Strengthening the Family; Part 2 Quality Time

"The most important of the Lord's work you and I will ever do will

be within the walls of our own homes. Effective family leadership,

brethren, requires both quantity and quality time" Harold B Lee

Quantity Time-I must admit I wasn't too surprised when I read that the American family spends 40% less time together now than they did 20 years ago. When you start to turn that into actual hours over a child's lifetime the numbers are staggering.

Lets say families used to spend 20 hours a week together (just over 3hrs/day), based on this study they now spend only 12 so that's turns into

8 less hours/week

34.6 less hours/month

416 less hours/year

7,488 less hours/(18 years)

312 LESS DAYS

That is like missing almost a full year out of your child's life! Watching Porter grow this past year I have begun to realize how short our time with our children at home really is- What can we do to take advantage of every moment of it

Quality Time- As a stay at home mom I am lucky that I do get a lot of "Quantity" time with Porter- what really got me to thinking is the issue of "Quality" time- When I started looking at a typical day in our lives I began to see lots of what I call "missed moments" little snatches of time here and there where I was to busy involved in what I was doing that I missed an opportunity with Porter- to teach, to play, to laugh or even just to be right there.

A few days ago as I was feeding Porter I noticed that when I feed him he stares off into space and it is somewhat hard to get his attention- which for him, my social little guy, is pretty uncommon. After giving it a little thought I realized that almost every time I fed him since he was born I was either reading a book or watching TV- no wonder he was ignoring me! It made me sad to think of all those little "missed moments" that I could have talked to him, sang him primary songs, or even just gazed into those sweet little baby eyes- now that our "feeding" days are quickly drawing to and end I wish I had taken the opportunity to develop that as "Quality" time for us rather than plodding through it as just another task to do.

My goal now is to make the effort to be there on his level interacting with him- not just letting him play at my feet while I type away or work on other projects.... Which may mean a few less blog posts or saving my scrapbooking till he's asleep but in the end I know I will be giving the most to what matters most- my priceless little guy.

That is my challenge to you this week to find at least one little way that you can improve the quality of the time you spend with those you love

The little tooth that wouldn't- and a mess

Poor Porter his tooth is being stubborn and still hasn't quite come in- I feel so bad for the poor little guy! He hasn't been eating much due I am guessing to the tooth pain so last night, in an effort to get some kind of food down and also to give him something cool to sooth his mouth him I gave him a Popsicle. Of course true to character he wanted to do it himself- he needed a bath anyway so I figured what the heck...... Needless to say it was a bit of a mess and he ended up getting put in the tub fully clothed- which hopefully was enough pre-soaking to get the stains out of his shirt. =)

YUMMM!

A mess only a mother could love

Sorry little guy it's all gone!

Our 4th of July Weekend

We had a great Fourth of July weekend- very busy! Aaron's Aunt Bev her husband Tony and their son Mike along with his wife Trish and their daughter Makayla were visiting- it was fun to see them and to watch Porter play with Makayla.

We were very lucky to have great seats for the parade and fireworks; one of Aaron's friends from work lives on the parade route and let us set up a canopy on his lawn- Uncle Scott works really close to where they set off the fireworks and we were able to sit in their parking lot with a great view and we didn't even have to show up early to fight the crowds. I love the picture of me and Porter at the parade- he was so tired that he went right to his sleepy pose- two fingers in the mouth and a handful of mom's hair- We always joke that we need to get Aaron a wig so that Porter has something to hold on to when dad puts him to sleep.

On Saturday we had a big party for Aaron's grandmother's 90 birthday and got to visit with more family who were there for that. In all it was a great weekend!

Porter & Mommy at the Parade

Porter & Makayla

Happy Birthday Grandma

(the watch was the only way we could get him to hold still for the picture)

Porter & Grandma J. at the Fireworks

Porter & Mommy having fun

New tooth, So Tired

Porter was a bear at church- he was getting a new tooth and not very happy. Aaron had to take him out to the foyer, Porter however still wasn't trilled and we could still hear him from the chapel. I ended up bringing him home after sacrament meeting. Once home I put him in his highchair to feed him some lunch before his nap but the poor little guy didn't make it very long....

Later that afternoon we thought we'd go for a drive to check out the reservoir (It's almost full!) at our favorite campground which is just over an hour away. The ride started o.k. but about a half hour into it Porter decided he wasn't interested. Uncle Scott who was with us was a real trooper and tried very hard to keep Porter occupied.

The mountains and reservoir were beautiful and despite the tears it was a fun mini-trip. Porter got to dip his toes in the lake for the first time! - The water was cold and there was a lot of driftwood but he really seemed to like splashing his toes in the water.