Hey, Mrs. Wilson!

The Shack is about a father whose six-year-old daughter is kidnapped while on a camping trip. Mack, the main character, was saving another of his children from almost drowning when Missy was taken. The police traced Missy’s trail to a shack high in the mountains and found her blood soaked dress, but no body. This totally hit home for me. Missy was six when she was kidnapped and murdered. My daughter is six. I cannot even begin to imagine something like this happening to her.

Continue reading at God Chose Me.

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Disclaimer: Please forgive my incoherentness in the review, the book has so much in it and it is quite late at night!

So why the heck have I copped out on you the last couple days with boring posts? I’ve been reading The Shack by William P. Young. I’ve had mixed reviews from friends and the internet and I intend to tell you what I gleaned from the book tomorrow (because at this moment I am too lazy sleepy).

But since you came here to be amused, not bored, I will leave you with this link that I found over at Oh My Stinkin’ Heck (she’s the coolest). I’m tempted to get one just because it’s so cool. But, (a) I have no idea what it costs, (b) I do not have any money to spend on things I just think are cool (and because I’m assuming that it is not quite so cheap), and (c) I do not need it.

Darn not needing things that are cool (to me).

I’ve given in to The Man. I’m in the process of getting ads onto my blog (thus the third column). Don’t feel obligated; but, if you see something you like, click away!

Soother, pacifier, suckie, plug … it is a thing that we cannot live without. I know, some people choose not to use it, some people’s babies do not like it, but my baby is a soother baby. She’s had it since Day 2 (within the first 24 hours, but the next calendar day).

Why do I use the soother? Because life without it would be H-E-double hockey sticks. (Hi honey!) We’ve been using the Babywise book(s) with Liliana and one thing they say is not to use a sleep prop - such as a soother. So? Too bad. I’m using a soother. Besides putting Liliana to sleep instantly (and easily!), it stops her from grinding her teeth (and therefore saves my sanity), it keeps her happy when it’s not quite feeding time, it keeps her quiet in church (and during football games) when she wants to talk … its uses are endless!

“Studies” show that soothers are bad for a baby’s teeth and they are hard to wean off of. But? Kaylie has perfect teeth and had a soother until she was 3 (no scolding, okay?). One day I just “lost” it and she didn’t miss is. Studies can be wrong. With Liliana I’m hoping to wean her by the time she’s 2, or 18 months … sometime before she starts Kindergarten.

I’m watching Brining Home Baby on TLC playing Little Miss Know-it-all thinking Those people REALLY need to read Babywise! We all have those know-it-all moments, right? Just me? I’ll admit to it.

In this life I’m a woman.
In my next life, I’d like to come back as a bear.
When you’re a bear, you get to hibernate.
You do nothing but sleep for six months.
I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate, you’re supposed to eat yourself stupid.
I could deal with that too.

When you’re a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you’re sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs.
I could definitely deal with that.

If you’re mama bear, everyone knows you mean business.
You swat anyone who bothers your cubs.
If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too.
I could deal with that.

If you’re a bear, your mate expects you to wake up growling.
He expects that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.

Yup, gonna be a bear.

Over the past week I have been stressed beyond … anything. You know the blissful time after 8:00 pm (in our house anyway), when you’ve put your kids to bed and you chill by yourself or with your spouse and you unwind quietly after the day? That part of my day has been non-existent this week.

I have a hard time saying no. I got a call about a month ago from a young girl who was looking for someone to look after her 8-month-old baby while she worked. It didn’t even cross my mind to ask what kind of hours it would be. You’re asked to babysit while someone worked, you assume that it’s daytime hours, right? Wrong.

Apparently I signed up to watch D from 12:30 pm or 3:30 pm until 10:00 pm. On Thursday I cried 3 times. I can’t handle having a cranky baby when my babies are sound asleep in their beds not to be heard from for the next 10 hours.

I felt bad for the mom because I know what she’s going through. I’ve been there. I’ve done the working single mom thing. I was immensely blessed by God through people when Kaylie was a baby. I guess I felt like I should bless her like people blessed me. The problem? I don’t have the gift of childcare.

I’ve watched my friends’ kids in the past, and it’s been no problem. I’ve actually enjoyed it. But, it was a one time thing. This every day until 10? Not enjoyable. I dreaded when D’s mom would drop her off and I looked forward to the time she went home. I counted down the minutes until I left to pick up her mom and drive them home.

So, yesterday I called D’s mom and said that I couldn’t watch her baby anymore. I told her that I’d watch her for the week but that she’d have to find someone else after that. A wise woman said yesterday that God calls us to be a wife and mother first, then everything else. I can’t be the wife and mother God wants me to be if I have the responsibility of having someone else’s cranky kid until 10 every night. My kids didn’t even have baths this week. How horrible is that?

I said no. I have to learn to ask more questions first, and say no before I end up in water so deep I’m about to drown.