She's here!

Okay, yes, she has been here for two and a half weeks, and I am just now getting around to this blog post.

And yes, my mom was here for the first two weeks of her life. And my dad was here as well for the second week. And thanks to paternity leave + a snow day + Thanksgiving, Alex only had to work one day of those first two weeks. And for some reason I waited until I was totally on my own with all four of the littles before even attempting to blog.

But she is here, and she is wonderful, and we are all so very in love. Birth story, more pictures, and tales of figuring out life with four under five (at least until M's birthday in January!) coming soon. Ish. Soonish. Like, probably next summer. [Edit: birth story here]

Colette Cynthia, born November 14th at 9:37am, 8 lbs, 20 1/4". Let the adventures begin!

Boy Talk

Michael (4 1/2)

Alex: Mama's pretty awesome, isn't she?

M: Yeah. And pregnant!

M: (enunciating very deliberately) My ears have yaks in them!

Ash: Um, wax, not yaks. 

M: (much screaming from the basement)
Ash: Michael! What's wrong? Are you hurt?
M: (sobbing) No! My church fell over and that's not what I expected it to do!
poor guy... sometimes Legos are more trouble than they're worth...

M: I think I'll need grown-up underwear.
Ash: Um, okay. Do you need some new underwear? Are those getting too small for you?
M: No, when I'm a grown-up.
Ash: Yes. You'll need grown-up underwear when you're a grown-up.
M: And then I'll live in my wife's house.
Ash: Oh, okay.
M: Across the sea.
Ash: Oh! That will be far away!
M: Well, I will have some vacations.
Ash: I think vacations will be a good idea.


Liam (almost 3)

L: (much screaming from the basement)
Alex: What happened?
L: John Paul took it from me!
Alex: What did John Paul take?
L: John Paul did it!
Alex: But what did he do?
L: John Paul took it away from me!
Alex: I know Liam, but what did he take away from you?
L: I don't know...

L: Knock knock!
Alex: Who's there?
L: Banana.
Alex: Banana who?
L: Banana orange!
and then he laughs hysterically like he just told the best joke in the whole world... it's the only joke he ever tells--and he cracks himself up each time

L: Hey, I have an idea! I have an idea!
Ash: What's your idea, sweetie?
L: I don't know...
Ash: You don't know what your idea is?
L: It went downstairs.

Ash: Liam, you need to eat some of your chicken if you want ice cream after dinner.
Liam: I have an idea!
Ash: What's your idea?
Liam: No!

the boys with Grandpa this summer

7 Quick Takes (vol. 41) -- The Laudato Si' Edition

I know I'm a bit late to the game with responses to Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si', but I'm late with pretty much everything these days. And of course it's never too late to get started. So here are seven ways we've been living out care for our world in our little corner of it. Or maybe I'm just totally exhausted and overwhelmed with toddlerness and third trimesterness and beginning of the school yearness. You decide.

Ready to be awed and inspired?

--- 1 ---

Leave the scrambled eggs on the floor. The 18 month old decided he wanted to dump his breakfast on the floor instead of eating it? No problem. Don't bother cleaning it up--in an hour or so he will rediscover it and eat every. single. crumb. for snack time. The 2 1/2 year old will probably help. Team work? Check. Waste not, want not? Check. Clean(ish) floor without breaking out the broom? Check.

--- 2 ---

Don't pull the weeds. So maybe you had grand plans for landscaping and gardening and all the green thumb things way back in April and May. And maybe the budget for that stuff decided to disappear down the drain of the master bathroom project that became never-ending. And maybe all your creative energy disappeared into growing one tiny human and keeping three others alive and (mostly) happy. But guess what? Bees like the weeds better--and helping out the bees is super important. And the weeds clearly have very low water needs (see next point), and are therefore the environmentally-friendly option. So stop feeling guilty about the overgrown au naturale look of your front flowerbed. Encouraging native flora is definitely Laudato Si'.

an actual bee on an actual weed native wildflower in my actual flower bed

--- 3 ---

Only water the grass/flowers every couple of weeks. Because water is a precious resource. And expensive. And your brownish lawn will make your neighbors feel a lot better about their yards. And if you don't water it you will rarely have to mow. (Note: may be a problem with heathen HOAs).

--- 4 ---

Bathe your children once a month. Or less. Really, if they aren't too smelly or sticky they are totally fine. This encourages a healthy immune system (or something like that) and conserves water. And when you do bathe them, throw as many as you can possibly fit into the bath or shower all at once and scrub away.

--- 5 ---

Bonus points if you combine tip #3 with tip #4 and just kick the kids outside to run through the sprinkler instead of actually showering them.

he looks clean to me!

--- 6 ---

Let the kids run around in their pajamas all day. For multiple days in a row. You will save on water and detergent for laundry and justify uberminimalistcapsule wardrobes. Bedtime is that much easier because everyone is already in their pajamas! Our current record is approximately 72 hours in the same set of pajamas. I can tell that you're impressed.

--- 7 ---

Use as few dishes as possible at mealtimes to save on clean up. This will likely involve the kids eating directly off the table or counter, but you know they weren't going to keep the food on their plates anyway. Silverware is a waste of time and water. And if your kids are anything like mine they sometimes forget that they aren't puppies and lick their food straight off the plates. It may not be acceptable for public, but at home we'll just chalk that one up concern for the environment. Cups, unfortunately, are pretty much necessary at this age... although I can just imagine the boys' excitement if I let them start drinking milk straight out of the jug. We're not that hardcore... yet.

So there you have it. Are you impressed? Horrified? Think you can do better? I'd love to hear it!

Linking up with Kelly for Seven Quick Takes!

Happy (crazy belated) birthday John Paul!

So, way back in March our little John Paul turned 1.

Clearly, I am right on time in posting pictures of his birthday and waxing nostalgic about the last 12 18 months of his life, because we haven’t had another family birthday yet.

Oh wait, I turned 30 in June. Whoops!

we celebrated my birthday with ribs and otter pops... everyone liked the ribs, everyone except John Paul liked the otter pops

Regardless, John Paul did turn 1 and no matter how late I am I can’t fail to blog faithfully about the about-to-be-middle-child, and better late than never and all that jazz. We had a lovely little family celebration, with meat pie (treasured Rappana family recipe) for dinner and Pope cakes topped with strawberries and chocolate for dessert. Dessert was most definitely a hit, especially with the birthday boy.

Although it was only the middle of March the weather was perfect for dinner outside--which was a really good thing, because cleanup was much easier. And even though we have a great dining room and lots of leaves to put in the table, it is getting really hard to fit everyone when we are all together.

and cleanup was... not insignificant

So that was John Paul’s birthday… and it feels like it was forever ago. He was sprint-crawling everywhere in an attempt to keep up with his brothers. He was napping really well, but was still waking up multiple times a night and generally wanting to nurse. He was full of smiles and laughter, had a few consistent signs (“more” and “all done”), and no words yet.

And only five months later (only… almost a third of his life) he is running AND climbing all over the place. He definitely thinks he is one of the big boys, and he’s close to being able to hold his own. He has finally started saying “mama” consistently and it absolutely melts my heart every time. He is sweet and affectionate and cuddly, but also overflowing with mischief and 110% wild little boy. He excels at giving bazoomers (rasperries) and loves to wrestle with his daddy and brothers.

Other words in his ever-expanding vocabulary:
pees--please
datoo--thank you
wa-wa--water (or sometimes milk)
no
yeah
ahge tuck--garbage truck
ash--crash (I remember M saying it exactly the same way at the same age)
soos--shoes (he gets very excited about shoes)
ou-sy--out side (ditto on the excitement)
dou-says--down stairs
ha--hot
dai--bye

And lots and lots of gibberish that perfectly mimics speech patterns and inflections, but has few recognizable syllables. He definitely thinks he’s talking, and half the time I think I understand him.

playing at Roubaix Lake during our vacation to the Black Hills in June

He loves books and his brothers and being outside. He also really loves his crib and I am so thankful for my (currently, knock on wood) wonderful little sleeper. He started sleeping through the night pretty consistently at the beginning of summer, just in time for my pregnancy insomnia and million nightly trips to the bathroom to take over. Naturally.

he sucks his thumb and twirls his hair and we all think it's the cutest thing ever

I can’t get over how big John Paul is getting, but at the same time I’m cherishing (or at least trying to cherish) these last few months of him being my baby. I’ll never forget how huge Michael looked the first time I saw him after Liam was born, and again with Liam suddenly looking so much older and bigger after John Paul came; and I’m already looking forward to/mourning that instantaneous transformation from baby to big brother that is coming in November.

And in case you're like me and absolutely completely obsessed with thoroughly enjoy a good birth story, here's Part 1 and Part 2 of our little Pi Day Baby Story.

Life: Not On My Terms

Not that it ever has been, of course. But sometimes it's easy to forget I'm not totally in control.

Spring Break 2007:
mojitos at the Opera Bar watching the sun set over Sydney? totally on my terms

One of the beautiful (and terrifying and messy) things about motherhood is that it constantly reminds me that I'm not really in control. I'm in charge of nearly everything, but I'm not in control.

Side note: one of the joys of that magical moment of Daddy getting home from work is that there is someone else to make a decision! To be responsible for something! To be in charge!

For all the decisions I make in any given day I still find it somewhat shocking how little of my life is on my terms. You’d think I’d get used to this. Maybe someday I will, but it is not this day! Four and a half years of motherhood haven't cured me of that particular delusion yet.

And really, the biggest (and totally uncomfortable, upsetting, shocking) piece of it all is, that life isn’t on my terms. You see where this is going, I’m sure.

Surprise!

Okay, not a surprise per se, because yes, we do know what causes that. But definitely not part of our plans at this point. And that was hard for me, because they were really responsible, good plans. Plans that we prayerfully formed around some significant health concerns on my part, among other things.

And it was also unexpected because we did everything right NFP-wise. After a lengthy discussion with our Creighton Model instructor all we were able to determine is that we apparently have the dubious distinction of being in that 1-3ish % (depending on which study you look at) for whom the method simply doesn't work the way it is supposed to. For some reason it's really important for me to throw that out there. We were using an actual, scientific, effective fertility awareness method (not the rhythm method) and we were using it correctly--but sometimes even that doesn't work. Look for further reflections on our experience with NFP at some future point because I have already been trying to write this post for several months and if I wait until I have figured out how to say everything I want to/feel like I need to say then I will never finish it!

SO. Pregnant. Surprised. Upset. Scared. Anxious. That's where I was when we found out in early March. We told family and a few friends and asked for prayers, but that was all. I wasn't ready to talk about being pregnant, especially not in a public setting like social media, until I found some peace with this situation. Let me be clear, we loved this baby even during that first week in March where I was sure I was pregnant but refusing to take a test because then there was still a chance that this was just a really bizarre cycle. I didn't want to be pregnant right now but I loved and wanted this specific child. Complicated? Maybe, maybe not. Never tell a pregnant woman her emotions don't make sense... but you probably knew that already! (Or anyone, for that matter... "You are emotional AND irrational" is not likely to be helpful in any situation, amiright?).

finally took the plunge and announced Baby #4
on Instagram and Facebook for Mother's Day

It took the entire first trimester and then some for me to come to terms with being pregnant again. Even once I had started to feel a little more excited and a little less scared, I didn't know how to start talking about this baby publicly. It wasn't just mourning the loss of my own plans and letting go of my anxieties--I felt guilty for being pregnant. And especially guilty for being pregnant and not being 100% thrilled about it.

I know so many people--family, close friends, acquaintances from college, blog friends--who are dealing with infertility and/or are grieving the loss of a child. And then here I am over here, just wishing I could somehow manage to wean one baby before getting pregnant with the next. How could I announce this new little life within me in the face of so much pain and suffering? Even more--how could I talk honestly about this pregnancy and my own struggles with it? I determined almost right away to offer my sufferings, major or minor, physical and emotional, for those struggling to conceive or grieving the loss of a child. But could I even say that to anyone? Would it just seem like salt in the wound?

I don't know. I still don't entirely know. But as time goes on and I round the bend into the 3rd trimester, it has started to feel a little ridiculous to have total blog-silence about this baby. So, here we are at 28.5 weeks, announcing the not-quite-imminent arrival of Baby #4 in November. And we are thrilled--really and truly--even as I wonder on a daily basis how I am possibly going to survive another 11ish weeks of this.

Oh, and by the way--Mama's getting reinforcements and we're all pretty thrilled about that too ;)

Top 10 Reasons My 4 Year Old is Out of Bed--You Won't Believe Number 6!

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Please tell me I'm not the only one who finds internet headlines ridiculous and obnoxious. And yet they are so ubiquitous that I find myself thinking in them... ugh.

Regardless, I really do have 10 reasons to share for why my 4 year old is not in his bed (as he should be). Whether or not number 6 blows your mind... well, nobody else on the internet gets sued for false advertising in their headlines, right? ;)

Without further ado:

10) (any time) "I have to go potty!" Let's just get the obvious out of the way, shall we? But really, no complaints here as I would far rather take him to the bathroom kick Alex out of bed to take him to the bathroom than change his sheets!

9) (3am) "I had a dream that I talked to a stranger and he spit on me." What?! Obviously we need to have another talk about not talking to strangers, but not in the middle of the night!

8) (4am) "I heard ghost/monster/something else noises in the wall." This one always makes me sad because I hate the thought of him being scared... but he gets up and comes into our room to tell us, so he's obviously not too scared. And they have a sound machine, so he can't even hear the house settle or cars outside.

7) (15 minutes after being tucked in) "I can't sleep. Liam's talking to me." He would stop talking to you if you would stop talking to him!

6) (2am) "Daddy! Liam's not in his crib!" Note: Liam has never (knock on wood) climbed out of his crib. After Alex took M back to his room: "Oh, there he is!"

5) (usually the second time he's up after being tucked in) "My covers are in a mess!" Your covers would stay perfectly arranged if you would just stay in bed!

4) (5 minutes after being tucked in) "My bed is broken!" The fitted sheet had come untucked from one corner. Slightly.

3) (5 minutes after being tucked in) "It's being a rough night." It wouldn't be half so rough if you would stay in bed long enough to fall asleep! But let's pray your Guardian Angel prayer anyway...

2) (5 minutes after being tucked in) "I'm having rough dreams." Pretty sure you haven't been having any dreams yet, buddy. But let's pray your Guardian Angel prayer anyway...

1) "Can I be awake?" No! It is still dark outside! Go back to bed and stay there, please!

Oh, here I am!

When I've taken an unplanned break from blogging I never know whether to just jump back in like nothing has happened or to offer a lengthy explanation (justification?) for my absence. And then I overthink my explanation (okay, definitely a justification), and that just delays my reentry even more.

So. Hi. I'm back. I didn't mean to take an almost-two-month hiatus. In fact, in that time I started at least four different posts and never made any significant progress with any of them.

I guess I don't really need to justify why I was living my life instead of blogging about it, do I? Everything just got kind of overwhelming--imagine that! So if I'm back does that mean things are settling down? Ha. Of course not. More like I have a new writing project and looming deadlines, so I'm finally motivated enough to procrastinate (and it's a huge relief to write something I don't have to think through as intensely as a Bible study).

As the weather has been getting nicer we've been spending as much time outside as we can. John Paul is walking all over the place as of the last two weeks--just in time to play outside with his brothers. I've been doing (marginally) better on keeping up with laundry. I finally finished going through the amazing abundance of hand-me-downs we've received over the years and actually got around to redistributing the wealth among various family members and friends. (My bedroom looks so much bigger without half a dozen garbage bags full of clothes sitting in the corners. Seriously.)

There, consider yourself updated, more or less! Pictures of John Paul's birthday coming soon. In the meantime, here are some pictures of our Holy Week and Easter spent in Lincoln (not pictured, the stomach bug making its rounds Good Friday through Easter Sunday. Ugh.).

Boy Talk

Michael (4):

Ash: That's a lot of lotion, make sure to rub it all in.
M: On my flippers?
Ash: ... Your flippers?
M: Yeah.
Ash: You don't have flippers.
M: pointing These.
Ash: Those are your knuckles.
M: Oh.

(upset because Liam's dinosaur was getting a little too close to his carefully constructed scene) Liam is getting into my business! He needs to get into his own business!

(upset because John Paul was trying to take apart his Lego sheep) Mama! This sheep is my homework and John Paul is always destroying my homework!
I'm sensing a pattern here... Welcome to your life as the firstborn, my son.



Alex: Michael, what are you drawing?
M: I don't know. What does it look like? (his standard line whenever he draws anything)
Alex: Hmmm... Is it a plate of spaghetti?
M: No it's not! It's worms attacking each other. But that's not nice.

Ash: Michael, who is the Lamb of God?
M: Um... Jesus!
Ash: Very good!
M: But what would happen if he turns into a boy?
Ash: Well, he's not really a lamb, like an animal, but it's a way of saying that he takes away the sins of the world.
M: without missing a beat That's too bad!

Liam (2):

L: A Thomas-ache! A Thomas-ache!
Ash: You have a tummy ache?
L: Yeah! A Thomas-ache!
You are so happy about it, I rather doubt it... 

Hep yoo! Hep yoo! whenever he needs help... I love it

but let's be honest--when you're two and your trains simply won't cooperate,
remembering to use your words isn't exactly high on your list of priorities

L: puts a blanket on his head A elf-unt! A elf-unt!
Ash: Are you an elephant?
L: Yeah! Moo!
Ash: No, an elephant doesn't say moo! What does an elephant say?
L: Raaawwwr!

upon observing me poking Alex in the ribs for stealing my phone: Mama! No a-hit Daddy.

John Paul (11 months):

A lot of "ooh" and "daa" and mimicking the craziness of his brothers

A Boy and His Tiger

Our handsome Michael Alexander turned the big 0-4 last month.

How convenient--I found a box full of my childhood books on his birthday. He spent at least 45 minutes going through the entire pile. Happy birthday, my little bookworm!

His birthday requests were ice cream, ice cream cake, and corn on the cob. We convinced him to add hamburgers to the menu and spread out the ice cream treats over multiple nights.

A family trip to Coldstone the day after his birthday

My parents visited us for a week in late January, so we postponed Michael's birthday party a week so they could be there for it. I've never felt like entertaining was really my thing, but the party was a huge success, if I do say so myself.

The cousins went on a short treasure hunt. The prize? Glow sticks!

I had so much fun making Michael's ice cream cakes. I used this recipe as a starting point and improvised from there (with my go-to chocolate wafer cookies, of course).

If any treasure is better than glow sticks, it's ice cream cake!

Michael agreed!

For the kiddos: chocolate and vanilla ice cream, with chocolate wafer crumb crust, a crushed Kit Kat layer in the middle, and whipped cream. The Kit Kats were a delicious choice, but ruined any chance of picture-perfect slicing. I don't think the kids minded.

For the grown-ups: chocolate and coffee ice cream, with chocolate wafer crumb layers, whipped cream, and chocolate drizzle.

For the record, we did not actually need two cakes, even with 17 people (I have a deathly fear of running out of dessert at birthday parties... no idea why). But we thoroughly enjoyed the leftovers!

We are thoroughly enjoying our big boy. Michael loves reading as much as ever, and I have high hopes of him reading to the rest of us in the very near future. He's very interested in spelling--he is constantly stringing together letters and asking what they spell. Unfortunately his spelling words rarely contain vowels... "What does x-f-l spell? How about t-s-d-r-l-m?" And whenever Alex and I spell out words to avoid a riot, Michael always tries to join in: Alex: "I think the boys could have an s-h-o-w after dinner, what do you think? M: "How about a h-o-a-w?"

Calvin and Hobbes is still one of his favorite things, which prompted Cici to get him a stuffed tiger for Christmas. Michael promptly christened his new friend Hobbes, of course, and he takes him everywhere around the house.

I'm not always sure Hobbes is such a good influence on Michael...

We love you our handsome, clever, hilarious Michael Alexander. I think 4 is going to be a great year :)

2015 Reading List

Have I ever told you that I love to read? Like, panicky-stressed-out when I finish a book if I don't know what to read next? Never go anywhere without a book because what if I suddenly have 30 seconds of free time? Spent recess through most of elementary school reading on the playground and getting annoyed with classmates who came up and asked what I was reading because, hello, I'm busy?

True story.

So I love to read, but I'm kind of dysfunctional about it. When I start a book I tend to neglect little things like sleep, laundry, and dishes until I finish it. And that doesn't seem work so well with the whole parenting thing, unfortunately. I've taken to reading in spurts--I'll read a book or three, then I'll go for weeks without reading anything substantial. No bueno. I miss reading.

This year I was inspired seeing reading lists pop up on a bunch of the blogs I've been following. I've never made a reading list before, but I decided to give it a try. I'm so excited. Not only does this mean that when I steal away for a couple minutes to read I actually feel like I'm accomplishing something (don't you just love being able to check things off lists?), but this way I'll avoid that awful panic when I finish one book and I can't decide what to read next. 

This is only a partial list, because it is awfully light on the fiction, and I kind of thrive on my fiction. So any recommendations to slip in between some of that heavier reading in the second half of the list would be most welcome. It is probably overly ambitious even without adding any other books,.. I got somewhat carried away in my desire to take care of books I've been meaning to read for quite some time. Alex and I have this bad habit of buying books much faster than we can read them. And Alex is not helping matters by bringing home daily loads of books the school library is giving away. I think he has doubled the number of books in our house in the last few weeks. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but if the library could give away a couple bookcases as well as all these books that would be fabulous.

So here is what I have so far:

Lilith -- George MacDonald (already finished it and thoroughly enjoyed it... may be adding more MacDonald when I need a break from the scholarly stuff)

Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church-- Benedict XVI 

The Shadow of His Wings -- Fr. Gereon Goldmann

Angels (and Demons) -- Peter Kreeft

The Treasure of Homestake Gold -- Mildred Fielder 

Jesus the Bridegroom -- Brant Pitre

The Silmarillion -- Tolkien (a millionth-time reread, can you tell by the binding?)

Life of Christ -- Fulton Sheen

Ascendance Trilogy -- Jennifer Nielsen (read the first one last fall and thoroughly enjoyed it; our library finally made the other two available to checkout as ebooks)

Theology and Sanity-- Frank Sheed

A Pilgrim's Journey -- St. Ignatius of Loyola

A Theological Introduction to the Book of Psalms -- J. Clinton McCann

Kristin Lavransdatter -- Sigrid Undset (read it two years ago and may have liked it even better than Tolkien... maybe... possibly...)

Love and Responsibility -- JPII

Orthodoxy -- G.K. Chesterton

On the Reliability of the Old Testament -- K.A. Kitchen

no, Ignatius Press is not sponsoring my reading goals--but I wish they would!

Last year our family did a collective Big Year (it's a birding thing). We had so much fun with the friendly competition that this year we're doing a Big Year with books. Too bad I made this list before finding that out--I would have put much shorter books on my list! But I'm already loving reading with (a little) discipline, and looking forward to the accountability of having set actual goals (which now exist forever on the internet). I'm sure I'll be checking in to report on my progress. If not, you can just assume I got lost in Middle Earth and fell off the bandwagon.

Happy Birthday, Liam the Agreeable!

Guess who turned two? This guy!

Two months ago... whoops!

At least we celebrated his birthday on time! We had an All Saints Day/Construction themed party mash-up.

From left to right: Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, St. Joseph, and David.

Later St. Joseph went from 1st century carpenter to a modern construction worker who was too busy to stand very still for a picture.

Once everyone had a hard hat we moved outside to crack open geodes. Notice the impressive mix of costumes combined with the party hats. So random. So us.

Daddy's birthday helper.

I made this icebox cake (with the homemade wafers) and I was thrilled with how it turned out... despite the achy muscles from hand-whisking that much whipped cream.

And it must have been a hit, because the rest of the family has requested it for Michael's birthday party in a couple weeks. We shall see; so far Michael's requests for birthday food have been ice cream, ice cream cake, and corn on the cob (?!). Come back in March when I finally get around to blogging about Michael's birthday, just before it's time to celebrate John Paul's birthday. Hmm... I'm sensing a pattern here.

Back to this guy!

Two is both my favorite and not-my-favorite age. There is a generally delightful abundance of communication and an often frustrating lack of reason. Liam is talking up a storm, and I absolutely love it. Right now everything is "dat's siwwy!" He and Michael got a talking Spencer ("Sodor's sleek silver bullet," for those of you not up on your Thomas and Friends) from Cici for Christmas, and one of the things it says is, "I'm Spencer the Grand!" When Liam is playing with it he always repeats, "Pencer da Gwand, dat's siwwy!" Spencer also says, "Out of my way, slowcoach!" and now Liam can often be found running laps around the house yelling "Ow da way, so-hoach!"

Partially inspired by Spencer the Grand, we've started calling Liam "Liam the Agreeable" because his answer to almost any question is "Yeah," regardless of his actual opinion or intent. Alex and I joke that he is the second son from the parable in Matthew 21:28-32. Liam is the one to immediately and docilely answer "yeah" or "o-hay," and then run off and do the opposite of whatever we asked (or forbade).

He is constantly following and mimicking Michael. I hope Michael loves it as much as I do. Liam repeats whatever Michael says, mimics whatever he does, follows wherever he leads. If Michael is sent to timeout, Liam will go along and sit down next to him. But he is also totally his own little person, with his own sense of humor and mischief. He is also a wonderful big brother, incredibly sweet and affectionate to John Paul... except when he is (not infrequently) stealing his toys.

My favorite is when Liam prays. He make the Sign of the Cross (more or less... most days a little less than more) and prays with us before meals. He sings and prays along in Mass. When he hears the bells at the consecration he always whips his head around and whisper-yells, "Jesus!" and it always melts my heart. He has established his own little litany of patron saints when we pray together as a family after Mass, and it goes something like this: "St. Thomas... St. James... St. Henry... St. Percy..." Okay, so maybe he's a little confused about differentiating between saints and trains, but in his defense Thomas, James, and Henry are all saint names, and  there is a Bl. Thomas Percy. I love how proud of himself he is as he announces each name and waits for the rest of us to ask their intercession.

Oh Liam Roderick, you are a joy and a handful. We love you so dearly and we are so thankful for you!