Well, our funding for our home loan was officially approved. YAY - that relieved a huge amount of stress. Now on to packing, which is another big ball of stress. I am trying hard to think positively about the opportunity that we have to get rid of a bunch of JUNK. YAY! It's crazy to think that in all of the times that we've moved since we've been married we've gotten rid of a ton of stuff every time. The junk just comes back after you move!
So packing will be the family activity of choice for the next month. Once we move I'm going to have to obsess over getting the house daycare ready, in other words DCFS compliant. There won't be a ton to do to accomplish this, but enough. Safety locks, fire extinguisher, safety gates, etc...Fun times. Then DCFS and the fire marshall will be showing up sometime and I get to go through that bundle of fun again.
So while it's all good things, it's still going to be stressful. I'm going to do the best I can to find ways to relax and relieve stress when necessary, but it's going to be hard with so much that must be done.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Bring on the coffee
Five thirty came this morning and instead of slumbering peacefully I was awakened by my hubby "Crystal.Get up. Crystal! It's time to get up. You have to get up. Come on. Hurry up and get up so I can go back to sleep!" sigh, wiggle wiggle go my toes, groan"Crystal. Get UP!"sigh, roll,groan, stretch. And on that went for about 5 minutes or so until I finally forced my body to move, wiggling out of bed most ungracefully. I had a 6:00am appointment with a needle at the hospital lab this morning, just the kind of thing that makes a person burrow further into bed as opposed to jump out. But get out of bed I did. And now I'm back and of course there's no going to sleep now. Where's the coffee? sigh Guess it's not going to make itself. I'll have to drag my body into the kitchen and put the water on, grind my coffee, and get the french press ready to go. But the rich coffee aroma and the warm roasted bean thickness in my mouth will really hit the spot this morning.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Babywise - some things to consider
It's been awhile since I've posted on something that I'm passionate about.
Prior to Boo being born I was so fortunate to read Dr. Sears "The Baby Book." I will say that this book laid the foundation for the type of mother that I have been, am currently, and will evolve to be. Dr. Sears is well known and has a ton of books out on a variety of subjects regarding raising children. He is a strong supporter of the style of parenting that I wholeheartedly agree with - attachment parenting.
There is a style of parenting that Dr. Sears is an opponent of. And he's not alone. The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) News has printed an article with concerns regarding Babywise.
AAP News
In some Christian communities Babywise techniques have been elevated to "the" Godly way to raise children.
Train Up A Child
An AAP Media alert asserts the actual position of the AAP regarding scheduled feedings.
AAP Media Alert
Cue Feeding v. Parent Directed Feeding
This page has some good comparisons of Ezzo, The Baby Whisperer, and AAP recommendations.
Anyways, it's late. I need to get to sleep. But that's probably enough food for though.
Prior to Boo being born I was so fortunate to read Dr. Sears "The Baby Book." I will say that this book laid the foundation for the type of mother that I have been, am currently, and will evolve to be. Dr. Sears is well known and has a ton of books out on a variety of subjects regarding raising children. He is a strong supporter of the style of parenting that I wholeheartedly agree with - attachment parenting.
There is a style of parenting that Dr. Sears is an opponent of. And he's not alone. The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) News has printed an article with concerns regarding Babywise.
AAP News
In some Christian communities Babywise techniques have been elevated to "the" Godly way to raise children.
Train Up A Child
An AAP Media alert asserts the actual position of the AAP regarding scheduled feedings.
AAP Media Alert
Cue Feeding v. Parent Directed Feeding
This page has some good comparisons of Ezzo, The Baby Whisperer, and AAP recommendations.
Anyways, it's late. I need to get to sleep. But that's probably enough food for though.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
What's Up
I've somewhat neglected my blogging as of late. I think it's partly that 2010 rolled in like a freight train and has been chugging along ever since.
On a personal note we're in the midst of purchasing a house. That's new and exciting and somewhat frightening all at once. This was not in our original plan for this year or even the next. But so far nothing in our lives has really gone according to plan, so why this? I don't mean that in a terrible sense either. Of course owning a home is a wonderful thing. I guess this just wasn't our preferred time line. But circumstances have led to this being the right time and the right decision for us. Once the decision to buy was made we found a house that seemed right almost immediately. So we have a contract to buy and everything is moving along as far as that goes.
Boo is growing and changing and becoming more child-like, as opposed to toddlerish, every day. It's a bit frightening to me how fast it all seems. He's such a precious and wonderful gift in our lives. I can't imagine life without him. To watch his face light up with joy in the most mundane of tasks is amazing and heartwarming and beautiful. Now that the weather has warmed up his favorite past time is riding his bike. He likes to create his plan for the day and tell me what he plans to do each day. Riding bikes is always thrown in there, as is going to see grandma and papa. Speaking of which, no matter how much I try to tell him about "mommy, daddy, and [Boo]'s new house" he continues to insist that it's "mommy, daddy, [Boo]'s, and papa's new house." I've informed him repeatedly that grandma and papa will NOT be living with us. He even threw Santa Clause in there one day. I'm sure it'd be every child's dream to have Santa live with them. Who can blame a kid for throwing it out there?
The daycare is hopping. After months and months of frustration and anxiety, the daycare finally filled up over fall and winter last year and has stayed full. That's such a huge blessing. I'm very lucky to have great kiddos and families and no anticipated openings until at least next fall. It's so nice to have the same group of kiddos consistently. They are becoming solid friends and play so well together - as well as that age group can play when it comes to peer relations! For the most part I think Boo enjoys the daycare and having his friends over. Of course he has his days where I can tell that he's not in the mood for it and that's understandable. But overall he just has a ton of fun playing.
Mixed in with the home buying and moving fun and the daily grind of daycare, I'm working on medical issues this month. So that's always fun. Hubby and I have been meeting with a practitioner since December learning a new method of fertility care. Creighton Model
I don't think I have any male readers, but just in case you might want to skip over the rest of this paragraph. It was founded by the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction. I actually like that it's founded by the Catholic church because from a moral standpoint my views are probably pretty similar to those of the Catholic church when it comes to reproductive technology. Anyways, so we've been attending these meetings to learn a new way of charting my cycles so that we can address some issues with my hormones. Yes, it's always nice to learn that your body is hormonally imbalanced. It makes it harder to convince hubby that I'm always right. :) So this month is going to focus on finding out the details of my hormone imbalances. I will be getting blood drawn between 9 and 10 times this month. Doesn't that sound fantastic? But it's for good cause. At the end of the month we'll know which hormones are doing what and when they're doing it. Then hopefully we can work on taming those naughty hormones and getting them to do what they're supposed to do.
So, there's a lot of stuff intermingling in my life right now and a lot of unknowns. It's a bit overwhelming at times. But I really am just trying to enjoy one day at a time, laugh at the silly things that my little one and all the daycare kiddos do and say, enjoy the warmth of the sun as it reminds me day after day that winter is over and spring is here, and delight in a marriage that has lasted through 7 trying years and will persevere through 50 more (if we live that long).
On a personal note we're in the midst of purchasing a house. That's new and exciting and somewhat frightening all at once. This was not in our original plan for this year or even the next. But so far nothing in our lives has really gone according to plan, so why this? I don't mean that in a terrible sense either. Of course owning a home is a wonderful thing. I guess this just wasn't our preferred time line. But circumstances have led to this being the right time and the right decision for us. Once the decision to buy was made we found a house that seemed right almost immediately. So we have a contract to buy and everything is moving along as far as that goes.
Boo is growing and changing and becoming more child-like, as opposed to toddlerish, every day. It's a bit frightening to me how fast it all seems. He's such a precious and wonderful gift in our lives. I can't imagine life without him. To watch his face light up with joy in the most mundane of tasks is amazing and heartwarming and beautiful. Now that the weather has warmed up his favorite past time is riding his bike. He likes to create his plan for the day and tell me what he plans to do each day. Riding bikes is always thrown in there, as is going to see grandma and papa. Speaking of which, no matter how much I try to tell him about "mommy, daddy, and [Boo]'s new house" he continues to insist that it's "mommy, daddy, [Boo]'s, and papa's new house." I've informed him repeatedly that grandma and papa will NOT be living with us. He even threw Santa Clause in there one day. I'm sure it'd be every child's dream to have Santa live with them. Who can blame a kid for throwing it out there?
The daycare is hopping. After months and months of frustration and anxiety, the daycare finally filled up over fall and winter last year and has stayed full. That's such a huge blessing. I'm very lucky to have great kiddos and families and no anticipated openings until at least next fall. It's so nice to have the same group of kiddos consistently. They are becoming solid friends and play so well together - as well as that age group can play when it comes to peer relations! For the most part I think Boo enjoys the daycare and having his friends over. Of course he has his days where I can tell that he's not in the mood for it and that's understandable. But overall he just has a ton of fun playing.
Mixed in with the home buying and moving fun and the daily grind of daycare, I'm working on medical issues this month. So that's always fun. Hubby and I have been meeting with a practitioner since December learning a new method of fertility care. Creighton Model
I don't think I have any male readers, but just in case you might want to skip over the rest of this paragraph. It was founded by the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction. I actually like that it's founded by the Catholic church because from a moral standpoint my views are probably pretty similar to those of the Catholic church when it comes to reproductive technology. Anyways, so we've been attending these meetings to learn a new way of charting my cycles so that we can address some issues with my hormones. Yes, it's always nice to learn that your body is hormonally imbalanced. It makes it harder to convince hubby that I'm always right. :) So this month is going to focus on finding out the details of my hormone imbalances. I will be getting blood drawn between 9 and 10 times this month. Doesn't that sound fantastic? But it's for good cause. At the end of the month we'll know which hormones are doing what and when they're doing it. Then hopefully we can work on taming those naughty hormones and getting them to do what they're supposed to do.
So, there's a lot of stuff intermingling in my life right now and a lot of unknowns. It's a bit overwhelming at times. But I really am just trying to enjoy one day at a time, laugh at the silly things that my little one and all the daycare kiddos do and say, enjoy the warmth of the sun as it reminds me day after day that winter is over and spring is here, and delight in a marriage that has lasted through 7 trying years and will persevere through 50 more (if we live that long).
Friday, March 12, 2010
Breastfeeding Information
I just read this article and thought it was really great. I'd love it if there was more information available for parents regarding extended nursing. Anyways, here's a link to the article.
To Wean or Not to Wean
To Wean or Not to Wean
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Clarity - a religious post, consider yourself warned
Well, that's it. I'm officially done "visiting" church. We've been visiting one since Septemberish, with a break in the last month or so. But I feel lately that some great clarity has come upon me and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. I have decided on some things.
1. Whining about the fact that christians continually let me down is getting me nowhere. I will never commit to a church or stay at a church for any length of time if I expect christians to act like non-sinners. I mean, the very faith of christianity says that all sin. So, if I buy into that, and I do, then I must accept that people will disappoint me and let me down. The flip side of that is I will let others down and disappoint them. So I guess we will have to have grace with one another. Perhaps this is why there are commands in the bible that we should be in regular fellowship with christians. Maybe it's in the dealing with our own and others imperfections that we must practice that thing that C.S. Lewis, an amazing christian philosopher, refers to as "Mere Christianity." I guess it's easy to practice our faith when people behave as we'd like them to. But true faith in God is loving the unlovable. Christ himself said something like that. I realize how very self-righteous this attitude is. God knows how I am often that "unlovable" person and I probably need to be reminded of that often.
2. Waiting until I 100% understand and/or agree with a church/denomination before getting involved and making some sort of commitment is asinine. Honestly, with that criteria, I'd be 90 years old before committing anywhere, if I ever commit at all. Granted, there are extremes here. I do believe that a person can commit to a church/body of believers too soon and end up in "too deep" upon realizing that it is not the place for them. My husband and I have made that mistake with a couple of past churches (several years prior to now) and we were careful to keep our distance this time around. However, I believe there is a happy medium and I feel that continuing to distance myself would be going beyond the happy medium and heading to the opposite extreme.
3. I am going to let go of my fear and skepticism at leaping into something that is different from what I was taught for the first 30 years of my life roughly. This fear in addition to my commitment phobic nature when it comes to churches has made my recent decision HUGE for me. But here's the deal. While I am experiencing a new kind of christianity, it is the same old faith for me. The faith that believes in Christ and centers around him as the source of salvation. It's always been about Jesus for me and it always will be. It's just that there are things in this different but same faith that upon reflection make absolute sense to me. There are things that leave me in awe of God's sovereignty and reveal in my heart a new reverence for my Creator.
I feel free and unburdened and this feels wonderful. These revelations were slow to come about, but slow is sometimes best. I've heard an argument against Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings that the hobbits could've simply rode on the back of an eagle all the way to Mordor and back out and the process of tossing the ring into fire would've been simpler and easier. But that's not the point of Tolkien's story. The hobbits were forever changed in the journey. Perhaps spiritually, I could've come about this with less journeying, or without being a church gypsy as I once referred to myself, but God changed me in the process. I wouldn't have been ready for this change several years ago or even 6 months ago. Less change happens often in the moment of decision than in the journey that led to such a decision. At least I feel that's the way it's been for this in my life.
I realize that I haven't gotten overly specific about certain things in this post, but I guess that's because the point of my post is that I feel happy and unburdened and excited about this decision, not because I wish to invite and partake of any debate in this, which I don't.
Anyways, wishing clarity to all in such matters. God Bless!
1. Whining about the fact that christians continually let me down is getting me nowhere. I will never commit to a church or stay at a church for any length of time if I expect christians to act like non-sinners. I mean, the very faith of christianity says that all sin. So, if I buy into that, and I do, then I must accept that people will disappoint me and let me down. The flip side of that is I will let others down and disappoint them. So I guess we will have to have grace with one another. Perhaps this is why there are commands in the bible that we should be in regular fellowship with christians. Maybe it's in the dealing with our own and others imperfections that we must practice that thing that C.S. Lewis, an amazing christian philosopher, refers to as "Mere Christianity." I guess it's easy to practice our faith when people behave as we'd like them to. But true faith in God is loving the unlovable. Christ himself said something like that. I realize how very self-righteous this attitude is. God knows how I am often that "unlovable" person and I probably need to be reminded of that often.
2. Waiting until I 100% understand and/or agree with a church/denomination before getting involved and making some sort of commitment is asinine. Honestly, with that criteria, I'd be 90 years old before committing anywhere, if I ever commit at all. Granted, there are extremes here. I do believe that a person can commit to a church/body of believers too soon and end up in "too deep" upon realizing that it is not the place for them. My husband and I have made that mistake with a couple of past churches (several years prior to now) and we were careful to keep our distance this time around. However, I believe there is a happy medium and I feel that continuing to distance myself would be going beyond the happy medium and heading to the opposite extreme.
3. I am going to let go of my fear and skepticism at leaping into something that is different from what I was taught for the first 30 years of my life roughly. This fear in addition to my commitment phobic nature when it comes to churches has made my recent decision HUGE for me. But here's the deal. While I am experiencing a new kind of christianity, it is the same old faith for me. The faith that believes in Christ and centers around him as the source of salvation. It's always been about Jesus for me and it always will be. It's just that there are things in this different but same faith that upon reflection make absolute sense to me. There are things that leave me in awe of God's sovereignty and reveal in my heart a new reverence for my Creator.
I feel free and unburdened and this feels wonderful. These revelations were slow to come about, but slow is sometimes best. I've heard an argument against Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings that the hobbits could've simply rode on the back of an eagle all the way to Mordor and back out and the process of tossing the ring into fire would've been simpler and easier. But that's not the point of Tolkien's story. The hobbits were forever changed in the journey. Perhaps spiritually, I could've come about this with less journeying, or without being a church gypsy as I once referred to myself, but God changed me in the process. I wouldn't have been ready for this change several years ago or even 6 months ago. Less change happens often in the moment of decision than in the journey that led to such a decision. At least I feel that's the way it's been for this in my life.
I realize that I haven't gotten overly specific about certain things in this post, but I guess that's because the point of my post is that I feel happy and unburdened and excited about this decision, not because I wish to invite and partake of any debate in this, which I don't.
Anyways, wishing clarity to all in such matters. God Bless!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
I Love You Mama
Boo has been responding to "I love you" for awhile now with his own little "luf too" or something like that. BUT, he has never spontaneously initiated such love talk. Well, up until last weekend anyways. I was changing his diaper and he leaned in and hugged me and said, "I love you mama" clear as a bell. It took me awhile to gather my mushy, melty heart off of the floor. He's been telling daddy also. What a sweet and loving little boy I have. I'm so thankful for him!
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