I cannot believe that I have not posted in almost a month. It has been a crazy, stressful month. I have been traveling way too much with work, we are 5 weeks away from being done with the new house, we have stressed over selling the current house in this economic mess and sold it this weekend (!!!!), our computer has gotten sick and still won't work, Claire has become so much more relaxed about life and only throws a hissy fit every once in a while and we are all still alive. Exhausted, but alive.
The result of all of this chaos...I have only shaved my legs twice in the past month (and that second time was only for a wedding I went to yesterday), my roots are atleast an inch long, I have not plugged up an iron in atleast 4 weeks (that is the most amazing one), I can count the times I cooked on one hand and can count the times we have eaten Pizza Hut or Mexican on two hands!!!
But life is gradually slowing down. We are thrilled about the house selling. Continue to pray until the closing date. It is still scary until all documents are signed. We have finally moved to the ecstatic side of emotions about the new house, finally able to see that it will be ours without the stress of paying for two homes.
Come visit us in about 6 weeks, unless you are a master mover and then you can come visit us in 5!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Mommy's a Princess....Today!
The day didn't start particularly well. Last night continued to follow the same pattern of earlier in the day and Claire was in trouble more times than she wasn't. I thought we put her and the attitude to bed last night, but her memory is sharp and she began immediately this morning taking it out on me, her comfort zone!!!
I woke up this morning with every intention of pulling myself together. You can atleast look like you have it all together even if you don't. So, though on the inside I was falling apart, I polished the outside, putting on jewelry (I rarely wear jewelry), straightening my hair (a rare luxury) and ironing my clothes (an extinct practice of mine).
As soon as I woke her up, she was screaming at me. Changing her diaper...screaming at me. Getting into the car...screaming at me. We have a routine when we are about 2 minutes from Becca. As the sun rises in the east (at 6:30 in the morning...maybe that is why she is so mad at me!), we tell Mr. Sun good morning and then look for the birds on the wire. And then we are close enough to Becca's to start anticipating Sophie and Jonah. This routine always changes her disposition...for the good!
Which immediately reminded me...children need routine. I have been traveling non-stop throughout August and Bill has been building the house. While Bill and I feel like our world is topsy-turvy, I cannot imagine what Claire feels like. She needs routine. She needs me. She needs stability. And several wise and great friends had the courage to reiterate that to me today. How I am thankful for truth.
So when I picked Claire up from Becca's this afternoon, I had every intention of making the evening all about her (within reason). So, we ran around and played in the grass with Sophie and Jonah. When it was time to leave, I put Claire in the front-passenger side to just get her in the vehicle until I could get her bags loaded on the other side. As soon as I closed the last door, I heard "click". She locked herself in the vehicle! I immediately called Bill to come help us, but he was atleast 10 minutes away. So I stood outside the car trying to coax her to push the button again. And she did, it was just the lock button...again and again. Dave, Becca's husband, came out to give re-enforcement. He stood there and kept saying, "Claire, push the button." She just looked at him as he continued to coax her. She finally said, "Pwees, pwees." So Dave said, "Claire, push the button, PLEASE" and she did! Still the wrong button, but we laughed at her. At least she's learning some manners in the midst of these tantrums.
So Bill arrived and we went to Sonic for a banana split. Then we went home and played, played, played. We got all of her basket of toys down and just dumped them out (it has been MONTHS since she has played with many of these toys since the house is for sale and I felt the need to limit toys that she played with to eliminate mess...maybe that's another reason she's mad at me!)
Now, to the point of this long story. When she was eating dinner, because it was an evening all about her, I let her drink out of her non-sippy cup Princess cup. It's just a regular cup that her Aunt Patty and Cousin Payton gave her for Christmas and it has all the Disney princesses on it. I was eating my supper and heard her saying, "Mommy, mommy, mommy." I looked up and she was spinning the cup around and pointing to each of the princesses.
"Mommy's a princess?" I asked. And she looked up at me with that sweet, loving smile and pointed once again to the prettiest princess and said, "Mommy!"
Thank you, Lord, for seeing us through today.
I woke up this morning with every intention of pulling myself together. You can atleast look like you have it all together even if you don't. So, though on the inside I was falling apart, I polished the outside, putting on jewelry (I rarely wear jewelry), straightening my hair (a rare luxury) and ironing my clothes (an extinct practice of mine).
As soon as I woke her up, she was screaming at me. Changing her diaper...screaming at me. Getting into the car...screaming at me. We have a routine when we are about 2 minutes from Becca. As the sun rises in the east (at 6:30 in the morning...maybe that is why she is so mad at me!), we tell Mr. Sun good morning and then look for the birds on the wire. And then we are close enough to Becca's to start anticipating Sophie and Jonah. This routine always changes her disposition...for the good!
Which immediately reminded me...children need routine. I have been traveling non-stop throughout August and Bill has been building the house. While Bill and I feel like our world is topsy-turvy, I cannot imagine what Claire feels like. She needs routine. She needs me. She needs stability. And several wise and great friends had the courage to reiterate that to me today. How I am thankful for truth.
So when I picked Claire up from Becca's this afternoon, I had every intention of making the evening all about her (within reason). So, we ran around and played in the grass with Sophie and Jonah. When it was time to leave, I put Claire in the front-passenger side to just get her in the vehicle until I could get her bags loaded on the other side. As soon as I closed the last door, I heard "click". She locked herself in the vehicle! I immediately called Bill to come help us, but he was atleast 10 minutes away. So I stood outside the car trying to coax her to push the button again. And she did, it was just the lock button...again and again. Dave, Becca's husband, came out to give re-enforcement. He stood there and kept saying, "Claire, push the button." She just looked at him as he continued to coax her. She finally said, "Pwees, pwees." So Dave said, "Claire, push the button, PLEASE" and she did! Still the wrong button, but we laughed at her. At least she's learning some manners in the midst of these tantrums.
So Bill arrived and we went to Sonic for a banana split. Then we went home and played, played, played. We got all of her basket of toys down and just dumped them out (it has been MONTHS since she has played with many of these toys since the house is for sale and I felt the need to limit toys that she played with to eliminate mess...maybe that's another reason she's mad at me!)
Now, to the point of this long story. When she was eating dinner, because it was an evening all about her, I let her drink out of her non-sippy cup Princess cup. It's just a regular cup that her Aunt Patty and Cousin Payton gave her for Christmas and it has all the Disney princesses on it. I was eating my supper and heard her saying, "Mommy, mommy, mommy." I looked up and she was spinning the cup around and pointing to each of the princesses.
"Mommy's a princess?" I asked. And she looked up at me with that sweet, loving smile and pointed once again to the prettiest princess and said, "Mommy!"
Thank you, Lord, for seeing us through today.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
What do you do with a 22 month old who...
thinks the world revolves around her, throws herself to the ground and thrashes around when she realizes for a split second it doesn't, figures out that "I sorry" gets you out of time out long enough to throw herself back on the floor and into another tantrum.
What do you do with a mommy who blames it all on her choice to go back to work, but thinks she would be completely bald if she ever decided to come home and hands her child off to Daddy as soon as he walks in the door even though Mommy's only been home for 15 minutes?
What do you do when the same child that made you want to pull your head bald turns and gives you a big, wet open-mouth kiss for no particular reason, who struts around in her Mommy's size 10 dress shoes that she kicked off at the door and turns around and says, "Mommy" in the most endearing voice?
This is more therapy for me than really wanting answers. I don't think there really is answers. It's just life. And as I was putting her in time-out for the 2 time in 15 minutes and said that prayer, "Lord, get me through this phase and I know it's downhill from here", I really know that this is the sweetest and the easiest time of our lives.
So, tonight, I will lay her down in her crib and pray for her that God will turn her heart toward Him and I will pray for myself that He will give me the wisdom and the patience not to break her little spirit and let him mold her into the little personality He designed.
As my mom said this weekend, "You wouldn't give anything for her, but you wouldn't pay a nickel for another one like her!" - here we go back to time-out because she hit her Daddy this time!
What do you do with a mommy who blames it all on her choice to go back to work, but thinks she would be completely bald if she ever decided to come home and hands her child off to Daddy as soon as he walks in the door even though Mommy's only been home for 15 minutes?
What do you do when the same child that made you want to pull your head bald turns and gives you a big, wet open-mouth kiss for no particular reason, who struts around in her Mommy's size 10 dress shoes that she kicked off at the door and turns around and says, "Mommy" in the most endearing voice?
This is more therapy for me than really wanting answers. I don't think there really is answers. It's just life. And as I was putting her in time-out for the 2 time in 15 minutes and said that prayer, "Lord, get me through this phase and I know it's downhill from here", I really know that this is the sweetest and the easiest time of our lives.
So, tonight, I will lay her down in her crib and pray for her that God will turn her heart toward Him and I will pray for myself that He will give me the wisdom and the patience not to break her little spirit and let him mold her into the little personality He designed.
As my mom said this weekend, "You wouldn't give anything for her, but you wouldn't pay a nickel for another one like her!" - here we go back to time-out because she hit her Daddy this time!
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