Family Musings

If you have been reading this blog for even a small amount of time will know that I am a school teacher. And you will also know that I have committed to breastfeeding my daughter. These two things could be seen as incompatible. Fortunately, I have a great employer who has worked with me to make sure I have time to pump milk at school for Charlotte to take to daycare. To do that, I use a Playtex Embrace . I have been surprised that more people don't use one since it was so much less expensive than the Medela and other pumps I looked at last summer. The Embrace is a double-pump with a single flange size. I am large breasted (D-E depending on how long it's been :p) and find the flanges are comfortable even though I've heard it can be hard to be comfortable pumping large breasts. I have only heard one complaint about this particular pump and that person said it was slow. I can't say if this is true or not since I haven't tried other pumps, but I am fortunate that I can ...

This is a picture of Charlotte's new friend, Colleen, hanging out with her in the back seat on the way to the Polk County Youth Fair on Wednesday afternoon. We I had a lot of fun looking around at all the different submissions from my students. One of my students took a tri-color ribbon in 2 different categories. Another group of students took Judge's Prize in a chili cook-off. Colleen doesn't do Youth Fair, but lots of her friends do so she agreed to tag along. I think it was mostly so she could hang out with Charlotte. This is a picture of a baby cow nursing from her momma cow. Isn't it cute. Bruce won't really let me post pictures of me nursing Charlotte, but I'm sure he won't mind this one. Probably because the momma cow's teats aren't showing. Isn't the baby cow adorable? I'm sorry my picture isn't so great, but I was in a hurry and Colleen was rolling her eyes at me. I won't get on my nursing in public soap box now, but no one a...

I have a label cloud on the right side of my blog that lets you see what topics I discuss the most. But that is based on labels I assign to my own posts. Then, while playing around in blogland, I found this nifty word cloud, from Snapshirts.com , that scans every post to see which words come up most often. It is more objective than I am. From the looks of this, it appears I talk about my baby daughter Charlotte a lot! And for some reason my name comes up frequently. (I think that's because it is listed as the author of EVERY post.) The word mom comes up a lot... I wonder if I mostly refer to myself or to my own mother?

Recently, I've become better friends with another mother. She is a great woman to bounce ideas off of and will just let me ramble until the answer comes to me, kind of like you, my blog readers. I am blessed to have her in my life because Lord knows Bruce doesn't have a lot of patience for rambling and will just jump in with the answer if I don't get to it quick enough. This relationship is a double blessing though because I also get to be friends with her teenage daughter. She and I hang out after school a few days a week and she is smitten with Charlotte - which makes her A-OK in my book. As is only natural in this season of my life, I've been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between a mother and her daughter. Watching my 2 friends has given me an opportunity to reflect on what happens when 2 women in the same house disagree about something. Now that I am experiencing the mother side of the relationship, I realize that the responsiblity for 'doing it r...

My blog hasn't even been around a year, but people do go looking for it on occasion. I'm not sure why anyone would want to read my little blog, but they go searching for me (or completely unrelated topics) and these are 13 of the best phrases they use to find me. "jenny sabin and new baby" No one calls me Jenny anymore so this must be someone from waaaayyy back... if that was you, you should have left a comment and said hi! And seeing as you've been back several times using that search phrase, why don't you just save my homepage as a favorite, or add me to you blog reader ? It would be easier than always have to go to the same post . "pottery pictures" "pictures of pottery" This search seemed odd to me since I am not a pottery blog, but it brought someone to my site at least 7 times, and this is where they ended up. I'm proud of my family's artistic endeavors, but I doubt this is what someone was looking for, then again... 7 tim...

I love taking personality quizes. I love to know what some computer thinks about who I am. They usually all pretty much say the same thing - that I am a leader and that I tend to be outspoken. So it was no surprise when my most recent test labeled me as an 'advocating leader.' Advocating Leader You cane read my report here: My personalDNA Report I think it is fairly spot-on. Speaking of DNA... I always thought it would be cool to take the DNA from our family and combine it to make a work of art like this or this: Image courtesy of Healthline.com .

Charlotte's favorite lovey is a yellow stuffed animal. I christened it Horsey early on because, well, that is what he looks like to a new mom who isn't getting enough sleep. And because I am the mom, no one questioned me. Until tonight. Tonight, we were out to dinner with another family and Charlotte was pla ying with Horsey while we ate. Now, we know their daughter is bright. I am even known to tell my eighth graders that they are NOT smarter than this particular fifth grader. And now we know that we might not be either, at least not when it comes to identifying animals. When she heard me call him Horsey she asked why we call him that since he looks like a giraffe. Then she pointed out the 2 horn-like things sticking up in between his ears. Are you smarter than this fifth grader? Irrelevant, but related picture - Charlotte has a new seat for when we go out. Isn't it cool?

I have been challenged to write about the one baby product that I could no survive without. It took me less than 30-seconds to figure out that it was our Arm's Reach Co-sleeper . It makes having a happy family and well-rested momma possible. I knew about half-way through my pregnancy that co-sleeping was the right fit for our family. Dr. Sears' research into the habit is pretty clear that it is best for the majority of families. The biggest reservation I had to co-sleeping was what if Charlotte rolled off the bed, or what if I needed some extra wiggle room and didn't want to wake a peaceful baby. The main reason I wanted it is because I knew going back to work would make getting enough sleep very important. The co-sleeper solved all of these problems for me. When we first brought Charlotte home, she would go down each night in her co-sleeper and stay there until she was hungry. When she woke up hungry, I would sit up in bed and lay my pillow on my lap to nurse ...

While technically, Charlotte first tried sweet potatoes on Monday evening, tonight was the first Friday night she had them, so it still counts! Please excuse the video quality, I was trying to feed her and videotape her at the same time. I was mainly trying to capture how she likes to lean into the spoon instead of waiting for it to come to her. Oh, and I updated the Sabin Dome site. Check out pages 9 & 10.

BabyCheapskate shares a 20% off at Big Lots Coupon and $5 off toys at Target. Michelle announces her writing contest winner . You have to read this! Thabati shares dating advice and wisdom? Do you think he is right? Motherwear shares yet ANOTHER benefit of breastfeeding. I'd like to see the formula companies pull this one off!!! Have you thanked your body lately? I'm working on my letter . This video from Girl Talk will crack you up!

That's how long it has been since I posted to this blog. I have some good excuses for not being here in the last week, but you probably don't care. Just know that the threat of having the Barones move in next door was enough to get my keister back to the keyboard! 1. I was visiting my mom last weekend. 2. Then I was taking care of a sick husband. 3. Then the sick husband got pink eye so he couldn't entertain Charlotte. 4. I cut caffeine out of my diet, but Charlotte isn't sleeping more, so we are playing more. 5. We have gone to bed early a few nights this week due to 2 & 4, 6. I get home later now that I go to Curves each day after school. 7. I have to shower after I workout. 8. I couldn't find my camera to post pictures. 9. I was too busy reading these forums . 10. My planning periods were too busy to post a blog. 11. I'm sleeping in later so no time to post in the morning. 12. My baby brain can't remember all of my great post ideas. 13. Did I mention ...

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As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I won a prize giveaway in the Bloggy Giveaway carnival hosted by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer . Today, I received my gift. It is a business card for moms. I can't remember who I won it from though. Maybe she reads my blog and will remind me? Either way, I am so excited and can't wait to get some printed up, hopefully in full color. As an added bonus, it matches my new Vera Bradley hipster bag! The quality of the card doesn't look so great here and I deleted some info to protect myself from stalkers. But maybe if I meet you in person one day, you can receive the real thing!

While I am blessed to have a family that loves me on Valentine's Day... I am even more blessed to have a God that loves me everyday. I hope you'll take a moment to read Carolyn's post for today over at Radical Womanhood . It inspired me this morning to think about Valentine's Day in a new way.

It would be so mice... ... if you would be my valentine! I found the inspiration for these cute little mice at one of my favorite blogs, Scribbit . In an effort to use what I have on hand, I replaced her cute googly eyes with pen dots and found a bunch of tiny heart stickers in my scrapbook folder to use for the ears. Even though she posted this idea with kindergartners in mind, I made these for the workers at Charlotte's nursery and my fellow teachers at school. I hope the recipients enjoy them!

Geez? Hasn't this blogger shown us enough pictures of her little girl? I mean, we get it, she's cute. Okay? Fine, I'll look at more pictures if you're going to make me! At least this time there are stories to go with the pictures. Here, we have a picture of Charlotte in her carseat. She has a fun mirror like toy that helps me see her while I am in the driver's seat. The toy used to light up and play music, but the battery died soon after we installed it. Since you need a screwdriver to get to the battery case the batteries have remained unreplaced for about 4 months now. Sad isn't it? Charlotte has this cool looking Baby Einstein toy and she can only look at it and wonder how cool it might be. Maybe her daddy will read this post and replace the batteries for her sooner rather than later. Of course, now that she is tall enough to kick it, she might not like it anymore. We have been working on Charlotte's relationship with her Grumpy's dog, Mickie. Every...

These pictures are 8 days old already, but I just found them on Bruce's SD card. After looking through all of them and cropping my favorites, I couldn't settle on just 1 to post. So, here are the 2 we liked the best. Which one is your favorite? Dad, I know you took some pictures this past weekend... will you e-mail them to me? Thanks!

It is rare that I get a chance to go somewhere without Charlotte. She pretty much goes with me everywhere (except work of course) and I don't mind it one bit. However, every now and again, it is nice to jump in the car and not have to worry about whether I have enough diapers or a change of clothes for the little girl. Recently, I had 2 chances to go out on my own. The first was to a bridal shower for a couple in our Sunday morning Bible study class. While there would have been several women to cuddle and love on Charlotte, it was a pleasant experience to not have to worry if she is fussing for them or if she needed anything. And, her and daddy had a happy time at home... until the last 15 minutes or so. I was preparing to leave when she decided that momma was the only thing that would make her happy. Then, this morning, while I am at my parent's for the weekend, I left Charlotte with them and went to Target. I like Target and can always find something that I "need!" ...

In case you forgot, I have another blog. Last night, I made a special post there about Charlotte and thought that my faithful readers (all 5 of you!) might like to see what she has been up to. Head on over to EatingItUp to check her out.

I love attention - that is why I started a blog. I knew that there would be a lot of interest in Charlotte and thought I could horn in on it by being the bearer of all news Charlotte related. Now, I have found another way to get attention - beg people to send me a Valentine's Day Card. Don't worry about not having the proper postage, just click the button below to send me a personal V-day message that I won't be able to open until the 14th. Get your own valentinr

I am very please to announce that Charlotte and I made through our first 6 months of breastfeeding! We followed the advice of all the medical professionals knowledgable in the subject and the advice in my heart and made it! I am so happy knowing that I did what was best for Charlotte and also that I can continue to do it even though I have to work outside of the home right now. As some of you know, I've had to pump at work so Charlotte can have momma's milk at daycare. My employer, Frostproof Middle School, has been great in accomodating me. They made sure I had planning periods scheduled so I could pump and no one has looked at me cross-eyed once! I even had a meeting a couple of weeks ago with another staff member while I pumped at my desk. In case you are wondering why the milk in the bottle is gold , "it's colored gold as a reminder that mother's milk is like liquid gold." And anyone who has ever spilled or spoiled a bottle of pumped milk knows that is th...

I know this post is a week over due, but I am just now having a chance to climb out from under a huge pile of e-mail. My Inbox has not been pretty this week. For a girl who likes to keep it under 20 e-mails seeing it balloon to 87 tonight lit a fire under me to get my evening routines finished quickly so I can try and conquer this mass of information! All of that to say... we took Charlotte with us to vote in the Florida primary last weekend and I want to share the picture with you (taken with the camera phone, which is why this is an e-mail issue).

One thing we hope to instill in Charlotte is a passion for mission work. To this end, we have set up an account for her to save money for her first mission trip. We also hope to give her a lot of exposure to real, live missionaries so that she knows they are normal people just like the rest of us sinners. Another way we hope to help her discover a passion for missions is by being faithful to give to missionaries and to help support their work. While visiting Serbia in 2003, I made a friend named Ionel (pronounced Your-nel, pictured left). He has worked amoung the Serbian people for several years now and has a deep desire to see them come into relationship with Jesus Christ. A little over a month ago, he sent us the following letter and gave me permission to share it with you. Dear Friends, In the beginning of September I was on my way to Serbia for another year of ministry among college students in Belgrade. We had a great ministry start! We've begun distributing 6700 copies of ...

Jennifer asked me to guest blog about Charlotte’s huge, mounting debt. It’s really getting out of control and I worry about her future. Of course, Charlotte’s not out racking up the credit card debt or spending her evenings at the track. She just learned to sit up, after all. The problem is our politicians are spending her future. George W. Bush just announced his proposed 2009 federal budget . It calls for $3.107 trillion in spending, which is about 20 percent of the entire US economy, or about $10,241 for every man, woman and child. With that, there is a $307 billion deficit. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that Charlotte can be a high-maintenance girl sometimes, but I’m at a loss to understand how she’s using more than 10-grand in federal government services. The little girl can’t even eat pork yet, but she sure does owe a lot of money for it. Part of her debt came from the $2.4 billion Congress spent on her behalf to build the eight C-17 cargo planes the Air Force said it doesn’t ...

Ha! I knew it wasn't just me (or my friend Angela). Science has proven that my absent-mindedness is not just mental laziness. I think the majority of my forgetfulness is due to a lack of sleep. I am always tired. I don't mind the regular night feedings, I just know I appreciate a full nights sleep even more now!

I was reading this article about an adoptive mom and her struggles to care for her brain-injured niece and stopped dead in my tracks when I read this: "She loved to eat Cheetos and cotton candy." Really? The she being referred to in this quote is a 3-month old baby? How can it be that a 3-month old baby loved to eat Cheetos and cotton candy? How could she have possibly eaten those things? While someone I know and love tried to give Charlotte a french fry around 3 months, I don't really think he was teasing more than actually trying to get her to eat it. I can't possibly imagine what these parents were thinking by giving these treats to an infant. Charlotte is almost 6 months old and won't be getting any table food for awhile. Now that we've made it 6 months, the minimum recommended age by the WHO and a whole slew of other medical organizations, I am waiting for her to show the signs of readiness, as defined at Kellymom.com . Signs that indicate baby is develo...

I can't even begin to express how much fun I had during Shannon's Bloggy giveaway this last week. I must have visited over 300 new blogs, which explains the lack of activity here at Family Musings. Reading all of your cute and funny and touching baby stories made for a good week. It was hilarious to read that so many little ones wanted to know when their daddy's babies were due. We often tease my dad about having triplets any day now! And the cute baby noises, my daughter makes those too! I shared this video and this video of her noises previously. And I was touched by so many of you who wanted to share this gift with someone you know who just had or is expecting a little one soon. Some of you even gave me things to look forward to in raising my own children, or comfort that I'm not the only one that makes mistakes (honey nut cheerios aren't okay?). I was encourage by those of you who shared that you are nursing your babies, so few women do these days. I really wish...

I am so in love wih my daughter. There doesn't seem to be anything she does that doesn't automatically prompt me to kiss her and tell her how cute she is. I think about her all of the time and when she is sleeping I like to look at her pictures and watch videos of her. (I hope this is normal.) It really isn't fair though for Bruce and I to keep her all to ourselves though, so here are some pictures and video from the last week or so. This first clip is from last night. We had company over and their oldest son found Charlotte's masochistic side. Everytime he would drop to the ground as if he had tripped, she would let out this infectious little belly laugh. You can't reallysee Caleb in this video, but you can hear him and he had a grand old time making our baby girl laugh. She has never quite given anyone this much laughter all at once. It went on for quite a long time and when the adults got a bit tired of the gig, Charlotte and Caleb were still going at it! As I me...