7Quick Takes (vol. 9)

7 prayer intentions that are close to my heart and I ought to pray for more often.

1.  For all those in Purgatory whose friends and relatives decided to just assume that they are in Heaven, instead of praying for them.
2.  For the unity of all Christians in the fullness of the Faith.
3.  For good, zealous, and holy priests.
4.  For my husband, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, and so on ...
5.  For a happy death.
6.  For a more widespread devotion to and appreciation of the liturgy (particularly the treasures of the traditional form).
7.  That I may never have a child die unbaptized.

God you know the prayers that are in my heart even as you hear the prayers that are on my lips.  Connect them, I beg you, when I forget.  Amen.

7 Quick takes hosted at Conversion Diary

Small Successes (Vol. 6)

1.  I finally finished the dress for my baby that was supposed to be for Christmas.  It still fits beautifully, and hopefully she will get to wear it a couple of times before the weather gets too warm for it.

2.  I made it a whole week without my husband saying, "Is there anything clean in the dryer?" as he's picking out his clothes in the morning.

3.  I'm having trouble coming up with a third success this week, so I'll list a Deo gratias instead:  My parents, who were living and working in Libya, are now safely out of the country.

Finally Finished

The Christmas Mardi Gras dress

Mid-February Daybook

Today the Church Celebrates ...  first Vespers of Septuagesima.  It's time to start thinking about Lent, and around here the Carnival season is about to kick into high gear.  I have trouble figuring out what to make of this season.  The liturgical vestments are purple, the "Alleluia" has already been put away until Easter, so liturgically the season has a penitential character.  At the same time, there are balls, parades, and king cakes.

I am thinking ...  about routines.  So far, my daily routine is working well.  Eventually, however, I'm going to have to figure out how to incorporate non-daily tasks also, which will complicate the routine.

I am praying ...  The Divine Office for Tiny People.  It's my own creation, and I like it.  Someday, as my children grow up, I will move toward the full Divine Office.  For now, this is what fits.

I am wearing ...  a denim skirt and a long-sleeve t-shirt.

I am creating ...  the Christmas dress that wasn't.  I had plans to make my baby a Christmas dress, and had the fabric all cut out and ready to go, and it never happened.  I am now working on sewing it together.  Fortunately, I think it will still fit.

I am reading ...  Real Learning:  Education in the Heart of the Home by Elizabeth Foss.  I love it.   It's really inspiring.  I can't wait to start teaching my daughter.

Outside my window ...  darkness.

I am listening to ...  silence.  After a very cranky evening, the baby is now asleep.  We're trying to keep it that way.

I am grateful for ...  a sleeping baby.

From the kitchen ...  breakfast casserole.  It's one of my favorite recipes, and tonight was the first time I tried to make it myself.

One of my favorite things ...  the way my baby smiled this morning when her father blessed her with holy water before leaving for work.

A picture thought I am sharing ...  

from the Simple Woman's Daybook

7Quick Takes (vol. 8)

1.  We went on a long trip in the car at Christmas, to visit my family who lives far away, and discovered that the baby sleeps in her car seat.  Deo gratias!  She also smiled and waved at nearly everyone we met

Hotel rooms and other unfamiliar places?  Now that's an entirely different story ...

2.  At eight months old, my baby girl now has her first tooth!  We seem to have reached a lull in the teething crankiness, but I expect the second tooth will not be far behind.

3.  In other baby news, she can now get an O shaped cereal bit into her mouth by herself, occasionally.  She does it, not by using a pincer grasp, but by getting it to stick to the end of her index finger, which she then puts into her mouth

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4.  She also loves her Daddy.  No matter how grumpy she's been for me, the moment he walks in the door in the evening she is all smiles (at least for 30 seconds).  And she wants to be just like him; if he's eating a banana, she wants some too, even though she hates bananas.

5.  I've been having some success getting caught up with housework after several weeks of neglect.  Maybe next time things get overwhelming I will be smart enough to remember that the project needs to start with prayer.

6.  This is awesome.  But it makes me wonder.  I have a headline in my head:

Mom Risks Life to Save Child

Isn't that what parents are supposed to do?  Isn't that what is natural for a mother to do?  But because this child wasn't yet born, this woman's doctors advised her not to protect it.  Because this child wasn't yet born, the story is news. What a weird, messed up world we live in!

7.  Abigail has two thought provoking posts on suffering in preparation for Lent.  I'm afraid I needed that reminder about eight weeks ago, when the morning sickness hit.  On the other hand, there are trials every day.

7 Quick takes hosted at Conversion Diary

Small Successes (Vol. 5)

1.  I have been crawling out of my first trimester yuckiness, and catching up with housework.  The kitchen has now been continuously clean for two whole days, and I have once again tamed the laundry monster.

2.  I vacuumed the whole house while my mother-in-law was here the other day playing with the baby, even though I had to stop and take the vacuum apart and clean all the hair off the brush in the middle of it.

3.  I made bread.

Climbing out of a Hole

Having recovered from morning sickness sooner than I expected (Deo gratias!), I am now working on climbing out of the hole where several weeks of neglect have left my housework.  Where did I start?  Mostly by accident, I started with prayer.  I was so overwhelmed by the mountain of things left undone that I didn't know where to begin.  At the same time, I was feeling the need to rethink my prayer life, which was also suffering from neglect.

Working from my favorite breviary (the Monastic Diurnal), I abbreviated the hours to be short enough not to overtax my baby's attention span, and laid out two days of prayers:  Sunday, and weekdays.  I am also hoping that this will be repetitive enough that after my little girl begins to talk, but before she is able to read, she will be able to pray with me.  I assigned times throughout the day for each of the hours of the Divine Office, arranging them around naptimes and mealtimes.

After doing this for a couple days, I realized that I now had a working schedule for my day.  I could now use this framework to schedule times to do brief daily household chores like dishes and laundry, so that I can keep those aspects of the household running smoothly (instead of getting buried every few days).  So far it seems to be working.  There are a lot of other things that still need my attention, but the task has become a lot less overwhelming.  I guess it really does work to start with prayer!

I Want to be Like Daddy!

This morning at breakfast we were all at the table eating together, and my husband was eating a banana.  The baby (who does not like bananas) was watching with great interest, opening her mouth, and making noises to indicate that she would like to have some of Daddy's banana.  I encouraged my husband to give her a little bit, which he did.  She took it and made an awful face, but she ate it.  She then continued to open her mouth and ask for what Daddy was having.  He gave her another bite, with the same results.  Fortunately for her, at this point the banana was gone.  The poor baby was so torn between wanting to be like Daddy, and not liking bananas!

Baby's first Funeral Mass

My husband's uncle died a couple weeks ago, and we attended the funeral Mass.  Now, before I continue, please understand that usually the baby is very, very good at Mass.  She watches the procession and asperges, and while she sometimes makes a few little noises, but nothing really disruptive.  I never have to take her out anymore.

There were tons of people at this funeral.  My husband comes from a couple of generations of large families.  It was standing room only, and we thought it prudent to stand at the back.  As we were going forward to receive Holy Communion, passing the casket and the front pews where the family was seated, my sweet baby girl decided that it was a good time to blow raspberries.  Lots of them.  As in a whole bushel basket full.  The people in the pews next to us were getting the giggles.  While there are many strategies for quieting a crying baby (you comfort her, by your and her favorite method), there isn't a lot to be done to quiet a baby who is happy and  making play noises (particularly when she has a giggling audience).

Please pray for my husband's uncle.  I'm afraid this was one of those events where those speaking assume the deceased is already in heaven (supposed to be comforting, I suppose), rather than reminding people to pray for him, and for their own happy death.

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. 

Small Successes (Vol. 4)

1.  I read a book this week!  I haven't done much reading in a while because I've been, well, sleeping every chance I got.

2.  I made sloppy joes last night, which is not something I've made before, and they were a huge hit.

3.  I've been making food for my baby.  She hasn't had anything out of a jar in about three weeks.  This has, at least in my opinion, resulted in more varied and appealing offerings for my little girl (she seems to pretty happily eat almost anything).

Object Permanence

Yesterday my little girl was playing with a book, because Mama was reading a book, and therefore baby girl wanted one too.  She has not quite achieved the dexterity to turn the pages, so playing with her book mostly involves pushing it back and forth, picking it up, and drooling on it. She had worked herself off of a quilt that I put on the floor for her to play on, and was pushing the book back and forth near the edge of the quilt.  The book slid off of the quilt, onto the floor, and then under the quilt and out of sight.

At this point I look up from my book, because the baby has suddenly begun to cry.  I pull the book back out from under the quilt, and just as suddenly she is all smiles again.

Now if I could just remember these sweet little things and think about them when baby girl is awake for the third time of the night at 3 am ...

Catching up

First, we're expecting.  Due in August.  About the time I wrote my last post, I started having morning sickness and feeling like I needed to sleep fourteen hours a day, and my baby stopped sleeping through the night.  I therefore began sleeping during all her naps, and a great many things consequently didn't get done.

Now the first-trimester fog is lifting, and I am starting to try to catch up on all the things that have been neglected, including this blog.  I hope to start posting regularly again soon.