Big news the last couple of days.  Samantha said her first “word” in sign language two days ago (Monday).  It was “milk”.  I was quite excited.  Today we were playing, and I put a bowl on my head, and then on hers.  Then she took it and put it on her head a few times and laughed.  And I wondered, “where did that little baby of mine go??”  She’s grown up!

Then tonight, while we had a living room full (and I mean full) of high school students for one of Craig’s Theology and Eat sessions, Lucy (who had insisted on wearing panties all day and only had one accident so far) went into the bathroom and used her potty all by herself!  It was a momentous occasion.  Ten years from now, she may wonder why I needed to broadcast it over the internet, but since I’m doing a pretty poor job of keeping track of these milestones otherwise, this will have to do.

Tempus fugit.  Much faster than I care for it to, really.

Here’s the latest on my Dad.  He had his stint taken out yesterday (and replaced?  I haven’t called to find out if they had to put one in again) and today he has his fourth round of chemo.  Here is the novena, which I will be starting again.  The good news is, this is the halfway point for the treatments they have planned.

Sorry the posts have been few and far between lately, the girls aren’t sleeping as much as they had been.  Or maybe I’m sleeping more… : )  There are pictures coming, but I have to do them from Craig’s computer, which means in the evening, which is really hard.  But soon…

Ah, it’s been a while.  Things have been slightly crazy.  Dad had his third chemo treatment, and that is still going as well as can be expected.  He’s tired and sick, but still in good spirits.

Craig’s mom needs prayers now, too.  She had a biopsy done Tuesday and will find out September 9 if is it something they will have to treat.  In the meantime, she’s recovering from the biopsy and the anesthesia, and trying not to worry too much about what the test results will be.  When it rains around here, it pours!

Part of the reason I’ve been so slow to post is that our computer was stolen two weekends ago when our house was broken into.  Fortunately, the only took that and the change jars I was collecting for the girls.  Unfortunately (?) that means they took less than our home owner’s insurance deductible, so we were on our own for replacing the computer.  (Which, I don’t think I mentioned, we had only had for about three weeks.)  But Deus providebit, and one of the priests from Craig’s school, who knows lots and lots and lots about computers, heard what had happened and built us a new desktop from pieces he had laying around.  Which is how I am now able to write this for you to read.  God sure has strange ways of going about things.

I’ll be updating the homeschooling things soon, but I seem short on time lately, so that is what has been neglected.  Some of the time has been going to rearranging the house, including trying to get our front bedroom in the sort of condition to be used as the homeschooling room.

But you’re probably wondering what all this has to do with “pirate prayer”.  On a rare (these days) occasion, I drop by other Catholic homeschooling mommy blogs (if you know of other good ones, I’d love to hear about them), and I found a jewel today.  Here it is.  Enjoy.

[In the car, on the way home from Craig’s work]

Craig: Lucy, were you good today?  Did you help mommy?

Lucy: Yes!  I pushed Samantha down!

Jury is out on how or why that was “helpful”.

This is a movie worth seeing.  For me, it pulled up a lot of good and bad memories, and I could just watch babies being born all day.  It’s really amazing to see.  I tend to gasp when this squirming little one suddenly comes out, even though I know it’s coming.

Anyway, if I knew someone who thought they didn’t have time to research birth choices, I would recommend this movie, and hopefully by the end of it they would realize they had to find time to do this sort of reading and research.  I found the discussion of the difference between the artificial hormones doctors use to induce labor and the natural hormones women get for and from labor particularly interesting.

Someday I’m going to get involved in what I like to think of as the “better birthing” movement…someday…maybe soon…

A couple of people have asked me how my Dad is doing.  Well, I things seem to be going about as well as they can at this point.  His hair is gone, but he hasn’t really suffered the nausea that tends to come with chemo, and says he feels pretty good.  (He actually sounds better than before he began treatment.)

He had his second treatment yesterday, so (a little belated), I’m starting up the novena again.  It’s here if anyone cares to join in.

Thank you for all the prayers and concern, it really does mean a lot to me and my family.

Well, we knew Lucy was stubborn, but we attributed that to her being the oldest child of two oldest children.  But it appears it may actually be genetics, because Samantha has a stubborn streak, as well.  For example, we had burritos for dinner.  Samantha was in her high chair, happily eating rice until we all sat down to join her.  Then she got very upset.  We offered her different things, including pieces of tortilla, but nothing worked, so we took her out of the chair and Craig was holding her.  She still didn’t settle down, and we had the impression that she wanted what the rest of us had to eat.  So Craig rolled up a piece of tortilla to look like a burrito, and she grabbed it with both hands and munched away happily.  Here’s the evidence:

On further thought, I realized that the only reason we survived dinner last night was that we had red beans and rice, and she had sweet potato and rice.  I’m so not ready for this.

We also picked up some basil for tomorrow night’s dinner at the farmer’s market today.  It looks like something out of Harry Potter to me, or maybe something Craig and his brother could use to fight the zombies they have a sudden interest in.  I’m really looking forward to cooking with it. : )

Lucy gave us the synopsis of Samantha’s birth this morning.  It went more or less like this:

“We drove to that house, and Mommy pooped in the bathtub.  You (Mommy) did a good job.  And that was Samantha!”

And we laughed.

Later, I heard Craig doctoring Lucy’s scraped knees while I was feeding Samantha.  He said, among other things, and over her screams,

“You know, a lot of your pain is psychological.”

And I laughed.  Hard.  Never a dull moment here!

We told Lucy we were going to go to the doughnut shop with B-Bob and Mimi.  She says, with great enthusiasm,

“I can get a vitamin doughnut!”

I said, “Huh?”

The mystery has been solved.  Apparently the sprinkles on top of the doughnuts are “vitamins”.  Who knew!  I feel healthier already.

Lucy has had quite a bit to say on our little trip to Georgia and North Carolina.  Here are a couple of her latest statements:

[Just after Lucy woken up this morning]

Craig: I’m going to eat you!

Lucy: I don’t want to!  I don’t taste good!

I know I said a couple of quotes, but now I can’t remember the other one (two?) and neither can Craig.  If they come to us, I’ll add them on.  In the meantime, Lisa’s wedding was nice, although we didn’t stay long at the reception because the girls (and I) were tired, and they have done remarkably well in the car thus far.  Visiting with Chris and Kelly is always good, and we’re keeping busy perusing their books and discussing cooking, gardening, kids, world peace, and other important topics.  More to come, when it’s not so late and my brain is a little more functional.