I'm a 32 year old wife and mother of three children- so far. Mary is 3 years, Nathan is 2 years and baby Savvy. These are my thoughts on the raising and training of three young children and my own efforts to become the woman God wants me to be. Prov. 31:10-31 Titus 2:3-5
I’m in the process of having all of the content from this site transferred over there. Hopefully in the next two weeks the blog will be completely moved.
See you there!
ETA: I just received Savvy’s birthday presents from Oompa. The presents that I ordered on Monday and thought might take a while to get here. Did I mention I also got free shipping? Oompa ROCKS.
And the Creanimaux blocks I ordered? They were the thing I was the least sure about and they are so *awesome*. Bigger than I anticipated, beautiful color. They’re just gorgeous. I’m soooo glad I got them- I think they’re perfect for a First Birthday gift. I’m thrilled with the walker/stroller we got as well. It’s hard to believe she’s only 1 month and 10 days away from being a year old….
June Pictures
First time in her "BIG" carseat!
Nathan, holding a picture of Kip as a little kid- about 12 months old I think. Nathan is "little Kip"- they look soooo much alike!
Questions and Answers:
I’ve had some questions sent to me, prior to my closing of the comments, that I thought I’d answer publically since several people have asked.
1. Why Did We Sell Our Previous Home and Move? Well, this is a many part answer.
#1: The most important reason that we moved when we did was because the huge tract of land across the street was sold and being developed into an apartment complex. This was going to mean lots of noise and construction for a year or more and then a LOT of increased driving traffic and foot traffic. We had loved how quiet our little deadend street was and that was quickly going to end.
#2: As much as we loved our street and neighbors, Mary was the first baby born in 20 years or so on the street. Because we plan to homeschool, we really wanted to be in a neighborhood where there would be other kids around to play with- at least in the afternoons.
#3: Our house was plenty big enough for us and the two babies- BUT- we knew we wanted at least four children and we knew we planned on homeschooling so we felt that in the long run, the house wasn’t going to work for us. We bought our current house with those criteria in mind- we plan to stay here for the rest of our lives. There’s four bedrooms- ours, and we plan to have a girls room, a boys room and a guest bedroom. We have large bonus room over the garage that we will eventually turn into a homeschool room.
#4. In hindsight, we can see how God really was working in our move. Thank the LORD that we moved when we did. About two months after we moved, we went back to our old house to get my great grandmother’s rose bush. The new owners had allowed us to leave it until we were settled in and it was a better time to transplant it. SO- anyway, we went back to get the rose bush and the wife asked us if we moved because of the neighbor??? We had no clue what she was talking about. It seems that right after we moved out our elderly neighbors had gone to Las Vegas and allowed their son to move into their home. Their son who is a convicted pedophile and just got out of a 20 year prison sentence.
I am so thankful that we moved when we did- I would have felt like a prisoner in our home with him across the street- I would have felt like the kids couldn’t be outside, etc. ugh, ugh, ugh. SO GLAD we moved!
2. Why Don’t I Nurse The Baby Anymore? Unfortunately my milk dried up. I was able to nurse for nine months but was getting nothing by the end. I was very disappointed. Savvy was also increasingly not interested. I’ve heard of babies self-weaning and that seems to be a part of it. She also seems less and less interested in the bottle lately so she may be weaning herself from that as well.
3. Do I cloth diaper? Ummm, no. Honestly, it’s just something that never appealed to me. I never even considered it. But then, lately I’ve been reading about it on Emily and Sarah’s blogs and I’ve been reconsidering it. I may do it the next time around. I could even try switching now as I’ve still got another year of Savvy in diapers. We’ll see. I’m thinking about it.
4. Do I have a favorite child? huh. weird question. Anyway. It’s funny because over the past few months I’ve been accused of favoring Mary over the others, Nathan over the others and most recently Savvy over the others. I’m taking it as a good sign that someone thinks each one of the kids is favored. people are strange.
It’s hard to believe but Savvy’s First Birthday will be in just six short weeks. I went ahead and ordered her birthday gifts today. Most of it is coming from the West Coast area and I know that shipping coming from West of the Mississippi River has been slowed down due to flooding. Six weeks should be plenty of time for everything to arrive though.
I ordered her this beautiful "Heavy Baby" from Joy’s Waldorf Dolls. They smell heavenly and the weight of the doll is nice. We got the 12" doll in lavender.
Here’s the description: Used therapeutically worldwide, a weighted doll has a settling and reassuring quality. Heavy Baby is a weighted, rounded bottom (no legs), bunting style baby which makes it ideal for the young child. Filled with millet, and made with all natural fibers, it will bring a subtle quality of weight and warmth to the child who plays with it. Heavy Baby is just right for the youngster who needs to "Lug", or for the child who needs extra sensory attention and just a lovely doll to simply hold and pats it’s bottom. This is truly an archetypal "Waldorf Doll" worthy of any child or adult.
I’ve had this in mind for months- it’s the HABA Doll Pram- I love that it’s all natural wood so no worries about chemicals, stains, paint, etc. It can be used as a doll stroller, a walker or just a wagon to haul things. It’s very sturdy. Not crazy about the blue pillows though. I’m going to search around for some nice pink, girly type fabric and then take the pillows and fabric to the most excellent tailor/sewer person in the world- Mr. Nadir. I’ll have him make a slip cover with a zipper closure for it.
I also ordered her these HABA Creanimaux Blocks, both sets- I thought ALL the kids would enjoy them and they would last for years and years. We allready have a set of regular blocks but I think this set will be a fun addition.
Lastly, I ordered Savvy this little Chelona Wooden Book- so many of our board books have really gotten mangled. I can read them to the baby but she really can’t have them to play with herself- they just get chewed on and ruined. So, I got her a book that she can have and play with and there’s no worries about it being chewed to death. Also, all natural so no worries about stains, chipping paint, lead or other nasty chemicals.
Hey Guys…
I’m making some changes-
First, I’ve acquired a nasty troll or two so for now I’m closing all comments.
Secondly, I’m in the process of moving to a new host and it’s taking me some time to figure it all out, set it up, etc.
I will be posting again regularly soon. Thanks for being patient!
Kelly Jewell