Breakfast Champ

Jacob is a good eater.  He eats a bowl of oatmeal almost every morning for breakfast.  His current favorite is oatmeal with peanut butter, cinnamon, and applesauce.  I noticed recently that he would start crying and throwing a fit near the end of breakfast.  After watching a few mornings, I realized he begins his fit when I first start having to tip the bowl to get more oatmeal out. He's crying because he realizes there are only a few bites left!

Daniel

At mass on Sunday, I caught Daniel doing something sweet. I almost missed it which makes it even nicer because I don't think he intended for anyone to know. As the collection basket went by, he slipped in three dollars that he'd put in his pocket. He is a kind and good boy, and I'm so very proud of him.

Katie's 4th Birthday

 

 

Katie turned four last week! She had her checkup yesterday, and I believe they said she weighed 35 pounds and was 40 inches tall.  She has grown up a lot this year. She still enjoys playing with babies.  She also likes to play cars/trucks, board games, color, paint, read books, and ride her new bike.  She doesn't like to play outside as much as her brothers, but when we go for walks, she can run long distances!  Some of the things she likes to eat are ham and cheese sandwiches, yogurt, cereal, crackers, raw red peppers, cheese, peas, apples, pears, grapes, cantaloupe, and steak.  She doesn't like to eat onions, tomatoes (unless they're raw grape tomatoes), or most soups.  She knows all her letters and can count to 100.  She can tell you the first and last letter of most words you give her.  She's really good at jigsaw puzzles.  She sleeps with special blankets, but no stuffed animals.  She likes to read the Bible for bedtime stories.  Sometimes I can convince her to take a nap, but often I can't.

For her birthday, we celebrated at our house with the Calvo and Kuszmaul families and Buelo and Buela.  She had a Candy Land cake that came out pretty cute, but tasted sort of terrible. The kids all liked it! David made her a dollhouse, and she received many presents related to that.  Grandpa and Grandma got her the furniture for the little girl's bedroom.  Buela and Buelo got her the furniture for the baby's room.  Aunt Cristi and Uncle Brian got her the living room furniture, Aunt Pam and Uncle Josh the kitchen, Aunt Heather and Uncle Brian the dollhouse family, as well as some arts and crafts kits.  Uncle Luis got her coloring books.  The Calvos got her a pillow craft, headbands, rings, a stuffed owl, and a bracelet craft kit.  The Kuszmauls got her more dollhouse furniture - another kitchen (which has worked well to fill out other areas of the house) and a bunkbed and other kids' furniture.  She was so excited about everything! She had been counting the days til her birthday since about 120 days beforehand!  The kids at the party all did a sticker mosaic craft and then ran around the rest of the time.

We are blessed to have Katie in our family. She's a sweet and funny girl who we wouldn't trade for the world!

Married Birds

In the car this afternoon:
Catherine: Mommy, how do birds get married?
Me: What do you mean?
Catherine: I mean that I thought birds have baby birds, so how do they get married?
Me: Ohhhh, well birds and other animals don't have to get married to have babies. God made them different than He made people.

She was satisfied with this answer!

Why is this here??

Jacob hides things all over the house. I don't remember the other kids doing that as much.

This week alone I found two bracelets in the spice cabinet, two toy animals in the bathtub, one sock in the Tupperware drawer, and three candlesticks, four bottles of glue, and one bottle of paint in the hamper. I think the hamper is your best bet if you're looking for something.....

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.