A Few More Pictures…

 

What’s a boy to do?

My Sean has a problem.  Even though I have two older boys, I have never had the experience of one of them having this issue.  Sean is a chick magnet.

We don’t seem to be able to go anywhere without Sean finding himself with a little girl, usually a few years older than him, sticking herself to him like glue.  The girls look at me and squeal, “he is so cute!”  As if I didn’t know that.  You’re preaching to the choir, ladies.

These girls also cannot keep their hands to themselves.  They want to touch him, they want to get close up to his face, they want to pick him up, and he’s no lightweight baby.  He has what Gene Simmons once referred to as “My Charisma:”

 

Well, looking like this doesn’t hurt either:

It is a burden for him, because he doesn’t necessarily enjoy all of this attention.  It’s cute at first, but when they just won’t leave him alone, like at the park today, neither he nor I really know what to make of it.  Today he came over to me, climbed in my lap, and told me he wanted to go home.  Now, that could’ve happened anyway, but it seemed to have a direct relationship to the amount of touching this girl was doing. 

One thing that might solve the problem?  Better supervision by the parents of these young ladies.  Uh hum.

It’s a Mind Game

I had one of those stupid conversations with my husband the other day, fueled by hormones and exhaustion.  I felt stupid even as the words cascaded out of my mouth, but there was no stopping them, they have a life of their own when I’m tired.

It was the age-old complaint of the full-time mom to the full-time working dad:  “You have no idea what it is I do around here!  You can’t imagine what my day is like!”  I know, how cliche.

After I calmed down two days a little later I thought about how useless that statement truly is.  What does it mean to him when I tell him that?  That I doubt his imaginative capacity, his ability to estimate the difficulty of caring for our children all day, every day, alone?  Am I complaining of the work?  The laundry, the dishes, the meals?  If so, so what?  We all have our work to do, and for the most part I enjoy those things.

So I took the time, in a calm moment, to clarify what I meant after realizing what that was.  It’s the very real psychological difficulty of taking care of small children all day, every day, alone.  It’s facing each morning cheerfully, even though you know you’re going to get your first arguments about breakfast before you’re even fully conscious.  It’s the feeling of frustration when your simple requests are blatantly ignored and disobeyed by three different little people, all day long.  It’s the knowledge that even though you want to have your house neat and clean, you won’t be able to tackle a project from start to finish without the nearly constant interruption of the needs, however minor, of the kids.  It’s knowing that when you finally get a chance to start some laundry, the kids will inevitably began screaming for you. 

In other words, it’s a mind game, and you’ve got to stay on top of it or it will get the better of you, which you should be reserving for your family.  I usually can stay on top of it, but when physical difficulties like exhaustion, nausea, and pain from pregnancy play their part in my day it becomes a more difficult task.  I know I’ve lost the battle for the day when I’m yelling unintelligibly into the telephone at my husband.  Or shouting an inordinate amount at the kids. 

It’s tough.  I can’t just stop when I know I’m too tired to be a good parent.  I can’t just take a break.  I can’t call in sick.  There’s no denying this difficulty.  When I tell him he has no idea, it’s that one can’t imagine the mental strength necessary to do this work in the long-term, every day, and for each forseeable day into the future, unless they themselves are in the game.  The only thing I can do is try not to take the falls too seriously, try to get my rest, and work to understand when I am getting to that place where I’m losing the mind game.

Jerusalem

Quick Takes

“Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your own weakness.”  -Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

1.  Tired.  The vomiting began somewhere in the middle of the night this past Tuesday, so I had to start taking the Unisom to hold it at bay. 

You know how tired you are during the first trimester, how you could sleep at the drop of the hat?  Well, add to that taking a sleeping pill every morning when you get up.  Yeah.

2.  Ed has been home all week taking care of me and the kids.  That has to end on Monday, so I’m going to have to be strong, SUPER-MAMA, to do all that needs doing ’round here.   And you know, to not forget to pack Tommy’s snack, or change him out of his pajamas before school.

3.  RCIA was great last night, we talked about the Saints, the cloud of witnesses.  The leader of the discussion read and excerpt from a biography of St. Maximilian Kolbe, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.  I didn’t think he was going to be able to finish reading, but he persevered.

4.  I think my nose is getting bigger.  Is that possible when you’re six weeks pregnant?

5.  Thomas told us he’s going to be a “church guy” when he grows up, or sometimes, as he calls it, a “criest.”  Let’s first concentrate on not being blasphemous during the prayer before our meals, m’kay?  Baby steps.

6.  Tomorrow is my birthday, and like every year, I keep forgetting all about it.  I’ll be 34.  Yup.  I feel 34, so I guess that’s okay.

7.  I want to say a huge thank you to Ashli from The Sicle Cell, for sending me the book she authored, Beyond Morning Sickness:  Battling Hyperemesis Gravidarum.  What a tremendous resource for women and families battling this debilitating condition.  Knowledge is power, and Ashli has done and continues to do so much to put that power into the hands of women who need it.  Thank you, Ashli!  May your work continue to help save lives.

7 Quick Takes Friday

1.  TGIF.  This has been a really long week for some reason, and I’m just glad it’s over!  Hop over to Conversion Diary to participate.

2.  The contractor is coming on Monday to begin work on our siding and roof.  Things will be a mess for a few weeks, but it’s going to look great in the end. 

3.  I heard from Tommy’s SpEd teacher this week.  She is going to recommend that he gets a shared aid for next year, mostly to keep him on task and to help with transitions.  It’s a relief, because I know it’s something Thomas really needs.  He really doesn’t have a problem with being able to do the actual work, it’s just being able to follow along and not get distracted by whatever else is going on in his environment.

4.  The little boys and I are off to a puppet show this morning! 

5.  Yesterday I hurt my back getting orange juice out of the refrigerator.  With all the ridiculous lifting I do, of toddlers and laundry, etc., it would be the oj that gets me in the end.

6.  We’re down to about a foot of snow on the ground outside.  I’m hoping the warm weather this weekend will melt the rest!  I miss the grass, even if it’s dead and soggy under there.

7.  Thomas had a “lock-down” at his school yesterday.  A couple of kids thought they saw a man in the woods near the play ground.  Everyone was brought inside, the school was locked, and the police were called. 

No evidence or foot prints were found, but better to be safe than sorry.  How sad is it when my 5 year old comes home and wants to play school lock-down?

You Are Alive!

This is how our Deacon described Ed and me when we were talking with him after class last week.  What a beautiful compliment.

Yes, we are alive, more than he could know!  To truly be alive you first must die, and it seems like over the past 11 years  (and more, separately) Ed and I have died a thousand ways trying to find our way to the Truth. 

What gifts the Lord gives when you open your eyes to Him.  Nothing is impossible. 

Send us out to be Your hands and feet!  Unwavering is the Heart that bled for the sins of man.

Painted

I’ve been talking about painting the kitchen for eons.  Yes, that long.

Yesterday we did it.  I went to Lowes, didn’t allow myself to belabor the color, get discouraged by my own indecision, and just put the entire project on hold for another six months.

So here’s a picture of the color.  It’s a purple/grayish/brown.  I k now, whodathunkit, but it actually looks very pretty.

The truth is, we’re probably going to put our house on the market.  We’re not letting ourselves get too hopeful that it we’ll be able to sell in this market, but we’re going to try.  And just to get ahead of ourselves, we’ve found a house that we really, really like in another county.  It’s a 1834 Greek Revival, and it would be loads of fun if we could get it…but like I said, we’re ahead of ourselves…

So here’s to the kitchen that took a year to finish.  I put the floor down last Spring, we put new lighting fixtures and counter tops in, a new breakfast bar, and now, finally, we’re almost done painting it.  Baby steps.

Less Than 3 Days To Go

Until our new health insurance kicks in, that is.  Ed started a new job December 1st, so we had to endure the obligatory 30 day waiting period for new coverage.

And we almost made it. 

The last time we were without coverage for a job change Ryan was only 5 months old.   He ended up being hospitalized for 3 days with brochiolitis.  Hospitalization without medical coverage is very, very expensive, as you could probably guess, but when left with the choice between your baby dying and a few bills…well, it doesn’t seem like all that much money. 

This winter, and I almost hate to say it, we’ve all been ridiculously healthy.  Until yesterday at church when I noticed the little blister on Ryan’s eyelid.  And so the health care debacle from back when he was 5 months old comes full circle.

You see, during that hospital stay as a baby, we were informed that there was a young man on the ward with a severe case of chicken pox.  We were told to look out for it over the next few weeks.  Just around the time when that few weeks waiting period was over, baby Ryan began developing spots.  The spots flourished into a full-blown raging case of chicken pox that covered every inch of his tiny body and sent his temps into the 103s. 

Almost exactly a year later, just as I was going into the hospital to have Sean, Ryan developed spots again.  These spots were only on the right side of his face, and by the time I got out of the hospital they were in full bloom. 

Shingles on the trigeminal nerve can be particularly painful and dangerous, because when they effect the eye there’s a 10% chance of it causing permanent blindness. 

So when thet spots that have been developing on the right side of his face these past couple of weeks sent out an assault on his eye yesterday the questions of, “Is it shingles?  Do we need to go to the doctor?”  were answered for me.  He has to be seen, even if it will set us back $150.  More if he has to see the eye doctor.  More if he needs acyclovir. 

Just when I thought we had made it through the month without a problem.  What do you think?  Should I sue the hospital where he contracted the chicken pox for all subsequent medical bills we have incurred as a result of his having acquired that virus?  Or should we just let it go….

It depends on how mad I am after his appointment today…I might be asking in the millions for pain and suffering alone.

Back After the Storm

Well, that was quite a weekend.  In the heart of the ice storm here in NY, we lost power very early in the dark of Friday morning.  I got the kids dressed as they woke up and we made our way, very slowly, to grandma’s house and heat. 

We spent the weekend there until our power was restored Sunday afternoon.

So–I missed having been tagged by Elena!  She has tagged me to list the ten most fascinating Catholics of 2008.  I would like to play along, even if I am a little late and could only come up with seven.  Here they are:

1.  Anthony M. Kennedy–US Supreme Court Justice

2.  Anne Rice–yes, the author of both erotica and vampire fiction (Interview with the Vampire) has returned to her faith and is now writing Christian Catholic books.  Her new book out this year is Christ the Lord:  Return to Cana.

3.  Clarence Thomas, US Supreme Court Justice

4.  Jim Caviezel–this pro-life Catholic actor who portrayed Jesus Christ in The Passion of Christ, gave his time to the McCain campaign this year and continues to be outspoken on matters of his faith.

5.  Eduardo Verastequi–Mexican actor and star of the film Bella.  There’s a beautiful interview with him here. 

6.  Dr. Alan Keyes–few people realize he’s Catholic.  He continues to fight in an intelligent way to transform political corruption–particularly in Illinois (ahem).

7.  Sam Brownback–US Senator and this year’s leader of Catholics for McCain.