Seven Quick Takes Friday (12)

Thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary for hosting.  As usual, I should be doing other things, but here I am with my 7 for the week.

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Our baby turned one on Wednesday.  Cannot believe it.  We had a few people over for cake and she had a pretty good time, although I think her older sister may have had a better time.  She was hysterical over the mess Hannah was making.  Her laugh is contagious so we were all in stitches.  Below are a few pictures of that spectacle:



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Thursday night we had a REALLY good time, right before bed, playing with bells, maracas, a xylophone and drums.  Loud and crazy, but a lot of fun.  Note to self:  we must do this fun music madness more often, but maybe next time not so close to bedtime. 

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Early on Thursday we DID NOT have a really good time taking pictures, but they came out quite well, surprisingly.  First of all, the one year and one day old cried every time the flash went off.  She had a late night the night before and a shot at her doctor appointment the day before, but I still found it so weird that she got so freaked out.  It finally took me leaving the room because she is so attached to me she wanted to do nothing but cling to me and cry.  She's always fine when I leave the room and she improved greatly, but still had some occasional freak outs.  Then, our three year old once again was flat out refusing to go in to take pictures.  A sudden shy streak, I suppose.  But it is frustrating when you make an appointment, gather up some cute outfits and she just refuses to cooperate.  I stayed patient all things considered.  I've put a bunch of the funniest/best pictures here:

Mama!  I'm not having a good time!

Cheese!

Ok, enough already!

You think you're so funny!

How does my hair look?

Yeah, I know it, lookin' good!

Seriously, more pictures?

Maybe I can sneak out of here?

Hmph!

Feelin' somewhat shy!

Ok, if you insist!

Whew! I think we're done!

Can we go yet?

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One thing that I always forget is that babies and young children like bags and boxes more than the present itself.  This will come in handy if we do have more children.  One can only get so many toys.  Pretty soon I will have to work on rotating toys out so that some of them seem new even though they are not.  Just put another thing on my "to do" list.

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Someone who has been following my blog has written some beautiful letters to her children on their birthdays and other occasions.  I only wish I had done this starting with Alicia's first birthday.  I plan on putting this into practice and may try to do a few hindsight letters for our oldest.  I have yet to compost Hannah's first birthday letter, but I will be working on it soon.  In the meantime, check out one of these such really sweet letters here.

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Been aggravated about the whole party planning thing, but I did finally get my act together, which is good since the party is on Saturday.  Because everything was so last minute with decisions on decorations and if I would do a theme, I paid more than I wanted.  I couldn't deal with trying to find the best price while running around with little children needing naps and trips to the potty.  I usually am much more organized but our life since our move has been so chaotic.  Anyway, I'm hoping we don't have too much food left over, but if we do there are food pantries and such in the area.

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Our pastor left for his new assignment at the Seacoast on Tuesday.  Going to miss him and hope that our new pastor will be as inspirational.  We have teased our old pastor that we will follow him if hubby can just find a job out that way, since we don't have a home we can go where ever we want.  Probably not going to happen, but we have always wanted to live by the seacoast.  Maybe, but not likely.  But from what I've heard our new pastor will be really great too.  I'm excited to see what he brings to the community at St. K's.  This weekend we will not be at our regular mass time as we have a baptism for my cousin's daughter, but it will be great to meet him and get to see his style.  But I am sad to see Fr. G leave. There was a really nice article written by one of our parishioners.  He will definitely be missed and I'm sure he will get lots of visitors with beaches and Water Country nearby.

Seven Quick Takes Friday (11)

Thanks Jen for hosting quick takes every week.  Go here for her quick take list - there are others there too!

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This week's outrage is with two stores that I don't visit very regularly and now have very good reason not to.  So I was checking out the website for store #1 - Walgreens - when to my shock and horror I saw that they had a tab called Sexual Wellness.  So then I think, "Ok, what exactly falls under this category?"  I mouse over the tab and lo and behold - Vibrators and Adult toys.  REALLY?  On a website that I'm sure has no parental controls or any real way to stop young children from looking at these pages.  Nice!  Then I investigate further - over 100 items.  WOW!  I was disappointed and really quite shocked, I mean there's a pretty good industry devoted just to these items on their own.  A drug store needs to get into this business?  Then I thought, perhaps I should check out other stores.  I was wondering if this was a trend.  I head on over to the CVS store.  Sure enough, there's a tab that reads Sexual Health.  I take a look and there is nothing coming right out and saying Vibrators and Adult toys, however I do notice an "Enhancers" section. Well, that seems as though it could head to no where good fast, so I decide to take a look and sure enough there is a massagers and Adult toys section on their site linked for anyone to see.  Over 30 products.  Quite a bit less than Walgreens, but I was still disappointed.  CVS and Walgreens will not see my business any time soon.

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This leads me to quick take #2.  So I think, ok what about Rite Aid, I bet they have gone this route too.  To my pleasant surprise, Rite Aid is NOT going the same route as CVS and Walgreens.  No tabs for "Sexual" anything, but under Health info there is a link to Reproductive Health.  So of course, I was curious to see if they put these types of items under this category. I took a look.  There are no links to any of these types of products and I definitely commend Rite Aid for not having gotten into the Adult Toy and Vibrator industry.  

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Which leads me to quick take #3.  Rite Aid had some links and information on infertility on their site.  Knowing quite a few people who struggle with this issue, I was pleased to see something of this nature.  They linked to an agency called Resolve, which is fine if you want to go with the "traditional" infertility treatment course, but I was disappointed to see there was no NFP link.  But then again, they are a company that deals with the pharmaceutical companies on a regular basis.  NFP and a "natural" route may lessen Rite Aid's consumers' interest in birth control, or potentially turn them away from the drugs used for IVF.  Maybe I will send a letter to Rite Aid requesting NFP links on their site under the infertility section.  Couldn't hurt, right?  CVS and Walgreens do have some info on infertility as well, to be fair.  It just isn't right there when you first look at "reproductive health."  Probably because the heading on their respective websites is pregnancy.

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Dear little Hannah is going to be one next week.  I haven't even figured out what I will be getting her for her first birthday, nor have I figured out what I will be doing for her party.  So behind on this.  I'm guessing I'm so unprepared because I am still not quite yet settled at my parents' house and also that with each successive  child, it is difficult to figure out how to make it special and different.  My only thought right now is that she loves to play with her Nemo ball.  She points and says "ba!" any time you put her on the floor in the play room.  I'll have to figure it out soon.  Her party is next weekend!

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Had a really bad day Wednesday.  The kind where you cry at the drop of a hat, little things set you off, you snap at your kid because you can't take them not listening to you by the fourth time you ask them something, feeling like a horrible parent kind of day.  I was almost in tears by 10am.  I had my moments where I couldn't take it and EVERYTHING set me off.  How many times do I have to ask the kids NOT to feed the dog?  Am I not letting the girls be independent enough to do some things on their own? Ok so that last question is really for the three year old.  The girls were exhausted by the end of the day and I was just so glad to put them to bed.
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On a whim, my hubby and I decided to take a trip up to York's Wild Animal Kingdom on Thursday.  He decided he needed a day off and so after I got out of work we had a picnic lunch in the back of the car followed by a ride up to York, Maine.  I am not someone who does things spontaneously very often, probably something that hubby would like me to be a bit more open to.  It was really a big splurge for us, sad to say, but I was tired of feeling like I couldn't remember when we last took a day trip as a family.  I had a really great time.  There was an elephant who played the harmonica and painted,  Alicia got a close up view...

There were lemurs, kangaroos, geese, parrots, Bengal tigers and more.  We had a good time feeding the deer, but MAN are they aggressive.  Here I am trying to fend off one that was trying to get the feed right out of the machine after I put the money in.  This deer was actually there before I even turned the knob to get the feed!!!

 Here's me with the ladies feeding some more deer...

Ever since watching Charlotte's Web, Alicia has wanted us to get her a pig.  Thankfully there were not a lot of pigs at this zoo, but there were a two that were far away and we could not feed.  Phew!  However, she did really enjoy feeding the goats.  She's sure to ask for a goat next...

What a great time we had. 

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Cannot believe it is September!!!  WHAT HAPPENED to the summer!?!  I definitely need to be sure that no matter how busy things get that I don't forget to take time to enjoy time spent with my girls and hubby - even just taking the ladies to a simple place like a water park would be great.  Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend everyone!  If you are in Northern Massachusetts, don't forget to check out the Feast of the Three Saints in Lawrence, MA.  We will be there!  I'm hoping for two things... 1.  that this year Alicia doesn't get very freaked out by all the booms.  2.  that they don't drop the wiggle worm Hannah when we hand her up to go on the float for her first time at the feast!!!

Seven Quick Takes Friday (7)

Thanks to Jen at Conversiondiary.com for hosting.  Hoping to get back to more blogging next week, but this first week after the move has been hectic.

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I left our previous house a mess.  Wasn't proud of it, but having packed until 3:30am in the morning the night before our move, I just didn't have the chance.  The day of the move the movers showed up early, my dad showed up later than I expected to pick up the baby, there were three trips to Hudson - two with the movers, and by the time we were finishing up the last trip by ourselves at 7pm, I just wanted to see my babies.  I missed them horribly with all the preparation for moving last week.  I planned on going back to clean, because I felt horrible leaving it the way I had, but I never did. 

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My parents' house - also a mess.  The living room has been taken over by toys - I think there are only two more boxes/items in the garage that need to be brought in and found a place.  The girls' bedroom is mostly set up for them.  Furniture in place, just need to hang a few more things on the wall and set up the closet.  Our room is a mess.  Still need to get things for us from the garage and the basement.  Once we are settled in another week or so, maybe then I can start on some other projects.  Projects I have been intending to do for quite a while.

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The weekend we moved, our parish priest announced in his homily that he is leaving to go to a new assignment at the Seacoast right after Labor Day.  Gee, just as we move closer to church.  Ok, so, it definitely isn't all about the priest, but he has done so much for the parish that it's difficult to imagine our community without him.  Will probably have another post on this at another time this month.  Really going to miss Fr. G.

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The first donation came in for the Jimmy Fund walk this week.  I'm really a bit nervous as there is only a little more than a month to go.  Must! Fundraise! Now!  Getting my letter in the mail is still on my to do list for this coming week.

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Jimmy Fund Walk Worry #2: I must do more walking so I can do the Jimmy Fund walk in mid September.  I'm horribly out of shape.  The great thing about having moved in with my parents is that even though my hubby gets home late, we should be able to start taking walks.  We went last night, not for very long, but I'm hoping it will help.  Will also have to start nightly walks with the girls after dinner.  Got to get ready to push that jogging stroller...

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Need to start preparing for Hannah's birthday party.  She turns one in just over a month.  How did THAT happen?  Time is flying by way too quickly.  Hoping to get invites in the mail sometime by the end of next week.

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Also need to start prepping for teaching Theology of the Body in the fall.  Haven't figured out when we will start teaching, probably sometime in September, so I have to check in with our deacon.  This fall we will be teaching part II, having split the curriculum into two sessions over the spring and fall.  Wow, the fall!!!  It's so crazy to me that the summer is almost gone.  Didn't do nearly enough relaxing...  But it does mean that football and hockey will be starting up again soon.  WOO HOO!!!!

Seven Quick Takes Friday (3)

Thanks to Jen at ConversionDiary.com for hosting Seven Quick Takes.  I like doing this every week because it forces me to sit down and write something.  I try to add topics as I think of them, even if it's well before time for a post...

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Had a really nice 4th of July weekend.  When we went to see the fireworks on the 4th, Alicia covered her ears the whole time because it was too loud, but she had a good time.  When we left to head home she said thank you and then again first thing in the morning, she woke up at 6:30AM!!!, she thanked me again.  How sweet is she?  She still is talking about them and saying that she had a good time watching the fireworks.  I'm hoping that in a few years, she will enjoy the booms although I know with me it took quite a while to actually enjoy them.  Hannah didn't seem to mind although initially we thought she was going to really NOT like it.  But she didn't let out a peep and was definitely was paying attention (mostly to the noise) because any time there was a boom she'd whip her head around to see what happened.  Below are two pictures of my ladies 4th of July weekend!

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In previous quick take posts I wrote about what's going on in some nearby public schools, ie. the graphic sex survey and condoms being handed out, both in middle school.  Well, just the other day I saw this quote:  “The preservation of innocence is not due to prudery, to fear, to love of isolation, but to a passionate desire to preserve a secret until God gives the one to whom it can be whispered.”  - Archbishop Fulton Sheen.  LOVE IT!

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My daughter's birthday was yesterday.  Went to go do pictures in the morning and Alicia was horribly shy!!  She has never been so disagreeable.  She wasn't throwing tantrums, just climbing in my lap, refusing to take pictures.  Eventually I chased her around which got her laughing and I'd run and grab her and bring her back.  The best pictures were caught when they brought in the Lego table for her.  Good grief.  She's never been like that.  Luckily we managed to get a few really great shots.   The rest of the day was nice - we went to visit her nana and then at night we had a small gathering at night to celebrate the actual day of her birthday.  She was very excited to have cake and then she played Candy Land for the first time.  (Hubby and I played after she went to bed.  A nice enjoyable game where you don't have to do much thinking.  AHHH!!!  It was GREAT fun - I think I was giggling almost the whole time!  We had wine as well, so I suppose that helps too!)

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My daughter's birthday party is tomorrow.  Below is a picture of her cake.  She LOVES Word World.  Preparing for her party was pretty time consuming this year.  I decided to create homemade word world coloring books for favors for the kiddos along with homemade sugar cookies, both using letter cookie cutters AND regular round sugar cookies with edible icing pressed onto frosting (DO NOT frost cookies or cakes when it is 90 degrees in your house - things melt and don't look all that great!), alphabet pasta salad (because of the word world theme) and bake a two layer cake myself.  Not sure I'll do a theme next time around, although maybe I've already set the bar a little too high.  Next year maybe I'll keep it more simple.  Keep those expectations a little lower.  Will she remember this party next time around? 

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My intention has been to keep Alicia from taking afternoon naps since last Thursday.  Every night she would stay up asking to go potty several times until almost 11:30.  I was getting nothing accomplished.  It's been going really well, except for wetting the bed.  She sleeps through the night, although we also made her crib into a big girl bed on the 4th of July and she's started waking up earlier.  I actually teared up a little when  I saw her lying down on her big girl bed for the first time.  It seems like she's growing up so fast and she's only three!  But now she does get to play in her bedroom in the morning for a little bit which I think she likes.  We got her those silly safety rails on her birthday because she keeps falling out of bed - every night since we put it up.  Oddly enough, she doesn't always wake up when she hits the pillows we put on the floor in front of the bed.  The bed rail actually covers the whole bed, so I think we're going to just do without.  What's the point, really?  We could just keep her in her crib.  Here's a picture of her on her big girl bed.  I think convertible cribs are the way to go.

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I asked my hubby to get me a book for Mother's Day that I had heard about and really wanted to check out.  Since we set pretty low spending limits on our gifts, I figured this would be a helpful hint that should keep him within out budget guidelines.  So just this week, I finally finished the Book:  The 10 Habits of Happy Moms by Dr. Meg Meeker (check out her web site here).  I really will have to reread it and jot down a few notes to remind myself in quick snippets what I've learned there.  The best one yet is Say "No to Competition".  Best advice EVER, at least I think.  Comparing ourselves to other moms doesn't help anyone.  GREAT advice.  So, I also got my hubby "Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters" for Father's Day by the same author.  Just some of the parts he has read out loud to me are shocking.  I probably will have to read that one too, just to be sure we're on the same page.  I'm already doing some things wrong, but will have to start correcting myself.  The advice given is so good.  And this book, by the way, is scaring the crap out of my husband (he's posted about what he thinks so far here).  I think he's freaked out that he has to be our daughters' hero.  But I know he'll be great.  That's part of why I got him the book.  I bet on most levels, he already knows in his heart what to do to be a good daddy to little girls.

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Been really enjoying a few other Catholic bloggers.  Little Catholic Bubble and Bad Catholic are my faves these days.  Also Endless Strength.  It is nice to see opinions that are similar to mine on topics that are such hot topics and so divisive.  Most people that know me, and lots that don't know me for that matter, do not share the same views as me these days, so it is nice to know there are others who have the same strong opinion as me.  My first controversial blog post titled When Disagreement Equals Phobia which I just posted this week produced very little in the way of comments.  I really thought people would be very negative and tried to brace myself for it, but I was even more shocked that there weren't many comments at all.  Maybe people didn't know what to say, maybe people were taken aback by my feelings on same sex marriage, or maybe they thought here we go again with those Catholics.  I try not to be preachy in my blogging, but give an honest perspective of why and how I came to the views I have.  Anyway, these bloggers above (I've also linked to them on my bloggers page) that I read help to inspire me and sometimes even give me some fuel for thought.  Thanks for writing and sharing your thoughts and lives on your blogs.  It is great inspiration and comfort.