Latest from Mercy

So she is now frequently saying, "I am going to be on my best behavior today. I am going to obey all days, everydays! Anything you say...that's what I'll do."

Hahaha! If only this were actually true. But really, it shows her heart and intentions. How many times do I wake up to a new day and determine with all the vigor I can muster that I am going to obey God all days everydays! ...

This morning she said, "I'm reading my bible, so I can make good choices all the time."

And of course I was immediately pleased and convicted! I said that I was so proud and that she had a great idea. Mommy was going to read MY bible too, so that I could make good choices for my day as well.

What a girl!

Playing Catch up

I barely find time to blog anymore and I find that slightly disheartening...but on my priority list, it just falls short after the millions of other things that gals with multiple children have to do.

We are still dealing with discipline issues with M. She is doing significantly better, or at least we are more relaxed with it all cause we know how to handle it. She had an out burst yesterday after a wonderful day...we understood that because she chose to play instead of nap during quiet time that she was tired by 7pm. (approximate time of outburst). She managed it o.k. In fact, she was on the naughty spot during said event and said that she was just crying and expressing herself...she wasn't being ugly or having a fit. I told her that was acceptable. I mean a girls gotta let that out sometimes.

She started to "express herself" today at a friends house when we were to pick up so that we could go home. Anyone within earshot might have been deafened by her one long ear piercing scream. So I said, "we agreed that if you chose to disobey that we were going home, so it is now time to leave." She answered as you might expect with a NO. Which I wasn't listening to, because I proceeded to gather up our bag and baby and hit the door. You know that wasn't acceptable and she came running and started crying in sincerity. I stopped at the porch door and looked at her and gently repeated my previous statement. I hugged her and she said that she loved me...I love her too. And off we went thanking our host and apologizing for our outburst. Not too bad comparitively. She's learning to take control of her reactions. She was disappointed cause she didn't get a chance to wear the buzz lightyear costume, but I told her not to worry...we'd let her go first next time.

Now she is napping. She played quietly for awhile...I napped. Then when it was the usual time to allow her to come out of her room, I found she had climbed in her bed for a nap. How nice! A quiet house, and I've already napped! W sleeps really well during afternoon nap if he sticks to his usual schedule.

On the W front, he had a cranky spell for a few days. I think he was dealing with a little allergies or a touch of a cold. Today he has been delightful. Even at Jill's house, he slept for morning nap thanks to a bit of my favorite babywearing. Pulled out the old standby (my 6 yds of cotton guaze) and wrapped us up. He was having trouble with all the stimulation till I got the bright idea to pull a piece all the way up to cover his head. then he was out in about 1 minute. After I got M situated in her room for quiet time, he was still up and in a good mood so I didn't try to force him down for a nap. I just spent some one on one face time with him and I was much rewarded! He giggled and giggled! He likes to play little games it seems. Hearing his little giggle is better than any rush or high I could ever imagine!

On my front, I am doing well. I keep a little more to myself than I'm used to...maybe because I'm spent by the end of the day, or maybe because with a growing family I don't get alot of time to myself. I've been sewing a sleeping beauty costume for myself. Really I've just about finished. I had to recreate the thing though, cause I had the skirt already hanging in my closet, so I just needed to make the bodice. But I couldn't find a pattern for it, so I used a snow white pattern with sleeve patterns from another princess pattern. Then I had to attach partial skirt embellishment to it. And on top of that there is the white collar like thing that I have no idea, but am going to work on last. I have a wig too! How fun. I will most likely wear this for halloween, but M thinks I definitely need to be Ariel for halloween. I'm making these costumes in the hopes of one day starting a princess party business...more on that to come.

That is the latest...except to say our lease is up Dec. 1st and we are exploring our options looking for extra space. Buying isn't an option for us right now so, we are just trying to decide whether to stay put or move to something bigger that will inevitably have a higher price tag. We shall see.

Creative Discipline

Well, I think maybe I've finally had a break through on my creativity when it comes to consequences for M's misbehaving. I felt like a success yesterday when I came up with an idea after she had acted out at school on the playground. She disobeyed her teacher and then proceeded to have a tantrum and had to be carried back to class. Nice.

"Uh oh! How sad." She was supposed to do a chore to earn her TV time back that she lost at the beginning of the week due to an outburst over bath (in which she deliberately clawed J and left marks on his arm). That privilege was lost and in addition to that, I though maybe lending her teacher one of her favorite things to have over the weekend might be a good idea. She agreed to this and chose her two favorite ponies. We bagged them up but when we tied the bag together, she decided she didnt' want to do that anymore. I then knew not only did the punishment fit the crime, but it hurt a little. This is what I was going for.

We sent a little note to Ms. T saying that she was sorry for having a fit and that she could play with her favorite ponies this weekend, but to please return them to her bag next week. She also wanted me to write "I love you" which I did and thought was really sweet. Ms. T responded with a note in kind...said M was doing super in school and thanks for loaning her the ponies.

This disciplining is not easy mainly cause it seems we are having to do it all day everyday. But I guess we are being extremely consistent right now so that we can move on from this stage and into one where in she knows and understands the boundaries and the discipline is less often necessary.

Knee Deep in Discipline

Well, the title of this post should say it all. When I was potty training M, I took her out of school to get the job done well and quickly. Well, M is still going to school, but that is about it right now. Getting out with her just wouldn't be a great idea as she is still learning to take discipline from mom and dad right now. Add on top of that a boy who has been a bit cranky for the last 3 days, and you'll understand why I have on yesterday's makeup still, haven't showered or brushed my teeth yet and am wearing my pj's...still. I did get dinner fixed and that was superb! Filet and fried okra from the garden and mashed potatoes...yum. Boy is suddenly awake...again and this doesn't look good for tonight since his sleeping pattern today has been only 20-30 min. at a time. yippee! Gotta run. Maybe I'll get a chance to post again sometime in the near future! who really knows.

Family Photos!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

W at 2 months!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

SuperNanny

So, I haven't blogged much lately cause I've been exhausted! Naps are apparently a thing of the past around here and night times have been very difficult.

We've dealt with or desperately tried to deal with major tantrums almost daily. Mr. Sad Spoon seems to be mostly useless except to make both M and J and me angry. So, we are using restrictions...that gets old cause even though it sort of helps, it seems like we are too negative all the time.

J and I did something that made me feel like a real parent for the first time in a while (you know besides natural childbirth ha!). We got together on the same page and figured out just how we were going to deal with our parenting problem.

Thank goodness for family as well, cause after sounding things off my mom I was able to combine all of our decisions and some things that we gleaned from SuperNanny and we scheduled our first family meeting!

It was hilarious actually cause M was sooo excited about it! She and I sat down with a posterboard and a sharpie and decided what our family rules should be and what our consequences and rewards should be. She enjoyed having a say and being a part of the process. We showed the naughty spot and we introduced the coin jar. When she does certain chores or behaves well, she gets to put in a coin. If she disobeys or disrespects, she has to take a coin out. This seemed to hit home. She immediately did a task to get a coin. Then we worked to clean her room, one of a daily chore, and so she got another coin. Then (and this is big) she went #2 on the potty all by herself with no assistance. For that she got to put in a coin. She packed her bag for school tomorrow and thus will get a coin tomorrow morning AND her dad said that if she went to bed without problems, she could put in 2 coins.

Not a peep! Unbelievable cause sleeping has been particularly difficult! Now on Fridays when daddy gets home we get to see if we have enough coins for something special. She suggested icecream this week! Great idea! So we shall see.

We had to do the supernanny thing putting her back in bed over and over with little or no talking/eye contact involved. It was dramatic for sure and can't believe that w slept through it...but it didn't last too long. probably 10-15 times I had to put her back in bed. But it worked. Once she got quiet, she was quiet until I came to get her up. I don't think she slept, at least not for long...but she was quiet and remaind in her room. That was the point. I was thrilled.

Mom says welcome to child training as opposed to simply raising a child. Fun times, but the small victories are just as exciting to J and I as I think they are to M! Victory #1!

Naptime Nonsense!

Seriously. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I LOVE to nap. Not all the time or anything, but almost everyday for at least 40min. This two kid thing isn't very conducive to that though! And it makes me angry! Angry not cause I'm cranky, but you know that feeling of boiling angst when you are desperately trying to do something and it just isn't working out your way! That is me...now and the last several days. Ugh. At least W is sleeping a good 8-10 hours at night. Thank the Lord for that. Sorry for the short post...he is hungry