A Much Better Monday!

Even though I still slept in until 9am...I'm really tired these days...we were able to start the day off on a good note! We got a little homeschooling done (math and handwriting, her favorites!), got the playroom and schoolroom cleaned up, and had a fun time playing house most of the day. We had a tea party lunch in the schoolroom (I was too scared to have the porcelain on the hard floor in the kitchen), and a great naptime for all! I was proud of myself because a friend wanted us to go to the zoo today, but I used my wiser judgment (those who know me well know how hard it is for me to say no to a fun outing!) and am glad we have had a restful day at home. Our activities for the week are already filling up, so we better enjoy these quiet days before the end-of-the-week visitors! Hope you've all had a great Monday too :)

Mommy-Daughter Date Night

I had planned for a few weeks to attend a ballet performance last night with the girls and some friends. But after the busy First Friday morning, the afternoon at the park, the lack of naps, the sick husband home from work, and most importantly, the RAIN (the performance was at an outdoor pavillion)...I was convinced that our evening plans would have to change.

Steven offered to watch Ellie while I took Mary Clare, but the rain was still falling at the time we planned to leave. I decided we would drive around, try to get Ellie to sleep, and see what happened with the weather. It was still sprinkling as I dropped the sleeping Ellie off with Steven and thought I would just take Mary Clare to the mall. But as I drove a little farther, I realized that the rain had stopped, and why not try the ballet? It had only started a few minutes before!

We drove around the parking garage for a long while, only finding spots for "small cars only". Finally a place opened up and we got our towel and bag and ran across the street. What a beautiful evening! The ballet was 3 different acts, all with a rather modern slant. I enjoyed the second one which was called "Hush" and the dancers appeared to be in a dream, one song being a version of "Hush Little Baby" and the last being a hoedown song. By the end, Mary Clare was dancing all around the grassy hill where we sat and I wish I could've video taped her precious moves! The third act was about a little boy encountering all sorts of animals at a museum. It was very entertaining!

We visited with some friends during the first intermission and I showed her the orchestra pit during the second one. By the end of the third act, she was nearly asleep on my leg, so we slipped out a little early and she fell asleep almost as soon as we hit the road for our quick five minute drive home. It made me so thankful to live in an area with so many opportunities and activities just minutes away! And so thankful to have a fun evening with my sweet little girl!

A Birthday for Peter? (edit: Steven Joseph!)

This morning (well yesterday, since it's after midnight...I took a 2 hr nap today!) I had my 28 week appointment. It went well, the staff loves the girls and got a big kick out of Mary Clare today because she had her baby doll in her child-sized sling! I got to ask some important questions, one of which was about the date of his arrival. We are going to try for December 20th! It's my mom's birthday, thankfully she's excited about sharing it, and it will allow for Steven to take a couple days off work combined with the Monday and Tuesday he'll have off for Christmas.

Edited to add that I guess I haven't mentioned much on my blog about my deliveries. Both the girls were overdue and I labored for ~38 hours and ~22 hours, including ~3 hours of pushing for Ellie. BUT both of them ended up being cesarean deliveries for a myriad of reasons. Maybe one day I'll write out the birth stories, but for now it's still very emotional for me to relive. Peter's delivery will be a scheduled c-section, unless he puts me into labor beforehand (and then I'd have the c-section at that point). For the most part, I'm very at-peace with it all...I can't believe the relief I have compared to the pregnancy with Ellie and all the unknowns! God knows what I can handle...and I don't think it's another trial of labor ;-/
I'm a little bummed about delivering so close to Christmas without much time to recover. Hopefully there won't be complications and I'll be home before Christmas Eve! But we want to be sure he is full-term and since the dating on my first ultrasound was a little off, we're going to try to wait until he's a full 39 weeks. That is, if he doesn't put me into labor before then. Unlike my pregnancies with the girls, I'm having lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions this time, which are making me think that he may be more likely to arrive a little early. We'll see what happens!

We also plan to have him baptized at around a week old (the girls were both 7 days), so hopefully we can at least get some family over for that! Still trying to figure out the details for the baptism though, since it's a very difficult time for priests with holiday schedules. Hopefully it will all fall into place!

I'll have to start Christmas shopping soon and am really looking forward to decorating a nursery. We have never had a nursery before since we were in small apartments and have always co-slept. But I think it might be nice to have a crib and a dresser at least...for all those clothes I've been given that have no place to be stored at the moment!

So no more than 11 weeks to go...it seems so soon when I look at it that way...now that we are in OCTOBER! We are looking forward to our 2nd First Friday class tomorrow and a weekend full of family fun including a ballet, a birthday, and a picnic! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend too :)

CONGRATULATIONS

To my brother Brice and sister-in-law Allison who just found out that their baby due in February is a little GIRL! We love little girls in this family and I'm sure Mary Clare and Ellie will be glad to have a baby girl cousin to love on...since their other baby cousins and baby brother are boys! Please say a little prayer for Brice and Allison...he just returned from a Naval trip and will be going out early next year, hopefully after little Addison arrives!

We've had a busy week getting ready for our 2nd First Friday class (talking about St. Therese and sacrifice), plus several other meetings, house guests, and other outings going on. Nighttimes have been a little interesting...we've been playing "musical beds" all night long! Hopefully the girls will get used to their new room soon...and I'm about ready to start fixing up their brother's room next-door!

More later...back to First Friday nametags for now. Have a great night, everyone!

Around the House

We finally did some bed-moving this weekend! We'd been hoping to find a trundle or something for the girls' room, but decided to go ahead and move the king mattress my parents gave us into their room. Last night was the first night the girls slept in their room together! They have usually been sleeping on the queen air mattress on the floor of the office, where Ellie rolls all around the floor. I think the king on the floor will be a good transition until we can find something else that will work. We didn't have any bed visitors until 4:30am, yay!

Their "new" room!


We moved the twin bed from the girls' room to the office. I don't quite have bedding that works, but I think we'll be painting this room an "officey" color (maybe tan or forest green) and putting up some of Steven's hunting prints.



Monday morning around here hasn't been the greatest. I slept in (always bad), and finally got up to make MC some toast with jelly. I dropped the glass jelly jar which shattered all over the kitchen floor! So it was time for "mopping". Hands and knees are getting a little hard with my growing belly, so here is my new method of floor-cleaning...flip flops with a wet rag under one foot and a dry one under the other! It worked out fairly well!


And here is what I have yet to do around the house...beware, they are pretty scary! But I need to hold myself accountable since I'm having a homeschool planning meeting here at 3pm! Lots to do!

Here is Peter's room which has become the 2nd playroom for the girls...yikes!


And the playroom...



As far as homeschooling goes...we're going rather slowly. Mary Clare likes to be in control of what's going on and right now I just don't want to make it a battle. There's no rhyme or reason to when we have school and what we do, but hopefully we'll get into a better groove in the coming months (yeah, as a new baby arrives, who am I kidding?). I'm not stressing over it though, she catches on quickly and I know once she decides she wants to do some of the phonics and reading activities she'll get more excited about it all. Right now she's testing me...and I don't have the energy to fight. So their activity of choice these days is dolls...which is why the playroom and nursery look the way they do! But they're playing well together so I can't complain :)

Hope everyone is having a more successful Monday than me ;)

Family Birthdays

It really is a blessing to live in the same city as both our parents and 4 of Steven's siblings. It makes for fun holidays and great birthday celebrations! Today we celebrated the birthdays of 3 of the 10 cousins who live in town. It was at one of those indoor inflatable party places and the kids had a blast!

Mary Clare got right down to business! We would see just her pigtails whiz by...


Ellie on the other hand was very apprehensive and wouldn't get in the moonwalk until I sat in there with her. It's a little nauseating though to sit in one of those things with kids jumping all around you and being pregnant! Finally after a few minutes she started venturing in there alone.


Ellie is our cleanly girl...she doesn't like her hands or feet to be dirty and wouldn't touch the cupcake. She would only lean over and lick it!


Mary Clare actually using a fork. She has been wanting to eat with her hands a lot these days so I was really proud that she found herself a fork for the cupcake!


Happy Birthday to Emily, Andrew, and Caleb!!! We are so thankful to be a part of your family :)

A Wonderful Holy Hour

Eucharistic Holy Hours (where Catholics pray adoring the consecrated communion host displayed on the altar) used to mean an hour of stillness and silence where I could look at Christ hidden in the bread and have a nice conversation with him, meditating on the Gospels, reading inspirational books, praying the Rosary, offering my intentions, and just listening to My Lord. These times of prayer have been few and far between since the arrival of our precious daughters. A quiet chapel with a toddler and preschooler don't seem to mix well together, and a husband with a very difficult work schedule makes it virtually impossible for us to make visits to an Adoration chapel alone.

But this morning, my Regnum Christi team was inspired to attempt this endeavor with our children. "A Holy Hour with children?", you say. How would that work? Well, to be honest this was one of the commitments which the teams in my area had never attempted with our children, as far as I know. We assumed that the Adoration Chapels at many of the area parishes would not be suitable for young children, so we all tried to make Holy Hours on our own, rather than a monthly Team Holy Hour.

But someone got the idea last week that we should attempt to have our Team Holy Hour at one of the parishes which doesn't have Adoration, but has a Eucharistic Chapel (where the Blessed Sacrament is in the Tabernacle) that is rarely visited during the day. I was optimistic as we set out this morning, though discouraged that we didn't awaken early enough to attend morning Mass or our planned library visit beforehand. I wasn't sure just how the girls would last in this first activity of the day.

We entered the quiet chapel where two of my friends sat with their babies. My girls were actually the only ones there over 9 months of age (there were 4 babies), but they did amazingly well. They brought their own baby dolls and baby doll gear and spent the hour walking around the chapel and cooing at the different babies. Mary Clare put her own doll in her child-size sling at one point and sat listening to a reflection with a very grown-up look on her face. It was priceless! And they had a visit to Chick-fil-A to look forward to afterwards where all my wonderful teammates shared a joyous lunch!

I can't say it was the same as a Holy Hour with silence and deep dialogue with Christ, but I can say it was a beautiful gift to be able to sit in that chapel with all God's little children and have a reflection, Rosary, and Litany together. I can't wait for next month's Holy Hour! And I encourage all the moms out there to not lose hope...prayer may not be what it was five years ago, but it's even more beautiful when we are able to reflect on the gift of the precious little souls God has graced us with. A true blessing.

(And a side note that we are also trying to coordinate a specifically Children's Holy Hour at our parish once a month, which would include children's songs, stories, Rosary decade, etc. Please pray that it might work out if it be God's will! Here is some more information about Eucharistic Adoration for Children)

Some Reminders to Self:

~If you set an alarm to wake up before the children, you must not turn it off and fall back asleep every day. This defeats the point of the alarm clock.

~Let children fall asleep for naptime, then take your own nap. Otherwise said children might just not fall asleep and you could find them rummaging in the refrigerator while you wake up watching Barney.

~Do not take young children to the library at naptime. Toddler will have several crying fits and children just might press the handicapped door button and escape out the front door while you are checking out.

(I'm sure I'll remember more later today...)

Pictures

Since I don't have much else to say...

Growing belly...27weeks!


Mary Clare wanted to show NeNe her new skirt :)


We picnicked at the park today


Her baby had to have lunch too!


Ellie rode her tricycle all the way there!


It was hot getting there and back, but felt somewhat breezy in the shade at the park. Mary Clare had her first big fall off her bike when she refused to put her helmet back on, so she's got some nice scratches on her face :-( Then she had dance class this afternoon...we searched high and low for her ballet shoes to no avail (St. Anthony?), so she had several nice slips and falls in her class! But she enjoyed the butterfly wings they got to put on! I forgot to put the roast in the crockpot so I better figure out something else for dinner...ah, the mommy life! What a day! I love it :)

Moonwalks

and birthday cake make for a fun Sunday evening!




We had our longest bikeride yet yesterday. I was worried that Mary Clare wouldn't make it back and one of us would have to go home for the car. But she persevered in our adventure to a park in a nearby neighborhood! Way to go, MC! I'm also glad we're getting some family exercise this week, with all the sweets I've been eating ;)

The alarm

worked in waking me on Wednesday, but today was another story. I had been up late and through the night with a feverish child, so the alarm was quickly turned off when it started to beep! The girls actually came in my bed just before 8am and we had a rather calm morning, even though I was readying the house for a group of ladies and kids who would arrive for our Regnum Christi meeting and potluck lunch!

But naptime is my friend. I love catching that middle of the day rest! We went to dinner (at Chili's who by the way will be donating all their proceeds next Monday to St. Jude's Children's Hospital) with my parents' who then accompanied us to Wal-Mart so we could all grab a few things. It is so nice going shopping with more adults than children! I even treated myself to some Double Stuff Halloween oreos with lovely orange filling! A great midnight snack ;-P

Speaking of Halloween, what shall we do? We had always planned to put all the focus on All Saints' Day. But last year Mary Clare found out what trick or treating was and has been mentioning Halloween all throughout the year. I've also learned that our neighborhood has some special festivities. So we'll see what happens. What do you all do?

And I'll end with a sweet picture of the girls and my parents from our Wal-Mart outing tonight. Gotta love the Dumbo 50 cent ride at Wal-Mart. It's the little things that make them so happy...


Oh, and our breakfast from yesterday...Mmmm, a German Puff Pancake with whipped topping and strawberries! Can you tell I have a sweet tooth this week? I also swiped some gummy worms at the store tonight. Must be sure I get a bikeride or some kind of exercise tomorrow!


Have a great weekend, everyone!

Tomorrow...

..should start off better than today, because I will be waking up to an ALARM! Something about alarm clocks and stay-home mommies just doesn't seem to mesh. But I guess alarm clocks and homeschool must coincide.

Today the girls rolled out of bed a few minutes before me. I stumbled into the kitchen to find Mary Clare with the fridge opened and ready to pour some orange soda into a cup. She quickly put it back and grabbed the water jug with an embarrassed look, but the morning just went downhill from there. I tried to make things better with a walk to the park but it didn't help much. I was even adventurous enough to trim their hair! But I was still lost in frustration most of the day with continual behavior issues...

Once it was time for ballet this afternoon, things improved and got even better when Daddy got home and we went on a family bike ride! We'll see if the alarm helps me to be in a better mood, and thereby the girls in a better mood ready for another day of fun tomorrow!

A Productive Morning

I knew going into this homeschooling thing that I was going to need to wake up earlier than the girls for it to work. I've read plenty of times on other blogs, especially Lillian's, about how important it is to get things rolling in the morning. And I actually DO get up REALLY early, around 5:45am, to make Steven's lunch and see him off to work. BUT then I get back in bed. Sometimes until 8:00 or later.

The first week of September I was hoping to "start school" but our books arrived late and we had a lot going on. Then last week we had our wonderful guests for a few days. So this week I knew I had to get moving early Monday morning to make it work. Thankfully my guardian angel woke me up around 7:30 and the girls slept in, leaving me time for prayer and breakfast prep so that we could start school right after breakfast.

So far Mary Clare is enjoying Handwriting Without Tears the most! She's doing great with writing her letters and numbers, and it's what she wants to do first thing (after prayers, pledge and a patriotic song). For now, I'm taking the idea of a good friend of mine and letting her choose 2 or 3 subjects each day, hoping things will even out as the months go by. Right now she usually chooses handwriting and math. So today at breakfast I read a bible story so we could get back on track with bible dictation. I also recited a poem myself and taught it to Ellie even though Mary Clare wasn't interested. Hopefully she'll find some fun in it soon! And hopefully she'll want to start back up with 100 Easy Lessons, so we can continue her reading progress. But for now, I'm glad that she's at least enjoying handwriting and math!

We were done by 9:15 and made it out to the library and errands and back for naps. I figure if we can have 3 mornings a week getting schoolwork done right after breakfast, we'll get into a good routine...we'll see! Next in line is getting myself out of my pajamas before school ;)

And since the weekend posts were all about bikeriding, here was our other fun activity of the weekend...the pool! Yes folks, we're in Texas where September weather is still in the 90s! Actually it's getting quite pleasant in the mornings and the pool was a little chilly for my liking, but the girls had a fun time!




And finally, a picture of the girls with Aunt Pam, Steven's oldest sister and one of the few who lives out of town but stopped by for a quick lunchtime visit on Sunday. Thanks for coming to see us, Pam!

She's got it!

Our biking girl...complete with helmet, knee pads, and tennis shoes for those who were worried about her :)


Biking home!

"The best day of my whole life"

Is how Mary Clare responded after succeeding at this...
She's almost got it!


Since that one doesn't quite capture her excitement and pride (and the love for her baby brother Peter), here's another...


Her other success today was figuring out how to write the number 5 (without it looking like an S or Z)! It was an afternoon of victories, after a totally fruitless morning with nothing much accomplished at all. We were finally able to get some homeschooling done and had lots of fun playing with puzzles and the train set. Mary Clare even dictated a very long story about the train. Maybe we'll post that later.

Here's how the girls spent the evening before bedtime, dancing! Mary Clare slept in her dance clothes!



And a last biking picture because she's just so sweet! Way to go, Mary Clare!

A visit in pictures

We had a great time with our friends the past two days. We are still getting used to a quiet house!

Upon arrival...the Aggie gang!


Our "Visitation"! Veronica due January, Blair due in December...the first time we've been pregnant together, and both with boys!


Who says boys can't play with dollhouses? Enriquito and Ellie:


Ellie and Gerardito playing with dollhouse stuff, although he does hold a toy knife in this pic! Ellie called him "that boy" for awhile and finally started calling him "Patito" instead of Palito (nickname from his brother for Gerardo Juan Pablo) the 2nd day. I told them I guess "little duck"(patito) might be better than "little stick"(palito)!


Getting a ride on Enrique:


Our homeschool supplies got lots of use!


A visit from Tia Marie and her little sweetheart:


Watercolors this morning. Notice Ellie painting her lips!


And a few books before they left...(Mary Clare said her favorite part of their visit was reading books together :)

We are really going to miss them over the coming months, especially as their little Fernando arrives. At least we get to see each other on the blogs and still get to talk on the phone thanks to their Vonage line!

It's really amazing how two families...with different backgrounds, children speaking different languages, different ages, different sexes, with different discipline techniques, and even different diets (we have a lot to learn on those last two items!)...with the one person, God, bringing us together...can be so close and seem to have so much in common! We are really blessed to share this friendship and hope it continues to grow over the years, the miles (or oceans) and the children. God bless you, G family! We love you all!

Where am I?

I sit and reflect. I am here with 2 snoring angels behind me, a husband sleeping soundly in the next room, and in the room on the other side, our dearest friends and their little boys rest before more travel tomorrow.

I am in a home that I am thankful for everyday, in a suburb that makes me feel safe and happy, and in the city that holds almost all our close family members.

I am down the street from the pool, a short walk to the park, an easy drive to the dance studio, and a skip to most any restaurant, store, or entertainment venue I care to visit.

I am a short drive to several Catholic churches, one of which has someone adoring Christ in the Blessed Sacrament at this very minute. I am blessed with a homeschooling community of kind women and joyful children.

I am surrounded by holy women and priests who guide me on my spiritual journey, who pray for me, offer me the Sacraments, and teach me what it means to love God.

I am in a free country, a country built on tears and sacrifice. I am oceans away from fighting soldiers. But I am only minutes away from the thousands who mourn the loss of a loved one in the 9/11 tragedies or in a recent battle overseas.

I am here with a roof over my head, clothes on my body, food in my stomach, family and friends in my home, a baby in my womb.

I am blessed.

Some other special somebodys are coming!

We are thrilled to have our dearest friends Veronica and Enrique along with Enriquito, Gerardito, and in-utero Fernandito staying at our house for the next few days! We haven't seen Veronica and the boys since early January and they have never seen our house (well, since it's been ours!). So we've been cleaning up and getting ready and will go pick up our world travelers this morning. We can't wait!

We had a lovely weekend, spending part of Saturday at a birthday party at one of our favorite restaurants, take a look at where the kids spent their time at this "Dump Truck Party".



And the weather was such that any playing in the backyard had to be finished out by a dip in the little pool yesterday! Daddy was happy to spend the afternoon with Uncle Thomas at a Texans game. Whoop for the Aggies and Texans this weekend...a great start to the football season!

Ellie making "soup"


Mary Clare on the little cycle...apparently she is very close to riding her 2-wheeled bicycle as of last night! Hopefully we'll have pictures or videos of that to come!


And hopefully you'll be seeing some pictures of some sweet little boys and some big-bellied mommies in the coming days :) Have a great week, everyone!

First Friday

Our First Friday class finally came! I've been mentioning it for awhile but maybe never explained what our homeschool group does. We meet at the local parish and have activities for all the different age groups...Jr High/High School, elementary (Little Flowers and Blue Knights), preschool pray and play (my group) and a nursery.

I had 15 children in the class today and lots of parent helpers. It went so smoothly! All the preparations paid off...after our chaotic times during the spring semester (I think I mentioned children climbing walls, running wild, trying to escape, etc) it was really refreshing to have a nice calm class! We talked about Jesus' love for children, did two different cross crafts, had guitar singing time, and did all the first-time things like making nametags and putting binders together.

Here are the girls:
Not sure about this smile?


Ellie was so proud to make a little foam cross craft, she finally agreed to have her picture taken!




Afterwards, the homeschool group had a birthday party for Our Lady at the park (Mary's Nativity is tomorrow). We made a rosary out of cupcakes, sang happy birthday, and then chowed down! It was SO hot though, we won't be back at the park in the afternoon for awhile! But it was a joyous day and we are so thankful for our wonderful Catholic homeschool group!

The girls admiring the cupcake rosary

Today's Mass

What a special morning for Northwoods Catholic school (where I used to teach)! Fr. Alvaro Corcuera, General Director of Regnum Christi and the Legion of Christ, made his first visit to the school, and is also here to form the first community of full-time Legionary priests and Brothers in Houston. Up until now, we shared our Legionary priests with other Texas cities (Austin, Dallas, San Antonio), so it is a true blessing to have these priests here to serve the laypeople full-time. They give spiritual direction to dozens, retreats to hundreds, advising all the different Regnum Christi programs (from schools, to youth groups, to missions) and help where needed around the archdiocese, providing the sacraments.

Here are a few pictures of Father greeting the people. The students lined the sidewalk and the entry to the school and chanted and clapped for Father as he entered. He shook hands with every student and almost every person he passed by (Mary Clare got a blessing). It was wonderful to see so many friends from the school and from Regnum Christi. It was a true gift to have this shepherd of tens of thousands of Catholics here as a representative from Rome, also sending greetings from our dear founder Fr. Maciel and sharing a story about our Holy Father Pope Benedict. It will be a treasured memory.

Signing a picture for one of my old students


Preparing for Mass, lots of priests!


Father looks up with a grin


Recessional after mass, also some of my students are altar servers now!


And greeting people as he exits


May his ministry be blessed. And may we, as the Gospel invited us today, and Father spoke about, put our nets out into the deep!