Play Time!

It's been fun watching the boys as they get a little older, because they are really starting to interact and enjoy each other's company. This should be an interesting and busy summer, as they work on getting into everything together...

And Mary's starting to get active to fit into the mix, too...

"...Make Disciples of All the Nations..."

"... baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit..." Matthew 28:19.
On Sunday, May 6th, our little Mary was baptized into the Church.  Despite crazy severe thunderstorms during Mass and her actual baptism, Mary glowed like an angel the entire time.

Mary being baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Proud parents with Mary Clare.

Mary's godparents, James and Stacy, and our priest, Fr. John, with us after the baptism.  The boys were there, but not able to stay still for a photo...

Our little angel in her baptismal outfit.

My Little Lambs

In the book, Making Peace with Motherhood...and Creating a Better You, by Heidi Bratton, a sentence in the intro has stuck with me for quite some time.  It says, "If God has given you a child, entrusted you with the care of one of his precious lambs, then motherhood is a part of living up to your full potential as a woman" (p. xi).

My favorite part is remembering that my children are God's "precious lambs".  Whenever I'm struggling through the difficult, and often mundane, tasks of motherhood, or when I'm frustrated by my children, I remember to look at them as the pure, precious children they are in God's eyes. Another quote from the same book along this line: "God chose me to mother these specific children. He chose me to tend to them, to water them, to feed them, and in doing so to glorify God" (p. 18). This thought brings so much hope and peace to my heart, when at times it is easy to feel like a failure.

It's also interesting to think about motherhood as living up to a woman's full potential, especially in a society that puts so much weight on careers, individual goals, money, and "gender equality". Motherhood in today's culture is anything but living to one's full potential, and is often postponed or even avoided for the "benefit" of the woman. I enjoy my job as a nurse, and there is no doubt that I have learned so much about the human experience through working with hundreds of patients in a hospital the past six years.  However, nothing has changed my heart and my worldview more than becoming a mother.  Maybe this is scary for some; they don't want to enter a land of unknown and are happy to live in the comfort of what they know.  However, there is no way I would ever begin to realize my capabilities before becoming a mother.  Without motherhood being a part of who I am, I realize it would be impossible for me to live up to, or even fathom, what my full potential is. I am so thankful that God has chosen me to shepherd my little lambs.

Damien is 3!

Damien celebrated his 3rd birthday on April 21st! We can't believe how quickly the past 3 years have gone and how quickly Damien has grown.  We had a little party with just family on April 14th, and were blessed with beautiful weather (the kids could wear shorts!). That was pretty amusing considering there were snow flurries when Andy and I were driving to the hospital when I was in labor with Damien.  Now that Damien is 3, he has started early childhood through the school district to help him with his speech. He has a playgroup for 1.5 hours two days a week, and one-on-one speech therapy for 30 minutes two days a week.  So far, Damien loves school and wearing his little backpack! Below are some photos from Damien's birthday party.

Some of the party guests! Grandpa, Grammy, Grandma, and Great Grandpa (Bapa) and Great Grandma (Nana)

My big 3 year old!

Great Grandpa and Damien checking out the flashlight!

Blaise is ready to party!

Right after Damien blew out his candles! (He tried some frosting!)

An action shot! Damien, cousin Camella, Grandpa, and Blaise

St. Giuseppe (Joseph) Moscati

Last week, after watching daily Mass on EWTN (per Damien's request to watch "Church"), I left the TV on in the background while I played with the boys.  A movie came on, which I noticed had subtitles, but I wasn't really interested in it since the boys were keeping me busy.  Well, at some point, despite the subtitles, I was drawn in to the movie. I soon found out the movie was about a saint I had never even heard of before--St. Giuseppe Moscati (also known as St. Joseph Moscati in English).  (I am now a little surprised I hadn't heard of him due to the fact that he is relatively "modern-day"--canonized October 25th, 1987 by JPII--and in the medical profession, which brings particular interest to me).

The movie is called St. Giuseppe Moscati: Doctor to the Poor (link is to the DVD available at Amazon.com).   The movie does contain some fiction, just so you are aware. However, I was surprisingly inspired and moved by this movie, and I have found a special love for this saint through the little bit of research I have done on him since seeing the movie. So, I hope others will take the time to see the movie and/or read a little about this saint as well. I don't think you'll be disappointed, and you may even find the desire to better yourself due to your knowledge of the life of St. Giuseppe Moscati.

Happy Easter!

Our family had a busy and fun Easter weekend. The boys had their first Easter egg hunt at America's Best on Saturday (Mary came too!), and the family enjoyed Mass and time with both sides of the family on Easter Sunday.  Below are a few photo highlights.

America's Best Easter Egg Hunt:

Damien, searching for eggs

Blaise found one in the hose!

Blaise and Damien looking for eggs with their friend, Elijah.

Easter Sunday:

Mary, looking pretty in her Easter dress

The boys, trying out their new picnic table at Grandma and Grandpa's

Our family

The boys, checking out what's in their eggs at Aunt Sandy's and Uncle Paul's house

Damien with cousin, Camella

The Hebert girls, Mary and Camella

Plagiocephaly

Since the promotion of "back to sleep" to prevent SIDS, positional plagiocephaly has been a relatively new condition that many families now have to deal with. "Tummy time" is promoted to help prevent this, but it doesn't always work.  Of course, having a flat spot on one's head is much better than the horror of SIDS, but it is still a issue that is plaguing many families, and it isn't discussed very often. Andy and I had never heard of it, but we wish we would have known a little about it before having our first son.

Damien had a condition called torticollis, in which a tightened muscle in his neck caused him to always look in one direction as an infant, resulting in an asymmetrical flat spot from where his head laid.  We took Damien to physical therapy for several months as an infant in order to loosen that muscle and strengthen the muscle on the opposite side of his neck. Today, we believe the therapy helped Damien, and his head shape appears to be normal.

Blaise also started to get a flat spot early on, but his was right on the back of his head (no torticollis).  Andy and I did the exercises we learned with Damien to strengthen the muscles on the back of his neck and took him to therapy, where we were told we were doing everything right, and there were no new exercises to learn.  They gave us an overwhelming amount of material about DOC bands, and told us that Blaise may or may not benefit from one, since his plagiocephaly is so minor.  This was a very difficult decision as parents, as of course, we want to do whatever is best for our son.  When weighing the options, we learned that the "bands" (probably more appropriately referred to as helmets), must be worn 23 hours a day for several months.  The bands are apparently not at all painful or uncomfortable to the child (although they certainly appear hot), but the process of getting the head mold for the band shape and size can be rather traumatic and/or scary to the child (they have to pretty much put a nylon over the baby's head and use some sort of material to get a mold to send to the company).  In addition, plagiocephaly isn't considered to affect children medically besides the cosmetic aspect (there is differing research about this), so insurance doesn't at all cover the bands, which cost around $3000 to $4000.  Research is also just starting to be done on the long-term affects of DOC bands, since plagiocephaly was so rare until the early 90s. So, with this knowledge, and the fact that the therapists couldn't guarantee that we'd see a difference in Blaise, we decided not to pursue a band.

The thing that brought thinking about this to the forefront is the fact that we gave the boys haircuts last night.  They now have "military style" buzz cuts, which of course, gives us an excellent opportunity to see the boys' head shapes.  Damien's head looks good, but our little Blaise does have a noticeable flat spot.  I guess it makes me wonder if we made the right decision. I feel so bad about it, and somewhat blame myself, but I know Andy and I made the best decision we could at the time, and we'll never know if the DOC band would have made a difference. When Blaise's hair is longer, it is not very visible, but he may not always be able to have longer hair. I'm also not sure if his current head shape is permanent yet at 19 months, but I'm guessing it is.

We recently learned about a product called the Noggin Nest (made by Boppy) while I was browsing through Craigslist.  Although the company itself does not promote the product to reduce flat head syndrome, we learned, through reading reviews on Amazon.com, that many people have had success correcting and preventing flat spots by using the product. Several also stated that their physical therapists recommended them. Andy and I knew we had nothing to lose, so we bought one for Mary.  She has been using it pretty much since birth, and so far no flat spot.  We're not saying that it can't still happen, but we are so far pleased with the result, and wish we would have known about the product for Damien and Blaise. So, there's my little plug! We're really hoping this solves the problem that we have spent so much time worrying about, and I hope this product can help other families as well.

Mary, using her Noggin Nest, in February.