Just look at these little angels. You’d never guess that Lucy would decide to bite Baby Gwen’s finger in the middle of the Gospel reading at morning Mass yesterday or that Benjamin would be the one to give another kid a bloody nose at our first Catholic homeschoolers group playdate afterwards…(He obviously didn’t mean to, collisions just happen but OH DEAR. Not sure how intentional the finger-biting was.) Color me mortified. Great first impression, folks! 😉
Whew. Moving on.
Showing off a fancy breakfast compliments of Daddy.
The Quotable Benjamin (age 5):
“I should probably never move out of this house because you’re gonna be old real soon and then you won’t know WHAT to do and you’ll really need me to boss you around.” Good point, son.
“Mom, if your teeth fall out, something not fun happens: you have to get teeth glued in called dent-ers. And then you can’t eat ribs.”
The Quotable Lucy (age 2):
“Daddy has a brown beard and he’s Dad. And Jesus has a brown beard but he’s God.” I’m glad we’re getting this sorted out. Beards are tricky.
The Quotable Gwen (10 months):
Gwen: “I like waking up at 4am, EVERYDAY!” *tyrannical giggle* *adorable dimply grin*
Me: “HAVE MERCY! MEEEERRRRRRCCCCYYY!“
Book Love:
I didn’t know how much I needed a little break until I was waiting for a filling thinking, “I love going to the dentist….it’s so QUIET…you can just kick back and relax.” #momlife #amirite?
I’m bogged down in a pretty dense historical part of Les Miserables. At page 300 out of 1200, I wouldn’t say I’m exactly on schedule with this one but…..I WILL CONQUER YOU, HUGO. I also started True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montford which is wonderful, but also quite dense. So I’m reading some ebooks on the side that I’ll share in a post next week. And be sure to check out the Motherhood and Jane Austen Book Club FB group! It has been such a fun place to discuss Jane and you can find all about joining us for a live chat next Wednesday night and hear me blather on about how much I love Mansfield Park.
Carrots Love:
I love Daniel’s art so much. There is nothing better than getting love notes from my guy.
Links:
Why I’m Letting My Hair Go Gray: Catholic All Year
Dadfit: Building the Fittest Dads on the Planet: Daniel Bearman: Acts of Idiot Praise
Don’t forget to enter the Audrey Eclectic giveaway before midnight EST tonite (Saturday)!
I don’t think I tell you all often enough how grateful I am for you. Your comments, messages, emails, and encouragement inspire me and motivate me to write. I love the community of readers that has grown out of this little blog. Thank you for being here. Really. I am so thankful for you.
Lots of love,
Haley
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That’s a beautiful drawing you got from Daniel! You should make a T-shirt with it…
Always nice to read you, Haley. Have a great sunday, much love from Amsterdam!
Marta
Matching 8th anniversary t-shirts! 😉 Just kidding. But I would like to frame it.
Thanks for the love, Marta! Sending some back atcha!
I have totally had that same thought at the dentist. I went for a cleaning when I had two sick kids and a husband traveling for work. I told them to please take their time and to not worry if I fell asleep!
Haha! I kept thinking, “this is like a vacation!” Maybe I need an actual vacation 😉
My mom used to say she truly loved two “chores” in life- going to the dentist and mowing the lawn. The dentist because she could fall asleep getting her teeth cleaned, and mowing the lawn because she could drown out all the voices going “Mom! MOOOOM! She toooouched me!”
Wow…now I really want to go to the dentist! And I am so jealous of your warm weather!
My mantra for all of April is “remember how happy you are right now at the end of August when it’s an inferno and you threaten to move forever.” 😉
That breakfast looks delish! And I think your husband most likely put more effort into that meal than I typically put into dinner. He’s a definite keeper! 🙂
He is king of presentation. I’m am queen of slopping food into bowls and calling it a day. Guess whose cooking the kids like better? 😉
I love that cover of True Devotion to Mary! That image of Mother of Good Counsel was a wedding gift to us. Always turn to her for every little thing.
I feel the same about going to the midwife. You always have to wait there, but to me, that’s kind of a plus. When I have the kids along, the office staff will play with them!
What great staff!
Maybe you’ve heard this or tried this already but I thought I’d mention what worked for us: moving baby’s bedtime back a half hour to get him to sleep later. Seems counterintuitive, I know, and isn’t a guarantee, but we see glimmers of hope that look like 6:30 or even 7 sometimes now!
Thanks for writing, I’m such a fan of your blog! 🙂
That worked for the big kids when they had this issue, but not for Gwen. The past two nights I’ve kept her up LATER and it seems to be helping (later for bedtime and shifting naps later). 4:30 is just awful. And I realized when we visit TX in a couple of weeks, it’ll be 3:30…..that’s still the middle of the night! ahhh! Thanks for your sweet encouragement 😉
Just recently discovered your blog (via the Mansfield Park post, actually!), but I’m really enjoying it. And even though I don’t love Mansfield Park, I’m willing to give it another try sometime after that post…
Thanks, Libby! I’m glad you’re here 😉
With Les Misérables, you should follow what another French writer said: don’t be afraid to skip some pages!
It’s tempting with the Waterloo chapters….;)
Love True Devotion! I’ve read it a few times, but a paragraph at a time basically….so much packed into that book.
Good point on the dentures, Ben.
Sometimes I worry that my larg family scares people from having more kids because of their behavior at mass. sigh. But occasionally I get really nice compliments. I think it is good we sit in the back, so only a few people see the craziness. 🙂
Haley, this is a weird question, and doesn’t speak to all the fascinating content of your post, but … we have the same dinner plates as you — or rather, we did, and I’m wondering where you bought them, and if you know of anywhere they’re currently available. I bought them from Anthro long ago, and we’re now officially down to ONE (toddlers and drying racks don’t mix! or rather, they mix a lot, but they really shouldn’t). This prompted us to do a tally of all the sets of glasses we’ve invested in since the ones on our wedding registry and … 36 glasses have been broken in 5 years. Yikes!
Oh, man. All of our stuff breaks all the time. It’s just the way it is with littles. We got those as a wedding present. We were registered at Ten Thousand Villages which is like a Fair Trade sort of store all over the country. I unfortunately do not remember exactly what they were called. Sad! We love them and we’ve cracked and broken some and it’s only a matter of time…..
Oh goodness. I know just the part of Los Miserables that you’re talking about. It did me in the first and almost second times I attempted the book. Why some of us are crazy enough to go for the unabridged version, I’ll never know. I should really pick it back up and give it another go. Good luck! P.s . Don’t be too hard on poor Lucy…do you see how delicious little Gwen is? I really can’t blame her. 😉
Ah! Edit! Edit! I did not type Los Miserables, but I can’t seem to get this high-falutin’ fancy phone to type L-e-s. Bah. Technology.