Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday.  Joseph and I went to mass this morning and got our ashes :) 

I feel like Lent really snuck up on me this year.  I think I have been so excited about Josephs birthday I didn't realize it was a week before Ash Wednesday.  

Anyway, the past few days I have been trying to figure out what to give up for lent.  I saw this awesome advice which helped me decide what to give up....

‎"Resist Lenten promises that sound like new year's resolutions. God is more concerned about your heart than whether you eat cookies.” 

- Ennie Hickman

In high school and at the beginning of college my Lenten sacrifices were probably a little selfish.

What we give up is not supposed to help us loose weight or look better or even sound awesome.  It is supposed to help us become close to Christ so we may celebrate that he is risen at Easter and rejoice.  I remember giving up coke or wine (any alcohol) those were probably the toughest for me.   Im my life at that time I would have a coke every day at lunch and a glass of wine in the evening.  I'm not going to lie IT WAS TOUGH!! But it reminded me every day of Christ suffering and death for me.  Once Easter came I really had a sense of true rejoicing in Jesus rising from the dead.  

You can also add something to your day like going to daily mass, saying a daily rosary, or praying another 15 min more.  What a GREAT way to bring your heart closer to Christ.

Anyway I hope you have all figured out what to give up for lent.  Typing this all out really has me thinking about making sure at the end of Lent I know my heart is closer to Christ than today.  

My ONE year old boy :)

I still cannot believe Joseph is one! 

(or that I have been changing diapers for a year now)

Here are some things he is up to right now...

He is still crawling but is super super fast!

He can walk across the couch, around the ottoman and down the fire place holding on with one hand but he really seems to have no interest in walking on his own.  I am sure once he does start walking he will probably just start running... he is so busy!

He calls me mama or more like "mamamamama", and he has called philip dada before but it is not as much as mama.  Every time he picks up a ball he says "b".

He loves playing with cars, he rolls them around making a car noise.  He LOVES throwing balls and playing with legos (the mega ones).  He also enjoys looking at books and having us read to him.

He is a quiet guy.  I think he is going to be just like his daddy.  On his actual birthday we had our families over and Joe was overwhelmed the whole time :(  Everyone left and we went inside and he smiled got down from my arms and played with his new toys for an hour with us.  He is a thinker.  He just stares around and takes it all in.

He loves bath time!

He has 10 teeth already!! 4 on the bottom and 6 on the top.

(his top molars just grew in... it has been rough)

He weighs about 24 pounds and is 31 inches long. 

He LOVES all fruit!! Raspberries, blueberries, pears, strawberries, pineapple, apple, kiwi, peaches, oranges, bananas etc.  He also enjoys sausages.

He loves dancing to music and clapping.

He really enjoys emptying things out... the panty, the dvd cabinet, tupperware cabinet, drawer with sippy  cups, etc. Then mama puts it all back in while he empties something else.  

He loves to be outside :) ... but he also loves to eat any leaf or acorn he finds on the ground :( 

He is a BIG cuddle bug and I LOVE that about him!

We love watching disney channel together.  He had a mickey mouse clubhouse party for his birthday.  Here is the invitation I made...

(Im not sure why it posted a little stretched out but oh well) 

Ill post pics from his party soon :)

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!

Joe's 1st Birthday

I cannot believe my little baby is ONE today!  This year has flown by and so much has changed :)  

I just put him down for a nap and he is just such a sweetie!  

He has had a pretty good day so far!   He woke up early because he was just so excited it was his birthday  :)  Haha! But it was wonderful because he sat with mommy in the rocking chair for about 35 min while we watched cartoons together.

He already received a set of 12 small mickey mouse block books and we had fun looking through all of them and throwing them around the living room.

He had a delicious breakfast of some of his favorite food.  He had some sausage, oranges, apple jacks (since its his birthday) and milk.

We enjoyed watching cartoons while eating and after.

Here is the birthday boy today!

He also already got a bath which he really enjoyed!

Now he is napping :)

He is so beautiful!  I am so incredible thankful for him!  He truly has brought so so so much joy to our lives! 

Oh... and a quick story from last night...

So Philip got me a box of chocolates from a store in downtown mobile.  They are delicious!!  I had them on top of the couch so joseph could not get to them but philips parents stopped by so they were moved to the side table.  After enjoying a delicious steak, potato, and broccoli dinner (Happy Valentines!) Joseph was playing in his diaper with his toys.  While cleaning up the kitchen we look over and Joe has a huge smile on his face and a ring of chocolate fudge around his mouth!  He only had half of one of the pieces but boy did he enjoy it! 

It's Almost Here!!

Joseph's birthday is wednesday and I cannot believe how fast this year has flown by!  Each day I have been remembering what I was doing a year ago... coughing on the couch with bronchitis and waiting patiently for Joseph to arrive :) 

I keep forgetting valentines day is tomorrow because I am so so so excited for Joseph's birthday.  

We are having a small birthday party on Saturday but I cannot help celebrating on Wednesday as well.  I mean I worked very very hard to deliver Joseph a year ago and since the memory is still so fresh in my head I am going to celebrate both days.  I know mothers are supposed to be so selfless but being on the other side (having a child) I think that I should be celebrated on Wednesday as well... I mean why don't we get gifts for our mothers on our birthdays?  At least a phone call saying thank you for choosing life and carrying me for 9 months and then working so hard to deliver me... 

Anyway... I am just so excited for Wednesday. 

I can remember being in labor and all I wanted (besides meeting Joseph) was and Arby's beef and cheese sandwich.  I have no idea why but I kept talking about it but I of course could not eat a thing so I think I am going to have Arby's on Wednesday for lunch to celebrate (I may regret it later but oh well).

I will talk more about this later in my Happy Birthday Joseph post but I just can't help but put it now as well.  It is incredible how much Joseph has changed our lives for the better.  He is truly a miracle and I am so thankful to God for the gift of his life and his wonderful happy spirit :)  His precious smile reminds me of how blessed I am each day.  And each day when I am exhausted it gives me a chance to realize that I CANNOT do it with the help of my God.  Joseph leads me closer to Christ each day.

So I guess to conclude I am realizing that Joseph does give me a gift each day for working so hard to deliver him.  He leads me to heaven each day which is the greatest gift of all! 

Thoughts on Contraception/NFP

If you have seen any news recently you will have seen all of the coverage on the Catholic Church being forced to give birth control to its employees... etc.

Please hear me out :)

It really saddens me that so many catholics are on birth control.  

I know that Christian or Catholic couples who are on birth control are using it so that they do not get pregnant and can plan their children.  But you may not realize that birth control cuts off your marriage from God.  It shuts the door for God to truly have control over your marriage and family.  

God gave us the ability to reproduce as husband and wife and it is INCREDIBLE to me that God allowed Philip and I to bring Joseph into this world to raise, love, and lead him back to Heaven.

The catholic church is not against planning families.  Philip and I are using Natural Family Planning to space out our children.  Every month we chart our cycle and pray what God's will is for our lives and our family. 

I challenge anyone reading this who is on Birth Control to just explore the idea of using NFP instead.  

Most people think that NFP does not work which is absolutely untrue.  Philip and I used NFP to get pregnant with Joseph.  We knew the 6 days we would be fertile in our first month of marriage and used them to achieve a pregnancy.  I started a regular cycle back 3 months after delivering Joseph.  Since then (for the past 9 months) we have been using NFP and charting to avoid a pregnancy.  Hopefully soon we will again use it to achieve a pregnancy so Joseph can have a sibling to play with :) 

We use the Creighton Model to chart our fertility but a lot of couples use the Couple to Couple League.

There are so many great things about using NFP in your marriage.  A woman's fertility becomes the couples fertility as they chart each day (Philip asks me what to chart every night before bed and charts).  There are no hormones making you freak out or altering your mood.  No chemicals or hormones are entering your body.  You can also learn so so much about your body through NFP. Our cycles actually tell a lot about the health of a woman.  There have been many woman who have seen a change in charting and it has helped them to discover a disease very very early etc.  

I will admit the first few months are tough to really understand and get the hang of but every woman has a distinct cycle and with charting you can see a pattern and a couples fertility can easily be understood.

Why would I cut off my ability to reproduce by using birth control and allow God no say in my fertility?  Especially when a few months later when I did want to be pregnant I would be on my knees asking God to bless me with a child.  I am thankful God is so merciful and always forgives us our sins.  He has forgiven me so many times and blesses our lives abundantly even though we may not be deserving. 

So I challenge anyone who doesn't know much about NFP to look into it and see what you can learn :)

Major Reno...

Well... when we bought our house we knew we were going to renovate.

We have FINALLY contacted a contractor and I am working up our house plans...

We originally thought we would renovate and then move in after it was done.  But after a few days of Philip driving 45 min to school when we new we owned a perfectly working house only 10 min away we decided to go ahead and move it.  It was actually an excellent decision because all of our original reno ideas are now thrown out the window since we have lived here.  Living in the house we have seen the way we live and what things we need and want... so we are finally ready (i think).

We met our contractor just last friday.  I was so excited about the renovation before the contractor visited once he left I was terrified.  It really started to hit me that we are going to be living through a renovation at the house... : / Call me crazy...  CRAZY!

We are going to a complete kitchen makeover extending the kitchen into the formal dining room and converting the other half of the formal dining into a home office (We have a beautiful eating area by the kitchen).  We are also remodeling both the guest and master bathroom.  We are also adding cabinetry to the laundry/mudroom and adding a half bath in there as well that can easily be accessed by the kitchen and living areas.  Other than that we are planning on removing the ceiling tiles and fan in the family room and having a nice flat ceiling with recessed lights, screening in our back porch, putting in new flooring in the family room and hall, and adding a door in between the family and living room so we can access both rooms easily.

I am SO SO SO excited!!

I am sure that it is going to take a while... probably wont be finished until sometime in the fall but I cannot wait for it to feel more like our home instead of someone's house that was built in the late 60's.  I am sure that about the middle of it when my house is a mess and I have a toddler running around I am really going to wish we had never done a thing but once it is done it will be my dream house :) 

Here are some before pictures :)

(these are from before we moved all our stuff in.  I will take some this weekend to document what it looked like with all of our stuff) 

Can't wait to update the lighting ;)

There you can see into the dining area where we are going to extend the kitchen.

We are going to remove the brick column.  I actually really like it but I
think the space that it is taking up in the kitchen is more valuable
than the look of it...

Here is looking into the formal dining...
I can't wait to show you an updated pic of this space haha...
our dining room is currently a storage area for random stuff we haven't
finished putting together or up in our house. 

And here is a look in to the current master bath...

"The blue bathroom"

Lovely blue toilet

And a blue tub... and blue floor and wall tile...
I cant wait to rip it all out!!

Whew I am ready for a new master bath!

We are going to leave the master bath the same size as it is. Although I would love a larger master bath we have plans to eventually add on a master bedroom suite once we need another bedroom in our house... so for now it is a small master bath but it is going to be a HUGE upgrade once we are done remodeling!

Here is the guest bath...

"The peach bathroom"

We love how large the guest (or kids) bath is...
perfect for kiddos.

It has double sinks.

Lovely peach wall tile and toilet :)

And a lovely peach tub is under this peach wall tile...

Now on to the laundry area/ mudroom...

Laundry Area... where the closet is we are going
to put in a half bath and extend it into the storage
area on the other side of the back wall.

Can't wait to have new cabinetry and counter to
fold laundry on... maybe a pull out ironing board?! 

Looking back into the kitchen.  That is currently
our pantry but it is going to be a place to hang
jackets/ put shoes.

Well... thats about it for now... 

Ill post some updated photos of our house now that its lived in/ messy... haha

Can't wait for it to all be done!!

Hope your having a wonderful friday!

Rude Compliments...

So today I went to Gymboree to see if they had a shirt for his first birthday.  They did not have the shirt I saw online that I wanted but of course I was suckered into buying another cute outfit for him since it is starting to warm up and he needs some larger outfits.  

Anyway...

I was the only one in the store and the lady at the desk seemed very nice (and she was) but I put Joe down to look a little more and then pay.  As Im paying she says...

"Wow! He is already crawling?"

I responded "Yes!"

She asked how old he is and I told her he would be one in exactly a week. (I still cannot believe this!!) 

Then... she proceeded to say...

"Oh my he is tiney tiny.  He is going to be very small when he grows up!"

WHAT!!!

First of all what kind of compliment is that to any mother?  I cannot stand when people tell me that my child is huge or small.  Why don't you just tell me he is cute or has an adorable smile or something like that?  Why do you have to be rude and make comments on the size of my child and get me all nervous. 

Its like when someone tells a pregnant momma she is HUGE or is so small.  When she is told she his huge you have made her feel like a cow and when you say she is small you make her feel like she isn't gaining enough weight or the baby is small or maybe she is not doing all she should... Thats why when you see a pregnant woman and you don't know her just tell her she is beautiful.... (i digress)

Second... I wanted to tell the woman... well he is off the charts for his height and in the 90% for weight so I don't think he is tiney tiny.  Not to mention his dad is 6'4" so no I don't think he will be small when he grows up...

I did not say this (although I kind of wish I had) but just smiled and chuckled and changed the subject.

Anyway... if there is anyone out there reading this that does not already know... 

Never tell a momma that her child is small or big and never never never tell a pregnant momma that she is huge or small.  

The End :)