This Easter Season

 I spilled water on my laptop several weeks ago, and ever since then my mouse has taken on a life of its own. It's gotten better thankfully, enough to allow me a quick post spanning the last month or so.  So much to record!

Rose's 4th birthday! Princess Rosie awoke to balloons and nutella crepes (leftover from Easter, but she doesn't need to know that)

David decorated Rose's cake like a champ.

Daddy and Rose do a birthday craft. What a good daddy.

Lots of baking this month. David may have a future here.

Hilary and Natalie accompanied me (and a bulging baby Cook) to our school's annual auction. 

Yes, we bought a Deere. It takes Dave a little over an hour to do the whole lawn with this thing. David frequently sits on his lap on Cloud 9. 

It took about a month, but our neighborhood has been completely repaved, providing hours of entertainment for our little truck enthusiast.

Watching deer down in the gully behind our back yard. Our first spring has been magical: seeing what flowers pop out around the house has been fun. We've got mulberry trees, a gorgeous pink dogwood, forsythia, lilacs, Chinese snowball viburnum, and a crabapple to name a few specimens. 

Frankie huddles at one of her soccer games. She's done really well for her first stab at the sport- she's very good at hustling, and I think the coach appreciates that. They haven't won a game yet, but not for lack of trying! 

Celebrating a trifecta of occasions: Maria's Confirmation, Natalie's birthday, and Mother's Day. 

I'm 36 weeks today and very much looking forward to meeting our new little guy. He's like a perfect basketball sticking out in front of me- I don't recall such perfect rotundness with previous pregnancies. Dave and I were marveling yesterday at how God made the female body to house another human being...it really is awe-inspiring, especially when it hits me I have 4 more weeks of intense growth to go (can it be possible to expand more??).  In the meantime I hope to be able to do more frequent updates. Your prayers for a smooth and happy labor and delivery leading up to June 10th are much appreciated!

A little family baking

Francesca finished her tennis season today with semi-finals and finals (in Reston, which is not close...not sure I'm on board with traveling for sports). I'm embarrassed to say I don't know who won of the teams. But she did great personally, winning two matches and losing one (to a couple girls who looked like 6th graders). Very promising foray onto the sports scene. We'll see if she sticks with it. 

Dave left for Chicago Wednesday for a Catholic Stewardship Conference. He got back today and we're all very happy and relieved to have him home to relieve the monotony of life with mommy safe and sound. Teresa and David were bent on a baking project yesterday to ease the boredom of Saturday without Daddy, so we made dinner rolls. The results were surprisingly bread-rolly, given all the handling.

Count-down to Halloween with the cousins!

Our bird family

We decided to name the sweet cardinal family living on our back porch. The dad is Charles, the mom is Caroline, and the baby is Carrie. (Recognize them from Little House on the Prairie?)  It's fascinating to watch the teamwork between the parents; they have a system down. The father knows when the mother is leaving the nest and comes to feed the baby while she's away. Sometimes the father comes to pass some food on directly to the mother, and it looks like they're kissing. Needless to say, Charles, Caroline and Carrie have won our hearts.

Baby Carrie (who could be a Charles, we don't know...) growing feathers on her wings and taking up more space.

Taken a week or so later. She's getting all the nutrients her brother and sister would have gotten- perhaps she's growing faster than she might have. She's filling out the nest, and when she stretches out for feedings, it looks like she could topple out sometimes. Her little chirp is precious!

Rose likes to alternate between baby dolls and cars. A healthy balance I'm sure. David sure enjoys having a car buddy.

Musings

Doing a sounding-it-out exercise.

Me: "What's that word?"
Frankie: "f.... a.... t..... Fff-aaa-ttt."
Me: "What does that word mean?"
Frankie: "Daddy. Daddy's fat."

On another note, today I experienced a feeling I've never had. Frankie saw a few neighborhood girls across the street playing together, one of whom she knows from a few brief interactions. They're all about 10 years old. Upon seeing them, Frankie said, "Mom, I want to go outside and play with Daniella!" Not sure how this would proceed, I said ok, provided she bundle up and not go near the street. I watched her walk outside and stand in the front yard, looking at the girls, who were pretty oblivious to the three year old peering at them. No real interaction followed, besides Frankie looking at them and wandering around the front yard. I didn't exactly want her bounding over to our neighbor's yard to play with these older girls I didn't know, but I did feel a pang realizing that every child, mine included, is bound to feel the awkwardness of being left out at some point in their lives. On paper it doesn't seem like a big deal; children need to learn to deal with disappointments, shyness, and unkind peers in a healthy way. That's life. However, seeing my own child, someone I think I know inside-out, looking somewhat bewildered because she wants to play with children who are ignoring her, gave me a sense of sadness and foreboding. Would she grow to be sociable, friendly, confident and able to make friends? How will she respond to unkind children? It struck me at that moment how beautiful it is to have multiple siblings. If life with peers outside the home isn't sunny (which happens to the best of us), what a gift to have siblings to confide in and affirm us at home.

She sauntered back inside eventually, her cheerful self, oblivious to any disappointment, much less awkwardness, that an older child might have felt (though admittedly I'd probably let an older child go across the street to introduce herself...). That's just Frankie; seldom gloomy with a quick bounce-back from all ills. She's got a good dose of sanguine, and that will always be a mystery and a joy to her melancholic mother.