Super-Mom?

Super-mom AKA Proverbs 31 wife (or as a new favourite author calls her, "Martha 31"). The mom/wife that can do everything and still be strong. Realistic? I don't think so. I've been obsessed with Martha 31 lately. Mostly because I have an intense, urgent desire to be a great wife and mom. Thankfully, through my reading (and talking with my DH), I'm realizing that what makes Martha 31 so perfect isn't that she can (and does) do everything, but that she first focuses on her relationship with God.  For all you Martha 31 wannabe's out there, I highly recommend reading My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife by Sara Horn (she's the one that calls the Proverbs 31 wife Martha 31). It is a humorous and inspiring book. I've also recently purchased Just Give Me a Little Piece of Quiet by Lorilee Craker (love her last name!). I've just started reading it today and it's a book of daily devotionals (or as the sub-title says "Daily Getaways for a Mom's Soul"). It looks like it will prove to be equally inspiring.

I need to keep reminding myself that it's not the doing that makes me a great wife and mom but the being - being in relationship with God and being willing to take time for myself to recharge. :) Here's to the start of a 'new' life as wife and mom.

I'll keep you updated. :)

What a thing to forget!!!

In all the stress and busyness of holidays and Annalise being sick, I completely forgot about the development of her speech! This past week she learned a couple more words and at the most endearing times! :)  On the first morning that I was at my parents with her (I was there a few days before Darran came and a few days after he left), I was feeding her breakfast. Her chair was right beside the wall that my parents have with all our wedding pictures and our wedding picture was right at eye level for Annalise in her chair. Well, there I was feeding her and she turned to look at the wall. Suddenly she stopped, her face lit up and she exclaimed, "Hi Da!" It was SO cute! And all the rest of the day, we would find her standing at the wall, staring at the picture and "talking" to her daddy. She was a bit confused that her daddy in the picture never talked back though. :) ... Then, Monday afternoon, we were dropping Darran off at the airport. We waited and watched while he went through security and she was chattering away at him rather loudly (and very cutely). Then suddenly, just before he went through (there was a bit of a line) she exclaimed. "Bye Da!" So cute ... and sad! I can imagine it would have been very hard on Darran to leave after hearing her say that! I know it would have been extremely hard for me to leave if I was in his place! :)

She has also been taking more steps on her own lately which is such a wonderful and cute thing to see. The funny thing is, she's more likely to take steps on her own (without holding on to anything) when she's sad/crying, then when she's happy. Weird and totally beyond my comprehension. :)

Have I mentioned I love being a mom and being at home with my little girl? :)

When does it end?

Just got back from a 10 day "holiday" to BC. Not much of a holiday when every day is super busy with events related to family reunion/parents anniversary celebration but it was fun nonetheless. On Monday of our holiday my little girl had a very high fever - seriously, so high that even my skin was burning when I touched her! Dr. at the walk-in thought it was the flu. Then the non-appetite started, and the many, extremely runny poops. Then the fever and runs suddenly stopped and there she is, at home now, covered in a rash. Turns out the walk-in dr. in BC was wrong - it's not the flu, it's roseola.

Seems I've been to the dr. so frequently with her since her birth - croup, milk sensitivity (that was discovered after multiple dr. visits and nasty lab work), and now this ... in addition, of course, to her regular check-ups and vaccinations. So, when does it end? I guess never. I guess this is just the beginning of my new life as a mom? :) Ah well, it's all good. I love my little girl. And, as I've said before, by the time baby #2 comes along, we'll be pros on baby illnesses and sensitivities. :) This is just training for future years for us! :)

And what about family? There are always issues when family interacts as well aren't there? I guess it's all part of being part of the fallen human race and being in relationship. But it is also how we grow in relationship so I guess we will grow best if we embrace the good and the bad and love each other through it all.

Well, I'm going to take advantage of my daughter napping and try to get some things done around the house (like unpack from holidays). Until next time ...

New Beginnings

Well, I took a big step in life recently. I've decided to become and Educational Consultant with Discovery Toys (http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/jenmclarty). This is super exciting for me. I have found a product that I can really believe in and really sell! Yay! I need to keep reminding myself that it will take work ... I'm not going to have  tons of customers right from the start - it's something I need to build up to. But it still gets a bit discouraging when no one seems to want to come to my grand opening parties! :) So, here I am, praying that this will take off and be a successful business for me. :)

Taking Cues

So, it's been a while since I've written on here. I keep thinking that I have nothing good to say but then I've been thinking - who cares? It's my blog, I can write what I want! :) So I will write ...

My daughter has been screwing around with her feeding schedule. She is now 9 months and has been eating solids for 3 meals plus drinking 4 - 9oz bottles a day. About 2 or 3 weeks ago has been loosing interest in supper. And then she started loosing interest in breakfast and then, she started puking at night and peeing so much she soaked not only her diaper (that NEVER leaks) but also her pants ... seriously soaked - like she just sat in a tub of water with all her clothes on!. Well, took her to the doctor and he couldn't figure it out so he ordered some blood work - worst thing to ever do to a little baby!!! No results were given to me (which means they were probably fine) ... But she was still puking ... and only at nights. Weird! Well, couple days ago we realized, hey! we were probably over feeding her! So yesterday we cut out one of her bottles and fed her supper earlier (at the time where she usually had her 3rd bottle so that she could still have her last bottle just before bed).  Yeah, cutting out 9 oz cold turkey is NOT a good idea. Last night she woke up at 10:30, 12:30, 1:30, 4:30, 5:30 and then finally 7:30. Not fun! :) I ended up giving her a 5 oz bottle at 5:30 and when she saw it coming she got super excited! Yeah, she was hungry. So it looks like I will have to start topping her off at 10/10:30 again and slowly weaning her off that bottle ... again. Also, I'm finding I need to start adjusting how much she eats at her mealtimes and I need to remember that it's OK if she doesn't eat as much as other babies around her - as long as she is growing and healthy. :) But it should be good ... at least we're hoping it will be. :)

In addition, I've been very frustrated with my weight gain (I'm just 10 pounds lighter than I was at my heaviest during pregnancy) - not a nice feeling. It's been hard to stay motivated but I have a super supportive husband. And when I do eat right and work out, my body loves me. :) So, I'm going to keep up with strength training, use the Kinect for my cardio and take up jogging. Yup, I'm going to jog. Maybe one day I'll even run in a marathon - who knows.

So this is all about taking cues. Taking cues from my baby as to how much she wants to eat and taking cues from my body to keep it healthy and loose this baby weight before the next one comes along! :)

Here's to taking cues!

Pursuit

This is something that I wrote last year while teaching ... just found it back and I still like what it makes me think about so I thought I'd share.

Pursue. The dictionary defines this as "follow in order to catch" and also as "engage in". The Bible shows us how God pursues us. We see this in the story of Israel throughout the Old Testament. We see this in the story of Jonah - how Jonah ran from God and God chased after him to catch him in such a dramatic way. We see it in the story of the Prodigal Son - how the Father actively searched for his son. And we see it in the story of the lost sheep - how the Shepherd leaves the 99 to search for the one that is lost. God pursues us with fury and passion. He will not let His children go - no matter how far we fall. Instead, as Psalm 40 says, "He lifts us out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he sets our feet on a rock and gives us a firm place to stand."


If we are created in God's image and are called to be imitators of Christ, how are we pursuing those around us - specifically  our students? Do we chase after them with passion? Sometimes this means times of hard discipline as in the story of the nation of Israel or the story of Jonah. Sometimes this means "leaving" our whole class just to reach that one lost student. We are not just working with our students' minds but with their souls. There is so much at stake! Are we pursuing them as God pursues us?


So, that's all I had written at the time but I could probably go on ... and this can also relate to how we pursue our children, our friends and family, our neighbours ... are we imitators of Christ? Are we pursuing people for him? :)

Defiant Baby

"Baby's understanding of your reactions is rapidly developing. He might start testing you to see what he can get away with, but don't treat him like a defiant teen -- he's curious, not malicious." This quote is from the newsletter I got this morning from The Bump. Hmm ... not malicious? Maybe not, but certainly defiant! Take our attempt to teach Annalise (7 months) not to touch the stereo. Every time she touches it and plays with the buttons, she tell her no, pull her away, maybe pat her hand. The look in her face is already defiant. I might tell her a few times one day not to touch. The very next day she will look at me and quite deliberately crawl to the stereo and start touching it! So one day, she did this and I said, "Annalise! No!" She looked at me, picked up her soother and with an extremely defiant look in her face touched the stereo with her soother! As if to say, "ha! Now I'm not touching it!" But you could tell by the look in her face that she certainly knew not to touch, even with her soother! :) So cute, but so exasperating! :)