I zip him up in his footed pajamas, the one that has the little smiling dinosaurs all on it. The house is quiet, not yet filled with our girls’ bedtime stories told by my husband. I hold my baby close to my chest in the silence of the dusk, soaking in his infancy. This was the moment I had been yearning for since I said goodbye to him nearly eight hours earlier. No one can really prepare a mother for the day she goes back to work. For weeks, the day had been stuffed in the back of my mind. …
TMI asks our readers 5 Questions about Being a Mom of Young Children
As a mom of three kids under the age of four (we have twins and a newborn) I will be the first to admit that I don’t have all the answers when it comes to parenting little ones. I love getting advice from friends with kids just a few years older than mine or even reading stories from my fellow M.O.M’s here at The Mom Initiative. Today, I’d like to ask YOU, our readers some of the questions I hear most often from younger moms: 1. How do you get your child to eat something besides chicken nuggets or a …
a letter to the second time mom
Hey there, you second time mom. Here you are, with a baby on your bust and another by your side. Yep, your hands are full yet so is your heart. As you gaze at your new addition, you wonder how you could have ever lived without him. For nine months, you wondered the complete opposite: how am I going to manage having more than one child? You tried to prepare your first child to become the big kid around the house but you were always unsure exactly how she would react when the baby came along. You’ve probably gotten …
more than family
My sister-in-law, Kari Beth, is more than family to me. She’s my friend. Before she and I married brothers, we shared a suite in our freshman dorm. It was totally arranged by God that we would be suitemates because we had actually met as little girls through a mutual friend who had moved from Kari Beth’s hometown to mine. So, when her dark ponytail bounced through our bathroom door to say hello on a blazing hot August day ten years ago, I knew that this was someone meant to be in my life. Since then, we’ve shared pizza together in …
When Mom Isn’t So Merry
It happened again this morning. I was irritated at my children; desperately trying to get them to school on time. The twins are only in preschool but some mornings I feel like I have two teenagers on my hands. And, I do what I hoped I wouldn’t: I snap. It doesn’t help that it’s December, one of the craziest months of the year. It doesn’t help that I’m pregnant and working and quite honestly tired. It doesn’t help that my husband is traveling and the dishes are piled up in the sink and those crazy fruit flies have appeared again …
3 Ways to Teach Kids Outdoors
Before we start on today’s powerful post by Christen Price, we want to announce the winner of NOT ALONE by Dineen Miller and Lynn Donovan. CONGRATULATIONS to Jennifer Gearheart! You will be receiving an email today! Thank you for participating in the giveaway! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Fall is here and its a great time than to get outside to teach our kids. I have preschoolers and some of our favorite activities recently have all been taught outside. Here are three fun ways to teach your kids outdoors: 1. Teach Kids About Farming It is harvest season and there are so many crops being …
10 Party Planning Tips
One of my absolute, all-time favorite things to do is plan a party. Oh, I get so excited thinking about the details of a party: the theme, the food, the decorations, the party favors, the outfits…..it can all be so wonderful. But, party planning can also bring out the “Crazy Christen” side too: the panic, the frustration, the sharp tongue (anybody with me?). Here are 10 tips I’ve learned about staying “cool” instead of “crazy” while party planning: 1. Remember the reason for the party. When my girls turned one, all I wanted to do was celebrate their lives …
what NOT to say {when you hear good news}
Recently, I shared on my blog that I’m pregnant. My husband and I are expecting our third child to arrive in March. It’s been fun to share the good news with family and friends and it’s been even more humorous to hear some of their responses. We’ve received these lines so far: “Are you sure you are having only one this time?” “Were you planning on this?” “You are going to have your hands full.” “Time for you to get snipped, mister.” Since we already have twins, I expected many of these responses. There is a lot of truth in …
A Key Worth Finding
“Where are my keys?” I ask this question quickly as time escapes the morning. The twins were in their corduroy jumpers filled with patterns of fuchsia, lavender, and apple green. My hair was combed, make-up applied, body dressed for March weather. Juice bottles were fixed, snacks were made. It was five minutes to nine and we had to get out of the door now to make it just in time to our destination. But, where were my keys? “Adeline, Maralee, do you know where Mommy’s keys are?” Grins splash across their faces as they dash into the next room. Following …
when it is time to rest
It seems that our bodies are made to go on strike even when we don’t want them to. We are too busy, too much is going on for our bodies to sit and say “I’m done. I need rest.” But, against our will to keep going, doing, and being, our bodies declare that it is time to stop. Last week, three hundred kids gathered at my church to attend Vacation Bible School. As the coordinator of our Children’s Ministry, I had been working for months, weeks, and countless hours each day on making our VBS the best experience it could …