playing at home

erica — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:12:00 +0000

I’ve been drinking this tea to help with sinus congestion. I get horrrrrible sinus infections and I will do ANYTHING I can to be relieved from it. Here’s a great recipe that I just found

1 LARGE CUP WATER
1 TBS APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
1 WHOLE CLOVE
1 PORTION FRESH GINGER ROOT (CHOPPED)
1 TSP GROUND CINNAMON
1 TBS LOCAL HONEY

New Books!

erica — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:07:42 +0000

Found some very cute books at the library that Emily seems to LOVE. She, like most 2 year olds, has a very hard time with sharing with other children or hearing NO from another kid. These books help them play and think about finding ways of dealing with stress! Kudos to the author for writing such good literature for kids! These books help the child deal with and recognize the big feelings they are experiencing without judgement and doesn’t give overly punitive solutions. In Calm Down Time, it recommends giving the child a chance to take three deep breaths when angry or sad and tells them to count: “One Two Three! I’m taking care of me!” I have been practicing this with Em and she gets a kick out of it and will then ask me to read the Calm Down book.

Hope the books help you as much as they do me!

Practical Life Skills

erica — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:03:12 +0000

I’ve taken up including Emmy in my every day chores. I started by making Christmas crackers with her and she flipped out she loved it so much. Now when I’m cooking she pulls her chair up and says “Emmy do it!!” (Sadly these moments go unphotographed because I’m too concerned with making sure she doesn’t burn herself or spill food.)

Since, I try my best to include her in the chores that I can. Helping me sort and load laundry, cleaning mirrors, wiping down counters, setting the table etc. She loves it. She gets empowered from it.

Here she is doing the dishes:

Be Still

erica — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:09:45 +0000

The nights are getting easier and much more enjoyable. All of us in the family know what to expect. After playing, snuggles, nursing, reading, prayers and lullabies, I lay down my two little sweeties’ heads and kiss them both into a peaceful sleep. There’s a sense of comfort from our routine, a realization that it’s time for quiet, for rest.

After walking out of the very silent room where my little one’s were drifting into dreamland, I felt this amazing sense of peace, contentment and stillness come over me. I don’t want to lose this feeling (although I know it is temporary) and so I started flipping through some poems (as I tend to when I am looking for inspiration). This fit how I am feeling now.

The Moor
by R. S. Thomas
It was like a church to me.
I entered it on soft foot,
Breath held like a cap in the hand.
It was quiet.
What God was there made himself felt,
Not listened to, in clean colours
That brought a moistening of the eye,
In movement of the wind over grass.

There were no prayers said. But stillness
Of the heart’s passions — that was praise
Enough; and the mind’s cession
Of its kingdom. I walked on,
Simple and poor, while the air crumbled
And broke on me generously as bread.

Blessed Feast all.

Outside the Box

erica — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:27:51 +0000

The deeper into motherhood I get, I realize how little I really did now to begin with. I am giving myself more and more slack and relaxing into my ways. I feel more than ever like a beginner as of late. Someone who is just learning and winging it. I am giving up Mom Guilt. That stuff is toxic. No, I won’t hurt my kid by giving them a bottle. No, I’m not a bad mom if my daughter likes to watch tv every once and again. No, my kids won’t feel abandoned if I get out more often. They will be okay. I am a beginner but I am a good mom because I love my kids and try hard to be thoughtful about the choices I make for them and have their best interests in mnd.

I’ve had to tweak some of my parenting strategies as of late and I got to say, living on the other side of the proverbial fence helps you to grow and become much more understanding and humble about what you thought you knew. Putting less pressure on myself to do it a certain way and just be myself has brought so much happiness and joy to mine and my kids life. I always knew people did things in all different ways. I had always heard that every child is different. I have lived through it now. I have two radically different children. They each come with their own set of joys and challenges. I love them both. It’s amazing how God really does give you what you need in order to teach you humility, love and patience. I feel stronger and more confident than I ever have in regards to parenting. Knowing that I’m not confined to one set of rules has given me such liberty. I know I can do this. I love my kids and I am so thankful to have them in my life to teach me to be a better person. I heard once that children are there to make an adults out of their parents. I truly get that now.

So, here’s to not knowing everything! Who knew it would be so liberating?

Holiday Highlights

erica — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:05:57 +0000

Click to view slideshow.

We had a really great Christmas. It was spent surrounded by family and friends and many hours at church. Just how Christmas should be. Our little baby even started sleeping through the night the week after Christmas and both kids are sharing a room now and life has started to settle down much more. Christ is Born! Give Glory!

I hope Jack Frost didn’t nip too hard at your nose, that you didn’t stuff yourself too full of figgy pudding and that you indited many well balanced songs of praise (kudos to those who get the last reference).

Farewell 2011

erica — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 21:21:04 +0000

Thank you for my healthy boy.

Year’s End by Richard Wilbur
Now winter downs the dying of the year,
And night is all a settlement of snow;
From the soft street the rooms of houses show
A gathered light, a shapen atmosphere,
Like frozen-over lakes whose ice is thin
And still allows some stirring down within.

I’ve known the wind by water banks to shake
The late leaves down, which frozen where they fell
And held in ice as dancers in a spell
Fluttered all winter long into a lake;
Graved on the dark in gestures of descent,
They seemed their own most perfect monument.

There was perfection in the death of ferns
Which laid their fragile cheeks against the stone
A million years. Great mammoths overthrown
Composedly have made their long sojourns,
Like palaces of patience, in the gray
And changeless lands of ice.

The little dog lay curled and did not rise
But slept the deeper as the ashes rose
And found the people incomplete, and froze
The random hands, the loose unready eyes
Of men expecting yet another sun
To do the shapely thing they had not done.

These sudden ends of time must give us pause.
We fray into the future, rarely wrought
Save in the tapestries of afterthought.
More time, more time. Barrages of applause
Come muffled from a buried radio.
The New-year bells are wrangling with the snow.

The little things

erica — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:12:09 +0000

Amidst an exceedingly difficult day, my little boy started babbling “Mama” to me. I know it will take a few weeks before he knows what it means but just that little noise from my little boy blessed me and kept me focused.

Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Peace, sanity and patience are needed.

Quiet book so far…

erica — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:44:32 +0000

I am not done with it by Christmas *sigh* but I will keep adding to it. I did put it together without a cover so she could at least have it to play with. I tested it out on her last night when I was feeling discouraged and she loves it. It gave me the pep i needed to finish it.

Here it is bound together without the cover:

Incredibly busy over here but hope you all are staying sane for the holiday season!

Decking the Halls

erica — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:45:37 +0000

Happy Christmas All! I hope you are enjoying the season!