Feast Day Concussion and a Swim meet and ice skating

This weekend we had a feast day celebration at church for our parish's patron St. Thomas Aquinas. We went to mass followed by a dinner. It was so nice to visit with some of our church friends! However, when it was almost time to go (why do things always happen right before bedtime?!), Anastasia decided to imitate some older kids who were improperly using some little kid equipment for the church day care. She climbed on top of this big plastic tree, and due to everyone else trying to do the same thing, was promptly pushed off head first. It was probably about a 4 foot fall, and she landed squarely on her head. She was crying in pain (this girl has a high pain tolerance) and then was strangely mellow/lethargic and a little disoriented. After this continued for about 15 minutes, we decided it was time to go! It lasted about another 30 minutes before she started acting normally. So scary! We watched her carefully the next 24 hours, but she has been fine except for head pain when she is too active. Whew! It was scary but we had nurse Manah with us, advising us as to what needed to be done. So thankful our sweet energetic girl is ok!

In other news, Allia had her first USA timed swim meet Sunday afternoon. I requested but didn't receive photos because they snagged Austin to help time events. She swam well and made some big improvements!

And Mariana passed her testing so she moved to the next level in figure skating! Yay!

Miscellaneaous

We try to keep Sundays for family time. Some sweet friends who were sick and missed the gymnastics party dropped by gifts for the kids including these snap circuit sets for Gloria and Stephen. So Austin made a fun Sunday science lesson out of them.

 The kids suddenly got into skating (it helps that our street is incredibly smooth after just being resurfaced). Anastasia and Stephen have been inspired to learn. This girl has no fear!

And just for fun, a cute chubby sleeping baby face. Cecilia is in the running for easiest girl baby (yay! but still not quite up there with the boys) in large part because she will still nurse to sleep or nurse to comfort even though she is past the sleepy newborn stage. Stephen was our only other baby to do this, and it really just makes life so much easier when you don't always have to rock/pat/dance them to sleep!

baptism photos

We have the baptism photos! I am putting her baptism photos back with the original post so they will be in chronological order.
http://catholicriddle.blogspot.com/2016/12/happy-baptism-cecilia.html

Girl talk

She is starting to find her voice and makes the happiest expressions when she does!

More smiles

Just to be fair, not long after I wrote the previous post, Cecilia smiled a bunch for Anastasia. It is tough for me to catch on camera so these are sort of half smiles.

Smiles, etc.

We get so many smiles from this little one...but it is usually the older crowd. A few minutes after being placed in the arms of someone younger, Cecilia typically starts screaming. However, Sebastian got several smiles from her the other day! He was so proud...and so was I. :)

She is quite comfortable with Allia and actually often lets me pass her off when she is sleeping on me. We called this position "Splat" because it looks like she was flying and just ran into Allia and fell asleep!

Austin is the other person she will sometimes happily sleep with besides me. Luckily he was off work Monday, so I scored a little extra hands-free time. Priceless!

Outdoor time!

The only advantage to weather in the upper 70's in the middle of January...plentiful outside play time!
Cecilia loves outside when it isn't cold!

All the older kids have been really enjoying themselves. We have some friends coming over after school the next couple of weeks who are getting ready to move to our neighborhood, so they even have plenty of playmates!

Sickies

We had a cold run through the house early in the week. I tried my best to keep Cecilia safe by holding her a lot, nursing with a blanket over her, and setting her down only in her car seat on a high surface. It was a tough few days but worth it not to have a sick newborn. Once they seemed to be over it I still had the kids wear these masks to hold her for a few days!

Fierce guy and baby stuff

Stephen received a new light saber for his birthday, so now we have two. Sebastian loves fighting with him and makes the most hilarious "Fierce" faces and noises!

 This girl loves to be held...good thing we have lots of hands around here! She especially loves Mommy, of course, with Daddy and Allia tied for 2nd place. But Mariana is her favorite diaper changer. ;)

 We had some super cold weather, and I discovered that Cecilia loves this blanket (which is actually monogrammed Anastasia's), so much so that she fell asleep in it several times and even let me put her down (like our most of other babies she has a strong preference to sleep on me right now!).

Happy 9th Birthday, Gloria!

We just keep celebrating around here! Gloria turned 9 yesterday. She opened her family gifts, and I made her favorite cake.

Gloria is such a sweet girl. She is always happy to pray, and if the kids are fussing over something she will often give up her right to the biggest/best/most wanted thing without being asked. She is also the most generous with hugs, kisses and snuggles. I just love her big smile and sweet nature. May God bless you with another year to grow in virtue, Gloria!

Baby stuff

Cecilia turned 1 month old yesterday! She is the smiliest newborn I have ever seen and such a sweet baby!

Happy Birthday, Anastasia!

She turns 5 years old today. She has been asking me to count the days for soooo long! She was up bright and early with her big bright smile lighting up her face. She opened family gifts, and we had plenty of cake and leftover Christmas treats to help celebrate. I baked ahead on Sunday since we just celebrated Stephen's baptism day yesterday.

Allia labeled her "most excited gift opener." She is thrilled over every little gift. So sweet. Anastasia, you are quite handful sometimes, but you are so full of life and vigor and joy. I can't imagine life without you! I am constantly thinking, "She's gonna change the world someday!"