Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the forty-day-long liturgical season of Lent. It is a time of soul-searching, fasting and repentance in preparation for the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection on Good Friday and Easter.

During Lent, like many, I try to abstain from something, meant to refocus me on God whenever I am reminded of or crave this thing. For a week or so, I had been thinking about what to give up, and I thought that I would give up the internet again, as I did last year. But I haven't had that much time to spend on the internet lately anyway, and I wanted to think of something different-- that would be more difficult for me.
As I sat last night (Fat Tuesday), chowing down on the ever-delectable Cadbury Cream Egg, savoring its runny inside, a thought that came to my mind was that I should try giving up sugar-- the refined kind. And refined sugars (white sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, dextrose, fructose, and ALL artificial sweeteners) are in just about everything. Well, not really, it just seems that way. Fortunately, I've been having oatmeal with just cinnamon for breakfast for days now.

So every time I am thinking I would like to pop down to CoGo's and buy a case of Ben & Jerry's (which will likely be every 3.2 minutes), I will be reminded of why I am doing this, of Jesus who died for me. And I will pray. That's what this is all about.

It's funny, I was looking at a friend's blog earlier today, and she just wrote a post about how she decided to give up all sugar for Lent as well!


May you all have a blessed, grace filled journey through Lent toward Christ's resurrection at Easter!

SuperMom

happyworker.com’s product description: “Up at the crack of dawn and working long into the night, this heroine magically creates extra hours each day juggling kids, schedules, chores and career. Navigating jungles of toys and mountains of kiddie stuff she prepares tasty-yet-healthy snacks, tames dust bunnies and banishes stubborn stains. With an invisible third arm and a never ending pursuit of work / life balance she can help with a school project and answer an all-important business call while wrist deep in dirty diapers. Part teacher, part doctor, part chauffeur, part boss… she’s all SuperMom.”


To all of the mothers out there, don't try to be a Supermom. At least not this kind.


Today I feel like a SuperMom. The kids are both sick. Gail's experiencing the worst of her teething and is inconsolable, Jack threw up on the carpet and both kids had explosive diapers of atrocious measures this morning. I count it a small miracle that I was able to get them both down for their afternoon naps still in my right mind. I love being a mother. I love my kids. I love nap time.

Break on through to the other side

I anticipated that our first night back would be one of multiple wakings, getting used to old beds again, re-sleep-training. And Jack and Gail didn't let me down. No surprises here.

Jack cried out from his crib, "I wanna get out," and "I wanna go downstairs" from 5:10-6:10 this morning (he usually wakes up between 7:30 and 8:30). We took turns going in to tell him that it wasn't time to get up yet and that he should go back to sleep. I'm glad by brother's a heavy sleeper.

Abigail, the dear, kept waking up crying the saddest little cry, but every time I tried to feed her, she'd pull away in disgust. We went through this little routine several times in the night, and she was, as a result, a real discontent little girl this morning. Well, she's been a little crabbier than usual since we've been traveling, but I feel a little at ease knowing now what may have been the cause.

This morning, while I was spooning her some apple sauce with oatmeal, she was especially eager (ferociously so) to pop the Cheerios I had put in front of her into her mouth. As she opened her mouth one time, I caught a glimpse of a little white bump on her bottom gum. I don't know why, I just wasn't expecting her to get a tooth yet. With Jack, we sort of blamed everything on teething whenever he was fussy or drooling an awful lot or putting everything in his mouth (which he always did anyway). But there it was, plain as day, her little egg tooth.

Try as I did to get a picture, she wasn't about to bare that thing to the light of day. If you look close (see close-up), you can see it in this one picture that I had to take matters into my own hands (It took a while, folks).


"I love you, Mom, but if you do that again, I will bite you with my tooth."


Jack was excited about showing me his teeth, however. So you have the rare honor of glimpsing into his gaping chomper.

There and back again

We're home. The kids were pretty(,) tired and out of sorts, but hopefully they'll catch up in these next couple of days. I just posted the pics from the past week or so. They made my computer come to a screeching halt, so I'll have to do something about that. Tay's here now.



Jack tried to pull Kitty this same way. She was such a good sport with all of the torturing she endured. She deserves a treat.





Tay mashing the banana that we tried to juice. Failing.


Read more about our juicer adventures at the food blog.

Old Line state

Jack, Abigail and I have been in Maryland for the past few days while poor Dad has to work. Mike brought us halfway-- to Breezewood, where Tay picked us up and took us the rest of the way.
Yesterday morning, I came downstairs with the kids, went into the study to get Jacks wipes and saw someone sleeping on the couch. I thought it was Tay, who must have fallen asleep there but was pleasantely surprised to see, at a closer look, that it was Heather, who had endured a 19-hour drive down the previous day to spend her winter break with us.
We've been enjoying our time here-- being entertained by the tooties, visiting with Gig and my grandparents, watching the telly while 14-year-old Romka has his first sick day ever, playing 5 Crowns, learning to knit more proficiently, playing with kitties, etc.
Tay will drive us back to the 'Burgh tomorrow, where we'll have the priviledge of visiting with him for a few more days. And I'll post some pictures then. Left my camera cable at home.

Gorilla feet

Lately, Jack has insisted on wearing one pair of footie pajamas, night and day. And Mike and I allow it, as long as we're not going outside. He kept coming up to me yesterday, saying his feet hurt. He was walking like a Dr. Seuss character, picking up his knees really high, as if trying to keep his feet from touching the floor at all (and making it easier for me to kiss them). "Foo(t) hurt. Foo(t) hurt. Mun foo(t)." I noticed there was a monkey on the foot he was lifting up, so I assumed he was referencing this. "Yes, there is a monkey on your hurt foot. Is the monkey hurt?" I picked up the "hurt" foot to kiss it, and it made a crunching sound. What in the world?
I laid him down, unzipped his pajamas and reached down the pant leg to find a bunch of crumbs. "Mun. Gowiwa Mun."
The culprit? Gorilla Munch cereal. And a lot of it in each of his footies.

Blessings on Valentine's Day

Mike and I took advantage of some kid-free time last night to celebrate our fifth Valentine's Day together, and we spent this one the same way as that very first one-- first, dinner at Joe's Crab Shack in Station Square, then some walking and talking in the mall to get out of the cold, and then we topped it off with some ice cream at a little ice cream shop. All of it, the same as that first.
But the best part of the evening was what waited for us upon our return home.

Five years ago, we weren't saying "Wouldn't Jack love that?" every time we saw something that might spark a little guy's interest and we didn't have a little girl to hurry back to to nurse. Last night, we kept thinking, aren't we incredibly blessed? Blessed by the result of the love of marriage -- a gift from God, two incredible little children entrusted to our care.

Hello, stranger.

I've thought about posting. I have.
Alas, it's been a busy week with caring for sick'uns, taking advantage of glorious, yet very windy, weather, and reading up on discipline. Jack and Gail both had bouts of the flu, in addition to their constantly running noses. We made it to the Toy Lending library yesterday, and when we returned, Jack helped me dig up our back yard while Abigail serenaded us with her Bee Bop Band. We were digging a plot for a small garden while the ground was thawed. I know I've already gotten a late start, but hopefully, next year, I'll be more on the ball.


I just added some more pictures to Picasa, a heavy-with-Gail album, but Jack refuses to stay put long enough for me to shoot any of him anymore. He refuses to do anything I ask him to do anymore. He's a sweetie, but he's been testy lately. I know, it's time.

Watching Bambi when he was sick last week. He insisted on this set-up.

8 months

Our little Abbie Gail is not yet crawling. In fact, she hasn't made much progress in that area since her backward movements started one month ago. But that's okay. She loves roughhousing with her brother (If you haven't seen the newest video on the sidebar, witness this-- I wasn't present, by the way).
This afternoon, I had to pick up my glasses at Target, and afterward, we picked up a few things, including a pack of soft headbands for Abigail. Jack took them from me and turned around to Gail, who was in her carrier and said, "For pretty Abigail." She smiled and took them from him and put them straight into her mouth (where everything she's holding goes). He knows what makes her happy.

Go Steelers!

To be honest, I watched about 15 minutes of the game. I know... what kind of a Pittsburgher am I? But we knew when the game was over (and that we'd won) by the screaming and firecrackers outside.
I know diddlysquat about football, but this was amazing.