We entertain for dinner pretty often, or at least we used to until my brains got sucked out of my head when #4 was born a few months ago. But I expect our hospitality days will return someday. I find that it’s an ongoing challenge to plan a dinner party menu that gives me time to be with our guests but doesn’t involve Campbell’s condensed soup baking in a casserole dish. We had important dinner guests last night (prospective in-laws... Read more
It’s a GIRL!!!!! I just had my full anatomy ultrasound this morning and we are having a beautiful baby girl!!! As her mother, I can already tell she is beautiful. Everything they were able to see with the baby looked great (PRAISE GOD!!!!), but I did have a partial previa of my placenta. They assured me that the placenta is very likely to move up as the weeks pass, but I have to return in a few short weeks for... Read more
Last Tuesday I got a call from Red. She immediately let me know that she was ok and B-Mama was ok. I was about to let her know how our Tuesday was going as well, which was apparently not the correct response and she asked, “You know about the earthquake, right?” I was trying to process the fact that to my knowledge both ladies were at home on the east coast and asked Red to let me know what on... Read more
We started our school year two weeks ago, and I’ve been meaning to post about it, but for once I’ve been too busy homeschooling my kids to write about homeschooling! I now have two children of official school age, so I had to be a bit more organized with my curriculum than in years past. We are also expecting another baby in January, which made me feel some extra pressure to be organized and ahead come the new year. I... Read more
A good Monday morning to all of you, dear readers! Here’s hoping that everyone survived Hurricane Irene without too much damage, and that power outages are short-lived! Here is a quick list of what I am thinking about these days: 1) Homework: Quite honestly, I’m struggling to see the point of homework for a 2nd-grader who has just spent 7 hours of his day at school. Shouldn’t he be able to accomplish what he needs to accomplish in the course... Read more
Hurricane Irene is headed our way, and while we are inland, our area is prone to flooding. Not sure what to expect, we have moved some of the things stored in our basement onto pallets and charged our cell phones. We are unlikely to have to evacuate, though many parts of our state have been evacuated, but I wonder whether many of our readers do keep “go” bag with 3 days worth of supplies ready to go if you need... Read more
I want to remember mornings like this, when I feel pulled in so many directions. I want to remember the sweet hands and voices the beckon me to join them in bed-top, made-from-scratch Lego games. I want to remember how much I’m needed–for breakfast, for snuggles, for doling out medicine, for walking the dog. I want to remember the sweet play on the floor of the living room. I want to remember the smiles and laughter and even the arguments.... Read more
On August 17th, we celebrated the five-year anniversary of our sweet Lucy Rose’s birth and death, and as always it was a bittersweet day for us all. We remembered Lucy with stories and pictures, by going to Mass and having a gathering with friends at our home afterwards, and with our traditional carrot cake and all of us singing “Happy Birthday, dear Lucy, happy birthday to you!” after dinner that night. This is an important tradition for all of us,... Read more
I have often worried about what I am doing to my children’s psyches by allowing them to cry a little bit as they learn to sleep through the night. That said, I know what it does to their psyches to have a deranged, sleep deprived mother, and I think that it is worth it. Plus, my anecdotal evidence tells me that the better my children sleep the happier, calmer and smarter they seem to be. I am glad to... Read more
My husband and I just celebrated our wedding anniversary with a 5-course French dinner in the city. (Thank you, Groupon!) During long dates, we get so carried away in conversation that I sometimes forget we have little ones back home. We agreed how hard it is to believe we’ve now known each other for 12 years and have been married for 7 years. Hard to believe, that is, until these four bounce into the room. I hope we have... Read more
Building Cathedrals
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