Kids Say...

I let the kids watch Tom & Jerry this morning on TV. A Corn Pops cereal commercial came on and at the end, the box of cereal looked like it was exploding inside and Kinza commented on it. I told her it was like corn popping because basically, the cereal is popped corn and that is why they call it “Corn Pops.” Without missing a beat, she said, “Oh, so when we had that cereal, I was eating a vegetable.”

That’s my daughter. *grin*

More Training

Baby G is starting to do better. She is taking her naps with almost no crying - YEAH! She isn't going more than 3 hours at night yet without waking up. I still cannot get her to go back to sleep without nursing. This is my fault for allowing her to fall into that pattern and because I took the easy route in the beginning and lost site of the future I am paying for it now. Training my children isn't easy on most occasions, it takes incredible patience, diligence, and consistency. But I know that if I train them now, I will reap great rewards later with well behaved children. Proverbs clearly states that we need to train our kids. When I am lazy in training them, I pay for it dearly later and what is worse is that I have done a huge disservice to them. So now, that I have trained my little one to sleep while nursing, I am her only way of falling asleep. I am now retraining her to sleep on her own but it is a longer, tougher road this time.

My goal is to train my kids to be productive responsible adults who love Jesus. I do this daily through my actions, words and attitudes. Being so tired all the time lately, I am finding myself having a harder time staying diligent. I want to just give in to them and let them have their way or be lazy. I am seeing how God is using my tiredness to cause me to lean into Him more for my strength. If I don't - I will break very soon. I am learning that when I feel like I just cannot do anymore, I need to call on the Lord to renew my strength. He is faithful, I know he is.

Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Proverbs 22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.

Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Sleep Deprived

So... I was thinking today about how I haven't blogged in four weeks. And it is because I haven't slept much and am becoming delirious. Baby G doesn't sleep well for some reason and has yet to decide that her crib is a good place to be. After a lot of agony and exhaustion we decided that it was time to let her "cry it out" when it was time for her naps. She was refusing to take a nap at all and would fall asleep while I was holding her only to immediately wake up if I tried to put her down. I am not okay with this so after she has fallen asleep, we are putting her in her crib and trying to keep her asleep. I won't go more than 30 minutes and I am sure she is the most determined baby in all of history. The other day I forgot to keep track of the time and was trying to keep busy so I wouldn't want to rush in and rescue her. I was getting so much accomplished I didn't realize that it had been a half hour until it had been 45 minutes and she was still going strong. After a week of this without any improvement I decided to go another route in getting her to at least nap in her crib. I am now standing there holding her while she is laying in her crib until she forgets that she is in her crib. The reason I don't like this tactic is that it is very similar to laying with her but since she sort of came to do that anyway why not. Last night was the first night I did it and after about 39 minutes she was asleep only to wake up 10 minutes later when she realized I was no longer there. I layed her back down and started all over this time it took her 20 minutes to go back to sleep. By this time, it is 1:30 in the morning and I basically pass out due to pure exhaustion when about 15 minutes later my 5 year old comes in and says her tummy hurts and her big sister wants a blanket. (They are currently in this phase where even though they have their own beds, they want to sleep in the same bed. And last night, they thought it would be fun to pile all the blankets and stuffed animals on top of the bed before going to sleep. So all the blankets were under that pile. Add to the scenario that it is exceptionally hot here and they really didn't need to cover up.) I absentmindedly tell her to go back to bed and I will take care of it in a little bit. Then after a couple of minutes I realized what I said and what her problem was so I got up to take care of them. Got them a new sheet to cover up with from the linen closet because that was so much easier than digging through the bed to find the one at the bottom. I was just getting back in bed when my 8 yo son started coughing. I went in to check on him and he is so congested that he can't breath. I get him propped up and taken care of and then off to bed for me. At this point it is somewhere around 2am and I am in desperate need of some serious sleep. Baby G woke up around 5am when my honey got home from work. She fell asleep after nursing and was up for her day at 7:30. And that is what my nights have pretty much looked like for the past month. Every night hoping for some sleep and lucky to get any at all. Really truly relying on God's strength to get me through each day. Baby G is doing great though and has been cruising all around the living room going form the couch to the chair to the coffee apple juice table. She has also decided that she would prefer to feed herself and not be spoon fed. She is doing finger foods really well and I am really proud of her even though at the same time I am sad that she is growing up so fast. We took the kids to McDonald's for a treat a few weeks ago and here is a pic of her first french fry. (Don't worry she doesn't get these a lot. Like I said - a treat.)