patience

Lord, teach me to be patient - with life, with people, and with myself. I sometimes try to hurry things along too much, and I push for answers before the time is right. Teach me to trust Your sense of timing rather than my own and to surrender my will to Your greater and wiser plan. Help me let life unfold slowly, like the small rosebud whose petals unravel bit by bit, and remind me that in hurrying the bloom along, I destroy the bud and much of the beauty therein.

Instead, let me wait for all to unfold in its own time. Each moment and state of growth contains a loveliness. Teach me to slow down enough to appreciate life and all it holds. Amen.

Prayer Source: Unknown.

Clay is back from a week with the Navy. I have NO.IDEA. how real Navy wives do it. He arrived home about 1p yesterday & we had a great afternoon with the kids. Then they went to bed & the reality of buying a home, selling a home & having a baby set in. The sheer volume of paperwork, printing, signing, scanning & emailing with the buying & selling process is ridiculous. We need some patience with one another.

And now I'm here at my favorite office (Starbucks) and there are two lil boys SCREAMING...I can hear them through my headphones. And I need some patience.

I'm off to the OB...where I'm sure I'll need even more patience to get through the wait to see a glimpse our sweet lil baby pea.

And then I'll go home, where the kids will be clingy cause I've been away for a few hours. And I'll need patience.

Then I'll probably start to feel sick, cause that is how my afternoons roll these days. At least the morning & night are getting easier. The laundry will be waiting, and the staging & packing can't wait much longer.

Patience. Please grant me patience & perseverance today. I am blessed and I know it. Help me to keep things in perspective.

easter in photos

the dying of eggs...
goodies from the easter bunny... yum, yum!
he's hugging the peeps. it took him about 10 minutes to figure out they were food.
"how did the easter bunny know i wanted strawberry?!?!?!"

catch up...

the boy...up to no good...

and he knows it...

so...i needed to post some photos of my lovely peas. it has been a BONKERS two weeks. i'll recap in executive memo fashion, then i'll come back later & fill in some more details. cause to say we've had some serious life changing events happen is an understatement.

1. our sweet baby seems to be doing well. i'm actually throwing up...in between anti-nausea meds. for sure the sickest i've been during a pregnancy. we go back to the doctor next week on thursday.

2. i've been having aura migraines...the kind where my vision goes wonky & i literally can't see for about 45 minutes. luckily the best MIL in the world was here to continue to pick up my slack so i could go rest IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY!

3. so, um....we bought a new house. yeah. here in the woodlands....about 3 miles down the road. it's a 5 bedroom, 4.5 bath. this deserves its own entire post, so more to come. and yes...we essentially just bought ourselves 3-5 more years deep in the heart of hot, swampy, bug infested texas. but given all that, we're as thrilled as we can be. and it's on .35 acres, so the man will have a big lot by the bubble standards. and i get a screened in porch :) and everyone gets their own room...including sweet baby & guests...and the only people that have to share a bathroom are luci & gus...and a jack & jill bathroom no less!!! we close june 6th.

4. so...we are selling our house. we hope to have it on the market by the first week of may. wish us luck...say a few prayers...whatever you are most comfortable with ;)

5. flew into chicago last thursday & spent the day with my bff jen & her ADORABLE kiddos. also got to have dinner with long lost

6. i went to galena, il last weekend for a highschool girls weekend. man i love those ladies. we have SUCH a special & unique bond. i'm so grateful that we can go months or even years without talking & then pick up right where we left off. in many ways they are more like sisters than friends. again, more to come!

7. my mom & dad picked me up in waterloo & took me to the airport in dsm. we had a lovely lunch & got some fresh air at the zoo. thanks mom & dad...for driving 6+hours you didn't need to just to hang out. it was fun. i can't remember the last time i got to hang out with them alone :)

8. my very generous MIL stayed with clay & the kids over the weekend and until thursday. clay & i have a few things to do to prepare for the move & the sale of our house & we are incredibly grateful for her help. it kept us sane....sort of ;)

9. i missed my texas bff's birthday. cause i stink :(

i think that is it. surely that is enough, right?

8w3d

meet our sweet baby. measuring right on at 8 weeks & 3 days.

forgive the flash orb in the bottom right.

i was too lazy to scan it when i could just take a photo with my phone and email it to myself.

feeling so, SO blessed. and so, SO full of gratitude.

*also thank you to my fabulous bff for watching my boy while i waited 2 hours to see sweet baby. the wait itself was hard enough...

it would have been ROUGH with my active 15 month old to contend with!

dear babypea,

hello my sweet baby. we've known about you for 4 weeks and 2 days now. tomorrow we hope to see you for the first time (well...your dad will be at work, but dr. j will take your first photo and of course i'll share)...fluttering heartbeat and all. i haven't thought much about actually holding you or meeting you cause your dad & i have a tendency to make babies that go straight to heaven. but we're so hoping & praying that you come play with us here on earth. if you have any say in the matter please be a good listener to mama's words. ;)

when we told your big sister she was full of pure joy. she literally said, "oh thank you, thank you!!" while jumping up & down. in fact, she was so full of joy that it brought tears to your daddy's eyes. (he's a softy, don't let him fool ya). i wasn't sure if we should tell her so soon, but i figured it would be better for her to understand what was going on cause it was likely i'd be acting a little different soon. we told her that mom, dad & Jesus made a baby (you) in mom's belly. and that sometimes when mom, dad & Jesus make a baby it goes straight to heaven to live with Jesus. sissy said, "but i want them to come live with us!" we reminded her of how we pray at night for her brothers & sisters in heaven. but we told her that sometimes, the baby does get to come here & live with us. like brother gus did. then she asked when you would be here and we told her around thanksgiving. she said, "i can't wait for thanksgiving! i think i want a baby sister! what is the baby's name?" having that conversation filled our hearts with joy.

i've been a bit anxious for 4 weeks and 2 days now. it's kind of just my nature. but i promise, i am working very hard on trusting God's plan for our family. you've been helping out too by making me feel so nauseous all of the time. thanks for that. it's an easy cross to bear when the reward is holding you in 9 months.

all that said, the real reason i'm writing this is because i want you to know, my pea, that no matter what i see on that fuzzy screen tomorrow, you are acknowledged as part of our family, and most of all...you are loved.
love,
mama

HOT MESS

the boy is STILL one.hot.mess.

he sneezed a lot last week. i had a feeling a cold was coming. it was.

green goo, wet cough, raspy voice, up several times a night...fun times. on top of teething.

then on sunday he wakes up from his nap with a 100.8ish fever. i medicate before bed but he's up several times. monday his mood is even worse. he wakes up from his afternoon nap with a seemingly broken fever.

but his breath. ugh...his swampy, chicago summer hot garbage breath. just horrendous. starting sunday, getting worse & worse & worse as time went on.

being the good mama i am i remember the pedi telling me the recipe for an infection. 1. green goo out of the nose &/or eyes (check) 2. fever (check) 3. stinky breath (super check)

and i happen to have had a 'just in case' prescription from the last time g had fluid on his ears, but no redness - when we were about to hop on an airplane...so pedi gave me a script 'just in case'.

i confirmed with dr. brooke that this could be 'the case' cause no way i was getting into the pedi for probably 24 hours. so i filled the script and started it around 5:30p on monday.

by bedtime i noticed a rash. i figured it was just one of those post viral fever rashes.

worse on tuesday. he's still one.unhappy.lil.dude. still sleeping horribly.

wednesday the rash is even worse. dr. brooke & i decide it might be a reaction to the omnicef. i make an appt at the pedi. he's only had antibiotics twice, and it was the same one (not omnicef) both times. and the lu is allergic to omnicef & penicillin. so it wouldn't be shocking for him to have a reaction.

but our pedi is out. of course. so we see another. he actually lets me look inside g's ears. now i'm no doctor, but they looked pretty good to me. throat looked fine. but the rancid breath i say...sub pedi says could be a sinus infection, but we have to wait 10 days before they 'should' prescribe something else.

now i am not really a huge antibiotic fan for my kiddos unless they REALLY need it. so in theory i'm fine with this.

but if he had the words, i'm pretty sure g would tell me that he HATES EVERYTHING right now. and i want my happy lil dude back.

so please bottom one year molars...please just bust through. and pleeeezzeee....whatever swamp monster has taken up residence somewhere in his ENT area...GET.OUT.

and the culprit is...

the one year molars. this morning i spotted two partially poked through one year molars on the top. that means more to go on the top, and then another two on bottom. luci was a great teether and i don't think i even noticed her molars. g hasn't been sleeping well, day or night, for weeks now. when he sees a medicine bottle he cries because he wants it. and he makes a sound that sounds like the most annoying sound in the world pretty much all.day.long. (in case you haven't seen the movie dumb & dumber or want to be reminded of the noise, click here) poor thing. the good news is that he's kept his sense of humor. he loves to say 'cheeeeze' and pose for the camera ;)

sisters & cousins

with 4 kiddos...this is as good as my group shot got. i think uncle sunidh got some goodies...

i'll share if i ever get my computer on them!lu was a natural with baby lila do you see those sweet smiley eyes? gus saying 'cheeeeeze', and asher being cinderella. he even wore the heels. we loved it.

my other sis, dr. aunt brookie nae, came for a visit this weekend. lucky for us uncle sunidh grew up in the houston area & has to come down about once a year for a wedding...so we get lucky and get to have them hang out for awhile. the kiddos did surprisingly well together...lu has definitely been missing them since they left.

and, brooke & i had a blast catching up in between diaper changes, feedings, meltdowns & tears.

not the most flattering photo, but hey, this is what we look like when we wake up.

funny how similar our complexions & eye color is. or maybe not so funny?

we are sisters, after all.

thanks for coming & staying brookie nae.

more visitors!

unrelated photos...of my peas reading.

the final contingent of the rosonke family march visitors arrive tonight. my sister brooke, her husband sunidh and their two peas asher & baby lila will be here around 11p. luci is very excited about the possbility of asher sleeping in her room with her on her trundle bed. we'll see how asher feels about this, and then if he's up for it, if they actually sleep!

and on saturday, clay & i are watching all 4 kids for the night while brooke & sunidh hit a wedding downtown. should be interesting, and if you have time, say a few prayers for us!! :)

my aunt baylee & my mr. drew

as the lu affectionately refers to them, blessed us with a visit. these two early twenty-somethings had the energy of, well, two early twenty-somethings. and they focused all of that energy on our peas. lucky lil things. aunt baylee happily played princesses for hours while mr. drew chased gus gus around. on friday night (their last night here) i asked g to give aunt baylee a hug. he promptly walked right over to mr. drew & gave him multiple hugs. with two hands. of course i didn't have my camera ready. but trust me, it was sooo sweet.

buddies
girly girls

aunt baylee & mr. drew needed to complete their last week of P90X while they were here. and they did. baylee isn't messing around. luci did a few 'exercises' with her.

and clay did a full workout with her last night. i have photos, but i may have received some threats when i started snapping them. so i guess i'll keep them to myself...
taking a milk break post workout...or like 3 yoga poses. luci declared it a successful workout!

and the lu also took swimming lessons over this spring break. m-th at 10a. she was in the 'white turtle' class at our gym. and a white turtle she stayed...sweet lil thing. she still doesn't want to put her face in the water. because she's afraid she'll 'choke' she says. i think we need to work on exhaling vs. inhaling. super swim lesson teacher mr. drew had some good suggestions for us so we'll continue to work with her until we are confident she can re-take the white turtle class & graduate to a red frog!

on friday we went to opening day of the outside pool at the gym. i have some photos, but again, received threats regarding making them public. so you'll just have to trust me...it was fun!

sunday best

m'peas...in their sunday best!

this last one is such a typical gus face...

g @ 14 months...better late than never

new words are coming fast & furious this month. dada (all.the.time.), mama (although not very often), zizzy (sissy..luci, that is), nana (banana), turtle, oh tootles (mickey mouse clubhouse show), nigh nigh (night night), uh-oh, no no no no (with the finger point & all), and all done.

i wish he'd say cup or drink or something like that. i also wish he'd say more, please, thank you, and help. but so far no dice. he repeats many sounds, but doesn't use words to communicate as often as i'd like. for example when he wants to go outside he doesn't say 'out', he bangs on the door & makes that aggressive boy sound.

he also will respond with adorable, mostly correct sounds when you ask him what different animals say. cat, dog, monkey, bird, tiger, bear, and cow.

he's a walkin fool. he's also into standing on chairs and lil kiddo picnic tables. he's also all about the perch on a few non-perchable toys.

he's sweet. so, so sweet. gently puts his arms around my neck, plays with my hair. such a snugglebug. at least when he's tired.

he's a great eater. his favorite foods are bread and bread products. he eats carrots & peas & corn, but doesn't want anything to do with broccoli or zucchini. he loves sweet potatoes. and all berries. and bananas. he also eats a good variety of meat & fish.

he drinks unsweetend, organic soy milk. and he loves it now.

he loves balls. there was a random football at the park last week & he picked it up & dropped it/threw it up & down the entire length of the park.

he loves our cats. they sort of tolerate him.

he's in size 4 huggies lil movers diapers, 12-18 month pants, 18-24 month shirts, and 18 month pjs.

he likes pretty much all of the shows that luci likes, but is still calmed only by baby einstein.

he LOVES the bath. and to play outside. and to 'chalk'. and get his hands on sissy's things.

another holiday, another cookie

look at us grandma myrtle! sugar cookies from scratch!

yes, i own a rolling pin!

although to be fair, i'm pretty sure it was a gift from my in-laws.

the work in progress...

can you tell luci's vs mine?

they were all boy approved

and here is my lu. she came in looking for her scissors.

she wanted to "cut flowers" like snow white.

Ash Wednesday

an unrelated photo i've captioned in my head as

"because sometimes mama just needs a break"
It was on Ash Wednesday, 7 years ago, that Clay & I had our first official date. It didn't go all that well (we later discussed how we were both surprised by that), but it is a good thing we decided to give it another go, cause on date number 2, I knew he was different from the rest.


As for Lent this year? I'm not giving anything up. Instead I'm working to make our household more holy. We are going to say a blessing before every meal. I'm going to start saying prayers with Gus at night (Lu already does). I am going to read my new Catholic Mom inspirational books and try to find new ways everday to teach our kiddos more about our faith.


So far for the Lu I've started a "kindness jar." Every time Clay or I catch her doing something kind or showing/expressing gratitude we are going to put a coin in her "kindness jar." And at the end of Lent we are going to give all of the money in the kindness jar to a "friend who doesn't have a nice bed to sleep in." Said friend will be picked by Luci from the Compassion website, probably during Gus' next nap (he wouldn't tolerate Lu & I hanging out at our dumputer). I think seeing a photo of friends in need will hopefully make it more real for her. It is hard to teach true gratitude to a three year old.

I'll keep you posted on how well it works.

a visit from grammy

yes, that is a bow in lu's hair

my mom, lu & gus' grammy, blessed us with a visit. she spoiled luci by playing 'princesses' for about 4 hours a day. seriously. that isn't even an exaggeration. the girl was in make believe heaven! they went to target, got lattes, bought diapers & wipes, etc.
those princesses were busy, busy, busy!

and gusgus was delighted to have another snuggle buddy. at one point i walked into the living room & he was just sitting on her lap as she played gently with his hair.
he was chillin...and lovin being loved on.

mom arrived in the middle of clay's latest week away with the navy and served as an extra energy boost for me when i'd normally start to fade. especially since i was super sick. there comes a point during those week long trips when adult conversation (for me) is really needed. and usually i'd just call her everyday & ramble, but this time i had her as a live, captive audience.
flights were a pain for her....in fact, she's still in her 3 hour drive from msp to new hampton as i type. it'll be much better once the merger is finally all said & done. on many family fronts.
i hope.

thanks for making the pain in the you-know-what trek, mom.
we miss you already...please come back soon!

4. it's started.

her little besties* have officially started turning 4. there will a number of birthday parties between now & her own fourth birthday.

four.

four is so close to five. and five means kindergarten. {sigh}

where, oh where, has the time gone.

i can't believe margeaux is 4. i met trina (her beautiful mama) when I was 10 weeks pregnant with luci. and trina was 30 some weeks (i was told there'd be no math) pregnant with margeaux. seems like yesterday. and now her baby is 4. and this summer, mine will be too.

lulu & the birthday girl margeaux
a princess catwalk...

does it get any better in the eyes of the 3 to 4 year old girl set?

bustin a move on the catwalk...to justin bieber

pizza, cake & cupcake time!


about to cruise market street (the main drag) in the sweet & sassy limo!

it was her first experience getting all dolled up with makeup & glitter & hairspray & whatnot. she was waaaay more into it than i thought she'd be. in fact, per her request i attempted to replicate the 'do for school today. she insisted on glitter & all. i did an okay job, but without the entire can of hairspray they used i doubt i'll ever be able to totally replicate cause she has my fine hair. we actually broke her hairbrush last night trying to comb out her hair. but really i'm just happy she's finally letting me get that hair out of her eyes! we'll see how long it lasts**.

*hi harold & myrtle the great...besties is slang for best friends.

**it stayed in today until about 2p. she told me that her buddy zachary at school said, 'what is that on your head?' then i asked her if he liked it, and she said he did. but when she imitated zachary asking what was on her head it sounded about as you would expect it would coming from a 3 year old little boy.

***i think i found another super fun retirement job. working at one of these joints. i'm sure i'll be too uncool to lead the dance party, but maybe i could work the reception desk. the dance party was seriously so much fun we moms were jokingly asking if we could have mani/pedi/hairdo/dance party birthday party. seriously. sounds like the best moms night out i can think of! add in some drinks & a limo ride home (safety first!) and i think i've got a seriously marketable small business plan!