some thoughts on parenting

Fight all error, but do it with good humor, patience, kindness, and love. Harshness will damage your own soul and spoil the best cause.

-- St John of Kanty


this quote rang so true to me today...my children are my treasure...but i am human...often weak. and i have been known (*ahem*) to not be patient, kind or loving at times...this quote from St. John of Kanty reminded me that even good intentions in our parenting can go askew when presented with harshness. a harsh word...an unkind look...they don't hear the message...but they do learn to be harsh, with each other, with me...
praise God that i have a husband who loves the Lord, fears the Lord, and knows me...so well. he is so strong, so loving. helps me to stay balanced...helps me to know that i am loved, and only through loving do we properly teach and guide our children.




as for life around here...things are well. the baby is unbelievably gorgeous and getting wonderfully chubby!
we had a fantastic and challenging week away at a family retreat.
now that we are home we have a lot of thinking, talking, and praying to do to process all that we heard and to continue to build our family in Christ.

this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual from SouleMama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

it is august

july was one of the longest months of my life, and yet, now that it is over it seems to have flown by.
we had Silken baptized last week. at a week old she was our youngest to be baptised. usually it is somewhere around 6 weeks. but it just worked out this way and came together easily, so we just went with it.
thursday was full of preparation and visitors.

we enjoyed a beautiful hour with our dear friends from pembroke. with 4 girls in their family cakie was always in heaven at their house. now that she has joined the "sister club" she was excited to introduce Silken to her friends. Silken was given a beautiful dress to match her adorable soon-to-be-best-friend Little S.
I would love to post a photo but I haven't cleared it will Little S's mom...so I will stick to only putting my own babies on the internet...

Later that day a bunch of my family showed up and we all enjoyed a chaotic pizza dinner before heading to the church.
it was a lovely baptism. Cakie and Daniel read the readings and there were plenty of children to make the whole evening "lively" ! and Jesus said "Let the little children come to me"

my sister and Darryl's brother are the Godparents, and we know that Silken will be so blessed to have them share this important role in her life.



this was our attempt at taking a "kids" picture...Zac really wanted Mama in it.




we are going on a family retreat this week. our summer has been wild busy, baby aside...so I am really looking forward to some time away. Getting to Mass each day, spending time on the beach... it will be just what we need I'm sure.

Have a beautiful week everyone! xoxo

picture time

our little Silky is almost a week old and as much as I would love to be on here daily posting and updating - it's not happening. Lots of other things are though...our house has been busy with visitors welcoming our sweet girl, endless sibling cuddles, lots of skin to skin, our amazing midwife checking in on us every couple days, yummy meals from friends - life is good!

a very happy, and tired family welcome our newest! (Zac woke up about one minute before this photo)







when they wake up they remember what came in the night





Darryl calls them her baby boxing gloves





nothing like a newborn to make your toddler look like the most giant baby in the world...the cutest, but giant none the less...







the family with our wonderful midwife - I can't say enough good things about this beautiful woman...



checking out every perfect part of her.



gorgeous girl



big brothers



sleeping bliss



so there you have it, a peek into our home...come by if you can!

she's heeeeeere!!!

we are thrilled to announce the arrival of our little angel,
SILKEN

7lbs 12oz (my smallest baby!)
she is such a blessing to us!
The birth went well and I felt wonderfully supported by those present and by everyone in our life.
thank you!

back again

look at this! twice in one week! must be that I am waiting on baby and now that everything is "ready" I don't have much to do with myself! ha!
but, it's true. the baby clothes are washed. the tub is ready to be put up. I even have a (mostly) clean house!
today the kids and I made the baby's "birth day" cake. it will be waiting in the freezer for our big celebration for Waterfall's arrival.
just in case you were wondering what a pregnant me looks like ( if you haven't seen me pregnant I must not see you very often, as this is my fifth time in 11 years!) I am putting up a photo - me at 38 weeks



I also wanted to show a little summer fun we have been having....



Cadence pampering me at my Mother Blessing a couple of weeks ago



sprinkler + siblings always = a good time



watermelon on the beach. wonderful.



my beautiful girl in the garden



this is just impressive.


and thats all for now.
cheers!

summer joy

excitmant and anticipation are mounting 'round here as we wait for baby Waterfall's arrival. I am trying to keep us all occupied, so as to keep my own mind off the fact that baby isn't here yet. "isn't here yet" doesn't seem fair, I am just under 2 weeks from my due date,so baby isn't late yet or anything. but really....there isn't much else I can think about.
so many people ask me if it ever gets "old". anyone who has more than one child understands that it can't possibly get old. Every child I have had is a miracle - one to be marveled at. and the more our family grows the more of us there are to marvel! really.
the kids are so consumed by baby. they spent this morning making birthday cards...they are eager to tell me of dreams they have of the baby...this child is truly coming into a lot of love.

I thought I would hate a summer pregnancy, but so far it has been nice. Sleeping is a bit difficult, but I find that at the end of any pregnancy. I am enjoying being out in the sun so much, and staying pretty active. I feel very healthy this time around.


so, here we go again! please if you are reading this keep us in your prayers. and join us in little Zachary's mantra "BABY! Come Out!!!!"

God is so good.