That which doesn't kill you.

Ella: Mom, can I go get my ponies out of the van?

Me: Dad took Pax to school so it's not here right now. Are you sure they're in the van?

Ella: Absolutely.

I haven't had time for much else than nursing sick children, literally nursing the baby, and random tidying here and there. We have had more contractors in the house over the last three days, an appraiser here this morning, kids with high fevers and croup and preparing to have one of Paxton's schoolmates with us for 9 days while his parents are in Hawaii. I wish I were in Hawaii. Who am I kidding? I'd just love a 15-20 minute shower.

Things are looking much better around here, both in the illness department and in the finish work department. Pictures will come soon. If it kills me.

Like a brownie?

Me: Ella, honey, you have a fever. Do you feel cold?

Ella: A little. Just on the edges though, not in the inside.

Ah.

Nothing more to say.

This is worth every second it will take to watch it.

It was so good and made me laugh so hard.

Little things come from little prayers.

This morning I had a feeling it was going to be a long day. Steve was on his way out the door for the day, two out of three kids are sick and one is teething. I got to 'sleep in' until 6:30ish so at least I had that working for me. I had two cups of coffee and began some prayers.  All I could muster this morning with malady that surrounded me was this; 

Lord, please help me to see the little things today. Help me to feel little rewards and to help me know what to do next. I do this for You. Open my lips.

Conversations that have taken place so far in the day:

Me: Ella, will you please run upstairs and grab me the diaper cream? Baby Roan has a bad rash from teething.

Ella: Sure, but.....  I don't know what it looks like.

Paxton: (from the corner of the room bundled up with blankets with a weak, hoarse, pitiful sounding voice) Ella, it's the white one with the teddy bear on it.

Later...

Ella: Now that the baby is asleep, let's have a conversation.

Me: Okay, honey, what do you want to have a conversation about?

Ella: I don't know. You decide.

Just a moment ago...

Paxton: Mom? Can I have some ice cream since I'm sick?

Me: Paxton, you haven't had much to eat all day, honey, and I want you to have something nutritious before you have ice cream.

Paxton: How about a vitamin? 

Me: How about after Shepherd goes to bed tonight?

Paxton: Okay. That's good. I like pajama days.

Thank you, Lord. For the little things.

 

Barking, hacking and fevers....Oh my!

Croup. It's a stinker.

Looks like while Daddy is at the Called and Gifted Workshop all day today, we'll be lounging with our blankets and nebulizers. 

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything? You'll have to wait.

Day two.

This is the second morning that Steve and I have gotten up at 5:00 and 5:30am, respectively. He brings me the baby to nurse, and hops in the shower. I finish feeding the baby and get in the shower at 5:30. We rise, we shower, we pray and read the news, we sip coffee. We talk. And it's awesome.

I will be praying for help to make it last. I know that these things to help us stay focused are always the first things to go in times of chaos. What I need to pray about is that God help me to make it a priority and the He remind me of the peaceful feelings that infiltrate my entire day after I begin it with prayer.

When I was pregnant, I was getting up at 5:30, going to Curves to work out before anyone was awake, coming home and making breakfast. I loved it. It felt so good and it was the right time of day for me to take care of myself without having to disrupt anyone else's schedule. Now, with a nursing baby...well, let's just say the idea of bouncing that early in the morning just seems painful, if you know what I mean. My one year membership was up in November and I had the option to renew. I didn't. That is fine but it leaves me with needing to figure out what I will do now to get some exercise. We have a great treadmill. I think it's time she and I get reaquainted in the evenings, after the kids are in bed. That just seems like a much less painful time to bounce.

My mom has heard me whine many times that I just wish I had time to pray, like priests and nuns. Did she just listen in vain? No! She bought me the complete set of The Liturgy of The Hours. Whoa. I have been doing it in the mornings...most afternoons and occasionally I remember in the evenings. It is beautiful, structured, and...intense. If this doesn't help me to grow, nothing will!

So...for the new year, back in with the family rosary (which fell to the wayside when the intensity of homebuilding picked up), back in with early morning rising (which fell to the wayside promptly after giving birth), and back in with exercise (which fell to the wayside after ....engorgement.)

Happy New Year to you and here's hoping that any and all changes you are making in your lives are coming with more ease than difficulty!

Pictures to share.

I actually converted this photo to black and white. I cannot seem to find it in iPhoto anywhere! If Ella could wear a fake flower in her hair every day of her life she'd be in seventh Heaven. I am just way too boring. The other day, Grandma stopped by to give Ella a book; "Fancy Nancy". Ella has probably read it 35 times already. 'Nancy' epitomizes Ella in every way.

My adorable toothless wonder. Shepherd is a walking accident. Steve and I catch ourselves holding or our breath and gasping way too often when we're playing with him. That boy's guardian angel must be getting overtime.
Roan is beautiful. He is actually bigger than this now. The other day, I thought to myself, 'I wonder if he can sit up yet.' I walked over, sat him up, and he stayed there and played for quite a long time. Who knew?! Ah...the beauty of the fourth. His eyes are totally captivating and he belly laughs regularly.

Here is my sweet Pax. I cannot believe I gave birth to this wonder nearly 6 years ago! It seems like just yesterday. Although he goes to a Catholic school all day, he still gets giddy with excitement about going to CCD on Wednesday nights. He loves airplanes and trains and electricity and weather occurances...mostly things I don't understand. But his Daddy happens to find those things VERY cool. It's a beautiful relationship.
Shepherd in our new breafast nook. Where we actually eat sitting in chairs again! In the rental, we sat "cris cross" around a coffee table for dinner every night. No joke. There was no room for even a dining table.
This is the view from the front door. Obviously the Christmas tree and the poinsettias are gone, but you get the idea. 

The time has come.

Okay, friends, I'm back. Sort of.

I have missed you all SO MUCH lately. Has it really been that long? It sure has. My how time flies when you are unpacking and setting up shop.

We did, in fact, move in right before Christmas. Shhh....our final inspection is tomorrow. Do you think he'll notice the master deck with no railing? Or the jimmy-rigged staircases leading into both garages? Nah. I'll make him brownies and offer some coffee.

 

(Don't worry. Steve temporarily took care of all the items that need to be signed off on.  :))

There are many things that are unfinished but many, many more that are. I am happy to say that we are finally to a point where I can relax a bit in the evenings. Until now, as soon as I get all four kids down for the night it's back to work for Mommy and Daddy. I actually went to the movie theater the other night and saw a movie! Can you believe it? I put on, like, real clothes and everything. My friends around here keep asking me if I am going to reemerge any time soon. You know, the real me. Not the I'll-talk-to-you-for-20-minutes-but-then-I-have-to-go-because-I-only-have-so-much-naptime-within-which-I-can-be-productive me.

Six of us going from living in essentially 700-800 usable square feet to well over 4,000 has been such a beautiful blessing. The first couple days we were here, while I was tidying this, cleaning that, or unpacking these, I could hear the kids. Playing. Running. Laughing. Rolling around on the floor in their rooms. They were giggling again. It was the most beautiful sound I had heard in nine months. I couldn't stop them. Not yet. It was Christmastime and it was beautiful. I was tired. Exhausted, really. As was Steve. But our kids? They still haven't stopped playing. We actually have a family room now! Where we can all sit together (on the floor because we don't have enough furniture yet!), snuggle up, and watch a movie. 

I didn't realize it until recently but we really did sort of put our lives on hold a bit while we were in the rental. I made it as much like home as I could but it never really felt like my home. I don't feel like my heart every really rested there. Does that make sense? Everyone that came to see us in the rental agreed. For 700 square feet the layout could have been MUCH better. We lived in Steve's parents garage for about six months when we were going to build about three years ago. It was 400 square feet. It felt like a mansion compared to that rental!

Did you know that if you wait to put up a real tree until Christmas eve, and then you go to a lot to pick one up, usually they are on their way to the dump? With the little, crummy, sad looking trees and with the huge, insanely overpriced and gorgeous, intoxicatingly scented Noble Firs? Yeah, we got two of those babies. For 20 bucks. Steve went out to get us a tree and came home with two nine-foot Noble Firs. The nice man told him he could have them for free but Steve felt too bad taking such beauts without some kind of payment. We promptly stopped unpacking and cleaning, put on some Christmas music, lit a fire, and decorated the trees. The kids had a ball and so did we. It finally felt like Christmas ( I hadn't even decorated the rental, knowing we were moving). We decorated the house, made baked brie and crackers, and drank cider and champagne. Merry Christmas Team Prentice!

After Christmas Mass in the morning, Grandma and Grandpa came over and we had a lovely time together, opened gifts and had a great dinner (cooked mostly by Steve's mom since I was not adequately prepared to host much just yet!). My mom and Stepdad came a few days later and we had another Christmas celebration! It was so wonderful to finally be able to have other people spend the night in my home again! To have a place for guests is just. so. us.

I haven't taken many pictures of the house just yet. I am sort of waiting until things look...well...I won't mince words here, perfect. Yes, that's right. You read it. I want them to look perfect. What was that you said? I couldn't hear you over my delusional brain noise. Who am I kidding? I'll start taking some pictures. Soon. Just as soon as we finish the kitchen cabinets this coming Tuesday. And after we get our dining room table. And after those dummy knobs are on. And after we have a shower head in our master shower.

Last night was a long night, as I fear this one might be. I have one baby cutting his first teeth and another, bigger baby, cutting his two year molars. Steve and I took turns comforting the respective babies for much of the very early morning hours. The ones that are too late to be called 'midnight' but too early to be called 'morning'. Those hours are buggers. So are bulging, irritated, red gums apparently. Poor babies.

School started back up on the 3rd of January and we have since been trying our darndest to got back into a good routine, a routine that works for everyone. I am finding that there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day. I must go back to getting up at 5:30. I know it seems silly but, for me, it seems to make a difference. I start my day off right. I meet the day instead of the day meeting me. I can shower, sip coffee, nurse the baby, pray and prepare breakfast all before I hear any pitter patter whatsoever. I have mentioned it to Steve a couple times now but the reception is luke warm. Let's just say my beautiful husband isn't exactly a 'morning person'. Was that delicate enough, Honey? ('morning person' is code for one who is able to think AND move at the SAME time before 8 or 9am)

So, the time has come for me to stop waiting for the house to be perfect and to start back into a routine, carving out prayer time, Mommy exercise time, family time, phone call return time, and meal prep time. I am good on the family time and the meal prep time. The rest? It's a struggle every day. Some sweet friends of mine have mentioned reading again  Holly Pierlot's "A Mother's Rule of Life". Once I get to the boxes marked "books" in the garage I am going to get right on that.

I have missed so many of you. Have I said that yet? I will post the pictures that I just ordered from Kodak to go on our wall in our living room and hopefully you'll feel like you're sitting here, next to the fire sipping coffee right along with us.

*end note*-I tried to post some pics but blogger wouldn't let me. Ornery blogger.

 

Deep thoughts by Ella.

We have been out of commission for a few days since the big move. New construction is a messy, messy, dirty, filthy thing. I have more cleaning to do that I can even describe. But, trudge on I shall. We are making serious headway. Tilers, electricians and plumbers still come in and out during the day, clawfoots and pedestals are left to be set, and trim paint is needed on the stairs. Trudge on we shall. It beats the rental every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

We had a beautiful Christmas, really, with family coming and going and more to come tomorrow. We like to drag this partying business out as long as we can! Happy Birthday, Christ Jesus, and thank you beyond all thank you's for this amazing life and these amazing blessings. We are luckier than we ever deserved.

I don't have much time for further reflection so I'll leave you, for now, with a deep thought by Ella Marie;

"Yesterday is tomorrow that already happened in the past."

Ahem....Confucius? Is that you? Or could it be Yogi Berra?

Merry Christmas.....we're moving!

So, our stint in purgatory is over. 

The rental will see the last of us tomorrow. The season of waiting us upon us and we can see the Coming straight ahead of us. HOPE is in season. Steve, God Bless his heart, has been working out at the house until the wee hours of the morning almost every night this week. Just to get us IN. 

We got the green light from the health department. The building department? They'd like us to put some plywood on the outside of our master bedroom doors leading out to our deck. Because, well, it's probably not code seeing as there is no railing out there just yet. Okay, sure, Mister Building Department Guy, we can do that. 

Merry Christmas, family. We're moving in. Tis' the season to be jolly, fa la la la la la la la la!

 

"Dooooo!!"

Guess who's Dooo? Shepherd is! That's who!

You sang, you ate chocolate pie, you blew out candles, you had a tantrum over a borrowed-for-30-second Thomas coal car, you waved good morning and blew kisses at your big brother and sister, you wanted more milk and since you so sweetly said "peeeease", I gladly gave it to you. It all happened before 7:30 a.m. this morning.

 When we ask you how old you are you emphatically announce, "DOOOO!", with a big one-tooth in-the-center-from-that-nasty-Shepherd-versus-coffee-table-incident grin. 

Oftentimes we talk about how difficult is is to resist the urge to chew on your face. Your cheeks to be precise. They are chubby and full and when you smile, your golden eyes stand out against them like fiery globes of sun.

Your energy exhausts me and inspires me. From the moment you wake to the moment you lay down at night you never cease moving. I love you, my sweet boy. You are either going to keep me young or make me very, very old.

We must be doing something right since I caught you, yesterday, as you were running through the house like a whirlwind, stop by your baby' brothers bouncy seat, give him two gentle, gentle pats on the head, softly lean in and say, "Hi, baby", and then go on about your way. 

Happy 2nd birthday, beautiful boy.

Potentiality.

Me: Paxton, you need to put that money in a pocket or something.

Paxton: I'm just going to leave it right here so it's not a potential problem.

Alrighty then.

Speaking of littleness

I needed this today. I need to be reminded of this in a desperate way. I have been feeling quite in limbo. Moving at a snail's pace and staring at the calendar, counting the days that have passed and those that have yet to pass. Listening to the clock tick and feeling like our lives are on hold. Just a few...more....days. 

This is St. Theresa's Prayer:

May there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing that you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise, and love.

It is there for each and every one of us.

Christ's peace be with you all, my friends, and me. May we rest contentedly in this the third week of Advent, the week of HOPE. 

Littleness.

We're moving. Sort of. In little. tiny. bits. at. a. time. Isn't that how you move when you have four children under six? 

Anyway, I don't have much to share right now since what I really have is way too much to even know where to begin. For now, I'll leave you with this adorable conversation:

Me: Ella, honey, why do your pants keep falling down like that? 

Ella: Like what?

Me: Like that (I say, pointing to the pants she's stepping on.)

Ella: Well...Mom, they're just not the size of me.

Um....yikes.

This is disturbing. I noticed the date was from two years ago. I need to do some further investigation. Dang! I LOVE (d) Starbucks!

Nice endings.

Today's schedule:

9:00am Mass for the HDO; The Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

10:15am Elizabeth Prayer Group meeting until 12:30pm

12:30pm Go home, change the baby's diaper and head out again.

1:00pm Meet Steve for a quick bite after he had dropped off Child #1, #2, and #3 with their grandparents and had been to the appliance store to pick up our fridge, freezer, two washing machines, two driers, two pedestals and attempted to pick up a trash compacter.

1:20pm Head to Home Depot for three hours to pick out 3 pedestal sinks, 3 vanities, 5 toilets, 5 toilet seats, 1 framed mirror, 11 flush mounts, 1 fixture, 1 bar and 1 kitchen and 1 wash sink, two shower rods and a ceiling medallion in a pear tree. Just seeing if you were still reading.

4:00ish leave Home Depot with the van, a borrowed truck and trailer full of aforementioned stuff, and go pick up children 1-3. #4 and I are a packaged deal these days.

5:15 Arrive home with children #2 and #4 (Daddy took #1 and #3 out to the house to drop off all the goods in the garage since installation will begin in less than a week.) Throw together dinner while nursing (yes, that's right) #4 and giving #2 a bath.

6:00pm-8:20pm Eat dinner, light a candle, read another story from our Advent book, play a game, put clothing away, clean house, get kids' jammies, brush teeth, give kisses, say prayers, tuck kids into bed.

8:20-8:50pm Open a bottle of wine, pour one glass for me and one glass for Steve. Sit and have adult conversation with big words and everything. For one half hour. 

8:50-11:00pm Feed the baby one last time and put him down, say goodbye to Steve, drive up to the chapel to sit for two hours. In silence. Prayerful silence. In front of the Blessed Sacrement. For the local Prayer Vigil for Life.

11:00 Come home and give Steve a kiss after I pass the baton so that he can go sit in the chapel until 1:00am. He's the night owl of the two of us, God bless him. 

All in all, if you ask me, we have our priorities straight today. Not all the time. Not every day. But this day? We started it right and we ended it right. 

1)Prayer

2)Person

3)Partner

4)Parent

5)Provider

And it feels good.

 

Update: The Carrier.

I might have to eat my words. It might actually be me.

Dang. 

We'll see when I get tested in another week or so. 

Happy 4th Birthday, Boo-boo.

Ella,

It's been 4 years since the day of your birth. I remember that day like it was yesterday. 

I am amazed that time has flown by as it has. I am amazed at the young lady you have become. I am amazed that you tolerate your brothers, despite the fact that their vocabularies are not as vast, their interest in ponies and babies and princesses is minimal, and their love and fascination with hair product pales in comparison to yours. 

You say things like, "my salvation..", "actually, Mom...", "I love you more than 1000 baby birds.", and "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen."

You love dolphins and you wish you were a mermaid. You asked me the other day if, when you die, you can go to Heaven to be with Jesus and then he would make you into a mermaid. No kidding. You would be a mermaid and he would be a King. King Triton, that is.

You love preschool and wish so desperately that you could just hurry up and be in third grade already. You know all your letters, their sounds, numbers up to 30, colors like "violet" and "magenta", latin prayers and how to play a wicked game of Uno.

You couldn't wait to turn four years old so that you could finally chew gum. For your big party on Saturday, your Uncle Kellen bought you an entire bag full of the stuff. Thanks, Uncle Kellen. Over the last three days, we've only stopped chewing gum to sleep.

I love you, my beautiful girl. I love your dark chocolate eyes, your dimple on your right cheek, and your spirit. I love your energetic and precocious manner. I love the way you elicit conversation with complete strangers (with me close by, of course) and the way you let everyone know, stranger or no, right off the bat, that "we live in a rental".

I love you, Ella. Happy Birthday to you.

The Carrier.

I have lots to blog about. There will be more to come. Rest assured.

Excitement for today? Waking up, knowing that I have strep throat. Again. The second time in two months. It's Steve's fault.

The walk-in clinic physician has a theory. Someone in my immediate family is A Carrier. Since you cannot contract it (or it's highly unlikely)  if you are two years of age or younger, that rules out an entire 1/3rd of my family. That leaves Ella, Paxton, and Steve.

Stay tuned to find out more about The Carrier.

Don't walk. Run.

Buy this book. You will not be sorry. Not one bit. It will change the way you celebrate holidays, feast days, and holy days. Out with secularism and commercialism, in with tradition, beauty, reverence, and family. 

In with family.

God bless you all as we embark on this beautiful season of Advent. May God be with me as I resist with ALL MY STRENGH putting up the Christmas tree until Christmas Eve. And to keep it up until the Feast of the Epiphany. Hence....the "Twelve Days of Christmas".