Tired

I don't seem to be posting much lately and when I have it seems like it has taken a lot of effort to make it happen. I'm behind on reading my favorite blogs and so many great posts have deserved comments but I haven't left any. I think the reason is that I am just tired. There is no doubt, however, as to why I am so tired. My beautiful baby is also a rather difficult one. Not only is he not making much progress on the eating front, but he also isn't sleeping well. He used to sleep very well. At least he did until his long bout with illness in January and February. Since then he has been waking 3 or 4 times a night and is very difficult to get to sleep for naps. Usually I have to nurse him to sleep and then he'll only stay asleep if he continues to nurse through the entire nap. I feel like I have a newborn rather than an almost one year old and I don't know how to make it better.

So, please excuse my only sporadic appearances in the blogosphere these days. And, if you have a moment, offer a little prayer for me. Any prayers for patience, wisdom or fortitude would be greatly appreciated!

Out with the old, in with the new

It's time to say goodbye to our winter garden. Our little patch did pretty well this year, but here you see it all going to seed. The vegetable garden is not large because we have a smallish backyard and lots of tall, mature trees. This area in the back corner of our yard is the only area that receives enough direct sun to support growing vegetables. But, despite the limited sunshine, the cilantro, mesclun (mixed greens), dill and carrots did well. The spinach didn't grow so well. I think our soil might be deficient in something that spinach needs. I'll need to research that and amend the soil before we plant again next fall.
We had one thing left to harvest: the carrots. I think they are actually kind of pretty.
Here's our little haul. Not very impressive, but the kids liked pulling and eating them.
And, here's our new summer vegetable garden. You can see that by the time we were done, the shade was already encroaching on it. We tried to squeeze a lot into our little space. You can't really see them, but on the left are 4 or 5 tomato plants, a red bell pepper plant, onions, and some marigolds. The scent of the marigolds is supposed to help deter harmful bugs. On the right hand side is basil, more onions, and radishes. We also planted a few pots that can be moved to capture the most sun with yellow squash, zucchini and some cherry tomatoes. I hope our garden does well this year. My mouth is already watering for the things I can make with this great fresh produce!
Here's our littlest helper who turns eleven months old today. Yes, I know, he's playing on the bags of compost and manure. But, hey, at least it's organic! :)

Surprise!

This morning was pretty typical. We had our normal routine of waking up, eating breakfast and getting Jonathan ready for school. At some point, Eric headed out to the garage, probably to move the trash cans out to the curb since today is trash day. After a couple of minutes he came back inside, grabbed my camera and then went back outside. I didn't think much of it. The sun was just coming up, so he was probably snapping a few shots of the sunrise. He came back in later and set the camera down without saying anything. I continued to tend to the kids and a little while later he left for work.

It wasn't long after he left that I remembered the camera. I grabbed it, turned it on and hit the "review" button. This is what I saw...
Aaaaahhhhh! Ew! Ew! Ew! Don't you think a person needs to be warned before being surprised with a picture of a snake early in the morning?

After calling Eric I learned that it was a small snake, only 12-15 inches long (I guess I should have been able to tell that from the picture since it's right next to an oak leaf and a pine needle, but my mind was too busy with the reality of the snake to think about the facts in such a logical manner). He also said that it was in our driveway. Of course, I was just about to head out to the driveway to take Jonathan to school. Ugh! So, I lead the kids out there slowly and carefully, keeping my eyes peeled for the snake. I don't know what would have been worse, actually seeing the snake, but at least knowing what its current location was, or what did happen, not seeing the snake and remaining in a tense state of expectation of coming across it at any moment while I quickly got the kids in the car. So far, the rest of the morning has proceeded without any additional snake viewings.

But, now for the rest of the week I'll look twice before reaching down to pull a weed or retrieve a ball from my front flower beds. I'm sure that little suburban snake is not poisonous, but I'm also positive that that knowledge won't change the number of decibels that could be measured from the blood-curdling scream that will be issued from my general vicinity should I happen to come across this reptile unexpectedly!

A solution

Gustin is not allowed in the kids' playroom because of all the little legos and other small toys that the baby does not need to get a hold of. Of course, the playroom is where he wants to be since it is where his brother and sister are playing. We are constantly chasing down my surprisingly fast crawler whenever he makes a sprint for the playroom. Jonathan, my little problem solver, came up with a remedy to this problem.

"We just need to make a sign," he said, "and hang it next to the door to the playroom. The sign will say, 'No babies, just dogs.'"

Meme

Shannon tagged me for a meme. This looks like fun!

Rules of the meme:
1. Post these rules of the game first.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names. Then the tagger goes to the blogs of those who have been tagged & leaves a comment letting new players know they’ve been tagged. The tagger asks them to find the meme and instructions back at his/her blog.

What I was doing 10 years ago: Hmmm... April of 1998 I was a sophomore in college at Texas A&M. I was working on my degree in mechanical engineering and Eric and I had been dating for a few months. Both of us by this time were beginning to think that marriage could be a possibility, but Eric was definitely not planning on becoming Catholic. A couple of months after this he would go through a major conversion and chose to become Catholic and all the while I had no idea that he was even considering it! Wow, I can't believe that all happened ten years ago now.

Five things on my To Do List today:
1. Go to mass with Jonathan at his school.
2. Laundry, laundry, laundry!
3. Pick up a few things at the grocery store.
4. Read my Magnificat. Like Shannon I'm trying to start a new habit of praying with the Magnificat morning and night.
5. Purge Jonathan's closet of all those clothes that don't fit anymore.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Finance my husband beginning his own engineering company.
2. Buy at least a couple hundred acres out in the country.
3. Give money to charitable organization supporting women facing unexpected pregnancies and people who can't afford proper medical care.

Three of my bad habits:
1. I'm good at creating clutter but not so good at clearing it away.
2. I'm very easily distracted these days. I have barely started projects all over the house.
3. I only shave my legs when it's absolutely necessary!

Five places I have lived:

Omaha, Nebraska
Midland, Texas
College Station, Texas
Houston, Texas area

Five jobs I’ve had:

Babysitter
Calligrapher (I made signs for a grocery store)
Dish washer at a bakery
Snow cone stand attendant (my dad owned the stand)
Assisted an artist who made terra cotta clay jewelry and sculptures

I tag Christine, Jill, Emily (though with the baby on the way I doubt she'll get a chance to do it), newhousenewjob and Lael.

New Banner

My new banner is a picture taken at Eric's parent's house at Spring Break. That's Eric's dad with Gustin in the sandbox and I'm pushing Elizabeth on the swing. This picture shows my favorite kind of day. Slow paced, relaxed, with family, outside.

But, I seem to always pick banner pictures that have a mix of very light and very dark colors in the upper left hand corner where the title goes. It seems that a black font color makes the title show up the best, but it's not great. Does anyone know how to move the title so I could place it in a spot that is easier to read? I can't figure out how to do it in blogger.

Some pictures from our Spring Break

For our Spring Break, we headed to Eric's small hometown to spend a few days with his parents. Jonathan got up early each day to be able to go to work with his Paw for a few hours. Paw is a building contractor and Jonathan loves to "help" him. After getting his crews started in the morning, Paw took us all fishing.

Here's Eric and our dog. I don't think that I have really mentioned our dog on this blog before. I seem to forget that we have one. I'm not a dog person. I gave in and agreed to getting a dog two years ago because I love my husband and I think pets are good experiences for kids. Our dog is a female rat terrier named Britches. I make sure that the kids feed her and that she gets to the vet when she needs to, but otherwise I basically just try to put up with her. Some days I do better than others. Elizabeth is a serious fisherwoman. At least she is for about fifteen minutes, then she spends the rest of her time climbing on top of rocks and jumping off. Her fishing pole is a purple and pink Dora pole that comes with a fake fish on the end of the fishing line. She cast her fake fish into the water over and over again.
Here's Gustin in the sandbox back at Granny and Paw's house. My kids spent about 90% of their time there outside since we had absolutely fabulous weather. I loved it!
Elizabeth did come down with a fever on our second day. Don't feel too sorry for her, though. As you can see, she was very well taken care of by her Granny and it only lasted for about 36 hours.
And, who is this little boy? That's not my baby, is it? No, it can't be. He looks way to big to be my baby.
Happy April everyone!

Can you believe it?

After months of patiently trying to get Gustin to eat any food other than Mommy's milk, we've finally had a breakthrough. Well, sort of. You see in this picture that he is willing eating from this spoon. He ate bite after bite and when Daddy wasn't feeding him fast enough, he would grab the spoon and pull it to his mouth while making squeals of excitement. Alleluia! The child is eating!

The only hiccup is, he's not exactly eating an ideal food for a baby. Actually, it's really not an ideal food for an adult either. And, it's definitely not on the list of recommended first foods. OK, I'll just say it.

He's eating ice cream.

But, we were so excited that he was eating that we literally cheered and kept shoveling the sugary, fat filled, cool and creamy treat into his mouth as fast as he would let us. I was hoping that this breakthrough would lead to him eating many other more healthful foods, but this baby is too cunning to be tricked into eating pureed peas when he knows there is ice creamy goodness out there to be had.

So, we keep trying. I think next I'll try some plain yogurt sweetened with applesauce. Maybe I can trick him into thinking it's ice cream.

Light blogging ahead

This week is Spring Break for us and we're heading out of town, so I'll be absent from the blogosphere for a while. I wish I had time to write a little about our wonderful Easter but, alas, the laundry is calling. I can't put it off today because my kids need clean clothes before they can pack. :) I hope you all have a blessed Easter season!

Great post

Check out this great post from Danielle Bean. I'd love to add some of my own comments, but 3 hungry people are awaiting their supper. But, do check it out. I think I need to read it again myself.

The Holiest Time of the Year

We begin the Triduum today, a very special time for the church and in our family. Eric came into the church at the Easter vigil nine years ago after going through an emotional and difficult conversion process. As he says, the things that we celebrate and commemorate during the Triduum are the reasons why he became Catholic. We savor celebrating this time of the Church year together as a family every year. Yes, we even drag our kids to the loooong Easter vigil! But, we can't miss this special mass. Every year I thank God for the faith journey we have been on that brings us together, united as a family, to worship our Lord with His holy Church.

A blessed Triduum and Easter to you all!

All about Elizabeth

I came across a few random, recent pictures of Elizabeth in my files so I thought I would put together a post all about my little girl.

Gustin got a Bumbo as a gift when he was about six months old. He never really took to it. I think he was maybe a little too old and too mobile to be happy when so contained. Elizabeth, on the other hand, has gotten some mileage out of the thing. The is her favorite perch for watching a movie.
By the way, she always plays with her belly button when she sucks her thumb. That is why she has her shirt hiked up. You should see her at church. She hikes her dress up to her arm pits and sucks her thumb and plays with her belly button all through mass. She's highly visible since we sit in the front row. I've caught several of our priests and deacons chuckling at her during mass. I hope distracting the priest during mass is not sinful!

She has recently taken interest in letters and writing. Here she is writing all nine letters of her name. A big accomplishment for a little girl!
Here's a close up view.
Her E's always seem to have more than three horizontal lines. I think she sees the three line standard as more of a suggested minimum.

Like Blair, we've been on the lookout for some little girl appropriate sandals. We finally found some yesterday and since Daddy is out of town, we wanted to take a picture of them to send to him so he could see. Elizabeth posed the shot.
I've chronicled her love (read: obsession) with cars before. Whatever we're doing, we can't forget Lightning McQueen!

Happy Birthday Rascal!

My first born is six years old today!
We have affectionately called Jonathan "Rascal" since he was a baby. Eric has always told me that all little boys are rascals, but there are good rascals and bad rascals. A bad rascal pulls up his mama's flowers in her flower beds and makes a big mess just because it's something to do. A good rascal pulls up his mama's flowers in her flower beds and makes a big mess but only because he wanted his mama to have some pretty flowers because he loves her so much. Jonathan is a very good rascal all the way! I love you sweet boy!

Ugh!!!!

Weather report this morning: high of 88 degrees with 100% humidity.

Are you kidding me? It's supposed to be early spring! I have to go turn on my air conditioner because it's already getting stifling in our house. This is nuts! I'm not ready for summer yet!!!

Baby signs

I love teaching a few baby signs to each of my babies. I think it really reduces both the mommy and baby frustration during those months before a baby can talk, but after they have begun to recognize spoken words. I like to teach a few practical signs like milk, eat, more, bath, bed, all done, book and outside. So far, Gustin has picked up outside and bath. Here's the sign for outside:
He can't quite form the signs, but he tries, and he can definitely understand them.

Gustin absolutely loves going outside. If he is fussy, usually if I take him outside he will calm down (if he doesn't, then we're really in trouble!). Now when he's fussing and I can't get him to stop, I do the sign for outside and his attitude changes immediately. It's funny because he will still be crying but his frown will instantly turn into a smile and once we step outside the crying stops, too.

The other day he fell down, which only happens about a dozen times a day, and I suspected that he wasn't really hurt. After a little loving from me, I could tell that the continued crying was basically a bad attitude. And, I was able to prove it. I did the sign for outside and then there was immediate silence followed with a huge grin on his face. A short trip outside sealed the deal and he was happy, at least until the next time he fell down.

Now that I think about it, though, I'm not sure who tricked who. Did Mommy trick the baby into a happy mood or did the baby trick the Mommy into taking him outside? :)

P.S. I use this book as my resource. I never actually read the whole book or bought it. I borrowed it from the library and just photocopied the signing dictionary in the middle of the book back when Jonathan was a baby and have been using those copies as a reference ever since.

Eight years and counting

Today is Eric and my eight year anniversary! (I don't think the grammar in that sentence is right at all, but that's the best I can do at the moment ;) My beautiful new kitchen table anniversary present is on order and should be here about mid-April because, unfortunately, it's on back order.

I was thinking today about our first anniversary. We didn't have any kids yet and Eric took me out to a fancy steakhouse for dinner. I think we spent at least $100 on dinner just for the two of us. Tonight, for our eighth anniversary, we chose to cook for ourselves and stay home with our kids. We had pasta, the kids complained about the sauce, and we made a ton of dirty dishes that Eric is washing right now, but overall it was a wonderful evening. I wouldn't have wanted to celebrate it any differently. Eric left work a couple of hours early so I was able to cook without three children hanging on my legs. We ate some sinfully good chocolate truffle cake (all Lenten penances were called off for the day, it's our feast day!) and we followed dinner with a leisurely walk around the block with the kids. That's one good thing about daylight savings time. It was still light enough after supper to be able to enjoy the outdoors as a family.

So, I've had a wonderful day celebrating our marriage and I look forward to many more wonderful years with my beloved. Eric, thank you for loving me. There is no one else in the world that I could imagine spending the rest of my life with. I love you and thank God for you everyday. I am so truly and thankfully blessed!

Musings on life, death and heaven by a three year old

On the way home from a weekend trip to visit family today, we passed by a large statue of Sam Houston, the first president of the independent country of Texas back in the 1800s. We explained to the kids who he was, and here's the conversation that it inspired.

Jonathan: When did he live?
Me: A long, long time ago.
Jonathan: Before you were born?
Me: Yes, a very long time before I was born.
Jonathan: But after Jesus, right.
Me: Yep, after Jesus.
Elizabeth: So, is he died?
Me: Yeah, he died a long time ago.
Elizabeth: Why did he die?
Me: Well, he just got old and died. No one can live forever. At least, no one can live forever on earth. You can live forever in heaven.
Elizabeth: You can live forever in heaven, but not on earth? On earth you die?
Me: That's right.
Elizabeth: But what about astronauts? Can they die? They don't live on earth!

You never know what will inspire a song

This morning Jonathan tied both of his shoes all by himself for the first time. On the drive to school I praised him for practicing so hard and finally accomplishing his goal. Jonathan then said, "Yeah, but this one is still kind of loose," referring to one of his shoelaces.

Elizabeth then breaks out with, "Loose...Loose...Kick off your Sunday shoes!"

How does my three year old know Footloose? The only music I hear these days is Veggietales and the CDs from vacation Bible school. Somehow I suspect her Daddy is to blame. :)

Sew fun!

I enjoy sewing. Mom always had us sew our Easter dresses every year and I always looked forward to it. However, my sewing has been about nil these days. I began a quilt for Elizabeth in June of 2006 and I still haven't completed piecing the top yet. I really hope to complete it before she becomes a teenager! Here's what it looks like so far...
But, seeing posts like this, makes me want to do whatever it takes to find the time to sew. These outfits are too precious! I soooo want to make some for my little girl. If I do, I'll be sure to post pictures. But, in all honesty, don't expect it!

Do not be fooled

This child may look sweet and innocent enough. He may even look like he just finished a wonderful meal of homemade butternut squash puree. That may be what it looks like, but it is not the truth.
The truth is, this child will not willingly let one single speck of food cross his lips. He absolutely refuses to eat solid food. He refuses loudly and animatedly with much crying, throwing back of his head, arching of his back and making his face turn bright red. I have tried every trick imaginable to try to convince him to eat a little. I've played games and made silly noises and faces in an attempt to convince him that eating is fun to do. We've had to stop using anything that is associated with eating, such as bibs, high chairs, spoons, etc., because as soon as he sees them coming, he starts yelling. I've tried letting him just play with the food, as you can see in the picture. I've tried all different flavors and textures, finger foods and biter biscuits, he rejects them all.

Gustin is nine and a half months old now. I have be patiently trying to convince him to eat since he was about six months old. I'm tired. I'm out of ideas. Can anyone help me? Please?

P.S. As I was finishing this post, I had to go remove a crayon from Gustin's mouth. How come he'll eat crayons but not any real food? Is there any nutritional value to a crayon? Never mind, don't answer that. I don't want to be tempted when I'm feeling desperate. :)