Writing In My Diary v. 2

:noticing God's glory: A gorgeous, a little chilly but not COOL fall day yesterday.

:listening to: Not YET because it still hasn't arrived, but I pre-ordered the Benedictines of Mary Advent CD and am so excited for it. Not sure when it is supposed to come, since it was released last Monday; I ordered it from their site and not from Amazon. So, hopefully today?

:clothing myself in: A cute new shirt from Gap! It's actually dark gray, not pink, and I paid less because I got it at the outlet, PLUS I had a gift card. I never used to like the cowl thing but this shirt is really flattering. And SO soft.

:thinking: about Cyber Monday and how I should check out the deals. Nate needs some church pants, plus I need to get together what they are wearing for Christmas. Also, some Christmas gifts...

:pondering prayerfully: "Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen."

I must, must, MUST do the St. Andrew Christmas novena this year. Especially now that I have an Andrew!

:cultivating rhythm: Today is the start of a new week. I plan to nestle in deep, do some crafts and lots of reading with the boys, some cooking, some napping.

:creating by hand: I am working on a painted peg people set (my first ORDER!) and some Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Nicholas dolls. Also, not exactly by hand, but, our wedding album. Finally putting it together on Blurb and will be ordering it this week, hopefully! And our Jesse tree ornaments. Maybe not by hand... I have 6 days to figure out what I'm doing there.

:learning lessons in: The importance of a gate for our stairs.

:encouraging learning: We did some fall/turkey crafts last week, and have been discussing east/west in the car a lot, mostly in relation to where the sun is because if the sun is in our eyes, we throw fits. ;)

:keeping house: We had a pretty tidy house, even with Thanksgiving craziness! A little messy today, but we'll put things back in order. The laundry is all caught up and the bathrooms are decent.

:in the kitchen: Cute turkey cookies for Thanksgiving. I took a picture but haven't uploaded it yet, of course! I'm planning on doing a little freezer cooking this week. Twice-baked potatoes are definitely on the menu. We've also been really into Alfredo Pizza, our own little knock-off from the Olive Garden one (which I had on our last date and LOVED.)



:loving the moments: We finally moved Nate out of the crib and into a toddler bed. He really is ready for a twin, but for the sake of not having to buy something new right now, we did the toddler one. He was SO cute when he saw it. Just finished night 2 and I don't *think* he has gotten out of bed at all! Even in the morning, he yells "Mommy, I'm awake!" and doesn't jump out until I open the bedroom door.

:planning for the week ahead: Jesse tree, Christmas photo for cards, Advent starts Sunday! We need an Advent wreath, still!

:funny things: My parents sent their cow away to be bred and she ended up having a calf while she was there!? Apparently she got in with a bull some time in February, unbeknownst to everyone.

Andrew still sleeps in the pack and play in our room, but will be moving to the crib in the boys' room shortly. Since he is so easily distracted when trying to sleep, we have always tossed a blanket over the side to keep him from seeing us. More often than not the last few days, he has sat up, pulled the blanket down, and grinned with anticipation while waiting for us to notice him.

We are on a Cinnamon Chex kick lately. Right now Ben is picking out ONLY the cinnamon pieces and leaving the plain ones in his bowl. "I like cimmon."

Every time we pass a Holiday Inn, I get requests to go to Indiana. They don't understand, though, that Indiana is actually a different state... to them, the Holiday Inn IS Indiana, and they only want to go there for the elevator.

Chevron Baby Blankets

I fell in love with the knitted chevron blanket idea ever since Dana of Made posted a link to The Purl Bee's baby blankie. She was going to knit one of her own for the baby in her belly. I had a baby in my own belly, and thought I would make one too! I hit a roadblock, though, because I don't knit. At all. So she gave birth to a baby that was welcomed into the world by one of the most beautiful blankets I have ever seen, and my baby came into the world to a JoAnn Fabrics' bag full of skeins of yarn. I made a few sorry attempts at crochet, but I couldn't get it right.

Then a few months ago I stumbled across the blog Hopscotch Lane (thanks, Pinterest!) and her own version of a chevron blanket. CROCHET. With a link to a pattern! A simple pattern that a novice like me was actually able to read.

So I whipped up my own crocheted chevron blanket. And I copied her color scheme because I am unoriginal like that. And used her yarn suggestion - I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. (I did use a slightly different shade of yellow - a more buttery, pastel shade rather than a bright hue.)

I was extremely happy with the way it turned out! And I love, love the colors. When I first started the project, I wasn't thrilled with the yarn (it didn't feel "soft" enough), but once I got it all together it felt nicer. I would definitely use it on a newborn after a couple washes to soften it up a little more.

I then decided to make another one for a friend who just had a baby girl:

Like my chair, splendidly modeling my handiwork? I thought it might look pretty to take a picture of the blanket hanging over the rail of a white crib, but when I went to prepare the shot, I thought that a chewed up crib rail with chipped off paint may not have been as visually appealing.

This one is made with Caron's Simply Soft, a recommendation from my sister-in-law. VERY soft and perfect for a baby. Originally I thought this was a strawberry-ish color scheme, but the more I worked, the more apparent it looks more like a watermelon!

The blankets measure somewhere around 30" by 30" (they are folded over in the pictures). And I have already bought enough yarn to make at least 3 more. Because I'm a hoarder of all things craft-supply-ish!

Does It Get Much Better Than This?

I don't think so. ;)

Bliggity-Blog

:noticing God's glory: in a chubby baby.

:listening to: Audio Sancto sermons. An old familiar sound. Much-needed spiritual inspiration tonight.

:clothing myself in: warm clothes! It suddenly got really cold here! New bright green fleece jacket - my fleece from last winter is a little stretched out in the belly. ;)

:thinking: about being a blogger (not necessarily HERE, as this little spot has been sorely neglected lately!). Reaching people through writing. Getting over writer's block. Choosing a topic I'm passionate about, getting my point across to move someone's soul. That awkward moment when someone says "Hey I read your article!" Will I ever get over that twinge of embarrassment and wondering quickly if I said anything that could possibly be construed as offensive or misguided, while smiling and nodding and feeling a little like a fool? Oh, how fun it is to be a melancholic. ;) Losing a bit of my anonymity, which is something I have valued. Yes, in my writing I express the "real me" and sometimes even baring my soul, but that makes me vulnerable. Darn human respect! 

:pondering prayerfully: "We would be well on the way to perfection if we could weed out one vice from ourselves each year." ~ Thomas a Kempis. Thinking about this one a lot today.

:cultivating rhythm: um... I am in desperate need of working on this one. Feeling a bit overwhelmed in that area lately. That perfectionist thing?

:creating by hand: THIS I have been doing. I crocheted a baby blanket for a friend and am working on another, and will need a third when I am done here. So first friend's baby is now a month old and second friend's is nearly two weeks, but that's okay, right? :) Someday I will take pictures. And maybe even mail them. 

:learning lessons in: humility. today. At least, receiving the lesson, hopefully I am learning from it.
Also, I need to keep an account of the lovely happenings around here, for my own sake.

:encouraging learning: Gathering materials for a Jesse tree. I have one old enough to actually understand this year, and another one close behind!

:keeping house: see cultivating rhythm, above. I did run the dishwasher today (and empty it)... tomorrow will be a new day.

:in the kitchen: chicken pot pie for dinner. Nate said, "I don't like chicken pot pie!" Oh, but Scout does. Scout does because Nathan does, or, did, back in the day. They got a kick out of Scout talking about CPP. Still picked at it...

:loving the moments: Parlor Entertainment on Sunday. Nate & Ben performed the first stanza of "The Cow" by Robert Louis Stevenson. Nate was the farmer and Ben was the friendly cow. Oh. my. So delightful. Uncle Pat dressed up like George F. Handel (complete with the wig) and played a minuet. Adorable!

:planning for the week ahead: plan for Thanksgiving (8 DAYS away!?) fall clean. look ahead towards Advent.

:funny things: Ben requested "Cap in the Hat" before bed tonight.

Nate: The 10 Commandments song in the car - watching him sing in the rearview mirror. "The 9th Commandment of God: Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wipe!" LOVE. Those wipes are pretty tempting, though, especially when your neighbor has some and you have run out.

Andrew: everything he does is funny. and he knows it! He made friends with every single elderly person in the waiting room at the doctor's office today (and there were a lot of them, we waited a long time!) 9 months, 24.6 pounds and counting. 5 teeth. I love him.

Birthday Season

We've had 2 birthdays in the last week and are preparing diligently for a big birthday bash on Sunday.

Our party theme is Thomas the Tank Engine meets raccoons. That's what they picked! Nate chose Thomas, of course.

Raccoon decorations made from paper hanging lanterns. In the process of making five more!

I like to make a big deal of birthdays, especially since we will do the boys' party together for the foreseeable future. We have a little celebration at home on their actual birthday, but for their real party with grandparents and aunts and uncles, it's just too hard for people to come to parties two weekends in a row (right around Memorial Day weekend and lots of graduation parties, no less). So for now, we pick a theme and do some fun decorations, a pinata, things like that. No pony rides or anything super spendy. ;) Is it for me as much as them? Maybe, a little bit. But I love it. I enjoy making cakes and decorations. It's my thing. :)

and the fire department came...

I took Nate to an eye appointment this morning, and dear sister Meagan graciously offered to keep the younger boys so I could take him alone. She planned to run into the grocery store with the boys to grab something for our mom, and then take it over to her and stay and play for a while, so I left the carseats.

After the appointment, my mom called me. The conversation started with: "Don't worry, everything is fine now, but there was a little bit of an accident..." Meagan had gone out to put Ben's carseat in her car, and he locked her out of the house. Key-less. and phone-less. Andrew was nestled safely in his carseat inside, asleep, and Ben was peering out the window grinning (oblivious to what he had actually done - he knew he had disobeyed by locking the door but he doesn't understand that locking a door means you can't get back through it).

She knocked on some doors but the neighbors weren't home, and by that point, the neighborhood mowers who happened to be around noticed something was wrong. One of them let her borrow their phone, and she called my mom (apparently the message went something like: "This is Meagan. Someone NEEDS to pick up the phone right now. This is serious. Pick up the phone!"), who told her she needed to call 911 because "you can't leave that baby in the house alone!" So, 4 firefighters came to unlock the door (must have been a slow day at the station).

Ben & Aunt Meagan riding in a fire truck last fall. there has to be some connection here...

Yesterday we were at Granny & Grandpa's (my parents) and I was teaching piano lessons. My dad walked into the kitchen to find Ben with a cup pressed up against the water dispenser on the fridge, with water just pouring on out... all over the floor. He smiled and said, "I getting a dink, Grandpa!" Everyone else does it! Can't argue too much with that.

                           

Tonight, Nate was climbing on the bean bag chair in their room and fell against the window and hit his head pretty hard (I think that poor boy just needs a helmet). Brian was comforting him and his sympathy and attention were duly noted by Ben, who proceeded to walk over to the window, bang his head against it, and fake cry.

wearing a coonskin cap while eating Rice Krispies with his hands; that's how we do it!

oh, dear Ben. I love you. you are such an imp.

Little Sister

My cute sister blogged about my little wooden people! Months ago. I didn't even know she had a blog. How embarrassing.

{is my title misleading? the boys are not getting a little sister yet.} ;)

Andrew Ryan

Months have gone by since this little guy was born.

But memories of the day haven't faded, although they get a little foggier as the weeks go by. I've been meaning to write a few of the memories down for a while now, but life has gone on without me taking the time to sit down to do it.

I was convinced he was a girl. Absolutely convinced. Not because I necessarily wanted a girl more than a boy - we told everyone that we would take what we were given - but because my pregnancy was SO. DIFFERENT. I spent the first 20 weeks not wanting to eat a thing. The nausea wasn't too bad (and only from about weeks 6-9?), but the total loss of appetite helped me hit the halfway mark without gaining a pound. I had acne. My belly was small. Tiny, really, compared to my other pregnancies. This MUST be a girl pregnancy.

20 weeks

My pregnancy was uneventful, and went by FAST. I would blink and another trimester would be gone. The 3rd trimester especially flew by, because we had Thanksgiving, and then Christmas, and all the hustle & bustle surrounding them, and then suddenly I was full-term. I walked into my appointment at 38 weeks and my doctor said "Wow, that went by really fast!" And then we talked about eviction. My due date was January 26. The other boys didn't come on their own, and we were all really hoping this one would. He didn't. We checked into the hospital in the evening of January 31. I've started with prostaglandin gel every time, and once my water is broken my labor starts. I've never needed Pitocin (which I've heard referred to as "from the devil" enough times that I'm grateful I've never needed it!)

in the hospital before gowning up

But something different happened this time. The gel actually put me into labor without my water being broken. It was WEIRD, but an experience I'm really grateful for. I'd never experienced "textbook labor" - where you start off having contractions, not very painful, far apart, that get closer and closer together and more painful. Both of my other labors went from 0 to 100 as soon as my water broke, both on the speed and pain scale. But this? These contractions were manageable! I was actually in labor but I could still chat on Facebook! (which I did, for a while. I stopped checking in around midnight.) I walked around the room. Over and over and over. Brian dozed for a little bit. And then it got hard. And after many hours of "wow, this is pretty hard, I hope morning comes quickly!"... no progress. "I think the doctor really just needs to come in and break your water!" my nurse said to me, at least 3 times. I had a lot of back labor and he was sitting in an awkward position.

I decided against the epidural - I had one with Ben and got it too late, so not only did it not work all that great or for very long, but I also had a lot of residual back pain. My doctor warned me that once he broke my water I couldn't get it because I would probably go super fast, and my thought was, "I've been doing this for 10 hours now, if I wanted an epi I would have gotten it a long time ago! I've made it this far..." And really, I wasn't at that "Am I Going To SURVIVE This!?!?" point. Yet. And in retrospect, I'm really glad I didn't get it. Minus the Cervadil at the beginning, my labor & delivery was literally totally drug-free (normally I get sick a lot during labor so I have Zofran to help, but I didn't even get that this time).

Andrew was born a crazy 45 minutes later, at 9:10am, weighing 8lb, 5oz. That part is always a little bit of a blur to me - they handed him to me, Brian was chuckling and said "It's a boy!" and I said "REALLY!?!?". He was SO sweet. I fell instantly in love. He seemed SO SMALL! He screamed for about the first half hour of his life outside the womb, but then was perfectly content to snuggle and snooze.

Some people don't like to name their babies until they've seen them and figure out what name fits them. I'm the opposite - I like to have a name ahead of time. I like looking at the baby for the first time and calling him by his name. I figure they grow into their names. ;)

Later that day, grandparents and aunts and uncles and BIG BROTHERS came up to visit. Everyone loves a new baby. Ben was especially enamored.

One of the first things the nurses who cleaned him up after he was born noticed was that he was tongue-tied. Our doctor thought it would be best to get his frenulum clipped right away, but the ENT who came to see us in the hospital wanted to wait a few weeks because of the risk of infection. In those few weeks, Andrew gained plenty of weight and didn't seem to struggle with nursing too much, but it was pretty painful for me. The surgery was a quick office visit, nothing super serious, but it was still hard for me to watch. Most people I had talked to whose kids had the same thing said it was fairly painless and hardly bled; not the case with Andrew. But it was over quick and he seemed normal by the next day. He kept rolling his tongue around in his mouth and sticking it out, almost like he was thinking, "What's this thing!?" And nursing suddenly became SO MUCH BETTER.

Immediately after he was born, my reaction was "that was so hard!" because it was so much LONGER than my other two (Nate's was just over 6 hours and Ben's was 3.) But in retrospect, it was also the one that I "enjoyed" the most (that sounds crazy! but I felt like it went better than the other two.) I always find things to be really raw and emotional right afterwards, and I immediately swore I was getting pain meds next time. I don't get those euphoric pain-free moments after birth. I'm in love with the new baby, of course, but I'm usually asking for ibuprofen and saying "ow ow ow" as I bond with the new little guy. But now that a little time has passed, the memories are a little rosier in my mind. Time really does heal. 

Little Andrew, you are the best baby. I thought the others were easy, but you? You have the sweetest and most mellow temperament. You hardly ever cry. I feed you when you are hungry and change you when you are wet, and that's all it really takes to keep you happy. If you are fed and changed, you just grin and grin. You love to be held, but you also don't mind laying on the couch or on the blanket next to all the action. You LIKE your carseat and will fall asleep in it (unusual in our house!). You like your bed. We got a new full-size bassinet/playpen for Christmas from Granny & Grandpa because the old one was sinking in, and you sleep in it! Without fussing! For hours and hours every night! God had mercy on me and gave me a good sleeper because He knows sleep deprivation is the biggest cross for me. I thought it was a fluke and refused to talk about it at first, because once you brag about your good sleeper then suddenly they aren't. But you seem to be holding steady. I was a little worried that you were going to be colicky your first few weeks, because you were pretty fussy in the evenings, but that dissipated and now you are RARELY fussy.

I'm so grateful that God gave you to us. You have given me yet another perspective on the beauty of new life, the wonder of babies, and the love a mother has for her children. I already can't imagine my life without you.

Another Semester Over...

and now I should have a little more free time. whew! 3 more classes down, about 8 more to go. And a whole summer to catch up on the little things that have fallen by the wayside.

I've been blogging a little for Catholic Sistas lately - 30 Things Every Mother Should Have and Should Know last week, and another post coming on Friday. :)

St. Daddy and Other Prayers...

We've recently started adding a "mini-litany" to our night prayers, including the boys' first and middle name-saints. After a few days, Ben realized that we were leaving out 2 family members' names (even though Brian & I would include our patron saints, he didn't make the connection). He now insists on saying "St. Mommy, pray for us," and "St. Daddy, pray for us." Nothing can deter him.

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The boys have gotten really eager about praying the Rosary in the evenings (their enthusiasm usually wears off by about the 2nd decade, but we're working on it!). Tonight Nathan clearly asked if we were going to pray the "grocery." I had him repeat himself several times, just to make sure that was really what he was saying. Sure enough. "I have a white 'grocery' and Ben has a blue 'grocery'!" I wonder if he's confused about why Hy-Vee is called the "grocery store", then? I've never seen a rosary for sale there.

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I've decided to finally let go of my blogging ideals - I may or may not post daily, or weekly, or however often you're supposed to post to be considered "active." So many times I have thought about writing a blog post but didn't want to make the "commitment" to jump back in - isn't that silly? Really, it's sad, because I'm not great about journaling the little things that happen around here - the cute sayings, the things I want to remember. I know there are dozens of adorable things the kids have said that have already slipped my mind, and things we've done that I have forgotten details of. I DON'T WANT TO FORGET. So I'm going to try to be better about recording them here. I would love to do a journal for each of my kids, but that's not realistic for me. I would rather have a few sporadic posts here and there than NOTHING at all! I would also rather have lots and lots of short posts than just a handful of long, detailed ones because I'm too intimidated/busy/tired to write long, thought-out posts, perfectly crafted posts.

(I am really good about scrapbooking and baby books, BUT, I tend to do those months after the actual events have happened, and I've already forgotten the cute things that were said that day and the specific details. So I have lots of PICTURES, but nothing written.)

(Oh yeah, and I did have another baby, and I AM planning on writing a long, thought-out post on him and everything surrounding his birth sometime soon! But my blocks of time are still limited - he requires lots of snuggles, and typing and cuddling don't mix.) ;)

To Nathan:

We went on a date today. I felt like you needed some mommy time. You've done SO well adjusting to our new little addition, and are such a kind and gentle big brother. But in the bustle of activity at home, you seem to be getting more frustrated and easily upset. It's hard being two. You have to do lots of things you don't really like... letting us help you brush your teeth (you want to do it yourself), take naps, eat food you don't care for (you are a pretty picky eater.) And you have to share and take turns with your little brother. It's hard to remember that. So we went out together, just you and me. You love the library - so we went there first. And you got to do whatever you wanted. You went for the Thomas trains, and then the puzzles. Then we discovered the computer with games. You had so much fun pressing the keyboard, which made the musical instruments on the screen play notes. And you were so adorable with those little headphones on! You could have played that game forever.

I let you pick out a movie. You picked the Leapfrog Christmas movie to bring home - we borrowed it a couple months ago and you watched it so many times. You call it "Christmas Tad" - I don't think we'll ever go to the library now without borrowing a copy of Christmas Tad. :) You also picked something out for Ben. Sweet boy.

We stopped by the post office afterwards to grab some stamps and mail a letter, and then we went to Sonic for a treat. I unbuckled your car seat and let you climb up into the front while we waited for our ice cream. How cool were you!?

The whole time we were in the car, you clutched that movie in your hands. You were so serious about it.

Then they brought our food. We got ice cream to share, and some fries and a drink. You aren't into ice cream all that much - you had a few bites, but were mostly interested in the fries. You got your own box and that was just the best thing ever.

We headed home after that, listening to our Wee Sing CD all the while. You LOVE that CD. We can't listen to anything else in the car now. You and Ben always request the CD and are not happy until I turn it on. It's cute to hear you sing along. If you try to sing and can't keep up with all the words, you just sing the last word of each line. And you have great pitch, too.

You were sad when we got home, because you knew it was nap time, which you hate - but, you still need. We would have difficult evenings if I let you stay up in the afternoon. Usually you cry for a couple minutes, but then conk out, always with your pillow over your head or most of your body.

You have the cutest little personality. You can be so serious one minute, and so happy and goofy the next. You love puzzles, playing with balls, and your trains, of course. You can write all your letters (always uppercase) and are finally starting to draw things other than letters! You know all your colors, and your new favorite thing is to talk about your "favorite color." Your favorite color of the day always corresponds with what you're wearing. Yesterday you wore a white t-shirt to bed, and your favorite color was white. Today your shirt was red, and so was your favorite color. It cracks me up. You noticed one day that when your glasses caught the sunlight a certain way, there was a "rainbow" on the lenses. Now you always try to find the rainbow. You'll stand by the window and tilt your head around until you can see it. :)

I love all the cute little things you do, and I don't want to forget any of them. I can't believe how quickly you're growing - you'll be 3 in a couple months! Three years old! That is HUGE! I was talking to Daddy last night about how old you're getting. He's excited to see you grow up, but I want you to stay little forever. But since that can't happen... I really want to cherish every minute I have with you, to enjoy all your precious little moments. To live in the moment while not being melancholic about the future. I'll keep trying.

Nate, you are awesome. :)