You knew having a baby would change things. Nights out on the town would be few and far between. You wouldn’t sleep much during those newborn weeks. But if you’re like me, you weren’t expecting your bookworm tendencies to be so thwarted. Maybe you were an English major in college. Maybe you studied literature in grad school. Maybe you’ve just always been a bibliophile. But now you find yourself … [Read more...]
Nosepickers, St. Peter, and the Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven
Some thoughts from Daniel... After Haley’s “Kids in Mass” post was featured on Catholic Exchange, a few colorful commenters descended to share their opinions. Some were less than charitable. Maybe they mistakenly thought we let our children roam the aisles and regularly scream bloody murder through the homily. But most people were supportive. One positive comment that stood out to me was a … [Read more...]
Praying with Your Feet
Sometimes I make the mistake of separating my spiritual life from my vocation as a wife and mother. I see my children as distractions from prayer and spirituality, rather than an opportunity to love God. On a particularly trying morning with a very fussy infant at church, I spent almost all of Mass outside holding my crying baby and watching Mass through the door. Afterwards, I lamented to a … [Read more...]
Grace in the Sign of the Cross
You're in luck. While my post partum brain struggles to form coherent sentences and present you with anything worth reading, my brilliant husband comes up with insightful beautiful reflections despite being sleep deprived from having a sweet newborn in the house. He is the best. Enjoy! “Never leave your house without making the sign of the cross. It will be to you a staff, a weapon, an … [Read more...]
Growing a Family on One Income: Part I, Being a One-Car Family
I get all riled up about claims that raising children costs millions. Could you spend a million dollars on a child? Sure. You can also spend over $100,000 on a Versailles-inspired Neiman Marcus chicken coop. But that would be unreasonable. Yes, kids aren’t cheap, but having a large family doesn’t have to be a financial impossibility. Granted, each family's situation is different and living off … [Read more...]
Women Speak on NFP: When Natural Family Planning Doesn’t Go According to Your Plan
This is a guest post by Christy of fountains of home in the Women Speak on NFP series. In this series you will hear from women using various methods of NFP, some to avoid pregnancy, some trying to conceive, and their experiences. Disclaimer: This series is not meant to be a substitute for any method of training in NFP! If you are interested in one of the methods introduced in this series, please … [Read more...]
Women Speak on NFP
It's NFP Awareness week, so I thought I'd run a post from the archives with the links to all the posts in the Women Speak on NFP series. I learned so much from all the women who shared their stories at Carrots about their experiences with Natural Family Planning and I hope the resources in this series will benefit many families. As a Catholic woman seeking to follow Church teaching about … [Read more...]
How My Kids Didn’t Ruin Mass
Confession: my kids are not typically little angels at Mass. ‘Typical” Mass behavior being our 3-year-old banging the kneeler open and closed and then dropping it on his own foot. Commence siren-like wailing. Or the kids tussling over who gets to hold the Baby Jesus finger puppet. And, to no one’s surprise, the preschooler throwing the St. Joseph finger puppet at his baby sister’s head doesn’t … [Read more...]
Getting Kids to Sleep Later
So here’s the thing: we did get our kids to sleep later. But I don't want to mislead you. Our kids still wake up way too early. However, the fact that they no longer wake at 4:30am is a huge success. In fact, they now sleep two hours later and get up at 6:30am. So, in comparison it’s a win but let’s not pretend that 6:30am isn’t obscenely early. So we couldn’t cure our kids of the horrid … [Read more...]
The Cost of Parenthood: The Best Isn’t Something Money Can Buy
A friend sent me the link to the recent NYTimes article “Opting Out of Parenthood, with Finances in Mind” by Nadia Taha, probably because she knew it would get me all riled up. She was right. Here’s Taha’s premise: Children cost an unfathomable amount of money (her absurd estimate is close to 2 million per kid). If you want financial security and a comfortable retirement, your best option is to … [Read more...]
