memememememe...alllllll about memememe

This one I got from Christine via one of my favorite sister's blog (not the related kind of sister, the other kind!) and I thought it would be a fun one...

ABC MEME:

ACCENT-Whaddya mean, "accent", I'm an Ameerahcahn from Minniesohhhhdahh, we don't have accents, dontcha knohhhh.

(don't know why there isn't any "b"...Looked it up and found out it was 'bra size', hehe)

CHORE I HATE- cleaning out the sink trap (shudder) EWWWWWWWWW, I'll take dirty diapers over that ANY day!

DOG OR CAT?-Neither Here is a perfect illustration of why.

ESSENTIAL ELECTRONICS- My stove (I know, I know, LAME!)

FAVORITE COLOGNE-Stetson cologne, Stetson fits, 'cause there's a little bit of Stetson in ev-ry man (whispers) or woman...(haven't found anything good since the eighties)

GOLD OR SILVER-silver...unless you're talkin' about teeth, of course

HOMETOWN-better not say, might give up my incognito blogger identity but it's a town named after a REALLY cool archangel (hinthint)

INSOMNIA-every night, how the heck do you think I have time for this blogging business?

JOB TITLE-I don't work, remember, I'm a stay-at-home, bonbon eatin', manicure and pedicure gettin', mall shoppin', arm candy, trophy wife of my husband, duh.

KIDS-no, I don't have any goats but I have 5 children

LIVING ARRANGEMENT-shackin' up wit the hubsand and the critters in a two story with a front porch.

MOST ADMIRABLE TRAIT-my never ceasing, all encompassing, ever impermeating humility. Aslo my perfect spelling abilitties.

HOSPITAL STAYS-multiple surgeries for ear problems, one time for a breast surgery (tmi, sorry), and of course the 5 kiddos

PHOBIAS- running out of cereal

QUOTE-"GIVE ME LIBERTY, OR GIVE ME DEATH!"- Patrick Henry

RELIGION-W.I.N.C (also Roman Catholic)

SIBLINGS-2 sis,3bro

TIME I WAKE UP-whenever Niklaus comes in to bonk Mariela on the head while I'm trying to nurse her and catch 2.3 extra seconds of sleep

UNUSUAL TALENT OR SKILL-I can turn my eyelids inside out, pump my shoulders like a creepy body builder, spin my fingers in opposite directions, and LOTS of other useful things like that...actually I can 'speak' and understand American Sign Language, if the signer is really slow and patient!

VEGETABLE I REFUSE TO EAT-squash still makes me gag

WORST HABIT-biting my nails when I read...which is a LOT of the time

X-RAYS-lots and lots, that's probably why I glow and my kids are so weird

YUMMY STUFF I COOK-homemade soups

Busy Summer Days

We have been so busy this summer with trying to be busy. Do you know what I mean? For instance, when we have nothing scheduled like Dr. appts, etc. I feel like we scurry around all day looking for things to fill the time and pretty soon the day is done. I LOVE this way of life! I'm so happy to not have baseball or camp or anything else that we HAVE to do and we can do whatever we WANT to do instead...well, the free stuff, anyway! My favorite thing of all, so far this summer, has been just staying home and waiting for people to come over to visit us! I got to plant my flowers over Memorial weekend and the house always looks so pretty when it's decorated for summer.
Also, we got to meet our neighbors Laura and Eric who have a little boy named Brendan. They have lived here longer than us but we hadn't met them formally yet because they had twins (due the same time as Trine was with her twins) but they were born the previous October and were very preemie (One of their boys died shortly after birth and he is not forgotten!) and couldn't risk public exposure. He is a beautiful little boy who reached for me when he met me for the first time! He just didn't get that shyness and his mom says he does that for everyone. He is truly a miracle child! If you refer to my previous post you will read how we are expecting another convict for the baby jail next year so I put this next picture to show what we basically do all day as many days as we can and what we will hopefully be doing all next summer, too!
Butch's mom and dad stopped by and we celebrated his dad's birthday. I love seeing Sue's eyes in my children's eyes and Harold's dimples in my children's cheeks. Harold was sporting his "Red Green" 'spenders for the occasion.

Mariela looks like she's got fireworks coming out of her head in the picture of her and Sue!
Speaking of fireworks, the kids were worried that the rain would spoil the friendly city days fireworks on Friday but it only drizzled a little and they were able to watch from the neighbor's deck. We went to some of the citywide garage sales and found a remote control car for Matty and a bunch of other useful things. Matty let Niklaus try it out.

Our neighbor across the street is soon having their first baby so the "baby" stuck in storage for a number of years is now out the door!
Butch and our new friend, Eric(dad of baby Brendan)helped Mike get the car out of the garage to display it in the drive to sell. I thought this was a cute picture of them, kind of a "slice of life" picture of what it's like in our neighborhood. I love our neighbors and we always help each other out.
We had my friend Megan and her hubs and the most beautiful toddler in the world over on Memorial Day but my pictures didn't turn out and I don't know how to post video on blogger. Maddy and Niklaus were laughing hysterically at Weazy and it was cute to see them giggling like that.
On the nice, warm days we've been having, we pull out the good ol' slip 'n' slide and whoever is near is welcome to give it a go!

Mariela is growing...not out, but certainly UP! She's the pipsqueekiest child I've had, by far! She smiles a lot but can't purposefully reach out for things, although she did manage to hook Weazy's hair. She didn't mind, she loves her baby sister as do the other siblings. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have big sis Katrina to hold Mari when I need to get something done!

She's also the only child in my little family with BLUE eyes!

We got a new mattress for Trina so I was hoping to put a free sign on the old one but the kids liked jumping and playing on it so much that I think I'll keep it around for a while (I keep it hidden on the porch so's we don'ts look TOO WT!).


That's it for now.

It took me so long to put together this post, you could almost say it was quite a "feet" (sorry about the bad pun)...

Early Training For Career in CSI

I have an awesome post brewing, but blogger is having trouble uploading pics so just hold on for a bit for an update with some great photos!

Just A Yearly Checkup, HUH?

...UMMMM...Mat's claim that he doesn't ever get any is wearing pretty thin right about now...

Sacraments

I haven't posted in a while. I think it's because the weather has been nice and I'm trying to soak it all up before next winter! We've had a busy spring! We had Matty's First Holy Communion on April 30th and Mariela and John's Baptisms on the 13th of May. I have a few nice pictures but Mariela did not like getting photographed in her beautiful gown that was made from my wedding gown! She looked so darn cute, though so I'll post the pictures of her crying...even after she wasn't a pagan baby anymore she still was wary of wearing all that satin, I think. Just about as wary as Matty was to wear a tie for First Communion! He had a total spaz when I told him he had to wear a tie but when I showed him his new "dress shoes" he completely lost it. He didn't look at them for days and the day before FHC he tried them on and promptly told me they were "girl shoes". I told him, "Matty, you're being ridiculous! Uncle Mat has a pair EXACTLY like them and they are not 'girl shoes' they are just dress shoes!" Well, that didn't really work because he thought "dress shoes" meant that you wear them with dresses.



We had a private baptism ceremony with just our family, my brother Nick's family (with his inlaws and baby's godparents) and had a casual get-together at Mom and Dad's after. We were going to have a cook-out in a park, but the weather was horrible for days. It was a very nice day. We went to a Latin Mass that evening in the historic church where I met Squirrel gal's hubbs and chatted with them after Mass. Mom and Dad went too. Dad smacked me on the head after Mass for piercing Mariela's ears. "I waited until after she got baptized!" I hollered at him (I had done it after we left his house after the party. I just ran up to the outlet mall. She didn't even cry and fell right asleep after!) he didn't buy that one, "Sheesh, you waited about 2 hours after she got baptized!" The picture of the old church is from Squirrel girl's blog.


Here is a shot of Nick and Deb and baby John with his godparents and another of Mariela with her godparents (Katrina and Matthew)in front of the baptismal jacuzzi...I mean font. I shouldn't be so snarky, the rest of the new church is quite beautiful and it's only getting better, but I have always very much disliked the baptismal font. It's crazy to have everyone cluster around this HUGE tub to bless themselves before and after Mass. It is U-G-L-Y in a church but would be absolutely stunning in a gazebo in my backyard.

A Funny Smile to Cure the Monday Blues

Mariela
10 Weeks

Art Update

I just updated the Children's Art blog. Katrina was messing around with the "paint" program and some pics of the kiddos and she whipped these out in no time at all, that girl's got a GREAT imagination and talent! I'll be posting more of her sketches and doodles in the upcoming days, be sure to check it out!

Mariela (...or "Niknames Revisited"!)

...Or as Niklaus calls her, "Mah-yeh-yeh". Hmph, say it really fast and that is her new nickname! We call her "Mari" but I think "Yeh-Yeh" is the one that will stick.

This and This are old posts that explain more about why my children have beautiful names and really weird nicknames!

Everybody Should Have an Unco Mat

When we were growing up we lived a couple of blocks from my dad's family farm and would go to play or work there whenever we were allowed. The original homestead has been sold now and will probably be torn down later this year. Butch and I and the oldest 3 got to live there for a summer before this house was built and I was so grateful for the opportunity to connect with my roots and let the children experience "living on a farm" (no more animals and only storage for tractors etc.). We did a lot of exploring that summer and it was so nice to talk to people about living there and being in the center of town. Someone suggested the other day that the old farm house should be used for the St. Michael Historical Society or turned into a museum. I think I will go to the next Hist. Society meeting and see what anybody thinks. Anyway...
Niklaus is CRAZY about tractors! He rides with Daddy and Papa every chance he gets and holy smokes if you forget to offer him a ride when you start up the machine and start mowing the lawn without him! Papa will occasionally hook up the little utility wagon and haul grandkids around. He likes to go on the paved path through the woods next to their house...the one marked "No Motorized Vehicles". Dad never was one to believe the rules actually apply to him. Besides, the current path covers the old which was a cow path formed by the cattle from the old farm...so I guess he thinks that he has some sort of "grandfathered right" (pun intended!) to use it with his John Deere.

When my sis married Mathew and they settled out at Mat's house in the country I couldn't wait for my Matthew and all of our children to live the "country life" and spend a lot of time out there. Mat lives next to HIS family farm where his mom still lives and they keep cows! Hubs and kids love to help Uncle Mat "farm" and do duties around their 5 acre place. It really is sweet to see Matty and Niklaus "helping" and "doin' guy stuff" with daddy and Uncle Mat. This winter Niklaus got a ride on the "good tractor" with Uncle Mat while he plowed his driveway of snow. One of Niklaus' favorite books is an informational book called "Tractors". There are actual pictures of tractors and farm utility vehicles and little tidbits of information on the edges of the pages. I was reading it to him for the umpteenth time the other day and he pointed suddenly and said, "Hey, it's Unco Mat!" I looked at which pic he was pointing to and saw this:

I KNEW IT! I AM COOL! FINALLY THE PROOF I NEEDED!

Amy Caroline had this funny quiz and I couldn't resist...I predict that Trine will not be able to resist it either...


Now I don't really despise nerds but the analysis went like this:

"Overall, you scored as follows:

98% scored higher (more nerdy), and
2% scored lower (less nerdy).

What does this mean? Your nerdiness is:

Definitely not nerdy, you are probably cool."

SEE? I knew it all along!

My Goal In Life

Happy Easter! We had such a wonderful celebration at my parent's house. My whole family was there with the exception of my brother Rudy who was too busy impressing his girlfriend's parents (he was recently engaged) to bother to make it in time. He says he got stuck in traffic so we'll let it go this year, I guess. Here is a picture of all of my parent's grandkids...

In order by age: Amanda(15), Amber(14), Katrina(11), Matthew(8), Analise(5), Alexis(4), Gabriella(3), Anika(2), Niklaus(2), Roman(almost 2), Wyatt(1), Anabella(1), Lucia(7mo), Mariela(7weeks), John(6weeks)

WHEW! It was harder to generate that list than I thought it would be! We had about 5 people taking pictures (and many of them) to find at least one that would be good. Of course, all of the getting into place and screwing around pictures are the funny, good ones! My parents hands were super full and it's a good thing we'll all be taking a bit of a break before the next grandkid comes or they'll run out of spots for group pics! It's so awesome for my parents to have so many grandkids. They always wanted 6 children and that's what they got, but I don't think they ever imagined that we would provide them with so many grandchildren at so young an age and so many at a time! We had a slow start (me doing all the work for so many years! Sheesh!) but just in the last 3 years alone they got 7 new grandbabies and that is so much more than their peers and friends that they can't help but brag! I know it might sound odd to brag about the numbers when it comes to children, but all of these cousins live within 1 hour driving distance and I can see many years of close cousin relationships ahead and because I was (and still am) so close to my cousins this makes me so happy! I hope someday we have a big ol' bunch of grandkids, too and I plan to do my part by having as many children as God wills to increase my odds!

Mariela and I matched (and we didn't even call each other!) with our yellow Easter clothes and my sis thought we looked so cute. She kept saying, "you HAVE to like this one" in reference to this picture and she'll know I do by the fact that I actually posted a picture of myself (does ANYONE like pics of themselves?). Mariela is so tiny compared to my other children. Everyone that meets her says, "OH! She's so TINY!" and that just floors me because each of the other children were so chubby so fast. They all guess that she must have been a preemie or very small at birth and they all look shocked when I tell them she was a week early and 8lbs 5oz. I think she got a slow start and we both had a thrush infection that severely affected our nursing. I actually nursed without pain today for the first time in about 3 weeks so she should be chunking up pretty soon. One other cute thing is my niece, Lexi has been obsessed with her head. She is the big sis of John who was born a week after Mariela and she says (while rubbing Mari's head), "Oh, her head is so tiny and cute! She's got a pretty, little head, MOM! It's so much cuter!". I assume it's because her brother has a normal, chubby baby head and he's a boy which automatically makes him less cute in a 4 year old GIRL'S eyes. Of course, he's just as cute as a button and looks very much like his sisters so I don't agree with her;) When we first got the babies together (the day of the photo below) Mariela was about a pound heavier but now, just weeks later, you can tell that John is a couple of pounds heavier than Mariela! We will go to her 2 month doctor visit on Monday and I will learn how much she weighs and where she falls on the growth chart (I'm starting to get a complex because of the comments! I know everything will be fine, though!) and set my mind at ease about her development. OH, she has started to smile and interact this last week! Her whole face smiles just like her cousin, Lucia and I can't wait for that first belly laugh...you know the one that makes the whole family giggle? Her eyes seem to be staying blue which is so strange because Butch, Me, Trina, and Matty all have green eyes and Weazy and Niklaus have brown. Hmmmm, we'll see. If they stay blue, I'll have to have a boy with blue eyes next to keep the pattern going! I'm so happy we named her Mariela. Everyone loves her name and I'll bet she loves it when she's older. I've tried to name my girls unusual, pretty, princess names because I was "Laura" which is boring as heck when you've got a sister named "Katrina". Whenever we are in public, I call them by their names and people's heads turn and they smile! Although, now Katrina gets some odd looks because of that damned hurricane. I have a feeling that name won't be so popular for a lot of years to come! I'm so happy to be posting again that I'm rambling and not very inspiring. I'll try harder next post but I'm happy to be back and I have enjoyed other's blog's during Lent (can't type with one hand while nursing a baby, but it's easy to use the mouse!). I really missed Amy Caroline and kept checking back in the early weeks of Lent to see if she cheated and just to feel close to her again but Christine kept me hopeful and the many other entertaining bloggers I've gotten to know, too. OH! I've had my wedding gown turned into a baptismal gown for Mariela. She will be baptized on the 13th of May with her cousin John by a deacon of our church in a private ceremony and it will be such a nice thing for our families. I can't wait to see her in the gown and have it for a family keepsake. Matty will be receiving his First Holy Communion on the 30th, please pray for him and his classmates!

Duuuuuhhhh, what kind of (*hiccup*) BEER are (*buuurrrrp*) you?

I'M a:

MICROBREW!
(100% dark & bitter, 33% working class, 33% genuine)

Oh, I totally sensed that I was a microbrew...although some days I feel a little Coronawithlime-ish...hmmmm today I'm definitely a Miller Light with a slight leaning toward plain old Miller...

Heeheehee, it's not the "MMPI"... but I think it might be just as scientific! Just ask Butch, he's the EXPERT.
I got this test off of the Anchoress' website.

Awwwwwwww

Cousins John and Mariela were born one week apart. This was their first visit! We had a lovely time visiting at Uncle Nick and Auntie Debbie's house today. We discussed baptizing the babies together and I hope it all works out! They are the two closest (besides the twins, of course) in age of all of the grandchildren of mom and dad. We have so much fun when we get together. It will be nice to share the years ahead and hopefully we will all remain close in spirit and in proximity!

I Bow Down To The Champion!

WOW

Prayers WORK!

Before I go into the gory details, I must take a moment to thank everyone in blogworld for your prayers and concern! I know so many of you (you know, my hundreds of readers!) have gone through this and empathize so much with the whole parenting/childbirth anxiety and joy and it helps so much to know that so many people are "with" me in moments like these!

Mariela (mar-ee-ella) Katherine (named after Our Lady and after her big sister, Katrina who will be her godmother)was born at 10:49pm on Sunday, February the 26th. She weighed 8lbs, 5oz and was 21" long. She was born "sunny side up", which I hope is a good sign of her future disposition! I went to the hospital around 11:30 am and started to get induced. She was in a very "high" position and slightly to the side so her head wasn't really helping the contractions to move her in the right direction! I got an epidural around 7pm and I am so happy to note that I finally got a doctor that would listen to me! The nurses were great and understood how anxious I was about the epidural not working. I started to feel a lot of pressure around 10:15 and the doctor asked if I wanted to do a "try" push. After that, I really wanted to keep pushing since I couldn't feel anything except pressure. After the first round of pushing, I told the doctor that for the first time I felt the "urge to push" that I'd heard so much about! It was soooooo cooooool I cannot express with words how great it was to not feel pain and to know that my pushing was actually doing something! My husband, two sisters, sis-in-law, and my bestist friend Janene were all there to witness, and Katrina was in the waiting room to be the first (after mama and daddy) to hold Mariela. The reason she is so bright eyed is because I signed a form to NOT have those goopy eye drops/ointment put in her eyes after delivery. I have no risk for having gonorrhea or chlamydia (the only reason for that antibiotic ointment!) and it was so nice for her to see mama and daddy and aunties after she was born. She was so alert and I was half expecting her to start smiling! It's sort of become a tradition in our family to invite the sisters to witness delivery and I've made it a practice to invite someone who hasn't seen a baby be born and wants to. Janene was that someone this time. She is still gushing about how cool it was to see this and she seems genuinely honored to have been a part of it all. Having a baby is such a unique, life altering experience...watching a baby be born is almost as remarkable! The delivery was so smooth that I really (for the first time!) can't wait to have another baby (shhhhh, don't tell hubbs, I make one really crabby preggo lady). Butch took the whole week off and I don't know what I could have done without him. He's the best daddy and husband I could ever have hoped for!

I really could FEEL your prayers and I even talked to my Guardian Angel with some special requests and I believe now, that they hear and help when we are in need.
So far Mariela is such a content baby, but I think that might have something to do with the fact that she's barely EVER set down. I have two big sisters that fight over her and I only get to hold her because I nurse her!


Today we celebrated the twins' one year birthday party and it was so nice to get out of the house! We even went to Church today even though Mariela is only 1 week old. We had such a great time and all of the family was there. We were thinking that it would be nice to get a picture of all of the grandkids but Trine and I thought about it for a second and after looking at our VERY pregnant sister in law, and realized that we should wait until Easter when all 15 of the grandkids could be photographed together!

Thank you God, guardian angels, St. Gerard, family and friends for helping us through this time of JOY!