affair with the Chicago Bears and loves the game of football.
Abbey does not wear pink and she does not do frills, she is often found wearing basketball shorts and tennis shoes. She wants to either be a professional soccer player when she grows up or design cars.
When Abbey was 6 she tripped on a blanket and hit her mouth on the frame of her bed. Her tongue was hanging by one thin membrane and received two stitches on her tongue (the scar is still there and she is pretty proud of it)
Abbey is the coolest girl most people will ever meet. She is funny and goofy and she loves to play.
Her favorite color is yellow and she has a stuffed animal(a giraffe) called floppy that goes everywhere with her. Her favorite candy is circus peanuts and if you really want to make her happy just buy her cookie dough bites when she goes to the movies. She is easy to please and loves to be loved.
I am so grateful that I have Abbey in my life, she makes me smile daily!!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The life and death of the Snake that lived with the England family
For those of you who don't know about the snake that dwells and slithers in this house of ours, I will give you a quick version of the long of it.
Aaron called me one day from Bear Lake while he was with his dad and asked me for a snake. I have to tell you a little bit about my son so you can perhaps see my dilemma. Aaron had a pet rat that his father bought for him that lasted two weeks and it died. He was devastated and we had a funeral for it in the back yard. Apparently, we didn't dig the grave deep enough and the next day the dog was playing with the dead rat which added to Aaron's devastation. Next came the guinea pig and he was very sweet, yet completely stinky. Aaron took the guinea pig to his father's house while we were on vacation to Canada and we never really brought him back, he later died and once again Aaron was devastated. Keeping in mind that I gave in a little too often with the animals due to the fact I was trying to fill in some of the guilt I felt during that time period for my children experiencing a divorce.
So...last summer the phone rang at least 10 times with the same question "mom, can I have a snake?" my first response was "NO WAY". Snakes scare me, they are in NO way cute or adorable. The thought of a snake in my house made me completely grossed out. After the 10th phone call and my son pleading into the phone, he told me he would get one that ate crickets....I caved...bad idea.
We met at Pet Co the following day and before I got there the decision to get the ball python was made (it eats live mice). For any of you who have seen Aaron happy and excited about something it leaves you weak and unable to say no. The whole way home I was completely freaked out because there was a snake in the back of my vehicle and now I would share an existence with it.
THE FIRST TIME IT ATE FOOD
This was a day that will remain one in my mind for the rest of my life. The lady at Pet Co stated that the python was a baby and needed to eat fuzzies first. I had no clue what on earth a fuzzy was until I went to purchase one. A fuzzy is a baby mouse that is just barely getting it's fur. I asked for the fuzzy and the lady brought it out, she said "I need you to look at this and let me know that, this is what you want" I said " no, please, I will trust you" she wouldn't accept that answer and I was forced into looking into the brown sack at this little cute mouse. After I peaked in he said "please arlene, do not feed me to that snake"
With a heavy heart I took Stewart Little home and instructed Abbey to not look into the bag knowing that she would not approve of this cute little creature being eaten by a snake. What do kids do when their parents instruct them not to do....she peaked and started crying. The lady at the store told us that we needed to separate his eating from his living so Aaron plopped him into the bathtub and put the baby mouse in there with him. It took him two hours to eat that darn mouse the whole time Abbey was in tears and even Aaron was starting to get choked up...finally he ate it.
For the majority of the time the snake was pretty mellow and you could hardly tell that he was even around, other times I would look into aaron's room and that darn snake would hiss at me. It didn't like me and I didn't like it right back.
One day I was approaching the house on a night after work and I was greeted at the door by Aaron who said "mom, don't be mad" for some reason that phrase automatically puts me on guard. "The snake got out" fear, anger, and the sudden urgency to wet my pants all came at the same time. The question that kept lingering in my mind was..how would we sleep in a house with a run-away snake? It took Aaron two days and he had him back in his little habitat and life when on as normal. In the mean time we duct taped the lid of the snake's cage closed, that thing was not getting out again, or so we thought. We left for Canada in the middle of January and when we came back, the same words escaped from Aaron's mouth...."my snake got out" This time JJ (that's his name, I forgot to tell you that part) was out for a month.
I crawled into bed one night and 20 minutes later I heard a scream that pierced the silence of the night, it was Cierra and she had found the snake slithering on the floor...by this time we knew he was starving so I went and hid in the other room while the kids swept him up with the broom and the dust pan. I have to give it to him, he was a very intelligent snake!
On his little month long adventure with free reign of the house I think he must have gotten sick. We fed him a mouse and he ate it right up, a week later we fed him another mouse that remained in his cage with him for 5 days before the mouse died. This morning I asked Aaron to check on his snake and he was gone. Aaron took it pretty well, the first thing out of his mouth was "he's in heaven" Do I miss the snake, NO WAY!! do I miss how happy he made my son..YOU BET! We will bury him in the back yard (a little deeper than the last pet) and we will have some long-term memories of this little vanishing snake. I do not see another snake in our future ever again, and I never did watch him devour a mouse, I am just glad I am at the top of the food chain!
Aaron called me one day from Bear Lake while he was with his dad and asked me for a snake. I have to tell you a little bit about my son so you can perhaps see my dilemma. Aaron had a pet rat that his father bought for him that lasted two weeks and it died. He was devastated and we had a funeral for it in the back yard. Apparently, we didn't dig the grave deep enough and the next day the dog was playing with the dead rat which added to Aaron's devastation. Next came the guinea pig and he was very sweet, yet completely stinky. Aaron took the guinea pig to his father's house while we were on vacation to Canada and we never really brought him back, he later died and once again Aaron was devastated. Keeping in mind that I gave in a little too often with the animals due to the fact I was trying to fill in some of the guilt I felt during that time period for my children experiencing a divorce.
So...last summer the phone rang at least 10 times with the same question "mom, can I have a snake?" my first response was "NO WAY". Snakes scare me, they are in NO way cute or adorable. The thought of a snake in my house made me completely grossed out. After the 10th phone call and my son pleading into the phone, he told me he would get one that ate crickets....I caved...bad idea.
We met at Pet Co the following day and before I got there the decision to get the ball python was made (it eats live mice). For any of you who have seen Aaron happy and excited about something it leaves you weak and unable to say no. The whole way home I was completely freaked out because there was a snake in the back of my vehicle and now I would share an existence with it.
THE FIRST TIME IT ATE FOOD
This was a day that will remain one in my mind for the rest of my life. The lady at Pet Co stated that the python was a baby and needed to eat fuzzies first. I had no clue what on earth a fuzzy was until I went to purchase one. A fuzzy is a baby mouse that is just barely getting it's fur. I asked for the fuzzy and the lady brought it out, she said "I need you to look at this and let me know that, this is what you want" I said " no, please, I will trust you" she wouldn't accept that answer and I was forced into looking into the brown sack at this little cute mouse. After I peaked in he said "please arlene, do not feed me to that snake"
With a heavy heart I took Stewart Little home and instructed Abbey to not look into the bag knowing that she would not approve of this cute little creature being eaten by a snake. What do kids do when their parents instruct them not to do....she peaked and started crying. The lady at the store told us that we needed to separate his eating from his living so Aaron plopped him into the bathtub and put the baby mouse in there with him. It took him two hours to eat that darn mouse the whole time Abbey was in tears and even Aaron was starting to get choked up...finally he ate it.
For the majority of the time the snake was pretty mellow and you could hardly tell that he was even around, other times I would look into aaron's room and that darn snake would hiss at me. It didn't like me and I didn't like it right back.
One day I was approaching the house on a night after work and I was greeted at the door by Aaron who said "mom, don't be mad" for some reason that phrase automatically puts me on guard. "The snake got out" fear, anger, and the sudden urgency to wet my pants all came at the same time. The question that kept lingering in my mind was..how would we sleep in a house with a run-away snake? It took Aaron two days and he had him back in his little habitat and life when on as normal. In the mean time we duct taped the lid of the snake's cage closed, that thing was not getting out again, or so we thought. We left for Canada in the middle of January and when we came back, the same words escaped from Aaron's mouth...."my snake got out" This time JJ (that's his name, I forgot to tell you that part) was out for a month.
I crawled into bed one night and 20 minutes later I heard a scream that pierced the silence of the night, it was Cierra and she had found the snake slithering on the floor...by this time we knew he was starving so I went and hid in the other room while the kids swept him up with the broom and the dust pan. I have to give it to him, he was a very intelligent snake!
On his little month long adventure with free reign of the house I think he must have gotten sick. We fed him a mouse and he ate it right up, a week later we fed him another mouse that remained in his cage with him for 5 days before the mouse died. This morning I asked Aaron to check on his snake and he was gone. Aaron took it pretty well, the first thing out of his mouth was "he's in heaven" Do I miss the snake, NO WAY!! do I miss how happy he made my son..YOU BET! We will bury him in the back yard (a little deeper than the last pet) and we will have some long-term memories of this little vanishing snake. I do not see another snake in our future ever again, and I never did watch him devour a mouse, I am just glad I am at the top of the food chain!
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