out there and maybe some fathers. I found this prayer in one of my prayer books and I wanted to share it with everyone.

In My Laundry Room

As I carefully fold my sheets,
Smoothing out the wrinkles,
Bringing corner to corner . . .
Lovingly, I think of You, my Lord.

The pile of laundry seemingly grows beside me,
As I strive to keep up
With this never-ending chore.

But, in my laundry room . . .
I thank You, my dear Lord,
For loving me and allowing me
To serve You in my family.
*From Catholic Prayer Book for Mothers by Donna-Marie Cooper OBoyle

Last night was my first night to leave the house alone since Hannah was born! I went to a mom's fellowship meeting at church. I can't explain how great it was to leave the house empty handed. Now what you have been waiting for . . . how did Andy do with the girls alone for the first time? Understand, I was only gone for 1 hour 45 minutes. Andy said things were going fairly well until I called on my way home and talked to Mary Catherine. She was so excited because she "helped daddy give Hannah a bottle." But when I hung up, she got really upset and started screaming/crying. Hannah then got really upset too and started crying. Now here is the kicker . . . Lucy (our dog) got up on the couch and started howling. Poor Andy. All three of them crying. Now if you are home with them all the time like I am, this is pretty normal. I just always have to laugh though when Lucy starts howling. It really adds humor to the whole situation.

So when I pulled up, Mary Catherine came running out of the house crying (because she "wanted mommy") and holding Hannah's bottle, and Hannah was just hanging out in Andy's arms. Apparently, Mary Catherine was so fascinated by Hannah's bottle that she wouldn't give it back to Andy (note: this was the first time that Mary Catherine has seen Hannah get a bottle). I guess it was okay because Hannah wouldn't take it anyways. What a night for Andy! This was just a little practice run before I go back to work in two weeks. I will let you know how that goes.

Since it was so hot today (90s), I filled up Mary Catherine's little swimming pool and let her have some fun in the backyard. We jumped on the trampoline, splashed in the pool, and made mud pies. We even got some "real" candles out and stuck them in the pies so that we could sing Happy Birthday to Auntie M, Lucy (our dog) and me. We had a lot of fun and played for almost 3 hours. Hannah finally joined us at the end but by then the battery on my camera had already died so I didn't get any pics of her.

I know I am a little behind on blog postings but I will just pick up where I left off. Hannah was baptized on February 15. As you already know, we had a "full house" that weekend and things were crazy around here. We all went to Mass Sunday morning at 11:30 and the baptism was right after Mass. Of all Sundays, the nursery was closed. So we parents spent most of Mass in the foyer chasing around the little ones.
Hannah was pretty fussy during the baptism; however, she actually stopped fussing when they poured the cold water on her head. After the baptism, we all headed to our house for lunch. Thank you to all of our family members that traveled far to help celebrate Hannah's baptism.

Last weekend Hannah got baptized and we had a "full house." My brother (Joey) and his two daughters (Molly & Avery) flew in from Arkansas. My sister (Mary) and her fiance (Paul) were here as well as my parents. (Side note: Paul proposed to Mary over the weekend.) Andy's parents and sister (Mary Margaret) also came Saturday evening.

To keep the girls entertained, Saturday morning we went to Zilker Park to ride the train. Strangely enough, a cold front came in that morning and it was freezing but it didn't stop us from going. We rode the train, played on the playground, and fed the pigeons; then we headed to Hut's Hamburgers for lunch (a yummy place downtown). Here are some pics that we took at Zilker.

We were lucky this year to have Grammy in Austin on her birthday (February 10th). In the morning, we went to the library and saw a puppet show. Mary Catherine and Grammy were "party poopers" and came home and took a two hour nap together. We celebrated her birthday that night at Chick-fil-a (Mary Catherine's pick) and then surprised Grammy with a cookie cake.

Hannah gets really upset sometimes when she's tired. It can be a challenge sometimes to figure out how to help her fall asleep so that she'll stop crying.

Here's one of her favorite positions. I think she likes it because she feels close to you, she can't go anywhere, and her head has a nice little pillow on your arm. If you're ever babysitting her and nothing seems to be working, give this a try: