A blog about faith, intentional living and the joys and struggles of married life.
Babies change EVERYTHING. Some would even say that having a baby ruined their marriage and I would have to agree with them. I love my daughter as well as the life my husband and I are building with her, but that doesn’t mean my pre-baby life isn’t ruined. In fact, it’s been demolished.
I can never go back to life before kids…never. From the moment my daughter was born until the day I leave this world, I will forever be a mother.
I’m sure that there are lots of embarrassing and awkward moments that motherhood will bring, but so far pumping in public has taken the cake. As other mothers who have nursed can empathize, the first few times you nurse in public are quite uncomfortable.
My experience has been no exception. Yes of course there are nursing covers to aid with modesty and I always use one, but really who are we kidding? Trying to get some squiggly baby to nurse while smothering them with a sheet is hardly ideal. Plus, there is the self-consciousness that comes with the whole ordeal. I mean really the only thing keeping the entire world getting a free peek at your breasts is a thin, flimsy parcel of fabric. Oh and the nursing covers they sell…it can’t be any bit conspicuous. Nope. It has to be some bold pattern covered in bright pink flowers (at least mine is).
The time is upon us…it’s the season of New Year’s resolutions. Another opportunity to start fresh and recreate ourselves, but before we rush into the vast arena of resolution clichés (you all know them…quit smoking, eat healthy, loose weight, etc.) maybe we should take a moment and reflect on what area of life we really hope to grow in.
There is nothing wrong with resolving to get fit, but what if in addition to that we decided to push ourself to grow in other ways…more lasting ways?
What if we chose to focus the hopes of our future-selves on our spiritual life or family life? And what if instead of just making some obscure blanket statement that is destined to get lost in the cracks of our day-to-day lives we actually made a plan of how we could grow in such areas?
For example, instead of just stating that we are going to get healthy we could stand firm in our commitment to working out 2-3 times a week. Or instead of exclaiming that we want to grow in holiness, we could resolve to personal prayer for ten minutes a day or sign up to do a holy hour once a week. This gives us a measurable to goal in which we can mark our progress.
I’m all for New Year’s resolutions and I love the notion of a fresh start. That being said I think our resolutions should be meaningful, purposeful and attainable.
Instead of one single resolution for the year, I like to come up with a broader theme for the year and then create mini-goals I can put my focus towards each month.
One year my theme was to find balance. One month I spent focusing on developing my prayer life, another month I honed in on cultivating my friendships, and in another my energy was spent on eating healthier. Personally I’ve found that this approach helps me to stick with it as I can continue to evaluate my progress throughout the year and I have an easy mantra to refer back to.
What’s your 2015 focus and how do you plan to stick with it?
It’s no secret that motherhood is challenging. It’s the most challenging job I’ve ever experienced. Still, it wasn’t like this was any sort of well-kept secret. People told me it would be tough, that there would be days when I would just want to cry and tear my hair out all at the same time. Just like they told me that marriage would have it’s rough patches, but for some reason I never listened to them. I guess I just thought they were exaggerating or too cynical or whatever.
The truth is they were all right. There is one thing that they didn’t tell me, though. One aspect that I wasn’t prepared for. That was how much the trials and victories of motherhood would alter my spirituality.
There isn’t much in the world that still surprises me. Admittedly, I am a fairly cynical person by nature. That being said, there are a few common courtesies that I would have assumed others would be privy to during this pregnancy. Now before I sound like a total diva…allow me to explain.
You don’t need to be Catholic for long, or even study its theology in any sort of depth to realize that there is no shortage of misconceptions about Catholicism. As a former theology teacher and missionary, I’ve encountered many people who think they know the Catholic Church, sadly they hold so many misunderstandings about our beliefs and teachings. Not that I can blame them…many Catholics don’t understand their faith. Naturally it seemed fitting to put together a list of the common misconceptions I hear about the Catholic Church. Sure there are plenty more than this post covers, but these are the ones that I have most often been faced with explaining.
While some women may revel in the process of creating a baby registry, swooning over all the cute and little clothes, scanning every item that fits their fancy. I had quite a different experience. I started out hopeful walking into Buy Buy Baby that fateful afternoon with every expectation it was going to be one of the more enjoyable parts of this pregnancy. After all what isn’t great about creating a formalized list so the world will know what you want other people to buy you…because just straight up asking for stuff, well that would be rude. Little did I realize how much I had greatly underestimated the power of pregnancy hormones. Continue reading
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