Happy Birthday, USA!

*These pictures are actually from our Flag Day celebration.

Gone Again

Praying for another safe return.

Image source

Wordless Wednesday

Finally!

We finally got our scanner working, so here is the update to this announcement.

In other news, we are all getting over a horrible stomach bug. It hit Isabel out of the blue on Wednesday, Tom Friday morning and Alexis Saturday night. Silly Mommy thought it may just pass her by, but mid-morning yesterday Mommy learned better. Without going into the gory details, it was ugly, but we all seem to be on the mend, just in time for a little road trip tomorrow for Thanksgiving.

If your Thanksgiving plans involve travel, here's a prayer for your safety. And may all of you have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Thinking pink

Apparently the Good Lord feels we need some more practice raising daughters! I'm trying to post the ultrasound picture, but we're having a few technical difficulties getting our scanner on-line after unpacking it. Hopefully, we'll have that fixed soon.

Woohoo!

I tell ya...there's something about my girls and Boston.

He's Home!!!

My brother is home, on U.S. soil, safe and sound. Praise God!


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Kids and Smoke Alarms

We've had our smoke detectors go off for various reasons and our kids did not wake up. Now I see that it is not just our kids. Thanks to Christine for sharing this.

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So Strange...

It's just after 10 and I'm in bed. And it's quiet.

How does that work, you ask? Well, the baby is sleeping and Tom and Isabel aren't here.

They're gone.

They flew to Texas this afternoon. Tom has a class over the weekend and he took Isabel with him, partly to give me a little break, and partly so that his family could see her. His family only lives about 2 hours away, so various members will be driving to see them throughout the weekend. Tom's mom and grandma will be with Isabel the whole time while Tom is in class. So it works out for everybody.

After Alexis and I dropped them off at the airport, we ran to the grocery store. Then we came home, ate lunch and napped. (I took a teeny, tiny one.) This all seemed pretty normal. But then Alexis woke up. It all started feeling a little strange. Having only one child. And I think Alexis missed Isabel. She played differently. She wasn't as content without me. Maybe she was just having an off day. When the magic hour rolled around that I normally am so anxious for Tom to get home, I knew he wouldn't be coming home. Dinner was kind of flat. Alexis is cute and all, but not much of a conversationalist. I put her to bed early because she didn't get all of her normal naps in today and she has been sleeping in with the time change. Then I took the trash out for pick up tomorrow (a small "adventure" since I don't usually do it) and then I packed a care package for my brother.

I've been looking forward to the quiet all week, but it was strange. Tom has taken Isabel on a trip like this before, but I was pregnant at the time and very sick. I used the time to rest, relax and regain some energy from all of the throwing up I had been doing. So today was very different. Although I am grateful to have a break from a two year-old's constant questioning, there is a definite buzz of family life that I am already missing. Who would have thought that it would happen so fast?

I have lots of things I need to accomplish while they are gone and hopefully, Alexis will cooperate.

Oh, and husbands...when you go away and take our firstborns with you, it would be appreciated if you would call as soon as you landed and not make us hunt you down to make sure everything is okay. Just a thought.

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Happy St. Valentine's Day

Things are not all flowers and candy around here today. It's been kind of a rough week. Tom is super busy with work and his master's class, the girls and I have been fighting these darn colds, we've started potty training (not MY idea of a good time), and we're having some feeding issues with Alexis which is difficult by itself, but it also has brought with it some sleep shortages. So basically I'm just trying to survive the lack of sleep, the gloomy weather, and the neverending "Why?" from a 2 year old. So I apologize for not having something cute and love-inspired posted today. I especially feel bad that I have not put something wonderful to my husband here like so many of you have. I would like to say thank you to those women though, for reminding us how important it is to show our men that we appreciate them.

To end on a higher note, I will mention a couple of rays of light that have broken through my cloudy week. Yesterday afternoon, as I was about to hit my limit, I started to put a cd on for Isabel and she asked with a smile, "Jesus?" I said yes and she then sang along (better than I expected) with "Jesus Loves Me." It touched my soul. I didn't know she knew the song that well. And last week, when I was not-so-happy about waking up in the wee hours to nurse Alexis, halfway through the feeding she said "MA-MA." Needless to say, all of my annoyance was gone and my heart was smiling!

Oh, and Tom, I LOVE YOU!

Where Did December Go?

So I realize I haven't written anything of my own here for a couple of weeks. It's been pretty crazy around here and when I start thinking about something to write, I just never put it to paper. And then of course I forget. (BTW, I've "written" some GREAT posts in my head at night as I fall asleep. Too bad I can't download my brain directly to my computer.) So where did December go? Well, there was the big trip to Disney World. Thank you for all of you who were thinking about us and praying for my girls. Everything went well, everyone ate well, and my Texan in-laws even survived the snow storms back here in Boston.

Tom and I at the luau at the Polynesian Resort.

After we got back, we had a quickly thrown together celebration for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It definitely did not turn out how I was planning back in November, but there was good food and good friends and that's what matters, right? It was our first feast celebration and I'm glad we attempted something. (My motto for 2008 is "Baby Steps".)

A few days later, sadly, my grandmother had a stroke. This changed my perspective a bit as I was stressing (shocker) about hosting my first Christmas with my parents coming to visit. Now my dad was off to see my grandmother and we weren't sure what was going to happen for Christmas. Long story short...my grandmother is doing fairly well, has been moved to a rehab center which she is supposed to be leaving mid-Jan and my parents made it to Boston for Christmas. Of course my stress resumed as I was feeling the need to "prove something" during our Christmas celebration but without getting into any gory details, we survived. The girls both managed to be sick, but in decent spirits, and there were no major disasters.

The New Year proved to be pretty calm. We didn't get together with our friends on New Year's Eve because the girls (and Tom by this point) were sick, so we suffered alone as Air Force lost their bowl game...crummy game. New Year's Day we went to Mass and lunch and hit the mall for a couple of things we needed. We came home and Tom and his parents set up our first video conference over the computer. (Tom's parents bought him computer cameras over a year ago so that he could see the girls when he is out of town, and we just got to setting them up.) After a lot of "learning" the girls got to see their Texas family. It was pretty cool.

We finally put the Christmas cards in the mail today and are trying to get the New Year off to a good start while not freezing in our single digit weather. Hopefully, in a few days Alexis will be completely back to good health and maybe I will have survived it all without getting sick (a small miracle, no doubt). I hope you are all having a great start to 2008!

For My Brother...

...who is on his way "over there."