mother's day "parade"

Happy Mother’s Day to all the dedicated mothers who make sacrifices daily to love and care for their children! I made this little digital scrapbook layout to honor my own sacrificial Mom whom I love dearly. I was stunned that it only took me an hour to make! I found this cute little freebie digiscrap kit at Delicious Scraps, downloaded it, scanned in two old photos and it came together pretty quickly.

As a mother of young children, I know how hard it is to keep up with child care, housework, shopping, school activities and maintaining a good marriage. So I’ve compiled a “parade” of my favorite resources that have helped me tremendously in hopes that it may help you too.

CHILD DEVEOPMENT:

Focus on the Family Complete Guide to Baby and Childcare – I love that this book covers childcare from the newborn to the young adult stage. It has helpful advice on all aspects of child rearing: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child by Marc Weissbluth - As any Mom knows, naptime is golden! This book has useful sleep strategies for all stages of childhood. It has helped me to help my kiddos sleep regularly and sleep well.

Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp – This book has straightforward advice on training and disciplining children according to Biblical standards.

Babycenter.com – I started receiving weekly updates on my child’s development when I was pregnant with my firstborn. 6-1/2 years later I still get them, for each of my children. It’s a nice little “heads–up” of what’s coming around the corner next.

BABY YEARS:

Baby Bjorn baby carrier – Sometimes a child just needs to be held…for a long time (especially tiny babies). This clever contraption allowed me to multi-task when I had a newborn and other kids who needed me at the same time. I was even able to nurse my baby and clear clutter all at once, though I don’t recommend doing that regularly. It’s too bad I can’t put my 4-year old in one of these during her fussy days when I still have so much to do!

Graco Mosaic stroller – I’ve used several kinds of strollers and I like this one the best. It can be used as a travel system when you click your infant carrier into it and secure it with side straps. It has a decent sized storage basket on the bottom, reclines for napping toddlers, and folds up like an umbrella stroller. The space saving design is a winner in my book!

Amazon Mom – I recently joined this awesome free program where I get diapers and other baby essentials shipped to my house for free. When you sign up with Amazon Mom, you get free 2-day shipping with Amazon Prime benefits and 30% off diapers and wipes with “subscribe & save” delivery as well as other offers. I’ve been able to shop for last-minute birthday gifts and have them shipped to my house in 2 days without having to drag my 3 kids to the toy department at the store. That in itself is worth it! I’m tempted to postpone potty training my 2-year-old just so I can stay in this program.

PLAY & EDUCATION:

Automatic bubble blower – This little machine is worth every penny and every battery! Just set it in the backyard, push a button and your little ones run around like crazy chasing bubbles for quite some time. It depletes their energy in the safety of your home and leaves them ready for naptime – yes!

Starfall.com – My children love this free website where they can learn to read starting from basic ABC’s. I would click through the website with them during lunch time until they learned their phonics. When my oldest grew out of napping, we would use that time to go through the more complicated steps of putting letters together and reading the silly “short vowel sound” stories on the website. She was able to read by the time she was 4 years old. Now my 2^nd child begs me to let her click through it on her own.

Alice in Bibleland books – These little books teach youngsters Bible stores and are short enough to hold a preschoolers attention. The illustrations are beautiful. The stories are written in prose, so it helps your children recognize letter sounds through rhyming. Right now my 4-year-old turns everything into a rhyme…it’s been quite a time…she’s starting to shine…her words are sublime.

Seeds Family Worship – Music is a great vehicle for learning. I still remember songs from 30 years ago when I was a little girl. This series of well-written songs helps the whole family to memorize scripture. The music is contemporary and catchy (listen online for free here). My children love to listen to these in the car. If you buy the CDs, they come with 2 CDs each – one for you, one for a friend. We split the cost with friends from our church.

Ikea’s Smaland – Need a break? Need time to talk to your spouse without interruption? Want to eat a meal in peace? Head over to Ikea, sign your children into Smaland (supervised play area) and grab a bite at their cafeteria or do some shopping. It’s free! Kids have to be 36”-54” and potty trained. You can only leave your kids there for an hour, so don’t get too many ideas. But sometimes one hour of peace is all you need to feel recharged.

DOMESTIC DUTIES:

Household management binder – I started using one of these a few years back, then stopped, then found inspiration to take it off the shelf again. MoneySavingMom.com has a daily docket, cleaning schedule and chore charts you can download for free to get started. It’s a great way to organize all your responsibilities, schedules, kids’ chores and school info all in one place. I also created a master shopping list so I don’t forget important items when I’m at the store. If you haven’t already, give it a try. It may change your life!

E-mealz – A great solution for the 5 o’clock stare into the pantry. This service shops grocery store ads, finds recipes, compiles a shopping list and a meal plan and then emails it to you each week for only $5 a month. I haven’t actually signed up yet (I’m waiting to get out of the picky toddler/preschooler stage) but the whole concept has inspired me to get ahead of the dinner rush.

Glad Press-n-Seal – Fuss no more with clingy plastic! Once you start using this product, you will never go back to plastic wrap again. It’s microwavable too.

Rotary apple peeler/slicer – A gift from my mother-in-law, I use this smart contraption almost daily. It’s also a great help when making apple pie.

Rotisserie chicken from Costco – Need I say more? For $4.99 my family gets a whole chicken cooked to perfection. Yum!

I don’t have servants like the honored ladies in the Bible did. Instead I have the help of modern technology. These little things just make life easier for me and help me focus on the important job of training my children in the way they should go.