Never Forget the Power of YOUR Touch

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You’ll recall a little over a week ago, I spoke of a book I’m reading and I encouraged all of you out there to pick it up as well.   It’s titled “52 Things Kids Need From a Mom” by Angela Thomas.   As I stated, it’s an easy read and separated out to be able to read a chapter a week, with each chapter really only being about five pages long.   Now, if I had been on schedule (which I’ve learned can be quite difficult once you become a mom) then I would have posted a blog about the second chapter on Friday.   Of course, last week wasn’t the best week.   I was sick, my child was sick, we had some snow, and my husband and I were eager for a date night.   Needless to say, posting a blog on my weekly reading took a back seat, but now I’m back at least on this topic.

Chapter 2 is entitled:  “Kids Need Their Mom…To Never Stop Touching Them.”   Being a part of our sometimes warped society, I immediately went into a not so happy place in my mind when I read the chapter title.   I had to remind myself that this is a Christian book written by a Christian woman who would never encourage any perverse ways of “touching” your children.   With that frame of mind now accomplished, I set about to read the chapter and I have to say, I find myself touching Davey more and more everyday.

Much like Ms. Thomas, we have affection in our home.   My husband and I love to hug each other, we hold hands (a lot of times just walking through a parking lot) and we both dote and love on our son.   He is our treasure, our gift from God and I can’t stop touching him and telling him how much I love him.   Over time, said touching can diminish.   It does a lot in marriages and it’s something that my husband and I must be conscience about.   We have to remind ourselves to not be complacent and to touch each other.  The power of the human touch is a magical thing.   Fortunately, at this point, we don’t have to remind ourselves to touch Davey.   It just seems to come with the territory when having a baby.

“To touch someone can communicate a million things,” Ms. Thomas says and she’s right.   I think we lose all sense of what our touch can really mean to a child.   It can bring forth feelings of love, home, safety, comfort, and acceptance just to name a few.  Isn’t your child worth receiving those feelings?   How often do you touch your children?   How often do you hug them, tousle their hair, kiss their foreheads, wiggle their toes?   It seems like such a small and almost effortless thing to do, but it’s worth more than can be quantified.

Ms. Thomas puts in best when closing this chapter she states, “Never stop touching them.  The gift of your enduring affection will become one of the greatest gifts you ever give to their souls.”

So, I ask all of you who are parents out there and even those of you who aren’t, will you please touch your loved one tonight?   Never forget the power of YOUR touch and what it can mean to someone, especially the smallest ones in our lives.

As a bit of inspiration, here’s a picture of one of my first touches which just happens to be a hug from my beautiful bundle of joy:

Our first hug.
Our first hug.

Happy Anniversary

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One year ago today I embarked upon a new career.   It was a career that I’d never considered before, but once I made the decision to switch things up, I eagerly counted the days until I could start my new life.  

I have to admit that it was completely new territory.   I’ve never voluntarily quit a paying job before especially if I didn’t have another one lined up.   I was nervous and a bit scared as to what may come into play.   Could I handle it?   How long would it take before I missed my old life?   How many people would judge me?   And then what about my education?   I have three degrees, one of which is a Masters and I was giving up all of that for the coveted Stay-At-Home mom role.  How exciting and intimidating. 

To tell you the truth, I couldn’t exactly imagine being able to keep this job for a month much less a year.   I worried about our finances and I worried about my state of mind.   Would I be bored?   Would I be overwhelmed?   Would I lose my sense of self?  I had numerous questions roaming through my head. 

I can still remember the first day.   Davey and I stayed in our pajamas the entire day!  I know, I know, way to be a good and productive stay-at-home mom, but I figured he and I both deserved a down day, a day for just the two of us to soak each other in and get used to the fact that we were going to be inseparable for a long, long time.  

A year later, I look back and reflect on how my life has changed, how enriched it has become, how truly thankful I am to have the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom.   It was a decision I was doubting, one I was fretting over, but one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.  

Happy Anniversary to me and to Davey.   We’ve made it a year together, kiddo.   Here’s hoping for many, many more.

Twitter feed….to the right, please

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I’m not sure how many of you follow my Twitter feed.   I’ve posted it on the home page on the bottom right below archives.  Most of what I tweet is related to my life as a mother and it usually comes from other mothers throughout the world whom I follow.   Of course, sometimes you’ll get the occasional rant (like I can’t stand Justin Bieber and I’m not sorry about it).

Anyways, I follow this one mom.   Her name is Kimberly and she is a mother of 4 (bravo to her!).   She wrote a beautiful little poem on her page and it was called Entangled Hands.   It made me smile and cry and just warmed my heart.   If you have a moment, please go to her website…www.reflectionsofnow.com and read her post Entangled Hands.    I retweeted the link and again it’s on my Twitter feed at the bottom right of my home page.

Enjoy!

If You’re Happy and You Know it….

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Say “hooray!”

HOORAY!

I love that little song.   I sing it every morning to Davey.   He’s able to do everything except actually say “hooray”.   So, what made me decide to start a blog out this way?   I suppose it could be based on this article I read on Parenting.com.

As you all know, I’m constantly perusing Flipboard coming up with new things to write about it.   Sometimes I get a twinge of inspiration, other times, I get on a rant.   This time I was intrigued by a title that read:  Study:  Older Parents are Happier Parents.   And of course, since I’m only a couple of years away from 40, I feel that I am older than the average parent (especially first time parent).

New research published in Population and Development Review claims that most parents under the age of 30 are less happier than those who are over the age of 40.   Hmmm…..interesting and I seem to fall right between the two age sets.   Before I go too deep into the survey, let me give you some quick 411 on PDR.  It is a journal published by the Population Council that seeks to advance knowledge between population and social, economic, and environmental change and provides a forum for discussion of related issues of public policy (verbatim from their website:  www.popcouncil.org/publications/pdr).   Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find the actual survey as apparently I need to make a donation in order to subscribe to them (everyone wants some money these days!).

I trust the abridged version I read on Parenting’s website and it’s gotten me to think about how happy I am now as opposed to how happy I was before.   I can’t speculate much on if I’m happier than my friends who became parents in their 20s, but I can say that this is the happiest I’ve been in my life.

I was happy the day I met my husband and the day I married my husband.   I was genuinely happy, but this is a different level of happiness, or maybe its a whole new happiness I’m looking at.   For the first time in my life, I feel that my life has a purpose and that makes me happy.   For the first time in my life, I feel that I’m needed and that makes me happy.   I’ve had purposes before and those that needed me, but it wasn’t the same as it is now.   Of course, would I have been this happy had I become a mom in my 20s?   Too hard to say.   There was a different frame of mind and priorities in play at that point and that’s what a lot of this survey is focusing on.

For example, the reason the researchers deduce that older parents are happier is because they’ve “lived” a life before having children.   They’ve sown their wild oats, indulged in a career and dreams and travel.   A bit shallow if you ask me, but it’s also something I can relate to.  Of course this is for “first time” older parents, but let’s take a look at the other side of the spectrum.

Older parents with older children seem to be just as happy as those older first time parents and the reason being is because the older children are lower-maintenance, thus allowing more personal time for the parents.   Again, a bit shallow, but it is reality.   And it seems to be that every part of the “happiness” wheel revolves on the one thing and that being the frame of mind of the parents.   Let’s see if I can make this a bit clearer…our happiness (at least from what I am able to read on this survey) is based upon selfish reasons and those selfish reasons are how having children seems to impact our lives outwardly.   And the one common denominator with this survey is that apparently first time parents in their early to mid twenties are less happy.  Don’t shoot the messenger, folks!

I’m a happy parent because I get to have this wonderful little gift from God.   I’m a happy parent because I get to learn something new everyday.  I’m a happy parent because I wake up and go to bed to unconditional love.  I’m a happy parent simply because I am a parent and I can’t imagine that really being different at any age.

I’m going to attempt to do a little bit more research to try to get my hands on this survey (free of charge) and post it on this site, but I’m curious as to the rest of you out there.   Do you feel that you’re happier than your younger or older peers?

Valentine Hugs

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I’m a little late posting this, but I wanted to make sure that my in-laws received theirs BEFORE reading about it on here.

Davey made special Valentines this year for his Grandparents, Aunt, and Great Grandmas who live in NY.   I found the idea on Pinterest and thought it to be the sweetest thing in the world.   It took a mere 30 minutes from start to finish and cost a little bit extra in postage to send just because of the size, but it was totally worth it and my in-laws love them!

Basically, what we did this year was to send Valentine Hugs in the form of Davey’s actual hands cut from construction paper and a ribbon run between the two of them that served as his arms.   He didn’t want to play too much and I had to hold his hands (well we only used one and then just mirrored it to create the other) so that my husband could draw the outline on paper.   I retraced seven more hands to have four sets.

Davey's hands
Davey’s hands

Next I took a hole punch and punched a hole at the bottom of each hand.   Then I took a spool of red ribbon, had my husband hold Davey and stretch out his arms and then I measured his actual arm span and cut the ribbon.

ribbons representating arm span
ribbons representating arm span

Once one was completed, I just used it as a measuring stick for the remaining three strips of ribbon.Before attaching the ribbon to the hands, I printed out a little note that I then cut and pasted onto construction paper.   I punched a hole in the top of the note and then fed it onto the ribbon.   Once that was in place, I then fed the ribbon into the holes on the hands and tied the ribbon into knots at the end.

Valentine Note
Valentine Note

The finished product looked like this:

finished product
finished product

I received text messages and phone calls from all four receiving parties last night and they loved the Valentine Hugs.   His Grammy apparently continued to give herself hugs from Davey.

It was more of a craft for me since Davey isn’t old enough to really participate.   Hopefully next year will be a different story and I can at least have him glueing and possibly coloring.

I know it’s a little late for any of you to try to get this done and out for Valentine’s Day this year, but it’s definitely something to hold onto for next year especially if your littles have family far away.   I guarantee it will bring a tear and a smile to their face.

Sloppy Joe Empanadas or Something Like That

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Let me start out by saying that this didn’t go as I had originally planned.   Of course, when you become a mom, most all of your well laid plans seem to go out the window.

Lately, I’ve had issues with getting Davey to eat.   I have to find ways to squeeze food into his daily routines and to do it healthy.   He’s more concerned with playing as opposed to eating, so I usually try to keep things out for him to snack on during the day.   Dinner time is a different story.

I grew up with my parents, brother, and I always eating dinner around the kitchen table.   During the summer it was usually transported out to the table on the back porch, but we always ate dinner as a family without the interruption of television.   I’m pretty determined to do the same with my family, but once again the problem these days is Davey.   And since I’m also pretty determined to not have a finicky eater and to not have to make multiple meals, I’m trying to find new and fun ways to get him involved while also getting him to eat.

Tonight I made what I was originally going to call my Sloppy Joe empanadas.  I first should admit that the idea wasn’t all my own.  I did get the recipe from the Grands! biscuit website and will post a link to it on this blog.   I had a few variations on it since I wanted to find a way to get some vegetables in for Davey.

The recipe states that you should take Grands! biscuits and flatten them out into six inch circles on a non-greased cookie sheet.   I greased the cookie sheet since I’ve had issues in the past with following directions like that only to have what I’m baking stick to the pan.  I started the oven on 375 degrees before moving on.

Next I was to place Sloppy Joe mixture on each round.   Before making the mixture, I decided to add in some carrots and green pepper.   While the carrots were steaming, I diced up a quarter of a green pepper and started sautéing it in the pan.   Once the peppers were done, I put in a pound of lean ground turkey, browned it along with the peppers, drained it (I have learned to do this) and then added the carrots and a can of Sloppy Joe sauce.   Now, here’s where I encountered my problem.

When placing the Sloppy Joe mixture onto the first round, I found that I was either putting too much sauce or I didn’t have the biscuit round big enough.   The recipe states that you should fold over the rounds to make what looks like a dumpling or an empanada.   I couldn’t do that.   So, I covered the entire round with Sloppy Joe sauce, placed some shredded sharp cheddar cheese on top and then opened another can of Grands! biscuits, flattened them out and then placed them on top.   I ended up with eight Sloppy Joes.

I placed them in the preheated oven for approximately 12 minutes.   When they came out, this was the finished look:

3 of the finished product.
3 of the finished product.

They were not as pretty as I’d hoped, but were more delicious than I’d ever imagined.   My son ate two of these at one sitting!   And what he doesn’t know is that I managed to sneak in some vegetables as well.

The website states that it takes 45 minutes of prep and cook time total.  It took me a half an hour from start to finish INCLUDING dicing up and steaming carrots.    And the end result was fabulous.   My husband has asked that I make these again.   Perhaps next time I’ll try to make them look like actual empanadas.

Here’s the link to the recipe.

http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/grands-unsloppy-joes/3203cf0c-74bb-4e68-a038-2a43eae76087#

Try it out and add your own variations to it.   Get your little ones involved.   Davey loves to add the diced vegetables into the mixture and emptying out the can of Sloppy Joe sauce.   It seemed fun for him.   Enjoy!

Yummy!
Yummy!

Did I Drain the Grease? Hmmm……

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There once was a girl who hated to cook.
The kitchen she refused to look.
But one day fate stepped in
And soon it would begin
That girl became a cook.

Alright, alright! I’m definitely not a poet who didn’t know it. Quite the opposite as you can see above.
I’ve started taking to my role of a stay-at-home mom quite well. It’s only taken me a year to do it, but hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day, kids! Ok. I’m done with the cheesy factor, at least with my writing.

Before I go on, let me tell this quick little anecdote of when my husband and I first started dating. As most of you may know (at least those of you who’ve known me my entire life, my husband his entire life, and both of us together), my husband is the cook in the family and I STINK at it. When we first started dating, he made this amazing meal of a crab meat stir fry complete with his own homemade soy sauce. He can open a fridge and pull random ingredients out and throw them together to make the greatest meal your taste buds have ever encountered. Me? Not so much, but I am learning.

The first time I cooked for my husband, I made what I thought to be an amazing meal (although it didn’t come out like my mother’s always had). I made your basic spaghetti, except I cooked the sauce ALL DAY LONG. It was one of those slow cooker sauces in which all of the ingredients are fresh and there’s no such thing as using a jar of sauce.

My husband ate his entire plate of spaghetti. I was so happy. As we were cleaning the dishes, he asked me about the sauce. Being proud of myself, I jumped right in with the comment that it was my mother’s recipe (my mother never wanted me to repeat this, considering how badly I butchered it). He smiled at me and then asked me about the meat. I told him I made it with ground beef, which I had crumbled up into a frying pan and browned. He continued to smile at me and then asked,

“What about the grease?”

Huh? Grease? What grease?

“Did you drain the grease?” He asked.

“Of course not. The recipe didn’t call for that. Look,” I said while showing him the recipe.

Once again, he smiled at me and then took the pot of sauce and said,

“Do you see this film on top? That’s not supposed to be there.”

And that, my friends, was the end of my cooking days. Flash forward nine years and I’m a new woman! Who would have thought that? Not only can I cook, but I can also chop and dice vegetables without drawing blood. I can grill and baste, make meatballs from scratch, and even improvise.

Since, I’ve started getting so much better at this cooking thing I’ve decided to start posting some recipes on this blog, especially the ones that are simple, unique, and fun not just for me, but also for Davey. I’ve found that something I despised so much, can actually be fun especially when you have a little helper such as mine.

If any of you have some great recipes you would like for me to try or would like to share with each other, please feel free to comment. Check back later tonight for my Sloppy Joe Empanadas. Yum!

The Muffin Man

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Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man?Yes, I know the muffin man, he lives on Davey Lane!

I had dinner with some of my girlfriends on Friday night. Most of us are now officially mothers so we have our little tots to always talk about. Only two of us are stay-at-home moms, and most of them will tell you that I was probably one of the least likely to be a stay-at-home mom, but I’ve taken to it like a moth to flame.

I told stories of what Davey and I do together and how it’s fun for me to do things with him that seem just so traditional and June Cleaver-ish.

One thing Davey and I love doing is baking muffins, and I don’t mean the instant muffins you buy at the store for $1. If I’m going to do something, then I’m going all out.

Today, we made homemade apple muffins and what a great time we had. The most cumbersome part of the whole thing is actually peeling and dicing up the apples, but once that’s done then it’s all fun and games in our kitchen!

Diced apples
Diced apples

Davey jumped right into his first role which was to line the muffin pans with cupcake papers. It’s a great learning exercise for him as well.

 

Davey lining the muffin pans.
Davey lining the muffin pans.

 

After that was done, I began mixing the ingredients and once again was able to enlist Davey’s help. As you can see he enjoyed his tedious roll of putting the diced apples in the mixer. He hasn’t quite mastered the understanding that picking up more than one at a time is much faster. After each diced apple he dropped in, he’d clap his hands with such a sense of accomplishment.

Putting the apples into the mixer.
Putting the apples into the mixer.

I’m enclosing a copy of the recipe as well, for any of you who made want to do this with your little ones. I guarantee your significant others will be impressed and it makes for a good bonding experience as well.

APPLE MUFFINS

apple muffins

 

Making a Lifelong Difference

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I do a lot of reading. I don’t watch a lot of television. I prefer to keep it off as much as possible with Davey. So, while he’s playing on his own, I’m reading.

I pick up a variety of different books.   There isn’t a certain genre I prefer over others; however, I’m not much of a fan of horror books or smutty romance novels.

Books need to be one of two things for me…entertaining and mentally stimulating or challenging.   I want to learn something as I go along.   Fortunately, my love of books rubs off on my son as he’s in love with reading as well.   He spends more time sitting in the floor with his books as opposed to his toys or blocks.   It makes for a happy mama.

Davey reading to our dog Dixie.
Davey reading to our dog Dixie.

So, right now I’m reading a variety of books (I’m always reading more than one, it drives my husband crazy).   One in particular, I want to share with all of you.   My husband bought it for me at our local Lifeway Christian Store.   It’s titled, “52 Things Kids Need From a Mom”.   It’s broken down into easy to read segments and basically allows for you to read one chapter a week.   Not too terribly difficult; however, I do know a mom with twins who prevent her from doing anything she used to find enjoyable.   She doesn’t seem to be able to read books anymore.   Mom, you know who you are.

I want to post a blog each week on this book as I’m reading the chapters.  Perhaps it will open the doors to more discussions between all of my fellow moms out there.

Each chapter starts with the following phrase:  Kids Need Their Mom….

Chapter 1 states:  To Pray in Secret with The Door Open.   What does that mean to you?  For me, it means that I don’t have to pray outloud, but I need to do it in front of my son.  It’s hard to find the time to pray.   I get up early every morning, well before Davey, just so I can read my daily Bible lesson, pray, and then be able to write for a while.   Lately, I’ve been encouraging Davey to learn how to pray as well.   He can fold his hands, but doesn’t bow his head, and he doesn’t sit quietly with me, but he hears me thanking our Lord for all of our blessings.

Making a lifelong difference with our children is long road, with many hills and twists and turns.   There are always obstacles, but it’s our duty to navigate our children through these.   How many of you take the time to pray with your children?   I’m trying hard to be a strong Christian mother, but I don’t always succeed.  And when I fail, I pray for forgiveness and strength to try again and I make sure Davey sees that as well.

52 Things

Please, Mr. Postman

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Back in July, I started what I’m hoping to be a tradition for me and for Davey.   I started writing letters on his behalf and sending them along with pictures on a monthly basis to a few friends and family who live out of town.

Most of you are aware that my husband’s entire family lives in Western NY.   For the most part, we are able to see his mom and sister at least eight times a year.   We rotate trips back and forth.   For the rest of his family, we try to squeeze in some time with them while we’re in NY.   Unfortunately, that’s only about four times a year and they miss out on a lot with Davey.

Being a writer, I decided to start using my talent for something else.   I decided to write letters from Davey’s perspective.

My husband has two grandmothers who are still living, Davey’s great grandmothers.   They don’t have access to email or Facebook, so they rely on us to keep them up to date with Davey’s growth.   The majority of the rest of the family, has some sort of internet access, but it’s a lot more fun for me AND for them to send a letter via the mail.   Let’s be honest, you all think it’s nice to receive something in the mail other than credit card offers and bills.

Thanks to the increase in stamp prices, though, Davey will stop sending letters to some of our friends since they’re a part of our generation and have email.   By the way, he has his own email account too.   I will; however, continue to send letters and pictures to immediate family especially to my in-laws.

Here’s a sample of one of the letters Davey has sent in the past.   It’s a neat idea, can be pretty inexpensive (all dependent upon who you send them to and the number of pictures), and definitely warms the heart of its recipients.

December 2012

And oh yeah, Davey gets a copy emailed to him as well.   I look forward to the day when he’s able to read his own email and start writing his own letters.

Davey honing his typing skills months ago!
Davey honing his typing skills months ago!