Quick Takes (3)

--- 1 ---

Anna most definitely went through a growth spurt last week.  One night, she fit her 9mo. pjs, the next night they didn't fit at all.  She was eating and sleeping like crazy and I was having to wake her up in the morning and from naps.  This week she's tapered off the eating and is waking up on her own (earlier than I'd like :-) but still sleeping 10-11 hours straight at night.  She's now in her 12mo. clothes and seems to have stopped the growth spurt, for now at least.  So we've been scrambling to get her some clothes for this size, we had very few!  Thank goodness for some gift cards!

--- 2 ---

Our very dear friends are coming in for my sister's wedding next weekend and staying with us.  They moved to MN a few years ago and we've been to visit them every year before Christmas.  Except this past year, when we thought baby boy was going to be born.  We also were leary of the weather, as they were predicted to receive a huge snow storm that week, and they did in fact receive it.  We've been stuck in a snow storm coming back from there once (4 hours sitting on I-80) and it was NOT fun.  So it's been almost 2 years since we've seen them and their 5 kids.  And they're not so little anymore!  And they can't wait to meet Anna!

--- 3 ---

We're heading up to visit our good friends Jon and Justine this weekend to see them and meet their son Theodore!  He's being baptized this weekend and we're his Godparents.  We cannot wait to meet him!

--- 4 ---

While we're on the topic of good friends...  We are so missing Anna's Godparents right now.  They moved to Pensylvania a few months ago and have since had a baby boy, Matthias, who we want to see so bad.  I just don't know if we're going to be able to make it out there before they come here for Christmas.  But boy are we missing them...

--- 5 ---

The endless raking of leaves has begun at our house. We actually really enjoy it and boy are our trees beautiful! Only one has dropped all of its leaves so far and we managed to get them all raked before it rained this week (saving us from a soggy, leafy mess). Our tree out front is 100% gorgeous, its like firery red and is the most beautiful tree. It's started to drop and our front yard is littered with gorgeous red leaves. The big trees will start changing here soon and that's when the real work begins :-)! I love to just sit in the window and watch the leaves fall!

I don't like that blogger tries to auto adjust my photos and decide for me whether they're landscape or portrait.  Anyone know how to fix this? 

--- 6 ---

My sister's wedding is next weekend!  We're really looking forward to it, and we're so happy for my sister,Sara, and her soon-to-be husband, Kelsey!

--- 7 ---

I love that I have had to replace decorative things with toys around the house.  I don't like things messy, but I do love seeing baby toys strewn about (until I pick them up that is...).  Picture frames were replaced with teethers and photo albums replaced with shape sorters and fall decorations placed up high to avoid little hands and to make room for stacking cups.  It makes me smile every day and I'm so thankful for the blessing of my daughter.  What a joy she is in our lives! 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Chaos to Quiet

Yesterday was chaos.

Today is quiet.

Yesterday consisted of:
lunchtime meltdowns and babies not eating said lunches.
Jeremy doing all of the dishes on his lunchbreak because I was on the verge of a meltdown.
babies scaling my legs while I attempted to change diapers.
naptime battles in which two cranky babies boycotted going to sleep but thankfully took very long naps.

Today consisted of:
lunch eaten by all, quietly, happily, and enjoyably.
me getting all of the dishes done while the babies played peacefully with fridge magnets.
babies shaking rattles and banged cups while I changed diapers.
babies quietly drifting off to sleep with smiles on their faces.


Why are some days like yesterday?  I haven't figured it out yet, but I definitely enjoy the todays.  I don't know if it's my attitude, weather, or what, but today has been an absolute joy and full of laughter.  And yesterday was frustrating and made me feel as though I was failing. 

Unfortunately I don't have any answers, but I'm enjoying every minute of today and since I have all of my "chores" done, I think I will go dive into a good book.  Reading is quiet and peaceful, just like my day so far!

And as a side note, I love to see Anna beginning to understand the concept of sharing.  It's so nice to have a playmate for her around every day.  She's been terrible about taking toys from other kids and she's finally started to follow my lead of choosing something different to play with until they're done.  After lots of gentle explaining and distracting and firm "no"s, she's getting the concept.  It is so fun to watch the babies interact.  They love to play and chase each other crawling.  They talk back and forth and play "music" together with rattles and toys to bang.   They're both so darn cute!!  I'm lucky to be able to stay home and to watch Luke.  I'm glad that I can snuggle my Anna and that Luke's mom can know that while she has to be away, her baby is getting lots of snuggles and individual attention. 

While some days I question it, I know this is what God wants me to be doing.  Less common days like yesterday make me value the sweet days like today.

Clumsy

I've always been clumsy.  It's evident by the large amounts of scars on my knees.

This week has been exceptionally clumsy...

First I dropped a bowl of cereal that I was eating.  All over our couch. 

Then as I was going downstairs to clean up the cereal mess, I fell down the stairs.  I have a rather large bruise on my hip, a swollen toe, and a scraped up arm.  But I did save the baby monitor...

Then I dropped Anna's oatmeal the next morning for breakfast.  In a glass bowl.  I'm lucky it didn't break.  But oatmeal turns to concrete pretty quickly, let me tell you! 

And I tripped over the baby gate upstairs in our hallway, knocking the whole thing over and waking Anna up from her nap.

Then I dropped a full cup of water on the floor.

Then I ran into my jewelry chest in the middle of the night causing a big bruise.

And if all that wasn't enough in the last 4 days, this morning I dropped a FULL container of uncooked oats on the floor.  While Anna and Luke were standing hanging onto my legs in the kitchen.

I feel like maybe I should wrap myself in bubble wrap so as to avoid more bruises before my sister's wedding next weekend!

Or maybe I should just try to be more careful.

And then as soon as I published this, I went into the kitchen to do the dishes and lo and behold, I had forgotten to screw the cap back onto the dish soap-dispensing sponge...  What a mess!!!

Saturday Snapshots

Having pancakes in our pjs!  She loves pancakes!!

Eating crackers and cheese on our Saturday afternoon picnic in the park!



Playing in the leaves with daddy.

Playing with a leaf.  She loves to crunch them!

Prayers for a friend

Please say an extra prayer for a friend today!  It's a very exciting yet nerve-wracking day for them I'm sure.  She's a neighbor, someone who I used to ride to school with.  They got married the same day Jeremy and I did and have tried to have children ever since.  After we began our adoption process and then were matched with a bm, they decided to look into adoption.

So they've been approved, had been waiting and today they got news that they're bringing home a baby boy!  I don't know all the details, but please pray that all goes smoothly and that they can enjoy their new son worry-free!  I'm so excited for them, what a blessing!!!!

Anna's Eyes 2

Could those eyes get any more beautiful?  Really?  When she flashes those giant brown eyes at me, I melt.  I cannot help but pick her up and snuggle her!  She sure knows how to work it!  Thanks R for passing on the most beautiful eyes ever to our babygirl!

On School

The schooling of my children is something that I've thought a lot about recently.  The way I see it, there are three options: homeschool, public school, and Catholic school.  Now I've always assumed that when the time came, my kids would go to one of the Catholic schools in town (the one I went to probably) and that would be that! 

However, I now have a lot of friends with kids in Catholic school and while I would love my kids to be able to go to school with their kids, it's incredibly expensive.  Looking at the cost of tuition and looking at our yearly income, I don't see where it will fit.  People always say that you just sacrifice in other ways.  Well, we're at that point already, sacrificing in other ways, to afford adoption.  How can we afford to continue to adopt children AND pay for Catholic school?  I don't see a few thousand dollars of extras in our budget...

So I think about the other options.  Obviously at this point, we have a few years (5 or so) and our income could change pretty dramatically in that time, and it may not even be an issue.  But for now, I'll do my research so that when the time comes, I'm ready for whatever decisions face me (notice my organized/no surprises personality coming out). 

So what about homeschooling?  Well, let's just say that it's not for our family.  I know a lot of people who homeschool and do it well.  I applaud them for that.  I'm not that person.  People will argue with me and try to persuade me that I'm wrong, but the reality is all families are different.  No one way of doing something is better or worse than another when it comes to schooling.  In the last year, thinking about my children's futures, I've realized that there are a lot of things in life that I've passed judgments on very hastily.  The reality is, outside of moral circumstances, different opinions and lifestyles are good.  It's important to be surrounded by people who are different than you.  How else can you become tolerant and accepting?  How else can you learn that God alone can judge?  And again, I'm not talking about morally different, I want my family to spend time with people whose morals match ours.  That is important to our family because we believe in the Truth of what the Church teaches, not in interpreting morals for ourselves.

 Okay, sorry for that digression, just had to get that out there!  So what about public school?  Our public schools around here are very good schools.  We have two school districts and the "competition" to be better than the other makes for outstanding teachers and staff I feel.  Like I said, though, I'm leery of my children hanging out with people whose morals and values are different.  Then I ready this article at NCR.  Much of this is how I feel.  I hope my children can be examples of friendship, kindness, love, loyalty, and most of all faith among their peers.  Whether that is in public or Catholic schools, I want that for them.  The article softened my heart to the possibility of public schooling.

So then it makes me realize that I will also, in fact, homeschool in a way.  Anna's moral development should start here, in my home.  I have to build her a foundation of rock, not sand, so that her schooling can build on that.  What a responsibility that is.  It makes me look at my own faith life and realize I have a long way to go, in a very short amount of time.  So that when Anna looks at me, her mother, she wants to imitate grace and love, kindness and generosity.  Not fear or impatience.  Not frustration or worry. 

Looks like I'd better start working on that now.

St. Anne... pray for me!

St. Clare... pray for me!

St. Gianna... pray for me!

Mother Mary... pray for me!