It’s Wednesday. (last week)
So far most of my plans for this summer have failed me. Or maybe I’ve failed them… guess that’s more likely.
Tomorrow is a new day and I’m turning over a new “weaf.” Isn’t it nice that we get so many chances to “do over” in life? I’m glad God made it work out that way, cause we’d all be in such a pickle if we couldn’t try again. And the little motto that has stuck in my head ever since I read the book from the “Library on Wheels” when I was in Kindergarden or maybe 1st grade, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!” That book has always stuck in my brain. I distinctly remember the poor little mouse trying to push an Elephant up a very steep hill. 🙂 Ha! I should see if I can find it. It might be a good book to read to my own rather impatient Monkeys.
So tomorrow’s good intentions are going to start with rising earlier than my kids. The boys have become SO bad about trying to beat down their door in the mornings, and let me tell you, it does not make for a happy momma first thing. I’ve been meaning to get up earlier anyway, but for whatever reason we haven’t been sleeping well in our house. Not one of us. Ella is dealing with teeth and the lads are just possessed with a spirit of sleep denial. THEY won’t go to bed till 9 sometimes 10pm and that makes for a harried evening for this Ma. THEN recently one or both of them have been waking one or more times a night with some crisis or another. From having to go poop at midnight, really??? to being “stirsty” or needing their blankets “spread out” it’s been quite the production. Whew! But regardless. I need to get up, I have no excuse, and I’m completely ashamed of myself for being so lazy.
Something else that I have been working on, but need to think up some new strategies in is curbing our lads’ behavior. *sigh* It has been nice to have Stuart home since summer break started because he has assumed a lot of the discipline responsibility with the boys, but they have surely been outdoing themselves lately. I have to admit, though some may think I’m a horrible person for saying it, but I am not enjoying our lads much right now. Yes, they say cute things and are funny every day, but the seeming constant battles seem to overshadow all. 🙁 Ella is so sweet even though she is teething, although she has discovered a little “fit” of her own. But mostly it’s the boys behavior that gets me down. They just about refuse to get along for more than 5 minutes these days unless they are doing something naughty, then they’re the best of pals. Qade has developed the deplorable habit of talking back, and that’s complicating matters. Myles is showing his 2 yr old colors brightly by balking at any and all instructions the majority of the time.
I know that this is a “season” and it will pass. Qade is so much more communicative and makes the most interesting connections to current conversations and past ones or things that he’s heard and seen. I know that the wheels in his head are turning, and when I told him this morning that disobeying mommy was sin, he looked very surprised, but he knows that it’s true. Myles is only 2 and doesn’t make all of those connections, and I know the best way to get through to him is consistent discipline, but between his outright disobedience, and near constant whining, I feel like the entire day is just one huge discipline problem. Add the frequent issues with Qade in, and you have the recipe for some really wiped out parents. So pray for us and our kiddos if you think of it. There are a lot of fun things we want to do together, and so far it’s difficult for ANYONE to have fun when such bad behavior and subsequent corrections are going on the whole time.
Anyway, I just needed to vent about that a bit. I get really tired and run down by the constant battles. Need a break and a recharge!
I’ll be getting both when I go to the Chicks who Click conference later this month! I’m super excited about that! It’s fun to learn more about photography and how to become better on many levels! I’ve been browsing the pages of my camera manual, which I do from time to time because my brain doesn’t absorb much at a once. 😉 And I’m discovering new stuff all the time. It’s nice to be able to grow in what you love to do because it keeps it from becoming boring. 🙂
Oh, some good news! Our oven is back and it’s working like it never worked before! I baked some cookies yesterday and they turned out fabulous!! I purposely heated the oven to the temp on the recipe (I’ve always had to turn it lower before because it would get too hot) and I purposely left them in the oven for the exact time instead of taking them out early like I had to do before. I was SO pleased to see it working the right way, and was pleasantly shocked that I didn’t see any flames coming up from the bottom of the oven. Maybe this was a no brainer that the fames shouldn’t be coming through there, but like I said, my experience with gas stoves has been nil up till now, and that’s always what happened with this stove so I assumed it was normal. 🙂 Now I’m actually looking forward to baking in that oven!! I need to give it a good cleaning first though. The blackened bread incident doesn’t make the insides look or smell good, that’s for sure!
Okay, I’m off to comfort a poor teething little lass of mine. Hope they come through soon. Poor girl!