Blessings From Home

It's a Brudder

She's finally potty trained!

My little girl, Emily, finally decided it was fun to use the toilet! No accidents for nearly 3 days! Yay! She's been my hardest yet to potty train. It's been a month since her 3rd birthday. Her brother and sister were all potty trained by 3. It just goes to show, every child is different!

Blessings, sara

Happy 6th Birthday Madelynn!

Today is my middle daughter, Madelynn's birthday! She's 6! It's hard to believe, my kids are all growing up so fast. Here's the birthday girl on her first day of school this year.

6 Facts about Madelynn:

1. She has been my hardest labor thus far. It lasted only 6 hours, but it was the most painful of all the babies I had.

2. She is my biggest helper for everything.

3. She is my most challenging child. I think they call it high spirited. lol. I think it's because we're so much alike.

4. When she was little, her favorite thing to do was line things up in a row. Anything, dolls, blocks, toys. She never played with them, just lined them up.

5. When she was born, she had a head full of black hair, (all my other babes have been blondies). She had so much hair, I could already pull it up in a ponytail.

6. She's my picky eater, but her favorite food has always been peanut butter.

Happy Birthday sweetie, Mommy loves you! 

My little one is sick

I haven't had much time for posting. My little one is very sick with fever. I'm not sure what's going on, but we're having to keep rags on her and give her several cool baths a day. I'm taking her to the doctor this afternoon. Please say a prayer for her if you don't mind. Thanks so much.

Blessings, sara

Happy 3rd Birthday Little Ladybug

Today was my baby girl's 3rd birthday! What a big girl she is! We had a great time at my parent's house celebrating her birthday.

Three Fun Facts About Emily

1. She LOVES Dora the Explorer

2. She was my quickest delivery thus far, taking only 3 hours from beginning to end.  

3. She is the loudest snorer in the house. 

For her birthday her grandparents bought her a big girl Dora bicycle. She loved it, ofcourse. We had some family come over and all the kids played and played. And now she is passed out on the couch with her brand new Dora purse and fur real monkey. My precious angel. Mommy loves you! 

Well, am I or not?

I have to be the most impatient person on earth. I've been having some major pregnancy symptoms for the last week and a half. So finally Wednesday, I took a home pregnancy test, even though my monthly was not due for another 4 days and it appeared to be negative. I kept saying that I saw a faint line, but just couldn't be sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me. So I decided I would wait a couple of days and take another on Friday. They have these tests now that supposedly can tell you if you're pregnant or not 5 days before your monthly is supposed to start. I took another one this morning and my husband and I could both see some sort of faint line, but we both just can't be sure.

I don't know why I can't just wait and see if I miss my monthly and quit wasting money on HPT. Ridiculous, huh! I'm a planner, I need to know what's going to happen, so that I can plan. lol.  I will wait another day or two and take the last pregnancy test that I have, and if it's still inconclusive, I'll just have to wait, I guess. I'm so impatient.....

sara

Potty Training

The time has come. My youngest, Emily, has come to the age of potty training. I've never been one to push my children to potty train, I just kind of let them lead. I introduced the potty to them, helped them understand what we did there and let them decide when they're ready to use it. My oldest was 3 when he potty trained, my middle daughter was 3 months shy of her 3rd birthday, and now my youngest will be 3 in April, just 2 short months away. She has started asking to go to the potty more and more, when she gets there, sometimes she goes and sometimes she doesn't, but more than not, she just wanted to try and ended up not doing anything.

Yesterday, she asked to go potty and I set her on the toilet, and decided right then and there, we would start officially potty training. I put big girl undies on her and set my time for 15 minutes and every 15 minutes I made her sit on the potty. She didn't go once! I was a little frustrated, but like I said, I didn't want to push her. But what frustrated me more than anything is right after she got off the toilet and hadn't done anything, she would pee her pants. So after 4 times peeing her big girl undies, I gave up for the day. We'll try again another day.

Blessings, sara

The High Spirited Child

I've heard this term many times used for when parents have a child who are a handful. Now my children are all fairly well behaved, but my Maddy, my middle child,  is what they call high spirited, the child that has given me the most trouble, or as Deanna has put it, my wild card. As a baby and toddler she was very easy going and always very calm, but as she's gotten older (and especially since she's been in public school) she's gotten quite a temper and her behavior has been less than desirable.

Last night, while at my parent's house, she was asked to help do something and insisted that she always has to help and her older brother never does anything. Well, that's totally untrue. Since he's homeschooled, he has more responsibility than most kids his age. And the fact was, it was her that was asked to help and there should have been no qualms about it.

After her little rant, realizing that she was indeed going to have to help, she proceeded to stand up and kick her brother in the back, in which he retaliated with swinging a string around at her and brushing against it her arm, a string, give me a break. Well, then my little drama queen screamed in agony as if the string was made out of razors. Seeing it all, she was then placed in the corner until I could calmly deal with her. We also placed Nick in the corner as punishment for attempting to hit back.

While standing in the corner, she proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs and started kicking the wall. Needless to say, I was on fire and didn't think it wise for me to punish her until we were at home and I had calmed down. My husband loaded her into the van, and while we were saying our goodbyes to my family, she started kicking the back of the seats in our brand new van nearly puncturing the leather, and she continued to scream the whole way home.

Once at home, I sent her to her room, and my husband went in and gave her a paddling, and I went and had a nice long chat with her about her temper and how dissapointed I was.

I called my mother later and we were discussing this episode and we both came to the realization that these temper tantrums hadn't started until she started in public school. Imagine that!

I'm so ready to have all my children at home with me. She will be in PS for 4 more months and then she will be homeschooled. Praise the Lord! For now we will be doing some tomato staking when she is at home to curb this temper of hers. Does anyone else have trouble with a child with a bad temper, and if so, would you mind sharing how do you deal with it?

A Little Rant

 I don't rant often about things but I just had to let this one out.

Tonight, oldest son had a cub scout meeting and I was truly appauled at one woman who was actually letting her 7 year old grandson kick her to get his way and then after the meeting they left with the woman literally dragging him on the ground.

The rest of the meeting went really well, and I had a nice long talk with the den leader  and told her that if things didn't straighten out, then I would find something else for my son to be involved in where he can actually learn something. I mean, I hate to brag so much on my son, (just kidding, I love to brag on my kids) but while most of the other kids were running around like wild monkeys, my son was sitting there attentively waiting on instruction. My kids aren't perfect, far from it, but they know their limits, and they know mom and dad will strongly enforce those limits. They are well behaved in public and know that if they choose not to be well behaved, we will leave...everytime. I'm consistent with my children. I don't beat them or threaten them with horrible things. I do spank (never out of anger)  and I do discipline.

My kids  don't get whatever they want. I am perfectly capable of walking through walmart without buying my children one thing aside from good nourishing food. They don't even get to pick a cereal and they certainly don't get candy as we're leaving the store. I know parents that can't leave walmart without buying their children a toy. That's absurd! You used to go to the store and you would be able to see the parents leading the kids through the store getting what they needed, now you go and you see the children leading the parents through the store, or worse, kids just running around the store unsupervised!

Call me mean, call me old fashioned, I don't care, I have well behaved children who know the Lord, love and respect their parents and each other, and who know their limits. Praise God for that! Sorry for my rant, but I'm just so tired of people's kids being so out of hand. I mean, I can't help but to look at some of these parents out here like they're nuts.

I once saw a friend of mine give her 1 year old son 3 cookies right before dinner all because she was afraid that if she didn't give them to him he would get upset. .....And?.......First of all, you should never be afraid of your children and second of all if this child is not allowed to feel dissapointment now, what's it going to be like when he's an adult and doesn't get the grade he wants or the job he wants?

I just wonder sometimes if I'm the only one out there that has these old fashioned values. My husband and I feel like we're the only ones around here that still feel like the parents should be in charge and the kids shouldn't always get their way. If you're still with me, thanks for listening to my little gripe. Sometimes it just feels good to get these things out in the open. Thanks for coming by...

Love,

Sara

Funny things kids say...

On the way to the doctor's yesterday to see if my daughter's ear was doing okay after her tube fell out, and was covered with a large rock like ball of wax, my son out of the blue, says..."Mom, so, how did Maddy's ear get so constipated anyways?"

Now, where did he get that?! I couldn't help but laugh.

Blessings,

Sara

My son doesn't want to go to school

I'm at a loss, and I need some help, advice, something. As most of you know, I desperately wanted to start homeschooling my children, but my husband has asked me to wait one more year, and I want to respect his wishes. He did say that if something happened that we would consider taking them out during the year. So here's my dilema.... My son is 7 years old and in second grade. First of all, I want to say he loves learning, so this is not a problem....we had a great time with our trial run of HS this summer and he does his homework without trouble. He's a very sensitive little boy, but he doesn't cry for no reason...In pre-k, he went to school the whole year without shedding a tear....In Kindergarten....he cried nearly every day and had to visit the counselor a lot....In 1st grade he cried for about the first 2-3 months of school....And now this year in 2nd grade, I walk him to school every day, but one day last week and today, we had to leave and come back home because he was sobbing, and making himself sick. I've asked him what is the matter, and he said last time that their  was a boy that wouldn't leave him alone, not a bully, just a kid that wouldn't leave him alone, always talking to him, picking him up, chasing him, etc... and Nick didn't like it. I immediately talked to the teacher and she assured me it would be handled, which apparently it was because when I asked him if that boy was bothering him again, he said no, but he couldn't tell me what was wrong. He begged me to bring him home and once home I asked him again, there has to be a reason, why are you so upset? He couldn't tell me, but he begged me to let him stay home and let me teach him. I just don't know what to do. If there's a reason then I'll fix it, but he can't give me a reason, he just doesn't want to go back. I don't feel he's in any danger and have asked him every question I can think of that might be why he doesn't want to go back, but he answers no, every time. Now, my mother's heart is say, Yes, a chance to homeschool my children, but I also know I need to deal with whatever this "problem" is. Maybe the "problem" is he just wants to be homeschooled. I don't know. Does anyone have any advice? I'd be so gracious.

Sara

Help with 2 year old

First, a little background info, I have 3 children, and when it came to bedtime, I was strict. Meaning, I made sure that all my children's needs were cared for...clean diaper, fed, etc. and then I put them in their bed to go to sleep. If they cried, I let them cry for a bit. When they were still waking in the night to nurse or have a bottle, I got up and I fed them. I checked on them if they weren't feeling well and most of the time you would find me right outside their door until the crying stopped, but  I didn't want to be the mom with my 5 year old still in bed with me or the mom that every time my kid cried I would get up and go running. I believed it was okay for them to cry it out a little. As they got older, my older two children learned that when it was time for bed, mommy would tuck you in, read you a story, say prayers with you and they would be left to go to sleep on their own. My older two were both in toddler beds before they were 2 with no problems at all.

My youngest is a different story. A few things were different when she was a baby, such as, I nursed her until she was 14 months old, whereas the older two were unfortunately not nursed past 6 weeks. So at night time when she'd wake I'd get up put her in bed with me and nurse her, inevitably falling asleep. I did this with the older two when they were nursing, but she was waking for feedings until she was 6 months old. Now when I'd wake back up, I'd pick her up and put her straight in her bed. But somewhere along the lines, she realized how much she liked mommy's bed better and when I'd put her in her bed, she'd scream, and scream, and scream some more. Well, I persevered and let her cry in her bed, most times crying with her right outside her door, knowing that like my other two, she'd eventually learn that mommy's not coming in to rescue her and she wasn't going to sleep with mommy and daddy.  Her cries did indeed grow shorter and shorter, but still at 2 1/2 years of age, every time I go to lay her down, she cries for at least 5 minutes. I never give in to her unless I feel she is in danger, such as coughing, choking, etc. But still every night, she cries. We follow the same routine every night and every night when she knows it's almost time to go to bed, she starts tensing up and gets upset. I just don't know what to do with her. I've talked to her about going and getting her big girl bed and how she has to go to bed just like sister does, etc, and she says she'd like that, but as much as she hates bedtime, how on earth am I going to keep her in a bed she can get out of on her own? She's beginning to outgrow the bed she's in, which is just a pack n play with some extra cushion, and we have a toddler bed in storage for her to use, but I'm just not sure if it will work. If you're still with me on this long winded story and you have any wonderful words of wisdom to share with me, I'd love to hear it.   Thanks so much,

Sara

My Baby Boy is 7!

Happy Birthday Nicholas!!!

Today my first born and only son is 7 years old. A few things about Nicholas:

~He's so kind hearted

~He's my worrier

~He's been my sickest child throughout his childhood

~He has 2 heart murmurs

~He's a scrawny little guy-weighing in at only 40 lbs and still can fit in some of his 12 month shorts

~He likes to pick on his sisters, but would protect them with his life if anyone else messed with them

~His favorite dinner is sloppy joes

~And his favorite past time is baseball!

I love you baby boy!

Mom

A Bird's Eye View into my Life~Part 1

I'm joining with Rellamom in her micro view in our life. I think it's so interesting to see what other families are like. I hope you enjoy reading a bit about us and maybe will share some about yourself.

Part 1~ Meet Us

Mom~otherwise known as Sara. I am the 26 year old blessed mom to three beautiful children. I am the happy help meet  to my high school sweetheart and love of my life for eight and half years. I am so fortunate to be able to live out God's will for my life and be a happy wife and mother at home. I love to create things. I am always sewing or crocheting, sometimes embroidering or painting. I'm new to growing anything besides houseplants, but so far my endeavors have been good, as I've got 2 big tomato plants producing by my backdoor. At the beginning of this year I began to attend an Independant Fundamental Baptist church, and believe I've found a home there. Since then I've began to discover many new things, such as modest dress and homeschooling, and I love to learn new things every day. I have recently felt that I should let the Lord have control over all aspects of my life including children. I am recently off of BC pills and am letting the Lord make the decision over how many children we are meant to have. Everything is so new and fresh to me and I can't wait to wake up every morning to see what the Lord will show me today.

Dad~otherwise known as Rusty and sometimes Allan. His real name is Allan, nickname is Rusty, given to him by his family, which is what I usually call him. He is the most hard working man I've ever met. After getting laid off of his job of 10 years last year, he has fought long and hard to find a job that will support his family. For the last several months, he has been working making horse trailers, and seems to be happy with it. He loves his children and takes every chance he can to play with them.

6 year old son~My first child and only son. He has always been a small child and has a lot of issues with his weight, but after many visits with specialists, we have determined he is overall healthy. He is finally starting to lose his teeth and his snaggletooth grin makes me smile every time. He desperately tries to follow in his dad's footsteps and especially enjoys baseball. He is highly influenced by other children and tends to follow the crowd at school, which tends to get him in trouble at home. One reason I would love to homeschool. He will be 7 next month.

5 year old daughter~My first daughter. She is the same size as her brother and I have been asked often if they are twins. She is a very caring little girl. Always willing to help. She has a problem being her own person...meaning if your favorite color is blue, hers probably will be too. She also tends to be my whiner, but has yet to see her whining work with me. She loves playing with puzzles and building things. She doesn't really care to play with baby dolls unless she is lining them up which is something she does often. She always enjoys helping me with her baby sister and she loves to help me around the house and in the kitchen. She just turned 5 in May.

2 year old daughter~My second daughter, but Lord willing not my last child. She is a duplicate of me. Her eyes, her face, even her hair color are just like mine. She is my shadow and constant companion. She loves to sing and you will often hear her singing in her bed at night after I've put her to bed. Her favorite song right now is Jesus loves me and she knows all the verses quite well. Her favorite things to play with right now are anything she can stack...books, blocks, cups. You name it she'll stack it. If she's not following me, you will often find her building with her older sister. She just turned 2 in April.

Well, I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about us. More to come later.

Two Diapers Made....

Happy Birthday Madelynn!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY MADELYNN!

Today was my little princess's birthday! She is 5 years old! Man does time fly! Madelynn was my most painful child being born for some reason, and she is still sometimes my most painful child to deal with, she is afterall my drama queen. But she is the most loveable and kind little girl most all of the time. She would do anything for anyone. She is her brother's best friend, although he wouldn't admit it most times. He's the leader and she's the follower. Always ready to do whatever "bubba" is doing. I'm trying to teach her to be her own person and think for herself. You ask her what her favorite color is and she wants to know yours first and will almost always pick the same thing.  We will be having a tea party for her and her friends on Saturday . She is so excited!!! As am I! Anywho, I just wanted to post about my sweet little princess's birthday! G'night all!

Cloth diapering

Took my little man to the dr...

Actually, I took him to the ER, because I wasn't able to get him in with his regular pediatrician. I've posted in the past week or so, that we've all been sick, but he especially has been having trouble. It started out with the stomach flu, then diarrhea, followed directly by constipation. We spent the last 3 nights sleepless while he cried and tossed and turned in pain. Very miserable for him and mom. So I took him to the ER to see why he was having so much pain, and it turned out that he is suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome. A charlie horse in your GI tract, as the dr put it. So he's on some meds now and prayerfully he will be all better. Meanwhile, I am ready for a good night's sleep which I have not had the pleasure of having in about 2-3 weeks. When I say good night's sleep, I mean a good 6 hours, so I'm off to bed. Goodnight all! Be blessed

My little girl got on the bus