Peter had a hard time sitting up, as his head was too heavy. He also had a hard time standing and walking. He fell down a lot, always landing on his head, he was top-heavy. We got him a baby walker, and he zoomed all over the house; it really helped him to get around. Many years later, Peter picked up a small, rubber knife - when he went shopping with me. I didn't notice it, until we got back to the car. I went with him, and he had to return the knife and tell the store owner that he was sorry for taking it. Peter had a fascination for toy knives; but I don't think he ever took another one.

Peter also developed asthma, the three of them had it many times a year. (Rose, Mary and Peter). We got a humidifier at the time, they were only the hot-steam type. We had to keep it running day and night, through some of the worse bouts. They were put on medication for it, usually - and, quite often the doctor would come to the house to give them a shot of adrenalin, the asthma was so bad, they couldn't breathe.

Joey and Mike didn't have asthma. Joey developed migraine headaches, and we had to keep chocolate away from him - but, he really liked it and would find a way of getting it. One time, when he was much older, Joey stole a candy bar from a corner store, the storekeeper ran after him and caught him. We were glad he was caught, because it made him face the problem, he learned it wasn't acceptable behavior.

Mike was quite healthy. He was playing with a friend once and the friend was holding him upside down, by his ankles. The friend let go and Mike landed on his head. He got a slight concussion from it. The doctor said not to let him sleep and to keep checking him to be sure he wasn't unconscious. Mike had a really bad headache from it. He had a few nose bleeds while growing up. One nosebleed was really bad, he had a headache with it. I prayed for him and he got better right away.

We always believed in the power of prayer. We were regular church-goers; went every Sunday and all days of obligation. We went to confession regularly, also. Because of our strong Catholic belief, we were able to get through the hard times. And, because of our Catholic belief, we didn't practice birth control - although we did try to use the rhythm method (which went by using a thermometer and knowing when was the time to get pregnant). It didn't work very well; in later years, my gynecologist said that I must ovulate more than once a month.

Being Catholic, we always ate fish on Fridays (at the time it was something we had to do, it was a sin if we ate meat on Friday). I had a regular thing I did with the kids, every week. On Fridays, we always had rice, sardines and tea for lunch. They really enjoyed that "different" meal. We called it our Chinese meal. Chinese restaurants weren't very popular in Leominster. I don't think we had one, but there was a Chinese restaurant in Fitchburg. We didn't eat out hardly at all, maybe McDonald's about twice a month. We went to our first Chinese Restaurant with Tom and Dora Condon, and her twin sister Doris and husband Bennie - after we were married about 15 years.