No Regrets

During college, a friend on Facebook posted a link to a blog about a little girl named Daisy. I was drawn to the bright smiling face in the link. That first click began years of following Daisy as she battled a rare childhood cancer. Daisy's love for Christ and her steadfast faith were a tremendous encouragement and testimony. During the lowest of lows, Daisy and her family continued to trust in God and praise Him. This tiny girl had more faith than I could claim myself. After several years of battling cancer, Daisy is now at home with Christ. Definitely worshipping Him in her own beautiful and tremendous way.

Daisy's passing has struck my heart as a mom. When I started following Daisy, having a daughter of my own was a far off dream. Now that my own daughter is here, Daisy's life and death is an awakening. I want to raise a daughter with an unshakable faith in her Savior. I also want to raise her without regrets.

Last night, Ella woke up a LOT. At least 4 times. By now I thought that she would have been sleeping through the night, but every time that she started to sleep through the night something happened to set her back. Traveling across country, milestones, teething, getting sick, more teething, over and over again. But last night, I decided that I wouldn't regret those middle of the night cuddles. I wouldn't regret letting her curl up next to me in bed. No regretting of answering her cries of "up, mommy!" How many more opportunities would I have to cuddle her and calm her cries? Only God knows. I won't regret the minor decision of answering her in the middle of the night.

I won't regret the fact that Ella is still extremely attached to nursing. I won't regret those little moments each day of precious mom and baby time. The chance to cuddle her and hold her while she finally sits still for ten minutes with me.

Ten years down the road, I will not regret choosing a career that allowed me to keep Ella with me during the day. As hard as it is to take care of other peoples children, it has been a tremendous blessing to me as a mom. No matter how stressed out I may get during the day, I will not regret making the decision to be a nanny so that I could be a stay at home mom away from my own home.

As I stare at the massive pile of laundry or look around at the dishes that need to be washed, I will not regret the time spent watching Ella goof around before bed. The laughter as she walked around acting silly with the pacifier that she hasn't used in 10 months. Her smile as she dived on top of me and knocked me over. Watching her grab her baby doll and proceed to kiss it's face multiple times. Never will I regret the fact that some days, I chose to relax with my little girl instead of stressing about chores.

More importantly, I will not regret teaching my daughter to love Jesus even though it will set her apart from her peers and her family. I want her to be unashamedly in love with Christ. To be willing to stand in the face of tragedy and say that she trusts God with whatever His will may be. Following Christ is a huge risk, but it is never a regret. I want to raise a daughter who is willing to boldly live out her faith in front of the world. To use her skills and personal gifts for His glory.

I will not regret teaching her to lay down her life for Jesus. To sacrifice worldly goods for the greater good of her neighbors and Christ's mission. There will be no regret when we teach her (and discipline her for) what her actions and sins look like before God.


There are many little decisions that we make as parents, but unless they harm our children, we should not regret them. If we are continually seeking Christ as we parent our children, we should not regret the parenting techniques that are insignificant in the grand scheme of Christ's mission. 

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Repurposing a Puffs Container

Ella loves problem solving toys. Give her a shape sorter or a peg board and she will sit and play with it for a half an hour or more (no exaggeration!) For Christmas we got Ella an 8 pack of the thick crayons. She loves coloring (aka scribbling), but even more, she loves putting the crayons in and out of their box. While at her grandparents this weekend, Ella loved the crayon box to death. I stuck her crayons in a ziploc bag and planned to find a new place for them once we got home. Today I found the perfect way to combine Ella's love for shape sorters and her love for her crayons. I found a used puff snacks container and decided to repurpose it into a crayon container.

This project was incredibly easy and made me want to find more ways to repurpose items around our house. My mind was immediately filled with ways to create fun activities for Ella.

Creating the crayon holder is ridiculously easy. Most of us with infants and toddlers have puffs or snack containers lying around.

Puffs Container Crayon Holder

1. Remove the label

2. Clean and dry the container

3. Use the crayon (or other desired shaped object) to trace the shape onto the lid.

4. Use a knife to start and cut out the shape

5. Use scissors or knife to finish cutting out the desired shape

6. Glue a ribbon loop onto the bottom of the lid to create an easy off tab for removal (optional)

7. Decorate!

After I finished cutting out the crayon hole, I allowed Ella to decorate it. She loves stickers and had a lot of fun decorating her container. She then proceeded to spend an entire hour putting crayons in and taking them out. ONE WHOLE HOUR. Glorious time that I used to get stuff done around the house and relax with a cup of coffee. 

This craft can easily be adapted to make other fun shape sorting activities. You could use one puffs container for circle shapes, one for squares, and so on. You could also use a bigger container such as a coffee can or Gerber toddler snacks container, and cut out multiple shapes on the lid. It is a great way to upcycle household items into fun toys. 

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Picky Toddlers and Sneaky Veggie Mac and Cheese

Little kids are PICKY! Before having Ella and nannying for young toddlers, I was somewhat high and mighty about picky eating. As a child I was extremely picky. My mom had to peel the skin off of my hot dogs! I swore that my own children would not have the option to be picky eaters. They would eat what I served or else! And then I became a mom and nanny.

While I still am firm in my stance that my children will eat what I serve (I'm a mom, not a short order cook!), I quickly realized that you cannot force a baby or toddler to eat something that they have no desire to eat. They are incapable of being reasoned with or even bribed (sometimes a plateful of carrots is worth an oreo). No matter how delectable you make your steamed broccoli appear, that 18 month old who refuses to eat green foods will not let it touch his lips. So how do you get a picky veggie hating tot to eat his or her veggies? Well, I sneak them into their favorite foods!

Ella is an AMAZING eater! She puts me to shame. So far (cross my fingers) she is willing to try anything and everything. BUT Ella is an extremely strong willed one year old. Although she loves bananas, she might not want it one morning and refuse to eat it. If she is not in the mood for a certain food, she will not eat it. Or sometimes she wants utensils. The pear cubes that she wouldn't touch are suddenly delicious if eaten with a fork. We will have our hands full with this one!

The boys that I watch are PICKY eaters. I could probably count the foods that they will eat on two hands (maybe one). Mac and Cheese is favorite of theirs. And not the lovely homemade kind, but the sodium saturated instant cups of Kraft Mac and Cheese. While I have somewhat given up on getting the 3 year old to eat his veggies (only eats carrots and corn), the 18 month old is still capable of being deceived into eating veggies.

While making some homemade mac and cheese sauce the other day, I got the idea of adding pureed carrots. The cheese sauce is yellow orange and carrots are orange, so no one will be the wiser right? Right! I made my cheese sauce and elbow macaroni and before I added the cheese to the pasta, I added in the pureed carrots and then used an immersion blender to puree the entire sauce mixture.

H (the 18 month old that I nanny) seemed to like it well enough. He gets in funky moods and doesn't want much food sometimes. But, Ella LOVED it. We had leftovers and she has had it for lunch this week. While she will eat veggies when I give them to her, it is nice to sneak in an extra serving when I can.

This is definitely a recipe to remember! And I look forward to trying more deceptive meals in the future. Hmmm, I wonder what you can hide spinach in? That would amaze the boys mom!

Veggie Mac and Cheese

2 cups Elbow Pasta

1.5 Cups Milk (Any milk that you normally drink is fine. Coconut, cows, soy, etc.)

1 Cup Shard Cheddar Cheese Shredded (use milder cheese if desired)

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp butter

.5-1 tbsp ground mustard 

pepper to taste

1-2 tsp garlic powder

1-2 tsp onion powder

optional: a dash or two of ground red pepper (Ella likes this)

1-2 cups pureed carrots, squash, pumpkin, or other appropriately colored (orange/yellow) veggie

1. Cook pasta according to package directions and set aside

2. In medium sauce pan melt butter over medium heat

3. Gradually add flour and mix until combined, stirring constantly

4. Add milk gradually and stir until combined

5. Add spices

6. Add cheese. Stir until melted.

7. Taste and adjust spices as needed

8. Add pureed veggie

9. Use an immersion blender or stand blender to blend the finished sauce (This might not be necessary if your puree was finely pureed. Mine was a bit chunky still).

8. Pour the sauce over the pasta and enjoy!

*You can used pureed baby food, fresh veggies, or frozen ones. I simply cooked the veggies until soft, added some water, and pureed them using an immersion blender.

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