A Four Month Old Decided to Suck Her Thumb

Charlotte, out of the blue, decided to suck her thumb during memorial day weekend. I'm wondering if there is something to the four month mark. Anna took a pacifier until almost the day she turned four months old and then spit it out, never to take it again. She tried her thumb once, I've got pictures to prove it, and then decided on the first and second fingers on her left hand. Abby never sucked on anything. She never wanted anything in her mouth. It was perhaps the hardest thing I've ever had to do when we tried to get her to eat solids.

So, here we have Charlotte, our little thumbsucker. Hopefully, not something that continues for ages, but it is her own way to self-sooth. :)

Charlotte and Abby's Baby Dedication

We participated in a baby dedication ceremony at our church for Abby and Charlotte. Although I try to lift my children up daily, asking God for His guiding in their lives, this was a special way of introducing them to the body of believers and asking for their prayers for my children. The baby dedication offers us a way to dedicate our children to God, and for ourselves to offer a promise that we will raise them up to be Godly young women, and also for those that are around us to offer their help and prayers.

All those girl cousins!

I got to babysit some of the Justinites a couple of weeks ago and had a blast. As you can tell from the above pictures, I think they did, too. They were shrieking pretty much the whole morning long. Abby kept running around shrieking as well. She didn't know why they were shrieking, but it certainly was fun, so she joined right in. My older sister has five girls to add to this bunch...so we do have enough for a softball team. This is going to be a "fun" bunch to deal with here in a few years. :)

"Not the Sarah Hair"

My sister-in-law, Mary(in cosmotology school) tackled straightening my hair a couple of weeks ago. It was fun looking a bit different for a couple of days. What was not entirely fun was sitting on my rump for the whole hour that it took to have it done. I so totally do not get doing this everyday, but I imagine that most people who do it, don't have quite as much hair to do. After having it done, I asked Aaron how he liked it. He said, "It's not permanent is it?" and then, "It's not the Sarah hair."

I can understand where he's coming from. I'm glad I did it though. It gave me a new appreciation for my curly mess. :)

My Babies

I read something today that I'd never really thought about. A woman was commenting about a difficult situation and asking for prayer for the family of a young man that she had taken care of as a small child. What she said was this, "There is no one who could do the job (being a parent) better than you can...You are the perfect match for the children you have." Each of my children were meant to be...created of God just for me and Aaron. God created their personalities to go perfectly with ours, to create our family dynamic. We may clash and have hard times, but thinking about this, I believe that the gifts and talents that God placed inside of me are there also to help and mold my children into what He would have them to be. It's really an awesome thought. That God has given you everything that you need to be a good parent to your child, specific to each child...it's all there inside of you. Really, it's mindblowing if you think about it long enough.

Saving Money...Every Little Bit Helps

I am always looking for ways to save money and by joinging forces with some of my fellow mommies I am working to save our family a little more every month. A couple of new things have been passed on to me recently and I just wanted to let "you" know that I was going to try them and see if they work for me and encourage "you" to try them and see if they work for you. :)

www.thegrocerygame.com (If you want to be a better coupon shopper...try this one out.)

www.moneysavingmom.com/ This is a blogger that posts about money saving opportunities at different stores and also about different coupons. Pretty cool.

18 Children

With the news of another Duggar baby due sometime this fall, I am forced to think a little bit once again about our children and the choices we have made about a number. The Duggar family is part of the "Quiverfull" movement. What it essentially is is this...you look at each child as a blessing from God; no matter how many or how few your blessings are. The children being a blessing, you don't refuse any blessing of God or prevent such a blessing. You simply accept it.

One side of the moment I certainly don't agree with is the few part. As I understand it, the lack of children in your life is also God's plan for you. I have always believed that people should be allowed to have as many children as they want; that no one should be able to tell them they've got too many. (Take that "over-populated world" people. To you I simply say, which one of my children should I get rid of? Are you volunteering to make the world a less crowded place?) I also believe that people should be able to do whatever they can do if they desire a child to be part of their world: ie. adoption or invitro fertilization.

The other side of the "movement" I personally struggle with. I was raised in a family where my mother, raised catholic, always told us that we should get as many children as God would give to us. Meaning, don't use birth control when you get married. I would always answer, "Of course, mother" just to end an uncomfortable conversation with my mother. But, now that I am married and "in my child-bearing years" I am thinking about this a lot more.

After giving birth to three children in three years, my body is screaming "WAIT!!" But, my mind is telling me other things. I do believe that every child is a blessing, but I don't believe that there is anything wrong with birth control for the average girl. Perhaps because of how I was raised I don't feel comfortable with the pills, shots or iuds.

I really feel that we should wait before having any more children just yet. I would like to be able to fit comfortably in my normal clothing again. I would like to be able to breathe normally again. I would like to have some time off from nursing. I would like to just be "me". Gosh that seems so selfish. I know its not selfish to want to be healthy. My dilemma is that while I am taking this "me" time, am I rejecting a possible blessing from God? But, on the other hand, I do believe that God never makes mistakes and that He is ultimately in control. If and when a child is meant to be born into this world, I believe it happens. I myself was conceived while my mother was breastfeeding my older sister and using birth control pills. So I guess in the end, I believe that no matter what I choose to do or don't do...God is still on the throne. :)

Just some rants. Helping me think out my thoughts. :)

I am the Entertainment Center

I was struck by something this morning, as I was making ooga booga faces at Charlotte and shaking rattles while holding rings over her head for her to grab that I am the entertainment center. We've never had one of those clever little mats with rings and colorful thing over head. I guess in my "pre-parent" mind I always thought that those things were just something else to move, to store, to clean-up around. Also in my "pre-parent" mind, I agreed with some guy who said that "children should be an addition to your life, not your life." Your home should always reflect who you are in every aspect, not be completely covered over with the fact that you are a parent. Hmmm. I really do still feel this way. Its a good thought...wonder where I read that. Should read it again. Note to self: look for that book. :)

Anyways, Charlotte was up early this morning. She had a baby bowel explosion. I don't need to explain that do I? I was juggling all this stuff trying to keep her content and stimulated and thought, "I have become the entertainment center." My first thought was, Geez Louise...why didn't you just get one of those silly things, it would be sooo much easier than doing all this yourself...But, after thinking about it a bit more, I realized something. Parenting is not about easy. Would my child be equally stimulated and content with an automated entertainment center. Arguably. But, there is also the opportunity when I do my little routine for her, that we are bonding in ways that I won't fully understand until I see her with her children and possibly even her grandchildren. Someday will she also pass on to her children the "choo choo achoo" song that my mother sang to me and her mother sang to her, to her own children? Its a completely and wonderfully beautiful thought that makes my heart smile.

I am the entertainment center and I am so totally okay with that.

The Family that Exercises Together...

Aaron and I have exercised together every day this week and we plan to continue on. Rising at 5:30 each morning certainly makes one want to go to bed earlier, but the added energy through the day is a big bonus. We've both put on a bit of extra weight over the last three years together. With three pregnancies and job changes, the added stress in our lives coupled with the exhaustion that three back to back pregnancies brings have done nothing to encourage us to eat better or exercise.

It took a couple of things to get us in the right place. Early last year I had a physical and the numbers were quite scary. High cholestoral runs in my family right along with good down home cooking. I grew up cooking in butter and eating grain fed beef from our own cows. The numbers told me and the doctor that I had a potentially serious problem with cholestoral. It wasn't like a was going to have a heartattack today, next week or even in this decade, but that I would someday unless I got my numbers under control. So I cut out the butter and started cooking with Olive Oil and discovered I actually liked the taste better. I cook more fish; calling my dad up for some of his recipes. We also eat more veggies and chicken and a little less red meat.

The second thing was the inner tube. All of the women out there who have given birth to children know exactly what I'm talking about. With Anna and Abby both, that inner tube was gone like nothing. Maybe its because I was under 25 and things melted off. And now that I'm almost 26 I seem to have to work a bit harder to control and manage my weight.

The "tube" is still here, but we're working on it. We have a couple of "dancing" weddings coming up this summer and I am soooo looking forward to getting a new dress or better yet, fitting in to some that I used to wear back when I felt "smokin' " :)