Six months

This little guy is six months old today. Wow.

And in a smiling mood.

He knows he's cute.

Today

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that made abortion-on-demand legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Millions of babies have lost their lives. While tragedy prompts some women to end their pregnancies, many abortions still occur as a matter of convenience.

And yet, there are women who courageously carry their babies, despite their difficult life circumstances, their meager finances, their abusive or unsupportive families. We owe a debt of gratitude to two such women for giving life to our children.

We will not be in Washington, D.C. this week for the March for Life. But the issue is never far from our thoughts and prayers. We have a daily reminder of the precious gift of life in our beautiful children.

Not a Winter person

So, last week we had this little glimpse of Spring-like weather. For about 3 days, the temps hovered at 60 or above, coaxing us outside and teasing us with visions of a mild winter.

I really shouldn't complain. It is cold, yes, but we haven't had to deal with a lot of snow or ice to mess with driving and school schedules. But those 60s...they just felt so NICE!

Baby enjoys looking at the world from his cushy little stroller-throne. His sister enjoys having a real baby to push around in a stroller. Win-win.

Martin has another cold. ANOTHER. COLD. This one is a doozy, too. He had four breathing treatments yesterday, and still he sounds wheezy and hoarse. His little nose is all runny and he's a coughing, sneezing mess. Also, his gums are causing him a great deal of discomfort. My poor little respiratorily-compromised, teething baby. (Family history of asthma. He picks up every little germ and turns it into an upper-respiratory nightmare.)

Also, I can't take these other kids outside. It is cold and it rained all weekend, so even if I could convince them to go out in the cold, they'd come back all muddy and miserable minutes later.

I am SOOOO not a Winter person. Cabin fever! Vitamin D deficiency! Stir-crazy children!

Under ten weeks to Spring Break...

5 months, Christmas, goodbye 2012, etc...

I am not good at updating here in the midst of holiday madness (obvs), so here's a holiday recap:

This little guy hit the 5-month mark. Like, 8 days ago. Yes, the photo was actually taken on the 23rd. See above re: lousy updating.

Seriously? We're doing this monkey photo thing again? Haven't I taken enough photos with this silly monkey?

Olivia was struck with the evil stomach bug the Thursday before Christmas, which resulted in an entire night of no sleep for me or her and missing her last day of school in 2012. Alas. They don't actually DO anything on the last day of school before the holidays anyway, right?

Luckily, it was a short-lived bug and no one else in the house got it. Martin, however, came down with a wicked cold the morning he turned 5 months old (thus the slobbery, snotty, sleepy look on his face in the above photo), which he carried into the next week. To be fair, the poor kid didn't get a chance to nap much in the next couple of days for all the family gatherings we were attending. So by the time we got to Christmas morning, he was more interested in sleep than in shiny wrapping paper.

Olivia: "Look Martin! Santa came!" Martin: "I don't get it. Did you HAVE to wake me up for this?"

He slept most of Christmas Day and the following day, and then we were back to more family parties for the other side of the family. All things considered, I think both kids weathered the holiday frenzy pretty well. Olivia was a little more hyper than usual. Martin was a little grumpier than usual. We survived. Gifts were exchanged. Relatives were visited. Baby Martin was passed around. We spent a lot of family time together and are all pretty ready to get back to routine.

WHAT?! That milk was for Santa? Why didn't you tell me?!!

Whoa, Mommy. What is that jingle thing on your head?

Olivia and Santa are old pals.

Martin, on the other hand, wasn't so sure about the guy in the red suit.

2012 was good to us. For details on that, go here. We are very blessed.

Happy New Year!!

Blessed

A couple of nights ago, during bedtime prayers, we talked about how God doesn't always give us what we want, but He gives us what we need. Joe explained to Olivia that he was thankful that God gave him each person in this family and that God knew better than he did what he needed to be happy.

Now that we've come down from the November madness and the Christmas gifts are bought/wrapped/hidden and the house is decorated and (finally) relatively clean, I have had time to sit and just enjoy my kids. I'm taking time to appreciate the blessings that I have.

I've discussed Olivia's gifts and talents at length here for years now. The kid is beautiful, energetic, and amazingly gifted. Lately, she has been enlightening us with her many observations. She doesn't miss a thing.

Martin is the easiest baby I have ever met. He sleeps well, he doesn't fuss much, and he mostly just likes to smile a lot. And squeal. And laugh at himself for squealing. I mean, he's just a little bundle of delightfulness. He loves to be held, of course, and sometimes he'll be sitting on my lap and then he'll just tilt his head back to look up at me and watch me. Just...watch. And then I look down at him and he gives me this huge grin.

It doesn't get much better than that, folks.

Oh, but then it does. Like when he's being cradled, sucking his fingers, trying to fall asleep. And then he pulls his hand out of his mouth. He reaches up to touch my face and he studies me. And then he gives me that look like I am the single most important and adored person in his little world.

His sister is good at making him laugh. He adores her too.

We are blessed. These kids, this life. It is more than I would have expected and better than I could have imagined. This season, I am so thankful for our little family.

I started this post yesterday, before this happened. And then I wasn't sure how to finish it, because how can you even see through the enormity of evil that is flashing across our media screens today? I will pray for these families. I will probably think of them often in the coming weeks. But I will also hug and kiss my babies and not allow the news to destroy my joy. That joy is a gift, and I will not allow evil to destroy it.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle...

November summary

November completely wiped me out. I'm still recovering. Between our anniversary, my birthday, Olivia's birthday, Martin's baptism, two visits with Martin's birthparents (including a chance to meet his bio dad, who just adored our sweet baby), Thanksgiving and finally, Martin's court finalization...well, we were busy.

On top of that, we caught cold after cold (and by we, I mean me and Martin).

Martin's mid-month cold morphed into viral pneumonia, leading to breathing treatments. Then my sleep-thru-the-night baby decided to wake up every night at 3 a.m. and stay wide awake for two hours, babbling loudly.

I got what felt like a sinus infection in the midst of that lovely sleep-deprived week. For a week, my head felt like it would explode. Now all of that cold nastiness has settled into my chest.

(I would suck as a spy. Sleep deprivation is an easy and most effective form of torture. Last night, I was ready to divulge state secrets...if I had any...to Martin if he would just go to sleep already!)

At this rate, I'm figuring that we'll be healthy just in time to catch the next round of colds from my nieces and nephews at Christmas.

All this is to say that my brain is not functioning at its best at the moment. But I did want to share this lovely moment from last Thursday, November 29th...the day when Martin legally joined our family.

Whew. OK, Christmas. Bring it on.

Four months

"For Christmas, I would like Santa to bring me a teething necklace, some light-up toys, and maybe a ball..."

"What Dad? We're not making a video-letter for Santa? What ARE we doing then?"

"Oh, we're taking a picture? Well, I don't really want to smile right now, and here are my reasons. First of all..."