Part 2 of the new Quigley's Quest!

     You now know that we are a family of 5. 

    We are still getting adjusted to having a newborn in the house. Gemma is definitely a lot different than Emily and Allison at this age. 

    Onto the news you're looking for, I'm sure! 

  After some discussion, praying, and calculating finances, we've made a decision. I am going to stay at home with all of the girls, starting...now! Yup, I will be a Stay at Home mom to 3 amazing little girls. I get to spend my working days with Emily, Allison, and Gemma! 

   When looking financially at day care or a nanny, the cost is at or above my total take-home pay. Day care for the twins (at 18 months old) would be $300 a week, then with a newborn is an additional $180-200; totaling $480-500 dollars a week. Outrageous! See, my entire paycheck in a month.

    Besides the cost, then we would have our children with someone else for 8 hours a day. I get it, some families have to do that. We just don't want to do it. We don't want to come home at 4:00 (5:30 for Brian), have to rush around to make dinner, bathe the girls, and put them down at 7:30; only getting 3 hours of time (and it's not even solid connection time, but broken up with nightly routine) with the girls. We want to be the primary source of education for the girls. I'll be able to teach, discipline, and play with my girls the way Brian and I want to. 

  It will be an adjustment financially. We are dropping to one income, losing roughly $40,000 a year. Thankfully, we just paid off our car with our tax return. We are practically debt free, minus the house and our newly-added medical bills. It can work.

   The only thing that would benefit me going to work would be health insurance. However, when you add in work stress and the time with the girls that we would lose from me working, it's not worth it. We will just look for private insurance (since we have to have insurance now) for the girls and me. 

   I'm looking forward to this new change! Being a stay at home mom is something I always wanted to become. If you know me, I have always felt that my first love is my family. Growing up I said that God created me to have a family and to be a mother. This is my true job. 

    These first few months with stay at home, we will pretty much do that, stay at home. Like I said before, I'm still adjusting and managing three little ones. So I'm doing anything that requires little packing, traveling, and freedom (for Emily and Allison). 

   I'm going to start getting involved in the MOPS group at Discovery and scheduling play dates with friends with kiddos. We are getting a small kid pool to keep us entertained during the summer months (as Emily and Allison love water). 

  I think as the girls get older and can be trusted more independently, it will be easier. That just makes sense. When I can say let's walk and the girls aren't running out into the road or trying to run away from me, of course it will be easier. They are almost there, so soon we should be able to venture out anywhere we'd like! 

   I told my principal my decision last week. I told her a lot sooner than I wanted to, but OCPS and CTA contract states if you're on medical leave you have to give your intent to return by March 15th. I was trying to contact her earlier in the week (to make sure if I went there she would be there), so she got a little confused as to why I was calling. I gave her a little heads up and then scheduled a meeting with her. It wasn't a complete blindside. She thought I'd prefer part-time, but after discussing that with her, even part-time wouldn't work. We would still have to pay for care for the girls. Of course, one or two teachers found out and now the rumors and all are storming the campus (but that's for a different time).

   Well, now you have it. The Quigley's new quest is maintaining our family with our adjusting circumstances. Continuing to trust that God will provide in any and all areas. God has walked with us in this journey of life already and we know He will continue!  <3 

A New Quest for the Quigley's...part 1

It has been a long time since December 2012. So long, I don't even know where to begin without overwhelming all of you readers!

I'll take you on a journey through the various seasons of our life! *Side note: While determining the timeline of events, I had a hard time with the year! Where did 2013 go?

January 2013 - June 2013

    I re-entered the work force after a 3 1/2 month maternity leave, thankfully my brother, Kenny, was able to watch the girls. The girls loved going to Uncle Kenny & Aunt Rebecca's house daily. It was a blessing having them love and care for our girls.
 
    My first month back to work was a whirlwind! I jumped right into data meetings, reviewing data, making game plans for FCAT, and working hard. Everything continued seamlessly when I returned.

    It was an adjustment making myself sit down and eat for a half hour lunch so that I could pump. However, I was able to successfully be a working mother and pump enough breast milk for my twin girls. The girls continued breast milk until April, when I got the flu and it dried up my entire supply.

     In May 2013, I had horrible cramping at work one day. I even remember telling a co-worker that if I seriously thought I could get pregnant, I would be having implantation cramping. But I brushed off my cramps as "Maybe I'm actually starting my period!"

    *Flashback - If you have read my blog, you know that we struggle with infertility. Since going off birth control in 2012, I never re-started my monthly cycle. We tried to conceive a child for 8 months prior to discussing fertility treatment. On our own,  we tried ovulation prediction kits, charting my basil body temperatures, different diets, foods, etc., everything you could think of. Then we spent 2 months using fertility treatment through Fertility C.A.R.E. and ended up with a successful twin pregnancy! So when I had cramping in May 2013, I thought this was my period coming back and my body regulating itself!

   Moving on to June 2013. Now, I'll be modest. After having my twins I lost a lot of weight, nearing the 70 pounds mark. I was wearing clothes I had not fit into since college. I bought new clothes to fit my new body (in sizes from college!). It was wonderful. I had worn several pairs of shorts in this spring and summer season that were looser fitting. One afternoon, one pair of shorts felt significantly tighter. "Weird, I know it's summer but I haven't been eating more than normal" I thought to myself. I told Brian I felt like I was gaining weight and as the comforting husband that he is, he said, "No you aren't, you look beautiful."

    I was bloated. Another interesting thing that happened, my palms were chapped and peeling. This was also a symptom I had when first pregnant with the girls. Strange symptom, I know. I drove Brian's car one morning while helping out with U-Games at Discovery. I needed to do this because I was leaving early and he was watching the girls. While driving, I noticed my hands were peeling. I assumed as this time that my hands were peeling because his steering wheel was sticky and gross. Again, I brushed this off when I arrived home that night and chalked it up to a disgusting steering wheel.

     Then, one day in mid-June, I began to feel sick. I told Brian that this was so abnormal for me to feel this sick and went straight to the bathroom. I told him I had to be pregnant. He laughed and said, "Yeah right, you haven't had a cycle since before we got pregnant with the girls. You aren't even ovulating!"

   That afternoon I had to run to the park to reserve the pavilion for the girls' one year birthday party. So I left the house and on the way home we agreed I would pick up a pregnancy test.

   When I got home, I took the test. I didn't even wait for "first morning urine." I figured there's 2 tests in there, if this was negative I could use one tomorrow morning. Brian was cooking dinner, I was taking the test.

   Not even 2 minutes later, I spoke. "Brian, I'm pregnant."

    He didn't believe me because of the way I said it. If you ask him now he would say I said it so nonchalantly and matter of factly that there was no way that I was pregnant. I showed him the test itself and said, "Yes, I am pregnant."

    I remembered we prayed right after, we rejoiced, we freaked out, we contemplated finances, and probably did more worrying then we should have. I mean, it was summer, I had at least 3 glasses of wine that week! AND, the kicker, we just purchased a box of Lakeridge wine! That's 12 bottles of wine just sitting in the closet for 9 months because of this new bundle!

     I don't remember when, but I know sometime between that night and the next 2-3 days, I called Genny. I had to get it out. She was away, but I had to tell someone and just hear from my best friend that everything would be fine.

   We told family on Brian's birthday in July, told my boss in August...and then went on with daily life. It's kind of funny because some people at work didn't find out until November, they just assumed I was getting larger. Haha.

   We were blessed with Gemma Josephine on February 13, 2014. Not my ideal day (because of its proximity to Valentine's Day and my birthday), but I will live with it.

Here are maternity pictures taken in November.

 
Here is Gemma Josephine and her sisters!

Gemma born at 9:22, 8 pounds 5 ounces, 20 1/4 inches long. 

All of the girls on Valentine's Day! 

So part 1 of our new quest...adjusting to a family of 5, with 3 children under 2! 

Stay tuned for part 2 of our new quest!