"It seems like just yesterday you were sitting there in labour with him," Dan commented to me last night as I was sitting on the couch holding John Paul. Suddenly, a huge flash back and, indeed, it seemed like just moments before. How have 6 months come and gone, just like that?

Six months...

Time enough to get out of those nothing-but-crying days. Indeed. I've felt bad whenever one of Dan's fellow teachers from work have asked recently, "So, is he still crying all the time?" That's all they heard about John Paul for a while there. God blessed us with two very colicky babies! I always figured after Joseph that He'd give us a break, but I guess He's still working on us. 

Despite that rough start, John Paul is the happiest of babies (most of the time). Give him something good to suck on and switch it up every little while and he's good to go. (Again, most of the time.) 

I guess they classify babies like John Paul as "high needs"? Or maybe I've seen nothing yet.

John Paul is generally held a lot. But when he's held, he's pretty happy. And if he's held by me (Mommy), he's happier. But, if he's held by Mommy and entertained by Daddy, he's happiest of all.  He is definitely a Mommy's boy, but can't get enough of looking at (and laughing at) his Dad. 

When he's held (and when he's not), he likes to be moving. All the time, moving. Jumping in the jolly jumper, rolling on the floor, bouncing on your knee, walking while in the baby carrier. Always moving. 

Just as we were delighted when he finally figured out how to suck his own finger instead of ours, there are happy people everywhere now that he can move himself around a bit more. About two weeks ago, he figured out how to roll from back to front consistently and soon after started rolling over and over all over the place. He'll roll circles around clean laundry piles on the living-room rug, picking and choosing what he feels like eating (socks, shirts, whatever). 

John Paul's new-found freedom does mean, however, that we have to be ever vigilant checking for hazards on the floor and even more vigilant making sure Joseph doesn't beat him up. We had a scare yesterday when John Paul injured his shoulder after Joseph rolled him over too roughly. He just stopped using his left arm altogether and whimpered and cried. It is so hard to see a sad baby like that! However, after two trips to get it checked out (one shortly after the incident and another today when he continued to leave it limp) we've confirmed as well as we can that it's just a sprain and nothing's broken. Thank God! And tonight, he started using both hands again a little and even reached up to touch my face with them.

You may have noticed by now that he's kind of an oral baby. Always something in his mouth, always drooling. I had women from church ask me when John Paul was two months old whether he was teething it was so bad. But we can now confirm that he has teeth! Two of them! Within just a few days. He is so proud. 

We started feeding the oral monster a few weeks back, occasionally, as he can't handle sitting there watching us eat. Just soft little pieces of zucchini, squash, and other vegetables from our plates. I love the new food faces. But he's just as happy most of the time to sit there with his own spoon, knowing that he's now part of the table party. Give him a glass to clink his new little pearls on and he'll never let it go!

Yep, six months indeed. And before you know it, he'll be crawling and talking...

Cardinal Virture of Mercy

I was going to write a post about mercy, or rather what mercy isn't. It seems that certain Cardinals in the Church are confused, and clearly need some enlightening. Some think that it is mercy to allow Holy Communion for those who live and persist in an adulterous situation. When I learned my catechism as a kid I was taught that such conduct was actually sacrilegious, and even blasphemous. Others think it is mercy to allow groups representing homosexuality to march in a parade (in theory) dedicated to a Catholic saint. 

The reasons for such "mercy" are plentiful. My personal favourite reasons revolve around Scripture. Take a verse or story. Preferably a parable. Then show that Jesus approves of such mercy. The parable of the prodigal son, for instance. "See how merciful God is! No matter what, we must also show such mercy!" 

Like I said, I was going to write about this. But then Cardinal Burke beat me to the punch by saying, among other things in an interview, that "it simply makes no sense to talk about mercy which doesn't respect truth." Almost as if mercy and truth come from the same source, and cannot violate one another. Mercy surely is wonderful. I probably would have long been dead in a gutter somewhere without Christ's mercy. But it does not violate truth. Ever.

Sounds very Thomistic doesn't it? Like something someone would say during those rousing medieval days of the Knights Templar...

So I won't say anything about it.

I'll just put up a couple boring pictures of us eating supper outside in late September.

As for Cardinal Burke... he was demoted last week.


He'll now be in charge of the Knights Templar.

Autumn Fun, Part 1

So apparently today is the first day of Autumn. Otherwise known as Fall. Otherwise known as the best, often shortest season of the year in Saskatchewan. It's my favourite.

August had lots of plus 30 degree weather, then it suddenly became very much Fall around here with the first week or so of September. I was counting on more beautiful weather to make up for our mosquito infested Spring and Summer -- yes, even during our 30 degree weather we still had mosquitoes.

But, after a couple weeks of very coolish weather and sweaters, we have gorgeous sunshine and heat once again.

Good timing, because after having a roofer over to check out our shingles, it looks like they will have to get replaced this Fall after all! We were hoping to save a few dollars and do it ourselves (by "ourselves" I mean Dan and his brothers) in the Spring, but we'd rather not risk a wet attic. So they're booked to come next week.

We have (literally) been celebrating this boy's birthday for almost a month now. It never ends. He got an awesome ball last week from a friend, then a package from my parents, and another gift on Sunday from Dan's Aunty. Much of our conversation around here seems to still be related to "my happy birthday." And we're still singing "happy birthday" just about every day...

Beautiful weather + new ball + skipped naps = trip to the park to play!

We love that Dan's school is so close. Not just because he comes home for lunch every day, but also because we can take advantage of the gym and playground whenever we want. 

Dan did a little stealing from our next door neighbour's apple tree and discovered some really, really good apples. Our neighbour is really shy and reclusive, so Dan figured rather than ask if he could take more, he'd just go over after dark and help himself. But I got up my guts and armed with two brave children, wandered over to ask if we could have some apples. Win! He told us to take as many as we wanted! So we ate and picked a bunch and made some applesauce last week.

Then, yesterday, a lady Dan works with kindly brought us two more big bags of apples. Faced with delicious apples galore that were already getting bad spots, I spent the day making applesauce again and neglecting hemming my poor husband's p.j. pants. But now we have over 20 jars of delicious "organic" (as in, right from the non-sprayed tree) naturally sweet applesauce. We know it's delicious because we all had big helpings after supper tonight.

After over a year and a half of living here, we finally made use of our fire pit this last week. To be fair, it wasn't exactly safe to burn anything in it until about a month ago. We had lots of overhanging dead branches, but between the SaskPower guy and Dan, they were all cleared out. Unfortunately, some of them smelled like burning marijuana plants, but as none of our neighbours were around to smell it, everything seemed ok. We just kept the kids at a little distance while those ones burned. 

I tend to take out our camera a lot when the weather's nice. And sometimes I like to attempt some good pictures of the boys. I really don't know how professional photographers do it. Not the incredible picture part (which I also don't know how to do), but getting kids to smile in photos. John Paul is far more interested in eating grass and covering his face with leaves and Joseph could simply care less. This is about as good as it gets around here:

As you may have noticed, most of these pictures are over a week old. Bad blogger here, I know. I can't keep up with anything resembling a tidy, cleanish house while canning and hemming pants, never mind blogging. So please forgive the lateness and I'll get a part 2 with many more pictures up soon and perhaps even a little bit on our fat nearly 6 month old.

You Have to Want to Go Home

My basic rule of thumb with work is to show up, work, and go home.

I know I know, the start of another boring blog post. What next? I like bread on my sandwiches? Latin in my liturgy? Football on TV? But hear me out. I go to work, I work, and I go home. During recess breaks if I don't have supervision I do some marking or planning. After school I work diligently until I finish what needs to be done, and then I go home. I chat with the other guys there, but usually while in the midst of an extra-curricular event.

To be honest, I'm not sure why I race through my work so that I can rush home. Normally when I get home, at the minimum, I am promptly put in charge of the two boys until supper is made. Sometimes I am put in charge of one boy and supper. In rare cases I am put in charge of both boys and supper, while some crisis gets mopped up by Becca. When I get home, my work day is usually just beginning.

That is a purely economical way of looking at it. The reality is that what awaits me is usually a smile from a 3 year old. He runs up, smiles, and promptly finishes a conversation that has already been racing in his head for a while. I always look forward to what his first words to me will be. I'll hear the likes of "let's go see my bunkbeds," "I got stuck in the ditch," "we crashed," and even "do you want to come die with me?" Then I see John Paul. It's always the same with him. He's drooling away, looks up, recognizes me, and starting laughing and smiling hysterically. Some days if I'm lucky he'll smile so much that he farts. Oh yeah, and seeing my little wife also is alright too. Especially on those days when supper is all finished. But also on the days when it is not. It's a tiring life we lead, but one we cherish and wouldn't trade for anything. I like to come home.

So this past Friday afternoon after school me-the-hero-who-deserves-a-cookie was in the computer lab at work. One of the things I do at school is help out with the tech issues. I was putting 25 new laptops into a new laptop cart. It was tedious and time-consuming work, and required me to fiddle around with cords and reach into tiny areas for each and every laptop. The lab was extremely hot, and smelled like grade 5ers after a long day of exercise, sweat, and Axe body spray. I was working as quickly as I could. My motivation was to go home (where I was promptly charged with making supper and looking after Joseph).

The entire time in the lab I heard the sound of women talking. Shocking news considering I work at an elementary school. But for over an hour I heard women talking. Non-stop talking. Just chatting kind of talking. A regular occurrence to be sure, but it struck as being out of place as I sweated away in that lab. You know, if people want to waste time at work and chat then that's up to them. So long as we're not paid by the hour, I don't care. Yet what disturbed me is that the sound of talking came from women who all had kids in daycare at that moment. Now I know we all need a break from our kids to relax every now and then. And I know these women love their kids dearly. I'm not judging them. So stop judging me by thinking I'm judging them. Sinner. Still though... you have to want to go home. Do you not? Despite the work, and the tantrums, and the lack of glory... you have to want to go home.

Yes, you have to want it.

Here's to home!

What's in a Name? Pt. 2

So with a new school year comes a new headache of trying to remember all of my students names. Thankfully there are some repeats from last year, although I will have to re-learn some of them. I teach 120 students.

Now I've complained here before that the names of kids these days have no true meaning, and all more or less sound the same. I mean, Brayden and Drayden and Dayton and Kaiden and Jaiden and Jaida and... whatever.

Yet there is, or was, hope! There is one girl in my grade five class I noticed right away. Her name is Gabriella. As I was doing my opening day meet and greet with the class I pointed out to her that Gabriella was a beautiful name. She promptly corrected me: "Don't call me Gabriella! Call me Gabby!" Ok. Nevermind.

So here is an updated list of names that I struggle with, or scratch my head over.

There are the usual holdovers from last year: Zenek, Brecken, Serenity, Cheyenne, Kade, and so on.

This year I get to add the likes of: Ruger, Shelten, Chace, Cache (which I think is just a rearranged version of Chace) and, perhaps my least favourite name, Maesyn.

We also have Zaynah, Jenika, Xander, Mercedes, Jazlyn, Ashton, and Tatum (pronounced Tay-tum, as I found out the hard way). There are a couple of Hunters ("So..." I asked one, "do you like to hunt?" He said yes.), a Kaycie, Maicie, but no Stacey or Tracy. A Porter (named after St. Andre perhaps?), and those two trouble makers, Ryden and Rylan. I'm just thankful I don't have little Nixon who just started kindergarten this year (I take it U.S. history is not taught in schools).

Long story short. If you can't decide on a name, either blend two together, or create a new one. Saint names are so pre-Vatican II. And above all, let your child be their own person with a unique name!

But as I always tell my students: if we're all special, nobody is special.

M.A.

Part of an email received today:

Your comprehensive exam has been reviewed by the appropriate professors, and you passed each and every section of the exam.  Congratulations,  you are all set to graduate!

You can now expect to be contacted by our Academic Dean’s Office with regards to your diploma, etc.   The date of the graduation will be September 30^th, and we will be happy to mail your diploma to your home shortly thereafter.  You will also be invited to attend the commencement exercises which will take place here in May, 2015.

Deo Gratias!

On 2 of the Last Things

This morning, Joseph and I were colouring a picture of the crossing of the Red Sea. Our particular picture had Moses with arms outstretched, the Israelites behind him, and the Red Sea before them open wide. It also had Noah's Ark stickers all over it: the ark on top of the huge Red Sea waves and the animals either on the ark or among the Israelites about to cross over on the dry ground. 

It wasn't the mixing of Bible stories here that bothered Joseph though. He was concerned that Joseph from the Bible wasn't around. There were Egyptians chasing the Israelites, but as far as he knew, Joseph should be with the Egyptians. So, where was Joseph?!

"Well, Joseph died. The Bible tells the story of his life, but then he died," I told him. "Now he's in Heaven, with Jesus."

What ensued was a deep theological discussion. I thought you'd enjoy the rough reproduction below:

Joseph: "Joseph died?"

Me: "Yes, he's in Heaven."

Joseph: "He died like the bad guys?"

Me: "No, he's a good guy, but he died. Everyone dies. We're going to die someday too and if we're good, we'll go to be with Jesus in Heaven."

Joseph: "I want to die and go to Heaven. Let's die and go to Heaven and then Daddy won't see us."

Me: "Yeah, we'll died someday. But we have to be nice to people and good so that we go to Heaven."

Joseph: "John Paul, do you want to die? John Paul says, 'Yes, I want to die.' We can all die."

Shortly afterwards, Dan walked in the door for lunch...

Joseph: "Dad, we're going to die and go to Heaven with Jesus."

Dan: "Oh, really?"

Joseph: "Yeah, do you want to die with us?"

Dan: "Eventually."

Joseph: "No, don't say 'eventually.'"

Dan: "Oh."

Joseph: "We have to die. Like the bad guys."

Dan: "No, we have to be the good guys so we can go to Heaven with Jesus."

Joseph: "Jesus died."

Dan: "Was Jesus the bad guy?"

Joseph: "Nooooo. Jesus died on the cross. We can die on the cross like Jesus."

Dan & I: "Uh..."

Points to Ponder: September 6th Edition

1) Back to School, or "I'm Tired" - It's shocking how tired I was after the first day of school. I teach five phys. ed. classes a day, along with some Language Arts and Music. I need to figure out a way to justify a nap time as being part of the curriculum. Stamina will build I'm sure. But until then, in the whiny words of Joseph: "I'm tiiiiired." 

2) No More Little Ones - It sure is a relief though to be done with teaching the younger grades (kindergarten, I'm looking at you). The youngest I go this year is one section of grade two phys ed. Most of what I teach is grade five. I'm way more comfortable with older students. Although I was thinking about it tonight, after just four days of teaching I've already had a lengthy discussion with them over the meaning of philosophy, as well as what Plato and Aristotle said regarding the human soul. Amazingly the kids seemed interested. Maybe grade 5 isn't for me either though.

3) NFL - The NFL season has kicked off. You gotta love the talent of the players. But you also gotta hate the 4 downs and 40 second play clock. I think I spent nearly 10 minutes watching the Packers get two first downs against the Seahawks. 3 yard run. 40 second wait. 3 yard run. 40 second wait. 4 yard pass. 40 second wait. 3 yard run. 40 second wait. 3 yard run. 40 second wait. 4 yard pass. They've even managed to throw in quick commercials this year right in the middle of drives. Nevertheless, despite all of this, you still gotta love the talent of the players.

4) You Can't Teach an Old Dog a New Catechism - Our diocese has rolled out a new catechism that all catechists are expected to use. I looked through it the other day. To be clear, it's not awful. But it's still watered down waaaaay too much, to the point of changing the names of the 10 Commandments to make them easier to understand (I thought the point of teaching was to explain what they mean?). So I said thanks, but no thanks. Faith and Life baby!

With maybe a bit of St. Joseph's Catechism thrown in as well:

I'm not at all opposed to some glitz in a catechism book. Not at all. But at the heart of it all I still look to see how clearly and fully the truth is being taught. What could be more clear than this?:

5) New York, New York - Cardinal Dolan's name seems to be making the rounds lately for all the wrong reasons. There's the whole St. Patrick's Day (Gay Pride) Parade fiasco as well as the constant cozying up to Democrats who work day and night to undermine Catholic teachings. Cardinal Dolan is also under fire for considering the closure of one of the few bright spots in the New York area: Holy Innocents' Parish. The parish is growing rapidly. Debt free. The whole deal. But one can't help but point out that it offers the Tridentine Mass. So it could very well be on the chopping block.

I just want to personally recommend to Cardinal Dolan a book I've started reading. I know it's done me a lot of good thus far, and has been forcing me to rethink how I do things. That book is:

Yes, it's tough to do the right thing. Heck, it's tough to even know what the right thing is. But Fr. Larry doesn't let us off the hook with such excuses. All the more he says to "be a man."

6) Mowing Along - So I cut our grass today. Really. First time in over a month.

7) The Pope - You know what? On second thought I'm not going to let it go that easily. Going back to that St. Patrick's Day scandal and Cardinal Dolan. Yes, as it stands right now there will be a Cardinal leading a supposedly Catholic parade with a newly approved LGBTQUVWXYZ contingent. The media has already started salivating at the prospect. Msgr. Charles Pope, blogger extraordinaire, gave a truly awesome blog earlier in the week advocating that the Cardinal be rid of the parade altogether (because St. Patrick doesn't promote debauchery and drunkenness, much less during lent) and the Al Smith dinner where Catholics get to be buddy buddy with the likes of Obama. I've always admired Msgr. Pope for both his clarity and charity. He's one of the good guys. Do you want to read his blog post? Well you can't. It was pulled. Read between the lines, as they say. Needless to say, this has caused quite the stir in Catholic circles. Many people are shocked that Msgr. Pope, one of the true good guys, would have such a quality posting removed.

It's painful to see good people who speak the truth with great love have their hands slapped for it. Last night I ended up messaging Msgr. Pope through the comments section of his blog. He personally emailed me back this morning thanking me for my prayers and kind words. He seemed embarrassed that his blog caused such a commotion. But it's not you Msgr. It's not you.

You're a true man.

Turning 3

We've been partying all week long. Yep, birthdays around here last all week long or until we finally finish the cake! Of course, every time he eats a piece of cake, we have to light a candle (or 3) and sing "happy birthday" all over again :). 

As  you know, Joseph received his birthday present from us early (again) this year. When you're a boy and your birthday is at the end of summer and your present is going to be something that's better put to work in nice weather, well, that's just what happens. He is beyond thrilled with his front end loader. And when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, well of course, "a front end loader" cake. It has turned into a complete Happy Front End Loader Birthday.

Joseph with his front end loader and the dump truck our priest gave him in his new sandbox:

I decided to go simple this year on the birthday cake. Whereas Pintrest and Google will give me all kinds of fancy shmancy ideas for building really incredible diggers and dump trucks out of cake, I wasn't going for it. So a simple chocolate cake, chocolate icing, little trucks, and a road was going to be as much as I could muster.

But pride comes before the fall (literally). And after priding myself on some little thing earlier in the day, I went and dropped the entire newly-iced cake on the floor. I know, how do you even do that?! It just so happened that I had just been trying to decide whether to break up the cake a bit to create a mound of dirt. Thankfully, I was able to put the cake back together and ice over most of the mess, while chucking the icing that hit the floor. Like it or not, the mound of dirt was there to stay. And with some little stickers to brighten it up, it became a great little workerman cake.

We had a great day at Grandpa and Grandma's house. The Rogal cousins, Catherine and Michael, and Joseph's godmother, Aunty Rheanne, came out from Saskatoon to celebrate with us and enjoy the long weekend. The Riders won the Labour Day Classic (again!). New kittens were born. And we enjoyed beautiful, mosquito-free walks and even a bonfire.

Let me digress for a moment to comment on this picture. When we brought in a kitten from outside, John Paul went completely nuts. He loved it so much! He was all giggly and smiley just looking at it. Then when he got to touch it, well, I'll let the picture speak for itself: 

In the evening, Dan went out and lit us a bonfire. Joseph was mostly distracted by a new bean bag toss game and kittens, but he did grab a stick and roast a marshmallow. I think it was his first ever. Then he dropped it, got sticky fingers, and dirtied himself up. 

On his real birthday, Tuesday, Joseph got to open more presents. As far as he's concerned (and Dan too), nothing is better than new LEGO sets. Uncle Jim (his godfather) and Aunty Bridget both sent him new sets. This kid is seriously spoiled! Joseph desperately wanted to open Jim's in the morning. It turned out to be a huge double-decker car carrier truck. I'd thought it was a fire engine, so I figured it'd be ok to open and Dan would forgive me if I built it while he was at work. Despite trying to convince him Daddy would be really sad, Joseph wouldn't have anything but the WHOLE thing built. Thankfully, Dan had the other set to build later or I might have had a sad husband.

Happy birthday, little man! Can't wait until your brother's old enough to play with you, too.