Happy Birthday Chip!

Our boy was sick the weekend before his birthday, so we had to postpone his party until the weekend after.  It turned out great, and of course we much prefer to have a healthy happy birthday boy enjoy his party!  I wanted to have it at the park because we were having a woodland themed party -- seemed perfect for a boy named Chip!  Here are a few pictures of Chippy's woodland party.

Big sister helping me carry the decorations

Table all set and pretty!

Mommy with her birthday boy

Closer look at the bunting

I made the cake stand with an old candlestick glued to this 1970's wood cutting board

We ate sticks and berries, tomato toadstools and cupcakes -- all the clever sandwiches had to be tossed a week later and I wasn't going to rebuy and remake them all! There was really no room on the table anyway.

Not interested in the cupcake.  Just eating blueberries.

Singing Happy Birthday.  We love our Chip!

So Thankful for My Boy

On his first Easter

I just wanted to write a little post in Chippy's honor since his birthday is a week from tomorrow.  I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone.  I cannot believe how big he has gotten.  Sometimes I still cannot believe I'm the mommy to a little boy!  

When we did our gender reveal party and I cut that blue cake, I COULD NOT have been more surprised.  A boy?? A BOY??  Did not see it coming!  I couldn't imagine how it would be to have a boy!  I feel like his young life so far has been rather full of surprises!  He was supposed to be a scheduled c-section on May 31st -- a full week before his due date.  I almost wrote it in the baby book!  But as time passed and I never grew bigger than I was at 28 weeks, my doctor was concerned that he was perhaps not growing either.  So on May 9th just before 36 weeks, I went in to have him.

Chippy, I will never, ever forget that day.  I walked into the hospital, not knowing what we'd face, but resting in God's grace and trusting his goodness.  He who knit you together in my inward parts was sustaining your little life -- I could tell that something was wrong, you weren't moving as much as you had been even just a few weeks before.  You seemed to be resting, just tiny kicks here and there.  I lay there during the operation, waiting for a flurry of activity and my baby being whisked away to medical treatment, but instead heard a cry, and Josh saying, "oh, he's little! He's so LITTLE!"  In just minutes you were snuggled up to my face. You were ok.  Just small.  The Lord had protected your life, sustaining you all the way, even though I was no longer supplying just what you needed to grow.

You had BLONDE hair!  My teeny 4 pound 5 ounce blonde hair boy was a blondie!  I still can't get over it when I see your chubby cherub face with your huge blue eyes and blonde hair.  You couldn't be cuter!  Your smile is so winning -- with a little dimple on your cheek and those four gleaming white Chicklet teeth.  When you lean your head back and chuckle you can see your sweet fat chins and all your teeth at the same time and it seriously COULD NOT be more adorable!

And you still surprise me because although in many ways you are so much like your sister -- pretty happy and fun, loving to play outside and read books, easy to get a response out of, ready to laugh and ready to snuggle -- sometimes you do something that is just YOU. Like figure out toys all by yourself, and manipulate your pacifier, and crawl like a speed demon to something you think about and STILL wake up (and wake up and wake up) at night!  You are awesome at entertaining yourself, even though you would much rather have everyone at least in the same room as you (or better yet, watching you proudly).  You still take a morning nap at church during Sunday school!  You beat Sissy on that by about 6 months!  You have been a pretty great eater, and able to feed yourself from a pretty young age.  When I sneak you some avocado, though, you fish it out of your mouth immediately with a look on your face that says "VILE WEED!" like Newman on Seinfeld.

You love to sing and bop when you hear music.  You go nuts when we turn on Laurie Berkner -- singing and bopping like crazy and getting as close to the TV as possible!  I'm always impressed when I see you play.  What are you thinking about?  You consider what you are holding.  You turn pages, take objects out and put them in containers, push buttons, and move parts with extremely nimble fingers.  You pretend to draw like Sissy, with her markers, with her magna-doodle.  You pretend to cook, you stir and stir, and even pretend to eat play food making tasting noises!


You hate getting dressed.  You hate getting your diaper changed.  You do NOT like me to keep you from throwing your food.  You have strong opinions about these things.  You love baths!  You love pouring cups of water.  You love taking bites of our food. You love snuggling in bed with Mommy and Daddy and giving hugs and being held and played with.  You love to wave and say hi to people and pictures, mirrors, and animals at the zoo.  Sometimes with both little hands.

Chip Neisler, you are a GIFT.  A precious, amazing, surprising gift from the Lord.  He is so so good to lend you to our family for a season.  We praise him for your first year of life, and celebrate the Creator and Sustainer of all things by celebrating your birthday.  May your life be lived to the praise of His glory!

 

My Greener Life

Over the past year, I have bit by bit changed some things in my life/household/family that has enabled us to live more resourcefully and frugally.  I was felt concerned about the waste in my life, and caring for our planet, which God has given to us stewardship over and while I'm sure I have plenty of room for improvement, I just thought I'd write about some of the changes we've made and how the adjustment has been.

Susie in a Econobum diaper -- so cute!

1. Cloth diapering -- this is probably the biggest step I've taken.  Last year I had $30 free to spend at a local little store that sells a small variety of diapers because of a Living Social deal, so I figured it was a no-loss venture!  If I didn't like them, I could resell them or pass them on, and not lose any money.  Well, I liked them better than disposables right away!  I had one bumGenius and 1 pack of Econobum (which is a cover that comes with 3 prefolds) so I could try out a couple different styles.  It wasn't long before I invested a bit of money in 2 more Econobum 3 packs (they were only $11.95!) and then a friend shared some extra prefolds and made me another cover, and suddenly I was cloth diapering Susie full time.  The adjustment was not hard at all.  I imagined that she wouldn't fit her clothes anymore because of the CD booty she now had, but actually that wasn't a problem, and she wore more skirts and bloomer-type shorts as summer came.  By the end of the summer, Chip was big enough to wear cloth diapers as well, and so I had 2 in CD!  The main problem (for me) was how/where/when to wash them.  We don't have a w/d in our home, which is one reason I had shied away from trying CD earlier.  My kind friend Sarah (who had lent me some extra prefolds) lets me wash them at her house weekly.  It's not as easy as if I could do them at home, but she does live nearby, and often lets me throw them in with her diapers.  She even stripped them for me!  I never would have guessed how much I prefer cloth diapers to disposables, but I really do!  I love how much money I've saved, I love reusing them over and over and feeling like I'm putting $ in the bank each time I put one on, and I LOVE my kiddos CD booties in them. :)  Susie pretty much self-potty trained, and I do think CD was a huge part of that -- she had learned to hold it so she didn't feel the wet.  I could go on and on about cloth diapers, but I'll draw the line there.
 
2. Switching to Norwex -- for sure the 2nd biggest change in our greener life is using Norwex products.  6 months ago I hosted a party for my friend who just started selling Norwex, and earned quite a few products for free, and I am HOOKED!  This company sells household and personal care products that aren't made from chemicals.  Among other things. I have several microfiber cloths that I use with water to clean the house with, and I use their detergent for our laundry.  My other favorite product is a mattress cleaner I spray on our beds/pillows/upholstered furniture that has greatly improved our sleep because we aren't coughing and sneezing from the dust and dust mites anymore!  I really think switching to Norwex has helped Chip's eczema because it's reduced the allergens in his environment.  I do not have to buy paper towels or household cleaners anymore and I'm SO glad I don't have a cabinet full of poisons for my kids to discover.

3. Natural personal products -- my friend and I made our own deodorant which I think works pretty well.  I use coconut oil to moisturize (I just started using it for Chip, but borrow it myself too!) most of the time -- though I do still enjoy Bath and Body works lotions!  I use the Norwex toothbrush and Tom's of Maine toothpaste -- but I think I may try making my own toothpaste as well before too long.  These things are all cutting down on the chemicals in our house and also are really cost-effective!

4. Sewing/upcycling/reusing -- I'm a pretty novice sewer, but I did make a set of cloth napkins out of a bedsheet to expand what we already had.  Now we use cloth napkins almost exclusively!  I'm trying out a few more sewing projects because I do like making things with my own hands rather than buying disposable items (like birthday banners and tablecloths for my kids birthday parties -- they are special and reusable!). I also sewed myself several sets of nursing pads.  Probably the biggest reusable part of our life is the kid's clothing.  The majority of what they wear are either hand-me-downs, from our church's Essentials room where I can get free second hand clothes or if they are purchased by me, I frequently buy them at consignment sales.  Obviously this is a big money saver!  I find I'm pretty picky about the new clothing I buy because I know I can usually find at least SOMETHING usable for free!  I only buy a few special items or necessities.

Got these second hand for Susie and now Chip wears them

Do you have any greener life ideas for me to take on next?

Kisses from Katie

I finished reading Kisses from Katie in the middle of the night last night because my 11 month old was awake and so was I.  I've read her blog for a couple years now, and have been taught by her lessons in motherhood, suffering, and loving in Christ's name.  I was eager to read this book and learn about her whole story.

Katie Davis lives in Uganda, where she moved after high school to serve the poor and suffering (mostly orphaned) children there.  Several years later, she has adopted 14 orphaned little girls and works long days feeding, caring for medical needs (she has to look up how to do things online since she doesn't have medical training) and visiting the poor and needy in their affliction.  She is certainly being the hands and feet of Christ and the stories of human suffering that she has seen first-hand -- and so often been instrumental to help relieve -- are astounding.  Her ministry, Amazima, pays to enroll extremely poor children in school, provide the uniforms they need as well as school supplies and medical care.  She also feeds the children at least weekly in her house -- hundreds of them!

While I don't necessarily share all of Katie's views theologically (she often talks of missing God's will or being in the center of God's will), she is clearly being used by God in a place where most of us would not even want to VISIT.  Reading about her life shows me how very easy mine is.  I see how it is petty to complain that my baby woke up last night. . . because he wasn't awake dying of hunger or fighting HIV, so my care for him was pretty easy.  I often lament not having a washer and dryer, but I am only caring for a family of 4, not 15, and not in a place where everyone gets really dirty each day.

I'm so thankful for Katie's work and her writing!  May the Lord bless this modern-day Amy Carmichael in all her endeavors!

Holy Week and Coloring Eggs Naturally

This year I spread out my "Holy Week" celebration a bit so that we did some Easter-focused activities over the course of Lent.  But this week, a few special activities seemed the most appropriate (such as the Easter mountain, which I am planning to do tomorrow). On Sunday we celebrated Palm Sunday by waving palm branches and singing and painting a picture of Jesus on a donkey.

Just beginning -- not too messy yet

Today we colored Easter eggs, and I made the dyes out of vegetables and fruits with some water and vinegar added.  I liked not buying the chemical dye since my kids are so young and apt to put the colored eggs in their mouths, and lick their fingers while dyeing them.  I took the whole operation outside so it was handy to just let the drippings run off the table and then pour out the cups in the grass.  The bees were pretty interested in the grape juice dye that was covering the entire area, but fortunately Susie was (in her words) "pretty brave of bees". :)

The dyes were really easy to make, and CHEAP since I just used stuff I had on hand.  I found the recipes I used here, and adjusted a couple of them.  I chose what I made based on what I already had, so I didn't have to go buy anything.  We did brown (coffee with a bit of vinegar), purple -- which turned gray/blue (grape juice with vinegar), orange -- this one turned out the best (simmered onion peels), blue -- which didn't look much different from purple (frozen blueberries) and yellow (spinach simmered in water -- I made this up myself because I had wilty spinach on hand).  The main drawback is that to get a deeper color at all, you had to leave them in a long time, which is a little hard with a 2 year old who kept grabbing the white eggs and popping them in cups and then popping them back out. 


But I still think they turned out pretty, and since Susie didn't know the difference, she wasn't disappointed that they were lighter colored.  She LOVES them, and LOVED the activity.  I gave her total freedom to play around with them because I wasn't concerned about the mess or her tasting them.  So as we leisurely colored eggs, we talked about how the colors made me think of Jesus (grape juice was perfect because we've been teaching her about the Last Supper so much). I will totally do this again next year!  

Finished product!

I let them play with them for a bit after we were done

Final note -- I did get the book Petook, and I liked quite a bit, but I think it was a little too old for Susie.  The wording is kind of flowery, but on part of it, I just told about the story and pointed at the pictures.  Maybe in a couple years it would be worth buying, and certainly if you have school-aged kids.


Tomorrow is big for us, since we are traveling this weekend -- so we're fitting in a bunch of stuff early.  We're doing the Easter mountain, and having a special Easter supper to celebrate.

Easter Decorations and Redeeming Easter Baskets

Easter table

Tonight we cut some branches off a dogwood tree and completed our Easter decorations.  I'm excited about how pretty it looks and also how I'm going to use the branches as an "Easter Tree".  Starting tomorrow morning Susie will get to open an egg and hang what is in it on the tree -- I have 12 symbols or trinkets that have significance in the Easter story.  I was suddenly inspired when I remembered my milk glass chicken to use that to "hide" the egg in each morning.  To go with the chicken/egg, I've ordered the book Petook, (a tale based on the hen that gathers her children under her wings that Jesus refers to when speaking to the Jewish people) from the library.  If it's good, I'll let you know and maybe buy it for next year!  The cup on the table holds the paper scraps I cut for Susie to add each day to our paper chain (which is now long enough to hang over the mirror by the table).  And one of Susie's Easter watercolor paintings is under the mirror -- I've been adding her Easter pictures to our decor as they are completed for several weeks now.

Another decoration I made this year was a banner out of scrap fabric with verses for Lent clipped to it.  I like the way the fabrics look together, but I think next year I will improve the way I did the verses -- I'm open to suggestions!  I would also love to hang this by the table -- maybe next year that will work out better.  For now, it's hanging over the couch, which is ok.

I'm almost done with gathering up what is going in my kid's Easter baskets!  Since Susie was tiny I decided to do an Easter basket, but to redeem them by making them focus on Jesus and the real reason for Easter!  In the past couple years I've just given her one or two books with a plush lamb and maybe one piece of candy. . . but this year I bought in advance, so the amount is building! :)  I still need to get Chippy a lamb (I kind of want one that rattles but not shaped like a rattle, if that makes sense), but otherwise, everything else is at least ordered.  I may end up giving them one or two of their books early.  In addition to the books, I have a big stuffed sheep for Susie and a chocolate cross (which she spotted in the grocery store and began singing "Easter Friday" at the top of her lungs).  Here are the books I giving this year:
 
The Big Picture Story Bible with audio CD by David Helm

The Easter Story by Patricia Pingry

The Very First Easter by Paul Maier

Jesus is Coming --board book about the triumphal entry

I got/am getting all my books from LifeWay -- if you are in the Louisville area, the campus store has or will have all of these if you want to pick any of these up!  Also, please join us for storytime on Good Friday morning at 10:00 am --  I will be reading the account of the passion of Christ and resurrection from The Big Picture Story Bible!

Countdown to Easter

Tonight I was looking for Christian or religious themed Easter stickers in a big chain craft store to use with my kids in counting down to Easter Sunday -- basically just planning to stick on on the calendar each day. . . not overly exciting, I know, but I wanted to do something!  Not surprisingly, there were NONE to be found -- seriously nothing whatsoever.

It's ok, though, because I was struck with a GREAT idea for counting down to Easter!  This would have worked great for Lent, and I'm counting that -- the season of Lent is kind of long for a 2 year old to keep up with, but in future years I'm planning on using my idea during the entire Lent season.

It's very simple -- make a paper chain by adding a ring of paper each day leading up to Easter.  The chain will grow longer and longer as Easter draws close.  You can talk to your children about sin, and their sin, as is appropriate for their age, and that our sin is like a chain on us, putting us in bondage.  If your kids are older, you could write verses about sin, or even sins they are fighting and confessing during this time.  Then on Easter morning, they can rip the chain all up because Jesus triumphed over sin!

I'm sure this idea is not totally original, but I do not remember seeing it anywhere before.  It's really simple, but I think it's fitting for little or big kids -- and I think kids will enjoy tearing it apart on Easter Sunday.  We are starting ours tomorrow morning!