Three toothbrushes

I remember I used to dream about little scenes like this. What this represents to me is living with someone and building a life together.

See, I really began to long for family life around the time Mike and I started getting serious. We had only been dating 3 months when he asked me if I wanted to spend Christmas with his family on the East Coast. It was there that we first said the words "I love you" to each other. That combined with seeing up close a great example of a young (very happily) married couple ,made me start to feel giddy at the thought of having that life, too. At that point though, it still felt very far off. I didn't know I wanted to be a housewife until we really discussed it and I prayed about it. I thought I would be working for a few years, at least long enough to pay of my student loans, so I didn't expect a proposal for at least another year, maybe longer. But Mr. Corrigan had a different idea. He had been eager to start building that life with me, and he didn't see how having a little debt was a reason to delay it. We were definitely in love, shared the same faith, and had no serious issues that needed to be addressed. So, 5 months later, on May 16th, he pulled out a ring and asked me to be his wife. Okay, so we were much closer to the dream than I had thought! Still, there was another year to wait as I worked as a teacher, and Mike went to school. 300 miles away. Enter a very painful separation period. We have friends who spent much of their engagement apart and some have told me it was good for their relationship. I don't think it was necessarily good for ours. I have very bad memories of being away from Mike. I still get a knot in my stomach when I think about those days. There are triggers that will make me feel unnaturally sad, and to this day, I will still have bad dreams about it. If anything I suppose being apart confirmed that he was the one for me. I knew that anyway, but still. We will never know if we made the right decision as far as that goes, but at least we can be grateful for where we are now.

Which brings me back to this scene of three toothbrushes. Sitting together happily in the bathroom. I would fall asleep at night comforting myself with the thought of having both our shirts hanging up together in the same closet, of us going to the grocery store together, of us playing with babies. So even though married life is not perfect and not every day is as blissful as my dreams might have made me believe it would be...it really comes pretty close. Yes, having a baby 9 months after getting married was tricky. And my feelings do get hurt when Mike doesn't remember to thank me for the housework that I do. And Louisa pooped in the tub last night. Um. So life is a little messier, a little trickier. It's still what I wanted, and it's what I now have. I love being a full time mother. I love waking up every morning with Mike. I love keeping the house the way I want it (though of course, sometimes things slip a little) I couldn't be more grateful that this is my life, and I don't know how I could be any happier.

Maybe God has plans to show me? :) He's been known to do that sort of thing.

Weekend pictures, again

Not such a clever title, I know. I do remember that I used it last Monday :) But I have an oddly fussy baby (meaning, I'm not sure why she's fussy) and I don't have any coherent thoughts to spare this morning. I think I need to drink more coffee.

I just wanted to get these pictures up from Pike Place. It's nice because it's easy to snap a picture here or there at the market, and you're sure to get a good ones, seeing as how it's so colorful and busy and fun. We took friends who had never been to Seattle there this weekend. It was a good weekend, though very tiring. The ethnic dinner at church was a big hit, so I think I'll write about it later. Not now though. I. have. to. go. get. more. coffee. And to find a way to get this fussy baby's mind off being so fussy!

Then and Now

Ever find yourself wondering how much it cost to have a baby in 1960? This morning, my grandma showed me her baby book. In it there was a page from the hospital records from when my dad was born (well, he was born in '63) and I found it really interesting! At first I thought it was from 1937, the year my grandma was born. But then I saw the date and realized it was from July 1, 1960.

So, it's hard to read but basically a three day stay, including everything from nursery care to labs and drugs, would run you about $203.00. And that's for a private room. If you wanted to go really cheap you could share a room with three other women and get away with only spending $173.00. And if you had a boy, the circumcision would only run you $5.00 :) Finally, anesthesia would cost you 20.00 (I don't know if they had epidurals then) For my friends who have not had a baby yet, it cost us close to $13,000.00 (that includes pre-natal care, which you pay for in a lump sum after you deliver). An epidural costs around $1,200.00. For those brave ladies who had a baby in a place other than the hospital, I know the cost would have been much, much less. Still, anything less than delivering at home would still not be near $200.00. Not to mention pre-natal care and circumcision.

My my times have changed! With all this talk about health care, you have to wonder, how did the cost of having a baby increase that much in less than 50 years?

My grandma; hanging out at the farm in south Seattle

Chubby baby! (I wonder if it's partly because according to her baby book, she was given tomato juice on a spoon at 3 1/2 months, and "mush" at 4 1/2 months. I have no idea if she was breastfed or not)

Boo boo on the mend

Last week Lou got her pointer finger smashed in the door hinge...sadly it was partly my doing :( hard on a mama's heart, that's for sure. Yesterday she lost her nail. I think this could possibly be adding to her misery. She is still sick and continues to be very fussy and clingy during the day and night. How many times did we wake up last night, I could not tell you. :( Lets see...I'm not really sure what to talk about today. I have a few notes so I'll just be lazy and bullet them.

-I have many organizing projects in the works. One is re-arranging the clothes situation. Right now the bedroom is a crazy mess. Having a sick child is not conducive to finishing these projects.

-Mike has been working really hard at his job and even though Lou and I miss him a lot during the day, we are really proud of him!

-Getting excited for Easter! Holy week is just around the corner...first we must suffer and die with Christ before we can celebrate the Resurrection with him on Easter! I can't wait to sing, Christ is Risen at church.

-When will Lulu feel better? I hope soon. Right now she is having "bites" in the highchair next to me. She looks up at me with snot running down her nose and says "dahdah?" She isn't going to be sitting there much longer :( Yes, there goes the juice.

Guess I'll wrap it up then. Me and Lou will be taking it easy, I guess, watching the rain fall and waiting to feel better.

Spring cold

This has basically been Louisa's demeanor for the last few days. She has a cold :( We tried to cheer her up by taking her on a walk last night when Mike got off, usually it's no problem distracting her by being outside...but as you can see it didn't work that well. She would see dogs walking by and would stop fussing to say "daggee" which would distract her for a minute but then she would be upset again. We wanted to hold off on the Tylenol until closer to bedtime because she's also been up half the night uncomfortable! Last night she squirmed and woke and cried...the poor thing. It's no fun being sick, and when you can't express yourself it must be much much harder. Lets hope she feels better soon and gets back to being cheerful Lou.

On a happier note:

Happy Birthday to my friend Aubri! I'm sorry I don't have happier pictures of Louisa to go with your birthday...but I hope you have a great one! :) Love ya!

Weekend pictures

Tulips came from Costco. Mike finally caved after I'd been whining about getting some fresh flowers for some time :) The beautiful bread is Paska which we helped make at our church in preparation for Easter. And the Lou bear is playing with her friend TJ. They were being super social together, handing each other toys and such. They were much happier when the adults were right there playing with them though, so even if they were pinned in and had each other, it was still challenging getting the baking done. Silly kids! Don't you love how Lou is five inches shorter and still a baldie? These two are only 3 weeks apart. :)

A wardrobe

But first! This morning I had a great opportunity to spend time with some like-minded women. It was lovely talking about faith and kids and houses. I enjoyed it immensely, and realized how refreshing it can be to get together with people who think alike and are there to support you in your vocation in life. Everyone needs encouragement, do they not? Lou was extremely tickled to have gotten to spend time with other kids, too. She adores kids...ah, it's so fun watching her interact with them.

Yes, yes we know she would love a sibling ;) you don't have to tell us that :)

Lou's room is lookin' pretty snazzy! I just have a few things left to do, like going from this mess...

To this beauty!

This is her new wardrobe. This actually came from her great-great grandma! I kid you not. It wasn't really used much, so it's in perfect condition. See, my great grandma was an interior decorator (a very talented one, at that) and she sold furniture in her shop called Marian's Interiors over in Bremerton. My grandma (Marian's daughter in law) bought most of her furniture from the store, so many of the pieces we now have were originally picked out by Marian. And she hand picked all the furniture she sold. So it's quite amazing that Louisa gets to have this. How many people can say they have something from their great great grandmother? Also, how neat is it that it's a wardrobe? I'm sure when she's older, if she reads the Chronicles of Narnia, she'll have all sorts of adventures in her room :) At least I would if I were a kid and had my own wardrobe.

Well, it's Friday again. I swear the weeks fly by! We have a full weekend of baking, friends, church, and more. I hope I can squeeze in time to do some Spring cleaning. I would love to get some of our closet space cleared out for Lou's toys. Ahhh, Spring cleaning. :) makes me giddy just thinking about the possibilities, know what I mean!?

Have a happy weekend!

The girl can hang curtains

I'm talking about myself, not Louisa. In case there was any confusion...

A year and a half living here and I finally get curtains up for Lou's room! My husband doesn't even know it yet, but I can hang curtains all by myself (I must be growing up now...)

Aren't they too cute for words? They are much too long but that's okay, I will get them down and hem them. Right now though, I had to show my achievement...and of course now I can see how much to hem them.

Louisa is proud of meStay tuned for more photos of the new room.

Saint Patrick

Happy Saint Patrick's day! Just remember, today is a religious holiday! It is not meant to be about drinking or partying...it's supposed to be about honoring Saint Patrick, who converted literally all of Ireland to Christianity! (Catholicism to be specific :) So today I'll pray for peace, hope, love, and continued conversion of all.

Ah, Louisa. You are my little prop :)

(Hey, check out last year's Saint Patrick's day)

Dear Lord,

Give me a few friends

who will love me for what I am,

and keep ever burning

before my vagrant steps

the kindly light of hope...

And though I come not within sight

of the castle of my dreams,

teach me to be thankful for life,

and for time's olden memories

that are good and sweet.

And may the evening's twilight

find me gentle still.

-traditional Irish prayer

***

Raindrops and Chopsticks

There has been some interesting weather here today! It's been sunny, windy, and rainy. In fact, so windy that we lost power for about an hour. Lou and I haven't made it out of the house yet, but hopefully we will when Mike gets home 'cause we're both going a little stir crazy. At least Lou had this new little piano to play with today. It was totally free. How cute is it? The keys stick a little but it actually plays the notes.
Yay for free mini-pianos! ;)

...now, where is that dadah?

Kitchen Aid

My kitchen helper

I got the apron at Goodwill a little bit ago. It's clearly too big for her at this point, but I thought it would be rather cute for her to use in the not-so-distant future. Got to get her primed for being a housewife like me :)

Pierogi

Friday I made pierogi for the first time. Mike and Pat (and presumably the other siblings) grew up making them, so I had heard tales of hand making pierogi all day and into the night for church. I was glad for the opportunity to learn because they are so delicious! Though I wasn't the most helpful chef in the kitchen (babies tend to get in the way) I enjoyed learning the process and hopefully I at least contributed enough to earn the right to blog about it :) We made them for a church dinner coming up at the end of the month where we are serving Eastern European traditional foods.

Lou watching from the kitchen table and hangin' out with granpa.

***

Well we better get ready for a busy Saturday! Hope you have a good weekend. :D

Ice ice baby

If you want to make yourself a little afternoon treat simply pour your morning's leftover coffee over lots of ice, add half and half or milk (or both), and top it off with a little whip if you like. I did because it somehow reminded me more of a latte that way. I promise it's yummy and easy and it's a great way to not waste that leftover coffee you may have (I always do since I'm the only coffee addict in this house :)

Peace be with you

***

Our icon corner is always changing. I never seem to be happy with it, so I will re-arrange it frequently. Even though there is no perfect way to make an icon corner, from what I understand, certain elements are traditionally included: a candle, a crucifix, an icon of Jesus, one of the Mother of God, and perhaps other saints that may be important in your home. You may also include liturgical colors, icons for feast days, and even foods and incense. Ours, at the moment, only has a few of those elements. But that's okay. Essentially, it is a place to come to when you need peace. A place to quiet the soul and pray. I tell you, there are many distractions for Mike and I lately. We just got new phones, smart phones, and boy are they entertaining! We've both been er, pretty consumed by them.

This morning, though, I glanced over at our icons and stopped for a moment to think about how utterly distracted we are and how I really need to make time in my day for prayer. I love the concept of an icon corner. I know for many it is quite foreign, and maybe even offensive to some. But try to keep in mind that this is a very old tradition, going back to the early days of Christianity. Think about it; the concept of keeping pictures of loved ones in the house is not foreign at all, we all have framed pictures of friends and family around. Well, we love Christ and so having images of Him to look at while praying is actually very logical. The two prominent icons in the picture were written for us by Michael's mom for our wedding. They are stunning, no? If we had nothing else in our icon corner, these would be more than enough.

Again, I know that icons do not appeal to everyone's artistic sensibilities, and that's fine. For me and my husband, and those who attend our Byzantine Catholic church though, they serve to represent the beauty of God. And they remind us to seek out prayer and quiet in our chaotic world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icon_Corner

Today

For today's outing, Lou and I went to the junction for coffee and then to the park. Lou made a friend, a 7 month old who kept wanting to kiss her. It was very sweet. It is very cold out today, though! We couldn't stay for too long because her little fingers were freezing! Lou is napping now while I go online to read blogs and catch up on my email. Then I think I will cuddle up on the couch with a warm blanket and watch a movie. I should probably do something productive, too. There is a load of laundry on the couch for me to fold...I'm sure I'll get to it before Mike comes home...lest he think all I do all day is play, drink coffee, and nap :)

Those pics are taken with my new phone. I did bring my real camera but forgot the battery at home...amazing quality, for a camera phone though, don't you think?

Three's not a crowd!

The monkey has figured out how to climb up the rocking chair. Thankfully, she needs a pillow as a boost. Yes, I know this picture is freaky...don't worry she didn't fall after I snapped the pic. :)

Our weekend was fun and refreshing. As you can see from those other pictures, we had a gorgeous day that we got to enjoy from the grandparent's backyard. Sunday wasn't as nice, but the memory of that Saturday will last for quite some time, I'm sure. I really enjoyed hanging out with my husband, and I'm glad to report that my funk is completely gone. (Hopefully not to return for a long time!) Lou got to spend time with both sets of grandparents and that always seems to make her extremely happy. Speaking of that baby, Lou is learning new things every day! She understands so much. I love to ask her, "do you want me to tickle you?" then watch a little sly smile creep across her face. (It's especially fun to do while she's nursing) She flirts like crazy with other people everywhere we go by waving and blowing kisses. She is walking, though not consistently, and of course there are still many falls. She says "hi" in the sweetest little voice, and it's so endearing when you hear it first thing in the morning. She is in to everything! (Not that this is really a new thing). We have decided to turn our office/sewing room/junk room/guest bedroom back into Louisa's room because she really needs a place to put her toys and maybe start to sleep in (maybe?). I had wanted to work on making the transformation this weekend, but among all the fun activities we did that project got lost. Which is totally fine. I don't have a very busy week ahead so my plan is to tackle that little by little. I discovered that Ikea has the cutest fabric so I want to make some curtains for her, and my grandma agreed to help us buy a few little things like a train rug and possibly a dresser for her. We hope to make it back to Ikea sometime this week to pick those things up. Hmmm...so I got a little off track. I wanted to mention a few other things Lou is amazing us with these days. She is finally interested in sitting down and reading books. She loves the Dr. Seuss' ABC book...and her favorite page (well, isn't it everyone's?) is the Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz. Oh, and she is sooooo very wiggly at church, which is making it lots more challenging to pay attention. But it is also cute because she loves to interact with the other kids and has many games up her little sleeve. She likes to pretend to hand you something then take it away at the last minute. That may not be so cute when she's older and has to learn to share....but right now it's funny. The kids at church adore her. She is Miss popularity, I tell you. Mike and I are called, "Louisa's mommy and daddy" now. Hmmm...oh well. The adults haven't started calling us that, but I wouldn't be surprised. She is very popular with them as well. Lou loves all forms of attention. I think her favorite times are playing on the living room floor with people surrounding her. I am so excited for summertime activities, how fun is it going to be to watch her swimming and going to the beach and playing outside!

Well, I could write so much more but Lou is quickly getting herself bath ready (meaning, smearing oatmeal and mashed bananas all over) and due to a spontaneous morning nap, we are both still in pj's.

Hehe, how did you get through that massive paragraph? The only way I can see is that you love to hear about the main subject of this blog, Lou bear! I realize this, so I try not to talk about myself too much ;)

Hope your Monday is a blessed one. (Actually, I'll go ahead and extend that wish through the week :)

yaya

Neapolitian ice cream

One of the ladies in our sewing class commented that my quilt reminded her of ice cream. :) I guess I can see that too - Neapolitan if anything.

So this is about 6-8 hours of work. Not bad considering it took me almost 6 months to make my first one! I am actually still not done. This is just the quilt top; it needs batting, a back, and finished edges. But I'll have to wait a bit before I can purchase the batting. I'll need to keep my eye out for sales, and of course 50% off Joanne's coupons.

Chilln' at the beach

The bruise is courtesy of me...poor Lou. What a mean mommy she has! People keep telling me once she's walkin' she'll get lots of those but still, it's sad her first one was my fault. I was going to refrain from posting pics until it healed...maybe I should have. It's alot darker today than it was yesterday. We went down to the beach today and it was very nice out. Pretty chilly, but nice enough to enjoy a cookie and some fresh air. I love the beach, and can't wait for summer so we can spend more days down there.

I have been in a funk since last night and I needed to do some things to try and get out of it. I got a lot of encouragement and suggestions from friends so I tried them...taking a hot bath, going on a walk, bein' silly :) Actually, having lunch with my grandma was the most helpful. You know, since having a baby I feel like I'm sooooooo much more emotional. I don't know if I can blame it completely on hormones, but seriously I don't remember ever being this sensitive. If something doesn't go my way (which in this case was the reason for the funk) I find it much harder to get out of that state of mind. Is it being a grown up? Is it having more responsibilities and higher stakes? I don't know what it is, all I know is that I need to continue finding ways to deal with life's disappointments; little and big....

Hmmm, in other news, tomorrow night I should be finishing up the quilt I've been working on and I can't wait to show it off! I think it's pretty cute, although I think some of the fabrics don't quite go together perfectly. It's more difficult than it looks, picking out colors to go together in a quilt. You would think you could just go with anything and it would look nice but that's not really the case. Oh well, I'm still a beginner.

Shirtless

check out those love handles! :)

Our internet is being really sporadic and it's drivin' me crazy! I am using a borrowed network right now which has a sporadic connection. I guess our service, ClearWire, has to send us a new piece of equipment which supposedly will make our connection faster but for the time being it's not working. Funny how you get used to something and when it's gone you realize how much you depend on it. Not that it's super important that I post but I did take some cute photos of Lou yesterday and I wanted to post them!

Now that I'm done ranting about the internet, all I really wanted to say is that some of us are ready for summer weather already :)

I can't wait to have a big flower box put up that my grandma got for me. I'm going to put some cute flowers in it to welcome Spring. Hmmm...maybe next spring we'll have a house with a garden so I can really do some lovely things....