To Schedule Your Baby or Not?

This is an article from a recent Above Rubies magazine written by a mom in the same place as a lot of mom's out there. What do you do with your baby as far as getting them to sleep, eat, etc? Should you schedule them or nurse on demand? I hope the following story helps for lots of you out there with new babies or ones on the way!
PS-The books/manuals she mentions are all available through the Above Rubies website (tab on the right) or if you live near me, I have them (and many others) and would love to lend them to you!

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Baby Three Changed my Heart!

I was pregnant with my second child when a friend loaned me The Power of Motherhood. “You’re a fast reader, so read this and tell me what you think,” she said. I dutifully skimmed the book but returned it with a mental, “Thanks, but no thanks, I have a mothering system.” You see, I had read a book about scheduling and getting your babies to sleep through the night--man’s wisdom on parenting. I rigidly followed this schedule which involved letting your baby cry it out to teach the child to sleep.
My first child, Kaiser, slept through the night at six weeks. He was also fully weaned by that time, but he cried a lot to achieve that. The chapter in The Power of Motherhood titled “Mothers are Nurturers” especially grated me. I was convinced that this scheduling method was the way I’d mother all my children.
I read in that chapter from Isaiah 66:10-13, “That you may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations: that you may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith the Lord, Behold I will extend peace to her like a river, and the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides and be dandled upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” Nancy followed by saying “Nursing is…total mothering to meet every need of the child…to satisfy, delight, console and comfort.” I was not moved. This way of mothering was not for me!
God gave us baby number two, my little redhead named Hudson. I scheduled him and he slept through the night at six weeks, self-soothing by sucking his thumb. I did manage to nurse him until he was 15 months old. This scheduling was so easy; baby number three would be no problem.
Baby number three arrived, my first little girl, Adeline. I tried to schedule her for the first three months of her life. But she would not be scheduled! She began to NOT sleep! She slept no longer than 45 minutes at a time 24 hours a day. She wanted to sleep with me! A big no-no according to the book. I was reeling! What had happened? Why wasn’t this working?
I was a mess due to the lack of sleep, but God finally had my attention. To save my sanity, I stopped trying to schedule and began to nurse when she needed me. Wonder of wonders, she began to sleep better, though she didn’t sleep through the night until she was five years old!
I began to study the Bible, seeking God’s wisdom. God brought me back to the Isaiah 66 passage and I got it! It had been three years since I had read this passage, but finally I understood. The beauty of mothering by offering my breast for comfort, nourishment and nurturing brought peace to my soul. I was and am at rest.
Hindsight is always 20/20. Mothering my first two children, I was selfish and controlling. I didn’t want to lose sleep! The book said to let the baby cry. Slowly, I became numb to his cries and my heart turned to stone. Even my husband would ask to pick up the crying baby to rock and comfort him, but I said, “No, the book says…”
After Addie, I pressured my husband into scheduling a vasectomy. He was reluctant as he wanted more children, but because I was such a mess, he agreed. A couple of days before the consultation, I read Isaiah 66 again. God used that to not only change my mothering but to open me up to the possibility of more children. We cancelled the appointment and eventually began to study the manual, Be Fruitful and Multiply.
We began to understand God’s plan for families as we went through each Scripture. I wept for the children I had missed out on by controlling my womb. I began to realize my lack of submission to God and my husband. My husband began to understand his role in leading the house. He now has a vision to change the world through godly children.
Since then, God has added two more blessings to our home. At one year, Haven is still nursing strong, day and night! She sleeps in a co-sleeper attached to our bed, and snuggles in an Ergo by day. Addie and Isaiah both nursed until they were almost three years old and weaned only after I got pregnant.
Mothering this way is such a beautiful picture of the love of God! Is it always easy? NO! With every baby I learn more about dying to my self. But, knowing my breasts comfort my little ones brings much peace to me. Now my husband has the opportunity to comfort and rock his little ones too!
LISA FALK
Plainville, Illinois, USA
dltalk@adams.net
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


I started off scheduling my babies too. It wasn’t until baby number four, who refused to schedule and refused to sleep through the night until he was comforted at the breast, that I, too, changed to the Isaiah 66 way of mothering. Nancy Campbell
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End note-No mention is made about the benefits of demand nursing and natural baby spacing. It really does work if you know one important thing: You don't want your baby to sleep through the night! It's not that bad though if your baby co-sleeps and just nurses when he needs too. You learn to nurse in your sleep and I actually get more sleep this way then if i have to get out of bed to nurse. Click on the labels to the right for Breastfeeding, Natural Baby Spacing or Birth Control if you want to know more about how this works!~G

Gymboree Semi-Annual Sale

I just wanted to pass on that Gymboree is still having their semi-annual Big Red Balloon Sale. This is the one where you find great shirts for $1.99 or cute dresses for $6.99 or socks for $.19 and hair clips for $.49. Plus you earn GymBucks to use later. You get the picture. I had so much fun finding great bargains. It's lots of winter stuff but some summer too. I got both girls swim shirts with bottoms/shorts. I also found jackets for everyone this winter and lots of long sleeve shirts for the boys. I was even able to piece together a complete, with hair accessories, matching dress and legging set for both girls. Our store had sooo much baby clothing it made me wish i had a baby to buy for (newborn to 12 months). I did get some great buys on baby gifts though!

I don't normally shop at Gymboree because it is so expensive without a sale, but their clothings quality is amazing and will survive through 2 or more children.

So, if you get a chance, run by and see if you can find some great deals too! The sale ends next Monday I believe.

Another Above Rubies Jewel

THE HATED WORD

Psalm 104:24, "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches."

Filled. It doesn't sound such a bad word, does it? I wonder why so many people hate it. It's strange that so many Christians hate it when God loves it! In fact, this word describes who God is. He fills the heavens and the earth. He fills all in all--and Jesus is the fullness of Him who fills all in all. The whole earth is full of His glory. He is filled with majesty, filled with righteousness, filled with compassion. He does not have these attributes in a little measure but is filled with them.

God does not take long to introduce this word to us. He uses it in the very first chapter of the Bible.

Genesis 1:28, "And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it'..." It is interesting that the very first words that God spoke to man included the word fill. It is obviously very much part of God's heart. He loves abundance.

After God destroyed mankind through the flood, apart from Noah and his family, He repeated the same command again. This time He repeated it twice. Genesis 9:1 and v. 7, "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth'..."

The Hebrew word is male which means "fill to overflowing". Many take objection to God's command today. They certainly don't want to fill their families to overflowing. They would rather fill their homes with "stuff"--more gadgets, more furniture, bigger TVs and computers.

Yet it seems that every time God speaks about children, He uses this despised word.

When Jacob and his family went down to Egypt there were only 70 of them. Four hundred years later they emerged a mighty nation.

Exodus 7:7 says, "The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." They became "more and mightier" than the Egyptians who began to fear them. Their fear turned to persecuting them and making them slaves. But the more the Egyptians afflicted them the more they multiplied. This is God's purpose for His people. He wants them to fill the earth with His glory--His love, peace, truth and salvation.

Numbers 14:21 says, "But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." This is not talking about creation, but God's people who bear His image in the earth. God wants this earth to be filled with His image. God wants His land to be "filled with flocks of men." (Ezekiel 36:38, Psalm 80:8-9)

God's picture of a blessed family is one filled with children. Once again it is this detested word. Society is brainwashed to think differently than God thinks. And of course, we think that we know better than God. But what does He say? "As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." (Psalm 127:4-5)

The parents who have their quiver full are happy! Actually, the Hebrew word in this Scripture is a double word which should be translated, "happy, happy". The parents who have their quiver full will not be ashamed. The parents who have their quiver full will have children who know how to speak against the evil things in the land, even in high places. The gate in Bible days was the civic center of the town, the place of administration of justice.

Zechariah 8:4-5 is one of my favorite Scriptures. It is a picture of what Jerusalem will be like when God dwells there. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof." What a beautiful picture of children playing while the old people walk the city streets with their canes and watch the children in the city squares. And do you notice that there are not a few children playing? The streets are filled with boys and girls. How God delights to see them playing together.

Here's one more Scripture. Luke 14:23 says, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." God loves to have a full house. It's part of His character. If we have God's heart, we'll want to have a full house too.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

"Lord, I pray that you will change my heart. Save me from from thinking miserly, but help me to think like you think. Amen."

AFFIRMATION:
I'm filling my home with God's blessings.

Funnest and Baddest

In the past I have asked my children at dinner time what was the best and worst part of their day. I always got various answers but not great conversation and heard more whining over who was talking first than anything. I recently read about those (ungrammatical) words in the title in an email from Diane Hopkins from Love to Learn. Diane posted that she asked her children what was the funnest and baddest part of their day at bed time each night all through their childhoods. So I thought I'd try it this way.

For whatever reason, the kids seem to grasp the question better using funnest and baddest. These words are more understandable for a little child. Every time I ask, they have been able to answer quickly and with great excitement. The best part is that I get to connect with each one individually every night even if it's only for a few minutes. They don't have to compete for my attention as at the table or talk over each other. They have my full attention for a few minutes and they love it. They are sharing things with me that i wouldn't have thought made them happy or even sad. I love getting another opportunity to tap into their little minds and hearts.

One night I was getting frustrated because getting in bed was dragging on longer than I wanted it to. I didn't really feel like spending the extra few minutes with each one because i just wanted them to hurry up and get to sleep. I choose to deny my selfish flesh and ask the questions anyway. Amazingly, I left their room feeling calm and peaceful and had forgotten all of my frustrations by just giving them a little bit of my time.

Tonight as I put the boys to bed, Cody was quick to ask me first what my funnest part of the day was before I could ask him. The smile on his face and the joy in his heart was priceless! It's amazing how a little effort on our part can fill their hearts.

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PS-Claire is really asleep in the picture above. She was so tired after a fun day out on the water slide that she couldn't even stay awake long enough to finish brushing her teeth. One time she fell asleep in my mom's arms while eating a corn dog. Whenever she stirred, she would keep eating the corn dog, then fall asleep again. It was hillarious. Childhood is Precious!

Chicks in the House!

We have grown by 12! In addition to 2 adults, 4 kids, 1 cat, 2 sheep, we now have 12 baby chicks! The kids have had so much fun holding and naming their very own little chicks. They are very serious about whose chicks are whose and not confusing them, so I had to mark each of their feet with a different color permanent marker to avoid any confusion.

We decided to try several different breeds so we can decide which ones we like the best. We got 4 Buff Orpintons, and 2 each of Barred Rocks, Ameraucana's, Silver-Laced Wyandotte's, and Production Reds. They are so cute! Owen begged me to let his little chickies sleep with him, but i drew the line, although he didn't completely understand why. When i told him they don't sleep all night long and will cheep when awake, he changed his mind.

Kenneth is building me a thing called a chicken tractor that will allow the chickens to be completely enclosed and safe while still being free range. It is about 20 feet long (15 feet of it is the chicken run) and 5 feet high at the end with the hen house. It will have 4 wheels on it that will allow us to move it to new pieces of land so they can forage in a new spot every so often. We have also built a wooden brooder box for the chicks to stay in until they are big enough to go in the tractor. It's not completely finished yet so they are temporarily in a cardboard box. I'll try to post some pics when they are finished.

We are also on the look-out for a couple of inexpensive lab/retriever or similar dogs that will protect sheep and kids, leave chickens alone, and chace off the racoons, opposums, deer, and snakes that are so numerous in our area. Let us know if you hear of anything available in the B/CS area!

Summer Fun 2009

We are having so much fun this summer at the Davis house! Thanks to Pawpaw and Mimi Linda, we now have a Double Raceway Bazai Waterslide and let me tell you, it's fun! It's about 20 feet long and 10 feet high with a rockwall to climb up on the back. We have blown it up and played on it at least 30 times in the last 1 1/2 months. We have also enjoyed having lots of families over to play on it with us and fellowship. The boys and Claire have had a blast sliding and making up all kinds of new games and ways to play on it. I set up a plastic pool for Kate near the waterslide that she loves to play in too. She will slide over and over in her little pool and has just as much fun as the older kiddos. Kenneth and I have also tried it out since it can hold up to 400 pounds. I hope you can see the pics of Kenneth sliding down it, it was very amusing. The kids had so much fun playing with their Daddy on it!

Summer time means watermelon around our house too. As you can see, everyone here loves watermelon and wears more of it than gets eaten!

Cody, Owen, and Claire just finished up swim lessons too and are like little fish in the water.

We hope you all are also enjoying your summer!