Know Your Parenting Story

I couldn't take my eyes off the mom and sweet baby girl waiting in line behind me at the grocery store.
Mom was on the phone gossiping about Mr. Cheater and baby girl was doing all she could to even get a glance from her mother. Baby girl couldn't even be two yet, so her little developmental instincts encouraged her to reach out and grab that candy that looked so appealing!

Mom was aggravated over her conversation about Mr. Oh no he didn't cheat again being interrupted, so she beat slapped Baby Girl on the top of her arm twice and once on her back......continued her conversation while Baby Girl wept with mom's red hand prints covering her little chubby arms.

My heart dropped to my stomach and I froze, along with the cashier who said, "I better bite my tongue before it gets me into trouble!"

I didn't know what to do......

Cry

Hug Baby Girl........Lord knows what she has to go through at home if her mom wasn't  ashamed to be so cruel in public

Tell her about Attachment Parenting Meetings in Jackson and pray she might attend

Express to her...... THERE IS A BETTER WAY

Inform her that she is hacking away at her future relationship with her Baby Girl and destroying her self-worth

ask her the question, "what if someone forcefully slapped you three times when you make mistakes......would you feel loved, respected, cherished??????

What did I do?

I froze, walked away, and took my groceries along with my stomach ache, and returned to my car.  I prayed for mom, Baby Girl, and their future. I was disgusted at Mom's behavior, but I also prayed for her past pain and healing. She was probably parented the same way and it's all she knows. Cruel parenting is a vicious cycle, unless an individual makes a conscious decision to make a change.


The healing process starts with knowing your parenting story....








After praying, I thanked God for allowing me to be a part of starting Attachment Parenting in Jackson, Ms. It will provide support to so many moms and allow God to plant a seed in so many hearts.

You never know.....

maybe someone will invite that Mom to a meeting and Baby Girl's life will be changed forever!

That's what Attachment Parenting is all about! No matter what your parenting past is, you can use AP principles and end the parenting cycle you don't won't to repeat!

If your interested in API meetings, visit....API of Metro Jackson!

The essence of Attachment Parenting is about forming and nurturing strong connections between parents and their children. Attachment Parenting challenges us as parents to treat our children with kindness, respect and dignity, and to model in our interactions with them the way we'd like them to interact with others.

Independence: Check

Colby, what do you think this baby is...boy or girl?

A boy...a girl won't work!

What? A girl will work just fine! We will be happy with a boy or girl, right?

No, it's a boy and his name is Bob!

Bob?? I'm not sure if I like Bob.  Besides, it could be a girl and Bob isn't a girl name.

What about Bob the builder?

Ummm...still not a girl name.

IT'S A BOY!

You have a brother, don't you need a sister?

Not this time!

What do you mean not this time?

We are having 8 more babies!

How would you take care of 8 babies?

I tell them, "you not suppose to do that!"

Wow! I wish it was that simple...then you would obey every time!!

Yea!


Since we are having eight more babies, I had to get the ball rolling with Colby's independence!
When this baby arrives in 5 months, Chase will only be 19 months so I need Colby surviving on his own with certain life skills.

The first skill we tackled was getting dressed all by himself.

Hanging up this step-by-step chart did the trick........

I lay his clothes and shoes out, he does the rest!! The best part.....no more GET YOUR CLOTHES ON power struggles! AMEN!

Next, buckle himself up in the car seat.

This one took a lot of patience, since it took a lot of time. The first week of mastering this skill was tedious....it took him about 15 minutes each time! Not that I have to remind anyone, but he can be very strong-willed so he would not give up and would not let me help at all.

Practice paid off and he now buckles himself up in a minute flat!

This was a must since I will have THREE car seats in my mommy mobile. Colby will be all the way in the back of Oddy, and this mamma is not about to climb to the back every time we load up!

So....

Wipe own booty: check

get self dressed: check

buckle up alone: check

Now, if I could just get him to cook dinner, clean the house, and potty-train Chase......WE WOULD BE COOKIN WITH GAS!

Until Next Time........

Boy or Girl????

SURPRISE....was the plan!

SURPRISE.....IT'S A BOY/GIRL!

How exciting to wait for nine months and experience the amazing anticipation building up to one single, glorious moment!

Apparently, I'm the only one who sees the fun in it all.

Family and friends have been dropping subtle hints for me to find out the sex...some not so subtle!

It was easy for me to stick to the plan since Chris wasn't going to be in town for the ultrasound. I would never find out the sex of our child without him by my side! Well....what do you know, he comes home for two weeks and it just so happens to be on the special day!

The one factor holding my decision steady was thrown smooth out of the window!

Chris said, "you don't have to find out, but I am!"

Whatever.....that would never happen in this lifetime!

He desires to find out the sex so, I caved like a fat man on thin ice!

The very few friends that supported the surprise plan, expressed their true feelings after being informed of the new plan....

Oh thank God!

Good, I was wondering what you were thinking?

Thank heavens, if it's a girl we have a lot of shopping to do!

I was praying you would change your mind!

GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS.....YOU CRACK ME UP!

May 9th is the big day!!!

What do you think......


Boy or Girl?

Until Next Time.....

Our Typical Day

The days of our lives are so simplistic, yet perfection in our eyes. My boys are definitely all boy.....rough, tough, dirty, and live to be outdoors! They wake-up at seven o'clock ready to inhale breakfast and Chase is literally signing "outside" while still sitting in the highchair. He dashes from his chair straight to the back door and never looks back.

(Let me apologize for the not so good photos. My camera broke and all I have is my phone camera, but baby #3 is due October 9 and my birthday is October 6, so I'm thinking a really GOOD camera would be the perfect gift.....hint hint Chris!)

They get busy on their rides....

Flippin around..... 

If we don't have a play date, we usually hit the pavement for a stroll

(to keep my preggo booty in shape)....

Yes, still in PJ's....that's how we roll!

We end our stroll at the infamous dirt pile.

Our special dirt pile has magical pebbles,

wizard wands,

                                                               hidden trash treasure,

and if you make it all the way up super hero challenge

                                                            

You are crowned KING OF THE MOUNTAIN!

Chase has many more days of practice.....maybe he should use his magic pebbles!)

After conquering the mountain, we head home for lunch but only after a little mud bath!

Who knew a water puddle was so Awesome!!!

After lunch and a much needed scrub down, Chase took a nap, and Colby and I hit the books.....preschool time!

He is thankful for JoJo coming in the morning to go to the Children's Museum.....how sweet huh?

We thought it would be a great idea to send Daddy an Easter card.....Easter won't be the same without him!

Chase took a stinkin ONE hour nap and then we went to pick up a buddy from daycare, and enjoyed the excellent weather at the park!

A woman always loves a beautiful bouquet of weeds flowers......courtesy of my sweet Colby!

We decided to take a little nature walk in the woods back behind our house. Chris cleared a trail for the boys.....they absolutely love it!

Colby's first experience with a honey-suckle.

It's amazing what happens to little boy's minds, once they enter the woods.

They fought off bears, wrestled snakes, and built a special fort......which they said they were going to sleep in tonight! Funny, Colby already climbs in my bed at midnight, not sure if he is ready to tough it out in the woods overnight.

They became little detectives and tracked a deer, certain they would find one.....

They would poop in their pants if they actually saw one!

Still making the rounds while I cook dinner.

Eat, Bath, & Bed

Do you see why my boys were sound asleep at 7:05 tonight!!

Once they are snoozing, MOMMY TIME is on like Donkey Kong!

I don't touch housework with a twenty foot pole. I don't even turn the TV on......I  soak up the silence!!

Silence = clear mind, actually finish a thought, pray!!!!

If Chris is home, it's time to actually have uninterrupted conversation and I make an exception for TV,  we watch Office....it's kind of our special thing!

Tonight I'm a loner so the agenda is:

long bubble bath

wash and dry my hair.......since that doesn't happen in the morning with two squirts

and then read this addictive book ( I know I'm waaaaaay behind) until I fall asleep......

Then wake-up and do it all again

Thank God!

Until Next Time.........

Mississippi Mud Pies

Thunderstorms rained on our zoo parade today and made us a prisoner of our home. This is never good with my active boys that want to be ANYWHERE but inside!

Since we were stuck inside, I surrendered to my house that was begging for a cleaning. It took all day, but what do you expect......I had to vacuum with an extra 21lbs!

Finally the storms skipped town and my boys were itching to get outside!!

What do you do when it's been storming all day?

Throw on your rain boots

(don't even worry about pants)

and get cracking on the mud pies!!

 Nemo got in on the action too!!!

 Chase perfected the pie packing......that's my boy!

 He had to do a little taste test, of course!

Hmmm......not too bad, needs a little sugar!

Mississippi Mud Pie, Anyone?

Raising Grateful Kids

I was so inspired by Ann Voskamp, over at A Holy Experience......one of my all time fav blogs to read!


She recently wrote a post about How to (help) Raise Grateful Kids and it got me motivated to plant some seeds in the heart of my boys!


Yesterday Colby started a Thankful Journal. Each day he will write one thing that makes him thankful. 




Colby, what is something that makes you feel really happy and thankful?


My Daddy, I love him so much! When daddy plays with me all the time, I feel soooo happy!


Aw baby, that is so sweet, and I know it makes Daddy thankful too.....lets write it in your Thankful Journal!

What a precious first journal entry!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another great idea I stole from Ann, is to write thank you notes to show gratitude! Not just for materialistic things, but much deeper gratitude.......

the friend who is always kind, 

the helpful neighbor,

the teacher who is encouraging, or 

the lady at church with the warm hugs!

Colby, can you remember somebody doing something for you that made you feel very special?

Yes, Kate was so sweet to let me play with her ball at her house.....that was so sweet of Kate!

It sure was! Kate loves her ball and she let you play with it so you would be happy......she was being such a good friend. Lets write her a thank-you note to let her know how thankful you are for her kindness and friendship.

Okay, that would be a great idea, and I will color her a picture too!

Perspective can always adopt gratitude — and gratitude always parents joy.

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it" 

~ WIlliam Ward


Thanks Kim for being such a great friend and raising such a precious daughter that my son adores......we are so thankful for you guys!! Oh yea, thanks for letting us crash at your crib all the time too....love you bunches! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ideas to Raise Grateful Kids

Positive Polly

I know I was Mrs. Debbie Downer last post, harping on the bad news of missing my hubby.......I'm going to be Positive Polly today!

Why?

Chris called to inform me that he will be arriving to Florida earlier than expected, and since there were no rooms on base, he gets a hotel room.

HELLO....

that means the boys and I are going to load up Oddy and head south to the beach!!!!

Just knowing that we will get to see Chris seven days earlier than expected......I'm one happy momma!!

Not to mention, NINE DAYS of....

sand between my toes

the sound of waves crashing

the boys building sand castles

soaking up the sun

relaxing with my man

I CAN'T WAIT!!!


I'm ready to sport this black, bad boy.....

pasty legs and all!!

Yes, I already have a baby bump at 14 weeks........I guess it's the norm when you pop a bun in the oven every year!!

Until Next Time......

Super Duper Proud of Daddy!

My heart is broken as I lay here blogging, wishing Chris was occupying his side of our bed.  He just makes  me so content in life and it's just not the same without him. I love when it's time to curl in the bed and get as close to him as possible and rub my cold feet against his legs, especially since it works him up every. single. time!!! He knows what's coming, but is startled EVERY time, "Come on now, your feet are like icicles.....STOP RIGHT NOW!!" Ahhhh, I'm laughing now thinking about it!

Chris came home for four days and it was just a big, fat hairy tease before he jetted off to Washington this morning. We spent some fun family quality time together!!

By the way, my honey bun now has earned his wings and he also graduated first in his class.......as Colby would say, "WE ARE SUPER DUPER PROUD!"

I won't get to stick my cold feet on him again until an entire month from today. He will be flying from Washington to Florida to finish up a class so we will be making a trip to the sunshine state to retrieve daddio!

Yes, we will stay at the beach for several days and not only soak up some sun but soak up each other!! A month is a long time without his bear hugs, sweet kisses, night time cuddles, and his smile that lights up my world!

I pray this is the fastest month of my life, and to all my friends...... feel free to let us tag along as much as possible or just move in if you don't mind!!

Until Next Time......

Live Off The Land

We went to spend the day with great friends and had the best time!

Played in the fort........

Rode the awesome zip-line.......

Did a little fishing.......

Well....Colby did a little fishing, he was the only one to catch a fish!!

Showoff!!

Guts and glory.....his most favorite part of the entire day!

Colby's fish had his final destination on our grill and

 into wild man's tummy!!

My little man now knows how to live off the land!