God is so good!! Tonight Michael and I went on a long bike ride and when we got back, Michael needed to go number two really badly. He wasn’t real excited about sitting on the toilet, but I persuaded him by saying, “We can add a star to your chart if you put your poo-poo in the potty.” I walked away to let him have some privacy and told him to let him know when there was some poo-poo in the potty. Sure enough in a couple of minutes, he asked me to come over. I looked to find a huge dump in the toilet! Yeppee! My prayers have been answered. Praise God! I’m sure now we are on our way to being almost done with potty training!

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Good morning everyone. I’m just relaxing this Sunday morning and cooking breakfast. I’m really tired though. I stayed up way too late scrapbooking.

Other news… well, I’m reading Christopher West’s Good News about Sex & Marriage which has been an awesome read so far. It has a well written foundational chapter to begin to explain the reasons behind Catholic teaching on sex & marriage. The subsequent chapters are Q&A which makes for an easy-to-understand and follow book. I highly recommend it if you have questions about the Church’s teaching on marriage and sexuality or you’re like me and get asked about it by all your friends.

More later… off to take a shower before church!

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I read a really biased article in the newspaper yesterday about Our Holy Father’s words in his recently released writings, Motu Proprio and the Letter on the 1962 Mass. I encourage you to read the original article in the context of church teaching and not just take the secular media’s version of it. I have provided you with the link for your convenience.

http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/b16SPindex.htm

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As you probably know, my husband and I use NFP (Natural Family Planning) to facilitate the planning of our family in accordance with the teachings of the Church. Although it may seem strange to those who do not practice NFP, we find that not only is it the morally right decision for our family planning, but it is much better than the unromantic and inconvenient use of a condom and so much better than the side effects/medical risks of using the pill. I am often confronted with situations where my girlfriends (most of which happen to be Catholic) say ” We could never use NFP… It’s way too hard.” Or “I just don’t trust God that much.” It seems interesting to me… not that I want to put anyone down. I certainly can appreciate the appeal of being able to take a pill everyday and not having to worry about periods of abstinence. mucus, or taking temperatures. But it seems to me that teachings of the Church such as the Eucharist (where bread and wine turn into the Body and Blood of Christ) would be much harder to believe than the concept that God will take care of you and your family even in the realm of the number of children you have. Think of it this way, there will be times in your marriage when you can’t be be sexually intimate with your spouse whether you use NFP or not (6 weeks after childbirth, business trip of a spouse, spouse’s illness, etc.) It comes down to whether you want to have the peace of knowing you are following what the Church teaches to be God’s design for marriage or you want to decide for yourself which of the parts of being Catholic you want to follow.

Anyways… didn’t mean to get off on that rant. So my husband and I are currently using NFP to avoid pregnancy for a couple of reasons. Mostly we just had Anna 7 months ago, so having another right now would be a lot for us to take on. Thankfully we have always used NFP in our marriage of 5 years, so I definitely know how to recognize my body’s signs of fertility. I resumed charting during my 5th month postpartum when I started to noticed my body making fertile mucus. Since then I’ve had 2 cycles. I’ve noticed that my cycles are extended from their normal pre-pregnancy length of 28 days to 35/36 days and my luteal phase (the time from ovulation to menstruation) has decreased from around 10 or 11 days to 4-6 days. This short luteal phase makes a very short phase 3 (non-fertile period when intercourse is very unlikely to result in pregnancy.) Has anyone else noticed this? I assume it’s from breastfeeding.

These short phase 3’s have been challenging for both myself and my husband, but it has definitely given a chance to take a deep look at what God’s plan for marriage is. We have been reading and listening to lots of stuff on NFP and the Catholic Church’s teaching on chastity in marriage. It’s truly been a blessing. We are really learning some much needed virtues such as temperance, patience, purity, and perseverance. Just think without the wisdom of God to design marriage as completely self-giving in imitation of the Trinity, we would have totally missed out on that beautiful opportunity for the increase in grace and virtue in our family. Isn’t that what marriage and family is supposed to be about anyways… that we all become saints by imitating the selfless, life-giving love amongst the Three Divine Persons of the Trinity?

I thought as I returned to my charting that I might try to get my husband more involved in NFP instead of it being more of my responsibility to track when it’s a “red light” or “green light” as we joke about. I signed up for Cyclendar.com which is an online fertility tracker to see if that would be helpful as well as getting my husband more involved. (It’s been his job to enter my information into the online application.) So far I have mixed impressions of the program:

1. It cost $16/year versus the pen and paper method which is virtually free. But then again, it’s $16… hardly anything to get too concerned about.
2. The idea of a program calculating what phase you are in is very appealing. I’d love to just go to a website that tells me “Phase 1″ or “Phase 2″ instead of having to use all the rules to figure it out myself.
3. Being that I do not have much historically data in their system, it is currently using what appears to be a calendar method to calculate when I ovulate. It looks to be completely ignoring my temperatures and mucus at this point. Perhaps, this changes as you enter more data.
4. The interface is a bit confusing because there is no legend or indications of what their symbols mean. For example, I had to just assume that a day marked on the calendar with a green circle is a fertile day.
5. It’s pretty tedious to enter my temperature and mucus observations. It needs a lot of work on the usability of the interface. I wish I didn’t have hit submit to save the data, and I wish it were more obvious when you’re entering info for which day you are entering.
6. It does generate the traditional chart that you can print out and use.

Ultimately right now, if it continues a calendar method instead of using my body signs to determine fertile days, it’s not going to work for me. For instance, right now I have an extended phase two with a short luteal phase. If I was using their interface to determine fertility, it would say I’m not fertile when I am. I’m thinking (being that I own a programming company and that comes in handy at times) that I might have ask if we can develop a better online NFP system ourselves at no cost to users and take donations for the cost of doing so.

Well that’s all for now…Feel free to post your comments and thoughts regarding NFP or anything else! Or use my contact form, if you wish to address me privately. God love you!

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We’re going to a Round Rock Express babeball game tonight as a family.  Hopefully it won’t rain on us.  We try to make time for these types of fun family outings at least a couple times a month.  It really renews our family and brings us closer together to time spend going out and having fun.  There’s lots of things you can do together, and they don’t have to cost a lot of money.  Here’s some ideas of varying price ranges that we’ve done:

1. Sporting events:  College is cheaper than pro (most of the time) and we try to avoid teams that have rowdy/rude/drunken fans.
2. Park/picnic
3. Swimming pool
4. Theme Park:  We buy two year passes to Sea World in San Antonio.  It seems to give us the best value.  We just relax and only stay as long as the kids want to.
5. Golf range: Michael loves golf.  Enough said.
6. Catholic conferences:  These are more of a weekend event, but they have activities for the kids to enjoy while you get to go to talks on the faith.  Everyone has a great time and learns about Jesus!
7. Trip to the mall:  When it’s hot, the mall is a great choice for a fun afternoon outing.  Most malls nowadays have a children’s play area where they can have a great time.  And it’s totally free!
8. Thomas Day:  In October we’re going to a “Day with Thomas“.  The kids get to ride the train and do other cool activities.  It’s really neat if your kids love Thomas like mine.

The point is spend time doing fund things with your family.  I’d love to hear some other ideas…. free feel to post a comment with more ideas!

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People have been telling me lately that my husband and I did a good job preparing our oldest child, Michael, whose 4 years old, for the birth of Anna, our 7 month old baby girl. As much as I don’t want to take credit for the successful transition, I must concede that Michael has welcomed Anna with open arms. He loves to play with her, hold her, and comfort her as much as possible. He has never asked for her to “go back” to the hospital or has he shown any bit of signs of resentment towards her. Other parents have been asking me how I accomplished that. I give all the credit in the world to Michael and his loving nature, but here’s a list of the things I can recall doing to help him as well…

1. As soon as we knew, he knew. Almost immediately after my husband and I got a positive pregnancy test and realized number two was on the way, we told Michael. We don’t keep those kinds of family issues secret in my family. It involved him just as much as my husband and I, so we told Michael right away. We sat him down and explained in a very positive manner how Mommy was going to get a big tummy, then she would go to the hospital to see a doctor, and then we would come home with a baby. I told him that she will be so much fun to love and hold, and our house would be even better with another person to play with and love. He seemed to accept that well. (Keep in mind that Michael was almost 3 at the time, so he was old enough to stand the basics of what a baby is and so forth.)
2. Every time you see a baby, get excited. When we went places and saw a baby, I would turn to Michael and say something about what a blessing a baby is and how we are so excited that God has given us a baby that will be coming home soon. Use big, excited facial expressions and a positive, high tone of voice.
3. Watch and learn. Anytime an episode of a TV show had a new baby sibling, I just it as a time to get excited about bring home a baby to love. Dora has a baby sibling and so does Blue (from Blue’s Clues). Tivo those episodes and watch them with your child through the pregnancy to help them visualize and understand better what is going to happen.
4. The baby is going to love YOU! We told Michael how he is going to be the Big Brother and how special that makes him. We said things like “Anna is going to think you’re so cool, and she’s going to want to play with you all the time.”
5. Free up the crib with time to spare. I transitioned Michael out of the crib (which he was using in the converted toddler bed form) into a twin bed well before the baby was born. You don’t want the child to think they have to make way for the baby or give up items of security like their bed or a favorite toy or blanket. Michael got to keep his room, and we surprised him by re-decorating it for a “big boy”. I wouldn’t suggest moving a child from the nursery to another room unless you have to. Let the child keep their own space, so they don’t feel like they’re being pushed out.
6. Give the baby a name early. As soon as you know the sex of the baby, give the baby a name and use their name frequently. I think this helps your older child a better sense that the baby is a person not some thing you can take back to the store.
7. Give your child full access. I let my older child feel my belly, so he could feel the baby’s kicks and so forth. It was just a another opportunity to talk about how great it’s going to be with the baby in our home. I said that the baby was kicking because she’s so excited to come out and be a part of our family.

We never said anything negative about the baby coming or my pregnancy (even though pregnancy made me very sick). So say positive! Best of luck! And don’t forget to pray for all of your precious kiddos!

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Lately, I’ve been listening more to Relevant Radio, a national Catholic radio broadcast that is station 970 AM in Austin. I find myself preferring it lately over music which is really the first time in my life I can say I prefer talk radio over music. I really enjoy the various shows that have. They are very informative and solid Catholic teachings. I’ve been listening to a show called the Inner Life lately. It’s really neat talk show on various topics from spirituality to marriage and family to daily living in a secular world. It seems like whenever you need to hear something (like an answer to prayer), I turn on the radio, and there’s the answer! It’s beautiful. I love those little God moments.

Anyways, I highly recommend it. I have to say it has provided many God-moments for me lately and much encouragement in the faith. As an added bonus, it provides for great conversation starters with your kids and spouse! Or it just might plant a seed or two in the souls in your vehicle.

Give God lots to ways to talk to you today!!! Don’t forget to keep praying the rosary! Remember Our Lady has promised she will give you everything you ask in your prayer of the Holy Rosary!

God love you.

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