CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!

Thy nativity, O Christ our God hath shone upon the world the light of wisdom.  

For by it, those who worshipped the stars were taught by a star to adore Thee,

The Sun of Righteousness, and to know thee, the Orient from on high.

O Lord, glory to Thee!

-Nativity Troparion

What a glorious week we've had with our family and friends!  I'll share some of our festivities with pics over the next week.  May we continue to bask in the joy of the birth of our Lord!

CHRIST IS BORN!  GLORIFY HIM!

My three girls

Dinner conversations...

I was having dinner with my girls last night and Zoe was nursing while I was eating. Thea, who had just taken her shirt off because she doesn't wear dirty clothes-under any circumstances, was finishing up her meal. Typically I don't let the girls hang out without clothes on, but we were moments away from taking baths.

Thea, who was watching Zoe nurse, pointed to her breast and said "Is this where my milk is?"

M: "That is where your milk will be when you have a baby."
T: "Is the milk inside here, or do you put seeds in here and grow the milk?"

Do you love kids or what?

Major Score!

So, I started Christmas shopping today-finally. I hit my favorite thrift store and it paid off.

I got the three wee ones several wooden toys and a cool educational game for less than $15.00.

HOWEVER, the biggest score was for...me. :)

I have been looking for new curtains for my living room for years. Yes, years. But because we have such high ceilings they are always so expensive. So, I've just kept looking for the right curtains at the right price. I warned my husband long ago that when I found the right ones and the right length I was going to get them.

Well, I found eight panels of beautiful shear curtains with embroidered leaves (made by Pottery Barn) for $15.00 bucks a set! And they were the right color-natural!! Cool! I am so excited. I came home dancing for joy.

I love thrift stores.

Bath time discussion with the resident Dr.

For some reason bath time discussion is always interesting with my girls. Perhaps it's because it is the end of the day and they have all these questions from the happenings of their day. Who can say?

A few weeks ago Katya, Thea and I watched the Nativity Story that came out a couple of years ago. Thea faded out toward the end, but Katya really loved the story. She especially loved the childbirth scenes of Mary and Elizabeth. Both scenes were not graphic, just a little intense due to the pain of childbirth. As you can imagine, Katya has had many, many questions about childbirth since then.

For example, when Mary and Elizabeth cried during childbirth, Katherine wanted to know why they were crying. I said they were tears of joy.

I will say that Katherine is really interested in things medical-and always has been. Just today she asked if there were homeschooling books that taught about the inside of our body. "Like blood and stuff".

When I was pregnant with Zoe, Katya would go to the Dr. with me and would always beg them to give me a shot or do some procedure so that she could watch.

She has also asked for a microscope. A MICROSCOPE! How about a Polly Pocket!!

I said that Papa was the Science teacher and she should talk with him...

OK, back to bath time: So, Katherine says: "Mom, when you deliver a baby, does it hurt?"

M: "Yes, it hurts"
K: "A little bit or a whole bunch?"
M: "Well, some of the times both"
K: "So, what are you saying? What does it feel like?"
M: "Umm, well sort of like you are pooping"
K: "Oh. Well, does it feel like are really big poop like (and she yells) yeeeoowww!!!! Or, does it feel like a poop like, oh, that kind of hurt."
M: "Well, some of the times both"

I am thinking that Katherine may be headed to medical school. I pray not.

I am also thinking that should God give us anymore children I will let Katherine watch the delivery. Both Fr. and I think she would love it.

The Fiery Chariot

Today the girls and I read about the Prophet Elijah and the fiery chariot. I forget what an awesome story it is. I even got very excited when the chariot took him away, leaving Elisha as the new Prophet.

Anyhow, Thea looked at me with her sweet big brown eyes and said, very solemnly, "Mommy, I don't want to die, I want to go up to God in a fiery chariot with you, Papa, Katya and Zoe".

Me too, Thea, Me too...

ZZZZZZZZ

Forgive the absence!

I know all of you don't want to hear me ramble on, but rather want to see more adorable pics of the babes. Well, you'll have to wait. I am suffering from a serious case of sleep deprivation.

Seems my little Zoe Marie, now 14 months old, has decided to become a night owl in her second year of life. At least she comes by it honestly. No, I'm not talking about me. That would be her Papa...

Anyhow, Zoe was sleeping pretty well after her newborn days were over and then a few months ago she began the dreaded middle of the night wakings. Uuugghhh... Katya was pretty bad, Thea was awesome (sleeping through the night from almost day one), however, Zoe is really bad. Last week, at the peak of all her sleeplessness, she was waking up every two hours-almost every night.

Since I thought I was a pro at sleeping children (that thought alone is a recipe for getting put in my place-huh?), I gave away my copy of "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". So, I rushed out to the used book store and grabbed a new one. Pronto. Read it-double pronto. It is an excellent book.

It's pretty amazing how much sleep little kids need. We forget that they are little and require so much more sleep than we do. After reading the book, I put Zoe on a new sleep routine: Asleep by 6:30, instead of 8:30 and one long nap at 12:30 or 1:00, instead of two. I did have to let her cry out her first night of waking up at 3:00a.m. for an hour. That was absolutely horrible. I will tell you though, she is a different child.

Now that most of you are yawning either from the boring story or from getting sleepy, I'll see if I can come up with some cute pics for my next entry.

Until then, happy sleeping! :)