Halfway There!

Last night I got off to a slow start.  I got the babies to bed and then checked facebook, blog comments and my email about a dozen times, stalling on going upstairs and getting my sewing machine and hauling it down to the living room to work where I can hear Patrick in his bassinet.  

At 8 pm I finally got to work though and worked through until a little after one.  The result was a finished cuddly blanket for Patrick and a dress for Mae Bae.  Tonight I'll be starting on Sadie's "Princess Sofia" dress, which is going to be made with some purple cotton fabric that I already have.

Here's the latest!  6 presents finished, 6 more to create!

And a Photo Fail...

Is anyone else shocked at who's the weakest link in these pictures Paul snapped the other day.  Because Patrick is holding his little head steady like a champ.  And Mae is actually smiling.  But Sadie... our little princess of having her picture taken?  She was definitely not on board:

Okay, she's looking at her brother.  That's to be expected.  So I tell her to look at Daddy and we get...

This.

Mae Bae announced that she's smiled for two pictures and is done.  Sadie manages a fake kind of smile.

And... fail....

Making a List... Checking it Twice...

Last night I breathed a sigh of relief as I packaged the 16th package, in the past week, to send out from my stores.  The last of the orders are done and ready to be sent off, and after sewing the last headcovering and creating one last St. Therese chaplet, I sewed the last of the Christmas presents for the extended family and avoided panicking when I couldn't find the little cars that I had to go into it (they ended up being in a bag in are car).  Here's how the final present, which is a holder for toy cars, turned out:

It's a little difficult to see without the cars in it, but there are six little car sized pockets at the bottom.

And a car I cut out of felt and sewed on the outside of the wrap.

Then it was finally time, at 11pm to get back to working on present for our little family.  My goal is still three presents for each person by Christmas, and so far I've managed to not panic, which is saying something since the last orders took several more nights than I expected them too.  

I've got two of Patrick's presents done, and one present for each of the girls.  One of Mae's presents combines an old blanket of hers (the Dora fabric) with new fabric to make a new blanket (shown below).  I'm also planning on using the leftovers pieces of fleece to make her a jacket, which will be part of an outfit (including a pouffy Dora dress) that's Mae's second present:

The front side

The back side

That leaves eight presents to be completed in the next six nights (really lets make that five nights because Christmas Eve will be wrapping and getting things ready).

However Paul's papers should be going in tonight, or some time tomorrow and then I will have help and hopefully be able to steal a little day time sewing to get things done... and to reclaim the shambles that has become my house before Christmas arrives (I've been in "maintain mode" during the last couple weeks as finals approached).

Next I have to decide when the tree goes up.  I've been leaning towards Christmas Eve for two reasons, neither of which, I have to admit, has anything to do with the fact that it's still Advent.  Reason #1, which regular blog readers may have already guessed starts with Mae and ends with Bae.  

While I know Mae Bae would love a tree, I also know that Mae would love to climb a tree, and pull it, and step on it and destroy it... because that's just the kind of curious "what will happen if I do this!" two year old that she is right now.  I've resolved to pull out our little pre-lit tree from a couple years ago, that I found when we were moving, and put it up on the mantle.  

But let's be honest.  Mae can climb the mantle.  She can scale five vertical feet of bricks like a baby spider.  So I'm putting of the virtually guaranteed destruction for as long as possible.  

And reason #2?  Because the set up and then subsequent clean up from reason #1 would take time away from those presents I need to sew, paint, and build (yes, build... building a doll house is actually on the list this week...  I may be being a bit over ambitious...).  

I've also given up on the idea of Christmas cards this year... this will be the first time since Paul and I got married that I'm not sending them out.  In the early years I was oh-so-organized.  I mailed them the day after Thanksgiving.  As the years have passed that date has been pushed back.  Last year I mailed them out before New Years.  This year... well... I also have two (maybe three) reasons for not doing cards.  

The first excuse is that my address book apparently made it's way into the basement during the move... and I don't have the energy to go down and search through the boxes to see if it's in with my extra office supplies or if it somehow made it into the boxes and boxes of theology books from Paul's masters program.  The second reason is that we're currently incapable of getting a picture in which every member of the family is looking at the camera (or at the very least not having a tantrum of some sort).  The camera comes out and they start acting like little ruffians.  And the last reason, which I tell myself is the real reason, is that I had a baby six weeks ago, and therefore get to make any excuse I want!  

Now to go save Paul from the wild and crazy babies, who seem to have amped up the wildness in anticipation of Christmas (actually they've been pretty good in some ways... Sadie cleaned the entire downstairs by herself yesterday, without being asked, and did an incredible job).  I hope you're all managing to survive the last week of Advent rush without too much stress!  

A Prayer

This morning I'm still a little at a loss for words.

But this prayer seemed appropriate today, on this first Monday after such a tragedy as it reminds us where our strength comes from as we push forward in a world where such sadness exists.

Lorica of Saint Patrick

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation

St. Patrick (ca. 377)

Ramblings on the Senselessness of Yesterday's Tragedy

If your like me, it's hard to even put yesterday's events into words, and yet at the same time, I find that I can't stop talking about them, so that Paul's already exhausted eyes were glazed over by bedtime last night (which was eight o'clock for him after a couple weeks of hardly sleeping) because I'd blabbed on and on since we first saw the report that said "a kindergarten class is unaccounted for."  

Every time I saw a new update on what happened in Newtown Connecticut I'd start up again, as if I had to share.  I found myself shake my head with fresh tears welling up because the whole thing was just so horrible.  Until I had to stop talking when we were out in town and I tried to share something with Paul that I'd seen on the news ticker of a TV high up on a wall and felt tears threatening to fall if I didn't stop and take a deep breath and tilt my head back and hope that they just stayed put.  And that in itself was bizarre for me, because in the whole of my life I can't ever remember crying about a disaster... I find myself sorrowful for those involved and feeling absolutely terrible about what happened, but at the same time removed enough that I just usually don't cry.  

But this time it was different... maybe because I have an almost four and a half year old now and while I just can't imagine what those parents were and are going through, I can almost imagine and almost-imagining it takes my breath away.  

When it happens in high schools it's just as horrible, but somehow it's slightly less shocking because high school is tough and kids are bullied and some are cruel and it's not all that hard to imagine someone just snapping and lashing out... but little kids who are hardly more than babies, slain by an adult?  The sickening idea of this sort of violence becomes even more impossible to fathom.  

When it happens with students who are older we hope that there are policies that can be enacted to ensure that this sort of thing never happens... but when it's a mad man lashing out at small children it's hard not to feel helpless.  Sure there are things that can be done to make areas more secure, but we can't guard everywhere... and that makes this all the more frightening.   

The realization that this sort of evil exists, that people are capable of this, is staggering.

Again and again I  find myself asking: How could someone do this? knowing that the answer is that it's because there is evil in the world and insanity... because people are broken and lash out, destroying the beauty around them.  

And so we pray, because there's little else we can do.  We hug our children tightly and give thanks that they are safe in our arms, knowing all the while that we will be sending them out into a world where this type of thing feels more and more common.  With hope we teach them to love, praying that they will shine the light of God's love into this broken world, but also knowing that our world as it is now will never be perfect and that there will always be pain this side of heaven.... and if you're like me you find yourself rambling on and on about the tragedy, hoping that somehow talking about it will make it make sense... even while knowing that it is entirely senseless...  

Prayers for all the people affected by this horrible tragedy...

7 Quick Takes Friday

--- 1 ---

It's here!  It's here!  The last day of finals!

Mae Bae demonstrates how we felt when we thought Paul's school work was over today...

Except... sigh... Paul has a paper that's not due until the 19th.  Two days ago there was a scare and we thought it was due today, and to be honest, I was kind of happy.  I knew it was a push, but at least it would be over.  Alas, the 19th is the actual due date, drawing out the law school fun for 5 more days (because it seems like these things are never actually totally finished until it's time for them to be turned in... there's always more time to perfect them until that magic it-needs-to-be-turned-in-at-exactly-this-time moment.

This is how the girls and I feel about five more days of law school work.

Paul left early yesterday morning, got home sometime after midnight last night and made it out of the house before the sun was up this morning.  Today's test (which runs from 8:30-12:30 eastern time) is the one that apparently "makes people cry"... so prayers are very much appreciated!

--- 2 ---

Mae Bae has taken Daddy being gone pretty hard this week.  If he so much as walks near the door or picks up his jacket there's hysterical crying.  Yesterday she found a book about a Daddy bear putting a baby bear to bed and brought it to me and took my hand and made it repeatedly point to the Daddy Bear.  She is going to be thrilled when he arrives home today after the test!

--- 3 ---

This made me really, really angry.  This on the other hand, restores a bit of the faith I lost in my fellow man after reading the story in the first link.

I don't even have words for how the behavior of the thugs down the street make me feel.  I can say it makes me way more supportive of our governor than I would have been on this issue if these guys weren't acting like a bunch of overgrown school yard bullies (in a terrifyingly large group).

--- 4 ---

I believe that if Patrick could talk right now his first words would be:  "Please, please make my sisters stop kissing me."

I'm trying buddy... but they're sneaky.

--- 5 ---

Paul's been at the library pretty much every night and so our nightly advent tradition time has been me a four year old, a two year old and a newborn.  Each night I was highly tempted to just put everyone to bed and not muscle through a family rosary without Paul.  But we survived and so far have done the family rosary, jesse tree and advent wreath every night.  And the girls actually seem to be looking forward to it (I think the candles play a big part in that!).

--- 6 ---

Sadie survived the first round of swim lessons.

And I didn't have a heart attack in the bleachers (and this is from someone who's taught 100s of kids to swim over 8 years as a lifeguard/swim instructor).

The problem is that Sadie thinks that she knows how to swim already.  And in a way she is doing pretty well.  She goes under water and just swims and swims.  Not bad in a class where most of the kids were afraid to put their faces in the water... However... she doesn't come up for air.

So another round of lessons it is.  And hopefully in this round they'll get to the breathing part....

--- 7 ---

It's 9:37.  One hour of the final is over.  Three more to go.  I can't imagine how stressful this is for Paul... because I'm stressed just waiting at home!!!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Sadie's Search for Her "Surprise"

Mae in one of her favorite spots.

Sadie came down the stairs yesterday with a huge smile plastered across her face, before announcing in a joyful voice:  "Mommy, I found my surprise!"

After a moments pause I realized what she meant.  She'd gone up stares purportedly to use the bathroom (the one bad thing about this house is that there are two bathrooms... one on the second floor and one in the basement... but none on the main floor)... and apparently went into my room for a little pre-Christmas searching.

"Sadie did you go into my room?"

"Yes and I found my Cinderella surprise!"  She beamed at me.

Upon being informed that she wasn't supposed to go hunting for Christmas presents she told me:  "Mommy, you should do a better job hiding them!"

Upon going upstairs I realized that the blanket had been hidden completely out of sight and that she'd had to dig for it, because it was under Patrick's bunting.

After the babies went to bed I sewed Mae's blanket.  Her blanket is actually made out of a piece of fleece that she's had on her bed for the past year.  I cut it into squares and used it to make a Dora blanket.  It's a much thicker blanket now.

And at least I should be able to keep her from finding it in my bedroom!  For the time being, the baby gates manage to keep her downstairs!

Patrick's World is Pretty Pink

Poor Patrick.  He's surrounded by pink girliness all day long.

And since Sadie wants to be a Mommy along side me, he is often accompanied by baby Princess Aurora:

Here she is about to inform me that Patrick is her baby.  It went something like this:

Me:  "Oh, no, no, no.  You do not pick your brother up." This is said as she puts her hands under him to scoop him up.  She's allowed to hold him if I hand her to him, and she's sitting and she's on her best behavior...

Sadie:  "But I have to Mommy.  Because he's my baby.  Because I love him soooooooo much."

Me:  "You still don't get to pick up your brother."

And then, a few hours later:

Sadie:  "I'm trying to teach him Mommy.  He's not doing it."  She takes his little hand and holds it in hers:  "In the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit."  As she says the words she makes his hand make the sign of the cross. 

All the attention may be the reason that he doesn't resist spending quiet time in his bassinet, which stays safely in the kitchen, behind the baby gate.  He knows he won't be cuddled unrelentingly by his sisters there.

Making a List...

We woke up to a surprise in front of our door this morning: a huge freezer box from Omaha Steaks.  Excitement turned to disappointment as I realized that while the address was correct the name wasn't.  However when Paul called Omaha Steaks and told them about the mistake their reply was "Merry Christmas!"So we're planning a special "finals are over" meal later this week (thank you Omaha Steaks!)!

Right now I'm in the midst of a bit of a juggling act, finishing the orders that have been coming in and shipping them off, and trying to make presents for everyone before Christmas day sneaks up on us and I realize that I still have far to much to do!  I'm aiming at making three presents for each person, so I know that I need to average at least one a day to keep from being utterly overwhelmed at the end.  

With highs that have been in the 30s lately, keeping warm items are pretty popular in our home at the moment (today it's going to be downright balmy with a high of 47).  Patrick's first present is bunting for car seat.  It's lined with red minky and the fabric matches the car seat cover that I made him (I noticed that pretty much every baby in the super market has one)!  It should help keep him toasty during our first Michigan winter!

I'm also making thick cuddly blankets for each member of the house.  Sadie's is pictured here.  Mae's is going to be a Dora blanket.  Patrick's will be made with some robot  fabric I have.  And Paul's wil be a surprise since he reads the blog!

And here's the front side, which, with my faltering camera, came out blurry (it has the ruffled clipped seams):

Actually posting these pictures reminds me of another unexpected blessing that surprised us and helped make ends meet this month.

Last month we went to a Joann's grand opening sale (this was shortly before I realized what a tough month financially December was going to be...).  The store was mobbed.  I was buying minky, terry cloth and fleece for some upcoming projects I have planned for new items in my stores in the new year.  The sales were too good to pass up in terms of investing in my store, however, and soon Sadie and I were in line at the cutting table, with two carts full of fabric.  Well over an hour later we were still there.  Paul, finally brought Mae and Patrick in and tracked us down just as we made it to the counter... with Patrick furiously demanding milk.

The situation was stressful, but I was in a pretty good mood.  After all I'd known the lines would be long... it was a big sale (complete with radio station).  I grabbed the blanket that I'd asked Paul to bring if he brought Patrick in, and while standing and handing over fabric to be cut, I managed to position the blanket and Patrick and begin feeding him.

A while later we herded everyone up to the main counter to pay, and waited in another long line.  When I made it to the front a nicely dressed man appeared and gave the girls princess and fairy t-shirts.  He (and everyone we ran into) apologized profusely for the wait and then he began instructing our checker on discounting our fabrics.  As I stood and watched I felt my eyes grow bigger and bigger.  He discounted it far beyond the coupons and gave us over 60% off the entire purchase.  I was amazed (and relived because as he rang up the total I'd realized how overenthusiastic I'd been about the sale.  The man (who I'm guessing was the manager) double checked the amount and told us it was in fact correct.

I could hardly believe it as I stared at my receipt in the car.  So that fabric will be the start of my new line of items which I'll be announcing before too long (think "baby!").

Lastly (for today) is the hippo I crocheted or a nephew.  Crocheting is always a risk since I can't read crochet patterns and just make things up as I go, but I love how he turned out!  He's actually much bigger than he looks!

Now to get through this day!  Paul's last final and last paper are both due tomorrow so I'm on my own for one last, very long day!

And in Michigan... Craziness Reigns...

Back in my communist college student days one of my main interests was labor politics.  You can guess what side I would have been on in any debate.

In the past years I've been far more divided when the issue has come up.  I'm sure that in part it's because it becomes far harder to sympathize with what sometimes are absolutely exorbitant demands after enduring this recession.  When there have been conflicts of late and the media covers what the union workers have and what they want I find myself shaking my head a bit, because it tends to be over the top (or at least the stuff that makes the news does).

I'm far more torn over the issue when it comes to public sector jobs that involve education or safety, or when I see interviews with the nurses at the hospital that I recently spent so much time in talking about how important their union is because it protects people if they have to report an abuse.

So basically this is one of those rare instances where I'm in the middle on an issue... and yet... there is on aspect of the labor issue that pushes me in a certain direction (and makes me instinctively feel like siding with the governor on the recent debate in our state):

The screaming, ranting mobs really do nothing to tell me that unions are really awesome.  The fact that we need to stay clear of the capital, which is fairly close to our house, because I wouldn't feel safe over there right now, doesn't give me warm fuzzies about the unions either.  Sadie's "let's walk to the capital" (because she thinks the building is awesome) is met with an adamant "no" these days.

And then there's this video (it does have extremely coarse language in it, so be warned)... of the union guys attacking a blogger who tried to stop them from pulling down a tent filled with women and elderly people.

These guys don't seem to realize that acting like bullies, in an age of social media where there's a good chance everyone is going to see what you're doing, doesn't really win people over to your side.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Yay!!!! Daddy's First Final is Over!  One final done, one to go!

A Doctor's Appointment and a Manhunt...

I bundled Patrick up today and headed out into the cold morning for his one month doctor's appointment.  A half hour later he was weighing in at 11 lbs 10 oz and measured 23 3/4 inches, staying right on track for the 95th to 99th percentile.  He seems to be following in the footsteps of his big sisters!

The real excitement of the day came tonight at around 4:30, when I heard sirens and saw a cop car speed by on our normally quiet street.  I was cuddled on the couch with the babies a few minutes later when I glanced out at our neighbors house and saw the reflection of lights flashing on our next door neighbors wall.

Looking out the front window I saw that the cop car had flipped around and was parked diagonally across the middle of the street in front of our house, with another cop car behind him.  I walked back to the kitchen, to email Paul and let him know to use the back street when he came home, since the front was apparently closed and glanced out the side window.  Two more cop cars were parked alongside the side of our house, with their lights flashing.

I began to wonder if we were about to be evacuated.  Was there a gas leak on our block and they were going door to door?  Or... was there some criminal around, that was apparently quite close to our house, since they did appear to be encircling our house in particular.  Part of me wanted to go out and ask what was going on, but the other part saw the guys staring at our house and thought, is the bad guy in the bushes right there?  I'd rather not be a hostage... I think we'll stay right here behind our deadbolt, with our alarm system ready to sound.

Going back to the front window the girls and I peered out and saw around a half dozen police officers looking back from the sidewalk.  A giant german shepherd was using our lawn as a bathroom.

Okay, I thought.  You guys would tell us if there's some serious criminal creeping around our house, right?  Seconds later the german shepherd was dragging his handler at a sprint around the back of the house and down the side street, with another officer sprinting behind, and the cars quickly following after them.  For the next hour I saw frequent cop cars circling the block.

So far nothing's been on the news about a manhunt, although there was news about a prescription drug ring being busted, and 7 people being arrested with another 5 about to be arrested, which made me wonder if it had something to do with that.  But really we have no idea what was going on.

And that was the excitement at our house today.  Now on to Tuesday!  Paul's first final is tomorrow night!

A School Day and A Doctor's Appointment

This is it.  We're in the home stretch.  It's finally finals week.  Paul has two finals and a paper left and then Christmas break.  He'll actually be home before 2 am each night.  And I will begin to get my house back into shape, because after a couple weeks of being by myself with the babies pretty much all the time it's a wreck.  I have no idea how single moms do it!  The sewing room looks like a fabric bomb exploded in it and it's begun spilling over into the rest of the house.

Today is Patrick's one month doctor's appointment.  I have a feeling he's grown quite a bit since we barely squeezed him into the yellow duck onsie that Sadie picked out for him before he was born.

And I've promised to begin teaching Sadie to knit.  Which happened in the midst of a conversation that went something like this:

Sadie:  "Why aren't we doing school today?"
Me:  "Because we did school four days this week, and we did it for over two hours a day, and I think that's more than enough for a two year old and a four year old."  (They're in love with "school" at the moment and Sadie has suggestions on what else we could be doing ["science!"], with Mae tagging along for the ride...)
Sadie: "But why won't you let me do school today?"
Me:  "Because you need a break."
Sadie:  "But why won't you do school and teach me how to knit today?"

I think she thought if she asked over and over again, in a heartbroken, how-could-you-do-this-to-me type of voice, I might cave in, set her down at the table and come up with a lesson plan.

Last night she reminded me that today I need to pull out the pink yarn and knitting needles because she's ready to learn.

This ought to be interesting at the very least.  And I really think I need to invest in some plastic knitting needles... because there's no way she's touching my rosewood needles, she'd snap the bamboo ones in about ten seconds, and the metal ones?  That just seems like setting us up for some sort of knitting needle sword fight impaling incident that will be sending some member of the family to the ER (and let's face it... we do not need another trip to the hospital since, between the nail through my foot, the mystery illness, childbirth and the catscan we've been to the hospital five times in the not-yet-five months since we moved here).

So here goes!  I'll post a little Patrick's trip to the doctor's office update later in the day if the girls let me get near my computer!

Sadie's Ice Skating Recital!

Here's what ice skating with Sadie's "tot" class looks like!

Missing Mass

I remembered that her birthday was on September 8th

For someone who tries pretty hard to plan our activities around the liturgical year I fall into the "epic fail" category quite frequently.  Take this week for example.  I'd been excited about Saint Nicholas' feast day pretty much since I forgot it last year and scrambled at the last minute to throw something together.  And I thought about it creeping up on me all week... until the fifth... when I woke up and completely forgot that there was anything at all to remember until fairly late that night.

So maybe I shouldn't be surprised that a holy day of obligation snuck up on me, despite having ample warning (like the fact that it's in the same spot on the calender every single year... and the fact that I know that December 8th is a holy day of obligation...).

For some reason I thought that it had been announced last week, that in our diocese Sunday attendance fulfilled our obligation this year and while I'm not proud to admit it I was muscling my way through a really, really difficult Mass when I imagined the aforementioned announcement, in which two of my three children had decided that attending a High Mass was the optimal time to go bat-poo crazy and start acting like little savages.  And so when I heard the priest say something like: "because heaven forbid people have to go to two masses in a row" a part of me responded with a little cheer and "Score!  I won't have to wrangle these two little monsters into near silence two days in a row!"

You see, the girls have apparently spoiled me with their usually good behavior these past few months and I obviously don't handle the monster-ness as well as I imagined that I did when I wasn't staring it in the face.

Anyways, after spending the morning out and about in a snowstorm I returned home and saw that about 75% of my facebook friends had posted about how today was a holy day of obligation in their diocese.  And I felt oddly nervous and started googling.  I looked at the cathedral homepage and found nothing.  I looked at another parish in our area and again, no luck.  Finally I found a link to the cathedral bulletin and read that I was in fact, completely wrong.  Not only did the bulletin say that the day was a holy day of obligation, it specifically said that the vigil mass didn't fulfill the requirement.

And of course, the two masses of the day were well past at 8 am and 10 am.  And Paul was gone.  Did I forget to mention that?  Gone and cell phone-less since Mae swiped and hid his cell phone earlier in the week and while we know it's in the living room we just can't find it (I found a credit card she took out of his wallet the same day stuffed down the side crack of the couch during the search, however..).

Here's Maggie "I don't need a nap" Rose
shortly before we started getting ready to go
back outside.  She'd hidden herself under the
play horse after we got home from our errands
and fell asleep there.

After having a nervous breakdown on the blog's faebook page I made what could have very well been a less than stellar decision.  I'd already really wanted to go to confession before my I-missed-mass-on-a-holy-day-of-obligation realization.  But with finals week roughly 48 hours away, Paul had headed back to the library leaving me alone and car-less with all three kids.  So I decided to bundle the babies and walk the mile (give or take a bit) to the nearest parish.  I rolled the girls into their puffy snow suits and zipped Patrick into a outfit that makes him look a bit like a starfish.  Then I put Mae into her harness (yup, complete with a leash) and put Patrick into the Moby wrap and we headed out.

Or at least, we made it to the kitchen when I heard the door knob turn.  Paul had gotten my email and come home (his response to tell me he was coming home had never come through).  I was incredibly relieved.

Since everyone was already bundled up and the girls were looking forward to a snowy walk we decided to walk anyways, and headed outside to find that the snow had completely melted in the previous hour (Paul's comment that we were "a little over dressed" surprised me until I realized that the storm had passed).  We trudged to the nearest parish, waited in a very long confessional line, where I was very grateful that Paul was there to help me keep the girls in line (literally and figuratively) and then attended a beautiful advent mass.

The priest did announce that this particular mass met the obligations for both days, which led to a debate between Paul and I since I'd just finished reading Father Z's post on the subject (and made me wonder if that was the announcement that I half heard during the last mass that left me so confused).  Then we walked back in the dark (reason #1 that I was really, really glad that Paul was there... in my earlier email to him I'd asked him to please come pick us up after Mass if he didn't make it, because walking home in the dark on our own would have been pretty scary).

When we arrived home Mae Bae collapsed dramatically on the ground... as if we don't walk roughly the same distance on a daily basis:

We managed our advent prayers and readings, ate leftovers and bundled the bunnies into bed since someone (pictured above in pink snow pants) had stood on a chest and turned off the heater before we left for Mass (I usually turn it way down... but not off!) and the house was slow in heating back up.

I was excited when Patrick woke up at 9:30 after sleeping through Mass and dinner and the beginning of my work time, but he refused to cooperate with the idea of being awake and holding a "look-he's-a-month-old-now" photo shoot.  However I did manage to snap this:

I have a feeling next year December 8th might stand out a bit more clearly in my head... or maybe not... somehow it's always the feast days that I'm absolutely sure I'll remember that I forget at the last moment.  Maybe my new advent resolution should be keeping my calendar up to date and actually checking in to see what it says!

I hope you all had a blessed feast day!  Now to get ready for Sadie's first ice skating recital!  I'm sure I'll have pictures to share later on (although I'm not sure how many considering her "routine" is roughly ten seconds long!).

Sleeping Through the Night!!!

I'm really proud of our big one month old (as of today at 11:10 pm!) at the moment!  These past few nights I've been putting him down in his bassinet in the kitchen at 7:30 while I work in the living room on orders.  Most nights this week I would finish the orders sometime between 11 and midnight and go in and get him to take upstairs.  He would wake up because he was already dozing rather lightly by that point, and I would change him and feed him and take him upstairs.

Last night I finished up work a little after midnight and peeked my head in to look at him.  He was out cold.  And I was curious.  How long would he sleep if I didn't take him upstairs?

I grabbed a blanket and laid down on the couch and fell asleep with the lights on, waiting for the sound of stirring in the kitchen that would tell me that he was up and ready to eat.

At 2 am the alarm beeped as Paul walked through the door and came into the living room, surprised to find me still downstairs (our alarm beeps whenever a door opens and says something like "back door open" depending on what door a person is coming through).  And Patrick was still asleep.

That meant that he'd been asleep for more than six hours.  And five hours is technically what experts call: "sleeping through the night."  (Let us ignore, for the moment, the fact that an infant can wake up at 11 pm and have slept long enough to constitute this achievement.)

Paul changed him, which woke him up, and we took him upstairs where he ate and woke up one more time before seven when the alarm went off to wake us all up to get ready for swim lessons.

I think I'm going to have to get the baby monitor set up so he can sleep in the upstairs bassinet and I can see how long he'd actually sleep without being woken up to come upstairs when I'm done with work each night.  I'm wondering if the gradual increase in how much I've been able to work, waking him up a tiny bit later each night, has unintentionally (but fantastically!) sleep trained him.

Either way I'm pretty excited and surprisingly well rested for having a one month old!

Oh and here's another goal for today (a Mommy goal).  Today I will get my camera out and get pictures of Patrick.  I've realized why this baby hasn't been photographed and it has something to do with being the third born, although not in the way most people would think.  The thing is, Patrick is almost always in a wrap, being kept away from less than gentle, although quite loving, toddler hands.  And it's really hard to sit and snap cute pictures when the person you're photographing is strapped to your chest.  With Sadie I could arrange blankets and prop her up on her little vibrating chair and take 300 pictures to capture that cute moment when she yawned or made a face or smiled.  It's much harder to do that when the baby's cute little yawn is practically smushed against your collar bone (because smushing their face into your chest so that you have to make sure they're breathing and try to reposition them every five minutes is just how some babies insist on being held).  And that is my goal for Patrick's one month birthday... now the question is... will I succeed?  I may have to wait until after toddler bedtime to start snapping pictures of the cuteness...

7 Quick Takes Friday

--- 1 ---

What a week!  All the orders that came in the weekend after Thanksgiving are shipped and on their way to their new homes!  And I'm hurriedly working to get out the new orders that have come in!

I have so many ideas at the moment, both for Sadie's Saints and for my other shops.  I just need to find the time to make them all!

At the moment Patrick is consistently sleeping from 7:30 until 11:30 each night, which gives me some time to work... but I have a feeling I'm going to have to start struggling past the 11:30 sleepiness if I'm going to get everything done that needs to be done before Christmas!

--- 2 ---

I have to admit to being a little amazed these days when I watch the girls playing.  They run and giggle and slam into things like bookshelves.  They wrestle on the ground, giggling hysterically.  Yesterday I hurried into the kitchen and made dinner (cheese quesadillas.... they didn't exactly take a long time) and came out to find the living room destroyed and Mae Bae with about eight scratches on her face looking like she'd been in a bar room brawl, with a huge smile on her face.

Sadie told me that Mae Bae "did it to herself."  When I passed this on to Paul he suggested that perhaps it happened like this:

from http://www.facebook.com/CatholicMemebase

--- 3 ---

Quick Take #2 is possibly the reason why Sadie and Mae both seem kind of tough in the classes they've been to.

Sadie is the only preschooler in ice skating that spectacularly crashes to the ice, turns to look at me in the stands while everyone holds their breath because the fall clearly hurt, and then smiles and bounces back up onto her skates.  There have been a lot of tears in her class (I'd say someone is crying 80% of the time), but having a sibling seems to have offered a bit of preparation that I never considered before having a two year old and a four year old who act like the time from 4 to 5 each night is some sort of professional wrestling match.

An Ice Skating bruise

--- 4 ---

I received a packet in the mail the other day with all sorts of... helpful... information from our insurance company.  One little pamphlet was all about the evils of co-sleeping (somehow I could tell during our first pediatrician appointment that that was something to not mention at all if I wanted to avoid a lecture... even though Patrick does sleep in a special co-sleeper bassinet thing on the bed... I'm getting the impression this is a much more hostile area for that topic...).

Another pamphlet let me know that my insurance could help me keep this sort of thing from ever happening again.  Just in case I wasn't sure what caused all of these babies to keep showing up here.

This does bring to mind something I loved about the hospital I delivered Patrick at:  The nurses asked each time I was admitted if there was anything they should know about my religious beliefs and I explained that we're Catholic and won't be using contraception and that during my past post-labor experiences there'd been a big push with lots of "you know you're just going to get pregnant right away" type comments and that had made me really uncomfortable.  And guess what?  This time it wasn't an issue at all!

I appreciated that so much!

--- 5 ---

Which, in a round about way, reminds me of the man who rides his bike by me and the babies every day while we're out walking.  A few times he's been going in the opposite direction and he actually glares at us as long as he can see us.  He even turned his head to glare backwards at us while riding down the road.

And I would wonder "what his problem is" except that he greeted us when we first arrived here by screaming at us at a gas station (along with the other larger vehicles that were there) about "gas guzzling" and wasting the earth's resources.

The guy must ride up and down the main street here for a good portion of the day spreading his fury, because no matter what time we go I see him and his angry glare.

So I guess the glares are because I'm a breeder overpopulating the earth?  And because he seems to be more than a little crazy...

--- 6 ---

Every day Sadie asks to go to the Capital.  And every day I tell her that Mae Bae can't quite walk that far yet, but that she'll probably be able to by spring or summer.  And Sadie sighs and talks about going (one of these days, when finals are over, we'll have to drive over and let her walk around).

I'm especially glad we didn't make it there yesterday, however.  Because when the news came on last night it was all about the union protests going on and the people who were pepper sprayed there yesterday when things got out of hand...  So I guess we'll have to wait until that's over to let the girls get their first glimpse of state politics...

--- 7 ---

Paul has three make up classes today.  

And after hardly seeing him for... a while... and not seeing any other grown ups... at all (if you discount doctors and clerks in check out lines)... for the past month...  I am especially ready to have a conversation in which the response to every single thing I say is not:  "why?"

I am beyond ready for finals to arrive and be done with!  

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Advent and Hope

Advent is different this year, in a wonderful way that I'm struggling to put into words.  I've been thinking about it for the last few days, as we amble through this season of waiting and expectation.  And I find that I can't describe the change without contrasting this year with last year.  Part of the change might be attributed to our new northern home.  The days seem so much darker now, in contrast to our Southern Florida December last year.  It's dark when we get up in the morning and dark by the time I start making dinner in the late afternoon.  The darkness makes the idea of waiting expectantly for the light which is about to be born into the world all the more powerful.

There's an intoxicating sort of expectation to the days lately, with Sadie babbling on about Advent constantly.  The family rosary at night has an added element of excitement with the Advent wreath burning, and I think that having candles flickering and praying downstairs by the family altar is definitely a new tradition that is going to survive beyond this season.

Last year I made the Jesse Tree and we put up the ornaments, but I didn't manage the daily readings.  Hanging the ornaments was something we rushed through in those time blurred days, as the first months after saying farewell to our little saint were a jumble of effort and sorrow and the holidays made those sorrows all the more pointed.

My prayers in those first days in some ways were easier, pouring out silently, but weren't the sort that brought our family together to anticipate the arrival of hope in the world.  We pushed on and stumbled through, doing what we were able, but feeling as if we had barely survived the previous months and unsure of the damage that had been done and whether we would ever be blessed with another little life.

Hope was there, but it seemed to be a far off idea, cloaked in sorrow that was nearly too thick to see through.

These past months, as we readied our home to welcome Patrick and then were carried quickly on into the start of the holidays, those hard days from last year, and our little saint, have, as always, been in my heart and thoughts.  And while the loss of a child is never easy, even when separated by an ever widening expanse of time, the ache is tempered now by hope.

God has been at work, healing us.  I feel as though I can see the promise that this season holds a bit more clearly this year... and the longing and expectation is somehow easier to understand, as I find myself longing all the more for the promise that the birth of our Savior offers.

The sorrows of last year will never disappear, but it is through the lens of those sorrows that the future glows all the more brightly.  It is through our suffering that God often shapes us and readies us to receive his love.

This year, I can finally see the hope that rings through this seasons as we wait in the darkness for the light which will be born into the world on Christmas Day.

Daddy and Patrick Time

Patrick has been determined, for the last two nights, not to go to sleep at bedtime.  Since I was busy getting orders out (they're out!) that meant that he got to spend some quality time with Daddy, before Daddy headed out to the library.

And last night I managed to snap this:

Blogging Block...

I have a bit of writer's block at the moment.  All I can possibly think of writing about at the moment is the antics of my children at Mass yesterday... but I was hoping for something that wouldn't scare off parents from taking their children to Mass (they aren't usually like that!  Really!) and so I filed that post in the draft bin.  

I will say that part of what made Mass difficult was Mae's fervent desire to join in with the choir during the High Mass that we attended yesterday... and that now that I'm not there, trying to rein her in, I can at least be thankful that she was excited and giggly about what was going on... although excited and giggly did translate into downright wild.

And so today's post will be short.  Because my brain feels a bit like mush.  I'm hoping, that as all of my sale weekend orders will be finished today and mailed tomorrow, that my brain will be back in working order again very soon.

But for the time being here are a couple of pictures of Patrick being cuddled by his adoring big sister:

and...

Tummy Time Together

I hope your advent got off to a wonderful start yesterday!  

Advent!

How exciting!  Advent is finally here!  The time when we prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of our Lord and Savior at Christmas!  And it's the first day of the new liturgical year!

I'm hoping I can go to confession today (with the new baby and finals coming up getting there on Saturday has been pretty near impossible).  It just seems like the perfect day for a nice clean slate and a fresh start.  It's rare that I've actually felt my soul long for this particular sacrament (usually it's more of a "sigh... I need to go... but I'd really rather not" sort of thing) but today is one of those rare days apparently!

This year I decided to make my New Year's Resolution list and begin with Advent.  It just seemed more appropriate.  And I've begun working (for about a week now) on a Rule of Life to help life move more smoothly once more.

Last night I also managed to reorganize our home altar, find space for our "advent wreath" (kind of), wrap 24 books for advent, and paint the last few doll orders that came in on Thanksgiving weekend.  

You might notice that the left side of the mantle is empty.  That is exactly how far Mae can reach when she climbs up there.  For some reason, so far, she prefers the left side of the fireplace (the right side would actually be easier to climb with the couch, so I guess it's because the left side is more of a challenge).  

And here's a close up... the "wreath" is actually a nativity candle holder that I found months ago on sale at Hobby Lobby:

And here is the latest collection of saint dolls ready to go out into the world!

As part of our advent this year I'm planning on giving our girls a saint each day during Advent and then learning about the saints during the week.

The books, which you can see wrapped to the right of my most recently created dolls are actually all Christmas books that we already had.  I didn't want to spend money on wrapping paper, and I have two boxes of packing paper from the move left, and so Sadie and I used that paper to wrap the books.  And despite insisting on helping me wrap (there were tears in her eyes and the words:  "but I just want to help you mama..." when I tried to do it on my own) she's pretty gleeful about unwrapping them... despite the fact that she helped me pick them off the shelf!

I didn't actually finish getting the Jesse Tree out yesterday (or figuring out where it can possibly be safe from Mae), so there's still a bit to do later today.  

My plan is to have the girls unwrap their saint dolls and a book each night and then we'll read the book before the family rosary.  Then we'll put the Jesse Tree ornament on the tree and then light the candle for the night and sing (that ought to be especially special in our family of tone deaf non-singers).  

That's the plan at least!

Have a wonderful start to the new year!  Happy Advent!