Five Favorites and a Pregnancy Announcement

1. Book It!

Wow - does this bring back memories! Just signed Matthew up for his first experience of Book It! I'm excited about this. I loved reading, so this didn't cause me to love reading, but it was still a lot of fun to get my personal pan pizza and sticker on my pin. I'm hoping that's how the game goes this time around too.

2. SO Delicious Coconut Kefir

I am lactose-intolerant, except when I drink raw milk, but I'm not a huge fan of the taste of kefir in general anyway. Problem solved with coconut kefir! This is a daily drink for me right now and I love that I can get my probiotics in a non-pill form.

3. BABIES

One of my close girlfriends just had her 3rd baby last night - a little boy and I can't wait to meet him! And another one of my close friends is due in two weeks! And I have three cousins expecting, although I will probably not meet one of the babies ever, one of the babies for a while after, but one of the babies fairly soon after, I hope! And of course, we announced on Facebook, that we, too, are expecting our own bundle of joy with this picture:

4. Vending machines

At work, I have no car generally because Mr. ADM and I share a vehicle and he's now officially working AND being a student full-time. That's fine except these cravings have begun and I'm having major food aversions as well. So, eating is not easy. I tried to gag down some eggs and bacon this morning and it was HARD. So, I've been utilizing the vending machine, although even then, sometimes it just doesn't do it for me. However, it has helped a little.

5. Amazon Instant

I just signed up for a free trial and tried it out last night. It comes with Amazon Prime/Mom which we're thinking about signing up for, so when I saw the free trial, I thought I'd test it out. Last night was a doozy for my morning sickness, so my wonderful husband told me to take it easy and he handled all the work of dinner and getting the kids to bed. AND then he had to sit down and do homework, so I took it upon myself to watch some good ol' TV. I love it!

Book Review: How Do You Tuck in a Superhero?

Rachel Balducci, the author of How Do You Tuck in a Superhero, is a Catholic mom of 5 boys and 1 baby girl. I have been following her blog, www.testosterhome.net, for about a year now. Being the mom of 2 boys instantly made me intrigued about her blog when a good friend recommended it to me. I loved it from the beginning! She has funny stories and conversations she has with her boys, but also writes about her faith and topics that are very serious. She has inspired me to enjoy these moments when boys will be boys. When I read that she had written a book, there was no doubt I was going to buy it. It was worth it time 100! Her book is a light-read, so it was something I could pick up right away and didn't want to put down! Even my husband, Mr. H, who is pretty much all sci-fi books and nothing else wanted me to keep reading out-loud to him.

The stories are full of humor and the joy of raising boys (and children in general). They really show how Rachel loves her children and loves being a mother. They are full of adventures that every boy goes through and it's so fun to hear it from the perspective of a mom. When reading it, Mr. H had laughed through several of the stories because he remembers doing the exact same things growing up. I laughed remembering the times my 3 brothers had similar adventures and even more recently when I married Mr. H and he joined in on my brothers' fun. I can see a little of what I have to look forward to. Even if you don't have boys, it's a read that is well worth it and one I'm sure any person can relate to and enjoy! From Legos to swords to dinner conversations to savoring the moment, each page is truly a gem :).

Becoming the Best Version of Myself

I am an avid reader and love to read as a way of relaxing after a long hard day. The books I read are not of a widespread variety, but with the few genres I do enjoy, I read as many as I can. My top two favorites would be Christian chic lit and self-help/growing-in-my-faith books. Christian chic lit are those easy reads when I've had a full day of children, housework, and running five million errands. Self-help books (only of the Christian/Catholic variety generally) are there when I want some short, serious reading time.

I have slowly been reading Matthew Kelly's Rediscovering Catholicism over the past couple of months. It takes me a while to read a book when I want to really focus on every single word and take some time to reflect on what I've read. It's worth the long stretches of time for me. With this particular book, I happened to find it in my mom's bookshelf full of children's books from homeschooling and political books that belong to my dad. Since I was familiar with the author and have liked his books in the past, I picked it up to just poke through it. Once I began, I was hooked. Around this same time, I went to visit a good friend who lives on the other side of the state. She happened to have listened to a talk on CD that Matthew Kelly gave about "becoming the best version of yourself," and couldn't stop telling me about how wonderful it was and how I should listen to it.

Isn't it funny when God seems to give you a nudge? In his Rediscovering Catholicism, Matthew Kelly talks about "becoming the best version of yourself." He talks about how saints became saints because they strove for this goal. And isn't that our ultimate goal? Like the Litany of Humility states, we pray that others become holier than me provided I become as holy as I should. We should be on that road of constantly striving for holiness, of being as close to Christ as we can become. That, tied with No Complaining Month, really set me thinking about this. Matthew Kelly says that when we do anything, we should be asking ourselves, "Will this help me in my goal of becoming the best version of myself?" and if the answer is "yes" then we should act. If the answer is "no" we probably should find an action that will. While suppressing the urge to complain over the past couple of days, that question has been popping into my head. I have found myself not only accomplishing a little bit more because I can't waste the time whining or finding excuses not to do something, but also diverting my attention from time-wasters to working on things like making dinner a little extra special for my tired husband who works hard all day or playing a few more minutes with the boys, when I usually would go find something to do on my own. I know laziness is a vice that I tend to act out in abundance and I know that it is one of many, many things that prevents me from growing in my walk with God. I pray that I can keep this up and that this question is always a conscious question I ask myself when faced with decisions, whether they be seemingly inconsequential or essential to living. Only then can I keep moving towards becoming the best version of myself.