Case Life: A Mother's Creed

Monday, July 4, 2011

A Mother's Creed

Happy 4th of July everybody! For those of you who don't have facebook, my family found out that we are having another little girl for our 3rd child! I am totally excited and relieved that I don't have to buy new boy paraphernalia. :)

Lately I have been off and on reading some family history and I came across this passage this morning that really stuck with me. So I know I should do some catch up, but instead I am just going to copy this page onto my blog so I will always be able to come back to it and read it. It is a "Mother's Creed" that my great grandma (on my dad's side) would live by. According to these records, my aunt read it at her funeral. This also happens to be the lady we may name our up and coming daughter after.. (Veressa).

"To respect my children and in return be worthy of their respect. May love and understanding help me to emphasize their successes and to minimize their failures. To make no promise to my children that I cannot keep. To allow them the dignity of their own personalities and not try to make them over to my own desires. To care well for my children's bodies but not at the expense of their minds and spirits. To be cheerful and ready to laugh because children love laughter as they love sunshine. To have infinite patience with my children and to make allowances for them because they have so much to learn and I myself, am not too wise. To protect my children from my own nerves, temper and personal prejudices, pessimism and fears. To help them to choose the life work they are best fitted for instead of gratifying through them, my personal ambition. To reserve time and fresh energy for my children so that I can be their close and interested friend. To fit my children to meet life and people bravely, honestly and independently. To give my children freedom, but teach them to use that freedom so that they will not confuse liberty with license. To show my warm love for my children as well as conscientiously care for them. To manage them with intelligence and affection, not by punishment, condemnation, fear, fault finding and nagging. To guide my children instead of driving them. To direct their energy instead of repressing it. To try to understand my children instead of sitting in judgement on them, and through all misdemeanors, both trivial and serious, to love them steadfastly. "

5 comments:

Emma said...: That is a great quote. I want to live by that creed as well! Congrats again on another girl!; July 5, 2011 at 8:12 AM
Jen said...: This is beautiful! Thanks for the quote--It really resonated with me today. Congrats on baby girl #3! I hope your pregnancy is going well!; July 5, 2011 at 4:09 PM
Lindsey said...: Congrats to you and your family! That is so exciting. I love the creed as well.; July 5, 2011 at 7:10 PM
Katie said...: Very good advice.; July 6, 2011 at 11:17 AM
Angie said...: I'm so excited for your new little girl!!! And I love the mother's creed. I made a copy for me - I need to remember these things. Thanks for sharing!!; July 7, 2011 at 1:25 PM

Bailee-isms

12/20/08 We were at the annual Case Christmas party. Grandma Betty and Grandpa Dwayne were nice enough to buy us Sizzler lunch and then had a program at their home. Before I tell the story, I need to clarify that Grandma Betty is from England and still has her accent - which I love! Bailee wanted to ride in Grandma Betty and Grandpa Dwayne's car from Sizzler but we told her no since her car seat was already in ours. Bailee: "I just want to go with them because I love them so much." Grandma Sue : " I know, and they love you, too." Bailee: "But Grandma Betty says it weiood" (wierd without the "r" sound)
11/10/08 We were "puppy sitting" for Dave and Sue overnight so they could spend a night in Midway. Part of Bailee's bedtime routine is that she gets to have "snuggle-wuggles" right before bed every night. Snuggle wuggles started as being a Backyardigans show but has evolved to being a choice between playing make believe with toys, a show, or something else she really wants to do before bed. Well this particular night I gave her the choice between Dragon Tales or going to the store with me and she chose the show. When it was over and I said it was time to brush teeth and go to bed, she started to cry and throw one of her tantrums. She said she wanted to go to the store with me, I then reminded her that she chose the show over going to the store. She replied very seriously that when she chose the show, she was just teasing me. Very smart response.. it didn't fly and she was not a happy girl going to bed that night
11/12/08 We were driving home from Dave and Sue's and Bailee said "What does 'age' mean?" Dan and I weren't quite sure what she said, so we asked her to repeat it and she did. We still weren't sure if she said "H" or "age." Usually she can explain what she is saying by thinking of another word or saying it in a sentence. We asked her to say it in a sentence or tell us when and how she heard it. She stammered a little, then said "You know, like my feet are big." Dan and I tried very hard not to laugh and she finally said "Like I am a big girl." So then I said.. "Okay, you mean 'age'. That is like how old you are, so your age would be 3. When someone asks you what your age is, you would say 3." So Dan said "Yeah. It is like someone asking you how old you are. What are you going to say when someone asks you what your age is?" and Bailee said, "That I am a big girl!" Maybe you had to be there or it was pretty late, but it was very funny.
Grandma Sue bought a doctors kit for the grandkids. It came with a couple of cards that showed what to do with the "tools" - kind of like directions. When we were cleaning up all the parts to it, Bai couldn't find the cards and she was saying over and over.. "where are the indirections? " I think she was mixing up the words "instructions" and "directions." It is very cute that her vocabulary is growing so fast that she just has a ton of information to sort through. I am biased, but I definitely think she is a smartie!
Bailee was trying to get Dan to fill up her aqua-doodle pen with water so she could color on her mat, but apparently Dan wasn't jumping on the task. He continued to get ready for work and gather his things when Bailee said very demandingly "Dad, when you are all done with this world stuff, will you please fill this up with water?!" It definitely got his attention and he filled it up with water and she went on her way.
Bailee was talking with her cousin, Aliyah, and her grandma Packer about places they have been and things they have seen. My mom brought up that Aliyah was in a whale's mouth at Storybook land and Bai was in a shark's mouth in Disneyworld. They were laughing about that and my mom said, "Weren't you scared in the mouth?" and Bailee looked at my mom with her index finger pointed at her and said, " Remember grandma, those things are just PRETEND!" My mom thought it was very cute how Bailee was trying to comfort her on the scary pretend things that are out there.
Bailee is pretty much a vegetarian and refuses to eat meat - except for chicken nuggets and taco soup). In colorado, they took out a lunchable jr. and she wouldn't eat the meat. Well, someone told her that the meat would make her jump higher. She had a couple bites of the meat and walked away. Sue asked "Did you like it?" and Bai said "yeah, I am going to see if I can jump higher now, though." She jumped and everyone cheered - Maybe she will continue to eat meat and end up in the olympics!
Bailee was riding home from a dinner in the back seat of papa Dave and grandma Sue's car. Her uncle Andy was sitting next to her talking to her when the sun came shining into the car all of a sudden and her grandparents both burst into song "Here Comes the Sun, do do do do.." Uncle Andy then whispered to Bai "Grandma and Grandpa are getting old." and bailee replied, "Grandma's not old, but Papa is."
Being the great English buff that he is, Bailee's uncle Jason was trying to enhance Bailee's vocabulary by teaching her some new words. One of the words was "plump." He told her about having a nice, big, juicy, plump apple. Then he went on to explain that it meant "big." Bailee then was able to catch on and said, "Like you, uncle Jason?"
When Bailee says prayers, she really lets Heavenly Father into her heart. She has said things like, "please bless that I can watch a movie tomorrow. Please bless that I can get tinkerbell makeup at the store. Please bless I can sleep the whole night in my bed. Please bless we will grow up healthy and go to heaven."
Bai was helping grandma Sue wrap some baptism gifts and asked her what they were for. Sue said that they were for her primary kids who were going to be baptized and when Bailee turned 8, she would also be baptized. Bai looked at grandma like she was out in the night and said " Oh, no, grandma, I am going to be a doctor when I grow up!"
We were leaving grandma Sue and papa Dave's so Bai went and hugged grandma and said "I love you, grandma." Dan told her to go and tell grandpa the same thing so she went and hugged grandpa and said " Papa, I love grandma."
Bailee thought her pee would be pink after she drank her strawberry milk. After I told her it would still be yellow or clear, she still had her hopes up. When we got home, she ran to the bathroom to go potty and we heard her disappointed voice come from the bathroom saying "Yep, it's still yellow."