How about a fresh perspective?

Natural Family Planning. It's a practice, a lifestyle, so to speak, that is very unknown in our culture and society today. And for us, Catholics, it's even rare to have heard much about it that's positive. Mr. ADM and I are working with an NFP (natural family planning) instructor to give our second talk on this subject matter to engaged couples who will be getting married in the Catholic Church. As I've been thinking about how to make our talk so much better the second time around, I happened to see this blog post, Simcha Fisher's Why Doesn't the Church Just Make a List?, on a few of my friends' Facebook pages. And it is a really superb article on certain aspects of NFP. It opened my eyes and really made me see a whole different side.

As I was reading this last night, my head was filling up with all sorts of great things to say that we missed the last time around. Then, today, she wrote this for the NCRegister which talks about God's will. Wow. Please, take some time to check out both! It'll be worth the extra 10 minutes!

Oh, Etsy!

Mr. ADM is 100% convinced we are having a girl. Okay, maybe 99.9% convinced. But convinced nonetheless. So is Matthew. When we mention the possibility of having a boy, he shakes his head fiercely and says, "No. I am having a baby sister and her name is..." Mark doesn't understand much of this whole baby-business yet.



With my pregnancy reaching its halfway point (wahoo!), Mr. ADM has begun to not only let me start buying a few girl items here and there, but has been the one to suggest it. Yep. Regardless, I don't know any families who have more than 4 kids that are all the same gender, so I figure my chances are pretty high at eventually having a girl. These items will not go to waste! Because we are on a budget and I don't want to go overboard anyway (well, I do, but I also want to be practical), we've bought her clothes gently-used and I have only picked up one headband and one set of barrettes. That doesn't mean I don't sometimes daydream on Etsy. So, I thought I'd post something a little fun and show you a little of what I've been daydreaming about...

Adorable felt hairbows by SweetyBaby.

Diaper bag by Hot Mama Handbags.

Adorable little dress/pinafore by Petite Pinafores.

Colorful tutu by Trinity's Tutus.

Adorable tiny shoes by Fiesta Kids Boutique.

Let's not forget a cloth diaper, of course! By Woolly Bums.