Holder House

Not A Traditional Anniversary.

Anniversaries.

They are usually associated with happy moments. Birthdays. Wedding days. Notable celebrations and milestones.

But (don't you hate that word, "but"?), they can also mark days that aren't such a reason to celebrate. Deaths. Injuries. Tax day. Or, as in our particular case, job loss.

Yes. Can you believe it? It has been a full year since Jim was downsized from his job. This fact, I find surreal. That he has been out of work for such a long stretch of time, with no real end in sight.

March 14th is our un-anniversary.

I knew that things were not going so well in the economy in general, and even in Jim's company. Somehow, I thought we were immune to the financial shifting and groaning. Safe from the global economic craziness. What a laugh! We were one of the first wave of people thrown under the bus.

I now know I was naive. It's not like we hadn't felt the pinch before this. In fact, our arms were already black and blue with pinch marks. We had been drawn to opportunities here in Chicago that promised Better Bonuses! A Better Life! More Success! In reality, the bonuses failed to materialize, and all we ended up with were tighter purse strings, greater stress levels and higher credit card bills.

2008 was not our best year. It was like God was testing us every step of the way to see what we could take. To see what we were made of. It was a pretty tough year for all of the family. Are you ready for our litany of woes?

It kicked of right before the start of the new year with Jonah breaking the absolute HECK out of his arm and elbow, requiring surgery and a hospital stay. When little Lucas was born, he spent spent a few days in the NICU, otherwise known as the "expensive care unit :-)". 

Once we got our newest family member home, I had a true struggle with a case of PPD. Not so much fun! I descended into a fog that affected everyone in the family. Who knew that I'd get my first case of PPD after bambino #4! Go figure.

Then the flu hit. First me, and then Jim. And how did it hit Jim!!!! The poor guy was in bed forever, and man did he feel bad. Now this is not newsworthy in and of itself, but when the flu runs a guys down so much he ends up fighting a case of MRSA in the hospital - then it becomes news!

And for all you socialized medicine loving Canadians out there, if you have ben counting, that is FOUR hospital stays in as many months....yes, major buckaroonies, baby.

So, Jim fights the MRSA, gets out of the hospital (red as a lobster, mind you becasue he was allergic to some of the antibiotics they gave him), having narrowly escaped death by streptococcus. he goes back to work the next day, and yes. this is the day it happens. 

Fresh out of the hospital.

Looking like a lobster and feeling like $*%#. 

This is the day he gets laid off. 

Talk about kicking you when you are down!!!

So. We've covered the injuries. We've covered the depression. We've covered the hospital stays, illnesses and what all. Now we're covering the big one - job loss.

At first we recovered from the initial shock pretty well, figuring it couldn't be too long before someone with Jim's qualifications got snatched right up. We had 3 months severance, we were fine!

Fast forward to a full year and many other nasty bumps in the road later. Still no job. 

So yes, 2008 pretty much sucked eggs. 

However, 2008 was also a lot of other things. You know all the cliches. You can't make lemonade with out lemons. It takes pressure to make diamonds. All that crap.

Well, it just so happens that some of that stuff is true.

I learned how to be a real tough cookie this year. I now have more cojones than I ever thought possible. I have confidence that I can take care of business on my own, whatever that business may be. 

2008 was also the year of Lucas.

It was the year Samuel learned to read.

It was the year Jonah decided that he wanted to be a rock star.

It was the year that Georgia announced that her hair was not red, it was pink.

It was the year of Summer Zephyr.

It was the year that I found out how many friends really do care about me.

It was the year of Merrifield Photography!

It was also the year that Jim realized how important family really is.

So - would I change the past year? Would I exchange everything that happened, both good and bad, if we could go back to mid-March '08 and not be a victim of downsizing?

In all honesty, probably not. Although I do wish this was over, that we had our financial security in place, probably not.

I learned things about myself this year that you can only learn in a trial by fire.

There are no rainbows without the rain. (sorry about the fromage, mes amis)

So please keep us in your prayers over the coming months. Please pray that we find our security and that our lives can move on in a more carefree fashion.

After all, I don't want to get any tougher !!!!!:-)

More New Pics

Because I gotta post something!

There's not much new around here, so here are some pics to tide you over.

Here's the G-ster doing her thing:

Here's a few in actual clothes, as opposed to a costume (which she spends 95% of her time in, btw).

This one's a little out of focus but I lurve it anyway.

Now - some of ther L-Man, who, by the way, is VERY tough to get an in-focus image of, as he moves FAST, and ALL THE TIME.

But here's a try.

So that's it. Enjoy, and hopefully next time I'll have something interesting to say!

Time for Some Random Snapshots.

  Why? because I'm still sick. And lazy because of it. So no fancy photographs today.

Today, we are going to celebrate the old fashioned, good old snaphot.

Dammit.

Daddy and Georgia at sunset in the backyard. And in case you were wondering what made her look so sticky.....

Here's a clue. And GK wasn't the only one involved.

Ok - here's a few more pulled from the archives...hmmm...what will they be? Oh yeah! Some driveway art!

Ok - now for the favourite family pastime (according to the boys, anyway) - Wrestling!

Hmm....what else can I find? Hey! how about some L-man with a big old zit?

And here's Samuel on his first day of First Grade!

Here are Samuel and his peeps at the bus stop

Getting on the bus for the first day of ALL DAY school....sniff sniff...

Well- that's all for now - hope you enjoyed the fruits of my laziness!

Blown Back By the Eastern Winds...

We are back.

Summer Zephyr 2008 has officially come to a close.

I hope you all missed me!

We had such a wonderful time, that I am unable to even express it in words right now.

And many many thanks to my wonderful sister and brother in law who hosted my wild horde of children for an entire month, as well as to my father who flew up and back just to share the fun of the marathon drive with me. I LOVE you all.

Thank you also, to my family who hosted us on our stops there and back again. I love you too.

It wouldn't be a post without a few pics, so here are a few from the trip. There are many more, and plenty of stories to go with them, but I'll get to it another day.

 

We've Got PIGTAILS!!!!!

I have waited a long time for this....my little girl finally has enough hair (barely) to have pigtails! And if that wasn't enough, we had our first mani/pedi session this weekend! LIFE IS GOOD for this girly girl!

He's Here!

  Presenting, our fourth joint venture, Lucas Henry Holder!

Lucas was born December 9th at 11:06 am weighing in at 7 lbs 6 oz and measuring 21 inches.

Excuse the puffy face in the picture ( yes I'm vain, I freely admit it....) i was on IV fluids for about 20 hours...

I went into labour on the evening of December the 8th, after a session of extreme Christmas shopping. We got some friends in to take care of the existing brood, and headed for the hospital.

When we got there, the nurse gave me a scare when she said she thought I was already completely fully dilated...WTF???? But another nurse checked and said that I was only at 5 cm. Whew! Still time for the all-important epidural!

We got ourselves admitted, and hooked up to all the garbage they hook you up to...

  My contractions were coming at about every 3 minutes, and we were ready to go! Then. Everything stopped. The contractions petered out until they were about every 20 minutes....Man! After 4 pregnancies, once the ball is rolling, you'd think my body would keep it that way! But no. I guess maybe subconciously I was holding out for the tenth of December (which is both my and Samuel's birthday).

Anyhow, after the OB came and checked my progress, they decided to keep me in overnight as my bp was high, and I was quite dilated, and break my water in the morning. Fine with me! They gave me a lovely little Ambien tablet that gave me the best sleep I have had in recent memory and I drifted off to dreamland.

First thing in the am they hooked me up to some pitocin to get things moving again, with the idea that the Dr would come in later to break my water. They asked me when I wanted my epidural, and I decided maybe a little later, as the last thing I wanted was for the epidural to stall the labour again..n no c-section for this puppy!

BIG mistake. Big. I mean HUGE.

When the Dr broke my water, I was 5 cm. I went from 5 to 10 in about 35-40 minutes. All of you experienced mommies out there know that that means the epidural does not have any time to work.

Yes. This means I experienced the joys (said totally and completely sarcastically) of natural child birth. Yes, people, it hurts as much as you think it does. Maybe more. I kept thinking "is this really happening???? Where's my meds!!!!" I was not  in the least mentally prepared for going natural. I was used to doing it the easy way, Man! Jim was also not prepared...the poor sucker left his earplugs at home. And to any unsuspecting first time mother that may have been labouring in the adjacent suite, I humbly apologize for scaring the bejeezus out of you.

That said, my beautiful Lucas Henry arrived, and I (mostly) forgot about how much his arrival had truly sucked. No angels singing or birds flying around that LDR suite, let me tell you! At least I had refrained from dropping the f-bomb.

AFter his arrival, they had some trouble stopping the blood flow, so I had to be given a dose of hemabate (sp?). Now, you nurses and doctors out there know that there is a truly nasty side effect to hemabate, and I will leave it at that.

I finally got a chance to hold and nurse my beautiful baby....and truly, there is nothing like nursing your newborn for the first time. Ok - cue the angels and bluebirds of happiness......

Unfortunately, when he was taken off to the nursery for his cleanup, they detected some breathing difficulties (an OB friend of mine calls it "Wimpy White Boy Syndrome")...basically, he was born so fast, the birth canal didn't have time to squeeze out all the fluid in his lungs, so it made it hard for him to breathe.

After 2 days in the NICU, I was finally allowed to bring my sweet baby home...and this is what I find on my camera...????? I guess everyone has their own method of childcare!

To see more (read:better) pics of the L-man, go to www.merrifieldphotography.com, click on VIP Room, and enter "Lucas" as your pw. And if you think he's cute, drop me a line!

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far.....

...from her Daddy's tree. That may not be a laptop, or a Modern Drummer magazine, but it is pretty close, especially for the two-year-old set.

I have been holding off on posting our big news....not only because I was afraid it might jinx the whole thing, but because I didn't want it to be a point of contention in therapy years later...."oh Dr. So and So...she posted pictures of me on the POTTY! Going POOP!!! Oh the horror! The shame!". But anyway, pride and humour have apparently won out over good sense and tact, so here she is!

GEORGIA ON THE POTTY!!!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the little monkey appears to be fully potty trained at the age of 26 months. I actually had very little to do with it - it is all due to the power of a package of "My Little Pony" panties that were apparently far too fabulous for my little girl to resist. She wanted to wear those foolish things so much, she potty trained herself.

I love fashion. God only knows what she'll do for a cute pair of shoes.

What do you mean I have a School-Aged Child??????

Ok - so no one was more shocked than me when it was time for Samuel to start kindergarten. I mean, I knew it was coming, hell, i was the one who signed him up, talked it up, bought the supplies and just generally prepped for it. But i still couldn't believe it when it actually happened....here he is on his first day of REAL school. My BIG beautiful boy.