babies – The Broken Smile

TEN Years is…

120 months

3,650 days

87,600 hours

5,256,000 minutes

315,360,000 seconds

An infinite amount of love.

Ten Things We Love About Laylah

How you love to serve & help others.
Your giggles
All of your “wouldn’t it be cool if…” ideas
Your love of baking/cooking & how you show love to others through that.
Your love for your brothers.
You could always make room for one more cat. (a.k.a. crazy cat lady!)
How you still let us snuggle with you & don’t mind us calling you our baby.
That you never meet a stranger. At one point I had to stop taking you to e grocery store with me because my 30 min trips would last over an hour because you had to stop and talk to everyone. That’s good, sweet girl, God will use that to bring joy to those struggling.
Your love of reading – I admire that about you.
The compassion that you show to those around you.

Laylah, these 10 things are not even a drop in all of the waters of the world of how much we love you! Sweet girl, we know that this year has been really different but you have met each challenge & change by trying your hardest to see the bright side. You transitioned back to homeschool with great ease. Your Daddy & I have been brought to joyous tears in seeing your spark return!

You take such joy in making breakfast for the family & ensuring that Mommy always has fresh coffee to start the day. We lovingly joke about Mommy’s rule – No talkie before coffee – but it makes me feel so loved that you care that much & want to talk with me. It makes me hopeful & excited about the possibilities of the future – the many coffee dates with deep and meaningful conversations. Ten years ago I was so scared to be raising a daughter, but God knew exactly what I needed and what I deeply longed for even before I discovered it. He’s so good like that.

He made you so much like me…but praise God He gave you your daddy’s temperament. You may not be aware just yet, but you’ve been such a refining force of the Lord in my life. Who I am today is not who I once was by the grace of the Holy Spirit at work in my life through the many, many sanctifying moments of motherhood. Many of those moments were sanctifying and hard for us both, but I will forever gladly rejoice in that. You, precious daughter, are loved and treasured not for what you do or bring to this family, but simply because you are you.

My prayer for you, sweet Laylah, is that as things continue to change you will cling to Jesus and trust in His unchanging & steadfast faithfulness. Amen.

With all my love,

Mommy

DIY, Kids

DIY Baby Wipes

August 31, 2017 Amanda Robinson

Six years ago, I was a first time mom with a precious little babe who happened to have some of the most horrendous diaper blow-outs on the daily. Changing Monkey’s diaper was a nightmare of screaming and wailing! Why? Because not only was her poor little bum being bombarded with the acidity from her stank nasty diapers, but the chemicals in the diaper wipes were like rubbing salt into an open wound. Every single time a wipe touched her bum she would recoil with major crocodile tears. And y’all this was when I used the “sensitive” and “natural” wipes from those major baby product companies!* It was truly heartbreaking.

At the time, I decided to use both toilet paper and a warm wet wash cloth to take care of business. It was a decent solution, but it wasn’t that practical for on-the-go jobs. So, I sought out ways to make my own safer and natural disposable wipes! If you happen to have a sweet little who has a super sensitive bum, then these wipes will serve you well. Let’s face it – these wipes are great for all the bums (big and small)! 😉

*Companies have not been named so I won’t get sued.

DIY Diaper Wipes

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cup warm water
3 drops of Young Living Gentle Baby Essential Oil
1 box of Kleenex paper hand towels
1 empty diaper wipes container or container of your choosing

Step 1:

Open the hand towel box at the BOTTOM and remove the entire stack. Put entire stack of towels into the diaper wipe container. Be sure that they are “right side up”. This will make it easier for them to feed through the lid opening.

Open from the bottom and remove the entire stack of towels.

Place the stack “upright” in container.

Step 2:

Add 2 – 3 drops of Young Living Gentle Baby Essential Oil into the warm water. Here is the hardest part…ready? Stir it and pour over the stack of towels in the container! Now you will need to press down on the stack, flipping it as you pour ensuring that the entire stack is saturated with the water and oil.

Step 3:

Gently pull the top sheet up and through the lid opening.

That’s it! You’re done! I mean, really, how easy was that?! Some may say its not worth it, but I say its not worth putting liquid fire on your precious baby’s bum!

P.S.

If you would like to start your wellness journey on making your home a safer and healthier place for your family by purchasing a Young Living Premium Starter Kit, then follow my link here.

Faith

It’s a…

August 15, 2017 Amanda Robinson

Three weeks ago today I wrote my very first blog…and since then nothing. Now, some of you might not be aware, but there was a pretty good reason for that. The very next morning, actually about 4 hours after posting the Transparent MOMent post, I woke my husband up and said, “Get up! We’ve gots to go!” Thankfully my precious mother-in-love was in town staying with us so we woke her and Monkey up to tell them bye. Poor Monkey was sad that she couldn’t go with us, but with the reassurance that she could come visit as soon as Baby R was born she went right back to sleep.

Arrival in the wee hours…

Getting settled in

The Duke & I ❤

Later that morning we received some pretty adorable visitors. It thrilled Mommy’s soul to see her older babies!

The Ringleader – Monkey

It was nap time and he was done waiting. Ha

We had a few hours of waiting…and about 30 minutes before Baby R’s arrival the little stinker turned to the side! My doctor decided that we would try turning me on my side first and if that didn’t work, the next course of action would be what I feared most…a c-section.

At this point, baby’s heart rate was starting to drop. It was a very emotional time ya’ll. But the Lord was neither dismayed nor put off by everything that happened and was faithful to sustain us during that time of uncertainty. Thankfully after 30 minutes baby DID turn and after only TWO pushes we FINALLY met our newest blessing! Can I just say that we LOVE our OB! She has delivered both Robinson #2 & #3. And both times as the end neared, I felt weary or scared she was ready with encouragement and each time she rejoiced with us – laughter, tears, and hugs! That dear friends is a great doctor and we are truly thankful for her.