Its beginning to look at lot like the fourth week of Advent!

Well, things around here have been pretty busy. We moved (2 weekends ago now!) to a bigger apt, which is still hard to keep de-cluttered. (Who knew? Bigger space doesn't mean less clutter!) We're trying to combine unpacking with decorating for Advent and Christmas... Makes for lots of clutter! Moving in the middle of Advent also kind of throws a damper into creating an Advent-y environment. We went out and got a nice, real Christmas tree yesterday, and we kept the extra branches from the bottom to decorate elsewhere with. Wouldn't you know, still don't know where the camera is, so I don't have pictures so you know what I'm talking about!

Yesterday, we had an adventure at Bass Pro Shops. Its fun at Christmas time! Its nice Dave had a Thursday off, so we didn't have to brave gigantic crowds. I'm a sissy about that. CJ got to have a picture with Santa! (So did Jeeves, actually, but I'm not quite as excited about that.) We decided to drop Jeeves back at home before going to get a tree, just in case he decided to, uh, "mark" all the trees in sight! But, wouldn't ya know, we were plopping into bed last night, and I heard Jeeves drinking water. I thought, "that sounds a lot closer than his water bowl." Sure enough, he was drinking out of the Christmas tree bowl. (Ok. We got the hint, and refilled his.)

CJ in the mornings...

This is what I get to see every morning. :o) What a great way to start the day-its saying yes to my vocation all over again. Great daily reminder.

Morning exercises

My son, not me. I'm not that coordinated yet. :o)

So my pictures got all mixed up (gotta love technology) but I think I can pull this together. Its been nice with Dave's workschedule to have some slow mornings now and then. Give Daddy some big smiles before he goes to work! He does, really. I can't make CJ smile like Dave does.

Let's see if I got this right.

All Saints Day

In honor of All Saints Day, I easily made the transition from CJ the farmer to CJ as Blessed Jose Luis. I just love the story of this boy martyr.
Well, I tried to paste a link to this post so that y'all could read the story, but it's beyond me. I did find some sites with biographies. Anyway, he steadfastly proclaimed Christ, even unto his death. CJ's feet are colored red because those persecuting Jose Luis cut off the soles of his feet and made him walk to the cemetery. Ouch!


Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio, pray for us!

I'm very much looking forward to helping our children view the saints as realistic and as their friends, not just people of old legends.

I went to a training class put on by the diocese the other day, and when I left I couldn't help but be nostalgic for my friends so excited about the faith-I would hate to become lukewarm and complacent not assmilating it when I'm older!

Names

When I taught Religious Ed. this morning, I talked to them about All Saints Day. There's never enough time! I hope I instilled in them a love for our predecessors in the faith (and a want for their intercession)! Anyway, we were talking about names and being named after saints, and for some of them I helped them think of Patron saints. It made me appreciate the significance my parents gave to the names they gave us, and for us to CJ. Charles and Joseph-two amazing ones!

The Magic Couch

Brendan and Claire gave us their couch, and we just love it. I think there's something about it that made CJ roll over! It was hilarious, because he kept rolling over as soon as Dave set him up again. Here's the evidence: By the way, the two videos are very similar-its hard to capture the best moments.

Sing a song...

Our little CJ is so sweet! Before I could get the camera out, he was looking at our picture of Our Lady and singing to her. I promise. But I did catch some of his singing on camera though! He is so vocal these days. He sounds the cutest right before he fusses. :o)

Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin patches are so much fun...for the kiddos of course. CJ and I went with Claire and Aidan a couple weeks ago. Fun fling before Aidan's world gets turned upside down with a little sister around! Anyway, here are some of the highlights. You just see such joy on the kids' faces as they're exploring!

Bass Pro Shops' Youngest Promoter

A couple of weeks ago, Grandma and Grandpa were in town visiting. Feeling adventurous, we went out to Grapevine and explored Bass Pro Shops. Quite a monumental day was CJ's first trip there. We had to wake him up when we got there. Looking at us like we had 3 heads, he seemed quite disinterested in all the surroundings. Proof:

Once we took him out of the stroller, Dave excitedly showed CJ all his favorite spots. Oh, this is scary-thinking about them making trips here together in the future, pining after all the big boy toys.

First stop, boats and 4-wheelers.

Uh oh. Watch out for those sharks!

Ok. Now he's ready to drive one of these. Guardian angels, pray for us!

I can see it now...If I can drive a boat, why can't I have one of these?

Sidetrack for a family picture by the waterfall and the fish.

Moving on, CJ made some of his first conquests.

Seriously, Jeeves is scared of this bear. CJ laughs in the face of danger...

Jeeves jumps onto the fence and growls at this bear. Not tiny CJ!


Taming the wild buffalo...

Proud Papa.

After looking at the selection of hunting guns...

the Smith and Wesson 500 ended up being CJ's weapon of choice. The men behind the gun counter were very obliging to allow this photo op, once they asked for some ID from the little guy.

On our way out, we stopped by the kids place for one last picture.

The End.

New tricks and the dog

CJ has discovered his hands! He loves chewing on them, like its going out of style.

I see it all the time, but I guess I don't have many pictures of it! Here's one though. And yes, when I dressed him in these clothes I was thinking of the boys uniform at St. Michael back in grade school. Good times.

He loves holding on to things also. My hair's been up a lot because of the hot weather, so I'm glad that's not one of his favorites yet...

I actually didn't intend the pictures to be of him all on the same day. It just happened I guess.

I've been neglecting to speak of the canine member of our family, who deserves kudos for his behavior and getting used to everything. He's better than a monitor. If the baby starts crying or sounding uncomfortable, Jeeves will come and just stand in front of me and give me one of his looks. This one says, "Aren't you going to do something about it?"

He actually does a really good job staying off the blanket where CJ spends a lot of time. Jeeves is a good dog. He keeps us company when I take CJ on walks, and he takes good care of him if (actually when) I forget something and run back in to get it.

Shots

The doctor kind, not the drinking kind. :o)

So today was CJ's 2 month appointment. He's doing great! 50% for weight and height and 75% for head. Getting a little more proportional. :o) He weighs 11.15 now, and is still ahead psychologically!

Dave and I were discussing vaccinations at great lengths, and we were both there when CJ got his first round today. I'm glad it was only 2 shots-I don't think I could have taken any more! He screamed right when he got them and we stuck a pacifier in his mouth. He was just fine 2 minutes later. Forgot about it by the time we got in the car. Sometimes I just love his short memory!

I think it was harder for Dave and me to watch than it was for CJ to get the shots!

CJ got Snoopy bandaids. So fun!

I'm also glad the timing worked out so that we got home, he ate, and went to sleep as per his "normal-ish" naptime.

bedtime

I should have put this one first, but I had to watch the video-forgot which one it was! Supposed to be going to bed, ahem, but he wanted to look at the red sox blanket and kick around! I think the trick might be to take videos during the day, so they're not so dark. We'll see!

It's so fun. CJ's moving around so much more!

Game Day

What a great Sunday! My first day back teaching Religious Ed, so Dave and CJ have had a lot of quality time together. And as a surprise for Dave, because I knew he was so excited about the Cowboys game tonight, I made a Cowboys outfit for CJ. I'm so proud of myself. I dipped into my craft box full of great things I save that would make great crafts (but ultimately is mainly a dust collector). Its amazing what some old puff paints can do to a plain white onesie! Check it out!

We thought the game started at 6:15 but it was really an hour later. CJ was just fine with that-had a great time chillin! He also held onto that toy for a long time!

Quiet moments at home

I know the video is dark, but this is Dave trying to get CJ to hold up his head. Last week, so CJ was 6 weeks old.

I thought I had another video, but I guess not. I don't want to bore y'all with tons of non-exciting videos, but I do eat up these quiet moments. It's great to see Dave and CJ interact when Dave gets home from work!

Not your Typical Friday Afternoon

Actually, it started Wednesday.

Dave had the day off, and reached on top of the cabinet to get a hat. It was covered in Mildew, and then he saw that my straw hats up there were covered in it as well. Basically we reported it to the apt complex the next day, and they came Friday to look at it. My guess was that it was coming from the air ducts, just from looking at its position, and sure enough it was. The maintenance guy opened the a/c vent, looked and said, "That's not good." Turns out the whole air duct was covered in mildew. The more we looked around, the more mold we saw all over the place. Dave got sick from it, I was only a little sick, and CJ got a clean bill of health from the pediatrician. (Thank God!)

CJ and I (and Jeeves) got out of the apartment asap. Well, we did. CJ was screaming his head off because he was hungry at the same time I was getting some essentials for us to have overnight. They put us in the model apartment while they were taking care of it. As a friend put it, it was kind of like living in a dollhouse: no doors, nice furniture and fake props. It was very strange!

I won't put pictures of the mold up, but I will mention the one good thing that happened this weekend. Dave's coworker gave us a baby swing he's not using anymore, and it was a Godsend. CJ spent hours in it on Sunday-Dave said he felt like he's cheating at parenthood-the swing allowed us to watch a whole movie and then some!

Here's some evidence of how much CJ liked it. And how much we like it. Seriously, this kid loves to move around and the swing saves us a ton of work!

For now, we are back home sweet home in our apartment, looking forward to our next adventures! All in a day's work, huh?

one month checkup.

No pictures right now-just trying to write before CJ wakes up! We just got back from his one month checkup (although he's 5.5 weeks old) and whoa. He's 10 lbs 3 oz (after 6.12 at birth!) and 22 inches long (huge leap from last appt apparently) and his head is 16 cm round, I guess 90th percentile! Go big guy! So far so good, and the dr. said he's actually ahead of schedule psychologically, whatever that means. :o)

Bathtime

After work one night, Dave, CJ and I watched a whodunit show. I think Dave enjoyed it more than anyone else.

I think the soap washed all the brown out of his hair. I know it was just the light, but C.J.'s hair looked definitely red after this bath!

And a still picture in case there's no time for the video!

And another one of my boys sleeping. It's just precious!

Hanging with the cousins

So we took a quick family road trip (including the dog!) to Houston to see family and introduce CJ and all that jazz. Quick, exhausting, but very much worth it. Here are some pictures of the events!

The girls took turns holding baby CJ. Helen takes to it naturally! A bit of experience helps. I just think this is a beautiful picture of her!

Judith took her turn too. Of course, very capable.
And Moire, of course. The Oldest and the youngest (for now!)

All the cousins minus Aidan (and two more this year!) Tried to cut Mol out, but George would have none of it. As Mom said, we might be destined to photoshop from now on! Blessings of a large family!

So Gail and Karch came by with baby Natalie. I finally got to meet Casey's daughter! Too bad Casey couldn't be there. It was a whirlwind of a trip, though!

Natalie is about 7 months in this picture-6 months older than CJ. Hopefully they'll be friends, too!

Moire and Tito had way too much fun making bread. ;o) There sure was a lot of it, after quadrupling the recipe to make enough for everyone.

Maria loved seeing Veggietales on Dave's phone. What a great icebreaker!

Erin and CJ. Looking good!

What a natural!

Oops...Duplicate.

Gus decided to teach Mark how to box. It was quite entertaining, hearing the offensive and defensive strategies! Gotta love the scapular hanging down during the boxing match. You know they're in good hands!

Aonghus and Judith loved playing with little CJ.

Aonghus sure is a proud cousin. CJ loves looking at him-holding him so well, of course!

What a handsome guy!

I'm sorry we didn't get to see everyone, but it was a nice trip nonetheless. With family all over the place and jobs to keep up with, it will be difficult to keep up, but definitely worth it!