Halloween Blues.

I called my mom today to whine about living where it will be perpetually COLD on Halloween night. Where it's cold babies have to wear coats and probably hats if they have good mamas, neither of which do much for an adorable and well planned Halloween costume. So we're doomed to only dress up as Molly the Mountain Climber or Susy the Snowman if we want to stay warm and be able to show off. I should have just gone with one of those woolly baby suit costumes that always looked way too warm while I was in Texas. They're cute, easy and key word here....WARM. Oh well. I'll be better prepared next year I hope!

Catechisis

Phil and I have started to read the small catechism to the girls at each meal time. We've started with The Lord's Prayer taking the Introduction at breakfast, the 1st Petition at lunch and the 2nd Petition at supper. We've tried to do this everyday throughout October and in November we'll move on to Petitions 3-5. At this time they're obviously too young to understand what we're saying but I wanted to begin to familiarize them with these words or sounds or whatever it is children at their age are capable of learning.

I know Lily already recognizes Luther's evening prayer and the Lord's Prayer since we've been praying them every night before bedtime for sometime now. At church when we begin to pray the Lord's prayer she looks around and smiles. I'm just glad she doesn't start crying thinking we're all about to go "night-night". I think it's important to begin even at this age teaching God's Word to our children and letting it be a normal part of our daily life. They really do pickup so much more than we think. Their understanding of it will come in time.

More to Lose.

Phil and I often talk about dying, not because we love the subject but sometimes to tease that he can't up and marry the first busty blond the meets at my funeral if I go first, sometimes we talk about it practically, what he'd do with the girls if I'm gone or if I know where all the important papers and passwords are if he is, etc. As a pastor he, and I through him, often face death with the many members we've had who have come to the end of their long life, come close to death or may even die suddenly. It's become a very normal part of our life. It's occurred to me over the past couple of years how much my feelings on my own death have greatly changed and unfortunately not for the better. To be honest I get really sad to think about dying. When I was single the thought of dying was something I anticipated, something I was willing and ready to encounter at any time. I used to think as the apostle Paul did "to die is gain" but now I can't help but think of what I'd be "losing". It's silly really but I just don't like the thought of leaving Phil and my little girls. I guess I think now I have so much to "live" for that I would miss so much if I went to be with Jesus. I think I have a better understanding now of what Paul means when he says in I Corinthian 7;

"The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband."

I'll admit that I have a serious little pout when I think that in heaven Phil will not be husband, that I've only been given this man for a short time. I also have a slightly bigger pout when I think that someone else might have to help raise my girls if I died while they're young. And I have the biggest pout ever when Phil tells me that he looks forward to dying! Why's he gotta be all eager to leave me?!

I know that this world is not our home, that we are passing through, here for a little while and headed for a sinless eternity in the presence of our loving Father in perfect communion with Him as He originally designed. I can only imagine how amazing (what a pathetic puny word to use, sorry!) that will be, wonderful, awesome in the true sense of the word (where's a thesaurus when you need it?). My longing for more time on this earth shows me just how sinful I am. That even my good desires, to be with my husband and to raise my babies, are dirtied by sin! It won't be until I have fallen asleep in Christ and with the Lord that I my desires will finally be pure and perfect. It will only be then that I can finally love the Lord as I should, as I want to. Until then I pray, "Lord have mercy".

An email from Morgan

Me and Morgan c. 2006 (life was rough back then)

Thank you so much for sending me the link to your secret parenting blog. I began to read it tonight and so appreciate learning more about your life now. I miss you! I've been thinking about you a lot lately, smiling about how much our lives have changed. Walt and I went to La Zona Rosa this week to see a show. Our first in a year since the girls. It was stark how much our lives and hearts have been transformed since the last time I was there -- with you for Ray Benson's birthday bash. While I remember it fondly, I don't miss that time or long for it again. But I do miss and long for you!

Ah, parenting two girls. We've had ours for almost a year now. That's hard to believe. But when you see the difference in all four of us it seems much longer. They sure do become an inseparable part of you, don't they? With all the challenges, I can imagine it no other way.

Keep writing, and please, keep sharing.

I love you!

Morgan

I often think about how much life for me and my gaggle of girlfriends has changed in the last two years. We're all grown up and married with children or with children on the way. As someone said to me and Phil once that in a year he went "from swingin' and single to married with children". That can happen faster than I once thought possible! It's funny how you can think that life will never change for you, you'll be stuck in one situation forever then pow, it all changes at once or as it is many times little changes over time make life so different you look back one day and wonder what happened! My life the way it is now, makes my single days seem like a strange weird life in another world but some days I can remember that life like it was yesterday. I agree with what Morgan said above, I can look back with some fondness but I wouldn't want to go back to it that's for sure. Sure it was nice to be able to go out when I wanted with no need to find a babysitter and not have to drive 45 miles to get Starbucks but I didn't have my man or my precious babies then either! I don't even want to imagine life without them! It's a struggle when Phil and I do on occasion go out without the girls. When just the 2 of us go out it's so nice not have to dress me and 2 little people, make sure everything in our house is transferred to the diaper bag, get the girls in the car and get the girls out of the car but there's always a strange thought in the back of my mind that I'm missing something. It's so good to have a break from being "mama" all day everyday, but this has become my life, being a wife and a mama full time and as tiring and trying as it can be, I don't want anything else....except my friends back! I sure miss you ladies!

A first word?

Lily has said "mo" a few times now when she wants "more" of something! As much as we love our friend Morgan, I don't think she's asking for "Mo", like I do sometimes. Could this be her first word?! Or have I been in denial that when she says "ah-sigh" and points out the back door she has in fact been saying "outside" for a couple months now?! How could such a big first have slipped my notice?

Games?

I'm on the hunt for games that are good to play with Lily. She'll be 15 months old in a couple weeks. I've found some and most of them involve big messes, which I've decided is fine. It is getting to be the time of year when staying inside is a must so water games are out the window (which will be closed tight in another month!). So if anyone has any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them!

Guilty Pleasures.

Sometimes i can't wait until Clara needs a bottle so I can sit down and look at my computer or read a magazine without feeling guilty about not doing the 43 other things I should be getting done. And as you can see I'm getting pretty good at typing with one hand, another perk!

Comment woes.

Well, for some reason I've been having a lot of trouble leaving a comment on my own blog! It won't work! I hope no one else is having this problem, let me know if you are. I wanted to respond to "The Stark Family's" comment about reading John Rosemond but couldn't so I'll just make a post out of it!

Yay another Rosemondite! I've been asking myself "WWJRD?" a LOT recently! The other books we got are Parent Power and Making the Terrible Twos Terrific. I've been cheating and reading Terrible Twos ahead of Phil but will for sure want to reread it with him, cuz if your 14 almost 15 month old is like my 14 almost 15 month old then some good and practical advice is much appreciated! So far it's been really informative. I did have a little beef with his sighting some other guy on the "optimal" spacing of children being 3 1/2 years apart. I can see his points, but don't agree....obviously. Anyway, here's a shout-out to JR! Maybe some of you other readers will check him out and join the John Rosemond Fan Club with us!!

Take that Blogger!

Big Helper!

Lily is finally starting to pull her own weight around here. I was so proud when I told her to go get Clara's burp cloth for me (which had fallen behind me on the floor) she found it, picked it up and handed it to me. I can also tell her to take Clara's bottle to daddy and she does that. It's just amazing to see that she understands a lot of what we say and can follow instructions. She's not a baby anymore!

John Rosemond's Six Point Plan.

Phil and I just ordered three books by John Rosemond who I mentioned in a previous post, the family psychologist who according to his website "no longer even "believes" in psychology, calling it a "largely disingenuous secular religion that has fostered more discord and disharmony in the American family than any other single contemporary force except, perhaps, television." .

We're reading these books together in the evenings when we can. We just finished "point #1" of Rosemond's 6 points. He writes:

...the secret to raising happy, healthy children is to give more attention to the marriage than you give to the children. If you succeed at that, your children will turn out just fine.

His focus is on the family as a "unit" and putting priorities in the proper order within the family. This isn't something I've heard very much from the "experts" I tend to turn to ie The Internet. I often do come across advise to not neglect yourself or your marriage, but I haven't heard that it should be priority #1 which absolutely makes sense. (He makes a similar application to a single parent stating that they should establish an identity for themselves that has nothing to do with their children.) My marriage is the most important relationship in my life and if Phil and I do our jobs right, the kids will be gone someday and we'll keep truckin' along together. If we pour all we are into our babies what will we do once they're gone and have families of their own? He says this problem is why so many couples in their 40s and 50s tend to divorce. They've neglected their marriage while they devoted themselves to their children, grew apart, then have nothing to give each other.

In a two-parent family, the marriage must come first. After all, the marriage created the family, and the marriage sustains it. The marriage preceded the children, and is meant to succeed them. If you don't put your marriage first, and keep it there, it's likely to become a mirage.

I think that deserves to be followed with an "Oh, snap!"

The Best-Kept Secret to a Clean Home

This post was first published in July 2008 from SimpleMom.net

While I was scraping dried food bits off my seven-month-old son’s Bumbo the other day, I was reminded of the best universal cleaning hack there is.

Clean it right away.

If I had wiped off my son’s Bumbo as soon as he finished spreading his meal hither and yon, it would have hardly taken any elbow grease, and at most, it would have killed two minutes of my time.

Instead, I chose to wait until later that day, which meant I had to roll up my sleeves, use the scouring pad, and devote ten minutes of time I could have spent emptying the dishwasher, folding a load of laundry, or reading a blog post.

A few minutes of time can really add up when it comes to managing our home.

Which is easier, rinsing and loading your dishwasher right after dinner, or scrubbing off hardened bits of food the next morning? What about folding and hanging a freshly dried load of laundry, or folding wrinkled shirts that will then need ironing in order to wear?

It’s so easy for all of us to breathe huge sighs of desperation when we think of the day’s chores ahead of us. But consider how long — really — your typical daily chores could take, on average, if you did them right away.

Here are a few from my day:

• making the bed – 1 to 2 minutes
• decluttering the bathroom counter after getting ready for the day – 1 minute
• wiping off the bathroom mirror and faucet from water marks – 10 seconds
• clearing the dining table from the meal (especially if everyone brings their own plate back to the kitchen) – 1 to 2 minutes
• unloading the dishwasher – 3 to 5 minutes
• loading the dishwasher – 5 to 10 minutes
• wiping off the dining table – 1 minute
• wiping off the kitchen counters after cooking – 2 minutes
• throwing away items after using them (envelopes, wrappers, etc.) – 5 seconds
• putting the magazine back in the basket after I’ve perused it – 5 seconds

You get the idea. I just wonder how many minutes — or hours — I sometimes spend cleaning things that could take mere seconds or minutes if I did them right away. Add to that the reduced stress, the lessened physical output, the visual peace, and the increased space earned from a home cleaned quicker, and I’m sold.

I’m going to work on getting better at cleaning as I go.

Application Time

Set a timer for 15 minutes and see how much you can get done in your immediate environment. If you’re currently surrounded by clutter in your living room, that’s an obvious choice. I’m not asking you to rearrange your day’s schedule – just spare a tiny handful of time.

Step back and review your decluttering job. Does it look better? Does it make you feel better?

Sanja Rescek.

Sylvia gave Lily a Nursery Ryhme book for her birthday. It is illustrated by Sanja Rescek. I love some of the drawings so I looked her up today and found some more sweet illustrations.


And Lily amazed me when I began to recite one of the nursery rhymes from this book and she walked across the room to the bookshelf, found the book and brought it to me. I was so proud and couldn't believe what she had just done!