Changes

It's been a long, long time since I posted anything. My apologies - things have been bizarre around here.

Most of you know that Jason's father died on March 1. I haven't known what to say about it, so I haven't posted anything. It's been a huge adjustment, an enormous change in our lives. There's a hole in our family now. I have found myself trying to be upbeat and talkative when sadness comes around. Turns out I'm not too comfortable with emotion. Time doesn't heal, but it softens the edges a bit. We have developed new routines. We've been keeping Andie busy. We're all doing our best.

I've done my best to distract everyone by getting pregnant - again. This is the 7th time I've been pregnant. You all know I have just the one kid, so do the math. This time, though, I am under the care of a specialist who has me giving myself daily injections of a blood thinner right into my belly. I'm also on progesterone, high doses of folic acid, and baby aspirin. I'm about 6 weeks along. I've toyed with waiting until 12 weeks to report the news, but decided against it for a couple of reasons. One, with the conditions I have (Factor V Leiden and MTHFR) the risk for miscarriage does not reduce after the first trimester, like it does for most women. Awesome. So waiting until 12 weeks doesn't make much sense. Two, this is what we're going through right now - it's exciting and scary and painful and full of possibilities. It's life at a time we've been through so much death. I'm okay with tell you all if you're okay with the possibility that at any time within the next 34 weeks I could come back here and tell you it's all over. It's sad, but it's reality. And hopefully, under the care of my doctor, I won't be reporting any bad news at all!

Charlie has been the light for all of us the last couple of months. He's ginormously huge. Tall. I don't know how that happened, since his parents are not giants by any means. I still haven't cut his hair. He talks all the time, elaborate discussions that begin with "Sometimes....." or "One day....." or "One night....." His favorite book is "Oh, the Places You'll Go." He knows all of the words. He's interested in adding. He gets to walk the dog on the dirt path portion of our walk - he switches the leash from one hand to the other behind his back like a pro. He's been spending a lot of time with his Bubbe. He has lots of friends, both in our little neighborhood and in his playgroup. He gives us "O" kisses and says, "I love you TOO". We're always amazed by his happiness and excitement.

So that's the Ritchies right now. We're riding the roller coaster!