Pre-Writing Skills: Homemade Silly Putty

So my oldest little guy (can I still call him that?) is a little over 2 and a half and as any mom of a 2 and a half year old knows, is soaking up everything like a sponge.  We have started some VERY basic training on letters and numbers, but I was reminded again of how important all training is after a facebook friend of mine posted a picture of work her little boy who is 3 did.  On a scratch sheet of white paper she had written the ABCs and had him trace over them.  Her caption was "he knows his letters, now we are working on writing them. . . it's a work in progress." This was evident by all the scribble that seemed to cover the page.  It was then more than ever I was thankful for my Early Childhood Development class in college because it impressed upon me the importance of what I call "pre-skills" skills that are needed before you can do schoolwork, one of the most important being
"Pre-writing".  Having a 2 year old little boy, has also shown me the importance of building these skills.

Because of that class I was able to tell my friend not to worry, it will come, but also not to start with writing right of the bat, it's too hard and tedious!  Instead I relayed the importance of developing the muscles in their hands (pincher reflex), and writing on different surfaces to get a feel for it.  All of those things LEAD to writing and writing well.

Since then I have been searching the internet for activities to do with my big guy once I was home again.  One thing I found that was EASY to do was make homemade silly putty and have him find objects in it, and then dig them out.  The original idea came from Play At Home Mom who has a TON of great ideas of activities to do with your kids.  My version was simple, take the silly putty and put the glass beads that you get at the dollar store inside to have him find and collect.  He LOVED IT.  This kept him entertained for at least 30 minutes, which was a win in my book.  I have placed the recipe below the pictures for anyone who would like to attempt to make it.

Homemade Silly Putty:
1 bottle school glue
Equal part liquid starch (I got mine from walmart in the laundry section)

**In your mixer with your paddle attachment place in the glue.  Pour liquid starch into glue bottle (I recommend doing this over the sink, instead of over the bowl so you don't overflow and mess up your recipe).  Pour the measured out starch on top of the glue.  Mix on a low setting for at least 5 minutes.  It will be the consistency of GAK (if you remember that stuff from way back when).

Done

I cannot adequately describe to you how happy I am to finally be writing this post.  I never thought this day would come, that I would actually be sitting here 30 minutes away from being a stay-at-home mom indefinitely.  I remember back a year ago just sitting at my kitchen wishing I could fast-forward to this exact moment in time, but skip the hard stuff.

And if I can be completely honest with you, I am scared right now.  This has been our normal for the past year and I am scared for the transition.  My oldest son has entered in to the so-called "terrible twos" and while he is great at day care, he hits the pavement of our driveway and instantly pushes his boundaries. Coming home to him after a long day with 22 six year olds was incredibly hard, days ending with me crying after I put him to bed because I feel so lost in this season and at a loss for how to handle the situation to the best (or maybe just like Michelle Duggar haha).  I am afraid every day, all day will give me the same story.  I am nervous.

  I left a two month old, and now return to a healthy 4.5 month old who is working on babbling, teething, sitting up, and eating cereal.  I am concerned about splitting my time between him and his brother, hoping that I can do right by him in this formidable first year.  I cannot believe he has been with us close to 6 months.  Time flies.

Sometimes I fall in bed at night and wonder, "Am I really cut out for this?" To which I know the answer is no, that I cannot do this thing called "motherhood" alone, that I am going to constantly have to lean on the One who will equip me for what He has called me to do.  There are many things I am nervous, and today I was blessed enough to find this blog post describing how I felt perfectly.  I am grateful to know I am not the only one.  So now, with a handful of kiddos going crazy behind me, and my last few minutes of unlimited internet I am content, I take a deep breath, I am ready, I am blessed.

Women, Work, and Freedom: My View Too

Source

Seeing as I am almost done with this year of being the provider for our family while my husband was in school, I thought this article written by Kelly over at Generation Cedar was appropriate, enlightening, engaging, and down-right true!  Before you can completely understand this post, please hop over and read her's here.

I can honestly say with complete confidence, and now experience that she is right.  She states:

"I have always puzzled at the claim of “freedom” in the demand of women to work outside the home when it is apparent they haven’t been liberated from anything, but rather had a burden added to their already intensive, full-time job. Not liberation, but stress, anxiety and exhaustion seems to be what women really fought for and won."

And I wholeheartedly agree.  Never before have I been more stressed, exhausted, and anxious, than this year.  I am sure being pregnant and having a baby and a two year old didn't help matters, but the time that is spent away from my children in a stressful environment, and then having to come home to them didn't help matters.  I have said time and time again this year, "Being a full-time employee, and a full-time mom is for the birds."  I feel as if I am doing everything halfway, nothing can be done to my very best because I am exhausted in all areas.  It amazes me that millions of women would choose this over raising their own children.  Many will say they can't afford it, but I have found that if my family of 4 can live on a teacher's salary with a husband going to school full time (with no financial aid), driving an hour one way to class every other day, pay for daycare, groceries,rent and insurance, then anyone can.  I am not saying this was easy, it wasn't, but it was doable.  We don't have luxuries like cable television, new cars, or internet (the hardest thing not to have), but we have one another and we are making it.

One area I had never considered was the area of economics, how if women left the workforce it would cause incomes to rise to support one income families.  What a crazy concept that is so simple and so easily overlooked!  The reason my husband chose the career field he did when he went back to school was based on salary almost as much as what it is he enjoys.  He needed to be sure he would always be able to support our family.  We will be homeschooling our children, so I will be home long term (Lord willing) therefore, the income needed to be such that we would survive.  

All in all I thought it was very enlightening and true based on my past and current experiences.  What do you think?

Blessed By The Lessons

As I have said many times before I cannot believe this year is almost over, that I am almost done with my year away from home endeavor and that I will never have to darken the hallways of work outside my home again until we are done teaching children.  If you would have told me how I would be feeling right now in September or October, I would have said you're crazy.  Looking back on it, I can see the hand of God at work (isn't hindsight always 20/20) and His sustaining grace, but while in the thick of the storm it was so hard to see Him or His purpose.  

Today during the Mother's Day service at my local church we talked about Abraham and Sarah.  They  doubted God when he told them they would have a son in their old age, laughed even at the thought, and though questioned his timing, purpose, will, ultimately they saw the promise come to fruition.  Because they experienced God's faithfulness in a time and way that appeared to be least likely, they were able to trust him later on when it came down to it.  Abraham was able to take Isaac up on a mountain and prepare to slaughter him because he knew The Lord is faithful.  

I feel like this year has prepared us for things that are ahead.  Whether He is grooming us to endure, have perseverance, learn how to budget and live without, or simply trust Him in impossible circumstances, we have learned (even if it is just the smallest bit).  Please don't misunderstand me, I in know way think I know it all, have learned it all, or experienced the worst.  However, I know He had us go through this year for a purpose and I am excited about it.  This year has taught us to see how even if it is hard, to tithe, how to pray for each other and with each other deeper, how to see more raw emotions, and hold each other up when we were the only ones who really understood.  We have made crucial decisions regarding the future for our family such as homeschooling, adoption, and family missions. These are things I am grateful for and so excited about.

In short, I have been where Abraham and Sarah have in a way.  I have laughed at God's plan, doubted Him and His love, wondered about my own faith as it seemed to be shaken, and am now on the other side more grateful and stronger for it.  I wish it had never had to happen and do not wish to ever relive this year, but I am blessed by the lessons learned.

I'm Back

Hello there, to my few and faithful readers.  I cannot believe it has been since September that I have written on this particular blog.  I had such high hopes when I set out to do this little blog but life got in the way unfortunantly. 

For those of you who don't know we had our newest little bundle of joy born to us on January 18, 2013, little Owen.  I fell completely in love with this little guy the moment I laid eyes on him.  I posted his birth story on my personal blog, so I will work on transferring that to this blog after this post.  I have currently been on maternity leave since then and have LOVED every minute of it.  It was wonderful to be back where I felt like I should be, doing what I know I am called to do.  Though we never did get on the best schedule, we've had fun and its worked well. 

I am excited to report to you that this year in our life is almost over.  At times I cannot believe it, honestly it seems like it has been such a long time coming.  When I go back to work on April 1st there will be 10 weeks until I am out of school.  10 weekends, 10 Mondays, 10 work weeks to bust my tooshie to complete and complete well.  I am dreading going back and having to leave my little guys, but it is time to just get it started so it can get done.  I am praying that the weekdays go quickly and the weekends pass slowly, but only time will tell.

I have made a list in my journal of all the things I want to do once I return home, and I hope I can accomplish some of them while having 2 children.  One is to begin cloth diapering again.  I have spent the past 2 days perusing the internet in search of the best diaper for your money.  I also want to begin making my own break each week, my own applesauce, my own lots-of-things.  Surely it doesn't seem that I am in too over my head right haha. 

So yes, there you have it, we are almost done and I am so grateful and ready to be there.  Join with me friends in praying that these next few months fly by and June is here before we know it. 

Living With Not Knowing

Well we are done with the first 6 weeks of me being back at work, and I honestly can't believe it.  I am glad the time is gone and also saddened that it is 6 weeks I have missed in the life of my son, my family, and my home.  Honestly this has been such a process for me, dealing with all the emotions of HAVING to go back to work.  I don't know if I will come to the conclusion of this being the right decision or not until we can look back on this year.  I may not ever know if we should have gone this route or not, and I am having to become more ok with that.

This has not been an easy process.  To be perfectly honest, I have felt abandoned by my Heavenly Father at times.  I am ashamed to admit that, but it is true.  I don't understand why He would show me very clearly that I am called (as are other women) to stay home and take care of my family, and then have our only option be me going back to work as my husband goes back to school.  In my head it makes no sense, and because I am not God, and cannot see the whole picture, I allowed that thought to callous my heart and make me not try to see that God does still love me.  More than that, the fact that he deserves praise no matter if I think He cares about me or not.  He died for me, that is what deserves all my praise no matter what, despite my circumstances, whether or not I know we made the right decision, or that I feel He cares.  This has been such a hard lesson to learn, one I don't understand why I am having to be taught.  It could be for the fact that I have to learn to praise Him despite my circumstances, despite my confusion, and despite my breaking heart.

I still pray every morning He will provide a different way, that He would reunite me to my family before June, that He will make it to where we can somehow survive without me having continue the year.  I don't know how that would look, and quite frankly it scares me so much.  However, I would take that life of uncertainty, to this one of feeling like I am going so against what I am called to do with my life.  Whether He answers this for me or not, I will praise Him.  It reminds me of what Michelle Duggar said she had to do one time, she had to give him a "sacrifice of praise" and so she started singing "The Joy of Lord is My Strength" through her tears.

So to mamas who are still at home, maybe struggling to see the good in what they are doing or the vision in what their being there can do I encourage to know, what you do, day in and day out, makes a difference.  You have the most important job of shaping the next generation, of working hard to make warriors for Christ.  You are doing right, you are important, vital, and though it is hard, there is a great reward.  Hug your little ones just a little tighter, and kiss them just a little more, and play just a little longer, because by the grace of God, you are shaping a life.  What better job could there be?

Serving. . . In the Needed Capacity

So last week my husband and I had a to take my son to day care for the first time.  It was honestly much worse than I had ever thought it would be.  We had to leave my son screaming, which we had expected, but it was so difficult.  Of course I had cried the entire way there, but I left the lady's house sobbing uncontrollably, and then I turned around I saw that my husband also had tears in his eyes.  We sat outside the house we had just left our son in, talking over what had just happened, saddened by the lack of options.  We knew there was seriously no other choice, we had to go through with everything, with this year, and yet leaving there was the hardest thing I have ever done.

So today, I am home on the last weekday of the summer with my little man, and soaking up everything.  I was fixing him breakfast and thinking about how much I absolutely loved serving my family in my home and how much I was going to miss it.  However the thought came to me that I am serving my family this year by going back to work, and this is something that feels like serving in the truest sense in that I feel I am bound to this year, almost against my will.  It is the last thing I want to do, but the thing I know I MUST do in order to achieve our family's dreams in the long run, ones that include me staying home with all other children the Lord may give us.  It helps to know that I am still serving my family, putting away my own desires, to better the outcome for us.  This doesn't mean that it will be easy or that I wont dislike it, but it does mean that this is where God has called us to go, and we will go there.

I don't know why it worked out this way, but I know that I am learning so much, and even though I may not understand, God has a plan.