My sisters all insisted that I should have a profile shot when I was pregnant.  I think this was taken about three weeks before the twins were born.  As you can see from the picture, I am just thrilled to have my picture taken :).  But I am posting it in good faith because I agreed to…

I am a little behind in posting birthdays and such.  I found these photos on my laptop today.  They are of my son’s third birthday.  He wanted a dinosaur cake, and my ten year old suggested a waterfall.  I thought it turned out very nicely.

As you can see the dinosaur balloon was nearly as big as he was!

On Sunday, March 1st, we welcomed our baby boy twins into the world.  Joshua was born first, and weighed in at 6 lbs and 7 oz.  Peter came within seconds of Joshua and weighed in at 5 lbs. 2 oz.  It took me almost a week to e-mail my closest friends, (we came home from the hospital on Friday and I sent e-mails on Saturday I think…) so it should come as no surprise that I am just now getting pictures up on my blog…  

Here they are:

 Jonathan with Joshua

Peter in Bouncy Seat

I also posted more pictures here and on facebook.

ABC Bible Memory Verse Songs

in King James Version!!!

by Sonbeams

This recording of 26 King James memory verses is on sale for just $7.95 — only today, Sunday, February 1st. Look for my longer review, but I really wanted to help get the word out about this fantastic sale.

I grew up in a minister’s home, and I do not remember a time that I was not aware of the love of Jesus.  I can still remember the day that I realized that Jesus died for ME, because I too had sinned.  I was around 8 years old.  Shortly after this day, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and was baptized at our small church in Petersburg, IN.

Having grown up in the home of Christian people, I cannot share a dramatic account of my conversion.  It was all very simple; and I try to keep it that way when I talk to people about Jesus.  Most of the people I have talked to about Jesus are shocked when I admit that I sin.  They assume that because I grew up in such an environment and have been a Christ-follower for as long as I remember, I would consider myself “above” others somehow.  Instead, I focus on the redeeming power of Christ, and the fact that not one of us is even capable of leading blameless lives — my sins are not any less agregious then the sins of the murderer.  I sin.  I have Christ’s redemption.  You sin.  You need Christ’s redemption.  It doesn’t get any simpler then that.

Amy Blevins
35 years old, and still passionate about God’s saving grace 

I have been dreading the whole potty training struggle with my two year old for a while.  He turns three in just a few weeks; and the twins are due in 12 weeks.  I’ve been thinking it would be nice to have potty training out of the way before I have to spend all hours of the day and night breastfeeding; but I wasn’t sure I had the stamina to complete the task.  And, with potty training, a perpetually half-completed task is worse then an unstarted task!  I always use the techniques found in the book:  Potty Training in Less Than A Day by …  with varying success.  So that was my plan:  lots of juice, practice running to the potty, positive rewards, sitting on the potty every fifteen minutes.  It’s pretty intensive!  Well, guess what?  My plans were completely revised by a little guy who really, really likes to “do it myself Mama.”

It all started when I noticed he would be dry after naps; and even sometimes in the morning.  Whenever he was dry, I would have him go potty.  Pretty soon, he was going potty fairly often and he was all about “do it myself Mama.”  One day, we had a heart to heart.  ”You know,” said I, “when (his brother) was almost three, I started telling him he couldn’t wear diapers anymore after he turned three.”  

“No diapers?” asked the two year old.

“That’s right,” I answered, “when brother turned three, he started going in the potty every time and he got to wear big boy underwear.”

“Me want to wear underwear,” was his response.  

“Cool underwear, with Lightning McQueen on them?” I probed, hyping it up.  Of course, he answered in the affirmative to that one.  What three year old wouldn’t?

“Well, on the day you turn three, you can stop wearing diapers and I’ll take you store and buy you Lightning McQueen underwear.”

“Me want underwear RIGHT NOW,” said the boy.

After going back and forth with him for a few minutes, my compromise was to promise that if he kept his diaper dry all day, we would go get him underwear at Target.  I didn’t expect him to comply, but he sure did!

We’ve had a few accidents along the way, tapering off to one every few days now.  Maybe we would have less if I forced Potty Training In Less Than A Day methods; but he hates all of them.  No juice, no extra trips to the potty, no practice runs, thank you very much.  ”Me do it myself.”

I love it when little ones take these matters into their own hands!  This task I dreaded has actually turned out to be quite a bit of fun, and encouraging success.  

I get a two to three month break from diapers!  Life doesn’t get any better then that :).

What brings you joy as a mother?  What sorts of things happened in your home this week that made your heart smile?  Share with us!

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To post a Mondays On Mothering ( a Meme for You) blog entry, follow these steps:

1.  Write a blog post  about something you love about mothering, something about mothering that brings you joy.

2.  If you want to use my graphic; you are welcome to upload my graphic.

3.  Come to my blog, and sign the Mr. Linky on my current Mondays On Mothering post or send a message to the new M.O.M. group on Facebook so that others can read your post and be encouraged!  You are welcome to put a link back to this entry in your post as well, but it is not necessary :).

4.  Visit the other Mondays On Mothering posts, and be encouraged!

Our first baby turned 10 on December 27th.  Here are some pictures of her big day!

After the Obstetrician told me I should not be traveling in my condition (26 weeks with twins!) we had to dramatically alter our vacation plans.  Instead of driving 14 hours each way to visit extended family in Indiana, we ended up home.  But, instead of spending tons of time on the computer; we put our time to good use. Here is what we were up to:

The little kids were “allowed” to help — they each spent a brief amount of time painting the wall with a paintbrush :).  The big kids actually got complete lessons in how to properly roll a wall with a roller.  Most of the work was done by Mom and Dad though.  Yes Mother, I actually got down on my hands and knees and painted all of the trim within my reach twice, and helped roll.  We painted the living room, dining area which we use as a library, and bathroom on the main level.  Now it matches our kitchen and eating area! Everything looks fresh and new, which is fun.  We still have to put back most of the furniture, unfortunately my husband came down with a virus this morning and is down for the count; so moving furniture will have to wait.

What did you do on your vacation?

Merry Christmas from the Blevins’ Family!

Greetings all.  We will not have any Mondays on Mothering until after the holidays, on January 6th.  Thanks!

Amy

Here They Are

During the holiday season is a great time to get started with Paperbackswap.  Here are my tips and tricks to make it worthwhile.

I recently had someone tell me that paperbackswap just wasn’t worth the time, or the gas money involved in sending books.  I have a shelf full of books convincing me to stick with it; and I would like to give you some general hints about how this works.

For about 50 cents more then postage and gas, you can print the postage on the book wrapper at home and mail the book from home.  You can figure out your gas costs to the post office when you are ready to print the wrapper.

I spend about $2.50 per book, including gas.  Ask yourself if you can get the specific used books you want more cheaply.

I found out I was 67 down on the waiting list for a certain book when I added it to my wish list.  Four weeks later, it was in my home because no one else had saved credits, purchased credits, or even still wanted the book.

Sometimes, you have to wait a while for the books you want to become available.  Don’t give up!

Every time you see a book recommended that sounds interesting, go put it on your wish list.  If more then one edition is available, put every single edition of the book on your wish list.  Most people will just wish list the first copy listed on their search.  Wish listing multiple editions gives you a greater chance of getting the book.

Use the tag function to find books in a set quickly.  Let’s say you are looking for all of the books used by a specific curriculum.  Pick one of the books on the list, and enter the title into the search field.  Choose All Books instead of just Posted Books for your search.  When the book shows up, look at the tags.  If one of those tags is the curriculum name and grade; you can click on the tag and quickly see all the other books in the system tagged with that same name and grade.  If the book doesn’t have a useful tag, you can add one (helping others out) and then search for another book on your list until you find one with the tag.  Finding a tagged book and looking at all the other books with the same tag dramatically reduces search time as compared to entering each title separately in the search box.  I am hoping they will soon add the functionality of searching by tag.

Check out this list of books I received through paperbackswap in just a few short months.  Read about how paperbackswap works here.

Don’t you just love that sound?  I mean, the sound of a dishwasher running, cleaning and sanitizing your dishes.  That sound is the sound of a task completed!  After writing about kitchen housework in my last article, I started thinking about some of our habits that probably help me be able to empty and fill my dishwasher so quickly.  Here’s what we do:

Everybody Carries.  The smallest of children are trained to carry their own dishes from the table to the counter, every meal.  Truly, we only had to train our oldest children.  The younger two have both learned to do this, because they want to be like the big kids. :).  I still have to remind everyone at times, but for the most part it is a wonderful habit.  Even at Grandmas house, the children get up from a meal and carry dishes to the sink.  How does this help?  Well, if you include steps back and forth from the table while you clear all the dishes yourself, you will probably add several minutes to your time.

All Dishes in Easy Reach.  Having lived in 9 houses since our marriage 15 years ago, I realize not every kitchen is perfect.  Here is one thing I have always tried to do.  Put as many of your daily dishes within easy reach of your dishwasher as possible.  In our current home, the silverware, plates, bowls, serving dishes, measuring spoons and mixing bowls are all within easy reach of the dishwasher.  I can stand in one place, and put all of those items away.  I do have to close the dishwasher to get into some of the lower cabinets, but it does work.

Sort Dishes by Type.  Since my drinking cups are all in a cabinet several steps away from the dishwasher, as I empty I simply make a stack of cups on the counter next to me.  When I am finished with everything else, I carry the cups to their location.  The same thing is true of our knives.  We keep our knives up high out of reach of little hands, so I usually gather those up last from the dishwasher and carry them to location. Every saved step saves time!  Even removing and stacking the plates all at once, removing and stacking the bowls all at once, and removing and stacking the measuring cups all at once saves time over putting each item into the cabinet individually!

Don’t Spend Too Much Time Rinsing.  Most modern dishwashers do a great job of rinsing loose food off of dishes!  It is easy to spend way too much unnecessary time rinsing.  Once in a while, see how much you can get away without rinsing.  Put dishes in the dishwasher you don’t think will come clean.  Run a test!  When you must rinse, only rinse the bare minimum.  Let your dishwasher do it’s job.

Rinse and Stack Dishes by Type.  Sorting works going in to the dishwasher too!  I still pre-rinse plates of food and messy dishes, and as I rinse I also sort and stack items by type.  When I start putting those dishes into the dishwasher, all the silverware is ready to go in one place, all the upper rack stuff is together, all the plates are together, etc.  

Concentrate and Work Fast.  It might seem obvious to concentrate on the task at hand; yet too often I find myself stopping to talk on the phone with one hand, or chatting with a child, or helping someone get a drink  All of those things can wait until the task at hand is finished.  A fast, concentrated worker finishes much more quickly!  Next time you clean the kitchen, see how many distractions come your way — then work to eliminate them!  One trick I have is to get all of my children sitting at the kitchen table with crayons or pencils and paper.  This keeps them occupied while I work.  Maybe your children prefer playdough, coloring books, or some other diversion?  When all else fails, try an audio book :).

Time Yourself!  After you have an idea of how long it takes you now, try implementing a few of these ideas and let me know how it goes…