March 2013

March, oh March. It will ever be imprinted on my heart as the month we found out we were expecting a second child and the only complete calendar month that our precious Francis Marie lived on earth and grew inside me. I had the morning sickness to prove it, and, while the sickness was awful, it was also sweet, because of the good health we thought it meant our baby. I wasn't really able to cook at all, since I was so sick. Our grocery bill really dropped as our fast food/take out bill really climbed ;-) March was the month we told our families about the new grandchild/niece or nephew they could all anticipate with love. It was the month of our new baby/new pope party. It was the month we celebrated Easter with the joy of new life inside. It was a beautiful month :-)

Aaron was on ER in March, so he worked a total of 15 shifts, half night shifts, half day shifts. Julia and I did more new creative activities while he worked because I'm less patient than Aaron about playing dollhouse for an entire evening and I had to come up with some new things we could do together, for myself as much as Julia, I think ;-) Aaron had a fun month, though, doing a lot of stitching and other small procedures. I was on my Community Hospital Internal Medicine rotation in a rural town about 45 minutes from home. I had to commute, which, not gonna lie, was really hard while feeling so sick. It was also hard to see patients while feeling so sick. And hard writing note after note and doing dictations while feeling so sick. Okay, I guess everything at work was hard that month. But, my hours were pretty sweet. I only had to work Monday through Friday, and I got done really early almost every day, so, all in all, it was a really good, easy month for a first trimester, morning sick-feeling medical student momma.

We had some fun times outside during March, especially on some of the days we were blessed with beautiful weather. As you'll see, the weather was all over the place - in some of these photos we're in coats, in others we're in short sleeves. It is Oklahoma, after all.

I made Julia a poncho with lots of different ribbons/tassles to twirl, to encourage her to twirl something other than her hair while we sit and read together. Umm, it didn't really work. She still twirls her hair. But, she does like her very colorful, warm poncho. Don't worry... she doesn't go out in public in it ;-)

Cold day at the park.

Sporting a new do, right after her second visit to the hairdresser!

Daddy was on night shift, so I decided to make it a special bubble bath night. I brought the bubble machine into the bathroom, and made bubble solution with Julia's baby shampoo and water. This kept us entertained for a loooonnng time!

On another night Daddy was working, I made Julia some paints for the bathtub using shaving cream and food dye. She LOVED it!

I realized after a while that the food dye might be bad for the grout... Uh oh. So, I started frantically scrubbing grout, and, with a lot of elbow grease, was able to get the tub clean.

We made play-dough!

Anyone remember Cecille from Sesame Street???

Babysitting Mary-Claire one evening

Yes, these photos are from March... from our side yard. Should I be embarrassed to post these? Probably. Am I unabashedly posting them because they are cute? Yes.

March was a real blessing!

Easter 2013

We had a really great Easter this year. Lent had been so good for us this year. The sacrifices we chose to make helped us enter into the season, and, in addition to our daily Bible reading, we added on the book, The Sacred Heart for Lent: Daily Meditations by Fr. Thomas D. Williams. Each day had a scripture verse and reflection on a different aspect of the heart of Jesus, ending with a prayer to make our hearts more like His. It was SUCH a good book, and really helped us to get to know Jesus better and to draw us closer to His heart. I'd totally recommend it to anyone who is looking for some spiritual reading, wherever you are in your life of faith. The meditations are short, so it's not a big time commitment even for the busiest of people, but every meditation packs such a powerful punch. We'd read it together in the evenings, but I'd always try to meditate on that aspect of Jesus' character during my drive to work the next morning, and try to integrate that into my thoughts, prayers, and behavior throughout the day. Anyhow, check it out next Lent or tomorrow (definitely could be read anytime during the year). You'll love it.

We were excited for Holy Week, but then our poor little Julia started to get sick, sick, sick on Holy Thursday! She'd contracted some awful upper respiratory infection, spiking fevers of 103° F, going through copious amounts of tissue, and feeling tired and cranky and awful. Aaron's parents and sister were supposed to come visit on Good Friday/Holy Saturday, but canceled since Julia was feeling so bad. On Holy Thursday, Julia was scheduled to be one of the parishioners to have her feet washed at mass. We couldn't decide if we should take her or not, since she was just beginning to be feverish and had a runny nose, but she seemed to be feeling better after she had some acetaminophen so we went. She really seemed to enjoy having her feet washed, but then her fever started to return and she fell asleep in a sweaty hug on my lap for the rest of mass.

On Good Friday, we stayed home and took care of Julia, who was doing worse, and prayed the Stations of the Cross at home. There is quite a story about that, but I'll save it for another post.

Holy Saturday was yet another day spent in our cave of kleenex, thermometers, and children's fever reducer. Poor Julia! Julia also majorly lost her appetite during her illness, and, despite us trying to get her to eat and pushing fluids, she lost over a pound, which is quite a bit when you weigh less than 30 pounds to begin with!

Easter morning, though, Julia had finally turned the corner and was doing quite a bit better, praise God. We went to the 9:15 am mass, and were running a few minutes late. It was super crowded, and, though we ended up having to stay in the foyer for mass, we were lucky to find chairs, since lots of people ended up standing through mass. Of course, most of the people making church so crowded were people we'd never seen before - the biannual church goers, or Chreaster crowd (Christmas and Easter). I was really happy to see so many people, though, and am glad whenever anyone goes to church, even if it's just on major holidays - maybe God will speak to them on those few occasions they go to church, and it will be the start of a renewed faith and faithfulness.

I don't think the teenage guy sitting next to us was probably able to hear God's voice too clearly, though...since he had headphones in and was watching raunchy rap music videos on his phone during mass! I couldn't believe it! I'd heard of such things happening at mass, but it was the first time I'd seen it with my own eyes.

Easter Mass was beautiful. Our pastor went nuts with the Holy Water after we all renewed our baptismal vows. Our dear seminarian friend, Bryan, was serving masses at our parish, so it was neat getting to celebrate with him.

Easter was during the height of my morning sickness, and I felt awful after mass. I thought I was going to throw up, and I told Aaron that I desperately needed some food ASAP. So, even though I was reluctant to eat out on Easter, because I felt bad to think that the employees of a restaurant open on Easter had to work on Easter... we stopped at a restaurant on the way home to eat. I was just so sick, and I really hadn't been cooking during my morning sickness, so we didn't even really have anything at the house to eat. We got hot sandwiches and Julia's kid's meal came with soft serve, much to her delight.

I felt a lot better after eating, and we went home to put together an Egg Hunt for Julia! There was supposed to be one at church after mass, but since it had rained the night before and the ground was wet, it was postponed until the next week. Which, honestly, really worked out in our favor, because the Chreaster crowd wasn't there next week, which meant there were way less kids to participate, which meant Julia got a TON of eggs. I coached her to run to the back of the field and work her way forward, since the other little kids would start at the front and be competing for eggs. And she totally did it! The Knight of Columbus in charge of the egg hunt yelled, "On your mark, get set, go!" and all the other little kids ran straight for the eggs right at the edge of the lawn, but Julia flew to the back and started grabbing eggs like there was no tomorrow. That's my smart girl! I was so proud. Hahaha!

Anyhow, our home Easter egg hunt consisted of putting some small candies into eggs for Julia and hiding them in our front yard. And, by hiding, I basically mean we set them around the yard in plain sight. But, Julia had so much fun running around, putting them in her basket, and then eating the candy inside. It was so cute.

Isn't it amazing how big Julia has gotten? Here is a link to last Easter and the year before.

Julia and Daddy.

Three Easter ladies: Mommy, Julia, and little baby Francis Marie in my belly.

We then went over to my family's house to celebrate with them. My dad's birthday was also that day, so, instead of traditional Easter food, we had Mexican food, since it's my dad's favorite. There were a ton of people at our house, since my whole family was there, Bryan and Rebecca joined us, and Elizabeth and Sarah brought home about a dozen friends from school with them to celebrate Easter. So, it was quite a full, noisy house, but it was a lot of fun. We got to share our good news about the baby with Bryan. I ate a lot of Rebecca's delicious queso. We all enjoyed some good conversation. My sisters and I had pooled funds to buy our dad a small popcorn machine and popcorn kernels/coconut oil/popcorn buttery salt for his birthday, which he seemed excited about. Aaron, Julia, and I ended up leaving sooner than we might have normally, since Julia was still somewhat sick and needed a nap. It was a great day, though.

I will treasure this Easter always because we celebrated it with Francis Marie. She was alive and growing and we were so excited about her life as we celebrated Christ's resurrection. It was a really special time for our family. I'm so grateful to God that He gave us some joyful times during Francis Marie's time on earth that we can look back on with such fondness. And, most of all, I'm grateful for Easter, for the resurrection, for the gift of eternal life, for the promise of reunion with Francis Marie and all those we love, so we can have an never ending celebration of Christ's victory over death in heaven together. Praise God for Easter!

Motherhood

Tomorrow is Mothers' Day, and I want to say how in awe of mothers I am.

I am in awe of women who are currently in the trenches of motherhood. Who daily struggle to meet all the needs of their children. Who would do anything for love of their children. What amazing resilience they show us.

I am in awe of mothers who have lost children. I have only begun to walk this valley of tears with you, and it is so very, very hard. You have such a burden to bear. What amazing strength they show us.

I am in awe of the women who yearn to be mothers. Who are struggling with infertility, and want nothing more than to hold a child in their arms, but, despite this deep longing, are still at peace in Christ. What amazing trust they show us.

I am in awe of women who long to begin living their vocation of wife and mother. Who are still praying for the day when they will meet the man who can make their discerned marital vocation a reality. What amazing patience they show us.

I am in awe of women who may not be mothers in the eyes of the world, but are truly mothers, nonetheless. Holy single women, married women never blessed with children, religious sisters... every woman who nurtures and cares for all of the people God has placed in her life with the unconditional love of a mother. They show us the true vastness and lavishness of God's love.

All mothers, whether their children live on earth or in heaven, whether their children are biological or adopted or spiritual, can teach the world so much about God's love. Mothers are constantly taking up their crosses, laying down their lives, giving of themselves for their children. And, in this death to self, there is new life.

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta expressed the beauty of woman as mother so well while speaking at a UN Women's Conference:

"God has created each one of us, every human being, for greater things-- to love and to be loved. But why did God make some of us men and others women? Because a woman's love is one image of the love of God, and a man's love is another image of God's love. Both are created to love, but each in a different way. Woman and man complete each other, and together show forth God's love more fully than either can do it alone.

That special power of loving that belongs to a woman is seen most clearly when she becomes a mother. Motherhood is the gift of God to women. How grateful we must be to God for this wonderful gift that brings such joy to the whole world, women and men alike!"

Happy Mothers' Day! Let us praise God together for the wonderful gift of motherhood that "brings such joy to the whole world!"

As a little Mother's Day gift to you, I want to share a sonnet I wrote, the fruit of a lot of recent prayer and reflection on the mysteries of motherhood, with its beautiful interconnectedness to the mysteries of Christ and His Blessed Mother.

I dedicate it to my own wonderful mother, who was the first to teach me of God's amazing love, and to my two precious children, Julia Grace and Francis Marie, who have each continued that lesson for me, in their own beautiful ways.

Mother’s Cross

Upon a cross of steel and sterile drape

Pierced flesh, the blood and water greatly flowed

New life sprung forth from gravid womb agape

Bruised, swollen yet joyful despite the load

Next babe so loved in hidden depths inside

Taken by God in secret way unknown

Mother to labor forth her silent child

Her voice joins with the suff’ring world to groan

True love is sacrifice of all we are

Outstretch of arms to bring the greater good

To usher in new life with painful scar

Or e’en submit our child to cross’ wood

The Father knows our joy and shares our woe

Incarnate Son hast trod this earth below