Catching Up Daybook

Outside my window:  Sunny, and absolutely freezing!  Wind-chill advisories are out for 25 below between midnight and tomorrow morning.

From the kitchen:  lots and lots of tea.  I'm lamenting the loss of my favorite tea ever!! It was a Trader Joe's seasonal vanilla and cinnamon tea that my sister gave me as a gift last fall.  I'm almost through a tin of holiday tea from my other sister, and after that…I have to go shopping!  Next year I'm stocking up!

…and meatless meals.  Lent inspired: tonight I'm making eggplant parmesan.  Last night I made spaghetti squash.  I usually make that with regular spaghetti noodles for the kids, but was surprised to discover I am completely out of noodles!  So, yes, shopping.

Living the Liturgy: Lent is here!  We got our ashes on Wednesday.  I won't complain about not having sugary drinks…like hot chocolate or honey in my tea…because that's what I gave up.  I'm not complaining.  I will say that having sub-zero-freezing-cold days to start this season off is very appropriate for my particular little sacrifice. ;)

I'm gearing up for next week's co-op.  I've got exciting craft plans that I hope will turn out to be fun for the kids.  With the ages ranging from 14 down to toddlers, I'm going to try to have something for everyone.  The theme is Lent!  So, jelly jars for "sacrifice beans".  And if I'm lucky, we'll make our own little pocket oratories!

Cute and Cuddly things:  This world needs more openness to LIFE.  Now, life causes messes and demands things of us.  Life is hard work.  But, I think we need to agree, life is also worth it!  What in the world am I talking about?

Puppies.  And newborn babies.  I wouldn't place them in that order except that in my extended family, they are coming in that order.  This afternoon I met "Cricket": my sister's brand new Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  If anyone is feeling depressed, can I just recommend a puppy?!  Sooooo cute!  Cuddly! Warm, soft, 8 weeks old.  I might have left a piece of my heart in my sister's living room.

Luckily, I get to bring one of these beauties home with me!  I'll take her!

And babies: my other sister is OVER due.  C'mon little bambini--come out!! Prayers for a safe delivery welcome!  My sisters are all champion birthers--none of them have had an epidural.  I'm pretty sure none of them ever screamed profanities either.  So wish I were part of their club.  Well, I guess I've got quantity over quality on my side. lol

If you aren't won over by the pictures, you may not be an animal person.  Or maybe just not dogs?  I get it.  But I'd still recommend houseplants and flowers.  Must infuse winter--February in particular--with LIFE!!  (Unless you're an avid bird watcher and backyard wildlife observer.  Then you don't have to bring anything in and I give you a pass.  Here's looking at one of my favorite sisters, who is very bursting with life--inside and out!  But not so much on pets.)

I am reading: Too many books on my nightstand!! Sally and Sarah Clarkson's "The Life Giving Home".  Recommended by Elizabeth Foss.  Gleaning for inspiration…my eldest daughter might be terrible about mocking Sally's sweet tone.  It might be a little cheesy, but she's right (Sally, not my daughter) about what makes a home and why creating one is so important.  That and an amazing little classic "Searching For and Maintaining Peace" by Father Jacques Philippe.  Got worries and anxieties? Read.

Baby Reveal (yes, I'm just sneaking this in here):  How to say this?  I had my 20-week ultrasound on Monday.  I know I was confident, yes, some might even say smug, about "knowing" what I am having.  Just to brag give a little background on that confidence: I had no ultrasounds with my last two home births.  I got out the pink for Rosie and blue for Legolas.  No gender neutrals.  I went all in, including buying rose bedding for Rosie and Peter Rabbit for Legolas.  And I was RIGHT!  Both times, with SUCH CONFIDENCE.  I can't tell you how I just KNEW, but they felt 100% "girl" or "boy".

I thought it was the same this time.

I mentioned before that I had prayed for the intercession of St. Maria Goretti when her relics toured the US for the first time in history and landed at the parish church less than a mile from my home.  I prayed there twice and included prayers to her murderer, Alessandro.  When I discovered I had conceived a new baby within the week, I immediately began to think of my baby as "Maria".

Maria Grace, Maria Felicity…but always Maria.  Sometimes I'd play around with other names I love and put Maria in as a middle name.

For 20 weeks.

You know where this is heading.

The ultrasound!  With such confidence I told the ultrasound tech (who knows me pretty well by now) that it's a girl.  I actually mentioned that at least two or three times before she went for the "reveal".

And oh-my-baby-BOY!! It was NOT "Maria" in there!!!

I humbly, and really very joyfully relinquish my smug and confident role of baby predictor.  I was dead wrong!   This is me, eating my hat!

Truth?  It's been an adjustment to my brain to wrap my mind around "boy" when I was soooo sure "Maria" was my little one on the way.   But not an unhappy adjustment.  From the moment we saw, my husband and I burst out in laughter and tears of joy.  And the picture on our fridge looks JUST like Legolas!!  Too too cute!

So…I've got 20 weeks to work on boy names!

Have a great weekend!!