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Showing posts with label Babies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Babies. Show all posts
I received so many good questions about our homeschooling journey on Instagram recently that I decided to turn it into a little series! I'm going to answer one question once or twice a week until we are done. If you have any to add, please comment below!
How do you balance teaching one kid and managing other kids that are too young for school?
I get asked this question quite a bit. I was honestly a little nervous myself about how to balance older kids and babies before we started homeschooling, but I've found it to be not as big of a deal as I thought it would be. I touched on this question when I wrote about our routine in my mid-year homeschool update, but these are some things that have been helping us quite a bit.
1) I include the younger kids where possible. For things like our daily Morning Time, Bible, and History, we do those subjects all together. The little kids love to sing and memorize just as much as the big kids. Our history curriculum is made of picture books, and the little ones enjoy hearing the stories as well (I only make the big kids narrate back to me). And Bible time is something I always want to do all together.
2) We do all-together subjects during mealtimes. The little kids are alot quieter when they have food to keep them occupied. I've also considered implementing play-dough mats, coloring books, bead-stringing, and other hand-busying activities for the little ones while I read, but I actually haven't had to resort to that yet because mealtimes have worked so well.
3) We do one-on-one instruction during the little kids' nap/quiet time. I've tried doing reading lessons and math while the little ones play in a different room - while possible, I've found it's a little more distracting to my big kids when I do that. They wonder what fun they are missing out on. I've mostly done individual instruction while the little ones are napping in the afternoon. It extends our school day longer than if we did all our work in the morning, but having a quiet house and a more focused child is a worthy trade-off to me. I imagine this will shift as the kids all get bigger.
4) I know we don't need a four-hour chunk of time to do school. I think I might have a little bit of an advantage here as a homeschool graduate myself, because I knew ahead of time that one of the perks of homeschooling is that you can get the work done whenever it works best for you. This isn't public/private school. You aren't running a school at your home - school is just incorporated into your life. We do history lessons during mealtimes, math lessons on the couch, reading lessons in the car. We break subjects up into bite-size chunks, take lots of breaks in between for playing and cleaning up messes, and put subjects off to the next day if everything gets too crazy and falls apart. You are allowed to do that! I wrote a while back about why I do not make daily plans - I make weekly plans, and that takes a ton of pressure off. Instead of only having this one day to finish this one thing, I know I have the whole week. That helps alot when you are trying to homeschool with little ones underfoot.
(All five of my babies, listening to Wyatt read in the playroom. My heart just melts.)
Homeschool moms with babies - what do YOU do about the little ones while homeschooling?
T-minus 8 days until we close on our new house! I wanted to show you the last corner of our first home before we leave it.
This room is one of the harder ones to leave. It's gone through many transformations over the years, from blue airplanes, to pink and purple flower garden, to orange and turquoise ocean-themed, to coral and mint florals. Each of my babies have slept in here at one point or another. This is how it looks right now, how I decorated it for our last baby, Georgie. It's hard to leave it, especially since she turns one year old in a couple weeks. I labored over that quilt when my belly was so big I couldn't pick up the needle when I dropped it. I rocked her when she was only as big as a loaf of bread, right in that chair.
The only thing missing is the rows of family photos that were on the wall right above the bookshelf - I took pictures of it before I took them down for showings, but I accidentally deleted the photos, so aside from one photo from my phone, you'll have to use your imagination. Still, I'm glad I found time to snap a few more shots of this room amidst all the packing that is happening this week. I want to remember the place where each of my babies slept.
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That's it, guys! Our whole house, all the rooms in our first home. We've had so many milestones here, so many good memories, and a few tears. This house has been good to us, and the Lord saw us through it all and blessed us here.
Goodbye, First House.
You can click the button below to see the entire home tour. Now, on to our next place! I'll share "before" pictures of our new house in about a week or so!
My siblings are twins and are two years younger than me. We had a lot of fun growing up, being so close in age. I remember so many different games we came up with, and we would play with each other for hours. We had pretty good relationships with each other, and I loved having both a brother and a sister.
I think when we are young (especially us girls), it's easy to think that you get to plan your whole life out. When I was in middle school, I decided I wanted to get married at 22 (my mom's marriage age), wait two or three years to have babies, then have three kids (because it seemed to work for my family of origin). I even had names picked out (because of course my husband would love every name that I did).
If you have been following this blog for a while, you know that none of that worked out like I thought it would!
So to answer a question from my blog buddy Natalie, I didn't always want a "big" family (unless you consider three kids "big", which I don't).
I continued on with my well-planned-out life, and when I was 19 years old and in dental hygiene college I read a book called "America Alone" by Mark Steyn. I can say with certainty that this was the point when I started to think about family size a little differently.
This book was not necessarily about family size, it was about international politics, but it did address the history and current state of birth rates in different countries. In the book, Steyn presents evidence that countries or cultures that have higher birth rates tend to accomplish more in the world, and those that have anemic birth rates tend to go into decline.
This was a shifting point for me, because for the first time it occurred to me that maybe choosing how many children to have isn't a decision that should be merely based on personal preference or some arbitrary "ideal". It introduced to me the idea that having children is a way to pass something on, and if there are more children in the family, there is more of a chance to pass it on to more people. As a strong believer in Christ, that idea was interesting to me, because I want to pass on my faith to my children, and for them to pass it on to their children. For the first time I thought about having four kids instead of just three.
I think the Lord used that unexpected book to get me thinking in a new direction, because a year later Derek and I got married, and a year later we went off birth control because of our pro-life convictions. Still, I clung to the idea that I could control everything in my life, including the timing and size of my family. This was my decision, and I didn't think about God's opinion about my family much at all.
But God wasn't finished working on my heart, and I was rudely awakened to the fact that maybe I wasn't in control of this. Things weren't working quite right after I went off the pill, and for the first time it occurred to me that maybe getting pregnant isn't as simple as I thought.
We went through about eleven months of waiting for things to get back to normal, and I very quickly went from thinking we'd wait to try to get pregnant to being desperate to have a baby. This was what God used to turn me toward what He wanted for our family, instead of just what I wanted. This is what He used to change my view of children from something to check off my list, to viewing them as a true blessing that He was in charge of giving.
Fast forward a few years later, and instead of the two or four Derek and I said we originally wanted, we are expecting our fifth baby. Until about two years ago, the idea of five never even entered my head - but I credit this baby completely to God working in our hearts and family. After we had Clarice there was just that nudge from the Holy Spirit to wait, to not do anything permanent quite yet, and we wouldn't have been listening at all if not for all those years of God slowly changing my attitude on children. We would have cut things short long ago if God hadn't used our trouble getting pregnant to teach me to seek His will for our family, not just my own. He used a stressful time in my life of dealing with sub-par fertility to actually bring me more babies than I would have otherwise! Looking back now, I'm amazed at how gentle He was with me. He gave me just the right resources and circumstances at the right times to change my heart.
So here we are, having a "big" family. (I can probably say "big" without quotation marks now - it's just that the Duggars and Bates kind of redefined "big" for me.) Derek and I never really planned this out, but looking at our five babies (even the one still in my belly), we really cannot imagine not having them here. God has been really gracious to us, and He gave us what we didn't know we needed.
So, to finish answering Natalie's question, my favorite part of having a big family...well, they are all running around, laughing as I type this, and the joy is pretty infectious! (Of course, there are also times of everyone crying, but let's just skip over that.) I think my favorite part of having a big family is those moments when they are all gathered around me for school or Bible time, and we are talking about something really important, and I know that this is it. This is what God made me for, and these children are one of the only things I will do on this earth that will really last...and He trusted me with five of them.
It's a powerful thought, and it's humbling, and it makes me want to cry for the responsibility and privilege of it. He's been really good to me, and I see that nowhere more clearly than in these little faces that look back at me every day.
P.S. If you asked Derek his version of the story, he'd have a very different one than mine...but I saw how he kept his heart open to what the Lord might have for us over the years too. There is a reason God sent us each other, and these five kids are good proof!
P.P.S. If you have any "getting to know you" questions for me, now's the time! It'll help me come up with material for the last two weeks of my 31 Day Writing Challenge!
Note: I partnered with/received compensation from Babywise.Life to write this post. Although this is a sponsored post, all opinions are my own.
When you have a baby, there will always be a period of time when the baby won’t sleep. Looking ahead to when this baby is born, I am expecting the typical new-parent sleep deprivation. But I’m also strategizing on what we can do to help this baby learn to sleep through the night, because I know with five kids I’m going to need as much sleep as I can get!
Now, I think some kids naturally fall into better sleep patterns than others, and I’ve definitely noticed that with my four kids so far. But I do think that there are certain ways that parents can gently encourage their kids to develop good sleeping habits. With some guidelines to help, Derek and I must have hit on the right combination for our kids because all four started sleeping through the night consistently (I define that as sleeping for at least an 8-hour stretch at night) by around two months old. I'm tentatively confident that this baby will do the same!
So for the sake of review for myself, and maybe some extra strategies for those of you in a current sleep-deprived baby stage, I wanted to share a few things that worked for us.
I make sure baby is getting a full feeding every time.
What I mean by a “full feeding” is making sure your baby eats until they don’t want to eat anymore. Newborns love to fall asleep while nursing, but I did everything I could to make sure my babies stayed awake until they were done eating. If you let them, babies may fall asleep before getting their stomach full, or before getting the more satisfying hindmilk. If they don’t get a full feeding, they are going to want to eat again sooner. That’s not helpful for a good night's sleep! Especially for the last feeding before bed, I make sure they stay awake and get as much milk as possible.
I try to avoid bad falling-asleep habits.
I try to make sure my baby doesn’t fall into a habit where they need something to fall asleep. To be clear, there have been many times when I nursed my baby to sleep, or let them fall asleep in a swing, etc, but I just try to avoid letting these things become a habit. It’s better for nighttime sleep if babies also learn to go to sleep on their own from an awake state, so I try to give my babies a chance to practice that.
I don’t let them nap (at all) in the last stretch before bed.
During the day we loosely follow an eat-awake-sleep pattern for baby, but between the second-to-last and the last feeding of the day, I do everything I can to keep my baby awake the whole time. This is pretty much common sense. Can you fall asleep easily if you take a nap an hour before bedtime? I want my baby to feel good and tired by the time bedtime rolls around. After the last feeding, they go straight to bed.
I recognize that I might have to be creative in figuring out my individual, unique baby.
One of our kiddos would not fall asleep by himself for weeks, until we figured out that a night light and a white noise machine were what helped him feel comfortable. With two older siblings constantly around during the day, he just didn’t like to feel like he was all alone at night! Another kiddo needed the thermostat at exactly 72 degrees for him to get good sleep at night. With all my babies I did the things listed above and also had to figure out what would help them individually to sleep better, and every kid was a little different.
If some of you have read Babywise, you may recognize a couple of the ideas above from that book! My mom gave me the book that came before Babywise when I was pregnant with Wyatt - and I’m so thankful she did, because as a new mom I had no idea what a day with a baby would look like, and that book gave me a good idea of what to expect. Some of the overall principles from Babywise for helping develop good sleep habits obviously stuck, and they have worked really well for our family!
What Do you Mean By "Gently"?
The reason I say that these are ways I gently helped my babies sleep through the night is because as a mom you need to work around your babies' needs. After all these years of practice I’ve had with my babies, I’ve learned it’s up to me as their mom to do what I can to help my baby learn how to sleep, while also being flexible when unique situations arise. There are going to be days where you break all the "rules", and that's okay! To me, the ideas I got from Babywise and other sources, including some of the ideas I listed here, were a great jumping-off point as guidelines for me to encourage my babies to sleep. But part of finding confidence as a mom is learning when you need to do something a little differently, and feeling good about following your instincts. That's the spirit in which I share these tips, as things to keep in mind as you help your baby figure out how to sleep well!
Did you try anything specific to help you baby sleep through the night? When did your kiddo start sleeping through the night?
For more ideas, I really loved this article on encouraging newborns to sleep at night - it included some things I’ve done with my babies, and some things I didn’t think of (like using a different nighttime swaddle)!
I think it's natural to moms of more than one child to worry about how their older child will handle the new addition. I am really blessed in the so far, my kids have ha a fairly easy transition!
However, I wouldn't be honest if I didn't admit that I'm still worried about how Clarice will handle this new baby. I've been worried each time, so this is nothing unusual, but I'm particularly concerned for my youngest darling this time because she seems to be currently thriving in her role as the youngest. She thinks my lap is her spot, and gets upset if even one of the older kids sits in my lap. She likes to be carried as often as she can get away with it. She is a ham and loves being the center of attention.
(Affiliate link below.)
These are my strategies for making the transition on Clarice as easy as it can be, but I'd love to hear more ideas if anyone has some!
1. Talk to her about the baby as much as possible.
This is always easier when my belly gets bigger, but I will point to my stomach and say "Baby in there!" It was surprising with my other kids how much this helped it sink in.
This is always easier when my belly gets bigger, but I will point to my stomach and say "Baby in there!" It was surprising with my other kids how much this helped it sink in.
2. Read books about new babies.
Tommy Nelson just came out with a book called God Bless Our Baby and as soon as I saw it, I snagged it! It's super-cute, and details all the fun and sweet things that come with a having a new baby - like making them laugh, helping with bathtime, and having a new friend. It also has pages that talk about things like mama's growing belly, feeling kicks, and staying quiet while baby sleeps to help little kids know what to expect. I also LOVE that they have one page that includes adopted families. I think this will be a fun book to get my younger kids excited about having a new baby around!
Tommy Nelson just came out with a book called God Bless Our Baby and as soon as I saw it, I snagged it! It's super-cute, and details all the fun and sweet things that come with a having a new baby - like making them laugh, helping with bathtime, and having a new friend. It also has pages that talk about things like mama's growing belly, feeling kicks, and staying quiet while baby sleeps to help little kids know what to expect. I also LOVE that they have one page that includes adopted families. I think this will be a fun book to get my younger kids excited about having a new baby around!
3. Work on being "gentle".
Lots of practice with baby dolls, stuffed animals, and people, and excessive praise when she succeeds.
Lots of practice with baby dolls, stuffed animals, and people, and excessive praise when she succeeds.
4. Put the baby down sometimes for lots of snuggles after baby arrives.
I always try to be aware that all my older kiddos need some extra attention and love after the new baby comes home, especially the child that was just ousted from the youngest position. I will get as much snuggles in with my new munchkin as I can, but I also want to make sure to intentionally put the baby down so I can hold or play with my other kids. They need to know they are still just as important to me, even though babies take more time in the beginning.
I always try to be aware that all my older kiddos need some extra attention and love after the new baby comes home, especially the child that was just ousted from the youngest position. I will get as much snuggles in with my new munchkin as I can, but I also want to make sure to intentionally put the baby down so I can hold or play with my other kids. They need to know they are still just as important to me, even though babies take more time in the beginning.
5. Ask the big kids for help.
My kids feel so useful and proud of themselves when they are able to help me - and a little praise goes a long way in making them feel loved and needed! For Clarice, I'll ask her to bring me a diaper or wipes so that she can feel a part of taking care of the new baby.
My kids feel so useful and proud of themselves when they are able to help me - and a little praise goes a long way in making them feel loved and needed! For Clarice, I'll ask her to bring me a diaper or wipes so that she can feel a part of taking care of the new baby.
What am I missing? Were any of you worried about one of your kiddos with a new baby on the way? How did it play out?
Note: I received a copy of "God Bless Our Baby" from the Tommy Mommy program in exchange for the review in this post. This is my honest opinion! Also don't miss my giveaway of this book on Instagram! Double entries if you enter on both my accounts! @CallieNicole7 and @ThroughCloudedGlass
Note: I received a copy of "God Bless Our Baby" from the Tommy Mommy program in exchange for the review in this post. This is my honest opinion! Also don't miss my giveaway of this book on Instagram! Double entries if you enter on both my accounts! @CallieNicole7 and @ThroughCloudedGlass
We are expecting an addition to our family! Baby #5 calculated to arrive in November!
Details coming next week!
I balanced Clarice on my hip as I took the papers from the pediatrician. The kids were driving their Hot Wheels cars on the white, probably non-sterile exam room floor (I cringe just typing that), and I asked them to stand up again as I attempted to listen to the doctor’s instructions. I got everyone on their feet, tossed the papers she gave me under the stroller and thanked her as she complimented my skirt. Then our pediatrician asked how I managed to look so put together with so many kids.
When I was registering for my first baby shower, I had one strategy - register for only the things I absolutely need.
No cutesy outfits. No blankets. No stuffed animals. No Sophie The Giraffe or womb-sound alarm clocks or knit hats. Only the necessities.
Disclaimer: This post on planning for a first birthday party is brought to you in partnership with Minted.com, and contains affiliate links. I was given credit to order products to review for this post. All opinions are my own.
When I was growing up, we didn't have birthday parties every year. There are a few birthday parties that I specifically remember, filled with balloons, streamers, and organized games. But so many years we just stayed home, maybe had a friend or my grandparents over for dinner and presents. Looking back now as a mom myself, I think my parents struck the perfect balance. Birthday parties were fun and special, but we didn't expect a big party every year.
(From our maternity session with Clarice, our fourth baby.)
To The Newlywed Who Is Afraid To Have A Baby,
First, I'd like to say that being afraid to have a baby is more common than you might think. This fear has been a recurring theme around me in the last several months. There are many among my friends and acquaintances that I know have thought deeply about this, but I don’t want that fear to grow to an unreasonable level for them or you. So I thought it was time to sit down and share some thoughts from a mother who can really no longer call herself “new”.
Sitting in a closet in my house is a plastic tub. It doesn't look like much, but it's one of those things that always goes on the list of things I would take if we were evacuated for a natural disaster. Because inside, carefully preserved by my mom, are keepsakes from my childhood. It's my baby box.
It resides in my closet, but my baby box has been a part of my life for a while. Growing up I remember how fun it was to open up our baby boxes every now and then and have my mom show us all the things she had saved from our baby days. There were stories and memories to go with each item, and hearing the stories from my mom's perspective made me feel special. Every time we opened it I looked forward to starting baby boxes for my kids one day, and maybe giving them a few of the things from mine.
Now I have four children, and I have little baby boxes started for each of them. What do you put in a baby box? I'm glad you asked. These are a few basics that I have included in my kids' boxes.
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Photos.
We take so many pictures of our kids these days, but so few get printed up. I recommend taking a picture of your darling with each of the following items and including the photos in your box! It's so interesting to look at some of the things in my own baby box, and then see pictures of myself as a baby with those same items. So print up a few of those pictures, and tuck them in your child's box.
Coming home outfit.
We have two boys and two girls, and even though we are utilizing the hand-me downs, one thing I do not re-use is my kids' going-home outfits. For each of the kids I bought a special outfit after finding out the gender specifically for them to wear home from the hospital, and when they outgrew it, it went into the box.
Baby book.
Do I forget to fill things out some of the blanks in baby books? Yes. But I do try to write down as many milestones and memories as I can. I don't think it matters if every blank space is filled - they kids will love to read about themselves as babies someday. Hint: baby books don't have to be fancy or perfect - a notebook with a few memories is just as special!
Magazine or newspaper from birthdate.
It's just fun to see what the world was like when you were born! Include some publication from the year your kids were born that they can flip through (and maybe laugh at) someday.
Something from the nursery.
This could be a special blanket that you made or bought, personalized artwork, a monogrammed item - anything that holds significance for you. Bonus point if it's something your child can use for their own kids one day!
Favorite baby toys.
Anything that your child particularly enjoyed at one time and that you would like to keep can go in the box. Don't go crazy - you can't keep everything! But it's nice to include a few of their treasured toys. In Clyde's box we have a wubbanub that he was particularly attached to when he was a newborn - it was a short-lived phase, but I had to keep it!
Baby shoes.
There is something incredibly precious about baby feet. Baby shoes are the perfect thing to include because it is a symbol of just how tiny they were at one time, and how much they have grown!
If you are looking for the perfect baby shoes for your little darling, I have a great shop for you! We just received these adorable shoes for Clarice, and I am just in love with them!
These little shoes are called Moccasinis, hand-crafted baby moccasins from this new Etsy shop. These are soft, flexible baby shoes, so they are comfortable and gentle enough for even brand-new babies to wear. They come in tiny sizes (like these that fit Clarice's three-month feet), up to toddler sizes! Jessica, the owner of Moccasins and my friend, was even able to make these so they fit Clarice's itty bitty feet exactly. You can check out the Moccasini shop here to see all the styles, or follow on Facebook to keep updated on new inventory!
(Note: We received this pair of shoes for free in exchange for a review. This is my honest opinion.)
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Even though my heart breaks a little each time I put something inside it, I am looking forward to sharing these baby boxes with my kids someday. I treasure each of these little days with my babies, and I hope someday they can look through their boxes and know how much I love them and treasure every minute I have with them.
Are you creating any sort of keepsake box for your kids?
What do you put in your kids' boxes?
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