New Kids, Site Maintenance, and Other Stuff

The after-Christmas break is over.

I’ve been a bit busy. I brought a third child into the world (thank you, Lord), started another round of continuing education to keep up my teaching certificate (just to be smart), and started on a book tour (not exactly).  I just published an essay in the new Chicken Soup book (see below), and have done a bit of marketing for it: a radio show, a few autographs. Nothing big, nothing fancy (but you can purchase the book on Amazon, and your local bookstore).

You get the picture.

In other news…

changes are a-comin’ to the Coffeehouse Mom blog. Or, as they say in web world, This Site Is Undergoing Maintenance.

In the meantime, check out my articles over at ParentingSquad.com. You can encourage quality eating habits in your kids with 25 Tips To Help Your Children Eat Healthy (yes, you’ll have be a role model), get this mom’s advice for recovering from a C-section by reading Home From The Hospital: Practical Tips For C-section Recovery, and pass along the household jobs you don’t want anymore with 43 Chores Young Children Can Do.

For a laugh, read my super-quick tips on what you DON’T need to buy: Modern Mommyhood: Trends 101.

I also have articles in spring issues of Peekaboo parenting magazine, Calgary’s Child..

…and, an essay in the new Chicken Soup for the Soul Book. My story is in the “Giggles and Mischief” section (otherwise known as humor).

Motherhood is hard. Laugh away.

Easy Does It, Christmas

I’m finally learning to ease up on myself.

Baby Three is due very soon. I’m busy, busy with household responsibilities, ministry, writing work, child-raising, continuing education, and, let’s just say… etc.

stock.xchng image credit: candle in hand by alexkalina

Because you get the idea, right?

Your life is probably no different, and perhaps even busier. In order to keep on keepin’ on, I’ve sat back, listened, prayed, and listened again.

I don’t have to do it all. I don’t have to please anyone but my Lord. Ultimately, he’s the One I’m supposed to obey. If I do that, I will properly fulfill all other roles and responsibilities.

So, first things first:

1. Less Christmas decorating. There’s only so much garland I can wrap and fragile ceramic snowmen I can display while keeping my lion of a toddler at bay. Everyone gets it: it’s Christmas.

2. Less travel. Yeah, it’s really because of Baby, but we are not missing out on family. We are visiting with the close ones, and making the far away ones come to us. And cook for us. And babysit. And clean (I think).

Again, you get the point.

3. The Christmas letter, which was 2/3 completed in October (no joke), vanished on my computer. It’s just as well. I probably won’t rewrite and send it out until the New Year and after the New Baby. If even then.

4. Finally, between now and Christmas, I’m instituting a mostly paper-plate-and-plastic-utensil policy. Reusing ‘em during a day, then tossin’ them in the trash. And I won’t take any flak from anyone about being green. When I garden, I compost. I take 5-minute showers, and my husband and I are devoted consumers of used books.

So, here’s to a Christmas season for you that focuses on the Savior, those in need, the family, and the friends.

Stuff that distracts from the spirit thereof just ain’t worth a hassle.

Low Class Here, People (Or, I Couldn’t Do Fancy If I Tried)

This week, I received two catalogs in the mail, both of which were way out of line for my taste.

How this happened, I’m not sure. Except that the paper-and-snail-mail-marketing had better catch up with online advertisements. Technology is growing fast. One minute, I’m looking at a wood cubby hole storage shelf on Amazon, and the next thing I know, an ad pops up for that very thing as soon as I surf somewhere else.

Clearly, The World Wide Web gets me. Scary? A little. But a bit comforting, too.

On the other hand, the cover of the catalog in my mailbox is graced with a silk-covered bed, complete with black and gold diamonds on the spread, matching curtains, and decorative pillows.

Above the bed, a bronze crown was securely attached to the wall. Long curtains flowed from the crown’s base, and draped over a fancy bedpost. The curtains – you guessed it- matched the rug and bedspread and the pillows – all nine of them. The walls were black and gold.

There was not a toy, a or stray item of clothing in sight.

No one lives in this room, of course. Except perhaps the Old Navy Mannequins. I bet even they leave their clothes on the floor.

Yo, Catalog Company. Save your paper and your postage. My bed is covered in sheets, mismatched pillows (the kind you sleep on), and a homemade quilt – my favorite thing.  There isn’t a bed skirt in the house, not that I would know how to use it.

If you want to sell to me, give me a simple photo. Post it all on the side of a website I regularly visit. Add a little color, a few loose coins, a child’s painting on the wall, and for goodness’ sake, toss around a little dust. Keep your shiny sheets, pristine decor, and impeccable geometrical patterns.

Except for that crown. That you can send.

Look Here, Summer is Over When We Say It’s Over

Summer’s over, or so they say.

My children aren’t yet in school, and I relish the fact that the summer season in our home comes to an end when we decide. We had a very active summer, and though I’ll miss a few things about it, I’m always ready for the next season.

We had a swimming-play dating-librarying-park visiting-slip-n’-slide sliding-gardening-lake visiting-boating-road-traveling-and-more-road-traveling-family-visiting-summer, and even though it’s winding down…

…the garden is still producing (don’t ask me how to do it),

the sun is still shining (and not quite so intense),

and we have still have an invitation for another boat ride (which we we’ve accepted).

What I’ll miss about summer:

1. Swimming, more swimming, watching my oldest child in swimming lessons, and dropping off my youngest child with a babysitter so I could watch his older brother in swimming lessons.

2. Plucking fresh things from the garden: tomatoes, peppers, herbs, green beans, my toddler.

3. Letting go of some of our usual structure and routine (except for bedtime, of course – the kids’ bedtime, that is).

4. Wearing flip-flops and summer dresses (Another baby is on the way. Can I wear these in winter?)

What I won’t miss:

1. The one sunburn my kids always get (Yes, they were slathered in sunblock. With a number like 75 spf, you’d think they’d get whiter, not red).

2. The very high heat index and lack of rain.

3. The brown yard. (Yeah, we don’t water).

Summer should come to a close AFTER Labor Day weekend. That’s when I’ll we’ll decide that fall has started, command pray for great weather, and start on What I Am Looking Forward To Now That Fall Is Here.

Which really, out here in the woods, is just about everything.

Take Your Multivitamin (Just Check the Label First)

The other day, I reached into the cabinet and noticed – just in time – that I had inadvertently pulled out my husband’s manly man vitamins instead of my daily “for women only”  kind.

It was a close call.

And that got me to thinking: what would happen if I consumed the wrong supplement? Get an extra dose of testosterone? Grow stubble on my chin (the kind you don’t wax)? Bulk up a little?

When visiting my parents,  I always bring my own vitamins; I admit that I’m afraid of what their silver-labeled bottle of tablets “for those 50 and over” could do to my system.

Gray hair? Heartburn? Age spots?

And children’s vitamins? I wonder how different those are. It’s possible we’re all getting duped with fancy labels and witty marketing, and those thick, oval tablets are all exactly the same.

Who knows for sure, but my mom and dad have both aged fabulously, so next time I’m at their house, I just may pop a pill or two.