Photos!

My ability to post photos mysteriously left a few months ago. Thankfully it has just as mysteriously returned! I'm hoping this return to civilised blogging will help me to be a bit more creative here. Agnes was finally born, a full 12 days overdue. I'm happy to say that I remained cheerful to the end and really trusted the baby,, my body, and God to have perfect timing. Agnes was 6 lbs, so she needed the extra time to grow bigger! Here she is modeling one of the projects that kept me busy while waiting.

And here is the new family en masse at her Baptism on Sept 8, Our Lady's birthday.

And here in her Godfather's arms with Godmother looking on.

Goal Oriented

I am goal oriented. I like to have a plan, implement the plan, and have the satisfaction of checking things off my to do list. This applies to that which I actually have control over, and that which I don't. Like the birthday of my baby. Nope, no control over that one. But with every baby I had a plan! I remember clearly with my first baby the plan involved finishing my senior paper before baby came. Since she was 3 weeks early, that didn't happen, and I learned how to nurse and type at the same time pretty quickly.




Every other baby came either according to plan, or before the plan could take action. This baby is different. Here I am 40 weeks and 3 days pregnant. I have had 4 or 5 plans that have not happened. I keep making new plans. I keep being pregnant. HMMMMMMMmmmmmm. Someone is trying to drive home the fact that I am not actually in control. Again and again--I am not in control.



One happy thought is that I HAD wanted an October baby. With August quickly coming to a close, this baby will be born as close to October as possible! Maybe even September! Will wonders never cease?



We, baby and I, are both happy and healthy, so I'm not complaining.

Focused Distraction

More or less hot humid days surround us. Being on the coast of Maine, I don't feel like complaining too much. Maryland in August is much more intense than this after all. But still, one can get a bit melty, whether you are 38 and 5 days pregnant or not.


The normal every day, calm routine is nice to revel in. We have a big dry erase chore schedule up that I am implementing now in hopes that the week or two that I'm not overseeing housework will not end in disaster.

What I love about being this pregnant is that everything I get done feels so special. Will this be my last floor mopping before baby? It will certainly be the last time I change the filter in the coffeemaker!

Last shopping trip? It's all so special and happy and so much fun! The children are also very eager to have the special day begin, though the younger ones don't really get the immediacy. I guess Mom has been pregnant for SO LONG when you are only 2, or 5. It's just normal



So I muddle through the normal stuff, trying to fight the distraction by being as driven as I can. I may not get tot the living room curtains though. Somehow it's too hot to sew. This doesn’t make as much sense as “it’s too hot to cook,” but I stand by my statement. It's too hot to sew.


Something tells me I've been here before.

It's Been a While

The last time I posted was a few days after Shannon died. This is no coincidence. It is so hard for me to fathom that almost 5 months have gone by since my world was rocked by Shannon's sudden death. And now here I am, about to give birth, happy, ripe, and thoughtfully aware of the great blessing that life is.


This is an obvious time for me to meditate on the mystery of our lives unfolding in time. Whether one is pregnant or not, every day hold the mystery of what will come, how it will change you and those around you, how you will respond to the situations that you must face. In my searching and examining these things I am most sensitive to my real live as opposed to my virtual life.

I admit it--I am a facebook junkie! But really, I just spend a few minutes here and there on it. [there's an exercise--spend a day keeping track of what "a few minutes here and there" actually adds up to] Anyway--time spent with real live people and doing real life things is more valuable to everyone involved than time on facebook. But then there is writing--which for me includes this long neglected blog. I have no idea how to save all of this writing I have dome over the past 5+ years, and no idea what value it will every be to anyone other than myself. But I do know that time spent in reflection, and the processing that I do when writing about my life and experience is helpful to me as a fully alive person.

So in the interest of self care, here I am on the blog again! I am 38 week and 2 days--a week out from being as pregnant as I have ever been (Arveragus was born at 39 and 2). All is contentment, and every day I'm still pregnant feels like a gift that Our Lord is giving to me.

What I will be saying tomorrow

March 23 2012 Rally for Religious Freedom, Portland Maine


Allison Eddyblouin

Catholic Natural Family Planning teacher.



Do we have Freedom of Worship or Freedom of Religion? I am easily free to worship anywhere I want. But if my faith, the foundational tenants of the House of Worship I choose to attend, conflicts with the health care mandate, then my freedom ends. People of good faith are demanding from our government the freedom to spend their own money in ways that do not violate their faith. On all sides, we are being called to stand up and put our money where our mouth is. If you have serious objections to any religious teaching, Catholic or otherwise, then make the sacrifices you need to, to stand up for you beliefs and don’t work for such an organization. And equally, if we have strong beliefs that go against possible laws that our Government is decreeing, then we have no choice but to defy those laws, and to ask again and again that our rights be resopected

In the 1950’s and early 60’s the Old Order Amish in our country began fighting a battle against paying into social security insurance. The government had thought they found a way around this problem by asking the objecting Amish to open bank accounts from which the government could withdraw the amount due, rather than the Amish having to willingly pay into what was morally objectionable to them. This is similar to the exemption the government is trying to hand to religious institutions today. The Amish closed their bank accounts and the battle began.

We are not here today to fight Health Care, we are not here to fight women’s health, we are here to stand up for our right as American citizens to say that our faith calls us to a higher view of the human person: a view which prevents us from aiding the objectification of another. We are women and men, republicans, democrats, and independents. We are Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Other religions. To quote the petition sent to congress by the Amish:

"We do not want to be burdensome, but we do not want to lose our birthright to everlasting glory, therefore we must do all we can to live our faith!"

My Rosary Boot Camp

I made a commitment at the beginning of lent to pray my daily Rosary.  At first it was first thing in the morning--then the time moved around as necessary when I found I ran out of time before I had little ones gathering around me pleading to be fed.  For the most part I have been faithful to this commitment--and the few times I have not prayed my rosary have been useful in how they highlight how effective 20 minutes of prayer can be!

One day in particular stands out.  It must have been a Monday because I was praying the Joyful Mysteries.
  This one evening the focus of my meditation became my parenting, and the goals I have as a mother.  The first mystery is The Annunciation.  The joy and trepidation of learning that I am going to be a mother, for the first time, or again, and again....that is always such a wonderful and terrible and exciting moment.  As I meditated on Mary's "fiat" I thought about, just as she had small idea of all the suffering and joy that was to come, I too have little idea of the lives that my children will bring me along on and a passenger as I watch and experience their choices from the sidelines.

The second mystery in the Visitation, when Mary rushes off to help Elizabeth, who is pregnant in her old age.  I reflected on how many deep and spiritual friendships I have with beautiful women of faith as a result of the children I have.  Library story time, Mom prayer groups, La Leche League--so many venues particular to mothers that have blessed me immensely.  We cannot mother in a vacuum, and the womanly friendships I have are essential to my growth in holiness and parenting.

The Nativity--such a profound mystery at any time of year, but especially now as we prepare to immerse ourselves liturgically in the "Word Made Flesh."  This mystery reminds me of the commingled and reflective relationship we have with the infant King.  I see the reflection of my deep love for my own babies, and have deep love for God welling up in me as I gaze upon the helpless babe in the manger.  But I am also reminded that God Himself loves me even more deeply and unconditionally.  To think and meditate on my own belovedness gives me the strength to turn again to the world, to my family especially, with the love that can only come from this deep knowledge of my own dignity and worth--and indeed every one's on earth!

When Mary Catherine was born in New Mexico part of her Baptism ceremony was to lay her on the alter and dedicate her though pray to Jesus and Mary.  That brief physical separation--stepping back and looking upon my own baby on the alter--burned in my heart the reality of she and I both being at the mercy of God.  I can do nothing without first offering everything to God.  Knowing that He is there guiding and strengthening me in my mothering.  It's not all roses, but with prayer I can persevere in offering myself and my children, repeatedly, to Our Lord.

Any parent who has temporarily, or permanently lost a child knows what Mary and Joseph felt as they searched for their boy.  The Finding of Jesus in the temple reminds me not only of the joy of once again hugging the lost child, but also of the need for me to find the child Jesus every day of my life.  And this seeking and finding I prayerfully pass on to my own children. The childhood faith is so easy to nurture.  They are genuinely seeking and finding Jesus every day.  But as they grow I know they will have to make their own adult decision to find and follow Christ.  All I can hope to do is to be an example, offer other examples of faith in the people we spend time with, and pray pray pray!

And so my Rosary has blessed me.  Thank you Jesus, and Mother Mary!

An Autumn Adventure

On voting day the 5 youngers and I donned our blaze orange and walked the mile and a half down to our village center.  We played at the river [ark, stopped at the swimming hole to write letters, went to the town office to vote and play with the toy basket, then to the post office to pick up a BIG BOX from Nana and mail the letters we had just written.  What an adventure! 

Of course, then we had to walk back home!  Uphill!!  Blaise fell asleep.  The box moved from John Henry's shoulder, to Thalia's head, then her shoulder, then to in between Blaise and Weggie on the stroller.  Back on our little road it was just on top of Blaise, as Weggie decided (after the BIG HILL) that he could run around with his brothers!

The whole event took 3 hours.  Boy was it worth it!!