I will admit, I sort of dreaded March 20th this year. I am definitely a little sad that my baby boy has left the TWOS. I have LOVED watching him grow this year. Whereas when they are one I learn so much about their personalities, it is while he was two that I got to see so many glimpses of his heart blossom. Yes, I realize that I will only get to see more and more as the years go on, but it was a sad farewell for me on March 20. This past year, I have watched his passions ignite and his heart soften. I have watched his love for people increase and his hunger to know the Lord and His word grow. He still carries a unique love for balls of all sorts but is fascinated with big trucks and wants his daddy to tell him about every truck he sees. “Daddy! Know this truck ‘dues’?” he asks each time. He still LOVES to read and could sit and have you read to him all day. He could be in the middle of almost anything, hear one of us reading to Selah in another room, and he will come RUNNING to snuggle in next to us and listen. He has memorized a few of his (long!) books and will often “read” them to us. He is still a puzzle genius. He loves applesauce. He always wants one of us to “sit close by me!” during meal times. When Brian eats his breakfast “on the go” (which happens often), Elliott will say, “Daddy, will you please sit down? Close by me?” I’m usually his dinner favorite 🙂 and it’s not enough to be sitting about a foot away from me. He’ll turn to me and say, “Mommy, please scoot me close by you?” and I will pull his chair over until it is touching mine. Usually what follows is a sweet boy cuddling up to my arm, looking up to me and saying, “Mommy I ‘yove’ you. AND I ‘yike’ you.” He melts my heart and amazes me every day.
A big three-year-old hug! (Drool and all…)
One of his favorite things to do is be a “Working Guy.” For months and months now, he’ll put on his hard hat, grab his tools, announce, “I’m a working guy!” and go “fix” something that’s “broken” in our house. It’s usually the chairs around the kitchen table that need fixing…almost daily :). So we decided to have a Working Guy birthday party with 3 of his favorite buddies (unfortunately, his friend Mookie couldn’t make it at the last minute but I’m sure he’ll be over soon to be a working guy with Elliott) and then we had a family Working Guy birthday party where he got to (start) building his very first REAL Working Guy project with his daddy…a soccer goal!!
I tried to keep it SIMPLE!! Yay, me!! 🙂 Parties just bring out this addiction in me (seriously, I think it might be an addiction!!!) that makes me want to go all out. I LOVE to celebrate and I LOVE a good party. So, being as we decided a week and a half before his birthday to have a party I was really forced to keep it simple. I’m pretty proud of myself :). One of the best parts? USING MY BRAND NEW SILHOUETTE CAMEO!!!! Seriously, this thing is amazing. Definitely added to the “life-changing” list. With just a few strokes on the keyboard and the click of a button, the machine cut out ALL of these signs FOR ME!!! Oh, it’s a brand new day in the party-planning world :).
Welcome to the Party!Elliott’s first present and his friends’ gear for the party!Come on, now…how adorable are these? Each Working Guy (and Selah the Working Girl) got his/her very own tool belt complete with tools and personalized hard hat for the party.The birthday boy, wearing one of his daddy’s old shirts from when he was a kid, eager for the party to start!That morning, we asked Elliott what he was most excited about now that he was 3, and he said, “I get to eat CAKE!”The foreman, reviewing the projects of the day.Elliott opened his first present from us (a REAL working guy outfit!) and then equipped his working guy friends with their working gear. (**Note: I thought the tool belts and hats were the COOLEST things ever but there was never even ONE moment, literally, during the entire party where they all had on their gear at once, haha! But I did catch one moment on camera where they were all at least wearing their hard hats (you’ll see that below)! Things you learn after throwing a birthday party with three year olds :))Here’s the whole crew–Elliott’s best buddies. Selah, Malachi and Justus (we missed our buddy Mookie!!).They “helped” Brian build model machines and then painted them to their liking.Here is Justus meticulously painting his hanger plane gold.Selah INSISTED on doing everything the boys did, and so after not falling for “pretend painting” we finally gave her some real paint to paint with, too. 🙂Next, we had the ring toss.Each boy got a ring around the cone at least once!They hammered golf tees into foam (for SURE the hit of the party…get it?? “hit”?? Haha…)This working girl learned the ropes from her big birthday bro!They built towers…
And lastly, they refueled with some yummy lunch and, of course…CAKE!!
How old are you, Elliott? “THREE!!!” (plus 5??)Mmmm…Those working guys needed some CAKE!Us.
A few days later we had a “family” birthday for Elliott with both sets of grandparents there! Elliott started construction on his very first REAL working guy project…a soccer goal made out of PVC pipes!
All the grandparents!Checking the plans with Daddy…Measuring the correct length…And sawing with Daddy and Grandpa. WHAT a WORKING GUY HE IS!!Once a working guy, always a working guy…
-Grateful for new life. Grateful for the Lord’s mercy on me every day.
-Up for the challenge.
-Hopeful.
-Aaaanndd…nauseous most all the time. 🙂 But not necessarily like I’m going to throw up all the time…only really when I’m eating and gag reflex is really bad. Or when I don’t eat quickly enough, I throw up. But I will take being nauseous over throwing up ANY day of the week!!!!
-Super, super weak. Gone are the days of getting out of bed AND making the family breakfast AND unloading/reloading the dishwasher by 8 am. Getting out of bed is my max :). And sometimes I can even make the family breakfast on a good day!
-Like I’m eating all the time. Because I–literally–am. This is the HARDEST part by far…trying to find SUBSTANTIVE (i.e., MEATY) things to eat every 1-2 hours, day AND night (although at night I can get by with snacks). Whew. And then it takes me 30-60 minutes to eat said meal. So by the time I finish eating, I’m onto preparing the next meal. All of this is extremely difficult with two little ones running around…and not to mention that I have to focus and go to my “happy place” in my mind to make it through each bite without gagging/throwing up. A wee bit challenging when my kids want to sit in my lap as I eat, take bites, and ask me questions about EVERYTHING. But hey, we’ve survived this far :).
-so grateful that this pregnancy is overall so much better…
What’s working…
Lavender essential oil to help me sleep (miracle in a bottle). Apple sauce in squeeze pouches and Zone bars throughout the night. Brian brings me two hard boiled eggs and apple juice before I get out of bed. My tummy settles, I nurse Selah and then go downstairs for the third hard boiled egg. Make the family breakfast and then 30 minutes later, make 5 or 6 sausage links (dipped in maple syrup!) for my second (fifth?) breakfast. Hot dog for an early lunch. Nap with the kids. Macaroni and cheese for second lunch. Big snack of some sort, twice. Dinner. More macaroni and cheese for second dinner. Bed.
There you have it–my schedule. It’s what’s working right now, and keeping me from clinging to the toilet ’round the clock!!
The Vomit Count…
THREE TIMES. THREE times, folks!! That’s A MIRACLE!! When we found out I was pregnant, Brian said, “I think you’re going to throw up a maximum of three times.” I rolled my eyes and laughed…that’s usually a good average–per day–during one of my pregnancies. But so far–he is RIGHT! And I will NOT be ashamed to shout that he is right from the rooftops if, indeed, I make it the rest of the 9 months with no more upchucking. Please, Lord…
Biggest challenge of the month…
Besides the fact that Elliott, Selah and I have all been sick the last two weeks, the biggest challenge has been trying to wean Selah. I decided about week 6 that as much as I didn’t want to, I wasn’t up for losing the extra calories. So we began the process on that Monday. On Tuesday, she got sick and a tooth started to pop through…great timing :). So we did our best, but it was too hard to wean a teething, very sick and congested baby. Plus, she still won’t really take a bottle (or a sippy cup) of milk very well so the one feeding I had dropped she wouldn’t really drink any milk. And it was important to keep her as hydrated as possible. She’s now been sick for two weeks 🙁 so I’m hoping this upcoming week she’ll finally be over it and we can start the process again…
What’s out?
Going to the grocery store with the kids. Sheesh. I can barely stand up to get my 12 meals prepped every day, in addition to their 5-6 meals a day…just thinking about loading my 1 and 2 year old in and out of the car–twice–to get groceries makes me want to cry. So I promised Brian I would keep the kids alive during the day and he promised to do the grocery shopping :).
What’s in?
Cheeseburgers….THEY’RE BAA-AAAAA-AAAA-CK!!! Really, any kind of MEAT is my saving grace these days. And Mac and Cheese. So much mac and cheese (hey, at least it’s organic and whole wheat :)). And Ginger Ale, the natural kind.
Quotes of the month:
6 weeks, 1 day: “So does this mean you’re going to stop being able to look at me now?” –Brian, after I had had my first super nauseous day. (You may or may not remember, but during my ENTIRE pregnancy with Elliott, if I even LOOKED at Brian first thing in the morning, I would immediately throw up. It wasn’t that way with Selah’s pregnancy, but I think he’s still scarred from the experience, haha!!)
6 weeks, 2 days: “Hey! We’ve got this! We’re in the home stretch now!” –Brian, after I had relayed some sentiment about how this was just the beginning… 🙂
6 weeks, 3 days: As Brian saw the very pronounced baby bump protruding from my tummy: “Awww!! Look!! Our beautiful little baby bump!!” Me: “Or, a beautiful little taco soup bump…either one!” 🙂
8 weeks: “Hmm…I probably shouldn’t have had as many cups of coffee as I did this morning because I can’t get this needle in your arm!” –the nurse, trying to draw blood from my arm for a blood test. Yes, EXACTLY what I want to hear as she goes for prick number 3 to try and get the needle into my vein… :/
Some things I have been overwhelmingly grateful for the past 4 weeks:
-That I’m not a single mom
-That I have incredible friends who care deeply for me
-That Brian is amazing
-That we live in AMERICA…hence, food options that I (sort of) trust everywhere I turn.
-That we live 3 minutes away from a Carl’s Junior
-That I’m throwing up less than ever!!
-That the Lord’s mercy is always abundant and right on time.
8 weeks!
Well, there you have it…one month down, and FOR-EV-ER to go………. 🙂 Thanks for journeying with me! 🙂
We are SO thrilled to announce we have another little life growing in my womb… Baby Trés Bien, due October 12, 2014!
Why the nickname, you ask? Well, it’s just the only nickname that kept coming to mind when I found out we were pregnant. It’s baby number 3, which is where the “tres” came from. However, as many of you know, Brian speaks spanish with a French accent. Hence, the “tres” (trace) turned into “trés” (tray)…which, of course, must be followed by “bien” to complete the French phrase. How good our baby number 3 is!!! Trés bien!!
Elliott’s reaction: Well, Elliott’s been asking for “another Selah” for a LOOONG time… 🙂 From time-to-time he would ask me, “You have a baby in your tummy?” Or he would say, “I want another Selah!” So, needless to say, we couldn’t wait to tell him the news. When we sat the kids on the couch to tell them, this was roughly the dialogue:
Me: “Big guy, we have some fun news to tell you!”E: What?Me: We’re going to have another baby! You’re going to have another little brother or sister!E: Or like Selah. Me. Well, the baby probably won’t be JUST like Selah, but it might be a little girl or it might be a little boy.E: Right now?Me: No, it’s gonna take 9 months…it’s gonna take a long time. So you’re going to have a birthday and then Selah is going to have a birthday–E: SELAH ALREADY HAD HER BIRTHDAY!Me: Well, you’re right–E: Why her have TWO birthdays??!! Me: Well, she’ll turn 2 years old for her NEXT birthday.(insert lots of talk about birthdays…) 🙂Me: The baby is in my tummy right now, but the baby is SO tiny. Over the next few months the baby is going to grow bigger and bigger and bigger.Brian: So in a few months Mommy’s tummy is going to be a lot bigger, and then you’ll know that the baby is growing big and strong inside Mommy.E: Big and strong like you! (pointing to Brian) And like me! And like ME!!! And like Selah.Me: Do you think the baby will be a boy or a girl?E: Um, a boy.Brian: Do you want a brother? A boy like Elliott? Or do you want a girl like Selah, another sister?E: Another Elliott.Brian: You want another Elliott? Buddy, that sounds so fun!E: And I want another Selah. Who’s his mommy?Me: Well, buddy, I’m going to be the baby’s mommy.E: He’s going to be a big boy, like me. And he wear these? (pointing to the jammies he had on)Me: Well, maybe one day, if the baby’s a boy, he can wear those clothes. But when the baby is born we’ll give the baby baby clothes to wear. E: How the baby get in your tummy?Me: God put the baby there!E: Who be the baby’s daddy?Me: Daddy is the baby’s daddy. E: Who will drive her?Me: Well, buddy, Daddy or I will drive the baby wherever he or she needs to go.
Selah sat on the couch next to Elliott yelling, “BABY!!!”at the top of her lungs periodically throughout the entire conversation :).
So, stay tuned as we journey through another pregnancy as a family. October feels SOOOOOO far away, but hopefully with two littles running around and a summer to look forward to, the time will go by quickly. Click here to read about my first (real) month of pregnancy, even though it is officially “Month 2.”
We had probably seen “Pets Rule!,” a captivating, delightful, and highly-entertaining show at SeaWorld at least a dozen times. Elliott has always been quite taken by dogs and animals of all sorts, and this show was FULL of them—dogs, cats, pigs, ducks, you-name-its–all moving to the beat of the music while performing incredible stunts. Perfectly trained animals, clearing having the time of their lives as they showed off their mad skills while the audience cheered loudly with admiration, awe, and excitement.
Pets Rule!
So there we were, probably the thirteenth time in, and we got to THEE PART. You know, thee part…? Where they cue the touching music and make their speech at the end? Well, the woman had barely spoken the first three words of her monologue before the tears began to ROLL out of my eyes.
“…But you know, not all the animals you see here today were always so happy and healthy. As a matter of fact, some of the pets you have just seen perform, like Fresco or Casey, were either surrendered by their owners or picked up off the streets and taken to shelters and had no one to care for them. Take Chad. His owners gave up on him. They said, ‘He had too much energy and couldn’t be trained.’ Well, as you can see, Chad is very well behaved. Chad responded to every instruction he was given, jumped through hoola hoops and over obstacles and threw balls into hoops…”
Chad was not just “trainable.” Chad had been trained to be an extraordinary dog. A dog who performed amazing feats and tricks that most dogs will never do in their lives. His teachability and talent were clearly qualities that had been inside of him all long…it’s just that he had been given up on.
My lip quivered like a small child and I finally stopped trying to hold it in. Brian looked at me, incredulous. “Are you…crying??” he whispered in total awe. “What is wrong??”
“It’s just…it’s just…” I blubbered. “It’s just that this speech gets me every time!!”
Now, just to be clear, I’m not really an “animal” person. I mean, they’re great and all, and I love watching them do cool tricks and I’m happy for my friends who have pets that they love…but they’re not really my thing. So, as sad as it is that there are pets who have been abandoned and given up on, my heart beats for a bigger thing…my heart beats for the children who have been abandoned and given up on.
The speech…the speech about Chad and the other abandoned animals…It’s such a reflection of how our world views kids these days…how parents, teachers, society view our children. Unruly children, exasperated parents. You see it everywhere. Children in the grocery stores, throwing fits and screaming at their parents; parents throwing fits and screaming right back at their children. Children abandoned…everywhere. Physically, emotionally, spiritually…abandoned. They have not been trained. Where are the parents?? Where are the fathers?? Where are the mothers?? Where are the ones who will, instead of giving up on “unruly, impossible, nothing-can-be-done” children, go to their knees and ask God for His grace to understand the Word—where every piece of wisdom needed to parent in righteousness can be found? What I have heard over and over from parents is, “He is too out of control. There’s nothing to be done.” Why is it that the moment someone hears I have a 2-year-old, their expectation is never that he would be the delight that he is, but instead that he would fall right into the “the norm,” which is, “naturally,” that he would be a “terrible two-er”? Why are the “terrible twos” considered a “normal,” “expected” part of aging? I have a hard time believing that Jesus would have walked by a “terrible two-er” and said, “Oh, yeah…just get used to it. There’s nothing to be done…just carry on, and hope that age 3 comes quickly.” Yet this is what we seem to believe as a society.
I encountered it in teaching every day. A father who would roll his eyes while talking about his daughter (in front of her) and telling me how impossible her attitude was to deal with. A mother who labeled her son “devil child,” and then was filled with rage when he lived up to her expectation.
And over and over I saw—the root of the problem was not the kid. The root of the problem was that the kid was not trained. The kid had been abandoned—emotionally, physically, spiritually—and now was unruly. Over and over parents threw their kids at me each day telling me they were impossible. But a little training, coated in a lot of love, went a LONG way.
Unfortunately, a teacher can most often only go a “long” way…it is very difficult to go the entire way. That’s the parents’ jobs. To love and train their children relentlessly and diligently their entire lives.
But I see it in homes, too. Homes where the parents deeply love their children and love the Lord, yet have resigned to certain aspects of exasperation because “aren’t kids just exasperating?” It’s what we’ve been taught. Parenting is already the most difficult job that there is, and I want to breathe HOPE into you that it’s NOT your lot to live with exasperating behavior, rebellion and disrespect!! It’s not good for you OR your child! God promises us more!! I have observed this resignation in many, many families where the parents (excellent, excellent parents) just didn’t have vision for this “more.” This is what grieves my heart—like the owners who gave up on Chad because he was “untrainable,” I see parents, my friends, who are at the end of their ropes, exasperated and fed up. Unlike Chad’s parents, at least they don’t send their toddlers to the streets (haha), but they do not search out for more in their homes because of this stereotype that babies/toddlers/kids can’t be trained and are just meant to be frustrating their first few years of life. It grieves my heart because I know that’s not their heart for their kids and I know they are not living in the fullness with real vision. Vision that there truly could be peace. That the fruits of the Spirit could, indeed, be alive and active in their homes…even—even—in a home filled with babies and toddlers (and more).
I don’t condemn Chad’s previous owners—that’s not the point. But there’s this piece of my heart that wonders what could have been for them, had they had vision to really train him. I imagine he would have brought an enormous amount of joy into their home.
Elliott, taking great delight in this incredibly sweet, well-trained pup.
So to say that I am passionate about the training of children unto righteousness, godliness, holiness and practically, unto respect, self-control, and love probably doesn’t do my passion justice. But if you have spent even five minutes around me, with my kids or any others, my passion will probably be quite obvious. I am inserting a mini series of “Training” posts within my “Victorious Parenting” series because, I believe, training is fundamental to being a victorious parent.
I know this because I know this is God’s heart for us as his children and also for us as parents. Not only does he say, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6), but THE ENTIRE BIBLE is filled with training. Instruction. Teaching. If we neglect to train our children, we neglect to understand God’s heart in many areas of our own lives and the lives of our family. And that, my friends, is a big deal.
So, I will leave you with this: Proverbs 29:17 (in several different versions) to breathe some hope.
Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart. (ESV)
Discipline your children, and they will give you peace; they will bring you the delights you desire. (NIV)
Discipline your children, and they will give you peace of mind and will make your heart glad. (NLT)
Correct your son, and he will give you comfort; He will also delight your soul. (NASB)
Now doesn’t that sound nice?!?!
The following is from a commentary I read on this verse: “Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest,… Ease of mind, satisfaction and contentment, freedom from all anxious thoughts and cares; the correction being taken in good part, and succeeding according to wish and design; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul; by his tenderness to his parents, obedience to them, and respect for them; by his prudent behaviour among men; by his sobriety, diligence, and industry in his calling; by his fear of God, and walking in his ways; than which nothing can give a greater delight and pleasure to religious parents.”
This Scripture speaks to a picture of a child who is disciplined, trained…a child who brings peace rather than chaos. My children are far from perfect. (Perfect will never be my goal.) But I will tell you with confidence—they are trained (and, obviously, will need to continue to be trained every day for the rest of their lives). This Scripture could not ring more true in our home, as Brian and I say to each other constantly, “Our children are so delightful!!” Not because they act perfectly all the time (again, not the goal), but because so much of the time, our children are, indeed, tender to us, obedient to us, have respect for us…Selah, even at 16 months old exhibits all of these behaviors on a regular basis. By the grace of God, in these early years where selfishness and tantrums are very real battles, our kids are already delights to our souls. And they did not just COME like that, like some people assume :). It has taken a LOT of training…but wow, have we seen fruit from that training!! Every day I am grateful for what we have invested in their early months and years, because it surely brings delight to our souls every single day. My heart is not to boast in anything I have done (because it was only through utterweakness and hours of prayer on my knees that I came to understand many of these truths), but only to boast in the truth of the Scriptures that promise us that when we train up our children according to the Word, there will be good fruit.
So, let’s join together and grab hold of the GOOD NEWS!! I hope you will join me on this journey to explore what God says about training our children unto godliness! I hope you will join me on this journey of HOPE as we take the Word at His word! Stay tuned for the next post: “It’s Not You, It’s Me.”