Toddlers and Mass

I'd say from about 18 months on, Eden has been a real handful at Mass. We've been able to deal with her most times but sometimes gave up and retreated to the cry room. That wasn't much better because I would get so frustrated with the socializing parents more than Eden in a pew. The last few weeks had been especially bad with several dirty looks and comments from fellow parishioners. I knew God really wanted us to be there but the whole experience was leaving me so stressed out (and I rarely experience stress!)
So when yesterday morning came and as much as I love going to Mass (and the requirement) I told Steve we shouldn't go. But we couldn't really justify missing so we went to the later service.
I was AMAZED! Eden was really good. We let her eat Cheddar Bunnies which may have helped in her distraction but at this point I didn't care. During the Our Father, she was standing on my left and I reached out to hold her hand. The older lady next to us reached out her hand to Eden and she looked at it warily but joined hands with this stranger. It was beyond sweet!
Our friend, the recently ordained Fr. Ernesto Orci, presided over the Mass and I told him we are coming to all of his Masses since Eden was so good. Fr. Ernesto was able to join us for lunch and he told us all about his ordination. He is joining the priest that married us, Fr. Thuc, at St. Lawrence in Santa Clara.
I just have to keep reminding myself that this is a short phase in Eden's life and I'm sure once it does pass, we will start all over with baby sister.
As for Baby August, she moves around a lot, especially when Mommy is trying to sleep and the midwife said she is growing perfectly. We are excitedly awaiting her arrival but still haven't decided on her name although we are receiving many great suggestions.

Father's Day

We ate a yummy steak dinner at the beach for Father's Day with my parents. It is the usual beach we go to in Aptos and it was fun to be there at sunset.
Thanks to my Dad and Steve for being great dads!

Weekend in Review

Steve worked on Saturday but we had a really fun Sunday.
God continued to amaze me in His gift of the Eucharist at the 9 a.m. Mass at St. Mary's.
Steve purchased a plot in a community garden at a nearby church. Eden and I helped some, mainly just watered while he dug. We didn't take any pictures but here is a link:
http://www.calvarylosgatos.org/connect/community.html

We'll post pictures when everything starts to grow................

Lay it Down

I started to sing this song to Eden when she is on the changing table because most times, especially first thing in the morning she doesn't really want to lay down for a new diaper. Now she sings along with me, it is so cute. It has really turned into a prayer for me now. Everyday to take everything that I am and everything I want to be and to surrender it all to Jesus.
Thanks Matt Maher for the reminder but mostly thank you Jesus for forming me (and Eden) in Your will.
http://www.spiritandsong.com/musicondemand/songs/79826

Golden Gate Park

We visited Golden Gate Park last weekend for a wonderful, sunny afternoon. After a yummy picnic, Eden played at a great playground and took her first carousel ride. Fun, fun!

Eden's Second Birthday

We had a pretty low-key celebration for Eden's entry into the terrific two!
She couldn't wait to eat her cake as you can see in the picture:

What a lovely name

I found a cool baby name site from another blog:
www.whatalovelyname.com

It gives a lot of great suggestions which is helpful because we haven't figured out our Baby August's name yet. So far she is just Baby August.

You can make a cool logo with the names too. This is the one I made for Eden:

Return to the blog world

I tried blogging a while back but kind of forgot about it. I've become such a voyeur into other random blog lives, I decided it is about time to start posting about our own lives. Although it may not be that interesting, I'll give it a try.
Here is our latest family photo taken over Memorial Day weekend with Grandma Lillie. She is 95 years young!! We love her!