How your heart breaks as a parent

Every parent in the world knows you are going to faces some kind of heart break. Whether your kids are older or younger, I feel as a parent your heart break will never gets easier too, no matter how old or how sick or how much in need your child is.

Sadly Keith and I have watched and sat and wondered about the status of both of our kids a few times now. I hope as a parent, if you have to have heart break at all, it's only on one of your kids, not all of your kids. Keith and I know what it is to watch both of  your kid cry out for you....

We know what it is like to watch a monitor... pray the results are good..good enough to get you discharge. We also know what it Is  like to pray your kid isn't in pain, your kid can have a"normal" life. And as a parent it hurts.

Sadly since 2012, we have had multiple hospital experiences. So many more then I dreamt of, even after learning about JP.

We seem to have a hospital visit once a year with our kids ever since Jonathan was born. Back in 2012 I blogged about Aiden's experiences with asthma and in 2013, I talked about JPs surgery. In 2014, I'm back to Aiden. This time it might be the Enterovirus. While we aren't sure if  that's what it is, I do believe some form of this new germ is effecting him.

We won't know for a few days exactly what Aiden was suffering from, but we do know his allergies and his asthma was in high gear. He was struggling to breath Weds am, while nothing new to us at  this point, it's still scary. Watching the pulse-  praying it'll go up, watching your kid have trouble breathing, and hoping he will adjust, well it is scary.

We had to spend 2 nights in the Hospital with Aiden this time. Hoping,  praying, and watching Aiden's oxygen and breathing and chanting "go up"! Luckily as of yesterday he was feeling himself and today he could go home.

We won't know if that Enterovirus was exactly to blame till early next week, he's still in recovery and the  experience was still scary as a Mom.

This whole experience of course has me questioning... wondering what did I do wrong? Why do both my kids struggle?  How can I make it better?

While I know the answer is nothing concreate and realize I still have to go with the flow. This  doesn't make it any easier as a parent.

Stacey gets married

This past week my "baby" sister got married,  okay not baby, but she is 6 1/2 years younger then me!

She married a great guy name Bob. He's also a musician and a mortgage broker.

The wedding was a family affair too! Me, Aiden, my brother Brian, my cousins Amanda & Samantha, and Samantha's husband Rob were all a part of the wedding party.

Not only that, but Keith played the ceremony, and my sister in law Amy and Amanda's husband Henry read.

In addition to our family, Bob's brother, 2 sisters, and brother in law were in the wedding too.

They also had Bob's niece who was the flower girl and her and Aiden were adorable together!

Despite the rain, the day was full of sunshine from all the happiness in the room. Us girls spent the day at my Mom's getting ready and having a lot of fun... And taking a lot of selfies.

 

The ceromony was beautiful and the kids did great! We also had Jonathan come all dressed up for photos and he cooperated!!

Then it was time to party!!! The reception was so much fun and Aiden danced the night away until he fell asleep sitting In a chair!

My favorite part was the cake cutting. My sister and I are a like more then I thought- we both smashed cakes in our new husband face- lol

All in all it was a great day and I wish the newlyweds a long and happy life filled with lots of love!

Congrats Stacey and welcome to our crazy family Bob!

A season of change to a new chapter

And so the Giosas have celebrated the unofficial end of summer and moved on to the newest chapter in our lives- "the baby free zone."

We hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend! After being on vacation the week before, our weekend was low key. We did have one last day of fun before we got back to the swing of things.

On Labor Day, we decided to go to Dutch Wonderland to celebrate the end to our amazing summer- one that was filled with a lot of laughs and a lot of fun. It was so hot, but the boys still had a blast.

With this season of change, it also brings a lot of change to our house as well. We are almost out of the baby stages of parenting. The last few weeks have been so bittersweet!

(and no we didn't get a dog, this is the kids with my sister's dog)

JP is now officially in a toddler bed. Since he did so well on vacation we felt it was time to change the crib at home. He's still doing amazing with it! He has decided to give up naps, but we are struggling through that and he does stay in his room for quiet time.

A week after we returned from vacation and put him in his toddler bed we made the decision it was time to give up the pacifier (aka binkie). I'm amazed how well he's doing! The first night was a bit rough- he woke up every couple hours asking for me, but he's never asked for the binkie and I can say we have are binkie free and have had success!

JP also got a new brace for his non FH leg. It's called a SMO and the purpose of it is to help him from walking on the inside of his foot, which is an over compensation due to his FH. It's been a bit of a struggle, more so then the AFOs have been, but  trying to push through it. 

All that is left is potty training and this kid is on his way to big boy life. So hard to believe he'll be going off to preschool next year! He had conquered so much in his young life and still nothing stands in his way!

And then there's the biggest change of this season- we now have a kindergartener!! 

The week before Labor Day, the school had a parent orientation night (where I spent most of the time tearing up) and a preview day for the kids. 

Aiden loved seeing his new school and meeting his teacher, but the biggest joy was the ice cream they gave out- lol!

And then this past Tuesday he was off! He was so excited to start school and meet new friends! I love his enthusiasm for learning and socializing and hope it never changes!

He did so well too! He walked right on the bus and never looked back!

It broke my heart to send him off to the real world, but it's a part of parenting- the first step of letting go. I'm so thankful that he always transitions well to things!

He also started real soccer on Tuesday too. He's on the Red Bulls teams and they practice Tuesday evenings and have games Saturdays, but I feel it is just organized chaos- lol.

Stay tunes to hear our about our life as parents to a kindergartner and soon to be potty training preschooler!