Christmas is over and done with, but we’re still shoveling. I feel like I’ve shoveled more snow in the last few days than I have in my whole life. We have had to do a few hours a day, in shifts, to keep all the paths, sidewalks and driveway clear. Sometimes I make the boys “help” me, for a few Starbursts.

We’re getting so much white stuff, that we’re running out of places to put it, and the banks we’ve created are getting higher than we can lift the shovel to deposit more of it.

Sadly, on Christmas, it was so warm it was raining on top of all the snow, so we couldn’t even play outside. This morning we awoke to more snow falling, on top of what I am sure is a wicked layer of ice. Good thing we really don’t have to go anywhere, besides Mass tomorrow…

Despite joyful Christmas cards and shopping euphoria, Advent is supposed to be a penitential season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving — just like Lent. Accordingly, my book club chose to read St. Augustine’s “Confessions” for December.

I very much wanted to be assigned this book again, because — I confess! — I never read it when it was assigned to me the first time, in Theo 101 my freshman year. How ironic that I neglected to read the one book that could have possibly shed some light into my life as I was entering into my darkest time away from God.

I do remember my professor (who, providentially, became my confirmation sponsor five years later) reading aloud one of the mot beautiful, and profound, passages of the “Confessions”:

Late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient, and so new. Late have I loved you! You were within me but I was outside myself, and there I sought you! In my weakness I ran after the beauty of the things you have made — the things which would have no being unless they existed in you! You have called, you have cried, and you have pierced my deafness. You have radiated forth, you have shined out brightly, and you have dispelled my blindness. You have sent forth your fragrance, and I have breathed it in, and I long for you. I have tasted you, and I hunger and thirst for you. You have touched me, and I ardently desire your peace. Amen.

Amen is right! Finally reading this book was a very cathartic experience for me, as it expressed some of my thoughts and feelings better than I ever could have. It brought to mind years of pain and misery without God, but it also made me more grateful than ever for my reunion with Him and my life with Him since then. His mercy endures forever!

The other day, as I was doing a religion lesson with Boo Boo, we were talking about actual sin (mortal and venial sin), which we choose to commit. St. Joseph’s Catechism explained that mortal sin “drives Our Lord out of the life of the one who commits it.”

Boo Boo looked at me in uncharacteristic seriousness and asked me, “Mama, have you ever driven Jesus out of your life?”

Though a bit surprised, I answered him truthfully, and then had a chance to talk about my conversion and eventual choice to live a life of grace, with the help of God. I know with a passionate and extreme person like him — and like myself, and like St. Augustine — it’s never too soon to talk about the good and bad choices that lay ahead of him, and the constant availability of God’s mercy and forgiveness. And like St. Monica, I have a feeling I’m going to be spending some serious time praying for our eldest son.

I took M-Cat into the doctor yesterday for her six-month check-up. It turns out that she’s not so fat anymore.

Height: 26 inches (50th percentile)

Weight: 15 pounds, 12 ounces (50th percentile)

Head circumference: 17 inches (75th percentile)

The doctor declared her practically perfect in every way, and she’s exactly average and proportional for height and weight. When I reported the findings to Dear Husband, he said, “We don’t have a fat daughter anymore…” with a twinge of sadness.

So no more Fat Cat. No more M-Fat. I’m not even sure M-Cat is that applicable anymore.

Are these two “Ralphie” and “Randy,” or what?!

Adrian Peterson at the 2008 Pro Bowl

Out of the blue yesterday…

Boo Boo: Mama, can football players marry?

(I’m thinking he’s asking me this because he’s often looking for a profession that is compatible with the married vocation, unlike his brother, who says he wants to be a priest and doesn’t want to get married…)

Mama: Sure, they can.

Boo Boo: Then I wonder who Adrian Peterson is married to…

I mentioned our friends’ little boy, Thomas, last week. He was born at 25 weeks gestation a year and a half ago, but has been doing pretty well — all things considered — since then.

But he’s been having some serious issues since his doctors attempted to remove his trach three weeks ago. This dear little boy was supposed to be home and healing a week ago, but he’s still stuck in limbo at the hospital, sedated, while his parents have to play the wait-and-see game. They know he won’t be home for Christmas.

Please join in praying nine Memorares a day for a Christmas miracle, so Thomas’ parents can bring their son home and reunite their family as soon as possible. (You can show this family your support by posting your promise to pray on their blog…)

MEMORARE, O piissima Virgo Maria,
non esse auditum a saeculo, quemquam ad tua currentem praesidia,
tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragia,
esse derelictum.
Ego tali animatus confidentia,
ad te, Virgo Virginum, Mater, curro,
ad te venio, coram te gemens peccator assisto.
Noli, Mater Verbi,
verba mea despicere;
sed audi propitia et exaudi.
Amen.

In English translation, the prayer is:

Remember, O Most Gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that anyone who fled to Thy protection,
implored Thy help or sought Thy intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence,
I fly unto Thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my Mother;
to Thee do I come, before thee I kneel, sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in Thy clemency, hear and answer me.
Amen.

I am in love with our children, of course, but I AM realistic about them — and how much work we have ahead of us. It will be a veritable miracle of God’s doing if we can somehow mold our firstborn into a consistently considerate, empathetic, virtuous person. How many times a day can we possibly tell him, “The world does not revolve around you,” or “Can you see that there are other people I need to tend to besides you?”

We take this “job” pretty seriously around here, and are sometimes tempted to despair. That’s when articles like these give us a much-needed laugh and reality check. Thanks, Onion!

I love, love, love taking photos and getting photos taken of my children. Yes, I am inordinately proud of them, and I think they are the most phenomenal and gorgeous people on earth — I’m their mother!

So here are some of my favorites from our annual photo session at Sears (as I mentioned previously, we bought the copyrights to them)…

My apologies to everyone, but I am not sending out many Christmas cards this year; if you actually receive one in the next few weeks, consider yourself lucky.

Normally, I love writing the letter, and getting the photo cards made, and writing a personal note on every one, and hand addressing the envelopes. I come from a long-standing tradition of doing this, as my mother has slaved many Decembers sending out the same to hundreds of people.

Last week, I was completely stressing out, though, dreading every step of the process. My time is so committed to taking care of the kids, and schooling Boo Boo, and attempting to maintain a semblance of order in the house (as it should be!) that I had no idea how I would be able to do all that on top of a major Christmas card endeavor. I realized I would have to choose between sending out cards or schooling Boo Boo for a month — the latter naturally takes precedence, of course.

So I’ve been emailing the vast majority of our friends the letter I whipped up, and attaching the uber cute portraits we got taken at Sears (don’t worry — we bought the disk and the copyright to them!). It feels so good to make a few simple clicks and be done with it!

Hope your holiday preparations are as simple and joyful! =)

There’s no stopping M-Cat right now.

One of her favorite things to do these days is grab a newspaper and stuff if in her face. Often, I see her looking around and straining for a big piece of paper to maul. It is getting very tricky to read anything to her, or try to read anything ourselves when she is around. Her other favorite trick is to pull her socks off her feet and chew on them. Eww, M-Cat!

She’s also started reaching for people, and has done so for two of our women friends whom she had never met before. Their hearts melted at such a gesture, of course, and both wanted to take her home. (Sorry, ladies! I don’t know what we’d do without her!)

She’s been rolling from front to back and back to front for a few weeks now; on Thanksgiving, she started doing slow barrel rolls across the floor. Now she is flipping over whenever she can — she’s getting ESPECIALLY wily on her changing table, so that I can hardly get her diaper on!

A few days ago, she pushed herself backward 10 feet across our hardwood floors. I just know she’ll be crawling any day now. Where did our little baby go?!

And yesterday afternoon, the inevitable happened. As I was doing lessons with Boo Boo in his room, and she was corralled on his bed, she rolled over a few times, grabbed hold of his plastic sword, gripped it in two hands and pushed herself up above it.

“She’s holding the sword as if she were a knight!” Boo Boo exclaimed with glee. (Score on the correct use of the subjunctive clause, Buddy!)

We’ve got to get this girl some dolls, stat!