I've been thinking about the 10 Commandments lately (thanks to the 10 Commandment Boogie from the dreaded Go Fish Guys). And it has me thinking more things. Now as Christians, I know we live under a new covenant and all, but I never get what exactly that means. Yes, I know it means that the new covenant is the promise of forgiveness of sins and eternal life if we trust in Jesus Christ, but does it mean we toss out all the old testament rules? I know Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and to love others...
We still do teach our kids the ten commandments, and they are good rules to live by right? So when I go down the list of the commandments, I can check off all but one of them as rules I live by. The one that gets me is the one about keeping the Sabbath holy. I asked Scott about it. First question, "do we keep the sabbath Holy?". His response, "Uh, good question." Second question, "Are we still supposed to?" His response, "Another good question."
We spent the better part of an evening looking it up and were left with the same uncertainty. So my question is to my 4 fabulous blog readers is, what's your take? Do you keep the sabbath holy? I'll answer first. I don't think that we do as a family...we do go to church, but I do not think that counts, or is even the same thing as keeping the sabbath.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Finally, she's back.
My 2005 Honda Pilot has returned home. Finally. I missed her. A lot. I missed her silverness and the awesome gas mileage for a car her size, and her maneuverability and the greater visibility. I feel like an uncaged woman when I drive now. We had a GMC Acadia for a month, and I felt like I was driving a tank. It was big and sluggish and hard to see out of.
And there's a bonus...she was fully detailed while in the shop. Its like driving a new car! Yay!
In other news. Potty training...on going, but going well. Room sharing, still a big friggin deal to Q. Not quite what I expected, and I'm not sure how to deal with it, but right now, they're both in there, together, sleeping (I think). It only took 2 hours....
And there's a bonus...she was fully detailed while in the shop. Its like driving a new car! Yay!
In other news. Potty training...on going, but going well. Room sharing, still a big friggin deal to Q. Not quite what I expected, and I'm not sure how to deal with it, but right now, they're both in there, together, sleeping (I think). It only took 2 hours....
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Transitions
In my efforts to prepare for Big Fat Ham to get here, we are attempting a few things this week. Potty training B, and moving the boys into a room together. I had wanted to do both before August hit, but we are always slow moving. Last Thursday, I decided to start the potty training process with B and it went really well that day. No accidents, no battles getting to the potty and we even got him to do a BM on the potty. It was a great day (also, cause I didn't totally get potty Nazi on him). That night, I put him to bed in his crib and he did not release me to go, but I had sung my obligatory 3 songs and needed to go and put Q to bed, so I decided to just let him cry and I went on to getting Q in bed. About 20 minutes into the screaming for mama (Mama, get back here!! Sing me a song!!), Q and I heard a loud crash and sure enough, B had discovered how to scale the crib and kamikaze out of it. But not very gracefully. I walked into his room and his found him crying and holding his right arm. He cried/screamed for about 20minutes and wouldn't allow me to touch his arm, but he eventually stopped crying and layed in bed with Q to read more books and went to bed w/out fussing after that.
The next am, he kept complaining about his arm and would not use it, and he's a right hander. Wouldn't pick up a cup, wouldn't use a spoon, nothing. So off to the doctor we went. He was still his happy self and the doctor assured me if there was something REALLY wrong with it, he wouldn't let her touch it (and he did) and he wouldn't tolerate her twisting it around like she had. He still didn't use his arm for another 3 days. I think yesterday was the first day he used a fork in his right hand, so it must be getting better. Anyway, that long story perpetuated us deciding that we would just transition B to a big boy bed.
I had hemmed and hawed about what to do with him, I was going to borrow a second crib and just keep him in that until he learned to get out of it, not thinking it would be so soon. So we bought bunk beds on Friday and Scott assembled them (we are NOT stacking them though).
Fast forward to last night.
We situated the boys for sleeping in the same room together. Said goodnight, stay in your beds, no talking and left. It would have been fine, if I had children that loved each other and obeyed. This is how it went.
Us: Goodnight.
Them: Goodnight.
B: *snore*
Q: Mom, B is snoring. B! Stop snoring.
B: *laugh* *snore* *laugh*
Q: Mom, B is snoring again!
Me: B, be quiet. Q just be quiet and listen to your music, I will take care of B. (walks out of room.)
B: (as soon as I'm out of the room). *snore*
Q: B! stop snoring!! MOM!!!! B keeps snoring!
This happens at least 20 times before I lose it. I pull Q out of the room, and give B enough time to fall asleep and he's quiet and doesn't get out of bed. After about 40minutes we go back in to put Q to bed and wake B up and the snoring continues. Q begins sobbing and just wants B to be in his own room in his crib. I do too. Cause its now 9:30pm and I'm done.
So, tonight, Scott and I will devise a game plan and try again. Maybe...
Oh, potty training is going OK. It would be much more effective if:
-I paid attention 100% of the time
-Other members of the parenting team actually responded to him in a timely fashion when he says he needs to go
-I didn't have approximately 1000 things to do in the next couple of days. We've only had 4 accidents to date which isn't that bad.
-the child had bowel movements like a normal person. He only goes every couple of days, making it hard to predict (Q was like clock work everyday). But the kids digestive system is screwy (another post for another day, we had a follow up GI appt on Friday as well, and still no real explanation for his random vomiting...)
Am a glutton for punishment attempting two things at once? Probably.
The next am, he kept complaining about his arm and would not use it, and he's a right hander. Wouldn't pick up a cup, wouldn't use a spoon, nothing. So off to the doctor we went. He was still his happy self and the doctor assured me if there was something REALLY wrong with it, he wouldn't let her touch it (and he did) and he wouldn't tolerate her twisting it around like she had. He still didn't use his arm for another 3 days. I think yesterday was the first day he used a fork in his right hand, so it must be getting better. Anyway, that long story perpetuated us deciding that we would just transition B to a big boy bed.
I had hemmed and hawed about what to do with him, I was going to borrow a second crib and just keep him in that until he learned to get out of it, not thinking it would be so soon. So we bought bunk beds on Friday and Scott assembled them (we are NOT stacking them though).
Fast forward to last night.
We situated the boys for sleeping in the same room together. Said goodnight, stay in your beds, no talking and left. It would have been fine, if I had children that loved each other and obeyed. This is how it went.
Us: Goodnight.
Them: Goodnight.
B: *snore*
Q: Mom, B is snoring. B! Stop snoring.
B: *laugh* *snore* *laugh*
Q: Mom, B is snoring again!
Me: B, be quiet. Q just be quiet and listen to your music, I will take care of B. (walks out of room.)
B: (as soon as I'm out of the room). *snore*
Q: B! stop snoring!! MOM!!!! B keeps snoring!
This happens at least 20 times before I lose it. I pull Q out of the room, and give B enough time to fall asleep and he's quiet and doesn't get out of bed. After about 40minutes we go back in to put Q to bed and wake B up and the snoring continues. Q begins sobbing and just wants B to be in his own room in his crib. I do too. Cause its now 9:30pm and I'm done.
So, tonight, Scott and I will devise a game plan and try again. Maybe...
Oh, potty training is going OK. It would be much more effective if:
-I paid attention 100% of the time
-Other members of the parenting team actually responded to him in a timely fashion when he says he needs to go
-I didn't have approximately 1000 things to do in the next couple of days. We've only had 4 accidents to date which isn't that bad.
-the child had bowel movements like a normal person. He only goes every couple of days, making it hard to predict (Q was like clock work everyday). But the kids digestive system is screwy (another post for another day, we had a follow up GI appt on Friday as well, and still no real explanation for his random vomiting...)
Am a glutton for punishment attempting two things at once? Probably.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
A Day at the Beach
Last Saturday, our CareRing decided to hit the beach for the day. Only 3 of the 4 families in our CR right now actually made it there, but it was a beyond glorious day.
We arrived about 10am after a 50minute drive and found parking easily. The day was gorgeous and about 85degrees tops. A nice breeze, no humidity. Just perfect weather. Scott and I have a good system for the beach now. Scott carries everything like a pack mule and the boys and I frolic along to the beach. No, I do carry something. The boys both start out carrying something, then start whining, so I end up with their stuff.
Once we got there we got situated and the boys dove into the sand and played and played and played. There was no referring, no disciplining, just an awesome day of family time and some hanging out with friends.
The waves at this particular beach were a little rough for my liking, but the boys loved it. At one point, B fell/tripped and then seconds later a big wave hit and completely covered him with water. I freaked, there's nothing like seeing your baby look up at you panic stricken from UNDER a foot of water. But I quickly rescued him and he didn't even squawk about it. Didn't even gag and cough, just went right back to jumping the waves. He refused to hold your hand too, wanted to do it himself, so you had to stand directly behind him so he would fall against your legs when the wave hit. He's a crazy child.
We enjoyed a packed lunch and bought Popsicles as big as your head.
Again, it was just a great day. Some fellowship and family time, just great.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Updates and Gibreckle
Gibreckle. That's right. I have no idea if I spelled that right, but my Oma used to make a dish from leftover bits of stuff and pan fry it and call it that. So I will call my hodgepodge posts that from now on. Cause I can, and I like it.
-Speaking of Oma. I was just about to write that I have finally gotten to a point where I can think about her without my eyes welling up with tears, but thinking about gibreckle has given me blurry vision and a lump in my throat. I do miss her. And I really pray that I don't have to watch another loved one spiral down to just another person laying in a bed, a shadow of themselves.
-The driver that caused our accident, DID have insurance. I'm very relieved. We STILL do not have our car back and we have gotten calls twice that they found more damage and most likely will not have a car till late next week, but hopefully, my insurance company will have the ability to recover our money.
-This pregnancy has proven to follow the tradition of little weight gain for a while, then suddenly I'm gaining weight at a rate of a pound a day. *gasp* Yes, a pound a day. I gained no weight for about a month and then sometime last week, I started gaining. Ugh. Its true to my typical pattern. With both Q and B, I gained like 15 pounds in a month during weeks 24-28 weeks (and I'll be 28 weeks on Friday). Thankfully, I stopped gaining after that month for a while. I'm hoping for the same thing to happen. I am NOT eating more. I am drinking like a camel though, I'm sooo thirsty and I love ice cold water, but I'm not eating enough to justify the weight gain, so I'm calling it water weight. Right? Don't laugh.
-I had been praying for a while for God to give me sometime during this pregnancy where I'd feel good. And he has delivered. I've had a couple of really good weeks. Really good. If I get in my nap during the afternoon, I can function on all four cylinders and be pleasant and almost joyful. Despite my tantrum the other day, I've had a great couple of weeks.
-We still do not have a name for Big Fat Ham. Correction. Scott still doesn't like any of the names I think about. I have a name that I love, but Scott doesn't love it. And he has yet to contribute to the name game.
-We are no where near ready for Ham to get here. I wanted to have the boys together in Q's room before August began. I wanted a solid month of them sharing a room before school starts for Q. (However, it looks like school won't start when it should so I might have more time *more on that later.). Maybe this weekend we'll get them in there together. I have been sitting on the fence about what to do about beds. I'm scared to death to do bunk beds with B. He's a little less cautious than I'd like, and NOT obedient enough for me to put him in a room w/ bunk beds and close the door at night. He's already proven his dare devil self at my mom's. So I think I'll purchase bunk beds, but only build half of them or just keep it as two singles for a while. I'm really not looking forward to it, I hate messing with the kids sleep, and I'm not sure how it will go.
-We had a great day at the beach on Saturday. It was awesome. I'll do a post later w/ pictures and everything.
Here's a picture of our cuties...
That is all.
-Speaking of Oma. I was just about to write that I have finally gotten to a point where I can think about her without my eyes welling up with tears, but thinking about gibreckle has given me blurry vision and a lump in my throat. I do miss her. And I really pray that I don't have to watch another loved one spiral down to just another person laying in a bed, a shadow of themselves.
-The driver that caused our accident, DID have insurance. I'm very relieved. We STILL do not have our car back and we have gotten calls twice that they found more damage and most likely will not have a car till late next week, but hopefully, my insurance company will have the ability to recover our money.
-This pregnancy has proven to follow the tradition of little weight gain for a while, then suddenly I'm gaining weight at a rate of a pound a day. *gasp* Yes, a pound a day. I gained no weight for about a month and then sometime last week, I started gaining. Ugh. Its true to my typical pattern. With both Q and B, I gained like 15 pounds in a month during weeks 24-28 weeks (and I'll be 28 weeks on Friday). Thankfully, I stopped gaining after that month for a while. I'm hoping for the same thing to happen. I am NOT eating more. I am drinking like a camel though, I'm sooo thirsty and I love ice cold water, but I'm not eating enough to justify the weight gain, so I'm calling it water weight. Right? Don't laugh.
-I had been praying for a while for God to give me sometime during this pregnancy where I'd feel good. And he has delivered. I've had a couple of really good weeks. Really good. If I get in my nap during the afternoon, I can function on all four cylinders and be pleasant and almost joyful. Despite my tantrum the other day, I've had a great couple of weeks.
-We still do not have a name for Big Fat Ham. Correction. Scott still doesn't like any of the names I think about. I have a name that I love, but Scott doesn't love it. And he has yet to contribute to the name game.
-We are no where near ready for Ham to get here. I wanted to have the boys together in Q's room before August began. I wanted a solid month of them sharing a room before school starts for Q. (However, it looks like school won't start when it should so I might have more time *more on that later.). Maybe this weekend we'll get them in there together. I have been sitting on the fence about what to do about beds. I'm scared to death to do bunk beds with B. He's a little less cautious than I'd like, and NOT obedient enough for me to put him in a room w/ bunk beds and close the door at night. He's already proven his dare devil self at my mom's. So I think I'll purchase bunk beds, but only build half of them or just keep it as two singles for a while. I'm really not looking forward to it, I hate messing with the kids sleep, and I'm not sure how it will go.
-We had a great day at the beach on Saturday. It was awesome. I'll do a post later w/ pictures and everything.
Here's a picture of our cuties...
That is all.
Friday, August 6, 2010
A Deep Breath
Breathe, breathe, breathe. I need to remember to at least take a deep breath before I engage in a Kate sized tantrum. Maybe it would stop the utter ridiculousness that escapes my lips during one.
Today was just one of those days. Started out with the boys at each other's throats, while I had a million things on a to-do list to get done. I don't usually aspire to much during the day when the kids are up and about, if I do anything its running errands or play dates to keep the kids out of the house so they don't kill each other.
But alas, I had things to do. Birthday invitations to fill out and address and mail (all in one day, that's a biggie for me), finish uploading songs onto the iPod to get rid of some CD's, clean, put some laundry away. This and that. But by 9am, the boys were on top of each other and hurting each other left and right, and I grew tired of refereeing pretty quickly. I got a text from a friend for a play date and immediately agreed, thinking getting them out of the house would be a good thing. It wasn't. They continued to fight at the friend's house and Q knows that he's too big for me to pick up, so he goes limp noodle when I try to get him away from the scene of the crime to talk about it and discipline him. Thankfully, it was a short lived fighting scene and they were able to pull it together to play nicely with everyone for a little while.
I got everyone home for naps, but did not get one for myself today. I had plans to go to a friend's house for some swim time, since both of our husbands were going to a Phillie's game. But those plans got thwarted when the pool was closed for mechanical problems. Plan B. Order pizza, feed the kids then go to a playground that sells ice cream and play.
Oh plan B, they always seem like a good idea. My oldest child has taken to getting extremely hyper and show-offy when other people set foot in our door. So in true Q form, as soon as our guests arrived for dinner, he went into hyper drive, which in turn makes B a flurried frenzy of craziness as well. My favorite. My tolerance level for noise is so Nil (I would say while pregnant, but I'm always annoyed by high kid noise levels). I could feel my nerves fraying one by one as Q goes on and on, getting everyone rilled up. My friend and I decide a TV show might remedy the noise and increasing activity level of our crew, and we turn on a show and slap a slice of pizza in front of everyone. It was quiet for a good 15minutes. Then we quickly ate and left for the playground. It was an OK time at the playground, but lots of work, when we got home, I was just about done. My legs ached, I was tired and easily annoyed. I tell B NOT to take his nasty dirty crocs off at the door (cause his feet are even nastier), and he does not listen. Q starts whining at me that he's hungry. Really? You should try eating your dinner when its served then, sweetest Q! Oh the whining. I cannot tolerate that either (which is ironic, because my mom used to always say I whined constantly--pretty sure Scott would agree).
I'm not even sure why when Q slammed the door in B and my face that I started my tantrum. I'm not even sure what I said...it was just loud and attitudy and I'm sure the baby turned breach at that moment. Q's response is always, "mommy, you should NOT yell, its not nice." Ugh, I know, but I just needed to yell. I hate it when I feel like no one is listening to me. So I scream and yell and stomp my feet. I must look ridiculous and very similar to a 2 year old who hasn't gotten his way. Oh to be that mother that takes a deep breath and calmly explains to her child why it is wrong to slam a door in someones face. Will I ever get there? Will I ever learn not to react to everything in such a child-like fashion? Will I learn to take the deep breath and not let every emotion I have play out in front of my kids?
Today was just one of those days. Started out with the boys at each other's throats, while I had a million things on a to-do list to get done. I don't usually aspire to much during the day when the kids are up and about, if I do anything its running errands or play dates to keep the kids out of the house so they don't kill each other.
But alas, I had things to do. Birthday invitations to fill out and address and mail (all in one day, that's a biggie for me), finish uploading songs onto the iPod to get rid of some CD's, clean, put some laundry away. This and that. But by 9am, the boys were on top of each other and hurting each other left and right, and I grew tired of refereeing pretty quickly. I got a text from a friend for a play date and immediately agreed, thinking getting them out of the house would be a good thing. It wasn't. They continued to fight at the friend's house and Q knows that he's too big for me to pick up, so he goes limp noodle when I try to get him away from the scene of the crime to talk about it and discipline him. Thankfully, it was a short lived fighting scene and they were able to pull it together to play nicely with everyone for a little while.
I got everyone home for naps, but did not get one for myself today. I had plans to go to a friend's house for some swim time, since both of our husbands were going to a Phillie's game. But those plans got thwarted when the pool was closed for mechanical problems. Plan B. Order pizza, feed the kids then go to a playground that sells ice cream and play.
Oh plan B, they always seem like a good idea. My oldest child has taken to getting extremely hyper and show-offy when other people set foot in our door. So in true Q form, as soon as our guests arrived for dinner, he went into hyper drive, which in turn makes B a flurried frenzy of craziness as well. My favorite. My tolerance level for noise is so Nil (I would say while pregnant, but I'm always annoyed by high kid noise levels). I could feel my nerves fraying one by one as Q goes on and on, getting everyone rilled up. My friend and I decide a TV show might remedy the noise and increasing activity level of our crew, and we turn on a show and slap a slice of pizza in front of everyone. It was quiet for a good 15minutes. Then we quickly ate and left for the playground. It was an OK time at the playground, but lots of work, when we got home, I was just about done. My legs ached, I was tired and easily annoyed. I tell B NOT to take his nasty dirty crocs off at the door (cause his feet are even nastier), and he does not listen. Q starts whining at me that he's hungry. Really? You should try eating your dinner when its served then, sweetest Q! Oh the whining. I cannot tolerate that either (which is ironic, because my mom used to always say I whined constantly--pretty sure Scott would agree).
I'm not even sure why when Q slammed the door in B and my face that I started my tantrum. I'm not even sure what I said...it was just loud and attitudy and I'm sure the baby turned breach at that moment. Q's response is always, "mommy, you should NOT yell, its not nice." Ugh, I know, but I just needed to yell. I hate it when I feel like no one is listening to me. So I scream and yell and stomp my feet. I must look ridiculous and very similar to a 2 year old who hasn't gotten his way. Oh to be that mother that takes a deep breath and calmly explains to her child why it is wrong to slam a door in someones face. Will I ever get there? Will I ever learn not to react to everything in such a child-like fashion? Will I learn to take the deep breath and not let every emotion I have play out in front of my kids?
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