7 Quick takes (Vol. 6)

February 20, 2009 by Kate Wicker
Filed under Child 1, Child 2, Kate's Blog, Madeline's Art, Seven Quick Takes, Tales from the Trenches

~1~

In a recent tweet (I still can’t believe I’m Twittering. I’m the lady who frequently forgets to carry her cell phone with her and has never sent a text message in my life), I shared that we were having Blob Day. This is a tradition I’m passing along to my kids from my own childhood. Once a week we strip the beds and I allow the kids to play in the “blob” of sheets before tossing them into the washer. I fondly remember goofing off in sheet blobs with my brothers as a kid.

One of my least favorite domestic duties is changing sheets. (I don’t do well with fitted sheets. I think there needs to be some sort of marker on each corner – like TR for top right – to tell the domestically challenged which corner goes where because I always get it wrong the first time.) Yet, calling bed changing time “Blob Day” somehow makes it more fun for the kids and me.

So, I’m curious: How do you make routine household chores more fun?

~2~

Death be not proud. Not in the eyes of my preschooler, anyway.

The other day Madeline said out of the blue, “You know what, Mommy? It’s exciting when we die.”

Huh? I tried to think where this conversation was headed, what macabre thoughts I’d inadvertently put into my 4-year-old’s head.

“What do you mean?” I asked carefully.

Her response blew me away.

“When we die, we’ll get to meet Mary and God for the first time. We’ll get to see them.”

Oh ye of little faith (as in me), that is exciting.

~3~

A wise friend of mine recently told me something that I’d honestly never really thought much about. She said, “God sometimes speaks through our husbands.”

Looking back on the times when I’ve sought Dave’s counsel, I see this to be very true. In fact, he recently encouraged me to take a step back from a writing project and to really decide if this was the right time to be pursuing it. I had not been praying enough about this particular decision, and his words of wisdom encouraged me to do so. I’ve felt much better about it since (though I’m still undecided as to how to move forward).

I’ve also started to ask what he thinks before committing to any new endeavor – whether it involves writing, volunteering, etc. I tend to be a “yes” woman who pridefully thinks she can do it all. And sometimes I can but not very well.

Now when someone asks me to do something, I politely say, “Let me get back to you. I need to discuss this with my husband and see how it might affect our family life.” Or something like that.

I’ve found this not only “buys me time” and keeps me from impulsively saying yes and thus, transforming into an unhappy, overwhelmed martyr mom, but it also allows me to open a dialogue with my husband who is often much more able than I am to assess the situation and how it might impact our family and/or me. He has no problem graciously saying no, and he’s helping me to learn to do the same.

~4~

My youngest is just over 20 months, but the Catholic guilt is creeping into her life. She has said, “‘Sowry,’” on three separate occasions this week.

1st guilt trip

Me: Ouch! Who threw that book at me? That really hurt.

Not only am I in the driver’s seat where flying objects could cause an accident, but my elbow is tingling like crazy after the guilty party chucked a board book at me.

Rachel Marie: Sowry.

2nd guilt trip

Me, as I’m tending to a nuclear diaper: Ugh. This poop really stinks. Ugh.

Rachel Marie: Sowry.

3rd guilt trip

Me, asking rhetorically in a nonthreatening manner: Now who got this purple smoothie all over the wall?

Rachel Marie: Sowry.

Soon she’ll be saying “sowry” for saying “sowry.” Not that I’ve ever done that.

~5~

Okay, I’ve had one friend tell me she had a similar sensation during pregnancy, but is there anyone else out there who has experienced quick but sharp cervical twinges during late pregnancy over and over throughout the day? The best way I can describe what I’ve been experiencing for about two weeks now (I’m almost at the 33-week mark) is that it feels like I’m getting Pap smears all day long. I feel a sharp pinch, then nothing, then another sharp pinch. Just thought I’d throw this out there because this is something I didn’t have with my previous pregnancies.

~6~

I fear Madeline’s horse craziness is worsening.

~7~

Madeline is a critic in the making. I tried out a new prenatal workout video (Leisa Hart’s Fit Mama Workout) this week, and she quickly determined it was “too salsa-y and cha-cha-y.”

“We keep doing the same thing over and over,” she added.

I agreed with her assessment. The salsa dancing choreography was getting old, but I did enjoy the yoga section.

However, we might have to work on her knowledge of fitness terminology before she goes public with her reviews.

Madeline: What are you doing?

Me: Stretching my calves.

Madeline: What are calves?

Me, as I point to her calf muscle: This muscle right here.

Madeline: Oh, I thought you meant baby cows.

Swing by Jen’s Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes, and have a wonderful weekend!

katesig 7 Quick takes (Vol. 6)

Tags: 7 Quick Takes, Kids' Artwork, Madeline, Rae, Tales from the Trenches

Fireworks

July 6, 2008 by Kate Wicker
Filed under Eucharist

I’ve had my share of fireworks this past week. Oh, I’m not talking about the WHAM-BAM, sparkly kind. We actually didn’t get to see any real fireworks this year because the sky opened up just as the sunlight slipped away.

No, I’m actually referring to the figurative variety.

I never really thought of myself as controversial. I typically cover fairly benign topics like the silly things my kids do and say and my love for horses.

But something happened to my idyllic, little corner of Cyberspace this week. First, I left a comment on a popular mom blog about my 13-month-old daughter’s abrupt reluctance to nurse and I happened to mention the acronym AP (as in attachment parenting). That got people talking and it made me reconsider ever labeling myself as anything other than a “Catholic mom and wife doing her best to meet her family’s needs.” Yet, this discourse was only the beginning.

Things got really interesting after an article on InsideCatholic was posted about why I nurse (discreetly) at Mass. This weekend I received my first piece of hate mail in my inbox and a slew of other negative comments in the comment section for the article.

I have arrived.

Seriously, I’m keeping a sense of humor with all this. I see all the exposure (no pun intended. I’m an advocate of nursing discreetly, after all) as a good thing. In just one week I’ve been described as a lactivist, and a vain, self-absorbed and insecure mom, and it’s even been suggested that my nursing at Mass is a part of Satan’s plan to degrade our Blessed Mother. (I can’t begin to explain that last one either.)

I suppose I should be fretting over the negative feedback, perhaps even questioning myself and the choices I make as a Christian mom.

But I’m not. Not one little bit. And it has nothing to do with the fact that for every naysayer, I received an influx of positive and encouraging comments from both men and women.

It’s kind of weird, really, since I have the tendency to worry too much about what others think. However, this is just one of the wonderful gifts motherhood has given me – thick skin and a nice helping of resolve, too. Thick skin to not let all those “expert opinions” out there make me second guess the way I mother and resolve to keep praying for God’s approval and no one else’s.

And it was God Himself who gave me my body, including my breasts, to be given up for my children. Unfortunately, it’s only here in the Northern Hemisphere that my article would cause any debate at all. We have sexualized breasts to the point that a woman discreetly feeding her infant makes people squirm.

I don’t consider myself a lactivist at all. I did not write that article about my decision to start nursing at Mass out of my love for breastfeeding or even my love for my children. It was really about my love for Christ and my desire to be at his table as often as possible. Somehow that point got lost when I mentioned the word “breast.”

I want to go to Mass and I think Jesus wants me there, too, hungry baby and all.

Tags: Breastfeeding, Lessons Kids Teach Me

7 Quick takes (Vol. 6)

Fireworks

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7 Quick takes (Vol. 6)

Fireworks

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