I have had several painful conversations with friends and acquaintances recently about the effects of pregnancy on our bodies. I am so saddened to watch women near tears over their weight gain and changing shape. Yes, hormones don’t make it any easier, but neither does a culture that glorifies the female body as an object, rather than celebrating the beauty of being a woman, especially when with child. I was so angry when celebrity fitness trainer Jillian Michael told Women’s... Read more
Josie will be two weeks old tomorrow. It has been a very blessed and very tiring two weeks. Some call it a baby moon, but that term doesn’t seem to do justice to just how taxing those first few weeks can be! It is truly the best kind of exhaustion, but we are all exhausted none-the-less, and now that I have older children, I am realizing that the postpartum time is a true transition for them too. Two of my... Read more
There is a line in one of our favorite songs, One by U2, that goes “Will it make it easier on you now? You got someone to blame.” I recently read the following in a wonderful book, “How to Raise Good Catholic Children” by Mary Reed Newland, in a section called “Encourage your child to offer up his sufferings”: Many times parents will turn to scolding the “naughty chair” or the “bad table” in an effort to ease the pain and... Read more
10 years ago, when my first child was a baby, I was introduced to Creative Memories scrapbooking, and I had a wonderful time putting together his baby album, one or two pages a month throughout his first two years. I was able to keep up the creative work for my second child, and she too has gorgeous, personal albums to chronicle her early days. After the twins were born, I hit a wall, I didn’t have time, and the process... Read more
This morning, I am grateful for the memory of time spent together on the beach over Christmas break. While the temperature was by no means warm enough for our children to be comfortable in bathing suits, they somehow ignored the cool weather and threw themselves wholeheartedly into the task of creating a “water fort.” My husband and I sat and talked for hours, basking in the warmth of the sun and listening to the glorious sounds of the ocean. On... Read more
As I’m sure was the case for many of our readers, this was our family’s weekend to take down Christmas decorations and restore the house to some semblance of order and cleanliness. In addition to taking down the tree (sniff, sniff) and packing away the decorations, we also urged our children to find a home for their new toys, tidy up their rooms, and decide if there was anything that needed to be given away or thrown away. In the... Read more
You’ve got the crossover… the minivan… the Suburban… the 14-passenger van… And then there’s the Sprinter… We know a family with 7 children who have one of these puppies and it seems to work out beautifully. I think we’re all headed here. lol. Read more
The advent of my third trimester has me contemplating logistics, especially those pertaining to car seats. I need 5 seats in our suburban come April, 4 full forward facing seats and an infant seat. Our 50 pound 6 year old has frequent meltdowns in the car due to sensory and other challenges, so I must keep him in a five point harness. I can’t move the 5 year old into a booster without inciting more meltdowns since the 6 year old... Read more
The Birth of Josephine Marie– First, I would like to thank my sister Elizabeth for the following beautiful photos of Josie’s arrival. She did a phenomenal job capturing Josie’s first moments outside the womb, and I had a very difficult time picking ONLY 10 photos for the blog! If you live in the Philadelphia/Southern NJ area and are interested in her services, visit the Sweet Pea Photography website. Now on to the birth! Josephine arrived 3 weeks early due to... Read more
We rejoice with Mr. and Mrs. Red on the arrival of Josephine Marie, the newest addition to their gorgeous clan. She came three weeks early because of a small placental tear that had everyone on pins and needles. Thanks be to God, the delivery went well and out came precious “Josie”, all 6lbs. 14oz. of her! Congratulations to the whole family! Red’s sister, a professional photographer, will be sharing some beautiful family photos later on the blog. Stay tuned! Read more
Building Cathedrals
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