My Recet Random Recommendations

I have reached a point in my life again where I have opinions about things and recommendations.  So here they are. . . the things that matter to me right now and thus what I have been researching and studying and making decisions about.

Books that help broach and explain difficult topics:

1) Wonderfully Made!  Babies: A Catholic Perspective on How and Why God Makes Babies

This is a wonderful book for an initial understanding of what Chris West so eloquently calls "the one-flesh-union."  It is beautifully written and easy to read (aka short with lots of pictures).  I sit down and read it to my kiddos when they are "of age" (which I feel is my discretion and changes depending on the child).

2) The Ultimate Girls' Body Book

This is a great book for your daughter to read independently and then come to you to clarify any questions she might have.  It covers almost everything I can think of from growing breasts to tattoos and although the authors are not Catholic, they are VERY CHRISTIAN and it shows in their great presentation of the body as being VERY GOOD.  They are also doctors so that adds some credibility to their advice and suggestions.

3) The Ultimate Boys' Body Book

I have a confession here. . . although this book is currently in possession, I have not read it yet.  But I read the one for girls and was incredibly impressed.  I am hoping to buzz through this one soon and pass it on to my oldest son.

4) Good Pictures Bad Pictures

This book covers pornography.  It is written so you can sit down and read it with your child.  It has a great message and plan of approach for the topic.  And I would venture to say this is an important topic to cover BEFORE your children stumble on it themselves and get all confused and other issues potentially develop.  If you are worried about "exposing them" to this too soon, I would not worry about this book doing that.  It is informative and precise, but not explicit.  I think it does a great job of conveying what the concern is and how to avoid it.

5) All Things Girl

This book does a great job of addressing topics for girls in a positive way.  It includes references to the catechism.  It emphasizes many girls' attraction and concern for fashion and social topics - addressing that these are common for women and girls to be concerned about, but then to encourage taking things a bit further - to be Christ to your friends, to focus on prayer, not get caught up in social details, etc.

Bras - for nursing or just regular wear

I am still on this restorative exercise kick.  And part of it deals with the clothing you wear as obviously you need to wear clothing that allows your body to move as it should.  In any case, to be blunt, Katy (my restorative exercise guru) says that your hanging bits are basically meant to hang!  This includes women's hanging bits.  And man has this been a game changer for me.  I kept trying to find the PERFECT bra - that was supportive but not oppressive.  I have since concluded it does not exist.  And instead I have found that bras with LESS support are working much better for me!!  I slowly cut down on my bra-wearing, often going without in the evenings and then lighter support during the day.  Now I still wear a bra basically all day, but it is simply an organic cotton slip-on and it is bliss - pure bliss :)

I buy from a company called "Decent Exposures" and they are awesome.   You order exactly what you want (each bra is custom made) and then if you have any problems, they adjust it for free within the first 60 days and then for a small fee, they will even adjust it after that - up to creating an entirely new bra for you!  (such as if you needed a bigger cup size)  They are so friendly and helpful.  I ordered my first bra, had it adjusted, liked it, and decided to order two more.  Since it was fairly close to the first order they went ahead and gave me a discount for buying three at a time!

The only downside is that since each bra is custom made, it takes a bit for your order to be processed (like several weeks to a month) but I feel it is worth the wait to get exactly what I want.

You CAN get nursing flaps on these, but honestly since they are simply pull-on bras, I just slip down to nurse, easy peasy - no cups to flip, no clasps to find, no boobs hanging out half of Mass because I could not get properly readjusted.  These are the most awesome bras ever.

7 Quick Takes - Random life

1) This is how Rebekah spent a good part of our first official day of school: doing her and her sister's hair!

Later she decided she wanted to look like Julius Caesar:

2) Miriam has insisted on wearing/carrying this backpack around the house - everywhere.

I have no idea where she got this idea.  None of the other kids have backpacks right now.  We are not going anywhere that she might need a backpack.  She has been doing this for about a week now.  I will be curious to see how long it lasts.

3) Rebekah got some new shoes.

She bought them with her own money (they are on sale right now - 50% off!!).  They are Kigo brand (I have two pairs of the same kind - different style and color).  I think they suit her well.

4) We now have rock behind our garage.

Since we own two giant vehicles that we are unable to actually put IN our garage, we would normally park them beside or behind the garage on the grass or dirt at the edge of the alley.  Well, the alley was recently redone as the city replaced the gas lines, so we decided now was a great time to go ahead and rock around the garage.  We are most pleased and parking is so much better.

5) Jacob is now SEVEN-YEARS-OLD!!

Time flies.  In any case, I was lazy for the actual day of his birthday (we had a party with extended family a few days earlier) so he got "birthday cookies" complete with candles.  Great-Mom-of-the-year award here.

6) The National Right to Life is doing a campaign right now called "Can't put a price on Life."

Here is the picture I submitted for them to use.

7) I made it to the Sacrament of Reconciliation today.

All I can say is that NEVER gets old!!  Praise God for forgiveness!

Starting the School Year 2015-2016

Here the kids are after daily Mass this morning, ready to get into the school routine.

(And the kids were actually really well-behaved at church today!  Praise God!!  :)

Without further ado, here is our line-up for this year.

Miriam refused to leave Rebekah's side.  We had to bribe her out of the picture for the next shot.

Silly Miriam again!  She wanted to be in ALL the pictures :)

Pfew, getting these pictures was tough!  Big thanks to Rebekah for helping find the blocks we needed and wrangling the little ones.  Here is to a great school year of loving and learning and learning to love and loving to learn.  God bless us all!

7 Quick Takes - end of summer

1) Zipporah climbed all the way up the stairs today.

She might only be crawling and cruising, but today she decided not only to try the stairs, but go from the basement all the way up to the kitchen.

2) I adapted the chains on the rings for Zipporah.

When I first showed her that the rings were now low enough for her to grab, she thought it was the coolest thing EVER - big smiles.  Then later I tried to help her get to them again (a bit of a challenge as she is still only cruising, not walking on her own) so I could have one of the kids take a picture, well she was not-quite-as-pleased or cooperative.  I will have to try for a better picture next time.  In any case, I can hardly wait until she is swinging on them with abandon.

3) My mom took most of my kiddos for an overnight.

I was able to get a lot of tasks completed for our upcoming school year (mostly cleaning/organizing/etc), but it seems like the more I do, the more there is to do!!  Oh well, school is starting, ready or not!  And a big thanks to my Mom for being so helpful!!  I seriously won the mom lottery with her.  

4) The official start date for our virtual school is next Wednesday, August 19th.

However, we got our books last week and noticed that our lesson lists (on the website) were active on Monday, so most of the kids did at least a few lessons and have basically "started" school already.

5) Paul is in Kindergarten this year.

Paul is VERY precocious.  Honestly he is so smart and articulate and SO READY for school.  I figured he is going to be so easy to teach!  However, after one day of school with him, I am now harboring a little fear for our school year.  ALL DAY LONG he was CONSTANTLY asking me, "Can I do school work now?"  And I was CONSTANTLY answering "You ARE doing school work!!"  or  "You just did three lessons, take a breath!!"  If he keeps this up he will be done with Kindergarten by October.

6) I have an excess of school material and it is stressing me out!

This is such a nerdy problem, but here it is.  Our online school orders new books for each kid each year and there is no way to just order the consumable parts.  So even though Jacob did Kindergarten last year and I have all of his hardback teacher-manuals on my shelf, along with his hardback literature book and all his other soft-cover books (kept in excellent condition), and all of his math manipulatives (of which they send A TON), they sent me all of those things AGAIN - BRAND NEW.  The waste just kills me.  I am trying to resale some of the manipulatives and some of the regular story books, but the teacher manuals. . . how many trees?  I would donate them, but to who?  I'm not even sure how much they are worth without the rest of the curriculum, which is online.  And the worst part is that this is likely going to happen AGAIN and AGAIN - practically every year as my children follow each other in grades.

7) Gordie fixed my camera, kind-of.

So I bought this camera second-hand on our local swap meet.  It was a great deal and it is a nice camera.  (And I was even planning to download the manual so I could figure out how to make it do what I want - go me, right?)  Anyhow, it worked fine for a while (maybe a month) - I took pictures, I uploaded them on my computer, I charged the battery and took more pictures, etc. and then one day, I charged the battery, put it in, and it would not turn on!  I was so distraught and felt terrible for wasting money on something second-hand.  I did not even want to ask Gordie to look at it because I was so ashamed for being taken advantage of (as I have often been in the past - there is QUITE the list of stories, let me tell you).  Anyhow, I happened to be standing by it while talking to Gordie the other day and I randomly picked it up and there was  lull in the conversation, so I sadly told him the story.  He looked at it, took the battery out, put it back in, then took it out and put it back in THE OTHER WAY (why would they make it so you could put the battery in either way?!?!) and turned it on.  My hero.

Happy Birth Month, Rebekah!!

My oldest daughter is TEN YEARS-OLD now!!  Excuse me while I have a moment.  It definitely feels like she has been around that long, but at the same time, it sounds so old when I write it or talk about it.  Someone was so kind to point out that we are over half-way through her time with us (as parents - not that she will ever not be our child, but the main influential part where she has to live and home and mostly do what we say) and that really gave me pause to think.  In any case, it is what it is.  And every time I think about my dear Rebekah, it only makes me love and appreciate her all the more.

*Rebekah LOVES to read.  This past year she had trouble completing her school work because she would spend all day reading books, everything from her brothers' literature books to the dictionary.  If it looked interesting I would find her nose in it.

*She is very into nature.  She loves to collect leaves, twigs, dirt, etc and put them together in artsy creations (or just fill the house with them to drive her mother nuts. . .I think).  She also gets personally upset when I mow the lawn (as she likes the grass and weeds tall) and refuses to help by sweeping up loose grass or moving toys off the lawn.

*Rebekah enjoys walking with me and doing other restorative exercise stuff - like stretches, etc.  She also is encouraging of me doing crazy things like lowering our table, sitting on the floor, and putting rings in the living room.

*Although she will wear a dress to Mass, she is EAGER to get on her "play clothes" and get dirty every day - a true tomboy in many ways.

*One of Rebekah's FAVORITE pastimes is to climb trees.  She is often sad when I ask her not to (as when it might damage the landscaping or set a bad example for her siblings).

Here she is up a tree with her sister Miriam (in front) and our neighbor (back left).

*I realize now, as some of my friends have several children, so I have a group to compare to, that God gave us an absolute treasure in making Rebekah our oldest child.  She is kind, patient, and willing to take time to care for siblings (even if I have to ask - she does not balk, she is obedient).  She also has a good sense of authority with them (they listen to her) and is quite responsible, with a good moral compass, as well.  She is at true gift to have as an oldest child.

Side Note:  The other day Rebekah was "watching" the kids while I was working out in the garage to prepare for a party and I asked her if she had any trouble (as I had just put the little kids to bed).  She said Miriam and Paul were unsettled so she read them another book and tucked them back in.  Then she told me Jacob "sneaked" upstairs, but she told him, "It is a disgrace to use sneaking to disobey your parents."  ---See what I'm saying??  She is such a blessing!

Dear God, thank you for the gift of our amazing daughter, Rebekah!  Please walk with her always and draw her ever closer to you, growing more virtuous and charitable all her days.  - Amen

7 Quick Takes Follow-up to last week

1) I ran the race I mentioned in my last post.

I came in 2nd for my age group and 9th overall.  Anyhow, the long version goes like this. . . I started out right in front because being competitive and all I did not just want to run the three miles, I wanted to be FIRST of course!  Now, I knew I would not be absolute first, but by golly, if I'm going to run, I'm going to run to win!  So I plunged off the starting line with all the gusto I had and quickly fell into pace with another gal (who ended up being the top finisher for the women) - it was a bit grueling, but I was able to manage it.  Then she fell back some, but I kept chugging along thinking the more ground I covered now the further along I would be the faster and that had to be good.  Then I hit about the half-way mark and was starting to feel QUITE warm and out of breath and my body was telling me I would be lucky to FINISH, let along beat anyone.  The women's leader had passed me a little ways back and the distance between us grew.  A few more men passed me and then a younger girl (about 14) and her mom.  I struggled to not pass out and told myself I could rest all I wanted when I was done.  One foot in front of the other, struggling to get breath as I trudged through the grass down by the dyke and up the hill.  I kept reminding myself once I got back on the street it would be downhill (a little) and then flat - easier than this part on the grass!  I struggled on and I don't think anyone else passed me after that, but at one point I was fumbling with my mp3 player and slowed some so another guy caught up with me, but as he pulled even I realized I had slowed, so I kicked it in again. (Only thinking the sooner I finished the sooner I could stop running!!)  My pride would not let me stop and walk - not this little race in my hometown where everyone knew me - not on my FIRST RACE EVER - not when I had called it a "measly" 5K - oh no, my pride ruled me and I pumped on to finish with a time of 27:37.  I walked some to recover and then decided sitting would be a better choice.  I sat for a bit and and was going to get up and ask my time (which I had missed as I ran by) but I was too light-headed.  The last mile had been HORRIBLE - I played the labor card out in my head (telling myself I survived labor six times and each time had a point where I think I would have rather died by did not - so if I could do that, I could do this).  Fortunately my daughter Rebekah (the only one of my family I had brought to support me) was engrossed in a book (had barely looked up as I sat down) so I recovered slowly with no need to explain why my hands were shaking.  It was a gratifying and humbling day all rolled into one.

2) Since I have more to say and I've already said a lot, I'm making this another point.

The take-away. . . I was thinking that this race would clarify if I was going to keep running (and maybe try for a bigger race - like a half marathon - or even a full marathon!) or if I should just run for exercise and pleasure as I have been doing and not worry about the rest.  Unfortunately, it did not really do that for me.  I have never run competitively before and I did not train for this race, so it really just showed me that I "could" run at a decent clip for three miles, but it was a lot tougher than I realized!  But I don't think I WANT to run competitively - not the same way I play basketball or other sports.  In those sports I LOVE to push and get caught up in the challenge and the responses of others, but I think running needs to be more personal for me.  I wonder if I need to think of it as me getting from point A to point B - and maybe I need to find some running buddies to make it a little more fun.  Then I don't have to run like my pants are on fire and create five new blisters on each toe by the time I'm done.  Then maybe I can just chill and enjoy the day. . . maybe.  My competitive nature is tough to squelch, but I might have to give it a shot. . . if/when I try a longer race.

3) I told you we were done with school. . .

And since having posted it I have been confronted twice about that and had to clarify that Rebekah technically has a few more lessons.  It is complicated.  She only needs to finish 85% of her coursework in Science and History.  She is over 92% in History, and right at 85% in Science.  But she also WANTS to finish some more of the lessons because they are interesting!!  Crazy, I know.  So I guess I should have said something more like "SAMUEL and I are DONE with schoolwork."  (Because Task-Master-Momma is no longer breathing down Rebekah's neck, urging her to finish up already!)  And I actually called the office to close Samuel's coursework so they could order his books for next year and was planning to call for Rebekah this week.  So. . . now you know the whole story.  And most likely, by the time you read this, I will have called and closed Rebekah's lessons and then we really will be done!!  Yes, really!

4) I am tired of allergies.

I had a nasty ear infection a couple weeks ago and now I still have trouble with fluid in that ear off and on.  Although I am not a fan of the bi-annual stomach bug, at least it comes and goes quickly.  This ear/head/sinus stuff is just a lingering annoyance.

5) I knew the day would come when Zipporah helped herself to all the food on the table. . . and it has.

I left her sitting near the table (having finished feeding her) and went downstairs to get something.  Coming back up a few minutes later I found her a few feet away, having scavenged Miriam's unattended pizza.  And she was quite proud of herself.

Well, I was still hungry, and it was just sitting right there. . . 

6) I have concluded I need a retreat.

With all the craziness of the past several weeks (as my hubby has spent hours off preparing for the musical) I have been going a little crazy myself and I feel the need to recharge.  My favorite way to recharge is a silent retreat.  I did one in Wichita at the Spiritual Life Center and it was AWESOME.  Unfortunately Wichita is a bit far to drive and I have yet to find any similar retreats offered around here.  If nothing else I plan to take an afternoon to go to adoration, sit in the church for a bit,  and go for a nice walk maybe or find something else peaceful and calming to do for a while.

7) This post is only about four days after my last post.

I think this means I am not getting enough "adult conversation" in.  What do you think?  :)

7 Quick Takes for a summer afternoon

1) I had a great nutritional win yesterday.

For breakfast I had my used-to-be-favorite-meal-of-all-time-but-especially-for-breakfast meal.  That would be two pieces of homemade bread, toasted with natural peanut butter, jam, and two fried eggs on top.  However, since I've been eating this Whole 30 diet long enough, I was sadly disappointed with my meal and went in search of the veggies I was craving afterward.  Did you hear that?  I said I went LOOKING FOR VEGETABLES!!  This is huge people - the fact that I've gone from muscling down veggies (often the same ones - frozen peas, green beans, or corn) to CRAVING them! And craving not just those I listed, but craving the highly nutritious veggies like sweet potatoes, avocados, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, peppers, etc.  (Now, I did not DISLIKE any of these before, but since I've been eating them more and more I just want more and more of them!)

2) Zipporah is finally almost crawling.

On two separate occassions for numerous witnesses she got in the proper postition and moved her arms correctly at least two times.  She is not crawling around the room yet, but we are anticipating it soon.  The sad part: I think I am going to miss her physical therapist - she has been great!  But I certainly will NOT miss the stress of trying to get Zipporah to want to move - silly little lady.  In any case, I'm glad she has decided to join the ranks of those who are able to locomote in some fashion.  She is also cruising some, so perhaps walking is not far behind.

3) Miriam has taken to "reading" her favorite books.

I remember doing this as a child - having a favorite book and having it read to me repeatedly until I could tell the story from memory while turning the pages.  I don't remember what the story I first memorized was, but I do recall that the book was pink and the story was about Care Bears.  This book is called "Brave Dragon" and Miriam got it for her birthday from her Uncle Luke and Aunt Kristy.  Click here if you want to hear Miriam "read" it to you.

4) I am 95% sure I broke my toe the other night.

It was doing better and then I bumped it just right and about collapsed in pain.  But after more ice and some rest it is feeling a bit better again (if I can just be careful to leave it alone and ram it AGAIN).

5) I am planning to run in my first race ever on Saturday.

This is huge and you probably would not get why, so I will tell you in a really really long story. . . back in high school when I played basketball I still remember my coach telling the team (as I was standing beside him), "Mary is going to do a lot of great things for us, but she is not going to set any land-speed records."  Now, he was telling me that I should not be running all over the court, but sprinting back and forth from the paint (aka the lane - the painted box under the basketball hoop) on one end of the court, directly to the paint on the other end and not messing around in-between.  And that is good advice and served me well in my years of basketball in high school and college.  

But. . . for some reason that quote has stuck with me, perhaps because I often feel inadequate and people are always telling me what I cannot do (not as in they will not let me, but as in I am not ABLE to do this) and that just pricks my nerves.  In this case, it took a while to brew, but in college, I started running because I was too chicken to go to the gym there (as a freshman at a college 17 hours from my home) and I could run outside, on my own.  First I just tried to run for 15 minutes and not stop.  I prayed the rosary to keep myself focused.  Then, as my stamina increased I would run further and maybe faster (although I never timed myself to check my speed - I would just run for a set amount of time, usually 45 minutes or an hour).  

Then something amazing happened while I was playing college basketball with Franciscan University.  It was our first practice back after Christmas Break.  We warmed up, stretched, and started doing some suicides (or winners, or zippers, or zombies, or whatever you want to call them).  In any case, for the first time in my life, I WAS THE FASTEST ONE IN THE GYM!!!  I had run over the break and apparently no one else had.  So here I was RUNNING FASTER than the point guard and everyone else.  It was a great moment for me.

I got married shortly after graduating college and kept running, but then I started having babies and could only run off and on in-between being very pregnant and recovering from having babies.  I still love the feeling of running, but now it is a lot harder on my body, so I do not do it as often.  In any case, I have a friend who runs marathons and I have been wondering if I might like to try that some day.  This measly little 5K (as I usually do five or six miles when I run) is the first step into my potential race-running hobby.  I'm curious to see how it goes and if I will "get bit by the racing bug" as some of my friends call it or just figure I ran my race, so now I can cross that off the list.

6) We finally finished up the "official" school work.

I put official in quotes because let's be honest, my kids are reading and learning ALL THE TIME.  But it is nice to know that they supposedly know everything they are supposed to know for their respective grades now.  And in about four weeks we get to start again - haha.

7) I miss my husband.

He is in the upcoming musical, "Legally Blonde" put on by the local community theater.  I'm sure he is going to be great, but it is rough to see him only a few minutes in the morning before work, maybe a few minutes after work (sometimes not at all if he runs errands before practice) and then maybe a few minutes in the evening (assuming he gets home before I fall sleep).  But I'm sure the musical will be great and worth the sacrifice.

P.S. Feel free to come support him and the rest of the cast.  Showtimes are July 23, 24, and 25th at 7pm at TMP here in Hays.