Archive | January, 2012

Breastfeeding Blog Hop: Wishin’ and Hopin’ and Thinkin’ and Prayin’…

January 5, 2012 By Jeniffer

We are linking up again with the Breastfeeding Blog Hop, hosted byThe Slacker Mom, and co-hosted by The Gnome’s Mom and Dairy of a Devil Dog Wife. This week’s topic is: Breastfeeding Goals for 2012!

This post comes at the perfect time for me. See, my breastfeeding goals for 2012 changed drastically in early December when I found out that I’m expecting again. Before then, I had planned on breastfeeding my daughter until whenever. I had planned on at least another year. But with the new baby on the way, there have been some, well, adjustments to that plan.

My first goal of 2012 is to night wean…or at least to get Abby to go to sleep on her own without having to nurse my sore, sore nipples to death with her lazy night latch for 20 minutes. I think that’s a reasonable request, but she’s not convinced. Yet. However, she’s also teething, so we’re trying to find ways to keep her comfortable for longer periods at night. If I were getting more sleep, I wouldn’t be concerned, but both me and my husband are struggling to stay awake these days.

My second goal is more of a hope, a dream. I would love to tandem nurse, especially since Abby is still fairly young. I had planned on nursing her for longer, and as long as I can still take care of me and two babies, then I will still be able to. But with my lack of energy before pregnancy, birth, and baby, and especially now with baby and pregnancy, I’m not sure that my body can handle it. We’ll just have to play that one out by ear.

My third goal? To nurse this new baby and to still be breastfeeding next year when we list our goals for 2013. I just hope it’s as easy the second time around!

If you’re breastfeeding, what are your goals for 2012? I’d also love to hear any advice about breastfeeding while pregnant!

Read full story · Comments { 16 } in Breastfeeding, Breastfeeding and Children, Breastfeeding Blog Hop, Breastfeeding challenges, Breastfeeding Encouragement, Breastfeeding Milestones

Worship Wednesday: Legacy – Sharing the Story of God’s Work in Our Lives with Our Children

January 4, 2012 By Melissa

There have been so many times in my life that I could not have survived without God. Times where His comfort has healed my heart, where His guidance has led me to where I needed to be, times where His grace has washed away horrible sin.

When I think of what He has done for me, I’m ashamed to admit that so often I forget. I’m busy. I’m distracted. I have children to feed, laundry to do, someone hit someone, someone spilled something, I just had to correct someone for the same behavior for the tenth time this hour….

And I forget. I forget how short the days are. I forget that little eyes are watching me, and little hearts are shaping their ideas of the Gospel itself from what they see in me.

I love the reminder of Deuteronomy 4:9, spoken to mothers (and fathers) who were delivered out of slavery, watched the Red Sea part, and heard God speak out of the cloud:

“Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” Deuteronomy 4:9

Did He really need to remind them? How on earth could they forget such amazing wonders? Scripture shows us just how much they needed the reminder in Israel’s repeated history of falling into disobedience and idolatry.

But isn’t that our story too? Is the parting of the Red Sea more miraculous than a sinful, rebellious heart adopted and redeemed? And don’t we turn, over and over, to idols made with hands, letting the memory of His deliverance slip out of our hearts?

God reminded the Israelites not to forget, and I hear Him saying the same thing to my forgetful heart. My children need to know the story of God’s mighty work in my life. Your children need to hear yours. Let us not forget. Let’s leave a legacy, not only for our children, but for our children’s children.

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2012: Living Intentionally

January 2, 2012 By Melissa

Jeniffer and I both really enjoyed our week “off” from blogging. It was nice to have extra time with my family and to give my brain some time to rest!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s with your families! Here’s a few photo highlights from mine:

Isaiah (3) and Makaylah (8) enjoying the aftermath of snickerdoodle baking - an annual tradition here.

They were begging to open"just one" present on Christmas Eve.

Makaylah and Sophia painting a present for my mother-in-law.

Isaiah has a newfound love of Legos, so he had a blast building legos with his daddy at my aunt and uncle's. So many of my (almost all adult) cousins love building legos that there was even a lego building contest, and the legos just stayed out as a center piece afterward!

My sweet kids Christmas morning in their annual Christmas pj's. Makaylah (8), Nehemiah (11 months), Isaiah (3), and Sophia (6)

I’ve done New Year’s resolutions in the past, but not every year, and with limited success on achieving my resolutions. I’m pretty sure my resolution last year was, “Have this baby soon!” Ha! I vacillated about whether to make any resolutions this year. But after reading this post by Ann Voskamp, I felt newly encouraged to make some goals as we head into a new year.

1. Our family has committed to reading through the Bible in one year. We’ll be going chronologically, something I’ve never done before, and I’m excited to see how God will use His Word in the life of our family.

2. We’ve played games off and on with our children over the years, but last night was our first real “game night.” I made dairy-free no bake cookies, Daddy brought peanut butter M&M’s, and we taught the kids how to play Go Fish with a real deck of cards. It was a blast, and we want to make it a weekly occurrence – no phones, no T.V., just our family, food, silliness, laughter, and memories.

I did pick up my phone during the game long enough to snap a picture!

3. Financially, we’ve been working on paying off debt for awhile, but we want to be more aggressive about it this year. As part of that and an overall desire to be better stewards of our finances, we are limiting eating out to a rare treat. Because its a stress reliever for both of us, it had become a once, twice, or even three times a week event. To keep us from falling into that, I’m working hard to do a better job at meal planning, something I’ll share more about in an upcoming post.

I have other goals that I won’t take time to go into here, but there’s one word that those goals and all the ones I’ve shared have in common. Intentional. I want to be intentional about the way we spend our time and our money, and about the way we parent and disciple our children. It wasn’t perfect, but my intentional focus at savoring the season this Christmas was a wonderful experience, and I want it to spread to this whole year. Living intentionally.