Homeschool Preschool

So, I've started a very relaxed, very low key PRE-preschool with Dominic. The fact is that we were totally not being productive (this we means me :() and we were watching too much SpongeBob (this we means the boys...I was usually reading or something else not actively engaging all the time). So I needed some direction, a little bit of a schedule.

[caption id="attachment_662" align="aligncenter" width="300"] This is our schedule, I write it out each week (week 2 right now)[/caption]

This is not to say that we always follow it, or that it has our time blocked out. We spend about 10-15 minutes doing each task, and we don't do them in the order they're written necessarily. Basically it's a few ideas for us to direct our day.  This was where we started with our first week:

Week 1
Color: blue
Stack all blue toys
Color with blue crayons and chalk
Find blue items
Letters: D and C
Find things that start with D and C
Learn sounds
Draw the letters
Numbers: 1-5
Counting toys, snacks
Shapes: Circle
Find all circle toys
Draw circles
Body Parts: Arms
Go over parts
Color pictures
Religion: Sign of the cross
Practice before all prayers
Go to Church and practice
Animals: Duck
Find all ducks
Noise

I was going to write this up new every week, but basically I am just changing the color, the letters, body parts, animals and religion aspect each week, so I will keep this as sort of our template. Then I spread out these tasks during the day/week.

[caption id="attachment_668" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Our wall in the "school room" (dining area)[/caption]

When the boys do something like coloring, I put it up on our wall, and they've actually enjoyed going over to look at it later. :) Actually Dominic's obsessed with his this week and he wants to hold it a lot.

[caption id="attachment_666" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Can you guess why he loves it? Yes, I drew SpongeBob for him[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_664" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Christopher doesn't really do much yet, but he loves coloring[/caption]

Our animal this week is the frog and the color is yellow; our letters this week are S & P. If my choice of letters seems odd and random, well it is. Last week I chose D & C  because that's the boys' initials and we say their names a lot in the day. Obviously Dominic is not going to be reading at the end of our preschool year so I wanted to do something that was pre-phonics that would help him. We're focusing a lot on sounds and what words begin with those sounds. S & P I chose because, as I mentioned before, SpongeBob is a big deal in our house. And Patrick is his best friend. Today we were talking about 's' sounds and trying to find toys that started with those sounds. I was finding the SpongeBob and Patrick toys, really emphasizing the "sssss" and "puhpuhpuh" noises, and Dominic came over and asked for Squidward. It might be they just connect for him, but he doesn't have a Squidward toy anymore and we don't talk about him a lot. So, I think maybe he was making a connection??

[caption id="attachment_667" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Practicing Hail Mary this week[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_663" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Advent calendar[/caption]

Our religion this week is about the Hail Mary. I have the book My Jesus and I for the boys and I read the Hail Mary to Dominic while we looked at the pictures. We read through it twice and then I wrote it out in four parts to practice with. I wrote it on the yellow paper of course. And put up one of the prayer cards we have of Our Lady of Grace. We will continue to practice things like the Sign of the Cross, which he seems to try doing before meal prayers but sort of looks like he's dancing. It's obviously very adorable. :-D

Then in the midst of these tasks I have some chores listed for us to do. "Daily" chores a couple of times a day and one "weekly" chore. Sometimes Dominic helps me, and other times he just plays. He likes helping with the dishes, and both boys really like sweeping. But other things they haven't caught on to yet.

So, this is how we're doing preschool. Do you do anything specific with your kiddos?

Preparing for Lent

So, it's just a couple of weeks until Lent. I have given a lot of thought to what I will give up this year, I have mostly given up food-related things in the past because I love food so it's hard for me. However, this year I have decided to give up social media. I have been spending an inordinate amount of time between Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ and it has been cutting into my spiritual life as well as my domestic life. I often spend too much time checking out what's happening else where and neglect playing w/ the boys or putting off the dishes. So, this Lent I am giving up something that will make a serious change in my life. After 40 days I might find that I don't need to be as connected as I have been recently.

What are you giving up for Lent?

Monday Memories

When Jason and I were engaged his family took me to the Stations of the Cross at San Luis. It was a great experience because it was fun to hike up and it was awesome to see the stations. I obviously have pictures of every station, but I'll just share a few pictures here. Jason told me about how they had walked from the Church in one town all the way to the Stations praying the Rosary. What an awesome experience! I hope we'll get to do something like that with our little family someday.

[caption id="attachment_493" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jesus falls the first time"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_494" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jesus falls the third time"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_495" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jason with his sister"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_496" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="At the top, the last station. Christ on the Crucifix"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_497" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The chapel at the top"][/caption]

It Turns Out I Just Had to Wake Up...

So Jason has been taking the boys with him to Daily Mass. Something that I have wanted to do, something that we do, but I have just been so tired that I haven't been able to. But now Christopher is definitely in a stage that he will not tolerate being in the car seat for very long and it is kind of hard to hold two wiggly boys during Mass. So, I was going to have to be awake when he left, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make myself get up and go. And you know what? Despite the fact that Christopher was up frequently from 1-2:30AM and again from 4-5:30AM, I feel pretty good. I plan to take a nap as soon as Dominic goes down, but I don't feel that horrible.

And I even did the dishes already and have part of dinner cooking. It's like I'm getting good at this domestic stuff or something...

Monday Memories

I am an adult convert to the Catholic faith. I was baptized on September 2, 2009 and received First Holy Communion that day. I had spent my life searching for the Truth, so this truly was the happiest day of my life.

A Quiet Prayer in the Midst of My Day....

...uh yeah right. Like I have "quiet". ;-)

Before Dominic was born Jason and I went to Daily Mass together, we often went to Saturday evening Mass as well as Sunday morning. We made it to Confession at least every two weeks if not weekly. We prayed Morning and Evening prayers from Liturgy of the Hours together (as well as midday if we were together and remembered) and prayed the Rosary together.

Now? We are lucky if we pray our regular daily prayers together as a family. We are surprised that it is so hard to fit in, it is humbling as well. Humbling you ask? Well, I think I tended towards pride with how our prayer life was. Now I am happy if I manage to say "Dear Lord please help me" throughout the day. I wish I more frequently said "Thank you Lord". In fact, today I sent a calendar reminder to Jason so that we would remember to pray the Rosary tonight.

We set up a schedule so that we would fit in our daily prayers and even added in time to do some spiritual reading each evening after the boys were in bed. But then Christopher stopped sleeping. :-/ Not completely of course. Just, not for more than 2 hours at a time. Sigh. I am trying so hard to remember that one day I will miss this. I will miss the middle of the night cuddles. We will have plenty of time to pray the LOTH and I will miss the cacophony of musical toys that Dominic sets off and Christopher's nearly constant cooing. We will attend Daily Mass everyday and we will pray for the Faith of our children that we have sent on their own.

So, for now, I will be content with my quick "Lord, please help me" prayers and I will do my best to add more "Thank you Lord" prayers to my day. I will work on asking Our Blessed Mother to help me emulate her in my motherhood. For now, when we don't manage to get our Rosary said, I will be thankful that sometimes Christopher will only go to sleep while listening to me repeat the Hail Mary.

Monday Memories

OK, so I'm making an attempt at some regular type posts. Who knows if this will last because, hey, it's shocking that I've done 3 blog posts in fairly recent days as it is. But, this weekend we stayed in a hotel room and for some reason the smell of the hotel soap/shampoo transported me back to Rome and I was remembering our honeymoon. <3 So, I thought it would be nice to devote some time to reminiscing about fun things that we've done. And, duh, today I'm going to talk a little about our honeymoon.

Jason has been an avid donor to Catholic Answers for a long time, and during my conversion this is where he pointed me to get many an answer. He had frequently read about and heard about all of the Catholic Answers Cruises and he really wanted to go on one. I did too and when the trip to Rome came up we thought it would be so fun! We were not engaged yet, but we booked the trip hoping that we would be able to be married soon and this could be our honeymoon. It was a tight squeeze...our wedding was Friday, September, 25th and we left for Rome the following Wednesday, October 1st.

[caption id="attachment_439" align="aligncenter" width="128" caption="At the airport"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_440" align="aligncenter" width="85" caption="This church quickly became a landmark for us to find our way back to the hotel. I believe it was St. Bartholomew."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_441" align="aligncenter" width="128" caption="The real deal everyone...yes, we met Karl Keating. Here he was lecturing outside of some ruins at the Roman Forum if memory serves correctly"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_442" align="aligncenter" width="128" caption="And here I am, crossing the Tiber!"]

[/caption]

The ever-important Tiber River. Converts to Catholicism sometimes refer to their conversion as "crossing the Tiber".

We saw some really awesome, beautiful churches. I wish I could post all of them, but we took so many pictures between our two cameras, so I'm just going to put in a couple.

[caption id="attachment_444" align="aligncenter" width="199" caption="The crucifix at The Pantheon"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_445" align="aligncenter" width="128" caption="This was some amazing artwork at one of the Churches. "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_446" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Not many pictures were allowed inside the Vatican so here is a picture of the entrance. Definitely amazing!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_447" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Entrance to St. Catherine's chamber"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_448" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Inside the chamber."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_449" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="St. Catherine of Sienna."][/caption]

These are just a few highlights. Hopefully someday I'll get all of the pictures organized and I can either post them here, or a link to a slide show. I love looking at the pictures because it reminds us how close we were to some saints. We walked in St. Peter's basilica where St. Peter is actually buried. We entered the chamber where St. Catherine of Sienna died and saw the chamber where they attempted to martyr St. Cecilia. What an amazing experience that I am so thankful for.

The Post Where I Muse About Figuring Out How Not to Offend People

So, we are going to be pretty strict parents when it comes to how our kids act at certain places. You know, like at Mass. Dominic is only 14 1/2 months old, but, we are already trying to get him in the habit of certain behaviors are appropriate at some places but not others. So, at Mass we try to encourage him to look forward and he has a few "Mass acceptable" toys that he can take. Sometimes Jason puts him on his shoulders and Dominic giggles some but I assume this is better than that incessant whining that would happen otherwise. The problem comes when other people decide to try to make him giggle. Dominic has this absolutely adorable habit of shaking his head no in order to get people to giggle at him. It almost always works because, like I said, he's adorable. We try to discourage it as much as we can, but what to do when the nice people behind you are doing it to him?? I mean really, what are we supposed to do? If it was a child we would say "please don't play with him during Mass". And, yes I know that we can tell an adult that, but it seems so...patronizing? Condescending? I'm not even sure the appropriate word. It drives me nuts!! That's why we try to keep him facing forward.

I know we should be thankful that people are accepting of our having kids at Mass. But, seriously, if you're sitting by us at Mass, don't try to make our kids giggle. :-|

Does this drive you nuts? Do you say anything?

From Mormonism to Catholicism; My Conversion Part III

Well, if you've been able to stay even remotely interested in this, I think it's time to finish my conversion story. You can read the first part of my conversion from Mormonism to Catholicism here and there is a link to the my first conversion post there. :)

So, here I was yearning a bit for this real Communion that Jason had discussed with me; this connection to Our Lord that seemed to be available only to Catholics and yet, I was so involved in the lives of all of my Mormon friends and feeling accepted and loved by all of them. My first "calling" (aka job) in the Mormon church was teaching Sunday School to 8 year olds. I thoroughly enjoyed this, but honestly, I never taught them anything about the Book of Mormon. They rotate and the year I was doing this teaching we were learning about the New Testament. The focus was on things like Christ being God's only begotten son; things that I knew about all throughout my life. Nothing seemed weird at all. About the time I really began to question things, I was switched to teaching Young Women's and the year changed and the focus became more on the BoM and I found more and more inconsistencies with certain aspects.

I sat in to learn a bit about genealogy one Sunday and I was informed by the woman teaching us that I needed to hurry up and get married because if I died unmarried, they would just "pick" someone to marry me to in the temple. :-O Yikes! That was odd. After a discussion with Jason about the "Great Apostasy" I found myself using the info from the Mormon church in conjunction with the Bible to see if I could "prove" it. Well, funny thing, all the supposed proof in the Bible, if you read the context, is really about other things. The "proof" for the BoM stumped me for a while, Jason and I had discussed the part of Revelation where John says that no more can be added to that. When I went to my Mormon scholars, they informed me that the truth is that Revelation was probably written much earlier than other books of the Bible, and it's placement at the end wasn't because of the order when it was written. As I said, I did not know much biblical history, so I honestly didn't question it. When I took this back to Jason he pointed me to some information where I could look it up and learn for myself. But I didn't. Yet. I think by this point Jason was almost giving up on my conversion. We tried to stop talking about it. It was the elephant in the room all the time and our friendship was seriously strained.

Around this time, my Mormon friends were working on getting me "Temple ready" and had in fact planned my first trip to the Temple. The first trip was supposed to be to do Baptisms of the Dead, but it would be shortly after that when I would go for the real deal. Literally the night before we were scheduled to leave there was a snow storm. And I don't mean just any old snow storm, this was the beginning of the SE Colorado Blizzard of '06. We got 36 inches. We did not go to the Temple. When it was rescheduled there was another snow storm that stopped it. I am not kidding, I am certain that God was intervening in a very real, very physical way. After the second trip was cancelled I had enough questions that I told them I didn't feel ready or OK with taking part in it.

By this time Jason and I had decided not to discuss my conversion specifically, as it was the only way we could stay friends. So, you're wondering what the deciding factor was? Well, it was a conversation I was not part of. I was working in the office filing and two of my coworkers were chatting about various things and came to discussing religion. One of the ladies, a Protestant Christian asked the other, a Catholic, if she believed there was marriage in Heaven. The Catholic said, she wasn't sure, but she didn't think it would be the same. Now, this perked my interest because one of the BIGGEST selling points of Mormonism is that it is the only religion that allows for Celestial, Eternal marriage. The Protestant said "well, I don't, in fact Christ says that there is no marriage in Heaven in the Bible." And I said "WHAT?!" Again, I had so little knowledge of the Bible I had never heard this line. I sent a text message to Jason and asked him for the reference, he gave it to me and I went home and poured over my KJV Bible that I had gotten from my mom, not the Mormon one.

Then I started asking questions of my Mormon coworkers and friends, and finally I saw how their responses were not satisfactory. They would lead me somewhere but when that raised more questions they would turn to the standard Mormon answer of "logics does not have to be involved, we are talking about the Holy Spirit burning in your bosom". My standard answer to that at this point was that if I read a novel based on a fictional character living during Christ's time it is likely that it would leave a good feeling for me, but that wouldn't mean it was inspired. Privately I held that I knew Satan could mimic those good feelings. I also started asking questions of Jason again, but he was a little more guarded, he did give me a book of the Wisdom of the Church Fathers to read, but more on that in a moment. I also spoke to one of my Mormon friends' daughter who was attending a Baptist church along with the girl I rode to PTA school with who is a non-denominational Christian. Where they led I followed. Except on the point that there isn't "One" true church. I couldn't buy that, I mean, here I am following the Bible throughout my disassociation from the Mormons, using it to "disprove" aspects of the BoM, and Christ said He would be with us even to the end of time. So there must be some way for Him to guide us. He must have had a plan, and that plan must have been specific.

So, I read that book of the wisdom of the Church Fathers that Jason gave me. And what do you know? They were all Catholic. Even better, they discussed the Eucharist. That one, special way to bring Heaven to Earth and have Christ TRULY present. Then Jason agreed to take me to Daily Mass and explain things to me. We sat in the cry room and he explained what was happening. It was beautiful. There was something, no, SomeONE there. He gave me his Missals to look over to understand more. Then I was gone for a couple of days for surgery in Greeley (see my post related to Endrometriosis for more on that), and when I returned I'd made my decision. If I believed Christ in the New Testament telling us that He would be with us, and I believed history, there is no other way for me to go. I was already Catholic in my heart.

I started reading, and reading, and reading more. Thank God that Jason has lots of books about Church history and understanding. His Baltimore Catechisms came in really handy! He bought me Catholicism for Dummies and a Bible, you know one of those Catholic Bibles. ;-) And he introduced me to the priest who I started meeting with weekly to prepare for my Conversion. I started my true conversion process in April of '07, because of my private meetings with the priest and my individual study, he allowed me to be Baptized on September 2, 2007. Happiest. Day. Of. My. Life. . The first time I received Our Lord, I was complete. We refer to that day as my Heathen no More Day. :)

From Mormonism to Catholicism, My Conversion Part II

Well, I'd say it's time for me to get back to my conversion story. A good facebook friend of mine prompted me to want to finish it, or at least get the next part written. Even as I write this I am not sure how many posts this section (From Mormonism to Catholicism) will be because it seems like it took so long and was such an important part of my life. I posted before about my conversion from Secularism to Mormonism on a previous blog post that you can check out if you like.

I had been entrenched in the Mormon life for about 4 months when I met Jason. We met at work and I figured out that he was Catholic (he wore a St. Christopher medal, and hey, I'm smart), and after a few emails also learned that he was really moral and proper. He did not drink, he did not swear, he did not like movies with sex or other immoral things in them. And I thought that was so cool because I had lost all of my friends who weren't married with kids (those were my new Mormon friends) because of giving up drinking. So, I thought it would be fun to hang out. I did *not* have any desire to date him at that time, and he didn't have any desire to date me. Although, if you ask him, he's certain I had a crush on him. ;-) Anyway, I honestly just wanted someone to hang out with that I didn't have to worry about judging me for my new-found morals. We started spending more time together and since I was so "on fire" for my new religion and Jason is very dedicated and passionate about his faith, the subject came to religion.

We discussed so many aspects of our religions, it was really neat...and it was really heated. It got to the point that we couldn't have the discussions in person. We were soon sending emails back and forth. Jason would question something, and I would counter, sometimes hatefully; I distinctly remember even sinking to the "yeah but all those pedophile priests..." and he answered really well. He did not deny them, and he did not defend anything. This was so new to me, because often if you question a Mormon about polygamy you get some major defense of the situation, or you get some major anger. Also, as I've stated before, I did not have a lot of religious background, so I did not know the Bible particularly well. Moreover, there is a lot of stuff that as an "early" Mormon you aren't necessarily told. So, when Jason would ask something, I'd take it to the Missionaries or my coworkers. That sort of made Jason uncomfortable, but I think it also gave him some leverage. When he asked me why I did not drink tea and I told him because it was in the Doctrine's and Covenants, he was able to really push it and help me to question it more. Honestly, I don't even know if he knows this or not, but some of the conversations we had about why I would blindly follow some random proclamation to not drink tea or coffee stuck with me the most. I spent some time on Mormon Apologetics websites trying to get a good answer, and couldn't come up with one.

The conversation that really sent me questioning the first time though was about Communion. I was babysitting for one of the families, and was using their copy of the Bible, BoM and D&C but couldn't find the answer. Jason asked me if we believed that when we received Communion it was the body and blood of Christ. I said yes. He questioned me, and said that most non-Catholics believe it's symbolic. Based on the prayer that is said before the Sacrament (what Mormons call Communion), and the fact that it has to be said PRECISELY or it was not valid, I believed it was more than symbolism. I made a phonecall to one of my coworkers, and spoke with his wife. She told me of course it was symbolic, otherwise it would be cannibalism. Well, how do you argue that?! So, I regurgitated what she told me to Jason and we moved on. But I didn't. Jason quoted John Chapter 6 to me and I went home and read and reread that. Jason said that if Christ was being symbolic, why would He not clarify. He pointed out other parts in the Gospels where Christ corrected those that had things wrong, but I didn't remember the specifics of those references. What spoke to me was Christ present; yesterday, today, and always. How intriguing, how exciting, how could one not want that?

**Looks like my trip from Mormonism to Catholicism will take longer than one post. ;-)**

Faith of the Family

As I mentioned before, Holy Week afforded me the chance to make good on some commitments that I hadn't been that wonderful at keeping throughout Lent. And I did really well, if I do say so myself, which of course I do, it is my blog after all. ;-)

Triduum was a little more difficult for us, as we've been having some difficulty with Dominic's sleeping lately. He's been teething and been so achy and not napping well, which of course makes him go to bed early. Jason went to Holy Thursday by himself, but did come home and let me go to Adoration for a short bit. It was definitely worth it. We did make it as a family for the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, but again Dominic went to sleep early that evening so it was my turn. I attended on my own. Jason stayed home and cuddled the adorable boy so he stayed asleep. On Saturday, Dominic took a late nap so we decided that we would make an attempt at the Easter Vigil Mass.

Dominic did surprisingly well. We actually started in the cry room, but it was actually a CRY room that evening. As in, two babies were in there crying inconsolably, and quite sick as they were hacking like crazy (why would parents take their sick kids to Mass?!). So, we left the cry room for the comfort of the pews. Unfortunately people behind us thought that Dominic was so cute that they needed to try to make him smile and giggle. We really try to keep him mostly calm during Mass, not that he's getting a lot out of it right now, but we're trying to develop good habits. If you see an adorable baby at Mass, please wait until after Mass is over to attempt to make him or her giggle. Jason even had to sternly tell a little girl to stop trying to play with Dominic.

All of these difficulties with timing, and people in Mass obviously didn't change the beauty and overall wonderfulness of the Triduum for us, but it certainly made me appreciate the quiet times at Mass we've had in the past. It also made me really look forward to passing on the beauty and tradition of Lent, Holy Week, Triduum and Easter to Dominic and our still baking Spano fruit (and all subsequent fruit on the Spano family tree). As I read through blogs and posts of friends I saw so many ideas of how to bring the beauty to life for them, and I am excited. From resurrection rolls teaching the kiddos about how Jesus rose on Sunday, to 3D lamb cakes (not sure I'll ever be awesome enough for that one! ;-)) for Easter dinner.Oh yeah, plus chocolate crosses for Easter Sunday of course! :)

What are some of your favorite Lent, Holy Week, and Easter traditions?

Do you have favor

Holy Week, AKA One More Chance to Make Good on Your Lenten Promises/Sacrifices

Despite this being the hardest Lenten sacrifice I've done thus far (my fourth), I have not given in and messed up my sacrifice. I gave up all drinks but plain ole water (sometimes w/ a splash of lemon juice), I hate water. As strange as that sounds, it's true. I can't stand it...even good water. Because I need to drink more water (especially while pregnant) I usually add Crystal Light to my water. And I love Diet Mtn Dew. So, yeah, this has been super rough. And we don't allow ourselves to have any on Sundays either. I'm not sure of Jason's reasons, but mine is that I have a tendency to be gluttonous so I know I would just overfill on those days and it wouldn't end up being much of a sacrifice. So, I'm really rather pleased with how my Lenten sacrifice has gone.

My Lenten promises? Not so awesome. I wanted to make it more of a priority to attend Daily Mass. So did Jason, and I think he's only missed one or two. He rocks. Me...not so much. Some nights I've slept so horribly the idea of getting out of bed early makes me feel sicker than my normal morning sickness. On those days, Jason would get up with Dominic and take him to Mass with him while I slept. Then when they got back Dominic would be ready for a little nap so I'd go back to sleep some more. I felt better, but talk about epic fail. This sleep issue also interfered with our other Lenten promise to make sure we prayed more together especially the Rosary. Some days were awesome, even if I didn't get up, others though I went to bed before Jason was done working so we didn't get the chance. Though I feel sure that he prayed the Rosary on his own. I know I've mentioned this before, but Jason is an amazing Spiritual Head of Household; he is knowledgable and he is passionate about his faith. Just what is needed with a leaning towards slothful at times wife!

So, some failing and some rocking...and along comes Holy Week. We have made it to Mass together all 3 days they had morning Daily Mass and prayed LOTH and the Rosary together each day so far. I don't feel like this makes up for all the days I failed, but I think it pleases Our Lord. And, I feel like I've got a bit of a habit started and it will stay with me, so I can be a good help mate to Jason as he continues to lead us in our Spiritual life.

How have you done this Lent?

Cranky Babies at Mass...Better or Worse Than Chatty Cathys?

So, usually Dominic is pretty good at Mass. I mean he likes to chatter, and giggle, but overall he is a happy baby. On Saturday, we went to Mass in Pueblo at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. Jason had to wake Dominic up from his nap at some point, and he hadn't been able to get back to sleep. So at Mass he was pretty cranky.

Now, we are pretty sensitive because we both get distracted really easily. But this time Dominic was REALLY bad! Screaming, squirming, and scowling. He was so tired he would go between extremely loud giggling to screaming as though he were in agony. The screams were short lived and overall people would have thought he was happy. There was no cry room so Jason took him to a little alcove by the restrooms. The weird thing? Nobody seemed bothered. Nobody looked at us, no dirty looks, nobody did any of the awful things I hear about.

I think the reason might be that at the Cathedral people are really chatty. Not just in those the pews, but of particular chatty-ness is one of the ushers who speaks in a normal volume throughout the entire Mass. So maybe people are used to noise and so the boy's giggling and loudness wasn't a big deal? Or maybe they were thankful for small children at Mass?

What bothers you more? People chatting or noisy babies?

A Work in Progress

Well, one of my Lenten sacrifice/promises was to go to Daily Mass regularly, and like I mentioned yesterday, Jason is doing great...me not so much. I am SO tired sometimes. :( It makes me feel really bad but I know it's normal to be this tired while pregnant.

I also wanted to start doing some religious reading each night, and so tonight I am going to work on that! It might take until the end of Lent, but I think I can develop some good habits. Pray for me and I will for you!

What? A Blog Post From Me?! Lent and Babies

OK, so my goal of posting frequently has not gone that well so far. But, hopefully I will continue to do better with it. This is the second week of Lent, and so far my Lenten sacrifice is honestly the hardest one I've done so far. I gave up all drinks but water, with some lemon juice. I do have OJ or milk w/ breakfast, but that's not really very often. And I pretty much hate water. So, this is really difficult for me. We are also trying to add in some daily Mass (Jason's doing better than I am, I'm awfully sleepy lately), and focus on our daily prayer life. So far, we are really doing well. Of course, it's only the second week of Lent, so we'll see. ;-)

Dominic is growing so fast and doing new things all the time. He has a couple teeth poking up in the bottom, and it's affecting his sleeping a bit...so it's affecting ours. It's pretty rough, but I know we'll get our sleeping boy back soon. He likes to try to get people's attention and smile and giggle at them so that they will smile at him and pay attention to him. It's pretty adorable. Dominic will take a few steps when holding our hands, especially excited if it's towards Mama or Daddy. But, he hasn't quite figured out crawling; he will stay on his tummy a bit more and just today brought his knees up underneath him himself, so maybe crawling won't be too far off. I'm sure that we won't be as excited about it once he starts getting into things!

We got to hear the littlest Spano's heartbeat today at our OB appointment. It was 163bpm, which is quite a bit higher than Dominic's was. I think his was usually around 148bpm, but I'll have to check back on old blog posts to know for sure.

We are so excited to meet the new baby and are really enjoying Dominic's first year. Our growing family is such a blessing! :)

Thankful Tuesdays

As part of my desire to blog more frequently (I know, I know...kind of sucking on that end lately!), I've decided to try to have some day-specific posts. I really need to work on being thankful, and verbalizing those things I am thankful for, so Tuesdays will be my day to focus on those things for which I am thankful.

Today I am thankful for:

1) Getting to Daily Mass, it has really been a struggle lately, Dominic has started waking up again a couple times in the night and I'm just.so.tired lately from being pregnant. I do not have the leisure this time around to nap for 3 hours in the day and then go to bed at 8PM. So, getting to go to Mass and receive Our Lord in the Eucharist, is truly a blessing for which I'm thankful!

2) The mostly clean living room, two weekends ago when I was at work Jason stayed home with Dominic and he got the office cleaned (and usable!) and also cleaned the living room. This has meant that it has been simply a matter of picking up for me lately, and not a major thorough cleaning twice a week!

3) My husband that works so hard, so that I can be home with Dominic (and future babies)! He works all day at the hospital, he does extra side jobs, and he teaches at the college (3 classes this semester!). It is stressful and at times very hard for him, and I'm not sure that he knows just how much I appreciate it.

What are you thankful for on this Tuesday morning?

Guest Blog

Today, I have a post over at the blog for one of my favorite Catholic bloggers, Sarah Reinhard. She asked for some guest posts during Advent, as she knew she had a special little Advent/Christmas present coming (a baby boy!), but it just posted today. I talk about the Gift of Penance and what my first Advent as a Catholic meant to me.

Come check it out at Snoring Scholar.

2010...What a Ride

Wow, 2010 was an amazing year for us! The first quarter of the year we spent "living" away from each other as I worked in Garden City and Jason was here at home. In April, after realizing the difficult pregnancy and just the sadness that goes along with missing out on each other and that special time together during the pregnancy, Jason bought out my contract and brought me home! I worked on being a stay-at-home wife, and worked minimally as a PTA.

We spent a good chunk of the year waiting for the arrival of our kumquat, which he finally made on August 1st. He was a week "overdue" but seemed just right to us! :) We had a scary bout that first week home with problems nursing and Dominic losing too much weight and being dehydrated...that ended in a hospital stay for us and him.

Since his birth, our lives have revolved around our little kumquat and we couldn't be happier! He is such a joy and a blessing; it is so amazing to watch him learn and grow. Every day brings something new for us and we are always excited to see what's next. His giggling and smiles can light up the room, and he's already developing quite a personality.

Resolutions for the new year?! To enjoy our family as much as we can. To spend meaningful time together including making daily family prayer a priority, dinners together, and playing games and having fun. My resolution for the year is to be the best wife and mom that I can be. For me this includes this blog as it has a tendency to hold me somewhat accountable. It also includes widening my cooking abilities and baking. Learning to help us to have a balanced, healthy diet. With sides of ice cream and chocolate occasionally. ;-)

What were some of your 2010 highlights and what are your resolutions for the year to come?

From Secularism to Mormonism; Part 1 of My Conversion Story

So, I've been meaning to post about my conversion. I'm going to do it in at least two different posts because there are two parts to my conversion.

I was raised in a pretty secular home; my mom taught us to pray, and a basic moral code. Growing up, if you'd asked me I would definitely had said I was Christian. But, in that broad "I don't kill anyone, and I'm a pretty decent person" sense of the word. My mom did not have us baptized for a number of reasons, primarily because she thought it best to let us choose which faith we wanted. I think that she had the best intention with this, and I think that she did better for us than her parents did for her.

Growing up I had a huge desire to be close to God. We went to church sometimes as a family, but when I went regularly it was with a friend. I was drawn to her Lutheran faith with all the rituals and the solemnity involved. I was drawn in (NOT pushed away) by the fact that I was not able to receive Communion there. They were a strict congregation, and you weren't allowed to receive unless you were a Lutheran.

As I mentioned, my parents did their best to instill a moral compass based on their experiences in the world. Their experience was relatively secular. I don't mean this in a bad way; this is how my parents were raised as well, and I know that they did their best to teach me what was right and what was wrong. Unfortunately, I didn't hear all of what they were saying, and they also didn't say it all. I made a lot of bad choices from about 17 years old to 23 years old; I'm not going to go into what these choices were because I don't want to think about them that much. They didn't make me a better person, I'm not glad I had those experiences, and I don't have any desire to relive them. Suffice it to say, they ran the gambit of bad choices and sins; I am incredibly thankful that my baptism washed it all away and yet I still felt compelled to do extra penance. But, I digress.

When I moved to Lamar, in 2005, I started working at the hospital. I was now at the back end of my life of bad choices and I was hurting in so many ways. I had such a longing to be close to God, but I was so afraid of stopping the destructive path I was on. Not, afraid in that I loved what I was doing, but afraid in the sense that it was all I had known for so long that I didn't know what I would do without that. I had some toxic people in my life that made me feel horrible, but who I felt like I had to keep in prominent places in my life.

Basically, I was ripe for the picking. Insert wonderful coworkers who happened to be Mormon, who spent A LOT of time telling me that I'd make a good Mormon and basically otherwise prepping me. Finally, I was invited to "hear the lessons". If any of my readers knows about Mormons, this is when the missionaries come over and tell you "all" about becoming a Mormon. (only they don't tell you everything. Stay tuned for my blog post about Mormonism to Catholicism) Well, in my case, I was invited over for lunch on a Sunday to my boss' house and the missionaries met us there. The first two were goobers, I won't lie. But, my boss and his wife corrected them and made what they were saying make sense. Sort of. Remember how I mentioned that I didn't have a lot of church in my background? Well, that certainly helped the missionaries because I didn't know any better than what they were saying. Since I knew so little of Scripture, I certainly didn't know anything about Church history. So, OK, I could totally buy that there was an apostasy. I mean, they used Scripture (from the good ole King James version which I had at home), so it must be the truth right?

From that first lesson on, I was entrenched in this wonderful group of people who were fighting to have me learn at their homes. Everyone wanted me to come over and spend time with me, and learn and be part of their families. It was so breathtaking; I've never been so wanted in my life. I needed people to want to be around me; I needed good, wholesome people to think I was worthy. I have to say that I think that is what made my conversion so easy for them. I didn't question anything; when some of my friends or family brought things up, I asked but took the Mormon responses easily and unquestioningly.

I worked with 3 Mormons; one was my boss, one came back to church because of me, and one...well, he and his wife were like "the cool" crowd at school and people just wanted to be around them. She was so cool in fact, she didn't come to anything for work (picnics, dinners, etc), and you never could tell if she liked you or was just being polite. But, they had me babysit so I think they liked me. ;-)

Oh yeah, the kids....if nothing else had sucked me in, that would have. I love kids and I always have; I got to babysit and otherwise hang out with these wonderful little people who adored me.

My family tried to be supportive by coming to my baptism, but they didn't understand it. They didn't understand this major shift that was happening in my life. I think, sometimes, they still don't understand it. One of the major rules of being a Mormon is no alcohol. This is because Joseph Smith said it is a bad thing, it is in the Doctrine and Covenants, and you. just. don't. do. it. So, I gave up drinking. Blind obedience made me quit alcohol, it wasn't until my true conversion that realized why I needed to give up drinking.

So, when asked how I was converted to LDS, I think it's safe to say I was fellow-shipped in. They saw a weakness, a need, in me and they seeked to fulfill it. I don't think that this is a bad thing, I think it's just good "business" so to speak. I don't think anyone becomes a Mormon because of documentation or history. That isn't even what they rely on, it's a "burning in your bosom" kind of religion; you have to feel the prompting of "the Holy Spirit". I put that in quotes for a reason; I think that the LDS church is a product of Satan deceiving us on Earth. I don't say that lightly and I don't say that meaning that I think that Mormons are knowing Satanists. I say it out of genuine concern for their souls. Most Mormons are good and true, and they think that they are following the Holy Spirit. However, Satan is a deceptive guy and he can mimic the good feelings that the Holy Spirit gives us. Also, just because we are bound by religion, does not mean that God is. The Holy Spirit can work through Mormons just as much as He can through good, holy Catholics. I think that at times I did feel the true Holy Spirit. Like when I was at a family's Monday night Family Home Evening and we were playing games (religious or not) and the older kids were helping the younger kids. Or when I was teaching the Sunday School class about the Old Testament. But, when it came to teaching actual Book of Mormon stuff, no, I don't think that is the Holy Spirit. More on that in my next post though...

Endometriosis, or the Wrath of God?!

One of my favorite tweeters, @VitaCatholic, got me talking about endometriosis--or more specifically using the pill to treat the pain associated with it. I mentioned my bout with it, and she thought I should do a post about it, so here I am. :) Thanks, by the way.

So, the title of this post sounds ominous. Bear in mind that I am not normally one of those people that thinks that ALL bad things that happen to someone are a direct punishment from God. I'm not even sure that I totally think that my short, intense bout with endometriosis was, but if not it would be highly coincidental. So, the story.

I am a convert, before I was Catholic I was a Mormon. Before I was Mormon, I was nothing. I mean, if you asked me, I would have probably said I was Christian, but would have meant it in the the generic I-like-to-help-people-I'm-a-good-person-and-I-believe-in-God-and-Jesus sort of way. Becoming Mormon was probably an integral step in my full conversion, as scary as that sounds. Some day I'll have to do a post on my conversion. At any rate, when I was Mormon I met my now husband who has always been a faithful, devout, Catholic. We became pretty good friends and spent a lot of time hanging out. As a "good" Mormon, I tried my best to engage him in debate and convert him. However, he always had much better responses (the Truth will generally help your case considerably ;-)) and often I could not respond to him without checking with my Mormon authorities first. In fact, I was appalled when some Christian church didn't think that we were Christians, I didn't know much about Mormon theology because I hadn't gotten TOO far from the meat and bread part of training.

So, I had been having a lot of doubts, these doubts were gnawing at me. I mentioned to my best friend (my now husband) and we started discussing my leaving the Mormon church. I also started mentioning it to the people I was friends with in the Mormon church. This was because I was a "good" Mormon, I needed to give them the chance to combat it. And they did, sort of, with love. Man, can those Mormons love, in the love your neighbor as yourself sort of way. I had phone calls and visits and people showing such concern for me. And for various reasons, I faltered. I decided that maybe the Mormon church wasn't "right" but at least they were nice, and cared about me so much, so couldn't that be the Holy Spirit?!

And, that's when the cramping started. I had never experienced cramps in my life until this time in my life. And this was a double you over in pain kind of cramps. These cramps, literally, knocked me down when they started. It was at work, and I was in so much pain. To top that off, I started bleeding every 7 days. Heavy, painful period. Lasted only a few days, but when it comes every 7 days, that's a whole lot of bleeding. Couple that with the excruciating pain, and well, it sucked. :-| Bottom line, it was awful.

I went to the local GYN in Lamar, and he put me on the pill. Guess what? Didn't work, I had break through, horrible bleeding. Ridiculous cramping still. He didn't know what else to do besides a hysterectomy which was off the table at this time. I decided to see my old GYN in Greeley, CO who I had always trusted and liked. He did some hormonal testing, everything was normal. He put me on pain killers, because by this point I was unable to go to work for 2 days every 7 days. He also put me on a couple types of estrogen. Our last resort was either putting me into a sort of fake menopause, or laparoscopy to see if it was endometriosis and try to remove what was there. I opted for surgery.

In the meantime, my doubts about the Mormon church were still gnawing at me despite all the love that those Mormons bestowed on me. Then one day at work two ladies I worked with were having a conversation about Heaven. I was not involved, just in the room. One of them asked the other "do you think there will be marriage in Heaven" and the other one said "I don't know, I've never thought about it" and the first said "Well, I don't, Jesus said there won't be, so there can't be". Wait, what?! Stop the train. This is one of the foundational Mormon "truths", that there IS marriage in Heaven, that you can be with your family for eternity. So I joined the conversation. And I researched. And I talked to my friends that were various Christian denominations, and I talked to Jason who was taking a sort of laid back approach to this during this time in the conversion. Everyone agreed. The Mormons were wrong.

I had pretty much made up my mind to leave the Mormon church when I went in for my surgery. I was REALLY nervous. I have always wanted to be a mom, and I was frightened that it wasn't going to be possible. The doctor went in and looked. And guess what? No endometriosis, nothing. There was a small piece of scar tissue on my bowel that he thought might have been causing some pressure, but really nothing that was on the uterus would account for the horrible cramping or incessant bleeding.

I had some cramping for another week or so, but the bleeding had stopped. By the time I had informed all of my Mormon friends I was leaving the church and had started looking seriously at the Catholic faith, the cramping had stopped as well. By the time my next cycle came along, all my Mormon "friends" who were so good at loving me before had stopped that loving. But I'd found a better love. Christ in the Eucharist. Although I could not receive Him yet, I could sit with Him, and visit Him, and pray to Him. And that love far exceeded any love that I had ever known. And I found when my period started, I didn't have any cramping associated with it, just like what it had been my whole life; and the bleeding didn't start again in 7 days.

So, that's my (long, sorry!) story about endometriosis. I don't know for sure if it was the wrath of God, or a warning, or purely coincidental. But I have a feeling that while I'm getting all of this down my guardian angel is chuckling and thinking "boy, it sure did take a lot to get her convinced!" ;-)