Perhaps there is no better reason for churches to encourage nursing than for the mother herself, enabling her to integrate the physical with the spiritual, and the ordinary with the transcendent. It may be the only time all week she can slow down and listen to God. We need her, but she needs us even more.
A great article on the responsibility of the church to nurture an atmosphere conducive to breastfeeding mothers.
In lieu of paper cards, we’re sending out this blogged version of our Christmas card.
Merry Christmas from San Diego! Bryce, Ashley and Ezra
Photo courtesy of Sundin Photography
So along with the aprons, the project above is definitely what I’m most proud of. I made a pair of grocery totes (the other not pictured is the same but with the colors reversed: the body is orange and sides and straps are teal) and a little stuff sack that you’re able to stuff the grocery totes into so there’s less bulk.
For those who are interested, I used this tutorial.
I also made gift baskets of various sorts (coffee and shortbread; chocolate goodies; kitchen goodies) as hopefully thoughtful gifts that fit with our budget this year. What are you giving?
The title of this post is slightly misleading as it intimates that I have time to “ponder”. Rather I feel generally pretty rushed with the day-to-day task of caring for an energetic toddler, being pregnant and having the pressure of a very unfinished PhD on my hands. After having read a short article in an older issue of Real Simple about the hard early years of mothering actually passing quickly and then having thought about some of the more mature thoughtful, intelligent women with invigorating inner lives lived within the context of faith, I’m wondering how do I get through these tough years of no sleep, where life feels like pure reaction and come out the other end like some of these women? (I’m thinking particularly of Margie Haack of Ransom Fellowship, who with her husband thinks and writes about the intersection of the gospel and culture; and Marilynne Robinson who besides teaching and writing a slew of non-fiction works has written three terrific novels: Housekeeping, Gilead, and most recently, Home; this hasn’t simply come from her novels but also from this interview). These women have grown children and continue to think, teach themselves new things, write with conviction, and above all, remain intensely interesting people (at least judging by their written works). They aren’t simply “moms”. Their children have grown and they have more to give, more to say, more to think about.
It feels often in the dailyness of mothering that any intellectual core that I once had is threatening to implode. I’m not the type of person to have running dialogues of ideas flowing through my brain. I generally think best by writing and often don’t know exactly what I think until I can sit down and compose my thoughts. Spilled food and making sure the dog (and the child) don’t eat the dog’s poop do not lend themselves to composure. Anyway, this is very much a thought-in-progress but I thought that the moms reading this perhaps might find this sort of discussion useful or thought-provoking. More to follow — in between laundry loads, baking and reading David Hume.
Ezra just had his 12 month appointment today (at 15 months) — some things just move a bit slowly when you’ve moved in the last 5 months and are pregnant.
He currently weighs 20 lbs. 9 oz. (5th percentile for age; about 17th percentile if paired with his height)
Height: 30 1/4 inches (25th percentile)
Head circumference: 47.5 cm (50th percentile)
So our little boy has lots of brains and probably his Daddy’s metabolism.
The doctor said he looked good and didn’t even mention his percentiles, which because his percentiles are not “average”, therefore can be bothersome to hear a doctor go on about the fact that he’s small. But he’s healthy and eats like a horse, so I’m not worried.
He was vaccinated for polio (which most babies get 2 doses of the vax before 1 year) but we’re delaying and skipping a number of them. I don’t see any reason to get the varicella vaccine (chickenpox) and am adverse to the MMR, so we won’t be doing that. I don’t see any reason he should get any Hepatitis shots either as childhood reactions are pretty rare. I haven’t made up my mind about doing the Hib or DTaP boosters (he did have the series of Hib and DTap shots, though delayed), which are normally given around now. And because he’s had the Flu (stomach) I don’t think we’ll do the Flu vaccine either.
So Francis, our nearly 3-year-old beagle, ate 2 gingerbread cookies off the tree this morning (and they weren’t that low, even!). This is just symptomatic of his lack of obedience especially when it comes to food. He recently also has developed anal gland infections (ick!) that have required a few medical bills that we wish we didn’t have to pay and now we’re considering surgery to get them removed — yet another large bill. All that said, I’m looking for dog training advice as we’re at our wit’s end or if any of you know an amazing rural farm where he could happily live with a wonderful family, let me know that too. 
Ezra got his first fat lip this morning courtesy of some unsteady balance, teeth and a tile floor. I was so sad to see his purple lip with blood on it. My poor little boy! I quickly gave him a popsicle and he’s enjoying chewing on a bag of frozen corn. I put a bit of arnica on it and gave him some homeopathic teething tablets for pain. That’s all this mama can do; we’re enjoying a Baby Einstein video now.
The corn
Venice floods and these men sit and enjoy a glass of wine. Joie de vivre! (Sorry, don’t know the Italian for that).
Picture courtesy of the Big Picture.
Appropriately enough Ezra is sucking on his purple binky in the pictures below. Of course trying to do our first Advent readings with a toddler meant lots of squirming and walking about all while our dog decided it was a good time to throw up. Ezra did enjoy listening to us sing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
Ezra helping Dad turn the pages on our Advent devotional book
Ezra holding the first ornament for the Jesse Tree, a globe, as we read about the creation of the world in Genesis 1.
Ezra next to the first candle, symbolizing hope.