One of me, FOUR of YOU!

It feels like I'm constantly being pulled in a million different directions every day. I feel like I'm stuck on repeat as I keep telling my kids, "there's only one of me and FOUR of you". I know they don't yet understand why Mama can't change their diaper, refill their drink, snuggle or hold them right this second.

I feel terrible when I have to choose which request is most important. I want my Children to all feel important to me always! This is such a hard season since I'm nursing Adee and thus can't just put her down and plop a bottle into her mouth, not that I would do that anyway. I get so frustrated having to decide if I should stop nursing Adee to change a diaper or tickle a tummy of one of my older kiddos. I just pray that they feel my love all the time. I try my hardest to get in good quality time with each of my kids and take notice when one of them is having an especially clingy day - that's my cue to try a little harder! I just pray for grace to make it through the days alone with all four of them! The housework will probably be pushed to the wayside because the dust bunnies can wait while I'm loving on my Babies!

Major Mama Meltdown

I've been struggling with my emotions a lot the last few weeks/months. I'm very exhausted all the time, even after sleeping a full 7-8 hours each night. I find myself getting frustrated over silly things and have zero patience for my children. In turn I'm frustrated with myself and then sad. I'm just really overly emotional. I figure part of it is because my body is tired from either pregnancy or breastfeeding for the past 4 years straight. It's a lot of work and my body is having a hard time keeping up. I am concerned that it's partly perinatal depression as well but am keeping open lines of communication with my family so as to avoid any issues. Yesterday started out good. Naptime is when things went down hill quickly. Some days my boys will go to sleep without a single word and other days, like yesterday, they flat out refuse to sleep and instead make a huge mess. I let them stay in their room yesterday because they were quietly singing and talking/giggling with each other. Turns out they were actually breaking into their closet, which we keep locked to prevent them from destroying it. They emptied all the clothes off the shelves they can reach and then proceeded to climb onto the next shelf. I'm feeling overwhelmed with life as it is and just snapped when I saw the mess. There's a family history of abuse or taking discipline too far and I'm aware of these tendencies. So, I shut their closet doors and closed them back in their bedroom so I could take a minute to breathe. After a few minutes to cool down, bad idea, I went back in to begin clean up; only to find them back in the closet up on the shelf. I again lost it and didn't even know what to do. I brought them out of their room and tried to explain why it wasn't ok to do what they had done. I was so frustrated and could feel my blood beginning to boil. I had a full blown Mama Meltdown! My Husband graciously came home from work so I could escape for a few hours. I needed that time to refocus and remember they're only 3 and 2. They are children and are still learning. We've discussed implementing Mama's day, or few hours, off to save sanity but never really put it into practice. I think that's going to have to change. I will need to be my own advocate and ask for the time off. I need to take the time off and get away. It will make everyone happier and healthier if Mama is balanced and relaxed. I had been going on nightly walks, 2-4 miles long, and that was helping. Due to storms and the kids going to bed late I had missed the walks for almost a week and that was obviously too long. I need to make that a priority I now see! How often do you take time off to get away without kiddos? What do you do during your time off?

Day 1 of TV FREEDOM!

So yesterday, Monday, was day 1 of our week free from TV. Here's an overview of how our day went: The boys slept in until about 8:00am, which was nice! Upon waking I made them breakfast, which they never really eat. We played with lego's for about half an hour and then switched to train tracks and trains for another 30 minutes or so. Around 10:00am we headed outside to play. We stayed out in the back yard playing in the pool's and sprinkler until about 11:30, when we came inside for lunch time. Lunch was eaten around noon. After lunch is always nap time, so we made it half way through our day being TV FREE! Here's where the day goes SOUTH! The boys didn't take a nap, instead the broke into their closet and completely emptied all of the shelves and then proceeded to climb on the shelving. I had a meltdown and ended up escaping for a few hours. The boys took their nap, thanks to their Daddy, while I was gone. I got back and started on dinner where the TV was turned on, not by me, but I didn't even notice it right away....that's how commonplace TV has become in this house. They watched one half hour show. We had supper and then went swimming at the beach. Ok, so they did watch ONE show and that's more than I had wanted BUT it was a rough day for me emotionally, another post more about that, and I had help from Daddy who didn't know we were trying to go TV free. I think all-in-all it was a success. Today is a different story since it's raining. I'm hoping home-made playdoh will keep them busy for a few hours, plus more lego's, trains, dinosaur's, reading and hopefully successful nap time!

Potty training WOES!

Jacobi is 3.5 years old. He's intelligent in so many ways. He's funny, kind, energetic, he's all boy! I've been working with Cobi, to get him potty trained, for quite some time now. It seems like he's trained and then he has another seizure and ends up reverting back to diapers. I'm so frustrated and am not sure how to go about potty training him completely. He knows when he needs to use the toilet. He knows how to go on the toilet. He knows how to "hold it". I'm just not sure how to get him back to using the toilet consistently after he's had another seizure. I don't want to rush him, yet I know he's capable of no longer wearing diapers. I guess I should just jump back in and get him going on the toilet again. It's just so frustrating to see him take 1 step forward and then 4 steps back. The other part of the problem is that he's never had a bowel movement on the toilet. He'll urinate in the toilet great but has never poo'd in the toilet, always in his underwear. I'm thankful he'll still have bowel movements vs. holding it in but I just don't know how to get him to do that in the toilet. He gets a small treat, usually an M&M for urinating and he knows he'll get 2 M&M's for poo but still goes in his underwear. I'm not quite sure how to stop this habit. Lord, give me wisdom to know how to get this child to poo on the pot!!! If you've got any tips I'm all ears! Please share with me how you got your little ones potty trained! Micah is next up and Shaelyn isn't far behind! I'm hoping they'll be easier since they get to watch their big brother. Shaelyn already sits on the little kiddie toilet anytime we're in the bathroom. We'll see how long it takes her to pick it up! Thank you Lord for wisdom!

Freedom from addiction!

I definitely went overboard with the Facebook craze. I enjoyed the outside, adult contact that came with spending time on Facebook. I was always checking up on friends, family and acquaintances. Problem is, I'm not exaggerating, I was literally on Facebook all the time. I would go minutes off of Facebook and feel like I needed to check it again. It became a consuming addiction in my life. It prevented me from giving my children my full attention. It kept me from doing my household responsibilities. It kept me up late at night and it was the first thing I though of doing in the morning. It was really bad! So, I made a commitment to God, myself and my family to get off of Facebook. I couldn't break the addiction simply by not going onto the website so I deactivated my account and didn't look back. Now, I admit that it was not easy for the first few days. I kept picking up my phone or iPad to go check on people, realizing I no longer had a Facebook and I promised to keep it that way! I pleaded with God to make it an easy transition and to give me the strength to break free! After the first three or four days it was no longer a big deal. I play with my children more! I am able to keep up with the housework better! I feel way less Mama guilt and I'm more at peace with life! My priorities are back in the right order once again. I'm not sure if I'll ever get a Facebook account again, but if I do it won't be for a long time! I figure if people truly care about me they can e-mail, text, call, you know....contact like it used to be?!? Facebook created fake relationships that didn't ever measure up to anything in real life. While it was fun to keep connected and up to date on what everyone was doing, it was literally sucking the life out of myself and my family. Please know, I'm not blaming Facebook to any degree. I let it take over my life and become a consuming addiction. I did this to myself and allowed it to control my every waking moment. I take full responsibility for my choices and have taken the steps I needed to break free from this addiction! Thank you Lord for grace to make it through these stupid decisions I've made!! I'm sharing this to give you the courage to admit if you have any addictions. Know that you can break free! God will give you what you need to find freedom once again! Regardless of the addictions, Facebook, porn, food, etc...you can regain control of your life once again!!! Thank you Lord for grace!

Shoot the TV?

Something that's been weighing on me a lot lately is how much TV is viewed in our home, especially by my children. I really hate how much TV they watch everyday. I've gotten us into this terrible habit of immediately turning on the TV when they wake up so I can make breakfast. Then they watch more TV after coming in from being outside so I can make lunch. Nap is followed up by more TV and a snack. And then after playing outside, more TV while I make dinner, usually followed by a bedtime show. See what I'm saying? It adds up so quickly and I literally get sick thinking about it. I always said I wouldn't let my kids watch TV period and yet, look how much they do watch it. So, I'm placing our TV under a blanket, literally, and vowing to not turn on the television at all next week! A full week, Monday - Friday, since we don't watch as much on the weekends because we're out running errands and I have more help. I'm praying for the grace and endurance to get through the week! It really seems scary to me because we're so used to it. I know like any bad habits or routines, they just need broken and replaced with better habits. So, I've created/modified the schedule we used when I ran my in-home childcare and we'll be following that. If you have any creative activities I can add that will help keep our minds off television and our bodies and brains working, I'm all ears! Here is the basic schedule we will try to stick to: 7:00am (Man they wake up early!) Change diapers & get dressed 7:30am Free play, while Mom makes Breakfast - we have a gazillion toys they can choose from to play with! 8:00am Breakfast & Clean Up 8:30am Free Play, while Mom does dishes and laundry 9:00am Walk to & Play at the Park! 11:00am Walk home 11:30am Free Play, while Mom makes lunch 12:00pm Lunch Time 12:30pm Clean Up, Diaper Changes, Nap routine 1:00pm - 3:00pm NAP - Mom can nap or clean 3:00pm Diaper changes, snack prep, head outside 3:30pm - 5:00pm Outside Free Play - swimming, chalkboard art, sand fun, etc 5:00pm Arts & Crafts, while Mom cooks Dinner - Can be painting, play-doh, coloring books, etc 6:00pm Dinner & Clean Up, Dishes 7:00pm Outside Bonfire or Free Play 8:00pm Bath Time 8:30pm Read Together 9:00pm BED TIME! I'm hoping I can keep up with this schedule and avoid the TV. Please pray for us, seriously! Please send me any creative idea's you use with your children to keep them entertained. I plan on trying out GAK and utilizing Pinterest as much as I can! I'm also hoping the schedule will give me more energy since I'll know what's coming next vs always trying to do things spur of the moment with Irish Triplets!

Prayers for the homeless

The kids had a visit with their pediatrician today to check up on some bugs they've been dealing with. On the way home we passed a homeless woman on the side of the road. My oldest asked who she was and why she was standing there. So I tried my best to explain that she's having a hard time with life right now. I offered him the chance to pray for her suggesting he include a good job, home, food and freedom from any addictions she may have. His prayer brought tears to my eyes. He's only 3 years old and is already so tuned into the Lord. He truly enjoys lifting up other's in prayer! He's the true epitome of child-like faith. Whenever I'm feeling ill or tired he'll ask, "Jesus, heal Mama, AMEN". He then immediately expects me to feel 100% again. He knows that Jesus said He would heal so we will be healed. I think I need to have more of than child-like faith that believes beyond a shadow of a doubt, that whatever I ask for in prayer will be granted! Thank you Lord for the heart of my children who are constantly teaching me how to seek you more feverantly!