7 Quick takes Friday

1. Lent has begun & I've finally had a great reason to get back to going to daily Mass with Miss Ava... that being that our parish, (Our Lady of Perpetual Help in New Bedford) switched it's Mass time during Lent to 5:30pm!!!  This is SO much easier for me to make as:

#1. I'm not a morning person
#2. The usual Mass time falls anywhere between Ava's feeding and/or naptime (and she's now become too nosey to nap well in public)
#3. ...repeat #1

The other great thing is that there are confessions before every daily Mass (except Fridays when there are Stations of the Cross beforehand and confessions offered afterwards).  I'm LOVING it! 

2. I'm having this great desire lately to learn how to SEW!!!

I tend to be crafty and creative in other ways, but SO want to learn how to SEW!  I keep getting all these ideas and thinking, "Darn!  (no pun intended) I wish I had a sewing machine... but I don't"

3.  Spring is in the air.  When springtime nears, I get this great desire to start GROWING things!  So today I went into CVS to get Ibuprofen and came out with these:

...and a movie.  I hope it's good!

Anyway, I have all these beautiful Amarylis bulbs downstairs in the basement which I bought and planted for our Wedding (If you recall they came up to early). 

I thought they I'd plant a few in each container and bring them back to life.  I know this is typically done around Christmas, but this year has been so confusing season/weather wise... they probably won't know the difference.

4.  I put some finishing touches on Ava's nursery.  I have had these cute little green frames and hadn't had a use for them, so I put a bunch of pictures to tell her birth story and placed them up in the nursery with Command hooks (the little clear ones.  ...I told you I'm SO into these things!) and they look great hanging from the trees over her crib.

5. I FINALLY found a teether that works for Ava.  She has HATED every single one I've offered to her during this whole teething process.  Until NOW!  I found these at Marshalls of all places:  Nuby Softees teethers...

...as you can tell.  She approves.

6.  THIS is one of my favorite things in my house.  It's a beautiful Holy water font that's hung right outside our bedroom door.  Our friends Pam & John Martin gave it to us for our Wedding.  I love that it's right there and so easy to dip into for a quick blessing and reminder.  I love watching Shaun bless little Ava.

7.  ...I've started working out again.  Ok... so I worked out ONCE technically.  I hope this holds me accountable.  I SOooo need to.  I have this big fear that I'll get pregnant again (that's actually NOT the fear part) before I lose the weight from this past pregnancy (THAT's the fear part).  So, I've turned my living room into a workout area.  Before I actually started, I watched the workout videos I had purchased over a period of 3 days to see which one most motivated me.... that's right, I said video(s)... plural.  "You just watched them you say?  Don't you mean to say, you worked out to them?"  Nope.  Just watched them... I think one of them I watched while I was snacking on Jax. 

That must have been Fat Tuesday. 

I'm SO uncoordinated I thought I might injure myself if I just jumped in.  I actually did sprain my ankle once doing Tae Bo!  So, I decided to skip the Tae Bo.  Sorry Billy.  I also decided to skip the "Post-Pregnacy Boot camp".  The lady was just too sweet and I thought when she said, "If you need to take a break, just take a short break" ...I would.  So for now I'm going with Jillian Michaels' "Ripped in 30". 

I'm hoping she can guilt trip me just enough to workout 3-4 times a week.  The tough part is that I'm not really that swayed by peer pressure.  I sort of have always "done my own thing" and if someone tells me to do something, I have a hard time doing it just because someone tells me to. 

I'm not like my dear friend Colleen of Martin Family Moments who seems to really enjoy excersize and has written many posts in defense of it.  (Her whole family is actually like this, so I think it's sort of a genetic thing) Or my friend Ellie from Me and my House who really likes to run and after 10 kids looks better than me after my first.  I don't enjoy it.  I hurt afterwards.  I have stairs in my house and the shortage of estrogen due to breastfeeding really makes my joints hurt more.  You know what I DO enjoy?  I really enjoy... EATING!  My tastebuds are in better shape than my legs.  And it doesn't help that I have a husband who thinks I'm absolutely beautiful ALL the time and seems unable to notice stretch marks... or weight gain ...this is actually not a complaint at all, but doesn't exactly motivate one to excersize.  *sigh*

But I want to be able to chase my children around without thinking, "Please Lord, When will they stop running???" so I'll give it a try.  Say a prayer.  Day one done, check!

A Nursery is a special place...

Recently I decided to label the bins under the changing table in Ava's nursery and wanted to do something a little different. I picked up some leaves from the craft store and cut off a few...

Then I wrote out the labels on silver rimmed tags...

Cut a notch in each leaf...

Threaded the ring of the tag through...

And hooked each link through the basket weave...

Now everything is labeled so everyone (even the hubby) can find where things go with ease! *wink*

Honestly, Miss Ava's nursery is the most "calming" room in the house.  We find ourselves sitting there and taking in the peaceful atmosphere.  The child that sleeps there seems to cast a magical spell over the room and brings laughter, joy and serenity just by her presence.

This room began as a spare room in Shaun's home before we were married and was adorned with a simple lightcolored Queensized bed and an exquisite handmade quilt, crafted by his Mom. 

When we married I took a lovely Afgan (which was made by the thoughtful hands of one of the grandparents of two sweet children I'd taught over the years and given as our wedding gift) and placed it at the end of the bed.  ...my favorite color is green and it matched perfectly!

Then we found out very shortly after we were married that we were already expecting.  As I began to decorate the nursery, I decided I wanted something that would be appropriate for either a girl OR a boy (or both) and that would also compliment Shaun's mother's quilt.  

Since I grew up in the country on 13 acres of land surrounded by woods and trees and had a special love of nature, I decided to surround my little babe with ...trees ...and whimsy!

 I wanted her to be inspired to reach for her dreams!

 To feel loving arms above her as she slept!

In our expectation for this baby we were blessed with SO many things!  One such thing was a soothing glider given by Shaun's sister, Mary (Ava's godmother) who had years before spent hours rocking her girls to sleep in this chair. 

I have also spent hours rocking and staring at this angel that has somehow found her way into my arms and falls asleep at my breast.  A lot of motherly love rests in this place.

I draped it with a gorgeous pink and green blanket also nimbly crocheted by my cousin, who ironically had learned how to crochet years before I was born on our front yard surrounded by trees and listening to the loving voice of my "Nana" instruct her. 

Years later I also was taught by that same loving voice on that same yard surrounded by trees... I wish now that I could remember every word she said to me. 

My cousin told me when she gave me the quilt "I hadn't crocheted in years but when I began ...it was as if my hands remembered how".  I felt like it was a gift partly from my "Nana" herself and keep it close to Ava and I.  ...they would have loved each other.

This talk of trees is making me think as I write, that I hope as Ava grows that she will learn the lessons taught in one of my favorite stories.  I read it each year to the children I taught.  It's called  The Tale of the Three Trees. 

In this story, three young trees discuss the hopes and dreams each has of becoming something "great".

As the story progresses, the trees grow older and consequently they each go through times of difficulty and heartbreak where it seems as if their once great dreams will never be realized and they are tempted to despair.  Each becomes discouraged to think that their great dreams are now reduced to becoming something far more "ordinary" than they had originally desired for themselves. 

Finally each in turn realizes that they were seeing their fates through blind eyes.  Suddenly they realize that somehow they had actually become exactly what they were supposed to become and that God's plan for them had been far greater than the plans they had originally had for themselves...  isn't that the truth!

When I look down upon my child as I change her on that table or rock her in that chair or bend over her crib to gaze at her sleeping silently and trustingly ...I also realize that God's plan for me was much greater than that I had for myself and for many years he has cradled me also in his protecting arms, watched me with lovingly as I slept, cleaned up my messes and cared for me with the most unconditional love.

As Lent begins, I'm not certain where this journey will take me.  I'm more aware than I was in my days of youthful zeal, of my own weakness and inability to perfectly do everything I resolve.  I will still try to grow and sacrifice with generosity, but mostly I will strive to become even more thankful for the gifts he has given to me and hopefully learn to trust him more in his plan for me and my family.  After all... isn't that what Lent is all about?  Remembering once again that he is worthy of our trust and how much he loves us?  Let us all become like His children and remember again...