Slow Motion

We had a busy weekend celebrating a second birthday and a long-awaited baby and the in-betweens were filled with Grandma snuggling, eating a ridiculous amount of produce from my dad's garden and calling Daddy while he's away at a conference across the country.

Sunday afternoon, while I was away at a tea party to pray for a sweet baby on her way into the world soon, my mom called to let me know that Anni had woken up from her nap and proceeded to throw up more than she had ever seen come out of a little girl (which is pretty impressive seeing as my mom raised six children and is a nurse).  I finished up praying (it was such a beautiful prayer and blessing for a beautiful expectant mommy!) and headed home.  Since then, things have felt like they are going in slow motion.  Meals are quiet and at odd times so Anni doesn't have to watch us eat, night-time is fluid, with baby and Anni needing comfort, but with an extended morning sleep as my mom loved on the girls in between feedings and let me rest.

Anni hasn't been able to hold down anything but a couple tablespoons home-made pedialyte, and she spent much of the morning sleeping on the couch (pretty rare for her even when she's sick).  Otherwise, we're filling the quiet moments with puzzles, books, and videos on the ipad.  When Anni gets stomach bugs, the battle isn't getting rid of the virus, but helping her stomach recover.  It takes a long time for her tummy to accept food again, even when the virus is gone.

We're holding our breath, hoping she starts to recover and hold a little more down and that the rest of us stay healthy.

In the meantime, my friend, Sarah, introduced me to this this morning after asking if I needed a little beauty in my day (always, but what perfect timing, without her knowing my babe is sick).  (Sarah, you are just amazing.)  

I rocked Colette to sleep to it... such beauty.  So, here's to our slow motion day, that our little gets some fluids in, and that we all stay healthy.  Happy Week, my friends!

E Week

Week E was good to us, my friends. Our Saint of the week was St. Elizabeth of Hungary (my patron Saint!)  We had some great crafts (an "E" made out of eyes, an "Emmanuel" project and a whole lot of really neat coloring sheets).

The day our sweet friends came over we made some eggs as part of our lunch (it was a very yellow lunch with lemon poppyseed muffins, eggs and pineapple included).

We also had not one, but two (with two different friends) Easter egg hunts.  Easter egg hunt in September?  Nothing better.  

 

To top off a great week, my wonderful friend, Erin sent Anni a little letter and an elephant pin.  Anni was absolutely thrilled and calls it her "elephant clip".  She has requested to wear it almost every day since she got it.

Seven Months: Our Lil' Bit

Happy 7 months to my sweet Colette!  This girl is a show-stopper.  We ran to the store today and she got to ride in the cart for the first time (usually she rides in the sling).  In the course of getting less than five things, we were stopped by six or seven people who wanted to sweet-talk Little Miss Blue Eyes.  Those eyes are so captivating, you can tell she is taking everything in, watching what's going on closely (and of course, who can resist that two-toothed smile!) 

She spends a lot of time up on her hands and knees or doing pushups, but hasn't quiiiite started crawling yet.  However; she can scootch faster than it takes to turn around when she sees something she wants (I never had to baby proof much for Anni... I think that's going to change this time around!)

She does what I like to call her "happy smack".  When something gets her really happy (especially when Daddy gets home), she smacks whatever's near her (usually Daddy, Mommy and her legs).  It cracks us up.

 

Ah, food.  She loves it!  Not much actually makes it into her tummy right now, but she dives for anything we offer her, and loves to dig those two teeth into it.  Such fun watching her growth journey!  How we love this girl!

Seven Quick Takes: Volume IX

-One-

We have a milkman.  I mean, could life get any more awesome? [I submit that it cannot.]  After seeing Jenny mention it, and knowing we lived near her, I checked it out.  The next day = free half gallon of milk (actually, he threw in an additional half gallon of chocolate milk... which may have sold Anni since we never buy it ;-)) to try out and a run down on the whole system.  If we weren't already budgeting for organic milk, I think it would be a tougher sell, and there's definitely a plus in reducing impulse buys when we make "just milk runs". 

-Two-

I have been exhausted.  Sure, Lettie doesn't sleep super well right now (teething), but I think my sleeping schedule could be described as "burning the candle at both ends".  I sit down to work, do some of that, get distracted waaaay too much by the internet, work some more, repeat and end up not getting to bed until, oh, after midnight.  Then I'm trying to grab onto any extra seconds in the morning before Daniel leaves for work.  Time to kick out the distractions (erm, facebook, not the sweet babies) and get some more sleep in my life!  I think everyone will be happier ;-).

-Three-

Anni started Catechesis of the Good Shepherd this week!  We did a little tour of the atrium last Saturday just so she had some idea of what she was heading into.  She loved it!   According to her stories, they sang about Mary, colored, ate peanut butter on crackers as well as bananas, put her shoes in a green basket, and got to wash her hands in the sink in the room (though, apparently that made a little boy cry... trying to decipher that one still). Daniel and I just grinned every time she started a story... so much fun!

-Four-

 

We're going to have a crawler any day in this house.  Crazy!  Anni didn't crawl until much closer to a year, so it's amazing to watch Colette rev up (she is a master scootcher!)

-Five-

 

Gratuitous photo of Anni in our tree (her first request of Daniel after he got home was to help her climb the tree).  

-Six-

I have a mountain of laundry waiting to be folded so I can pack for our little overnight stay tomorrow night... so that's about all I've got for you today!

-Seven-

Link up at Conversion Diary.

D Week

Letter of the Week: D

Our Saint of the Week was St. Dominic Savio.  A few of the fun things we did were: finally finished the Apostles craft (it's one of the units we repeat, so it's fun for Anni to have the craft as we sing the accompanying 12 Apostles Song... she has it memorized better than I do!), a Divine Mercy craft, and a craft for Daddy.

 

 

See that little dolly (while we call our dolls "babies" generally, I was grasping for "D" things this week)?  Colette was/is ob-sessed. 

She spotted it across the room when it was hanging from the grab bag (see first photo) and started scootching her adorable little tush to it until she could pull grab it.  

She was quite happy to gnaw on "little baby" while we did school.  It's so fun to see her show preference as to which toys she wants.

We also did this sweet Divine Mercy craft... which was fun, because while I cut it out, Anni was able to color, glue and help press everything on.   

On a whim, I also threw in a little "Daddy" craft.  Anni was obsessed with the puff balls, so I had to rein her in from covering all the words (maybe I should have just let her at it), but she was quite proud of it when it was all done.  Daddy especially enjoyed that there was a lot of blue and orange in it.

Great week!

C Week

Letter of the Week: C

Our Saint of the Week was St. Cecilia.  A few of the fun things we did were: a great Crucifix craft from Catholic Icing, had a very "C" filled snack (cashews, chocolate chips and cheerios), read our "C" books and, as always, tried to fit in a whole lot of talk about things that start with "C".

Seven Quick Takes: Volume VIII

-One-

Whew!  I've been missing the fun that is Seven Quick Takes, so I'm leaving this open so as to add them as I go all week.  Things have been rolling into overtime lately with our little bit of home-preschooling, getting Anni ready to start Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, and a very busy fall season for me (family portrait time!)

-Two-

Rain.  Oh, my.  I had just mentioned to my mom how I kind of missed long, rainy days in Kansas... and then Colorado had to go and have an entire week of them!  I'm all about the rain, but it's starting to get dangerous here (luckily not right here, but near enough us that I have lots of friends to worry about).  Anni asked me this morning if it was still raining and if the playground was dry yet.  Poor chicky... at least this is when we're all sick so we'd most likely need to be indoors anyway.  When it starts to let up a little, I let Anni run up and down the side walk a few times (today it felt like it never let up, so we all took the umbrella on a trek to get the mail).  




 Otherwise, we turn all the lights in the living room on (why do people install ceiling fans without lights, by the way?!) to try to hold the dimness back a bit and go on with our day.  A few times a day I'll open the door to let a little air in and we'll sit and watch the rain fall.





Please pray for all those being evacuated, and especially for those who have lost loved ones (three deaths at last count).  It's a very scary time for many people.

-Three-

It seems that my blog-reader is overflowing with pregnant mamas or their sweet, fresh newborns.  So, if you're one of those mamas, here are a few others to commiserate and share your joy with:

Blessed and Broken

Sew Liberated

Hallelujah is My Song

You are my Sunshine

Catholic Missionary Family

Natalie's Sentiments

I can't it's been over six months since we had our Colette, her birth-day and the days that followed are still so fresh in my mind!

-Four- 

We have been sick/allergic for the past week.  Last Sunday, I sent Daniel to bed early and took over his usual "job" of rocking sweet Colette to sleep amidst the house needing some serious cleaning.  She's been a bit of a handful to get to sleep lately (teething, learning new skills, fear of missing out), but that night she snacked a bit, and took frequent nursing breaks to give me sweet, sweet smiles.  As she nodded off, I pulled up this beautiful movie, Light of Love, on the ipad, and prayed, as I watched, that my sweet girls would be as fulfilled as these women are, no matter what their vocations.  It was one of those sweet memories of motherhood that carries me through the harder moments.

It reminded me of this poem.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow  
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.  
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

-Five- 

We started cloth diapering a couple weeks ago... and, for the most part, we're loving it!  I'm adjusting to the fact that it's very hard to snap onesies that used to fit (and I rarely attempt pants!)  What do you cloth diapering families out there do to deal with these things?  I moved up a size on clothes, but I'm not sure that will help the pants issue, even then.  Anni loves to grab things for me (she'll get the prefolds, but she absolutely delights in picking out a fresh diaper cover).  She also spent quite awhile helping me "fold" the prefolds the other day.  What a helper!

 

-Six-



Last week, we celebrated Mary's birthday.  I loved seeing other celebrations popping up:

Domestic Church Militant

Catholic Icing

-Seven-

Sept. 11th was this week.  I teared up a few times as I read accounts and remembrances and Anni was quick to catch on (as she has been lately to all emotions that "aren't happy").  It was a conundrum to explain to a three-year-old.  I told her it was a very sad day for our country and always would be because a lot of people got hurt on this day.  I watched this tonight.  Tears, but also faith in humanity. 

More Seven Quick takes at Conversion Diary.

Happy Birthday, Mary!

Today was the celebration of the nativity of Mary, Mother of God.  Unfortunately, I hadn't thought ahead very far, and we were all feeling a little rough after a busy two days and a cold for each of us.  Luckily (or probably unluckily on the healthy side of things, haha!), I had a random cake mix in the cupboards from some mini-cupcakes I had planned to make for something and never got around to.  Therefore, cupcakes!  With blue candles!  I only frosted a few, because I'm definitely a fan of the plain cupcake (and I had enough sugar coursing through my system after taking a few too many licks of the batter).  Anni was so excited to sing Mary "Happy Birthday", and kept talking about how Mary and Jesus would just love their cupcakes. 

Colette didn't really know what was going on, but was pretty peeved when I was frosting cupcakes and didn't give her one.

Luckily, I gave her a piece of pear, and we sang, so her sweet heart was delighted.

It was simple, but something that I think Anni will remember, and it was a great opportunity to talk to her about how we ask Mary to pray for us and how she helps us grow closer to Him because she loves Him so much. 

No hair was burnt in the blowing out of the cupcakes.  Thank goodness.

Four Years: Pt. Two

Generally, I love gift giving.  It's one of my love languages (so, yes, I enjoy receiving super thoughtful gifts as well), and I pride myself on trying to find something thoughtful.  For our anniversary; however, I was tapped out.  A few days before our anniversary, I picked up a cold of some kind, and had come to the desperate decision that I would probably pick up a pineapple (haha!  Daniel told me that this year's materials were books, flower and fruit... though, looking it up now, I don't see books on it, which kind of makes my gift not fit that, but it was fun anyway!)  The day of, I decided to make him a little mini book (stick figures and all!) summarizing our marriage.  It's a little silly, but he loved it, and it makes me smile every time I see it sitting on the shelf in the living room.

We even made it out on a date!  Miss Colette ended up tagging along as she's got stranger danger kickin' in like you wouldn't believe.  It was a fun, cheesy and yummy date.