I'm sure there are lots of parents that see things I post about and say, "she'll learn", and, boy, I have and still am! Parenting has been such an amazing journey for me and through blogging I can see how wildly my views on it have changed. Back in the early days I used to parrot what other people said about not being your child's friend but their parent. Well, till my husband told me he'd rather I know my kids than bark orders at them from a distance. I wasn't a mean parent but I was definitely afraid to build a relationship because I thought it'd be crossing that parent line into friendship. (Rules without relationship breeds rebellion.) Now I can honestly say I am enjoying a deep friendship with each and every kid. I might have to hold back on saying that about two year old Juliet for now. She just wants hugs from mommy in between all her terrorizing.
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| I'm holding newborn Juliet and Ashley is copying me. Soooo cute. |
I want each day with my kids to be purposeful. Every day is a new day to learn about stories in the bible and/or something new about God's amazing creation. A new day to build on the friendships with each other. One of my boys has been extremely hard to train about matters of the heart. He tends to hold onto things that people did to hurt him. I realize before I would always focus on the negative when correcting. This last few months I've turned it around to focusing on all his positives. To show him scripture on the right response rather than using threats and intimidation. Sadly, I've even used the bible as a weapon to scare him into doing what is right. There is a time and place to talk about the scary stuff but it shouldn't be used in that way. He would lay awake at night afraid at times. Makes me sad. I've gone through a huuuuuge life changing journey in my own faith and personal walk with God. Now that I see God as an amazing loving father who wants to spend eternity with me rather than this angry being that is on the verge of wanting to flick me into hell, it's completely caused me to change my approach in teaching my children. The result? AMAZING!!!! I saw this boy of mine go from a depressed individual to someone truly learning about love and forgiveness. Someone who's wanting to help his siblings get closer to God as well. I mean, it's shocking to see the transformation. I was depressed and burnt out spiritually and was putting that off onto my kids as well. Thank goodness for new beginnings, right?
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| See that mischievous look? Haha |
Juliet
the terrorizer is by far the hardest toddler I have ever had. She makes a beeline for either cat litter, cat food, cat water, toilet A, toilet B, getting on a computer, pouring water on a remote, escaping into the garage, pouring out the bathroom garbages onto the floor, climbing onto the dining table, then back to the cat litter and the toilets. I mean, she really rotates all of those with no rest in between. When her nap time comes, and trust me I know when that is, I have to actually sit down with a new cup of coffee in my hand and just breathe. I spend an hour of staring into nothing and sipping my coffee and then the next hour doing laundry because she's not awake to dump my newly folded clothes all over the floor. Oh, and by the way, she dumps out all of our drawers in our bedrooms as well. I just know that if I hadn't been raising toddlers for the last 13 years straight I'd be a much heavier woman. Need exercise? Get a toddler!! Haha. Seriously, she's so cute though
when she's sleeping.
Speaking of.....Guess who turned 2 today? Juliet!!!!
Happy birthday, my sweet snuggle muffin!!!
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| My little innocent newborn Juliet. :D |
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