"Couponing"

How's that for creating a new verb? I'm slowly gearing up to try to learn how to "do" coupons. There is a whole cottage industry, you know. Women everywhere are spreading the word about special deals each week, secrets one wouldn't know just by walking down the aisles. I've been a bit distrusting of coupons because one doesn't save money if one is buying food one normally doesn't want to eat. However, today I took advantage of some great sales from the Harris Teeter grocery store and Kellogg's (thanks to Sarah W. who gave me the hot lead!).

I bought 64 Huggies disposable diapers regularly $24, now $4 off from the store, plus $1.50 off from my coupon. (That is still an expensive 28 cents per diaper, which is why I prefer to use cloth.)

I bought seven boxes of Kellogg's cereal, regularly $24.92 total, now $17.92 because of seven $1-off "blinkie" coupons.

Because two of my purchases were All-Bran, which I eat anyway, I received a free package of Activia yogurt, regularly $2.50.

If I purchased an eighth product from the Kellogg family, I'd get another special, so I chose Eggo frozen waffles, which were additionally on sale from $2.79 each down to $1.67, which equals 17 cents per waffle.

My total: $59.79 worth of products for $41.43 = 31% savings.

But the fun doesn't end there! Because I bought eight Kellogg's products, I earned a $10 mail-in-rebate for Harris Teeter, plus three gallons of free milk (valued up to $14.07). Ultimately, this will result in a 50% savings on all these products!

This couponing thing could become addictive.

Visit to the Library

On Sunday after Mass and nap, we rode the train downtown. When John heard we were going on a "trip," he raced to get his backpack (laden down with wooden blocks) and his water bottle, then he waited in the kitchen for us. (And because of Chris' recent week-long absence, John asked if we were going on a "business trip.")
We got off the train at the last stop downtown and ate ice cream cones at the fancy grocery store that is there. Then we walked across the street to play at the library's free children's area.

More of John Reading

Two days ago we found Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham, which had been misplaced for the last couple of months. Chris read it to John once, then stepped away, and when he came back, he found John absorbed, "reading" it to himself. Daddy took this surruptitious video:

Cute Mary

Mama and Mary praying outside a local abortion clinic on Saturday (nice white spit-up on my black sling):
Mary in a new (consignment store) dress for Mass on Sunday:

Mary is laughing more and more. On Saturday evening, we were all sitting on Mama and Daddy's bed while John was winding down before bedtime. Mary was watching her brother's antics and laughing up a storm, but it took me about ten video clips to get these two that show her laughing as best I could. I had to hold her with one hand, hold the video camera with the other hand, while her daddy and brother did funny things, and I couldn't let her see the camera or she'd stop laughing and stare.

Mary's Well-Baby Check

Mary had a well-baby check today so I got to find out just how much she has to weigh to have sumo wrestler thighs. The statistics:

Weight: 16 lbs 0 oz (97th percentile)
Height: 24 inches (58th percentile)
Head circumference: 16.5 inches (85th percentile)

Because Chris and I are super nerds, we created an Excel spreadsheet to compare these various measurements of John and Mary at equivalent ages. (Won't such a spreadsheet be so interesting when there are more siblings to compare, if God blesses us so?)

It has already been interesting to note that, although Mary was born two pounds heavier and two inches longer, by eight weeks old, she and John weighed almost the same (John 12 lbs 5 oz, Mary 12 lbs 10 oz) and had the same height (22.5 inches).

They were similar weights: Mary at four and a half months is 16 pounds, John at four months was 15 lbs 2 oz and at five months was 16 lbs 5 oz. But John was taller: at four months he was 25.3 inches while Mary is now 24 inches.

This is way more analysis than anyone else could possibly care about, but it's fun for Chris and me and maybe for the grandparents.

John "Reading"

The other night Chris was reading Dr. Seuss to John when John burst in with a contribution, revealing that he knew much of the story on that page. We were so startled! This afternoon I decided to test John with some books and he knew so much of them! (Not that I think he's "extra smart" for his age, just that--as a first-time parent--I have no idea when to expect these fun developments.) Now the next part to figure out is how to get John to repeat more than just the last word of each phrase, whether in a book or a song!

Around here we joke around a lot about having a bird in one's ear. (At the end when John sees a "clue" on the bottom of my shoe, he is talking about a sticker of an animal foot print, and he calls foot prints "clues," a la "Blue's Clues.")

My camera's memory ran out while filming, so I missed recording that John knows so much of Good Night Moon!

Two Videos of Mary

Mary seems to be a shrieker. You get a tiny glimpse of it toward the end of this video when she starts shaking in excitement, then releases a very short (cute) shriek. She shrieks when she's excited, whether happy or angry, sometimes so loud that it makes my ears ring. Today she has been shrieking, really, much of the day--mostly out of anger, I think, because she feels sick and doesn't want to be set down. John cried a lot, but I don't think he was a shrieker.

John is ever more affectionate with his little sister.

Feast of the Annunciation

Happy Feast of the Annunciation!
There are so many gorgeous, classical paintings representing the Annunciation. I found this "modern" one (1898) by Henry Tanner fascinating in its realism, helping me imagine what Mary's surroundings might have been like that day.

Chris and I had hoped to go to Mass today, but decided to stay home after a wrecked night's sleep because of the two still-sick kids, Mary now more sick than she was. I did some things within our "domestic church" to celebrate: I followed the Swedish Annunciation tradition of making waffles for breakfast. Then John and I planted marigolds ("Mary's gold") to start from seed indoors.

Lastly, I followed the English tradition of baking a seed cake with John (making a few adjustments to this fabulous recipe). Apparently there are many farmers' traditions concerning seeds and the Annunciation because, just as Mary's womb became fruitful, farmers would pray to Mary that their seeds would become fruitful in the spring.

A little piece broke off when removing the cake from the pan, hence the imperfection:

Tuesday

We took another, longer walk in the stroller today. I put Mary in back because the rear seat reclines. I have to figure out if I'm doing something wrong because the straps on the front seat seem to be at their full extension, but John can't afford to grow one more centimeter and still fit. Yet the seat is supposed to carry a child up to 40 pounds; John is only about 30 pounds and not tall. Harumph!
We noticed that our birds are doing something strange: they have filled up the entrance to the bird house with fluff! By evening, the hole was stuffed even more dramatically than in this photo. We sincerely hope we didn't make the birds become neurotic by peeking in there on Sunday!

After dinner, Chris took John to the playground behind our house and John got to pet a puppy dog.

Babies with Colds

John has succumbed to a cold and I think Mary is fast following him. Poor John has been whiny all day and complaining of the "crumbs" in his nose. Moments before this video was shot, both children were wailing inconsolably as I went through all the steps to soothe them. It was such a hopeless moment (hopeless that I could get them both to stop crying at once) that I rather cheerfully got out my video camera to document it all--something I never envisioned myself doing! As it was, John stopped wailing when I began filming, but you get a tiny glimpse of the fun times:

New Double Stroller

Today we bought a new double stroller. Here we are shopping at the first store we visited:
Mary's expression doing a test drive says, "What's this, Mama? I don't think I like this stroller thing!"

But then she decided that maybe it was okay:

And here are the kiddos taking their first double stroller ride around the neighborhood:

I didn't really like having Mary so far away from me, to be honest! I didn't know if she was warm enough. I didn't know if her eyes were opened or closed or whether she was relaxed. And even though she was so tired at the beginning of our walk, she couldn't fall asleep until we got home and I wore her in my Maya wrap. However, it was nice to give my aching back and shoulder a break from wearing Mary so often.

Our Birds' Nest

We have a bird's nest! A couple of years ago, I got very enamoured with feeding birds and had many bird feeders in our yard (at the old house). I also bought this bird box which we never installed in the yard and ended up moving with us to the apartment and now to this house. The other day Chris saw that it would sit just fine on a fence post. I scoffed and explained how birds will only live where it is very quiet and high up, away from noise and other animals. This fence post is at the top of our driveway where we drive every day and open the garage door, it borders our neighbor's yard where a loud, barking dog lives, and it is right at an intersection of a squirrel highway. No way would birds take up residence there.
After dinner as we were leaving on a walk, Chris checked the bird box and found a nest with eggs! I actually thought he was teasing me when he told me to go look inside.

Honey, you were right!

The Sharpie Incident

Setting the stage: Chris and I are upstairs getting ourselves and the kids ready for running an errand. I notice it has become pleasantly quiet.

Katherine (casually): "Has John escaped?"

Chris: "Yes, I think he's downstairs."

[long pause]

Katherine (still casually): "You know, I think I left a pen out on the kitchen counter."

Chris went downstairs to check on John and, when I came down, I found this "signed" piece of artwork on what had been my Marian liturgical book.

Thus our first "Sharpie incident" proved the rule I have long instilled: "No pens may be left out anywhere at any time even if you think you won't be leaving the room or will be right back! And I mean ever!"

Friday

John has lately been creating "babies." He'll wrap up any little thing in anything else that is soft and call it a baby. Then he asks me to hold the baby and to nurse the baby. The below "baby" is a laundry net bag full of clean socks.
This morning John helped me bake a cake for a potluck we were attending. One egg carton + one bag of dried beans + three Dixie cups = peace and quiet for Mom while she cleans the kitchen!

John tries his best to keep the beans on the table, but the play does result in some degree of mess. I've found that red beans are easy to see and sweep up, unlike, perhaps, dried rice.

We were going to a La Leche League "enrichment meeting" (a playgroup with an assigned discussion topic--today "baby sign language") and when John saw me baking the cake, he said I was baking a "party cake" and we were going to go play with some kids. So he ran upstairs in his pajamas, donned his backpack and hat, and he was ready to go!

Mary dressed for the day:

The other day I needed to find a photo of myself, any old photo would do. I had to search back to November (four months ago) to find one photo of myself, when I take half a dozen photos per day of everyone else. So this morning I took a photo of myself just for the principle of the thing.

John has begun enjoying brushing his teeth lately and even asks me during the day if he can brush them.

I made it through the week! Chris is on his way home from the airport as I post this . . .

Thursday

Miss Mary welcoming spring with her pastel outfit:
Today John and I made a moose sock puppet. John has been "all about" moose lately, often requesting that we go find one.

We traced his hands for the antlers:

I don't yet have a photo of John wearing the puppet because the glue had to dry.

I had fun reorganizing the mother's desk shelving in the kitchen. The bottom shelf contains cookbooks and books on homemaking, home repairs, and gardening. The top shelf contains cookbooks I don't use often. The middle shelf is now devoted to children's craft supplies and my books on liturgy in the domestic church (the home).

We played bubbles again today and went to the grocery store in anticipation of two potluck events in the next two days.

Thanks for any prayers I received for my sleeping. Last night was much better in that I fell asleep hard in between each waking. Of course, "better" is all relative, in that John woke six times and Mary four, so waking up ten times to care for babies didn't make for a good night's sleep, but I still felt comparatively great this morning!

Wednesday

In case it isn't obvious, these detailed blog posts are especially for Chris' benefit, as I know he's missing us (as we're missing him). Despite the fact that all the photos of John in this post are of him unclothed, I promise I dressed him this morning and he remained that way almost all day!

I slept only three hours again last night, so I spent today feeling really physically weak and ill. Thankfully, my plan to keep John occupied with a lot of fun, structured activities in order to keep his mood and my mood pleasant is working pretty well. After our slow morning and kids' naps, we went shopping at the dollar store, then went and prayed at a local abortion clinic as part of 40 Days for Life. (There had been two saves today before I got there, praise God!)

Here is John reading The Legend of the Three Trees, a current favorite.



John dancing diaper-clad while I cooked dinner (pancakes again):


At the dollar store, I had purchased some bubble solution and a giant flower shaped wand (that wouldn't stay together). I wish I had better photos of the unadulterated, innocent joy of a two-year-old playing with bubbles after dinner in our lovely 70-degree weather. However, I was nursing Mary one-handed and using the other hand to blow some bubbles real quick, put down my wand, then pick up the camera and snap some pictures.

After working on it for a few days, today Mary rolled over back to front. This photo isn't very exciting, but it's the best I could do taking a photo of her in her Pack N Play from above.

Tonight was a bath night for John.

I brought Mary's swing into the bathroom so she could safely hang out nearby while John bathed.

Please pray that I get more sleep tonight!

I Spy

I forgot to write in last night's post about how I introduced John to the game of "I spy," even though I thought he'd be too young (but what do I know about these things?). We were taking our walk and I would say, "I see . . . a mail box! Do you see a mail box?" John would look around, then exclaim, "Yeah! Right there!" I did it over and over again, spying bushes, trees, doggies, the street, big rocks, and so forth. After 20 minutes, John really seemed to get it and he started playing the game back at me. He also initiated more of the game at the dinner table, by spying things outside our kitchen window. "Mommy, I see . . . a leaf!" It was a fun game and I thought it gave good practice for John responding affirmatively to my questions, when he still has a toddler's habit of ignoring many of my inquiries (when does that end, moms?).

Tuesday

Can you guess where my dear husband is? On this St. Patrick's day, he is at a hotel within blocks of a very famous parish by that name and a raucous annual parade to boot! I consider myself blessed to have a husband who would rather go to Mass to celebrate this feast day than go drinking at a pub.
Our day in suburbia was a little quieter. Although I'm operating on three hours of broken sleep, so my day had its own kind of stress and chaos! After a trip to the grocery store, the weather had finally warmed up and dried out enough that John and I could plant the "white linen" California poppy seeds my dad had stuffed in my Christmas stocking.

Dad: I've since realized that the drier vent blows air right above where the flowers will be. I know poppies like it hot and dry, but is that going to kill them? (See the vent in the photo below.)

The garden is waking up after winter! Our red bud trees:

Lenten rose:

Mahonia macrofila:

The carpet of Vinca minor:

The pink shrub roses:

Viburnum doublefile:

Today I let John watch a cartoon for the first time in eight days. I just needed him to be still for a few minutes. After I got my wits back about me, I tackled how I was going to take out the garbage can by myself (normally Chris' job). I know it sounds like nothing, but I had to think about my plan. I didn't feel comfortable leaving such young kids in the house alone (more John than Mary, as she can't get into much trouble yet!). But it's a bit of a matter to haul a heavy garbage can down a sloping driveway while bringing along a baby and a toddler who bolts toward the street. I ended up wearing Mary and hauling the trash can with one hand while clutching John's hand with the other hand. At one point the can started to tip, but there was a car coming and we were only five feet from the street, so I simply had to keep gripping John's hand. All's well that ended well and I kept the can upright. (Chris is laughing right now that only an English major can make a whole story out of taking out the garbage.)

John has been learning how to help with changing the kitchen garbage bag. If we open up the bag, he can insert it and get the edge of the bag all the way around the edge of the can! (Then he claps at his accomplishment.)

As much as I would rather have kept watching TV, or basically done anything that could have kept me prone, I escorted the kids out for a walk in the nice weather to keep a certain toddler from becoming stir crazy. While Chris is gone, I am trying to keep up with many structured activities to keep John happy because when John is a whiny pill, I lose my temper and I don't have a wonderful husband to help relieve me right now. Better to take away opportunities for losing my temper! (John, being two, refused to look at me for the picture.)

After a wholesome dinner of boxed macaroni and cheese (at least John ate something), cleaning up the kitchen and den, and reading probably 17 books to John, all children are asleep and quiet has fallen on the house!