Culture of Life

So I know the big country-wide topic these days is contraception and the Catholic Church - hmm...that sounds a lot like a paper I know ;-) But that is not what is on my heart right now.

Let me get back to the idea of a culture of life. Many people believe children are blessings. New mothers are overjoyed by the arrival of their children and change forever. Less than a year ago, I experienced that glorious, and at times scary, upheaval of life as I knew it. I love being a mom even if I don't like some of the sleepless nights. I also love bringing my child with me when I go out and there is where the problem lies.

I am unashamedly an attached parent. I walk around with her in a carrier while I grocery shop and she loves it! I bring her places and let her explore while I have some adult moments in the company of my child. I let her learn about Mass by experiencing it every week and many people love to see her. But not all. And so, I must explain myself.

I realize there are some adult only places. I definitely wouldn't take my daughter to a night club and there are other events/locations to be sure. Mostly I think adult spaces are more that way because nothing there would interest children. I don't want Maria to be bored purely for the sake of me doing something I find entertaining. However, I do expect Maria to learn and discover what my daily life is like by accompanying me on errands and other commitments I have in my life.

One of those commitments occurred Saturday. I went to a mini-medical conference  The doctor talked about building a culture of life and accepting children as gifts. Thank you - what a wonderful message. Your words are lovely and were well received by many. Praise God, one of the local doctors actually looked into having her come to that hospital.  There were other presenters that were equally welcomed and informative and I was blessed to see the event take place at a distance.

I had come to help by manning the registration table. Once my job was complete, I stood in the very back of the auditorium to see if I could catch any of this important family information. Shortly after I entered, I was taken outside by someone that I thought had a question for me. Instead, he told me I was being inappropriate and, though he loves children, she was a distraction to everyone in the audience and I should leave. Did I mention she had only babbled two words?

I completely understand the need for professionalism, especially when talking with doctors. The presenters dressed well and were prepared as professionals would be - complete with powerpoint slides and handouts. Yay for them. There was a NFP couple there to present their story. As presenters, they chose to leave their son with family so as to not be distracted while presenting. Perfectly acceptable decision. I was not presenting and my parents were out of town. I brought my lovely daughter. Even so, I was aware of the need for others to hear the presentation, so I didn't take a seat - I stood in back. I could be out of the room in a second with Maria if need be. Had she started crying or screaming, that would have been the case. She did not and I wanted to hear the presentation while being a witness to the idea of "openness to life" in daily activities. Maria does not know to be silent and I don't think people expected her to be. I felt comfortable bringing her because I knew I wasn't getting credit for being there so if I missed parts because of her volume it would be okay. I did not realize I would be banished from the beginning.

So my lasting thoughts

Our words

• children are a blessing
• be open to expanding your family with a gift from God
• God created you and you should honor yourself, your fertility and your spouse
• God creates and blesses your children

Our actions

• children are a distraction
• a child talking is inappropriate
• children must not interrupt adult time

It is hard for me to digest that a "family life" event is not welcoming of children if they utter two sounds. A thank you to most everyone else in attendance for loving my child and asking about her. Special thanks to the two moms who were required to pump in the bathroom for showing empathy to me and my child. And...

A question for those promoting family life

How can our words be taken seriously if we scold anyone that has the nerve to bring his or her child to a public, family event?

Maria's first Christmas

is upon us with many fun new things.

We put up the tree two weeks ago and at first it didn't seem like a big deal. We put it in front of our big window facing the street. That window happens to be in the formal living room that we don't really use yet so it took a while for Maria to figure out such an exciting thing was in the room. Now we crawl over, sit by it and feel the funny branches and plush santa ornament that is hanging within reach.

On Dec 5th we put out our shoes and on the morning of the 6th discovered St Nick came and got chocolates and a calendar for daddy and a personalized ornament for Maria. It was nice to celebrate the beginning of Santa Claus.

Speaking of Santa Claus, we did not go see him this year. We did not get invited to any breakfast with Santa events (missed my grandma and childhood memories when I thought of that) and we did not want to pay for the mall photo so we passed this year. I will need to research breakfast with Santa events in my area next year so we can have that experience.

We also recently discovered the fun of opening gifts with visiting friends. Maria has not quite gotten the hang of wrapping paper and needs quite a bit of help, but she did enjoy taking the tissue paper out of the bags and playing with the wrapping paper once already torn off. My friends are also 2 for 2 in gifts that Maria loves almost as much as the packaging. She got an old fashioned phone that rings when you dial and is on wheels with a pull cord. She also received a dinosaur walker that she is learning to use. It is a blast to watch her lean and push it forward and then figuring out how to move her feet to catch up.

I am excited to see Maria get excited again and again as the festivities continue. We are blessed to be around so much family and friends that we will have a new experience every day from Christmas Eve through the 29th. It has also been fun having her pass out gifts.

There are so many gifts for my family to be thankful for this year. Thank you Jesus for the gift of yourself and the many blessings we have received in 2011.

My mobile Maria

The day has come - she is full out crawling! Daddy is away this week for work (though he has witnessed the milestone) and won't be uploading crawling videos on youtube yet. I hope to catch her on tape sometime this week while playing single mom and moving in to our new house. Closing went well yesterday. Now I just need to pack, move and unpack all our stuff yet again. What an exciting, busy month November will be

Six Months

My baby girl is growing up. Now being a mom isn't considered a full time job. I keep getting questions - what do you do to keep yourself busy? Well, other than spending all day with my baby, getting chores done, maybe some cooking, and working out I wonder. I mean all you moms out there know how much free time we have. So here is a look at my typical day last week. We had a good week!

This was Friday

6:45 - get up and let husband get ready for work after he watched Maria for a bit while I got some sleep.

7:20 - leave for daily mass at 8

8:30 -coffee and donuts in the social hall, go and meet some of the parishioners at our new church

9:30 - head to mall to get some walking and socializing in with a mom and two girls

12:30 - go to Target to pick something up for an NFP class

1:30 - finally have time for a gourmet lunch - pb&j

2:00- nap time (mom included)

4:00 - chores (can't remember which were on my list last Friday)

4:45 - playtime!

5:15 - Maria took another nap - weird, some time to myself

6:30 - dinner with husband

7:00 - family walk

7:45 - bedtime routine

9:00 - a few moments with Husband to discuss the week, the upcoming move, our NFP class we taught the next day and a million other things we were supposed to discuss

10:00 - collapse into bed - what a thrilling Friday night!

I also go to La Leche Meeting twice a month, am part of a Bible study and book club, teach NFP and give presentations on top of the fall class we teach. I've also started playing guitar again while Maria plays in her jumper. Being a stay at home mom has challenges (among the numerous joys), but I have not found boredom to be one of them :-)

And speaking of my lovely 6 month old daughter. She is doing well, still a social butterfly - new people make her so happy and she them. She is balancing better while sitting now so I don't need to stay right next to her. Her new favorite toy is a metal whisk. And she can say "dada" although she doesn't realize what the accomplishment it is since she is just learning how to use her tongue and not actually talking. I wonder when she will get mom and dad's names right.

A Great Way to Empower the Poor

through NFP

This article even includes footnotes with sources.

How can we get the word out in the US? I was so sad today when I heard on the radio how our Vice President supports the one child policy in China that leads to forced abortions and more. If only our leaders new and believed that there is a safe, natural and practically free alternative to all the "family planning" methods they promote.

Little Tidbits

I have enjoyed my break from posting. Being a stay at home mom has had ups and downs to be sure, but I love almost all of it. I don't think I will ever get used to the lack of sleep, but I'm trying. Most of the time that means choosing one nap to take with Maria :-)

Maria modeling her baptism outfit

It is amazing how life has changed in 6 months. There have been times when I'm reminded of an "According to Jim" episode when Cheryl realizes she doesn't know how to talk to adults anymore. Everything that comes out of her mouth is about the bodily functions of her kids, their sleep habits, or their new cute trick. What else is there to talk about anyway?

Posing for her 3 mo old pic on gma and gpa's table

Thankfully, my husband and I signed up to teach a NFP class that started a couple weeks ago. I have another class to prepare for in a week. I will be talking with adults preparing for marriage. This is a topic I can still approach with passion and confidence. Thank goodness for a little time to step outside my family and give back to the community a bit. I still need to work more on spreading the word about this important ministry and healthy/natural means of planning a family. My husband and I are still using it successfully despite my being told by numerous people it is not accurate post partum - when did that rumor start?

In happy baby news, Maria is now about 6 months old. She has her two bottom teeth. They came in at about the same time and took a while to poke through. I thought I would miss the toothless grin, but the two little teeth may be even cuter! She is sitting up on her own and evening chewing on the occasional carrot. We are doing Baby Led Weaning which means she will eat solid foods like what I am eating. She has enjoyed learning how to bite and move food around her mouth on her own. We'll see when she actually starts eating more of it. Right now food is just a toy.

Copying mommy and daddy as they eat

We have enjoyed using her bum genius cloth diapers and do not miss the diaper runs to the store one bit! We are not doing the greatest at EC but still give her opportunities occasionally and on lucky days I catch the BMs - yay for less laundry!

Maria is getting ready to crawl - moving her legs in toward her belly and falling forward. I can't wait to see when she figures out she can keep going without falling if she just moves her hands. She also loves to jump. I bought a jumper that attaches to the door frame and she loves the independence it gives her to move as she pleases while mommy does some laundry or just enjoys the show.

2 months of accomplishments

Well I wrote at two weeks, I thought I would write at two months.

Maria's third week was one to remember. We started taking her potty in the sink and it really works! However, I never seem to be quite fast enough so a bit will get in the diaper, at least I stopped being peed on during changes. She also started smiling sometimes when looking at someone.

Week four brought about a major accomplishment - rolling from her stomach to her back. For everyone that thought it was just spasms because she was upset about being on her stomach, we posted the video to you tube - though that one may have been at week five. She has continued to roll over and now can go over either shoulder. She also started cooing - is there any sound more beautiful?At five weeks she slept 7 hours - once! She has failed to do so again but is getting better at sleeping 5 1/2 to 6 hours again.

Six weeks and she has found a tool to calm herself - her hand! It makes long car trips easier if she is awake and the dreaded diaper changes. She also had her major growth spurt and flew out of the newborn clothes and size 1 diapers - we will be

out of 3 month clothes very soon.

In her seventh week of life she went on two boat rides

and did surprisingly well in her crazy life jacket that makes it extremely hard to find a good way to hold her. She did sleep on her back in it for a while. So cute!

At eight weeks she continues to talk and interact more and is getting close to being on some sort of sleep schedule. She slept 6 1/2 hours last night and turns two months old tomorrow and when she turns 9 weeks she will be baptized. We are looking for

ward to these next milestones!