Saturday, August 22, 2009

Nursery Follow-Up

I really want to thank ALL of you for your comments, messages, etc. It meant so much to me to hear from you, as I respect your opinions and thoughts on matters of motherhood. I really wanted to comment to each of you personally, but lack of time and effort has prevented me thus far. Karen: I love how happy your little children are with strangers and friends alike, and I reall value you opinion as a pastor's wife, so please when you get time, let me know what you do with your little ones and how you and your hubby view it. :) You can email or comment, whichever you prefer.

I really felt similar to what Lisi said, about wanting her children to feel a part of the Body of Christ, and learn to participate in the worship, prayer, and message. However, it would be misleading if I didn't say that my hesitancy about putting Elyana in nursery had much more to do with not wanting to leave my precious baby. But I do think that as she is older, it will be important to talk with her and ask her what she learned about the message. I think my dad did this at young ages, to where even at 10 years old, I felt my opinions and observations were given importance and were valid rather than "silly." I don't know what age we'll choose church instead of Sunday school, I guess that will depend on where we're attending church at the time, what they offer, and our children's own preferences.

Susi and my friend Angela both were pointing out how good it is for the child to "fellowship" with their friends or be loved on by nursery staff during church. Also how it's good to get time listening with your husband to the message, undistracted! Especially since this was Jonathan's desire, I wanted to please him and respond positively to this. Even if I don't "mind" the distraction, this is an issue of honoring his wishes and trusting that he has our baby's good in mind as well. Angela also mentioned I could get comfortable with the workers and policies by working there myself! I have been meaning to do that for a long time, and have done it in our previous churches (2 year olds, though).

Oh, and we do keep her with us for the worship, and once the last song is being sung, I took her out. She really enjoyes the singing, and gets into it and "sings" (babbles in a long sing-songy way). This minimizes the time she can get fussy, lets her participate (she adores music), and lets me check her in when it's not so rushed at nursery.

That said, Elyana did pretty well actually. I was shocked to check her in and see three nursery workers and (including Elyana) only about 3-4 babies (I couldn't see for sure). Pretty much a one-to-one ratio. They were very kind and the room was super quiet. Peaceful. Of course it was just one week. Anyway, she did cry some toward the end, they said, but she was resting in a lady's arms as we got her. She came easily to us and was just ready for her nap. It really was nice to sit next to Jonathan during the message and listen with my full attention. I was very ready to go get her, though! I miss my little munchkin, even if it's only 30 minutes apart! (J and I have only ever left her twice for dates, and with family each time.)

Anyway, it will be a good thing, and I intend to watch her each week to see how she adjusts, how her immune system handles it, and if she begins to enjoy it. We both are at peace with having her there, but have agreed that were she to start getting sick a lot or cry a lot, we would reevaluate. For now I know it's good.

She did amazingly well with the shots, never even getting fever. We used tylenol one time the next day, as she seemed fussy in a way unlike herself. The Pc shot left a hard little pink spot that took longer to get rid of, but now it's gone as well. I feel so relieved that now she's gotten the first in a series of three of the 3 vaccines we'll let her get until she's 1.

I know I post a bunch of pictures of Elyana, but she's so cute and she gets the bulk of photo time now (especially since J works a lot more hours now than he used to, booooooo).

Look at her teethies! Two now. They are so cute!

Jonathan likes giving her lemons. Not often and not for long. And I wash her hands right afterwards so she doesn't get acidic juice in her eyes.

Downtown Savannah... Our Georgia Peach we call her. :)

On the boat ride with the uncomfy life preserver.

Reading to herself.... (well, turning a book's pages at least)

5 comments:

lislynn said...

So sweet :)

Carolyn said...

Yay, I'm so glad she did well!!

Crystal said...

So I am not sure how I found your blog, but I did, and as I have been reading it I realized we were both at the IVF clinic at Wilford hall at the same time. I believe I remember you sitting with your hubby at the admin. desk waiting to turn to paperwork. I am so happy that we were both able to have out precious baby girls after all the struggles we have been through. If you don't mind I would like to follow your blog.
Thanks again for sharing, now to get back to reading your past posts.

Rebecca said...

As far as church nursery goes, I remember feeling pretty dry spiritually when Kathryn turned 1. We came back to Crossway when she was 5 months old, so it was 7 months of not really ever hearing a message all the way through and being distracted during worship. It's completely a personal choice, but for me it was helpful to put Kathryn in class right from the beginning. She did go through a time where there was screaming at the checkin door, but she had already been going to her class for several months at that point, so it only lasted a few weeks. As far as training kids to sit still through church, there is value in that. But I guess we just chose to find other ways to train her in sitting still besides Sunday morning. Who knows, we may end up changing things in the future, but for us, it was such a relief to be able to really focus on the Lord during worship and be able to take notes during the message without trying to catch snippets over the loud speaker in the lobby.

Karen said...

Yes yes! Denise, I promise I will write to you about this. Although its been a couple weeks since you have begun, I have been away from internet for a while. But I will get to you soon!! Our blog is almost complete too :))

LOVE the photos of your sweet sweet Elyana Ruth!

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