{pretty, happy, funny, real} Katie Edition

Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life.

Katie turned seven months old yesterday so this week's {p,h,f,r} is all about Kitty Katkins.

{pretty}

Don't I look like a pretty caterpillar?

Hola! Kitty Katkins is awake and ready to take on a new day!  Katie has such a sweet disposition when she wakes up in the morning or after a nap.  She always greets me with a pretty smile and bright eyes when I come to get her.  She's beginning to make sounds that sound a lot like words.  It sounds like she can say bye bye, but it's more of a "buh-bye" when she says it.  Bryan is surprised that she's not saying "hola" since I'm always saying it to her and when I narrate for her.  Yes, Bryan and I narrate for our children until they can talk for themselves.  In my narration for Katie, hola means both hello and goodbye.  It's just one of the goofy little things we do.  I asked Bryan if Katie would be considered ESL if her first words are in Spanish.  

{happy}

Hola, Mommy's blog readers!

Katie is beginning to branch out into exploring ways to move.  She's perfectly content to just sit and take in her surroundings, but lately she's been working on turning herself around while sitting and at times going from sitting upright to laying on her belly.  From the looks of it, she's getting close to crawling.  You can tell she certainly wants to be able to move from place to place on her own.  When I snapped this picture I was just so excited that I once again had a little one that I could play with under the dining room table.

{funny}

This goofy little one loves chewing on her toys, particularly Princess Sophie's satiny purple shoes.  Katie will happily sit for close to an hour just playing with her toys.  It absolutely fascinates me that this child will happily play by herself.  

{real}

Hola!  Ellie's hair is fun to pull.

I wonder why my sister is so fluffy.

As you can see from the two pictures above, one of Katie's favorite playthings is Ellie's hair.  Put her anywhere within arms reach of Ellie's hair and she's ready to start tugging on it.  Poor Ellie has been a good sport about it, but she prefers that Katie not yank on her hair.

Katie loves to stand.  When she gets tired of sitting she cries until we stand her up and then she's happy again.  If you put her close enough to a couch, she will start reaching for it like she wants to pull herself up.  

It's so hard to believe that seven months have flown by so quickly.  She'll be turning one before I know it!  I guess it's a good thing I'm already thinking about her party.

Small Successes May 17th

Celebrating the little things in life that add up.

1. Early in Advent last year I went into the basement playroom and pretty much tossed anything that wasn't put where it belonged in trash bags.  Most of it was donated within days of me picking it up, but I had a Rubbermaid tote that was filled with some items that were mostly items that I didn't want to toss or donate.  Earlier this week I finally got sick of seeing it every time I passed by it on my way into the laundry room and sorted it.  Most of it is now bagged up to be donated and a small container has the items we're keeping.  They still need to be put back where they belong, but I'm not incredibly motivated to sort it at the moment.

2.  I'm close to having all the volunteers I need for this year's VBS.  Even better, the program is nearly at max capacity.  There are about 16 spaces left before I will have to close registration.

3.  I managed to remember that I bought an outfit for Katie back in December that she can wear now.  Somehow it got mixed up with the winter clothes I bought for this up coming fall/winter.  I'm not sure how I forgot I had bought the outfit for her, but I'm glad I remembered because I'm not sure how much longer she's going to fit in 6-12 month clothes.  She's already too big for 9 month clothes and some of her 6-12 month outfits are getting snug.  I wish she'd slow down!  She's only seven months old and already she's about the same size that Madeline was at a year old.

Book Review: Douay Rheims First Communion Bible

The Douay-Rheims First Communion Bible from Saint Benedict Press is a lovely gift idea for a first communicant.  This hard cover bible is packaged in a nice box that is suitable for gift giving.  With it's gold embossing, gold page edges and ribbon marker, this bible will certainly become a treasured keepsake.

The bible contains several features that make this an excellent bible to commemorate a first holy communion.  There is a presentation page where the gift giver may record the child's name and date of first holy communion.  Then there are saint stories for Blessed Imelda and St. Tarcisius that will inspire the recipient.  There are also full color inserts that offer descriptions of all seven sacraments as well as the Mass.  Also included in these inserts is a collection of daily Catholic prayers and a section explaining the rosary and how to pray it.  I found the full color inserts, which are printed on nice thick semi-gloss pages ,to be very nicely done.   The illustrations on these pages look like beautiful stained glass windows and complement the accompanying text perfectly.  In addition to the prayers in the full color insert pages, there are for additional pages of "Beloved Prayers" to know by heart and a list of the succession of popes.

Because this is a Douay-Rheims version of the bible, young children may struggle with the style of the language.  Where as a NAB bible is more modern in terms of language, thereby making it easier to read, the Douay-Rheims translation is Elizabethan English.  That may deter some from wanting to give this to a young child, but I think children can easily become accustomed to reading this translation.  Having come from a Protestant background where the King James bible was what I read growing up, I don't see much difference in terms of the language [the translations themselves, of course, are obviously different] which leads me to believe that it's not impossible for a child to read and understand this beautiful translation.  Given the accuracy and beauty of the Douay-Rheims translation, I think it's worth giving this version to a child.

Overall, I think this First Communion Edition Bible is an excellent and fitting gift for a first communicant.  It's beautifully done and is perfect for gift giving.

I wrote this review of Douay-Rheims First Communion Bible for the Tiber River free Catholic book review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods, your source for Baptism Gifts and First Communion Gifts.

Tiber River is the first Catholic book review site, started in 2000 to help you make informed decisions about Catholic book purchases.

I receive free product samples as compensation for writing reviews for Tiber River.

Top Ten Ways to Ruin a Morning

I had originally intended to do a top ten post on gardening, but after this morning I decided that a top ten on ways to ruin a morning would be more appropriate.  Unfortunately the events chronicled in this post were the bits and pieces that made up this morning.  On the bright side, I'm looking forward to an awesome afternoon.  The day simply has to improve.

1. Spend approximately two minutes fumbling for the alarm remote that your husband has decided to hide under his pillow all while listening to the grating sound of the alarm clock.

2. Greet happy baby with explosive poopy diaper.  Happy baby is good, explosive poopy diaper not so much.  Take a moment and wonder how someone with such a messy diaper can be so happy.

3. Walk into kitchen to find ten year old decked out in what we will now refer to as middle school fashion.  Sorry, but in mid-May a dark denim mini-skirt (Did I seriously buy that for her?  It had to have been a good two to three inches longer on her when I bought it a year or two ago.), peach top (the top was actually quite nice) and black patent leather sling back dress shoes do not make an appropriate outfit for the school band and chorus concert unless you want a bunch of adolescent boys looking up your skirt.

4. Help ten year old find an appropriate outfit while she laments that she doesn't have anything good to wear.  You've only been up for seven minutes at this point so pace yourself and take a moment to thank God that both of your school aged children will be attending Catholic school next year.  My children aren't wearing uniforms yet and already I am grateful that these morning battles over clothes will not exist next year.  Praise God!

5.  Rouse grumpy seven year old* and inform her that she needs to get up and eat breakfast.   Spend the next ten minutes reminding her to eat and drink.

6. Discover that your seven year old* has decided not to wet or wash all of her hair in the shower.  Send her back to wash her hair only to have her return wearing a now soaked shirt and hair that still smells and is partially dry.  Accept the fact that there is not enough time for her to take a third shower and arrive at school on time.  Opt to send said child to school as the smelly child for the day.

7.  Choose to wear sandals on a rainy day in 65 degree weather, because it's 65.

8.  Arrive at first store on the list of errands just as a massive downpour begins.  Promptly step in large puddle wearing sandals that you brilliantly chose because it was 65.  Never mind that it was raining.  It's OK.  Don't most people like to run errands in soaked shoes?  No?  Oh.

9.  Buy cute pajamas for the baby, go back out in the pouring rain to get to the car.  Wait until you are at the gas station to discover that the pajama pants never made it into the bag.  Call the store while baby screams in the background, explain the situation and be told the pants are not there.  Search van and find nothing but trash the kids claimed they threw away.  Call unsympathetic husband.

10. Go back to the store in the pouring rain, exchange pajamas for a complete set.  Marvel that the rain has let up upon exiting the store.  Change baby's diaper, place screaming, cranky, tired baby in car seat and discover that it is now 10:45.  Sigh audibly and realize that the rest of the errands on the list are not going to happen until the sun comes out.

*Oh, dear me!  I must be losing it!  Ellie isn't seven yet.  I guess after celebrating a birthday for me on Friday I tacked another year onto Ellie's age.  How funny is that?  In my defense, if you can defend being a mother and forgetting your child's age, Ellie will actually turn seven in less than two months.  So I suppose I was close.  Feel free to laugh at my total lack of brain function today.

Quick Takes Volume 36

~1~

Today is my dad's 75th birthday.  To torture me on my birthday celebrate we're all going down to the beach later today to take an awkward family photo a family picture.  Then we're heading over to my brother's house for dinner and cake.

~2~

Today is my 34th birthday.  Dad and I share a birthday, so that usually means that my mom dictates what I'm doing on my birthday.  A few days ago mom called to ask what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday.  I said I wanted a cookie cake.  That idea was promptly shut down because she didn't want one. I'll be blowing out the candles of a chocolate cake tonight.   I'll make myself that cookie cake I've been thinking about for a few weeks for Mother's Day.

~3~

I told Bryan that next year I want to go away for my birthday/Mother's Day weekend. The goal for my 35th birthday is to eat what I want (diner plans for tonight are not of my choosing), go where I want and simply enjoy the day with my husband and children.

~4~

I ordered my birthday/Mother's Day present this morning.  Bryan gave me a very odd dollar amount to spend on myself down to 98 cents (he factored in the cost of the greeting cards he's not buying that I really don't want).  I'm looking forward to shooting pictures with my new camera lens.

~5~

I've been tearing up the house looking for my favorite blue shirt.  It has disappeared and St. Anthony is once again toying with me and making me wait forever before he'll help me find it.  With stupid things he's right on it and I find the lost item within minutes.  But when it's something I'm a bit more attached to it can take weeks, months or years before the item will turn up.  So I'll have to wear another blue shirt for the family picture today.  Sigh.

~6~

When I was going through my drawers the other day I came across this picture from my 4th birthday.

~7~

Bryan, Katie and I went out for a nice lunch to celebrate my birthday.  It was a nice change from our usual take out lunches on Fridays.

Head on over to Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes.

A Story of Two Baths

Bathing babies is high on my list of things I'd rather not do.  Up until Katie was able to sit up on her own I did my best to avoid bathing her at all.  I'd ask Bryan to do it while pretending it was his turn.  A few months into this little ruse Bryan asked when I last bathed her.  He wasn't happy to hear that it had been more than a few days.  Of my three kids, Katie has been the toughest baby to wash for some unknown reason.

Now that she sits up very nicely, I don't mind washing her all that much.  I've got a convenient little set up going with the garden tub in my bathroom.  Katie's happy with her kiddie pool sized bath, Bryan's happy that I'm not hitting him up to wash the baby, and I'm happy that I'm not getting saturated like I was when she was in the baby tub.

This morning I was determined to get her washed as soon as we came home from dropping Ellie off at school.  My plan was to get it done and out of the way so I wouldn't have to wash her on my birthday tomorrow.  Everything went swimmingly and I spent the better portion of the day quite pleased with myself and my sweet smelling baby.

A hectic afternoon of running here and there to pick the girls up from school put an end to that nice smelling baby.  Katie napped while I spent about 45 minutes doing kid retrieval.  In that short amount of time she decided to do some multitasking.  Pooping while buckled into a car seat is apparently a recipe for  for a huge mess which ultimately required a second bath less than seven hours after the first.

I was blindsided by the mess.   I changed Katie in the family room and discovered as I was wiping her that we had one of those up the back messes.  At that point I realized that I needed to run her upstairs for a bath.  I sent Madeline outside to toss the diaper, and explicitly told Ellie to keep the dog out of the family room.  I suspected that he would be very interested in the poopy clothes.

In my haste, I placed Katie in the tub and then started the water.  As soon as the cold water hit her she freaked out and looked at me like I had lost my mind.  So I placed the wet baby on the floor and brought the water to a reasonable temperature.  The bath went well after that.

Once we got back downstairs, Ellie proudly tells me that she's keeping the dog away from the clothes.  This statement is quickly followed up by her telling me that she wasn't watching the dog at first, but decided to do so after he had licked Katie's poo-covered onesie a bit.  Eww!  This is precisely why the dog is not allowed to lick us. Ick!

It's amazing how quickly an afternoon can descend into chaos.  On the bright side, I still managed to get Madeline's dinner together in enough time for her to eat and get to her soccer tryout on time.  It's amazing what you can get done with under an hour of turnaround time.

An ATC Swap for Mary

Kimberlee at Pondered in My Heart is once again graciously hosting another Marian ATC swap.  We missed out on both ATC swaps she hosted last year between me being pregnant and then subsequently having a newborn in the house.  Ellie was really disappointed that we didn't get to join in last year.

Over the past week or so Ellie has been running around with a little note pad sketching her ideas for a Mary card swap, and asking me several times a day if the family that hosted it before would be doing so again.  She's going to be one happy girl when she gets home from school today and finds out she can start designing her cards!

These little cards are only 2x3 inches so they're not intimidating pieces of artwork.  I'm no great artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I still manage to come up with five cards that look like they were drawn by a five year old.  What can I say, I have to work with what I've got.

Why not draw a few little cards to honor our Blessed Mother and join in on all the fun.  Not only do my girls love to get cards in the mail, they also like to see if they can find their artwork on other blogs and see who drew the cards they receive.  It's a lot of fun.