House of Nod Celebrates Double Time

The House of Nod rejoiced today with not one, but two, celebrations.

First my brother, Shoe, and his wife, Girl Friday, baptized their precious daughter Babs, wiping out Original Sin and bringing her into relationship with God. I love a good death and resurrection!

The priest said that all of our kids were the "loudest respondents he's had at a baptism in a long time" during the liturgy. I guess that's good, hm? (Although I fumbled the first 'And with your Spirit'. Doh!)

On the way there I was asking the kids about baptism and Nod-girl at first said it was when we were "concealed with the Holy Spirit", but then got it right. It's hard to drive and laugh at the same time!

Grandma Nod hasn't perfected the art of bi-location, so she was sadly absent. The reason: my sister K-Lo was finishing up 36 hours of labor to bring her first-born son into the wide world. Good job, sis, and congratulations! My sister, her husband, and two Grandmas are all understandably exhausted.

No pictures yet - hopefully we'll get to meet the little tyke tomorrow - so I'll provide one of my own. I dub thee: the Artful Dodger.

Something In The Water

They always tell you when you travel: Don't drink the water.

That's because when you do, the Unexpected can occur. Different microbes, different locale, the result can be unpredictable.

When a rash of people start having babies, they say there's Something in the water. In this case, if you let Love have its way, the Expected occurs. That is, you become the one who is Expecting.

First there was our Nodling #6, Dab. Then there is aka the Mom's impending #7.  

Now the newlyweds, my brother Shoe and Girl Friday, have joined the ranks of the newly expecting. 

Congratulations!

Having babies is fun, natural, exciting, terrifying, and fulfilling. It's what's Expected of the people God commanded to "be fruitful and multiply".

It's the people who choose to be purposefully Unexpecting that are actually completely predictable, dull, and unappealing -- cut off from our most interesting attributes.

But for "people like us", the Expecting, life is a bit unpredictable yet oh-so-exciting. There IS something in the water -- life.

More water, please.

The Best Blogging Buddies Evah!

Recently we at the Nod household received baby shower gifts for our latest Nodling, Dab. The fact that it was unexpected, unmerited, and a complete act of kindness only serves to accentuate its worth.

Check out these onesies -- they're awesome! Dab is gonna wear them with pride as he says his rosary and learns about the saints.

Mrs. Nod and I are extremely grateful to Rebecca (aka the Mom), LarryD, and anyone else who may have had a hand in it (you know who you are!). Somehow you made an obscure guy with a little blog and a big family feel very special.

Thanks!

False Alarm, Labor Averted

[11:15] Ok, that was unnecessarily exciting. Mrs. Nod has NOT gone into labor, crisis averted. Doctor just says to keep an eye on things.

This has been a test of the Emergency Nodling System. Had this been a real emergency, we would have relayed important information to you via this station. This is only a test.

Thanks everybody for the quick prayers. We'll let the little guy get another week or so under his belt (hopefully). I could deal with a St. Valentine's Day baby. Superbowl baby -- not so much.

Memorial For Baby X

Friends of ours buried their miscarried daughter today.

They had a funeral Mass and a small reception at their house. It was a funeral Mass and not a memorial since they actually did have the baby's remains. I think this was a very courageous and healing experience for them in a couple of ways.

It was courageous because our culture no longer values life for its own sake; having a funeral for a miscarried baby makes the unequivocal statement that "this is a person" for whom we mourn. It was healing because it acknowledges the loss and brings a certain closure to the situation. Having a Mass brings our shared Faith to bear - "for both in life and death we belong to God" (Rom 14:8).

Miscarriages don't get talked about much in our society, whether out of respect for the pain of the family, the ambiguity involved in a baby you didn't get to see, or a desire to pretend that it didn't happen, or the embarrassment of not knowing what to say. I heard a statistic that as many as 25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage. That's a lot of people walking around wounded with an unacknowledged pain in their hearts.

My wife and I suffered the loss of #3 and even thinking about it brings a lump to my throat today. I am amazed at the power of the memory from eight years ago, its power to grip me even today, even after having grieved fully. We were too shell-shocked at the time to even think or consider having a memorial Mass or healing service or funeral - at least I was.

I have to say it hit me particularly hard. Nothing is worse than the loss of a child. The only thing that I had at that time was my Faith which kept me anchored. I never blamed God, never doubted my Faith, I only wanted Someone to hold me and to understand the searing pain in my soul that I couldn't even express. God did that for me. I have no idea how people without faith or a relationship with God can deal with it on their own.

I wish I had a clever way of wrapping up my thoughts here, but I don't. I'm just sad today.

Drumroll Please

Mrs. Nod and I went for the 20 week sonogram and saw the baby. And yes, of course we found out what it was. What is the point of arguing about 50% of the names if you can eliminate half by gender?

Up to now, we've had what you'd call in Poker a "Full House - queens over kings", which means 3 girls and two boys.  With this latest roll of the dice it was either going to be Red or Black - put your money down. We looked the dealer in the eye, pushed the chips to the middle, went all in and said "Hit Me".  The roulette wheel spun, the house made odds, and the jackpot lit.

B-O-Y!

That gives us a perfect split between boys and girls - a Brady Bunch split. I find that extremely cool. Now I can use phrases like "My Three Sons", "Half & Half", "Guys & Dolls", and "Eight Is Enough".

Ok, I think I've run out of mixed metaphors and cliches.

Or have I?

Hello Baby!

So, I've got all the kids and I've bought a -ahem- crapload of diapers. My questions is when do I get the free iPad?

h/t Aggie Catholics

Newsflash: Babies Don't Choose Their Parents

Recently news came that supermodel Heidi Klum and Seal had a fourth child together. That's great and I commend their openness to love and life.

What they don't seem to understand is the relationship between the creator and the created and the parents role in participating in this mystery. Seal writes:

“Lou Sulola Samuel was born, and from the moment she looked into both of our eyes, it was endless love at first sight. She is beautiful beyond words and we are happy that she chose us to watch her grow over the coming years.”

Hello, there is no baby warehouse in the sky where unborn souls wait to become embodied. Before she was conceived the baby simply didn't exist, and therefore didn't choose anything, much less you to be her parents. The created doesn't choose its creator, like the potter and the clay in Isaiah 29:15-16.

You chose to be open to life, and God chose to create a person -- that's how it works. It's an image of the Trinity in the flesh: two persons love each other completely and unreservedly; and that love is so real, so tangible that you have to give it a name 9 months later.

It's a Girl

Congratulations to my brother and his wife over at Outpost 2, who just welcomed girl #3 into the world!

This little(?) paddleboat measured 21 inches long, 14.5 in circumference, and weighed in at 9 lbs 9 oz!

They make 'em big over yonder, as this baby was born at exactly 41 weeks. They skipped the Newborn size diapers and are going right for the Size 1 diapers. I'm convinced that all their kids came out at 3 month old sizes!

I brought Paddleboats #1 and #2 some mylar baloons with Disney Princesses on them to celebrate. Why? Because I'm the best uncle ever! Ha! Who says kids can't be bribed?