"Simply" Catholic Mamas - Easter through Christ the King - Page 2

[mylilmonkeys]

Originally Posted by AnnieA 

I go back and forth on whether or not I want to homeschool DD. I'll need to see what her capabilities are when we get to that point. It's undetermined right now if she has Noonan Syndrome so if we get a positive diagnosis, we'll have to see what her mental capabilities are at that point. She may need the SPED services from our public school system or she may need me to teach her. We'll just have to see.

Oh is there anything sweeter than the smell of chrism oil on a baby?!? DD was baptized on the day she was born because of her unstable condition due to her heart defect. Yesterday, we were able to finish the rite with the chrism oil, candle, vows and party with the family. It was awesome! Makes me want to have another just so we can do another baptism!
 

Yes, I love the chrism oil smell, too.  It seems to last awhile, even after a bath. LOL  I'm sorry your little one has a heart defect.  I will pray for you and your family.  Can you explain what Noonan Syndrome is?  

[AnnieA]

Originally Posted by mylilmonkeys 

Yes, I love the chrism oil smell, too.  It seems to last awhile, even after a bath. LOL  I'm sorry your little one has a heart defect.  I will pray for you and your family.  Can you explain what Noonan Syndrome is?  

Here's a quote from the NIH site: "Noonan syndrome is a disease passed down through families (inherited) that causes abnormal development in many parts of the body. It used to be called Turner-like syndrome." It typically causes heart defects, short stature, mental delays, webbed/short neck and infertility in males. We already know about the heart defect and she had excessive nuchal skin at birth so the neck stuff is there. She's short but so am I so we're not sure about that. We're currently fighting with the insurance company for them to approve the genetic testing that is needed. Right now, they say no because there is no known treatment for NS.

[JMJ]

Glad to know I'm not the only one who spends all day sniffing my babies' heads on their Baptism day... and the days after.  It's wonderful that they were willing to do the whole ceremony for you later, Annie, that the emergency baptism wasn't all.  I know a few moms who have homeschooled/are homeschooling special needs children, and it's rough.  Pretty much every homeschooling family I know with a special needs child has at least tried school temporarily to try to get the services their children need.  There's a lot of going back and forth, though, a lot of prayer and discernment from parents who don't feel like they have the training to give their children what they need and don't feel like the schools are doing enough either.  It's tough!  You are in my prayers.

[mylilmonkeys]

Originally Posted by AnnieA We're currently fighting with the insurance company for them to approve the genetic testing that is needed. Right now, they say no because there is no known treatment for NS.

How frustrating!  Prayers that your little one will be healthy, and that you will receive all the grace you need to parent her, whatever the outcome of the testing. 

[AnnieA]

Thanks for the prayers mamas. I'm really struggling with DD's heart stuff and possible NS right now because I feel like the responsible thing would be for us to not have any more kids. But then I look at DD and she's so awesome and I can't imagine not having another awesome person come in to this world. I'm only 33 so we can wait a few years to see how DD is doing before we make a decision about having another but thinking about possibly not  having another makes me sad!
 

[Hebaume39]

We are planning to homeschool (my oldest is three).  I'm bundling a classical curriculum (The well trained mind) with a waldorfy approach (natural toys, letter and number stories, and seasonality).  I'm not buying much because I get almost everything from the library.  But I have the time to plan and I only have two.  I was wondering how do people work in their faith.  Is it in everything in content or set aside as a separate subject? 

One last completely unrelated question.  At what age do people take their children to stations of the cross?  Our parish has no other children and I wondered.

[mylilmonkeys]

Originally Posted by Hebaume39 

We are planning to homeschool (my oldest is three).  I'm bundling a classical curriculum (The well trained mind) with a waldorfy approach (natural toys, letter and number stories, and seasonality).  I'm not buying much because I get almost everything from the library.  But I have the time to plan and I only have two.  I was wondering how do people work in their faith.  Is it in everything in content or set aside as a separate subject? 

One last completely unrelated question.  At what age do people take their children to stations of the cross?  Our parish has no other children and I wondered.

For some reason the multi quote reversed these.  Anyway, we did different things depending on what we were using.  I think it is more important, in the end, to live a Catholic life, pray with your kids, make yourself a good example to follow (and apologize when you fail, as I do routinely.)  We did the stations with our kids this Lent using this link: http://www.ainglkiss.com/stations4kids/.

Originally Posted by AnnieAThanks for the prayers mamas. I'm really struggling with DD's heart stuff and possible NS right now because I feel like the responsible thing would be for us to not have any more kids. But then I look at DD and she's so awesome and I can't imagine not having another awesome person come in to this world. I'm only 33 so we can wait a few years to see how DD is doing before we make a decision about having another but thinking about possibly not  having another makes me sad!

Do you think it is more responsible not to have more because of the intensity of care she needs, or because of the likelihood of another child being affected?  Or is it because that is the prevailing attitude around you?  I will pray that you will be very clear on hearing the Lord's voice in this, and that you will be able to trust Him in His care for your family!  Also, that your heart will be comforted, if it is best to postpone more children indefinitely.

[mylilmonkeys]

So in our family folders on Wednesday was an announcement that the school has to let go of another teacher due to lagging enrollment.  Not really a surprise, there, but they are letting go one of the upper elem teachers, which means that instead of my gifted second grader moving up into the multi-age 3,4,5 grade classroom, where he would have been able to work up to a higher level, he will now be in a single grade 3 classroom.  I didn't want to have to push to have him accelerated, but now I feel like it is going to be necessary.  He reads at the eighth grade level and can do Math nearly as well.  He is just a font of science facts, really into bugs and critters.  He can explain Grace and Sacraments with an acuity that makes most adults pale in comparison.  I tried to approach them about skipping him up when he started K and just independently started adding and subtracting 1-10 without any guidance whatsoever.  It may be that this is why God is working on my heart to home school again.  His next older brother is also very bright, but slow and methodical.  He is a leftie and just thinks vastly differently than most people.  He may be a touch Aspergers or at least displays some similarity there.  Socially he is beyond awkward, and it breaks my heart when he struggles with friends at school.  On the other hand, I'm not entirely sure how to teach him at home, either, and this was one of the major reasons we put them all in school when he was getting to school age.  I'm considering pulling these two out and sending my next two to 4K and 1st grade.  The first grader is soooo full of energy all the time, and I have trouble being patient with his antics.  My 4K little girl is just really looking forward to going to school, and could use some outside help with her slight speech delays.  I don't know, what would you do?  Sorry about the big long paragraph, but my enter key is not working after a baby dumped coffee on my laptop. 

[mylilmonkeys]

Oh, yes, my daughter finally started her menses!  She is just shy of 13, and I was 9 when I started mine so I have been waiting for a long time.  You'd think I would have thought of this before, but anyone know of a way to celebrate, or acknowledge her new status in a non-pagan way?  This child and I have been a little like oil and water, but she told me the sweetest thing the other day.  She is thinking about being a nun.  She says she likes to pray. :)  So I guess, having her home all day is reaping more than just greater opportunity for contention.  I discovered divineoffice.org during Lent and have been able to keep the hours much more faithfully since then.  I think they're catching!

[AnnieA]

Originally Posted by mylilmonkeys 

Do you think it is more responsible not to have more because of the intensity of care she needs, or because of the likelihood of another child being affected?  Or is it because that is the prevailing attitude around you?  I will pray that you will be very clear on hearing the Lord's voice in this, and that you will be able to trust Him in His care for your family!  Also, that your heart will be comforted, if it is best to postpone more children indefinitely.

It's twofold really. I'm concerned that another child would also have NS, if in fact DD does have it. Also, DD will need at least one more surgery in the future but right now we are expecting that to be when she's a teen. That could always change though and that means I could have a little one that has to get dumped off on my mom or someone else while I'm in the hospital w/DD while she's recovering from another heart surgery. It just doesn't seem responsible when I think about it that way.

[JMJ]

Hebaume, I take my kids everywhere I go.  There's lots of kids at the stations of the cross at my parish, so I don't feel the least bit uncomfortable with kids of any age there.  We do take our kids to adoration as well, and that's sometimes a little more difficult.  We only go for half an hour almost every week, and there's music to sing along with, but my kids (now 0 and 3) are the only ones in there.  It's kinda like taking kids to Mass... I try to keep them from bothering people too much, but it's more important that they get the chance to be with Jesus, and when they're there all the time, they learn how to behave.

Mylilmonkeys, tough questions!  I have wondered how to celebrate my daughter's menarche with her even though I have about a decade to go, but I really haven't come up with any answers.  Maybe a long conversation, going for a walk or out for ice cream with Mom, a discussion of the gift of fertility, maybe a large chunk of the "birds and the bees" discussion, maybe some early fertility charting information if she is interested.  I guess a lot of what I say would have to do with what has been said before.  I'd love to do something that would help to acknowledge that she's a woman now, no longer a little girl, maybe pointing towards vocation and an invitation to begin discernment or to grow into a more adult-like faith.

AnnieA, that's tough!  Prayers for you as you discern your family size.  I don't have any children with disabilities at this point (at least not ones that have shown up yet), so I have little room to speak, but I know it's always a possibility to have a child with disabilities.  I've been told by someone who had no right to say it that I should seriously consider not having any kids since there are a number of genetic disorders in my family, and it seems like almost every big Catholic family I know has at least one child who has some issues of one kind or another, so I sometimes wonder if it's only a matter of time.  As a Catholic, I don't believe that a life with disabilities is any less worth living than a life without.  It does take more work, time, and attention, though, to raise a child the with disabilities, and I do think that that can have an effect on family planning, but I wouldn't close door on having more children after having one with a disability.  We can never know the future, never know if something is going to happen where we have to balance the needs of everyone in the family and some needs end up not getting met as well as we would like.  I mean, I could get killed or seriously injured in an accident tomorrow, and who would take care of my kids then?  I try to plan for contingencies, but I'm not going to give up on cocreating new lives based on some distant "what if's."

[Fay]

Mylilmonkeys, regarding honoring your dd's menarche, the patron saint of teenage girls is St. Maria Goretti.  Sometimes St. Catherine of Siena or St. Catherine of Alexandria are also invoked as patronesses of teenage girls.  I would suggest giving your daughter a medallion of one of these saints, or a book explaining the saint's life.  I went through some difficult times as a teenager, and it did help me to know that the Church had many models for me to emulate.

[mylilmonkeys]

A book is a great idea.  She's an avid reader.  I've also had a thought of getting her a journal, maybe one of those 5 year ones, and encouraging her to also make note of her cycle start days to begin teaching her to track it.  Thanks for the suggestions!

[sarahsmiles]

Hey everyone! I had kept away from Mothering for quite a while as part of a larger effort to refocus my time (was even off facebook for Lent, which was HUGE) but I've been feeling a bit disconnected and came looking for "the new thread."

So glad to see some familiar names here and know that you are all in my prayers!

DD is 5 1/2. A few weeks ago, she asked me why only men can be priests, and I was floored. (I'm a convert, and it took me a LONG time to be OK with what I saw as "discrimination!") Does anyone have any suggestions for explaining it in a way that makes sense at this age? I gave the usual answers, but I think she still is confused, and given that she moves in a world that believes this is inherently unfair, I want her to be prepared.

I'm just realizing that starting kindergarten in the fall, and attending public school, is going to expose her to all kinds of things we haven't encountered before and I am sure this is only the tip of the iceberg ...
 

[VocalMinority]

Originally Posted by sarahsmiles 

DD is 5 1/2. A few weeks ago, she asked me why only men can be priests, and I was floored. (I'm a convert, and it took me a LONG time to be OK with what I saw as "discrimination!") Does anyone have any suggestions for explaining it in a way that makes sense at this age? I gave the usual answers, but I think she still is confused, and given that she moves in a world that believes this is inherently unfair, I want her to be prepared.

My thoughts on this may be too much for a 5-year-old, but you know your daughter and can water things down, as you see fit.

I explain to my non-Catholic friends that we follow the example set by Jesus, where his disciples (and therefore the first priests) were men.  We don't change our beliefs and practices every time society's beliefs and practices change.  Society can be inconsistent and its changes are not always based on what is best or right.  The Church has not always been right, either, but it is reassuring that the Church is very slow and measured about change, and that many things never change.  For example, society has embraced abortion and accepted the death penalty, although society imposes the death penalty more on marginalized members of society than it does on privileged people convicted of the same crimes.  The Church has consistently and steadfastly opposed both practices, regardless of society's criticism.  When I want guidance, I feel more confident following the time-honored teachings of the Church than the current trends in society.  

And anyone who thinks that because women can't be priests, Catholics do not value or respect women, is not looking hard enough.  The Church has cherished Mary through eras when society had little respect for women and placed little value on motherhood.  In many families, men work outside the home and women stay home with the children.  Our current society often equates that with women being oppressed and men being seen as "more important".  That's a sad way of looking at something as important as child-rearing.  Similarly, men and women can have some different roles in the church, without that meaning women are oppressed, undervalued, or without a voice.    

[JMJ]

I would talk about how being equal does not mean being the same.  Men and women are equally loved by God and equally important in the Church, but we are different, both physically and spiritually.  The role of women in the Church is very, very important.  Only men can be priests, but only women are able to bear and nurse children.  Now, not all men are called to be priests, and not all women are called to be mothers, but a woman cannot become a priest any more than a man can get pregnant.

It might help to brainstorm ways that men and women are different but both wonderful or to talk about listening for God's call to a vocation and to discuss the vocations that God could call her to.

[tinybutterfly]

Hello! Just stopping in to tell you all THANK YOU! I lurked on your threads off and on when I was more active on MDC and you all played a part in my conversion to the Catholic faith. I was confirmed on Holy Saturday this year.

Lots of love,

tinybutterfly

 

[mt_gooseberry]

Originally Posted by tinybutterfly 

Hello! Just stopping in to tell you all THANK YOU! I lurked on your threads off and on when I was more active on MDC and you all played a part in my conversion to the Catholic faith. I was confirmed on Holy Saturday this year.

Lots of love,

tinybutterfly

 

This is cool!

Now, not to beat a dead horse, but I have to talk about the breastfeeding controversy set off by TIME magazine.  Not about the cover itself per se, but the response to AP and BF.  I am seriously disappointed in the Catholic response.  I have been following the Catholic coverage closely, and it is not what I thought it would be.  There has been a lot of backlash against AP.  So much for Catholicism being a bastion for AP.  Blessed JPII himself said that Catholic mothers should try to bf for a minimum of two years, and Dr. Sears (from the TIME article) is a Catholic and father of eight. There have been entire books written on Catholicism and BF/AP!  But on "The Drew Mariani Show" on Relevant Radio, he had an "expert" say that formula is just as good as breastmilk and that the positives of breastfeeding are overrated.  I didn't get to listen to the comments on other aspects of AP (such as cosleeping) but the preview I heard was not postive.  The editorials in Catholic periodicals, and the comments on such pieces, are infuriating!  "Formula renders breastfeeding obsolete."  "Once a baby has teeth it is time to be done!"  "Women who breastfeed anything older than an infant should be ashamed of themselves."  Is this distressing anyone else?

[JMJ]

Congratulations, tinybutterfly!  Welcome home to the Church.

mt_gooseberry, I'm thankful I have somehow managed to avoid hearing the things you are talking about.  This is the only Catholic response I've seen, and I think it's just beautiful: http://www.elizabethfoss.com/reallearning/2012/05/the-face-of-attachment-parenting.html

[mylilmonkeys]

Welcome home, tinybutterfly!  This board's policy on sharing blog links confuses me, but I'd like to invite anyone interested to stop over by my blog:  Authentic Catholicism.  We're a bunch of converts in love with the Church. :)