Baby Ray

Meet the newest addition to our family ~

Raymond Francisco

He was born at 7:03 PM and we got to see him at 7:15 PM!
We were in the waiting area of 'labor and delivery' when Brian knocked on the window, we had just arrived at the hospital and we thought he was going to tell us that Flora was being brought into the operating room (after hours and hours of labor and no real progress she ended up having a C-section), but, lo and behold, he was standing outside the room by the elavators with Baby Ray in the bassinett, they were transferring him downstairs to the nursery, so we were able to get a view up close and personal!  And he looked right at me!  And I think he smiled!


Here's the proud PaPa relating all the details:

(We didn't get a chance to see Flora as she was still in recovery and the announcement came that visiting hours were over.)


We wish her a speedy recovery so she can enjoy this new little Blessing!

Before And After

No, this is not another big home improvement project.  This is just the daily home improvement project.


Before Jayden leaves for school the living room looks like this:

 (Throw pillows and cushions in disarray.)

(Artwork left out on the loveseat.)

(Various toys strewn all about the room.)

Of course he never has time to do clean-up before rushing out the door to school:

So after he leaves I do a quick pick-up and then the living room looks like this:

And Eóghan and I spend a quiet day surrounded by neatness.

Here is the living room before Jayden comes home from school:

Then Eóghan and I make the trek to school to fetch Jayden:

And out comes the whirlwind...

...who is always a few steps ahead of us:

And after he walks in the door the living room looks like this:

Me (indignantly):  "Jayden!"

Jayden (just as indignant):  "I know, I know, put my hat and gloves in the sleeve and hang up my jacket.  Then put my shoes away, and get changed, and put my schoolbag on the dining table.  Every day the same old thing!"

Sophie Has 'Build-A-Bear' Feet?

Yes!  It looks like God made Sophie's feet to fit perfectly into a pair of Build-A-Bear shoes.  Sophie has round feet and her Mom & Dad could not find any shoes to fit her.  That is until Erik took a pair of shoes meant for one of Mia's Build-A-Bear dolls and tried them on Sophie's feet.  And these round little shoes fit Sophie perfectly:

Well, while we all thought it was funny, Sophie's Mom, along with Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt Ellie weren't having any of that!  We were on a quest to find something other than fat, round doll shoes for Sophie.  Grandpa and Aunt Ellie found slipper socks with a rubber-soled bottom, and Lori saw another pair of shoes that looked sort of like sweater boots she thought might work, but I was determined to find some kind of a soft shoe to fit her.
Finally, I think we found something!  They seem to fit!  And they stayed on even while she jumped and jumped in Eóghan's jumperoo!

Much better!  Don't you agree?

The Baby That Almost Never Cries

Now this is a very rare occurrence in our home:


I hear someone stirring in the bassinet and I see two little feet.

(No, someone stirring and kicking his little feet is not the rare occurrence.)


But I hear something that I almost never hear ~ I hear whimpering.  And I see something that I almost never see ~ such a sour face!

"Eóghan, I'm right here.  You're not alone!"

"Come on, look up!"

"Oh, Grandma!"

"You're here?"

"Okay, I'll stop crying now."

Now that's more like it!

This is what I'm used to seeing all the time!

Talk about spoiled!  I am one spoiled Grandma!

The Three Days of Christmas

Yes, we celebrated Christmas three weekends in a row!
On Saturday, the 17th, we started the day with Mia's Christmas Dance recital:

It really put us in the Christmas spirit!
And then we went back to the house to celebrate 'Jansson Christmas' (I don't know why we call it 'Jansson Christmas' because a lot of my side of the family attends too!)

It was LOTS of family!  LOTS of food!  LOTS of fun!

And we had our 'Secret Santa' gift-exchange (on Thanksgiving we all pick one name out of a hat and we buy only for that one person):


I had Jackie this year and I bought her some maternity clothes and also because she kept complimenting the necklace I wore to Eóghan's Christening I got one just like it for her.  I love 'Secret Santa' because we get to concentrate on just one person.  And Jackie is a very sweet person to be able to concentrate on, and she's so easy to shop for!  (We have much the same taste in many areas.)


She sent me a picture of herself wearing the dress I got for her:

And Diane had me for Secret Santa and I LOVED what she got for me!  She gave me a beautiful little icon of St. Anne and St. Joachim (they are the Patron Saints of grandparents), and she got me a book by Diane Keaton (Then Again), and she gave me a CD by Alfie Boe (Bring Him Home), and best of all, she gave me a walk down memory lane when she gave me a game that I loved when we were little ~ "Mystery Date" (and Jayden was very anxious to play it, and so was Ray's sister Susie, she said she always wanted one but never got it ~ I guess I know what I'll be buying her if I ever get her in Secret Santa)!


I think everyone was happy with their 'Secret Santas' ~ I know I was!

And the next day we went to the Family Mass at church and then a few of us went out to brunch at our favorite restaurant:

(Jayden & Mia were having fun taking pictures of each other!)

Then on Christmas Day we celebrated with a much smaller crowd, with just salads and sandwiches for lunch, but it was a wonderful celebration too.  And we sang 'Happy Birthday' to Jesus.  And, my sister Marybeth gave me 'the Chinese people'!  Each year one of us girls gets to keep them for a year before we pass them on to the next sister as a Christmas gift.  "The Chinese People" (which I actually think are Japanese as they were made in Japan, but we always called them the Chinese people) were one of the first knick-knacks we remember my Mom having.  I love every little detail about them, I love their poses and their sweet expressions, almost as if they are reflective and wise, and mostly I love that they are a beautiful reminder of family, and love, and childhood:

And then on New Year's Day we had another Christmas celebration!  Since we weren't able to celebrate with Erik, Lori, Mia, & Sophie on Christmas due to illness, we kept their gifts under the tree until we could all be together:

All three celebrations were lots of fun!  And I'm happy to report that everyone is well on the road to recovery!

"Greatest Invention Since Sliced Bread"

My Mom used to say lots of phrases, and some made no sense to me when I was little, it wasn't until I got older that I understood the wisdom of some of these sayings, and it wasn't until I was older that I understood the humor in a lot of them:


"Still wet behind the ears."
"Three sheets to the wind."
"Throwing the baby out with the bath water."
"To boot."
"Be careful what you wish for."
"Crying crocodile tears."
"Doubting Thomas."
"Spick and Span."
"Give the house a lick and a promise."


She had a ton of them, but these are some I remember off the top of my head.  And often others will come to mind, like, "This is the greatest invention since sliced bread!" (I looked it up and found that bread was first sliced and packaged for convenience in 1928 [my Mom was five at the time, so maybe she does remember this invention!],  I read that this phrase is commonly used to praise an invention or development.  And I read that a writer for the Kansas City Star wrote that the phrase is the ultimate depiction of innovative achievement and American know-how.)


Anyway, that one phrase of my Mom's came to mind when I acquired these:

Dish Towel Gloves!

They were just an impulse buy when Ray and I were in the Corningware store at a local shopping center.  And it is an impulse buy that I do NOT regret!  They are fantastic!  They dry well.  They give you a good grip on whatever it is you're drying.  And they are so thick and absorbent that you can dry many, many dishes and pots & pans without having to change the gloves out the way you do with conventional dish towels.

Yes! Dish Towel Gloves! Greatest invention since sliced bread!

Things Are Not Always What They Seem

Does my blog make you think my life is a bed of roses?  It is not.
Does it seem that my life is problem-free?  It is not.
Does it seem as if my family is one big happy family?  Unfortunately, it is not.

We have our problems.  Some of them even of our own creation.  Of  course, we contend with the difficulties that life throws at everyone ~ finances, sickness, and the unanticipated complications that crop up now and then.
And, of course, with a big family, and the many different personalities in this family, well, there's a lot of squabbling that goes on.  And sometimes the internal strife is intense, and it's always sad when there is a break in family ties.

You would think from reading my blog that we are a 'picture perfect' family.  I assure you, we are not.  We have our share of troubles just as other families do.  But in my blogging I choose to highlight only the good and only the positive.  I'm not trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, and I'm not trying to make us out to be something we are not.  My blog is sort of my scrapbook, and my journal, and I choose to  put only the best and the brightest moments in it.  And that is what I hope to remember all my life, despite the reality of the fact that things are not always what they seem.