I suck

I am a terrible source of comfort in the middle of the night. I am tempted just to let him come into my bed but then he wants to be in my bed every night and it becomes a constant battle for weeks. CO is currently awake. He went pee, I got him a drink, I turned on a light, opened more windows, moved his fan to the window to cool his room down more, I even sat on his bed for a short time. Now I am tired and he doesn't want to stay in bed, is irrational because he is tired. I am wide awake, tired and grumpy so I start threatening a spanking if he doesn't Quit hollering and quiet down...
Any parenting tips or words of wisdom?

Hebrews 13:17

Obey your leaders (because) they keep watch over you. Hebrews 13:17

That is our verse for the week. Actually it was our verse last week too but since we were at the beach last week, I figured it couldn't hurt to keep the same verse for a couple of weeks.

I love that my son LOVES to learn. He enjoys our 'school' time. His least favorite activity is his handwriting sheets but I have added them to his curriculum so I am not pushing them right now. If he chooses to do them...he will.

We don't actually follow a structure to our days right now. School just gets 'fit' into our days. With J sometimes needing a morning nap, we will fit school time in then, and other days we are busy running around or exploring outside that school happens as a down time before bed. I am sure once we progress in our homeschool adventures, we will have to add more stucture to it.

I am also going to join a bible study group on Tuesday mornings. I like that it not only is a time of fellowship and learning for me, but the children's program is more than just a time to be 'babysat'. There is also an educational program for the kids. Also I am wanting to put CO into Awana this year.  I am taking a year break from being a leader in Girl Guides as last year just didn't work with me shuffling the boys, dragging them along when I didn't have a sitter, etc. Guiding has changed a lot in the last couple of years and my heart is less into. I still LOVE being a leader and the program, I am just needing a break. We'll see what next year brings as CO will be old enough to be a 'Beaver' (mini-boyscout) and his program would be the same night as Girl Guides in our local town.

I am on the fence with the whole gymnastics thing. It would be good for him but I am not sure how many events away from home I want to schedule in our days each week. But it is also be good for him to do this as a 'big' thing on his own without J, but it is also a lot of $. I need to decide as I think I need to sign him up tomorrow night.

The doctors office called and have booked J's surgery for this Wednesday morning. So please pray at 8am for the surgeons as they preform the surgery as well as for my father who has agreed to watch CO for the pre-op appointment tomorrow afternoon and the morning of the surgery.

a week at the beach

we returned from a week at the beach

we took the trailer

we traveled at night

the weather was supposed to be unpleasant

we were blessed with amazing days that got better the longer we stayed

we've decided to make it an annual tradition to camp there the first week of September



the boys loved the beach. We spent LOTS of our day there. The last day we arrived at the beach around 930 and didn't head up the hill to the trailer until around 3. It was a great location...the beach was a short walk, but we ended up driving the truck down as there was much 'stuff' carted along for digging and playing.

as we pulled out in the dark of night CO piped up that he wished he lived there so he could ALWAYS be at the beach :)

brothers and parks

these two LOVE the park

what kid doesn't?

our newest adventure...

dressing the same

CO refers to these as his farmer pants

he LOVES it when he can co-ordinate his outfit to match J's

I had to share this last photo of CO and his 'nockers'

they help him see better :)

(binoculars)

adventures in feeding J (part 2)

I would have to say I am definitely happy with the progress J is making with his eating. Today he ate three meals plus snacks all containing foods he would have refused to let near his mouth let alone into his mouth when I first got him. He usually doesn't fuss until the end of the meal. I am trying not to push him TOO much so as to not make eating a TERRIBLE experience.  For breakfast he ate cut up peaches with blueberries and a bowl of oatmeal. For lunch he ate homemade chicken vegetable soup and cherry tomatoes and supper was spinach & cheese pizza and a no-rice curry salad (it is a recipe for curry rice salad of my mother's but I substituted quinoa for the rice...it has green peas and cut up celery in it). I knew the celery would be an issue for him in the salad but he ate the few tablespoons that I served him. Not overly happily but when I told him to open his mouth, he did. He needs lots of liquid to eat meals. I am not sure why but he seems to chew and chew and suck out the moisture of what he is eating and then he has troubles swallowing what is left in his mouth. He pretty much now likes all food that is round like a ball (and that is what he calls it). He LOVES to eat peaches and plums whole (which is great because that is what is in season). He really likes corn on the cob and does a fairly good job at eating his 1/3 cob that is given to him. So because his eating is so much better, I have started to allow him some treats that the rest of us are eating. For example ice cream for dessert. He is up to 25 1/2 lbs which is great. In July he didn't eat much and his appetite wasn't the greatest but we were at the cottage for most of it and it was fairly hot, and I think he had a stomach bug for a week or so as well. So up 5 1/2 lbs from the middle of may (so just over three months) I am happy. His muscle tone and overall appearance is better with his increased varieties of food. I still try to feed him at least one avocado a week (I usually just fork mash it and then add some applesauce) as this is a great fat for him and I want him healthy and strong for when he has his surgery.
His vocabulary is also increasing. He says 15 + words which is great (probably more if I listened carefully). He is very active and is constantly getting bumps and bruises as he tries to keep up with his big brother.
His big brother is going to be 4 in a few weeks. That just blows me away. Being 3 was a BIG year for him. He learned to swim (he can swim but needs to improve his skills a bit more), to ride a two wheeler (no training wheels), he became a big brother, he went on a couple of big train trips, he moved to a single bed (from a toddler bed), he grew his own vegetable garden (of which he is very proud...needs to work on his dedication to water more often...but I was impressed how much he actually grew considering how much he over hoed and tilled his soil post transplanting and seeding), he can climb a tree, he learned his letter sounds and how to count...there is more but I just can't think of it off the top of my head.

homeschooling...

I received CO's JK curriculum in the mail at the beginning of May and we jumped right in for a couple of weeks and then J came into our lives and I put schooling on the back burner (other than science as his science text book is wonderful and he loves it so much we had to take it to get rebound as it has fallen apart). This past week we started up again and it has gone good. Our verse for the week: Pay attention, my child to what I say. Listen carefully. Proverbs 4: 20. A verse he really struggles with. These past couple of weeks his obedience has been a BIG struggle for him and we've been doing a lot of head banging. It has been a full battle of the wills and we both are pretty head strong. This is one of the reasons that I have started school a few weeks early. I think he needs the extra 1:1 time with just the two of us with J otherwise occupied (usually sleeping). I am dealing with LOTS of sibling rivalry between the two of them . Also it has us back to having our weekly memory verses. I am also doing morning devotions during breakfast with the two of them. Now if I can only get my own butt in gear to get more regular with my own daily devotions...

our week

we had a great week in Orangeville! It went by too quickly and this is the first time that I've been away with the boys that CO isn't begging to go home at least 24 hours before I was planning to actually head home. Taking the trailer I think helped everyone stay rested which probably helped as usually  he is overtired and just wanting to go home to his puppy. CO was asking me many times on the drive home to turn around and go back.

Annette and I took the kids to the trails behind my old house with all our bicycles. It was WONDERFUL! I wish those trails had been there when I lived there. I would have been out on them daily! Here is CO riding his two wheeler (no training wheels) along the wooden part of the path. He has an empty water bottle shoved into his back tire (it makes a buzzing/humming noise when he rides) and I was always able to hear him even if he was up ahead a bit out of sight. My dad put the baby carrier on my bicycle so I was able to have J on the back.

(here is CO taking a break along the water..yes I know his helmet needs to go down more on his head...he keeps pushing it back so I guess I need to do some strap tightening)

On the last day I loaded up the three older kids (J decided he needed a morning nap) and took them to a BMX park.  The boys LOVED it! CO was nervous of the big hills at first (reflecting the same feelings of the little girl E and they would push their bikes up the hills, ride down dragging their feet and then do the same for the next hill) but the more he tried, and will lots of encouragement from mom he was able to do the whole course without falling by the end.

I can't get the video to load up...so I put it on youtube...click the link below to watch...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJf5NWGl_Ig



(please excuse my loudness...I am standing on the hill he kept falling on so was full of encouragement and praise when he conquered the hill)

So we are home again (well none of us are home...since the boys are each at different sitter's for the weekend and I am at work) and we need to decide on our next adventure. Hauling the trailer behind my truck was less complicated than I thought it would be so I am willing to haul it in the future. I just need to have someone at the other end that can back up and park the trailer for me :) (so far I only drive forward). Maybe this fall I can practice my backing up skills with the trailer.

I can't believe that there are only a couple of weeks of summer left. My August allergies have arrived this weekend...so hopefully I am able to keep the symptoms at bay so we can still do lots of fun outside. I have no idea what it is that is setting them off (I haven't really looked into it either) but I think it is funny that overnight I am sneezing and have major itchy eyes.

No luck so far with the nanny hunt...please keep this in your prayers...come the end of the summer I don't have childcare...sigh

loading up excitement

well I am packing into the trailer...have been since I got home. The boys were just dropped of recently and they are happily playing in the trailer while I load it up with all the stuff we are going to possibly need this week...
hopefully they wear themselves out so that it can soon be bedtime...