OI VEY

THAT ELECTION, RIGHT?

I've probably already said way too much in my mind and on Facebook and in my mind again so I thought I simply leave you with a photo pictorial of what my life looked like in the days following the election. It just s w a l l o w e d me up.

Anyone else relate?

 I'm dying at that top still on the television. **Make each day special** HA! Also, endless Caillou = a portrait of all hell broken loose.

and finally... THE COUP DE GRAS, this fine piece of art presented to me by Clemmy. Clem yelling, me smiling, and my phone.

It's true.

I am the world's shittiest mom.

Let it be known.

Anyway today, by the skin of my teeth, we made it to mass. Before communion we sang the prayer of St Francis and, man, I have heard that song 1,000 times but it never struck me like it did today.

Particularly: Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned... 

And then I thought of Facebook... -__-

Aside from the obvious ill that comes from rabid consumption of anything, the tone in the frustration from every side was rarely consoling, loving, pardoning ETC... particularly the tone is my own head. Yuck. I know I could use a double dose of those sentiments and then some. Plus a mental cleanse of some sort. Can the lemon juice/maple syrup/cayenne thing take care of that? 

Anyway, I'm resolving (resolution no. 76,453) to do all the right things more and do it all as far away from Facebook as humanly possible. Lord Jesus.

Anyone feel me?
Why is it so hard to stop staring at a car accident?
Why do we think we can fix the world via Facebook?
Why do we let our kids watch Caillou?

Wishing you a glorious, happy, spiritually productive Thursday. May it be free of arguments and snark!

XO

13 monthers

Since we had two girls first I always imagined us a girl-dominant family. I'm still getting used to the idea that we are boy heavy. It feels strangely fresh and new even though we are seven kids deep. Here is our spacing break down in case any of you cared - Hero and Mary: 15 months,  Mary and Johnny: just under 2 years, Johnny and Clem: 22.5 months, Clem and Peter: 21 months, Peter and Joe: 19 months, Joe and Francis: 13 months.

So now, almost 10 years of parenting later, I find myself with three little dudes piled into a 2.5 year stretch. And with my most crowded kid spacing ever, as a tasty little cherry on top. So, how has the 13 month gap been? Fine, I say! I think it's mostly due to the holy trinity of parenting more kids which is 1. you just get better at it 2. you lower your standards 3. you lower your standards all the way.

For instance, after Hero was born, I woke her up a bazillion times a night to nurse and lost sleep watching her breathe just to make sure she'd stay alive. Now, I don't. I can carry around a newborn without even giving it a second thought. I bounce around when they need to be bounced and I stop supporting their heads when they don't need me to any longer and I don't even give this any conscience thought. More newborns to carry around has made me better at it and therefore 10,000 times less stressed out. And I just don't care anymore! You can find my baby wearing the same outfit for 4 days in a row or hanging around in weird locations while I get stuff done (chair, floor, etc), you can find my toddler chewing on some lint, I do not care. This not caring is another big, crazy heap of anxiety off my back. Parenting is much, much easier than it ever was, in a way. So, 13 months? Fine!

More complicated? In some ways, yes. Joe just decided to walk at an ambitious 16 months so life is certainly slower and a bit trickier. But I've also been refining my technique for almost 10 years so it's probably still not as tricky as it was. Take, for instance, going places. I just don't. Kirby mostly grocery shops, Target and Amazon now deliver my essentials, I get babysitters when I need them and that's that. I much prefer slow home days where we can all move at a non-frantic-mom pace which usually isn't the case when I'm putting people in and out of cars and carseats and shopping carts. NO THANKS. 

On the off-chance that I run an errand with the littles, I put Francis in a carrier, Joe in the cart and Pete piled under my purchases in the back of the cart where they tell you your kids can't sit. Clem sticks near by and we just cruise along looking like a bunch of maniacs, but it's not my preferred method. My preferred method is to leave my kids behind and fly solo as much as humanly possibly. Because a big part of lowering my standards has been lowering them for myself, and saying goodbye to that impossible picture of a mom who does all the things. I don't want to do all the things the most difficult way, I already do enough things! I think that concept was pretty hard to grasp but I'm grateful life got crazy enough to set my free of those bizarre do-it-all standards we heap on ourselves. And isn't that the irony? The crazier life gets, the more you let go of, the less stressed you are, and the more you enjoy yourself. That's the truth for me, anyway.

When people ask how I'm so relaxed I think my most honest answer is that I kept having kids. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I also think personality type has aided our family flow in a big way. Those three little goofs are all turning out to be major, major sanguines. They laugh and smile and sleep and take bottles and mostly don't seem to care which way is up or down. Part of me wonders if this was God's little gift to me as a way to work it all out, us having these three boys so close. They torture each other but they take it. God bless dis mess.

Thursday Shmursday

I've got to be honest, I feel like life is kinda drowning me right now and I just can't get out of it. I can't even really say why but I feel like I'm scrambling almost all the time and not much is ever feeling truly handled. Do you guys feel that way ever? Smh I am just eyerolling myself for the post I wrote a few months back... and also, what changed?! Who knows. It's all just a season, right? (eyeroll again for that)

Anyway, I've been kicking myself for not posting! My goal for today is to revamp our family schedule. Hopefully bring more order and, therefore, mas peace. Please Lord let it be!

I thought I would give you a much approps rundown of the little sweet things that are keeping me afloat lately. Maybe you can tuck them in your back pocket for some good ammo on a crazy day.

1. Konjac sponges. Holy crap how have I missed out on these? I've been taking great pleasure in my daily skin care regiment. It's so, so nice to have about 35 seconds on face-spa time at the start and end of the day and these sponges are the best. The can last a few months (or so I hear?) and give your skin the most gentle exfoliation. I use them with my cleanser and my face looks so bright after. Go nab some!

2. Skin care! I know, I know, I already talked about this but Juice Beauty is the real thang for me these days. I love every single thing of theirs I have tried. Each shipment comes with a generous amount of samples which I squeeze to the last drop. And I know these are kinda pricey but I feel no guilt because, damn it, I am a grown ass woman. They are having a 20% off sale today so I'm gonna treat my little aging skinned-self to the Green Apple Peel (and maybe hand cream... and maybe serum...). So far I have the eye cream, the green apple moisturizer, the stem-cellular moisturizer, and the gel-cleanser and my skin is changing... I am telling you. Treat yo self, babe.

3. Potty training Pete. I won't post a pic a here bc it would get flagged for all sorts of offensiveness but let me just tell you it contained a lot of poo and a lot of pee on my kitchen floor and I was thanking Jesus for my concrete floors. I took a photo to text it to my friends, naturally. Anyway whyyy oh why am I including this here? It's essentially only due to the amount of diapers I have not changed these past few days. And any less diaper I am changing is good for me.

4. Speaking of diapers... I only recently realized Target has a subscription service and I'm pretty sure my life might be changed forevermore because of it. Target dipes and wipes are my all time faves and I think they are even cheaper than Costco brand... (dare I say that in this sacred space?) but going to Target (or anywhere, really) is one of my top 5 most hated things. TURNS OUT THEY CAN JUST SEND YOU THE DIAPERS GUYS, LIKE EVERY MONTH. Died and gone to heaven.

5. Bishop Barron's podcast. I'll just mention it again. For all the time I feel like I don't have to replenish my soul on the daily, this podcast playing in my back pocket while I do housework makes me so, so happy. Listen!

6. Hot yoga. Jenna and I have been taking hot yoga classes for the last few weeks and it is on, hot yoga. ON. We go one night a week which seems so lame in terms of work-out standards but it kicks my ass so hard that I feel like it must roll over at least a day or two. The first class I took I felt like death afterwards- shaky, nauseas, headache, blegh. I did a little research on how to hydrate before and after and that made a huge difference the next class. And now I'm even starting to feel a teensy bit cool in the class (at 102* say what?) and significantly less toxic imho. Anyway, Jenna said something so true last night after class- that it's the only time during the week that her thoughts are completely turned off and man, that is the truth. I am realizing how good for my mind and body a weeknight away is to sweat and stretch so intensely that all you can think about it survival.

7.  Drawing moustaches on my boys for halloween. Just cause it's the best.