My oldest child, Michael, will be attending a full-time preschool-4 this fall at a Catholic school that continues through eighth grade. I’m excited, nervous, and sad all at the same time. In fact, I think I have more emotion about it than he does!

I have really been a roller-coaster of emotions this last week as we got together the last minute school supplies and uniform. I just can’t believe he’s going to a full-time, all-day, everyday school. He’s not my baby anymore; he’s a big boy going to a big school.

In just a few minutes, we’ll be leaving for orientation which is where we meet our teacher and visit our classroom. Tomorrow morning is “Open House” which is another way of saying practice for the real first morning of school. Then Tuesday my baby boy will be at school all day until 3! I will miss him so much! All my sadness about him leaving me makes me want to home-school (except it would only be for my own selfishness and not for the right reasons).

I’m really just trying to offer all my feelings to the Lord and trust that He opened the door for Michael to go to this school and He will take care of him. Is it redemptive suffering? Well, maybe not in a huge way, but hey, a sinner like me needs to start somewhere! Like Mother Teresa says, little things with great love. So, today I left Michael experience growing up and let him go a little bit into the world and out of my nest. Even that, as small as it is, offered up for the glory of God can participate in the sufferings of Christ.

Happy Back-to-School! God love you.

(more…)

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God is so good!! Tonight Michael and I went on a long bike ride and when we got back, Michael needed to go number two really badly. He wasn’t real excited about sitting on the toilet, but I persuaded him by saying, “We can add a star to your chart if you put your poo-poo in the potty.” I walked away to let him have some privacy and told him to let him know when there was some poo-poo in the potty. Sure enough in a couple of minutes, he asked me to come over. I looked to find a huge dump in the toilet! Yeppee! My prayers have been answered. Praise God! I’m sure now we are on our way to being almost done with potty training!

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People have been telling me lately that my husband and I did a good job preparing our oldest child, Michael, whose 4 years old, for the birth of Anna, our 7 month old baby girl. As much as I don’t want to take credit for the successful transition, I must concede that Michael has welcomed Anna with open arms. He loves to play with her, hold her, and comfort her as much as possible. He has never asked for her to “go back” to the hospital or has he shown any bit of signs of resentment towards her. Other parents have been asking me how I accomplished that. I give all the credit in the world to Michael and his loving nature, but here’s a list of the things I can recall doing to help him as well…

1. As soon as we knew, he knew. Almost immediately after my husband and I got a positive pregnancy test and realized number two was on the way, we told Michael. We don’t keep those kinds of family issues secret in my family. It involved him just as much as my husband and I, so we told Michael right away. We sat him down and explained in a very positive manner how Mommy was going to get a big tummy, then she would go to the hospital to see a doctor, and then we would come home with a baby. I told him that she will be so much fun to love and hold, and our house would be even better with another person to play with and love. He seemed to accept that well. (Keep in mind that Michael was almost 3 at the time, so he was old enough to stand the basics of what a baby is and so forth.)
2. Every time you see a baby, get excited. When we went places and saw a baby, I would turn to Michael and say something about what a blessing a baby is and how we are so excited that God has given us a baby that will be coming home soon. Use big, excited facial expressions and a positive, high tone of voice.
3. Watch and learn. Anytime an episode of a TV show had a new baby sibling, I just it as a time to get excited about bring home a baby to love. Dora has a baby sibling and so does Blue (from Blue’s Clues). Tivo those episodes and watch them with your child through the pregnancy to help them visualize and understand better what is going to happen.
4. The baby is going to love YOU! We told Michael how he is going to be the Big Brother and how special that makes him. We said things like “Anna is going to think you’re so cool, and she’s going to want to play with you all the time.”
5. Free up the crib with time to spare. I transitioned Michael out of the crib (which he was using in the converted toddler bed form) into a twin bed well before the baby was born. You don’t want the child to think they have to make way for the baby or give up items of security like their bed or a favorite toy or blanket. Michael got to keep his room, and we surprised him by re-decorating it for a “big boy”. I wouldn’t suggest moving a child from the nursery to another room unless you have to. Let the child keep their own space, so they don’t feel like they’re being pushed out.
6. Give the baby a name early. As soon as you know the sex of the baby, give the baby a name and use their name frequently. I think this helps your older child a better sense that the baby is a person not some thing you can take back to the store.
7. Give your child full access. I let my older child feel my belly, so he could feel the baby’s kicks and so forth. It was just a another opportunity to talk about how great it’s going to be with the baby in our home. I said that the baby was kicking because she’s so excited to come out and be a part of our family.

We never said anything negative about the baby coming or my pregnancy (even though pregnancy made me very sick). So say positive! Best of luck! And don’t forget to pray for all of your precious kiddos!

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Ahhh…. boy, I’m so tired and so frustrated.  You ever just feel like the worst mom ever!?  I try so hard to be perfectly patient and loving with my children, perfectly attentive to them, making sure they are loved and cherished like they deserve.   But sometimes I just get in a rut where I am so short tempered.  Today, Anna has been fussy and wanting to be held while I’m trying to do other things, and I just feel awful putting her down.  But yet, I feel awful not keeping the house up or getting my work done for the business.  It’s such an internal struggle… I feel guilty either way and I just get frustrated at her as I result.  To top it off, my son is exhausted from going to camp this week and thus is not very cooperative come the evening hours.  We’re also still struggling with getting him fully potty trained, and I’m just so frustrated with that whole thing.  What I am doing wrong!??  As much as I try not to, I end up convincing myself that I was just never made for motherhood and I’m horrible at it.  Admittedly, I’ve never really been a “kid-person”.  I never ooggoogled over babies or was much of a babysitter in my younger days.  I’m never one to ask to hold someone else baby or offer to watch people’s kids.  I’m just feeling out of sorts, and it sure doesn’t help it when my kids are upset whether it be about going pooh in the potty or not being nursed even after she just ate!Does anyone else feel like the worst mom ever?  It’s such a lie us women tell ourselves, I know.  Nevertheless, we sit there and tell ourselves, “gee… could I be any worse at this?”  Or “why can’t I just go this?  Everyone can.”  Well, I hope if you are reading this and can agree that you find comfort in the fact that someone else feels the same way, and someone else is praying for you.  If you have any thoughts, feel free to post a comment or use my new contact me form if you just want to share with me privately!God love you! 

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I started rice cereal today with my little baby girl.  She was excited but made her share of funny faces at the new taste.  Hopefully I got some great pictures of her many expressions.  Here’s the baby food plan now that we have started: cereals, then veggies (squash, potatoes, green beans, peas, carrots, etc.), then fruits (everything except for berries), and lastly the meats.  I’ll post my recipes as I perfect them.  Obviously no eggs, nuts, or honey until the baby is at least 12 months, if not older. I plan on making all the baby food from fresh (or frozen when fresh isn’t practical or available) produce in my blender.  With my first child, I wore out my blender making baby food, so we’ll see how it goes this time.  (I got a much stronger one for Christmas.) I’m going to try to make batches every week then freeze the food in ice trays.  Every couple of days I’m going to pull out a few cubes to thaw out.  Anyways… I’ll let you all know how it goes.

As for today’s recipe: 1/2 ounce of freshly pumped breastmilk (which is more familiar to the baby than formula if you’ve been nursing until starting solids) and about 1/2 Tbsp of Earth’s Best Whole Grain Rice Cereal. It’s all about the consistency. You want it to be thin enough to be very similiar to milk/formula but thick enough to stay on a baby spoon. I try to get mine to be the consistency of yogurt, definitely runny but not totally watery. Serve at room temperature. My baby didn’t eat it all and probably won’t for a little while. It’s all about learning about all the new tastes. Yummy!

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