Long overdue

My kids are growing up too fast. I never thought I'd say that because, honestly, seeing them reach new milestones is fun and exciting. But now that they are developing personalities and characters of their own, it's more apparent than ever just how important my influence is in raising them to be strong, confident, and God-honoring individuals. And frankly, that is a terrifying realization.

Shiphrah started Cubbies this year. Memorizing verses is a breeze for her but adjusting to a room full of three and four-year-olds has been a challenge. I think she might actually adjust better if I wasn't in there with her, but I didn't realize that until I had already committed to being a leader.

Kirk is our "problem child" right now. He's becoming increasingly stubborn and obsessive over getting his way. He's actually taken to saying "I don't want to behave!" or "I don't want to be good!" repeatedly when he's upset. We're struggling to come up with a good discipline structure for him. Last night something was bothering him and he cried/yelled/whined/screamed until 2:30 in the morning. Avery practically had to spank him to sleep because he kept yelling his demands "want juice, not water!" "leave door open!" "don't want to behave!" "don't want to go to sleep!" It was a frustrating night, to say the least. Avery finally gave him a vitamin and having that in his mouth calmed him down enough to fall asleep. This morning he was cheerful up until Avery got home from his off-duty job. Then he threw a fit about having to eat lunch and wouldn't stop screaming until we put him to bed for his nap.

Ronnie is your typical toddler...for a boy, anyway. He gets into everything and wants to do everything his big brother and sister do. He wears me out! He's still not sleeping through the night but usually only wakes once and goes back to sleep easily once I nurse him. He's still nursing three to four times a day, mostly after naps and at night. He's probably going to give up his afternoon nap soon but right now I can still get him to nap for about an hour around 3 or 4-o-clock.

I'm surviving, but not really able to focus on anything other than the kids these days. I try to do some extra cooking or cleaning at night after they go to bed but then I'm terribly exhausted the next morning. Still haven't figured out a really good schedule that works for all of us yet.

Trying to get back into blogging a bit though. Mostly for my own benefit...I've missed it. :)

Kids and such...

It seems like every time I try to catch an afternoon nap, Ronnie decides to cut his short. Yesterday I didn't even try for a nap; Ronnie slept two hours. Today he slept 30 minutes. And now I have a monster headache and a grumpy baby. Ugh.

I did figure out a possible reason behind his grumpiness, extra nursing sessions, and nighttime fits: my cycle started today after being absent for nearly three years. That was a bit of a surprise. They say that affects your milk supply, right? Maybe Ronnie's not getting the quantity or quality that he wants.

Despite the Sunday blues, I did have a pretty productive day yesterday. Got a few loads of laundry done, swept and mopped the floors, and did some yard work. Unfortunately the floors don't really look any better because I had to rush when the kids popped awake from their naps. And when we were outside they decided to start dumping buckets of sand onto the grass when I wasn't looking, so we had to cut our outside time short.

Speaking of the kids, I've decided to tackle the fighting problem by immediately taking away whatever they are fighting over. It'll create more tears to deal with but I'm hoping it'll discourage the fighting better than my spanking/scolding has been.

My neighbor just offered to watch the kids while I rest. Hmm...while that's tempting, I think I might just do some de-cluttering and cleaning instead. Being kid-free while doing chores will probably help the headache just as much as resting, I think. On the agenda: finishing the laundry, sweeping and mopping the kitchen, cleaning off the computer desk, and dusting. I'll try to vacuum the bedrooms too since the kids will be gone but I just did that last week so they're not too dirty.

My husband surprised me by mentioning that he has tomorrow off. He had told me that last week and I completely forgot. But then he offered to work an extra shift Thursday to cover for an officer's funeral. So it'll be a normal two-day weekend after all. Still, I'm excited that it starts tomorrow instead of Wednesday.

Morning grouchies

It's 10-o-clock and the bad part of our morning is finally coming to a close. Before I was a mom, I loved mornings. The start of a new day, the peaceful morning air...........yeah, that calm doesn't exist anymore. In fact, it's anything but calm. Avery and I wake up groggy thanks to Ronnie's nighttime antics, Kirk (the 2-year-old) wakes up crying for his daddy, and Shiphrah wakes up whining about wanting a movie/vitamin/breakfast/whatever. I usually end up yelling at the kids in frustration and at my husband for not helping deal with the situation. Ugh, mornings are downright miserable.

I wish there was a way to change that, but I can't think of anything other than getting up before the kids. Kind of hard to do when one of them sleeps with you.

Despite the morning grouchies, I can usually redeem the day by the time the evening rolls around. Yesterday the kids and I hung out in the backyard: playing in their new sandbox and splashing in the baby pool. I also got the rest of the laundry put away and some other chores done after they went to bed.

But then 10-o-clock rolled around and Ronnie decided he didn't want to sleep anymore. I already let him nurse non-stop from about 2am on, so I was determined to get him to go back asleep another way. Yeah......that didn't work out so great. I'm hoping he's just teething and not creating a really bad habit.......

Today is the start of hubby's weekend. He let me sleep in for an extra hour this morning so hopefully I can keep my energy level up the rest of the day.

God is gracious

It's been so long since I've really blogged, I wonder if anyone is still reading over here. Give me a hollar if you are, so I know whether to just start posting notes on Facebook.

God is gracious and merciful. Every day he shows me more grace than I could ever deserve. That said, life is good and difficult and challenging and frustrating. And that's just in a 30-minute period.

Ronnie, who is 10 months old now, is still waking at least twice every night. Or I should say, on a good night he only wakes twice. Most nights it's at least three or four times. I'm exhausted and when morning comes I nearly always turn on a movie for the munchkins and go back to sleep for another hour or so. This is a bad habit I desperately want to break. Let's face it, it's just not good parenting to let a 10-month-old, 2-year-old, and 3-year-old have free reign of the house for that long. Just this morning my husband realized he had left his boot knife in easy reach for the kids to find. They didn't, thankfully, but it still scared me to think about what could have happened.

We started a vegetable garden for the first time this year. While I'm really excited about it, I'm realizing that tending to the garden and watering our newly established backyard is taking an extra hour every day that I didn't really have to give. Not sure what to do about that, except stay up an hour later at night, which directly affects the exhaustion issue. Speaking of gardens, how worried should I be about birds (cardinals, bluebirds, etc.) hanging out in there? I know they'll eat the caterpillars, but will they also eat my young plants and eventually my tomatoes? Right now they just seem to be playing in the water when I have the drip hose running, but that could change.

We seem to be in a cycle of sickness right now. Two weeks ago Ronnie got some kind of virus where he ran a high fever for six days. Friday the older two started running fevers. Thankfully they never seems as miserable as the baby but it's still hard to know they're feeling poorly.

I'm feeling discouraged and overwhelmed by everything I need to do but haven't gotten to. If I kept a running list it would be pages long. I get things done here and there but it seems like once I get a handle on one area (like the laundry), other things pile up. And when I get to those things, suddenly the laundry has gotten unruly again.

And Ronnie is already awake. The kid will not take decent naps anymore and he's nursing every hour and a half. Growth spurt, maybe? Whatever it is, it's only adding to the regular exhaustion.

But God is merciful. My children are nourished, clothed, and happy. My husband is the best partner I could have ever asked for. The house isn't falling apart and the dishes aren't piled higher than the top of the sink. We enjoyed a good rain last week, the first for us in 2011. God is holding my family in His arms and I am so undeserving.

Getting into a groove

So sorry for the lack of blog posts recently. But taking care of a husband, three kids under three, two pets, and a 987 sq. ft. house can be a teensy bit time-consuming. However, praise God and knock on wood, I have finally found a groove! It's not perfect by any means and things still get left by the wayside, but I seem to have figured out how to take care of almost everything without leaving kids hungry, laundry unwashed, or an unhappy husband. So may I say again, praise God!

Unfortunately this week we're all sick. Shiphrah started with a runny nose on Monday and despite hoping it was just allergies it turned into a full-blown cold a day later. Then my throat started hurting Tuesday evening and Kirk's nose started running on Wednesday. Now the three of us are a mess of snotty noses, congested sinuses, and yucky coughs. Thankfully little Ronnie seems okay so far and Daddy has mostly avoided the cold as well. I'm hoping we'll be feeling much better by Sunday because we have a friend's birthday party that I'd hate to miss.

Let's see...a few weeks ago I stepped waaay out of my comfort zone and gave a presentation for a local MOPS group. I talked for about half an hour about honoring God and family through frugal living and it went really well. The ladies were all really sweet and some seemed very interested in what I was saying. It was also a great MOPS group and if it weren't across town during rush hour traffic, I'd love to join. I still might because I really need to get plugged in somewhere, but we'll see.

I also turned 27 (gasp!) a week ago. Avery surprised me by taking a half day from work and making reservations at a nice restaurant down on the Riverwalk. His family watched the munchkins and we had a really nice evening to ourselves. He also rode his bike to Wal-Mart that morning to pick me up a dozen roses, which is what he had done for another special occasion about five years ago...the first time he said "I love you." My birthday gift was a very nice set of kitchen knives (since I constantly complain about how fast mine go dull) and my in-laws bought me a set of Corelle dishes. It was a wonderful birthday!

And now it's on to other celebrations. Shiphrah turns THREE (I can't believe it!) on the day after Thanksgiving and we're having a pancake breakfast with some friends and family to celebrate. And of course we have Thanksgiving and then a ski trip with my family for Christmas (so excited about that!).

Well, all three kids are miraculously down for a nap so I'm going to fold some laundry and then read my Bible. Have a great Friday, everyone! ♥

Best Buds

Even though they are fighting 75% of the time, they really do love each other...

...and they are so cute when they get along.

Just some stories

After a week or so of extreme exhaustion, I seemed to have had somewhat of a breakthrough today. It was bizarre because I didn't get any more sleep than usual last night and my nap today was a fail (noisy neighbors + noisy dog + noisy kids = ugh). But somehow my body woke up around 6-o-clock this evening and I suddenly felt like conquering the world. So I put away two loads of laundry, washed two more, washed the dishes, and took a shower. Not a lot, I know, but for me it was an accomplishment.

Shiphrah actually took a nap today so she had endless energy all evening long. (Why is it that my 2 1/2 year old seems to need less sleep than I do??) She stayed up with me after I put Kirk to bed at 8:30 and was THRILLED to have some one-on-one time with Mama. Methinks I need to do that more often...she was extra-cheerful and talking my ear off about all sorts of random things. She's at such a cute age...she tells me "stories" that are just run-on sentences full of people's names and random things that happened recently. I wish I could get it on video, it's just too adorable! Anyway, I put her to bed around 10-o-clock, but I could hear her moving around in her room for another 45 minutes or so. Again I have to ask, why does my toddler seem to need less sleep than me?

Kirk is finally settling back into his happy-go-lucky self. He's still a Mama's boy and a bit clingy, but he's much easier to entertain and keep busy these days. I'm hoping all this rain we've been having is washing away all the oak pollen so the kids' allergies (and mine) will finally go away, but we've been able to do without the Zyrtec most days this week. It makes me laugh to see just how different two toddlers can be though. Shiphrah could sit in front of the TV and watch movies all day long if I'd let her (and trust me, she asks constantly) and she's been like that since she was a year old. In fact, at only 7 or 8 months old she would sit through a 30-minute baby video if I needed to keep her in one place. Kirk, on the other hand, will glance at the movie playing every once in a while, but for the most part he completely ignores the TV. He's much happier if I give him a bowl, a few cheerios, and a spoon to play with. In fact, those three things kept him busy for about two hours this evening! Usually he follows me around like my shadow, but if I can give him something new to play with, he'll actually leave me alone long enough for me to get some chores done. I'm going to rapidly run out of "new" things though.

Other than being exhausted most of the time, we had a nice weekend. Saturday morning we had made plans to meet up with Kym (XxFireXboltxX) and her family at the zoo, but the rain prevented that. Instead we met at Jim's for breakfast and hung out all morning. It was a lot of fun and Kym was just as nice as I'd hoped! Kirk and her little boy Andrew had a lot of fun sitting next to each other in high chairs and watching each other throw things on the floor. Shiphrah was a bit of a handful, but she's been a stinker lately anytime we go anywhere. Anyway, hopefully we'll try the zoo again sometime soon, but it was really neat to get to meet a fellow Xangan in real life!

Well, Avery will be home from work any minute so I'll wrap this up. 'Night, all!