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Especially when you are a first-born daughter.
She's my right-hand-gal!
Not that she NEEDS them (she can't even sit up yet), but they are just so much fun that we can't help ourselves.
Using Michele's soft-shoe tutorial, we made these two while my sister was here a couple weeks ago:
Then Auntie Senta made these once she got back home and sent them last week:
Can you just IMAGINE the shouts of glee and wonder when THAT package was opened and its contents revealed?
So cute!!! I have a denim pair and a cute little lavender paisley pair all cut out and ready to sew up.
Let's see....one more picture of them all together? Well....OK, you talked me into it.
...that one must haul out the camera.
11 Weeks and Smiling!
My brother visited us this weekend. He flew in from San Diego on Thursday night, and leaves Monday morning. That's probably about all he can take of this three-ring-circus, being a swingin' bachelor, who has a bit of a quieter home life than what he experiences here.
He is number two, in our line-up of siblings. In other words he was the victim of my hours playing "school" where I was the teacher and he was the student. I'm sure he loved every moment of it. <<wink>>
We went beachcombing, watched fireworks (absent of screams of terror this year!), relaxed at the house, and went to a minor-league baseball game. Unlce Ivan also made his famous Chinese food for us on Saturday night.
When he visited three years ago, there were only three nieces. Now, there are FIVE:
Here we are at the Everett Aquasox game:
And, of course, we had to put the baby in the arms of the bachelor, swoon a bit, and then take pictures:
"Uhhhhh, help? I'm falling and I can't get up. What is WRONG with you people? Don't you know how prop up a baby?"
My favorite ~ the foot foto with father!
I'm embracing my friend Kari's idea of taking a picture of baby on the same day every week, eventually monthly. The day of the week they were born. When she did this with her son, Charlie, 5 years ago, I laughed....as it was a take-off from the book and movie of Tuesdays with Morrie. So now I get to have Tuesdays with Jacqueline and everyone can laugh at ME. Of course, now I have a digital camera and wholeheartedly embrace the SIMPLICITY of "Tuesdays with Jacqueline." Otherwise I fear I would have a million pictures in digital-la-la-land OR no pictures of our little bundle because I simply can't remember or find the camera. Anyway, enough of that nonsense....on with the pictures of the baby, for crying out loud!
Here is "little Jackie-T" at 1 month old:
Here she is getting ready for her first boxing match. We, here at the House of Gallus, believe that it's never too early to practice a good Balanced Boxing Stance.
We said good-bye to my mother on Wednesday. Everyone cried. She was a huge help and lots of fun, as usual. Before she left, we had the obligatory photo-shoot.
"Nama" (as Caroline calls her) and her five grand-daughters.
And, we were able to get our second picture as a family of seven without involving the whole neighborhood. In the first picture, you couldn't even SEE the seventh member.)
Now, I must excuse myself. I need to attend to the laundry and messy kitchen; household tasks I haven't done for the past three weeks!
Jacqueline is three weeks old today! Here are some photos from our "Babymoon."
Jacqueline Therese was born on April 29 at 11:06 pm! She weighed 9.0 lbs., which is BIG compared to our other seven-pounders. We're both doing well, and the girls are loving her and complaining that they don't get to hold her enough.
Labor was a mere hour-and-a-half! Now THAT'S my kind of labor. Finally....my dream of short labor! (Pete does not share this dream with me.) Water broke at 9:35, and 15 minutes later heavy contractions started. She was born at 11:06.
I'm entitling this photo: "How many hands does it take to dress a newborn for the very first time?"
The Weigh-in:
Our New Family of Seven:
The midwife is on her way. My fifth labor. When I get to this point, I am always in utter disbelief that I am actually going to "do this" yet again. Up until now, I do a pretty good job of NOT thinking about it.
I've been having contractions since late this morning after my first 40-week-prenatal-appointment. The girls went to bed early, as we hoped we'd have to wake them up sometime tonight. And, it looks like we will!
Just kidding, of course. I'm not quite feelin' groovy, but I certainly can't complain.
I'm actually not as completely incapacitated as I was with Caroline's (#4) pregnancy at this point. There are probably three reasons for this:
Due date is April 29, but I've never made it to 40 weeks. Caroline was 8 days early, and each delivery seems to get earlier and earlier.
The countdown continues.....
.....next to giving birth to my fifth baby girl. But that hasn't happened yet, so this is definitely my greatest accomplishment SO FAR, this year! (I wonder what my college professors would think about this fact? LOL!)
We have succeeded in getting FIVE car seats / booster seats in a 1999 Dodge Caravan! The "old" minivans are much narrower than the newer ones, so this is really a big deal! Plus, by the time most people have 5 children, usually at least ONE or TWO of them are OUT OF CAR SEATS!
I keep waiting for 20/20 to knock on my door and interview us, but it hasn't happened, so I'll blog about it instead.
These were the previous car seats:
The three on the right have all expired, so they have taken the infamous ride to the dump, never to be seen again.
Here is the obligatory photo of car seats with owners in the sitting position:
Enough with the old! Onward! I was very nervous the day these appeared on my doorstep:
If the contents of these boxes didn't work, then I would:
The contents of these all-important boxes were two Sunshine Radian 65 car seats, thanks to LisaD from from this 4Real thread. By far, the most narrow car seat on the market. The Radian is 12" across the base and 17" at the shoulder area. It holds a child in a 5-point-harness 5 lbs. - 65 lbs., and 53" tall. This is NOT a booster. It's for older/heavier children to be in a 5-point-harness, basically for the rest of their lives, lol.
Then, we purchased a Graco Turbobooster, which is a fairly narrow booster. 16" at the base. We have 49" plastic to plastic in the back seat of the van. After much time, sweat, muscle, and a bit of cursing, Pete installed these successfully, while I stood around and did nothing prayed to St. Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes.
It actually worked:
Look at that. A beautiful sight. Not an INCH to spare.
From left to right in the backseat:
22 lbs. 2-year-old - Radian
36 lbs. 4-year-old - Radian
40 lbs. 5.5-year-old - Graco TurboBooster with a car seat belt extender from the Dodge
dealership.
The seat belt extender (thanks, Nicole-"humanaevitae") pulls the female seat belt out about 6 inches, which makes it possible to buckle in the booster on the far right, otherwise this wouldn't work, as you wouldn't be able to get your hand down there to fasten the seat belt, since we have not even a millimeter of extra space. I can get my hands in there, but not Pete, and not the child. The verdict is still out on whether or not it's safe to have the buckle nearer the pelvis like this; I've had differing opinions from car-seat-techs. Hopefully, we won't have to use it all the time, but it's there just in case.
Then in the middle seat we have:
Happy Birthday, Pete! You just received $400 worth of car seats for your birthday! And, you have succeeded in avoiding purchasing another vehicle for at least another couple of years! Yes, yes....a glorious 46th birthday present indeed.
I know I'm getting closer (and bigger) when Pete starts calling me "Oompa-Loompa" and "Weeble."
We really live it up in this house. Every baby gets a new batch of homemade diaper wipes. It's very exciting. I spend an embarrassingly long time picking out JUST the right flannel at Joann's, and then it gets sewn into little 4" x 8" rectangles. I made them for Madeleine, Dorothy Jo, and Caroline. Pete's mom made them for Erika. And my mom made these.
This time I chose FOUR different prints. In the past I've picked out one or two, or even just used whatever flannel material I had in the fabric box. But, this time, I went overboard and got a half-yard of FOUR different prints!! Like I said.....livin' it up!
Aren't they cute?
There are 39 of them. A child, who shall go nameless, cut one up, or there would be 40.
Of course, we make a big presentation of them to Pete upon finishing. He actually puts up with this nonsense simply because he knows how much money it saves him. The cost of wiping baby bums in our house includes:
Once again, here they are.......
Perfectly stacked, probably for the very last time.
Who knew I could write so much about rectangles of flannel sewn together? Hmmph.
To my dad and brothers: Don't worry......there are no pictures with me in Angelina Jolie-style-maternity-clothing. Or any pics resembling Demi Moore! No need to "close your eyes."
4 months, 5 months, and the current 6-month-picture from last weekend (red):
We're doing a lot of GROWING over here on this side of the country. I wish my daughters OUT OF THE WOMB would get the growing bug. Did you know that our 23-month-old BARELY tips the scale at 22 lbs? The 1-year-old neighbor boy weighs 5 lbs. more than her! And, Erika is five-and-a-half-years-old and is only 37 lbs. She's not even out of a 5-point-harness yet.
Speaking of car seats, Pete and I are quite proud of ourselves. We have figured out (theoretically anyway) how to get 5 car seats in our '99 Caravan. We spent about 3 hours on this little exercise in logic and precise measuring over Christmas Vacation. My brain ached. But, I think we got it. I'm ordering a few things this week and then we'll see how the best laid car seat plans of the Gallus Family pan out in real life instead of just on paper. You should SEE that piece of paper, by the way. It looks like a Russian spy code or something. I almost took a picture of it to post, but decided that was a bit ridiculous. I made a copy, though, and put it in our family binder. The title is: Proposed Car Seat Configuration 2008-2010. Go ahead.....laugh! I did.
Is there a Patron Saint of Car Seats? I think not. Perhaps I should just stick with the Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes.
Whoo-hoo! She'll be here for two-and-a-half weeks to make her grand contribution to this quickly growing family and household. Everyone is very excited about this. 
Pete adores her. She thinks Pete is the most wonderful man to walk the earth since St. Francis.
She is hysterically funny and goofy, and the girls LOVE spending time with her. She loves them.
She is a sixty-something lady who works like a 30-year-old. She loves to clean, scrub, sort, organize and empty the dishwasher.
Need I say more?
GEEEEEEEL !
For those of you who don't speak "four-year-old-eze" that would be....GIRL!
Yep. A Girl! (of course!) Pete used to be famous for climbing mountains and how much he could bench. Now he's famous because he's going to have FIVE DAUGHTERS.
We all went to the ultrasound on Thursday, except Caroline....she got to stay home with Grammy Anne and smear a St. Nicholas Chocolate Gold Coin all over her face.
Everyone was sitting at my feet during the ultrasound watching the screen, Erika and Dorothy Jo on Pete's knees and Madeleine sitting on another chair. About 15 minutes into it, the ultrasound tech said, "OK, I have a good view here. Are you SURE you want to know?"
A very loud "Yeeeessss!" was heard. She turned around to look at them and said, "Oh, well, let's see....hmmmm.....I see 3 little GIRLS here...."
Dorothy Jo and Madeleine chimed in, each trying to out-talk the other "...and there's one more at home! She's just too little to come here. So, there's really FOUR girls in our family!"
"Oh? Four!" she said, feigning surprise, as she already knew that. "Well, it looks like there is going to be ONE MORE GIRL!"
Loud cheers went up from the peanut gallery, while Pete chuckled to himself and grinned.
"Now we will be JUST like All-of-a-Kind Family!" exclaimed Madeleine.
Erika added, "Except we have different names and we are Catholic and not Jewish!"
(Nevermind the fact that they lived in New York city one hundred years ago.)
Debates immediately ensued about what this little baby's name would be.
And, my favorite quote from the past couple of days took place while the girls were telling one of the neighbors that it was a girl. "Nope, there's no little boys in our family YET!"
Girls, girls, girls!
How to transform your living room from this:
To this:
Just announce to your four little girls that there is a teeny-tiny BABY growing inside Mommy's tummy and they are going to have a new sibling!
And, THAT is how you get complete joy, excitement, hugs, kisses, screams of delight, and 3-foot-lateral jumps from the six-and-under crowd.
Without a doubt, one of my "Gladdest Hours."
We were out inspecting the neighbor's wonderful array of spider webs filled with drops of dew. They did indeed have a lot. Erika (5) was especially excited. "Stay right here, Mom, and make sure Caroline (1.5) doesn't poke the dew drops. I'll be right back with the camera."
I have to admit, I WAS a bit excited to hear, "Stay right here." Usually it's "Come here!" or some variation or plea for help, requiring me to use my legs and heart.
So, I took my job as spiderweb-with-dew-protector very seriously in the somewhat supine position. As stated in the title, I do as I'm told:
I laughed out loud when I saw this, as I was doing my evening duty of deleting most of the crazy pictures that the kids take throughout the day. I wonder what the neighbors thought.
In any case, I did my job and Erika was able to take a few pictures.
Here is the above-mentioned spiderweb-destroyer off to dismantle other things since I was doing such a good job:
Meanwhile, back at the ranch......
Obviously our dollies don't understand the Charlotte Mason quote "Why be indoors when you can rightly be without."
Nature study at our house.
Coming soon......our new Outdoor Nature Shelves! I'm so excited about this I can hardly contain myself.
Singin' Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do
Snappin' her fingers and a shufflin' her feet
Singin' do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do
She looked good (looked good) She looked fine (looked fine)
She looked good, she looked fine, and I nearly lost my mind!
Caroline walks! And, yes, OF COURSE, that is dirt on her face! What kink of a glorious Spring day would it be if the 14-month-old of the house didn't eat find a bit of dirt?
Well, OK, maybe A LOT OF DIRT:
Note Caroline in the upper-right corner. Making her way over to partake of the Beaver Dam Festivities.
Mothers of boys will probably laugh at this. Maybe. (How would I know what mothers of boys laugh at?) Caroline discovered that she could crawl up on this bin (it's normally not left on the floor). So, she just perched herself up there for about 25 minutes. No kidding. 25 MINUTES! I say perched, because she also was chirping, just like a bird. Occasionally making "uhhh" or "ahhhh" noises. Moving around on that 2'x3' square only, switching positions.....completely proud of herself. Changing positions....kneel, sit, upside down. Kneel, sit, upside down. Chirping and watching. Weird.
Then, later in the day, I turned around in the kitchen and saw this:
GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK! "How did you get up there?" Well, she climbed, of course. I guess she wanted more of that Vitamin D and DHA that she loves so much in her milk.
We don't have steps on our main floor, so I never really KNOW when my kids are ABLE to climb steps. I remember that with Dorothy Jo. One day, we were in the basement, and I set her on the floor. Next thing I know she's half-way up the stairs. Alrighty then....I guess you know how to climb stairs. Good.
And, I just have to include this picture in this post:
This has GOT to be the smallest child on-record to sit at a big-kid table. Because MOST 17-pound babies are only 4-6 MONTHS OLD and can't even sit UP yet! The 4-month-old across the street is bigger than this 13-month-old! My children obviously missed their Guardian Angel's "Growing 201" course in the womb.
She has assumed her rightful place at the table with her sisters. Not on a regular basis....only occasionally. I can only take so much.
Somehow, I got the message that she was tired of this:
"Hey! I'm missin' all the action! Would someone PULEEZ turn me around. I can't see! Stop taking pictures and TURN....ME.....AROUND!"
A few months ago, when Caroline started pulling herself up to the underwear/sock drawer and emptying it, I added "Put Lock on Drawer" to my to-do list. Like so many other things on that crazy list, it went unaccomplished. As the weeks went by, I decided I just couldn't do it.
Every 6-18-month-old LOVES to do this. It's quite a wonderful thing to occupy their time. She will actually keep doing this for 10 minutes, if not longer.
So much joy. Really, who am I to interupt this masterful inactivity all in the name of "organization" or "tidiness?" Pas Moi! It's not really all that difficult to clean up, and I figured it's probably worth the effort.
It is such a hilarious sight to saunter innocently into the "changing room" and be greeted with a pair of panties flying through air. She stands there facing the drawer, oblivious to anyone walking in and just......FLINGS! Up and back. Or, DROP. Right there outside the drawer. DROP. FLING!
Sometimes over the left shoulder. Sometimes over the right.
Blue socks-FLING!
White underwear-FLING!
White socks-DROP.
White underwear-FLING!
It's especially thrilling when the said-garments FLING right into your face. That always causes such a riot among all those present.
Look at that face! Nope. I just couldn't do it.
"Boopy" turned ONE last Thursday.
Balloons from the Aunties, lots of kisses from lots of sisters, Grammy over for cake, Rodabaughs singing Happy Birthday on the answering machine, a card from Grandma Charlotte, her first piece of cake EVER, and Pete's favorite.....watching the birth video (the one family activity in which he will NOT participate!)
And, now...one of my favorite aspects of having a one-year-old: Whole milk in the house for the next year!
...will be a thing of the past. Soon forgotten. Long-gone. Non-existent. I have waited with bated breath for FIVE years for this day. Both of our mothers and my friend, Michelle will be VERY glad to hear this. Maybe this will have to be another post all its own. How exciting would that be?
In light of the fact that we are only two days away from FORTY days of reflection on the Passion and Death of the Savior of Mankind, perhaps this is really quite inconsequential. But, I JUST cannot HELP but to get a BIT giddy about this. What a thing to celebrate on Mardi Gras!
I mean, REALLY……can it GET any better than this?
We received Caroline's 10-month pictures back yesterday. It fits right in.
The title of this post is from Suzanne Temple's blog, Blessed Among Men . Lest anyone think I am the least bit clever.
....for that loaf of bread:
And, furthermore.....THAT is NOT a stool:
Quiet Time Playing Camping. (open door) BONK! Right into left-camper's head! So much for quiet time playing camping:
The neck would be a bit too far back for me...but, hey, whatever it takes:
I got this idea from Rebecca's Carnival of Baby Feet where Lisa at Joyful Chaos showed off her baby's feet in this manner.
Caroline has been spending much more time here in her high chair the past month, eating more food and drinking from a cup.
Lucky me.
....feet in the morning, feet at night! 
Rebecca has a special blog, Babylove dedicated to "celebrating the tiniest people and largest blessings in our lives." She is collecting pictures of BABY FEET! They are simply beautiful. If you have any little toes to share, send them her way. These are Erika's little footsies from just the other day.
See????? I am not the ONLY ONE with a Foot Fettish around here!
(Why is it so quiet all of a sudden?)
Response - "We're in here!
Caroline Marie......NEVER ALONE!
I'm almost positive this is not safe (110+pounds in a baby CRIB!) But, I know for a fact that we are not alone.
My mother would do something like this. She is notorious for lining things up and taking a picture. In that way, she was way ahead of her time, as this is what scrapbook professionals advise as an excellent way of capturing the moment, the state in life, the plethora, the.....well, you get the idea. I remember the day she was finally ready to get rid of the massive box of baby shoes in the attic. To make herself feel better, she lined them all up and took a picture. Classic....Perfect....Reminiscent. Five children wore those shoes, and what a story that picture tells. My father, of course, thought she was crazy.....but I think that even he would admit that if he looked at that picture today, he'd get a bit teary-eyed.
These are all of the strollers that we own. Big and little. For real babies and for baby-dolls. In no particular order (sorry, Mom). I was complaining to a friend a year ago, about how many dolls we had in the house. I just couldn't believe how MANY dolls my girls could play with ALL AT ONCE! The more the merrier. Everywhere I turned there were dolls. She reminded me that there WERE three girls in my house, and 24 various dollies divided by 3 was ONLY 8. Eight dolls per "mommy." That's a nice-sized family. "That's actually VERY pro-life; you should be thrilled that they love their babies and want lots and more!" Hmmm, I hadn't thought of it like that. So, I've decided that SEVEN strollers in our family is not that outlandish. It's actually very pro-life.
The most important election of the year is taking place in South Dakota. The battle intensifies as we get closer to election day. As Nov. 7 approaches, please continue to pray and sacrifice for the election in South Dakota. Maybe this would be a good week to memorize the St. Michael Prayer with my little prayer partners.
I may not be waving signs, stuffing envelopes or doorbelling these days, but I am still working for the pro-life cause, by praying and sacrificing and "changing the world one diaper at a time." Someday, by the grace of God, my little girls will be working hard to protect human life, from conception to natural death, in their own way.....however God calls them.
Around here, we prefer the adage "If the baby doesn't fall out, wear it!" (especially if it keeps her quiet). Probably not EXACTLY the size of person the BABYBJORN company had in mind for the use of their baby carrier. 
Madeleine has been BEGGING me for the past couple of weeks to put this thing on her, and I kept saying that it wouldn't fit. Hmmpphh.
Yesterday we were getting ready to go somewhere and the "load-in" had begun. I went to scoop up Caroline from the living room floor where I had put her 5 minutes earlier, but she wasn't there. "Hey, where's Caroline?" I yelled. A muffled voice yelled back from the direction of the van, "Oh, she's out here mom, she's in her car seat already, I buckled her up and everything. I TOLD you I could take her to the car and get her in. We're just WAITING for YOU." Yep....she even tightened the harness enough. I was greeted with "Gee, what took you so long in there?"
Maybe things are "lookin' up."
...of kisses, millions and billions and trilions of kisses! So goes one of our favorite picture books
. 
This child doesn't get nearly enough attention.
Deliciously Yummy!
This was the latest item on my to-do list that actually happened today (unlike the other items on my to-do list; one must set prioritiesJ). There is just something so beautiful and precious about small feet! Especially all lined up. The toes look like a row of corn on a cob, and they are so square and soft. All of my girls have a newborn foot picture with their daddy’s big foot next to their tiny newborn foot; it is the first page of each of their baby books.
If I had them digitized, I’d place them on the blog and make everyone play “guess whose foot this is” (except Croce…she doesn’t play guessing games).
There is just something so sweet, innocent, joyful, and funny about how a baby wakes up in the morning or from a nap. They are just SO EXCITED to see anyone who happens to come greet them. The smile emerges, the feet start kicking, the arms wave, the head shakes back and forth, and gurgles combined with quickened breathing give the impression that there is just no better moment than this one...."Someone is coming to get me!!! I can join in the fun!"
Bridget at Our Magnum Opus has a SWEET post about being up at night with children. I've been trying very hard the past few weeks to remember exactly what she so wonderfully expressed!
"I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to BE up. These children are growing so fast. All too soon, they will not need me at night. I will get to sleep all night long, something I have rarely done in thirteen years. And I will hate it. I will miss the pure bliss of snuggling a small child who needs only me in the still of the night."
Celebrate the Feasts of the Old Testament in Your Own Home or Church
The Big Book of Catholic Customs and Traditions for Children's Faith Formation
