Friday, March 27, 2015

Bedtime Routine

I wrote about our old bedtime routines, but now we have a new one to write about!

Lately I've been reading a poem from our Don't Mess with Moses book every night to the boys.  We say our prayers, give them hugs and kisses and then it's off to put Elinroe to bed. 



When she moved into her big girl bed, she abandond the rocking and signging in favor of books in bed. I miss the rocking, but glad we have a new routine to snuggle and read. We get our clean diaper and jammies on; she picks out her books and we lay down in her bed with her sippy of milk to read and pray.  We read two books.  The second book is ALWAYS Knock, Knock! Who's there at Christmas?  The first book rotates through a few, but the second one is always the same.  



Once stories are done we pray.  I've started asking her what she wants to pray about, and sometimes she'll have ideas and things and other times she won't.  But we always say a short prayer, call Daddy in to tell her goodnight too and Ruth too.  (She usually tells the boys goodnight while we're reading their poem.)  Then we kid, take the milk away, and we're off to dreamland.

Well sometimes dreamland takes awhile.  We still have the baby monitor in her room to hear her, and she babbles on for awhile sometimes.  Because we have a two way monitor and we can respond if we choose, sometimes she asks us questions for her "machine" to talk to us. 

Then it's off to get final chores done and Ruth down to bed too.  This whole process takes probably 45 mintues everynight.  Assuming we're at a reasonable amount of questions and excuses for getting out of bed after bedtime for the night!

Man Cereal

Last weekend, Elinore work up.  I went in to get her and she immediately asked for breakfast.  I asked what she wanted, she's usually fairly picky about what she wants to eat.  She wanted man cereal in her best deep growling voice. 

"WHAT?" I said.

"I want man ceral!" she said again.

I chucked and asked what man cereal was.  It helps you play or something crazy like that she said.  Still not knowing what man ceral is; I changed her diaper and carried her into Keith, who was still in bed and asked him what man cereal was.  I though as a man he might have an answer for me.  He laughs; has no idea and rolls back over.

So we headed to the kitchen.  I pulled out the ceral boxes and asked which one she wanted.  She picked Fruity Pebbles.  Why?  Becuase there's a man, Fred Flinstone, on the box.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Teeth

This guy did awesome Wednesday. He had 4 teeth pulled at the dentist office!  Now he had room for two adult teeth to come in and then the orthodontist can start moving his teeth to the right places!

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

The 5 Love Languages

The Five Love Languages.jpg

I finished reading this book yesterday.  I've had this book for years.  I once had lunch with a leader at work who recceomnded it to me.  I bought the book shortly after that and tried reading it, but I never got into it.  It sat on a shelf for years, until I decided to pick it up again recently.  This time, I read right through it, nodding my head and thinking about the relationships in my life.  I thought about Keith of course, but also about how this relates to parenting our kids.  I was so interested in the kids aspect of it, I have bought the 5 Love Lanugages for Children and am awaiting it's arrival to read too. 

I learned how to be a better wife and how to show love to others.  I realized there were things I could easily be doing to show love that I wasn't.  It really was a good read.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Hair

Elinore was brushing daddy's hair tonight. Oh so funny.

My Birth Experiences


I thought about my two birth experiences with each of our girls often in the first weeks after Ruth was born.  They were both such completely different experiences and left me feeling completely differnt after, not towards our daughters of course, but about the experiences. 

Elinore's birth was so calm and laid back.  It was peaceful and went so smoothly.  Even though I'd hoped for a natural birth, I had an epidural, we'd taken naps, and even though I'd gotten sick, it was a peaceful experience.  Our nurses were awesome and when Elinore came into the world it was calm and we were talking and I was crying. 

Ruth's birth was anything but calm and peaceful!  I decided for the epidural at 4cm, but by the time they came for it I was 7, and by the time they were cleaning by back for it, my water broke and Ruth was ready to be there NOW.  There was no time, there was no doctor, and they weren't quite ready for birth.  It was hurried, I was angry they weren't ready and I wanted to have a baby NOW.  It was hectic, it was fast, and before I really could understand what just happened, I had a baby on my chest!

The birth's were both very different, but the weeks following were very different too.  With Elinore's birth the physical recovery was unpleasant to say the least.  It was uncomfortable and just all around not fun.  But mentally I was pleased with the birth experience and happy with it.  I was surprised by that too; I thought I'd be disappointed that I didn't have the natural birth I wanted.  My nurse was awesome about talking me into being okay with it and reassuring I could probably make it if I had another baby because of how quickly I progressed and other awesome comments.  (She was super great!) 

With Ruth's my physical recovery was easy peasy, but I struggled more with processing her birth because it was so fast (less than 2.5 hours).  I felt bad for some of the yelling I did.  And the whole epidural thing stuck with me too.  The anesthesiologist didn't want to do it when he arrived, but I was mentally prepared for it and the nurse pushed for me, but then we couldn't do it anyway.  It was just so different; I wasn't at peace with it for awhile.  Now, 3 months later, I am, but it weighed on my mind a lot that first month. 

I don't know that we'll have any more babies, but if I were faced with thinking about another delivery, I'm not sure what I would choose.  I do know I'd be ready to get to the hospital right away though if I wasn't induced again! 

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Legos

Back in January, Caleb made this for Ruth with Legos!



Love

Tonight Caleb told me that if he had a choice between his arm falling off and Ruth's arm falling off, he'd choose his arm because he didn't want Ruth to have to go through that. 

Now that is what I call a loving brother.

Binoculars

Elinore wear binoculars. 


Santa

So I realize Christmas was a few months ago, but I'm just now getting photos to the computer.  The kids loved seeing Santa this year!  Elinore wasn't afraid; in fact, we weren't sure we were going to be able to get her away from Santa!



Family

I think this may be the only picture to date of all 6 of us.

Taken December 19, 2014

Friday, March 06, 2015

Where do you feel closest to God?


In my church Bible Study group earlier this week, one of the questions asked was "where do you feel closest to God?" There were a couple of in nature answers; they felt closest when they were in God's creation.

Initially this question makes me think, can't we feel connected to God anywhere? Shouldn't we be able to be close to him regardless of where we are. And fundamentally I think that is true in a more perfect world. God is certainly everywhere and always with us, but our human weakness prevents us from feeling close 24-7 I think. We are the ones who stray.

So after pushing that initial thought out of my mind I had to think about when I feel most connected to God. In the Bible Study they are exploring the Holy Land and where Jesus lived his life here on Earth and how it brought this sense of closeness to God for those individuals.

As I reflected on this, I thought there are certainly things that make me feel his presence more. Often because I choose to slow down and be and listen and really accept his love. My example, my occasion, my place, was communion. So maybe it isn't necessarily a place, but an action, because it isn't always in the same place. Yet for me, I do feel close to him as I reflect on the meaning of communion and the actions taken my Jesus and by me in the act of taking communion.

On more than one occasion during communion I've sat and thought and reflected and held back tears over the gift Jesus gives us. It is a beautiful thing, and something I try to consciously focus on during communion. That isn't always easy given our four kids in church with us, but I try, and I'm also SO grateful when I do.

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Spring

Each year as the snow melts I find myself being a little sad.  I'm certainly glad for sping, but I'm not as fond of the wet and slushy season before the green of spring begins to arrive.  It's March and there is still quite a bit of snow on the ground, but as it warms this week, it is starting to melt.  I'm thrilled for spring, but I'm a bit saddened to see teh snow go.  The snow is quite beautiful.  And it signals another season has passed and life is moving on.  I'm grateful that time is passing on, but sadden at how it seeems to fly so quickly.

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Leisureville



I finished reading Leisureville - Adventures in a World Without Children today by Andrew D. Blechman.  I had the book in my wishlist and it was given to me for Christmas, so I dug into it.  It was a good read and very insightful into the community I didn't know I had any interest in.  I'm still not sure I'm interested in it, but it did make me think a little about business, community, lifestyles and my faith. 

The book took a different path and thoughts than the books I've been reading lately, and I missed the more faith based reading I've been doing, but I kept with it and often thought about how the lifestyle and communities built in this book don't fit at all with what I believe about life and how I want to live my life as a Christian. 

The book chronicles the age segregated communities and their lifestyles.  It also focuses on the political and societal impact these communities have.  While their age segregated worlds may be wonderful for them, I wasn't crazy about the conecpt and the implications they have on the community, school, governments, etc.