Feeding Babies

Catherine has been breastfeeding her babies for awhile.  Here's a pic of her feeding baby Audrey.  The stuffed elephant underneath is her improvised boppy pillow to help support the baby.

 Recently, I started working a few mornings a week.  Catherine has now had to start pumping milk for her babies.  Here she is pumping (and trying to dodge the camera).

 

A couple quick stories about breastfeeding:

 

Story 1: When we were talking to Aunt Cristi the other day, I asked Catherine if she would help Aunt Cristi when her baby came out of her belly.  She said she would gladly help.  I told her that Aunt Cristi probably didn't know much about how to feed babies.  Catherine told Aunt Cristi, "Well, you know we have those little nipples.  That's how you could feed your baby."

 

Story 2: Catherine told David the other day, "Daddy, I think Mommy can teach you how to feed Jacob.  'Cause see?  You have those moles too.  Up high on your belly.  See those moles?  That's how you could feed Jacob."

 

She'll be a good Mommy someday. 

 

 

 

Valentine's Day

When David went to check on Daniel the other night, he found him asleep like this:

 

In his hand, he's clutching a Valentine's card that he made for us that evening.  Here's the close-up:

 

 

It says "Happy valentine's day Mommy and Daddy."  It has the first initial of each family member inside the heart. 

 

Then the next day, I was in his room looking for a book, and I found this card:

 

 





 

 

 The front says, "To Jesus and Mary.  From Daniel." The inside says, "Happy Valentine's Day, God.  God, please help me to make the right choices.  Mary, please pray for us, we humbly pray, and forgive our sins."

 

If that doesn't make you feel like the happiest mother in the world, I don't know what will.



Jacob's 4-Month Update

Jacob turned four months old this week.  He continues to be a very smiley, happy baby.  He likes to sleep and definitely require more sleep than the older two kids did.  He gets very grumpy when he doesn't get enough sleep.  It's rare that he cries when he's not either tired or hungry.  He still wakes up once or twice each night to eat.  He takes varied naps throughout the day.  He still has no real schedule, so I never know if he's going to sleep for 30 minutes or 3 hours during the day. 

He can grasp toys and brings all of them to his mouth to explore.  He likes to chew and suck on everything you put near him.  I don't think he's teething, but I'm kind of terrible at figuring that out until I see teeth practically popping through.  He likes music a lot and prefers to fall asleep to the sound of lullabies.  He also likes for me to sing to him during the day.  He especially likes Old McDonald and Little Bunny FooFoo.  Those will keep his attention for quite some time.  He likes when his brother and sister sing to him too and laughs at silly sounds we all make.  He's really pretty easy to please when playing/singing.....unless he's tired.  He can't roll over yet, but it seems like he's getting close.  He hates being on his tummy, which doesn't help us reach that milestone.  He can almost sit up by himself, but can't sustain his balance for too long. 

He's different from my other babies in that he likes to be held sideways in a cradle position.  Neither of the older kids ever liked that.  He's also different in that he's balding!  The other kids just added more hair to their full head of hair, but he's losing all his.  Katie says that he's going to look like Abuelo.  His eyes are already brown.  Daniel's stayed blue until about the time he turned two, and Katie's are still blue. 

He's a sweet, sweet boy, and I can't imagine life without him.

Puzzle Queen

Katie is really good at puzzles.  I realize I'm extremely biased in saying that, but I still think it's true!  She got a 69 piece puzzle of the United States and Canada for her birthday.  She did it everyday for about two weeks before she could do it all by herself.  I think that's pretty bright!  She can also name many of the states.  One of her favorites is Wisconsin because, as she says, "It has a lot of cheese!"

Race Issues

Daniel's class was learning about MLK the other day.  We were discussing what he had learned.  He had many questions, and to give him some background, I was explaining how at that time many white people didn't like people that were a darker color and that those people were then treated unfairly.  He told me, "So, Mommy, if we had lived back then, you might not have liked me or Daddy or Katie or Jacob because you're white and we're all Mexican."  I told him that I hoped I would have been one of the white people that was more loving. 

This couples with the story that happened awhile back.  Daniel and I were talking about Abraham Lincoln, and I told him that one of the most important things that he did as a president was to free the slaves.  I should have thought that through better because, of course, Daniel didn't know what a slave was, and then I had to explain all kinds of things.....I felt like he understood by the end of our conversation.  Then a few days later, we were playing the game Guess Who, and Daniel asked me, "Is yours a slave?"  I said, "A what?" thinking I may have heard incorrectly.  Daniel repeated the question, and then we had to have another whole discussion about why it wouldn't be good to continue to refer to black people as slaves. 

Sheesh. 

Groundhog's Day

Katie and I were reading a new book from the library. It had a picture of a porcupine on the front.

Katie: Is that that dirt hog from California?
Me: What dirt hog?
Katie: You know that dirt hog that we watched.
Me: I don't know what you mean. When did we watch it?
Katie: The day before this day. And he saw his shadow.
Me: Oh! You mean the groundhog from Pennsylvania?
Katie: Yes!
Me: No, this is just a porcupine.
Katie: It's not that corn dog?
Me: No, it's not that groundhog.

Jacob's Baptism

Jacob was baptized on January 11.  His godparents are Brian and Cristi.  He was baptized by Father Sam Matthiesen.  It was the Baptism of the Lord, which is also the same day that Daniel was baptized six years ago.  Here are their pics.  See any resemblance?  Daniel was a bit older at his baptism, by about 1.5 months, so his hair is longer and his cheeks are chubbier.

Jacob

 Daniel

 

 Jacob

 Daniel

 

 

Jacob gave a good loud cry when Father Sam poured the water on his head, and he stopped abruptly when Brian held him up again.  Father Sam was liberal with the anointing oils, and Jacob's whole head was dripping with oil.  You could smell it on his head even after we washed it multiple times!

 

It was a beautiful ceremony.  We had many people join us - Uncle Brian & Aunt Cristi, Grandma, Abuelo & Abuela, Uncle Luis, Adolfo, Pita, and Adolfo E. Diaz, the Stephens family, and Greg & Jennifer Kroeger.  We celebrated afterward at our house with a big lunch.

 

 



Catherine's 3rd birthday

Katie turned three on Friday.  Abuelo and Abuela were here to help celebrate.  She woke up super excited about her birthday and probably sang the "happy birthday" song at least 15 times throughout that day.  She requested muffins for breakfast and ham & cheese sandwiches for lunch.  She got to go play at the McDonald's playground with Daniel after school.  Abuelo & Abuela also took us all out to dinner (Jason's Deli) where she ordered mac 'n' cheese and got a chocolate ice cream cone.  She was still definitely confused about why we weren't having her birthday cake that day, and no matter how many times I explained that it was actually her birthday but that her party wasn't until the next day, she never understood.  After we tucked her in that evening, we could hear her singing "happy birthday" to herself again. 

On Saturday we celebrated her birthday again with cake and ice cream.  The Calvo family came as well as Abuelo, Abuela, Grandma, Uncle Luis, Uncle Brian, and Aunt Cristi.  She had a blast and was so happy to be the center of attention.

More gifts! 

Grandpa and Grandma: USA/Canada puzzle and my old jewelry 

Grandma Fox: money 

Abuelo and Abuela: lace-up animals and Minnie Mouse puzzle 

Uncle Luis: toy food

Uncle Brian and Aunt Cristi: dress up shoes

Uncle Brian and Aunt Heather: backpack and workbook 

Uncle Josh and Aunt Pam: doll clothes/diapers/accessories, dress-up clothes, dress

Calvo family: Pop Arty beads, purse, hair ties, and jewelry 

Mommy and Daddy: big girl bedding

We had her 3-year check-up today, and she weighed 31.4 pounds and measured 37.75 inches tall.  She is a bundle of energy and talks about as much as her older brother, if that's possible.  She's good at making people laugh as she says things that are kind of ridiculous.  She's not afraid of too many things and wants to try all sorts of things that she's not big enough to do.  She's really, really tough.  She can do many things for herself, like get dressed and get her own snacks.  She loves to read books.  She loves playing with Daniel until he gets fed up with her.  She loves to play with baby dolls and is partial to Robin and now Robin's little sister, Audrey.  She loves being a big sister to Jacob.  She is sneaky and gets caught doing troublesome things on a daily basis.  She likes to pester Daniel.  She likes pink and princesses.  She is really good at jigsaw puzzles.  She likes to eat ham and cheese sandwiches, fruit, crackers, peas, and steak.  She doesn't like tomatoes or lima beans.  She loves riding her scooter.  She no longer  naps, except when she falls asleep in the car.  She is potty trained, even wearing undies at night.  She's a frequent liar, but not a very good one yet.  She loves the slides the best at playgrounds.  She likes to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while I fix her hair.  She thinks she's ready to start school.  She can recite the prayer before meals and parts of the Glory Be and Hail Mary.  She wakes us up about 50% of the nights to tell us to come get her in the morning.  She knows many of her letters, but not all of them.  She can count to twelve.  She's left handed.

I love her more than she can imagine.

Christmas

We celebrated Christmas at our house this year.  It was definitely a treat to not have to pack and drive anywhere with the kids.  Abuelo, Abuela, Uncle Luis, Uncle Brian, and Aunt Cristi joined us.  This was the first year that Katie really knew what was going on, and she and Daniel were both really excited about everything. 

We had a nice Advent leading up to Christmas.  This year we sang the song "Soon and Very Soon" together each night as we lit the Advent candles, and the kids loved it!  We also tried to take the season more slowly and decorated our tree just a little bit at a time.  The kids also loved putting on the ornaments. 

Daniel spent most of Christmas morning playing with the Magna Tiles.  So many of his gifts had such tiny pieces and were so complex that we didn't let him take everything out that day.  He also spent some time blowing up Coke bottles with Uncle Luis.....Katie alternated between riding the scooter and pushing the dolls in her stroller, sometimes managing to do both of those activities at the same time.  :)  Jacob got passed around a lot and handled most of it like a champ.

Daniel with Magna Tiles

 Daniel with Simon game

 Katie at mass

 Jacob

 Daniel and Katie in the castle

 Katie on the scooter

 Jacob smiling

 

Of course the kids received more presents than they could ever need. 

Daniel:

Santa Claus: Magna Tiles

Daddy & Mommy: Apostles play set and "Why am I Here?" book

Abuelo & Abuela: Hot Wheels Turbo race set, throw & toss bean bag set, and rain boots

Grandpa & Grandma: Spider magazine subscription

Grandma Fox: money

Uncle Luis: brick house building set

Uncle Brian & Aunt Cristi: candy science experiment book, Lego set, and airplane

Uncle Josh & Aunt Pam: Lego set and Simon game

 

Katie:

Santa Claus: doll stroller and scooter

Daddy & Mommy: saint DVDs and saint book

Abuelo & Abuela: pop-up castle, black dress-up boots, and rain boots

Grandpa & Grandma: High Five magazine subscription

Grandma Fox: money

Uncle Luis: birthday cake set

Uncle Brian & Aunt Cristi: doll clothes and doll pack 'n' play

Uncle Josh & Aunt Pam: baby doll (Audrey), stroller, and doll accessories

 

Jacob:

Santa Claus: steering wheel

Daddy & Mommy: My First Rosary

Abuelo & Abuela: book and toy keys

Grandpa & Grandma: Babybug magazine subscription

Grandma Fox: money

Uncle Brian & Aunt Cristi: Guardian Angel prayer lion

Uncle Josh & Aunt Pam: electronic learning book