A long delayed post

I have been having trouble posting of late. I think blogger and my decrepit, virus-riddled computer have teamed up to thwart me. I have tried to write a Christmas recap post many times, only to give up in frustration when I can't move photos around or accidentally delete text. So here is my last ditch effort, jumbled photos and all.


 Christmas happened: Here are the girls after Christmas Eve Mass and before setting out cookies for Santa. They decided to write last minute notes to Santa, which is always good for a parent's blood pressure. You can see excitement was running high.

 



Nanny and Papa came to stay the day after Christmas which meant stinky cheese and port for dessert.

It was a very Hobbity, Lego-y Christmas at the Speier house. Luckily I married a man who enjoys building things out of tiny pieces of plastic.

 



Isaiah got lots of adorable winter wear from his relatives.

 

Audrey followed in Lili's 2nd grade footsteps and donated her hair to Locks of Love



The girls' school put on a production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. They had a blast.

This little man continues to grow and light up our lives. He is finally rolling around, but in general remains a sweet, contented blob of chub.



So that's it for now. Hopefully I can get back to posting more regularly

3 months

3 months gone in the blink of an eye.

Wasn't it just this morning he looked like this?

All wrinkly and sweet and tiny?

Somewhere in between the laundry and homework and cooking and cluster feeding, my little man turned into a roly poly little cherub. He traded in his skinny little chicken legs for a lovely set of cankles. 

One thing hasn't changed: we are all still madly in love with him. He has been such a joy...such a happy baby (as long as you don't try to put him in a car seat.)

Thank you, Emily, for capturing him so beautifully at these stages. If they make me all weepy now, what is going to happen in ten years when I look back on them?

M.O.M.

 So, Lili and Audrey have started having "school" for Kateri when they come home in the afternoons. They have named their program "Mary our Mother" school, aka M.O.M. as in "M.O.M. is such a slacker at homeschool preschool that we have to take matters into our own hands." I guess they can't have me embarrassing them next year when Kateri starts kindergarten woefully unprepared.
Anyway, here is the pile of supplies I found when the big girls went to school on Monday:

I especially like Lili's lesson plan...my favorite is how she wanted to start with a placement test to "see where she is at" although we may need to outsource her spelling program to someone who can, you know, spell.

Here are the rules and contract promising good behavior.

It has actually been really nice the past two afternoons. Lili gets Kateri set up with some work and then does her own homework, taking turns with Audrey, who is the "co-teacher" and handles religion and science. Religion consists of storytelling in the legendary style of the legendary Miss Stagg. I need to set up a hidden camera to catch her in action. I need a video of "choir practice" too, to catch Kateri fudging her way through the Latin hymn Lili has tried to teach her.

 

It all has made for a nice quiet pre-dinner hour.

I wonder how long they will keep it up.

A little comparison

Now that Isaiah is starting to chunk out a little, he looks a little bit more like a Speier baby.

Here he is today.

Compared to Kateri four years ago

 

 

 

Isaiah's Baptism

 Isaiah was welcomed into the Church on October 13th. He wore the gown and bonnet that my father was baptized in. It has been used by three generations, but this was the first Speier child who had a small enough head to wear the bonnet. (Much to his father's delight.)

 

With his Godparents, Uncle Steve and Aunt Cindy

the family with Fr. Vietor (and Abby in self-imposed exile in the background)

 It was a blessing to have both grandmothers there on Isaiah's big day.

 The occasion even put to rest the ancient feud between Luke and his "arch enemy" Tesfaye, who had been praying novenas that his nemesis be blessed with a male heir.

It was a beautiful day, but although the sacrament washed away his Original Sin, it didn't turn Isaiah into a perfect angel, as you can see from this shot after Mass the following week. 



Highlights from Isaiah's first month

We were so happy to get our little man home and settled, where he had no shortage of devoted admirers. There is nothing sweeter than a snuggly newborn, so he spent most of his first few weeks getting passed around between his family members.

I know it looks like Kateri is trying to unscrew his head in this picture. She wasn't.

 We were so grateful that Nanny decided to ignore my hunch that I would be overdue. She was there to cook and clean and take the kids swimming in the heat.  Her presence made our transition period so much easier...plus she was one of Isaiah's favorite spots to nap.

Thank you Nanny!

 The girls have been helpful too (notwithstanding a few squabbles over who gets to hold him and when.) Lili is actually old enough to be a real help...she can rock him and burp him and calm him down when he is fussy. I always knew she was a baby person, so it is fun to see her enjoy her baby brother so much. Audrey's enthusiasm and eagerness to help outmatches her competency right now, so I've given her her own special job. She's the bathtime assistant; helping me get everything ready and get him dressed afterwards.

 He was not the biggest fan of bathtime initially, but he is coming around.

 And if only every new mother could have a husband like mine. I think Lili must get her baby instincts from her dad. His way with babies was actually one of the first things that I noticed about him, way back in college. He just has the magic touch.

 I think Isaiah would agree.

 

I can't believe he has been with us for five weeks tomorrow and yet it is already hard to believe he wasn't always with us. He has already started to change...his skinny little chicken legs are slowly getting some meat on them and is smiling at us now. I can't wait to see his personality come out as he grows.

Isaiah James

It is still hard for me to believe that I have had this little guy in my life for ten days now. I fully expected to be overdue and miserable today, instead of typing out this post one-handed with a sleepy baby on my lap, but thankfully God had other plans. Isaiah James came early on Tuesday Sept. 18th at 12:24pm. He was the tiniest of our babies, weighing in at 7lbs 14oz. I'm not big on birth stories, preferring to remember the labor and delivery through rose-tinted glasses, but everything went well, my midwife was awesome, as was my husband.

After I got over my profound shock that we had a boy, we called Kateri to tell her she had a brother.

"Hey I wanted a bwotha!" was her response.

She and Nanny came down to the hospital right away to meet him...I think this is an example of when (even blurry) pictures speak better than words.

 

( Don't be fooled by those chubby cheeks...he has the skinniest little chicken legs you ever saw.)

 Nona picked up Lili and Audrey from  school and brought them down as well.

 Even Abby made it down to see him.

We are a family of six now! We are so blessed!