March 2005 Archives

Christina, Jacob and Jackson, Me, Julia and Aaron, Mary Catherine, and Joe went to see "Robots" yesterday. I give it a thumbs up. It was cute. Christina and I will have to do research on some of the voices of characters we couldn't place. Robin Williams is always distinguishable and funny. The kids all liked it too.

I fried catfish and made garlic mashed potatoes and peas for supper and had all those people, plus Michael and Polina too. I should have gotten more catfish. We, not Joe and Polina, ate it all up. I bet we all could have eaten more. Well, at least I could have. Then Mary Catherine, the very clever and entertaining toddler watcher, orchestrated dance time for the little people. They are so cute. All of them.

My guess is that only Jackson heard anyone say " smile ". Jacob and Polina are still trying to make a deal.

Rather than list them in order of age, I decided to go alphabetical. Happy, happy, everyone. See some of you later today.

March 27, 1973. Five days past my due date.

I was fixing supper the night before, when I excused myself from the stove and visited the bathroom. There were some signs that we needed to head out for the hospital, although I remember trying to talk myself and Daddy out of it for some reason. I said maybe it's a false alarm. It's funny that it wouldn't have been totally evident to us, but although this was the seventh child, we never got the hang of this part of the process.

When I called the doctor, he told me to come in immediately and I said I will, right after I finish cooking supper. That's the first thing he said to me when I came in -- well, did you finish cooking supper? My doctor wasn't on call; I saw one of his partners for the first time.

Labor didn't start till around 4 a.m. and it was brief -- they were born at 65 and 6:15. I was put under right before the birth so I missed out on the surprise, but they woke me up while we were still in the delivery room so I could look at my two precious little girls. Since they weren't expecting twins, there was only one isolette. Christina was just plopped on top of Angela, and that was my first glimpse of them, both facing me, one atop the other.

Since I was going to sleep off the anesthetic for awhile, Daddy went home to make sure everyone had gotten off to school okay. He had called home with the news before they had to leave to catch the bus, and the neighbors still talk about the Ferrara children racing up and down the street at 6:30 in the morning, in and out of houses, to tell all their friends about the new babies. Sue was on a platoon schedule at her high school where classes started really early and she had to leave to catch the bus before the births. Daddy called the school secretary and asked her to get a message to Sue. For some reason, the news passed through the school like wildfire. During one class, the teacher said at the beginning, "Okay, let's have a hand for Mrs. Ferrara and her twins." I believe Sue will correct me on this if I'm wrong, but I think that's the gist of it. He was just tired of hearing about it.

When Daddy came back to the hospital at 10 a.m., he came blasting into the room and sort of shouted at me, "Ginnie, you know we have to name them!!" I was sound asleep, but I answered him nicely. "I know it, Sam."

And now, here they are. All grown up and then some.

Another image you can relate to below.

Taken last night.

Hello, I have been on the computer maybe twice since I got home, just reading my emails and this wonderful blog. I went to the doctors on Wednesday and found out that the cancer was just confined to my utterus. Now this is good news! The way they were talking I will NOT have to have chemo and have if any some radiation.
All I do is sleep, (lots of it) and watch tv. It hurts to do anything else.
Thanks for all the cards and prayers I really appreciate them Thanks again!!! I will keep you all posted. Love, Beth

St Joseph's Day is still celebrated in and around New Orleans but probably not as much as it was when I was a kid. If you've never seen a St Joseph's Day Altar, there are pictures of them in the link. They are loaded with goodies although I never acquired the taste for the Italian cookies.

Lift a glass of green beer or a shot of Irish whiskey. Have some shepherd’s pie. We're all Irish but everyone is Irish today.

As some of you have already heard, Beth was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks ago. We were originally told it was Endometrial Cancer, but after the total hysterectomy today, it appears that it is Uterine Cancer. Mom and I were with her today and had a talk with her Oncologist. Her Oncologist said she would indeed have radiation therapy and depending on the pathology reports, may also need chemotherapy. The pathology reports will not be in for about 3 days. She is expected to be in the hospital (University of Minnesota) until Friday or possibly Saturday.

She has had a rough couple of weeks taking all of this in, going through paperwork, etc., and I must say has taken it very well. I'll keep you updated.

This girl is going to someday tell her kids and grandkids how she got to school. No one will believe her.

In case you forgot what Samuel looks like, here are some more pictures of him. I hope I get the right pictures in this time. (In the extended entry).

We are doing fine. He’s a very sleepy baby, except from 11:30 pm- 3am. After that he sleeps until I wake him to nurse around 8 am. His apnea monitor continues to alarm, but we think some of them are false. It is nerve-wracking though. We are having fun with him. Joey is very proud that his first-ever outing was to Home Depot and then yesterday we took him to the LA Sportsman and Outdoors Show. There was a booth selling all camo baby clothes. Joey went a little crazy there. You might be seeing the outfit in his announcement if I ever get around to sending them out.

Everyone is invited to Samuel’s christening and we hope to see you all there.

Sunday, April 3, 2005
St. Edward the Confessor
1:30 PM (following 12 PM mass)

There will be a reception following at my house.

Stephen proposed to Kellie today! He made a 5 minute video tape of some of the favorite places, songs and pictures that have been meaningful to them over the past 2-1/2 years. One of the places is this huge rock at the top of a hill about an hour's drive from here where people write graffati. On their 1st anniversary, they went there for a picnic. They spray painted a red heart with their names and the date inside of it. He filmed that and then the tape cut to flashbacks about other important places, events, etc. At the end of the tape, he froze it on his new painting of the words "Marry me" written in white over the heart with their names in it.

He had gotten permission from Kellie's principal to show this at 20 today over the closed circuit system at her school so it was broadcast into everyone's classroom. Brianne arranged to do one of her required teacher observations in Kellie's classroom today so was able to record Kellie's reaction to the whole thing. After the tape was finished, in walked Stephen with a pink rose and the engagement ring. He got on his knee and proposed. The 1st grade kids were yelling and jumping up and down. Brianne said the whole thing went off just perfectly. Kellie is coming here tonight at around 8:30. I will get to watch the video then.

The wedding will be a small family wedding with a few of their friends on July 22, 2005. They will be married at Sacred Heart, the tiny church near the college in Milledgeville. Scott and I are absolutely thrilled with the prospect of gaining Kellie as our daughter-in-law. She has been a blessing to us and the rest of our family. We are all very happy!

I'm so happy to have sunlight in the morning as I go on my walk. It makes it so much more enjoyable! It must mean spring is surely on it's way, even if it was only 9 degrees. Last night we went to Nicole's school play "Our Town". It's kind of an abstract play but they did a great job. Nicole did well and remembered her lines. It was fun to see her up on stage. I give her (and anyone) credit for getting up on stage in front of a bunch of people. I don't know that that's something I'd like to do. Congrats to Janine on your recent play. Wish I was in town to see it. Ashley finally went back to school Monday after a week and a half at home with viral pneumonia. Poor thing was so drained, but now seems pretty much back to normal. Hopefully she won't over do it and have a relapse. Spring break is only a week and a half away--yahoo. No homework for a week! Carol

We laughed with great hilarity when Gretel, the mini dachshund I adopted last August, went after a squirrel and twice ended up in the crotch of our backyard tree. I was so sorry there was no camera handy because it really was a sight to see. But now we're paying for it. In a pretty spectacular way, I might add.

Although nobody can say exactly why her back is giving her problems, jumping is a reasonable assumption, and the tree jump is probably about three feet. After a couple of weeks of progresive pain, I took her to the doctor and he gave her a steroid shot and prescribed an antibiotic but no pain medicine. When I asked for some a few days later, I was told the shot and the drops should be enough. Sunday the pain was so bad that Christina took her to the emergency room. The doctor on call there gave her pain medicine and said she should be checked by a specialist, which I did yesterday. That doctor gave her a steroid pill and told me to get a kennel and put her in it for one month. Take her out only for brief visits to the backyard. I bought the kennel today and she has cried nonstop about it.

And get this: Liezel came in and saw her in there and went on the attack! She walked around and around it, barking and growling. The upside of that is that Gretel forgot her back pain and her crying jag and was bewildered and befuddled about this stranger trying to get at her. But she started growling back, ready to take her on. You want a piece of me?

As my daughter says once a day, Lord help me.

On a lighter note, our little boy is doing just fine. The sleep apnea alarm goes off from time to time, but it always seems to happen when someone is holding him and watching his behavior with great fascination and pleasure. Nobody has ever thought he wasn't breathing. Just false alarms, possibly. Angela is having a little trouble with carpal tunnel in her shoulder, but that might be easing somewhat.

Janine's play "Harvey" was a ten! The lead character was certainly a match for James Stewart. The characters did a wonderful job of copying the clothes, the shoes, the makeup, the hair styles, and the decor of the 40's. Janine did her hair up on one side with a roll and pinned it back on the other side, loose curls hanging down -- she was Ginger Rogers!!! Only prettier. Katie and Amy, Julia Manguno, Lois de Gruy (Christina's former mother-in-law) and I had front row seats and really enjoyed it.

That's my report.

Mom's brother, our Uncle Bob passed away on Thursday. I think he was also Beth's Godfather. I made a few phonecalls for Mom on Friday and said I'd post the obituary when I found it. The burial at Ft. Snelling National Cemetary will not be until May, I spoke with my cousin Kathy last night. I got the obituary online from the Fairfield, CA newspaper just prior to my newspaper showing up this morning; it's in the Mpls. paper today. Mom won't be able to go to California and is going to wait for the May services here.

Mom asked me to take some pics of her pride and joy. This was the only one that was halfway decent. I'm gonna try again this weekend.
Kevin

Katie had lots of help this week adding color to Mom's front walk.
Kevin

Joey and I would like to introduce you all to

Samuel Joseph Hunter

February 23, 2005
57 PM
6 lbs. 5 oz.
18 in.

More pictures in the extended entry (There are a total of 14)

Picture from Christina and Stephanie

Sorry, no pictures. I have that bad camera karma and my camera froze up both times I visited the people. Samuel, or little Samsam (I am sometimes calling him), was supposed to get the apnea test last night and potentially come home today. Angela was expecting to be kicked out of the hospital yesterday as beds were needed there for delivering mothers. Samuel has been under the billi-lights in NICU, bringing his jaundice under control before they administer the test. Worse case scenario, he comes home with a monitor for the apnea. Angela and Joey are very strong. Samuel is absolutely precious. I didn't get to hold him this time. He can only have one visitor at a time w/ a parent in NICU. He seems quite content so I am satisfied by that. His multi-colored hair is an adorable thing to behold. There are red and blonde tips mixed in with the brown. Soooo cute.