7 Quick Takes Friday, vol. 35

A (mostly) twins Quick Takes:

~1~

The boys have improved by leaps and bounds with the rice cereal!  They now regularly eat the whole bowl.  Currently we're doing two tablespoons of the cereal mixed with two to three tablespoons of their formula.  They only get it once a day right now.  It seemed to take us so long to get to this point that I haven't really pushed anything more.  But ... I did buy some green beans for them the other day.  I think we'll take the next step this weekend!

~2~

Food is kind of a boring topic.  Well, I find it exciting, but you may not.  That's okay.  What is more exciting is how much they are moving!!  Peter can drag himself forward, spin himself around on his tummy, and he occasionally manages to get on his knees and rock a little bit.  He's not real stable on his knees though, so it doesn't last long.  But with the scooting, I've been surprised a few times at how far across the room he can go.

Ethan just recently started moving a bit more.  He can go backwards, but not forwards, which results in him sometimes getting stuck under things.  He has been working hard on pushing himself up on his toes.  He ends up holding himself up on just his hands and toes with his butt up in the air ... and he can stay there for more than a few seconds.

I really need to get some pictures of Ethan on his toes.  It's too cute!

~3~

Peter is a rolly-polly.  Even changing his diaper is a challenge.  He wants to always be on his tummy.  I admit that life must be more interesting from that perspective, but I didn't expect such acrobatics during diaper changes.  Oh my!  I'm getting better at getting him dressed that way, but I don't think I'll ever be able to put a diaper on him while he's on his tummy.  And now he's starting to try and turn himself around on the changing table.  A challenging child for sure!

~4~

I've started the big daycare search again.  I have a couple appointments next week with places that both have waiting lists.  Glad I'm starting six months early.

~5~

I bought a big storage container last weekend to pack up all the boys' newborn, 0-3 month, and 3 month clothes.  In the process I found a small stack of preemie diapers that they grew out of before we could use them.  Wow were they small!!  What a reminder of how much they have grown!!  Speaking of which, we have moved into the 6-9 and 9 month size clothes.  Some fit nice, some are really, really big; pants especially are big.  It's nice to know that they have room to grow in this size.

~6~

The boys are not yet sitting up independently.  I don't know when this is supposed to happen but I think if you go by their adjusted age they should be close to that.  They aren't though.  But that's okay, they'll do it when they are ready.  Obviously they are doing plenty of other things!!

I will say, though, that I may need to unsubscribe to the emails I get about "what your baby is doing at x weeks/months."  Those emails are already talking about lowering the crib mattress and baby crawling and pulling themselves up to a standing position.  Um, yeah, not my kids.  Those emails always seem to be MORE than a month ahead of where my boys actually are.  I'm still waiting for them to hold their own bottle.

~7~

Not related to the boys, but I had to share: Things are moving with our house.  I can't divulge details yet, need to wait until a few more things are finalized, but it might be very soon!  We have started the serious search for a new house!!

For more Quick Takes visit Conversion Diary.

Religious Freedom Being Threatened

The Obama administration recently announced that all employers must pay into insurance policies that cover abortion, contraception, and sterilization procedures.  This includes all Catholic employers.  There is an extremely narrow exception, so narrow that the vast majority of Catholic employers are not exempt.

This smacks in the face of our religious liberties and freedoms.  As Catholics we morally object to contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion.  It entirely goes against our beliefs to support any of these things.  Under this new HHS policy Catholic Churches, Catholic hospitals, Catholic charitable organizations, and other Catholic organizations will be required to pay for these procedures and treatments despite the fact that the Church morally objects to them.

All people of faith should be disturbed by this ruling, Catholic or not.  Even if this particular ruling does not affect you in particular, it is only the beginning.  It only takes one step to get the ball rolling.

So I urge you to sign the petition found on this St. Michael's Society website: Support Cardinal-designate Dolan Sign the Religious Freedom Petition.  After you sign it, share it with your family and friends.

This administration has been working hard to chip away at religious liberty and freedom in our society.  This needs to stop.  The government should not be forcing religious groups into morally objectionable policies.

March for Life

Today is the National March for Life in Washington, DC.  Hundreds of thousands of people will be there to march to the Capital steps to protest the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal in this country throughout all nine months of pregnancy.  May God bless all those who are marching today.  May their witness bring about change in the hearts of politicians and advocates of abortion.

cartoon from Umbert the Unborn 

Wordless Wednesday

Peter (on left) and Ethan
Jan. 15, 2012

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Zachary!

Can't believe it's been 3 years!  We miss you every day.  Sweet, little Zachary, pray for us!

Wordless Wednesday



Ethan finished the WHOLE bowl!!  1/9/2012



I don't need no stinkin' blanket.
Peter, 1/9/2012

Look at me, I'm so cute.
Ethan, 1/9/2012

My Saint for 2012

I went over to the Saint's Name Generator this weekend, said a prayer for the saint who would choose me this year, clicked the button, and out came:

St. Anthony of Padua

An interesting choice!  He's a popular saint and yet I realized I didn't know him all that well.  Of course, I knew him as the saint for "lost things," but otherwise I was surprised at the things listed under his patronage:

Patronage: Against Infertility; American Indians; Amputees; Animals; Elderly People; Faith in the Blessed Sacrament; Lost Articles; Mariners; Oppressed People; Pregnant Women; Travellers.

I did a Cursillo retreat in 2009 and my table was the Sts. Anthony and Jude table (we were lost and hopeless souls!).  I've been interested in St. Jude since, but didn't think much about St. Anthony.  I guess it is time I did!

So I will be spending 2012 praying with St. Anthony, getting to know him better, and asking for his intercession when I have prayer intentions.

Want a saint for the year?  Check out the Saint's Name Generator.  Also on that page are links to why Catholics pray "to" saints, how the Church chooses saints, and what a patron saint is.

7 Quick Takes Friday, vol. 34

~1~

Week one of sabbatical project has started.  I hope it will go well.  By day two I was starting to wonder if I was crazy to try working at home with two 7 month old babies and no day care.  Still too early to tell.  If anyone local wants to come visit during the day you're welcome to come during non-nap times.  The boys would love it!

~2~

I started a new blog just for my sabbatical project.  If you're curious about what it is or how it's going, I'll be journaling my way through the sabbatical over there.  You can go to Music Recitals Project to see more.  It's not a very creative name, so if you have suggestions, I'm all ears.  I'm not attached to the current name at all.  Seriously: not. at. all.

~3~

Also this week, I'm back on the wagon.  That is, the weight-loss wagon.  I've fired up the old Lose it! app on the iPod, weighed myself on Sunday, and started counting calories.  Man, I'm hungry!!  I also have a support group on Facebook that a group of friends started, so I'll have some accountability this time.  And motivation!

~4~

The boys and I went for a walk on Wednesday morning.  It's a little too cold for walking the neighborhood, so we went to the mall to walk before the stores opened.  I barely made it.  We had a pooping episode in the morning that required a change in clothes and an unexpected load of laundry and then when I got to the mall I had to remember how to unfold the very big and very heavy double stroller.  It took me a while to remember how the wheels fanned out, but I finally got it.  I was determined to get my walk in and not be foiled by a stroller!  I do love the stroller, though!  It is great: turns easily, is very smooth, looks comfortable for the boys.  But man is that thing heavy!

~5~

I got a Kindle for Christmas!!  It was totally unexpected.  I had been looking at them, but couldn't decide which I wanted.  Did I want the basic, original Kindle or the Fire?  Did I want 3G capabilities?  Did I want to wait a year and see if they released a Fire with 3G?  Maybe I should look at the Nook?  But all my questions got answered for me: Hubby got me the Kindle Fire.  So far I'm loving it!!  I downloaded a whole bunch of free Kindle books and am currently reading The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus (I also got free e-books by Aquinas, Belloc, Ignatius of Loyola, John Henry Newman, and a few others).  Hubby downloaded Angry Birds and started playing Words with Friends.  Currently he may use it more than I do.

I also like that I can get Facebook and my email on it, plus I'm enjoying the Pulse app that comes automatically with it.  Pulse is a little like an RSS feed, but mostly just for newspapers and magazines (current events), though you can also set up part of it to show you the links your friends post on Facebook.

I realized the other day that one of the best features of this is that when I travel I only have to bring the Kindle with me and not my whole laptop.  Bonus!!

~6~

Speaking of Christmas, we had a great Christmas visiting my family in Atlanta.  Everyone was there for Christmas day: my parents, all four of us kids along with two spouses, a fiance, and a girlfriend, four grand-kids, and my aunt who just recently moved (back) to the Atlanta area.  Opening gifts was overwhelming, probably because my two children aren't old enough to do anything and have no idea what is going on, so I felt as if I was constantly being brought gifts from my niece (6) and nephew (3).  Boy were those two excited!!  It was a fun day and very relaxing.  My family is always laid back during holidays, just hanging out, catching up, playing with the little ones, watching football, and enjoying a nice meal together.  And it was wonderful to have everyone there!

How was your Christmas?  Did you travel or stay home?  See extended family or celebrate with your immediate family?  Any special traditions?

~7~

My husband has already accomplished one big goal this year: re-organize the garage so the van will fit in it.  Success!!  The garage was already pretty well organized and neat (for a garage) but there was really only space for the two cars.  Now that we sold one of the cars and Hubby re-organized things, the van fits!!  That is quite an accomplishment if you know the neighborhood and kinds of houses in this area.  Garages are small!  The van barely fits, but it's in there.  Now that the weather is turning colder, this will be a good thing.  I don't want to deal with doors frozen shut early in the morning when we have to go somewhere (no repeats of what we had on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception trying to get to an 8am Mass ... no surprise, we were late).  And it was snowing all day while Hubby was working in the garage, thankfully mostly flurries or heavy flurries with the occasional moments of accumulating snow.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary.

Our 2011 Family Letter with Additions

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas!!  We hope everyone has had a good year and has much to celebrate this Christmas season.  We certainly have much to be thankful for in our family.

At the end of 2010 we announced that we were expecting identical twins.  On May 30 we welcomed our two little boys, Peter Xavier and Ethan Alexander, into our family.  We feel incredibly blessed to have them in our lives.  Their arrival came after several interesting months that included two hospital stays (thankfully short ones), approximately four months of bed rest (made better by many incredible friends who helped Kerri out), and eventually a c-section delivery (which went very smoothly).  The boys have been growing well, learning to roll over, smiling nice and big, talking up a storm, and completely changing our lives!

The birth of our twin boys is definitely the biggest news of 2011 for us, yet the year was filled with many other events as well.

In early February we had the privilege of going down to Atlanta to surprise Kerri’s mother on her fifth anniversary of being cancer free.  We were so happy to be able to be there for such a joyful occasion.

In the spring Kerri learned that she had received her promotion to Librarian I, the highest rank for librarians at the university.  This was a great accomplishment!

In July we celebrated Peter and Ethan’s Baptisms surrounded by family and friends.  We were so happy to be able to welcome our two boys into the Catholic Church surrounded by so many loved ones.

In October we grieved the death of Chris’ paternal grandmother.  All four of us attended her funeral in Remington, IN.   She lived a long life and will be missed by many.

This fall Kerri and several friends began a new blog called Catholic Sistas (www.catholicsistas.com).  Although a relatively new blog, it has already been getting a lot of traffic and select articles have been linked to from some well-known Catholic sites, including New Advent and the National Catholic Register.

Also this fall, we put our house on the market.  We hope the New Year will bring an offer so we can begin the search for a new home for our family.

As we look forward to the New Year, we feel lucky that Kerri will have the opportunity to work from home the first six months of 2012.  She will be on sabbatical and the boys will be able to be home during that time period.  Hopefully, Kerri will find a way to get some work done while surrounded by such cuteness!! 

Addendum:

As we begin 2012 we have a lot to look forward to.  We'll have a new niece arriving sometime in February and another new niece or nephew arriving in June.  Wedding plans will also be underway as Kerri's sister gets ready to wed in 2013.  Also we'll have the opportunity to once again travel to Hilton Head  in the early fall for a week with Kerri's family.  At about 15 months old, the boys will have such a fun time seeing the beach and the ocean for the first time.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!  Much love from our family to yours,

Chris, Kerri, Peter, and Ethan

The Boys' First Christmas
Chris with Ethan and Kerri with Peter

For the Feast Day of the Holy Innocents

For today's remembrance of the Holy Innocents, I have a blog post up at Catholic Sistas called Protectors of Life or Threat??  Come on over and visit.  If you like what you read, please consider sharing with others via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or other social media.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Day and is still enjoying the Christmas Season.

7 Quick Takes Friday, vol. 33

~1~

The boys are doing really well!  They had a doctor appointment earlier this month, 6 month well visit.  They are both progressing well and are very close together in all their measurements.

Peter, 6.5 months

Peter weighed 15 pounds and 4.8 ounces, 10th percentile for his age.  He is also 26 inches long, which is in the 25th percentile.  Pretty good!  I'm pretty sure his stats at his earlier appointments were all in the 5th-10th percentile ranges.  His head is 43 and a half centimeters, which is in the 50th-75th percentile range. Oh my!!  He definitely gets his head size from my side of the family!

Ethan, 6.5 months

Ethan weighed 15 pounds and 5.2 ounces.  Basically the same, only four tenths of a difference from his brother.  Obviously he's in the same percentile range as Peter.  Length-wise he's 25 and a quarter inches, only 3/4 of an inch smaller and yet that puts him in the 5th percentile.  It's amazing what a difference of less than an inch does.  His head is exactly the same as Peter's.  My boys have big heads.  That does not surprise me in the least.  

~2~

Just before Thanksgiving we bought a mini-van.  When we did we did not trade in Hubby's car.  Instead he decided to sell it himself.  He had some leads that didn't work out so finally he put it up on Craig's List.  Within the first 24 hours we had several inquiries.  He made arrangements with someone to come check out the car last Sunday.  Just before they came over, he went to move the car into the driveway and it wouldn't start!  We've never had an issue with the car.  Never!!  He figured it was the battery and told the person who showed up to look at it that he would replace it and let them know so they could come test drive it later.  I was convinced that they wouldn't be back.  But Hubby replaced the battery that day, the potential buyers came back, test drove it, made an offer, and we made the deal!  Monday Hubby took care of the paperwork and when I got home from work that evening the car was gone.  Yay!!

We were so excited to once again sell something on Craig's List quickly!!  Maybe we should put the house on there!

~3~

Speaking of selling the house, our Christmas decorations are minimal this year.  And since we're also traveling south for Christmas we decided not to put the tree up.  However, we have a faux ficus tree in our bedroom that became a temporary alternate Christmas tree while I was wrapping gifts:

2011's temporary "Christmas" Tree

~4~

The boys got out a lot this week.  The bank and the mall with Dad on Monday and then a few parties, errands, and visits with me the rest of the week.  And I should note here that we are finally getting on a nap schedule!!  So with all the trips we have done this week, I've been trying to be in the car when they are tired since they fall asleep anyway.  It makes it easy.  Wednesday worked great!!  When they started getting tired and were ready for a morning nap, I got them in the car and we headed out to my in-law's.  We got there a little over an hour later with two well-rested babies and just in time for lunch.  They were great for a couple hours, got to eat, and then when afternoon nap time approached we headed back home.  It was perfect!

~5~

I had a girl's night out on Wednesday evening.  It was one of the best ever.  And the reason why??  One word: chocolate!!  We met at a friend's house.  Our meal was small, just a simple salad, some meatballs, and goat cheese and pita bread.  It was all yummy.  Oh, and wine, of course!!  But the main part of our gathering was really dessert: chocolate fondue.  We had marshmallows, fruit, pretzels, angel food cake, and some little cookies.  Our hostess's husband also made some chocolate Oreo truffles for us that were amazing.  Chocolate, wine, and good friends!  Doesn't get much better than that.

~6~

I must take a moment to share something serious.

Last week a friend of a friend decided to abort her 20 week baby after a prenatal test showed the baby had Downs Syndrome.  Many, many, MANY friends prayed all weekend for this mom and her baby.  She originally had an appointment last Friday that was cancelled because she was too far along; she was rescheduled for Monday.  She had offers from friends to pay her medical bills and many offers from people willing to adopt the baby.  Lots of prayers went up over the weekend, no word Monday, more prays from countless people, still no update Tuesday ... we all continued praying that she didn't go through with it.  Wednesday we finally got an update.  It was not good news.  Please pray for this mother: she needs prayers as she is in the hospital now with excessive bleeding.  And continued prayers for her as the emotional impact hits her later.

Today about 90% of babies diagnosed with Downs Syndrome are aborted.  Unfortunately, the tests are not 100% conclusive.  I discovered from friends as we all prayed for this girl that many of them had been given Downs diagnoses for their babies only to have the baby born without Downs.  Downs children can live very joyful, healthy lives and bring lots of joy to those around them.  There is also a very long wait list of parents waiting to adopt Downs Syndrome babies.  Abortion is never the answer, it just ends the life of an innocent child.

Please include this mother (because she is a mother whether she accepts that or not) in your prayers.  And please also pray for the little baby girl who is now in Heaven embraced by our Blessed Mother and surrounded by the Father's love.

~7~

Finally, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  I hope you get to spend the holiday with loved ones.  I would like to invite anyone who has not been to church in a while, who has fallen away from their Catholic faith, or who has never attended a Catholic Mass and is interested in Catholicism to come to Mass on Christmas.  The Midnight Mass is wonderful, but if it isn't feasible for you most churches will have several Christmas Eve Masses and will offer at least one or more Masses on Christmas Day.  To find out what Mass times are available at a Catholic Church near you go to www.masstimes.org.  

And if you have been away from the Church for a while, I invite you to give it a try again and make the steps to come back as a regular attendee.  You can find a whole bunch of resources to help you in your journey back home to the Church at www.catholicscomehome.org.

May your celebration of the birth of Our Lord and Savior be a joyful one.  Merry Christmas!

For more Quick Takes, visit Jennifer Fulwiler over at Conversion Diary.

Wordless Wednesday: Flight Practice

Ethan in back, Peter in the lead

[Almost] Wordless Wednesday

 Here's what we started in mid-November:

We're still working on it.

(Ethan pictured)

A Cherished Life

It was sad when , after announcing they were expecting their 20th child, the Duggar family received so much criticism.  All children are children of God, from the moment of their conception, and thus their life should be cherished and celebrated.  Why should a family that chooses to welcome however many children God sends to them be so criticized?  It's just sad.

My friend Colleen wrote a very articulate article on this topic in November at Catholic Sistas.  If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.

Recently, the Duggars lost the baby they were so excited to welcome into their family.  They will be having a memorial service today for the the baby that they named Jubilee Shalom.

This is a family that truly cherishes life!!  Life at all stages.

It's a beautiful thing.

I was so pleased to see that they would be honoring their baby in this way.  Not only that, but it's being reported nationally that they named the baby and are having this memorial service.

Although I find practices like this common in my Catholic circles, I know miscarriage and pregnancy loss is still very much a private and hushed topic in our society overall.  The idea of naming a baby that was lost so early is still a foreign concept to the general population.

I hope the many critics of the Duggars will think twice before they criticize them again.  It is extremely painful to go through a loss, regardless of how many children you have.  A life is a life is a life.  The Duggar family knows this better than most people.

Being a mom of three babies already in heaven, I sympathize with the Duggars; my heart breaks for them right now.  But I also hope that this loss will have a positive impact on those many critics.  I hope the critics will see how precious this little life was.  I hope they will see how special this child, little Jubilee, is to be given a name and thus an identity.  I hope they regret being so critical of a family which has done nothing but love and cherish each child God has put into their care.

And I hope that by naming this child and having a service in remembrance of her that people everywhere will  begin to come to accept this as normal in recognizing a life lost due to miscarriage or pregnancy loss.

Can you imagine how different our world would be if the naming and recognition of all children who die before they are born into this world was more readily accepted??  Think about that!

I have been lucky, I am surrounded by a community that has been nothing but supportive of my family as we struggled through three pregnancy losses.  In thinking about what the Duggars are going through at this time and what they are doing today, I couldn't help but reflect on the burial service we had for our daughter Brigit Ann just a year and a half ago.

I pray that the Duggars will find peace through their suffering and that they will cherish this opportunity to say goodbye to their precious child.  I also pray that others' hearts will be softened by the witness of the Duggar family.

Jubilee Shalom, you were most certainly a cherished life.  I pray that your short life will have a positive impact on our fallen world.  May you rest peacefully in the presence of Our Almighty Father and be comforted in the arms of our Blessed Mother.

Advent Wreath Link-up

Sarah over at Snoring Scholar asked for Advent wreath pictures.  So here's ours:

I took this just before we sat down for dinner on Monday night, as you can see if you look closely at the very bottom of the picture.  Next to the wreath, stuck in the napkin holder is the Magnificat Advent reflections book which, with two small babies around, we almost never get around to reading.

You may also notice that the candles aren't purple.  The day I went out to buy them I forgot to pick some up while I was at our local Catholic book store.  That happens to me a lot when I'm there!  Why?  Because I always run into someone I know, start talking, and then can't remember everything I intended to get.  I remembered later, by which time I was on the opposite side of town running errands.  So I ran into Michael's and burgundy candles were the best I could find.  At least I found a pink one for Guadate Sunday.

By the way, burgundy and pink were our wedding colors!  So it's all good.

I love our Irish wreath with the Celtic crosses on the candle holders and the other Celtic details.  My married name is very German, very different from my maiden name, so now I love incorporating as much Irish stuff into our family as I can.  Around St. Patrick's Day my husband even makes Irish soda bread now using my grandmother's recipe and my Our Lady of Knock rosary now sits on my husband's side of the bed for him to use when we say a rosary at night (which hasn't happened in a loooooooong time!).  Infiltration at it's best!

Happy Advent to everyone!

Blogging, Babies, Cars, and More

I missed Quick Takes this past Friday, but wanted to share a few things on this Sunday night. In the last week:

I wrote another post for Catholic Sistas and it got included in a "Best of Catholic Blogging" post at the National Catholic Register.  Totally blew my mind!  Catholic Sistas is being picked up fairly regularly now by  New Advent and by NCR and a few other Catholic sites.  It's very exciting to see it grow!  And I love being a part of it, all the ladies who are contributors are wonderful women that I love being able to call friends, even though I've never met any of them in person.

We have continued working with the boys on accepting eating rice cereal.  They don't spit it out as much as they did at first, but they aren't enjoying it much either.  The looks on their faces ... priceless!  It's still early, I don't mind taking my time.  It may be that they won't be ready until they are closer to 7 months old.

We bought a minivan.  I've driven it only 2 or 3 times now.  Just haven't had to go anywhere since we bought it and when we have gone somewhere, we were all together and my husband drove.  This is a big thing for me.  I love driving my small cars.  Luckily, the Honda Fit actually feels quite similar to the Honda Odyssey, so the transition isn't so bad.  But in 18 years, I'm going back to a small car!  I know, I know ... everyone tells me that I will love, love, LOVE my minivan and will never go back.  But I know myself, I will always like having a small car to zip around in.

You really can't "zip around" in a minivan.

We had Thanksgiving with a large group at my in-laws.  It was a good time.  And apparently everyone got assigned to bring desserts!  Luckily, Hubby decided to do something non-traditional: a sour cream-blackberry cake (very similar to a cheesecake) and macaroons (because he had lots of egg whites left over from the cake).  I think we may have been the only ones to not bring any of our dessert home with us.  If you were a pumpkin pie lover (which I'm really not) there was a feast of pumpkin pie there!

We also brought a cranberry sauce that Hubby made from real cranberries.  And then we brought most of it home.  So Hubby bought a small turkey on Friday and we had a small Thanksgiving feast ourselves.  When we sat down for dinner on Saturday night with turkey, potatoes, dressing, cranberry sauce, and green beans my husband commented that all this food was a result of wanting to use the cranberry sauce with something!!  Today he decided to make a corn casserole, so we repeated the feast again.

It's no wonder I need to lose weight!!  Has nothing to do with the babies anymore.   But I digress ...

I had hoped to do a Quick Takes on Friday and use it to share the things for which I am thankful.  Since I didn't get a chance to do that, I just wanted to say here how much I am thankful for my family this year.  It has been hard in the last few years to feel very thankful at this time of year.  This year was different!  I'm so thankful to have two little guys in my life and my wonderful husband.  Our lives are forever changed ... and it is a wonderful thing!

Speaking of the boys, we worked hard the last several days on trying to be on more of a schedule and have nap times.  I NEED nap times.  My sabbatical is just over a month away, if I can't get some nap times out of them I will never get any work done.  I think Peter will be easy to get on a schedule, he goes down for naps fairly well and sleeps well.  Ethan does not like naps.  But boy does he need them!!  By evening he becomes insufferable.  You'll probably see more posts on this topic in the future.  They have one more week of daycare and then we're full-throttle into getting into a schedule.

Finally ... Blessed New Year to you!!  Today we celebrate the beginning of a new Church year.  It's the First Sunday of Advent, the first Sunday in which we use the new translation of the Mass, and the first Sunday that my parish community moved back into our newly renovated space!  An exciting day all around.

Out of curiosity: How did using the new translation go for you at your parish today?  Would love to hear your comments, experiences, etc.

Not exactly a short update.  But if you made it this far, thanks for reading along!!  I hope everyone has a blessed and prayerful Advent.

Thoughts on the New Translation: Coming Soon to a Parish Near You

Today I have some thoughts on the new translation of the Mass up on Catholic Sistas.  Come on over and check it out.  I hope you'll give me some blog love over there as well and share any of your thoughts on the upcoming implementation of the third Roman Missal.

See you over there!!

7 Quick Takes Friday, vol. 32

~1~

We're getting to the end of my crazybusy week!  Phew, it's definitely been a full week!  I'm surprised at how well I've made it through.

~2~

We tried giving the boys rice cereal last weekend.  It didn't go all that well.  We opted to wait a bit longer.  It was funny though.  We started with Ethan who had absolutely zero interest and did a lot of crying during the process.  But while I was working with him, Peter was sitting in his highchair nearby watching me.  I saw how interested he seemed and noticed him opening his mouth.  So I tried it with him.  I got the spoon close to his mouth, he opened up, and he let me put some in. One taste, however, and he was no longer interested.  We tried with both of them again on Sunday and decided that we needed to have more time, and the coming week wasn't going to give us the time we needed (see #1 above).  So we'll try again in another week or so.  It'll be easier when one of us is home every day and not rushing off to work and school.

~3~

I ordered Christmas stockings for the boys!!  They are so cute!! I can't wait to put them up.  As a matter of fact, we're going to be out of town for Christmas and I think I'm going to bring their stockings with us.

~4~

I have finally been able to successfully feed both babies at the same time!!  I can save myself about a half hour in the morning by feeding them together.  They are finally at a point where they have more control over their heads and they don't dribble formula while they are eating.  It makes it easier to feed two at once when they aren't so messy.  I love knowing that we have achieved one small step toward a bit of efficiency.

~5~

Catholic Sistas has been getting lots of attention this week.  Monday's post about the Duggar's got a TON of interest with over 3,000 hits!!  All the posts this week have been getting high marks!  In addition, some other sites have picked up on Catholic Sistas posts and have been linking back to the site.  On Wednesday, the front page of New Advent had links to two articles on Catholic Sistas and, on Thursday, the National Catholic Register had an article on the "Best of Catholic Blogging" linking to a variety of blog posts including, at the very top, a guest post on Catholic Sistas.  Also on Thursday was the interview on my local Catholic radio station about the Sistas.  It's been a big week!!

Makes me a little nervous, I'm supposed to post on Monday.  Still working on that.

~6~

Speaking of blog posting, I wrote an article for the Libraries' employee blog that got posted on Wednesday. It's the second article I've written in a serious of articles about what library staff are reading.  Check it out if you have the time: What We're Reading: Sociology, spies, and Wal-Mart.  It was actually a fun conversation and I hope that comes across in the article.

~7~

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary.  Have a nice weekend!!

Tune in for Catholic Sistas

The founder of the Catholic Sistas blog will be doing a radio interview THIS WEEK!  And the best part: you can listen in, no matter where you are.

The interview will be on Thursday November 17 at 4:00pm Eastern time.  You can listen one of three ways.  If you are in the local area (Lexington, KY) you can tune in at either 1380 AM or 94.9 FM.

If you are not in the local area you can go to the website for Real Life Radio and click on the "Listen live" link.

The interview will last about 15 minutes.  We hope you'll tune in and hear more about the Catholic Sistas.  You can help us spread the word too by sharing the Facebook event with your friends list.

Thanks in advance for sharing this with others and for listening in if you can!!

Busy, Crazy, Crazy-busy

Last week went by way too fast.  I know I don't post on a regular basis, but I do usually try to get a Friday Quick Takes post in.  I like that it keeps me writing something, even when I have a busy week.  Last week was definitely busy!!  Suddenly it was Friday, I was walking to my office, and realized that Quick Takes was the last thing on my mind.

Oh well, it happens.  Moving on ...

I'm looking at another crazy-busy week this coming week.  Unfortunately that may mean no posts again.  But I hope that won't be the case.  I have so much I want to write about!!

I may be getting a very early start on my week.  The boys were a handful tonight.  They were obviously tired, but fighting it.  So we had to endure a lot of crying and unhappiness.  Suddenly during dinner they fell asleep.  Ethan was sitting in his highchair crying and suddenly he went silent.  It was so sudden I turned to look at him and was surprised to find him sound asleep.  Ah, to be able to fall asleep like that!!

Peter had been in his rocker chair and was being so fussy that Hubby finally picked him up and had him in his lap while he was eating.  Right after Ethan had zonked out, Peter's eyes started drooping.  He fell asleep on Hubby's lap!

We let them nap a bit, Ethan in his highchair and Peter was moved to a blanket on the floor.  They woke up about 30 minutes later.  A quick change, two bottles made, two babies fed, and they went right to bed.

I don't think we've ever put them down before 8pm.  But I couldn't deal with any more tonight.  So off they went.  I'm expecting them to wake me up at 6am tomorrow morning.

If so, it will probably be a good thing.  I need an early start for this coming week.  It'll definitely be a busy, crazy, and crazy-busy week!!