The Train To Crazy

How much ought we give?

"I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if your expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc, is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them... For many of us the great obstacle to charity lies not in our luxurious living or desire for more money, but in our fear- fear of insecurity."

C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

"FREELY YOU HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE." ~MATT. 10:8

Are you spending the same amount as people making the same amount as you? Do you feel the "pinch" of giving? Are you living in fear?

Thankful

These dishes show me I'm blessed to have food to feed my family. Electricity to cook meals and clean water to wash the dishes. A kitchen to keep all of our "necessary" kitchen stuff and a refrigerator to chill our food that we bring home from the store with aisles and aisles of affordable food.

This GIANT mountain of clean clothes reminds me that I have children and a husband. We have plenty of clothes to wear and the means to wash them. We have a home to keep our clothes in with a roof and windows to keep them dry.

For this, I am thankful.

Was it me?

I took the kids to McDonalds for lunch for the first time since we've been neighbors. I didn't get the bread for lunch started early enough so we only had leftover spaghetti from dinner and I wasn't that excited about it so we put on our raincoats and rainboots and headed across the parking lot.

It was raining and I was herding my brood across a parking lot and into the restaurant at the same time a man was coming out. He decided to wait for us and hold the door. I was busy trying to manage the kids and my hood and mumbled "thank you" to him. The kids had wandered the wrong direction so I got them through the door and we passed the man in the doorway. Once passed, I heard him say rather loudly, "YOU'RE WELCOME!" And then he made an audible huff/growl. In fact, it sounded threatening. I really expected to hear some expletives fly from his mouth, but they didn't. I'm certain (after hearing his response) that he didn't hear my distracted "thank you" but come on! What is it he thinks the world owes him that he should treat a mother and her three tiny children that way? Is it me? In fact, I'm glad I didn't meet his gaze because I'm a bit of a mama bear if I feel like my children's emotional or physical health is being threatened. 

But, alas, it is probably more of a lesson in modeling for my children than a moment for me to teach this man anything. Because seriously, no matter what I said, he isn't going to learn anything from me. He isn't going to treat the next person any differently, but my children are watching and learning from me. So, mama bear chose to walk on and just keep all those things in my head, and teach her children how to take the high ground and be safe, in a world full of crazies. After all, they never even noticed the exchange but they certainly would have noted what I had to say.

Frustration!

So, I'm tinkering around with my blog and manage to complete defile the settings. If you were here moments ago you were probably very confused, wondering where you were. It'll get back to the way it was, eventually. Sorry!

Family

This is my family.

Doing family stuff.

Of course, these are from our trip to the arboretum last Saturday where we got these great shots as well.

To see other families check out You Capture.

What do you need for living space?

We are deep in thought over here trying to figure out where we are going to live next. We are staying in this town, just can't stay here, in this particular apartment. I hate moving but I think deciding where to move might be worse. You can't have everything. It would be nice to have everything at the price you'd like to pay, but oddly enough the world doesn't work like that.

We are really lucky to be in a place that has a pool. We are trying to decide if it is worth it to us to stay in an apartment so that we can enjoy the pool, 3 months a year. There are other benefits to being here too but that one is calling us. It is really nice to go swimming and come right back inside without getting into a car. And bonus, we don't have to clean it!!!

I've been trying to decide what features of a home are most important. Here is what I've come up with.

• All 3 bedrooms on one floor. I don't want any of the kids on a different floor at night. I can just imagine someone falling down stairs in their sleepy stupor.
• Someplace to park inside a garage. It doesn't have to be our own garage, but it would be wonderful to park the car inside during the winter.
• At least 2 toilets. This might not be a requirement for you, but there are often multiple times a day when it is imperative to have 2 toilets or else clean up a mess on the floor. I'm not sure why it works this way but it does. 2 toilets for us.
• A large enough living space to accommodate some kid stuff. It doesn't have to be huge, but we'd like to bring the kitchen and slide... (really, an indoor slide is the BEST toy ever, especially on rainy days) 
• location, location, location. It has to be close enough to public transportation that Arthur doesn't spend an extra hour every day walking to the T. It also needs to be in a decent enough neighborhood that we can get out for a walk. Near a playground is a huge bonus. Any time we don't have to drive somewhere we are happy.  

What is on your list of must haves for your living space? 

A wonderful weekend

Sometimes you have great weekends, or great days. But sometimes you have GREAT days. We've had a few of those. We headed back to the arboretum on Saturday. We've been there 4 times in the past month or so. This time I actually remembered my camera. 

We love the hills filled with buttercups and dandelions.

And just hanging out with sisters is fun...

we laughed a lot...

Sunday we went candlepin bowling for the first time. No pictures but we had a blast. The small balls are perfect for little hands. 

And to cap off a wonderful weekend we got an extra day. A beautiful day at that. We spend half the day in the pool. The other half riding bikes or napping. Couldn't have been better. 

Look at the camera and smile

Ever tried to get your kids together and take a great photo?

So close.

So you think Seattle is rainy?

We all hear about ALL the rain Seattle gets. Well guess what folks. Seattle gets 36 inches of rain every year. (this isn't a post about Seattle's bad wrap, but seriously, it isn't even in the top 25 rainiest cities in the U.S.) Now compare that to Liberia getting between 150-200 inches of rain between May and September. WHAT?!? That's 5 months! That's over an inch of rain EVERY DAY for 5 months!

Many of you know that my brother, Rusty, lives in Liberia, West Africa, with his family. Their house was in great need of a roof when they moved in. They put on a new one. Seems like an easy answer, right? Now imagine living in an orphanage and not having an adequate roof over your head. So not only are you an orphan, but when you sleep you get wet from rain. Your mattress (that you probably share with others) is most likely never really dry. Doesn't that just sadden you to the core? There is an answer to that problem though. Put on a new one!

This message was sent out by Orphan Relief and Rescue (in Liberia) today.

"Mother Harley is a loving mother to 40 young children, and they're getting soaked! They need a new roof, and they need it urgently. We are asking you to please get the word out and give personally to this desperate need. Whether you can afford $20 or $2000, please help make this happen NOW!"

These 40 orphans are in desperate need of a new roof. To make this possible, click on this link to donate. Designate your donation to "Mother Harley's roof project." They need to raise $13,000 to complete the roof and they have raised $5,000 so far. Please join me in spreading the word on your blog, facebook, twitter, or through email. Check out May's newsletter for a detailed list of all the things OR&R has accomplished on a small budget in the past two years. It is truly amazing!

7 Things

A while back Nicki tagged me and I am finally following through. Without further ado, here are 7 things you probably, most likely, don't know about me.

1. I have Dermatographic urticaria. Otherwise known as "skin writing." I've been plagued with it since I was 16 years old. It is basically just extremely itchy (think burning, itching, going out of your mind terrible) skin. It used to be a lot worse than it is now. God created Zyrtec for me though, I'm pretty sure. I took it daily for years to prevent really bad flair ups. Can you imagine having extremely itchy burning skin and knowing that if you touch it it will only get worse? Yes, it is horrible. I am extremely glad it is a lot more mild now. I dealt with it unmedicated for 8 years when it first started and that was enough. Zyrtec changed my life. I haven't taken much medication for it since I became pregnant with Naomi 5 years ago but that is a good thing. Although, just thinking about this is making me itchy... Maybe I should turn my misery into a profit?

2. I was a carny. Well, not a carny, but I worked at Silver Dollar City for one summer in college. I worked on the Waterboggan. The worst part about the job was I had to group people to go on the ride. We could put between 2 and 5 people on one boat and they had to collectively be between 250 and 750 lbs. That's right folks. I WEIGHED PEOPLE! So when someone stepped to the front of the line and I said, "how many?" and they said, "two." I asked them to "step up here." Most the time we were slick enough and people never even knew they were being weighed. Except when there was a problem. Like, the two people don't collectively weigh 250 pounds. Or they weighed more. If they don't weigh enough I say, "is anyone here riding alone?" over my microphone and some lucky kid gets to cut to the front of the hour long ride. If they weigh too much I have to say those dreaded words... "we're going to have to split you up." Hopefully they understand and just don't ask "why" because who really wants to answer that? 

It was the hottest experience of my life. And not hot as in Paris Hilton "that's hot." Branson, MO is hot in the summer and my little PNW self was not liking the heat and humidity. I could handle it in little doses but standing in it dressed in full 18th century garb for 8 hours at a time was pushing my limits. 

It was also one of the best experiences of my life. I worked at SDC and lived at Notch Pines for Discipleship Focus. Highly recommended to anyone with a free Summer. I can't say enough great things about the program.

3. I'm short. OK, this was a freebie. Really, most of you know that. If you've never met me then you might have deduced it from my pictures. 

4. I hate shopping. In stores. OK, except for Costco, I like Costco. Ooh, and Target. Large aisles, organization, good. I try to avoid malls at all costs. I hate sales racks, they make me anxious just looking at them. Everything shoved together, all disorganized. This is why I especially hate discount stores like Ross or TJ Maxx. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've never stepped foot in TJ Maxx. I went in Marshalls for the first time recently and vowed never to do it again. We live next to a Filene's, and I'm pretty sure I'll never go. Give me amazon any day.

5. I like sports, just not playing them or watching them (on TV). I'm not sure if I have an explanation for that. I played a lot of sports growing up, I watched a lot of sports. Turn on a baseball game now and I'd rather do almost anything rather than watch. I can handle some basketball, football, possibly one round of golf. That's about it. And let's not talk about me playing sports.

6. I'm always tired. You're thinking, "duh! she has a baby and two little ones!" But really, I've always been tired. Always. Every day. Forever. Nothing seems to be really wrong with me but I'm just tired. Though speaking of being tired because of babies, I think the last time I got 8 straight hours of sleep (or 8 cumulative hours for that matter) was 5 years ago. 

7. I talk to my mom on the phone almost every day, maybe every other day. My dad told me about 10 years ago that I call too much but really, I don't. I had cut back for a while but that didn't suit me so I call whenever I feel like it. If her phone rings, it's probably me. Or maybe it's my brother. I think he calls a lot too. 

That's me. All the strange little tidbits of information you never needed to know! 

The mind of a four year old

I'm not sure if it is the age, the child, or a combination of both but MY four year old has become very independent. I'm pretty sure she was on the independence highway since birth but when she hit four she really stepped on the gas. She is very capable in so many ways. Sometimes I forget she is just four. Especially when she gets sassy! Where did that come from? We had our first lesson in "tone of voice" today. Crazy.

Not only is she independent and sassy, but she is fashion conscious. She now picks out her own clothes. It helps that her new closet has a very low bar so she can get all her clothes off the hangers herself. This is wonderful, and funny all at the same time. She is REALLY concerned about matching. I've pretty much taken a back seat and let her wear what she wants, as long as it isn't shorts in winter. Today I had to draw the line, however. She had this wonderful long sleeved pink and pink and pink striped shirt with a multicolored (orange, blue, green, etc) wide striped capri pant. 

This isn't the first time we've had stripes and stripes ("look Mom, they match") incidents. This is just the first time I decided to make her change before we left the house. The last stripe on stripe outfit was actually incredibly "matching." Oddly enough the striped pants had about 5 colors of stripes and the shirt had those exact same 5 colors of stripes. Different brands, not meant to match, and they didn't really match, but who can argue with her? Fortunately for me, the shirt was getting a bit small so I tossed it in the size 3 bin and we never had a repeat of that outfit.

After telling her she needed to change today I handed her some jeans. She responded, "Mom! These are blue! I need pink pants to match my pink shirt!" This explains all the pink shirt/pink pants outfits. I'm wondering if it is time to have "the talk."

Where do you find friends?

Not everyone finds themselves in my situation, being new in town with no friends. Some people have lived in the same place for 10 years but don't feel like they have friendship. Whatever your situation, it is difficult to build friendship, but it can be especially difficult to find friends. First thing is first, PRAY. Ask God to bring people into your life. 

When trying to figure out where to meet people, think about the activities you already do. Maybe you've been going to a church for a year now and haven't met anyone. Can you get more involved there? Join a group there or volunteer to help out. You go to the same neighborhood playground every week and see the same moms there? Maybe now is the time to say hello. 

Not having any of those current contacts, I've had to think a lot about how to meet people lately. Friends don't necessarily fall into our laps so it is important that if we want friends, we go out and find them. Be intentional. 

Take a class. Look at your local parks and rec or community center. Join Stroller Strides or a local mom and me class. Use Google. Let it be your friend in finding friends!

Join a group. There are groups for everything these days. Book clubs, scrapbooking groups, walking clubs, hiking clubs, Bible study groups, parenting groups, and the list goes on and on. MOPS was one of my favorite groups when I was in Seattle. It is an international organization so maybe there is one in your neighborhood. I've also heard good things about MOMS Club, Bible Study Fellowship, Community Bible Study and others. Search for what is in your area on meetup.com and check Yahoo Groups or Google Groups to see what you can find. There are groups for everything. I found a local Yahoo Group for moms in my area as well as a group on meetup.com. I've heard of people finding friends on other sites as well. I joined a mom's group when I moved here. I found the group online on a church website and called the leader to see if I could attend even if I didn't attend the church. I'm so glad I did!

Meet your neighbors. You don't have to be best friends with your neighbors but don't discount the value of having them as your friends. Bake some cookies and head on over to introduce yourself. Be friendly and walk over when they are washing their car in the driveway. Feel awkward because you've lived next to them for 7 years and never said hello? Just tell them you thought it was about time!

Play a sport. If you played soccer growing up (or even if you didn't) there is probably a soccer team in your area that would love having you. Maybe you are a runner, join a running team/club. Go to your local open gym. You get the idea.

Go to church. I've met many friends at church. At larger churches you may have to work a bit harder to meet people but the one thing most churches have in common is that they want to connect people so check with someone to see if there is a potluck coming up or a park day or even small groups you can join.

Volunteer. Volunteering at the local animal shelter may not be the best way to meet friends but surely there are other humans there! Try the Senior center if you are looking for older, wiser friends. There are tons of places to volunteer so find out what is in your area. You can still volunteer if you have kids. Find a place you can take your kids with you or volunteer at a time you have someone else to watch them. Consider making volunteering a family venture by taking in a refugee family. Befriend someone who has absolutely nobody else because remember friendship isn't all about you.

Where do you meet people? Any good groups or sites to recommend? 

Why be a friend?

My stage of life has me thinking more about "friends" than I have had to in a few years. I have been thinking about what kind of friend I am. I think if we polled my friends some would say one thing, others would say another thing. Admittedly, I am not always a great friend. Sometimes my busyness gets in the way of friendship. Other times it is my exhaustion, or selfishness, shyness, or maybe just complacency. At any rate, there is room for improvement. Sometimes I think God keeps moving me around so I can practice becoming and being friends with people. To hammer the issue home, he keeps sitting me in talks about friendship, or making me read about friendship. So, here is what I'm learning.

Being a friend doesn't necessarily come naturally to everyone, or anyone. Having friends, BEING a friend, takes a lot of work. Having friends isn't about having people around to be there for you when you are lonely. It isn't about finding people to fill your life up or having someone to go to coffee with. 

Having friends is about walking along side people. Having someone to lean on, pray with, BE with. Friendship is about serving others. Loving others. Treating others as you would want to be treated. Being a friend means sometimes putting someone else's needs before yours. It means dealing with conflict and learning to get along with people who aren't like you. Being a friend means looking past someone's faults and loving them anyway. 

So, if being a friend is work, why have friends? Because friendship is good for you! God can use friends to draw you closer, to sharpen you, to stretch you. Being a friend blesses people, it energizes you, recharges you. Having friends to call on in times of trial is vital. AND, friendship is good for your friend! 

Does being a friend come naturally to you or does it take a lot of work?

What would you do?

As most of you know, we are trying to sell our house. This is our house. We don't live in our house. Our stuff lives in our house. We live 3,051 miles away. We bought this beautiful home at the height of the market two years ago. I'm sure you know the rest of the sad story. We NEVER expected we'd have to move. 

This is my beautiful kitchen that I designed and hoped I'd get to cook in for the next decade or more.

This is the house we just got an offer on. For WAY, WAY less than we spent on it. Did I say WAAAAAY less? 

In times like these, we can react in a few different ways. We can BE ANGRY WITH ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT HOUSES THEY COULDN'T AFFORD AND THE BANKS WHO GAVE THEM INSANE LOANS TO HELP TANK THE MARKET. 

Or we can accept the fact that all that we have is not really ours in the first place. God tells us not to set our hearts on our own plans but it isn't until our plans fade away that we start to take notice of that command. We think that we've earned something. We've earned all that money we saved. We had plans with that money we earned and saved. We used that money we earned to buy a house. We bought a house because we had great plans of living in that house and doing our lives there. 

Sometimes we can think a little too highly of ourselves and all we've accomplished and lose sight of the fact that they were all GIVEN to us, not earned. There are people working twice as hard and living off of far less. 

“Furah carries wood and her eighteen-month-old daughter Shukyru, on the road linking Rupango to Sake, eastern Congo, Wednesday Nov. 19, 2008. Furah walks the 16 kms every day, crossing from the CNDP rebel controlled area to the government held town of Sake to sell wood.” (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

It is time we acknowledge where all of our stuff comes from and say a prayer of thanksgiving while loosening our grip a little.

A daddy look-a-like?

EVERYONE says Maggie looks just like Arthur. What do you think?

This picture was taken when I was pregnant with Naomi. I couldn't find many pictures of our faces together!

And just for fun, here's another. Taken while I was pregnant with Daphne.

A lunch bag!

I finished my first lunch bag. I did a trial run before making my "manly" lunch bag. I'm glad I did because the tutorial I used was lacking a few steps and since I've never made anything like this before I had to wing it a bit. 

I think I'll make the next one just a bit bigger. I need to figure out a better way to attach the strap as well. I am really pleased with how this one turned out though. Super cute.

The surprise of all surprises

I know you've heard of surprise baby showers. That's nothing new. This surprise was the ultimate surprise, however. My dear friend, Heather, lives in a new town. She is about to have her first baby and since she doesn't know anyone in her new town she wasn't going to be having a baby shower. So, when you live thousands of miles away from friends and family, a surprise baby shower REALLY IS A SURPRISE! I am SO upset that the first photos of Heather being surprised aren't good. I had expected her to walk a little further into her house before noticing the "party" so I got a dark, distant photo. This is the fuzzy blown up version of her screaming (in fear because there is someone in her house).

Like I said, I wish I had a better shot of this, but you get the idea. Screaming bloody murder. Probably wondering why her husband was so calm! 

I had Heather's friends and family send gifts to me, along with a sweet note for Heather and some baby advice. We packed the family and the gifts up this morning and drove 3 hours to her house. Her husband had her out of the house and left a key for us. It was an amazing surprise. She deserves it, well, not the heart attack portion, but it was pretty funny.

Here she is, relieved it is just me. She is on the phone with her mom so I'm sure her mom had a heart attack with all the screaming as well. 

The gifts that greated her...

Reading everyone's sweet notes and great advice. My favorite advice "don't poke the soft spot."

This onesie has "property of Torn" embroidered on the butt. (That's their last name)

I love this shot. Dad To Be thinking "what in the heck is this and what would it be used for?" It's a Moby Wrap!

At a small party with just four adults (well, 3 because Arthur was rocking Maggie) sometimes the Dad To Be has to take notes himself.

So thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who participated! It was wonderful and Heather was very surprised and I know it meant a lot to her to know so many people care for her and were thinking about her. 

You are both going to be amazing parents!! Can't wait to meet the little one!

Creamy shells and parmesan

In my quest for a mac 'n cheese recipe my kids will eat I decided to abandon the traditional mac 'n cheese ship for a while. After many recipes and failed attempts I made Shells 'n Parm. Or, as I call it so my kids will trust me and eat it "pasta with butter and parmesan."

I tried to cut out as many steps as possible in order to make this both tasty and realistic. If it has too many steps we certainly aren't eating it for lunch. Especially considering it isn't exactly a balanced meal so you have to cook some veggies and cut up some fruit to go with it. I suppose if you had more open minded children you could throw some veggies in it.

Andrea's Creamy Shells 'N Parm

8 oz. dried pasta shells (this was about 4 cups of pasta for me)

3 1/2 cups water

12 oz. evaporated milk (I've also used heavy cream, have yet to try milk)

2-3 Tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese plus some for the finished product

1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning

In a large pot combine the water, evaporated milk, butter, pasta and salt. Bring to a boil. Boil uncovered for 9-12 minutes, until pasta is tender. Stir frequently. Remove from heat. DO NOT DRAIN. Add the parmesan and Italian seasoning and mix well until cheese is melted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let sit so sauce will thicken for a few minutes. Serve with freshly grated parmesan. This would taste really good with Italian Cheese Bread.

More recipes at I have to say... for the Recipe Swap Box.

Toddler and Preschooler Sleep Wisdom: Night Waking

This might possibly be my last installment of what I have called "sleep wisdom". If this is the first one you've read, know that I understand I don't know it all. I've made a lot of mistakes, which is probably why I've dealt with so many sleep issues. These are just nuggets I've learned along the way. If you want to read more about our sleep issues, the most important sleep fix, nightmares, or early waking then jump on over there. I hope some of this helps you on your parenting journey! By the way, my parenting philosophies lie somewhere in between Dr. Sears and Dr. Weissbluth, leaning one way or another depending on the situation. I loved Elizabeth Pantley's books but they didn't work for us.

You all know what I am talking about when I say "night waking". There are VERY few parents out there who haven't dealt with a phase of night waking with their little ones. I'm not talking about babies who don't sleep through the night. I'm talking about 18 month olds, 3 year olds, 4.5 year olds... You know, those kids who SHOULD be sleeping all night, or at least be able to get themselves back to sleep. Do you have a kid who struggles with this? The most important things to remember are that

A) You are no longer dealing with a baby

B) Sleep is when your child's brain develops

C) Your sleep is important too.

D) Tantrums aren't O.K., even at night.

E) What works for others may not be good for your child, or you.

The first thing you should do is try to determine what is causing the night waking. You will deal with a kid who wakes at night from nightmares much differently than a kid who just wants to come hang out with mom and dad for some snuggles. You should note here that if you think your child's waking behavior is out of the range of "normal" you should consult with your physician because there could possibly be a medical issue rather than a behavioral issue. Little ones can have Sleep Apnea or other problems so don't overlook that possibility. Also remember that teething can still cause night waking! Don't forget about those molars. Those hurt! If you suspect an ear infection or some other illness, by all means snuggle that poor kiddo in pain.

Once you've determined what the cause is the second thing you should do is talk with your spouse about how to handle the situation. Some families function very well allowing a toddler to climb into bed with mom and dad every night and others don't. If it works for your family and everyone is still getting all the sleep they need then I say go for it. If it doesn't work for you (who can sleep with a little foot in their face?) then you'll need to look elsewhere for solutions. There is no one size fits all answer to this question. Sorry! It is important that you are on the same page with you spouse. 

So, what are these possible solutions (to non medical night waking problems)? Here you go...

• Let Waker climb into your bed when she wakes and then sleep the rest of the night with you. We do this most of the time. We resort to this second method if night waking REALLY becomes a problem for us.
• Go to Waker, comfort Waker, say a prayer with Waker, tell her it is time to go back to sleep and leave her room. Do not return unless she gets up out of bed. In this case you'll need to tell her again that it is time to go back to sleep and put her in bed. If she does it again just put her in bed- no talking! I've done this for over an hour before in the middle of the night, a few times a night. It is maddening, absolutely miserable, but it works. If you have other children in the house that wake up because of the screaming then do what you can to comfort the others, but don't give in to Waker. Within a few days my Waker was sleeping in her bed all night again and finally rested and pleasant during the day. And I was once again rested and sane. 
• Let the night waker sleep on a little bed on your floor. This worked for us for a while with one of our girls when she just wanted to be in the same room as us for comfort. 
• Go to little Waker's room and crawl into bed with her. Not my favorite solution.
• Go to Waker, lie down with her until she falls asleep and then sneak out. My LEAST favorite option. Please don't do this, it can only lead to other, more menacing problems. I KNOW.    

I am sure I'm missing something, but these are pretty much your only options. By the time your child is this old, she needs to learn how to get back to sleep by herself, whichever method you use. I'd highly recommend against rocking back to sleep each time. Seriously, this will prolong the problem, make it worse and probably cause you to go insane. Remember that toddlers like to push limits and will do what they get away with. They'll scream and kick and look possessed and possibly puke* (yes, they might) when they stop getting their way, but in the end it is good for them, really. Your child's brain needs solid sleep to develop and your job is to guide her in learning how to get that sleep. I know, it sounds a lot more terrible than it is. Keep in mind this method is used for a kid who is having serious night waking problems. Hang in there!

As a side note, if you have more than one child who wakes up at night, then you may need to divide and conquer. (not that you are "conquering your child"). When Maggie was a baby and both our other girls were having serious night waking issues I handled Maggie's night waking and Arthur handled the other girls. One parent CANNOT be up all night with multiple children.

What have you done that helps everyone get a better night's sleep? Any wisdom for the weary, tired parent?

Finding what matters most

They say if you want to see what matters most to a person to look at their checkbook (or I suppose their credit card statement or quicken files...). I'd go a step further and say to look at how they actually spend their time. How many hours a day do you spend watching TV or reading the news, or on the computer? How many hours are you cleaning? How many hours a day are spent worrying or feeling overwhelmed?

Now think about the 5 things/people that are most important to you. Children count as 1, please don't rank them ;) Now reflect on how you spend your time. Do these things match up? No need for guilt. If it doesn't match up just find one way to improve it today.

As a side note, I hope you are all reading Brandi's blog while she is in Uganda finding potential care sites for Children's Hope Chest. Seriously, this will help put some more perspective in your life and help you reevaluate your priorities. 

Looks can be deceiving

I had mentioned that we make these baked doughnuts. The second day we had a bunch left over and still no sugar to put on them. They aren't that awesome plain (though that is the only way Daphne will eat them) so we tried dipping them in chocolate (isn't everything good in chocolate?). As I said, looks can be deceiving.