Radio Static

Shushing a baby works wonders to calm them down.  Usually the louder it is the better it works.  I sometimes have to get right up into Little Flower's ear to override her cry.  A vaccum works well, too.  It's all about them remembering the soothing sounds of the womb -- mama's heart beat and the swooshing of blood.  I read that the sound can be twice that of a vaccum.  Interesting.

What do you do when there is no vaccum and you can only "shush" so loud without spit getting on the windshield?   (ha ha ha!)

Well, find yourself a static station on the radio and crank it up.  It will catch their attention, calm them down, and maybe even put them to sleep.  Works well when just the movement of the car doesn't fully cut it. 

Just don't plan to have any conversations until baby is asleep and you can turn the static off.

Senior Saints

Worship on the Lord's Day tends to look a bit different when you have a baby.  To some that may sound weird when in most churches you just drop off the wee ones in a nursery and go.  Thankfully, I am attending a church that values family and children of all ages are in the sanctuary for worship.  What better way to teach the little ones about the people of God and His Kingdom (Matthew 19:13-15)?  I could go on there but that is not the point.  During this season I catch different glimpses of our worship service.  I grab tidbits of the sermon being piped into the "quiet" room, which should just be called the "Mother's Room" because there's usually nothing quiet about it.  However, what remains the same for me is being able to observe others in the worship service lifting their hearts, voices, and hands to our Lord. 

This last Sunday our eldest saint, Mrs. W (93), was used in a way to show me the sermon that I missed hearing.  I have had a few opportunities to sit with Mrs. W during the service.  I know that she doesn't know many of the songs that we sing but she knows some.  Our pianist makes sure to play old hymns that she does know during communion and the offering.  Many times I have glanced over to see Mrs. W mouthing the words with the melody.  It always captures my heart.  This last Sunday as we were singing our usual closing song, the Gloria Patri (which was arranged for us by a former member), I noticed Mrs. W singing this song with hands raised.  She's picked up the song over the months and sings it with us.  tears welled up in my eyes as I have thought about all of the years that she has served our Lord.

Husband was filling me in on some of the sermon as we were driving away from the church.  In a quick summary it was about persevering until the end.  I saw that hour plus sermon played out in less than two minutes by a woman who is a living example of what it means to persevere until the end. 

I appreciate the elder generations in our church.  Actually, I appreciate that we are becoming more multi-generational... that there is an appreciation for the new lives and a deep honoring of those who have walked the roads of faith much longer than me.

Baby Burrito

Well, it's a funny thing.  Even little babies change their minds.  ha ha ha!!

Not too long after my post stating that Little Flower no longer wanted to be swaddled we discovered she really did.  The culprit at the time was most likely temperature.  We had a bit of a warm spell and the swaddle we had was a micro-fleece.  Which meant she was probably a little steamy!  When the weather cooled down she was much more comfy in it.  Also, she was outgrowing the one we had.  She's just too tall and a bit broad in the shoulders for the small.  We moved up a size and it helped that I could get it tight enough where she wouldn't break out.  We have also since found some t-shirt material swaddles now that we are reaching up into the 80's.  Makes for a happier baby who is now sleeping through the night.

Just so you know, neither I or my sweet husband were never especially talented at the swaddle (oh to be like the pros in the hospital -- I think they have swaddle machine.  ha ha!) so we had the cheater swaddle.  You know, the ones with a pouch and some Velcro.  However, Little Flower is pretty darn strong.  I am not sure anyone would be able to do a traditional swaddle on her and not have her break out.  Goodness, sometime she breaks out of the Velcro ones!