A Mother's Spiritual Sanity

There is always so much to do and you are always on the run when you have a 3 year old and a growing baby (6 months) at home.  I do love these days a lot with both its good and bad sides.  I love it when the kids are calm and enjoying everything I have to offer them during a day and hate it love it even more when things go the other way around when George is pulling a tantrum and the baby is so needy. I know I should be dealing with them with much patience and kindness but let me tell ya I do lose it sometimes.  I think the Lord is really teaching me that I need to be so much more patient and kind.

This was his favorite for few weeks I have read it at least 20 times

I ran out of activities for him and gave him a syringe to play with in the water. He was off for at least 15 mins

I love it when George behaves so well and is very nice to his sister.  But when he is not behaving and becomes so hard on his little sister I sometimes am not able to handle it.  There are days when I just don't know what the Lord wants me to do.  Should I just fill my day with timeouts and crying or should I make each day into a peaceful and loving home for my children?  It is hard especially for a young mother like me since I am still a beginner in this area of motherhood.  

My only hope during these times is to turn towards Jesus, Mary and our dear Holy Spirit asking for their help for me to be a peaceful and gentle mom.  If I can control myself when the children are going crazy I know things can be better, at least that is what I have learned so far.  When I become a mess, not only do my children but also my husband and everyone around me.  

The mess begins

I hate when it gets to this stage..haha (This is actually not that bad)

After cleaning

This gives me peace..lol

One thing which really helps me these days is praying to the Holy Spirit in the morning and through out the day and asking him to fill me and my children with His fruits and gifts.  I really really need it to control myself and be loving and gentle to my little angels when they become not so like angels..haha  Believe me all those days I have prayed to the Holy Spirit I have gotten help.  Even though George becomes so picky and does not eat anything the whole day and the baby does not sleep for more than half an hour and when I don't get time to eat breakfast or lunch and have to continuously cater to my ever needy children still cooking, cleaning, changing diaper, laundry, reading story books,homeschooling, helping my potty trained George who still needs help with going to the bathroom  I can feel the peace and the joy that I receive from the Holy Spirit.  I can see how the spirit of truth takes control over my and the spirit which comes to kill and destroy fleeing.  Yes it is so true that we are living in a continuous battle and for a mother like me my battle remains at home in doing my simple responsibilities of raising children. 

My munchkins

Brotherly love shown

How can I ever be mad at these two..love them both so much that I cannot really explain

when brotherly love becomes too much he starts leaning on her, then on top of her ahhh...then it gets crazy

Love this one

I love this prayer which I found online and I have it posted on my kitchen wall so I can be saying this prayer very often through out the day.  I would love to share this with you all if at all it helps:

Dear Lord, it's such a hectic day, With little time to stop and pray, 

For Life's been anything but calm, Since You called me to be a mom - 

Running errands, matching socks, Building dreams with matching blocks, 

Cooking, cleaning and finding shoes And other stuff that children lose, 

Fitting lids on bottled bugs, Wiping tears and giving hugs, 

A stack of last week's mail to read - So where's the quiet time I need? 

Yet, when I steal a moment, Lord, Just at the sink or ironing board, 

To ask the blessings of Your grace,i see then, in my small one's face, That You have blessed me all the while- 

And I stoop to kiss... That precious smile. 

My princess

lol

A moment of Joy

I teach CCD (Sunday School) for Kindergartners every Sunday at my church.  George and Anna sticks around while I teach.  George normally plays in the back of the class room.  Last Sunday I was teaching my kids about Saints.  As I was sharing with them the stories of different saints I asked them whether they knew about the saints feast which we celebrated that Friday Feb 14th.  The CCD kids were thinking and wondering who it is and then all the way from back my little 3 year old George says "mamma its St. Valentine's".  I think for that moment I was the happiest mom in the whole world. lol  Seriously these are the little things that makes me happy knowing that our time teaching them about their faith is not wasted.

Saint books displayed in my CCD class

Celebrating Feast Day of Saint John Bosco

What a great idea to introduce the life of Saints to our little ones from a young age!!  I remember how my parents always brought up the different stories from the lives of Saints at different occasions in my life.  They were very helpful and increased my faith.

I also decided to celebrate the feast day of Saint John Bosco on January 31st.  There were plenty of ideas I could find online and really used the many wonderful things catholic moms have used for their children. We started off our day with the morning prayer and included a special prayer to St John Bosco.  I did not have a statue of the Saint so I printed out a picture and lighted a candle at our prayer table.  

I told the story of St John Bosco to George in the most simplest way I could and he definitely understood a lot and how I knew this because when Sony came home that evening George explained everything he learned about the saint to him.  "Never underestimate your child by his age" Since I am still a beginner in raising a toddler I really didn't know how much he will understand but the Lord made me realize that he sure understands a lot and never stop sharing your faith with little children.   

Here is an outline of the story I shared with George that morning from Saints for Young people

St. John Bosco was born near Turin, Italy. Like many Saints, he was a poor farm lad, who was brought up by his holy mother in the love of God and Our Lady. John's father died when he was young and his mother had to work very hard to feed her family. John, too, worked as hard as he could to help his mother. He was an intelligent lad, who knew how to keep his playmates from offending God. He would do tricks to win their attention and then he would talk to them about spiritual things.

In order to become a priest, John had to work his way through school. He did all kinds of work. He was a carpenter, a shoemaker, a cook, a pastry-maker, a farmer, and many other things. At the same time he was a fine student and always happy and cheerful.

After he became a priest, Don Bosco, which means Father Bosco, began his great mission of helping orphan boys. He gathered together hundreds of these boys who had no home. He taught them all kinds of work, so that they would not steal and get into trouble. At first people were angry with Don Bosco, because they did not think those boys would turn out to be good. But he proved that they would.

"Do you want to be Don Bosco's friend?" he would ask each new boy who came to him. "You do? Then, you must help me save your soul." Every night, he wanted his boys to say three Hail Mary's, so that the Blessed Mother would help them avoid sin. He also recommended that they go to Confession and Communion as often as possible.

One of Don Bosco's boys became a saint, St. Dominic Savio.

Later on, Don Bosco founded two Religious Orders to take care of poor children and he also built many homes and schools for them.

I had printed out a coloring page of Saint John Bosco so he could color.  George is still learning how to color but he did the best he could in coloring this picture.  

I prepared dinner and invited few of our friends over to celebrate the feast together.  I started off with making Lasagna but my husband was the one who finished making it (Thanks to his wonderful and loving heart),  bosco sticks (suited the Saint's name), and Bachelor Buttons (reminds us of the juggling balls which John Bosco used to entertain the boys).  It was so amazing to really see John Bosco juggling balls in the movie which made it very visual for the children as well as us.  I don't want to take credit for all these ideas but I want to praise the mother who provided all the information on her blog Shower of Roses

Bosco Sticks

Bachlor Buttons

Dinner ready to be served

Anna has a little friend who is just two months younger than her

Even though we invited more couples only two couples were able to show up on that cold winter night.  Thanks to the love and joy they brought to our family.  We are nothing without the strength and support we receive from our catholic community.  We ended our night with a small prayer and watching the movie St. John Bosco: Mission to Love. St. John Bosco Mission to Love  It was a great movie and I have to say I have fallen in love with this Saint even more after watching this movie.  

Sony giving an intro to the movie

St John Bosco  Pray for Us

Engaging a Preschooler/Toddler

How can you engage a toddler/Preschooler at home in the severe Chicago winter weather?  It is really hard when you cannot really take the kids out in the snow, wind and cold.  On top of this if you have a 5 month old with you it gets even harder. At home you still have to cook, feed and continue with your daily chores.  I tried different ideas which I found online with George and it seems working and he is enjoying it.  He does not sit through and he needs my undivided attention through out these activities.  

In the pictures I am using the ideas from Along the Alphabet Path  and few other activities from one of my favorite catholic mothers blog Shower of Roses

Teaching the letter A

A for Angel

A for Apple

Matching game

He just learned how to hold scissors

George turned 3 last October which means he will miss the yearly cut off date for school and miss a year.  I really have this desire in my heart to home school my children if it is God's will.  I enrolled George in the  Seton Homeschool program for preschool this past summer. Even though I have not officially started teaching him, I do try to introduce this concept of sitting with him and teaching him little bit here and there.   

Puzzle time

Apple Activity

Snack time

I looked through the internet, read several other catholic moms blogs and came up with many ideas to entertain my George.  It is amazing how many great things mothers do for their children.I am so amazed at how much they invest in their children in raising them up to be a saint.  I hope and pray to get to that level one day.

Making a wrist band

I love to introduce children to books a lot.  I started reading books to George from when he was just few months old.  He loves listening and enjoys looking through the pics.