Around the Interwebs

So, occasionally I’m able to finish an article, essay, or blog post before my iPad is lifted by the resident toddler/klepto. I’m a sucker for other people’s lists of interesting, engaging, funny, weird, inspiring, and so on links, so I thought I’d share a few of the ones I’ve come across lately!

• This one’s more of a PSA for anyone to whom I’ve ever given cloth diapering advice: I AM SORRY, I WAS DOING IT ALL WRONG!! Really. Go to Fluff Love University (and its companion Facebook group, where amazing cloth diapering gurus will promptly help you solve your dilemmas) and follow their advice instead! Who knew there was so much science behind those fluffy waste receptacles.

• I thought this little video about the youngest priest in Baton Rouge was both funny and inspiring. He’s my age, and I loved hearing about his gradual conversion from checked-out adolescent, to reluctant young 20-something, to priest, who raps to evangelize:

“I would just go to the Adoration chapel every day, for hours and hours. Go to parties, leave the parties, and go be with Jesus. Go on dates, leave the dates, and go be with Jesus.”

• This article from Verily Magazine, about not having strippers or other distasteful practices at bachelorette parties was spot-on: 

“I suppose it is all intended as good fun, but there is something a little gross about involving a stranger’s nudity in          a celebration that is supposed to preface a wedding.”

• If you use essential oils at all, I recommend this article, as well as the website she links to at the bottom. Good info about why you should not ingest oils and on being cautious with their use, especially around children.

• Jenny from Mama Needs Coffee on Pope Francis/rabbits:

 “Misquotable or not, Pope Francis is our Pope. He’s our father. He’s also a figure of contradiction and amusement and confusion and excitement and all the other adjectives for the rest of the world, looking on in wonder/disgust/mild curiosity. So yes, he will be in the news. And yes, all the things he says will be analyzed and dissected and translated and represented to you, the consumer, to ingest. But it’s your responsibility to monitor the quality.”

• And look who’s #5 on the 50 Best Study Abroad Programs!!

“All in all, Franciscan’s study abroad program offers an intimate setting, excellent education, and life-changing experience.” 

That’s all I have time for; someone is chattering away in her post-nap prison and occasionally shrieking, so I’ve got to go!

Wintry Mix

This post was started, with good intentions and hopes of finishing, yesterday afternoon. I am once again hopeful that it can be finished today instead…

Right now, snow is coating our backyard, the baby is making puppy-eyes at me from her marooned position across the carpet, and there is a lot of laundry which is being ignored. Perfect time to write, obviously. Our life has been busy with all the most mundane things that happen in the cruel and never-ending months of winter. Such as:

– Trying desperately to keep the very active toddler from self-destructing while she is held hostage in the house. A mini trampoline arrived today, which we bought with some gift cards we got for Christmas. I’m hoping it helps with energy output so that she isn’t stuck with screaming at a glass-shattering pitch. (The norm, every night at dinner and other times…)

Boredom: A Portrait

– Picking up the second half of our frozen pork delivery. We realized a whole pig is a lot of meat, but thankfully my parents decided to buy half of it. We are now consuming sausage till the end of time.

– Taking several bags of clothes and a box of toys to Goodwill. Feels good to de-clutter, and still feels like we have too much stuff.

– Sending out super late Christmas cards. In a confusing and highly annoying turn of events, our cards got shipped to our old address. We called the apartment office about 500 times without a single answer. We didn’t have the time/mental/physical energy to drive all the way out there just to pick them up, and weren’t even sure they had been delivered, since no one would answer our call and tell us. We happened to be at a wedding at our old parish down the street two weekends ago, so we picked them up. And I have since decided that from now on, we will be doing an email Christmas card. It may be tacky, but my word, tracking down about 35 new addresses, and then doing all the addressing, folding letters, and stuffing of 70 plus letters took literal hours. If you didn’t get one, you are not missing out. I just thought I’d highlight yet one more thrilling way we spend our ample “free time” round here.

– Starting, very slowly, to give Lena some solids. She’s wildly excited to eat, but at this point still only eats a spoonful or two at at time. We’ve done bananas, and avocados, and some egg yolk. She’s not tolerating the egg well at all, and has thrown it up each time, so we’ll have to table it till she’s older. Lucy loved egg yolk as a first food, so it’s kinda a bummer that Lena can’t eat it, especially because it is so easy and quick. I mostly avoid feeding her solids because I simply do not have things on hand I can give her quickly, other than banana. I need about 1-2 uninterrupted hours so I can cook, puree and freeze baby food for her. Still looking for that time…

Just give her a whiskey…

Well, at least we know she’s not going hungry.

Anyway, if you made it to the end of this, high five. Despite the cabin-fever and the everyday-ness of our every day, we are just really lucky to spend them with these cuties and each other. I’m thankful for these baby days, when I can stop and remind myself that they will be over all too soon. Which also means that I’ll be able to sleep and feel less zombie-like once more, praise the Lord.

2014: Our Year in Review

We are officially back in Virginia, after our California Christmas. Before January is over and the year still feels relatively new, I figured it would be fun to look back on the craziness of 2014 and capture our year in photos (blurry and bad, as they always are!). Here we go!

January

Wow, January. Way to start off our year with a whole lot of crazy!! We came back from California, and about a week and a half later, we discovered that we were expecting Number Two. I’m thankful for our pediatrician who casually asked if I might be pregnant, when I told her that my milk supply for Lucy had disappeared. If not for that, I have no idea when or how I would’ve figured it out! As it was, it turned out we were already about 14-15 weeks along.

That same week, our living space started getting a little, well, unlivable. We were invaded by cockroaches, mice and scary, scary mold all over the apartment over the month. Gross.

February

We packed up and moved to my parents’, for what we thought would be two months. Ha! My family is very patient. We had snow days and date nights, and lots of cousin time. Thinking about Lent and pregnancy.

March

More snow (and reminiscing about our honeymoon), St. Patty’s, St. Joseph’s– and writing out our love story. Lucy started walking and things thawed enough for the park and the swing and fancy clothes to the annual Heights Gala.

April

Lucy Agnes turned one, and I finally wrote her birth story. We went on a lovely Babymoon, and I started to get a wee bit anxious about all the things to do before Baby 2 arrived. Spring was starting to get its game on, finally, and we made it to Easter. We also officially booked our realtor and started house hunting!!

May

Things got cray for us: lots and lots of looking at houses both online and in person; Lucy being sick for over a month from her MMR vaccine, me being sick for weeks with the Sinus Infection from Hell; and Tom’s birthday thrown in there. I found a few moments between tissues and Tylenol to think some thoughts about my impending parenthood of two.

June

In June, things were looking better: we had closed on a house!! No more searching. I was feeling much better, and the wait for baby began. Verily published an article of mine, and we mused about disciplining toddlers. Lucy went on daily walks, splashed in the pool, and talked up a storm.

July

We were very ready for baby– and then she came! Magdalena Clare was born on 7-14-14! Lucy loved her, and so did we. The siblings put on a magnificent performance of Les Miserables and we dealt with Magdalena’s awful nightly colic, which coincided with our ill-timed second anniversary date.

August

Tom went to Cali for five days for his brother’s wedding, and I stayed home with Fussy-Pants and thankfully my mom was there to help (my dad and brother were on a mission trip in Honduras). We all survived. Then we packed up and moved to our new house on August 9th, with a barely four-week old Magdalena and almost 16 month old Lucy. Good, crazy times. Also, Magdalena was baptized the week after we moved in, but I never blogged it because of the general chaos. For the record, she screamed the whole time, as Baptism was unfortunately scheduled during her nightly colic sesh.

September

The colic stopped. Our stress levels dropped by 50%. We continued to move in/unpack/set up and made our house a bit more homey. Tom started back at school, and Lucy went into full-force toddler behavior.

October

Fall! Lots of park and outside time, a Day in our Life, the passing of my grandpa and traveling to NY for his funeral, and Halloween.

November

We enjoyed the awesome weather before it got too cold, had a chill Thanksgiving, and reflected on life thus far with two under two. 

December

This is the most recent month, and I can barely remember it. We celebrated St. Lucia Day and St. Nicholas Day, Lucy got sick, and then got sick again and passed it to Magdalena the moment we touched down in California. We had a lovely (though very sleep-deprived) California Christmas, and then Lena passed the cold to me, and I to Tom, who is currently sleeping it off as I type.

2014 was quite the year– full of unexpected things but mostly unexpected blessings. Looking forward to what 2015 will bring!

Linking up here!