Catching up on Henry...

This last pic is really sweet to me. On the way home from visiting family in North Carolina, Henry fell asleep before our first flight even took off. This was a bit nerve racking as keeping Henry entertained on an airplane is a full time, stressful job, and I figured that if he slept now, he'd be up for the entire three hour flight we had to catch after this one. But God is so good, and Henry slept for the entire hour flight, our layover in Atlanta, and then an hour into our final three hour flight. This pic was taken in our layover in Atlanta. Henry was conked out in the sling, and I was able to rest.

Other side notes about Henry: he loves to sing and dance. His favorite songs are "twinkle twinkle little star" and "the itsy bitsy spider." He does the hand motions. He says "mama", "papa," and today said "juice". It was more like "uice". He also imitates us when we tell him to sit down in his high chair: "daaaahhn!" When he dances, he bends his knees and leans from side to side like an old man. Its pretty funny. He still gets frustrated REALLY easily. He wants to do everything his sister does and when we tell him no or he falls, he looses it. Its hard to know how much to let him attempt, because he really can do almost everything his sister can. But then he falls... His favorite toy is a wooden rocking horse passed down to us from the Weilers (his Godparents). He rocks and rocks, and smiles and smiles. Then he stands up on the rocking horse and rocks some more, thrilled at the success of his little daring act.

He LOVES hugging his papa, playing with his sister and giving kisses. Margaret Mary loves to play a game called Alligator, where you do the chomp chomp with your hands and chase her around the room. Henry loves to jump in. He does his little hands in the alligator motion and when he gets to you, he pretends to eat you. Pretty funny.

Henry and Margaret Mary LOVE to pray. Henry does his own little sign of the cross (flipping one hand back and forth) the entire time we pray with a big smile on his face. The other day we went out to eat and before we got our food, he was telling us to pray by his little hand signal. How could we resist??? Margaret Mary is like a little prayer boot camp leader. She will ask me to pray for her, and I will, and then she will ask me to pray for Henry, and I will, and then for Papa, and I will, and then for Mama, and I will. And soon I'm exhausted, but she hasn't exhausted her list of people for me to pray for yet. Its very humbling.

Having a little boy is very challenging; I need to read some boy's heart books. I don't have a brother and didn't have any close boy cousins, so I know NOTHING about what is normal for a little boy to do. The climbing on EVERYTHING, the constant EATING (he eats as much as I do at some meals!); I've got a lot to learn.

Our First Snow Storm!

I took a lot of pictures today (about 100 :) ), so this is the beginning of a series of posts.

This morning we woke up to snow! About three inches and still coming down strong! The kids couldn't wait to get out in it and play. After about a half hour of rummaging through winter clothes, mittens and hats, we were ready! Henry couldn't move in his snow suit and thought it was hilarious to try to walk and then roll onto the floor. He would then call out "papa!", "mama!" until someone came to pick him back up again.



After eating a little snow, Jason got out the sled...






Jason pulled the kids and Henry grabbed handfuls of snow to eat as the sled dragged along until he fell off and then got frustrated by his snow suit. Don't worry, we had mittens for him, but were waiting to put them on because I was afraid he was going to overheat in the house with all his layers on. :)

More pics to come!

My Margaret Mary

There is so much to say about my girl who is almost TWO AND A HALF!!! So I will jump right in...

She is SUCH a good big sister. She loves Henry and loves to hold his hand and walk with him and will bend down to his level and speak in a sweet voice when she wants to tell him something. When he cries she goes to find him a toy "to make him feel better" or will go to him and comfort him by giving him a hug. Margaret Mary really enjoys Henry and being a big sister. In fact, she tells us all the time with a big smile on her face "I'm a good big sister." We talk about the baby in my belly a lot and she says that she can't wait to hold the baby, kiss the baby, and help the baby when he or she cries. She also wants to rock the baby in her little red rocking chair.




Her imagination is really blossoming. She is forever telling stories, singing songs about daily life (for example: in plainchant - "I will eat my food in one minute, first I will drink my milk!"), playing with imaginary snakes, pretending to be a monster, alligator or dinosaur, or changing the words to a song she already knows ("Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what Mommy are..."). In the car, Jason and I like to be silent in the front seat and just listen to her talk. The girl goes a million miles an hour talking about things and making up games to play with herself.


She is even learning to share her beloved papa with Henry. When Jason holds them both, they both look at eachother, smile and laugh and sometimes she even reaches for Henry's ears.


But there are definatly times she wants "some space" as she calls it, and likes to "take a break" on the couch with her muh. I've found that when we get out the pack n play, her little table fits in it perfectly and it gives her a little private time away from Henry's grabby curious hands.

The girl also loves to dance and dances constantly to anything she hears. If she really likes the music she will say "This is Margaret Mary music!" She tells us she is bigger each day thinking that some day she will be big enough for ballet class. :) Every time we go to the altar rail for communion, she looks up an whispers, "Am I big for Jesus bread?" She likes to alternate telling us she is big (if she wants to do something) and that she is a baby (if she wants US to do something). Its pretty funny how much her perception switches.

We Love Love Love our little Margaret Mary.

Margaret Mary LOVES Storybox and Cake

She loves to read. period. She will bring us a book and ask "whats this one about?" before sitting down in our laps. She is so big and really talking up a storm. She is also starting to read to us. She will pick up a book and start each page with "once upon a time, there was a (name object on page)." Her little stories are so cute. This is one from yesterday: "Once upon a time there was a gorilla. A MEAN gorilla. GO AWAY GORILLA!!" Turn page. :)

She also loves to make cake. :) Or to eat it I should say. These pics are from "Mama Mary's" birthday that we celebrated in the church a while back. We celebrate her birthday as a huge moment in salvation history. The woman who would bear the Christ Child in her very own body is born; the Word made flesh is just years away.

Here is MM singing Happy Birthday to one of our favorite pictures of Mary, Our Lady of La Leche.

Here she is eating to cake batter. :)