Thursday, March 29, 2012

Thankful Thursday

 Thankful for this sweet red headed baby....
 and Thankful for baby toes and painted toes....
 Thankful for sky on fire sunsets...
 for big sisters reading to baby brothers...
 Thankful for the sometimes too many helping hands in the kitchen
 wanting to do everything
 Thankful for sick kids, because it reminds me that we are so very blessed 
with each child's health and when one of them is sick, well, it's so very hard
because we miss their bright spirit and all they bring to our family
(day 4 of puking for her--we went on the porch for some fresh air and sunshine)
 Thankful for our early Spring and so, early blooms here in Minnesota


 Thankful, because of that early spring, we can do sidewalk chalk!!
 Thankful we put up our trampoline last weekend!
(again, I will tell you this is one of the best, the ultimate best purchases we've ever made!)
 Thankful these bright, big, blue eyes stare up at me every day
And Thankful this beautiful smile greets me millions of times a day!!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Blogging....


Sunday night, I watched a little of a show on PBS, about Joan Baez
Now, I know she used to be pretty political, with her "Peace" stance 
back in the 60's and early 70's
but, boy is she a beautiful woman today
and her voice, beautiful too.
I would love to look like her when I get old--er.
She mentioned some mistakes she wished she never made and 
could live over, which I admire, because 
I think a lot of older people get set in their ways
and think they've never done anything wrong
(at least I know some older people like that)
I'd like to hope I look back on things I've done wrong 
and admit it.

Isn't she a lovely looking lady?
Blowing in the Wind and moving on....
 The Brady Bunch!
We've been DVR-ing this show, it's on twice a day
My kids love it
My oldest daughter said, "Mom, they wear really short skirts."
Ummm, yes, they did
It was the style back then...I guess not much has changed these days...
But, this is a good, clean show for all of us to enjoy, 
and 
that, you can't find nowadays.
 Onto...Bras!!
and they are for shapely women (plus size)
I'm so impressed.
And 
Speaking of bras...
 This is me, pumping....
I'm actually pumping right now, just like this 
(haha)
This is how I type and do things while pumping though.
(OK, I cover up though)
Several, several of you lovely ladies have asked me how I do things while pumping.
This is it.
My nurse told me about it in the hospital
Hands free nursing!!
The only thing is you are tied to that pump though.
I had this revelation one day
I thought, I'd pump and walk on the treadmill 
and that way I could get my workout in and still pump, heck 
I could do it 4 times a day!!
Then, as I was getting things ready, 
realized it wouldn't work, unless I wanted milk all over the place.
So here I sit at the desk
emailing, blogging, correcting papers and watching episodes of 
Downton Abbey

Water.
I drink a ton of it
(that's my water bottle)
I'm kind of picky about it too
I need a straw bottle like this one
and I need ice!!
I heard the other day that if you drink ICE water 
you can burn up to 500 calories per week!!
I fill this thing at least 5 times in a 24 hour period.
I should be losing the pounds like crazy!
I don't believe it.

Come Together Kids--I found this blog yesterday!
I wrote down a ton of craft, snack and April Fool ideas!!
She's got homemade marshmallow shooters
and a ton of other inspirational ideas, check her out!
And, finally, if you are still here,
We've got the flu going through our house
so there's lots of crying and whining and not lots of sleeping.
Doesn't she look pitiful?
She's better now, and it's moved onto Mary Hannah.
Praying the mama doesn't get it....

Monday, March 26, 2012

Christine!!

 Christine needs some bloggy love
She's my blogging buddy, it's because of her, that I started in the first place!!
Please go give her some bloggy love

(these pictures were taken last April, before baby!)

Friday, March 23, 2012

3 Months Old!

 Wow, I can't believe Simeon is already 3 months old! (yesterday)

 I can't help it, I've been thinking a ton about his upcoming surgery
The date is Friday, May 4th.
He'll be a little over 4 months at that time and hopefully 10 lbs by then
I can't imagine his sweet little face any other way than it is, right now.
He needs it though,
He has a hard time getting his fingers in his mouth, yet he tries...
He can't keep a nukie in, but kind of likes them
It's hard to lay on his tummy for tummy time, because he bangs his lip.
It needs to be done.
(he loves those red and black pictures below)

 Just look at that sweet little tongue in there...
3 months and I swear it still feels like the 
(well, not the first week, that was absolutely crazy)
but, it feels like the 2nd week, 
There's just not much time for anything.
Yesterday, I thought after breakfast, 
"hey, I'm going to hop on the treadmill for a 1/2 hour!"
Then remembered it was time to pump....
It is just a year, 
What's a year out of my life?
Nothing, compared to what I get.
BUT
I'm looking awful.
These are the  pants I'm wearing right now and need to change.
I told my husband 
"I know these pants look awful, but not much fits"
he lied responded,
"I think they look sexy."
I love my husband.
(because you can clearly see, they are far from sexy)

Just keeping it real here folks...

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The Rest

On Sunday, Tom took the kids to Mass, we've been splitting up Mass due to the whole germ/RSV
thing for Simeon.  While they were gone, I watched this show on the Discovery Health channel.
It was called 8 Boys Wanting a Girl.  It was about 4 different women who had boy children, but desperately wanted girls, or at least one girl.  One of the women, and only one of the women, was actually OK with whatever happens, naturally, she was around 40 something and had 8 boys, but had a yearning for a girl.  She was not one of the desperate ones.  The other ones, tried several In-Vitro treatments to try to select the girls out of the "dish".  They showed one woman, who had done In-Vitro 3 times and this was to be her last time, as they'd spent over $20,000 already.  I couldn't help but think about all the "girls" waiting to be adopted in China and how that money could have gone towards the adoption of a girl that they could have by now.

  The doctor walked in the room where she was waiting and told of the good news that 6 out of the 8 "embryos" lived (babies, each with a soul) and one of them was a "girl"!  The woman was so excited and happy.  Then, the doctor said, and I felt my stomach cringe,

  "Shall I discard all the rest?"
to which she responded, in her happy and joyful voice,
"Yep"


I couldn't believe they said this on TV.  He just asked if he should murder all the boy babies they created in a dish.
They are not potential babies.  They are babies.  They have souls at the moment of conception, whether that is in a dish or done the way God intended.


This is wrong on so many levels.
I can't get "the rest" off my mind and heart.

Her baby "girl" did not live, she miscarried.

One of the women stated that she doesn't know why we can't just select hair and eye color of our babies, like she just can't believe we can't do that yet.

Another woman, who had 4 boys already, was pregnant again and going in for her ultrasound to find out the sex.  Upon finding out that the baby was another boy, she broke down, along with her husband and cried and cried.  She kept trying to tell herself it was ok, that it would be fine, but kept tearing up.

This baby was healthy!!!  His only fault was that he was a boy!!!

I couldn't help but think of my ultrasound and the finding out that my baby had something wrong with him.
And all the other women out there who find out there is something wrong with their babies, yet they still love their babies and want them and are thankful for this gift of life.  I also know that after having 4 girls in a row, yes, that feeling of "I'm tired of Pink, Blue would be nice" is there.  But I'm also OK with Pink.  If Pink is what God has in His plan for our lives, then, well, we accept it.

SO, we, in our world today, can create life in a dish, and we, can, if we don't like it, kill it.

I guess it's not so different than allowing God to create life in our wombs, if we don't like it, we can kill it.

It's a sad, sad world we live in.



Now, I know people who have used In-Vitro and other means of achieving pregnancy.  I also know the
desperate feeling of wanting a baby so badly, you can feel it in your very being, in your soul.  (we had infertility for the first almost 3 years of our marriage)  I'm not judging anyone, but we, as Catholics, believe it's wrong.   And yes, although, the end result is a beautiful child, that does not justify the means of achieving that child.  God allows it, but how will we (a society who "discards all the rest") pay for this?

As my priest says,
A child is a gift, not a right


In my own desperation of wanting a child, it was only when I, finally, after begging God for what I thought I deserved and wanted so badly, knelt down and asked Him to help me carry the cross of being childless if it is what He so desires for my life.  Acceptance of God's will for our lives is not always what we imagine it to be,
it's not always our "dream".  It is then, when we need to ask for His help in accepting His will.

It was very soon after this, that I received that womb blessing from our newly ordained priest, and have
since conceived 7 babies.  (so, easy for me to say, huh?)


Why not In-Vitro? (click on it)

What the Church teaches  (Click on it)


I probably went way off on things I shouldn't have, but I just can't stop thinking about "the rest" and
had to stand up for them.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Soldiers Deck of Cards


My good friend Sarah emailed this to me this morning, I thought it was worth sharing!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Thankful Thursday!

 OH, my gosh!!
So much to be Thankful for this week!
Thankful Thursday
Taking time to be Thankful 
for the ordinary things in life
things that happen every day
A time to remember to be thankful to God
A pause in the week for praise,
 thanksgiving and thinking positively
in addition to the normal 
daily praise we need to give God.
(even in the muck of life)

With temps in the 60's and even around 70 here in Minnesota,
I'm Thankful for that, and for girls catching water dripping off the roof 
and playing literally all day in it.
(ruining their winter boots)
 Thankful we hopefully won't need them anymore anyway!
Thankful for rubber boots....

 See that snow?  
Thankful it's gone now!!!
 Thankful for a Sunday walk....
 A Tuesday walk....(it was gloomy and rainy/misty Monday)
 that took us to the big field behind our hill.....to run and play in...
 Thankful for muddy paths through the woods, up the hill...
 and running kiddos down our hill to our home...
 Thankful for Wednesday walks and sleeping babies and neighbor ladies... 
 OH, that fresh air knocked him out--he slept like 3 hours after coming inside!!
(I got so much done)
 Thankful for mud to play in and little girls who are not afraid to get dirty...
 "Mama--I ceenin', I ceenin!"
(I'm cleaning, I'm cleaning!)
Thankful for a girl after my own heart!!
 Don't you just wish you were a kid again?  
Playing in the mud, making mud soup 
 without a care in the world?
 Thankful for new tree climbers...
(she's so proud she can finally climb!)
Thankful to see life through my kiddos eyes again
 Thankful for swinging time...
 Thankful for little girls curls
I just want to keep her hair like this forever
Thankful for sweet little babies
This weekend, I ate gluten, to test it out 
(hence the laundry screamer)
I had to try out that cake of Jedi's
(it had an Oreo crust)
and then we fon-dued for his birthday supper
(with a batter to dip cheese into) 
and did the same thing on Sunday,
He was so fussy Sunday and Monday
He is fussy anyway, especially in the evenings,
but, when I don't eat that gluten, he's got these 
times of happiness and contentment 
full of smiles and cooing.

Thankful I can do something to make it better for him

Thankful for baby Leo and that his surgery was a success!!
(he still needs prayers for a speedy recovery and the pain to go away quickly--poor baby)

Thankful my friend Susie, passed a kidney stone the other day and is doing fine!!

Thankful for another friend who brought us a whole bunch of meals for our freezer, 
she even brought gluten free muffins and pizzas for me!!

Thankful for a call from my brother's wife and hopefully a relationship on the mend
(his and mine)

Thankful for all of you
Have a great weekend! 

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

You're Gonna Miss This


Marijanna shared this with me (after seeing my laundry pile and crying baby)
 and, so, I had to share it with you,
 after crying through the whole thing!

I think the saddest thing for me,
 is that it's easy to listen to this while the kids are in bed and all sleeping,
knowing, I'll forget this tomorrow.

It's so easy to busy ourselves as wives and mamas with all the work we need to do,
that we forget the reason we are doing the work.
It's not to just get it done
It's the LOVE man.
We do it for the LOVE.
The LOVE we have for our families and our God.
The LOVE only we, as women have.

Making a note to give the kids an extra hug and kiss tomorrow
with a good look in the eyes and a "You're a great kid and I love you!"

(Side note:  Last time I said to my 5 year old, "Do you know how much I love you?" She laughed
and said, "Of course I do, you tell me all the time!"  Yay!!  I hope they always feel it.)

Laundry These Days

 I got a much needed load of laundry done yesterday...
It was one of those days...
You know, 
hold baby
put baby down
fold shirt
hold baby
put baby down
fold shirt
hold baby...

Sunday, March 11, 2012

12 Years Old!

 Jedi's birthday was Saturday!!
He can now, legally ride in the front seat!!
(not that he illegally did, 
he is a rule follower, he would not even do it the day before his birthday,
without me talking him into it--I'm not going to have to worry about this kid at all)
 Lego Ninjago is the newest thing he's into
 He picked this for his birthday cake....
 It never cuts and looks like the picture, why is that?
It was delicious and calorie free, of course...
He had a few friends over and they went out for pizza and bowling...
Mama stayed home with the baby--so no pictures
Happy birthday Jedi, you are such a great kid!!