New Testament Basics with Caroline

Caroline, Cecilia, and I were visiting my parents recently because my grandparents were in town. At dinner, my mom (the proud grandma) wanted to show off some of Caroline's intelligence. Caroline was talking about Good Friday and Easter, so my mom asked her about it. Caroline was talking about Jesus "praying and crying in the garden." My mom asked her who else was there with Jesus, and Caroline said, "Mary Magdalene." Of course, my grandparents were impressed that she could actually pronounce "Magdalene" correctly.

Then Caroline said, "And Peter was there, too... but not Peter Rabbit."

My Hippie Children

Both of these shirts were made for Caroline by people at WinShape Camps. Cecilia now fits in the small one!

An important meeting

Not sure what the cows had to say, but it looks like it was quite important. Look at how attentive the Beanie Babies are. Caroline claims they were having a picnic, but she's not fooling me. The cows are clearly in charge - the authority figures. Perhaps in an effort to regain popularity, the Beanies will be joining forces with Chick-fil-A in their "Eat mor chikin" ad campaign. I'll be keeping my eyes on these characters! Stay tuned for further developments.

Ensa

This is Caroline's "best baby doll," her favorite toy for about a year now. Her name is Ensa, which Caroline told us is short for enchilada sauce. More recently, she's told us that Ensa's full name is Ensa Encha Ladasuce. Ensa used to take turns with Piglet, Pooh Bear, Purple Maymay, and other stuffed animals as Caroline's companion, but now she is always chosen first before all other animals and dolls. She rides in the van with Caroline every time we go somewhere, and she sleeps with her at every nap and at night. Caroline sets Ensa up with her own dishes before dinner most nights, she carries her in her doll sling, she nurses her when she's hungry or sad, she checks her up with her doctor kit, and she bucles her safely into her carseat before she "drives" anywhere. Ensa's sisters vary from Gianna (Bath Baby) and Busy Baby to Heart Cat and Amber Maymay, and her age varies from "a baby" to age three. Any time Ensa has to be left alone, she "cries silently." In fact, she's been silent for a while now... she used to make noise when she was squeezed. Her batteries began to die, and she made increasingly disturbing sounds. Under her clothing, there is no way to get to the batteries besides cutting the cloth open and then sewing it back up. I only did that once. Caroline doesn't seem to mind the fact that Ensa no longer laughs or cries when squeezed. She loves her unconditionally, the way all mothers love their babies.

Kissin' Cousins

We went to Huntsville over the weekend for my nephew's baptism. We had a great time hanging out with family. We got to go swimming while we were there, too! After the baptism, we had lunch, and then Caroline posed with Andrew for some pictures. Surprisingly, she didn't mind being licked!

Congratulations on your baptism, Andrew! You are a child of God!

Too funny...

We went to lunch with Daddy at his work today and got home a bit late... so Caroline had "rest time" with books instead of a nap. Apparently she had other plans... fast asleep in a pile of books! When I think back to the days of nursing her to sleep, wondering if she'd ever be able to fall asleep by herself, and then I see this, it makes me smile in a bittersweet way.

La Leche League Area Conference 2008

We attended this year's LLL conference in Helen, Georgia, at Unicoi State Park. This was the second year the conference was held in this beautiful setting. I went to many sessions ang gained lots of helful information. Chris entertained Caroline and took her to a few sessions led by park rangers as well as some of the adult sessions, too. Cecilia hung out with me, of course. We had a picnic dinner one evening, with yummy sandwiches - homemade bread, even! The kids enjoyed looking at the river and playing on the playground. Cecilia enjoyed the picnic in her own way:

After the picnic, we headed back to the lodge for the Bluegrass Jamboree (or Jambaroo, as Caroline called it). Adults enjoyed the music while the kids enjoyed dancing together.

Cecilia just rode around with me to all the sessions, napping when she felt like it. Here she is after one of my Saturday sessions:

Saturday evening, we had a new leader induction ceremony at the lake. I officially became a leader right after Christmas, so I was included in the ceremony. There were several new leaders this year! We all gathered on the shore of the lake. Seven candles on a wreath were lit to represent the seven founders of La Leche League. The wreath was placed on the lake, where it floated out a little ways (some of the older kids had fun retrieving it later!). Then each new leader received her pin and placed a candle in the water at the shore as her sponsoring leader threw a pebble into the lake to illustrate the "ripple effect" of how new leaders are trained by other leaders, and La Leche League has spread across th world in the last 50 years. Marian Tompson, one of the original seven leaders, was there. She handed me my pin, so that was really special... one of the founders who'd begun this organization 50 years previous was now giving me my pin as a new leader!

Afte the ceremony, we gathered in a picnic shelter near the lake and had Girl Scout cookies. Caroline made a friend and had a lot of fun playing with her.


On Sunday, we enjoyed walking around Helen for a bit before heading home. We went to the bakery and bought some pastries as a treat, and we went into several interesting shops, including the toy store. which has unique toys, several wooden ones that are handmade on site. Helen is such a fun little town, and it will be a great place to come when the girls are older and we can take them tubing in the river here!

What a fun and educational weekend!!

Why my babies sleep with me

1. It makes nighttime nursings so much easier. Just laying there, neither of us has to change position... no getting up and sitting in a rocking chair, trying to keep myself from falling asleep while sitting up. This way, we can both sleep while she eats!
2. Baby doesn't wake all the way up, and therefore I can settle her back to sleep quicker. No waiting until she's all the way awake, then going across the hallway into her room. She doesn't have a chance to get fully awakened and upset this way.
3. I'm lazy. I don't like to get up at night. I already have to do that once or twice to go to the bathroom, so I like limiting my up-and-down to that.
4. I believe, from all I have read about it, that babies were biologically designed to sleep next to their mothers. Infants have irregular breathing paterns, and the mature breahing pattern of the mother in close proximity helps to keep the baby breathing normally, thus reducing the risk of SIDS. Mothers have been shown to be so in tune with their babies when sleeping together that they will awaken just before their babies do, and this in-tuneness also ensures that a mother will typically wake if her baby experiences a stop-breathing episode. See more about this from James McKenna.
5. It helps with bonding. I can stay close to my baby all night, giving her warmth and skin-to-skin contact. A newborn doesn't really get it that she is not part of her mother - they have been inseperable for nine months, and it's going to take a while for baby to figure out that they are actually two separate people! Babies have no object permanence in the early months... no understanding of the fact that just because mom isn't visible, she still exists somewhere.
6. We don't have to deal with this mixing up of days andnights business. Baby learns pretty quickly that it's nighttime because mom and dad are laying in bed sleeping.
7. They won't want to sleep with me when they're 14. My three year old asked to sleep in her own room shortly after she turned two. And who wouldn't melt waking up next to this every day?

Cecilia's Baptism

Cecilia was baptized today! We had to wait until Lent was over since our parish does not perform baptisms during that time, and Cecilia was only about a week old when Lent began... not really enough time to get her baptized then. So, we had her baptized at the first opportunity after Lent, which was March 30. Deacon Stu performed the baptism on sleeping Cecilia, while both sets of grandparents and all the uncles and aunt watched. Uncle Tim is the godfather - you can see him standing with us in this photo.

Cecilia didn't mind the water at all!

Here is our whole family after Mass with the newest member of the family of Christ!

Cecilia poses (as much as a two month old can pose) with Uncle Tim.

After the Mass, we headed back to our house for the baptism party! We had help from the grandparents in getting the food together. We had fruit salad, a raw veggie platter with dip, Chick-fil-A chicken salad on croissants, shrimp and grits, and a cake, of course! My mother in law made the veggie and fruit dishes, and my mom made the shrimp and grits (her idea!) and got the cake from Costco. Costco has *amazing* cakes!!

Caroline and I set up the table for the party the day before. We put out the white tablecloth on the table where we'd serve the food buffet-style. Then we made some tissue paper flowers together, also white. The use of white symbolizes purity - thus, white table, flowers, cake, gown... I thought it would be nice to put out both girls' baptismal candles... Caroline's is the one on the right, and we brought Cecilia's home from church and put it in the candle holder on the left. I also hung Cecilia's little cross (which isn't on a bedroom wall since she doesn't have a bedroom yet) on the vase - if you look closely in this photo you can see it. Uncle Tim got it for Cecilia from Mount Saint Mary's in Baltimore and had it blessed by a priest.


Caroline also colored this picture of a baptism and loaned us her pink cross from her bedroom. It added nicely to the decor for the occasion.


We had a wonderful Sunday welcoming Cecilia into the Catholic faith. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate with all our family. Welcome to the Church, Cecilia Clare! I pray that I will have the wisdom to share our beautiful faith with you as you grow.

Arts and Crafts with Caroline

This was my mom's idea, from her many years of working in preschools. She had Caroline help her dye eggs for Easter, and then she gave us the shells in a baggie to bring home. We crushed them up and then used a paintbrush to spread glue on a piece of paper. Then Caroline pressed the eggshells down onto the glue. A little messy, but the end product was very pretty.