April 18, 2008
Women in Art
Someone sent Tim a link to this work of digital art.
It's odd, beautiful, and strangely compelling.
Posted by Tim and Jo at 03:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 04, 2008
Sleeping through the night...
We don't want to get excited too early, but the kiddos have decided to start sleeping through the night.
Not quite sure how this happened, we haven't been pushing for it (they're only 3.5 months old), but we've been letting them determine their own night time feeding (we feed them both at the same time--so whoever wakes up first calls the shots). They've slowly moved their 3-4 AM feeding to a 6-7 AM feeding, sleeping for nearly 8 hours at a stretch. And most times, they'll wake up happy, smiling and babbling at us. Occasionally we have to pop a pacifier in, or pat them and let them know we love them, or pick them up and rock them back to sleep, or they'll get hungry earlier than usual, but even those moments are becoming more rare. I don't know if this is just a phase, I know they're still young and we'll probably have some issues later on, but for now we're really thankful. Especially with two.
The only book we really read on sleep training was one of the Baby Whisperer books. It's a non-CIO (cry it out) method that encourages parents to (1) listen to their baby's (or in our cases babies') unique temperaments in order to (2) guide them to establish good sleep habits rather than having to painfully break poor habits later on. We haven't followed the book religiously, but we've found some patterns that seem to help with their sleeping. Like giving them lots of exercise in the early evening, and cluster feeding before bedtime. Swaddling, especially with our SwaddleMe outfits (one of the best things we've been given as parents!) and pacifiers also help. Swings for nap-times, and lots of snuggles at bedtime are a usual part of the routine.
Neither one of us are comfortable with CIO methods, especially extreme ones. Not to wander too far into controversial territory, but I've seen advice that makes me really uncomfortable, like, let your baby cry for four hours straight without intervening. Now, if one of my babies is just fussing for a couple minutes in the process of going to sleep, I don't have a problem with letting them work through the process for a couple of minutes, and intervening if the fussing turns into real crying. I've read of parents who let their kid cry for ten minutes one night, five the next, and by the third night the kid is sleeping well. That seems fine! But for four hours????
I don't think CIO would work well for our babies in any case. Once they start crying, I mean really crying, not just fussing a little, it tends to escalate. I had a bad experience once that I don't want to repeat. We give our babies tummy time, even though they used to fuss about it. From everything I've read and been told, it compensates for putting kids on their backs to sleep, and helps them to develop necessary muscles. So we felt it was important to do it, even if they didn't like it. Now they enjoy it: they're turning over already (stomach to back), holding their heads up at nearly a 90 degree angle, and looking around. Anyways, early on I let Ian stay on his stomach for too long, and while I was doing a chore, he cried himself to sleep. I picked him up, and he woke up and just wailed in my arms like I never heard him do before. I still feel sick thinking about it. And I don't think the sleep that he had was a healthy kind of sleep, obviously he wasn't calm and relaxed when he woke up from it.
Anyways, I don't want to be judgmental towards other parents' methods, not the point of my post at all. I mean, I'm a three-month rookie at this whole parenting thing. I'm just super glad that at least for now, we don't have to deal with the sleep issues that can exhaust parents and children, and lead to difficult discussions and decisions on the parents' parts.
Posted by Tim and Jo at 01:36 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
January 28, 2008
Meditations on a baptism
Joanna: Well, it's been over a week since the twins were baptized, and we're still pondering the vows that we took. The night before, I had trouble sleeping, thinking about the weighty responsibility symbolized by the water and the vows. Sometimes it's hard enough just to care for the physical needs of the kids, and to imagine our growing roles as spiritual trainers and examples is rather overwhelming.
Tim: The twins were baptized at Redeemer OPC church by Pastor Champness. How appropriate: he baptized Joanna almost 30 years ago. Elder Rich (Joanna's dad) was standing by us and was beaming as he watched his grandkids receive the sign and seal of the covenant of God’s grace. We pray that the Lord will equip us to raise these kids to love and obey their Lord Jesus Christ, that they will praise Him for his gift of salvation, and that they, as our brother and sister – not as our son and daughter, will ultimately see Him face to face on that great day of his returning.
Posted by Tim and Jo at 10:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 09, 2007
Rant about perfectionism
We watched the movie Gattaca a couple of nights ago. It wasn't that disturbing in general--I mean, it was a pretty fun action/futuristic/adventure flick--but the premise was so close to stuff going on today that it made me revisit a number of things that I've been thinking about for awhile. The premise is that IVF technology is used to create genetically "perfect" children, and those who aren't conceived through IVF technology are considered inferior.
I suspect this post may be a bit controversial and I know it will be a bit long, so I'll continue my ramblings below...
Continue reading "Rant about perfectionism"
Posted by Tim and Jo at 10:25 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
June 05, 2007
Trying to reconnect
Well, my friends who were so kindly helping me to unpack the kitchen just left. My grandma and an aunt are coming this afternoon to help some more. So, I'm left here in the house by myself for the first time. It's put me in a pensive mood.
We're both missing Pittsburgh like crazy. Especially not being there for church on Sunday
I know I've neglected this blog shamefully lately. But I want to stay connected with people. I feel very disconnected, but that always happens to me when I move somewhere new. If you're reading this, say hi!!!
So, hopefully, there'll be some upcoming entries on babies, our recent trip to NYC, and life back in the deep south.
We met our neighbors on each side of our house--we live in a triplex. They're all really nice. Turns out the neighbors on one side are homeschooling their two extremely energetic and not-shy-at-all boys. The family invited us to their next Sunday cookout. On the other side is a nice couple who's moving soon. We put out empty boxes on our back porch for the moving family as we unpacked them.
Eating dinner, we saw our five year old neighbor with his nose pressed against the glass of our back porch door, arms waving excitedly as he tried to shout something to us through the glass. We opened it, and found out that he and his older brother wanted our boxes. We gave them a few as long as it was okay with their mom. I think they took more than their parents could handle, as I saw them dragging a bunch of boxes back to our porch later on.
That night, as we were leaving to find a local coffee shop, the boys were still outside. The five year old said, "Can I tell you sumfin'?" "Sure." "There's a cat under thewe [pointing to the crawlspace under our house] and we're twying to wescue it!" His older brother was armed with a flashlight which he diligently shone through the hole in the crawlspace.
If I were a cat, I might be hiding under there, too.
Posted by Tim and Jo at 01:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 22, 2007
Any thoughts on Francis Schaeffer?
Hi smart people out there in the blogosphere!
We're about to start showing our high school kids parts of Francis Schaeffer's video series How Should We Then Live.
We were watching an episode tonight and thought it was very insightful for the most part, but leaped around a bit historically and theologically.
Have any of you had experience with his work? I found some of his books helpful in a rough spot in graduate school.
Thanks for your input!
T&J
Posted by Tim and Jo at 08:57 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 27, 2006
Four out of Five
Awhile ago, I read the statistic that at least 80% of detected Down's Syndrome babies are aborted. The statistic has haunted me, maybe because my life has been deeply touched by people with Down's Syndrome. Wikipedia notes an even higher figure, citing an article which calls this trend "eugenics by abortion" (and suggesting positive alternatives, like adoption and developing disability sensitive environments).
In honor of my friends...
Brett--my childhood friend's little brother. You had no fear. I remember sprinting across a field trying to catch up to you as you wandered cheerfully off. I remember the story of when you nonchalantly walked out your front door, unknown to anyone else. Your parents--and eventually the police--frantically searched for you, only to find you curled up, peacefully sleeping in the local cemetery. You're all grown up now. I hear from your sister that you are happy and working a great job.
Noah--I only knew you for a week, when I was babysat for a conference as a teenager. We all fell in love with you, especially noticing how you watched out for the littler guys. We made T-shirts, with everyone's foot prints. Yours are the only ones I remember--your purple footprints were shaped differently than any other kid's. I love your footprints.
Amy--I married Tim, and got you as a cousin--what a perk! Your exuberance is contagious. I have an image in my mind of you dancing with your headphones on, singing at the top of your lungs. And I have another image of you lovingly taking care of your baby doll. You're our social butterfly, making everyone around you feel comfortable and at home. I love watching you and Tim pal around--you bring out a side of him that really touches my heart. When you walk into a room, you make us all feel like family.
Mark--you are so faithful at church. You do every task--whether its collecting offerings or handing out bulletins--with your whole heart. It's always fun hearing about the latest basketball and football games as we talk after church. My favorite thing that you do for all of us is the way you spend part of each Sunday afternoon searching through the hymnal so that you can pick a hymn in the evening that reinforces the sermon. It makes the truths of the sermons so personal to sing through them beforehand.
You all live your life with such joy and courage. Thank God you weren't the four out of five.
Posted by Tim and Jo at 12:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack