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I opened my email a couple of weeks ago to this:
Anyway, here's what I chose from Personal Creations:
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Stemless wine glasses. I've loved stemless wine glasses for forever and these ones are even monogrammed. Truth be told, I've used these babies nearly everyday since I got them. Not sure if it's because I love the wine or the glasses so much.
In the spirit of the unexpected, Personal Creations is sending a special gift to some of the bloggers we feel go above and beyond to capture life's beautiful moments. We asked our team who their favorite bloggers were, and Messy Wife, Blessed Life was among the first named. We know you work hard to live in the moment with your family, and share that with the community you've built. We want to send some of that joy and love back in your direction by creating a personalized gift for you.I've been blogging for over three years and I've had people tell me a handful of times that my blog is one of their favorites. My first response is always, "Can I send you a list of the blogs I read because you obviously have never read any truly good blogs?" It's just so surreal that anyone even reads what I write, much less likes it. And then someone wants to send me something free because they enjoy my writing? I'm absolutely blushing. It's time like these that I feel like maybe, someday, I'll be able to fulfill my dream of writing a book.
Anyway, here's what I chose from Personal Creations:
Feast! is out! My sweet friend Haley (of Carrots for Michaelmas fame) has a new fabulous ebook out all about celebrating the liturgical seasons. She sent me a copy before it was released and I'm loving it! It has recipes, reflections, and practical ideas for celebrating the seasons and feast days. As a newbie to liturgical living, it's the perfect introduction without getting overwhelmed. I know there are some great online sources for all the feast days, but I appreciate that this is one resource with many ideas throughout the year. I think I'll be sticking pretty closely to the feast days Haley mentions for this first year before I start adding some additional feast days that are important to us, with the exception of Lucia's name day which we actually celebrated last year.
Believe me, the above description of the book does not do it justice at all. It's better than I can adequately explain. It is currently for sale for $4.99 until Thanksgiving Day. Also, it would be so perfect to start this book now with the beginning of Advent and the liturgical year. You can read more about it and get your copy here.
We seem to have a good day - trying day - good day - trying day pattern going on around these parts. I guess this is an introduction to the terrible twos? It really hadn't reached unbearable or anything like that (although in the moment, it sometimes feels that way), but it's pretty difficult to see my sweet, happy girl become so agitated. She's such a small child with such big emotions, I can't imagine how tough it is on little ones. She has a great vocabulary, which seems to help keep the frustration at bay as she can often express her thoughts, but when she gets too upset, she can't seem to form words at all. I've never been particularly patient, but it's been really helpful to try to put myself in her place and empathize with her than to focus on how her behavior affects me.
I am working on a post of religious stocking stuffer ideas for toddler and would love your input. If you have some ideas to share, click here to go to a fancy form to submit your ideas. If I get the post up soon, I may decide to do a few more with some other age groups.
Anyone know of an easy Thanksgiving craft or two for toddlers? We've loaded up on Thanksgiving books from the library but I'd love to do a craft as well, especially one that deals with the thankfulness part of the holiday and not just the turkey part. I like this idea from Molly Makes Do, but Lucia isn't really understanding enough to be able to tell me what she it thankful for. Is she just too young for something like this?
What do you do to put your marriage first? Recently, David and I have been snuggling on the couch after Lucia goes to bed and catching up on episodes of our favorite show, The Amazing Race. I've also started the book For Better Forever. After the miscarriage, I'm starting to realize why the statistics for divorce are so high after losing a child. David and I are nowhere near divorce and our marriage is still solid, but I still notice a...distance? there and can imagine if there were other circumstances that complicated it or if we hadn't had such a good marriage to begin with that it could have really wedged us apart.
Well as a fellow young Catholic mother, I totally love your blog! I don't always comment, but do enjoy reading every post! Definitely looking forward to the stocking stuffer post as I have a 22 month old. =)
ReplyDeleteI had two miscarriages before my first child was born (I now have 4.) They were both very early, before anyone else even knew we were expecting. I can completely understand the distance that you're talking about. We were sad, so sad, and my husband's natural instinct was to want to fix it, to make the pain go away. I finally had to tell him that all I needed was to be sad and that I just needed him to be sad with me, and that was all I needed. I didn't need him to fix it because it couldn't be fixed. It's hard for many people to understand the loss, because, to many, it's just the loss of a "possibility," of a child, but for you, it is the loss of an actual child. I'm so sorry for your loss, keep clinging to your hubby, the space of that distance will eventually close, and you'll be closer and stronger as a couple because of it.
ReplyDeleteHi Mandi,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, my condolences and prayers on the loss of your little one. Second, both of you are grieving this sweet babe. I think it's natural, especially for men to withdraw when grieving. Perhaps a book on the stages of grief or loss or something similar might be helpful in identifying how best to communicate with each other, as this doesn't sound like an underlying marital problem (praise God!) but a more natural reaction to a tragic loss. God bless you!