Mom Musings Archives - Page 2 of 4

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Archive for Mom Musings – Page 2

Posted by Amy

· March 17, 2016

Free 2016 Liturgical Calendar

Ya’ll it has been crazy-town around here lately. I have a backlog of 20 half-finished blog posts that I will attempt to finish as things settle down at work and home. As our schedules have been full, I am thankful for the few small things our family has implemented this year to improve our organization.

A few months a go I blogged about command center ideas and family calendars. I could not find a calendar that fit all of our family’s needs, so we created our own using PicMonkey. We tried it out for a few months and it was a hit.

As I was creating the calendars for the rest of the year and would love to share them here in seven quick takes fashion. Here is what I love about my sit liturgical calendar.

Categories : Faith, Family, Liturgical Year, Mom Musings, Working Mom

Posted by Amy

· February 23, 2016

· 3 Comments

An Inconvenient Mercy

This year has been named the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. A year where as a collective church we mediate on the greatness of God’s mercy and how it should move us to show mercy for others.

As I ponder mercy, memories rush to my mind. Waking up each morning with the gift of new mercies from God, times I have witnessed a friend extend mercy to someone in misfortune, or the frequent occurrence of my husband offering me mercy in the times I have wronged him. It seems to me, mercy is a word that describes a myriad of things. So to paraphrase Justin Bieber what does it mean? Read More →

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Categories : Faith, Family, Life, Mom Musings, Seeking Truth

Tags : humility, mercy, motherhood

Posted by Amy

· February 4, 2016

· 8 Comments

7 Examples my mom set for me and you

Happy birthday mommy. We are so blessed to have the gift of you in our lives. Thank you for the example you have set for us in so many ways.

Can you figure out which one is me?

My hope is that this list will help you and I to reflect on the amazing examples of motherhood in our lives as well as learn a little from my mom’s bold example. Each mama is different and brings different things to the table, it is in learning from those who came before us that we can better hone our own mama style. Read More →

Categories : Faith, Family, Life, Mom Musings, Working Mom

Posted by Amy

· January 19, 2016

· 3 Comments

A letter to Amber Holt of Parenthood

Ya’ll, the final season of Parenthood is on Netflix, and I am a sobbing mess.

When a few of my family members started watching the show as it aired I just couldn’t get in to it, despite the reprisal of a Lorelai Gilmore character, I could not handle the constant arguing and the characters making awful decisions.

So 3 years after a pitiful attempt of watching season one, I picked it back up while postpartum with our sweet little Anna. Because binge watching is totally part of having a baby. I don’t know if the seasons got better as they went on, or if I just felt closer to the Braverman family, but the longer I watched, the more I could see the light, love, and integrity that shown through the imperfect characters and constant bickering.

I am finally getting around to watching the final season now that it is available on Netflix and I literally cry during every episode. Today I finished episode 100 “How Did We Get Here”, and the entire episode is heart wrenching, but the last scene in particular is what stuck in my mind.

The women of the Braverman family each pen a letter on motherhood to the first expectant granddaughter, Amber. Their letters offer some of the deepest truths about motherhood, and celebrate life and motherhood.

The Salt Stories: A letter to Amber from Parenthood

Categories : Family, Mom Musings, Movies and Shows

Posted by Amy

· January 15, 2016

· 4 Comments

What you might forget when setting up your nursery (7QT)

As a first time mama, I have vivid memories of the anxiety, hustle, and excitement that filled the last half of my pregnancy. I would suddenly feel the urge to breathlessly run around the house and set up things, so that when the baby finally arrived it would be smooth sailing. I thought if everything was organized and efficient then I could handle taking care of a newborn. It seems many other first time moms have a similar experience.

Nesting takes over, you clean, set up, plan, and rearrange with no consideration of the growing bump in front of you. You read the internet’s endless “nursery must have” lists, trying to figure out what you need to make this life change happen. Read More →

Categories : Family, Mom Musings, Uncategorized

Tags : 7QT, child, nursery

Posted by Amy

· January 5, 2016

· 5 Comments

Explaining death to a toddler

It all started when we watched The Lion King for the first time. I was excited to share one of my favorite movies with Anna. We named each animal during Circle of Life, laughed at Zazu, danced to “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King” and then it happened… Mufasa died.

We watched the solemn images of a collapsed Mufasa and tears streaming down Simba’s face. My daughter turned and looked at me with a questioning stare. She could see Simba was sad and didn’t quite understand what happened. She gestured to the screen and looked at me for an explanation.

Categories : Faith, Family, Life, Mom Musings, Seeking Truth

Tags : death, faith, toddler

Posted by Amy

· January 2, 2016

· 4 Comments

A Rustic Nativity

Happy 9th day of Christmas. I hope this season has been full of joy, cookies, peace, and good company. For truly we have something absolutely beautiful to celebrate. God became man. Whoa! The God that made the world, and came before the world came into the creation.

Incarnation. Truly crazy.

We have enjoyed the beautiful Christmastide with our daughter, but her opinions and play have definitely added a new component to our celebrations.

Throughout the Advent and the Christmas season we have put together a paper nativity scene. Anna has daily and joyfully chosen the colors for our new characters and placed each new piece into the scene with enthusiasm. This set from do small things with love has been perfect for us this year. Read More →

Categories : Faith, Family, Liturgical Year, Mom Musings, Seeking Truth

Tags : christmas, mess, nativity

Posted by Amy

· December 13, 2015

· 8 Comments

Birth Story: Trying to beat the odds and becoming a superhero Pt. 2

Oh the beauty and pain of birthdays. We are picking up with where we left off in the birth story with a quick recap of part 1.

Again this is a disclaimer. Today we are telling a story about birth, if it is not your style check back later this week for your regular scheduled programming.

I come from a line of strong women who in two generations have given birth to 21 beautiful babies, each via c-section. I was 2 weeks past my due date and my body had made absolutely no signs towards delivery. So we went in to the hospital to help my body along. After two rounds of a vaginal softener, cervadil, and 24 hours my body was 1cm dilated last we checked and I was having strong regular contractions.

At this point in the story, I had never felt this uncomfortable in my life. I am not sure if uncomfortable is even the right word, because it is not like I was expecting comfort, it was more the anguish that I was not expecting. Stuart thought I was progressing along, but I wouldn’t dare be that hopeful, out of fear I would be disappointed again. The last six times someone came in to check my status they would leave saying the same thing, “high and hard”. Read More →

Categories : Family, Life, Mom Musings

Posted by Amy

· December 12, 2015

· 4 Comments

Birth Story: Trying to beat the odds and becoming a superhero Pt. 1

This week I celebrate my birthday. Over the last two years I have learned that birthdays really should be a celebration of your mama (and often papa too). So as I reflect on my wonderful mama and the celebration of birth, I’ll share with you Anna’s birth story. Its a little long, so it will be posted in two parts.

Why Share?

The last few month of my pregnancy I became curious and nervous about the actual birth part of having a baby. As a first time mom, I was consumed by all the changes that came with being pregnant, that I thought little about the next step. But knowing that pregnancy was not a forever state, it was time for some research.

In order to prepare, Stuart and I attended a great birth class. The instructor was wonderful, kind, realistic, and offered tons of practical advice. Despite it being the perfect class for new parents, for some reason I left with a ridiculous amount anxiety and felt totally overwhelmed. Looking back I was just so uncomfortable with every detail of giving birth – the noises, the pain, the fluids, all of it.

For a while I just stuffed up my ears and pretend the birth day was never going to come. But eventually a wise man, my husband, reminded me how awesome my body was and how he wanted to support me through it all. I figured I better get over my unfounded anxiety, because the day would inevitably come, and my attitude would either help make the birth a great experience or an awful one.

So, I began to read birth stories, after reading a few, I couldn’t get enough of them. They offered a dose of the reality, beauty, and variety in child-birth.

Categories : Family, Life, Mom Musings

Posted by Amy

· December 4, 2015

· 10 Comments

When a baby cries at church

There we are, in the middle of a beautiful service, and then we hear it, the sounds of our smallest church goers. A loud cry from the pew behind us, a kneeler going bang across the aisle, or a fit from the young one in our own pew. Our quiet peaceful moment is ruined.

When a child cries at church, it is easy to assume it takes away from the worship experience. And while yes, it does change the experience, we can find ways to allow these distractions to change it for the better. To have a greater experience of God because, not in spite, of the howling of the smallest saints at church.

Here are seven things to ponder when you hear crying at church. Read More →