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Setting Out

Numbers 9: 23a “At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out…”

Numbers 9 is talking about the Israelites traveling in the wilderness and following the cloud. When it lifted they followed it, when it stopped they camped.

Now, I’m not a big fan of change. And one thing I’ve learned about life, is that there’s always change. Babies are born, children get older, my kitchen is clean one second and dirty the next, children learn to read, children learn to walk, people get married, etc. We’ve had lots of changes this year, and as we just passed our 8 year marriage anniversary I’ve been reflecting on all the changes in the past 8 years. Change is good, you don’t grow without it, but sometimes I just want to sit still, rest, and have no change. (maybe that’s why I like yoga so much)

Some changes are harder than others. Some changes I even welcome. My oldest is learning to read, it’s SO NICE having a child who can almost read in the house! My baby just started crawling, while I rejoice in this next stage in his development, I also mourn that I must now put the baby gate back up in front of our steps – I’ll be climbing over that thing for the next year or so. (actually, I’m really happy he’s crawling, now he can follow his sisters around without requiring my assistance). We’re outgrowing our house actually, really, I think we have outgrown it. We’re looking for a new, larger house. Which is so sad. I love my house. We bough a foreclosure that needed work and things are the way I want them, we re-did the bathrooms, kitchen, flooring, doors, and even the roof. If I wasn’t running out of room, I would be happy to stay here forever. We’ve begun the house hunting process and it’s no fun. My husband doesn’t like the price, I don’t like the layout, it’s in the wrong area of town, it’s ok but not great, and on and on. It’s a good thing we don’t have to move anytime soon as this house hunting may take a year or so at the rate we’re moving. Added to that, we need a new car. I have 3 kids stuffed in the back of an SUV, so far we’ve determined that we need a van, we haven’t agreed on how many seats, how much we can spend, or even when we can purchase one. (if you haven’t figured this out already my husband and I both take a long time to make decisions, he has to research a lot and I have to come around to being ok with the change). I really like my car – actually, I really like my husband’s car but it’s way too small for 3 kids in the back – if only BMW made a 10 passenger van!

With a child in school – I’m homeschooling btw – things are just busier, I’m more tied down to a schedule because we do school every day. I’m loving that she’s learning but it’s changed everything. I’m having to evaluate what activities I have time for and what, if anything I need to drop.

Since the birth of our 3rd child I just feel that things have been constantly in a state of movement. New baby, oldest starting school, need a new house, work is busy (I freelance from home), etc. It’s a bit overwhelming.

As my husband was reading the girl’s devotions the other night he read this verse and it just made me pause. “At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out…” What if they had just decided to stay where they were, there’s water, we already pitched the tent, we’re comfortable here?  Then Sunday we sing this song called “Oceans“. I love the whole song, especially the first line “You call me out upon the waters, the great unknown where feet may fail”. “At the command of the Lord they set out” Even if they didn’t want to set out, they still set out. Just like Peter set out to walk on water when Jesus told him too. I probably would have looked at the water, and at the boat, and said, “nope, I think I’ll stay right here, I know the boat is safe”. But, what if once, I just quit evaluating the circumstances for myself and “set out”? I wonder what would happen?

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Full Hands

“you sure have your hands full”

At the grocery store yesterday we started with the baby in his carrier on the front of the cart. The girls were in the BLUE car on the front of the cart (it had to be blue, I’m just happy they both agree on the color). We head into the produce section, the girls are happily “steering” and the baby is cooing to his toys.

30 minutes later, we’re finishing up with our last couple of things from the frozen section, I’m carrying the baby so he doesn’t cry, steering the car cart with one hand (which is almost impossible, because of the car I can’t grab the front of the cart and just pull it behind me like I would do with a regular cart), explaining to the girls that I can’t steer the cart if they’re both hanging on the outside of it, and some dear sweet lady has the audacity to say “you sure have your hands full”.

Why yes, I DO have my hands full, a baby in one, a cart in the other, and two kids hanging on. Were you referring to the fact that it is physically impossible to hold anything else in my hands? Were you commenting on the fact that I have 3 kids, and you think that ‘s a lot? Do you think it’s not appropriate for my children to be hanging on the outside of the cart (they could be running around the store instead)? Could you think of nothing else to say?

Or the guy that commented “you have your hands full” as I’m trying to walk through the Wal-Mart parking lot with 3 kids. He also felt the need to strike up a conversation about their ages and such as I’m trying to direct them around traffic. Um, yes, I have my hands full, why are we still talking?

It seems like I can’t go anywhere these days without hearing that statement at least once. I just smile and say “yes I do” 🙂 Because, I indeed do have my hand full, literally, I can’t hold anything else. Not that I mind, it just seems like a statement of the obvious to tell me.

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A Mother’s Heart

Luke 2:19 “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.”

Luke 2:51b “…And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.”

As a mother, I find these verses to be very precious. The first verse comes right after the shepherds visited Jesus and the second verse is right after Mary and Joseph lost Jesus and found him in the temple after searching for him for days.

There are just things your children do, things people say, things that happen, and things I feels as a mother that I just “store” in my heart. I know I’ll use them later, or at least remember them later. They affect how I interact with each child and it’s not always something I can explain, It’s just something I know. Some of this stuff gets written down in their baby books, if I can figure out how to put it into words. I want them to know it when they’re older.

Each child has their own unique birth story and their own unique life and I constantly look forward to the next special thing to add to who they are as I see them.

As I read these verses I’m always reminded of how my children were born, how I felt at that moment, and what affect it has on me and how I relate to them.

My mother’s first child was a stillborn so my entire first pregnancy I was pretty worried. I tried hard not to worry because there’s really nothing that worrying can do for me but still, I worried. So, when I went into labor and had the report from my midwife that she had a good heartbeat, I was relieved. Somehow, I held it together when my water broke and it was green (my mom’s was green with her first), but we still had a heartbeat so I knew it was ok. I can’t even describe the relief and joy of holding my first child, hearing her cry, and just knowing that she was healthy. To this day, she’s still extra special to me, and I’m just so grateful that God gave her to me.

My second child was just very unhappy to be born. I don’t know if she disliked the birth process or was just hungry after my whole 2 hour labor but I just remember her crying and crying the minute she took her first breath. I held her close to me and she cried, and cried, and cried some more. I was almost in tears. Finally I fed her and she was happy. To this day, I just can’t take it when she cries. My husband teases me about it, but there’s just something inside of me that melts when she cries, just like the day she was born.

At about 30 weeks pregnant with my 3rd child I had this crazy dream about his birth. I never could remember the exact details of the dream, I just woke up and remembered 3 things, he was born early, he was perfectly healthy, and he was the most adorable baby ever. Which may explain why I was the calmest of the 3 adults present when he was born 5 minutes before the midwife arrived. He was completely healthy, and he’s the cutest baby I’ve ever seen. Maybe my feelings were stronger from the rush of delivering my own baby, but I’ll never forget how I felt just holding him for the first time and looking at him and thinking just how precious and adorable (and cute!) he was.

My children are all young, so I just store these things up, ponder them at times, and wait for the day when it all makes sense.

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Chamomile Tea

I gave my baby chamomile tea for the first time last night. I had read somewhere that chamomile was good for colicky babies. Now, I don’t have a colicky baby (far from it) but he had a really rough day yesterday and his tummy was obviously upset, so I looked up chamomile tea since I always have that on hand – my 5yr old loves to drink it when she’s sick.

According to what I read, you make a weak cup of tea and give the baby 1 to 3 teaspoons of the tea and it’ll settle the baby’s stomach. So I gave it a try. I put it in a bottle for the baby, of course, since this was his first experience with a bottle he had no idea what to do with it but he still drank a teaspoon or two.

Chamomile is fairly sweet on it’s own so even though the baby wasn’t familiar with it, he still liked it. And, he settled right down in 15 minutes. Then nursed and finally went to sleep.

I’ve heard you can use chamomile daily for colicky babies but I’ve never tried it since I’ve been blessed with happy babies. Though, I am tempted to give him a teaspoon every night before bed since he slept 10 hrs last night – Don’t worry, I won’t, he’s been sleeping longer and longer at night already. Though, I had forgotten what a full night’s sleep feels like, I almost didn’t need my coffee this morning!

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Comforts for Baby

I really enjoy trying new products, and my favorite product review site is BzzAgent. I get to try out real products for free and leave my feedback.

My latest campaign was from Kroger’s line of baby items. Comforts for baby.

I received a free box of diapers (96 diapers in the size that I got), a free container of baby wipes, and two free sippy cups.

1. I loved the baby wipes, they’re store brand so a lot cheaper than a name brand but they’re still thick and soft. Walmart’s baby wipes are really thin so I don’t use them, I’ve been using pamper’s instead. But I think I’ll switch to Comforts. I like them just as well as pamper’s baby wipes and Comforts are a lot cheaper!

2. The diapers are ok, they’re a little smaller than the same size in Pampers so I wish I’d gotten one size larger. The weight limit was the same on the size 3 comforts and the size 3 pampers so I expected the same size diaper. They still fit my toddler but a slightly larger size would have been better.

I think they’re a little rougher feeling than Pampers but my toddler doesn’t notice the difference. They always seem more saturated to me when I change my toddler but I haven’t had any diapers leak or any rashes on the toddler.

They’re cheaper than Pampers and work as well even if they seem less nice to me. I still have half a box of diapers to go through before I have to decide which I’ll purchase.

3. I did not like the cups. My kids don’t like cups with the rubber stoppers so I had to pull those out. Which wouldn’t have been terrible, but the cup is tall and skinny so it tips over easily, and without the rubber stoppers, they spill everywhere.

I liked the flip lid that is on the cups, it’s a great idea, but the cup still leaks when it’s on if I don’t have the rubber stoppers in. If you have a child that drinks out of cups with the stoppers in it, you’ll probably like this cup, but it just doesn’t work for me.

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Baby Quilt and Child’s Apron

I’m a little bit behind on posting sewing projects, so, here’s a couple I  just finished:

Little girl and doll apron. This fabric was leftover from a project last year so I just used it up.

A baby quilt and burp cloths that I made from leftovers from sewing projects. Whenever I finish a project I cut as many squares as I can get out of the leftovers and just save up the squares until I have enough complimenting squares to make a quilt.

It definitely makes for a fun quilt!

And, a closer look at the burp cloths. The have terry-cloth on the back so they’re super absorbent and easy to clean with.

I have two more sets of cloths done, but I’m still working on the quilts to go with them. I don’t have quite enough squares to piece them together. I guess that means I need to do a few more sewing projects.

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$10 for Plum District

Plum District, an online deal site is offering $10 gift certificates to everyone who signs up. Making $30 worth of custom tags only $5 or $40 worth of baby clothes only $10. A pretty good deal!

Plus other deals such as wall decals for only $4 after using your $10 gift certificate.

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More Pictures from Sweet Booties!

More pictures of projects from my Sweet Booties! book. My sister made these baby boots when she was in town the other week. We had so much fun sewing together!

I never would have paired the red leather and yellow lining together but she did, and I think they look great now that I see them together! It’s so much fun to watch someone else combine fabrics in ways I never would!

And of course, her hat. This was actually a baby pattern but we added a few inches and made a hat for her. It’s such an easy pattern to make (just a couple of circles) and very easy to alter. I’ll have to make it the right size for my baby. The baby pattern has an attached chin strap – which we obviously removed for an adult.

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Baby Shoes

Two pairs of baby shoes from my new Sweet Booties! book.

This book has the cutest baby things in it! Booties, bibs, hats, bloomers, etc.

My sister made a really cute pair of red and yellow baby boots at the same time as I was working on these. As soon as I get a picture from her I’ll post it.

These on the left I did a blanket stitch around the opening and then ran the ribbon through when the shoes were done.

The sizing was a tad smaller than I expected so unfortunately these shoes don’t fit my baby so I’ll either save them for a shower gift, for future children, or sell them on my Etsy shop when I start it up the end of this year. I’m sure my baby doesn’t mind, she doesn’t even like socks!

I love these Mary Jane’s! I used some leather on the outside and some animal print fabric I had left over from a poodle skirt I did a while back. The pattern called for a button but I used velcro and I really like it. Trying to do buttons on a kicking baby just doesn’t sound like fun.

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Quilts

The other day my grandmother gave me a gift for my new baby. A baby quilt. The exciting thing is, this is just like the quilts she made for me and my sister when we were born.

I practically wore mine out, but I still have it! She hand quilts and I’m always amazed by her attention to detail and her patience with all that hand sewing!

New Quilt
Old Quilt