Marriage | Catherine Boucher

7 Quick Takes Friday (Volume 3)

by Catherine | Jun 15, 2013 | Family, Marriage

7 Quick Takes from this week:

– 1 –

Have you ever heard of a babymoon? It’s a fantastic idea that some brilliant pregnant woman made up to reward herself for the 9-month journey. It’s a little getaway to reconnect with your hubby and spoil yourselves before Baby arrives. Most couples opt to take their babymoons in the second trimester because the morning sickness is gone, and they aren’t too big and uncomfortable for travel.

Philip and I went on our babymoon to Kansas City last weekend, and it was faaaaaaaaaaaaaabulous! Philip’s amazing mom came and stayed with the kiddos, and everything went off without a hitch. I cannot sing my mother-in-law’s praises enough. She is simply the best! I’ll write a longer post about our babymoon another time.

– 2 –

In addition to watching the kiddos while we were away on our babymoon, Philip’s mom potty trained Jane!!! Hooray! It turns out Jane just needed to hear from someone other than her parents how this potty business works, and “Mimi” (that’s what the kids call Philip’s mom) was just the person Jane needed. Also, it didn’t hurt that Mimi did a special song and dance and gave Jane a “potty present” (little items wrapped up in tissue paper from the Target dollar section) every time she successfully went on the potty.

– 3 –

One of my favorite things about Philip is that he loves coming up with fun, creative ways to encourage good behavior from the kids. (I suppose that’s one of the perks of being married to a pediatric resident, huh?)

By the time we got back from our babymoon, Jane had a few days of potty training under her belt. We decided to continue the potty presents for every successful trip for another day before changing up the system. Philip created a new and improved sticker chart to facilitate the process. Here it is:

Every time Jane successfully uses the potty, she puts a sticker on an empty square of her sticker map. When she reaches a colored square, she gets to draw a wrapped item out of the potty present bag. The picture at the end of the map is a Hello Kitty lunchbox that Jane’s had her eye on for awhile. When she completes her sticker map, she gets the lunchbox. This way, Jane continues to get rewards for her potty training, but she doesn’t expect a present every time. Great system, Philip! I am pleased to report that Miss Jane completed her sticker map tonight, and we’re hoping to pick up her Hello Kitty lunchbox sometime tomorrow.

– 4 –

Oh! I forgot to tell you! Remember how I was worried about failing the gestational diabetes test and that Baby was measuring 3 weeks ahead at that appointment? Well, good news! I passed, Baby was measuring right on track at my last appointment, and my weight hadn’t budged at all. So, I’m going to chalk it all up to those weeks being a big growth spurt. Phew!

– 5 –

Ever since we had a big hailstorm about two months ago, Jane has been struggling to go to sleep at nighttime. She started insisting on sleeping with “quiet music” and her lights on. She wasn’t falling asleep for a few hours with the lights on, so we decided something had to change, and we decided to find a new nightlight/noise machine for her.

Since we already had the sticker map system going for potty training, we thought we’d make the nightlight/noise machine a reward in place of a potty pr
esent for one of the colored squares.

We found this great Munchkin Nursery Projector & Sound System and bought it at Babies ‘R Us.

I love everything about it, and it’s working like a charm! It didn’t hurt that it was well within our budget, and Jane was excited about it since she thought it was a reward that she earned for doing so well with her potty training. Win-win!

– 6 –

Now that I said that the nightlight/noise machine is working like a charm, a severe weather system with thunder and golfball-sized hail is moving our direction. Hopefully Jane (and our new roof) make it through ok!

– 7 –

We celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary on May 31. We decided we’d try to recreate one of our favorite photos from our wedding day while on our babymoon. We had a daytime wedding and luncheon reception, and we had the whole evening to ourselves. Our photographer tagged along as we took a limo ride downtown and had dinner in our tux and white dress at a fancy restaraunt. He took this great shot of us making a champagne toast on our wedding night:

Here’s our recreated photo from a fun restaurant on our babymoon. Our server took it on Philip’s phone. Instead of champagne, Philip has some wine, and I was sipping on a virgin piña colada. Cheers!

Want to join the fun?

Head on over to Jen Fulwiler’s blog at Conversion Diary and post your own 7 Quick Takes!

7 Quick Takes Friday (Volume 2)

by Catherine | May 24, 2013 | Everything Else, Faith, Family, Marriage, The Homefront

7 Quick Takes from this week:

– 1 –

I started facilitating “The Bible Timeline“ study by Jeff Cavins and Tim Gray this month. Holy Toledo! I am learning so much, and we’re not even halfway into Genesis. Not only do I feel like I’m growing in my head knowledge of Sacred Scripture, but the structured study is instilling the desire to read Sacred Scripture as my own personal love letter from God. I love, love, love it!

– 2 –

As fantastic as “The Bible Timeline” study is by itself, I’m learning so much more by doing the study with Jeff Cavins’ book “Walking With God: A Journey Through the Bible” at my side. Basically, the book breaks down the story of salvation history into 12 periods (the same 12 periods explored in the Bible Timeline), and draws you into the story.

For example, have you ever read the story about Noah getting drunk and passing out naked in his tent? Then, remember how his son Ham shows up and “uncovers his nakedness”? Yeah, I know. I thought it was strange, too. Well, that whole story would have thrown me for a loop had I not had Jeff Cavins’ book nearby. I wouldn’t have known to explore the passages in Leviticus that explain that this Hebrew idiom (“uncover your father’s nakedness”) actually means to have an incestuous relationship.

Having this book as my reading companion (as well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church) is helping me to confidently read Sacred Scripture within the heart of the Church.

– 3 –

My hair dryer of 3 years broke, and I got a brand new one. It’s nothing fancy, but I had no idea how terrible my old one was until I got this new one. Am I the only one that was just introduced to the hair dryer retractable cord?! Wow! That feature is amazing! I just push a button on the hair dryer and *zoom* the cord is gone. Even though I carefully kept my old hair dryer cord untangled, it managed to twist itself so tightly that it ended up being more like one of those old school spiral telephone cords. With each use, it would wind itself up more and more, and I’d end up untwisting it at least once a month.

Not only am I loving the retractable cord, but new dryer cuts my hairdrying time in half, and my hair seems less frizzy. When your getting ready time is limited with little kiddos, this is a big deal! Have I dedicated an entire paragraph to my new hair dryer? Yes, yes I have.

– 4 –

We found a steal of a deal on Craigslist for Jane’s new big girl bed. We picked it up the other day, and Jane was so excited that she asked all morning, “Is it naptime yet?!”

Pretending to sleep in her big girl bed after we got it set up.

Jane and Walt are going to share a room, and Baby will move into the nursery when he/she arrives in August. (Jane will sleep in her new big girl bed, Walt will sleep in Jane’s old toddler bed, and Baby will sleep in Walt’s crib.)

The day we got the bed, the kids slept in their own rooms at naptime, but they insisted that Walt get to sleep in Jane’s room that night in the toddler bed. Long story short, it didn’t go so hot, and we haven’t attempted putting them together since. We’ll wait a few more weeks until we attempt it again.

– 5 –

Speaking of attempting things again, Jane finally warmed back up to the idea of potty training. For awhile, she was absolutely terrified of the potty. I think a lot of it had to do with constipation. Thanks to a steady regimen of Miralax, I think we, uh, got that problem all worked out. Unfortunately, she just doesn’t care if she’s wet. In fact, I think she’d stay in the same pull-up all day long if I’d let her. Blech!

She told me before naptime this afternoon that she wants to wear her big girl underwear, so I told her we had to go on the potty to wear them, and she said, “OK!” with a big smile. Here goes nothing!!!

I never thought I’d be potty training a three-year-old, but here we are, and I’m not letting myself worry about it. We’ll get it figured out. As one mom told me, “You know, they never ask you when your child was potty trained on college applications.”

– 6 –

I officially start my third trimester of pregnancy tomorrow. Yay! At yesterday’s OB appointment, I did my blood glucose test for gestational diabetes, and I’m still waiting on the results. I’ve never had it before, but I’m a little nervous about the results this time around for two reasons: 1. I was up 5 lbs. from my last appointment, and 2. I was measuring 31 weeks instead of 28 weeks (and technically, I was still 27 weeks at my appointment). Both of those things don’t bode well. Until I get the results, I’m trying not to obsess over it. If I do have gestational diabetes, I know I should be able to manage it with diet. I guess I’m just nervous that I’ll have a baby that will be so big that I won’t be able to deliver vaginally, and I’d like to avoid a c-section if possible. Hopefully I’ll get the results before the weekend…

– 7 –

Can I break out the violin and play a sad song for my poor body?

The old mare is exhausted. After all, I got pregnant with Thérèse August 2012, miscarried November 2012, got pregnant two weeks later (yay!), and this baby is due August 17, 2013. So, by the time Baby arrives, I will have been pregnant for a year with a two-week “break” from my miscarriage. Don’t get me wrong! I am so, so, so thrilled to be pregnant, and I can’t wait to meet Baby, but my body doesn’t seem to be up to the job these days.

First, I had the back-to-back first trimesters with the two pregnancies. With both, I battled some rough “morning” sickness. The second trimester was pretty uneventful, but the sciatica keeps getting worse, so my OB wrote me a prescription for a maternity belt. If the belt combined with the physical therapy exercises I learned last pregnancy don’t help, I’ll probably start physical therapy up again. Spending any amount of time on my feet makes my legs throb, so it might be time for some sexy compression stockings. More and more varicose veins seem to be appearing on my legs. Youch! Having to sleep on my side doesn’t help matters. Whatever side I’m sleeping on goes numb after awhile, so I wake up to roll over, and I end up having to make a bathroom run. I’m averaging 3-5 bathroom trips a night. I just keep telling myself it’s all practice for the nighttime feedings, right???

Wah, wah, waaaaaaah!

All things considered, this pregnancy has been pretty darn good, and I’m counting my blessings that Baby seems to be doing great in there. I’ll gladly take the physical stuff on my end in exchange for a healthy baby. I just know my limits, and I know that sleep deprivation is the fastest way for me to become a meeeeeeeeeeeeeeean mama. Perhaps a little nighttime Benadryl is in order…

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Want to join the fun?
Head on over to Jen Fulwiler’s blog at Conversion Diary and post your own 7 Quick Takes!

Philip's Proposal

by Catherine | Mar 26, 2013 | Marriage

March 26, 2005 – The day Philip and I met

March 26, 2007 – The day Philip proposed to me

Today, March 26, 2013 – 8 years since Philip and I met, 6 years since Philip proposed

Wow! It’s so cliche to say that “time flies,” but, wow, time flies. Each year seems to go by faster than the last, and the day that Philip and I met seems like a lifetime ago.

The proposal story won’t make much sense if you haven’t read about the day we met, so start there.

Fast forward two years later. We were both in our senior years of undergrad. Philip was preparing for graduation in May and the start of medical school in the fall. I was chomping at the bit to get more of my seemingly endless credits out of the way so that I could start my practicum and student teaching in secondary (high school) Spanish. (Yes, it took me the full five years to finish undergrad!)

Philip and I spent our senior year spring break visiting my parents who were living in Florida at the time. One morning while we were there, I slept in while sneaky Philip asked my parents to breakfast. While out to eat, he asked their permission to propose marriage.

At some point that month, Philip went with one of his best friends to pick out the ring, and he worked out the proposal in his head. Philip and I talked a lot about marriage, and I knew a proposal was probably coming soon, but I had no idea when or how.

The night before Philip proposed, we had gone out with some friends and came back to the dorms where I was an RA. Philip left my room after I fell asleep. I woke up the next day to my alarm blaring. I was confused because it was a Saturday and I didn’t remember setting the alarm the night before. On top of the alarm clock was a stack of beautiful stationery.

The top page had the very first message that I had sent Philip on Facebook to say that our mutual friends told me that we would be working at the same summer camp and that we should meet. The following page had his responding message, the one under that had my response back, and so on, until the last message before the day we met. The last page invited me to an outdoor picnic celebrating the day we met over a game of Scrabble, coffee, and bagels.

Despite the rain clouds I saw forming outdoors, I followed instructions to get ready for the day and to be ready for our picnic in an hour. Per usual, Philip arrived at my door right on time, and I was still getting ready. I opened the door, gave him a hug and a kiss, and told him I’d be ready in a few minutes. In my RA room, I had a separate closet/vanity area where I finished putting on my makeup and drying my hair while Philip waited on my futon. He said he’d set up our little picnic indoors since the weather rained out his original plan. We talked as I got ready, but I wasn’t looking or paying attention to what he was doing in the living area.

When I came out, two bagels and coffees were sitting on the coffee table next to Philip’s travel Scrabble game and two dozen roses. Philip is very much a romantic, so I of course appreciated the sentimentality, but I didn’t think, “Oh, wow, this is it! He is proposing!”

Philip told me that he had picked up the exact orders we placed the morning we met–wheat bagel with berry cream cheese for me, asiago with veggie cream cheese for him, white chocolate mocha with peppermint for me, and a large coffee with room for cream for him. (As you might have guessed, that date was my first real cup of coffee, and I had no idea what I was doing!) Philip explained that the two dozen roses (one red, one white) were for the two years since we met.

We reminisced about those two years over our coffee and bagels. Then, Philip asked me if I wanted to play a game of Scrabble “just like the day we met.” I think I said something like, “Only if you want to lose like the day we met.” The travel Scrabble board was still folded over, and Philip, being a gentleman, handed me the bag of tiles to draw my letters first.

When I reached into the bag, I felt a small, velvet box. Philip smiled, took the box from me, and opened it to show me a beautiful ring. I wish he had placed a hidden camera somewhere so that I could remember exactly what he said. I know he told me how much he loved me, how much he loved our relationship, and how much he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. Then, he opened up the travel Scrabble board. He had super glued the tiles in place:

Of course, I cried, said yes, we had a big smooch, and we started making all of the happy phone calls to our family and friends to share the news.

I had no idea that Philip was proposing until I felt that box with the ring in it and watched him get down on one knee. I love that he planned out every last detail but kept it understated and private enough that I wouldn’t catch on. I also love that I knew nothing about the ring and that he picked it out all by himself. He had asked me once what I generally liked in ring styles, but, looking back, I was pretty vague, and he did a great job of picking out a ring that suited me perfectly.

I can’t find a picture of the engagement ring from the day, so here’s a picture of our rings on our wedding day on top of my bridal bouquet:

Here are a few of our favorite engagement photos:

Happy anniversary of the day we met and the day you proposed, honey! I love you!

Philip’s Proposal