Books to Read and Things To Do

For as long as I can remember I’ve been a lover of books. In elementary school my nerdiness had no limits. I couldn’t get enough of the adventures of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, or learning about the journey along the Underground Railroad. But don’t think I wasn’t your typical 80s/90s girls because I did love the entire Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High series. At that young age I was all about savoring one book at a time, but by high school and college I was mixing in fun reading with required reading. It was then that I began reading multiple books at a time, and has now led to my current dilemma. I am currently reading six books! Yes six books, and have a stack of at least 12 other books that I want to read this year as well. Some of the books that I am currently reading or wanting to read have been in process for the last couple of years, and the list of books I want to read is ever growing. Despite my huge stack of books I am determined to finish all of them in 2016. I’m telling you, my faithful readers, so I’m accountable to someone else to follow through on this plan. If I don’t finish these books by December 31st off they must go to a new home, because clearly I’m not reading them.

So are you reading anything good right now? Now to share some of my favorite random things for the week…

Every now and then I stumble upon all kinds of greatness, and this Lemon + Olive Leaf candle at Target is just one of those things. I was in “need” of some new candles for the house that didn’t smell like Fall or Christmas. I’ve been burning the candle the last two nights and I am in LOVE. It’s such a light refreshing scent without being overpowering.

If you’re not familiar with Glennon Doyle Melton, I highly recommend checking out our her blog Momastery. I love the pick me up, encouragement, and inspiration I get from her writing and stories on her blog, Instagram and Facebook. Now she has a book coming and I couldn’t be more excited. I guess I need to hurry up and finish my stack of books so I can add hers to it!

Are you a sleep deprived parent or remember those days? Then this parent fantasy hot-line is going to hit very close to home!

Happy Friday and may you find moments of peace this weekend!

For those that saw last week potty training started in our house, I can share we’ve now survived two weeks. If you’re in the beginning stages,you’ve got this!
Please note there are some affiliate links in this post. Have no fear, they won’t hurt you if click on them, but I may receive a little financial benefit from your purchase. This means that the funds from your purchase go towards growing this blog and providing better content for you and all the other HebrewDawn readers. As always, I only link to products I trust and use!

Peace Be With You

Evenings in the Parker family can be a mix of sweet and chaotic, but on your average Wednesday chaotic seems a little more accurate of a description. I rush from work eager to see my daughter and I’m greeted with squeals and hugs. Sometime after that delightful greeting, I encounter this rage-filled demonic being toddler who is angry with me over God knows what. My great sin could that I buckled her car seat rather than allowing her to do it, I used the keys to drive the car rather than let her hold them, or I dared to make dinner without allowing her to help with every step of the process. Whatever the case may be, there is great angst between pick-up and dinner being set on the table. If I’m lucky there are other sweet moments before bed, but there are nights there is a long wait for bedtime.

Last Wednesday evening was a night with more delightful moments than I could have expected from my two year old. I expected things to be like most nights in which VHP gets her plate first and begins inhaling her food before my husband and I can sit down to the table to eat as a family. Instead our little big girl was nibbling at her food trying to wait for us to come to the table. Once my husband and I sat down we began to eat our meal, because we were starving. Instead of digging in too, VHP fussed at us adults. “No eat yet, pray,” she declared. My gracious, us adults completely forgot to bless the meal and she kept us in check! My husband asked her if she wanted to say the prayer and she agreed.

“Dear God. Thank you soup. Amen.”

Her prayer was much simpler than her first mealtime prayer and much more to the point than her friend Elle’s, but it was enough to convey thanks for the soup her daddy made.

The fact that she at two reminded us to bless the meal melted my heart, but it turns out she was not finished. Shortly after dinner I was taking on kitchen clean-up and it was my husband handling bedtime. We were all getting bedtime hugs and kisses, which turned into us receiving a few bise (French for kisses on the cheek). Next came more toddler of fun like high fives and fist bumps.When I thought we were finally done, VHP came back for more bise. Or so I thought. She asked for my husbands hand and then said what we thought was “bise” again. But my husband realized she was saying “peace”.

Suddenly it hit me that my daughter was passing the peace to my husband like we do on Sunday mornings at church. He responded as if the custom at church by saying, “and also with you” and gave her the biggest hug. Before I could catch my breath, it was my turn to receive the Peace of Christ from my daughter. She turned to me and said “peace to you”.  My heart was and still is so full. The adults at our church have no idea that by passing the peace to our little girl how much they have taught her. Since she was a baby in worship members have greeted her during the passing of the peace, and still do. VHP has been paying attention more than we knew, and is taking what she learns in church out into the world with her.

Potty Training Update

 
I confessed awhile back how I dreaded the impending days of potty training. Over the last few weeks my daughter has been fighting putting on diapers and requesting big girl panties. Well last Monday her petitions were stronger than ever she and decided she was done with diapers. What’s a mom to do, but to throw always all the diapers follow her lead and begin the toilet learning/potty training process. Through my years of babysitting, teaching preschool, and being a nanny, I’ve really come to believe that toilet learning is the better, more accurate term for this process.

If your toddler is anything like my daughter, they are independent and determined to do things their way and in their time. As much as we may want them to do things the way that we would like and/or think they should, there will be resisting and screaming until they do it their way. It’s also not uncommon for these little monsters people to do it just as we wanted, but they had to decide it was the right course of action. Repeatedly I’ve seen this play out with every child when it comes to using the potty. As much as we may want them to do be done with diapers, they’re not done until they decide they’re good and ready. This level of determination and independent thought doesn’t seem all that different from us as adults, but for some reason it’s more maddening with a little person.

I’m not one to be told to do things when I don’t want to, and the apple doesn’t far fall from the tree with my daughter. For the last few months my daughter has expressed an interest in using the potty and wearing big girl panties. I’ve really tried not to force the issue, but provide her the opportunity to try. Yes these opportunities have resulted in wet floors and mommy getting peed on (perhaps all over your neck while they ride on your shoulders), but we had some successful attempts too. Occasionally my daughter has spent most of the day out of diapers, but inevitably she asks for her diapers back on. This last week has been much different than the past.

VHP decided with the first diaper change of the day that she was done with diapers and has not allowed me to put them back on her since outside of times when she will be sleeping. We are still using diapers at nap time and bedtime, because I’m not a complete glutton for punishment (remarkably there hasn’t been much fighting about this). There have been accidents, there have been more than a few of messes to clean up, and we have questioned if she is ready. However, we have now survived 7 days in panties, the accidents are happening less often, and they are happening at fairly predictable times (i.e. usually when she is too engrossed in her current activity).

So how have we been going about it?

  1. We start the day out with a quick attempt to use the potty. If it’s not a successful trip (aka nothing happens), we try again after a half hour because we know she’ll need to go after waking up.
  2. We have been using Gerber training underpants because they are more absorbent than the cute Frozen panties.  If we’re leaving the house we make sure to use a Bummis pull on cover over the training underpants.
  3. We make sure to keep at least 2-3 extra pairs of pants and underpants with us wherever we go in a ziploc bag or wet bag (to store the soiled clothes).
  4. At least once an hour we ask if our daughter needs to use the potty. If VHP hasn’t asked to go within 60-90 minutes of her last successful trip we take her to the potty to try.
  5. No matter what, we never pressured our daughter to go and wouldn’t push the issue if she refused.  Too much pressure leads to outright refusal, and then potentially to full on toddler determination not to use the potty.  We do ask a couple times in a row if she seems distracted/unsure/is blatantly ignoring us, which is typically met with palpable annoyance…and then a trip to the potty which is usually successful (uh, told you so kid).

I know that some folks get really nervous about leaving their house with a potty training child, but so far it’s not been the end of the world for us. On Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday we were lucky to have her at home all day due to a snow day and then being with her grandmas. Wednesday and Friday were preschool days, and I think seeing classmates using the potty were a good source of encouragement (nothing like a little peer pressure). Our first trip out Tuesday evening was to church and a casual dinner with friends. There was only one accident at church, which wasn’t a mess with the Bummis cover being used. Besides that accident, we averaged two during the day and one in the evening. The recurring timing for one daytime and evening accident was meal time, because little miss couldn’t be torn away from a good meal. Sunday was an even better day as we managed to keep the day down to one accident! Here’s hoping we’re on the right track!

Please note there are some affiliate links in this post. Have no fear, they won’t hurt you if click on them, but I may receive a little financial benefit from your purchase. This means that the funds from your purchase go towards growing this blog and providing better content for you and all the other HebrewDawn readers.  As always, I only link to products I trust and use!

Happy Friday!

How as your week been? My week has been a good one, but full of many unexpecteds. My daughter decided this week that she was done with diapers, so we’re on day five of POTTY TRAINING. I’ll share next week about how it’s been going and our technique. Have any fun plans for this weekend?  Looks like I’ll be on the lookout for the nearest restroom.

Let’s be honest ladies, there’s a strong chance we will each be making a trip to Target in the next day or two…. and this video explains how it will go so well! While you’re there, don’t forget to use Cartwheel and your Red Card. I’m a firm believer that if I’m going to buy what I must have don’t need, at least I can use my two favorite ways to save money at Target. Um, have you seen this adorable giraffe? I have a girlfriend that would totally flip for this, so I might have to buy her birthday present EXTRA early.

Are you an Emily Ley fan? I’ve been a huge fan of my simplified planner and mommy notes. I’ve also loved her simplicity challenge, but I’m so bummed I missed completing it with her. Anyone want to do it with me? It will be 30 days of purging, simplifying, and getting our lives house a little more organized and tidy.

I hope you have something fabulous planned. I hope my daughter will let us sleep in and that our weekend is filled with those we love and doing what bring us joy.

Please be aware there are some affliate links in this post. Have no fear, they won’t hurt you if click on them, but I may receive a little financial benefit from your purchase. This means that the funds from your purchase go towards growing this blog and providing better content for you and all the other HebrewDawn readers. 

Mommy Friends

Do you have any mommy friends? Before having my daughter I always thought it was funny to think about needing or wanting mommy specific friends. When I was expecting my daughter I thought I had the mommy friend category covered. My best friend from high school was expecting and had a little girl five weeks before me. Another friend from church was expecting a little girl a few weeks after me. I also had other friends and family that had babies in recent years before me. Little did I know how much I would in fact NEED mommy friends.

Over time I realized that I and the rest of us in mommy land need these friends for navigating life, body, and mental well-being post childbirth. I believe it’s really important to have some of these mommy friends have children the same age as your own child, some that have older children, and some that have younger children. These friends help you realize you’re not alone, because they’re going through almost the exact same thing right now. They let you know you’re not crazy or imagining things, and that what you’re experiencing is normal because they’ve been there. And you get to be that word of encouragement to another mom, and prove to yourself that you’re not as clueless as you think. These mommy friends with kids of varying ages push us all along and encourage us in a myriad of ways.

Over time I have also learned that it’s great to have mommy friends that aren’t exactly like you. What I mean is that you don’t have to have the same parenting styles or viewpoint, because you cannot and will not see eye to eye with everybody. These varying perspectives challenge us to think critically and articulate why it is we believe what we do. These friends with different parenting ideas expand our horizons and help explore new ideas that hadn’t been considered. In the thick of motherhood we need each other.

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Now I know that not everyone has made or found that perfect mommy friend. Communities of faith or a trip to your local park can be a nice place to start.  The Internet can also be wonderful place too. It took me months to find a local Facebook group of moms with kids the same age as my own (give or take 12-18 months). It took even longer to find a local cloth diapering and baby wearing group. Many of these moms are ladies I have never met, rarely see, or are women I wish I had the chance to see more often. Regardless of those factors, they have been a great source of guidance, encouragement, and comraderie on this motherhood journey. I’ve learned that these online groups can lead to great playgroups and friendships offline too!

We’ve all heard, know, or experienced the awkwardness of making these mommy friends. But I’ll make you this challenge, if you can send that friend request to the girl or guy you haven’t talked to since high school or college, I think you can make the attempt at the mommy friend request. What’s the worst they could say….yes, may be, or no? For all you know, may be they’re just to afraid to ask you first.  However you make your mommy friends, I hope that you make them.

Raising a Child of Faith – Public Prayer

Last month I shared about my daughter’s first prayer on her own. Today I’d like to share another Raising a Child of Faith story about a girl I’ll refer to as Elle. Her mom is a dear friend of mine from our time together in seminary, and though distance may separate us, I’m glad she’s on this parenting journey with me. Our daughters were born just 4 days apart, and I love hearing what they’re experiencing at almost the exact same time. Both of our girls are learning about their faith, and today I’ll share a story about Elle, her mom, and her impactful  prayer.

Each year Elle’s daddy has to take a trip out of town for a conference for a few days. Elle’s parents are quite the team, but this trip means that my friend is flying solo in mommy land (shout out to you single parents, you’re rock stars for doing this around the clock). Thankfully a dear church members takes Elle and her mommy out at least once for a special date while daddy is gone. For the 2016 conference, dinner with this member became even more meaningful when the mundane became the sacred at dinner.

For some people praying out loud before a meal in a public restaurant is uncomfortable experience. For Elle and her family, it’s the norm. Maybe it’s because her daddy is a pastor, but public prayer is the norm none the less. On this particular night, the adults followed their usual plan and said the prayer before the meal. For Elle this wasn’t good enough, and responded with “more pray.” Her request isn’t abnormal at home to pray more, but this time it was at a local Cracker Barrel. She felt the need to pray more for their meal.

This might not seem like that big of a deal to some, but Elle is only two years old. It’s only been in recent weeks that she has been the one to say the prayer at meals or bedtime, rather than her parents. On this particular night it was also the first that she said the prayer while dining out in public. She said:
IMG_0571
Elle’s prayer was so simple, yet so sweet and just what needs to be said at a meal. What I love about Elle’s prayer is that her prayer wasn’t just special to her mom, myself, or those that know her. Apparently one of the servers heard her prayer, and slipped her mommy this note:IMG_0570
You never know the difference you’re making in the life of your child and those that you may encounter. If you’re ever called upon to say the mealtime prayer, may I recommend Elle’s prayer? Go forth and be the salt of the earth.

Have a story you’d like to share? I’d love to hear it! Also, if you have a Raising a Child of Faith story you’d like to share on HebrewDawn, please be sure to send me a note (hello at hebrewdawn.com).

“Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” Matthew 5:14 (NRSV)

Cloth Diapering HebrewDawn Style

I’ve answered the question before about why we chose to use cloth diapers, but haven’t shared how we have gone about cloth diapering. I’m very thankful that we have a friend who cloth diapered her two kids, and she was a treamendouse help with her tips and tricks on how to get started. In talking about how we’ve cloth diapered, I’ll start out by stating that our goal was to keep things as inexpensive as possible. 
Initially I thought we would opt for AIO (all-in-one) diapers or pocket (diapers that you stuff with an insert) diapers, and would run from the idea of prefolds and covers. AIO diapers give you the ease of putting diapers on and tossing them in a diaper pail almost like a disposable diaper. I figured this would be how my husband would want to diaper. We both started googling and watching YouTube videos to learn as much as we could. We quickly realized that prefolds and covers  are not that bad, and they are SO MUCH CHEAPER.   

Here is how we started out with cloth diapering a newborn:

Total Spent: $221.38

  
 Additional Purchases to continue cloth diapering into toddlerhood:

Over time we found out there were some more things we needed. Also, along the way I’ve learned of things to add to our diaper stash that works best for our childcare situation and lifestyle. 

Total Spent: $419.37

Night Time Diapers – As our daughter got older and slept longer we needed some more absorbent options 

 Total Spent: $90.00

Grand Total Spent: $730.75 

Keep in mind there are some items on this list that we would have bought regardless of cloth diapering (diaper pail). Some items on this list are nice to have (extra wet bags), but not a necessity. We hope to have another baby, and then we will use these cloth diapering supples AGAIN and make our investment extra valuable. 

Have any questions? I definitely plan to share more about how we do things, and I will periscope a few times about cloth too. Be sure to follow me on periscope (hebrewdaw), and know that I’m happy to serve as a resource to anyone who may want to cloth diaper. 

Please note there are some affiliate links in this post. Have no fear, they won’t hurt you if click on them, but I may receive a little financial benefit from your purchase. This means that the funds from your purchase go towards growing this blog and providing better content for you and all the other HebrewDawn readers. As always, I only link to products I trust and use!

Sorry

Faithful readers, I’m sorry to say that my regularly scheduled post is not up today. Time I would have spent making my final edits for publishing were spent on doing our taxes. Oh adulting! I hope to publish today’s post on Thursday, but if not Thursday it will be Friday. In the mean time I share these little delights with you…

Thanks to Design Mom I discovered this children’s book concierge. It’s AMAZING for searching and finding the best children’s books in recent years. 

If you’re like me and looking for smart ways to blog or organize your content, it’s definitely worth checking out this post on A Cotton Kandi Life. Definitely gives me ideas for planning and organization for work and the blog!

You may have read my letter on Monday to working moms, and I enjoyed The Mommy My Way’s post confessing her working mom thoughts. We as moms question and doubt ourselves a lot, but I hope we’ll surrender the guilt and rest assured that we are doing a good job. 

 Please note I have been a part of the Blog & Business: Moms Who Do It All February blog hop.  

Dear Working Mama

Dear Working Mama,

You are balancing a lot, and the pressure to get it all done can feel insurmountable. It may seem that all the other mamas out there are getting  it all done and still managing to look put together. I can’t speak for everyone else, but looks can be deceiving. I’ve said it before, but the to do list is never quite done and something has to give. Over time I have learned that there are two important things that help me get through it all and maintain my sanity.

The first thing I need more than anything is waking up before my family. As much as I’d love to sleep in or stay in bed reading, it’s not what helps me get my day going smoothly. Ideally I should wake up 30 to 60 minutes before my family, and most days it’s unfortunately closer to 30. Having that time to myself to get ready without my daughter pulling on me or “helping” me get ready is almost magical. It’s a great feeling to be ready for the day before my husband or daughter begin to stir. Any curves that may come my way are now much easier to dodge.


Next and most important thing I need is grace. Grace that I give myself and above all the grace of God. Each and every day I can be so hard on myself, but I remind myself that I’m loved and forgiven. This reminder is easier to find when I take time to read scripture and pray to start my day. It’s really easy to not make time for God, but when I do my day goes SO MUCH SMOOTHER. Lately, I even spend this quiet time win God before doing my make-up. I know that sounds crazy, but that time has become crucial for me.
What makes your day go by smoother may be different, but these two things have been game changers for me. You might not be able to do it all, but take time to figure out what will sustain you through what you can get done. I hope that no matter what you do give yourself grace.

Love,

A mama paddling along next to you

 

This post is part of a blog hop from Blogs & Business. Check out some of the other awesome blogs participating:

The Art of Better | Being Mrs. Beer | Women Winning Online | Mommy My Way | xo -Ava | Kori at Home | Ma Bell Vie | Stellar Mama The Jessie K | Make & Do Crew | This Kenyan Traveler | Blue Eyed Babies | HebrewDawn | Leah With Love | Fighting for Fitness | Tot Tot Goose | Nurture Her Nature | Blogihealth | A Cotton Kandi Life | The Bipolar Mama | Simple Acres | Dawn P Darnell | A Kreative Whim | Scarlett Ballantyne | My Unfiltered Chaos | The Big Red Patch House | The Mother Blog | Diary of a New Mommy

Friday!!!

How was your week? It’s hard to believe we’ve already hit the second month of 2016. This year is flying by so quickly, which means the months, weeks, and days are too! How are you making the most of each day?

This fall I started listening to podcasts A LOT. It’s been a great way to fill commute time and something to listen to other than music. The first podcast to really get me hooked was The Lively Show. I have since binge listened to EVERY SINGLE EPISODE catching up on all that I missed. In the midst of my Lively Show binge fest, I started hearing all this hype about Serial with the new season coming, and got hooked on Season 1, I am now current on both of those podcast, and the wait for new episodes always feels like an ETERNITY. If you haven’t checked out either one, I highly recommend it.

Since finishing season one of Serial, I’ve joined the hosts of others wondering what would happen regarding Adnan Syed and his case. From what I can deduce, signs point to the wrong person being charged and convicted in the death of Hae Min Lee. Her family deserves for the murderer to be behind bars, but is Adnan really innocent or guilty? Well, with all the publicity from Serial, there is now a hearing going on (today is day three) to see if he will get a new trial. For the last two days, I’ve been keeping up with the Serial updates from Sarah Koenig and following Jessie DeSilva on Twitter. I’m so curious to know what will happen. What are your thoughts?

Oh my gosh, Ash Wednesday is coming up next week. If you’re looking for a great activity for your family or congregation, check out these Lenten coloring posters from Illustrated Children’s Ministry. I need to get my order…

 There’s lots of rambling I could do right now, but I’ll spare you from that. I hope you have a great weekend!!!