I'm seeing the world for the first time...again!

I always knew I wanted to be a mother and have many children. I think the number was 20! That was before of course, that I became a teacher! Now the number is somewhere in the 2 or 3 range!

I always knew I wanted to be a mother, but I never knew that I needed Erin.

It took us 7 LONGGGG months to become pregnant with Erin. 7 long months, but it was worth every minute!

Erin was born Friday, January 19, 2007 at 2:19pm by c-section. She wasn't a typical newborn but after her very successful open heart surgery at a month old, she made up for lost time without missing a beat!

Erin is FULL of life. She is in LOVE with her Da-da! From the moment she wakes in the morning she is calling his name loud enough for the neighborhood to hear! She is wrapped around his finger...and he is wrapped around hers!

Erin has my eyes and hair, but the rest of her is all Greg! She can be very calm and mellow. She is able to entertain herself by looking at books and doing fine motor activites...but she also loves to run, play with balls, stand on chairs, hide in tents and laugh! She has the BEST laugh!

My mom told me the other day that she could hear my smile through the phone. I was coming in the door after a long day at work and Erin was at the top of the stairs to greet me! I couldn't tell you what my mom and I had been talking about up until that point because once you see Erin, the whole world stands still!

A day at the beach

On September 17, 2005 we were married at St. Cecilia's Church in Pawtucket.




Our wedding had a "beach" theme. We did all the planning and decorating ourselves, with a little (ok, a lot!) of help from my family!



It was a wonderful day and was definatly worth all the wait!




Love songs written by the Beatles played during dinner. My father and I danced to Paul Simon and I didn't throw my bouquet like all the girls who were lined up had anticipated. It was a magical day!




I wish I could do it all again!

Finally!

On January 17th 2004 Greg proposed to me. It only took 6 years but finally, his ducks were in a row...literally!




Greg had always had this thing for his "ducks" having to "be in a row" before we would get engaged. It drove me crazy.


No matter how hard I tried, there wasn't a thing I could do to convince him that there would never be a day where ALL his ducks would be in a row. Life just isn't that simple!




It was coming up on our 6 yr. anniversary and I had had it. We were already living together, we knew we wanted to get married...eventually. What was taking so long?! One night, I broke down and asked him what he was waiting for. There is never the perfect time for anything. If you wait around for that day to come, you would be waiting forever...and I was NOT going to wait forever.




I remember like it was yesterday. I told him that if we weren't engaged by our anniversary, I would leave him.


I knew I didn't mean a word of what I said but I guess HE didn't!




The day of our anniversary we went to my FAVORITE resturant, the Rainforest Cafe, and then we were going to stay overnight at a hotel. After we arrived to our room I went into the bathroom to get my bathing suit on so we could go in the jacuzzi tub. When I came out there were candles around the jacuzzi , and there were ducks floating in the water and sitting around the edge of the tub...they were all in a row!

Greg 1996

The first time I saw Greg was in gym class, 1996. He had on the UGLIEST pair of Orlando Magic white sweatpants. They had mulit-colored specks on them. They were hideous!




For some reason when I saw him, I thought to myself, "I need to go to this guys prom". I guess it never crossed my mind that I had a boyfriend already and he was dating this "girl" ( I use this term loosly because this "girl" is more like a "thing"...but anyways!)




We had a friend in common, so after class while he was talking to him (John) I kind of pretended to have to ask John about our Spanish homework. I was hoping that Greg would notice me, but after having asked him for the past 10 years, he doesn't recall our first encounter!!




After gym class that day, I didn't think about Greg Saraiva again...




It just so happened that on New Year's Day, 2 yrs. later we met again. Greg was still friends with John and John's girlfriend had been a long time friend of mine. We had just started hanging out again and I decided to spend New Year's Day with her.




What a small world!




The following day, Greg came to my birthday party and a day after that, we had our first date at the mall (wooo hooo!)