Happy Friday!

Out

Today's weather was much more conducive to a walk in the park. Thank goodness, because staying indoors all day in a smallish apartment isn't really all that fun (for a toddler.) I know we best be taking advantage of these days while we still can!

Again - I hope you are all taking note of...the HAIR! :)

Slowly painting the day away

It's been an indoor kind of day. The wind is howling, the rain is pouring - it's darnchilly (not inside of course, it's perfectly warm enough to go shirtless, as you can see)

Plus we are kind of stuck without a car...

...so I got the paints out and cut up some sponges for brushes. We did some painting, made some silly faces, took a second bath. And that took up some time. Though truthfully this day is....crawling....by....ugh! Is it really only 3 oclock?

Do you see her hair? ;)

A nesting girl

My mind is sooooo content but my body is in agony! Let me explain. This weekend, my darling husband helped me carry out some grand plans I had for cleaning/organizing/purging our apartment. The nesting urge has taken over and all I want to do is cozy up, buckle down and get ready for a newborn and the winter months ahead. A lot got accomplished (yet there is still oh so much to do!) I am also extremely excited about a few purchases we have agreed on (as Christmas presents to one another, essentially) and cannot wait to acquire them as they will help settle my nesting mind even further. As of now, our bedroom looks and feels phenomenal, and our closets are totally organized. It truly gives me peace of mind to know that everything has it's place. Again, there is still much to be done but the work is in progress (joy!)I probably pushed my pregnant body a little too far, though, which is why physically I'm a wreck. I went into the doc's today and mentioned that I had some cramping on my lower right side. She chuckled and said, 'that would make sense because this baby is practically all cuddled up over there!' But I still think I should be careful; I don't want to go into labor this early. Though as it turns out, my beloved baby doctor is having knee surgery a week before my due date. Thus, I am actually hoping to go into labor a week early! I just love her so and was looking forward to her delivering all my babies. Whatever happens will happen, but I am pretty sad about the thought of possibly having a doctor that I've never met before deliver Josie.

One more thing; so today we went to the library and below are my hard-won books. Lou was being slightly naughty (okay, very naughty) and like I mentioned I'm pretty beat up from the weekend. I feel bad but we left little messes everywhere we went in the library (oops.) But I managed to pick up some woodworking books because I asked some certain people to build a "Lou-sized" table and chairs. It would be so nice for her especially since she seems to think it's okay now to climb on top of our big table to do her coloring. It's interesting that my nesting now includes getting Lou ready for a big change. I want her room to be nicely organized and for her to have some new activities to do so that she can survive being holed up for a few weeks, too!

Mama and Lou

So the two of us were down at the beach today when a man who was taking photos asked if I would want him to take our picture then email it to me. At first I was going to say no, but then I thought, oh well why not? He was very sweet, and he totally looked like a professional photographer. I mostly liked how they turned out. I especially like the first one of Lou and the color composition is quite nice, don't you think? I don't mean to be vain but I'm starting to look very round, and not just in the belly, oy! :/ My face just seems to look rounder. Oh well. I'm just hoping to lose the baby weight fast again after Josie's born...

...anyway. It was a sweet gesture as it turns out. I am glad I went ahead and said yes.

photo credits go to Richard

It was a pumpkin patch sort of day

...and I finally have something fun to blog about!

It was so cute, on the way to the pumpkin patch Lou fell asleep in the car, but only briefly. When she woke up and saw that we were in a field of pumpkins she totally lit up, took in a deep breath and yelled "bumkins!!!!" She absolutely loves the big orange things. She always gets excited even at the sight of them at the grocery store. So it was great fun watching her walk from pumpkin to pumpkin, squat down to touch it, then say "bumpkin!" She did this over and over and over. Ha! Children are so great that they can be so enthusiastic about life. It was also, as you can see, a gorgeous fall day. And to top it all off, it was my mom's birthday and we got to spend it with her. So we'd like to wish you Happy Birthday again, mom! We love you lots!

Love is a mystery. And it's hard sometimes.

Flowers from my love.

"No life is happy without mystery, and the greatest of all mysteries is love. Great are the joys in marriage, as there is the lifting of progressive veils, until one is brought into the blazing lights of the Presence of God. Whether the marriage is happy or unhappy, whether life is sweet or bitter, makes no difference to the heart that aspires to a more and more purified love. It may even be that the waters of life become more purified by running over the jagged mountain streams of suffering." -Fulton Sheen, from Three to Get Married

I know I haven't posted much this week. Part of that is because there have been some tricky, grumpy days. Some very sweet moments too, no doubt. Like having picnics at the park, hearing 'teta mama' (thank you) without being prompted, taking little naps, and spending time with my man. It's just that there were alot of times when I felt run-down, upset for no reason, bored, ungrateful and uncomfortable. One afternoon in paricular was going very badly and Mike just happen to stay late for work. Since I wasn't expecting it I felt all the more upset. It was then I thought to myself 'just imagine yourself with a newborn on top of all this!' and I about lost it! I was so scared that I just couldn't handle it. Now that some of those moments have passed I am much more reasonable about everything. I know I'm so fortunate to be staying home with my kids, I know that I will be able to retreat to just doing the essentials when baby arrives, I know that I have family and friends. And I know that I am very struck by hormones right now and therefore I shouldn't really trust my out of control emotions! Goodness I just feel all over the place. I think of all the fantastic mothers I know and I feel a little silly at feeling so overwhelmed. Mothers must gain their grace a little at a time, when they need it. That's the only way I can explain how they get through their days when they have many more children than I do, a bigger house to clean, more commitments. There is also love; self giving love. That is the Christian explanation for everything, really. It is only through 'aspiring to a more and more purified love' that all the hard work of life makes sense. I wake up early with Louisa and take care of her because of self sacrificing love. Mike and I decided to have another baby out of love for one another. And even though it will require a whole lot more work, as long as we strive to live in love, I think it's all going to be okay.

(Generally I'm not really allowed to post pictures of when Michael buys me flowers. I think he'll make an exception today since it is very appropriate for this post and also because I have had no energy to take any other pictures this week! Thanks babe!)

Cupcake date

a royal cupcake for princess Louisa

Lulu and I went to Cupcake Royale today. The idea came to me because we purchased an Entertainment book (so awesome by the way) and thought that there was a coupon in it for Cupcake Royale. Well it turned out that it did but I read it wrong and you had to buy 3 cupcakes to get 3 free. Not really that stellar, unless obviously you want to buy 6 or more cupcakes. So we went ahead and paid for a 3.00 cupcake, which is really kind of crazy. I am just glad I brought my camera because that made it more worth it. Lou enjoyed the lavender flavored cupcake we bought and clearly she preferred the frosting to the cake ;)

This date was fun but it really made me want to go on a real date with my cute husband. There are some great coupons to look through to plan a romantic date night. We really should, especially since this new baby is arriving soon and we won't be going out for a while after that!

Mum

If I were doing a color week, today's post would be 'Purple.' Don't you just love garden mums? I always get excited when they start popping up at the grocery stores and hardware stores. I couldn't resist any longer and picked this one up. I normally go for the yellows and oranges (more fallish colors) but a few of my summer flowers are still hanging on and they wouldn't really match fall colors. So for now this purple garden mum is the only mum gracing us with her beauty.

Off to take a nap. I really really really really need naps these days. Since getting sick I have felt really weak and tired and even though there is tons of laundry to fold, I know that taking care of my body is more important right now. Even though I can't help but feel a bit of homemaker guilt.

Sickies

From this weekend: checkin' out the salmon swimming upstream to spawn

Goodness, yesterday was a very trying day. It started at 1 am when I heard Louisa calling for me from her room. Lately, she's been sleeping through the night, though occasionally she will wake up around 2ish asking for one of us. I had been letting her settle herself down and usually it didn't require me to get out of bed (so great for a pregnant lady and a hubby waking up at 6) Anyway, last night it was different because she was very persistant. When she started saying 'uh oh!' I knew I'd better go in there. The first thing I noticed was a horrible horrible stench. She had thrown up all over the crib and herself. Poor beanie! For the next few hours I had to clean her up, the sheets, and she threw up twice more before we were all settled again for the night. We are pretty sure it's a stomach bug going around. She didn't have much of a temperature, though she was slightly warm, but other than throwing up she was acting pretty normal. The whole day I felt run down as I raced around washing towels and trying to keep her hydrated. She last threw up at about noon yesterday and this morning she seems okay. I got sick last night too...but you don't want to hear the details of that :p

Well...I guess I didn't get much of a break (I was thinking the beanie would sleep longer...) I need to go shower and probably do an early morning grocery run. I do love going in the mornings because it's much more peaceful. I also have mountains of laundry, clean, but need to be folded. Don't you hate that?

Be careful folks....there are definitely some unpleasant bugs going around!

...

"God did not intend that strength in a man and beauty in a woman should endure, but that they should reappear in their children....

...here is where God's Providence reveals itself. Just at a time when it might seem that beauty is fading in one, and strength in the other, God sends children to protect and revive both."

Fulton J. Sheen from Three to Get Married

Happy Friday! and Saint Therese...

Hey, Happy Friday! Are you so glad it's here? I am!

Hope you have an awesome day!

***

I decided to add a little more to this post after having the pleasure of going to mass this morning. I just wanted to point out that today is the feast of Saint Therese of Lisieux. She is a wonderful saint who I learned about early on in my Catholic faith journey. There is so much to say about her, but I really I just thought it was so neat that I made it to mass with Louisa this morning and was reminded of her "Little Way" to Christ. She is all about making the smallest of sacrifices in daily life, all for God. In this way, she said, all souls can go to heaven. You don't need to do great works, necessarily; just that everything you do should be done with love. Also, the gospel reading was about how Jesus tells us that we must become like little children if we want to see the kingdom of heaven...

So as I looked down at Louisa, and at my growing belly, I swelled with hope and joy. I thought ''I can follow the Little Way. I think it's all I can do, and even then, only with Christ's help.'' May God bless you all today!

*if anyone is interested, we have the movie about her life. I think it is very well done, and I am happy to lend it to you!