Is there really such a thing? Are there really moments where a parent thinks "Hey, I'm doing a good job at this child-rearing thing"? It has happened, on occasion, that something I was attempting in the parenting realm actually worked. But my response is more one of surprise than of bolstering my confidence as a parent. Is it just a matter of finding the right method? Doesn't every doctor tell you that every child is different? Does that mean you have to change your method with each child? What if one method traumatizes my child? Is it all trial and error in hoping your child doesn't turn out to be a horrible person???
Now insert Christianity. I know that there are principles in the Bible regarding parenting. Not to mention the fact that the character traits that the Lord is developing in the lives of His children are also traits we can seek to instill in our children. But I'm pretty sure there's nothing in the Bible about potty training or weaning or introducing solid food or offering utensils at meals or getting rid of the bottle and using a sippy cup or whether you even DO use a sippy cup...
I've been blessed to watch several Christian couples seek to raise their family in a godly way. Mainly I've been observing from the "child" side of the equation, but in the last couple years my perspective has drastically changed. It's pretty amazing how the Lord works to change the PARENTS of the child as soon as that little one enters the world, but it's also a pretty sobering realization when there are two lines on that little at-home test (I think especially for the mom). More than once I've wondered, "Lord, are you sure I can do this?"
I love my daughter (soon-to-be daughterS) but, man, there are times when I just can't stand her. Thankfully those times are few and far between, and often related to the amount of sleep I've gotten--or haven't gotten. And even more thankfully, "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him'" (Lamentations 3:22-24).
After a particularly frustrating occasion with Alice, I found myself pondering all this, but the Lord brought to my mind the fact that He is MUCH bigger than any method that anyone advocates. He already has every day of Alice's life planned out and no amount of my sinfulness will thwart His plans for her. I pray that my parenting is a help, not a hindrance in her life. I pray for patience and perseverance with her in those challenging times. I pray that the examples of her daddy and mommy lead her fall on her knees before the Lord Jesus Christ and admit her sinful condition and need for Him to save her. What a privilege it is to be her mommy and bring these requests before a Heavenly Father who listens and cares and has the love and wisdom and power to accomplish that which we pray for.
8.31.2011
8.29.2011
Emma... Something
Almost forgot... Here's a lame picture of Emma last week at the ultrasound. I figure it's better than nothing, right? Sorry for the glare from the flash of my camera taking a picture of the printed ultrasound picture. We don't have the skills (or equipment) to scan it like I did with Alice.
Half Way There
Today marks twenty weeks of pregnancy, or five months, which means twenty-ish more weeks and (Lord-willing) little Emma will be here! In celebration, and for those who keep asking for it, here's a picture of me at twenty weeks.
Just because I'm cool, here are twenty differences and similarities between this pregnancy and the first (probably not to be read by the faint of heart... or the faint of stomach):
1. Alice & Emma - both girls.
2. Alice made me throw up three times. Emma only made me dry heave once.
3. With Alice I gained weight fairly steadily from the start. With Emma, I still haven't gained much.
4. With Alice, I was hungry ALL the time once I hit the second trimester mark. With Emma... not so much, but food is finally starting to sound good again... some times.
5. Alice was super active starting at 15 weeks, which is about the earliest the mom can start to "feel" baby move. Emma waited until last week to remind her mommy that she's in there.
6. Once Alice started moving it took her daddy a long time to feel her move. Last night Emma kicked her daddy's hand after only a few seconds.
7. With Alice I wanted to eat fruit, vegetables and bagel bites ALL the time. With Emma I want to eat doughnuts all the time. Alice often got that which she desired. Emma has not been satisfied much at all.
8. With Alice I could NOT handle being near, let alone touching, raw meat of any kind. With Emma it hasn't been much of a problem.
9. With Alice I worked full-time until I went into labor. With Emma I'll work full-time until I go into labor, but won't get paid for it :-)
10. Both Alice & Emma have managed to suck all the iron from my body at an early point in pregnancy, putting me on iron supplements. Really fun.
11. With Alice I didn't exercise much until the end of the second trimester. With Emma, going on walks (before the heat wave) has been a regular occurrence.
12. With Alice I'm sure I had some "nesting" symptoms at some point, but with Emma it's been nearly constant. I'm a cleaning and organizing maniac.
13. With Alice there was a good amount of fear (of the unknown, of going back to work, etc.) that sort of overshadowed the excitement at times. With Emma I've been pretty excited (after the initial shock) to have another little one.
14. I thought Alice was a girl from day one and was right. I thought Emma was a boy from day one and was (apparently) wrong.
15. With Alice we didn't want to find out the gender, but changed our minds. With Emma we did want to find out. Actually, I think my wonderful husband would have agreed with whatever I wanted to do.
16. With Alice her name was kept a secret (with very few exceptions) until she was born. With Emma... well, duh. Obviously we've already shared her name.
17. With Alice we weren't completely sure of the name until a few weeks before she came. With Emma we don't have a middle name yet... Still have time...
18. With both Alice & Emma, the quest to find a girl name was made more purposeful after the gender was confirmed. We already have two boy names. It would be funny/ironic if the Lord gave us all girls!
19. With Alice I didn't have a preference of girl or boy. With Emma, I really wanted a girl, but was excited when we thought she was a boy. Then was MORE excited when we found out our doctor was wrong!
20. Thankfully, with both girls I didn't have any problems getting pregnant. With Emma we found that I can, apparently, get pregnant VERY easily!
Okay, that turned out to be a lot longer than I expected. So, if you read that whole thing, your reward is a really cute picture of Alice. And if you didn't read that whole thing, you can still enjoy this really cute picture of Alice.
1. Alice & Emma - both girls.
2. Alice made me throw up three times. Emma only made me dry heave once.
3. With Alice I gained weight fairly steadily from the start. With Emma, I still haven't gained much.
4. With Alice, I was hungry ALL the time once I hit the second trimester mark. With Emma... not so much, but food is finally starting to sound good again... some times.
5. Alice was super active starting at 15 weeks, which is about the earliest the mom can start to "feel" baby move. Emma waited until last week to remind her mommy that she's in there.
6. Once Alice started moving it took her daddy a long time to feel her move. Last night Emma kicked her daddy's hand after only a few seconds.
7. With Alice I wanted to eat fruit, vegetables and bagel bites ALL the time. With Emma I want to eat doughnuts all the time. Alice often got that which she desired. Emma has not been satisfied much at all.
8. With Alice I could NOT handle being near, let alone touching, raw meat of any kind. With Emma it hasn't been much of a problem.
9. With Alice I worked full-time until I went into labor. With Emma I'll work full-time until I go into labor, but won't get paid for it :-)
10. Both Alice & Emma have managed to suck all the iron from my body at an early point in pregnancy, putting me on iron supplements. Really fun.
11. With Alice I didn't exercise much until the end of the second trimester. With Emma, going on walks (before the heat wave) has been a regular occurrence.
12. With Alice I'm sure I had some "nesting" symptoms at some point, but with Emma it's been nearly constant. I'm a cleaning and organizing maniac.
13. With Alice there was a good amount of fear (of the unknown, of going back to work, etc.) that sort of overshadowed the excitement at times. With Emma I've been pretty excited (after the initial shock) to have another little one.
14. I thought Alice was a girl from day one and was right. I thought Emma was a boy from day one and was (apparently) wrong.
15. With Alice we didn't want to find out the gender, but changed our minds. With Emma we did want to find out. Actually, I think my wonderful husband would have agreed with whatever I wanted to do.
16. With Alice her name was kept a secret (with very few exceptions) until she was born. With Emma... well, duh. Obviously we've already shared her name.
17. With Alice we weren't completely sure of the name until a few weeks before she came. With Emma we don't have a middle name yet... Still have time...
18. With both Alice & Emma, the quest to find a girl name was made more purposeful after the gender was confirmed. We already have two boy names. It would be funny/ironic if the Lord gave us all girls!
19. With Alice I didn't have a preference of girl or boy. With Emma, I really wanted a girl, but was excited when we thought she was a boy. Then was MORE excited when we found out our doctor was wrong!
20. Thankfully, with both girls I didn't have any problems getting pregnant. With Emma we found that I can, apparently, get pregnant VERY easily!
Okay, that turned out to be a lot longer than I expected. So, if you read that whole thing, your reward is a really cute picture of Alice. And if you didn't read that whole thing, you can still enjoy this really cute picture of Alice.
8.26.2011
Back to School... Part-time!
Andrew/Happy is back in school, hence the new background. He started classes on Wednesday and is taking Educational Ministry in the Church and Hebrew. Two classes, as opposed to his full-time load of at least three. Then again, Hebrew is a three unit class that really should count as four since he's in class four hours each week, and the other class is another three unit class. He's going to have plenty to keep him busy. Please pray for good time management and perseverance! We're looking towards a Spring 2013 graduation date, Lord-willing.
We had our big ultrasound on Monday and everything is looking great. The only real news to report is that Caleb is actually Emma! Turns out our doctor was a little ambitious when I was 12 weeks (that's VERY early) in predicting a boy. Although I did think I was having a boy, I had a weird dream less than a week before the ultrasound that "Caleb" came early and was a girl. Very strange. In my dream I panicked because we didn't have a middle name. We still don't have a middle name, but have a few ideas. We'd like to have some kind of biblical significance in the first or middle (or both) name of each of our children... So if you're dying to pass on a suggestion, that might help guide you. We've had a handful of people suggest Emma Rose. Apparently that sounds good to lots of people.
Another SUPER exciting thing... I went to a free couponing class last night hosted by the OC Register and am really excited to get started. Just need the coupons now... I was pretty hyped up about it last night and my poor (and wonderful) husband had to listen to me go on and on about how much money we can save and the different methods. I'm such a nerd.
Alice is finally ready to be done with her nap, though she's been awake and playing for 40 minutes! Love that girl. Some day I'll get better at posting pictures. First I have to take them. Turns out Alice is just about as photogenic as her Grandpa Gilmore. Anyone who knows him will understand what that means, but if you don't... I'll just say, Alice doesn't quite yet know how to smile at a camera and keep her eyes open! Have a lovely weekend!
We had our big ultrasound on Monday and everything is looking great. The only real news to report is that Caleb is actually Emma! Turns out our doctor was a little ambitious when I was 12 weeks (that's VERY early) in predicting a boy. Although I did think I was having a boy, I had a weird dream less than a week before the ultrasound that "Caleb" came early and was a girl. Very strange. In my dream I panicked because we didn't have a middle name. We still don't have a middle name, but have a few ideas. We'd like to have some kind of biblical significance in the first or middle (or both) name of each of our children... So if you're dying to pass on a suggestion, that might help guide you. We've had a handful of people suggest Emma Rose. Apparently that sounds good to lots of people.
Another SUPER exciting thing... I went to a free couponing class last night hosted by the OC Register and am really excited to get started. Just need the coupons now... I was pretty hyped up about it last night and my poor (and wonderful) husband had to listen to me go on and on about how much money we can save and the different methods. I'm such a nerd.
Alice is finally ready to be done with her nap, though she's been awake and playing for 40 minutes! Love that girl. Some day I'll get better at posting pictures. First I have to take them. Turns out Alice is just about as photogenic as her Grandpa Gilmore. Anyone who knows him will understand what that means, but if you don't... I'll just say, Alice doesn't quite yet know how to smile at a camera and keep her eyes open! Have a lovely weekend!
8.20.2011
Last Days of Summer
In honor of the last days of summer before school starts (on Wednesday) for my hard-working husband, clouds on the blog seemed appropriate for a few days. After that, you'll have to stop by and see what NEW and EXCITING theme we have for the start of the school year.
Tonight we went to Red Lobster for dinner with a coupon and a gift card (REALLY excellent). I got snow crab legs and a shrimp skewer. Crab is delicious. It reminds me of lobster, although is much harder for me to work with. Maybe I'm just more accustomed with how to get the meat out of a lobster, having watched it my whole childhood. I guess I'll just need more practice. Anyone want to take us to Red Lobster?? We're ALWAYS up for it :-D
Tomorrow Andrew/Happy preaches for the second week in a row at church during the morning service while our senior pastor & family are on vacation. Tomorrow's passage is Mark 8:1-21. Last week was really good, even though he preached for nearly an hour. Didn't feel that long at the time :-) If you think of it, I know he'd appreciate prayers. In fact, he's at church right now preparing notes to be inserted into the bulletin and he's been a little longer than I would have expected... Could mean issues.... Hopefully not!
Monday marks 19 weeks pregnant for me and I'm just (sort of) starting to feel mostly good. My appetite seems to be coming back, which is nice. Up to this point food has mainly been something I have to choke down because I need to. Not that it's been coming back up (no actual "morning sickness" with this little guy), but nothing sounds good. Ever. Or, nothing WAS sounding good. But I'm definitely not at the point where I'm hungry all the time, which is fine by me!
Monday is also our official ultrasound where they do lots of measurements and the gender is revealed or, in our case, confirmed. They'll probably confirm the due date (Jan. 16) as well, though up to this point everything seems to be on target for mid-January.... and another moose baby. Alice was 8 lbs 14 oz. I'm really hoping that by some miracle the next one will be a little less monstrous. Not that I'm expecting it, but I can hope.
Just for good measure, here are some Alice pictures of the spaghetti hat video that's on facebook. If you haven't seen it, you should :-)
Tonight we went to Red Lobster for dinner with a coupon and a gift card (REALLY excellent). I got snow crab legs and a shrimp skewer. Crab is delicious. It reminds me of lobster, although is much harder for me to work with. Maybe I'm just more accustomed with how to get the meat out of a lobster, having watched it my whole childhood. I guess I'll just need more practice. Anyone want to take us to Red Lobster?? We're ALWAYS up for it :-D
Tomorrow Andrew/Happy preaches for the second week in a row at church during the morning service while our senior pastor & family are on vacation. Tomorrow's passage is Mark 8:1-21. Last week was really good, even though he preached for nearly an hour. Didn't feel that long at the time :-) If you think of it, I know he'd appreciate prayers. In fact, he's at church right now preparing notes to be inserted into the bulletin and he's been a little longer than I would have expected... Could mean issues.... Hopefully not!
Monday marks 19 weeks pregnant for me and I'm just (sort of) starting to feel mostly good. My appetite seems to be coming back, which is nice. Up to this point food has mainly been something I have to choke down because I need to. Not that it's been coming back up (no actual "morning sickness" with this little guy), but nothing sounds good. Ever. Or, nothing WAS sounding good. But I'm definitely not at the point where I'm hungry all the time, which is fine by me!
Monday is also our official ultrasound where they do lots of measurements and the gender is revealed or, in our case, confirmed. They'll probably confirm the due date (Jan. 16) as well, though up to this point everything seems to be on target for mid-January.... and another moose baby. Alice was 8 lbs 14 oz. I'm really hoping that by some miracle the next one will be a little less monstrous. Not that I'm expecting it, but I can hope.
Just for good measure, here are some Alice pictures of the spaghetti hat video that's on facebook. If you haven't seen it, you should :-)
8.17.2011
The Nursery (Take 2)
8.09.2011
Love Mondays
Yesterday was the first Monday that I haven't been working, Happy's been home, and NOTHING else was happening for the entire day! It was a very excellent day, especially having been followed by two partial days of nothing else happening. While I do enjoy doing things and seeing people, I also REALLY appreciate having nothing scheduled. We ran a few random errands and went for a long afternoon walk. Just a relaxing not-much-happening sort of day with my husband and our little girl. I am so blessed.
Today was also a very good day, though very different from Monday. Started the day with breakfast for Alice & mommy and then Alice blessed mommy with another blueberry poo (She really likes blueberries and we have some that need to be eaten. When you don't have much variety in your diet and you take care of business in a diaper... It's messy). Then Alice had some great playpen time during which mommy was able to take a shower. We spent the morning reading and re-reading the same 6-7 books, folding & putting away laundry, and playing with her obnoxiously loud ball-popping contraption (which, of course, she loves). After lunch, Alice took a good long nap and mommy got some more laundry done and did some tidying of the mess that had been made earlier. Mommy also got to catch up on emails and plan dinner. Once Alice woke up, around 2:45, it was back to reading books until I had to start dinner and get it cooking so we could bring it to daddy before 5. Actually, I was shooting for 4:30 but it was closer to 5. Ah well. We ate dinner in Happy's office, came home, then went for a long walk. Alice lost the battle towards the end and fell asleep for 5-10 minutes before we got home. After walking around the apartment complex for 15 minutes, we came back home, gave Alice a bath & bottle and then put her to bed. She's been asleep for almost an hour and I'm about ready to fall asleep in this chair. Time to wash dishes and then off to bed for this tired pregnant mommy! I love being a stay-at-home mom :-)
Today was also a very good day, though very different from Monday. Started the day with breakfast for Alice & mommy and then Alice blessed mommy with another blueberry poo (She really likes blueberries and we have some that need to be eaten. When you don't have much variety in your diet and you take care of business in a diaper... It's messy). Then Alice had some great playpen time during which mommy was able to take a shower. We spent the morning reading and re-reading the same 6-7 books, folding & putting away laundry, and playing with her obnoxiously loud ball-popping contraption (which, of course, she loves). After lunch, Alice took a good long nap and mommy got some more laundry done and did some tidying of the mess that had been made earlier. Mommy also got to catch up on emails and plan dinner. Once Alice woke up, around 2:45, it was back to reading books until I had to start dinner and get it cooking so we could bring it to daddy before 5. Actually, I was shooting for 4:30 but it was closer to 5. Ah well. We ate dinner in Happy's office, came home, then went for a long walk. Alice lost the battle towards the end and fell asleep for 5-10 minutes before we got home. After walking around the apartment complex for 15 minutes, we came back home, gave Alice a bath & bottle and then put her to bed. She's been asleep for almost an hour and I'm about ready to fall asleep in this chair. Time to wash dishes and then off to bed for this tired pregnant mommy! I love being a stay-at-home mom :-)
Tisha B'Av
At sundown last night, observant Jews began fasting to observe Tisha B'Av, perhaps the most sorrowful day in the Jewish year. It commemorates the destruction of the first and second Jewish temples by the Babylonians and the Romans, respectively. To read more about it, go here.
8.05.2011
The Story of Everything
I appreciated this presentation of the story of the Bible in less than five minutes. Maybe you will too.
HT: Z
HT: Z
8.03.2011
Trusting God by Jerry Bridges
I'm going through this book with some of the girls in our youth group. It's a great book, but hard to read some times. Here's a quote from the chapter called "The Sovereignty of God."
Our first priority in times of adversity is to honor and glorify God by trusting Him. We tend to make our first priority the gaining of relief from our feelings of heartache or disappointment or frustration... We honor God by choosing to trust Him when we don't understand what He is doing or why He has allowed some adverse circumstance to occur. As we seek God's glory, we may be sure that He has purposed our good and that He will not be frustrated in fulfilling that purpose.
8.01.2011
Alice Finds Her Ear
For lunch today Alice decided when she was finished with her cheese that the last piece fit quite nicely inside her right ear. Of course, we had to get a picture. Needless to say, that piece of cheese went in the trash.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)