Going Somewhere?
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Activities with Kids | Posted Friday, November 20, 2009
Do you have traveling plans over the holidays? Don’t forget our unique offerings!
Goga Baby Bottle Warmer for warming on the go.
Don’t forget some portable beverages! Kid Basix offers an options for every age!
Forget to bring a bib? Ran out of bib? Turn Aunt Martha’s dish towel or a restaurant napkin into a bib with a Kipiis Bib Clips.
There aren’t many things more inconvenient than being guest somewhere and having no high chair available for your little one. So how ’bout bring your own, compact option. My Little Seat takes no room at all to bring along and turns almost any chair into something baby and toddler friendly.
Keep those carefully selected travel activities contained and easily successible with Kargaroo Portable Pouch for Car Seats and Strollers.
Make sure those snacks and drinks don’t end up on the floor, in the road, or anywhere else with the Sippi Grip and the Snacker Catcher both of which are a useful stroller accessory .
If you are airborne, don’t waste your energy dragging the car seat through the airport over your shoulder, while pushing the stroller. Let the Travelmate by Gogo Babyz became your traveling companion and get all the jobs done!
Celebrating one decade together
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Family Focus, The Journey of Motherhood | Posted Friday, August 21, 2009
Happy 10 year anniversary to us!
I am still jumping for joy that we are married:)!
P.S. This photo was taken before our ceremony. My mom is in the background behind me and was very nervous that I would fall and skin my knee – I am pretty laid back and was sure that it would turn out fine:). Trent only looks higher because he wasn't wearing a 10 pound dress – plus I was already on my way down from the jump;).
Happy Father’s day to MY man. . .
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Family Focus, The Journey of Motherhood | Posted Sunday, June 21, 2009
It is time I shared how great MY man is (Heather Ledeboer writing here:):
Quite often I am guilty of taking my husband for granted. There are SO many things that I appreciate about him, but it can be so easy to forget that it is those things that make him so special to me and to our children and to realize that NOT EVERY FATHER is willing to be that kind of man. I want to honor Trent today by letting you know what kind of a man he is.
He provides for us. He takes care of us by working diligently and does the kind of work that goes above and beyond. The company he works for often recognizes this and talks about what a great job he does and how happy they are with him. Not only can he work well for others but he is very good at taking the initiative and investing his extra time and resources into areas that will be helpful for our family. He is wise with our finances and totally trustworthy.
He takes time each day to really play with our kids. He wrestles with them and chases them around the house and plays along with Hunter's creative made up game ideas. He has always been active in the little things too like changing diapers, brushing teeth, and bedtime prayers and stories.
He helps around the house. It is not at all uncommon for him to cook dinner and he is always willing to help out with cleaning around the house. Likewise, he makes sure that things around our home are taken care of.
He is supportive of my goals and has been my biggest fan since I started Mom 4 Life in 2003. I trust his judgment and often seek out his advice and feedback. Not only that, he is just plain fun to be around, he has a great sense of humor and is hardly EVER in a bad mood. We get along very well and I am so blessed to have him as my best friend.
He places his trust in God. There is something very attractive about a man who is dependent on God and I am so grateful that his faith is both real and personal.
Lucky for me, as a bonus, he is also pretty darn cute!
Happy Father's Day to you sweetie!!! We are blessed to have you in our lives!
Trent with Hunter (taken 5.5 years ago)
Trent with Ashlyn (taken 3 years ago)
Trent with Sawyer (taken 13 months ago)
Trent with Quinten (taken last week Wednesday)
I Won’t Let Go First
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Family Focus, The Journey of Motherhood | Posted Monday, November 10, 2008
A few years ago I heard a something that changed the future of my hugging habits. Someone said, “I have decided that anytime I give someone a hug, I will not be the first to let go. This simple act has caused me to give hugs that have been so much longer and more meaningful to my friends and family.”
I decided to put her idea into practice and when I hug my children I patiently wait until they are ready to let go before I do. Days that are rushed make it more difficult to apply this rule. Although the difference between a short and long hug can be a matter of seconds or minutes the overall effect, I believe, is compounded to a much greater degree. Try it!
For an added incentive, I invite you to visit this YouTube video showing what happened when “free hugs” were offered. Watching it brought tears to my eyes. It reminded me that it comes down to it, don’t we all have the same desire for love regardless of who we are, where we live or what we have been through?
Hmmmm, just thinking about this makes me want to go hug someone. . .
The value of compound interest (in parenting)
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Family Focus, The Journey of Motherhood | Posted Monday, October 27, 2008
I was reorganizing my blog categories and I came upon a few old posts that I would like to resurrect. For those of you who have been reading my blog for a long time, I hope you don’t mind. For those of you who are newer, I hope you enjoy;). I am currently reading a really good book, The Slight Edge–Secret to a Successful Life by Jeff Olson, recommended to me by one of my customers (thank you Elizabeth S.).
One of the concepts that this book has begun building on is the amazing value of compound interest. Compound interest is likely not a new concept to you, it wasn’t for me. My husband and I consider ourselves to be wise investors, at least that is our constant goal. However, when I read the following passage from the book about "The Cost of Waiting" I was floored.
"Let’s say you and your best friend are both 24 years old; you both decide you’d like to start putting away $2,000 a year into an IRA so you’ll retire at age 65 with over a million dollars. Your friend starts doing it now. You wait. You don’t get around to it this year, or next, or the next. . . in fact, you procrastinate for the next 6 years. At the beginning of year 7, you ask your friend how his IRA is doing. You are stunned when he tells you that he’s finished: after investing $2,000 a year for 6 years at 12%, he’s all set. By the age of 65, the little financial ball he’s started rolling will have snowballed into over one million dollars–even if he never puts in another penny!
That’s it, you decide, it’s time for action. You start putting in your $2,000 each year. How many years will it take before you’ve caught up to your friend? In other words, by what age will you be able to stop investing your annual $2,000, like he did? You can’t believe your eyes when you see the answer: you’re going to have to keep investing that $2,000 every single year until the age of 62! Your 6 years of procrastination has cost you 33 years of investing–that’s 27 more years and $54,000 more invested just to arrive at the same place!"
Amazing isn’t it? Maybe even discouraging if you are past your mid twenties and have not started taking some steps toward your finical goals. The author goes on to say this, "You are never too old, and it’s never to late to start achieving your dreams. My point is simply that there is a cost to waiting. It is never too late to start. It is always too late to wait."
So how does this apply to parenting? Each day we have the opportunity to invest in the life of our children. I believe that if we take that roll seriously and seek each day to invest in them with our love, guidance and direction, we will be giving them a future that is rich in self confidence, courage and caring for others. However, the cost of waiting to make that investment may cause us to miss the best window of influence in their life and may find us working late into our life trying to make up for that lost time.
I pray this week you will find yourself making generous deposits in the lives of your children and that over time you will rejoice as you see the fruits of your diligent investment.
