tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74497761838413211362024-03-13T10:38:02.618-07:00The PaulsWalking in Faith, Covered by GraceAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.comBlogger243125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-70440563764459792342012-08-20T03:34:00.000-07:002012-08-20T03:34:58.196-07:00Inspired to Action updateSo far I've started my morning before my family wakes.... 2 days in a row! Woohoo! Small beginnings, right? It feels <i>great</i>! I've had time to sit and soak in scripture with a study guide to help me think through some probing questions. I've had time to praise God through song, prayer and journaling. I've done a few leg lifts (a bigger exercise routine is to come...) and yesterday I even slowly enjoyed a warm cup of decaf coffee all to myself. What a treat!<br />
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Two amazing things have happened these past two days. One has been that the Lord had me up at 5am, wide awake and ready to go, with no alarm and no one else awake. So perfect! The other is that Emily has slept in WAY past her normal wake up time both times! Was God waiting for me to walk in obedience to getting up before He arranged this little blessing? Not only have I gotten up early, but I've had tons of time to myself after the fact. What I had only planned would be 30 minutes ended up being a whole hour and a half these past two days!<br />
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Emily's now up (at 6:30! Woohoo!), so off I go to greet her and the day. Hope you all have a wonderful day with God's new mercies as well. :-)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-47280166705664786672012-08-10T19:00:00.000-07:002012-08-10T19:00:06.066-07:00Inspired to ActionI had a major confession with my small group last night- one that really ought to have to been to the Lord and to my husband first. But as is my way with burdens, they sometimes get blurted out at random times or when the pressure inside pushes the words out. Having an open ended "What do you bring with you to small group tonight" question was just the kind of question to get that little confession moving on out. (by the way, <i>Thanks, Lord, for knowing I needed that!</i>)<br />
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I've been a not-so-great mom this whole summer. Combine a little bit of Olympics perfection and commitment with the realization that my baby will be at preschool two mornings a week in <i>less than a month</i> with a host of toddler tantrums and power struggles and I realized there is a lot more I can and want to give to Emily every day. Sure, I've got loads of excuses. First trimester fatigue, distractions of some shopping needs over the last two weeks, trips that threw off routines, an early riser combined with me being a night owl. But at the end of the day these are just excuses. And I'm ready to throw them away and face this snowballed problem head on.<br />
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I've already changed my attitude about Emily's early wake-up inevitability (5:40AM on the dot e.v.e.r.y. d.a.y.) and am praying God will help me keep a positive attitude. I am also trying to adjust my expectations for what I need and want to accomplish before she wakes up at that time each morning. I am <i>not</i> a morning person. Never have been, not one day in my life. So instead of joyfully waking up at 5am, I've allowed her "Mooooommmmy" to be my alarm clock every morning. It really hasn't worked out well for any of us that this has been the case. I'm sometimes cranky, always out of it, ill-prepared for the 6-7 hours ahead of us before nap time, and definitely not focused on meeting my family's needs the first couple of hours I'm waking up.<br />
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I've been following a blog I absolutely love called Inspired to Action for months now, gleaning wisdom but always being too chicken to take the plunge and wake up even earlier than 5:40 to start my day with the Lord, with a plan, and with some stretching and exercise. Like many things in my life, I don't start them unless I feel like I can perfectly complete them the first time. I think I've always been like that, too. ;-) I keep saying "I need an hour to get all that done, and I am not waking up before 5am on a daily basis."<br />
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But the truth is- I just need to start. Even if it is just waking up at 5:30 and reading a scripture before everyone else is out of bed. On the rare day I wake up before Emily and can just lay in bed and get myself awake, I at least wake up talkative, patient, and kind to everyone. How infinitely better would this be if I could combine that with being filled with the Word, having a plan for our day, and feeling like my lungs have a little fresh air in them rather than still breathing like I am sleeping 30 minutes after I wake up.<br />
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Today was a good start to a changed direction for the last month of summer. Emily and I played hard, laughed plenty, learned new things, and hugged frequently. Battles were fewer, nerves were more relaxed, and I felt so thankful for a great day.<br />
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Here's my list of things I hope to change by the end of August:<br />
1) I get up before 5:40 every morning and at least am reading scripture before she wakes up<br />
2) We have at least 2 weekdays at home just the two of us. I think I love our frequent playdates more than Emily does.<br />
3) Greg and I find our rhythm with discipline and stay consistent. I think inconsistency and continuing to try things that don't phase Emily haven't helped.<br />
4) That I spend way more time playing with, encouraging, and hugging my child than I do redirecting behavior. What do you bet this will have a direct affect on behavior and heart change? :-)<br />
5) Get the dishes done every day. Seriously. This would help me be a better, happier, less stressed mama and wife!<br />
6) Join the HelloMornings challenge on Inspired to Action, which gets me plugged into community and accountability about waking up earlier every day! --- DONE!<br />
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Ok, thanks for listening to my long confession and plan. :-) Feel free to hold me accountable along the way. I can't wait to see how this might revolutionize our days in this family! I may not be able to change the fact that my husband and daughter are happily morning people, but I can try to join in the fun and glorify God in the process!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-30977346073240794992012-08-10T05:49:00.000-07:002012-08-10T05:49:25.556-07:00A page is turned<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CLuM4KfBCx8/UCUCoH63h-I/AAAAAAAAG3k/qgxGb0r9lPM/s1600/IMG_3985.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CLuM4KfBCx8/UCUCoH63h-I/AAAAAAAAG3k/qgxGb0r9lPM/s320/IMG_3985.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">11 weeks!</td></tr>
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Check out Bebo Norman's song "A Page is Turned" <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxxFGRLDFX0">here</a>:<br />
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My sweet friend and bridesmaid Becca sang this song over Greg and me at our wedding as Greg washed my feet and we made our vows. I hadn't thought about this song in a long time, but it struck me this morning that the lyrics could go on and on as God reveals new twists and turns in our life together. Only the very beginning pages of the marriage and the bittersweet days of the past are written into it. I add a couple more today as I look at where God has taken our family:<br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">A page is turned on this day to a baby on the way,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">and it's no secret that she's Daddy's girl she'd say,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">and as their love for her grows, her story still unfolds,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">to reveal a blessed and precious girl alive today</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000;">And the God of second chances picked them up and let them dance</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">through a world that is unkind. And all this time, leaning on the One who</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">holds them up when they come undone,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">through a storm that had begun- but God had won,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">their hearts beat on...</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000;">A page is turned in this family, to see God at work faithfully</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">bringing new life to the womb so graciously</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">and as this young life thrives, they reflect back on their lives</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">and realize blessings come all in His good time</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000;">And the God of second chances picked them up and let them dance</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">through a world that is unkind. And all this time, trusting in the One who</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">holds them up when they come undone,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">through the wait and as they pray,</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">baby's on the way</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We are so incredibly thankful and excited that God has blessed us with new life! I am 12 weeks today and tentatively have a due date of February 21st! We have heard the heart beating strong and anxiously await our appointment next week where we will see baby for the first time. I am starting to feel much better now- no more nausea and now I have just as many cravings as I do aversions. I am still taking a nap a few times a week and just generally feel tired, but it's not a daily nap or zombie-like existence anymore. I have totally different cravings this time (salt, dairy, meat, and pickles instead of breads and sweets) and feel much less cranky than I did with Emily, sooo my guess for now is boy but we'll have to wait another 2 months to see if I'm right! Part of me thinks I am destined to have all girls! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thank you to those of you who prayed for and with us as we considered another pregnancy (after complications with Emily's delivery) and also as we waited on the Lord to provide once we felt confident to move forward. We would appreciate your prayers as baby grows that my body would be a safe place for him/her and that I would make it full term this time. My new doctor feels pretty sure I should make it to at least 38 weeks this time before I'd have signs of pre-e developing. I'll take those odds! But it would be even better if we don't even encounter that or HELLP syndrome this time around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Emily is very excited and talks about how much fun the baby is having rolling in my belly and getting bigger. She knows when baby gets big enough she gets to hold him/her. Every time I ask her if she wants a brother or sister, she says brother. No surprise there as 90% of her friends are boys! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-4822424399049947382012-06-10T18:17:00.000-07:002012-06-10T18:17:52.521-07:00Strength will riseGreg and I got the GIFT of going to Witness Festival and hearing Jeremy Camp lead worship last night before thousands of people while sweet friends of ours took Emily in overnight-- leaving us to get home late, sleep in, and get ready for church without a toddler in tow. It was such a great date night and chance to change pace. And a beautiful picture of God's heart in a friend who days before had offered to watch Emily for us whenever this summer since we don't have family in the area like 99% of our friends do. Most people here use family as babysitters so we often feel like we can't return the favor if someone blesses us in this way. But isn't it amazing to see gifts given when they are free?<br />
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Today Greg and I got to serve people freely with a car wash. It was In and Out Sunday at our church. Instead of gathering for worship and teaching in the church building, our small groups spread out into the surrounding community to be a blessing to others and spread the love of Christ by being the hands and feet of Christ in the community. Two small groups joined together and we set up car wash stations at an abandoned gas station near downtown. We washed 45 cars in 3 hours!! Some people were shocked that we would have a totally free, no donations taken car wash. Others asked for prayer. Others shared how we could join with their churches to bless the community and make a bigger impact. Others hid in their cars not wanting to interact but being thankful nonetheless for such a surprise. I want to be able to do stuff like this more often. And I pray that even one of the 60+ people we encountered in this way today will decide to give God a listening ear because of it.<br />
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Back to the concert last night. Jeremy Camp played many of his old songs last night that I sung my heart out to. He also led us in worship with a favorite by Chris Tomlin called Everlasting God (Strength Will Rise). I hadn't remembered singing it in a long time, but it really helped me to remember that I am <i>never</i> strong enough to go through challenges without the Lord. And that sometimes He brings times of waiting into our lives so that His strength will rise from us rather than standing in our own strength. I have to confess it was hard to sing that song last night. We've been <i>waiting</i> on the Lord to provide another child in this family. We didn't have this "trying to conceive" wait with Emily. God provided right away, we rejoiced and her whole life has been a quick-paced, no waiting adventure. In the past I would genuinely hurt for and pray for friends who had to wait and work at trying to conceive but I didn't <i>know</i> the trial. Now I can say that I do. We haven't been in this process for as long as many of our friends have. But I have had many of the same times of disappointment, fear, jealousy, and confusion that I never went through the first time around.<br />
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I write this with hope that maybe this will be the last month of waiting but also with gratitude to the Lord for using this experience in so many ways. I have a deeper respect for the mystery of creating a child (and a family)- God really is in control of this! There is not a thing more we can do to help this process along. And there are reasons for His timing that are hard for me to see now, but I have confidence we will see and be thankful for them in the future. I have a longing for this child that I might not have culminated as much (same love and excitement yes but perhaps not as much <i>longing</i>) had we conceived right away again. I love my husband even more for his support and love during this time and how he's lead us in prayer while we ask and wait. I would probably still complain about morning sickness (c'mon- it is <i>not</i> easy) but I know I'd be more thankful for it having prayed for it for so long. Long story short, God's strength is already starting to rise in me as we wait on Him to give us direction for the future. Be it another pregnancy or an eventual adoption, we feel that our family is not yet complete and we hope in Him that we'll see fruit in this area soon. I'd covet your prayers for my heart during this time- that I'll continue to rejoice with others who are pregnant, that I won't give in to fear, and that I'll use this time of being a one child mom to raise her up well and bring glory to God when my time is more available to pour into her and others!<br />
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2 questions for you to share in the comments or email me with:<br />
1) How have you been impacted by a totally free gift lately? Or how have you been able to bless someone in this way?<br />
2) Is God's strength rising in you as you wait upon the Lord in a certain area of your life?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-19138489585970278912012-05-21T10:37:00.001-07:002012-05-21T10:37:37.767-07:00Mimi's visitSo I have to start this post by asking the age old question: Do grandparents pick their names or do the children decide on their own? All the grandparents from this family had names picked out whether from histories with other grandchildren already or from desires to follow in previous grandparent fashion. So far Emily has done quite a bit of rearranging! Grandpas have become Papas, Grandma is {quack, quack} because Emily associates her with making duck sounds with her when she was a year old. And my mom was Mema until she visited this week and became Mimi! My stepdad laughed when he heard that my mom's name had been changed already by Emily, because my sister and I both changed our names at a young age. Guess it's in our genes!<br />
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Having my mom with us for a few days was so much fun! I think this was a record 5 months apart for us, so I was eager to have the time to catch up again. We lost no time diving into trips to the park, the dairy, the science museum, and Central Market in addition to painting, drumming, and playing hard at home. Emily couldn't get enough of her! I was glad for the opportunities for them to bond and am thrilled that Em and I will be making our way to TX soon for another chance to make more memories.<br />
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Here are some pics from the trip:<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-24853635426464872932012-03-29T04:13:00.000-07:002012-03-29T04:13:07.466-07:0020 months<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zoXggr_yrWA/T3RDHw1olwI/AAAAAAAAGH8/TCZqEbwZJEY/s1600/IMG_0514.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zoXggr_yrWA/T3RDHw1olwI/AAAAAAAAGH8/TCZqEbwZJEY/s320/IMG_0514.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
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Our little ladybug is 20 months old and counting! Thought I'd just share some of the fun things she's been up to lately and anything new or goofy she's been doing.<br />
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I've started in home childcare for two babies (on different days!) this month, and Emily is loving having them around! Some mornings she wakes up and instead of saying "Mommy!" she says "Baby!" and can't wait to find out if there is one sleeping in the room next door to her. She actually cried on Saturday when I told her there was no baby coming over that day. So that's been a real blessing to have her be so open to them and helpful for me throughout the day. If the Lord blesses us with another child, I can already see that Emily will make a great big sister! She wants to take their diapers to the trash for me each time and knows that their bottles are in the fridge when they are hungry.<br />
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We've had a run of warm days up until this week, so we've gotten to the park quite a bit in March, which has been sooo nice. This spring is the first time Emily has worn sandals, and she loves them. One area of life she's trying to master right now is putting on clothes and shoes. She needs lots of help still, but she is determined to get her shirt on her head, her legs through her pants, and her socks and shoes on. MUCH better stage than the one before where she preferred everything come off!<br />
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At the park she is doing great learning how to go down the slides all by herself. I am still a nervous mama when it comes to letting her go down the big ones alone, but I am also so proud of her for taking risks in this area. She has always been super cautious about anything that takes control out of her hands (rolling over, crawling, walking, etc.), so it is fun to see her loving the slides so much. We have a stand alone one at home, and since it is usually cold outside I will bring the slide in from our back porch everyday to let her use it without bundling up.<br />
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Art is still a huge thing around here (oh how I wish I had been given some inch of artistic talent or interest!) We do lots of finger painting and drawing with crayons. We also have a mat that uses a water pen and colors show up on the mat when you draw and then disappear. She has been obsessed with having me trace her feet on the mat and then make little people out of those and turkeys out of her handprints. She'll run over to the mat and yell, "tooooooeeeeesss!!!" until I come over and trace her little feet.<br />
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She's just discovered wheat thins. First it was goldfish then it was animal crackers and now it is wheat thins. She has wanted them so much this week that she mustered up the verbal strength to cry "craaaacka" so we knew she neeeeeeded one ;-)<br />
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Although I'd still say we're on the very beginning of verbal expression, I do think she <i>wants</i> to use words now and is trying very hard to communicate fully with us. She answers all our yes/no questions quickly with a yeah/do or no. If she's upset and we say, "Use your words", she will calm down and try to explain what she needs.<br />
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All her teeth have cut finally!! I guess we've got about a 4 month break before we face the two year molars, but that'll be the first time since she was 8 months old that we've had a 4 month break from teething. It is so cute to see a full mouth of teeth. :-)<br />
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I really enjoy our daily walks around our beautiful wooded neighborhood. Emily loves to explore all the pine cones, pine needles, and branches that fall from the trees. Even though I don't always love our particular townhome, I am thankful for a neighborhood with all these natural areas for her to explore. It is well worth it. I've appreciated the safe opportunities to teach her about not running into the road, the chance to explain how others have property and there are boundaries to our explorations, and the chance to see her memory at work. One house we pass by had a man on the front porch <i>one </i>time many months ago. She still points to that house (which looks the same as all the others on our street), and she says "man" and points to the porch. We always look for squirrels on our walks, and with the winter dragging on, we haven't seen many for months now. But we always look anyway. We happened to see a squirrel one day on one of the trees on our favorite loop, and now she looks up at that particular tree and slurps the air (she decided squirrels slurp the air when they eat nuts, I think). :-) She also knows which steep hill is our backyard as we walk along the path, and she will make a detour up that hill as soon as we get to it without me prompting that we are home. So fun to see her memory at work and to see how consistency can help lay down those foundations!<br />
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Love this little girl!! <3 Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-72103159530536053612012-03-22T19:46:00.000-07:002012-03-22T19:46:33.599-07:00Why I haven't been blogging muchI really was going to write about this topic this week, but now I just feel like I am stealing from my friend at <a href="http://achosenchild.blogspot.com/">A Chosen Child</a> since she wrote about it, too! <br />
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In no particular order~<br />
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I most definitely can't type a sentence while Emily is awake now, much less garner thoughts into a cohesive post! The laptop isn't even allowed to be within her reach anymore, because she can easily open it right up, turn it on, and start typing (banging) to her delight. So this relegates typing to nap time (most days an hour long) or after her bedtime.<br />
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And I have been t.i.r.e.d. lately. I am <i>not </i>pregnant, but some days I sure do feel like first trimester fatigue has derailed me by 6:30pm. Must be toddler-induced fatigue. :-) I can sit in front of the computer for a long time in the evenings and read tons of things, but it is hard to muster up my typing fingers to really let the thoughts flow freely.<br />
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I've been babysitting some adorable babies lately, which has been super duper fun but also has taken away that naptime hour for myself or has replaced it with cleaning up two tornadoes instead of one.<br />
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Writing just hasn't been a priority lately as I have so many things I want to read about instead of writing about my own life. Hopefully some of the reading I do will come out on these pages, too. It is good to share what we learn!<br />
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So all that to say, I don't want to neglect this little blog much longer. As it has mostly become an online scrapbook of Emily's life, I will probably post soon about what she's enjoying lately lest I let this amazing season called toddlerhood slip from my memory. But I hope to branch out of that, too, and talk about things my mind's been pondering lately. Like <i>why community can be hard and why I have a love---run-away-from relationship with it. </i>And <i>a top ten list of things I look forward to doing this spring/summer (winter is finally leaving!!!!) </i>And <i>What's a Proverbs 31 woman look like for today? (otherwise known as Do I need to be a seamstress or a morning person</i>?) Stay tuned! Hopefully I'll churn them all out by the end of April!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-56474048192964552382012-02-03T10:16:00.000-08:002012-02-03T10:16:12.461-08:00Potty time?!?!I can't believe Emily is 18 months old and already starting to go in the potty! Way back in the day they were always trained BY 18 months, but I think everyone was in cloth diapers back then, too. I figured being in disposables would surely mean we'd be waiting to start until at least 24 months. But this mama is thrilled that we might be moving out of diapers earlier than planned!!!<br />
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I have an "on the potty" seat with stair step attached in E's bathroom right now, so that is the only place we've been going so far. She waves her hand in front of her face if she's starting to need to poop. She grabs at her diaper and grunts and squats if she needs to pee. Sometimes I whisk her upstairs and other times she holds it and walks upstairs herself after I ask if she wants to go on the potty. The thing that has amazed me the most so far is that she is actually needing to go by showing me a sign and then holding it for awhile until we make it upstairs, get the diaper off, and sit down.<br />
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I had wanted to wait until 1) I got to a store or borrowed an on the floor potty for her to have more independence and to have one downstairs where we spend most of our time and 2) when she wanted to tell me out loud with words that she needs to go. But she's been so interested in going and so relaxed about the process that I've just taken her when she shows me she needs to. She peed 3 times this morning and then we went up to the potty right after lunch today and she went again! I think her Gerber cookies are strong motivators, haha. She refuses to accept a broken/smaller cookie as a reward, so I am going to need to pick a smaller treat as a reward or we will have one sugared-up kiddo on our hands. She hadn't had a BM yet today and we had beans as part of our lunch, so I was hoping to catch the right timing on the potty for her to really need to have one. She's been peeing on the potty happily all week but had yet to have more than a tiny poop this morning in the potty and was very apprehensive about it. My biggest fear in this process so far has been that she'll freak out about pooping both in the potty and the diaper and then get constipated. But sure enough, she had to go after lunch and plopped a big one right in!! I don't think she was as excited as I was, but hopefully having a successful and not very strained attempt will motivate her to do it again!!<br />
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I am still not sure how fast I want to train her out of diapers, especially when going out of the house. But she seems to be taking to it really quickly and easily, so I probably should be willing to try taking it all the way and see what happens. We are in a peaceful, happy stage of life with no trips planned and no baby on the way. It is also nice in a way that it is still winter, because we don't have tons of fun outside activities to distract us from staying at home for awhile to learn.<br />
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So proud of my little girl for taking these big steps!! Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-21088530685341980312012-01-21T17:41:00.000-08:002012-01-21T17:41:47.223-08:00The week's highlightsJust so I can remember here on this online scrapbook of mine :-).... Emily measured 35 inches tall and 23.5 lbs at her 18 month appt. Crazy!!! She is over 100% for height and is 45% for weight. And her head circumference inched forward a bit to finally be 25% instead of the 10-15% it had been the first 15 months. <br />
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Praise God that all the fluid drained from her ears after the ear infection, so I no longer have to worry about that leading to tubes or causing hearing difficulties.<br />
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Cutest thing of the week? Emily wants all her dolls and animals to experience her normal routines. So many of them have "gone to the potty", sat in her booster seat, played in the (dry) bath tub, laid down in her crib with a blanket over them, and been rocked in her rocker. Love it!! Had no idea imitative or imaginative play would begin at this age.<br />
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Funniest / grossest thing of the week? We had the inevitable poo smearing party in the crib today! And luckily this mama had made a quick trip back to the grocery for one item I forgot this morning....so daddy discovered the disaster zone! He said she had pants and diaper off, and it was all over her and the bed. After a thorough bath and lots of laundry, both of them survived. Hehehe. <br />
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Second grossest event of the week? Emily and I flushed an upstairs potty after her doll pretended to go potty. Thankfully the bowl was clean, but something had apparently clogged the drain earlier, so all the water came flooding up! I started yelling "uh oh! uh oh!!" and Greg came running upstairs. We were throwing towels down on the floor to keep the water from making it to the carpeted hallway. Then as he was trying to get the water shut off on the toilet, I heard rushing water downstairs, too! Another flood of "uh oh!!" and I wisked Emily downstairs with me only to see water pouring out of the light fixture in the laundry room. At least that floor is linoleum! Luckily a plumber was able to come that night and fix it all and we amazingly had no water damage to the sheetrock or flooring. Phew! Not a fun night!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-19367955963526856742012-01-14T10:43:00.000-08:002012-01-14T10:43:09.590-08:0018 months!Our sweet girl turns 18 months today! We've catapulted from being content to sit and play to being busy, busy, busy! Climbing everything she can find, including finally mastering getting onto the couch, window seat, and rocking chair. She announces her victory with her hands up in the air to say "so big!"<br />
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I am feeling better that we are doing just fine with verbal expression now and are probably "right on track" with around 15-20 attempted words. She tells us dad, mama, ball, dog, bread, more, book "buh", bubble "buh buh", okra "o-ra", up "uhhhhh", down "doooon", neigh neigh for horse, baby "bebe", vacuum is "va", embarrassed to say she knows "bra" perfectly hahaha, hi, bye, all done, boot, lala (for aunt lauren) and NO! :-) along with many animal sounds. She is trying to mimic sounds, so when I say a word and ask if she can say it, she will often try to repeat part of it. I've tried not to do too many more signs, because she won't even attempt many of the words that she's learned as signs. And if we do a gesture with any word, she seems more inclined to only repeat the gesture. So when I have said "beep beep" about cars and motioned a beep, she will only do the motion.<br />
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She has been very interested in the potty this past month, so we are slowly working our way into that process! She tells me every time she is about to have a poopie by waving her hand in front of her face like it stinks. :-) She still doesn't want to sit on the potty to actually poop or pee, but she does like sitting there and going through the process of getting toilet paper, wiping herself, closing the lid, flushing the potty, and washing her hands. Not sure exactly how she feels about her big girl potty seat that arrived this week. She seems to like climbing up and sitting down on it frequently, but she does not want to stay there for long. We are starting off with a toilet seat reducer with a step ladder attached. Since she really likes the big potty but just can't sit up there alone, I thought I'd try her out on there with a supportive seat and handles to see how it goes. Would be nice so I don't have to clean a chamber!! :-) She's totally bent on taking off her diaper at naptime, so I've resorted to duck taping her diaper on at naptime after giving her a clean one and a chance to tinkle on the potty first. Without the duck tape, we've had 5 instances in the last week where she took off her diaper and proceeded to pee on the bed. Sigh... So she's definitely telling me she doesn't want to be dirty anymore, but we haven't connected it to the joy of going on the potty yet and feeling clean. I'm sure when she's ready and not a day before, that connection will come.<br />
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Some favorites right now are books, painting, scribbling, accessorizing (this girl loves her bracelets and bags!), and feeding and caring for dolls and stuffed animals. And going outside! She is oblivious to the freezing cold weather and asks to go outside often.<br />
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We are getting an upper canine tooth breaking through this week with another one really close, so foods have needed to be soft. E is also telling us her preference to have all of her foods separate on her plate. Nothing can be mixed together or she refuses to eat it and starts to fling it on the ground! Flinging food has not been a problem up until the last couple weeks. But she's also battling fluid in ears after her first ear infection, so I think that combined with the teething pain is making her a little less patient with things being less than perfect in her little world. :-) She's doing awesome using her spoon each day to eat her cereal and yogurt. That is also an area where she gets easily frustrated, though. She is now not content if a cheerio falls off her little spoon on the way to her mouth. We all lose a few cheerios along the way, haha, but she really really wants everything to make it to her mouth now. Clean little girl. :-)<br />
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I got a little insight into her today that I wasn't expecting. She's been cuddling dolls and stuffed animals tons lately, but I saw the first sign today of recognition of treating things with care without my prompting. We have this little bowling pin set that has animal faces on the pins. I brought it out for the first time and showed her how you roll a ball to knock down the pins. She started wimpering when all the animals got knocked down! She quickly went over and grabbed one and hugged it. Greg laughed and said, "Difference between boys and girls!" So true! <br />
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She's having fun learning to socialize and recognize her friends a little more now. She smiles really big when I say we are going to play with friends. And E's gotten pretty good at trying to say her friends Ben and Aubree's names. <br />
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We go in for her 18 month appt next week, so I don't know her stats, but she's comfortably in 2T shirts and still in 12-18 month pants. Looong torso. Pray with me if you think about it that the fluid in her ears will be gone by the appt on Wednesday. They said on Thursday that it is common to have this after an ear infection, but that if it doesn't go away on its own it can affect her hearing and speech and also might mean we need tubes. :-( I thought since we'd never had an ear infection before that getting one this late in the game would mean we were free from the need for tubes. But you never know, I guess.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-33385950301884912892012-01-04T11:16:00.000-08:002012-01-04T11:16:27.942-08:00Christmas BlessingsWe were on the road (ok, air) this year and made it back to Houston for a great visit with family! This is the last Christmas to only buy two plane tickets, and we were so happy to be able to get back home this year. It was a whirlwind trip going from Greg's parents to my dad's to my mom's, but we managed to really soak in the time and have lots of fun. All three of us were filled to the brim with yummy food and sentimental gifts and left with a feeling of fullness of heart and soul. It is good to be surrounded by loved ones over the holidays. I have to confess that with all of the traveling and watching after a busy toddler in full exploration mode, I did not take the time to let Christ's birth saturate my heart. That is the cornerstone and chief concern of Christmas, but it did not have a central place in my day to day celebrations this year. I hope that as I round the bend and look toward Easter I will be able to focus my eyes upon the cross and worship my Savior.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jzmYyucmJ5s/TwDMsddgoWI/AAAAAAAAF8k/TuDjCB3oM4M/s1600/IMG_3167.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jzmYyucmJ5s/TwDMsddgoWI/AAAAAAAAF8k/TuDjCB3oM4M/s320/IMG_3167.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-40885656618000361802011-11-16T19:20:00.000-08:002011-11-16T19:20:22.166-08:0016 monthsAnother month has come and gone and somehow they seem to be flying by faster than I can breathe now. I've blinked and we are already to 16 months!<br />
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Emily, you are amazing me and delighting me in new ways, sweet girl. I find so much joy in watching you discover how things work and seeing your face light up about things you enjoy. You are showing yourself to be strong willed, opinionated, and determined, skills that will serve you so well in your future! (I know because I passed that gene right on down to you!) At the same time, I feel like you are also incredibly obedient. I see you wrestle in you mind with your desire to do one thing and yet deciding to obey our instructions instead much of the time. I pray that as your sweet toddler years begin that we will be consistent, kind, and wise parents to help instruct the bold heart God has given to you.<br />
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Some of your favorite things this month have been: perfecting your undressing prowess, blankie, any picture of a horse, your little people's farm, books/books/books! especially about animals, blowing kisses, learning how to scribble, finger painting, brushing your teeth, looking at family photos, putting tops on and off of jars over and over again, pretending to drink tea with your teaset, feeding your baby doll a bottle, accessorizing (with supervision) with mommy's bracelets and necklaces, cookies & milk before bathtime, your daily breakfast banana, and recently learning how to get in and out of a cozy coupe by yourself.<br />
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Things you'd rather skip: Getting dressed, changing your diaper, getting into the carseat, eating veggies (at least peas and brussel sprouts (??) still seem to be faves), teething, deep chest coughs, and mommy being on the phone.<br />
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You still prefer to sign your needs or point, but I can tell you are forming more sounds that will eventually turn into words. Tonight I got a taste of toddler speak at dinner with you. You were emphatically saying "me me me me me" and I wondered if you wanted your milk instead of your water. When that didn't stop the waterfall of me me's, I realized your little people's cow was right next to my plate. You were trying to moo! Once I handed you the cow you looked so relieved. :-) Sorry sweetie that I haven't translated much yet! Your favorite word is Neigh and you burst into "neigh neigh" whenever you see a horse, which is actually pretty often.<br />
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You started walking confidently this month, and now I don't worry about you taking falls anymore unless you don't see a step in front of you. You love to climb the stairs and go down them feet first on your belly. As soon as I see your little legs get tall enough, we'll work on taking big girl steps up the stairs.<br />
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I am amazed that at 16 months you are fitting most comfortably in 2T shirts! Anything else comes up too short on you now. Pants on the other hand are still best in the 12-18 mo size and even a few stretchy 12 mo ones.<br />
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You now have 12 teeth-- 12!!! Crazy! The bottom molars have just cut through your gums, and I pray that means your teething pain is almost over. Thank goodness for ibuprofen, because you have refused frozen washcloths and teethers to help with this. These teeth have given you a couple weeks of fitful sleep even with the ibuprofen, but overall I am super happy that your sleeping seems to be going swimmingly now. You are thrilled to start your nap and nighttime routines most of the time and now lay down without a peep. I think you are starting to love sleep! Yay! I also think walking all over the place has helped you get tired enough to love sleep.<br />
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Happy 16 months, Emily Katherine! We love you!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is your "cheese" face. I LOVE IT!!!!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Being silly with your friend A</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first attempt at a sensory box...black beans and oatmeal. I think it was a good start. You crawled in a few minutes later!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love this picture. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snow play take 2. You liked it this time because it wasn't falling on your face!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Totally not a fan of riding the donkey. But what a cute ladybug. :-)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fun w/ Grandaddy when Gigi and he visited for a couple days</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Feeding your baby. Amazing the entertainment a disappearing milk bottle from the dollar store can provide!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raking leaves with Daddy!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing in the leaves. More like picking them up and handing them to me one at a time like they were pieces of trash, haha. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tuckered out :-)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sponge painting for the first time. Yay for a linoleum floor and washable paint!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-81487856258004489722011-10-26T07:29:00.000-07:002011-10-26T07:29:42.379-07:00Highlights of the weekI like to write down my blessings whenever I can so that when I'm having a hard day, I can look to the Lord and look at His sweet gifts as reminders that life is so wonderful! I'm not having a hard day, but I thought I'd write out some fun moments from the past week or so anyway.<br />
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This morning was a sweet start! Emily has been sick for a couple days, and last night she conked out (thanks to the doc's nod of approval to give a little Benadryl). She slept 11 hours without a peep or a cough!! Woke up happy at 6:30 this morning, and I woke up rested and happy at 6:30 this morning, too.<br />
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Because it is a little colder in the house and probably because she was still a little drowsy from the Benadryl, Emily wanted to snuggle a lot this morning. Oh what a heavenly gift to Mama! E was not a snuggler at all as a baby, and I felt I missed out on something not getting to have many times where she was content in my arms. Lately she's been very affectionate with lots of hugs throughout the day but still hasn't wanted to curl up and rest with me. This morning we snuggled for at least 10 minutes in the rocking chair, and she kept nuzzling,sighing, and saying "mmm". :-)<br />
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Got a box of hot chocolate packets from the grocery for $1.25. Well spent :-) <br />
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Visited Philly for the first time with Emily last Friday, and got to see one of my favorite people in the whole world-- Allison! Allison was up from Texas for a conference, and we got to spend a day hanging out, touring the city, and catching up. Such a treat! Also made me want to go back and do some of the children's sights next summer with Greg and Emily. The children's museum and the aquarium would be sooo fun for her by next year. While we were there, Allison and I tried our first "official" Philly cheesesteaks. I have to say that though it was tasty, I don't think I'd feel compelled to do it again. Cheez Whiz and steak-- really? This is world famous? Haha.<br />
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Was blessed to have some me and Jesus time on Saturday when I went to a morning women's retreat. The speaker had some powerful words to share about walking in the footsteps of Christ. I have been reminded this week by some events that God is well aware of my heart and delights to be the leader and Lord of my heart. Isn't it so good when we can see our hearts in light of God's goodness and his careful covering? When He adjusts our thoughts, plans, and ways to be in agreement with His? Isaiah 55:8 says "I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work" (The Message translation). Such a treasure to me to put my life in His hands again and ask for the opportunity to align my ways with His.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-75302120374037887232011-10-15T18:24:00.000-07:002011-10-15T18:24:35.222-07:0015 monthsEmily turned 15 months on Friday! Our baby girl is quickly turning toddler on us, and it is fun to see her soak up life and show her personality each day. We don't have her well check until next week, but I did get to weigh her on Friday and she's 22 lbs 9 oz. We've really slowed down on the weight gain (she weighed 1 pound less 3 months ago), but she still eats a ton, so I guess that's fine. When I get her height standing up, I'm coming up with 30 1/4" so she's definitely grown taller in the last few months. She's now almost exactly half my height. I know that's not saying much, but it still amazes me, haha.<br />
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Things she's discovered this past month:<br />
* Found those sea legs!! Walking can now get up to about 25 steps at a time before losing her balance. Still have lots of 5 step moments, too, but she's determined to get back up and keep walking now. <br />
* Pointing to her head, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, belly, fingers, feet, toes, knees, and arms.<br />
* We got pat-a-cake down! She always wanted to just stare at me and not participate, but now she heartily jumps in.<br />
* Animals sounds/motions: duck, rabbit, dog, sheep, horse, elephant, monkey (once), alligator (we clap for the snapping sound), and pig. I really am not sure how we arrived where we are, but she only wants to do the actual sound of the animal and not the word, if that makes sense. So a duck is the actual quacking sound and not the word "quack", a dog is panting not "woof", etc.<br />
* Blowing the air when I say the word "wind" or "blow"<br />
* Following directions really well. She's got great comprehension and follows most single or two step commands as long as she isn't wanting to resist what you are asking.<br />
* Thanks to Greg finding fun ways to teach her, Emily is great about sharing!! I know this will change, but it is coming in handy when we need what she's holding or she needs to give a toy back to a friend.<br />
* Climbing- very into climbing the stairs and going back down and climbing on the couch and into her toddler chair.<br />
* Giving hugs and kisses, blowing kisses, waving hi and bye-bye. Up until today her wave was always squeezing her fist facing toward her (sooo cute). But today when she was waving to a man in the checkout line at the grocery, she was doing an open palm, outfacing wave side to side like we all normally do. Surprised me!<br />
* Drinking from an open cup (with a steadying hand from us) and eating w/ a spoon and fork if we help her scoop. I need to be better about letting her just go at it with the utensils, because that's the only way she'll get good at it, but I've been resisting the mess. About time to give in, though!<br />
*Experimenting with undressing. She can't quite get the shirt off, but she's got the wiggle out of it down when I get it started. Somehow knows how to get the pants off in the crib, haha. And very not into socks and shoes, so those come off frequently! Not good considering it's about to get super cold for a long time here, but I guess her toes will figure that out. Who can blame her, though. I'm a barefoot kind of girl, too, any chance I can get.<br />
*Pointing to objects. This might seem trivial, but this only started this past week, and I was ecstatic when it did! We've had more than a few meltdowns from a lack of expressive language, so I am hoping that her new-found interest in pointing will help ease some of that frustration. <br />
* Sign language: please, thank you, eat, all done, milk, and bath. I'll lump her water signal in with this, too. If she wants water, she slurps the air like she's taking a big sip, haha. <br />
* The word list really hasn't grown, and I plan to ask the doc next week if I should be doing anything differently than I am to help her with verbal expression. It seems like there is such a HUGE spread of what kids are doing verbally at 15 months. Lots of friends near her age are right with her...less than 5 words...but there are equally as many with long lists of them and learning new ones all the time. She likes to babble whole sentences throughout the day, but none of it is coherent and if I ask her to identify an object by naming it, she falls silent and moves onto the next thing. So maybe she's sensing pressure. And it might be that all this walking practice has consumed this past month. I do believe there's a link between gross motor development and the onset of talking, so I'll be interested to see what the next month holds since she's really started walking more this past week. I know that her babbling took off when she started crawling, so we'll see! <br />
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What Emily loves right now:<br />
*blankie at nap time<br />
*peanut butter, bread, gold fish, yogurt, oatmeal, bananas, sweet potatoes, any cheese, turkey sausage, and avocado. She still eats her veggies but with much less enthusiasm than she used to. <br />
*buddy! buddy gets 10x more kisses than mommy and daddy<br />
* her best friend, Ben. :-) She now recognizes a friend and is happy to see him when they play.<br />
* the stairs. we spend a lot of time at the stairs.<br />
* puzzles- she is starting to place the matching piece on top of the spot it goes in. She doesn't get it into the slot, but she does correctly place it on top of the spot.<br />
* books- interest in books has really soared this past month. She now seeks them out often, sits with them turning the pages for a long time and will respond to something she recognizes (laughs at a baby smiling, pants when she sees a dog, bounces when she sees a frog, pats her head when she sees a hat). It is fun to watch her from a distance and know which page she is on in a book based on how she's responding.<br />
* the camera-- this girl knows how to flash a cheesy smile! I am often too slow to capture that first big grin, but it is so adorable that she knows to ham it up when the camera comes out.<br />
* brushing her teeth, brushing her hair and washing her hands.We all sit down on the floor together many mornings and brush our teeth together. She thinks she's such a big girl!<br />
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* finger painting. she loves to get messy with it and smear the colors.<br />
* a cool breeze. it's been breezy and cool the last few days and each time the breeze hits her face, she smiles and laughs. she also does this with light rain showers. so cute! <br />
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Things she's not a fan of right now:<br />
* Sleeping in, although we've been blessed with some almost 6:30 mornings lately.<br />
* When we leave the room for sleep time. Still puts up a protest no matter how happily she snuggles into that crib.<br />
* Fish, eating veggies if she can see/smell a carbohydrate at the same time.<br />
* Socks, shoes, and pretty bows in her hair (sigh :-) ).<br />
* The front door closing. <br />
* Having to wear a bib at mealtime (and yes, we very much need one!) <br />
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Such a long post, but this will help me remember what's been going on lately! We love her to pieces and are so blessed she's been given to us!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-18026271417833212962011-10-13T13:17:00.000-07:002011-10-13T13:17:07.383-07:00Annual trip to Charlotte, NC!We've officially got a tradition going in our family now where the girls (+ George, my aunt's second half-- they are both equally wonderful :-) ) get together at the end of September for a girls' weekend. So. much. fun. Emily has been to Charlotte three times. Once in my belly, once as a newborn, and once as a toddling, babbling little girl. We had a great time soaking up the beautiful, cool weather, all quacking like ducks because Emily's quack is so funny to hear. We also had the joy of having one of my dear childhood friends drive up from Charleston to spend the weekend with us, too. I hadn't seen Taylor since Emily's baby shower in 2010 and now Taylor is expecting a little one! We checked out the local farmer's market, where we got pics with the pumpkins and E discovered how much fun indian corn is to play with. We also had a great lunch over at my grandmother's retirement community where Emily got oodles of attention from everyone. Mostly about how much she can eat, haha. Yes, she does impress everyone with her eating prowess! All in all a great, quick visit and I can't wait to do it again. Here are some pictures from the trip!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pVOr_S6k87Q/To5bJDihQTI/AAAAAAAAFrY/H1yisEO542o/s1600/IMG_2361.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pVOr_S6k87Q/To5bJDihQTI/AAAAAAAAFrY/H1yisEO542o/s320/IMG_2361.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DgmCrtMIiag/To5aVbGFjWI/AAAAAAAAFqk/mn43pBhu2kc/s1600/IMG_2323.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DgmCrtMIiag/To5aVbGFjWI/AAAAAAAAFqk/mn43pBhu2kc/s320/IMG_2323.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-57493311971784337372011-10-11T09:21:00.000-07:002011-10-11T09:21:50.906-07:00Pay it forwardHave you ever had an experience where you just knew that God was orchestrating everything and waiting for you to have the "aha" moment He'd planned for you?? I had one of those today. Emily and I were starting out on a lovely drive this morning to go to Toddler Gym time at a local church. I was so excited about it because I loved meeting these sweet mamas and kiddos for the first time last week and I had a friend coming to it for the first time who I was going to introduce. We were plugging along when I decided to look over to the passenger seat to put my cell phone into the bag. BAM. Our right front tire hits the curb and then bump bump screech I realize in a matter of seconds that this was not just a little side swipe of the curb. My tires on our Accord have been through their share of minor curb kisses, but this one was a doozy. I think it took about 10 seconds for me to gather my thoughts and pull into a driveway to get us stopped and to look at the damage. It was worse than I thought. :-( The tire had completely flattened out and the rim was bent up as well. $$$$. Could I really have messed up my car twice in a matter of months?? I shakily called Greg to break the bad news and he was, thankfully, very calm on the phone and came right over. We were only a mile or so from our house.<br />
Before long the owner of the house where I had pulled in came out to see what had happened and if he could help. He was incredibly nice and offered to let us sit inside his house and enjoy some coffee or hot chocolate. I was too embarrassed about everything to come inside and figured the tow truck would be there soon. I didn't want to be an inconvenience. This man had come out of the house seconds after my tears had started flowing as I'd apologized to Greg and let the weight of the problem hit me. I told him we were on one income and that this was just not what we needed to have happen and I wasn't even sure how it had happened but here we were. He encouraged us that it wasn't as bad as it looked and that we were more than welcome to come inside while we waited.<br />
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We decided to wait in the CRV, but before long he was pulling out of his driveway heading to work and stopped at our car first. We rolled down our window and he said, "You happened to pull into the right driveway today." He handed us his business card with the words "Good for one tire and rim. Pay it forward" and his signature on the back. With jaws dropped, we listened as he shared that he wanted to be able to cover the cost of the new tire and rim we would need in exchange for us paying it forward to a person we saw had a need. W.h.o.a. He shared that this is the way he lives his life and that this is the way the world should work. He knows the owner of a local car repair company and said all we needed to do was show that man the business card and it would be taken care of.<br />
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We both teared up as he headed off to work and realized that God never lets one moment of our days out of His sight. He moves His people to incredible things. The man shared that he was a stay at home dad for awhile and that he was glad to see that we were doing the best thing for our family even when we see so many families around us earning two incomes and having the financial ability to do more than we could. What a blessing and encouragement!!!<br />
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We are excited to see how the Lord asks us to pay it forward to someone else. What a privilege to pass on this act of kindness and be the hands and feet of Jesus.<br />
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I would LOVE to hear more stories like this-- anyone have one to share?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-30777252428468119462011-09-28T13:04:00.000-07:002011-09-28T13:04:10.533-07:00Check it out!Hi friends! I don't have much time to sit and type today, but I wanted to point you over to my friend's blog at <a href="http://www.longdistancelobsters.com/">Long Distance Lobsters</a> ! I am thankful for the opportunity I had to do a guest post about long distance relationships--- that includes many of you who read this blog! :-) Check it out and leave me a comment on there to answer the questions I posted. So very thankful for all of you sweet friends-- near and far!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-149288444368991132011-09-22T13:10:00.000-07:002011-09-22T13:10:44.716-07:00This is lifeI had written a post a couple hours ago about how hard the last week had been in the sleep and crankiness department, but I have decided that was just not something I needed to leave out there in blogland. Not really the topic you'd want to read about, ya know? Ask me how you can pray for me, and I will gladly fill you in about my need for God's grace in this parenting thing.<br />
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Anyway, it led to another thought that was a little less hostile and that is that days like I've had today are just life sometimes with a little one at home. And that <i>it's ok</i>. It's ok that today Emily didn't want to sleep more than 20 minutes at naptime when I was too tired to get up off the couch after I'd only been sitting 5 of those 20 minutes.It's ok that I had to cry about the short nap and confess my selfishness to the Lord. It's ok that I have 3 clean loads of laundry strewn around my house un-ironed (at least they are clean). It's ok that the dishes are piled up, the floors are also covered with toys, I haven't eaten well myself today (pretzels and chocolate have been my mainstay on the run). It's ok that a 4:20am cry out woke mommy up enough for the rest of the morning, a 5:50 wake up for Emily, and a 20 minute nap might sabatoge our plans for a super rare night out with friends at 6:00 tonight. There are going to be days like this many times over, and I need to surrender to the fact that life with a little one (at least with my little one who doesn't know there's a schedule in my mind I'd absolutely love for her to follow)...is just going to be this way for awhile. <br />
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Do you have times when you think, "Wow, here we go. This is life whether I am ready for it or not today"?<br />
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Here is my favorite song right now by Aaron Shust- every time I hear it on the radio I am like, "YES! AMEN! My hope is in you, Lord!" One of the best lines is "I wait for You and my soul finds rest, in my selfishness you show me grace." Enjoy a moment of worship in your day- whatever life has brought you today.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4XxvFhGhZJw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-65758466849283889722011-08-29T09:46:00.000-07:002011-08-29T09:46:25.482-07:00Happy thoughts for the dayI tried out Pioneer Woman's <a href="http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/06/perfect-iced-coffee/">iced coffee recipe</a> this morning and <i>oh my word</i> it is amazing!! We cut the recipe in fourths because we didn't have a big storage container, but it still made almost 2 liters of coffee concentrate using 1/4 lb of grounds. YUM!<br />
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I am very thankful that Irene did not affect us too much. She came overnight and stormed while we slept (except when she woke Emily up...) and the only damage we witnessed was a large tree that fell toward the street on a neighboring property. The second half of Sunday was beautifully sunny and today has been even more pleasant. Enjoyed the cooler, sunny weather with Emily this morning on a stroll.<br />
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Had a great chat with a far away friend last night. Don't you love those? Seems hard to schedule them anymore, but it is so worth it. Friends are such a blessing for encouragement, sharpening, and celebrating.<br />
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Fall is just around the corner here. I probably write about this every year around this time, but I love a good seasonal and semester transition to get me on a fresh new schedule. Things we have in store around here this fall: free toddler gym times at local churches, women's retreat mornings once a month for moi :-), library singing and story times starting again, trips to North (science) Museum, pumpkin patches, and sweaters.<br />
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What have been some of your happy moments so far today? <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-50478586276760929472011-08-25T20:29:00.000-07:002011-08-25T20:29:18.693-07:00a little slice of the pieI have been apt to often see grass growing more beautifully on the other side of the fence. A few more cows in the pasture over there. A whiter, cleaner fence over there. A manicured, orderly garden down the road. You get the picture. Comparison often does become the thief of joy!<br />
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So I thought one antidote to my wishful thinking about drifting back to Texas or even just living in a different, more "convenient" location in Lancaster County would be to chronicle things that I absolutely love about living in Millersville.<br />
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* I see a sunrise coming over a hill in the distance when I look out my back porch every morning (because, yes, Emily is up with/before the sun and we are usually eating breakfast together when the sun rises).<br />
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* Our neighborhood has beautiful, wooded walking paths. I literally walk out my back door and I am dropped onto a maze of walking trails draped with pine needles and tall trees.<br />
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* Our neighborhood has a huge pond with a fountain and swans who take up residence there part of the year. I love seeing this as I round the corner near home.<br />
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* Although a time and traffic inconvenience, I love that I have to drive through MU's campus just to get from my neighborhood to pretty much anywhere else in town. Seeing the college students reminds me of my college days and also reminds me that my husband is here for these kids. Part of his passion is helping these students learn. <br />
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* Greg's office is literally 1 mile from our doorstep. How amazing is that? Emily and I can stroll (when I'm up for all the hills both ways!) over to surprise him in his office. He can do an 8-5 day and leave the house at 7:58 and then be home at 5:02.<br />
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* Although not equipped with comfy couches and free wifi, there is a Starbuck's in the dining hall at MU. And that's within strolling distance also. :-) I have to really want the coffee since I definitely work off the calories during the stroll, but it is great to know it is there. Especially since the next closest one is 15-20 minutes away and not really on any of my normal routes. <br />
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* I just discovered a back road out to farmland that is enchanting and makes me want to stop in my tracks and just worship God for His handiwork. All this only a 5 minute drive from my house? Amazing. How did I not know about this before.<br />
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* Pine View Dairy is only a 7 minute drive away. We have now gone even more retro and have moved from buying our milk in glass jars to buying it in plastic bags that we then empty into our own pitchers. It is the freshest, yummiest milk and it is so healthy for you! And cheaper than what we were buying in glass jars and what you can get at the grocery store. They also sell to die for fresh ice cream. Not good for my waistline, but oh so good for my heart!<br />
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* We are only 10-15 minutes from Lancaster City. That's not a bad drive and there is tons to do in the city. I feel like living this close to the city has helped keep me connected to a bit of downtown culture, which is super important to me coming from the 4 million + city of Houston. Not that little Lancaster has much in common with a sprawling Metropolis, but just having access to fine dining, operas, and a library is a good thing.<br />
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*There are some great parks for Emily close by. I did always envision having my children grow up within walking distance to a park and we don't have that right now. But we can get to a huge one with many different playgrounds and a winding creek in less that 10 minutes. And one that is all rubber and plastic (good for staying clean!) and seems whimsical and creative to me.<br />
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* Millersville itself is on the old and slow side, but is has a certain charm to it. Stunning old homes with wrap around porches (there is one for sale only 10k more than we paid for our little townhome...oh right, this is the antidote post to the grass always being greener :-) ) and a quaint mom and pop grocery store. <br />
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* Being 25-30 minutes away from the closest Target, all the good restaurants, the outlet malls, and Gymboree classes means we save more money not shopping. See, I put a positive spin it!<br />
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I look forward to coming back to this list over time to appreciate my little slice of the world that God has provided during this time and to add to the list as I find new things to appreciate.<br />
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What do you love about your little slice? What is something new you've noticed this week about it?<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-12826749969513718992011-08-25T09:09:00.000-07:002011-08-25T09:09:29.800-07:00Spotlight: Long Distance Lobsters!Did I catch your attention?? :-)<br />
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I have a little treasure I want to share with you today, friends! A dear friend of mine named Zoe has teamed up with a dear friend of hers named Emily to write a fun, witty, and insightful blog about long distance friendships and all things in between that they wish they could experience together. <i><a href="http://www.longdistancelobsters.com/">Long Distance Lobsters</a> -- You have got to check it out!</i><br />
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I have been so blessed to have shared many years in person with Zoe as we grew up in middle school and high school. We were two of the very few committed Christians in our school and that made us fast friends. Zoe was(is) also one of the few people I knew who could dish out more wisdom in one good chat than a whole book could hope to afford. I relished coffee chats at Diedrich's Coffee House and prayer times at school over lunch break. Oh and going on and on about our boy crushes, haha. We both had a knack for falling hard for these friends of ours, although she normally got the boy she liked, too. As the years have passed (goodness, the years have passed! High school graduation was 10 years ago!!), we have found ourselves in new experiences miles apart, but the Lord brought us back in touch as we experienced the journeys of pregnancy and motherhood overlapping. So few of our friends from childhood have had children yet, so it has been a joy to share the experiences along the way! <br />
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Be sure to check out her <a href="http://www.longdistancelobsters.com/2011/08/cooking-with-zoe-i-love-basil.html">latest cooking adventures</a> and Emily's <a href="http://www.longdistancelobsters.com/2011/08/movie-review-monday-14-help.html">movie review</a> of The Help (amazing movie, btw!!!) and <a href="http://www.longdistancelobsters.com/2011/08/how-to-survive-long-distance-move-with.html">how to surviving a long distance move with an infant</a><br />
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Let me know what you think! :-)<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-60028600048231678862011-08-16T12:17:00.000-07:002011-08-16T12:17:53.047-07:00Birthday!Aren't birthdays so much fun?? I am reminded that one of God's sweet gifts to us is the discipline of celebration. We are called to "Rejoice in the Lord always" and "Be thankful in all things". And birthdays are a great time of reflection and thanksgiving for the precious family and friends the Lord brings our way.<br />
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This past Sunday was Greg's 30th birthday!! Can't believe my hubby has been on this earth now for 3 whole decades. He has grown and changed so much through the different seasons of life. We were marveling at the fact that this coming January will mark 10 years of friendship for us-- 1/3 of his entire life! It has been amazing to watch what God has sovereignly and faithfully done in Greg's life these last 10 years. From a spiritual perspective, he's had the blessing of being baptized as a believer (and not just as an infant), planted and led a grad student ministry at A&M for a bit, served in leadership with the Newlywed/Young Married class at Grace for a few years, grown in knowledge and wisdom concerning God's teaching on forgiveness and how this can change our world and our workplaces for the better, and is now on his second round of teaching at Newsong in a School of Discipleship class. These are more front-runner things, but he's often been found quietly in the background as well, serving in the coffee ministry, praying fervently for needs he hears about, or giving sacrificially to those in need. From a social perspective, he's grown rich in love towards me and others around him. I've seen him open up in love toward his family in new ways, show a whole new side of affection and protection with Emily, and intentionally cultivate friendships. And in his work, he has accomplished so much in so little time! 3 degrees and two years under his belt as a prof. Wow! I see him caring deeply about how his research and teaching can help others achieve their goals and grow beyond where they think they can. He's making a difference in the field of restorative justice, something that seems so inherently biblical and yet is so rarely practiced. Here's to 30 amazing years that the Lord has given to Greg!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-63254609855806371372011-08-04T06:17:00.000-07:002011-08-04T06:17:51.650-07:00Parenting Book PollAlright readers (the handful of you who visit this blog) :-) -- I would love to hear what parenting books you have read and, for the moms with older kids than I, what has really worked great for your kids so far? What techniques do you use for handling tantrums and/or whining? What techniques do you use for discipline when they disobey? What was the overall parenting philosophy that made the most sense to you?<br />
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We are <i>just </i>entering the whining and testing limits stage. Definitely not too bad yet, though I know this sweet girl has it in her to give us a run for our money, as most toddlers do. She still responds well to limit setting and obeys almost every time. Our loose end has been oodles of whining, so that is what we are getting creative with right now. I think part of this stems from Emily still being a bit behind on communication and the fact that toddlers in general can get frustrated as they try to communicate. But I keep thinking that when she gets the pointing thing down, it will help considerably for her to tell me what she needs or wants. She's picked up the all done and more signs at mealtime a few times this past week, so it is all getting there! <br />
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I'll start with my review first: Greg and I are going through the book Love and Logic for Early Childhood with a couple of friends in the neighborhood. It has already given me some great ideas that at least are helping <i>me</i> be a better parent. The first is that I need to go hard of hearing when the whining begins. In other words, I need to detach myself from the frustration and escalation that "tuning in" to the whining can bring. This has helped tons!! Another tip has been to have a phrase that I repeat <i>with empathy</i> whenever I'm responding to her tantrums. I have picked the phrase "I know", and it is helping me to actually feel empathetic as I help her work through her frustration. When doling out consequences for disobedience, I have ended up saying "How sad..." before I explain the consequences and remove her from the situation. This wasn't my favorite phrase in the book, but it is rolling off my tongue, so I guess it is going to stick! We are not really to the stage where I can offer many choices to her yet, since language and pointing haven't come in much, but that is a huge thing with Love and Logic. Lots and lots of choices where kids learn to exert control (in areas where we are comfortable with them having control) leads to self-confident, independent thinkers. I totally agree with this! I am excited to do this more with her as she gets older. The more control I allow her to have in the small things, the more respectful she might be of the limits I set on the things that matter. The book emphasizes that the early years can be very fun and rewarding if you have an action plan in place for diffusing tantrums and building the child's confidence. The only thing I see missing in this book so far is a scriptural framework to pull from. It is not that the book is anti-scripture by an means, but it doesn't give me a way to weave God's truths into the childrearing experience. And that is extremely important to me! I think there are some other books out there that can speak to that overall goal and will hopefully fit together well with some of the practical suggestions from Love and Logic.<br />
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Ok- your turn! What should I read next and why?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-53567738627101981642011-08-03T18:36:00.000-07:002011-08-03T18:36:56.483-07:00Two painless transitions!No, not done with the bottles yet. :-) I wish I could say that I snapped my fingers this week and that one was accomplished, but we are going to take that one nice and slow. I greatly appreciate my friend Brittany's wise suggestions about talking through the change with E, heaping loads of patience and love on her during the change, and simultaneously hyping up the cups of milk as I make the bottles less attractive. Thanks, friend!! I will also wait til her two teeth finally poke through and her first ever diaper rash goes away. Poor girl!<br />
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In the last two days, though, I am super happy to say that Emily has moved out of sleep sack mode and onto a blanket with NO fuss! In fact, most naps and bedtimes the last 2 days have happened much faster and with less "talking" than before. And she's been sleeping great at each nap and nighttime as well! I had been afraid to lose the sleep sack because I thought it had become a cue for sleep for her and I was worried she might get cold (especially napping in a tshirt, shorts, and no socks). But she hasn't missed it at all. Woohoo! She had outgrown the sack we had been using, and I couldn't bring myself to buy yet another new size. And I figured a warm summer would be a much better time to get her used to a blanket than when it was already cold here.<br />
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The other success is that I think we've found a lovey in the last two days as well! I pulled out a super soft, thin, small white blanket to drape over her during naptime yesterday morning. She ended up balling it up, biting on it, and falling asleep almost instantly! I have given her many other soft items this size, but she'd always chunk them away. I tested my theory yesterday afternoon when she was fussing to see if this had indeed been a comfort to her. She beamed when I brought it downstairs and handed it to her! She lets us hold it while she has her bottle before bed, whereas the other items I was offering as a lovey she would toss aside. I am a little bummed that it is white since it will be impossible to keep clean. And I will have to hope that Bering's in Houston still sells this little blanket so we have a backup. But yay for finally having something to transition away from the comfort of bottles!! <br />
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Today has reminded me that though we have one sticking point in this household at the moment, there have been so many things to rejoice over as well!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7449776183841321136.post-40325265071138018552011-08-01T11:34:00.000-07:002011-08-01T11:34:52.446-07:00On flexibility (or lack thereof....)Today I came home from the dermatologist office with my back covered in stickers and tape. I was not sure what exactly I was getting into going to get "patch tested" for common chemicals found in soaps, creams, shampoos, etc. I guess I thought it would be like the scratch testing you get at the allergy office. Painful little scrapes that turn into itchy welts and two hours later you know the results. Patch testing didn't hurt at all :-) Just little stickers each covered in their own chemical compound all stuck on my back and covered with a big layer of tape to hold them on. I am supposed to 1) not bend over until Wednesday so the stickers stay put and 2) not itch and 3) not wash my back until Friday! Lovely. I was not planning to be limited with flexibility for 5 days or two have to take a bath instead of a shower (I hate baths...) Anyways, it has given me a little clarity on the other area of inflexibility in our lives right now and I hope the new perspective will give me an opportunity to respond to it with wisdom.<br />
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I'm sure back in the blogosphere somewhere I shared our early struggles with introducing the bottle to Emily. Her answer was a firm "no" until we tried again at 7 months. At that point she looked like she'd won the lottery every time you presented her with a bottle. Success! A little freedom for Mama! Our baby girl has learned a new skill! Little did we know that her attachment would lead to weaning from nursing before a year and now to this development of the bottle as her only soother. I'm sure it was a mistake to incorporate it into the afternoon nap routine (we survived the morning one without ever introducing it), but it was working like a charm to wind her down that way. Now I've dropped one of four daily bottles entirely (the one after her morning nap) and she whines intermittently from 10:30-2 until she gets the pre-afternoon nap one. She also throws a fit before her morning nap even though she never did this before and we've never had a bottle at that one. Doc says I need to get down to just the bedtime bottle and ideally get rid of that one, too. But I can't imagine how to do that if she is so frantic about the easiest one being gone. She's not *great* with her cups yet, either. She'll drink some from straw cups and sippies, but not nearly enough to hydrate her for the day. Do I hang on to the bottles awhile longer and see if she weans from those to a lovey for soothing and cups for milk on her own like she did from nursing? Do I set a deadline soon because the older she gets the harder it will be? Do I try the sports bottle sippies because they resemble a bottle or is that perpetuating the same drinking method and that's bad? What worked for you if your child was attached to the bottle?<br />
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What I've taken from my experience today is that being thrown off by change that is unexpected and uncomfortable can be hard. It can leave you reaching for something else but not knowing what you need to feel better. Perhaps that is a little of what Emily is feeling. She knows she used to wake up and have a bottle and it isn't there anymore. How can I encourage flexibility when communication is still in the beginning stages and her struggle with expression leads to meltdowns? I'm pouring on the love as much as I can and trying to hold firm with the change that's been made while brainstorming how to keep moving forward. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723602348175990653noreply@blogger.com1