Mama-luia

"Matrimony is a Gospel in itself, a Good News for the world today, especially the dechristianized world." Pope Benedict XVI, Homily for the Mass for the Opening of the Synod of Bishops, 2012. (Photo cred) I tend to live my marriage as routine -- get up and feed children, make coffee for Patrick (or, just as often, drink the coffee he made me; thanks, dear), throw a load in the washer, throw a load in the dishwasher and play with kids. School pick-ups, dinner, readalouds and prayer time, and then in the final and peripheral moments of the day, speak with Patrick about what is on each of our minds (usually stuff related to the kids, funny or interesting things spotted online and super -fun budgeting conversations.). Lather, rinse, repeat. Rarely do I step back and look at the full picture of what we are living, because I'm up to my eyeballs in the daily maintenance of it. It's hard to think or feel anything is especially "holy" when it looks li...

When New Year's rolled around this year, I, like more than half of the world, made the decision to lose weight. Maybe I have been saying this every year since, I dunno, the fifth grade, so clearly my issues with my weight are nothing new. But this year, as opposed to my previous years of mothering, I feel really and truly well-rested. By January, my "baby" was already 19 months old and had been sleeping through the night for more than a half a year. That meant I was finally catching up with my sleep deficit. It turns out, a lot of my challenges related to my physical and mental health are directly tied to how well I'm sleeping. That perhaps seems self-evident, but the difference I felt confirmed that in a whole new way . So I unceremoniously signed up for Myfitnesspal and began tracking calories, knowing that Weight Watchers had worked for me in the past. I also knew that cutting out "problem" foods (like sugar) has landed me face-first in a box of Doubl...

Outside my window... there is still much snow on the ground, but I also see the icicles dripping from my roof; the temperatures are rising, and Spring will finally arrive (supposedly?). I can't wait. Well said. I am thinking... that as much as I buck limitations and restrictions -- nobody puts baby in a corner! -- I feel my best when I operate within them. Specifically, calorie-counting and budgeting. I took the week off from counting my calories during the Octave of Easter because... Easter... and I hadn't brought my food scale to Halifax, and it's vaguely annoying tracking my food. Surprise, surprise, I gained weight (not a lot, mind you, but still). Now I am back on the bandwagon and I feel so much more in control! Likewise, I've reverted to paying cash for groceries. Yes, I feel a little silly walking around the grocery store, doing a prolonged addition problem as I add each item to my cart (and yes, I am literally writing prices and adding on paper, ...

In September, I was making dinner one evening, enjoying a rare moment of quiet since Patrick had taken the three older kids to the 4:30 College Mass in our town. I was left listening to a podcast, chatting with Elijah and browning some ground beef when the phone rang. It was my Dad calling to tell me he had signed up that day for RCIA. My dad took us to Mass every Sunday when we were children. He has been there for every one of his children's sacraments, as well as his grandkids, too -- flying across the country at great expense to be present for this milestone in their lives.  He has supported us in every way I can think of to have a Catholic upbringing.  This is all despite the fact that he was not Catholic himself. So when he called me that September evening, I wasn't exactly surprised. He had, in fact, mentioned over the years that he was interested in doing so. Yet even with some advance suspicions, it didn't stop me from literally falling onto...

(Clears throat) "Hi, I'm Jenna, and I'm recovering homeschooling mom." Haha, I kid, I kid.  Moving on. I homeschooled my two oldest children for a year and a half. As of now, I have been a school mom longer than I was a homeschool mom, because they've been in our local Catholic school now for over two years. We enrolled them at the end of the first term when Noah was in grade one. He's now past the midway point of third grade. I really feel like a school mom, as it's part of my parenting life in a big way now. But the shift was huge for my thinking. I went into pregnancy with my first expecting that I would homeschool all my children. Such was our untested zeal that I had to deal with the embarrassment of receiving a call from Seton homeschooling when we had no born children; Patrick had sent away for their catalogue and they had an 'admissions counsellor' call and ask us if we had many any decisions for our family. We had to ex...

I have very few pearls of wisdom to offer in my career as a mother. Potty-training? I have only empathy -- and maybe my signature mixed drink, a Pomegranate San Pallegrino with gin -- to give when it comes to that topic. Getting your youngster to read at a precocious age, even just a plain old median age? Let's just say I'm working on self-publishing my manual -- "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Mind-Numbing, Hair-Greying, Lifestyle-Questioning Lessons." It's sure to be a hit. Here's my headshot I'll be using for my Parenting Advice column in "What Not to Do" magazine. What I do have some experience with, and feel confident in giving advice in, is road trips + parenting. More specifically, road trip hacks . You see, Pinterest boasts of images of carefully selected clothing in individual Ziploc bags to minimize on packing. Cute road trip car game printables. Blah blah blah. If that's your thing, why by all means, do it! But th...

About a year and a half ago, I was playing some praise and worship music on youtube when the suggested song popped up took me by surprise. It was a song by a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, and the name of the Brother singing was... Isaiah. {My little sweetheart on the feast of St. Francis. I had planned zero activities, so Isaiah took it upon himself to dress up like my favourite saint (in his housecoat, naturally).} My second-born son immediately took to the song, because for one thing, it's incredibly catchy and well-done. Think a more spiritual version of Jack Johnson, with a reference to the Beatles and even to seventeenth century poet, John Donne thrown in. Of course, my little boy was especially taken in by the fact that the singer and he share a name. He also noticed that Brother Isaiah bears a resemblance to his beloved Kindergarten teacher: enough to keep a five year old boy hooked. Here's the song, by the way: He kept requesting we play Brother I...