CHURCH DAY

He was a little celebrity at church today. 

There aren't that many young mothers in our ward and a new baby is pretty exciting.

He had the cutest little outfit on.

I am so grateful to friends who have been so generous in passing along gently used clothes.

Isn't he precious?
You can't tell from the picture but he smells divine.
I just want to cuddle him and inhale him.

 

I wish I had more sleep.

It is really my only complaint.

I had a dream the other night a woman knocked on my door.

She said she would take James for a few night and get him to sleep through the night and then she would return him.

I didn't know her at all.

I handed him to her and went and climbed into bed

I am not desperate enough for sleep to hand my baby over to a complete stranger, but maybe somewhere in my subconscious I am. 

 

A few mom lessons first....

 

Sierra has been a monster.

She has been screaming and yelling at me for the last two months over everything.

I would punish her by putting her in her room for a time out. It would only exacerbate the problem.

She would end up bawling and screaming about it being the worse day of her life.

We would both be burning steam out of our brains as we finally collapsed into bed each night.

 

Then first thing in the morning the monster would return.

I was nervous about waking her up in the morning.

I tried to wake her up by dancing in her room to 50's music, by sending her cat in, by sending her sister in, by bribery, but every morning it was the same.

I was met by a raging beast.

 

I kept thinking, I need to take her out of school and home school her.

My mind was going crazy trying to figure out a way to tame the monster.

 

After about a month of racking my brain, I thought you really need to pray about this.

I prayed.

 

It hit me. She wasn't eating.

Oh, I fed her, but fedding her and her eating aren't the same.

So our motto is now, "fed the beast, or fed the child so she doesn't turn into a beast."

I watch her more closely to make sure she eats all three meals before leaving the table.

I make her eat if I see any kind of monster seeping from her.

I have even resorted to putting her in her room until she eats.

IT WORKS.

Whenever she finally eats and comes out she is a new person.

As sweet as pie.

 

She is just growing and needs food. Silly mom.

 

second...

 

Sierra has these insanely hard spelling lists every week.

Studying for them is difficult.

For five months Sierra and I have spent at least an hour ever night studying for her tests.

Yes, her tests are that difficult.

Last week, I asked Nate to study with her.

She stopped wanting to study and James is really difficult in the evening, so between the two of them I was at my wits end.

Nate said, "Why can't she study on her own?"

I thought,..... why can't she. What a novel idea!

He taught her how to study on her own.

She has been studying without me every night.

She has been pulling great scores on her tests and she is doing it happily.

I think she likes the independence.

I do too.

Her father is a genius.

 

third...

 

Sierra was worked up one night about hour house being haunted.

She was so upset I have to admit I was even getting a little scared.

However, I kept telling her we weren't and she was being silly.

She wouldn't let it go.

She wouldn't go to sleep. Her bedtime is 8:00pm. It was going on 10:00pm.

I was worked up. She was worked up.

I went into Nate and said, "Can you help."

He put down his book and switched a burnt out light bulb in the hall for a new one.

She uses it as a night light.

She didn't say another word. She just climbed into bed and went to sleep.

 

All simple solutions to what felt like insurmountable problems.

Food, Independent Study, and a Light Bulb.

Someday I will get this mother thing down!