Sunday, August 12, 2012

Favorite Summer Must-Haves for Little Ones

I realize we are well into August and Summer is technically nearly over, but I do live in Texas and summer temps definitely last well into the Autumn months. During this summer with my extremely active 2 year-old endurance champ, I have discovered a few products that have made this summer so much easier. Here are my top 3:

1) Keen Newport H2 Sandals-These have to be the most durable, comfortable, adventure-friendly sandals ever. Lily loves them because they are comfy and provide her with the best grip for climbing anything and everything in sight. I love them because they are somewhat odor-proof, easy on and off, waterproof, gunkproof and easily washable. They also match almost every play outfit we have. As far as being odor-proof, that is not completely accurate, but when washed they come out looking and smelling new. Lily wore these to the beach and into the water and they came out still looking brand new. These shoes were recommended to me by the good folks at Sandy's Shoes in Austin and last time I was in I heartily thanked them for the recommendation.

2) CamelBak Kids 12 oz. Water Bottle- Every mom know how difficult and trying it can be to find that perfect water bottle/sippy cup. They all claim to be leak-proof, but most aren't. When you finally find that perfect leak-proof bottle, it is usually hard to clean and reassembling after washing requires the patience of Job and the brain of a rocket scientist. The CamelBak Kids cup really is leak-proof, is easy to reassemble, holds a lot of water (great for hot summers) and is virtually indestructible. Well over a year ago, Lily began taking my CamelBak water bottle from me and drinking all my water. She basically claimed it, and I wanted it back. On my next trip to Sprouts I came across a kiddie version of my cup. It has since withstood over 300 washes and has been throw in dirt, stepped on, thrown across rooms and has dropped long distances onto concrete and other hard surfaces. It lives on!!!

3) Bubbles, the Fisher-Price Bubble Mower, to be exact- An oldie, but a goodie, the bubbles that you blow through a wand are great anytime, but there is something really special about chasing bubbles on a summer evening. You can spend a dollar on a bubble with a wand or spend more on special wands and machines and bubble guns, but it is always fun. We really love the Fisher-Price Bubble Mower! It takes about 10'stepsmto really get it going and you do have to clean/maintain for optimum performance, but it is a really fun way to blow bubbles!

Are there some great summer products you can't live without?

Friday, June 22, 2012

Pray: Toddler in Christ

I am not a morning person. Mornings do not come easy for me and never have. Before I had a child, I would shower, dress, fix my hair and apply makeup in about 30 minutes after snoozing for an hour, turning off the alarm clock and waking up to my back up alarm that was in reality, the only alarm that mattered. Although I am known as a gregarious person who will talk your ear completely off, I prefer not to speak to anyone before 8am. As you can imagine, a child rocked my world. I managed to set up a very nice routine; I would shower, then wake Lily up and let her watch a little Mickey Mouse and munch on a little breakfast while I finished getting ready. It was perfect. Then she began forming opinions, and not just any opinions. She began forming very strong opinions that left no doubt that she was mine.

At first it was easy stuff. She didn't want to take her medicine, so I used chocolate milk to persuade (or bribe, if you want to use that kind of language) her to swallow it. She wanted oatmeal instead of french toast sticks or a muffin instead of cereal, so I would give her what she wanted as long as it was nutritious. These requests were reasonable and they did not require much thought or negotiation on my part. I had this morning thing down to a science.

The beginning of the end came when she started having opinions about she would wear. How cute is it when your daughter gets into her dress up case and puts together adorably obnoxious ensembles of mismatched beads, hats and plastic shoes with a tutu thrown in for good measure? You tell her she looks beautiful and encourage her to continue using her imagination and creativity. I remember the first clothing fight well. Lily and I were going to the pet store to look at animals, then on to get a haircut. She came out of her room in beads, hair accessories and plastic shoes that caused her to shuffle around the house. I was good with all but the shoes, not because I wanted to stifle her creativity but because I did not look forward to carrying around a 30 pound toddler when the plastic shoes started to hurt her feet. I sent her to change and she protested a bit, but then came back with shoes that matched her outfit and she was wearing just enough dress up stuff to make it look like I had dressed her and was incapable of matching clothing.

That first clothing argument was a breeze. It was late in the afternoon, I had consumed plenty of caffeine and I had been awake for hours. The real challenge came that Monday when she brought me the outfit she was dying to wear. It was before 8 am, so I was not really in the mood to argue, but she had brought me a shirt that she had found in the dirty laundry. The shirt was so filthy that I am honestly surprised a roach colony had not taken over the hamper and feasted on the foods that were stuck on. Lily's morning personality is much like mine and we had what I will always remember as our first knock down drag out. Maybe I'll add that to the scrapbook. :)

I decided to outsmart my strong-willed 2 1/2 year old fashionista by hiding the filthy clothing, but she found them (probably tracked the atrocious scent) and did whatever she had to do to get them. That's when I decided to give her choices. I would hold up two mommy approved outfits and say, "Do you want to wear this or this?" It only took 2 days for Lily to beat me to the punch and confidently march into my room holding up two filthy, completely unacceptable outfits and say, "Okay, mama, THIS or THIS?" SHE was giving ME choices.

I laugh at the absurdity of my two year-old thinking she is capable of making better decisions about her life than Doug and I are. We provide her clothing and shelter and food. We protect her from danger. We meet her needs. Absurd right?

But seriously, how often do we, as God's children, think our way is wiser? I would like to think of myself as a mature Christian, more than a "babe" in Christ, but I often find myself exhibiting toddler-like spiritual behavior.

I know I am not alone, because the Bible is filled with examples of people like me, people who think they are wise apart from God's will. God instructed Jonah to go to Nineveh, but he refused and attempted to hide from the creator of the universe. When we do something that we know is contrary to God's will, aren't we in essence saying that our wisdom is greater than the the wisdom of our Creator?

He gives us food and clothing and shelter. He protects us and meets our needs. And we think we are capable than God of making wiser decisions about our lives. Absurd, right? Sometimes I am a lot like that strong-willed 2 year-old, wrestling with God. A toddler in Christ.

I find myself relating so much to the apostle Paul and I have to remind myself of the words God breathed through him: "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." (1 Corinthians 1:25 NASB)

Monday, June 18, 2012

Eat, Pray: heart-shaped sandwiches and love

Anytime my daughter carries a packed lunch, you can be sure of two things. It will contain a sandwich made with whole grain bread and said sandwich will be shaped like a heart...or a flower...or a fish. I can't stand the thought of sending her off with a square or circular sandwich or even a square slice of cheese. Sometimes I build an entire theme, like a fish shaped sandwich swimming in a blueberry sea. I've even done 2am searches on Pinterest for the coolest bento boxes for kids; while my Southern upbringing and Future Homemakers of America days fully prepared me for pound cakes and dumplings, those Mickey Mouse bentos look like they would require at least a year of culinary training. Since I have trouble finding time to paint my toenails, the year of culinary training is definitely out.

I know it is just lunch, but I come from a long line of people who express love through food. My own working mother would get up in the morning and pack me a lunch of turkey and mustard on saltine crackers. I didn't eat bread, and after finding a big hunk of a buttery cheese substance in my spaghetti I had sworn off the tray lunch in the cafeteria. I took my lunches for granted then; you tend to take a lot of things for granted when you are raises by Super Mom. Now I look back and can feel the love my own mother had for me and I think of it every time I am wasting bread edges and cutting out that sandwich with a cookie cutter.

It sounds sweet, right? Does my child really care? Probably not. So why do I care so much? Since I became a working mom, I have become obsessed with doing all I can to make every day special and to ensure that, while someone else is actually sitting next to her during lunch, there is some sign of "Mama" at the lunch table. It has become my coping mechanism. The daycare deposit pales in comparison to the start up costs I brought on myself. She needed a mat? I wanted to make sure she had a coordinating pillow, blanket and nap mat cover with her name embroidered somewhere on it. She had to have her name on her water bottle. Sure, a Sharpie makes sense, but instead I was drawn to these personalized bands that wrap around the bottle. I stressed about every last detail before her first day and I don't really think she cares. I do.

I don't have time for therapy, but after hours spent on the road for my job I have finally determined the reason for my obsession with heart-shaped sandwiches and personalized nap mat covers. It is the same reason I come home tired from work but drags self to the park or to blow bubbles in the back yard, the reason I want every second I am with Lily to be quality. It's the same reason I forget the quiet moments are important, too. I absolutely hate missing that time during the day and I grasping at ways to make the most of the time I do have. It's how I cope.

In the end, does it make me a better mom? No. Could I put away the heart cookie cutter tomorrow without Lily even taking notice? Probably. Will I do that? No way. I need it, and I hope one day she looks at that sandwich and realizes that I made it just for her, just the way she likes it, with sun butter, jelly and a mother's love. Like the turkey and mustard crackers.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Work: The Agony of Going Back to Work After Baby....

As a working mom, this column struck a chord with me...hope it touches other working moms as well!

From The Abilene Reporter News, April 1, 2012.

Sarah Kleiner Varble: Going back to work tough after having baby

Staff Reports

Sunday, April 1, 2012

This is it: the day I've been dreading for the past 12 weeks.

This is the day I place my baby girl, Alexandra, into the arms of complete strangers and trust that they'll take care of her while I go off to work. Trust that they'll feed her when she's hungry and comfort her when she cries.

That they'll wipe her runny nose and drool-soaked chin.

That they'll change her diaper when it needs to be changed and not a moment later.

These are the basics to sustaining new human life. But there's much more to nurturing, and that's what has me hung up.

Will these caregivers have time to coo back-and-forth with my chatty baby? Will they smile at my second-born and sing to her?

When she's done eating, will they let her rest her head on their shoulder for a few minutes and listen to her respire with contented puffs of air?

Will they look into her big blue eyes and tell her without reservation that if she works hard, she could one day design buildings as landscape-changing as Zaha Hadid's, shoot photos as iconic as Annie Leibovitz's or write news articles about presidents as impactful as Anne Kornblut's?

Will they tell her that she can do anything she wants because of the women who worked hard before her? That she should never take this gift for granted?

These are the things I would do if I kept her at home with me, but now, 12 weeks after bringing her into this world, I must go back to work.

Never in a million years did I think I'd even consider staying home to raise children. I'm not cut from that fabric.

I've always derived more pleasure from say, playing poker and drinking craft beer with the guys than watching yet another movie about [insert dreamy actor here] trying to win back the broken heart of a toothpick-sized actress.

I never had the desire to babysit when I was young. I never changed a diaper before July 2009 when our first child, Benjamin, was born. Before then, the sound of screaming children was abhorrent.

But the game changed when I became responsible for creating life and then, more importantly, providing the best life possible for our little ones.

I think all moms, whether they're inclined to go back to work or to stay home, agonize over the question: Is this what's best for my baby?

I'm sure that within a few weeks, the adrenaline from covering a close election will seep back into my typing fingers, and hopefully it won't be quite as painful when I walk away from the day care in the mornings empty-handed.

I know this because I've crossed this bridge before. My husband, Nathan, and I had to make the tough decision in 2009 after Benjamin was born whether we would hand his daily care over to someone else so I could go back to work.

When I dropped him off at day care for the first time, I held him in a rocking chair in the nursery for an hour, asking questions of the caretakers through a fountain of tears.

Finally the sweet older lady said in a soft West Texas drawl, "Honey, you might want to think about setting him down in one of those swings now."

So I did. And then I ran to the car and wept for another 15 minutes before I was able to drive away.

Day care has been good for Benjamin because he's learning so much in the classroom — not just his letters and numbers, but how to socialize and share. Every night, I ask him if he had a good time at school, and he eagerly tells me all about his friends.

Knowing this, you'd think it would be easier the second time around, but I'm not finding it to be so.

After watching Benjamin mature for the past two years, I know what delightful developments are in store for Alexandra, and I want to witness her mind and body growing.

The other night, I baked a chicken and it was nearly done cooking when Nathan brought Benjamin home. When they walked in the door, he sniffed the air and exclaimed, "Mmm! Smells yummy, Mommy!"

That made me want to stay home and cook dinner for him every night for the next 16 years. And I don't even like cooking.

Sarah Kleiner Varble has covered state and local government for the Reporter-News for nearly seven years.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Love: Heart-Shaped Crayons

It is 1 AM and I am still awake. Why? Oh, because I want my two year-old, who barely understands Valentine's Day, to have something really cool and handmade to give to her friends at church. Chances are that, while these are non-edible, the kids will eat them; no worries, I spent the extra 20 cents and picked up the non-toxic crayons for this DIY heart-shaped crayon project.

Here's a quick tutorial for heart-shaped crayons...

Unwrap lots of crayons. I used five crayons for each heart.

Preheat your oven to 275.

Break your crayons into 3-4 pieces and fill silicone heart-shaped baking cups.

Bake in the oven at 275 for 10-12 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Once crayons have cooled completely, pop them out of the baking cups, admire your work and go to bed.

And the summary....

Eat, Love: Homemade Baby Food

It all started with mommy guilt. When Lily got ready for solid foods I had just gone back to work part time. Somehow, in my working mom insanity I decided that my child would feel more loved if her baby food was made from fresh foods rather than mass produced and served in a jar. Believe me, nearly two years later I fully realize just how ridiculous that sounds. Honestly, I knew it sounded ridiculous at the time. Instead of saying, "I am making my daughter's baby food because I feel guilty for working" I would say, "I've been doing some reading and I have decided to make Lily's baby food so I can avoid all the preservatives, ensure the food she is eating is fresh and save money."

In the end, making Lily's baby food did save money. One dollar buys a pound of green beans, which then becomes 16-1oz. servings of baby food. Two dollars worth of sweet potatoes made pounds of baby food! We also bypassed the preservatives and, at this point in her life she loves fresh fruits and veggies. Also, after reading labels I found that many of the baby foods at the store were not as nutritious as the high fiber, vitamin-rich foods I was making at home. The homemade food also made us more more comfortable with giving Lily the (nutritious) foods we were eating and helped her enjoy herbs and spices we would not find in the big name baby foods. Oh, and it worked wonders on the mommy guilt.

The surprising part? It was not as time consuming as I had anticipated. I would cook 4-5 pounds of sweet potatoes in the crock pot while I was at work during the day, then puree them and have them in the freezer. The actual time I spent preparing the sweet potatoes amounted to about 15 minutes. Halved peaches and a pyrex dish with a little water perfectly prepared peaches for baby food prep. Purees freeze very well in ice trays, and each cube in the tray is about 1 oz. When the purees have frozen, you can pop them out and store them in freezer bags labeled with each type of food. They thaw easily in the microwave and can be stored in the freezer for several months.

There are lots of cool baby food gadgets on the market, but you can prepare homemade baby food with just a few items that can be found in most any household. Once the food is cooked in a way that is appropriate for that food, you only need a blender to puree the food, ice trays to freeze the food and freezer bags to store the food. If you are like me and preparing food for the people you love is equivalent to actually telling them you love them, then preparing homemade foods for your baby will be totally fulfilling. Feel free to post any questions in the comments section. Also, check out http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com for great health guidelines, food recommendations by age, recipes and more!

Friday, February 3, 2012

Pray: Teaching our Children

Overwhelming. Huge responsibility. Must not fail. I remember the day Doug and I began discussing bringing a child into this world. We felt excitement, enthusiasm, anticipation and joy as we imagined what our child would be like. The awesome responsibility of parenting began weighing heavily on us from that very moment. How will we teach our child to let her light shine?

Every parent has grand and wonderful plans for their child. We all want the best for them and no matter how blessed our lives have been, we want even more for our children. I know for us, we want Lily to find things she is passionate about and to pursue them with everything she has. For the most part, we will not choose her passions. She may love music or sports or art. She may be an attorney or a teacher or a chef. Only time will tell. Some things, however, are so much more important than her choice to be a pitcher or a pianist or even president. No matter what she chooses for her hobbies or her profession, we want her to be Godly.

I often wonder how we are doing in instilling our spiritual and moral values in our child. My heart sings when I hear her singing "I Like to go to Church" or imitating her Bible class teacher as she lines up her cars and counts to see how many cars came to church. I am encouraged when she tells the checker at Target "tank you." Then I remember that she is 2, and that we have so much work to do to help shape the person she will become.

I was recently reading an article on Dr. Sears' site about raising a moral child. More than once in the article, he referenced a window of opportunity in the first six years of a child's life. In this window of opportunity, children unquestionably accept the virtues displayed in the lives of their parents. We have six years to shape the hearts, minds and souls of our children and then our influence begins to wane. Six years. The awesome responsibility of parenting becomes heavier and heavier.

The Bible (as usual) provides great insight. In Deuteronomy 6:4-9 we read the following:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
"And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

We must immerse our families in the love of God. We must immerse our families in loving God. We must do whatever it takes. In order to have children who love God with all their hearts, souls and strength, we must invite God into every part of our lives. Nothing can be more important.

It is perfectly acceptable to want your children to succeed in other aspects of their lives, but our kids have to see what comes first in our lives. Children listen to our words, but they learn from our actions. If we want their love for God to be number one, they must see God being number one in our lives. It is so much more than having them at church every time the doors are open. They must see us being kind, loving our enemies, helping those who need our help.

We want their lights to shine; let them learn that from us.