Well, this morning was certainly interesting... I woke up with Mary Claire and went to sit on the couch to nurse her when she burped and spat up a little, and then projectile vomited all over the floor. Awesome. She was VERY happy about it, so I guess that's something?
So I was going to skip WIWS this week, but Andrew got the babies dressed so we decided to go to Mass as a family this morning (I've been going with just the two older kids while the babies nap, and Andrew goes later). It was pretty disastrous - I cried, partially because Cecilia slammed the kneeler on my leg, and partially because we were soooo late and stressed and the babies are VERY vocal and it's embarrassing because then the big kids think THEY can be loud and the glares, ohhhh the glares... I just don't think there's any way Mass could possibly be harder than it is with two 10-month-olds, a 2.5-year-old, and a 4-year-old, NONE of whom behave. I mean, I'm sure it could be. But right now it just seems like nothing could be harder than this!
So I got the camera to take pictures and John Paul locked the memory card and broke the switch to unlock it, so we had to use Andrew's phone to take pictures:
Because, the ruffle socks! And the REAL shoes, which we just started having them wear yesterday because it's getting colder and they're getting closer to walking! So we had to take pictures, obviously.
She knows how cute she is!
Cecilia has been wearing her Easter dress pretty much every week - as long as she's not throwing a temper tantrum about having to get dressed, I'll allow it.
And of course she posed with a mouthful of food.
Anyway, you can sort of see what I'm wearing, but not really... It's a repeat, so who cares?
Later on we went out to a park nearby and went hiking in the gorgeous weather. The kids had a blast!
Oh here's what I wore for our hike, so I guess this counts as WIWS too!
Don't ask me why John Paul is lifting up his shirt. I have no idea...
Anyway, it's the same Old Navy jersey pencil skirt I've been wearing all summer, and I like it a lot with slouchy sweaters and tunic-length tops. It kind of fills the void left by the lack of skinny jeans, you know?
After this morning things have gotten a lot better - Andrew took the babies out for most of Mass so I only had to deal with John Paul and Cecilia, we had a fun outing AND topped it all off with Krispy
Linking up with Fine Linen & Purple - Happy Sunday to you!
Hugs on the Mass behavior! No, I don't think it could get any harder than with kids those ages. But, yes., the adorable dresses do make up for it!
ReplyDeleteAnd, I love Cecilia's sweater!
Hope Mary Claire is feeling better.
ReplyDeleteMajor points for persevering and enjoying the rest of the day.
Love the ruffled socks!
Oh, poor you! Major points indeed!
ReplyDeleteIt really will get easier, especially when John Paul and Cecilia get old enough to help with the babies. But they really aren't big kids yet, no matter how big they feel.
Sorry you had a hard mass. That is totally understandable that it is super tough with 2 babies and 2 little ones. I have had days where I cried too because of bad mass behavior (like last week comes to mind, because the entire past year and a half Joseph never makes it more than ten/fifteen min before I have to leave the church because he is really active and really loud --even when happy). Someday in like ten years when your pew is full of beautiful, well behaved kids (because you put in all the hard work) you will be happy and maybe understanding of the other young families --that's what I hope I get out of it (humility now and gratitude later ;)) because other than that bad masses week after week do feel kind of hopeless that it'll ever get better!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about the glares. I get them occasionally too, but I mostly ignore them. They stress my husband out, though. Our littlest is old enough to go to Children's Church, so the older two actually behave better when he's gone, now.
ReplyDeleteOh I love Elizabeth's outfit and shoes. She looks so precious. What kind of shoes are those?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you use for a carrier? Also, how can you be so stylin even out on a hike?!
ReplyDeleteAn Ergo - it's wooooonderful! Also, I've gotten rid of most (not all, but I'm getting there!) of my unflattering clothes - I spent way too long in sweats because I was scared of getting real clothes dirty. Now I figure I might as well get my real clothes dirty, because at least I'll still look presentable!
DeleteI don't know how you might feel about this idea, but we let our 2 and 3 yr. olds look at Bible story books during Church. We take a basket of them along to services. We love these:http://www.cph.org/c-246-arch-books.aspx
ReplyDeleteAnd I love your outfit! I like slouchy tops too--easy nursing access and hides the mummy tummy. :)
We've got tons of church-appropriate books and take 3 or 4 with us (as well as Mass-specific activity sheets and John Paul's MagnifiKid) - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I think it's just generally the twin effect. They see that our attention is on keeping the babies quiet, so they take advantage of that!
DeleteAs much as I hate it, we'll be tag-teaming for a while now... The only Mass we can make is the 8:30 because Andrew sings at a later Mass, and that's *right* during morning nap for the babies, so they start getting a little too frantic for comfort!
Aww, Rosie....I fell your pain! Its really hard to go to Mass with multiple small children and not cry/lose it. Sometimes I make it through Mass and just cry all the way home. Its rough. I hope one day we get an little extra pat on the back in Heaven, or at least get a good chunk of purgatory time off!
ReplyDeleteAnd Max saw the cute picture of Mary Claire and went "Awwwoooohh," which is his equivalent of "I recognize a compatriot in the league of babies who can drive their mothers crazy!" Or something.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief this week because we were hall monitors for children's church. That means we get to go downstairs after the Gloria and patrol the hallways in case anyone needs anything. We can see Mass on a closed-circuit TV, and I go back upstairs for Eucharist. The twins stay with us and participate LOUDLY in Mass ("Ah-YOO-Yah!") without distracting anyone else. I wouldn't want to do it every week, but it's just nice to know there are some days we won't be struggling to make it through church. Plus, volunteering helps other people...it feels like a win-win.
ReplyDelete