Ladybug and Her Bouncer

Ladybug's big Christmas present finally arrived yesterday. You can read the story of why it arrived after Christmas here.

Hubby and I inflated the bouncer first thing this morning, and Ladybug (2.5 years old) loves it! It will be a great way to burn off her two-year-old energy when this over-the-hill Mama is worn out. Or hopefully, I will be on the recumbent exercise bike in the same room while she's bouncing to her heart's content! (I may be getting older, but I'm tired of being worn out and not being able to run after my child.)

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Top Ten Tuesday

How lazy am I? Today, I am listing my Top Ten Top Ten Tuesday posts. Enjoy!

1. Top Ten Ways to Eat Cucumbers (with links to some good recipes!)

2. Top Ten Things I Learned on Twitter - one of my personal faves

3. Things I'm Learning About Motherhood - and I'm still learning

4. Top Ten Things I Love About My Husband

5. Top Ten Steelers - yes, Amanda, this is talking about FOOTBALL ;-)

6. Top Ten Things I Do Before Leaving the House - every mother can relate to this one!

7. Top Ten Things that My Daughter Says

8. More Cute Things that Ladybug Says

9. Top Ten Reasons I Need Coffee

10. Top Ten Parenting Things I'm Glad that I've Done


For more entertaining Top Ten lists, visit ohamanda.com

Lingering at Christmas

It's December 28th. Are your Christmas decorations put away already? Our tree will stay up for a little while longer.

I am always amazed at those who can't wait to put the decorations up the day after Thanksgiving and take them down on December 26th. I am not in any hurry to leave Christmas behind. I want to linger.

When I was growing up, our family usually left the tree and decorations up until Epiphany, which is January 6th. We never made a big deal out of Epiphany and sometimes the tree came down before the 6th, depending when the weekend was. I was never ready to let go of the season.

Sometimes in our crazy, hectic lives, we are in such a hurry to get on to the next thing, that we forget to pause and reflect. Was this Christmas season all that you wanted it to be? Do you need to slow down next year and not expect so much of yourself during this busy season?

I've already decided on a few changes for next year. For one, we'll do a more structured, age-appropriate Advent calendar activity, even if I have to spend the time preparing it myself. We tried to use a generic reading/activity set, and it was too much for a 2 year old. We lasted three whole days before giving up. I also want to have a real Advent wreath on our table.

We did talk a lot about Baby Jesus and that Christmas is His birthday. Ladybug loved singing Happy Birthday to Jesus all through Advent. That was precious to this Mama's heart. (She even enjoyed "making" birthday cake for Jesus, we would sing, blow out the candles, and pretend to eat cake.)

I also want to stress less about gifts. Not only was there the whole Walmart debacle, but exchanging gifts with the extended family was too stressful for me. I'm making some changes for next year. (i.e. if you don't turn in a list, then you are getting whatever I want to give you. get over it.)

I want to sing more Christmas carols in our home. I could not find our Christmas CDs this year, so next year if I don't find them, we'll just have to sing all the time!

And even though we are being deliberate in teaching Ladybug the true meaning of Christmas, I want to reflect more on what that means TO ME. It's too easy to neglect my own spiritual walk when things are hectic.

Are you lingering at Christmas? Or have you already rushed on? Even if the decorations are already packed away, I challenge you to take some time and reflect on what Christmas truly means. God's own Son came to earth. Instead of fanfare or glitzy wrapping paper, our best Christmas present came wrapped in swaddling cloths.

I know I need less glitz and more swaddling. How about you?

Merry Christmas

For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

Walmart Will Not Ruin My Christmas Cheer

Monday was quite the day. I'd love to share it with you, but let's start at the beginning.

Hubby and I decided to give Ladybug only three Christmas gifts this year. We chose the three gifts, and we were very pleased with our decision. The major gift was an inflatable bouncer that will help Ladybug wear off some of her 2-year-old energy. So I ordered it through walmart.com and selected the site-to-store shipping so that we wouldn't have the extra expense of shipping.

I received confirmation that my order was accepted. A few days later I received a e-mail saying that my item had shipped. I was eagerly awaiting the final e-mail saying that my item had arrived.

Instead on Monday, I received an e-mail saying that my order had been canceled and my credit card would be credited. I immediately called the toll-free number in the e-mail. It took about eight menu selections before I finally reached a real-live person.

I explained the e-mail that I received and asked why my order was canceled. It seems that the item was shipped to the wrong store. I asked if I could reorder the item. No, apparently it's out of stock. When will it be back in stock? We won't be carrying this item anymore. Well, can you tell me if the item was shipped to a store nearby and I'll drive to get it (we have at least five other Walmarts in the area). No, the computer won't let me look up that information.

Huh?

I maintained my composure, told the CSR that I realized this was not her fault and I wouldn't take out my frustration on her, but that I.WAS.VERY.UPSET. I also told her that Walmart lost a customer.

I don't want to turn this into a tirade against Walmart. I already don't like them. I shop there as little as possible anyway.

Even though this is very upsetting, and Ladybug will not have one of her three gifts on Christmas morning, it's not going to ruin my Christmas cheer.

We found the bouncer through amazon.com and paid the extra shipping costs, although it won't be here in time for Christmas.

Christmas is about so much more than presents. Even if we couldn't afford any presents at all, we would still celebrate. It is about celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the best present of all.

Parenting Stuff I'm Glad that I've Done

My blogging mo-jo has got up and went lately. Busy schedule, too much going on, and I'm sapped. So I'm referring back the to great blogging topics that were given to me on this post. Casey asked, "What's the best parenting decision that you've made?"

I actually feel that we've made some decent parenting decisions in the past 2.5 years. I guess that's the benefit of being an older parent. I feel wiser, but often lack the energy that a younger parent would have. It's a trade off. (Not that younger parents can't make good parenting decisions. I feel that I've made more time to think about what kind of parent I wanted to be.)


1. Breastfeeding - I'm so thankful that we've been able to breastfeed. We are practicing child-led weaning, and Ladybug is slowly weaning, on her time, the way it should be. And I'm thankful that I have enjoyed that part of our relationship enough to allow her to lead the way.

2. Co-sleeping - I know this wasn't a popular decision among family and friends, but it works for us.

3. Parenting by instinct - We do follow some Attachment Parenting principles, but we parent by instinct. I read lots of parenting books and websites when I was pregnant, and some of the popular advice just didn't seem right to us. We read the advice that is out there, and listen to counsel from others, then make our decisions.

4. Teaching Ladybug sign language - Oh.My.Word. I am SO thankful that we did this. We started with just a few signs at birth, Ladybug signed back at 4.5 months old, and now she knows almost 200 signs. We want this to be the foundation for American Sign Language as a second language. Now as a verbal toddler, signing helps clarify what she is trying to say when her pronunciation isn't quite clear. Plus it's fun!

5. Being a stay-at-home mom - another opportunity for which I am very thankful.

6. Learning more about good nutrition and whole foods - There are a lot of changes that I still want to make in regards to our diet and nutrition, but we are worlds away from the fast food and convenience food that we used to live on.

7. Discovering my inner art teacher - I love all the art projects that we've done so far. We're taking a break from our ABC Bible verses for the holidays, but we still do at least one craft a week when my nieces are here.

8. Teaching Ladybug to pray - I guest-blogged about that over at Impress Your Kids.

9. Deciding not to fully participate in Halloween, not to do Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy.

10. Deciding to wait over a year before trying to get pregnant after losing Susie. Grief is a good thing, people. Don't be in a hurry to move on with your lives when you lose someone you love.

And a bonus!
11. Allowing God to guide us in all of our parenting decisions. The best parenting advice I ever received was this: PRAY. Commit your lives and your children's lives to God. And it really is the best advice I could ever give.


For more Top Ten lists, visit ohamanda.com.

Christmas To-Do List

I am slowly but surely whittling down the Christmas to-do list. I spent most of today in the kitchen making goodies to share. I still have presents to wrap, but will get to that next week when Hubby is around so I can lock myself in the guest room.

Here are the goodies that I made today:

peanut butter fudge

peppermint/chocolate chip cookie bars

red velvet cake balls (2/3 down, still need to dip them in chocolate)


I might do one more batch of gingersnaps next week. I haven't decided yet. Hubby has begged me to stop making sweets for the sake of our waistlines. However, he felt a little better when I told him that these are for giving away, not for keeping.

So what's left on your Christmas to-do list?

A Pillow Gift for Your Spouse

I posted today over at Blissfully Domestic - please take a moment to click over and read A Pillow Gift for Your Spouse.

Thanks!

Top Ten Cute Things that Ladybug Says

1. "Wake up! Wake up!" which sounds like way-cup, way-cup.

2. To her, a flamingo is a "pink chicken." Don't try to convince her otherwise!

3. Thanks to the inspiration of Mary, we have taught Ladybug that she has to wait for the 6 on the clock before we can get out of bed. She caught on very quickly and will now look at the clock to "find red 6." (Yes, I know that sounds early to a lot of you, but it's much better than 5:00!!!) (And yes, we quickly taught her the position the 6 has to be in before we can get up - "righ' here," said in the cutest Southern drawl. Although neither Hubby nor I have a Southern drawl, so we don't know where she got that!)

4. Ladybug loves all the yard decorations in our neighborhood. It started with Halloween, then someone had a turkey on their porch for Thanksgiving, now there are snowmen and Christmas trees. If the wind has blown something over, she'll say, "Snowman sit up! Sit up!"

5. In the true-to-toddler-form of curiosity, she often says, "Wha dat?"

6. Recently singing "Away in a Manger," Ladybug sang, "go sleep, Je-sa, no wake, Je-sa, no cry, Je-sa."

7. "Get u', Mama." or "U', Mama." Which means get up, Mama or (pick me) up, Mama. And with her being sick last week and now three nights in a row of bad dreams, she's been saying those a lot.

8. "Do again." Especially when something is funny or entertaining. Do it again.

9. "Chri' tree 'ight." She absolutely LOVES the Christmas tree lights.

10. And we've been having conversations about God too.


Visit ohamanda.com for more Top Ten lists.
And visit Mary at Not Before 7 for more Tiny Talk Tuesday.

Conversations About God

Ladybug is getting to the age that we are starting to have "real" conversations. She remembers what we've talked about before, she is showing critical thinking skills, and most importantly, she is insatiably curious.

The other night at bedtime, she and I were laying in the bed, and I was singing to her. I always try to pick songs that have nuggets of truth about the Christian faith. Music is such a powerful teaching medium, and I know that these songs will stick with her for years to come.

So I was singing some made up lyrics to "Don't Leave Nobody But the Baby" from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. My lyrics are:

Go to sleep, you little baby; Go to sleep, you little baby.
Mama's right here and Daddy's close by,
And God is watching over us.

(No, it doesn't rhyme.)

Ladybug will sign the words that she knows, and sometimes even signs the words on me. She'll sign "mama" and "daddy." I reminded her of the sign for "God." Then she asked, "Where's God?"

Oh, my heart leaped for joy! The moment I've been waiting for!

You see, I have a master's degree in ministry. And people often ask why I'm "not using" my degree. I am. The most important ministry I could ever have is right here in my own home with my own family. Hubby and I together have the awesome, amazing responsibility of teaching our daughter about God.

The rest of the conversation went like this.

Me: God is everywhere.

LB: God's outside?

Me: Yes, God is outside.

LB: God's inside?

Me: Yes, God is inside too. And God and Jesus are the same. Where is Jesus? (We've discussed this before.)

LB: (points to her heart) Jesus in my heart.

And my heart melted. All of the sacrifices of living on a reduced income so that I can be a stay-at-home mom are worth it to know that my child is understanding who God is and how much He loves her.

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9

The Mama Handbook

It's been a crazy week here. Ladybug has been sick, so we've spent lots of time snuggling and watching movies. Thankfully, she has been a very healthy girl in her 2.5 years. No ear infections, a few colds, nothing major.

Since she's such a healthy girl (thank you, wonderful breastmilk!), I haven't had to deal much with the other stuff that comes along with sickness. Not only is she feverish, snotty, and coughing, she has had more potty accidents this week than in the previous two weeks, and the tantrums have been, well, incredible. Tonight over dinner, she threw a fit because the corn was too hot. And this afternoon, she threw a fit because it was cloudy and the clouds wouldn't move to show the sun.

Yeah. Time to re-read that section in the Mama Handbook.

My Little Helper

We may not have the prettiest tree this year. But I know a certain toddler who thinks it is better than any children's museum. Ladybug (2.5 years old) loves decorating and re-decorating the tree daily. (And we have a growing pile of ornaments that haven't fared well in a toddler's hands.)

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Saint Nicholas as an Alternative to Santa Claus

Thanks so much for the great discussion and comments on Why We Say No to Santa Claus. For those who also omit Santa from Christmas, it's wonderful to know we are not alone. I had intended to finish this post before the weekend, but just didn't get to it.

December 6th is St. Nicholas Day, although we will be including the story of Saint Nick as part of our Christmas Day, he does have his very own day. There is lots of great info out there on the web. Here is a quick view how we plan to have Saint Nicholas stand in for Santa Claus.

Nicholas was an early Christian who had received a great inheritance and used it to help others. There was a poor man with three daughters who did not have enough money for their dowries, and therefore they were destined to be sold into slavery since no man would marry without receiving a dowry for taking a bride. Nicholas anonymously gave three bags of gold for the daughters' dowries.

The legend has it that he threw the bags of gold in through an open window. However, some stories say he threw them in through the chimney. When families began observing the Feast of Saint Nicholas, they would tell their children that Saint Nicholas would bring the gifts of money through the chimney, and in the process get cinders on his clothes. He was then called "Sinterklass" in northern European countries.

In the "New World," trying to break from "old world" customs and traditions, the person of Santa Claus was born and associated with December 25th instead of December 6th.

As Ladybug gets older, we will tell her the story of Saint Nicholas, of his good deeds of helping other people, and why we need to give to others. We will share with her that Santa Claus is based on the real person of Saint Nicholas, but that he is not real. We will also stress the importance of having fun and playing make-believe, and that if someone else wants to believe that Santa Claus is real, it's okay, and that we are not to spoil their fun.

I am looking for good children's books about Saint Nicholas, so if you have any recommendations, please let me know! This year's newest VeggieTale DVD is about Saint Nicholas and I have only seen snippets of it. But I am a big fan of VeggieTales and the messages that they share.

We will still do Christmas presents and Christmas stockings (my mom asked about that). But we will not be pretending that some magical person/elf snuck into our house while we were sleeping. Ladybug will know that Mama and Daddy bought the presents for her. We will most likely keep it to three presents, as I mentioned in a post last week. Another blogger (can't remember who, sorry!) wrote that they do put out stocking for Saint Nicholas and that "he" fills them with coins. We might incorporate that in future years.

When well-meaning people ask if she is ready for Santa Claus, for now we just smile and nod. If they are a close friend, family member or someone from church, we might share that we don't have Santa at our house. We won't go out of our way to avoid Santa Claus. We won't be offended if someone mentions him in our presence.

One reason I want to share all of this here is so that close friends and family who might happen to read my blog will understand how we will be celebrating Christmas. I mentioned last week all the reasons why we don't do Santa Claus. We're pretty firm on those.

Hubby and I really do enjoy making "new" traditions for our little family. That's part of being a family and celebrating the holidays. We don't do things exactly the way they were when we grew up, but we incorporate some of our favorite traditions and include new ones as they fit in with our philosophy of parenting and with our Christian faith. We look forward to teaching Ladybug about giving and receiving, about helping others, and that Christmas is, most importantly, about Jesus.


Photo Credit: stock.xchng

December 6

Happy 5th Birthday to our beautiful daughter in heaven. We still miss you, that won't ever change. It's hard to imagine what life would be like with both you and Ladybug here.

Every day, we are thankful that you are with Jesus and that we will see you again someday. We are also thankful that Lori is now with you and you can take care of each other. We're looking forward to the day we'll all be together again.

Why We Say No to Santa Claus

(I don't know why this post has been difficult to write. I don't want to offend anyone who includes Santa Claus in their Christmas celebration. I simply want to share what we will do as a family.)

We don't "do" Santa Claus. There. I said it.

Sometimes it's difficult to make a decision that isn't popular. After all, four-fifths of America get excited about Santa Claus, having pictures taken with him, making wish lists and writing letters, setting out cookies, milk and reindeer food. And that's just the adults.

Just before Christmas last year, I took a poll of the readers of my humble blog regarding if Santa was included in their Christmas celebrations. Hubby and I were just in the beginning stages of trying to decide how we will talk about Santa and what we will celebrate in our family.

Very briefly, here are the reasons that will not be including Santa Claus in our celebration of Christmas:

1. We want to keep Jesus at the center of our celebration. Carrien wrote last year about how they don't exchange gifts at all but focus on what gift they will GIVE to Jesus for His birthday. I like that!

2. In spite of all the arguments that make-believe is part of the magic of childhood, we just can't shake the thought that we would be lying to our child if we said that Santa brings presents to all the good girls and boys. I don't want to teach my child that lying is acceptable, nor do I want to give her a reason to doubt Mama and Daddy.

3. We want to teach Ladybug that giving is more important that receiving, at any time of year. I really do not like the "gimme, gimme" attitude that I see in so many children when it comes to Christmas.

4. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, sweetie. All the pretending to sprinkle reindeer food then sweeping it away after the kids go to bed, remembering that Santa uses one specific kind of wrapping paper, which presents did Santa bring last year = too much to keep straight!

5. And today on Twitter, Casey reminded me of another reason to omit Santa at Christmas. Kids can be afraid of him! Think about it from a kid's perspective. Your parents tell you that a strange old man sneaks into your house while you sleep. Then they want to take a picture of you sitting on some stranger's lap. A stranger who might look and/or smell funny. That can be scary to a kid!

I'm sure there are other reasons that I am not thinking of right now.

However, not including Santa Claus presents a conundrum in today's American culture, doesn't it? We will be teaching Ladybug the story of the real-live Saint Nicholas. More on that tomorrow.

Special thanks to the following Twitter friends who helped me gather my thoughts today: @monicabrand, @carrien_laughs, @CBerbs, @girlymamamel, @erinclosingtime, and @Trysha_.

Keep Christmas Simple - Three Gifts

Keeping Christmas giving simple can be tough, especially when you love your kids (and who doesn't!) and see so many fun things that you would love to play with for them to play with. There are a lot of great toys out there!

This year, we will be giving Ladybug (2.5 years old) three gifts to reflect the three gifts that the Wise Men brought to Jesus (Matthew 2).

But did you know that there is another story that tells of giving three gifts? It's the story of Saint Nicholas, on whom the modern-day Santa Claus is based. You can read more about Saint Nicholas here.

The quick version of the story is that a poor man had three daughters and had no money for their dowry. The girls were destined to be sold into slavery because no man would marry them without a dowry. The story tells that Nicholas threw three bags of gold into an open window so that the girls could have a dowry and be married.

I will share more tomorrow about how we incorporate Saint Nicholas into our Christmas celebration as an alternative to Santa Claus.

In the meantime, limiting ourselves to only three Christmas gifts works for me, not only as a way to remember two Christmas stories, but as a way to make sure we're not overwhelmed with budget-busting expenditures this year!

Top Ten Things I See

I'm typing this at 5:30 am. I snuck out of bed in hopes for some quiet time, but I hear that Ladybug is already awake (mostly due to a cough).


Here are ten things that I see as I type on my laptop in the living room.

1. the Christmas tree

2. toys stacked that need to be put away (since Ladybug has played with very few toys since the tree went up, we are putting away a lot of toys)

3. two big stacks of books that will be staying

4. two egg carton caterpillars, one egg carton ant, and one egg carton ladybug

5. my Bible

6. my Steelers coffee mug

7. Ladybug's pink blanket for when she naps in the living room

8. my pink wrap (shawl) for when I get cold

9. the TV and DVD player

10. our Lambie (who is wearing a halo that Ladybug made in Sunday School) and P.L. (Pocket Lambie, yes, we are so creative with names)



For more Top Ten lists, visit ohamanda.com