So how the heck did I get here??
I grew up in the Baton Rouge suburbs with my working mom and dad, (annoying) little brother Eric, baby sister Lauren, and three little dogs. As a little girl, I remember spending a lot of time at my grandparents' houses on the weekends. Mom was busy working as a nurse, and Dad was still working on his engineering degree. I was a girly-girl, and I remember refusing to wear pants and being absolutely enamored with Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Ariel. My little brother, having been born during my "Little Mermaid" phase, was named "Eric" at my insistence.
I attended a small, private, Catholic elementary school. I took dance lessons, but lacked the necessary physical coordination to excel. (This was to be my downfall when it came to sports as well). I played the flute for a few years, but found that the choir suited me best. I also loved being in the Drama Club. I acted in several plays and attended summer workshops by Playmakers and the Baton Rouge Little Theater. I was a good kid, mostly stayed out of trouble, and despite the fact that I inherited my father's gift for procrastination, made decent grades. When I was in 8th grade, my sweet baby sister Lauren was born.
I attended St. Joseph's Academy for high school. I continued to make decent grades, though I was more interested in friends, music, theater, and, eventually, boys. I became very involved in our church's youth group, and that led me to go on retreats like Catholic Leadership Institute and ND Vision, and I eventually represented our parish on the Diocesan Youth Board. I sang in our church's youth choir as well as the regular Sunday choir and studied choir in school for three years. I was in several plays my freshman and sophomore years before I started working after school as a bagger at a local grocery store. I had a few boyfriends, and survived my first kiss, a few really bad dates, unrequited love crushes, and even a broken heart.
The summer between high school and college, I met Blake. He was from New Iberia, and raised very differently from the way I was raised. He was a more traditional Catholic, and he, along with his four siblings, was home-schooled by his stay-at-home mom (who also wore the veil at Mass and dressed modestly by wearing skirts and dresses instead of pants).
And yet, all of this wasn't enough to scare me away from starting a relationship with him. He was just that charming.
While we dated, I started working at another local grocery store as a cashier, and was eventually promoted to office manager. I also started LSU, studying Psychology, which eventually became History. I loved going to Girls' Group, a weekly Catholic discussion group started by my dear friend Erin. I grew so much in my faith, and met so many amazing young women, many of whom I'm still close to this day.
Anyway, Blake and I were in love, and we began talking a lot about what we wanted for our future (a little out of order, I know). Blake wanted a lot of kids, and a stay-at-home wife who would home-school them, and wear the veil as well as skirts-instead-of-pants. I admit, I was really turned off at first. This way of life was so different from the way I grew up. But the more I got to know Blake, his family, and his friends, the more I was attracted to their way of life. I began to see the virtue in dressing modestly. I began to see the veil as a sign of reverence at Mass. I even began to see staying-at-home and home-schooling as a way for me to raise our future children with our values.
Blake and I continued to date for a very long three and a half years while he worked and saved his money. In March of 2008, he asked me to be his wife, and we were married that November.
And thus began the whirlwind of life changes that I'm currently caught up in. Brace yourselves, here we go:
I went from being a single, part-time worker/full-time student still living with my parents in Baton Rouge, to a married homemaker living in New Iberia. My family size doubled to include my wonderful in-laws. A few months later, I needed surgery to have my gall bladder removed. Right after that, I found out that I was pregnant! So, of course, we moved to a bigger apartment. I delivered our baby girl, Isabelle Marie, in October of 2009. Four months later, we found out that we were pregnant yet again. Blake decided to make a career change and had to undergo training and search for a job. After a few months, the city of Franklin hired him as their Building Official. I delivered our second baby girl, Lacey Elizabeth, in November of 2010. We moved to our current house in Baldwin in the summer of 2011.
And that's how I ended up here. I've always loved writing, so I've created this wonderful blog where I chronicle the joys, struggles, adventures, and every-day moments of my life as a Catholic, happily-married stay-at-home-mom. I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing it!
The summer between high school and college, I met Blake. He was from New Iberia, and raised very differently from the way I was raised. He was a more traditional Catholic, and he, along with his four siblings, was home-schooled by his stay-at-home mom (who also wore the veil at Mass and dressed modestly by wearing skirts and dresses instead of pants).
And yet, all of this wasn't enough to scare me away from starting a relationship with him. He was just that charming.
While we dated, I started working at another local grocery store as a cashier, and was eventually promoted to office manager. I also started LSU, studying Psychology, which eventually became History. I loved going to Girls' Group, a weekly Catholic discussion group started by my dear friend Erin. I grew so much in my faith, and met so many amazing young women, many of whom I'm still close to this day.
Anyway, Blake and I were in love, and we began talking a lot about what we wanted for our future (a little out of order, I know). Blake wanted a lot of kids, and a stay-at-home wife who would home-school them, and wear the veil as well as skirts-instead-of-pants. I admit, I was really turned off at first. This way of life was so different from the way I grew up. But the more I got to know Blake, his family, and his friends, the more I was attracted to their way of life. I began to see the virtue in dressing modestly. I began to see the veil as a sign of reverence at Mass. I even began to see staying-at-home and home-schooling as a way for me to raise our future children with our values.
Blake and I continued to date for a very long three and a half years while he worked and saved his money. In March of 2008, he asked me to be his wife, and we were married that November.
And thus began the whirlwind of life changes that I'm currently caught up in. Brace yourselves, here we go:
I went from being a single, part-time worker/full-time student still living with my parents in Baton Rouge, to a married homemaker living in New Iberia. My family size doubled to include my wonderful in-laws. A few months later, I needed surgery to have my gall bladder removed. Right after that, I found out that I was pregnant! So, of course, we moved to a bigger apartment. I delivered our baby girl, Isabelle Marie, in October of 2009. Four months later, we found out that we were pregnant yet again. Blake decided to make a career change and had to undergo training and search for a job. After a few months, the city of Franklin hired him as their Building Official. I delivered our second baby girl, Lacey Elizabeth, in November of 2010. We moved to our current house in Baldwin in the summer of 2011.
And that's how I ended up here. I've always loved writing, so I've created this wonderful blog where I chronicle the joys, struggles, adventures, and every-day moments of my life as a Catholic, happily-married stay-at-home-mom. I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing it!
