We've been sick

That pretty much explains it all. Vomiting, the works, extreme tiredness. Mommy is still recovering (the doc says it takes pregnant ladies longer to heal from these kinda things) but the rest of the family is healing quite nicely. The one good thing from all of the chaos is that Margaret Mary is no longer using her pacifier! Nothing like throw up to gross a little girl (and a Papa who threw it in the hamper never to be seen again) out...

More posts I promise once I feel better. Please continue to pray for us...

P.S. We woke up to 8 inches of snow this morning!

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. :)

John Henry's Birthday!

In learning from our friends with big families, we wanted to celebrate John Henry's birthday in a simple loving fashion. We brought in the morning with party hats, tooters (the things you blow and they toot), Mass and then cupcakes. It was really sweet. Margaret Mary went to target with her Papa the night before and picked Henry out a little present (a football). She was so excited to give it to him. There was no jealously because the whole family was celebrating by just being together, being silly in hats, and tooting our tooters.

Henry at a year is amazing. He imitates EVERYTHING we do. He tries to brush MM's hair when I do, he tries to put on his own socks, to brush MM's teeth, draw like she does, etc. He is also very intense. The other day I was cooking and I shut the oven door. This made him VERY MAD and he stuck his fingers inbetween the oven and the door, trying with all his might to open the oven door back up. Needless to say, he ended up with little burns on three of his fingers. Crazy boy. Redirection doesn't work for him. He is SO determined to do what he wants to do. It takes a lot of energy to enforce the roles around here, and I really don't know if I will ever win the battle of standing up in the high chair. He loves to dance and claps loud when Margaret Mary sings a song. He loves loves loves his sister and thinks she is the funniest, most entertaining person in the world. We love our John Henry and think he is about the cutest boy in the whole world.

Baby Update

I had my first meeting with the midwives last week and learned a couple of things about our baby. First, isn't our baby beautiful?!? (Note: the above pic is not an actual pic of OUR baby, but another baby at 11 weeks). It's hard to believe how well formed and big our baby is at only 11 weeks.

The baby has a heartbeat of 170. If the baby follows in line with his brother and sister (whose heartbeats fit the old midwives tale perfectly), it looks like we will have a little girl! For some reason I have been dreaming of pink hats and dresses ever since I've become pregnant. Margaret Mary thinks she has "a little sister in mommy's belly" too. While I would be overjoyed with another boy, I love playing into the old midwife tales about gender prediction.

I am measuring "minus four" which explains why I am showing so soon. Normally at twelve weeks the uterus is just starting to peak over the pelvic bone. Mine is four inches below my belly button! This is totally normal for moms having their third babies. The body knows what to do, how much it needs to stretch, and does it fast.

Still tired and sick a lot but feeling better every week. Last night I had a craving for white kidney beans in chicken broth with onions. Gotta love pregnancy hormones!

Funny Boy

Doesn't Henry look like his Papa did as a little boy in this pic?

But then he definatly has a look going on thats all his own!

How the Craig Family Eats Pizza

and yes, we normally fight Henry standing up in his highchair.

and yes, I was getting down too. :)

What Love.

Today when Jason was putting Margaret Mary down for her nap, he told her he had school tonight and wouldn't be home till late. She looked up at him, with lower lip trembling, and said "But I will miss you, and I will cry, because I love you."

What love.

Here are the two cuddling after a long day of celebrating Henry's birth. I pray they will always have this sweet, special relationship.

Phone Uploads

I just uploaded the pics off of my phone so I'll do some big posts soon. Here are a couple of pics to hold you over till then...

Gotta love grocery stores that have these car carts. The kids love them and spend the whole shopping trip "driving" and spinning the little steering wheel frantically.

Why is it so hard to get a pic of these two? This is the best one so far, although I wish I would have buttoned Henry's shirt up. :)

This boy thinks that sitting in the drivers seat is the best thing in the world.

Quote of the Day

Margaret Mary while looking out onto our patio at a little squirrel said "Can I hit him with this?" (a wooden spoon she was holding).

Jason said, "no baby, that would not be kind. It would hurt the squirrel and he would not like it."

Margaret Mary replied quickly: "But I would like it."

One year ago

Happy Birthday John Henry!



This moma gets really sentimental about the first birthday...

In Loving Memory

This morning, my "T" passed away. He married my Memaw a few years ago and I remember thinking that he was her second prince in life. Please pray for my Memaw as she grieves the loss of her husband, and pray for T that he would know the mercy and love of the Savior.

I watched a documentary on 9/11 of a priest who was the chaplain for the New York fire department who died when the towers collapsed because he was on the front line. There was a quote from the movie that I can't find anywhere, but sums up how I feel at this time. So, here is my summary:

"When one looses someone they love, all they should do is worship. They should thank God for the gift of that person. Thank God for the little things about the person they'll miss. Thank God for the weird quirks, the good times, the hard times. They should praise him for the creation of a soul who touched their life in so many ways. "

We will love and miss you T and forever praise God for the gift of you.

Princess Margaret Mary

In one of her many homemade crowns. She goes back and forth on wanting to be a princess, but loves making crowns and asks me to make one for her and Henry at least once a day. She's also starting to pick out her own outfits; can you tell?

Do we have a dancer in there?

Can you believe that baby Craig #3 is bigger than this??!?! Lets hope that he or she is just as much of a dancer as his siblings are.

Many of you didn't believe this was really a video we took of Margaret Mary in the womb at my eight week ultrasound visit with Dr. Fox. But this is really what happened, no video editing at all!

Dance baby!

Bring on Fall!

Ever since Margaret Mary saw some boys playing football in the park next to our house, she has been asking to go and throw her little football around at the park. Today was the perfect fall day. It was a little chilly and overcast. I figured they already grab things from each other and push each other down, why not call it "passing" and "tackling?" Totally inspired by my Paw-paw's family basketball team (they had five boys in their family and so formed a team together), we set out for some family football.

"Where are you going Henry? The ball is this way!"

"OHHHH, I like this!"

and he's off...

and he's down...

but then again, so's she... Hey take it easy on us, we're beginners...

Lots of fun chasing each other, playing in the grass and trying to throw a football. Can you tell we're ready for fall?!?! Bring on the chill baby!

Family Walk

Have I mentioned how much MM likes lollipops? Almost more than her muh! (pacifier). The other day she told me that she "had a lollipop when she was in my belly." :)