A break from all the storms

Today's weather is what we have been waiting for: spring without the constant wind and rain and lightening.  Right now it is nearly 7 p.m., and I am reluctant to call the kids in for the rosary, as they have been cooped up so much as of late.  Right now it is windless, the lowering sun gilding the rolling hills and casting long shadows.  The birds are singing, the children's voices ringing out joyfully from the back yard (Dominic's voice rising above them all, as usual). Dinner is done, the kitchen is cleaned up, and life seems pretty good right now.

Earlier today:

The Buttercups are in bloom, creating rivers of gold through the pastures.

 Nuala with her granddaughter Fiona.

 Hope your day was near-perfect, too!

{this moment}: Una with Lizzie and Jake

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Hosted by SouleMama.

{pretty, funny, happy, real}: 28 April 2011

{pretty}

 Una with Jake

{happy}

Adrian with his first cast-on


{funny}

Gemma with her belly-button

{real}

Tackling some of the mending

To see more {pretty, funny, happy, real}, join Leila by clicking on the header image at the top of this post!

Yarn Along--repetitive frogging

Joining Ginny at Small Things for her weekly Yarn Along...

I began this cardigan the week before last as another Tiny Tea Leaves.  I had already made one for Gemma in a size for next fall and winter by using worsted instead of dk weight yarn and larger needles.  Looking at it now, I am thinking it won't fit her until autumn/winter of 2012-2013.  So I began another for this summer, to wear mainly at church where the AC is turned up in the summer until everyone has goose-bumps and blue lips (they say it is because the humidity makes the doors on the confessionals stick shut...hm!).  Anyway, I began over twice because of slight errors that nagged me, and then last week I realized, nearly done with the first ball of yarn, that I was again using worsted yarn and a size 2T pattern.  Rather than end up with another too-larger cardigan, I frogged it.  I am now using this seamless cardigan pattern which worked so well for me before.  I am using needles a size up from last time, hoping to get something a bit larger than the last one, which fit her perfectly at 18 months.

As for reading, I am still on The Invisible World, much to my shame.  It is such easy reading I ought to have been long done with it, but what with knitting, trying to paint up a couple of peg doll families for Gemma and the Etsy shop and trying to get the house in order for Gabe's first Holy Communion party this weekend, I haven't been reading at all.

Now hop over to Small Things and see what everyone is knitting and reading!

A few shots taken on Easter

A very few, I am afraid.  Photographic evidence of my kids eating way too much candy is not what I like to produce with my camera, and the lighting in our house--other than in the schoolroom--is really awful, and I don't like flash photos.  So there isn't much to show...

We have a number of herons who visit the ponds behind out house, but I was surprised to see this egret on Easter morning.  I don't have a good telephoto lens, so Una grabbed my camera and put on a pair of rubber boots and went to the pond to take a few pictures.

Eggs that the children colored.  

Gemma's first Easter basket.  Very little candy, but still, she ate more candy this Easter than in all her previous 21 months together.  

Easter egg hunt.  Dominic didn't want to gather eggs; he wanted to shove the contents into his mouth as quickly as possible so that I couldn't pick through and confiscate anything.

Gemma and Dominic with a friend.

Sebastian sporting repulsive gummy teeth.  He loves this sort of thing because he can always predict my reaction, which is one of total disgust.  The more disgusted I am, the better he likes it.

Una (in the green dress) with a friend.

This little squishy-face is my Goddaughter!  I wasn't fast enough to catch a huge, crooked grin a moment before taking this shot!

Well, it is an awfully dreary day with steady rain, and we have to go out for groceries.  I'll be back tomorrow for Ginny's Yarn Along, where you can all see how little progress I've made since last week!

Monday Musings--25 April 2011

Right now...it is 10:30 a.m., and I am sitting at the dining room table watching another storm come in and suffering an awful head cold which I picked up from Bret.  He is about over it now, so hopefully I will have the same speedy recovery and feel much better tomorrow.  Una has it, too...

This weekend...had its ups and downs.  On Good Friday we colored eggs, which was fun.  The kids did a wonderful job, and I am already looking forward to seeing what lovely things they do to the eggs next year.
Saturday I baked a cheesecake, cut Sebastian's hair, did laundry, ironed a mountain of clothes, bathed Gemma and Dominic, trimmed everyone's finger and toenails and prepared the Easter baskets.  Gemma got a little bit of candy and a felted egg with a little bunny inside; the boys got wooden slide-top boxes to paint up for themselves, some watercolor paper and pencils and watercolor paint sets.  Gabe also got a sketchbook, as he had been begging for one.  Una, since she already has watercolors, got a wooden artist's model, a very fine drawing pen, bag of millefiori beads and a tiny glass vial of fairy dust.  And they all got too much candy as well (it is always too much!)

Easter Mass was very lovely, and we stayed for the obligatory Easter Egg Hunt afterward, more for the opportunity to chat with friends than for the candy.  The weather obliged by not raining for the time of the hunt, although it had rained that morning and we had an enormous storm on the way home.  The rain came down in sheets.  This is the stormiest spring I have ever experienced.  At home we change clothes and I began working on dinner, while Bret made homemade cookies and cream ice cream.  Dinner was a large standing rib roast (oh, the benefits of raising beef--we can be financially strapped and still eat like royalty!), Yorkshire puddings, Brussels sprouts and green beans, with a choice of cheesecake or ice cream for dessert--for everyone but Dominic, who ate candy all day and polished off his chocolate bunny after dinner in one sitting.  We watched All Creatures Great and Small and went to bed.

Some plans for this week:  trying to get things ready for Gabriel's first Holy Communion next Sunday!  We are taking it day by day, as the weather reports change two or three times a day right now.  We want to have a party, but we also want nice weather for it, as there will be more than 40 people over!  So I am fixing a rain date for the party, just in case...I will clean the house and cook up the pulled pork in any case, as the pork freezes well.  Otherwise, we have off from school this week and I am sure the kids will want to watch a few videos, play a bit on the computer and spend some time using their art supplies.

If I find some time for myself, I would like to...paint a few things for the Etsy shop and work on Gemma's cardigan.

Special prayer intentions for this week:  Mainly I am praying for Gabriel to have a heart well-prepared to receive the sacrament.  I am praying for good weather Sunday, for none of the kids to get this cold (however idealistic that thought is), and for peace of mind.

Something that makes me smile:  This gang.  They make me very, very happy.

If you feel the urge to do your own Monday Musings, grab the header image and use it in good health.  Then leave me a comment so that I can find your post.  Have a blessed Easter week!

A Blessed Easter to You!

HE IS RISEN!

(and comments are again open, alleluia)

Officially Twelve...

The one who made me a mother for the very first time has turned 12, and I can hardly believe it.  We celebrated last Saturday, but today I told her her birth story, which is fresher for me than those of my other children.  Maybe it is because I spent weeks after her birth gazing at her, watching her sleep and reliving every moment of her birth, and all the moments before and after.

She was such an easy baby and child...never went through the "Terrible Twos" (although she had a bit of a sassy period at the age of four), never had to be taken out of Mass, and showed enthusiasm for school at an early age.  And at this threshold age she remains a wonderful person, ever ready to offer her assistance, bright, witty, diligent, self-possessing, beautiful.  Her brothers all love and respect her (even if they accuse her now and then of being bossy!), and to her baby sister she is a second mother.  Her most read books are The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings and A Philidelphia Catholic in King James' Court (she also reads through Catholicism and Fundamentalism regularly.  She loves St. Therese of Lisieux, "cookies & cream" ice cream, Celtic and Bluegrass music and the old TV series Green Acres.  She was always pleasant company, but she is so much fun to be with now--well, with the exception of when she is slogging through her algebra...

I cannot think about her growing up.  As lovely as it is to see her blossom, I dread her going away one day, as she brings such sunshine and laughter into my life.  I knew from the moment she was born that she had the power to bring joy to my heart or to break it like no one else, and when she was two weeks old I wept because one day she would leave me.  That day draws ever nearer.  But in the meantime, I just try to enjoy every minute of her presence.

My lovely Una...you have no idea how I cherish you.  Happy, happy birthday my beautiful girl!

{this moment}: another one of Dom asleep

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Hosted by SouleMama.

(I am posting this early so as to stay off the computer as much as possible tomorrow)

{pretty, funny, happy, real}

{pretty}

Nicole of Frontier Dreams had this nice tutorial on eggshell candles.  

{funny}

Gimli does his phonics

{happy}

Back to her lively, silly self after her serious illness!

{real}

Holy Week--trying to keep our focus on our Lord's passion in spite of all the 

typical noise and chaos in this household.

(To join Leila or to see who else has, just click on the post header)  

A blessed Maundy Thursday to you all!

Yarn Along--Tea Time Again

I am joining Ginny again for her weekly Yarn Along.  And I have started  a Tiny Tea Leaves again.  The pattern is so charming, and when I discovered, looking at Gemma's spring and summer wardrobe, that she had not one single nice cardigan worthy of all the pretty dresses hanging in the closet, I thought it must be remedied. But I have started it with this Plymouth Farms Suri Merino in a pretty pink that reminds me of the pink dogwood blossoms blooming everywhere right now, and seem to have forgotten that this is a worsted and not a dk weight.  Ooops.  She doesn't need another sweater for next year, but one for right now.  So...I either frog it at this point and use the yarn with a different pattern, or else I set it aside on scrap yarn and go back to it in another year or so.  Ugh...why doesn't every pattern automatically come with a conversion chart for different weight yarns?  In an ideal world, eh?

As for reading, I am still reading In Conversation with God in the early mornings, but have taken a break from The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ in order to read this book, The Invisible World, which was sent to me by its author, Anthony DeStefano, with the request that I review it, which I hope to do soon. It is a fascinating topic and a very easy read, but I will have more to say about it when I am done.

Ginny announced that her Yarn Along will be late today, so no peeking at every one else's projects until later! I guess it will be better for me not to have the temptation until school and chores are done!

Monday Musings--18 April 2011

Right now...it is 6:15.  The house is fairly quiet, although Bret is sitting with me having his morning coffee, and Adrian, too, is up--sort of.  He isn't fully awake yet.


This weekend...was such a relief.  Gemma is so much better, and we are all relishing her humorous antics again.  The past four nights she has done what she has never done before:  slept through the night without waking.  On Friday I baked bread and then had a birthday cake fail.  I don't know what happened, but my cake rose beautifully and then went kerplop and shrunk a few inches.  So on Saturday morning I grabbed a yellow cake mix and made another cake, three layers with chocolate frosting.  We celebrated Una's birthday a week early, as her birthday falls the day before Easter this year, and the weekend after Easter Gabriel will have his first Holy Communion and a party afterwards.  Una loved her gifts and will likely do a post on her birthday celebration later today.

Yesterday was a beautiful Palm Sunday.  The weather was fine and breezy, and Mass at the Fathers of Mercy was quite lovely.  I had a good confession, and so did the kids.  Gemma was a bit of a pill, being nearly two and willful, but I will take that over a sick, docile baby any day!

Some plans for this week:  no school was done last week at all because of the daily visits to Gemma's doctor.  So we need to do some work this week.  I want to focus on Christ's passion and use my readings from In Conversation with God as the basis for my chats with the children.  Tomorrow Dominic and Gemma go to the ENT for a check-up.  No school will get done then either, and since we will be out of the house, we will make a last-ditch effort to find nice Easter shoes for Una.  Her feet keep growing and she is now in a women's 7.5-8, and I just cannot bring myself to spend $40-$50 on a pair of shoes that may not fit her for more than 6 months and which cannot be passed down (unless I hang on to them for 10 years, and who knows if Gemma will have the same size feet?)  It is a biannual source of frustration.

 I have a lot of housework to do as well, as the house suffered neglect all last week, too, and I have some Easter cards to write and mail out.  I am hoping to dye eggs and bake cookies.  Oh, and I need to get some tomato plants and herbs into the beds.

If I find some time to myself, I would like to:  knit another Tiny Tea Leaves for Gemma (one that will fit her now), and work on something to put in the Etsy shop.

Some prayer intentions for the week:  Lord, just help me pull everything together for Gabriel's First Holy Communion party!  I am not very good at social event planning, and there is so much involved.  Gabriel is prepared--probably better prepared than Sebastian was, but I am better at teaching the Faith than I am at planning a party.  And of course I am praying that we will have a holy Triduum and happy Easter.


Something that makes me smile:  this little monkey, Madeline Therese!

If you would like to join in with your own musings, feel free to grab the header image for your post, then link back here and let me know in the comments.  Have a blessed week!
   

Creative Friday--cute and convenient

I haven't had much time to do much this week, having had a very sick baby.  I didn't even do any knitting, as my concentration wouldn't permit it.  I did, however, work in a few minutes here and there to do something I had been wanting to do for ages.

With my daughter's help, we sanded the heads on my bamboo needles.  I wrapped a little masking tape just beneath the heads to keep paint off of them.  Then I chose some lovely colors to paint them with and added dots once they were dry.  I then took a bleed-proof marker to write the US needle size on the top.  Finally, I gave the heads a coat of clear varnish.  I am very happy with the way they look, and even happier to be able to find a matched pair so quickly!

 Take a look at some other creative endeavors for the week at Natural Suburbia.

{this moment}: gratitude

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Hosted by SouleMama.

[Those of you who have followed my blog this week know how very ill Gemma was.  We still have a few things to clear up, but she is so much improved--Deo Gratias!

The news is good!

Gemma is getting better!  As of yesterday she showed signs of finally responding to the shots of antibiotic in the rear end she received for four days in a row.  Her breathing is much improved, and her temperature is staying down.  She is sleeping much better at night.  But it wasn't easy getting her to this point.

Not shown are the shots of antibiotics and steroids she has had to endure, not to mention all the testing, listed in the post below.

She still has congestion, diarrhea, diaper rash, thrush and fluid in her ears, and is still refusing to eat and drink (there may still be some infection on her tonsils).  She has lost 3 lbs. and we have to sort of distract her to get a mouthful of cottage cheese into her.  But she is no longer dangerously ill.  The last five days have been the longest month of my life...

She has several more days of antibiotics to do, although no more shots.  And she will need a checkup with Dominic's ENT to look at her tonsils and ears and adenoids.  The good doctor thinks that Dominic may have been the bug-carrier, but he got only an ear infection.  His responded to the amoxicillin.  I suppose somewhere along the line it could have mutated.  I don't really know.

I feel so grateful to the doctors and nurses at our little clinic.  They were all so kind and concerned about Gemma, and so happy to see her getting better.  Life is good...God is good...

Many, many thanks to all those who prayed for Gemma and for me.  Your prayers and your emails were a comfort and meant so much to me.

Really sick baby

The last few days haven't been fun.  Gemma has a constant temperature, a hideously infected pair of tonsils, congestion, loads of mucous, an ear infection and diarrhea.  She has gone to see a doctor four times (and must go again tomorrow).  She has had a rectal temperature taken twice, a swab stuck up her nose twice, a plastic tube put up her nose once, blood taken, x-rays taken, given five injections and force-fed everything from Motrin to Hydrocodone to various antibiotics to just plain water, as she is becoming dehydrated.

Seems she has a resistant form of strep and we are hoping that this third antibiotic will do the trick, as the next thing would cause diarrhea, which might require her to go to the hospital for IV fluids.  Everything is on hold around here.  Just hoping that everything will pull together for Easter.

I appreciate your prayers.  May God reward you...

Monday Musings--the Sunday Night Edition and Prayer Request

Right now...it is 10:30 p.m., Sunday night and I can't sleep.  I need to request some prayers yet again.

This weekend...was awful.  On Thursday Gemma had a stuffy nose, which I thought might be allergies.  On Friday it became obvious that it was not allergies, and I thought she had a cold.  She did not want to eat, and her nose was runny, but she seemed happy enough for me not to worry.  Friday night she woke many times, due I thought to congestion (makes it hard to take her pacifier).  On Saturday I realized something more was going on.  She awoke with a low fever and refused food and drink, was listless and her breath was foul.  So off to the ER in Gallatin.  Swollen, pus-covered tonsils.  They gave her a steroid for the inflammation, amoxicillin, and hydrocodone/acetaminophen for pain and fever.  Based on the few experiences I have had with antibiotics in my kids, I expected that after a couple of doses and a good sleep she would be somewhat improved in the morning.  She awoke after a fair night's sleep at 6:30 with a fever, still refusing food, although she did drink a bit, and looking even worse than the day before.  I gave her Tylenol, but after an hour it hadn't done much.  I called the doctor and he said he thought it might be a resistant form of strep, and to bring her back to the ER.

Bret got home from Mass with the kids and we went back to the ER.  She cried as soon as we went in, and with good reason.  They did two rectal temperature readings, put a tube up her nose to suction mucous for a flu test and then gave her a shot of a potent antibiotic.  Now I am forcing her meds down her throat (which must hurt like crazy, since she won't even take much water), and listening to her labored, rattling breathing.  I have never had a child this sick.  I don't handle it well, although I am keeping it together outwardly for the sake of my family.  I was so sure she would be better this morning that now I am fearful of tomorrow--afraid that once again I will find her worse instead of better.

I put her to bed at 8, went to bed myself at 9:30, and she awoke at 10 and 10:30.  I am wondering if she will do this through the night, and what I am to do about it.

Some plans for this week:  Tomorrow is the feast of St. Gemma Galgani.  I am praying that the good saint will intercede for her namesake, who has a follow-up tomorrow with her doctor; we need to go shopping for groceries and some items for Una's birthday, which we are celebrating a week early on Saturday.  Dominic has his follow-up for his surgery on Friday, and I will have to bake Una's cake then as well.  I can't think of anything else.  I have a feeling it will not be a very heavy school week.

If I find some time for myself I want to: I had a dozen plans and I can't focus on any of them now.

Special prayer intentions for this week:  Gemma to get well!  I can't concentrate on anything and I feel restless and anxious, not to mention the fact that she wants to be carried and held every waking moment.  I would gladly oblige her in this, and do so to the best of my abilities, but I have other children who require me as well.  I also pray that all goes well with Dominic's follow up and that I can get my act together for Una's birthday.

Something that makes me smile:  This little face when it is happy and healthy as in this photo.  I want to smile again...

{this moment}: first time at the lake

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Hosted by SouleMama.

Yarn Along-knitting rainbows

Joining Ginny again this week for her fun Yarn Along, although I can't add anything about my reading.  I have my same old Lenten reading still going (In Conversation With God and The Sorrowful Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Anne Katherine Emmerich). I read the former first thing in the morning after my prayers, and with my cup of coffee, but the latter is hard, being my nighttime reading and on my bedside.  Seems I always have other things to do, and I really need to put those aside for the rest of Lent and read.

I am coming to the last couple of inches of my first Milo.  I like the pattern, and I love this Chroma yarn from Knit Picks--very soft, and this Prism colorway is so much fun.  I knit the 12 month size using the worsted yarn and size 6 needles and I think it will work, although it seems the arm openings are bigger than I would have liked.  It looks huge to me, but I put it up against the other vest I just made for her, and the size is about the same.

I am not sure what I shall attempt next.  I love knitting for Gemma, as little sizes move along so quickly.  Her birthday is in July, and I have been thinking about a canteloupe-colored cotton raglan top with cap sleeves, but I haven't the yarn for that!...I also have a baby doll to make a little wardrobe for, so there is that to think of as well...

Hope you are joining in this week as well!