I’m not sure why God designed things the way he did.  I”m sure he had good reason… but sometimes I wonder why.  Days and sometimes weeks go by and I feel like I forget what I’m shooting for with my kids.  Sure we pray before dinner and it seems as though I tell Belle 1000 times about being kind/generous/ect because that is what the Bible tells us to do.  It all blurs together amidst the sleepless nights and teething babies.  Each day I’m trusting God and his principles that they do work and that I’m changing the legacy of our family as I train our kids and teach them about God.  But sometimes I loose site of that. Quite often in fact.  And then one day when you least expect it, God gives you that glimmer of hope or ray of sunshine that what I’m doing does count.  IT does matter and Belle IS getting it.  Last night was one of those nights.  We were at house church and had finished up the meal (and several times of correcting Belle, asking her to eat her veggies, stay seated in her chair, ect)  As we started out the song I was prepared for other ideas that she would have (wanting to keep playing, more drinks, potty break, ect) however as I closed my eyes and started in on the first song my eyes quickly popped opened as I heard a small but distinct voice singing along side of me.  Sure enough, my three year old daughter was singing along to “How Great is Our God” and not just humming along and saying a word here or there.  But all out singing the chorus- just like the big people.  Let me tell you, my heart melted at that point.  Just melted into a puddle.  Sure she has her “Wee Sing Bible Songs” but this was a big person song and she was singing her heart out.  And at one point near the end of the song she whispered “Mom, let’s clap!” Quickly I tried to calculate what would happen if we tried that.  No one else was clapping (there were about 15 people total in house church that night) so it would be awkward for the two of us to just clap.  And it wasn’t really a “clapping” kind of song.  But none the less, I smiled at her and started and clapping with her.  And bless their hearts- Matt E. and Jeff O. took one look at Belle ’starting the clapping’ and joined along side of us.  It was only the 4 of us clapping- but it is amazing the confidence you can have clapping when someone else is clapping right next to you.  We finished the song and I just kept looking at my daughter amazed that God would be so kind to give me that moment.  And to top it off- she has been running around here all morning singing her lil’ heart out!

“How great is our God!  Sing wis’ me, how great is our God!”

I love you Belle!  You are a little light to the world around you and you don’t even know it yet.  Thank you for encouraging your momma’s heart!

I have one for you.  I would run with this one myself, however, I have about 8 different new business ideas ahead of this one!

Someone needs to create an eligant and non cheesy sign for the doorbell of peopel’s houses when there are babies sleeping.  Seriously.  I just had three people come to my door in the last half an hour… the first two rang the bell, the last one (a fellow mom!) knocked… thank you!  However, due to the first two door bell rings, my two year old daughter is now not sleeping, but rather looking out her window to see who is coming next!  Oofta.

Someone needs to design something you can hang out side and bring in when it is not needed or something you can plug in so it lights up when needed or something!  I tell you, you put that in a Christmas shopping magazine… I’m sure you would do quite well!

Mom: “We need to give Johnny a bath this morning.”

Belle: “Mom, I will give Johnny a bath, you can go do something else.”

Right.

Having already had a baby a few years ago, I assumed that this time around, things would be the same.  In many cases, they are.  In others, they are not.

Like burping. I know that I wrote a few weeks back about this.  Those tips and tricks worked for a while, but sometimes (especially at night!), Johnny will not for the life of him give me a burp.  I called the lactation consultant and they recommended putting him in his car seat at night if he won’t burp so he isn’t laying flat on his back.  That sometimes will help the liquid go down and the burp to eventually come up.  I was not sure at first, but I tried it the next night and the kid slept for 4 hours after not bupring!  I guess it did help his tummy not hurt and be full of gas. 

Cradle Cap… my next dilema. Belle had this to a degree, but she had long enough hair to cover it.  Johnny started getting it a few weeks after he was born and it wasn’t a big deal, but it was getting nasty!  Plus, he got his first real haircut (thanks aunt E!) last week so you could really see it all over the top of his head.  Our neighbor swears that if you use adult shampoo and conditioner on the kid, that will clear it up. I also heard that you can use Head and Shoulders once a week on their scalp. Another friend suggested combing his head/hair every day and that would get rid of it.  But you know what I tried yesterday as a comment from another friend?  I took a soft bristled toothbrush and brushed/scrubbed vegetable oil into his hair!  I know I know.. pretty nasty.  I rinsed it out and his hair is still a little oily and his head smells a little funny, but you know what?  About 90% of the cradle cap is gone! Thanks Jess!

Diapers.  Cloth diapers.  I don’t love them yet, but I am glad we made the change.  I think the fact that we keep several disposables in the car, in his room and around the house makes it easier that if the diapers aren’t stuffed and ready to go or if I forgot to get a diaper out of the drawer before Belle takes a nap, I can just put him in a regular diaper.  That has made it  nice.  We have only had a handful of leakes/blowouts (well, not really, just got the corner of his onsie), but last night he was in a disposable and blew out the leg as well.  I don’t think any diaper comes anywhere close to keeping it all contained all the time.

Crying.  Belle was a pretty good baby.  It did take her a long time to learn how to fall asleep on her own. We let her cry it out a lot. But Johnny went through a stage that for 2.5 weeks if he wasn’t eating or sleeping, he was wailing his head off.  If you ever decide you want a headache, just try being around a baby that cries that much.  Man o man, was I thankful for Tylenol during those days!   I had heard that peak fussiness was around 6 weeks, but I wasn’t sure if he was having problems with some of the food I was eating. I was about a day away from taking all dairy out of my diet to see if that was the problem, but then he just stopped crying all the time.  Granted, he is still a baby and he still cries, but there are quiet times too when he will just lay on his blanket at watch the ceiling fan!   Thinking about having a kid?  You should get a ceiling fan put in!

Anyway, this confirms the fact that all babies are different and just because you did it once, doesn’t mean you know what you are doing the next time around!  But here’s to learning new tricks of the trade!

Apparently, not all babies burp on their own.

I did not know this.

My son stopped burping earlier this week.

Know what happens?

Lots of gas, hurting tummies and tears shed by all parties.

Bummer.

Thankfully, we have google.

We learned new burping techniques.

Guess what?  He burps like a champ now!

Praise the Lord! A sleeping baby is once again residing at the Rohlf house.

The end….. we hope!