If you get a moment...

Please say a quick prayer for Susie and Baby Carson.  Sus has to undergo emergency surgery today, and they will try to keep Carson (34 wks) in place throughout surgery and recovery instead of a premie delivery.  We are all on edge over here waiting for good news!

Corporal Works of Mercy

The Gospel today was about Lazarus (the poor man, not Martha and Mary's sister) and the Rich Man who goes to Hell and begs to go back and tell his brothers to be better so that they will not meet his same fate.  Our priest gave a good homily on what the Rich Man did, or did not do to go to hell (and on a side note, a homily that Cody and I actually heard due to Sean's excellent behavior in mass today--in the 3rd row without any toys except his baby Bible--we were very proud of him).  He emphasized that the Rich Man may not have actively done anything wrong, but that he didn't go out of his way to do anything right either-- he went along with poor Lazarus suffering outside his door "as if he were just a part of the landscape."  Fr. Wilson went on to challenge us all to study and perform corporal acts of mercy-- to actively engage ourselves in serving the poor (feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, clothing the naked, etc etc).  *proof of Sean's good behavior is the fact that I can actually discuss the content of the homily, rather than most weeks when I come home without a clue of anything that went on during mass.* 

On the way home our family had the following conversation:

Cody: I've been thinking more about how our family can directly serve the poor.
Erin: Me too.  What kind of activities do you think we could do?
Sean: Watch T.V. 

I'm not sure he totally understood the concept. 

Unfortunately, within a few minutes of getting home from the early mass today we were touched with a very real, tangible way to perform some corporal acts of mercy.  Our family's oldest and dearest friends' house burned down last night-- after living next to my grandparents for 40 years.  Nothing was salvaged but themselves after building their life in that home for so many years.  It is troubling and devastating news, and exactly the time that God is calling us to serve those like Lazarus-- suffering and poor on our very doorstep.  Please pray for the Wolfstiches with me as we take Jesus's words to heart and offer our prayers and our works for them this week. 

Shake It, shake-shake-shake-shake it...

I hope this isn't too much information for the blog-reading crowd, but I laughed so hard this afternoon I had to share it. 

Sean is now peeing on the potty full time (except sleeping times), but he is still sitting down to do his business.  After a good pee there tend to be a few stray drops, so we have taught him to "shake it" before he is all done on the potty.  A few times (okay, pretty often) when reminding him to shake it, I have broken into a little ditty that goes something like, "shake it like a polaroid picture...."  You know, to keep things light around here. 

This afternoon after lunch Sean was sitting on his little potty in the kitchen when I heard:

"All done pee pee.  Shake it like a polo shirt." 

I hope Sean thinks this is as funny as I do when he learns how to read :)

What could be better than my very own watering can?

My very own watering can that matches my very own Elmo-underpants!

Yeah baby!

The watering can only holds about one pint of water, but amazingly, takes about 20 minutes to fill up.  Who would have thought?

This is my favorite plant in our yard, maybe in the world.  It is a rose bush/tree that seems to always have exactly one rose in bloom, in precisely my favorite color in the world.  I have a perfect view of this perfectly colored flower from the changing table in the nursery, which often prompts me into a short little moment of grateful reflection in the middle of something as ordinary as changing a diaper.

Seriously, could this get any cuter? 

Proper pronoun usage makes me happy

The other night at dinner I was caught in a grateful moment of self reflection as Sean compliantly ate all his chicken and vegatables, James played quietly in the exersaucer and I enjoyed a delicous meal my husband prepared for us.  Taking it all in, I said:

Erin: Seannie, I'm happy.
Sean (big smile): I- I- I- happy too.  I happy.  I happy. I happy too.

How amazingly sweet! When my mom was here last week she claimed she heard him use "I" to refer to himself instead of "Seannie" as he usually does, but I've never heard it.  Now, with a few little words he made the grammatical and emotional parts of me equally, well, happy.

Just Because...

...bathtime pictures are so darn cute.  Happy Monday!

Meeting Baby Xavi

Our great friends Paul and Gretchen welcomed their second baby the other day, Xavier Robert, or as Sean calls him, Baby Xavi, or as Sean also calls him, Greta's Brother.  We went over to meet Baby Xavi yesterday and to get Sean and Greta together after a long and traumatic 5 days apart.

Sean shaking hands with Baby Xavi, held by our collective Nanny Extraordinaire, Bridget.

Sean and Greta working together in the toy box.  Before we went over Sean was chanting "Greta's-House! Greta's House!" and asked me "See Greta?  See Gretchen?  See Baby?  See toys?"

See Greta and See toys = happy.

Sean and Greta trying to rock James together.  Not sure how much James likes this game.  At least he has Baby Xavi to deflect some baby-attention now though.

Seannie Hold that Baby

I was going to do a post about how cute Sean, James and Cody all were in their Irish gear for the game yesterday, but I was too emotionally distraught over the outcome after a hard fought battle against UofM.  If not for the quarterback issues in the first half I think we would have had the wolverines, which makes the close loss that much more frustrating. Anyway, during the game Sean and James were of course being cute, and our Michigan-alumnus friends Ryan and Bridget were over for the game, so I snuck a few shots with their camera. 

When Sean woke up from his nap yesterday his first words were "Irish on T.V.?"  When he found Baby James was awake with his "Irish shirt on," Sean's question soon turned to "Seannie hold that baby?" as it always does when "Baby's eyes are open" (another favorite phrase).  I was able to document the progression of Sean trying to hold his brother:

He spots baby with his eyes open,

Cautiously approaches hoping there are no meddling parents to interfere with some innocent head patting (they're always saying things like "gentle sean," and "don't put your fingers in his eyes, sean..."),

Pats and rubs baby's face for a few seconds,

Moves in for a kiss to convince those meddling parents he really really loves baby, and then sweetly asks "Seannie hold that baby?"

Success!  More kisses for baby :).

Sean's excited face for getting to hold baby, and James's scared face for the same reason.

When not being attacked by Sean, James enjoyed the game with Big RyRy (not to be confused with Susie and RyRy--a very abstract concept for Sean), who was a gracious guest and didn't rub in the Michigan victory too much.  Here they are between rounds of "The more we get together...." -- Ryan's favorite song. 

Ok, so this post really was about Cody, Sean and James in their cute N.D. gear. 

Thanks to a visit from

Susie (right), RyRy (left) and Baby Carson (middle) this Labor Day Weekend, we have a few more pictures to show you this week (our camera is still broken and actually getting the company to perform any service on it pursuant to the warranty is a complete headache). 

Susie and I have been friends for 10 years, since our first day of college, which just seems unfathomable to think back on.  Ryan and Susie started dating halfway through college, and until Cody came on the scene in Law School, Ryan was always the only male among a chattery, fiesty and excitable group of girls (once he got snowed into our tiny apartment for 2 or 3 days with us during a big D.C. snowstorm our Junior year.  We watched a marathon of A Baby Story and he almost lost it about 6 hours in). Ryan is always such a good sport, but he was really glad when I started dating Cody. Now, Sus and I are the outnumbered ones, with two husbands and a total of 3 little boys between the two of us come this November!

Speaking of cute little boys-- here are a few shots from Susie:

Could he get any cuter?  I don't think so.  This is what makes me want 10 more!

Susie and Ry Ry found this awesome George trucker hat for Sean.  Amazingly cute.

The men.  Notice also the George lunchbox which Susie and Ry Ry brought for Sean, and was taken on every outing, and proudly shown to our priest after mass, this weekend.

It looks like someone needs a haircut (its not Ryan!).

One time in college we all decided to run in the Race for a Cure for Laura's Mom.  Ryan nonchalantly said to Laura one day that he, without any training, could beat any girl (with or without training) in the race.  Laura took him up on the bet, but not for herself-- on my behalf, without telling me first.  I had to race Ryan in the 5K to defend the dignity of female athletes everywhere.  He talked a big game, but I won.  By a pretty good margin (I trained for it).  Now he's apparently taking on racing Sean to win his pride back. From this picture it looks like Sean is in the lead. 

One of the reasons we love living in Charleston is all the guests we, or the beautiful city, attract.  Its great getting together with old friends that don't seem like old friends, just current friends :). 

Lahser High School Class of 2000 and My Life List of Things to Do

In just under 3 months the Lahser High School Class of 2000, including yours truly, will gather for our 10 year reunion.  Amazing, right?  This fact combined with a visit last week from an old friend whom I haven't spoken with since we graduated has me think lately about what I thought, at 18, my life would be like at 28.  In cleaning out Sean's art desk the other day I found my old sketch book/journal that spanned high school and college. In it are a few pages titled "Erin's Life List"--a "bucket list" of sorts, before they were called bucket lists, of things I would like to do in my lifetime.  Some of them I have accomplished, some will never be accomplished (meet Heath Ledger), and some seem completely irrelevant and not worth pursuing.  Here are some choice entries:

1. Go to Law School.  I think I always had Notre Dame in mind, but was too scared to put that goal on paper in case I didn't make it.  I'm so glad I did.

2. Get Married. Images of one's wedding and future husband are inevitable occupants of an 18-year old girl's mind.  When I was 18 I thought I would be married by now, sure.  I didn't imagine my husband to be as good looking as he is, and I didn't imagine him to be as thoughtful as he is.  Looking back ten years, this is definitely an area I can say i've lucked out in.  I'm always saying to Cody-- I always thought I would get married, i just never imagined it would be this good.  It is this good precisely because its real now--its not perfect--its messy and disorganized and chaotic at times, but it is full of the kind of life that comes with unconditional love, forgiveness, redemption and selflessness day after day.  And those are things you can't imagine when you're 18. (The picture is actually on our honeymoon- i can't seem to find the wedding picture folder on our computer!)

7. Teach High School.  Hasn't happened yet, and not likely to.  When people ask me if I intend to homeschool (a commone question in Catholic circles) my answer is often "I don't think my talents lie with teaching."  

10.  Meet the Pope.  I would love to.  Hasn't happened yet.

16.  Create Good Photo Albums.  Does a blog count? 

39. Ride Horses.  See previous entries about our trip to Costa Rica this year, where this was accomplished, on the beach :).

61. Own Cowboy boots.  Would still love to make this happen, but Denise beat me to it when she moved to Texas 2 years ago.  She looks really good in her cowboy boots. 

62. Own a pick up truck. Does "borrowing" one from your father in law for three years count? 

Some of my biggest accomplishments in the last ten years I never would have thought to put on my list. If I had they would be things like "Learn how to breastfeed," and correspondingly, "Breastfeed two huge babies," or "simultaneously breastfeed and bill hours."  And, "have a natural child birth," or "succesfully complete a VBAC."  And, "teach a 2 year old to poop in a toilet."  I wonder, will I be bragging about these accomplishments at our reunion in a few months? 

So, I was having a grand time looking at my List, and imagining the things I have accomplished that weren't on there, when I ran into this little doozie:

35.  Be in triathlon shape for 10th LHS reunion.  What?  Surely, I meant 20th reunion, right?  When I read this, about 100 excuses popped into my mind--- I was a lot younger when I wrote that.  I didn't know what it would be like to be ten years older--with jobs, children, laundry to do and bottles to clean.  I didn't think I would have had two children in the two years prior to the 10th reunion.  I didn't know I would be only a few months postpartum when it would be time to get in said triathlon shape.  I didn't know one of my pregnancies would make me anaphylactically allergic to exercise.  I was just wishfully thinking, there's no need to actually follow through with this goal, right?  There are other things on The List that I don't care about anymore-- like #25. "Date a Professional Baseball Player" (what???!!), or #43 "See Garth Brooks Live"--sure it would be cool, but I don't really feel obligated to actually do it.

So why does completing entry #35 nag at me more than a Garth Brooks concert?  Because I can do it, I just don't think I can??  But, why not?  Because of the jobs, children, laundry to be done and bottles in the sink, my very practical and tired self says.  But there's another little voice in me that says "why not?"  Why not just do it?  I know how to control the exercise allergy now, I'm far enough out from the births to be able to (vigorously) work out, and I'm not working full time anymore.  Plus, that beautiful little jogging stroller Cody gave me for Mother's Day-- why not?  Why not give the 18-year-old who wrote that the satisfaction of crossing it off the List?  Why not? 

So, with this newly resolved little voice in my head getting louder, I set off last night, after baby bedtimes, on a very nice 30 minute run-- probably the longest I've done in about 2 1/2 years due to the above mentioned pregnancies and consequences. I loved it.  My legs loved it (and are still feeling it today-- a feeling I've missed!). I don't think an actual triathlon is practical as I don't have anywhere to practice swimming, but I did find a 10K the first week in November.  That's a worthy substitution, I think.  So, in the interest of reunions, nostalgia, a few leftover baby pounds, and keeping promises to oneself, I am making a resolution to run longer, eat better, and work harder to make this happen. Its really scary to actually type these words, and publish them, nonetheless, but I will run the James Island Connector run in November and be in shape for the LHS reunion at Thanksgiving, and I will cross #35 off the List.  Who's with me?