Lipstick?

No. It might look a bit scary and 'clown-like', but this is beet juice on Faustina's mouth! If anyone has a juicer and is looking for a good drink here it is: 2 beets and their leafy tops (incredibly nutritious), 2 apples, 1 peeled lemon, a big bunch of kale. Faustina was absolutely giddy over it. It tastes like a really good fresh lemonade - believe it or not :)

Vocation gift

Our friend Rose recently discerned her vocation to religious life, having always dreamed of getting married and having kids. Her story is amazing. God clearly has chosen her and called her to serve Him in vows. She was named after Rose of Lima (read about the saint here), and entered into her budding order (not yet fully approved) on the Feast of St. Rose of Lima. Again, her story is just too amazing and powerful to not take note of here. We chose to give her a gorgeous hand-painted image of St. Rose of Lima that I purchased when in Peru this past spring. She should have this in the convent. Thanks be to God for His love and making Himself known to us through prayer and fidelity. He has been good to Rose by clearly revealing Himself and His plan to her, and now it is her turn to serve His Church.

DEO GRATIAS MAXIMAS!
Saint Rose of Lima, pray for us.

Extreme close-up!

Hanging out on a rainy day yesterday when Mom and Jude were gone...

Someday...

Jude, maybe you'll be able to grow a beard like your Dad.

Jude works wonders

For some reason, the cameras do not often get a smile out of Uncle Travis....but Jude got one out of him!

Part I: Homebirth

Yes, Jude Michael was, in fact, born here at home! It was absolutely wonderful. I am so lucky to have a husband who was open to it and supportive.

My contractions started Monday evening around 7:30pm. They were fairly minor, but I already had the feeling that this baby would come early, so I was ready anytime for Jude to come. I called my midwife, Kim, and told her I would keep her posted. I took a hot bath, said a rosary, and went to bed.

3:30am rolled around and I was no longer able to sleep with the contractions. I got up and did some minor things around the house, read a bit, ate a whole cantalope melon and started getting excited - I knew this baby was coming today. I called Kim at 5am and she said she was going to head over. I went to tell Mike the midwife was on the way over and that he should start to fill the birth tub that was already set up in the basement.

It felt like Christmas morning. It was early in the morning and I had great anticipation for what the day would bring. I walked outside where it was a cool crisp morning. The stars were out and the moon was just a sliver. Everyone was busy and excited doing different things around the house while I was relaxing and waiting to see what would happen. Faustina got up around 7am and was running around being very cute and making people laugh. I know, this sounds like a good movie - and it felt like it! Here is a picture of Faustina and I an hour and a half before Jude came.

Mike took Faustina over to our generous friends the Grams house and a few minutes later my Mom came over. And this is when contractions started getting harder. With my Mom's arrival, I was able to relax and it is as if my body said, "Okay, you are ready to have this baby.". By the time Mike got back from dropping Faustina off 15 minutes later, I was downstairs in the birthing tub.

At this point there was about 45 minutes until Jude was born. The environment was perfect: I had my husband and Mom right there rocking in lazy boy chairs (!), 3 incredible midwives to dote on me, I was comfortable in my own home, I had a candle burning, and I had Mike bring down my favorite picture of Mary and Jesus that I could concentrate on during contractions - what more could I ask for! I felt like I was getting ready for a championship soccer game or studying hard for a test and I WAS ready.

Jude was born and and the classic "It is a boy!" came out of Mike's mouth. Holding him for the 15 minutes in the pool will forever be tattoed in my memory - it was just one of those unforgettable experiences. We were not surprised Jude was a boy; in fact, about halfway through the pregnancy we were 99% convinced he was a boy and soon after I just knew he was a 'Jude'. I didn't even really think of him as 'the baby' - I thought of him as 'Jude'. It was just one of those things. Here is out beautiful baby boy saying hello to us for the first time!

Part II: birthing the placenta

So the birth of Jude was perfect; the birth of my placenta, however, was a bit more complicated. It did not want to come out. I was not having contractions and a few shots of Pitocin (birth/contraction inducer) did nothing to help.

The midwives decided it was best to go into the hospital. We called an ambulance because I was a bit 'messy' as you can imagine. It, actually, was quite comical. The ambulance arrived in a hurry and I simply walked outside to get in and they wondered "Where is the lady who gave birth?" I replied, "Here I am." They were a bit shocked because I was totally normal and perhaps even a bit annoyed at having to go to the hospital. Mike got in with me and we headed over to United. We chatted with the emergency guys along the way.




The three midwives and my Mom packed up Jude and headed over to the hospital in cars and met us there. It was turning into a mini adventure.

Well, the rest of the afternoon was quite busy. The doctors quickly determined that my placenta was not going to come out on its own - I would have to have it surgically removed. I am not going to lie, I had more pain when the docs were trying to get the placenta out than when I was in labor! The doctors had to manually remove it; no cutting etc. was done - thank God.

Surgery went fine and around 3pm I was done with everything and in recovery mode. We stayed at the hospital for the next 2 days since I had lost a significant amount of blood in the process. We are thankful that the Lord was watching over us as there was some danger involved, albeit somewhat routine.

I must say, I would not change anything at all about the entire experience... except the placenta problem, of course. I am bummed that I won't be able to have another homebirth. There is a 90% chance that the placenta would not naturally extract from the uteran wall again, so to be safe we will have all the rest of our babies in the hospital. At the same time, the Lord was SO present in everything and for that I am grateful. There certainly were moments that were more scary (I lost a bit of blood), but in those times there was a special grace present. Even going to the hospital, I was able to be lighthearted, have patience with doc/nurses, and I was able to trust in God's providence the whole time. Thank you Lord for a healthy baby and your protection over the entire experience!

Welcome to our newest member: Jude Michael!

First, I would like to thank my beautiful wife for bearing our little children, and honor her for her grace during pregnancy and during the actual births - she is a wonder. I also honor her for putting up with me - I do not show my love and appreciation for her enough.

Jude was born on Tuesday, August 18th at 9:15 am. He weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. at birth and is perfectly healthy, Deo gratias! (Below is a description of how we came up with his name.)

The birth went wonderfully and everyone is doing very well. We are very grateful and thank you for your continued prayers.

About Jude's name:
Jude
Origin: Hebrew, a form of "Judah". Adjective form of Judas and Judith. "Jude" is an English revision to differentiate St. Jude from Judas Iscariot. Meaning: praise, giver of joy, thanks, "praised one," "from Judah." St. Jude - Apostle, cousin of Jesus, and martyr - is in many ways the patron of my (Mike's) side of the family on my mother's Polish/Italian side. St. Jude is known as the patron for lost or difficult cases, and so his intercession was invoked for various needs, especially when keys or other important items were lost (sorry, St. Anthony)! The shortest book of the New Testament is attributed to him, the Epistle of Jude. He evangelized peoples throughout Mesopotamia, particularly in the region now known as Iraq. At Confirmation, I took the name St. Jude as I had heard about him so much during my youth. Later in life, I had a reversion to the faith of my Baptism and consequently St. Jude was a friend to me during that time. To me, St. Jude's intercession, among other things, was what guided me through complicated times during youth and my formation as a Christian. Cynthia and I invoked his intercession when we heard about a possible complication with this baby's kidneys; the common St. Jude prayer promises to promote devotion to his name... well, the baby's kidneys are fine and we are very grateful!

Michael
Origin: Hebrew
Meaning: "Who is like God?", "Godliness", "one who is as God"
His middle name is in honor of St. Michael the Archangel, also one of my patron saints and invoked by Cynthia and I during our prayer times for the past year or so. St. Michael is known for his battling with evil, and "cast[ing] into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls" (from the St. Michael prayer). Jude Michael is also named after me, his father, in hopes that the honoring of his father's patrons will inspire him to be a better man than me, and that he will remember these namesakes as powerful intercessors before our Lord in Heaven during difficult times.






Look at how beautiful Cynthia looks in this photo with our babes!

Hot August Days

You have got to love a toddler in her swimsuit....

SUPERfoods!

The past six months I have been reading a lot about health food and trying my best to incorporate more healthy foods into our family's diet. Movies including "The Beauty of Truth", "Food Inc", and "Food Matters" have been enlightening. The book "Green For Life" by Victoria Butenko also launched me into this new world. The main idea of these books and philosophy is that 'living foods' (basically meaning raw food) are full of vitamins, minerals, and live enzymes which our bodies need to be healthy. When food is cooked, these elements are destroyed. So, my new favorite 'superfoods' are wheatgrass, chia seeds, and hemp seeds. I put chia seeds and hemp seeds in our green smoothies, oatmeal, cereal, granola, salads, dressings, yogurt, cottage cheese, well....basically anything that is not cooked. Chia seeds don't have a taste and hemp seeds have a bit of a nutty flavor but can be hard to detect. The wheatgrass I only juice; I put a 'shot' in our fancy coffee espresso cups and Mike and I each have one a day - he loves it :p. I grow wheatgrass here at the house. It does take a little time, but is a very simple process. It is not the most pleasant tasting thing, but the nutritional benefits are worth it! I listed some of the nutritional benefits of each of these foods below. I took this info from various websites; when people ask "Why are these foods good for you?" Or "What is in these?", a lot of the time I find that I either forget the details or do not articulate their benefits in a convincing manner. There is so much to learn!

Wheatgrass is probably the most well-known of these three foods I am mentioning. Perhaps it is even becoming a bit trendy since places like Jamba Juice sell wheatgrass shots and advertise its benefits. Ann Wigmore is the expert on wheatgrass. She has a few great books on wheagrass and sprouts. Wheatgrass is one of the superfoods that my Mom is using in abundance to combat her cancer - and it does seem to be making a difference! Praise the Lord!

Chia Seeds:



* 2 times the protein of any other seed or grain
* 5 times the calcium of milk, plus boron which is a trace mineral that helps
transfer calcium into your bones
* 2 times the amount of potassium as bananas
* 3 times the reported antioxidant strength of blueberries
* 3 times more iron than spinach
* copious amounts of omega 3 and omega 6, which are essential fatty acids…

Wheatgrass:

Vitamins
Wheatgrass contains high amounts of vitamins A, E and B. It also contains many minerals and trace elements: Calcium, Phosphorus, Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron and Zinc.

Amino Acids
Wheatgrass also contains twelve amino acids including the eight essential amino acids: phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, isoleucine, methionine, leucine, and lysine. Essential amino acids are those that the body cannot create, they must be obtained through one's diet.

Predigested Food
Wheatgrass juice is considered a predigested food. It does not require enzymes for breaking down proteins. Wheatgrass juice contains both amino acids and glucose therefore it is readily assimilated in the body.

Chlorophyll
Wheatgrass juice is rich in Chlorophyll. Chlorophyll has a molecular structure almost identical to the hemoglobin molecule of human blood. Chlorophyll in the wheatgrass juice helps the blood carry Oxygen to all the cells.

Chlorophyll cleanses the liver, tissues and cells and purifies the blood. Wheatgrass juice helps remove toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, aluminum, that have become stored in the tissues of the body.Wheatgrass juice aids in detoxification by breaking up impacted matter in the colon. It also helps fight infection therefore aiding the body’s natural self healing process.

Hemp Seeds:

Hemp seeds are nutrient-powerhouses containing:

* All 20 amino acids, including the 9 essential amino acids (EAAs) our bodies cannot produce.
* A high protein percentage of the simple proteins that strengthen immunity and fend off toxins.2

Eating hemp seeds in any form could aid, if not heal, people suffering from immune deficiency diseases. This conclusion is supported by the fact that hemp seed has been used to treat nutritional deficiencies brought on by tuberculosis, a severe nutrition blocking disease that causes the body to waste away.3

* Nature's highest botanical source of essential fatty acid, with more essential fatty acid than flax or any other nut or seed oil. 4
* A perfect 3:1 ratio of Omega-6 Linoleic Acid and Omega-3 Linolenic Acid - for cardiovascular health and general strengthening of the immune system.
* A superior vegetarian source of protein considered easily digestible.
* A rich source of phytonutrients, the disease-protective element of plants with benefits protecting your immunity, bloodstream, tissues, cells, skin, organs and mitochondria.
* The richest known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids. 5

Hemp seed oil has been attributed to helping: increase energy, soften skin, relieve arthritis and normalize blood cholesterol.

Nesting project

Instead of cleaning & organizing (like I should be doing!), my 'nesting' time before this baby comes has taken the form of a knitting project: Christmas stockings. One is done, and I have 3 more to go. Red will be for girls and I plan on making Mike's and any boy's using green yarn. They will not be done before the baby comes, but hopefully by Christmas they will be. :)

New (used) Vehicle!

Here it is. At last! Yesterday we purchased a 2007 Honda Odyssey. You must admit it is appropriate that we own an 'Odyssey' since we are both classicists.

Mike did his homework and his research showed that the Odysseys are terrific minivans. Over the past month, We have looked at a lot of different vans and made several offers. We found this grey one on Craig's List and jumped on it. We went to see it the next day and the owners said they had already had 12 responses to their ad; I'm telling you, these vans are hot commodities.

I must admit, I am still a bit attached to our truck that we sold - but this Honda rides just as nice and is equally as comfortable. It has lots of room - I think it is time to go for a roadtrip! :) I'm excited that it has a remote control starter - what more could you ask for with cold MN winters? Click a button from inside your house and then run out to a warm car.

Last year at this time, we sold and bought a car within a few days of Faustina's birth. The same pattern is happening around this baby....but this little person needs to stay in me for a few more weeks! We're not planning on doing car deals every time we have a baby - we anticipate having this one for a loooonnnnng time.

Tired father and daughter