What a baby needs

What does a baby really need if he's to go on a trip away from home? Apparently, the entire trunk of our Mazda 6.

For our week-long trip to Louisiana for some family events, I think I packed most of Gabriel's room. Here is the list I made of Necessary Items for the trip:

• Short-sleeve onesies
• Long-sleeve onesies
• Lighter weight sleep jumpers
• Heavy weight sleep jumpers
• Socks
• Bouncer
• Bathtub
• Maya wrap
• 50-pack of diapers
• Full carton of wipes
• Large container of Boudreaux's Butt Paste
• Baby powder
• Baby shampoo
• Baby lotion
• Heavy blankets
• Lighter blankets
• Lightweight SwaddleMe
• Heavier fleece SwaddleMe
• Burp cloths
• Infant Tylenol
• Gas drops
• Bulb syringe
• Baby vitamin drops
• Breast pump
• Breast pump cleaning steam bag
• Milk storage containers
• Frozen milk for bottles in bottle travel cool pack
• Bottles

I seem to remember my mom warning me that Michael and I would end up taking a carload of baby stuff with us wherever we went. It's still hard for me to believe that my child needs more stuff than I do! 

The funny thing is that I ended up forgetting lots of things in Houston because I was so worried about packing everything that Gabriel might need. My makeup, socks and dress shoes are among the items I'm doing without for the next week. 

Oh well, Michael always says I look better without makeup anyway. :)

Explosions. Part Two.

Since Gabriel got his vaccination shots yesterday, he has been feeling poorly (read: he's been super-fussy all day.) For our quick trip to Babies 'R Us today, I thought that snuggling Gabriel into the Maya wrap would be soothing for him. Usually he loves being carried around in it. 

Well, Gabriel didn't calm down very much in the Maya wrap while we were in Babies 'R Us. In fact, he cried almost the entire time. After grabbing a baby gift for a friend, I ran to the diaper aisle to pick up a refill pack of baby wipes. Just as I grabbed the wipes, Gabriel (appropriately enough) let out a rich, juicy fart loud enough to elicit snickers from the rest of the shoppers on the aisle. I, too, started laughing at my gaseous little bundle of joy. 

That is, until I put my hand underneath him to adjust the Maya wrap a little and my hand felt something warm and gooey dripping through the cloth. Oh yes. Gabriel had exploded out both sides of his diaper and was dripping through the Maya wrap. 

I paraded through the store to the checkout counter with my howling, poo-covered infant strapped and dripping for all to see right in front of me. The checkout clerk looked at me sympathetically and commented (loudly, since Gabriel was having a conniption), "Good thing they're so cute!"

Once I finally made my escape back to the car, I realized that Gabriel had poo all over his onesie and all down his legs, too. Despite the help of a solitary burp cloth, I guess our car seat is now considered "broken in." 

Please just let me brag a little...

Today, Gabriel had his two month checkup with Dr. Bellah. I didn't find out (until Michael kindly reminded me) that Gabriel also had to get his first shots today. Yikes!

I pretty much became an anxious puddle of mush inside when I thought about my little boy get all of those shots (THREE!). I am not squeamish about shots myself, but thinking about other people getting them hurts my heart. (Also I should mention that at my son's two week checkup, he howled the entire time we were there, and there weren't even shots involved.)

To my surprise, relief, and infinite delight, however, Gabriel cooed and looked around happily for the entire appointment. He even rolled over when Dr. Bellah was doing the development check (Gabriel is a couple of months ahead of his age for that!) As for the shots, Gabriel did cry pitifully for about two minutes while he was being stuck, but he actually calmed down as soon as the nurse put him back in my arms. I was so proud. What a brave and sweet little baby he his!

He weighs over 10 pounds now, too. Wow! Dr. Bellah says that he is still a bit smaller than average, but that he is very healthy and is developing beautifully.

Furthermore, after the doctor's appointment Michael and I took Gabriel to visit Michael's old coworkers at NASA, and Gabriel stayed sweet and alert the entire time we were there, despite the fact that it was far past his lunchtime.

I am making sure to send God some humble thank yous from His humble handmaid today :).

New parent mistake = mass(ive) meltdown

Michael and I have taken baby Gabriel to mass with us since he was two weeks old. We know kids won't always be the most well-behaved churchgoers in attendance, but we're all sinners aren't we? :)

We actually got all three of us to church and in our pew by ten minutes before mass started. (That was something of a notable accomplishment for us lately.) As soon as our butts hit the pew, however, Gabriel started asking for dinner in a very loud and clear manner. Of course, being the far seeing, prepared parents that we are, we had a warm bottle ready to stifle the drama before Gabriel got fully into Angry Baby Mode. 

When Gabriel started howling, Michael nodded calmly to me and I immediately extracted a bottle for Gabriel from our diaper bag. I thought the bottle seemed a little wet when I handed it to Michael. It took until Gabriel started choking violently and spitting up milk all over himself that I realized that the bottle was wet with leaking milk. Michael had forgotten to assemble the bottle with the little-plastic-part-thingy that is supposed to regulate the flow of milk to the baby...

We suddenly had an angry 7 week old having a massive meltdown.

I ended up having to take our howling child into the bathroom to nurse him just as mass began. Thank goodness I happen to always have dinner on tap :). I enjoyed making several preteen girls who came into the bathroom for a mid-mass potty break highly uncomfortable (just kidding :). 

I missed most of mass today, since Gabriel takes about 30 minutes to nurse. When I did return to mass, Gabriel hollered and fussed with gas until communion. Thank goodness Michael and I were both able to get communion today! I needed some extra heavenly grace, which I feel I received in spades. 

By the way, Gabriel is feeling MUCH better finally. Thank goodness!

The Transporter haircut http://ping.fm/Qxxkx

The Transporter haircut

I finally coaxed my husband into letting me give him another haircut this weekend, and my inspiration this time came from Jason Statham of "The Transporter" fame.

(Quick backstory: Right after we got married, Michael threw me for a loop with the startling announcement that if I didn't cut his hair, it wasn't get cut at all. End of story. So now I am an amateur hair stylist. Watch out.)

We actually picked up a real movie on TV last night, "The Transporter" (remember that we don't have cable and our bunny ears reception is usually sketchy at best). I didn't watch more than 20 minutes of the movie, but it was enough to give me an idea for a new haircut experiment. Jason Statham sports a very short, almost bald cut in the movie. I noticed that his hair looked pretty good, and that he has a slightly receding hairline, like Michael :).

So...I convinced Michael to let me give him a Transporter haircut today. It actually wasn't too difficult to convince him, because he'd go practically bald if he could, just because that's the easiest and most comfortable cut he's found. I didn't go quite as short as the real Transporter, but I think I did a pretty fair job!

Do not grow weary of doing good

I have so much to learn about being a joyful servant, especially for my family. Becoming a mother has certainly brought that to my attention.

Changing diapers at 2am, scrubbing toilets, giving up sleeping more than two hours at a time, and fighting aisle traffic at the grocery store...None of these chores had any part of my happily-ever-after dreams of marriage and motherhood. And yet, they are now an inescapable and integral part of my life. (And I don't mean to imply that my husband never helps with any of these chores :)

Here I am, living out a "dream" of mine, and I realized recently that I've been using the wrong word to describe my life.

It's my vocation I am living out--not my dream. It's not living out our dreams that makes us happy and fulfills us; it's living out the specific vocation for which God has created each of us. I know that my vocation to marriage and motherhood will make me happier and bless me and others in my lifetime more than any other path I could have chosen.

I think that is where the idea of joyful service comes in. In my case, that means choosing to remember that every dirty diaper and every hour of lost sleep is working toward making me the woman I was created to be so that I can love and help every person I was created to touch with my life.

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."                                                

-Galatians 6:9 

 What an appropriate and helpful verse for a young mother like me!

A sleepy baby and mother :)

$5 Dinners?!

My friend Nicole just sent me this great blog that has tons of recipes and ideas for family meals that cost $5 and under.

www.5dollardinners.com

Michael and I just finished doing our 2010 budget, and we are all about saving more and spending less this year...This Website should help me out a lot in sticking to my groceries budget!

Maya Mama

Here's a picture of me and Gabriel hanging out in our Maya wrap. Many thanks to Matt and Lucy Coles for giving us such a great gift! Gabriel loves bumming around the house with Mom in the Maya. Today, we checked email, cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms, folded a little laundry and waltzed!

Feeling a little glamorous again

We went to the Booz-Allen Holiday Party on Saturday night, and we had a great time! Yes, we left sick little Gabriel with a good friend. and yes, I feel guilty. :)

I got to glam it up for the first time in a long time, and it felt pretty nice! Only one dress I own fits me right now, though. My new womanly curves definitely fill it out the little number differently these days!

We feasted on Brazilian fare for the evening, which meant a lot of rich, juicy meat--yum! I also had my first drink in about 10 months: a delicious rum punch. Even though I only drank one and a half glasses, it turned out that I happened to have one and a half glasses too many! Yikes! I guess I don't have a high tolerance for low-alcohol-content-girly-drinks. :)

Poor baby update

Little Gabriel is still suffering miserably from this cold. Michael and I (especially Michael) are pretty much beside ourselves with anxiety. We are such classic new parents with all of our anxiety and worrying.

If there is anything we could be doing to help listless little Gabriel aside from saline nose drops, sucking snot out frequently with a bulb syringe, using cotton balls to wipe out all of the eye gook, keeping a humidifier on, and--of course-- lots of cuddling and praying, please shoot me an email or comment and let me know!

Our pediatrician said that we are doing everything right, and that we should call back if things get any worse...

Haiti mission

I thought I would pass along this brave little mission in Haiti.

Katie Hermann, the 22-year-old sister of my dear friend Betsy, just left for Haiti a few weeks ago to work as a missionary with a mission called Moving With the Spirit. She is alive and well.

This mission is absolutely desperate for help. They just finished building an orphanage and were waiting to receive their first orphans when the earthquake hit. Now, they have truckloads of refugees sleeping on the ground at the mission. They have no running water and supplies are running out fast.

The Website for the mission is: http://mwts.org/missionhaiti/Home/Home.html

Pray for Haiti!

Poor baby

My sweet little boy is suffering from his first cold. What started as an occasional sneeze escalated in the past couple of days into runny eyes, a snotty nose, and one of those coughs where the poor little thing literally yells before coughing.

Michael and I went out and bought a humidifier, and we've dived into one of the best baby gifts anyone gave us: a "New Parent's Survival Kit" of things like saline drops, baby rub, and aspirators.

Please pray that Gabriel does not have to suffer very long with this cold!

Flat tire syndrome--not for me!

It seems to be the norm that so many of us are walking around with hearts bruised and broken by romantic relationships and meaningless sexual activity. Divorce, pornography, teen pregnancy, STDs, abortion. To borrow a favorite analogy from ToB theologian Christopher West:

"It's as if we're all driving around town in cars with flat tires. The rubber is shredding off the rims; the rims are getting all dented up; and we just think this is normal. After all, everyone's tires look this way."

Sexuality is not something I want to navigate using the views and beliefs of popular culture. Look where that gets one out of every two American marriages these days. Look where that gets 4,000 unborn children per day.

Pope John Paul II's revolutionary material, the Theology of the Body, reminds us that, "In the beginning, God didn't create sex and marriage to be like this." Before Adam and Eve's fall from the Garden, they loved one another as God intended a man and a woman to love one another. That's where the Pope begins: in the Garden. He shows us that our sexuality properly embraced--far from being something to ignore or repress--is the very root of our humanity, spirituality, purpose and happiness on Earth.

We are all growing up with what seems like a long and prudish list of "Do Nots", "Do Not Evers" and similar prohibitions for our relationships with the opposite sex. So few of us know--or try to find out--why those rules are there. Those "rules" protect our hearts and help us find purpose and happiness by pointing to God with our lives and relationships.

Pope John Paul II gives us an enlightened understanding of love and sexuality with ToB. Chastity and a desire for purity then become both natural and indispensable to our relationships. To borrow another phrase from Christopher West, John Paul II offers us a much-needed switch from legalism to liberty in the way we view our sexuality and relationship to the opposite sex.

Many Christians seem to shy away from theology in their spirituality. However, with absolute confidence and humility, I argue that the Theology of the Body is for everyone. I think that most Christians would agree that the point of being a Christian is to imitate Christ. The Theology of the Body is all about how to love as God intended us to in the first place: as He does.

Congratulations and apologies if you've stumbled through my amateur theologian ramblings. If you're a follower of this blog, however, prepare yourself for many more posts on this topic! The knowledge and understanding I've received from my study of the ToB has been so powerful in my life that I would not be Catholic, married, or a mom without it.

If I've inspired in you even a tiny spark of interest in ToB, my prayers are with you. I promise that God wants to use this material to enlighten, bless and enrich your life, no matter your age, station or vocation.

Sneak peek!

Here is a sneak peek at the beautiful pictures Jaycee Mills took of Gabriel last weekend. I will post the link to the photo viewer and also some photos on my blog whenever all of the pictures come back! :)

Photo shoot

Gabriel had his very own photo shoot at home this morning with fantastic local photographer Jaycee Mills. We had a blast! Jaycee was absolutely fantastic and I can't praise her enough! I promise to post pictures as soon as we get them back. 

One gorgeous baby boy!

Flirting with boys

When I married my husband (well, technically, when I started dating him :), I gave up flirting with boys.

Poor Michael. I've got a new man in my life now and I just can't help but flirt my heart out with him!

I smile and bat my eyes at Gabriel. I hug and kiss him all the time. I let him hold my hand whenever he wants. I ask him the same silly questions five times in a row in increasing octaves. I laugh when he farts.

Of course, my husband completely understands. After work, the man wants to do nothing but kiss and hold Gabriel until it's time for bed!

Who wouldn't flirt with THIS?!

By the way, how do you like our attempt at DIY Christmas-themed baby portraits? You should see the hysterically awful pictures we tried to do in a well-intentioned but horrifically-executed "baby couture" style...

Planned Parenthood building the largest abortion facility in the country - in Houston

Right here in my newly adopted hometown, Planned Parenthood is building a 78,000 square foot abortion center that will be the largest abortion facility in the country.

The center is a large, green, tiered building right off I-45. I've been watching them build it since I moved to Houston last year. The building is located right in the middle of poor black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.

-Luke 23:34

The sad thing for those who condone and support abortion is that--beyond the twisted logic denying in utero babies' personhood or championing mothers' "rights"--these people's hearts lack a understanding of the dignity of the human person that is incredibly freeing, fulfilling and purpose-giving. They don't know that there is so much more to life. That is, the dignity that comes from being created, in God's image, male and female. The precious knowledge that each of us is created with and for a special purpose by a God who [knows well] the plans he has for us, plans for good and not for woe, plans to give [us] a future full of hope" (Jer 29:11). No matter the circumstances of conception.

I don't mean to be abrasive or condescending to abortion supporters. I do mean that I hope for them--like I hope for every human being on Earth--that one day they will be set free by the truth and will live happy, holy lives of love that work for the kingdom of God by letting Christ work through them in the world.

New Year's resolution

Growing up, Michael and I both rarely attended catholic holy days of obligation outside of Sundays, Christmas and Easter. When we got married, we decided that we wanted to make holy days a priority for us as a couple.

I'm telling you this because it's still difficult for us to observe holy days sometimes, and the most recent one--The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God on January 1--was no exception. We decided to go to the 7:00 p.m. vigil mass  on Dec. 31, since we were going to be traveling the next day. Apart from the fact that we had a fussy one month old, we still hadn't packed for the trip the next day and it was very cold and rainy. In short, it was rather a tough decision to push away our excuses and actually go to mass that night!

But I'm so glad that we did.

At mass, Father Dominic pointed out again for us the chief lesson that we learn from Mary's example: how to humbly accept God and His will into our lives so that He can use us to "give birth" to love in the world. Like Mary, we may not know where we'll be going or what we'll face down the road, but that's where faith and

What a perfect way to begin a new year. God gives us the example of Mary to show us just what amazing things can happen in own lives when we open our hearts fully, totally, faithfully and fruitfully to God.

There is my new year resolution.

My New Mommy Craving: Bath-and-a-Book

Since becoming a mom I have a renewed craving for that elusive pleasure of life: a Bath-and-a-Book. Folks, they don't sell these at Babies 'R Us!

Too bad the hot water in my apartment runs out so quickly. I get three inches of hot water heaven before the faucet starts running cold! :( Ah, the joys of apartment living.

At least I got to have two wonderful baths last weekend at my parents' house. Gabriel's aunts and uncles took him off my hands (well, breasts to be exact) whenever I wasn't feeding him, and I got a little vacation of sorts over the weekend!