7 Quick Takes - some of my most random thoughts/experiences for today

1) Nothing gets the blood flowing like your seven-year-old hollering, "Mom, there is a spider in my room!  IT IS A BROWN RECLUSE!!"  Although I suppose it "could" have been a brown recluse, he was telling me he could tell because of the green dot on the back. . . ummm, last I checked BR spiders had that fiddle thing.  Anyhow, this one was so small, it was either a baby (eek!!) or one of those regular little spiders (you know the ones).  I'm banking on it being the second choice and am praying there is not a nest of BR spiders tucked into my children's room this evening.  I am so tired of spiders right now.

2) I am 3.5 months postpartum and if you were to draw me on a comic strip, I would look like I was glowing because of all the hair I am shedding.  I am CONSTANTLY losing hair and it is EVERYWHERE - on my clothes, on the floor, in the food, on the toys, wrapped in the baby's hand.  I am almost ready to shave my head. . . but then I remember a woman with six kids who homeschools and drives a van like mine does NOT need another reason for people to stare in her general direction.

3) Miriam's latest phrase is "HELP MEEUM!!"  She gets so flustered sometimes (most of the time) when she cannot do something, so she runs around frantically to either me or one of the older children crying for help.  It is quite annoying to me to have my "inner zen" attacked (I just want to scream "CALM DOWN" every time I hear her - which as we all know would be a little counter productive.) by her frantic tone.  Yet, often the fix is so quick and she immediately calms.  Even just addressing her problem, even if I do not give her what she wants, is enough for her to stop her intense wail of a cry for help.

4) I vacuumed the rug today and Rebekah asked who was coming over.  I'm fairly certain my kids believe that if we did not have house guests we would never clean.  But perhaps a little bit of me believes that, too. . . 

5) I keep my calendar in an excel file (I make it up myself and have been using/adapting the same file for the past five years or so) and I think it might have become corrupted (oh no!!) as it will no longer print or register that any page exists for printing.  It is the weirdest problem I have EVER had with a computer file.  In any case, I saved it as a different version (at the hubby's suggestion) and was able to print the October page so crisis averted. . . for now.

6) Zipporah  is taking after her big sister Rebekah in her sleeping habits.  She sleeps like crazy (10-12 hours a night, often going to bed as early as 6:30pm if I let her).  She naps great, too.  Yes, I am aware that by sharing this with everyone it will cease to be true, but honestly I'm amazed by her right now!!  She is such a great addition to the family.  Everyone loves her.  (And yes, I probably would/will still love her when she starts teething and decides sleep is for the weak and crying is much better.)

7) And to combine two of my previous topics for this final point. . . my shedding hairs seem to always fall on the backs of my arms. . . which is also (oddly enough) were I have been finding spiders, either crawling on me (eek!) or bites.  So now, every few minutes (it seems - probably more like three or four times a day in reality) I am frantically looking at the backs of my arms to double-check that it is in fact my hair tickling me and not a spider!! 

Rebekah's 9th Birthday

So back in June, our newest family member decided to join us outside the womb (with a little assistance,of course).  And in the midst of recovering and learning to take care of six children, I missed blogging about my oldest daughter's 9th birthday, which was in July.  Since this is my blog and I make up the rules, I have decided it is ok to blog about it now. . . in October and she is lucky she is getting  a post at all.

We were at Grandpa and Grandma's house the day before Rebekah's actual birthday, planning to come home that day.  But Uncle Erik (prompted, no doubt by his two daughters) spontaneously asked if Rebekah would like to stay with him for a few days.  As much as we tried to say no (Rebekah is my NUMBER ONE helper around the house!!) we were unable to convince her that coming back home with her family would be as fun as staying with her cousins.  The catch is that with her gone, we did not exactly celebrate her birthday without here back at home.  Then she got back into town on the same day as Zipporah's baptism.  And while we had a cake for both of them, letting them share the day of celebration, overall, Rebekah's birthday was largely underplayed.

But she did not complain. . . because generally she just does not do that.  So I will continue with a "birthday post of sorts," in this spirit of gratitude for the amazing young woman Rebekah is becoming.

Reason #1 that Rebekah is amazing:

She has such a sweet soul.  I have quite a collection of holy cards and they seem to keep growing (charities love to send that kind of stuff).  I usually give them to Rebekah to use as bookmarks.  After going through a basket of "stuff" (you know, that "stuff' that collects everywhere like plaque and is just difficult to keep up with!! - but I digress) I gave her a fairly large pile of cards.  I expected her to put them in her desk.  But later I discovered she had concluded there were too many for her desk.  So instead, she took some sticky tack and put the religious pictures up ALL OVER the house.  Seriously, they were EVERYWHERE: Below the car key hook, on the front door, on the dryer, on the bathroom mirror, below the crucifix in my bedroom, even on the OUTSIDE part of the back door.  You could barely walk two steps without encountering one.  It was very sweet.  In the picture below you can see one by our holy water font.

Reason #2 that Rebekah is so amazing:

She gently leads us all toward holiness.  The other morning I noticed the little note beside the holy water font (as shown in the picture above).  She wanted to remind us to use the holy water.  This font and her sign are beside the doorway to the kitchen.  A doorway everyone walks through multiple times during the day.  A well-thought-out plan, there, Rebekah!

Reason #3 that Rebekah is so amazing:

She has a heartfelt generosity that knows no bounds.  A while back we were over playing with our neighbors in the late afternoon and dinnertime was approaching.  I commented on what we were having for dinner (as I believe it was in the crockpot or the oven - whatever the case, it was almost ready for us to eat) and our neighbors said they had not started dinner yet so it would be a while before they ate.  Unbeknownst to me, Rebekah slipped back into our house at this point and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the neighbors, so they would not have to wait so long for dinner!  Then, about ten minutes later I gathered our crew and started heading back to our house.  Out came Rebekah with the sandwiches that she proudly presented to our neighbors.

Rebekah, you are certainly one of the greatest gifts I have received!  Such a wonderful big sister and role model for us all.  I thank God for the young lady you are becoming and pray He will continue to bless you, today, forever ago on your actual birthday,  and always!

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.  

(Ephesians 1:16)

Our Online School Experience. . . so far

As I mentioned in a previous post, the children are "attending" an online public school.  To give a little history, all of the older three children have attended a public preschool.  The oldest, Rebekah, also attended a Catholic school for two years.  For the past two years we have homeschooled on our own (with an eclectic approach).  Now, with three in school we are giving the virtual school a try.  So without further ado. . . 

Pros:

1) CHEAP!!  It is $97 per kid, and that includes everything.  They even send a computer if you need one, no extra charge.

2) All the planning is DONE.  No serious prep work required.  Sometimes you need to print things or gather materials (such as for science experiments), but they have it all laid out for you under "advance prep" for "tomorrow" or "the week" and for all your children or just one.

3) Lots of computer work and that keeps the kids interested.  Each lesson is "recorded" online.  

Some of them will read something along the lines of, "This lesson is 'offline' so gather materials (which they have a link to, so you can see what they look like and print them if you want - or go find them in your workbooks/textbooks/teacher's manuals) and follow the activity guide."  Then you click to the next screen and mark the lesson complete.

Other lessons will have some information that the students read through and a question or two to answer on the computer (and then it will tell them if their answer is right, etc), with each screen.  With the younger ones it has lots of games and simple instructions, for example, "Click the object that is a square" - or "Sort all the shapes into the correct bins."  I REALLY like the online work for vocabulary words.  They are hearing the words pronounced correctly and the definitions, often while seeing pictures to reinforce.  It is handy for phonics games, for Jacob, also.

They also have links to games during the lesson.  There is a math game about germs that the kids really like.  They do math problems to get the goop to flow and neutralize the germs.  There are also spelling games.  These are played online and I have saved the links to them, so we can pull them out whenever we want (not just when the link comes up in a lesson) and Samuel especially likes those.  He asks to play them on weekends and in his free time.

4) I like the vocabulary words chosen so far and I am glad they are teaching to learn definitions from the context, but also having them check in the dictionary to be sure.

5) The online classes (in blackboard) are enjoyable and I think Rebekah learns some from them.  I like her learning some from another adult (besides me) and I like to see her interacting with other kids she does not know (even though it is in the virtual world).  (Only Rebekah does these - two per week, one in reading and one in math - because they do 3rd grade and up in them, I believe.)

6) Our "Education Specialists" (aka "teachers") are very friendly and helpful.  (In case you were curious, my title is "learning coach" which I think fits well.)  Plus, it helps to be held accountable to someone else.  They talk with me and each student about twice a month, unless we have problems, questions, etc., as they are available anytime (within reason).

7) Having our workload set for us gives me a sense of what "the real world" expects us to be accomplishing in a given day, week, month, etc.  If nothing else it is helping me get a picture in my head of how our time should be/could be spent in a given day.

Cons:

(I would like to preface here, that I do not claim to be an expert.  I could have misunderstood or flat-out "missed" some of the instructions or I could be doing some things "the hard way," without realizing it!  I am not perfect, so some of these cons could potentially just be "user error." )

1) The lessons are repetitive and often have less content than I would expect.  Imagine the homework they send home from school when your child is sick.  Now imagine your child being sick every day of the year.  That is basically how virtual school goes.  In my experience, homeschool curriculum can be more in-depth as the student is more focused and one-on-one learning is so effective.  But these lessons could be picked up and taught to 20 kids pretty easily.  I'm not faulting them for it.  They are most likely written by a school teacher.  But, as I said, from my experience, school done at home does not need to be structured quite the same way and having one child do repeated activities that were meant to be spread about over a larger class, can be tedious and boring at times.

For example, Samuel needed to count from 1 to 500.  They had him practicing little snip-its of counting from here or there (count from 99 to 155 and count from 345 to 389, etc).  Then they had an animated kid counting (on the computer) and Samuel listening - to different parts.  For the 40 minutes he spent listening and doing his worksheets for this lesson, I should have just had him count to me from 1 to 500 (as I figured he probably could) and been done in 5 minutes.

2) It is a lot of computer work.  Now, I would not say it is too much, but if you are wanting to be basically "unplugged," this is not the path for you.  Plus, the lessons are all online on their server.  The other day, their server was down. . . that was a little frustrating.  But our education specialist said that happens maybe once a year, if that.

3) Some of the content is not what I would pick.  For example, Jacob is reading fairy tales for his Kindergarten literature.  The first one we read was Goldilocks.  In this version, the wolf eats the grandma and then the girl.  Then the hunter hears him snoring and sees them in his throat, so pulls them out and the wolf runs away.  When we got to the part about the wolf eating the grandma, Jacob said, "I don't like this story. Can we stop now?"  He was so distraught!  Then after we finished the story he said, "Wolves don't REALLY eat people do they?"  My answer, "well, not normally people IN CABINS."  Of all the literature in the world, are you telling me they could not find some that would not give my Kindergarten nightmares about wolves eating people?!?!  Sheesh.

4) Although the materials are plentiful, they are a bit confusing!  Rebekah has about six different books she works from for her Language Arts.  Two of them are writing books.  One is solely grammar, but there is grammar in her "Language Skills" book also!  She also has a literature book, a spelling book, and a vocabulary book!!  It is rather confusing many days to figure out what book she is supposed to be in - and even what page to be on!  (As she skips around some, too.)  It does not seem very systematic to me.

5) Obviously, there is no religion course since this is a "public school" so I am trying to supplement that on the side myself.  I suppose that keeps it separate so they realize that studying the Catholic faith and the Bible are not really just school subjects, but at the same time, I do think they should be spending time each day putting their heart and soul into understanding our faith and studying Scripture.  In my head it is perhaps the most important "subject" of all.

* Obviously I will have much more to say about this by the end of the year, but I wanted to get my thoughts out now while I am thinking about them.  I am quite curious to see how long it will take us to finish and if we will end up working through the summer or if we end up finishing early.  Although there is a progress page online that shows where we are, it is difficult for me to get a sense of how fast we are really moving and to anticipate if we will be able to keep that pace, or what other distractions, etc will come up along the way.

7 Quick Takes. . . What is on my mind lately.

1) Lately I feel like time, in general, has simply vanished.  There is NO TIME for ANYTHING!!  Want to read a book?  Sorry, no time.  Want to sew on boy scout patches?  Sorry, no time for that.  Want to clean off the top of the piano?  Want to redo the living room sacred space?  Want to wash the water bottles?  Want to clean up the kitchen?  Want to actually fold the laundry and put it away before the next wash comes through??  Want to get back in the rhythm of daily family prayer and bible study?

Somehow when I was not looking my life has taken off running without me and I cannot seem to catch it again!!  So what am I doing despite all this missing time?

a) I have managed to find time to feed everyone.

b) School work for the older three is going pretty well.

c) We have gotten back in our regular daily Mass once a week routine.

d) I'm getting the kids to Aikido, swim team, and religion class on Wednesday nights (which I am beginning to be convinced is a colossal waste of everyone's time, but that is for another post).

e) I am nursing and caring for a baby.

Hmmm. . . I guess my afterthought "e" there might be taking up some of that missing time. . . but honestly she is a fairly easy baby.  She does like to be held and nurse quite a bit during the day, but she is by no means a seriously "high maintenance" child.

2) My children's books need assistance.  We have quite a few books.  However, I feel they need to be organized in a different manner.  Right now they span about 8 or 9 shelves of four different bookshelves (the upper shelves are for adult books or photo albums and some of the other shelves are for toys).  I read a post recently from Catholic Icing, about how she organized her books by level and that helped.  I have considered doing such.  I even ordered some stickers for it.  But now I am hesitating as I am not sure I have the capacity to separate them by sticker. . . and really even if I did, some of the books are hardback and some are softcover.  And of the softcover books, they vary greatly by size.  They do not stack well on the shelves. . .at all.  So should I put them in bins or buckets??  I have some canvas bins, but my children have destroyed several of those in the past.  Is this because my children are overly destructive?  Or because I am lax in my parenting?  Or simply because we had the bins for several years and they are not necessarily made to stand up to that kind of stress?  Perhaps I need new shelves (like cubby-type-shelves instead of my regular bookshelves), but I have nowhere to put such shelves and no money for making those kinds of changes right now.

I've also considered splitting up my books into twelve groups and then rotating them by month, but. . . where would I put the ones NOT in rotation?!?!  (We do not exactly have an excess of space around here.)

3) My two-year-old, dear sweet Miriam, is driving me BANANAS at bedtime!!  Why she will not just go to sleep like everyone else is so beyond me.  I know that is a rough age.  I know kids around two and three-years-old like to get up and turn on the light and generally cause a stir.  But good gravy, it has been over three months since we moved her from her crib to her toddler bed.  Get it figured out already!!!  She is the last one to sleep and the first one up.  I have tried adjusting her nap (longer, shorter, earlier, later, skipping. . . hah, that does not happen - she will simply deactivate wherever she is) and that is no help.  I KNOW this phase will pass.  I KNOW all the other children (with the exception of "Angel" Rebekah - who is God's gift to us as the best possible child in the history of ever. . . nothing like setting the bar high for her siblings) went through this and they all go to bed with little fuss now and sleep until morning, no problem.

I think what frustrates me most is not being able to "fix" this problem.  I can lay by her for a while, but it is HOURS before she will fall asleep with me by her side.  I can rock her, but again, I can rock her for AN HOUR (honestly, I will watch the clock) and she will still be awake when I lay her in her bed.  She just needs to figure it out, preferably before I go insane.

4) I am growing to REALLY like my husband.  I just thought I'd throw this one out there with all the rest of the "craziness" I have posted so far.  Despite my current sense of ineptitude in some respects, it is nice to feel as though my husband and I are at the least on the same team, and most days, even playing the same sport!  

I know, I married this man however long ago, you would think I liked him "enough" to do that, right?  Well, of course, but we change as we grow and we are really starting to grow more together.  We appreciate each other more these days.  We are slower to anger (mostly) and quicker to forgive and move on.  

There is so much about marriage that I would say one can only learn as you do it.  And honestly, when I got married, I had NO CLUE!!  Sure we took the marriage classes required by the Church and such.  Sure we went on an Engaged Encounter (which was a royal waste of our time, but again that is for another post).  But I cannot tell you how many times, since getting married, that I have HONESTLY THANKED GOD for giving me such a great husband.  Because I had NO IDEA he was going to be such (or what one would even look like) when I married him!

5) I am beginning to see my faults more. . . and I think this is good.  I have been really trying to get to confession more often.  Lately it has been once a month or so.  And I have REALLY been trying to examine my conscience each night.  I feel like God is trying to pour grace on me, but I need to examine my conscience to scrape out a hole for it to fill!  Then, when I got to confession, I get even MORE grace dumped in to help transform me into a saint.

6) I have started exercising at a fairly intense level again (going on about four weeks now) since I had my last baby.  I really felt like I was more fit this past pregnancy, than I have been for any of my others.  Even the last few weeks did not seem that bad physically.  And then the birth went amazingly well and I recovered fairly quickly.  The only frustrating part at the moment is to see where I was (remembering how my clothes were getting very very loose right before I got pregnant - I had just lost about 25lbs) and see how I am NOT THERE now.  I feel like I am fairly strong still and I have "nice curves" but I was much more lean and quick before.  I hope to get there again.  I am trying to be patient and give myself some time.  It is a conscious act of the will to do so.

7) God has blessed us with some amazing neighbors.  Honestly, my kids go play in the next-door neighbors' yard AT LEAST three or four times a week - often for hours on end - and the neighbors even seem to like having them there!!  Plus I can get some "adult conversation" (and chatting with my stay-home-mom neighbor is better than dessert.  She is so skilled at conversation she should be a therapist - seriously, I LOVE to talk with her!!  She is so good at asking questions and reformulating what I am saying to show she really is listening.  I am so in awe of her social skills!) anytime I pop over to join in the fun the kids are having.  Then on the other side we have an older couple with their kids all grown, but they are super-friendly and supportive of our kiddos.  Across the street is a nice "old guy" that often gives us fresh produce from his garden.  And down on the corner is another fun family with kids!!  My husband wants to move out in the country.  While I would not mind this, I cannot help but be SO GRATEFUL for the loving and supportive people he has given us right outside the home we have now.

Well, there you have it.  The top seven subjects rolling around in my brain right now.  I hope you enjoyed them.  Coming soon (hopefully) will be "the case of the missing birthdays" (aka, a recap of Rebekah's 9th birthday, which was in July, and Jacob's 6th birthday, which was in August).  So stay tuned!!

Zipporah approves of this message :)

My Latest Brilliance

We have just finished up our first round of mid-year dental appointments here.  Our dentist recently changed things up so we have to go in for our check-up and THEN schedule ANOTHER VISIT for the cleaning. I'm less than thrilled to say the least, but I digress. . . . Two of my children have showed some tooth decay (Samuel last year and now Jacob this year), so I realize it is time for me to "step up" the brushing.  In an attempt to do so, I have now started having the kids use an electric toothbrush.  I have one and I purchased a second so we can have two people brushing at a time and that is really about all that can comfortably fit at the sink anyhow.  In an attempt at cleanliness, I gave each child their own toothbrush head.  And in the beginning we kept them each in their own plastic baggie (labeled with their names in sharpie), on the bathroom counter.  That worked real well. . . ok, not really, but it was all I could think of!!  And then, last night I was at Wal-mart and kept my eyes open for something.  After much browsing in the "bathroom stuff" aisle I began to finally start to visualize what I was needed.  Then, as I was gathering a few office supplies, I stumbled upon this. . . 

No, it did not come with the labels.  I added those.

The drawers are perfect for holding tooth brush heads!  And some toothpaste and old toothbrushes (for traveling and Miriam still uses a plain hand-held toothbrush) on top!

School Days. . .

These are a few of my favorite things. . . 

We are homeschooling again this year.  As difficult as it can be to prepare for (and to survive), the more I do it, the more I cannot imagine going back to traditional school.

This year we are trying something a little different as we have enrolled in an online virtual public school.  So it is "public school" at home.  There are pros and cons with it for us.

There is quite a bit of computer work involved in their studies and they all enjoy that A LOT!  It makes this method "fresh" and "new," and even "fun!"

But there is still lots of book work and traditional reading and writing going on, as well.  We are slowly getting in the groove of how things work.

I am hoping to finally put together "my part" of their schooling this weekend.  (Since Catholicism and Scripture are not offered at a public school.)  Likewise, our Sacred Space could use a face lift and our daily prayer has been sporadic (as we have not quite mastered the new schedule yet).  Although I have some guilt about not starting/doing these things sooner, I keep reminding myself that I am still recovering from/adjusting to this new baby!!  So I need to cut myself a little slack now and again.

We have had one of our upstairs bedrooms termed "the study" for the past several years, and we have attempted to do school work in it for a couple, but this year, it finally seems to be working!!  I believe the secret is having ME in the study with them.  I used to get them started and expect them to do their work, while I went and sat in "the comfy chair" in the living room (away from them).  Although this was great for nursing the baby, the children really need me by their side as they work, even if it is just for moral support.

Here is our current set-up.  The little table is for Paul and Miriam.  They do not do much school yet, but we have a plethora of educational toys that they enjoy.  Then the desk Rebekah is at in this picture is actually Samuel's desk.  Jacob is sitting on my chair (the blue one ) which is truly part of the secret this year.  My husband picked up this chair at a work auction and it is amazing.  It is VERY comfortable and obviously has wheels, so I can scoot over by each of the children as needed.

In this picture, Paul is at the computer Rebekah likes to use.  And the table beside it with the tall chair is where Jacob sits.

Rebekah also has a large desk we inherited from my mom.  It is good for her as she likes to collect stuff (twigs, leaves, craft stuff, cards, etc) and this desk has lots of places to put "stuff."

Everybody loves whiteboards here.

Here are the majority of our "educational toys."  I considered tidying them all up for the picture and then promptly decided a "real life" shot would be much easier and realistic, to boot!  :)

I guess the heart of our homeschooling can really be summed up in an encounter I had the other day.  I was making dinner and Rebekah came to ask me if I "had time" to come help her.  And although it was a simple request, I just felt it resonate deep down.  I love "having time" for them.  I LOVE sitting beside them and helping them learn.  Through the insanity and struggle with schedules and children wearing their "grumpy pants," I feel blessed beyond measure each and every day.

7 Random Takes for the end of August

1) Miriam likes to take a running start to get her clothes on or lay down to get her diaper changed.  Seriously, she goes back a good eight or ten paces and runs at me, then stops (not such a big deal as she does not run all that fast yet) and lets me put her shirt over her head or lay her down to change her diaper.  For some reason, I find this entertaining rather than annoying.

2) I am having some guilt over not blogging on some key events (namely Rebekah's birthday - that was at the beginning of July!! - and Jacob's birthday, that was this month, but a while ago).  I am still trying to decide if I should do a post for them (of some sort) or not.  I guess if I hesitate long enough it will be time for their next birthdays, right?  :)

3) We are starting school next week.  I finally got the study all cleaned up and the desks are ready.  I would post a picture, but I am pinned down by the baby at the moment so you will have to take my word for it.  Although I have enjoyed this "lazy time" the past few weeks, as the rest of the world has started schooling ahead of us, I think we are ready to buckle down and get to some "serious" learning here. . . or at least get back in a more structured routine.

4) Adapting to life with six children has been considerably easier than expected.  I am not sure if it is because the last few weeks of pregnancy went so well for some reason, or because her birth was so great, or because I just seem to be getting better at having babies!  (Which is odd because I assumed it would get worse the more kids I had - as it would wear my body out more, and then of course, it would be more difficult as I got older - but I seem to still be going stronger than ever.  I guess I'm not old yet.)

5) Even though it has been "easier than expected" to adapt to having six children, I am still having a bit of a transition.  I have finally gotten the freezer stocked again with some ready-made or quick meals.  We do not rely on these all the time, but they are exceedingly handy in a pinch.  I cannot seem to get the house organized at the moment.  I finally mastered the study, but now the laundry/storage room is exploding.  Plus, the baby has already outgrown quite a few outfits and the clothes bins need to be sorted again.  The fun just never ends!!

6) Two of my children have cavities now.  (Well, Samuel had one last year and had it filled.  Today I discovered Jacob has a cavity that needs to be filled.)  I suppose we need to work on our brushing (I had been having Rebekah and Samuel help the younger ones).  I have started letting the kids use an electric toothbrush (different heads for each) so I am hoping this will help some.  Since it has been going well, I ordered a second one (so we can double up and not take so long to get all that brushing done).  I am trying not to let this make me feel like a bad parent.


7) Zipporah is an amazing baby, much like her sister Rebekah.  At about a month and a half old she started sleeping 8-10 hours a night.  She has continued to do so (settling more like 10 or 11 now).  I was hesitant to say anything for a while, as I know there can be some random occurrences, but she has stayed pretty consistent so far.

And if you have read this far, you deserve some pictures, so here are some that I find absolutely hilarious.  My husband is. . . such a kid.

And here are a couple random shots of my husband crashing my Catholic Motherhood group so he can hold one of the babies.  He is blessed among women - hehe :)