Rules for Moms to Live By

A little while ago, I was over at Burnt Suppers and Scraped Knees, and I saw a list entitled "Rules for Girls to Live By."
Ever since then, I've wanted to do one myself. "Rules for Moms to Live By," I call it. With a nod to Millie.

1. Wear hats. Even if you drive a mom van, you're still you.

2. Think before you buy clothing. Take a little exploratory jaunt to the mall to see what people are wearing these days. Yes, I know. You haven't been there since you were a teenager. It's okay. This is research.

 

3. Make your home a pleasant place to be. You are responsible for the atmosphere in your home. I think I'll bold this one. It's important.

4. Let them help.

4. Read good books.

5. Wear dresses. They still fit when you gain and lose 2 sizes the same month.

6. Never be too busy to snuggle with your husband.

7. Try new recipes, but only sometimes.

8. Play with your kids.

9. Never forget when naptime is.

10. Never give up.

11. Be compassionate to your kids. Think about how God parents you.

 

12. Laugh often. If it's going to be funny in a few years, it's funny now. Get over yourself and let the giggles out.

Baptism

Esther was baptized last Sunday night. A lot of my family came to the service, which was nice, and Esther wore the dress that I was baptized in, a million years ago. I like to think that she will be 'standing on my shoulders;' having the heritage of faith that I have, and growing beyond that. Surpass your mommy, Esther!

And She's Here!

Esther Johanne... 7 pounds of pure Horsman.

Third Trimester Triple Chocolate Brownies

Foremost in my mind, of course, is the fact that I have only 3 weeks to go until my due date. Some days, it can't come soon enough, as I struggle not to complain about my aching bones and sleeplessness. Other days, like today, I don't mind a bit. I slept through the night last night (a victory already), and I'm feelin' fiiine.



It may be the triple chocolate brownie I just ate, though. There is more caffine in these brownies than you might expect. Whenever kids want a piece, I warn their mothers. They never believe me, but I always try.


One day last week, as I stumbled out to the van, dreading running errands and doing laundry, I decided that, in their place, stimulants like coffee and chocolate are not bad at all. It's not as if I rely on them for daily life. And so I made these.

3rd Trimester Triple Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup AP flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup President's Choice Decadent Chocolate Chips (major source of caffine)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a 9x9 inch pan.
2. Mix first 3 ingredients, beat in eggs.
3. Combine dry ingredients (except chocolate chips), gradually add to wet ingredients.
4. Mix in chocolate chips, pour into pan, and bake for 20-25 min.


Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup icing sugar
2/3 cup cocoa

Blend.
Then add:

1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp hot coffee

Mix it up some more, and spread on brownies.

Seven Weeks Left!

Playing Portrait Studio

This is so much fun! I told Juliana (she's staying with us this week) that she could have a 'prize' if she did extra schoolwork. She did, and so we did a portrait studio, complete with Picnik edits.

Little House on Lewis Mountain, Part 2

I like my house.

I just wanted to say that.

I like my little family, my smallish kitchen, the dark chocolate in the drawer, my purple t-shirts.
I love that I don't have to go to work outside our home when so many women don't have a choice anymore.
I think my babies are the nicest babies ever, our chickens fabulous (free eggs!), my property full of potential, and I never want to return my husband for refund. Really.

Deserving none of it, loving all of it!

"Medium-Sized House on Lewis Mountain?"

We're seriously talking about building on to this little house. 'Expanding,' I like to call it.
Here are a few pictures of us all.

Katherine:



















Daddy:














Baby:














Mommy (4th month):

Katherine at Fourteen Months

Very excited about her new sled from Grampie; also very cold...
















That's a smile, behind the soother. She's all done outside; letting herself in! "Look what I can do, Mommy! I can make the door open, all by myself!"

Katherine is One Today!

"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward."

I knew it before, but now I *know* it.

It was a good year - praise God.

Thoughts on the Unfortunate Necessity of Having Another Hot Turkey Sandwich

Nursing is hard work! Lately I have been realizing why it has become common for mothers to stop at 6 months. Katherine eats so much, and mommy eats even more!
Poor Kevin. He was so excited about the apple pie that I had made... and so disappointed to find it all gone after getting one piece. It's a trifle embarrassing for me, eating 2 servings of everything at supper, while he eats only one, but it seems a necessity, these days.
I'm back to my 17-year-old weight, and can't seem to gain anything back. It's time to buy new, smaller, clothing. Maternity outfits, baby-weight still there outfits, regular outfits, and now skinny outfits. I'd rather not.
I worry about going to visit family in Ontario next month; I'm never going to be able to eat constantly while visiting; they'll think I'm addicted to food or something. And it's not just the social aspect of things; the logistics of carrying a purse full of food with me as well as the baby seem too challenging.
Well, I must go and have another chocolate chip cookie... Oh, the trials of motherhood.

1 reason I'm glad to be home with Katherine:

Informed Christian parents are concerned. Carl F. H. Henry rightly observes, “Training children in the Way is a matter of parental duty. The rebellious child in your own home who on occasion is tempted to tell you to go to the eschatological unmentionable may be the most important potential leader you will ever direct into the service of Christ.”[1] A child is a parent’s greatest missionary enterprise. All other goals are temporal, but a child’s relationship to Christ is eternal.[2]

---

Henry, Christian Mindset, p. 18.

Phillips and Brown, 221.

Babies

Seeing the pictures of Nelleke's sweet new baby online, I remember how nice it was to hold a baby that small. Josiah looks so precious - now that I've had one, I am so aware, with every new baby, what a huge blessing they are from God. What a great thing to give us!
As my baby grows older, God's goodness to us remains obvious. There are lots of times when her behaviour reminds me of the facts of original sin, but grace comes to mind even more often. I love babies.
(Especially my own!)

A few things that make me smile, this week:
- The way she stands up in her crib, her chubby legs shaking with the effort, grinning at me, so excited to be standing.
- The word she says right now: "UpUpUp," which means, basically, "UpUpUp."
- The sign she does for "Daddy;" mainly when I put her in bed, as a method of staying up,
or when I begin to change her....

'Change.' she signs; 'Daddy.' I smile encouragingly. She signs it again. 'Change. Daddy. Change.'

"Oh, Honey," I say to Kevin, "She wants you to do it." So he does.

Best thing I ever did, teaching her sign language.

More Baby Signs

My sister told me that her baby only did one sign at a time. For instance, if he learned "more," he would stop doing the sign for "milk." And so I was not surprised when Katherine learned "please" and dropped "change." I still faithfully modeled the signs for her, but she stuck with "please."
(I had a suspicion that she thought it meant "pick me up, Mommy," but that was okay.)
And then, quite suddenly, yesterday, I realized that she did only one sign, because that's what worked. I had been changing her, picking her up, finding her soother, and other things, when she would say "please."
Then, while waiting in a long line at Green Village, she needed a change. So she said "please." I picked her up and snuggled her a bit, then put her back down. Change was impossible right then.
She tried again. I smiled at her, and told her she was a good girl, to be saying please so nicely. One more try. Then, finally, in desperation, she said "change" (which she hasn't said for at least a month), followed quickly by "please."
So I changed her.

In my opinion, babies only say one sign at a time because that's all they need to say!

Does watching TV cause ADHD?

"Does watching TV cause ADHD?

Emote

Here in Lewis Mountain, we have water so hard it would disown its mother. It also layers itself on the sink and taps, making cleaning them virtually impossible.
Impossible, that is, without magic eraser. I recently discovered the Eraser's shining powers, and went to town on my sink, that very day.
When Kevin came home, I told him about it.
"...and look how nice and shiny the sink is! Isn't it nice?" I asked him.
"Mhmm." said Kevin from behind the paper. "Very nice."
I glanced at him and saw his complete lack of interest. "You don't care!" I cried, turning back to the sink, doing my best to appear to be stricken with grief.
Alarmed, he put the paper down and nearly jumped out of his chair, overcome with remorse, probably. Then he noticed that I was faking.
He looked at me disapprovingly.
"Someone who's on the emotional roller-coaster that you're on shouldn't make jokes like that!"

I just laughed.

Baby Sign Language

Katherine has learned to say "change!"
Her hand sign isn't exactly the same as mine, but it's close enough that we both know what she means. I am enormously excited about this success, and suddenly want to teach her everything: Please. Thank you. More. Milk. Mommy. Daddy. Apple Crisp. And all those other signs you hear about.
The tricky part is, of course, that anything I teach her I must first master myself.
It's the story of my life.

Now nothing makes a mom more defensive than...

Parental Labeling.

You've probably heard of it. In fact, you've probably done it, subconsciously. Or maybe even consciously.
"She's too easygoing." "He's too strict." "They're too organized." "They're all over the place." "She's too proud of him." "She's a mom, but acts as if she was still single." "She's so scared of germs, she washes the baby's hands after a diaper change." "Her kid will get more than his peck of dirt." "They're too suburban." "They're too redneck."

Everyone does it. And who does it better than one's family? They have known you longer than everyone else. They have a vested interest in your children as grandparents, uncles, and aunts. They watch you more closely than they would watch a friend, knowing where you come from and expecting certain things of you.

Families are expert labelers.

I became aware of my family's label for me shortly after my baby reached 2 months. I wasn't surprised to be labeled; I knew *I* did it. What did surprise me, though, was the label itself. "Dinah," they said, "is a worrywart."
A worrywart! Dinah the calm, Dinah the sensible, Dinah the rational - Dinah the worrywart??
Was I?
I knew where it had started. My baby has allergies. Before I figured out what exactly she was reacting to, she spent about 60% of the time feeling sick. Rash, itchyness, congestion, fussiness, and general blah-ness were common.
I told mom about it one day.
"She's sick at least 60% of the time." I said. "It's awful. I'm not drinking milk for a while, to see if that causes it, too. I know nuts are bad already."
The next day, Katherine was doing fine (a 40% day, obviously), and I went to mom's to do laundry.
Says mom: "She looks the picture of health." (Katherine smiles and coos at her.) "I don't know what you're worried about.
I never thought you would be like that, Dinah, worrying about your baby all the time."

I smiled wryly. "Neither did I."

I considered my worries legitimate in the face of that unknown allergy that was making my baby unhealthy and unhappy. But mom, and others in the family, as I soon discovered, thought that babies are just sensitive little people and I should get used to it.

They had a point. They had experience with babies. They *knew.*

But then again, she is my baby. I have experience with this particular baby. I *knew.* I reached up, peeled the label off my forehead, and stuffed it into the garbage can.

If I've labeled you, I take it back. I didn't know.


The moral of this story: You'll never be able to label with complete accuracy. Bring the labeler back to Staples and get your money back. Buy chocolate instead. Relax and enjoy.

Little House Tour

It's about time I showed some updated pictures of our house. As it stands, the picture in your mind is probably something like this:

Or even this:

Which is not the way it looks today; not at all.
And so, here's a tour through my house, showing you some of my favorite things.
.

Pot lights.

My shiny new faucet and deep sink.

Cream-colored counter-top and my favorite dish.

Blue Thistle walls and a light fixture I really love.

Wainscoting.

Flowers from Kevin

Cupboard doors. I can only show the doors, because the bathroom isn't finished, yet...

Guacamole paint upstairs,

...with white trim.
And, oh!

my baby is awake! End of tour!

Sturdy Legs

I was talking to mom, and told her that we got Katherine a Jolly Jumper.
"She's too little." said mom. "I would never put a baby in one of those until they were at least 9 months."
Says I: "But Sophia has one, and she's only a wee bit older."

Mom paused for a moment, then recovered.

"But Sophia has such sturdy legs."