17.Raising the Kids

“Life was pretty simple. Raising the kids as toddlers was fun; we would go to playground and on walks and bike rides. I did not make them join organized activities while they were young. I enjoyed spending time with them. We would set up play groups with other stay at home moms and their kids. I never regretted staying at home with our kids; they always had their mom at home to talk to. I was fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom ever since we decided we wanted another child.” My Dad told me stories of when he used to get called into work in the middle of the night and work his job and then when he got home he would have to take care of me or my sister when we were babies crying in our cribs. My mom would wonder why he was so tired the next day, not even knowing that he was called into work for a few hours he night before. Many years were like this for my dad’s first few years at Fairport Electric. In 1996, I found out I was pregnant again. I suffered a miscarriage with that baby and then another miscarriage in 1997. In august 1999 we finally had our third child named Mackenzie Rose Travis. She was such special blessing for our family. We had suffered such hard ache over the years and finally got her. Her older sister and brother loved her and finally had our complete family of 5.” Living in three bedroom house with five people was very tight. In 2003, after a few years of putting my little sister and big sister in the same room my parents decided to put a big addition on our house. We extended our kitchen and added a bedroom on top of that. This created a lot of room for us to live in.