Mollys WebLog

His lung tumor is regressing!  It’s gone down about 30% in the last 6 weeks and he’ll do 2 more rounds of chemotherapy.  His mediatinal lymph nodes and pleura are doing better as well!  This is amazingly wonderful news.  Thanks to everyone for prayers and good thoughts.

I love living here.  Our neighbors are great, the schools are great, we love our home.  One of the other things I love is the Christmas Tractor.  One of the houses nearby does this during Christmas and it always brings a smile to our faces…

Just thought this would be fun to put together…

TWO MINUTES OLD    December 31, 2003

ONE YEAR OLD      December 31, 2004

TWO YEARS OLD      December 31, 2005

THREE YEARS OLD      December 31, 2006

FOUR YEARS OLD      December 31, 2007

FIVE YEARS OLD    December 31, 2008

Such a milestone age.  I remember my own fifth birthday, and thinking that being 5 somehow made me a “big girl.”  I don’t know how my little boy made it to this age … it seems like he was just born on the one hand, and like he has always been here.  It’s hard to reconcile the two feelings. 

His birthday was very chill.  Every year the family congregates at our house for food, cake and presents.  This year Wendy was in town which was an added bonus!  So Mom, Dad, Beth, Rachael, Luke, Terry, Sylvia and Rigo all came over around 2pm  for appetizers.  I made some of Beth’s famous artichoke dip, some good salamis and cheeses, various crackers, etc.  I also had a cupcake cake that I made for Evan.  He’s still in love with trains of all types so it seemed fitting to have that kind of cake. 

Evan got lots of fun toys for his birthday, including ones that came in the mail from Papaw and Granny Smith and the unnamed donor of a cool remote control car that climbs the walls and ceiling.  It nicely compliments the flipping (and thankfully silent) one that Tia Sylvia and Tio Lalo gave to him.  Wendy gave him a set of Playmobil Police action guys with a boat and some jet skis and a jeep, Mom & Dad gave him some arts & crafts stuff, books and other goodies.  There were some other goodies, including a roll up piano that I won in a silent auction for him.  Something to take along on trips (in lieu of a DVD player) and to play with whenever.  Rachael had a blast helping him to unwrap the gifts.

The rest of New Year’s Eve was spent hanging out and eating some of the yummy Ropa Vieja I’d made, some of the ham & potato soup that Wendy made and watching movies.  It was such a relaxing day.  Love it.  Happy birthday to my little man. 

So Christmas was wonderful.  I will write more about it soon, but I will write today about what happened that night and the next morning. 

At 12:16am, my phone rang.  I instinctively knew that it would be Sylvia and it would be about the babies.  I picked up and she said that she thought her water had broken.  I advised her to go to the hospital, which she did.

At 7 in the morning on the 26th, we spoke again.  She had been admitted to the hospital and was going to stay there until her babies were delivered.  They were hoping keep them inside for another week.  She was only 31 weeks pregnant, meaning she was 9 weeks before her due date.  I went to her house and got some things to keep her busy, along with a few things she’d asked for. 

I got to the hospital around 9am, just in time to find Sylvia in full-blown back labor.  Contractions were four minutes apart and coming HARD.  She was in pain and scared, but holding it together beautifully.  As each contraction came on, I’d rub her shoulder or back and she’d breathe through it until it subsided.  The nurses couldn’t check her dilation level because they were afraid that if they did, they’d bring on labor full-force and not be able to stop the babies from coming.  They hooked her up to a bag of magnesium sulfate, which should stop labor.  It has side effects like making you feel like you’re burning from the inside out, making you nauseous, making you a little crazy.  So I continued to (try to) help by helping to rub her neck and back, to put a cool cloth on her forehead, etc.

Lalo and Rigo arrived as the magnesium was kicking in full-force.  I think they were a bit surprised at what was going on and how intense the contractions were.  Lalo tried massaging Sylvia but she was too uncomfortable for it at that point.  She made me laugh with some of her exclamations.  Her contractions started coming less frequently.  One of the weird things is that the contractions weren’t showing up on the monitor because they were all in her back.  So I had been alerting the nurse to each one, and keeping track of how far apart they were.  They went from every 4 minutes to 7 minutes, to 13 minutes, to 21 minutes.  Then Syl suddenly changed.  Everything about her face, and manner and everything just…changed. 

I ran from the room.  I ran straight for the nurse and got her into the room immediately.  Marcelo was coming out.  Everything changed immediately.  They paged a doctor and another emergency nurse ran in.  It took 4 minutes for the doctor to get there…and it felt like forever.  She took one look at what was happening, and panicked.  I have never seen a doctor panic before, and let me tell you that it doesn’t instill a whole lot of good feelings and faith.  They immediately called for an operating room and started rolling Sylvia out of the room, FAST.  I noticed that she was still attached to some machines and I rapidly unplugged the cords as they ran out with her. 

They careened down the hallway, bouncing off one wall and into the other in their haste to get her to the OR as quickly as possible.  I heard the doctor say “He’s about to come out, but depending on what she’s doing in there, we might need to also do an emergency c-section.  We’re taking you to the OR, these babies are coming NOW.”  As they wheeled her down the hall, the bed hit the Christmas tree that was in the hall.  Ornaments went flying.  Lalo, who’d been in the hall with his brother (Rigo) during all of this, looked utterly freaked out.  He turned to me with a beseeching look and either asked out loud “What do I do?” or I just read it on his face.  I don’t remember which.  But I do remember grabbing him by the arm, pushing him lightly toward the fleeing gurney and yelling “Fucking RUN!”  He kicked some of the ornaments on his way by, and they EXPLODED.  They were thin glass ornaments and they just disintegrated into dust.

I went back into the room and Rigo and I started to gather their belongings together, not sure what to do with ourselves.  One of the hospital chaplains came in and asked if we were OK.  I lost it.  I mean, I broke down and wept and uttered the F word a lot.  I explained that Sylvia’s dad had died this week, that she’d lost babies before and that I was scared.  I was so afraid for her and the babies.  I wept in the nun’s arms.  Then I got myself together.

Rigo and I spent 1 1/2 hours in the waiting room, not knowing what was going on at all.  It was the LONGEST period of time.  I spent most of the time texting back and forth with some friends, trying to keep myself busy.  Rigo and I spoke some and I practiced my Spanish.  We were amazed at how slowly time was passing.  Then Lalo called my cell phone and said everyone was OK.

Lalo came out to get us and was smiling SO much.  He said “My babies are here and they’re SO pink!”  I spoke with one of the delivery nurses who said that they were doing remarkably well.  They both had Apgar scores or 8 and 9.  They were 2lb 12 oz (Marcelo) and 3lb 2oz (Lina).  They were in NICU but breathing on their own!  Sylvia was doing well.

It was so terrifying but everything turned out as well as possible.

I got to meet the twins yesterday.  Sylvia got to hold them for the first time.  They are tiny and beautiful.  Lina is a mirror image of Sylvia and Marcelo is a teeny, tiny version of Lalo.  They are perfect.  They are both breathing on their own still, both eating, and both looking great.  I remember arriving in Paraguay just after Eliana was born and being amazed at how tiny 5lb of baby is.  2lb 12oz is a whole ‘nother ball game.  I can’t believe how little they are but how robust they are as well.  Their prognosis is GREAT and the docs are saying 3 or 4 weeks and they should be able to go home. 

I was given the biggest honor tonight when they asked me to be Marcelo’s Godmother.  It’s times like these that you realize how much the people you love mean to you.  Sylvia has been my friend since I was 3 years old, we have seen each other through early childhood, puberty, first boyfriends, our weddings and now childbirth.  Lalo is like my brother, one of my best friends, and they are both family.  I feel so honored to have been there with them through this. 

Here are some pics of the beautiful babes!

Sylvia, holding her little girl for the first time.

Beautiful little Lina.

Lina, holding my hand. 

Lina, with my hand for scale.

Marcelo, holding his mommy’s hand.

Marcelo, hanging out on the Bililights in NICU.

Marcelo’s long, long fingers in my hand.

Mom and I have gone to the Corning Scholarship Sale each December for the past three or four years.  It’s the first weekend of December.  Throughout the year artists donate pieces of their work to the Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass.  The Studio then has a weekend extravaganza, selling those pieces of art and also allowing tons of people to create glass in the Walk-in-Workshop.  The proceeds of the whole weekend go into the Scholarship fund, which allows people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend classes at the Studio to study there. 

Mom always has a lot of pieces for sale at the glass sale, and in the past couple of years, they’ve been snatched up quickly.  It’s so great to see other people appreciating her art as much as her family does.  She’s been working on karyatids (Columns shaped to look like women draped in flowing dresses) for the past few months and they were snatched up almost immediately.  YAY!  She’s made them into ornaments that can be either hung from a Christmas tree or hung in a window.   The use of dichroic glass is so subtle and effectively used.  Here’s a picture of Mom working on one at the torch.

While we were in Corning, Evan got to play in the Studio.  He loves my friend Harry, who’s the coordinator of Studio stuff.  (that’s his official title, btw LOL)  He got to charm people and smile and watch glass-blowing.  Then he got to blow some more glass himself.  He’d done some in February, but this time he was way more comfortable with the process.  He made three Christmas ornaments, and was able to do one with just ONE blow.  This is an impressive feat. 

We left Corning and continued on to Rochester, to visit Tim and Michelle.  Tim is Mom’s very close friend, who’s a great artist in his own right.  He is an art instructor at a private school in Rochester.  We spent Saturday blowing glass at the studio that Tim has set up over the past year.  Dad helped him to wire the electricity this year, Mom helped with a lot of the set-up and stuff.  I had seen the studio space last year before it was a working studio, but to see it in action this year was great!  I can’t imagine how wonderful it’s got to feel for everyone involved to see this space/idea for a studio come to fruition. 

Mom did some work on karyatids while I refreshed my memory on how to make Christmas ornaments.  Tim and I blew a few and then Mom joined us blowing ornaments.  Mom pointed out something interesting about glass to me, something that had never occurred to me.  You can gather a given amount of glass, blow it into something small and it becomes a heavy little ornament.  Using the same amount of glass, you can blow it out into a large-ish ornament and it’s as light as air.  It’s the same weight but it feels so different depending on what you do with it.  We were each able to turn out some nice ornaments before we used up all the glass in the crucible. 

While I was out blowing glass with Mom & Tim, Evan was back at the house, playing.  Tim & Michelle have an 11 year-old daughter, who Evan adores.  She and her 8 year-old cousin and Evan were all playing and having a blast.  We came back to the house to find Michelle and Tim’s sister knee deep in cookies, the kids playing and general good cheer.  Evan and I got to enjoy a much needed late-afternoon nap.  Alivia (Tim & Michelle’s daughter) told Evan about the napping Santa, which helped ease him to sleep.  ;o)

We enjoyed a great dinner with Tim, Michelle, Tim’s sister and her husband, all three kids, me & Mom.  Mom cooked a great pasta/seafood dish and braised some escarole.  Lots of great talk, great conversation and great food, followed by yummy desserts made for a wonderful evening.  Finally, getting ready for bed I heard laughter coming from the room Evan and I were sharing.  I walked in to find this.

Yesterday morning, Mom & Tim got up early and emptied the annealer, taking out our ornaments so we could bring them home with us.  We headed out of Rochester, just as the snow kicked up.  Driving out of lake effect snow bands, and the accompanying wind, we made our way back to Corning.  We had brunch at the home of some of Mom’s friends, Bill & Amy.  It was a great way to spend 3 or 4 hours.  Evan played with their kids and toys, we enjoyed fresh bagels, lox, schmears, and a wonderful tea blend that Bill made.  They had a friend over who’s a photographer, and I picked his brain for a while.  He was really helpful and encouraging, looking over some of my stuff and giving me pointers and complimenting a few of my pics. 

After leaving Bill & Amy’s we stopped by the Studio again quickly and then headed out of town.  We stopped in Williamsport, PA at Clyde Peeling’s Reptile Zoo.  Evan LOVES this place.   All weekend we’d told him that if he was well-behaved we’d stop there.  We’d driven past this place for years before ever stopping.  We went in February for the first time and Mom got us an annual membership.  While we were at the zoo, almost ALL of the animals were really active.  They were moving around and following our movements through the windows of their enclosures.  I’ve never seen reptiles so interactive before.  Evan loved seeing them check him out like that, and Mom & I got a big kick out of it as well. 

Driving south we listened to Broadway musicals, which is what Mom always listens to in the car.  Annie Get Your Gun is one that we listen to at least once on every trip to Corning, having just gotten the CD before our first trip up there six years ago.  Well, Evan fell in LOVE with it.  He really liked the song “Doin’ What Comes Naturally” and wanted to listen to it over and over.  At one point, as Mom & I had moved on to listening to Ragtime, Evan listened to my iPod play Annie Get Your Gun, for over an hour.  He now knows the words to a bit of it.  It’s especially sweet to me because when he was a baby, I’d sing him to sleep with “Moonshine Lullaby” from that show. 

All in all, it was a wonderful trip.  Loved spending the time with Mom & Evan. 

Just a couple more random shots from the trip…

Having a four-day weekend, in town, was such a treat.  We were able to sleep in a little, have a couple of family movie nights, relax and play a lot of board games.  We went rock climbing with Evan and he did a bit of top roping and bouldering.  He climbed the “little wall” up to the hang boards and college boards.  Then he and Barrett did some traversing and we worked on teaching Evan to tie in.

Saturday I met up with some of my closest girlfriends from grade school.  We manage to get together once a year or so, pretty impressive since we don’t all live in this area.  These are the girls that I was closest with from the ages of 11 – 18.  We were such a tight-knit group, going through all kinds of growing pains together and helping each other out for years.  I love these ladies!  Pictured from left to right (in the first picture) are Janis, Gina, Yulia, me and Sylvia.  Unfortunately Sue’s daughter was sick and she couldn’t join us this time, and Jen’s youngest son was being baptized so we missed her as well.

The weekend was crowned off with a spectacular moonrise, accompanied by by Venus and Jupiter.  I took the two following pictures from my driveway. 

My favorite holiday.  I love it.  As Bill Maher once said, “Only in America would we have a holiday dedicated to stuffing food inside of other food.”  It’s not the excess of the holiday that makes it my favorite, it’s my favorite in spite of the excesses.  It’s the fact that the day revolves around getting together with family, those we’re born to and those we’ve chosen, for a great meal and to relax.  For years my family went to our beach house in Avon, NC for the holiday.  Throughout college, I’d make the trek every year.  It meant lots of family time, great food, and clean laundry. 

Since the kids have come along, we’ve relocated Thanksgiving to MD.  It’s been nice to have it at Mom & Dad’s house.  Sylvia and Lalo have joined us each year since they moved to the USA.  They are the chosen family that I refer to.  This year Lalo’s mother, sister and niece were in town, so they joined us as well. 

We all cooked a ton of food, Mom & Beth taking up the majority of the menu.  The whole gang hung out for a few hours while we food was being finished in the kitchen (and the fried turkeys outside).  There was some football, playing in the leaves, soccer in the yard, playing with trains with the kids and lots of great conversation.  I got to practice my Spanish skills again, and was surprised to hear my brother speaking Spanish as well. 

The meal was amazing.  The company top-notch.  I love Thanksgiving. 

This year I am thankful for so many things.  I am thankful for my family, my health, my friends, my home, my job, so many things I can’t articulate.
Barrett:    My soul mate.  My closest friend.  The only person I’d want to come home to every night.  We’ve been together since the beginning of 1995, almost fourteen years.  It’s amazing to think that we’ve shared so much and still want to spend each day together.  I love you.
Evan:  My reason for being.  My reason for becoming a better person.  He inspires me to see the simple joys in life, to remember to laugh, to embrace all things in life.  I can’t imagine a more intelligent, loquacious or hilarious child. 
My parents:  The reason I am who I am.  They gave me the foundation to become a good human being, a caring individual who is able to give to the people I love because of the examples they’ve always set for me. 
Beth:  One of the best friends I’ve ever hoped for.  The person I talk to on the phone every day and who knows me inside and out and still keeps me in her life regardless of that fact.  The smartest person I know, who constantly amazes me with her knowledge of all things trivial AND useful.
Terry: It’s so great to have him back in MD after nineteen years on the other side of the country.  We’ve become so close over the past few years.  I can’t imagine not having him in my life in such a profound way.
Rachael & Luke: The two funnest, most rambunctious and snuggly (yes it’s possible to be both) kids I know.  They make Evan so excited whenever he gets to see them, and they both make me smile and laugh a ton!
Sylvia:  A friend I’ve had since I was three years old.  She can tell me anything and I know it’s said with love.  She is like the sister I’ve gotten to choose in life.  We’ve traveled all over together and experienced much of what life has to offer together, from being arrested to having a full-grown male African Lion attack our truck in the hills of Guatemala, and we’re still friends. 
Kat & Pat: Our best friends since college.  We are Godparents to their son, Samuel and are equally crazy about their daughter, Eliana.  They are constants in our lives and have helped Barrett & I to work through many of the biggest problems we’ve ever faced. 
Mennelle:  What can I say?  The friend who just cuts through all the crap with me and sets me straight when no one else seems to get through.  We were pregnant together and have been raising our boys as close friends since they were born. 
My mamas: A sounding board like no other.  Invaluable and impossible to quantify.  I love you ladies.

There are so many more people and things that I am profoundly grateful for.  I can’t seem to articulate how blessed I feel. 

A few pics from Thanksgiving Day. (Including the centerpiece that Evan made for our table)

I have to do a portrait for my portfolio.  This is for the photography class I’m taking this fall.  So I decided that since I had access to a studio I should make the most of it.  I wanted to do portraits of Dad and Evan together, rather than just one person for the portrait.  Usually in the portraits there is just one person, but I wanted to spice things up a bit. 

Since Evan and Dad are crazy about each other, and are so close, I wanted to see if I could capture it on film.  I think I did an OK job…

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