Due Date Daybook

by | Jun 24, 2017 | Baby "Grace", Daybook | 10 comments

I am thankful… 
We made it! Happy due date, little one! P.S. Don’t let this picture fool you… It took running the vacuum cleaner to get her to calm down long enough for a few pictures of her awake! She still prefers Mama to hold her nearly 24/7. 💕

I am thinking…
We need to figure out how we are going to get this cute little baby baptized! Usually one of my husband’s brothers comes out to baptize our babies in the Extraordinary Form. However, with the recent death and funeral of my father-in-law, none of them will be able to take any more time away from their parishes. I wish I was up to traveling… It looks like our best and quickest option might be one of the priests coming to town for the Sacred Liturgy Conference in a couple weeks.

Outside my window…
it is HOT! The baby and I have been spending the day inside, but the rest of the kids headed over to my brother and sister-in-law’s home to swim with their cousins after going to confession this afternoon. It got up to around 107 degrees today, and will still be in the 100s tomorrow with thunderstorms too, but should drop back down on Monday.

Learning all the time…
With all the pregnancy challenges, the school year didn’t go quite as I originally envisioned for our youngest two students who still need a lot of one-on-one time with mom… We will pick up where we left off soon. In the meantime we’ve had a couple little review lessons while updating the letter board.

 

Celebrating the liturgical year…

O God, Who hast made this day worthy of honor by the birth of blessed John: grant to Thy people the grace of spiritual joys, and direct the minds of all the faithful into the way of eternal salvation. 

There is so much to celebrate today! It’s the solemnity of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, it’s the day I was due (once again) to deliver a sweet baby (so glad she is already safely here in my arms), and it’s also the birthday of one of my dearest friends. Happy birthday, Charlotte! I haven’t been able to get down to the post office to mail your gift, but here is a little peek! Wish I could deliver it in person, but it will be on its way soon.

Mother Most Amiable from Sleightholm Folk Art

From the kitchen…
With help from the older girls, I was somehow able to pull together a baseball themed party, including (a very simple) dinner for twenty-five, this past Wednesday as we celebrated a 10th birthday. I didn’t plan to have that many people over, it just sort of happened at the last minute, but the birthday boy had a ball. I’m hoping to have a chance to share the pictures soon! #whatnottodo #twoweekspostpartum

I am working…
We had a really great day last Tuesday and we even managed to get down to the office to catch up on some billing and other paperwork…  It had me thinking (for half a day) that I might be able to keep up with everything after all! She didn’t stay in her car seat for long, but was content while being worn in the Moby wrap while I worked. She made up for it that night though and I was a mess when I saw the pediatrician the next morning for her two week check-up. He was happy to see her weight climbing back up (6 lbs 8 oz) but concerned about me as I sat there in tears. He wanted to know if I needed him to intervene and make sure I’m getting the rest I need to recover, especially with all the stress from this past month. Who should he talk to? Umm… That would be me. I’m the one who always seems to set unrealistic goals and expectations for myself, including the birthday party later that day! This upcoming week I’ll be working from home again resting as much as possible.

 

I am creating…
thank you notes for all the thoughtful and generous gifts our baby girl has been given.

I am going…
to buy a baby bath soon. In the meantime she is still so tiny that she fits in our little bathroom sink!

 

I am hoping…
Facebook and Instagram keep blocking all the links to my blog posts, deleting any posts or pictures that include the url, whether they were posted by me or shared by someone else… I spent some time updating the blog settings and making a few changes, hoping that would solve the problem. We’ll see!

I am praying…
for the soul of my dear father-in-law. Maybe it is because I wasn’t able to go to his funeral, but it just doesn’t seem real to me that he is gone… He will be missed so very much!

Pondering these words…
from St. Rose of Lima:

“If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace, how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides within itself, how many joys and delights! No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come to know the scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to men.”

I am listening…
to My Kind of Girl from Michael Buble’s Nobody But Me CD.  Our oldest son sent me the link to the song after I sent him a couple pictures of his brand new baby sister while they were down in Arizona.

She looks
Like an angel looks 
Baby I’m hooked After just one look
And my mind’s
In a kind of whirl 
Cause to my mind 
She’s my kind of girl

Around the house…
A NEW BABY! My husband and I are still kind of in shock that we have another little one.  It was such a hard pregnancy and recovery is going to take a little while, but we are so grateful for this unexpected blessing. We truly thought our 5 year old would be our last, especially after miscarrying again 3 years ago, but God had this beautiful little surprise in store for us!

One of my favorite things…
I had a moses basket with our last two babies that I loved and used all the time so I knew I really wanted another one for this baby. This basket from Plum+Sparrow was a splurge for sure, but my husband let me order it for Mother’s Day and I love it! We also ordered a sheepskin baby blanket to line the inside. It fits perfectly and looks so cozy!

This week’s plans…
The baby and I will continue spending as much time as possible at home recovering and enjoying this special time together. The rest of the kids will be volunteering (older kids) and attending (younger kids) another week of golf camp!

A little peek at my day…

10 Comments

  1. Leigh

    She is absolutely beautiful, and you are doing a great job balancing everything! I hope you can take lots of time to rest and hold that precious baby this week 🙂

    2017-06-26 17:18:26

    Reply
  2. Jeri

    We had two boys, they were just shy of 13 and 11, hubby and I were just shy of 40 and God felt we needed a bit of humor in our lives. Welcome to the world MaryKatheryn, born a few days after Christmas. ( I always have to tell this story: I was scheduled to be a Eucharist Minister Christmas Day. I decided I could to this. As you can imagine I was huge, days from delivery. Perhaps a dozen folks had received when I found myself face to face with my OB. She leaned in and very discreetly took the cup and said sit down, I do not want to deliver this baby on Christmas Day. Small church, everyone knew what just happened, head down I went and sat. After Mass she cornered me and fussed that I was to go home, lie down and get up when I went into labor. I did and 4 days later she made her appearance. That is a great story all by itself, as her daddy delivered her. Back to the point of my post. The boys were relentless, in their contact with her, it was Christmas break. Dad went out the door each morning with directions to the boys to make me rest and help with everything. After a week I met him at the door in tears, saying I can't do this. They haul her around like a sack of potatoes. 23 years later, she is tough as nails. No grass will ever grow under her feet. She is kind, generous, caring and so very loving. She was a HS honor student, graduated from the College of Charleston and is now employed at Ronald McDonald House in Charleston as the Guest Services Manager. She uses her Psycology degree to get to know the parents a babies in stress she grieves with them as God takes some of them home, and celebrates as others finally get to go home. They just put together a HS graduation for a young man who was in treatment and could not be present. They did a FaceTime and when his name was called they had his diploma for him. Of course a big party followed. My point in all this rattling on all to quickly those 23 years have sped by and we all survived what I thought was impossible. God truly has a sense of humor.

    2017-06-26 18:07:01

    Reply
  3. Karen H

    You are a marvel, Jessica. How I admire your great creativity, strength and tender love for your family. When I scroll through the pictures, I see such an expert eye for whatever is beautiful and lovely. You know just how to frame each shot, resulting in the most compelling and pleasing images. And the images all show the kind of visual beauty you create in your home and in your family life. No wonder everybody flocks to your blog 😉 Your sense of humor ("…Who should he talk to? Ummm…that would be me.) is a delight! We wont even get started on how courageous you are, all we have to do is count how many precious lives you and your husband have welcomed into this world. God bless you and yours!

    2017-06-26 21:09:47

    Reply
  4. Debbie

    Adorable photos of Baby Grace's first two weeks. She is a beautiful child. I am keeping you in my prayers Jessica for lots of good rest and much needed sleep so you may heal. You are so sweet to share all of these wonderful posts and photos of your new baby girl and your family over these past two weeks. How much your little Angel has changed since the day of her birth. Babies grow too quickly. Enjoy each and every blessed moment…

    2017-06-26 21:24:06

    Reply
  5. Joy65

    She already is changing so much. Still BEAUTIFUL! WOW what a great Mom you are. My Mom raised 6 of us almost totally by herself and I don't know how she did it all (and that included scrubbing and waxing floors, ironing, and COOKING meals from scratch every day). I tell you it just amazes me. Don't be so hard on yourself. You're doing God's work and that is what is the most important. It doesn't matter what anybody thinks but what God thinks. Your children will remember all that you do for them. Oh I wish I could go in that pool. Hot here too. Every blessing and grace to you and yours. Keep up the great work.

    2017-06-26 21:33:51

    Reply
  6. Marion

    Thank You so much for sharing your family news and photos. I love visiting with you and the family. Your children are all beautiful. I liked seeing the photos on The Sacred Heart of Jesus. Hope you feel better.

    2017-06-26 22:32:48

    Reply
  7. Penelope

    Oh Jessica, I'm so happy for you 🙂 Once again, congratulations!, on the safe arrival of this very special blessing. What a joy.

    2017-06-26 23:50:45

    Reply
  8. Ellen

    Seeing your precious, beautiful little one and reading your lovely honest words have given me such strength. I am nearly 11 weeks with my 7th baby and am really struggling to deal with it. My children are all quite close together and I am not really coping at all so this news has been hard to take. Seeing your sweet baby has helped me remember that this pregnancy with all it's hardships will be worth it. Thank you and God bless you all.

    2017-06-29 07:23:41

    Reply
  9. Lenetta

    Many prayers for you during these difficult postpartum days! If you end up with more than just the baby blues, I cannot highly enough recommend progesterone injections from the Pope Paul VI Institute in Omaha for PPD. They will work with you entirely over the phone, and I was able to have my shots in hand by the end of the day, with instructions for my hubs to administer though we have many family nurses who administered them. If anyone would like further info on the shots, please email me at nettacow at gmail dot com. You might notice I'm very passionate about helping mamas feel better during what can be a very dark time. It was for me. ❤️

    2017-06-29 14:04:53

    Reply
  10. Meagan Daoust

    Oh, my. You sound like me post partum except I ended up with a postpartum heart attack & five stents. Don't do that. ( not that I caused it but I was all the harder on myself for it) sigh. I had so many plans for this summer and a heart attack wasn't one of them. Prayers for recovery for you and prayers if thanksgiving for you new Blessing!

    2017-06-29 17:07:39

    Reply

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Prayer of Mothers

Father in heaven, grant me the grace to appreciate the dignity which you have conferred on me. Let me realize that not even the Angels have been blessed with such a privilege—to share in your creative miracle and bring new Saints to heaven. Make me a good mother to all my children after the example of Mary, the Mother of your Son. Through the intercession of Jesus and Mary I ask your continued blessings on my family. Let us all be dedicated to your service on earth and attain the eternal happiness of your kingdom in heaven. Amen.


Our Family

Sean & Jessica, Captain-23, Ranger-22, Twinkle Toes-20, Chiquita-19, Snuggles-16, Rose-14, Bud-12, Grace-6 and Joy-4 (blog nicknames)

A Little About Me

Hi! I'm Jessica, a Roman Catholic wife and home educating mother to our nine children. I was home educated myself, along with my eleven younger siblings. I have a special devotion to St. Therese, through whom I have been given much help and many blessings--the beautiful "Shower of Roses" that she has sent my way! Here I will record a few of the blessings I treasure. Please remember that what you see here is just a little glimpse at our lives, so please say a prayer for us, as we continue to strive for holiness.

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