Harriet

When Sophie was a few months old, I came across Twelve Weeks to Twelve Hours, a book about how to sleep train your baby.  It caught my interest because it is a structured method much like the one I use to teach the girls to swim.  One part of the method involves getting the baby attached to a special doll or animal.  The idea of Sophie sleeping through the night was obviously appealing so I decided to start training her right away.  For the doll, I grabbed a small mermaid that someone (I can't remember who) had gotten in an Easter basket.  We started putting Sophie to bed with her every night and that was the start of a beautiful relationship.

Sophie didn't name Harriet.  Barbara, my mother-in-law, did.  I think she was referring to her colorful braids.  In any case, her name fits her perfectly and Harriet has become a bonafide member of the Doyle family.  Sophie loves Harriet and asks for her and pa (her pacifier) more often than we'd like.  We've tried to confine Harriet and pa to bed without much success.

Chris has started calling Harriet "Stonewall" because of her missing arm and Sophie "vampire baby" for chewing it off (he actually only refers to her that way to me).  One day soon, I'll get around to playing doll MD and fix her up.  In the meantime, Sophie doesn't mind.  Torn arm and all, Harriet is her very best friend.

The Need To Eat

I like to shop as much as the next girl but shopping for groceries is not on my list of favorite things to do.  When I lived in Spain, I would shop daily, walking through the open air market or our corner store (where the owners knew Madeleine and kept her happily supplied with treats).  I bought what looked good that day (the whole rabbits and chickens never looked good!)  And that's the way I prefer to meal plan- without a plan.  Actually, that's the way I like to live in general much to the chagrin of my very organized husband.

Of course caring for a family of seven has made me change my ways.  I now make menus and write grocery lists according to the sections of the store.  For the four youngest Doyle girls, our trips to the store are mini-adventures where they vie for sections of the cart and struggle to keep them as it fills with groceries.  I usually buy them each a little bottle of apple juice which is a cherished treat despite the fact that we almost always have a big jug in the fridge at home.  Then there are the seasonal changes we notice each time we go.  At Halloween, it was the scary witch that they pretended was pursuing them down every aisle.  At Christmas is was a gigantic pile of toys that gave them ideas for their lists for Santa (apparently Santa doesn't shop at the grocery store though).  Now, it's almost Valentine's Day and they feast their eyes on all of the candy and gifts.

My sister-in-law Jes said it best when she commented that she likes to eat just not the having to eat part.  I agree.  Imagine what we could do if we didn't have to attend to our daily needs to eat and sleep.  I'd miss our family dinners though.  No matter how crazy life gets, we sit down together at the end of the day over good food and focus on each other.  It is my hope that our kid grow up to cherish that time for food and fellowship as much as we do.  That is what will make all of the planning and shopping and cooking worthwhile.  

Jonathan

Our nephew Jonathan is an interesting little guy.  He asks the best questions.  Whenever we visit, his questions center around when we will be leaving.  This is probably because he has to give up his room when we're there.  When we were there for a week during Hurricane Ike, his questions were about the hurricane and whether it was gone (in other words, will you be able to go home soon?)  On this recent visit, we were sleeping in his room as always and a motion sensor light came on in the closet several times during the night.  In the morning, Chris talked to the kids about it, wondering if there might be a ghost in Jonathan's closet.  That night, we were awakened in the middle of the night again, this time by an alarm going off.  We found out the next morning that Jonathan had set the alarm so he could get up and catch the ghost!

Jonathan and Mia have been good buddies for a long time.  Lately though, Jonathan has had a little thing for Sophie.  Apparently, he likes blondes.  Since we're not in West Virginia, we're okay (just a joke all you West VA Kreitzer relatives!).  

New Toys

Chris and I managed to surprise each other with new toys this Christmas.  I sent him on a treasure hunt to find his new super-smart running watch (my brother David researched and coached me on which to get and my sister-in-law Jes actually bought it- since Chris checks our accounts almost every day, I can't buy anything myself if I want to surprise him).  Chris gave me a couple of gifts-very nice pjs and tickets to see OAR at a small club here in Houston.  I thought he was done when he pulled out a digital SLR.  It's a Nikon P80 and is a kind of all-in-one camera.  If I had picked it out, I probably would have gone with something with a lot of lenses but this one is perfect for me.  It takes great pictures, especially in low light and is so light I'll be able to carry it around in the diaper bag with no problem.  I used it to take this picture of Mia jumping off the swing.  One of many great photo moments to come thanks to Chris!

The Marine I Love

Chris and I met at the University of Kansas (Rock Chalk Jayhawk) in August of 1993.  It was a bit of a fluke.  I was teaching my first-ever Spanish class and his roommate was one of my students.  Chris was enrolled in another section but decided to check mine out.  He stayed.  He was in Naval ROTC at the time and came to class once a week in his white dress uniform.  That impressed me because I have a great love for both our country and its military in part because my grandfather was a Rear Admiral in the Navy and fought at Pearl Harbor.

Chris eventually chose the Marine option and learned all kinds of things including how to load a huge ship, how to navigate in the dark with a compass (no, no GPS) and how to put the needs of the troops first.  He uses all of these skills now as a family man.  In fact, it's like a magic trick the way he manages to neatly load our van with all of the things we six girls pack for long trips!

Chris decided to leave the Marine Corps in 2003 to take a job with Shell.  He still misses it and I miss the friends we made.  There's something special about military families.

I am occasionally reminded that I married a Marine though like this past week when he made a tremendous obstacle course for our girls complete with smoke bombs and fireworks to simulate enemy fire.  I raced him through it and lost- barely.

We sometimes wonder if we might be raising a Marine or two of our own.  We'd be proud.

House

So it's been about two and a half weeks since the last episode of House and I'm starting to experience withdrawal.  Dave and Jes got us started on it last Christmas with the gift of seasons one and two on DVD.  We burned through those, bought the next two seasons and were all caught up by the time season five started this Fall.  

I don't know why I like House so much.  He's just loveably blunt and- let's face it- rude.  The character is so real to me by now that when I see an interview with Hugh Laurie speaking with his native British accent, I can't bear it.  That's not the House I know.

House is the only show I care about and Chris likes it as much as I do (well, maybe not quite as much).  We're both waiting eagerly for January 19th when it resumes and moves to Mondays. 

Sophie is 3

Sophie Ruth was supposed to be born at home in January. Instead, she was born on New Year's Eve in the hospital.  We didn't know her gender until she was born but by that point, we were starting to suspect that God wanted us to be specialists so we weren't surprised when she turned out to be a Sophie instead of a Joshua (the name Mia picked for a boy).   

Sophie was tinkerbell for Halloween this year which was perfect because Sophie has a few things in common with her. First, there are her looks and then, everything about Sophie is petite- except her voice.  She's sweet but has an ornery streak just like tink.  

We decided to celebrate her third birthday with Grandma and Paka in January because we didn't want it to get lost with all of the New Year's Eve celebrations.  Barbara (my mother-in-law) and I did take her on a little birthday outing to Build-a-Bear though.  It was so interesting to see the choices Sophie made.  She had firm opinions about everything.  We had trouble settling on a name.  I was pulling for Maxine and Barbara suggested Agnes but Sophie picked Charlotte- I think because that's one of the characters in the book we're listening to.  Charlotte will never replace Harriet (Sophie's very mangled mermaid doll) but she's already becoming a good friend.