Our Fancy Day

This morning I announced to the kids that we were going to be having a tea party and they immediately started scurrying around the dining room cleaning and getting ready.  Even little James had a tiny baby wipe in his hand and was attempting to wipe down a chair.

I was so impressed that I ventured down to the basement and found the tea set that my grandmother gave me over a decade ago.  It's been carefully wrapped up and hasn't seen the light of day in all those years.  This summer it made the long drive out with us from California to Michigan, but this was the first time I pulled everything out and put it on the tray.

Then we did a little baking.  And decorating.  The kids were getting more and more excited as we went along.

We invited a few dolls downstairs and the party began.

The chocolate cake was wildly popular.

The red frosting went fine with James' red sleeper...

...But it looked slightly more dramatic on the white sweater Patch was wearing.

Here's Maggie convincing James that he needs help with his chocolate cake.  He didn't really mind.  He just wanted to eat all the hearts off the top of the cakes.

After the tea party I hosted, Sadie and Patch continued to play with her little tea set for the entire rest of the afternoon.

Patch was pretty serious about his "tea" (water).

We definitely need to have fancy tea parties more often!

7 Quick Takes Friday: A Prayer Request, A Puppy and One Messy Baby

-1-

I'll start this one off with a prayer request.  Please say a prayer for a priest that was a big part of the beginning of my journey towards becoming Catholic.  He married Paul and I, baptized Sadie, and was my first confessor and he was the priest for my first communion and confirmation.  

He was having surgery yesterday and things did not go well and his family is asking for prayers.

He is such an amazing joy filled priest, so you if you have a moment please lift him up in prayer when you read this!

-2-

James may not be able to walk yet but yesterday I caught him with a chair pushed over to kitchen gate (which is quite tall).  He had somehow managed to climb up onto the chair and was standing on it with a giant grin on his face, looking as though he were about to try go over the top.  

At his last pediatrician's appointment the doctor said he thinks he's braver than he has the coordination to be and I think I agree.

Standing up in his high chair (he can get out of the seat belt) is another big problem lately.
He thinks it's hilarious.

-3-

Since I'm writing quick updates I might as well throw in a pregnancy update!  

I'm 16 1/2 weeks and things are moving right along.  I'm feeling fluttery baby kicks this week.  

The morning sickness isn't quite gone, so I'm still weighing less than I was to start with and I'm waiting for food to sound appetizing again.  At all.  

All in all though, the subchorionic hematoma hasn't done anything lately, so I'm really happy about that!

Goal for the week.  Try to actually get in a photo that isn't a selfie so I have some
documentation of this pregnancy.

-4-

Lily is now four months old and is getting bigger everyday.  

She also finally seems to be past the worst of the nippiness of teething.  

And while she definitely doesn't spend long stretches of time outside while it's been in the negative numbers with windchill, she also definitely prefers the cold and has been getting her fill of short trips out to enjoy the iciness.  

Apparently the cold also doesn't bother my shorts wearing husband.  It did almost hit 20 that day though.  So...

-5-

This post almost didn't get written because all day today I had a migraine.  A horrible, horrible migraine.

Then at bedtime I was tucking Maggie in.  I hung up her mermaid sheet on the top bunk so that she could look at it and dream of mermaids (instead of sleeping under it she likes me to hang it from the bottom of her sister's bed so that she can lay down and make her mermaids "swim" in front of the blue backdrop).  

I sang a little song.  And then I tickled her foot, every so lightly.  

My migraine slowed reflexes hardly saw her little foot shoot out as she giggled hysterically and catch me full force just under the tip of my chin.  It hurt.  A lot.  Like "is my jaw broken" hurt.  

I managed to say goodnight and stumbled out of the room.  

And as the pain of being kicked faded with surprising speed I realized something.  The migraine was totally gone.  I couldn't believe it when I was still completely pain free an hour later.

My migraines almost never go away without going to sleep.

They have said at the osteopathic manipulative medicine appointments I go to for my back that my jaw is super tight... Maybe Maggie has a future as a chiropractor... 

-6-

Lily is smitten with James. 

Her relationship with each of the kids continues to develop. With the girls she alternates between being wild with them and being wary of their loud personalities.

With James she is absolutely gentle.  Yesterday, after the chair incident, I caught him "riding" her like she was a tiny pony (she was laying down) and she was completely happy, since she loves to snuggle up close to him.  

Even 1hen she's taking a break from the kids in her kennel he's right there beside her, keeping her company.

And when Maggie's therapy planner was visiting yesterday and was holding James' hands and helping him practice walking back and forth Lily fretted every time they went close to the door, apparently worried that her baby was about to go outside with a "stranger." 

They are definitely two peas in a pod.

-7-

Does anyone else feel like winter has just finally arrived (okay you probably especially do if you live on the east coast)?

I kind of like the late start we've gotten.

Two years ago when it stayed below freezing from November until.. around April, I felt like winter would never end.  Now after a balmy November and December I feel more ready for these colder temperatures.

Also after a week of -10 windchill today it 27 felt balmy.  

I actually walked outside with the dog, without a coat on to put her in the yard and thought "This is so nice!  It's warm out!" and then rushed it to see that it was 27 with a windchill down to 19.  

It's funny how much warmer that feels after a rather cold week!  

For more 7 Quick Takes head over to This Ain't the Lyceum.

He Has Been Listening

Patrick is suddenly full of words.

He's a fountain of non-stop commentary on anything that's going on around him and when I have to hush him, because we're at Mass or someplace else where he needs to be quiet, he'll whisper in a small voice "Okay Mommy.  Sorry Mommy." and manage complete silence for somewhere between fifteen and twenty seconds before he's off again, chattering about Mickey Mouse and Baby Brother and whatever it is that he thinks that Maggie shouldn't be doing.

For the last three years I've more or less figured that Patch's religious education was... non existent.  It isn't that I wouldn't try.  It's that he would never hold still.  He couldn't be bothered to look at the story Bible and little children's prayer books that Sadie adored at the same age.

He'll watch DVDs on the DVD player in the car about the lives of the saints (and yell "Again!" when they end) but the second I tried to read to him or even tell him a story or say a prayer he'd be on his way to the next thing, squirming and wiggling to get off my lap, or rapidly turning the pages of the book and running off if I insisted on staying on one page until I'd read the few short sentences that were printed on it.

Lately that's changed though.  When Sadie does her Faith and Life work on my computer he runs over and shoves himself into the seat between us and clasps his hands and says "Pray!  Pray!"  And he proceeds to sit and listen to her entire lesson, clamoring to help when there's a game, and making his awkward sign of the cross whenever a prayer starts.

Maybe he hasn't been missing everything he's heard.

My favorite time with him lately has been bedtime.  We say an Our Father and a Hail Mary and a Glory Be and the Guardian Angel prayer and then he tells God thankful for all the things he's thankful for.  It's fairly predictable and gets increasingly hilarious as he goes on (and try to imagine Patrick as being pronounced "Patch-ick" for the full affect).

"Thank you God for Patrick.  
Thank you God for Sadie Kate.
Thank you God for Maggie.
Thank you God for Jamesy.
Thank you God for Mommy.
Thank you God for Daddy.
Thank you God for Patrick's House.
Thank you God for Car.
Thank you God for Puppy.
Thank you God for TV.
Thank you God for Nose. Patrick's Nose.
Thank you God for Patrick's eyes.
Thank you God for Patrick's ears.
Thank you God for Patrick's mouth.
Thank you God for Patrick's arms.
Thank you God for Patrick's legs.
Thank you God for Patrick's fingers.
Thank you God for Patrick."

If I don't have him make the sign of the cross then he'll start over at the beginning, although sometimes Patrick's nose makes an appearance five or six times in the midst of the other things he's thankful for as it's apparently pretty important to him.

And each day I have more reasons to believe he hasn't been as oblivious to all those Bible stories and prayers as he's seemed.  He's even started insisting on wearing a little cross everywhere and I've caught him swiping chaplets out of my room (always two, one for him and one for James) a half dozen times this week.

It seems he really has been listening while he's been zooming around getting into everything.  Who'd have thought?

The Post with A Flood, A Ceiling Collapse, a Trip to the ER, and a Broken Sewing Machine

One random moment where nothing
dramatic was happening.  Thank goodness!

Have you ever had a week where you're almost afraid to ask "What's going to happen next?"

That's how the last week has been.  I know it's not the worst week ever, or even our worst week ever, but it's been a week of mini disasters.

It started on Thursday when the kids were playing in the girls' room.  The girls' room is almost entirely baby/toddler proofed and I was laying down on Maggie's bed while they ran and jumped and played.

Suddenly James was on the bed next to me.  He'd climbed up onto the lower bunk all by himself.  I carefully watched his movements, ready to catch him if he fell, but after about ten minutes I began to relax while staying near him..  There are lots of things he can't do in the large motor skill area, but he's a pretty good climber and he's usually pretty cautious, sliding over to the edge of the trampoline and sliding off backwards.  I should have remembered though my conversation with his doctor where the pediatrician said "he's braver than he has the motor skills to be..."

He moved just beyond my reach when he tried to launch himself at the bunk bed ladder and fell, hitting his head first on the ladder and then on the floor before I could grab him.

He was fine, other than two large bruises on his forehead, but unknowingly the week of mini disasters had begun.

Disaster #2 truly earned the title.  It began when Paul let me sleep in on Saturday morning.  I woke up when my cell phone rang at 6:50 am, ten minutes before I was going to get up, and Paul asked me if  I was taking a shower or bath.  I had a sinking in my stomach as I confirmed that I was in the bedroom and asked him why he was asking.

Apparently water had begun to pour down into the kitchen and he and Sadie were trying to find the source.

I didn't need to look.  I knew where it was coming from.

James and his two giant bruises...

Our upstairs area is open to Maggie now.  She can go upstairs whenever she wants.  We've installed a series of heavy duty locks, at the very top of the doors, on all of the rooms upstairs.  That way, we can lock all the rooms except the kids' rooms and she can go up and down and we don't have to worry about her breaking into the medicine cabinet or flooding the bathroom.  The hallway is empty.  The staircase is empty.  There's nothing she can hurt or be hurt with.  It gives her the freedom to go upstairs and take a break if she's overwhelmed by noises downstairs.

On that morning though, Paul was carrying James and while he thought he'd gotten the lock to click into place on the bathroom door, it hadn't.

Every morning Maggie goes upstairs and checks all the doors that are locked.  And she immediately caught on that the bathroom wasn't.

Paul got the water turned off.  It was all coming from the sink.  She managed to flood the entire bathroom, including filling every drawer and the tupperware under the sink with the hottest possible water.

I ran downstairs to find the ceiling tiles over the stairs to the basement sagging down at least a foot.  A curtain of water danced across the kitchen, spoiling the food at the edge of the cabinet above the fridge and destroying a huge pile of homeschooling books that I keep on a small out of the way counter.  As I put down a towel I breathed a sigh of relief that at least it didn't reach my sewing machine.  Or so I thought.

Moving two boxes half filled with Christmas decorations we were in the process of taking down, I hoped that nothing had been destroyed and I watched the sagging tile and tried to decide what to do next as Paul tried to stop the water on the floor from coming down from the bathroom.

I tried to push the tile up with broom only to have the broom immediately break through.  As I turned to see what other damage was done I heard the giant tile snap in two as the ceiling caved in.

Sighing I darted past the debris and went down to the basement only to find that the water had continued to rush downwards through the ceiling and was streaming down onto the cabinet where I keep Patch and James' clothes and the clean linens. Everything was soaked in water that was now brown from coming down through the ceiling of a nearly 100 year old house.

The cleanup, which still isn't entirely done, dominated most of the weekend, but in the afternoon I took Maggie upstairs to take a bath.  Baths are her absolute favorite time of the day because it's the time when she can really "be a mermaid."

After an hour of playing I got her out, dried her off and she raced ahead of me to run downstairs to get dressed, with a towel wrapped around her shoulders.

These are the steps... she fell
from the first one that isn't turning to
the last one that isn't turning
at the bottom...

What happened next happened in slow motion.  She slipped on the top step on the straight part of our stairs.  I reached out to catch her and missed and she fell ten steps... all the way to the bottom of the hard wood, uncarpeted stairs, hitting every stair on her back on the way down.

I raced after her and as she reached the bottom she whimpered, jumped up and while I tried to check to see if she was injured, started to dance around the room... giggling.

Anyone who knows Maggie knows that she generally doesn't react normally to pain.  She often laughs when she's hurt.  I looked her over and other than some red marks on her back she seemed fine.  Thankfully she hadn't hit her head or neck.

After getting her into her pajamas and watching her dance around the room, and calling my dad who was an EMT for years and giving him the rundown on what had happened, I decided we'd narrowly avoided the ER.

The next event occurred on Sunday morning.  When Paul works nights he usually lets me sleep until seven and then he goes upstairs and goes to sleep.  He came up to wake me up and I started to pull my hair into a bun and throw on a pair of clogs.  Before I made it to the bottom of the stairs I heard Sadie yell that she didn't want to play that game, followed by hysterics.

I raced downstairs and found out that a certain three year old brother had gotten mad and hit her in the eye with the plastic toy syringe from the little toy doctor's kit.

Thankfully eyes heal fast.
Here she is the next day at the
optometrist.

After two and a half hours it wasn't getting better.  Her vision was blurry at first, now she couldn't open it.  And she was still crying.  So I called the pediatrician's office and they sent her straight to the pediatric emergency room in our town, where she was seen immediately and diagnosed with a corneal abrasion.

Which brings me up to last night when I sat down at my sewing machine to sew.  I'd moved it back upstairs and got it all set up and plugged it in.  And it was then that I saw the water stuck inside the screen of my beautiful Brother LB6800.  Apparently the water did reach it.

There may have been tears.

Okay.  There were tears.  That sewing machine is hugely important around here and I'm very skeptical it's going to come back from the computer being filled with water for four days.

So far Wednesday has been tame and I'm hoping things stay that way... unless we wake up tomorrow morning and discover that the winning Power Ball was sold in Michigan.  I'm totally okay with that sort of excitement... but otherwise I'm hoping for an absolutely boring week without any more surprises!

A Little Scare at 13 Weeks

Today I had my latest OB appointment.  It's only been three weeks since the last one, since my doctor is watching things a little bit more closely than in the past because of the scares we've had so far.

A little over a week and a half ago I unexpectedly took another short break from blogging when the subchorionic hematoma started doing it's hemorrhaging thing again, for three long days, and the stress of waiting to see if everything would be okay (along with nine days of migraines!) was a little bit too much for an writing inspiration to come through.

This morning, however, things were going well.  I dropped Maggie off at therapy after managing to keep her from diving into not one, but two snowbanks, and as I handed her lunch to her therapist this conversation followed:

Maggie's therapist: "Say bye, bye!"
Maggie:  "Bye, bye!"
Me: "Bye, bye!"
MT: "Say, love you!"
Maggie: "I love..." (turning and coming towards me and almost giving me a kiss and a hug in her hurry to get back and play with her friends) "pizza!!!"

I was still chuckling to myself when I arrived at the hospital.  Maggie's sense of humor has been shining through of late and she can always make me smile when she's in a silly mood.

I waved at the receptionist to check in for my appointment and then settled in for a short wait.  Soon I was asking my doctor questions about Meniere's and pregnancy (because mine is definitely flaring up even though my salt intake has been even lower than it was before the pregnancy) and the migraines and then I lay back and waited for the dopler to find a heartbeat.

A minute passed and then another.  For at least five minutes my doctor patiently searched for a heartbeat (they might have been some of the longest minutes in the history of the world).  Then he stopped searching and announced that we'd be going across the hallway to look for the baby on the ultra sound.

I was very thankful that I didn't have to wait even an hour for an appointment with their ultrasound tech.

The moment that the ultrasound wand touched my stomach the baby appeared on the screen and the doctor could see movement.  Soon even I could see a tiny limb waving back and forth.  Disaster averted.

The doctor did point out that he could still see a 3 cm blood clot and said it was fairly likely that there would be more bleeding in the near future, which is nice to know before hand, to somewhat mitigate the panic that happens whenever bleeding occurs, especially on a large scale, during pregnancy.

So now I'm back to once a month appointments and I'm hoping that this clot goes away without any sort of drama so that things can continue (or should I say begin?) to progress smoothly.

I'm hoping for a boring 27 weeks from here on out!

New Year's Eve Countdowns on Netflix to Save Bedtime

Sadie's already asked if she's going to be able to stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve and

I've already given a vague non-committal answer and resisted pointing out that in the last week she voluntarily went upstairs, brushed and flossed and asked me to tuck her in at 7:30 pm, a full half hour before her bedtime, because she was so sleepy, so I think that the actual chances of anyone in the house making it to midnight stand somewhere between slim and none.

Last year Netflix saved the day by coming out with a kid's countdown that could be played at any time.  This year the selection has expanded and this afternoon the kids and I previewed them and came up with a list of the Top Five Netflix New Year's Even Countdowns for this year.

This is how we'll be doing New Year's several hours before it actually arrives in our time zone.

The Countdowns range from one to three minutes.  And overwhelmingly my kids loved the same one.  Their first choice is:

All Hail King Julien's New Year's Eve Countdown

It's the same little countdown as last year.  They loved the weird little lemurs dancing to club music, surrounded by flashing lights, just as much this year as they did last year.

I possibly should note that when I turned this Countdown on in Paul's presence to write this post, he decided that 9 o'clock was a perfect time to go upstairs and immediately fled the room.

Puffin Rock New Year's Eve Countdown

This is my favorite countdown. I like to think that it's James' favorite too, although the fact that he stopped nursing to watch the lemurs, and totally ignored the cute little Puffin, makes me think otherwise.

It shows an adorable little puffin as he remembers 2015 and prepares to welcome 2016.  It's the least flashy of the options, and maybe if James is the last man standing on New Year's Eve, we'll watch it together before he goes to bed, since he isn't old enough to tell me he wants to watch the lemurs, yet again.  

Care Bears and Cousins New Year's Eve Countdown

The title of this one pretty much sums it up.  The Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins dance and cartwheel their way through a fireworks, confetti and heart filled New Year's Eve countdown.

If I'd had to guess which one my kids would love I would have totally picked this one.

Inspector Gadget New Year's Eve Countdown

This one ranked high on Sadie's list of favorites as she giggled through watching "Go Go Gadget" (as she called him) blunder his way through saving a New Year's Eve party, while Penny and Brain work to save the day.

Mr Peabody and Sherman New Year's Eve Countdown

This was my least favorite of the Countdowns that we watched, but it did get some extra points since it showed Toothless and Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon.  It flashed around so much from one show to another that none of our kids really paid attention to it until the numbers started flashing at the very end.

And those sum up the top five New Year's Countdowns that we discovered on Netflix today!

Last year we had so much fun doing the early Countdown that I'd definitely recommend watching one of them as a quick, sweet New Year's Eve tradition!

My Journey into Decluttering

Another reason for my infrequency in blogging these past few months, besides the pregnancy and the book (the second edit of which should be complete tonight!!!), is that I've taken on the task of de-cluttering the house with a passion.

I'd tried the forty bags in forty days challenge, where you fill up and remove forty bags of belongings from your house (often done during Lent) for the last couple of years and I liked the progress that I'd made, but I needed to continue the work after those forty days were done.

This summer I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up while I was in California and came back recharged and ready to continue the progress that I'd made over Lent.

I didn't strictly follow the ideas in the book above, but it did change my perspective as I gazed around the house and decided what to keep and what needed to go.  And I found myself asking my own set of questions that ran along the lines of "Does someone in the house enjoy this?  Do I use it and need it?" And if I still found myself wavering on something that I probably didn't need "Do I really want to pick this up fifty times a day?" or "Would I rather have this or have more space for our family and another baby?"

The last question led to quite a few items going into the donate bin.

A big part of my problem was that buying new things isn't really a big part of our budget and so I had a hard time letting go of things that I "might need someday."

Still it was easy to start in the basement where there were boxes that hadn't been unpacked in the three plus years since we moved to Michigan.

 If I hadn't missed something or needed it in three years, I probably wasn't going to miss it if it was gone.

I began to divide things into three bags.  There was the consignment shop bag, the donation bag and the trash bag.  The bags quickly began to accumulate.

Paul would come downstairs and eye the fifteen enormous trash bags that needed to be hauled to various locations and sigh and then double check to make sure that he was taking them where they needed to go.

The majority of bags went to Saint Vincent de Paul, quite a few from the lower levels of boxes went into the trash, because the great mouse disaster following the ice storm of 2013 had done a lot of damage (which is why we now have a cat and no mouse problem) as had the various bouts of flooding we've experienced.

A smaller number of bags, with clothes and shoes I could never convince Maggie to wear, and toys that no one was interested in playing with, went to a kid's consignment store where the credit is steadily being recycled into the sizes of clothes the kids now wear.

Some larger pieces of furniture went straight onto the sidewalk, where they nearly always disappear before an hour passes.

All in all, if I haven't missed anything, my current count stands at 97 bags (and sometimes other large pieces that were too large for large garbage bags) that have left the house this year.

Cleaning is much easier.  There are two empty closets upstairs, one which belongs to Sadie, where she keeps things the littler kids might break, and one that's totally empty, except for an enormous pile of clean blankets, that Maggie can put her toys in or escape to when she needs to be in a completely dark room.

I'm not totally done.  There's still one closet, in Patch's room, that is halfway done and the master bedroom is not totally decluttered (having Paul work nights means it's difficult for me to find time to get in there when I'm not about to fall asleep).

While the kitchen is mostly done, I've still found that everything that comes into the house accumulates there so it still needs weekly de-cluttering sessions and I still have some ideas for making the space more efficient.

All in all though, cleaning most rooms in the house is now incredibly simple.  It's not unusual that in the time it's taken for me to put the boys to bed, Sadie will have cleaned the entire downstairs herself and will be proudly waiting to show me what she's done.  It only takes five minutes to do the two main rooms if the floors don't need to be swept.

And the kids are thrilled with it because there's so much room to run around.

I'll probably type up another post, with a bunch of pictures, once I'm totally done and once I've finished painting the downstairs, since I'm halfway done with several coats of primer up, but with most of the walls still not showing off the super durable paint that promises to wipe easily clean that I found at Sherwin Williams... that's also another post and I'll let you know how durable their super durable paint really is once the kids have tested it out with their general every day wear and tear.

But for now I'm about 90% of the way done (the basement was definitely the hardest part of the process) and it's definitely made me more cautious about what I bring into the house (I'm looking at you dollar bin at Target).

I'm hoping that the second trimester gives me that energy boost to carry my through the last little bit before the new baby arrives.  Having every room in order would be a huge help in keeping things running around here!

Feasts Days and Advent

This year I had grand Advent intentions, but I also had a creeping feeling that the morning sickness was going to thwart those plans and in a way it have.  Or at least, it's provided an unexpected Advent, which probably is exactly what was needed even if it wasn't on my checklist.  

Still I've tried to step things up for a few of our favorite feast days, and the kids were pretty excited about how they turned out.  

I started with Saint Nicholas' Day on the 6th.  The 6th was the end of that tough weekend when I mostly stayed laying down, and Sadie was a huge help getting everything ready:

On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception I actually felt well enough to go to Mass.

There were a few moments in the parking lot when the morning sickness made a last stand, and I seriously considered getting back in the car and calling it a day, but once we got inside I was actually okay and the kids were actually pretty good.

Before Mass Sadie had asked me to cut her hair and I did.  So after Mass was over she posed for a picture to show off her new hair cut.

And we tried to get a picture with all the kids, but it was really like a series of outtakes where all the kids looked everywhere except at the camera.

 The next day we hurried over to the tree lot and, for the first time since we celebrated Christmas in Florida in 2011, we got ready to set up a big Christmas tree (as opposed to a teeny tiny one on the mantle that Maggie couldn't reach).

I just had a feeling that, if we set it up off the floor, and got a heavy duty stand and huge screws and bolted it to the table it was on, Maggie maybe wouldn't destroy it this year.

We'd done a couple test runs with the trees in the building where she has therapy, and since she hadn't a) removed ornaments or b) tried to climb them I thought we stood a fair chance.

So we let Sadie pick out a tree:

And got ready to haul it home.  James, as usual, was totally unimpressed by everything that was going on around him and wasn't really sure why he'd had to come along at all.

Once the tree was set up the decorating began.  Maggie had a high fever and was home from therapy and watched the decorating, while Patch demanded ornaments and then screamed at the top of his lungs when he couldn't get them to stay on the tree.

He finally settled in handing Sadie the ornaments once I put the hooks on them, with occasional outbursts when she wasn't decorating at the exact rate that he thought was appropriate.

James thought the whole experience was pretty magical.

I was particularly thankful we'd invested in some "shatter proof" bulbs, when they were on clearance after Christmas last year.

Although I can assure you that if you have a dog who can reach those bulbs (in this case on her hind legs while reaching as far as she possibly can with her neck), they are not puppy proof.  Luckily they're just plastic and not sharp when they're shredded by Great Pyrenees teeth.

Patch was convinced that every tree comes with a monkey.  I have no idea where he got this idea but he spent a full two days walking around, peering into the tree, and saying "I don't see it.  I don't see monkey?  Monkey?!?!?  Monkey?!?!?! Where are you!?!?!?!"

He also sometimes stands under the tree and tells everyone not to touch it, which irritates his biggest sister to no end.

So far the tree is still standing and only four ornaments have been demolished.  And Maggie was only responsible for two of them.

Then came Saint Lucy's Day.

For this feast I found a wreath for $7 at Meijer that looked like it was roughly the size of Sadie's head.  I had some small battery operated tea lights that I picked up last year during the week after Christmas when they were discounted and I twisted the wreath around the lights until they stayed in place.

Then I found one of Sadie's favorite white dresses and a red scarf that we had downstairs and voila, we had Saint Lucy.

The night before the feast I took down a package of Aldi gluten free pizza (it's dairy free too) and I dumped in about a cup of sugar and a bunch of cinnamon.  I mixed it all together, greased up a pizza pan, and formed the pizza dough into a wreath and baked it.

The resulting bread was a huge hit.  All four of the kids came back for seconds and thirds and fourths until it was completely gone.  

Later in the day Maggie put on her mermaid costume and I let the kids break out the Kindle Fires that they were given, in the hopes that if Maggie watches Patch play on hers enough, she may actually try to use it.

She isn't a fan of screens at all the vast majority of the time, but this Kindle has an app that works like PECS board (to help her communicate) and I would love it if she would give it a try when she's having a hard time telling me what she needs.  I loved seeing her sneak over and look over Patch's shoulder.

I'm pretty sure that's progress because she's actually voluntarily looking at it instead of coming over and flipping it over so she can't see any part of the screen, at all.

During a run to the store Sadie showed had tall she's grown when she hoped on Sandy.  I completely failed to get a non-blurry picture... but I had to share this one because look how tall she's gotten! When did that happen?!?!

And those are all of my favorite pictures so far from this slow paced Advent!

I hope that you're having a wonderful season leading up to Christmas!  Can you believe there are only nine days left?

On the Banning of Diaper Bags and Strollers and Why It Could Make Mass Impossible for Some Families

Yesterday there were a flurry of posts on social media about a Catholic Church in Charlotte, that happens to be one of the largest Catholic Churches in the country, and the steps that they are taking to increase security.  

An article in the Charlotte Observer states:

The safety measures will include uniformed and plain-clothes police officers at all weekend Masses along with hired security guards, Monsignor John J. McSweeney told parishioners in a memo emailed Friday. 

The Charlotte church is also banning a list of 15 items in all worship halls. They include: large bags, backpacks, diaper bags, laptops, computer cases, luggage, video equipment, laser pointers, baby strollers, and anything that can conceal items or that clergy and staff determine poses a security hazard. 

The church has already added cameras throughout its sprawling campus. The new measures, McSweeney said, were approved by the church’s safety awareness team.He told the Observer that the measures aren’t a reaction, but “a proactive piece of planning we have for security." 

To continue reading click here.

I have to admit that my first thoughts as I finished reading the article was to imagine what wold happen if these safety features were being implemented at our parish.  Or worse yet, what if they caught on and became standard at parishes across the country?

Mass would be completely impossible for us.  We would no longer be able to go.

Life without a diaper bag wouldn't be the deal breaker for me.  I think I could probably stuff the epi pens and allergy meds into a bag small enough to take inside.  The inhaler that we carry is small, but the spacer and little kid's mask isn't, adding another challenge to the packing of a small bag.

And maybe even a diaper or two could fit into that bag, although I think back to the long months when we had a refluxy baby, who we'd change immediately before Mass and then likely have to change (we're talking entire outfits) another two times before Mass was over because no matter what we did her stomach was miserable and her outfits, and our outfits, were likely to be ruined, forever and ever, on any given day.

We haven't had a baby like that in a long time though.  These days the deal breaker would be the umbrella stroller that comes in with us to Mass each week.

I'll start by explaining why the stroller has become so necessary because over the last couple years it has become clear to me that it is something that bothers some people and that if there's any hope that they understand why it's necessary for us, it needs to be explained.

There have been looks.  Frowns.  Shaken heads.  People do not understand why a child so large isn't sitting quietly in a pew.  Why does she need a stroller?  One couple earlier this fall looked as though they really, really wanted to say something as they turned fully in their seats and shook their head through the glass door at me for the entirety of Mass, mouths turned down in frowns despite the fact that she was completely silent.

At the time I came up with the response in my head of "Why don't you step over here with me and tell Father what your complaint is?" as I readied myself for the words that looked as though they might bubble over at any moment.  It didn't come, likely because I had to take a certain two year old out at the very end of Mass and wasn't there to enjoy whatever it was they seemed bursting to share.

The vast majority of people are kind.  99 out of a 100 are welcoming.  I don't want to make it seem otherwise because I love our parish and most people are absolutely amazing.  But it's hard to miss the shaken head and glare of disgust by someone who won't look away when they see Mae in the stroller that she needs to get through Mass, or hear her sweet chirping voice when she's excited.

At this point we don't ever go in through the glass doors anymore.  We stay in the vestibule.  I tried going in for a while, but she would giggle, or squeal with glee as she stared at the cross and even while I quickly shuffled out with her I would see the looks (which are not the same looks I get on those rare days when I have James with me by myself and he lefts out a cry).

The looks made me sick to my stomach.  I would stare back, waiting until they finally dropped their gaze.  Sorry, no, you don't glare at my four year old (I haven't tried it since she's turned five).

I'd need to go to confession for the thoughts that would fly through my mind.

It hasn't been a problem lately though, because the last two months the morning sickness have allowed me to go to Mass exactly one time,  

But I've gotten away from the point.  The stroller.  We wouldn't be able to go to Mass without the stroller.  Whether or not people understand it, it's her safe space in a busy, noisy, incense filled world.

Maggie has a hard time with certain sounds.  Some of them, we know.  If her sister coughs one time, her face will crumble and she will collapse sobbing "hurts" and clutching her head.  If she hears certain musical instruments, or sounds, the response is also painful.

Often she's excited to Mass.  I've seen her throw back her head and positively glow with joy at the consecration.  Sometimes I hear her whispering to herself about Jesus as she stares at the crucifix.

Other times, that are far more rare, it's clearly too much.  Her stroller, however, has become a safe place.  Most days she sits in it quietly now, but when we've tried to remove the stroller things have gone dramatically in the wrong direction.

One particularly memorable Mass we tried and I got to go home with a broken nose from a stray flailing (and entirely unintentional) kick to the face from the terrified child.

So for the time being, the stroller stays.

I understand the security concerns that have caused this Church to take the steps that they obviously feel are necessary to keep people safe.  The climate we live in is very much filled with fear and this is honestly one of the less radical ideas I've seen suggested.

I hope it doesn't catch on though.  I hope that before they ban the materials that make it possible for many families to go to Mass, they set up walk through metal detectors and have those uniformed police officers that the article mentioned (or perhaps other security personnel), check large, worrisome bags like they do at Disney World (or like they do at the local ER).

A check of strollers outside would be easy to do as well.  Ours has no baskets and no place to hide anything.  It is, quite simply, a seat to help our daughter feel safe.  Again, I'll use the Disney World example where people without large bags or strollers can go in one line, and those who need to be checked go through another.

I also can't help but wonder what comes next.  Will we be taking off our shoes so they can be checked?  Pat downs at the door?  Evil people have come up with plenty of ways to attempt to bypass security checks.  Is that pregnant woman really pregnant or is she concealing something else beneath her maternity shirt?

Mass can be really, really hard for some families.  I pray that we don't see this sort of thing expanding and catching on at other parishes, and making it incredibly difficult, or even in cases like ours, entirely impossible, for families who are trying to raise children in the faith to go to Mass.

I pray for those making these decisions, trying to keep the people within their Churches safe, that they will be prudent in making these decisions and in balancing the actual risks with the real possibility that they're making it impossible for some families and individuals to come to Mass.  

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article49331535.html#storylink=cpy

Uneven

I finally got the picture that I've been hoping to get for months.  

I've described what Maggie's eyes look like over and over again to doctor after doctor.  I'd been told it would be helpful if I could get a picture, but getting a picture when she's having a migraine isn't the easiest task.

Last week she came home after a rough day at occupational therapy.  Usually we hear about how great OT has gone and she's always incredibly impatient to go, so I was surprised when Paul brought her home and said that it hadn't been great and they were wondering if OT should be stopped.

While I tried to keep my head from exploding, and hoped that maybe something had been lost in translation when Paul brought that particular gem (because I find it hard to believe that the child who cries hysterically in pain every time her sister coughs doesn't need sensory focused OT), I took Maggie up to our room and noticed that she definitely seemed a little under the weather.  She lay on the bed while I hung Christmas lights on the windows and set up a line of little fake candles on the window sill.  

She was quiet, but happy to watch the lights and look out the window.  

After a while I lay down next to her and let her look at herself in the camera on my phone.  She loves to do that:

It wasn't until the next day, when I was looking at the pictures, that I realized what I'd captured in the pictures:

Here's an example of a moment when, after being in a bright room for about fifteen minutes, her eyes weren't dilated to the same size.  This is what all the doctors' appointments have been about.

It's a relief to finally have a picture to show the doctors what so many family members and therapists have seen over the last eight months.

I think it's very likely migraines, as the doctors have suggested.  I'm so thankful the MRI was normal.  She does have some moments that seem like they might be absence seizures, so we're keeping an eye on those, although I can't imagine that we'll be able to perform the test the neurologist would want to do to confirm those (Maggie, holding still for half an hour with sensors attached to her head?  I don't think so).

Now hopefully, after a rough week last week, we'll have a migraine free week this week!