The Story of Reagan and Landon's Big Sister Amanda

I've been meaning to talk about my sweet baboo Amanda for a while now, just haven't had the chance until now.

Reagan and Landon are very lucky to have a big sister like Amanda.  All during the pregnancy she was always excited to hear the results of all the tests, going with us to some of the ultrasound appointments, and excitedly preparing to be a big sister (free babysitting for us!!!!!!)

As I said in the very first post, as soon as we found out we were going to the hospital to have babies, after calling Hillary's mom and my parents, I texted Amanda to have her call me as soon as she got up (it was 3:30am if you remember).  She called at about 6:30-ish and she knew right away that it was baby-thirty.  She really wanted to come to the hospital right away, but I told her that we weren't sure how long everything would take so she really should go to school.

(As an aside, the CDC issued guidelines to all hospitals nationwide that said people under 16 are not allowed in hospitals as visitors because of the risk of spreading H1N1.)

Back to the story.  I called Amanda and left her a message on her cell phone at about 10am and let her know that Reagan and Landon had been born and that she was finally a big sister.  She called me back between classes and was immediately begging to come to the hospital.  I really wanted her to be there to see Hillary and to see Reagan and Landon, but I didn't want her to be heartbroken if they wouldn't let her in the hospital.  After about a gazillion text messages from her begging to come to the hospital, I decided I was going to go and pick her up and take her out of school for the day.  I waited for everything to settle (well, as settled as we thought it was going to be in the beginning) and left the hospital to get her.

Because she is only 12, and will be 13 in a few weeks, we devised a plan (shhhh, don't tell the government).  When we got to the hospital, we would tell them that she was 15 and would be 16 in a few weeks.  We even preacticed it in the car on the way. 

Me (pretending to be a hospital security guard):  "How old are you?"
Her:  "15, but I'll be 16 in a few weeks."
Me:  "When were you born?"
Her:  "1994."
Me:  "What grade are you in?"
Her:  "10th grade at Buena High School."

She was nervous.  We got to the hospital, and there was no one at the entrance so we just walked straight back to Hillary's room.  So much for the planning.

One thing she was definetely not allowed to do was go into the NICU to see her brothers up close.  Whenever I went down to the NICU, she would go with me and wait in the scrub room and watch her brothers through the window.

She was such a trooper.  You can see by the second picture that she really wants to be in with her brothers.

Her Poppa took her to school and picked her up on Thursday and Friday, and she hung out with us at the hospital until she went back to their house in the evening.  She was so helpful too, helping Hillary with whatever she needed.

I know it has to be tough on her, with all the stuff going on with Reagan and Landon, I'm sure she feels a little bit left out.  She went from being an only child to having to share her time with two brothers who need quite a bit of attention right now.  I love her for her patience and her excitement about being a big sister.  Reagan and Landon are lucky to have her.

On Saturday, she had her first two games of the soccer all-star tournament.  I coach the team and because on Saturday things with Reagan and Landon were relatively calm, I was able to go to the games.  Our first game was against South Oxnard and we beat them 2-0, (two-nil for you soccer purists).  The girls played great, we pretty much dominated the game from start to finish.  Amanda played great as well, she is my right striker and really controlled that part of the field, drawing a double-team whenever the ball came near her.  She had two real nice scoring opportunities, putting one just over the cross-bar in the first half, and one just wide-right in the second half.  Julianne, my left striker scored both of our goals, one coming on a breakaway after a nice give-and-go from Amanda at the half line.

Our second game was against Ojai, and we lost 2-1 :-(

We scored early, and held our own through the first half, but we kinda broke down in the second half.  They tied the score about a minute or so into the second half, then really penetrated us well the rest of the game.  There was a bit of bogus-ness near the end of the game though.  Towards the end of the second half, ErinM, my keeper, made a great stop at the corner of the goal box, then next thing you know the ball trickles out and an Ojai player knocked it in. Erin was on the ground, the refs stopped play and called me onto the field. Erin was crying and said she had the ball in her hands, one of the Ojai players kicked her in the arm, the ball came loose and they scored. Ref allowed the goal, then while I was on the field tending to her injury the ref whistled for the end of the game. I asked him after how he could end the game while the game was stopped due to injury and he said he was told by the tournament organizers that there was to be no stoppage time and that the game ended when time ran out. Went back to the sideline, and the parents I had keeping track of the time for me said there was still about 6 minutes left on their watch. Bogus. But what can you do, the ref is always right even when he is wrong. The girls were upset, especially Erin, she just kept saying over and over that it shouldn't have been a goal. Hate to see it end that way.

I wasn't able to go the games on Sunday, I needed to be here at CHLA for Reagan, but my girls lost both games, 0-2 to Camarillo, and 0-4 to Santa Barbara.  I wish I was there for them.  I'm going to try to keep that team together for all-stars next year, hopefully we can do better then.  A big thanks to coach Diana and coach Richard for all their support during all-stars and for running the team when I couldn't be there.

Amanda is with her mom right now.  Actually, the last time I talked to her, she was at the mall with some friends (hope she doesn't spend a lot of money on me).  I'm glad she can get out and have some fun and not have to worry constantly about her brothers, though I'm sure they are never far from her thoughts and her heart.

She truly is a blessing, just like her brothers.  Her step-mom and I love her very very much, and I know her brothers will/do as well.  I am very lucky to have her.