Don't Just "Talk"

Just read a good post over at the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood by JD Gunter.  In it, he addresses a new{ish} stage that many couples go through as they seek to find Mr. or Ms. Right called "just talking."  I appreciated JD's honest evaluation of the "just talking" phase that is so common in early relationships today, and I'd encourage you to go and read it here (even if you're already an old married person), as I feel he has some solid advice.


Here is an excerpt:

If things don’t work out, and if you’ve acted like a true man, you’ve gotten to know a sister in Christ better and helped prepare her to meet her future husband. If things do work out, congratulations, you’re married. Those are the only two options for a man of God.

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FFF: Enoch's Favorite Post-WalMart Snack

Almost every time we go shopping at WalMart, it takes at least 2 hours from the time when we leave our front door until the time when I've unloaded the sacks into our living room.  That's a long time, especially for the kiddos!  In fact, sometimes I even have to park our cart near the photo lab and nurse Karis on one of the benches since she doesn't always sleep through the 2 hour trip, though wearing her in the wrap does typically help her sleep the entire time.

Anyway, by the time we are checking out at WalMart, Enoch is generally a hungry boy!  So, to celebrate our victory over our shopping list, I always try to buy a ripe banana, which he devours on our way out to the car.  Sometimes it is hard for him to patiently wait until we checkout to eat the delicious looking banana in our cart, but lately he has been complaining less as he waits.  I love this little snack because I know that it's a) healthy, b) clean & easy (doesn't require washing because of the peel), c)  tasty, and d) perfectly portioned!  And, as you can imagine, Enoch thinks it's a pretty good idea to snack on a banana too.  ;)

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Karis Playing at Bedtime (a video for the family)

Here's a rather long video of Karis playing with me before bedtime.  We play together every evening for at least 30 minutes, sometimes over an hour as she gets rid of all her burps, right before I swaddle her.  Typically we play for 5-10 minutes, try to burp her, and then repeat.  :)  Hope all of you grandmas enjoy!

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BOGO Melissa & Doug Puzzles!

Remember me saying that I was loving those Melissa & Doug peg puzzles that I got for Enoch a few weeks ago?  Well, right now (until Aug. 26th), Melissa & Doug are having a Buy One Get One half off sale on all of their puzzles!  Here's the promo code:  PUZZLEBOGO, and here's the link to their website.

If you aren't sure what kind of puzzle to get for your baby/toddler/child, check out this link, as I think it will help you understand the options.

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Phones + Cars Don't Mix

I'm certainly tempted by my phone every time I sit behind the wheel of our minivan - needing directions, wanting to call someone, thinking about a last minute text to check on a friend...  And yet, I try to continually remind myself that those things can wait.  Especially with two babies in my backseat...  Nothing is more important when I'm driving than fully focusing my mind and eyes on what's around me.

This video drove that lesson deeper into me, and I hope it will for you as well.

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FFF: Enoch's New Peg Puzzles

 Just last week I decided to look for something that I could purchase for Enoch to help him with learning for this next season.  Though I'm not technically beginning homeschool now, he has shown an interest in numbers and colors recently, so I wanted to foster that in a fun way.  I stumbled upon this puzzle pack from Melissa & Doug, and couldn't help but love it.  (In the past few months he has begun loving puzzles enough to be patient in working on them, so I thought the combination might be good.)

They finally arrived early this week, and we have played with them everyday since then!  The three puzzles include:

• fish (skills: color matching and fine motor skills)
• numbers (skills: number recognition and counting objects beneath each number, like three fish under "3")
• alphabet (skills: letter recognition and matching letters with pictures beneath each piece, like a duck under "D")

Right now, the fish puzzle is the easiest for Enoch.  He can complete this one by himself and enjoys doing it over and over since it's so simple (we don't stress out about matching the colors every time).  The number puzzle is slightly more challenging because each number has a different shaped hole (unlike the fish, which are all the same shape and size).  Since he already knew a few numbers really well (6, 9), this puzzle wasn't incredibly difficult, but he still requires some help in order to finish it (for instance he sometimes gets 3 & 8, 1 & 7, or 2 & 5 mixed up).  The alphabet puzzle is the most challenging of the three.  Since there are 23 little pieces, each with its own specially shaped hole, Enoch really needs lots of help and encouragement with this one, otherwise he gets frustrated.  Typically I have him pick a letter and then I tell him what object (on the puzzle board) to look for so that he knows where to put the letter.  And then I say the letter's name and the object's name a few times together.  Right now he has a few favorite letters: D, F, N, O, U, W, X, Z, mainly because he likes the pictures underneath them, I suppose.  

Anyway, I've been so pleased with this purchase, that I'd highly recommend it to other parents of toddlers who want to have fun learning these skills!  In my experience, these Melissa & Doug wooden puzzles hold up well over time too, which is a definite plus!  They also have other packs of peg puzzles, like this one, which I'm sure would lead to many more hours of puzzle fun as well.   :)

Here's a video of Enoch playing with the fish puzzle.  One interesting thing that I've noticed regarding his fine motor skills (which also shows up in this video) is that Little Guy typically begins putting a piece into the puzzle with his right hand, but if his right hand can't quickly do it, he'll switch to his left hand, with which he seems to have more patience.  Interesting, huh?

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Lightbearers is Expanding!

"Love, love, love it!" Those are the first words that comes into my mind when I think about Lightbearers Ministries.  I just stumbled upon an article about their progress, and I couldn't help but share in their excitement as they continue expanding their ventures.  You can read the article here.

Not only do they have a wonderful model of renewable missions support and student discipleship, but they also have passionate and visionary leaders.  I've known the Exec. Director, Kevin McCollum (and his family), for over 4 years now.  He's a wise man with deep insight into the Bible who strives to orient his life around what it teaches.  He and his family have encouraged and shaped Hugh and me more than we can express.

Personally, I've been involved with Lightbearers here and there for awhile now.  When Hugh and I were first married, I took a few of their classes (New Testament and Systematic Theology).  Then, before I knew it, I was involved with discipling one of their students, and I was even able to play around a little with the landscaping at the apartment complex they now own.  ;)

Hugh and I have been so pleased to see how the Lord has expanded this ministry over the years, and in our heart of hearts, we would one day love to see it spread even to Mississippi State!  I hope you get as giddy as I do at the thought of such exciting work (discipleship + missions) being done in a sustainable way with sturdy Biblical teaching at its core.  :)

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Bed & Bath Time

Bedtime for Enoch is typically a sweet, fun time these days.  He loves for us to sing to him while we get him ready for bed, and there are even a few songs that he will sing along to with us when we get to the words he knows (Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow and All I Have is Christ).  He also loves to practice saying words (like numbers or colors), to recount the happenings of the day, and to play games like "Where's Enoch?"  This is such a fun stage, and Hugh and I both treasure this sweet time with our growing boy.

Playing "Where's Enoch?"

We've found that having a bedtime routine helps Little Man wind down and sets his expectations for going to sleep.  Our routine currently includes: 

• kisses for those at the dinner table before we head to his bedroom (even visitors usually get kisses)
• brushing his teeth
• getting a {spit} bath (only if he's dirty or stinky)
• putting on a nighttime diaper
• getting dressed in jammies
• turning on his fan
• hugging and kissing the parent putting him to bed
• laying down in his crib

Sometimes if he's not wanting to lay down and go to sleep, we will pray with him and sing a song before laying him down, but this doesn't happen all that often.  Here are a few other cute pictures of bedtime/bathtime.  Nothing like a cute, clean little boy to make you want to squeeze and kiss on them!  

streaking through the house

checking out his ceiling fan

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Karis in the crib

Our swaddled sleeper

We decided to begin making the transition to the crib (from the yellow rock n play sleeper) this weekend for Karis. We thought this would be an easier transition than if we waited for her to outgrow the rock n play because she's still being swaddled for bedtime, which definitely cues her in that sleep is coming.

Last night, Karis did much better than I thought she would. It was basically the same as if I'd laid her down in the rock n play - about 20 minutes of squirming and cooing and then closed eyes and stillness. Not even any tears were shed! And somehow even though she was swaddled, Sweet Girl still managed to wiggle down to the bottom edge of the crib (She started out with her head up near the top left side of the crib in the above picture.)!

For those of you wondering how she already looks SO big in that crib, I'll just note that it's actually what I would call a mini crib, roughly 2' x 3'. When I decided to invest in a second crib, I was very thankful to find a smaller one, since its main function will be sitting in our master bedroom for our little babies until they're old enough to move into the "big kids' room" (where Enoch is now).

Breaking out of the swaddle...
This is how she wakes up every morning

Although we had considered moving Enoch into a toddler bed before Karis was born, we opted to keep him in his crib for a few different reasons:

1. He isn't trying to climb out of his crib yet (unlike some of our other friends' toddlers)
2. He sleeps better and longer in there because he can't just get out and play whenever he wishes.
3. It may also make the transition easier when we move Karis into his room.

And so we bought a second crib... a smaller one that doesn't take up a huge chunk of our bedroom, has wheels, and can easily be moved between rooms (since it fits so easily through doorways).  

posted from Bloggeroid

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Enoch Can... Climb!

Last week Little Man learned how to climb up on our short black futon all by himself!  The skill then quickly progressed to being able to climb up on our regular couch as well.  Here are a few pictures and a very long video to document his accomplishment.  :)

This is his technique... throwing his upper body on the couch and then pulling up his knees

King of the Couch!

The video includes plenty of effort and trial runs with the big success coming in at the very end.  There are also a few good tumbles, so prepare yourselves, Grannies.  ;)

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Karis Grace at 8-11 weeks

Eating - Karis has transitioned down to 5-6 nursing sessions per day.  She typically still only nurses on one side per time since I still have an abundance of milk, but sometimes she can empty both sides off.  Typically, she eats at 9am, noon, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, and 9pm.  She still has to burp a ton during nursing sessions, but they have shortened to around 30 min each now.  In the evening, after she eats at 8 and 9, she will usually stay up and burp for at least an hour or so before she's swaddled (see photo on the right of her hanging out on our bed, resting in between burps).

Size - Sweet Girl is up into 3 mos clothes now.  I think she's about to transition to 3/6 mos soon when her cloth diapers are on though because right now they're making things tight.  You can see her 2 month stats from the doctor here... Tonight when I informally weighed her on my scale though, she was 13.8 pounds.

Sleeping - Night time sleeping is going great at this point, with Karis raking in around 10-11 hours per night (10-11 pm until 8-9 am).  I'm trying to not get too comfortable though because growth spurts and new skill acquisition can disturb night time sleep (it already did around week 10 for Karis), as we learned with Enoch during his whole third month of life.  For now, she loves being swaddled at night, and she's still in the yellow rock n play sleeper.  During the daytime, she naps between almost every nursing (except for the late evening ones) either in her swing, the rock n play sleeper, or in the carseat.  Hugh and I have also noticed that she is quite slow at waking up in the mornings, much like her dear mother.  ;)


Playtime - Just in the past week, Karis has become much more alert.  She loves to have her eyes open now and looking at people/objects (see the video at the bottom).  She still loves tummy time (for awhile), and I think she's really beginning to notice when people talk to her and engage her.  When Hugh walks up and talks to her, she always turns her head to see him, and of course she's noticing Enoch more too.

In this phase, she also really enjoys laying on her back with a mobile above her.  One other thing we've noticed is that she seems to be gaining more head control and has a pretty strong little body.  She kicks hard with her legs when she's laying down, and if you hold her sitting up, she often jerks back hard enough to require holding her with both hands.  She is continuing to roll over from tummy to back as well, and she's recently started trying to suck on her hands.  Another skill she is mastering lately is grasping and holding on to objects like our shirts, fingers, burp cloths, etc.  She seems to just love holding onto anything those little fingers come in contact with.

General Temperament - Typically, Karis is pretty laidback.  She is patient with me when I need to pay extra attention to Enoch (for instance when he needs discipline or help with buckling his shoe), but she also really enjoys getting mommy time.  Just about the only time she fusses is when she needs to burp or when she's falling asleep.

Therapy - We should be going back to the PT sometime this month, but we've been working on the things she assigned us at home (tummy time, side-lying, hitting at a mobile, touching hands to feet).  Her educational instructor has been coming over once every other week and playing with her, which has been going well.

Likes - attention, nursing, being held, tummy time, being swaddled, looking at people & bright patterns/colors,

Dislikes - falling asleep (only sometimes), bottles (they're not her favorite, but also not hated), being stuck in the carseat too long

Daddy and his girl

And here is a requested video of Karis during a typical awake/play time:

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FFF: Up Close and Personal with the Trash Truck!

Earlier this week the trash truck stopped by our house and began honking repeatedly.  Enoch and I stopped our chore (sweeping the floor while Karis slept) and went out to see what they needed.  I was a bit concerned that we had put out too much trash or broken some other rule, especially when the driver hopped out of his truck and began approaching me.  However, I was pleasantly surprised when instead of reprimanding me, he kindly complimented my tomato plants and asked if he could have a few of the ripe tomatoes.  Haha!  Of course I replied, 'yes,' at which he plucked a few off the vine and headed back to his truck.  Enoch was elated to be so close to the trash truck (he was on my hip in our driveway with the truck out on the street), and to top it all off, the driver honked a few loud honks when he began to drive away.  Little Guy's smile couldn't have gotten much bigger, and he told them 'bye' as they drove off, waving as if they were old friends.  ;)

Later, when we got inside and processed the event together, Enoch learned how to say "honk honk."  Here's a short video of us processing our run-in with the trash truck:

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Raising Boys vs. Girls

I thought this post had some interesting ideas and thoughtful insight about how to rightly raise boys and girls differently.  Now that I have both genders present in my home, I am thinking about this more.  However, even if you're a parent to only boys {or only girls}, I'd still recommend reading it!  Here is a sample excerpt:

The aim is to deliberately parent our children in such a way that reinforces their gender and gives them contentment in how God created them.Now it does not mean we make shallow, meaningless rules like girls can’t climb trees or boys can’t play house. We are living every day in the thick of parenting girls and boys. Reinforcing their girlhood and boyhood is a heart issue. It is not necessarily what they are playing; it is what identity they are cultivating in the play.

"Training Heart Identities in Boys and Girls" By: Luma Simms 7.15.13

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