First time anxiety

Are you prepared to send your baby off to school this week or next? I can't even imagine what that will be like... I don't want to think about it! I have another year to worry and get all worked up about it!

But when I was a teacher for first grade, I read a book to the kids in my class and suggested it to my parents that seemed to help ease this transition. It was a great book to remind the children that mommy and daddy still love them even though they are not around. The book is called "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn. It is about a Raccoon who goes to school for the first time and is a little anxious about it. His Mom eases the tension by kissing his palm and tightly folding his fingers back over that kiss so it won't escape. If he gets sad, he can take his palm and place it to his cheek like a kiss from mommy to remind him that Mommy loves him.

You can do the same thing after reading this story to your children and then take it a step further. Trace your kids hands on paper and cut them out. Draw a heart in the center of the hand or put a heart sticker. Have them fold the fingers down over the palm. This is now their Kissing Hand. They can keep it at home or even take it to school with them. It is a great reminder of the ever lasting love of Mommy!

Mommy may want to make one with your hand as well and have your kids kiss it. You may need it in the lonely times before they return to you safe and sound!

Do you have other ways to ease this transition time? Write your comments below! We would love to hear from you!!

Sarah

MOPS Co-director

2010-2011

Have you reserved the date?

Our first MOPS meeting is just around the corner, and we are getting pretty excited about it!

All of the MOPS who REGISTER AND PAY on September 14 at our first meeting will be entered to win these prizes:

· $20 gift card to Fareway

· $25 gift card Hy Vee

· A 2 pack DVD set from Connxions Bookstore

· $25 gift card to Felix & Oscar's

· $30 gift card to Texas Roadhouse

· 1 hr massage at Massage Envy

· 30 min facial at Sahar's

· Beauty Control Spa Product Package

· $25 gift card to Wellspring Bookstore

**We send a special THANK YOU to these businesses for GENEROUSLY donating these products for our special moms!

Mark your calendar and tell your friends... you don't want to miss this special kick-off for our 2010-2011 MOPS Year, which will include our very own Sherri Stufflebeem (The Children's Director at First Federated Church) as our speaker! Stay tuned for more details!

Moving On Day

by Alex Kuykendall

I’m packing up baby clothes again today. My youngest is out-growing the tiniest of our household’s onesies and it’s time to move her to the next size. With my older daughters, I stored the clothes away for the “next baby.” Tucking the hopes for future children into deep corners of my heart, I placed boxes of little clothes into deep corners of my basement for later. This packing feels more permanent. There probably won’t be a “next baby” for us. There is no “later” for these clothes.

Other milestones come and go with me as a passive participant: losing the umbilical cord stump, gaining head control, growing from newborn to infant. But this project requires me to take action, to be part of the moving on process.

"I find comfort in knowing
my lasts will help launch
another mom’s firsts."

When I think about these lasts I can feel my heart ache. A normal, healthy response, but one that can take over and squelch my joy in the moment if I let it. How do I celebrate each phase of mothering while gracefully letting go of those that are done? How do I as a mom keep pace with my children’s growth without resenting the speed with which they’re growing?

I make a plan to pick out a few special items for each girl to have when she’s older and box the rest to give to our local Pregnancy Resource Center for another mom and baby to use. I find comfort in knowing my lasts will help launch another mom’s firsts.

Dear God, help me to cherish the past, and give me the courage to move on and grow into the mom I’m continually becoming.

(Taken from MOPS International Mom E-Mail)