Just Instagram

So I realized that I'm like, totally obsessed with Instagram. I have taken lots and lots of pics with my phone over the past month or so. But that means I have completely neglected picture taking with my actual nice camera. Boo! I gotta get back on that. I don't want to look back and see that I suddenly have very few pictures for the albums. I don't even know how an Instagram photo would look printed out but my guess is not that great. Right now the nice camera is sitting here, sans battery and sans a memory card. Pretty silly. But it is so convenient taking pictures with my phone camera instead. And then you can make them artsy fartsy in a matter of seconds. Viola! Everyone's an artist ;) Plus of course, I always have my smart phone with me. With the camera I have to pack it up and make sure I don't leave it somewhere.

So yeah, unfortunately I have no nice pictures to share right now. I'll tell you what though, I had a hellish week last week. The reason was because my other half was gone all week on a business trip. It was no bueno. I would like to tell you that I discovered some inner strength and got through it with grace and perseverance. But no, that would be a lie. I wish some of you could have been there, in my red van Wednesday evening at 9:30 p.m. driving around sniffling and whimpering, praying that everyone would just go to sleep already. I called Mike but could barely talk to him I was so exhausted and emotional. I was a wreck! And no, I couldn't call anyone else because I'm sorry to say I would have just cried and worried anyone I was talking to! Eventually, yes, we got through it. The girls did NOT fall asleep in the van, but as soon as I got home I put them in their room, shut the door, and didn't hear from them again 'till morning. Bedtime was always the worst. It's a two man job. And I like that other man to be my husband. I also hated falling asleep without him.

The whole week I kept thinking, "well they say distance makes the heart grow fonder. Yeah, well distance also sucks!" I was also thinking other thoughts like "I may actually not live through this..."

Finally, finally, Friday came and I got my love and my help back. He came in at 11pm and we all went to the airport in our jammies to get him. I have to admit, the distance does make that first kiss very sweet :) And it makes one appreciate having two bodies to help with bedtime again.....

So this weekend has been good. Yesterday I went to a very fancy, very fun baby shower. The girls had a good time, until they crashed at 2 because they had missed naptime. We then came home and relaxed until dinner and bedtime. Today was church and then we ate out and came home. Everyone had a late nap time - we all slept from about 3-5pm! I actually woke up first and folded some laundry. I actually kept the house spotless while Mike was gone...it was more therapeutic housecleaning than anything else (if you know me, you know that actually makes sense :) but after this weekend I'll need to do some tidying up so I feel good about waking up tomorrow. Although, tomorrow is Monday and I'll have to say goodbye to Mike again :( boo....... but at least he will be coming home to me at 5pm!!!

I hope everyone is doing well, keeping their loves close, and taking pictures! :)

Play with me mama!

I got some great comments when I posed the question "how much time do you spend playing with your children?" Thank you for all who participated! I enjoyed hearing your take.

I used to love playing with the kids I nannied or babysat. It was so easy when I was younger, and since they weren't my own kids, I always had enough energy to play with them! (Not to mention the fact that I was getting PAID! hardy har har) But, now that I am a mama, and, a very BUSY mama at that - I've found myself wondering if I play with my children enough. Probably if I'm wondering about it, I'm not, huh? Well, here are some details about how much I play with my two little lovelies:

they are really into counting and sorting stuff - like money.
This will keep them occupied for 20 minutes or so

I would say I play with the girls about a half an hour a day. That sounds like so little, doesn't it? I'm talking on the floor playing with trains, legos, dressing up, or having a picnic with them. Basically imaginative play. Since it doesn't come all that naturally to me, and when I'm tired and busy it's quite hard to pull myself away from what I'm doing to get down on the floor. Of course every day is different. Some days there is just a lot more going on. Company might be coming over, someone might be fighting off a bug, or we are out and about. So it varies quite a bit.

Josie always wants to sweep for me

But I am a cleaner and a tidier. I have a house to run! So much of my day is laundry, dishes, getting everyone fed and cleaned up after feeding them. I do like to include the girls in as much of these activities as I can. Josie loves to take the broom from me and 'help' and Louisa is getting to the age where she can be more of an actual help. She loves folding dish towels for me (just as Josie loves un-folding them :) We are always talking with each other. With girls, I feel as though just talking is a form of play. You know? We talk about the world and Louisa is definitely in the questions stage. She asks me a ton of questions and is always keeping me on my feet. I feel like since we are interacting all day I am playing with them in a way...still....

Helping with the watering

Lou has been asking me to play with her much more often these days. She kind of goes through stages when she seems to really need me to be imagining with her. I try really hard to stop what I'm doing but it's challenging to me. I want to keep up with my momentum and would prefer her to come join me rather than me stopping my own activity and playing with her. Lately though, I've felt a pull to be a little more sacrificial of my cleaning time to just go be with the girls. I probably should anyway because at the end of the day I've been finding myself overly tired and Mike thinks it's because I just don't sit down enough during the day. Playing is less physically demanding than housework (especially if it involves sitting) so maybe it would be better for both myself and my daughters if I tried harder to say yes when invited to play.

One thing is, since we plan to homeschool, I need to be able to make sure I give the girls 100% of my attention at times throughout the day. Not all day long, because I do feel it is important for their development to also have the ability to play independently. Either alone or with siblings. Those are crucial skills to have as well; playing without mama to be there to referee or give you something to do. But perhaps just a half an hour of 100% undivided attention is just not enough...

I am also nursing a baby right now (and could be for many years to come :) I do have one free hand, and 9 times out of 10 that free hand is doing something else, like holding a book or cuddling another child. Reading stories is a big part of our day, and like one of my friends pointed out - perhaps that should be counted as 'play time.' After all, many a skill is being taught and refined while listening and engaging in story time. I do enjoy reading to the girls.

Sweet little guy. Had to include a picture of him in this post too :)

In conclusion, after thinking about it, I feel as though I should try a little harder to be with my kids engaging in the kind of play they want and ask me to do. I don't want to be that mom who always says "not right now, maybe later." At the same time, I feel like I am good mother who is engaging with her children all day. They are getting plenty of interaction, plenty of practice and opportunities for discovery and fine-tuning of an array of skills.

As one mom pointed out, it is a privilege to be able to play with your children. I should remember this. It is a precious role I have as their mother and I should not take it for granted!

*Also I should add that my children are so very lucky to have family members who stop by often to play with them. We also do many play dates where my girls get to play with children around their same age. I am grateful for those who can give them 100% undivided attention as well as other children they get to play with because I think that's really important! Also I didn't include anything about daddio. He is good at playing. It comes naturally to him. So does wrestling and being physical with them. Totally good and totally necessary!

Play

I'm curious - if you have children (or you've already raised children) how much time do you spend down on the floor playing with them? All added up would it be a couple hours in a day? Most of the day? Not that much at all? (I wouldn't include reading time)

 If you don't have kids, how much time do you imagine mother's playing with their kids?

 I'm super curious! Be honest! I'll let you know what my experience has been so far with my own kiddos in the next post...

josephine

I took some pictures of my girl sleeping on our way home from our play date this morning and it got me thinking about her. Well, I'm thinking about her a lot these days. Sweet little Jo Jo bean (what we like to call her) will be 2 in three months. She used to be such an easy child. She was the easiest baby, and continued to be pretty easy going until just recently. Both Mike and I have to be real careful because we find ourselves describing her to people as "the difficult one" now. We have to watch ourselves (especially me) because I don't just want to think of her in that way! That's not fair at all (as true as it might be!)

because she still is SUCH a sweetheart. She is very affectionate and cuddly. She is also outgoing and super friendly. I have a feeling she will always be that way. Just everyone's friend.

 A daddy's girl, as I've mentioned. Though since baby Michael came home, she's started to want mama a lot more. A lot lot lot lot lot more. Poor thing. That's I think what has been the hardest right now for her: she sees me holding the baby and she wants to be in my arms. I am really struggling with that right now because I don't want her to feel left out.

She is such a silly girl too! I think we are starting to see some behaviors that are symptomatic of not only her wanting more attention but also just being a two year old (or nearly so). She loves liquids, and will sit for a long time playing with two buckets of water, some soap, and some cups. But she also enjoys putting milk or water in her mouth and spitting it out, or just pouring it out on the floor and drinking it up! (And no, she does not limit this to the hardwood, unfortunately) She does this a lot. Like everyday. She also likes to draw marker on herself, play with Lou's toothbrush, climb into bed with us at night, yell (and I mean YELL), and cry at the drop of a hat.

Again, we know much of this is her just being the age she is. She is going through a lot of transitions. She's learning a lot, as well as figuring out her place in our newly ordered family. It's a lot to handle.

Of course we love our sweet Josie as much as ever. She is helping us learn patience even as she learns it herself. She is not the "easy child" right now, and all who care for her are aware of that. Yet she still has a way of capturing your heart with her big, unrestrained smile and her soft brown pigtails (whenever I can sneak them in these days! :)

xoxo

love you Jo jo bean

Wa wa weekends

Lou used to call it the "city-boo boo" 

I don't know what to blog about. It's a lazy Sunday. We're having a good weekend. I just woke up from a nap; one of my favorite kind of naps too...where I wake up rosy cheeked, all warm and still a bit drowsy. With a sleepy baby on one side and my handsome husband on the other side. The girls were still asleep but woke up about the same time as we did. They are downstairs now with daddy and the baby is still off in dreamland for a bit longer.

We are six weeks postpartum now. (Yikes, I first typed six months!) In some ways it feels like that, actually. Our baby has been around and he feels like he's always been here. With subsequent babies you really can't give yourself too much time to get back into a routine, to normalcy. With the first baby one's life is changed in such a drastic way that you have to give yourself a good long while to adjust before feeling like things are anywhere near "normal." But you can't do that when you have a family already. It's just a matter of taking it easy for 2 weeks (max) then not letting "having a newborn" be any big thing. I've been back to vacuuming floors, sneaking in quick showers, going out, making plans, being mama to everyone (including the hubs :). You don't necessarily have the luxury of taking your time to adjust. So far it's been good though. I've had a few meltdowns, maybe 2-3. Right now it's all about needs. There are so many needs throughout the day. So much work to do! But isn't that everyone's life? So much work to do. I try and keep that in mind. I'm certainly not the only one that wonders - how will I get it all done today?

But that's all weekday stuff. The weekends are a different story. Daddy is home. We can go fun places with him. I love the weekends but they also destroy my house! I have to work hard at just enjoying myself and not worrying about the messes being made. Even right now, I am sitting here going over some of the housework I want to complete before putting my head on my pillow tonight. Vacuum upstairs...fold the laundry on the couch downstairs...change out our summer comforter for our cozy duvet, unload dishwash--ahhh, not important right now. Plus no one cares :) Like I said, so much work to do. But it is nice to start the week right. Mondays are every so much more depressing with a messy house.

3 year olds are fun

 We went to the city-boo boo yesterday and had a nice time. Our waterfront is ever so much more interesting with that ferris wheel thing. One day Mike and I want to go on it. When I was in London I opted out of going on their great wheel but I regret that. I should have just done it. I've seen pictures from the top and they are so neat!

I am thinking about doing Weight Watchers in the next couple of months. Anyone (besides you Aubri!) have experience with it? A bunch of my mommy friends are talking about doing it together, and I just found out you can do it while nursing, so - why not? Could be fun and interesting to see if I can get down to pre-pregnancy weight (and I mean, pre-all my pregnancies) Actually I'm not even sure what that weight would be because I've never been one to weigh myself all that much. But it would probably be at least 30lbs less than what I am now.

Well, I should probably go. That lovely post-nap feeling is starting to fade, the girls need to get some exercise, and I think I might hear the baby starting to stir. Time to go enjoy the last little bit of the weekend.....


OH! Last night I was giggling like crazy after Mike showed me these two videos (well, actually I had already seen the first one, but if you haven't check it out first. It was a very popular video going around a bit ago and then the second one came out.)




and then.....
         
We are the poorest band in the world!

{p,h,f,r}

{Pretty}

Pretty fruit tree near our house

 {Happy}

Our little saint was baptized on Sunday!
So here's his little Baptismal/Chrismation garment hanging in the closet,
which makes me quite happy when I catch a glance at it...

"All you who have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ
Hallelujah! "

And of course my little man makes me so happy. 
I love having a son!
And he's one month now so just beginning to smile at us :)
Sweetness.

{Funny}

I decided to re-do pictures in our picture frames
Plus I got a great deal at Target for a bunch of them
(11.98, regularly 33.98) 
So I've been putting in pics and re-arranging them.
I have to laugh at myself for a. Choosing to do this project when I have very little
'extra' time right now and b. Knowing I won't ever be 100% satisfied so why do I torture myself?
Oh! Because I love pictures and I love change. (pictures and furniture rarely stay put for very long at my house)
What can I say? It's just me. Plus my beautious sister was over yesterday and was helping me out. Now I just need to run over to Costco and pick up some enlargements. Ha: easier said than done with 3 little uns!

{Real}

I re-heat my coffee every other day. It's sad because I do like good coffee
but there's just not enough time! (The same goes for showers these days, whereas my old self would insist on a shower every single day.) 
I did check with my Facebook friends and a lot of them admitted they do it too. :P

Go check out some more #everydaycontentment at Like Mother Like Daughter!
and have a lovely Thursday!

Our son is baptized!

...and Chrismated (Confirmed) and has receieved his first Holy Eucharist!

Praise be Jesus Christ!

(Here are a few pics, courtesy of uncle Ryan. Remember, I usually do black and white or sephia, because, like I've explained, the colors never seem to turn out the way I want them in our church. It's hard because there is little natural light and the icons always seem to look yellow instead of the gold that they are)

It was such a beautiful, wonderful day. As we were driving home Mike and I agreed that there really wasn't anything that could have gone better. We had some family members missing, and that made us sad of course. Mike's parents were stand ins for the godparents: Michael's aunt and uncle. So of course we wish they could have been there, but they were there in spirit and we know they are great, prayerful people so Michael will totally be blessed by them throughout his life.

One miracle that I wasn't expecting was that not one, but both the girls fell asleep during liturgy! Josie slept on uncle Pat and Lou slept on her godmother. It was such a blessing. So daddy and I got to really enjoy the rest of liturgy after Michael's baptism without distraction.

Then the reception turned out great! It was my idea to do a taco bar, and thanks to my mom and dad and sister, it was all put together perfectly for everyone to enjoy after liturgy. I think most people had a good time and were happy to celebrate Michael's most special day with us. We are so blessed.

Oh happiness. My son is baptized. Let the angels sing out in joy and let him become a saint!