Postpartum Rest, Fearful Parenting, Peter Hitchens' Journey to Faith {Links I Like}

To round out this week of links, I have a few more that I came across this week that I want to share.  These don't fit nicely under one topic like the other two, but are a hodgepodge of interesting reads.

5 Reasons I Fear Standing Up to My Kids - This is a good (and convicting) check-up on your parenting.

Why are America's Postpartum Practices So Rough On New Mothers? - If I had seen this earlier, it might have been added to my postpartum care post. The gist of it is, American new moms don't rest enough.  Not surprising in our go-go-go society.

This was a helpful read for me and reminder to take it easy after our baby is born in a few weeks.  Most of our new babies have been foster, so its easy for me to forget that birthing a baby involves not only adding a new family member, but also immense wear and tear on the body.  With Esther I was shocked at how long recovery took, but I was able to take it pretty easy since it was just her at the time.  This time I will have to be much more intentional to purposefully rest, for the sake of recovery.

Peter Hitchens Talks About How He Came to Faith - I like hearing anyone's story of coming to faith in Jesus, but I have wondered about his story because of his famous late Atheist brother, Christopher.  The interesting part is, it involves a famous painting.

Natural Postpartum Care Resources

In addition to mentally preparing for labor and delivery, I have also been thinking about the postpartum period and wanting to be prepared for that.  With Esther, I was totally unprepared for how much the birth process would take out of my body.  This time, I want to be sure to have everything on hand I will need to care for my body.

Homemade Natural Postpartum care kit - I love making homemade health and beauty products!  I love the looks of these recipes; I need to get on it with making some of these before baby boy comes!

Binding your belly after birth - Belly binding is practiced in many cultures to help restore the abdominal muscles after the intense workout that is labor and delivery.  This article explains why and how to do it.

10 Things you need to do post pregnancy - A good list of things to keep in mind, mostly revolving around the topic of abdominal/pelvic floor muscle rehab after birth.

Natural Labor and Delivery Resources

As I have been mentally preparing for the upcoming birth of our little one, I have been reading a lot of resources (and re-reading some I've seen before).  Here are some of the most helpful ones I have come across...

Embracing Pain and Letting Go of Fear in Childbirth - For some reason I have been much more anxious about my upcoming labor than I was before my labor with Esther.  This is strange to me, because with Esther labor was an unknown, but now I have the experience of one relatively easy natural birth.  These are good points that I want to keep in mind.

Three exercises for a STRONG birth - Hopefully you have been doing these exercises for a while and don't just start a week before you are due.  If you are pregnant, start doing these now!

Make your own natural labor and birth kit- I liked the suggestions on what to bring to the hospital- for some reason I have already forgotten what I found helpful to have at my last birth.

Labor-aid recipe - A refreshing homemade drink to keep you nourished and energized during labor.

Essential oils for labor - When Esther was born, we brought lavender to the hospital but forgot to use it (slash we didn't really have time!).  This is a very exhaustive list of oils; I'll probably try to narrow it down to 2-4 oils to use.  If I remember this time :)

Links I Like This Week: Prison Rape, Introverted Motherhood and The Human Shield

Here are a few articles that struck me this week:

9 Things You Should Know About Prison Rape - This makes me really sad.  Its also a topic we shouldn't ignore.

The Human Shield - This article really resonated with me because it describes something I see a lot.  Frequently, when I talk about controversial subjects on this blog, everyone wants to throw up a human shield.

The Introverted Mother - I have been meaning to write a blog about being an introverted mother for a while, but it looks like someone beat me to it :) Though, I do have a few more thoughts to add to what she said, so keep an eye out for it.  Her premise is that almost everything that is difficult for a mom is much more difficult for an introverted mom.  This has been my experience exactly, and I highly recommend the article to you whether you are introverted or not (or a mother or not :) ).


Have you read any good articles lately that you would like to share with us?

top 5 posts of 2012

i thought it would be interesting to go back and look at some of the most viewed post of 2012 from this blog.  i wasn't surprised to see that most of the posts were from my passionate, joyful homemaking series in the winter/spring, which was a bit controversial, though probably needlessly.

something else interesting to note is that all 5 posts have to do with biblical manhood and womanhood. since these are two subjects i care deeply about, i am glad that these were ranked so highly.

#6  passionate, joyful homemaking: the pleasure duty paradox: [whoops, just noticed that this post was actually #6 after i wrote the summary thinking its #5... oh well i guess its a bonus :) ] a few people will admit it, but motherhood can be drudgery at times (which is why many will pay others to do it).  thats why its important to remember the pleasure/duty paradox: how our God-ordained duties (including being household managers) become pleasures when we know Jesus.

#5 Real manhood: the mostly female readers of this blog would do well to understand biblical manhood.  its important for functioning in the church, choosing a husband and praying for your husband.  this post has a few points on this important topic.

#4 passionate, joyful homemaking: why do moms pursue careers at the expense of family?: the title pretty much sums it up.  but one point i do want to make about this post and the others in this series: my tone (from what i gathered from people's comments) was assumed to be harsh and critical.  that isn't the tone that i was writing in.  the motive of my heart was to uplift this important aspect of biblical womanhood that is often maligned and degraded by our society.  i believe that homemaking should be full of joy (hence the title of the series!) and i write with joy at the beautiful role that God created for mothers (while not backing down from pointing out the lies society tries to tell us).

#3 passionate, joyful homemaking: distractions to the stay at home mom: in the midst of the biblical teaching for wives to be homeward focused, we can still fail to fulfill this even if we spend all day inside our house.  this post explores a few things that can keep our eyes off of the best things.

#2 passionate, joyful homemaking: what about _____ situation?: some questions about different situations not addressed in other posts of the series.

#1 passionate, joyful homemaking: should moms pursue a career?: i honestly hesitate to put this post on the list, as it was probably the most controversial of a very controversial series.  but biblical truth is controversial, and i am comforted to know that even jesus said i should expect to be maligned when i speak the truth.

do you want more?

for those who don't know, this blog now has a facebook page.  the theologista facebook page allows me to share more content with you than i can on this blog.  on my facebook page i link to other articles, recipes and videos or post quotes that you may find helpful.  sometimes i link to this kind of stuff from this blog, but increasingly it is just happening from the FB page [including times when i don't really post anything on the blog].  i know i'm biased, but i think i link to some pretty sweet stuff :)

also, if you already follow the theologista page, facebook made some changes (shocking!) which means you might not be getting updates in your news feed.  if you already follow the page, go there again and click on the "like" button and make sure "show in news feed" is checked so that you get the extra goodies that i post there.

join in to get all the extras.  that is all.  thanks friends!

links i like: birth control, sensory basket for baby, getting healthy and infant routines

the bible and birth control: part one and part two - the bible neither allows nor forbids birth control. however, there are some bad methods of birth control to be aware of.

sensory treasure basket for baby- i love this idea!  i hope to make one of these for esther soon :)

lose weight and get healthy! - how many times have you heard this phrase before?  does losing weight mean getting healthier?  not necessarily...

infant routines: part one, part two, part three - in my experience, children thrive when they have predictable routines.  busy mamas also are benefited from routine.  i am not an advocate of rigid scheduling, but i love the balanced approach that this mama offers.  i find that our routines are similar to the ones she describes.

links i like: the luther household, mung beans and more crunchy mamas

sometimes i wonder why i even blog, there is already so much good content out there on the internet.  and i'm not afraid to point you away from my blog to all the other good stuff.  i hope it is a blessing to you today!

hospitality and generosity in the luther home- a challenging look at the generosity of martin and katharina luther.  i was really impacted by the hard work of katharina, accepting so many guests in their home (in a day when serving a meal took much more work than it does now!) without even insisting on pay.   i also have to say that the picture made me smile; we visited wittenburg when i lived in germany and i clearly remember that room!

why we support ron paul- i was so excited when i read this post! one of my favorite real food bloggers has come out in support of ron paul.  she has never written about politics before, so why now?  watch the video to find out!

mung bean soup-  i have recently been introduced to mung beans.  i usually sprout them to put in asian stir-fry dishes or on top of salads, but this soup recipe uses them in a similar way to other kinds of beans. i found the tangy combo of tumeric and lemon juice to be fantastic!


and, part two of the stuff crunchy mamas say (i linked to part one previously)

the calorie myth, being green, and making a home management binder: links i like

restrained eating and obesity- will going on a diet help you lose weight? even if you stick to it, possibly (probably?) not.  on the same subject, i also recommend his series "the calorie myth":

part one- raw food weight loss
part two- digestibility
part three- eat less/exercise more
part four- stool volume (yes, this is a blog about your poo...)

(as a side note- the more i learn about nutrition, the more i realize that no one really understands nutrition very well!  its such a complex field with vastly different opinions. so feel free to read these with a grain of salt, though i do think they have good info.)

its too easy being green-  a wall street journal article examines the american belief that over-consumption is acceptable- as long as its "green".

a way through the wilderness- your home management binder- i love my home management binder!  it helps keep me sane :) after reading this article, i want to upgrade mine... which is now on my "to do" list for the coming weeks.  a definite must for stay at home mamas, especially when you have multiple little ones!

biblical manhood, bra burning and raising healthy eaters

God, manhood and ministry (the desiring God 2012 pastor's conference)-  a bunch of really great talks are available on line for free from the recent pastor's conference.  so far i have listened to two of the talks, and i can say that i highly recommend the panel discussion and the first talk by doug wilson.

these talks are geared toward men and are on the topic of men and biblical manhood.  so, why do i recommend them to the female readers of my blog?  for several reasons: 1.) if you are single, you need to know what to look for in a good man 2.) if you are married, you need to know the biblical values God desires for your husband.  knowing these things, you can pray well for him and encourage him in these areas.  3.)  all women need healthy men in their lives, and resources like this helps us discern what kind of man is in good spiritual health.  this includes male friends (for single women) and more importantly male church leaders.

a new reason to burn your bra?  could it interfere with your limbic system (ie the body's trash removal system), contributing to things like breast cancer?  the jury is still out on this one for me, but the article makes some interesting points.

how to get kids to eat healthy- a study of motivation and food rewards/punishments.  i especially recommend the video, it is super interesting.  i cant say that i agree with everything he says (for example, i think it IS wise for parents to teach kids what is healthy, he downplays this too much) but i do agree that certain foods should not be overemphasized or restricted, it makes them that much more appealing.  what i have tried to do with our kids is to give them options when appropriate, but also set boundaries when appropriate.  and though i ranted (probably too much) about the amount of mcdonalds and candy their birth mom gave them (ie every time they saw her, literally), i can say that i feel good about the food freedoms they had (for example, if they wanted a second helping of food, they could choose what they wanted more of).


this reminds me of an interesting study done a while ago (like 1950′s or so). they gave babies (i think around one year old) lots of different foods to choose from at every meal and recorded what and how much they ate of each food. they discovered that even though on any one day (or multiple days in a row) the babies might focus on just one or two foods, overall they ate a completely balanced diet. with no help from anyone! they just intrinsically knew. pretty interesting.




and a cool infographic.  click it to enlarge.

marriage, miscarriage, ministry, crunchy mamas and breastfeeding: some links i recommend

i have read several articles recently that have really impacted me, so i want to share them with you for your benefit and growth.

tim challies reflects on our society's acceptance of public sexuality/nudity while shunning public breastfeeding, from a christian perspective.  a VERY interesting read.  "exchanging the natural for the unnatural"

how do you speak to someone after the death of a baby?   "what you should (and shouldn't) say to someone who has lost a baby"

kathy keller (wife of tim keller) says to listen to the experience of christians married to those who don't share their faith.  from witnessing my parent's marriage, i whole-heartedly agree with her words.  in the words of one woman in this situation: "If you think you are lonely before you get married, it's nothing compared to how lonely you can be AFTER you are married!"  "dont take it from me: reasons you should not marry an unbeliever"

do you struggle with the balance between ministry inside and outside the home? i recommend reading "screaming babies & praying mommas" 


and on a lighter note, a video i can relate to.

do you ever say any of these things?

what i have been watching recently

i love watching/listening to videos while nursing esther, doing housework, etc.  basically, any time i can make use of my brain when my hands are busy :)  i thought i would commend a few of my favorites to you.


wondering how the primary system works?

i find the idea of a caucus a little weird.  i would not want to have to always make my vote public, and having to be at the polling place at a certain time.

what does God have to say about work? monday morning motivation

this is true of paid work and unpaid (ie being a SAH mom).  can't figure out how to embed it, so you can watch it here. 

avoid the one exercise that shrinks your muscles and speeds up aging

cardio (such as running, elliptical machine, spinning) isn't good for your health, especially if you are a woman.  here is an interesting vid from a doctor who breaks it down.

 
adequate vitamin d levels would get rid of the majority of colds, flu and possibly 2/3rds of cancer

the more i learn about vitamin d, the more time i spend in the sun (one HUGE benefit of so cal)!  here is a great place to start in learning about vitamin d.

jesus storybook bible animated!

jesus storybook bible is prob our favorite kid's bible.  now they have some of the stories animated!  and read in a cool british voice, which obviously makes them automatically 100% better :)

anything about ron paul

here's one you can start with.

at first this one made me mad.  now i just think its hilarious (and the inspiration of this blog title)

ok, i cant resist.  one more.  the establishment is scared, because ron paul will remove the money IV drip.

aaand one of my fave subjects: raw milk

with the owner of our local raw milk dairy farm!