Cherishing Wet Cuddles and Other Priceless Memories

We have this sweet tradition in our house. Hubby is usually in charge of bathtime. He puts the boys in the tub while I put away laundry or clean up toys or just straighten out a bit of the chaos of the day. My baby (C) is usually ready to get out first. So I scoop up my baby in his adorable duck towel and dry him off and get him ready for bed while my 3yr. old (L) plays longer in the bath. (sidenote- there is not much sweeter than fresh-out-of-the-tub baby cheeks, both sets!) Hubby gets L out of the tub and wraps him in his Spiderman towel. This is where the sweetness comes in. L comes out of the bathroom, into his room where I am sitting with C, and climbs into my lap. "Here's your clean boy!" he innocently says through the biggest of grins. We call it our post-bath cuddle, and I can't get enough. He is wet, and gets me all wet as he rests his head on my chest and snuggles close. It is the longest stretch he stays still all day. I love having him in my lap and smelling his clean wet hair. I love wrapping my arms around him and renewing that closeness that we have always cherished. He is all at once my baby and my "big boy," but mostly just mine. Tonight he told me for the first time that he wanted to marry me (*melt*). (anothersidenote- he told me we had to dance and then buy a couch and that was our wedding! HA!)
As I sit there and hold him, the moment is not lost on me. I close my eyes and drink it in. I know the day will come (probably sooner than I know) when he won't want to sit wet in a towel in my lap. So for now, I cherish those 5min. of our day.

We recently received a book from Tyndale Kids that echos this same sentiment. Let Me Hold You Longer by Karen Kingsbury is the story of a mom who is looking back on the memorable moments of her son's life and looking forward to what is coming soon. While reflecting on the cuddle times and favorite memories, she asks the question "would I have paid more attention or cherished the moment longer if I had known it was the last time?" The last night-time feeding, the last trip to the park, the last story time with him cuddled in my lap...
The book is written to be read to your little ones. The language is beautiful and touching and hits very close to home. I got teary several times as I sat and read the tender words to my son with him sitting next to me, his hand sweetly resting on my arm listening intently to the story. I loved the pictures of this mother and son through the years- the moments they shared as they both grew older. Reading this book helps me reflect on how L has grown so far and reminds me to drink in every moment with him and C every day.
I am not a fan of thinking about my boys growing up too fast. It makes me sad to think about them being too big for post-bath cuddles. But I also appreciate any opportunity to be reminded to live in the moment, to treasure these days that often feel so hard.

The last time when you ran to me, still small enough to hold.
The last time that you said you'd marry me when you grew old.
Precious, simple moments and bright flashes from your past-
Would I have held on longer if I'd known they were your last?

If you would like a copy of this book to read with your fast-growing munchkins, Tyndale has generously offered to let me give away a copy to one of you. Please leave a comment here making sure I have a way to contact you if you win. If you subscribe to my feed or blog or tweet this giveaway, leave an extra comment for an extra entry. I will choose a winner at random on Friday July 3rd (U.S. readers only- sorry!).
We have loved reading this book together and talking about our most cherished moments both past and present and future. I know you will love doing the same.

Cross-posted from Farrah's blog BabyLove Slings.

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Book Corner: The Midwife

Ever since I entered this journey of pregnancy, birth, and parenting over three years ago, I've spent a lot of time contemplating Mothers. I've contemplated what is required of Mothers; I've contemplated the wisdom that Mothers have the potential to cultivate as a result of what is required. But more than anything else, I've contemplated the fact that my experience as a modern day Mother is very, very different from that of the average Mother around the world since time began.

When I consider the experience of the women who have brought forth each generation of life on this earth it blows my mind. For the most part, they have married young, likely without a say in the matter, and had no access to birth control. This means a life of being pregnant, or nursing, or both, for the majority of your years. And caring for your expanding family without today's technological assistance - simply providing clean water might take more effort and forethought than I need in a whole day of child care. But more than anything I think of the dangers inherent in each of the many pregnancies a woman might have - the risk of losing the child was high, and the chance of dying herself was as high as 50-50.

I've reflected on this frequently in the past three years. They've been challenging enough, but I entered into them freely, and without fear that I might die just as likely as live to see my child. I worry about my childrens' safety, but the odds are high that they'll be just fine. And I've pondered at the strength of my sisters and mothers from times past - and in some places, still today.

So when a copy of The Midwife: A memoir of birth, joy, and hard times by Jennifer Worth arrived at my door, I was excited. The memoir is that of a young woman, not yet a mother herself, who practices midwifery in the slums of 1950's post-war London. Her clients are startlingly poor, and have no other access to medical care outside of the faithful women in their community who are trained to attend births - and save lives in the process.

From the preface:

In January 1998, the Midwives Journal published an article by Terri Coates entitled "Impressions of a Midwife in Literature. " After careful research right across European and English-language writing, Terri was forced to conclude that midwives are virtually non-existent in literature.

Why, in heaven's name? Fictional doctors grace the pages of books in droves, scattering pearls of wisdom as they pass. Nurses, good and bad, are by no means absent. But midwives? Whoever heard of a midwife as a literary heroine? Yet midwifery is the very stuff of drama. Every child is conceived either in love or lust, is born in pain, followed by joy or sometimes remorse. A midwife is in the thick of it, she sees it all. Why then does she remain a shadowy figure, hidden behind the delivery room door?

Terri Coates finished her article with a lament for the neglect of such an important professions. I read her words, accepted the challenge, and took up my pen.

I am grateful that she did pick up her pen, for what she wrote is very eye opening. Though only fifty years in our past, the stories that she tells sound to my ears as though they were far removed - and they echo the stories of women throughout the ages. I am amazed both at the love and the burden they carried. I am inspired by their perseverance, and humbled by the painful, difficult roads they walked.

Reading this book I continue to question, not only from the perspective of midwives but from that of mothers: Why are these stories untold? Why is the heroic act of bringing new life into the world not sung more loudly and more often than all the epic tales of history? Why do we memorialize acts of war and death while relegating the every-day miracle of a woman in labor to that-which-must-not-be-discussed? Why is a Mother's story not considered the most lovely and desirable story?

There is much joy in The Midwife, but there is much hard times as well. I put it down with a renewed understanding both of the love of parent for child as well as the reality of loss, devastating loss.

But in both cases, I recommend this book highly. Birth may be a beautiful story or a hard story, but it is the story of life.

Catherine is one of the co-founders of DupageMamas. This post is cross-posted from her personal site, everyday life as lyric poetry. Have you read a book you'd like to recommend? Send us a post and we'll put it up!

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Train Up Your Child

We are constantly on the look out for tools to help us parent our toddler son. He is my highly-verbal, ultra-smart, very inquisitive boy who always has a million questions about everything. When he was just shy of two, we would be driving in the car and he would demand that I "talk about" whatever we saw... "mommy, talk about trees...talk about grass... talk about cranes... talk about gas stations." He just wanted to know the facts, the scientific truth about the things he was experiencing and learning about. While his desire to know everything has not changed, his questions have gotten much more complex. At nearly 3 years old, he now wants to know about how a space shuttle launches and how it gets to the moon. Tonight he asked me "How did God talk to Noah? Did Noah hear God with he ears?"

When I was offered the chance to get advanced copies of two new books for kids by Tyndale House Publishers, I was pumped. We always love new books, and anything that helps me teach my little sponge is gladly accepted. To say we love these new books is a huge understatement. We adore them... and I would love to share them with you.

When I heard the title of the first book, I was immediately sold! Questions from Little Hearts... sounds perfect for us. And it is. The book is divided into four sections: What is God Like? What is Prayer? What about Heaven? and Are Angels Real? I have written before about my son and I's conversations about Heaven. He knows there are people there that he loves- his brother who died before he was born, my grandmother - and he has very real questions about what it is like there. I love that this book poses the questions that a toddler would really ask and then gives the answers in a way that keeps their attention and satisfies their curiosity.

"Is heaven a place that is near or that's far? can I get to heaven by boat or by car?
How will I find it? Who'll show me the way? Does heaven have nighttime? And what about day? ...
Though heaven's a place that you can't see from here, It says in the Bible that heaven is near. You don't have to know how to fly or to swim. The way is with Jesus, believing in him."

At the end of each section, the author lists the scripture references for the answers they suggest. My son loves it. We read at least one section a day and he often asks for the one he wants. "Mommy, let's read about prayer today." And we always read the scriptures at the end and he has started asking me to show him where to find "those words" in the Bible. So we pull out the Bible and flip to a couple of the verses and read them there too. It is precious, teachable moments like these that make me feel like maybe I am capable of training my child the way God has called me to. I highly recommend this book for anyone whose little one has questions, lots of questions, like mine. It is easy to read and has sparked many really great conversations with me and my curious toddler.

When I was pregnant, we received many Bibles geared toward babies and toddlers as gifts. We have one that we have read cover to cover many times (not in one sitting) that tells all the great stories and has been a good tool for introducing him to the Bible. But several months ago, Hubby commented that we needed to find a Bible for our toddler that was the "next step up." Still meant for kids, but one where the words read a little more like Scripture and a little less like a board book. Kenneth Taylor's Classic Bible Storybook is just that. This Bible has less pictures, more text. But my favorite thing about it is the 4-5 questions it lists at the end of each story. Tonight we read story 5 (we skip around)- "Noah is Safe in a Boat." The questions at the end of the story really help reinforce what we just read (How long did it rain? Why did God send the Flood?) and sparks even deeper questions (like how did Noah hear God talking to him?). I also love that because it is a little more like a regular Bible, it includes stories that most children's Bibles leave out. We are studying Elijah and Elisha in the Bible study we go to and I love that we can open "his Bible" and read about these prophets (stories 51-54) that he is learning about. It makes it seem more like we are reading the Bible, if that make sense. He even asks to bring "his Bible" to church and that warms my heart.

It is a daunting task, at least for me, to feel responsible for my child's spiritual up-bringing. I don't want to miss this stage of his life where he is soaking in his world and starting to form his world-view. I am trying to build things into our days that help me teach him about God and prayer and the Bible, etc... We are working on memory verses, talking about spiritual things, and reading books that help guide our conversations and our lives. And these two books have become a big part of that. I can't recommend either one enough. These are books we will read for many years and will hopefully become cherished parts of our boys' early spiritual development.

Want to share these books with your little ones? Tyndale Kids is giving away a copy of each of these books to Dupage Mamas readers to help us celebrate our launch as the new voice of moms in Dupage County. Just leave a comment here telling us who you would love to have these books for. We will draw two winners, one for each book. Please leave your e-mail or blog address so we have a way to get in contact with you if you win. Want a second entry, blog about Dupage Mamas and this giveaway. Or tell your friends through Facebook or e-mail and let us know you did. We'll enter you a second time. Contest is open until April 28th and the winner will be announced here after that.


And don't forget to enter our current giveaways:
Women's Massage Gift Certificate
Barefoot Books
Homemade Gourmet
Ring Sling Baby Carrier

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Curling up barefoot with Barefoot Books

I've loved Barefoot Books ever since I first discovered them. As kids books go, they are bright, colorful, well written, interesting for kids to listen to and for grown-ups to read (again and again and again...). They frequently cover topics such as culture and other things that I happen to love and value exposing my kids to. I always have a mental list of Barefoot books I'm hoping to get, and I'm never dissapointed by them.

Two of my current favorites are The Story Tree and Storytime. Each of these books contain seven fairy tales, traditional folk stories from all around the world. Some are classics - The Gingerbread Man and The Little Red Hen for example - while some I've never heard of before - like The Blue Coat. My boys and I love reading these books from cover to cover, and back again. The tales are true to their traditional tellings, but I find that the tone is appropriate for my sons' young ears and I appreciate that.

To celebrate our launch, we're giving away a copy of Storytime to one lucky reader. If you'd like to enter to win, simply leave a comment telling us your favorite children's book (if you can pick one!). If you want a second chance to win, link to this post on your blog, email, facebook, twitter, etc and mention in your comment that you've done so. Be sure we have a way to contact you if you win! The contest is open for one week - we'll randomly choose the winner and announce it next Thursday!

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