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a bit of bobbing...

willing victims hanging around the back yard
i awoke on halloween with a interesting question churning in my little cogs...
"do chickie peas like to play bobbing apples"

autumnal mushrooms making nice little resting spots for passing pesky gnomes

and it would appear, 
like most things i find with my fine feathered friends,
they do indeed enjoy a party game or two


"i think i see one"

"me first, no me first"

"i spy with my little eye"

and there is always one who tries to cheat...


she is wishing you a bit of spook and a lot of chocolate ~ Tif

Happy Halloween!























Through His Prince, Christ the King reigns over Liechtenstein

Feast of Christ the King, 2011


On this Feast
we congratulate and celebrate
a Christian Prince
standing firmly beneath the banner
of Christ the King:

His Serene Highness,
Hereditary Prince Aloïs Philipp Maria
who defended and maintains the
Kingship of Christ over his
Principality of Liechtenstein.


On 18 September by a referendum,
Liechtenstien refused the legalisation of abortion.

The Hereditary Prince,
HSH Prince Aloïs had announced that
whatever the result of the referendum
he would never give his royal assent to such a law
and would use his right of veto.


The courageous Prince Aloïs

Prince Alois said,
“Until now we have been proud to support
people with disabilities
in our country.
The proposal would discriminate against such people
and allow them to be eliminated in the womb.”

By Liechtenstein law, abortions are generally not allowed,
even when the abortion is performed outside the country.
Furthermore, government departments and offices
are obliged to report any abortions
of which they have knowledge.
Only when the life of the mother is endangered
and no other option remains,
is a termination of a pregnancy allowed.

(Clarification:
Abortion to protect the mother's life is wrong.
Thus the Liechtenstein law
does not reflect a perfect morality

but maintains an international standard
better by far than most,
if not all, the other countries of the world.
The prince inherited a state with its already codified laws.
His courage is shown in not permitting the laws of his state
to follow those of other countries.)

The vote was 52.3% against the proposed law
of allowing abortions within the first 12 weeks
and when any child had a disability such as Down Syndrome.

Liechtenstein is facing immense pressure
from the rest of Europe to allow abortions.

The Principality lies between Switzerland and Austria,
and has a population of 36,000.


A Christian Prince
receiving Holy Communion


Prince Aloïs, married to Princess Sophie, is 43 years of age.

The Hereditary Prince and Princess

They have four children:
Prince Joseph Wenzel Maximilian Maria,
born in London; (16 years)
Princess Marie-Caroline Elisabeth Immaculata; (15 years)
Prince Georg Antonius Constantin Maria (12 years)
and their youngest son,
Prince Nikolaus Sebastian Alexander Maria (11 years).

- Three Generations of Princes and Princesses -
Grandparents, Parents and two royal children together

End of October Picture Dump

Since I've been a neglectful blogger, this is going to just be a picture dump of moments I want to keep. I need to transfer my pictures over to CD's and remove them from my hard drive. I have over 7000 (yes SEVEN THOUSAND) pictures of the kids on my computer. You can imagine how slow everything is these days. I'm just terrified of moving things and deleting them. Ahhhh.



An outtake from our 41 week photoshoot. Reese kept crying and she was all red in the pictures and it was too dark. But this picture is classic Reese and Ryan faces, so I had to keep it.




41 week photoshoot do-over. Sporting bibs from our Nana Jayne. These kids crack me up.






Reese has a flair for the dramatic lately. She's learned that some things are off limits. We've started using the word "no" around here and redirecting her to something else. This is the face I get when I say no. Heaven help me.




The cute thing about the crying these days though is that the babies will either cry with one another (completely fake for one, and a dramatic tantrum for the other) or they will try to comfort each other. The comforting is a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e.





 Now that Reese can reach the windowsills she spends a lot of time looking out the window. This is also a favorite past time for Gracie <3





I was actually trying to take a picture of Reese from much farther away, but she decided to try to grab the camera and this was the shot I got. And I must say, I LOVE IT. I cannot believe I have a daughter with light eyes. Never in all my days would I have believed that was possible. I think her eyes are gorgeous. They just melt me. Ugh! 




Just a tiny baby bottom in baby blue jeans. I die.





 The kids are afraid of the vacuum, so when I do their room I put them in a crib together. As I was vacuuming today I looked up and saw this. They are ridiculous. Love them so much.







Baby bed head. It's almost time for Ry to get a hairs cut. OMGoodness though, it's hard to part with his crazy locks. But they're crossing the line from cute to out of control these days...


Notice the fold in the bumpers? My kids like to use them as pillows when they sleep. Crazy critters.


Seeing White

Today is a big day for my little embryos. According to this table from NYU Fertility, if my embryos were going to implant they will have done so by now.





So I guess it makes sense that my pee sticks still look like this





But the negatives are starting to mess with my overly hormonal body. Of course I'll still test again tomorrow (probably twice, but who's counting?) and the next day and the next. All the way up until beta. 


Dear Lord, please just one more baby.

A Tribute to Meghan's Triplets

Those of you that belong to the bump may remember Meghan - mbjmaybebaby. Meghan has fought cancer for the last five years. Sadly, yesterday she lost her battle. She leaves behind a loving husband and three miracle babies, triplets, conceived via IVF.



I am leading a collection for Meghan's family. The money will be placed in an education fund for the triplets.



If you would like to donate, you may do so by sending a paypal donation to nicolezwerin at yahoo dot com. I'm taking collections until November 11.



Meghan's blog



Meghan's Caring Bridge blog

the demise of Mr Shark...

warning: this post contains photos not for the fainthearted


on tuesday, there i was, me, my flannel fabric and Mr Shark (my trusty iron) in the lounge, this is beginning to sound like something out of Cluedo... i appear to have spread all around our shed now and not one room is spared from 'my beavering'. by our side on the rug, Used Dog and Little Olive in mid morning slumber. yes, a typical day in the shed until Mr Shark did a 'putt', then a 'splutter', followed by a little letting off of 'steam' and then it was all over. i gasped, how could this be... i twiddled with his bits, i fiddled with his cord but alas and alack, his little light had gone out. 
so tragic, so young

i spent the rest of the day in a shocked daze, i worried if my wish for flannel and nubbly curtains, and a joyful shop update, had all been too much. then i wondered if his history of steroid taking which had led to his hunky silver weighty good looks had been the cause of his early demise. every now and then i returned to the scene of the tragedy, more twiddling and fiddling to no avail.

later that evening when the surgeon had returned from his desk job and coaching soccer he performed surgery. i fretted too many hours had past for a miracle to happen. eventually i could take it no more and had to look away, seeing Mr Shark, a good and faithful friend, an important tool of my trade having a brutal surgery procedure carried out on my kitchen counter was all a little too much. 

early on in the surgery, when i still had high hopes

after what seemed an age and one where i began to doubt the surgeons qualifications, after all i do not recall when seeing medical procedures being performed on telly, the surgeon stopping every now and then to take a mouthful of orange dinner. the surgeon put down his utensils and tools, his dinner finished and Mr Shark looking the worse for wear and he announced there was no hope. he then proceeded to start opening up another part of Mr Shark.
i pointed out was this necessary as obviously he was 'dearly departed' from my life. apparently i was told, yes it was because how interesting to see how it all works...
i turned away

and so my beavering ground to a halt leaving me with no alternative but to find a new friend, despite my grieving heart. 
last night i went to the store where i found Miss Winnie, not to be mistaken for Miss Winer. for she does not wine about things, no sirree, she is the sort who pulls up her knees socks and gets on with things.
having inspected all the box had to say in the store, it would appear with this iron i now have in my life a winner! 
"top rated by leading independent publication" 
are the very words printed on her box, i did question who is the leading independent publication and thought it a little odd they were not willing to have the actual name of their publication printed on the box, but i chose to ignore this and only saw "top rated" which in turn meant "winner" and so Miss Winnie it is.

paying respect to a trusty weighty iron with hunky silvery good looks

 having not actually taken my new iron out of her box with respect for Mr Shark laid out on the dining room table, i am keeping my fingers and toes crossed later today (when a fitting amount of time has passed since Mr Shark's demise), i will find out if she lives up to the box she came in, and is indeed worthy of the name Miss Winnie

there appears to be a lot of hand-stitched 'joy' going on in the shed, despite feeling unjoyful about Mr Shark ~ Tif

My Other Labor of Love

This month when I wasn't sticking needles in my ass, I was sticking needles in my finger instead (only those ones were the sewing kind and were quite by accident). I was very, very excited when I sewed the zipper into Reese's dress this morning.





And after her second nap I tried the whole thing on her, only to find that the cape is about three sizes too big. Darn that teddy bear. What a terrible model.





I'm going to remake her cape tonight and then Halloween 2011 (a.k.a. is your mommy crazy?) is over. I'm still trying to figure out where to take the kids for the holiday, which is our favorite one of the year. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of events in our community for kids under the age of 2.





Oh, and did I mention it's supposed to snow this weekend?

Meet Baby C and Baby D



I wasn't sure I wanted to blog about this cycle. In fact, I've avoided writing here since I started meds back in September. I'm afraid of this not working and then having to put those words in writing. I wasn't sure what our next steps would be if this cycle failed. But we made it to transfer and we have a plan, and I'm feeling at peace. Even a little hopeful.


I've named these embryos Baby C and Baby D, since Ryan is already Baby A and Reese is already Baby B. Baby C (the guy on the left) had a 10% degradation which caused some fragmentation with the thaw. Baby D (the guy on the right) thawed perfectly without any issues. I'll have to get more creative if one of these stick, since I'll have no way of knowing which it was.


My beta is next Thursday. I thought about testing this morning. I managed to refrain. With Reese and Ryan's cycle I got my BFP 3dp5dt. Tomorrow I will be 2dp6dt, so essentially in the same state. I don't think I'll be able to refrain from testing with that knowledge :)

three thrilling things...

to add an element of thrillingness to an otherwise frill-less week...

early morning in the shed, nesting mode well and truly in gear

thrilling thing one: every day this week i am removing one unmarked pyrex dish from the freezer, due to the length of time it has been in there, it is impossible to know what the contents are. this has added a mystery to dinner time and an air of thrillingness as to what we will be eating. all dishes contain something different, however i note they all share one thing in common, the colour orange

thrilling thing two: my nesting instincts have kicked into 'high nesting mode' and i am beavering away on making winter window coverings. i am using nubbly fabric found on ebay, which any granny worth their granny salt, would be proud to hang at their windows, and flannel. yes flannel, like you find at the fabric store to make soft and cozy things for small beings. to me the thought of hanging flannel curtains has me in a current state of giddiness which in turn has led to an element of thrillingness with the whole project

a nubbly little number most suited for granny curtains
a flannel fabric to make windows feel cozy and loved

thrilling thing three: over the past few weeks me and my adopted auntie have been beavering away on dottie angel goodies. i noted she has done a much better job at staying on track, where as i have gone off the rails most days with things like flannel curtains distracting me. however when i am not de-railed, i am thrilled to be thinking of the 'one and only' tres grand shop update i am planning in november... in time for my fabby fav time of year, the gleeful season. 

she is torn between completing second flannel curtain or stitching the 'epiphany' for the shop update which hopped into her little cogs this morning ~ Tif 

Sharing 26,000 words of gratitude to God and spiritual joy.

Photos on the occasion
of
the clerical tonsure of Br. Martin Mary, F.SS.R.
with the seminarians
of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary
Nebraska, USA.

A picture paints a thousand words.

Thus do we then present 26,000 words of
gratitude to God
and spiritual joy
upon the clerical tonsure of our confrère.

In this ceremony
Br. Martin Mary, F.SS.R. took a first step
for our whole community.

Papa Stronsay rejoices.

Special thanks to:

His Lordship Bishop Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B.
Bishop of Aberdeen.

His Lordship Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz,
Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Very Reverend Father John Berg,
Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.

Very Reverend Father Josef Bisig,
Rector of the Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe,
Lincoln, Nebraska.

Procession to the Seminary Chapel.

Candidates for the Tonsure.

Celebrant His Lordship Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz,
Bishop of Lincoln,
Nebraska.


To the right of the Bishop in cope is the
Very Reverend Fr. Josef Bisig,
Rector of the Seminary.



Br. Martin Mary stands in his religious habit
the other candidates hold the cassocks they will receive.

Having put on their the cassocks the seminarians return to the chapel.


The moment of Tonsure has arrived.

The hair is cut in on the four side of the head:
the points of the Cross.








The reception of the Surplice.




The incensing of the Gospel.


The newly tonsured offers the Pontiff a lighted candle.

The Offertory of the Mass.




 

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