YAY, March is over!! Opps so is April!

May 8, 2015

After reading my previous post Hubby said “are you sure these are our kids? They sound so sweet!” He was referring to the fact that often within minutes of their cute and kind actions they are taking something from the other or upset. I don’t mena to make it sound like they are all sweetness and light, but I did say the purpose of this blog was to remember the cute and funny things they do. J I didn’t say anything about remembering the times I want to pull my hair out or run screaming from the house or fantasize about taking off as soon as Hubby gets home from work and just driving around or going somewhere to wander and be alone!

This year has been very rough on me emotionally. I don’t know if it’s the preggo hormones or extra stress or what, but I have struggled with my temper more than I have in over 14 years! I know there have been times when I was unfair to Princess and harder on her than I should have been. I am trying to work on this, especially as she has started yelling at her brother. I often feel like I am completely failing and how can I be a good mom to 3 kids when I haven’t been handling 2 very well! I better figure it out because it is about to become a reality! Seriously though, I know that I am not the only one who feels frustrated and guilty about my parenting mistakes. I know I am not perfect and much of the pressure on myself is self-inflicted. I know I need to rely more on Christ and less on myself. HE is the only one who can give me the grace and strength I need to accomplish the task HE has given me in raising these children to love and honor HIM—of course Hubby has a part too, but I am dealing with me here! There are changes I need to make I am just not sure how to make them or stick to them.

Anyway, the main reason I haven’t posted lately is I didn’t want to be too negative. March was really rough with stresses and disasters every 3-5 days! Some of them included Princess having strep, overflowing the laundry room sink (I did this) which had water flowing down into the unfinished part of the basement, finding out a week later that the water also flowed under the baseboards into our family room, Hubby going on a week-long trip—really tough on the kids especially Princess as she is now old enough to realize how long he was gone! Also, many other things caused me to think and say often “will it ever end????”

However, there were a few cute things that happened in March.

          From Hubby’s FB page:

            March 2, 2015

Yesterday, I showed Princess a video of children seeing their parents that were in the military after the parent had gotten back from deployment. I explained that their daddy's had been gone and were just coming back. Since then, Princess insists on playing a game where she has me stand on one side of the room so that she can run into my arms for a big hug. The funniest part is that when I get home from work she feels the need to choreograph her greeting. She has me stand in different places so that she can run into me arms and welcome me home multiple times J.

Buddy started copying his sister and trying to pray at meals. Usually we couldn’t understand any of the words except for “daddy” but he was really earnest and very sweet.

Hubby’s parents came the weekend after the basement flood and helped us with the last few things needed to get it all back in order. They were a great help.

          Hubby’s FB Post:

          March 15, 2015

Today Buddy received his first answer to prayer. We went out to eat at a restaurant (not fast food) with my parents. While waiting for our food, the waitress would come-by to see if we needed anything. After we told her, we were fine and she would leave, Buddy would call after trying to get her attention and clearly trying to communicate something to her. We jokingly said that he was trying to get her to bring him food. Well after a couple of times, Buddy bowed his head, folded his hands, and said something. Almost immediately, the food came and Buddy was delighted.

One thing Hubby didn’t put in his post was that after the second time she left he growled at her! We all were trying very hard not to laugh so that we wouldn’t encourage him, but it was very hard!

            From my FB page:

            March 26, 2015

Today Princess asked if she could lay on the couch for rest time instead of going to her room. I told her we could try it, but that she needed to stay on there for an hour. She said "okay, Mom, set the timer." After about 13 minutes she was calling for me, wanting a book. I told her that she could get a book but that she wasn't to ask me for anything else or get off the couch until the timer went off. 
About 30 minutes later, I peeked around the corner and found her ASLEEP!!!!!! Score!!! (She only naps about twice a week now). She is in a super uncomfortable looking position though, don't know how she does it.

She often asks if she can sleep on the couch now. I let her a couple times a week and she actually sleeps about half the time.

April flew by very fast. Not much happened that month. The kids are doing well and Buddy is trying to talk more and more. He tries so hard to communicate we just can’t understand most of what he is saying. The words we can understand often have to do with food! He says things like: Hungy {hungry}, candy, eat, more, I like that, yummy, need, want, etc. Some people might think that we never feed the child the way he reacts to food! Guess he is just a growing boy. J He still has the tendency to shove as much as he can into his mouth, though he is starting to eat smaller bites.

One day after lunch he went over to the pantry where we keep the snacks and treats. He pointed up at it and said: “need candy”. I replied that he didn’t need it he wanted it. His response was: “want candy please!” He definitely has his daddy’s sweet tooth!

The K4T club Princess was part of finished up at the end of April. We dropped the ball on working with her on to memorize scripture this semester. However she managed to memorize a good bit just by working with the leaders on Wed nights. About a week before the final program she started asking me the questions that go with the doctrines they were studying and then giving me the answers! She has continued to do so the last couple weeks since it ended. The week before the final program they had a practice, Hubby said that Princess was terrified and he wondered if we should even go. We decided that we should. I’m so glad we did! She did a terrific job! She sang part or most of every song, did many of the actions, and answered the question with her friends that her level was supposed to answer! What a huge change since the Christmas program. J