7 wk old Israel and the Superbowl

Here is my beautiful baby boy, 7 weeks old now! It has always seemed to me that the weeks of pregnancy drag, but once the baby comes, they FLY by!


















After many tries, a nice sibling shot. Israel wasn't looking, but oh well.
They love him to death and want to hold him all the time! He is getting too big for them to hold him like they did when he was first born, though, which decreases his comfort level...








One in sepia....




















And it will be the last time he can wear this outfit. The jacket is still okay, but the pants are both too short and too tight. They are 3 mo size.

















Chubby boy. I wish I had some digital pics of Joshua at this age so you could compare. Sometimes I think they could have been twins, and other times I think Israel looks a lot different.















We made it to two superbowl parties this year, merely for social reasons, as neither of us care about football! Here is Fabio and the hispanic guys.











And before that we hung out with my family. Here are my neices and Dominique playing dress-up. They are so cute! Jessica is wearing the dress I wore in her parent's wedding. :)

















This is a little blurry because she was moving, but Dominique's new favorite thing to do is curtsy. :) It is so cute! She even does it wearing pants, stretching out the bottom of her shirt! Such a little girl.





























And, *finally* our first family photo! Took long enough! Joshua is in a stage where he thinks it is really cool to pose and make funny faces for pics...


Well, this week has been different and more restful, mostly because Fabio hasn't been able to work much in this extreme cold! It is wickedly bitter cold out there! I haven't wanted to get the kids out either, so we've mostly just been hibernating. We got a bunch of snow yesterday and the kids were dying to get out and play in it. Fabio let them go with him to scoop the walk, but they didn't last more than about ten minutes! It was too freezing cold!

Note to Eiko-san: Tegami morai mashita! Arigatou! Mata kakimasu ne! :)

More later!

Quick Update

Well, blogger is being dumb again and keeps deleting my pics for no particular reason, *after* I've waited forever for them to be uploaded... ugh. So, for now, what you see is what you get!


Fabio is still putting finishing touches on the basement, but the actual real end is in sight! The trim is done, the doors are painted, and now the stairwell is done too. That is what Joshua and Dominique are helping with here.










Fabio couldn't drywall the stairway or it would have made it too narrow, so he decided to texture the block walls to add some character. He is so creative! :) Since that is something that doesn't have to be nice and smooth or anything, the kids got to help and had a blast doing it!


Of course, Dominique had to try it on another freshly painted wall, but other than that, it went great!




It is so good for them to get involved in real life daddy projects! I'm so glad Fabio takes the time (and extra work!) to let them help when he can. Joshua especially thrives on it, and declares himself to be a carpenter. He says that when he gets just a *little* bit older, Daddy's gonna talk to his boss to see about hiring him on!








Many hands make lights work!

I think the last last last thing is the built in shelving, and then the carpet will be laid in about a week and a half! YAY! The light at the end of the tunnel!








Dominique and Joshua are both asking constantly to hold the baby, which is great! Usually Israel is fine with that too, but sometimes he is less than thrilled with the change of hands.
Here Dominique is thinking, "I have no idea what to do with him when he cries like this, but sucking on my fingers at least helps me feel better!"
Joshua's preferred method of calming Israel's cries is to sing "Jingle Bells" rather loudly in his ear! I'm not too sure why he picked that song, but it doesn't always seem to have the desired effect. It does possibly drown out some of the crying, though! :)


This is Israel last Sunday, the day he turned 6 weeks old. Tomorrow he will be 7 weeks already! Already he looks bigger than in this pic. Today I really noticed him pushing himself with his arms rather than just lifting his head up! I'll have to try to get some pics of that soon. He still loves to be on his belly, awake or asleep. Even being held, his favorite position is on his belly, over my arm. Sometimes is it kind of frustrating because I want to LOOK at him, but he often starts fussing if I turn him around. So, back to his belly he goes!

I haven't really taken any pictures this week, though. These are all from last weekend. I tell ya, every time I *think* I'm just about back on the ball, I fall off again! LOL. It has been one thing after another. This week I had a really "fun" case of mastitis that kept me down for a good couple of days. My temp reached 103.6 and knocked me out! I have had similar infections before, but never this bad. The Rx? Rest, extra fluids, increased nursing, hot compresses, echinacea, mega doses of Vit C, and plenty of raw garlic. ;-) The raw garlic was especially fun to ingest a clove at a time! I once heard that eating raw garlic makes you lose weight. It actually doesn't, but your friends tend to stand so far away from you that you look smaller. ;) Well, it wasn't from the garlic, nor was it my preferred method of accomplishing it, but being sick did take off a few more postpartum pounds. Hey you gotta look at the bright side, right?! Also on the bright side is the fact that my mom was able to come help, and that I was comforted to know that I was not contagious!

I asked a few moms of many when I could expect things might get back to normal and they assured me that in about five to ten years, things should be much easier, regardless of how many more children have come along by then, as long as I am being diligent in training now. I think that was encouraging! I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun and make a lot of memories in the meantime. :)

A Winter Wonderland

Woo Hoo! We finally got some snow to play in! The kids were excited to be over their colds and be able to go outside and play ~ and it made an *amazing* difference in their attitudes too! A little fresh air and activity, some change of scenery and some exercise did them a world of good.















I had Israel in the sling, inside my coat. He was snug as a bug in a rug and I dont think he even knew he was outside! It was a little tough to make snow angels that way though! LOL, I didn't try. :)











Last year, Dominique could not walk in her snow boots, nor move in her snow pants, nor use her hands in her mittens, and therefore was not thrilled about playing outside in the freezing snow. ;-) Can't blame her, right? She is having a lot more fun this year, although she still doesn't like keeping her gloves on. Next year, Israel will probably be the one not thrilled about it...






On top of the picnic table. They found some play shovels and managed to remove the snow off the sidewalk all by themselves! The following day, they did the same for the back patio. What a great way to wear them out while they have fun and we get some work done! :)






And lastly, a final pic from Fabio's party where you can see some of the kids. I can upload five at a time, so I figured, why not?

I was going to take some pics yesterday, but I forgot the camera! We went downtown Chicago to register for Israel's birth certificate. It was..... fun. (?) Working with government offices is not typically my idea of fun, but everything did go smoothly, while not rapidly!, and it wasn't too terrible cold to walk in the windy city with three little children. Joshua always loves to see the buildings, while Dominique was oblivious, but enjoyed the ride in the stroller. :) We are glad to have that done. Now we can apply for his passports and hopefully get them soon and be off to Brazil! Woo Hoo!

Happy Birthday to Fabio!

Last Friday was Fabio's birthday! We didn't have specific plans, but he called me on the way home and suggested that we go out of town. ;) My spontaneous husband again!
So, I packed real quick, got online to figure out where we were going, made a few phone calls, and we were out the door.
We didnt go far ~ just to Schaumburg. Fabio had never seen Woodfield Mall, so we walked around there for a while, and spent some time browsing at the Rainforest Cafe's gift shop, which is where this pic was taken. Do you believe we went to such a huge mall and didnt find one single thing to buy??? Except our pizza, that is. ;)




After that we hunted down the cheapest hotel in the area and lounged for the rest of the evening. Unfortunately, Fabio was starting to feel under the weather, but other than that, it was fun!









See where Israel is perched? It's his favorite position, so Fabio rigged the chair up for him.
Dominique was the only one that didnt sleep super well. She is used to being in a crib where she can roll at will, but Joshua didn't appreciate her sprawling very much. So, several times during the night, I had to intervene when I heard things like this:
Joshua: Dominique, you crossed the line!
Dominique: Quiet, Joshua! Space!





The next morning we were able to enjoy the indoor heated pool, while looking out the windows at the snow on the ground! Kind of a weird feeling! I actually had to forego the pool fun, since Israel is still a little young for chlorine exposure. It was still fun to lounge and watch the kids having fun! Dominique and Joshua both could "swim" ~ that is, kick around in the water with no one holding onto them, with their life jackets holding them up. :)




Ready for some real deep sea diving action!



















After stopping at the Brazilian store and the Spanish Christian bookstore in Chicago on the way, we arrived at home in time for Fabio's surprise party with the hispanic group! He genuinely didn't know anything about it, but the "surprise!" part didn't exactly go off with a bang, since they don't tend to be punctual and everyone kind of trickled in! Oh well, it was still a good time. And remind me that if I ever have another surprise party with hispanics, to tell them to be there about 2 hours in advance! LOL!



The men and women always tend to segregate, so there are the men up there, and here are the women down here. My sil, Suzy, was the representative there from the Black fam, with the kids too. Too bad Aaron couldn't have been there with her, since he actually does speak a little Spanish! There were also a whole LOT of children there. I had a lot more pics from the party, but I can only upload 10 pics per post for some reason, so at least you can see a smattering. :)



Israel also had a little "birthday" last Wednesday ~ he turned one month old!
Isn't he just so cute??? On Wednesday, he measured 25 inches and weighed just over 12 pounds. I compared that with Joshua's record, and Joshua was 24 inches, but 13lbs3oz on his one month birthday. So, anyway, he is in 3-6month clothes now. He keeps getting stronger and loves to be on his belly so he can hold his head up. He likes that better than sitting here in his infant seat, but it's easier to take pics of him here.

Dominique had a big growth spurt too, and no longer fits in most of her 2T clothes! Her belly hangs out of her shirts and her pants are floodin'. :) So, I had to go diggin' in her bin last week to find bigger stuff I picked up at garage sales last summer, and put away a lot of the stuff that was in her drawers.





I think I am mostly keeping up with the basics of the housework now. Just the basics! We have also been more "into" doing homeschooling projects lately, especially with the kids having colds last week and not being able to get out or play outside. I love all the free material you can print from the internet! I found some really great worksheets for Joshua and he is learning to read so easily. I'm sure one day I will have a child who struggles to "get" it, but it is kind of nice to start out on one who barely even needs any instruction to pick it up. He seems to sort of learn by osmosis! (Don't tell him that though. He has plenty of confidence as it is.;-)

I've been thinking lately about what good ideas God has! In Levitical law, God in His wisdom ordained for a woman to stay at home and rest for 40 days after having a baby. I know we are not under the law now, but isn't it interesting that "modern" science recognizes that it takes 6 weeks (42 days) for a woman to recover from childbirth? I bet I know someone who knew that before the doctors did! Last night I was doing some reading on how important it is for a woman to take that time to recover fully and what happens if she doesnt... and it just made me wonder in awe of just how wise God is in all the details of His Word and how He cares for us in the small and in the big! I think we could surely learn a lot of practical tips for life even from the Old Testament law.
Our society puts so much pressure on women to get back to "normal" so soon after having a baby. I feel the pressure, from without and within! It wasn't long ago, maybe 50-60 years even, that society recognized the necessity of a woman's "confinement", as they called it. But now with the super-woman mindset, all of that has been tossed out, the baby with the bathwater! LOL, women these days don't like words like "confinement"! Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now, but it felt good to remember that God has provided for my rest and I don't have to feel bad about it. What a precious gift!

Back on the Ball???

Hello all! It has been an eventful week, that is for sure! I was really feeling like I was finally getting back on the ball with things, when we got waylaid with sickness... ugh. In the meantime, I took Israel in for a check-up to Dr. Pareja, the doctor that I used to work for! I really loved that job and it was so good to see him again. He is a good, kind doctor. Israel didnt like being poked at very much, but the doctor said he looks like a very healthy three month old! LOL

Here I finally got a pic of him holding his head up! And another of him sneezing. :) Sorry I wasnt quite able to format this post well. The computer is doing funny things. The one of him and Joshua was so sweet ~ Joshua said they were the "boys club". :)















I have also gotten in touch with some old friends lately, which has been great! Here I am with friends Eden and Danielle. I hadn't seen Eden for about nine years!! I have known both of them since I was born.








These four beautiful children belong to Danielle.

















And here I am with Jessica and Becky. I hadn't seen Jessica for many years, too, and Becky is a more "recent" friend, although our history goes back a little ways. ;-)









This is Israel with Elise, Becky's baby. She is exactly two weeks older than him, and they are both big! She was 10lbs13oz at birth, just one ounce bigger than Israel! It was fun to get them together.














Here are my three little munchkins and Becky's three. We each have two boys and a girl.






I think we are mostly over the sickies now. Joshua first started with a cold, and then Dominique got the stomach flu, then a cold, then Israel got congested, then I got the flu, and then Joshua got the flu! Ugh. Fabio has been fine so far, thankfully. Talk about incentive to get back to green smoothies and juicing and cod liver oil! One of these days we will be back in our little groove. :) I have felt like such a couch potato lately. We had been watching a lot more movies since the baby was born, and this week just as I was ready to quit, we had sickness to deal with and ended up hanging out back on the couch! This week is the yearly week of prayer and fasting at church, and since the kids and I cant fast food right now, I think it is a good idea to fast movies!

Oh, and speaking of weird things our computer is doing, I cant get into my hotmail account at all, or several other sites that require passwords! Really weird and extremely frustrating, but anyway, if you try to emial me, I wont respond. ;)

More later!

Israel is 3 weeks old!

Things are going quite well around here. I am feeling pretty good now and just trying to get back into some sort of schedule. I do okay in some areas, just to realize I'm lacking in other areas! Ah, well, he's only 3 weeks old, right?












He is lovely, still, even with his little newborn rash. He is a pretty good baby too, most of the time. He seems to like to cry for a while in the evening before finally going to sleep. No matter what I do, he still likes to cry, so that is a little frustrating, but most of the time he is pretty mellow and good.













He has no trouble whatsoever sleeping where there is plenty of noise, which is a good thing being a third born. ;)

















Here he is all ready for his sink bath. I kept trying to get a pic of him lifting his head up, which he does with a good measure of control now, but every time the pic snapped, he put his head back down! Little stinker!








He is still loved on by his brother and sister, who ask all day long if they can hold him. He is usually a sport about it, and then other times he just wants mama. ;-)

I am taking him to the doctor today so that we can get him a birth certificate, so we can register his birth at the Brazilian consulate, and then get his two passports, asap. I'm going to try to remember to take pics of him at the doc's. :)

I'm a bit slow/ behind on posting, as well as reading and commenting on friend's blogs... sorry! I will get caught up here one of these days.

A Manly Day

Well, I havent posted for a while and now I cant connect the camera to the computer to post the most recent of Israel, but here are some great shots from Dec 16th. I was going to post them the following day, but I was busy. ;-) (Israel was being born.)














Anyway, this day Fabio and my brother Scott took their sons and my brother Aaron's sons out for a day of manly activities. :) They had a blast! They shot bb guns and 22's, chopped down trees with an axe and built a fort. They spent the day "roughing it" and learning how to be men.








Us ladies and little ones hung back at the house and did a bit of shopping in the meantime. We had a great time, but after seeing the pictures, almost makes me wish we had been out there too! Doesn't this look like fun?!











And a pretty cool fort too, eh?










I'll post again soon with recent pics of our recent addition. :) Until then.........

Happy New Year!

Our "little" chunky monkey on New Year's Eve~ 2 weeks old. Yesterday he weighed 11 pounds and measured 22 3/4 inches. :)













We went to my brother's house to hang out with the family for New Year's Eve ~ but NOT until midnight! ;-) This is me with Israel and my nephew A.J.








My sil Suzy, Mom, and niece Jessica











Israel giving Daddy a BIG smile!! It was just too sweet!



I hope you all enjoyed your New Years celebrations and were able to reflect on lessons learned and blessings enjoyed this past year. That is my favorite thing we do on New Years: Fabio and I like to journal some of those things. It is good at the time, and it becomes a keepsake for years to come. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!





Israel and Auntie Suzy








Btw, about coming to visit, I said daytime was best because I thought company would be nice ~ we've been a little stir crazy! But if you can only make it in the evening, you can still come!! Hope to see you soon!