It's a boy!

First of all, I could have sat and watched the ultrasound all day long. I didn't want to leave. It's amazing to me to see this beautiful child growing and moving inside of me. It blows me away. I had a hunch that it was a boy before the technician told us, but that didn't stop the tears of joy and Edgar almost jumping up and down when she told us. It's funny, with Clare I think Edgar was in shock. I can remember his face and how stunned he looked. His first comment was, "I need to get a gun." With our little boy, he was elated and all he could do was just laugh and shake my hand as if I just gave him the greatest gift in the world. Science tells me, however, that it was completely up to him.

Edgar said that he was fully prepared to be the family with five girls. I, on the other hand, was not. Don't get me wrong, I love my little girl, but I'm not sure I'm the type of mom that could handle five girls. I'm not even girly enough myself. Edgar is the type of dad that could be a wonderful father to five girls, but I am excited to see him be a father to his son. It's amazing to watch your best friend and your spouse become a parent. I know everything that Edgar is to me, and it overwhelms me with joy and love to know what he is going to be to Clare and to our son. I told him to dust off his soccer boots because there's about to be another star in the house.

When we got home from our appointment, Clare was overjoyed to see us. Still in her pj's, she ran to the door and greeted us with the biggest hugs as if we had been gone for a week. At times, I get emotional thinking about how there's only a very short time left with this little family of three. It's not that I'm sad, but I know that things will change and sometimes I worry about sharing my time and attention between kids.

We showed Clare the pictures from the ultrasound and I think she's still trying to wrap her mind around the situation. She asked, "But where is the baby sister?" I told her that God has only given her a baby brother this time and maybe sometime later she will get a baby sister. She then replied, "You're having a baby Jesus?" I'm no Virgin Mary, but I'm glad she thinks of me as holy. Later as we were driving to the park she asked, "Mom, can Jesus change my baby brother into a baby sister?" I had to explain that it was Jesus' will for us to have a son and for her to be a big sister. It's crazy to hear what a two year old questions and thinks about.

So my Christmas wish list is complete-- I wanted a healthy baby and a happy family. We have both and I am forever grateful.

Clare...not precious

"Good morning my precious!"

"I'm not precious. I'm Clare."

"But you are so precious to me."

"No. I'm Clare."

I love it! Now if I would have said, "Good morning princess," there would have been no argument. But I would never say that.

My little "angel"

It's never a good sign when Clare's MDO teacher greets you with, "Did Clare get a good night sleep last night?" My child is a professional at sleeping, so of course she slept well last night. 10 solid hours. So what was the problem?

First, Clare decided that music class was not interesting enough and decided to chase Charlie (cutest boy ever!) around the room.

Second, Clare squirted her CapriSun at the boy (Charlie again?) sitting across from her at lunch. Instant time-out.

Do you see a pattern here? She's going to be so disappointed when I tell her at 13 that she's joining a Convent. Ms. Lisa did say that time-out really did work for Clare and she didn't have any other problems after that. Of course time-out works! We visit time-out almost once a day for various offenses at home. Clare absolutely hates it.

After I picked her up, we talked about what happened all the way to the car. As I was putting her in her car seat I told her that school was a privilege and that not all children get to go. When I got in the driver's seat and started the car, Clare said, "I'm sorry, mom."

Later I asked her if she was sad that she didn't get a stamp for the day because of her behavior and she said, "Nope. I was happy."

Please never let her grow up to be a teenager. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to handle it!!

And a baby makes 4...

Our family is growing and we're so excited! I recently joined a mom's group at our church and a lot of the moms came to the first meeting with their newborns and little babies. I kept telling my friend Anna how bad I wanted another baby, not knowing that I was actually pregnant at the time. Last night we broke the news to Edgar's family, but we had Clare tell them. I asked her what she was going to be and everyone thought I was referring to Halloween. Their faces were priceless as Clare threw up her arms and exclaimed, "I'm going to be a big sister!"

This morning she woke up and said, "Mom, can we play big sister?" I had to tell her that it's not just a game, this is for real. I asked her if she wanted a baby sister or brother and she said she wanted a baby sister. (Who doesn't?) Then I asked her what she wanted to name her baby sister and she said, "Baby." I'm not sure I'll add that to the list.

Edgar has quickly made his lists of things we need to accomplish before the new baby arrives in May. Is he nesting already? I thought that was my job.

I'm so excited that I'm not going to be big and pregnant through the HOT summer months!! I can't express how excited I am.

Clare started school two weeks ago and she's really loving it. When I picked her up the first week, her teacher informed me that she absolutely did not want to take a nap. This week, as I was packing Oso in her backpack, she told me, "I don't need Oso." I told her that she needed it for nap time. Clare replied, "No. I'm not going to take a nap." As much as I wanted to laugh, I told her very sternly that she had to take a nap or they weren't going to allow her to go to school. She shriveled her face up and said, "But I want to go to school." I told her ok then you better take a nap. When I picked her up Wednesday her teacher said she did awesome taking a nap and didn't even put up a fuss. Score one for mom.

I signed up for another year of teaching Catechism. We start this Sunday and I'm very excited. They have blessed me with 21 girls and 3 boys in my class. Poor boys. That's the opposite of my 18 boys and 5 girls last year.

Nice

A couple of weekends ago, we ventured out to Home Depot to try and buy mirrors for our bathroom. (It's still not finished, and we're still not using it....) The cart we were pushing Clare in wasn't working correctly, so Edgar kicked the wheel. The following conversation occurred:

Clare: "Are you ok?"

Edgar: "Yeah baby, I'm fine. I'm a man."

Clare: (with a puzzled face) "No. You're a daddy."

I hope she meant that dads are tougher than men because that's what I think.

Recent conversations...

Clare: "I told you."

Me: "No I told you."

Clare: "Oh come on."

Me: "I told you"

Clare: "Are you kidding me?"

Me: "No."

Clare: "Oh my gosh."

And this is why my mom always laughs and says that Clare is paying me back for my childhood.

2nd Birthday

Clare turned 2 on the 2nd, but we celebrated with a party this weekend. I have a hard time believing sometimes that she's 2 because I want to forever freeze her as an infant rocking in my arms. One of my favorite things she has been telling me lately is, "I want to snuggle mommy. " I always think in my head that I would snuggle her forever, but usually after about 10 minutes she's off and running again. I know that I will never be able to express in words how being a mom has changed me, but the love that I receive from Clare is overwhelming. It constantly reminds me of God's love for me, which at times I seem to forget.

What I've come to discover is that throwing children's birthday parties are extremely difficult. I struggle with wanting to honor her birthday, but not wanting to have an overly extravagant, expensive party. I've been to some really nice children's birthday parties with bounce houses, snow cone machines, water slides, and insanely beautiful birthday cakes and decorations. It's not that I don't want those things for Clare, but I do want her to appreciate all things and to be gracious when a party is thrown in her honor. I want her to value relationships such as family and close friends and I want her to derive her joy and happiness from these relationships. I also want her to know that because it's her birthday it does not mean she is entitled to an inordinate amount of gifts. And so I struggle with throwing her a party.

Overall, I think the party we threw was very nice. It was so wonderful that so many of our family and friends were able to come. Edgar grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and we had many different sides to share and eat. I did end up ordering a cake because I had a lot going on the week before the party. I ordered her a Dora cake from Krogers and she loved it. The cake toppers were also toys, and she has been playing with them since I was able to wash them off. I bought some balloons and Clare and her friends loved carrying them all over the party. Clare played with her friends in her playroom and at one point closed the door and wouldn't let any adults in. We sang her happy birthday and she loved blowing out the candle and even asked if she could do it again. I think she had a lot of fun and I think it's going to take me at least a full year to think and plan another simple event for next year.

Spring Time!

DISCLAIMER: I tried to make Casa Tavares the name of my blog. Ends up that blog has "questionable" pictures and subject matter. I clicked on it. Indeed it does. I may have to go to confession for that one.

Living in Houston, you really only get two seasons. Spring and Summer. On occasion there is what some might call a winter or possibly a fall, but compared to the rest of the nation it's not really winter at all. I feel like right now we're walking that fine line between Spring and Summer. The weather is still nice, but in the middle of the day I feel the heat quickly approaching. Since the weather is so nice, Edgar decided it was time to finally do something about our backyard. When we bought the house the backyard was a mess. There was a huge crape myrtle (that I adored because it provided so much shade) that prevented grass to grow on the whole right side of the yard. Last year we removed the tree (and our shade) and this year we were left with weeds and not much grass. The yard was also unleveled and anytime it rained we were left with huge puddles and mosquitoes for days. So this weekend we bought 3 square yards of dirt (that's a lot of dirt by the way) and we leveled out the backyard in hopes that grass will grow and we will no longer be left with a mosquito paradise.

Our dirt was delivered by a huge dump truck around 2 and we worked all afternoon to level the backyard and also spread mulch in our front flower beds. Lets just say that I was more than worn out. It has been over two years since I've participated in yard work because either I was pregnant or busy watching Clare while Edgar worked. Clare helped as much as she could using her beach toys and buckets. She absolutely loved playing in the dirt and I'm not the mom afraid to let her kids get dirty. At 9pm she was fast asleep in her bed and she didn't wake up until 9:30am Sunday morning.

Sunday was the last night of Catechism class for the school year. I'm really glad I decided to teach this year, and I can't decide whether I should teach sixth grade again or if I should try to teach older kids next year. Sixth grade is such an interesting grade because at that age kids are still wanting to please, but at the same time they are also testing their boundaries. My kids completely surprised me with their knowledge of Catholicism and their enthusiasm to want to discuss various topics. I remember CCE (Continuing Catholic Education) being extremely boring in middle school. As students we basically stared at our teacher while we stared at the clock to get out of class. I tried to make class interesting, but it was a challenge. This summer I've signed up to take classes towards my Catechism Certification. Maybe it will help me along the way. Sunday night ADORE ministry came to the Church and preformed for the kids. Edgar said he wanted to come so Clare came as well. We were able to stay for about an hour and enjoyed the concert part of the night. Clare was singing and dancing along and I'm proud to say that her first concert was Christian music.