Sunday Best and WIWS

Linking up double time today for Sunday fashion with Fine Linen and Purple and Camp Patton! Ok, lets get the picture portion over with shall we....

I hate this bathroom. I hate taking pictures in this bathroom. But look at the 24 week old baby :)

this ensemble gets 5 stars for comfort. Love.

close up of I don't know what.

trying to get a pic with not yellowish green lighting....and nope.

Because you could't see them in the above pics...I'm kind of obsessed with my new wedges.

Wow, sorry about those awful pictures. I could tell you about my Mass experience solo with the kids, but let's just skip to their grades. (*groan*)

Hailey: C. Neither plus or minus, just C. She wanted to sit on my lap in the cry room the whole time. Why? I have no idea. Um, probably because Casey was teething and miserable and wanted to sit on my lap, therefore she had to as well. At one point I was trying to hold both of them (excuse me, all three of them, let's not forget little baby brother taking up more and more room on Mommy's lap), and it was all causing this mama to sweat intensely. Oh yeah, no AC, closed door in cry room, it's like 8 by 5 feet in size, eight people in there....stale air, I kept checking Casey because I swore I smelled a bomb....it was all sorts of bad.  She did ask, "I eat JeeJeesus too?" right before we went up for Communion and I kind of softened then. Maybe I should give the girl a C+.

Casey: B. Whined, cried, wanted to be held the whole time. But he's teething and looked at books nicely for 5 min.

Looking forward to next Sunday with Daddy! Home in time for Father's Day. Maybe I'll send him to Mass by himself with the kids to allow him to celebrate fatherhood. I'm kidding, I'm not that cruel, but boy am I counting down the days! 5 down, 4 to go. 

Changes

It is SO weird to not be with Luke at focus summer training. I have gone every year for 7 years. That's a long time! I miss it so much! I miss being there, seeing everyone, and the energy, zeal and love for God and the Church that exudes from every missionary. I am so filled by simply being around them, getting to know the new first years....not to mention sitting in on classes and hanging out with friends in the evenings. Even the years we have gone with the kids, I still got to experience all of the above. I'm so in love with our focus family.

And yet, I have a lot of peace. I know this was the right decision to stay behind this year. Luke is able to stay more focused (no pun intended), be way more productive with his time, and I was not really thrilled at the idea of being in southern Florida 5 months pregnant with a 3 year old and 18 month old. I know this is where I'm supposed to be, as hard as it is.

Today's highs were.... 8:30am morning Mass again! Yay! Then leaving the house after two days of rain to run errands. Errands which included the kids playing in the child play area in the middle of the mall, me purchasing two amazing pairs of shoes on clearance at DSW (Hailey made Casey laugh hysterically by trying shoes - women's heels- on him as he sat strapped in the stroller. If I wasn't trying to hurry up and make a decision on what to buy and get out of there, I might have taken a video. It was so funny), the kids enjoying the lunch I packed them, picking up a bunch of random items at Walmart that were needed, included new shoes for Casey who recently had a random foot growth spurt and has the worst blisters from him shoes. It was shoe buyin kind of day. Then the kids NOT falling asleep in the car on the ride home,  and going down for late naps at 2pm!

And the lows were....allergies that just won't quit. Hot dogs for dinner because I was too tired to make the ham and sweet potato dinner I had planned. Casey teething and wanting to be held constantly. The temper tantrum Hailey threw in the check out line. Because you know, Casey was holding a pail and shovel, and despite the fact that she was holding an identical, matching pail and shovel, she wanted to have his. Toddlers. So the woman behind me asks her, "oh sweetie, do you want a pink one?" Hailey, voice quivering, "yeeesss....." Thanks lady. Explain to Hailey there was no pink.

I emailed these to Luke so he could see them being their usual crazy selves.

Me: "too close you two, back it up." Them: Not listening.

isn't her hair adorable?! 

yoga pro

trying to be taller :)

Off to bed so I can try to greet their early morning crys and moans for "cereal NOW" with a smile. Try.

Grateful

Luke is at focus summer training for 8 days so it's me and the kiddos and as we approach the end of merely day 2, I'm focusing on the small good things that have happened since he left. Because trust me, there is PLENTY that I could complain about.

-phone calls/texting with my sisters. They always brighten my day, even if our conversation is 5 min long. 

-diapers delivered to my doorstep. I always buy diapers online and sometimes I wait longer than I should to order more, and then we run out and I'm making a run to the grocery store to pick up a box. Then the next day or so, whenever the diapers arrive, we have an overflowing amount. Until we run out again. It's a crazy cycle, and I've tried automated delivery, setting them just to get delivered and my account charged every 2 months or so....but it doesn't really work out that well. We sometimes still run out, or Casey goes up a size and I forget to update my order, etc. Anyway.... yesterday we were out at playgroup and I thought about stopping by the store to get diapers, but knew the amazon order should be arriving any day, possibly that very day. So I took a chance. I put the last diaper on Casey before his nap and low and behold an hour into naptime UPS was knocking at my door with my precious box of size 5 Luvs. 

-chocolate. Although I'm thinking I should box every bit of it up and stash it in the attic while I'm doing this single parent thing because turning to chocolate every time I'm stressed is not.a.good.thing. 

-the Eucharist. Now that is what I need more of. Today I took the kids to 8:30 morning Mass. And it was the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I was so glad I was paying attention to the Holy Spirit prompting me to go all morning, without even knowing it was the Solemnity. We even stayed in the pew the whole time. Casey was a little talkative but there was a family of 7 in the tiny cry room so we stuck it out where we were. 

Off to put Hailey to bed, and hopefully will be blogging more in the week to come! I have a few other projects I want to work on around the house as well, so we'll see :)

Little Italy

My really good friend Jenny just moved to Rome, (as in, Italy), with her husband and two boys and her blog does not disappoint as she shares about all their incredible experiences, big (Pope kissing her son) and small (potty training success....although that really should be classified as a big success) while living down the street from the Holy Father. 

Anyway, why am I giving her back round/life story? Because this post is mostly for you, girl. Last Saturday we up and decided we didn't want to be stuck in the house all day, so despite the threat of rain, we drove an hour to Baltimore to hit up Little Italy. Although nothing can compare to the real thing...I thought of you the whole time. 

Whenever we have visitors, Luke tends to be the one to take them into Baltimore for an afternoon and plays tour guide. I stay at home with the littles as they would be bored, slow everyone down, etc. He always takes people to Little Italy and then comes home and raves to me about how awesome it is. Well, it was finally my turn! 

As soon as we turned down the street heading into this quaint part of town, I felt like I just stepped into a time machine. I was transported back to Italy and although some things still felt the same, people driving enormous cars, looking for parking for 20 minutes, the buildings were sweet, and we landed at the most wonderful authentic pizzeria. They even had outdoor seating in the back with two bocci ball lanes for summer games. It was also lightly raining, so the whole setting just felt magical. 

I think Luke and I could have each eaten our own 14 inch, it was that good. I had to keep telling Luke to not eat the kids pizza off their plates! They weren't hungry at the time but I knew they would eat it later. We also had the most amazing caprese salad appetizer and ended our meal with a cannoli that was to die for. 

Not sure, or not hungry? Probably both.

Walking down to the inner harbor. When she heard there were boats, she was a woman on a mission.

Me: "Hailey, can you stand by this tree so I can take your picture?" Silently obliges and later I notice her finger pointing, as in, "let's keep going that way to the boats, mom." 

Tagging along behind his sister. Once he got those little legs moving, then he was hungry. Luke told me stopped abruptly at one point, came over to him with the to go box, shoved his hand in, took a fistful of pizza and stuffed it in his mouth. Then kept right on walking.

Classic Casey, the shy sideways glance.

Finding shelter from the rain. (Luke, stop eating the kids pizza)

On the other side of that bench is a huge drop down to the water. I freaked out if the kids were a mere foot away from me. They are so fast!!

It was all so misty and romantic. Sadly because of the rain, there were no boats out really, we got a quick glimpse of one but it wasn't enough for my water and boat loving girl. The whole way home she asked, "where boat go, mama?" I had to tell her they had to go to sleep because of the rain. It only mildly pacified her.

I know we'll be back Little Italy, you are a nice taste of the real deal and until we visit Rome again, Baltimore, you will just have to do.

And we're having......

a boy!!

I was definitely surprised. With all the morning sickness I had during the first trimester, I was certain it was a girl, as I had the same experience with Hailey. But I was wrong! Either way, it really doesn't matter. We are so happy and excited and I think Casey is going to love having a little brother close in age to him. And Hailey is such a little mommy, she is going to just shower this baby with love, want to be my helper all the time and will probably continue to boss around her little brothers.

Hailey Shines

She doesn't qualify! And that's a good thing!!! Hailey had her speech evaluation yesterday and she passed with flying colors! She no long qualifies for speech therapy! I am so happy and proud of her!

She also had her first swim class yesterday afternoon and her performance left me wondering if this is going to bore her! She did NOT want to do what the rest of the class was doing, she just wanted to swim, jump off the side, do all the stuff she is used to doing! She is the only one who could swim by herself with a bubble on her back. But I do think it's going to be good because she does need to get better at using her arms to paddle. I think they could come up with something better than "reach and sweep" though.

Getting used to the slightly cold water

trying to push my hands off her

practicing kicking!

not wanting to float and look at the ceiling.

She was so so happy to just be swimming. She was definitely in her element. Poor Casey, I didn't want him there, but the timing of things worked out as such today that I ended up meeting Luke on campus and he and Casey just hung out till the class was done. Which meant he could snap these pictures! I'm so glad he did, but Casey did NOT understand why he couldn't go in the pool too. What a sweetie. His turn will come and I'm already thinking that we need to go sometime during open swim times and just let them have fun. This preggo mama will find any excuse imaginable to be in a pool this summer, I can promise you that! :)

DC Boat Tour

One of the things I admit I do like about blogging, is the chance to sort of document and journal our kids lives. I'm terrible about doing baby books and keep saying I'm going to catch up with scrap booking this year (says the girl who says that every year), and so this has been a nice way to document and remember. I have dreams some day of having this ol blog, if I stick with it, put into hardcover book form some day to maybe give to the kids. I've heard that's possible. We'll see. In any case, please don't take any of this sort of "documenting our kids lives" as any sort of bragging, or flaunting. This is all for posterity's sake. I also enjoy smiling when I see pictures of their little faces, and laughing at a picture of something they were doing, after dealing with a dozen meltdowns and tantrums between 8am and noon and can barely see the light at the end of the day. Let's be real.

But I mean, this guy, he just melts my mama heart.

and frightens me too. Note hands on ankles. And he's  like, "knock it off guys."

We met up with my friend, Trena, who lives in the DC area.

Luke had tickets for the Capitol River Cruises that we were hoping to use when the cherry blossoms where at their peak. And well, we missed it. I think we had colds, and then Luke had to work over a weekend, and by the time we went down, they were all gone. I was so bummed, but we still had a great time. We had a picnic lunch (one of my favorite things to do, maybe because it brings out the Anne-girl in me) and then hopped on the boat for the noon ride. It was a 45min tour and was really neat to view the monuments from the water and learn some new facts about them. Nothing I can remember to tell you though, sorry, I have horrible memory retention when it comes to stuff like that. The kids loved loved loved it, and now whenever we get in the car Hailey says, "Boat? Ride the boat, mama!?"

Their love of water makes me both very happy and terrified. Thank goodness Hailey starts swim lessons today!