An Update

Wow! I cannot believe it has been almost one month since Gabriella's birth. Times are flying and she is growing, growing, growing whether I like it or not... and trust me, I don't like it!

Gabriella is a great eater and wakes up every hour on the hour to eat… no joke! Her sisters and brothers love her and all they want to do is hold her, kiss her, and make her smile… though we all know she can’t even smile yet! Her personality has definitely been showing, even at a few weeks old! I think she’s going to have a bit of attitude and toughness in her, but also a girly side. She’s feisty and not very patient, and the girly side is just a guess... probably because I love dressing her in pink, frilly outfits!

Gabriella loves her new brothers and sisters, and they love her. Each child is adjusting well to their new sister and enjoy playing and helping with her. Speaking of the kids, here is an update about how each child is doing since Gabriella joined our family:

Maya, who has done the whole big sister thing six other times, is yet again a wonderful big sister, which comes to no surprise. She is always by my side, helping me with whatever is needed and tries to finish her schoolwork and other responsibilities early everyday so she can help feed, change, play, and watch Gabriella. And trust me, I love and use any help I can get!

This is probably the first time Amari and Kenyan have been so excited for a new baby. It's not that they weren't excited when Gianna, Ira, Elaina, or Arlet joined our family, but they were a lot younger then and didn't quite grasp the concept of a new baby. But now they do, and cannot get enough of their little sister. Amari and Kenyan are perfect for hugging, kissing, and holding Gabriella because they cannot get enough of her. Kenyan isn't into changing or feeding Gabriella, but he loves to play with her. Amari, on the other hand, loves to change and feed Gabriella, and actually prefers this to playing with her. Maybe because she cannot actually play yet.

Gianna is a great big sister and I can already tell that she is going to have a special bond and close relationship with Gabriella. She is already talking about sharing a bedroom with her little sister and what she is going to teach her when she is older. It melts my heart and is one of my favorite things about having a lot of children: my kids love each other so much!

Ira is also a wonderful and amazing big sister. She is still a little bummed that she didn't get a baby brother like she hoped, but still loves her sister just as much and is slowly warming up to Gabriella. There have been a few moments of jealousy, but that is to be expected. The cutest thing she has said since the birth of Gabriella is "Gabi, I am your big sister and I will always love you. I will buy you candy when you're older and sing you songs and read you stories." It was priceless!

Elaina, at two years old, has been the entertainer when it comes to Gabriella. As she is so young she isn't very interesting in caring for her sister  yet, but she loves to perform for her by singing and dancing. That is no surprise, though, considering Elaina's HUGE personality. I'm pretty sure I have a future actress on my hands! But there have been a few times of sisterly bonding between the two of them; like how Elaina insists on picking out her outfits every morning, or how she likes to (gently) comb through her baby sister's wild hair!

Last but not least, Little Miss A (Arlet) has done surprisingly well as a big sister. She doesn't mind sharing my attention and always wants to be in the same room as her baby sister. When Gabriella is crying, Arlet is the first one to get my attention and she leads me to whichever room Gabriella is in. She also loves to climb in her sister's crib and pretend she is the baby. I love seeing her as a big sister!

I am We are so in love with Gabriella. She has brought so much joy and happiness to our family and I cannot imagine life without her.

Wow, eight kids! How lucky am I?

Gabriella's Birth Story

Gabriella is my eighth child. Four of my children joined our family through the miracle of adoption, while four are biological, making Gabriella my fourth pregnancy. My four pregnancies were all relatively easy. I had morning sickness, but only until 12 weeks; I never craved anything unhealthy, only fruits and vegetables; and I wasn't in a lot of pain, just very tired. But i'll take being tired over morning sickness, crazy cravings, and body pain any day! With my three previous pregnancies, I delivered sometime between 38 and 41 weeks, so there really was no way to be certain when i'd deliver this time around. I just had to live day by day and know that I could deliver that day, the next day, or two weeks from then.

March 6th began like any other day. I woke up exhausted from a terrible night's sleep, dressed and fed seven children, shuffled the five oldest to the dentist, stopped by the library, went back home and began school for the day, made lunch, dealt with what is for sure our biggest tantrum of the year (so far), took a nap, and then handed the kids off to Wren when he came home from work at 6pm. Dinner wasn't made and the house was a mess, but I was too tired to do anything. "They're all yours," I said before retreating to my sanctuary- my bedroom- for another long nap.

I woke up around 9pm. A three hour nap- wow! Wren was asleep next to me and, when I got out of bed, I discovered that all seven children were sound asleep, a healthy dinner had been made, and Wren had tidied up the house. No wonder he was asleep at such an early hour!

Suddenly I felt pressure in my stomach. A few hours earlier a sharp pain had run through my stomach but I dismissed it as a coincidence because it didn't return. But now I began wondering: was I in labor? I wasn't sure if it was a false alarm or the real thing, so I decided to not wake up Wren. He had been working so hard lately, caring for me and the children, working a demanding job, and keeping up with all of my usual responsibilities, so I didn't want to wake him up if it was only a false alarm. That had been happening so many times during the last month of my pregnancy, and Wren even began to call me "the girl who cried wolf." Time would definitely tell within the next couple of hours whether I was in labor or not.

In the meantime, the pain kept coming... and intensifying every so often. It was so bad that I couldn't fall back asleep, so until I could make the determination of whether I was in false labor or real labor, I entered nesting mode. It was only 9pm, after all. I had the whole night to nest, nest, nest! So from 9ish at night to 3ish in the morning I did what any other 9-month pregnant woman on the verge of labor and delivery would do: I organized the pantry, unfolded and folded the baby's clothing, did laundry, and even cooked the next night's supper. All while the pain kept coming and coming. In fact, my experience reminded me of the song "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" but instead for me it was "She'll be Nesting 'Round the House as she Labors!"

I still couldn't make the determination of whether I was in labor or not, though. I would have just dismissed my pain for false labor and gone back to bed if it weren't for the pain that kept intensifying every hour. So around 3am I decided to text my sister and see if she wanted to go running. If six hours of nonstop cleaning wouldn't do the trick, running a couple miles most definitely should, right? My sister said yes and from 4am to 5am we went running around the neighborhood.

Okay, I'll try to stop rambling and get on with the part to when I began laboring, alright? Where was I? Oh...

FINALLY, when I was in the middle of my run, my water broke! I knew I wasn't crazy, I really was in labor. So we went back to the house and I woke Wren up, "honey, my water broke. We need to head to the hospital." My husband, who mind you is the hardest person to wake up and get out of bed, repeated what he has done with my three previous deliveries: he enters crazy man mode. "What? What? WHAT?! Labor? We're having a baby? Okay, let's go!" and he runs to the car with the hospital bag and forgets the most important detail: his pregnant wife and unborn child. Luckily, he only made it to the car and then remembered me... not like Gianna where he actually forgot me!

We arrived to the hospital a short time later. It was now 6:15am and I could tell the baby was going to come very, very soon. (Side note: So funny how my labor compares to life. One minute things are fine and calm, and the next minute there is hecticness and a conflict.) Wren and I, along with a couple of nurses, rushed to my birthing room on the labor and delivery floor of our local hospital. I got all situated- filled out paperwork, changed into a birthing gown, got hooked up to an IV (ouch!), and got as comfortable in bed as I could. We met with my doctor, Dr. Rashad, and discovered I was 8 centimeters dilated.

No wonder it hurt so bad.

An ways, for the next hour I patiently (I call it patiently, Wren calls it impatiently) waited to get to 10 centimeters. The time finally came and at about 8am I began pushing. It hurt so bad! Payback for such a wonderful, smooth, easy pregnancy... that I am sure of.

I pushed for about 20 minutes.

Pushed. Painfully.

And pushed. Excruciatingly.

And pushed. Agonizingly.

Finally, her head appeared. A head full of dark, beautiful hair.

Next came her shoulders. Small and tiny, very petite.

Then, her body. Thin and slender, the perfect size.

And finally, out she came!

"It's a GIRL," Wren cried, "a beautiful baby girl!"

Right onto Mommy's chest she went for a couple minutes of family time with me and Wren. We held her. We cried with her. And we couldn't believe that this baby is ours. How lucky are we? Truly lucky. She is beautiful and is the perfect combination of Wren, myself, and her brothers and sisters. Her name is Gabriella Lynette. Gabriella is a name I have loved all my life, and now the name belongs to a perfect little love of mine. Her middle name, Lynette, is after Wren's childhood nanny, a woman he admires and adores. Gabriella came home the very next day to a house full of love, where she is loved and adored. We cannot imagine life without our little beauty and cannot wait to see what life has in store for our amazing daughter.

Mommy and Daddy love you, Gabriella!

How Wren and I Named Our Kids

Wow, long time no blog. Things have been very busy because, you know, I just had a baby. But i've really missed blogging and I am going to try and get back into the swing of posting a couple times a week.

One of the things I have always loved about having so many children is naming them. Of course there is so much more I love about having a large family- all the laughs and smiles and hugs- but naming my children has always been special and memorable and heartfelt for me.

With all of our biological children, Wren and I found out their genders before they were born. I am such a planner and have such OCD that I must know for planning purposes. You know, nurseries, outfits, names, etc. But it has been much easier finding out their genders than naming them. I am so glad Mother Nature (is it her? Not sure.) gives Wren and I nine months to pick a name, because if we had less than nine months we wouldn't be able to decide. With some of our pregnancies, naming our children was easy, but with others it was very hard and long. Regardless it was worth the wait!

Naming our adopted children was a little different. Of course the process wasn't the same as being pregnant. I didn't carry Kenyan, Amari, Ira, and Arlet for nine months and I knew in advance whether they were girls or boys. Both of our adoptions (Amari and Kenyan were one & Ira and Arlet were another), were very different and required a different amount of preparation. For example, with the boys we only had three months to prepare, but with the girls we  had a year-and-a-half. This means that we had that long to choose their names... or change them if we wanted. Confused? Well, Kenyan, Amari, Ira, and Arlet already had names when we adopted them, but Wren and I were given the opportunity to change them. This is something we really struggled with. Should we give them American names OR should we keep the names that represent where they came from? Eventually we chose the second option and decided to change their middle names to American names. Our biological children have names that honor a family member and represent their history, so we wanted the same for our adopted children; and in this case, this means that honoring their Ethiopian heritage. I am so glad we did this, and whenever I say "Amari" or "Kenyan" or "Ira" or "Arlet" I always think about how special it is that my children have unique names and how much of a privilege it is, through the miracle of adoption, that my four little Ethiopians are magically mine.

Maya is named after her great-grandmother (Wren's grandma) who passed away a year before she was born. Maya was her her first great-grandchild, who she unfortunately never got to meet, so Wren and I felt like this would be the perfect way to honor her great grandmother. Now Maya will always have a piece of her great-grandmother with her, who was a wonderful woman, one that Wren and I hope Maya can grow up to be like- caring, powerful, responsible, and so much more. Her middle name is Caroline, after my mother, whom I also wanted to honor. Now and always, Maya will have a piece of two amazing women in her heart who are inspirational and role models. This is the perfect name for my Maya Caroline!

Kenyan and Amari's biological mother was from Kenya, so that is how Kenyan got his first name. It fits Kenyan perfectly and I am happy he will always have a piece of his biological mother and her history in his heart. Kenyan's middle name is Samuel, after Wren's father. When we told him we were going to adopt a baby (at the time we didn't know we'd be adopting twins), Wren's father suspected that the baby would be a boy. And he was right! Samuel is such a noble, wise man and Kenyan is just like him: very observant, cautious yet adventurous, and a leader. Such a perfect name for my boy. Add the first and middle name together and you get Kenyan Samuel!

When Wren and I found out that our second son's name would be Amari, we instantly fell in love with it. Amari is such a handsome name, and we knew it would fit a handsome little man. He was named by one of his orphanage caretakers who felt the name would suit him, and that it has. Amari means "brave" and this is one of the best words to describe him. Amari lived a very scary life in Ethiopia, one that gave him PTSD when he came home to us in the United States. And not only did he have to be brave in Ethiopia, but he had to be brave when he came home to a new world in the United States surrounded by new people. But Amari has adjusted well and he is now a thriving, strong little man. His middle name is Thomas, after my father. My father has five daughters and always wished for a son, so when he found out that we were adopting two boys he was SO excited. My father has always cherished having two grandsons and he loves my boys so much. He and Amari have always had a special relationship, and I can tell every day that Amari is truly a mini Thomas, just like his grandpa. What a perfect name: Amari Thomas!

When I found out I was pregnant with my second daughter I was absolutely thrilled. There is nothing like being the mother to a little girl; my girls and I just have such a special relationship! Anyways, Gianna was the easiest baby to name! The day Wren and I found out we would be adding a girl to our family, we went out to lunch and started discussing baby names. Ella- no. Ariel- no. Gianna- yes! We walked into the restaurant with no name for our baby and walked out with the perfect name. Next up was choosing her middle name. This was also very easy, especially because we knew we'd be continuing on with the family names. Wren and I chose Katherine after Wren's mother, who we felt would be just like her grandmother. When I was pregnant, Gianna was a very calm baby: she never kicked, I didn't have any cravings or morning sickness, and her birth was so easy. Just like my pregnancy, Wren's mother is kind, calm, and peaceful... and we felt like this would the perfect middle name for our baby girl. Five years later this name is still perfect for my Gianna Katherine!

My third daughter and fifth child's name is Ira. When I first met my daughter in an orphanage in Ethiopia, I had never seen a picture of her and was eager to put a face to the name. All I knew was that her name was Ira. But when I walked into the orphanage and was surrounded by tons of little girls, I knew, just knew, that the little girl with the gorgeous green eyes sitting in the corner was my girl. And I was right! I walked up to her and said "Hi, i'm your Mommy" and she looked up at me and said "I Ira." Ira, what a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Her name means watchful, and this is perfect for her and fits who she is: a very watchful little girl with very watchful, observant, big eyes. Ira's middle name is Alexandria, after my grandmother. Grandma Ira loved children so much and passed away right before we adopted the girls. She was the first one to tell me "I think you should adopt again" and soon after Wren and I made the decision to do just that. A year-and-a-half later, my beautiful daughter became mine. I love my Ira Alexandria so much!

Elaina was another easy baby to name. Just two years before I became pregnant with Elaina, my aunt passed away in a car accident. I was absolutely devestated and wasn't sure if i'd ever be the same again. My Aunt Elaina was one of my favorite people ever; we were so close and had a very special relationship. Before we found out if we were having a boy or a girl, Wren and I decided to name the baby Elliot for a boy and Elaina for a girl, both in honor and memory of my amazing aunt. Well, at 20 weeks gestation, when I found out I was pregnant with a girl, I began crying at the thought of having a daughter to name after my aunt. This name fits my daughter perfectly, and not a day goes by where I don't think about how Elaina is the spitting image of her auntie. What an honorable privilege! Elaina's middle name is Rose, which is the name my Aunt Elaina, the mother of four sons, had always loved. Such a special name for my special girl, Elaina Rose!

One night I had a dream that I had just given birth to a baby girl named Scarlett. It was a very imactful dream and stuck with me for the next couple months. During the couple months that passed, Wren and I were approved to adopt Ira and another baby girl, who we later found out was named Arlet. When I learned of this, I was shocked. Arlet is the same name as Scarlet, just without the first two letters. Looking back, I realize my dream was a sign that another baby (or two!) would be joining our family within the next year. How amazing! Her name is a type of spice and this is the perfect name for Arlet: a little spice! Arlet is adventurous, sassy, and has a little attitude... she sure is one spicy little girl. Arlet's middle name is Olivia, after the social worker who has helped my family with both of our adoptions. Thanks to her, four beautiful, special, amazing children have joined our family. How lucky are me and my family?! I cannot get enough of my daughter, Arlet Olivia!

As I have mentioned on this blog, my very last pregnancy was the toughest for deciding on a name. Wren and I found out at twenty weeks that we'd be having a baby girl, and dove immediately into choosing a name for her. Little did we know we'd have a very difficult time naming her... as in nine months! We just couldn't agree and probably threw out every single name in the world before we decided on Gabriella. I have always loved the name Gabriella, and all nicknames that come along with it: Gabi, Briella, Brie, etc. When I was pregnant with Maya, Gianna, and Elaina, I asked Wren if we could name the baby Gabriella, but every time he said no. Finally, with this last pregnancy I said, "you know, what if this is our last pregnancy? I love the name Gabriella and would be very sad if after four pregnancies, I didn't get to walk out of the hospital with a newborn named Gabriella... especially after a painful, long labor. Please honey, can we name the baby Gabriella?" and he said yes! But this was after nine months of struggling to figure out a name, so I suspect Wren was just sick and tired of trying to decide on a name. Her middle name is Lynett, after my husband's childhood nanny; who my husband just admires and adores. This baby was born eleven days ago, and it has been eleven days of bliss and blessings with my little Gabriella Lynette!

Well, there you have it! A very long post about how Wren and I came to name our children. How's that for a first post after a blogging hiatus? I love how each of my children are named after special people in our lives. This makes my children even more special! I cannot imagine different names for my babies, and, every day when I say their names, I am reminded of how lucky and blessed I am to be the mother to these eight children.

To me, they are named Maya, Kenyan, Amari, Gianna, Ira, Elaina, Arlet, and Gabriella, but to them I am named Mommy. How special!

Please Welcome...

Gabriella Lynette Kingston

Thursday, March 7th, 2013

5:05am

7 pounds 4 ounces

20 inches long

Beautiful

Healthy

Loved

Perfect

A Peak Into My Day Today...

Today was a bad day. One that I just need to write down. It was stressful and long, tiring and hectic, and just... bad.

"Mom... Mom, wake up," is what I woke up to my 7-year-old whispering to me at 6:30am this morning. I knew whatever Maya needed was important because she is NOT a morning person and never wakes herself up in the mornings. When I finally rolled my 39 week pregnant self out of bed, Maya informed me that she absolutely needed homemade chocolate chip cookies baked to bring to school... today... for 30 children. I told her there was no way I could make that happen for many reasons: 1) the notice was just too short, 2) it was not possible for me to lug my very pregnant belly to the grocery store with 7 kids at 7am to buy cookie ingredients, and 3) there was not enough time for me to bake chocolate chip cookies for 30 kids within an hour. She began crying, but I told her I was sorry and she'd have to wait for another day, but she was convinced she needed to have chocolate chip cookies made for her class. Ten minutes later, Maya came into my bedroom and said she called her aunt and convinced her to watch the kids while I ran to the store to get ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. A couple minutes later my sister was at the house and, yep, an hour later I was home baking chocolate chip cookies. Oh, the joys of having a very independent, quite bossy child!

The flu has definitely been going around our town, and bad, so I have been quite the nurse lately and working to prevent any viruses from entering our house. Basically, i've been making everyone washes their hands every a million times a day and we've been socializing very little with other people. Well, today after breakfast Amari said he wasn't feeling well. He looked a little pale and said he was tired, so I put him down for a nap. A couple minutes later, BOOM, he had thrown up all his breakfast... and probably all of his dinner from the night before. He continued throwing up and has been throughout the day. And to make matters worse, Gianna's sick now also. The two of them are my hospital patients right now, camping out in the living room together with jello and Spongebob, having very little contact with the other kids because I do not want them getting sick. Hopefully tomorrow will be better and I do not have another sick child on my hands.

Today the little girls (Ira, Arlet, and Elaina) were supposed to be napping in their bedroom. All was well until I heard giggles coming from upstairs. I ignored them for a few minutes because this isn't the first time the girls were giggling and playing together when they were supposed to be napping, but I finally went upstairs after a couple minutes. When I walked into their bedroom I was in absolute shock. The girls decided it would be fun to play "painters" but they couldn't find any art supplies in their bedroom so they decided to use the PETROLEUM JELLY found on the nightstand. There was petroleum jelly everywhere. On the walls. On the bedroom furniture. On the girls. The girls looked up at me and stared at me in surprise, as if they knew they had just been caught doing something sneaky. To try and make me feel better, Ira even said "but Mommy, we were just making you a masterpiece!" I did get upset, but reminded myself that these things happen and I shouldn't have left the petroleum jelly in the reach of my little ones. I quickly got them in the bath and then spent two hours getting the jelly off of every spot in their bedroom. I guess Wren and I saw this coming when we decided to stick the three of them in a bedroom together. My sisters and I always got into the most trouble together!

Today, when all the kids were playing quietly and I was finally having a moment of peace and relaxation, the fire alarms went off throughout the house. I stayed calm panicked and quickly tried to get all my kids outside. I didn't see or smell any smoke, and I wasn't cooking at the moment, but i'm a very cautious person and wanted to keep my kids safe. The fire department showed up and went inside, but they came out a couple minutes later and reported that the reason the smoke detectors went off was because they were dusty. Odd! We went back inside, I called my sister, and said, "I've just had a terrible day. I need some help... and some quiet. Do you think you could come over?" And my amazing sister came over and took the kids to her house for a couple minutes while I took a nap. In absolute silence. It was blissful. I think Wren was surprised when he came home to a quiet house and me passed out on the couch. "Um, honey, where are the children?" he said. Haha!

My stressful day is definitely impacting my impending labor! Labor is near, I can tell, but has not yet come. I am having painful braxton hick contractions, but no "official" signs of labor. I am getting a bit tired of being pregnant, but it is definitely worth it and I cannot wait to meet my baby girl!

Today was just a bad day. And everybody has them. But at the end of the day, I am reminded that the bad days are small and insignificant compared to the joys and blessings I have in my life.

My kids are happy and healthy.

My marriage is strong.

My family is fortunate to not be so affected by the bad economy.

A new baby is joining our family any day now.

My family has a roof over our heads and food on the table.

We are living a beautiful life.

And the bad days are so, so worth it.