St Francis de Sales, pray for us!

Today (January 24) is the feast day of St Francis de Sales.

Be at peace
Do not look forward in fear to the changes in life;
rather look to them with full hope as they arise.
God, whose very own you are,
will deliver you out of them.
He has kept you hitherto,
and he will lead you safely through all things.
and when you cannot stand it,
God will bury you in his arms.

Do not fear what may happen tomorrow;
the same everlasting Father who cares for you today
will take care of you then and everyday.
He will either shield you from suffering
or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.
Be at peace
and put aside all anxious thoughts and imagination.

Small Successes

1) Survived the stressful, unplanned, head-spinning trip to Wichita and back (thankfully the Father-in-law is ok now).

2) Paul is sleeping longer at night. He has been consistently waking up only once (unless you count the 5am waking up - but I consider that my alarm as I just stay up and exercise after re-settling him).

[Of course, we just messed his schedule all up with the recent travel and different sleeping accommodations but I'm still hopeful we can get back on track.]

3) Managed to eat somewhat healthy while traveling (I brilliantly took a bag full of apples and oranges to much while my hubby munched on cookies, crackers, candy, etc from the gas station.) Although I did not lose any weight for a couple days, I have at least maintained my current status, rather than gaining.

If you want to join in the fun of celebrating the small successes in life, click here for more details.

Whiney Wednesday

1) My baby is not on a sleep schedule really at all and it is REALLY getting on my nerves. He does not nap well or sleep all that well at night and I'm convinced it is because he is not on a schedule. The real kicker is that the schedule he seems to want does not mesh with the kids' school schedules (he likes to nap from 10 to 11:30am - but we get Samuel at 11am Mon-Thurs and he also tries to nap again at 2pm till about 4pm, but we have to get Rebekah at 3pm).

2) Paul is very needy again lately and it is making me weary.

3) Paul has taken to pinching me while nursing. OUCH!! I try to get a blanket in his hands now, as a precaution but if I'm not paying attention - oh my.

Feel free to join in the Whiney Wednesday catharsis by following the directions here.

Roar!! I am amazing :)

Yep, that is Paul on my back.

Yep, I put him there ALL BY MYSELF.

Yes, this allowed me to clean the floor and cook dinner last night.

And my husband said I don't have any survival skills. . .

(Sorry about the glare, I could not get an un-blurry picture without the flash.)

Paul and food

So, we tried to feed Paul some food. . . you can watch the video here (it was sweet potatoes - not a jar, real sweet potatoes mashed up). The video is long, the first 50 seconds or so give you his reaction to this (not so happy). So for a month or two I tried to feed him, a little here and there, but he was not real interested until . . . I put some food on his tray and let him have at it (as a - "let's hope this keeps you happy for five minutes" kind of deal while I do whatever else I NEEDED to do at that time). Well, he enjoyed feeding himself A LOT!! Hello world of food - Paul is gonna get you - with his fingers!! :)

Paul's new do

Snow Alien

Gordie took the kids out to play in the snow. This is what they came up with. (Gordie calls it a snow alien.)

Hello 2011 :)

Just thought I'd throw this picture in here cause I like it :)

Now, on to the post. . . I must say, starting the new year by honoring Mary, the Mother of God (who always points us to Jesus) seems just right. However, the Church new year started with Advent (which I find so incredibly fitting) so a part of me finds the whole secular new year events and traditions a little silly, but at least we get to start it with Mary.
In any case, I have a few ideas for how to spend this next calendar year.

1) I want to try and remember ALL of my extended family's birthdays (and not just write them on the calendar, but actually plan ahead and send a card, or at least call). I'm usually pretty good about this, but I kinda dropped the ball toward the end last year, so here we go again.


2) I guess I'm gonna try to lose weight cause I'm on a team to do that (although I am only on the team because they needed one more). You know, actually, rather than focus on losing weight, I think I'm gonna focus more on good eating habits, stopping when I am full (even when the food is SOOOO INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS :), and skimping on desserts in order to offer up the suffering for my loved ones. (I have found this is one of the few motivations I can find for cutting back or skipping dessert.)

3) This is the most difficult one to explain, but I hope to really break my day down into smaller pieces (not necessarily a set time, but just "chunks" as they come). I am hoping this will help me be present to each moment as it comes. Then I can try and keep everything in perspective as to what I am doing right at this moment and why. The plan is for this to allow me more moments (however brief) of prayer, more moments of connection with my children, and more effective relaxing time for me (when I allow myself to take some). I have a feeling this is going to make my cleaning/cooking/etc to be less effective, but potentially more enjoyable and thus not such a burden.

4) I want to attend Daily Mass at least once a week with the children that are home and awake at that time.

5) I want to keep up my weekly holy hour and take at least one of the children to the adoration chapel for a few minutes each week.


So that is the plan, and due to squirmy kids and places to go, that is going to have to be enough :)