the answer?

I think it's almost a little spooky. Understand, I had thought countless times about writing a post about how comfortable I felt in the Catholic church again, and how that feeling surprised me. I'm not sure what compelled me to finally write the post, maybe the homily on Sunday about gratitude? or maybe I just finally had the time to put those thoughts into words. Regardless... we got a call today letting us know that they have a kindergarten spot for Devin at St. Matthews. Was that some sort of godly response to my post? Did I pass some kind of test of devotion? Or is it just some unexplainable coincidence?

Whatever is it, we are thrilled!

finding my religion

A couple months after we moved to Charlotte we joined the Catholic church. In New England we were members of the Congregational Church, which is Christian but much more liberal than the Catholic church (female pastors, married pastors, accepting of homosexuals, etc). This was a good fit for our family, and we were genuinely happy there. When we came to Charlotte, we realized that there are far fewer Congregationalist parishes here, and we found many more fundamentalist groups. Since I grew up Catholic, joining St. Matt's is not a great leap for me. However, Andy was raised Eastern Orthodox and his exposure to Catholicism came in grammar school when he attended Immaculate Heart of Mary and was forced to sit in the very last pew during school masses because he was a heathen (although I don't think they ever actually called him that). I would be lying (and good Catholics don't lie) if I didn't mention that initially we joined the church because St. Matt's has a great school and we were skeptical about the quality of the public education offered.
Given his experience, Andy was understandably dubious about joining the church, but agreed to do so because he values his children's education. And then the rules began... in order to protect against people doing exactly what we were (joining the church for the school) you had to be parishioners in good standing for three months to get priority acceptance to St. Matthews. In order to prove that you were active parishioners you had to go to church every week. It makes sense for the church to do that; I understand it. Now we were committed. I started going to church weekly with one or both of the boys, and even Andy joined us sometimes. I sang the familiar songs and listened to the familiar readings and responded all the times I was supposed to respond, and something interesting happened. I really liked it. I felt like I was where I was supposed to be. Now I understand that twelve years of Catholic schooling (and countless Sunday masses from the time I was a baby) can certainly contribute to the comfort I felt, but I felt it. I felt it more than I ever did at the other churches we attended.
But we did not get Devin into St. Matthew's for kindergarten; he is on the wait list. Things did not go according to our plan, and we are frustrated about that. It is especially frustrating for Andy who still does not feel accepted into the church and sometimes doesn't see an upside to our joining. But I do. This morning at church the boys brought to the altar the pennies (and quarters and dimes and nickels) that they have been saving over the last three months for "kids who don't have a house". Devin sang "Alleluia" and Alex made the sign of the cross (backwards, and with his left hand). They were quiet and respectful during mass and I was able to listen to the homily about being thankful for what you have regardless of what others may have. That seems to be a theme in my life lately - being thankful. I do not take for granted the wonderful man I married or the three beautiful kids that we have together. I am so grateful for our lifestyle; the fact that I can stay home to care for our kids, that we have a beautiful home and enough of what we need to be comfortable.
Today at church Alex thanked God that my leg was getting better and Devin thanked God for green trees. And then I thanked God for them.

Devin meets Devin

Last night we met Devin Hester, who signed our Devin's Tshirt. The boys also met Tom Thayer (for you old school Bears fans), who kindly gave them each a piece of candy. Leave it to my kids to mooch food from the football hall-of-famer.

All about Alex

Alex is a trip. At three years old he already has such a big personality and he's just funny. Tonight at dinner he was eating mango (which he told his teacher is his favorite food) when he suddenly said, "That's what I'm talking about..." - complete with the head nod. It was hilarious.
He is finally out of pull-ups, even at night! Alex is so proud of himself and really feels like a big boy. The other morning (after he successfully made it through the night keeping his very last pull-up dry) I was changing Isabel on the floor in the family room while Alex was getting dressed there too. I went to put Izzy's clothes in the laundry room hamper and came back to find her laying on her tummy with Alex's pull-up on her head like a crown (after all she is the princess, right). After I scolded Alex and told him to remove the pull-up from her head, I immediately called Andy to laugh about his latest escapade. At least the pull-up was dry.
Alex is a very determined little guy, which is a blessing and a curse. I love that he is able to button his own clothes and write his name and actually shoot a basket on the real hoop outside, but that means that we have to always leave extra time getting ready in the morning so that Alex can do every little task on his own (it's a good thing we are up before dawn for Devin's school after all!). And when Alex struggles to complete a task that he thinks he should have mastered, he gets so incredibly frustrated. I think it is amazing that he is already writing his name, but today when he made his 'e' backwards he scribbled out the entire thing.
Alex is still always singing, and his latest favorites are the Hokey Pokey or the love song from High School Musical ("What I've Been Looking For" for those of you in the know). He picks up on music so quickly that Andy and I have to be careful about what we play around him. The other day I caught him singing a couple verses of "Talk Dirty to Me" by Poison (courtesy of Guitar Hero, of course). Somehow I don't think that would go over well with the preschool staff. =)

all better

I saw my ortho yesterday and I am very happy to say that I am no longer in his care. My ankle break is completely healed and everything looks great. He anticipates that it will be a couple months before I am feeling completely normal, since I am still healing the ankle sprain, but the break looks fine. Now it's just PT to get my strength and balance back. Woohooooo!!!!
I am psyched.

into the swing of things

I'm not really sure about this school thing. People think that parents love school since it means that their kids are out of the house (and happy about it!) for hours on end, but so far school has been kind of a pain for me (and after all, it's all about me, right?). See, Devin has to be out of the house by 6:45 am to get to school on time. 6:45 AM!!!! Those who know Devin well know that he is like me in the morning, which means that he is in a total fog in the morning. While he has been doing well with his 6:00 am wake up call, he's not quite the same sweet kid in the afternoons that I am used to. I know he's tired, we all are. So, since school has started our morning starts an hour earlier than it did before, which just hurts. Now factor in also that Alex and Isabel take afternoon naps and you would think that I have little reason to complain. However, this summer I was lucky enough to get their naps to coincide most days, and Devin would have a "quiet time" while they were napping, thus buying me about an hour most days to relax or catch up on email, write in my blog, etc. Now, when I am able to get the two little ones down for a nap, I have to go out to meet Devin's bus. Since Devin starts school before dawn, he eats lunch at 10:30 am (seriously) so he's typically starving when he gets off the bus. So Devin eats a snack and by the time he's done Alex is awake.
Now the boys do go to bed a little earlier, but Isabel is not following their lead. So in total since school started I get up an hour earlier, lose my break in the middle of the day and my evening is equally long. How is the fourteen to fifteen hour day better than the summer?
I'm sure that the routine will improve once I get into the swing of things more and can figure out how to get some down time during the day. Otherwise I'll be counting the days until summer vacation more than the boys!