Corona miscellanea

It's hard to believe school starts next week. It feels like we're walking into a science experiment (or maybe a petri dish is more apt): will viruses grow on us, or will we remain pure specimens? I spoke with our new school nurse, who is also a PA, and she chose to look at this through a positive lens: "Kids have never been groomed to be this careful about spreading germs ever- maybe we'll get through this fine!" She has a point. These kids are going to be scrutinized all day long, unlike their older peers in college where the outbreaks are happening. Elementary school parents also tend to be a little more conservative than college students about how they spend their after-school hours; they likely won't be throwing keggers and amassing at off-campus parties without masks. I'm hopeful...

Gabriel had his first run-in with life as a big brother this weekend. A friend with a newborn very trustingly allowed this:

It's possible this picture will be replicated in 6 months...

"Ok, mom, I guess you can have a girl..."

Pool buddies (social distancing, of course)

Dave took the kids and some cousins to Woodstock this weekend for some river-time before the school year starts. 

"Ich gehe wandern!" (and check me for ticks!)

Woodstock Tower beauties (and gentleman)

Dave likes to blast Andrew Lloyd Webber while he's chillin' on the River.

What happens in Woodstock stays in Woodstock...

I've toyed with the idea of cutting my own hair during this pandemic, but this meme put me straight. How do you do it, Mom?

Happy Tuesday!

Days with Rosie and Gabey

Time spent at home with Rosie and Gabriel is a joy. I love our weekly routines, and occasionally happening in on a sweet moment between the two of them. Rose is at an age when she's putting her thoughts to words, and the outcome is often hysterical and precious. I try to write down her Rosie-isms when they come. There's been a lot of questions about sin, heaven, hell, the devil and Jesus lately (you know, light topics). After one such discussion she was alone, playing with her toys, and I heard her whispering to herself, "Jesus, please forgive us our sins, and the resurrection of our bodies..."

Another day:
Rose: "You know, Santa, Jesus and Rocky remind me of friends."
Me: "Hm, what do you mean?"
Rose: "You know, they seem like they would be friends."

It's actually not off the wall that for Rose, Rocky's status is up there with Jesus. David went through a season of asking to play "Training Montage" from Rocky IV over and over and over. I got a lot of questions like "Is Rocky good?" "Why is he good?" "Why is Drago bad?" "Are the devil and Drago bad?" You can see the progression of reasoning...

Rose helps me reign in Gabriel, who rolls and scoots everywhere now.

"Mom, can you take over?"

A bike ride with friends on a warm day.

Real food for real babies, Mom.

It's alive!

Yes, this blog still exists.  For those who haven't been 'splained to about why this blog stands so neglected, it's the fault of all our Apple devices. Pretty much every photo around here is shot with an iPhone or iPad, and transferring those pictures to the blog is too much for my old Apple laptop, which can take 10 seconds to load for each click it receives. That, plus Blogger seems to be outdated. There aren't any options for directly transferring photos from Apple devices to Blogger, that I know of. If I'm wrong, please tell me! I'd love to keep this blog going instead of solely posting photos to iPhoto photo sharing (which the Cooks can see, but the Farrs can't!). Anyway, on to some pics taken with my good old-fashioned camera.

Maria cuddling St. Gabriel on his baptism day!

What not to do with a Spanish omelet.

Jumping forward six months to Christmas, which was absolutely lovely. Aunt Nat and Uncle George, Lola and Lolo all joined the fun Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Happy birthday baby Jesus!

Lil' Irish. Thanks Uncle George!

Princess Rose, thanks to Aunt Hilary!

Our new 16-person tent, which we're planning on taking outside eventually :) Thanks Lolo and Lola!

Beautiful Christmas morning, waiting to go to Mass.

A surprise from a neighbor Christmas morning. So sweet!

Peep-eye!

Aunt Kate and Uncle Jeff's "Fairy Garden" is a success!

Visit to Train Exhibit at U.S. Botanical Gardens (where Grandmommy's art is hanging!) A couple days after Thanksgiving, when Teresa broke her thumb. Ah, memories :)

Merry Christmas!

May Recap

Frankie's 9th birthday party fell on a rainy, chilly day, disrupting our plans for an outdoor event involving water. So, instead, Dave came up with the idea of a cake contest. Each girl made her own two-layer cake (yes, this really happened) and Dave and Lolo got to judge which was the best cake at the end of the party. The girls were thrilled, and the party theme was right up Frankie's alley. Good work, Dave.

Dressed to impress, we went to a black tie wedding last weekend, and my, was it glitzy! It was in St. Peter's Catholic Church on Capitol Hill, which is really beautiful. A nice chance to go on a formal date before baby Cook arrives.

Pool season is upon us! We're going to try swim team this year- Francesca, Teresa, and David will don their team suits (oh, little David in a speedo) and head to practices and meets this summer. We'll see how this goes.

The count-down begins....one week until my due date! Again, prayers for sleep leading up to the grand event would be most appreciated. We're doing a novena to St. Gabriel the Archangel (have we mentioned officially that he'll be named Gabriel Thomas?). Gabriel means "God is my strength." The Archangel Gabriel acts as God's messenger throughout Scripture, most importantly announcing the Savior's birth to Mary. We're confident he'll be a powerful patron for our little guy.  Thomas is after my dad, Pop Pop, who will be another loving patron, no doubt. Happy Feast of the Sacred Heart!

Photo ops: Cinderella, Confirmation and baby brunch

Some cute ones of Rose and Lola dancing to the score of Roger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella. "Do I love you because you're beautiful, or are you beautiful because I love you?"

The lovely Maria and I posed before heading to church for her big night. Maria is suddenly a young woman, as beautiful and mature as she's ever been, but with a certain growing gravitas.  It's an honor to be her god-mother and Confirmation sponsor!

Some dear friends from Queen of Apostles took me and Audrey (sitting next to me) out for a brunch to celebrate our impending bundles of joy. Audrey is due exactly two weeks before me.  Baby Cook's god-mother, Michelle, is in the blue. She, Erin and Amanda put together these adorable diaper cakes. Such a lovely group of women! Thanks, Aunt Hilary, for holding down the fort at home while I was partying :)

And the verdict is...

...a BOY! And, boy, was I mistaken about this little guy. I was certain he was a girl. My morning sickness theory (that bad morning sickness means girl) has been blown to pieces. We're all delighted :) He performed for us on the ultrasound, yawning twice in full view and looking at us head on. We're already in love.  David: "Now I'll have a boy-friend! I'll show him my toys and he'll slobber on them." Yes, indeed, little guy.

The trees (and a quasi-announcement)

Not a great picture, but gives you a sense of the tree out front. The little white orb close to the top is a work in progress, according to Dave. Getting it closer to the top will take Herculean strength, but all in the name of perfection, right?

Loving the tree in this space, not to mention the pine scent, which seems to be morning sickness-friendly. I guess I haven't officially announced I'm pregnant on the blog yet, so here it is! Baby Cook is due June 10th.  Likely everyone reading this already knows, but just in case there's someone who doesn't.  We're counting down to week 16, when the nausea usually abates for me. In an effort not to waste suffering, though, let me know your prayer intentions and I'll keep them in mind over the toilet bowl!

Welcome baby Graham!!

A long overdue welcome to our newest cousin and nephew, Graham Michael, born March 20th! We can't wait to snuggle you someday soon! We've received picture updates since his birth through a shared iPhoto photo stream (thanks for doing that Jeff and Kate!) Some choice ones below.

This is magazine-worthy.

He's so cute!

Indulge me, please

Last night during the debate, Vice President Biden said something that I feel compelled to write about. It's a stale tidbit, stated in the public square ad nauseum, and aside from personally driving me up a wall, it illustrates the extent to which our culture has become hard-hearted.

Biden said something along the lines of, "I accept the Catholic Church's position on abortion 'de fidei,' but I will not impose my faith on Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. who disagree with my faith."

Aside from the shoddy reasoning (since we "impose" our beliefs on others about all kinds of morality through our laws), the proponents of this line show a stunning lack of mercy. Sure I believe that the fetus is a human being, like my church does, but who am I to tell others that human life in the womb should be protected by law? Can you imagine using this line of reasoning in another way, like, Sure I believe toddlers are human beings, but who am I to tell others they deserve protection by the law?

VP Biden actually conceded that fetuses are human beings. I so wish Paul Ryan had pressed him on this. Wait, you say you believe life begins at conception... we're talking about whether our laws should protect a tiny human life, not whether or not to ban extra large sodas... don't you think you should feel some urgency about this? So you're saying women reserve the right to wipe out the lives that aren't wanted?

I always come back to slavery, because it's a evil that quickly appeals to our modern sense of justice. Don't you think there must have been so many people who loathed the idea of slavery, but because of fear or political gain or cowardice they refused to push their "personal morality" on the public? We naturally recoil at such hypocrisy when it is exposed.  I'm convinced abortion is the slavery of our day, albeit a silent, hidden one. It's all around us, heralded as a woman's hard-won right by the extremists (Nancy Keenan at the DNC, anyone?), and permitted as a necessary evil by the lukewarm, meanwhile keeping the money flowing to powerful lobbies.

So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth (Rev. 3:16). Why not just join the camp of "It's not a person yet; personhood begins at blah blah blah" rather than claiming to stand with the Catholic Church on abortion and then not? Be cold or be hot. Don't pretend to be both. People like Joe Biden, who on weighty issues that have to do with the direct killing of human life (or so he states) fear taking their positions to a logical conclusion, are allowed to be comfortable living out a contradiction as long as no one presses them in public. Opportunity lost, Paul Ryan.

Thanks for indulging my indignation.

Please pray for a dear relative of the Farrs who just got diagnosed with breast cancer, that her path to a cure is as smooth and painless as possible.

And to add a little mirth to your day, watch this.

Summer days

We're hoping that by being near to the piano Rose will develop some sort of talent by osmosis.  The downside is that this room, needless to say, must remain locked to the general public (i.e. David) to discourage noisy delightful piano masterpieces while Rose sleeps.

 We're always late to enforce "tummy time" around here...which explains why each of our children has been bald on the back of the head probably longer than necessary.

I call this the juxtaposition of happiness (balloons) and uncertainty (Teresa). Only Teresa would wake up one morning (yesterday) and say with a scowl, "Why does it always have to be sunny? Go away sunshine." As an aside: Mom- does this remind you of a certain college performance involving balloons?

Frankie holds Rose quite often now. It's amazing how something somewhat verboten a month ago (holding Rose) has become acceptable- no doubt in large part because of F's maturity. You can tell Rose knows she's in able hands.

Rose Update

 So she's a big, happy girl. Big. 

Her new thing is turning from her back to this position. She arches her back, kicks those michelin man legs furiously, and I can tell she's trying to get somewhere, anywhere... possibly onto her tummy. Sometimes she's crying when she does it, which is pretty cute. 

Looking a little unsure in big sister's care. 

 Ready with the camera, Mommy? Okay, watch me.

VOGUE.

Mommy...NOT happy with that last one.

Beach pictures to come shortly!