(And All My) Work Be Praise

Today is my (our) fourth wedding anniversary!  It's not all that many years, in the grand scheme of things, but they've certainly been full years. I have to admit that my wedding day was not all I'd hoped and dreamed.  I was working some 50 hours a week (with no time to plan a wedding), my fiance was living in another state, my best friends were scattered across the country, I came down with a ridiculous sinus infection the week before the wedding, and all in all I simply couldn't get everything done by myself.  When I'm not careful, I look back on that day and see: the wedding dress that wouldn't stay in place despite the $250 I spent to have it "perfectly" altered a fellowship hall nearly to dark to see in, because I never got the needed extension cords for the Christmas lights we (or, rather, my tall friend Ryan) so painstakingly strung up the day before, and it didn't occur to me to simply flip a light switch my dear friend running from t...

Things that improved my overall mood from yesterday's post : 1. Bible study  on the last three chapters of Hebrews.  Reminders from a lady in my group (who is 2 weeks from delivering her third child) that life is indeed a marathon, not a sprint, but we are asked only to finish the race set before us.  Encouraged me to keep my focus in the right direction. 2. Hubby home today, and for the next two weeks.  We all (all four of us!) slept in until after 8am, and I lazed around upstairs while he fed the little boys breakfast.  I said yesterday that there are no "off days" in motherhood, but today was as close as it comes -- and it was lovely. 3. Time with a dear friend this morning who readily acknowledged that each of her five children were needing some extra "mommy attention" today -- and acknowledged it cheerfully, radiating sincere love and willingness to serve.  What an example. God always knows what we need.  :)

It's starting to sink in that motherhood is a life-long work. That sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?  I mean, my oldest is nearly two and a half, and I'm pregnant with my third.  I should think I'd have figured out the above statement quite some time ago. Maybe it's because we're rapidly approaching Christmas.  All of our regularly-scheduled activities are winding down for the year, not to resume until mid-January.  For what, twelve, sixteen years of your average American's life, more if you work in an academic setting, that means one thing: Christmas break! I suspect that the next two weeks will not be drastically different from the previous hundred (or so) weeks. "Leave the boys at home with Isaac and go out," people tell me.  And I have!  Twice this month, in fact.  Last year, I even went on a four-day tour with my college choir (though being 37 weeks pregnant might have affected the "vacation" feel of being gone from my firstborn...

It's (Levi's and Owen's) Oma's birthday today!  (For those of you unfamiliar with the term, "oma" is German for "grandma."  I can never remember precisely why my in-laws go by Oma and Opa, but it does make life easier when there aren't two people with the same name.) Levi made a card for Oma, as he did for Grandma , but this time all the credit for the idea goes to Katey from Having Fun at Home !  She pinned this idea for using toddler scribbles as the foundation for cards, and I thought it was perfect.  I must confess that I encouraged -- not forced, but definitely encouraged ;) -- Levi to use some colors other  than black for Oma's card.  I gave him full control over the stickers, though, and even backed down when he protested because I moved some stickers off of her name (which I wrote lightly in pencil and he traced).  I tell you what, that boy wants things the way he wants them!  Yay for fine motor skills! (This was before he put s...

You may remember from my Goin' Crunchy 2011 post that I started a batch of homemade vanilla back in May. It's all ready for use now, just in time for Christmas gifts!  I bought these little bottles  and a pack of winter-themed address labels on clearance at Target, dug through my craft boxes to find some old ribbon, and ended up with this: (You can't see it, but there is coordinating ribbon around the sugar jar, too.) As you can see, after I was done using my vanilla beans for extract, I cut them up into 2-inch pieces and covered them with white sugar in baby food jars: after about a week, the sugar is delightfully vanilla-flavored!  I haven't used it yet, but hear it's great for sprinkling on baked goods or oatmeal, or stirring into coffee or tea.  Packaged together in a little gift bag, they're making a nice small (and frugal!) gift for . . . those people who need nice, small, frugal gifts.  :)   In other news, I picked up a $1 sheet of snowfla...

As I type this, my husband and my toddler are playing one of his (Levi's) favorite games: "the die game," as he calls it.  It began as a solo activity one morning while Levi was typing letters on the computer : he spotted two dice on the computer desk and began rolling it repeatedly next to the computer, typing each number he rolled after he rolled it.  (Isaac had played with dice with him before, so he'd already learned to recognize each side as containing a number of dots.) On a whim a few weeks ago (and as a means of pulling him away from the computer when he wasn't particularly inclined to do so), and I grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen and the die, sat down on the floor, and invited him to take turns rolling the die with me.  We made a line for Levi and a line for Mommy on the paper, and I wrote down each number as we rolled the die. It's not so much a "game," as it has no winner (and no definite ending point, I soon realized!), but it has ...

Though you wouldn't know it from my lack of blog posts recently, I've been thinking about a lot of things: One of the bloggers I read hosted a "why I blog" post from a bunch of other bloggers [how many times can I say "blog" in one sentence?!], and I was rather dismayed with most of the answers, which led me to think about my own purpose -- in life and in blogging. I've been wrestling with the purpose and effectiveness of prayer, as I lie in bed night after night and plead with God (without success, it seems) to let Owen stop coughing.  (My husband is quick to remind me that God owes me nothing.) I recently finished a delightful and thought-provoking book called Bed and Board , written in the 1960s by an Episcopalian priest and recommended by Katey  [you should go check out her recipe for baked apples , by the way].  While at times so witty that I literally laughed out loud while reading, it also contains some of the most beautiful descriptions of ...

Wednesday was a particularly dreary day here in Cincinnati.  Levi was just starting to come down with his cold, we were all getting bored and antsy from a long morning inside, and we needed something fun to do!  As we were eating lunch, I spotted a sheet on the couch that hadn't yet made it to the laundry, and inspiration struck: a fort! It turns out that I do not yet possess great fort-building skills.  (I say "yet" because I foresee plenty of practice in my future.)  We got off to a rocky start: my obsessive-compulsive toddler freaked out quite a bit over a dining room chair being in the living room, and then he tried to put a toy on top of the sheet and fell flat on his face when the whole sheet came crashing down. After I finally convinced Levi to crawl under the sheet, I suggested he get some toys to take in the fort.  He took this as a directive to empty the entire toy cupboard plus all of the puzzles, and derived great joy from the pile of toys "in de...

I meant to post a picture of the birthday boy with yesterday's post, but forgot! Owen John, one year old

An edited re-post of a Facebook "note" in honor of Owen's first birthday today.  If you don't love reading birth stories, you might want to skip this post.  :) Monday morning, Nov. 15, a week before due date, I went to my midwife appointment as usual. About half an hour after we got home (10:30am-ish), I started having some infrequent pain in my lower abdomen, well underneath my belly. It didn't feel anything like I remembered, contractions-wise, so I rather ignored it for a while until my lower back started to ache, too. Isaac kept asking if we should call the midwife, but I kept insisting that we weren't to call until I had contractions 5 minutes apart, and that I'd be better off just taking a nap -- which I did, except for the contractions which continued to come every 15-20 minutes. When I got up (2:15pm-ish), we called the midwife, who said exactly what I expected: at 20 minutes apart, they're not doing anything. Drink a glass of water and...

It's been just over five months since I announced  that Levi (22 months old at that point) was saying about half a dozen words.  As was to be expected, his growing vocabulary picked up speed after that, but it really wasn't until about a month ago that we noticed dramatic increases in his verbal skills. The desire to communicate with (or, rather, to ) his little brother was a driving factor, I think: "Sit down, O-wo" was Levi's first full sentence.  After that we got "more milk please" and a number of other small requests.  The biggest breakthrough, though, was when he mastered, "May I have milk, please?"  It's a phrase he uses for everything, substituting verbs and direct objects to the best of his ability: "May I dip [get] down, please?"  "May I do ABCs, please?" (referring to typing on the computer ).  The ability to craft sentences is slowly making its way into his everyday speech; a few days ago, he spent a 10-min...

I assume I'm not alone in having a toddler who is fascinated by all things electronic -- the computer, the digital camera, my cell phone.  For a long time I resisted letting Levi touch any of them, and restricted his activity to sitting on my lap to look at pictures. Levi being Levi, however, it wasn't long before he realized that every time Mommy sat down at the computer, letters appeared on the screen.  From then on, any time I even walked into the den, he would be on my heels, asking, "ABCs?  ABCs?  ABCs?" I've developed several justifications for allowing him to type at the computer, none of them proven by any external sources whatsoever: 1. He'll need to learn to type eventually.  He might as well get familiar with the placement of the letters. 2. It is short and easily restricted screen time.  When he has typed out the alphabet and the numbers 1-9, he's done.  (Occasionally, however, if I have nothing else pressing, I'll let him type out s...

We've had two fun weekends this month -- not that we don't always have fun weekends, but these were especially fun events.  :)   First up, our township of residence hosted a "meet the fire department" event, complete with ambulances and fire trucks old and new that kids could climb on and sit in.  Levi, of course, delighted in finding clocks inside all of the vehicles. Inside something . . . the fire truck, I think.  We're a little far away in this picture, but the old fire trucks were neat (just like our favorite fire truck book) !  There were flames on hinges in each of the windows that each kid got to shoot down with the hose! Inside the Red Cross vehicle. Then last weekend, we hit up a not-quite-local [greater Cincinnati, but a good half-hour away] "pumpkin festival."  We were hoping for a bit more of a pumpkin patch atmosphere (complete with apple cider and donuts, if Isaac had his druthers), but this was definitely a festival, complete with ...

With Levi's love of numbers and colors, Isaac and I realized not too long ago that he might actually be able to play UNO, or at least a simplified version.  My in-laws had a set they were willing to lend out (because how often do they and great-Grandpa play UNO, really . . . ), so we removed all of the "action" cards (reverse, skip, draw two, etc.) and brought it home. In the mood for something new, I brought it out today and asked Levi if he wanted to play a game.  He really has no idea what a "game" is, but when I mentioned matching colors and numbers, he sat down with great interest (though it took some convincing to have him sit facing me instead of on my lap).  I gave him and myself five cards each, and placed them face-up in front of us.  Each turn went something like this: Me: I see a yellow four.  Do you have any yellow cards? Levi: (nods, and usually declares its number) Me: Yay!  You can match your yellow card on top of the yellow four. Lev...

A few weeks ago, while Levi happened to be playing happily alone and Owen was napping, I amused myself by using our Melissa and Doug blocks  to shape letters on the masking-tape letters of our homemade alphabet rug .  Once he noticed, Levi found this quite amusing, and had me do several. This afternoon, I came into the room to find him placing blocks on the letters himself!  I always love it when he initiates an activity like that, especially when I hadn't even thought to make it a project for him.  I thought the block letters looked rather neat, if I do say so myself.  Long after we ran out of suitable blocks, he wanted more letters completed, so I had to get creative with the various toys sitting around (most of those are not pictured here).  (Please note: I did these, not Levi.  He covered up two of the horizontal strokes of the E and declared, "E.")

I would be remiss to write about the spring of 2006  if I did not also relate the fall's events. What's the big deal now?  Well, five years ago today, at approximately 7:00pm, a new guy showed up at our church's young adults' Bible study.  Again, it was a good long time ago, really, but a few details stuck in my head (and who knows why I was even paying attention?!): *New guy was short, bespectacled, and wearing a yellow T-shirt.  (I have no idea what I was wearing.) *New guy sat on the couch closest to the door of our pastor's old house, while I sat in a chair next to the dining room (and the snacks.  Some things never change). *New guy typed notes onto his laptop instead of using the paper outline and pen like the rest of this.  I found this rather pretentious. *New guy claims to have tried to talk to me that evening.  As any good introvert would, I backed out or ignored him or some other mildly-rude behavior to save me from a conversation wit...

So, last Monday I spent our extra-long nap time reading a fascinating book: Why Gender Matters  by Dr. Leonard Sax.  Isaac discovered it through a recommendation from the Westminster Bookstore .  Dr. Sax is a secular psychologist (and the book is very obviously not written from a Christian perspective), but his research on gender differences is remarkably profound.  He addresses issues for both boys and girls, but given my boy-heavy household, I was particularly drawn to the information pertaining to boys. Some scientifically-researched facts (though of course I would encourage you to read the book and decide from context what you agree with): Girls hear better than boys from birth.  (So, for example, a boy who appears not to be paying attention in class might just not be able to hear his female teacher.) Boys' eyes are predominantly comprised of the cells that track motion.  Girls' eyes mostly contain the cells that compile information about texture a...

Yesterday evening I posted on Facebook "what a perfect day" I'd had.  I chuckled to myself when I thought of what that might have meant ten or even five years ago: sleep in late, graze on a sugar-filled breakfast, settle in for an all-day Anne of Green Gables  marathon or something of the sort, order in Chinese for dinner.  Such days are long gone, of course.  While it still sounds nice occasionally, the "perfect day" of this stage of life is much more satisfactory. 5am : Owen wakes up, but since he doesn't always go back to sleep if I nurse him at 5am, I decide to wait a while.  He's back to sleep within half an hour. 6:45am : Isaac's alarm goes off and he sleeps through it, so I nudge him out of bed. 7am : I shower and dress. 7:30am : I wake up Owen so that he will take a morning nap before we go out. 7:45am : Isaac leaves for work. 7:50am : Levi wakes up; I get him dressed. 8am : We feast on zucchini bread made the night before; the boys a...

As promised, here's a recap of the activities we tried on our trip to Texas: Another version of the  Fruit Loop Chart  .  This time, instead of coloring in the square, Levi practiced drawing circles.  He loves to draw circles and I think he preferred this to the first iteration.  (My apologies for the super-dark picture, but I don't know how to fix it.  My husband will wish I had him take the picture.) A sticker counting activity based on  The Poky Little Puppy , a favorite from my childhood that Levi now loves.  If you're not familiar with the book, five little puppies dig a hole under the fence to go out into the wide, wide world and scramble up a hill.  Levi tells us regularly about the puppy and the hole.  I've done this before (equally poorly-drawn on the fly!) with duck stickers and numbered ponds. Before. After.   Notice how he likes to put ALL of the stickers on top of the number.   Obviously, I finished the seven...

 . . . and I apologize for the short blogging hiatus!  The past week has been one big "catch up from the trip to Texas."  On top of that, the church kids' choir program that I co-direct started back up this week, and there was a ton to do for that!  I promised you reviews of the activities I put together for Levi's plane ride, and that post is started, hopefully to be finished tomorrow evening.  In the meantime, a few thoughts from the past two weeks: --It was truly wonderful to have five whole days with my dear friend Rebekah (and her family).  I didn't realize how many days go by in which the person I talk to the most only answers in letter, color, or number, and to have another human being (and a kindred spirit at that) available to chat chat chat through every meal and every nap time and long walks in the pretty weather and all the rest of daily life . . . how refreshing!  Would I choose to live with another adult female in the house on a permane...

I've spent time over the past week or so preparing activities for Levi to do on our upcoming flight to Texas.  I'll include pictures and commentary after we've used them, but for now, here's what I've put together: Clothespin upper/lower case matching from I Can Teach My Child Clothespin Number Wheel  as seen on Money Saving Mom Button-and-Felt Snake  as seen on Money Saving Mom Color-coded parking lot  from The Princess and the Tot Since I have a few handfuls of Fruit Loops left, I might do the Fruit Loop Chart again, as well as a sticker counting activity I made up on the fly a few weeks ago.  And, of course, we'll take as many books as we can fit in the carry-on!  If only Owen was as easily entertained . . .

I just unsubscribed from about half of the blogs I've read regularly for the past year or two. I'm a pretty self-confident woman.  I make snap decisions, I trust my instincts, and I am not often wrong.  (Yep, I said that out loud.)  I've got a lot of common sense (I think), I generally understand how the world works, I'm not a worrier, I like to be in charge and I'm good at it.  (I also have a horrible time depending on God instead of my own alleged self-sufficiency, but that's another post for another time.) Over the past few weeks, however, I've found myself either paralyzed by indecision or frantic over a lack of clear-cut direction.  It popped up first while I was trying to plan meals for the month: I need meat, but good meat costs a lot, but it's good to support local and organic farmers, but I don't want to spend the money, but we need meat.  In the end, I gave up and walked away from my plan, and we went meatless twice last week.  I simpl...

I'm not sure that this is appropriate blog fodder, but since I figure the vast majority of my readers (all twelve of you) are moms (you know, except for my husband and maybe my dad occasionally), I might as well share my story. I've already mentioned a few times how Levi (now 25 months) is completely uninterested in -- nay, completely opposed to  -- using the potty.  We talk about it a fair bit, but his answer to "do you want to sit on the potty" is always, unequivocally, NO.  A few times this summer, I've taken him (and the potty chair) out on the back deck in the nude, hoping that he'd eventually let loose and I could at least say, "there!  That's what you will do in the potty some day."  I tell you what, this kid can hold it: no matter how long we stayed out, he came back in as full in bladder as he went out. A few days ago, Levi spotted some M&Ms in a Ziploc bag in the cupboard and proclaimed, "blueberries!"  (And to think I...

The best motherhood advice I've ever heard (at least, that is relevant to the two years and two children I've been mothering) came from Rachel Jankovic's book, Loving the Little Years .  (By the way, Jenae over at I Can Teach My Child is hosting a giveaway of this book through Friday, Sept. 9.   Hop on over and try to snag yourself a copy!)  Her little book is chock full of wisdom, but for super-practical me, this little gem topped them all: "If things started seeming really out of control, I would look at the clock and note the time. Then I would tell myself that in twenty minutes this would be over." (p. 43) Of course, she was writing this about having 2-year-old, a one-year-old, and twin babies, and my life is nowhere near that chaotic.  Her next paragraph goes on to say, "Twenty minutes is enough time (if you are moving quickly and not moping) to change three diapers and one complete outfit, spank one disobeyer, tuck two people into naps, and sit do...

It's (Levi's and Owen's) Grandma's birthday today!  Levi picked out flowers at the farmers' market for Grandma (he wanted the purple flowers), and made her a card:  As you can see, Levi's super into drawing circles right now.  For the letters, I wrote out "happy birthday grandma" on little garage sale pricing stickers, then wrote it on the cardstock and had him match the lettered stickers to the card.  He held the crayon, but I wrote his name.  :) Then, Levi flipped the cardstock over and proceeded to draw his favorite animal of the moment: snakes.  With a black crayon.   So cheery.   :) Levi can tell you how old Grandma is, but out of respect for her, I'll not share.  ;)

After swinging widely through a variety of convictions -- everything from "I should plan an activity every day for Levi!" to "I should be allowing all unstructured play so that he can follow his own interests" -- I've settled on a modest goal for our educational activities: two a week.  That gives me something special to do with Levi while Owen is taking his morning nap, on the days when we're at home all day, without my feeling super-pressured to have an elaborate, handmade activity ready to go every day.  (In truth, it matters very little whether the activity is elaborate or handmade!) The past three activities we've done have all been from The Princess and the Tot blog.   [Side note: I started to panic a little when I first browsed her site.  It went something like this: me: Her tot is only a few months older than Levi and she has a different tray for every day and sensory bins for each holiday and I don't have all of those cool learning toys a...