How to Fold a Fitted Sheet

I used to think that figuring out how to fold a fitted sheet wasn't worth the time, hassle, brain cells, or aggravation. Then my brilliant Aunt Cathi showed me this trick and now my sheets no longer look like this in my laundry cabinet:
Step 1: Find two adjacent corners. Put your hand in one so it is pointing out. Put your hand inside the next so it is pointing inside out.

Step 2: Fit the second corner inside the first and smooth out the wrinkles. The elastic edges should line up with each other.

Step 3: Do steps 1 and 2 with the other two corners. You will end up with the sheet folded in half and to sets of corners folded inside each other.

Step 4: Invert one set of corners. They will point the same direction as the other corners.

Step 5: Insert corners 3 & 4 into corners 1 & 2. Now corners 2, 3 and 4 are inside corner 1... in other words, all four are together.


Step 6: Smooth out wrinkles. Fold the left edge (with the corners) in to the center and fold the right edge (with the end of the elastic and what is actually the middle of the sheet) in to the center so the edges meet and make a hot dog bun shape.

Step 7: Fold the sheet like a hot dog bun, along the center line where the edges meet, and smooth out wrinkles. Starting at each end, fold in toward center until it makes a hamburger bun.


If you're super organized and kind of fancy you can take a tip from this blog and store your sheets inside their coordinating pillowcases. Such a clever idea, I wish I would have thought of it myself.

Happy folding!

Sewing Party

Today I hosted a sewing party to make clothing for an orphanage in Guatemala that our church visits on mission trips. (As a side note, did you know that there would be no orphans in our country if one family in each church adopted one child?) There are two trips going this summer and these dresses and pants will be delivered in July. So far we have completed 13 dresses and 6 pairs of knee-length shorts... we barely made a dent in the pile of cloth and ribbon that was donated. The dresses are "pillowcase" dresses, although almost all of them are made from a piece of fabric not a pillowcase. The pants are re-purposed t-shirts. I'll be distributing the leftover fabric and ribbon to church members this week to finish the sewing by the end of the month. It was such a blessing to spend time in fellowship, conversation, and productive activity!

After Andrew nursed at bedtime and we sat and talked, waiting for James to come in to pray and put Andrew in bed. I usually recount what we've done during the day so today's conversation included worshiping God with our church family, playing with me when we got home, taking a good nap (praise God!), having yummy lunch and dinner, and play time with Daddy since I was sewing with my friends. I told him that we were making clothes for children like him who don't have a momma or daddy like he does.

That sentence totally changed my perspective. I could type another three paragraphs on what my thoughts have been reflecting on that sentence, but I won't make you wade through all of that. Just humor me and look at your kids and imagine them in the place of the Guatemalan orphans our mission trip is going to visit.

I'll leave you with that thought since it's the one I'm left with after putting Andrew to bed.





Praise God... Almighty Creator, holy and magnificent, merciful and gracious, loving and just. His compassions fail not, his lovingkindness endures, his faithfulness is to all generations.

Snuggle monster momma

I remember a friend coming to visit with her 8 month old son shortly after Andrew was born. I think he was 2 months old. I was amazed at how big her baby was, especially compared to Andrew! And I remember thinking "I don't want my baby to be that big... I like him all snuggly and little like he is now!"

I still think he's "all snuggly and little" now even though he's the 8 month old now and is a lot bigger than he was at 2 months! And I'm soaking up every minute he'll let me snuggle him since he's about to be mobile and I'm sure his patience for momma snuggles will go out the window when he figures out he can get away from me :) He already tries to dive off my lap after nursing.

Makes me savor the 4:30/5 am feeding he still gets since he lets me burp and rock and snuggle him afterwards. With his sweet little sweaty head of hair tucked between my collar bone and ear. And his arms hugging around my neck and shoulder, fingers stroking and massaging my pj's. And his footie-pajama-ed toes tucked between my leg and the boppy pillow.

Speaking of which, if anybody knows a reliable source of footie-pajamas in sizes bigger than 9 months, let me know. Current working hypothesis is that he needs to be quite warm to sleep comfortably (sweat pants = good nap, shorts = no nap) and all the stores around here stop at 9 months. I can order online, but I'd rather buy in a store :)

Thanks, y'all!

If you thought breastfeeding was my soapbox...

I have something to say. It’s going to shock some of you. I’m going to say it anyway and I'm going to be honest.

My son was delivered by Cesarean Section… and that was the right decision.

Blasphemy, I know. Especially for those of us in conservative/Christian/reformed circles. And I’m not even in the “everything in my house needs to be organic” camp.

Don’t get me wrong… I went in planning on doing it all natural. Natural childbirth is a beautiful thing. And the healthiest option assuming everything goes well. I’m glad more people are choosing to go natural these days… medical intervention isn’t all it’s cracked up to be a lot of the time. I’m certainly not for scheduling surgery when it’s unneeded (I switched doctors because the first one insisted I have a D&C for my miscarriage instead of supporting our decision to wait for my body to do it naturally), and I was actually looking forward to tangibly relying on God’s faithfulness and provision during labor. I looked forward (albeit with a healthy dose of anxiousness that’s normal preceding the birth of your first child) to the contractions, the progression of labor… I looked forward to being put in a situation of coming face to face with the realization of how weak I am and how great God is. I looked forward to my husband coaching me through the labor. I looked forward to having my slimy, slippery little baby placed on my chest moments after he was born. I had twenty reasons why natural childbirth was the right way to go, had a stellar birth plan, and a healthy pregnancy and baby.

So we went with a group of midwives who deliver at a family-centered hospital (having considered home birth and birthing center… both good options but not what we ended up choosing). We received excellent prenatal care and were right on track for a natural childbirth. Even the nurses in this maternity ward are trained as doulas… none of the standard reasons to expect to have a C-section were present (there’s another hospital with an 80% Cesarean rate… not going there, thanks!)

And then 20 hours after my water broke, the baby was still at -1.5 and I was barely more than 3cm dilated. Yes, we used Pitocin and no, I didn’t have any problems with it. I was having great contractions. I did the positions. I was able to relax between contractions and work with (not against!) them while they were there. But sweet little baby wasn’t moving.

I was all for sticking it out for a long(er?) labor except that my water had broken and I was Strep B positive. Have you ever looked up what Strep B can cause in an infant? We had a 24 hour timeline that I wasn’t going to argue with. If I wasn’t Strep B positive then we would have had that discussion… but I was, so we didn’t.

So after 14 hours of contractions (which, contrary to what some people are thinking, even though I was only 3 cm they were real, serious contractions- I was definitely in active labor even though my cervix didn’t get that message) and an epidural to try to trick my body into letting the baby descend (which resulted in contractions seriously off the charts... and I would lie if I said I wasn’t relieved to not be feeling them any more) my midwife came to check, saying “ok, with these contractions I know we’re going to see 6 or 7cm!” only to find me barely at 3.5cm. So we tried a couple of more things to avoid surgery…

Two (or three?) hours later we went in to surgery knowing we had tried everything, trusting the medical advice of a woman who shared our values and wanted to avoid surgery as much as we did, and trusting even more that our God is sovereign and righteous and merciful and faithful.

My heart thanks my friend Kathy who said, while we were both recovering in the hospital from the birth of our boys on the same day (she from her third totally natural delivery and me from surgery), “It doesn’t matter whether you deliver vaginally or by c-section… nobody escapes the curse.” It was so freeing to hear her say that. Pain in childbirth is a result of sin, pure and simple. Even women who get to have "easy" and fast labors and deliveries have pain… both in the labor/delivery and in the recovery. Even women who plan on and receive epidurals have some pain during labor and eventually in recovery. Every person walking around today was delivered from a woman who endured pain and hardship in order to bring her baby into the world. It is something we need to appreciate about every mother… but not wear as a badge of honor or pride. We sometimes are at the point of elevating those who go through natural childbirth above the rest of us. The result of sin becomes the origin of a new sin… pride.

My birth experience was not what I originally wanted… but I still saw God’s provision and faithfulness. I still had some of the closest and most tender times with my husband that we’ve ever had. I still saw the depth of love that my friends and family have for me over the whole course of my pregnancy, delivery, and recovery. I still went through the same labor and delivery and recovery as every other woman who delivers a baby. And I still have the amazing illustration of God’s miracle of creation every day (and night!) in front of me.

I am not less of a woman for having a Cesarean birth. I did not “take the easy way out” and I am not a statistic or an example of how medical intervention is rampant in our society. I was not pushed into having surgery by lack of information, lack of effort, or lack of planning. I was not so exhausted that I would agree to whatever anybody suggested (that didn’t happen until 2 nights later). My husband and I made a well-informed, intelligent decision for the healthy birth of our child. And it was the right choice for our situation. Period.

I have been confronted with my own arrogance and prejudice to believe that “there are way too many C-sections and women are persuaded to have them by lack of knowledge and doctors who want the pay check for surgery.” And it makes me angry to realize that there are other Christian women out there who subconsciously hold this same belief. (In fact, I know several of my friends think this way because I’ve received underhanded comments or well-meaning pity in the disguise of compassion.) I’m not saying that every doctor has the highest integrity and that nobody has surgery because it’s convenient for the doctor. I know that’s the case in some situations. But not all of them. And I was foolish to think that I knew enough to make assumptions about other people’s deliveries. And my assumptions have been, I’m sure, just as hurtful as the assumptions and comments about my c-section have been to me.

So…

I’m sorry for all the times that I was not compassionate or graceful when I heard another woman had surgery instead of a vaginal birth. I’m sorry for assuming that VBAC’s are the obvious, best, healthiest choice for the next pregnancy. Now that I’m in the position of having to make that choice (no I’m not pregnant yet) and the normal anxiety about childbirth has the potential for uterine rupture added to it I can totally understand why women choose to schedule subsequent C-sections. It’s NOT just a matter of convenience or laziness or wanting to avoid labor.

All this to say…

I’m done feeling guilty for my C-section. I wasn’t worried about it right afterwards but in the past few months I’ve taken too many people’s comments to heart and have really been struggling with being self-conscious and self-critical about it. I’m done thinking that I just wimped out and couldn’t do it. I’m done thinking there’s something less valuable about my birth experience. I’m done worrying about what other women think when they hear that I had a Cesarean even when they don’t know the whole story or even about the hours of labor prior to the surgery. What you think doesn’t matter.

What matters is that beautiful little boy who grins at me while trying to learn how to crawl… and his future siblings who will be every bit as perfect if they are born via Cesarean Section as they would be if born by VBAC.

7.5 months

Dear Andrew,
You sure are talkative lately! You entertain our friends at church with your cat-like growling (and some of your baby friends are scared of that sound!). You like to talk to me in the morning... you use a lot of W sounds, some M sounds, and just recently started playing with B's. Your favorite vowel sound is still "ah" but you bust out an "ee" every now and then :)

You're sitting up like a champ and can lean over really far to grab something you like. Your hand-eye coordination is really improving, actually... when we were at lunch with Mrs. Paige and Mrs. Dana you lunged from my lap, half way across the table, and grabbed my water mug perfectly! (and the resulting bath was just in time for us to go home)

You love playing with your toes and are totally infatuated with mine. So sad that I won't let you eat them... your teeth are sharp!

Speaking of teeth, your 7th one came in this weekend. #8 is close behind... it's taken 3 weeks of ice, Tylenol, and lots of comforting to get you through these two making their grand entrance. I hope your canines wait a little while!

Thank goodness you're not mobile yet. You keep trying to get up on your toes - knees haven't occurred to you yet. BUT, you can get around the floor pretty well by rotating and rolling :)

The cord to my laptop is now the most desirable thing in the living room.

You still love the colorful ring stacker. Except now you know how to take the rings off. It's very exciting for you :)

So far you've tried rice cereal by itself and mixed with bananas and avocado (separately). You tolerate about 10 bites of the banana, decided there was definitely something wrong with the avocado, and aren't interested in the plain cereal. The puffs that you can pick up yourself are a big hit, though! Unfortunately, feeding yourself pieces of banana, carrot, and potato aren't as exciting. Mashed potatoes last night weren't welcome either, although you sure liked the few bites of KFC mashed potato you had at Mrs. Marla's house last week. Oh, and you loved the crumbs of Mrs. Kathy's cinnamon scone that I gave you at church two weeks ago. Crazy kid.

You won't let me clip your fingernails. I'm not sure how to remedy this... and they're getting sharp. You have a bunch of scratches on your nose and face. Sorry.

Outside fixes everything. You love when I take you out to the front yard to play and wait for Daddy to come home. Cats and dogs now rank higher than airplanes... when Oreo comes by you are mesmerized. I'm allergic to him, though, so I'm afraid to say that your only hope of kitty happiness is visiting other families with them or playing with Oreo in the yard. Just don't get his fur on you :)

You recently found the ONLY sound-making hand-held toy we own. If it didn't make you SO HAPPY I would give it away. Thankfully you get tired of it after about 5 min.

I forgot to put velcro tabs on your taggie blanket when I made it for you. I was so excited about the nylon strap tabs, rope knots, and circle/star toys I cannibalized from that octopus toy you gnawed apart that I put on it that I forgot to do the velcro. So you still seek out everything with velcro or straps on it to chew on instead of the blanket I made you. I may have to take it apart and add velcro...

You've now rolled in a giant U from my left side to my right side while I've been typing this.

We've gone swimming twice now! The first time was with Uncle Nathan and Evie and Hannah in their little inflatable pool in their backyard. (Click HERE for Aunt Jackie's post about it... I don't yet have the photos to post directly). The water was COLD! You kept playing until your lips turned blue and I took you out :) The second time was in Mrs. Vicki's big pool. You got to sit in her little floaty ring with Mrs. Marla while I helped Marlie "swim" around the deeper sections.

You love having your friends come over for Music Class every Monday. You're totally overloaded and exhausted afterward, but it's fun to watch the big kids dance and sing!

Bath time is still lots of fun. You're almost too big for your baby bathtub! But it's so much easier giving you a bath in the sink than bending down at the big tub that I still use it. You love the "Things That Go" book that Grammy gave you when she visited a while ago. You also love to stick out your tongue and lick the water when I use the sprayer to rinse you off. You laugh and giggle and flail your arms :) I wonder how that will work in the big bath tub...


Last weekend you got to meet a bunch of people from Daddy's school. We went to the groundbreaking for the new school building and you really enjoyed being outside in the sun! The hat you wore kept you from getting burned but Daddy wasn't so smart. His head is red. You played piano for the first time with Mrs. Peggy at Momma's old school. At first you were scared of it, but then it was exciting :) The students at the awards dinner (for Daddy's school, held at Momma's old school) were SUPER excited to meet you. It made me so proud :) And happy to see Daddy excited to show you off. You wore your "My Dad is the World's Greatest Statistics Teacher" shirt one of his students gave us last spring.

You still like to take your diaper off. I need to buy you some shorts - it's too hot to wear pants all the time! And you need some more footie pajamas but I can't find any bigger than you're currently wearing (and will soon grow out of!). I might have to order them online or make some.

I installed your big boy car seat on Monday. I was sad to put away the infant carrier but you LOVE the new car seat! When I put you in it you spread your legs out wide, hung your elbows over the sides, snuggled your bum down in and looked out the window. You liked looking out the window before, but now it's even better since you're about 6 inches higher and don't have to look out just the top - now you can see the cars, etc, going by!

For Mother's Day Daddy took us out to lunch and then you and I met Mrs. Paula and Elias at Mud Pie and Co. and painted a plate. It has a green rim with blue dots and we put your footprints in the center of it! Elias's plate for his Momma is brown and blue with little tiny dots and his feet. You boys are so thoughtful ;)

Uncle Kevin and Uncle Kirk are coming to visit next month! Daddy is super excited to see them and for you to meet them. Uncle Kevin is the one you're named after (middle name). Kevin is his middle name too! When God decides to give you a baby brother, his middle name will be Kirk.

I love you, my sweet boy! You're growing up so fast... I just cherish every time you snuggle with me or flash a big toothy grin. Daddy and I are the center of your universe right now, and while it's exhausting sometimes I dread the day that your friends (and, gasp, girls!) become more important than we are. You are a sweet, sweet gift from God!

Love,
Momma

Photos!

Click here to see Andrew's 6 month photo shoot by Misty Kennedy.

Taking his diaper off during nap time



Reading (soon to be eating) the giant Good Night Moon board book Poppy gave him for Christmas



James took this photo :) Did I mention that Andrew can sit up now? YAY!





He loves being upside down on Daddy's lap :)




Andrew and "The Texan" Titus after music class on their 6 month birthday!



First try with solid food... rice cereal... not a fan. We tried two days in a row and he was way more interested in chewing on the spoon. We'll try again this weekend and maybe add in some avocado or banana since apparently they make it better :)



Mom and Aunt Cathi working on my new living room curtain/valence



At Froberg's strawberry patch the second time

Growing Up...

My sweet baby,
You're just as sweet now at 6 1/2 months old as you were at 6 weeks old. I love you, and I love that I get to spend every day with you! Here are some things you've been up to in the past month...

*You cut your front top teeth this week. That makes 6! No more "vampire" baby look... which is good because it was cute, but every new person who saw you smile said "oh, you have a vampire baby!" Which was funny the first time, but not so much the millionth.

*You learned how to sit up by yourself in the past two weeks. You can now lean over to pick up a toy and then straighten back out. Occasionally you lean to far, or straighten out too fast and topple over... I've only had to rescue you from a bonked head once or twice, though :) And you've figured out how to un-stick your arm when you fall on it so you can roll over onto your back and be more comfortable. This transfers to being happier in your high chair - when you knock a toy to the far corner of the tray you can now lean over, pick it up, and sit back. Yay!

*You're still not interested in rolling back to front. You sleep on your sides sometimes, though, which is cute :) And play with toys on your side, which is also cute. And try to roll onto your side while I'm changing your diaper, which is not cute. Ok, it is cute, but certainly not productive (and occasionally results in you peeing on the wall. Not. Cute.)

*You finally started taking at least one long nap during the day. It's still fluctuating. I think it will end up being shortly after lunch and so far has lasted an hour and a half. Thank you. It makes me more productive and you much happier :)

*We started having a Mommy-And-Me Music Class at our house on Monday mornings. We've had four classes and you've slept through two of them. I was sad you missed them but it definitely made it easier for me to stand up and dance with the bigger kids :) The two classes you joined totally wiped you out and you took GREAT naps the rest of the day. I love that you love music and have an opportunity to play with lots of other children!

*Today was your first day in the children's area at church during the worship service. Daddy wasn't with us and you were taking a lot of attention so Uncle Kevin held you while Aunt Misty taught the kids and I went back in to hear the sermon. It was a great sermon. Thank you for being sweet for Uncle Kevin :)

*Wednesday was your first day in the BSF baby class. I did pretty well focusing on the discussion and lecture and not worrying about you. Your teacher said you were fine but didn't nap so they held you most of the time... I have a feeling that means you weren't so happy. You weren't so happy the whole rest of the day, either. I understand not napping while there are other babies and new toys and a Bible lesson to take your attention... but this week, do you think you could nap when we get home, please? You were SO exhausted by the end of the day... you need your naps, baby!

*Friday we tried feeding you some rice cereal. You were a little confused but put up with me spooning the weird stuff in your mouth and Daddy taking photos for a relatively decent amount of time. I tried again yesterday (Saturday) and, again, you seemed to tolerate the mushy stuff in your mouth but were WAY more interested in "eating" the spoon. I think I'll give it a rest and try again next weekend. I'm in no rush. Enjoy your milk and I'll enjoy the portability of 100% breastfeeding and non-stinky-ness of 100% milk-poo :)

*Have I mentioned how much you love to jump? You LOVE to jump. You are my JUMPY BABY! Either in the jumparoo or the exersaucer or on my lap or on Daddy's lap or on whatever surface we let you "stand" on... you just love to jump! Dr. Hassle was very happy with how strong your legs were at your 6 month appointment! And you did so well with your shots... you were right back to jumping the next day :)

*Your other love is anything and everything I will let you put in your mouth. Particularly board books and anything cloth (especially if it makes a crinkly sound!) I need to make you a taggy-blanket. I wonder whether I can get some of whatever makes the crinkly sound...

*We went to the strawberry patch twice. You love being outside! The first time we went it was a BEAUTIFUL day and you did so well! You lost interest in sitting in the stroller watching me pick berries so I held you and picked for a few minutes. That made it much less productive but we got some cute photos :) The second time we went it was HOT. You were not a fan. Well, you did really well for about the first hour. After that, not so much. Thankfully there were other mommas there who helped hold and entertain you while I cleaned up our picnic and bought veggies at the farmer's market before we left. You took a great nap in the car on the way home. I, again, was appreciative of how easy it is to feed you when all I have to pack is myself :)

*You have un-done your diaper a few times. I don't think you're trying to be naked... I think you like the sound of the velcro and it's easy for you to reach. Hmm. At first you didn't do it if you had clothes on. Today you did it through your pajamas. Hmm. Not sure what to do about this.....

*At your 6 month appointment you weighed 18 lb 8.5oz. You've gained 10 lb (and almost an oz) in 6 months. I forget how tall the nurse said you were. Either way, you're in the 75th percentile for both height and weight now. This is down from 81st at 4 months and 90th at 2 months. Your head circumference is still 90th :)

*Singing to you fixes most problems. If it doesn't you probably either need a diaper change or it's nap time.

*"You" gave Daddy a birthday card with a daddy monkey and a baby monkey on it. I thought it was super cute. I love that we can do special things for Daddy together now instead of just me :) I love to watch you with Daddy! He loves you SO MUCH and your face just lights up when you see him! You love it when he sings The Farmer In The Dell to you and you really like pulling his beard. This morning you spit up on him right after I handed you to him. It was great. Thanks for that timing :)

*At night when you're done nursing before bed you turn your head and look at the bedroom door to wait for Daddy to come in and pray with us before bed. I love it. You are sad when he has a meeting and isn't here. You also seem to expect to see him in the evenings around the time he usually gets home (and become anxious and frustrated if he doesn't come in). You associate the garage door opening with Daddy coming home :) I love that you already love him and know you can expect him to be here with us and miss him when he isn't.

*You are SO HAPPY when both Daddy and I pay attention to you at the same time. You love lying between us in bed on Saturday mornings and being hugged by both of us at the same time before bed.

We love you so much, Andrew!