Back to Size

Need a new bathroom scale?  I love the prices and selection at Overstock.com!

Today I happened to step on a scale. 

I say "happened" because I had given up on checking it regularly.

I had given it up because I was tired of seeing that I was still 15 pounds heavier than my pre-pregnancy self.  The last 15 of the 50 total pounds I gained during pregnancy were just not going to leave me.

Or so I thought.

But today, nearly 11 months after delivery, I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight!  I couldn't believe it!  I was thrilled! 

I wonder when this happened?!  Was it last month?  Or a month or two before that?

I would imagine the reason for this change is because--since we started solid foods at 7.5 months and since Liam started crawling at 9.5 months--I eat less and move much more.

My doctor was right.  He said it'd take me 9 months to put on the baby weight and 9 months to take it off.  It's so great to have my body back, in addition to the extra wrinkles, lines, and marks I picked up along the way in this journey called life.  Thank you, Jesus, for the souvenirs!

Our New Friends from Spain

Earlier this week, Father O'Blaney asked Michael and me if we'd help welcome a new young family from Spain into our church family.  "Maybe you could invite them to sit with you at mass," he suggested.  "I think you'll find you have a lot in common with them."

Of course, we said yes.  And soon we were to discover just how right Father was.

After a few days of emailing, Mercedes and her husband Pau met us in the lobby before the 9 AM mass.  Like us, they arrived just in the nick of time, during the processional song.  And like us, they had a wiggly, giggly, vocal baby.   His name was Bernat, and he was exceptionally cute.

All six of us seemed to click immediately, there in that little glass crying room, even though there was little time, initially, to talk.  Our boys were on the floor, sharing books and toys and baby banter.

With brief whispers during lower parts of the mass, Mercedes and I empathized about the joys (the miracle of life! indescribable love!) and sacrifices (sleepless nights! unexpected biting during breastfeeding!) of motherhood.

Michael and Pau were oddly similar in temperament, and it wasn't long before they were chatting about the European economy after the church had cleared out.  Having lived so long in Europe (and having loved every second of it), Michael seemed thrilled to find somebody who could finally relate and talk intelligently about it.

We parted that morning with a promise to hang out again soon.   What a delightful time it was meeting this beautiful family!  Only the Holy Spirit could have orchestrated it.  :)

Merce, Pau, and Bernie:  Welcome to America!

Want to go to the beach this weekend?

Hey, readers!  If you're up for a trip to the beach this weekend, I've got a great event for you to attend!

My wonderful friend Meg has organized the second annual Women's Retreat for women of faith.  The retreat spans a 4-day weekend getaway, but you can come and go, staying only as long as you'd like.

Women in their 20s and 30s will go exploring Dover, Delaware and visit the beach while they're at it! This trip will be first come first served! Tentative events for this weekend include learning some of the history of our First State, mingling with the young adults at Holy Cross Church, participating in a service project, Mass on Saturday night, enjoying lazy days on the beach, and more!

The Women's Retreat Weekend in Dover, DE will begin TOMORROW, Thursday, July 25 and last through Sunday, July 28, 2013.

For those of you who might not be able to take off on Thursday, please feel free to come after work that night.  Meg's brother's house is a few minutes from downtown historical Dover, a half-hour from a natural beach, and about an hour from Lewes, Rehoboth, Bethany, & Dewey Beaches (which are more commercialized and with boardwalks).

Meg's brother's house/development is a cozy one that is located just a short drive from the closest non-commercialized beach and about an hour from the shops, boardwalk, restaurants, and bars of the Delaware Beaches. The house includes 2.5 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, laundry and kitchen facilities, and an open dining room/living room/kitchen area. There is also a furnished basement for additional sleeping arrangements, if need be. Thanks to Meg's brother's generosity in hosting, the cost per night will only be $15 per person! The house is close to nearby attractions/restaurants in Delaware's capital city but is in a nice residential development that may have a pool by this summer!!




I hope you'll go for some relaxation, inspiration, and fun.  Just contact Meg Uncgmeg@gmail.com, if you're interested!

Click on this link to read about the first annual Women's Retreat Weekend!  http://pagirlmeg.blogspot.com/2012/07/womens-retreat-weekend-at-outer-banks.html

Oh-So-True

This awesome quote has been going around Facebook this morning, and I just had to share it with you.  If I could give a photo or quote credit to someone for this, I would!  Sorry I don't have any further details about its origin.  But, oh, this is so good to live by!  I'm printing this out and hanging it on our shower wall.  :)

Holy Baby, Faithful One! Loving Jesus, Having Fun.

I've been so hesitant to have Liam watch television.  And it's not that I'm being snobbish about the content.  No, no, it's the speed of the television that I dislike most right now.  Commercials' camera pans seem to induce whip lash. 

About a decade ago, I remember all of us commenting that things were picking up speed on the television and in movies.  It was, and still is to me at times, uncomfortable.  I know that my eyes and mind can keep up, but I don't like the pressure or feeling that it gives, and so I often look away or close my eyes.  It's a conscious choice because I'm cognizant about its effects.

Yes, eventually, we grew accustomed to the high-speed change and adapted, but I do believe that such high visual stimulation can remap how the human brain processes things.  In the last decade, I've noticed a difference in myself and in the new waves of students coming into my classroom.  We can take more input, multitask more quickly, and respond to stimuli with impressive speeds -- but, in my humble opinion, we lose accuracy, attention to detail, creativity, and some of the skills needed for problem-solving.

So imagine my joy when a colleague gifted us with slow-moving DVDs that teach gentle truths about our Catholic faith in a way that is appealing to the learning level of babies!  Through pleasant songs and happy images, Liam is learning and growing. 

Missy gave us two of the Holy Baby DVDs, and my sister-in-law Cindy gave us the 5-disc Praise Baby collection.  We are so blessed to have these!  Thank you, Missy and Cindy!

And whenever I stick one of these in the DVD player, little Liam starts squealing for joy!

Lovin' His Daddy

Do these two look alike or what?!  :)

Getting to Know His Roommate

Liam has grown so much in the last week.  He's looking at everything with brand new eyes, it seems.  He now has a particular interest in getting to know his roommate, the giant hermit crab named Winfred, who is about 75 years his senior.  Liam giggles and laughs whenever Winfred wakes up and walks over to the food dish.

You don't believe me about the age thing?  It's true!  When a hermit crab is baseball-sized, he's typically three-fourths of a century.  I should know.  I was a founding member of The Hermit Crab Association.  :)

Those Giant Wooden Clips

We picked up these cute, giant wooden clips from our favorite, old-fashioned toy store this weekend.  I wanted them for an upcoming newborn photo shoot because they're gentle on fancy fabrics and are safer to be near a baby since they're not spring-loaded.  

I also plan to use them with Liam once he starts making artwork.  They'll be perfect to hold down paper on an easel board or desktop.  Plus, there's no fear of pinched fingers, for these wooden clips are easy for little hands to work, and their pressure is mild and easily escapable.  :)

Each giant wooden clip comes with two spare rubber bands, conveniently placed on the handles.  If those should break, then I'll just buy a stalk of broccoli.  :)

Self-Contained

The other day, in the rush to quickly clean up the house before we had guests, I scooped up the toys, threw them into our giant basket, and ran for the vacuum cleaner.

I dusted, I swept, I cleaned, and I scrubbed.

And then suddenly it dawned on me:  WHERE WAS LIAM?!

Oh my gosh!  I must have inadvertently scooped him up and threw him into the basket with the toys!  Oops!  But there he played, happy and content...and very self-contained.  It made me realize...why bother with expensive Pack 'n Play's and why bother to baby-proof your home?  Just throw your kid into the toy basket and watch him play and grow, kind of like a plant in a pot.  This makes child-rearing easy!  I don't know why I didn't think of this before.  :)

This is a happy Liam, realizing that all of his favorites are well within reach.  :)

Liam Makes the Newspaper!

I can't wait till Liam gets that classic homework assignment of making a timeline of the important events of his life. 

I can't wait to tell him that, before age one, he set a world record, won a blue ribbon, and made it into the newspaper.  That's my boy!  He's already making his mark.  :)

Oops.  They misspelled our last name.  Bygones.

Liam's First Picnic

I wanted to surprise Daddy with a fun event mid-week.  We needed something to lift our spirits and make a normal workday evening feel a bit like the weekend.  But it needed to be free, local, easy, and not interrupt our evening time frame for dinner and bedtime routines.

Hmm.  On went my thinking cap.

And then I got it! 

I decided to surprise Michael by meeting him at the barber shop after work and handing him his overnight bag, just as he got out of the barber's chair.  He was so surprised to see us!  I told him to go to the restroom and change into what he found inside the bag, and I had packed the bag with a T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops.

Unbeknownst to him, we were about to experience our first picnic as a family of three at a nearby park.  It would be our already-planned salmon dinner, which I had cooked ahead of time and then packed, along with asparagus, buttered rolls, cookies, and ice cold lemonade.

But nobody wants to eat cold salmon and asparagus, right?  No problem; I had a plan.  I would heat up our dinner plates using the microwave near the entrance of our local Panera Bread, which was right near the park entrance.

Perfect.  And sneaky, sneaky.  ;)

Only an elderly couple sitting by the microwave caught on to what I was doing and smiled.  I dashed back out of that Panera Bread before the smell of fish wafted through the air, realizing that I was breaking many social morés but willing to do it for the chance of a hot dinner and a great family memory.

My crazy plan worked...and my men were happy!  :)

Our old-fashioned, classic picnic basket set (with that lovely gingham lining and real leather straps) came with four plates, four cups, and plastic flatware -- and was just $5 at a thrift store.  Our checkered blanket was only a few bucks, too, cut right off the roll at the fabric store.  Yay for saving money!

Praise God.

He wants my Toms.

I praise God for feeling so good lately.

Liam started sleeping through the night every night (for 10 - 12 hours at a stretch) around 10 months old or so, so these last 3 weeks have been particularly blessed.

I'm getting sleep finally, and it's amazing how good a body feels after true rest!  For the first time, I'm getting deep sleep and probably all my REM cycles.  Thank you, Jesus!

Plus, we've finally gotten Liam on a bedtime routine.  We began to enforce a bedtime routine shortly after his sleeping-through-the-night routine emerged naturally and became regular.

Perhaps this was our cue that a bedtime routine could finally begin AND work for us.  We didn't read any books and we didn't do any particular method of crying- or not-crying-it-out.  We just started a pleasant routine.  And Liam fell right into it.

It goes like this:  At 7 PM, Daddy starts the bathwater.  By 7:30 PM, baby's out and warm and jammied.  Daddy then reads a goodnight book to the little man.

At 7:40 PM, I take over and nurse him on the rocker for exactly 20 minutes while we listen to the Rosary on CD.  By the time we hit the Third Joyful Mystery, our little man is groggy and ready to stretch out and sleep.

And so I lower him into the crib, cover him with a comfy blanket, bless his little forehead with holy water from Lourdes, and sneak out the door, leaving the Rosary CD playing quietly.  Then Daddy and I get to enjoy two hours to ourselves before its our bedtime.  And we don't really have to be quiet, either.  We can talk at a reasonable volume or even enjoy a movie, like we did last night.  This feels amazing!

If we're out late and can't stick to the 7 PM bath time, no worries.  All of us manage to adjust, somehow, and as long as we go through the routine of bath, books, and nursing, it seems to work no matter what time it is.

Did we ever try this before?  Yes.  But it didn't work previously.  It just wasn't time for then, I guess.  But it is time for it now.  :)

Praise God for this new, delightful season of our lives!  It was a long time coming.  :)

Liam's Behind the Lens

Our boy is learning his mama's love of photography so quickly!  Check out this great one he just took of Daddy, Mommy, and our hot set of wheels.   :)  Thanks, Liam!

Steve and Nick's Graduation Party

This weekend we celebrated the graduations of my cousin Steven from Rider University and my cousin Nick from Council Rock High School.  I am so proud of them and my cousins Greg and Brad.  Each is unique in his talents, but every one of them is oh-so-capable!  It sure makes this cousin very proud.  :)

I always know when I've been engrossed in good conversations at a party because, when I get home, I find very few photos on my camera.  :)

In this case, I found just two.

Great Aunt Paula getting in her squeeze time with Liam!

Little Zoey the dog LOVED Liam and followed him wherever he went.  :)

Congratulations, Steve and Nick, on completing this chapter of your lives!  May the days ahead be blessed for you!

The Safety of Our Closet

Hot thunderstorms in July are known for their bright bursts of lightning.  And Macy is known for her consistent reaction to them:  hiding in our bedroom closet.  Poor girl.  It never gets easier on her.  :-(

Our New St. Philomena Icon!

This magnificent, handwritten icon of our beloved patron St. Philomena was Michael's gift to me for our 2nd wedding anniversary! 

When I opened the box, I cried so joyfully!  I was so utterly surprised!  And I have never seen an icon of her that looked so beautiful!! (I almost thought about taking a picture of the icon, surrounded by all my crumpled up tissues!)

Michael had commissioned my iconographer friend, Britta, to do the piece. 

So, as iconographers do (and as she could do particularly well for us), she prayed for our intentions as she wrote the icon.  Isn't that beautiful?  Every stroke of her paintbrush was a prayer for us.

On the back of the icon is a beautiful, personalized message, commemorating the piece. 

In fancy script lettering it says, "This icon of St. Philomena was prayerfully written for the intention of Michael and Lisa Goddard on the anniversary of their second year of marriage.  O most holy Saint Philomena, please pray unto God for the them.  Commissioned by Michael for his beloved, Lisa."

See?  No wonder I cried!!  :)  Thank you, Michael!  And thank you, Jesus, for giving Britta such talent!!

Addison's Third Birthday Party

This weekend we celebrated our niece Addison's third birthday.  She is such a precious little girl, and each time I see her, I am just delighted by her personality more and more!  With Liam she is particularly tender, loving, and patient.  It was a joy to witness their interaction this weekend!  She had him giggling up a storm.  Here's a few pictures from her pool party.  :)  It was Liam's first time in an adult pool!

Little Wyatt is just 6 weeks old!  He's oh-so-handsome with his red hair!  Jen and Andrew are so blessed!  :)

First Time in the Baby Pool

With this hot July weather upon us, what could be better than a refreshing dip in the pool? 

We blew up Liam's rubber duckie pool, put on his Hawaiian swimming trunks, and turned on the garden hose.  There was instant fun to be had!

Grandma and Grandpa came over for Liam's first official plunge into his baby pool, and he loved the experience.

And, no, we didn't give him a roll of masking tape to play with.  That's just Grandma's plastic bangle bracelet, which he refused to part with.  :)

Macy remained close by to supervise...and to get petted by Dad!

What a great way to cool off!

Just 20 Minutes Away

How blessed we are to live only 20 minutes down the road from my parents.  They come over frequently to play with their little grandson, and seeing the joy on their faces (and his!) couldn't make me happier!  :)

my view from the kitchen window

out to grab a bite to eat

impressing Grandma with his playing :)

enjoying the fish tank in the pediatrician's office waiting room, just before his 9-month check-up

An Afternoon with Children's Author Kathy Miller

The other day we gathered with extended family and went to see a presentation by children's author and photographer, Kathy Miller, who writes about the adventures of a cute little chipmunk named Chippy. 

Afterward, we went out for ice cream at a local farm.  What a perfect way to spend a Summertime afternoon.  :)