Eliana – Four Months!

Eliana, you are four months old!

By the numbers: 4 months old. 5 daytime feedings and 1 middle of the night feeding (usually around midnight-2am).  3.5 naps per day.  size 2 diapers. size 3-6 months clothes.  13 lbs.

You are growing up so fast, I can hardly believe it!  This month, you began your pursuits in mobility, as you rolled over for the first time!  You also succeed in scooting way off the play mat when you are laying on your back under your floor gym.  Something tells me you will be crawling before we know it! People don’t comment as much on the size of your eyes–as your Aunt Sister puts it, you are “growing into them.”  You are growing rounder and chubbier by the day, and we love counting all your little rolls of chub!

Your sleeping has been somewhat erratic of late, but you can blame that on me.  I have to admit, I am not as concerned (read: obsessed) with your sleeping habits as I was with your brother.  You were sleeping through the night in nine, ten, and eleven hour solid stretches, without even waking to eat.  But a few weeks ago you went through a growth spurt and we haven’t quite been able to get back on track since then.  I am hoping that moving you to a four-hour eating schedule during the day will help. I can tell you are ready for it, I have just been lazy about implementing it.  Your daily routine is beginning to look something like this: 7am-eat, wake, sleep. 11am-eat, wake, sleep.  3pm-eat, wake, sleep.  6:30pm-eat, nighttime routine, down for the night.

As far as potty training is going, well, it mostly isn’t.  You have “naked time” after every feeding, and when I take you to the toilet, you do go occassionally, but mostly, I am just not making much of an effort to take you.  I blame it on the chaos that is our basement being remodeled and that we don’t actually have any “place” for your or your things, except mostly in piles in our bedroom.  When things are more settled, I look forward to having a changing/diaper station with your little toilet next to it so we can really start working on no more poopy diapers!

You are more observant than ever.  Now people exclaim on how alert you are.  You are always looking around the room, eyes wide or brow contemplatively creased, taking everything in.  You most commonly find anyone who is not noticing you and begin grinning to beat the band until they finally notice you and ooh and ahh over you.  Your delightful, open mouth grin is almost always being displayed while you are awake.

And no one can make you grin more than your big brother.  Jeshuah continues to be infatuated with you.  From the moment he wakes up in the morning to the  time he is getting ready for bed, he is asking for “Bebe,” which he affectionately calls you.  He has always enjoyed giving you kisses (mostly by simply smashing his face and or chin onto your head), but you now enjoy kissing him back, opening you mouth wide and slobbering all over him, sending him into fits of giggles.

Our new favorite activity is making you “do things” with him, such as singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” while “pointing” them out with your fat little fist.  Jeshuah also enjoys when you join in with our evening dance routine throughout the living area, either by dancing with him and Daddy, or by “chasing” him around the house in circles.

You are growing up before our eyes, and we love every minute of it! I want to just freeze time and keep you as you are forever, while at the same time, I love watching you grow up and seeing the person you are becoming.  You are our joy and our delight, and we wake up each day eager to see what you will do next!

You’re our Precious Pumpkin Muffin, and we love you!

April Chemical Elimination: Household Cleaners

One of the most commonly used household toxins are our cleaning products.  In the past few decades, a plethora of chemicals have come on the market with which we can “clean” our homes.  The problem is, these products are doing much more harm than good.  Products that claim to disinfect, eliminate mold and relieve offensive odors contain a truckload of harmful ingredients that studies are continuing to prove hazardous to our health.  Why is this allowed?

Unfortunately, household cleaning products make no health claims, they are not subject to the FDA’s health tests and regulations.  They do not undergo the same rigorous testing for safety as do health products.  But this does not mean the fumes they emit are not actually harmful.  In fact, the exact opposite is proving to be true.

We all know not to let bleach touch our skin, not to be in an unventilated room while using ammonia, and not to mix our chemicals. Why? Because the caustic nature and fumes of these chemicals can cause all sorts of serious, if not deadly, reactions.  The problem is, though, that even with using these precuations, there is a residual affect to using these chemicals in our homes.  That bleach you used to scour your tub is still present when you fill your tub with your children’s bathwater, even if you rinsed and rinsed afterwards.  The fumes of ammonia and spray on cleaners like Lysol remain in the air, inhibiting our brain’s function and growth.

The list of consequences to our overuse of chemicals in our households goes on and on.  So what is the answer? Can we effectively clean and disinfect our homes without the use of these chemicals? Yes we can!

Here are a few helpful hints on how to rid your home of these chemicals and replace them with natural, safe, economical alternatives!

Make Your Own Cleaning Supplies

There are dozens of DIY recipes for natural cleaning things you find in your kitchen cupboards, like vinegar, baking soda, and lemon as well as many essential oils.  This is easy, economical, and effective.  MomsAWARE has an abundance of recipes and resources for making your own cleaning supplies.  They are also in the middle of a ten-step journey to chemical-free cleaning challenge.   I love this website and all of Andrea Fabry’s Toxic Talk Tuesdays for a wealth of knowledge on how essential oils and everyday, natural ingredients cleanse, disinfect, deodorize, etc. !

At this point in my life, making my cleaning supplies is just too much for me.

So, I

Use Melaleuca

I have used Melaleuca for a number of years now and continue to be impressed with it.  Their main ingredient is tea tree oil, a natural anti-microbial and generally amazing essential oil.  Many of their products are concentrated and will last for a year or more, so even though the up front cost may appear more expensive, it ends up being cheaper in the long run.

So far, the only qualm I have with Melaleuca is that some of their products, including the dish soap and laundry detergent, contain fragrance, a derivative of petroleum.

But for an even more overall cost-effective, simple option,

Use Norwex or e-cloth

I recently discovered Norwex and e-cloth and am hooked!  The above two options still bring a number of various cleaning supplies into my home that make me feel cluttered.  I like more of a “one size fits all” approach, and Norwex has nailed it.  With their revolutionary design of a natural, antibacterical silver microfiber cloth, this and water are virtually all you need to clean your entire house!  The envirocloth is their all-purpose cloth and works to wipe down and effectively clean your whole house.  Of course, they have a vast amount of particular cloths for particular purposes, but for the most part, you can get away with cleaning the majority of the house with just the envirocloth.  Use the envirocloth and window cloth and achieve spotless, streak-free windows in seconds–with no chemicals!  Clean your oven and stove tops with their cleaning paste and spirinettes and without the use of potent chemicals.  Reduce soap scum in your bathroom with the bathroom scrub mitt.

Norwex cloths have a 2 year guarantee but are tested to work for up to 7 years.  The e-cloth is comporable, while possibly slightly less quality, but for significantly less cost.

The long and short of it is that there are so many options to effectively and economically clean your home without the use of harmful chemicals!  Find what works for you, and share any other suggestions you have!

 

Counsel From the Cross – A Devotional, Introduction

I spent the first 20 years of my Christian life thinking that the gospel was something I had believed in when I was first saved, and now it was time to move on to “bigger and better” concepts.

But over the last couple of years, the Lord has used authors like Elyse Fitzpatrick, C. J. Mahaney, Ted and Paul Tripp, Milton Vincent and many others to open my eyes to the liberating truth that the gospel “ isn’t one class among many that you’ll attend during your life as a Christian–the gospel is the whole building that all the classes take place in! Rightly approached, all the topics you’ll study and focus on as a believer will be offered to you ‘within the walls’ of the glorious gospel.”  C. J. Mahaney, Living The Cross Centered Life.  

Knowing this fact, though, and implementing this truth have been harder than I thought.  To aid me in my pursuit of gospel-centered living, I have been reading some of the great authors who expound on this topic so well.

I recently began reading Elyse Fitzpatrick’s Counsel from the Cross and am so excited about it, I wanted to share some of its treasures with you in a blog series as I am reading through it.  As she puts it so well,

“Many Christians love Jesus and the gospel but just don’t know how his    incarnation, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, ascension, and reign ought to impact them in the ‘real world.’”

I am looking forward to posting some of the gems in this book to encourage us all in our desire to follow Christ!

Being Fully Present with our Children

Misha Seger Photography

Facebook. Cell Phones. Internet. Texting, Television. Blogs. Email. Pinterest.

We have so many social outlets available to us in our day and age.  And through many of them we can communicate with hundreds of people any time any place, without even leaving the comfort of our home.

I am blessed to be a stay-at-home mom.  But lately, I am becoming increasingly aware of how easy it can be to be technically home, but not really be home.  From the moment I awaken to the moment I drop into bed at night, there is a constant pull on my time and emotions to keep up with everything that is going on in the world.  Whether it is checking my email, replying to text messages, catching up with 15 people on Facebook, or making a dozen phone calls, there is a constant source of need and information at my very fingertips.  I could literally spend every waking hour on social media or researching topics of interest in the internet.

But there is a world of entertainment and imagination and exploration within arms reach of me every day, and their names are Jeshuah and Eliana, God’s precious gifts to me. My little ones are growing up before my eyes, and I am missing it by being distracted by the latest piece of news or information.

How did checking social media replace the joys of laughing and learning with our children?  How did browsing a long-lost acquaintance’s profile page online become more interesting than sitting down face-to-face with our little ones for completely devoted, undistracted attention to them?  How have we begun to allow instantly responding to every text message to have precedence over the real-time conversation we are having with our children?

I understand.  Our children are not always a delight to be around.  Being at home with small children can become very lonely.  Our household tasks can become drudgery as we do the same thing day in and day out, wondering if anything we are doing is even making a difference.  Believe me, I know! I know the temptation to escape the mundane and enter a world where there is constantly something new and exciting going on.  I know the desire to feel efficient by multi-tasking and checking email while everyone at the table eats lunch.  I know the longing to be appreciated for more than just wiping snotty noses and dirty bottoms (oh wait, they don’t even appreciate that??) I know the loneliness and irritation of spending all day every day with children whose only language is whining, fussing, and tantrums.

But what I also know is that when I am with my kids, I want to be really with them.  I don’t want to be distracted by texting while I am helping my two-year-old go to the bathroom.  I don’t want to be surfing the web, casually responding with “uh huh” to his questions as he eats his lunch.  I don’t want to be on the phone the whole time we are on a nature walk. I want to be with my kids, in body, mind, and spirit.  I do not want my kids to grow up thinking a screen is more interesting than they are.  Technology is good and can be used tremendously to build God’s Kingdom, but we must learn to be disciplined in our use of it.

So that is why sometimes I intentionally leave my cell phone at home while we go outside.  That is why I make it my goal to limit my internet/computer time to when the kids are napping.  That is why I do not always let myself turn on talk radio to have on in the background while I am playing with my kids. That is why I constantly reassess what I am doing and why I am doing it. Ultimately, I want to be a stay-at-home mom and really be present with my children, despite the plethora of possible distractions available in our own homes now.  I want to play with, teach, love on, and truly engage with my children.

I hear a little voice calling for his mama:-) Naptime is over. Lord, give me grace to practice what I preach!

Organic Virgin Coconut Oil Giveaway EXTENDED!!

I have extended the deadline for the Tropical Traditions Organic Virgin Coconut Oil Giveaway to give Tropical Traditions a chance to post it on their giveaway blog.

So it is now open until Monday, April 23, 2012 at 8:00pm CT.

Check out the blog post for how to enter!

GAPS Homemade Chocolate Chips (Grain-free, sugar-free, dairy-free)

If you’re anything like me, you simply have to find a health alternative to all things chocolate.  Since cocoa powder is allowed in the GAPS diet once digestive issues have been righted, I knew I had to come up with a source of chocolate that was sweetened with only honey.

The result was mouthwatering chocolate bliss.

Simple Homemade Chocolate Chips

2/3 cup organic virgin coconut oil

2/3 cup raw cocoa powder

2 tsp raw honey

Melt coconut oil over low heat on stovetop. Remove from heat. Add in cocoa powder and honey. Mix to incorporate.

Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.  Pour chocolate mixture evenly over paper. Place in freezer for 15 minutes.

Remove from freezer and place hardened chocolate onto cutting board. Using a large cleaver, chop chocolate in rows one direction, and then the other, forming chocolate chunks (whatever size you prefer).

Voila! A healthy alternative to a delightful treat! Keep in freezer until just before use, as they begin to melt quickly at room temperature.

Note: These melt when baked into cookies, so just be aware they sort of ooze out of the bottom of your cookies a little–but not too bad!

Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil Giveaway!

I am excited to host my first official giveaway on this blog!

I recently had the pleasure of sampling Tropical Traditions amazing virgin coconut oil. Coconut oil is a nutritional powerhouse and can offer a wide range of benefits, including maintaining cholesterol levels, increasing immunity, and aiding in weight loss.  Coconut oil also contains antioxidants, and natural antimicrobial, antifungal, and antibacterial properties.  Unlike many oils used for cooking, it is safe when heated at high temperatures, thus making it ideal for frying.  Coconut oil is extremely beneficial, not only nutritionally, but for a number of other purposes, including skin and hair care.

Tropical Traditions virgin coconut oil is different than other oils on the market.  They are the premier supplier of virgin coconut oil in the nation and are highly praised for their amazingly superior oil.  Their oil is still made by hand using small scale producers and family farms, contains twice the antioxidants as any brand on the market, and is USDA certified organic.

Although it is pricey, Tropical Traditions is constantly offering sales and special deals that make it easier on the pocketbook.

For more information about the health benefits of coconut oil, check out this post by Passionate Homemaking.  There are also a wide variety of ways you can use this oil in your household. Its versatility is one of my favorite things about coconut oil–I literally use it for dozens of purposes, including moisturizing (all of us, especially the kids!), eating, frying, multiple personal care uses, and so many more!

Check out Tropical Traditions selection of coconut oil here.

To browse their website, including a huge selection of other quality, organic products, click here!

Tropical Traditions is offering one quart of their Gold Label Virgin Oil free to one winner!

TO ENTER:

1. Sign up for the Tropical Traditions Sales Newsletter (sign up through the link on their homepage), and come back and let us know in a comment below. Stay informed on future sales and specials!

2. For a second optional entry, “like” Tropical Traditions on Facebook. Come back and let us know in a second comment.

Giveaway closed.

Congratulations to our winner, Autumn Stan!!

Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

If you order by clicking on any of my links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you.

Eliana – 3 Months

(Format borrowed from dear friend, Andrea, at Entrusted.)

Eliana, you are 3 months old!

By the numbers: 3 months old. 6 daytime feedings and 1 middle of the night feeding (usually around 4am). 4-5 naps per day, sleeping through the night from 7pm to 7am (or sometimes 9 or later…).  size 1 diapers. size 3 months clothes.   11 lb 8 oz.  (approximately)

Eliana Joy, you are truly living up to your name! When God gave us your big brother, we thought we couldn’t be happier.  But now that we have two precious gifts from God, we continue to be amazed at how much deeper our love for you both grows daily!

This month was a month of milestones and turning corners for you.  You started smiling all the time, cooing and sticking your tongue out in delight at anyone who will smile back.  We love, love, love your one sweet dimple!

You also started laughing–though it sounds more like a cough–and you enjoy looking at your Mama or your toys and laughing aloud.  Another thing you started doing this month is sleeping very consistently through the night in long, uninterrupted stretches.  You get in your jammies and nighttime diaper around 6:30, have one last feeding, and fall asleep around 7pm, allowing your paci to fall out of your mouth soon after you drift into sweet slumber.  Then we don’t hear a peep from you until between 2 and 4:30am, when you wake for a quick feeding and go back to sleep until 6am, when I give you another quick feeding and put you back to sleep until you wake for the day around 8am.

You take after your brother in the excessive sleep department.  At 3 months old, you still sleep about 20 hours out of every day and stay awake for only 45 minutes to an hour after each feeding.  You are a much lighter sleeper than Jeshuah was, and when we tote you around on errands in your car seat, you wake up as soon as the car stops every time. (With your brother, I could carry him around from place to place all day long and he would stay asleep!).  But you sleep very well at home, unless you have an upset tummy, which has been happening more often lately.

Everyone’s first two comments when they see you now are always the same: “Wow, she is really filling out nicely!” and “Look at those HUGE eyes!!”  A lot of people also look at you inquisitively and say, “I’m just trying to figure out who she looks like–mom or dad?” You are also told regularly that you do not resemble your brother very much. Your aunts and uncles especially love getting pictures of you with your eyes wide, taking in the world.

You love your brother and he loves you! He loves to lean over you on your play mat and laugh at you, pulling your hands up and making them “tickle” under his chin. He loves to give you kisses and hugs and shove your paci in your mouth when you are sad (which is not very often). Jeshuah also enjoys playing the game where we find your feet, hands, knees, and all your facial features.  You do not always enjoy this as much as he does, though.  Lately, you have started interacting more with him, gazing at him intently, then bursting into smiles and coos, attempting to gain his attention when he is distracted.  He laughs at every little noise you make, mimicking it himself and then laughing again. I love watching the two of you play!

You’re our Precious Pumpkin, our little Goosey, our Piglet, and our Cupie Cutie Pie.

We love you so much!

Mama and Daddy

Jeshuah, You are Two-Years Old! (A Little Late:-)

(Forgive the spacing…I am having internet issues)

Dear Jeshuah,
It is April 3, and I am finally sitting down to write you your birthday letter. Not only does you birthday fall at a busy time of year, being December 22, but December 22, 2011 was particularly eventful! I was 34 weeks pregnant with your little sister, Eliana, and had been put on bedrest because she kept wanting to be born too early. Nana drove over to pick you up for a whole entire week so that I could rest better, because, let’s face it–no one gets much rest with you running around! A week was a long time to be apart from you, but you had a blast at Poppa and Nana’s farm.

On your second birthday, they brought you home. I had planned a low-key birthday party with all the grandparents, but you were so exhausted by the time you got home that you went to bed without any cake!

Of course, you had time for presents!

Two weeks later, you became a big brother, and you love every minute of it! When Eliana first came home and cried, you would burst into tears with her, your sensitive little heart breaking for her. But as the days passed and you became more accustomed to her crying (what little she did), you would say “uh oh!” and go try to shove her paci in her mouth or give her kisses and hugs to console her. One of the first things you ask for every morning is “bebe!” and there have been many times when I have lost track of you and found you leaning over her in her bed as she sleeps.

Two years and three months with you have flown past in a flurry of more fun than I could ever have imagined! You are truly the joy of our hearts, filling our home with laughter and much silliness! One of your favorite things to do is run around the house dancing a little jig (either to real music or the music that seems to be constantly playing in your head). When Daddy is home, you love to be chased in circles around the main living area shouting “peh-peh” (pizza) and repeating any other words Daddy yells as he chases you.
You are growing very opinionated in your taste for music and stories. Your favorite music is anything by Owl City, and if you want to listen to music, you say “Owl!” When we drive in the car, we love to listen to Steve Green’s “Hide ‘em in Your Heart,” and Sovereign Grace’s “Awesome God” and “To Be Like Jesus.” You know your favorite songs and shake your head, saying “no” until I land upon one of your favorites, at which point you smile hugely, and begin bobbing your head and slapping your leg in time to the music.
I love watching your imagination work. You are so playful and creative. You love to build things, like train tracks or Duplo towers. You love driving your cars up and down hills. You love playing in water, dumping it from one cup to the next. You love to draw, and every time you see a pen or pencil, you shout “ga-ga?” looking for any paper to draw circles on. Unfortunately, if there is no paper available, you may draw your ga-gas on whatever surface is nearest, including the couch cover, and your arms and legs.
Your favorite thing in the whole world is to be outside. I love walking down into the woods behind our house with you. You find the biggest logs to climb over or sit on, and you love finding acorns to toss into the ravine, excitedly clapping after each splash and shouting, “oh, mah!!” for more. You pick up leaves and examine them contemplatively, and you gasp in delight when you see ants or other bugs crawling around the forest floor.

Searching for ants

You are definitely the most agreeable two-year-old I have ever encountered, as your favorite answer to almost any question is a profound “yeah!” We laugh as we recount the evolution of your affirmative. It has changed from “haaa?” to “yah” to “ya’am” and back again to “yeah.”
Shortly after your second birthday, you began wearing big boy underwear full-time during the day, and now you are staying dry most nights. You love going to the bathroom on the big potty while reading your favorite “put-put” (tractor),”poe pow” (snow plow) and “Kck” (truck) books.

Your vocabulary is daily increasing, though it is still mostly unintelligible to anyone but Daddy and me. Besides the common “mama” and “dada,” you like to say “bee-bee” for Ellie, and cousin Coralynne is “Coco.” “Peh-peh” can mean pizza, popcorn, or–most recently–puppets, due to the Hands Toward Heaven Puppet show we went to at church last week. You LOVED it. You kept yelling, “mah peh-peh!!” for more when they were all done. Somehow chocolate is “ka-cheese” and raisins are “oy,”  but you say “cheese” very decidedly. When it becomes “gar” (dark), you love to look for the “moo,” though sometimes it disappoints us by hiding behind the “cows.” Speaking of cows, you still ask almost daily to go see “Poppa cow” and feed them hay. When asked what a cow says, you respond with “Mmmmmm,” followed by a triumphant smile.
And you are learning your colors now! At first everything was “boo,” but you can now identify “yeyow,” “gwee,” “puhpuh” and “reh.” You are eager to learn new things all the time, and it usually only takes us telling you a new thing once before you have a handle on it. Last week we played with play-doh and (between me pulling it out of your mouth), I showed you how to make big and little circles. You now love to identify big and little, but most of all, “ga-gas.”

I’m writing this as you drive all your toy cars around the driveway, finding any slope big or small to race them down, giggling gleefully at their speed and flapping your arms in excitement. We love watching you grow, and each new day is a brand new adventure with you. We are continually thankful to the Lord for giving us our sweet boy.

We love you forever,

Daddy and Mama

A (REAL) Peek at our Daily Routines

As Ellie cried hungrily in the swing, lunch boiled over on the stove, and Jeshuah smashed his broccoli all over his tray exclaiming that “No! No!” he did not want broccoli, I looked around my house and had to smile.

Earlier I posted A Peek at our Daily Routines.

Let me again stress…those are my goals.

However, here is how they actually play out on most days:-)

Morning Routine

5:30am–Ellie is fussing and needing attention, so I pull her into bed with us for extra snuggles and sleep in.
6:30am–Ellie is asleep–I scramble out of bed, hurriedly pour myself coffee, sit down with my Bible and attempt to pump amidst various children’s needs arising.
8:00am–Jump in the shower for a speedy scrub down. As soon as I do, Stephen pops his head in and says Eliana is awake and hungry.
8:30am–Breakfast. I feed Jeshuah while nursing Ellie and forget to eat breakfast myself. Oops. We also forgot to pray…and Daddy has already left for work before we could read our Bible Story!
9:00am–Ellie down for a nap and try to distract Jeshuah with his toys while I do dishes and start laundry, etc.  He ends up finding the permanent markers and drawing all over himself. We never get to our learning activity this morning. I guess we’ll save it for tomorrow!
11:30am–Lunch. I leave a disaster of dishes on in the kitchen while I put the kids down for nap.

Afternoon Routine
12:00am–Jeshuah goes to the bathroom and reads stories while I sit on the side of the tub and nurse Eliana. I then put both kids to bed and look around my messy house in exhaustion. Time for that Midday Pause before I whirl into action to get this mess cleaned up!

Dirty laundry that has not made it down the steps yet

Lunch?

Mounds of trash that need to be taken out

Crumbs

Laundry Piles

And that is what real life looks like in our household.  Sometimes I get discouraged reading other people’s blogs about household routines and schedules and assume they hold to them perfectly and that their household runs smoothly all the time.  But if this blog post is any indication of reality, I think most of us aim for routine and structure, but that doesn’t mean it always happens.

And praise God, there is grace for that! Don’t try to live up to anyone else’s expectations or standards or compare yourself to other wives and mothers.  Simply follow what God has for you each day and enjoy it!