In regards to my previous post...

I occasionally glance at this website: www.raisinggodlytomatoes.com when I feel like I'm needing some guidance on parenting that is biblically based. I haven't thoroughly reviewed her site and book so I cannot vouch for whatever she says but I just wanted to post what she said in regards to disciplining children at a young age (like before age 1). She wrote:

"Normal healthy babies are all capable of understanding "no" by the time they can crawl, and often well before that. For a little while, I just move them away from temptations or distract them to avoid trouble, but eventually (the sooner, the better – at least before the age of one) I get serious about teaching them to obey, and use the word “no” to do it.I start by telling them "no" firmly when they reach for something they shouldn't, stopping them a few times to get idea across. Then I require them to actually obey me when I say "no," rather than me removing or stopping them myself. I watch for them to reach for something forbidden, probably something I've told them "no" to before. I tell them "no," and if they continue to reach for the object, I give them a mild swat on their diapered bottom and say "no" again.These little ones are usually puzzled and try it a couple of more times, receiving a definite "no" accompanied by a mild, but decided, swat each time. Most of my babies got the idea after just a few "no's" and accompanying firm pats on the bottom. They either turned and crawled away, or sat and cried for a minute until I redirected them to something else. Sometimes they pouted briefly in disappointment, then turned to something else on their own. Once I can see that they are resigned to submission, I congratulate them and then point toward something else, if needed, and encourage them to go play. It is important to let them know what to do, not just what not to do."

It is comforting to know that this is pretty consistent with what I do as a parent (Yes! I am doing something right!!). I guess it seems silly to be worried about it when he's not even one yet, but that's what I do best...I worry!!

Bad Mommy!

As a mother, I am very aware of my tone. Now that Sam is actively crawling (and I mean ACTIVELY crawling) I find myself saying "no-no" and "uh-uh" a lot and most of the time he will look at me and sometimes he will even stop. Other times I have to pry him away from whatever it is and move him to another part of the room. Hopefully he will find one of his toys interesting but since it's my son we're talking about he will often go back to whatever it is I moved him away from. I am very fearful of having a little brat but I also fear being too strict and I don't want to break his sprirt. Just wondering what other mothers think about discipline and if anyone knows any great Christian child-rearing books. I have the book "Shepherding a Child's Heart" but haven't found it to be that helpful yet.

Call me "Sentimental"

Okay, so maybe I'll be made fun of for this one but when you aren't a very creative person any element of creativity (however infinitely tiny) is exciting. And as a mommy, anytime I can just do a project for myself, by myself is a good thing. I was inspired to be more organized during my "Mommies Bible Study" group at church. We were discussing organization and other mothers were sharing the creative things they do. Someone shared that they put those clear plastic pages in a binder and then they put all of their kids' artwork in their individual "art binders". Somehow this made me think of taking my recipes (okay, they aren't actually "my" recipes...they are actually recipes I have cut out or friends' recipes...I have a different journal-type-book for my very own recipes which I think has only one recipe in it actually) and putting them into a binder. I had them in a file folder titled "recipes" but when you have a folder with a whole stack of recipes in it, it can actually be quite tedious to look through when you want to find one. Soooooo, I attached the recipes to paper (according to what type of recipe), put them into the clear plastic sheets inside the binder and divided the recipes into sections (i.e. main course, side dish, dessert, etc.). While it may seem like something a monkey could be entertained by I was having a blast! When I was a kid I use to cut coupons from the sunday newspaper and organize them. I don't think I ever used them but I loved to cut and organize 'em! And cookbooks are so exciting to me. I love to flip through them and look at all the possible recipes. The irony of it all is that I barely use my cookbooks, have yet to use my binder of recipes and I really don't like to cook all that much (well, I do once I get into the recipe and I hate the cleanup). But the point is, that since becoming a mother (or even a wife really) I have actually taken the time to sit down and do something just for me that may not really mean anything. The other realization I came to while flipping through my recipe binder is that recipes are like photographs to me. As I was flipping through, the Penne Pasta Bake recipe reminded me of the roommate dinners when I lived in San Luis Obispo because I made it one night and it became a recipe I made for them more often. The apricot chicken recipe reminded me of when I was a nanny in LA. And then there is the "snicker brownies" recipe my longtime friend Meghan gave to me. Travis and I were dating at the time when I had asked her if she had a recipe to make such a treat because Trav's favorite candy bar are snickers and he loves brownies and she has a recipe for everything. She gave me this recipe and I believe I was supposed to make it for Valentine's Day but then never ended up doing it. So, call me sentimental but this has become more than just a recipe book to me. It has reminded me that as much as I love being a wife and a mom I need to remember and make time for some of those things I loved to do. I rarely read anymore (don't let my list on the sidebar fool you these books may be on my nighstand but that doesn't mean I am actively reading through them). I use to love to write stories but now that I rarely do I struggle with remembering grammar, punctuation, syntax, etc. All my abandoned scrapbooking stuff is calling my name too. I get so caught up with all the things in the day that I don't ever take time for myself. Even as I am writing right now there is a stack of dishes in the kitchen and cheerios scattered across the carpet which need to be vacuumed up and it's hard for me not to feel like that stuff is more important than reading, writing, creativity, scrapbooking, etc. But the fact of the matter is that there will always be dishes, vacuuming and laundry to do every time I turn around so I might as well take a moment to relax. So, I am making this proclamation, on this day, that I will stop and "smell the roses" (as they say) once in awhile. Wow, whoever thought that a simple cookbook project would lead to such insight! ; )

Who Does Sammy look like?

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Roots - Family tree diagram

Sam's 8 month old pictures

Question

I want to get a consensus of what other mothers have done. Sam is getting close to walking and I've been told that he should start wearing shoes in order to prevent his feet from getting too wide. I've done a little research and some say to not allow your child to where shoes until age 2 (unless it's cold and rainy outside). My son actually hasn't worn shoes because of pure laziness on my part. It's just one more thing for me to do when I'm getting him ready and he struggles enough when I am changing him. So, I'm looking for other input for mothers out there.

Job (Bleh!)

Sammy will be 8 months old tomorrow! Really, where does the time go? I think as soon as I had a child my life just started to zoom by. I blink and it's 4 days later. I blink again and it's 5 months later. I think it's because as a stay-at-home mom days just kinda run together -- a lot of routine! That's why I always tried to stray from an 8 to 5 job as much as possible because it just seemed like my life was zooming by at an incredible rate. I really don't like routine but I do actually accomplish more when I have some sort of regular schedule to follow.

Speaking of jobs, I have to get one of those (bleh). I'm really not happy about it and having a difficult time mustering up a good attitude. On the bright side I only have to get a part time job. I did actually have an interview last week with a company that grades those standarized tests given to k-12 grades. It would be M-F 5:30pm-10:30pm. Sam goes to bed around 8, so I wouldn't be missing too much of his life but it is still difficult nevertheless. It's also seasonal work and so I would have about 3 months off. There's different "projects" lasting 2-8 weeks and if for some reason I decline doing a project then I'm not fired, but I'm just not working during the duration of the project. I know a lot of women have it a lot worse than I do and have to work full time. I know this and I'm grateful for what I have had and wish so much I could just continue to stay at home. Ideally I would love to nanny and just bring Sam along. There may be an opportunity to nanny part time for a good friend of mine but we'll see. While one of the ladies was going over my paperwork for the job she stated, "Well, I'm sure you are grateful to have a part time job so you can get away for a little bit." My heart said, "No! I want to be home with my child!!" but my mouth said something else. It's so hard for me to be away from him. I do enjoy his nap times, don't get me wrong and sometimes I get tired of redirecting him when he's going after something off limits but I just love being with my little guy.

Well, Sam has been pulling himself up and can stay in that position for while. He has to be leaning on something but I'm sure walking isn't too far away. He also sticks his tongue out a lot. It is something he started doing about a month ago and I'm not sure why. Sometime I'll have to get a picture of it and post it. It is real cute when he's crawling and he's got his tongue sticking out like he's thinking real hard. Sam also hates to have his diaper changed and squirms and fusses while I'm changing his clothes too. It's frustrating and I'm not sure what to do. I talked to a few mothers and they said just to ignore it and not show the frustration on my face -- just go about my business. Anyone else have this problem. My very strong-willed child!