Elizabeth's Secret

Elizabeth has a secret.

And, she's having a hard time keeping it.

The problem is...

her mouth gives her away.

Because, every time she smiles...

the whole world can see that she lost a tooth!

Sickroom reflections

The past few days have been doozies. Vomiting, fevers, little sleep. Poor Jonathan definitely got the worst of it. Not only could he not keep anything down, but he also had a high fever. Normally a dose of Tylenol would have fixed up the whole fever issue, but he couldn't even keep a dose of medicine down. So we had to resort to a more basic approach to nursing him: lukewarm baths and cool compresses. For hours I stayed by his side and bathed his feverish head.

The worst part of the illness, though, was not the fever, but the dehydration. Jonathan was so extremely thirsty, but he just couldn't keep anything down. We were giving him a mere teaspoon of Pedialyte at a time, hoping and praying that he wouldn't immediately vomit it back up, but having little success. He continued to get sick, over and over again.

Jonathan has always been a pretty tough kid, even as a baby. If he ever falls, gets bit by fire ants, or gets a cut or scratch, he rarely cries or complains. But, during this illness he was sobbing, uncontrollably at times, begging to be able to drink and quench his thirst.

"I'm so thirsty, Mommy! Can I please have just one big gulp. Please?!"

It broke my heart when I had to deny him such a basic want. No - not a want - a need. His body needed water, was desperate for water. Water would keep him hydrated, eliminate his thirst, help his body fight this horrible virus and probably help reduce his fever. Yet, I had to deny him. At that moment too much water would have been poison to his body, causing him to get sick once again and lose more water than he would have been able to consume.

"You must be patient, Jonathan. You have to wait and take it slowly. I know it hurts. I know you're thirsty. But, you must wait."

As I sat their caring for my very sick child, I was struck with a realization, one that I have to write about so I can remember it and recall it in times of future need.

How often do we cry out in prayer to God asking him for some basic need, not a "want" or a "like" but a real need, and God seems to say "no"?

"But, Lord," we argue, "I really need this. It's a good thing, basic to my survival, a true need. Why would you deny me? I need it. I need it now. Why must I wait?"

But, God knows all and knows what is truly best for us, what will, in the end, lead us to heaven. He denies us out of love for us. Just as I had to deny Jonathan a simple drink of water, God must, out of love for us, deny us things, even if by nature they are good and necessary. He can see pitfalls in our requests that we cannot. He possesses knowledge and wisdom that we do not. So, he denies us. And, I'm sure it is just as hard for him to say "no" at times to our requests as it was for me to deny Jonathan that refreshing drink of water.

Thankfully, after many hours, Jonathan was able to keep a teaspoon of water down, and then another. Finally, we risked giving him a dose of Tylenol. It stayed down! He was able to drink more, his fever broke and he was finally able to sleep. The next day he continued to improve until he was able to eat and drink again like a normal, healthy 8 year-old boy. I let him gulp all the water he wanted!

Photo credit: Elizabeth

Our times of need are temporary as well, a mere season that will soon pass away. And as soon as the danger is gone, God will provide for us and, most likely, in an abundance that matches His great love for us.

A small prayer request *updated*

Update -
Thank you so much for all your prayers! Clara ran a fever all day and was fussy but she never once got sick to her stomach. After how sick my oldest two got with this same bug, I call that a definite miracle! I had so many fears about her getting sick and not a single one came true. Thank you, thank you for the prayers!

*******

We've had a stomach virus going through our house this week. Both Jonathan and Elizabeth have succumbed to it and Jonathan was really, really sick for a while. We've tried so hard to protect Clara from it, but she started getting sick this morning. Will you please pray for her that her illness is mild and brief? Both Gustin and Elizabeth got stomach viruses as infants and got so ill that they had to be hospitalized. I'm really worried that Clara will get really sick, too. Thank you so much for any prayers you can send our way!

And, I can't write a post without including a picture, so here's a shot of our cute Little Bug from a couple of days ago.

When frugality becomes foolishess

Clara has been growing like a weed and she is about out of her size 2 diapers. Though they seem big enough when I put them on her, their inability to provide the appropriate amount of containment suggests otherwise. Lately, if Clara dirties her diaper while I am holding her, it usually means that both she and I will require a change of clothes.

But, I persist on putting her in size 2 diapers. Why? Because I recently bought a gigantic box of them and I can't stand the idea of letting them go to waste. I paid for them so I want to use every single one of them!

As I was changing my clothes the other day after another Clara blow out, I laughed at myself at how absurd I was being. All of this inconvenience and mess over probably less than $10 worth of diapers. Was it really worth it? No, of course not. But did this realization change anything? Nope.

But, today I finally called "uncle". Clara filled her diaper to overflowing at the orthodontist while still sitting in her carseat. Her clothes and the carseat were completely soiled, I hadn't brought a change of clothes for her with me and, of course, the bathroom did not have a changing table. It took at least 15 minutes for me to clean up her, me and the carseat and she had to spend the rest of the appointment only wearing a diaper. I had to suppress my desire to explain to every new person that walked into the door that I am normally in the habit of actually dressing my children when they are out in public.

So, no more forcing Clara into too small diapers! It's high time I recognize when my being frugal is just being plain cheap.

Does anyone else have stories of when your frugality got the better of you?

It's time for a Clara picture update!

She's 5 months old now! She's rolling all over and sucking on her toes and laughing and squealing and bringing so much joy into our lives!

Here's our little Clara Bug a.k.a. Little Bug or The Bug.

I love this shot with Eric holding her feet! It's something he does all the time and it's so sweet to capture one of those everyday moments in a photo.

I can't get enough of the toes!

7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 9)

--- 1 ---

Tuesday was the official first day of summer for my kids and we are definitely going through some adjustments to new schedules and routines. It's already hot!, hot!, hot! here in Texas and we have to limit outside time to first thing in the morning before it gets too sweltering. Anyone have any good indoor activity ideas?

--- 2 ---

For the Memorial Day weekend we spent a relaxing few days at Eric's parents house. One of the highlights of the weekend was going swimming in the Cowhouse Creek. Central Texas has had some nice rain lately, so there was plenty of water for splashing in in the creek. What a great way to spend the day!

--- 3 ---

Hallie Lord featured some headbands/coverings in one of her Fashion Friday posts several months ago that I have fallen in love with. Check out Garland's of Grace's website for beautiful, feminine head coverings. I love mine and I'm thinking about ordering a few more and just wanted to share!

--- 4 ---

Elizabeth's 6th birthday is in less than a month and there is only one thing that I have planned for sure - she will not be having a cake. Instead I will be trying my hands at Bakerella's cake pops. You really must check them out! They are too cute for words and her step-by-step instructions make it look easy (we'll see if that's the reality, though!). Elizabeth picked out these adorable Hello Kitty cake pops. But, I might chicken out and stick with these simpler but just as cute cupcake pops.

--- 5 ---

My current favorite Gustinism: Dat's disdusting! (That's disgusting!)

Cracks me up every time!

--- 6 ---

I just received in the mail my new shark steam mop. I've seen it recommended in several different places in the blogosphere and I really hope it's as easy to use and effective as it seems. I also hope having it will mean that my floors actually get a proper mopping more often then once every six months or so (embarrassing but true!). I'll be sure to report back on it after I've given it a test run!

--- 7 ---

Yesterday Elizabeth came up to me and said, "Some people think the rosary is boring, but I love it. Can we pray it right now?"

Oh! Melt my heart! I sure do love this almost 6 year old!

By the way, we did pray it right then. We did one decade and we did her favorite mystery - the Agony in the Garden. This girl never ceases to surprise me!

Be sure to check out more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary!

Quick trip to the beach

Sunday morning Eric said, "You want to go to the beach after mass?"

And, I said, "OK!" without hesitating. (My spontaneous, decision-making husband is beginning to rub off on me!)

So, we threw a few things in the van, slathered on sunscreen, grabbed my camera and drove the hour and a half to Galveston Island. It was really windy but otherwise perfect weather. The sun was warm but the breeze kept us from sweating and everyone had a great day.

Clara got to put her toes in the ocean for the first time.


And, I got to take my new 85mm lens out for a spin. Love it!


We briefly tried to get a picture of all four kids together. We rarely get them all together at once so I'm trying to make an effort get some group pics. Much easier said than done!



Out of the 20 frames that I took, the best we could ever do was to have 2 out of 4 looking at the camera at once. They never stop moving! I also should know better than to have them facing into the sun. "It's too bright, Mama!"

Live and learn.

But, a little creative cropping can help salvage a few good pics.



It was a great day, but that evening Clara started to run a low fever and now she, Elizabeth and I are all nursing colds. Elizabeth hated to have to stay home today since it's the last week of school, but she's definitely enjoying the extra attention. Clara is sleeping a lot (which is why I actually got this blog post done!) and we're all taking is easy around here. Hopefully by tomorrow we'll all be back to our normal, crazy, messy, noisy, bouncy, energetic selves!

Have a great Tuesday!

So I've got a little story for you...

Yes, it's a story about photography (again!). Please bear with me! I will eventually write a post about something else. :)

About a year ago I was contacted by Getty Images, which is a stock photography company that is affiliated with flickr. They saw my photos on flickr and picked about a dozen or so that they wanted to make available for license. I was very excited to have my photography acknowledged in this way, but, honestly, I never thought anything would come of it. If anyone did want to license one of my images, I figured I'd make mere pennies out of the deal at most. Also, there are literally millions of images available on Getty and what was the likelihood of someone finding one of mine and then actually paying money to use it? In fact, I only finished the paperwork (model releases, etc) on two of the twelve images and the remainder languished in my inbox waiting to be completed.

Now fast forward to about a month ago. Eric fowarded me an email with a subject of "Royalties". I had no clue what the email was about (but I'm sure you know where this is headed). It was an email from PayPal showing that a nice little bit of money was deposited in our account from Getty Images. My jaw absolutely dropped!

It turns out that someone in Canada was making some kind of pamphlet and paid a chunk of money to license this picture to use in it. It's not even a picture that I like very much! And, I took it shortly after first getting my camera when I really didn't even know what I was doing!

So, how much were my royalties? While not an amazing amount of money, it was the first money I've earned since becoming a stay-at-home mom 8 years ago and it was (almost) enough for me to buy my newest toy...


It's an 85mm f/1.8 lens. It's fantastic for portraits and is great for low light photography and creates beautiful bokeh (the pretty blur in the background). I've only been able to play with it a little bit so far, but I think I'm really going to love it!

I may never get another one of my pictures licensed again, but at least now I can say that I'm a professional photographer (ha ha!). And, you can better believe that I'm finally getting the rest of the paperwork done on the remainder of the images that Getty requested just in case lightning does strike in the same place twice!

The Kids' Room Projects

Hobbies are funny things. They are such a gift because they give me a way to relax and as well as a creative outlet. But, sometimes I feel like my hobbies are just all about me and take away from family time. Of course, as with anything in life, I must strive for balance.

So, when my photography hobby both brings me joy as well as my family, then I feel like I've hit the jackpot. For instance, I did portraits of my in-laws for their 35th wedding anniversary. They hadn't had portraits made of just the two of them since their wedding, so they were way overdue and I was happy to offer my mediocre talents to help them. I also used some of my pictures to decorate our master bedroom and a bathroom.

Now I have my decorating focus shifting to the kids' rooms. They really need something on their walls. I wanted whatever it was to be very personal to each child, so we decided to photograph some of their favorite things and hang those pictures on the walls.

Elizabeth loves the Fancy Nancy books by Jane O'Conner and all things fancy. Combine spring wild flowers and her Fancy Nancy doll and we have the perfect subjects for the pictures for Elizabeth's room.







For the boys' room, we focused on Legos and Star Wars. I only have one of those pictures done so far and, believe me, it really tested my photoshopping skills!



I'm no graphic artist, but I think the results are good enough for the bedroom of an 8 year old and a 3 year old boy.

Hopefully I'll get these pictures completed and printed sometime soon. Then the goal will be to get them framed and hung on the wall. It's amazing how difficult it is for me to actually complete a project these days!

But, I wouldn't trade any of my four distractions for the world!

Birthday Boy!

Yesterday my littlest boy turned three! And, despite the fact that as of 8 am yesterday morning his mother had absolutely nothing prepared for his birthday (as in no presents, no cake, no decorations, nothing!!), she was able to overcome her tremendous case of "Bad Mommy" guilt and Gustin had a wonderful day.


The cake got baked and decorated.


And, Red Robin did the cooking for supper. (Mommy had to admit defeat and throw the homemade supper plans out the window.)


It really is ridiculous how much it costs for three kids meals of macaroni and cheese at a restaurant. I could have bought a couple of cases of the boxed stuff! But, pasta with cheese sauce sure does make a brand new three year old happy!

The presents (that Daddy sneaked out of work to buy) were a big hit. A miniature Rubik's cube and a Lightning McQueen bicycle.


I love you, Gustin. I really don't know how in the world you got so big so fast. You make me smile every single day and I can't imagine life with out you!


Happy Birthday Little Mister!

Jonathan's First Eucharist

Jonathan's first communion was yesterday afternoon and it was... beautiful. I was really surprised at how intensely moved I was as my oldest received the Body of Christ. It was like, for once, my mind, emotions, senses and soul were all aligned for a few brief moments and I could feel the eternalness (not a real word, I know) of the sacrament and it was palpable. Christ truly was present. Eric and I both had tears falling down our cheeks and I'm sure it is a day that none of us will ever forget. It seems like Jonathan aged about 10 years in the span of 5 minutes and that he will never be a little kid again. But, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

By the way, after Jonathan received the Eucharist Eric asked me for a tissue to wipe his eyes, but I was all out, so I handed him the next best thing I had - a spit up cloth.

"Is it clean?" he asked.

"Probably not," I replied.

The intensely spiritual moment was over and we were back to the reality of this amusing but imperfect world.

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This morning Jonathan was so excited to receive his "Second Eucharist". It was too cute!

Parenthood truly is a blessing that I in no way deserve. God is good!