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This first half of PA school has been really difficult, for Alex, for me, and for our family life. Except for the couple times a year that he's on break, there has been the constant feeling that he should be studying and because of that he misses out on a lot of family time. And then when he decides to take a break and spend some time with us I have a constant feeling of guilt because I know he should be studying. I'd like to think that rotations will be better because nothing could be worse than what we've been going through. But that's what I thought when Alex was working full time and taking prerequisites at night."there's no way PA school could be worse than this." But it was. So I'm bracing myself for something terrible come Monday. I'm learning the art of lowering expectations. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised.
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Trixie turned one on Tuesday! Alex was taking finals and Johnny was at school so Trixie and I walked down to Starbucks for a birthday latte, and then that turned into lunch at the Whole Foods across the street. My lunch, just to clarify. Trixie wants nothing to do with solids. We presented her with a little piece of a cupcake that night after dinner and some of it ended up in her hair while the rest ended up in Johnny's mouth.So Darling Daughter won't eat solids, but last week I found a stitch marker in her dirty diaper. At first I felt like the World's Worst Mom for letting her eat a stitch marker on my watch. Then I felt completely indignant that she scorns every tasty morsel of real food we offer her, and then when we're not looking she goes and eats a stitch marker.
Anyway, we're going to celebrate her birthday properly this weekend. More to come on that, I'm sure.
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Blessed is She is also launching something new; By The Manger In The Morning, a prayer journal for Advent, written by fellow BIS writer, Elizabeth Foss. Each day has scripture readings, reflections, calls to actions, and space for you to journal and reflect in your own words. I got a sneak peak at this journal a few weeks ago as I was helping out with some editing. It is truly beautiful and so well written. I am really excited to use it to bring some calm to my own Advent and help keep me centered on Christ.
I know that Advent seems like a million miles away, but I check the calendar, and it starts in just 6 short weeks. Yikes! You can find the journal, as well as beautiful Jesse Tree cards and lovely Advent prints designed by the very talented Erica of Be A Heart, all in the Blessed is She shop. Check it out and get ready to have a great advent.
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I just started listening to the most amazing podcast. The West Wing Weekly. My SIL told me about it over the summer and I just got around to checking it out this week and oh my. It's pure gold. If you don't like, or have never seen The West Wing, first of all, these are problems we need to address. And secondly, I can guarantee that you will not like this podcast. It's main objective is to discuss episodes of The West Wing in great detail, WITH West Wing cast and crew members. But if you're a TWW fan you'll be in heaven. Each episode is about an hour long, and I listened to 5 episodes yesterday. It's so good. And, as is true of all podcasts, it's perfect for knitting!
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We've got a date for our Catholic Women Bloggers Network Midwest Conference! (What a mouthful! Maybe we need to work on a shorter name.) It's going to be March 25, 2017, right here in St. Paul, MN. So if you're a Catholic woman who blogs, or is thinking of starting a blog, or a woman blogger who is Catholic-curious, save the date and join our Facebook group so as not to miss out on any other exciting announcements. Teaser: we've got our speakers lined up and will be announcing them soon. It's going to be a lot of fun.
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We had some family photos taken last night by my very talented friends Kristen and Jameson. I had a lot of anxiety and indecision over what we all should wear and spent many minutes scanning Pinterest for some outfit combos to copy. I was feeling like maybe Alex and Johnny were too matchy and that maybe all my smiles were too forced, but Jameson posted a sneak peak on their Facebook page that put my mind at ease. Actually, I'm over the moon excited about them. Especially this one. Thank you Jameson for capturing our family so beautifully. I can't wait to see the rest.
For more quick takes head on over to Kelly's. Have an awesome weekend everyone!