7 Quick Takes Friday

1)

Y'all know how much I love to exercise, right?  

Well, I loved hearing about this study that shows exercising while pregnant makes babies smarter!!  Yet another reason to keep it moving and shaking.  

Uh, Mom, I think this look went out in 1952.

"For women who are pregnant, as little as 20 minutes of exercise three times per week can advance a newborn’s brain activity, according to a new study." 

Read more here.

2)

This is what I want to be doing today.  

You're getting in the way of my 8 hour cat nap.

 Between a husband who has a stuffy nose which results in some unpleasant snoring, pregnancy insomnia, and a baby coughing all night, who then "puped" (puked) on the floor this morning from all the coughing...I am tuckered out.  Cats have the life.

3)

Last night I made 5 loaves of pumpkin bread, one for our family and four for the kids to bring to their Holiday Fair.  

Xander could barely keep it together as they were cooling.  "I just smelling it!  I need a fork!  It's not too hot!"

I don't blame you kiddo, there's nothing better than smelling homemade baked goods, except actually getting to eat them.

 4)

My husband loves me, this I know, for this breakfast told me so.

5) 

Wow, are these the boringest Quick Takes ever, or what?  How about I show you my current fingernail color and toenail color?  That should really shake things up ;)  

Or maybe you want to see a picture of Baby Martini?

6)

Oh, I remembered something!  I want to do a linkup of Kids Christmas Lists!  

I don't want to encourage materialism at Christmas, but I do love seeing what my kids are hoping to get, reading their handwriting and watching them grow through the years as I compare lists from the past.  Like Maggie's list from when she was four:

"Maggie want(s) (a) lollipop girl."

I'm thinking next week we can all linkup, so get your kids some pens and paper!!

7)

Last night I got an email from our kid's principal asking if we wanted a girl's bed that was in great condition.  

A bed with drawers...is there anything better?

Maggie's 6th birthday is coming up in a couple weeks, and we will need another bed when this baby is 2, so it's perfect timing!  I'm just going to buy her some cute girly sheets and call it done! 

Have a wonderful weekend everybody!!

Third Person Thursday: A Day in Review

{Joining Kelly for Third Person Thursday}

She woke up yesterday morning not unlike every other morning, with a grunt and a scowl and a baby screaming in her face that he wanted "Apple Dapples PLEASE!"  She elbowed her still-pretending-to-sleep husband and told him to get in the shower while she tried in vain to fall back asleep for three more minutes.  Three precious minutes.

When she finally succumbed to the morning noise, she went to the bathroom to get ready for the day ahead.  This was going to be a big day, an important day, a day she had been excited for and nervous about for months now.  An occasion like that called for a hot breakfast, so when her husband asked how many eggs she wanted, she eagerly replied "Two please!"

After inhaling breakfast while standing at the kitchen counter, she began the normal morning routine of feed kids, change toddler, yell at older kids to hurry up and get their act together, hug and kiss older kids to make sure they feel loved instead of heckled, hand keys to oldest son to warm up the car (cheaper than an automatic car starter), make sure everyone had food and homework packed up, head out the door, and start morning prayers.  

Once the kids were dropped off at school, she realized she had forgotten to put on deodorant!  Oh for the love! She makes a quick decision to stop at Rite Aid on the way to work to pick up a spare to keep in her work closet.  She pulled into Rite Aid to discover it wasn't open yet.  Not a problem, she calmly thought, there are two more pharmacies on the way.  She pulled into the next one, walked in, found her precious Dove Deodorant that was on sale for $3.99 from the usual $5.29 (are there gold flakes in there, she thinks to herself?) and proceeded to checkout.  

The kind lady at the register asked her for her Savings Card.  "Oh, I have one but it's in the car and it's so cold out there" she said.  Register lady said "Just enter your phone number on the key pad", and so she did.  First her cell number - not registered.  Then her husband's cell number - also not registered.  Then her parent's phone number (the only one she still knew by heart) from her childhood.  No luck.  

"Ehh, I''ll just pay full price" she stated, secretly hoping the register lady would swipe her own card to give her the discount.  "Are you sure about that, honey?  I mean, Dove is my favorite deodorant too, but $5.29 is a lot to pay."  Although it was extremely embarrassing discussing the state of her armpits, she knew the lady had a point.  "Hang on, I'll run out to my car and grab the card" she decided, about 4 minutes later than she probably should have.  

She waddled as fast as her 21 week pregnant belly would allow, grabbed the CVS card from her car and waddled back into the store.  She handed it to the lady to scan when the lady said "I need your Walgreens card." WHAT???  This isn't CVS??  By this point there was now a customer waiting in line behind her who offered her card to scan.  "Oh thank you!" she exclaimed to this generous customer, as she finally paid the sale price for the deodorant she now desperately needed.

The rest of her work day went by as usual, dragging a little because of the important appointment she had after work.  She ate lunch with a friend, who brought her a chocolate bar to mark the big day, and waited for the clock to tick to 3:15 so she could leave.  Finally, it came!  Her husband showed up in her office right on time and they ran out of the building together to start the process of picking up their five children in order to make it to a 4:00 appointment at an office 30 minutes away.  Nothing like stress to make one mentally toss up a prayer of thanksgiving for having bought the deodorant that morning.

Her husband picked up the toddler, who in his terrible two year old state threw a fit and his socks and shoes in the car.  She picked up the much more level-headed and respectable school aged children, and denied a request for time at the playground, as she reminded them that today was a big day!  They excitedly gathered their coats and backpacks and various art projects to clutter the house with, and got into her car.  She drove them to the fish market which also served as their meeting place, and they all got into her husband's gigantic van and started the trip to the office.  

With one minute to spare, she walked in and was told someone would be right with her.  The kids followed behind with her husband, and quite possibly scared off the other young pregnant woman in the waiting room.  Or maybe they made her day, only God knows.  She heard her name called, and everyone in the family followed her into the dark room, where they were happily greeted and after a squeeze of warm gel on her belly, they all saw:

A baby!

and:

Feet!

also:

A hand and a cord!  Or "blowing bubbles"!

And they were all entranced and fell instantly in love with the newest member of their family.

"It looks like a boy!" said the oldest son, with the other sons vigorously shaking their head in agreement.

"It does look like a boy" sighed her only daughter, "because he has no hair."

Bald or not, he/she looked wonderful.  She smiled at the faces of her family members in the room and wondered how she got to be so lucky. 

He Said, She Said

Sweet Dreams

Maggie: I love getting into my cozy bed because it feels like a big hug from God!

When the Disciplinee Becomes the Discipliner

I was being silly one night after dinner, and snapping and dancing around...

Xander: No smapping!  You not good girl to smap!

Family Planning

Maggie: Mom, how many kids are we going to have?

Me: Well, six sounds good for now.

Maggie: I think you should have 7, and then I'll have 7 when I marry Robby.  That's a good idea.

Robby, I hope you like a bossy woman.

When an Accountant Marries a Theologian

Me: We need to figure out where the kids are going to sleep when the new baby comes.

Phil: See, that's the problem with society.  Kids get too much these days.  Your Dad slept in a bed with four of his siblings, and now every kid needs his own room, it's ridiculous.  

Me: Sooooo...we need to figure out where the kids are going to sleep when the new baby comes.

Good thing he's cute.

It's Not a Vision Problem

John-Paul: Mom, can you still see your feet?

Me: Not really.

Eamon: You need your glasses?

Buh-bye feet.

He Makes a Good Point

I was walking into the grocery store with Andrew and trying to put on my coat very unsuccessfully.

Andrew: Mom, you have your arm in the wrong sleeve.

Me: Oh, that's the problem.  What am I, like 2 years old?

Andrew: Well, Dad does call you "Baby" sometimes.

7 Quick Takes, uh, Monday

I love me a long weekend, so much that I'm thinking we should start a petition for No Work Mondays.  If I ever run for President, that will be my platform.  You'd vote for me, right?  Anyways, it does throw off my blogging rhythm, and so I'm a couple few days behind for 7QT, but Jen will understand.

1)

I don't know why this has been revolutionary to me, but Phil and I have been consuming our 9:00 pm ice cream (that's a thing, right?) out of these small glass cups.  

These are the cups my Mum used to put our juice in when we were kids.  I think maybe they hold 4 oz. and they are the perfect allotment for ice cream.  Just enough to satisfy, not too much to satonthigh.  

Hehehe.

2)

On Saturday morning, Phil got the call that his Uncle Mike had passed away after a battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).  He was such an active and strong man before his diagnosis, and I'm sure this disease was terribly painful (both mentally and physically) for him to go through.  

May he have eternal rest with Our Lord, and may his family feel peace during this time.

3)

On Saturday afternoon, we drove to visit The Donaldson Clan to celebrate Cari's book launch (Pope Awesome if you haven't bought, read, and delighted in it already).  

Xander and Veronica really hit it off, but what girl can resist a man with a bag of fishies that's willing to share?

Pre-gaming, toddler style.

 4)

We went to a really nice restaurant with really good food, and Pope Awesome even signed a book or two for his minions of fans.  

5) 

Lotus wrote and delivered the perfect speech for her Mom.  It was so sweet and touching, and I hope Cari kept it to show her when she becomes an unruly teenager (never).  

6) 

Sunday was Mass, gym (where I discover I can no longer participate in my favorite Cardio Strength Class without feeling nauseous for the rest of the day), a birthday party, and an at-home Date Night to watch The Great Gatsby.  I was not a fan.  I can barely remember the book from reading it in high school, but the movie was too colorful and fanciful and strange and immoral.  I am reheheheheally hard to please when it comes to movies though, so take my review with a huge grain of salt.

7)

Finally we celebrated Veteran's Day today by going to Mass (does singing America the Beautiful send anyone else into an ugly cry?  No?  Just me?  Ok then.) and watching the parade that comes right down our street!  Phil even brought out the poppers while the kids were waiting!

When in doubt, stomp it out.

My friend Laura, and her 2 (very soon to be 3 sons...can you see her 9 months pregnant shadow in that picture above?) came over to watch with us.

This is Robby, Maggie's future husband, as she likes to remind us almost daily.

Xander and Josh share a donut and a sense of humor.

Thank you to all the veterans who serve to keep my children safe.  I love you.

Aren't those mohawk hats cute?

 And now for the parade with the real heroes who have served our country, we salute you!

Have a wonderful week everybody!

Alexander The Great...Thumbsucker!

Linking up with Theme Thursday: Thumbs

I love me a thumbsucker.  We've only had two...Andrew and Alexander.  The rest have been "nuby" babies, which has it's positives as well, but thumbs are always available, even in the middle of the night, and my babies can self soothe themselves back to sleep.  

We didn't have a hard time breaking Andrew of the habit at all...in fact, his dentist did it for us when he was three, and I'm hoping Xander follows suit.

 I noticed Xander sucking his thumb the other day while Phil was holding him, and I thought "Wow, that's so cute, he barely ever does that anymore when he's awake."  

He was not only a thumbsucker extraordinaire, but he had to hold something while doing it.  As you can see in the collage below, anything would suffice...a taggie blankie, a seat belt, a scarf, a bag of garlic, his other fingers.  He's not picky, just peculiar!

Bits of Tid Tuesday

Oh so many things going through my mind...

I need to stop buying things.  I just got winter boots for me from Zulily, basketball sneakers for J-P from Kohl's, some super cheap maternity dresses from Old Navy, and a baby wrap from some parenting website.  Why did I buy them all?  Because they were either on sale/clearance, I had a big coupon, or free with shipping and handling.  It's like I can't pass up the deal but really I should.  I think maybe if I call it nesting, I can get away with it?  Right, honey?

Every week I come up with a new boy name and girl name.  Phil actually liked the girl name this week, so perhaps we have a winner!  I just have so many girl names I like and so few boy names I like (left) and I think this baby will go unnamed for awhile.

I signed up the four older kids for basketball this weekend through our town's recreation league.  It's only $10 per kid for the season, which is way less money than CYO (and only JP is old enough to do CYO anyway).  I requested that Maggie and Eamon get placed on the same team and Andrew and JP get placed on the same team, so we only have 2 sets of games/practices to schedule.  

Soccer is over!  Now we have almost 2 months sports-free until basketball starts!  I love having the extra family time around the holidays!

Eamon scored three goals in his last game (including the winning goal), and one of his teammates picked him up at the end, and he's still talking about it!

I want to do a simple Christmas this year, and only buy the kids 3 gifts each (which is still a lot of gifts in total).  I tend to buy and put things aside during the year and then when it comes to Christmas, I have too many gifts!  I love my kids, and I tend to show my love through gift giving, and so it is really hard for me to reign it all in.  But 2013 is the year I'm gonna do it, I can feel it!

Phil and I talked about Christmas gifts for each other, and we don't want anything except an overnight in New York City before Baby #6 arrives.  So who wants to babysit 5 kids??  

I finally started to feel the baby move yesterday!  I'm 20 weeks, and was getting a little worried! The same thing happened with my last pregnancy, and when I had the ultrasound, she said the placenta was on my belly side, so the baby had to get strong enough to kick hard enough for me to feel it through that extra layer.  I think the placenta must be in the same position for this one, and we'll find out next week for the ultrasound!

My favorite snack lately:

Dried bananas and Toasted Coconut Almonds - like Hawaii in a bowl :)