What to Expect When You Are Expecting.....

When I was pregnant with Giovanni, eight years ago, I had ALOT of questions for my doctor. He would patiently ask me at the end of every appointment what my questions for that month were. I would read my list and he would answer all of them. He finally told me at about month 5 or 6, "go home and throw away your prenatal book." What he didn't know was that I didn't actually have one, I just had a lot of questions. But I understood his point. Life doesn't go according to any book. I have fairly text book pregnancies, but I do not labor. Let me say that again, I DO NOT LABOR. Under no circumstance, or drug, will my body respond to the natural laws of child birth. Marc likes to tease me and say that there are no working exits in my womb. My children need to come equipped with a parachute or emergency slide.
Well, it has been long enough since my last pregnancy and I have limited access to my doctor here, so I decided to buy "What to Expect When You Are Expecting" and read a bit on the internet. I has been useful to let the boys know what is the general size of the baby and what she was doing that month, i.e. growing fingernails, or learning to hiccup. But other than that, pretty useless. This morning I checked what a 35 week fetus should be doing and it told me this, "Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore." REALLY?!! This girl likes to hula dance. She still turns completely around and yes, her preferred position is hammock style. She lays across my belly, not up and down like a normal kid. I am hoping this means a smaller baby. But yet again, I have no reference for what to expect. Giovanni was a week late and only 6lb3oz. Sergio was a week early and 9lb3oz.
I have decided no on knows what to really expect when going through any major life change. Marc compares pregnancy to getting on an airplane, not knowing ahead of time where or when you get off and then getting hijacked by a kicking, heartburn inducing terrorist. Lovely. And yet we keep having babies.............

"Stoopid projects...."

On the movie Meet The Robinsons, which I highly recommend, one of the kids is always keeping the other kid awake working on inventions. I love how the little kid complains and says that he was awake all night because of those "stoopid projects." There is just something in the way that he emphasizes the word stupid.
Well, today I did about five "stoopid projects". Some were small and a couple were bigger. I cannot find the cord for uploading pictures from our camera, but when Marc finally gets home this weekend, I will post some pictures. I have finished quite a few projects while he was gone this month. I recovered our dining room chairs, redid an old desk for a changing table, redecorated the boys' bedroom, painted two dressers for the nursery, repainted a high-chair, and lots of little projects to make our house more me.
I am once again swearing off projects. I think that I inhaled too much spray paint today and need to go rest...................

"It doesn't have to be perfect..."

thought you would like to know.......
I have been talking to Giovanni about not having to have things perfect. You have to understand that he is almost a clone of his father. They can be a bit OCD about certain things. So I have been talking to Giovanni about not stressing about things being perfect. I have told him that his bed doesn't have to be made perfectly straight and flat. We have talked about lots of things that aren't perfect, but we can do a good job. Marc has been gone for the month for some training which culminates this week with two big tests. Well, it was Giovanni's turn for prayers tonight. This is what he said, "Please bless Dad on his test. Help him to get some answers right, and some answers wrong. It doesn't have to be perfect." So, after that all I can say is GOOD LUCK to Marc.

For Mom- Grandma NUT!

Here is the sonogram photo from yesterday. See her cute little nose....

Decade in Review: 2008-2010

I was trying to review the last ten years of our lives. I somehow got these out of order. They are in three posts, but a bit backwards. I get my computer skills from my mother. Which isn't saying much.......

2008



We found out right after Marc got home from Iraq that we were pregnant again. YEAH! We also found out that our plans to leave the Army were not as appealing as going to England for three years with the Army. We quickly signed up for three more years with the Army. We started to make plans and get ready to take our family to England. In the midst of all the planning, we had a horrible week. I got really sick, I wrecked our car, and I had a miscarriage at 12 weeks. Luckily, we were too busy to wallow in sadness. We were in England less than three months after we even knew we could go. The boys both started school and got to wear matching uniforms.

2009



This last year was really quite boring. We just tried to settle in and get used to a new country, a new house and being together as a family. We spent lots of time watching movies together and just enjoying each others company. Marc and I are continually entertained by Giovanni and Sergio. They are really funny and not afraid to let you know what they are thinking.

2010





I know that this year is not over yet, it has hardly started. We do know at least one thing that will happen this year. After a really scary start to this pregnancy, we are having a girl at the beginning of May. We couldn't be more excited to finally have another baby. Sofia Rae DeLuca will be a welcome addition to our family. Marc and I will have been married ten years at Christmas time and plan on taking the whole family on a trip to Italy....we will see how this year turns out.

Decade in Review: 2004-2007

2004 might possibly be my least favorite year of the last ten, even over the 15 months Marc was in Iraq. We moved to California in the beginning of the year. I quickly found out I was pregnant again. Marc was in school ALL DAY. He woke up at 4AM and went to work out with the Army. He would sometimes come home for a quick shower and breakfast. He was at school/work until about 6PM. He would eat a quick dinner with us or would take his dinner into his office to do homework. We had to be in bed by 8PM because of his schedule. It was probably good to go to bed so early because Giovanni NEVER slept past 6AM the whole time I was pregnant. In fact the last three months he woke me up at 5AM because daylight savings time never works on his body. We BARELY survived that year...but at least we got our happy Sergio at the end.

2005



We moved to El Paso and I soon started to call it HELL Paso. Although I did not like it at first, I grew to LOVE it and would even consider retirement there, (don't tell Marc, he still HATES it.) It was dry and barren, but there is something to be said for a climate where you can send your children out to play any time of day at any time of the year. The only thing I don't miss is the WIND.....

2006



We knew deployment was inevitable. Marc spent most of the beginning of the year gone to training to prepare to deploy. He deployed just after Halloween. It was hard to say goodbye, but I think that ignorance was bliss. We had no idea what to expect and we just tried to keep moving forward.

2007



Marc was gone the whole year. It was difficult. He ended up doing something much more dangerous than the desk job we were expecting. He did learn how to wash his clothes in a box lined with a garbage bag. (Which is what he is doing in this photo.) I prayed, payed our tithing and just kept busy. Our church family became our family. I took many trips to visit family to break up the time, but we made El Paso our home. We came to love the small zoo, and most of the drive-thru workers in our area knew me personally from our many meals eaten out. I hated to cook for one adult, so we often, and by often I mean, OFTEN ate at restaurants. Marc survived both emotionally and physically. His worst injury was from running into the latrine door in the dark. He still has a scar. We are permanently changed from these 15 months but I don't think we would take them away if we could. We are better for our service.

Decade in Review: 2000-2003

I stole this idea from my good friend Kim. We have actually had quite an eventful decade considering that I think our lives are quite boring..........

2000


I spent most of the year on my mission in Uruguay. It was a life changing experience. I will definitely never take flushing toilets for granted. This picture is of one of my favorite Guayans. Susana is quite a lady. She made us earn her trust, and we laughed alot together.


I got home from my mission just in time for BYU fall semester. Marc had taken a semester off and so we both returned to Provo at about the same time. Hanging out as friends soon turned into a short engagement and a Christmas wedding. Best decision of his life........


2001



Marc and I quickly settled into married life, and by settled, I mean somewhat scratched and clawed. We often describe our personalities as a "back fire" aggrement. In forest fires they build small back fires to contain the other fire. Marc and I are both firey personalities, but we definitely contain each other well. We went to Italy for a month in the summer of 2001. It was a great trip.

2002



Giovanni was born in the fall of 2002. It was fun to become a mother, but I really enjoyed watching Marc become a father. Marc also graduated this year from BYU and we moved to Seattle right before our second anniversary.

2003



We moved in with Marc's parents and Marc worked while we really prayed about our future. We decided to join the Army. We stayed with his parents until all of his training was done and we would move to Monterey, California. Giovanni went from a tiny baby to a VERY active toddler. He loved to hide inside this bookcase.