Tough love

My kids have had a lot of inconsistency lately which has made it tough for my kids to know what rules to follow and all of that. That changes today. No matter how sleep deprived I am I need to set rules and limits and get them back on track. We have a new time out corner. We will see how that goes. Mark just was in it for a bit of time because he was having trouble staying quiet. I am hoping that as we move forward the time outs will be successful in helping them to learn GREAT behavior. It is so much more fun to play when there is no name calling and/or hitting. I love watching them play nicely together and I know that they can do it!! It is tough being the bad guy. Funny though, give your kids a few strict rules that are always followed and they behave SO much better. I think they like the structure. Of course they are going to test them from time to time, but once they realize that I am going to stick to those few strict rules hopefully the testing will become less and less.

I am looking forward to watching my household change: less yelling, less tantrums, lots more fun and laughter!!

Hitting

Ugh - Abbey has been hitting over the last couple weeks and it just seems to be getting worse at times and not better. For obvious reasons a spanking doesn't really work - haha what would that teach her.. don't hit your brother 'spank'. I used to have to put my nose to the wall when I was little.. ugh hated doing that - but made me think about what I was doing. Hopefully I can redirect her frustration with Mark and get her to stop hitting him. Thankfully she doesn't ever hit the baby. Mark bugged her so much when she was little - so I really think she is getting him back. She is full of spunk and attitude - and thankfully is pretty verbal - but I do know that she doesn't always have the words for what she is frustrated about. Deep breath..

Overwhelmed

Man this momma is overwhelmed! Somedays I honestly think it might be easier to go to work and pay someone to watch my kids (but not really). Mark has been quite a handful lately. He is just plain not listening. Sounds to me like he listens at school.. so who knows what is not working here. I am trying to figure that out. But I need to figure it out soon, because Abbey is starting to copy behavior.. and the tantrums that Mark is throwing - ugh.. I do not want Abbey to start throwing them. I think it also depends on how much sleep I have gotten. I tend to have a lot more patience when I am well rested - but that doesn't happen often. My mom said she ordered me a couple new books - always up for learning something new - especially if it works! Baby just woke up from his nap! More later

Recent Pictures

The First Month With 3 Kids!

Grant is now 1 month old! These past 4 weeks have flown by! They have been quite complicated and full of many surprises. Certainly not ever boring. And full of fun and love as well. Mark, Abigail and Mat were all sick when Grant was 2 weeks old. Mark and Abbey both had Roseola. Although we had no clue what was causing the 103 plus fevers for a couple days! All I knew was I wanted them no where near Grant. Than in famous Mat style he gets some version of the flu. Fever, chills, headaches, basically helpless stuck on the couch. Ugh. SO frustrating! Thankfully Grant and I made it through that week without getting sick. Of course this all happened during my 30th birthday! I was quickly reminded that when you are a mom with 3 kids 4 and under sometimes big important days go by without any celebration from important people. (ie Mat completely forgot to do anything for my birthday. He had planned a party but we had to cancel that because of everyone being sick and truth be told - I really was the one who planned it. So No flowers No card, NOTHING). Oh well I guess I will have a big celebration at 31. Week 3 went by in a haze. We enjoyed Halloween. Abigail was actually much more interested in trick o treating than Mark was. He didn't like the idea of walking up to strangers houses. And the fact that people kept giving him chocolate (a boy after my own heart with his dislike of chocolate) made him dislike it even more. Mark much preferred handing candy out at the door. Abigail thought it was fun to go up to different people's doors! She didn't want to go home!! Week 4 Mat started going back to work. And the craziness really began. Both older kids were waking up a night sometimes even more than Grant was! That was tough. Especially because Grant's little tummy is not the biggest fan of caffeine! Somedays I really need it though. Thankfully now even Mark is sleeping better and Abigail is back to sleeping through the night!

I don't think that my life is ever going to be boring! Always a new challenge.