The Cries

I sit in the quiet darkness in the late night hours. These are my hours. My time to reflect. My time to read. My time to blog and read blogs. My time to snack. My time to be nothing to anyone else.

Until the cries.

They escalate from the bedroom. Whines, then cries, then "MA.....MA.....MA....." I assure him that I'm coming. Mama's coming, baby. Mama's here. We nestle in close together. I snuggle his sweet body. I smell his soft head. I kiss his chubby cheeks. Stroke his spiky, tousled hair. The crickets chirp. He nurses and all is well.

On a usual night he finally settles. Rolls over and goes back to sleep. But tonight it doesn't satisfy. Tonight he rolls and fusses and can't find his place. He rolls onto the mattress on the floor where his sleeping sisters lie. Their arms and legs are intermingled, leg on neck, face in foot...and there is no room for the baby. Back to mama, he whines and cries. Finally we walk around the house in the dark.

We walk and rock. I put on his favorite song, "Jellyman Kelly." And slowly he drifts back to sleep. We walk some more. And then I lay him back on that soft bed in the moonlight. And I look up at those hand painted doves on the wall. Ready to fly out the window.

Sometimes I wish I could be those doves, and fly far away from the troubles of this life. To fly and be free and sail with the wind. But not now. Now is the flight school. Now I am teaching the little birds to fly. They have a long while before they'll leave the nest. At this point they rarely leave my bed. My side. I feed them their worms and I help them spread their wings a little. But not much. Not yet.

I wonder if I'm keeping them too close. Day after day we are together. Morning, noon, and night they are my companions. And sometimes my little birds rustle my feathers. My little birds tweet so loudly. My little birdies beg for worms. My little birdies need their feathers cleaned. Mama bird is tired.

But not too tired. Not too tired to nurse through the night. Not too tired to chase during the day. Not too tired to teach. To guide. To love. Mama has a lot to give these little ones before they leave the nest. She needs them close now. She needs them to know that mama is here.

Mama will always be here. And one day, a long way off, I will watch the last little bird take flight. And I will want so bad to have those little baby birdies by my side. I'll want to hear those loud tweets. I'll want to feed those worms and clean those feathers.

But most of all, I'll want to hear those sweet cries for mama in the night. Those cries that give me purpose.

Those sweet cries give me life.

a future musician?

teaching "ken"

how to sing

with a mini-microphone

loves the guitar although here he's about to hurl it across the room


baseball player or singer? only time will tell.

Can you offer a prayer?

for little Hannah today?

She is Mary Clare's sweet little friend with kidney cancer. After a few months of chemo, she is having her big surgery to remove the tumor this morning. She'll be in the hospital about a week, and then she'll start radiation and more chemo treatments. Please keep Hannah and her family in prayer. Thank you so much!

Edit: Hannah is out of surgery and stable. The surgery was 8 hours and they only had to remove her kidney, praise God!

made me LOL

friend's son, age 8, in my car today:

"Your car's the kind of old car that sounds like a motorcycle. (I start laughing) No really. It goes dududududu...kind of like a speedboat or a motorcycle."

at the fountains again

loving the water on a hot afternoon

ellie fun

mary clare happy


leaping with friend in the background


mama enjoying herself in the grass, watching
an outing without a toddler to chase,

BATS!

Over the weekend we went to a special place to see the daily dusk departure of around 300,000 Mexican free-tailed bats who live under a bridge in town. It was pretty cool; thanks to brother-in-law who gave us the idea! Couldn't get any good photos because it was dark, but you can get the idea from this video, especially around second 26:



The girls did pretty well after I explained to Ellie that they weren't going to suck her blood!

(in)Courage

I've been perusing a new website called (in)Courage. It's a brand new website and community of bloggers for Christian women. They are having a little Linky party and giveaway and have asked bloggers to share about what ENCOURAGES them. So here goes...

Today I woke up to some fussy and crabby children. I decided to check my email and found that this morning was a neighborhood playdate at the park. We've enjoyed getting to meet our neighbors at these kinds of activities, but today I was hesitant for several reasons. One of my children was throwing a sobbing fit in the bedroom about the breakfast options, none of us were dressed, it is HOT in Texas right now, it is hard to chase the toddler around the park, and I wasn't really sure how many people would be there and if they'd still be there if we were late. There's usually a pretty low turnout for our neighborhood playgroups.

But as I was cooking breakfast I heard the doorbell ring and a few loud knocks. I found my neighbor and playgroup coordinator there at the door, ENCOURAGING me to join them at the park. Well, somehow that gave me the motivation to get everyone dressed and fed and on their bikes ready to head to the park! We arrived to find a host of children, there was actually a daycare group there, along with 4 neighbors, one who I'd never met before!

I get this giddy excitement about new members to any of my groups, whether it's playgroups, homeschool groups, or church groups, I just love having new members and meeting new friends. Today was no exception, and I was so excited to meet my neighbor L (who happens to live 2 houses down) and her sweet babygirl L.

To backtrack a little, I have been struggling over the past weeks, worrying about Steven Joseph's impending open heart surgery (for a hole in his heart, Atrial Septal Defect). There are lots of unknowns right now, really the necessity of surgery itself is still an unknown. He'll be reassessed around his 2nd birthday in December. But most likely, my sweet little babyboy is going to need to be handed over to a heart surgeon early next year, and I'm really not happy about it. It doesn't do any good to worry, but worry is my middle name, so of course it is always at the back of my mind when little SJ is sick or acting funny. I think I will forever be worried about the health of his heart.

Back to our park outing, I came right up to say hello to my neighbors and introduce myself to the one lady I didn't know. She was talking to another lady about how she used to be a teacher (as I was), while she was pushing her baby on the swing. With her huge smile and happy attitude, I knew we would hit it off, and we spent most of the playdate visiting.

After talking for a few minutes I also discovered that her sweet baby girl has Downs Syndrome and recently had open heart surgery to correct a severe heart defect. I also discovered that her daughter had the same cardiologist as Steven Joseph, and she had the same heart surgeon that he will likely have! Speaking to L about their experiences brought such a peace to my heart about the upcoming surgery, she gave me just the ENCOURAGEMENT I needed today.

Isn't it awesome when God puts people in your life like this, a neighbor who will hopefully help me through this journey. She and her husband also appear to be very strong pro-life Christians (she spoke about the doctors who encouraged her to abort her unborn baby because of the possible Downs diagnosis), and they are even considering homeschooling!

I was just really ENCOURAGED today by L and by being together with my other neighbors (another who might be interested in joining my homeschool group!). I expected that moving to an older neighborhood would keep me from having friendships with ladies in a similar stage of life. Obviously this is not the case and I look forward to growing closer to these ladies and ENCOURAGING each other in our vocation as wives and mothers over the years!

Not Me! Monday

Yesterday I did NOT spend 45 minutes on the treadmill only to leave the YMCA and head to the grocery store to buy things to make spaghetti, and instead choose a FRIED CHICKEN basket for us to eat, instead of cooking a healthy dinner. I did NOT give the baby a fried chicken leg to eat on the way home and let the kids eat Pringles potato chips! Dinner of champions...fried chicken and potato chips with fruit snacks for dessert...NOT ME!

At least we had the spaghetti stuff to make a good lunch today!


Check out more "Not Me! Mondays" and join in the fun on mycharmingkids.net, there's a giveaway today too!

Joey in the Fountains

(yeah, I still call the poor kid about 10 different names)






Isn't he just scrumptious?

7 Quick Takes Friday

1. I jogged 30 minutes on Tuesday and 25 minutes on Thursday, in the 90+ degree Texas heat!

2. We made it to daily mass again today. We missed half of it again. Next week's goal: Daily Mass arrival before the intercessions.

3. I took Mary Clare to a Family Yoga class today for ages 6 and up. Not sure we'll be doing that again. It wasn't quite what I would have expected for a class with children. She loved getting her own mat and being in a class with just me (we were actually the only students), but I'm going to try more of a fun one next time. The teacher had been teaching yoga for 35 years and she was serious about it!

4. Almost made call #7589465 to Poison Control. Decided to Google "toxicity of toothpaste" instead. I think he'll be okay; he'll just smell like cherry all night. I have so many cute pictures of this little guy from the fountains today; I'll have to give them their own post!

5. I was excited to see the winner of So You Think You Can Dance! (warning: spoiler if you haven't watched it) If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you will remember that I'm a lover of all things related to dance, and I've really enjoyed watching this show the past couple months. I loved the other top 4, especially Kayla, but Jeanine really did an amazing job on the finale show. They are all phenomenal dancers! I'm watching the videos of the season over and over again! I'd love to go see them live here in October...anyone want to join me?

6. I survived watching 7 kids ages 8 and under last night. That was no small feat! Only our poor little goddaughter left with war wounds (a forehead goose egg).

7. Tomorrow we're celebrating my mother-in-law's birthday. The kids have been working on some signature creations ;-) Happy Birthday to Grampatti!

Oh and since I hadn't posted it before, but most of you found it anyway, I was published on Faith & Family Live on Tuesday. Finally using my writing for "real".

I'll end with some photos I never posted from last week, because artsy kids are just too cute! Have a great weekend, everyone!

The lovely ladies in my life

Ellie and Mary Clare with little Addi on her birthday


We are so blessed to have such wonderful ladies in our family. Steven has 5 sisters and now one sister-in-law, and of course his amazing mom. Most of them live across town, so we don't see them as often as we'd like, but nonetheless they are there for us and make up a big part of who we are.


My mom and my 2 aunts at the old shopping village

I don't have any sisters, but I am thankful for my loving mom, my sister-in-law and niece (who have been living in town while my brother is deployed overseas), and my wonderful 2 aunts who are like big sisters to me! We had a wonderful time these past few days spending time with these beautiful ladies. It was like a mini-vacation with lots of outings, thrift shopping, window shopping, eating out, swimming, and partying! Poor Steven Joseph was surrounded by this host of women for 5 days straight. I think he's still recovering!

Then of course there are my wonderful friends, those from childhood, from high school, from college, and now from my life as a homeschooling mom. We are there for each other as we share our similar life experiences and our day-to-day challenges. I'm grateful to have the internet where we can now stay in touch and meet up with friends who would have otherwise been lost. How blessed I am to have such wonderful girlfriends!

I may not have sisters, but I've got lots of lovely ladies in my life
and I'm so thankful for all of them!

A special thanks to Aunt "Mare-Mare" for coming down
for a special long girl weekend. What a gift!

My aunt with the girls in a helicopter and my sis-in-law on my niece's birthday

Dressing Up

is

fun

to

do!

Simple Woman's Daybook

***
Outside my window...
The scorching summer heat of Texas. I plan to stay out of it until the evening comes.

***
I am listening to...
a Pandora plethora of Spanish music. I love Latin music, Latin dancing, and Mexican food! The kids are starting to love it too!

***
I am thinking...
about my sweet hubby and hoping he has a good day today.

***
I am thankful for...
our home, our happy kids, and our precious goddaughter-niece who turned 1.5 yesterday! We celebrated her half birthday since they live out of state. Here's sweet Addison enjoying her moment in the spotlight:


***
I am wearing...
workout clothes for the bike ride we never went on this morning! We've been taking long family bike rides almost daily since Ellie learned how to ride her bike a week ago. Maybe I'll work out this evening.

***
In the kitchen...
I need to get to the store today! We'll probably have spaghetti tonight if the meat defrosts in time! We just had some popcorn made on the stovetop, with a little bit of real butter...just how we like it!


***
Towards health and fitness...
We've been biking on nearby trails, and after watching a documentary about marathon runners on Hulu last week, Steven and I have decided we're going to train for a marathon! We've found a half marathon nearby in March; we might start with that, since our city's marathon is already full. Tomorrow's training starts with 3 mile runs. I haven't run 3 miles since college! Wish me luck!

***
Towards an ordered home...
I've kept the main living areas somewhat clean for a few days! I need to vacuum 2 rooms today and (as always) fold laundry. The girls put their own clothes away this morning; I'm so proud of them!

***
Towards a holy household...
We made it to daily mass last week for the first time in a long time! We sat in the cry room and the kids did pretty well, except for Steven Joseph who was screaming to escape a few times. We only made it for the 2nd half the mass...but....baby steps, right? We'll plan to try that again this week and try to make the entire mass! I'd also like to get back to praying a daily decade of the Rosary with the kids at night.

***
Towards a real education...
I bought some books last week at the thrift store. I find the best nearly-new books there!

We've done a little bit of math the past few weeks, and a lot of reading! Mary Clare is starting to show a lot more interest in reading, so we've been trying to encourage that as much as possible. Ellie is also showing interest in reading and writing, although as I mentioned before, her perfectionist tendencies make the writing part a bit challenging. We've been playing Boggle a lot (another thrift store find, $1!), which appears to be helping with their spelling skills, and ours too!

***
Towards beauty...

The kids did some painting outside today. We're hoping to visit the art museum this week or next; it's free on Thursdays!

Mary Clare has also been creating a house for her mini American girl doll. She's doing an excellent job!


***
Plans for the week...
The summer I haven't been planning much. My plans seem to fall apart, so we're just taking it minute by minute!

***
A picture thought I am sharing...


Visit Peggy for more Simple Daybooks!

7 Quick Takes--To plan a Tea Party!

Since Violin Mama asked me about it, I thought I'd write this Friday's Quick Takes about steps to planning a Tea Party for those little ladies in your life! I'm certainly no tea party pro, but we do know how to have a fun time! Here are some ideas...

~~1~~
Let the girls come up with ideas. Who do they want to invite? When do they want the party? What kind of attire (princess, ballerina, etc)? What kind of foods? You'll need to guide this discussion a little, especially if you have some opinions of your own. For our most recent party, they picked the day and I picked the time (2pm so I wouldn't be responsible for feeding lunch and so baby could still get a nap). They picked the attire, I picked most of the food. And we came up with the guest list together, trying to include as many young friends as possible. Next time I think we'll just open it to our whole group, because as I mentioned before I always end up leaving someone out.

~~2~~
Email your friends! The girls always want to send "real" invitations which would be way cute, but I am so horribly bad with snail mail it just doesn't work. This time I just sent the email 2 days before...I am totally last-minute and all my friends know that! We are a flexible crowd :) I said they could bring a snack to share, but it wasn't necessary, told them the day and time, directions to my house, and the princess/ballerina attire instruction. An e-vite would be another great way to do it; you could also have people sign up to bring certain dishes if needed. In our case, I usually prefer to just let it fall into place. Oh and I always mention in the invitation that siblings are welcome! We have a very kid-friendly house!

~~3~~
Seating: We were blessed to receive 2 wonderful trapezoid school tables and 4 chairs from the generous previous owners of our house! I believe that Lillian said they bought these second-hand from one of those yard-sale-every-day homes in a neighboring town. I believe she also mentioned the tables being in the back of the house and needing to negotiate the price in Spanish. I think I need to take a Spanish-speaking friend there to buy some more chairs in the not-too-distant future. I love having these!

We also have a small wooden table with 2 chairs that I bought at a church sale when Mary Clare was a toddler. It has served us well. So right now we have kid chairs for 6. I pushed the little tables up against the fireplace to create a "bench" for more girls, making enough seating for 10. My initial plan was to have some of the girls at the coffee table, and maybe some of the older girls at the kitchen table, but in the end we had enough space for all of them to sit. I know some people have regular dining or kitchen tables that work for a party like this, but we only have 4 adult chairs (and well, 5 in the garage I need to paint and recover), and I like having it at the kid tables. It works for us!

~~4~~
Table settings: First you'll need a tablecloth. For this party I used some white bedskirts and one white tablecloth! Then you'll need a tea set, or a few tea sets. The girls have 2 mini tea sets and on the morning of the party I emailed my friends to see if anyone else had a small tea set they could bring. They did. I like the mini-size for the small girls, but another idea is to find some secondhand china tea sets. I'd like to find some of these in the future. Having some plastic plates, cups, and forks are also important so the moms or siblings can snack. The girls needed bigger plates for some of the food anyway. As with any party, a permanent marker is usually a useful item so guests can write their names on their cups!

~~5~~

Flowers: You can't have a tea party without some pretty flowers! Now, lots of people would probably choose fresh flowers for ambiance. But I went a different route. I had 3 blue & white vases I had bought at the dollar store a few months back. When I went to Wal-Mart to buy the snacks, I came across some mini thumb-print glass vases (I think that's what they were called, the ones with the pink flowers) for about 70 cents each. Then I bought three $1 stems of fake flowers. So for less than $6 I was able to buy flowers to fill 6 small vases (plus I already had the taller blue & white vase pictured) and now I have little flower vases to put all around the house! I love real flowers but don't love how quickly they die.

~~6~~
The menu: For an afternoon tea, you really only need a few snacks. Some options we usually include are cheese/crackers, fruit, pretzels, raw veggies/ranch dip, cookies, and popcorn. We had friends bring some other items (graham crackers, cereal bars, rice crispy treats, cream puffs, etc). The favorite treats of the party were the sugar cookie princess cutouts which one family brought, along with icing and sprinkles for the girls to decorate. They loved this! Using fancy plates and platters make things look even prettier, but the young ones likely won't notice if the sugar cookies are served on a plastic plate or a silver platter!

We didn't make them for the tea party, but mini cupcakes would be a great hit! Here's Ellie icing some yesterday. We realized that putting them in the heart muffin tin will actually make them keep a heart shape. They are really cute!

For drinks: We're not really tea drinkers, so we usually serve juice or lemonade. This time I never found the time to make the apple juice from the frozen concentrate can I had in the freezer, so it was all lemonade for all our guests. This is something I can do better on next time! The girls loved serving the lemonade from the mini-teapots. So cute!

~~7~~
Don't stress out and have fun! The girls will follow your lead. If you're making a big deal out of it and getting stressed out about things being just-so, the kids will too. So, some juice spills on the carpet...so, someone breaks a flower vase...so, you forget one of the important snacks...so, someone forgets their costume. So, what!?! Just go with the flow!

As a final note, I will share that I almost canceled last week's tea party because Ellie had been feeling bad with nighttime headaches for 2 nights. Otherwise she seemed well during the day and was even dancing in the pediatrician's office that morning when we had her checked out the morning of the tea party, just in case. Well, it turns out she did have a contagious virus, which the rest of the family came down with the next day, and many of the tea party guests came down with over the weekend. I feel so bad about that! So, make sure you're all healthy at your tea party...Have fun...And share some pictures!

A Biking Family!

July. 100 degrees. Humid Texas heat.
Still we bike on!
Lovin' the bike days this week :)



and a video of Ellie's continued biking improvements!

A Day of Firsts for Ellie

riding her bike without training wheels!


big sis showing her how


lil bro enjoying watching it all


then off to the pool...relaxing


happy girl



Video memories of the her biking, sliding, and diving today! Way to go, Ellie!