My new blog is THREE LITTLE JEWELLS . Come visit me there! I'm back to posting regularly again and will have a new post up later on today. For those of you who've had trouble with this site loading so slowly, etc. the new site is much faster and easier.
I'm in the process of having all of the content from this site transferred over there. Hopefully in the next two weeks the blog will be completely moved.
ETA: I just received Savvy's birthday presents from Oompa. The presents that I ordered on Monday and thought might take a while to get here. Did I mention I also got free shipping? Oompa ROCKS.
And the Creanimaux blocks I ordered? They were the thing I was the least sure about and they are so *awesome*. Bigger than I anticipated, beautiful color. They're just gorgeous. I'm soooo glad I got them- I think they're perfect for a First Birthday gift. I'm thrilled with the walker/stroller we got as well. It's hard to believe she's only 1 month and 10 days away from being a year old....
June Pictures
First time in her "BIG" carseat!
Nathan, holding a picture of Kip as a little kid- about 12 months old I think. Nathan is "little Kip"- they look soooo much alike!
I've had some questions sent to me, prior to my closing of the comments, that I thought I'd answer publically since several people have asked. 1. Why Did We Sell Our Previous Home and Move?Well, this is a many part answer.
#1: The most important reason that we moved when we did was because the huge tract of land across the street was sold and being developed into an apartment complex. This was going to mean lots of noise and construction for a year or more and then a LOT of increased driving traffic and foot traffic. We had loved how quiet our little deadend street was and that was quickly going to end.
#2: As much as we loved our street and neighbors, Mary was the first baby born in 20 years or so on the street. Because we plan to homeschool, we really wanted to be in a neighborhood where there would be other kids around to play with- at least in the afternoons.
#3: Our house was plenty big enough for us and the two babies- BUT- we knew we wanted at least four children and we knew we planned on homeschooling so we felt that in the long run, the house wasn't going to work for us. We bought our current house with those criteria in mind- we plan to stay here for the rest of our lives. There's four bedrooms- ours, and we plan to have a girls room, a boys room and a guest bedroom. We have large bonus room over the garage that we will eventually turn into a homeschool room.
#4. In hindsight, we can see how God really was working in our move. Thank the LORD that we moved when we did. About two months after we moved, we went back to our old house to get my great grandmother's rose bush. The new owners had allowed us to leave it until we were settled in and it was a better time to transplant it. SO- anyway, we went back to get the rose bush and the wife asked us if we moved because of the neighbor??? We had no clue what she was talking about. It seems that right after we moved out our elderly neighbors had gone to Las Vegas and allowed their son to move into their home. Their son who is a convicted pedophile and just got out of a 20 year prison sentence.
I am so thankful that we moved when we did- I would have felt like a prisoner in our home with him across the street- I would have felt like the kids couldn't be outside, etc. ugh, ugh, ugh. SO GLAD we moved!
2. Why Don't I Nurse The Baby Anymore? Unfortunately my milk dried up. I was able to nurse for nine months but was getting nothing by the end. I was very disappointed. Savvy was also increasingly not interested. I've heard of babies self-weaning and that seems to be a part of it. She also seems less and less interested in the bottle lately so she may be weaning herself from that as well.
3. Do I cloth diaper?Ummm, no. Honestly, it's just something that never appealed to me. I never even considered it. But then, lately I've been reading about it on Emily and Sarah's blogs and I've been reconsidering it. I may do it the next time around. I could even try switching now as I've still got another year of Savvy in diapers. We'll see. I'm thinking about it.
4. Do I have a favorite child? huh. weird question. Anyway. It's funny because over the past few months I've been accused of favoring Mary over the others, Nathan over the others and most recently Savvy over the others. I'm taking it as a good sign that someone thinks each one of the kids is favored. people are strange.
It's hard to believe but Savvy's First Birthday will be in just six short weeks. I went ahead and ordered her birthday gifts today. Most of it is coming from the West Coast area and I know that shipping coming from West of the Mississippi River has been slowed down due to flooding. Six weeks should be plenty of time for everything to arrive though.
I ordered her this beautiful "Heavy Baby" from Joy's Waldorf Dolls. They smell heavenly and the weight of the doll is nice. We got the 12" doll in lavender.
Here's the description: Used therapeutically worldwide, a weighted doll has a settling and reassuring quality. Heavy Baby is a weighted, rounded bottom (no legs), bunting style baby which makes it ideal for the young child. Filled with millet, and made with all natural fibers, it will bring a subtle quality of weight and warmth to the child who plays with it. Heavy Baby is just right for the youngster who needs to "Lug", or for the child who needs extra sensory attention and just a lovely doll to simply hold and pats it's bottom. This is truly an archetypal "Waldorf Doll" worthy of any child or adult.
I've had this in mind for months- it's the HABA Doll Pram- I love that it's all natural wood so no worries about chemicals, stains, paint, etc. It can be used as a doll stroller, a walker or just a wagon to haul things. It's very sturdy. Not crazy about the blue pillows though. I'm going to search around for some nice pink, girly type fabric and then take the pillows and fabric to the most excellent tailor/sewer person in the world- Mr. Nadir. I'll have him make a slip cover with a zipper closure for it.
I also ordered her these HABA Creanimaux Blocks, both sets- I thought ALL the kids would enjoy them and they would last for years and years. We allready have a set of regular blocks but I think this set will be a fun addition.
Lastly, I ordered Savvy this little Chelona Wooden Book- so many of our board books have really gotten mangled. I can read them to the baby but she really can't have them to play with herself- they just get chewed on and ruined. So, I got her a book that she can have and play with and there's no worries about it being chewed to death. Also, all natural so no worries about stains, chipping paint, lead or other nasty chemicals.
Again, if you are working because you love to work and you can't imagine not working and it's what you and your husband have decided works best for your family then GREAT.
BUT, if you're working and think you can't afford to stay home but you would like to, then this post is for you. :)
I used to watch this tv show called Starting Over that certainly had it's cheesy moments but I did learn something valuable that I still use today. One of the life coaches had a term she used "awfulizing"- when there's a big decision to be made and we're paralyzed by indecision because of fear of the unknown- you know- what might happen, etc. she would say to "awfulize" the situation. Go through all the worse case scenarios that could happen and come up with a plan for how you would handle it if it did actually arise. I do this often now, when I'm afraid of making a decision about something big- I awfulize it- play out in my mind all the scenarios that could happen and how I would handle them. And somehow, it makes it easer to decide once I've done that.
SO- If you're afraid to stay home because you think you may not be able to afford it, think about this-
There are essentially four scenarios that could happen (that I can think of)
#1. You could continue working and realize that you love it and don't want to be home with your children.
#2. You could decide to stay at home and realize that you really do love it and that somehow the money works itself out and everything is just fine.
#3. You could give up all kinds of things- your job, 2nd car, internet, cell phone, cable, etc. to stay at home and end up hating it.
#4. You could continue working and wish you could stay at home.
Now, scenarios #1 and #2 are obviously ideal so not worth talking about. Let's awfulize #3 and #4.
#3. You could give up all kinds of things- your job, 2nd car, internet, cell phone, cable, etc. to stay at home and end up hating it.
Quit your job to stay at home- you could get another job if you decided you didn't like being at home or couldn't find a way to work out the money.
Give up your cell phone and get a track phone or have no phone-you could get another cell phone if you went back to work.
Sell your second car or trade down so that you don't have a car payment-if you went back to work you could get a car again or trade up again for a nicer car.
Internet, cable tv, tivo-you could get all that back with a phone call and it would be reconnected in no time.
#4. You could continue working and wish you could stay at home.
See, here's the problem. When you awfulize #3- you can get back everything you gave up if you want to. If you quit your job to stay at home even though you can't really afford to do so- if you cancel cable, internet, cellphones, sell the car, live off Ramen Noodles- whatever- you can get it all back if you decide in hindsight that you've made a mistake.
But, if you take scenario #4, and you look back down the road and say you know- in hindsight, I should have made the leap to stay home, regardless of finances. You can't get that time back. Your baby is gone. The time is gone and you can never get it back. There's no do-overs.
I just peeked in the living room and do you know what I saw? my baby- my long, long awaited for baby who was just born yesterday??? She's 4 1/2 on her way to being 5 years old. How did that happen?
I'm so glad not to have missed it- I want to be here when she skins her knees or has questions about God or says all the funny things that little kids do. I don't want to miss those things because she's at day care and I'm at work.
And I don't want you to miss it either, if you really desire to be at home.
Please, hear my heart here- I am not coming from a place of condemnation- I really want to encourage those of you who want to stay home with your babies/children and think you can't afford it- TRY IT! You'll be surprised at all the ways you'll save money by being at home and all the things that you really won't miss much if you give them up.
NOTE: Now, I got a call after the last post on this topic from a friend who thought I was talking to her. Lest anyone think this post is directed at YOU, know that I know lots of working moms and I'm not speaking to anyone in particular. I wrote this post and the previous one because I hear working moms tell me all the time that they wish they could stay home but feel that they can't afford it. And I really want to help them see that, with rare exception, you CAN afford it if you are willing to live on less. And ladies?? trust me- it's so worth it. If given the choice between the higher standard of living I had when we both worked and going without to stay home with the children??? It's no contest which is more rewarding. I'm so glad that I took a chance and quit even though we "couldn't afford it". Love to you all. kj
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker).
The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name .
We have good friends who's family owns a house in North Myrtle Beach. We were blessed with an invitation to join them for Memorial Day Weekend. We left the Wednesday before and came back Memorial Day Monday. The trip was essentially free other than gas.
They have a 4yo, 3yo, 20mo, and 5 mo. so we had quite the household of little kids when you added in our 4yo, 3yo, 10mo. 7 kids age 4 and under. Much fun.
Here's Nathan as we were getting ready to go.
The five "BIG" kids- Nathan (3), Mary (4), D (20mo), L (4) and B (3) ready to hit the beach!
Savvy- all ready to go for her first time out to the beach!
Mary Madison
Nathan and Mary spent a lot of time filling up buckets and hauling them...
Savvy, just awake from her morning nap on the beach.
Nathan working in his sand castle
Nathan examining a shell he found.
Working in their sand castle.
On the last day we were there we took a big Watermelon down to the beach with us. Nathan helicoptered around it all morning just waiting for the adults to cut it. He ate several pieces and when the last of the watermelon was gone, he took off with his final two pieces. He climbed in this big bucket we had and hunkered down with his watermelon. This is all we saw of him for the next TWO hours.
Fair Warning to those with dialup- Lots of pictures in this post!
New HighChair- I've been meaning to post this for a while. I'm SO in love with our new highchair. It's the Space Saver High Chair by Fisher Price and it's pretty awesome. It's basically a regular high chair seat without the legs. This is great if you have a small kitchen/eat in area like we do- the high chair sits on one of the chairs for our table. It's so nice because we don't have to deal with yet another piece of baby gear taking up space. love, love, love it.
Here's the stock picture of it:
And Savvy in it today, at lunch time:
ohmyword- have you ever seen a cuter baby?
Oh! And the most awesome bib she's wearing? It's from my good friend Terri- here's her Etsy shop- Abigail's Hope Terri is our Sunday School Teacher's wife and mama to three big boys and Abby, who is Mary's age. Her bibs are the best I've ever owned!
Some pictures from Today:
The kids did play-doh this morning.
Mary's Play-Doh Snowman.
This little boy was mischievous today so he spent some time sitting where I could keep an eye on him.
I recently had this picture of Kip framed for him- it's Kip when he was about 12 months old. Nathan is the carbon copy of his Dad.
After Lunch Clean Up Duty- Mary rinsing the dishes while I load them in the dishwasher.
Nathan clearing the table.
Pictures from the last two weeks
Puddy, holding her bottle- sortof.
Paradise. I love our backyard. It's big without being overwhelmingly huge. It's shaded the majority of the day so even on the hottest days the kids can play outside. And there's plenty of fun stuff to play out there. The horse came from craigslist, my Dad got them the teeter-totter, etc.
I had some leftover birthday money so I got the kids this awesome stomp rocket. Man this thing is cool- we all have fun with it.
We got this Spaghetti Splasher for $10 from Hearthsong and it is awesome. I've spent more than that on a sprinkler from Wal-Mart and it never worked. This was a great deal for $10. The kids played in it everyday last week when it was so hot out.
Savvy watching the big kids play in the sprinkler from the safety of her swing. She HATES having a bath so I somehow doubt she'd enjoy the sprinkler much.
I've been sitting on the previous post for a month or more, trying to decide whether or not to post it, knowing that it was sure to offend at least one or two people I know IRL. But then, I thought- #1- it's my blog and #2- I've certainly read things on others blogs that offended me and I didn't stop reading or work myself into a huff over their opinions. So, I decided to go ahead and post it.
I've been thinking about why that blog post in particular struck such a chord with me. I think it's because of a recurring phrase I hear from working women and if I've heard one woman say it to me then I've heard 30 women say it-
I can't afford to stay home. It must be so nice that your husband makes such a good income- I'd love to stay home but my husband doesn't make enough money.
Or some variation thereof. Always the same theme- I'd love to stay home but we don't make enough money. You don't really understand our financial situation because your husband must make more than mine does.
Before I even get started on that, I am SURE that this is true of some women. If this is true for you then there's no need to get worked up into a huff about what I'm about to say.
Here's what I've seen or heard lately:
I can't afford to stay home. Driving a new car, taking frequent weekend vacations. I can't afford to stay home. Thinking about selling their home and trading up for a bigger house, bigger yard. I can't afford to stay home. Lives about a 30 minute drive from town. Drives in to town at least once a day, often two or three times a day because she "forgot" something, "needs" xyz today, etc. I can't afford to stay home. Spends a crazy amount of money in each week on groceries but won't plan a menu or do once-a-week grocery shopping (both of which would probably save her several hundred dolllars a month) because it's "not her style". I can't afford to stay home. Her husband is a teacher. They have two cars, internet, TIVO, cell phones, etc. (they have one child) All nice things but not necessities. I have another friend who's husband is also a teacher and she stays home with their four children. It's very tight, they go without lots of extras, but they make it work. Her husband probably makes $2300 a month after taxes (guessing here, based on what I know about Guilford County Teacher pay) and they find a way for her to stay home with FOUR children. Pretty impressive.
I guess it BUGS me to hear women say these things to me as if I'm living some sort of privileged life. I go without LOTS of things so we can afford for me to be at home. Here's just a few of the things I often go without so I can stay home- I've included what I know about a couple of IRL friends who stay home as well:
I drive a 2001 van. It's seven years old. I plan to drive it a looong time unless something happens. Would I like a new car? Sure, it'd be nice. But you know what's nicer- no car payment so I can afford to stay home.
My IRL friend has one car for their family which her husband drives to work most days. If she needs the car that day she has to get up early, load all three kids in the car and drive him to work. Most days she is without a car. But she gets to stay home.
We rarely eat out other than Tuesday night pizza at Mario's.
We do have cable but it's only basic cable. No extended cable, tivo, etc. If we needed to, I'd get rid of cable and switch to a cheap Trac Fone if it would ease the budget. cIt might seem like a small thing but cutting out cable, expensive cell phone plans, etc. will really add up.
One of the things I miss about working days is an unlimited grocery budget. I went to the store whenever I wanted to and bought whatever I wanted. Menu planning and shopping once-a-week really has saved us thousands of dollars. When I first started menu planning 4-5 years ago, we were spending $900-$1100 a month on groceries. Within a few months of doing menus I had it down to $400 a month. Even now, with grocery prices sky rocketing, we spend $700 a month- that includes diapers, formula, dog and cat food, all paper products and drug store items, OTC meds and food. Plus, I'm feeding a family of 5 instead of 2 or 3.
I consolidate errands and only go into town twice a week. Tuesday nights for pizza and usually one other day. With gas prices going through the roof, there have been months where I only had enough cash set aside for 2 tanks of gas. For a month. This means I need to stay home most of the time.
I lived in our previous home for seven years before moving to our new home. This was the house that my husband and his first wife lived in. It never really felt like "my" home. Kip had lived there for 20 years. It was the house he picked out. But I stayed because staying there meant we could put our money towards paying down debts and later, it meant I could stay home.
I have a very limited amount of spending money each week. I rarely have new clothes. We don't take hardly any vacations or weekend get-aways. I drive a very used car. I stay home, literally, instead of going out as much as I'd like to. I scrimp on our grocery money. If I had to, I'd cancel cable, cancel my cell phone, sell my car, whatever it took to stay home. The thing is- if you look at our finances on paper- we can't afford for me to stay home. But we make it work because it is a priority above ALL other things- above vacations, cars, new clothes, spending money, restaurants.
I used to be a preschool teacher at Primrose. I'll never forget this one woman- the mother of one of the children in my class. You know what she said to me? "I know that it would probably be best for T. if I stayed home but we've just gotten used to a certain standard of living and I don't want to go without.". Wow. 11 years later I can still remember her saying that.
If you're working because you WANT to work and you love it and can't imagine not working and it's what you and your husband have decided it's what works for YOUR family than that's great. More power to you. I know some women who outright say so and for that I have a certain admiration.
But if you're working and telling me you want to stay at home and can't afford it- well, in most cases, I'm just annoyed. Because you know what? We can't afford it either.
Jun. 9, 2008 - Where Do Feminists Come Up With This Stuff?
This will be sure to offend someone and for that I apologize. I'll be posting my thoughts on this post later on or tomorrow.
A guest post by the lovely Terry from Ornaments of Grace. Terry always has something interesting to say- I love reading her blog even when I don't agree but especially when I do!
Sometimes when I read the radical feminist perspective on the choice that many women make to leave the rat race, come home, and fully embrace being a wife and mother, I think, “Who are they studying, and how come I’ve never met any of these women?” The assumption that women stay home only because they have husbands who can afford to support them in style is the prevailing line of thought among this crowd. There is this misconception that women who stay home are married to men in high powered careers making six-figures and that this in itself puts women at risk because what man, having been in a prestigious, well paying, intelligent environment all day wants to come home to a woman who hasn’t even had a conversation with anyone over the age of six? In the minds of these women, there’s really no question of IF these marriages will collapse, only a matter of when. And when they do, the poor naïve wife who has given up everything to make a home for this man and his progeny will find herself poor, struggling, and alone.
When I ran across this little financial piece recently, it became clear to me that people who write these kinds of cost analyses have no idea how much a family gains when mom stays at home. They really don’t realize that for many, the decision is often made before they can even see how they’re going to manage the finances. Staying home and raising your own kids is about so much more than dollars and cents. It’s a matter of the heart and realizing that if we are to fulfill God’s plan to raise our children well, someone has to be available to do it. It requires sacrifice! When I came home 12 and a half years ago, my husband worked hard to provide. And while I will admit that he was pretty well employed for someone his age (he was 23), we were hardly living the high life! I’ve met women whose husbands worked long hours on blue collar jobs in order to support their families while their wives stay at home. I’ve run across missionary families doing the same thing. Not every stay at home mom is married to a high-powered executive. That may be what Linda Hirshman found when she did her notorious study, but it’s not every one’s reality. It’s not even most people’s reality. I believe she called these women “elite women”. I can think of many adjectives to describe myself: forgiven, opinionated, realistic, but elite? No! It costs us plenty for me to stay home and I’m sure that’s true for many of you as well.
Our lifestyle is far from elitist. I cut coupons, limit and plan my outings to maximize gas mileage, and make my menu each week based on which supermarkets are offering the best deals. I do my own hair, paint my own nails, and rarely make impromptu trips to Target (my favorite store!). I cook dinner every night. We eat out about once every three months, sometimes less. When there’s a book I’m interested in reading, my first stop is to the library, not the bookstore.
As our family has grown, we’ve had to make more sacrifices and examine our choices more closely, but in the process we have grown to realize how unnecessary most of the stuff we think is necessary really is. We have grown to appreciate the simple things a lot more. No burger tastes as good as the one cooked on our own grill, for a fraction of the cost. Walking around the neighborhood at dusk is far more relaxing than dodging the crowds while walking through a local mall as part of the materialistic rat race.
Now obviously I’m not totally deprived as I’m writing this on my personal laptop and will upload the post on Blogger via high speed internet access, which can hardly be considered a necessity. I’m simply saying that in our day to day living, we examine every purchase and make every effort to be good stewards. Life is far from glamorous in the Ornaments of Grace house, believe me. So when I hear or read these feminists saying that being a stay at home mom is a luxury for only the privileged few, I laugh. I accept that there are many people for whom this choice is not a realistic one to consider, but I also believe that if we are willing to downsize our lifestyles, re-examine what we consider necessities and make tough choices, the privileged few can become a substantial number of families.
The sad part of this whole debate is that we have raised a generation of women who believe that it is unwise at best and stupid at worst for a woman to decide to make such a major life choice for the sake of serving someone else. Since when did selflessness cease to be a virtue and become a naïve choice worthy of pity for those who choose it? Thankfully, as the lies of modern feminism are being revealed as the deception that they are, the tide seems to be turning. I hope it continues to do so. We still have a lot of work to do to rescue the next generation from the selfish and fruitless choices of the last one.
I apologize for the extended break. It's been a busy two weeks for us. We had family come for an unexpected, but very welcome, visit. We left for a five day vacation at North Myrtle Beach and I didn't want to advertise to the whole wide world that we were going on vacation and leaving an empty house. Since we got back we've been setting the house back to order, starting some more formalized homeschooling and been busy with company of some sort for two or three days!
Savannah's had some big moments these past few weeks.
Thursday, 5/22: First time at the beach! I think she enjoyed it mostly. She liked being outside and the sound of the wind and waves and other people around. It was hard on her though because it really disrupted her morning nap. She usually naps from 9am-11am and we were heading out to the beach sometime between 9 and 10. So we'd keep her up until we got out there and then I'd sit in a chair and hold her up on my shoulder while she cat napped for 30-45 minutes. She took GREAT afternoon naps. :) Tuesday, 5/27: Rolled over from back to stomach. She'd been rolling stomach to back for a while. Now that's she's rolling all over the place, we've got to start being more careful about keeping the big kids toys picked up off the floor.
Also on Tuesday 5/27: 9 Month Appointment. She was in the 75% for height and only the 10-20% for weight. She weighed 16 lbs. 12 oz. The doctor says she looks great and to just be super careful about what she's eating since we already KNOW that she's allergic to oatmeal and cigarette smoke. We're suspicious that there may be some other food allergies/sensitivities.
Wednesday 6/4: First day in her big car seat. She's really outgrown the carrier so we put her in the awesome Triumph seat we have. It used to be Nathan's but he got waaay to big for it so we bought him a Britax. The Triumph is perfect for smaller kids- very cushy and I love how much it reclines- it's much more comfortable than the carrier, especially for long drives. With a camping trip coming up soon and a 5-6 hour trip out to Emerald Isle at the end of the summer, it'll be nice to have her in this as opposed to the carrier. Pictures coming soon.
LINKS
The Story of a Friendship by Et Tu? is an amazing read. As curmudgenly as I can be, I so hope I would have the grace to behave as this lady did. Inspiring.
Pictures coming soon! I ran down both camera batteries while we were at the beach so I've got to charge them (one is finished, the other is charging right now), download and organize all pictures and then upload the ones I want to post on the blog to photobucket. (SIDE NOTE TO EMILY/SARAH- have you guys got a better way of posting pictures than photobucket??? It takes me forever to post pictures)
Side Note:
And, can I just say, that while I normally avoid any political blogging, I'm so disappointed Hillary Clinton dropped out of the race. I love Obama. Like Carletta, "I...have a talk with myself about why I wasn't supporting Obama. Um... He's against everything you stand for" because he's just so darn likable and charming and emanates hope and change. But equally as much as I like Obama, I want to see a woman as President. And I'm disappointed in won't happen this time around. Plus, as a die-hard Republican, I think with Obama on the Democratic ticket, we're sunk. I believe that he is almost unbeatable. Clinton we might have had a chance of beating but I don't think the same is true of Obama.
I'm going to be taking a break for the next week or two. We're exhausted after our week of parties last week. We've got family coming in town tonight and I just got all of Mary and Nathan's school books in for next year so I need to go through and get organized. Plus, I've got some house projects I need to work on.
I'll be back sometime next week!
Some random pictures for your enjoyment!
Nathan- Easter 2006, about 15 months old.
Mary, Easter 2006 2 years, 3 months old.
Mary, Spring 2006
Nathan's First Haircut LOOK at those curls!
And last, but certainly not least, Savvy at just a few days old. Sweetest baby on the planet. We love puddin'.
SO- the other day I went to change the toilet paper roll. I opened up the cabinet under the bathroom sink and what do I find? Not just a stash of toilet paper but also... a half eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich. No doubt from Nathan as he is A) a very slow eater and often is not finished with his lunch even after 45 minutes and B) Mary snarfs down her sandwich in 3.2 seconds leaving nary a crumb behind. All this leads me to conclude that the aforementioned sandwich is indeed the former property of Nathan.
Now, what I just love about this, is the internal conversation I picture Nathan having in his head. I mean really, of all the places in the house, why would he hide a half eaten sandwich in the cabinet underneath the bathroom sink?
I guarantee that he was still poking around when we were finishing up lunch. I always have the kids help me pick up lunch. They have to clear the table, throw away any scraps of leftovers and wipe the table down. I can just see Nathan trying to figure out what to do.
Mom told me to empty my plate in the trash and to put it in the sink. But I'm not done with my sandwich. What if I'm hungry later? I might want it then. Where can I hide it so that I can come back to it after naptime? OH! I KNOW! Under the sink in the bathroom! That's the perfect place! Mom will never find it there!
Boys. They're such a mystery. Especially the three year old variety.
Before you think I'm a big meanie not letting the kids finish their lunch- we usually spend at least 45 minutes eating lunch, reading the newspaper, etc. Honestly, he would sit there an hour and a half or more, poking around with his lunch. At some point, there just has to be a cut off. I think 30-45 minutes is plenty of time to eat a pb & j sandwich, some fruit and crackers.
Yesterday was my birthday and can I just say I had one of the best birthdays yet!
#1: We stayed home all day long and after the week we've had, I really needed that.
#2: Kip got me just what I wanted. A new, tiny, purple, Coolpix camera! We have a nice big camera that's great for all kinds of special shots but not so great for taking places. It's so big and bulky and it's expensive so Kip wants it in the camera bag when we take it anywhere and honestly, I'm already carrying a purse and a diaper bag so the last thing I want to do is carry another bag. HERE is the camera he got me. It is so cool- I love, love, love it!
#3: "The Children" got me this bluetooth thing that I put on the visor of my car and it tells me who is calling, etc. This I haven't really figured out yet but Kip is going to set it up for me this weekend.
#4. Okay, you all know that Kip's mom didn't like me and made it pretty obvious that she felt that way. Now, honestly, I know she had a hard life and I don't think it was really about me, you know? I don't think she would have thought anyone was good enough for Kip. So whatever. All that to say, she certainly never did anything for my birthday other than give me $40 every year. She didn't call me or we never went out to dinner or celebrated in any way. Well, what a change this year! Carolyn (Kip's Dad is getting remarried to Carolyn! woohoo!) threw me a family birthday party last night! She made a fabulous dinner (a roast) and had a birthday cake made for me. I just could not believe it. She and Mel went to my favorite kitchen store (The Extra Ingredient for those who live in town) and bought me two Chantal Deep Dish Pie Plates in RED and this gorgeous cherry Lazy Susan Turntable that I've been wanting forever. Her son and his wife and three kids came and gave me some gorgeous stationary with "K" on it. Oh man, it was the best day!
It was such a great, great day. Carolyn is such a nice lady- not just because of the party but she's just so nice all around. I can't even begin to tell you the difference in Mel. He's turned in to such a wonderful grandfather and he's so much nicer than I ever knew he was. I love the difference she's making in this family. :)
Crazy Week
Saturday, 5/10: Went to friend's 40th Birthday party
Sunday, 5/11: Family party- my family came to celebrate my birthday and Mother's Day. We had a nice lunch and everyone stayed until 4pm. We left at 5pm because Kip wanted to take me out to dinner for Mother's Day and to buy Savvy's charm for my bracelet.
Monday, 5/12: My next-door-Neighbor turned 101 last Thursday! We threw her a surprise Birthday party and invited all the neighbors. MUCH fun.
Tuesday, 5/13: We went out with the Pace Family to Kabuto's to celebrate my birthday and Suzanne's birthday.
Wednesday, 5/14: My birthday, party at Carolyn's house.
Thursday and Friday we have off. whew.
Satuday, 5/17: We are hosting Family Supper Club this month. There will be four families here, including us. 14 children, 9 of which will be 4 years old and under. Should be a wild time.
Monday-Wednesday- family in town.
I'm looking forward to a little relaxation next week! The parties have been much fun but I'm ready for some quiet time at home.
NINE MONTHS. Nine months. I can't believe I made it that long! I was able to nurse Savvy for nine months!
For the last few months we dropped down to twice a day and then down to once a day, in the morning. Still, this is such an improvement over how it went with the last two experiences. With Mary, my milk dried up at four weeks and with Nathan at 2 1/2 months. I really hoped to be able to go longer with Savannah and I'm so thrilled we made it this far! I think today was the last day though. She's increasingly less interested every morning and my supply has dwindled to almost nothing.
Here's a few pictures of her from the past nine months.
Newborn, in the hospital.
A few weeks old- isn't she beautiful? One of my favorite pictures of her!
We always make a big deal out of the "first icecream of the season". On Saturday, 4/26 we took the kids to Homeland Creamery for icecream. Nathan had chocolate, Mary Madison had strawberry and Savvy had her first taste of icecream as well- some of Daddy's chocolate. So FUN!
We LOVE A Baker's Dozen idea for a Pajama Ride. They put the kids in their pajamas, brush teeth, and send everybody to bed just like any normal night. Every so often, randomly, about 5 minutes after they put everyone in bed, the parents run upstairs and shout "PAJAMA RIDE". Kids come running and tumbling out of bed knowing that it means a surprise trip to get icecream. This is the kind of stuff that memories are made of! I can just see the kids, as adults, sitting around talking about remember how when we were kids mom and dad would take out for icecream at night??? We might do our first run in the next week or two.
I think the principle goes along well with this Micheal Pearl quote that I posted earlier:
Rules and principles make good fences for a family, but not good glue. Joy is the best family glue on the market. A carnal family with joy will produce better kids than a “spiritual” family with tight-lipped, rigid, or stern-browed legalism. It doesn’t have to be either/or. The absolute best approach is joyful, disciplined spirituality founded on the solid principles of the Word of God and separation from the world. -From his article, Training in Joy
Kip and Nathan a few weeks ago, getting ready to go to a Greensboro Grasshoppers Game.
There's lots of good stuff in the links below- check them out!
Babies My Name is Lori and I'm Infertile is quite simply, the best post I've ever seen on the subject. Exactly, exactly, exactly how I felt during our three years of infertility prior to Mary. Even if you don't struggle with infertility you probably know someone who is and this post will give you a little insight to what they are going through.
How To Choose The Sex Of Your Baby We've done some version of the Shettles method with all three kids and, so far, have a 100% success rate. This is a great article on how to do this and I learned some things I didn't know before-
Handipoints Chore Charts Wow! I LOVE this! When Kip and I did our goals for the year back in January, one thing he wanted us to work on with the children was developing a chore list. This lets you create your own chore list and customize it to your home and what works for your family. Now, the only odd thing I didn't like was it required you to register at least one of your children. But whatever- I just made up a bogus name and put it down. This is a neat site though- worth the aggravation of registering.
Home Organizing Junkie I am so in love with this blog that it's ridiculous.
Closet Organizer This closet organizer by Kolcraft is pretty neat and CRAZY CHEAP! $20!!!! Had we seen these last fall, we probably would not have bought the $90 closet organizer from Lowe's for Mary and Nathan's closets. drat. We've still got two more kid closets to go though- so I may be ordering this.
One of the reasons I choose to join the Marines was because I wanted something I didn't have and I knew the Marine Corps could give it to me. That summer at Parris Island I learned self-confidence, I learned how to be alone, even in a crowd and to be okay with it and I learned how important relationships really are in my life. One of the outcomes of those lessons was that when I returned home I realized I was wasting too much time, mental and emotional energy on "deadweight" relationships. Those relationships where you feel like you give and get nothing back. Where you are always reaching out and getting little to nothing in return. Those relationships were draining me and leaving me less time and energy to focus on the really good relationships in my life. So, I cut them loose. I certainly didn't have any sort of big discussion about it, I just quit calling and gradually let those relationships die off. And it was such a good thing for me.
Then, in the 5/2005 issue of "O" magazine, I read this great little commentary by Francine Prose entitled "Trust Your Gut Reactions" that so perfectly sums up how I decide if a relationship is worth continuing. Here's an excerpt of that:
"We were discussing the nature of friendship in general and love in particular, and she said, "If you want to know who your friends really are and whom you should be hanging around with, all you have to do is follow this simple test. Whenever you've just finished spending time with a particular person, ask yourself, Do I feel better or worse than I did before? No long explanations, no equivocations, No excuses. Just 'better' or 'worse'. Then tally up the results, and pretty soon everything will begin to seem very clear."....it's inspired me to extricate myself from unproductive professional associations, destructive friendships, disastrous love affairs. It's helped me to surround myself with friends whom I love, and who love me."
I realized recently, ten years after becoming a Marine and graduating from Parris Island, that I'm at that point again. I've got some deadweight relationships in my life. Some "friends" and acquaintenances who weigh me down. I come away from any interaction we have- whether in person or by email, feeling down. Feeling unheard or disregarded. And it stinks. So, I've decided to make some changes.
This is NOT to say that I don't enjoy good discussion or correction! Sarah C. always makes me really think about what I'm doing and why and I love that. Kaeb is my great encourager and it is wonderful to have a friend who is your cheerleader. I know Kelly G. will speak the hardtruth to me in kindness and with the best of intentions regardless of whether or not it's what I *want* to hear and for that I love her dearly.
But, honestly? I'm just done with some of these other relationships. I've got plenty enough difficult family issues (extended family- not Kip and I) that I have to negotiate through because they're family that I really don't want to waste anymore time on difficult friends or acquaintances where I come away from every encounter feeling crappy about myself.
ETA: Okay, I've reread this and think maybe it sound grumpy. I don't feel grumpy, not even angry really, just more done. kwim? I'm just ready to move on. And I thought, in the interest of being transparent about what's really going on in my life, I would share this.
It's been a big month for Savvy... In the last 30 days she's got her first three teeth in, had her first table food, started clapping her hands, rolled over, had her first icecream and heard "no" for the first time.
Not to mention she spent one week quite sick with a fever, cough, congestion and runny nose.
We had a little more "no" training today and she did beautifully. :) I'm so proud of her.
Big Kids
I am doing "Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" with Mary and Nathan. We're on Lesson 12 and Mary is already reading a few words- mat, sat, rat, me, am, ram, eat. WOOHOO! Nathan is still a bit young for this- only 3 years and four months. He knows all the sounds and is following along but I may have to go back through it with him next year. We will see how he does. But wow, Mary is doing great!
There may or may not have been an incident today involving chocolate syrup stolen from the fridge, hauled out onto the deck, hands, faces, clothes, sandals, chocolate-syrup handprints on the windows, chocolate syrup swirls on the decking. When I discovered the mess (I was clued in by some hysterical laughing- not usually a good sign with preschoolers), I told them I would have to discipline them for stealing the chocolate syrup out of the fridge. Mary then asked me, "are you going to take our picture first?". I'm guessing she asked the question because of incidences like THIS ONE or maybe THIS ONE in which I did take pictures first. I suppose I'll have to cut back on that. Also, the snatching of food has become a problem that we are going to have to start correcting for. Funny but not so funny, kwim?
On Friday, Savvy rolled over for the first time. I was *VERY* sad! ugh, ugh, ugh- time is flying by. There's just a few months left of her being a baby. But, she is SO proud of herself that it's fun to watch! She'll roll from tummy to back 537 million times a day and she really thinks she has learned some big girl stuff.
Speaking of BIG GIRL STUFF, poor Savvy had to have her first little training session in obedience last night. I was holding her in my lap while eating dinner and she kept reaching for my soup bowl. It's the first time we've ever told her "no". She'd reach for the soup bowl, I'd tell her no, and she'd promptly burst into tears. Eventually she sat and looked at the soup bowl and just cried. She wanted to touch it but didn't dare since she had been told "no". Oh, what a hard lesson to learn! The earlier she learns it the better though. If it were all about me, I could have just distracted her, moved the soup bowl out of reach or given her something else to play with. It would have been easier on me in the moment, and I really hated seeing her cry and hated telling her "no". But, honestly, it's so much harder on the child, the longer you wait it teach them to obey. A tiny bit of training now and over the next months will make for a much happier toddler. And that's what I really want- a happy, obedient, cheerful little girl. Not one who is constantly being corrected for disobedience and who is perennially unhappy because she hasn't learned to operate within boundaries. So, for her sake, I told her "no" last night. But I sure didn't enjoy it.
Oh- I forgot to say- Saturday was our yearly celebration of "FIRST ICECREAM OF THE SEASON". Savvy had her first lick of an icecream cone. Oh.So.Cute. Oh my word- I just love and adore this baby. She is the absolute delight of my days. Pictures coming soon!
Rules and principles make good fences for a family, but not good glue. Joy is the best family glue on the market. A carnal family with joy will produce better kids than a “spiritual” family with tight-lipped, rigid, or stern-browed legalism.
It doesn’t have to be either/or. The absolute best approach is joyful, disciplined spirituality founded on the solid principles of the Word of God and separation from the world. -From his article, Training in Joy
Mary: Mama! I can't wear these shoes!
Me: Why not?
Mary: I need yellow shoes to match my yellow dress and hairbob. These shoes are white!
(Now, if you know me at IRL, you know this is the kind of thing that I could care less about. She certainly did not get this from me, which is part of what made it so funny. )
Conversation #2:
(Mary has recently heard somewhere about itches and rashes. Only, she has the word "rash" wrong.
Mary: Mama! Mama! I.HAVE.ITCHES.
Me: Really? You have some itches?? Mary: Yes, Mama! And these itches are giving me RADISHES!
Sarah wrote: "Sure, investing in making our homes good is wonderful, but we can't hole ourselves up in our houses and forget about the outside world. What about trying to do good in our community to make someone else's life better? Her post sounds kind of selfish to me..."
As I've been thinking about this, these words from Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 come to mind:
1There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven— 2 A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. 3 A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up. 4 A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance. 5 A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. 6 A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7 A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak. 8 A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
I read somewhere that our lives are spent in thirds. We have our "early" years of childhood and young adulthood (birth through mid twenties), then our middle adulthood (mid twenties-60 years old?) and then our old age (60 years old and up).
I spent my "early" years of highschool, college and post-college doing lots of things for my community- I volunteered at the hospital, corresponded with several elderly people in nursing homes, worked as volunteer for the National Conference for Community and Justice teaching classes on tolerance, and took two "little" sisters from Big Brothers/Big Sisters from 7th grade through high school graduation. I also did plenty of volunteer work through whatever church I was attending at the time and worked as both a preschool and a middle school teacher- which is in and of itself, plenty of giving back to the community!
As I look forward to my old age, I envision myself doing some kind of Titus 2 (versus 3-5) work with younger women. I'm not sure in what capacity that will be but I'm open to whatever opportunities will arise.
But right now? In my "middle adulthood" phase of life with three young children to raise, I'm not so sure "out in the community" is where I need to be. I've seen the effects of no training and poor discipline on children- by the time these kids reach middle school they are just wild. They've never been taught to operate within set boundaries, to put aside their own "wants" to accommodate anothers "needs", to practice self-discipline now for the long-term good. And now that I've been out of teaching for several years, I've seen these kids as adults. One was killed in a drug related altercation. Another young man, who had SO much potential, is sitting in jail for assaulting a homeless man. Some have been arrested for robbery. Others are just drifting- not in school, working low wage jobs sporadically. They're not doing anything productive with their time or energy and it's sad. They have the potential to be so much more but lack the self-discipline to get there.
So what's my solution to this?
So I'm focusing my energy on raising productive adults (I'm raising adults, not children, right??!!!) who will not be a drain on society. And the best way that I know to do this, is RIGHT HERE. And so for our family, that means keeping our kids with us and training them into Godly behavior.
I've "got" the children for so little time- the majority of their training in discipline, obedience and attitude will be done by 5. We'll have another 13 or so years to do some additional training where improvements need to be made and to train them in practical living skills. But after that? Although they'll always be "my babies" they'll be adults with minds and lives of their own. I've just got a little while to get it right and if I don't, there's no going back. No do-overs.
And the thing is, when children "go bad" it affects so many more people then just their own self or their own family. Here's a personal example- my sister was married to a no-good loser. He had NO concept of boundaries or self-discipline and it affected EVERYONE. Putting the abuse aside, we all suffered seeing my sister and nephew neglected- (just *one* example- not enough money for food or diapers while a new boat sits in the driveway). Because he never learned to put others above himself or develop the self-discipline to work when he didn't feel like it and to spend money on needs and not wants, his wife suffered, his child suffered, his parents suffered (he was constantly "borrowing" money), his inlaws suffered (watching their daughter go without because her husband refused to work consistently). It was awful. He eventually became a drug user, an alcoholic and declared bankruptcy. He was, and is, nothing but a drain on society and anyone who comes in contact with him.
I'm not saying that I can guarantee that my kids will not disappoint us and become no-good losers like my former brother-in-law and some of my former students. But I do think I've got a much greater chance of having them turn out to be decent, productive members of society by focusing the majority of my time and effort into the raising, training, disciplining, mentoring and fellowshipping with my OWN children.
It doesn't mean that I never spend any time doing for others over the next 20 or so years. But it does mean that I first consider these questions before committing to any activity outside the home:
FIVE Questions to contemplate when considering activities outside the home:
1. What are my reasons for considering this opportunity? Are they selfish or God-honoring?
2. Will pursuing this venture glorify God and honor the gospel?
As long as it passes the above two questions, I quickly move on to #3.
3. Is this an undertaking that will help my husband?
If yes, great. If it's no, then sometimes that's okay too. As long as it's not hindering him in any manner I'm okay with it.
5. Will it enhance and enrich the lives of my family?
5. Does this endeavor hinder my role as caretaker of my home?
But then we come to #4 and #5. It's because of these that I've dropped out of most extra activities in the past few years. Because to often the answer to #4 was no and to #5 was yes. If it means I have less time to train, mentor, disciple and discipline the children then I'm not interested. If it means that the house is not cleaned, meals not ready, laundry not done, etc. because I'm busy with some other volunteer activity, "ministry", etc. then it's not where I'm supposed to be. Period.
But you know what? It hasn't always been this way (see the paragraph on my early adulthood) and it won't always be this way. Before I know it, the children will be grown and gone and I'll be facing another 30 or 40 years of just Kip and I. The house will be exponentially easier to keep clean and there be a lot less laundry and distractions. The training will be done. What will I do then? THAT's when I'll have time to pour into my community and church, volunteering to help others, etc.
Don't mistake me- there are things I do now to help others. I take a meal or two to a mom with a new baby or an elderly neighbor. I talk with young moms who approach me wanting to know how to organize their homes or plan menus. I occasionally invite a former elderly neighbor to join our family for lunch or dinner just because she might be lonely. I've helped my sister with her son now that she is a single mom. I support my husband taking my nephew to boyscouts because I believe he needs a positive male role model in his life (and this does require sacrifice on my part). These are the things I can do now to help others that don't infringe on my current family requirements.
But make no mistake about it, they don't interfere with questions #4 or #5 and if they did, I'd drop them in a second. At this point in my life, activities that I choose to engage in MUST NOT involve excessive amounts of time out of the home or away from my children.
As the writer of Ecclesiastes said "There is an appointed time for everything". This is not my appointed time to be "giving back to the community" in the traditional sense that most people think of when using that phrase. There IS a time for that- part of it has passed for me and part of it is still to come- but it's not right now.
Sarah- still friends?? You got this whole long-winded response to your comment. You didn't know what you were getting into when you first suggested this blogging thing to me a year ago, did you? Another Happy Birthday to you- hope you are having a fun day. ;)
So- On Friday I took the kids to the doctor because Mary was sick. More on that later. Anyhoo- we were done at the doctors around 10am and it was gorgeous- sunny, blue skies, 70's.... So I decided to take the kids to Bicentennial Gardens to walk around for a while.
There was this little old lady there- maybe in her early 70's?? She had on her coordinated sweat suit and her tightly curled permed hair. She was pushing a baby stroller- similar to the one we have for Savannah. In it she had her little dog. Some kind of fluffly little thing, just sitting in the stroller, taking a walk through the park. But the BEST part was that she has a beautiful, dainty, floral, china tea cup full of water on the tray of the stroller for the dog to drink from- ohmyword it was my amusement for the week!
ok- so it just occurred to me that maybe the title is offensive. I hope not- just really- the china floral teacup- I can't imagine seeing this anywhere else.
This is NOT funny...
I know- I shouldn't laugh. Really, and I call myself a cat lover?
THIS story about a cat named AND BITS (as in Kibbles And Bits) just hit my funny spot for some reason. I mean I know it's not funny, really, it's not. But just the name, And Bits, is amusing.
Poor Mary... And Savvy too....
MY girl woke up crying around 12:30am on Friday morning and then again at 3:30 am saying her ear hurt. We all know what that means. I got her an appointment with the pediatrician Friday morning and they said she had a *nasty* ear infection and that her eardrum had already ruptured! I felt so bad for her! There were NO indications on Thursday that she was in any way sick, not feeling well, her ear was bothering her- nothing. The odd thing is that most kids get ear infections when they are babies and grow out of them about the time they hit their first birthday. Mary never had ear infections, not one. Suddenly, since January, she's had three, all in her right ear. I find this to be very odd.
Savvy has been sick since last week. JODY was visiting her Mom in Salisbury so we met at Cracker Barrel on exit 91 for dinner on Sunday night. I took Savvy with me because she is delicious and I can't bear to leave her and because Jody hadn't seen her yet. You know how Cracker Barrel has a smoking section? I find this to be so irritating- as Jody said, it's kind of like having a peeing section in a pool. Grrrrr.... Savvy was her normal, cheerful, happy self when we got there and by the time we left she was sick. My first thought was that she was tired but as I was driving home and thinking about it I came to the conclusion that I think she's allergic to the cigarette smoke. I thought she would surely be better by Monday morning once the smoke was cleared out of her system. No- she's been sick ALL week. My sister is a respiratory therapist and she said that if Savvy is allergic to cigarette smoke and if she's inherited my asthma (Mom and Sarah have it too) that the smoke would create an inflammatory response in her respiratory system that could then turn into a cold or even bronchtitus. Poor Savvy- I feel so bad! Sarah has bronchtitus twice this year from cigarette smoke. So now I'm thinking- hmm- Savvy's allergic to oatmeal, she's got some kind of pollen allergies and now probably cigarette smoke. I spoke with the pediatrician about it on Friday while we were there and the doctor agreed with me- it appears that she may have some allergy problems and I need to be especially careful about delaying any peanuts or seafood. ugh. poor baby.
OTHER GOOD STUFF
When I took this picture I suddenly had this moment of perfect clarity- in the blink of an eye he'll be 18 years old and pulling out of the driveway, possibly on the real thing....
oh how I wish I could make time just STOP. I want to stay right here, right now with a houseful of little kids. It's going by to fast.
Speaking of stopping time... Savvy got her SECOND TOOTH yesterday, also on the bottom! She's got two tiny little chiclets pushing through.
2. When was the last time you cried? Wednesday night I burst into tears (happy ones!) when I found out that a good friend was pregnant.
3. Do you like your handwriting? Mostly yes.
4. What is your favorite lunch meat? Turkey. Although for some odd reason when I'm pregnant I crave Pastrami. And, no, this isn't an announcement. I wish.
5. Do you have kids? Three so far.
6. If you were another person would you be friends with you? Of course. Please, who could not love me? I'm so charming. (said completely tongue-in-cheek). Seriously, probably, I would. I have some good qualities but I know I can be aggravating some times for sure.
7. Do you use sarcasm a lot? I don't know if I'd say a lot. Occasionally.
8. Do you still have your tonsils? No.
9. Would you bungee jump? Not in a million years, not for a million dollars, no how, no way, not an option.
10. What is your favorite cereal? True confession time. I know I'm supposed to like adult cereals. You know, healthy ones like Special K, which is, by the way, a highly suspicious sort of breakfast fare. Truthfully though? What I really love is kid cereal. Cocoa Krispies. Cookie Crisp. Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Kip likes Cap'n Crunch with Crunch Berries.
11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? No.
12. Do you think you are strong? I'm a (former) Marine. Of course I am.
13. What is your favorite ice cream? Chocolate with peanut butter swirl from Baskin Robbins or Ben and Jerry's/
14. What is the first thing you notice about people? How friendly, engaging they are or aren't.
15. Red or pink? Red
16. What is the thing that you like least about yourself? I am to quick to anger. :(
17. Who do you miss the most? Gramma.
19. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? Jeans and sneakers.
20. Have you ever re-gifted? Yes. For our Circle 8 Christmas party.
21. What are you listening to right now? Kids are all sleeping so the house is quiet.
22. If you were a crayon what color would you be? Red, of course.
23. Favorite smells? Leaves burning in the fall, gasoline...
24. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Paw Paw
25. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Of course!
26. Favorite sports to watch? Hockey
30. Favorite food? Any sort of GOOD pasta and red sauce.
31. Scary movies or happy endings? Happy Endings. I have a vivid imagination + I've got the Fairchild paranoia so scary movies make it impossible for me to sleep.
32. Last movie you watched? I cannot even remember. We've been out three times since Savvy was born. Once to meet with our Financial Advisor, once for a Sunday School Christmas Party and once to pay our taxes. I don't think these count much. :(
33. What color shirt are you wearing? red.
34. Summer or winter? Both. It's spring that I'm not fond of. LOVE fall.
35. Hugs or kisses? Depends on who's giving them. ;)
36. Favorite dessert? Chocolate. OH- or, homemade Apple pie made with apples from NY. I only get one a year but oh, the mighty deliciousness of it all.
39. What book are you reading now? Teach Them Diligently by Lou Priolo. I'm about to start "Raising Godly Tomatoes" with Christina and Suzanne (we're reading it together) and "Heaven at Home" for bookclub next month.
40. What is on your mousepad? I'm not using one.
41. What did you watch on tv last night? CSI
42. Favorite sound? Savvy laughing at Kip. They have this kicking thing they do every night and she will laugh so hard, it is just hysterical.
43. Rolling stones or Beatles? Beatles.
44. What is the furthest you have been from home? Europe.
45. Do you have a special talent? I can't think of anything. (I just asked Kip- he said cooking, raising kids and organization. awww- he gets MAJOR points for that!)
Part I: It Begins With You, continued. "Charles Parkhurst put it this way: "Home interprets heaven. Home is heaven for beginners."
"To get a clear vision for what your home can be, then, consider what the Bible says about what Christ's future millennial kingdom and heaven are like."
"One of the first things we learn...is that it's a place of beauty." -Here she goes on to talk about doing what we can to beautify our homes through decoration, candles, flowers, music, etc.
"And even more important, a home that gives a foretaste of heaven is a home that is emotionally safe, where each person's dignity and feelings are protected.
"What else do we know about heaven that can serve as a model for our earthly homes? ...."
I'm paraphrasing the following- 1. A gathering place
2. Relationships
3. An orderly place "Behind all the beauty and celebration is a serene but energetic sense of order, a comforting sense that everything is as it should be..." 4. A place of truth
5. A welcoming, hospitable place "where guests are treated like family and family are treated like special guests...There is always a little something set aside for visitors- a snack in the freezer, some space in a closet, an extra place at the table. The house is kept reasonably clean and ready, and the heart is kept open enough to welcome company even if the house isn't completely clean." 6. A place where God is present and God rules "worship and praise are primary activities."
"For even though my home will not last forever, the souls who live here and visit here certainly will."
"HELP!" "If you say yes to the Lord's calling to make your home holy ground, he will provide you with an adequate support system to make it happen...not likely to arrive in the form of a maid standing on your doorstep..."
"Even Mary, as far as we know, didn't have specific daily instructions from an angel as she went about shaping the home where her Son was going to grow. Instead, she had to plan."
"Looking for help...is key. God truly does provide, but he also expects us to participate. He wants us to actively involved in what he is doing in our lives. It's up to use to ask for help, to keep our eyes peeled for the Lord's provision....God provided scriptural guidance...but we have to actually read Scripture, figure out how it might be speaking to our lives, and then obey."
"God expects us to participate in our own help, and that means we sometimes have to dig deep."
"If you seek it, you will find a branch of the Lord's family that offers you support...Even more specifically, within Christ's family you will find your most important sources of help: mentors and sisters."
"Ask the Lord to open your eyes to possible mentors and sisters."
"And though your husband is meant to be your partner, your lover, and your leader, he is ill-equipped to be your sole source of support in running your household. Yes, you can support each other mutually. But unless you rely on other sources- your Bible, the Holy Spirit, your mentors, your sisters- you risk pulling your husband down instead of mutually supporting him."
"I truly believe that part of your responsibility as the shaper of your home is to take advantage of the help God makes available in whatever form it might take."
"But in our culture, I fear a "support group" has come to mean a "sympathy group," a place where people with similar problems go to air their frustrations. And while that may have its place, that's really not the kind of support you need for shaping a godly home. By support I don't just mean sympathy or finding someone who understands what your are going through. Instead, the kind of support I mean is a relationship that strengthens you in the Lord and encourages you to do do what he wants you to do." LOVE, love, love the above quote. I think this is SO true!
"You can be sure of two things: First, you are called to be faithful and content in your present role. Second, God has something wonderful in store for you, and he wants you to live in joyful anticipation of that future."
"No matter where you are, you can be confident that God put you there."
"Your home is holy ground, and so are you. You are blessed among women, and God has a plan for you and for your home."
Apr. 1, 2008 - Finding Your Purpose As A Mom- Part I
Finding Your Purpose As A Mom- Part I
Last year I bought the book Finding Your Purpose As A Mom by Donna Otto and have really enjoyed it! I'm reading it a second time for book club and thought I would share some of my favorite passages. There's a lot of wisdom to be gleaned from this book- It's $9 on Amazon- go buy a copy!
The book is divided into four parts: It Begins with You, Making Your Home a Place of Love and Peace, Making Your Home a Place of Growth and Making Your Home a Place of Service.
Part I: It Begins With You
"I've come to cherish the understanding that my home and my family are not only God's gifts to me, but a holy trust. They are central to God's purpose for my life- his chosen vehicles for bringing about the future. Home is a place for me to live and to leave a legacy- to build something lasting on holy ground"
"I want to help you make heart-deep decisions about who you are in relation to your home and family...and who God wants you to be. How you use this will depend on your circumstances...but the heart of of what I want to share with you is not what to do but who you are and how you think."
"I hope I can sway you to think both intentionally and counterculturally about what it means to be the mood setter in your house."
"Many women today are completely unaware that shaping a nurturing home environment, like any other important endeavor, takes planning, purpose, organization, and time. IF we want our homes to be warm and welcoming and to be successful at raising saints for the King, we need to arrange for that to happen. We need to do it on purpose."
"Countercultural thinking is absolutely critical....We live in a society that features entire cable channels about "house beautiful", whetting our appetites for homemade bread...and crisp, fragerant hand-embroidered sheets-yet seems to assume we can do it all in a few hours in the evenings after a hard day at the office."
"It's a culture that glorifies "nurturing children"...and deeply distrusts people who choose to make nurturing their entire career."
"Any change in your environment has to begin with the woman you are. It must begin with your understanding of who you are as a woman of God, with your vision for what he wants in your life to be and your plan for making that vision a realty. God has gifted you with the ability and the responsibility to shape your home to his glory. And this is true no matter what your circumstance are- whether you're married or single, employed outside the home or not, surrounded by children or looking forward someday to a family of your own. And it's true whether you are a mature, insightful woman who has made all the right choices or you are looking around at the ruins of your own home life and wondering how in the world you can ever get there from here."
"You may find yourself in circumstances vastly different from what you always imagined...None of us can predict the course of our lives, but we can choose to put our lives in the hands of the One who knows our end from our beginning."
"God's intention overall is to bless you- in your life as a woman, and in your life at home."
The children were quiet. I knew this wasn't good so I went looking for them. They *were* playing outside in the backyard. They snuck into the kitchen, snatched the pan of brownies, hauled them outside onto the deck and finished them off. Luckily there were only four left in the pan when they got to it.
It was pretty funny so I took pictures of them and then promptly disciplined them for the snatching and sneaking of it all. Talk about mixed messages.
Another Brownie Story
When Kip's Mom was in the hospital last summer, I sent a plate of brownies with Kip one night when he went up to visit. The next night Kip and I took the children up to visit and several brownies were still left. Nathan spotted the plate o' brownies sitting on the window sill. He wouldn't ask for them, that would be impolite. So here's what we heard:
Nathan: I like brownies, do you like brownies?
Nathan: Brownies sure are tasty!
Nathan: Brownies will fit in my mouth!
ohmyword- that last one- "brownies will fit in my mouth" was SO, SO funny- I can still hear him saying it.
BIG GIRL STUFF: Savvy had lots of new things last week-
Monday- First tooth.
Tuesday- First pair of shoes
Wednesday- First diaper rash
She's 7 1/2 months old now! Time sure is flying by with her...
OH- We visited a new church yesterday and I LOVED it-
FIRST- it's a family integrated church which means no nursery/Sunday School. WOOHOO! EVERYONE keeps their children in service with them. It was so awesome.
SECONDLY- There appears to be lots of stay-at-home Moms and homeschoolers.
THIRDLY- They purposely keep the church smallish- 300 members. Once they start getting over 300 members, they do a church plant elsewhere. Right now they are working on putting a church in Asheboro. I like that they are intentionally smaller- it's so much easier to build a sense of community that way.
FOURTH- people appear to discipline the way that we do.
I felt at home right away- I hope Kip will want to visit again. The service is usually 1 1/2 hours long but yesterday it ran way over- almost 2 hours. Which was way longer than Kip wants to sit in service and I agree with him. That's not the norm so maybe he'll want to go again. The kids did great sitting for that long. We only had one to take one trip out of the sanctuary for some additional motivation to sit quietly and after that we didn't have any more problems. ;)
Friday, March 7th: I left Nathan and Savvy with a babysitter and took Mary with me for some one-on-one time. We went to a large consignment sale, the kitchen store, out to lunch and the toy store.
Me: Mary, when we're done here (the kitchen store) we'll go get some lunch. Mary: Can we go to Chick-Fiw-way? Me: You want to go to Chick-Fil-A? (thinking, really? what would she even eat there???) Mary: Yes Me: What would you eat at Chick-Fil-A? Mary:Jelly and ketchup.
There you have it folks, my kids like going to fast food joints so they can eat condiments.
Now, on the the good stuff: LINKS!
I Love You More was just the kick in the pants that I needed. Don't miss this great post.
I can't stand how fast she's growing, how quickly the time's going by. My baby is disappearing right in front of my eyes and there's not a single thing I can do about it other than enjoy every second of her babyhood.
This is from a November 2005 blog article. THIS IS NOT MY WORK. I'm not sure where it came from but thought it was to excellent not to share.
Nov. 17, 2005 - Let the Dads be Dads......
If you let the Dads be Dads I have found we have more freedom to be Moms. It really is a shame that society today says that Dads really have to act more like Moms. We (referring to Americans in general not necessarily the population here at HSB) spend all their lives trying to feminize our boys (sit still, read this book, don’t wrestle during school, here have some Ritalin) that we are shocked when our men don’t stand up to injustices in the world. We wonder where the leaders went. How come nobody bats an eye when the little old lady gets her purse yanked from her by a thug on the street. Why does a mayor of a major city have the option of saying “I just got caught in the moment.” When he is called on a making flat out lies on national television? How come men in government, business and families don’t know how to say “Here, it is me. The buck stops here. I take FULL responsibility!” Could it be because we were so busy making our boys act like girls that they are not sure about the hows, whats and whys of making that type of commitment?
Then we marry them off and tell them to be kind to the children, don’t raise your voice to the children, don’t spank the children, don’t rough house with the children…..be a MOM! Be a soft hearted, rocking in a chair, snuggly, soft spoken type person. In this day if you are a man and you are not acting like a mom there are all manner of persons (the well paid and not so well paid) that are willing to tell you that you are on the short road to ruining your children. Doncha know a harsh word is worth $2000 in therapy at age 20? An injury while rough housing is worth at least $4000. I hope you are saving for these eventualities if you think you are going to raise your kids “the way your dad raised you”.
I used to be one of those Moms that wanted my husband to act like a Mom. What Mom wouldn’t? It is what I am comfortable with. After all I know my kids, I know what they need. I’m with them all day, they are used to the way I interact with them. Shouldn’t my dh bend his personality to accommodate me and the kids and what we are comfortable with? I mean really, what does he know of the kids’ fragile temperaments? He is not around and how could he be qualified? So I would follow him around, trying to pick up the pieces with statements like “Oh, she does not understand when you say it that way……say this…..” or “Jeffrey, you are coming across as too harsh.” Or later in private I would set him straight “Don’t you think you over reacted/played too hard/didn’t give ___enough attention?” I wanted to dictate every interaction with HIS children!! What a power trip I was on! What a horrible way to rip down my dh and make him less than eager to even try spending time with the kids!
One day my darling, wonderful, forever patient (yes sometimes sharp tongued) husband said “Can I just be the Dad here?” to which I brilliantly replied “huh?” “Can I be the Dad? Can I be a little harsher than you? Can I be a disciplinarian? Can I talk to the kids without you jumping to conclusions?” And I had a light bulb moment!! I did not grow up with a father. I had no idea that what he was doing was typical Dad stuff. But apparently Jeff thought it was. And here he was just begging me to let him be himself!! What kind of pressure must I have put him under his first few years of fatherhood. I stepped back and imagined myself trying to live up to trying to be Jeff. Just as I expected Dad to interact in the same way I did, would I have been happy being forced to be just like him? I think the pressure would have caused me to not even try. I just could not have done it. After a moment of thinking I said “yes, you are right. You go be the Dad. I won’t correct you anymore.” So for better or worse I set him free in the house. He never abused the kids. No that was never the issue. These were small things I now realize. After I let lose the reigns on my husband I saw him step up to the plate. He was free to do as he pleased. It hurt my tongue and I think I still have scars there to show for that first year when I was getting used to have a Dad in the house. But it was oh so worth it. Jeff has blossomed in how he communicates and interacts with the kids. And because I had nothing to do with it, I never nagged or corrected or pretended I could do it better, I can give all the glory to God for working through my dh to bring forth a man that is a FABULOUS father to his plethora of children. No really, you can’t imagine!!
Several weeks after my conversation with Jeff, when I was right in the thick of trying to butt out of his realm, I did something very nice for the kids. I don’t remember what it was but it was completely undeserved, a big treat for absolutely no reason. I remember Jeff questioning me. He did not understand why I went through the trouble to give the kids something that they had not really earned and probably would not appreciate like it should be. I was feeling highly discouraged because I ENJOY doing acts of service and gift giving for my kids (and dh too). I am quick to forget that so-n-so pinched his brother today so he does not need desert. What I remember is “Oh this desert is so yummy I want to bless everyone (including my neighbor and his brother in Toledo) with a huge helping of this delicious desert.” So Jeff started in on me. And I started second guessing myself. It seemed so natural for me to want to do nice things for the kids. How could I stop that? Why were we disagreeing about this and what could be done about it? Then it struck me, he wanted me to act like a Dad. He so loved his position as judge and keeper of the peace and meter of punishments (because that is what good Dads do in his mind) that he wanted me to be excited about that part of child rearing too. I was being asked to be something I am not. I had started to tear up out of frustration. Then I had my revelation. With shaky voice and moist eyes, almost pleading I said “Can I be the Mom? This is what Moms like to do. Will you let me be the Mom? I promised to let you be the Dad.” Then I saw the light go on over his head. All the confusion melted away and we defined just a little more clearly our roles here in this crazy family. Jeff wrapped his arms around me and said “Yes, yes of course you can be the mom. Give them all two pieces of cake if you like!”
We had the kids "year" pictures taken at Portrait Innovations. Mary's 4 year picture, Nathan's 3 year picture and Savvy's 6 month pictures. We got some really good pictures this time!
We have some excellent pictures of Savvy if I can find a way to post them- photobucket won't let me show naked baby pictures??? I've got to find another picture host....
Group Shot of all three!
Beautiful Mary Madison
LOOK at that mischievous grin... doesn't it just look like "TROUBLE"!
Kip helped me draw some "treasure maps" in the morning before he left for work. Then I snuck around the yard hiding "treasure". I hid a bag of "jewels", a box of new colored pencils and a snack- which is a rare treat in our house. After getting the kids dressed, we headed out for some treasure hunting.
The Maps
The Treasure Hunters
Consulting the map....
Where do we go next??
The Mailbox!
FINALLY, I'm back to blogging! I've got quite a few posts in the can so be looking for daily updates!
I've got some SIMPLY GORGEOUS pictures of puddin' to post.
Pirates Hunting Treasure
The Great Brownie Escapade
A series on the book "Finding Your Purpose As A Mom" by Donna Otto
Some Good links
Let the Dads be Dads...
plus a few other things.
I'll leave you with some puddy-liciousness.
Just look at that sweet baby.
Can you see how red her tummy is? The pediatrician says it's hives and that she is likely allergic to the oatmeal cereal we've been giving her. We're switching to rice cereal and we'll see how that goes.
Look how gorgeous these little chublettes are...
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her little chubs. Is she the cutest baby ever or what? Is it possible that I'm biased?
A reposting of an old post.... I needed the reminder and thought I would share it with you guys as well.
Being Your Child's Friend...
FIRST, read this most excellent article entitled Have Your Cake And Eat It Too
SECOND, my thoughts on it from this post in September.
I've been really struggling lately with one of my children. I came across these quotes today from Michael Pearl and it was just the reminder I needed.
"Be a friend. Do with them the things that they enjoy doing. Be caring. Be more ready with your ear than you are with your mouth. Be very sensitive to their concerns...."
"Parent, above all, you must cultivate that kind of a relationship with your child. It is painful to sin against your best buddy. If you can maintain this bond with your child you will never have a problem child."
"A spanking is made effective not by it's severity, but by it's certainty." (There's that consistency thing again.)
"I rule benevolently. Love and respect are my primary tools of persuasion. I lead, not command from a distant bunker."
"A child can't rebel against his best buddy....If you will praise and reward the desired behavior, there will be very little undesirable behavior. You will be speaking ten times the encouraging word for every rebuke......If your child is not doing anything praiseworthy then take his hand to walk beside you until he does do something worthy."
And finally Pearl says:
"Check yourself for balance by asking the question, 'Do my children view me as a stern and severe disciplinarian or as a cheerful and wonderful companion and guide?' Your judgments and punishments should be lost in the many hours of happy communion."
To read more of what he has to say about parenting, check out their website: No Greater Joy
The thing that I think most people miss is that it's possible to be both your child's friend and their parent. It's not an either/or choice. I parent- I discipline and train my children accordingly. But I think it's equally important for them to see that I enjoy them- that I like being with them and doing things with them, that I'm interested in the things they are doing. What Pearl says here "It is painful to sin against your best buddy. If you can maintain this bond with your child you will never have a problem child." is true. I think it's one of the big reasons I never got to wild as a teenager- I would not have wanted to disappoint my mother. And you know what??? This is a big part of the problem that I am dealing with in reference to my difficulties with one child. I'm wondering if a little more time spent "tying heartstrings" would help on the discipline front.
Here's what Pearl recommends and what I *clearly* need to work on with this particular child:
"If you sense that the strings of fellowship have been cut, you will want to tie new ones. Here are just a few suggestions on tying strings:
*First and foremost, look at your children and smile.
*Enjoy their company and demonstrate it by inviting them to go with you when the only reason is a desire to have them with you. For the young, look at pictures or read a book together.
*Sit on the floor and play. Tumble and roll, laugh, and tickle.
*Take them on outings of adventure, excitement and "danger".
*Take a ten-minute trip to the treehouse to see their creations.
*Let them lead you out to the swing and show you their latest stunt.
*Make a kite or build a birdhouse together.
*Mother, teach your children to do everything that must be done in the house. Make it a fun experience. Don't use the very young as slave labor, or they will experience burnout. Let them bake cookies at three years of age. When you are sewing, let the young ones sit on the floor and cut out doll clothes. When you are painting, let them take a few swipes.
The idea is for them to feel that they are very special to you, and ofr them to know that you find great satisfaction and delight in sharing with them. If you order your life so your children feel needed, they will desire to walk in harmony with you."
Nathan playing with a set of motorized building blocks- you can use them to make an airplane, helicopter, train or race car.
Mary with the same blocks.
Oh! Look at this cuteness! How did she sneak in here???
Nathan wearing his Papa's workboots- he's got some big shoes to fill!
It has just occurred to me that some of you may be wondering why the boy is not wearing pants in any of these pictures- we're still in the throes of potty training. It's much easier without pants on so we usually forgo them at home. ;)
Kip put the baby down on the bean bag chair and she fell asleep there. As the evening wore on, she kept slipping farther and farther down....
She woke up when she got almost all the way down to the floor. Or, it may have been Kip and I laughing at her sliding down. Either way- look at that happy face!
A MOST gorgeous baby!
Her funny little "O" face...
The expression on her face gives me much amusement....
Does anyone besides me find it abnormal that children would choose the grapes over some perfectly delicious homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven???
Monday, 2/25: So, I was making scalloped chicken for dinner tonight with my "helpers". I was getting ready to cut up the green pepper to add to the sauce when....
Nathan: Mom, can I have some of that?
Me: Some of what, Nathan?
Nathan: That! (points to the green pepper)
Me: Sure, go ahead. (thinking to self, will he really eat it??)
Nathan: How do I eat it?
Me: You bite it.
Nathan: Like an apple? You bite it like an apple?
Me: Sure, go ahead.
H e LOVED it. I only needed 1/4 cup of chopped green pepper so I cut off the bottom part and he ate the rest of the green pepper. I was floored.
Mary wanted to eat some of the raw onion. She wasn't much of a fan.
Mary's Latest Funny:
Mary: I want a drink!
Daddy: What's the magic word? (trying to get her to say please)
Mary: Abracadabra!
Look at the MUCHLY delicious soup. Why does everyone think making homemade soup is so hard?? It's oh-so-easy.
THE SOUP
Two to four chicken breasts, cooked and cut up in chunks. Adjust how much chicken you want to how much soup you're going to make, how meaty you like your soup, etc.
1 can petite cut diced tomatoes- olive oil and garlic flavor
1 box of chicken broth
One onion, finely diced
One celery rib, finely diced
1/2 cup of corn
1/3 cup cooked rice (the rice will expand and soak up the soup SO, even though this doesn't look like a lot of rice, it really is enough).
Generous amounts of salt and pepper.
Put it all together in a pot. Stir it up. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add water until you get to the amount of soup that you want to make. Let simmer for at least an hour but 3-5 hours if you want.
There, that wasn't hard was it?
Now, I know what you're thinking. Who just has cooked chicken breasts sitting around? You think you will have to cook some chicken breasts before you can make soup, which would just be a pain. Also, make a pot of rice, just to get that little bit of rice? Same thing with the corn. Now it seems like a lot of work.
Not so my friends. 'Cause here's what you do. A day or two before you have soup, you are going to make Creamy Crockpot Chicken, which is another MUCHLY delicious recipe. Creamy Crockpot Chicken
1 16 oz. container of sour cream
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix
Chicken Breasts, however many you want. Put in enough for supper tonight and then an additional 2-4 chicken breasts for the soup.
Now, what's that? You don't like sour cream? Me either. I think it is a highly suspicious and nasty food. I would never voluntarily touch the stuff. Nasty, nasty stuff. Trust me, you can't taste it at all or I would never even touch this recipe. If you know me at all, you know how picky I can be so TRUST me, you can't taste it.
Here's your ingredients.
Mix them all together, throw them in the crockpot, put the chicken in, cover it, and cook it on low all day.
Now, end of the day, you open the lid and see that there is some very suspicious activity going on in your crockpot. It will look like this.
That's okay. Just stir it up.
NOW- make some white rice to serve with the chicken. The best choice would be some delicious Basmati Rice which you can find at any grocery store. That big bag in the link can be purchased for $8 at Costco. Just so you know. You can find Basmati rice at almost any grocery store but if you can't find it, any old white rice will do.
Fix up some corn to go with your meal as well. Put some rice on a serving dish, place the chicken on top. Spoon a little of the sauce over it. Dress it up with pepper and parsley. I was out of parsley so there isn't any in the picture below but it would look better with it.
We have special holiday/seasonal books that are kept put away all year long and only pulled out a few weeks prior to that particular holiday or season. Here's a few of our Valentine's Books that we've been reading. "The Ballad of Valentine" in particular is VERY cute- you sing the book to the tune of the old song "Oh My Darlin'".
Last week we made our own Valentines. The kids are to young to cut out paper hearts so I bought these doily hearts in red, white, pink and gold and some Valentines stickers. The kids chose the colors, glued them together and put stickers on them. Here's a few of the Valentine's we made.
Then on Saturday, 2/9, we took a little "field trip" to the post office to mail out all of our Valentines. They enjoyed going to the post office and talking to anyone and everyone they met. Here they are getting ready to go.
Tuesday, 2/12: We made our Valentines Gifts- Rainbow Crayons. I wanted to do this in a heart shaped muffin tin but I couldn't find one anywhere so we had to just use the regular, circular muffin tins. oh well.
(Kip peeled the paper off all the crayons one night while he was watching TV so that it would be done ahead of time). The kids broke the crayons into little pieces.
Then we separated them by color.
Then each kid filled their muffin tin with the different colors, mixing them all together.
Then we put them in the oven and baked them at 170 degrees for about 30 minutes. Here they are watching them melt.
Just out of the oven, all melty.
About 20 minutes later, hardened now. Then you just pop them out of the muffin tins the same way you'd pop ice cubes out of an ice cube tray. Easy.
Finished crayons.
Wednesday, 2/13: WE BAKED! Mary loves baking and she loves cupcakes so we made Valentines Cupcakes. Also, we used the heart shaped cake pan and the bundt pan from her little Magic Cabin baking set.
Finished cupcakes. Kids helped with making the batter and spooning it into the muffin tin. I, obviously, did the frosting during their nap time. They helped with the sprinkles and candy hearts. The pink frosting is home made buttercream frosting and the white frosting is store bought. Notice Mary's little heart cake and bundt cake- aren't they cute?
Valentine's Morning- we treat birthday and minor holidays the same way we do Christmas morning. The kids come downstairs to a surprise. Mary and Nathan each got a pair of binoculars and a chocolate frog.
Savvy got some new outfits. Cute....
Seeing the table with Valentines presents on it for the first time...
Daddy brought home a special breakfast for Valentines Day- heart shaped doughnuts from Krispy Kreme.
Look at this little beauty- just taking in all the commotion...
Kip brought me flowers, a gift certificate for a manicure and chocolates. AND- the BREAD BASKET I've been wanting in celery green. He actually took the bread basket to the florist and had the flower arrangement done in the basket- very pretty!
Until my baby leaves behind her "little" babyhood and turns 6 months old. The infant stage is behind us now and soon she'll be rolling over, sitting up, crawling and then walking. I'm enjoying every minute with her- I've got so little of her babyhood left. :(
The Last Two Days Were HORRID On Sunday there was a big wind storm here with gusts up to 50mph. A huge tree in the ravine across the street was knocked down and took a power pole with it. Two transformers blew and the power line caught on fire, setting the woods on fire. (For those of you who know us, this was ACROSS THE STREET!). The fire burned about five acres and came within 30 feet of our neighbors home. Rick and Anne weren't home but luckily PR. was working at the back of his property, spotted the fire and called 911. The firemen told Rick that if PR hadn't seen the fire, that Rick may have lost his home. Craziness. Anyway, because of the fire, we lost power on Sunday night, around 7pm or so. A neighbor called and said that in order to replace the transformers and lines, Duke Power was going to have to turn the power off. I quickly filled three bottles with warm water so that Savvy would at least have room-temperature bottles. We thought the power would be off for an hour so. Nope- 24 hours and it was COLD. Cold and dark. We all slept in the living room around the fire place- it was a long miserable night for Kip and I. Last night we went to Cracker Barrel for a hot dinner and to sit somewhere warm and bright. We stayed a long time... The power finally came on around 8:30pm last night. We kept the kids up another hour trying to get the upstairs warmed up before we put them to bed. After the heat running for an hour, it was still only 66 degrees upstairs. That should give you an idea of how cold it was here- I'm guessing it was in the 50's in the house.
Monday, February 4th
Nathan playing with Castle Logix from Magic Cabin . You use the blocks to try to form the patterns in the picture. The book gets progressively harder as you work through it.
Didn't he do a good job???
Another one...
Mary Mad coloring in her *giant* coloring and sticker book from Aunt Saro. What a nice birthday gift!
On Sunday, Feb. 3 I decided it was finally time to give Savvy her first taste of baby food. She's been nearly finishing an 8 oz. bottle lately so I knew it was time to start giving her baby food. We started with Oatmeal- here's the pictures.
Do you need help choosing a Presidential Candidate?
Are you confused about where you stand on issues like immigration, health care, the war, gay rights?
Do you know which candidate most closely matches you on the issues you feel are important?
Glassbooth helps you discern which issues are most important to you, then helps you determine how you feel about those issues and shows you which candidate most closely represents your beliefs.
Great website, quick and super easy to use. It'll take you 2 minutes to do and you'll feel a little better knowing more solidly where you stand and which candidate you want to support. GLASSBOOTH.ORG
My fabulous friend Suzanne had a "moment" yesterday- Look at this picture below, do you see anything that isn't as it should be???
How about the slippers on her feet??? She got up that morning, showered, dressed, fixed her hair and makeup (quite the feat when you have a 4yo, 3yo, 1yo and 2 WEEK old) , got all the kids dressed and made it to bookclub by 9:30. However, in all the rush, she forgot to take her slippers off and put her shoes on. She arrived at bookclub in all her glory, including her slippers.
Mary turned four years old on Sunday. Pictures of her birthday will be posted soon.
Look at this beautiful baby with the big blue eyes....
When I wasn't looking, she grew up into this big four year old!
Mary Madison...
-loves spinach. It's her favorite vegetable. Her favorite dinner meal if spinach stuffed shells with red sauce or spinach ravioli with red sauce.
-her favorite meal of the day is lunch. pronounced "looonch". Every day she wants a Peanut Butter and Jelly with some sort of fruit and crackers on the side.
-loves to read books
-loves any and all schoolwork
-enjoys craft activities and likes coloring, scissors, glue, etc.
-is a "good cooker!" Mary will tell me that she is a "good cooker!" which means she is a good chef. I love that this is a part of her identity- that she thinks of herself as a good cook.
-enjoys story telling.
-loves imaginative play (playing with her doll house, pretending to be a super hero, etc.)
-still loves her "meme". Lately she has added "baby kitty" and an all-white cat named "sprinkles" to the mix.
-is a party girl. She loves people and having company over. She could go without food or sleep for 24 hours, I think, if she were in the middle of a party.
-adores her big cousin Alec. She thinks the sun rises and sets in Alec's presence.
-her best buddy is her brother. :)
--is a morning person. No matter how early we peek into her room to check on her she is always sitting up in her bed, playing with her toys, bright eyed and ready to go.
-her love language is quality time. I think her favorite thing to do is probably to spend one-on-one time with Mom cooking.
Wednesday mornings are a special time in our house. It's "Poptart Wednesday" the one morning of the week that the kids are allowed poptarts for breakfast. They look forward to it alllll week. The funny thing is that Mary's has started learning her days of the week because of it. Tuesday is the day before Poptart Wednesday, Thursday is the day after when we go to bible study at Community Bible Church and Alec and Aunt Saro come for dinner that night, Friday is Ms. Jessy, etc.
I ordered a couple of science activities from Magic Cabin including this Root Viewer. After poptarts this morning, we did our root viewer activity. The kids had a blast.... sort of.... Here's some pictures:
Nathan filling his test tube with dirt...
Mary filling her test tube with dirt
The Finished Product... now we're waiting for the carrots, onions and radishes to grow. I think the kids will really enjoy watching this. You might wonder why there are no pictures of them planting the seeds and finishing the project up... That would be because poor Mary Madison has a horrible gag reflex and throws up really easily. For some reason the wet dirt triggered her gag reflex and she threw up. :( So that was the end of that for her.
Once we finshed with the root viewer, I spent some time taking pictures of this little beauty. Isn't she gorgeous??? I love the puddin'.... I adore the puddin'. I wouldn't trade her for the world.
This is a much looser schedule than those I've done in the past. With a Savvy still so young I needed more flexibility to meet her needs when they arise and not always feel like I'm "behind" because of it. A few explanations:
- Where I've noted "specific activity inside if weather not good" that means that I'm pulling something out of the toy closet for them to play with- something that's not a toy they get to play with everyday. Yesterday it was all the play-doh and it's accessories. Today it's a huge tub of duplos. Sometimes I might set up the castle and knights, etc.
-For "schooltime", Mary is working through her Rod and Staff Preschool books. Nathan is working on colors and shapes and more manual skills like using scissors, glue, etc. I haven't been able to find the preschool books that I used with Mary when she was his age for him yet so right we're just doing a few random things with him.
-"Read Aloud" time is when we're reading our Rod and Staff Bible Stories book as well as any other picture books or story books that we choose. This is also when they practice sitting for church.
7:00-7:30am
All: Breakfast
7:30-9:00
All: Free play, get dressed, bathroom
Savvy: tummytime
9:00-9:30
Big Kids: continued free play
Savvy: change diaper, nurse/bottle, go down for Nap 1
9:30-10:30
Big Kids: Outside or specific activity inside if weather not good
Savvy: Napping
10:30-11:00
Big Kids: Schoolwork
Savvy: Napping
11:0-11:30
BigKids: freeplay
Savvy: Get up from nap, changed, in bumbo seat
11:30-12:30pm
All: Lunch
12:30-1:00
All: Read Aloud/Practice sitting
1:00-4:00
BigKids: Napping
1:00-1:30
Savvy: change her diaper, nurse/bottle, go down for Nap 2
1:30-3:30
Savvy: napping
3:30-4:00
Savvy: Get up from nap, change, tummytime/ 1-1 time with Mom
4:00
BigKids: Get up from nap, potty, shoed and combed
4:00-5:30
BigKids: Outside or specific activity inside if weather not good
Savvy: tummytime or outside if appropriate
5:30-6:00
BigKids: cartoons
Savvy: bottle,OPTIONAL: short 3rd Nap
6:00-7:30
All: Dinner, play time with Daddy
7:30
BigKids: PJ’s, brush teeth, in bed
8:00
Savvy: changer diaper, pj’s, nurse/bottle then bed
The Other Kids... or, Why We Don't (usually) Do Play Dates
We're just about the only family I know who currently does not do:
-play dates with other kids
-group care such as Mother's Morning Out or Preschool
-organized sports- so far no dance classes, kiddie soccer, children's choir, etc.
You know, my kids aren't perfect. But, here's the deal. Not only are my kids not perfect, neither are anyone else's kids either. So it isn't that I don't want Nathan to play with Johnny because I think he'll corrupt my perfect little Nathan who never does anything wrong (we all know those Moms out there who really do think their kid is just perfect). Nathan (or any of my kids) certainly has his own particular set of bad habits. And Johnny has is own set of bad habits. It's my experience that kids don't generally influence each other for the good. What usually happens when Johnny and Nathan play together is that Nathan picks up Johnny's bad habits and Johnny goes home having picked up a few of Nathan's bad habits. Neither has really benefited from the time together.
This isn't to say that we never do play dates and will never do soccer, dance classes or Sunday School. Instead of play dates, we prefer getting together with another family so that we're all visiting together. Four sets of parental eyes on the children instead of just one has *got* to be better.
As for a Mother's Morning Out program, I just can't see that I would ever be okay with that. I've worked in day care enough to know that any kind of group care/preschool is just not for me. And really, what would I do with myself anyway? I guess the house would be super clean and the laundry perpetually caught up but otherwise I can't see the value in it. I have no intention of ever going back to teaching so I'd be at home, paying someone else to watch my kids- just doesn't make much common sense to me.
Organized sports- I've been really thinking about this a lot lately. Is it BEST for our kids to participate? I don't know the answer yet. I'm going to be talking to Kip about that soon and seeking the counsel of someone I admire on the this subject. Maybe I'll post my thoughts about it later when I've found an answer and more fully formed my opinion.
Anyone who knows me IRL, knows of my deep and abiding love of goal setting and list making. We have some good friends who set goals for their family annually and then meet every so often to review their progress Surprisingly, Kip really liked the idea.
Kip and I had been wanting to see The Bucket List and go out to dinner. My Mom came up to babysit last weekend so we could go out. Over a long dinner we came up with some goals for our family in the areas of finances, home, children/family, and faith. Here's a sample of some of our family goals- some are specific for this year and some are more long term goals that may take years to accomplish.
Jewell Family Goals 2008
Financial-
(for privacy reasons, I've not included some of what's on this list)
-Max out Roth IRA’s
-Bump up savings from 10% monthly to 12% monthly
-Set aside money for family vacations
Home-Inside
-Finish closets- install floors and closet organizers
-Bonus room cleaned out
-Finish garage storage room
-Clean out garage
-Replace kitchen cabinets and floors
-Purchase rug for dining room
-Replace dishwasher
Home-Outside
-Round 2 of landscaping
-stone wall and flowers around mailbox
-level and seed backyard
-Add on to storage building
-Build second garage for Kip
-Screen in 2/3 of the deck
Children/Family
-Homeschooling- choose curriculum, begin establishing a schedule
-Chores- establish daily chores for Mary and Nathan
-Nathan- work on obedience
-Mary- work on sass
-Plan more family day trips- zoo, Lazy 5 ranch, train museum, Tweetsie railroad, etc.
Faith
-Join PGBC
-Improve attendance to every other week- the weeks that Kip does not work, go to church
-Improve prayers- move from simple recited prayer, begin adding in what we are thankful for and move towards praying freely.
-Read Bible daily with children- also, use it as an opportunity to train for sitting in chuch
The day begins with admiring the Puddin' in all of her spleniforous cuteness.
School Time: Nathan is coloring a piece of paper blue and pasting foam fish on it to make an ocean scene.
Mary is finding treasure in her oatmeal "ocean". The "treasure" is novelty buttons and fake jewels from Michaels craft store with a good measure of glitter stirred in as well. Then we switched activities. After that Mary worked several pages in her Rod and Staff Preschool Books. Nathan did some coloring while I worked on these with her.
Later we got out our Connectagon from Magic Cabin. Mary made a sun. Nathan made a tower but I didn't get a picture of it.
Mary playing with "Annie". In light of THIS POST and THIS POST we asked Mom to make Mary a Waldorf-style doll for Christmas.
This picture is included entirely for it's cuteness factor. Look at that little Peanut Butter and Jelly face.
All ready to go with her new child-sized pie plates and rolling pin from For Small Hands
Mixing up the dough.... (Pie Crust is soooo easy to make- It's a 2:1 ration of flour to crisco, a little salt and a little orange juice- or water if you don't have OJ.)
It started with very, very bad news. I could not find Nathan. Not good. Where's Nathan?
I thought he was playing with his garage in the living room. Apparently not.
Maybe he's in the study. Nope.
Not upstairs.
He's not in the dining room either. hmmm....
Oh! I know just where to look. I bet he's sneaking into the fridge again. Last time I caught him in the fridge he was pulling out a bowl of peas and carrotts and eating them by the fistful and drinking the juice-water that was in the bottom of the bowl. Cold peas and carrots out of the fridge? yuck. But the boy does love him some vegetables.
I guess I was wrong- the boy isn't here. Where is he????
As I was leaving the kitchen, heading to the front door to make sure he hadn't somehow got out of the house, I caught sight of some bare piggie toes protruding from under the table.
Apparently he decided to go back for round two of his lunch.
Huh. What is that on his face? Do I detect crumbage on his lips? What manner of crumbs could they be?
What, What, What? Is that the bag of cookies I inadvertently left out on the counter???
THE COOKIE THIEF!
He ate almost the whole bag of cookies. I think there were only three or four left.
We have a COOKIE THIEF!
Look at those blue eyes. See that mischievous glint? The long eye lashes? I guess you can figure out that he didn't get in much trouble.
Jan. 7, 2008 - TOYS: What do you allow? What's banned? Why so?
TOYS: What do you allow? What's banned?
THE PARENTING BOARD that I participate on is having a discussion on what types of toys we allow our children to have.
Here's the question as posted by g'smom:
I find this [another discussion on Barbies and Polly Pockets] so fascinating! I thought it would be fun to discuss these questions:
1. what toys are banned from your house? (or will be banned)
2. what toys do you allow that others might ban?
What think ye oh internet ladies? What toys do you allow or not allow? (now or in the future)
For us, I think it comes down to two things.
FIRST: Read THIS POST on children's appetites (referring to things, possessions, attitudes etc.)
SECOND: Read THIS POST on what is "BEST" vs. what is "good enough".
As an example: Barbie Dolls- Do they feed an "appetite" that I want to encourage? Probably not. Are they "good enough"? Probably so. Are the BEST? No. What is BEST for our daughters (and I'm speaking of our specific daughters in our family- your answer might be different for your daughters) in terms of toys- probably baby dolls, kitchens and play food, play doh and crayons, puzzles, blocks, doll houses, dress up clothes, construction type toys (wedgits, duplos, etc.), outdoor toys such as ride-ons, trikes, balls, etc.
How do I determine what is BEST? Does it encourage a behavior or an attitude that I would like to see in them as adults?
Examples of toys we currently allow:
-Big trucks- especially the BRUDER TRUCKS
-Little People stuff- house, garage, farm, Noah's ark... I wish we had the airport.
-Plastic zoo and farm animals
-Cash register
-Telephone
-Building systems- Duplos, Wedgits, blocks, legos, lincoln logs, etc.
-Baby doll and her things
-Kitchen set with play food
-Pirate ship, pirate swords (more in the searching for treasure, ahoy matey, land-ho vein than the rape and pillage vein.... )
-Dress up stuff- Especially THESE CLOAKS because they are so versatile- each child has one.
-Real toys- Mary has a rolling pin, pie plates, cookie sheet, bundt cake pan, muffin tins, etc. that are for real use but are child size. Nathan has a neat HAMMERING SET that encourages fine motor skills. He also has real yard tools that are child sized.
-Tons of art stuff- paper, scissors, glue sticks, crayons, markers, stickers, etc.
-Play-doh, puzzles, games
-Instruments
-Educational type activities- i.e. lacing cards, peg boards, flash cards, shape sorters, etc. \
-Castle set with knights, king, queen, dragon
-Doll House
-Rocket ship
-Hot wheels
-Pretend tools
-TAKE-A-PART VEHICLES (We love that these are like a big puzzle to take apart and put together and that they encourage the notion of fixing things)
Examples of toys we currently ban:
-any and all video games
-Barbie/Bratz/Polly Pockets- any of these type "fashion" dolls
-Any sort of monster type stuff
-Most "character" toys- I hate all that cheap, plastic, trashy Dora, Sesame Street, Elmo type stuff. yuck.
-Anything that's super loud- (loud noises really bother Mary)
Still on the fence about guns. I'm not anti-guns. I believe strongly though in gun education and the proper training and use of guns. Often toy guns are played with inappropriately. I would allow them for target shooting or play hunting... I would not approve of war games. The first rule of gun safety is to never point your gun at anything you do not intend to shoot- so, war games between siblings/friends would be out. So, anyway- still undecided about this.
Here's a copy of an email I wrote to someone who was requesting some help with learning how to plan menus. I've made a few additional notes/changes to the email for the purposes of posting here.
J-
It was nice to visit with you last week. I hope you had a good Christmas- we certainly did!
I had another thought about menu planning that I didn't think to pass on to you when we were visiting. Something else I do is have "set" meals on certain nights. So, for us, this is what it looks like:
Sunday: Breakfast for dinner- always pancakes or french toast or waffles with bacon, fruit and toast.
Monday: Open
Tuesday: Mario's Pizza (the only REAL Northern pizza in town- we go every Tuesday night)
Wednesday: Open
Thursday: Goulash or Spaghetti and Meatballs with salad, garlic bread and brownies. (My sister and nephew eat with us every Thursday b/c my husband takes my nephew to boyscouts on that night. We alternate between Goulash and Spaghetti every other week because A) My nephew is picky and I know he will eat those things and B) I can feed a crowd for fairly cheap
Friday: Open
Saturday: Open
So that only actually leaves four "open" nights a week. If I go to Let's Dish and prepare 8 meals once a month, then I have two LD meals a week. So now I only have two spots left to fill with either a family favorite, a new recipe or something my husband has specifically requested.
When I'm doing my menu planning session (sitting down with calender, menu and grocery list) I ask my husband if he has anything specific he wants that week. Those will fill the remaining "open" spots first. Then I may choose either a family favorite (stuffed peppers, stuffed shells, chicken tetrazzini, etc.) to fill an "open" spot or I'll choose a new recipe to try from the Simple and Delicious magazine I gave you. Another thing I will sometimes do is give Kip the Simple and Delicious when it comes in and ask him to look through it and pick something that he thinks looks good. Then I make sure that gets on the menu sometime in the following week or two.
BTW: I'm going to Let's Dish sometime soon, if you think you'd like to come along!
I hope that was helpful!
Kelly
PS: I've also attached my menu planner and grocery store list. My menu week starts on Friday since that is the day I do my grocery shopping. You may want to switch the days around to suit your weekly schedule- so, if you do your grocery shopping on Wednesday, you'd want your menu week to start then. Also it helps you with planning so that you can front load the week with recipes that require fresh ingredients and put menus that require boxed or canned items at the end of the week. So, for example, we'd have chicken tetrazzini (which requires fresh mushrooms) at the beginning of my menu week and spaghetti at the end of my menu week. Make sense?
ETA: Here's the link to Simple and Delicious- it's a great cooking magazine. All the recipes come from regular cooks like you and I- they are sent in, tried out in the magazine's test kitchen and then the best ones are chosen to appear in the magazine. They call for regular, everyday ingredients and are simple to make. For those of you who know and love my "salt rolls"- this is the magazine where I got the recipe.
With the above scheduling in mind, I sit down once a week or once a month (I change this up from time to time depending on what is going on in our lives) with my calender, menu planner and grocery list.
First, I start with the calender. If I see that we are going to be going somewhere and not be home for dinner on a particular night, I cross that night off on my menu. Or, if we are going to be having guests for dinner, I make that notation as well.
Secondly, I fill in the "set" nights as described above.
Thirdly, I fill in the "open" nights as described above.
Last- I consult the menu for the upcoming week to make my grocery list. I go through the required ingredients for each recipe I am making and check the pantry to see if I have it on hand. If not, it goes on the grocery list. Then I check for our weekly breakfast and lunch items to see if we have enough for the upcoming week. Next, I check staples- bread, flour, sugar, butter, salt, eggs, etc. Finally, I check with Kip to see if there is anything particular that he would like me to pick up.
How Much Time Does All This Take?
If I'm planning for the week- maybe a 1/2 hour.
If I'm planning for the whole month- maybe 1 1/2 hours.
The beautiful thing is though- that once I've done the planning, I don't have to think about it again. It's just done for the whole rest of the week/month.
What If I Don't Feel Like Having What's On The Menu?
Then don't. All the menu means to me is that I have all the ingredients for all seven meals for that week. If we're supposed to have stuffed peppers on Tuesday and I don't feel like it/something came up/we have a sick kid/etc.- we just switch it around with another meal later in the week.
Nathan is always the first one to pray. He loves to pray and seems to have a heart that seeks the Lord.
Nathan loves, loves, loves to WORK! He is happiest when he has a job to do.
Nathan's favorite drink is chocolate milk. His favorite meal is goulash. Nathan loves fruits and vegetables and would eat those before anything else.
Nathan is a huge talker! He is very verbal for his age. In the last month he has used two similes- He said:
"Madison is as pretty as a strawberry." (If you knew of his deep, abiding, unending love of strawberries, you would understand what a high compliment this is.)
"The fire is like a warm, cozy blanket"
Nathan's one true love is his Coconut Kitty.
He is very affectionate- I think his love language may be physical touch.
His favorite book is JESSE BEAR . Sometimes we call him "wookie" (because his hair grows so quickly that he gets shaggy and looks like a wookie- you know, the guy in star wars) and sometimes we call him bear. At nightime, when I put him down to bed, I'll recite parts of the "Jesse Bear" book to him only I'll say "wookie bear". As in "wookie bear, wookie bear, what will you wear? What will you wear at night? Not my shirt that's covered in dirt, not my pants that sat in the ants, ants in my pants tonight!" He finds this *very* funny.
Nathan seems to really like tradition and routines. He likes it when we do things with regularity- for example, he loves "poptart Wednesdays", praying at every meal, the predictability of certain books read over and over.
Happy Birthday Nathan! Your Dad and Mom and sisters love you!
A set of Matryoshka Dolls ( I always used to call them Babushkas- the Russian nesting dolls). These are handmade with felt and beautiful hand stitching...
Also, she made us a "Quiet Family"- with Dad, Mom, Mary, Nathan, Savvy and Baby #4 (no, this isn't an announcement but you all know we are planning on/hoping for another one). Notice the Quiet Family has no mouths- this is to help remember to be quiet when playing with them. My good friend Suzanne gave each child a little canvas bag with their name embroidered on it. We have been using them when we go anywhere- each bag has a coloring pad, colored pencils and then a few toys of their choice. We'll be adding the quiet family and matryoshka dolls to the bags when we are out and about or for use during Church services. We've already pulled Mary out of Sunday School and have her in church service with us and plan on doing the same with Nathan.
Christmas Eve: Christmas Eve we always spend with Kip's family since it is also his birthday. Paw Paw came over and we had Kip's birthday dinner of choice along with his birthday pie- Coconut Cream pie. Here's the kids with presents from Paw Paw.
Savvy with her rattles from Oompa Toys- can I say- these are the most beautiful, well-crafted infant toys I've ever seen. I'm getting rid of most of our other infant toys and just keeping a few really nice ones. I just LOVE what we got from Oompa, Magic Cabin and Hearthsong.
Mary fell in love with the kitty cat set Paw Paw got her.
Christmas Morning
The view the kids had as they came down the stairs:
Mary's BIG gift- a doll house from Mom and Dad.
Nathan's BIG gift- a crane set from Mom and Dad.
Coming down the stairs!
The long awaited tea set- from "Santa".
Savvy just watching all the commotion!
Savvy and her little Christmas stash- The little giraffe she is clutching is SOOO cute- she loves to chew on it and make it squeak.
My grandmother didn't put up many Christmas decorations but every year she did put up a ceramic Christmas tree. It had little lights in the shapes of birds and I just loved it.
She passed away eight years ago. I realized that Christmas that I hadn't seen her Christmas Tree when we were cleaning out her apartment. I called my cousin to see if he had it. Nope. I called her long time friend, Aunt Polly, and she didn't have it. Neither did any of the other family members I called. I was bitterly disappointed. Our daughter is named after Gramma and I so wanted the tree, for my own memories and to pass down to our Mary.
On Christmas Eve Day, the UPS man pulled into our driveway. We hadn't ordered anything and I wasn't expecting any packages- I thought maybe he had the wrong house. No- he had the right house and even had a BIG box addressed to me from my best friend who lives 12 hours away from me.
You can imagine my surprise, shock and tears when I opened the box to find a beautiful ceramic Christmas tree with little bird lights. My friend, who had three young children at the time and was working part-time as well, signed up for a ceramics class in order to make me a ceramic Christmas Tree like Gramma's. She spent all fall making that tree and searching out the little bird lights. She finished it just in the knick of time and overnight mailed it to me so that I would get in on Christmas Eve Day.
It was the *nicest* thing anyone ever did for me and is one my MOST treasured possessions.
~The Checklist of Loving Parenting~ The Examination of Conscience
Spiritual Care:
1.Do you, on a daily basis, pray for your children?
2. Have you taught your children to pray?
3.Do you pray with your child?
4.Do your bless your child aloud?
5.Do you read your children wholesome stories that will lead them on the path of righteousness?
6.Do you pray together as a family?
7. Do you protect them from harmful television shows, books, articles, etc?
8.Do you guard their innocence?
9.Do you regularly consider who you allow your children to be friends with? Will those friends’ influence harm their faith?
Physical Care:
1.Do your feed your children regularly and in a healthy manner?
2.Do you make sure they are dressed modestly?
3.Do you correct their faults as soon as they are apparent? Or,
do you attempt to explain away their bad behavior? (They are tired, hungry, et cetera…)
4.Do your children have a schedule so they can understand expectations and feel watched over? Do they have a reasonable expectation of what to expect next and when?
5.Are you quick tempered and angry towards your children? (What NOW?!)
6.Are you relieved to leave them in someone else’s care so you can have “personal” time?
7.Do your children know you’d rather be somewhere else other than with them?
8.How much time do you spend on the computer?
9.On the telephone?
10.In front of the television?
11.Anything else that makes you psychologically unavailable?
12.Is there a better use of your time than how you are using it?
The above checklist came All 4 1 and 1 4 All . I don't know if she is the author or not. It was posted on a parenting forum that I frequent.
12/12: Okay, she is so cute in the following pictures that I couldn't choose just one. I know they are all basically the same but still. She is just.so.cute.
New Christmas Greenery:
For some reason I always thought that fresh garlands were $30 or $40. I just bought this garland at Green View Nursery for 30 cents a foot. I did the whole doorway for $4 and some change. Kip redid the pots at our front door as well and I think they came out nice.
12/15: More baby deliciousness. Savvy loves her pink bunny. :)
Fancy Ladies Night: Mary has been excited about this night for two months. On Saturday night, 12/15, my friend Suzanne and I took our eldest daughters out for a Fancy Ladies Night. We all dressed up and went out to eat at a nice restaurant and then we took the girls to the ballet to see the Nutcracker.
I think this might also fall under the FUN MOM catagory.
Mary, twirling in her Christmas dress.
Suzanne and Bethany on the left, myself and Mary Madison on the right.
In my continuing effort to be a FUN Mom , here's what we've been up to:
Tuesday, December 4: I walked into the kitchen to find this mess.... which I cheerfully cleaned up instead of losing my mind. I clearly deserve fun mom points for this.
We had been doing school work earlier and I left out our school things on the table. Nathan hauled everything down on to the floor, opened the glue and poured it out. In the second picture the paper you see that is rolled up and tied with a black pipe cleaner? That would be our "treasure map". :) The glue was quite the stick mess to clean up.
Wednesday, December 12:
This one's for you nut jobs who think my house is always so neat: Have a looky here at a BIG mess! Notice the Christmas lights piled up on the table? How about the bins of school work on the table as well? The counter top just covered in stuff- mail, craft items, a baby bottle, etc.
So lately, I've been thinking about being feminine and raising daughters to be feminine. Then this question was asked on the RGT message board and the responses to it gave me much food for thought. I thought I'd share a bit of it here, with Blsdmama's permission.
Original Question from Tracilynn: This is more of a general question to get other peoples take on encouraging our daughters to be feminine and to possess a godly view of womanhood. What do you do/have you done in your family? what are some recommended resources? what has NOT worked out so well? stories, ideas, advice, future plans and anecdotes welcome!
BlsdMama wrote a great response. She said:
(She also has a good post up on Godly Feminity , which is something that I soooo struggle with. Good food for thought- check it out)
I *do* think it was a mistake to involve my daughter in soccer. I really, sadly, do.
Okay, but why? It isn't choosing a more "feminine" sport over a less "feminine" sport. Ask yourself, what is the purpose of X sport?
Well, for one competition. I'm not entirely sure how building a competitive nature in our daughters will make them a more suitable helpmeet, or more mild mannered.
I ADORE soccer. I really do. I love it. I own a rather lot of sports equipment for a woman with four little girls. I am more likely to be found playing soccer than sewing. I like to cheer them on, I go to practices, I'm on the soccer board. I love soccer.
That said, I'm not happy we got her involved. She loves it and I do believe it is going to die a very natural death... we can't continue soccer for her age level within this community. So, this Spring will probably be it for her.
But, I usually go back to Tina (from MOMYS) age old line... It is not a question of is it good enough. It is a question of is this what is BEST? So, I ask myself, if I want what is MOST godly and what is the BEST I can instill in my daughters, is soccer that one thing that will most instill godly femininity? I don't think anyone could say yes. There are so many things we could do without the two nights of practice and all day spent at soccer on Saturday. Could we make a meal for an elderly neighbor? Could we sew a jumper for a little sister? Could we read something lovely and be inspired by God's grace?
I think sports was/is a good family builder for us. We ALL go to every single game. We go to many practices that it would be unnecessary for us to go. We get involved in the community things. However, I do know that if we didn't have soccer, we'd pour that energy into something else that was more time-worthy. I think we find many things are good enough, but when we ask ourselves, "Is this the BEST I can offer?" Well, the answer is no.
I find this very much like the television question. Is Sesame Street inherently evil? Well, no. Is a 1/2 hour of television going to maim my 3 year old for life? Well, no. But is there something I or a sibling could be doing with him that would be BEST instead of just settling for what is good enough?
If we consistently settle for "good enough" then we won't get God's best.
And, this goes also to the subject of dress...
It isn't a matter of what's good enough, but what is best. What encourages us the most?
What does my husband like the most about me? My ability to be independent and not needy. To not be emotionally manipulative or overly emotional. To be logical, intelligent, and be able to carry on a conversation.
What does he dislike about women in general? Manipulation and neediness. Both of those are social norms for women.
Intelligence shouldn't be confused with Feminism. I think if we raise our daughters to prize intelligence over all of God's other gifts (and we have) then we will raise a prideful feminist. We have always praised Ana for her intelligence and scholastic ability. And we are now paying that price with the half of her that wants to run all over the world being a scientist. The more we embrace ALL of her - femininity, strength of mind OVER intelligence, and strength of character, the more we get to peek at her other half... The half of her that could be a very competent and strong help meet to a very competent and strong man. I do not want to raise a weak woman. I think that would mean I would end up with a son-in-law that is less than ideal. I want to raise her with very high standards, knowing what she wants in a husband, so that she'll end up with one that she can respect. I think too many women concentrate on submission alone and then end up with the lowest common denominator as a husband. I don't think a strong intelligent man wants someone who won't be able to meet his capabilities. Nor someone who can't successfully raise his children. A wise man would look for a bright, energetic, cheerful, and willing wife who can carry on an intelligent conversation and raise his children to his high standards.
Now, ladies, I'm not saying that I'm against sports. You all know I ran cross-country and track in high school and I think sports can add many wonderful things to a young person's life. I'm not saying I'm anti-sports or that I won't allow our kids to play sports. But Blsdmama has surely given me something to think about. I know how much I struggle with not being a woman who shows no discretion. I know a lady who is like this- loud, aggressive in her speech, pushy, overbearing, speaks terribly disrespectfully to and about her husband. And I often think to myself, let me NOT be like that woman. It's easy for me to slip into that pattern- I'm a talker, the excitable type with opinions and thoughts that I just love to share. Maybe to much so, sometimes.
Anyway, does anyone have anything they'd like to say about the topic. As always, I'd love to hear what you think.
I just LOVE the baby- she just could NOT BE ANY CUTER!
Here's her first attempt at purposefully reaching for something and trying to grab it- she didn't quite get it but she was *very* intent on trying to!
Just being her own little gorgeous self. She loves to sit in the papasan chair in the bay window, facing outside. She watches the birds and the branches moving and the sunlight streaming through the trees. She sat there for 45 minutes this day just looking at everything very intently.
All smiles once she realizes someone is looking at her. Cheesy baby.
On Saturday morning (12/1) we got up and took the kids to the Pleasant Garden Christmas Parade. After the parade was over we let the kids play at the playground, ate a picnic lunch there and then went home to put them all down for a nap. That afternoon we took them to the awesome Tanglewood Festival of Lights. Then Sunday night Kip and I put up the Christmas tree after they were in bed. Below are a few pictures of their first sight of the tree on Monday morning. They were mighty excited about the Christmas tree.
I'm reposting this entry on submission from last year.
Sep. 27, 2006 - Sept. 27: Submission
Submission
Wow! Now that's an unpopular word among women nowadays! I had a conversation with a friend about submission (that'd be you, Kath, if you're reading this) and it got me thinking some more about how submission is so misunderstood among women today. I think the common picture of a submissive wife is one of the woman as a doormat. I should say that first, submission is different in every marriage.
For me, a key to understanding submission was first figuring out what kind of husband I had and what submission looks like to him. I read Debi Pearl's Created to be his HelpMeet and was blown away by her discription of the three types of men- Kip is so clearly a Mr. Steady. Read here for her discription of the three different types of men. (disclaimer: I am not one of those who think this book is the be-all-end-all of marriage books. I thought her discriptions of types of men were good ones but by no means are they the only good descriptions- I'm sure there are others out there)
One of the most valuable things I learned from this was that my dh takes great pride in the successes of his wife. In fact, the more "successfull" I am, the better he feels about himself. For me, as a stay-at-home-mom/housewife the way that I am successful is to keep a clean, well-organized household, good meals on the table, children that are well-trained (working on that one), etc. To put it bluntly, dh feels sucessful and competent when the house is clean, the meals are delicious and the kids are well-behaved and neat. That was *so* convicting to me- that how I do *my* job effects dh's feelings of self-worth. Now, this is certainly not true for every man- there are plenty of men who don't really care about that stuff but it is an essential ingredient for happiness in our marriage. Kath said to me: "How is that submission? That's just being a good wife!" It's submission because truth be told, I often don't feel like doing housework or baking cookies. I'd rather take a nap or read a book. It's submission when I get up and clean the kitchen and bake some cookies even when I don't feel like it. It's submission when I take several hours to plan our menu when I would rather putz around online. It's submission when I haul the babies upstairs to change them, wash their faces and comb their hair and to fix myself up before Kip gets home even though I don't feel like carrying 55 lbs. of children up a flight of stairs.
I'll be the first to say, I really struggle with this submission thing. I've got lots of opinions and I'm the excitable type. My children aren't perfectly behaved all the time and sometimes the house is a wreck. But I'm really working on it.
You are right that submission does have negative connotations in our society, and I think a lot of it is because our culture (espically in the South, and I can say that being a born and bread Southener!) tends to focus on the submissive wife and over-looks the roll the man is supposed to play. But if we look at the Bible and read the WHOLE story, the woman is submissive to the man, but the MAN puts the needs of the family and wife before his own! It is easy (or easier) to be submissive when one has a husband (like Kip and Kevin) who put the needs of the family and household before his own selfish needs. So, bravo to those men who are man enough to think of others first!
Sarah- you are exactly right- I think that is part of the reason that submission has gotten such a bad reputation. But you know what I've realized lately, at some point I'm going to have to stand before God and answer for *my* actions, regardless of how my dh behaved. And responding with "well, yeah, I should have done xyz but dh started it, was irritating me, wasn't doing what he was supposed to do, etc." *isn't going to cut it*! I need to do what I am supposed to do regardless of what dh does. And, of course, that relates to other relationships as well. There are some things I need to work on regardless of what my father does or my sister does- it's all about me responding in the correct manner, no matter what they do. I don't have to answer for their actions but I sure am going to have to answer for mine. Just a revelation I've had recently. :) Hope you're feeling better!
Thanks for your comment on my blog - I was glad to "meet" you :-) I LOVE Created To Be His Helpmeet, and for many of the same reasons. I'm married to a Mr. Steady, too, and for awhile had been feeling discouraged when I compared myself to women who were married to a Mr. Visionary or Command. It was SUCH a relief and eye opener to realize how I help my own husband looks very different, but it's how he likes it. God is good to help us understand these things! Have a blessed day,
Melissa
Also married to a Mr. Steady. Oh, how thankful I am that God paired me with him!
Thank you for your kind words on my blog... and for your faithful comments.
Blessings to you and yours,
Stacy
Hi Kelly, thanks for your comment - I'd love to visit and maybe post on Quiverfull, but I looked it up on google and found a bunch of sites called that. Which one did you mean?
Melissa
Oooooh, good topic! I'm married to a Mr. Steady too, and it's been easy for me to get frustrated that he's not more of a "take charge" kind of guy. (Although I'd not want to be married to a commando!) It's a real discipline for me to sit back and let him lead his way, and I don't always do a good job of this. I've been realizing lately though, what my example to my children is, and I need to honor my husbands preferences and whims as if they were commands, since that's all I have! Pray for me!
Bless you,
Rebeca
Getting ready to go out do dinner on a COLD night- Savvy looked so funny and cute, that I just had to take a picture of her peeking over Big Daddy's shoulder.
Mary's first *REAL* drawing that was not just random scribbling. I dictated what she said about the picture on the paper. The top picture "Here's Our Family House"... "Here's our house. Here's the door, we can get in. Here's the windows. Here's the roof." The bottom picture: "Here's our family. Nathan, Mommy, Baby Savannah, Daddy, Peanut." About Daddy- "That's Daddy. He sure is handsome!"
LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL BABY!
Baby Savvy and her big cousin, "Ahh-wuck", as Mary and Nathan call him.
Getting ready to walk down to the Pleasant Garden Christmas Parade.
Savvy, all bundled up for the parade in her new snowsuit.
Who's been reading my blog? I've had readers here lately from London, England and Sydney, Australia. Wow. I know that my reader from China is Beth- hey, Beth! And I know who's checked in from Turkey- I bet it's Jess. Hey to you too. :)
ooh- Savvy just reached up and grabbed her fish on her swing and is playing with it- this is the second time she's purposefully reached for something and been able to grab it. She's getting to big, to quick for me. Where's my baby going???
Sarah, Jenny, Emily and any other circle ladies who are reading- ya'll wore my baby flat out last night- she slept until 10:00AM. It was great to see everyone last night- I *love* our circle!
Every time I go out in public with the children, I hear "Wow, you've sure got your hands full!". Seriously, every.single.time we go anywhere I get that comment. And not usually in a nice way either- the tone is usually more along the lines of feeling sorry for me because I have so many kids (only three!) and how much work they must be.
I'd love to just print several copies to keep in my purse and just start handing it out every time someone says to me in a pitying way that I've got my hands full.
This part is so especially true: "Somehow the woman who holds a full time job AND tries to manage a home AND leads the Girl Scout troop AND does whatever else she does never gets the barrage of "but it's so much work!"
Or the student working on his PHD while waiting tables at night...it's a noble thing he does, so we pat him on the back and say "good job". -Christian at http://heartsforfamily.blogspot.com/
You may remember the saga of the lost Coconut Kitty. After another scare last week, I decided that it was time to do something to ensure that if Coconut is ever lost again, he at least has a chance of finding his way home.
I took Nathan and Coconut to Petco and had bought a cat collar and tag. The tag says "Nathan Loves Coconut Kitty" and has our phone number on it. Hopefully if Coconut is ever lost again, someone will find him and call us.
I can't wait to give it to her! She loves this sort of imaginations play- she's always pretending that her dolls or animals, etc. are talking to each other, playing out different scenes, etc. It's the type of play I see her engaging in the most often and I'm just sure that she'll love it.
A few pictures of some kitchen organizing for a friend... you know who you are. :)
This picture is of my freezer: The top shelf has vegetables and sides, the second shelf has bread and breakfast items and the bottom shelf has prepared dinners. Extra meat is stored in the freezer in the garage.
Here's what I've done with my tupperware. I used to stack the lids with the coordinating tupperware piece but it took up so much extra space that way and it kept me from being able to nest things together. Now I've got all my lids in two large ziplock bags. One bag for large lids and one for small. Takes up much less space, easier to organize and the tupperware fits together easier.
The following pictures are of my baking area.
On the top shelf is a basket with all my frostings (the kind you write with), food coloring and birthday candles. Next to it is my frosting set from pampered chef. On the shelf below I have a graduated "stairs" for my spices.
This cabinet has all of my baking items: On the top shelf is the spare bowl for my mixer as well as extra baking chocolate, paraffin wax, graham cracker crumbs. Not stuff that I need very often but when I need it, nothing else will do. On the second shelf I put a lazy susan to hold baking items like sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, marshmallow fluff (for fudge), etc. On the bottom shelf is a set of wire baskets that hold chocolate chips and nuts for baking. Also I keep my cake and brownie mixes on that shelf.
Here's a picture of our coffee center in the bottom of my lazy susan cabinet. Kip and I don't drink coffee but we have visiting friends and family who do. It was a pain pulling everything out from fifteen different places so I created an area just for all the coffee stuff. You see the coffee maker on the left and the box below the coffee cups contains coffee, creamers, splenda, filters, etc. Now when someone comes over and wants coffee, everything is together in one place and easily accessible.
I've been asked about my greeting card system so I thought I would share it with everyone.
Here's my greeting card system:
First, I signed up for the mailing list at my local Hallmark. Every year on my birthday, they send me a card for 20% off my entire purchase, to be used one time during my birthday month only.
So, in May, I take my 20% off coupon plus a master list of all birthdays for the entire year and head to Hallmark. Not only do I buy all birthday cards for family members, I also stock up on a few extra birthday cards as well as sympathy, get well, getting married, bridal shower, new baby, baby shower, congratulations and thank you cards.
Then, when I get home, I take all of the birthday cards I bought and put a sticky note on each one with the name of the person it was bought for. Those cards are filed in the card folder below, by month. Then, each month for the entire year, I just pull out that month's cards and mail them. So simple.
Next, I take all of the extra sympathy, congratulations, etc. cards and file them in this box according to topic. In the back of the box I keep a few sets of blank cards, extra envelopes, etc.
Nov. 20, 2007 - How Not To Eat All Your Halloween Candy At Once...
We made our Halloween Candy into an Advent Calender. I counted out 54 pieces of candy to represent the 54 days between Halloween and Christmas.
We stretched out a long piece of Saran Wrap on the counter and laid the candy on it, leaving space between each piece. Then rolled the saran wrap and candy up jelly-roll style. I used Christmas ribbon to tie off between each piece of candy.
Every day after lunch we cut off one piece of candy to eat. The kids are a bit to young to really understand how long it is until Christmas so this is a good visual countdown for them- I tell them that when we get to the end of the candy rope it will be Christmas. Also, it keeps them from eating all their candy at once and asking for it all the time. We keep it hanging on a nail in our pantry.
As usual, Jazzy is right on the money: Go read her excellent post on Making Memories.
I apologize for my lack of posting lately. It's all about the Halloween pictures- Have you ever tried to take a group shot of three children, age 3 and under, one being an infant, by yourself? Not fun my friends. In my efforts to get one, just ONE, good group shot of the kids on Halloween day I took over 200 shots. Add in a few costume pictures on top of that and I've got close to 250 pictures sitting on my camera waiting to be sorted through. Also, we went to Portrait Innovations to have their Christmas pictures taken so I've also got the CD of the 180+ pictures taken at that session as well. I've got to sort through close to 500 shots and honestly, I"m just dreading it which is why I haven't been posting. I've got a busy two days coming up but maybe I'll get to it over the weekend.
An additional reason for my blogging break lately is that after reading "Shepherding Your Child's Heart" by Ted Tripp I've been convicted of the manner in which we are, or actually are not, disciplining Nathan and Mary. I've been making some changes in that area but in order to do so we've had to do some pretty tight tomato-staking which means a lot less computer time for me. It's worth it though as I am seeing some vast improvements in the areas of obedience and attitude in both children. An additional bonus is that along with closer supervision and improved attitudes, I've invested some time in making memories (read the above link!) . It's the little stuff that counts- playing at the church playground, helping them take apart and put together Nathan's new Battat Take-A-Part Crane, playing games of Perfection, baking together, etc.
My new favorite blog is Confessions of a Pioneer Woman . The photography is just gorgeous and I love getting a peek into a life so different from my own. I'm also enjoying the series on how she met her husband- Part one is "The Night I Met Marlboro Man" and Part two is "From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels". Here's a link to that series within the blog: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story
Making It Home is my current favorite thought-provoking blog. She always gives me something to think about! Her last post on Hospitality versus Entertaining really hit home for me. More thoughts on that later.
Posie Gets Cozy is beautiful. I wish I could take pictures like that!
Kip has been talking for quite some time about putting red much out at the front of the house. To be honest, I was hesitant about it. It came out great though! And, he even cleaned up the area around the big Japanese Maple- he dug up and relocated all the azalea bushes around it and then tilled up the weeds/etc. and evened the ground out. I love it!
We got these HUGE mums for $6.50 at a road side farmer's stand. Aren't they gorgeous??!!
The Japanese Maple- It's such a beautiful tree.
Last Saturday we took the kids to Razz and Tazz Farm and of course everyone had a ball. Pics below.
Love this picture of Savvy!
The baby is awake! This doesn't happen to often so we take pictures when it does!
"Is the keeping of your home your career, or what you do to assuage the guilt between bouts of “doing your thing”?
Just the kick in the pants I needed today as I sit here fiddling around with my blog template! I'm off to do what I should be doing- "looking to the affairs of my household" a la the Prov. 31 woman.
Proverbs 31:27 She looks well to the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Oct. 15, 2007 - Having our children close together...
I was recently asked why we want our children so close together in age by a young mother who has a 14 month old son and is nervously expecting her second child in December. Below is the response that I wrote to her. I'm posting it here because I hear this question so often, and I do mean ALL the time, that I thought others might be interested as well.
Why We Like Having Our Kids Close Together In Age
One of the reasons why we try to get pregnant again so quickly after having a baby is that we struggled with infertility for three years before finally having our Mary. So we know the pain of infertility and how horrid it can be. We were told that we had a greater chance of conceiving again if we tried to get pregnant soon after having Mary because my hormones would still be elevated, etc. Having experienced infertility and knowing that just because we want another baby and are trying for one doesn't guarantee a pregnancy, we tried again quickly and thus Mary and Nathan are 11 months apart. Then we had a miscarriage between Nathan and Savvy. So- we are trying again so soon because we know we want another child and know that there's no telling how long it can take to get pregnant and another miscarriage is always a possibility. Also, add in that Kip is almost 45 years old so we don't have a bunch of time to waste.
We *LOVE* having Mary and Nathan so close in age- 11 months apart.
#1- NO sibling jealousy/rivalry at all when Nathan was born- Mary never really knew/remembers anything different than having a sibling. She was still a baby herself when Nathan was born. When Savvy was born, still no rivalry. I think the fact that we don't "expect" there to be rivalry helps but also because they know nothing different.
#2- We're still in the baby mode. We've got all the baby stuff out and are in the mode of diaper changes and baby schedules. It doesn't seem so much of a leap to just continue on right where we are as opposed to having a large age gap between children and feeling like I'm "starting all over again". I hear a lot of Moms say that- they'd kind of like more children but they don't want to start all over again.
#3- Now, I know some on the shed here won't do this so it may not apply to you. But, for our family, our children will probably participate in piano lessons, boyscouts/girlscouts or some equivalent and maybe one sport as they get older. I'd hate to have to always be interrupting the baby's nap because we have to be somewhere. Nor would I want Mary and Nathan to not be able to participate in piano lessons (or whatever) because of baby napping.
#4- speaking of piano, sports, etc. We really like that they will be able to start piano lessons together, play on the same sports team, etc. (at least while they're younger). I'm not into every kid having four different activities. With piano, since we have more than one student, we're hoping to find a teacher to come to our house. With a sport (don't know what yet- but let's say soccer for intance) they would be able to play on the same team most years. So that could drastically cut down on the amount of driving, etc.
#5- They're at the same level as far as abilities, toys, etc. We took care of my nephew, Alec, who's 9 years old now, for several years. He is a GREAT kid who absolutely dotes on the children, especially Mary since she was "his" baby for so long. Really, really super kid. However- there are things that a six or seven year old wants to play with that are just not appropriate for a 18 month old to play with. Think legos. Also, hotwheels, craft kits, etc. Since we practice a family nap time/quiet time where everyone is in their bed having him do those things at that time doesn't work for us. Yet, it was difficult for him to have his legos, etc. out when the children were around because they would accidentally knock it down, try to swallow it, etc. It just wasn't practical. So, then he'd have to be in a separate room by himself with his legos, etc. which isn't any fun either. We want to all be together. However, Mary and Nathan are the same age and play with all the same toys. I don't have to worry about some toys not being age appropriate for the other child.
#6- Their schedules are in sync with one another. I generally don't think older/bigger kids need snacks. But often little kids really do need one, especially if there are 6-7 hours between meals. I like that I can just give everyone a snack. Alec, at 7, 8 or 9 years old really didn't need a snack but it didn't seem right to let Mary and Nathan have a snack and not him. Also, Mary and Nathan are on the same nap schedule which is a wonderful thing. 1p-4p every day. Makes life much easier when they are on the same schedule.
Also, what cloth doll said is SO true:
You just have to be prepared, think of things to do ahead of time that will make the moment easier. Have 2 sets of diapers in the car so you don't have to pack diaper bags, etc. Before you sit down to feed your newborn, have a drink/snack already ready for your toddler. Even though your toddler is young, he can be a huge help. Start by having him toss out the diapers, or get a new diaper. All my kids felt so big and wonderful knowing they were my big and wonderful helper! It is possible to do it with babies so close, but you can't just fly by the seat of your pants
And, another thing to consider is that Joseph is 14 months old. I think that 12-18 months is THE most difficult age. But, with good training, by the time you have another one he'll be at a much easier age then he is now.
I'm to tired to post much of an update right now- I'm always wiped out after church on Sundays and I've got a limited amount of time to take a nap before nursing Savvy again and the kids waking up.
Everyone is doing well.
Friday I gave Nathan some grapes at lunch. He said:
"Look at the beeeyooootiful colors! They're lovely" I couldn't believe he used the word "lovely"- that's pretty good for a 2 year old!
Mary is allready planning her birthday party- she's decided she wants birthday hats, balloons and a cat cake. This I can handle. Let's hope the plans don't get to much bigger in the coming months.
Some pictures:
The Great Peanut Butter Escapade.
I was momentarily distracted the other day, pinning some fabric in the laundry room. The children were supposed to be sitting at the table eating a snack. I look over to check on them and see no children. Not good. As I walk around the peninsula in the kitchen I see Mary and Nathan underneath the kitchen table, elbow deep in the jar of peanut butter. It was quite the spectacle and quite the mess to pick up.
Anyone want to buy some Boyscout popcorn? It's delicious! Sarah's son, Alec, is doing boyscouts with Uncle Kip for the third year- this is their annual fundraiser.
I'm sure my results are a big surprise to you guys... ;)
However, I want it firmly noted that I do NOT call my carbonated drinks "pop" - I use the correct term- "soda".
What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Inland North
You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
Sunday, 9/23: We took the side rails off Nathan's bed with much trepidation. Nathan has my brother Mike's old bed- it's an antique cannon ball bed and it is *very* high off the ground. So far, so good- He hasn't fallen out of the bed once. He has dropped Coconut a few times so there was some sobbage until Momma came and rescued Coconut for him but other than that, he's doing really well.
Nathan and Mary with their "new" yard boots- actually rain boots that I bought at consignment sales for $3.00 but they are thrilled with them.
Mary's "glubes" from Papa James....
Filling the car up with gas....
Monday, 9/24: We just had our entire backyard fenced. Now Nadia has her own dog run and the kids can play outside without fear of the neighbor dogs. SO- I've been letting them play outside quite a bit lately. On Monday I was washing dishes at the kitchen sink with the window open- I looked up to find them chucking their clothes out of the top of the clubhouse and then sliding down the slide rather gleefully. They were having so much fun I just let them have at it.
Nathan's much loved "Coconut"
Thursday, 9/27: On Tuesday night Kip brought home Dunkin' Donuts. Thursday morning I was putzing around in the kitchen with the kids- they were "helping" me but I somehow was momentarily distracted. Nathan took advantage of the moment to try to thieve some doughnuts- I caught him in the act though. His "aw, shucks" look was pretty funny though. Nice try Bubby Bear!
Saturday, 9:29: Doesn't he just look like he's up to something????
Pictures of Puddin'.... the sweetest baby ever!
Sunday, 9:30: More Puddin' pictures...
We went to Sawyer Farms roadside stand and bought a bunch of fall stuff- mums, gourds, mini pumpkins, a big Jack-O-Lantern sized pumpkin, corn stalks, haybales, tomatoes and canteloupe. The nice lady gave Mary and Nathan each an apple which they munched on for hours....
First off, let me say I apologize if I offended anyone or caused hurt feelings with my last post. Sometimes I come across more harshly then I intend. I certainly don't think that having a large family is *the* answer for everyone. Truly, just because I can't imagine never wanting more babies doesn't mean I think it's wrong of you/think less of you if you feel differently. To each his own. Really, I was just sharing how *I* felt about it and wasn't even thinking of it in a condemning way towards anyone else. So- my apologies.
The Good Stuff- Pictures
We've had a busy couple of days around here.
Wednesday 9/19 we stayed home. The kids hauled out the Wedgits and built towers and spaceships. Then I sent them out to play in our fenced in back yard. We are so thrilled with our "new" backyard- the kids can finally play outside. The yard itself needs to be graded and reseeded but with the lack of rain there's no point in doing it now. Nathan literally wallowed in the dirt... as the pictures below will attest. There was lots of digging and shoveling and hauling of dirt going on-
Love Nathan's expression..... Not happy about having to quit digging and wallowing....
Look at those blue, blue eyes!
Mary with Wedgits....
Our Savvy.... Gorgeous chubby little cheeks!
On Thursday 9/20 we went to the MOMS (Mothers Of Many Seasons) group meeting- it was wonderful, as usual. The topic was on idolatry- maybe I'll post some notes from the meeting later. That took up the majority of the morning- we got home, had lunch and naps and then it was time to get ready for dinner and boyscouts.
Sleepy Savvy on Thursday afternoon....
Friday, 9/21, I went to the First Presby consignment sale and got some great deals. We have one Cozy Coupe at home and Kip has been after me to get another one for the kids. They retail around $60 and usually sell at consignment sales for $25-$30 used. I went straight to the toys as soon as I walked in the door and found an off-brand Cozy Coupe for $10. Good thing I was one of the first ones in the door because another lady spotted it at the same time but I was closer to it. :) Also, I found an older version of the Gas Pump that goes with the Cozy Coupe for $5. I got Nathan this Tonka Dump Truck for playing outside in the yard for $6. I got some clothes and other random things but those were the deals I was most happy with. Then Friday night I went to Let's Dish and made 8 meals- which I split into half for 16 meals. In an hour and a half I made 16 meals as well as 10 sides. I won't have to do hardly any cooking for the rest of the month!
My New Toy Closet
Our coat closet has annoyed me since we moved into this house. The closet is one of those that goes underneath the stairs. So when you open the door to the closet you are opening it at the highest point and then the closet slopes down to your right, underneath the stairs. The bar for hanging coats was directly in front of you when you opened the door- effectively wasting the whole closet. There was wasted space underneath and above the coats and then it was difficult to access the rest of the closet that sloped to the right. So, I had Kip move the bar all the way to the right of the closet and way back so the bar is hanging at the exact height of the coats. This freed up the whole width of the closet for shelving. So now we have a toy closet. Almost all of our toys are in the closet and we just pick out a few new things to play with each day. They do have a few standards that stay out all the time- the doll and cradle, farm and garage stay out in the living room. Each has a basket with the accessories for it. But that's all that stays out permanently- everything else is in the closet.
I LOVE my new toy closet because:
-The living room stays so much neater
-It's much easier and less frustrating for the kids to pick up their toys
-The kids play with their toys longer because they're ntot overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff out -We're more likely to play with some of our educational toys (lacing cards and beads, peg boards, flash cards, etc) because they are easily accessible (they are in the clear bins at the bottom of the picture).
-Easy to get out games and puzzles now too
The coat bar used to hang here....
All of this was wasted space before...
Savannah's Quilt
Becky Ellis is a friend of my Mom's who has become a friend of mine now that I'm grown. She lives at home in New York- I took my first steps in her living room. :) Anyway, Becky does beautiful quilting. She sews all her quilts by hand, no machines. She made Mary and Nathan each a baby quilt- here is the one she sent for Savannah. The quilt squares are vintage squares from the 1930's that she found somewhere- she bought them and put them together into a quilt. This is probably my favorite one yet...
Oh, they grow so quickly! Babies, that is.... I remember when Mary was born and older ladies kept telling me to really enjoy her and how I'd turn around twice and she would be grown. Frankly, I thought they were nuts. In my sleep deprived state, she did NOT seem to be growing (thus getting older and moving towards sleeping through the night) quickly at all. Plus, everything she did was new to me so I looked forward to every new stage and development without really taking the time to fully enjoy where she was at in the moment. Nathan followed 11 months later- Mary was still pretty much a baby herself then so I didn't have benefit of hindsight yet.
But, now, with Savvy? Oh my heavens, I'm enjoying every single second. I don't even mind getting up with her at night that much because I know how quickly it passes. Instead of eagerly looking forward to every new stage like I did with Mary and Nathan, I almost dread them. Each new accomplishment means the passing away of my infant/newborn and the new baby, toddler, preschooler emerging. Since the pre-marriage agreement was four kids, I will probably only have one more baby- we're hoping for a boy so this could be my last baby girl. No one else will wear the cute little pink dresses and headbands... When I packed up her preemie clothes tonight it occurred to me that I might not get to put those on another baby girl.
Our little Savvy is gaining weight- I told Kip that I thought she is really losing her newborn/infant look and changing into a "baby". She's getting these gorgeously cute chubby little cheeks and thighs. She's awake and alert a lot more often- which means we get to see her beautiful blue eyes more. I noticed today that instead of just dropping off to sleep anywhere, anytime that she's started to cry sometimes when she's tired. She wants to be put down in her bassinette to sleep. She smiled for the first time on Sunday- she was alert and looking up at me while I talked to her and she gave this big, wide open mouthed smile- she was really looking at me when she smiled- it was so adorable.
I really can't imagine ever thinking that I don't want anymore kids- that I'm done, this is enough, no thanks, I don't want another one of THESE:
I could just have dozens of them.
I tell you truly, I'm going to be an emotional wreck with my next pregnancy/baby- knowing that it will most likely be my last one.
Sep. 12, 2007 - More on being your child's friend...
I've been really struggling lately with one of my children. I came across these quotes today from Michael Pearl and it was just the reminder I needed.
"Be a friend. Do with them the things that they enjoy doing. Be caring. Be more ready with your ear than you are with your mouth. Be very sensitive to their concerns...."
"Parent, above all, you must cultivate that kind of a relationship with your child. It is painful to sin against your best buddy. If you can maintain this bond with your child you will never have a problem child."
"A spanking is made effective not by it's severity, but by it's certainty." (There's that consistency thing again.)
"I rule benevolently. Love and respect are my primary tools of persuasion. I lead, not command from a distant bunker."
"A child can't rebel against his best buddy....If you will praise and reward the desired behavior, there will be very little undesirable behavior. You will be speaking ten times the encouraging word for every rebuke......If your child is not doing anything praiseworthy then take his hand to walk beside you until he does do something worthy."
And finally Pearl says:
"Check yourself for balance by asking the question, 'Do my children view me as a stern and severe disciplinarian or as a cheerful and wonderful companion and guide?' Your judgments and punishments should be lost in the many hours of happy communion."
To read more of what he has to say about parenting, check out their website: No Greater Joy
The thing that I think most people miss is that it's possible to be both your child's friend and their parent. It's not an either/or choice. I parent- I discipline and train my children accordingly. But I think it's equally important for them to see that I enjoy them- that I like being with them and doing things with them, that I'm interested in the things they are doing. What Pearl says here "It is painful to sin against your best buddy. If you can maintain this bond with your child you will never have a problem child." is true. I think it's one of the big reasons I never got to wild as a teenager- I would not have wanted to disappoint my mother. And you know what??? This is a big part of the problem that I am dealing with in reference to my difficulties with one child. I'm wondering if a little more time spent "tying heartstrings" would help on the discipline front.
Here's what Pearl recommends and what I *clearly* need to work on with this particular child:
"If you sense that the strings of fellowship have been cut, you will want to tie new ones. Here are just a few suggestions on tying strings:
*First and foremost, look at your children and smile.
*Enjoy their company and demonstrate it by inviting them to go with you when the only reason is a desire to have them with you. For the young, look at pictures or read a book together.
*Sit on the floor and play. Tumble and roll, laugh, and tickle.
*Take them on outings of adventure, excitement and "danger".
*Take a ten-minute trip to the treehouse to see their creations.
*Let them lead you out to the swing and show you their latest stunt.
*Make a kite or build a birdhouse together.
*Mother, teach your children to do everything that must be done in the house. Make it a fun experience. Don't use the very young as slave labor, or they will experience burnout. Let them bake cookies at three years of age. When you are sewing, let the young ones sit on the floor and cut out doll clothes. When you are painting, let them take a few swipes.
The idea is for them to feel that they are very special to you, and ofr them to know that you find great satisfaction and delight in sharing with them. If you order your life so your children feel needed, they will desire to walk in harmony with you."
This was a great post on Jen Ig's blog about ungrateful children... To quote "It can be a real struggle if a child has developed an idea that they are ‘owed’ certain things...... " To read the rest of this entry, go HERE . Scroll down past the pictures- it begins in the third paragraph after the pictures.
Savannah Marie arrived at 6:26pm on Monday, August 13th. She weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz. and was 19 3/4 inches long. She's got beautiful wavy brown hair and the most gorgeous blue eyes. Now I've got three blue-eyed babies!
They have a new narcotic- I think it's called Newbane? and it is a wonderful, wonderful thing. I was induced at 10am, got my Newbane a little after that, epi around noon or 1pm I think. I had a completely pain free delivery- I felt NOTHING- gotta love that. I only had to push for 17 minutes which is pretty quick. The problem came after delivery- the cord was wrapped very tightly around her neck and when the OB began to unwrap it from around her neck the cord broke apart in her hands. I lost quite a bit of blood and went into some form of shock afterwards. It was about two hours before all was well again. However, at least the labor and delivery were easy and we've got a gorgeous baby to show for it!
To Those of You Who are Pregnant Here in Town:
I did something dumb that may cost me a bit of extra money so let me save you some money- When you are in the hospital a consultation with lactation is included in your stay. If you tell them you want to try pumping they will bring you a Medela pump to use during your stay and also the hose kit that goes with it. It's all included in your stay at no extra cost to you. I assumed that even after discharge, if you wanted to see lactation it was still free as long as you went to the lactation office for your appointment (as opposed to having them come out to your house). I also assumed that if you rented a Medela pump from the hospital that the hose kit would come with it. Not so my friends. The yellow, Symphony Medela pump (waaay better than the old blue Lactina pumps that they also have) is a $65 rental. If you do not already have the hose kit it is an additional $61. Also, the consultations with Lactation are no longer free once you leave the hospital. So my advice is to at least tell them you want to try pumping while in the hospital so you can get your hose kit and to take the time for a really good, thorough appointment with the Lactation nurse while you are still in the hospital. I *really* wanted to breastfeed this time around but we've been having some real problems with Savvy that have resulted in it being necessary for me to pump even though it was not our expectation or plan to do so.
Savannah's First Days at Home
We came home on Wednesday, August 15th and things initially went well. However, she did not have a BM from Thursday morning until Saturday night. Babies are born with bilirubin in their system and they pass it by having BM's. A buildup of bilirubin in the system leads to jaundice. When I spoke with the pediatrician on Saturday, she decided to send us back to the hospital for a bili test. Savvy tested at 18, which is quite high. On Sunday Savvy refused to eat from 9am until 7pm. Joy, our wonderful Smart Start nurse, called me to check on Savvy and when she found out how long Savvy had gone without eating advised me that the problem likely was that Savvy was to weak to nurse and that I should *immediately* give her a bottle of pumped breastmilk or formula- whatever I had on hand- and continue to bottle feed her every three hours. Monday morning we had an appointment with Lactation- again, Savvy was so weak that even the Lactation nurse was not able to get her to latch on. (at least then I knew it wasn't something that *I* was doing wrong). She weighed Savvy- she had dropped 10% of her body weight and was down to 7lbs. 11 oz. The nurse called my pediatrician who said he wanted to see us immediately. We headed over to his office for another weight check and bili check- her bilirubin level was still at 17 so he sent a nurse out to our home that afternoon with a light blanket to help with the jaundice. We were under strict orders to feed her every three hours- if she refused/was unable to latch on then we were to bottle feed her. A nurse was sent to our house every day for the next four days to check her weight and bilirubin level. She's doing much better now- her color is back to normal pink (jaundice babies turn very yellow), her bili count is down and she's gained back almost all the weight she lost. Still, it was a *very* difficult week. I've been trying to pump every 2-3 hours. This takes a LOT of time- pumping is 30-40 minutes and then I still have to give it to her in the bottle- another 20 minutes. So basically every 2-3 hours I have to spend an entire hour sitting in a chair in the living room. This would not have been a problem with the first child but it is a BIG problem with a 3 year old and a 2 year old. Luckily my Mom was here last week, I'm not sure what we'll do this week. I've got another Lactation appointment on Monday morning- hopefully now that Savannah has gained weight we'll be able to get her to start latching back on. That would make a huge difference if I could give up pumping.
Oh- reading back through- I guess I didn't say clearly- jaundice is a vicious cycle- baby gets jaundiced (has a high bilirubin level) which makes them tired. Because they are tired they don't eat. Because they don't eat, they don't go to the bathroom. Because they don't go to the bathroom the bilirubin level continues to build. Causing them to sleep more, not eat, etc. etc.
We Gotta Get Busy Around Here- we're having a baby in FOUR days....
Yesterday, in preparation for Savannah's arrival and my mother's visit ('cause we all know nothing inspires a deep cleaning of one's house like an impending visit from one's Mom- especially my Mom who has a perfect house)
-I made three 9x9 pans of lasagne. Froze two of them and put one in the fridge for tonight's dinner.
-I seasoned three beef briskets for making Barbecue Beef Brisket. Put one in the crockpot and froze the other two.
-Packaged pork chops up for freezing.
-Cleaned out the refridgerator.
-Cleaned out the pantry.
-Made Magic Cookie Bars.
-Washed two loads of laundry.
-Made out our menu through August 26th.
-Made grocery store list, costco list and errands list.
-Dealt with insurance company- the other driver's insurance is going to cover all damages! woo-hoo!
I've had this mental to-do list of things to be done before we leave for the hospital at 4:45AM on Monday morning (that time is just uncivilized) so I started jotting things down just to have the mental clutter out of my head. I initially thought that we only had a few things to do this weekend to get ready for Savannah and Mom's visit- apparently I was feeling optimistic... Here's my way-to-long list of things to be accomplished in the next four days. Crossed off the stuff I did last night.
Updated TO-DO List
-Clean stove top with cleaner and razor
-remove and wash booster seats from kitchen table
-Van
*Remove car seats, wash covers, clean seats *Put MM and Nathan's car seats in back, Savvy's in middle *Move middle row captain's chair over so that the two seats make a bench. *Install Savvy's seat in middle row captain's seat. *Move DVD players
-Double Stroller- get it out, clean it up, put in trunk
-Bassinette's- get them both out, wipe them down, dress with fresh sheets and water proof pads.
-Assemble bath seat
-Assemble rocker/bouncer seat
-Pack hospital bag
-Get out green maternity shirt, wash it, take picture in it.
-Co-Sleeper- get it out, wash it, fresh sheets, put in our bedroom
-Set out Children's clothes for while we are gone
*2 pj's each
*3 play outfits each including playshoes
*1 nice outfit each including dress shoes
*Get out matching hairbobs for Mary's outfits and clip them to each outfit.
-Do August Budget
-Rotate some new toys into the living room
-Wash all bed sheets on Sunday
-Water all plants on Sunday
-Kitchen Floor- HooverMate on Sunday
-Give Sarah list of people to contact with phone numbers.
-Give Kip list of people to contact with phone numbers. -Check status of food for the Monday-Wednesday babysitters
-Go Grocery Shopping
-Costco
-Exchanges at Wal-Mart
-Charge camera battery -Clean out both freezers
Okay- I know some of the cleaning and errand stuff seems silly but... 1. I want to come home to a clean house. I don't want to have to do anything or go anywhere. I don't want to have to deal with sheets that need to be changed or piles of laundry right away, kwim? AND 2. My Mom's house is so immaculate- it is always perfectly clean and I don't want her coming here for the week to find the house trashed and then think that I am a bad housekeeper.
We really have got a lot to do these next few days and not much time to get it all done. Today I'm going to meet with the insurance adjuster, shopping at Costco and getting the children's hair cut.
BAD DAY
As most of you already know, Kip's mother passed away Wednesday evening. The funeral was held on Sunday as the pastor's daughter was getting married on Saturday and he was, obviously, unavailable. The funeral was difficult enough without being followed by some shenanigans from one of Kip's family members. I won't blog about it here because you never know who might be reading but I can tell you about it later, in person.
Kip and I left his Dad's house around 6:30pm to pick up the children and were hit by another driver while we were parked at a stoplight. Yes I'm fine and no one was hurt. BUT, I just had this feeling that something was off about the driver so I called the police despite his attempts to just let him pay me. Good thing I did. When the police got there the passenger and driver tried to switch who was driving. Then the guy who was really driving didn't have his license with him. Someone brought it to him. License didn't have his correct address on it. When the police officer requested his insurance he initially gave him an expired insurance card- turns out he actually has insurance with a different company. Finally got that straightened out only to find that the license plate on his car was a different car than the one he was driving. Had we simply exchanged insurance company info and addresses and let him go on the promise to pay within a certain amount of time or we would file a claim, as I've done in previous occasions, we would have been screwed. We'd have had no address or phone number and an expired insurance policy with a company that he was no longer even a customer with.
We ended up not getting the children picked up from my sister's, home and in bed until 9pm. It was a long, draining, horrid day.
POOL
We've had a long, difficult summer and I realized I haven't done hardly anything fun with the kids. We've only been swimming three times all summer, didn't do any Fourth of July/Fireworks stuff.... nothing. SO, I called my friend Suzanne and asked if we could come over and play yesterday. The kids swam in the pool for two hours, played with her kids and had pizza for lunch. It was just what we needed. Here's some pics:
Mary with Leonard, Suzanne's son- they're both 3 1/2 years old.
Red Jewell is fat and thinks he owns the house. Look at him all perched up in the baby's carrier like he owns the place.... I'm removing the covers of all three carseats and washing them tomorrow- big job. Then changing the car seat positions around in the car and installing Savannah's carrier.
BTW: We're having a baby in FIVE days! (Not counting today!) Woohoo!
I finally have all of my picture problems fixed so I can start posting again...
Here's a bunch from springtime...
In April my sister and I took the kids to the Bog Gardens.
Mary walking with Alec.
Here's Mary's farm that she built one day when I got out the big tub of blocks.
Painting- I stripped the kids down and got out the paints. We used our regular paints plus we also made our own homemade puffy paint. I should do this more often!
I'm working on my fifth load of laundry for the day- two of our clothes and then I pulled out all of Savannah's clothes and have been washing them. I've separated them into preemie clothes, 0-3 months and whites and have those all finished except the whites. Next I need to wash all the blankets, crib sheets, etc.
During nap time, we ALL napped. :)
Once I got the children up, I sent Mary out to play on the deck with Alec while Nathan worked with me in the kitchen. He helped me to bake another batch of Mom's Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies and to empty the dishwasher. He helps put away all of the children's plates and bowls as well as all of the silverware. Now we've switched- Nathan is out on the deck playing pirates with Alec while Mary is in here with me. She's playing with her toy kitchen, "cooking" me all sorts of fabulous meals while I do this update.
The *PERFECT* doll house
Today I found the PERFECT doll house for Mary. We've been searching for a doll house for probably a year now but the really nice ones run in the $500-$600 range for the kit. This does not include assembling the doll house, decorating it or buying furniture for it. You could easily drop $1,000 putting a really nice one together. And even those aren't exactly what I'm looking for. I wanted something on casters so I could easily move it around, I wanted something with doors so that I could close it off when it wasn't in use, I wanted a certain number of rooms and a certain size of rooms. I'm certainly not paying that kind of money for something that isn't exactly what I want. Then, this morning, I was checking one of my favorite blogs, Eyes of Wonder , and saw this most perfect doll house on yesterday's blog entry. I love the size and number of rooms. I love that it has doors to close it up if you want to. It would be easy to put it up on casters so that it could be moved around. The stained wood won't get knicked, scratched and dingy the way it would if it was painted. I may go to THIS website to order wall paper, rugs, etc. that are scaled to doll house size. I think Kip could build it in a weekend or two this fall once things have slowed down a bit. It will be our Christmas present for Mary this year.
Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you like banana bread and you like chocolate chip cookies, you'll love this recipe. It's a family favorite.
Note: the riper, blacker the banana is, the better! Just break off pieces of the banana and throw it in the mixer.
Mix:
3/4 cup of butter (softened or melted)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
Add:
1 very ripe banana
1 tsp. vanilla
Add:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups oatmeal (Quaker Quick Oats)
3/4 of a bag of milk chocolate chips
Bake 10 minutes on greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees.
Judy is still at hospice and continues to be unresponsive. It has been almost two weeks now since she stopped communicating. She is not in a coma but more of a deep sleep. She does not open her eyes, move or talk. The day nurse has told Kip several times that every morning when she comes on duty she's surprised to find that Judy is still there.
Kid Funnies
So, Mary has had a lot to say lately.
1. We were at hospice visiting Judy two weekends ago. I was taking Mary for a walk around the building to keep her busy and as we approached Judy's room, Mary saw a nurse standing outside the door. She marched herself right up to the nurse and with great conviction said:
Mary: Hi! What's your name?
Nurse: Jane. What's your name?
Mary: My name is Madison. My Nana not feel well! You need to help her!
2. You know how kids will sometime say something to an adult and then you don't respond immediately because you're trying to decipher exactly what it is that the child said?
Mary: Something unintelligible. We think she was trying to tell Kip one of her knock-knock jokes.
Kip: Pausing to figure out what she said before he responds.
Mary: Come on Dad! Work with me!
3. On Saturday Kip stayed home with the children while I went out and had a little time to myself. I bought the Harry Potter book and went to the salon to have a manicure and pedicure done. Reaching my feet is now out of the question. :) Anyway, I guess it's been a long time since I've had my toes painted because Mary and Nathan were beside themselves when I got home.
Mary: Mama!!! You can change colors! (She is just flabbergasted by this- she wants to see my toes about ten times a day- and each time she is just amazed that they are colored)
Nathan: Mama! That's beee-yooo-tiful!
4. Nathan is such a delicious boy- earlier he told me that he was dreaming about naps. :) He also frequently asks to hold hands- "Mama- will you hold my hand?" I know it won't be long before he wouldn't be caught dead holding my hand so I'm trying to enjoy it while I can.
Anyone else reading or finished with the new Harry Potter? I finished it Sunday morning- it was everything I hoped it would be. I wasn't disappointed at all. Loose ends from previous books were tied up and explained and I was right in my prediction of Snape's character. I won't say more so as not to spoil it for anyone else who hasn't finished it yet.
Read this fairly short post on strong willed children. Excellent. (ETA: Okay, I went back and looked at it and I guess t's not that short but it is really worth the time to read it!)
As a former middle school teacher I saw many strong-willed children who had never learned to submit to authority. They were my most frustrating students and they were such unhappy children. Their parents did not enjoy them, their teachers were always frustrated with them, other kids were often aggravated by them. In many ways, I felt sorry for them even though they were in-your-face defiant. They had no idea how to operate in a world that does not revolve around what they want, no concept of the word "no", an inablility to accept something that was contrary to their will with grace and contentment. My Dad is like this- an absolute control-freak who must have his way at all times. He's one of the unhappiest people I know. I do *not* want this type of life for Mary or Nathan- and as Fairchilds they certainly have a will to control.
This is why it's so important to us to teach Mary and Nathan obey. Controlling behaviors that are a little bit cute at 15 months old are annoying at three years old and downright antisocial by the time they are middle school age. We not only want for them to be happy, content, productive adults but we want for them to feel treasured by their parents. I know several children who routinely hear their parents complain about them and who feel as if they are their parents greatest annoyance in life. Their parents don't enjoy spending time with them and the kids know it. How sad is that? You can't expect the kids to train themselves- the parents have to help them in this area. I want to enjoy being with Mary and Nathan- not look at as a drudgery. I cringe when I hear a parent say that they couldn't stand to be around their kids all day. What message is this sending to the child? The only way for Mary and Nathan to truly be happy is to be well-disciplined and that means obeying Mom and Dad. Without obedience it would be impossible for myself and others to enjoy them and I don't want their childhood to be spent feeling like an annoyance- I want it to be one of being treasured and enjoyed by their parents and other adults who love them (grandparents, etc.)
Mary tends to be my more openly defiant, strong-willed, controlling child. It means that I can never, NEVER let her win a battle. If I tell her to put the drum on the second shelf and she cuts her eyes over at me and puts it on the third shelf, that's defiant. She *knows* what I asked her to do and it's her little way of defying what I told her to do. Almost complying with a directive is not complying- or delayed obedience is really disobedience. Sometimes people will comment to me that I don't know what it's really like to have a strong-willed child or that Mary certainly doesn't appear to be strong-willed. That's because we started working on this at a young age. She had her first temper fit at around six months old- she was flat out furious at having her diaper changed. Arching her back, screaming, etc. We did not allow it to continue. She went through a screaming phase at around 14 months old that we disciplined for until she submitted to "no screaming" directives from Mom and Dad. We did not wait until she was a full blown brat at three or four to start disciplining her- she knows that when Mama tells her to do something she better do it because Mama means business. It is the only thing that has saved her from being an absolute terror.
Disclaimer- Now, we certainly have not "arrived" and have a long way to go- I realized a few days ago that we need some serious work on "come to Mama"- they are not coming when called the first time which is disobedience. Nathan and Mary both have some table manners that need to be improved upon. We surely don't have it all figured out yet. I can think of several issues in discipline/obedience that need to be worked on right now or in the near future. The point is that we recognize them and are going to work on them rather then throwing our hands up in the air and passing it off as a "phase" or being "strong-willed" or maybe they'll "grow out of it".
No news really- Doctors continue to say that we should expect her to pass at any time. So we are living in a constant state of high alert- every day could be the last- and it is totally exhausting for all involved. Radiation treatments that were supposed to reduce the size of the mass on her neck have not worked. She continues to be very uncomfortable and is often agitated.
There's been a discussion on my favorite parenting website lately about intention living/parenting. I thought I'd share the original post here as well as some of the follow up comments.
------------------The Original Post-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It occurred to me yesterday that while I live with good intentions, our family most certainly just does NOT live intentionally. There are some things, and a precious few, that are intentional. The way we train our little children is intentional. We've thought that out, made conscious decisions that will affect the future in a positive way and it's intentional. But there are so many of our areas that are unintentional.
For example.
Laundry.
Our laundry is one huge unintentional mess. I do 4-6 loads of laundry per day which is insane. At one time I was INTENTIONAL with our laundry. Our children wore uniforms on school days and had far fewer items of clothing, but those items stayed NICE and hung up. There was no wondering what to wear in the morning, far less laundry, and less stress. That was intentional. Now is the opposite.
Toys.
I used to be VERY intentional with our toy situation. We didn't live by grandparents, so we only had to purge about once a year. I actually have a toybox now. Those things should be banned. We don't actually PLAY with any of the toys in that toybox. It's just dug through occasionally in order to make a mess. That is unintentional.
Dishes.
We used to own one plate for each member of our family. But we saw a great matching set at Goodwill one day. They are too big to fit correctly, they require a slant/slide/push to get them into place and the matching plates are too small to actually use for a meal. THAT is unintentional living.
Cloth Diapers
Do you know how much crap I've accumulated that I don't use? That's unintentional.
Homeschooling
I own two bookcases of books and more "floating" around the house than I care to think about. We use the SAME books over and over. Why? Because they are awesome. But, I own SEVERAL books that are completely useless. BTW, they are in like new condition. Do you know why? Because they are useless and taking up space. That is UNINTENtIONAL living.
All of these things take up space in my home. They take time to maintain.
We are always living for tomorrow.... We'll go camping some weekend when there is more time. We'll move to the country some time when we've fixed up the house. We'll get a pony someday... yeah, when the kids are grown. I'm sure I'll enjoy riding it when I'm sixty.
All of this is NOT said with a spirit of discontentedness. It's said more as an evaluation. Why some day? Why do we waste our precious time on things that are silly? Why do I do 6 loads of laundry per day when that is a ridiculous waste of my time? I'd rather do two and spend time on a nature walk. Why pick up toys my children don't play with when we could be in the backyard or the park? Why waste my time going to a homeschooling co-op every Monday for months so my kids can experience cool science stuff... Like I can't accomplish science in the hour it takes me just to DRIVE to the co-op.
I would just urge you all to evaluate what things there are in your homes and lives that are useless. How can you change them to have purpose? How can you live now the way you know you want to live? Why do we feel bound by some things because they are social norms or are expected? How can you live more intentionally?
--------*Some* of the follow-up comments---------------------------------------------------------
I think it's really important to realize that the physical de-cluttering is really just a tangible way of something a little deeper. Throwing out 3/4 of the kids' toys does not make me intentional. But, the realization that the toys are not tools to build up my end goals IS a step to being intentional.
We fill our lives, our homes, our heads with so much clutter that we can't walk through the mess to the other side.
I need to declutter my home, my stuff, my schedule so that I can accomplish what God CAN do if I'll just allow it. I need to strip away some of the "stuff" so I have time and energy and space to devote time to things God would have me do.
Living intentional is so much more than just simplifying my home and putting labels on things. It's more than, "A place for everything and everything in it's place." It's the acknowledgement that I'm not MINISTERING the way I should because I'm allowing other things to take that place.
If I can't get up in the morning and start my day with reading the Bible, or just a simple prayer, then that really is a problem. What can I clear out so that I can focus my eyes on Him? What do I need to declutter? Maybe it isn't a physical thing, maybe it's an emotional thing.
If I'm getting frustrated with my kids because my house is always a mess and so I'm yelling or having a bad attitude, then I need to get rid of some STUFF so I can be patient and loving and teach them about having a happy heart.
If I'm angry at my husband because he's home late and I have to prepare supper with two babies on my hip, then I need to change the way I run things. I need to declutter my schedule so I can do my meal prep. in the afternoon so I can be that loving wife that God needs me to be.
I am a walking, talking testimony of God's grace and creation. I am letting the things and preoccupations of this world take up 90% of the space and time in my home. You only have 24 hours in the day. That's it.
10 hours - sleeping
3 hours - meal prep / eating
4 hours - teaching / schoolwork
2 hours - errands, sports, whatever
1 hour - television
1 hour - laundry
1 hour - bathing / dressing
2 hours - cleaning
That's it. 24 hours. We all make room for what we feel is important. If I have the right attitude, then school can be about God. If I'm humming happily, serving my family eagerly, all the while preparing a meal, THAT teaches my kids about God. But if you're unable to be sweet and pleasant and take time from the science lesson to show how God created that flower uniquely, then there is a problem. This is when you need to take the steps to live intentionally. God doesn't force us to choose Him. He allows us to fill our time with whatever we choose. We need to intentionally choose Him.
WHOA! Guilt is a trip Satan takes us on. If it's GUILT you're feeling, I don't think that's from God. That's what Satan uses to paralyze us and make us hate ourselves. We can feel a necessity to change things in our lives and realize things need to change, but generally there are two reasons for guilt that I can see. One, you completely know that something you are doing is flat out wrong and needs to change... therefore work on changing. The second is the little lie that Satan feeds us - you did *x* in your past, you won't change, you can't change, you're worthless. We all know THAT'S wrong. And, Susannah, I think intentional isn't about planning. It's about getting things in order so you get more joy out of life.
Training your kids is intentional, but it can be done anywhere or anytime. You have given thought to how will act and react. Intentionally clearing clutter out of your house so it's (fairly) easy to pick you up frees you for those spontaneous and dreaded "drive-by" stops that friends make without calling. (We're actually scared of those in our house, lol.) I think having a menu frees you, because you know when dh comes home there will be a meal or if he chooses to go out on the town then WAHOO you don't have to cook tomorrow. My dh gets bored on weekends. It would be nothing for him to say, "Everybody get your shoes on we're going roadtripping." And we may go 15 minutes away or 2 hours away on a complete whim. Living intentionally (doing my laundry on Fridays so the weekend is free, having shoes in closets, cleaning out my van on Fridays so the mess doesn't stress dh out, etc.) actually FREES me to be spontaneous. And even enjoy those spontaneous moments MORE because I'm not freaking out because he's going to see the van or because the kids don't have a clean shirt to wear to who knows where?! By intentional I do not mean a moment by moment schedule. I mean look at what causes discontentment in your life... really evaluate. A lot of this mode is really routed in two things I've learned.
The first I learned from Terri Maxwell. There are things that steal our meek and quiet spirit... the SPIRIT, not my loud mouth. They steal our peacefulness and our joy. Instead of living with those things and just accepting them as part and parcel of life, we need to seek ways to change them so that we don't allow them to be a source of sin (discontentment) in our lives. Susannah, for you, you may have had to get RID of the schedule that would be helpful to other people because it is a tool that would make you discontent with your husband and his personality. It's INTENTIONALLY looking at the schedule posted on your fridge and saying, "Look this is really great for some Moms. But my dh isn't wired this way. It doesn't bring him peace and it steals my joy." I'm just going to make sure x, y, and z are done every day by 2 PM when he gets home from work so that I'm free to be at his whims." That is INTENTIONALLY choosing to be YOUR husband's helpmeet.
The second was long ago from Elizabeth. We were talking about anger and I just really felt convicted to change but wasn't. I have "tantrums" and their ugly little things where I get mad and throw a fit, yelling and just generally having an ugly attitude. They've gotten better over time (thank you God) but I just couldn't understand why God wasn't lifting this burden off of me. I mean, after all, if it was wrong and I was praying about it, shouldn't He have just taken this ability to be angry away from me? It sounded very reasonable to me! But, as Elizabeth had pointed out in a long ago post, God had already CONVICTED me it was a sin. So why was I waiting for Him to do take it from me? Why wasn't I choosing not to ACT on my emotions? If I was in a store and a little person made me angry would I throw a fit? No. So why did I allow myself to do it in private? I won't say I have it completely under control because the stress with Rebecca in February and March proved that I don't. I will say it is better. Just as some men struggle with p**n, I think I will struggle with anger all my life. But it is something that can be controlled and I have to take actions to help myself control it. It isn't something that God just takes away. But an interesting article I read once said that we need to recognize there is a step just before sin. That step is JUSTIFICATION. If you find yourself justifying why you are allowing yourself to do something, you can bet the next step is a sin. So, if you're sitting on the couch, justifying why you get to continue sitting on the couch, when you know you should be doing something else, then you must force yourself to do the right thing. Put on clothes, shoes, pull your hair back and make a list. For a long while I was justifying all my time on the internet, the truth was, I was just flat out addicted. I had to cancel internet and pull away to be able to get back on track. I had to put steps in motion so that I could stop because I just didn't have the self-control to go cold turkey. I am better now (not evidenced by the # of posts on the last two days, lol) but I am more aware of the weakness and tendency. That helps me be on guard and not excuse the behaviour!
On the sleep issue... No I don't get much sleep. I inherited my mom's general tendency to not be ABLE to sleep much. It is actually unfortunate that I am both a night owl and an early riser. I generally don't go to bed 'til about 11PM or so and generally am back up around 5 AM with dh. I am trying to get to bed earlier, like when he goes to bed, but I don't fall asleep easily then. If I go to bed late, I just pass right out. When I'm pregnant I take naps... nice long 2-3 hour naps right in the middle of the day. I like naps! But I don't accomplish much. That's generally the time I soap or read or do homeschool research, or whatnot.
Judy continues to go downhill. She is having a trach put in today and after this will not be able to talk. The doctors came in yesterday and said that even though she has made it this far we should still expect her to pass at any time. Could be 3 hours from now or a week from now. No way to know. My Mom is coming for a visit this afternoon and will be staying the night- it will be nice to have the company while Kip is gone.
Thanks for thinking of us- I'll try to update again soon.
I apologize for being absent lately- we've had a lot going on.
Three weeks ago Kip's mom was diagnosed with throat cancer. Two weeks ago she took another fall (broke her hip back in Nov.) and was admitted to the hospital. She's gone downhill pretty rapidly since then. This past Wed. the decision was made to transfer her to another hospital for radiation therapy to reduce the size of the mass in her neck- it won't be a cure but it will make her more comfortable. Then they were going to send her home with hospice.
However, Judy became agitated during the transfer and pulled her feeding tube partway out causing her to aspirate the food into her lungs. She developed an infection which led to pneumonia. Kip called me Wed. to come to the hospital immediately as her passing was expected to be imminent- that day or night. We spent Wednesday night and Thursday night at the hospital. Allthough she made it through those two days there is no more talk of even sending her home- she is expected to pass anytime in the next few days.
The children are having a bit of a hard time- a constant rotation of different babysitters and not seeing much of Mom and Dad are hard on them. Kip and I are totally exhausted- the bench at the hospital is horrid for sleeping, especially for someone who's as pregnant as I am.
Thanks to all those who've been thinking of us- I've got piles of emails and phone messages to return- I've read them/heard them but haven't had time to return them. When I am at home, I'm trying to spend as much time with Mary and Nathan as possible and if they go down for a nap, so do I. If you haven't heard back from me- I'll get in touch soon.
Allright- I"m off to the grocery store to get some basics for this next week-
Jenny Beale- got your email- thanks for the offer! I may take you up on something next week- Kip's sister can't stay indefinitely and when she goes back to Atlanta it will just be us to take turns with his Dad. I'll be in touch soon. And- just to make you laugh- Nathan announced again- quite LOUDLY- at the doctor's office yesterday "Mommy! I not LIKE that cock!" I'm not sure the pediatrician bought my story. Luckily, I've got witnesses!
Jun. 18, 2007 - AARGH! We've been invaded! And Father's Day weekend...
AAAARRGGGHHH! Our household has been invaded by Red Beard the Pirate (Nathan) and Pirate Jack (supposed to be Capt. Jack- Mary). They have swords (extra pieces of base moulding from Daddy) and have been engaging in sword fights for the last two days. "Captain" (that's Mommy or Daddy) haven't had to interfere to much- so far there are no injuries- just lots of roaring and strutting about!
We had a busy Father's Day weekend- Kip did hours of yard work on Saturday, including planting me a beautiful new flower garden in the planter off the driveway. He also fixed the upstairs AC unit, repaired Mary and Nathan's kitchen set (they tipped it over and broke the doors) and helped me clean all of the downstairs floors last night, which is a *big* job. He did get to relax a bit- plus he got some nice surprises. The kids and I made him these pavers for the new flower garden with their handprints and names on them. We also made him two coconut cream pies- one for him and one for him to share with a friend. Also, I ordered him two new of his favorite work shirts and he opened cards from myself and the kids. I'll post pictures someday- when I get my picture software up and running again.
It's supposed to be 95 today- I think we're going to play outside early while it's still cool....... The kids are playing "library" right now but I think that's something they can do later when it's scorching hot outside. Maybe we'll get the water table set up again...
Overheard
Mary: random talking (missed what she was saying)
Nathan: Because I said so!
Mary: NO! That's Mommy's part!
Other News
Kristin will be happy to hear... that the next time she comes to spend the night she'll have a real bathroom! The nasty, brown, faux-leather countertop is gone and replaced with a new countertop. The new faucets went in Sunday and the mirrors went up last night. It looks so nice!
Alec is here all week and is being such a big help to me! Yesterday I spent two hours cleaning the upstairs bathrooms while Alec played with Mary and Nathan in Nathan's room and then the playroom. I was able to sweep and mop the floors, clean the bathtub, both toilets and thoroughly clean and organize the master bathroom vanity. I got rid of a trashbag full of stuff that needed to go. Alec was my go-to man anytime I needed something from downstairs- I'm at the point where climbing the stairs is getting increasingly more tiring.
We also went to Lowe's yesterday to buy some pavers for a Father's Day project we are going to do as a surprise for Kip- Alec loaded all the heavy pavers into the trunk for me. :) At lunch Alec said "Aunt Kelly, not that I didn't have fun last summer, but the babies are A LOT more fun this summer 'cause they've got better toys and they're bigger and can do more fun stuff!" He had the choice between going to daycare and coming to Aunt Kelly's and he chose to come here. Isn't that nice?
Allright- I need to get going- the chocolate chip cookies are done (taking them to a memorial service today) and I need to get the brownies in the oven and everyone dressed and ready to go.
At breakfast Nathan informed me "Mommy, I like cookies. And Fat Cats!" And then, a few minutes later as he is munching on his strawberry mini muffins- "Mommy, this is fun!" What a nice thing it must be to be a little boy and have your morning contemplations include the joys of cookies, fat cats and eating strawberry muffins... Seems like I could take a lesson on enjoying the simple things in life....
Mary is thrilled beyond words today- her hero, Alec, is here this week. Alec is all she needs in life to be happy. Right now they are curled up on the couch together watching cartoons. :) sweet.
I keep meaning to share this post:
I couldn't agree with THIS POST more. Parents give their kids way to many choices at way to early an age. Tonya said it much better than I could so take a moment to read.... Bad News
We got some bad news last night. Kip's mother has had a large lump on the side of her throat for the last month, which she has been, of course, refusing to go to the doctor about. Mel finally got her to go to an Emergicare and the diagnosis is squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx . Basically throat cancer. I've done a little bit of research on the internet, talked to my sister, etc. and essentially I think it's a death sentence. This is an especially nasty form of cancer. She's 80 years old and a heavy smoker. I didn't have the heart to tell Kip this... Maybe I will down the road but right now he's got enough to process. I've got the fun job of calling his sister today and telling her. Mel won't call her and Kip really doesn't want to- he asked me if I would be willing to since I can handle her pretty well. Keep us in your prayers please, I think we're in for a rough couple of months....
We've had quite the week here in the Jewell household.
Sunday- Nathan's wounding of his head and subsequent cries of "I don't need my Mommy! I need my DAD!"
Monday- We went to the Natural Science Center to see the the recently opened Phase one of the new zoo with my friend Jennifer and her kids. We're walking along the paved path with Nathan maybe 15 feet in front of us. Nathan is in his own little world, totally oblivious to the surroundings. He passes a peacock about 20 feet to his right, off in the grassy area. Nathan doesn't see the peacock. I notice the peacock start to walk in his direction. So I think he must be just, you know, wandering about or something. Then the peacock starts to trot. And I think, nooo, surely not. The peacock breaks out in a full run, charging Nathan from behind. I actually screamed, dropped the stroller and took off after the peacock. The peacock was making all sorts of racket and pecking and biting Nathan. Nathan was screaming, absolutely terrified, trying to run away. The peacock kept running after him and biting him. Luckily the peacock charged him from behind so when he was biting Nathan he bit him on his biscuits so his diaper protected him. Later on of the zookeepers told me that the peacocks were in heat and that must be why he attacked Nathan. I was pissed to say the least- stupid things should be in confinement if they are aggressive when in heat, not wandering about the park.
To top it off, Nathan keeps saying "I not LIKE that cock!" I not LIKE that cock!" quite loudly and in random public places. I can only imagine what people think about this.
Tuesday and Wednesday: Stayed home and putzed around cleaning the upstairs. The boy fell in the playroom and bit his lip so had blood all over his face, arms and hands. Then he fell later in the living room and bonked his head again. Then the boy fell three more times on Wednesday.
After all the woundings and upsets this week, we're staying home and having a fun day today. I cleaned up the deck this morning and then emptied the sand table and washed it out. I filled it up with water and put a bunch of boats and water toys in it so that the kids can play with it later on this morning. I'm going to do a couple of pages in the Kumon: My Book of Pasting with Mary- she LOVES to do this kind of thing. I have to do the cutting but she loves to paste the pictures together. Then we're going to make my Mom's Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies to go with our picnic dinner tonight.
If I get real ambitious, I'll hook the sprinkler up on the deck and let the kids play in that for a while.
Pregnant Stuff:
Read this entry on my friend Emily's blog- this is soooo exactly what I'm going through right now. The only difference is that my lack of sleep is due to constant peeing instead of tossing and turning. Wednesday night I got up to pee 10 times between 10:30pm and 1:50am. That averages out to about every 20 minutes. Finally around 2:00 or so I was able to fall asleep. I woke up at 3:38am because I thought I heard a creak on the stairs. So then I was paranoid... thinking maybe it's the serial arsonist/killer like on Criminal Minds. Then I start thinking about all this other stupid stuff and I can't get back to sleep so I lay there for the rest of the night irritated because I can't go to sleep and irritated that Kip is sleeping so soundly as usual.
Savannah is still breech- I've read that there is something called the Webster technique that Chiropractors can do to turn a baby. I'm going to check with my insurance and see if they cover chiro visits and if so, how many. There is a BIG cost difference between having a ******l birth and a c-section so I really want to avoid the C-section if at all possible.
Other Stuff
And, just for fun- go read my IRL friend Jenny's blog- she's to funny- Jenny's Blog
Jenny's got me addicted to this *stupid* Celebrity Baby Blog. I'm spending way to much time reading that blog and I know it's stupid but... I keep.going.back....
Oh- here's another favorite: Candy Blog Because, as most of you know, I love candy. Unfortunately.
He fell down and "bruised his fruit" as we say in the Jewell household- that is, whapped the beejeepers out of his head on the hardwood floor in the livingroom. He was sobbing and I went to pick him up and he said "I don't need my Mommy. I need my DAD!" ouch. He's becoming a major Daddy's boy lately and I know that this is a phase and he didn't really mean it that way but man, I have to say, my feelings were hurt!
Jokes
Mary's got her first joke:
Mary: knock knock
You: Who's There?
Mary: Cat
You: Cat who? (which sounds like a sneeze- katchoo!)
Mary: Gezundheit!
She's taught that one to Nathan now and then the other day Kip taught them both this old standby:
This is funny and cute about the first 100 times but after that it does tend to get a bit old. Still, it is funny to hear them telling their first jokes at 2 years and 3 years old.
Randomness...
Kip removed the old faux leather countertop from the upstairs hall bath yesterday and installed the new cultured marble vanity today. WooHoo! Tomorrow night we're going to buy the new faucets and mirrors. If you saw the old countertop, you'd understand why we're so excited about this. I mean really- faux leather as a bathroom countertop material??? Oh so attractive.
I did an alphabet and shape assessment on Nathan last week- he could identify six letters by sight but he knows the letter and sound of a bunch more. For example, if you ask him what does "J" say he'll tell you "juh, juh" but he can't pick out the actual written letter "J" on his own yet. He identified six out of seven shapes correctly- circle, square, triangle, diamond, flower and star. He missed rectangle. Colors he's still a little iffy on.
Oh- this was funny- the other day Nathan got a book out and started to "read" it himself. He said "Once upon a time... everyone had water" I have no idea where he got that silliness from I had a good laugh about it. Another night we were watching Nathan on the video monitor after we put him to bed- he was playing with the magnadoodle and having a whole little conversation with himself. The magnadoodle comes with four shapes- circle, square, triangle and flower. So, he's sitting in his bed and using the shapes on the magnadoodle- calling them out as he uses them. "Circle!" "Square!" "Triangle!" "Circle!" "Noooo, that's not a circle! That's a flower!" "Yes it is a circle" "No it's NOT a circle!" "Yes it is!" "Okay, it's a circle!" and on and on he goes. :) Funny little man!
Mary is just so fun lately! I wrote in an earlier post how she just loves to play games so we've been doing that a lot recently. She's become my right hand in the kitchen. She's really becoming a help at unloading the dishwasher and does a good job setting and clearing the table. She loves, loves, loves to help me cook. Mostly I've been having her help me with baking- cookies, cakes, pies... but I'm thinking of having her start to help me with some meal preparation. She has such a cheerful, positive outlook- she is *always* complimenting someone which I think is so nice. I love that about her- she is definitely an encourager by nature.
I've been making serious house progress these past few weeks- the weekend that we were moving into the new house is when I had my miscarriage. Needless to say, I was a mess. My Mom took off work all the next week and came and stayed with me. She and my sister unpacked the majority of my house for me which I very much appreciated. However- you know how that is- everyone has a certain way of keeping things and so a lot of things have not been arranged and organized in the way I would have it done. Two weeks ago I did the two upstairs linen closets- emptied them out, got rid of a bunch of stuff and reorganized them. Thursday of last week I dove into the kitchen- it took me almost 5 1/2 hours but I emptied every single cabinet, vacuumed them out/wiped them down, sorted and purged lots of stuff I don't really need and totally reorganized all the cabinets. I feel so much better! Then, later, I also did the downstairs linen closet. Next on the list are the cabinets in the Master bath and the upstairs hall bath.
I had a great compliment on Friday- I had my OB appt. with Dr. L scheduled for that morning and my babysitter did not show up. My regular babysitter had allready scheduled for the day off so I had a new person coming. Since I only see Dr. L it's very hard to reschedule my appointments- she's the only woman in the practice and her schedule fills up pretty quickly. So, canceling was not an option. My sister wasn't available to babysit and Kip was on a job site. No choice but to take the kiddos with me. When Dr. L came in the room I immediately apologized for having to bring Mary and Nathan (which I've done one or two other times) and told her my babysitter hadn't shown up. She said "Oh, Kelly, I don't mind at all! Your kids are always so well behaved!" Mary and Nathan were good as gold for the appointment but her compliment sure did make me feel good on a day that I needed a little extra boost.
We went to our first homeschool fair today in search of a preschool curriculum for Mary for next year and to get a look at the Kindergarten curriculums we will be buying next year.
For preschool, we bought Rod and Staff Preschool Curriculum
It was only $20 for all seven books- a bible reader and six workbooks, which we thought was a pretty good price.
For Kindergarten, we looked at several different curriculums and narrowed it down to three possibilities for next year.
1. Konos Unit Studies
This one wasn't even on my list of possibles before we went, but we both really liked it. It's a unit study that includes literature, history, science, bible- we would have to purchase spelling, phonics and math separately which is fine- we allready own Hooked on phonics and there are some pretty cheap spelling programs. We know we want Math-U-See for math.
2. Tapestry of Grace
I really like TOG- it's a combination of the classical method and the charlotte mason method. I find that very appealing- I want to make sure their education is rigorous and not fluff. Similar to Konos- TOG includes literature, history, science and bible.
3. Sonlight
I love that sonlight uses children's literature to teach history, literature and science. We'd still buy Math-U-See. They also have a great, 18 week money back guarantee.
4. Math-U-See
Love, love, love this. Definitely planning on buying it. I really believe that if I had learned math this way I wouldn't have struggled with math so much all through my school years.
Tonight
We were invited to a cookout at some friends- We had a great time! Mary and Nathan swam in the pool all evening. By the time we got home at 9:30 they were so tired they could hardly crawl into the bed. :) Nathan ate his weight in watermelon- good thing tomorrow is Kip's day for diaper duty!
Mary and Nathan are driving on the deck- Mary in her Cozy Coupe Car and Nathan on his motorcycle.
Mary stops her car and says "Nathan! My wheel is broken!"
Nathan says "Okay, Sissy! I fix it!"
He gets off his motorcycle and putters around with the wheel of her car- jiggling it and banging on it for a second or so. Then he says "Good as new, Sissy!"
And they both get back into their vehicles and continue driving up and down the deck. They repeat the scene about 12,000 times in the next hour or so. Super cute.
Also- I've noticed Nathan seems to know quite a few of his letters and sounds- I'm going to sit down with him tomorrow and go through the alphabet to see which letters he knows and which ones we need to work on. He also is doing really well with shapes- he pretty consistently gets circle, square, triangle, flower, star, kite (diamond). Sometimes he also gets rectangle.
Counting is coming along pretty well too- there was a picture in the newspaper the other day of some coins- Nathan pointed to the pictures and said "Coins! One, Two, Three. Three coins!" I couldn't believe it- there were three coins! I didn't realize he was counting so well- and I do think that's pretty good for just a bit over two years old.
Nathan's been continuing to be his Dad's right-hand man in the yard. He spent several hours last weekend with his little red shovel helping Kip move compost into the bare spots on the yard. He was totally filthy when he was done but boy was he proud of himself! Nathan and Mary both helped Kip was the suburban the other night and had a big time- again, they were filthy but they had a ton of fun working with their Dad. Nathan really seems to thrive when he's got hard work to do- not just random running around and playing but when he's doing something that is physically strenuous and there is a purpose to it. The other day I put Mary in the umbrella stroller and had Nathan push her when we went for a walk. He thought he was BIG STUFF getting to push the stroller. I let him push it as long as he wanted to and I was amazed at how far he went. You can bet he had a great nap that day!
Mary's been adding some new "big" words lately...
The other day I asked her a question (I can't remember what specifically) and she said "well, actually...."
She'll often say to me now "remember, Mommy??" "remember, this or that?"
Yesterday
We went to our old house to retrieve two plants we had left behind when we moved- my great grandmother's rose bush and a small ginko biloba tree that I had bought Kip several years ago. After we got home Kip and Nathan were out in the yard digging holes and transplanting. I sent Mary into the house to get something and when she didn't return, i went looking for her. I found her sitting cross-legged on the floor with the Candy Land game pulled down and all set up. "Mommy, will you play with me????" Oh my word, she was so cute I couldn't stand it. :) Now that she's mastered "I Spy" and "Memory" we're moving on to teaching her "Candy Land" and "Go Fish". I also want to teach her "High Ho Cherry-O" as I've heard it's a good counting game on a similar level as Candy Land.
Memorial Day Weekend
Tomorrow night we're taking the kids to their first (and mine!) baseball game- I'm hoping it goes well! Saturday we're going to the home school fair to look at preschool curriculums for the fall and to get a peek at the Kindergarten stuff since we'll be buying it next year. Then my Mom is coming on Sunday to spend the night- it'll be a busy weekend!
I had my nasty gestational diabetes test this morning... and passed with flying colors! Blood pressure was fine and I was low on my iron- which I allready knew because I've been craving ice lately. The urge to chew on ice is a sign of low iron. Still no weight gain but at least I didn't lose any either- I stayed the same and that's okay.
Also- I'm now going to start going every two weeks. :) Oh- Savannah is still breech. There's plenty of time for her to turn around, but I must admit that I am getting a bit nervous.
TV
American Idol- I told Kip last night that American Idol is DEAD to me now.
First, they voted off Chris Daughtry last season and he was clearly the best contestant. Now they've gone and voted off Melinda Dolittle. From here on out, I'm refusing to watch AI anymore. If the best people are going to keep getting voted off, what's the point of the whole show? I'm done with it.
24- I'm also irritated with 24. Here for the last several episodes they've had this big thing about rescuing Audrey and finding out if she knows anything about the Chinese. So, they finally get her- Jack is able to get some info out of her and they immediately separate them??? This makes NO sense. Plus, they let her go home with her Dad that very night. Right- this chick has just spent a year or two with the Chinese, who we are about to go to war with, possibly has information about the FB sub-circuit board and they're going to let her Dad just waltz her off homeward bound a few hours after retrieving her???? That's just totally unbelievable and sheer stupidity on the part of the show's writers.
Stupid Summer Break- What am I going to watch??? Prisonbreak is on summer break as is House, CSI, Bones and every other good show. NCIS only has one show left before it's break. 24 is over this week. It's going to be a long, boring summer in TV land. And really??? When you have a 3 year old, 2 year old and a new baby almost here- it's not like you're going out in the evenings and hanging out. Kids are in bed by 7:30 so we're pretty much at home from then on. It's going to be a long summer.... At least until August- then we've got a fun little present coming that oughta keep us busy. :)
What I really want.... is some Magic Cookie Bars. It's probably one of the first things I've craved this whole pregnancy. However, since I have my nasty gestational diabetes test on Friday, I'm trying to eat fewer sugars/carbs these next few days. But Friday? after the test? You better believe I'll be all over those Magic Cookies Bars like white on rice.
Here's the recipe:
Magic Cookie Bars
Melt one stick of butter (you can tell, this is one of those super healthy recipes)
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
Mix above together and press into the bottom of a 9x13 cake pan.
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk- pour over graham cracker crumbs and spread.
1 bag of chocolate chips (Hershey's Milk Chocolate Chips)- spread the majority of the chips over the condensed milk.
1 cup (sometimes I use a bit more) of flaked coconut- spread over top of chocolate chips.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.
When cool, cut into bars and store in fridge.
I think these are best served cold.
Baby Shower
My oh-so-nice friend Suzanne is throwing me a baby shower! I'm so thrilled- I certainly didn't expect one since this is my third baby. There are a bunch of things we've been needing to get so this is really nice. Plus- we've gotten soooooo many negative comments about having a third child- it's really nice to be celebrating it with someone, KWIM?
The thing that really irritates me is this- I can't understand why anyone would only want two children and no more- but I certainly would NOT go around encouraging someone who didn't want anymore children to have a third. I wouldn't preach to them about what they're missing or otherwise to pressure them into having more children. If that's all they want, that's their business and not mine. And, unless they specifically ask my opinion on the matter, I'm keeping my mouth shut. So, WHY, is it okay to do the opposite????? I am so SICK AND TIRED of the negative comments about our decision to have a third. At this rate, I can only imagine what people will have to say when we announce we're having a fourth. We waited until almost four months to tell anyone this time- next time, I may just wait to announce it when we get home from the hospital.
Speaking of getting ready for baby...
I've been doing a little refresher reading...
1. Happiest Baby on the Block
At the recommendation of several friends and the generosity of my Mom (who bought it for me) I read this book recently. I *wish* I had read this before we had Mary. She had a few rough times and I'm certain the techniques in this book would have helped her through several horrible crying spells that lasted hours.
2. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
I give all the credit to having two excellent sleepers to this book. Mary and Nathan both slept through the night at three months and have done so consistently since then. They were such happy, cheerful babies and I think a lot of that has to do with being well-rested. Allthough the book is a bit disorganized and in need of a good editor, it's worth wading through. When it comes to baby/children sleep habits- this man knows what he's talking about. We have ZERO sleep struggles/battles in this house, the kids go to bed cheerfully, sleep all night, and wake up happy- and this equates to a happy mommy. :)
Oh- one other thing I like about the book is that it is divided up by age- newborn, 2-4 weeks, 5-6 weeks, 7-8 weeks, 3-4 months, 5-12 months, 13-36 months, preschool children, school age children, adolescents. It also goes over various sleep strategies, signs of drowsiness, soothing, naps, sleep schedules/timing of sleep, etc. I've often just turned to the appropriate section/chapter and read what was relevant to our current situation. I'm going to re-read the sections from newborn-4 months in preparation for Savvy.
3. Crybaby
This post over at Suburban Turmoil was a great one. It was such a good reminder of how frustrating those early days can be when you are totally exhausted and have a crying newborn. It's easy to forget how *difficult* it is at first and this was a good reminder for me. I do think that I was more frustrated with Mary then I was with Nathan or will be with Savvy- with my first I didn't realize how incredibly short the time is when they are little and tiny. It goes by so fast. I think I handled it better with Nathan and I hope I will with Savvy, knowing that it's just a short time. Still, it can be hard to remember that when you haven't slept more than two hours at a stretch in weeks.
My Birthday
I had a pretty good birthday. On Monday Kip brought me home a chocolate cake from Ganache... :) He's also promised to take me shopping for a new purse, which I really need. I think just the fact that he's willing to go purse shopping is amazing. Tuesday we went out to dinner at Kabuto's Japanese Steakhouse with our friends- we brought all 5 children- two 3 year olds, two 2 year olds and the baby, 7 months old. The kids were really well behaved- it was the first time Mary and Nathan had been to Kabuto's so I was a bit nervous about the length of the dinner. They did great- Nathan had to have a little correction under the table but was perfectly cheerful after that. I think he's just checking- do I really have to behave in a restaurant? What can I get away with? Once he knew the boundaries, he was happy.
The Pace family gave me a beautiful planter with oregano and rosemary planted it it- I have really missed having my herbs like we did at our old house.
And, my Mom bought me my FAKE CAKE. I LOVE it! Kip's been teasing me that it's something that little old ladies have but I don't care. I like the way it looks sitting in the cake stand on the hutch in the dining room- it just looks nice.
I've been convicted to spend a little less time on the computer and on the phone and more time focusing on our home and children. A couple little things I've done lately:
1. Clean out and organize the toy closet
2. Clean out and organize the pantry
3. Go through the children's school things, reorganized them, put them in a more accessible and visible spot. (top shelf of the pantry)
4. I've been spending more time doing things with the kids- we've gotten the paints out a few times, been working on puzzles and coloring a bit more. Now that Mary has mastered the Memory game, I'm working on teaching her Go Fish and Candyland. I chose those because she really needs some extra work on her colors.
5. We've been playing outside a lot more. I noticed a while ago that Nathan was somewhat behind in his large motor skills. He didn't seem to run that well, tripped a lot, was unsteady on his feet in general, didn't have a good sense of depth perception. I really think it was just lack of opportunity- he only played inside or on the deck. If we went for a walk it was down our paved road. So we've been doing several things to work on that and have seen great improvement. Kip got the fish pond hauled away/filled in so that it's gone and just level yard there now. He also put the swing set up. It's meant that now Nathan gets to play out in the yard, run around, and practice lots of climbing on the swing set- he can climb the rope ladder now as well as the rock wall and the regular ladder. Kip has also really made a concerted effort to have Nathan out working in the yard with him anytime he's not doing something dangerous to a little person (like weedwacking). Nathan's really improved and we are so pleased.
6. I've been baking/cooking a lot more lately, much to Kip's happiness. Last week I made him two coconut cream pies. This week I made a chocolate pie as well as a second pie crust that I put in the freezer. Also, zucchini bread and banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. He's living the good life. :)
7. I've really been trying to get my housework done in the morning. I've found that the whole day goes much more smoothly when I do so. For me, that means making the bed while I wait for the shower to heat up. Getting dressed to the shoes, hair done, children dressed by 9am-10am ish. Emptying the dishwasher as soon as I come downstairs (if Kip hasn't allready done it) and throwing in a load of laundry first thing. Oh- and glancing at the menu to see what we are having for dinner- do I need to put it in the crockpot, defrost some meat, etc. If I do that stuff in the morning, by 10am usually I'm pretty much done for the day. I may have a few odds and ends- sweeping the floor after lunch or switching out the laundry but the majority of the day is free. We've got time to play games, go to the park, etc.
It seems that when I put away/try to overcome my own laziness/selfishness (i.e. I don't feel like doing my laundry/dishes in the morning, etc. really- who cares what I feel like doing if it needs to be done???) that the whole day is better for *everyone* in the family. The kids have a better day for sure. I don't spend the day frustrated at them because I'm trying to get things done and they are interrupting me. (selfishness- they're interrupting my plans/what I want to do... sheesh.) We've got time to do school/fun stuff/outside and when they go down for their nap the house is mostly clean and ready to go which means I've got time for a personal moment/nap/rest/chat with friends/etc. Nap time ends with me being refreshed and ready for the evening instead of exhausted and irritated because I've spend the whole naptime doing dishes, laundry, baking, and picking up the days messes.
PROVERBS 31:10-31
10[c] A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.
19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her the reward she has earned,
TITUS 2: 3-5 3Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, (F)not malicious gossips nor (G)enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good,
4so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,
5to be sensible, pure, (H)workers at home, kind, being (I)subject to their own husbands, (J)so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
I've been spending way to much time reading other blogs that I love and not enough time updating the one I have. Clearly.
News in the Jewell Family
1. We had our THIRD ultrasound last Friday and confirmed, once again, that we are having a girl. I don't know why I have felt so strongly we are having a boy but after three ultrasound pictures of a girl, I've given in and started buying the pink. I don't really care either way what we have, I just want to know *for sure*.
2. Mary is potty trained! WOOOHOOO! Now, on to the Great Wild Wildebeest. Maybe it will be easier this time around???
3. Lack of pictures- so sorry for the lack of pictures lately. When we got our new computer we started having problems with our photo hosting site- I've got to contact them and get things straightened out. As of now, it's just to difficult and time consuming to download and post pictures so I haven't been doing it lately. I've got to get this straightened out before Savvy arrives though so it's definitely on my list of THINGS TO DO.
4. Speaking of my list of THINGS TO DO, I have not even started Nathan's baby book. How incredibly shameful is that? I haven't even printed pictures since he was born. Another thing I've got to get done in the next three and a half months!
5. Tonight we're off to our first rodeo. It's just a small local one but I think the kids are going to have a blast- especially since we're going with another family who also has little kids. We'll have five kids age three and under there. Should be *loads* of fun. :)
And, just for some fun venting- I about had a stroke out event in Wal-Mart today.
1. As soon as I enter WM I hear screaming. Some clueless lady has a kid- maybe 18 months old?- and the kid is screaming and screaming and screaming and OH MY WORD did I mention the screaming? Not crying- no, screaming because he wants this or that or isn't getting his own way. He screamed the whole HOUR that I was in WM and I could hear him from one end of the store to the other. Good Heavens- how about putting your hand over his mouth? Taking him to the restroom for some private correction. Or just leaving so the rest of the world can shop in peace. How would that be????!!!!!
2. I'm running late to get home to my babysitter- I have the exact amount of money required for her set aside so I really don't want to run over on my time 'cause then it comes out of my spending money. And I'm running low on funds now. SO- I choose the shortest line. Only one person in front of me and he only has about 10 items left to check out. I've got a super full cart- I get the cart 2/3 of the way unloaded when the cashier turns to me and says "you can finish unloading your cart if you want to, but I've got to take a bathroom break after this". HOW ABOUT TELLING ME THAT BEFORE I UNLOADED MY WHOLE CART?????????????? So, I stand and wait. and wait. and wait some more. Ended up being 5 minutes or so. Now, I'm gonna be late.
3. As you know, I have germ issues. Total germophobic here. So I'm very particular about unloading my cart onto the belt in a certain way because I want certain items to be bagged separetely. All my canned stuff goes on the belt first, then boxes and miscellaney, then produce, meat and lastly bread or other crushables. So- cashier chick puts all my produce in one bag and then starts throwing the meat in ON TOP OF MY PRODUCE! whoa, whoa, whoa I say- can you please bag my meat separetely from my produce? She looks at me like I'm crazy. So- I say- you know- I don't want meat germs on my produce. She looks at me like I'm crazy again and says "meat germs??? I never heard of that." HELLO???? salmonella? e coli????????? any of those nasty little germs sound familiar?
4. I can't even begin to go into the idiocy that I witnessed in the parking lot. I had to just let it go I was going to lose my mind. Plus, as I said before, I was allready LATE.
I just peeked into the living room because it was a little to quiet, which as any parent knows, usually spells trouble.
Nathan was curled up, sound asleep in the chair. After a few moments of stroking his cheek and rubbing his hand, he still hadn't woke up. So, I picked him up. He looked around dazedly, totally out of it.
Me: Nathan, were you dreaming?
Nathan: uh-huh
Me: What were you dreaming about?
Nathan: pancakes.
:) How funny is that? Only little boys would dream of pancakes...
WOW! Read THIS! I have been sooo guilty of this! Given how my in-laws feel about children, I've been *very* careful to NEVER complain about Mary or Nathan or say anything negative about them or children in general. However, I really need to carry this over in other areas of my life. I need to be more careful about complaints/negative comments when I am chatting with a friend over for a visit or on the phone. I think it's okay to ask for advice on how to handle a certain situation, but I need to be more careful not to let it turn into a gripefest about children. And I need to be especially careful that the children are not within earshot.
Apr. 7, 2007 - I'm feeling pretty popular these days...
So, I'm feeling pretty popular these days...
One thing I've really noticed about Mary is that she has the gift of encouraging others. Nathan seems to be following in her footsteps in this matter. I think this is such a nice trait to have....
Here's a few examples of the compliments Kip and I have been getting lately.
When I came downstairs dressed for the day yesterday (nothing to special, jeans and a cute shirt)
Mary: Mama! You look soooo beautiful! (said with *great* enthusiasm) She tells me this ALL the time! :)
To Kip at the dinner table:
Mary: Reaches over to Kip to pat his arm and says "You're a good Dad!"
To Mommy at the dinner table:
Nathan: Deeewicious Mommy! My favorite! (Delicious- I made goulosh for dinner- which is, in fact, his favorite)
Mary: You're a good cooker Mommy! It's delicious!
To Kip and I both at random times throughout the day from both Mary and Nathan:
"You're a good worker Mommy/Daddy!"
"GOOD JOB!" (shouted with great enthusiasm for any random task- empytying the dishwasher, picking up a toy, fixing a glass of water, etc.)
If I make some random, nice gesture to Mary like reaching over to stroke her cheek or let her have a sip of my water, etc. she'll say "awwww, I love you too Mommy" even though I haven't said "I love you" to her. I guess it's just the gesture/action that I'm doing that makes her *feel* loved. :) Sweet.
Other fun kid stuff from this week:
Nathan said a long sentence the other day and then made an immediate self correction, which I thought was good. As Kip was leaving for work, Nathan said:
"My go with you to wor
They steal our peacefulness and our joy. Instead of living with those things and just accepting them as part and parcel of life, we need to seek ways to change them so that we don't allow them to be a source of sin (discontentment) in our lives. Susannah, for you, you may have had to get RID of the schedule that would be helpful to other people because it is a tool that would make you discontent with your husband and his personality. It's INTENTIONALLY looking at the schedule posted on your fridge and saying, "Look this is really great for some Moms. But my dh isn't wired this way. It doesn't bring him peace and it steals my joy." I'm just going to make sure x, y, and z are done every day by 2 PM when he gets home from work so that I'm free to be at his whims." That is INTENTIONALLY choosing to be YOUR husband's helpmeet. 
