A precious child

I'm re-reading Molly Piper's series 'How to Help a Grieving Friend' tonight. 

Don't tell my son your secrets

Earlier in the week, there was some spilling the beans about Dave's Fathers Day present.

Then we did some purchasing yesterday. 

So before Dave got home, I reminded SP, "Try not to tell Daddy about [specifics omitted because Dave reads this too]."

Of course, as soon as he got home, SP said, "Daddy, I'm going to try not to tell you..." 

The rest of his sentence was drowned in 'SSSSSHHHH' from both of us. 

Muffin success

"Afternoon tea" in the car.

"Entree" on the rug outside while I brought the washing in.

"Dinner" at the table, by which time he was mostly full. 

Everybody happy. 

We're having muffins for dinner tomorrow

These cheesy vegetable muffins from bestrecipes.com.au. 

I made them for afternoon tea today, in an attempt to start filling SP's hollow legs with dinner-ish goodness a little earlier, thus keeping dinner eating time to a mere hour or so and getting him to bed sooner. 

They were a big hit at afternoon tea. Then SP finished his first helping of dinner and couldn't quite believe that we were letting him have unlimited muffins for seconds. F enjoyed them too.

We'll be out a lot of tomorrow, probably getting home right on dinner time, so I made another batch and I'm hoping for the same response. 

Excellent quote

Yes, there's been a lot of linkage here lately. I promised myself I'd slow down. But this one is too good.  

"...I need to remember that I am finite, not infinite, and God doesn't necessarily will that every good thing that could theoretically be done is something that is going to get done by me." Nicole Starling

From this post on Nicole's blog, 168 hours. Which I read regularly, but this was in the comments & Deb only just brought it to light. Thank you, ladies. 

F is signing

She's done "more" at a couple of meal times now. Mostly when she's desperate and thinks she's being ignored.

So proud of my girl :)

I'm yet to catch a photo of it, I'll post one when I do. 

I am imperfect & in need of a Saviour - even on the internet

Nicole's post from the girltalk blog will have me thinking for some time, I suspect. And censoring my blog posts & facebook updates more carefully. 

Very challenging. 

Under-overs

SP wants to wear underpants to bed. But he doesn't appear to be ready, and I'm not really a fan of washing all his bed linen, pillow, teddies etc every day. Thankfully we've had great drying weather the last couple of weeks. 

But we don't want to stifle SP's desire to toilet train. 

So my genius husband invented... "Under-overs"

Underpants on. Nappy on top, to catch any sneaky wees 'just in case'. 

Everybody's happy. 

Every family has its own bits of weird

SP is very interested in the body at the moment. Body parts, functions, etc. 

Over breakfast this morning, we looked at the digestive and urinary tracts in my 1st year anatomy textbook. He was fascinated. 

And he's going to think that such activities are totally normal :)

I've been wondering what our next Letter of the Week might be. B is for body, I think. 

Complaining

The last hour or so, I've had Colin Buchanan's 'Generous God' stuck in my head. Mainly the bit that goes 'we should never complain, cos he blesses his children again and again.'

Too much complaining from me this afternoon. My apologies to those who were there. 

I really am very blessed. As the quote goes, "I'd rather be awake with my children than asleep without them."

Learn First Aid

Late last year, our neighbour's toddler became suddenly unconscious. He recovered quickly, but that day I resolved to update my first aid training. 

Then F had her little incident, and it moved up my priority list. 

I was pleased to find that the Queensland Ambulance Service now offers e-Learning courses. A pre-course DVD, then 2.5 hours to do the practical component. I did my Apply First Aid practical this morning. 

I came away convinced that I should spread the word. First Aid really does save lives. And the life you save is most likely to be someone you love.

It's not costly either. If you don't need a certificate, basic CPR training from QAS starts at just $29.95. 

I pray that I won't need my first aid knowledge any time soon. But I'm much more confident now that someone I love is ill or injured, I would know how to help them. 

Would you?

The myth of 'done'

I love to cross tasks off my list. It makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere. But I've been repeatedly reminded recently that my tasks will never be all done, there is no 'finish line', at least not until heaven. Pretty much everything I do in a day will need to be done again sometime. 

In that vein, this post by Rachel Jankovic may have just revolutionised my life. Here's a taster. 

One of the biggest personal lessons I have learned in housekeeping and child raising is that “done” is a total myth. The more I have adapted to that understanding the better. The more I embrace a lot of my daily work as a cycle that goes on and on instead of discrete tasks that need to be completed, the better. Not only does it relieve a lot of tension surrounding what you are trying to do in a day, but it actually gets much better results. 

I've also enjoyed Rachel's book, Loving the Little Years. A quick read with much food for thought, both for now and as our kids get older. Highly recommended.

Photo update - June, July, bit of August

It's been a while again. Here's a few pics from recently.

Show photos

Another link

Seems I'm doing more reading than original thinking at the moment. Sometimes it's just like that. 

I'm encouraged by Dear Stay at Home Mom

HT Presbyterian Women's Ministries

Helpful Quote

Persecution, disease, war, disability, disaster, freak accident, assault — all are alike in this: Satan aims to destroy your faith, but God aims to strengthen it.

From John Piper, via Desiring God via Meredith's blog.

Jane the Same

Note to self: when telling a really ridiculous story in Church4Kids, don't make eye contact with the other leaders. 

I was fine when Jane the Same delayed arriving at a party to change her dress, then cut her hair, then put on purple lipstick, just because that's what her friends were doing. 

But when she put on her blue eyelashes, I lost it for a little bit. 

Sorry kids. The laughter wasn't in the script. 

Any guesses on the story we were leading into?

Chime bar cake

Poor SP became ill during church this morning, but brightened up for presents, spiral bolognese lunch & chime bar birthday cake. 

And apart from the cachous & jubes, the whole thing is fructose free :)

Please pray that I would stay healthy. Dave is finally on the mend, SP went downhill pretty quickly today & F seems to have a touch of it too. 

SP turns 3

SP is 3 today! He's hardly been off his balance bike all morning :)

No party this year, but a non-novelty cake at playgroup tomorrow and a chime bar cake at family lunch on Sunday. 

We are so blessed to have our boy.