Growing up too fast??

I watch GMA sometimes in the morning while waiting for Olivia’s mom to show up.  The past few mornings they have talked about things that have my mind going crazy with a question they asked:

Are kids growing up too fast?

Abercrombie and Fitch has a padded bikini for girls as young as 6/7.  I am not even pulling out my soap box on this one!!!  SERIOUSLY??  What are they trying to teach these little girls about self image??  At such a YOUNG AGE!!! I wasn’t a big fan of A&F, but they are definitely on my No-Go list now…

There is also a baby doll that comes with a bra for the little girls to wear, the baby interacts with the bra to make sucking sounds to simulate breast feeding.

I am ALL for breast feeding. I know that breastfeeding is the best way to boost a child’s immune system, give them all the nutrients they need to grow.  It is the perfect food for newborns and infants. I support my mommy friends in whatever way they choose to feed their babies.  I know that some women do not produce milk on their own so they use formula, some women breast feed until their child is close to 5, and some go straight to formula for whatever reason they have.  I am fine with any of it.  I choose to breast feed Lily as long as I could (Well, I wanted to until she was close to 1), it wasn’t as long as I wanted, but I did what I was able to do.

So back to this doll-  I have mixed feelings about it. I’m not really sure how I feel about this doll. While I support breastfeeding, do I want my daughter to have a doll specifically made to do that?  Some viewers of GMA made these points---That by giving this doll to young girls it was in a way training these girls to have children at a young age.

Others said it was natural for the girls to do something like this with regular dolls especially if they have seen their moms breastfeeding. They say there are dolls that eat and poop, sleep, crawl and cry.  Why not a doll that does something natural like breast feeding?

I occasionally let Lily wear lip gloss. When she and her Daddy went on the Daddy Daughter date back in Feb. I let her wear a little lip gloss and some pale shimmery pink eye shadow.  I don’t let her wear this often and don’t plan to let her wear regular make up until she is in her teens.  I think that the length (or lack of) of shorts for girls is ridiculous!  When I can see the hem of panties showing from the hem of the shorts I think it is time to either do some sewing or do some shopping!!  

I don’t want Lily to be 15 at the age of 5.  I want her to be a child.   I want her to enjoy her childhood, to keep the sweet innocence that only children have.  I want her to stay 4 forever if you really want the truth, lol, but while that will not happen, I do want her to stay young as long as possible.

So- again back to the doll-  I’m just not sure… Do I like it? I like that it is showing and encouraging a good thing, I like that it is a natural, God-given part of mother hood. If Lily were to breast feed one of her other baby dolls I wouldn’t stop her…  But am I ready for Lily to have a doll like this?   I really don’t know.  She has only seen one person breast feeding and she really didn’t care about it then.  If the topic ever came up I would tell her that God made a woman’s breast special to provide food for a baby.  But do I want her having the doll? I don’t want her to have the doll that cries or poops- noise and mess?? hmmm…

I have attached the link if you want to read about it …What do you think?? 

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/breast-feeding-doll-parents-controversy/story?id=13248646

Warming Gods feet

We had the youth over this weekend.  It was Disciple Now weekend, they were studying about worship.  We hosted the middle school girls (8 total) and 2 middle school boys (they were a last minute addition).  It was a FULL house, but it was fun, too.

Saturday night we offered to do a bonfire for the whole group, middle/high/college groups.  As Jon and I were getting the fire going, awaiting the youths arrival, Lily said this…

“I bet God is happy!”

“Why is that?” I asked

“Because this fire is so high it is warming His feet.” 

 

Poor little Tree frog!!!

Lily got sick!  Yesterday she was complaining all day of her stomach feeing funny.  I thought it was because of having such a busy weekend, eating a lot of junk food, later bed time, unusual schedule…  I just told her to sit down for a while, take it easy. 

Well, last night while I was at Zumba, she threw up twice.  Jon was with her and he said he felt so scared and unsure how to comfort her.  A little 4 year old, scared and throwing up.  She is normally all rough and tough and she so quickly became a tiny scared mouse.   It breaks my heart just thinking about it.

I called Olivia’s mom and let her know not to bring Olivia today, that we weren’t sure what Lily had.  She woke up this morning feeling a lot better.  She was talking a lot and wanted to go outside and play- both good signs, but she spiked a temperature.  It got up to 101 at one point.  I gave her a little Tylenol to reduce the fever.  She is now in bed, sleeping soundly. 

We are so blessed that she so rarely gets sick that I hardly know what to do when she is sick…  I hope she is fully recovered tomorrow.  I hate to make her sit quietly when it is so pretty outside. 

Now,lets hope what she had isn’t contagious…

A Perfect Day!!!

Warm sunshine with the cool breeze blowing in from the lake. 

**************

The sounds of the wind chimes playing their sweet calming melodies. 

**************

A 1 year old taking extra long naps and a 4 year old digging up worms and enjoying being outside.

**************

The dogs resting in the sunshine, the cats sitting by my feet.

Sitting on the front porch, wearing a favorite summer skirt, sewing the pocket on my Tree frogs apron.

**************

Laundry drying on the line.

**************

Family down to visit, laughter all day long.

**************

A special trip for Lily and her Lou Lou and Chance.

**************

An exciting weekend planned, lots to look forward to!

. 

A Perfect Day!

 

Zumba

**Please turn off my playlist at the bottom to listen to the music here**

I LOVE ZUMBA!!!!  I cannot tell you how much it ROCKS!!  Not only is it an hour of ‘me time’, but it is time spent for my health.  Zumba is a cardio exercise that incorporates Latin dance moves with exercise.  It is fun, invigorating, exciting…  I leave after class grinning because of the laughs had, friendships made and the sweat rolling down my skin letting me know that I did good! 

This is a great form of exercise for me.  I am somewhat limited in what I can do as far as exercise, but I can rock out to the music, I can shake and twist and occasionally do a few squats… But overall I can have fun, get a work out and get a few minutes to myself all at the same time!  I am loving Zumba!!!

This song makes me want to get up and shake my booty every time I hear it… A lot of the dance moves the animals are doing are very similar to what we do in my Zumba class… If you have someone nearby that teaches Zumba you should go, check it out, sweat a little and laugh a lot!

I like to move it, move it - From the movie Madagascar… also one of Lily’s favorites to walk around and sing!

~  Kristina

bloggy anniversary

I cannot believe I have been blogging for a year!!! WOW!  This past Saturday was my one year anniversary…  I would have blogged on that wonderful day, but with weather temps in the high 70’s, I had Zumba in the morning, working on our garden during the day and an engagement photo session that evening.

I started blogging because an old friend had started  and was saying how great it was to be able to write out her thoughts, almost therapeutic in ways. So I decided to try, too.  I have many thoughts going through my mind all the time, it would probably be a good idea to get some on paper, so to speak.

I initially wanted my blog to be about my friends and family.  I wanted to write about all the blessings and people in my life that I love and care about, those who help me out- hence the name my cup of sugar…  They have been my cup of sugar over the years and I just love them!!  I wanted to write about books I was reading.  At the time I was reading The Power of a Praying wife by Stormie Omartan. 

I have meet some wonderful women while blogging.  I have been inspired to do more, to be better.  I have learned about patience and persistence.  You all have given me such great advice and support, suggestions and so many laughs.  I am so thankful that you have allowed me to spend time with you and to learn from you.  I am so thankful for your friendship!!!

So, as my new years starts (in this bloggy world) I want to say thank you to you ladies-  you are all cups of sugar in so many ways!!!

~ Kristina

 

March madness

I cannot believe it is March alredy... I know, I am into the second week of March, but it is just now hitting me. We have sunshine today, but alot of rain tomorrow and temps back down in the 40s... not too thrilled with that. I had gotten use to the warm 60/70 degree weather from the past few weeks. (I cannot believe I just blogged about the weather...)

Olivia has warmed up to us, well Lily and myself. She is still a bit apprehensive about Jon. I have gotten pretty use to having a 1 year old around my feet again, but am still having trouble doing daily things. I finally have peace about not having a baby of my own, I am almost turned off by the thought of loosing sleep, changing diapers all the time, feeding every two hours, etc... But this little cutie, alseep on a folded quilt, well, I wouldn't mind keeping her forever! :)

Life is busy here. I wake up, feed breakfast to anything with a mouth, read books to the girls, clean the kitchen, change diapers (Lily hopes each one is dirty, I pray none of them are), clean up the house, make lunch, clean the kitchen again, get the kids down for nap and quiet time, I get a couple hours for myself- usually spend working on photos, then snack, clean diapers, play, more books, 30 min tv show, Olivia goes home. It is usually then that I realize that I forgot to take something out of the freezer for supper, I rack my brain and search my pantry for quick meals that will fit into the Thrive meal plan, fix supper, clean the kitchen, clean up Lily, brush teeth, read a book and off to bed for her. I spend a few minutes cleaning up the house, again, then shower and bed for me, knowing that in 9 hours I will do it all over again.

Funny thing is- I love it! Well, most of the time. I love being here to take care of my family. I love teaching Lily how to make smart decisions about food, about clothes to wear that day. I like teaching her how to weight decisions to make the right or best one for her and for her day. We really havent been doing "school" much these past few weeks. I am finding it hard to teach her while Olivia is trying to get into all of Lily school stuff. Lily also doesnt like her messing with her stuff. I am the same way though. I am just having a hard time getting into a good functional routine these past few week, I cannot get motivated to sit down with Lily and work on stuff... I am also ADD which doesnt help. speaking of which- I miss having m ADD cleaning days, you know, those days where you pick up one thing to put it away then see something else that needs to be done. ie: cleaning the living room I see a hair brush, I pick it up to take it to the bathroom when I realize the bathroom needs cleaning. I clean it up, take the towels out then decide to do a little laundry. That is when I see shoes at the front door that need to go to my room... Alot of fun (for me anyway) a bunch of little things get cleaned up and I am moving constantly so I feel better. This is hard to do with a 1 year old following everywhere.

I had the spring consignment sale this past weekend. I LOVE IT!!! I get 2 days, all to myself. I take the clothes up on Thursday noon-ish, spend all day in Newnan and shop that evening, then I go back Saturday to do a little 1/2 price shopping and pick up whatever didnt sell. It is awesome. A day just to me. A day to hunt for clothes for Lily for the upcoming season. I look for both play and good clothes, I look for shoes, a few toys, books... This year I found a few books for science for school. She has already gone through most of them, I am excited she likes them so much. I also found a book on tissue paper flowers. We have made a few already and it is SO easy and so pretty! Lily likes to blend the colors together to make rainbow flowers.

Thursday I go to N. Ga for a sewing expo. SUPER excited about this, too!! I am hoping to take my sewing machine and maybe get it fixed while there. I miss not being able to sew, I have a pile of patterns that are pinned, they just need to be stitched together. Dresses, aprons, baby stuff... I could probably spend all weekend just sewing and I might get caught up :)

Maybe this is why we haven't done much school work. Every week for the past month there has been something planned at least once a week that puts a kink into the rest of the week. Well, I will hope that is the reason. This Thursday is the last "planned" event until May, so maybe we can finish up lessons by then...

Sorry for the randomness of my thoughts today. I just had alot bouncing through my head :) I hope you all are doing well!!

~ Kristina

Helping out

I LOVE being a stay-at-home mom.  I love that I have the opportunity and privilege and challenge of homeschooling my daughter.

     But there are times that I want to help out, other than what I already do around the house.  Jon is so great at taking care of us, in so many ways.  He has almost always worked 2 jobs.  Partly because he loves to work, partly because of financial needs.  I have my own business K Kessler Photography but it is still pretty small and new and most income that comes in goes back into the business. 

     Jon’s new job has been a blessing from God- nothing less than a blessing from Him!!  It comes with many benefits and perks, but also a few downfalls.  We are covered, as a family, for dental.  He has Medical and vision.  Lily is covered with medical as well through a different provider, but I am left without right now.  I was diagnosed Hypothyroidism a few years ago.  It was about 18 months ago that the DR decided that she had done enough blood tests to “confirm my diagnosis” and prescribe me medicine.  The loss of Jon’s job  last spring resulted in the loss of medical insurance and the loss of my medicine.  I have been coping with the side effects, but would still like to feel somewhat “normal” again… if that makes sense…

I have started selling Avon (click here for link) in hopes that the income from it will help out with paying bills, and putting into savings and aside for retirement.  I am hoping that we can build our savings back up, pay off the last of the loans, put money into our IRA and other retirement funds…  I hope this will ease the burden of Jon, ease the strain of trying to get ahead of the bills, help out with fixing this old house.  I know that money does not buy happiness, security or peace.  These only come from Him, but it is still comforting to know that we have a little set aside in case of an emergency, or for our future or Lilys!! 

Anyway-  all this to say that if you use Avon products or are interested in seeing what all they have to offer feel free to browse through my site.  You can order directly from my site and have it shipped straight to you.  They have so many new products out, and will have a new line of baby care products out starting in April.

~  Kristina