Encouraging all Men

Last night after dinner, baths, homework, saying the Divine Mercy Novena, and putting the kids to bed (or rather, putting the littles to bed and constantly nagging the older kids to go to bed) Phil and I started cooking dinner for the next day.  I chopped onions and peppers and sauteed the ground beef while he mixed up some cornbread for our version of Taco Pie.  As much as I wanted to just sit down and drink my lime La Croix with a slice of lemon, I knew cooking that dinner would make our lives easier today.  So we cooked and cleaned and prepared lunches and talked and before we knew it, we were done.  Many hands make light work, and a good partner makes that work practically float away.  It was actually kind of, dare I say, fun?  I went to bed feeling so happy and accomplished that I chose the good over the easy.  In serving others, we really can find happiness and in working together towards a common goal, we really can find joy.

Phil cooking and me dancing.  Typical Martin kitchen antics.

Easter 2016

Happy Easter!!!  Or as Alexander shouted when he saw the candy..."Lent is OVA!!!"  Woohoo!  Start the celebrating :)

Good Friday

We ate our traditional Good Friday breakfast of "Bird's Nests" from the Portuguese Bakery.  A hard boiled egg nestled in some soft and delicious sweet bread.

Holy Saturday

What Helped Keep Us Healthy This Winter

I have been waiting to write this post until the winter season was completely over, so I could accurately say that our family has been amazingly healthy this winter.  Now that I've typed that out, I'm knocking on my desk so hard that my knuckles are bruised.  Because you all know what happens as soon as you think or utter the words "The kids haven't been sick in a while..."  

Bam, drop the mic to pick up the puke bucket.

The winter previous, we were sooooo sick alllll the time, and it did a number on my mental health.  I never feel like I have too many children until the stomach bug passes through my house.  Not once, but twice.  And strep got passed along in two rounds as well.  And colds galore, Maggie had the flu, pink eye hit the older boys, Phil cracked a rib from coughing so violently, Xander and Declan need nebulizer treatments, the list just went on and on.  Many holidays and parties and playdates were cancelled and it felt like we would never all be healthy at the same time ever again.  

Calm down, Colleen.

Okay, so when we were prepping for this winter, I said to myself, "Self, what can I do to make sure the kids (the disease-spreaders)  are healthier this time around?"  And here's the plan I came up with.

A.

When strep started making it's way through our house, the doctor would prescribe antibiotics, and tell me to throw away the toothbrush after 24 hours and replace it with a new one.  Easy peasy, except when I went to go replace the strep-infected toothbrush, I realized that ALL THE KIDS TOOTHBRUSHES WERE IN A HOLDER TOUCHING EACH OTHER!  I mean, I like knew this is how their toothbrushes were kept, but it didn't hit me how disgusting that was until the great Martin Winter of Disease and Doom.

So I bought this toothbrush holder for my kid's bathroom, as seen in the photo below:

It sanitizes the toothbrushes every time the door is closed, and the closed door also keeps toilet water from spraying on the toothbrushes.  (I don't know if that's factual but my best friend as a teenager told me that's what happens when you flush the toilet and your toothbrushes are sitting out in the open.  And it was gross enough to remember all these years later.)

Irish This Baby Had a Name

I hope everyone's wearing a bit o'green today!  Maybe this shirt if you're Irish or this one even if you're not.  And remember, 'tis no sin not to be Irish...just a terrible, terrible shame.

{Sorry, we Irish are a prideful people.  Kinda like Texans.}

St. Patty's Day Past

I am getting an awesome gift on this St. Paddy's Day because Kate from Sancta Nomina is helping us pick out a name for this sixth baby boy.  Go read it and tell me what ya think!  We need allllllll the help in the name game, or he really might turn out to be Enda Dunn.  Thanks lassies, Happy St. Patty's Day!

Weekend Update and the Baby's Nickname

What a crazy busy weekend!  If only Tina and Amy were around to insert jokes as we lived it.  

The contractor finished our house remodel on Friday afternoon.  On Friday night, Andrew had his CYO championship game, and they won!

All the Pregnant Ladies

All the pregnant ladies, all the pregnant ladies...now put your hands up!  

Then immediately yawn because doing anything physical is exhausting :)

It seems like whenever I am pregnant, there's suddenly so many other pregnant moms too.  I think it's like that phenomenon that happens when you get a new car and all of a sudden, you see it everywhere.  Or when you name your child a unique name, then hear about a million other kids with the same name.   Yeah, it's not really that it's happening more often, but just that I'm more aware of it. 

So, how about a little prayer line for all the pregnant mommas?  Because misery loves company, I mean prayers love intentions ;)  I'll start by listing a few and you can help me out in the com box with anybody else, and I'll update the list as it goes on.

At the top of my current list is Dwija, whose water broke at 32 weeks and is in the hospital trying to keep her baby girl safe and healthy until delivery.  Dweej, if you only knew how many Hail Mary's I'm throwing up for ya!

Ana just announced her baby boy's name.  So cute!

Susan had a surprise pregnancy with Baby #7.  I can soooooo empathize!

Blythe also has surprise #7 on the way.  These sevens are sneaky!

Micaela is adding another member to her entourage (loved her rap music reference in this post).

Katie is already planning matching girl outfits for her bookend daughters, so cute!

Sheena is rocking her pregnancy and still DIY-ing everything.  I could use some of her energy!

Andrea and I are both due in the hot month of August.

Katie who just brought her adopted son home from China is pregnant with her baby girl!

Sharon is due really soon!

Amelia at One Catholic Mama is expecting again!

 Hafsa and I are pregnancy buddies this time around :)

Kelly at Misadventures of Kelly and Kelly are expecting their first boy after four girls!

Ginny at Small Things has a baby goat and a baby on the way!

Amy at PartyofTwelve is going to need to change her name to Party of Thirteen as Baby #11 is due soon!

Kallah is almost due too!

Ok, so who else am I missing?  They don't need to have a blog or Instagram or anything, just give me a name and we can get this pregnant prayer roll going!  

Keep the prayers going for:

K at Lucky as Sunshine

Cammie at A Woman's Place

Sarah Melendez

Shannon at A Great Parade

Erica at Saint Affairs

Emily at Mama Holi

Anne, Kelly, and Maria in Brazil.

Cathy and a not-yet-revealed pregnant mama :)

Carly and Denise

Carly and Janette

Julie and her older sister

Meredith and Jessica and Sarah and Kim

Eileen (due with #10) and Kari (due with #9)

Brittany

Heather - in labor right now (3/10/16)

Mrs. M. and two of her friends

Our Lady of Hope, pray for us!