Great baby book

Over 14 years of motherhood I've heard and read a lot of advice about babies. It can get confusing sorting through all of the opinions, for sure. Sleeping Through the Night... How Infants, Toddlers, and Their Parents Can Get A Good Night's Sleep by Jodi A. Mindell, Ph.D. has been one of the most valuable finds I've come across in my search for good information. The author explains the science behind sleep patterns and habits. She goes through the different stages and ages of a baby and toddler, which gives an idea of what to expect from the varying times in your baby's first few years.

I didn't find this book until just before having baby #4, and I wished that it had been around before baby #1. I sure could have used it back then. I skimmed it again before having my last baby and just pulled it back out a few weeks ago to reread the sections pertinent to Tessa's present needs.

The tips and advice in this book are invaluable! If you don't like structure and routine, this book is probably not for you. But if you want to be sure that your baby is resting completely and securely; and you want to feel less like a zombie, then this book is a great source to go through. I highly recommend it.

My favorite veteran... my dad

Happy Veteran's Day! Thank you to all of the superheros that fought and fight for our country.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

I am so proud of all of my family members who have served in the military. My grandfather served in WWII. Two of my uncles were career servicemen. My brother and cousins have served. And my hero, my dad, was one of the few and the proud in Vietnam. There's not much tougher than a Marine!

As a child, I loved hearing Dad tell us the stories of narrow escapes and MacGyver-type maneuvers that he experienced back in the war. I just knew that my dad could do anything! And just last week, my fun-loving Daddy came and spent the night with my kiddos in their treehouse. Like I said, he's a brave guy...

The kids came in from the cold the next morning to snuggle up next to the fireplace as Dad rode off into the sunset. (He deserves a medal. Well, actually he's already got one... a purple heart) They were full of stories about Grandpa's soldier days. What a blessing it is to have such a patriot in the family! Love you Dad!

Coffee and Tea

Now that the temperatures are dropping enough for it to really feel like fall, I'm enjoying a daily cup of coffee or tea. After pretty much staying away from a lot of caffeine during my last pregnancy and then for nursing, I had almost forgotten what an indulgence a warm mug in hand can be.

In my new life of having two "tiny ones" around while homeschooling three "big ones" I have been searching for my new me-time activity. What used to be quiet afternoons (the kids stole away to play together) and evenings with my husband (the kids went to their rooms early to read before bed), has been replaced by a pretty mug filled with a yummy hot drink at my desk while helping Andrew with his math. The leap to 5 kiddos and one of them now being a teen has somehow made any quiet moment a very rare thing.

So, the addition of the coffee cup to my daily tasks makes me feel like I'm sneaking in a little grown-up time without ever leaving a room full of my sweethearts. Silly, I know, but these are some of the things I think about lately when I'm taking a breather from thinking about politics and theology... brain crash? I just don't feel nearly smart enough to blog about those, though. I end up sharing my silly thoughts on my me-time!

My favorites right now: Constant Comment tea and Starbucks organic coffee (freshly ground, thanks to a gift from my sister... a Starbucks grinder... love it!!!)

Revised Schedule

It's far enough into the school year now to assess the schedule thing. The benefits of a more structured schedule are outweighing the drawbacks. So, I'm definitely glad we're following a daily plan.

The extreme preciseness of The Managers of Their Homes recommendations are definitely a bit much for us. We watched the clock like hawks when we first started, and I was constantly making announcements like "It's 9:00, is everyone doing what they're supposed to right now?" I was kind of like the old town cryer... 10:00 and all is well, look at your schedule and checklist. The relief of not always being asked "what should I do now, Mom?" was replaced by an urgency to keep the kids moving... chop, chop, chop.

We've now moved to a pace that suits our home style. The kids pretty much know the order of the day now. So, we do more of a system where I check in with everyone as I get chances to take my breaks. Like, I'll make sure everybody is up and eating by 8:00. Then tell them to go straight to morning chores. The biggest kids automatically go to their schoolwork after they're finished chores, following the time chart and order of subjects posted on the schedule. So, they stay on target for the most part. Andrew needs more prompting, and I give him more leeway. I've added more freetime and breaks for him than I originally had, because Macy needs him as a playmate more in the mornings than I had anticipated. And he has so much energy in the mornings, that it seems to fit better for him too.

The original schedule I made tends to fall apart in the afternoons. I had planned to keep up extra studies (like art history and extra reading) toward the end of the day. Realistically, I should have known that we would be tired by then and that I would release the kids to their freedom. I probably did know that I would end up doing that. But it felt good to have such an ambitious goal. Oh well. The new plan is to take one afternoon a week to go crazy on extras and have fun with it.

Another adjustment I made is to let the kids have delight directed days every now and then. They are particularly interested in burying their noses in a good book after we've taken a long weekend or been running like mad for a couple of days. I just can't get myself to enforce the schedule when I have the chance to watch them love learning! Those kind of days are also a great chance for me to really focus in on some extra time with Andrew and Macy.

Overall, I love having a schedule. It has become my ally. I'm not so sure that other, more strict "schooly" moms would be impressed. But we are finding what works best for us. Oh, the benefits of a tailor-made education!

Great election night resource

Here is a wonderful download for an electoral college map and tally sheet. My kids are going to color in the map and tally the numbers as the results come in Tuesday night. On Wednesday we'll put together a lapbook or notebook (not quite sure yet) all about the election. I'm hoping to take some pictures of our election day experience and download some graphics of the candidates to add to our project.

http://www.geomatters.com/newsletters/oct_newsletter2.html

Hopefully our guy will win or this may not be such a fun assignment. LOL

In all seriousness, I truly believe my kiddos have been perfectly created for such a time as this... whatever the future may hold. God is in control and He has a plan for their days!

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Psalm 37:23

Farm Milk

Mmm... once you've had farm fresh milk, store bought just isn't the same. Today we drove past beautiful fall foliage, hay-bailed pastures, quaint farm houses, and pretty red barns to pick up some milk from a local farm. I'm not sure what's better, the creamy milk or the scenery from the tree lined curvy country roads.

The Maker's Diet recommends using raw milk, although I have not been able to make arrangements to do that for our family yet. I have a source, but the pick-up time and distance are something I just can't do at this point. Here's a link to the Weston A. Price Foundation, which can help you find a local milk farmer and learn more about the benefits of raw milk...

http://www.westonaprice.org/

The milk we are drinking now is from organically raised Jersey cows and is pasteurized, which is not perfect, but compared to the questionable standards of the organic milk at Wal-Mart it's so much better. And the taste is incomparable. It's fat content is much higher than any other milk I've seen and it makes incredible kefir. I highly recommend finding a way to get good quality milk! You won't believe the difference.

I Hate Halloween

I've never understood Christian Halloween alternatives. Probably because the first time I heard of such a things was when I was first married, with no kids, and not many concerns about the day. I heard it proclaimed from our other newly married Christian friends that "we refuse to give the devil any honor on his special day, so we will be throwing a big party where everyone can dress up (in non-scary costumes, of course) and pass out candy to all the church kids on October 31st." I think they figured that if they called it fall festival and held it in the church it would somehow not be a Halloween party. Somehow, that just didn't make any sense to me. Call me crazy. I pretty much figured then that I would either be for or against Halloween and not do this "let's pretend we're not celebrating Halloween when we really are" thing.

...and then I had kids...

We have done many different things about Halloween over the years. The ideal thing would be to know what stance we're going to take and stick with it. But so far, we just haven't been able to do that. Some years we did the door to door thing. Some years we did the fake Halloween church thing, depending on our church's plans that year. A couple years we've just sat it out and treated it like any normal day.

But the main reason I now hate Halloween is this... CANDY! I hate my kids getting loads of candy. It's not fair that now that we eat a pretty healthy diet, I can't use sweets as a reward for a job well done, good behavior, and as a "school treat", but because of a ridiculous holiday they get a year's supply of sugar that I have to figure out how to deal with. If we let them do Halloween in any form, we have two options of what to do with the candy. Let them pig out until it's gone and over with, risking putting their little bodies into anaphylactic shock or a sugar coma. Or ration it out so that I have to face Halloween candy, one piece at a time, for the next four months. It's the holiday that lasts forever that way. I suppose we could figure out a way to make candy not be part of it, but try telling that to my candy-deprived but obsessed kids who know exactly what they will be missing.

This year, the lady who helps me by watching the kids on Fridays is all excited about bringing bags of candy for them when she comes to babysit. She's one of those people who shows you how much she loves you by feeding you. And she loves my kids a lot!!! So, I took the opportunity to let my kids know that Miss Crystal is saving them from a lot of hard work going door to door. We'll just watch a movie together at home this year... and eat candy... grrr.

Oh, and please don't feel that you have to pray for me to see the light about the spiritual evils of Halloween. I know, I know, I know! It's not really a good thing at all to celebrate such a terrible holiday. But I just couldn't resist that cute little pumpkin costume when my first-born was a baby. Call me weak. If I had my perfect dream come true, we would never do a thing on Halloween except be together, enjoying each other as a family, like we do on most every other Friday night.