Our New Normal... Sunday Mornings

This is what our table looks like a mere 7.5 minutes before we are waltzing out the door to church at the crack of before dawn on Sundays. I have opted to continue breakfast in the parish hall before Liturgy rather than rush it at home in the early 6 am hour. Dressing another little person and having to feed her too has thrown a wrench into our timing though... We were at least 5 minutes late getting into church on Sunday... which led to a massive crisis/meltdown for E because she did not get to venerate the Gospel book - seriously very, very loud. Soooo.... maybe if I can convince her to not complain about how she does not like blueberry muffins next week, we can avoid at least one crisis of the morning.

Otherwise church is pretty manageable flying solo with three... ask me next week after I am 100% solo during the homily as Papa is 'preachin' - according to E.

E needs her Liturgy book - which I think we'll end up owing the parish for one book because the pages are bent and cover is destroyed for hitting the ground so many times

R needs last week's bulletin for her 'book' so that we won't end up owing for most of the expensive liturgical books. She semi-buys into it... for now

M needs to be asleep when we make our grand entrance into church and if she's not she chills out in her carseat and checks things out... I am halfway convinced that babies can see angels so who knows how many she sees during 1.5 hrs we are there. Then she gets hungry, eats, and returns to her carseat.

Yes I look completely crazy walking from hall to church with E and R and 3 Lands End totes and M in the carseat but not strapped in so I have to carry it from both ends... 

Weekend Best 6.23.13 and other musings

I have a bit of a weekend recap plus I think I owe it to the girls to let the world know that church on Sunday was 1000% more manageable than normal - even though I have not seen any Sunday church behavior posts so whatever... I'm doing it anyways.

Saturday we traipsed up to Raleigh for a wedding - that's after we got on the highway and realized we forgot my dad's Fathers Day present and whipped around to get it! E waffled on whether or not she wanted to stay with Grammy and make cookies or come to the wedding and eat cake. She decided on cookies. After a brief lunch stint at my parents (my mom had sandwiches already made in case we ran out of time) Lee and I were off to the Hill for the wedding. It was so nice to see a million people from Newman (where I went to church while at UNC but also made a ton of friends). There were a million kids there too so then I felt bad that E was not there - but then I got over that pretty quick! Reception was great. Actually got to talk to people and catch up. Get the scoop on jobs, next weddings etc etc.

The point I want to make about the wedding is this. Msg. Wall in his homily said this, "In order to love, you have to be loved." How profound is that? Or maybe I'm the only one... but seriously. Think about it. Now think about all the kids/people out the who do not experience love.

Okay for some less heavy stuff. Sunday morning we woke up to egg bake and crumb cake - I wish I had the A. Energy to cook like my mom and B. the patience to learn how to cook like my mom. I can knock out the egg bake but I need to get this crumb cake figured out because it is AWESOME with a cup of coffee (yes I drink coffee while pregnant) and its not too sweet.

We made it out the door on time to church. I got eaten up by mosquitos in the parking lot getting the girls dressed. Then we rolled the dice inside.

E only went to the potty one time before Liturgy started. She sat down more than I would have liked but that's fine. She sang parts of the songs in between litanies. I think there was only one crisis before the Gospel which was manageable. She helped get the basket around with the other girls. We stood in the back for parts 2nd half of Liturgy - which was fine because then I can sort of tell her what's going on. Then she was fine. And she did not even make a mess of the blessed bread like she did last week. Significant improvement I tell you

R - now fully walking - had a fantastic time a church. First she was walking over a .5 in step up in the floor and went airborne. She sat in her chair some and threw around icon cards - still trying to figure out if they are worth bringing in. She and E traded their bible/Liturgy books. She did get taken outside by a super nice lady - I mean outside the building - it was a little hot so I think R enjoyed the fresh air. She crawled and walked around but did not go too far up to the front. She walked in circles during the Anaphora (but was pretty quiet). She did have a minor meltdown towards the end but nothing like the head banging screaming fits of weeks past. She also tried swipe a check or two from the offertory but I took care of that : ) so she was a million times better than normal. Let's hope we have a new norm.

Back to my parents house for Father's Day lunch/dinner. E had a blast with Uncle Kevin. The food was great. The girls and I took naps. E got to play in the sprinkler. We all ate blueberry pie (did I mention I need to inherit some of her baking skills?). We packed our stuff, E did not want to leave, and we all left.

Color coded bags... Makes my life just a tad bit easier. 

Seeing our normal-ish / manageable size pile of luggage made me think in the car. How is baby #3 going to effect our overnight stays? Will we get invited to stay overnight (the answer is yes we will - probably) BUT Will we want to stay overnight? Who knows... We stay at my parents house probably - on average once a month. Some months its a few nights and others it is none. What will Christmas look like? We have done Christmas morning at my parents since... hmmm... a long time. Will we do it this year? What will Christmas be like with a 2 month old? And a 22 month old? And a 3.5 yr old? What about Thanksgiving?

Before I had time to delve into the ins and outs of that holiday I hear the most fantastic noise coming from the back of the van. E and R screaming with delight.

The sisters latest game : ) 

Then I realize that A. it will all work out and B. that as long as the kids are happy and Lee and I are maintaining our sanity then it does not matter.

In other news, E has a dentist appointment today - which I seriously considered canceling. I mean if all you do is count her teeth again I'm not going back for a year.

AND we are breaking down and getting a swingset. I found a really good deal on a really nice one (and it comes installed so Lee is 1000% in favor of it). We can add on to it down the road if we want. I kind of stubbled across it because I had written it off for next year. But Lee and I have been talked about having a pig picking this fall and with the potential number of kids that may or may not come, a swingset would be crucial. So I perused the few really good places, made some phone calls and I think we are making a good decision. I'll post some pics when it goes up.

FINALLY, if you haven't stopped reading yet... I had a dream last night Lee and I were doing some crazy gender reveal party thing and the baby was a boy. I guess I could find out Thursday but even if I did, I doubt I'd tell : )

Sunday Best 6.9.13

I can't get into the what we/I wore link up... especially being pregnant and not fitting into my maternity clothes because some tops are too big (which I guess is a good problem to have). So you'll just have to suffer through our Sunday Liturgical Antics instead.

We did our 6:30 (yes that is AM folks) departure. Makes our Sunday morning much more manageable/less stressful. Did the whole bagel and cream cheese thing in the hall upon arrival. Just dressed we were ready.

Sorry R is still rear facing... but I promise she is there : ) 

Church was pretty crowded this morning so we were forced from our normal quick escape seats to right up front. E&R both did fairly well through the first half of Liturgy. Papa did have to take R out for the homily which is nothing new.

E has this thing where she likes to put her feet on the end of the chair and slouch. Totally inappropriate and we/I am trying to break this habit. But she is wearing some sort of leggings or shorts or tights so it is not a major crisis for sure. She did sing some today which always makes my day. We only had two trips to the potty this week and no announcement of things to come (thank goodness). I tried letting her sit by herself while I stood in the back with R during part numero 2 but that just involved standing/sitting stuff that I did not like the looks of with the priest's youngest daughter. So I interjected and she was forced back to the back with R and I. She does better if I have hawk eyes on her. I don't like giving her free passes at stuff at church because then it sets the standard of below-standard. Anyway, she behavior was significantly improved from last week.

R contained her crawling on the germ-free floor to the back 20% of the church - only potentially bothering 4-5 people (which was maybe 10%) - that is acceptable to me. She sat well outside the bathroom while I helped E - I won't let her come in the bathroom with us; the floors creep my out especially bathroom floors. She did not have a scream-fest that require Narthex door closing (we spent 20-25 minutes with that last week). She only handed me a few dirt-a-lee-dirts off the floor and did not even try and eat them.

So this week was vastly improved over the last. I think that if we had pews the girls would be much more contain-able because the boundaries would be clear; pews are not the tradition of Eastern Catholic churches and we are lucky to have chairs - chairs were (and still are in some churches) reserved for women and the elderly.

Then there was a council meeting after church and the girls got to play on the playground. I think this weekend was the first time I really 'looked pregnant' so all the people who missed our announcement a month ago were in for a shock - there were L&D discussions for awhile while the girls played. Playing continued on over at their cousins house. We actually made it through dinner time there - and we were prepared to leave a the drop of a dime if either one was losing it. We really need to see our cousins often because they are 2.5 seconds away from church and, well, who does not love cousins? Also, I experienced Costco for the first time ever. Steps aside Sams Club - oh wait, we live in the Mount : )

Sunday Best 6.2.13

Let's just say I'm so glad Grace has created an outlet for comical experiences with kids at church and sharing them. Seriously, she has been rating her kids Mass behavior for weeks and I can totally relate.

This week was special because we had to go to Raleigh's mass (there were three men ordained priests - which is kind of a whole lot for that diocese) ordination mass yesterday so we were going two for two in terms of good behavior at church - and is probably the reason why we did NOT make it to the newly ordinated Fr. Elder's mass today - 3 liturgies in 2 days.... hello Holy Week! More on that later this week

Anyways today at church started well for the first 2.5 minutes. R sat in a chair and E was standing up ( we don't have pews - sometimes I think when we go to a Roman Catholic church the shenanigans are contained a bit better). R had her bow, shoes and one sock off before the first litany. Then E and R started freaking out because she wanted E's book. So we head to the back. She proceeds to start handing me dirt particles on the floor - nothing out of the ordinary.

E comes bounding back and forth until she finds the 'right' Liturgy book. I try to remind her to walk in church. R is crawling forward and I drag her back. We go out in the Narthex when the antics get really loud. I am just hoping I can hold out to until the homily because Papa is NOT preaching.

We make it. I pass R off to Papa. E has been more or less doing okay. So I sit with her. Then we have to go to the potty. Go back to the chairs. Potty again - with a few choice words from E that detailing what will happen (or not) in the potty. Seriously. About. To. Lose. It. Can I not have 10 minutes of peace? NOPE. I forgot I have kids. Every mom with little kids at church tells me that.

We get back to the homily. Got my take home point I might reflect on in another post. Then it was over. R was passed back to me and Liturgy continued. E helped the girls pass the basket. I have my checkbook this week so I avoid E freaking out like she did last week because we did not have our money. Priest's wife asks if she can take an unhappy R. Yes definitely. She's a saint.

E again announces she must go potty with some unnecessary details for the people close by. We spend the greater part of the 2nd half of Liturgy in the bathroom. We do make it out for the Our Father. I get R back after Communion. She is biting my shoulder and thinks its hilarious - and after everything that's gone down today I think its pretty funny too.

Then the priest has to make a 5 minute announcement and preempts by saying 'if you have kids that need to get out or run around outside, please take them out.' And the Kibbe's bow out after one of our finer liturgical experiences.

Don't think I'll ever have any pics of our church antics but sometimes I wish I could give you a visual.