Anya is teething. My poor baby! Her mouth hurts so much that she can't sleep well and it's hard to eat! That little tooth causing all of this has almost poked through, so she's at a point where not even baby orajel helps very much.
I could say I hate teething since it makes her so fussy and I can't get anything done. You know what, though? While it makes me sad that my poor baby is in pain, I'm so thankful for teething since it means I have her. All the fussiness, clinginess, picky eating, and endless episodes of Sesame Street means that she's here with us and she's developing well. We never thought we'd have her. Anya is beyond our expectations in a baby. We have no idea how we ever did without her, and if teething is something we get to deal with, bring it on! There are no words to describe how much I love her and how grateful I am to be her mother.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
I Am
I am a mother. I'll never be paid a six-figure salary for what I do. I'll likely never be recognized for many of my efforts and accomplishments. I may be looked down upon by some members of society and deemed crazy for what I do.
I am (or soon will be) an accountant, chauffeur, hygiene specialist, caregiver, on-site nurse, manner police, housekeeper, cook, counselor, mediator, and somewhere in all of this find the time to sleep and shower. I'm often overworked and underpaid. However, with every new stage of development my current and future little ones reach, I get a sense of accomplishment. With every hug, kiss, and cuddle I receive, it's somehow worth it.
I'm also a wife to a man who far exceeds anything I had ever imagined a man could be. In that vein, I'm a friend, confidant, monkey-on-his-back at times (probably more than I should be), companion, self-esteem builder, and his devoted love.
I'm a wife and mom. I'll likely live and die without recognition from the world, perhaps just as a part of the number of people who lived and died during my lifetime. My influence will hopefully be for good throughout the future generations. Even though I will never achieve fame or riches from the path I have chosen in life, it's still worth it.
I'm a wife and mother.
I am (or soon will be) an accountant, chauffeur, hygiene specialist, caregiver, on-site nurse, manner police, housekeeper, cook, counselor, mediator, and somewhere in all of this find the time to sleep and shower. I'm often overworked and underpaid. However, with every new stage of development my current and future little ones reach, I get a sense of accomplishment. With every hug, kiss, and cuddle I receive, it's somehow worth it.
I'm also a wife to a man who far exceeds anything I had ever imagined a man could be. In that vein, I'm a friend, confidant, monkey-on-his-back at times (probably more than I should be), companion, self-esteem builder, and his devoted love.
I'm a wife and mom. I'll likely live and die without recognition from the world, perhaps just as a part of the number of people who lived and died during my lifetime. My influence will hopefully be for good throughout the future generations. Even though I will never achieve fame or riches from the path I have chosen in life, it's still worth it.
I'm a wife and mother.
Make A Difference
Today, let's do something different. Today, let's go out of our way to do something good for someone else without expecting some kind of reward. Today, let's do something different to change the world. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Let's take our steps to change the world.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Thoughts On Foster Care
As we've been discussing foster care and carefully making the decision to do so, we feel that it's what's best for our family at this time. Admittedly, the idea of doing so is absolutely terrifying. We have a baby in the house. Our "parent anxiety" (aka: the superhuman power of overreacting to everything that happens to the child or what the child does. For instance, dancing around the house when she clapped her hands for the jillionth time or wanting to hold her and never put her back on the floor when she crawls without looking and bumps her head on the wall.) already makes us terrified of everything outside our home that could potentially harm her, such as malicious biting butterflies (believe me, they exist after the baby comes) or the imaginary crazy guy who's always around the corner waiting for innocent little Anya's to come his way. With foster care, some children have had unspeakably horrible things happen to them. The consequences of these events generally will be evidenced in their behavior.
The trainer for our classes said, "If you have kids at home and are going to do foster care, you'd better be scared! What kind of parent would you be if you weren't scared? However, many foster parents with kids in their homes still say it's worth it." Well, apparently we're good parents, since the thought of my baby being picked on at the park makes me sad. Being picked on by someone living with us is an idea that keeps me up at night.
There are lots of reasons not to do this. Maybe we're crazy, well, more crazy than normal, but neither Daniel or I can get around this feeling that this is the right choice. As we've prayed about this choice and how it will affect our precious, beautiful daughter, I at least have felt that if the Lord wants us to do this, He'll help provide safety and security for our baby. Daniel has felt similarly. I know that to lots of people we sound crazy to the point of irresponsibility. Be that as it may, this choice is right. It's not irresponsible. We have the power to make a difference in the world, so why not take it? It's not about the reimbursement we'd get. Frankly, any money we recieve from the state will go straight to the kids. It's about...doing what's right. It's about making a difference in our family and in the world.
The trainer for our classes said, "If you have kids at home and are going to do foster care, you'd better be scared! What kind of parent would you be if you weren't scared? However, many foster parents with kids in their homes still say it's worth it." Well, apparently we're good parents, since the thought of my baby being picked on at the park makes me sad. Being picked on by someone living with us is an idea that keeps me up at night.
There are lots of reasons not to do this. Maybe we're crazy, well, more crazy than normal, but neither Daniel or I can get around this feeling that this is the right choice. As we've prayed about this choice and how it will affect our precious, beautiful daughter, I at least have felt that if the Lord wants us to do this, He'll help provide safety and security for our baby. Daniel has felt similarly. I know that to lots of people we sound crazy to the point of irresponsibility. Be that as it may, this choice is right. It's not irresponsible. We have the power to make a difference in the world, so why not take it? It's not about the reimbursement we'd get. Frankly, any money we recieve from the state will go straight to the kids. It's about...doing what's right. It's about making a difference in our family and in the world.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Live Like You're Poor And You Never Will Be
Note, I take a very firm position of considering myself neither liberal or conservative, as I find being only one or the other would be prohibitive of my ability to research issues and decide what is correct for myself.
We look like hippies. We don't use our dryer, opting for a clothesline, we have an oldschool reel lawn mower (as in, totally manual powered; no gas or electricity for it), we cloth diaper the baby, compost organic food waste, the majority of our food is cooked from scratch, we buy flour and oatmeal in 25-50 pound bags, don't have cable or satellite, and walk/ride bikes more often than we drive. The only thing missing from the equation is "hemp." Our neighbors think we're eco-nuts, however, we can snicker at our reasoning behind our hippie-like nature.
Our family motto has been and will be, "Live like you're poor and you never will be." Our fiscally conservative nature actually aligns heavily with the environmentalist movement. All of the things I previously mentioned that we do has a financial basis before it has a moral/religious/ethic/whatever basis.
Let's look at some of these things individually, and I'll explain how these things work in our favor financially.
1) Cloth Diapers
Yes, I cloth diaper my child. Yes, I recommend cloth diapering for a myriad of reasons, however, let's look at the cost effectiveness of them. On average, the cheap disposable diapers cost $0.20/diaper. Anya is a crazy pooper, so we easily go through 5-6 poopy diapers a day, cloth or disposable. If you count wet diapers, let's say she goes through 8 a day. In a 30 day period, we can round that to $50/month! That's only for the way cheap diapers that no one likes anyway!
2) Composting
I know this one sounds weird, but I like to garden, and I'd rather use my own leftovers which would just go in the trash anyway than paying extra for fertilizer.
3) Clothesline
Not using the dryer obviously saves us on our power bill. Why heat the house more during the summer with the dryer when the clothes can dry quickly outside?
4) T.V.
By not having T.V., we're healthier since we're not couch potatoes, don't use the T.V. as much, thus saving on power, and don't have to worry about paying for a monthly subscription. We can find most everything we want to watch online, anyway.
5) Using "foot power"
Who wants to pay for gas, anyway? Let's stick it to the gas companies by using the free power of walking and riding bikes!
By living by the "Live Like You're Poor" motto, the only debt we currently have is our mortgage, and it feels so good to not have to worry about credit card debt hanging over our heads. If Daniel were to lose his job, it would undoubtably be hard, but we wouldn't be hounded by debt collectors. My advice to you, my faithful friends, is to live WAY below your means, pay off debt, and live a happier life! People may think you're crazy, but when you have net worth and they don't, who's really crazy in the end?
We look like hippies. We don't use our dryer, opting for a clothesline, we have an oldschool reel lawn mower (as in, totally manual powered; no gas or electricity for it), we cloth diaper the baby, compost organic food waste, the majority of our food is cooked from scratch, we buy flour and oatmeal in 25-50 pound bags, don't have cable or satellite, and walk/ride bikes more often than we drive. The only thing missing from the equation is "hemp." Our neighbors think we're eco-nuts, however, we can snicker at our reasoning behind our hippie-like nature.
Our family motto has been and will be, "Live like you're poor and you never will be." Our fiscally conservative nature actually aligns heavily with the environmentalist movement. All of the things I previously mentioned that we do has a financial basis before it has a moral/religious/ethic/whatever basis.
Let's look at some of these things individually, and I'll explain how these things work in our favor financially.
1) Cloth Diapers
Yes, I cloth diaper my child. Yes, I recommend cloth diapering for a myriad of reasons, however, let's look at the cost effectiveness of them. On average, the cheap disposable diapers cost $0.20/diaper. Anya is a crazy pooper, so we easily go through 5-6 poopy diapers a day, cloth or disposable. If you count wet diapers, let's say she goes through 8 a day. In a 30 day period, we can round that to $50/month! That's only for the way cheap diapers that no one likes anyway!
2) Composting
I know this one sounds weird, but I like to garden, and I'd rather use my own leftovers which would just go in the trash anyway than paying extra for fertilizer.
3) Clothesline
Not using the dryer obviously saves us on our power bill. Why heat the house more during the summer with the dryer when the clothes can dry quickly outside?
4) T.V.
By not having T.V., we're healthier since we're not couch potatoes, don't use the T.V. as much, thus saving on power, and don't have to worry about paying for a monthly subscription. We can find most everything we want to watch online, anyway.
5) Using "foot power"
Who wants to pay for gas, anyway? Let's stick it to the gas companies by using the free power of walking and riding bikes!
By living by the "Live Like You're Poor" motto, the only debt we currently have is our mortgage, and it feels so good to not have to worry about credit card debt hanging over our heads. If Daniel were to lose his job, it would undoubtably be hard, but we wouldn't be hounded by debt collectors. My advice to you, my faithful friends, is to live WAY below your means, pay off debt, and live a happier life! People may think you're crazy, but when you have net worth and they don't, who's really crazy in the end?
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Anya Marie
I just wanted to say, I LOVE MY LITTLE GIRL! My sweet, smart, wild, funny baby is one of the most entertaining people I know, and I feel so thankful to have her.
Anyaism of the night: eating a big jar of spaghetti, peas, and a bowl of oatmeal in 30 minutes without throwing up.
Anyaism of yesterday: while in a little inflatable baby floater at the pool, she started kicking her legs to splash, realized that kicking makes her move, and gleefully "swimmed" around the pool.
Anyaism of the night: eating a big jar of spaghetti, peas, and a bowl of oatmeal in 30 minutes without throwing up.
Anyaism of yesterday: while in a little inflatable baby floater at the pool, she started kicking her legs to splash, realized that kicking makes her move, and gleefully "swimmed" around the pool.
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