Family Day

We had a nice family day yesterday! We went to Mass, and then after picking up the baby furniture we headed to Burger King and to the theater to see Horton Hears a Who. It was Genna's first movie and probably too soon, but Brian really wanted for us all to go to the movie together as a family. She did sit still, but she just couldn't quite pay attention for that long. It is only Hannah's third movie because I rarely see a movie out that I feel she can watch these days. Hannah saw her first theater movie, the remake of Charlotte's Web, when she was a couple months older than Genna and didn't take her eyes off the screen. I should have known since Hannah is more interested in movies and TV than Genna is, and she always has been. I always thought it was because we limit it so much and make it a special thing, but I guess it is a personality thing too.

Hannah is attached to Brian like a shadow since he has been back. And she is talking his ear off too! She wants to make sure he knows everything that went on while he was gone.

The news you've all been waiting for...

IT'S A BOY!

This is the artwork we made for daddy's return! Brian is ecstatic, as you can imagine!


We are naming him Isaac Thomas!

"I want a baby just like that one, Mom."

That's what Hannah said to me after we helped a friend carry her 2 month old into daily Mass yesterday (since she had her 3 other little ones by herself). Hannah continued to explain that she wants our baby to have no hair like that baby. That must be why she kept asking to rub her head. Both of the girls had a a decent amount of hair when they were born, so I don't know if that will happen. We'll just have to wait and see!

Brian's plane was delayed and now they lost his luggage, but he's on his way from the airport now!

A rough morning turns messy!

Hannah woke me up this morning at 6am crying about missing her daddy! She did not stop for almost 4 hours. I tried everything. I tried just letting her cry, looking at pictures of daddy, praying with her, getting Genna to try to cheer her up, and eating breakfast. The only thing that worked for a short period of time was watching a movie on the couch. He'll be home in 2 days! I wish she could understand that, but it is hard to do for a 3 year old. We have been counting down on our fingers every night since we got down to the 10 day mark, but I think that is just dragging it out more.

Eventually, I got out some fake tattoos out that Mimi had given them a while back. They don't know who Scooby Do is, but they didn't seem to care. They both wanted them on their tummies for some reason. Genna says Scooby Do so cute. She says, "Wuby do," and sometimes she repeats the wuby a couple times.



Then we did a craft project for daddy, and that cheered Hannah up even more. We painted and made a big mess, especially Genna!


I had planned on doing reading lessons and making a solar system mobile with Hannah today, but I decided she was in no condition to try to learn. I did start working with Genna on letter recognition today though.

Healthy Baby!

The ultrasound went well, the single (not twins as I had once suspected) baby has all the right parts in all the right places! It was so great to watch our little one move around, yawn, get the hiccups, and give me a couple good kicks! The baby looks great, and I only wish Brian and the girls could have been there (no children were allowed at all). The picture wouldn't come out right on the computer, so I will have to work on that to update the baby's picture on the blog.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the baby is breech at this point. I know it is early, but that concerns me a little since I really like doing the natural childbirth thing and don't want a C-section at all! I will be praying hard for the little one to turn around!

"Boy or Girl?" poll results

Well, it looks like most of you are having pity on us and guessing, if not just hoping, for us to have a boy this time around! Everyone has been asking me if I have a feeling about if it's a boy or a girl, and I have said no every time. However, I am going to make a guess, but it is purely a guess based on my past experiences. I have been wrong every time so far, always guessing a boy, so this time I am going to guess a girl. Either I will be right for the first time, or I will be wrong again, continuing the tradition.

I find out tomorrow, but I can't tell anyone until Brian gets home this Saturday. So I am going to keep everyone in suspense until Saturday! This will not be easy for me, because I am a terrible secret keeper! I keep telling myself that it is only three days to keep the secret. Remember to check the blog this weekend, and I will have it posted barring any unforeseen circumstances. I personally can barely wait because I want to start decorating the nursery as soon as possible since we are getting our German baby furniture set this weekend too. I'm an early nester!

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Happy Easter!

These pictures were in the first three pictures that I took. After that I lost them and could not get them to both sit still at the same time. I can only imagine what it will be like in the years to come with more bottoms to keep still!

Easter egg painting and hunting

Today we painted eggs at home and went to church for an Easter egg hunt. The painting was a mess (as you can see) and left them with stained hands, but the girls had fun.
The hunt was brief and very cold. I had assumed it would be inside and had to go back to the car for mittens and hats because it started snowing again in the middle of it. The flakes were small enough that they didn't show up in the pictures though. Afterwards outside the chapel they had cookies and treats, and why wouldn't they after giving our children bucketfuls of candy?

Still Snowing!

We had such a great time in the snow today! The girls loved the snow, but it made us all miss daddy even more since he loves the snow the most of us all! This was the first time they could actually have a snowball fight together. No one actually got hit with a snowball, but they could make them on their own and even threw them in the right direction. Then we made a snow woman together!

Then the girls had hot chocolate and a snack!

Not exactly the way I planned to spend this sorrowful day, but we have a had a rough week and it was a needed break from all the difficulties we've been having.

Celebration of the Last Supper

Our parish here is very very very small, and the dedicated are an even smaller group of people. So this was the smallest Holy Thursday Mass I have ever attended. Since they didn't have a good turn out, Father was asking everyone if they wanted their feet washed. Since I had the girls and was alone I couldn't do it, but Hannah wanted to and asked Father. He said that was fine, and so Hannah got her feet washed when the time came. She did very well and went up there all by herself. I was a little nervous that she was going to laugh and be silly, especially since her feet are pretty ticklish. However, she was good and relatively quiet as well. I wish her daddy could have seen it! Genna was a bit jealous, but I told her I would do hers at home. She kept reminding me all during Mass, but she was way too tired by the time we got home. We can do it tomorrow.

"Then what is it, Mommy?"

Hannah said suddenly that it was snowing outside. I didn't even look because it looked sunny and nice just a few moments before. I said, "No, honey, it's not snow." She then asks, "Then what is it, Mommy?" Sure enough it was snowing huge flakes. It was very bazaar weather today with snow, sleet, hail, and periods of sunshine to dry everything up. I would look out the window and it would be pouring snow, sleet, or hail; and I would look back up only to see it totally stop and be sunny again...over and over all day long.

The girls ran out in it for a few minutes, but Genna has a bad cough that only gets worse with the cold air. So we didn't stay out too long.

The Sorrowful Mysteries and Snow Angels

The girls were really into pretending today! Hannah started acting out the fourth Sorrowful Mystery where Jesus carries his cross, and as usual Genna joined in. Then they would fall down like Jesus did, and (here they added their own little twist) they spontaneously started doing snow angels while they were on the ground. The acting out of the mysteries is something we do at our Mom's and Little Catholic's group to get the kids excited about and involved in the rosary. The snow angels were...hmm...a unique addition, I guess.

Hannah carrying her cross

and Genna carrying her cross

...and the Snow Angels

What goofy girls I have! They also insisted at bedtime that we recreate the carrying of the cross and the crucifixion. Hannah first asked me if I wanted to be one of the naughty boys that nailed Jesus on the cross, but then she decided that I should be an angel. So we had to add on the resurrection as well so I would have a part. Genna was Mary. She followed Jesus and cried and held Jesus when he came off the cross. Hannah was Jesus, and did an excellent job saying her lines, being nailed to the cross, and playing dead too. It is an easy way to keep the girls focused on what Holy Week is all about.

What goes around comes around!

And, boy, does it! I don't know how many of you know this about me, but I panic and overreact when I think something might have happened. It's hard to explain without a quick real life story. When I was a little girl I was walking when I suddenly realized I had just walked over glass. Naturally, I started screaming bloody murder because I was sure that if I walked over the glass it must have gone into my foot. Didn't mother always tell me that you have to be careful around glass because it will cut you if you walk on it? My mom frantically comes to my rescue (as I am sorry to say happened all too often at this young age) and takes off my shoe to see if there is something in my foot. Well, of course, there isn't because usually glass doesn't go through the rubber soles of tennis shoes, which my mother then explained to me!

Well, this is just one of many stories my family could tell on me and my crazy panicky overreactions. So, now it all comes back around full circle with my very own daughter, Hannah. She gave me a heart attack today...again! You see no matter how many times I tell myself to take her screams lightly (this is okay only because she also inherited my overly cautiousness as well), I always fall into my own panicky overreactions. Here's how it went down today:

Hannah is quietly playing on the third floor while I prepare dinner. I call her to come down "very carefully" for dinner.

I hear a couple of thumps followed by screams like only a child who has fallen down tile stairs could give off!

I run up the stairs as fast as I can panicking along the way, afraid of what I will find, only to find Hannah sitting in the middle of the top staircase still screaming.

Well, it turns out that her bag of toys that she just picked up had fallen over upstairs while she was coming down, and the noise had scared her.

Wow! And I already had the trip to the ER planned! Like mother, like daughter!

One day at a time...

Well, we have 11 days until Brian returns, and we are counting down the days. I think it has been harder on us all this time since in the 2 months we have been able to talk to him only a handful of times. Hannah is asking for her dad daily; and, as it so often does, everything seems to be going wrong at the worst time. Genna has finally started sleeping better (i.e. one full night without crying/waking up), but I almost hate to say anything because, as a mom of 2 young ones, you never know what the night holds. However, Genna has developed a nasty cough and a runny nose. I am still way behind on my sleep which leaves me a little less patient and tolerant. My phone is broken (which is causing me much isolation), and I am trying to buy a mini van this week (something I would have loved for my husband to be in charge of.) I went to the OBGYN today, and she looked at me like I was nuts for wanting more kids since apparently one is enough for her to handle at the moment and she can't even wrap her head around having 3 under the age of 4. She looked at me with such pity when she realized that I wanted more children and yet my varicose veins are like that of a "40 year old woman on her 5th pregnancy" (her exact words) instead of the 29 year old woman on my 3rd pregnancy that I am. She suggested that I look into surgery before my next pregnancy instead of waiting until I am through having children like they normally recommend.

Here we are at the beginning of Holy Week, and I have so many things distracting me it's not even funny. I wish I was better at joining my sufferings with Christ.

On a more positive note, I may have found a great deal on an entire set of used German baby furniture! I have a line from some song going through my head right now... "Always look on the bright side of your life."

Palm Sunday

Well, the girls looked so cute this morning before church. Hannah was too busy playing though to stop for a picture, so I only got Genna.

Genna's glad to have Murray back!

Palm Sunday Mass is such a long Mass for the little ones, especially when Daddy's not here to help. They both wanted me to hold them almost the whole time and especially when it was time to stand up! At this point, I am big enough where holding one of them and standing for a while is not easy, but both of them is impossible. Hannah needs to grow out of that anyways. It would be an easy problem to fix if I wasn't trying to keep them quiet too.

At one point, Genna started to take off down the aisle (which she has NEVER done before), and since I had Hannah on my lap I just grabbed her dress to stop her while telling Hannah to get down for a second. Then I hear her dress rip! Oops! :) Luckily it was just at a button hole, and not somewhere obvious. I am sure the people around us found this humorous because it was a loud rip. Oh well!

"Jesus fill my heart...Amen"

Genna had another rough night, but she had a great time today at our Moms and Little Catholic's group. While the moms were doing our Bible study, she sat in my lap and helped me read the Bible passages. When we weren't reading, she would flip through one page at a time saying, "Jesus, fill my heart...Amen" after each page that she turned, over and over again. She said it so quietly that I didn't even notice at first what she was saying. What a sweetie! That prayer is on one of our Cat Chat CD's. After Mass she genuflected to Jesus and said, "Good-bye Jesus! I love you!" and blew him a kiss. Then to top it all off, once we were home and I was singing her her song for nap time, I asked her if she was going to go take a nap like a good girl. She answered, "Take nap for Jesus on cross." I am so glad that Jesus is in her thoughts. I guess she is being a little angel today to make up for all the sleep I lost last night on her account. Well, it is certainly worth it! A few more Happy Mommy Moments to add to my collection!

Backtracking a bit...

Before we left my parent's house we went to my ESD Alumni Easter Egg Hunt! The girls had a lot of fun! Both girls got the hang of it very quickly. In fact, Genna was so into it she didn't notice she was taking eggs out from under younger kids that were trying to get them. When this happened I just pointed it out and asked her to give it to the little child, and she did it very happily. I couldn't even keep up with Hannah.

They loved meeting the Easter Bunny too.

Ah, the jet lag!

Well, we made it back home safe and sound. The girls slept on the plane for most of the time and did really well considering our flight out of DC didn't leave until almost 3am. Genna is once again having a rough time with the jet lag. She woke up several times last night. After an hour and a half of trying to get her to go back to sleep in her own bed, I gave up and let her sleep in the travel crib in my bedroom. As soon as I laid her down in there she was totally content. She didn't fall asleep right away, but she was quiet enough for me to sleep. She woke up one other time crying and as soon as I said, "Mommy's right here. Lay back down it's still night time," she plopped back down to sleep. I didn't even have to get out of bed. In fact, I ended up having to wake up both of the girls at 10am. I have to try to get us back on schedule. I hope Genna stays in her own bed tonight!

Soccer Girls

The girls played soccer outside in the nice Texas winter weather!

More cousins come to visit on Sunday after church...

Let's just say there were many tears when they had to leave!

Saturday at the Park

The girls are loving this warm and mostly dry weather! It rains so much in Germany and it is so cold that we haven't had many days outside lately.




Here are the action shots:



Ice cream after the park! What could be better?