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January 29, 2009

Look Out For The Bears

Ok, Amy, don't see this as any attempt to "one-up" you, but I thought it was such a cool idea to put Kaden's artwork up, and Natalie has really been doing some amazing drawings lately. Here are two bears she drew yesterday. I love how huge the paws are and how she drew claws too. And the vantage point is like she's looking up at them. In her words they are "bears like in your jungle movie" a.k.a. Baloo in The Jungle Book. I love this kid.

Posted by Shannon at 08:00 AM | Comments (2)

January 25, 2009

Happy Sisters

Natalie asked to hold Charlotte. As always, it was a photogenic moment.

Posted by Peter at 09:47 PM | Comments (3)

January 23, 2009

July in January

A serious wave of cabin fever hit me today. So Peter and I put our heads together and came up with this:

We planned to have a picnic dinner. Natalie and I made the sunshine. We decorated with the beach towel and tent and wore our sunglasses. I even changed into shorts and a tank top and sandals (brrr!!) to get in the spirit of the event. Peter picked up cold cuts, chips, and the makings of ice cream cones. I made a macaroni salad. We put on fun summery music on the computer and had a great time. Peter's folks came over and enjoyed the dessert with us. Natalie was parading around in her new Mutti nightgown (that she'd worn all day), and Charlotte was sporting a summer hat for the occasion and soaking up the social time as usual.

I also made plans with another mommy to get out with the kids tomorrow while Peter goes to the gym. I'm feeling much better now...until the next wave hits! :)

Posted by Shannon at 09:10 PM | Comments (2)

January 21, 2009

Understanding God's Joy

I put Charlotte down in her crib and head back downstairs to help Natalie finish up her lunch. Charlotte fusses for awhile, nothing serious, and is beginning to quiet on her own. Yay! As we go upstairs I explain to Natalie that we need to be "sneaky, quiet girls" to help Charlotte stay asleep. Charlotte wimpers a bit as we arrive upstairs. I get Natalie settled on the potty to try to pee and peak in on the younger thinking I'll slip her paci in and she'll be off to dreamland. Not so much.

From the bathroom I hear, "Ya wanna Mutti M!!" at top volume. Charlotte's eyes pop open and the wimper becomes a scream. Resist urge to throw toddler out the window. Calm the younger as best I can. With the aid of the Holy Spirit calmly go into the bathroom to deal with elder. "What did you need my love?" (through gritted teeth). Explain (again) that we do not do Mutti Ms (M&Ms) unless she pees or poops in the potty. She accepts this well because she knew what the answer would be anyway and was just asking out of reflex :). Get her rediapered. About to lift her into her crib for naptime,and--"Ya want ya jammies!!"

"No, Mommy needs to go help Charlotte (who is still screaming) because your yelling woke her up, your clothes are still ok."

Some protest and negotiation--"Ya want ya jammies over ya clothes!?"

"Ok, if you are quiet while mommy helps Charlotte, when I'm done I'll give you jammies to put on over your clothes."

Into the crib. Tucked in. Love you. Kisses.

"Ya want Snowy Day?!"

I hand over Curious George and the Snowy Day for naptime reading. Turn on sleepy songs. Back to the younger who by this time is frothing at the mouth. Have to pick her up. Take a deep breath and put her on my chest and lie down. She's way beyond the self-soothing window at this point. She instantly closes her eyes but takes another 5 to 10 minutes of complaining and hitching before she gets over the "trauma" and crashes. My sweet emotional girl. She melts down and gets sucked into the vortex of her feelings as bad as her mommy I'm afraid. I say a prayer for this part of her personality as I pat her butt and then finally transfer her successfully to her crib and head downstairs to write this post.

Good thing I read this last night as I finished the best parenting book ever:

...the young mother feels great surprise to discover that her act of welcoming this child into the world is the very act so highly regarded by Jesus at the judgment:

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me. Matthew 25:35-36

Who gets hungrier than a newly awakened baby, eagerly searching out her mother's breasts? Who is more naked than a recently born child? Who is more a stranger than an infant who comes into this world knowing no one? Who gets sick more often than a little one, who seems inclined toward ear infections, diaper rash, and colic?

When a mother welcomes a child into the world, feeding her and giving her drink and clothing her and holding her when she gets sick, she is doing exactly what Jesus tells us will be most rewarded in heaven.

"But how can caring for your own child result in a heavenly reward?" some might ask. "Surely Jesus didn't mean that, did he?"

People who ask such a question don't understand that the children we raise, ultimately speaking, are not ours. God creates each child, and he has such a deep, passionate love for every boy and girl that he never misses a single event in their life: "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40).

Understanding God's joy in his own creation is one of the more profound spiritual experiences we will ever know. ...it certainly affected the way I look at children, particularly with regard to how God remains so passionately concerned about them. Any time we can bring them joy, we bring a smile to God's face. And any time we violate their innocence, we earn a fierce enemy: "If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea" (Matthew 18:6).

Mothers and fathers, when you give your tiny infant a bath, you are washing God's baby. Pause a moment in your busy day and look up to heaven. When you minister to that youngster, can you imagine God smiling down at you? When you fix that hungry six-year-old a peanut butter sandwich, you are feeding one of God's children. Listen carefully--you may hear God laughing in pleasure. When you hug an adolescent whom others have teased mercilessly at school, you are comforting God's teenager. Are those God's tears dampening your shoulder?

In the process of caring and loving, you bring God great pleasure. At that very moment you become his provision, his comfort, his passion. Learn to swim in that joy, and you will never look at parenting the same way again.

You could have rejected this child. You could have spurned the demands on your time, your resources, and your emotional well-being. But instead you accepted this child, through great pain you gave birth to this child, and with even greater pain you make daily sacrifices to love this child. Your heavenly Father doesn't miss a second of this sacrifice. He sees it all. He cries with you and he laughs with you and he takes great joy in the good work you are doing.

...Whether we are parents or not, we have incredible opportunity to participate in this passion that God has for children. I'm sure God is present in the sanctuary of a church... But if we really want to live in the presence of God, we may want to hang out at the playground, Sunday school rooms, and nursery.

There is no way God is missing what is going on there.

Sacred Parenting, by Gary Thomas

I know this was a long one, but I have been so touched by this book and impacted by this concept. It's not at all a "how-to," just a book about how God shapes us with our kids. This section brought tears to my eyes and conviction to my heart last night as Charlotte was having yet another difficult evening and she and Natalie kept waking each other up and Peter and I couldn't really have a conversation until 9 o'clock. (Hello, I'm your wife Shannon, nice to meet you...:) ).

I really want to try more to consciously remember to treat my girls (and husband) like the children of God they are. Not grudgingly but joyfully...to really care for them as I would care for Jesus.

God's also been reminding me that he is my partner in this endeavor and understands so well what it is to sacrifice and be tired. Often when I feel convicted as a Mom, I tend to hear his voice in my head as more patronizing, "Now Shannon, I never sleep. I'm always patient with you. I gave myself for you. Don't you think you can for your girls?" I then feel guilty and tend to rake myself over the coals and pray that I can "do better next time." My attitude is like a daughter trying to earn her father's favor and feeling she has horribly disappointed him.

But Thomas reminds me that this is very faulty thinking.

Jesus has been there. He knows exactly how [I'm] feeling and invites [me] to turn this difficult moment of sacrifice into a profound place of intimacy and understanding with him. He knows what it feels like to need some time alone, some time to get refreshed and renewed, only to have that time stolen by the reality of tending to the needs of others.

I leave you with Philippians 2:1-12:

"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

Posted by Shannon at 12:39 PM | Comments (3)

January 19, 2009

Snowy Day

I love a good storm--snowstorm, thunderstorm, hurricane--when nature is doing something neat, I want to be out in it. My honey thinks I'm silly, but I can't help myself. I'm so drawn to it. So yesterday afternoon he offered to watch the girls while I headed out skiing for the first time this year. Whoopee! It was snowing hard and a little windy, but all the better I say. It felt so good to exercise, and there was no one else out, so even in the middle of town, it felt adventurous and thrilling. I cruised (ok maybe not the right description for my skiing skills) around the Standpipe and park and back home--not a real long time but very rejuvenating none the less. A good quiet time to think and pray. For that short time, I am not a mommy. I am a little girl again playing in the snow without a care in the world. And when I return I'm ready to snuggle my wee ones again and eager for my radiators and hot cocoa.
Thanks Hon!

Posted by Shannon at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)

January 14, 2009

Potty Progress and TowMater Teeth

So tonight at bedtime Natalie sat on her potty to try to pee as has been our practice since the spring. I can count on my fingers the times she's actually put something in it, and that's perfectly fine with me. No rush. Tonight, again, nothing. But then after she'd gotten up and walked into her room to get a new diaper, she turned around, came back into the bathroom, and said, "You wanna try to pee again?" And sure enough, as soon as she sat down, the river flowed! Yay Natalie!! She was promptly rewarded with a "Mutti M" (M&M) even though she had already brushed her teeth. Very exciting. Something is definitely clicking now.

On another random and funny note, she looks at me tonight as we're getting ready for bed and says, "Mommy has teeth like 'Mater." For those of you who haven't seen this character in Pixar's Cars, see the picture below. I laughed out loud. Yes,mommy has quite the gap in her teeth...and so does she! And so did her great-grandmother before her. We're proud of our gap. Another convenient place to store loose change or a snack for later. Natalie is making little connections like this all the time lately, but this was definitely one of her funniest. Good thing I have a healthy self-esteem. :)

It was a good thing I had that laugh too. Probably helped me get through the hour and a half it took to get Charlotte down. HOLY COW. I was clearly being made to suffer for leaving her all day. :)Definitely a mommy's girl right now.

Posted by Shannon at 08:51 PM | Comments (3)

January 07, 2009

A Rare Poltical Post

Normally, I try to keep this blog free of politics. However, this issue has the potential to affect those who read this blog. I encourage all of you to contact your Congressional delegation.

I've been a parent for almost three years now. Being the father of two girls has taught me many things: girls are really sensitive to the tone of your voice, kids don't really smell until you introduce them to solid food, sleep is optional, and when your little girl asks you to wear pink hats, bracelets and necklaces it's best to just do what she asks and let go of your misguided sense of dignity.

The most potentially troubling realization, though, is how expensive it is to raise a kid. Being a parent has diversified what I spend money on. Instead of buying movies, books, and meals at restaurants, I'm shelling out cash for diapers, clothes, car seats, diapers, toys, added food costs and did I mention diapers? Don't get me wrong, I love being a dad more than anything in the world, but it does lead to considerably less disposable income. One of the more costly items is clothing, which makes our local secondhand store a frequent stop. Kids get bigger when you feed them. Who knew?

So imagine my surprise when my co-worker told me today that Congress, in its infinite wisdom, recently made being a parent more expensive, at least for those who don't want to break the bank on kid's clothes.

Barring a reprieve, regulations set to take effect next month could force thousands of clothing retailers and thrift stores to throw away trunkloads of children’s clothing.

The law, aimed at keeping lead-filled merchandise away from children, mandates that all products sold for those age 12 and younger — including clothing — be tested for lead and phthalates, which are chemicals used to make plastics more pliable. Those that haven’t been tested will be considered hazardous, regardless of whether they actually contain lead.

“They’ll all have to go to the landfill,” said Adele Meyer, executive director of the National Assn. of Resale and Thrift Shops.

As Ed Morrissey points out at Hot Air, the law was intended to protect American consumers from poorly-made Chinese products, but is so badly written that it threatens the livelihood of American thrift shops and charities.

This blog does a good job pointing out the far-reaching effects of this law.

If the Consumer Products Safety Commission has its way, this law will close thrift shops that sell kids clothing and artists who make and sell homemade toys. In the name of "protecting the children," Congress has harmed numerous small businesses and made it more expensive to be a parent. Heckuva job, guys!

Although the law has been passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by the president, there is still a way you can affect how broadly it is interpreted. Like any federal agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has rule-making authority. Those rule-makers (er...both of them), can be influenced by Congressional offices. So I encourage you to call your senators and representatives to get the focus of this law narrowed to cover the foreign goods that were supposed to be the original intent. The CPSC has already made some changes, so they're open to re-interpreting this statute.

Or better yet, encourage them to repeal or rewrite this portion of the law entirely. This website has some good talking points to use when talking to your Congressional offices.

For those of you in Maine, here is the contact information for the Congressional delegation.

Rep. Mike Michaud - Website. Office Number: 1-202-225-6306

Senator Olympia Snowe - Website. Office Number: 1-800-432-1599

Senator Susan Collins - Website. Office Number: 1-202-224-2523

Your comments can make a difference.

Posted by Peter at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)

January 05, 2009

Shannon's Top Ten Current Things of Yuck

Okay, Ame, I'll play along. And thank you so much for your authenticity. My disclaimer for readers is that my life is truly wonderful right now, but there are definitely struggles. I have several items in common with my dear friend Amy, which lead me to the first yucky thing...

1. I wish I'd thought to do the list first, and feel like mine won't be as good since she already said a lot of the things that are on mine! A very immature thought process indeed. :)

2. I am a selfish, selfish, did I mention I'm selfish? woman who realizes it more and more acutely with each passing day. Getting married brought it out, but motherhood so much more. I can be totally in love with my children one minute and treating them selflessly, then the very next resent them. I can so relate to Paul in Romans 7 these days. Thank goodness for God's grace!

3. I don't have a consistent quiet time with the Lord lately and sometimes fall to the temptation to clean or do my own thing when I have time to myself rather than meet with Him. And if I do I struggle much of that time against distractions and wanting to rush it so I can do all the other things on my to do list. Lately I've realized that I may need to get up before my family in order to have time with God at the depth that I need. Ugh. Not easy for a mommy who is already tired, and so far I haven't been able to take that step but I feel the Holy Spirit's nudge to make that sacrifice, to be a prayer warrior for my little family and to meet Him at that time of day.

4. I don't love my honey as I should. He is way more creative and romantic with me than I with him. I'm increasingly convicted to love him more passionately and to think of little ways to love him throughout the day instead of getting completely caught up in just getting through my day or doing my own thing when I have down time.

5. I often worship at the altar of the material and temporal, ie, having things perfectly organized, having no clutter, having things clean. I've grown since mommyhood in letting these things go and just being with my girls and hubby, but still struggle with it in my mind which Jesus says is just as problematic.

6. I have too high expectations for Natalie at times when it comes to her behavior and ability to listen to me. I get quickly frustrated with noncompliance, and I hate that rigid, concrete part of my personality. I am several times a day convicted for my lack of grace when God has been soooo gracious with me.

7. In the middle of the night when I'm bouncing back and forth between my still-nursing-like-a-newborn 6 month old and my insomniac toddler, my thoughts easily slip into "Martyr Mommy" zone. Sometimes I can be patient and think things like "who might God want me to pray for while I'm stuck awake with my girls?" BUT many more moments I struggle to be patient and accepting of the task he has given me in that moment and instead get mad at Him, think why me? poor me and when will I ever sleep again?

8. Even as I write these, my pride is totally kicking in and I want to make disclaimers on all of them (like I sort of did in the last one). I want to explain to you how I'm really not THAT bad, and these aren't things I struggle with ALL the time. I want to dress it up. I'm afraid of being misunderstood and looking bad or being too negative which leads me to another huge struggle...

9. I think WAY too much about how I will be perceived by others and it all boils down to pride and distracts me from keeping God as my primary focus. I devote way too much brain time to overanalyzing, obsessing, and comparing that could be given to the Lord and listening to what he wants for me.

10. I've realized lately that I'm not always a very good listener. I often talk over people or finish sentences in my excitement to relate to them, but if I'm really honest with myself it's also driven by my desire to share my own awesome thoughts :)

Well, there you go. My yuck in a nutshell. And again, I don't mean this to be a downer of a post, but see it more as following God's command in James 5:16. So please pray for me when you read it and keep me accountable for the things I need to work on! Love to you all.

Posted by Shannon at 09:38 PM | Comments (6)