Quiverfull Family » Mothering

Let’s Do the Time Warp Again?

Quiver Mamma — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 18:14:27 +0000

Wow. There just isn’t anything that will mess with your sense of continuous time flow like having a newborn in the house will! I’ll be the first to admit that I am NOT good at keeping track of the passing of time. I can’t remember events that happened on a specific date to save my life in the vast majority of cases.

Combine my naturally loopy sense of chronology with a newborn though and things get pretty funky! Normally I can tell you how many days ago something happened, or how much time has gone by since a certain event, but when I have a newborn I just feel like I’m floating in a space that is devoid of time.

Right now, I’m hoping that time will pass by quickly so I can get over this cold, get through the postpartum recovery period, and get back into the swing of things, but for now, I’ll just need to keep hanging out in la-la land with my tiny baby and my other little ones.

She ASKS to Change Diapers

Quiver Mamma — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 02:26:37 +0000

When our third baby was born, our oldest child (Kaelynn) was 5. She’s now 7, and what a difference two and a half years makes! She is such a good helper, and absolutely loves her new baby sister. She frequently asks to hold her (busy mommies know that an extra pair of hands to hold baby when you need to go to the bathroom is a God-send), and we’ve been doing some diaper-changing lessons at her request! She even said today that maybe when she gets better she can do ALL the diaper changes.

Well, I don’t think the novelty will last long enough to see that through, but it’s a blessing to start seeing the helpfulness that older children can bring to a household. Now, I’m not pretending that trying to parent my other three children from a rocking chair while nursing our newborn isn’t a hairy-scary experience at times (especially our two-year-old), but it’s so encouraging to see the benefits of having a larger family with children of a mix of ages first hand.

Yay for McDonald’s!

Quiver Mamma — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 19:34:04 +0000

Yesterday we took our children out for a few hours to a local McDonald’s, and I have to say – I’m thankful for their play parks! The McDonald’s website is excellent! You can search ONLY for those restaurants that contain play parks, and you can search by geographical area. When it’s cold outside, and your children are stir crazy it’s a lot cheaper to take them out for a snack than it is to hit, say…the Galaxy Land at West Edmonton Mall.

They had a great time, and proved to me once again that – yes, homeschooled children CAN socialize, and do it well! Our girls are so confident and love to take initiative when it comes to meeting new friends and engaging them in creative play. Of course, having lots of siblings to practice with helps as well .

Prep School For Moms…

Quiver Mamma — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:01:28 +0000

God certainly has a unique way of preparing mothers for the arrival of a newborn. He gets them up in the middle of the night and makes it hard for them to go back to sleep. He wakes them up multiple times during the night in order to empty painfully distended bladders (oh, look, two tablespoons!)

I’m convinced that it’s all a part of His clever preparatory process. ”Better ease them into it…get them used to all those night wakings…less sleep…zombified mind processes.”

I’m definitely in training, up last night from 3:30 a.m. until at last 5:30 a.m. Zzzzzzz………

Thankful for Life

Quiver Mamma — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:27:59 +0000

Even when my fingers are bloated, stiff, and painful due to fluid retention, I am thankful for life.

Even when I have semi-painful BH contractions every time I lean over to pick up a toy from the living room floor, I am thankful for life.

Even when my feet look very, very fat, I am thankful for life.

Thankful for this little heart that beats not far beneath mine. For the little hands that punch and the little feet that kick. For my older ones who cuddle this new life beneath my skin.

So thankful.

Baby Movements

Quiver Mamma — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:31:19 +0000

Our ‘tiny baby’, as we call our in-utero child (either Anne or Jonathan depending upon gender) has been moving for a couple of weeks now, and it’s always so exciting. I think I can even feel some movement with my hand, but whenever I call someone over to have a feel tiny baby stops moving!

Ah well, it won’t be long now and my family will be able to SEE tiny baby moving, as well as feel tiny baby with their hands . I think baby movements are one of the greatest joys of pregnancy, when I feel tiny baby I’m always reminded of the new life growing inside me, and it brings a smile to my face!

Making Our Own Lotion

Quiver Mamma — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:46:00 +0000

I’ve been researching making lotion for my eczema prone daughter, and I have to say – there’s a bit of a learning curve here. Right now I’m just learning about ingredients, but the one that is currently working for her is a type of silicone/herbal extracts shielding lotion, and if I can just figure out this whole silicone thing I’m sure I can whip something up for her that will cost less than $19 for 4 oz.

Have any of you tried to make your own lotions for children with skin issues? Any successes or recipes that you’d like to share with me? I HAVE found a supplier of silicones in Canada, which is pretty much the first step for us, because some of them have a low flash-point, they’d have to go UPS, and we all know how expensive that brokerage is!!!

Weaning Time

Quiver Mamma — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:26:34 +0000

I’m on day 2 or 3 (depending on how you count it) of weaning Sarah, who just turned 2 at the end of June. My poor little dove. This is the youngest I’ve ever weaned one of my children, but she seems to be taking it well. Nursing through this pregnancy just hasn’t been working out as well as I would have liked. I’ve nursed through two previous pregnancies, but I’m just feeling so ‘done’ with nursing this time, also – there is very, very little milk at this stage in the game (I feel a bit full on my high-production side, but have had NO engorgement or pain.) She and I have been fighting about how much she gets to nurse and when, so I thought our relationship would be much more harmonious just to be done with it. And so far it has been. She’s asking less, crying less, and has been happier. I think this has been a good decision for our family.

This might seem odd to women who don’t nurse for as long as I do, but I do still struggle with residual guilt. Tell me it’s okay!

Fifteen Weeks…

Quiver Mamma — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 02:23:25 +0000

For some reason I always decide a month or two before I get pregnant that I never will, and that I might as well stop tracking my cycles. As a result, my midwife always asks, “Do you know the first day of your last period.” My answer is typically, “Umm…I think it was around…insert date here.” She then responds, “Weren’t you tracking Jen!?”

Ehm. In any case – I think I’m accurate to within a week either way. She’s got me set up with a due date of December 06th, so I think my official due date for myself will be “some time in December”. That way I’m good to go in a wide variety of date ranges and hopefully, won’t get too jittery as the date approaches .

I have to say though, being pregnant with #4 looks MUCH different than being pregnant with #1 did! LOL! We’re all very excited to have this new little love join us this year .

I Need to Nap More Than My Children Do!

Quiver Mamma — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:25:27 +0000

I missed my nap yesterday, I was non-functional for most of the afternoon and evening. I missed my nap today, and am really starting to bottom out. Where oh where did that early first-trimester energy go? When, oh when, will it come back? I remember the days…I remember walking at the zoo all day long at 9 months pregnant when I was pregnant with Sarah. Oh, month 9 energy levels, how I long for you.

Month 3 = total energy sink.

How can such a tiny little baby take up so, so, very much zippity-doo-dah.

Thank you God for this dear little life inside of me. Please let me nap tomorrow. Please, please, please.

In Yeshua’s name, I pray!