Quick Takes (Vol. 14)

Part of me can't believe that it has been nearly a month since my last post. Another part of me isn't surprised, because I've been contemplating backing off of blogging... possibly for good. I keep so much of my life private, and with Baby #3 on the way, I don't anticipate starting to share more. In fact, I have a feeling that I'm going to be even more protective of our privacy. This makes blogging somewhat difficult, as you might imagine. However, I need some Prayer Buddy prayers, and I'm not 100% ready to leave the blogging world just yet!

1. Prayer buddy, I need you. I am SO tired and I think the stress of the transfusions (and life in general) has finally hit me. The positive attitude I've adopted throughout all of this is still there, buried somewhere, but the past few days have made that attitude had to find. I'm not sleeping-- I spend the majority of the night peeing, attempting to flip over, getting hot and cold and hot and cold, fighting off heartburn (the current bane of my existence), finding no room for me and the hubby and the baby belly in (a queen sized! We should all fit!) bed, and waking up for hours at a time in the middle of the night and thinking about everything under the sun (moon?). I had a minor fender-bender the other day, and completely lost it emotionally-- I was being so careful maneuvering our shiny red truck and it didn't even matter. It felt like some cosmic sign saying, "See-- NOTHING is in your control these days."

2. I told my perinalogist about my exhaustion and how 3-4 doctors appointments a week, plus 3 fetal blood transfusions within two months, plus getting ready for the holidays, plus having two little ones, plus driving up and down the road twice a week for Mother's Day Out so I can actually go to all of my appointments, plus keeping up with regular life (cooking, cleaning, preparing to have another baby) have completely worn me down. He gave me the best advice ever: make a list of everything I need to do each day, then cross off two things.  This meant that yesterday the kids didn't go to Mother's Day Out and I called and cancelled my dental appointment. I had a perinatal visit in the afternoon and the kids' Christmas program in the evening-- this meant I was gone from 1:30 pm until 9 pm. That was definitely enough, without adding two extra round trips, of an hour each.

3. Only one more fetal blood transfusion to go, a few days after Christmas. My scarred and bruised belly is ready for these to be over. When little B turns 16 and drives me crazy begging to drive the car/go on dates/not hang out with her siblings, I'm going to pull up my shirt and show her just how much I loved her before I even met her. It's like a war zone on my stomach, so this should be effective.

4. One of the first time's I've agreed with anything our current President has said: "Why would we want to have a whole bunch of people who we don't know knowing our business? That doesn't make much sense." He was referring to his girls not being on Facebook. This is what I'm talking about when I think about no longer blogging.

5. I do have some very exciting news that I want to share with someone, but I don't want to jinx it. Let's just say that I REALLY need a haircut and highlights, and to whiten my teeth within the next two weeks. Losing 10-20 pounds would also be nice, but I don't think that would be a healthy option at 33 1/2 weeks of pregnancy.

6. I LOVE the blog of the prayer buddy for whom I'm praying. I have enjoyed learning about her and her blog has been wonderful with giving me very specific things to pray for this Advent season. She's a blogger I wasn't familiar with before, and I can relate to her in so many ways.

7. The video below cracks me up. I especially like the fairy comment and the "Away in a Manger" song. I think (hope) C has a better grasp of the Christmas story than a couple of these kids, but I have to laugh because I've definitely experienced the "huh?" moment when she's explaining all kinds of other things to me.

A Tale of a Baby and Blood

Oh, the irony. The very blood that kept me alive five years ago now threatens the life of my unborn daughter.

A bit of background info: I've had ulcerative colitis since 2002 and became severely anemic in 2006. I had to have a blood transfusion, and received blood that was incompatible with mine in terms of two particular antigens-- one of them being one of the most dangerous for women of childbearing age. It's not an Rh isoimmunization (which is why Rh negative moms receive RhoGAM), for the record. I developed antibodies against the antigen, and first discovered what had happened when I was pregnant with C, our firstborn. My husband has the antigen to my antibodies, and so with each pregnancy, if the baby also carries the antigen, my antibodies become more specific and deadly-- they target both the baby's red blood cells and his/her bone marrow production. This causes the baby to become anemic, which is why I have to see a perinatalogist on a regular basis. The antibodies have been an issue with my two other pregnancies, but this is the first time that it's incredibly serious. My daughter is becoming very anemic and has to receive several blood transfusions while in utero, and then likely within a couple of months of her birth.

I think my case would drive an abortion proponent up the wall. I've heard the argument that children in the womb are essentially parasites, leaching nutrients and life from their mother. In reality, especially in my particular case, it's more the opposite-- I welcomed a child inside (knowing fully-well what might happen when my husband and I "did what we did," because after two babies we've sort of figured out how that kind of stuff happens...), told her to get comfortable for the next eight-nine months, then proceeded to attack her for months, making her anemic. THEN, instead of blaming this child for complicating MY life (amniocentesis; cordocentesis; tons of extra doctors appointments; traveling for fetal blood transfusions; having to rearrange my husband's, kids', and my schedules; skipping over our 2-year-old's birthday party because there simply wasn't time), I continually apologize for making her life so rough now and keep topping her off with fresh blood, so that I can meet her face-to-face someday and snuggle with her.

Additionally, there's no doubt that this being growing inside of me is a human-- her very own self, with her own blood, and the capacity to have entirely new (human...) donor blood injected into her body in order to sustain her until birth. During each transfusion, there is a team of around 20 people in my operating room. Around half of them are working on/monitoring me or prepared to deliver my daughter in the event her heart rate drops, and the other half are prepared to work on my daughter in the event she is delivered. At 29 weeks, she is much more than "viable." For the next six weeks, the womb is still her safest place to be, so we hope that she stays "inside," but life outside the womb no longer poses the huge risks to her life that it did when she was several weeks younger.

And what does this mean about the possibility of any future children? Don't ask me that now. HERE is where I am NOW. THIS baby, THIS girl, is who I have to focus on for the time being. I've slowly been coming to terms with the possibilities that lie ahead of us, but now is not the time to think that far ahead.

All I know is that I love this girl. This tiny being who kicks and stretches and hiccups and attempts to shove my bladder (and every single internal organ) out of my body in the middle of the night. Is she worth all the trouble? OF COURSE! The only question in my mind is, am I worthy as a mother of all this trouble? We are so blessed by modern science and skilled doctors and having family in our state who can travel and take care of our children. At every turn, we've seen the hand of God, and felt His presence, and known His mercy and blessings. I want to be a woman, a mother, a wife worthy of these precious blessings whose lives have been entrusted to my care. As humans, I think we are naturally selfish creatures who want our lives to be uncomplicated. But you know what-- all lives are complicated. We don't always know what sorrows or burdens or trials another has to face. We struggle and sometimes we succeed, but sometimes we don't. All we can do is try to live our lives as unselfishly as possible, thinking of others ahead of ourselves. That's what mothering and marriage is all about, anyway. Laying your own life down for the sake of another. I'm blessed that God has given me this opportunity to put this into practice.

Please keep my sweet girl in your prayers.     

29 weeks

(she doesn't actually look this wrinkly... it's just that the one 3D image that the sonographer burned to a disc happened to look a bit wrinkly)

Baby Announcement

18 weeks with Baby #3 (a girl!)

If this little one is anything like her siblings, and only likes to "cook" for 36 weeks, then we're halfway there. See you soon, sweet girl!

Note: This is the only time you'll EVER see a baby bump photo, at least one that shows my skin. I'm not much into them, but wanted to have one shot to document this pregnancy.   :-)

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 13), Slowly-Emerging-from-Hiding Edition

Yes, I'm still alive! I've actually gotten some e-mails asking this, so I'm happy to send out the official report. :-)

1. Well, after I mentioned that I would be calling down the wrath of the Scorpion gods by saying that their number was diminishing, I found three more live ones in the house over the next few weeks-- including one just two days later in the laundry room under the laundry basket! Another one ran under one of C's dress-up costumes. I had to run and grab something to smack it with, but it was gone when I got back. I picked up the costume (tulle skirt), shook it hard, and... nothing. My husband surmised that the beast had escaped elsewhere. Can you tell he knows NOTHING about the craftiness of scorpions? I shook the skirt even harder, and out tumbled the DA&% SCORPION. I knew it! I smashed him 1,000 times... because they. just. don't. die. easily.

2. To keep with this topic, I heard a crash on the back porch while I was cooking the other day and the kids were playing outside. C ran in to tattle tell me sweetly that H had knocked over our little basketball goal. As she headed back outside, she casually mentioned, "Oh, and there's a scorpion underneath it." After screaming that she'd BETTER NOT BE KIDDING ABOUT THIS, I ran outside, grabbed a flip-flop as a weapon, and flipped the goal over again. It was a big ol' mama scorpion... and that big ol' mama scorpion was COVERED in babies. See THIS if you want a (terrifying) idea of what it looked like.

She's now a dead mama scorpion with a whole bunch of dead babies.

And I don't feel the slightest bit guilty.

3. C and I are making a Confetti Cake today. How fun is THAT? It was supposed to be a while ago in honor of her namesake-saint's feast day, but life was hectic at that time. Click the photo below for the recipe we're using.

4. When I reminded C that we were going to have a (belated) party for Saint C's feast day, C asked if "she" was going to come to the party. I wasn't sure who she meant, and asked her. "St. C, " my little C said, "Is she going to come to our feast?" After I stopped laughing, I took the chance to tell her again how we're so lucky to have the saints in Heaven to pray for us, and how she's especially lucky to have Saint C looking out for her, and that I'm sure she'd be present with us at the "feast," just like how Jesus is always there with us in our celebrations and our sorrows and all the times in-between.

5. Thanks to Lauren, I started looking into Ron Paul for 2012. I'm loving almost all of what I've been reading! Currently I'm hooked on his easily-digestible latest book, Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues that Affect Our Freedom. You can read the first part (Abortion) on Kindle as a free sample if you want to get an idea of how the book is set-up, which happens to be alphabetically by essential issue. The English teacher in me loves this.

6. #5 leads me to this one, which I've stolen from another blogger. It's a video about how the media, including Fox News (though honestly, I'm not a huge fan of Fox News... despite my political leanings), has almost completely ignored Ron Paul, to the point of ridiculousness. Jon Stewart and I are rarely on the same page, but I do find him amusing sometimes.

7. We took the kids to the circus on Wednesday. I'm so spoiled now-- we were in a SUITE with its own private bathroom, fruit tray, chips and salsa and queso, popcorn, and drinks of all kinds. There was a little balcony to sit in and watch the circus, plus couches and chairs and bar stools. When you're taking two little ones to the circus, having a space to move around, plus eat, plus use a non-public potty, plus have access to water/soda/adult beverages, is just about my definition of Heaven (ok, a little bit off, but possibly not too far). And did I mention that this only cost us $30 TOTAL for the 4 of us-- AND we had free parking in a reserved lot RIGHT NEXT to the Frank Erwin Center?? See... quite close to Heavenly.

Bonus: I'm still annoyed with the fact that my blog updates so late/not-at-all in blog feeds. If you missed my post about Austin Fertility and Miscarriage Support, please read it and spread the word about this awesome ministry.

Sometimes, you hit the jackpot

After last week's list of failures (which, for the record, did not include the fact that we missed the first 15 minutes of the 20 minute fireworks display for the 4th of July), it was about time that our fortunes reversed. And oh my... reverse they did!

We went to Horseshoe Bay this past weekend, a lakeside town just over an hour from our home. One of my cousins got married there, and while M and I weren't actually going to the wedding (we were invited, but it was kind of vague if our kids were), my parents graciously paid for a hotel room for the four of us, just down the hall from their room. It had a "partial view," which turned out to mean a view of the metal roof from the awning below the room.

The Marriott hotel

We were obviously really excited about the chance to get out of the house for the weekend and take advantage of the pool(s!), kids activities, and the sandy lakeside beach. Plus, I've been wanting to go to Mass there for the longest time, after a friend let me know about the amazing Catholic parish there.

The Chapel sits at the top of Thanksgiving Mountain-- and it's easy to give thanks with that view!

The Chapel is run by the Paulist Fathers

Well, on Saturday M and the kids and I were, not surprisingly, running a bit behind the schedule we'd set out for ourselves. He dropped me off at the hotel so I could get us checked-in. I went in and waited... and waited... and waited. Poor M had no idea what was going on, because my phone ran out of juice on the way to the lake. After 20 minutes or so of being the "next" person in line, I finally got to the desk, only to discover... there were no rooms available. In the entire hotel. Despite the fact that my parents had already reserved a room for us and then confirmed it earlier that day. My heart sank all the way down to my toes.

Thankfully, the woman at the front desk was determined to find a solution for us. The hotel leases some condos that are privately owned, and the woman started looking for... wait for it... a TWO-bedroom condo. Nice.

But no. No two-bedroom condos available. Sigh.

I figured that we could just spend the night in my parents' room, but it only had one bed, plus the pack-n-play we brought for H. Sleeping in a chair didn't sound incredibly comfy, but if push came to shove... 

Well, push didn't come to shove. The woman at the desk found THIS PLACE for us. You've got to look at the photos in the link-- it was unbelievable. It's a 3-bedroom condo with a balcony that looks out over the lake and the boat slips. It's 1455 square feet-- that's just slightly more than 200 square feet smaller than our entire HOUSE! It had a full-size washer and dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator and freezer, and everything else you could think of that's like home, only without goldfish snack crumbs hiding in the corner. We even had our own reserved parking spot in the garage under our building. And best of all, even though it usually goes for $800/night, the hotel honored the other room rate. Amazing.    

It was like heaven-- I could have lived in that feather bed forever, quite happily. Rolling over to see the water and boats was amazing. It was like being on a second honeymoon, just with a couple of kids.

And yes, we walked along the beach and built sandcastles and mud pies, went swimming in the pool, and checked out the boats and dreamed of someday having our own. The breakfast buffet put it over the top. M and I realized that, all in all, we spent a whopping $15 on our "vacation"-- and that was for the Mass collection and housekeeping tip. Between the wedding reception food and my parents' generosity at breakfast (though they only charged them for 3 buffets instead of 4, and the kids ate for free!), we didn't have to pay for ANY of our food... though we did stop at McDonald's on the way home for burgers from the dollar menu. :-)

We found out later that the reason our room was unavailable was because a guest in one of the upper floors made the brilliant decision to hang his clothes from the sprinkler head on the wall in his room. It broke, and for half an hour the hotel couldn't get the water shut off. It ran down behind the wall and damaged around 20 rooms. I'd feel badly for the hotel, but I'm still on a high from our swanky digs!

Finally, the big news... my parents took the kids back to Fort Worth for a week! They're taking turns with my in-laws this week keeping our kids. I'd like to say that C and H miss us terribly, but given the fact that my dad took C to see Winnie the Pooh Monday and my brother-in-law is taking her to Cars 2 today, and the fact the H has been "mowing" the entire house and lawn non-stop with the Little Tikes mower they bought him, I'm not sure they've even realized we're missing.

 

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 12), Epic "Fail" Edition

1. What? People with blogs are supposed to update them? Huh? I have to occasionally write stuff? That people might want to read? Who knew?

2. So, I've been busy. Doing what, you ask? Well, let's start with swim lessons for little C. Actually, she's not so little-- she's growing like a weed these days. The first 3 (of 8) swim lessons were roughly akin to having someone pull out all of my hair, strand by strand, then hot-glue each one back on. I know... it was THAT fun. To illustrate what I'm talking about, there was actually one day where my dear, sweet daughter ran out of the ENTIRE pool facility, through two gates, and across a bridge that goes to the parking lot, pursued by her swim instructor. Lessons 4-7 actually made moms ask me what I did to my child to inspire such a positive turn-around (I left H with a sitter, took C to the pool for an hour, and made her do everything her class had been learning in the first 3 lessons. Oh, and I bribed her with M&M's). I've chosen to block lesson 8 out of my memory, because we has a slight (ha!) regression in the progress we'd been making.

3. I should know by now, but if I'm going to get big expectations about how wonderful an anniversary dinner will be with my hubby (Happy 5 years several weeks ago, M!), I should probably not: bring the kids, who will try to crawl under the table; plan to use a gift card loaded with tons of money that apparently expired TWO years ago (how did I miss that? Oh yeah... I had a newborn BABY and a toddler); make the plans to go out over the phone with my hubby as he's driving home in terrible traffic after he's had a rough day; do this on a Friday after a rough week when I'm exhausted and cranky myself. We're planning a romantic do-over at some point soon, without the kiddos.

4. These "Quick Takes" are anything BUT quick. FAIL on my part. :-)

5. Suddenly, I'm having diaper rash issues with our cloth diapers. Out of nowhere. H's diet? Too much acid from orange juice (not that he's drinking any more than he used to)? His bladder control is increasing, so when he does pee, it's in greater quantities and therefore more soaking occurs? Gotta get a handle on this, because the past 10+ months of using these having been successful, and I'd like to continue with them for the next few months before I start potty-training with him.

6. I've started making homemade salsa on a regular basis. I'll have to type up the recipe because it's soooooo easy and delicious. The other day I was cleaning the fridge and threw out a few containers of old homemade marinara sauce (I went through a phrase where I experimented daily with making marinara sauce differently each time to find a perfect one, since M and I have different opinions on what a good marinara sauce tastes like). I dumped a HUGE container down the drain and then realized... what I was smelling wasn't basil and oregano, but cilantro. Yep, I tossed my best batch of salsa yet. Ugh. And since it's hubby's favorite snack when he gets home from work, and I have no cilantro or peppers in the fridge now, I can't make more until I hit the grocery store.

7. The biggest FAIL is that I've let these disappointments get me down-- I've focused on the things that have gone wrong lately and missed all of the amazing things going on. More about the good things next week! Back to playing with kids and cleaning for the weekend.

Radio silence and thoughts on migration

I've been quiet over here. Really quiet.

It's not for lack of thoughts and things to write, or even lack of time. It's more about a swirling eddy of thoughts and ideas tangled like marionette strings tossed into an old trunk. And a slight lack of time, of course. That's just a given, considering I never get on the computer when my husband's at home, and he's had some nice holidays from work recently.

The real world news has depressed me to the point that I hesitate to turn on the news or read the paper online. From Arnold's betrayal to Anthony Weiner's idiocy to the heartbreaking trial concerning Caylee Anthony's death, my heart aches over the pain that has been caused for families, especially since all of these events involve innocent children (the New York Times just reported that Rep. Weiner's strikingly beautiful wife is pregnant). I'm certainly not immune to sin (don't we all wish we were, though?), but the layers-upon-layers of lies that each of these represents just astound me-- and certainly remind me how our actions in life have reverberations that can damage and destroy the lives of others when we act on our selfish desires and aim for self-preservation and self-promotion at all costs.

Sigh. Moving on...

I've always thought it amazing that so many animals know exactly when to migrate, and where to migrate, and where to find safe havens along the way. Each year, Texas-- particularly my own town in the Hill Country-- is awash with Monarch butterflies in both the spring and fall. The hummingbirds have been hanging around for a month or so now. I'm not surprised at all now though, because I've witnessed a nightly migration in my own home.

Sometime back in April or May, we moved the kids from separate bedrooms into one room- C's room. C has slept in a twin bed since she was around 2 or 2 1/2-- it was around the time she was potty trained. H is still in a crib, so I just moved that into C's room.

Sidenote: This was the fourth time that I have taken down and then set up a crib entirely on my own. I always tend to do major projects when M is at work or out of town. I get this crazed instinct to rearrange everything when he's not around to calm me down. Yes, I am woman... hear me roar.

The room-formerly-known-as-H's-room (which was formerly known as the guest room/office) is now known as the guest room/playroom. I got kind of crazy (see sidenote) when M was out of town a few moths ago and started grabbing all of the kid-items (which had burst out of C's room in a desperate attempt for freedom in the living room... and kitchen... and the master bedroom... and the master bathroom) and tossing them into H's room. I liked the way things looked so much that I went ahead with rearranging major furniture so that the kids could room together and the toys could safely be corralled in The Playroom. Yes, I think of it in capital letters now.

Anyway, back to the migration story.

Nearly every single night, at sometime between 1 am and 3 am, C leaves her bed (in pitch blackness), treks down the hallway, through the living room, into our room, around the bed, and climbs in next to me. Half of the time I have no idea she's even getting in bed with us anymore, and the other half of the time I'm only semi-conscious of the fact. With the kids sleeping in the same room, I'm hesitant to put her back in bed (if I actually notice she's climbed in with us) because I don't want her to wake H. It's always interesting to wake up and see what gifts she has dragged along with her sleepy self-- her puppy blanket(s), random stuffed animals, a book or two, costume jewelry, games. We never quite know what she'll decide needs to move into our room with her as part of the relocation package.

So what do we do? Keep allowing the migration to occur? Will it stop by the time H is old enough to migrate as well? Put her back in her bed (or The Playroom) if we notice she's arrived with her entourage? Just relish the fact that she still adores us enough to want to be with us, and think back fondly on these times when she's 13 and thinks we're the meanest parents ever? Wear her out during the day to the point that she's physically unable to make the migration because she's so exhausted? Or just be glad that when she migrates she doesn't make Mexico or Canada her final destination?

Best (free!) gift you can give a new mom

Call me. Anytime.

The caveat is that you HAVE to mean it. I'm talking 100%, I-don't-care-if-you-call-at-3:24-a.m.-and-I-was-up-with-a-sick-toddler-last-night, totally-sincere kind of meaning it.

The most wonderful thing anyone ever told me as a new mom came from my friend, J. We were fellow Girl Scout camp counselors and were bridesmaids in each other's weddings. Most special for me is that I was her Confirmation sponsor when she became Catholic!  After I had C, J told me...

CALL ME. Any time of day or night, if you're happy, sad, or scared or just need to talk, CALL ME. If you feel alone or need to talk about babies or anything but babies, CALL ME.

J's second son is just 1 month older than my daughter, so we were frequently nursing our children at night at the same time. I made the late-night call a couple of times, but just knowing that I COULD make the call made all the difference.

When Lauren adopted her sweet little girl, I told her the same thing that J had told me when I had my first child. Since I was up at night, off-and-on, nursing H (and e-mailing quick little notes back and forth with Leila-- hi, Leila!), I knew that no matter what time Lauren called, it was unlikely that I would be in a deep sleep. This free "gift" completely paid off when she called me late one night.

In this economy, sometimes the best gift you can give is your time and attention. And even better, this gift can be "recycled" and passed to someone else next!

Lisa's big, official announcement... Updated with answer

 It's time to make a big announcement to the world!

Ok, so not so much of an announcement as a multiple-choice exam with answer to follow later.

In January, I am going to:

A. Move to Rome with my family for the next 3 years.

B. Give birth to baby #3.

C. Run a half-marathon with my best friend (and Godmother of H, who is pictured above).

We made up our own 5K back in 2005 in honor of the conclave to elect a new Pope. I'm not saying we had anything to do with the successful election of Pope Benedict XVI in just 2 days and 4 ballots... but I wouldn't rule it out. :-)

So... guess away. I'll tell you by tomorrow.

UPDATE: The answer is... C! My best friend (D) and I are doing a half-marathon in January. I wanted to make an official announcement in order to motivate me to keep getting out 3 times a week to train. Thus, any plans for "B" have been put on hold until after the race because I'm so excited to have this as a goal in my life now for health, weight, and personal-sanity reasons, and "A" is always a future possibility, just not on that time frame. D and I are both doing the C25K program (that I said I was going to start back in October, but just actually committed to in May...) and I'm in LOVE with the iPhone app for it. It tells you when to run and when to walk! I play the Beach Boys Pandora station for motivation and the C25K app interrupts it to alert me when to get moving or slow down. In addition, I use the free Runkeeper app to track my distance, speed, and route. You can even talk on the phone and still hear the C25K app telling you what to do, without the other person on the phone hearing it. 

Don't ask me how that works. I totally don't get it. I guess it's because the person on the line doesn't hear anything that from my earpiece, just through the mouthpiece. Hmm. Modern wonders, these newfangled gadgets!

Irony

C told me that her class read one of the Duck and Goose books at Mother's Day Out today. I asked her what it was about:

"Ferastation."
"Fairy Stations?"
"No, FlustaSTAtion."
"Fluster Stations?" (C starts crying at this point)
"NO. FUSTATION."
"Ohhhhh... frustration. Got it."

And while that could have been a great teaching moment to help her learn how to deal with frustration, I was too busy laughing.

Remember this???

So, if you've been reading this blog for some time, or if you happen to be friends with me in real life and therefore got obnoxious e-mails from me, crowing about how I MADE SOMETHING FROM SCRATCH, you may remember that I wrote about this dress:

I still swoon just looking at it. Those blues get me every time. 

I made the dress with the intent of it being C's Easter dress. And... it was! Here's sweet C hunting for eggs:

No, this isn't at our home. It would be rocky it it were our yard. Our home and land essentially consists of 95% of the limestone God created on earth. We spent Easter at the ranch and hunted eggs at a cousin's new home. This photo is definitely a "West Texas Easter" image!

My MIL gave me one of her old sewing machines for Christmas, and I can't wait to get it up-and-running in the next few months. I need to find a good place for it where I can sit and sew during the (alleged) quiet times my kids take. For some reason my hubby wasn't keen on the sewing machine taking up permanent residence on the kitchen table-- go figure.

So in love

3-year-old C, noticing that my cut flowers in a vase were starting to wilt:

C: Mommy, God made flowers, and flowers die.

Me: Yes, honey, they do. Everything that is alive has to die at some point. (Note: this has been a regular part of conversations ever since our German Shepherd passed away in November. I'm not just throwing the concept of death at my daughter randomly)

C: Jesus died, Mommy. He died for our sins. He died on a cross.

Me: You're right! That's what He did.

C: Jesus was a lovely boy.

Agh-- I love this girl so much that it overwhelms me sometimes.

 

Ultimate denial: Update

From time to time, when my daughter is at Mother's Day Out and my son is napping, I'll flip on The View because I think it acts as a barometer to the nation's attitude, given that some of the women are ultra-liberal, one or two are moderate, and one is fairly conservative.

Today, though, I was blown away by the irony of something that was said. Once ABC posts today's show, I'll be sure to link it.

Update: here's the link

The women were talking about Oprah's big revelation that she has a half-sister who was put up for adoption by Oprah's mother. The question one woman posed to the group was essentially, "Would you be upset with your mother if she did this?"

Surprisingly, only the more moderate and conservative hosts said that they would want to hear about the whole situation behind the adoption before passing any judgement.

HOWEVER, the two most liberal hosts (Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar) both thought that it was unfair that the mother had denied Oprah a sibling, and denied her the chance to have a relationship with her sister.

(Update: When I watched it again, I realized that it was Sherri Shepherd who brought up the denied relationship with a sibling, but Joy still seems to agree with this)

Seriously??? Do they not see the irony in their statement? Despite being the two most vocal supporters (on The View) of a woman's right to choose abortion, Whoopi and Joy confirmed what the pro-life movement, Pope John Paul II, and Mother Teresa all said: abortion is wrong not only because it kills a child, but also because it deprives current or future children of their sibling.

God, turn our hearts toward You.

A visit from Saint... Skunk-olas?

While M was bathing C and H last night, I quietly grabbed the kids' shoes and a couple of gold dollar coins, put the shoes on the front porch, and tucked the coins inside. I slipped back inside the house and casually wandered into the bathroom.

Did you hear that?, I asked.

No, Mommy. What was it?, 3-year-old C replied.

I heard a sound outside! I wonder who it could be?, I continued, with feigned amazement and carefully concealed pride in my own cleverness.

I think it's a skunk, Mommy. Don't go out there. He's probably stinky, C decided.

Can you tell we don't live in the middle of the city? When St. Nicholas visits, he has to contend with raccoons, skunks, deer, and foxes. Poor guy.

What Jesus wants for Christmas

A candy cane, according to my now-3-year-old daughter.

Spoken like someone who had her first candy cane the other day, and declared it DEEEEE-licious!

Additionally, she said that he would also like a hammer, and Mary would like a sheep and Joseph is hoping for a block (I think that answer had more to do with what her brother was playing with at the time).

So, in addition to leaving out cookie and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, it looks like we'll be leaving out or wrapping candy canes for Baby Jesus!

Little things that make me smile

1. Noticing C carrying her bathroom step-stool into her brother's room:

Me, after watching Toy Story 3... again: Hey there, cowgirl... where ya goin'?

C, using the stool to turn on the light in H's room: I need to change a diaper.

Me, confused: Whose diaper? H is clean and you don't wear diapers.

C: She did a poopy. I need to change the stinky poopy.

Me, panicked that there is stray poop in my house: WHO has a poopy diaper?

C: My baby doll. She did a poopy and now I need to change her so she can go to sleep. Oh, I need wipes, too. You get me wipes, Mommy?

I sent Daddy in to deal with this.

2. Apparently this should be "Little Things That Make Me Smile, Poop-edition"...

C and H were playing with their Little People, and I took the opportunity to review the Nativity Story with them in preparation for the Christmas season. I LOVE our Little People nativity and may have to do a photo post later of the amusing scenes the kids have created with the religious Little People and their respective paraphernalia.

I noticed that Mary and Joseph were hanging out in "the big house," as opposed to their stable. I asked C about this.

C: Mary had to do a poopy and there isn't a potty in the stable, Mommy.

Made sense to me.

3.  Non-poop-related smiley-ness...

Sweet potatoes this week? SIX POUNDS for ONE DOLLAR. Oh, happy day!

Be on the lookout for recipes and cooking posts in the next few weeks, as well as gift ideas!

Puppies and kitties and... trains?

C put my husband's veterinarian ball cap on little H.

C: "Look, H, you're a doctor now! You take care of puppies and kitties! And tigers! And fish and turtles and birds!"

I smile to myself, so proud that my not-quite-3-year-old has a grasp of the role of veterinarians and all kinds of animals.

C, again: "Mommy, look at H! He's a veterin... veterin... he's a doctor! He takes care of puppies and kitties and trains!"

Huh? Trains? Ok, so we may have to review the animal kingdom after all.

An open letter to The Powers That Be

To whom it may concern:

Would you mind terribly if the person who decided that "Fall Back" was a good idea could call me? Or rather, could he or she please call my children?

They seem to have missed the memo that the time has changed.

It would be helpful if this Fall-Back person could explain that while waking up at 6 am (children, not me-- I'm always awake by then) was somewhat acceptable, waking up at 5 am (children AND adults here... I get up at FIVE-FIFTEEN, not FIVE O'CLOCK) is not acceptable. I need time to have half a cup of coffee before it's time to be "on" for the rest of the day.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Lisa

PS Could Mr./Ms. Fall-Back please call before tomorrow morning? Thanks again.

Petunia Pickle Bottom Outlet Sale TODAY (diaper bags)

I've mentioned it several times on this blog, but I LOVE my Petunia Pickle Bottom clutch. And shoulder bag. And backpack (but not as much as the other two).

 My clutch-- it's gorgeous! Literally, not a week goes by that someone doesn't compliment me on my "purse." I call it my Mary Poppins bag, because you wouldn't believe what I can fit in here... a disposable diaper or two, extra pair of panties for C, wipes, wallet, iPhone, small camera, sunglasses case, snack for the kids, pacifier, spoon and fork for the kids, baby elephant... ok, not that. But maybe a toy baby elephant would fit. The clutch is surprisingly roomy.

But I digress.

Petunia Pickle Bottom's Outlet store is having a sale starting TODAY. And these bags sell like hotcakes--they're 30-60% off! The sale starts at 9 am, PST. These bags, especially the clutches, make WONDERFUL shower gifts/Christmas gifts/birthday gifts! I've given two of them to friends and they have both said that they love them. I'm totally pushing the clutches because you can use them as a purse when there's no baby in sight, and you don't look weird carrying a diaper bag as a purse.

Not that I was above that before I got my PPB clutch.

Montreal summer 2009, pregnant and sleepy, with the clutch

Get a GLAZED bag, no matter what kind, as your first buy. They wipe off easily and you can feel safe if your child tries to eat your bag (not that my kids ever did/do this...), because it's so easy to keep sanitary.

I love my shoulder bag second only to the clutch. It's nice and roomy and has great organization-potential inside. I like the backpack's use as a backpack, but don't think it's nearly as mommy-friendly as the shoulder bag-- it doesn't have as much room or as many outer storage options and is more difficult to access when it's used as a shoulder bag. It does attach nicely to strollers, though. The shoulder bag works best when slung across your chest, in my opinion. It also can hang on strollers pretty well, if you loop it around both handles.

 Montreal summer 2009, pregnant and not sleepy, with the shoulder bag

Good luck shopping! Let me know if you buy something, or which one(s) you like!

PS: For the record, the #1 reason I know that these bags make great gifts is because ALL THREE of mine were gifts from my amazing parents. I had been feeling super-frumpy and depressed after carrying around the black hospital bag for a year, with its torn-out bottom and random holes in the liner. I just couldn't find a bag I liked or thought was organized enough to hold the baby things, and refused to spend any money on a diaper bag unless I loved it.

Sacred mysteries, toddler-style

 Fra Angelico, The Annunciation

Discussing with a two-year-old how an angel appeared to Mary, to announce that she would bear a child:

Me: An angel came to the Virgin Mary and told her that she would be the Mother of Jesus and that...

C, interrupting: No, no, Mommy. She's going to be the Mother of God, not Jesus. (someone's been paying attention during the Hail Mary!)

Me: Well, honey, God and Jesus are the same. You're right-- she's the Mother of God and the Mother of Jesus.

C: And the Holy Spirit, Mommy.

Me, getting confused theologically: Well... I guess then she is also the Mother of the Holy Spirit. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all part of the Trinity.

C: Ooh. Trinity. Trinity. Trin-i-teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I like the Trinity, Mommy.

Me: Me, too, C, me too.

C: The Trinity is Dog and Pig and Ant and...

Me: Hold on, turn off Word World and come over here again...