I slept in today! Woo-Hoo!!! The lads were going to go to the great-grandparent Noggle’s house today with Daddy and Grandpa for breakfast, but apparently yesterday really wore poor Myles out, and he just couldn’t wake up. Qade went though and polished off 3 pancakes along with other stuff I’m sure! 
They all had a good time working on cutting up some trees for Grandpa “Junior” and Qade kept Grandma “Pat” entertained, and even managed to stay dry!! Yay!!
We’ve been digressing in our potty training on the weekends for some reason. Actually just on Saturdays! Hmmm… strange. But today has been good so far, so I’ll keep knocking on wood and maybe it’ll keep improving. Surely!
Stuart has managed to “catch” a bug and isn’t feeling so swift today. Poor guy! It’s not surprising really with him now teaching full time and coming into contact with all manner of ickies in the form of high school students. 
I was just hoping it wouldn’t start so soon!! Anyway, he and the lads are having a nice afternoon nap that will hopefully help him feel better. He STILL went over to Grandpa’s to cut trees and still has plans for pulling down a couple around our house that have “got dead” in the last year. Doesn’t like to cut himself any slack. I told you that he comes from a long line of “non-relaxers” after all, right?
I’m going to eat an almond snickers here soon. I just pulled in out of the freezer where I had forgotten it’s been living for awhile. But I found it today and am completely going to enjoy it!
Baby girl is causing lots of heartburn recently. Last night I woke up twice and had to take Tums. *sigh* Not fun! Supposedly that’s going to mean that she’ll have a lot of hair. I thought that was just a myth, but my mom recently told me that she was watching this show called “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant” (which totally boggles my mind that they could find enough people in that situation to actually make a show of it!) and they do pregnancy trivia questions at the breaks. Anyway, apparently the indigestion= hair myth is actually TRUE! Though it makes me wonder about where the “facts” come from, cause I can’t imagine HOW in the world there could be a connection.
Myles and I went through and organized the boy’s clothes this morning while the rest of the “men folk” were working. Grandma Noggle brought over a couple of bags for the boys with all her bargain finds! So we had fun!! I pulled out all the clothes that they will need for this Fall/Winter and put them in the drawers, still leaving plenty of the shorts and t-shirts for the rest of the hot days.
I had just an inkling of that Fall-fun feeling as I was looking at long pants and sweatshirts. It was fleeting though. Sad in a way because Autumn has ALWAYS been my favorite time of year ever since I was very young. I’m not looking forward to it this year though. Last winter and the subsequent LATE spring and LONG “mud season” was rough for me. I think it’s honestly the closest I can recall to really being depressed. Ugh! I don’t even like to think about it, and I certainly don’t want to relive it!! The short, cold days with less sun aren’t even remotely appealing right now. Our house tends to take on a “cave like” quality when I’m shut up inside for long stretches and then with the constant mud it was nearly impossible to get the lads out for even a little outside time. BUT I should be hopeful. No two years are the same, so maybe this time it won’t be SO bad. I still want to enjoy Fall, I’m just really not ready for it yet. Summer flew by far too fast for my liking.
I’m refreshing my memory on the E.A.S.Y. routine from the Baby Whisperer before our Lass shows up. I’m a huge fan of structure and routine for the health and sanity of all kids, regardless of age, and for the parents as well. I appreciate this one the best of the books I’ve read because it stresses the point of it being a routine and not a schedule. Trying to put an infant “on the clock” and make them mold to that seems rediculous to me, but hey, if it worked for you then hurray!! Whenever I ‘recommend’ any parenting book to people who are asking, I always throw a caveat in there about how there are SOME or even MANY things that are good in such-n-such a book, but that you really have to be discerning and eat the meat while throwing away the bones. And something that may be a “bone” for me, may be “meat” for you. There’s no way you can take different children from different families with different personalities and force them all to comply to the same “method” and have it work. No way, Jose!! I mean, things work differently for each of my own children even. Just a little rant there. I “take issue” though usually not outwardly, to parents who have a “we’ve got it all figured out” attitude and when asked about it they proudly produce some “miracle method” that they adopted from some HUMAN and have attributed all of the “success” they have with their children to it. I’ve seen it tried, and I’ve seen it fail, and I’ve seen “perfect” families crumble to ruins still doing their utmost to cling to the “method” that will ensure they have perfect kids. Yikes!! Parenting can be a daunting task, and I believe that we need to seek wisdom from people who’ve been there and who’s kids have “turned out” well. More importantly though is spending time in prayer for our children and for wisdom from God to know how to reach them with the truths of His Word.
And that was all totally free. I told you sometimes my fingers run away with me.
I’m sure my snickers is defrosted enough to chomp by now, and I’m equally as sure that you’re probably tired of reading this exorbitantly long blog post. So I shall go for now. I had some pics that I wanted to share to keep that summertime feeling alive, but they aren’t uploading very quickly, so you’ll have to wait. Sorry.
Happy Weekend!
This does not make me happy! Qade has been pooping in his unders on a daily basis and while he doesn’t totally soak himself, he certainly isn’t staying dry either. I’m not really sure why this is happening, but rather than get into all the psychology of it at this point, I’d like to know if anyone has experienced similar issues with their ‘training’ tots and if so what you did to get over the hurtle. PLEASE send suggestions, cause like I said I’m pretty much at the end of my resources for this one. 
The point is, I want them to learn that while their bad choices lead to uncomfortable consequences (time-out, or seclusion in room) that good choices have pleasant “consequences.” Sometimes having something tangible like stickers or rewards can help them make that connection. I just don’t want it to be the REASON why they are behaving well which is why I probably won’t mention it much except when I’m pointing out what a good job they are doing. I still want to reinforce the concept that when they obey they are building the relationship with mommy and daddy and that it makes God happy. 
