10 Signs Your Baby Has Become a Toddler

Wonder if you'll realize when your baby is no longer such a little baby and into the toddler stage? Here are some indicators you should watch for:

1.  You have a constant shadow every where you go. The kitchen, the laundry room,  the bathroom...everywhere.
2. Talking about pee pee and poo poo is a totally normal conversation.
3. Rejoicing when said pee pee or poo poo goes into the potty, and you lavish rewards (and your husband asks why he doesn't get those kinds of rewards! Ha!)
4. It's a normal day if you say 'Don't lick you shoe/floor!' and 'Don't eat that rock!' , but struggle with them eating green beans, or basically anything 'normal'.
5. When you hear The Flash, you don't think about the super hero, but your little one going from floor to the couch, to the TV all in one second.
6. Great ambitions, like coloring, painting, crafting, etc. never end up like you imagined. Your child is probably playing with the brushes and containers, and you are doing the craft.
7. Cleaning the house is a relative term. The cleaner the house gets, the messier it is. You cleaned out the dishwasher, and he/she has cleaned out their entire box of toys, and strewn out the basket of laundry that needs sorting all over the floor.
8. You have added many new words to your vocabulary, some which involve grunts, gestures, and weird throat noises.
9. You wonder how they can say 'mama' so many times in so few seconds.
10. You feel as if you are raising a teenager instead of a toddler. They are happy, then sad, then angry, then silly: in the same hour!

Does this make you nervous about your still non-mobile, precious baby turning into a toddler? Don't be! I have told many people that this stage is probably my favorite so far. They are always discovering new things and sounds. Even if the words 'pee pee' or 'poo poo' are in the sentence, at least you can now converse with your baby! My little man is amazing, and I am so thankful for getting to experience this stage in his life. He is able to reciprocate love back to me, and although that's not necessary for my love, it is a very nice bonus to motherhood! Here is one more toddlerism:

They give the absolute best hugs in the world!

What clues did you have that your baby had become a toddler?

Getting Prepared to Worship

Since you watched that late movie last night, you yawn your way through Sunday School, and get enough energy mustered to sing along with the church choir. You think about what you will eat for lunch, because it's all you can do to stay awake. You made it. You stayed awake through the whole service! What was it about? You have no idea, but at least you stayed awake and looked like you took part. That's the main thing, right?

I believe all of us, no matter how good our intentions, have related to at least one of these scenarios. Whether it's being very sleepy, unfocused, or just plain not caring through the Sunday service. If you are like me, you WANT to be in the worshipful mood. Sunday is a time for fellowship with believers, hearing God's word, and getting into some heartfelt worship. Worship can only happen when our hearts and souls are prepared to receive what God has for us, be pricked to change, and make a decision to do what God would have us to. This can't happen if the rest of our body isn't ready for worship. Here are some ways to get ready for Sunday morning worship.

Go to Bed Early on Saturday

Do your late night movie on Friday night, and go to bed at a decent time on Saturday night. If you stay up late, you will be sleepy the next morning. Seems like a no-brainer, but being in youth ministry, being up late the night before is the number one excuse for sleeping during service, or at times not coming. Go to bed early, and set an alarm. Be intentional.

Wake up Early on Sunday

You would think this would hinder the 'not being sleepy' advice I just gave, but actually, if you get up at a decent time, and not 15 minutes before you need to head out (okay, if you have kids they will wake you up in plenty of time anyway!), your mind will be more focused and less stressed. It also gives you time to fully wake up, and do what I suggest next:

Listen to Worship Music, or Sermon

Why not get your mind into a worshipful mood before you get to church. I love to turn on music while I get ready for service. My husband and I also watch First Baptist Bossier on channel 3 on Sunday mornings. It's amazing how much it helps me stay focused in my own church service! If 

Bible reading, or listening to podcasts help you more, then by all means make that your 'ease into worship' move. 

Eat Breakfast

Nothing like thinking about food while you are supposed to be thinking about lost souls, or perhaps your stomach doing it's own musical number and distracting the youngsters on your pew. Eat something, even if it's small, so that you and your stomach can make it through the service. 

Once you are at church, be sure and take full opportunity of your classes, music, and sermon to help you focus and be ready for when God calls you to action. If He is calling to change your life, change other's lives, or perhaps to simply be even closer to Him, you want to be ready! 

What are some ways you get your heart and body ready for church?

Having a Successful Long Distant Relationship

Being thousands of miles away from each other when my husband and I were dating, was tough. Walking to school, watching couple hold hands, hearing about other people's dates, and just seeing couples in general, was very hard to do. Thai internet was unreliable at times, and even when it was working, our videos were blurry. However, we survived. Not only that, I would call us a success! What did we do to keep going while in our long distant relationship?

We put God first

Yes, I know, I've said this before, but it is that crucial! Not only for long distant relationships, but for any! If you put God first, you will not be so hung up with your relationship to each other, but with your relationship with God. If Skype isn't working, it won't be the end of the world, because you will know that although your earthly relationships are precious, they are not the MOST precious. 

We Scheduled Dates

I think this is so crucial for long distant relationships, especially the very distant ones. Your life is quite different from your boyfriend/girlfriend's, so it makes it hard to know when you both are free. Especially when you have to use programs like Skype, you have to make a special time to talk and have your 'date'. For my husband and I, it was a specific time, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. We didn't plan things for those times, and our friends knew it was 'our' time. We took it seriously, and didn't let the busyness of our lives get in the way of that. That has bled into our marriage, and we have Friday night set aside for 'our' time. It's key in long distant relationships, and it's key in marriage. 

We Found Questions to Ask Each Other

When you are unable to observe each other while doing life, you have to ask questions. You also have to be honest with each other. We used Joshua Harris's questions in the back of his book 'Boy Meets Girl' to use as a way to make sure we asked each other essential questions before marriage. Raising our little boy is a lot less stressful when we already asked important parenthood questions, such as: discipline, Bible study, church going, etc. Money is another big argument starter that my husband and I don't struggle with as much since we knew we were on the same page ahead of time. 

Change Things Up

For Valentines Day, my husband (then boyfriend) dressed up in a suit and tie, lit candles and set the table like we were eating dinner together. It was incredibly romantic and also changed things up from our normal 'dates'. There are a lot of resources these days for things you can do to do things differently. For example: play online games (or real ones that you tell your boyfriend/girlfriend what moves to make), do a Bible study, watch the same movie, etc. 

If I could tell you one of the most important factors in successful long distant relationships, it's this: determination. If you are not putting effort and determination into your relationship, then the tough times are going to be too tough. If you are willing to do it, however, the reward is amazing. After four years of marriage to the most amazing man in the world, I can tell you from experience!

Meal Planning for Beginners

When I first got married, I could count on my one hand how many things I knew how to cook, and almost all those things were Thai. This made meal planning incredibly simple at first. It wasn't too long before I realized that I loved to cook! I loved taking recipes I found and putting my own twist to it. Before long I had quite a number of things I could make, and started writing down what I was going to make each week before I wrote out my shopping list. When I got pregnant that all went out the window. We ate whatever I thought I could stomach, or whatever I had a hankering for (yes, hankering, it's a good southern word!).  It wasn't until a few months ago that I really got back into the whole meal planning thing.  I thought I would share some meal plan ideas.

Meal planning not only helps relieve stress, but also can help with staying healthy and eating on a budget. If you meal plan, you are less likely to open that box of hamburger helper, or grab a hamburger from a fast food place. Let me know of cool ways you meal plan!

Since this is for beginners, I am only showing a week's worth. Honestly, that is all I ever do. Shopping is done once a week at our house, and I find that a one week meal plan works for our family. 

Theme Meal Plans

Here is an example of how themed meals work. I love this method, because you know what recipes to choose from each week, and it's easier to keep track of what ingredients you need. It doesn't have to be these themes, it is completely up to you and how your family works.  I am, though, including links to some of my favorite recipes. 

Meatless Monday: Now for us this doesn't work, since KJ is a big fan of meat, but this would make a great salad day. Mondays we go grocery shopping, so for us are it's normally a 'what can I make with the groceries I have left' day. 

Taco Tuesday: Yes, yes, Taco Tuesday counts, but just because it's called Taco Tuesday, doesn't mean you have to have tacos every time. Look at this link, to see some of my favorite 'taco' recipes!

Crock-pot Wednesday: I am aware that this is a bit of an unusual Wednesday theme, but since my husband is the youth pastor of our church, we like to get to to Wednesday services a bit early to set up. Having a meal that's ready to serve when he comes home from work, makes it nice! One of my favorite recipes is chicken breast + your favorite bbq sauce. I put some seasonings we like, and serve it with toast and a veggie.  Here is a list of a great crock-pot meals. 

Pasta Thursday: My hubby loves pasta, and when I say love, I mean LOVE, especially if involves cheese. This is far from healthy, but once a week I make pasta, or perhaps something a little less healthy, but something my husband loves (I still try to include a veggie). Thursdays are the ideal day, because my piano lessons for Thursday are bi monthly, so I have more time in the evening to do something special for supper. 

Pizza Friday: This is the night that my husband go out for a date night, but pizza is a popular Friday night meal! if you would like to get your kids to get in on the fun, here is a recipe from my blog for tomato sauce, that you can spread on pizza dough and get your kids to add cheese and your favorite toppings!

Sandwich Saturday: Easy meal, and you can use leftover veggies from taco Tuesday to add to your sandwich!

We eat out on Sunday as well. This can be replaced with a crock pot meal to be ready when you get home from church. 

Budget Friendly Meal Plan

Another way to meal plan is to use the same ingredients multiple times. This saves money, but it might take a bit more time to plan out. I'll give you the recipes I am using this week, for an example.

Monday: grilled chicken and corn. As I stated before, this is our shopping day. We had chicken and frozen corn, so that's what we ate!

Tuesday: Thai stir fry, and Spring Rolls: Made with cabbage and chicken. Ground pork is normally used but my store was all out! 

Wednesday: Crock-pot Red beans and rice Use the leftover rice from Thai night. 

Thursday: Use the remainder sausage from the Red Beans and Rice, and the cabbage from the spring rolls to make sauteed  cabbage and sausage. 

Friday: Date night! 

Saturday: BBQ Chicken and veggies. 

I don't write plans on a cute chalkboard sign, or dry erase board. It doesn't have to be fancy (although it can be. Let your creative juices flow!), but it can help save money and the stressful question of 'What in the world am I going to make tonight!'

...And He Shall Give You the Desires of Your Heart

My heart beat wildly in my chest, as questions flooded my mind. "Would he let me know where this relationship was headed? Would I have to speak up? Was I rushing into this too fast? Would a long distant relationship even work?"

For two weeks I had been Facebook messaging or Skyping a young man I had met through a mutual friend on Facebook. I had called my mom a couple of days before, and the worry and fear she felt for me talking to someone I had never met was evident in her voice. This guy could be misleading me to believe he was someone he was not, I believe was her biggest worry. To relieve some of these fears, I had messaged another mutual friend of mine and KJ's, who was a close family friend that my mom would trust and respect. She had yet to respond.

The familiar sound of Skype met my ears and I nervously accepted the call. KJ and I talked for what seemed like a long time before he nervously asked if I would like to 'court' him. Such relief. He told me how that he would like for this relationship to be about finding out if we wanted to get married. We would ask deep and essential questions to see if we felt like it would work. Most importantly, we would seek God's will above all else. Of course, I have no idea what all he said. I was too nervous to hear everything, but I know that was the essence of what he said.

A day or two later, the mutual friend responded to my message by telling me what a great young man he was, and not only that, she saw my mom not too long later and told her the same thing. My mom felt much better, and was ready to meet him.

I could say 'the rest is history', but things are never that rosy or straightforward. Although we hit it off extremely well, and are about to celebrate 4 years of marriage, a long distant relationship can be very tough. I would like to talk about that more either next week or the week after, but needless to say, you can still be quite lonely. We didn't get to video call each other until a month or two later, and we didn't 'meet' each other until 9 months after we first talked. We were in the same location for 3 1/2 of the 22 months we 'courted'. These facts meant that we had to figure out how to make a long distant relationship work.

The key to our success, was our willingness to put God first and not each other. We also put boundaries on our physical touching once we were in the same location again. This helped us not to go too fast, and stay pure even though it's tough when you don't see each other for a very long time. We waited to kiss until our wedding day, which made the wait so worth it. I am so thankful I surrendered my relationship status to the Lord. He weaved a story so beautiful, that I could have never even dreamed.

Ten months after we started courting, KJ got on his knee on a three hour cruise in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He asked me to marry him, and a few minutes later, after I had already walked around to show off my ring, he realized he had forgotten to add three magical words. I Love You. We had also refrained from saying that so far. It made it more meaningful to us, and we laugh at the fact that he forgot it in his proposal. Exactly a year after he proposed, we got married.

I also cannot say that we 'Lived Happily Ever After'. That would be a lie. However, we have had such a smooth relationship thus far (perhaps not financially, or with parenting, but how close we are relationship wise). I attribute that to us putting God first, and not taking things too quickly. The fact that he protected my heart by waiting to say I love you, and helping to protect our purity by putting boundaries on how far we went physically.

If you missed part 1 of this series, click here. If you would like to look at my other posts on dating, click here. Last, but not least, stay tuned to hear more about courtship, and long distant relationship tips!

How to Save Money on Birthday Parties

These days parents dish out hundreds of dollars to celebrate a birthday that their one-year-old will never remember. I get it though, it's a celebration for the parents as much as the child. With sites like Etsy, and inspiration from Pinterest, it's very easy for those cute decorations to get expensive. So how do you throw a super cute party without breaking the bank?

Pick a theme early:

I know that this is hard to do with a child any older than one, since they change their minds daily, however, if you can, pin down what you want to do so that you can start looking for cheap items to go with your theme. For Little Man, we had two or three themes we thought of, and made a final decision on dinosaurs when we saw that Target had napkins, banner, invitations, and table clothes 75% off. We got all four (and multiples of everything but the banner) for about $7! 

Don't buy everything on theme:

Once we had the napkins, table cloths, and banner on theme, we could just buy solid color plates and cups to go with the theme, without it actually having dinosaurs on it. This way I could buy large quantities for a fraction of the price it would have cost, had I bought 4 or 5 sets of 10 plates. 

Make Your Own Cake

I have a cousin who got her little girl's cake for $35. It was beautiful and professional. If you have a friend who will make a cake at cost or at a discount, then I say go for it! Even when using a box cake mix it can be difficult to assemble, and to make it look professional.  (I normally like to make things from scratch, but it was just too much on my plate to add making a cake from scratch to it). This is one of those things that although spending $10 to make a cake vs. sometimes buying it at $50-$100 is much cheaper, it can be one of those 'worth it' things for all the trouble it is to make. Thankfully, I took basic cake decorating classes as a teen, so I quite enjoy making my own.

Other Tips

Make your activity be your favor: Making sure you thank your guests for coming, has become something that can be expensive. What I decided to do for Little Man's party, was print out free coloring sheets and let the kids color and take it home. I also put dinosaur toys as cupcake toppers, and let the kids take theirs home with them. 

DIY:

Pinterest has a lot (and I mean A LOT) of diy inspiration for birthday parties. So much so, it can be a bit overwhelming at times. Since it can be so over whelming, I have one more tip:

Don't Do Everything

Breathe, it will be okay if you don't have the greatest, and most on trend birthday party. Although I did a pretty elaborate party this past year (for me at least), Little Man will have much smaller parties until his big birthdays (5, 10, 13, etc.). Even though I spent around $70 on his party, and feel great about it, it can be a lot to spend (especially if you have several kids!). Kids remember the experience and spending time with their friends more than if you had the trendiest party of the year. Do what your budget and family can do. Sometimes that means no party at all. In those cases, there are ways to make your kid's day special for free. 

How do you save money on your kid's parties?

Toddler Meal Ideas

This post will be what my son ate yesterday, with some additional ideas and tips. My son is a picky eater, which is no surprise since his dad and I were both picky eaters as children. I remember my mom used to make hamburger casserole and sneak in mixed veggies, so that I (and my other siblings) would eat veggies.

I was one of those moms. You know, the one that wouldn't let my kid eat sweets until his first birthday, licked the salt off the french fry before giving it to him so that he wouldn't be taking in too much sodium, made sure he got only breast milk before 6 months (a.k.a. first time mom), and even then watched what he ate. So you can imagine that the fact that my little one only wants to eat cookies and french fries is a bit sad. Thankfully he still nurses twice during the day and once at night, which ensures he is taking in some nutrients. I am not going to sit and lie and say that I only feed my kid healthy meals, but I hope to show you some 'real' meals that you can feed  a picky toddler.

Breakfast

Cream of Wheat sweetened with GoGo Squeeze fruit and veggies. 

Sneak attempt #1. My little man loves the little squeeze packs, so I use it to sweeten foods, and also as a side for when we are eating something that is questionably healthy. 

Other breakfast meal ideas: waffle/pancakes (I know, I know, not very healthy! My little man loves to 'dip' this in syrup, so I do feed this to him sometimes. I think it's all about balance.), oatmeal, yogurt and fruit. Remember to check yogurt to see how much sugar is in the cup. If you are trying to watch their sugar intake, get a yogurt with low sugar. Even better: buy plain yogurt, sweeten it yourself, and add fruit!

Leftover homemade Empanada with apple slices.

Lunch

Little man loves apple slices, so that's what I feed him. I have tried other fruits, and although he will eat some, this is very economical and good for him. Plus, I know he will eat it! Besides leftovers, here are some other lunch options: pb and j, cheese toast, cheese cubes and crackers, etc. with some fruit or veggie on the side.

Lima beans and whole wheat toast

Supper

In an attempt to 'keep it real', I will admit that about two or three beans were eaten, while the toast was gobbled up. Most nights, Little Man just eats whatever we are eating that evening. Not only does this put pressure on me to cook something healthy, but it also puts a variety of foods in front of my son. I do this in hopes that one day green beans will seem more appetizing!

What are some meals you feed your toddler? How do you sneak fruits/veggies in their meals? Would you like to see more posts like this, or do you have suggestions for other parenting topics? Let me know!

Delight Yourself in the Lord...

It was April 2010, and I was starting a new journal. The front had the words 'Delight yourself in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart.' I sighed as I thought about what the MY desires were: To find a husband, get married, live happily ever after.  The problem was I was already 21 (old in my book!), with no prospects, and to top it all off I was living in a foreign country. I decided then and there I would focus on the first part of that verse 'Delight yourself in the Lord'.

You see, this verse isn't a wish granting verse, it's a 'dive in so deep into a relationship with the Lord, that your desires will bend and shape until they are what the Lord desires for you'. When you look back, after your desire has been met, or perhaps been changed, you'll see how much better God's way worked out, than anything you could ever have imagined. I do want to point out though, sometimes we will never understand how things work out on this side of Heaven, and in those things we must trust in Him still. 

When I started the journal I was on furlough, but soon it was time to head back for another year of missionary work. A week or two before, I decided to surrender my marital status to God, and if he wanted me to stay single, then it would be the best thing for me ( I will add, that during this furlough, I had been told by some missionary mentors that I would be single for the rest of my life, and should just get used to that fact. As wrong as they were, it did help me let go of this marriage obsession and focus on just living for Christ). 

Two weeks after I came back, I woke up to a gentle thumping of rain, and heavy humidity. It was rainy season, so no surprise there. Walked downstairs, and prepared my usual one cup of coffee, and headed back upstairs to get on facebook. Two messages appeared on my screen, and I clicked on the icon, to see a message from someone I didn't know. Below that message was one from a guy who was a family friend. He explained how he told his best friend about me, and encouraged him to get to know me, which is why this strange someone had messaged me. 

The stranger introduced himself, and asked to get to know me. I had no idea what was going on. He and I messaged back and forth for a week, and I then asked if he wanted to download Skype. We started Skyping (is that a word?) and would talk for 2 hours at at time for a solid straight week. I started to think that maybe he wanted to pursue the relationship past friendship. My mom was very freaked out (and rightly so, I mean, she had no idea who he was!), the person I was staying with thought I should ask out right what his intentions were, and as for myself, I decided to pray. If it was God's will, he would have to get this man to tell me himself, for I had promised myself to not be forward in a relationship. I was scared, and doubtful. Certain I had read things wrong, that weekend was the slowest weekend of my life. Who could have guessed how things would play out!

This will be continued next week, so keep reading!

New Year, New Blog

I am the first to admit, I have promised more posts and haven't delivered, but I am really determined to write more this year! I would like to branch out (like I have in the past) and cover more topics. This month I would like to do 4 posts a week with these topics:

 Spiritual 

Homemaking

Parenting a toddler

Money/budgets/miscellaneous. 

I would also like to open this month to at least a couple of guests bloggers (maybe more!). Have you made a commitment to write more this year, but don't know where to start? How about guest blogging on here! If you have something to say about one of the topics above, just let me know and I will review the post.

Thank you for reading!