Gedeons.com: Category Parenting

2008 Goals

Maggie — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:50:00 -0700

This blog is well overdue. John and I set up goals for 2008 and I wanted to share them with you.

1. Not to miss a day spent in the Word and prayer. Some days this may be just 5 minutes reading a Psalm, other days it’ll be a bit more, but I want this to be something that takes me through life I want to grow a passion for God’s Word and the best way to do that is to be in it.

2. For us to each lose 40 lbs. That’s less than a pound a week and we could both use it. To help me I’m using this website. It is designed for pregnant moms and a way to modify it for nursing. It tracks my calories and nutritional info and exercise. They also have another site here for those not pregnant or nursing (men can use this one too). This has helped me make sure I’m getting in all the food I need and I lost 4 lbs the first week! One of the greatest things about it is it’s free!

3. Homeschooling. We both want our children to be homeschooled, but I have not been diligent to make it happen. Granted our oldest is only 3, it won’t be long before she’ll need some more structured schooling. So we’re starting preschool today! I purchased this curriculum and printed out the appropriate worksheets and purchased some craft supplies.

4. I desire to have a better working cleaning/organizing system for keeping our home in order, this has also been one of the biggest pit falls for me to homeschool and many other things that I would like to do. I’m going to give FlyLady another shot.

5. We have a few financial goals as well. My part of them is to work on spending less money on groceries and household items. So I’m going to try my hand at couponing and bargain hunting. I’ve found some great resources here. This is exciting for me as I’ve always felt like I spent too much money on our groceries, but also felt like I wasn’t being extravagant and I was trying to shop the sales, so I’m going to give coupons a good 3 months to see if it’s worth my time. I think it will.

6. This isn’t a top goal, but I would also like to re-do my blog, maybe even get a different site for it and write regularly. But for now all of you will just have to put up with my sporadic posts about random things as the other goals are taking top priority.

PS I am going to be going through previous posts and using different names for our girls. The oldest will be referred to as Princess Olive and the baby will be Princess Peach. We want to protect them as much as possible and so this will be our new standard.

Potty update

Maggie — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 23:19:00 -0600

Just a quick update. After a very horrible first day of round 2 of potty training, things have been improving greatly. The past 2 days she has only had 2 accidents each day, and they were towards the end of the day, plus they were very busy days, so I think she’s doing very well. We’re also down to just reminding her to go every couple hours, she’s doing very well at holding it until she’s told to go (unless I wait too long). I’ll be thrilled when she starts telling me when she has to go, but until then this is working just fine.

Other than that we’re doing well here. We had a baby shower weekend, one at my mom’s on Saturday with her family and my Cindy did one for me today. We recieved lots of nice gifts and enough Target gift cards that I think we’ll be able to put a good dent in a double stroller, I think we’ll get the sit and stand kind, we’ll see. Well that’s it for now.

Away from Home

Maggie — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 13:46:00 -0600

Wow, it’s been almost a month since I’ve posted! Well a lot has been going on. Hannah and I have been in Sacramento since July 3rd and will be until August. We’ve been having a great time with family, but it’s time to update all of my good friends. :) We took our annual family trip to Sacramento for the 4th of July and had a great time, but John had to fly home very early on the 5th so he could go to work. :( We decided that this year Hannah and I would stay as we’re planning a family trip with John’s family to Idaho for the first week of August. When we decided this we thought it would be better for Hannah and I to avoid all the back and forth, we would be able to go to my parents’ church’s family camp (my home church since birth), and get to visit with family that we will not be able to at Christmas since we plan on staying home with our newborn.

So far we’ve had a great time. We had our annual block party at my parents’ house, we went to family camp and had fun playing in the lake, and have been sharing Dad and Cindy’s home with a couple from Germany, what great fun they are, and a big help too. We also started potty training again. Yesterday was day 1, it was Cindy’s day off work so we thought we would team up, well it didn’t go quite as planned, there were too many people in the house (my nephew, Grandma came to visit with one of my younger cousins, the German couple), it was just too much. So today it’s just me and Hannie. Cindy’s at work, the German couple is visiting a friend out of town, and it’s my sister in law’s day off so no nephew either. It’s very quite here, but peaceful and Hannah’s been doing much better, a couple of accidents, but a couple of successess too. Yesterday I lots count of accidents and there were barely enough successes to count (maybe 2 or 3) by the end of the day I was in tears. But we’re sticking with it, so I’ll let you know how it goes. Everyone is very optimistic (and I’m trying to be too).

On another subject. If any of you ever think about being away from your spouse for an extended period of time, be sure to think and pray about it very carefully. It’s harder than I though it would be. The last time we were apart for a long period of time was when Hannah was very small and my grandfather was very sick, and then again when he passed away. I don’t regret that time at all, it helped a lot in grieving for someone that I was very close too, but it’s a bit different this time. Logistically this plan made the most sense, and I still think it was a good decision. But being pregnant and hormonal and having a strong willed 3 year old without the one person who is to share all of this with me, is very tough. I am very thankful for loving parents who are a great help. It’s been a great time to spend more time with my sister in law, she too has been a great help, and I’m very thankful for her. :) It makes me feel for those who are without their spouses for extended periods of time without choice. A couple of my friends from church have husbands who are in the military and are deployed for 6 months at a time, and at times longer and they too have small children and/or have been pregnant while their husbands are gone. I need to remember to lift them in prayer more often and see if there are practical ways in which I can help.

The pregnancy is going well, I’m getting bigger and I feel the baby move often. My back hasn’t even been bothering me too much, but I did find a chiropractor close by, just in case. I’m again thankful for my sister in law who brought all of her maternity clothes by, I didn’t have much for summer, let alone summer in Sacramento (for those of you who don’t know it’s much warmer here, over 100 around the 4th, and frequently in the mid to high 90s).

Well I don’t know how much I’ll be updating while I’m here, but do check from time to time (RSS readers make it nice and easy) and please pray for me, especially with regards to potty training and being away from John. I’ll be very grateful when it’s all over. Lamentations 3:22 has been a good reminder for me lately. His mercies are new every morning! WOW!

Tomatoes Part 2

Maggie — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 14:32:00 -0600

So it’s been a few days so I thought I’d give you an update. Monday went well, we didn’t get to the cleaning I had hoped, I needed to take her to my aunt’s so we could go to our childbirth class and needed to get up there before traffic. However, the next day was even better than the first. There were less fits and less reasons for discipline. She again helped me in the kitchen and we did Bible time together and she followed me around while I tied the whole condo.

Our place is looking much better, Hannah is happier and I’m happier. Not only that but Hannah is learning so much from her mommy by being able to watch her rather than a movie. Plus, I’m being much more diligent in doing more to train her. We still have our moments, but it’s getting better and better each day. The past 2 days have been a bit hectic with errands and appointments, but she’s come along with me and has done great.

My goal is to be very consistent with this until we go on our big trip in July. We’re going up to visit family and Hannah and I will be up all month, and then John will be joining us and we’ll be going to Idaho with his family. It will be a challenge to remain consistent while on our trip, but I plan on sticking to it. And then, maybe after a little bit of adjusting to being back home we’ll try potty training again. I so want to train her to be a godly little girl and I see that being diligent at it can produce fruit, but only our good Lord can change the heart and I pray that He is using this to do so. :)

PS Hannah made her bed all on her own yesterday. She got up and then John went in her room for something and the covers were mostly pulled up and her animals were all up by her pillow. John was so surprised she got a special treat first thing in the morning. :) She hasn’t done it since, but that’s ok.

Tomatoes

Maggie — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 13:08:00 -0600

The past few days we’ve been talking about tomatoes around here. One of our friends told me about Raising Godly Tomatoes, I read it a while ago, but decided it was time to take another look. We have been having trouble with Hannah listening immediately and taking advantage of my not so quick state. So after devouring the whole website over the past few days and discussing it with John we decided that today would be the day we would start.

So this morning started with me explaining to Hannah that she was going to stay by me all day, we would do everything together, she would help me clean, we would read stories and we would play. She liked that idea until Daddy went to send an e-mail and she wanted to go with him. I told her no, she needed to stay with me because Daddy needed to send an e-mail and asked her to reply with “Ok Mommy”. Well that was struggle number one, but it didn’t last long and John came in to back me up. I was expecting much more resistance from my strong willed child.

So far today has been great, sure there’s been discipline, but Hannah and I have been enjoying each others company and the day has passed much more quickly and Hannah hasn’t been resisting nearly as much as I thought she would. The few times she started to throw a fit I stopped her immediately told her no gave her a swat (with my hand on a diapered bottom) and told her to stop crying, it wasn’t very long before she did. So far today we’ve had 2 meals at the table together with mostly good table manners, emptied the dishwasher and washed the hand wash dishes together, read the Bible together and read separately together on the couch. I asked her at lunch if she’s had a good day and she said “yeah” and I think she has.

She’s taking a nap now and I think I will too and maybe when she gets up we’ll do more together. I have some filing to do so maybe I’ll let her color nearby while I do that if I don’t get to it before she wakes up. It’s also Monday so it’s the day to clean the living room, so she can help me dust and wash the windows. She loves to “wash” and I use only non toxic cleaners so it’s safe for her to help with supervision. Check out Melaleuca for the cleaners I use, I love them, and feel free to ask me any questions about them. :)

I’m looking forward to training her in household work, the Bible, and do preschool things along the way. We talked about colors while emptying the dishwasher, and matching by putting away the silverware. I think I’ve been missing a lot of training opportunities by keeping her busy while I do my work, it’s amazing what she can help with and she enjoys it! She gets so excited when it’s time to wash. :)

"Starving" Your Children

Maggie — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:34:00 -0600

I promised another post about how I “starve” Hannah. What is ironic is the day after she ate all those pepper was a day that she only ate dinner. So it is fresh in my mind how I handle these situations. I’ll just go over that day with you and then maybe summarize at the end.

The day started out sort of rushed, I forget why, but Hannah only had milk for breakfast. This isn’t a problem for Hannah, she doesn’t eat much in the morning even if I do put food out in front of her. Although this is something I need to work on. I’m sure if I limited that morning milk and had a nutritious meal in front of her she could learn to eat it just like the other meals.

Lunch came around and I had some leftover mac and cheese with peas in it. One of Hannah’s favorites. So I heated it up and set her at the dining table and we prayed for lunch. She didn’t touch it! She was acting cranky so I sent her to bed without lunch.

After her nap we tried again, still wouldn’t touch it. By this time though she was hungry. But this is what I had for her and I knew she liked it. So we held off all afternoon. By 4 she was very hungry, but since I didn’t want her to spoil her dinner by eating all of her lunch I just gave her 1 glass of milk. We had an impromptu date night so Hannah got to go to Aunt Debbie’s for lunch and apparently she made up for not eating all day with lots of chicken and cantaloupe and whatever else they would put in front of her.

So here are some guidelines:

1. Once food is put on the table that is what is available for that meal. Sometimes for snack or the two earlier meals I’ll ask her what she would like, but once a decision is made that’s it, no changing your mind. And if I decide, and don’t give her a choice, that’s my right as a parent and she gets no say.

2. I don’t have a bite rule, if it’s something new I’ll try and help her eat it, but if she doesn’t want to eat I won’t force her. As someone who has struggled with their weight all their life I find it difficult to make my child eat if she don’t want to, no need to finish her plate either. I’m trying to make serving sizes closer to what she would eat as not to waste food, but if she eats a few bites of all the food groups I’m happy and John will eat the rest. :)

3. If she does not eat the food she does not get to eat until the next meal. Even if she does eat food she doesn’t get to eat until the next meal. The rare exception to this is if she eats a lot at a meal and then is still hungry a short time later, she may be going through a growth spurt, so she can have extra snacks. In the above instance she normally gets a snack sometime between nap and dinner, so she was offered lunch again. I don’t always carry over the skipped meal to snack, especially if it doesn’t save well, but she may not eat until the regular eating time (usually a time frame, not a set time).

4. If she doesn’t eat dinner she gets one cup of milk before bed, no more than that. She normally gets milk before bed and will sometimes ask for a second cup, if she ate well she may have it. But if she didn’t I want her to see that she is still hungry because she didn’t eat the meal, the one glass of milk is usually enough to make it so her tummy doesn’t hurt from being hungry and she’s able to go to sleep. If it’s during the day though I let her tummy hurt until the next meal. She has never gotten sick from this, never wasted away and usually eats a ton at the next meal. This also does not happen very often.

With these guidelines Hannah learns there are meal times, and that is when food is available. We have breakfast after waking up, lunch around 11 (usually 3 hours later), snack after nap (around 3ish) and dinner when daddy gets home. If daddy is late or dinner is behind then she can have a pre-dinner snack, we don’t like a cranky girl for daddy’s homecoming. Plus he’s usually pretty hungry when getting home so if dinner’s going to be longer than 1/2 an hour they’ll share a snack together. Usually fruit or trail mix, so if she fills up on these and doesn’t eat a lot at dinner at least it’s nutritious food. :)

She also has the option of not eating if she’s not hungry, but it would be in her best interest if she would eat a little bit because it’ll be 3-4 hours before eating again. I try not to have gaps more than 4 hours between meals so that all of our blood sugars stay level. Hope these tricks help with meal time woes. :)

Does your Child Eat Vegetables?

Maggie — Thu, 24 May 2007 16:23:00 -0600

I just finished the last blog and looked over and realized that Hannah has just eaten 1 1/2 raw sweet peppers. 1/2 of each, red, orange and yellow. Yesterday the topic of children eating came up at the play ground. I am so blessed to have a little one that will eat veggies gladly, and thinks fruit is as good as candy. But this has not come 100% naturally. While I do agree that some kids are harder than others in this area I don’t think that it’s a entirely a matter of what the kids will and will not eat. Here are some things that we did that I think have helped in this area:

1. Hannah did not taste any sugar until after her 1st birthday, I even tried making a sugar free birthday cake. Oh, and not with fake sugar that stuff is worse than the real stuff, but with apple juice. That ended up being a disaster so with the little one on the way the first taste of sugar will probably be the birthday cake.

2. After her 1st birthday sugary treats were just that—treats. We don’t keep them in the house regularly, and she’s only allowed to share with Daddy if we’re served dessert elsewhere. Fruit are her treat. There is nothing else sweet to look forward to. If John and I want something we wait until she’s asleep or maybe mid afternoon, so she has plenty of time to burn off the sugar and it won’t spoil her dinner. We don’t eat as much this way either, by the time she’s in bed I’m usually ready to head there myself.

3. Although I will ask Hannah what she would like to eat from time to time, once it is put in front of her that is what she gets, nothing else. If she doesn’t want it for whatever reason she just doesn’t get to eat. She rarely starves. She’ll frequently make up for it at the next meal. I’ll do another post on this practice.

4. I have no preconceived ideas of what she will or will not like. She eats what we eat and that’s it. Here are some things she likes that may surprise you. Spicy salsa, sushi, broccoli, spinach, shrimp and the most recent flax plus cereal… we just bought this at Costco and she pointed to the box and asked for some as a snack, saying “crackers”, so I gave her some and she ate it all. Oh and trail mix, even without the chocolate pieces, oh, but if there are chocolate pieces she will not eat the nuts and seeds, so I don’t get it with the chocolate anymore.

5. I give her REAL food when possible. I used to give her snacks of Cheerios or Goldfish. But one day I did that and then cut up a mango with blueberries and goat cheese for me. She dropped the Goldfish and asked for what I was having. I had to make more because she ate so much of it, including the goat cheese. Made me realize I wasn’t doing her any favors by giving her processed food, she likes the real stuff better anyways. I still go for the Goldfish on occasion, but trail mix is my new quick snack for her. And fruit or veggies are often a after nap snack, maybe with cottage cheese or plain yogurt.

6. If I do make convenience food for lunch or dinner, I don’t let it go as is. Macaroni and Cheese almost always has peas or broccoli in it and I’ve been adding real cheese to it as well lately, so that way we get in some real calcium. Top Ramen has an egg and peas in it.

7. The same goes for real food I make. Fajitas is mostly peppers and onions with some meat, if I’m up for it spaghetti has extra veggies in it-broccoli, carrots, zucchini, all excellent additions. Although spaghetti is mostly tomato sauce, and that’s excellent in and of it’s self, add a big salad and you’re good to go. Even hamburgers can have finely chopped veggies added to the mix, if you’re using turkey this makes them more moist as well. Oh and then pile on the veggies after they’re done cooking as well… tomato, lettuce, avocado, onion, yummy! Spinach is also a good mix in for hamburgers or meatloaf.

Hope that helps with some ideas to fit in more produce to your children’s diet.

PS The peppers were yesterday, I would recommend not letting your child eat that many raw peppers at once, especially if they’re not potty trained… enough said.

A future Banker Perhaps?

Maggie — Fri, 11 May 2007 13:02:00 -0600

I’ll start with a funny Hannah story that happened just this morning and then give you an update on things.

Hannah skipped her nap yesterday and was asleep soon after 8 (very unusual for her) and as a result woke up at 7:30, so while John and I were getting ready for the day Hannah sat on our bed and played with things on my dresser. One of these things is a small box that I keep change in. She was having fun bouncing the coins on the mattress and hearing them clink. I came and sat with her for a little while (making sure nothing was going up the nose, or in a ear, or anything) and she asked to get down. We have quite a tall bed, I need a stool to hop in, and she can get up, but down is a little difficult for her. So I helped her and a fist full of change down. She looked back at me and said “I’ll be right back” (in her own language of missing letters of course), so I sat patiently to see what she would do. Usually those words result in something quite amusing and today was no different. She came back with a piggie bank that Grandma Rita got her for her birthday and put the change in it and asked for “mo’”. So she went through out our room finding any change she could and Daddy let her empty some of his change bank and now her piggie bank is quite full. When she received the bank for her birthday my aunt and uncle put change in it for her, but that was over a month ago and since then the bank has just sat, until this morning. It amazes me what picks up on and what she remembers that may not emerge for months later!

Updates: My back was in quite a bit of pain after the popcorn incident, but I’ve had some better days since. We purchased a La-Z-Boy just my size and that is one place that I can sit/lay very comfortably with little pressure on my back. I also got a back brace from my chiropractor that works wonderfully and has significantly reduced the pain while I’m wearing it. Some wonderful ladies have provided some meals for me and have offered to help me clean, which has helped me be able to rest more. We are so blessed to be in such a wonderful church family. I hope to be able to take over some of the light housework soon.

Some people have asked about potty training, well she’s back in diapers for the time being. Right now there are more important behavioral issues with her that need to be addressed and a fresh start later may be more productive. She does still go before bedtimes in order to delay, but not much else than that.

I had my first appointment with my midwife yesterday and we were able to hear the baby’s heart beat. I’m excited to have a Christian caring for me and my baby during this time and am excited about having this little one in an environment that I am so comfortable in. I’ve been a birth story junkie lately and am dreaming up my own ideas of what I want this birth to be like.

Hodge Podge

Maggie — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:45:00 -0700

I promised more about Hannah. Here new words: “I do it!” and “I did it!”. She really likes these phrases when crawling into the van. She can get all the way in her car seat now, she just needs us to buckle her. She keeps us smiling! :)

Potty training-She’s really coming along. She’s had a few accident free days now, including naps! Hurray! Of course she had three accidents today before noon, but that’s ok. I have been putting her in Pull Ups only for sleep times, and she seems to do ok with that, and I’m now able to wash our clothes and not just sheets. :)

Discipline-Still reading Shepherding a Child’s Heart. WOW! I have becoming more and more convicted of needing to be constantly in the Word and to pass that down to Hannah. I pray that God will give me an unquenchable desire to be in His Word and to take EVERY opportunity to pass His Word down to Hannah. Oh, how I desire for her to grow to love Him, and for me to love Him more and more.

New things- I started a Scrapbook Night in our Clubhouse and invited some neighbors and ladies from church. We had our first one last night. 3 people showed up, 2 ladies for the neighborhood and my cousin. We had a good time and I was able to work on my 2007 album. My goal is to keep current with 2007 and then work backwards. First the Grand Canyon (in progress) and then Hannah’s baby! Praise the Lord for digital cameras! We have everything on the computer, by date, so it at least won’t be too difficult to work backwards. By the way, if anyone (who I know) wants to come, let me know and I’ll get you the info.

Discipline

Maggie — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:13:00 -0700

I have noticed another trend in my dear daughter that is a poor reflection of my parenting. She has started to fuss any time I ask her to do something. She also has not been obeying after the first time I ask. I realize that this is due to me not being consistent. I have given in to her fussing a few times and offered something else to do instead, and if it something that I do think she needs to do I just keep asking her in more serious tones.

Well I’ve started to re-read Shepherding A Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp and I started to apply first thing this morning. So today any time she has fussed when I’ve asked her to do something we’ve gone into the bedroom for some loving discipline. By nap time we didn’t need to go into the bedroom anymore. I’m not saying that she won’t need to again after nap time, but it’s amazing what consistency and loving discipline can do. My prayer is that these changes will not merely be outward, but changes of the heart as well. I so desire for her to learn how to obey my husband and I so that she may learn to obey our Lord as well. I also pray that I will persevere in this as well and continue to be consistent and loving.

Proverbs 13:24 He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.

Proverbs 23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. 14 Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.