Blessed Virgin Mary

Yesterday was one of those days where being a mom was tough... I was exhausted and being tired makes me cranky... of course Dan had to work late just adding to my crankiness (which honestly he is home so much I have nothing to be cranky over it was just one of those days!!) I know people say enjoy every moment it goes so quick but some days ITS HARD! and goodness little ones are draining (people seem to not talk about that so here I am being honest mommas... its hard!!!!!!!)  When I am tired everything is magnified times a gazillion including my impatience!

When Dan finally got home I told him I was going to the adoration chapel for a little "me" time with God... I knew I needed to be steeped in His grace!  My 3 year old got sad and said why do you have to go (who knew separation anxiety came at almost 4 years old!)... I told him I was going to pray and spend time with God... jokingly (since he never wants to leave the house anyway) I asked "why, did you want to come?"

Enthusiastically he said YES!!! He was ready to go within 2 minutes (shoes, potty, jacket I think it was a new record!)  I said well ok then... Dan knowing I so needed some time said, "honey just go it's ok" but something told me to bring Milo.  We have been talking about making sure we are sold out for our faith and truly passing that faith along to our children... it is not always easy but that little voice (aka the Holy Spirit that I keep asking to talk to me) said bring him...

We walked in and he so reverently dipped his fingers in the holy water and mimicked me by blessing himself, bowing in front of the altar and then genuflecting in front of the tabernacle.

We spent about a half hour... there was a lot of questions, a little Latin lesson (sanctus sanctus sanctus = holy, holy, holy is written on the tabernacle as well as the Alpha and Omega), we talked about the dove on the top being representative of the same Holy Spirit that told me to forgo my alone time and bring Milo along tonight, we talked about communion and the Eucharist that was inside the tabernacle.  We discussed the statues.  He was so intrigued with the Sacred Heart of Jesus... he explains it as "Jesus heart exploded because he loves me so much" I think it is hands down the best answer ever :)

and then he prayed with me a little bit kneeling on the big kneelers and then I told him that sometimes I write my prayers and daddy draws them.  He decided he wanted to draw some prayers while I prayed my prayers outloud for him to hear... because he should hear me praying for him and his sister and daddy, he should hear me thanking God that he wanted to join me, he should hear me pray for his future, pray for strength and forgiveness on a long day of being a momma, he should hear me calling out to God so that he knows how to do it when he gets older, so that he knows that his momma is a sinner just like him, so that he knows that his momma is in need of some major grace. daily. hourly. every single second.

we ended the night saying a decade of the rosary together... he even said parts of it with me reinforcing the fact that hmmm he is indeed listening each day when we pray!

and then my heart burst from within just like he says Jesus' heart is doing because during our prayer time he drew our Blessed Mother....

Hail Mary, full of grace.
Our Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

I am just in complete denial... my baby girl cannot be one tomorrow... it just went too fast, passed by too quickly... i blinked and here we are with a walking talking independent one year old!! where is my baby?!?! and how did it all happen so quickly!!!

It is just crazy how quick that first year goes... and our girl is just exploring like crazy! she is our daredevil climbing on everything and has the bruises to show it poor girl but she is fearless having complete faith in our ability to keep her safe.

As I look back on the past year... the crazy hard times and the insane good ones I just feel so blessed... having kids and being mom is no easy feat that is for sure!  It is downright HARD! but those smiles and hugs and 4am nursing snuggles just absolutely melt my heart... I wouldn't want it any other way... I am so so blessed <3 p="">

Milo has just been growing in leaps and bounds as well!! He never ceases to amaze me and in his own childlike faith way brings me closer to Our Lord each and every day with our conversations... which lately have been all about heaven... here are some of his questions...

"Mommy will God draw with me in heaven?"

probably honey he is a really good artist

"I bet he will have the BIGGEST PAPER EVER"

yes honey

"Do you think he uses markers or crayons?"

"Mommy you said there were toys in heaven right?"

yes I am sure there are a lot of toys in heaven baby

"hmm so how do you play with them"

well just like you would play with them here on earth

"but mommy you said we don't have a body in heaven just a soul"

hmm....

"Mommy how do we get up to heaven?"

well when you die you get to go be with Jesus

"yeah but how do we get up there"

your soul goes baby

"ok mommy but i can't fly"

ooooooh I think angels will help you with that

"oh good will God let me jump on the clouds?"

I cannot even begin to tell you how amazing these conversations have been.. I mean, just so life giving to me you have no idea... I am so blessed to learn so much about faith from my own son!  What a beautiful gift he gives me each and every day!

Not to say that it doesn't come with its challenges!!!  We had a rough afternoon of attitudes and snark overflowing... instead of hibernating in my room (which was beyond tempting) I decided to have a reset button (something my friend Steph taught me... after a rough morning or afternoon just hit the reset button and forget about it, let it go and everyone moves on to happier things)  we went outside and used my early mothers day present (an outside chimney fire pit thing oh I will have to have another post about that... tears in my eyes thinking of their amazingly wonderful sneakiness) to make SMORES!!!  It was lovely and we ran around in the grass kicking the ball back and forth and jumping over the river (aka the sidewalk) and just being kids soaking up the grace that comes with reset button...  

its just like confession and how we should feel afterward... like running around full of grace just dazzling in that golden hour of sunlight before dusk... dazzling with the love of heavenly parents who cover us in grace even when we don't deserve it...

just like Milo and Blakesley running around dazzling in the warmth of the sunlight of their heavenly Father and enjoying laughs with the parents God has entrusted them to on this earth... 

a beautiful moment to remind me of the beauty of life...

because lets be honest it all goes by way too quick...

and tonight i took snapshots in my mind soaking up each second...

wanting to remember forever these moments...

the moments before my baby turns one...

the moments of childlike faith...

the moments of pure joy...

pure blessings...

moments of family.

Long Time NO SEE!

and we are back!!
 
I apologize for the ridiculously long break... it has been a ROUGH winter for us in terms of sickness and just all around busy season for me (Christmas and Easter are not times off when working in the Church)

I hope that you all had a blessed CHRISTmas and a glorious Easter!!  We have been trying to soak up every moment of family time together and enjoying our little blessings as the continue to grow each time that we blink!  It is truly amazing how quickly it happens... we are just about 5 weeks out from Blakesley's FIRST BIRTHDAY (tears those are tears you see in my eyes why yes they are my baby grew too fast)

She is already talking and trying to walk... her brother keeps her hopping!  She is our little daredevil where Milo NEVER was!!  She has already eaten receipt paper and tried to crawl off the bed!! She is truly fearless and teaching me much about fully trusting a mommy and daddy to keep you safe... Makes me think of how much faith we should have in our own heavenly parents to keep us safe... we must trust them even when we don't like their answer to prayer (or the fact that a receipt does not count as a meal)

And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3

I got to take Milo on a date tonight to get some frozen yogurt and we talked about how much fun we had today hiking and making homemade pizza but then he just looks at me with those BIG eyes and says but mommy right now is my favorite with ice cream and you... melt my heart that little boy does!!  (i think the fact that the featured flavor was pink lemonade helped too haha)

MAMA .... Blakesley finally figured out that mama means me :)  I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE hearing here little voice yell for me (even if it is 4am and Dan took her out to try and let me sleep) It is just the most glorious sound...  She also says mama in reference the the Blessed Virgin Mary!  She just adores her when we go to church! Her statue her picture everything Mary puts a huge smile on this little girls face.  I remember Milo having the same fascination and in some ways he still does.  She talks to her all during mass and so badly just wants to take her picture off the wall (it is like 4 feet tall!!!)  I hope and pray that Dan and I can cultivate the love of the Blessed Virgin Mary in their lives... Milo and I got to pray a decade of the rosary last night and he peacefully fell asleep to the ancient prayer... a cry out to our heavenly mother... it was  a beautiful moment...

I have been thinking a lot about how God has entrusted these two little souls to us and I can only hope that we continually are pointing them back to Him...

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

That verse plays over in my head as we continue our Jesus time each night and praying when we get in the car on the way to school. It is amazing to see how much they understand.  At our Good Friday service Milo was in awe of the reverence of the whole service... afterward we went up to see Jesus on the cross and his little hand touched the crown of thorns so gently almost like he was comforting Jesus... we had a long talk about the cross and crucifixion (as much as his little mind could handle) and it was just beautiful to watch the reverence that he felt for the day even at the age of 3 he got it as much as he could have... it was just absolutely beautiful.

Easter was filled with gifts and eggs and fun but Milo still would say I like the presents but I know mommy its all about Jesus today!  Makes my heart swell that kid!!

Because no post is complete without a picture :) unfortunately it is from Christmas because pictures from jan feb and march are still on my camera!!!!!! I promise to come back to this space more often (and take pictures off of my camera more often haha)

Never Ceases to Amaze Me

      Being 3 has been hard... I mean honestly HARD!!!  Two was smooth sailing but this whole being 3 is like new territory of attitude, stubbornness and tantrums...

       Don’t get me wrong it is amazing to see this new little independent person that we have created but it certainly has its challenges!!

        To keep me focused on the positive here are some new Milo-isms

Mommy: why are you so cranky

Milo: I don’t know why I just am

Mommy: oh honeys I have days like that too!

Milo: no you don’t (his new answer to everything that we say)

Mommy: yes honey I do sometimes I get tired and cranky and I just don’t know why!

Milo: NO YOU DON”T (with even more forcefulness)

Mommy: well what I am a perfect mommy

Milo: (basically cutting me off tell me so) NO!

Mommy: oh well I agree

Milo: it’s ok mommy I still love you

Mommy: than baby I love you too

Milo: hey mommy? I even like you!

ha-ha nothing like a kid to teach you humility!!!

After saying our evening prayers around our prayer space (still not finished I promise there will be pictures) we always add our patron saints and the saint of the week… like this “Saint Monica, praying for us… Saint Joseph pray for us… Saint Damien, pray for us) well I happened to just say the saint of the week last night since we were in full on meltdown mode for both kids when before saying the sign of the cross Milo says, “Saint Joseph… pray for us” 

Again he teaches me faith and humility each and every single day!

Blakesley is doing amazing!!!  She is rolling all around and singing in her very high pitch you can’t miss it voice!!!  She will quiet right down during prayer time that… again it is so amazing the things that we learn from children…

I have had the chance to see Dan in action while I have been at work the last few weekends/evening and I must say I just love how fiercely he loves us… he is so amazing and I am just so thankful to be on this crazy journey with him!

Now back to my 3-year-old world J

Year Of Faith

Pope Benedict XVI has declared this the year of faith (oct 2012-nov2013) and we are doing some things in the Moser household to commemorate it

• Our normal "Jesus Time" as Milo calls it is still happening every night before bed.  Right now we are working through this book and it is just perfect for Milo being 3 (http://www.christianbook.com/little-visits-at-bedtime/mary-simon/9780758634429/pd/634420?product_redirect=1&Ntt=634420&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP)  we also incorporated a Hail Mary, Our Father and Glory be before bed 
• Each time we get in the car we pray a decade of the rosary.  One night I wasn't feeling all that great and it completely slipped my mind but my little man piped up asking me to do it! he just melts my heart
• We are building a prayer space into our living room... we bought cloths to coincide with the liturgical colors and saint cards (one for every letter of the alphabet *we are still on the hunt for U,W, X, Y, and Z our local store didn't have any for them!)
• We are also working on a felt board/wall to help us say a rosary together as a family.  I will be sure to post pictures when we are finished!
• I am also personally reading through the Catechism of the Catholic Church and am loving it!  It is through flocknote.com and it emails me pieces of the Catechism daily.  I am finding it so encouraging!   Here is a little reflection that I wrote out from this morning's reading...

Catechism 150     Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed. As personal adherence to God and assent to his truth, Christian faith differs from our faith in any human person. It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature.

Catechism 153     When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come "from flesh and blood", but from "my Father who is in heaven". Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. "Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.'"

emphasis added by me.

           I began to think about that first part that I bolded... am I teaching my children to trust in the Lord above all else? or am I teaching them to trust IN me?  Now yes as children they should most definitely trust their parents and their parents should be people that they can trust in.  Have I taught them to trust IN God though? 

 

           The other night during our "Jesus Time" the question was asked to Milo, "Who do you talk to when you are scared?"  Me assuming that he would say, "mommy" was humbled by his answer of, "JESUS!!!"  I should be pointing him constantly heavenward, he should talk to Jesus when he is scared because let's face it I'm human.  I AM HUMAN... I will fail my child, I will disappoint him, and let him down time and time again.

         I continued reading the Catechism and was slapped with the truth that I can only plant the seeds and pray fervently... I cannot myself ensure that my kids will know God intimately the way that their father and I do... it is not a guarantee!  What a deeply scary thought!

"man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.'"

        I just need to keep planting the seed and praying... planting and praying... planting and praying... planting and praying....

***I realize that this post is a little out of the ordinary... I feel called to write so I began another blog with this as my first post... feel free to check it out   awefilled.blog.com

Sir Knight Milo and Princess Blakesley

I wanted to take Milo's 3 year old portraits but he was never too excited about them (actually the complete opposite of excited) so I asked him if he would let me take pictures of him as a knight... well he was SO excited...  Here are some of my favorites

keepin a lookout

getting hit by leaf arrows (this kid cracks me up)

i think this one is my absolute favorite i just love him

 the bad guys are coming in from the sky!

oh and we cannot leave out princess Blakesley who wants no part of this nonsense :)

look at those adorable tears

melt my heart he was trying to make her feel better <3 p="p">

Bedtime at the Mosers

The last few nights I was able to sneak a few pics of intimate moments at bedtime...

Dan is always in charge of bedtime and Milo loves when daddy and him read books together and tell stories while snuggling... he loves reading so much that we actually bought him a few Roald Dahl chapter books to start reading a little each night... they began last night and Milo was begging for Dan to keep reading :) I love that kid and his love of reading <3

having fun before lights out :)

 kissing his sister before bed! I love how much they love each other!

 my beautiful girl