Bad Girl Mom!

So after Jordan got home from school today we were doing a little spelling/reading with the letters on the fridge. Of course, Charlotte wanting to be involved with everything was mixed into the fun lesson.

Object of the game:

Make a sentence using only the letters available and using correct spelling.

The first sentence I wrote, I tried to hide it among the rest of the letters. I wanted to see if Jordan could figure it out.

That was a close up. This is more so what it looked like.

Jordan could not figure it out. He asked me to spell out another sentence. As I was trying to be a little silly...

I had offended Charlotte.

"Mommy, bad girl. Time out Mommy. Not nice. no no no no"

I was completely stunned. So to show her I was truly sorry, I took my place at the wall.

This seemed to provide much entertainment to Jordan. He was taking my photo, laughing, pointing, and crying all at once.

The lengths a mother will go too. Laugh it up son of mine!!

In my defense - an eight year old boy sweating, just from school - how do you think he smelled??

Upside down

She draws people.

Upside down

Starting with the legs

Working to the pants, then the shirt

Till the actual face

Then she goes back to add in all the details like....

Belly Buttons!

Potty Training

Oh, the joys of potty training! Not only am I tasked to potty train one child, I am in the middle of potty training two children. Sooner than later, I will be the proud parent of two boys in "under-roos" and a girl in panties. Being as Jordan is about to be eight next month, we are already done with his special training, but the twins - its a work in progress.

Charlotte is already basically potty trained through out the day. She runs around everywhere - inside and out side in nothing but her special panties. She will stay dry in them all day long and run to the bathroom when she needs to go. She is fine as long as we are home, and in her minimum apparel of just her panties. The challenge comes when she has to put on clothes. For some reason, when she is wearing clothes over her panties, she forgets, and within minutes, she is having accidents. For instance - the target debacle with a child psychologist. For some reason unknown to me - while we were in Target my mother and I were scolded in the middle of the store by a woman claiming to be a child psychologist. I have a strong desire to put people in their place when they are butting their nose into my personal business when they don't belong, and when there is no harm being done.

The event - Charlotte was sitting in the cart, and all the sudden it looked like a cup of drink was tipped over. It was not a drink - it was Charlotte having an accident. I just looked at her (with a bit of disappointment and embarrassment), and said " oh noo Charlotte. You need to tell mommy when you have to use the restroom." Picked her up, took her to the bathroom to change her, and nothing more was said. When we returned back to William and my mother, this woman was standing in front of my mother giving her an ear full. So know I felt I was tasked with two more missions, apologizing to the target people and let them know they needed a clean up in isle 17, and putting this woman in her place.

Anyway, besides that silly incident, potty training has been going pretty smoothly. Charlotte just had to be ready, and now that she is - its just a matter of consistency, patience, and time.

The other half of my duo, William, is taking to the potty like a champ! After watching his sister running back and forth to the potty, and getting praised by every one around her, he figured - he wanted in! For the past three days, I have had William in the nude running here there and every where in only his birthday suit. We have had a couple of accidents where he thought it would be grand to pee behind the garbage, and stand up in the pool and pee in there. All in all, he has become relatively acquainted with his trainer potty. He has even started asking to wear a pair of under-roos! We made a special trip for him, and picked some that were "just for boys". He loves them so much, but sadly I had to take them away from him. He grew such an attachment to them that he was refusing to pull them down (and would put up a big stink when I made him) when it was time for him to use the potty. Yes, he would sit down on the potty, even go to the bathroom, but would still pee in his "under-roos". So for now, it is strictly "the nude" for him.

We keep a trainer potty upstairs, and one down stairs for the babies since they have trouble holding it for more then a min. It has got to the point where when we are down stairs, they fight over who gets to sit on it - even if they truly don't have to go. So we had to make a special trip to the store once again to purchase William his own potty. He loves it so much! The trouble with that is - Charlotte loves it too! So their is still a bit of conflict in the house as to whom gets to use the new potty. The greatest challenge I am having with William is that he is so messy! He refuses to close his legs, and when I try to tell him to push his boy parts down, he pees all over his hands. So its either pee on the hands, or pee all over the floor where his potty sits.

I can't wait until my husband is home. Maybe he will be a better judge of what to do with William. I just don't want to discourage him from using the potty by making him do something that he is completely against. His new found passion for the potty is a great thing, and I want to keep it that way.

The Babies Birthday

We had a wonderful birthday for the kiddos. Charlotte turned 3, and William turned 2 on the 13th of June. It was a great day with the exception of their father not being there. They were spoiled Rotten to say the least with all the fabulous gifts that every one brought them. They are getting so big, so fast!

We thank everyone who came, and who wished them all a happy birthday. We just wish that we could have had more family closer.

Day 17 - Perspective

Here I am, going on day 17 of my husbands deployment. The house is still present with moments of laughter, sadness, peace, and longing. We spend the majority of our days reading books, playing outside visiting friends, and coming up with some way to use our imagination.

Charlotte has taken on the role of "Mommy" in a big, and not so pleasant way. I know she is in the mimicking faze, and she is only doing what she sees me doing. I am trying to be patient, and not over react with her over what is just part of a 'growing' process. I have to say, it is a hard thing to do.

I admit, after reading the book "The Noticer" by Andy Andrews, I was a little more knowledgeable in the area of perspective. Everyone has perspective, but does everyone focus on the right sort of perspective that could enhance their life, and others around them? Take for instance, Charlotte. She is playing Mommy these days, disciplining her brother vocally, loving on her brothers through affection, and using her manners. I can not take the blame for the good, with out taking the blame for the bad as well. Instead of correcting her, telling her what she is doing is wrong, I need to change the way I am, and pray she picks up on the good. I need to start giving her more verbal praise when she is sweet natured towards him, and talk to her in a more gentle and softer tone when she is a bit more brash and unwelcoming towards him.

I have learned the motto "Do as I say, and not as I do" is a complete cop-out and lack of self discipline in living by this. It is easy to do, yes, but incredibly lazy, and very irresponsible.

If you curse around your children, of course they will curse.

If you use manners with your children, they will use manners as well.

If you yell at your children, they in turn will yell at their siblings or friends.

The list is limitless.

I am trying to take a new approach, and kick the habit of yelling, or voice raising in any way.

I am also trying to make sure, with every discipline, I also turn around and show twice the love. It is easy, very easy for me to punish my child for doing wrong, and then go about my day. I have to make a conscious effort to remember to turn around five or ten minutes after each incident and show them double the amount of love.

There are days, like today that I just want to pull out my hair from what seems everyone is suffering from "woke up on the wrong side of the bed" syndrome. These are the days that I have to lock myself in the bathroom, sit on the closed toilet, and pray to god to give me the patience, and the strength not to loose my patience, then regroup, and re-enter the world of moodiness.

It is a process that I am going through, and a change (a big change) that I am welcoming and wanting, and praying on.

My perspective -

I am blessed to have such a great roof over my head.

I am blessed to have three healthy and amazing children.

I am blessed that I have a wonderful man that loves me to no end

I am blessed that I have a feast to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I am blessed that I have the power and chance to make my life and myself into what I dream.

I am blessed to have friends, true friends that care enough about me

I am blessed to have a wonderful mothers and fathers from both mine and my husbands side.

I am blessed that I am breathing.

Simply - "I AM BLESSED"

everything else in between seems so frivolous, and unimportant.

Milestones

My Sweet Charlotte,

my beautiful, sweet girl found some "panties" she loved one day and wanted them so bad.

She refused for three weeks to try them on,

Instead, she carried them around in her purse with her other most prized possessions.

Today, out of all days,

She put them on for the first time, and has not made any accidents in them yet. I think we can say goodbye to diapers, and hello to the potty from now on. Way to go Charlotte!

Welcome home with lessons learned (for mom and child).

One of my favorite times during the work week is the time Jordan comes home from school.  Just before the bus arrives I open the front door, and that always sends a signal to the babies to run to the door screaming "Jicka's Home!"

From the moment he walks in, he is bombarded by both babies, the dog, and of course, ME! He always tells me what color of the day he was on in the form of a question. Today he asked me "What color am I pointing at?" I looked around, and yelled with excitment "GREEN!!" It is such a fun and sweet moment at the time of his arrival. 

He is the best big brother in the world! He always takes the time before his after school snack to spend a little quality time wrestling around with the babies. From the moment he walks in, puts his book down, and lays down, William and Charlotte are always all over him giving him HUGE hugs and kisses. 

(here is William giving him his welcome home hug)

(... and here is Charlotte giving Jordan his hug, trying her hardest to wrestle with him.)

I would love to say that my children have grown up to be exceptional with their manners, happiness, and love from the child rearing that Chase and myself have done, but somethings are just simply "Them".  The Lord has blessed me, and my life with these bubbly little people full of love, happiness, and contentment. Of course, just like any kids, they all have there moments, but the good definitely out way the bad. 

Just the other day, I received a phone call from Jordan's teacher during school. She told me about a little hiccup that happened at school, and that Jordan wanted to tell me himself. Turned out that my sweet boy was found cheating on a test. During a spelling test, he placed a piece of paper with the words from the test next to his actual test. I realized (and so did the teacher) that this was seriously not his fault, and should not get into any trouble for it. He was perfectly innocent in the fact that no one ever told him that he was not allowed to do it. He thought what he was doing was allowed, and was SHOCKED when his teacher told him that what he was doing was wrong. My poor sweet boy was in tears over the phone with me. I had to calm him down, and let him know that what he was doing was cheating, and that it was a bad thing. "I didn't know mom!" he kept crying over the phone to me, "Hunny, well now you do, and so from now on, this won't ever happen again, right?" He was so relived to hear that he was not in trouble. That this was a time for a lesson to be learned. 

After that incident, I realized to myself that when our children start to get older, we begin to assume that they know what is right and what is wrong. It dawned on me that us, as parents, are not being completely fair to our children in this regard. I thought long and hard about all the times I used the phrase "you should have known better", and immediately felt like a horrible parent. It is my responsibility to point that finger back at myself while using that phrase. I am the one who should have known better, I am the one who didn't teach them these things, therefore, it is my fault, not theirs. I look at it this way from now on, if they do something that they truly didn't know was wrong, then the punishment should be taken off the table, and after a brief talk (as much at their attention will hold), then it should be written down in the books as a lesson learned.

I try my hardest to be the best mother I can be, but also, I am perfectly aware that their are plenty of things to improve on. I make it my mission to become a better parent with understanding and patience for my children's sake. I love it, and embrace it each time my children teach me a lesson or two. 

Just a small cut. A tiny milestone.

Earlier on tonight, we were outside with the kids hanging out with our friends. Chase looked over at Jennifer and asked her if she knew how to cut hair, and she jumped at the chance. 

A couple of minutes later, there was an extension cord with the clippers plugged in, and Chase was seated awaiting his four star hair cut in the middle of our garage. 

Needless to say she did a GREAT JOB on his hair!

Then, Chase got the idea to give William his first hair cut!!! He made one big mistake and pretended to William that Jennifer was hurting him during his cut. He became very upset for Chase and started to cry and wanted to comfort him. 

So when Chase placed William in his lap, and took out the clippers, he began to cry frantically. Between Chase, Jennifer and myself, he still wasn't in any mood to have those clippers near him. 

Chase had already run the buzzer through his hair, so.....

he had to finish. 

William was so upset, and we both wanted to comfort him, and debated on who was the one who would get to comfort him after. I was able to go over there and let him hug me for the duration of the hair cut, and that seemed to have calmed him down for the most part. My sweet boy was holding on to me with all his strength while my heart was hurting from his fear. 

There even came a time where I didn't care what he would look like, and took a picture to show to Chase how scared he was, but I knew Chase was right and we had to finish, or else it would have looked incredibly silly other wise. 

My shaggy little boy is no longer shaggy, and has a cute adorable hair cut that makes him look just ...... adorable! 

I am not one of those mothers who keep teeth, hair, and umbilical cords for memories, so I took a picture (Jennifer's idea) to keep as our memento from this milestone. 

My baby is growing up!