Who is the boss of your body? The one thing that really brings out the mama bear in me is the thought of someone abusing or molesting my children. On the wings of the #metoo movement, and with all the sexual assault in the news lately, it makes me relive my own experiences as a child and strive to do everything in my power to protect my children from any harm or wrongdoing. This book “God Made ALL of Me” was recommended months ago in a Twitter conversation between a co-author and Beth Moore, and I bought it immediately. I wanted to prepare myself to protect my children long before there was ever a need. I wanted to be proactive, rather than reactionary or defensive. I didn’t want to wish I had read this book after something happened, or worry that it might be “too late.”

The Importance of Anchoring Your Furniture!

Did you baby-proof your home? I normally hate to overstep and tell a mom how to parent, but below is an email I received a few months ago from my friend about baby-proofing: a large bureau dresser fell on her son. A lot of times we (read: I) view these stories as examples of neglect, but I have known this friend for several years and she is a diligent, involved, aware mother who never leaves her kids unattended. She’s an ER provider and has seen the worst.

Thankfully her son is ok, but it made me rethink ALL of my reasons for not fully baby-proofing by anchoring some of our furniture (in our house, all furniture in kids’ rooms are anchored but not in our guest or master bedrooms because we were afraid of holes in the walls or wanting to move the furniture around eventually). When we think of baby-proofing, most of us think of outlet covers and door/drawer locks, but it is so much more than that!

November was a busy month of travel for us. My husband was out of town for work for almost a week, and then immediately after he returned, I traveled by plane across the country to visit my sister who I hadn’t seen in almost 2 years. After we returned from that flight, we all packed in the car and traveled by car 9 hours to PA for Thanksgiving. In hindsight, busy doesn’t even seem to be the right word for all that traveling madness… I’m glad I didn’t have to do all that traveling alone with two kids!

Before I had Nora, I traveled alone with Claire quite a bit. I mostly flew, and each time I got better at it. I used what I learned from traveling alone with 1 to hone in on what I would need traveling with two kids, and that became my starting point.

Toddlers are hard. Parenting is hard. God’s mercies are new every morning. Here’s my Thursday: the hard edition.

I desperately want to be the mom who doesn’t need to yell and can keep her composure in the throes of a toddler tantrum. I so want to be the mom who can manage her toddler in such a way that she doesn’t have meltdowns. I let anger and frustration be my driving forces today and look—this sad face was the result! We had a really really really rough and tough start to our day today. . Temper tantrums, tardiness, hurt feelings, reflux, and barf (one caused by reflux, the other caused by the epic tantrum) that resulted in me missing an appointment I really needed. I thought only of myself today and what I needed, and in doing so I failed to give my girls the gentle attention they needed. . I hate the messy days, when I fail to parent with grace and respond with mercy, and instead react out of anger, frustration, and then try to blame it all on no sleep (which was my fault, and no one else’s). . Today was just another hard reminder that my sweet girls need me to bring them to God, not try to “be a good mom” (as if I’m capable of that on my own abilities anyway—ha! If I were, days like today wouldn’t happen). . These children are such a precious gift from above and I want to raise them right. Some days I really wonder if I’m truly up for the task—thankfully I’m not meant to do it alone, and even more thankfully, I don’t have to. Today was another reminder that I need Jesus. He is enough, El Shaddai, the all sufficient nourisher of my soul. . His mercies are new every morning and I’m so thankful for a successful nap time. Tomorrow is another day. I am sorry for my shortcomings, and I pray they can forgive me. Lord, help me point them to You. . Everyone, please: learn from my mistakes. #dailyclaire #morenora #takingbackpostpartum #toddlerinchief #lifewithtwo #ig_motherhood #motherhoodunplugged #reallife #motherhoodthroughinstagram #momlife #momfail #terribletwos #threenager #jesustakethewheel

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