Why I Love My Husband (10)

He spent over an hour hanging nine different-sized frames on the wall in a perfect square while I played with Hannah and checked my email.

The next day, when I said, "Can you hang another frame for me?" he said, "Sure."

The following day, when I said, "I think we need to switch these two frames around," he said, "OK."

The man's a saint.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

You are our joy.

Our miracle.

Our greatest gift.

We love watching you grow. 

You make us laugh everyday.

We can't imagine life without you.

We can't believe you're ours.

We love you with everything we have.

Thanks for giving us the best year of our lives.

National Marriage Week

Did you know that National Marriage Week is coming up? February 7-14. Starting on Hannah's birthday and ending on Valentine's Day!

Well now you know-so what are you going to do about it???

I'm going to attend my first Mothers as Preschoolers meeting and hear a talk from a marriage therapist about "keeping romance alive after children."

I'm going to post lots of Why I Love My Husband posts that week.

I'm going to make his favorite dinner.

I'm going to find out what his favorite dinner is.....

I'm going to dig some of the silky little numbers that I got from my bachelorette party out from the back of the closet. (Did I just say that on a blog that my grandma and perhaps some seminarians read? Why yes I did.)

I'm going to celebrate my girl's first birthday (but that's just a coincidence).

I'm going to spend some time reading Betty Beguiles and her awesome tips and reflections on marriage and romance.

I'm going to pray for my husband, for my sisters' future husbands, for Baby Leo Hannah's (potential) future husband, for my friends' marriages, for single friend's who want to be married, and for a strengthening of all marriages in our country.

And I'm going to try my best to be more patient, more loving, more giving, and more affectionate. Not just this week but every day of our marriage.

But first, I'm going to hack into his email account (which is subscribed to my blog) and delete the email alerting him to this new post so I can have the element of surprise.

What are YOU going to do for National Marriage Week?

Deferring to God

What was that? That faint ache in my left side...... the kind of ache that only an NFPer would even notice. Oh my. Here we go!

I can't even count how many times I've been asked, "When do you think you think you'll have another?" since Hannah's been born. My answer is usually the same. "Well I haven't even had my cycles back since Hannah nurses so much, so we haven't even really thought about it. But we're obviously open to whatever God is calling us to."

But that little ache, that old familiar ache. Is Aunt Flo just around the corner? Am I ready for this?

Pregnancy and the year following it have been blissfully void of the worries of infertility. No need to worry when you're pregnant, obviously. And no need to worry when you can't get pregnant because your sweet, wonderful, beautiful little girl still doesn't sleep through the night and is only lulled back to sleep by your mammary glands.

The past two years have been wonderful.

But if by chance they are coming to an end...I have mental and spiritual preparation to do.

I totally get those people who say they are content with only one child. Hannah is perfect. Amazing. We stand in awe and disbelief every single day over the blessing she is to our lives. There are times I think, "I don't even need any more children-she's more than I ever imagined she could be." And there are just as many times I think, "Lord please let me do it all over again!" Times I feel a little rumble in my lower abdomen and am taken back to that magical place of time standing still while you sit and just hold your hand to your belly...until I realize it's just gas. Times I read a birth story and beg God to let me experience the birth of another baby. Times I get teary-eyed at the thought of Hannah never having a sibling.

It's no secret-I want another baby. I want lots of them.

Now?

Maybe.

For once in my life-I'm really, really happy that God is in control of my fertility.

What a huge decision-when to bring another immortal soul into being and alter your family for eternity. I simply do not want that kind of responsibility. Who would? All those things that so many people take into account when making this decision.

Do we have enough money? Not even close according to the world's standards!

Would our children be too far apart/too close in age? Who knows! There are studies and then more studies that contradict what the first studies said. And who cares really?

Can we handle another baby? Um, that whole "If God brings you to it, He'll bring you through it." Yeah-I totally believe that.

Do we have enough space? No. But what a dumb reason to not have another child!

And so on and so on.

And while it's certainly not wrong to ponder those types of questions, what kind of answer would push me to the point of trying to avoid having another baby right now? None.

So I'm taking the easy way out. I'm leaving it up to God!

(At least for now. Don't be surprised when, in just a few short months, I'm blogging about being scared to death of taking care of two children or yelling at God for sending us into the throws of infertility again. It's my blog-I'll be wishy washy if I want to.)

Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

Well I certainly know how to make some waves. Over a twelve hundred page views, eight new followers, and only a few ugly comments-I'll take that as a success.

If you're new here, don't expect that kind of creative rally cry very often. I'm passionate about a whole lot of things, but very rarely does it make it out of my head and into a blog post.

I usually just post about my girl.

Or brag on my husband.

Sometimes I reflect on infertility.

Or say a thousand words with a just picture from my day.

This blog is just about my life, my thoughts, my passions, my fears, my family. I'm really Catholic, madly in love, adventuring in sunny Florida hundreds of miles from my roots in Missouri, doing my best to raise a daughter that loves the Lord, and finding a few minutes in the whirlwind of life to catch my family, friends, and perfect strangers up on it all.

I'm glad you're here.

Breaking News

I cannot even believe the news I just read. Did you hear? The Obama administration just issued a press release stating that, beginning in 2013, all Hindu organizations will be required to purchase shares of beef for all of their employees as part of an employee benefit package.

That's outrageous! Aren't Hindus opposed to eating beef? I'm pretty sure they believe the cow to be a sacred animal and do not eat it for this reason. I could be wrong. I haven't ever really researched Hindu beliefs, but I'm pretty sure I heard this somewhere. Maybe they even think that you could go to hell (or the Hindu equivalent perhaps) if you eat beef? I knew a Hindu that ate beef. He said he didn't care that he wasn't supposed to. But I'm pretty sure that makes him a non-practicing Hindu, so should he even call himself a Hindu?

Personally, I think it's kind of dumb. I mean, Ted and I just ordered a half of a steer from a farmer in Georgia. Beef is tasty. And good for you! It has lots of protein and Omega 3s and other good stuff like that. And you can do so much with it-steaks, burgers, meatballs. Beef is really quite amazing. I couldn't imagine my life without beef.

But even though I LOVE beef and think it's the greatest meat ever, I can certainly understand why someone with a different faith could think differently. I don't really understand why Hindus don't eat beef, but I don't really need to in order to respect their faith. If I invited a Hindu over for dinner, I most certainly wouldn't grill burgers.

And now Obama is trying to force Hindus to buy something for their employees that's against their religion? Does anyone else see how scary that is? Isn't there something called the First Amendment that is supposed to keep this kind of thing from happening? 

Ted works for the state of Florida and occasionally they have meals and parties to celebrate certain occasions. The other day they had chili....with hamburger. But I'm pretty sure no one was Hindu so it was ok. But what if Ted worked for a Hindu organization? Would he demand chili at his "holiday" party? Absolutely not. He chose to work for Hindus after all. And working for Hindus means not getting any beef at work. End of story. If he didn't like-well he could just go work someplace else.

I'm not crazy, am I?  I mean, I don't understand why Hindus don't eat beef. I like beef. But I respect their freedom from government intrusion and their right to refuse to buy beef for their employees.

I bet Hindus are pissed.

Oh wait, I'm the one who is pissed.

Because it's not Hindus that Obama is attacking, it's Catholics.

Catholics do not believe that birth control is a moral option. Our Church very clearly teaches that birth control is a mortal sin. If a Catholic commits this sin, under the circumstances for a sin to be considered mortal, the Church teaches that they will go to hell. Intense? Yep. Scary? You betcha.

But Obama is now saying that Catholic organizations must provide contraception for their employees.

So how on earth can the government force a religious organization to pay for something that they believe will send its employees to hell?

I'm outraged.

And you should be too.

Even if you think contraception is the best thing since sliced bread.

Even if you cannot begin to understand the reasons for the Church's teachings.

Can't you show me and my faith a little respect? Can't you give us the freedom to live and worship as we wish? Can't you see that employees of Catholic organizations have the option to work someplace else if they want birth control paid for? No one is forcing them to stay.

It doesn't matter if you don't understand. It doesn't matter if you don't agree. It doesn't matter if you think we're crazy/total whackos/going to hell/hypocritical zealots. What matters is that the government is infringing on our religious liberty in a big, big way.

What makes you think your beliefs aren't next?

"The Catholic Church defends religious liberty, including freedom of conscience, for everyone. The Amish do not carry health insurance. The government respects their principles. Christian Scientists want to heal by prayer alone, and the new health-care reform law respects that. Quakers and others object to killing even in wartime, and the government respects that principle for conscientious objectors. By its decision, the Obama administration has failed to show the same respect for the consciences of Catholics and others who object to treating pregnancy as a disease." (Archbishop Dolan)

Delimma

What to do when you have five different blog topics floating around in your head and you can't decide which one to write about?

Avoid the decision altogether by redesigning your blog header of course!

Isn't she cute? Come on-you know she's adorable.