6 Months Old!

Happy half-birthday, Katie Rose!  She is the happiest baby.  So chubby and cute.  We listen to her little squeals all day long.  She loves to blow raspberries and see everything that's going on in her little world.  She has smiles for everybody, as long as Mama is nearby.  Even when she is sad, she will have a smile for Daddy.  And nobody can make her laugh like her big brother.  She's very snuggly, and will give big hugs and nuzzle into me when she's getting tired.  We love you so much, little girl!

 



Quick Takes!

--- 1 ---

My parents and younger sister were here visiting all last week.  It was super super hot, so we did a lot of indoor things and splashed in the big fountain at Sawyer Point.  But we didn't take many pictures.  Or at least Teresa hasn't e-mailed them to me yet. By far the most exciting event of their stay happened on the Fourth of July.  A power line burst and was shooting sparks all over the sidewalk directly in front of our house.  Our guardian angels were taking care of us, and our neighbor's bushes, which miraculously did not go up in flames in the heat and dry weather.  But that wasn't the most exciting part.  The exciting part was that there were fire trucks, police cars, and power company trucks all RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE!!!  Then the line burst again and they all came back!

This photo is after a solid hour of truck watching.  We couldn't tear Anthony away.

Aunt Teresa.  Anthony calls her "Essa."  Now so do I.



--- 2 ---

I took Anthony to see even MORE TRUCKS this week.  A nearby township hosted "Touch a Truck."  Kids can climb onto garbage trucks, construction vehicles, a city bus, a Medivac helicopter, a fire truck, etc.  There were probably about 20 vehicles.  And 200 charged up preschool boys.

--- 3 ---

2 1/2 months old!

--- 4 ---

I've noticed that I'm in much better shape now than I ever was before children, even though I used to conscientiously work out then and never now.  I'll spare you the photographic evidence, but certain areas of flab I thought were just facts of life are gone!  It could have something to do with the daily walks/trots around the neignborhood wearing the baby and either chasing Anthony or pulling him in the wagon.  Or bringing the dirty laundry down two flights, a clean load up two flights, back down one then right back up again because I forgot something, then back down, then up again because the baby's awake.  Or scrubbing the dried-up jelly off the chairs.  I could do a whole post about how motherhood IS exercise.

--- 5 ---

Eight cucumbers today! And lots lots more coming very soon.  I need to learn how to make pickles, and fast.

--- 6 ---

We had a great summer menu last night:  Grilled porkchops and peaches, corn on the cob, cole slaw, and watermelon salad.  The watermelon salad is a recipe from my mother-in-law.  All it is is watermelon chunks, a handful of chopped parsley, feta cheese, toasted pine nuts, and a splash of lemon juice.  Fabulous.  Tonight will be chilled cucumber soup.

--- 7 ---

Here's another quote from Abandonment to Divine Providence.  This one hit me hard yesterday:

"Faith is the mother of sweetness, confidence, and joy.  It cannot help feeling tenderness and compassion for its enemies by whose means it is so immeasurably enriched.  The greater the harshness and severity of the creature, the greater by the operation of God, is the advantage to the soul.  While the human instrument strives to do harm, the divine Workman in whose hands it is, makes use of its very malice to remove from the soul all that might be prejudicial to it."

Jean-Pierre De Caussade is a genius.  The first line is a good litmus test to see if I am really trusting in God:  Where am I on the "sweetness, confidence, and joy" scale?



For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real: All Four in Less than a Minute

  

This is a pretty good summary of life with two little ones!  Enjoy, and check out everyone else's PHFRs over at Like Mother Like Daughter.

 

 

Feeling Normal Again

Katie Rose is now one month old.  What a month it has been!  But I realized today that I feel as if she's always been here.  She's our irreplacable little girl.  And it's just the way God meant it to be.

Blogging has been way at the bottom of my list of priorities this past month.  Okay, okay, that's usually where it is anyway. So here are some backlogged Baptism photos:

May 5:  The best moment of her life, and she sleeps through it.

Parents and godparents, our dear friends Katie and Chuckie.

(The rest of the pictures are more current.)  I'm grateful that I am feeling healthy again, enough to really enjoy having two children.  Most of the time, anyway. :)  There are still moments of not being sure of how to handle the active toddler while being stuck on the couch nursing for the fifth time this morning, but those are already becoming surprisingly routine.  And so not the end of the world.  He's already used to hearing, "Wait until the baby is finished eating."  We're reading a lot more books and learning the virtues of patience and putting someone else's needs first.  I suppose the old saying is true, that everything unknown is taken for wonderful. Actually it's a Latin phrase, I believe beginning with "Ignotus," and all a cursory Google gives me is Harry Potter fan fiction about Ignotus Peverell.  If anyone knows the phrase I'd be much obliged.

So to get it out of the way:  Why I was on bedrest for ten days of the last thirty.  Firstly, crazy bleeding after delivery left me very weak.  Then retained placenta caused more crazy bleeding.  That appears to have been resolved by Methergen, without need for surgery.  Lastly, the nastiest case of mastitis of my motherhood career to date. More drugs appear to have done their job.

It's amazing to me just how quickly the "normal" feeling is coming back, given all the above medical drama and all the soothsaying out there about how hard it is adjusting to two children.  Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying it's easy!  Certainly not!  It's just that the feeling of dread I had about the first few days after my mother left town and my husband went back to work is definitely gone now.  I'm starting to settle back into a routine, by which I mean there's a very real possibility of having dinner ready and a load of laundry put away, with plenty of playtime and outside time for everyone.  I wish I hadn't worried so much about the adjustment part.  I'm confident it will feel completely normal soon.

Meanwhile, I'm just enjoying the ride.  Thank you for all your prayers for my recovery.  It also helps to have had so many generous friends to help with meals and childcare in the beginning, so I could regain my health to tackle Level 2 of motherhood.  We are just so blessed all around!

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose

It is "Kathryn Rose" after all.  After all of our debating back and forth and finally settling on "Kathryn Grace" in the event of a girl-child.  When she was born we kept calling her "Katie Rose" and then correcting ourselves.  Eventually we gave up.  She couldn't be anything other than Katie Rose.  She looked like a little rose when she was born, all soft and pink with that adorable little pouty rosebud of a mouth.  She still does.  Apparently the consensus of family and friends favored "Rose" all along, anyway.  Her patroness is still Our Lady, under the title of Mystical Rose/Our Lady of the Rosary, so I don't think She minded our last-minute change.  :-)

After two weeks, Katie Rose and I are ready for the internet again.  This time we were delayed by an irrascible router, general postpartum adjustments, and an ongoing adventure with retained placenta.  Now I am on bedrest from said adventure, so I'll be free for blogging in the next couple of days if all goes well.  Pray for my husband and me.  All I have to do is stay in bed and wait and see what happens.  Ryan has to do what I usually do!  Now the little girl needs to be changed and nursed, so I'll leave you with that fascinating cliffhanger.

Katie Rose

Kathryn Rose

Born April 27, 2012

2:04 a.m.

7 lbs. 11 oz. 20"