Part 1: The Nursery (What Do You REALLY Need For Baby?)

Almost every Master List on the internet that tells you what you supposedly need for baby is affiliated with someone selling something and therefore will push products that you don't need that many of, or don't need at all. When you're considering which "tools of the trade" are necessary, which make life so much easier, and which ones just sound good but in practice miss the mark for practicality and compatibility with the life of a busy mom, it's really handy to get the opinions of other moms who have BTDT (been there done that). If you have a playgroup, pregnant mom's group, due date group, or online community of parents that you associate with, asking them what baby items were pure gold for them and what items were a waste of time or money will give you some valuable insight.

I'm currently pregnant with baby #4 so I have a little experience under my belt with these things. I know, you didn't ask me, but I'm going to pretend you did ask me and I'm going to make out a list of popular baby items and whether I think they fall into the "Necessary" category, the "Handy" category, or the "Cosmetic" category, or the "Waste" category. I'm NOT a minimalist so this could get long. ;) Mirage's Master List of Baby Necessities, version 3.5: Hold on, here we go!

THE NURSERY:
♥The Crib♥ [Handy] Yes, that's right, I didn't put it under Necessary! Why not you ask? Well this is a matter that is different for every family. If you are breastfeeding, then you are statistically more likely to wind up bedsharing (BTW that's not necessarily a bad thing- bedsharing is great if you and your spouse are healthy adults who have no sleep related conditions and do not take any medications or indulge in any substances that could alter your ability to wake up easily and stay on your half of the bed while asleep. Bedsharing can help the breastfeeding relationship, parent-child bond, and actually bedsharing saved my son's life. I would encourage you to research the risks and benefits of bedsharing and connect with bedsharing parents before making your decision.) and if you bedshare, depending on how long it lasts, you might have skipped the crib-stage altogether by the time baby moves out of your bed. In our house, we DO use a crib, but the baby bedshares with us and gradually moves to a bassinet/playpen beside our bed until he/she is about 10 months old. At 10 months we transition to a crib in another room. This is just what seems to work for the personalities, convenience, and emotional health of all involved in my house. So the crib is Handy but depending on your stance on cosleeping and bedsharing and space in your home and whether or not you have something smaller for them to sleep in like a bassinet or playpen plays more of a role than often mentioned in whether or not it will be used. My advice is to get a crib that will convert to a toddler bed so that if baby winds up sleeping in his carseat, your bed, or the playpen for the first 18 months of his life, you won't feel like the crib was howevermany thousand dollars worth of wasted wood and bedding. Regardless of whether or not baby uses the crib for SLEEPING, it can be used as a safe place to put the baby down while you use the bathroom or take a shower if you have pets or are bedsharing (since most adult beds have fluffy things like pillows and blankets that should not be used near baby unsupervised and also have a decided lack of railings to prevent baby from rolling off), therefore it is still handy even if you don't use it for baby's sleeping place until you convert it to a toddler bed. In other cribly aspects, you're gonna want one with a drop-rail that will be most convenient for you. If you can find one with a rail at all. They seem to be going the way of the dinosaur due to manufacturers who use parts from China and consumers who don't know how to read assembly directions making cribs unsafe- and of course since 99% of all cribs had drop rails or gates until recently, when the statistics predictably said that "most recalled cribs had drop rails" (well DUH, right, if most cribs have drop-rails then obviously most recalled cribs have drop-rails. Doesn't take a genius.), it prompted a most annoying boycotting of cribs with drop-rails or drop-gates and now you can barely find them. Drop rails were invented to save mama's back from injury as she lifted baby (and later a younger toddler) in and out of the crib half a dozen times each day. Now they are being "phased out" because of poor craftsmanship, irresponsible ownership, and accidents. I'm afraid I find this stupid because the cribs are still being made with shoddy hardware and parents are still putting them together wrong and accidents are accidents and will always occasionally happen because such is the nature of life. Banning drop-rails won't fix the root problems. (It'll create more mama back problems.) Lets ban shoddy products and have people who are trained to assemble children's furniture correctly like the trained people at Sears come out and install your new stove or dishwasher! If parents can't read the directions, lets get someone who can available for those who don't want to put the effort into doing it right for their kid's safety. Cribs COST enough that they SHOULD come with free delivery and installation! :p That's my two cents. If you wish to put the effort into finding a crib with a drop rail, there are two basic kinds of drop rails. One the whole front side slides downward and it is called a "drop-rail" or "drop-side", and the other type has a small panel along the top of the front which folds down and is referred to as a "drop-gate". Ours has the fold down drop gate and I really have loved it. It works great for us. My sister had one for my nephew where the whole front slides down but the time I babysat I could not for the life of me figure out how it worked so honestly I have no experience with that kind for comparison. Regardless of whether you opt for a drop rail or not, get one that takes a standard sized mattress so you're not hunting all over creation to find said oddball sized mattress and oddball sized bedding to accommodate it.

♥Crib Mattress♥ [Necessary if you have a crib.] It honestly doesn't matter what kind I don't think. I got a cheap one for $30 in WalMart. It feels just as good to me after almost 5 years of use as the Serta that came with our toddler bed. Make sure it's standard sized if your crib is, so it fits your crib and bedding!

♥Crib Bedding♥ [Varies] The sheets and pads are necessary, everything else is cosmetic. You are going to want 3 or 4 mattress pads and 3 or 4 sheets. One to be on the crib, one (or two- depends on how often you like to do laundry) ready to go in case of emergency, and one you just put in the hamper from the last emergency. ;)

♥Bassinet, Cosleeper, etc.♥ [Necessary] Necessary is relative of course but here's why I personally think these are a must. Unless you are in the minority who does not like to have baby in their room for at least the first few days or who cosleeps so exclusively that you never put baby down anywhere but your own bed, you ARE going to want someplace to put your newborn down. Most parents like to have baby in the same room for at least a little while and it's more convenient to have a smaller portable piece of furniture in there than to take the crib apart and move it from room to room. Some mamas like to have a baby bed in the living room so baby can nap within sight at all times. If you don't plan on cosleeping until baby is old enough for a toddler bed, you might also find it handy to "wean" baby out of your bed gradually using a smaller baby bed beside your adult bed. There are a million and one kinds of baby beds that are portable and/or smaller than a traditional crib. Cradles, folding travel beds, Moses baskets, cosleepers, bassinets, playpens, hanging hammocks, travel cribs... on and on the list goes. I have used a moses basket, a hanging hammock, and a playpen with a bassinet attachment personally. I like the playpen bassinet because it can be converted back to just a playpen for later use, and it folds up to take to Grandma's house easily. Not so easy to cart from room to room however. The moses basket is great for carting from room to room but hard on the back unless you have a stand for it, and takes up too much trunk space to take on long trips to visit the relatives. The hanging hammock sounded so good but didn't work out for my babies- they just hated it. :( So figure out whether you want something portable around the house or portable on long trips, something for the living room or just for in your bedroom. When it comes down to it there's no reason why if you're within view you can't just lay the baby on a blanket on the floor for naps while you're doing what you need to around the house. However it's beyond helpful to have something level with the bed and right next to it at 2am when baby cries for a midnight snack and you don't want to actually get out of bed or even sit up to get baby if you don't have to. An important feature to note is the WEIGHT LIMIT on the item you are interested in. My babies have all hit 16 pounds by 6 months and 20 pounds between 10 and 11 months. Some babies grow faster and some slower. For most of those alternative baby sleeping places the weight limit is 10-15 pounds. Keep in mind that your baby could outgrow this by 3 months old. Some babies are BORN 10 or more pounds (my 3rd was 9 pounds 2 ounces) so a baby bed that says to move baby out by 10 or 15 pounds would really be a huge waste for larger babies. Or if you have twins in it, keep in mind that while each twin might only weigh 6 or 7 pounds, together they may be over the weight limit. Whatever you get, make sure you find the highest weight limit you can for that type of item so you get the most use out of it.

♥Bedding for Bassinet, Cosleeper, etc.♥ [Handy] but not necessary. It's really nice to have 3 sheets for the pack-n-play for the same reasons 3 sheets are needed for the crib, but in reality you "can" use it bare. I have tucked a towel in as a bassinet sheet, folded a stiff blanket as a moses basket pad, and used them bare with an ultra stiff burp rag (do you know the kind I mean? It's like a fabric version of cardboard!) under their head and/or bottom.

♥Changing Table and Changing Pad♥ [Handy/Necessary] Oh so handy. For me, personally, this is Necessary! Do you really need a changing table? No, but it sure is a HUGE back saver! It's nice to have a place where all your supplies are there and you don't have to get up and down or bend over to change each and every of the 6-12 diapers a day. I would advise getting a changing table with drawers, or better yet a dresser/changing table combo. You will eventually need a dresser for the kid anyway, right? Shop yard sales and second hand stores for old but sturdy dressers you can turn into a perfect changing table by adding a pad, and later turn back to a dresser. I have a dresser that my mom screwed some boards into the top of in a rectangle to where the contoured changing table pad will fit right inside the rectangle. It's handy to have it be a dresser too where I can keep the crib bedding, the hairbows, socks, shoes, and onesies, bathing suit, pajamas, clothes, even books and toys in the bottom drawer in easy baby-reach. That's just what I like, what's convenient for me. I also have a basket on the dresser beside the makeshift changing table part that has the changing supplies in it, and the "diaper stacker" is hanging to the left of the changing table so I can reach the diapers but it's not over the changing table where it could fall on baby. I would not be without a changing table if I could help it. All it takes to convert a dresser is a nice contour pad which can be found at most department and baby stores.

♥Changing Pad Covers♥ [Handy] Changing pad covers will keep the baby from screaming at the feel of cold vinyl under their back, will extend the life of the changing pad, and can be coordinated to match the room decor. If you want them, have 3. Same Rule Of Threes as for the crib bedding; one to have on, one to be washed, and one to have onhand in case. 
 
♥Rocking chair/glider rocker♥ [Necessary] These are SOOOOO expensive but you really are gonna want one. When it's a 3:00am cry-session and you're too tired to pace the house even one more time and motion is the only thing that will soothe baby, it's easy to plop in the glider and close your eyes and just rock. It's also great when you just want to sit and watch baby sleep in your arms, it's therapeutic to rock your sleeping baby and just enjoy being a mommy. TRY THESE OUT IN THE STORE!!! If you are going to try breastfeeding you don't want to get a chair that's arms are in a bad position for nursing, and you won't know for sure unless and until you sit in it and pretend you are holding/nursing baby. Even if you don't breastfeed you want to make sure the chair is comfy before you spend $100-$1,000 on a glider with or without ottoman. Keep in mind that immediately postpartum your belly will still be squishy and largeish so you'll be holding baby in front of the extra squishy belly and if the chair leans too far back, you will have to prop the baby up to reach the babyfeeders. In summary, get a chair that you can see yourself spending lots of midnight hours in, looks wipe-off-able, lockable, and has a degree of back slant and height of arms that fit your body type especially if nursing. Oh and when you get it home, put it where you will USE it. Don't put it in the room with your toddler where baby will "eventually" go if baby is currently co-sleeping with you. If you do that, then you'll have the toddler in there asleep and it's midnight and baby's screaming and you are sure as the world NOT going in the toddler's room with the screaming baby to rock and possibly wake said toddler. Ask me how I know... :-s Take my word for it and put the rocker in the living room or in the room where the baby is actually going to be sleeping. It's really nice to watch a movie with DH in the evening while you rock the baby to sleep. Really nice. It's also really nice to be able to calm the crying baby at any hour without being 2 feet from a sleeping person. I personally prefer the rocker in the living room, after 3 babies and much trial and error! Lol!
 
♥Rugs, Lamps, Curtains, and other Decor♥ [Cosmetic] Yeah they make the room look good. But that's about it. What you really need isn't a rug with butterflies on it to match the crib quilt (which you are afraid to actually use because of suffocation risks), wall hangings (that don't do anything practical but create another item you need to dust), and window valance (that covers so little of the window it can really only be called decoration)... instead, invest in a good dimmer switch and a room-darkening window treatment, and then splurge on a really cute nursery clock. If you're still feeling rich after that then maybe go back for the matching decor.

♥Clock, Dimmer-switch, and Room darkening blinds♥ [Absolutely Necessary] These are the three most important things in a nursery after the rocker, changing table, and bed. A clock because you will wish you had one to see what time the baby woke up during the night to eat and how long it's been since her last feeding. Room darkening blinds or blackout curtains are great because, especially in the summer, sunlight streaming in can wake up the baby or cause the room to get too hot to sleep. Blinds will help. Also when your kid is 2 years old and wants to wake up at 5:00am every morning because this is when the sun comes up in the summer... *ahem* Yeah dark curtains or blinds are a must. And the dimmer switch is AMAZING. Seriously you need one. You can turn the light on just a tiny bit, kinda medium, full blinding bright, or anything in between. Bigtime help when you want to sneak in and check baby in the middle of the night but don't want to blind yourself or wake the baby by turning the light on full bright.

♥Diaper Stacker and Hamper♥ [Handy] Okay yes these are cosmetic. But handy. Technically you can use the diapers right out of the package or keep them in a basket or a drawer and use the hamper down the hall or just take the dirties all the way to the laundry room straightaway. But I love having the diaps in the stacker ready to grab and apply to a freshly powdered little tush. And a hamper is important but I'm probably not thinking of the kind you are. I'm not thinking of the fabric kind that is really pretty and matches the rug that matches the wall hangings that matches the valance. Those are super cute but I'm talking about a vinyl one that won't curl up and stink forever if you throw the onesie your kid's diaper EXPLODED in into it. Or cloth diapers. If you're going to CD you'll want a hamper that's more like a trash can to contain the stench between washes, and you'll likely want a SEPARATE hamper for the soiled baby clothes because if you put them in with the diapers that's just asking for more of serious washload than baby clothes usually are. By which I mean, stains, stink, OxiClean... LOTS of Oxiclean.

♥Diaper Genie or other diaper disposal untit♥ [Waste] Yep I think a special diaper disposal can is a total waste of money. Splurge on a nice looking, sturdy, lidded trash can with a step pedal instead. You'll always wind up with random trash to toss (think wipes wrappers, bags the diapers came in, tags off new baby shoes and toys, the lint or strings that seem to come out of nowhere and randomly wind up on clothes, that baby wipe you used to wash baby's neck after she spit up or hands and chin after first cereal...) and will want a garbage can for that nearby even if you don't CD, so why not get one that does dual duty? To contain the smell, a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of baking soda in the bottom of the new trash bag will suck up the stench, and for added protection you can use little baggies to put the stinky ones in before tossing. Dollar Tree has diaper disposal bags by the box in their baby section. I also take the ziplock baggies from my kitchen that have been used and would be thrown away and put those dirty used ziplocks in a basket on the changing table for the stinky diapers. I used to wash the ziplocks to reuse for food but now I don't bother washing them and reuse for dirty diapers. I have even put some of the cleaner looking ones in the diaper bag for disposal on the go. I wouldn't want to stuff a handfull of ziplocks that had been used for those melty double chocolate muffins in the diaper bad where someone might see them, but you bet I'd reuse one I had almonds or cheerios in in the diaper bag. ;)

♥Fan or White Noise Machine♥ [Necessary] Baby will be less likely to wake up from the sound of it if you're out in the kitchen and accidentally drop a can of soup on the floor while she's sleeping in her room, or your toddler is in the bathtub singing at the top of his lungs, if there's some nice fuzzy white noise happening nearby. A humidifyer might even make a loud enough white noise to count.

♥Clothes and Diapering supplies♥ A given- and for another post!

So I shall leave you with this list for now and a vow to continue soon with more necessary and unnecessary baby goodies! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you all have a blessed Mother's Day! This year I have yet another reason to celebrate motherhood... a second pink line on that little white test! Yes, I am 8 weeks pregnant! That is why I have been a bit scarce lately. Fighting off the first trimester nausea and fatigue among other things. My husband and I are so happy to be having another baby! Our little ones are pretty excited about it too. :) Chicklet wants to know if it's a boy or a girl. It's a bit too soon to tell yet, sweetie. ;) All we know it's a baby and - Oh baby - are we sure happy! ♥

Chicklet's Easter Dress

Well at first I didn't quite know where to start. Then I thought for sure I'd ruined it. Then I realized this could work... And finally I was done with it and it came out much better than I feared it would when I was hacking away at it with the scissors! ;)

She had untied the bows at the shoulders just before this pic was taken and I had a grabby baby in one arm and a clingy son on one leg and after a few failed attempts to retye the bows one-handed while fending off cute little grabbers, I just snapped the pic as-is. ;) It's even cuter when the bows are tied!

First I cut armholes out of the waistband of the skirt.

Then I turned it inside out, laid the shoulder strap ribbons in place along the skirt waistband at the armhole cuts, and sewed those armholes and then zig-zagged the edges. The skirt is made of cotton gauze and the built in slip is a knit polyester/nylon. The waist is elastic. I just kept those features and made them work for the dress.

Then I turned it right side out. I used 2 yards of ribbon for the straps. I cut it in half and sealed the ends so I had two 1-yard lengths. I could have cut those in half before sewing but I waited until after I sewed them in to cut them in half. No reason why I waited to cut, I just did. Lol! So they were these big loops like way too huge straps which I tied a little knot in to try on her real quick. That's why the silly knot in this pic instead of bows.

When I tried it on her I decided the armholes were too floppy and big and I'd messed up on the strap placement but I thought topstitching creatively could fix all those problems. I cut my gigantic ribbon loops to make tieable straps- the way they are supposed to be- and heat-sealed the ends. Then I topstitched all the way around the armholes and front and back of the neck, scrunching the fabric up tight to gather it in just in the bottoms of the armholes. It worked wonderfully and surprisingly it came out much better than I'd feared! I was worried that I had made a real disaster of it but God blessed me and allowed it to be fixable. Here's a pic of the finished topstitching:

And a full pic of it laying on the table:

So there you have it. My almost-disaster turned out pretty cute! I will have to get some better pics of Chicklet wearing it for Easter. :) Now I just have to make a peasant top to go under it. The t-shirt she's wearing in the pic does look pretty nice with it though, I must say. What do you think?

~Mirage

Easter Sewing Plans

Well this weekend my goal is to get some sewing done!!! Seriously need to get my older daughter's Easter dress made (wanna see a pic of what I'm going to make it out of? Wanna wanna? Wait for it...) and my younger two's outfits washed up. My son's came from WalMart and is going to dual-duty for my brother's wedding this spring. My baby's dress is a beautiful brand new with tags dress that I actually swapped for on SwapMamas.com. (As an aside, if you're thinking of joining SwapMamas you should know that they are totally revamping their system and relaunching in about a month so if you don't want to deal with their growing pains in the meantime you can wait until the relaunch.)
We have searched for an Easter dress for my oldest and come up empty. We found a few stunningly beautiful ones that when I examined them closer turned out to be pathetic quality and/or workmanship. Since I don't want her Easter dress to fall apart in the wash, I decided to be brave and sew her one. Ahhh! I'm not that great at sewing. I understand the basics but pattern instructions confuse me. I think whoever writes the directions on those things gets a thrill out of making things seem harder than they have to be and scaring off would-be budding seamstresses. I have once or twice just ignored the instructions and pieced the item together without them.
But I digress; I was going to tell you about the dress for my daughter. I am not really good at sewing and I can count on one hand everything I've sewn since I had kids that wasn't a plain skirt. I can also count on one hand all the dresses I've made in my entire lifetime. Scary thought. Considering the fact that I not only have to sew my oldest's Easter dress this weekend, but also a formal skirt for myself for something I have to do in a few days. Jury duty. I don't think my full flowery go-to skirts are quite what they have in mind when they said to wear something court-friendly. Maybe it doesn't matter but to share a little secret I'm kind of paranoid about doing something wrong since someone I know told me about a mom who got arrested for contempt of court because she couldn't find a babysitter! Eeek! So that's got me all in worry mode that if I do something they deem inappropriate they're going to arrest me or something. I'm kinda shy so I think if they merely gave me the dissaproving eye I may well just wet myself in terror. Okay maybe not quite that bad but you get the drift, I aim to please. ;)

Now where was I? Oh yes, the dress! I happened to have swapped (yes on SwapMamas again) for a lovely spring skirt that is definately way too small for me back in the middle of the winter and saved it. See?

So my super secret sneaky plot is to turn it into a pillowcase style dress for my daughter's Easter dress. :D See how well I cheat? Lol! If I can manage not to mess it up too bad it should be fairly easy and not time consuming. The PROBLEM with this style of dress is that, as per my opinions on modesty mentioned in the previous post, I think a pillow case dress is going to be a mite skimpy. So I want to mommy-rig a plain white muslin peasant top for her to wear underneath, using this pattern as a guide:

So we shall see if this takes my time and effort quota into "shoulda-just-made-a-whole-dress-from-scratch" territory. I'll keep you posted...

My Immodest Past (and The Modesty Survey)

I don't remember how or when it was that I stumbled upon The Modesty Survey, but I do remember that it was a great encouragement to me, a little convicting, and it gave me some motivation in an area of my life I had been neglecting for quite a few years.
As a little bit of background for you, when I was a toddler my mom put me in jeans. I just didn't like the feel of them pinching my middle, and lavished in the praise I received from everyone I met when I wore dresses. What toddler doesn't like to be told she looks like a princess? So one morning my mom was getting me dressed and I told her I didn't want any more pants at all. Only dresses. I think it took a while before she realized I was serious. I wore sweatpants to bed when all my nightgowns were dirty and rarely did I wear any sort of pants for day-clothes. My dear Nana made my sister and I each a new dress each Christmas and Easter so I wore my pretty made-with-love dresses everywhere all the time. It just felt right. Then when I was a few weeks shy of my 13th birthday we moved and I had to start all over with making friends. My first friend, and for a long time my only friend, lived on a ranch. Baling hay and branding calves were all in a day's work for her, and being in her company I began to be invited to ride horses and such, and she would add, "And um... wear jeans, OK?" because she just couldn't imagine how I'd be able to do anything safely in a dress. So I bought jeans. And wore them when I was visiting my friend. And despite still doing farm chores in dresses at home, pretty soon, when the majority of my public activities went from being done in dresses to being done in jeans, I just only really kept up with buying a dress that fit for Church. The majority of my wardrobe became jeans and tank tops. Practical for sweating out in the sun riding horses but not really modest. But I wasn't thinking of that back then. I am ashamed to admit that my focus was not on being modest. I was becoming a hormone-laden teenager and began to dress to draw the eye and unfortunately I got it. I had alot of guys trying to flirt with me until they realized I wasn't going to do what I was advertising (by my attire) for. I can't say as it really hit with all clarity until I was much older. Teenagers are by nature (or culture?) very insecure, selfish, and attention-seeking. Despite being a Christian, I was no exception. I thought that if boys didn't flirt with me and try to get me out of my clothes then I must be ugly. I was told that they would do just that if I were to show more of myself by wearing less. And so I did. But I always felt uncomfortable, fidgety, and guilty when I was not wearing a modest outfit.
For a little while in my mid-teens, my parents started driving 2 hours to church every weekend to go to a Mennonite-like church. We were expected (by my parents) to wear long dressed and a bandana on our heads to church so as to not offend the congregation or cause their younger members to stumble. I remember that despite the brevity of our time with that congregation, seeing the other teenaged girls dressed so contrastingly to popular culture, and also contrastingly so full of confidence and joy and beautiful radiance, it made a deep impression on  me.
I did not immediately switch back to all dresses. In fact it was long after I was married, and not too distant in the past, when I began to wear skirts often once again. I did have a slow journey to more modest pants-and-shirt wearing before I wound up back in skirts. Part of what propelled me back toward modest dress was the previously mentioned Modesty Survey. I think I was feeling convicted about modesty from a sermon I heard and did a search online to find out if a woman in pants is really a stumbling block to a man! I didn't really expect to find a clear answer, so imagine my shock when I found The Modesty Survey! The quotes, the details, the honesty and vulnerability of the men... well it's really something that I think will blow you away or boost your modesty resolve as it did for me.
Click HERE to view The Modesty Survey for yourself. First take note of how many signatures there are of men supporting us women in choosing to dress modestly. I love that. This is a survey of 1,600 teen boys and men. First click on Overview and read about the men who took the survey and how to read the survey. Then go back and click Survey Results. Select a category from the left column and a "question" from the right column and scroll down to see the graph results and statements from men on this concept. Hearing how some men feel about some types of dress, and about modesty and women in general, brought me to tears. Tears of hope and regret. If only someone had showed this to me as an insecure teen! How much of those awkward guilty fidgety days spent out in public trying to look like a piece of hot sex so I would be worth something (backwards much?!) would have been avoided! How much confidence would I have gained and inner beauty been able to shine through if I had only known! And yes my Daddy did try to tell me how guys think but I wasn't really close to my dad and with the whole world telling me otherwise, I honestly didn't believe him. Or maybe I didn't care, or didn't want to. I thought that whatever his ideas and opinions were, they were of people my dad's age. He wouldn't know anything about what real guys my age now this decade think. Times have changed... I wish there had been a Modesty Survey for me back then. But it's not too late to raise my daughters to be confident modest women! I wasn't raised to wear dresses, grew away from my parents, was expected to date and wear makeup. My parents' change of heart on these matters didn't come until I was around 16 years old. But my own daughters are still tiny. I have a head start at being able to nurture modesty and confidence in them. I have the advantage of knowing now that what I do now and in the future affects my future relationship with my kids, whether they will try my and their father's words of experience on life.

I am drafting a sort of statement of modesty for myself and my girls. It's a work in progress. Perhaps I'll share it in my next post. :)

A Beautiful Rainy Morning

Today is a beautiful rainy day. I'm tired after being up late watching movies with my Better Half and then waking up every hour or two to feed the little one. She's 7 months old now and I've been pondering how to get her to sleep longer at night. She sometimes, pretty rarely, wakes only 2 or 3 times in a night. I am praying those nights become more frequent and the nights of hourly waking less frequent. My kids have all woken up many times a night as babies so this is not unexpected. It's a stage. Other, beautiful parts of babyhood make up for the lack of sleep. :) Giggles and smiles and seeing her learn how to roll around and sit and eat mushed up babyfood. She says "da da da da da da!" but doesn't seem to connect it with her Dada yet. She's so beautiful! Her smiles are amazing! And she's getting ticklish... ;)

My 2 1/2 year old son has been really testing his limits. He's wearing me pretty thin. I lose my temper alot and yell. Then I regret it and pray for grace. Again. He's also talking alot more. He's still kind of hard to understand. He often says things that would be a good sentence if they were in the proper order. Like this morning he was pointing to the bathtub and said to me, "Mama, take a bath where we this it is!" Makes sense in an adorably jumbled up way. ;) If it were in the right order it would be a really good sentence for a 2 year old. He is still so lovey and is always climbing in my lap and giving out hugs and kisses. He has trouble with colors (I hope he's not colorblind- my FIL is!) but he's getting to know all his body parts and we're working on telling the difference between a penny and a quarter.

My 4 1/2 year old daughter is turning into an amazingly helpful and motivated young lady. SHe's 4 so of course she has her moments, but I can see how far she's come since the "terrible twos" and it's a beautiful sight! She loves to help, loves to learn. She has a strong desire to be in charge of every detail so that is something we are trying to tame. She drives her brother nuts trying to puppet his every move. She loves to take care of her siblings which is such a blessing! She thinks she's so special when I ask her to "babysit" the baby for me while I use the bathroom or put the wash into the dryer. She's learning the different coins and how to buckle her own seatbelt. She still draws. For HOURS every day. She loves drawing so much! She has scissors now which she uses to cut out the things she draws. We've had a couple locks of hair find their way into the blades but if a little bit of uneven hair is the worst thing that ever gets accidentally cut, well we're in good shape. ;)
So here I sit today, staring out at the rain and thinking how thankful I am for my little family! :)

REVIEW: "Journey To Riverbend" by Henry McLaughlin (Tyndale)

TITLE: Journey To Riverbend

AUTHOR: Henry McLaughlin

GENRE: Christian Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-4143-3942-9
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: "Michael Archer is nothing if not a man of his word. Though he was unable to save Ben Carstairs, Michael is determined to carry out Ben’s dying wish: to be reconciled with his father. Unfortunately, Sam Carstairs, one of the most ruthless businessmen on the frontier, has no use for his own son, much less a man of God seeking reconciliation.
Soon after arriving in Riverbend, Michael meets and falls for the stunning Rachel Stone while waiting for Sam to return from a business trip. Beautiful yet guarded, Rachel seems to be running from a past as dark as Michael’s.

When word reaches town that Sam has been kidnapped on the stagecoach home, Michael offers to join the search party formed by the local sheriff. With a budding romance behind him and a dangerous rescue ahead of him, he sets out on the trail, determined to complete his journey no matter the cost."

MY REVIEW:

Well, it has been a very long time since I've been impressed by a work of Christian fiction and I was thus quite surprised to find myself enjoying this book very much!

There are three main characters in this book. Sam Carstairs is all set to be the villain of the tale and winds up a victim of the consequences of his own evil choices. I flip-flopped between detesting him, and pitying him, and even occasionally admiring him. Rachel Stone struggles to continue being a new creation in Christ after being rescued from a life of prostitution. Caught in the middle between the townsfolk's unforgiveness of her past and the Redeemer's forgiveness, she strives to keep a right perspective. Michael Archer has a difficult past of his own but now he's on a mission to make amends with stranger Sam Carstairs on behalf of his estranged and now-deceased son Ben Carstairs. Michael arrives in Riverbend to find that Sam is out of town, and while he's passing the time until Sam returns he falls in love with Rachel. Rachel isn't sure if she has it in her to ever love and trust a man again. Sam doesn't arrive home on the stage- he's been kidnapped! Michael joins the search for Sam and the book takes a turn for the sinister and suspenseful...
As I said I was quite impressed with this book. It keeps it's Christian focus. I find alot of Christian fiction novels throw God in there as an afterthought but this book does not. The main characters were a little less defined than I like and the who's who was a tad hard to follow at times. The story was gripping and I was up until 3am trying to finish this book because I couldn't put it down. There were a few parts that were a bit too descriptive and/or unnecessarily gruesome for me so I would not recommend this book for immature readers. Overall I liked it very much and give it 5 stars out of 5.

I reviewed this book for Tyndale publishers in exchange for a free review copy of the book. No other compensation was received and I was not told what to say. My opinions, good and bad, are my own and have not been coached or influenced in any way.

You can read the first chapter HERE.

April Giveaways!

This is my last giveaway linky. it's a pain in the neck to upkeep when maybe 3 or 4 people use it so I quit. I have better things to do with my time... like tickle this cute boy who is climbing me right now... ;)

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