Bubble Bath Fun

Faith and Cameron are SO into bubble baths. They LOVE them. I am really running low on time, here, so I will make this short and sweet....here are some pics!

The First BIG Boo Boo

Ahhhh.....I am surprised that it hasn't already happened. My children have to be the roughest, toughest two kiddos around. My mother tells me that she can not recall her children being so busy and rough. WELL....maybe it just seems so much worse because there are three of them!

Anyway, it started as a typical Saturday morning. Faith and Cameron had spent the night at YaYa's, Cody was away working on someones truck, and I had placed Mallory Jo in the crib for a nap. YES...ME time!!!! I was ready for a nap myself! Things to not always go as planned, however, and the phone rang. It was Aunt Rachel reporting.  Through the terrified screams on the other end of the line (from Cameron...not Aunt Rachel), I managed to hear that Cameron had fallen and hit his head. It was likely that he would need stitches.

To make a long story short, I took Cam to the ER, they glued it back together, and all is well.

EXCEPT......


he fell out of the moving golf cart the next day. No injuries, but momma and daddy definitely cut at least a year off of our lives that weekend....I am surprised I did not have a heart attack during these episodes.

Mallory Jo is Four Months!

Okay, okay, OKAY!!! Mallory has been four months for quite some time! She is actually closer to five months now. Work and life has truly gotten in the way of my blogging! I am having to play catch up.

So, MJ went to the doctor for her checkup. She was a whopping 18 pounds!!! Okay, Faith only weighs 22 pounds! Oh my, Faith and Cameron better take off before MJ catches up. Mallory Jo was 95th percentile in both height and weight. We are so very proud of our big girl!

Love, love, LOVE her!!!

TIme to EAT!

So, the time has come...and gone....for MJ to start eating some solids! We actually started her a little before four months. It seemed like the bottle was not satisfying her and she was no longer sleeping through the night. Cereal worked like a charm. 

Mallory was not like the twins. She instantly took to it! It was like she was born to EAT...and have you seen her lately? Well, it looks like she loves to eat. She is my little chunky monkey! She is not obese by any means and I am convinced that she has NOT gotten to the point her father was at by that age (because boy was he a monster!), but she is NOT a petite thing!

Here are some memories from Mallory Jo's first experience eating!

...and how would that make YOU feel?

WARNING: Venting Session

SO, it's been a long week. Back to school is officially here. Although I am excited about the new ideas that I have for this school year, I can not deny that I was crying the night before teachers were to report. Leaving the kiddos was hard and remains to be so....

I usually leave the house around 6:30am, so the kids are normally in bed. That's right...I don't even get to see them before I go. Well, it might be better that way. I am not sure that I could leave their smiling faces each day. Anyway, I do my best to be home before 4:30, but when I get home, the routine of cooking and preparing for the next day begins. Not to mention that I give 100% on the job....treating children that are NOT mine as they ARE mine. I love those kids, but I am usually left exhausted at the end of the day. Therefore, I feel like I do not or can not give 100% at home.  What kind of mother is that???!!!....well....a very guilty one.

I am very fortunate to have a great sitter here at home....WONDERFUL. Sure, there are things that we see...differently, but words can not express how great she is. So great, however, that the kids called her "Momma" this week....and seems to do so a lot.  Well, that was just a slap in the face....A HARD ONE. I did not hear it and I am not sure that I fully believe it (since the kids tend to call the name of MaMa and DaDa when we are not here), BUT it hurts. I am already kicking myself, and I come home to hear that the kids are calling the sitter, "MaMa."  Okay, who would even tell a mother that ANYWAY???....especially one that is having a hard time leaving the kiddos in the first place. WHATEVER.

What irritates me even more, is that people don't seem to get why this is upsetting to me. HELLLOOOO!! Geez. Cody, however, has been wonderful. He totally gets it. There are a few (and you know who you are), that have been really understanding and have been great to me as I vent!

Then, I am reminded of those lovely people, who think that I can just up and quit my job to stay home.  I was once told (months ago), however, that I would be "surprised" by what we could do with only one person working....insinuating that we could do without some things in order for me to stay at home. OKAY...I think that I know what I can and can not do. If that person meant giving up our home and all modes of transportation, then, SURE...I guess that I could just quit.....

I know this blog sounds immensely bitter...and I guess I am in a sense. However, DO know that I am immensely THANKFUL. Each morning, I thank God for a job that enables me to touch the lives of children each day and allows me to be at home with my children for all holidays. I thank God for a sitter that we couldn't do without. I'm just a bit sensitive this week.

Things will get better and easier as they do each year. AND...if there is one thing that I know for SURE...Faith, Cameron, and MJ know who their momma is....they have only called for me a million times today! :)

Throw it All out the Window!

You would think that all of my experience with babysitting would prove helpful....
You would think that having a degree in early childhood education would prove beneficial...
You would think that my reading parenting books and articles would lend me some reliable information...

WELL...I'm here to tell you to throw it all out the window!!!...well...maybe not all of it. Sure, I've gained some valuable knowledge and experiences from all of the things listed above. However, none of those things are the Bible of raising kids. Let's just say, use them as a launching pad....a starting point....work it out your way....the way that works for you. THAT'S what I have learned.

This is true for ALL situations that you will cross in the lovely journey of parenthood, but I will only write about the constant battle that I am having in my house at this time.....

The Battle of the Time Out Chair.

 

I recall the day when I was young and idiotic...thinking that I knew all but really didn't know a thing. I remember saying, "Why on Earth are they letting their kid do THAT???!!! If I were their parent, I would do THIS." Ahhhhh....now I see.

We have been struggling with discipline for quite some time. I think around ten months, I noticed the twins, doing things...intentionally. My theory was, "If they can look back at me and smile before they do something wrong, then they can understand some discipline!" We began by diverting their attention to something else when they were in the act if doing something "bad"  (because that was what I have read to do). Well, I'm sorry, it's hard to divert their attention to something else when they are standing up in their plates on their high chair.  We then moved to the popping of hands (in my book, that's not abuse, okay???). When my children began doing something "bad" and then spanking their own hands, I realized that  wouldn't work, either. So, here we are now at eighteen months and we have initiated the time-out chair.

At first, the time-out chair seemed to work.  Faith and Cameron clearly didn't want to go to time-out, they stayed there, and seemed to "get" the concept.  I was SO excited...YAY...something that really worked!  However, the timeout chair has lost some of its magical powers....not all of them...just some. The kids will still stay there when I put them in it and they are eager to get down. BUT...they are seeing it as somewhat of a game, now. They may laugh or stand up in the chair....they have even eased their way down the chair so that their tippy-toes are almost touching the floor (that's when they look at me and laugh). Ahhhhh....these kids are too much! They are just too mischievous and smart for their own good.

They have even forced me to act like a child myself. On several occasions, I have taken all of the smiles and taunting laughs from them in the time-out chair that I can take. I go and get something that they LOVE, and cruelly taunt THEM. Hey,  they have to see that time-out means that they miss out on something...AND IT IS NOT FUNNY. For example....popsicles....what kid does not like popsicles? Yep, this is terrible...but Faith sat down with me and ate a popsicle right in front of Cam as he sat in timeout. How cruel am I???  Faith LOVES lotion. Cam and I applied lotion to our legs while Faith watched from timeout. I know...very cruel.  The sad thing is that I'm not sure it even worked. Time-out, however, IS the thing that we have had the most luck with, however. Some days it works better than others. So, I guess we will stick to it.

After the constant discipline battle, here are the important lessons that I have learned:

1. Never talk about someone elses child, because, let's face it...your child will do the exact same thing.

2.  Never say that you will never do it this way or the other (regarding discipline), because, let's face it...you will do whatever works.

AND

3. I always thought Super Nanny was so stupid with her stupid naughty chair. I always thought that I could MAKE my kids mind.  Ha...maybe she was right and had some decent ideas! :)

Pictures to come soon! :)