1. Happy feast of St Joseph! I successfully took all three children to daily Mass this morning all by myself.
It’s our parish’s feast day and they were having a special Mass. For some reason when Father announced it on Sunday, I decided that I wanted to go. It seemed crazy even to me to think that I could take all three kids by myself when Dom and I can barely manage them together on a Sunday. But I decided to at least give it a try, with no expectations about staying for all of Mass.
The children were wonderful. Oh the girls did have an argument over the saint book. But Bella just whined quietly and I doubt anyone except the people immediately behind us could hear her. Ben did make some noises which distracted some of the schoolkids in the pews in front of us. But he wasn’t screaming, just fussing a bit. He eventually fell asleep on my shoulder.
I had some flashbacks to my own days as a parochial student, wearing green plaid jumpers.
It was a great experience and I look forward to trying it again sometime.
2. Speaking of Ben and fussing. He’s been super cranky today. He wouldn’t go down to sleep at all. Wouldn’t let me put him down. Only wanted to be held and held and held.
Doesn’t it figure? Just when we started to get him to a point where he was sleeping at night, he becomes mysteriously sick. I took him to the pediatrician today just to make sure it isn’t the ear infection returned. But his ears are clear. Must be teething. Or a virus. Bella had a fever a couple of days last week and was sleeping a bunch.
Oh well, you take what you can get. The girls both slept through the night the past two nights. So at least I feel like we’ve got some positive progress on the sleep front.
3. Jen in her quick takes this week mentioned that it seems that God has predetermined the amount and type of penance you need to do during Lent, and he will present you with opportunities to do so, whether or not you signed up for it. How true that is. I keep running up against this idea that somehow this Lent I’m giving up sleep. As if somehow the lesson I’m supposed to learn is detachment from my perceived need for sleep.
Maybe it has something to do with praying for God to help me grow in the patience this Lent. Few things try one’s patience more than chronic sleep deprivation coupled with sick, whiny, needy children. Yeah, pray for help in developing a virtue and you find yourself presented with an abundance of opportunities to practice that virtue.
4. The other day Bella and Sophie were playing outside before supper. Bella came in and announced that Sophie had hurt herself. Dom and I asked, How?
Bella answered, Someone was playing poka-poka.
Us: Someone?
Bella: One of her friends.
Note: there were no other kids outside with them.
Today I looked at Sophie’s foot and saw several scratches across the top. They looked a little red and puffy.
What happened to your foot? I asked.
Bella B. was playing poka-poka, she explained.
I went and had another talk with Bella about not poking people with sticks.
5. This past weekend we had four solid days of rain. There was flooding all over the state. We were lucky to get away with a little leaking on the roof an a swampy yard.
At one point Bella gazed out at our flooded backyard and declared that it looked like the tide was coming in. She and Sophie then played beach in the kitchen.
6. This week I came to terms with the fact that it is time to admit that our Hoover is dead. We got it right around the time we were married, so it is almost five years old. Sadly, the process of vacuuming now makes me feel moderately better because I feel like I’m at least trying to do something about the dirt; but the carpets really look no cleaner afterwards. Curse you, (formerly)
white carpets!
7. If you Google “16 weeks”, Bella’s sonagram is the 4th image result. That’s kind of cool.
Visit Jennifer at Conversion Diary for more quick takes.
