Baby tricks

This little one keeps trying to trick me! A few nights ago I was up with contractions for an hour and a half. I figured it might be fake so just tried to rest through them. But last night she teased me for a whole 3 hours! I was really starting to think she would come but alas the contractions ceased again and left a very sleepy mommy with no baby to hold this morning!

Ouch

(while eating dinner with some of our family friends)

Allia: Mommy, I don't want you to say "Ouch" when the baby comes out of you.

Mommy: Hmmm...I don't think I will say that Allia. (! Does she know we do natural child birth?)

Allia: Please don't say "Ouch," Mommy.

Mommy: Ok, sweetie. I won't.

We are still waiting for her to make her appearance. Any guesses on when? Allia was 4 days early and Mariana was 3 days late. This one is officially due on Wednesday, although we are hoping she will come during the Christmas Octave. However, my children seem to like to avoid any holy days. The girls both missed all the Marian and other great feasts at the beginning and middle of September! :-)

Merry Christmas!

from our family to yours. May the Christ child brighten your hearts and homes this season!











All I want for Christmas is this baby! :-)

No wonder

she's been so cranky the last few days! Mariana that is...

I heard some talking in their room after they went to bed and figured it was Allia because I forgot to take her to the bathroom. So I went in to get her up to go tee tee and what did I discover? The talking was our little Mariana standing in her crib, peeking out the curtains, oohing and ahhhing at the Christmas lights we put up Sunday. Crazy girl! We may have to set the timer to turn the lights off a little earlier so she can get some sleep! She was very upset when I told her to lay down and go night night!

She's got it!

Anonymous family friend: Allia, what do you want for Christmas?

(Mommy thinking to self): Why do they always have to ask things like that..."what do you want?" or my personal favorite since we don't do Santa..."what is Santa bringing you?" The focus shouldn't be on what you are getting!

Allia: Ummmm....lots and lots of presents....for baby Jesus.

Mommy and friend: Awwww...how sweet!

Now that is what I like to hear! :-)

Looking good

I went in for my 37 week appointment today, and things are looking great. Baby is estimated to be about 6 to 6.5 pounds right now, which is right along with her sisters. My body is starting to get prepped by dilating and effacing, so hopefully in the next few weeks we will meet our little cutie! Yay!

A busy weekend

We had a wild one. Austin and I celebrated our 5th anniversary Friday. Yay! I am so blessed to have had five beautiful years with the husband of my dreams!!! We didn't get to do anything special though, because he had the rehearsal and we went together to the rehearsal dinner for a wedding where he was the main singer on Saturday. The dinner was nice but still not an intimate anniversary date or anything! Then we were super busy with all the wedding stuff Saturday, had out of town friends visit after mass Sunday and celebrated a friend's birthday with dinner Sunday. Whew! It was lots of fun though. Here are some pics from the wedding.



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The girls were intrigued with the baby girl of one of our friends at the wedding. Here they are just sitting and talking to her trying to make her smile. It was so sweet!



Allia and her friend "B" danced and chased each other the whole time. They had a great time!

Not a new one!

Mariana: (after hearing that Manah, my mom, badly sprained her ankle): Awwww, poor Manah

Allia: Awwww

Mariana: Awwww, Manah got a big ouchie...now we have to get a new Manah.

Allia: Nooooo!

Mommy: How about we just pray that Manah gets better soon, ok?

Photos for the feast day

The girls were so excited to see the stockings up...Allia is missing from the picture because she went to find Daddy (in the shower!) and tell him to come see!


Digging into the stockings after Daddy read the story....fun!


Mariana enjoys her treat (a ring pop). She sucked on it until it was totally gone and she was totally sticky!!!


This one is of the girls admiring the advent wreath


And here is our Jesse Tree hanging by our kitchen table so we remember to do the reading and place the ornament each morning. This is our first year to do this one (Allia and I made it together as our advent project last year). The girls love it and so do I!

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas!

The buildup to Christmas is so fun. We brought out our stockings today after putting up our advent wreath and Jesse tree on Sunday, and we read his story to the girls this morning before they dug into their stockings. Pictures to follow later...the girls are having a great time today!

Never an empty nest

(conversation while decorating the house for Advent)

Allia (excitedly): Daddy, I really like our house.

Daddy: Good. Me too.

Allia: Daddy, someday when I get big and have to live in a different house, I want to come back here.

Daddy: You will always be welcome here Allia.

(Back to decorating...)

Wow

A word expressing wonder, awe, surprise. I have heard it so many times in the last two weeks when some cashier or other onlooker or occasionally even a friend asks me when I am due. They look at my belly and say, "Wow." Now seriously, my belly is not that big, and I'm due in only one month! Cut a girl some slack people! ;-)

Potty talk

(discussion while in a tiny stall in a restaurant restroom last night)
Allia: Tee tee doesn't come from my womb.

Mommy: Nope.

Allia: I have a womb because I am a girl. Boys don't have wombs.

Mommy: That is right.

Allia: Someday I might have a baby in my womb like you.

Mommy: Yes, but you have to grow up and get married first.

Allia: I think I will get married soon.
(giggles coming from the stall next to us)

Mommy: Hmmmm.

Allia: ...if that is what God wants me to do. But I can't marry myself because I am a girl. I have to marry a man.

Mommy: Yes, that is right.

Allia: Then I can have a baby in my womb.

Mommy: Yes, sweetie, but I think you have a while to grow up first.

Allia: OK, then I can have a baby in my womb like you?

Mommy: Yes, Allia

(exit stall, wash hands and return to dinner)

It's been a rough afternoon....

Here are the girls praying in the hospital after suffering snake bites on their faces.



And the culprit...



Vicious looking isn't he? Thankfully, they both made speedy recoveries and are back on their feet.

A little prayer

Some of Allia's best friends are boys, so she has been learning how to play "bad guy." This has sparked a lot of curiosity and discussion around here. We talk about how bad guys can change their ways and hearts (like the repentant thief in Sunday's gospel...good timing!). So yesterday as we were talking about that, she asked to lead a prayer for the bad guys:

"Dear Lord, please help the bad guys to change their ways and be good so they can go to Heaven someday. Amen."

Thanksgiving

A little late due to all of our projects, but here are the girls all dressed up for Thanksgiving mass.



And here is our meal eaten in the living room courtesy of our flooring project...Mom brought a smoked turkey and Dad made his yummy mashed potatoes, so I only had to do a few sides and pies! :-) It was very yummy!

Some results

Well, I wish I could take credit for the biggest and best project here...the new kitchen floor! The only thing I can really take credit for is the whining commenting on how terrible the used-to-be-white-ten-years-ago linoleum floor looked! I have a very loving, generous, talented father and husband who both did this for me! What a gift! They are so sweet to share my nesting. :-)

BEFORE:




This is just after mopping...see how dingy it looked?!

AFTER:








Here is my homeschooling bookshelf complete with a basket on top for Library books, inspired by Lillian, so that we do not mix them up with our own book collection and hopefully avoid big fines! Quite a few of our books are actually missing out on loan since we are not using them yet, but we still really needed a single space for everything. This seems to work perfectly!



Other projects not pictured are:
One closet reorganized
Our family scrapbook caught up
Stamped and addressed envelopes ready for Christmas letters and birth announcements

Hopefully lots more will be getting done around here...only 5 weeks left (I HOPE!)

Nesting

It is such a divine invention. I mean, when better to suddenly have the motivation to clean out closets and complete household projects with record energy in record time than when you are about to welcome a sweet but very needy little person into your home who will likely put everything on hold for a while?! So I will post some great photos of the projects going on around here soon...but unless something amazingly cute happens, Happy Thanksgiving and I will update the blog in a week or so! :-)

A 2 year old's question

The other evening as I was preparing dinner, Mariana ran in from the backyard excitedly to ask, "Momma, can I play in the ant pile?" In good conscience, I had to say no. However, I quickly clarified, you may play in the neighbor's leaf pile if that is what you mean. She grinned from ear to ear, said "OK" and ran back outside. Ahhh...the back neighbors, to whose yard we have a "secret" gate, have trees that actually shed leaves in the fall. Thankfully they share that joy. We just have immature live oaks that shed tiny leaves in spring...where is the fun in that?!

Happy Baptism Day

to Mariana!

We started out the morning with a yummy doughnut and bacon breakfast then had play group at our house all morning. After naptime we will have a "real" tea party complete with snack and then will go to mass this evening when Daddy gets home. What a happy day for our sweet girl!


(A photo from the birthday tea party)

Surprises

Surprise! Look who I found in the bookshelf that is to become our homeschooling shelf...moved from the garage in front of the fireplace we never use. (Who needs it when you have 80 degree weather in November?!)



Also, we received a wonderful surprise visit from our Godson and Allia's godparents Sunday evening. What a treat...and what a cute little guy. The girls just loved him and so did we!!!

A vocation prayer

Today, Allia made her first personal prayer for her vocation (not one prompted by us). She was telling me how she wanted to have a baby in her tummy someday, so I told her that she needed to pray to God and ask him if he wanted her to get married someday or if he had another plan for her like becoming a nun. If he did want her to get married, then after that she could have a baby in her tummy. She asked me to say a prayer with her as follows:

"O Lord, please let me grow up and be married so that I can have a baby in my tummy someday. Amen"

So sweet. Not quite the open attitude of discernment I was thinking of but still very beautiful! I am glad that my example of being pregnant makes her want to have a baby in her tummy not the opposite!!! Sometimes on my cranky, tired days I wonder...:-)

Big sisters

The girls went to the sibling class at the hospital today and really enjoyed it. I forgot my camera but they didn't mind dressing up again at home for a photo!

Happy All Saints' Day

and happy baptism day to Allia! Lots of celebrating around here!

Here are some photos from our festivities yesterday...All Saints festivities not Halloween ones. We don't do the Halloween thing, so I was thrilled when the church moved their All Saints' celebration to last night. We usually just take that night to go out (somewhere without ghouls) and do something fun as a family. We had lots of fun yesterday getting ready for the party, and we had a picnic in the park to celebrate Allia's baptism today for lunch and will go to All Saints' mass today. Busy fun times!


Making their Grottos...Allia was St. Bernadette, so we did a Lourdes Grotto craft in the morning


The proud crafters displaying their final products (Allia accepted NO help, while Mariana needed a lot!!!)


Saints Therese and Bernadette ready to head off to the church


A lineup of little saints (and one happy Mommy) having fun!

A portrait

This is Allia's portrait of a family that lives down the street from us with six very sweet children, the two youngest of whom are girls Allia and Mariana's age. (the Machas for those who know them) I think it is great that she sees them as lots of smiling faces!

Craft time

I have been trying to include "crafts" in our weekly activities lately...I am not naturally a crafty person except perhaps in scrapbooking and making All Saints' costumes. However, I was inspired by Julia with this one, and we had tons of fun.





Unfortunately the only pics I have of them together are after I gave them paintbrushes, and they stripped their painted clothing off. So those photos are therefore unbloggable. It seems my girls prefer painting with brushes to finger paint...what sophisticated artists!

More fun pics

I think Mrs. Potato Head is missing something...hmmm


A sneak peek for All Saints' Day...trying on costumes for final adjustments


A penny for those thoughts

Life

is never boring with children...who needs a night out at the theater when you can have way more fun at home?!?


The Ascent


The Goal!

Fall fun

Guess which two are ours! :-) They are so proud of their scarecrows.

Under Allia's pillow

this morning I found something as I was changing the sheets (for the first time in several weeks! :-0 ) She had her little crucifix and guardian angel statue that usually reside on her dresser tucked neatly under her pillow. I had not even noticed they were missing amidst our crazy busy life lately. It seems she had decided several nights ago that they did her more good there than up on the dresser. She asked me if I slept with my guardian angel and Jesus under my pillow too. I told her no, that I was content to pray to them but I was glad she wanted them close! So sweet.

Wacky Wednesday

I am having a day to rival Blair's Manic Monday today!

I will spare you the minute by minute account, but here are a few highlights:
(All while trying to clean and cook for Austin's boss and wife who have no children yet and are coming to dinner tonight.)
-After mowing the back yard, hose off the children who ran and rode trikes through the abundance of wet grass clippings
-Clean tee tee accident and bathe child in the recently cleaned bathroom
-Clean stomped on goldfish off the clean kitchen floor
-Wipe up random blood spots off re-cleaned kitchen floor after child cut toe and failed to cry or let me know
-Kill red wasp (yikes!!!) who made it into the house mysteriously
-Clean mess up from children sampling chocolate dessert for tonight

I am sure there is more, but I still have to finish getting ready for the dinner, so I'll have to think on it and add more later!!!

-Husband just came home and caught me blogging instead of getting ready...oops! ;-)

Fun moments from our trip

The girls with their Lolo (Austin's grandfather)


Our newly baptized Godson...what a blessing. He is SO precious I was just dying to hold him, but we had to keep our distance because we all had colds. :-( My desire for he and his mommy not to end up in the hospital had to come before the overwhelming urge to hold and kiss him!!!


The girls shared a strawberry sundae (against my better judgement!) on the way home as a reward for good behavior at the baptism.


The girls had SO much fun playing with their cousins! Fun girl time!

Aside from the cold bug and thunderstorms all the way home, it really was a great trip...and possibly our last out of town venture before baby #3!

From our trip

Allia: (to Austin's grandmother, "Lala"): People who are good go to Heaven.

Lala: Yes, Allia.

Allia: I think you will go to Heaven because you are very, very good, Lala.

Lala: Oh, well I hope you don't see it when it happens.

On the road again

We will be leaving tomorrow morning for a baptism this weekend at which Austin and I gain another little Godson. We are so excited! May it be a blessed weekend for all! See you next week. :-)

One last time

We made our last journey of the year to the pool this afternoon with some neighborhood friends. It was the first time I have been with both girls by myself. We all had lots of fun. I would have taken pictures, but I wanted to focus my attention on keeping everyone safe! So until next summer we will be keeping dry, and next year we will have another little "swimmer" with us! How exciting!

Going to Heaven

Apparently our backyard has a secret...you can skip all that following the commandments stuff and just go straight to Heaven by swinging very high on this particular swing. Pretty great, however there is one catch. Eventually you do have to come back, eat dinner, take a bath and go to bed. But you can return the next day anytime you make it out into the backyard. It's really a pretty good deal!

Learning colors

I think Mariana has finally mastered two of her colors. She has consistently correctly identified blue and red the last few days. The rest are still a little shaky, but yay for her. I was thinking she should get the hang of it soon!

A late note...

from the wonderful feast of our Guardian Angels yesterday:

Allia: Mommy, we forgot to make our special angel craft today.

Mommy: (laying on the couch, ill with a stomach bug but trying to infuse the day with some of the joy of celebrating our angels.) Maybe we can do that when Daddy gets home, sweetheart.

Allia: Can we make real angels?

Mommy: (moan, grumble) No. Only God can make real angels just like only He can make people. He is the one who made baby sister in Mommy's tummy, remember?

Allia: (looking perplexed) Yes, I don't understand why he did that.

Mommy: What do you mean?

Allia: Well, I don't understand why he put her in there where there is no hole for her to get out.

Mommy: Oh, um, well, she will find her way out when it is time, sweetheart. Don't you worry about that.

Allia: (still looking a little perplexed) OK.

Mommy: (to self) Whew!

dinner conversation

(Mommy and Daddy nagging a very distracted Allia to eat her dinner)

Allia: Jesus will eat my dinner because he is in my heart.

Me too!

Mariana says this a lot. She is always trying to keep up with big sister, and now with our little homeschooling lessons it is no different. When I finish Allia's reading lesson, Mariana demands that she have one too. So Allia and I point to a few of the sounds and have Mariana repeat them after us with a little smile on our faces. She loves it!

Reading success

Well, we have formally started homeschooling preschool, which for me means the 100 Easy Lessons Book at least 3 times a week and making a point to use educational toys/puzzles/games daily. I am happy to announce it is going great! Allia is breezing through the book so far. It says "20 minutes a day," but I don't think we have spent over 15 minutes yet because she is just picking things up so quickly. I know all of our homeschooling days will not be so easy, but I am sure enjoying a good start at least! I am so proud of her and so excited for her to be able to read on her own soon!

Lessons gone awry

Today at the lunch table, Allia spontaneously proclaimed that she likes Prince Romance. This is one of the princes from the book, The Princess and the Kiss, which we really like. My sister was so sweet to get it for her for Easter. It is one of Daddy's favorite books to read to her.

Anyway, the problem is that in the end the princess chooses the humble farmer out of all the men courting her because he saved his kiss for her just as she did for him. Why, then, does our Allia favor Prince Romance? "Because he gives the princess chocolate, and I like chocolate." Hmmm...not the message we were hoping she would get. We obviously have some work to do here!

Healthy, growing girl

We were able to take another peek at our sweet growing girl today. At our last ultrasound, they couldn't get a good shot of her heart. Today we saw a much bigger, very sweet and healthy baby...definitely a girl! Supposedly she weighs a little under 2 lbs right now. We can hardly wait to meet her. She even stuck her little tongue out at us during the ultrasound! So cute!

A birthday treat

I really like store made cakes, so I grabbed some birthday cupcakes for Mariana and I at the store this morning. All they had were ones with brightly colored icing, so it made for some fun eating experiences!