Food for thought for stay-at-home-moms (and all moms)

A friend posted this article on her Facebook the other day:

This Stage of Life? It's Hard.

And I looooooooooved it. Every word. It is so beautiful and exactly captured my every thought and feeling. Here is one of my favorite quotes, but please read the whole thing:

"In this stage of life, you are dealing with guilt. Guilt over having a career, and not spending enough time with your kids, or guilt over staying home with your kids, and not doing enough to contribute financially. Guilt over being too harsh with your kids. Too lenient. Guilt that your house is clean, but your kids were ignored, or guilt that you enjoyed your children all day, and now your husband is coming home to filth. Guilt."

Also, another friend on Facebook posted this article from Huffington Post. Also very good:

When Did Feminism Become So Anti-Motherhood?

Here is one of my favorite quotes:

"Marie Claire recently ran an article giving voice to women who have failed to get that. Mothers who regret their children having ever been born and genuinely think they might be living better, more meaningful, possibly more exciting lives without these extra humans dragging them down. They’re just sure their lives would be marked by career accolades and fancy travel destinations rather than midnight bed wettings and worn-thin yoga pants.

But we’re blaming the wrong group for the disappointment and the frustration. It’s not the kids who are at fault for 'ruining' their mother’s lives. You can instead thank a feminist movement that has failed women."

Continuation of a blessed Christmas week!

The funny things they say

(Santa ringing his bell and asking if we want to take a picture with him.)
"Adelaide, do you want to take a picture with Santa Claus?"
"No, I no like Santa Claus. I wanna play."
"Ok, go ahead." (goes and plays at the Santaland playhouses)
Baby Davy is fascinated by Santa's bell. Santa asks again if we want to take a picture. I say, wait let me ask his sister then.
"Adelaide, come take a picture with Santa Claus. Then you can play some more."
"No, I no LIKE Santa Claus!"
"Why don't you like Santa Claus?!"
"No, I no LIKE him!"
"Okay, okay."

"Sorry, Santa Claus, she says she doesn't like you. Let's just take a picture with the baby." Baby Davy is fascinated by all things Santa Claus. Especially the beard.

Santa Claus apparently doesn't deal well with rejection.
"I'm going to go talk to her," he says.

"No, I no like you!"
Sorry, Santa Claus. Maybe next year?

John Henry Newman

We have grandma visiting and it is wonderful. Everyone should have the blessing of a grandmother in their life. And every mother should have their mother close to help with kids. Or at least visit every so often. It's oh so nice.

I feel like I've had an epiphany. Sometimes I fill up with pride (the bad kind) and I realize it's because I am comparing myself to others' misery and not to God. Saints that I've been reading recently (Saint Faustina, Padre Pio) are super aware of their sinfulness because they contemplate God directly. And they are a loooooooot less sinful than me, let's just leave it at that. I, on the other hand, am not as prayerful and so I think I am such hot stuff because I'm better than Joe over there who does this and that.

Related to this, an article Auntie Leila linked to really stuck with me. John Henry Newman's tips for sanctity are exactly what I've been trying to do and completely failing at for years now. So why do I love to point out other people's errors when I have so much to work on myself? I love how these tips are simple yet really, really hard. And how they are really practical and not abstract... like be really nice and smiley and do lots of volunteer work. And I love how they are totally incarnate and have to do with our bodies and daily life... not just nice thoughts.

Here they are and it comes from this article (toward the end):

"Do not lie in bed beyond the due time of rising;

give your first thoughts to God;

make a good visit to the Blessed Sacrament;

say the Angelus devoutly;

eat and drink to God’s glory;

say the Rosary well;

be recollected; keep out bad thoughts;

make your evening meditation well;

examine yourself daily;

go to bed in good time."

Lovey

When did my baby that closely resembled a feeding tube and was hungry or sleepy all the time turn into this adorable, chubby baby boy who loves to play and smiles at me from his high chair? I'm not sure when it happened, but it has happened. Alleluia.

It could also be that he is sleeping better that has me so overjoyed. He has finally gotten to liking a pacifier. I'm sorry crunchy readers, don't hate me, I know no other way. ;)

I have decided that getting babies to sleep is an art, not a science. Or rather, like a dance. It has to do with who you are as a person, your parenting style, your own sleeping habits, your lifestyle, and, most importantly, just time and patience. Translation: Davy is a little older now (5 months!), so I'm sure he's just more mature and that's why he is finally sleeping better.

I invest all I have into baby sleep though. I might be a tad obsessive. We went on a disastrous adventure-ridden trip to Ikea to buy him a bed and a lovey. A lovey is a comfort stuffed animal they sleep with. I am sleeping with it now so it will smell like me. I insist on it being from Ikea so it can be easily replaced if lost. The only soft and small one I could find was a pig. It's cute. (See pic below of Davy "getting used to" his piggy.) Addie has a bunny from Ikea she sleeps with. At first I wasn't sure if it really comforted her that much. But when we went to the US last January, we took it with us and found out it did. She was a little overwhelmed in the airport when we were leaving. When the security officer took the bunny away from her to take it through security, she started bawling. When he gave it back, she immediately stopped. True story.

Paint and paintings

We found this great set of little paint bottles at Ikea, plus some nice paint brushes at a relatively cheap price, and we've been painting a lot. This is not a sponsored post... why do I keep saying that? haha. It all fits nicely into an icecream box and makes painting a lot less of a hassle.

We've been reading Usborne's My Very First Art Famous Paintings book... really great, by the way... and feeling like we need to develop our artsy sides a bit more.

We all picked our favorite painting in the book. Addie's was Portrait of Paul in Pierrot by Picasso:

I thought that was funny. Mine and my husband's was Milkmaid by Vermeer.