Just Looking for Trouble!!!!

Ask, and You Shall Receive

Mom, you said you wanted to see some recent pictures of the boys, so here you go!

Nap Time, or Play Time

It's a real struggle trying to get Ben to go to sleep. Whether it's for a nap or he is down for the night, we have to go through a series of "stern" talks a head of time, followed by spankings for not obeying... This literally happens EVERY DAY. Last night I asked Aaron if we should just stop trying. After 8 months, it's obviously not working. He brought up a good point, though. If we give up now, we will be defeated. He feels confident that eventually Ben will get tired of getting spankings. We aren't asking much out of this little guy, people. All we say is that he CAN NOT get out of bed after we put him there, and that he ABSOLUTELY CANNOT get any toys down off the shelve. He can lie there awake, talk to himself, pray, or even sing a song. Every single time he gets our of bed and gets a toy. Not just any toy, but a loud toy that you can here going off from the other end of the house. I truly admire his determination. Definitely a strong willed child. I probably need to read The Strong Willed Child by James Dobson. I hear it's great...

So, I've said all that to set you up for this:

Ben during nap time:

The Wall Hit Me

Christian was limping down the hall this morning, and I asked him what had happened. He preceded to tell me his foot hurt. "Did you stub your toe," I asked (he does this often). He replied, "No, the wall hit me."

Love Bite?

I THINK NOT!!! What you are looking at here is a picture of Christian's back and a sweet little "I love my big brother to death" bite from Ben. They were fighting over a toy, Ben got mad at Christian, and....well...you see what happened. This is actually 12 hrs after it happened, and it's still looking pretty bad.

They really do love each other, though. Honest.

One more note to add: notice all the little hair on Christian's back. He He!! When he asks me why I call him "Monkey" I tell him that it's because of all the monkey hair on his back. He usually gets frustrated with me and tells me that he DOESN'T HAVE MONKEY HAIR ON HIS BACK, but as you all can see, he does. It's really cute. This picture doesn't do it justice, because his back is wet from the bath and it just looks gross. I think he won't have any trouble at all growing a beard when he is older.

Nightmares

This happens all too often. Christian wakes up from a sound sleep, screaming and crying. Still asleep, I can barely make out his words, and nothing calms him. Then all of a sudden, he lays back down and goes right back to sleep.

Naturally, I am searching my mind, tracing all his activities trying to figure out what caused this. A scary cartoon? A bully at Church? A scary picture he saw while grocery shopping? Halloween wasn't that long ago....maybe a spooky costume?

I talked to one of my friends about it, and come to find out her son does the same thing. She read some books about it (better than my panicked reaction), did some research, and told me that in most cases this happens when the child goes through a dramatic change in his/her life. Ugh! The guilt has arrived! This is my fault!

I'm trying not to obsess about it, but it breaks my heart. My best conclusion is that it's because of this business we have started. No more stay at home Mom stuff. At least not for the majority of the time. I take the kids up to the office with me Mon-Fri from 10am-1pm. This is dramatic for them. All schedules have been lost, and life is upside down. This may not seem like a long amount of time, but it is. We spend the morning rushing through breakfast, finding shoes, matching socks...etc. Then after we get home, they go down for naps, and aren't up again until 3:30. We might squeeze in a little bit of playtime before dinner. Then, I start dinner, Aaron gets home, we eat, bath time, bedtime, and the day is gone.

I think that if I had never had the chance to stay at home with them 24/7 then it wouldn't be a big deal. I wouldn't know any better, and it would be "the norm." BUT, I know what it's like, and I know how wonderful it is to vest my time and energy into them all day long. I miss having fun craft days, play dates, projects....or whatever else we wanted to do that day. Yeah, so I turned this post into a "me" thing, but I've got to vent!

I feel as though I am going against God's intentions-partially. Can I say "partial" when talking about God's intentions? Hot or Cold, right? It's like trying to taste both worlds. Career Women vs. Mother and Wife. God called me to be a mother and a wife. Not a business women. Some women say "What about the Proverbs 31 women? She worked!" Um, first of all, in those days, business was not industrialized like it is today. I can almost guarantee she didn't leave the house 7am and return at 7pm. Then throw some frozen dinner together and call it a night. Okay, I'm just going to stop right there. I can write a book about this topic, and my thoughts are all over the place and not making any sense. Plus, I've probably offended some people by now. There, that's it. I'm stepping off my soap box.

In a nutshell, I hope and pray for this time to pass quickly and for my husband to take the reins of the business when it gets to a place where it can support us. Then, our household will be in order, and all will be well. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, it's just dim right now. If you are reading this and I haven't offended you beyond return, then please pray for my family. Pray that God will give me balance, and an eternal perspective on life. Pray that our business may prosper, and my husband can run it on Christian values and principals. Pray for me to get a grip and continue to show my children and husband love, and please pray for my sweet little boy's nightmares to subside.

What to do....

Setting: (Ben has gotten into my jewelry box for the millionth time. He enters the living room with my gold earing in his hand, all while smiling.)

Me: Ben, did you get that out of my jewelry box?

Ben: Yeah (serious lack of mannerisms here)

Me: Are you aloud to get things out of my jewelry box?

Ben: No (still no manners, and still maintaining a devilish smile)

Me: Ben, what happens when you disobey?

Ben: Spanking. (...and still grinning)

Me: That's right, Ben. I'm going to have to spank you for this.

Ben: (turns around, and drops his pants) Spank me, Mommy.

Me: (One nice smack on the leg, and I even left a mark. I look over to see Daddy covering his face and his body is shaking - obviously totally cracked up. I was really trying to hold back a laugh myself)

Ben: (Turns back around and gives me a hug after I help him pull his pants up) I love you Mommy. (Smiles)

Me: (Where did I go wrong, Lord?)

DOES ANY OF THIS MAKE SENSE!!!!!

So, I am trying to figure out other means of discipline for this child...timeout, take away favorite toys, nose in the corner.....??????? Um....I could take away the one thing he cherishes most of all, FOOD! How's that for parenting; "I'm sorry honey, but you have been a bad boy today. No food for you! " Followed by an evil laugh.

Any suggestions people!!!????

Christian Talk

Christian: Mom, I have an idea.
Me: What's your idea, Christian?
Christian: Me, and Bim, and Mommy, and Daddy, and Lulu, and Mr. David...go camping...build a tent out of sticks...trees...fire...marshmallows...and ride tractors.
Me: Hmmmm, well that sound like fun, man.
Christian: Yep. (nods his head) (and then he says it all over again)

Chrisitan: Mom, you make lunch, okay?
Me: I'm making dinner, sweetie. You've already had lunch today.
Christian: You making Pizza?
Me: No, I'm going to make Chicken Pot Pie.
Christian: Mmmmm, I love pie, Mommy. Mmmmm, that yummy. I love pie.
Me: It's not the same pie you are thinking of. This pie has chicken and vegetables in it.
Chrsitain: Hmm, I live Chicken Pie, Mommy. Thank you for making pie, Mommy.
Mommy, thank-you for taking me to the sign shop today.
(I ALWAYS take him with me to the sign shop-this is nothing new)
Me: Your welcome, sweetie.

Christmas Morning

I would love to write something really profound right now. However, I'm really short on time, and it was all I could do to get these pictures posted in mid JANUARY!

Abe the Babe

So here is our new pup. He is a "Great Pyrenees" and very different from any dog I have ever had. Very stubborn, and not real interested in pleasing his master....yet. He is getting better. I have had a really hard time training him. In the past I've owned Labradors and they were all so easy to train. Nope, not Abe. Different bread means different all the way around I guess. I have googled training methods for this breed, and come to find out the same rules don't apply. Apparently they are very "different" from other dogs. Hmmmm, not what I was hoping for... I don't want to give up on him. He has so much potential. I would love to hear any suggestions you may have.

Sunshine Morning

Neh Neh and Bim

One for the scrapbook:

Christian calls Ben - "Bim"
Ben calls Christian - "Neh Neh" --- obviously, that sounds nothing like "Christian"

"Bim" is my little hitter. He gets mad a his brother and SMACK! I often hear Christian at the other end of the house saying "Bim! DON'T HIT ME!" followed with screaming. I've never had trouble with Christian hitting. The general rule at our house is that you can only hit Daddy. This may seem strange, but Aaron really likes to play fight with them, and he lets them hit him as hard as they possibly can. I wonder how long it will be before their punches really start to hurt. I suppose we will switch to boxing gloves then.

Christian is getting to be so mature. He helps me cook, and it's actually helpful. He takes his dishes to the sink, after asking to be excused from the table. He still prefers his hands over his fork-we're working on that. This little kid can even buckle himself up in his car seat (thanks to Poppy). He and Ben carry on conversations all the time. Christian can understand Ben better than I can. Maybe it's a second child thing but Ben doesn't put a lot of effort into enunciating his words. He has his own little language that is very hard to understand. He talks constantly, but it's just gibberish. I'm not sure if I should be concerned or not. I have been warned by many that the second child can sometimes speak slower or develop proper speech patterns a little later than the first. Time will tell.

Our Boys

Thanksgiving

I loved this tree

The boys really liked shooting, especially Christian. He unloaded every time he got his hands on the gun. Poor little Ben got his finger pinched and was done with the whole thing.

This is just the adults shooting. My first time with a 357, and I actually liked it. Aaron insisted that I shoot it, but I wasn't going near the 30 ought 6. <---is that how you say it??

Chipmunk Cheeks

Making a "fire"

Bashful

Ben Kisses

We did things a little different for Thanksgiving this year. We went to my Dad's hunting camp. It was nice to get away from the business of our lives here lately. Dad's house doesn't have a television, internet, cell phone signal, or running water. Just kidding about the running water part! It was fun to walk around and take some pictures and disconnect from the world. It was relaxing. Christian went deer hunting for the first time, and he did really well. They didn't shoot anything, but he was pretty quiet for the most part. The boys got to see Daddy (for lack of better words) gut and skin a dear. It didn't bother him as much as it did me.

Annihilation

So, we are about to leave to go out of town and I'm helping Aaron pack up the car when I notice a vibrant pink color out of the corner of my eye. My roses are blooming? Huh? I don't understand how roses work but they bloom in the fall also, or at least mine do. Is that normal? You have to understand that I have never taken care of these bushes. They were here when we bought the house, and it seems like every little old lady that comes over stops by my roses and begins to tell me that I need to prune them, throw fish guts on them, water them, and so and and so forth. I have still failed at doing any of these things. These poor roses have always kept on blooming in spite of me. Anyways, I was really drawn to the color BECAUSE it's winter and everything is dead. Even the rose bush looks dead, aside from these blooms. I took a couple of pictures because I wanted to remember how pretty they were, because they may be dead before next year comes. Oh, and the annihilation came shortly afterwards. My boys noticed Mommy's sudden interest in them and they too became interested. After I took my pictures they took a baseball bat and golf club to them. I had my back turned while this took place, and turned to see all of these "vibrant" little pink pedals scattered about the dead grass. It was kind of sad...