{SQT} 7 Epic Blog Posts You May Have Missed

Blessed Feast of St. Rita, my patroness! (Of course she chose me; she is the saint of the impossible, and I am exactly that). Linking up with Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum for Seven Quick Takes. This week: 7 epic blog posts you may have missed. Some are from the last week or two; others are much older. In no particular order…

{1} Haley at Carrots for Michaelmas recently wrote a beautiful reflection in response to the question “Have You Ever Felt Like Being a Mother Has Ruined You?”. This is a must read for all mamas out there.

{2} Way back before babies were even on my radar, Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter explained how Every Mom Can Nurse Her Baby! (even if every mom can't breastfeed). As someone who far too often spends feedings roaming the 'net instead of focusing on her baby, I'm inspired by this post to try a little harder to make eye contact (when babe is awake, anyway!). It's particularly potent given my disappointment in needing to supplement my breastfeeding with formula—a nice reminder that what is fed is ultimately less important than how it's fed.

{3} Natural Mama Nell at Whole Parenting Family has clearly been spying on me in order to use me as an example of what not to do, and has come up with 7 kindnesses to show your spouse while raising small kids. Such wisdom in this post!

{4} Singer-songwriter Audrey Assad at Blessed is She wrote about her husband's cancer, courage, and God's will in Facing that Cross. There is a tonne of honesty and vulnerability in this reflection.

{5} Rosie at A Blog for My Mom has shared I'm Not Afraid of My Fertility (Anymore). A wonderful reminder not to let fear dictate decisions!

{6} Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum composed My New Children's Book! in which she gives us a preview of what is sure to be the next best seller (I'd buy it!). 

{7} PinkHairedPapist (totally her real name) at Pink-Haired Papist wrote a Very Serious account of The Day the New York Times Saved Me from Evil, Evil Catholicism. Don’t let this one pass you by!

What were your favourite reads (new or old) this week?

{SQT} My 3-Month-Old's 7 Favourite Solids

Despite my repeated insistence that he will not start on solid foods until at least 4 months, and probably 6, my 3-month-old keeps trying to eat the world. So for my first Seven Quick Takes, I thought I'd list, in no particular order, my babe's 7 favourite solids:

1. Spit-up-covered receiving blankets. I guess they taste kind of like food? He loves to grab these and stuff them in his mouth when I'm trying to burp him, making my task that much more difficult.

2. His outfits. Also typically covered in spit-up and apparently delicious.

3. My hair (which, let's face it, is probably also coated in spit-up). He grabs a big ol' handful and just stuffs it in his mouth. Well, Spikybean, I lose handfuls every time I even look at a brush, so why don't I just give you some of that and you can stop hastening the balding process?

4. His knuckles. He's not much for thumb sucking, but his knuckles are JUST THE BEST. Mmm, delicious.

Here's an unrelated picture of our groundhog friend, because I'm sure babe would love to stuff it in his mouth, too, if only it would fit.

5. His O-Ball rattle. Too bad he can't actually fit it into his mouth. And then he gets really, really mad that he can't fit the whole thing into his mouth and mama has to take it away.

6. His parents' fingers. Preferably several from each parent, at the same time. At which point he gets really, really mad that he can't fit them all into his mouth and mama has to take them away.

7. His double-ended rattle. Sometimes he can fit this in his mouth, if he grabs it just the right way. The rest of the time he gets really, really mad. Or just resorts to kind of licking at it while only getting a bit mad.

Linking up with Kelly at This Ain’t the Lyceum for Seven Quick Takes because—let's face it—a link party is the only party this mama will be attending for a really, really long time.