Little Mr. Particular!

Timmy is turning into a little man who is quite particular about things.  A few days ago, I put him down for a nap.  A few minutes into his "nap", I heard his bedroom door open and shut again.  A bit later all was quiet.  I went to check on him as I always do to make sure he was asleep.  Outside his door was a book on the floor.  I thought it was odd, but picked it up and put it away.  The next day, a book and his shoes were out in front of his door.  That night his book was out in front of the door again!  Apparently, when he is done reading his book, it needs to be placed outside his door!  Pete says it's like he's "putting the trash out!"

Last night before putting him to bed, Pete cleaned up his room and put his tonka truck on the shelf.  When it came time to put him to bed, Timmy was all distraught that the truck was on the shelf and not in a particular spot on the floor under the window!  Of course, he was not allowed to move it and had to go to bed with the truck on the shelf!

When visiting Liam for his birthday, little Dennis had chocolate cake all over his face.  Timmy was all concerned that Dennis' face was so messy!!!

Enjoying his birthday cake!

Peak into our day...

Naomi to Olivia while playing house: "You waked me up too eawly (early) and now I'm cranky!"  I don't think she's ever heard that come out of anyone's mouth here!

Just thought I'd give the more experienced mother's a flashback and the current mother's a sympathy post today...

How to accomplish a project when one is 36 weeks pregnant and has 3 small children under 5....

Several, several weeks months ago, we decided to replace our current curtains/drapes with more thermal ones since our house is an icebox in the winter.  I was given some heavy duty drapes that I decided to *pregnancy brain...can't think of the right word to use....re purpose, reconstruct, change* to fit Timmy's room.  This meant cutting the drapes, changing their direction, sewing, hemming, etc...and I know no more than basic sewing skills!  Anyway, I did 3 of the 4 and the 4th one has just been hanging for months!  It's driving me crazy (thanks nesting phase of pregnancy!).  So, I decide to attempt to work on it today.

The kids are all playing nicely...Olivia and Naomi are playing house, Timmy is playing with their dollhouse.  No one realizes that I am even still in the house.  I grab the curtain off the rod and sneak into my bedroom in hopes that no one will notice I've gone in there.  I lay the curtain out on the floor, grab my sewing supplies and gingerly lower this big ole' body of mine (complete with beyond beach ball size belly) onto the floor.  My knees touch the ground, I cut about 5 inches of fabric and the door flies open.  Naomi enters...."Mommy what are you doing in here....what's this....what are these....what do you do with this...." as she picks up scissors, pins, pin cushion etc.  "Naomi, please put that down, you're going to hurt yourself...no, don't touch that either...Naomi if you touch anything else you're getting in trouble."  Seeing the closet door open, she decides to check out what is in the closet..."Mommy, look at all this junk in here!  What is all this stuff?"  "Naomi, why don't you go play with Olivia"...in comes Timmy....he of course proceeds to touch everything, over and over again.  "Timmy, don't touch that...sharp...no, no scissors....Timmy I said don't touch....Timmy, go get your sock out of the living room and bring it to me so I can put it on you."  Naomi exits the room and Timmy finally goes out to put his one sock on.

I proceed to make a few more cuts thankful they are both gone...3 seconds later, in comes Timmy.  "Sock!  Sock!" as he whips out a tube of diaper rash cream and steps on it as though it's a sock. "No, that's not a sock you silly boy!  Go put that back and get your real sock out of the living room."  He decides he'd rather open it and try to squirt it all over.   "Oh, no you don't!" I say as I crawl over to him...since it would be too difficult to actually get up off the floor.  I grab it from him and decide...this is just not working.  Forget the sewing project, I'll work on it later...

Later...hmmm....when will that be...not during nap time as I will be napping as well!  Not at night after they go to bed because I can barely lift myself off the couch by that time....not on Saturday when Daddy is home to watch the kids, because his next few Saturdays are taken up with side jobs, continuing education, and helping a particular (very excited I might add!) couple move into their new house!  Maybe it'll just have to wait until after I have this baby.  If I can barely get down to the floor to work on this now, there's no way I'll manage to get down to the floor and back up again in a few weeks when my belly doubles in size!

Anyway, back to the present...I put the diaper cream away and go search for the sock.  Haha...find the sock?  Amidst the chaos in the living room?  There are blankets strung from every surface...some are homes, some are doctors offices, some are restaurants....there's play food covering the floor and dollhouse people and accessories everywhere.  I notice the girls...Naomi is laying on the top of their little children's table and Olivia is underneath it pretending it is a bunk bed!  I decide to get back down on the floor and start picking up the dollhouse stuff since lunch is nearing and we always do a big clean up right before lunch.  Of course, I get down to the floor (a major feat!) and as I crawl around cleaning up, my phone rings.  Figures!  That means I have to try to get up again....should I attempt to get myself up off the floor and answer the phone, or should I just let it go to voice mail and finish cleaning up and return the call later when I finally get off the floor?  I decide to get up.  I struggle, but I make it.  As soon as I enter a standing position, this baby drops right onto my bladder...yikes!  Ouch!  Now I need to use the bathroom too!  I answer the phone and hear my sister say, "Oh...whoops, I was trying to get a hold of Mom!  Sorry, I dialed your number instead!"  After a few laughs she hangs up....

And so the day shall progress!  This all happened in about 40 minutes...should be interesting to see what happens the rest of the day!

Anyway, back to the floor to finish cleaning the dollhouse accessories as the girls clean up the play food and blankets.  Oh wait...first another trip to the bathroom!

Out of the Mouths of Babes...

While praying the Angelus this morning, Olivia said the following in response to "The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary:"


And she deceived the Holy Ghost"

ummm....good try Olivia, but not quite!

Santa's Beard

Naomi wore an adorable dress on Sunday to Mass.  It's red velvet with sparkles on it and white fur on all the edges.  She came to show me after she got dressed and the following conversation ensued:

Me: Naomi, you look like Santa Claus!
Naomi: No, I'm not!  I don't have a beard!!!
Me: Oh....how about if we take Daddy's beard and put it on you.  Then you'll really look like Santa Claus!
Naomi: No Mommy!  I'm not a boy!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday morning Naomi and Timmy woke up just before 6am as usual.  In an effort to buy a little more time to sleep, we told Naomi to go to the playroom and play with Timmy.  Having just decorated our Christmas tree the day before, she said "Can I go look at the Christmas tree?!"  I said, "Not right now...if you go out there, then Timmy will follow you and he'll touch all the ornaments."  Naomi said, "But Mommy, I'm not a rascal!  I won't touch!"

The Significance of the Three Masses of Christmas

I found this very interesting and never knew this before so I thought I would share it!


"The Three Feasts of the Nativity
When we celebrate Christmas we are commemorating the three nativities of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the reason for the three Masses celebrated on this day. The first is the eternal begetting of God the Son from all eternity within the mystery of the Blessed Trinity by the Father, “You are My Son. Today I have begotten You.” This first nativity was before the seven days of Creation, when everything was darkness. This is why the first Mass is at midnight to recall the darkness that prevailed during that first eternal birth of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
The second nativity, or birth, of the Second Person of the Trinity is commemorated on Christmas day when He became man, born of the Virgin Mary, in Bethlehem. For the world, the darkness was beginning to be dispelled. This is why the second Mass is celebrated at dawn when the dawn is beginning to dispel the darkness.
The third nativity of Christ is when He is born in our souls, through His in-dwelling, when man, through grace, becomes enlightened. Thus the third Mass is celebrated during the day when the sun is bright. For man is truly enlightened when he has Christ in his soul.
The first nativity reminds us of the Spirit of poverty, the Spirit that tells us that all the things God created is His, to be used for His glory and not for man’s enjoyment. Even man was to use himself for the glory of God. This represents the six days of creation. If Adam, being the head of creation, had observed the spirit of poverty and used all of creation for the glory of God, then he would have entered into the Sabbath, God’s rest… i.e. eternal happiness. But Adam messed up everything. And the consequence: the whole of mankind could not enter God’s rest.
The second nativity reminds us of the Spirit of chastity. That Spirit reminds us to give up all physical comforts, pleasure and conveniences. And Christ in the manger is a clear example of this. It is a continuous reminder that true happiness can only be found in God and that we are on earth to seek God. All the rest will come with that find. True rest can only be found in God.
The third nativity reminds us of the Spirit of obedience. It is only when we can say, “Not my will but Your will be done,” can Christ be born in our souls. The apostolic commission at the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel reiterates this, reminding us of the role of the Church and the men of the Church: “… teach all My commands and how to observe them.”
Christmas reminds us of one lesson. Christ was born to die. For us the message is clear. We are born to die to oneself. And to die to oneself means reaching a point in our lives when we no longer do our own will but the will of the Father in heaven. This is to lose one’s life in order to find it. If we have learned the lessons of the first nativity, if we have learned the lesson of the second nativity, our reward is the third nativity, when Christ is born in our souls….indeed our eternal Christmas. This is truly a Merry Christmas.
— Fr. Odon de Castro, Bo. San Isidro, Magalang, Pampanga, Philippines"

Taken from Catholic Culture

How do we become a saint...

This talk was excellent!  The priest speaks about how all we have to do to become a saint is do our duty.  This duty is different for each person depending on their state in life.  We all do have two duties in common.  Prayer and Penance.  We are required to do both each day.  He recommends 3 Hail Marys morning and night, the Rosary and meditation for starters.  Penance can be in any form, but must be performed every day.

The talk is only 14 minutes long and makes for a very well spent 14 minutes!

Feast of St. Nicholas!

A few days late, but here are some pictures of our St. Nicholas day!  The kids all put their shoes out in front of the fireplace the night before St. Nicholas Feast.  They woke up to their shoes filled with tootsie rolls, a Crunch bar, and a new wooden (read: non destructible!) Nativity Set that I purchased on clearance at the Dominican Shrine on our pilgrimage, and "St. Nicholas" chocolate coins!

Look how determined Timmy is to get that chocolate bar open!