What THEY Wore Sunday

There is a great blog link up going on called "What I Wore Sunday," where moms and wives post what they wore Sunday to Mass to encourage other women in modest fashion.  I'm not really into fashion right now, partly because I have the cutest accessory on my arm (Peter!). But, my kids outfits deserve some attention:

Oh, I love my kids in knits!

Henry is a real head turner.  Not because of some cute outfit or his blue eyes, but because of the two "chasubles" (what the priest wears at Mass) he insists on wearing to Mass.  We are so used to it we forget and wonder why everyone checks us out when we walk by, and then we realize, oh yeah, Henry's chasubles. With MM, its more doing damage control. SHE likes to pick out her outfits now, but I always get to choose the sweater so I can undo some of the chaos she has going on.  She did pretty well this Sunday.  She also refused to have her picture taken without her "husband" Henry in the picture.

 So, heres the best pic I could get of all three:

After Mass, the boys changed and we all played outside for a little.

And thats it folks! What They wore on Sunday.

Flashes and Chickens

Yesterday Jason processed some of our chickens and today we ate some.  Peter loved chewing on the skin and even held onto a bone for a little while.  I decided I had to take some pictures. But because its been raining FOR DAYS, there was little natural light in my house. I popped open the flash, messed with the dials and was pretty happy with how the pics turned out. BUT, what made the moment was that Peter thinks the flash is hilarious and blinks and smiles for seconds afterwards...

Gotta love 'em!

Peter at Nine Months

I always marvel at the nine month mark.  For some reason I find it fascinating that Peter has spent exactly half his life in my belly and half of his life out. What a little boy he is becoming!

Peter is still very outgoing. He wants to be where his siblings are and will crawl all over the house to find them.  He then will pull up on something, bounce up and down and watch them, laughing and talking as much as he can.

  

He loves his feet, being outside, talking and babbling, grabbing his Papa's beard, and watching his sister dance. He's obsessed with the toilet and makes beelines for it whenever we put him down.  He's like a turtle! I will pick him up and redirect him, and within seconds, he is crawling away in the same direction he was going in the first place. Determined this little one is.

 

He has the most amazing curly hair. Now, I'm not a big fan of long hair on boys, but Peter has something charming going on...

 

He has two bottom teeth and one top tooth sticking out. He still loves to nurse and curls up like a little ball on my lap while he nurses. He still nurses to sleep and likes for me to play with his hair while he's winding down. He's been pretty fussy lately cause of the teething, but he's still a joy.

Thank you Lord for 18 months of Peter. Nine in my belly and nine out!  We love watching you grow little one!

Like Mommy, Like Baby

Margaret Mary wanted matching headbands for her and her baby, so we found some ribbon and tied some. I thought these pics came out really sweet.

All this sweetness only to have the baby thrown discarded on the ground two minutes later

 

Henry's Speech

We have been a little curious about Henry's speaking. Sometimes we can understand him fine, and other times, esp when he's excited, we have no clue what he's saying.  We had an appt with an early intervention group to see if Henry would work this out by himself or if he needed some extra help.  It went okay.  Henry was pretty shy but cooperated well.  Their verdict was that he was right where he should be with development and made a second appt to get his speech evaluated by a speech language pathologist.  But at the appointment, something interesting happened. One of the ladies asked me if Henry could wipe his own nose. I  paused for a minute. I haven't seen him wipe his nose since last winter. "I don't know," I answered trying to think hard about the last time Henry had been sick.  It haddent been MONTHS.  Thats right, Henry hasn't had a cold or been sick in MONTHS. I got pretty excited.  Everything I am learning about health and nutrition makes so much sense and I'm working hard to incorporate this knowledge into our diets at home.  None of my kids have been sick...for months! And we have even been around sick people! Now, I know as soon as I write this, someone is going to come down with a sickness, and thats okay.  The goal is not to NEVER get sick. But its pretty exciting considering how much my children got sick last year.

If you haven't' heard of the Weston A Price Foundation, check them out.  I've never been more convinced of the importance of nutrition and what is actually healthy.

For more reader friendly blogs check out:

The Healthy Home Economist
Mommypotomus

Jumping on the Bed

Night Prayers

Tonight I was putting Margaret Mary down for bed after a long hard day. Not only did the boys not nap well today, but Margaret Mary had sawed (with a toy plastic saw) into a sign Jason had been making.  (It's a common issue with Margaret Mary. We can't get her to think through her actions and she is constantly tearing up things, ripping them, destroying them somehow.)  I was praying out loud asking God to give me patience and to help me to be a good mommy and to forgive me of my anger. Margaret Mary opened her eyes and with the sweetest genuine voice, "Mommy, I have a hard time listening too. I just don't know what is right and wrong."  My heart melted and I gave her a kiss.  "Its hard baby, its hard."

I have no words of wisdom to summarize this post, but I just wanted to record it so I wouldn't forget.

I forgot to mention---

At a Christmas party we attended, there was a Santa there handing out presents. He called out the kids names and then they came up to sit on his lap and get their present. After a few names, Margaret Mary came up to me with a worried perplexed look on her face. Timidly she asked me "Mommy, have I been good this year?"  I couldn't help but smile. Had she been good? It's not that she has been bad, but I wouldn't say she has been "good" either.  I would say about 50/50.  She was obviously worried at this party when she discovered that only kids who have been good get presents.  I thought for a second and then told her that she HAD been a good girl and reassured her that Santa had a present for her. Even though it seems like everyday is a battle, she is good because she was made by God, because I love her and because she has infinite worth; nothing she could do could ever change that.  I have to admit though that even though we don't do Santa, I kind of like that my daughter had to examine her conscious a little.  Such a great picture of God and his love. Even though, by our actions, we don't deserve the gift of heaven, the gift of love, the gift of mercy; he gives it to us because he loves us. Because he made us.

16 Months Apart

When I became pregnant with Henry, I was pretty nervous. Excited, yes, but curious as to how on earth I would raise two babies 16 months apart.  It wasn't easy (and still isn't), but I am proud to say that Margaret Mary and Henry are such good friends. They play together all day long and laugh and laugh.  God sure knew what he was doing!

The play together, get in time out together... 

 

Please ignore the fact that Henry has a dress on. It's a long story...

Margaret Mary's List

Today Margaret Mary made a list of what she wanted to do today. I thought I would share:

1) Go to a playground.

2) Go to Samuel's house (a neighbor)

3) Make cookies

4) Pick flowers

What a sweet girl.

MM also has been saying a new funny word, "mini ha-ha." She sings about it, dances to it, gets henry to say it; we all think its pretty funny. Well, we asked her where she heard it, and she said "Frosty!" Jason, who considers himself a Christmas movie buff assures me, "Mini ha-ha is NOT in Frosty." Weeks go by and one day Jason and MM are watching Frosty and come to find out, it IS in Frosty." We all had a good laugh.

Part Three: Winston Salem

On the 29th we drove down to Winston Salem for another family Christmas party.  

We had a great time seeing my Memaw and other members we don't get to see that often.  I also got to take some pics of my sister and her boyfriend. I think they make a cute couple and its good to see her so happy.