Where Have You Been, Missy??

It seems I've fallen off the face of planet earth. But actually, no I haven't! I'm still here, doing all the things. To put it lightly, things have been . . . busy. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

--one--

Learning how to teach plus then teaching the Creighton Model has been a whirlwind. Whew! But just last month, I wrapped up my 13-month training with a big fat 4-hour final exam. It was a doozy. Also awkward, since it was proctored by the only person in town I could find to proctor -- a male librarian. I had to present the picture dictionary to him. *insert embarrassed face here* That aside, I felt pretty ok after I finished it, so I'm thinking I passed, but I should find out by the end of April. Fingers crossed, prayers said! 

I've LOVED working with clients and am looking forward to continuing that without supervision now. Wahoo! If you know of anyone interested in learning CrMS, please feel free to send them my way. :) 

--two--

Leading up to Christmas, I participated in my first saint peg doll swap. Have you seen these yet? They seem to be making their way around the Catholic bloggiesphere. You paint 20-30 of the same saint for the swap and get 20-30 different ones back (or however many people are participating). It's a great way to learn about a bunch of saints AND get your craft on at the same time. Plus, they make great toys AND Catholic learning tools for little ones. 

For my first swap (hosted by the great Hannah), I painted St. Cecilia!

And in return received . . .

Front Row

St. Therese // St. Faustina // Mary, Mother of God // St. Augustine // St. Cecilia // Our Lady Undoer of Knots

Second Row

St. Francis // St. Lucy // St. Joachim // St. Catherine of Sienna // St. Zelie // St. Martha // St. Luke

 

Third Row
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton // St. Joseph // St. Isidore the Farmer // St. Monica // St. Kateri

Fourth Row
St. Pope John Paul II // St. Clare // St. Louis Martin // St. Gianna // Esther // Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Fifth Row
St. Maria Goretti // St. Peter // St. Rose of Lima // St. Michael the Archangel // St. Maximilian Kolbe

--three--

Within a few days of me receiving my 30 new saint dolls, I was already itching to do another one! So with the help of Katie and Cecilia, we organized a special group of gals who've experienced infertility, miscarriage and/or stillbirth and are together making a set of 20 saints who are patrons of those sufferings. So, so special.

I just shipped off my St. Philomena dolls . . .

. . . and should be receiving the new set in time for Easter. Most of the saints came from this patrons-of-infertility list.

I'll be sure to post pictures once they arrive.

Though, to hold you over, I've got a pic of two saints my husband painted! He wanted in on the fun after seeing me paint over 50 saints myself. He had to tell me which saints he painted because sometimes I'm clueless. Can you guess?

--four--

I wouldn't be me if I didn't waste stupid amounts of time watching silly things on the telly. So, recent favorites have been:

Call the Midwife -- So many babies being born! And an infertility/adoption story!
Downton Abbey -- HOW IS THIS OVER?! At least the ending left me with all the good feels.
Jane the Virgin -- Funny and clever, but getting less appropriate by the episode. :-|
Fixer Upper -- We blew through the only season on Netflix. GIMME ALL THE SHIPLAP!
The Property Brothers -- Just yes.
Married at First Sight -- I know it's terrible that I watch this. But I really want all the best for these couples! And I love watching people fall in love. Sigh. Why are the outcomes so bad?

--five-- 

In early February, John surprised me with a trip to The Harry Potter Wizarding World in Orlando!! He knew it was on my bucket list and one night in January, he arranged all the details on the internets by himself and BOOM. Surprise bucket list trip for us! My MIL joined in too to help out with John Paul. It was the best trip EVA!

I have to say, Universal is sooooo accommodating to families! Every ride has a child-swap room so that parents can wait in line together and then when you get to the front of the line, one hangs in the swap room with the kiddo while the other rides, and then once that parent is done, the parents swap! Easy peasy. There's also a building with rooms for breastfeeding moms, so I totally took advantage of that. We stayed, very affordably, at one of the Universal hotels, which included shuttle service to the parks every day. And, sigh, it was just awesome.


Favorite parts: buying a wand and casting interactive spells with it around the parks, drinking 4 glasses of butterbeer *drool*, walking through Hogwarts Castle, eating lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, and discovering Diagon Alley. The coolest.

--six--

So this is a big deal . . . we're house hunting! For the first time ever, we're ready to buy a home. We've seen about 15 houses and even put an offer on one! But the sellers decided to stay in their home right after our offer came in. Bummer. The good news is . . . we're in no rush. We could stay in our apartment for another year or so just waiting for the perfect house. So there's that. But the search continues. (And gosh, it's kinda a full time job!)

--seven--

Best of all the things keep me busy . . . 

Being this guy's mom. 

Can you believe I have a 10-month-old?!

Guys, he's just the sweetest, most hilarious kid ever. He loves exploring, pulling up on everything, pulling all the things off all the shelves. He LOVES the kitchen -- the dishwasher, the cabinets, the refrigerator, the oven drawer -- what's not to love? He eats all the things. New favorites include raisins, baba ganoush, blueberries, blackberries, watermelon, and my mom's chicken parm. He even likes semi-spicy curry dishes! He doesn't like sitting still for long, and sweet cuddly moments are hard to come by. But he's just a hoot. I can't get over the sounds he makes or the cheesy smiles or the way he hides his face in my shirt if he's being shy. Guh. This kid. What a blessing!

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