Happy St. Patrick's Day!

M wasn't too interested in posing for the camera for me. She sure looked cute in her green clothes, and for once in her life, no-one pinched her! I bet she wishes she could wear green everyday. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick’s Breastplate
Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort me and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

If this is global warming, I'll take it....

Mid-february: Us walking Ron to class! And check out that green grass-er, astroturf.

I love this park!

It has been unseasonably warm lately, and we have enjoyed every bit of it. As I write this, we have the windows open and are enjoying a slight breeze. The thermometer in the car told us it was 75°F today! Cheers to that! We have such a good God for giving us a nice reprieve from the winter lately! We live close to a park and all winter I have gazed longingly at the park, dreaming of when the weather would be warmer and M and I could enjoy some outside time at the slides and the swings. We've ventured there several times in January and February, and we went back today. Let me tell you, it was LOVELY!

Immediately following this picture, she fell fast asleep for an hour. She has a good life.

It's a Baby!!! Shower

The cake (with home-made fondant-didn't know that was even possible)!

The party favors-baby bootie cupcakes!

Bread is not my friend!

Today I made butternut squash soup and wheat bread.

Let me tell you how well it turned out!

The soup looked like it came from M's diaper, and Ron said it even had the same texture. A little hard to get past...

The bread didn't rise.

Thank you Lord, for helping us in our fasting!

Fat Tuesday

Sewing!

I want to learn how to sew so that I can make beautiful quilts, Halloween costumes, dress-up clothes, and nightgowns for my daughters. Oh, and maybe curtains. Maybe.

http://sarahwaldo.com/images/ss19big.jpg

So far I haven't even taken the machine out of the box...This could take a while!

Dad dressed me...

Overheard from the other room today:
"Pia, let's put you in a new outfit. One Mom has never seen before." they emerge and Ron asks me, "What do you think?" I said, "Ah, my Lenten baby. Purple on purple, how penitential." Pia liked it though, and she sure does have a good, funny Dad.

love letter....

This morning I woke up to find a love letter from my darling husband. He left it in the place he thought I would go to first when I woke up-the changing table. I found that HILARIOUS! Let me tell you folks, having a baby changes your whole life......in the most wonderful and funny ways possible!

pillows

Sometimes I like to steal Ron's pillow-like when he is at class and M and I take a nap together or when I have a headache. Then I always feel better because his pillow smells heavenly! It smells just like him...and that smell makes me feel safe and happy. And he is so nice and lets me. Because he is a good husband and he loves me




and I hardly ever drool on it.

"Hi, I'm baby Turd"

We got this toy from my wonderful cousin, Riley, the last time we visited. Her son had no interest in it and M was slightly interested in it. It lights up and Riley thought it would be entertaining for her in the car.

Very kind, thank you Riley, but we can't. Don't you want it for your next baby? She said, no, no...just take it. Aunt Mercy said, "Take it. If I have to hear that thing one more time I'll go crazy." We gratefully accepted the toy and drove off. We were warned. This toy is the most motion sensitive toy, EVER! If you barely touch it, it says, "Hi, I'm baby Tad"...."Wanna cuddle?"..."I love you." Creepy.

We left it in the car for her to play with when we were driving around in the dark. The other day, it stopped working. Oh, the batteries died, how sad! we thought (rejoicing inside). Then we noticed that the yellow star stayed lit up, but it still didn't work. Oh, it's broken we thought, openly rejoicing.

We brought baby Tad inside, and after a while, Ron randomly punched him in the chest and he started working again. He looked so sheepish after that. Baby Tad had been revived. Or baby Turd as we nicknamed him. Maybe we'll pass him off to someone someday....any takers?

"Hi, I'm baby Turd. I love you!"

Fireproof and Lent...

Ron and I watched "Fireproof" last night. Prior to seeing the movie, we had considered getting the book that it was based to use during Lent (it has 40 different things to do to improve your marriage). After watching the movie, we realized several things:

1. We have a really, really, really good marriage.
2. Marriages are better when they are fruitful.
3. We don't need that book... (hmmm, maybe Ron can buy me a different book then :) )
4. We don't handle cheesy movies very well.

However, it did inspire our Lenten plan for the year:

We each wrote down 40 things that we would like the other person to do for us during Lent. We broke the 40 things up into five categories from the book "The Five Love Languages": words of affirmation, physical touch, acts of service, gifts, and quality time. We'll each draw one random paper each day and serve the other person as they wished.

Some of the examples that we already shared with each other:

• a trip to Dairy Queen to get blizzards (Ron)


• strawberry crepes for breakfast (Rosie)

Lent is shaping up to be pretty fun...but don't worry, there are plenty of penitential ones under the acts of service category.

Pia's four month stats...

We took Pia to the doctor for her 4 month well-baby visit today. She weighs 16 lbs, 11 oz and is 26.5 in tall. She got three shots. Her Daddy held her for the shots, I couldn't look. As I put her on the changing table I prayed fervently for her. She stared at me with pleading eyes. It broke my heart. I don't know who the visit was more painful for.

Kisses for Jesus

On Sunday, after receiving Our Lord in the Eucharist, I made the sign of the cross, and gave Pia a little kiss. Then I heard a loud kissing sound, you know, a nice *SMACK* of the lips. I thought the old man in the front row was blowing a kiss at Pia.

"Weird," I thought. But then, the kissing sounds continued. I looked down at Pia and realized she was making the noise. Ah, my holy little baby, blowing kisses to Jesus. What a good little love bug!

Saturday