Friday, November 20, 2009

Stay away from Fabric Softner. Use this instead!

Go to this website and read about fabric softners and why you shouldn't use them anymore. Baking Soda and Vinager are cheap and safe and can do so much more than just clean and soften your clothes. Check it out!
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/02/08/the_toxic_danger_of_fabric_softener_and_dryer_sheets.htm

What's your Love Language

Several years ago I read the book "The Five Love Languages" and discovered my top love languages. The five are: Recieving Gifts, Acts of Service, Quality Time Spent, Physical Touch and Words of Affirmation.
My top two are Quality Time Spent and Acts of Service with Words of Affirmation coming in third place.
Recently I have been asking my close friends what their top two love languages are so that I can have a better understanding of my friends needs and how I can be a better friend to them by showing them that I care for them the way they need to feel loved by me. It really helps to know this because usually the languages that are low on my list are the ones that are high on the list of my friends which can make this a big challenge for me. My husbands love languages are completely opposite from me. He needs words of affirmation and physical touch to feel loved by others. At least the physical touch part by me. I am so bad at meeting his needs because I don't share those same need so I often don't think to compliment him or give him touch as much since I don't need those things to feel loved. Boy! I wish it was easier, but it isn't!
So what's your love language?

Friday, November 13, 2009

Jake's First Check-up

Today Jake is two months old and Jake had his very first doctors visit today in Kokomo. He is as healthy as can be and the Doctor was impressed with how strong Jake is at two months old. He weighed in at 13lb and is 24 inches long. So he has gained nearly 5 lb in the last 8.5 weeks and grew 3.5 inches. I wish I could post some more pics but my computer won't let me.
All is well in the Wisley household! Jake slept from 9:30-5am for me. It was awesome to wake up and not feel tired when I fed him. 6.5 hours of sleep was wondefrul and I was able to get another 2 hours after I fed him so I didn't feel the need to nap today. First time since he was born I didn't need a nap.
He is smiling a ton lately and very close to giggling for us. He likes to talk to me right after I feed him and while he is settling in his crib for a nap if he spits his pacifier out, which doesn't happen very often anymore because he is able to hold it in his mouth so much better now.
Jake still spits up a lot when I feed him but it should last too much longer from what I hear. Nursing is going well and he is nursing a lot faster now so I don't feel like I am feeding him all the time even though he still eats about every 3 hours.
I love having him on a schedule during the day. It makes things so much easier for me because I know what he needs when he cries 95% of the time. I have been using a Feed time/ Wake Time/Sleep Time schedule and it has worked great! Sometime he tries to fall asleep on me when I nurse him so I do all I can to wake him up to make sure he gets a full feeding and not just a snack. This allows him to go a full 3+ hours before he needs to eat again and allows him to sleep longer during the night. I have had some people tell me to just demand feed him whenever he cries. but I didn't want him to grow up thinking that anytime he was upset to turn to food for comfort. I feel that in a way I demand feed him since he demands it when he really is hungry! I just know that not every cry is a means for food. That is why pacifiers are so great. In the words of my dear friend Kari, "Pacifiers are boob savers!"
He has taken a bottle very easily. We have already left him with someone for a couple differents night so Joe and I can get some alone time. This has been hard for me because #1: I miss him a lot #2 I know him better than anyone else and #3 I don't want his schedule to get messed up. I am a little anal when it comes to certain things like Jake but hey, at least I am getting to the point where I am okay leaving him with other people already! I am a first time mom. You know how it was with your first baby. Remember!
Yesterday we went to Shipshiwana to visit our friends Nate and Kari who just had their second baby girl, Jada about 5 weeks ago. It was crazy to see the difference between Jake and Jada. 3 weeks is a big difference. Jake has lost his infant look. Jada was so cute and so tiny! Love and Miss you guys a ton!
Welp, gonna go write some thank you cards that I am three weeks behind on.
God Bless!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The things I love most about being a mom

I love

being a stay at home mom.

seeing the beautiful person that Joe and I created

watching Jake change on a weekly basis

learning his needs based upon the way he cries

seeing him smile at me when I talk to him

knowing that I know what is best for him better than anyone else

being the only person to satisfy his belly when he is hungry

the bond we make during the day because I get to be home with him all the time

reading books to him before he takes a nap

learning how to pray for him and becoming better with my God-time because of him

watching him sleep

watching Joe love on him

seeing positive results from the way I parent

taking pictures of him

hearing people compliment him on how cute he is

playing with him

knowing that it only gets better and better the older he gets

kissing his little head and checks

rocking him to sleep every now and then

hearing him coo

watching him suck on his tongue because he thinks he is still sucking on his pacifier



There is so much more to love about being a mom, especially a first time mom because it is so new to me and I know it will only get better the longer I am a mom.

I prayed a lot for Jake before he was born. I asked God to guide me in all the choices I would have to make for him and also that Jake would be a good, happy little guy, which he certainly is. I prayed that God would direct Joe and I with our parenting in such a way that we will know how to make good decisions for him that follows the way God would parent our son. I continue to pray for him on a daily basis which is something that I was never good at before I had Jake. I always sucked in my prayer life and now love to spend time thanking God for my family and praying for my husband and son on a daily basis. Having a son has changed not just the way my body looks now but the way I want to live my life. I want to live in such a way so that when Jake grows up with us he lives to love others, love God, and serve the world. I am nowhere near doing that the way I really should, but want to teach my son to look to the needs of others before his own and to be generous with everything he has in life. I want him to be a forgiving person when people hurt him and to find forgiveness when he hurts others. I pray that he will understand that no matter what, mom and dad love him, but that the world doesn't revolve around him. I pray that he will think of Joe and I as loving parents and will forgive us for the mistakes we make against him, because I know we will make many of them.

There are so many things to pray for when you really think of it. I trust God in helping me be the mom that he has made me to be and if I can be obedient to the way he has asked me to parent then I know our family will be blessed in more ways then we could ever imagine.

If you are a mom, what are your favorite moments as a mom and what would you do differently if you could go back to when your kids/kid was a baby?