Friday, January 29, 2010

Hugs from our Guardian Angel

It's been a week since I've posted! I am truly sorry to any of you who have looked up my site since I've now been added to the Catholic Mothers Blog reel. As this is my project during nap times of two children, I normally get a few posts within a week... however, this week kicked off with a BANG, literally!

If any of you are from MN, or are Vikings fans, you'd know that this past Sunday was NFC championship game where the winner would determine who would head to the Super Bowl... this means nothing to a southern belle who was secretly rooting for the Saints (because, being Catholic, who else could I cheer for? I mean seriously...) Anyway, due to this big game, I had decided to cancel the youth group for our parish; normally I do not do cancel any youth event due to a silly sporting game, however, I did know that most of our city was shut down due to this event specifically.

This being said, my hubby and I decided to invite some of our friends over to "watch" the game, but really just enjoy each other's company. "Uncle" Texas, soon-to-be "Auntie" Texas, and "Auntie" WinWee came to play with Bumble Bee (as seen above) and my daughter just loved the attention! She even showed off some of her dance moves! Granted, at this stage in life, her moves consist of beating the air with her elbow (kinda like flapping a chicken wing), and stomping her feet to whatever beat she can make up as she tries to circle around our room. But even so, it was mucho cute!

And then, it happened. I told my hubby to leave the kitchen to go and call his sister; I knew I could watch the stove top with the pot boiling something inside... it's not like he had anything in it, right?

WRONG! After what seemed like half a minute, there was steamy stuff coming off the pot, I looked over to see a SPARK! Thinking that it must just be boiling water, I figured I needed to lift up the lid and let the steam settle down before a bigger mess happened. Oh Sweet Virgin Mary, I did pray. As fire lept out of the pot... at this point, what is a gal to do, but scream for her hubby...LOUDLY!
And there, like a super hero... Hubby came flying into the kitchen for the rescue! With his quick thinking, he knew it was not water, but oil in the firey pot. Therefore, as EVERYONE should know: YOU DO NOT USE WATER TO PUT OUT A GREASE FIRE. EVER!!! Please note the severity of this, duely noted on youtube. Bit of a hardcore Public Service Announcement, however that demo kitchen is about the same size as ours at home.



So back to the story... SuperHubby grabbed the pot, even though he probably shouldn't have... to keep the overhead cupboards from starting ablaze (side note, our fire was much bigger than the one on the youtube video, about 4 feet high at this point). Unfortunately, the pot was so hot that Super Hubby dropped it. Both SuperHubby and Auntie WinWee were on the wrong side of the kitchen, split in half by the firey pot. He lept like an elk over the fire, ran and grabbed our son T-the Tiger, brought him to the entry way (where Uncle and Auntie Texas and Auntie WinWee took our children to safety away from the fire), and SuperHubby started beating the fire with one of our pink towels. Now, please know that our Baking Soda was in one of the cupboards right behind the dropped pot! Despite no t having access to the baking soda, he was able to beat the fire out.

Now where was I during this time, you might ask? I first prayed that my guardian angel would help my hubby and Auntie WinWee get out of the firey area alive. Which as the picture shows, my angel seemed to hold the fire with a hug from his wings. As soon as they had both Olympic-sized jumped over the fire of doom. I was calling 911 as soon as my hubby would hand over the phone (SuperHubby didn't think we needed 911, and he was so composed that we all thought "it wasn't a big deal" as he was stating holding the pot of burning hell, you know... have a 4 foot fire in our midst...yeah right!). Then I was soon yelling at the poor operator who wasn't listening to me- did she speak emergency english??, and running down our apartment hallway. In the hallway, I discovered at this time, some less-than-smart person took the hammer for the fire extinguisher container (what a funny jokester, may he rot in the firey kitchens of below), and so I decided my palm would be the best place to ninja chop the glass in order to obtain the fire extinguisher (thank goodness for all those games of Ninja Ah at youth group and YMCA day camp days!). However, by the time I had handed off the extinguisher to Uncle Texas to bring to SuperHubby, my man had already taken out the fire. Please note that he saved more than just our apartment, he saved the lives of many neighbors; since to our surprise NO ONE knew about the fire, since our apartment smoke detectors are not linked to each other... allowing us to only knowthat a fire is in our building after it penitrates into our own apartment and thus setting off our own smoke detectors. AWESOME... (side note, we are currently looking for new housing options for the near future).
Shortly soon after (and a little too late), the police, fire fighters, and ambulance came. As SuperHubby was badly burnt on his right hand, I brought appropriate people into the apartment to show them the damage, and really to grab my babies diaper bag and coats. One fire fighter even said under his breath that it was a miracle that this was the extent of the damage and that SuperHubby was able to contain the flames himself. Yea...that's my huband. As noted in pictures above, the grease was only a half an inch from the electrical line beneath our oven. It was a miracle that all of the grease that was all over the kitchen had not caught flame as well.

We found out that I need to rush SuperHubby to the emergency room to see how badly burnt his hand was; myself and my ninja chopped hand had only a small flesh wound and a little black and blue edging (from how strong I am!). Turns out, he had deep 2nd degree burns and possibly a little 3rd degree burn. Throughout his pain, he inspired me due to his reactions to the pain as he kept offering up all the pain for someone else's conversion. (SuperHubby's hand a day later, at doctor's office... he suggested I post this... yuckie!)
Thankfully, our friends watched our children nearby so that they would not become restless in the hospital. And as soon as I sent word to Fargo, Momma Allex was rushing her way down to help us through this tough time. She spent 3 nights with us, helping me with the babies, and allowing me to help SuperHubby since he was right hand dominant impaired. So Wednesday morning, I made the second hardest decision in my life (the first was to NOT receive any medication through child-pushing process of labor)... and I put my trust in my amazing in-laws to watch my two precious angels while I help my SuperHubby the next few days recover with hydrotherapy and wound cleansing at the hospital. The other major blessing, we've received is the amazing generousity of kindess from parishoners who have offered up prayers for SuperHubby's recovery as well as AMAZING meals that SuperHubby and myself get to indulge ourselves with as we have no use of our stove for a little while, at least until our land lady comes back from her vacation. So I guess, that's where I've been the past week, instead of blogging, I've been mothering my hurt SuperHero...

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

oh my son!

So looking back quickly at old post, I noticed I haven't given you much updates on T. Well at 5 months-old, he keeps us very busy. He LOVES to eat things! He also LOVES to sit in his big sissy's brown chair...which makes me wonder if we should save up and get him one sooner than later. He LOVES to watch his surroundings in his Bumbo chair. and He LOVES to not sleep at convenient times (like normal night hours) and insteads tries to stay up with Daddy all night long while Daddy desires his own rest. T enjoys putting everything in his mouth and he has recently found his toes in his mouth regularly. He has the cutest laugh ever and he LOVES jumping in the jumperoo! OH and did I mention, he dances to any Veggie Tale intro movie we pop into the DVD player!
Yes, I believe he is growing spendidly and he is pretty cooperative when it comes to getting diaper changed (Mommy hasn't had any pee incidents since he was 1 month--old), and he doesn't push new clothing away like his sister did at 5 months-old. He is fully in his 6 month-old clothing...and he truly enjoys this blue football outfit (so thank you whatever person gave it to him for Christmas!) Also, he is currently trying to learn how to hold his bottle, eat it, and suck his thumb at the same time... who says guys don't like to multi-task? He absolutely LOVES his big sister's kissies; having her tickle him on his chest; and playing with her on his tummy! OH and last but SURELY not least, he is finally being baptized in a few weeks! He will be baptized on February 7th, which the readings correlate to that of being a "fisher of men"... does anyone smell vocational calling to the priesthood? Prayers would be wonderful for my son and his washing away of original sin and the openness to the Holy Spirit!

oh my daughter...

Today has been a very funny Bumble Bee day... at 17 months-old, my daughter constantly loves everyone she meets...and today has been no different. Bumble Bee has an enormous heart and loves to express her love towards others... B loves to dine with her monkey and Puppy friends.. she loves to draw with her new Tadoodler crayons... and she LOVES to sit on her big brown chair and sip from her sippy cups.

But more than anything else, she loves to give small "kissies" to her little brother on his forehead. It fascinates me that even at such a young age, my daughter picks up on our love for T. Yet, she never tries to kick him out of the spotlight of love, she would rather show us that she too loves him. It really is a great gift to be able to shower her and him with love and to see that she wants to do the same for her rather tiny brother.

On the other cute note, B LOVES to snag my phone and make a random phone call to some unsuspecting friend or family member. This is a pic I took while B was on the phone with Great-Grandma Ellie last night. B LOVES to talk; she LOVES to walk around our apartment with the phone and call someone; she LOVES giggle while running away from one or both of her parents...and she is so darn adorable while she talks on the phone. If you are blessed with a phone call or better, a message from B, I know you know what I'm talking about. But what a wonderful gift to get an unsuspecting phone call from your friend's daughter! Well nap time is over now so back to playing kitchen!!
God Bless

Thursday, January 7, 2010

speaking of getting old...

OH YEAH... my birthday.
Ok so: Bday morning, hubby let me sleep in. SWEET!
Afternoon, went and picked up my gal pal/partner-in-cooking-crime: Lindsey. NICE!!!
Got Lindz, get home and BAM! Monk pal, Bro Pete, sitting in my kitchen with my hubby, stopping by to wish me well on my day-older-day! AWESOME! Made some cupcakes with Lindz for a home-made cupcake tree... YES... devil's foodcake and funfetti! FANTASTIC!!! Although we made 36, only 27 got put in the tree... hrmm odd?

Hubby surprises me with pink roses! Double nice!!
YAY birthday pic with hubby.
Phenomenal night with Lindz, gal pal Erin, her hubby Andrew, and my hubby... played some board games, watched some t.v. and watched the ball drop! it was a spectacular night while my two babies slept only feet away!



a resolution...

So I have been thinking about it for a while... and what will be different for this year, decade, even week that made last year's different? What's my resolution?
Yes, I am in a family competition-style weight loss goal for this next half a year... but is that what I really want 2010 to be remembered for? Then there's always the solid answer of "I'm gonna get out of debt", or "This year I won't procrastinate" But that's not a true change... those are just goals I would love to get, but will probably not strive for months later...
So then the answer came to me in a birthday gift this year. It's a book based on the 100 things every Catholic (teen) should know. So I got it. I need to make this week, month, year, decade, really life about seeking the deeper meanings of my faith. A lot of people know me for having a pretty strong faith, I'd consider myself a "medium-rare" Catholic. You know, medium rare being the scale for your steak; I'm the Catholic who has let the Holy Spirit lead my life, but not let it grab my spirit with all the teachings of the Catholic Church... but I need to grow closer to the teachings in order to take the next big step in my faith journey. I know the basic ones sure... but the nitty gritty ones, I want to learn my Catholic identity. It's important that we not only understand who we are as Catholics, but what we believe and proclaim as well. Many people claim to be Catholic, but don't live by what the Church teaches. Others claim to be Catholic but don't know what the Church teaches. At some point in my life, I know I've crossed into one of these two groups...but I've grown and now I desire more. So it realy shouldn't matter how old we are right? Christ is ready to share His love and truth with me, and with YOU, out there in blog world.
This year starts a huge growth in my faith journey. This year, I will actively seek the Church's teachings and understandings. This year, I want to become a well-done if not very well done Catholic, soaking up the Catholic teachings and understandings. If you are interested in following along or read about this adventure, check out my second blog: welldonecatholic.wordpress.com
So I guess, it's real.