Ah, Spring!

It rained and brown gave way to green!  We've been enjoying being outside all week.  On Sunday, Oli, Henry, and I went around the lake. On our way home, out of the beautiful blue sky, there was the longest rumble of thunder I've ever heard and then hail.

Painful hail!  Oli was riding her bike and screaming at the same time.  I was running with Henry in the stroller, trying to make it home.  A neighbor offered to let us stand on her porch until it was over.  It probably lasted three minutes, but it was a long three minutes.

Its been nice to be out in the backyard.  Jacob and I planted some peas and he is very into tending them.  Every morning he asks me, "water peas, Mom?"  We got some sand for the sand box.  Jacob has spent hours filling up his dump truck.  We're trying to learn to keep sand in the sand box but between Jacob and his dump truck and Henry the sand eater, we're going to be buying a new bag of sand next week.

March

Time is moving too fast.  We had lots going on this month.  We started some seeds - pepper and tomatoes.  I've been taking them out to the greenhouse each morning and bringing them in at night as its been below freezing at night.  We had some chicks hatch.  We kept nine Auracaunas.  We keep dreaming about our little farm in the country but right now there is not even a property on the market to dream about...very unsatisfying!

The little guy got an ear infection which did not go away with the first round of antibiotics.  At the same time he got six teeth!  There has been much crying, to say the least.

At the same time I have been forced to read "Rotten Ralph" and his many adventures to the older two way too many times.  Ralph is a naughty cat who never listens to his owner.  I'm a little concerned about our many readings of Rotten Ralph as Ralph never seems to make things right at the end of the story.  Perhaps I'm over-analyzing.  I'm all Ralphed out.  I'm also Thomas-ed out.  I think we need to get outside. Spring come soon!

Bits and Pieces

1.)Oli made me a card and stuck little "neat" stickers on it.  "Because I know you like the house neat," she said.  Finally, someone noticed!

2.)Jacob has started talking in complete sentences.  He's growing up!

3.)I (think) I feel a little tooth poking through Henry's gums.  I think this is the latest that any of the kids have gotten a tooth.  On the other side of the spectrum, Oli is anxiously waiting to lose her first tooth.

4.)I finished a knitting project before the intended recipient outgrew it.  Now how did the woman at the knitting store know I should make a 12 month size when I said I wanted to knit a sweater for my one month old baby?

 He's doing his "puppy face" which his sister taught him to do.  It came in handy when he caught a cold and couldn't breathe through his nose.

5.)Henry really likes to have mama in sight at all times which means the only way I can get anything done around here is to put him in the backpack.  If I don't wear a hat he pulls my hair out one strand at a time.  Good times!

Baptism

Henry was baptized at the Saturday evening mass.  It was wonderful.  When Father Becker was speaking about the meaning of baptism during the service, Henry looked right at him and smiled.  When everyone applauded after he was baptized, Henry looked around with a look of surprise.  Even since, whenever he hears clapping, he is quite sure it is for him.
In a meditation I was reading before Henry's baptism I came upon this quote which is actually from the Catechism of the Catholic church, "Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ."  I also think of the verse from Jeremiah 31:33 which says "I will put my law within them, I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people."  I hope Henry will always be able to sense God with his heart.
Afterwards we had a fun party at our house with all the grandparents, great-grandpa, and aunts and uncles.  Father Becker even came over.  Nathan made puerco pibil which was delicious and I made a strawberry cake.

Perfect

In preparation for my giant housecleaning extravaganza for Henry's baptism dinner (housecleaning sounds more fun if you call it an extravaganza, don't you think?) we went out to Menards on Saturday night.  Driving home we spotted the ice skating rink at Lake Park and after a quick run home for snow gear, decided to do some skating.  As Oli said on the way home, it was a perfect night.  It was in the thirties and we were the only people skating.  We even got Jacob (who hates anything that might possibly be dangerous) to put on some skates.  He only lasted a few minutes but once he had his boots back on he spent a happy half-hour standing on a pile of snow declaring, "I'm on a mountain!" Olivia is a fearless skater and even though she still falls fairly often it doesn't stop her from practically running on the ice in her skates sometimes.  Even Henry seemed to enjoy the not-too-cold night air.  All in all, a perfect night!

Ow Ow Wonder

Henry started crawling this week much to his brother's consternation.  "Enny's eating toys!"  "Mom, nurse Enny!"  The latter was to prevent Henry from eating Jacob's toys.  Sorry, kid, I have my limits.

Jacob is becoming more verbal each day.  For a few weeks, every time we would drive down Broadway near downtown, Jacob would repeat a word over and over.  I could never understand what he was saying until finally one day it dawned on me that it was "castle."  And it's true, there are several stone churches with large turrets and spires that do look like castles.  The world is magical when you're two!

 I love how Jacob sings.  He has his own version of each song which is different from the real version though every once in a while he throws in an actual word.  He has his own version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star which we can all sing just like Jacob now.

Seven Months

Seven months is such a great age!  Henry has reached the "stuck under the couch" stage.  He is figuring out how to move around but mostly he goes backwards.  He's saying his first real sound, "da, da, da," though he doesn't know what it means yet.  He's a smiley happy guy but his sister gets the best smiles and laughs from him.  She knows just the kind of goofiness a baby likes.  Jacob calls him "Enny" and will come by and put a truck in his hand if he's crying.  Henry loves toys and when he gets an unfamiliar one, he likes to examine it from all angles. He loves to eat.  We can hardly spoon the baby food in fast enough!