![Keeping Sunday a "Day of Protest"]()
by Catherine | Jun 26, 2016 | Faith, Family
Sorry for the radio silence on the blog! It has been a wonderful summer around here. We seem to be finding our summer rhythm, and I’ve (mostly) adjusted to life as a mama of 4 littles. I have so much to share and want to write about, especially some updates on the “Year of Me”, but I’ll save that for another time.
Last week, I listened to Episode 27 of The Right Heart Podcast with Erin Franco. The episode is called, “Back to the Heart of Sunday Rest.” In the podcast, Erin interviewed my friend, Lisa Schmidt, about where this idea of Sunday rest came from, they shared their struggles in making it happen, Lisa reassured us that there are very few rules beyond our Sunday obligation to attend Mass, and Lisa offered some wonderful, practical ways to make Sunday more restful. Please, please, please do yourself a favor, and listen to the episode now if you’ve ever wondered how to make Sunday a special day for you and your family.
A few of my favorite takeaways from the podcast:
- God gives the commandment to rest to the Israelites AFTER entering into covenant with them and freeing them from slavery in Egypt. It is weekly reminder to them of the love that God has for His people.
- Like the Israelites, we should keep Sunday as a “day of protest” from the things we feel enslaved by. “God’s action is the model for human action. If God ‘rested and was refreshed’ on the seventh day, man too ought to ‘rest’ and should let others, especially the poor, ‘be refreshed.’ The sabbath brings everyday work to a halt and provides a respite. It is a day of protest against the servitude of work and the worship of money.” Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2172
- What you feel enslaved by may not be enslaving for someone else. (Example: If you like gardening, go ahead and garden on Sunday. If you don’t enjoy it, find something else to do!)
- There is a difference between doing nothing (NOT the idea of the Sabbath) and the goal of holy leisure
- Wondering how to say “no” to commitments on Sundays? Read this Wall Street Journal article that Lisa mentioned. The author suggests stating your “no” as a value. Instead of saying, “We can’t…,” say, “We don’t participate in sports on Sundays.” Saying your “no” as a value does a few things: The person on the receiving end is less likely to argue with a value. In fact, they will likely respect you for drawing a line. In turn, the person will also be more inclined to create healthy boundaries for themselves. Imagine if our “no” stated as a value led to other families creating similar policies for their own families!
After listening to the podcast, I was inspired to share the nuggets of wisdom from Erin and Lisa with Philip. We have made an effort in the past to avoid shopping and do only the necessary housework (mostly cooking and kitchen clean-up) on Sundays, so we didn’t have too many radical adjustments to make, but there was definitely room for improvement.
Lisa gave me a very fun and very easy way to set Sundays apart: a special baked treat! Instead of having dessert all week long, Lisa is making it a goal to limit sweets for her family during the week and baking something special for Sundays. We took that idea and ran with it! Our inaugural special dessert was a delicious apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.
Baker Walt mixing the ingredients for the crumble
Baker Jane slicing the apples under Dad’s supervision
Adding on the crumble
Apple crisp (crumble doubled and a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top, of course!)
I love the idea of setting Sundays apart with special desserts. I think it will take us awhile to cut back on the desserts the rest of the week, but we can definitely make a very special dessert for Sundays.
We’re still thinking and praying about what we want Sundays to look like in this family. There are plenty of ways our Sundays could look different when we think about escaping from or at least limiting the things we feel enslaved by. What are you feeling enslaved by? Screens? Sports? Social media? The phone? Social commitments? Family commitments? Housework? Exercise? How can you make Sunday a “day of protest” for you and your family? Would the outside world know you are a Christian by the way you are living your Sundays?
![Summer Copywork At Our House]()
by Catherine | May 24, 2016 | Family
I don’t know about your family, but my kids thrive on structure and routine. We are less than 24 hours away from officially being on summer vacation as an entire household. Anticipating the long dog days of summer, I thought I’d prepare a bit by building in some dependable structure for the kids.
As part of our morning routine, we’ll do copywork at the kitchen table after the kids’ morning jobs are accomplished and before we head out the door for camps or other outings. One of my friends who homeschools passed along a post from the Mater Amabilis blog called, “The Joy of Copywork.” The post was exactly the inspiration I was looking for to get our kids doing copywork over the summer! Please, do yourself a favor and read it. Sally makes a great case for why copywork is valuable for our children.
I have a drawer full of sharpened number 2 pencils ready to go, and I got a 6-pack of these fantastic Mead Primary Journals. These are the tablet style notebooks (not spiral bound) with front and back pages. The pages are lined at the bottom and have room at the top for illustrations.
I am going to write the Bible verse, poem, nursery rhyme, or other passage on the left-hand page. The kids are going to copy the passage on the right-hand side. Once they have written the passage correctly in pencil, they can go over it with a marker or gel pen if they’d like before drawing an accompanying illustration. I’ve decided to put my own handwriting in the book on the left-hand side for them to copy because the pages are quite thin, so the kids’ words and illustrations from the previous day will be bleeding through anyway. Having the passage written out on the left-hand side will help them to gauge their spacing and help them to see exactly which lines the letters should be touching instead of copying them directly from the books.
For inspiration, I’m starting with 3 of my favorite sources:
From left to right: Ignatius Bible: Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition, Richard Scarry’s Best Mother Goose Ever, and Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends.
We’ll listen to some relaxing instrumental music while we work together at the kitchen table. Jane (6) and Walt (5) will be doing the copywork as described above while Harry (almost 3) will be tracing letters out of his book or coloring. I’ll be sure to share pictures along the way. I think these little tablets will become treasures that the kids will really enjoy looking back on when they’re older.
Some questions for you:
What would you want to listen to while doing copywork? Have you ever done copywork at your house? What does it look like? Any tips or tricks for a family that’s just getting started? Do you have a favorite book of poetry, quotation, or passage that you’d be sure to include? I’d love your input!
![Walt & Dorothy]()
by Catherine | May 23, 2016 | Family
Photo by L Guerra Photography
From the moment they met, it has been a love affair.
“Can I hold her, Mama?”
Locked on each other.
Can’t go too far from his baby–even when playing on his tablet.
Photo by L Guerra Photography
Always, always, always giving her smooches!
Photo by L Guerra Photography
So fascinated
Photo by L Guerra Photography
“Don’t Mess With Her!”
Photo by L Guerra Photography
I love Dorothy’s expression in this one. I can almost hear her contented sigh.
Photo by L Guerra Photography
Story time in the nursery.
Photo by L Guerra Photography
She might be bored by the story, but she loves being with Walt.
Photo by L Guerra Photography
Trying to sneak a smooch in the midst of the chaos of our family.
“Look, Mama! I made her smile!”
![Walt & Dorothy]()
by Catherine | May 23, 2016 | Family
Photo by L Guerra Photography
From the moment they met, it has been a love affair.
“Can I hold her, Mama?”
Locked on each other.
Can’t go too far from his baby–even when playing on his tablet.
Photo by L Guerra Photography
Always, always, always giving her smooches!
Photo by L Guerra Photography
So fascinated
Photo by L Guerra Photography
“Don’t Mess With Her!”
Photo by L Guerra Photography
I love Dorothy’s expression in this one. I can almost hear her contented sigh.
Photo by L Guerra Photography
Story time in the nursery.
Photo by L Guerra Photography
She might be bored by the story, but she loves being with Walt.
Photo by L Guerra Photography
Trying to sneak a smooch in the midst of the chaos of our family.
“Look, Mama! I made her smile!”
![What Love Looks Like]()
by Catherine | May 18, 2016 | Family, Marriage
In this newborn chapter, Philip and I are making it a point to have one-on-one dates with the kids to help them feel connected to us. Last weekend was Jane’s turn to have some special time with me. After stopping at the book store to pick out a new read-aloud, we took a break for lunch at Chipotle.
While Jane and I were enjoying our lunch, several patrons came in and out. My back was to the entrance, so I was a bit startled when an elderly gentleman used the back of my seat to steady himself. Jane watched him make his way toward the utensils, napkins, and condiments. It’s always an adventure being out in public with a kindergartener because you never know what will come out of their mouths! It’s also an adventure because you never know what they’ll help you to observe that you might have otherwise ignored.
“Mama, why is he bent over like that?”
The man’s back was bent at what looked to be a painful position. It took him great effort to walk across the restaurant as he steadied himself, holding the chair backs at each table.
“Some people’s backs get weak as they get older, so they start to bend over like that, but some people are born with backs that are already bent that way.”
While we munched on our special lunch and talked about all of Jane’s latest kindergarten (mis)adventures, the gentleman must have made half a dozen painstaking trips across the restaurant, steadying himself on my chair each time he passed. One trip for napkins to wipe down the booth table. Another trip for utensils. Another trip for straws. When he was done, his booth had what Miss Manners Emily Post would call two picture-perfect place settings across from each other.
Fork on the left.
Napkin placed underneath the fork.
Knife and spoon on the right.
Knife blade facing inward.
Straws in their paper parallel to where the burritos would go. Almost as if they were dessert forks.
In a booth. In a Chipotle.
It took him visible effort and pain to go to this extra trouble, but he kept a smile on his face as he worked. He moved slowly but with a determined pace. At last, he was satisfied with his work. He took a seat to wait for his lunch companion to join him at his beautifully appointed booth.
Since my back had been to the entrance when he walked in, I wasn’t sure who he was with. A few minutes later, a woman who appeared to be in her forties joined him at the booth with their meals. “That must be his daughter,” I thought. She set the food out for the two of them, and didn’t seem to notice the place settings that he had gone to so much trouble to set. Instead of being internally irked for him, I was kind of thrilled. It meant that this sort of thing was routine for him. His loved ones had come to expect these not-so-little efforts of love on their behalf.
It instantly made me think of an article that had popped up on my Facebook newsfeed earlier in the week. It was called, “Outdated Rules for the 1950’s Housewife.”
I had to agree with the author that many of the guidelines for a “good wife” were more than a tad ridiculous. “Don’t complain if he’s late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.” Uh, say what? Snopes and a few other places have claimed that this 1950’s article is actually a hoax. Regardless of whether it is a hoax or not, I hope we can all agree that a lot of the content reflected the misogyny of the era, but there’s a lot of good advice sandwiched in with the bad.
Many of the “guidelines” boil down to trying to make the home a peaceful haven for your spouse and the entire family.
- Keep homecomings pleasant with fewer distractions
- Freshen up before you’ll see each other (Remember when you were dating?)
- Try to have a warm meal ready for everyone to enjoy
- Be cheerful whenever possible to lift each other up
- Clear the clutter to make the home more welcoming
- Don’t greet each other with complaints or problems
Sitting at Chipotle last Saturday, I watched that elderly gentleman from that so-called misogynistic era work to set a beautiful booth when most would say it didn’t matter. He didn’t seem to think there was anything extraordinary in what he was doing. He did what he did because he seemed to think that that’s what you do when you eat a meal with someone you love. To him, it seemed to be a pleasure to work in this way and serve his daughter. I wonder if he was a widower and was living with his daughter. Ironically, the guy from the misogynistic era was working his tail off to serve his daughter who didn’t even seem to notice! Yet, he didn’t seem upset by it. It was visibly a pleasure for him to still be able to love and serve someone in this way.
And isn’t that what love does? Isn’t that what love looks like? All of those little, seemingly insignificant things that add up to an unfathomable amount of love on your behalf?
The full gas tank. A changed diaper. “You’re doing great!” Flowers just because. The last piece of cake. “You’re enough.” A head scratch. Wrestling the kids. “I’ll feed the baby. You sleep.” A surprise day off from work. Takeout from a favorite restaurant.
How many of those things have I stopped noticing? What grand gestures of love am I missing because I’ve come to expect them? Have my loved ones come to expect these things from me, or have they stopped expecting them because they don’t happen anymore?
Love is a beautifully set booth at Chipotle. Just because. That’s what love does–even if no one notices but the mother and kindergartener across the room.
![Navigating the Newborn Phase: Nutrition]()
by Catherine | May 7, 2016 | Everything Else
Last time, I tackled what I call “Minimums” in my Navigating the Newborn Phase series. Today, I’m sharing my experience with Nutrition in Navigating the Newborn Phase.
Transitioning from Pregnancy Nutrition to Postpartum Nutrition
I struggle with excessive nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. This last pregnancy, I was on my anti-nausea medicine until the 34-week mark. (Diclegis, I love thee!) Even after I was off the medication, I was still nauseated 24/7. As with all of my previous pregnancies, my prolonged nausea changed my attitude toward food. For the first 24-ish weeks, I just ate whatever I could keep down for the sake of getting calories regardless of how it tasted or its nutritious value. Toward the end of my second trimester, I began to be able to eat most foods. Unfortunately, even with my full dose of the anti-nausea medicine, I had to eat around the clock to keep the vomiting at bay. Between meals, this translated into me eating a granola bar here, a cheese stick there, a handful of grapes here, a cookie there, a yogurt here…you get the picture. So, even though I vomited more than I care to share this past pregnancy, I gained more weight this time than in previous pregnancies because of my need to eat around the clock.
Instead of enjoying food, eating became a constant chore. My relationship with food became tiresome, and I dreaded having to come up with something else to stop me from getting sick because everything sounded awful after I had eaten it for the zillionth time that week. If I didn’t start having aversions to food from having them on repeat, I had aversions to them from getting sick after eating them. Yummy.
You can imagine my excitement to re-enter the world of normal eating once Baby Dorothy arrived!
The Year of Me & Nutrition
As you might remember from my post about The Year of Me, I’ve decided to take better care of myself from here on out. It’s time to stop putting myself last and start putting myself toward the top. As one of my favorite mentor mamas told me, “Fill yourself up so that you can pour yourself out for those you love.” Nutrition is one of the areas I’m focusing on, and I’ve spent my 6 weeks postpartum trying to figure out my game plan. The date of my 6-week postpartum check-up with my OBGYN will be my “Second New Year” when I start officially holding myself accountable to my Year of Me goals.
I’m pleased to report that I think I’ve found a nutrition solution that will help me to:
- Reach my fitness goals
- Consistently eat healthy
- Reach my breastfeeding goals.
My Fitness Pal
My new favorite nutrition tool is the app My Fitness Pal. (I’m not getting paid to share my endorsement of this app; I just love how it works, and I want you to know about it!)
How it works:
You enter your age, your height, your current weight, and your target weight. With that information, the app determines your target daily caloric intake. (Breastfeeding note: Unfortunately, the app doesn’t have a special setting for breastfeeding mamas. After a little research, I learned that most doctors agree that the average woman uses between 250-500 calories breastfeeding. With this information, I simply added 500 calories to my target daily caloric intake to make sure I’m staying in the healthy intake range while nursing.)
Once you have your target caloric intake number set, you can log every single thing you eat in the “Diary.” My paper and pen food diaries were never successful in the past because I never knew what the exact caloric values of the foods were, and I’d find myself away from the diary, so I’d forget to log everything. With My Fitness Pal on my phone, I’m able to log things shortly after I eat them. Sometimes, if I’m in a pinch and can’t log things right away, I’ll take a picture of my meal on my phone so that I remember exactly what and how much I ate.
My Fitness Pal makes it so easy to track exactly what I’m eating, how much I’m eating, and what it’s “worth” in terms of calories. When I go to enter a food on My Fitness Pal, I find multiple results in the search bar. For example, when I’m having my favorite snack, I could type in, “Banana Cream Greek Yogurt,” and my exact kind of yogurt pops up with the exact caloric value. “Banana Cream Dannon Light & Fit Greek Blends, 5.3 oz. 80 calories.”
Another great feature is the ability to adjust the serving size based on how much I actually end up eating. If I decide I’m full and don’t need to finish that dessert or want to eat some extra fruit, I just change the serving size to reflect that.
If you’re like me and have some regular staples in your diet, you can choose to “repeat meal” on a subsequent day instead of plugging in all of the information over and over again. Also, as I start typing things in, the app has a “Recent” for the foods I’ve recently plugged in. I haven’t done this yet, but you can plug in your favorite recipes to draw from, too.
In addition to being able to track your nutrition in the food diary, you can log your daily exercise. As you enter in your physical activity, the app subtracts the caloric value from what you’ve eaten. This helps you to see if your nutrition combined with your exercise is helping you to stay above or below your caloric intake goal.
The app has a helpful blog on the home page with articles sharing healthy recipes and other fitness tips. I’m still exploring all of the features on the app like the goals, challenges, reminders, etc. One feature that I’m excited about is the ability to find other friends on the app. I just did a quick search, and a bunch of my friends are already using the app. I love the idea of being able to hold each other accountable by sharing what we’re doing on the app–what we’re eating, how we’re exercising, what’s working, what’s not, and when we reach personal goals.
Another benefit of My Fitness Pal is its ability to help me “be good” even when I’m eating out. The app has most items on nationwide restaurants’ menus, so it’s easier to track what you’re eating when you’re out.
Shift in Attitude
Now that I’ve been using My Fitness Pal for a few weeks, I’ve noticed some big changes happening. I have had a shift in my entire attitude toward food. Instead of treating food as fuel or something to stop me from being sick, eating is back to being an event that I look forward to. I’m savoring the calories I consume.
Today, I opted for the small protein smoothie at my nearby coffee spot. My thought process was, “This way, I can enjoy the smoothie this morning and still have a little something sweet later,” when my old mentaility would have been, “But $.50 will get me MORE SMOOTHIE.”
A small smoothie is still a delicious smoothie
Instead of just scarfing down whatever’s within reach when I’m in hangry mode, I’m planning out exactly what I’m going to eat that day, and I’m planning for busy times so that I have nutritious options available. Now that I’m more aware of what I’m eating, how much I’m eating, and what kinds of calories they are, I’m making the calories count. I know this sounds silly and ridiculous, but laziness can sometimes be a good thing with My Fitness Pal. If I think, “Man, how in the world would I log this food item on the app?” it probably won’t get eaten because of the hassle! Instead of mindlessly eating, everything I eat is a deliberate choice.
Going Forward With the Year of Me
I’m looking forward to officially launching The Year of Me. As I get started, I’m still working on my meal planning as well as meal preparation. After using it for a few years, I still love the app Paprika for organizing recipes and putting together meal plans. We’re not very good at eating the same things over and over again, so we’re always looking for new recipes. Lunch is always my most difficult meal to figure out. My brain gets stuck on the same options on repeat, and I struggle to come up with something I actually want to eat if I don’t have leftovers available. One of my friends does a “Sunday Set-Up” every Sunday where she does a lot of the prep work for the meals she’ll be eating that week.
Help a girl out! I’d love to hear your favorite, nutritious recipes. What about your meal prep hacks? What kinds of things do you do to cut down on your meal prep time? What tips or tricks do you have for helping yourself to make better choices when you’re hangry? What do your fridge and pantry look like? Share, share, share away!
What would The Year of You look like in the area of nutrition?
![Navigating the Newborn Phase: Minimums]()
by Catherine | May 4, 2016 | Family, Marriage, The Homefront
Since “the domestic church” mirrors the Triune God’s Love, I’m convinced there’s nothing the accuser relishes more than trying to tear apart marriages. With each baby, Philip and I learn some new tricks to help us navigate the newborn phase a bit more smoothly. In this series, I’d like to share those tips and tricks in the hopes that they’ll help you the next time you find yourself in the newborn or other variety of survival mode.
Today, I’m tackling what Philip and I call minimums. Minimums are exactly what they sound like–the very least that you’d like happening in your world in order for you to keep your sanity.
A few weeks before Dorothy was born, I was getting anxious about entering back into the newborn phase. I may or may not have started catastrophizing as the hormones took over after a long day, and I started thinking of all of the ways the newborn phase would be difficult for us.
When I catastrophize, I come up with all of the worst case scenarios on any given day or moment.
“We’re never going to be able to…”
“But what if…?”
“How in the world are we going to…?”
“I don’t think I can…”
“I already feel like I’m drowning, so how am I going to _________ with FOUR kids?!”
Combine the crazy extremes with hormones and lack of sleep from all of the contractions, and it all seemed like pretty legit reasoning in my head.
Enter my knight in shining armor and voice of reason husband, Philip. He ever-so-gently brought me back to reality, reminding me that we’ve had a couple of kids, that we’ve survived survival mode a few times, and that we were better prepared than ever to welcome a new baby into our family. Even so, I asked if we could take a few minutes to discuss our minimums for when Baby arrived.
My minimums:
- A shower every morning
- A tidy family room
- Our open concept kitchen looks into the family room. Before the kids go to bed, I like to have the room put back in order–pillows neatly arranged on the furniture, books in the baskets, and toys back in the cupboard. The toys in the family room were starting to take longer for the kids to pick up every evening, so I did a purge a few weeks before Dorothy’s arrival. Since purging the family room toys, the kids are able to tidy the room faster and they play with the toys more frequently. They haven’t even asked for the toys that disappeared.
- A tidy kitchen
- Cleared off and clean countertops
- Cleared off and clean kitchen table
- Empty sink and dishes loaded in the dishwasher (ideally running overnight)
- Trash emptied
- 6 hours of sleep (not necessarily continuous)
- 1 load of laundry everyday
- Kids maintaining their morning & evening jobs
- making beds
- dirty clothes down the laundry chute
- tidying bedrooms
- getting dressed without destroying the order of their drawers or closets
- Regular breaks away from the kids (blogging, walks with Monty, naps)
- Getting outside of the house for at least 15 minutes everyday
- Once a month date night
- Time to connect with Philip (and talk with an adult!) every night for half an hour
- Pumping in the morning starting at 3 weeks postpartum
- This relieves me from the anxiety of feeling tethered and the stress of having to always be available to breastfeed. Being free to take occasional breaks keeps me sane.
- Multiple hugs everyday and lots of verbal cheerleading from Philip
- A Mother’s Helper for a few hours a few days a week
I won’t share all of Philip’s minimums, but the highlights include: eating, sleeping, and words of affirmation from me. We all have our things. For me, clean kitchen counters bring peace. For Philip, hearing that he’s a great husband and father will get him through just about any day around here.
With each child, we’ve gotten better about advocating for our own minimums and working to meet (and exceed) them for each other. Knowing each other’s minimums helps us to give ourselves permission to lower the bar on everything else. Then, when we do exceed the minimums, it makes us feel like absolute rock stars! Slowly but surely, Baby gets a little older, we start getting more sleep, and we start exceeding the minimums on a regular basis as we find our new rhythm.
Photo by L Guerra Photography
We’re still very much in the trenches of the minimums stage, but I am pleased to report that this has been our easiest transition yet. I wouldn’t say that it has been easy, but it hasn’t been nearly as difficult as it was in the past. Having our minimums in place went a long way in bringing peace to the day-to-day around here.
Doesn’t it look peaceful around here?
Photo by L Guerra Photography
What are your minimums when you’re in survival mode?
![Dorothy’s Birthday (and my birth photography experience)]()
by Catherine | May 2, 2016 | Family
A few months away from my due date, I asked my photographer friend, Lisa, if she’d be interested in doing a newborn home photo shoot once Baby arrived. (Do yourself a favor and check out her beautiful website here.) She said she’d be happy to, so I told her my due date, and we said we’d follow up once Baby arrived.
Shortly thereafter, Lisa contacted me to see if I might also be interested in a “First 48 Hours” photo shoot of labor, delivery, and introducing Baby to the fam at the hospital. Ever since I saw blogger friend Kathryn Whitaker’s birth photographs, I knew I’d love to have a birth photographer, but I didn’t think I’d have the opportunity fall into my lap. So, when Lisa proposed a birth photography shoot for us, I immediately jumped at the chance! I promised to let her know when it was game time.
I had my 39-week check on Holy Thursday. I was experiencing a lot of Braxton Hicks and was at 3 cm, but things were relatively quiet until Good Friday evening. Things picked up and my contractions kept strengthening until we called Philip’s mom to come and stay with the kids Holy Saturday afternoon. My contractions were getting painful and remained 3 minutes apart for several hours. After a few hours of monitoring at the hospital, they released me, saying that I wasn’t advancing quickly enough. I have a track record for experiencing prodromal labor. (Having prodromal labor means that I contract for a long time before I transition into “active labor,” so I’m usually exhausted from days of sleepless nights with contractions by the time Baby decides it’s go time. It becomes an exhausting guessing game of, “Is this it or isn’t it?” An induction helps my body to transition into active labor more quickly than it would on its own.) I felt silly getting turned away from the hospital after having a few babies, but I wanted to make sure Baby was tolerating all of the contractions okay and that I wasn’t further along than I thought.
Our nurse suggested getting a bite to eat and power walking around the mall to see if that would get things going. After eating and walking at the mall for awhile, we decided it was time to head home to rest. Philip’s mom graciously stayed over Holy Saturday in case we had to go back in. Unfortunately, the contractions never ramped up, but we got to enjoy Easter Sunday at home with the kids. Fortunately, we had put together their Easter baskets and had stuffed eggs earlier in the week!
My OBGYN scheduled an induction for first thing Monday morning. I was still contracting at this point, but they weren’t terribly painful. After getting checked in and settled, I started poring over the 5 pages of prayer intentions that people had sent me. I had them all written down on a memo pad that I kept next to me in my hospital bed. As the pitocin ramped things up and it got harder to talk through the contractions, my loved ones’ prayer intentions kept me focused. The hospital where I delivered had a Catholic priest chaplain who brought me the Eucharist. What a comfort to receive Jesus as I labored!
I opted to get an epidural when I could no longer talk through the contractions. Perhaps someday I’ll go the, “I’ll offer the whole shebang up,” route if God blesses us with more babies, but I love my epidurals–especially with prodromal labor. A few hours after I got the epidural, I had advanced enough to the point that it was time to call Lisa.
By this time, I had pretty well memorized all of the prayer intentions, so I continued to pray them mentally throughout the rest of labor and delivery.
Munching on ice chips and debating on our boy name right up until it was time to start pushing.
Getting up on all fours to help Baby get here faster. It was entertaining to get into that position while I couldn’t feel the lower half of my body after the epidural!
Time to push! 1…2…3…
I love how this one captures Philip’s support by my side. We had a scary moment when Baby’s shoulders got stuck. The nurse had to climb up onto the bed to push on my stomach while my OBGYN moved Baby. Fortunately, it only took a few scary seconds.
Here Baby comes!
2:22 p.m. Baby’s here! Philip and I wait to find out our babies’ sex until they arrive. It’s our tradition to have Philip tell me whether Baby is a boy or a girl, so I was anxiously waiting to hear whether we had a new son or daughter.
After the final push, I heard Philip tell me, “It’s a girl!” Waterworks.
So happy
I kept saying, “We have another girl!”
Taking her in
“Hi!”
So mesmerized by her little face
Since Dorothy’s shoulders got stuck and she was so blue, the nurses took her over to the warmer to evaluate her. Philip was right by her side, telling me what was going on and assuring me that Dorothy was doing great. Having a pediatrician for a hubby comes in handy!
Big girl!
Back to me for some skin-to-skin
This picture so perfectly sums up what it’s like those first moments after Baby arrives. It felt as though there was no one else in the room except for me, Philip, and Dorothy.
I didn’t want to let go of Dorothy to dry my eyes, so Philip helped me out
Thanking my awesome doctor for safely delivering Dorothy
Basking in the afterglow
Time to eat
A relieved and happy smooch that Dorothy Jo had finally, safely arrived
A few hours later, the big kids came to the hospital to meet Dorothy.
Coming in…
Here’s your baby sister!
A little party in the hospital bed
Sisters
Shhh! She’s sleeping!
Sibling love
A big smooch from big brother
Our first family picture as a family of 6. Nevermind that it took some Twizzler’s to get this shot…
While Philip helped his parents to get the kiddos loaded up into the car, I had some quiet moments with Lisa to snap a few more pictures of Dorothy.
I am so, so, so happy we took Lisa up on her offer to photograph Dorothy’s birthday. The entire experience was beautiful, and Lisa captured it in a way we were never able to with our previous deliveries. Philip was able to be a part of the entire day as husband, birth coach, and father without feeling the pressure to also play photographer. Instead of just a small handful of images, I have nearly the entire day documented so that I can relive my favorite moments and think about the moments I otherwise would have forgotten. Emotions are so heightened during labor and delivery, and I was so focused on just getting Dorothy here safely, that a lot of the day had become a blur. As much as I love the labor and delivery photos, I equally love the sibling shots at the hospital. It was wonderful to just take in the experience instead of documenting it.
I knew Lisa would do a wonderful job since she has taken photos of our family multiple times, but these photos blew me away. I cannot recommend Lisa highly enough as a photographer, and I highly encourage other families to consider doing a “First 48 Hours” photo shoot with her. You won’t regret having these priceless moments captured forever. You can look at some of Lisa’s beautiful online portfolio and learn more about her work at L Guerra Photography.
![Dorothy's Birthday (and my birth photography experience)]()
by Catherine | May 2, 2016 | Family
A few months away from my due date, I asked my photographer friend, Lisa, if she’d be interested in doing a newborn home photo shoot once Baby arrived. (Do yourself a favor and check out her beautiful website here.) She said she’d be happy to, so I told her my due date, and we said we’d follow up once Baby arrived.
Shortly thereafter, Lisa contacted me to see if I might also be interested in a “First 48 Hours” photo shoot of labor, delivery, and introducing Baby to the fam at the hospital. Ever since I saw blogger friend Kathryn Whitaker’s birth photographs, I knew I’d love to have a birth photographer, but I didn’t think I’d have the opportunity fall into my lap. So, when Lisa proposed a birth photography shoot for us, I immediately jumped at the chance! I promised to let her know when it was game time.
I had my 39-week check on Holy Thursday. I was experiencing a lot of Braxton Hicks and was at 3 cm, but things were relatively quiet until Good Friday evening. Things picked up and my contractions kept strengthening until we called Philip’s mom to come and stay with the kids Holy Saturday afternoon. My contractions were getting painful and remained 3 minutes apart for several hours. After a few hours of monitoring at the hospital, they released me, saying that I wasn’t advancing quickly enough. I have a track record for experiencing prodromal labor. (Having prodromal labor means that I contract for a long time before I transition into “active labor,” so I’m usually exhausted from days of sleepless nights with contractions by the time Baby decides it’s go time. It becomes an exhausting guessing game of, “Is this it or isn’t it?” An induction helps my body to transition into active labor more quickly than it would on its own.) I felt silly getting turned away from the hospital after having a few babies, but I wanted to make sure Baby was tolerating all of the contractions okay and that I wasn’t further along than I thought.
Our nurse suggested getting a bite to eat and power walking around the mall to see if that would get things going. After eating and walking at the mall for awhile, we decided it was time to head home to rest. Philip’s mom graciously stayed over Holy Saturday in case we had to go back in. Unfortunately, the contractions never ramped up, but we got to enjoy Easter Sunday at home with the kids. Fortunately, we had put together their Easter baskets and had stuffed eggs earlier in the week!
My OBGYN scheduled an induction for first thing Monday morning. I was still contracting at this point, but they weren’t terribly painful. After getting checked in and settled, I started poring over the 5 pages of prayer intentions that people had sent me. I had them all written down on a memo pad that I kept next to me in my hospital bed. As the pitocin ramped things up and it got harder to talk through the contractions, my loved ones’ prayer intentions kept me focused. The hospital where I delivered had a Catholic priest chaplain who brought me the Eucharist. What a comfort to receive Jesus as I labored!
I opted to get an epidural when I could no longer talk through the contractions. Perhaps someday I’ll go the, “I’ll offer the whole shebang up,” route if God blesses us with more babies, but I love my epidurals–especially with prodromal labor. A few hours after I got the epidural, I had advanced enough to the point that it was time to call Lisa.
By this time, I had pretty well memorized all of the prayer intentions, so I continued to pray them mentally throughout the rest of labor and delivery.
Munching on ice chips and debating on our boy name right up until it was time to start pushing.
Getting up on all fours to help Baby get here faster. It was entertaining to get into that position while I couldn’t feel the lower half of my body after the epidural!
Time to push! 1…2…3…
I love how this one captures Philip’s support by my side. We had a scary moment when Baby’s shoulders got stuck. The nurse had to climb up onto the bed to push on my stomach while my OBGYN moved Baby. Fortunately, it only took a few scary seconds.
Here Baby comes!
2:22 p.m. Baby’s here! Philip and I wait to find out our babies’ sex until they arrive. It’s our tradition to have Philip tell me whether Baby is a boy or a girl, so I was anxiously waiting to hear whether we had a new son or daughter.
After the final push, I heard Philip tell me, “It’s a girl!” Waterworks.
So happy
I kept saying, “We have another girl!”
Taking her in
“Hi!”
So mesmerized by her little face
Since Dorothy’s shoulders got stuck and she was so blue, the nurses took her over to the warmer to evaluate her. Philip was right by her side, telling me what was going on and assuring me that Dorothy was doing great. Having a pediatrician for a hubby comes in handy!
Big girl!
Back to me for some skin-to-skin
This picture so perfectly sums up what it’s like those first moments after Baby arrives. It felt as though there was no one else in the room except for me, Philip, and Dorothy.
I didn’t want to let go of Dorothy to dry my eyes, so Philip helped me out
Thanking my awesome doctor for safely delivering Dorothy
Basking in the afterglow
Time to eat
A relieved and happy smooch that Dorothy Jo had finally, safely arrived
A few hours later, the big kids came to the hospital to meet Dorothy.
Coming in…
Here’s your baby sister!
A little party in the hospital bed
Sisters
Shhh! She’s sleeping!
Sibling love
A big smooch from big brother
Our first family picture as a family of 6. Nevermind that it took some Twizzler’s to get this shot…
While Philip helped his parents to get the kiddos loaded up into the car, I had some quiet moments with Lisa to snap a few more pictures of Dorothy.
I am so, so, so happy we took Lisa up on her offer to photograph Dorothy’s birthday. The entire experience was beautiful, and Lisa captured it in a way we were never able to with our previous deliveries. Philip was able to be a part of the entire day as husband, birth coach, and father without feeling the pressure to also play photographer. Instead of just a small handful of images, I have nearly the entire day documented so that I can relive my favorite moments and think about the moments I otherwise would have forgotten. Emotions are so heightened during labor and delivery, and I was so focused on just getting Dorothy here safely, that a lot of the day had become a blur. As much as I love the labor and delivery photos, I equally love the sibling shots at the hospital. It was wonderful to just take in the experience instead of documenting it.
I knew Lisa would do a wonderful job since she has taken photos of our family multiple times, but these photos blew me away. I cannot recommend Lisa highly enough as a photographer, and I highly encourage other families to consider doing a “First 48 Hours” photo shoot with her. You won’t regret having these priceless moments captured forever. You can look at some of Lisa’s beautiful online portfolio and learn more about her work at L Guerra Photography.
![The Year of Me]()
by Catherine | Apr 25, 2016 | Faith, Family, Marriage
So, I had a baby girl, she’s perfect, and she turned 4 weeks old today.
Dorothy Jo
There’s so much great blogging material I could choose from: birth photography, the birth story, the story behind Dorothy’s name, breastfeeding this time around, life on the home front with 4, marriage lessons in the newborn phase, etc. Today, I’m going to abandon all of that blogging fodder to write about MOI.
Back in December when I was brainstorming my New Year’s Resolutions, I decided that 2016 was going to be “The Year of Me.” (I got the idea from our friends who had declared that 2015 was “The Year of Us,” and opportunity for them to refocus their time and energy on strengthening their marriage.) I’ve stolen that theme and made it my own resolution for 2016.
As I near my 6-week follow-up appointment with my OBGYN, I’m revisiting “The Year of Me” with a whole new lens. With 4 kiddos ages 6 and under, it is becoming increasingly obvious that I need to start investing more in myself in order to give my family what they need. I’ve let myself get out of shape and out of touch with who I want to be. I’m treating the day of my 6-week follow-up appointment as my 2nd New Year. (I suppose I should call this afternoon to schedule it then, huh?) That means I have two weeks to figure out exactly how I’m going to put “The Year of Me” into action.
Here’s what I’m envisioning:
Exercise
- At least 3x/week guiltless workouts at the gym while the kids enjoy the childcare
- Daily walks with Monty
- Get MOVING with the kids and get our hearts pumping (at least 15 minutes in the AM and 15 minutes in the PM)
Nutrition
- Meal planning with Philip to reach our healthy target calorie intake each day (working on portion control and balance of different food groups)
- Food diary to keep me accountable, reveal bad habits, and help me learn about portion sizes & caloric values of various foods
Prayer/Spiritual Life
- Resume spiritual direction and monthly confession
- Daily Mass 1x/week
- Reintroduce my morning prayer routine when Dorothy has more of a schedule (Saying a Morning Offering before my feet hit the floor and listening to the daily readings while I nurse/pump/eat breakfast via the USCCB website is where I am for now, and that’s a-okay!)
Rest
- In bed by 10:00 Sunday – Thursday, by midnight Friday & Saturday
- Guiltless napping whenever needed (this is the first day I haven’t taken a nap since Dorothy was born)
Me Time
- Guilt free regularly scheduled sitter during the day a few days a week so that I can nap, run errands, read a book at a coffee shop, blog, exercise, etc.
Kids are stirring from their naps, but a few areas I didn’t touch on are marriage and friendship. I’m still pondering specific goals for these two areas, but I’m envisioning more regular contact and in-person visits with my friends as well as some new hobbies and ways to spend quality time with Philip.
That’s the plan for The Year of Me. What ideas would you include in your Year of You? Any feedback on how to reach my goals?
![Gathering Intentions for Labor & Delivery]()
by Catherine | Mar 25, 2016 | Faith
I had my 39-week OBGYN appointment yesterday, and it looks like Baby will be making his/her appearance any day now. The plan is to go into labor, arrive at the hospital with time to spare for an epidural, have an uncomplicated labor/delivery, and avoid a c-section. At least that’s my plan! Yet, the longer I’m at this motherhood thing, the more I’m seeing that I need to worry less about my plans and be open to whatever His are.
So, keeping that in mind, I have a favor to ask: Can I bring you with me into the delivery room?
Remember my weekly “put it to work” series where I asked for your prayer intentions on the blog? Let’s consider this a special Labor & Delivery Edition of “Put It To Work”! I’m gathering intentions that I can write down and pray over by name as I labor. Regardless of how things go, I want to put my labor and delivery to work. My hope is that I’ll be able to remember that there’s a much bigger Body of Christ outside of my hospital room that needs prayer. (See, even there I’m assuming I’ll deliver in a hospital bed and not in the car!)
What intentions can I write down and pray for on your behalf? Don’t be shy! Big or small, immediate or remote, I want to hear about them and bring them with me. Thank you in advance for entrusting me with them, and thank you for your prayers for me and Baby in these days to come.
![Gathering Intentions for Labor & Delivery]()
by Catherine | Mar 25, 2016 | Faith
I had my 39-week OBGYN appointment yesterday, and it looks like Baby will be making his/her appearance any day now. The plan is to go into labor, arrive at the hospital with time to spare for an epidural, have an uncomplicated labor/delivery, and avoid a c-section. At least that’s my plan! Yet, the longer I’m at this motherhood thing, the more I’m seeing that I need to worry less about my plans and be open to whatever His are.
So, keeping that in mind, I have a favor to ask: Can I bring you with me into the delivery room?
Remember my weekly “put it to work” series where I asked for your prayer intentions on the blog? Let’s consider this a special Labor & Delivery Edition of “Put It To Work”! I’m gathering intentions that I can write down and pray over by name as I labor. Regardless of how things go, I want to put my labor and delivery to work. My hope is that I’ll be able to remember that there’s a much bigger Body of Christ outside of my hospital room that needs prayer. (See, even there I’m assuming I’ll deliver in a hospital bed and not in the car!)
What intentions can I write down and pray for on your behalf? Don’t be shy! Big or small, immediate or remote, I want to hear about them and bring them with me. Thank you in advance for entrusting me with them, and thank you for your prayers for me and Baby in these days to come.
![A New Beginning]()
by Catherine | Feb 10, 2016 | Faith, Family
“A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.”
Welp, party people, it’s officially Lent. With my Lenten game plan in place, today feels a little like a mini New Year full of hope, energy, and the promise of a new life. The theme of waiting is constant in my mind as my belly gets bigger and we await Baby’s arrival. (I’m due 3/31, and Easter is 3/27 this year.)
At 33 weeks, I’m already in all-out nesting mode. The receiving blankets and burp cloths are ready!
Our parish gave out copies of Matthew Kelly’s Rediscover Jesus: An Invitation. The book’s cover is purple, so it’s a perfect choice for Lent! It doesn’t hurt that purple is my favorite color, too. The book is broken into 40 quick, easy-to-read chapters that invite us into a deeper relationship with Jesus. I read chapter one this afternoon, and I’m already loving the book.
Each chapter ends with a Point to Ponder, a Verse to Live, a Question to Consider, and a short Prayer. Here’s the end of chapter one:
I’m so grateful to Fr. Mike Schmitz and his homily last Sunday for first planting the seed that this Lent needs to be about the HOW instead of the WHAT. After taking it to prayer, I started to realize that nearing the end of pregnancy as we enter into Lent is perfect timing for where I am spiritually. I don’t know about you, but Lent always seems to come exactly when I’m needing it the most. It’s as if God is sending me a not-so-subtle message that it’s time for me to slow down, take stock of where I am, and reevaluate how I’m going about this life He’s given me. This year, He’s saying, “Here’s your chance, Catherine. Begin again.”
Begin again.
In a little more than a month (God-willing), I will get the chance to begin again as a mother to our new baby. I’ll get to start with all of the wisdom I’ve gained since I first became a mother 6 years ago. No doubt I will still make mistakes on a daily (or hourly!) basis, but I’m learning that the wise mother finds new beginnings many times throughout the day.
One of the greatest gifts my spiritual director has given me is the reminder that God, the Father of Mercy, the same Father who ran to the prodigal when He still saw him off in a distance, never tires of forgiving me. I’m the one who tires of embarrassingly bringing the same laundry list of sins to confession month after month. I’m the one who kicks myself when I’m stuck in a cycle of the same sin.
My spiritual director has helped me to see that spiritual growth happens when I allow myself to be released from my sins and actually believe the words of absolution I hear in confession. When I acknowledge my mistakes, when I’m sorry for them, when I ask for forgiveness, and I actually believe I’m forgiven, then I allow myself to begin again.
Mike Hernon from the Messy Parenting Podcast, talks often about “failing fast.” When we face failure, we’re able to move through it faster when we accept it as part of the messiness of life, ask for forgiveness when necessary, and move on. Wallowing in failure or ruminating over where we went wrong doesn’t help us to move on to our next success. It leaves us licking our wounds and stuck in the past. That’s exactly what I used to do as a mom. While drifting off to sleep, I’d look back on each day, kicking myself for all of the ways I had screwed up.
I was too hard on them.
I yelled.
I was impatient.
I didn’t get down on the ground and play enough.
I should have read another story.
I shouldn’t have rushed them.
And the list went on, and on, and on.
The Accuser was so good at getting me to review my mental list of all of the ways I had screwed up as I drifted off to sleep. It was a really rotten way to end the day. It left me defeated, depressed, and unmotivated to get up to face the next morning.
Since starting spiritual direction, I’m learning that my beautiful little children are just about as merciful (praise God!) as the Father of Mercy Himself. They wake up each morning without the baggage of yesterday. They don’t hold grudges. They’re just ready for breakfast and a big hug! I once heard a holy priest say that one of the best gifts we can give our spouse is the gift of a bad memory. I’m learning through the kiddos that a bad memory truly is a beautiful thing! Their ability to move past my mistakes helps me to see that I need to be able to move past them, too. They give me the opportunity to begin again, and again, and again, and again… With each new morning, new meal, after naps, I get the chance to reset the day.
So, the HOW of my Lent is being aware of all of these new beginnings in my day-to-day living. In addition to my Lenten game plan that I blogged about, I’m spending some time each morning and evening working on questions from the 5-minute journal that I first heard on Adventures in Imperfect Living: Using the 5-Minute Journal. After listening to Greg and Jennifer talk about how they use the journal, I adopted their format. Each morning, I write these three things:
- 3 things I’m grateful for
- 3 things that would make today great that I can do (or choose not to do) that are in my control
- Daily affirmation — sentence written in present tense about myself
In the evening, I write about these two things:
- 3 amazing things that happened today
- What I could have made better today
Reflecting on those things everyday is helping me to keep a positive outlook on things around here, find opportunities for growth, affirm myself, and literally count my blessings.
Walt just woke up from his nap, so I better get going and get on with our new beginning this afternoon!
How are you beginning again this Lent?
![Lent 2016: It’s Not the What; It’s the How]()
by Catherine | Feb 9, 2016 | Faith, Family
With varying level of success each day, I’ve been praying this Novena to the Holy Spirit in preparation for Lent to help me discern what God is asking me as we prepare for Easter. Despite my inability to be faithful in praying it each day, it’s bearing a lot of spiritual fruit and helping me to realize that I need to change my approach to Lent 2016 compared to previous years. After a lot of prayer, reading Pope Francis’ book, The Name of God is Mercy, and listening to Fr. Mike Schmitz, my theme for Lent 2016 is: It’s Not the What; It’s the How.
Last Sunday, Fr. Mike Schmitz continued his fantastic homily series about work with, “Everybody’s Working: Not What, But How.” It was a very timely and on point reminder for me as a pregnant (33 weeks) stay-at-home mama with three littles that this is probably not the chapter of life to take on a bunch of Lenten mortifications; instead, I need to reexamine how I’m approaching this vocation and all of its daily duties.
With that in mind, I examined my vocation in light of the three words:
- Fast
- Pray
- Give
I’m sharing my Lenten game plan below in the hopes that it will hold me more accountable and that we can work on our HOWS together this Lent.
Here’s what I’m feeling called to do this year:
Fast
- From Digital Distraction: Make my smart phone a dumb phone. Delete e-mail, apps, and Internet. Only use the phone to call, text, listen to podcasts, and find directions or emergency information.
- From Exhaustion: Monday through Friday be in bed at 9:30, lights out at 10 p.m.
- From Groggy Morning Mommy: Get up half an hour before the kids Monday through Friday for quiet prayer time. (Get up an hour before the kids on mornings that Philip has to leave early so that I can shower, too.)
- From Hangry Mommy: Eat a high protein breakfast and mid-afternoon snack
- From TV with Philip: Limit ourselves to one hour one weeknight per week
Pray
- Attend Tuesday morning Mass
- Spiritually “adopt” a loved one and offer all of my Lenten sacrifices for him/her (especially the discomforts of pregnancy)
- Family Stations of the Cross in the family room after dinner on Thursdays (Fridays don’t work with our schedule this year)
- Lectio Divina (fancy term for praying with scripture) with the daily Gospel reading during morning prayer before kids wake up
Give
- Reading streak: Read-aloud time with the kids at least 10 minutes each day. (Sidenote: Our read-aloud time is bringing big blessings. Do yourself a favor, and check out The Read-Aloud Revival.)
- Family Sacrifice beans jar
- Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy: Starting this week and continuing throughout the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, choose one of the corporal or spiritual works of mercy each week. Discuss this work of mercy as a family at dinner, sharing examples of how we lived or witnessed this work of mercy in action each day. Add images and words related to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy around our pantry door to create our family’s own “Holy Door” for the jubilee year. (Isn’t that door idea great? All of the credit goes to my friend, Allison!) The book Divine Mercy for Moms is going to be my manual.
- Lights Out Night: Select one weeknight each week of Lent to go without electricity from the time dinner is served until bed. Give each other focused attention for the evening. We’ve done this before, and I wrote about the experience here.
- Healthy Mama: Walk for 30 minutes 3 times a week.
What’s Your Lenten Game Plan?
That’s what I’m doing. What’s your Lenten game plan? I’d love to hear all about it! I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to start working on the how of my vocation instead of my usual what for Lent.
![Lent 2016: It's Not the What; It's the How]()
by Catherine | Feb 9, 2016 | Faith, Family
With varying level of success each day, I’ve been praying this Novena to the Holy Spirit in preparation for Lent to help me discern what God is asking me as we prepare for Easter. Despite my inability to be faithful in praying it each day, it’s bearing a lot of spiritual fruit and helping me to realize that I need to change my approach to Lent 2016 compared to previous years. After a lot of prayer, reading Pope Francis’ book, The Name of God is Mercy, and listening to Fr. Mike Schmitz, my theme for Lent 2016 is: It’s Not the What; It’s the How.
Last Sunday, Fr. Mike Schmitz continued his fantastic homily series about work with, “Everybody’s Working: Not What, But How.” It was a very timely and on point reminder for me as a pregnant (33 weeks) stay-at-home mama with three littles that this is probably not the chapter of life to take on a bunch of Lenten mortifications; instead, I need to reexamine how I’m approaching this vocation and all of its daily duties.
With that in mind, I examined my vocation in light of the three words:
- Fast
- Pray
- Give
I’m sharing my Lenten game plan below in the hopes that it will hold me more accountable and that we can work on our HOWS together this Lent.
Here’s what I’m feeling called to do this year:
Fast
- From Digital Distraction: Make my smart phone a dumb phone. Delete e-mail, apps, and Internet. Only use the phone to call, text, listen to podcasts, and find directions or emergency information.
- From Exhaustion: Monday through Friday be in bed at 9:30, lights out at 10 p.m.
- From Groggy Morning Mommy: Get up half an hour before the kids Monday through Friday for quiet prayer time. (Get up an hour before the kids on mornings that Philip has to leave early so that I can shower, too.)
- From Hangry Mommy: Eat a high protein breakfast and mid-afternoon snack
- From TV with Philip: Limit ourselves to one hour one weeknight per week
Pray
- Attend Tuesday morning Mass
- Spiritually “adopt” a loved one and offer all of my Lenten sacrifices for him/her (especially the discomforts of pregnancy)
- Family Stations of the Cross in the family room after dinner on Thursdays (Fridays don’t work with our schedule this year)
- Lectio Divina (fancy term for praying with scripture) with the daily Gospel reading during morning prayer before kids wake up
Give
- Reading streak: Read-aloud time with the kids at least 10 minutes each day. (Sidenote: Our read-aloud time is bringing big blessings. Do yourself a favor, and check out The Read-Aloud Revival.)
- Family Sacrifice beans jar
- Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy: Starting this week and continuing throughout the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, choose one of the corporal or spiritual works of mercy each week. Discuss this work of mercy as a family at dinner, sharing examples of how we lived or witnessed this work of mercy in action each day. Add images and words related to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy around our pantry door to create our family’s own “Holy Door” for the jubilee year. (Isn’t that door idea great? All of the credit goes to my friend, Allison!) The book Divine Mercy for Moms is going to be my manual.
- Lights Out Night: Select one weeknight each week of Lent to go without electricity from the time dinner is served until bed. Give each other focused attention for the evening. We’ve done this before, and I wrote about the experience here.
- Healthy Mama: Walk for 30 minutes 3 times a week.
What’s Your Lenten Game Plan?
That’s what I’m doing. What’s your Lenten game plan? I’d love to hear all about it! I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to start working on the how of my vocation instead of my usual what for Lent.
