Posts I Loved (but maybe you missed?) in 2014

This post is really long, and even *I* get exhausted reading it. But, almost a year later, it's still pretty accurate. Lulu still often sleeps in until ten, because she's really, really nice. But now it's in her own bed. And I get to nap all alone. Three year old Frankie is a lot like two year old Frankie. But I do sometimes get to go to the bathroom alone.

CREATING A FAMILY CULTURE

If I ever write a parenting book, this post is going to be the heart of it. But I keep thinking probably I shouldn't write a parenting book until I have at least some grown kids, because I don't want to jinx myself. But still, I think this post is the key to successful parenting as I know it. Figure out what works for your family, and OWN it. Be awesome. Your kids will get on board with it.

This post, and the lessons learned that allowed me to write it, really do make a big difference in my state of mind and my effectiveness as a wife and mother. ESPECIALLY when I'm feeling barfy and exhausted like I have been the past few weeks. If I make myself get dressed, I really do feel a bit better than if I look schlubby all day. I can't guarantee that it will work for you, but it works for me.

This post was actually pretty close to making my top ten most popular for the year, but I'm including it here because it was a post that really came to me all of a sudden, and then basically wrote itself. I love those. It also links to my first appearance on Kristin's This Inspired Life podcast. I've been on two episodes so far, and really enjoyed both. If you'd not familiar with Kristin and her blog or podcast, you should check them out!

I loved this post, which originally appeared on my friend Mandi's blog. And not JUST because it allowed me to disagree with Frozen. I'm a big fan of marrying young and marrying quickly. It sure worked out well for us. I would have gotten married even younger and even faster, if only we had met earlier. That is the main limiting factor for this philosophy. :0)

Oh Cranky Frankie, how I do love thee, and your hilarious grumpy resting face. I was going through my pictures from the neighborhood parish carnival, to choose one to put on Instagram, and there was just no way. It was impossible to choose. I had to share them all. So I started a blog post. But then they were just so good they deserved captions. So I had to do that. And this is the end result. I still can't scroll though it without snickering out loud.

Just when I thought Frankie was going to be the first failure of the Three Days or Bust method, he pulled it together on day three! Actually, it always kind of seems like it's not going to work with any kid, then somehow, it does. I mention in this post that day potty training is different than night potty training, and that has really, really been true for us. I've had to keep day and night training completely separate. We have had some success with night training as well, eventually, but with a completely different system. Stay tuned for more details in a future post. It's on my list.

The topics I cover on this blog are varied to say the least. I write about family and parenting and homeschooling and Catholic life, because those are the things that are most important to me. But I also write about backyard chickens, and Netflix, and zombies, and biathlon because I'm pretty passionate about that stuff too. I try to just write what comes easily on that particular day, no matter what it is, because I want this blog to have an authentic voice and really be ME. And, since that's the case, I try not to have expectations about how popular any one particular post is going to be. I wrote it, because that's what *I* was feeling passionately about in that moment, but that doesn't mean other people will share my passion. Still, I was shocked, SHOCKED, when this post making fun of soccer wasn't more popular.

This post published on a Saturday, which isn't a great day for blog hits. And it was the day after Halloween, so there were fun-sized candy bars to think about. Plus, the title was kind of a bummer, so I'm thinking a lot of people avoided it even if they did come across it in their feed readers. Still, it's one of my favorite posts I wrote all year. I do try to be funny most of the time, but this was something I was glad to have put out there.

Speaking of titles, I really blew it with this one. The original post title was "I Want it All: a Nourished Baby and My Dignity (Also Superpowers)." Almost always, the title of a post is the first thing that comes to me, and this one was no exception. I watched the video I mention in the post, of a woman breastfeeding her son, in a way that felt very exposed, on live television. The thing that came to my mind was that it was a lovely thing to do but the way she was doing it didn't seem to show much respect for how her body was being exposed, and to whom. And, in that moment, to me, it seemed undignified. So that's the word I used.

But it wasn't the right word, because even though that was how I perceived her actions in that moment, breastfeeding is the right and proper use of breasts, and therefore cannot be undignified. Upon further reflection, what is was, for me, was not good manners. Which, is of course, a much less grave thing to say about another person.

The original title really informed the very spirited comment discussion that occurred all day on the post. I was really impressed with how polite everyone was, when clearly there were strong feelings all around. But, really, I think much of the disagreement was a product of my having prejudiced readers for or against the content of the post with an unnecessarily provocative title.

Then again, maybe it's just breastfeeding. The first "controversial" post I ever wrote was about breastfeeding. People have strong feelings. Maybe I'll learn. But probably not.

Okay, I'm off to get some sleep. I'll update this post this afternoon once I know the particulars of the OB appointment.

I'm back! There's just one in there. (Whew!) And it looks like my guess was pretty good. The ultrasound date is 12 weeks 4 days, which means July 25th, and I was guessing July 27th.