Yes, I Am

Pregnant, again. Soon we will have another little bundle of joy. More late night feedings, baths in the little baby tub, swing time and tummy time. We're hoping for another "easy" little girl like Krista instead of the "normal" roly-poly boy like Gabriel. It is a blessing indeed and I estimate the due date is Oct. 5th, but I'm usually off by a month. Another "suprise" child, so we will need to think of names for each gender again. For some reason we always have more of a problem thinking of boy names. In fact, Haley is on the tops for girl names and we just started. So, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for another easy pregnancy!

Power of Prayer

As a Catholic, I strongly believe in the power of prayer and faith. Recently, Josh was reading about Our Lady of Fatima and read that Mary, the Mother of God, appeared to three children and asked them to pray more. She specifically told the children to pray the rosary each day and to spread this message.

We, as Catholics, believe that Mary was a human born without sin. She is the Mother of God and though we do not worship her, we do send our prayers to her so that she knows we need her prayers. She then, "pray(s) for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death," like the Hail Mary states.

Based on all of this, Josh and I have started dedicating 15 or more minutes of our night to pray the rosary. We have been dedicating these prayers to others who most need them. So if you have any specific or non-specific intentions that need prayers, let me know and we will dedicate our nightly prayer for you. I really think that prayer helps this world tremendously and have hope that more will begin or continue to have quiet reflection and prayer time with God.

A Day at the Park

Today we had some reprieve from the cold, windy winter weather - a great remedy for a severe case of cabin fever. We decided to take out the new wagon (from Santa) on it's second voyage. We went to UPCO park (the big one, at least near us). I thought this would be a good one as it does have a couple of slides for Krista. Of course, when we got there she climbed the slide ladders and then chickened out each time at the top of the slide. We got to swing, teeter totter, merry-go-round, throw sand, and bounce in the car. Then, surprisingly, Krista cooperated without a fight when it was time to leave and climbed up in the wagon. We headed home, where we are now enjoying a favorite lunch of hot dogs and mac'n cheese. Yum!

Computer Fun

Krista's conversation with "Elmo" on her little Sesame Street Laptop computer.

E: How many blue balloons do you see?
K: One, two, three, four, five....
E: How many blue balloons do you see?
K: I'm counting them! (Pushes the "5" button.)
E: Oops, does not compute. There are 7 blue balloons.
K: (Pulls lever for next question.)
E: How many candles are on the birthday cake?
K: One, two, three, four, five....
E: How many candles are on the birthday cake?
K: I'm COUNTING THEM! (Stops counting.)
E: We can play more later, bye bye!
K: BYE!

And Then He Could Walk...

This afternoon, Gabriel decided he could walk on his own. He does short bursts of wobbly walking jaunts, intermittent with crawling at warp speeds. I know, now he will never stop and that's fine by me! It's cool until he's able to crawl over the top of the crib. I say that now as I am watching him attempt to crawl up the stairs by himself... better get going!