Girls To Grow

Nurturing moms in their walk with God

Thirteen Books We Are Reading

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I write often about reading and the importance that good books play in our lives. Thanks to a challenge from The Happy Housewife to share some books we are currently reading, I made my Thursday Thirteen a list of thirteen books that our family is reading this month.

  1. Hans Brinker by Mary Maples Dodge. It has been years since I read this book and I am enjoying going back through it as I read it aloud to my younger daughter.
  2. Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This is the book I am currently reading aloud to my older daughter at bedtime. We love the fact that while Anne has gotten older, she still manages to have quite a few adventures.
  3. Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight. This is the next book on the list for reading aloud with my oldest. Another one that I haven’t read in years, I only remember that I didn’t read it too often as a child because it always made me cry!
  4. Wisdom and the Millers by Mildred A. Martin. This is a brand new book for us and a great find! We are currently reading it for our family Bible time after supper. It has short chapters that each contain a story illustrating a verse from Proverbs.
  5. Three Cousins Detective Club series by Elspeth Campbell Murphy. Both girls are reading some of these books; we have purchased several and have also found them at our library.
  6. Treasures from Grandma by Arleta Richardson. We have several of the books from the Grandma’s Attic series, but this one is new for us.
  7. The Case of the Sassy Parrot by Milly Howard. My older daughter is into mysteries; she just finished this book and really seemed to enjoy it.
  8. Clara Barton by Mary Catherine Rose. This book is actually for a school book report.
  9. The Middle Moffatt by Eleanor Estes. A book that I enjoyed reading as a child, I was able to purchase this at a used bookstore to add to our personal library.
  10. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright. My eight-year-old is almost done reading this one.
  11. Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill by Maud Hart Lovelace. We have enjoyed all of the Betsy-Tacy books!
  12. Depend on Katie John by Mary Calhoun. I just pulled this one out of storage and gave it to my older daughter to read.
  13. Those Kids in Proverbsville by Elizabeth Rice Handford. We’ve read this book many times before, but have been revisiting some of the chapters lately.

I’m always looking for resources to help me find good books for my children to read. Please let me know in the comments section if there are books or series that your family enjoys and that you recommend.

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Easter Weekend in Review

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Just a few snapshots from our Easter weekend!

On Saturday the girls and I made one of my favorite recipes – butter cookies which I shared here recently.
 
Here they are just out of the oven……
A work in progress…..
Icing the cookies is a tasty proposition…….
 
Now they’re all ready to eat!
 
 
Easter baskets on Sunday morning……
The girls are all dressed up for the Easter Sunday church service (dresses courtesy of my Mom!)

Easter lunch consisted of baked ham, potato casserole, cranberry sauce (yes, I know that’s a Thanksgiving thing, but my girls love it, so I pulled out a can for the occasion) and lima beans with butter cookies and chocolate bunnies for dessert!

Hope your weekend was special as well!

Our Bedtime Routine

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We started bedtime routines with our daughters when they were infants. Thanks to my reading the book Babywise when I was expecting, I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted our evenings to look. Obviously that has changed somewhat as our girls have grown, but I have kept things in the same general order. So, with girls that are ages eight and six, who get up in the mornings at 6:25 A.M. to get ready for school, here is what our nights look like leading up to bedtime.

7:10 – 7:20 P.M. Pick up toys and straighten rooms.
 
7:20 – 7:30 P.M. Eat a small snack.
 
7:30 – 7:55 P.M. Take a bath or shower, put pajamas on, brush teeth.
 
7:55 – 8:00 P.M. Lay out clothes for the next day.
 
8:00 – 8:30 P.M. Read to each daughter; one chapter or section from a longer book we’re reading together, as well as one page or section from a devotional or Bible story book. Pray with each daughter.
 
8:30 P.M. Lights out (and fan on!)
 
Of course not every night runs like clock work, but this is the general plan from which we work. I have found that, for me, having a schedule to follow allows me to get the kids in bed without as much hassle as it might be. By 8:30 P.M., I am about out of steam for the day and am ready for some peace and quiet!
 
Having a nightly routine for the girls and I to follow works for me! See what works for others at Works for Me Wednesday hosted by We Are That Family.
 

Fan Solves Sleep Issues

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Last summer one of my daughters began having trouble falling asleep at night. This is a noteworthy occurrence at our house because we have always been blessed in that both girls are good sleepers. She began stressing about lying there trying to go to sleep, but being unable to do so.

I tried everything I could think of – nightlight on, nightlight off; music on, music off; lying on the bed with her for a few minutes; letting her read in bed; staying up a little later – you get the idea. I asked friends and family for suggestions, but came up empty.

Finally, I called my pediatrician, who happens to be the father of five, and asked for help. His suggestion? Put a fan in her room and turn it on medium speed. He said that would drown out any noises, or lack thereof, she may unconsciously be listening for and the sound of the fan would also be soothing. Why didn’t I think of that??

Guess what – it worked like a charm! Almost nine months later and she’s sleeping well. I do occasionally worry that she’ll become dependent on that white noise for falling asleep. I guess she’ll be dragging the thing with her when she goes off to college, but for now – having that fan running every night works for me!

Check out Works for Me Wednesday at We Are That Family for other great tips!

5 Parenting Mistakes I’ve Made

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Will the perfect parent reading this please raise your hand?

While we all want to be the best moms and dads possible, most of us freely admit to making mistakes in our parenting.  For those times when we know we’ve blown it, how thankful we can be that God made young children so willing to forgive us when we come to them in love and ask for it.

A certain event at our house over the weekend caused me to consider some of the mistakes I’ve made in parenting. Here’s a list of five, though I could certainly come up with more!  I’m sharing these today in hopes that I’ll recognize them more easily in the future and hopefully limit their recurrence.

1. Attempting to parent my children in my own strength without asking God for His help. I could probably avoid most of the other mistakes if I could remedy this one each day. Situations arise for which I have no answer, but if my first response is to ask God for His help and wisdom, I can be sure I’ll head down the right path.

2. Assuming I know what happened in a particular situation before getting all the facts. This is the good ol’ case of jumping to conclusions! It’s closely related to our latest incident. I hope this has taught me to be slower to react, to give as much thought as needed to the problem, and gather as much information as possible.

3. Taking my frustrations over an unrelated difficulty out on my children. This usually means I’m being short-tempered with them and not responding properly to their needs. Because my mind is preoccupied with other things, I don’t take the time to deal with my children as lovingly and gently as I should.

4. Talking about my girls to other people in front of them. I believe this starts when they’re infants; just innocent, casual conversations with other moms about our kids. However, as they get older and actually listen in, it can become something that makes our children uncomfortable. I was surprised when our older daughter had her feelings hurt because of things I was saying about her. They weren’t negative or embarrassing, but she did not like me discussing her with other moms. I am striving to do better in this area.

5. Putting other tasks ahead of spending time with my girls. I need to take time whenever possible to be with them, even if that means putting off other chores. Key times for us are when they come home from school and at bedtime. That’s when they seem to have a lot to communicate and I don’t want to miss that. I also want to take time just to do things they want to do, even if it’s as simple as sitting on the couch and reading a book together.

So now you know some of the mistakes I’ve made (glad I don’t have to share them all!) These are definitely areas in which I’m trying to get better. I hope by God’s grace to continue to grow in this area of child-rearing.

Things Our Kids Say

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Oh, to be as honest and transparent as my younger daughter when she speaks!

On the recent occasion of having on a new outfit and modeling a new hairdo: “I just love standing in front of the mirror and admiring myself for hours.”

On being told she had a dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose: “I don’t think they add much to my complexion, so I want to wash them off.”

On being sent back to the dining room to finish clearing her place at the table, when she was trying to chat in the living room with dad and mom: “I don’t think I was invited, but I just slipped into the conversation.”

Being able to laugh and enjoy our children is one of the finer things in life!

For more of life’s finer things, visit Amy’s Finer Things Friday.

Fun Art Museum Outing

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On Saturday I mentioned that we were planning a family outing to a local art museum that was hosting a community day with free admission and activities for children. While I am by no means a fine art connoisseur, I enjoy viewing paintings, sculptures and other art and hope that our daughters will grow up with an appreciation for beautiful things.

The girls had a great time at the museum. The theme for the children’s activities was healthy eating. They glued magazine pictures of foods they liked on paper plates, did stamp painting with fruits and vegetables, created their own healthy snack mix from a host of options and did a scavenger hunt around the museum with healthy foods as the subject.

In different rooms, they got to make colorful butterflies out of coffee filters and clothespins (who knew?) and decorated and cut out pinwheels. We also took the opportunity to check out all the exhibits at the museum. To top off the free admission, we even found free parking just a couple of blocks away! Just the right price for adding a little culture to our lives!

Book Review: On Becoming Babywise

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As a brand-new mom over eight years ago, the most helpful book I read was On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam, M.D. This was the book I turned to over and over again for practical advice on helping my infant sleep, eat and play well.

I’ll say upfront that I understand that not everyone is a “schedule” type person. I know Moms who have great success at just going with the flow, especially as the number of children you have increases.

However, I do happen to function at my best when I have at least a skeleton of a plan. Being a first-time parent, it gave me a sense of security to know what to plan for and expect at different times of the day. Therefore, I recommend to others to at least try a schedule, even if it’s just a basic one that includes having meals, naps and bedtime around the same time each day.

One thing I appreciate about Gary Ezzo’s books is that he begins by emphasizing the husband and wife relationship as the most important one in a family. I highly agree. So often, when a baby is added to the marriage, everything in life begins to revolve around the child and his or her needs. While a baby definitely has needs to be met and often requires a lot of attention, especially in the beginning, it is so important to continue to create time and space for the husband and wife to be together. (Speaking of which, a wonderful friend has offered to keep our girls so that John and I can go out on a date Friday night! Yay!)

On Becoming Babywise then moves on to discuss feeding philosophies, concluding the section by recommending parent-directed feeding, in which “baby’s life is guided by a flexible routine.” This leads into the following chapter on babies and sleep.

The only way I can judge the recommendations from this chapter is on how they worked for me. Both of my girls were excellent sleepers, sleeping at least six hours straight at night by the time they were between six and eight weeks old. Let me just say that I am one who needs my sleep and what a blessing it was to have them sleeping through the night very early. This chapter also mentions sleep props, one of which could be rocking your baby to sleep. I loved rocking my babies and would occasionally rock them to sleep, but most often rocked them until they were only very drowsy, then put them in their crib to actually fall asleep.

The book proceeds to talk about facts on feeding, another chapter that I found very helpful. I did nurse our girls, but was not one of those moms who love every minute of it and rave about what a wonderful experience it is! I nursed them because I was physically able to, personally felt it to be the healthiest option and, on the practical side, it was the most frugal choice. I understand that not everyone decides to do it that way and certainly respect each mom’s decision.

Chapters six and seven address what your baby’s routine might look like and includes suggested activities for baby’s waketime. If I had errands to run, I normally did those in the mornings as that seemed to be the best time for me and was also when my babies were awake the longest and seemed to be the most content.

Chapter eight talks about discerning baby’s different cries, something that it doesn’t take most moms very long to figure out. I had one daughter who, as a baby, went through a stage where she cried for a few minutes each night when I put her in her crib. It was as though she needed that time to let things out, then she went right to sleep.

After a chapter on having multiples (I was able to skip that one!), the book concludes with chapters on problem solving and “parenting potpourri.” Subjects range from baby equipment to pacifiers to teething. I found both of these chapters offered good advice. (There is a final brief chapter on introducing Babywise principles if your baby is a little older.)

I highly recommend reading this book if you are expecting a child or have a new baby. You may not use or agree with everything in the book. I find there are few, if any, books that I read and follow in total. However, I can almost always find something that is applicable to my situation and use it to help me be a better parent.

Mom Goals

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When it comes to being a Mom, it’s very easy to get wrapped up in the daily struggles and forget to focus on the big picture. God has given us the precious gift of children and we have only a certain amount of time to prepare them for life.

I was recently reminded by a post at Life as Mom how important it is to set goals for myself as a Mom and then find practical ways to work toward reaching those goals. Here are my initial thoughts as I considered the kind of Mom I want to be.

I want to be a Godly mom who is supportive of her daughters through

  • prayer;
  • time spent together doing fun and serious activities, realizing how quickly time goes by;
  • providing every opportunity for them to reach their God-given potential; and
  • open, positive communication about what’s going on in their lives.

I started with prayer because I have come to realize (what I have known all along) that only God can work in a person’s heart and spirit and help them to become all that He would have them to be. There are so many areas in which I can pray for my girls: health, friendships, right attitudes, finding God’s will for their lives, future spouse. I also need to pray for myself that I will continually give them over to God and allow Him to work and lead in their lives.

As for time spent together, I believe that takes planning and preparation. I want to find activities that we can do together as a family. For example, I have scheduled us to attend a free kids’ cooking class next month. A few weeks ago, we attended a Charlotte’s Web play, then went out for dessert afterwards. However, not everything has to be a “big event.” It could be something as simple as a family game night or a picnic in the backyard.

Another area I am exploring now that the girls are a little bit older is finding a volunteer opportunity that we can all participate in – a way to help others by working together. I want to keep in mind that they won’t be this age for long and I want to make the most of it.

With each girl, I am trying to keep my eyes open to potential gifts and talents they may have. One of them is currently going through a writing phase – “journaling” and writing little stories. Whether it’s musical or athletic ability, drama or art, I want to allow them to explore areas of interest to them and support them in it, even if it’s not something in which I’m particularly interested. The goal is to help them develop talents that can be used to serve the Lord and others throughout their lives.

Finally, I strongly desire to keep the lines of communication open. I think a large part of this is just being available – in the car, at meals, at bedtime. I’m hoping that being able to listen now to whatever they have to say and being interested in what’s going on in their lives will bode well for those coming teenage years.

As the weeks go by, I hope to keep these thoughts in the forefront of my mind that I might seek to meet the goals I have set and accomplish the purpose God has for me as a mother.

More About Me

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Just a little more about me………I am in my late thirties (for a little bit longer!) and am married to a wonderful, supportive husband named John. We have two daughters, ages eight and six. I grew up in a truly Christian home; my dad has been a pastor for over thirty years and I have two brothers and a sister, all of whom I love dearly. I was saved at a young age and am so thankful for the privilege of having many years of seeking to know and serve God more.

I have a college degree in early childhood education and taught in an elementary school for six years. I have also worked as an executive secretary in a hospital system and briefly as an office manager for a design firm. The last eight years of my life have been primarily spent being a stay-at-home wife and mother.

One of the greatest desires of my heart is to have our girls grow up loving and serving God. Through this blog, I hope to find others with the same goal so that we might share ideas and inspirations, trials and triumphs through the coming years. I hope you’ll join me!