Last Day of Lent and Easter

Xavier and I took a quick trip to Lafayette last Wednesday to visit with his two great grandmothers and have an extended play date with cousin Matthew. Granny McBurney gave him a chocolate covered graham cracker which he promptly made a mess with.

It was so cute to see the two little boys together. Xavier wanted to do everything that his older cousin was doing. When Momo and I walked them to the park, instead of looking ahead in the stroller, Xavier just gazed at his older cousin on his tricycle the entire time.

Matthew was a big helper too. He enjoyed bringing diapers to My Susan (his moniker for me) when I changed the baby. He is also an amazing little mimic. You really have to watch your words when around a two-year-old.

Here's a photo of the boys enjoying some otter pops in the kitchen:

Easter went well here in Beaumont. Xavier wore his much-too-big-at-the-time "christening" outfit. He made all the ladies in church swoon with his coos and smiles during Easter morning mass. When it came time to renew our baptismal vows and get sprinkled with water, I realized that it was very fitting that Xavier was wearing his little outfit.

At home, Xavier enjoyed riffling through his Easter basket and goodies. Mom and Dad helped him eat his chocolate bunny and he chowed down on some peach puffs found inside his plastic eggs. With 50 days of Easter to celebrate, I fill an egg each morning with puffs and let him "find" it around the house to enjoy.

More Vacation Photos

I had high hopes of narrating the remainder of our family spring break to Corpus Christi but Holy Week and a quick trip to Lafayette have scuttled those plans. So in the interest of grandmas waiting with baited breath for more baby pics, I give you the following:

Thanks, Nancy!

Each Sunday, Tim and I enjoy eating brunch and watching This Week on ABC. It is a Sunday morning ritual that I have been doing since I was 11-years-old and the title of the program was This Week With David Brinkley.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi was interviewed about her views on the economy. If you click on the link and go about 45 seconds into the clip, you'll hear her say something to the effect of, "President Bush is finally coming around to recognize what any homemaker in this country could have told you several months ago."

Setting aside the debate of the state of the economy and what can or should be done about it, I want to point out how refreshing it was to hear the term "homemaker" being used in a positive and respectful tone--by one of the most powerful working women in the U.S. no less. We homemakers are typically a quiet bunch, tending to the cares and needs of our families and immediate communities. We don't practice microeconomics...we practice nanoeconomics.

For example, I can tell you without referring to reciepts or my price book that milk has increased from $3 to $4.25 per gallon in the past year. Bananas have gone from .29 to .49 per pound. Bread has gone up apporximately 25% as have eggs. These increases mean a few extra dollars go out of our grocery envelope each trip to the store. While that may not seem like a huge difference, just think about how loudly folks wail when gas prices go up .20 a gallon. Little increases on products that you use every day make a big dent in the family budget. If we are feeling the pinch, I can only imagine how tight things are getting for poor and working class families who have even less wiggle room in their finances.

So when politicians and lawmakers are debating about what to do (if anything) about the economy, I just simply ask that they take a step away from the big numbers (GDP, price of a barrel of oil, etc.) for a moment and tap into our country's nanoeconomic barometer: homemakers.

Goose Island State Park

Tim, Xavier and I got back home last night after a wonderful family vacation to Goose Island State Park just outside of Corpus Christi, TX. The location of our trip was determined fairly last minute (one day before departure). Originally we had thought about heading over to hill country to enjoy the bluebonnets in bloom. Unfortunately about half of Texas also had the same idea and all the camping grounds in that area were booked. After a search of places a few hours away where a burn ban was not in effect, Goose Island was the only park on the short list.

The drive down was nice and Xavier managed to get through it with only a few crying jags. He did however end up with a diaper rash despite frequent changes.

Goose Island is a hot spot for fishermen and birders. By the time we arrived, it was booked to capacity. A short walk around and you could see why. It was a beautifully maintained park and it was bursting with birds. There were pelicans by the bay as well as gulls, spoonbills and terns. In the woodlands area, where we camped, cardinals, warblers, verios and other songbirds reigned.

Xavier loved to crawl around on the grass or cruise along the picnic table. He waved at puppy dogs and their owners as they passed by our site and generally charmed most of the retirees. Toegether we mastered the new word, "yucky," which was our new cue for "take that out of your mouth or I will take it out for you." Our yucky list consisted of oak leaves, random sticks, and dirt. His favorite thing to do in the park was to ride on Dad's back in the carrier. After sufering the torture of Mom putting sunscreen all over his face and limbs and being forced to wear the dreaded sunhat, he'd sit back and relax as Dad walked up and down the park paths.

One of the joys of camping is that it has a way of slowing down and simplifying the day. Without the whir of television, telephones, internet or radios, Tim and I took a break from politics, New York sex scandals, and NCAA basketball. My watch stopped halfway through the trip and it was really no big deal. We get up with the birds and go to sleep with the sun. Making our breakfast and dinner each day provided most of the structure we had. Even Xavier seemed to nap more consistantly than he does at home.


Camping is the opposite of a luxury, full-service vacation. There is no room service, no spa, no bell hop. We had a short walk to the bathrooms and showers and took small grocery bags of our garbage to the dumpster several times a day to prevent being too popular with the squirrel and racoon population. But being that close to nature and that free from all the unnecessary things in life (including luxuries) bring with it a precious gift: peace.


Of course, we ventured out from the park too. I'll post about those outings later on. Back home our vacation has made me all the more grateful for the many blessings in our life. I am struck by how much larger and vast our home appears to me upon our return. As we transition out of vacation mode, little amenities that often go unappreciated like indoor plumbing and a soft mattress are exchanged for the serenity that only time spent in the woods can bring.

Busted!

Xavier has been practicing his gross motor skills lately. Translation: he crawls all over the house and gets into stuff. Fortunately our small home and its open floorplan allows me to keep tabs on him without always having to have him in my direct line of sight.

Yesterday I heard him crawl into the bathroom while I was emptying the dishwasher. He loves to open and close the cabinet doors in there. But this day, things were quieter than usual. When I peeked in to make sure all was well, this is what I found.

I gave him a gentle "No, no, Xavier." He smiled and removed his hand from the roll, and then promptly started pulling paper off the roll again. Ah the temptation of Charmin!