TODAY
Out my window: Spring. Finally. Oh thank you Jesus. And from the looks of the forecast, it should be summer by the end of the week.
Clothing myself in: Skinny jeans (Maurices), pink tank and yellow top (Target), grey shrug (Old Navy...juniors dept., haha) and brown flats (Maurices). Actually presentable enough to post a pic for once.Around the house: I'd like to do something with the toy corner in the living room but I don't know what. Currently we have a milk-crate size basket of random toys and Clem's play cube. Then our religion-type books and some library books are usually over on the fireplace. And there is a basket of baby toys under one end table and books under another. I'd really like to consolidate all this stuff in the "toy corner", but there's also a lamp and a vent there, so my options are really limited. It's not a ton of stuff, I just feel it could be better organized (it's the OCD part in me that constantly has to be organizing something...I think it's a coping mechanism). I'd like to do a nine-cube but there's just not enough space. Maybe a modified version? I saw some cool benches at Target too but the space is pretty small, so between that and the pesky vent (I could move the lamp) I just don't know... Ideas??
The baby: Ten months. He is proficient at crawling now. And pulling up. And apparently climbing stairs. And getting into things. The other day he got into something Gemma had painted and before I knew it his face was blue (from the paint). I'm not ready for this. He's sooooooo cute though. He really likes to say "dadada". Every once in a while he will throw a "mama" in there, but mainly just "dada" and lots of other babbles. Did I mention he is cute? And that he eats dirt? And paper? Heaven help me.
The kiddos: Gemma has been very trying lately. Please say a prayer for her (and me). She is always planning something, last Tuesday or Wednesday I believe Aaron was putting her to bed and she was totally stressing out on him saying, "it's almost Mother's Day and I have SO MUCH I still need to get done!!" Silly girl.
Kolbe is just cute. I love the way he talks and his silly little personality. He is my funny little man. Did you know he can touch his nose with his tongue? We are still trying to get to the bottom of his food issues. Last summer it dawned on us he had a sensitivity to artificial dye (gives him pretty bad eczema around his mouth) and we've cut that out (all except the occasional junk when we're out and about, ugh) but he still has some issues. Recently we figured out that caramel color has been causing it (even though it is supposedly "natural") and he even flared up after a (very small!) bite of 100% Maple Syrup the other week. How does that make sense? I'm glad his only issues are the skin ones, but I'd still like to get to the bottom of this. Not really wanting to attempt an elimination diet though.
In the kitchen: Sushi for mother's day (thanks hubby) and pound cake. Funny story on this (tangent alert). I will preface by saying that my hubby is a great cook and very proficient in the kitchen. So Aaron had picked up a bunch of strawberries and mentioned that it would be nice if I made a pound cake to go with them. I really had intended to do this, but just hadn't gotten around to it so he decided to make me one for mothers day and found a recipe online. The following conversation ensued:
Aaron: So we only have frozen butter. Can I use frozen butter for this?
Me: No. It has to be softened.
Aaron: Melted?
Me: No, softened. It's a balance.
Aaron: (puts butter in microwave and measures sugar in bowl). So how many tablespoons are in a cup?
Me: [quick google search] sixteen.
Me: [quick google search] sixteen.
Aaron: What order am I supposed to put all this stuff in (he had just jotted the ingredients and amounts down), maybe you should print the recipe.
Me: It's a cake hon. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, then flour and milk. By the way, do you need me to get the mixer out for you and show you how to use it?
Aaron: Mixer? Why would I need a mixer? I have muscles!
Me: SERIOUSLY, Aaron?!!!
Aaron: Maybe you should just make the cake.
He was pretty proud of his mad manipulation skilz. I was amused. And I made the cake. True story.
Sesame Chicken; Stuffed Green Peppers; family bday dinner; and Tuna Melts are on the menu this week. Fresh brussel sprouts, asparagus and lots of fruit in the fridge to use as well.
Crafting: Mended a pair of Aaron's pants and a (brand new) bag from Target that had a rip in the seam. Does that count? Also helped the kids make these cute little handprint flowers for their godmamas and grandmamas for Mothers Day. We wrote prayers on the fingers and turned them into spiritual bouquets. They were really cute.Learning: Nothing out of the usual. I've been giving Gemma more worksheets (mainly math, science and just general kdg readiness stuff) and she really enjoys working on those. She's getting better at writing with a pencil (vs. crayons) and is even using a correct grip more regularly! Almost ready to start Letters and Numbers for Me (our next handwriting book). I need to check if we have this video about Our Lady of Fatima on our DVR. Thinking about and looking forward to things to do with Kolbe next year. We are signed up for Bible school (Gemma) and swim lessons (Gemma and Kolbe) this summer, so that should give us some fun things to do.
Reading: Finished Navigating the Interior Life (see my review HERE). Still working through the Catechism daily (mostly) for the Year of Faith, and really enjoying it. Trying to read from the Bible every day. I am part-way through Beyond Baby Talk, which a friend loaned me. It's good, but seems (at least so far) to deal with language more than speech, whereas Kolbe's issues are speech not language. It's still interesting enough though. Also reading a bit about Ignatian spirituality. Any recommendations along that vein would be appreciated.
Watching: Caught a couple episodes of Survivorman that we hadn't seen. Debi, your boys would like this show. Still enjoying new episodes of River Monsters each week during its season which I'm sure will end soon (it was really short last year). Seriously? How many more river monsters are really out there? This show just can't go on forever. Sadly. Oh, and we also watched a show the other night on cults, it was on History (or H2, I can't remember) and it was really fascinating.
Bringing me joy: My vocation.
Thinking about: Mother's Day. It has really evolved for me. I'll just come right out and say my first few mother's days were plain miserable. I cried and had some pretty amazing pity parties for myself, let me tell you. I thought Mother's Day was supposed to be perfect?!! All about ME!! But then I readjusted my expectations. And probably grew up a little bit (it does happen). Mother's Day is really just another day, contrary to what Hallmark would have you believe. I mean, don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful day to recognize and celebrate the gift of woman and motherhood (I really like what our priest had to say about this in our bulletin this week); but when it's all said and done, maybe I should spend the day embracing my vocation rather than escaping it. My kids will tell me happy mother's day a million times but they'll still act, how shall we say, like their usual selves as well. Gemma will melt down over a million random things and Kolbe will decide that he wants to buy a fishing pole instead of going to Mass and obsess and whine and cry about it for 45 minutes. Clement will pull on my necklace and nurse through all the parts of Mass when I should be standing. Aaron will make me a nice dinner, but I'll probably still have to clean up the kitchen. We'll mix a batch of strawberry daiquiris but then we'll have to interrupt our drinking them to clean dog poop off Gemma's bare feet. But you know what? That's OK. Motherhood - in all its "glory" - is my life. Sometimes it's important to just celebrate that. By being grateful for and embracing the gift of my vocation, with all its blessings and difficulties too. This year we had a lovely family walk, and a day with very few out-of-the-house obligations. The kids threw fits and I cleaned up the kitchen (more than once) and the floor could use to be sweeped. Swept. Again. BLAH! Oh yeah, and I made my own cake. But this is my life. And I am content. Happy. God is good...all the time.
Pictures to share:
Wearing their "running hats"
Look what I can do!
Family.
