October 31, 2012
My New Blog Button
Here is my new blog button...yippie!!. Here is how it works. If you have a blog and would like to place my button on one of your pages (like I did for some blogs in my "Blogs I Like" section, right click on the box with the code and copy and paste it into your blog. If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment. Thank you for stopping by! God Bless!
I also wanted to take a moment and thank both Smashing Magazine and Jonathon M. from Canada for the beautiful blog header art that I am using. This piece he created is called "A New Day".
October 30, 2012
Moments of Sweet Bliss
Tonight, as I rocked our son to sleep in his bedroom--darkness cocooning us in like a blanket, lime green shapes of stars lighting the walls and ceiling (from his nightlight), puffs of warm air hitting my neck every time Josiah exhaled--a feeling of cozy, peaceful gratitude rose within my chest. I cherish these moments...as I'm sure most momma's do. The simple moments of sweet bliss...they are intoxicating.
The last 9 months have flown by so fast, and as Josiah was cozy in my arms, my thoughts traveled back to those first weeks and months of his life. I spent many moments in tears and mourning the fact that I was unable to breastfeed my own son. As I have mentioned in the "About Us" tab at the top of this blog, I have P.C.O.S. (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) and unbeknownst to me, a possible side effect is the inability to produce milk after childbirth. I wish I would have known that sooner, as finding it out the first week after giving birth, was extremely difficult. With all of the pressure of society to breastfeed, it was crippling that I was unable to. I found myself dealing with feelings of inadequacy, frustration, depression and anger. Why wouldn't my body do what it was created to do? Why couldn't I give my son what he needed? Was I a failure? Would he be ok...healthy if I couldn't breastfeed?These are just a few of the questions that my mind wrestled with.
We are so thankful though! Our son is healthy and has been extremely healthy, and the Lord is so much bigger than any issue with him receiving sustenance from his Momma. He has done great with formula and is continuing to grow and is such a happy little guy. And, I am blessed that I have such an amazing, thoughtful and caring husband that encouraged me throughout this journey.
The reason I am writing this post, is for any Momma who is or has gone through something similar. I am here to let ya know that the sting of not being able to breastfeed, does decrease with time. I'm also writing this for anyone who hasn't gone through this, my word of advice is to be sensitive and try not to judge if you come across a Momma who isn't breastfeeding her child. Odds are, you don't know her entire story and the choice may have not been hers.
Finally, although it took me a good 6 months to work through some of the emotional ripple effects of not being able to breastfeed, I have begun to find peace. The Lord has again and again placed His peace and comfort over my aching heart, like a calming and healing balm. Tonight was just one more of those balm covering moments. Sitting there, cuddled up with my beautiful son, him breathing steadily on my neck, caused me to take a moments pause, inhale and embrace the sweetness of it all.
The last 9 months have flown by so fast, and as Josiah was cozy in my arms, my thoughts traveled back to those first weeks and months of his life. I spent many moments in tears and mourning the fact that I was unable to breastfeed my own son. As I have mentioned in the "About Us" tab at the top of this blog, I have P.C.O.S. (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) and unbeknownst to me, a possible side effect is the inability to produce milk after childbirth. I wish I would have known that sooner, as finding it out the first week after giving birth, was extremely difficult. With all of the pressure of society to breastfeed, it was crippling that I was unable to. I found myself dealing with feelings of inadequacy, frustration, depression and anger. Why wouldn't my body do what it was created to do? Why couldn't I give my son what he needed? Was I a failure? Would he be ok...healthy if I couldn't breastfeed?These are just a few of the questions that my mind wrestled with.
We are so thankful though! Our son is healthy and has been extremely healthy, and the Lord is so much bigger than any issue with him receiving sustenance from his Momma. He has done great with formula and is continuing to grow and is such a happy little guy. And, I am blessed that I have such an amazing, thoughtful and caring husband that encouraged me throughout this journey.
The reason I am writing this post, is for any Momma who is or has gone through something similar. I am here to let ya know that the sting of not being able to breastfeed, does decrease with time. I'm also writing this for anyone who hasn't gone through this, my word of advice is to be sensitive and try not to judge if you come across a Momma who isn't breastfeeding her child. Odds are, you don't know her entire story and the choice may have not been hers.
Finally, although it took me a good 6 months to work through some of the emotional ripple effects of not being able to breastfeed, I have begun to find peace. The Lord has again and again placed His peace and comfort over my aching heart, like a calming and healing balm. Tonight was just one more of those balm covering moments. Sitting there, cuddled up with my beautiful son, him breathing steadily on my neck, caused me to take a moments pause, inhale and embrace the sweetness of it all.
October 26, 2012
Storybook Time
While I was pregnant with our son, I read many studies, online articles and had a plethora of conversations with other momma's that all unanimously stated the exact same thing...that it was very important for us to begin reading to Josiah as a young infant. Now, I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical, I mean, really, how much assistance in development could reading to our newborn have? Would sitting and holding our 2 month old and reading him story books seriously help him to begin loving books as a young child? I'd have to say that the answer is a resounding, "Yes"!
At the beginning, I'd describe what we were doing as reading "to" Josiah, but within the past couple of months it's begun to transition into reading "with" Josiah. He is 9 months old, and is increasingly showing interest and enthusiasm when we read with him, not to mention his attention span has increased in leaps and bounds compared to even a few months ago. Which is so exciting, especially for two parents who are avid book worms and dream of someday winning the Lottery so we can have an entire room in our home devoted to floor to ceiling bookshelves stuffed with what? Well books of course!
So fast forward to just yesterday, when our son had his 9 month check-up at his doctors, the Nurse Practitioner spoke to me about the importance of reading to Josiah not just one or two books a day for 5 minutes, but more like 2x/day for up to 20 minutes each time. Gulp! We can do this! A new challenge has been placed in the lap of this momma and beginning yesterday we started increasing our Storybook Time. I know that patience and just having fun is the key. So we will start out slow and see how it goes.
As you may know, reading with a 9 month old is a fun adventure! Josiah and I take turns holding the book, when momma holds it, it gets read, when Josiah holds it, it gets eaten. However, what is so amazing is that even at his tender young age he has a favorite book, some of you may already be able to tell which one, just by the pictures shown. His current favorite book is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Bill Martin Jr & Eric Carle.
So, go grab a book off that shelf and snuggle up with your little one(s) and help them develop and peak their interest for reading and using their imagination. If you have more than one child, use your imagination and creativity and begin a family reading time. Reading together is not only productive, but it helps in creating a healthy bond with our children.
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| He loves the green frog in this book. |
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| Learning a key component of reading, page turning. |
As you may know, reading with a 9 month old is a fun adventure! Josiah and I take turns holding the book, when momma holds it, it gets read, when Josiah holds it, it gets eaten. However, what is so amazing is that even at his tender young age he has a favorite book, some of you may already be able to tell which one, just by the pictures shown. His current favorite book is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Bill Martin Jr & Eric Carle.So, go grab a book off that shelf and snuggle up with your little one(s) and help them develop and peak their interest for reading and using their imagination. If you have more than one child, use your imagination and creativity and begin a family reading time. Reading together is not only productive, but it helps in creating a healthy bond with our children.
October 25, 2012
Philoteknos
October 25, 2012
Q. What does God's Word (the Bible) say about being a Christian Momma?
A few days ago I had a conversation (on Facebook) with one of my cousins about this very subject and found what the Bible has to say pretty encouraging and insightful. So, if you are a momma, a soon-to-be momma, or if you have the desire to be a momma some day, I highly encourage you to take a moment and read further. Although there are many examples of how to be a godly woman spread throughout God's love letter, there seems to be only one address that speaks directly to the special love that a mother has for her offspring and a very crucial role that God has bestowed and blessed many women with. In the New Testament, in Titus 2:4-5, this is what it says,
"4Then they (older women/mothers) can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the Word of God."
Now, although there is a lot in those two verses we could unpack, we are only going to focus on the first half of this section. The word 'love' that is mentioned in this scripture derives from the Greek word, Philoteknos (pronounced fē-lo'-tek-nos). This word expresses a specific and unique kind of "mother love". The idea that this word brings across, is that when we as mothers care for our children--nurturing them, teaching them a biblical word view, playing with them, embracing them affectionately, being available to them, and as gotquestions.org states, "tenderly befriending each one as a unique gift from the hand of God", we, as momma's, are walking in obedience before the Lord. Now if that wasn't the biggest run on sentence, I don't know what is? :) You get the point though right? Our kids are special...really special, and they are a unique display of God's abilities to imagine and create.
One more thing, from what I've read, the Bible never states that every single woman on the face of this planet should be a mother. Some have no interest, some physically cannot, however, for those women that God does bless with children (whether biological or adopted), we need to take that responsibility seriously. We are assisting in the shaping and molding of that human life.
If you want, check out some of these other address that have to do with raising kids.
Availability-Deuteronomy 6:6-7
Teaching-Psalm 78:5-6; Deuteronomy 4:10; Ephesians 6:4
Training-Proverbs 22:6; Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12
Disciplining-Ephesians 6:4; Hebrews 12:5-11; Proverbs 13:24; 19:18; 22:15; 23:13-14
Nurturing-Titus 2:4; 2 Timothy 1:7; Ephesians 4:29-32
Lord,
Thank you for our son, thank you for the joy and life he brings to our lives. Please teach me to be more available and nurturing. Let me see him through your eyes and please give me wisdom, discernment and patience in raising and teaching him about the big and small things in this adventure we call life. ~In Jesus' Name, Amen
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