Gentle Beginnings

A spring moment

2011-04-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

Just a precious moment of watching our girls as they play in their favorite tree. The blossoms are at their fullest. And they are living their lives to the fullest right here in this moment...as children often do:)

Kyla's 7th birthday!

2011-03-22T17:31:00.000-07:00

Couldn't resist...more pictures of Kyla's birthday! (Most of the previous posts were of her when she was little...) A good time was enjoyed by all...and she loved mama's carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese icing! The day was spent playing with a few friends, doing puzzles, playing dress-up, playing outside, pin the tale on the donkey, and unwraping gifts...oh, and of course eating!

Almost 9 months

2011-03-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

Oh, are we having fun! This little guy has brought so much joy and happiness to each member of the Davis family. His sense of humor is really starting to come to life, and he finds whatever Kyla and Avery are doing to be worthy of a big belly laugh. He's just beginning to try and crawl, so things are about to get quite interesting. At least I have Avery at home during the day with me as another set of eyes! I wondered so much while I was pregnant with him what having a 3rd baby would be like...and it has been (mostly) simply wonderful. Avery has nicknamed him "Buddy". We love our buddy Zach, for sure!

2011-02-24T18:13:00.000-08:00

Seven years

2011-02-24T18:10:00.000-08:00

My oldest baby turned 7 years old today. I know most parents say this, but I can't believe I've been a mom for 7 years already. I can't believe this baby...this toddler...this little girl is becoming so big. She thinks so independently now. She has so many different opinions. She has ideas...and good ones too! The other day she had the idea of sewing goodie bags out of leftover fabric. We sat down together, cut the fabric, cut the ribbon. I planned on making simple drawstring bags. As I was making them, Kyla said, "But mommy, I was thinking we could just put a hole in each side of the fabric and then put the ribbon through it and tie it together." As I was working, I found myself kind of tuning her out (which, unfortunately happens too often than I would like, but with how much she talks sometimes her words become background noise!...I know, sounds terrible. But do any of you have constant talkers in the family?). But then, after she repeated herself I realized that her idea was brilliant. Easier than trying to make a drawstring bag. It was much simpler and it would look nice.

Kyla is full of life and energy. She never stops moving, never stops creating. I take that back...she will stop moving in order to create. Or knit a scarf. Or sit down to play with her baby brother. She is the biggest helper when it comes to helping us in the kitchen or with cleaning.

Seven. I remember turning seven....

Happy Birthday, precious girl. We love you!

It's been awhile...

2011-02-20T18:26:00.000-08:00

And we're back. It's been way too long. Since Zach's birth, actually. Now our little guy is a busy and active 8 month old!

Somehow the minutes roll into hours that morph into days...and those days fly by and make a week and before I know it an entire month has gone by, and what am I doing? Am I capturing these moments? Reflecting and treasuring the present? Not as much as I would like to be doing. And so here I am. I am back and hope to make this more a part of each week.

When we moved to Charlotte, NC in 2007, Kyla became best friends with Ella Basler who lived behind us. Kyla was 3 years old when we moved to NC from Los Angeles. The girls spent so much time playing together during those 2 years. Even though they have not seen each other in over a year, they played together this weekend as if they never missed a single beat. I think Kyla has found a true best friend, and distance doesn't seem to matter.

Zachary's birth story

2010-06-30T12:00:00.001-07:00

As a full-term pregnant student in midwifery school, I started thinking as Zachary's due date drew closer about the mind/body connection during labor and birth. I thought about how, in Ina May Gaskins Guide to Childbirth, she teaches about how fears can really hinder a mother from going into labor or if a mother is in labor fears have the potential to slow down or even stop the labor. So, I reflected. I went a good 8 days overdue with both Kyla and Avery, and even though being overdue can be perfectly normal, if there was anything I could do to change that possibility this time, I wanted to know because I was getting very uncomfortable! Two nights before Zachary was to be born, Pete and I were sitting on the couch and talking about what it was going to be like to have another baby. I told him that I realized deep down I was scared to have another baby. Not scared to give birth, but scared to have a newborn in the house again. For those of you that do not know, Avery was a very high-needs baby and also colicky. Pete and I really feel that part of the reason Avery was given to us was to keep us humble! From the moment she was born she cried. Little could soothe Avery from day one. Nursing, being held, rocking, bouncing...not much could keep Avery from crying and she slept very very little. The first time Avery gave us more than a 3 hour stretch of sleep was when she was 1 year old. When she was 8 months, we discovered her multiple food allergies. When she was 2 years old we discovered even more food allergies. Between the ages of 1 and 3 Avery had severe eczema that would make her cry and scratch and bleed and interrupt her sleep even more. If you've read this blog, you've read our stories. And now, we were getting ready to enter into an unknown...what would Zachary be like?

Pete reassured me that night as I told him my fears. "Sarah," he said, "remember the meaning of Zachary's name: 'the Lord has remembered'. God knows what we went through with Avery. Zachary will be different than Avery." I was immediately at peace with having another baby and for the first time really looking forward to meeting this little guy and getting to know him.

On Friday, June 11th, my mom came up to take me out to lunch and go shopping for clothes for the girls. It was just the two of us...which was kind of a rare thing, being able to hang out with just my mom. We had so much fun and I really treasured our time together. We had lunch at Panera Bread and then went to Target where I walked up and down those aisles for 2.5 hours. I was so distracted by all the pretty clothes my mom was picking out to buy for the girls. The more I walked, the "stronger" my Braxton-hicks contractions became. But I decided in my head that I would not pay any attention to them, I was remembering what I taught in my classes: it's best to ignore labor until you can't ignore it anymore.

Later that afternoon when we came home I went to the bathroom to find myself loosing my mucus plug (wish we could find a better name for that) :-) It was nice to know that I was probably making some progress, so I gave my midwife a heads-up that something just might be happening. Later that night around 10:30pm or so, my contractions became much stronger, though nothing that I couldn't talk through and there was no pattern to them . I went to bed, but couldn't sleep because of the contractions so I drank a half glass of wine hoping it would make them go away so I could sleep. It didn't. After about 2 hours of increasingly harder contractions that were very irregular I had 2 contractions with the urge to push. I woke Pete up, and Pete called Brynne, one of our midwives. She came over at 1am and found me to be 8cm dilated! I was shocked because I really wasn't even in active labor at this point.

After taking some homeopathic remedies to hopefully pick up the tempo of labor, my contractions definitely became more strong and closer together and I started to really wish we had somehow filled the birth tub up with water, even though earlier on I had told Pete to not worry about it. Now, this is where some of the story becomes a blur. I remember it being dark and quiet. I remember it being so peaceful around me as I labored (even though I was not acting very peaceful!!). I remember kind words of encouragement spoken to me from Pete, Brynne and Deren. There was a respect for birth and the way it happens naturally without interference...that respect permeated the room as I labored in those wee hours of morning.

As labor became more intense, I realized that the contractions were feeling very different than my previous births, I was feeling an intense pain in the front of my abdomen that didn't let up in between contractions. I found out I had a cervical lip. The pain really surprised me...I didn't expect to feel pain like that in between contractions and it felt nothing like a contraction. Contractions were like waves that I could "ride"...but this felt more like a sharp shooting pain that was really difficult to breathe through or find a position that alleviated what I felt. After maybe an hour or so trying to "deal" with this, I realized the only way out of this situation was to have the baby! Brynne told me she could move the rest of cervix out of the way, and we tried once but it was too painful. Then a couple contractions or so later I told Brynne to do what she needed to do so I could push this baby out! She pushed back the rest of the cervix and I finally had the urge to push.

For some reason, pushing caught me by surprise...I felt like it didn't matter what I had read about pushing or the fact that I had pushed 2 babies out already, the intensity of it all overtook me and "pushed" me to the point of complete surrender. I really wasn't "doing" anything, my body was doing the pushing and I knew that I had to get out of the way. I lost all control. (And that's what birth is about isn't it...surrendering and loosing control and just letting it happen). After pushing on my hands and knees some and then flipping over to my side, Zach made his way into the world! I remember after his head came out how BIG his shoulders felt. Brynne said it was because of the way he was holding his shoulders. After his shoulders came out, the rest of him came and Brynne put him on my belly. He was so cute...he was ours :-) Avery had a short cord when she was born, so when I tried to lift her up to see her face, it hurt. So, even though both midwives told me that his cord was long and I could hold him, for some reason I wouldn't reach down and pick him up. That was kind of a funny moment.. I don't know why I wouldn't pick him up...but after his cord was cut, then I picked him up and held him :-) He was so sweet and didn't cry at all. He just looked all around and went right to nursing. He was 8lbs 7oz and 21.5 inches long. Our biggest and longest baby ever. He was born at 6:04am after a 5 hour labor. The girls woke up in their room while I was pushing. Pete told them to stay put and that mommy was having the baby! They were so good and stayed in their room until right after he was born. The girls woke up to their new baby brother!

I cannot be more thankful for our wonderful midwives and for Pete's support. Everyone was so incredible. The girls are in love with their little brother and we are in love with our new son! So far, he's the easiest baby we've had, he rarely cries and sleeps well for us at night. He was born on June 12th, the same day 4 years ago that Pete's mom passed away. He has really lived up to his name so far in more ways than one..."The Lord has remembered".

Brand new

2010-06-29T06:07:00.000-07:00

Only seconds old...being handed to mama :-)

In awe of their baby brother....

Getting ready for the baby...

2010-03-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

Time is flying by for our family and this little boy is going to be here before we even blink an eye. It's kind of interesting with having #3 on the way, I realize the "baby" things that we don't need and then I realize so much of what we really do need. We got rid of so much stuff between Avery and this baby, because to be quite honest, for a long time we thought we were "finished" having children. We got rid of the car seat, the crib, the swing (which we never really used anyway), bottles (which also never got used much since the girls never took a bottle of breastmilk until they were well over 10 or 11 months old!), the high chair, and a lot of baby toys. Our stroller is broken in some places and probably won't hold up for this 3rd baby.

So now, we find ourselves needing "big" things this time around, but then there is so much we do have...like baby boy clothes thanks to my sister, a dresser, lots of blankets, a bouncy seat, and some of the cloth diapers (though I think we might need a few more...we're not going to be putting this little boy in pink diapers like Avery wore!).

We've had some friends and family members asking us what we really need, so I finally got my act together and created a registry on Amazon.com, trying to keep it to things that we really need. And, okay, so there might be a few things that would be nice to have but we truely don't need them :-) ...like baby bedding :-)

Oh, and we are almost decided on a name, though it's not definite. We think we're going to name this little guy Zachary Christopher Davis and we'll call him Zach. Zachary means "the Lord has remembered". We love that...in so many different ways, that meaning speaks volumes to our lives and where we have been as a couple and as a family.

Some new pictures...

2010-03-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some new and very overdue pictures of our family! A vintage carosel came to the downtown mall here in Charlottesville for a whole week to celebrate the coming of spring and rides were free! The girls loved riding on it! And here is me, almost 30 weeks pregnant...just about 3 more months to go!

Tell Me a Story...

2010-03-03T07:10:00.000-08:00

Today, during homeschool time I asked the girls to tell me a story about their pet fish, Lily and Daisy. (Lily is Avery's fish, and Daisy is Kyla's pink fish) Here are their stories, word for word.

Avery (age 3.5)

"Lily was growing soon but she couldn't grow all the time. She had a dress on when she was a boy fish. In Charlotte, North Carolina we didn't have fish. Okay, she had socks on and cinderella on her dress. Isn't that really cool she had cinderella on her dress? So, she had eyes. Yeah, she had eyes. She had a tummy, she pooped a lot. This is going to be a really funny story."

Kyla (age 6)

"Once upon a time, Daisy used to have a planner. She planned a bunch of stuff and she finished it in one whole day. She finished her book. She lit a candle and then burned the book. Then she got near the radiator and broke it by accident. Then she got a bunch of presents because she broke the radiator. Then she had a dress and a headband and socks and leggings on. "

These stories really cracked me up...and Avery really suprised me with how much she "told" of her fish, Lily. Avery went first when I asked for the stories. I kind of thought if she went 2nd, then she would just copy Kyla's story. But she thought all of this up in her own little imaginative mind :-) I'm going to have to do this more often, it was so fun!

Snowy day sewing

2010-02-21T09:50:00.000-08:00

With all of the snow we have been getting plus with most days not even reaching above freezing outside, we have been spending more and more time indoors. Trying to find ways to make the day a little more creative, a little more fun and interesting becomes more of a challenge with each day that approaches and the weather forcast reads, "Partly cloudy, high 30 degrees".

We're all itching to get outside and be able to stay outside for more than 20 minutes without feeling parts of our body go numb. :-) Thankfully, today we got one of those days! And yesterday we did as well! The high was 45 yesterday and today it is even higher!

Meanhwhile, here's a little of what has been keeping me busy indoors-- sewing some spring curtains to brighten up the girls' bedroom. Also, lots of reading, working on homework, breadbaking and cleaning and organizing. Kyla and Avery spend most of their time entertained with dolls, dollhouses, blocks and books,...also sitting on my lap to help me sew has become a favorite too. We've brought our trampoline inside on a number of occasions to get some much needed exercise inside! They've had fun with that too!

Here's to warmer weather soon! :-)

Thinking about names...

2010-02-18T10:58:00.000-08:00

We found out we're adding a little boy to our family! We're so excited and the girls are really thrilled at the thought of having a little brother.

Names have been on my mind a lot...I have always had a really hard time coming up with boy names that I just LOVE. I have a long list of girl names that I'm in love with, but boy names just simply come harder to me. Pete and I are having fun thinking of names, letting the name "rest" on our minds a little, testing the name...just seeing if it "fits" our family. Here are some of our favorites so far (okay...and some of MY favorites):

Brayden
Harper
Cameron
Brennan
Dawson
Ezra (a favorite of mine)
Levi (a favorite of Pete)
Noah (a favorite of mine)
Austin (a favorite of Pete)

....And who knows what name will be next to pop up on the list!! What about you? Any favorite boy names that you would like to share with us (as long as you don't mind the thought of us using it? )

Snowing again!

2010-02-06T18:09:00.000-08:00

So thankful for Kyla

2010-02-03T18:14:00.000-08:00

This past weekend is one of those weekend that I would rather not remember. It was definitely one of those weekends that makes you look at your precious children and thank God for their smiles, laughter, silliness, and yes...even their strong wills and arguing. Kyla is the type of kid that never seems to stop moving or talking. She talks almost non-stop all day long and tries to do handstands and gymnastics around the house most of the day.

Well, on Thursday night she woke up in the middle of the night and threw up several times. On Friday morning, simply because it was Friday, and I didn't want her to not be able to see a doctor over the weekend, I took her in to be seen. They ran a strep test and the doctor told us it was just a stomach virus. She threw up for another 48 hours, so on Sunday I called the doctor on call who told us we might want to pay a visit to the ER. Kyla was getting weaker, had not eaten in over 48 hours, and even worse, had not been able to keep down very many liquids in that amount of time. She stopped bouncing around and talking much and just wanted to lay on the couch. Sunday evening, Pete had to carry her to the ER...she couldn't walk. The doctor told us she was not dehydrated, but the doctor also didn't run any tests on her to make her statement official. No urine or blood tests were done to test for dehydration. She gave kyla a popsicle, (which she did not want to eat) and sent us on our way.

Sunday night was Kyla's 4th night of throwing up. She threw up about 5 times that night. The next morning I took one look at her and new something was seriously wrong. She was so pale, so thin...I could see almost all of her little bones. She couldn't hold her head up and wouldn't talk to us. We had to carry her everywhere. I managed to get her to eat 1 pedialyte popsicle and then eat 2 pinches of a banana which she (thankfully) kept down. We went at 10am monday morning to her doctor's office.

The doctor and nurses were surprised by our ER visit and lack of attention Kyla received there. Her doctor ran blood and urine tests that showed she was severely dehydrated. They gave her 1 liter of IV fluids, which she screamed on Peter for 1.5 hours through the 3 hour process. Then she fell into a nice deep sleep while the IV finished. I entertained Avery in the waiting room for those several hours because poor Avery was upset from hearing Kyla scream like that. The doctor told us she needed more fluids (probably another half liter) because she did not really perk up that much after the 1 liter that she received and it took her 1 full liter of fluids before she even needed to pee.

At 2:00pm after the IV was finished, the doctor told us that he wanted to admit her to the hospital, but if we were able to have her drink about a half liter of fluids before 8pm then she could stay home as long as she didn't vomit anymore. He prescribed Zofran to settle her stomach too.

We took her home, she drank and drank whatever we forced upon her...and it really did seem like forcing! She also ate 4 saltine crackers that day and little bits of banana here and there and I gave here several teaspoons of honey to keep her blood sugar up. She didn't throw up anymore on her own, and we gave her Zofran that night just in case. She woke up the next morning walking out of the bedroom with a smile on her face saying, "Mama, I feel better" and gave me a huge hug. It was so great to see her smiling and walking and talking again!

It's Thursday now, 1 week from when this all started. Kyla is back to herself eating pretty much anything. I'm having fun giving her foods to fatten her up again, as she is still really skinny. She lost almost 4lbs in 4 days. And, if you know Kyla, she doesn't really have much weight to loose!

She was trying to argue with me today about not wanting to clean up toys because she was still playing and I was honestly thankful that she was feeling good enough to try and argue :-) Today is also the first day that she had a bit of bounce back in her step and talked a lot most of the day. Sometimes, the non-stop talking gets a little tiring for me...but today I was simply thankful for who Kyla is: my sweet, and very bubbly almost 6 year old!

I was thinking through all of this how so many children in so many countries suffer from dehydration on a daily basis and how life-threatening it really is. I saw a little of this while I was in the Philippines last summer. I am so incredibly grateful that our children are healthy on a normal basis. I'm also so thankful that God healed Kyla before she had to go to the hospital!

In the pictures above, the first two are of Kyla celebrating her birthday a month early with her friends in Charlotte, NC. The last 2 pictures are about 2 days after Kyla started feeling better from her illness. In between the time...Kyla got a haircut too!

Blizzard of '09

2010-01-05T18:58:00.000-08:00

These days, blogging has unfortunately become last place. I love blogging and would love to do it daily or even weekly, but somehow there are so many other things that have taken priority. Homeschooling, teaching childbirth classes, being a wife, a mommy, a doula and trying to keep the house running at a somewhat smooth pace all seems to preceed blogging. Add on top of that being pregnant again and beginning to start midwifery school, things can get a little crazy around here!

We have really been enjoying our new home in Charlottesville. Recently, we especially enjoyed the 24 inches of snow in December that the blizzard of 2009 brought to our little town. It was so beautiful and it was so much fun being snowed in for a whole week!

I hope you created wonderful holiday memories with your family and had a wonderful new year :-) We're looking forward to what 2010 will bring!

Pumpkins and Headstands

2009-10-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall everyone! Oh, how I love this time of year. The leaves in Charlottesville are simply beautiful. Kyla has become quite found recently of learning all she can about trees and can probably recognize, name and remember more trees than Pete and I put together.

It's been quite awhile since my last entry. September and October have been months full of blessings and also full of weddings for our family. In September I found out that we are expecting baby Davis # 3 due sometime in June! We are very thankful...and I am trying to keep the attitude of gratitude throughout the 1st trimester nausea and sleepiness. In October, we have had a wedding to shoot every Saturday, including one this Saturday on Halloween. We did have one weekend with a "break" from shooting weddings to attending Dave and Amy Casler's wedding in Northern Virginia. It was a wonderful time seeing friends that we had not seen in a long time! It was also a much needed get-a-way with just the two of us!

An October entry could not be complete without pumpkin patch pictures and also, I had to throw a picture in of what Kyla spends most of her days and evenings doing....standing on her head. She really loves gymnastics. A lot :-)

Till next time!

What are the needs of Five Year Olds?

2009-09-18T11:32:00.000-07:00

An article that I have found helpful in homeschooling our five year old, based on child development and academic readiness.

Avery's first day of preschool

2009-09-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

Avery had her first day of preschool last Tuesday and today was her first full day of preschool. (The first week preschool was only a half day.) She was apprehensive at first, but today she did really well and when I picked her up she had a huge smile on her face because they had just finished playing a game with the parachute!

Avery goes to Mollie Michie preschool, a co-op preschool, so I was actually in her classroom for her first day helping, and then Emili Hays was co-oping on the 2nd day of preschool and she knows Emili really well, so that really helped ease her into preschool life :-) It's nice Emili's little boy, Oliver, is in her class. Today she ran over to Ollie and gave him a hug and said, "Goodbye, Ollie!".

Kyla and I enjoyed a full day of homeschooling today while Avery was at preschool. She practiced writing her numbers 6 through 10 in her Handwriting without Tears book. Then we baked a pumpkin raisin cake to kick off the beginning of September. Pete taught Kyla measurements this weekend and she was able to hand me the 1/3 cup when I asked and would tell me how many scoops I needed to make 1 cup. She's a fast learner, for sure. After baking, she was off to catch crickets from the backyard in put them in her bug catcher. To finish off the morning, she knitted on her knitting tower and I almost finished knitting a pink scarf for her to wear this fall. This afternoon was Kyla's first day of gymnastics class and she loved learning cartwheels and handstands and swinging on the uneven bar. She met some other little girls her age, one of which lives just down the street from us.

What a blessing of a day. I cannot stop thanking God for my wonderful family. I love my husband and girls to pieces, and though we're only at the beginning, we're loving homeschooling. I love being able to be the one to listen to Kyla read her first sentence..what a blessing to be able to stay at home and teach our girls. I've also been thanking the Lord over and over for how wonderful Avery's skin has been since our move to Charlottesville. We feel like we have a big piece of our family back. Everyday life became very difficult and stressful when her eczema was bad in Charlotte and here she spends most of her days just like other little girls: playing, laughing, singing songs, dancing, doing crafts, etc. She spends less and less time scratching. Life is so much better. Thanks for praying for her and for our move.

Carter's Mountain

2009-09-07T07:05:00.000-07:00

2009-09-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

Carter's Mountain is just about 3 minutes away from our home, and so the other day after Pete got home from work, we packed a picnic dinner and went to the mountain to pick the first apples of the season! We've enjoyed baking apple crisp and eating lots and lots of very tasty apples. The girls LOVED picking the apples off the tree and playing peek-a-boo in the apple orchard. I became a little obsessed with getting the prettiest, reddest apples which happened to all be at the very top of the trees, of course. So, Kyla was our main apple picker and climbed up on daddy's shoulders to get the best apples of the bunch! I attempted to climb some of the trees and managed to get one or two from the top...it was a very fun day with temperatures being a very pleasant 70 degrees! Then on Tuesday (baking day), Kyla helped chop the apples for our apple crisp. I think eating it was her favorite part, though :-)

Nature walk collection

2009-09-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

This past Friday, on our "nature day", we went on a long walk around the neighborhood. Kyla has been really loving the themes to our days. On our walk Kyla collected a bunch of favorite things she saw along the way. I thought she was going to draw them, but she had other ideas, like making 3-D art. :-)

Nature Study: Butterflies

2009-09-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

Kyla and Avery have had a lot of "catching up" to do since we've moved into our new house. We lived in an apartment until Kyla was 3 1/2 in Los Angeles and so running around outside all day in her barefeet didn't happen very much unless we were at the park. We were in Charlotte until Kyla was 5 and Avery was almost 3, and even though they were outside more, our small little backyard wasn't very "exciting" for them...not much to explore. Just a patch of grass. Adding to that, Avery's outdoor allergies, we spend a lot of time inside.

Well, Kyla has been spending about 70% of her days outside in our big backyard catching butterflies all day long. She's also caught a praying mantis, and other little bugs that roam around. Then, she comes inside and draws them in her nature journal and this is the science portion of her homeschooling for kindergarten this year: observation. Simply soaking in and absorbing all of the nature around her and then drawing pictures of what she sees. She loves every minute of this and I do too!

A Waldorf-inspired Kindergarten Year

2009-08-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

With September just around the corner, I thought I'd dedicate a blog post to our first year of homeschooling with Kyla and Avery. I say Avery because even though she's attending preschool 2 days a week, if you ask her, she thinks she is being home schooled just like her big sister.

After spending endless hours on the computer, talking with other homeschooling moms, and reading through lots of different books, we have decided on combining the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling with Waldorf education. It's a big plus to be living in a town with such a wonderful Waldorf school. So, there is quite a network of other Waldorf and Charlotte Mason-inspired homeschoolers here in Charlottesville.

So, what does Waldorf Kindergarten look like?

First, the teacher engages in every day activities that children can imitate. Examples of this in our days would be cooking, baking, sweeping, mopping, cleaning, as well as painting, knitting and other crafts. Children learn via imitation. One key here is don't say it if you can do it. Show it instead of tell how it's done. In trying to show how to do things instead of telling my children, this is definitely an area that I need a lot of work in!

Children learn best through whole body activity, so another aspect of Waldorf ecducation is to give children worthwhile activities to imitate. Not by instruction, but by seeing an adult doing those jobs and the child joining in. They may choose to join in or not, but the option is there. And, having been doing this for quite awhile now, our children choose to join in about 90% of the time! Sometimes this can be difficult when we just want to simply get the job done quickly. But now with homeschooling around the corner, I see it even more as part of schooling. as well as part of simply living. So, if dinner takes 2 hours to prepare, but they are helping chop vegetables, measure flour, wash dishes or sweep the floor, then our afternoon has been spent in a healthy way and our kids have had opportunities to participate in useful and important tasks. I also adapt some of my work to the changing seasons and celebrations around the year (Harvest celebrations, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, spring and summer celebrations). This might involve a special adventure such as apple picking and coming home to peel the apples and bake apple pie, or it might be lighting our Advent candles in December as we anticipate celebrating the birth of Jesus on Christmas day.

So, in waldorf kindergartens the child is engaged in work, they play with open-ended creative toys, media exposure is kept to a minimum or none at all (more on this one later), children play dress up, and they also hear stories and participates in circle time. The arts are also a big emphasis of Waldorf education. In our homeschool, I tell the same fairy tale or Bible story every day for a solid week. Then we do a movement game or a fingerplay. For example, this week we are telling the story about the Sheep and the Pig. I get almost all of the stories from www.mainlesson.com for free. The emphasis here is on storytelling and not reading the story. Telling the story helps with their imagination as well as their listening skills. I'm going to have to work on this one, as it will take extra time on my part to really learn the story so I can tell it without having a "cheat sheet". :-) Our fingerplay this week is:
"Two little birds sitting on a wall, one named Peter, one named Paul...fly away Peter, fly away Paul...come back Peter, come back Paul." I remembered this one from kindergarten myself :-) After we have circle time, we do art based on the story of the week if we can.

I could continue to write about Waldorf and the Charlotte Mason Method. There's so much wonderful information out there. But instead, I want to show you what our general schedule is for the day. So, here are some links that have helped with our homeschool planning and explain a little more about Charlotte Mason and Waldorf:

Simply Charlotte Mason

Ambelside Online

Christopherus Homeschool Resources

Why Waldorf Works

Head, Heart, and Hands

So, in our home we are going to try to have our days named by activity. Monday is errand day, Tuesday is baking day, Wednesday is cleaning day, Thursday is painting day, and Friday is nature day. This is so much fun for our girls so far and really helps with the routine of things. Our girls often ask us, "What are we going to do today, Mommy?" and I say, "Well today is Tuesday and Tuesday is baking day. We are going to bake blueberry muffins together." This gives the days somewhat of predictability to the the girls and helps them make sense of the week and how it generally flows.

Here are is our schedule for the week. Avery is in preschool on T/TH so those days are going to look a bit different and it will be the time I do more 5-year old appropriate things with Kyla.

M/W/F

7:30 Breakfast. We sometimes light a candle (the girls love watching this) and we say our Bible verse for the week. Pete reads a Bible story from A child's book of character building or from the Bible.

7:50 Get dressed the girls dressed and ready for the day. Kyla dresses herself in clothes she laid out the night before.

8:15-10am- Morning walk. In our yard, around the neighborhood, to the park

10-10:20- Circle Time. Storytelling. Fingerplay games. Movement games.

10:20-11:00- Craft project based on story or the season.

11:00 Kyla helps with lunch preparation...usually fixing her own sandwich.

11:30 Lunch. We say a prayer, light a candle and eat.

12:00 clean up

12:30 Read aloud a book on the Ambelside and Waldorf list of books for Kindergartners.

1:00 Rest time for Kyla...nap for Avery

1:45 Kyla and I read a couple pages in her chapter book (Right now that's Little House on the Prairie) Then we read one page in either her Usborne book of Nature or Living Long Ago. Then we play some math games with dominos, counting seashells, etc. For example, today and yesterday the girls have been collecting cicada shells that are everywhere around here! They look gross to me, but the girls think they are fun and cool. So Kyla has been adding and subtracting these things. It wouldn't be my personal pick to do math with cicada shells, but she's having a grand time!

2:15/2:30 Avery is now awake with us and we usually have a protein and fruit or veggie for snack. Sunflower butter on banana is usually a big hit!

3:15 Outdoor play or visit with friends

4:30 Read aloud (A Poem of the week from A child's garden of verses and another favorite book)

4:45 Dinner preparation

5:30/6

6:30-7:30 Playtime with daddy. Clean up from dinner.

T/TH

Same as above except: After morning circle time Avery goes to school from 9-11:30. Here is our schedule while Avery is in school.

Tuesday:

Baking day! Bake bread, muffins or scones..or make a pot of soup when the weather gets colder!)

Reading (from Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons)

Writing letters (from Handwriting without Tears)

Thursday:

Painting day! (Wet on wet watercolor painting)

Math games

Nature walk and draw/color in nature journal what we just saw in nature that morning.

Just as a little side note: in Waldorf kindergartens they do not emphasize academics such as reading, writing and math before the age of 6 or 7. However, Kyla has been teaching herself how to read and is hungry to know more and the same goes for adding and subtracting by using objects. If she were not interested, I would probably wait until she was 6 to begin this, as they do in Waldorf, but since she is interested and loving it, we're doing it! :-)

Joining the 30's club

2009-08-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

My wonderful hubby turned 30 on August 11th. We had a small little party with just the family. Kyla and Avery thought it was the greatest thing EVER that their daddy was having a birthday. Kyla helped me make a chocolate cake and Avery enjoyed her rice dream ice cream. I believe the first picture is of Pete trying to pretend that he's depressed because he has now turned 30. Kyla and Avery were cracking up at Pete posing for the picture at the bottom in black and white. And, no party is complete without the pink birthday crown. I don't know why Pete wouldn't wear this...so Avery did!

Happy Birthday, babe! Welcome to the 30's club!

Welcome to our new home!

2009-08-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Times in Charlottesville

2009-08-15T18:32:00.001-07:00

The girls love playing house outside on our big back porch.

My favorite part of our kitchen. A vintage, early 1900's china cabinet refurbished.

Standing in the kitchen, taking a picture of our dining room, with the living room in the background. We had just finished breakfast, so please overlook the mess!

On August 1st, the day finally came to move into our new home in Charlottesville, Virginia. We had a wonderful bunch of people help us, including our good friends Audrey and Doug Woodhams who offered to help while on vacation in the US from Switzerland! (You guys were so awesome to give up a vacation day to help us move!)

Now that we are mostly settled into our new home, I'm finally getting around to blogging. Our days here have been simply wonderful. We love Charlottesville. Avery's skin seems to like it much better than Charlotte, for sure. (Though we're not sure if that's simply because it's summer...we will truely see come fall.) There has been mostly lots of laughter and joy coming from our home the past 2 weeks! Kyla and Avery LOVE this place. Avery tells me about once a day that she loves her new house. I love our cozy home and being on one level again.

I made a list of all the places we can walk to within a 10 minute walk or less from our new home. We can walk to 2 parks, the downtown mall (full of unique coffee shops, local shops, restaurants, etc.), the Discovery place for kids, a free merry-go-round for kids to play on, a walking trail near the river. Our church is a 2 minute drive and so are most other places. It's wonderful not spending so much time in the car and also so nice only having to fill up our Honda once every 3 weeks!

We love it here. I'll keep saying it again and again...I feel so blessed to be here with our family. :-)

More happy times in Charlottesville

2009-08-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

A tree swing for our front yard, thanks Daddy!

The girls LOVE this park, especially the fountain on these hot summer days!

2009-08-15T18:29:00.000-07:00

Making birthday cakes in the dirt...

I love this picture. Avery was watching daddy cut the grass...something she has NEVER seen before, because until now, we have never had to cut our own grass!

3 years old!

2009-07-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

(Avery doesn't like fire, can't you tell?)

My baby is 3, how can this be? She was so thrilled to turn 3...we made a really big deal about all the wonderful things you can do by yourself when you're 3 years old! Even in the midst of our moving drama (see entry below), we really wanted to make Avery's birthday special. Thanks, Patrick and Megan for bringing your boys to Powhatan to celebrate with us! Thanks Matt and Dad Davis for coming too! Avery LOVED her pumpkin cake. I admit, for being gluten free, egg free and dairy free, it was definitely NOT taste free!! :-) Delicious!

3 years old

2009-07-10T18:35:00.000-07:00

opening presents...

Kyla at Avery's party...couldn't resist this great expression captured on camera!

A trip home to LA

2009-07-10T18:27:00.000-07:00

I have been very absent from the blogging world lately. That's because our lives have been extremely busy and full. There are many stories to tell, I'm not sure where I should start! So, I'll begin with our wonderful get-a-way to Los Angeles! ...This story really begins in Charlotte, NC...

After packing up our home in Charlotte, the girls and I spent a week with my sister and brother in law in Radford, VA while Pete took care of many last minute details of packing and moving. We met Pete in Charlottesville, VA and proceeded to unload and unpack every waking minute for almost a week. While doing all of this, we had some bad things happen to our new home in C'ville. A leaky roof one evening, holes and cracks in the window sills that were not getting repaired, and then we had a small flood in our basement. Unfortunately, our landlord was not interested in fixing these problems ASAP, like they needed to be. (Especially a dripping roof with increasing water damage and mold growth!), so we were let out of our lease (without penalty, of course). Added into that week, Avery had a fever and a cold.

After a week of living there, we knew we were going to be moving out, but first we had a week long trip to LA that had been planned for quite a few months. Our good friend, Nate Towery and his fiance, flew us out to LA to shoot their beautiful wedding in San Pedro. While we were there, we filled our days with visiting good friends, and eating at our favorite restaurants that we missed so much. We even fit in a trip to Santa Barbara, where Pete did some second-shooting with our good friend and photographer, Veronique Guy. It made our entire summer to spend such a great time with Peter and Veronique! We were also able to stay with our good friends, Scott and Donna Barlow and see their growing family. They made our trip such a blessing by having us in our home for two nights. After visiting with our friends in Simi Valley, we made our way down the 405 freeway to San Pedro for Nate and Courtney's wedding. It was not only a beautiful wedding, but such a Christ-centered ceremony full of joyful worship and adoration for our Lord. It was such a blessing to photograph such a lovely couple and capture their special day for them!
After the reception, we went to see Dave and Amy Casler in Glendale and we stayed one night. We had a great time catching up and they were so sweet to make a huge (and delicious!) french toast breakfast for us the next morning! We had a great time walking all over Glendale and eating at Pinkberry's. Thanks, Dave and Amy!
Then we were on to do a photo shoot with Peter and Veronique in Culver City. After our great time with them, it was a trip down memory lane for us...stopping by our old neighborhood Trader Joe's, where I used to go grocery shopping with Kyla and Avery when Kyla was only 2 and 3 and Avery was just a little baby in a sling. :-) Then we drove by our old apartment and Carlson Park. Kyla called Carlson Park the "tree" park, and we probably went htere every single day of the week. The memories that flooded our mind of our little Kyla running around and playing peek-a-boo behind a palm tree were too many to count. I don't think I realized how much I missed our "home" until I was back in Culver City.
The last leg of our trip was just the two of us relaxing and sleeping in our hotel in Marina Del Rey. We visited with Kevin and Annie Wylie and were blessed to see their brand new baby girl, Eva, who was only 10 days old! The whole trip was fun, busy, and relaxing and refreshing all at the same time. Many thanks to all who housed us and let us stop by and many, many thanks to my mom and dad who kept Kyla and Avery so Pete and I could have a little honeymoon in the midst of our crazy moving experience!

A trip back home to LA

2009-07-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

Pete in Malibu

Looking down to the ocean from the top of Pt. Dume

The day was really overcast, but still you can see how beautiful this place is!

My little collection of dessert flowers lying in the sand at the beach. I had a lot of fun trying to make this picture "just right". It included getting super wet and really sandy. :-)

A trip home to LA

2009-07-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

Walking in downtown Culver City

Peter and Veronique Guy

Underneath the Jaqueranda tree (my favorite California tree!)

At Pt. Dume in Malibu, CA

8 amazing years

2009-05-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

I'm really behind on blogging these days. But I didn't want too many days to slip by without blogging about our special day, May 26th. I have been married 8 years now to the man of my dreams. Life really only gets better with him by my side. I was head-0ver-heals in love on our wedding day...I couldn't imagine loving him more! Oh, but there was definitely more room for more love. (If you're not sick of the lovey-dovey cheesiness then you can continue to read)

When I married Pete, I had sort of an idea of what kind of husband he would be, but I had no idea what kind of dad he would be.

He's the kind of husband that comes home from work and immediately sees what might need to be done and does it every single time (whether that's playing with the kids, cooking dinner, or cleaning up). He's the kind of husband who if he knows I have had a really hard day dealing with Avery and her skin, he will give me the keys to the car and push me out the door so that I can go have a break. He's the kind of husband who never puts himself first. He's always thinking of ways to make me happy or take care of the girls, instead of doing something for himself.

He's the kind of daddy who gets up in the middle of the night 99% of the time if one of the girl's wakes up (right now, it's Avery). This started when Avery was a baby and was nursing VERY often at night. I was so exhausted and couldn't sleep because every time my head hit the pillow I would have to wake right back up again. So, I started to even have a hard time falling asleep (since I was anticipating waking up). So, he recommended I wear ear plugs and told me he would just bring Avery to me whenever she needed to nurse, but he would take care of the rest. So, this was 2 years ago, but he still does it. Yes, I still wear ear plugs. Yes, Avery still wakes up often (though not nearly as much as when she was a baby!). He tells me he sees it like this: I need more sleep than him to function normally. He does great with 6 hours, if I get less than 8, I'm dragging all day long.

There are so many more reasons that I love him, but these are pretty amazing reasons to love this man. Happy 8 years, babe. You're the best.

Kyla's words of wisdom

2009-05-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

Before my story, a comment about the pictures above...the girls taking a nature walk with their daddy,
Kyla finding some more beautiful spring "life" in the woods, and Avery wearing a dress. I had to get this one on camera. You always see Avery in long sleeves and pants because of her eczema. Poor girl, if she sees her bare skin, she goes after it and scratches until it bleeds. For some reason, this particular day (a few weeks ago) she was really focused on her play and actually forgot about her skin! Or at least she was distracted enough! This lasted for a full 15 minutes or so...amazing! She's so cute in a dress, I really hope one day she'll be able to wear them without scratching herself.

Okay, on with the story. So, today was a rather rough afternoon with Avery and her skin. Actually, to be quite honest it has been a very rough spring (March, April and May) with Avery's skin. "They" ranked Charlotte as the #3 worst city in the nation for springtime allergies. Yikes. We can tell!! So, while Avery was screaming in the bath, Pete was with her. I was reading Kyla a book before her bedtime. After the book Kyla gave me a huge tackling hug and held me so tight...so sweet. She said, "Mama, I'm hugging you and you're hugging me, we're carrying each other," and if that's not sweet enough she then went on to say, "it's kinda like God carrying us. He holds us tight. You know, mama, God carries babies and kids and adults."

Well, if that wasn't a word sent right from God to me tonight through my precious little girl, then I don't know what is! :-)

I'm so thankful He carries us. What a great reminder. :-)

An update on life...

2009-05-12T17:16:00.001-07:00

I've been rather absent in the blogging world lately.

Shooting weddings with Pete, teaching childbirth classes, prenatal visits with doula clients, to and from the allergist and acupuncturists for Avery's allergies, finding out she's allergic to more and more foods and things outside, Pete getting a job interview and offer in Charlottesville, Virginia and accepting!...getting ready for a possible move...and sometimes wondering why a job near the ocean has not opened up for him (avery's doctor told us to move near the ocean)...but still we're trusting that the Lord knows best where we are supposed to be right now.

....Also wondering why the Philippines had to be put on hold due to finances, but also trusting that even though He may be calling us there, it must not be His timing to GO right now....

...all that and still trying to maintain normalicy and a rhythm of some sort to our days here...

well, those are all great stories to blog about, but it's also why I haven't been blogging...
even as I write I really need to be planning for my class I'm teaching tomorrow...so, with that said...
goodnight!

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter to everyone! We were so blessed to spend the weekend with Rosie, Jonathan and Ian. The kids enjoyed playing in the river on Friday, having a yummy Easter dinner on Saturday made by Jonathan and Rosie, and all of us worshiping together at church on Sunday. It was so wonderful t0 have the kids with us in church and us all being together.

Special times and special moments. Rejoicing together that Jesus really loved us THAT much and sacrificed himself so we could be united with him forever...then he came back to life on Easter. How amazing. I'm so thankful.

Thanks, Rosie and Jonathan for such a special weekend! We really missed Aunt Charlotte and Mom, I hope you feel better, Charlotte! The girls LOVED seeing Papa again! Thanks for coming! More pictures to come of our weekend!

Easter 2009

2009-04-13T07:35:00.000-07:00

Down by the River

2009-04-13T07:34:00.001-07:00

The kids had a BLAST throwing rocks in the water. One after another. They could have stayed there all day, and had we known, we would have just packed dinner. Despite the river being freezing cold, they could have cared less as they waded further and further out to pick up just one more rock.

2009-04-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

Our local CSA

2009-04-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

We were so excited today to stop by our local CSA (community supported agriculture) and pick up our first share of the season! Kyla is proudly showing it off, along with the pink egg she dyed yesterday at the Creehan's easter party :-)
This is our very first year being part of a CSA, and for us it is Poplar Ridge Farm about 5 miles away from us in Charlotte, NC. I have wanted to do something like this for years! Some CSA's have membership fees where you pay once a year for produce for your whole family, and then receive a share each week of whatever is growing at the time.

Pete is doing a photography barter with our CSA, so we're able to exchange photography for fresh food! Can't get much better than that :-) We're super excited. The eggs above were delicous...and so were the portobello mushrooms. The apples were probably the sweetest I've ever tasted. I don't think this was just in my head...it truely was very fresh food!

You can click on the CSA link above and it will take you to localharvest.org where you can find the CSA closest to you!

More CSA

2009-04-04T12:59:00.000-07:00

SNAPSHOTS OF MOMENTS: by Pete

2009-04-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

Despite a really rough week dealing with Avery's 2 year old attitude plus eczema, I love to look back at the moments and snapshots of good times. Pete and I love to capture the everyday moments. It rained a lot this week, and so Pete used the umbrella as the "backdrop" for the picture. You can get some pretty amazing pictures posing your kid holding a black umbrella! I love my husband's work and his talent. He is such an amazing photographer and he has taught me so much. I love being his assistant at weddings and portrait shoots. He's so much fun to work with and has such a great eye.
I would say about 70% of the pictures that I post on this blog I take throughout the days while Pete's working. But today, Pete gets all the credit for capturing some great expressions on the girls and great angles :-)

Okay, I'll stop bragging about my amazing husband.
Instead, I'll let his website (if you haven't seen it yet) show you even more of his talent.

Snapshot of a Moment: Sewing

2009-03-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Yeaa! After sewing my first skirts ever for the girls, I just finished up my first pair of pants for Avery. I'm so excited about these pants because they were completely free, (yes, free!)...made from a white linen pillowcase that has not been in use for quite some time. The trimming was made from a cloth headband I had. I loved the fabric, but did not like the headband so much on myself. So, I used my trusty seam ripper to un-do the headband, and then used the fabric for the cuffs. These pants have many flaws because they are my first pair ever made...but they fit Avery (besides being slightly too long), and are the perfect springtime pants for her! She seems to love them too, she didn't try to change out of them all morning :-)

In progress right now is a tablecloth with sweet bluebird fabric from the etsy store alittlegoodness. Our table is in desperate need of a tablecloth that can easily catch crumbs and food and then be thrown in the washing machine. Maybe having something like this will lessen my chances of scraping food off of our table :-)

Enjoy your Sunday wherever you are!

Snapshot of a Moment: Rainy Day

2009-03-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

It poured rain today.

Then, this evening before bed the sun came out, the rain slowed, and the girls
splashed in big puddles.

Snapshot of a Moment: Sweetness

2009-03-26T06:08:00.000-07:00

I love how she holds her baby so tight,
nuzzling, patting it's back, and whispering
"I love you".

Ever since Avery could talk she has treated all of her baby dolls, animals
and friends with such compassion and sweetness.

This is especially true when someone is sad or hurt.

This was one of those moments.

Snapshot of a Moment: a visit from Papa

2009-03-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

Papa drove down from Virginia this past weekend to visit us! Kyla loved to show and tell him everything new that she can do now that she is 5 years old. This includes riding her bike "really fast", climbing trees, hanging with her feet from the monkey bars at the park, making her bed, and doing her "job" which is unloading the flatware from the dishwasher. She is so proud of everything she can do now! Avery is also surprising us a little more every day with her athletic abilities. Kyla was not riding or couldn't seem to ride the tricycle by herself at 2 and 1/2. Now, I know that most kids can, but for some reason, Kyla wasn't either interested or didn't have the leg strength. Well, Avery will push those peddles up any hill and will not let us help her.

Anyway, back to our visit with Papa...he read dozens and dozens of books to the girls, we went out to eat and went to the library, and visited the NoDa arts district. When the girls went to sleep in the evening, we enjoyed teaching my dad the game of Settlers and played each evening while he was here. :-) Thanks, Patrick and Megan for the 100th time of letting us borrow your game. I think it's ending up at our home more than your home. I guess this is a sign we need to buy our own very soon!
Thanks, Dad, for brightening our weekend!

Far from perfect: our lives and eczema.

2009-03-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

It's 4pm, and it's been a rather trying afternoon with Avery. She chose to spend her nap time going in between crying for me and calling sweetly for me to come. The "nap" (which never happened) ended with me coming in her room for the 100th time that afternoon and seeing that she had managed to escape out of her buttoned mitten shirt and scratch her arms till there were little bloody scratch marks all over. That did it for me-- nap over. Time to move on for the afternoon to something else.

I have been getting emails from several mothers who run into my blog posts about our daughter's eczema. I hear the stress in their emails, and their hopeless feelings I can empathize with tremendously. I have felt just like that. I've had mothers tell me that they want to have more children, but because of the daily physical and mental stress eczema places on them, they do not want anymore kids...they don't know if they could handle caring for any others. Caring for a child with eczema takes an enormous amount of extra time and energy, depending on how severe the case of eczema.

I have written before about Avery's skin being so much better. And it IS so much better than last year at this time. But we still walk daily through the in's and out's of eczema and the "maintenance" that goes into helping keep her from a severe flare-up.

Some mothers have asked me to explain how our daughter's eczema affects life. I'm going to attempt a list here, so bear with me.

1) We spend about 1.5 hours a day putting lotions on Avery's skin. That's once in the morning, before nap time, and before bed (or after bath, if it's a bath day). Pete seems a little more efficient at this than me, so it may take him 20 minutes, where it usually takes me 30 minutes.
1st is a layer of California Baby Calendula Cream on the really red spots. Next is some Burt's Bees Diaper Rash Cream on the spots that "hurt" her. Now that Avery's old enough she tells us where she wants "butt" cream, she calls it. Then a layer of watery Aveeno Intense Relief Cream all over. We seal it all in with 100% Organic Unrefined Shea Butter. We do this 3x a day. We've tried doing less creams, but this is what keeps Avery's skin less itchy overall and less dry. Whatever it takes, right? The 1.5 hours does not include any other point in the day if she starts itching and wants her "butter" as she calls the Shea Butter. If that happens, we try to encourage her to apply it herself, and she does a slow, but good job and she knows the best where she needs it.

2) We spend about $40 per month on lotions and creams.

3) The hardest part I think for both Pete and I is that there is almost no mental break. When Avery is not in the same room that we are in, I am constantly wondering in the back of my head, "I wonder if Avery is scratching?". Because she could be perfectly happy one moment, occupied and not scratching or she could get slightly upset or stressed at something and that triggers her to scratch. Or sometime she simply scratches out of bordom. There is often no rhyme or reason. She does WONDERFUL outside our home. She rarely scratches when visiting other friends. This is very nice for us, but at the same time, it makes a liar out of us! (Not that our friends think we lie about her eczema, but they do not see what we see at home.) Distraction and active playtimes are the best "remedy" for her scratching. If she's distracted enough, her skin doesn't bother her.

4) Discpline is hard. It used to be harder, but now that she's getting older I can differentiate better between a temper tantrum or bad attitude AND Avery not feeling well because of her skin. The hard part is stress triggers itchy eczema skin. So she wants to scratch it. This means, if she wants to do something, and we tell her "no", then she will often start to scratch. It's much harder to teach a child that they cannot have everything they want when eczema is involved. Yes, it's doable, but harder. I question myself and pray almost daily on how to parent her.

5) We are very thankful for the allergy elimination technique called NAET (www.naet.com for more info.) We travel twice a week to Dilworth in uptown Charlotte for acupressure treatments for Avery. Avery's skin is getting better and better due to these treatments. Her particular case of eczema is very much directly related to her food and environmental allergies.

6) Meals and snacks are not so easy. No eggs. No nuts. Very limited dairy. (it used to be no dairy too, but thanks to her allergy treatments, we are slowly giving her small amounts and always wait to see how it affects her itching.) We also found out she has a sensitivity to wheat which can be contributing to her eczema. Hopefully this one will soon be eliminated too. I do a lot of egg-less baking around here and quick and easy casseroles (a used to be FAVORITE of mine) are not on our menu anymore. As a dietitian, I try to make her snacks and meals very healthy, full of protein and fresh fruits and veggies (as much as possible). We use a lot of goat yogurt and goat milk too. I know what goes in her body will be reflected in her skin. Plus with her dietary restrictions she needs alternatives to get whatever she might be missing from other foods.

7) Living with eczema makes me sometimes want to be gone ALL day with the kids in order to avoid scratching episodes. Other days, I don't feel like leaving the house. She's 2.5 now and a very strong-willed girl. She has a lot of tantrums when things don't go her way. When you add that with eczema getting out of the house to do something very simple can be very difficult. I know other moms tell me that it's hard to get the kids ready to get out of the house to be somewhere on time. While I might be packing lunches or snacks, getting shoes on, or telling someone to get dressed, I can turn around and Avery is scratching. So, I stop what I'm doing, put a little lotion on her and then stick her mitten shirt on her. At least with that shirt I have a temporary peace of mind that she will not damage her skin. Then, I finish what I'm doing. It takes much longer to leave the house.

8) Baths are more time consuming for obvious reasons. She will usually scratch in the bath tub at some point (usually when we get ready to shampoo her hair) and we need to quickly get her out and lotion her up. If her skin is broken from scratching at all she screams. I don't think the water must feel that good on cut skin.

9) Avery and Kyla's favorite thing to do is change their outfits about 15 times a day. Kyla started to do this at the young age of 2 and hasn't stopped since. Avery loves to do the same. Both of my girls have very strong opinions about what clothes they want to wear and these strong opinions will change about every 15 minutes depending on the day!
So, something that should be fun and normal is not fun at all for mom and dad. When Avery changes her clothes it somehow sparks in her the idea to scratch her skin. So, every time she goes upstairs I wonder if she is changing her clothes and getting ready to scratch. Thankfully with this, the older she gets the more interested she is in the outfit and less in her skin. Whew! I'm really looking to her being 3, 4, and 5 years old! 2.5 is already soooooo much better than a 1.5 year old when it comes to eczema!

So, this is still all a part of our everyday life. I want to recognize it again on this blog and hope this helps other moms know you're not the only one dealing with a child with eczema. I'm trying to focus on the positive. She's doing so much better than a year ago. The chances are she will outgrow this in another year or less. I have more sane days than insane days. But I still have those days. I pray every day for her healing or at least wisdom on how to handle it while we walk through it. I don't know why we are walking through this and have been for a year and a half. We both feel rather broken down and definitely humbled. I feel so far from perfect. There are days when I just cry because I have yelled at Avery for scratching her skin. Then I feel so bad for yelling at her. She can't help it. But I yell out of frustration in dealing with it day in and day out and the exhaustion of it all.

So, we will continue to walk through this as we PRAY to walk OUT of this trying time. We will try to focus on the good in the days. In watercoloring and playdough, in riding bikes and taking trips to the library. When we go to the grocery store, we will slip that mitten shirt on top of her clothes while we ride in the car to the store.

I needed to take this moment today to recognize what we go through because it IS hard. And every parent that ever goes through a severe bought with eczema can understand all of this. So, this post is for you.

I think we're gonna love this.

2009-03-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

Watercoloring.
Drawing at art gallaries.
Family art night.
Homeschooling and art.
Watching her draw and color with such spontenaity and focus.
...seeing her dream and grow.
Watching Avery copy every move she makes,
and seeing her smile all day long.
(well, I would at least LOVE to see her smile all day long :-) )

I love Fridays because we just stay home and do art most of the day and play.
Watercoloring. Knitting. Sewing. Drawing. Coloring.
No errands, no appointments.
This weekend Papa came to town and we visited the NoDa art district in Charlotte.
Kyla brought her drawing book with her and sat down in front of a picture and copied it...Kyla style.
:-)

Moments: Ice Cream & Silk

2009-03-13T08:51:00.000-07:00

Not many words today, just pictures. We had a very warm week with temperatures in the 80's and took advantage of every minute being outside. Ice cream (thanks, Baslers, for treating Kyla!), play silks, and a little wind simply made their day today...and made our day too!

Today it's rainy and chilly again, so the girls are enjoying playing with dolls and reading books. Kyla took the rainbow play silk above that you see her and Avery playing with and made a tent in the house...the girls camped out in the tent with their dolls all afternoon.

I love these times; watching their little minds be fully present and alive with creativity in each and every moment. They are not thinking about the future or the past, but fully immersed in the here and now.

Jim Elliot once said, "Wherever you are- be all there."

My children teach me each day this simple, and yet somehow difficult-to-practice art of being fully present in each moment. After all, isn't that what life is? A life made up of moments. I would love to know how you try to treasure your moments...I love reading comments!

A little bit of this and that

2009-03-05T11:32:00.000-08:00

A little baking...

...trying out knitting

...a little more sewing.

These past few weeks have been busy with birthday parties, cupcakes, friends, and family visiting. I have loved every minute of the fun and busyness. Thanks, once again, to one of my favorite books The Creative Family, I just had to make Kyla a birthday crown for her birthday. The one above is made from wool felt and it was a very fun sewing project. I stayed up a little later than usual the night before her preschool birthday party making it so she could wear it on her birthday. She loved it, but I think her mama loved it even more!

I attempted knitting my 2nd hat ever, with the intention of giving it to my mom as a gift. Well, let's just say that it looks much better on Avery's head. :-) (Gotta get that sizing thing down...any tips, knitters?)

Kyla had a butterfly birthday party, thanks to Aunt Rosie finding these fun cupcakes on Martha Stewart's website. They were lots of fun to make and the sweet/salty taste is so yummy.

More fun pictures to come of Kyla's birthday celebration! Happy March to you...we started off the month with 5 inches of snow, and tomorrow is supposed to be 75 degrees here! Gotta love March, cold one day and warm the next :-)

Happy Birthday, Kyla!

2009-02-24T11:12:00.001-08:00

Our baby girl, Kyla, is 5 years old today! She is such a blessing in so many ways to our family. She has a tender heart, a concern for the poor (often pretending her toys are children in Africa and then giving them food), she LOVES her sister, her friends Josh and Ella, preschool, pink, dress-up, and any food that is sweet. She told me the thing she was most thankful for on her birthday was her carrot cake cupcakes!

Here's a trip down memory lane of the past 5 years with our Kyla Rose! Enjoy!

2009-02-24T11:12:00.000-08:00

2009-02-24T11:10:00.000-08:00

2009-02-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

Scones & Settlers

2009-02-21T16:58:00.000-08:00

Two weekends ago we were blessed with a weekend visit by my sister Rosie and her wonderful family. Kyla and Avery loved playing with their cousin, Ian. Rosie and I enjoyed a quick sister get-a-way to our favorite store, Anthropologie, so we could drool at all the clothes and home goods....(um, it's my favorite store, I think it's Rosie's too) This time we looked at all of their yumminess in a new light, thinking of what we could go home and re-create on our sewing machines! (Of course, as always, I walked away with zero purchases. As much as it's my favorite store, it's just not affordable. Hmmm...maybe I need to find a new favorite?
No, I think not.)

Pete and Jonathan enjoyed a quick morning out for coffee while Rosie and I took the kids to the neighborhood park.

And, both evenings after the kids were all tucked in their beds, we sat down on the floor and indulged ourselves in hot tea, homemade scones, and a game of Settlers (thanks, Patrick and Megan, for getting us addicted to this game!) No matter how crazy busy we got running around after the tots, each evening the scones and Settlers were a big hit and a great way to unwind.

2009-02-21T16:57:00.000-08:00

2009-02-21T16:53:00.000-08:00

Lazy Days Skirt

2009-02-16T10:11:00.000-08:00

I did it! I attempted my very first sewing project ever. After seeing these irristable skirts on Soulemama's blog and reading and re-reading the fabulous free pattern from Oliver + S, I finished Kyla's skirt! She's thrilled to wear it and I'm thankful that she's only 5 years old and doesn't see or care about all of the flaws that I see when I look at it. The fabric is a beautiful lightweight cotton by Heather Bailey's Freshcut line. I got it for a great deal from WhipstitchFabrics.

I thought the little rosebuds were very fitting for our Kyla Rose, who is so dearly nicknamed "Rosebud" by her daddy. I'm working on a matching skirt for Avery right now, and all from the same yard of material. Yeaa! The best part about all of this is the total cost for Kyla's skirt was barely $4. I was hoping sewing the girl's clothes might be cheaper, and so far it is! :-)

More pictures to come once Avery's skirt is finished and they will model for mama :-)

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T10:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day (1 day early!). The girls and I have had fun making cards today for their friends and grandparents :-) I loved it just as much as they did, though watching Avery with the glue was quite a test of my patience.

Love to all of you...friends and family!

(And whoever is a reader of this blog)

Is it really February?

2009-02-13T10:43:00.000-08:00

We're enjoying some very unseasonably warm days here. Flip-flops are out of the closet and on our feet, the girls are digging in the dirt and pretending to plant, and Kyla got a hold of one of our cut tulips to plant it-hoping it will grow. (She made a pretty little spot for it, don't you think? I love those rocks she put around it.)

Just as I was trying to savor winter, a little spring has arrived. I know the cold weather is probably coming back, but I'm loving the sunshine, flip-flops, and dresses.

Wish Jar: Winter

2009-02-07T20:34:00.000-08:00

A gentle reminder not to wish winter away.

(Which I can already find myself doing...)

A beautiful mess

2009-02-06T13:18:00.000-08:00

My sister, Rosie, and her husband and baby are coming to Charlotte to visit us for the weekend. I realized how there was absolutely nothing to eat, so off to Trader Joe's I went with the girls in toe this morning.

When I arrived home from all of our errand-running, all I saw was a mess. The dishwasher needed unstacking, the counters were full of breakfast cereal dishes, and I could hardly see the counter tops. With each step I took, I could feel crumbs beneath my feet, reminding me that our floors needed some desperate attention. But, it all had to wait, of course: the girls were hungry, mommy was hungry, and there was a beautiful day outside beckoning us to come and play.

While making lunches, I saw this beautiful little "mess" which was surrounded by other papers and dishes. I looked at it, and it made me smile.

Some new fabric and ribbon just came in the mail, and on top of it lay a little infant hat in-the-making (my very first knitting project, thanks to Amanda Soule). Kyla chose some pink tulips at Trader Joe's, and the sight of them made me happy all day long--I'm really looking forward to spring, but trying to still savor the winter.

This was my oasis for the day in the midst of household clutter :-)

Oh, and the house did get cleaned after lunches, after playing, and during naps. Having fresh flowers always give me an inspiration to clean, to make everything look fresher and newer, just like spring.

A little hockey in the street

2009-02-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

There was suprise snow yesterday, and we woke up to streets sheets of ice. Pete and Kyla joined the Baslers in the back alley for a little ice hockey in the street and the girls were amazed at the ice...and fell more than once! Then our neighbors Chad and Laura payed us a short visit with their ever-growing bundle of joy, Sydney. Sydney was born very early because of a serious emergency and she is thriving and doing well- just look at how cute she is! (I just want to eat her up!) I had just gone through my doula training before Laura had Sydney and was able to help her some with nursing a preemie, because nursing for Laura was way more challenging than for most moms. It's so wonderful to see both mommy and baby doing so great now! God is so good :-)

ps. I want to learn to knit that adorable, hand-made purple hat she is wearing in the picture. :-) Next project, maybe?

Does It Get Any Better Than This?

2009-02-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

Sunday Moments

2009-02-03T11:58:00.000-08:00

A little water,

A little rock,

A watchful moment

A big smile.

It was so nice to get outside and enjoy the unseasonably warm(er) day:-) What were your moments this weekend? I'd love to hear! Leave a comment below!

Self-portrait

2009-02-01T19:44:00.000-08:00

Well, not quite a self-portrait. This picture was taken by Kyla! She told me to make a funny face :-) Just as I was getting ready to start, she snapped it before it could be a really funny face. The picure is in focus and everything! Way to go, Kyla! ...she's definitely her daddy's girl.

On that note, I don't think I appear on my own blog very much. But, there I am! That's me...I'm 30 years old now. I turned 30 back in November and didn't think to blog about it then. I saw on another blog about writing 30 things about yourself when you turn 30. Sounds like a great plan for another evening, so stay tuned. Right now, it's 10:30 and tomorrow is Monday. Enough said. Good night!

I <3 Weekends

2009-02-01T19:37:00.000-08:00

I love weekends. I really cannot say or write that enough. I love spending time with Pete, having more adult conversations throughout the day, and being together, the 4 of us, all day long. The girls are always seem to have happier attitudes when Pete is at home...they just love their daddy. I love how the weekends narrow the parent/child ratio down to something more managable!! (Am I allowed to say that even if I only have 2 children?)

So, on Friday night I decided that I wanted to learn how to knit. Well, actually, I've been wanting to learn for quite some time...years. But, finally the desire to knit drove me to figuring it out for myself by watching a few tutorials on www.youtube.com. After pausing/playing, pausing again, and playing, I think I might have figured the basics out! yeaaaa! As much as I want to knit a warm hat, Pete encouraged me to start off with a scarf. He's a smart guy and knows if what I make turns out bad, I just might think about quitting. So, a scarf it is :-) If you don't see me wearing it, you'll know why. Depending on the outcome, you may see it on one of Kyla's dolls instead. Nevertheless, I love knitting. It's becoming relaxing, almost meditative in a sense. Kyla told me today, "Sit down, mommy, and knit." So I did. I thought she wanted to see how I did it. So I started saying this little nursery rhyme that's supposed to explain the steps in knitting. She said, "Don't talk, mommy. Just knit."

??

Maybe I'm more peaceful when I knit or something.
Hey, a peaceful mommy is a pretty good thing. :-)

Contrasting Births

2009-01-28T12:12:00.000-08:00

Natural

Fast waves are crashing,
carrying her,
demanding surrender
as she gives in to each surge--
she opens.

Water soothes,
bubbles all around and massages
her back as she tries to let go
and surrender to the unrelenting surges.

The breaks are fewer and last only a minute
and I know her time is almost here.
"Hang in there...you're doing it."
"Yes, this is normal", I answer as she questions
her state of being.

Out of the water,
onto the bed...squatting, pushing,
piano sounds fill the room and calm her mind,
her heart.
But they do not make the intensity disappear.

Her husband reassures,
comforts and holds her.

Roaring now,
baby descends lower.
Rushes and surges overtake her and there
is no holding back.

First the head and then his precious
little being slides out as she
reaches down and lifts him to her chest;
her eyes gazing into his for the first time.
They meet.

Uniting- skin to skin.
Ecstasy. Joy and happiness envelope the new
family. They rejoice!

Pain ends.
A new journey begins now.

Medicated

Not what she had planned,
but what she became a part of;
a system, the way things are done.

Overdue.
Lost sleep.
Induction.
Consistent monitoring.
"Stay in the bed, you're on the monitor".

Uncomfortable, wanting to move with the
rushes and surges, but stuck in place.

Artificial contractions...
more intense than the normal.
Ways to cope decreased from restricted movement.

Slow progression,
discouragement.
Pain relief with medication.
Numbing.
Sleeping and rest have come to her, but so have...
pictocin.
More medicine.
More pictocin.

The interventions cascade like a waterfall.
One after the other.

Drug-induced fever.
Fetal distress ensues.

Pushing, long...hard.
Restricted once again of position changes.
Discouragement is higher than ever.
She doesn't believe she can do this still.
"You can do it."
"You ARE doing it."
"You are not allowed to give up. You must believe you can do this."
I have to almost yell at her.
3 and half hours of pushing...

"I can see your baby. You must push him out."
She decides to finally "do" it.
Two more pushes, he crowns...
and then he comes.

Limp and not well.
"Come on, baby"
Swarming all around in the room.
Emergency...intensity like no other.
I say, "talk to your baby"..."let him hear your voice".
He breathes.
They must help him breathe.
He breathes.

Baby is finally well.
He nurses his mommy.
It was long, it wasn't the way she wanted things.
But she did it and now they will do it together as the

Pain ends.
The journey begins.

Note: These were my last two doula experiences.

"Let the Show Begin!"

2009-01-26T19:06:00.000-08:00

Getting my feet wet with a little kindergarten homeschooling has become quite a joy of mine lately. Kyla and Avery seem to love their mama playing with them a little more, even though I'm secretly teaching them a little more. Hmmm...playing and learning going hand in hand (imagine that). I hope this part of time will stand still for awhile as I watch them enjoy learning.

Today we had a story-telling time of the fairy-tale "Star Money" and we talked about why it is good to give and be kind to other people. The girls enjoyed learning the verse from Ephesians 4:29, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." It amazed me (as always) how quickly Kyla soaked up those words and told them back to me a couple times throughout the day. Now, only if I can soak up those words as well and put them into action!

Then the girls put on a puppet show and re-inacted "Star Money" with their little fairy puppets they got as a Christmas gift from Papa and Gaga Phillips. (Thanks, mom! They love them!)

As I watch Kyla enjoy learning; learning to read, learning to write and add numbers-she is showing me that it's not just about getting "school" time in. I see that they are learning all the time; all day long:-)

Avery's eczema is soooo much better!

2009-01-26T17:48:00.000-08:00

Well, you haven't seen much up lately about Avery and her eczema mostly because we have seen a world of improvement since the beginning of July. She still has eczema, but it is very mild compared to the severity of it last year. Last year, it covered all of her arms and legs and back. Often it was weepy, crusted, red and inflamed. It was infected several times. Now, her eczema is a light pink, it has not been infected in probably one year, and it bothers her a lot less.

We probably owe much of this improvement to the NAET allergy treatments she is receiving to rid her body of allergies. Her dairy allergy is nearly gone, and so are other environmental allergies. Another thing that has definitely helped is just having Avery older. She tells us when her skin "hurts" and says, "I need my butter" (when she is asking us to put Shea Butter on her skin). Another thing that has been extremely helpful is finding the right probiotic for Avery. With the help from her naturopath physician that she saw last year combined with my research, I have found that Lactobacillus GG has been linked to improving eczema and, overtime, actually HEALING allergies. She started taking the probiotic Culturelle about 2 months ago and since then her digestive upsets are completely gone and her eczema is looking very mild. Occasionally to keep it under control we use just over-the-counter 1% hydrocortizone, but we are so happy that a little bit of hydrocortizone is all it takes to keep her comfortable.

Ahhh...sunshine

2009-01-23T11:22:00.000-08:00

The sun decided to come out today to play
and brought with it some warmth
to brighten up our day...

...doll babies...

jump rope...

and sidewalk chalk!

Kyla and Avery loved their few minutes in the sun,
until it was time for naps :-)

SouleMama

2009-01-22T13:06:00.000-08:00

I don't even know her personally, but I love this mama's blog. I found it after reading one of her books, The Creative Family (in hopes for our family to do more "creative" things together :-) )

Her writing is so sweet and personable. Sometimes I even feel my heart slowing down a bit as I read. All the art projects she does with her little ones is very inspiring, yet it doesn't make me look at it and feel like "less" of a mother. I gather that she is rather down-to-earth.

SNOW DAY!

2009-01-20T08:38:00.000-08:00

It doesn't snow very often here in Charlotte, but we are enjoying Pete being off of work today and Kyla woke us up at 7am because she wanted to go play in the snow! Avery doesn't quite know what to think. It's really cold outside and she just kept covering her face with her hands.

Enjoy the weather wherever you are! It's a cozy winter day here!

I couldn't resist...

2009-01-15T10:23:00.000-08:00

she looks hilarious! :-)

Megan's baby shower

2009-01-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

I felt so honored to be able to host a baby shower with my friend Stacey in honor of Megan and Patrick's 3rd little blessing due in February. Megan and Patrick are expecting their 3rd boy, Samuel Patrick Creehan! Megan and I were pregnant "together" while we lived on opposite coasts for our first 2 babies, and it has been a blessing to live near our dear friends while they await the arrival of Samuel. I am also excited that I get to be a doula for them at Samuel's birth!

Feeling a little like Abraham...

2009-01-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

I think I have a taste of what Abraham might have felt like when God told him that his descendants would out-number the stars in the sky. He was probably wondering how that would be possible since he was old, his wife was old, and they didn't have any children to begin that sort of family tree.

Pete and I were talking last night. It's easy to get a little discouraged and wonder, "How, Lord?" How are we going to be able to save money for the Philippines with our money so tight and an economy so bad off? How will the Lord provide? We feel like God is telling us to go to the Philippines, but we have not a dime in savings and an income that just pays the bills and meets our needs. How in the world will this work out and be possible?

We've seen Him provide, and we always have exactly what we NEED. But this ride of faith seems to be requiring so much more faith than I have. Please do keep us in your prayers. Please pray God will show us what next step to take.

He tends His flock

2009-01-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

"He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young." Is. 40:11

This verse brings great comfort to me! Knowing that God gently leads those that have young makes me picture in my mind God putting his arm around moms and dads and gently leading them while they raise little ones. :-)

Christmas Bears

2009-01-03T18:50:00.001-08:00

In downtown Charlotte last year we took the girls to see this life-size orchestra of bears, playing Christmas songs and singing. We took them again this year and the girls absolutely loved it. They both wanted to wear their tutus and they put their tutus to good use as they danced and did ballet to the music while the bears sang. It was adorable!

Visit to Virginia

2009-01-03T18:40:00.000-08:00

We visited our families in Virginia BEFORE Christmas this year, since I am on call right now for a birth with a mama due on Jan. 7th. The girls had a great time going to look at the lights in downtown Richmond and getting some time with their aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

Pete and I enjoyed a nice afternoon to ourselves on day and we both went to get our haircut at a nice salon in Carytown that my sister (and fashion consultant) recommended to us :-) Our new "dos" and afternoon out was a nice Christmas present from mom and dad, thanks!

There We Go

2009-01-03T18:14:00.000-08:00

We are planning on hosting a couple spaghetti dinners and evenings teas here in the next few months so we can share with our friends about the Philippines and ask for prayer support along the journey. If you live near Charlotte, NC and want to come to one, just leave a comment below!

We have a website called Our Journey that is now up and running! It tells you all about what we will be doing in the Philippines and ways you can pray for us and ways you might be able to help. (Hint: anyone expecting a baby anytime soon? I'm putting all money aside that I earn as a doula toward the Philippines!)

Big News!

2008-12-30T14:17:00.000-08:00

As many of you know if you've been reading this blog, I was accepted a year ago into a midwife-training program that trains midwives on the mission field. Mercy Maternity Center is the school's charity-based birthing center that serves thousands of impoverished women each year.

We have gone back and forth trying to listen to God's voice and see if this is where He wants our family to go for 2 1/2 years for mission work. After a year of praying, the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit continues to whisper "go." Because our God is all-loving, always faithful and because He holds our future in His hands, we want to follow Him where He is leading and we are beginning this journey of moving to the Philippines to serve the poor in Davao City.

This is so exciting and so scary at the same time! So many thoughts and emotions run through my mind. It is very hard to think about leaving our family and close friends behind for 2.5 years. I am finding many words of comfort from His precious Word and also while reading a biography of Amy Carmichael's life. She was a missionary to India in the late 1800's/early 1900's and her life work was rescuing and caring for children who had been trapped in temple prostitution. When God called her to be a missionary she wrote a long letter to her mother. This is one of my favorite quotes from the letter:

"Many difficulties have risen in my mind; they seem very great, the "crooked places" seem very crooked. But it seems to me that all He asks is that we should take the one step He shows us, and in simplest, most practical trust leave all results to Him."

So, that's what we're trying to do. Just simply take the next step that He shows us and leave all the results to Him. If He is the one calling us to go, then He will make a way for it to happen. :-) We'll keep you updated :-)

Happy New Year!

Making Gingerbread Men

2008-12-15T18:08:00.000-08:00

The girls wanted to help me make gingerbread men the other day. Kyla did a great job stirring and then Avery decided to give it a try...

Avery had so much fun and then the spatula went way up in the air along with a ton of flour which landed on Kyla of course, as you can see!

We all had a great laugh... it was so hillarious!

A spring december day

2008-12-10T17:32:00.000-08:00

Our girls are just not getting outside enough for free play and time to explore nature. It's really hard to want to bundle two kiddos up when it's very cold outside only have them tell you after 5 minutes that they want to go back inside! I'm such a wimp when it comes to the cold and lately the mornings have been in the lower 30's and the afternoons haven't been much more than 40 degrees....if that.

Yesterday and today we were blessed with some very warm weather for December. Today was kind of rainy and overcast, but it got up to 70 degrees. After the girls woke up from their naps we went down to a little creek in our neighborhood which is behind the playground. There were lots of rocks, sticks, leaves, dirt and mud. The girls had a blast!

The sticks became fishing poles, the leaves became fish swimming in the water, and the big rocks became their house. Avery giggled with delight as she sunk her foot in the mud and then watched it come out all sticky. Kyla spent most of her time gathering different sticks and using them to catch "fish".

I think it's their new favorite place to go...they had so much fun!

Creating an Advent Tradition

2008-12-09T17:31:00.000-08:00

Last night Pete and I were talking about what we want our children to remember about Christmas. So, beginning one week late we are going to start celebrating the season of Advent by lighting candles representing hope, peace, joy, love and then finally the Christ candle on Christmas.
On another blog I even read how there are even Advent spirals that you walk around which represents the journey Mary took as she carried baby Jesus inside her womb. Children walk around holding candles and when they get to the center of the spiral, they place their candles on a piece of wood. I thought that sounded so meaningful and something that would definitely leave lasting impression in a child's mind.
The last thing we want is our children to think Christmas is about getting toys. I will be the first to admit it is fun to buy the girls toys. A few good quality toys that spark the imagination can become heirlooms handed down the generations. Handmade toys are great or toys that are made from workers who get paid a fair wage. What saddens my heart about the season is the commercialism. I will never understand how people wait in long lines to save money on gifts on black friday. It is so sad to read the story of the Walmart employee that was trampled to death in Manhattan. And, then another story of someone who was killed at Toys R us on black friday. Someone's life was taken away and all because of a bunch of people wanting to be first and hurrying to buy the latest plasma-screen TV or iPod.
Could you even imagine if everyone just slowed down and spent more time with their family baking Christmas cookies as their gifts for friends and neighbors? What if everyone turned off the television so all of the ads for toys and various gadgets were not being thrown in their faces?

In the mornings we get our little nativity set down and I tell the girls the Christmas story as best as I can so they will understand. I asked Kyla why do we give a gift at Christmas time? And she said "because the wise men brought gifts to Jesus when He was a born baby."

So, that's what it's about.

May you enjoy your family traditions this Christmas, and enjoy creating new ones!

"Look what I made!"

2008-12-08T15:45:00.000-08:00

I saw on another mom's homeschool blog some of these very easy button ornaments she made with her kids. So, Kyla made one today and had the best time threading the buttons on the wire!

Then we finished it off with a sparkling bow and ta-da!
A pretty ornament for the tree!

Kyla is a Poet

2008-12-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

On our long drive to Richmond, VA for thanksgiving we were listening to Christmas carols on the radio. Both of our girls are loving Christmas carols and are picking up the words very fast!

Kyla told us while we were driving, "Mommy and Daddy?" she asked, "Yes, Kyla?". "When I listen to Christmas songs my heart feels like snow."

Do we have a young poet in our family? :-)

Sister Love

2008-12-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

"Mommy, I'm Mary and this is baby Jesus."

2008-12-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

I had two Marys in my house today :-)

And this is baby Jesus!

My Utmost for His Highest

2008-12-01T05:52:00.000-08:00

Every now and then I read from "My Utmost for His Highest". I wanted to share a quote that spoke to me today about obeying God.

"...God never coerces us. Sometimes we wish He would make us be obedient, and at other times we wish He would leave us alone. Whenever God's will is in complete control, He removes all pressure. And when we deliberately choose to obey Him, He will reach to the remotest star and to the ends of the earth to assist us with all of His almighty power."

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised." Hebrews 10:35,36

"See Me Read!!"

2008-11-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

Kyla has been reading for a couple months now from a recommended book, "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons." It's a phenomenal book for homeschooling or just to simply help your child to read. I wasn't planning to start until Kindergarten with her, but she kept pointing to words and asking us what they say so this summer we thought it might be time to start slowly.

We probably only do 1 lesson a week with her. But here are her words and sentences that she's reading now.

Am
At
See
Mad
Sad
Sat
Eat
Me
Mat
Hat
...and some others.

Here are the 3 sentences she's been reading:
"See me eat"
"See me read"
"Mad at me"

Quotes for Monday

2008-11-24T07:26:00.000-08:00

“God is using all of your experiences, good and bad, to develop your character and to match your calling. After all, dear friend, you will never know how God will use you until you let him.”
- Elizabeth Elliott ( I think!)

"Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know" --Jeremiah 33:3

The whole chapter of Isaiah 58

High-fructose corn syrup

2008-11-23T10:14:00.000-08:00

High-fructose corn syrup is twenty times sweeter than sucrose, it is cheap to make, and convenient for food manufacturers because it retains moisture. It blends well with other ingredients and extends the shelf life of products. It's no wonder it seems to be in almost everything we eat: from whole grain bread, ketchup and spaghetti sauce to cookies and yogurt.

The Journal of Clinical Nutrition began to link high- fructose corn syrup to the rise in obesity because of the specific way it is metabolized in the body. However, corn syrup manufacturers want more research to be done on this topic.

One for sure fact is that it does absolutely nothing to improve one's overall health and wellness. The "free" fructose in corn syrup can disrupt the heart's use of minerals and it also decreases the ability of white blood cells to fight infections. Furthermore, according to several research studies and also Dr. Neustaedter, OMD, "fructose inhibits the hormones that make us feel full (insulin and leptin), and it triggers the hormone that makes us feel hungry (ghrelin). "

The good news is that it is possible to avoid high-fructose corn syrup. Trader Joe's is where we get about 95% of all of our groceries and none of their products contain this ingredient. (In addition, they also do not sell products that contain artificial colors, preservatives, or hydrogenated oils).

New Pictures

2008-11-22T11:06:00.000-08:00

Random thoughts and musings

2008-11-21T10:52:00.000-08:00

TODAY

Today is very windy and cold and it feels like winter here in Charlotte. I had a little get-together with some of the students from my childbirth classes and one of my doula clients. Their babies were born in the last several months and I had heard from some of the mothers off and on that they were having a hard time feeling isolated and alone.

So, babies and coffee was born and we met at Dilworth coffee on this windy, autumn day in Charlotte. I don't know if we'll meet at a coffee shop each time (my 2 toddlers were on the wilder side sitting in a coffee shop for 1.5 hours!), but at least everyone got to meet other mommies! It was a good time.

THE PHILIPPINES

I haven't written much on my blog about the Philippines and going to New Life International School of Midwifery next year. Most of the time I think about writing and then I don't. I think I'm in a very "speechless" state right now. Pete and I are just doing a lot of praying and waiting on the Lord. I feel an unusually strong tug on my heart to go. This "tugging" only gets stronger when I go to church and the pastor speaks on Jonah. It gets stronger when I pick up my Bible and read just about any passage. Only stronger when I talk to God about it. It's the same "tug" I felt when Jesus called me to himself and asked me to give my life to Him. I don't know what to do with this very "Holy Spirit" type of tugging. It seems like we just need to obey and go! And then the doubts pop up...one after another..."What if we don't raise all the money?"....."What about vaccines for Avery? She had (mild) allergic reactions to the only 2 shots she's ever had."...."what about her skin?"...."what will life be like as a family in the Philippines?"......"what will our families think?" (...ummmm....let's just say that they aren't exactly thrilled with the idea of us moving across the world...)

AVERY's ECZEMA

Avery is being treated by an acupuncturist with an allergy-elimination technique called NAET. So far, it seems to be working, but only time will tell. Currently, her skin looks almost beautiful. And she is happier and happier every day. And, she's no longer allergic to dairy!!! yippeeeee!!
We just praise God and thank him for each and every day that Avery is happy and not scratching. And yesterday and today were days like that. Slowly and surely we are all getting our sanity back :-)

ME

I love being a doula. I'm excited to one day become a midwife, but there is no other word to describe how much I love helping other moms as a doula right now. Whether it is educating them on childbirth and breastfeeding, encouraging them, supporting them and praying for them. It is a ministry in and of itself. I feel so blessed each time I meet with a new mom-to-be.

I started seeing a chiropractor. I've only been two times and I don't remember the last time my back and neck felt so good. My neck and back have been bothering me a lot since the little ones came along. So, this is a huge blessing. :-)

...and then came Jonah.

2008-11-15T06:53:00.000-08:00

We get emails from friends off and on asking us how things are going with our decision about moving to the Philippines for missionary work with New Life International School of Midwifery.

Please visit my husband's blog for the latest updates on our thought process about the Philippines. He has done a wonderful job and conveying how we are feeling and what we are thinking and he has several entries posted about this.

There you will read about why I entitled this entry "...and then came Jonah."

Beautiful Ballerinas

2008-11-02T05:15:00.000-08:00

Our girls LOVE to dress up...

2008-11-02T05:12:00.000-08:00

Molly and Omar's Wedding

2008-10-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

It was a privilage to see our good friend, Molly McLellen, and to meet her husband, Omar and photograph their wedding. We also got to meet their precious daugther, Libby! They had their 2nd wedding in Abingdon, VA this weekend (their first was in Los Angeles) on a gorgeous fall day! The day could not have been more beautiful.