I'm going to post this on three of the blogs I post on so more people see it. Sorry for those of you who read all those blogs. I just loved this book!!!
I Am a Mother by Jane Clayson Johnson
It's the story of an LDS woman who chooses to be a stay-at-home mom rather than continue in her successful, high profile career. She refutes myths the world would have women believe about motherhood being inferior somehow.
My sister, Laurel recommended this book to me - no surprise. We talked about it yesterday, and she said that she was surprised how much it touched her because it was already all what she totally believed in. I felt that way, too. Her story was encouraging and inspirational and fun to read. She had great things to say about motherhood. Reading her book is quite similar to reading Elder Ballard's conference talk from last conference in that it makes you just feel good about being a mom and takes off a bit of the ridiculous and unnecessary pressure we moms sometimes put on ourselves. Enjoy!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Lanisinoh made my day
Rachel went through the diaper bag a few days ago, scattering this and that all over the living room. Forgotten diapers, toys, extra outfits, and other random items found themselves decorating our floor. Among all of Rachel's paraphernalia was an unopened package of breast pads.
I have finally reached the point where I don't leak a gallon of milk every time Rachel whimpers and have been able to go without breast pads for a few weeks now. Before that I used washable cotton pads, not the disposable kind. But I had received a free sample of Lansinoh disposable breast pads and they got placed in the diaper bag for emergencies. They've been in there for about a year. I'd totally forgotten that I had them.
I remembered when I was cleaning up the living room and found them.
On the box was this little message,
"Good for you! Breastfeeding is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. Breastmilk not only enhances your baby's growth and development but provides health benefits for you as well. Lanisinoh realizes that it isn't easy to breastfeed in today's hectic environment. You are giving your child the best possible start in life and you have our respect, encouragement and full support."
I just about cried.
I've been really emotional, what with my little baby reaching that year mark and all. I've been going through her pictures and just crying, wondering if I've taught her everything I should have taught her by now, if I sang enough, if I played enough, if I held her enough.... You know, all the am-I-a-good-mother thoughts.
When I found this box of breast pads I again found myself awash in emotion. I remembered how difficult it was for us to start--we didn't really "get" it until she was at least 3 months old! All the pain, and the tears, and the pain, and the pain, and the frustration, and the pain. I remembered how excited I was the first day she latched on by herself without any problems. I remembered all the fun times we've had just sitting, holding each other, getting to know each other, stroking each other's faces. Oh, and then the biting! Ack, the biting!
I love the bond that nursing has helped Rachel and I make. I love that I "have to" spend time with my baby because she "has to" eat--it means that I always get a turn holding her no matter how many people are there to hold her for me!
I'm not quite sure when I'll be weaning Rachel. After our move to Egypt. Maybe around the time she enters nursery. Maybe beyond that. I don't know.
It's nice to be reassured, though, that I made a good choice to breastfeed. I'm not sure why that little blurb on the back of the box moved me to tears. Perhaps I just happened upon it on a day when I needed a little encouragement myself.
I have finally reached the point where I don't leak a gallon of milk every time Rachel whimpers and have been able to go without breast pads for a few weeks now. Before that I used washable cotton pads, not the disposable kind. But I had received a free sample of Lansinoh disposable breast pads and they got placed in the diaper bag for emergencies. They've been in there for about a year. I'd totally forgotten that I had them.
I remembered when I was cleaning up the living room and found them.
On the box was this little message,
"Good for you! Breastfeeding is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. Breastmilk not only enhances your baby's growth and development but provides health benefits for you as well. Lanisinoh realizes that it isn't easy to breastfeed in today's hectic environment. You are giving your child the best possible start in life and you have our respect, encouragement and full support."
I just about cried.
I've been really emotional, what with my little baby reaching that year mark and all. I've been going through her pictures and just crying, wondering if I've taught her everything I should have taught her by now, if I sang enough, if I played enough, if I held her enough.... You know, all the am-I-a-good-mother thoughts.
When I found this box of breast pads I again found myself awash in emotion. I remembered how difficult it was for us to start--we didn't really "get" it until she was at least 3 months old! All the pain, and the tears, and the pain, and the pain, and the frustration, and the pain. I remembered how excited I was the first day she latched on by herself without any problems. I remembered all the fun times we've had just sitting, holding each other, getting to know each other, stroking each other's faces. Oh, and then the biting! Ack, the biting!
I love the bond that nursing has helped Rachel and I make. I love that I "have to" spend time with my baby because she "has to" eat--it means that I always get a turn holding her no matter how many people are there to hold her for me!
I'm not quite sure when I'll be weaning Rachel. After our move to Egypt. Maybe around the time she enters nursery. Maybe beyond that. I don't know.
It's nice to be reassured, though, that I made a good choice to breastfeed. I'm not sure why that little blurb on the back of the box moved me to tears. Perhaps I just happened upon it on a day when I needed a little encouragement myself.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Iron Chef
Alright all you aspiring chefs, wives, or anyone who cooks, I need your expertise. I have quite a few ingredients in my house that I haven't really touched, mostly because I don't know what to make with them. I've listed a few of these items below-read through them.
Small White Beans, Black Beans, Red Kidney Beans. All of these beans are dry, by the way.
Mango Chutney (I used this once, but haven't touched it since. Ideas?)
Yellow Corn Meal (Something besides just plain cornbread)
Dry Ranch Dressing Packets
Please share your recipes and ideas with me!
Small White Beans, Black Beans, Red Kidney Beans. All of these beans are dry, by the way.
Mango Chutney (I used this once, but haven't touched it since. Ideas?)
Yellow Corn Meal (Something besides just plain cornbread)
Dry Ranch Dressing Packets
Please share your recipes and ideas with me!
Friday, June 27, 2008
First feeding!! woohoo!!
I have a few milestones i want to share with you all. About a week ago, Katryn slept through the night!! she fell asleep for good about 9pm, and didn't wake up until 7am!! Needless to say, I was dying. . .I thought I was going to pop! She hasn't done that since though. Probably a fluke :)
On wednesday, she rolled over! From her stomach to her back!! woohoo!! She was scooching forward, trying to get to her toy, and just kicked right over! Matt and I were both cheering and clapping for her, and she just grinned at us like, "I totally did that"
and yesterday, we fed her cereal for the first time! She loved it. Everytime she saw the spoon, she'd open her mouth and just start kicking her feet for it. She stayed pretty clean too, I was impressed. And she didn't want to stop, we finally just stopped feeding her, because I didn't want to clean up puke in the middle of the night!
(and the rumor about babies sleeping longer if you give them cereal before bed. . .total lie, she woke up the same amount she always did--exact same times as well)
anyway, I knew you ladies would all understand my excitement behind all this!
On wednesday, she rolled over! From her stomach to her back!! woohoo!! She was scooching forward, trying to get to her toy, and just kicked right over! Matt and I were both cheering and clapping for her, and she just grinned at us like, "I totally did that"
and yesterday, we fed her cereal for the first time! She loved it. Everytime she saw the spoon, she'd open her mouth and just start kicking her feet for it. She stayed pretty clean too, I was impressed. And she didn't want to stop, we finally just stopped feeding her, because I didn't want to clean up puke in the middle of the night!
(and the rumor about babies sleeping longer if you give them cereal before bed. . .total lie, she woke up the same amount she always did--exact same times as well)anyway, I knew you ladies would all understand my excitement behind all this!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Beware of the monsters
Hi all you moms of toddlers out there,
My sweet, almost 2 year old girls have turned into MONSTERS lately. They hit (not only each other, but me and my husband as well - that really pushes my buttons), they bite, they push and shove, and Isabelle has been throwing some royal tantrums lately. Sadly, the nursery leader informed us on Sunday that Eliza bit a classmate. I really don't know how to handle it all. And I don't even know where it is coming from. They can't communicate very well yet (I think their language skills are lagging because of their twinness) and I attribute a lot of their behavior to frustration, but still, where do they learn this from? They don't see mommy and daddy hitting and they don't watch it on TV, so is this instinctual? How have you handled this type of behavior? Ignore it? Time outs? What? I am at a total loss. I put them in time outs, explain to them why I put them in time out, but not five minutes later, they strike again. Seems like the time out is completely ineffective. So, my big question is how do you teach not to hit?
Monday, June 2, 2008
Cloth Diapers
A number of friends have asked me about cloth diapers recently. We use cloth diapers because they are a lot cheaper than disposables and will be easier to use out in Egypt. We're also doing elimination communication with Rachel and so often catch her just as she's starting to go, remind her to stop, and then go to the potty, so her diaper would only be a little wet. I felt bad putting a used disposable on her, but felt bad throwing it away because it was hardly used. So cloth works out well for us.
We're fairly new to this, but here's our little system.
We buy our diapers from Cotton Babies. The "try-it kit" probably isn't a bad way to start. I wished that I had purchased it instead of just the prefolds when I started out. It comes with prefolds and the expensive kind of covers. We just bought the cheap-o covers. They work fine, but for value, the "try-it kit" is actually pretty good, I think. It's $30 and you get 2 $12 covers, plus the prefolds. Anyway, we've survived without nice diaper covers, but there have been occasions when I wished we didn't have to pull the diaper covers down...
We get Indian prefolds and Dappi covers. We bought our pins at Wal-mart or somewhere, but you can also get them from this website. Folding the prefolds is a little tricky, and counterintuitive, really, since they call it a prefold, yet you fold it. Yeah, that's because the "birdseye" ones are even worse--they are just a flat layer of flanel and you have to fold it in thirds and then wrap it on your baby. The prefolds come ready to just wrap on your baby. I don't know if that made sense.
Anyway, I had to have my mom come and help me learn to fold a diaper. And I looked at a couple of websites. I found this one most helpful, but if you search for "diapering 101" or "how to fold a cloth diaper" or anything like that, a number of helpful sites should pop up for you.
I do the "twist" wrap for Rachel. I find it a little less bulky.
Now for the AIO (all in ones)...there is so much lingo to learn with cloth diapering, it's kind of ridiculous. I have a couple of friends who also use cloth diapers and I polled them about what they use. One of my friend only uses BumGenius. Crystal uses Bummies or something like that (I don't remember). She warned me to stay clear of Kushies, which is the kind they sell at Wal-Mart, so I haven't tried them. I just took her word for it. I would also steer clear of Happy Heiny's and Mommy's Touch. We tried them in our trial pack and they just didn't hold water (get it? They just didn't hold water...ah, ha, ha).
We did like Haute Pockets and Bum Genius, although, the Bum Genius are our favorite. They have a cool little flap thing to help keep the liner inside, which is nice. The Haute Pockets kind doesn't have that, although I think they have more colors to choose from, which is kind of fun but since they're just diapers, who cares, right?
These diapers look and act just like disposable diapers, which means that husbands and babysitters can use them, no problem. Andrew doesn't use pins and babysitters won't touch cloth diapers, so the nicer ones are convenient. They are also less bulky so we like to wear them when we get out of the house so that Rachel doesn't look like she has a huge behind.
They are rather pricey, though, and run upwards of $15 a pop. I think they are worth it, but it is difficult to buy enough all at once. Our initial purchase was 12 prefolds, 4 diaper covers, and 4 pins. That's enough typically to carry us through two days of diapering. We wash every other day so it worked out well. And it only cost us about $25, which is way cheap.
After using just prefolds for a while we felt like we could splurge and get some nicer diapers, so we ordered the trial pack from Nicki's Diapers since we still weren't quite sure which kind to buy. After using those for a week or so (in addition to our prefolds) we decided that we liked BumGenius the best so we ordered six of them from Cotton Babies. Now we have 12 prefolds, 1 HautePocket, and 7 BumGenius diapers that we use and that's fine for us for now. We're thinking about getting a few more BumGenius before we leave for Egypt though.
Anyway, that's pretty much all I know about diapers. Not a whole lot. We're still kind of in the experimental stage.
We're fairly new to this, but here's our little system.
We buy our diapers from Cotton Babies. The "try-it kit" probably isn't a bad way to start. I wished that I had purchased it instead of just the prefolds when I started out. It comes with prefolds and the expensive kind of covers. We just bought the cheap-o covers. They work fine, but for value, the "try-it kit" is actually pretty good, I think. It's $30 and you get 2 $12 covers, plus the prefolds. Anyway, we've survived without nice diaper covers, but there have been occasions when I wished we didn't have to pull the diaper covers down...
We get Indian prefolds and Dappi covers. We bought our pins at Wal-mart or somewhere, but you can also get them from this website. Folding the prefolds is a little tricky, and counterintuitive, really, since they call it a prefold, yet you fold it. Yeah, that's because the "birdseye" ones are even worse--they are just a flat layer of flanel and you have to fold it in thirds and then wrap it on your baby. The prefolds come ready to just wrap on your baby. I don't know if that made sense.
Anyway, I had to have my mom come and help me learn to fold a diaper. And I looked at a couple of websites. I found this one most helpful, but if you search for "diapering 101" or "how to fold a cloth diaper" or anything like that, a number of helpful sites should pop up for you.
I do the "twist" wrap for Rachel. I find it a little less bulky.
Now for the AIO (all in ones)...there is so much lingo to learn with cloth diapering, it's kind of ridiculous. I have a couple of friends who also use cloth diapers and I polled them about what they use. One of my friend only uses BumGenius. Crystal uses Bummies or something like that (I don't remember). She warned me to stay clear of Kushies, which is the kind they sell at Wal-Mart, so I haven't tried them. I just took her word for it. I would also steer clear of Happy Heiny's and Mommy's Touch. We tried them in our trial pack and they just didn't hold water (get it? They just didn't hold water...ah, ha, ha).
We did like Haute Pockets and Bum Genius, although, the Bum Genius are our favorite. They have a cool little flap thing to help keep the liner inside, which is nice. The Haute Pockets kind doesn't have that, although I think they have more colors to choose from, which is kind of fun but since they're just diapers, who cares, right?
These diapers look and act just like disposable diapers, which means that husbands and babysitters can use them, no problem. Andrew doesn't use pins and babysitters won't touch cloth diapers, so the nicer ones are convenient. They are also less bulky so we like to wear them when we get out of the house so that Rachel doesn't look like she has a huge behind.
They are rather pricey, though, and run upwards of $15 a pop. I think they are worth it, but it is difficult to buy enough all at once. Our initial purchase was 12 prefolds, 4 diaper covers, and 4 pins. That's enough typically to carry us through two days of diapering. We wash every other day so it worked out well. And it only cost us about $25, which is way cheap.
After using just prefolds for a while we felt like we could splurge and get some nicer diapers, so we ordered the trial pack from Nicki's Diapers since we still weren't quite sure which kind to buy. After using those for a week or so (in addition to our prefolds) we decided that we liked BumGenius the best so we ordered six of them from Cotton Babies. Now we have 12 prefolds, 1 HautePocket, and 7 BumGenius diapers that we use and that's fine for us for now. We're thinking about getting a few more BumGenius before we leave for Egypt though.
Anyway, that's pretty much all I know about diapers. Not a whole lot. We're still kind of in the experimental stage.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Surviving Single Motherhood
I'm sure I'm not not only one who, at some point, will go through single motherhood whether temporary or permanant. In the six weeks I've been single-momming it, here's what I have learned. Hopefully it will help someone else survive. =)
1) Accept any and all help offered. Being a mom is hard even when you have live-in husband-type help... it get exponentially harder and your "To Do List" will grown infinantly longer without the help. Accept any offered help. Let your neighbor watch your kids so you can have some recharge time. Let your friend bring you a meal. Let your husband's friend mow the lawn.
2) Let it go. Doing it on your own, things get crazy, and you'll go crazy if you try to do everything (without help) all the time. Your kids and your sanity are most important. Let thing of lesser importance go.
3) Get out and talk to adults every day. I work, so thats where I got this one in. If you are lucky enough to a full-time, stay home mom make sure you get out every day and get to talk to someone who can form complete, coherant sentences. Take a walk, get to a play group, call a friend and go to the park... anything to get you adult interaction that you need.
4) Make plans. The lonliness can get intense when you're missing your hubby, even when you've for your cute kids around. Plan some fun activites to do with the kids that you can all look forward to. Having plans will help break up monotony and help the time pass more quickly.
5) When necessary, take a break. If you're overwhelmed, if you're upset, if you need a good cry, put your kid(s) somewhere safe and have it out. Theres no shame in putting your baby in the crib, the pack and play, their room and taking a mommy-moment... even if all they do is scream while you take your moment. Also, if you need some time out on your own, call a friend, ask for a babysitting favor and go to the mall, go see a movie, go get a pedicure. Anything that will make you feel better, recharge your batteries and help you get through tomorrow.
1) Accept any and all help offered. Being a mom is hard even when you have live-in husband-type help... it get exponentially harder and your "To Do List" will grown infinantly longer without the help. Accept any offered help. Let your neighbor watch your kids so you can have some recharge time. Let your friend bring you a meal. Let your husband's friend mow the lawn.
2) Let it go. Doing it on your own, things get crazy, and you'll go crazy if you try to do everything (without help) all the time. Your kids and your sanity are most important. Let thing of lesser importance go.
3) Get out and talk to adults every day. I work, so thats where I got this one in. If you are lucky enough to a full-time, stay home mom make sure you get out every day and get to talk to someone who can form complete, coherant sentences. Take a walk, get to a play group, call a friend and go to the park... anything to get you adult interaction that you need.
4) Make plans. The lonliness can get intense when you're missing your hubby, even when you've for your cute kids around. Plan some fun activites to do with the kids that you can all look forward to. Having plans will help break up monotony and help the time pass more quickly.
5) When necessary, take a break. If you're overwhelmed, if you're upset, if you need a good cry, put your kid(s) somewhere safe and have it out. Theres no shame in putting your baby in the crib, the pack and play, their room and taking a mommy-moment... even if all they do is scream while you take your moment. Also, if you need some time out on your own, call a friend, ask for a babysitting favor and go to the mall, go see a movie, go get a pedicure. Anything that will make you feel better, recharge your batteries and help you get through tomorrow.
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