whole parenting family
A follow up letter after my open letter to my electronic friends who gathered in Texas: My dear readers, BabyLoves and I went to Texas for the Edel Gathering. We made it there and back. Together. Attached by the sling, as it were. The weekend was lovely, truly lovely, for so many reasons. It was, in many parts, whatever the attendee made of it. If you wanted private time to ponder, think, and just breathe, there was that available without the rigors of a jam-packed schedule. If you wanted to chat it up with new friends, hit Austin together, hang by the pool, there was that. If you were me and rooming with a very old friend whom you hadn’t seen in six years, and had your two month old in tow, you would probably do what I did: rest and hang by the hotel. In between sessions I had to head back to the room to rest. Given that it took me almost 7 weeks to recover from bebe’s epic birth, I should have known I’d be beat up by travel. Good thing there was lots of chocolate around. I didn’t see any of Austin, except the Cathedral for confession and mass. And we’re okay with that, me & the bebe. I didn’t get to the pool. I didn’t get to the outside restaurants. I didn’t get to the late night fun talks with ladies. I didn’t even get to see the amazing karaoke past 10pm. A little person…
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What I really want to write about was our epic family vacation. Epic. Staycation for our immediate family, ca-y-cation for those out of towners who traveled with their wee ones to join in the party. 6 kids under 4. 11 adults in the house. We all fit, somehow. And no one died. But while I’m editing the photos and weeding out all the ones where no one is looking at the camera, or my mom cut off the heads of some, find me on other places on the internet. Do you follow I Believe in Love? Well, you should. It’s an awesome project. I wrote for them about coping with being the at-home parent, but that it’s not a competition for who suffers more between AA&me. Read it here. And I partook (partaked?) in a baby gift guide with a couple of things from my etsy shop. See the gift guide here. Scroll. Keep scrolling. I’m number 5, the chenille wipes. Love those wipes. Most importantly, know that I haven’t put away my clean clothes for a month so they’re in a big pile on the floor of my closet and I can’t find a thing to wear. I rummage and rummage but only encounter AA’s work socks and my hoodie sweatshirts. Where are my nursing tanks? Where’s something that doesn’t smell like cottage cheese / baby spit up?? In closing, I’m going to this amazing conference/cocktail party in Texas next weekend. I’ve been planning for it for . .…
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Do you know Kendra from Catholic All Year? She’s so electronically lovely (I can only say this because I’m still just an electronic friend). Her blog is inspirational, funny, and great. Her weekly link up of “Answer Me This” is a great virtual cocktail party Sunday nights. Or mornings. Depending on how badly the children were at church. SuperBoy (4) has morphed from perfect altar boy wannabe to monster and SweetPea (2) has always been devilish. Without further ado / / / / / / 1. How did you get your name? I love my name story because it’s a little wild. Wild for me, that is. I was baptized Ellen O’Leary, but as things would flesh out, my parents named me Ellen to call me Nell. Because Nell isn’t a real Catholic name. It’s a nick name. But Ellen O’Leary was a great aunt on my dad’s side, I think. And my folks loved the name. Because we’re 75% Irish but look all of our 10% Dutch. It took years for me to figure out my name was really Ellen. Probably until I was in kindergarden and then had to correct teachers the first day of school for the next 13 years, oh, yes, and substitute teachers all the time. After consulting with my parents’ feelings, I legally changed my name to Nell upon high school graduation. To forgo the awkwardness in college and future life. 2. Do you have a set time for prayer in your day? Oh…
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SuperDad AA with our Godson and SweetPea back in February. So it must be that I’m on some kind of a roll! Another humbling opportunity to guest post, this time for Verily Magazine, a new magazine for the modern woman. Let’s just say everything on there is beautiful, real, and makes me want to abandon my wardrobe and poor culinary skillz and only follow their advice. On everything. Speaking of advice, I wrote an advice column on relationships for them: 5 signs your boyfriend will be a great dad. How do I know what the signs are and if they’re valid? Well, I did marry Mr. Perfect and he is Mr. Dad of the Millenium, but more importantly I dated a bit and I talk A LOT with my friends on this topic. Isn’t that the only thing girls talk about? Aside from world peace, chocolate, and Downton Abbey? My five signs are he listens, he is patient, he is sacrificial, he has a sense of humor, and he is a hard worker. My sister Molly says the fourth (humor) should be number 1, but really they’re all number 1. Five number 1 traits! Come over to Verily Magazine and plan to hunker down and stay for a while. It’s a glamorous glorious experience. Read it . . . here.
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Remember when I was expecting? Me neither. Now it’s all baby baby baby. I had the distinct pleasure of guest posting for What to Expect’s “real mom advice” blog. They contacted me and I got carte blanche to dish about a topic near & dear to my heart. Pregnancy. Expectations. Near & dear. It seems as though pregnancy is a time of insane material consumption paired with insane stress about doing everything right. Especially when it’s your first time around. You’re supposed to follow an insanely long list of does & don’ts, as well as heed everyone and their mother (and mother-in-law’s) advice. Also, don’t read the internet, but do read anything germane to your insane fears and concerns. Contradictions galore. I address needless baby paraphernalia, pregnant & postpartum body, state of the homefront, input from family, and baby einstein. And that we should all collectively agree to let go of our worries together! Hop on over to the Word of Mom blog on What to Expect’s website. Read my “real mom advice” and tell me what you’d add. Right . . . here.
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This is our 23rd guest post in the Birth & Parenting Series! The other 22 guest writers’ stories may be found here. Contact me (wholeparenting@gmail.com) anytime if you’d like to share your story of your child’s arrival, or a parenting perspective. This girlfriend shares her story of her harrowing birth experience of her sweet daughter. My heart races along as I read it and is filled with relief and joy at the ending. I hope you find the beauty in her story as well. I feel blessed to be able to share it! She blogs over at Mom of My Word–follow her and hear her journey. —- One year ago, the Lord gave us the gift of sweet Cadence. When I first began to write this story, I asked myself the crazy question, “Is it silly to ask God to bring suffering into our lives because it helps us see him more?” After experiencing the joys that rocked my world one year ago, I hope to be able to say, in the words of Dr. John Piper, “Bring it on.” Two weeks before Cadence was born, we sat in the sanctuary of Bethlehem Baptist Church to hear Jason Meyer, our new Pastor for Preaching & Vision, describe the surprising road that led him to what was initially an undesired role. As he challenged what God ordained to be his path to become our new pastor, God challenged him: “What if this is how you get more of me?” We remembered…
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