Loving the Little Years – Book Review

A friend send me Loving the Little Years, Mothering in the Trenches by Rachel Jankovic.  It is by far the most encouraging book I have read in YEARS!  Perhaps because it is hard to encourage a mother of four all five years and under unless you are in fact a mother of five all five years and under.  

Rachel’s little book is 104 pages with no chapter being more than 4 or 5 pages long.  The book is an easy read for tired 3am feedings.  I enjoyed the stories she shared and appreciated the lessons she taught through her life.  

Wisdom gleaned from this book:
1. My children are individuals and often do not understand that they are being overwhelming.  I must remember that they are individuals and that I feel overwhelmed only because the needs are multiplied x4 and I still am only one.  One would think that would mean that each of my children would only get 1/4 of me.  However, they need all of me, each one of them.  So, with God’s grace this is possible… which leads to…
2. It is my responsibility to get this grace.  I must pray for it, accept it and then, as I explained to my 5 year old just this morning, let the Holy Spirit control my actions, not my anger or frustration. 
3. Use the 10 min rule.  When a crisis strikes quickly look at the clock.  Chances are in 10 min it will all be over.  Give yourself a quick reminder of this and plunge in!  If I had remembered this it would have saved me a nasty fall on a bathroom floor flooded with water… but I digress.
4. My body is a tool.  It has been well used bearing these four wonderful blessings.  It looks used and that is ok.  Who wants to die lonely and looking like a super model anyway?  Fitness and loss of baby weight will come in time.

I plan on reading this book again in a few months because by then, our family will have changed, again and I will need more encouragement but in a different way.  These are the lessons I am using right now but there were so many more “a ha” moments in this book.  

Mostly I recommend this book because it made me feel like part of a sisterhood of mommies who were crazy enough to have several children close together and praise God for the blessing of this ability.  It was good to know someone else has had interesting middle of the night experiences with babies and husbands.  I found myself nodding my head thinking, “huhu, yup, wow! how’d she know?” 

So, if you are “Mothering in the Trenches“ or know someone who is, read this book!  Also, Rachel contributes to a blog called Femina that is also good thoughtful reading. 

Fun Friday Tip Returns! – Mosaic Sticker Crafts

They look like this: 

They sell them at your local craft store, or Wally World, of Publix even.
Go get some, now!  They are inexpensive when you calculate the “time spent not driving Mommy crazy/pennies spent” ratio.  I think they are about a 90min/1250.  So, that would mean they are about the best thing on the market right now for non supervised crafting.  My girls love them and enjoy talking about who will get them.  The person changes about 4 or 5 times before the picture is finished and they decide to keep it for themselves.  Also an indication of a good craft.  Entertaining and Tedious.  This Oxymoron can also be applied to preschoolers.

Thirty One Gifts – A new way to say “Thank You!”

Me, buy a purse?  Yes, I have done this but only about five times in my adult life and one of those times a friend actually paid for it as a thank you gift.  Yes, I am weird, but practical, but still weird.  So, it surprised me when I fell in love with of all things a “purse-y” type company.  

Thirty One Gifts is a direct sales company like Tupperware or Mary Kay but is so much more!  I was hooked with the thermal tote sale they have in January.  Ten bucks bought me a much needed lunch box for our endless spring playground picnics.  Ok, I said, that’s it.  They could not possibly have anything else I would really need or want.  Famous last words!  

What I really liked about the products is that they were affordable and practical and oh’ so cute!   My consultant Gina is so spunky and never pushy.  She also does a ton of fundraisers by giving her own commission to worthy causes like disaster relief, adoption and a friend who has cancer.  The company supports this spirit of giving and just this year began a program called Thirty One Gives.  

Bellow are some of the products I bought and what I use them for:

Thermal Tote:
What started it all.  I have since bought two more as Thank You gifts for the girls’ Sunday school teachers this Christmas.  They are great to have personalized and filled with goodies of all sorts! 

 

All In One Organizer:
What a great project keeper for my knitting!!!  I LOVE this product and wish I could find more uses for it myself!  It can be a church essentials bag for the kids, a book club bag, a quiet time essentials bag, a snack attack bag in the car, a whatever you like bag! 

Large Utility Tote:
Seriously, what can’t you use this for?  I use it to take packages to the post office, a library bag for books, yard sale treasures, beach tote, toy bag for long car trips, carrying home stray children… oh’ wait, that’s B-Bear. 

 

I have also bought and liked:
Nail Kit
Short Utility Bin – great for dress up clothes but now discontinued…
Fold and Go Organizer – for the girls to use on long car trips
Market Thermal Tote – a gift for my MIL
Double Zip Cosmetic Bag – boy did I need one of these!!
About Town Blanket – about the only thing I am not crazy about… it needs to be quilted because the material slips about and if you have wiggly ones they will have a nice picnic blanket balled up under their rears in no time flat!

Bottom line is, if you are looking for a new purse or tote or to store something with style look at Thirty One Gifts before you go to Target. 

Library Books we LOVE that we plan to buy soon!!!

Red Sings from Treetops by Joyce Sidman and Illustrated by Pamela Zagarensk-
I don’t usually list the illustrator but this book’s art deserves to be recognized!  The pictures are different and beautiful and have a style all their own that compliments the poetry of this book beautifully!  Besides being beautiful to look at the words are beautiful to read and listen too.  The colors go through the seasons; as the seasons change so the colors change what they represent.  Red in spring is different than red in fall.  ”Red sings from the tree tops” in spring: “Red swells on branches bent low” in fall.  My favorite description in the whole book is purple in the fall, “Purple: the smell of all things mixed together.”  To be honest I am not a huge fan of poetry but this book is done very well.  The prose are neither do difficult or too simplistic for my daughters.  This book is great for talking about colors, the seasons or just helping children with reading comprehension.  But most of all, this book is good for getting those who may not enjoy poetry to admit that when it is done well, it is a beautiful thing!

Crunch Munch by Jonathan London-
A book much like our other favorite Wiggle Waggle, Crunch Munch takes children though a series of animals and the sounds they make while eating.  A fun, simple book to be laughed at and enjoyed!

Sleep Big Bear, Sleep! by Maureen Wright-
A fun read aloud book about a bear who miss understands Old Man Winter’s message that it is time to sleep.  Getting sleepier and sleepier Bear wanders around until Old Man Winter yells and he finally hears.  A silly book great for talking about hibernation and the changing of the seasons.

Please comment and let me know your favorites! 

Books So Good We Just Had to Buy Them!!!

Ok, so three of these are library books but they are on the purchase list!

I have always loved to read, but lately I am discovering that authors of really great children’s literature are way more talented than many authors for adults.  Here are a few of our recent gold nuggets.

First the ones we actually purchased but were first checked out at our local library:

The Adventures of Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
This book’s charm lies in the fact that the main character is a young child and he acts like one.  My daughter loves this book because Harold’s imagination works just like hers.  He is delighted, surprised and even scarred of his own creations!  This just makes the story so much fun!  I enjoy reading it to her because it makes me laugh and reflect on the beauty of an imagination unhindered by reality.  You may also enjoy the quips about “drawing up a chair” or “drew up the covers”.  Lovely little word plays for those old enough to get them.  This particular edition includes four Harold stories.  My daughter’s favorite is Harold’s Fairy Tale.

Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins
My Son went crazy over this book!  It was one of our few gold nuggets we get every so often from our library.  Within the first week I was reading it several times a day!  It is the first book he would sit still for.  So, after it had to go back to the library I knew I had to buy it.  It is a lovely backwards counting book that features apples, animals and a farmer as well as a catchy sing song rhyme you will be singing in your sleep, Yippie Fiddle De Fee!

Thomas the Tank Engine Collection by Rev. W. Awdry 
These are the original stories with the original wording.  This means that the Sir Topham Hatt you are used to hearing about on the videos is the Fat Controller.  The stories deal mostly with engines exhibiting an undesirable character trait and the consequences resulting from their actions.  Some reviews I read did not appreciate this type of story.  They did not like that bad little engines were getting their due.  Personally I see nothing wrong with stories like this for children.  All of the engines take their turn being “silly” and getting into trouble.  The only complaint I would have, if you wanted to read really deep into it, which I do not think the children do, is that when one engine is being “silly” the other engines seem to take great pride in being the good engines.

That’s All For Now!  Next Post: Very Nice Gold Nuggets that we haven’t bought yet!

Mommyviews New Year Update

Good Heavens!  Has it really been 6 months?  Well, all I can say is I have a ton of posts stuck in my head that really need to come out!!!  With becoming an organizer for the Dothan Mom’s Meet Up group and having our 4th child I have been very tired and very busy.  Oh’ and did I mention that we are potty training?  Oh’ and homeschooling preschool/kindergarten too?  

That being said, I have a ton of things I just can’t wait to share with you all, both local and far away!  Books so good we had to buy them are up first!  So pay attention and update that amazon account!

Dr. Elizabeth White – Pediatric Dentist

I do wish I had written about this earlier but perhaps the same phenomenon that kept me from making a dentist appointment kept me from writing about how great it went!  Honey Bear was 4.5 before I made an appointment for her when most pediatricians and pediatric dentists recommend a first visit at 3.  Well, Schnookums was just over 3 so maybe I get points there right?

I choose Dr. Elizabeth White because she was who my pediatrician said his kids saw.  Yes, tell me who you trust your kids with PLEASE!  Here is a rundown of our visit.

We walked into a very well decorated, very pleasant waiting room.  It had a Jungle Theme with kid sized tables where kids could look at the books and magazines which were clean and well kept.  There was also a very beautiful stained glass reception window.  Take a picture tour of the office here!  We were then called back together to talk about what was going to happen.  Then both girls were taken to have their teeth cleaned… WITHOUT ME!!!!  I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t somewhat of a basket case at this idea, but they did have each other.  I tried not to show my reserve as I walked calmly back to the waiting room to enjoy some time alone with B-bear.  

About 30 min later I was called back again to discuss x-rays and how their teeth looked.  Each girl received a Princess Tooth Brush (no cheapness here), a goodie bad, and a token for the “Prize Machine”.  Of course there was no candy in the prize machine, just prizes.  

The girls’ reaction to all of this was so much better than I could have hopped for!  Dr. Elizabeth came out to say hello and I found her to be very sweet and someone who could make even my Honey Bear, who is not very good in new situations, feel comfortable!  After all, the minute we left she was asking if we could go back sometime.  ”Yes,” I said, “In six months.”

So, make that appointment today!  The sooner the better!  It is important to take care of our children’s teeth!

Disclaimer: After our WONDERFUL visit, I asked the office of Dr. Elizabeth White to sponsor our Dothan Mom’s Meet-Up group.  She agreed.  I would not have asked her to sponsor us and in doing so recommend her to the 300 members of our group if I was not pleased with her services.