It’s Beginning to Feel A Lot Like… – We’ve had our first rain of the season this week and it was wonderful! It has become tradition that once the first rain comes I listen to Christmas music and drink a cup of hot chocolate in anticipation of the holidays to come. I love it!

Blue Heaven – The day after the storm the sky was so pretty as the clouds moved out and the sun broke through the freshly washed land.

Biological Clock Ticking? – I’ve got baby on the brain. No, no, I am not expecting, and frankly, Brian and I believe this may be the end. Of course, one can never say never with God. But I have been thinking about it more. Normally, when I talk to people (not other Catholic families who already have a lot of kids but acquaintances or strangers) they are surprised that we have four kids and tell me how my hands must be full, blah, blah, blah, blah. (Bella and I say this often in Hotel Transylvania style. 😉 The other day we met a woman we know from church. She is a retired pediatrician and had 5 kids of her own. After we chatted, she said she was happy that we had 5 children…I corrected her and told her we only had 4. No worries! She said we should have another baby because we are such a wonderful, holy family etc. I smiled because to this sweet grandma, anyone under 45 was still considered young, despite my bones that creak in the morning and the new wrinkles and dark circles I’m finding under my eyes.
A few days later we had our carpets cleaned by a great local company and the guy, who I am assuming was about our age, was asking about our kids and if we were going to have any more. When we said we weren’t sure but didn’t think so, he said we were still young and should have another! He had eight of his own and said it was hard work but worth it. I told Brian if one more person tells us we should have another baby we may have to pray about whether or not God is trying to tell us something. LOL

Baby Boom – I may also have baby on the brain because there is a preggers boom in blogging land! Now, of course whenever you get a group of practicing Catholic mamas together, you are bound to have a number of overlapping pregnancies but it seems like every week another blogger (or two) is announcing the blessing of a little one growing in them. By the way, that reminds me to offer congratulations to Jen, Hallie, Jenna, and the recently announced Dawn. (I could also add Betty and Karianna but they are either farther along or on the home stretch.) Okay, who’s next? (And stop looking at me.)

Touché – In the meantime, my little climber Matthew continues to scale the furniture. It has become a game to him. His latest is to climb up on the TV stand and sit in front of the screen. Literally. Usually he then calls, “Mama!!!” and when I walk in he either laughs and say, “Ge Dow” (get down) or he shakes his finger at me and says, “No, no, no.”

Mother of the Zombie Apocalypse – There is nothing sweeter than hearing your kids say their prayers. There is often also a touch of humor as they are still getting the correct wording down. The other day Andrew was praying the Hail Mary and I just caught the end which sounded more like dialogue in a zombie movie…”Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for our innards now and we are deaf.”

He Sounds Like Buckwheat from Little Rascals – In the past, since Andrew and John-Paul were both speech delayed (and A. having borderline apraxia) I would long to hear them say the words “I love you.” The other evening as I was kissing them goodnight Andrew said, “I love you, Mommy” and John-Paul echoed “I lub you, mama!” I was moved to tears. As I kissed them and told them to have sweet dreams I got JP’s signature, “Otay, mama!”

Like Mother, Like Son – Speaking of John-Paul, he is usually my shopping buddy but I think I created a bit of a shopping monster. Everyday this week when I took him to school, as I turned off the highway to go towards his school he would yell from the backseat, “No, no! Go Target!” Every day. This morning he was off from school and I told him he had to get dressed so we could run errands. He exclaimed, “Go Target, Mama!” Yes, we were going to Target. Brian looked at us quizzically and I explained that he loved to go shopping at Target. He just shook his head and prayed under his breath, “Save us, Jesus.” One Target-aholic in the family is enough.
Have a wonderful weekend!