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This sweet pea is taking her upcoming role as big sister very seriously. It is the most precious thing.
In the Liturgical Year: Thank you to all the wonderful bloggers who linked up with our Lenten Little HolyDays link up! Great ideas and inspiration.
How is your Lent going? Praying a daily Rosary was definitely a good choice for my lenten discipline. My other discipline was to stop yelling at Benjamin, a discipline I hope to carry with me after Lent is over. And lo and behold, his behavior has seriously improved since I’ve made a devoted effort not to raise my voice! I’m sure no one’s surprised that not losing it at your kids at least once a day improves your parenting 
Pregnancy Update: I was feeling really smug that the t-shirt I pulled on was so comfy at 27 weeks….until I realized it wasn’t my shirt, it was Daniel’s. Other than having Texas-sized meltdowns over nothing multiple times a week (this pregnancy’s emotional insanity deserves it’s own post), things are going ok. I’m sleepier and more uncomfortable than a couple of weeks ago as I waddle into the third trimester, but that’s to be expected. I had the pleasure of drinking that horrible orange drink for the glucose test yesterday morning. I’m such a fainter, so blood draws are never a good time for me (or for anyone, I suppose) but on an empty stomach it’s even worse. My sweet dad drove me to the lab (see confession above about fainting, driving myself not an option!) while Daniel stayed home a little later with the kiddos and then we celebrated with breakfast out. Let’s hope I don’t have to do the 3 hour test!
Book Love: So, I’ve made absolutely NO progress in my 2013 reading goals since last week. Not a page of Les Mis have I read this week. But I’m loving the reading selections in Bread and Wine and I read a wonderful book by Tyler Blanski that I’m excited to tell you more about as soon as I have time to write a review.
The Quotable Benjamin:
“Wow, Mama! That is a FAT pregnant tummy you’ve got!”
“Benjamin, it’s more tactful to say to ladies that they have a ‘beautiful’ pregnant belly.”
“Oh, ok. You sure have a pretty and VERY BIG pregnant tummy!”
“Are you sweeping our floors clean so they can get all dirty again?” (Too true, my dear)
“How come you can’t see a mammoth’s trunk in it’s skeleton?”
“Well, feel your nose. See how it moves from side to side? That’s because it doesn’t have any of what inside?”
“Snot?”
Links:
A Collection of Meatless Meals for Lent: Two O’s Plus More
Lenten Resources: Inspiration, Challenges, and Meatless Real Food Meals: Kitchen Stewardship
Flannery for Lent: Karen Edmisten
Some great hymns for the lenten season.
The Catholic Church Young People Actually Want: Bad Catholic
Newborn Life and Why You Should Read Wise Mom Blogs: Fountains of Home
Here We Are: Simcha Fisher
You can find me: over at Mama and Baby Love this week complaining about how crummy I feel during the first (and half of the second) trimester (because nobody’s sick of me whining about morning sickness, yet, right?! ahem) as well as some tips that help me survive it.
Instagrams Worth Sharing:
My sweet boys.
You can’t have too many pictures of piggy-tails, amirite?!
My hair is finally getting long enough to do fun braids and things again! Hooray!
Coming Up at Carrots: Thanks for all your insightful comments of the four part Catholicism: Empowering Women for 2,000 Years series. I learned so much from you! I’m just starting to get organized to do a series on NFP methods: guest posts about different women’s experiences with different methods. If you have a story to share, shoot me an email (haley.s.stewart@gmail.com) and let me know you’re interested, what method you have experience using, and whether you were using NFP in an attempt to achieve or avoid pregnancy. I’m basically an NFP zero (we just do ecological breastfeeding and have babies close together) but I really want to provide some resources for women who need to use NFP for various reasons and want to learn more. And I want to educate myself in case we’re ever in a situation that would encourage us to avoid pregnancy.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Love,
Haley
P.S. You can also follow me on Twitter (@haleycarrots), Pinterest (haleyofcarrots), FB, and Instagram (carrotsformichaelmas). I love connecting with my wonderful readers!
Hi Haley! I’m so excited about your NFP post!! Could you include links or reference to the Catechism in that post? It would be so helpful when sharing it with friends that they are able to read the actual words the Church uses in regards to marriage and family. Plus, then they would maybe be inclined to check out more fr te Catechism seeing as it is online. You are awesome, praying you and your family have a wonderful and blessed weekend!
Great suggestion, Natalie! It will actually be a series of guest posts, but perhaps I could do an intro post with some links to the Catechism.
Ah! I completely understand your excitement over your hair getting longer! I have been growing mine out after a really short chop right before we moved to Germany and I’ve decided my hair now qualifies as “short long”. Ha.
And on not yelling at your kids: I highly recommend the book 20 and counting by the Duggars. She talks about her struggle with not yelling and how effective lowering her voice has been. I always love the e-card that says: Don’t yell at you kids! Lean in and whisper–it’s much scarier!
Hey Haley — Love the blog. I recommend http://www.tcoyf.com for your NFP education and needs. We used it when we gave up birth control and just charted so I could watch what my body does… for next time. We’re planning on doing a combo of this + a diaphragm once we’re out of the safe-window for the Lactational-Amenorreal method (which starts, uh, on Thursday). (We’re Protestant and OK with birth control)
Thanks for the resource, Maggie! I’ll check it out!