A little encouragement if you have "all littles:"
http://raisingolives.com/2010/07/does-get-easier/
A good list of kids' chores by age:
http://www.raisingarrows.net/2011/08/age-appropriate-chore-list/
The reason I won't go back on The Pill:
http://comefillyourcup.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/questions-and-answers-what-about-the-use-of-birth-control-pills/
Good thoughts about raising men!
http://400things.blogspot.com/2011/09/on-men.html
Showing posts with label Musings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musings. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
A Beautiful Rainy Morning
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! :)
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Toddler Tales Tuesday - A Confession
*dirty laundry alert!*
Those who have been with me from the beginning remember when, in September of 2009, I started a meme-wannabe called Toddler Tales Tuesday. I say "wannabe" because I tried for months to get people to participate but nobody ever did. I looked all over to try to find out if anyone else was doing this first before I went ahead and named and started it and after much searching it appeared that I would be the only one doing this. I didn't want to inadvertently appear to be stealing someone else's idea. That would just not be nice at all. I really really wanted it to thrive but it didn't even get noticed, so I took to just posting it myself and hoping that someday my blog would have some followers who wanted to join me. Well when I got pregnant, with the morning sickness being so bad, the Toddler Tales Tuesdays became a bit less official (as in some were dual duty, some I forgot to label that they were toddler tales tuesday posts and they have now been misplaced, etc.) and farther between. More recently I have been feeling a bit better and have been squeezing dual duty toddler tales posts in a tiny bit more often again in the hopes that someday people will want to participate. My philosophy was that if I keep doing it, it's a good idea and someday people will discover it and it will take off.
Well it has just come to my attention that a well known giveaway blogger started doing this same thing, under the same name minus 1 word, on the same weekday, with a very similar purpose originally stated. She started hers in March of this year... a full 6 months after I started my Toddler Tales Tuesday. In her first one, she said it was going to be to share "activities and moments that we have with our toddlers," which is aggrivatingly similar to the purpose of my Toddler Tales Tuesday, the purpose of which is to share things our kids have said and done that are cute, sweet, or funny. When I saw that, I felt... well I felt cheated. Being a well known blogger with like a million times more readers than I have, I was sure hers would take off and then, worst of all, I might become the assumed copycat since nobody ever really participated in mine but me. That would really hurt. Really. To be accused of copycatting an idea that I thought of 6 months before the one I supposedly copied began. So as you can see, I was understandably concerned. I wondered if I should quit my Toddler Tales Tuesday, melt into the shadows of linkydom and lick my wounds and pout. Yes pout. I think if it weren't for all the preggo hormones in my body I may not have taken this *quite* so harshly... If I weren't preggo I'd have thought of all the same things and still been upset, but I might not have actually cried about it. Yes, I did cry. And I fully intend to blame the crying and pouting parts on the preggo hormones. I mean really what good are baby-induced-mood-swings if you can't blame things on them once in a while? ;)
So back to the serious topic at hand... I really don't think this blogger had any idea that I was already doing something so similar. I don't think she'd purposely try to steal an idea out from under someone. I don't know know her but she seems like a nice enough woman. Since the start of her meme, she has posted activity ideas for preschoolers each week. That's pretty much it. If that's all it's going to be, it isn't like mine and I was worried for nothing. But her description this week says it's for sharing "fun toddler related activities, memories, and whatever else toddler related you would like to share." which once again plants it firmly in uncomfortable territory for me. :-/
So here is my confession. I'm having a really hard time with this. I'm going round and round in my head, one minute feeling cheated and indignant, the next feeling sorry for myself because I've been trying to get this going for 6 months and it's not budging and wondering if maybe I just don't get to keep this fun little idea of mine no matter how hard I try. My hubby would shrug like it's nothing and nonchalantly tell me to just let it go and forget it- then he would promptly forget it by the time I got my next sentence out. Lol! Well hey that sure sounds great but I'm an emotional hormonal pregnant woman and my upset doesn't have a magical "off" button! I sometimes envy him that he seems to have that magical off button. I feel bad and kind of sick about my idea not only failing but that it's now someone else's idea and it's working for them. It's like kicking someone while they are down or rubbing salt in a wound to not only fail but to have someone else take up the torch and do better at inspiring participation by their second post than I have in my whole 6 months combined. So I'm not sure whether to just concede defeat and leave mine in the dust, or to keep plugging along in my failure, waiting for the inevitable day when I get accused of copycatting the meme that began 6 months after mine. Hmmm... Not sure. It just keeps going round and round in my head and I feel bad, then I feel bad for feeling bad about it, then I stop feeling guilty for feeling bad about it and just feel bad, then I feel guilty again for feeling bad...
So hey I have no idea what the real point of this post was. I think just to kind of vent and get those yucky feelings off my chest. (I'll tell ya what it was NOT so that you can tell me how childish I'm being and make even more yucky feelings well up inside me, thanks! So if there's anyone passing by and reading this who has the inclination to do so, please, just don't. I know I'm not handling this in a good way- didn't I say so several times in several ways already? Good so now that we have that established...) Like I said I am pretty sure the other blogger has no idea I exist, let alone that I host the same meme. So I'm not blaming her or anything. Just venting. Because if I let those yucky feelings swirl around inside for too long I'll start getting really short with hubby and the kids and that wouldn't be appreciated. So here is me, letting them OUT. Goodbye rotten feelings! Good riddance! ;)
Those who have been with me from the beginning remember when, in September of 2009, I started a meme-wannabe called Toddler Tales Tuesday. I say "wannabe" because I tried for months to get people to participate but nobody ever did. I looked all over to try to find out if anyone else was doing this first before I went ahead and named and started it and after much searching it appeared that I would be the only one doing this. I didn't want to inadvertently appear to be stealing someone else's idea. That would just not be nice at all. I really really wanted it to thrive but it didn't even get noticed, so I took to just posting it myself and hoping that someday my blog would have some followers who wanted to join me. Well when I got pregnant, with the morning sickness being so bad, the Toddler Tales Tuesdays became a bit less official (as in some were dual duty, some I forgot to label that they were toddler tales tuesday posts and they have now been misplaced, etc.) and farther between. More recently I have been feeling a bit better and have been squeezing dual duty toddler tales posts in a tiny bit more often again in the hopes that someday people will want to participate. My philosophy was that if I keep doing it, it's a good idea and someday people will discover it and it will take off.
Well it has just come to my attention that a well known giveaway blogger started doing this same thing, under the same name minus 1 word, on the same weekday, with a very similar purpose originally stated. She started hers in March of this year... a full 6 months after I started my Toddler Tales Tuesday. In her first one, she said it was going to be to share "activities and moments that we have with our toddlers," which is aggrivatingly similar to the purpose of my Toddler Tales Tuesday, the purpose of which is to share things our kids have said and done that are cute, sweet, or funny. When I saw that, I felt... well I felt cheated. Being a well known blogger with like a million times more readers than I have, I was sure hers would take off and then, worst of all, I might become the assumed copycat since nobody ever really participated in mine but me. That would really hurt. Really. To be accused of copycatting an idea that I thought of 6 months before the one I supposedly copied began. So as you can see, I was understandably concerned. I wondered if I should quit my Toddler Tales Tuesday, melt into the shadows of linkydom and lick my wounds and pout. Yes pout. I think if it weren't for all the preggo hormones in my body I may not have taken this *quite* so harshly... If I weren't preggo I'd have thought of all the same things and still been upset, but I might not have actually cried about it. Yes, I did cry. And I fully intend to blame the crying and pouting parts on the preggo hormones. I mean really what good are baby-induced-mood-swings if you can't blame things on them once in a while? ;)
So back to the serious topic at hand... I really don't think this blogger had any idea that I was already doing something so similar. I don't think she'd purposely try to steal an idea out from under someone. I don't know know her but she seems like a nice enough woman. Since the start of her meme, she has posted activity ideas for preschoolers each week. That's pretty much it. If that's all it's going to be, it isn't like mine and I was worried for nothing. But her description this week says it's for sharing "fun toddler related activities, memories, and whatever else toddler related you would like to share." which once again plants it firmly in uncomfortable territory for me. :-/
So here is my confession. I'm having a really hard time with this. I'm going round and round in my head, one minute feeling cheated and indignant, the next feeling sorry for myself because I've been trying to get this going for 6 months and it's not budging and wondering if maybe I just don't get to keep this fun little idea of mine no matter how hard I try. My hubby would shrug like it's nothing and nonchalantly tell me to just let it go and forget it- then he would promptly forget it by the time I got my next sentence out. Lol! Well hey that sure sounds great but I'm an emotional hormonal pregnant woman and my upset doesn't have a magical "off" button! I sometimes envy him that he seems to have that magical off button. I feel bad and kind of sick about my idea not only failing but that it's now someone else's idea and it's working for them. It's like kicking someone while they are down or rubbing salt in a wound to not only fail but to have someone else take up the torch and do better at inspiring participation by their second post than I have in my whole 6 months combined. So I'm not sure whether to just concede defeat and leave mine in the dust, or to keep plugging along in my failure, waiting for the inevitable day when I get accused of copycatting the meme that began 6 months after mine. Hmmm... Not sure. It just keeps going round and round in my head and I feel bad, then I feel bad for feeling bad about it, then I stop feeling guilty for feeling bad about it and just feel bad, then I feel guilty again for feeling bad...
So hey I have no idea what the real point of this post was. I think just to kind of vent and get those yucky feelings off my chest. (I'll tell ya what it was NOT so that you can tell me how childish I'm being and make even more yucky feelings well up inside me, thanks! So if there's anyone passing by and reading this who has the inclination to do so, please, just don't. I know I'm not handling this in a good way- didn't I say so several times in several ways already? Good so now that we have that established...) Like I said I am pretty sure the other blogger has no idea I exist, let alone that I host the same meme. So I'm not blaming her or anything. Just venting. Because if I let those yucky feelings swirl around inside for too long I'll start getting really short with hubby and the kids and that wouldn't be appreciated. So here is me, letting them OUT. Goodbye rotten feelings! Good riddance! ;)
Monday, December 7, 2009
White
It's snowing! It's so beautiful! I love snow but where I live (pretty much a small valley of paradise in the middle of a desert) it's rare for it to stick and rarer still for it to get deep enough to have to shovel. The soft graceful way the snow floats and swirls before landing lightly on every upward surface like lace, then like a fresh coat of paint, and finally a thick coating of fluffy frosting on the trees and rooftops.
Underneath the snow, everything is cold and dead and lifeless, but then there is the beautiful lacey snow covering all the lifelessness and imperfections that are glaringly obvious without this white blanket of hope. What some people do not know about snow is that the plants that appear so dead in winter actually NEED that beautiful covering of snow to be able to survive and bloom again in spring! Like Eskimos take refuge in igloos of snow, so the leafless vegitation takes refuge under a blanket of snow. The snow helps it not to freeze too deeply into the earth that all the plants would die, and it brings nutrients to the soil, and protects it from becoming churned up mud from the feet of people and animals. While it may all seem dead under there, it's really just a season, a time of sleeping under the protection of the snowy quilt until God sends a whisper of spring to breathe new life into the world.
For a while this morning, watching the snow fall, I was so struck by the beauty that I couldn't put it into words. Forgive me as I bumblingly try to do so now. No words could ever paint as beautiful a picture as the truth of the Christ blanketing His bride in the pure white of forgiveness made possible by a virgin birth and sinless life. No words can do justice to the amazing joy of a forgiven soul blooming into beautiful spring in love for their Saviour, or bearing the fruits of a heart dedicated to Him! And when the harvest time comes, what unspeakable beauty and joy to be gathered into Heaven to be with our Beloved for all eternity!
I think that we all go through seasons in our lives. Winters of trials and springs of hope, and summers of growth and autumns of fruitfullness. My family is going through a winter right now. Mom, if you read this know that I love you and I'm praying for you!
So I'm sitting by the window watching the sun break through and shine on the snow like diamonds, and trying to soak in the peace of it all to quell the chaos in my emotions.
Underneath the snow, everything is cold and dead and lifeless, but then there is the beautiful lacey snow covering all the lifelessness and imperfections that are glaringly obvious without this white blanket of hope. What some people do not know about snow is that the plants that appear so dead in winter actually NEED that beautiful covering of snow to be able to survive and bloom again in spring! Like Eskimos take refuge in igloos of snow, so the leafless vegitation takes refuge under a blanket of snow. The snow helps it not to freeze too deeply into the earth that all the plants would die, and it brings nutrients to the soil, and protects it from becoming churned up mud from the feet of people and animals. While it may all seem dead under there, it's really just a season, a time of sleeping under the protection of the snowy quilt until God sends a whisper of spring to breathe new life into the world.
For a while this morning, watching the snow fall, I was so struck by the beauty that I couldn't put it into words. Forgive me as I bumblingly try to do so now. No words could ever paint as beautiful a picture as the truth of the Christ blanketing His bride in the pure white of forgiveness made possible by a virgin birth and sinless life. No words can do justice to the amazing joy of a forgiven soul blooming into beautiful spring in love for their Saviour, or bearing the fruits of a heart dedicated to Him! And when the harvest time comes, what unspeakable beauty and joy to be gathered into Heaven to be with our Beloved for all eternity!
I think that we all go through seasons in our lives. Winters of trials and springs of hope, and summers of growth and autumns of fruitfullness. My family is going through a winter right now. Mom, if you read this know that I love you and I'm praying for you!
So I'm sitting by the window watching the sun break through and shine on the snow like diamonds, and trying to soak in the peace of it all to quell the chaos in my emotions.
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