I do work a couple hours a week at my church. I am the nursery coordinator and spend about 5 hours a week playing with the little ones while their parents attend service and classes (this is where my daughter gets most of her social interaction but I do try and make other play dates for her).
My husband and I currently have one beautiful little girl. We became foster parents last year which has added a whole new level to our relationship and has brought much more love and complications into our lives. Even though it is challenging I feel blessed to be able to help these children and love on them for the short amount of time that they are with us.
UPDATE- Baby number 2, was born January 24th. 8 lbs 20.5 inches
I do not have it all under control. I always read blogs and feel that the people writing them have life figured out and that they are in control of everything. I'm guessing that is not true of most of them but I know I feel like that when I read about all their great accomplishments or ideas. So I want you all to know- I usually have no idea what I am doing as a mother! Yes- I play games with her Yes- I read to her Yes- I try and take her to the zoo, museum, etc Yes- I provide her with toys and activities Yes- I try and teach her But I also am horrible when it comes to regulating TV watching(even though I know what the research shows), letting her eating sugary snacks, and making her go to sleep in her room at a specific time every night . I should be teaching her to pray always, not just before bed. The list of things that I would like to improve could go on and on so just know that every mom has to work hard and most of us feel lost and under-appreciated at times. Challenge yourself to make small improvements in the areas that you really want to work on this year. For me it is trying to break the TV habit for the whole family. I am slowly trying to cut back the amount of time the TV is on in our home. My goal is to eventually (hopefully before our second child) get to the point that we go through a whole day without even realizing we didn't turn the TV on. How great would that be?
I am trying to raise my daughter to be an independent, fun-loving, Christian woman who dreams big, is ambitious enough to go after her dreams, kind enough to care for others, finds beauty in herself and others, strong enough to be who she is, and confident enough to stand up for her beliefs. I am positive I will make many mistakes (I already have). Raising children is all about trial and error, give and take, and a lot of it falls in the gray area so it can get a little fuzzy at times. I believe prayer, love, and a sense of humor will help a lot.
About Daddy- Wonderful, Godly man who works hard all week to provide for us and volunteers hard on Sundays as a blessing to our church family. I honestly could not have picked a better father for my daughter. He is over protective and slightly neurotic when it comes to keeping his little pumpkin safe but for now she loves him for it (we'll see what happens in ten years). He is a very hands-on father who engages her in active play, plays out whatever game pops into her imagination (lately they have been running around the house rubbing their bellies and yelling "care bear stare" to save all her stuffed animals from a mean pirate), reads to her, spends hours making up silly songs about anything she wants, laughs with her, plays with her, teaches her, loves her and prays with her and for her. My heart beats faster and my eyes fill with tears when I think about and try to explain just how great of a dad he is to our little girl and now to our son as well. God has blessed me and my children greatly.
About Daughter- She is our first child and is looking forward to being a big sister in 2013. She is three, very out-going and social, usually chooses to play with boys over girls, and is usually the ring leader of the play group even if the other children are a year or two older. She is a little advanced for her age so some of the activities I blog about her doing may seem like they are not age appropriate but they are developmentally and we never force learning on her. She has been gifted with a love for learning and easily picks things up (especially language based concepts). I do not believe that she is advance solely because of the activities we do with her but I strongly believe that they play a big part in encouraging her love for learning.
In case everyone is wondering about the nasty cuts and stitches she is sporting in some of the photos, in December 2011 she fell off a chair at the library and went head first into a bookshelf. Luckily she does not harbour any ill feelings to the doctor or the library. However, the chair at the library is a different story.
