The Third Prayer

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I took a two week break from these 7 Quick Takes because I was just overwhelmed with work and life.  And well, I’ve had an exhausting week, thanks to pregnancy, and I really wasn’t planning on being here again this week.  So these will be…quick.

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God reads my blog and Mary Rene had an amazing three hour nap on Wednesday so we were able to attend the Ash Wednesday Mass.  Mary Rene usually only naps for an hour or an hour and a half.  Occasionally we’ll get a two hour or 2.5 hour nap but I have never had a three hour nap.  So that was my sign from God.  Unfortunately she was very high maintenance during Mass and would not sit still.  But we are very glad we went.

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Yesterday our church was on duty for the 40 Days for Life at the local abortion clinic.  On Valentine’s Day they had the rally to kick off the event and we planned on going but the snow held us back.  I was so bummed out because I was looking forward to it for weeks.  So I wanted to badly to make our church’s peaceful protest day.  But when I got home from work I was exhausted.  Frank called and I planned on telling him that we could go another day but he sweetly talked me into it, without even being pushy.  And I’m so glad we went.  We didn’t stay entirely too long because it started to get cold and we didn’t want Mary Rene to get sick.  But it was very nice to be there and support the cause.  Mary Rene was having fun standing against the fence and looking in the, thankfully, empty parking lot.  We met a lovely family, mother with her four young children.  They were all praying the rosary and standing so peacefully as a family that it just melted my heart.

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I am looking forward to Fish Fry Fridays again!  Are you?

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Awhile back I did a guest post on loyal reader Rae’s blog.  If you are interested check out her blog sometime.  She is a great reader and has very interesting things to say.  I love to read a post that really “gets you thinking” and that’s what she does a lot.

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I haven’t sewn in two weeks!  I’ve been so busy with work and life ya know.  So today I am going over my parent’s house so they can hang out with Mary Rene and I can sew.  I am in the middle of making a shopping cart cover for a baby shower in two weeks, three bibs and two baby slings.  I really need to get moving.

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Mary Rene adores her papa.  She likes for him to carry her around, maybe because he is so tall and she can see more, and she likes to sit on his lap.  On Wednesday, the two of them sat in front of the computer for a good 15-20 minutes listening to music and watching Barney short videos.  I love this picture because she is just so relaxed on his lap and clearly let’s him know that she owns the place.

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Today is my dad’s last day of work at Chrysler.  With the failing economy, the St. Louis plant was closed a few months ago (maybe close to six months ago?)  He was lucky enough to hold on to his job a few months longer since he worked in the water treatment plant for Chrysler.  But starting today he starts his forced retirement.  Remember how he was excited to start watching Mary Rene and he wanted to take her up and down the street in a wagon? My mom, Frank and myself went in together and got him a wagon as a retirement gift.

The moment I took it out of the box to assemble, nosey Mary Rene came over to help.

She found the wheels and decided to put them in the wagon.

Once it was finally assembled, she jumped right in and has enjoyed being pushed around the front room throughout the day.

But what fun is a wagon without your friends, Baby Jesus

and Violet.

Isn’t that wagon great?  It has two seats with seat belts.  Plenty of room for Sweet Pea someday!

Seriously, everyday she has been playing in the wagon, see the new outfit-different day.

She likes to take her blanket and pillow inside so she can lay down for a cat nap.

Mary Rene and my dad are going to have so much fun with that wagon.

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Month one down with the new budget and I am proud to say that I stayed on budget for groceries!  I really did not think it was possible to do it but I did with $4 remaining.  The key was staying away from Target.  Target has such good deals but whoever goes there and buys only want they need?  I only allowed myself to go in there once because with a coupon and the sale, I got regularly $4.99 soda for $2.  Unfortunately we didn’t stay on budget with our utilities (colder weather spiked our gas bill,) medical bills (yeah, I think I have talked about this enough,) dentist (we both went the same month,) and charity (Haiti pushed us over, but completely worth it!)  So on to next month!

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Speaking of budgets, we met with a new financial advisor on Tuesday night.  He is the son of a friend from church.  If anyone in the St. Louis area is looking for a financial advisor call Michael Disalvo at 314-932-4300.  Frank and I feel much better about our pending deductible because now we see we have other resources for money, if needed.  We are still praying that we won’t need it but it is nice to have a safety net.

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I finished “What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children’s Vaccinations” by Stephanie Cave, M.D., F.A.A.F.P.  I will be writing a cliff note’s version of the book on a post next week.  When I say cliff note’s version, it will be long.  It is a very informative book, eye opening that is for sure.  I highly recommend expecting mothers to read this book.  The only issue with the book is that is was last updated in 2000.  Ten years have gone by and there have been many changes to vaccines.  One change includes the rotavirus.  It is back in the line of shots and it wasn’t at the time of publication.  When I finished the book I was absolutely disgusted to look back at Mary Rene’s vaccination chart and see what was given to her.  I am so blessed that the only reaction she has had were two minor ear infections.  I say, “has had” because I learned from the book that side effects can appear years later, in the form of learning disabilities.  I am praying that other side effects don’t come up later though.  So many people talk about the autism debate with vaccinations but it is more than just autism.  Shooting your baby’s, already weak, immune system, with so many different viruses at the same time can cause strokes, seizures, learning disabilities and even death.  Okay, I’ll stop now.  I will be writing more about this next week.  The post is taking me awhile to construct properly but look for it next week.

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I have two new projects at work and have been, and will be, working my little tail off.  Working part-time can be hard when most of your hours are done at home.  Which means, you stay up late.  Lack of sleep means…lack of sleep.

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Two days after they decided to stop searching for survivors, more survivors are still being found.  I get goose bumps every time I hear another story about someone surviving.  The latest, a 16 year old girl was rescued 15 days after the earthquake.  Amazing.  I told Frank that I wanted to fly down there and nurse those poor babies.  Well, I also told him if I wasn’t pregnant then I would be convincing him to foster a child.  He really didn’t respond to that statement.

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I’ve been doing these Quick Takes for over a year now, hence the #54.  Has a year really gone by that fast?

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We finally got our new screen door installed!  Before Christmas, there was a bad windstorm and our door blew off the hinges and shattered into pieces.  We got a new screen door for Christmas but opted to save the $98 installation fee and do it ourselves.  Do it ourselves means, beg my dad.  My dad came over on Saturday and Frank and him spent nearly the entire day working on the door.

Frank said the door would have been installed much sooner but they kept misplacing tools.  I find this humorous because we live in a matchbox and all the tools were in the front room.  Regardless, the new door is nice and it will be even better once spring gets here.  It hasn’t been up a week and Sophie B and Mary Rene are already fighting over who gets to look outside.

They both would stand there all day if they had their wish.

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Thanks for the prayers on Monday.  A few of you emailed me privately and said you would pray as well and I really appreciate that.  Monday’s prayers were answered But I continue to ask for prayers.  This will be a long process, I am prayerful that it will, so prayers will be needed for months.

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When I was pregnant with Mary Rene, I asked the girls in my Bible Study Group for their recommendations on a pediatrician.  I took the names they gave me, did research and found the one that I really liked.  He was right by my house too which was even nicer.  Unfortunately he was not covered under our insurance so I had to go searching again.  A friend of mine recommended the pediatrician we selected and I must say, I was very pleased.  However, the whole time Frank questioned her and I found myself always sticking up for the doctor.  When Mary Rene went in for her 12 month appointment, her doctor wasn’t available so we had the other doctor.  I’ve always liked the other doctor but this particular visit went back.  He did his evaluation and then told me that Mary Rene would be getting four shots.  I asked why she needed four, and he looked me dead in the eye and said, “That’s what she is due for.”  I asked why four?  She has never had that many at once.  He picked up his file, looked me straight in the eyes again, and said this time was different and she had to get four.  As he walked away, he told me a nurse would be in right away.  My heart just stopped because of the way he treated me but I was frozen in fear and let the nurse shot Mary Rene up.  What happened?  She screamed, she ended up getting a runny nose, she ended up getting an ear infection.  I was so mad.  When her 15 month appointment came, her doctor was available.  This time she was getting less shots but I still wasn’t happy.  We left the office and I just started to get this bad feeling in my heart.  I was supposed to be my daughter’s advocate and I wasn’t doing a good job advocating.  I let these professionals walk on me because I allowed myself to think that they knew what was best for my daughter.  And it wasn’t.  Every time she got more than two shots, she would get crabby and a runny nose.  January came and so did our new insurance.  I remembered the name of the pediatrician I had wanted in the beginning, and it turned out some ladies in my La Leche League used him.  I had Frank see if he was in-network and…he was!  So on Monday, I switched pediatricians.  The problem for me is that I have learned I am all talk, and as much as I want to back down to the doctors, I couldn’t.  I had already started down the path of full vaccinations and I was too much of a coward to slow down the pace.  But with a new pediatrician I can start fresh.  Mary Rene will be going in for a 18 month check-up and my plan is to have a delayed schedule set up and show him on our first visit.  I will also have this set up ahead of time for Sweet Pea.  Starting off fresh is so much easier for me to do then stand up to authority figures.  And besides, I didn’t feel comfortable with the other doctor and I was paying him a lot of money.  Frank and I don’t have much money left at the end of the month and it came down to-spending my money wisely.  And I realized, I needed to invest my money wiser when it came to health care.  Okay, that wasn’t really a quick thought.

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I’ve been doing a lot of research this week about switching to organic products.  I mostly was thinking about genetically modified foods, such as meat and chicken.  But the further I went into my research I realized that GMO also effect milk, eggs, vegetables, fruit and even canned foods.  So if there is anyone who reads this and only eats organic, explain please.  Also, how much more does it cost?  Now that we are on a grocery budget I’m wondering if I can afford to go organic.

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Mary Rene went on a playdate Monday with her friend Elaine, who is two.  They aren’t that far apart in age but they didn’t interact too much.  Mary Rene wanted to sit on her momma’s lap the whole time while Elaine had fun running back in forth.  On Wednesday, we had a playdate with my friend Laura and her 2 month old son, Cole. 

Mary Rene was in absolutely heaven and loved him to pieces.

Laura was so kind and let Mary Rene hold Cole in her lap.  Mary Rene felt like such a big girl and was beaming with pride.  When we put Cole in the bouncy seat, Mary Rene kept trying to sit with him.  Poor little guy was getting squished by a 23 pound baby!

She just kept looking at him and smiling away.  Love?  Oh, I just think she likes babies a lot-which is a good thing.  It was really cute because she kept getting really close to him and jibber jabbing away.  She had to be saying something really important to him because her face was very serious and she would not stop talking.

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On Wednesday, I was able to cross off #95 on my list: get re-certified in CPR.  Well, I didn’t get certification because the class I registered for didn’t offer it.  But I am counting it because I learned Adult, Child and Infant CPR.  It was a three hour long class and I took it with one of my co-workers, Laurie.  (She had it on her list too.)  I feel so much better now that I know infant CPR.  It is so scary to think of, and I pray I never have to use it, but I feel more confident as a parent now.

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Last, but definitely not least, today is the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.  As my amazing OB/GYN  put it on facebook, “Lord forgive those of us who have had one of the 50+ million abortions and forgive the rest of us for not speaking up as much as we should to protect your innocent.”

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Something I thought I would never do: rub Vick’s on my chest and aim my daughter’s nose towards it while she nursed.  Well I did it.  She stopped to sniff but then went ahead and nursed.  I also rubbed it on her chest before she went to bed and she woke up feeling so much better.  Thanks Melissa for the suggestion!

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Since my dad is going to occasionally watch Mary Rene once he retires, we decided to start leaving her at my parent’s house for a bit while I go run errands.  Usually I am always with her when we visit so this was a big adjustment.  But you know what, she did fine.  She loves it at my parent’s house and has so much to do there.  They wore her out and she was so tired that she took a 2.5 hour nap.  The nap would have been longer but I sneezed when I walked by her and she instantly woke up.  I must say, going grocery shopping alone was really nice.  I enjoy Mary Rene’s company, and I know she likes to be out and about, but I was able to really concentrate on the sales and my coupons.  Hopefully my little shopping trips pays off and we stick to the grocery budget this week.

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Two of the gals at work are pregnant and we are having a baby shower for one of them today.  This gal is having a baby girl so I decided to try and make her a pair of baby girl shoes. 

This was very tedious and I’m not sure if I want to make this shoe thing a hobby.  I like making taggie blankets as gifts but I don’t think I’ll be going overboard and making girl shoes as well.   Although they are so cute and the finished product makes me so happy that I might do them again.  Hmm.

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Having a blog is great and it gets people to do things easily.  Case in point, my post yesterday about the deductible led my wonderful husband to call our insurance company again.  They confirmed that I will have a $800 deductible but now they are stating that the baby won’t have to pay his/her deductible until he/she starts making regular doctor visits.  They also said something about me not paying the deductible if all the stars align correctly.  So, now we are praying that all this is true and we leave with a healthy baby boy or girl and a small hospital bill.

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I have decided to delay vaccinations for Sweet Pea.  I’ve been doing a lot of research this week and my fantastic sister-in-law is getting books for me to read from the library, where she works.  So far, I like the Dr. Sears method the best.  Go figure.  For the moms that read this blog, how have you handled vaccinations?

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We have this little hand-held back scratcher that is shaped like a hand and the fingers knead into your back.  It an awesome little thing and I misplaced it several months ago.  Somehow Mary Rene found it and has been playing with it.  I showed her how it worked on her back and she started laughing so hard.  Which got me thinking, I’m going to make this a tickle game.  So everyday this week I have been handing it to Mary Rene and trying to get her to tickle me on the back with it.  She is starting to get the hang of it and is having fun.  Now I just need her to apply a little pressure and go in a circular motion while I kick back and relax during the massage.

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I have tried really hard not to turn on the television much this week because I am just sickened by the disaster in Haiti.  My heart just breaks for these people and all they are going through.  When it comes to natural disasters, are you plugged to the tv or do you steer away?

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This weather sucks.  When we were kids we loved the winter because it meant snow days, snow men, snow angels and pulling out the sled.  Now it means, cold, cold, cold.  Oh, and shoveling, and taking off the shoes at the door so you don’t get the floor all wet.  And wiping the dog’s paws each time she comes in so she doesn’t have snow stuck in there.  And cold.  Cold.  Cold.  Cold.

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Speaking of such, I have not left the house since I went to work on Tuesday and I am losing my mind.  Wednesday it was just too darn cold.  Thursday, I skipped work because of the snow.  Today, brr again.

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My dad found out yesterday that his forced retirement begins Jan. 30th.  He works for Chrysler and they closed the plant nearly six months ago.  Luckily he works in the Water Plant and they needed his crew much longer.  He was hoping to hold on until April but it looks like his retirement will be beginning much sooner.  He has worked there for 32, or 33, years so it was time to retire anyways.  And just think of all the fun he is going to have hanging out with Mary Rene.  He is so excited that he can watch her now.  He keeps talking about buying a red wagon so he can take Mary Rene for walks up and down the street.  Can’t wait for that to begin!

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Feeding Mary Rene a healthy, filling, fatty, protein filled dinner, didn’t work the last two nights.

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Three times this week I was in bed by 9 p.m.  That little Sweet Pea is wearing me out!

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When you are on a budget, all you want to do is spend money.  I want a bookcase for the front room.  I want to hire someone to fix our basement.  I want to buy this awesome double jogging stroller that has 16 different ways to put two kids in it.  I want, I want, I want.  Unfortunately, I can’t.

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I’ve been bringing one of Frank’s drums upstairs for Mary Rene to beat on and she is having a blast. 

Until she thought that Sophie would make a good drum.

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So, we may have pinpointed why Mary Rene was waking up so much in the middle of the night.  I really wish this wasn’t the reason but I really think it is.  All that caffeine was getting to her and keeping her up.  I didn’t start drinking coffee again until she turned one.  By that time she was only nursing four times a day, morning, two naps and at night.  I would time my morning coffee at the perfect time so the highest level of caffeine in my blood stream would not be near the time she nursed.  In October, I went on my soda kick and that lasted until a week ago.  So I was drinking a cup of caffeined coffee in the morning and an occasional soda in the afternoon.  I know some of you will comment and say, “that’s not much caffeine, you are fine.”  But if you think about it, I went caffeine free for the first year of her life.  She was not used to it at all and then out of nowhere I was drinking it like an addict.  On top of that, she decided to start nursing more.  Even though she is only napping once a day, which would turn her nursing sessions in to only three a day, she has started asking to nurse frequently throughout the day.  Yesterday, I nursed her about eight times.  And that’s with going to work for seven hours!  This has been going on for about a month and there was no way for me to calculate when she would nurse next to make sure the caffeine wasn’t at its highest point in my blood stream.  So, no caffeine for me.  And since I stopped drinking the coffee, which gave me a huge headache the next day, she has only woke up once each night.  So we are back where we started.  Now we just need to know what the trick is to get her to sleep through the night. 

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Back in August we were at my cousin’s house and Mary Rene was playing with her son’s Little Tikes washer & dryer.  She was having a really good time putting gumballs in the dryer and opening and closing the door.  My cousin said we could have it since her son never used it.  Well, that was in August.  I kept asking my mom about it and finally…

sweet!  I decided to keep it at my parent’s house because they have more free space there and I knew they would get a kick out of Mary Rene playing with it.

First Mary Rene had to do an inspection to make sure it was in working order.

Then my dad had to show her how to wash the towels.

She ended up washing both of her sippy cups, some mardi gras beads and two washcloths.  She played with it for a bit but had too many other toys to occupy her that day.  I’m sure next time I am over she will be washing everything in sight.

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What else does Mary Rene have to do when she is at my parent’s house?

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I’ve been sewing like a mad woman this week.  I finished a cute Dora the Explorer shopping cart cover for a friend’s daughter, a holiday bib for Mary Rene, I started making a pink ladybug dress for Mary Rene and I finished making her some cute pink reindeer pj pants.

I’m getting so quick at sewing and just loving it.  I really wish I could find a way to do this for a living.

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I coudn’t find my master Christmas sheet so I decided to go through all the cards from last year and rewrite the list.  Mary Rene decided to help.

That was a disaster.  For some reason she loves cards.  When we go shopping, to entertain her, I just go to the card section, put a card in her hand and she is fine while I shop.  Beats picking up toys and ending up buying them.

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(For a minute there, I thought this was going to be an “All About Mary” post.”)  We were invited to four holiday parties and one birthday celebration tomorrow!  And unfortunately they are all at the same time so we can only attend one.  Oh how the holidays get so busy.

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On Sunday, my Goddaughter, the beautiful Beatrice Louise is getting Baptized!  Please say a special prayer for her.

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Frank and I started our spice jars last week and I’m loving it!  Two nights ago, he painted my toes red!  ha!  But the week before he had to prepare a picnic dinner for us in the front room.  So while I was putting Mary Rene to bed he was getting the front room all set up.  When I walked in the front room he had a black scarf tied around his neck to be funny.  Gosh my husband cracks me up.  I had him pose for a picture because it was just so stinkin’ hilarious.

He asked me not to post the picture but I just couldn’t help myself.  My husband is the best!

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On Thanksgiving, my sister took our family Christmas pictures so we can use one of them in our Christmas cards.  Frank asked me not to post these either because he doesn’t like the way he looks but…as you have seen from the first comment, I don’t listen.  

I thought it would be nice to redo the picture we did last year

but as you can see

that didn’t really work.

This could have been a great picture but…

So really it is between the two below.

Personally I like the first picture.  Which do you like?  And please, tell my husband he looks great so we can use the picture in the card.  He wants me to use this picture instead.

You can never go wrong with sending a picture of your child alone.

Did I mention that I made the dress?

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On Sunday, my mom started to give my sister sewing lessons and today we were supposed to have another sewing lesson but my mom is sick.  Once my sister knows how sew then the three of us can sew together.  Talk about having some quality girl time.

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Last week it was so windy that our screen door was knocked open and the glass shattered everywhere.  Needless to say, we are getting a new screen door for Christmas from my parents.  Fun.  Ever since I’ve become a homeowner it seems like my gifts have been centered around the house.  Sounds more like the house owns me then me owning the house.

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The last two weeks I have been craving cherry coke sodas like you wouldn’t believe.  I’ve been purposely going out of my way to get a soda.  And not just any soda-it has to be a fountain soda.  Love, love, love fountain sodas.  But with Mary Rene’s sleeping issues I started to wonder if it had anything to do with all the caffeine.  I already drink a cup of caffeined coffee in the morning so that should be all the caffeine I needed.  I decided this week that I would stop drinking caffeined soda to see what happened.  Two nights in a row, Mary Rene only woke up once.  (The third night, I couldn’t sleep which caused Mary Rene to wake up.)   Of course it might have nothing to do with the soda but I’m going to say it is and stay away.

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 On Wednesday I met an old friend from high school on a playdate with her 18 month old son at the West County Mall.  I must say, West County Mall has the best playground equipment in the area.  It is much more suitable for toddlers and you don’t have to worry about them falling 18 feet from the area because all the equipment is low on the ground.  Can you believe that I didn’t take one single picture?  Mary Rene was in playground heaven too and I had so many great picture moments. 

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 Is it just me or is Christmas shopping over-rated?  My brother, sister and I do not exchange gifts.  Instead we go out to dinner, with our spouses, and enjoy quality time.  Since we’ve been married, Frank and I haven’t exchanged gifts either.  Instead we do a nice dinner (well, we say we will but we don’t end up going to dinner.)  We have a list of about 10 people to buy presents for this year and most of the people we have no idea what to get them.  Year after year we end up giving gift cards or money. In my opinion, two of the world’s worst gifts.  I’m just not a good gift getter.  Most times I am filled with the feeling of “have to” then “want to” buy.  I don’t mean that I dont’ want to buy the gift but most of the time I have no idea what to get the person and I end up buying crap.  So for me, shopping is very stressful and not fun.  Would anybody be willing to do my shopping for me?

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The day Mary Rene decided to start nursing again, she didn’t stop.  And honestly she hasn’t stopped since.  Before the strike she would occasional wake up in the middle of the night for a nursing session.  Most nights she would be satisfied with just cuddling.  But since the strike, she has been nursing two, three, sometimes four times during the night.  Needless to say, I am tired.  Poor baby girl is in so much pain and just needs to be comforted…it would just be nice if the comforting was wanted during waking hours.  Wednesday night was a rough night and I ended up nursing her four times and on two or three occasions that didn’t even help her sleep.  I slept about five hours off and on and was completely exhausted when I woke up.  I started to complain but then Frank put it into perspective when he said, “Mary Rene had a rough night last night.”  Yeah she sure did.  So I instantly realized that my lack of sleep was due to my poor baby girl’s discomfort.  She was worse off then me.  And you know it is worth it when she finally does sleep and looks like this

so relaxed, so at peace, so pain-free.  I guess I can always sleep another day.

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Monday afternoon, my friend Nicole C and I went to a volunteer orientation for Crisis Nursery.  I don’t know where I got the idea to volunteer here but it works out great because Nicole C wanted to volunteer there as well.  As soon as I get my physical and TB test then I can start volunteering.  I plan on volunteering one of the days I work so then I am not taking away too much time from my family.  It will be nice to give back to the community and well…hang out with kids all day!

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Can you guess what Frank is doing?

Besides drinking a glass of wine, he is making his spice jar!  Awhile ago I talked about bringing spice back into our marriage.  When you practice Natural Family Planning and are trying to avoid pregnancy, you practice SPICE during your fertile days.  SPICE means:

Spiritually, Physically, Intellectually, Creatively & Communicatively and Emotionally.

It is a way of connecting with your spouse on a non-sexual level.  Well, we just need spice in general because we are so busy being parents that we haven’t made much time to be spouses.  So Wednesday night during our stay-in date we wrote down a list of “spicy” things we could do for each other.  Then we cut each one out and put them in our jars.  Next we decorated the outside of our jar.

Our plan is every Sunday we will pull out a spicey suggestion and we have the entire week to give the spice to our spouse.  I was so excited that I quickly started writing stuff down.  My list has simple things on it like (Frank don’t read this part): play with my hair, call me cute pet names like honey, sugar pie, love, ask me to dance, etc. etc.  I ended up adding about 35 spices to my jar.  Frank…he had seven.  I’m sure his seven are extravagant items though.  When he saw me writing away he said, “I guess this is why women are from Venus and men are from Mars.”

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Tomorrow we are going to my sister’s house to celebrate Thanksgiving with my mom’s family.  Can you believe it is Thanksgiving already?  The holiday just snuck up on me.

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These are the cabinets in our kitchen.  When I am cooking, Mary Rene likes to make a mess and take everything out.  We have little locks to go on the cabinets but we haven’t installed them yet.  The furthest cabinet on the right houses all our ziploc bags and…there was a full bottle of vodka in there. Yikes.  I didn’t realize that until Mary Rene handed it to me the other day.  I took the vodka and drank it hid it.  The cabinet on the far left houses all our tupperware and let me tell you, Mary Rene has fun playing with the tupperware.  It really isn’t that big of an issue until Frank has to find matching tupperware to put our leftovers in.  Then it becomes a problem.  On Wednesday during Mary Rene’s nap, I moved the tupperware to a drawer above the sink and now Mary Rene has her own special drawer.

 After her nap we went in the kitchen so I could cook and she walked to “her drawer” right away.  I pretended like nothing was going on but I looked down and oh my word, she was over the moon with happiness.  She looked up at me with these wide eyes and the expression on her face read, “is this for me?”  She looked close to tears in happiness.  She sat in her drawer and played with all her new kitchen toys and was having so much fun.  Sure most of the kitchen toys ended up on the kitchen floor but it was much easier to throw them back in then put them in neat stacks like tupperware.

At least someone is getting use out of those kitchen tools.

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Have I mentioned that my dad bought a foreclosure house that is five houses down from his?  If I haven’t, I just wanted to say, a few months ago my dad bought a foreclosure house that is five houses down from him.  There I said it.  When he was cleaning out the house he found this little red table that was the perfect size for Mary Rene.   Most of the paint was chipped off so he took it to work, removed all the paint, sanded it down until it was nice and smooth.  I planned on painting it pink but never got around to it.  I asked Frank’s talented sister to paint it and she went above and beyond and also wrote Mary Rene’s name on it.

Cute.  My dad ended up finding the chair that went with the table but we put that in her playhouse in the backyard.

While Elizabeth was painting the table, I also asked her to finish my paint job in Mary Rene’s room.  Back in September I wrote, “Guess How Much I Love You” on the wall to pay the utmost respect to the book entitled, “Guess How Much I Love You.”  My plan was to paint hearts around what I wrote but well, I never got around to it.  So Elizabeth came over and finished my paint job and

wala.

You’ll never be able to guess how much I love my baby girl either.

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I call this: You Know You Are a Blog Dork When…I have realized that I talk about a lot of things but I never had the proper categories on my post.  For instance, I would write a post about how Mary Rene was nursing but I would only put the post under Mary Rene and not nursing.  Well that is useless.  So I was really bored at work (typing the word work is making me add this post to my work category) and I started adding categories and trying to fix the missing pieces.  Well, that is just a darn headache because this blog is nearly two years old.  So even though, for instance, I have talked about Natural Family Planning on several occasions, I only have it listed twice because I never properly tagged it.  So now I classify myself as a blogging dork because I want to go back and reread every post and make sure I have as many categories tagged as possible.  Oh I need a life.

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Monday morning around 8 a.m. I got a call from my good friend Laura’s husband.  Laura had her baby 45 minutes prior to his call!  Congratulations Laura!  And boy, is baby Cole a cutie.  I was able to make it up to the hospital and see him and he just took my breath away.

Boy has some cheeks don’t ya say?  He looks a lot like his big brother, Caden.

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Yesterday I made it over to my friend Emily’s house and I had the pleasure of meeting my amazingly, beautiful, Goddaughter, Beatrice.

Wow!  Like Emily said on her blog, she is perfect in every way.  And Beatrice, she looks a lot like her big sister, Ella.

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Last week my friend Jenn gave birth to her second son, Jaxson.  I went to visit but both kids were napping so I just left a gift at the door.  Sunday I get to meet my friend Katie’s newborn son.  Yesterday my friend Alexis gave birth to her first baby!  Do you feel the baby fever?

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Tuesday while I was on my morning run I noticed that two teenage boys were  pulling on another teenager’s jacket and kicking the person in the back of their legs.  When I got closer I noticed it was a girl.  I stopped in front of her and asked if she was okay.  She said yes and the boys backed off.  It really did appear that they were just teasing her and I happened on the situation.  But I still decided to warn the lady that was walking past me about the situation.  The next morning, one of the bully boys and the girl stopped me and asked if they could pet my dog.  They started asking a lot of questions about Sophie and were both talking about their dogs.  Yesterday they ignored me when I ran by.  I don’t really know what to think about these kids but I’m glad I said something.

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When I returned back to work after having Mary Rene, I was on a 10 month trial to see how working part-time was working for the company and myself.  My boss and I were supposed to reeveulate the situation at 10 months.  When she was in town (she is located in Overland Park, Kansas) in July she mentioned coming back in August to discuss my full-time return to work.  I reminded her that my 10 month trial would be up in October, not August.  She said she would wait until then to discuss it.  She was scheduled to come in town in October but she never came. Yesterday she called and said we had something important to discuss.  I got a lump in my throat and was prepared to lay out the facts and fight to stay part-time.  But instead, she asked for me to take on another project.  I agreed.  So for now, I’m still part-time and hope to stay for as long as I can. 

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Something is wrong with Mary Rene and we don’t know what it is.  She doesn’t have a fever or a cough so we don’t think she is getting sick.  How do we know something is wrong?  Besides the obvious fact that she is extremely crabby and scream crying, she has not nursed in over 24 hours now.  This leads us to believe that she has some serious teething going on.  I just hope those teeth come through soon so we can get back on schedule.  I really don’t think she is self weaning because there are too many other teething syptoms going on with this.  Needless to say I had to pull the pump back out.  Fun.

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Mary Rene found a new toy.

Hey, she knows what the real purpose of the toy is…

Sophie doesn’t like the toy so much…

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When people used to ask how many kids I wanted I always used to say four or five.  I really wanted to have a big family and couldn’t think of any other way to show my love for Frank.  But after having Mary Rene, I changed my mind.  I don’t want Mary Rene to be an only child but I honestly can’t imagine how my heart can love another child as much as I love her.  I always hear that when you have a second child your heart doesn’t divide but it grows.  I can’t even begin to imagine loving another baby as much as I love her, but I guess, only time will tell.  For now I will watch as my friends do it.  My friend, Emily, gave birth to her second daughter, a beautiful baby girl, Beatrice Louise, on Monday.  CONGRATULATIONS!  One of her last post was about how she was reading “Goodnight Moon” to her daughter Ella and she realized at that moment it might be their last moment alone together.  It was a touching post because my heart ached for her but at the same time my heart was aching for myself.  If God so blesses me, someday I will have that same feeling as I am reading to Mary Rene.  I’m looking forward to learning from Emily and how this heart of hers is growing and growing each and everyday.

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Monday evening I stayed up and I sewed three taggie blankets and then I decided to make a baby cube for Beatrice.  About five months ago I was at a baby shower and I saw these cloth baby cubes sitting on the food table.  I realized how easy it would be to sew them and decided I would give it a try.  Apparently I forgot about that internal conversation until now.  I took some yellow fleece and cut out the letter “B” and then I cut a satin heart and sewed both to different pieces of fabric. 

I had a little of the St. Louis Cardinals fleece left and was able to make a square of the cube from it.

Now my cube has some St. Louis flavor.  I meant to add tags to some of the sides so it would be a taggie cube, but as you can see, I forgot.  The cube is much bigger than I anticipated and it isn’t as square as I would like but hey, it is my first cube.  Four days after completing it, I was on one of my new favorite websites, Make It and Love It and I noticed that she did this same project back in March.  Ugh.  Now I feel like a cheat.  Although I must say, mine has more flavor since I added the fleece “B” and the satin heart.

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About two months ago, Frank and I made the decision to take a break from being Eucharist Ministers.  We were scheduled every other month for the noon Mass but some weeks it would be really hard to commit to that Mass time because of Mary Rene’s nap schedule.  I called Richard, the Eucharist Minister coordinator, to tell him to remove us from the schedule for a couple months.  I was happy to get his voicemail because I hated to disappoint him over the phone.  A week went by and I never heard from him.  And then I got the call.  He had passed away, at his home, and was found four days later.  It turns out that I probably called when he had already passed away.  My heart sank in grief for him and his family.  But even more, my heart yearned to be a minister again.  So on Sunday, Frank and I started ministering again but now we have switched to the 9 a.m.  Mass.  Mary Rene usually takes her first nap at 10 a.m. so this works out perfect. 

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I have finished my first official week of not pumping.  On Tuesday I was able to take my co-worker, Laurie, out to lunch for her birthday.  Yesterday, I was able to get a new battery installed in my Jeep and run into Kohl’s and Best Buy for some errands.  It was like old times all over again.  I can now say, I don’t miss pumping.

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I don’t want to jinx myself by saying this but, I have been doing an awesome job of getting up every morning and running.  I still have to be quiet and try to trick Sophie…most of the times I fail.  My running friends are gearing up for a half marathon in March.  They have asked me to join and I highly doubt I will be ready.  But, I might be ready to do the 10K the day before the race. 

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Tomorrow is supposed to be really nice outside and this may just be the last nice day for awhile.  What is something fun that Frank, Mary Rene and I can do outside?  I was thinking Grant’s Farm.  Frank wants to go apple picking.  Any suggestions?

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Mary Rene has learned how to get on and off the couch all by herself.  I must say, she is very gracious and careful when she does it.  The only problem is she likes to pester Sophie all day long.

I say pester because she likes to stick her finger in Sophie’s eye.

What does Sophie do?  Absolutely nothing.  Good dog.