St George Liturgical Playdate

We had so much fun at our first Liturgical Playdate for St. Patrick's Feast Day that we thought we would have another one!  This month we are celebrating and learning about St. George whose feast day is April 23rd.  Here is what we did for our playdate!

Reading:
St George and the Dragon is one of our favorite books so we were thrilled to share this one with friends on this special feast day!  We also used a lot of the ideas and activities from Catholic Mosaic as St. George's Feast Day and this book is highlighted for the month of April.

 

We also used The Knight and The Dragon by Tomie dePaola who is one of our favorite authors.  This is a great book to use for a younger crowd who might not want to sit through a longer book but still want to understand the idea of the story of a Knight and Dragon.  You can fill in special details about St. George!

Learning Fun:
We found some great printables and activities all about St George from Activity Village including coloring sheets, tracing fun, math exercises, mazes and a word search.  I also printed off some extra coloring sheets for the little ones to scribble on!

 

Craft:
We went simple for a craft this month and made Knight Shields with a Red Cross just like St. George the Red Cross Knight.  We used any kind of cardboard from diaper boxes, or other boxes around the house and duct tape!  This is an activity suggested for St. George's feast day in one of our favorite resources Catholic Mosaic.  We used duct tape on the back as well to make a loop for the kids to hold onto the Shield.

Also my friend brought a fun craft making Fire Blowing Dragons with toilet paper rings and tissue paper!

 

 

Snacks:
If you are super talented in baking and decorating I would suggest you make one of these ADORABLE Dragon Cakes to help celebrate.  I, on the other hand know my limitations and cake baking and decorating are not anywhere on the top of my list of talents.  So instead I made some banana bread (simply because I had some old bananas!) and asked friends to also bring a snack this time around.  My friends brought adorable Red Cross Knight Pastries and Cookies!  You could also make some fun English recipes or also if you are talented make these awesome St. George Cookies!  Either way, with little kids, as long as they have a snack they are good to go!

Decorations and Costumes:
What kid does not like to dress up as a knight?  We played in dress up clothes in our Melissa and Doug Knight Costume and also had an awesome real sword (not sharpened) that my husband had used in a childhood play for the children to see!

Fun Activities:
We used our Melissa and Doug Castle and Melissa and Doug Royal Family to help act out the story during playtime.  We also had our special Saint George Peg Doll from a swap I did for All Saints Day last year to add to our fun!

We also had out our Learning Tower (which by the way is the MOST AMAZING product to use with little ones in the kitchen) and the Puppet Show/Popcorn Cover for the kids to put on Puppet Shows with our Melissa and Doug Palace Hand Puppets!

 

Games:
We got a dragon piñata for the kids to try to slay the dragon with their swords, just like St. George.  This was such a fun interactive activity for the kids to do!

 

  

We had such a blast and I am looking forward to planning more liturgical playdates in the near future!  Maybe a May Crowning party for Mary?!

Pregnancy After Miscarriage

Each pregnancy is such a blessing, and I am truly aware of that fact especially after a miscarriage.  It is such a miracle to realize that God has chosen to entrust our family again with another life.  Yet, it is definitely an emotional rollercoaster!  In sorting though many feelings and taking a lot of time for communication the three big points that my husband and I took away from after our miscarriage were the following:

1.  Life is precious
2.  Practicing NFP is saying that we are open to life and also open to death
3.  We know that we would love more children in our family through natural birth or adoption

We waited until my cycle came back after experiencing our miscarriage and then decided that we were open to life and trusting in God's plan.  Well, God's plan included adding another little soul into our family, as we got pregnant again that very next month.  With all of my other four pregnancies I would take a pregnancy test days before my missed period because I had definite symptoms and "knew" I was pregnant.  This time around I was days passed when my cycle would typically return and I justified that my cycle must just be "off" after the miscarriage.  I finally decided to take a pregnancy test to simply prove to myself that I was not pregnant.  Well, to my surprise it came back "POSITIVE!"  Immediately there was a huge wave of emotions from excited, thankful, scared, worried and feeling blessed. 

With all of my other pregnancies, even with the pregnancy that ended in miscarriage I had a lot of definite pregnancy symptoms including morning sickness.  This time around...NOTHING.  I did not even feel pregnant.  The only thing re-assuring me was my missed cycle and a positive pregnancy test.  I actually found myself praying for morning sickness, just to have a physical re-assurance that everything was going the way it was supposed to.

Although my doctors cannot pinpoint if my Hashimoto's Disease had anything to do with my miscarriage, I knew that I wanted to make sure I was doing everything to best protect this newest little one.  I have learned a lot about Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's Disease since I was diagnosed last fall and since our miscarriage, especially about how Hashimoto's and pregnancy do not mix well!  The positive thyroid antibodies and increased levels of TSH increase risk of miscarriage significantly.  So right when we found out I was pregnant I went in the next day for a blood draw to assess a Hashimoto's thyroid panel.  They want your Thyroid antibodies to be as low as possible (mine were through the roof) and for your TSH to be under 2.5mIU/L during your first trimester (mine was 3.2mIU/L).  They increased my thyroid medicine and within a week my TSH was down to 2.2mlU/L and all of my other labs were also under control.  This was a big relief, but still I was at a higher risk for miscarriage.

I was so excited about this new little baby, but when I went to have my first ultrasound at 6 1/2 weeks gestation I was still pretty convinced that it was very likely that I would have another miscarriage.  I poured my heart and thoughts into my prayer journal for God to give me the strength to trust in His plan.  I was shocked to see our baby's little heart beating immediately when we started the ultrasound.  It felt almost like an out of body experience that this little baby was alive inside of me, even though I had experienced that 3 times before!  My doctor explained that with the baby growing properly and the heart beating that my risk of miscarriage went from about 50% chance to 5%. 

Our First Glimpse of Our Newest Little One at 6 weeks

Our oldest son has had a really hard time with the miscarriage and losing a sibling so we decided it was best to wait a while before we tell our children and family that we were pregnant.  He had been praying for God to send us another baby and was so excited when we told him on Easter morning that God sent us another baby.  Yet then later that day we later found him on our stairs crying.  I asked him what was wrong and he said "Is this baby going to die too Mom?"  I said "I hope not Buddy!"  He replied, "Well, if it does at least we know it will be with Samuel in Heaven."  Oh my heart.

It is hard to have such positive and negative thoughts and feelings revolving around a baby whom we already love so much.  One day I was thinking, "Oh, the baby is due the week before Thanksgiving, we should have the baptism the weekend after Thanksgiving because we know we will have family in town!"  Yet, then immediately I tell myself I should not let myself get that far ahead of where we are today.  Today, I feel blessed, and I am going to let that feeling stay around for now.

We have officially passed the gestation with this pregnancy that the miscarriage occurred with Samuel.  That is exciting and re-assuring, yet still brings back a lot of feelings of sadness and grief.  Through all of this, I know that God has a plan for our family and I am going to try my hardest to trust in that.  The loss of our baby has brought us closer to God and given us an extra push to appreciate each person in our family and every moment together.  I cannot wait for the day to hopefully hold this sweet baby in my arms and also for the day someday when I am able to be with our sweet Samuel in Heaven.

Our Newest Miracle at the end of the First Trimester growing and kicking!

Psalm 127:3 "Children too are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward."

 

Our Week in Review - 7 Quick Takes

 

We have been busy lately, but having a lot of fun!  I decided to do a Seven Quick Takes to catch up with what we have been up to this week!

 



---1---

Painting For A Special Birthday

 

My mother - in - law celebrated a special birthday this week and along with having a super fun surprise party we also had a great family activity of painting special pieces of pottery for her birthday.  The boys had a blast and it is such a great way to make personalized gifts for Grama to always have from her grandchildren!



 

 ---2---

New Milestones - No Training Wheels

 

Our oldest son decided out of the blue this week that he needed his training wheels off his bike!  I told him that it is a pretty big step and that once we take them off we are not putting them back on.  He said "I know, I'm ready!"  So off they went and he has been doing great!  He is practicing a lot and learning how to steer and keep his balance.   It's still so hard to believe how fast these kids grow up!

 

 

---3---

New Territory - Starting Sports

 

Our oldest son started soccer through our parish this week and it was so much fun!  We are blessed that the parish school opens its school sports Pre-Kindergarten - 8th grade to homeschooling families as well.  For a sports loving guy, our son was thrilled to start soccer and his first organized sport.  He has been practicing in the back yard for weeks and was so excited that he could hardly sleep the night before his first practice and game.  I was such a proud momma watching him play, and couldn't help but think that this one event will probably cascade the next 20+ years of our lives watching and supporting our children's sports and activities.  I cannot wait to watch each of our children gain different interests and learn important skills and independence!

 

 

 

---4---

Prayers for Mary

 

After the soccer game our children wanted to go to the Prayer Garden at our Church!  The Prayer Garden has become one of our favorite places and it is so much fun to watch it change and grow throughout the different seasons!  The flowers are blooming and our children brought some to Mary as they said their prayers!

 

 

 

---5---

Fun Times at the Children's Museum

 

We have such a great Children's Museum in our town and love to go on Member Days where it is open an hour earlier for members!  Sometimes it feels like we have the whole place to ourselves!  This week we did some fun art work, did lots of imaginative play as doctors, mechanics, bankers, firemen and more.  We got to end our visit this week going to the science show about bubbles and both of our oldest children were able to participate being within a HUGE bubble.  It was a lot of fun!

 

 

---6---

Exploring a State Park

 

We cannot get enough of this beautiful weather and have been looking for new fun adventures outside.  We went to a state park that we had a never been to before to go exploring on their trails.  The boys are in their element when they are outside and within nature.  They were listening for all of the animal sounds, finding and playing with sticks, learning about different trees and overall having a great time.  I love that homeschooling is providing us with some extra time to do these fun activities together as a family.

 

---7---

Too Hard To Believe!  Potentially A House with NO Diapers!

 

When our third son was born our oldest was 3 1/2 years old and still wearing diapers at night time, so we had three children in diapers all together!  That was fun!  Anyway, our oldest night trained around 4 years old and our middle child just potty trained himself a few months ago at almost 3 1/2 years old.  He went from wearing diapers 24/7 to no diapers at all day and night in about 48 hours!  It was crazy, especially since I did NOTHING.  Literally, we told him he could have a special date with Daddy if he stopped wearing diapers and that was that!  He has maybe had 3-5 accidents since. 

 

Well, now since then our youngest son who is 22 months has totally decided that he is done with diapers.  Usually our children express interest between 20-26 months but do not get very far with it.  I have a feeling this time around might be different.  Our youngest son this week with no initiative from me will tell me multiple times a day that he needs to potty, take my hand to walk to the bathroom and go!  He will stay dry for hours in-between as well.  I have a feeling (although I do not want to jinx it) that we might just very well have NO ONE in diapers in our house for a while!  That would be the first time in 5 1/2 years!

 



Well, that is what we have been up to this week!  For more Quick Takes Visit This Ain't The Lyceum!