Back to School

We have finished our first week of school. The boys had a good first 3 days. Luke loves 1st grade and already made a new friend. Wilson said 3rd grade is "awesome" and is in class with his best friend! I was absolutely exhausted but have recovered this weekend. :) Luke is still recovering...he has been pretty grumpy!

Our school is still under renovation so I just started unpacking my room on Friday. I don't have students yet so it wasn't a big deal. I am happy to have a place now and am going in this afternoon to work on setting up. The main corner of my room looks something like this:

Tyler sure misses his "bruders" when we are gone to school. He starts school after Labor Day. He is so ready! I can't wait to see how he likes going to school. I think he will love it.

Trip to Tennessee

 Ty & Rori

 Captain Luke!

 Lily & Luke

 Wilson jumping in the lake!

 Luke's jump!

 Working on my tan. Don't worry- I jumped in several times too!

 Wilson at the pool.

 Ty watching from the sidelines but NOT missing out on the action!

 Wilson & Sarah Beth. He loves his baby cousins!

The SCARY tree house. Craziness! I made it half way up and came down to wait for the others. Yikes!

Staying Busy

The boys and I have been staying busy with trips to the pool, library, and playing outside. We are thrilled!!! to have Andy back home after he was in Costa Rica for 12 days leading a mission trip. The big boys went to Grand(parent) Camp at Aldersgate for 2 nights with my mom and their cousins Madelyn and Caroline. They had a blast. Thank you so much mom for taking them on such a wonderful adventure. I know they are making great memories!

Luke just got a new green bike. He was ready for a bigger bike and is doing really well riding it! Here is what it looks like. It is from Wal-Mart. Green is of course his favorite color. My mom just got him a bell for his new bike. He is pretty happy!
 

I kept myself busy while Andy was away by watching Season 1 & 2 of Downton Abbey. I LOVE the show and am terribly dissapointed that Season 3 doesn't begin until January 2013!!!



We have started some a new chore routine and behavior system. It seems things have to change up quite often around here. The boys are all starting out with several dollars worth of quarters in a jar. Each has his own jar. At the beginning of the week they get all of their quarters. As they complain, whine, don't follow directions, etc they lose a quarter. I'm hoping this will encourage some behavior changes...we shall see!

The new chore routine is something I saw online but didn't repin. It was a link I followed from a pin. ANYWAY it was an idea from the Duggar's (who I know nothing about other than the fact that they have a ridiculous amount of children). Here is my adaptation to their idea:
I wrote on small pieces of paper different chores the boys need to do. A set for each. I wrote their name on an envelope and each day I will choose which chores they need to do. They can't have tv, electronics, or free time until they are done. As they finish a job they bring me the slip and I go check the work. Wilson and Luke were very independent with their chore cards! Here are some of the jobs I included:
Wilson- pick up toys (there is a separate slip of paper for different rooms), clean up floor in bedroom, make bed (or strip sheets), put dirty clothes in hamper, walk Lottie, read Jesus Calling Devotion, read 15 minutes for summer reading, do 3 pages of summer workbook, scoop Lottie's poop
Luke- pick up toys (separate slip for different rooms), clean up floor in bedroom, make  bed (or strip sheets), put dirty clothes in hamper, take out recycling, read daily devo with mom, read 1 book, do 3 pages of summer workbook
Ty- pick up toys (same as above), put dirty clothes in hamper, make bed (just putting animals & blankets on the bed)
And this pin fits me perfectly! :)
 

A Fun Friday Night

The boys and I had a great, low-key night. I came home to find a dozen roses as an early Mother's Day gift so I could enjoy them all weekend. So sweet and thoughtful of Andy! We had dinner on the deck  and then a neighborhood kickball game in the backyard. It was so fun to watch them playing together. There were 7 kiddos. We have new neighbors moving in with 3 kids. They have a boy Wilson's age and two daughters who are in 6th & 8th grade. So they were heading up the game (which was nice...). The most adorable thing was when one of them said "we need to make some rules. Everybody in the tree house!". So they all climbed up in the tree house and came up with their rules. Kickball turned into a freeze tag game and they played together so nicely. A GREAT start to the weekend!!

Updates & Recipes

Not sure where to start. It's been a while! Life has been busy.

* We are still adjusting meds for the anxiety...I'm beginning to get frustrated. We upped again 2 weeks ago but this week has been HARD. 3-4 times of intense anxiety coupled with him being waaay less inhibited...it's a little rough. His behavior choices and home and school are being impacted negatively. I'm calling the psychiatrist today to get her thoughts on this. He is being silly more often when it isn't appropriate, more careless on his work (handwriting/spelling), and not following all directions at school. At home he thinks he can do whatever he wants. Thinks he is Mr. Independent and is making bad choices. So. We've had behavior trouble at home all along it just seems to be worse. 

*I made my first call to poison control this week due to a super glue incident. He was convinced he was going to die. He panicked. The super glue was on top of the refrigerator...he decided to glue a toy together while I was putting his brothers to bed. But it all turned out fine. Poison Control said the amount ingested was no big deal (just licked some excess off a finger) and he was in no danger. He still asked last night if he was going to be ok. Hopefully that taught him a lesson!

* We've had a lot going on. Andy and I threw a baby shower last weekend for a couple of his youth volunteers who are expecting a baby, celebrated my mom's birthday and made her homemade cupcakes, helped with a wedding shower at school, worked a Legends game for my niece's marching band, and took Ty to Disney on Ice! We went with Cara and Silas. It was fun! The boys were in awe and loved the show. We bought them a tub of popcorn and they had a GREAT time!

* Tried a few new recipes over the past few weeks.White Cheddar Chicken Pasta - this was pretty good. I didn't have any wine so I just subbed chicken broth. The leftovers were pretty yummy though. BBQ Burgers- these were yummy. They have Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce and shredded monterey jack cheese mixed into the meat. (We used 90/10 not 85/15.) We all enjoyed them. I just used the hamburger recipe on this pin- not the special sauce or anything else. We just topped ours with ketchup/mustard. We will make these again! Though with the mix-ins if you are going to grill lay down some foil. Andy said they started falling apart on the grill. Slow Cooker Chicken & Rice - this was good. The boys didn't care for it but I think it is just because everything was mixed together (like a casserole). It was super easy. Chicken, corn, rice, cheese. Yum!

My Boys

-I took the boys to see The Lorax last weekend. We all enjoyed it. Cute movie!
- Ty is very interested in coloring right now. The other night he was at the table coloring and he yelled at one of his brothers "you're messing up my progress!". I started laughing immediately that our 3 1/2 year old used the word progress. Today he was talking about all the projects he needed to do after my mom bought him a couple $1 crafts at Michael's.
- got Wilson & Luke haircuts today. They look so handsome! Wilson wanted his cut short. I love it!
- Tyler got new shoes. He was very concerned about not getting to wear his favorite red shoes but thankfully the talking tree had a pair of tennis shoes in extra wide in his size with some red on them. We only had 2 choices. :) I keep thinking he is going to outgrow the extra wide status bu he hasn't yet!
- Wilson is working on a project for school. He had to choose an organism to complete a project on. He chose a German shepherd. We worked on getting supplies for his costume today. He is excited.
- everyone is still healthy!! Thank goodness!!

Resurfacing

So. When life gets overwhelming I tend to turtle-up. It's the only way I know to describe what I do without even realizing. This week I realized I've gone in shut down mode lately. There has just been too many things going on in my life, the boys' lives, & my friends' lives. So unfortunately I've kind of been hiding out. Not always good at sharing my feelings. But I'm sticking my head out of the shell and seeing if it is ok to come out!

After TWO MONTHS of sickness (seriously at least 1 out of 5 has been sick until this week) we are in the clear. Oh what was that noise you ask? Just me knocking on wood. Wilson was diagnosed with an ear infection less than a week ago but he is feeling better.

My house is a train wreck. I've done some work obviously as has Andy but not enough. But it is so overwhelming with a big house, 3 messy boys, & 1 messy me that I don't know where to even start. I'll clean a room only to turn around and it be a mess again the same day or very next day.

Tyler is doing well at peeing in the potty he is terrified of pooping in the potty. Don't have any more ideas on that one.

Wilson has been very difficult. What's new. School transitions have been very hard as well as completing homework. Just call me mom/teacher of the year. I received a formal letter about his attendance and how I've already used 6/10 parent excused absences. I tell you, the boy has been sick!!

I've been so tired with no energy but am having trouble getting to bed before 10:30. Partly because Ty no longer wants to go to bed at bedtime. He keeps getting up and out of bed. Or if I try sitting next to him to wait for him to fall asleep it can take forever. Very frustrating.

I re-read Hungeer Games book 1 this week. Still so so good. Please tell me you have read it! Andy finally decided he would give them a try and he is on book 3. He is really enjoying them.

When your 3 1/2 year old says "I need to read a chapper of Mr. Incredible" you know he has older brothers!! My baby wants us to read him a chapter book! So cute!!

Snow Day!

We finally got a snow day on March 5th! How crazy! On Friday we were released 2 hours early from school due to severe weather/tornadoes. Several touched down in our state but thankfully not in our area. We were in our basement waiting out the storms but praise the Lord we are safe!  Today we have 5 inches of snow on the ground. So exciting!! The boys and I went out and played in the snow. We went sledding, painted the snow with colored water in squirt bottles, and had fun!

Wilson isn't feeling good and Ty wasn't so sure he liked the snow so we didn't stay out too long. I had fun sledding too!

 Ty all bundled up.

Luke ready to sled.

 Wilson, Caroline, & Madelyn...none looking at camera!

I updated the chicken tortilla soup recipe here...apparently I didn't know what an anaheim pepper looked like!

I updated the 20 in 2012 post here.

Annual Check-Ups

Wilson & Luke had their 8 and 6 year old check-ups this week. Both boys are very healthy. Dr. H said they must be very good eaters since their heights/weights and BMI's are excellent! That made me feel good. We try hard to make them eat right! Wilson was the only one who needed a shot (Hep A vaccine) and he handled it really well. We were so proud of him! But we gave him absolutely no heads up about it at all...the doctor actually wrote a note on a piece of paper and handed it to Andy to see if we wanted it done that day. So sneaky...ha!

I spoke with Dr. H by myself regarding everything I wrote in this post. Andy stayed in the room with the boys. Basically she just gave me the names of 2 psychiatrists and said it was time to see one of them and possibly think about medication. She said the level of anxiety is beyond "normal" and we have tried one thing after another to combat the anxiety. So have I called yet? No. Am I going to? Yes. It's just one of those things that is hard initially I guess. But I know it is time to take the next step.

Tyler also went because of sinus issues. He was running a low fever & had an ear infection. Since getting the amoxicillin it seems he is getting worse. Still running fevers & now a bad cough. Poor thing.

The boys were up insanely early this morning - good thing I went to bed at 9:30 last night. I was EXHAUSTED. Time to get ready for basketball!

Updates

First of all, thank you so much for your kind words on my last post. I had facebook messages, conversations with friends, a wonderful card in the mail (thanks Mel!) and comments on the blog from my friends. Your words of encouragement, ideas, & support really helped.  We see our pediatrician next week. I am looking forward to seeing what our next steps should be.

Life just doesn't stop. Since I last updated I've had a stomach virus, sinus infection, & ear infection all at the same time. I had to  miss 2 days of school and probably should have missed 3. I am feeling WAY better. But Andy has a sinus infection, Ty is getting one, and Luke is taking his turn with the stomach virus as of today. I mean...really?! We are so ready to be healthy! Wilson went to the doctor for his stomach aches and they ran a bunch of tests. So far everything has been good news: good blood counts (ruled out infection & ulcer), tested negative for celiac & chrone's. I'm glad we already have Wilson & Luke's well visits next week so I can follow up about Wilson's stomach issues as well. It may just be bad luck with several mild stomach viruses or could be anxiety related.

What I keep learning as a mom of 3: The craziness never seems to stop. There is always something with one of the boys. See the previous post and the paragraph below this one for a couple examples.  Someone always "needs" me. I NEED at least an hour with all the boys in bed so I can have some me time. I will fall asleep reading almost every night because by the time my head hits the pillow I'm just plain exhausted.

Tyler is causing the something right now, in addition to everything else. He is being a THREE year old. If you haven't heard, three is WAAAAY harder than two. Bedtime has become hard with him. He wants to stay up to spend time with me (so he says...) and he is at the awkward stage of needing a nap but that nap is causing him to not be quite ready for bed at the right time. So...he is put to bed. Gets up, is put back to bed, gets up, gets a spanking, etc. Repeat several times. Then at some point in the night several nights a week I wake up to find him in our bed. He shares my pillow and smushes me to the edge. What is it about kids coming to mommy's side of the bed?! We have a king size bed- but Ty wants to snuggle next to me. Awww- right? Well not when you have an elbow in the face!

So we have a new positive behavior system going on around here. I put the boys on charts. All 3 of them. Let's deal with those somethings shall we? Here is what they earn stickers for right now:
Wilson- Responding with the right attitude (coming when called, doing what he is told, completing HW without whining etc)
Luke- Answer questions when mommy/daddy ask them, no whining about HW or taking out the recycling
Ty- 1 sticker for peeing in potty, 2 stickers for pooping in potty, 1 sticker for staying in bed all night, 1 sticker for feeding Lottie

The charts are just the kind you can buy for the mini size stickers. I've had them forever. They are hanging on a low cabinet for them to see. So far they have all finished 1 chart (20 stickers). They each have a different reward they are working towards. Wilson's last one was a sandwich from Jimmy John's, Luke earned $ to buy Valentine Grams at school, & Ty wanted to buy a new car from the movie Cars.

So in a nutshell: life is good but hard. Not really any new information! We love our boys more than words can say and we are trying to be good parents. But it is hard to know what to do sometimes!

Barely hanging on...

Where do I begin? I've wanted to write this post for a long time but just couldn't. And didn't know if I should put it all out there. But here I go. I think this may be theraputic and maybe somebody will have some ideas or suggestions that will help us.

About a week ago I wrote all of the "things" in my head down about the current situation with one of my boys. I just kept going - jotting down notes for a doctor appointment of everything that Andy & I have been dealing with. Life has been hard with one of my boys for years. I kept thinking it was me, something I was doing wrong.We kept trying and thinking of different things- I read some parenting books, we went to a play therapist, I used behavior systems, time-outs, spankings, grounding, room stripping, loss of priviledges, you name it, we tried it. To no avail. Nothing worked beyond the initial success. It always wore off and stopped working. I know you may be thinking that sounds normal but the behaviors that happen aren't normal. When I sat and wrote the things I had in my head I realized there is a problem. Something that we need help with. It isn't something we're doing wrong...we need answers. We go to the doctor in about 2 1/2 weeks. I am ready to open up to our pediatrician and tell her how bad it is becoming. As he gets older it is getting worse. He is stronger, he is so smart, he is getting so big. I'm tired of the constant battle of who is in control. He tries so hard and we fight back so hard. Some days I give up because I just. can't. fight. any. more. Other days either Andy or I are stronger and that person does more of the fighting. Thankfully we have each other and can lean on each other. The fussing, whining, yelling, manipulation, etc that occurs when he is told to brush his teeth/do homework, clean up, etc. is just not right. But we've been saying that for years and implementing consequences that don't work on him. So now we are trying a positive chart, one that he earns stickers for responding with the right attitude. The chart was hung up about a week ago. He has earned 7-8 stickers. At least 3 of those were on the first evening of implementing the chart. Reminding him of that doesn't seem to matter.

But there is more going on that is making the problem worse. He deals with anxiety alot. We've had this problem for a long time. He holds himself together at school so well about 98% of the time. We occasionally have a rough morning when it is time for him to go to class. But even this has improved over the years.  He is so well behaved at school. I'm very thankful for that- I know we could be dealing with a lot worse. I don't know how much of his behavior is driven by fear- he worries about fire alarms (we've been having a lot during renovation), severe weather, lcokdown drills, health issues, what others think, doing well on tests, doctor appointments, spending time away from home, etc, etc. Everything. I hate that for him and I don't know what else to do. We have been to the play therapist specifically for this problem- he improved some but not enough. We learned strategies for coping but still it isn't enough. We have our breathing exercises, I have key phrases I say to him and I'm trying to teach him self talk. (I am ok. God loves me. Mommy is at school with me. Everything is ok).

A couple people have mentioned sensory issues to me - that maybe some OT would help. But I don't know. I see more defiance & anxiety (he admitted to wanting to make me miserable this morning since I wouldn't let him have his way). But that could just be because I don't fully understand sensory stuff. He doesn't do well with changes. He feels that life is unfair a lot of the time. He'll think we love one of the other boys more if we compliment something they do. It's so hard. We are ready for some answers and some new ideas to try. If you have any, please let us know! If you read all of this, thank you for listening. :)

Random Updates

* I'm proud to say I've lost 8 pounds! I am running and still doing the diet thing. I'm cheating a little more so it is a slower process but I am ok wtih that. So just a couple more pounds and I will move to phase 3.

* Wilson lost another tooth. The two bottom teeth in the middle are gone. This is keeping him from biting his nails- I'm thrilled! It's funny to hear him talk right now with the extra space.

* Luke is tired and grumpy a lot right now. Starting kindergarten is hard!

* Ty misses his brothers and me some days more than others. He gets mad at Andy when he tells Ty that we are at school. He says "NO. They downstairs!". Poor thing. It's hard being the youngest!

* Wilson & Luke went to watch Star Wars for the first time with Uncle Mac & Trey last night. They said they liked the movie.

* Luke is starting fall t-ball tomorrow with 3 of his cousins. He is excited!

* I have first day school pictures Andy took on his camera that I need to post.

End of Summer

So I'm officially back to work. The boys were able to go swimming with Andy today.  Andy is thinking of taking them to Krispy*Kreme for breakfast tomorrow as a last hurrah. He is such a good daddy. (Not because he buys them donuts but because he is so good at taking care of them and doing things with them. It's hard with all three!)

We let them play outside tonight until about 9pm for the last night. But before that we did the neatest thing at church. From 7-8 we had a Backpack Blessings night. The school age kids came to church with their backpacks. We sang some songs, prayed over the kids, schools, teachers, etc. Then played a game outside and the kids had icecream sundaes. It was such a positive way to start the new school year. Ty brought his backpack too (filled with wipes & diapers) and had a great time as well. Boy is he going to miss his brothers come Thursday!

The boys are excited about school but a little nervous. Andy will bring them for the first day so they can be dropped off. Pics to come later this week!

Hats off to another great year!

Updates

It is hard to believe summer is coming to an end. This week at school we have our Parent Orientation and next week it is back to work with school starting on Thursday. I've been easing myself back into school with little bits here and there. The boys have all of their school supplies and the first day of school outfit ready to go. They are excited! Especially Luke with starting Kindergarten!

I am still on Phase 2 of the Du*kan Diet. Alternating between a protein day then a protein + veggie day. It is tough. The protein + veggie days are relatively easy. It's the other days that are hard. I've had a few weak moments over the last couple weeks but I feel like a treat (frozen chocolate YOGURT :) from Bruster's) is okay. We may or may not have been there twice. Ahem. Anyway! I made a healthier choice, right?! I'm still running and HAVE to find a way to keep going once school starts with the 50 hour work weeks. So all in all I have lost 5.4 pounds. Not too shabby!

We finally got the playroom cleaned up and organized. It looks great! We made Luke a new art shelf with all of his creative supplies. We are donating two boxes of stuff to Good*will. (FYI: I will NOT be going back to the shed that almost broke my hand...ouch!). The boys can actually enjoy their toys now. I am so bad about putting stuff away. I'm kind of messy at home. So I am really trying to put stuff away after I use it and still encouraging the boys to do the same. I feel so much better when the house is picked up/organized so I need to be proactive!

Before school starts we have a day trip to Cincy for CCH appointment, a day at the lake with Andy & CCY. Hopefully a few more trips to the pool.

We Survived!

This week has been good but hard. Andy was out of town for his second week this summer. He was in Florida on a Mission Trip with his youth group. Eight days of single parenting was a challenge to say the least. 3:1 is very overwhelming, at least at the ages of 7 1/2, 5 1/2, and almost 3. The boys have kept me non-stop busy from 8am (or earlier) until about 9pm. I love my boys. Very much. But they have been difficult. When daddy is away Wilson especially tries to get away with more misbehaviors. All in all it has been a good week and I tried to plan something fun for each day.

Fun things we did this week:
Bou*nce U
Pool
Library
Big boys went to a movie with my dad while Ty & I went to lunch at Sarabeth's
Dinner @ Cara's
Dinner @ Maw & Paw's - he made the BEST strawberry-rhubarb pie. YUM.
Met my dad for dinner
Mc*Donald's playdate with friends for icecream and playland
Bike riding
playing t-ball outside

I'm so thankful for my family for taking care of us so many nights with dinner. Daniel & Charissa came over to baby-sit the boys one evening so I could go to dinner with a friend. They just wanted to give me a break and it was so nice. The boys had a blast with them. I know that was one of their highlights of the week! I'm thankful I got all the boys to the Y one time to run. Even though I wish it would have been 3 times.

At this point the house is a mess - AGAIN. I'm at the end of my rope. The boys miss their daddy a LOT. So glad he gets home today. 8 days was too many. I'm tired.

Fun Times

The boys have built a couple forts this past weekend. Andy and I let them sleep in the fort Sunday night. Even Ty camped out! It took a few tries to get them to bed and then they conked out. Wilson and Luke created the fort all by themselves. Ty ended up sleeping in the middle, under the coffee table.

 I found this shirt at Tar*get a while back. With the treehouse Andy built for the boys I had to buy it! Unfortunately it only came in Ty's size. I wish they all 3 had one! I finally got them outside to take pics on the same day Ty was wearing his tree house shirt. Score!

Boys will be boys! 

Three of my loves!

So, back to blogging.

ONE post in MAY?! Wow. That is an all time low! Gosh, how have all of you faithful readers survived without my enthralling posts?! Ha ha. Here are some general updates:
- Andy's sister Katie gets married this weekend!
- I'm working on Couch to 10K. I'm in week 3. It's been slow going with the end of the school year. Now I have no excuse. Hoping to run the 10K on the 4th of July.
- Tried a few new recipes lately. Carrot cake as a thank you to Andy for helping me with my classroom. Everybody that ate it said it was delicious! I agree!  I substituted 1/2 cup of oil with 1/2 a cup of applesauce. It was still yummy. Thankfully we had some family over last night to help us eat it!
- Last night we made grilled fish tacos. They were ok. The fish just didn't have enough of a flavor. It was kind of  bland. The corn/tomato/cilantro/lime juice relish was delicious though. This recipe came from my Everyday Food Magazine. It was our first time to try fish tacos. I'm not smitten. But might try them again...
- Summer is now officially here! I finished up on Thursday of this past week. I've been exhausted this weekend. Hopefully now I'll get myself and the boys into a routine of some kind. We've enjoyed a couple days at the pool this past week. Looking forward to many more!
- I have a confession to make. I bought some beautiful vegetable plants in the beginning of May. I never planted them. They are dead. Oh well. I've felt bad about it for a few weeks but thankfully It was less than $7 worth. I did plant the shade plants I bought. I don't have a garden spot. Maybe Drew will build me a raised bed for a garden next year... :) Now I can go throw them away and stop feeling bad!
- Last Sunday we hosted the Youth at a nearby park for their first on location summer sunday night thing. It was so much fun! We played Ultimate Frisbee (which is like football minus the tackling & football plus a frisbee). The boys were playing with us too. We grilled out hot dogs and had a picnic. It was a great time. Looking forward to more family picnics there this summer.
- The boys are all doing well! They are thrilled to have mommy home and I am trying to adjust to the stay at home mom thing for summer. Tyler is so busy and has NO fear. That is a VERY BAD thing! Luke and Wilson are like little fish when I take them swimming. They love the water and swim all over!

Memorial Day Picnic

We went to a picnic at my grandparents house on Memorial Day. Often, when we get together my maw-maw, my aunt, or my mom makes Cucumber dip. It is delicious. Ty is eating it below. I think this was his first time to try it. I eventually had to put the lid on so he would go play with his cousins and stop eating!

 But mom, this dip is soo good!

Wilson playing wiffle ball. He looks rather into it. :)

Luke getting sprayed by the sprinkler! Madelyn, Silas, and Wilson are in the background.

So, life has been tough...

and I'm ready to talk about it. I definitely don't want to give off the impression on this blog that my life is perfect. It is far from perfect. Being fake is a MAJOR pet peeve of mine and I had a realization this week that I often try to focus on positive, happy things on the blog. Which is a good thing, but I don't anyone under the impression that our life is just perfect. So I decided it was time to come out and talk about the struggles I've been having lately. Some will be vague and others I've discussed on the blog before. I've been struggling to stay afloat and now I realize I've made goals. (I'm not a New Year's Eve Resolution kind of girl. Everybody is doing it then and most goals don't stick.) I'm a goal oriented person. I don't always stick to my goals but I am often making mental goals. So I'll share some of those too.

Parenting is tough. Three boys ages 7 and under. One with some anxiety issues and major opposition to anything mom/dad says. Another stuck in the terrible two's. One who doesn't want to do anything for himself. It is hard to always follow through with parenting threats/consequences. Kids can be manipulative. Sometimes when life is hard it is easier to give in. But I'm done. The boys have been driving me crazy and the house has been wild for too long. Too many battles. Too much whining. So I'm reading The Well Behaved Child by John Rosemond and trying some new things at home. I kind of made up my own version of some of his suggestions as I've not gotten very far in the book yet. (Don't have a whole lot of reading time!) We're just using a strike system - 3 strikes and you're out. Which means you go to your room for a pre-determined amount of time. On the past two snow days it was going to be 90 minutes in the afternoon. Neither Luke or Wilson got to strike 3. Yesterday late afternoon, Wilson got to strike 3 for the first time. I told him to go to his room and he could only come out for dinner, homework, and getting ready for bed. He sobbed. I didn't back down. He came to dinner and approached his homework like a totally different child! Wednesday nights are always hard because we get home from church around 8:20. I have 3 boys to get ready for bed alone b/c Andy isn't home then and it is always a nightmare. But tonight, I reminded the boys of the strike system. Told them if they got to strike 3 tonight then their consequences would be tomorrow afternoon/evening. It was a wonderful bedtime. Now, consistency is the key for me & Andy! One small success and I am feeling tons better in this area already.

So juggling marriage, working on communicating better with Andy, 3 children who are all BOYS!, working full time in a demanding job, keeping up with a house/laundry/cooking/etc, church, friends, on and on and on...this causes me to often feel like I'm failing. Because it is hard for me to stay afloat. I have high expectations for myself and I honestly get overwhelmed WAY too easily. I want to be able to handle everything life throws at me but I don't seem to be able to very well. I don't like to "need" others. Mostly because I don't want to bother anyone. (SEE NEXT PARAGRAPH!) I often carry that over to not relying on God as well and that won't work out so well. So I hold things in and don't talk or pray about it until I'm bursting. Working on that too.

I struggle with insecurity and am also reading Beth Moore's book, So Long Insecurity with my small group. I didn't realize how much I struggle with this until I started reading. I knew I had insecurities, just didn't realize how they hide under the surface to the point that you don't realize insecurity is a driving force in so many situations. God is really teaching me a lot about myself right now. Andy and I are also slowly reading Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs together. (As you can see I have mentioned 3 books I'm reading which tells you some of my goals. Plus I'm reading The Girl Who Played With Fire for by Steig Larsson - just for enjoyment!)

So. My goals in RANDOM order:
1. Consistency with my parenting. Don't let them take advantage. Be firm and consistent. I'm taking notes on my parenting book and I'll share them on the blog at some point.
2. Work on my insecurities and belive in myself. I come across as having it all together (at least I think I do!) but so often it feels as if I'm barely holding it together. :)
3. Keep reading the book with Andy and applying it to our marriage.
4. EXERCISE - for my physical and emotional health. Plus it give me time for MYSELF. I exercised yesterday for the first time in almost 6 months. When I was at the walk in clinic on Saturday the nurse said "your blood pressure is great! You must work out a lot!" I laughed. My friend also told me I had to start exercising twice a week for reasons mentioned above . My legs are so sore after the SHRED last night...
5. Somehow not let myself get so overwhelmed...not sure how to do this other than pray. And I need to do more of that anyway.
6. Borrow the book about Terrible Two's by John Rosemond from the library...not sure if that is the exact title.

That's all from my heart for now.

Random Updates

* If you show Tyler a picture of a hammer (in one of his picture books) he calls it a hamburger...hilarious! That boy always has food on his mind!
* Tyler has been asking to go to church for the past several days. I guess because we didn't have church Wednesday night due to a snow day he really missed going! He keeps saying "I go church." Tyler is so verbal. Right now he just said "I play drums." He is in the playroom playing the drums. He is a good communicator for a 2 year old!
* Wilson came down with a stomach bug at 2:30am Friday night. It was no fun. Really rough night of "sleep" for me and Andy. It must have been a 12-18 hour thing because he is just fine today! Praying no one else in the family comes down with it...so far so good.
* Bought my first book for the Kindle - "The Well Behaved Child" by John Rosemond. Read for a while yesterday while Wilson snuggled and napped next to me. Taking notes on the computer for future reference. We have a very oppositional child at home - he is NOT that way at school or when mommy/daddy aren't around. Has anyone else read this book? Some of the dicipline measures seem extreme but Rosemond knows that- he says it will nip the behaviors in the bud. It is a more traditional approach, like from the 1950's before all the pychobabble came out on the parenting front. So, still reading. But something has to change at home on the parenting front because everything with him is a STRUGGLE. It's just overwhelming and a lot to deal with on a daily basis. All the other methods and things we've tried obviously haven't worked because we are still dealing with the oppositional behavior. So maybe we do need something extreme.
* Friday night we went to 1 furniture store to look at bedroom furniture. Next time we'll go without kiddos! But it was fun to look around. I found a favorite at that store. But we want to check out some other stores too. Then we went for frozen yogurt with a gift card!