9 years and counting!

9 years married today! Crazy right?!?! No not really - I mean yes we are crazy but not about making it 9 years. We'll still be making each other crazy 50 years from now - no doubt about that! I could go on about how wonderful life is with you and how I love you more and more each day. How wonderful a father you are. How you are.... well how you are my everything! You know all this. You know I just think your the best thing since sliced bread :) Seriously that is stupid who made that up?!?! I mean is sliced bread THAT important?

I was gonna find some funny poem to add but didn't like anything. I thought about reflecting over the past year but then realized I barely remember the year myself. I am sitting here watching you with Anthony and it's like he's your first all over again - the only difference is you have 4 kids worth of experience under your belt and you aren't worried about him like we were when we came home with Samantha. We know no matter what we do wrong we really can't screw him up. OK maybe I can do better with remembering to change his diaper more than once a day....lol

I love you! I love you for giving me 5 amazing loves of my life. We have a wonderful life together and I look forward to all the years to come.

Busy week here in Pepeland - 3 down 1 more to go

Finally Steven's turn. He has been itching to get out of here. He was so excited to get to school today. I am sure he will have a great day and then he'll come home and be mad that it didn't last longer.

So now it's just me, Sophia and Anthony. What to do what to do?!?!

OK 2 more down 2 to go

Hereeeeeeeeeeeeee's Bella!

All ready for her 1st day of Pre-School. She was very excited! She was getting to have breakfast with Grandma first so that was exciting for as well - probably more than school...lol

So now I am home with Steven, Jr. - who is pissed he has to wait one more day for school to start for him. Then there is Sophia who is walking around looking for Bella and Sam - I have her convinced they are playing hide-n-go seek with her. Hey I'm bored I need some entertainment - Anthony is passed out cold so he's no fun. There is really nothing to do no where to go. Steve left me and went back to work. I swear he skipped down the driveway this morning :)

Back to School - 1 down 3 to go!

Samantha goes back to school today! 3rd grade - I KNOW! I can't believe it either. She is very excited. I hope she has a great year and learns lots and makes lots of new friends. Steve is home one last day today so she is excited her Daddy will be home to take her to school and pick her up. Also she knows she'll get an egg sandwich out of him in the morning. It always comes back to food for my kids :)

Bella goes back on Wednesday and Steven starts 1st grade on Thursday. It's gonna be a busy week! Oh and we didn't forget about Sophia she gets to go to a nursery school 2 days a week starting on Monday. She is very excited also!

We're home!!!

Actually we have been home since Saturday :) Technically we weren't supposed to come home until yesterday but the thing is my wonderful OB didn't see me on Saturday morning she sent one of her colleagues. He came in an commented on how great I looked and I JOKINGLY said

"really! thanks how about letting me go home today?" he then said

"sure - no problem let me start the paperwork"

SWEET ! I wasn't about the argue. Look I am not stupid I know I just had "major" surgery - well that is what everyone calls it. Major surgery to me would mean like Oh... I don't know - a heart transplant. A c-section doesn't seem like such a big deal for me it's the only way I can deliver a baby. They make a little cut (really it's like 3 inches at the most) pull the baby out and close me up. OK I will tell you the Dr. did say this time around after seeing my insides close up that there would be no more children for me. This is the first time after a delivery that I agreed and wasn't planning another pregnancy...lol With that said even though this might have been a more challenging surgery for the Dr's it was the easiest recovery so far. I didn't look like death hours later and I really felt great. I was up walking within 6 hrs and took no pain meds. So of course, when the Dr. offered to let me go home I jumped all over it. I swear my bags were packed within minutes. I know everyone says - stay in the hospital and rest. Take advantage of the quiet, blah blah blah. Well I hate the quiet and can't rest in the hospital. The bed sucks the shower sucks the food sucks all of it sucks - except for the part of getting to bring a new little baby home oh and the ice. The hospital has great ice!

So we get home and I am in a hot shower within minutes. Best shower ever! While in the shower the phone rings which I am unaware of. Into the bathroom walks Steve with the phone and hands it to me shaking his head. I still have no idea who is on the phone but try reminding him I was still in the shower - HELLO. So I take the phone and say hello. I hear:

"Cheryl I am standing in your hospital room looking at an empty room with you no where in sight - where could you be?"

I explain that I was in the shower and the caller said she had checked the bathroom and I wasn't in there. I then told the caller I was in the shower at my home. Well this did not go over well. See the caller was my OB and she was very very very disappointed in me for leaving the hospital. She reminded me of that "major" surgery which I replied it was just child birth..lol That didn't go over well either. She went on to make me feel like an 10 yr old that just go busted for breaking curfew. To make matters worse Steve is screaming in the background that he told me not to go home and that I would get in trouble and that he agreed with the my OB and blah blah - he was just as scared of her as I was and was kissing as much ass as possible at that moment. Thanks babe for the support. Steve loves the hospital - he thinks everything is great about it yet he's never been the patient so I am sure his attitude would change if he were in my shoes.

Needless to say we're home and doing well. We have had a few moments so far. It doesn't matter whether you are coming home with your 1st baby or your 5th you are never prepared for that first night. The only difference between the 2 is that with your first you freak out about EVERYTHING that first night. You get no sleep because you are too busy checking to make sure the baby is breathing and is he cold or hot - a list of things. Now with the 5th you still worry but in such a non-worry way. If we had secret camera's set up in our room Saturday we would have won the top prize on America's funniest video's. It was a comedy routine. We needed a diaper - couldn't find them. Steve was yelling at the water because it wasn't getting hot quick enough. The other kids woke up because the baby was screaming and they thought they could help since we weren't "getting it". Sophia would scream from her room "the baby is crying!!!!!" but wouldn't get out of her bed. So now were screaming back at Sophia " No kidding kid were working on it" Now at this point I am crying - if it were the first kid I would be crying cause I was freaking out and wasn't sure what we were doing wrong. I was crying this time cause I was laughing so hard it brought me to tears. I am cracking up as I type this just remembering it. In the morning Steve went around to make a mental checklist of everything we needed for the next night....lol Diapers to a nightlight made the list. Oh that man is soooo dying for an ambien. By the time we woke up Sunday morning our room had looked like a war zone with our bed being ground zero. The 2 of us were haphazardly sprawled out in every direction. I had fallen asleep while still holding the baby who luckily was bumpy enough to wake Steve when he tried to roll over and wasn't sure what was in his way. The next night went way smoother. Everyone slept nicely with little interruption.

Here's too laughing our way through all the "firsts" we get to have one last time

Please meet our new son Anthony Louis Pepe

Named after Steve's grandfathers Anthony was born on Thursday, September 3 @ 1:52 pm. He, as the Dr. nicely put it, delivered himself. He weighed in at a whopping 8lbs 1oz and is 21 inches long and has 3 chins - he got that from Steve :). He is a little chunka monka. He's eating well and has a nice set of lungs on him so no mistaking he's definitely my kid. We should be breaking out of the hospital Sunday morning but I am wondering if I play my cards right maybe they will let me leave Saturday night - now that would be sweet. Really I am sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I hate the hospital stay. I can't really rest here - I need my own bed. Oh and the water pressure and temperature SUCKS! My morning shower is like my cup of java.

OK enough with that - I know you want some pictures. These are just a few - you know there will be more to come:

This was a few hours after he was born. You know you have a lot of kids when you can look at this picture and laugh. We had no sympathy for him as he threw this fit. We thought it was cute - look at the little baby cry - Ahhhhh so sweet


As it was with Steven - Anthony too has inherited the "FREAK" foot. Not sure who he gets it from but nonetheless it's still a "freak" foot...lol


All of these pictures were taken with my iphone so some are blurred a bit - I thought this was a sweet one of Sam even if it isn't in focus:


Steven with his new baby brother!



Bella was sooo excited!


Now Sophia demanded her turn to hold the baby. So we placed the baby on her lap and she attempted to give him his pacifier which he wanted nothing to do with:


So Sophia got mad and proceeded to push the baby off her lap...lol 6 hands came out of no where to catch him as did mine hence the reason for the blurred shot. Oh boy fun times are ahead :)


Here he is less than a day old an already asking for seconds. I swear can I have 1 child that doesn't eat NON- STOP!


Now he's begging:


I told him to gimme a minute and this is the face I got - we like to call this "mad face" I think Sam had the best "mad face".

OH BOY! Today is the day!

Just got the call from the Dr. we are off in a bit to the hospital. Need to beat out the 1 o'clock c-section so my OB wants us there at 10am and get us in around 11:30 -12:00. Sweet!!!!!!!

I am taking my laptop - there had better be wi-fi or I will be breaking out even sooner from the hospital.

Can't wait to meet the little guy - the kids are very excited. Sophia has been calling him Fred which Steve has been encouraging so he is telling her we are leaving soon to go get Fred. The child already thinks the baby comes in the stroller box from the baby store so lets keep confusing her with the name.