Parenting

After discussing parenting tonight - I continue to ponder and pray about my roll as a mother. Up until the last few months, my roll has been to love and care. Showing Autumn she can trust me to care for all of her basic needs. It is a wonderful thing, easy to enjoy simply pouring out love and soaking in cuddles. Then the will... first it was a look, "the don't you dare take that from me" look. Then the stiff body protesting getting into the carseat, the yelling, then the tantrum, now the "no, no, no!"

This parenting thing is tough and I know it has only just begun. I'll be honest, my mind already jumps to the future and dreads the teen years. (I've dreaded parenting the teen years since I was a teen) Then my mind jumps back to the present - how can I help Autumn be safe, honest, caring, compassionate, loving, faithful... She understands nearly everything I say now, but her ability to follow through, go against her own desires and obey is very very difficult. She has my personality - she is strong willed and curious. Safety is far from her first priority (since she is far too young to predict or understand many consequences) and she is so mobile. Yesterday she got my mascara off the counter and put it on (daddy got to clean that one up - sorry). The other day she fell off the edge of the couch reaching for a desired item. I can tell her a 100+ times not to touch the buttons on the room heaters and she forgets I'm in the room and starts pushing the buttons and startles when I get after her. Ahh........

I say this not because I think she is a bad kiddo, but because I'm realizing that setting boundaries and expectations is so hard and she is going to explore, push and learn. Being 100% consistent is so important, yet impossible. Keeping her safe is difficult. I try hard - but I'm merely practicing, I haven't done this before. We will butt heads and I will make mistakes.

My hope is that we come out in 18 years relatively un-scared - both physically and emotionally. That she becomes a God fearing, loving, compassionate, honest, caring member of society. That I learn and grow in love, patience, and peace.

Children have the ability to bring joy unspeakable and pain deeper than the sea. They will make us proud to call them our own. They will make poor choices that will bring tears and sadness. Lord help us in this journey - we need you foremost.

My Parenting Prayer -
Lord build my faith so you will be the focus of our family.
Lord help me to give you credit for all things so my children see you around them.
Lord help us to be honest so we can meet each others needs.
Lord teach us how you love so that we may love each other more wholly.
Help me to be kind and firm in my discipline so my children will know right from wrong.
Lord help me grant grace and patience- to my children as they learn and for myself when I make mistakes.
Help me to learn, love, laugh and become the parent you want me to be. Amen.

Why I Love Blogging

Blogging: A blog (a blend of the term web log)^[1] is a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

To me blogging is both the creation of my own online journal and the reading of others. My own blog is a way for me to journal about my life for my own record, keep family up to date and interact with my friends.

Additionally, almost every night I come to blogger.com to check and see if anyone has written a post I'd be interested in. Most of the blogs I follow are friends, but I also follow a couple of missionaries and other topical blogs that interest me. Through written updates, pictures and video clips I maintain contact and get to know my friends in a way that is otherwise not possible. I'm often encouraged in my walk with Christ from others posts and am able to pray for needs that I may have otherwise not known about! I also learn new things about parenting, crafts, cooking or what ever happens to be on other people's minds. Like tonight I learned about how cutting diary has helped several mommies significantly reduce the fussiness of their babies and read a verse on God's comfort that is very applicable in my life right now too.

So to those of you who are in my blog world - thank you - I appreciate all of you! We are in this journey of life together!! (-:

Chai Gingerbread Bars

I made these tonight and they are heavenly!! From a friend of mines food blog: http://mytabletheirtable.blogspot.com

2 cups of whole wheat flour

1 tsp of allspice

1 tsp of cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp of ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp of Chai tea leaves (about 3 tea bags worth)

1/2 tsp of baking soda

1/2 tsp of salt

1 cup of butter, softened

1 cup of dark brown sugar

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

2 whole eggs

1 tsp of vanilla

1/4 cup of molasses

1 TBS of fresh ginger, minced

1/2 cup of golden raisins

Sift together the flour, allspice, cinnamon, ground ginger, tea leaves, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until smooth. Add in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides as needed. Add in the molasses, vanilla, and ginger. Combine until the mixture is smooth. Slowly add in the flour mixture. Once combined, add in the raisins. Grease a 9"x13" baking pan (I like to use the paper from the butter). Spread the batter evenly in the pan. Bake at 350degrees for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack completely before cutting. These bars are best cold, honestly! Enjoy!

More Fat Please!

For most of my life I have tried to figure out how to shop for low fat foods. Although I have always fed Autumn high fat foods, her weight gain had been minimal between 12-15 months and we have been trying to figure out how to add calories to her diet! After cruising the grocery store and reading up, these are the things we have tried to add to her wholesome diet!

She will not drink milk - so after several attempts of adding coco, vanilla, warming it... I thought I would try adding half and half to her orange juice that she loves! White juice was born - she downs it no problem and sometimes I've even been adding heavy cream instead of 1/2 and 1/2. I tried it - it tastes like a creamsicle.
Half and Half - 1 Tablespoon = 20 calories, 1.73 g fat
Heavy Cream - 1 Tablespoon = 51 calories, 5.5 g fat

Butter - on anything!! Mixed in the pasta, added to eggs, on toast, in potatoes, on vegies

Coconut butter is a tasty treat I found at the food Coop here. 1 Tablespoon = 57 calories, 5 g fat I add it to peanut butter on toast or mix in warm oatmeal.

Peanut butter - goes on crackers, on toast, in applesauce, in yogurt - anything really! 1 Tablespoon = 94 calories, 8 g fat

Higher Fat Yogurts -
Greek Gods Pomegranate - 6oz = 230 calories, 17 g fat
Dannon naturals plain yogurt - 8oz = 160 calories, 8 g fat (reasonably priced at Walmart)
Fage Total Greek Yogurt - 8 oz = 300 calories, 23 g fat

I feed her yogurt plain, with applesauce, and in oatmeal.

Cheese - on whole grain pasta, plain, on crackers, cream cheese, cottage cheese... I've even caved and started feeding her natural mac and cheese. She loves it! Aaron made it with 1/2 and 1/2 instead of milk.

Confessions of an obsessive mother: I've had to break some of my rules to increase her diet - mostly in the area of sugar. Up until 3 weeks ago I had tried not to feed her anything with processed sugar, not even cane sugar - only plain yogurt, no sweet treats (cookies, ice cream...). She had plenty of fructose and other sugars found naturally in fruits and vegetables. The flavored yogurts I'm now feeding her, have cane sugar in them and because she has started asking for them when we are eating them, I let her have bites of cookies/ice cream every now and then. I still plan to keep her sugar intake as small as possible, but am trying to be less neurotic about it. I had also decided I didn't want her having processed crackers - and found that rice cakes and veggie straws had way fewer and more natural ingredients. However in the quest to up the calories - I'm now feeding her cheddar whales and ritz crackers as well.

16 months

Sweet Girl! Another month has slip by and you continue to be the joy of our lives! Much has changed in our life as a family and you just roll with the punches! In the last month we packed up our house in Loveland, celebrated your 2nd Christmas and traveled to Washington state to live for a short time. Your daddy and granddad drove our cars and you and I flew on an airplane from Aspen. You hardly noticed all the change as each day the house became more and more empty. As long as there were some toys or tubberware or boxes to play with you were happy.
We moved out on the 23rd and spent 2 nights with the Grandma and Papa and then with the Lyon's enjoying Christmas! You got lots of fun toys - and even screamed in excitement when you opened a learning turtle from Grandma and Papa and the baby from Heather and Todd. You are busy busy busy - playing with this, hiding that, asking for "dat" and running around! Christmas afternoon we drove to Nana and Papa's for a relaxed Christmas evening and more spoilage! The next day Great Grandpa and Grandma came to visit and spend time with you.
We are now in a new place and you have adjust well. I would even say you have a better routine here, which is nice! You now take a mid-morning nap and then sometimes another one before dinner. Other than mommy having to wake you up to feed you before work, you are sleeping at night like a champ! The Watson's are generously sharing their home with us for a few weeks and then we will be with another family for 5 weeks. While mommy is working full time, Daddy has you 2 days a week and you spend 2 days with Kaitlin and Mara! We are so blessed that you are happy where ever we are!

You had your 15 month check up - not our best visit. The doctor is worried that you are not gaining enough weight and you had an ear infection and had to be put on antibiotics. You had not showed any signs of sore ears - so I'm glad that we happened to be going to the doctor's office. We are not worried about your weight and expect you will have another growth spurt soon! We are also trying to boost your diet with more calories. You now drink 'white juice' (heavy cream and Orange Juice), we add butter, coconut butter and cheese to everything! You ate so much before that it is amazing that you are still hanging out at around 18 pounds - avocados, full fat Greek yogurt and cheese ... lots of food for a busy girl! Keep up the good work - you like most of the food we give you!


Firsts: First train ride (Glenwood Springs to Denver on the Amtrak), first time playing outside in your snowsuit, first time allowed eating treats like bites of cookies and a bite of ice cream, first time on antibiotics (which you loved thank goodness - but after the last dose you got hives, so just like mommy - no penicillin for you!), first time feeding Llamas (with Kaitlin and Mara).


Words! Many new words including bart (barette), butt (button), eat, nun (done), side, tutl (turtle), kiki (kiwi), shoes (which sounds like juice), no, dat (that), Mama (Mara), Elmo (super clear!), buk (book), cheese, kitty, eye, dee (diaper), kiss, dun (down), nada(banana), dow (door),baat (bath), own (phone), ion (Lion), beep (sheep), tee(teeth) .. and others!

Things you love - babies are still at the top of the list, but since moving, Elmo is a new favorite - yesterday in the car you said "Momma?" I said "Yes Autumn," you said "Elmo!" You love to play with your shoes - the third day we were here you took all your socks and shoes and put them on the 2nd stair. You like order - you fix the rugs if they are flipped up. You LOVE Mara's booster seat - for some reason it is far superior to your own. You also love juice and luckily your white juice too!!! You love to knock on daddy's office door! You love the bath - you splish and splash and blow bubbles.


Current interests: Babies, Elmo and Cookie Monster, electronics - remotes, phones, anything with buttons, a foam elmo book, scribbling, swinging, observing, running, being tickled, shoes, climbing, Mara's high chair.

Difficulties this month - you are cutting like 6 teeth (including 3 first molars) and although you are not supper fussy you started biting me )-: You lean into kiss or give goobers and then chomp chomp. You have also continued to become more opinionated about things and throw an occasional fit about things like not wanting to get dressed, or when you get into things you should not be getting into and we remove you, and other not so fun moments. You are also having a hard time sharing - you want everything Mara has in her hands - slowly you are learning to ask please and give her things to play with. You also get pretty jealous if daddy or I are holding baby Mara, but you are getting better.

Although we have hard moments, you are one amazing and wonderful girl! You are learning and picking things up so quickly - watching you grow up is so much fun! We love you very much and are so proud to be your momma and daddy!!!!

Nursing Home

Well, I just finished my first 4 day in a row stretch of working since June 2009. It wasn't bad - my job is very rewarding even though it is hard work. For another 9 weeks I will be at a SNF (nursing home) in Colfax helping elderly people gain independence.

Hardest Moments of the last 7 days:
Having Autumn cry at the door as I leave and then peer out the windows to watch me drive away.
Having Autumn scream Mommy at the top of her lungs when I hand her off to Aaron at O dark thirty in the morning and have to leave.
Today having my client with a neurological disorder cry because he no longer is well enough to live with his wife or care for himself.
Watching clients decline in function or give up.
Foul odors.

Best Moments (at work):
Being asked to be the primary OT by a family and then the mom said - "if you'd have been here 2 months ago he'd already be doing all these things."
Conversations with clients about their families and lives.
Being told I look 16 by a funny woman (-:
Watching clients gain independence and confidence in order to return home.

2010 Recap

What an amazingly blessed year the Lord gave us! A year of many unexpected changes and a lot of fun! It was our first year start to finish with a little one and it has been absolutely amazing watching her grow and change into a little toddler!

We started the year out with Aaron working for a small marketing company and me thinking about going back to work 12-16 hours a week. By the end of January God heavily changed our path - Aaron quit his job to start a Web Services Company and I went to work at the hospital down the street PRN. After working 2 days the primary therapist tore his ACL and I could pick up as many hours a week as I wanted (I tried to work less than 3).

In early February we all flew out to Portland for Aaron to attend a Business as Missions conference while Autumn and I checked out the city. For many years we have felt that God may lead us overseas and it was good for Aaron to see and hear first hand how Business and Missions are being used to reach people across the world. Autumn and I also got to spend an afternoon hanging out with a friend and her son along the river and down town.



In March we decide to commit to spending a weekend a month in Glenwood Springs where my parents live with me working PRN at the hospital. It was nice to do lunch with my mom at work a couple of times and we always enjoy the time spent in the beautiful canyon. Nana spoils us, Granddad takes us to the hot springs and red mountain is out the windows! We are also able to help a little bit around their house with projects.

In May Aaron's paternal Grandma Vi went to be with the Lord. We were able to travel to Montana to attend the memorial and visit Aaron's loving family and even meet some family I had not yet met.

June began the summer of travel! On the same day my nephew was born in Maryland, Autumn and I flew together to Washington to celebrate the birth of Mara and honor Grace's 2nd birthday. In July Autumn and I hit the airport again together to see her new cousin Eric! We had a fabulous time relaxing, helping out and also getting to go to the national zoo and fun pub in DC. In August we hit the road as a family! First family road trip - we saw so much, visited many friends and even froze a few nights together (-: Zion to Vegas to Death Valley to Yosemite to Tahoe to Redwood to the Oregon coast to Olympia to Rainer to Pullman to Montana to Yellowstone and home again!


September we celebrated Autumn's first birthday in Hawaiian style and collected 2 full boxes of generous donations to take to the local pregnancy center. A few days later we caught an airplane to Hawaii!!! We dream of being able to share our love of the warm Hawaiian ocean with our children! Autumn absolutely loved the water - hanging from a Va'a splashing, playing on the SUP, running on the beach and into the waves! We all had so much fun and enjoyed all our friends that we miss so so so much!!



October rolled in the second Wacky Warmers season and then until Christmas is a bit of a blur. Aaron has been staying very busy with his work, I continued to work 2 days a week at the hospital in Loveland and doing 1 weekend a month in Glenwood and I some how made about 400-500 hats! I will admit this was done in the wee hours of the night or occasionally with baby sitters - as Autumn is a full time job when she is awake! (-; Aaron and grandparents graciously helped with Autumn while I did 6 craft shows. I learned a lot, bought a serger and will figure out a Wacky Warmer game plan when I get back in 2012.

Until 2012? In about October we sealed our plans to take off again. God lined everything up so nicely - as of right now we plan to be here in Pullman, WA until mid-March, in Hawaii mid-March to mid-April, in Thailand and Myanmar for 12 days, back in Colorado May until mid-July and then on a school contract in Hawaii for the 2011-12 school year. Each stage has it's own purpose - all in all it is a kind of unusual way to live - but we enjoy the life style and it helps to meet our life and financial goals.

We moved out of our home the 23rd and spent a couple of days celebrating Christmas with Aaron's family. We then drove to Glenwood on Christmas day and spend a couple of days resting and relaxing with my parents. On the 27th Aaron and my dad drove our 2 cars to Washington and Autumn and I flew out of Aspen (which was the same price as flying out of Denver - crazy) on the 29th to meet Aaron in Spokane and drive to our new temporary home! We are so so so so grateful to the Watsons for taking us in for awhile! I started work on Wednesday and will be working 32-40 hours a week for 10 1/2 weeks at a local Skilled Nursing Facility. As all travel jobs have been - it is sure to be an adventure!! Besides the somewhat scary winter drive - the rehab manager resigned and had his last day Thursday and the other OT put her resignation in on Friday! Pray for me (-:

Happy New Year!!! God Bless 2011!!!