Gloria and Christopher

Brown-Eyed Boy

Christopher has brown eyes. Worldwide brown eyes dominate. But, in our family he's the odd ball! He's my one and only baby with brown eyes. Mary Grace has hazel and she started out for the first year of her life with green (they changed color after that). Chris's are truly brown though. He's now 16 lbs. and pushes up on the floor. He is VERY strong, has big hands, and smiles and gurgles constantly. There is a steady stream of drool hanging from his chin which soaks his shirts right through. He loves to be held and cuddled. And of course he has my family curse (as far as my kiddos go that is) of refusing a bottle no matter how hungry and hating the car seat crying for drives, making his mommy crazy while driving. I always nurse my kiddos but an occasional bottle in an emergency would be nice - not for mine - they look at it like it's a torture device. They outgrow the hating of the car seat by 12 mths or so... Basically my babies let me know that I'm ALL THEIRS and I should have NO PLANS to be without them- EVER- for the first 12 mths of their life!! Tim reminds me of how quickly they grow and change when I start to complain about my little "wart". He's right of course! I should love the "wartiness" of my newest little brown-eyed "wart" and soak it all in as much as possible.

Love and Politics

I love Tim. Tim loves me. Together - we love politics. This is not to say that we agree on everything political 100% of the time. It is true however that we find ourselves joking about, laughing over and enraged by the same things.

Every Sunday like clockwork the coffee maker gets going and the kiddos get going to! "off to the basement or your rooms" The kids know mom and dad are gonna be watching the Sunday morning political shows. We watch and comment during commercial breaks when we get our fill ups on more hot coffee.

I love this about my husband. Truly it is something unique and special that he and I share. It occur ed to me last night as we watched the NH returns from the primary together how much I value this bond we have. As we talked and laughed and joked together, I realized that we speak a language, have our many inside jokes, and finish each other's sentences - thoughts even! To someone on the outside looking in we probably seem really goofy! Tim mockingly finished every other John Edwards sentence with the phrase "down at the mill" in a thick southern twang (which I laughed at EVERY time) I said to him "you know if you said 'down at the mill' to anyone else they wouldn't know what the heck you were talking about or else if they did they wouldn't know why it was funny?" But it's funny to us. Us. Tim and Kris. I like that. We are such a team and we really do "get" one another. This always seems most clear when it comes to politics. I started to rant and cut myself off saying "I need to get to confession" to which Tim responded "It's an election year Kris, we're gonna need a priest to live here in the family room and hear our confessions nightly!" We laughed...we're Catholic political junkie dorks - and we love each other for it!

What Makes A Good Mother

False Compassion - Road to Hell Is Paved With It

Bishop Fulton Sheen on Temptation

Bishop Sheen on Lonliness

I LOVE This Man!!!

I pray daily to Bishop Sheen. I listen to him on Relevant Radio at 9am daily too. Each day I marvel at him and love him more...

Men and Women

How Women Speak Part 1 of 3 - This is Alison Armsttrong. She has set out to study men and to pin down why and how the sexes are different. This is so essential I believe and I am only recently "getting" just how truly different we are. Her "research" dovetails very well with The Theology of the Body from JPII. her web site understandmen.com is very insightful...
I learned of Alison from Dennis Prager's show and I must say again how much I miss hearing his daily show - that darn 560am for moving his show!!!

marriage 'unnecessary'

I found this article linked from lifesite.net and couldn't agree more with the conclusion drawn by McManus. There is a real problem in our culture with a negative attitude about mariage. This negative attitude can be found both in single people and in those who are married too! Sure there are a lot of reasons people have for their belief that marriage is "unnecessary" but I believe some of that has to do with the failure of our church (little 'c' not big 'c') to emphasize the true value and meaning of marriage. Once the vows have been taken is not the time to start growing in one's understanding of the matter either! We need to be teaching our young people WELL in ADVANCE about the differences between the sexes, the NEED we have for one another, and the absolute NEED we have for marriage!

44 percent find marriage 'unnecessary' (OneNewsNow.com):

"McManus believes the church shares some of the blame for this trend. 'Churches really aren't very 'marriage-minded' -- they're 'wedding-minded.' They are equipped to be able to help couples have weddings, but they really don't know how to build marriages,' he argues. 'The problem is the pastors are picking safe subjects, and they're avoiding the subjects that could help us learn how to build relationships that can go the distance.'
The pro-marriage advocate expects similar survey results in the future if churches do not do a better job promoting the benefits of marriage and exposing the pitfalls of cohabitation."

From This to That (x5) to This Again - Is It Possible?

I need to get in shape. I must have said that a million times by now. In college I ran daily and lifted weights regularly. Somehow I was able to stay thin regardless of my binge drinking. Most likely it's because I was in my 20's and I smoked instead of eating too.
Now13 years later and five kids later I am a much healthier, happier person, but also a much softer plumper person too! Ripped abs? What's that? Perky breasts? Ya right agter nursing 5 - I don't thinks so!
Long runs and hours at the gym are impossible now. I'm lucky if I can get through 20 minutes on the tread mill in the good ol' basement without some little person saying "Mommy, I need ______ or can you _____ right now?"
Do you kids understand the concept of "leave me alone?" NOOOOOOO!! they don't. Gone are the days when I my only concern was how little my bikini could be to minimize tan lines. God forbid I have tan lines! Now just the thought of a bikini sends me into a cold sweat!!! I even gag a little just thinking of it.
It's not that I'm out right repulsive but I sure as heck am a far cry from the girl in the 1st and 3rd pictures.
I don't need to be her anymore either but I would love to have the private alone time in my life to work out and feel good again.
I don't know how I'll achieve that as of yet but that's my resolution for 2008. I will try to MAKE the time to make me feel good again - maybe not bikini good but at least shorts and tank top good!!! I've got 4 mths...

Morgan's Bowling Party

Morgan's birthday is December 27th. We have cake together as a family on the day of but anything planned with friends comes later. Morgan had wanted a fancy dinner party very elegant and formal but I KNOW that what she imagined in her dreams could not be made a reality and so I talked her into going bowling instead. That's a radical departure from a formal dinner in fine apparel eh? No dresses and flowers just borrowed shoes and lots of hand sanitizer! Actually everyone had a great time. I love bowling myself but I decided to just watch the girls and opt out this time. Once again I sure wished Kelly and the kids could be here with us - it really stinks to have only one sister and have her live across the Atlantic!

Christmas Morning

"It's Christmas!, It's Christmas!" the children shout gleefully. "shhhhhhhhh....yes yes we know" Tim and I say in return with about as much enthusiasm as Ben Stein. "Be quiet and get back in your rooms and don't come out until I come and get you ok?" It's 6am and that means I've gotten all of about 5 hours of sleep. But I won't make the same mistake we made last year. We told the kids to go back to their rooms and give us 10 minutes to get up and get ready. We drifted off back to sleep and awoke to the sounds of joyful yelling and high five-ing coming from downstairs. By the time we got halfway down the stairs the kids were racing towards us with UNWRAPPED gifts in hand saying "look what I got!, look what I got!" AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Of course we KNEW what they got! But what we live for, what makes it all worth it is that momentary split-second look they have when they unwrap and see their wished for gift for the first time!!!! And.......we missed it!! BRATS all of them! Morgan was the ring leader last year and so this year I kept special care not to let her escape from her room. I threw on some pants and shook Tim's shoulder. "Get up get up remember last year?!" "You kids stay right where you are, hold your hands high where I can see them. Don't make a move." Mom and dad had spent the night and so we had to wait for them to get ready as well. I make a big deal about being prepared to see the unveiling of the gifts because there are literally only 4 gifts to "unveil" Each child only gets 1 gift each and so there's no long drawn out process of unwrap-squeal with glee-show off-on to the next one- repeat, repeat, repeat... We let Monica go first - a baby crib and baby stroller (ok so I bent the one gift rule for her but they came together...) Then Collin - 2 guns (again, they went together kind of...) Then Mary Grace - her own camera. Then Morgan - a guitar. It lasted all of five minutes. There aren't any presents for Tim and I. None for mom and dad either. That's it - that's all folks!! But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. The materialism and consumerism of this culture are corrupting kids. It's a sickness almost. Our kids have PLENTY and going overboard just makes them self-centered and shallow. Hopefully they'll look back on their Christmas 's and remember the fun we had together and the great breakfasts we ate and how much we laughed together and not feel like we begrudged them the "stuff" they might have wanted.

Christmas Eve

"Back in the day" we used to do the very traditional Italian Christmas Eve...lots of pasta, lots of fish/seafood, and lots of Italians gathered together to eat, argue and criticize one another with much love and affection of course! But, as time passes families gow and then they branch out on their own splitting off from the original group it seems. Today everybody goes their own way and the parties are smaller, more tame, and with a lot less fuss. Tim and I hosted this year. Mostly because we have 5 children one of which is just a little bity and we don't like dragging them here, there, and everywhere if we can help it. Tim and I enjoy hosting gatherings like this. Tim's a great cook and I'm not too shabby myself (but it all depends on who you ask). I made mostaciolli cookies and biscotti - very Italian...Uncle Dave, Aunt Linda, mom and dad, brought food too. One of these years I'm gonna try to make Auntie Virginia's home made ravioli from scratch. But I need to get a pasta maker first. (You know the thingy that rolls out the dough to the right thickness ) I really wish Kelly were here to do that sort of thing with. We could banish the kids from the kitchen, put in both leafs for the table, cover it in flour and spend the day making ravioli, drinking wine, and laughing our asses off. (Too bad I can't really laugh my ass off - that'd be a hell of a lot more fun than jogging on the tread mill...)
Speaking of which - I'd better dust it off (again) and start running cause I was a BAD girl this Holiday season and I STILL need to lose the pregnancy weight!!!!!!! Yes, yes, Christopher is only 4 mths. old but I have an irrational fear of being labeled "that fat stay-at-home mom with all those kids!" I'd much rather be known as "that mom of five - can you believe it!!??- she looks great!" I'm about 25 lbs away from THAT commentary... so it looks like salad and jogging are in my future...

Theology of the Body for Teens

Shouldn't every parish consider this? I sure wish The Theology of the Body would sweep across this nation. It would radically change how we relate to one another!!!

10 YEARS AGO TODAY

Ten years ago today I became a mother.
Well, actually I had already been a mother for the nine months prior as far as I'm concerned. Any how, Morgan Marie was born. Tim was at my side and mom was there in the room with me as well.
I remember the exact moment I first saw her. The doctor handed her to me and she laid on my chest like she is in this picture. I was overwhelmed by the immediate flood of love I felt for her. I was in shock. That very moment I felt a love I'd never known before and it was amazing to me.
Tim and I would struggle and grow and learn. We would sacrifice anything, set aside any selfish desire, persevere through any test or trial...all for the sake of this one little girl. Morgan was the spark that started us on a journey to find our way back to the great flame of love - God Himself. Morgan was my unplanned salvation. She set me on a path I know I would have otherwise missed because of my blindness. Jesus truly does meet you where you're at. Through Morgan a place in my heart was so stirred I finally realized I could not rest until I rested in Him. I must live for God if I intend to be a mother to this precious little girl...
I've learned so much in the past 10 years. If I had to summarize I'd say this:
1. God loves us so much. I've got a much better understanding of this since becoming a parent myself. Sure we can live without recognizing this love but life is so sad and empty without it.
2. Love means sacrifice. No sacrifice - no love - period. This plays out in big ways but more often it plays itself out in a thousand small ways. I most likely will not be called to die for the sake of my children. But love demands I die a thousand little deaths each day for them.
3. You can't parent from the couch. You can't give directions, advice, instructions, or shout out reprimands. You must go there, be there, in their face ALL THE TIME. You must model everything and repeat, repeat, repeat...
4. You can always count on the Blessed Mother. Always. Even when youaren't faithful and you skip out on the rosary...if you go to her in desperate need she will NOT fail you. So pray the family rosary. You can always count on mom.
5. Laugh - A lot! If you can't laugh at yourself and the crazy stuff parenthood demands then you're screwed.
6. Marriage is ALL ABOUT family. God makes us man and wife exactly because children MUST HAVE THIS. No if's, and's or but's about it I need Tim and he needs me, and our child needs us.

So those are the major things I've learned. I'm still learning of course! Morgan is always teaching me. I am amazed at her joyfullness about life. She loves life! She is curious and excited with everything around her. She is creative and extremely thoughtful. She seeks out the good in everyone and gives others the benefit of the doubt. She is sensitve and has a thirst for the spiritual. She has more insight into spiritual matters than most 10 year olds I know. She is not fake in any way. She is the most genuine person I know. She's a constant reminder to me of God's awesome love for His children. She is living proof that God meets you where ever you are and stretches out His hand saying "I love you. I love you. Come with me." Morgan, thank you for being that proof. More importantly thanks for being such a great daughter and big sister. You are without a doubt a blessing to dad and me from God.

Watch My 2007 in Pictures

Click here - 2007 From Start to Finish - PhotoShow Circle
to watch the photo show I made to take a look back at 2007. I must warn you it is a loooooooong show! I found it extremely difficult to cut out photos...I wanted so badly to use ALL of them! What can I say I'm a photo freak of sorts!!!! Time sure is flying by! I hate it! Morgan is 10 years old TODAY! I'll post about my firstborn little girl later...

They've landed!!

This is the e-mail I received from mom...


"kris this was a real pain in the neck. nothing has been simple so far. we arrived late. had trouble finding the borgo convent too. we already visited st.peters and tried to find a internet cafe. that was tuff too. finally we ended up here and met this genorous lady who is letting us use her keyboard here. i hope we find our way tomorrow. i doubt if i can get another email to you without a lot of trouble please pray that things go smooother for us im sooooo tired.
please pray for us love from mom amd morgan i miss you! morgan. give everybody a hug. xoxxooo"


I have no idea where they e-mailed this from. I didn't know if I could e-mail back - so I didn't. I hope things get better for them. I know how tired mom must be. I'm thankful they've arrived ok. Sure hope the lesson I gave them on how to use my camera has stuck with them. They'll be back on the 20th - I can't wait!!!!

Anxiety Rises to New Heights!!

Time to break out the pie tins and the mixing bowls - Let the baking begin!
Why? because that's what I do when I'm nervous and anxiety filled!
I bake my fears away...

Today while playing hide and seek Morgan was hiding under the basement stairs. Mary Grace thought it'd be cute to pinch her big sis's butt at that moment...Morgan flew up and forward at lightening speed and nailed herself right between the eyes with the bottom of the wooden stairs. It was literally a 2x4 between the eyes!!!

So, she's off to Rome with the bridge of her nose swelled to 3x its normal size and soon to come 2 black eyes...these pics I took were today. But things like this always "peak" on day 2 or 3!! As if I wasn't nervous enough already I had to be reminded of how clumsy and at times flaky Morgan can be...so I bake...I've already made a super sized tray of apple slices tonight and I'm sure there'll be more to come. God help me!