James is 2 Months Old!

Wasn’t I literally just pregnant? Where does the time go? Though, even while time seems to have flown by, it seems like James has always been a part of our family. And, he certainly has had an eventful two months of life!

He’s had a five-day hospital stay, for one thing. Then, he had his first plane ride at five weeks to accompany us to a wedding in Burbank, CA. Unfortunately, on the trip, he got his first cold (very scary for Mama, considering his respiratory history), but he pulled through it like a champ. He was hardly fussy and never lost his appetite. He started smiling and rolling over at seven weeks! He is also growing well. We have his 2-month pediatrician appointment on Tuesday, and I will be very surprised indeed if this little buddy doesn’t weigh in at 13 lbs. or more.

He is such a strong little boy, and I just love his voice (wish I could upload a good quality sound-clip for you all), which is so emotive for a newborn. He has an incredibly sweet personality already, and Brian, Sophia, and I all feel how marvelously blessed we are to have him in our family and to be able to enjoy him each and every day.

Raspberry Pickin' 2009

Last weekend, my Mom (Grammie), Brian, and I took the kids raspberry picking. We go strawberry picking every year to make our jam, but this year, we are delighted to be adding raspberry to our repertoire. It was also a special treat since it is the first time Grammie has been berry-picking with the kids. She lives in my hometown in New York, but we are blessed to have her visit with us for several weeks each summer, and this time, we decided we’d put her to work invite her to join the fun.

We went to our favorite organic farm, Remlinger Farms, in Carnation, WA and had a blast gathering 7 lbs of raspberries (enough for three batches of jam)…and eating a few along the way! James, being only 7 weeks old, wasn't much of a picker, but he certainly contributed helpfully by staying asleep in Mama's Moby Wrap so she could be productive.

Unfortunately, Brian, being our resident photographer, is not featured in these photos, but we hope you enjoy them anyway. My mom is the lovely lady in the black t-shirt and white capris, I'm the one in the sunhat with a baby on the front, and Sophia...well, I'm sure you'll need no help identifying her!

James' Baptism Video

Boy, what with out-of-town guests, my 25th birthday, James' Baptism, and entertaining for 35 in our 1275 sq. ft. condo, it was a very busy weekend! Now, the house is quiet, and we are missing our wonderful friends and family who headed back to their own homes. Not a few hours of cleaning and a half dozen loads of laundry later, I finally have time to post this video from Saturday evening: our precious son's baptism into God's family!

<br/><a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=0a22560b-29bf-4f62-804a-a9a06bff3a62" target="_new" title="James&#39; Baptism Ceremony">Video: James&#39; Baptism Ceremony</a>

I will post photos when I find another spare block of time. In the meanwhile, God bless! I hope you enjoy the video (and Sophia's commentary...she was next to the videographer!)

Funny Feline

I don't usually blog about our furriest family member, but this was just too hilarious. I had to share. Yes, that's our cat, George, nesting in our daughter's basket of stuffed animals. Silly boy! Looks quite at home, doesn't he?

A Sunday Afternoon in the Park

Easter Pictures

We had a lovely but very rainy Easter. When we went to early Mass, it was only drizzling, and the fact that the air seemed warmer made us hopeful. But, when the sun never quite rose during the service, we started to anticipate that we'd be having another rainy Easter this year.

Fortunately, our Easter Egg hunt was conducted indoors...

...Unfortunately, it meant that we had to use the harsh flash on our camera, so we didn't get as many good pictures as we would have liked.

Sophia's still got her coat on so it's almost like an outdoor hunt :) For those of you who were around last July, you may notice that Sophia's "Easter dress" is the same one she wore for her first birthday... looks like she may still be wearing it for her second birthday in a couple months! Ah, my little peanut... And God reveals His mercy in this: that he gave a petite pregnant woman a petite toddler to care for.

After the "hunt", Sophia rested and the resident Easter bunnies got to work in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on Easter dinner, which we were blessed to share with some dear friends, as none of us had family in the area. Of course, the busy bunnies forgot to take phots of the meal, but here is the menu, with links to recipes, if you'd like to try some. The dishes without recipes are my own creation.

Beet Salad with Almond Butter and Gorgonzola Bomboloni

Glazed Ham
Angel Biscuits
Parsleyed Potatoes with Saffron
Roasted Asparagus with Lemon
Spinach Salad with Strawberries, Toasted Almonds, and Poppy Seed Dressing

Bethany's Picnic Perfect Lemonade
wine (brought by one of our guests)

Four-Layer Almond Cake with Raspberry Jam, Almond Buttercream, and Jordan Almonds
Lemon Meringue Pie -- I mainly followed this recipe, but the crust is my own family recipe :)
tea

Here's a photo of the cake after the festivities...it's a bit demolished, but at least you can see the pretty layers:

In typical Catholic fashion, I don't put out our decorations until the holiday vigil (for Easter, that's Holy Saturday; for Christmas, it would be Christmas Eve...you get the idea). So, here are some flower arrangements I put together on Saturday evening before assembling Sophia's Easter basket and hiding the eggs: