The Weary Momma

May 10, 2014May 12, 20142 Comments

It’s Mother’s Day and almost my birthday so I’ve been reflecting a little about my life over the past fifty-two weeks.

All I have done is move and have a baby.

Really that’s it.

I have hardly volunteered in my boys’ preschool classrooms.

The family devotional time I mapped out in July for the next two years has not worked out the way I thought at all.

I forgot to take my kids to the pumpkin patch.

I didn’t send out a Christmas card.

I traveled to a wedding instead of attending my son’s Mother’s Day program.

I’ve grumbled. I’ve complained. I’ve whined. I’ve even yelled and had epic tantrums complete with slamming the cabinet doors in the kitchen.

I haven’t even had my new baby girl professionally photographed yet and she is five months old.

So upon reflecting on the last fifty-two weeks I have come to this conclusion: I just didn’t measure up this year. Not even close.

I’m not at all feeling like the woman that is worthy of praise from Proverbs 31 and I’m not sure my children would call me blessed.

I am weary.

I’m not sure why anyone would even want to celebrate me for “all the things I do” when I feel like I am up to my eyebrows of momma hood and just barely hanging on with my unmanicured fingernails.

But there are glimpses of how His grace covers the unachievable expectations I have for myself if I pay close enough attention to the moments where God reveals my worth as a momma isn’t at all about what I do but simply who I am.

When I see my daughter smile at me with her whole body. She doesn’t care that I haven’t gotten around to that professional photo shoot.

When feel my three year old’s hand reach for my hand and then he clings close to my leg in his classroom. He has no idea that we missed the pumpkin patch in the fall.

When I hear my two year old call out for me, “Hold You,” is what he calls me as he grazes around me when I whirl around in the kitchen.

When I experience the sweet, innocent forgiveness or my five year old after all my weary tired yells, “I forgive you mommy, we all make mistakes.”

So for all you weary mommas forget about all those unachievable expectations.

Don’t hold them under the magnifying glass in the same way I do. Give yourself the same grace given to you by those little ones who call you momma.

Give yourself the same grace that God gives to you in Jesus.

Exhale the unachievable expectations and inhale the grace.

Philippians 4
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

The best gift I can give myself is forget about the things I didn’t get to. To forget the blah and remember the praiseworthy.

It’s a fight for this weary momma to dwell on what is excellent and praiseworthy.

But God is good to me and His grace covers my weary soul.

“Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Why Gerber Is A Fine Choice

April 27, 2014April 27, 20141 Comment

I sat there in the restaurant with my husband and four children praying for the sweet mercy of Jesus to rain down on us so we could enjoy a nice lunch out sans meltdowns.

When the server came to take our order I knew my five year old was going to order some kind of seafood.

He asked for the shrimp.

The waitress asked if he wanted them fried or grilled.

He wanted grilled.

The server then asked if he would like fries or vegetables.

He wanted vegetables.

I sat there amazed. My other two sons only want to eat fries and chicken nuggets and cookies. And dip. Lots of dip. I even saw one of them slurp their dip up the straw from across the table.

I wrinkle my nose when I hear someone saying that homemade baby food makes better eaters.

My first born child is the one who ate only gerber baby food. The non organic kind. I fed him fruits first, not vegetables.

This was exactly what you weren’t supposed to do! But I was a new mom and trying to figure this new little baby out. I did not have time to make homemade baby food.

Everything your supposed to do to create a “good eater” I skipped or did backwards and here he is making great independent choices despite what was on his spoon when he was six months old.

I used to feel tremendous guilt over the store bought baby food. I was ashamed of my mothering and I had visions of my first born growing up to only eat donuts and happy meals.

Eating store bought baby food didn’t mess him up too bad at all. My first born is a great eater. He has been known to go into a panic at bedtime if he realizes I failed to let him have fresh fruit that day and has also been known to request a salad in the drive thru at Wendy’s.

My other two sons, the ones who love fries, chicken nuggets and cookies were fed all organic homemade baby food. Yep. All that hard work of grinding and blending and freezing to start them off on the right foot and they’re the ones slurping the barbecue sauce up their straws.

Same with the diapers. I’ve heard it rumored that cloth diapered children are easier to potty train.

My oldest son wore pampers for every single diaper change until he was twenty-five months. He was potty trained in about two weeks. Even overnight he rarely needed a pull up. He was completely diaper free well before two and a half.

My other two have both worn fuzzi bunz cloth diapers. (Which I love.) However, my three and a half year old still loves to poop in his diaper. He really does. Loves it. He tells me he loves it too.

So I am here to testify that I think our kids are going to be themselves no matter what efforts we go to when they are little.

There are myths that say homemade baby food produces better eaters and cloth diapering makes potty training easier.

It is true both save money. It’s true both are better for our environment. But I wouldn’t give homemade baby food or cloth diapers any more credit than that.

As parents we sometimes hold on too tightly to the latest trend and work ourselves to death grinding out that organic baby food or washing mountains of poopy diapers because we’ve heard the myths.

Our kids are going to be who God made them to be no matter what. One choice is not better than the other. They are just different choices. My gerber baby just ordered a healthier lunch than I did at a restaurant and frequently requests salads at the drive thru at Wendy’s. (I’m thirty and I never go to Wendy’s for their salads.)

Nothing I have done has taught him to eat the way he does. It’s who he is.

If your fretting about the cloth diapers and homemade baby food, forget about it. It is great for saving some money but your child will not be a horrible eater or a delayed potty trainer if you opt for gerber and pampers on your registry instead of the homemade baby food maker and cloth diapering starter kit.

Give yourself grace.

Pampers and gerber are great, healthy, normal choices for babies.

My gerber baby is doing just fine.

My other two, I’m afraid. We need to work on slurping the condiments up the straws thing.

And who knows what my fourth child will be like. She’s been eating gerber thus far because I am just too tired to add one more extra thing to my agenda.

The difference this time around is, she can eat the gerber and I have freedom from my guilt because I know she will be just fine no matter what her first foods might be.

I am praying for the sweet mercy of Jesus she will be potty trained before three and a half. I’m about to lose my mind with potty training my second child.

This post is just based on my experience with my four kids five and under. Your story may be different and that’s okay. Neither choice is better or worse. Just different.

Traveling With Tots

April 17, 2014April 17, 20151 Comment

We take two trips a year both over twelve hours long.

I have four kids- all five and under. My husband tends to the driving while I tend to our little herd. I’d love to share the bag of tricks I’ve developed over the years with you. There is nothing fancy or new here. Some ideas are from theprincessandthetot.com and some are ideas that friends have passed on to me.

I hope this will be something useful to you and something you’d be willing to share with others.

This will be my third year using a visual schedule. My oldest especially likes to know what is coming next and I have found the schedule cuts down on the “are we there yets”.

This year I am using words and clocks for the first time. In the past I have used a picture schedule.

I pack all our food. We will have fresh fruit and donut holes for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch and dinner. When we don’t have to stop to eat it saves us so much time. I have noticed we save at least 30 minutes a meal when we pack our food.

I will have four scheduled movie times. My baby is not old enough to care what’s on the DVD player so i have narrowed the movie times down to a choice for each child and mommy’s choice. Mommy’s choice is last because then I get to pick something I can stand listening to for the last minutes of the trip.

Music time is pretty easy. We listen to our favorite CDs. We love Veggie Tales, Jamie Soles and the Curious George Movie Soundtrack. For Easter the boys are getting new CDs in their baskets including

Rain For Roots

Veggie Tales 25 Sunday School Songs

DJ Shuffle from Disney Channel

Now for the good stuff. The Treasure Chest.

Everything fits nicely in this Thirty One Tote which I place between the two Captian’s chairs in out minivan.

We love Lauri Toys Puzzles and Linking Discs

Finger puppets

Lacing Cards

Pipe Cleaners

Books with sounds and lift the flap books

Magna Doodles, Dry erase workbooks and Stickers with notebooks

Audiobooks

Magnetic Tins – these are awesome but also messy and tempting to put in a little one’s mouth. Make sure you open the tin before hand – it does require some pre punching out for the magnets.

This is a newbie to the treasure chest and I am most proud of this one. “Tattoo Parlor” which is a kitchen timer, some baby wipes and loads of tattoos leftover from birthdays and valentines.

For the critical spelling police, it does seem I left a t off of the word “tattoo” that is a word I hardly ever write with four small children. Lucky for them it looks like I left enough room to squeeze that extra t in and hopefully no one will be emotionally harmed for this minor mistake.

For electronics time we have Leap Pads, iPads and a 3DS. These are screenshots of my iPad so you can see our favorite apps.

Finally, there are two miscellaneous items I can’t travel without. My DustBuster and gallon sized ziplocks.

I hope this makes traveling with your tots a little more fun!

Happy trails.

The BEST Plan Ahead Meals

February 5, 2014Leave a comment

If you ask, you shall receive. Here are the meals I cooked and put in my freezer this morning. There are ten bags, each bag will feed my family for two nights. Because I have some meals leftover from last month and February is a few days shy of a real month I will not cook again until March.

i want you to know I am not a good cook. I just need to plan ahead with four kids and a husband who has a sometimes unpredictable schedule.

I shopped yesterday at Sam’s and Kroger in under a hour and my grocery bill was around $250.

I spent about two hours this morning prepping, bagging and labeling the food while my kids watched a movie and I spent probably forty five minutes perusing websites for ideas and writing them all on my calendar for when we will eat them.

So time spent shopping, cooking and planning was about 3 hours and 45 minutes.

You can do this in under four hours.

You go girl.
This meal is has some special WildTree ingredients. You can find their stuff at http://www.wildtree.com.

Smoked Mozzarella and Tomato Meatloaf
1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound lean ground turkey (I skipped this and doubled the beef)
1 sleeve low-sodium saltine crackers, crushed (I used breadcrumbs)
2 eggs, beaten
1 med yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced (or 1-2 tsp Garlic Galore blend)
1 tsp black pepper
4 Tbsp Wildtree Smoked Mozzarella and Tomato Blend

I will thaw this in the fridge and cook in the crockpot on low for 5-6 hours then top with ketchup for the last 30 minutes.
The Best Burgers EVER!
2 pounds ground beef
1 tsp Wildtree Chipotle Lime Rub (OR 1 tsp Cajun Seasoning)
1 tsp Wildtree Rancher Steak Rub & Seasoning

I will thaw in the fridge and then patty the burgers and cook in the skillet. Last month I made these sliders with bacon and muenster cheese on top. Delicious.

Slow cooker chicken teriyaki

1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

This will just be dumped right in the crock pot from frozen. High for 4-6 hours.

Www.damndelicious.net

Easy Crock Pot pulled Pork
5-6 lb pork roast (boneless or bone in, either works!)
2 onions, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups broth (beef, chicken, or vegetable)
salt & pepper

Cook on high for 6-8 hours, or until it’s falling apart and easy to shred. Enjoy!
**If you are freezing this recipe, just dump all the ingredients into the freezer bag and freeze. Allow to thaw overnight in the fridge, then just dump in the crockpot and cook 🙂

http://www.whoneedsacape.com

Cranberry Pork Tenderloin

1 pork tenderloin (1 pound)
1 can (14 ounces) whole-berry cranberry sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons cold water

http://www.tasteofhome.com

Applesauce Barbeque Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 t ground pepper
2/3 cup chunky applesauce
2/3 cup BBQ sauce (I used Brown Sugar/Hickory)
2 T brown sugar
1 t chili powder

Thaw
Cook 6-8 hours on low setting. Serves 4.
http://www.whoneedsacape.com

Chicken Tacos
3 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup taco seasoning

Dump into crockpot frozen
Add 1 cup water
Cook on high 6 hours

Beef Tortellini Soup
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-beef-tortellini-soup/f09fea6a-6916-4cf2-ac97-b494c1832bd6
1lb cooked ground beef
1large onion, chopped (3/4 cup)
1large carrot, chopped (3/4 cup)
1medium stalk celery, chopped (1/2 cup)
2cloves garlic, finely chopped
1teaspoons sugar
1can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
2cans (10 1/2 oz each) condensed beef consommé
1teaspoon dried basil leaves
2cups frozen cheese-filled tortellini
1cup Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers™ frozen cut green beans

Thaw in fridge
Crock on low 8 hours

Hearty Spaghetti Sauce

1pound cooked ground beef
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 large jar Spaghetti Sauce

From Frozen place in crock pot on high for 3-4 hours

Tortellini
1 bag tortellini
1 jar spaghetti sauce

Dump in crock pot from frozen low 3 hours.

Freezer Mac N Cheese

I did not make this one today but I will make a double batch and have two 9x13s in my freezer. I did this last month and my family loVEd this Mac n cheese.

1 pound cavatappi pasta, (I like penne)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
3 cups NY aged sharp cheddar (12 ounces), grated
Serves 4-6

PREPARATION

Pre-heat broiler to high or oven to 400°F.

Place a large pot of water over high heat and bring it up to a boil to cook the pasta. Once at a boil, add some salt and the pasta, and cook just shy of al dente, according to package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, heat a medium-size skillet over medium heat and add the butter. When the butter melts, add the flour and cook about a minute. Whisk in the milk, season with salt and ground black pepper, and bring up to a bubble. Turn the burner off and stir in the cheese in a figure-eight motion until it’s all melted.

When the pasta is done, drain it well and combine with sauce. Pour into baking dish and place under the broiler in or the oven to brown the cheese and enjoy.

Make a double batch, pour the pasta into a baking dish and stir in your favorite mix in. Let it stand on the counter until cooled, then wrap in plastic wrap and pop in the freezer. When you’re ready to eat it, it can go straight from the freezer into in a 400ºF oven. Cook for 1 hour, covered with foil, the take the foil off and bake for another 15-20 minutes to brown the top.

http://www.rachaelray.com

4 Tools For Your Parenting Survival Kit

September 18, 2013February 5, 20143 Comments

I have pretty much seen just about everything a toddler can get into. Not too long ago I was prepping my meals for the week when my one year old walked into the kitchen with a battery in his mouth and my two year old had figured out how to get his head in the oven behind my back. Thank goodness the oven was not turned on.

I am also very certain that the water on my toddler’s toothbrush yesterday was from the toilet instead of the sink.

So what should I do? Hop on my phone and google the horrors that might occur from drinking a little toilet water or look up other horror stories about babies and batteries?

#1 I try to find the humor in the chaos.

The things that happen around the house on a normal day can actually be quite comical.

I get peed on and my freshly washed hair, that I hadn’t taken the time to wash in three days, gets chunky throw up in it almost right after I finish with the straightener and my four year old has found a new love for peeing in a cup and handing it to me ever since he took a visit with me to my OB GYN.

I could get really angry about the vomit and the batteries or whine about the fact that there is actual urine in the cups I drink out of but what good does that really do? The anger and whining and the horror stories of the Internet just breed anxiety and frustration.

So I try to find the humor in the chaos.

I choose to find the comic relief behind the situations that do not seem to go my way.

#2 Don’t jump at every single opportunity to correct you kids.

If I corrected every wiggle, every spill and every selfish moment I would be correcting my kids every second of the day. Sometimes you need to just let them be kids and figure it out on their own.

I am trying to learn to correct my boys if they are causing serious danger to themselves or others or if there is direct defiance towards me.

You know the sayings:

Choose your battles.

Don’t major on the minors.

Pick one or maybe two things that you are going to work on with you kids and correct only those behaviors. You will find rest and peace when your whole day is not spent bickering at your children.

#3 Don’t freak out.

Imagine you’re in trouble, let’s say trapped in a burning house, and the first responders find you and start freaking out.

“Oh, my… What did you do? How did you do this? What were you thinking? This is terrible! This is the worst burning house I have ever seen.”

I would die from anxiety if first responders were not trained to remained calm.

Try to remain calm when your kid falls off the couch or gets their fingers pinched in the door. It happens to pretty much everyone. Your fretting and worry only makes the situation worse.

You are their first responder. Remain calm for your child and don’t add to their anxiety.

Just breathe and don’t freak out.

I have sent my oldest son into a frantic tantrum when one of my other children pooped in the bathtub. Because I was anxious he was balled up on the floor hyperventilating in the fetal position because poopy water touched his body.

I have scarred him for life because I was a poor first responder.

Remain calm.

#4 Be flexible and be nice to yourself.

My kids have been known to put themselves to bed and my 20 month old never forgets to tell me that 8am is “breakfast time.” Like clockwork we eat, sleep and play but I have learned that the needs of my children are more important than my routine.

Some of my four year old’s best memories include times like when we skipped the zoo and ate our breakfast on a blanket while watching Cars movie.

If you have planned a big day out but everyone is melting down because they are tired from a long weekend, stay home instead. If maybe you are just too tired to get out the play doh and finger paints on craft day, skip the crafts and go outside instead.

Be nice to yourself. Experiencing story time or another finger painting activity is not worth the thirty minutes of torturous tantrums from kids or mommy. It is more important if everyone is emotionally and physically rested than getting through that structured activity you had planned.

Be flexible and be nice to yourself.

It’s simple really. Breathe and relax there is grace for you, grace for your children and grace for this day. His mercies are abundant and never ending.

Find the laughter in the chaos.

Don’t correct every little thing.

Be a good first responder.

Be flexible and be nice to yourself.