Mama-luia

Or The miscellany of my insomniac mind I will be 35 weeks pregnant tomorrow. 35 weeks! When we moved here, I was about 18 weeks pregnant. My mind had been so wrapped up in selling our home, moving, and settling in, that I felt extremely detached from the reality of being pregnant. So the fact that I am that near my due date is astounding to me.  When it was extremely hot out, each day felt like an eternity. But the last few weeks have sped by, and I really can't fathom holding a brand new little person that I made in a matter of weeks. It's slightly earth-shattering, in a wonderful way of course. What a journey this pregnancy has been. Each time I bring new life into the world, God reveals something to me about myself. It's amazing. This pregnancy has been so different than the first two -- while physically the symptoms have been by far the easiest! Hallelujah! -- the emotional processing of what it means to be a wife and mother is the most intense.  It o...

I was twelve weeks postpartum with my first child when it happened. I had been at Mass with Patrick and Baby Noah when a woman I knew, but hadn't seen in a long time, approached me. She came to admire our sweet baby. She held him, complimented me on how adorable he was, and then asked how I was doing. I had begun to loathe that question, because depending on the day or my mood at that particular moment, it would reduce me to tears. I wasn't doing 'fine' as one is expected to say, but I also didn't feel like sharing that with just any old person. So I said, "Well pretty good, I mean, look how amazing he is!" gesturing to Noah while she held him. She looked relieved, but quickly asked for clarification, "You don't have any of that 'postpartum depression' do you?" Her tone of voice betrayed volumes about her true thoughts on the matter. "Well, I haven't been diagnosed with it..." I faltered. "But one can be al...

I have been asked that question more times than I can count in the past few months. People who know we are interested in homeschooling expect that because we have a four year old, and it's September, it must be time. Those who don't know, but see me traipsing around with a school-aged child during normal school hours assume we are, otherwise we're a truant family. The answer is 'yes, we're homeschooling', sort of . In my overly zealous state last summer, I was determined we were going to begin 'preschool' with Noah. We bought him, two, count em, two entire preschool curriculums because that's what one ought to do with their three year old, right? I was hell-bent on proving something to... someone. Not Patrick, not our extended families. But someone . He was going to learn , by cracky! Imagine my surprise when I opened the 'lesson plan' for Sonlight and it said something like "read 'The Bee Tree' and discuss where honey com...

And... snap, just like that, it's autumn out there. While I know so many people are mourning the loss of summer, I am completely entranced by the beauty of late summer / early autumn. I am a sucker for cardigans, crunchy leaves, tea, and pumpkin-spice muffins (but not pumpkin spice lattes... they're yucky... and too trendy) so I say bring on Fall! Of course, this fall brings the wonderful, miraculous event of having a baby, so I am decidedly eager to say farewell to summer. But what a wonderful summer we had. Trips to the lake almost daily, a visit from the paternal grandparents (where the children got to go white-water rafting ... {they are living a more exciting life at their combined age of 6 than I am at... much older!}), backyard explorations, gardening attempts (we harvested all of three potatoes and adorable dear Noah said "I think this was a good crop! Let's try again next year, too!") and general merriment. Patrick took the last week of August o...

These current favourites of mine are what are keeping me smiling during these long, hot summer days in my third trimester.  I hope you enjoy them, too! 1.  This song. Surely someday I will be cool enough to wear purple boots and shop at Anthropologie? For now, I'm resigned to wearing Mary-Janes  and sticking to Value Village. 2. This hilarious blog post .  Wherein she likens her advanced state of pregnancy to all sorts of glamorous things like a penguin, or Chris Farley and offers hysterical suggestions on how to provide extra support for her poor aching back. Maybe it's my current state of waddling, or my hormones making me laugh (or cry) uproariously over almost nothing, but I was definitely cry-laughing over this. 3. My Imaginary Well-Dressed Toddler "Quinoa's origami elephant was enough to win first prize  at the school performance art show,  but the matching origami outfits she produced...

Linking up with the ladies of Like Mother, Like Daughter {pretty and happy} Here is the beautiful lake just minutes from our home. It's rather lovely, isn't it? And what could make me happier than seeing my sweet little boy on his first fishing expedition with Daddy? It warmed my heart that on Sunday morning, before Mass even, my husband got us all packed up in the van for a wee fishing trip. We only stayed for about 30 minutes, so we could get back home and get dressed for Mass. But I love(d) his desire to go on adventures with our boys. I hope it was the first of many such trips for Father and Son. My boys exploring the island after they had finished fishing. {funny and real} Since my two-year-old is using my belly to hide under, I guess the "You look huge!" comments are most likely warranted. Dear little Isaiah and I trekked up and around the causeway while Patrick and Noah had their time to fish.  (Sitting still...

So remember that time I said I was going to post every day for seven days in a row...? Yes, that. Well it turns out that  I get tired of my own voice too quickly . Despite having ideas of more posts to write, I couldn't drum up the interest to sit in front of the computer every day and write something. But I wanted to post about my lovely birthday recently; Patrick, once again, out-did himself. Just me and my boys on a sunny Sunday morning (not my birthday, but I liked this photo enough to want to post it) The beautiful spot where we went camping. Yes, camping, on my birthday! Noah had been campaigning for some time now to go camping, and I was always hesitant; it's too hot, I'm too pregnant, it's too much work, blahblahblah. When the heat finally died down, I got more inclined towards the idea, and well, sneaky Patrick went and booked the site without consulting me.  Sometimes I need his take-charge-y-ness, otherwise I would be a total hermit....