Food!

Intentionally this time, Amelia has had her first taste of real food. Yummy! She really seemed to enjoy it and finished the whole serving that I'd prepared for her.

Ah, the anticipation!

First taste.

"Mmmm, this is good!"

"With two spoons, I can get more food faster!"

"No more pictures, I"m trying to eat!"

* that's avocado in case you're wondering... no rice cereal first here... maybe next week.

Milestones

Amelia's growing so fast that I can barely keep up with her. Here are a few pics from the past few days highlighting her achievments.

Here she is sitting up. She's getting really good at getting into this position and has less and less trouble staying in it without falling over.

Okay, so maybe if you can enlarge this you'll see her teeth. I spent about 5 minutes trying to catch glimpse of them and this is the best that I got.

Here she is sitting up and playing with D. Doesn't she look sporty in her new outfit, all the way from England? (*thanks to Mom-Mom for the new clothes)

The Mary, Mary, Month of May

The month of May traditionally Mary's month. As such, I thought it would be nice to have some resources up for those wishing to honor Mary.

University of Dayton
Blessed Virgin Mary Art Page
Dave Armstrong's Index of Apologetic Posts on Mary
Marian Prayers
Women for Faith and Family - Mary Page

Fair WARNING, I only briefly scanned most of these pages, so I can't be sure that they all contain orthodox info. If you find anything on any of them that is questionable, let me know, and I'll remove it from the above list. If you find any other sites that may be helpful let me know and I'll add them. Really great sites may be permanently added in the sidebar, so take some time this month and read up on Mary and let me know which sites you'd like to see get a permanent link.

Life in the Lap of Luxury

As it's the little things that make life truly luxurious, here's a list of the little luxuries from my day:

1. a nice hot shower, without anyone crying or whining at me (thank you, Barney)
2. both girls taking a nap at the same time
3. sitting on the deck, nursing Amelia and taking in the beautiful spring air
4. planting those bulbs that I've had around for several weeks
5. the feeling of damp earth, the wind through my hair and sunshine through the trees
6. the sounds of Amelia playing and discovering grass.
7. getting to go to benediction on the final night of the 40 hours devotion at church
8. getting to go ALONE to 40 hours (thank you, Jim)
9. the smell of incense
10. singing in Tantum Ergo
11. finishing the day with cake, ice cream, and glass of good wine, and a little blogging

Another Blog Thing

Your Scholastic Strength Is Deep Thinking

You aren't afraid to delve head first into a difficult subject, with mastery as your goal. You are talented at adapting, motivating others, managing resources, and analyzing risk. You should major in: Philosophy Music Theology Art History Foreign language

What Should You Major In?

Storytime with Maria

Today, as I was getting an outfit for Amelia, Maria came into the room and picked up one of her Bible board books. She opened it up to the first page, the story of Creation and she said, "One Sunday morning, the warm sun came up and, POP! Out came one little Jesus..."

And I nearly died laughing.

When you don't have paper....

...legs will do.

Progress

So this is a little late, but Amelia hit the half year mark this past Thursday. She also managed to pull off another milestone that day, getting her first tooth. Here's a picture from that day of Maria and Amelia playing "together" with Maria blocks. The time flies by so fast.

Run for Life

This weekend marked the 8th annual Run for Life, benefiting A Baby's Breath Crisis Pregnancy Center. Jim and I walked the 5K with Amelia and Maria along for the ride in the stroller. It was a beautiful day for the race, unlike last year which was drizzly and cold. Still haven't heard the total amount collected for the center, but I'll post it when I find out. For anyone wishing to donate to ABB, check out the Angel Club link on the website.

The runners lining up for the start of the one mile "fun run." Hard to see in this pic, but this is where all the other people with strollers were. We had the only stroller in the 5K. Luckily for me, Jim did most of the pushing.

Maria and her "ladies." This group of girls came with a team, so they got matching t-shirts. Maria saw them standing in the field and went running over to them. When they asked her what her name was she said, "I'm two." Later while we were doing the 5K, Maria kept asking where her "ladies" were. She was very excited to find them again after the race.

This old barn and tractor were part of the scenery along the path. Jim really wanted to take the tractor home. I told him he could, if he was willing to push it.

Here's Jim doing the hard work of pushing the girls. I started out pushing them, but gave up after the first half-mile. Luckily, I had Jim to back me up.

Here's the biggest surprise of the day... Jim took third place in his age group! With a time of 53 minutes who'd have guessed that any of us would get a medal.

Beauty and the Fall

A recent post by Dean Abbott, has got me thinking about the nature of beauty and how it relates to the Fall.

He writes:

"The loss of that physical beauty in a woman is no small blow, not something to be dismissed lightly.

Like the weakening of our faculties as we age, the vanishing of much of a woman’s beauty over the years is a mark of the Fall. Our bodies are subject to wear and death not as part of nature, but as a result of the presence of sin in creation."

According to JP II's theology of the body, we show forth the glory of God in and through our bodies. So it makes sense that our bodies would also tell the tale of the Fall. As babies, our bodies speak most clearly of the eternal life God wants for us. Babies glow and bubble forth newness, and vitality. They are (for the most part) untouched by sin, and exude innocence.

As we grow, spending more time in this world, we lose that innocence and beauty that we once had. Our time in this world is a time of encountering more and more sin, our own and that of others. We become more and more marred by the marks of sin, scars that effect not only our souls, but our physical bodies as well. Sin harms the whole person.

This gradual loss of physical beauty serves as a visible reminder of the cumulative effects of sin. Because this loss of physical beauty is symbolic of the ever increasing ravages of sin it is as Dean says, "no small blow."

I have some more thoughts on this, related to why women are most susceptible to this diminishing beauty, but I'll have to leave them for another post.

Days of whine and noses

The past week or so have been rough, as everyone but me (so far) has had a cold. First Maria, then Jim, then Amelia, and now Maria again. I thought it was gone but it's back. So now I've got two little noses to take care of. Fortunately, Maria can blow her own nose, at least some of the time. But she seems more tired and more fussy than usual. And definitely more whiny.

Amelia, on the other hand, had no idea why I'm always coming at her with a tissue, or worse yet the "snot sucker." She just knows that she hates it and wants not part of it, thank you very much. As soon as she sees me coming for her nose, she begins tossing her head all around, and usually ends up wiping a good amount of the snot on me, the couch, the pillow... anywhere but the tissue. Ah, what joy!

But spring is here! And with it comes an end to the cold season, and hopefully the only nose I'll be wiping is my own (darn allergies).

Lunchtime woes

Maria: (Crying) Oww...

Me: What's wrong sweetie? Did you bite your tongue?

Maria: No, I not bite my tongue... I bite peanut butter and jelly.

Me: (stifling a laugh) Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

Ready to Go.

Amelia is becoming much more mobile, and is starting to be able to scoot across the floor on her stomach. When she wants to move, she first gets up on her hands and toes, then lunges forward. This picture shows her starting position... it just happens to also be a Pilates position called the Plank. Try it out sometime, it's great for developing your abs.

More Easter Pictures.

Maria's giant "Bob" basket.
Lovely ladies in "boo-tifool" bonnets

The girl's in their matching Easter dresses. Matching Easter smiles not included.

Amelia discovers a camera case and finds it "oh, so yummy."

Easter Pictures

Coloring eggs for the first time. Maria liked drawing on the eggs with her crayons... unfortunately eggs are round and hard to hold , so she dropped a few in the process .
Here's a picture of some of the Easter booty.

And here's a shot of the finished eggs, all arranged in Amelia's basket.

Too much fast food

You know that you've stopped at the drivethru one too many times when your two-year old starts saying, "I want to go in french fry house!" as soon as she sees anything that resembles a McDonald's. Another clue is when the same two-year old is playing with her "money card" and asks "I'd like a #1, peez."

Gardening

Since it we had lovely weather the past few days, I've been spending much of my time outside attacking the weed pit that I call my flower garden. Here's a picture of the garden halfway through weeding.
And here's a picture of some of the "good browns" that I got out of the garden for use in the compost pile. These are the remains of flowers from last year and leaves from the oaks out front. Anything else, like dead weeds etc., I'm not using on the compost heap this year since I don't want to inadvertently spread the weeds via left over seeds.

These are some of the bulbs that I plan to put in this year, begonias, dahlias and a shady mix including ferns for out front.

I really want to get a few more roses to put in, but I can't decide where they should go. And I haven't had much luck keeping the roses that I do have looking nice for the whole summer. I keep trying but something makes the leave fall off after the first bloom. Any advice is appreciated.

Spring

Here are some pictures to cheer everyone up as we are once again experiencing chilly weather and in some places snow.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

This past weekend was fairly busy for us. There was the retirement party for Jim's dad, which my parents came down for. Then there was Palm Sunday and Becky's choir concert.

Here's a summary of the good, the bad and the ugly from this weekend.

The Good: my parent's visiting, seeing family and friends at the party, lots of yummy food, making it to Mass on time, a Sunday afternoon nap, Becky's choir singing in Latin :)

The Bad: staying up way too late, eating too many desserts, a stranger striking up a conversation with Maria during the Gospel reading (then saying "She's ok." when we pick her up and tell her to be quiet, grr...), Amish kids on Rumspringa (thank you netflix)

The Ugly: Maria after missing several hours of sleep, seeing a half-moon from a man in front of us at Mass...eww.

Check it out...

I added a new site to my "Fun Stuff" link on the left. Kunst der Fuge has midi files of various composers' works. It's not like listening to a great orchestra performance, but you can get a good idea of what the music is supposed to sound like. And to my great pleasure, they have Gustav Holst's Suite in E flat, something I've longed to hear since I played in in District Band, many moons ago.

Happy listening folks.

Note to Self:

When you let Maria play in the sandbox, be sure to shake her off, take off her sandy clothes and hose her down before you let her take a nap in your bed. Unless you enjoy sleepy between gritty sheets.

Argh.

So I had a doctor's appointment today. Not just any doctor, a specialist. Since, my appointment was at 10:45, I knew that I'd have to leave the house at 10. So the girls and I got up, got dressed, Maria and I ate breakfast and then I fed Amelia. Oh, and I showered somewhere in there, put on Caillou for Maria, filled a sippy cup and packed a diaper bag.

Anyhow, at about 9:40 I'm looking over the paperwork that they sent me, and I realize that it says..."Bring your lab results with you to the appointment. DO NOT rely on the mail or fax." Argh.

I know that I read this before... but I thought that it only said "do not mail". Silly me I thought having the info faxed would be enough... after all they provided the fax number on the form. So not panicking (ok, maybe slightly panicking), I call the number. Busy signal. Wait a minute. Hit redial. Busy signal. Repeat this 6 times. Pack up the girls. Put everything down and try one more time. Argh.

Finally I get through to someone. I'm put on hold while they check for the forms. The nice lady asks when they were supposed to be sent. Argh.

"I dunno? the beginning of March?"

Nice Lady: "ok, then they might be up front, hold on a minute.... Ah, here they are in your file."

Good. At least I don't have to run to pick them up before going to the appointment. But now it's already 10:10. I'm supposed to be dropping Maria off with Pop at 10:15. Argh.

Run for the car... find Maria downstairs in her stroller.

"I riding in 'troller mommy!"

Put Amelia in car. Get Maria out of stroller, put stroller in trunk and Maria in her seat. Drive.

10:24 - drop Maria off with Pop. Drive.

10:40 - arrive at doctor's office. Look at packed waiting room full of grumpy faces. Check in, and overhear a woman on her cell phone saying... "I'm still here, and I had a 9:15 appointment." Argh.

After filling out the HIPPA paperwork, I scan for a place to sit. There are three spots, all next to someone else. I pick the old man in the corner, hoping that he's not allergic to babies. He isn't... he and his wife spend the next 10 minutes making noises and faces a Amelia. She smiles back, coos and put on quite a show. The other people in the waiting room look jealous... they have nothing so interesting to entertain them.

Meanwhile, I sit and calculate how far behind they are....I figure I have about an hour and a half wait ahead of me. Argh.

I then sit and wonder how many people I can offend if I have to breastfeed Amelia in this waiting room. All of them are old and the way we're packed in there is no way I'll be able to go unnoticed. I spend some time worrying about this, then figure... if it comes to that I'll just demand that they let me use one of their rooms. Then I spend time trying to remember who was in the room when I walked in and who has come in since I got here. Looks like about 10 people ahead of me. Argh.

Then I watch the drug reps come in. This provides some entertainment, as they are all dressed alike and carrying large bags. I start to amuse myself by guessing which ones will stay for an audience with the doctor and which ones will decide to leave.

As, I'm near the door, and the reception desk I get to over hear all kinds of privileged information, including the receptionist discussing her medical condition with the drug rep., and the drug rep handing out free medical advice... essentially, "try our drug." Isn't there a saying, "don't trust someone who's trying to sell you something?" (maybe I made it up, but it's sounds true to me."

I also get to hear about the receptionist's father, who because of a freak accident in which he swallowed a chicken bone, now has to have his throat stretched twice a year. (eww...)

Finally, my name is called. Unfortunately it's a false alarm. Argh.

They just want to get my weight before I see the doctor. He will be with me shortly. I wait five more minutes, then call Pop and let him know that I'm going to be late as it is now the time that I said I'd be there to pick Maria up. Five minutes later and the doctor comes to get me.

Amelia is now starting to get fussy. I rock her with one hand while letting the doctor check my blood pressure, pulse, etc... I give him my history... he checks the chart a couple times. Finally, he says, "I agree with your doctor, you have X. I think that you should stay on the medicine. Come back if you doctor feels that you need to see me again. I'll meet you at the front desk."

Huh? That's it? Wait, I have questions...to late he' s already gone. So, in all I waited an hour and 45 minutes for 5 minutes with a doctor, a specialist, who didn't give me a chance to ask any questions, and whose only advice was keep taking the medicine.

ARGH.

What you get... (#2)

...when you come to check on your "sleeping" babe, after you've fixed breakfast for big sister.
...when you try to button up the sleeper after changing a diaper.

...when you try to catch picture of Amelia smiling.

What you get... (#1)

...when you get up from blogging to clean up after breakfast.
...when you feed your two-year old a muffin (yes those are all muffin crumbs from one day).

...when you pop in a video, so that you have time to blog.

...after you're done blogging and ask two year old what she wants to do. ("Go Outside!")

Opposites

Toxic Waste

I found this column by Archbishop Chaput linked on Feminine-Genius. It's great to hear a bishop speaking out about this problem. I only wish that he would have made mention of the "non-porn" porn that floods into our homes on a daily basis, in sitcoms, commercials and even the news. These subtle (or not so) images which are the Sirens of the modern age, calling to us and beckoning us ever closer to the rocky shores of pornographic addiction. These images act as a gateway, breaking down our sense of propriety, causing us to view as normal and acceptable that which is abnormal and outrageous. They fuel and fan the flames of addiction, making it that much harder for a person to pull himself out of the mire.

I agree with the Archbishop that pornography is "the biggest single environmental crisis we face" and I applaud his courage for speaking out, but I feel that the problem goes even deeper than what he addresses in his column.

Personality Test:

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have medium extroversion. You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party. Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences. But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time." Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have high neuroticism. It's easy for you to feel shaken, worried, or depressed. You often worry, and your worries prevent you from living life fully. You tend to be emotionally reactive and moody. Your either flying very high or feeling very low. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high. In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas. You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits. A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Vaccine Info

Since Amelia had her first vaccinations yesterday I spent some time looking for info online about ethical alternatives to vaccination created from aborted babies. In the course of my search I found this site, that lists US-approved alternatives for all but the rubella vaccine. It also has a lengthy discussion of what Catholics are morally obligated to do if no alternative vaccine exists.

I found it pretty interesting, though I'm not sure that I agree that rubella is enough of a threat to warrant vaccinating in spite of the lack of a morally acceptable vaccine. Especially since a morally acceptable vaccine does exist in Japan, but just isn't approved here yet. According to this site, they were able to get the vaccine from Japan by just getting their doctor's approval. Of course, they are located in the UK so I don't know how it works here, but maybe if people get together and lobby for it we can get the morally acceptable rubella vaccine approved in the US. Or at least made available with the permission of a doctor.

Pajama Day

I was tired and grumpy and really didn't feel like doing anything today, so I declared a pajama day. However, I decided this after I was already dressed so it was just the girls who stayed in their pj's.

It has been a rough couple of weeks with all of us having colds (Maria's still pretty stuffy), and Amelia receiving her first vaccinations yesterday. Last night was tough, as Amelia's leg got all swollen, red and hot around where she got the shot. She spent about an hour screaming before I could get her to calm down and fall asleep. Later, I was able to get her to take some Tylenol before Jim lulled her to sleep again, but it made for a nasty end to the day.

So today, instead of the usual chaos of trying to get keep the girls occupied while I clean, I just let Maria pick a video and there she sat for an hour watching intently. She selected Winnie the Pooh's ABC's, so really it was an educational DVD. It even has a bonus feature where it shows the letter, gives the sound of the letter, shows how to write both the upper and lower cases, and gives a picture of one word that starts with that letter. You have a choice to do the whole alphabet or just a select certain letters. So again it was educational, really.

I think Maria had fun. She's been bugging me to let her wear her 'jamas all day for weeks. It's really been a struggle to get her dressed in the morning. I think that she was especially pleased that they were her penguin pajamas, as she is very fond of these.

I know that I enjoyed it... I even got a nap of sorts. I had Amelia snuggled on one side of me, and Maria on the other. And for about 10 minutes all was quiet and calm. Then Maria began to squirm, and then sing. I shushed her and told her to be quiet and sleep, it was naptime after all. But she persisted... she tucked her feet under me, then she got up and tried to sleep on my head (not so comfy). Finally, I told her to just go read a book if you're not going to sleep. This actually worked... for a few minutes she was quietly reading a book. Then she began to read, aloud, her version of Green Eggs and Ham.

It went something like this... "that Sam I am, I do not like that Sam I am. I am Sam. I do not like Sam I am. I do not like green eggs and ham." She kept repeating these lines in varying orders until I finally decided to give up and end the non-nap nap.

Ah, well.... even a pajama day is more interesting with kids.

Moving in the Right Direction

Okay, so I'm a little behind in my reading, but I just read this article from last week's Catholic Standard and Times. I was soo excited to learn that they have moved the tabernacle to it's proper place behind the main altar at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral (in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia).

The description makes me want to go and see it for myself. Mini-pilgrimage anyone?

Here's an excerpt from the article:

The Cardinal was clearly moved by the event. In his homily, he told the Cathedral’s parishioners, "Our hearts are filled with joy to celebrate this great event, and once again in a very special way to express our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the tabernacle. ...[W]e honor the presence of Christ truly and substantially in the Eucharist which we have enthroned in this beautiful new tabernacle that expresses our holy Catholic faith."

We're so blessed to have this man as our shepherd. Clearly, he has a great love for Jesus in the Eucharist, and desires to cultivate that love in all his flock.

Let's all pray that pastors in the Archdiocese may follow his lead and move Jesus back to the center of our churches.

Pizza night...

Here's some pictures from Friday night's pizza fest. As you can see Maria very much enjoyed helping me make the pizza dough.

Interesting Article

I found the link to this article on Amy Wellborn's Site, Open Book. It's about the differences between public and private schools in developing countries. Surprisingly (or not), the private schools are doing much better job of teaching those countries poor.

Snow Day...

Here's a few pics of Maria playing in the first "nice" snow of the season.
(nice = snow without ice involved)

All work and no play around here - even Maria has to do her share.

More Pics of the Girls

Lenten reflections...

If you're looking for something to help you make it through Lent, then you should check out this site. This Benedictine-Cistercian monk writes really interesting reflections on the daily and Sunday Mass readings.

Jimmy's Post on the Jesus Tomb

Jimmy Akin has posted his response/debunking of the Jesus tomb movie. Here's the link as promised.

Visual DNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Another Grave of Jesus...

this one in LA. Get the story here.

Thanks to Rob for finding finding the site.

How Crunchy Are You?

Take the quiz here, then let me know your score.

I scored 116. Hmm.... looks like I have some work to do.


(I found the quiz link on this blog, Journeys of a Catholic Poster Girl)