Building a Domestic Church: one toy at a time!

Being Catholic is amazing (duh). But being a Catholic mama is a whole new level of amazing! Praying over our daughter in the womb, reading bible stories to her, praying with her before bed and taking her to Mass has all been such a blessing to our family. Watching her eyes light up when she sees the Precious Body of Christ being consecrated and the smile she gets when we pray before dinner each night is such a joy to see, and is such a great witness!

Building a Domestic Church within our family is top priority round these parts and we try to let our faith infiltrate every aspect of our home. Especially when it comes to our children! So it is no surprise that Cana has loads of books about the bible, prayers, saints and Jesus! She also has a holy family statue, a crucifix, a painting of Mary and two guardian angels in her bedroom. A girls gotta know what's important right?! 

I've been trying to accumulate some Catholic toys for Cana over the last year and so far her collection is pretty great! When you really look, there are tons of options for Catholic toys and the best part is that you'll often be supporting small shops and work-at-home-moms! Win. Win.

Here are some things we have and some things I'm dying to make or buy for Cana in the near future (her birthday is right around the corner)!

Wooden Rosary: I picked this up in a parish gift shop last December. It's eternally in the diaper bag and the only "toy" Cana is allowed to have during Mass. The best part is that she will eventually be able to pray it when she's older!

Immaculate Heart of Mary doll: This gorgeous doll was a gift from Cana's godmother, Katie for her baptism. The best part is that it was handmade by my sweet friend Raquel! She custom makes Saint dolls (literally any Saint, she's amazing) and loads of other cute things over at The Little Rose Shop! I definitely plan on getting all our future kids their patron doll and perhaps just some other fun friends to have hanging around! 

Wooden Saint Peg Dolls: These twenty peg dolls were part of an exchange my friend out together! It was such a blast. Each mama picked one saint and painted twenty pegs (I did Mary, mother of God). Then we all got together and swapped! We each ended up with twenty different Saints and a booklet of prayer cards about each saint in the bunch. We are already planning a Nativity swap (with animals and everything!!!) and another Saint swap with more obscure Saints! These dolls are sure to inspire loads of holy imagination!

Stuffed Cross Taggie: This is something I made for Cana (and it's my new go to baby shower gift!) with my awesome sewing machine! I'm just learning how to sew and this was the perfect beginners project! Babies love soft toys and of course silky tags, so why not make one in the shape of a cross? So easy and so fun! (The photo is unstuffed... Sorry!)

Mass Kit: This is something we don't yet have, but once we have a boy, I will be making one ASAP! I've seen these sell on etsy for a whole lot of lettuce, but figure it would be super easy to put one together from scratch. And what better way to get your kids interested in the Mass and possibly inspire a future vocation to the priesthood! 

Children's Nativity Set: Like I mentioned above, we are planning on making a peg doll nativity set, so we do t have this quite yet. However, I can't wait to read the nativity story with Cana next advent and allow her to play with her very own set. Hands on learning, folks! 

Books and Puzzles: Cana already has a ton of religious books on her shelf and I always enjoy finding more at thrift stores and consignment shops for next to nothing! As she gets a little older I hope to add in a bunch of puzzles as well! They're all over the place and usually on the cheaper side, so perhaps I should start looking! 

And there you have it! I'm sure there are more religious toys hidden throughout our home and a quick google search will show you pages and pages of ideas, but these are our must haves, so far! 

Anyone have any other ideas I didn't mention? I'd love to add more ideas to my birthday present list for Cana! 

He knows my heart

Yesterday, I gave up.

I sat in the living room at 10 o'clock at night, holding a squirming child and I was gone. I was totally frozen. Four months of stress, lack of sleep and a high needs baby (read the link, it's a perfect description of Cana) led to me just giving up. I couldn't rock her. I couldn't play with her. I couldn't talk to my poor, confused husband... I couldn't even cry. 

It was scary. I've never really shut down that way before.

As I finally went to bed, I mustered out a vocal prayer, "Please, God. Please."

Today was so different. I woke up not knowing how to feel, but my little lady was all smiles, so it was hard to not feel instant joy. Then she slept. For two and a half hours, peacefully in my arms. That sounds horrible to some people, but with my girl, I don't care where she sleeps as long as she does for more than a few minutes! 

After her nap, I knew I needed to go to Mass. We needed it. And praise God we went. 

"Do not harden your heart." 

Today's Psalm was perfect and Fr. John spoke about letting go of stress and resentment during his homily.

After Mass, the cutest little old lady played with Cana for a few minutes, making us all belly laugh. Her joy and love for Cana was beyond great! 

As I walked into the lobby, a young man held the door for me and said, "your daughter is just beautiful!" She sure is. How quickly I forget how blessed I am to have her.

And finally, as I dipped my hand into the holy water, a firefighter approached me. He thanked me for being at Mass today, and said it was a joy to hear Cana talking all throughout the Mass. He mentioned that his wife used to struggle as a stay at home mom and on her hard days she would go to Mass and sit in the very front row with her son, just like I did today. He said, "The Church needs you here. And you need to be here. So thank you!" Then, he reached into his coat pocket and handed me a prayer card for families. As I held back tears, he said, "God bless" and walked away. 

When I got into my car I bawled. I couldn't even begin to drive because the tears clouded my eyes. I just sat and cried and mustered out a vocal prayer, "Thank you, God. Thank you." 

I'll say it again and again: motherhood is hard. The hardest thing I've ever done. But God needs me to do it. And I am blessed to be able to! He knows my heart and knows what I need to be the best mother I can be. I need only ask for His mercy and grace.