Thanksgiving

This year, my wife, Gianna, and I will be visiting my family for Thanksgiving.  We will be fortunate to see them for several days, and it looks like God will be blessing us with good weather.  In the spirit of this holiday of gratitude, I want to dedicate this post to five things I thank God for:

• For my family.  My wife and daughter are a tremendous blessing.  The great love they show me reminds me and makes me think more about the infinite love God has for us.  I am becoming the man God wants me to be because of them.  Our immediate families are a blessing as well.  They have been very generous in support of us as we strive to be the best parents we can be for Gianna. 

• For the time with Gianna.  This blog began because I wanted to share with others the joys of being a stay-at-home dad.  It has been very joyful!  The time we get to be together eating bananas, playing in the bathtub, going on walks, making it to Mass when we can, talking to and kissing our Jesus and Mary statue ...I would never trade these moments for anything.  I have learned how to be more patient, humble, grateful, sincere...the list goes one.

• For my wife's job.  My wife doesn't view it as a  job, but as a calling.  She puts a lot of effort into teaching her students about physical education and health (I can tell by how tired she is when she returns home).  She wants them to know that their bodies are temples of God, and they must take care of them.  God bless my wife for her dedication to serving these young women.

• For our friends.  We have been able to spend some quality time with many friends since Gianna's birth (you know who you are!).  They have been there to give advice as well as to help keep our sanity.  God bless them all!

•  For our faith.  Our Catholic faith is what keeps us going every day.  It keeps us fed, keeps us accountable, keeps us striving to be better Christians...ultimately, it keeps us on the path to holiness.  Without our faith, we would be truly lost.  Not only do I thank God for our faith, but I thank our parents for passing it along to us.  Besides giving us the great gift of life, our parents gave us this great gift of faith, something they knew would be good for us.  Oh, were they right!  Praise God for our faith, praise God for our parents!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and remember to count your blessings especially the gift of life your parents gave you.  Without it, you would not be able to celebrate this joyous holiday.  God's love and joy to everyone!

Quick Take Friday

 

1) Gianna experienced her first Halloween this year.  She was a ballerina.  We visited my in-laws and Gianna went through a bowl of candy...no, she didn't eat the candy.  She picked up the wrapped chocolates one at a time, sucked on each one briefly, and threw them on the floor.

2) Gianna is now 10 months old!  In no time she will be walking all over...need to start baby-proofing the apartment.

3) Gianna received her first book today through a book exchange chain letter.  It's called "The Clown of God."  Looks to be a winner...thanks to the person who sent it!

4) Last weekend Gianna and I went to watch my brother's team play soccer.  I am out for the rest of the season...I suffered a mild concussion from heading the ball (it was against my brother's team).  It was dumb of me.  I knew the concussion was coming on right after I hit it.  I feel better, but it was scary.  

5) Gianna voted for the first time this past Tuesday!  Okay, not really.  I held her as I voted.  She was calm as could be.  The boy with his parents in front of us kept her distracted.  Too bad the results ended up being what they were.  Gotta "keep on looking up," as my brother said.  Pray for our newly elected and re-elected officials.  They need 'em.  

6) Tonight we'll be going to my wife's school to see the play "Pirates of Penzance."  Looking forward to the play...not so much looking forward to trying to keep little miss quiet.  Let's hope it works out.

7) Below are a few pictures to enjoy of Gianna incognito.  

Have a blessed weekend, everyone!

Our Growing Girl

Gianna is growing.  She is definitely a petite girl, but she has made some progress since her birth.  Here are some quick facts on our little miss:

-          Weight: 16 lb 9 oz

-          Height: 27 in

-          Teeth count: 5 (almost 6); boy, are they hurting her right now

-          Hair: Getting darker in some places and longer

-          Words: lots of “ma ma ma” and “ba ba ba”

-          Mobility: Skipped crawling; walks with the aid of us or objects

Gianna will be 10 months old in November…how time flies!  I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, well, at least in the absence of Daddy Jekyll.  I am bracing myself for when Gianna begins to walk without aid.  I’m gonna have to start working out more in order to be well prepared.

Have a good rest of the weekend and remember to pray for our priests on Priesthood Sunday.  God bless!

Shhh...

Gianna is sleeping.  She's been sleeping for about an hour.  I've been able to get some work done for school.  This is amazing since last night she had another painful teething I-am-gonnna-scream-till-mom-gets-me-nights.  Please say a prayer that she gets through this teething phase soon...and Lauren gets enough sleep so she can focus at work.

On another note, we went to the park on Saturday and took fall pictures with Gianna.  She sat on the ground and threw leaves around.  A  few of them ended up in her mouth, but it wasn't too bad. I'll be sending out some of those photos to friends and family.  If you want to see them, please let me know through Facebook or email. 

Finally, we had babyfest at one of our friends' house on Friday night.  Five young ones playing (the tickle-me-Elmo dancing time was hilarious) and having a ball.  It was great.  Gianna didn't cry until she was ready to fall asleep.  Praise God for play dates.

God bless you all and happy feast of Blessed Pope John Paul II!

Our Beautiful Daughter

My wife and I love our daughter very much.  She keeps us on our toes and brings so much joy to our hearts.  She is cute, stubborn, playful, tickly, a mommy and daddy-girl, lovable, hugable, cuddly...the list goes on and on.  She is also very photogenic!  When Gianna sees the camera, she gets excited and puts on happy face.  To prove how great that smile is, Lauren and I, after careful consideration, have decided that ONE photo of Gianna on the web would be acceptable.  This shot was taken this evening during dinner.  The smile on her face came after she saw a picture of herself on my phone.  We hope you enjoy, and may it make you smile!

Reflection on Life and Death

Recently, one of my aunts lost her battle with cancer.  It's a terrible disease.  It leaves one in weak and in great pain.  It also brings much pain and suffering to family members and friends.  My aunt was only 58.  She had been married to my uncle for nearly 40 years.  Such a good witness to marriage...two Catholics staying together through thick and thin.  That's a rare sight in this day and age.  God will judge us based on our entire life: what we did, what we said, what we thought.  My hope is that with my aunt, He looks upon her and says "You kept the faith.  You were faithful to your spouse.  Enter into My heavenly dwelling place, good and faithful servant."  What great hope our Catholic faith brings when a loved one's life ends.  We hope for her eternal salvation while continuing to pray for her soul.

While at her funeral, burial, and bereavement dinner, although much sadness was present, much joy was there as well.  Even my uncle, although deeply saddened by the loss of his wife, let out his famous laugh on several occasions (thanks to many, many family and friends being there to comfort him).  What I was blessed to witness throughout the day were the smiles on the many faces when people greeted our daughter, Gianna.  My wife and I were both pleased to know that Gianna was able to ease some pain during a most difficult time.  As usual, she was passed from person to person, sometimes even to total strangers.  But she remained, aside from a few moments of shyness, happy...and she brought happiness.  At the cemetery, I had to let out a smirk while Gianna fiercely pulled the grass off the ground while grunting.  As my wife would say, "she melts my heart!"

Verses from Ecclesiastes 3 resonates in my heart when I think about the events from yesterday: "A time to be born, and a time to die...a time to weep, and a time to laugh."  A new life bringing joy and laughter, an ending of another life bringing sorrow.  Aside from the afflicting emotions, there remains the virtuous gifts of faith, hope, and love: Faith in God's mercy, hope in eternal life, the love of Christ which he showed to us on the cross.  May God shower my aunt with His ever abundant mercy and love and comfort the hearts of those who mourn her passing.  Requiescat in pace, Aunt Dianne. 

Sleepy Time

As a parent, one can sometimes focus on the struggles or difficulties that come along with raising a child: changing a very dirty diaper, arriving to Mass a little late, rocking a bawling child in the middle of the night.  Sometimes these things just irk you.  It really boils down to one thing that most if not all parents desire to have during the child-rearing years: SLEEP.  Aw, good ole sleep.  It would be a lot easier if at those moments of frustration mom and/or dad were with it completely.  But, as we know, with a baby comes lack of sleep.  And, with a lack of sleep comes irritated parents...not all of the time, but it definitely happens.  Since Gianna was born, both Lauren and I, especially Lauren, have battled with trying to find time to sleep.  Some days are better than others and most nights have been very similar: Gianna cries for food, Lauren or I gets her from bed, Lauren feeds her, and we or most of us fall back to sleep.  That has been a pretty consistent routine.  To our surprise, though, that may all be changing.

During the past couple of weeks, we have been trying to put Gianna in bed around nine o'clock.  She occasionally cries or stirs, but usually she sleeps for at least a couple of hours.  Two nights ago, Lauren put her to sleep around eight, and so we both thought she would awake around 11 or 12 wanting to nurse. To jump forward a bit, Gianna and I went to the noon Mass at the Cathedral Basilica that following day.  Since Lauren works across the street, we stopped by to visit her for just a bit.  This is how part of conversation went:

Lauren: Did you get Gianna out of bed last night?
Me: No.
Lauren: You know what this means?
Me: What?
Lauren: She slept until 4:45!
Me: Are you serious?
Lauren: Yes!

Disclaimer: this is not word-for-word what was said, but you get what I mean.  In other words, Gianna slept for almost nine hours straight!  We couldn't believe it.  We thought it was going to be a gradually thing: four hours one night, four and a half another.  But no, she definitely pulled a fast one on us.  And you know what?  She did it again last night!  She slept close to eight hours straight before Lauren got her out of bed. 

What does this tell us?  Gianna is growing up...sob, sob, tear.  It's a good thing, though, and we are happy God is blessing Gianna as well as us with a few more consecutive hours of sleep.   Hopefully this will give Lauren more energy and me, well, more energy knowing that Lauren has more energy :) 

So, pleasant dreams to you all and may God bless you and rock you gently in His arms...and happy feast of St. Vincent de Paul!