Today at NCRegister, I’m talking about Bump+, the provocative made-for-internet television series:

Was this a real show? Were these real pregnant women leaving the “choice” about whether or not to allow their unborn babies to live in the hands of an internet audience? It all sounded like a bad made for TV movie, never mind a web TV series.

A little careful reading at their website, though, reveals that this is a “fake” reality television series. The characters we meet on the screen are played by actors—but we, the audience, really will determine the outcomes of these characters’ pregnancies. In other words, our votes will determine what choices the writers will have each of these characters make in this “fake” reality show.

Read the rest and share your thoughts …

Tonight, Gabby came to me clutching her stomach. Her face was green and her eyes filled with tears.

“My stomach hurts!!”

I hurried her to the bathroom where we stood near the toilet for several minutes. Nothing.

I pulled her hair into a ponytail, helped her into her nightgown, and walked her to her bed. I tucked her under the covers, placed a bucket nearby, and knelt on the floor beside her.

I smoothed her hair.

“How are you doing, sweetie?”

“Not so good,” came the answer. She was still green.

Visions of stomach viruses past danced in my head. Whiny toddlers. Middle of the night sheet changes. Running out of pillow cases. Children moaning and lying on every horizontal surface in the house. And the laundry. Oh, the laundry!

I thought of our plans for the weekend — basketball games, visiting friends, boys serving at Mass — all of which might need to be cancelled.

Gabby’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“I think I feel better.”

“No, you don’t sweetie. Stay in bed.”

“I think I’m okay.”

“How could you be? You haven’t even thrown up yet.”

“Well … ” Gabby hesitated. “Do you think … maybe … you can feel sick from eating too many Oreo Cakesters?”

I looked at my daughter. The color was fast returning to her face.

“And,” she continued, “If you eat too many Oreo Cakesters and then you spin for a really long time really hard on the Sit N Spin? Could that make you feel sick?”

Thank you, God.

Just reminding you all that I have been participating in a regular segment on the Son Rise morning Show.

Every Friday at 6:50 am EST, I chat with Brian Patrick about subjects related to Catholic family life.

You can listen live online or tune in to EWTN Radio.

See you there!

Do You Make Your Wife a Better Mother?

You should hear the audio that goes with this picture:

“This has been Gabby Bean. Thanks for listening!”

Look out, world. This one was born to broadcast.

Funny how you can begin to think you feel at home on the internet when suddenly you stumble into new territory — and then you remember just how big the world is.

I have really been enjoying my new work blogging at NCRegister.com.

But the commenters over there? These are not my usual peeps. Did you see the way the Matt Archbold’s post about atheism exploded, for example?

And pro-life posts that I could write all day long here at my blog or over at Faith & Family and never hear a word of disagreement — get negative comments almost immediately at NCRegister.

Today’s post about how the youthful enthusiasm of the pro-life movement frightens the opposition is a great example. Only two comments in, we have an angry tirade against the “anti-choice right.”

I think it’s good for me to venture out of my Catholic mom-o-sphere bubble in this way, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t welcome your company out there in the great big world.

Come on over — and make your voice heard!