Do over

I'm really embarrassed about my post yesterday with all the whining bratty nonsense.

I'd like to start over and try again: We're expecting! And so are a lot of other folks, including my work friend, J! Isn't that awesome? It's going to be a(nother) banner year. :)

It is, indeed, awesome, and I'm starting to be able to tell there's something happening in my belly; yesterday I felt all crampy, all day. Things are adjusting to accommodate a squatter I guess! Hee hee. I also HAD to eat ice cream, twice, yesterday. FEED ME calcium (in a tasty frozen confection). Finally, my bladder, which has never been the same since AJ was born, is definitely taking notice. I'm back to ye olde familiar morning potty break -- I totally remember this. Every day about 40 minutes before my alarm goes off, I'm waking up and having no choice but to go, just like last time. This is a feature of pregnancy I grew to hate, especially when it started be accompanied with fourteen other bathroom trips per night, but mostly because in the remaining 37 minutes before the alarm, you just can't get back into an excellent sleep cycle. (Silver lining: It becomes prime time for testing out baby names.)

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Along with the enormous gift of a baby-to-come, I've been given another little gift.

A few months back, I asked my Mom to look for the white paperbacks I remember carrying to Mass on Sundays as a child: "The Old Testament for Children," "The New Testament for Children," "The Life of Jesus," titles like that. They were just pocket-sized, and perfect for a little girl to play housekeeper with, dusting the pews baaaack and foooorth noisily read quietly during church.

Mom found 'em, and she tossed in an old black missal with gold lettering and red-edged pages, called "Mother Love." I have a sneaking suspicion that maybe HER Mom gave it to her (though I'm not sure), and I'm just giggly over it. Its heft -- for a small book, it's chock-full of those parchment-thin pages -- and its quaint little 1950s tips are somehow a comfort to me. Like this:

On Going Steady: Are your teenage sons and daughters "going steady" to Confession, Communion, and Holy Mass, or are they "going steady" on dates and becoming spiritually unsteady?

Hee! Having such a 'vestige' of the pre-Vat II Church tradition makes me want to pass its lessons on more conscientiously to my own children. I.E., I ought to read it, and pray, more daily.

Some of the prayers I like best:

Lord, please help me today to be a good wife, mother, and neighbor. (um... yes.)

* * *

How often I ask You to listen to me, O Lord. Give me the grace to listen to my children and especially to my teenagers. (Or toddlers!)

* * *

The day is about over. I worked and I am tired. (Amen!) Please give me the gift of a good night's sleep.

* * *

I just love it. I've put it beside my bed. I don't promise to read it every night, and I'll never be as pious as the Confraternity of Christian Mothers who put the thing together. But I think it's good practice to rely on Grace in motherhood, and maybe this will remind me to try. :)