Small Successes: I'll Play!

Danielle is asking us to share our small successes in an effort to recognize that all our small successes throughout the day add up to big triumphs. Sounds like a great plan!

1. My husband has a grueling schedule these days. I sent him off on a five day, 'round the clock work stint after a big breakfast of steak and eggs and country sausage gravy. On a school day.
2. I took a sound-asleep-nap today ( I was up at four to see dear husband off to direct Mass for EWTN before the March for Life). Sound asleep naps are rare commodities. I didn't even hear my children vacuuming (and they did:-).
3. I've roughed out-- in writing-- plans for the next eight weeks of learning in our home. This means we're good to go almost all the way to our annual Bluebell Break.

What are your successes this week? Share them at Faith and Family Live!

Super duper mega outtie

Yesterday, Katie showed me a tiny scar on the inside of her thigh. She wanted to know how she got it.

 I remembered.

Katie's carseat buckles between her legs. When she was little, I accidentally caught her skin in the buckle when I fastened it. She screamed. I cried. Poor baby.
Sarah Anne's carseat buckles at the belly button. Much safer, right? Well, not really.
Sarah Anne has an umbilical hernia, also known as a "super duper, mega outtie." Her belly button is bigger than my thumb and sticks way out. And--you guessed it--I managed to catch it in the carseat. She screamed. I cried. You'd think I'd learn after twenty years of buckling carseats, but seriously, just as I was getting good at avoiding thighs and such, now I get thrown a belly button curve ball?
I'm including a picture here. When Sarah Anne was really tiny, I kept bothering Mike about the belly button. He thought I was overreacting and it would look normal just like everyone else's. I thought otherwise, but I had a hard time googling images that looked like what I was seeing.
So, if you're a new mom out there looking for pictures of your sweet baby's "super duper mega outtie," it's an umbilical hernia. And don't worry too much, Mama dear; they usually resolve all by themselves in a year or so. But do watch that carseat buckle!

He Hangs the Moon

A few months ago, Mary Beth read Karoline a story about the moon.Karoline, who is two, was enchanted. Not long after the covers of the book closed, she declared, “I want the moon.” She was very matter of fact and saw absolutely nothing exceptional about this desire to possess the moon.

Every night, on his way home, my husband calls to see if we need anything. He’ll stop at the store and pick up a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk or … the moon? Karoline answered the phone when he called that evening.Read the rest here.

Life: Imagine the Potential

HT:Danielle Bean

My Heart's at Home Daybook - 18th January

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Outside My Window ...
it's very, very cold. But still no snow.
 

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I am listening to...
The Mozart Effect . I'm a huge believer in classical music for babies.
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Towards rhythm and beauty ...
My baby nurses at least fourteen times a day. I counted. Usually, I never count but I wondered if it was my imagination that she was "always" nursing. It's not.She has a sweet rhythm all her own. Seems her purpose these days is to slow me down. She's very, very good at that.

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I am thankful for ...
the fact that there is no place my children would rather be on a Sunday afternoon than here at home, making homemade Buffalo wings, folding laundry, and watching football. (Well, maybe they're not so keen on the laundry, but they do love the wings and the company.)
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From the kitchen ...
I have a new favorite salad: spring mix, goat cheese, toasted pecans, craisins, and homemade dijon vinaigrette. Every day for lunch. I was very sad when pomegranates were no longer available in the stores. I'm not terribly fond of craisins and would prefer fresh oranges or grapes, but I can't seem to keep them in stock these days. Craisins will hold me when fresh fruit isn't available.

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I am wearing ...
a white t-shirt, long red cotton cardigan, khaki pants, ski socks, bandana-headband-style, pearl earrings, down blanket, lipgloss, and a sweet baby in a very faded floral sling.

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I am creating ...
several medal necklaces. I've become aware of what a witness religious jewelry can be--and what a comfort. So, I'm making several different necklaces to keep and to give.

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  On my iPod
Joy in the Journey: Michael Card
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Towards a real education ...
We are going to wrap up our studies of the Alamo this week and begin Westward Expansion next week. I'm really loving the IEW history lessons. They dovetail perfectly and writing is our focus for this semester. The little ones are excited to have had a sneak preview of the final Alphabet Path story. The "Z" story will be up for you this week. it's very sweet, but we were all sort of sad to see it end, too. (By the way, "W" and" X&Y" are already up, they're just not hyperlinked on the elizabethfoss.com site yet.)
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Bringing beauty to my home ...
iI think an organized pantry and an organized laundry room are beautiful things, don't you? And there's nothing like freshly washed floors, a vaccum with a scented bag, and candles lit throughout to ready the house to welcome the weary on a wintry evening

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I am reading  ...
to my under-tens at least an hour a day. I'm very sure that reading aloud to the little ones, requiring reading of the big ones, ensuring that everyone write every day, proficiency in math and lots and lots of lively discussion is all we need academically right now. Good thing, too, because it's taking me all day to provide that for everybody in my care.I can read and nurse with the best of them, though;-)

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I am hoping ...
a this will be a very safe week in Washington DC. It's been a long time since security niggled at my thoughts all day. But there it is. People I love will be in and out of the city (no small feat in itself) all week long. I hope we're safe.

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Around the house ...
I am noticing Michael's absence. He took his messes with him. He also took his bright conversation, his helping hand, his easy laugh, his warm companionship. Ah, but it's nice to rid of the mess, huh?
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One of my favorite things ...
text messages from people named Michael Foss. Both of them. 

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A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
We will  gather in front of the TV to celebrate our country on Tuesday. We will watch the inauguration. To ignore it is to deny all that's right about a country that elects its officials. To ignore it is to miss a valuable opportunity to rededicate ourselves to prayer that this government succeeds. I hope and pray that our new president's policies fail. But I do not want our government to fail. I fully admit it will be difficult to listen to that inaugural address, but listen we will. I'm sure that Rick Warren will be the high point of the day, though. Mike will spend two nights in his office on either side of Tuesday. He's in a secure zone and he can't leave. There are no hotel rooms to be had in DC. Then, he will spend the night at the Shrine since he'll direct the vigil Mass before the March and Mass the morning of the March for EWTN. I think I'm really going to miss him this week. My bigger kids will march on Thursday and then go back downtown for a field trip at the National Gallery of Art on Friday.
So much real life fodder for narrations this week...

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Here is a picture thought I am sharing~
   

  I wish I could tell you the "missing" is not so bad this time. But it is.
I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

Be sure to visit Peggy for links to more daybooks.