Mama-luia

Summer-tiiiiiiime... and the livin' is... noisy. The livin' is noisy . At 6:45pm this evening I was already curled up in the fetal position on the couch. Elijah was in bed but the other three were all frolicking around, hours of remaining daylight beckoned to us to go experience the great outdoors but all I could think of was "bed... now... please!" Patrick looked at me ruefully and said "you are welcome to do this in an hour, but for now, hang in there!" In actual fact, the kids' antics today were pretty adorable. They spent a large portion of their afternoon getting ready a ventriloquism show for us, after I showed them some spectacular videos of a kid ventriloquist earlier today. You really need to watch the video! It's amazing. Actually, this one is even better: It's pretty sweet how eager they all are now to throw their voices. I've been playing a "self-care anthem" over and over lately, and it's so upli...

Baby Elijah has turned one! This beautiful baby has changed our life in so many wonderful ways. God knew we needed him so much. And forever and ever I will thank Him for His perfect plans that bypass our assumptions and expectations and take us straight to such tremendous joy . We celebrated with my mom and my sister and her family on the weekend before. Talented sister of mine made a vegan gluten-free cake that was so moist and delicious -- it's like she bakes from thin air and aspirations and yet her recipes are amazing. Then on his actual birthday his godparents and their three youngest children came over for dinner and ice cream cake. One of my favourite moments was when the three big kids gave him his presents. I suggested they all make something themselves, so Anna coloured him a picture, which he seemed pleased by. Noah worked from the moment he came home from school until dinner was served to get the meal ready -- he made the salad dressing all by hi...

What's New  It appears I have never done a "What's New" since Elijah was born. (Previous posts here and here and here  and here  and here .) How is that even possible? Let's jump right in, shall we? Noah This wonderful fellow turned eight on Holy Saturday. He requested pancake stacks for breakfast (as seen in the above picture) and lemon meringue pie instead of cake for dessert. The following weekend we threw a Pioneer themed party for him, where we had his guests compete to see who could stack wood -- our wood -- the fastest. One guest said, "my mom should throw a party like this, because she always wants help  to get the wood stacked!" He is growing up so very much in ways that are hard to capture on a blog. His sense of humor has blossomed in a way that he and I can have 'inside jokes' now. /We both make Jim Halpert faces at the imaginary camera of life when one of the younger kids does something silly. via GIPHY So it...

Our Elijah turned seven months old on Friday. We're more than half-way there to that exciting and vaguely wistful milestone of the first birthday. We're coming closer and closer to when he will be mobile and taking everything out of my cupboards, and wanting to climb the stairs, and chasing his older siblings in the yard. It goes by fast. And yet, it doesn't. I'm sure other moms understand what I mean. The days blur into night and back into days. Meanwhile there are these three other little people whom I love, who take up a lot of my energy too. (For instance, when Teacher says, "read aloud for fifteen minutes," it takes approximately 25-30, of course). It is all so cliche and almost embarrassing to say, but he is the perfect baby for our family. He makes us all laugh with his budding sense of humor (isn't it charming when babies begin to figure out how to make others laugh? And then they do it over and over?), his coos are the by far the best ...

Earlier this week, I was trying to take a photo of our Advent wreath set-up.  (Also, yes, I know, my photography skills always leave something to be desired.) Then I looked down and saw this precious sight: Elijah, balanced on my hip, was watching me the whole time. This picture says so much about he is:  quietly and sweetly observing his world, but always close by to me.  His life is very much influenced, perhaps dictated, by the schedules of his older siblings, and he handles it beautifully, provided he can remain close to me. Now as I look at this picture, I take a deep breath of gratitude and amazement. This beautiful little person is with us this Christmas. As I contrast this to last year, I can't help but feel so humbled. ***** I was pregnant with Elijah, only 16 weeks along. In the days right before Christmas, life was going on normally -- the kids and I were baking and decorating and getting very excited. I noticed I was getti...

I've been trying to write a Day in the Life post for a while, but surprise-surprise, it's interruptive to living my actual life to write down everything I do. So I decided yesterday to make some shorthand notes on scrap papers as I went about my business and convert it to a blog post later on. The times are approximate (except for when the baby wakes in the night: I really do check the clock whenever that happens) but the gist of my day is captured. Also, I added some cheesy stock photos for fun. Consider yourself warned. 3:00 Elijah wakes up crying. He already woke at 11:00 as well. I pick him up and nurse him. (His crib is in our room.) I put him back to bed. 3:20 Despite the baby being asleep, I feel wide awake so I opt to have a shower now, rather during the morning hustle. I check my email before heading back to bed (illogically, as no one likely will have emailed me between 9 PM when I last checked and now!) 3:40 I climb back into bed. 4:10 Elijah wakes again. ...

1. We had such a fun Halloween this week! The kids were bouncing off the walls by 3:10, wanting to head out trick or treating then. They each wanted to be the specific costumes you see here photographed, and I was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, we had the added bonus of my parents being here the previous week to help out (my Dad made the Mary Poppins hat out of an empty flat of Perrier; I just painted it and added the Dollar Store flowers.) So, without further ado, I give you: An adorable baby bear Mary Poppins (You should hear this girl sing "Feed the Birds, Tuppence a Bag."  She has a beautiful singing voice.) Thorin Oakenshield He was perturbed when I googled Thorin costumes that each example looked like the movie version. He was quite adamant: Thorin had a red beard, wore a sky-blue cloak and had a golden helmet.  So this is our Tolkien/Jemima Catlin tribute to Thorin. Kraft Dinner I loved this costume idea! And it...

Our summer is winding down. It has been a memorable one in many ways, most obviously because it kicked off with our family growing by a whole new amazing person. I am so delighted by Elijah. He just strikes me as a child who really knows he is loved.  A friend of mind once said that about Anna, and I took it as a very high compliment,  until I realized it's not entirely a reflection on me, but on our whole family structure: there are just so many extra people who clamber to hold the youngest ones. And he is an amazing little sweetheart. Who could blame them? {I like how this picture demonstrates Isaiah's self-inflicted haircut.  It's since been remedied by our local barber.} The kids like to dress him up. (Anna suffered a similar fate at around this age.)  After all, he's their "best baby bro."  His face is pure sweetness and he has a temperament to match. ************************************...

These are the days... of random things collecting on the floor and us not even noticing.* We're too busy baby-gazing. These are the days... of doing head counts at the beach, when I brave taking all the children by myself**, and say, 1, 2, 3 as I scan the sand. Then I look down and see #4 in my arms, and find myself repeating "four?!" somewhat breathlessly. How amazingly fast, it seems, that we arrived here. These are the days... of Elijah. (You knew I'd have to throw that reference out at some point.) Of extra servings of Paw Patrol. Of saying "yes": to requests for Nestle Drumsticks for afternoon snacks, to later bedtimes, to one more chapter of Pippi Longstocking, to wearing a Cheetah costume all day. Of beautiful flowers growing up so well with no effort on my part. Of little boys blossoming. The transforming power that sibling love has on a child is a wonder to behold. Of joining the adult...

For the second time in our family's history, we celebrated a baptism on Father's Day. I was only six days postpartum, so it was a more low-key affair than previous baptisms for us. Dear Elijah was welcomed into the Church in the company of his parents and siblings, many of his cousins, aunts and uncles, 3/4 of his grandparents, and his godparents and 5/7 of their children, too. So the low-keyness wasn't for lack of people. It was for lack of effort, on my part, at least. Elijah's wonderful godparents generously offered to host the reception at their house, and it was a wonderful grace, because not only was I still very much in recovery mode, I spent the night before looking after a newborn and a sick Isaiah too. To make matters more... interesting... it was 39 degrees celsius that day. Our house is not air-conditioned. Elijah's godparents home is. It seemed like a sensible choice to move the festivities over there. *** Even though I was woozy fro...

Our little (actually, not-so-little!) baby joined our family June 13th at 11 o'clock at night. After pleading with him on my blog of all places , he took the message to heart and decided to join us on the Feast of St. Anthony. After days and days of prodromal labor, I guess my body was well on the path to have him with relative ease. (Please note the word ' relative' .) It was a great labor because we left in good time for the hospital (big sigh of relief!) and the contractions were quite efficient so I made progress quickly... but not quickly enough to be scary, y'know? And just when my water broke, when things really picked up, my beautiful kind doula friend walked in the door. She was a God-send when it came time to push the little fellow out. Again, though, not a little fellow. A 10 lb. 2 oz., 23 inch long fellow. Whoa. Our biggest baby to date was Anna, at only 8 lb. 3oz. The difference of nearly two whole pounds explains a lot of why I was so ...