Good Morning Sunshine

Michaela is such a good sleeper. She has been going for 5-6 hours for several weeks now and sometimes even longer.....sometimes she needs to be cuddled but usually not fed so that is nice. She loves to be swaddled in the miracle blanket (which I like better than the swaddle mes) then cuddled into her boppy in her bassinet! So sweet. She does end up sleeping with me a lot when we fall asleep nursing...but I love waking her up in the mornings...she is all smiles...until she realizes she is hungry!!

Good Exercise for Rainy Days

Bunny Buddy

Bouncy Bed

Michaela has decided that her bouncy seat also makes a good place to take a nap these days....at least short ones for when she is just too tired to keep her eyes open!

Just Hangin Out

Everyone Needs a Potty Shot

Good Reads

Do You Make Your Husband a Better Father?

and

Do You Make Your Wife a Better Mother?

and

Mass Distraction

Sweet Innocence and Solutions

We have been praying a lot for the kids and people in Haiti recently. I have been careful explaining things to her so she has an awareness of what happened but that it doesn't become to worrisome or scary for her either, as she is one to worry and think too much about things!!!

My mom got a kick out of her last time explaining what happened: "The earth and ground shook and shook and shook and they got hurt badly and lost their homes. But I gave them money so they will get better and not be sad."

This morning after our morning prayers she told me:
"Mama, I think that the people in Haiti will get new houses because we prayed and God will give them new ones and also all their toys..."

Sweet girl, if only it was that easy...but the more prayers and trust like that the better!!

Goodbye Pull-Ups

These past couple of weeks I have still been putting Angelica in pull-ups at nights...but for 10 days now she has woken up completely dry. So with no accident in three weeks, I think it is time to say goodbye to pull ups completely...especially when this is what I am told this morning:

Angelica: "Mama, mama my bummy hurts."
Me: "Ok, run to the potty maybe you have to go."
After sitting and sitting I asked "Do you need to go?"
Angelica: "Um, I don't guess so...maybe it is just getting ready."

After another 5 minutes:
Angelica: "Mama, mama my bummy hurts again."
Me: "Angel do you need to go potty?"
Angelica: "Nope, I think it is because my bummy doesn't like the scratchy pull-ups on anymore at night night"

So I think she enjoys the soft underpants too much now that the pull ups are getting put away!

Found

Finally, Ameer and Emily, were found! You can read the article HERE, but their bodies were found in some plane wreckage and still strapped to their chairs. So we believe they must have died on impact. Thank you for all your prayers, at least now they can properly be buried and family's can have some closure. A MARINE buddy of Jason's has put in a request and plea with the MARINES to arrange them to fly Ameer's body back to NYC so his mother can have him buried. Hoping that works out. Ameer's facebook page has been inundated with people listing their memories and pictures of him, sounds like an amazing young man who could play a mean harmonica!! He will greatly be missed....I liked this poem that one of his relatives in Egypt left:

When this life I'm in is done,

And at the gates I stand,

My hope is that I answer

all His questions on command.

I doubt He'll ask me of my fame,

Or all the things I knew,

Instead,He'll ask of rainbows sent

On rainy days I flew.

Remember how the runway lights

Looked one night long ago

When you were lost and found your way,

And how-you still dont know?

And when the goals are reached at last,

When all the flyings done,

I'll answer Him with no regret-

Indeed, I had some fun.

So when these things are asked of me,

And I can reach no higher,

My prayer this day - His hand extends

To welcome home a Flyer.

Ameer Update

The search and rescue has been called off for now....updated HERE in this article. Sounds like ACE (the company) is still searching for the two pilots. A fishing boat found an empty pilot chair in the water along with the co-pilot (Emily from Seattle) backpack with her things in it. Please continue praying for these two young people's families and that their bodies can be recovered for a proper burial and family closure.
Jason spent time with Ameer in NYC where they were stationed together as MARINE C130 Flight Mechanics. One of their missions was to Greece and this picture was taken of the two of them then. They went to Gouverneto Monastery and went to mass. (Ameer is originally from Egypt and a lot of his family is still there. His mom came to US with he and his brother so they could go to school. Ameer was in the Reserves attending NYU when he got called up after 9-11). Jason and Ameer went on a big touring bike ride and the monks took them to visit the Cave of St. John the Hermit. Jason has some good memories and stories of his time serving and being friends with Ameer. Ameer had recently just gotten in touch with him about coming to visit as he was going to be doing some flights to the Seattle area. It has been sad to read his facebook page and see everyone's comments and prayers and sad to see his family in Egypt asking for updates. He sounded like a very strong, funny, friendly and caring young man who will be missed. Continued prayers for the families, for their finding, and for those who are touched and saddened by his loss especially my hubby.

Prayers Please

Tonight Jason got news of a former MARINE friend and flight mechanic. Ameer Ali has been a pilot in Alaska and last night his plane crashed. His body and that of his copilot have yet to be found and the search has been suspended. Even if they survived the crash after all this time in the water, they have almost no chance of survival. Jason was stationed with him in NYC and they served many missions together, including their time in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was hoping to see some more of Ameer as he was going to start some work around the Seattle area. Please keep all of this in prayer...so hard to lose a friend and praying he can be found!
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/rural/story/1105193.html
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/ap_alaska/story/1105205.html

Sharing..

...a yummy recipe: Our Lady of Altagracia Orange Smoothies
...a GREAT read (especially for us wives): Love, Honor and Take for Granted?
...and a beautiful picture of people marching towards the Supreme Court in defense of the unborn today!

Seven Quick Takes (volume 1)

Ok, so I have always enjoyed reading other's quick takes...but never thought I had enough note-worthy tidbits to share...but I am going to give it a go...it is a nice reflection on the week at least.
***1***

I feel confident in saying that Angelica is OFFICIALLY potty trained!! It has been TWO full weeks with not ONE accident. She is even wearing underpants during naps now and only pull ups at night. However, she has been dry for one week now in the morning so I think I am going to say bye-bye to pull-ups all together! It has been such a FREEDOM going from 3 kids in diapers to two! We tried so many training methods, I read all the different books etc. With Angelica it came down to mama going cold turkey on her and putting the "baby" diapers away and putting her right into the underpants. She went from fighting me about going potty to LOVING it!! She has LOVED her sticker chart and step chart on the back of the door....she puts a star sticker on for pee-pee and a smiley face sticker on for poo-poo. Then she marks her X's on the step chart. We definitely had to find the method that worked for Angelica and I am sure Emma will be a little different....thinking of giving her a try at it soon as she already goes some and follows Angelica around...my life will be extremely different then!! Here is an article about Potty Training today.
***2***

Going along with the above...to get her finally to go poo-poo consistently in the potty...we used the reward of money (the m&ms etc didn't work). But, being able to choose one coin from our coin basket was a HUGE hit. So every time she went she got to pick her coin and put it in her purse. The other day she commented, "Mama, I am getting rich!" And she was...so then we changed the rules to every morning if she woke up dry she got to pick a coin. Might have to change them again soon....Angelica loved going to the dollar store and using her own money to pick out a toy!

***3***

We had a second collection at church last Sunday for the relief efforts in Haiti. I was frantically trying to find my wallet in the diaper bag when Angel (who had brought her purse with her to buy a holy card after mass) said, "Mama, I can give the sad people one of my monies." A melt your heart moment....and she did, so that quarter was given with lots of love!

***4***

I (finally) attended the third meeting of our new MOMS group at church. We are doing the Full of Grace study and based on my first encounter think this will be a great support group for moms at the church and also enriching in the study and discussions we will have. Now to only get Miss Emma to stay in the child care room the whole time. On a side note, if you have never read the life and story of Edith Stein, I highly recommend it!

***5***

This week (yesterday) marked the one year anniversary since my PopPop passed away. Hard to believe a year has already gone by and in so many ways we remember him every day. Angelica still talks about her memories of him and I hope that through our pictures and stories all of my children will have a good understanding of who their PopPop was. He would definitely not be liking this rainy weather lately...

I took the girls to his grave yesterday and we said some prayers. Then Angelica started asking questions about death and Heaven, such as:

"What is a soul?", "How do we get in the ground?", "How do we die?", "Where is Heaven?". All good questions but a little difficult to think of how to explain to toddlers!!

***6***

My hubby works at Boeing and they have a point system where they get rewarded with points when they do certain jobs or get acknowledged for something. He has been racking up the points lately. Boeing has a store where then you can redeem your points for a variety of items. Well, instead of him getting a GPS or other fun items I know he wanted...he got me LOWES gift cards and yesterday my brand new item arrived:

my KitchenAid Standing Mixer
Now I just need to learn how to use it!! So excited. Thank you hon!

***7***

Some of my favorite mama time is snuggling. This morning I had all three babes in the bed and well...wasn't as fun as it used to be with one. Today I was worried about feet kicking the baby's head, about someone rolling off the bed, being a referee to who had more blankets...thinking we need a king size bed and rotations on the snuggle time!!

A Good Read & Reminder

THIS ARTICLE was a good one to remember that not only is the home where so much of our children's formation takes place, but the marriage and parental example is so important in shaping our young ones....prayers to keeping the domestic church holy, healthy and happy!

Michaela Noises

Go Maddy Go!!

This is the video clip of an American Idol contestant who made it to Hollywood round, Maddy Curtis. I actually saw it the night it aired and was so impressed, will definitely be cheering her on. Her whole family converted to Catholicism a few years ago, she is the 9th of 12 children and the daughter of Barbara Curtis, a pro-life activist and catholic writer. You can read her mom's post about it HERE. Hoping Hollywood went well for her, anxious to find out. Neat becuase I had been following her mom's blog for a while now.

Updates all around

Ok, I already gave an update on sweet Michaela, so I figured I would on the rest of us too.

Angelia - is...POTTY TRAINED. Finally. Really she probably would have been earlier but I was not willing to do it. The last couple of times I tried she would resist or do it sporadically. Then the last couple months of my pregnancy I was so tired and with Michaela's arrival and the holidays....just didn't feel up to it. So after the New Year, I went cold turkey on her....took away the diapers and into underpants we went. For Angelica, I knew it was just her will deciding she WANTED to do it, she had been ready for quite some time, just didn't want to do it consistently. I am so proud of her. We have gone NINE days now with no accidents. We had a sticker chart on the back of the bathroom door which she loves....she got small star stickers for going pee and big smile face stickers for going poo. That which she hated now she LOVES to do. The poo was the hardest one to get done....so I decided she needed a little more of an incentive....so every time she went she got to pick out a "money". We have a coin basket and she got to pick one out and put in her "potty purse" which was a gift from Marmee the first time she went poo poo. SHE LOVES THIS. She has even told us she is getting rich...which she was. So today actually we decided that from now on she will only get a "money" when she wakes up dry in the morning. We are wearing the underpants during naps but for nights I still have her in pull ups....but so far she has had SIX dry nights too....so we shall see. Once she is completely dry she also gets to go from the thick training underpants to her pretty princess ones so she is excited about that too! It is such a HUGE freedom to not have THREE in diapers anymore. I do still hold my breath while we drive places or are out and about but know accidents will happen, just hopefully not often. My "baby" is getting so grown up!

Angelica is doing so well writing her letters and starting her numbers. She still loves to read and she loves to sing and help me cook now too. She memorizes EVERYTHING and is such a huge help and loving older sister to Michaela who lights up in smiles when she sees Angel.

Now to Emma....oh my sweet, strong tempered, funny and confusing Emma. She just had her well child check for her two years. She weighed in at 26 pounds and 35 inches tall.....so still considered long and lean. She is learning the potty routine too and I don't think it will take her long because she wants to do everything big sister does. We are still struggling with her picky food habits. So funny as Angel is such a good eater and always has been....this is new territory for us. Emma still loves her yogurt, cheese, fruit, PB&J etc....but mostly she just makes me mind up that she doesn't like something without trying it. So....I have started to only offer her what we are eating and even force feeding her a bit. I did this one night with spaghetti and after a couple forceful bites, she ate the whole bowl. Another night she didn't eat at all during dinner and then later when I made smoothies and Angel was enjoying it.....she decided she would then eat her cold dinner bowl and downed it in 5 minutes so she could partake of some smoothie too. So....it will be a process but hopefully be expanding the food selections! Screaming....well working on it...her temper gets the best of her....so it has been a time out chair of late and she is learning.

We did have a WEIRD and hard week with Emma a couple weeks ago. Since August when she started sleeping in her own bed she has LOVED to sleep. She would sleep 12 hours at night and want to go for naps and sleep for several then too. She took 3 minutes tops to put down, NEVER fussed, NEVER got out of bed and would ask to go! Well, one night at 2 am she started SCREAMING. I went in there (thinking it was a fluke) and got her back down. However, for the next 6 hours....every hour....she would wake up and SCREAM and wouldn't calm down to even talk to me or answer my questions. We thought it was shadows on the wall, so I turned on another night light. Then she started getting out of her bed, wouldn't get back in, didn't want covers on, would stand by the door and scream etc. She kept repeating that she would Fall Out...but she has Never fallen out of her bed. It was definitely a scared and terrified screaming and attitude. We felt so bad for her and consoled her as much as we could. But as parents it was hard too...we didn't want to completely change her routine because with Emma....she would then expect and demand the new routine. So while we really only wanted to bring her in bed with us or go lay down on the couch....we didn't. It was a LONG week of no sleep, a very unhappy little girl but consistency finally won. Jason and I figured out that what had to have happened.....we think she had one of those dreams where you feel like your whole body is falling and you jump awake....and because this happened and when she woke up she associated her bed and going to sleep with falling and being scared. So I think it took the consolations and time rocking and reassurance about her bed and then just TIME to get her to forget about it and adjust to her bed again. I realized one night when I went in there that it was no longer a scared reaction or crying, but was now a battle of the wills....she got use to me coming in all the time that she wanted and expected it. NO MORE for this tired mama who needed to be with baby. So for one night I would go in there, pick her up wherever she was....immediately put her back in the bed, give her a kiss and leave the room. Three times of this and she stopped. It has been over a week now and she is back to normal....it takes me only three minutes to put her down and she sleeps straight through. WHEW....can't imagine going through a child that has night terrors or such! Hard.....I have to give credit to all the saints and angel I was praying to.....especially St. Catherine, St. Therese, Mary and I even sent my guardian angel to help her out....whatever you did, THANK YOU.

Jason continues to work hard at Boeing. He is thinking of taking on a new position which would be different for him, because it would be more with instrumentation and electrical aspects of testing for the planes....and he has been doing mechanic work for 12+ years. But he likes the idea of not smelling like fuel everyday and getting other experience...plus this department would have some more opportunities for growth and they also get to destroy the planes...so what guy wouldn't like to do a huge demolition like that? So he has been in some training classes and such lately for this new job...we shall see what he decides.

I have been busy trying to figure out our new routine and schedules, a work in progress. I am still enjoying the Pampered Chef business and Martha Ministry and appreciating the blessing that I get to be home with my girls.

Well, that is a bit of our life and fun times, just in case you were interested!!

Just Chillin

Time for a Trim

Angelica's hair had gotten SO LONG....almost to her hips!! So it was desperately time for a trim. Saturday night it happened....THREE and a half inches worth and pretty much came out even! She does so well letting me cut it! Looks so much healthier!

Tummy Time

Starting to do more tummy time, although she really doesn't enjoy it much. She has a gorgeous quilt made by the wife of a co-worker of Jason's that is nice to put her on. She makes so many funny faces and smiles!

Content

Just couldn't wake her up when she looked this content, so in the car seat she slept for 3 hours!!

Happy in Hanna

This is Michaela's first Hanna play day dress...thanks to Aunty Megs and to Emma for passing on the clothes!

Emma's Baptism Day

We have enjoyed celebrating our Baptism Days in the family. The 13th was Emma's special day. She and Michaela had well child checks that morning and then we enjoyed lunch at a friends house. That evening we decided to take them to McDonalds because they LOVE the play place and good do to on a rainy day. However, it ended up being super nuts because of course it was a McTakeover night. Oh well. We ate, played a little bit and headed home to make Ice Cream Sundaes and let her open her gifts. She is already enjoying and figuring out her Busy Bible, so cool!! St. Catherine of Siena, pray for her.

Our Epiphany Celebration

Well I had some fun plans for this year's Epiphany celebration, but because we all ended up getting sick and I was out of commission, it was very simple! I even bought store bought cupcakes (aahhh!) to have as treats for the girls and managed to sneak a quarter in them when they weren't looking! Luckily, I had done my shopping early with Christmas sales at Catholic Child and saved some stocking stuffers from Christmas for the Epiphany. We only do Christmas stockings for each other on Christmas and then each get three gifts on the Epiphany to remember the story of the wise men and the gifts baby Jesus received. The girls got a couple neat videos and books from Catholic Child and also some new animal puppets!! Hopefully next year we won't be sick and we can celebrate a little more! Always bittersweet when the Epiphany arrives because I know that the Christmas decorations and tree and nativity are all being put away until next year....

Michaela Marie's Baptism

On December 27th, we celebrated Michaela's Baptism. It was a special day to have it being the Feast of the Holy Family. We were blessed to have so many family and friends help us celebrate this special day when Michaela joined the Church family, was washed clean of original sin and as we joke "no more pagan baby"! It was also special because we had some water from the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River poured into the Baptismal Font!! So cool! There were several babies and young children being baptized and they all did really well!! I love the smell of the holy chrism so much that I try not to wash it off her forehead for a few days. Thank you to our friends John & Jenny for saying yes to being godparents and helping us always direct and support Michaela in her faith. We enjoyed a fun party back at my parents house and thank you to all who came by and also for Michaela's beautiful cards and gifts and prayers. We are truly blessed with wonderful friends and a wonderful Church family! St. Michael and Mary our Mother, pray for Michaela!

With Father Lappe

Godparents, John & Jenny

With Aunt Alli & Aunt Caitlin

With Marmee & Poppy