A Stay-At-Home Mom (With a Job)

I always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. I plan to be a stay-at-home mom. I think about myself as a stay-at-home mom. And I am one, most of the time. After our daughter was born, I took 11 weeks off work. I started doing some work from home after about 8 weeks - just a few hours here and there - and then returned to part-time work at the 11 week mark. Right now I work two afternoons per week in the office and an additional 5-8 hours from home as time allows and as my job dictates. I like to think of myself as a stay-at-home mom, even though technically I work between 13 and 17 hours each week.

Now, we have been very blessed in that we have not needed child care. Jonathan has been able to be home with our little girl on the afternoons when I am at work, which is great. They get quality time together, I don't have a single worry about her, and it is free. I am also blessed with a great job that is very flexible about my hours and supportive of me cutting back to care for my daughter. I realize that I have been very fortunate and that I could have had to make even tougher decisions about jobs and childcare.

To be honest, if I could afford to not work at all, I probably would choose that route.

Searching for "Home"

My little family celebrated Easter weekend by travelling to Michigan to visit our larger family and friends and to worship at our home church. I always love going back "home." I have wonderful family who I enjoy very much, great friends who always make time for me whenever I am able to be in town, and I love the way we come back to visit and it seems as though we never left in terms of relationships with those we are closest to.

With our Easter trip still fresh in my mind and Call Day fast approaching, I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be "home," where "home" really is, and the reality of this life we have chosen. Jonathan will find out a week from today where he will be serving for his vicarage (which is like a one-year internship as part of his four-year MDiv program), so we will find out in a week where we will be living the next year of our life, and it could be anywhere in the country! And then once he graduates from seminary in two years, we could be placed anywhere for his first call as a pastor. While all that is exciting, it is also pretty terrifying, especially for someone like me, who still longs to live near home and near family and friends.

Six Months of Joy

A week from tomorrow my baby girl turns 6 months old. Jonathan and I looked down at her feet the other day and were shocked by how big they were! I remember when she was born, if there was a fluff between her toes I couldn't do anything about it, because even my pinky finger couldn't fit between her tiny toes. But now I can easily clean out the fluffs. That may be a weird way to notice that your baby is growing up, but it really struck me when I realized that. She's going to be half a year old! It's not fair. She's growing into a child and out of a baby!

Now, at 6 months old, she is definitely still a baby. Which I remind myself when she chooses not to sleep through the night. But I am so afraid that she is going to grow up and leave and I will be baby-less! I simultaneously love watching her grow and hit milestones and dread it. It is just happening too fast! I need time to process. And time to cuddle. And time to enjoy her babyhood. But time goes as fast as it ever did, and she is going to keep growing. And I guess that's a good thing! 

These past six months have been tricky. The first few weeks and months with a newborn were very challenging, and although it has gotten easier and better, parenting is hard! It's hard work. It's long hours. It's late nights. But I have never been happier. Because through the challenges, there is the joy. Every day. 

Why Can't the Vaccine Debate be a Civil One?

Why is it that a certain level of animosity surrounds the vaccination debate? There are many things that parents disagree on and many things that different families do differently, but I don't think there are many issues more hotly contested than vaccinations. I am a person that believes strongly in parents making their own, educated and informed decisions, and I also believe in parents supporting each other and being civil, even when people make different decisions. But for some reason, the vaccine controversy seems to be an area where people cannot let it go and respect each other's differences. Vaccines are high-stakes, so naturally people get worked up about it.

I've thought about vaccines a lot recently, with having a new baby, with measles outbreaks in the news, and with having friends and acquaintances on both sides of the debate. This post is not going to be about whether or not you should vaccinate your kids. I am certainly not qualified to talk about that! Instead it is just my own thoughts as to why people get so tightly wound about this issue, and how we can better understand people on either side of the debate.

Charm Bracelet Giveaway!

On Monday I posted this post about how important I feel it is for me to remember the past several years and the experience my husband and I had with infertility. While I know that we are incredibly blessed to have our little girl, I don't want to forget what it was like to wait and wonder and hope and pray day after day and month after month. Infertility has changed me. It is part of my story now, part of the way I view my family, and part of they way I view my future.

One of the blessings I have experienced over the past several years is the women I have met along the way. I have been fortunate to have a great support group of ladies, many of whom I met online. Today's giveaway is a result of those connections.

Remembering the Journey

I still have this picture framed on my nightstand next to my bed:

After our first ultrasound at the end of February last year I brought this home, our one picture reminding me of that little flickering heartbeat on the screen, and put it in this frame next to my bed. During those early days of pregnancy when it is so easy to worry and doubt and symptoms come and go I would look at this picture and remember that tiny heartbeat often. Then the next ultrasound came, and our little baby was bigger, jumping all around. I could have replaced this picture with a new one. I could have replaced it with a profile picture from our ultrasound in June. I could have a picture of my baby after she was born by now, but I still keep that first ultrasound picture in the frame by my bed.

3 Great Reasons for Bible Time with Daddy

It was always our hope to have a time every day from "day one" where Jonathan could read the Bible to our children. Once we actually had a baby, we realized the idea of having a routine from "day one" was a little far-fetched, but somewhere around the 3 or 4 month mark we were able to start the routine of reading The Beginner's Bible to our daughter in the evenings before bed time. Occasionally she falls asleep before we get to Bible time, and that's okay, we put her in her crib and let it be. But I love the sight of my husband sitting with my little girl, reading her Bible stories while she reaches for the pages and tries to get them in her mouth.

Here are just a few of the reasons why we decided to make this "Bible Time" a priority from the beginning: 

5 Reasons Why My Kids Can Watch "Frozen" Over and Over Again

As a little girl, I had a few movies that I watched over and over and over again for years.  I would act out the movies, sing the songs, and pretend to be the main characters for days on end. The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, Beauty and the Beast, and Cinderella, among a few others come to mind. I feared that there might be very few, if any, movies made in my kid's lifetime that would be positive enough to let them watch so regularly. So many movies today have such worldly messages, negative themes, or even just crude humor that it is hard to imagine letting my children watch them. But when I recently saw Frozen, it completely surprised me by its awesomeness and positive messages.

Before you read the rest of my post I should warn you, THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT SPOILERS! If you haven't seen the movie, go out and see it, and then come back! I really do not want to ruin this for you, so please go see it before reading on.

Without further fuss, here are 5 reasons why I love this movie, and why I would let my little girl (and other future children) watch it as often as they like: