This is the 2nd year we've worked on our gingerbread nativity.  Last year it was a project Grant and I tackled after having the kit for several years, but thinking it was way too complex to actually tackle, so I kept putting it off.  Finally, Grant persisted and offered to do most of it, so I relented and decided to try it.  I will admit, not having a new baby in the house helped with the motivation to actually attempt this seemingly daunting project.  I have to say, it wasn't as hard as I had anticipated and we had a great time.

So this year, Grant was reading the CLAA site and came to me, bursting with excitement, about a gingerbread house contest the school was having.  He and Parker decided then and there that they were going to make the gingerbread nativity and enter to win.  They wanted to start that day and were disappointed to find out that we needed to head to the store before beginning.  They had a great time.  I helped with the baking and assembly, but they did all of the decorating and placing of animals and people.  This is a fun project, but it takes about 3-4 people to get the thing assembled; those figures don't want to stay standing very well.

The entire crew, to include Veronica

The two bakers and vVeronica, who was fussy and wanted someone to hold her; Grant of course scooped her right up

The nativity

Close-ups of their work

Veronica is now just over 3 weeks old and we're all surviving.  Well, we're doing more than surviving, we're busy loving on our newest little blessing.  One so waited for, wanted, prayed for (for years now by her brothers) and one so loved.  Life without Veronica seems as if it never existed, I feel as if she's been here forever; I can hardly remember like before she came.  Yet, her newness is something I'm still cherishing.  I could stare at her all day.  I love that about babies...their ability to captivate you completely while doing nothing but sleep.  How they do this, I don't know and I'm sure I'll never figure it out.

Other than loving to stare at her and soak in all the expressions she makes, the thing I love best is watching her brothers fawn over her.  You would think we hadn't had a baby in the house for years and years the way they all want to hug her, kiss her, and dote on her.  Even Samuel, at barely 2 years old, wants to hug her all the time, share his blankets with her, kiss her head and say, "It's ok baby" when she's crying.  Matthias is always asking me if she's awake so he can rub her head and hopefully hold her.  Parker is relishing being old enough to carry her around.  He volunteers at least once a day to hold her for him; it doesn't last long at all, but he loves it for a few minutes.  Grant can be found carrying her around singing to her.  His current favorites are O Come O Come Emmanuel and Immaculate Mary.  Augustin loves to talk to her, but isn't really one to hold her.

As for her Daddy, well I think he's totally in love.  And who wouldn't be, she is perfect and beautiful and sweet and some how I think she's already got his heart.  He still isn't sure about all the pink and flowers and ruffles, but I think the Christmas dress that he told me before he saw her in it was a little over the top for a new baby, is now somehow perfect for her.  He just smiled when he saw her in it and then scooped her out of my arms to hold her before I changed her into something "less frilly".

And me, aside from wishing she's sleep between 3am and 6am, I think she is just amazing.  She is the tiniest baby we've had in our house for a long time.  She's small and dainty; there is nothing big about her.  Her skin is still that soft newborn skin and I just love and her hair is equally soft.  I'm waiting still waiting to see how she changes things around here as she gets older.

So while we are all busy fawning over our newest blessing, I admit we're not really as focused on Advent as I had hoped to be.  The Jesse Tree is slightly bare and I've been tempted to just put the ornaments on.  The Advent Calendar goes days without me remembering to have the kids add to it.  Our Jotham story is getting read by Grant during the day.  Cookies are getting baked thanks for my wonderful chef...Grant.  We are getting the tree today and I'm hoping it will inspire me to do more, but I'm being easy on myself this year and figure we're having the Advent God wants us to have.  While we aren't focused on Advent and feast days while I would like us to be, we also aren't focused on the presents and commercial parts of Christmas that usually try to sneak their way in.  So it's not all bad.  Christmas will be here in 9 days and I know it will be a wonderful season for us.

A friend sent me a brand new Christmas dress  for Veronica that is absolutely beautiful.  I tried it on her today and took a few pictures; she looked just adorable and I can't wait for Christmas now.

Even the head band fit.

I am always amazed at how quickly time goes by and there is nothing like a new baby to really show you how quickly time does in deed go by.  I sit here typing with my now two week old baby girl in my arms.  How did she get to be two weeks old already?  She is still the love of our lives and is so loved and doted over by her brothers, to include Samuel who tells her repeatedly that "It's ok" when I'm changing her diaper and she's crying.  He stands right next to the couch and rubs her head while she cries, trying to make her feel better.  I've never seen a baby hugged and kissed so much.

Veronica is such a wonderful baby, so calm and peaceful (most of the time).  She sleeps almost all the time and of course, loves to be held.  So I spend my days happily holding her whether she's awake or asleep.  I've had a lot of time to reflect on motherhood and oh how I wish I was the mother I am now thirteen years ago when Grant was born.  I would have done so many things differently.  I would have held him all day long rather than let get used to being put down. I would have let him sleep in bed with me if it meant we both slept more.  I would have taken time to just enjoy him.  Not that I didn't enjoy him, but there is something about time and other children that seems to put things into perspective for me.  I am so much more relaxed now than I was even 5.5 years ago when Matthias was born.

I don't think I will ever get tired of staring at a newborn.  I could really sit and just look at Veronica all day long.  There is something almost intoxicating about new babies, especially when they sleep.  Something that just compels me to stare at them, memorizing their face and expressions.  I love their soft skin and the little noises they make when they sleep.  Oh, how blessed I am to have been able to do this 6 times now.  So Veronica spends her days happily snuggled in my arms (or those of one of her loving brothers or Daddy), she snuggles in with me at night and both sleep for hours on end (normally about 5 hours the first stretch) and wake up refreshed in the morning.  This morning I woke up snuggled between Veronica on one side and Samuel on the other (we really do need a bigger bed).  Life doesn't really get much better than this.

I wish I would have known years ago that just going with baby's flow and their routine rather than trying to force baby into my day would have made for a more relaxed mom and meant ultimately more rest for me.  This has been the easiest transition for me. I feel great, which I think surprises a lot of people.  Life is getting back to normal and I don't really feel like anyone is being neglected.  Such a nice feeling since bringing home a baby can really turn life upside down.  Life is good and a new baby is such a blessing.

Hanging out with big brother Parker

Here are a couple pictures of my tiny little girl.  I am used to my boys who always seem to grow so quickly after birth and now I have my little tiny girl who is barely above her birth weight at 2 weeks.  She is a tiny 7 pounds 10 ounces (just one ounce above her birth weight), but she's doing well and is healthy.

Hard to believe that Veronica is already over a week old.  Time sure flies, even when sleep deprived.  She's a wonderful baby, sleeps almost all the time, eats every 2-3 hours.  She loves to be held...by Mommy almost exclusively and loves sleeping next to Mommy in bed, just like her brothers.  Here are a few pictures taken when she was a week old.

We've taken a ton of pictures that I thought I'd put up, so this will be heavy on the pictures.  I already posted her "birthday" pictures so we'll start with Wednesday.

Dressed in pink....definitely looking like a girl. This was her cousin Evelyn's outfit and blanket and she looked adorable in them.

Visiting with her brothers; modeling the hat Mommy made her to match her sweater and booties

This was amazing view from my room.  Not sure how I lucked out, but I could have spent days sitting in bed just looking out across the city.  The hospital is on the east side of the city and I could see all the way across the west side and over to the mountains west of the city.  Ste. Marie's and tons of other church steeples were all visible, St. Anselm College was up on the hill on the far side of the city too.

Day 3 - heading home
Getting dressed to head home; loving the flowery onesie

Dressed and spending time w/ Mommy

Modeling her new dress and sweater/bootie set Mommy made to wear home

Home at last and spending time being spoiled by her brothers

Wearing her "Little Turkey" shirt that was Samuel's

Day 4
Early morning photos and I mean EARLY morning (about 4am) when she wasn't sleeping and I needed something to do.

More brotherly love

I am happy to say that on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 we were blessed to welcome Veronica Catherine into our family.  She was born at 12:42pm after a very quick ending to labor weighing 7 pounds 9 ounces (she's 19.75 inches long).  She a beautiful and perfect, as all babies are, and is being loved by everyone, especially her 5 brothers who can't see to kiss her enough.  I'll write more later, but wanted to get a few pictures up from her first day.

Meeting her brothers for the first time
                    
We got home yesterday just in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and get settled in for the weekend.

I haven't had a very verbal 2 year old for a LONG time.  I think Grant was my last really verbal 2 year old that could tell you everything he was thinking. Now I have Samuel and he tells me and everyone else, especially his brothers, exactly what he thinks.

A few minutes ago he was trying to climb the pack and play and then move it (it's waiting for baby girl's arrival) across the living room.  I had told him twice to leave it alone and then the third time I said, "Samuel, I told you to leave it alone and I meant it!"  He then looks right at me and says, "No you didn't mean it."

Well, actually I did mean it even if he doesn't think I did and I made that clean and he finally said, "You did mean it?"  Yes, buddy I did.

Saturday was his birthday and Brad made him a "puppy" cake.  He made sure his brothers knew it wasn't their birthday and it was "Samuel's birthday" and "Samuel's cake".  I was hoping when it came time to eat it that he would share it.

He always keeps me laughing and shaking my head at the same time.  He really does know too much sometimes.

The past few weeks have been a roller coaster of busyness and end of pregnancy. Four weeks ago I went in for a normal appointment only to have the doctor tell me that she thought baby girl was breech and wanted me to come in for an ultrasound the following week before my appointment.  I tried to convince her that baby girl was indeed head down, there was no way based on movement that she could be breech.  The doctor didn't listen and insisted on the ultrasound, which showed that she was indeed head down as I had thought, was definitely a girl and that my fluid was low.  This then resulted in a very long appointment including two visits with the doctor and a non-stress test to see how baby was doing.  Baby was fine and I was put on a week-by-week basis for determining if baby was going to make it to her due date or be induced early. I tried telling the doctor that there was no way baby could come before the first weekend in November because I was on team for Cursillo and I was NOT missing that.  He basically had a "let's see" attitude but didn't seem too hopeful.  As we all know now, it's two weeks past that and I'm still pregnant.

So for the next two weeks I went for ultrasounds and non-stress tests, all of which showed baby was/is fine and my fluid levels looked better.  So Cursillo came and went and was wonderful and I made it through without having the baby.  I've had two appointments since then and since the fluid levels look good they've decided to just let me keep going unless something changes.  That brings me to last weekend when I think I finally decided that I was ready to have the baby; normally I love being pregnant, but the last few weeks are always hard with what seems like continuous contractions that lead to nothing.

Friday night we went to Ultreya which was great fun and very busy with women from the weekend which made it even better.  After getting home and getting the kids into bed I started having contractions 7-10 minutes apart.  Nothing big, but they were there and timeable, so I stayed up a little later than Brad and finally decided they weren't getting any closer or strong so sleeping was probably the best option.  I slept alright, no major contractions, but I woke up exhausted and my abdomen was tired from contracting all night.  I spent Saturday trying to keep busy with errands and stuff around the house, all while the contractions kept on like the night before only by mid-afternoon they were 3-6 minutes apart, but not overly strong. I finally took a nap, my body was exhausted and my back was killing me.  This continued throughout the afternoon and evening and finally at 9pm the contractions stopped all together.  I slept better Saturday night and Sunday had no contractions at all.

Monday morning started out normally, no real contractions or anything, but by night I was back to doing what I'd done Friday night.  So off to bed I went only to be woken up several times with contractions.  Tuesday morning between 5 and 5:30am the contractions were back and this time very painful, close together and not just the typical braxton hicks I'd been having.  After about 3 hours of strong contractions that were at times right on top of each other I called the doctor and they had me come into the office. Brad called into work and brought me down only to find out I was only 1 cm and 60% effaced and sent home to see if labor progressed.  Well, as you can probably tell...it hasn't.  About 5 hours after the contractions started, they stopped and have been essentially stopped since then.

The roller coaster that makes up the last few weeks is enough to drive me nuts.  Is the baby coming?  Is this really labor?  Are the contractions going to stop?  Up and down, day after day.  This is when I start getting impatient and really ready for baby to just arrive.  I've never been early and still have 8 days to go, but I've never had contractions like this as early as this time, so I've been hopeful she would decide to come early.  I have another appointment tomorrow and we'll see what they say, but I'm not hopeful that it will be anything other than a routine appointment and I'll come back the following week.  I still have a week to go before her due date so I figure in all honesty I have about 10 days to go, possibly 14.

This has given us a chance to pick dates and weight guesses for baby girl which was fun for the boys.  We'll see who is closest.

It's hard to be believe it's November already, where has the year gone.  With baby almost here we've been pretty quiet around here.  I like November, there are some great feast days and we remember all those who have gone before us while preparing to finish up Ordinary Time and begin Advent.  Last year I made a post to teach the boys about the Communion of Saints; to see that post click here  I took it out and hung it up again this year and the boys are loving it.

I love how visual this turned out and really does teach the kids about the Church Militant, Church Suffering and Church Triumphant.  I do need to move Br. Andre up into heaven now that he has been canonized.  I can't wait to do this with the boys this week and then learn more about the canonization process and see the progression from purgatory into heaven.  I also need to add our newest family member, Oliver (my nephew) to the Church Militant since he wasn't born last year when I made this.

Prayer of St. Gertrude the Great 
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen