Get This Look

You know those "life-style" blogs that show their readers how they have showered and gotten themselves dressed? Yeah well, congrats to them. Today I bring something better: toddler fashion.

I cannot express how much I love seeing another mother in the grocery store pushing a shopping cart with a little girl wearing what is clearly a Batman pajama shirt, hot pink tutu, and waving a fly swatter. I know what happened in that house. That kid said, "But mom, I am a Bat-ballerina-princess today and this is my wand!" And the mom said, "That's fantastic. Get in the car."

Because smart moms don't fight with small children about clothing. Small children will always find a way to win. I only object to clothing choices that are a) actually dangerous and b) not Mass-appropriate if that is where we are heading. The rest of life is fair game.

The nice thing is that most people, when they see you bring your daughter to the library wearing her tutu bathing suit, a cardigan, and green polka dot Baby Legs in early October, assume your kid dressed themselves. The problem is when your older children insist on choosing clothing for your newborn. If your newborn looks ridiculous, well, people are going to assume that was YOUR fault.

Anyhoo. I promised toddler fashion, and toddler fashion is what you'll get.

Protective Head Gear: doting grandparents
Oxford shirt: Children's Place
Undies: Disney for Target
Attitude: Himself

The Obligatory

First day back to school post where I post gratuitous photos of the child returning to school and confess what an emotional wreck I was, I can't believe how big she is, etc etc.

Fail, count 1: did not take a picture
Fail, count 2: did not get emotional.

I was up too late filling out those infernal returning-student forms (um and watching Antiques Roadshow....options are limited when you lack cable don't judge) and then we all sort of over-slept and I spent the morning alternatively encouraging everyone to step lively and worrying about the weird stiffness in the baby's neck.

BUT. We made it on time! It's a back-to-school miracle! Probably I'll stage a faux back-to-school picture later, after I drive 30 minutes into Kentucky to retrieve this item we found on Craigslist. Every boy needs a bike with some chrome.

We had a helluva summer....went to the beach, trudged around the zoo a few times in the ungodly heat, sun-bathed at the pool, and had a baby. Not too shabby.

UPDATED: pics.

purple nails for the 1st day...crucial

This is How We Baptize

This past Sunday (and by "past Sunday" I mean the 12th, not the 19th....so I'm a bit behind...3 kids what can I say?) Pia got her soul nice and cleaned up. And then we partied as Catholics should with lots of cake, cookies, brownies, coffee, and sangria. It's not everyday your kid gets an indelible mark on their soul.

the dunk

the whole show (nice, Dom)

the doting

the pose

the babe

the gown (super old!! i was baptized in this thing, as was my mother....aaaand a whole lot of other people)

the joy

the fancy bakery cake

the spread

the decor

the lounge

the approval

the Brad classic

I made this cake (thanks Pinterest) and by make I mean I sat on the couch and nursed the baby while my sister made the cake and I annoyed the crap out of her in my attempts to micromanage the situation. I also went above and beyond by locating and purchasing the cutest pink, purple, and silver pearlized sprinkles. Best Mom award is a total lock.

I spent most of the party sipping on peach sangria, eating numerous baked goods, and relishing the smell of my freshly baptized babe's chrism-smeared forehead. It don't get no better.

7 Quick Takes

1. I love looking down at this face all day. But honestly....can we get some eyebrows for this kid?

woah. maybe Instagram would help?

 2. I am so glad God invented grandmothers. Grandmothers come to your house and do things like scrub your kitchen floor on their hands and knees after playing Unicorn-Cheetah with your children all day. They are the best.

3. This is how to get anything done with a new baby. Or eat a meal with two hands.

clearly I only ate the meal....got nothing done.

 4. Dominic's current syntax: "Mom can we have orange juice mom??" or "Can we go potty?" When he first starting saying this I would look around trying to figure out who else he was talking about but I soon realized....he's just referring to himself. Conclusion: Dominic has discovered, and regularly uses, the Royal "We."

5. School starts again next week...the big kindergarten year. Gianna is excited but I am certain it will wreck the Doms to lose his playmate. What is crazy to me is that this will be Gianna's third year of full-day school AND her last year before being mainstreamed....We have some big decisions to make. Dang grown-up time.

6. Speaking of school and avoiding grown up responsibilities, who STILL hasn't filled out the returning-student forms that were given out in May?? That would be me.

7. Lastly, I have to mention a friend of mine who gave birth to her son yesterday and held him tightly in her arms for a few hours before he passed away. When Stephanie and her husband learned that baby Peter had anencephaly, they could have ended his life with an abortion, but instead they courageously chose to believe that all life is precious. Stephanie cradled her son in her womb until he was ready to come earth-side, and she and Steve and their daughters cradled Peter in their arms and had him baptized. He knew only love in his short life before he passed into the arms of Our Lord. One of the hardest thing to accept as a parent is that we cannot, and really should not, shield our children from all suffering. When we do we deprive them of the ability to learn mercy and to discover a deeper, self-sacrificing love. Please join me in continuing to pray for this family as they grieve and celebrate the life of Peter Benedict. I have been honored to know them and to pray for them. Their blog.

For more Quick Takes head over to Conversion Diary. Have a great weekend and hold your babies close to you.

It's All Under Control

Today is my first day solo, which explains why

-the kids are zombied out to Sesame Street
-I am parked on the couch nursing and studiously ignoring the fact that we are desperately in need of groceries and I am going to be the one to handle that...with my crew of 3 in tow
-I am also in great need of a shower before I go out in public, but I am ignoring that, too. For now. Plus the babe could use a little bathy-bath...she's yet to have one so it's about time probably.

But I interrupt these critical activities to bring you an important PSA about MomClothes. That is, the clothing moms wear. See, what happens is you give birth and you are happy for 2 reasons. The first is that you have a baby, yay! and the second is that you are done wearing the maternity clothes you are now sick of after 9 months.

Except wrong on the clothing front because even if you've dropped 20 pounds immediately (possible, right? 9 lb baby +decently large placenta+all that fluid=a 20) things are not what they seem. Your chest is larger b/c it's now in the business of milk-making and your hips may have budged. Which in theory I am thankful for because this movement has allowed me to have big babies without major abdominal surgery but it's hard to be thankful when trying on the 8th pair of pants in a rush to be ready for Mass.

So this reality brings me to tell you two things. Uno: if you are shopping with just your daughters and are walking around The Snooty Fox consignment store looking for pants, don't let your boob hang out. See.....I was nursing Pia quite modestly in the sling and she fell asleep and un-latched herself, which is fine, except I forgot to suit up again, and when, a few minutes later, she started to squirm b/c she doesn't seem to like having stuff on the back of her head, I pulled the sling down a bit and just supported her head and neck with my arm and continued shopping. Then about thirty minutes after that I happened to look down and it was kind of like this

Sigh. I really, really hate when the PERFECT youtube video is unable to be embedded.

Oops. So be careful about that is all I'm saying.

Thing dos: You might think a nice, loose-fitting, peasanty type skirt (purchased in Assisi, how cultural can you GET) is a good choice for Mass. Not so, if you have a toddler. I was making a trip to the bathroom to change Pia's diaper and I was rushing a bit b/c I was trying to beat the processional, and I was winning, until Dominic decided, he, too, needed to go to the potty. So he came barrelling out of the pew and lost his bright green Croc, and I had to keep him from going back for it, because at that point the altar boys and priest and etc were upon us. Then I was worried that they would all trip over the shoe. That worry was quickly replaced by worries that Dominic was pulling on my skirt and it was definitely falling off. Plus I was still kind of nursing a semi-screaming baby in the sling. Add Dominic yelling, "My shoe!!!! Need go potty!! My shoe!!!" and I could not get out of there fast enough.

Moral of that story would be, if you are going with a drawstring skirt....reeeeally cinch up that drawstring mmkay??

Two more things that have nothing to do with clothing at all. During the Prayers of the Faithful the upcoming Solemnity of St. Dominic was mentioned. My (non-saint) Dominic looked up and said forcefully, "They say St. Dominic, but I say NO!!" Okie-doke. At least he's listening. I think.

My placenta is in the freezer because I am going to bury it in the garden and plant something pretty on top and then when Pia is older I will insist on awkward things like posing near her placenta-shrub for her prom pictures (assuming we let her do things like talk to boys or go to prom.) It's going to be great, but right now...there it sits, frozen in time. I keep opening the freezer and catching a glimpse of reddish meat and thinking, "Huh, I wonder what that red meat is....I don't remember buying that recently, I wonder if after the meal train is over I can cook tha-----AHHHHHH NO. No. Placenta. Nooo...."

 It's like....she is their goddess and they must present little sacrifices to the altar of her sweetness. Can't complain, really.

Thus Far

During my short tenure as Mother of Three, I have managed to:

-search painstakingly for just the right electronic invitation for Pia's Baptism (via Cocodot, as recommended by a Better Homes and Gardens mag I pilfered from my sister) only to send it out without including the actual date of the Baptism

-test out our new home phone by dialing our own phone number and being very, very confused to hear a busy signal and thinking, doesn't Little Stay at Home Momma have call waiting anymore??

-be unable to find the plug for our wipes warmer, which I organized/nested right into a place I do not remember, then to be surprised by it in a kitchen drawer while I was searching for something else (my excitment over the wipes warmer discovery overshadowed the search for the initial item and now I cannot remember what I was supposed to be looking for.)

-completely forgot to lock the back-of-the-church-bathroom door when we took our fam of 5 to its first Mass. Luckily for me (and the poor man who walked in on me) I had chosen to change Pia's diaper before taking myself to the potty and only her dignity was on the line. Um. And this actually happened twice.

So basically.....becoming the mother of three children hasn't changed me a bit. At least I didn't bring a speeding ticket to Pia's first visit to el doctor.This fact alone tells me my mothering skills are slowwwwwly improving...

Welcome Camp Patton readers and a big, big thanks to Grace for linking me up!!

 I got this.

perfect parenting