Read This Really Fast and

You'll see how my mind has been going....

We want to sell our house but stay in this school district. We want to sell our house and get a house on land. The house we want has an offer on it. We want to just get land and build later. The banks are CRAZY when it comes to financing land only. We like the house over there but it has no land. Okay, how about this house and land... great deal but not in our school district. Suddenly the idea of leaving this area is an option. This house and land in this other school district look great. We should check it out. This house and land is an amazing price but needs lots of work. But we don't want a project house. But the land alone is worth what they are asking. Sitting on the front porch ... our lovely big front porch.... with the kids... suddenly staying here seems good.... But we need outdoor space to play. And a garden to grow our own yummy food. And room for the boys to have animals for 4-H or FFA....and animals to raise for our food. And chickens. And ... if we move to a school district that we don't care for, that's okay, I can homeschool. I want to homeschool anyway. But then we'll be away from our friends and church that we have grown so close to. But not that far away so it's not like we wouldn't see them all again. But we love this community. Why are we even thinking about it. Our house is not sold so we can't do anything anyway. But we should looks so if we get a good offer we'll have some choices in mind. But then we get our hopes up. Please let this house/land that is/n't in our school district still be for sale when we get a contract on our house. I know I know... I am not suppose to be worrying about anything. It's in your hands, Lord.

Cosleeping and Nighttime Nursing... a change in parenting styles?

My first didn't get nursed for long because of a problem we were having. He also slept through the night really early in his own room without being left to "cry it out." My second nursed for a few months and was supplemented after a couple of months and wouldn't dare sleep through the night without being held by a parent while sitting up for 3 or 4 months but was definitely sleeping through the night in his own room by 6 months or so. There may have been a little crying involved there but not much. My second nursed like a champ for 13 months but was sleeping through the night in his own room by about 3 months. All 3 of them have slept in their own beds and through the night consistently once they started until #2 and #3 were at about 2 years old and started waking to get in bed with me. Both of them started this up during major life changes (moving homes for #2 and new baby in the house for #3) but it's all been smoothed back out.. mostly. Then there's Kash, #4. He is 9 months old. He slept through the night for about a month when he was 3 or 4 months old. But that was short lived and he is nursing throughout the night... at least once but usually twice and sometimes more often... every night now. He starts the night off in his bed at the foot of our bed and the first time he wakes up he gets to stay in our bed the rest of the night. If he is sleeping soundly I do sometimes move him back to his bed. I have 'wanted' to get him back to sleeping through the night but mainly because I have felt like he is 'suppose' to be since his brothers did... and since he has before. But really, I enjoy all the extra cuddling and as long as he is in bed with me his desire to nurse during the night doesn't really keep me from sleep. It's funny how your outlook on parenting styles can change (did I mention I started cloth diapering with the last two also?) I am really enjoying this last little blessing and my new parenting "style"... maybe because I know he's our last, maybe because of how traumatic his entry into this world was, or maybe I feel the need to keep him closer because of his rocky first week of life... Either way this little guy has helped me to appreciate them all more, to want to hold them all closer for longer, and keep them all little for a while longer...

Buy Buy House

We listed our house with a realtor yesterday. I have such mixed emotions about it. I love this house. It's beautiful. It has so much character that you don't get in new homes. I've brought 2 babies home from the hospital to this house. My mom has been here.... it was the last place I saw her outside of a hospital. The porch is amazing. So many memories in the short 5 years that we've been here. BUT.... we need more space. Not the indoor kind, the outdoor kind. Land. Somewhere to have a good garden. A place to have animals so the boys can do FFA or 4-H. Room for our horse-sized dog to roam. Room for us to play a game of football (american or the soccer kind).. or even baseball. A place to run and play and enjoy the great outdoors. We've prayfully considered this adventure and it feels like the right thing to do. So we're going ahead...

Monkey

I do the army crawl because I haven't figured out how to use my knees and get my belly off the ground, and until last week I hadn't pulled up on anything until I suddenly figured out how to go from laying down to standing using the crib rails. I haven't figured out how to go from laying down to sitting up. I am really good at crawling (not falling) down stairs. And now.... now I can climb up onto the bars under the end table!

Breakfast of Champions - His first sprinkle donut.

Vinyl Booths and Athletic Pants....

....Don't Mix. This is Jack 24 hours after he gracefully slid out of a booth at a burger joint and whacked his eye on the edge of the table. It looks MUCH better than it did first thing this morning when it was still swollen almost completely shut. Injury #2... well, significant injury... in less than a month. His teeth and gums have recovered nicely from the last accident when our sweet dog ran past him knocking him over causing him to hit his teeth on the steps. That one was rough.

Puppy Love

The boys had a great time making their own valentine's this year. We chose to opt out of the superhero cards you can get at the dollar store this year. Nelson went with semi-homemade cereal box valentine's and Henry with homemade cards. The cereal boxes were a spin on something I found on pinterest. Everything turned out really cute!

All of this valentine business has sparked a couple of conversations. Henry's ended with me saying, "I don't care how pretty she is, it is NOT okay for you to be one of her FOUR boyfriends!" Forget the fact that you aren't old enough anyway... I'm okay with a little puppy love at this age but really? Nelson's on the other hand was much better. It went something like this: "Mom, Jane (fake name to protect identity, lol) sent her friend to tell me she has a crush on me. I told her to tell Jane that I'd see her in 6th grade. Jane#2 also likes me." So glad he is going along with the whole you're not old enough thing. It's been a while since we've talked about that so I'm surprised. Funny thing is, we never put an age on it, just a generic you're too young. Apparently he thinks 6th grade is old enough! :)

Bullying

I WILL NOT TOLERATE BULLYING. Bullying done TO my kids or BY my kids. It's totally unacceptable in ANY form even if the intended recipient is unaware. My tender hearted one has always liked everyone to a fault - even if they are being mean to him he thinks they are still his friend and takes up for them. That gets under my skin so much and makes me more mad than it would if he understood that person was being mean and not a real friend. And by mad I mean MAD. Crazy MAD, not angry. I've explained and explained that my boys are not to play with people that mistreat them, even if they are nice the next minute. But they are also not to treat others that way. I was sorely dissapointed when recently one of them came to me, in a proud way, to tell me about something they were a part of. I won't go into great detail but involved purposely making another little boy that annoyed him and his friends to no end feel excluded. I was even more dissapointed, well shocked, that it was my son's idea. We had a long talk that ended with him in tears and deciding to apologize to the boy and tell his friends that they shouldn't continue this quiet bullying. I pray he remembers this lesson.... that no matter how much someone annoys you or how much you dislike someone, you need to
A. Love them anyway (which in little boy terms had to include no hugs and kisses, just being kind and treating them the way you want to be treated).
B. Let them know in a kind way that what they're doing is bothering you then walk away.
C. Check yourself. What is it about YOU that allows them to bother you so much?
D. Don't do things to impress your friends. I really feel like that was part of this.

Growing up is so hard! I want my sons to be leaders, to be kind, to be gentlemen, and to let God's light shine through them. The list is longer but I'll leave it at that for now.

Toddler Love

If you've raised a child through toddlerhood you know how that some days you are just trying to make it to bedtime without hurting someone....whether it be yourself, the toddler, or whoever has crossed the toddler sending him or her into tantrum city, meltdown mode, or whatever route of craziness your toddler takes. Mine isn't picky about which route he takes, when he takes it, or who all is watching.

Then there are other times like this morning that make me almost forget about those crazy moments. A quick trip to the Family Dollar to pick up dishwashing detergent after dropping the two big boys off at school ended with my heart bursting with love and joy to be the mommy of this toddler. I let him walk the store instead of riding in the buggy and you would have thought he had never seen anything on the shelves of the FD before. He was in awe. Looking at everything and his sweetest voice repeated, "Look Mommy!" at each thing we passed by. I wish I had a recording for you to listen too. It was precious! Look is drawn out and Mommy is high pitched.... full of excitement. Sweet. Joyous. All over the $6 shoes, batteries, cookie sheets, etc. that were on his level. He also saw a toy tool set that I could not resist buying for him. He told the cashier all about the tools he was going to "fix it" with.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go play with my toddler before he switches to crazy mode. ;)

Responsibility Charts

I've been struggling with keeping the boys on task with their responsibilities. Some of you may call these chores but that sounds negative to me and something they might expect to get paid for. There are some things we consider extra that our kids will be paid to do but no automatic allowance for existing or for doing your fair share.... Sorry, this is not suppose to be about my opinions on allowance and chores... But a craft project I did to help keep everyone on track!

I saw a project using a wooden door hanger and clothes pins with chores on pinterest. Then I saw a friend of mine using modpodge and scrapbook paper on clipboards. I then had an "ah ha!" moment. I kinda came up with someone, sort of almost on my own. Okay, so not really on my own but I did combine these to projects into one and made something that's totally cute and totally functional. And easy to use! Basic clipboards you can find at the dollar store, a bag of clothespins, scrapbook paper, stickers, and mod podge are all you need. Oh, and a marker. The clipboard is decorated. Responsibilities are written on the clothspins and clipped to one side under "to do" and as they are completed they move the pins to the other side. The pins that stay on the boards are things they are responsible for daily. Then on Mom's clipboard are things that are done weekly and they take turns. Whenever it's time for onen of them to be done, I add it to the board of whoever's turn it is. the clip on the clipboard will hold a bible verse that I print out each week that they will be responsible for memorizing. I haven't yet but I will be hanging these on the wall near their beds.

My little guy can't read so I need to add pictures to his somehow. I'm thinking a cookie sheet modpodged with pictures of his bed, toys, and teeth with magnetic check marks would have been a better way to go with him but for now we'll just do clipboard and I'll help. :)

If you're wondering what responsibilities I have for each of them, here is the list:
Make Bed, Pick up toys, brush teeth, bible verse - those are for all ages. The two oldest also have straighten desk and daily devotional. One of the oldest is in charge of keeping the trash taken out and the other takes care of the dog. The extra things I'll add once a week include one or more of the following (the oldest 2 only): Mow, pick up yard, clean boys bathroom, sweep, dust. All ages also put up their own laundry, and sometimes fold it, as needed but there is no clothespin for that. :)