Once upon a time, I was a young(er) mom, just starting to stay at home with my 2-under-2 kids after having worked full-time for a while. I was in the same situation so many new moms face in this modern age of opportunity: I was lonely.

I didn't know where to go to meet other moms like me. I didn't know how to get a feel for whether other moms actually were like me. Having made friends with lots of wonderful people whose worldviews completely opposed mine in college, I just wanted some fairly crunchy, Catholic, stay-at-home moms with whom I could talk about cloth diapers and breastfeeding!

I found a decent amount of that (minus the Catholic part) in our local La Leche League group, although I still felt like a bit of an outlier... Where could I find moms just like me?

Enter Facebook. "Groups" were just getting to be a more popular venue, and the curated news feed was beginning to be a possibility. If someone started posting things with which I disagreed, I could hide them from my news feed or even unfriend them! (I do highly recommend unfollowing as an option in many cases, but that's not my point here.) In no time at all, I'd created my own virtual echo chamber, and it was GREAT!

It was also horrible.

Taming the Grumpy Baby's Tummy

This post is sponsored by Happy Family Yogurt but the content and opinions expressed are my own.

Edith has never been the happiest baby in the world, despite her appearance in pictures. She's very... particular. She likes to be held all the time. But only facing outward. She likes to read books. But SHE has to be the one to turn pages, throwing the book to the floor when she's done (and screaming for you to pick it up again). The list could go on and on.

A couple of months ago, though, she turned even grumpier. I didn't think it was possible.

No teeth on the horizon, her sleep was about the same as usual (meaning, still bad), and she wasn't on the verge of any new milestones (unless you count the walking she refuses to even attempt, despite being capable).

Ah, though, every time she needed to go #2?

TRAGEDY.

My Sunday Best, Volume 91: Happy Birthday, Cecilia!

Happy Sunday! And happy 7th birthday to our sweet Cecilia! We've got a birthday party after Mass so I'll post now and update later.

It's later!

3/52/2018: Bath Time!

My Sunday Best, Volume 90: Books, Interruptions, and Twin Hugs

Happy Sunday! My photographer insists this photo is in focus and demands that I start paying him, since "You make money on your blog, so you should pay your photographer!!!"

Ha. If he knew how much "money" a typical Sunday post earns, he might be willing to forgo his demanded commission ;) As it is, I'm tempted to replace him with a tripod.

2/52/2018: January Brings the... Warmth?

If You Want a Challenge, You Need to Read 'Above All' - Here's Why Take Up & Read's Study for Lent is Their Best Yet!

I've been through periods of time in my life where I've hit a spiritual standstill. I'm just not sure exactly where to take my prayer life next to get out of this rut, this spot of comfort to which I've somehow arrived.

Take Up & Read helped me dust off my Bible and get more comfortable leafing through the pages, searching for different verses. Is it easier to look up a verse on my phone or computer? Yes. But that hasn't provided me with the new-found fluency I've gotten from actually picking up my Bible every day. The first three studies are great, if you haven't seen them already. But this Lent study?

Oh.

My.

Y'all.

Image c/o Allison McGinley

My Sunday Best, Volume 89: Peace After Chaos

Happy Sunday! Happy sort-of-still-Christmas-depending-on-how-you-celebrate!

1/52/2018: Kitchen Picnics and Play Dough

What *Is* it About Ma Ingalls?

"I just baked my first loaf of bread from scratch - I feel a little like Ma Ingalls!"

"Ma Ingalls would be so proud of me, I canned 12 jars of jam today!"

"How did Ma Ingalls get it all done with children underfoot?"

Ma Ingalls. Always Ma Ingalls. Is there any other legendary homemaker so revered and idealized as Caroline Quiner Ingalls? Among women of my generation, probably not. We were raised on the Little House books, grew up believing that Laura's embellished stories were absolute fact. There was never a day that Ma allowed to pass in idleness, never a dish unwashed, never a tear unmended.

My Sunday Best, Volume 88: Baptism Anniversary!

Happy baptism anniversary to Edith!

Happy baptism anniversary to our sweet Edith! All of our other babies were baptized between 2 and 4 weeks, but she was born *right* as Advent began, which made planning a little more difficult... A very geriatric nearly 6-week-old when we were finally able to do it 😉 . It was VERY COLD that day, but today is even colder... Most of the pipes in the house have frozen except the hot water in the kitchen sink, the hot water in the downstairs bathtub, and the water in the upstairs bathroom. So really, it could be much worse! But tomorrow is supposed to warm up and we're all looking forward to being able to flush the toilet without having to pour a pitcher of water down it... . I'm laid up with a nasty case of bronchitis, so I'm staying home, lying down as much as possible, and keeping my germs to myself! We'll just call this throwback photo #mysundaybest 😊

A post shared by Rosie Hill (@rosiehill425) on Jan 7, 2018 at 6:22am PST

Your turn!

Post your outfit details & links or not, regale us all with your children's antics, reflect deeply on the readings, or just do a straight picture post - anything goes as long as you actually wore your outfit to church. The link-up is open until Friday, so you've got plenty of time to add your post!

Just a few ground rules before you link up:

1. Please include a photo of what you wore to church this week.

2. Please link back to this post in the body of your post, so your readers know where to find other posts (posts not mentioning "My Sunday Best" or not linking back to this post will be subject to removal).

3. Please visit some other posts in the link-up & leave a nice comment - this is all about affirming each other and building community, not just link dropping :)

4. Make sure the link you add is a link to your specific post or instagram picture (hashtag #mysundaybest and mention me in your caption, @rosiehill425 so I don't miss it!), not just your blog address.

5. Enjoy, and thanks for linking up!

What We Read in 2017

I read decent amount of books in 2017, and I'm glad that I have my Goodreads account to keep track of most of them! I definitely wouldn't remember which ones fell in which year otherwise... I won't dwell too much on the books that I thought were fairly "meh," but there's ONE book that I gave a one star rating, so I'll let you know which one that was! Opinions differ, obviously. But if you're looking for book recommendations for 2018, here are some that I liked and some that the kids liked.

12 Top Posts of 2017

2017 was not a year of a ton of blogging... For the most part, I got my two posts per week published (the Week by Week posts & My Sunday Best) and not much else. There's just a lot of life going on, and not a lot of overflow time for blogging. If nothing else, I'm really happy that I got the weekly posts done because we'll be able to look back on those memories for years to come! Based solely on page views, here are the posts that ended up being most viewed in 2017:

52/52: Christmas!

So long, 2017!