Monthly Archives: May 2012

Marriage Is a Kind of Death

Posted on May 28, 2012 by | 23 Comments

 

Today Daniel and I celebrate six years of marriage. SIX YEARS. I know it’s not a shocking length of time, but I think it’s starting to sound downright respectable. Can anything prepare you for what marriage will be like? No. It is infinitely more difficult and infinitely more splendid than I could have ever imagined. Something like having children, I suppose. We’ve learned a few lessons over the past six years, many of them the hard way. I am thankful daily for the joy that our marriage brings to my life. It is better than I could have ever dreamed and far better than I will ever deserve.

  1. Your Spouse Isn’t Enough. Really. As wonderful and perfect as he might be, his love is not enough to fulfill you. One day you will look at him and think, “He isn’t enough. Something is missing.” And one day you will realize that you are not enough for him. This may be an incredibly painful epiphany (it was for me.) I thought our marriage might be a failure and I hated the idea that the love I believed to be so epic just wasn’t enough. What I didn’t understand for a couple of years is that no human love is enough to satisfy us. Your spouse simply cannot do it and it isn’t humanly possible for you to love him “enough” either. But don’t despair, that’s not the end. We weren’t made to be fulfilled by human love, no matter how beautiful. We were created to be satisfied only by the divine love of God. Just as St. Augustine writes, “You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you,” Christ must be first in all things. Your identity, your joy, and your self-worth must rest in Our Lord. If you expect your spouse to be able to satisfy all these needs, you are setting him up for failure and your disappointment will be bitter. When you learn, as I did (the hard way), that Christ must be first in your heart, your marriage will be filled with the grace of Our Lord’s divine love.  And there will be enough love. More than enough love.
  2. Marriage is a kind of death. Marriage isn’t a power struggle between two entities attempting to protect their own rights. Marriage is a reflection of Our Lord’s sacrifice for his Holy Church. It is a journey of daily self-sacrificial death. (Boy, I’m making it sound really great, aren’t I?!) But, like baptism, marriage is a kind of death that leads to life—real and truly amazing life. When I was pregnant with our firstborn I was so ill. I had unbearable 24/7 morning sickness for 6 months. And Daniel waited on me hand and foot. As soon as I woke in the morning he would have snacks prepared for me to eat before my head left the pillow. When I inevitably threw them up, he would be ready with a glass of cold water to soothe my burning throat. He encouraged me, helped me, and loved me with every act as he cared for me (a whining, aching, grumpy, difficult pregnant wife) during those months. He modeled for me what marriage was: giving up everything for me when I had nothing to give back. We were no longer two individuals engaged in constant compromises to protect our own rights and satisfy our own needs, we were learning to be one flesh dying daily for our beloved. We were (and still are) learning to be like Christ and love like Christ. If your focus is yourself and the pursuit of your own happiness, you will be miserable. If you learn to die for your beloved and they learn to die for you, you will be filled with joy.
  3. Don’t be afraid to forgive. You will say and do things that deeply hurt your spouse. He will say and do things that deeply hurt you. Forgive. Completely. Never bring it up again. It sounds easy enough, but when the day comes that you find yourself truly hurt, you will want your spouse to suffer for what they did. Forgiveness will be hard in coming. But, if you cannot forgive and forget you will poison your marriage. This lesson was especially hard for me to learn. Still trying to protect my personal rights and be sure that my feelings and needs were never belittled or trampled upon, I made sure that I never forgot the slightest wrong, not to mention the times when I was truly wounded. Our culture is so individualistic and constantly urges us:  Stand up for Yourself! Put Yourself First! You Deserve Perfection! True forgiveness is a revolutionary idea for us. I had a hard time breaking the thought pattern that by forgiving and moving on I was in some way compromising my own self-respect. What a lie. When I finally wanted to forgive I discovered I didn’t have much practice and it was hard. I also struggled with the humiliating realization that our marriage wasn’t perfect, that our love had fallen short. But, the devastation of that knowledge was followed by a new understanding of what kind of God we serve and what kind of Grace flows from his love for us. Our Lord redeems what is broken. He heals the wounded. As we watched God fill our marriage with grace, remaking it into something better than we could have ever imagined, we were stunned by our inadequacy and the unfathomable ocean of God’s grace.

 

Happy Sixth Anniversary to us! I can’t imagine living life without Daniel’s love and friendship. I am still stunned that this amazing guy picked me. I love him so and each year together is more wonderful than the last.
EmailFacebookGoogle ReaderPinterestTumblrTwitterShare

→ 23 Comments

Posted in Husband, Marriage

Tagged , ,

This Week’s Miscellany: Vol. 13

Posted on May 25, 2012 by | 4 Comments

I am a bad mother. I’ll tell you why. We live in Florida and until yesterday, my 3.5 year old son had NEVER seen the ocean. That’s right. He went to the beach for the first time ever yesterday. We’re not exactly beach people. I have super pale Irish skin that sunburns at the drop of a hat and Daniel has a burning hatred for being sandy. But, basically, I was shamed into taking my kids to the beach because  my sweet friend Kaitlin moved here a few months ago and has already taken her 1.5 year old daughter six times. SIX TIMES. So, off to the beach we went. And it ended up being splendid. Lucy was sweetly taking it all in and Benjamin had the biggest grin imaginable as he experienced waves crashing against his knees for the first time. He also wanted to touch every dead crab he saw. Of course. It was a very special day, though. One I will remember forever.

Both little folks fell fast asleep on the way home:

Listening to:

This is one of our favorite summer jams. B loves to sing, “Caaaalifornia! Oooooklahoooma! These are the places I have never been to!”

In the Garden: Feast thine eyes!

 

The Quotable Benjamin:

(At the beach) “What’s that?” “It’s a life saver, Benjamin.” “Well…it doesn’t look ANYTHING like the ones in Star Wars.”

While reading Noah’s Ark…”We need more camels!”
“More camels….at our house?”
“No, Mama! More camels in our LIFE!”

“I think that ol’ dead crab at the beach really misses us.”

Links:

What Nursing a Toddler Really Looks Like: Stephanie Brandt Cornais for the Huffington Post (A great piece by my friend Stephanie! Check out her awesome e-book!)

Don’t Read This Book!: To Bring Shalom (My Dear friend Jessica, an awesome doula, writes about why What to Expect isn’t a good choice for pregnant mamas and what some better alternatives are. I bought WTE just like everybody else and it didn’t dissuade me from natural birth or anything, but Jessica’s post really convinced me to check out her recommendations.)

He Won’t Ever Get to Be Pregnant: Dwija Borobia for Catholic Exchange (I love this. Sometimes I feel like Daniel has do all the work waiting on me when I have my dreadful morning sickness, but he doesn’t get the joy of carrying around a precious kicking, rolling baby.)

Jane Austen Thirteen: Waltzing Matilda (I want to do this for Lucy’s 13th! Or….anyone can feel free to throw me this party for my 27th. Jane. Austen. Love.)

7 Ways New Moms Can Go Green: Green Your Way

How to Make Garlands of Paper Shapes: Simple Homemade (These are just so pretty. Just the sort of thing I like to imagine I would make. I am just SOOO not crafty.)

Keeping Your Child’s Heart Through the Teen Years: I Take Joy

The Mediterranean Secret to Phenomenal Vegetables: Keeper of the Home (here, here!)

Pictures Worth Sharing:

I can’t believe how big and beautiful this little gal is. And she and Benjamin are starting to be real playmates. I left them sitting on the floor together in her bedroom while I sprayed off a diaper this morning and when I got back she was laughing hysterically while he played peekaboo with her. Yesterday they were snuggling on my bed after a big day at the beach and Benjamin looked sweetly at her and said, “Lucy, I LOVE you.” I am so grateful for their precious affection for each other.

Don’t forget to enter my cloth diaper giveaway from Ecological Babies!

Happy Friday! And have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend :)

EmailFacebookGoogle ReaderPinterestTumblrTwitterShare

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Misc, Uncategorized

Cloth Diapering: The Basics (and a GIVEAWAY from Ecological Babies! NOW CLOSED)

Posted on May 23, 2012 by | 76 Comments

I’ve had a few pregnant friends ask me for the low down on cloth diapers, so I thought I would do a post about my experience with them accompanied by some links to good resources if you’re interested in cloth diapering. And local business, Ecological Babies has offered a GroVia AIO in the brand new Woodlands print (which is just adorbs) as a giveaway for you. Hurrah!

When I was pregnant with my firstborn, Benjamin, I considered cloth diapering. I even went so far as to get some covers and prefolds. But when the world’s most colicky and refluxy baby arrived and I had to go back to work at five weeks (criminal, I know!) cloth diapering was just one of those tasks that got tossed out the window in order to maintain my crumbling sanity.

For the second round of motherhood, I decided to give cloth another try and my dearest childhood friend (maid of honor in our wedding) threw me an amazing cloth diaper shower that almost completely set us up for all of Baby Lucy’s diapering needs.

I LOVE CLOTH DIAPERS. Is it weird to love diapers? Well, too bad. I love them. Every time I have to use a disposable now, I cringe.

Here’s a quick run down.

Benefits:

Cloth diapers are cheaper. WAY cheaper, especially if you use them for more than one child. Daniel and I examined our utilities costs and estimate that we spend $5 a month on electricity and water to wash them. I don’t even want to think about how much money we spent on disposables every month for Benjamin.

They don’t contain nasty, toxic chemicals that will be touching baby’s skin.

You’ll get fewer leaks and blow outs. If you’re not yet familiar with this phenomenon, congratulations. A blow out is when poop explodes out of the sides or back of the diaper….charming, I know. It just doesn’t happen much with cloth diapers that fit well. But every time I use a disposable…poop shoots all the way up Lucy’s back, I’m not even kidding. Gross.

Apparently, disposables aren’t great for the environment. Surprise!

Cloth diapers are adorable. Really. Adorable. Big fluffy bottoms!

I have several different brands, but my favorite are probably the GroVia AIOs and Hybrid system.

Generalizing, there are three kinds of cloth diapers:

1. All-in-Ones (put it on like you would a disposable, one piece, no hassle, takes longer to dry)

2. Covers and Prefolds (water proof cover over a traditional prefold, the square fabric you think of with old-timey diaper pins…except nobody uses diaper pins anymore, they use these nifty little things called Snappis. Cheapest, most hassle)

3. Pocket Diapers/All-in-Twos, etc (A waterproof outside with an absorbent part that you either stuff into a pocket or snap in)

Inserts/Doublers/Liners/Boosters: At nighttime, I add a bamboo or cotton with fleece on the outside insert and I have NEVER had a leaky diaper by morning. In fact, I’ve started using them more often during the day because they seem to help with diaper rash and they are easy to remove from the rest of a poopy diaper so that I can easily dump the poop in the toilet. Which bring me to an important point:

The poop: Honestly, I feel like I deal with less poop when using cloth because there’s fewer blowouts. But, there’s still some poop issues. As long as baby is exclusively breastfed, the poop is water soluble and doesn’t have to be sprayed off the diaper before washing. Once solids are introduced, though, the poop needs to go in the toilet. (Apparently, you’re supposed to put disposable diaper poop in the toilet, too, but I don’t know anybody who actually does that.) Basically, you just dump the poop into the toilet and if it’s sticking to the diaper, use one of those handy-dandy diaper sprayers. Not a big deal.

Wipes: I use cloth wipes that were gifted to me when I was pregnant with Benjamin and I use this recipe for my cloth wipe solution. Cloth wipes work so much better and I adore them.

My Washing Procedure: So, I’m not sure if I’m doing it exactly right but this is what I do and it seems to work just fine. I prewash in cold. Then I wash with warm water and Rockin’ Green detergent. Then I rinse twice with warm water. After 4 months the diapers started to smell stinky so I used the Rockin’ Green Funk Rock to soak them in and rinsed several times in hot water. Problem solved. This is a good post at Raising a Green Family (the Ecological Babies blog) with more information about “stripping” your diapers when they get smelly and leaky. Now, some gals I know have been using cloth diapers for months and there’s not a stain to be seen. Mine have poop stains all over the place, so I don’t know what kind of magic they used to keep their diapers from getting stained. The thing is…I really don’t care if there’s poop stains because the only thing they’re going to touch is…well, more poop. I’ve heard that line drying them in the sun helps bleach the stains out, though, if you want to go to the trouble.

As for drying, I dry all my inserts and GroVia AIOs in the dryer on low. I line dry my GroVia hybrid covers and my other AIOs. The less wear and tear cloth diapers get from the dryer, the longer they will last. It’s just hard to really get a super absorbent insert dry in the insane Florida humidity.

The only downside has been that Lucy has struggled with diaper rash a good deal. But, her skin seems to be more sensitive than Benjamin’s in general so it could be unrelated. Any suggestions? GroVia’s Magic Stick was working for awhile but I think we need to try something else.

Cloth Diaper Links:

Katie of Kitchen Stewardship just did a great series on Cloth Diapering that will answer most questions in-depth.

Raising a Green Family has tons of great cloth diapering posts as well as other green living info. Here’s a good one to start with: Diapers–How Many?

Molly Makes Do’s Cloth Diapering – The Down and Dirty explains Molly’s awesome method to buying used CDs from ebay.

Simple Mom’s Series on and Resources on Cloth Diapering (This is the best, most extensive series and and list of resources I’ve found)

And now for the giveaway!

I am dedicated to only promoting products that I have or would purchase myself which is why I’m so excited to mention a few things about our giveaway sponsor, Ecological Babies, a local company I get all my cloth diapering products from. I seriously love this business and wouldn’t have started cloth diapering if not for them. I went to one of their local cloth diaper workshops then spent a good hour with Claire who helped me figure out what brand of diapers and how many I would need to set up my baby shower registry when I was pregnant with Lucy. I also just threw a cloth diaper shower for a friend who registered with them. So, I’m very familiar with their products and customer service. Jen (founder, now in South Bend, Indiana) and Claire (Tallahassee representative) are both delightful and so helpful in educating about cloth diapers and assisting their customers. In addition to having great products and great customer service, I love that they are concerned about the ethical practices of the companies they buy from and do their homework about the products they sell so that I don’t have to research each one myself. Jen recently wrote a great post about why they are no longer stocking Fuzzi Bunz due to their sketchy business practices since relocating production overseas. Long story short, Ecological Babies is splendid.

For the giveaway, Ecological Babies has graciously offered a GroVia All-in-One cloth diaper in the brand spankin’ new Woodlands print. It contains a super absorbent, organic cotton inner with a soft layer of water resistant TPU outer. Look how cute!!!

This giveaway is open until  May 27 (Sunday night) at 10pm. To enter, please leave a comment telling me who you would diaper with this adorable AIO (your child, a child-to-be, a friend’s child, etc).

For additional entries please leave a separate comment telling me that you:

Subscribed to Carrots for Michaelmas (via email in the sidebar or via an RSS reader like Google Reader)

Liked Ecological Babies on FB

Liked Carrots for Michaelmas on FB

Subscribed to Raising a Green Family (The Ecological Babies blog)

Shared this giveaway on your FB Timeline, your blog, or on twitter

(6 possible entries total) I will announce the lucky winner next week! May the odds be ever in your favor :)

Thank you, Ecological Babies for this fantastic giveaway!

…And the winner is: Lindsey! Congrats, Lindsey! Email [haley.s.stewart(at)gmail(dot)com] or FB message me your address and I will ship you your adorable diaper :)

EmailFacebookGoogle ReaderPinterestTumblrTwitterShare

→ 76 Comments

Posted in Children, Giveaway, Green Living, Motherhood

Tagged , , ,

Trendy Traditions Rosary Giveaway Winner (and Ballerina Overload)

Posted on May 21, 2012 by | 7 Comments

And the winner of the Our Lady of Guadalupe rosary giveaway is…….Sarah O.! Expect an email from Trendy Traditions, Sarah, about personalizing your rosary, etc.

Thanks, Trendy Traditions for a fantastic giveaway prize!

And watch for an awesome cloth diaper giveaway this week, friends. Along with a post about everything you ever wanted to know about cloth diapers. Well…maybe not everything. Is there anything in particular you want to know that I should be sure to cover?

At this time every year, I go a little nuts during spring recital time and Daniel picks up the slack. This weekend the dear man sent me off to get a cup of coffee, read, and write while he watched the kids (on two separate occasions).

I felt like the Queen of Sheba. I am still getting used to not having 7 month old Lucy as a constant appendage. She still hasn’t had a bottle, but now that she’s digging bananas and avocado I’m more comfortable leaving her for an hour here and there. I figure if she gets hungry, Daddy can console her with a mashed banana while I head home to feed her.

How was your weekend? Did you get a few minutes to relax?
EmailFacebookGoogle ReaderPinterestTumblrTwitterShare

→ 7 Comments

Posted in Giveaway

A Boy and His Bike

Posted on May 20, 2012 by | 3 Comments

It’s been awhile since I did a post about Benjamin and since writing about his antics is basically why I started this blog, one seems way past due. My firstborn has been losing his three-year-old mind over the idea of riding the balance bike we ordered for him. But we had yet to get him a helmet. So, I took the little man helmet shopping last week and after an agonizing decision, he chose the “farm animals in space” theme over the helmets with skulls and monkeys (naturally).

He is so proud of his helmet and has been wearing it all day, every day, even in the house. Occasionally, he takes it off with a sigh and sets it down saying, “Well, I just got home from work.” It’s precious. (My husband rides a bike to work so that we can be a one-car family and Benjamin wants to be just like Daddy.)

He was so excited when Daddy put the bike together and he was ready to ride it for the first time. In fact, he was smiling so big that he started drooling. Hilarious.

Silly boy had his shoes on the wrong feet (as per usual) so Daddy had to assist him before he could really go to town on learning to ride. He still hasn’t mastered the idea of coasting, but he’s learning to steer and coming along nicely.

The Quotable Benjamin:

“Instead of having breakfast, can we just go on a little bike ride, Daddy?”

“You and Daddy look alike, Mama.” “Why do you say that, Benjamin?” “Because your teeth are the same, aren’t they!”

After I drew an apparently unsatisfactory picture of a boy’s face for Benjamin he exclaimed, “But I wanted him to have legs…and a bottom….and nipples!”

“Lucy, you’re so comfortable to snuggle with.”

“If we have another baby someday, Mama, I have some ideas. If it’s a boy we could name him Humperdink and if it’s a girl we could name her Able Baker Charlie.” -(from the three-year-old that wanted to name Lucy “Baby Dachsund” or “Baby Granola”)

This is the song we hear his dulcet tones gracing us with at 5:30 in the morning of late:

While having dinner guests over the other night, we heard a SCREAM from his bedroom where he had been tucked in 30 minutes prior. Daniel rushed in to find his head in the bed, but his entire body sticking out through the headboard. There was no getting his head out. There was no getting his body back through.

“How did this happen, son?”

“I don’t want to TELLLLLL YOOOUUUU! I’M STUUUUUCK!”

So we ended up having to release him by sawing through the headboard with a handsaw.

I thought about taking a picture but it just seemed cruel. What a nut he is.

Although he is still VERY THREE, we’re getting a little respite from the 24/7 testing the boundaries that we’ve been experiencing. He has entered a new phase. And although he still has meltdowns at the drop of a hat, he is becoming easier to reason with.

He brings us so many laughs and so much joy. He is ALWAYS sweet to his sister (really, I’ve been stunned at how loving and kind he is). And his active little body and mind never cease to amaze me. What a vessel of grace he is to our family.

(The GIVEAWAY for the personalized, handmade rosary from Trendy Traditions ends tonight! Make sure you enter to win :) )
EmailFacebookGoogle ReaderPinterestTumblrTwitterShare

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Children

Tagged

This Week’s Miscellany: Vol. 12

Posted on May 18, 2012 by | Leave a comment

I am a ballet teacher and it is recital season. Things are a bit nuts due to the extra rehearsals and run-thrus preceding the performance. I keep having nightmares that I go out of town and miss the dress rehearsal or that I can’t find the auditorium or that none of my little ballerinas can find the right color tights. Whew. I’m a little worn out, but my sweet little dancers are just precious and I know they’ll do great. I keep reminding myself that regardless of whether they remember to point their toes or not, if at the end of the performance they tell me, “Miss Haley, I love to dance!” I will have succeeded. But, I’m a little antsy for the curtain to fall for my summer teaching break.

Coming Up in the Liturgical Year: We’re getting close to Pentecost! Does your family do anything special for Pentecost? We don’t have any family traditions for it yet, so I’d love your suggestions.

Listening to:

The Lumineers: Ho Hey (Benjamin loves to sing, “I belong to you. You belong to me. You’re my sweetheaaaaaart!” to Lucy. It’s adorbs)

From the Garden:  Tomatoes, Basil, Green Onion, Potatoes, and Baby Squash! This is the amazing plate of baguette topped with garden tomatoes, basil, green onions, and fancy cheese that Daniel concocted for our Mother’s Day dinner. Amazing!

Links:

Time’s Breastfeeding Cover Adds Fuel to the Mommy Wars: Christianity Today

Why You Don’t Have to Use NFP: Catholic Sistas

The Secret to Great Iced Coffee: Small Notebook

Bookish Baby Shower Invitation: SlowMama (I know just whose baby I want to make these for! (*cough cough* Katherine)

Ten Practical Ways to Put Your Faith into Action: Catholic Mothers Online

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for the gorgeous Our Lady of Guadelupe personalized handmade rosary by Trendy Traditions!

“The Rosary is my favorite prayer. A marvelous prayer! Marvelous in its simplicity and its depth.” – The Blessed Pope John Paul II

And be sure to check out Stephanie’s Ecookbook if you haven’t already:

From Your Freezer to Your Family
EmailFacebookGoogle ReaderPinterestTumblrTwitterShare

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Misc

Tagged

Getting to Know Mary (And a GIVEAWAY from Trendy Traditions! NOW CLOSED)

Posted on May 16, 2012 by | 56 Comments

Daniel and I both agree that getting to know the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the most grace-filled aspects of our conversion to Catholicism. It was not so long ago that the idea was absolutely unfamiliar to me. I grew up in the Protestant tradition which, in my experience, completely ignored the Mother of God except during Christmas time when we were sure to mention that she was “just a regular gal! Nothing special about her! Move along, please!“

It wasn’t until college that I starting thinking about Our Lady much at all. But one day I distinctly remember being “introduced” to her. When an Eastern Orthodox housemate of mine was setting up her room and hung an icon of Madonna and Child (Our Lady of Tender Mercies) right above her bed, I asked her about it. She explained that she was devoted to Mary and that this icon was her very favorite image of Our Lady because of the tenderness of her countenance and the way she embraced the infant Christ. “It reminds me to pray and to ask her for her intercession,” she said. From further conversations about her Marian devotion, I came to understand that she had a relationship with Mary. She knew her. I was intrigued. (Fittingly, this gal’s name is Marianna Rose—I’m not even kidding. You can’t get more Marian than that!)

Image credit: Aquinasandmore.com

 When I was pregnant with Benjamin I started to think about Mary more often and even started asking for her prayers for my baby and her help so I could be a good mother. But, it wasn’t until I started praying the Rosary that my relationship with Mary started to blossom. I pray it when I’m frightened, when I’m joyful, for my children, for my marriage, for our families. It is always there to catch me. During long nights with sick babies, Our Lady is there, keeping company with me and praying with me to her precious Son. When tragedy strikes and I can come up with no words of my own, I can rest on the words of the Rosary.  A year and a half ago when I received the news that dear friends had lost a child, I sat down on the kitchen floor speechless. What could I say? The grief was too great to compose any words. The Rosary was there and I rested in the knowledge that Our Lady knew just how they felt: she lost her child and had to see Him suffer more deeply than any other would ever suffer. That sorrow had pierced her heart and she would understand their pain in a way that I did not.

Pope Benedict XVI has said of the Rosary:

“…the Rosary is experiencing a new Springtime. Without a doubt, this is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generation can nourish for Jesus and his Mother, Mary. In the current world, so dispersive, this prayer helps to put Christ at the centre, as the Virgin did, who meditated within all that was said about her Son, and also what he did and said. When reciting the Rosary, the important and meaningful moments of salvation history are relived. The various steps of Christ’s mission are traced. With Mary the heart is oriented toward the mystery of Jesus. Christ is put at the centre of our life, of our time, of our city, through the contemplation and meditation of his holy mysteries of joy, light, sorrow and glory.”

I love the Rosary which is why I’m so excited to host a giveaway sponsored by Melanie of Trendy Traditions for one of her beautiful handmade rosaries. I’ve actually had the pleasure of praying the Rosary with Melanie, because we go to the same ladies monthly Rosary night (how apropos, right?). She contacted me about doing a giveaway before we realized that we live in the same town and have mutual friends! Then I realized that Melanie made the beautiful rosary that Lucy’s godmother, Colleen, gave her on the day of her baptism.

It has beads with her name and Melanie even attached a St. Lucy medal for our little Lucy Elanor. And it’s blue for Our Lady!

Trendy Traditions is a family business and they donate 10% of all sales to Catholic charities.

 

Melanie has generously offered to give away one of her beautiful personalized Our Lady of Guadalupe rosaries. This design features a large, beautiful crucifix and a center in the traditional Guadalupe image. Both are made of high-quality pewter. She will customize the rosary with the winner’s name and choice of color.

To enter (you can do any or all options for a total of 5 entries):

1. Subscribe to Carrots for Michaelmas via email (see subscription form on the upper sidebar) or via Google Reader or another RSS reader and leave a comment saying you did. (If you were subscribed via email before last week, you will have to resubscribe to the new site, sorry for the hassle!)

2. Like Carrots for Michaelmas on FB

3. Like Trendy Traditions on FB

4. Subscribe to Melanie’s blog 

5. Share this giveaway on FB (or on your blog)

(Leave an additional comment for each extra entry  to let us know you did)

A winner will be chosen by a random number generator on Sunday May 20, 2012 at 10pm EST.

Thank you, Trendy Traditions for this fantastic giveaway! Please check out the Trendy Traditions Etsy site to see all of the gorgeous rosaries available!

p.s. If you’re looking for a good introduction to the Rosary, I highly recommend Karen Edmisten’s The Rosary: Keeping Company With Jesus and Mary

AND THE WINNER IS….Sarah O.! Sarah, you will be hearing from Trendy Traditions very soon about personalizing your rosary and shipping to you :)

EmailFacebookGoogle ReaderPinterestTumblrTwitterShare

→ 56 Comments

Posted in catholicism, Giveaway, Our Lady, Rosary

Tagged , , , ,

This Week’s Miscellany: Vol. 11

Posted on May 14, 2012 by | 2 Comments

First of all, Happy Mother’s Day to all you mamas out there! On Mother’s Day I’m also always thinking of mothers-to-be, mothers who’ve lost children from miscarriage or stillbirth, and all women who suffer from infertility. Praying that Our Lord will grant them all the desire of their hearts!

This Mother’s Day was the best ever. I woke up next to sweet Lucy and walked out of my bedroom to see Benjamin finishing up a Mother’s Day card about things he loves about Mama: She is very sweet. She takes really good care of me. She let’s me play. She is pretty. Decorated with drawing of construction equipment carrying flowers. What more could a girl ask for? Then as an extra Mother’s Day gift, he was perfect in Mass (truly amazing!). We had my folks, Daniel’s folks, and his sister and brother-in-law (with my precious niece or nephew in utero!) over for a delicious Daniel-cooked feast that we ate on the back porch followed by homemade ice cream by my Dad. Perfection.

Coming Up in the Liturgical Year: Well, it’s May, and the month when we celebrate Mother’s Day is also when we celebrate Our Lady, the Mother of God and our Mother. Do you do anything special to celebrate the Blessed Virgin this month?

Listening to: Colleen Nixon’s song “Perfect.” Colleen is an amazing musician and a dear friend in real life (she’s Lucy’s godmother!). Funny story: We met in high school when we were both in the musical West Side Story then reunited when we moved back to our hometown. We then discovered pics of our 4-year-old selves at a mutual friend’s 4th birthday party. We are wearing dress-up clothes and looking awesome. Anyhow, Colleen’s music is amazing. She sometimes sings sacred music and sometimes sings wonderful indie/pop. She has a kickstarter campaign going so that she can record another album. Please, please, please, watch her music video featuring two of Benjamin and Lucy’s little playmates: Benedict and Hannah. Adorbs! Then enter the giveaway on Kaitlin’s blog (she’s giving away Colleen’s other albums: Marian Grace, Love Is in the Details, and What Wondrous Love. Extra entries for pledging to the project. I will love you forever for supporting this lovely lady! If Colleen’s kickstarter campaign is successful and she gets to do another album, I promise to post hilarious pictures of us from when we were four, deal?

From the Garden: Summer’s bounty! Tomatoes everywhere! Basil! Potatoes! Squash blossoms! YUM.

Check out these slow-roasted tomatoes. I ’bout cried they were so good.

Links: Motherhood Is a Calling (and Where Your Children Rank) by Rachel Jankovic

A Mother’s Prayer: More Like Mary – More Like Me

I Can’t Believe You Haven’t Read Kristin Lavransdatter by Simcha Fisher (If you remember, Kristin Lavransdatter is on my 10 Books You Must Read to Your Daughter, Or How to Keep Your Daughter from Ending Up Like that Horrid Girl in Twilight)

The Quotable Benjamin:

“Is ‘serious’ the past tense of ‘silly’?” – Benjamin, my grammarian

“Benjamin, what are you doing out of bed?!”

“I’m NOT out of bed.”

And be sure to take a look at my sidebar and check out the amazing eCookbook that my friend Stephanie of Mama and Baby Love launched a couple of weeks ago. It’s called From Your Freezer to Your Family: Slow Cooker Freezer Recipes. Stephanie is a lovely gal that I met while taking our kids to library storytime. She is the super cute mom you see at the park that looks adorable even when she’s in work out clothes. I know this because I’ve seen her in work out clothes at the park and thought “she is a super cute mom.” Maybe it’s because she’s a yoga teacher. I digress. You’ve probably seen her recipes pinned all over Pinterest. Stephanie believes in eating real food, like we do, and her cooking style is influenced by the Weston A. Price Foundation and Nourishing Traditions. Win! The general idea for the freezer meals is to do all the prep (chopping veggies, etc) ahead of time and stick the ingredients in the freezer in a plastic bag. Then everything is ready to put in the slow cooker on the day you want to eat it: done.

Click here to visit Mama And Baby Love.

This eCookbook is awesome and I am so excited about aquiring a slow cooker in the near future so that I can make all of these recipes.  (We are getting our dear friends slow cooker because they’re moving to Nepal.) As far as I can tell, the recipes are all Gluten-Free, too, which is great for us because Benjamin is allergic to gluten and we always have to cook GF. (I haven’t double-checked each and every recipe but the only ingredient I saw that had gluten was soy sauce so for my gluten-free friends, be sure you get a GF soy sauce at your health food store.) Anyhow, right now you can get the eCookbook at the discounted price of $5.99 (next month the price will go up.) Seriously, friends, get this eCookbook!

I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend! Get ready for a giveaway this week!

P.S. If you are an email subscriber but haven’t been receiving my posts in your inbox lately, it’s probably because the blog move from wordpress.com requires you to resubscribe to the new site. You can subscribe on the sidebar in the upper right hand corner. Thanks!

 
EmailFacebookGoogle ReaderPinterestTumblrTwitterShare

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

In Defense of Jamie Lynne Grumet and Attachment Parenting

Posted on May 12, 2012 by | 8 Comments

So yesterday I wrote about how I HATED the cover image and the title (Are You Mom Enough?) of the piece in TIME about Attachment Parenting and extended breastfeeding (the cover image is included in yesterday’s post). I still hate the cover image and the title (oh, that title!). I still hate that TIME is trying to make AP and extended breastfeeding look as weird and sensational as possible. I still hate the implications of the title (as if AP and extended breastfeeding are only for women who are extreme and trying to prove something to other parents through their parenting choices instead of making decisions about what’s right for their children because they love them).

So, not thrilled with TIME. That being said. I was shocked at some of the personal attacks on the mother in the cover image (Jamie Lynne Grumet). I’ve seen the image called pornographic (oh, please), and even, bizarrely, the willingness to feature her three-year-old nursing on the cover as a form of child abuse and the mother as a self-absorbed exhibitionist. REALLY? COME ON.

I so wish that TIME had used this image on the cover instead of the hand-on-the-hip-nursing-while-standing one:

Photo credit: Martin Schoeller for TIME

Isn’t that beautiful? The way she’s cradling him. The look of proud, glowing love. I think it’s gorgeous. Why, oh, why, didn’t they use this picture instead of choosing one that makes extended breastfeeding look as weird as possible?

I was also shocked to see what some of the articles and comments were saying about attachment parenting. I read The Baby Book by Dr. Sears when I was pregnant with Benjamin. We don’t really label ourselves attachment parents because we are constantly altering our methods to do what’s best for our family at the current time. But I co-sleep, baby wear, breastfeed Lucy (exclusively for 6 months on demand, no pacifiers, no bottles, serious business), and am really never separated from her (I even take her to the ballet studio when I go to work and pay a babysitter to hold her so she is close by and can nurse before and after class). I don’t think this is the only way to parent. I have dear friends who have very different methods and very happy, thriving babies. But, for several reasons, I think an attachment style can be a very good thing.

First of all, it creates a family-centered life. In order to implement many of the AP tenets, families have to be together. I think it also places great value on motherhood itself (something that, sadly, isn’t typical in our culture). Only the mama can provide breastmilk for her baby. She is necessary, special, important. Also, AP promotes the idea that a mother’s instincts should not be ignored. Respect for a mother’s intuition about what her baby needs is encouraged by AP. That’s not to say that every mother always does what’s best for her baby at all times, but in general (and from my own experience) I think a mother’s instinct about her baby is almost always right. I think it’s very positive to promote the idea that a mother should know her baby and should be the one making choices about how to care for them.

So, there it is. At least that cover is making us talk about these important issues, right?

Would you like to chime in? Does this other photograph give you a different perspective?

 
EmailFacebookGoogle ReaderPinterestTumblrTwitterShare

→ 8 Comments

Posted in Breastfeeding, Motherhood

Tagged , , ,

The Cover of TIME and the Blessed Virgin Mary

Posted on May 11, 2012 by | 9 Comments

Ok, so I promised I wouldn’t talk about sex for awhile after my two-part ramble on contraception, etc. But then I saw this TIME cover:

photo credit: TIME magazine

You guys know that I’m a huge supporter of breastfeeding in public. Breastfeeding is not a sexual act. Breasts are not merely sexual. Breastfeeding in public IS NOT immodest. So, why does this image look so sexual? Some might claim that nursing is an intimate act and therefore should be private, no need to plaster images of it everywhere. I disagree. I think breastfeeding should be in the public eye. It is intimate, but it doesn’t mean that it should be tucked away in lonely corners. I think images of breastfeeding are so beautiful (maybe that’s why I post pictures of nursing Lucy all over my blog). So, what’s the problem with this image? It’s not the fact that she’s nursing and some breast is exposed (grow up, people!) and it’s not the fact that the nursing child is three years old (the WHO recommends that ALL children are breastfed until they’re at least 2, I’m all for extended breastfeeding). The problem is difficult to nail down but I think we can do it by comparing the image to images of another lady breastfeeding:

Artist: Da Vince (from beautiful-breastfeeding.blogspot.com)

In this image, the Blessed Virgin is nursing Our Lord as a toddler. He’s big, squirmy, and looking straight at the viewer (just like the child is gazing at the viewer on the magazine cover). And there’s definitely a lot of breast showing. So what makes it different? The difference is in the Blessed Virgin’s pose and face. She is looking lovingly at her precious son. She is cradling him with love. She is not detached from her child and striking a “modelesque” pose while looking provocatively at the viewer. She’s not self-promoting. She’s not putting on the sex appeal. She is immersed in this act of love for her little son.

Sadly, TIME took an act that is so beautiful and natural and has presented it as extreme, sensational, and sexual. I hate that. Breastfeeding (and extended breastfeeding) are none of those things. I know TIME wants to sell magazines, but that doesn’t exonerate them from this incendiary journalism.

And the title is the icing on the cake: Are You Mom Enough? Again, the focus is completely on the mother, rather than the child. As if women who choose to practice AP and extended breastfeeding are doing it to prove that they’re better moms than other mothers or to impress other people. I hope that’s not the case for the woman who posed for the picture and I think she is being misrepresented. TIME is also misrepresenting all of us who practice AP and extended breastfeeding.  Mothers try their very best and agonize about what’s best for their families when they make decisions about parenting styles. Most mothers aren’t making any of those decisions because they have anything to prove.

What do you think? Am I overreacting?

EDIT: A reader noted that the mother on the cover was not trying to look sexy. I think this is probably true and I hope my post doesn’t sound too critical of her. When I’m describing her modelesque pose and “provocative gaze” I am criticizing TIME and the way they are portraying this mother and child which is probably not at all the fault of the mother.
EmailFacebookGoogle ReaderPinterestTumblrTwitterShare

→ 9 Comments

Posted in Breastfeeding, Our Lady

Tagged , , ,