The Curse of the Cryroom

Well, it finally happened.  For the first time since our parish added on the narthex, I was told by a parishioner that I should keep my children in it.

Of course, it was done by a sweet old church lady, who smiled with dimples the whole time.  You just couldn't be annoyed with her.  And she phrased it as a compliment sandwich; as we were leaving she came up to me and put an oh-so-gentle hand on my arm, saying how much she appreciates us moms, each and every one of us, our families are so beautiful, and did I know that the new doors were soundproof, and with the new big window in the wall you can see Father through it and there's a speaker in the back so you can hear everything, and what a good job you're doing with your children, God bless you, and then she finished with,

"But take them OUT!!"  [dimple smile dimple]

I felt so deflated.

I never go to daily Mass any more.  It's so much effort to get out the door, and then I spend the whole time wondering how many people we're disturbing with all our noise.  But it is the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul today, which is one of our family name days, so I wanted to honor it by going to Mass.  I had only the boys with me, as the girls are at Vacation Bible School every morning this week.  I had forgotten the bag of church books at home, so I knew it would be a challenge, but all in all the boys were very good, at least I thought so.

Apparently she didn't agree.  And I didn't have the heart to argue the matter.  I didn't want to point out that I DID actually take them out when Daniel was getting noisy enough to be a disturbance.  I didn't ask her to understand that he was testing out his new word -- his very first word ever! -- on the echoes of the church.  I didn't want to argue that while there is *a* speaker in the narthex, the volume is set so low that you cannot hear the Mass, especially when there are children nearby (who are of course acting up because they can't hear or see anything).  And you can't see, either, because of the bright reflection from the outside wall, which is solid windows.

THIS is why cryrooms are a blessing and a curse.  Yes, sometimes it's nice to have a place where mothers can temporarily take their little children who just can't keep still or quiet, so they can still attend Mass and not worry that their noise is disturbing Father on the altar.

BUT.

It also means, sadly, that children are no longer welcome in the body of the church.  Even as I was sitting in the pew, I noticed that with the exception of maybe one or two persons, everyone in the church was old.  All the mothers who made the effort to bring their small ones to Mass had banished themselves to the outside.

If we are supposed to a People of Life, I find it so hypocritical that new lives are not welcome around the Lord's Table, unless they are hidden someplace where they cannot be seen or heard.  I can't think of anything more discouraging to a mother who is trying to bring her children to Jesus.  I solemnly swear that when I am an old church lady I will never, ever tell a mother of young children to keep them out of the church.  At the most, I would befriend her over time and then offer to bring them back myself and watch them while she has some much-needed peaceful time with Our Lord.

Am I being too sensitive about this?

Here we go again

blah blah Halloween blah blah sewing blah blah HOA blah blah...

Let's get to some REAL news.

Drumroll, please, Maestro......
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Introducinnnnng,

for the Very First Time on the Internet,

(and surely not to be the last),

the Newest

Member

of the Pickles Family!!!

Toot-ta-toot!

(c'mon, it's the fourth kid -- it deserves a little pomp!)

(and WHY do doctors always give you the ultrasound that makes your baby look like a peanut-shaped lump, and never print out the cute teddy-bear ones where you can see their little hearts beating? WHY?)

So, here we go again! We officially have Too Many Children (depending on whom you ask). I'm going to get a little notebook and carry it around with me, so that when I inevitably get asked the inevitable questions that everyone believes it's their business to ask, I can tally that particular question, and respond with the handy previously-decided-upon answer. (Like, "No, I guess we DON'T know what causes that! Can you please explain it to me?")

Well, all the rest of you are so nice, ONE of us has to be snarky and shut the busybodies up. Or at least make them go home and re-think their purpose in life.

So, the pregnancy is going really well -- all hormone levels where they should be (praise God), baby's heartbeat looks good, it wiggled around for us on screen, so now we can draw a collective breath of relief and really start to feel glad. A miscarriage really changes you forever -- every rejoicing at a new pregnancy is carefully measured, until you feel you're "safe." Still, prayers are much appreciated.

So far I feel pretty good -- the nausea is really understated this time (again, PRAISE God!) and I haven't noticed any true moodiness -- but I am unbelievably, overwhelmingly, t-i-r-e-dddddd. I could get 11 hours of sleep at night and still wake up tired, need an afternoon nap, and go to bed early. (I actually did that once.) I am sleepy ALL the time. This is making driving reeeeeally interesting. I'm happy though -- I will take crippling exhaustion over mild nausea ANY day. Tiredness, I'm used to -- I'm a mom who likes to stay up late, for goodness sake. But nausea I could easily, happily, joyfully live without. I haven't escaped it completely -- it still likes to creep up on me, particularly whenever I'm making dinner.

So, stats -- I'm about 8 weeks along, due date mid-June-ish. (Happy Birthday, Uncle Dave!) It will be nice having a summer baby. School will be finished, PLUS I can spend the last few weeks of pregnancy floating in a pool! Ah, bliss.

It's going to be a busy summer for the family -- there will be baby cousins born in March, May, and now June!

Life is a beautiful thing.

(art credit: "Hope: Baby Hands and Feet" by Laura Monahan from art.com)

Be a Voice for Truth

We interrupt our regularly scheduled navel-gazing to implore you to make your voice heard in support of life, if you haven't done so already. I think most of you know that I attend a 100% pro-life OB/GYN, whom I just love. I love knowing that the doctor who is responsible for my baby's health would never sanction killing it for any reason whatsoever. If the current administration removes the conscience clauses which protect medical personnel from having to participate in murder, my doctor and many others like him will have his doors closed.

Please, please go to http://www.freedom2care.org/ to send a message to HHS about your opinion, and to learn more about this crisis.

Thanks.

Outrage! Scandal!

Seriously, Notre Dame is about to get itself into some serious trouble. The university's president has just invited our country's president, Mr. Anti-Life himself, to speak at commencement this May. My only thought is, what can Fr. Jenkins possibly be thinking??? Does he honestly think there isn't going to be an uproar about this?

If you agree with the other 64,000+ people (at this writing) who don't think this is a good idea, go to this website.

Thank You, W

What a great farewell gift to his nation.

A picture is worth a thousand words