Welcome to Carrots! I'm so glad you're here. This is where I share thoughts on liturgical living, faith, parenting, culture, and an extra dose of Jane Austen. You can sign up for my email newsletter here to stay in touch, or look me up on Instagram!
Whew. We’ve all had colds that got better and then came back since the week before Thanksgiving. (And by all I mean OUR ENTIRE EXTENDED FAMILY.) The saga resulted in some serious sleep deprivation (I don’t sleep well when I’m sick, add one sick little asthmatic boy who wakes up wheezing and coughing, and then add one sick little tiny newborn baby sniffling and needing to nurse all night) which contributed to me getting a 102 degree fever yesterday from a secondary infection, probably a sinus/throat bacterial infection. They swabbed for strep because of the fever being so high but the rapid test was negative. So, unfortunately, I am continuing the yearly tradition of taking some Advent antibiotics, bleh. But, I already feel way better than I did last night so I guess they’re starting to fight the infection. Anyhow, keep us in your prayers. A season of familial good health would be loverly.
Coming Up in the Liturgical Year: St. Lucy’s Day is today! Unfortunately, I didn’t follow through with some of the plans I made to celebrate our girl’s Nameday due to this wretched illness. Next year I’d love to make a wreath like this one for her to wear and this bread recipe.
Listening to: Lots of Feist. Lots and lots of Feist.
A Blog I Follow: twIN STYLE. My college friends Sam and Lauren (fraternal twins) started a blog to keep in touch with each other (one lives in Indiana, the other in Texas) and to show each other their daily outfits. It’s charming and they’re both adorable.
Interesting Links: I read two blog posts about parenting choices that made me think.
The first is “I’m a Good Mother, You’re a Good Mother” by Heather Bogolyubova in which she she discusses the damage done when you criticize other people’s parenting methods. In general, I agree with her. Each family is different, each baby is different. Although certain sleep solution worked for us when Benjamin was a newborn, we’re doing things differently with Lucy. I’m not working full-time anymore and she is a decent sleeper so co-sleeping with her and nursing through the night is working great for us and Lucy is thriving. I have a friend who recently started using the BabyWise method (which I tried in desperation with Benjamin after about 5 months of no sleep, didn’t work for him at all) which is working great for their family and their little boy is happy and thriving. These are things that every parent has the right to decide for themselves without being criticized or judged. But that doesn’t mean that everybody is a good mother, does it? Haven’t we all known some pretty horrible mothers? Especially if you’ve been a teacher or worked in childcare? It’s nice to talk about how we all need to support each other’s decisions but…don’t you have to draw the line somewhere? Which is somewhat related to the next post:
“On Pertussis and Vaccinations” by Sarah Christensen of Becoming Sarah. Sarah’s two-year-old daughter, Charlotte, contracted Whooping Cough this weekend after a playdate with an unvaccinated child who had it and was contagious. Charlotte was vaccinated against Whooping Cough but is in the minority of children who cannot develop immunity to it which is why she caught it. In this case, the unvaccinated child’s parents made a decision that affected not only their family, but Sarah’s family as well. This is actually why I decided to vaccinate my kids. If I opted not to vaccinate and they caused another child to fall dangerously ill, I couldn’t forgive myself. Let me be clear that I don’t think those who don’t vaccinate are bad parents. I have dear friends who decided not to because they think that’s what best for their children and I almost decided not to vaccinate Lucy but…this is an interesting perspective.
I had a tough time with the vaccination issue when I was pregnant with Jax. But in the end, I decided the benefits outweighed the risks. So sorry for that little one that caught whooping cough. I hear it can be nasty for little ones.
I do think I’m going to delay that first hep B they give newborns in the hospital. I don’t think it’s necessary until later.
I’m so glad you’re feeling better! I have all of Benjamins clothes ready to go so hopefully we can see each other soon!
I delayed the first Hep B until Lucy’s first appt at the pediatrician’s office. I just hated that Benjamin got a shot his first night of life and wanted to avoid that.
Hey there =) For the record, I delayed the Hep B until Charlotte (the two-year-old with whooping cough) was at the pediatrician’s office as well. I couldn’t handle the thought of giving my baby a shot in the hospital. I thought she at least deserved a week of peace.
Thanks for the link. I can’t wait to come back and spend some time poking around your site. I love it! We always have so much trouble finding ways to observe some of these days and I cannot wait to read through what you guys do.
Hi, Sarah! I hope Charlotte is feeling much better. What a terrifying week for you guys. I’ll continue to pray rosaries for the return of her health and spunk!
Have fun poking around! You might want to also check out ourfeast.wordpress.com. Daniel and I started it to post feast day recipes and pics. It’s mostly seasonal stuff out of our garden (of course seasonal for us in FL might be a little different from what’s in your garden, but we do have friends in CA that contribute occasionally.) Speaking of gardens, I adore the posts about Charlotte gardening and growing things. What a love!
Full disclosure: I kind of love your blog a lot and might have squealed when I saw your comment. Just FYI.
LOL well thanks for the sweet words too =) Donald’s putting Char down for the night so I’m about to go on a big Carrots for Michaelmas blog splurge! Thanks for including the link to your feast site too. That sounds like something right up our alley. I’m sure our seasonal produce isn’t that far off yours.
As well, thank you for the well wishes with Charlotte. She has improved enormously over the past two days. I think that the terrifying part of it had mostly worn off by about Tuesday, and honestly today she’s so much better than she was then that it’s like night and day. We’re told she’ll have sporadic lingering symptoms for another three months or so but we get to start taking her for walks outside to help her strengthen her lungs again beginning tomorrow =)