Guess Who is Almost 3...

That's right, K is almost 3. You don't need to remind me, she's doing that all by herself. No, it's not that she will come up to me and remind me it's almost her birthday - more like her attitude has changed into that of a "3 yr old". Most of you with kids will understand what I mean, if you have never had children, basically you hear about the terrible two's all the time but what they don't tell you about is the 3's! Let me give you some examples of what I'm dealing with:

If I ask her to do something that she doesn't want to do (like nap time or eating), I get a combination of responses like: "Mommy, I want to tell you something", "Mommy, I forgot something.", "I'm cold" (this last one I'm not sure where she got it from, but it's an excuse to get her blanket and get out of whatever she's supposed to do). Actually, all of these are excuses to delay or get out of what she's been asked to do - as innocent as they sound! I try to be patient, but I get tired of her 'excuses' and that she is just plain not listening to me and then end up raising my voice to get my point across and she shuts down (gets all sulky, curls up, cries, has hurt feelings - she is very sensitive that way). I am open to any ideas on disciplining a sensitive yet stubborn child!!

My two biggest battles these days are meal times and nap time. Meal times, it can be tough getting her to even try her food (that has always been a big thing for me, is that my kids HAVE to at least TRY the food). Also she has started refusing to eat, (even some of her past favorite foods!) and when I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere, she want's me to FEED her (I don't think so!!). I have been putting the food on her fork/spoon for her, it seems like a compromise and helps her eat. Today for example, it took K an hour to eat supper (it took TJ 15 - 20 minutes). It is very tiring for me since it is like we are moving backwards!

Nap time, well I realize that she is getting older and may need less sleep but on days where she does not have a nap she gets super cranky by around supper time (which then lends to an even more difficult meal time!!). It's been tough because the hardest thing is getting her to use the bathroom before naptime (probably because she knows that after that it's off to bed, so she figures if she stalls that she can stall nap time). She doesn't want to wear a pull-up but she also doesn't want to use the bathroom before nap time (that is required if she wants to go to bed without a pull-up on!). So it's her will against mine! Even on the days that I do get her to bed, 50% of the time she doesn't sleep (at least it's quiet time though!!).

My hope is that between me and my daughter, we can get things figured out before baby is born! So I am definately open to ideas in figuring out what might work better for me and my girl :)

Wordless Wed.: Summertime Fun

Waterfight with Grandpa :)

Mom's - I need Your Help!

I need some recommendations. I am looking for a Christian book collection or audio book set that is really good for younger kids (about ages 3-6 or so). I am looking for something that teaches character and fruit of the spirit type topics. I remember listening to and reading the Agapeland, music machine books but they don't make them anymore. So I am looking to you to see if I can find something comparable.

Camping, Berries and Summer Marriage Challenge

Busy, busy, busy! I love summertime, even through the busy-ness :) We had a wonderful weekend camping with my parents! Of course the kids absolutely LOVED it!! (sorry I don't have pictures, I have to get them from my parents) It was SO warm - enough for a water fight! I was so lucky to have my parents there, because on Sunday my Dad watched the kids play at the park while me and my mom picked strawberries. I made my first batch of strawberry jam with this recipe, I tasted it on fresh bread on Tuesday and it is SO yummy!! All week I've been struggling with sore legs, not really sure why until I realized it was from squatting to pick berries. Guess it's not a position my legs are used to :)

I would like to thank Glimpse. I won tickets to Sesame Street Live through Glimpse and I took my kids to the show this month and they loved it! I was pretty impressed too. I love the quality of the show! They had brilliant colors, impressive light shows (my kids LOVED when the lights hit the disco ball and there were 'stars' moving everywhere!) and catchy songs that had most of the kids (and parents too) moving.

I know that I am late this week with the Summer Marriage Challenge, but I did get it done. Here is the challenge for this week: Make a list of 5 things you currently do and ask your husband to prioritizy them for you of what is important to him. I'm not going to put my list on here, but I will tell you I was a little surprised at the results. For one thing there were two items that it seems I have to push, pull and drag to get him to participate in - those two items were at the top of his list. Another thing I want to mention is a statement from the Challenge this week. The statement was: A lot of quarrels can be kept at bay if we are willing to ask our husbands their preferences and then be mindful of them. I agree with most of the statement - we can minimize quarrels if we have better communication of priorities. The part that kind of rubs me the wrong way is that we, as wives should find out our husband's preferences and 'be mindful of them'. Now I suppose it depends on your definition of 'being mindful'. Yes, it is good to know what is considered important to your husband because it does make things easier when you are on the same page, but the insinuation I sense is that his priorities are the ones that are important and you need to then just do what he thinks is important. I am more of the view that marriage is a partnership, not a one man show. If my husband's number one priority is one thing, than he should also show that it is a priority by helping/encouraging/participating in that. Also what of a wife's priorities? Should what is important on her list not matter? Can one not take two lists of priorities and combine them in a compromise? I know this can be a controversial topic, what are your thoughts? **please be nice**

Wordless Wed.: Old Man

hehe.. don't worry it didn't stay like that, I did shave it all off :)

All about my man

So I am going to start off with a bit of a recap of last week. The challenge from the Summer Marriage Challenge was to pray for your husband everyday. They supplied a list of things to pray for and I think I did fairly well even if I didn't actually go through the whole list every day - I did pray for him every day. A day after starting the challenge my husband got some news from his boss, about his job - I asked everyone to pray. Again I don't really want to go into details, but it was pretty major and it's been a big prayer item for me (and I want to thank all of you who prayed without knowing what the situation was!). At this point things are good (I believe) but I don't know if we are out of the woods yet, so it's still on my prayer list. Otherwise, I'd say we've had a really good week.

This week's challenge is to blog about the things that I admire about my husband. An interesting thing that I have heard of before I got married, and find to be true is that often the things you like about your spouse can also drive you nuts at times :) (something for the single/dating/engaged to think about) This is going to be fun :)

1. My husband has an uncanny ability to be able to talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime about anything - something I have always struggled with and even though I admire this in him, it has caused me embarressment at times, just because I would be too shy or 'proper' to say such things.


2. My husband has a generous heart. He is often doing kind gestures to others in disadvantage because he too has been there at one point in his life and he will go out of his way to do these things. Sometimes he is too generous (is there such a thing?) that sometimes he gets taken advantage of, but I suppose that is the risk of giving without expecting anything back in return.
   
3. My husband can easily say sorry when he knows he's been wrong. I admire this because I have an incredibly hard time apologizing for things.


4. I can talk to my husband about ANYTHING - where I find things awkward, he has no problem being open about.


5. I love the fact that my husband is willing and happy to watch the kids if I need a night off. Often I am a 'single' parent to my children because of my husband's job, but when he's home it's never a problem or 'hassle' for me to get out of the house to have some 'me' time. (and believe me, without it I would get completely worn out!)


6. I admire and believe that my husband is a survivor! The things he has been through in his life would break most people, and I can't even imagine going through a life like his. Even though there are scars and affects of the past (which is normal) he has become a stronger and better person through everything. Life has thrown it's worst at him, but he is still moving forward.



7. My husband is a hopeless dreamer. He has the most amazing, incredible, inventive ideas and they don't stop :) It makes me smile when I hear all of his crazy ideas :) Although some of them are really good.
   

I could go on, but I'm running out of time here. I appreciate my husband and know that I don't tell him enough. I would encourage any of you that are not participating in the Challenge to also tell your spouse what you admire about them :) **I was going to find a recent picture of me and my husband and it's been way too long that we've actually taken some together. That will be on my list of things to do :)**

24/25 weeks

Finally a pregnancy update :) It's funny how when you already have two kids that time seems to move faster! A lot of days I even 'forget' I'm pregnant until the end of the day when I relax and baby starts booting around, lol.

How far along: 24 weeks according to dates, 25 weeks according to the ultrasound

Total weight gain: 17 lbs (I wince when I think of this, but I am over halfway through my pregnancy, plus I'm just greatful that my baby is doing well!)

Maternity clothes: yes, mostly (especially pants/shorts)

Sleep: Still sleeping well, and needing naps throughout the week

Movement: I have really noticed an increase in movement and/or the force has become stronger in the last week - a sign that baby is growing bigger and space is becoming a valuable commodity

Gender: at first I was thinking boy, but for the last few months I have been leaning towards girl

What I miss: as weird as this sounds for summertime, I miss being able to drink tea whenever I want.

What I am looking forward to: hitting 30 weeks - don't really know why

Milestones: Officially looking pregnant - 2 weeks ago I finally got my first congrats without first telling them I was pregnant

Sorry for the bad photo, I could pick it apart but I'll spare you, lol.

WW: We Love STARS

I know this is wordless wednesday, but I just wanted to say that we support STARS, mostly because if anything serious happened to my husband at work, they would be the ones responding. In my books, that is a good enough reason to support an organization such as this!

God Knew...

He must have known that this week would be one where we needed to focus on prayer! I can't really get specific on here, but there is something big going on in our life right now and if you pray, we could use your prayers! That we would unite as a couple, that I can be the rock my family needs, and that God's will be done whether it seems good or bad at the time, that we can continue to trust Him as He knows the bigger picture. (It has nothing to do with our baby if there is anyone concerned about that, as far as I know baby is healthy and doing well). Thanks to all and when I can share more I will :)

Praying for My Man

I really like this weeks challenge for the Summer Marriage Challenge. Not because it's going to be easy, but because I know that I need to do this more often and more consistantly - and that is praying for my husband. So my goal for this week is to pray through this list once a day - I think I may split half in the morning and half in the evening because with little kids I may not have the time to get through it all at once. Here's the list: pray for

1. His wife
2. His work
3. His finances
4. His sexuality
5. His affections
6. His temptations
7. His mind
8. His fears
9. His purpose
10. His choices
11. His health
12. His protection
13. His trials
14. His integrity
15. His reputation
16. His priorities
17. His relationships
18. His fatherhood
19. His past
20. His attitude
21. His marriage
22. His emotions
23. His walk
24. His talk
25. His repentance
26. His deliverance
27. His obediance
28. His self image
29. His faith
30. His future

By the end of the week I would also like to post how our week went. Have a great week!!