Superman and Batman

The boys are very creative.  They love to play pretend and dress up as long as it is super hero's.  Gabriel has had a Superman costume for 2 years but unfortunately we haven't come across a batman costume for Michael.  Therefore recently Michael has decided to take matters into his own hands.  The other day I came home from work and could tell the boys were playing superheros.  There were toys everywhere.  Gabriel had been dressed in his street clothes and moments later had to attend to a "call for help"  so disrobed to become SUPERMAN!

Meanwhile, Michael was in the other room at his art/project table working on coloring something.  He had on black pants and a black t-shirt which I thought nothing of.  He's still working on perfecting his ability to pick out matching clothes.  I continued to greet everyone at home and was holding Isabelle to tell her hi when I heard an announcement from the other room that Superman and Batman were there to assist.  As I looked over I saw Gabriel all dressed as Superman but with a new accessory on his head and when I looked at Michael I saw that he created his very own Batman suit.

I have to give it to them, they are very creative and if they are missing something they are pretty resourceful to make what ever they have around to fit their need.

I proudly revel to you the super hero's of our house Batman and Superman...

The mask Michael drew himself after looking at a batman toy he had, and Gabriel decided he didn't have the spit curl look that superman had so he drew it on paper and taped it to his head.  It works right?

My very serious super hero's, fighting crime is serious stuff at our house... don't smile boys okay.

Didn't take him long to break a smile...

And then they were both smiles.

I'm so thankful and lucky for the boys, oops, I mean super hero's I've got. 

Until next time,
Angie

I'm tired. I"m really really tired.

Have you ever been so tired you can’t function? It is the type of exhaustion and pure tiredness that makes your head hurts, your eyes water continuously and your stomach feels like it has been doing summer circles over and over? It is the type of tired that no matter what you try to wake up, to focus, to become productive, it is all a lost cause. Well today I’m there. I’m so tired I can hardly function enough to get the words out on this virtual paper.

Isabelle and I spent the night, and by night, I mean the entire night bonding (her choice not mine) and as a result I’m dragging today. I have been day dreaming of my bed, it has been calling to me, since I drove to work this morning at 7. I’ve been begging for the pounding in my head to stop, as I know it is only caused by the lack of sleep. It is almost as if my brain is knocking on the front door of reason in my head, asking for some time to rest. There is a list of things I need to do tonight that is growing longer by the minute, but in this second, the only thing I want to do is throw on my pjs, snuggle up on my bed and cash out. I’m so tired.
I know parents all across this country go to work with probably less sleep for multiple days in a row. Seriously I shouldn’t complain, I won’t. Instead I’ll just record exactly how tired I am. Then I’ll throw on my pjs, give my children as much love and attention as I can give them for the next couple of hours, and put them to bed. Footsteps later I’ll join them in slumber as I pray and hope for a restful night.
Hopefully tomorrow I’ll wake up more rested, more alert. I won’t even ask to be completely rested; even partly rested. If I can be even just slightly above exhausted, I’ll be happy. I just don’t want to feel the way I feel today. For today I’m tired, I’m really really tired. And I don’t have time to feel this tired anymore.

Until next time,

Angie

tooth times...again

Our stories of losing teeth seem to revolve around one child, and although he is the oldest and should be losing his teeth first, he seems to have a lot of excitement that goes along with each wiggle in his mouth.

Take for example his two front teeth.  They've both been loose for at least the last 6 months.  In fact I know it has been longer than that because I have pictures of dad trying to pull it from back in January.  Even with Gabriel's consistent pleas to have them pulled, at the time, they just weren't ready.  Perhaps mom and dad were too queasy to think about pulling them, but we didn't tell Gabriel that.

And pulling Gabriel's teeth has been the focus of many a conversations this summer with MaeLyn and Aaron.  Take for example our 4th of July.  In the middle of fire works, Gabriel insisted his tooth be taken out right then and there.

He tried everything, pulling it with his own fingers, having MaeLyn try with hers.  There was even several go arounds with floss being tied around and around the slippery tooth which was STILL not ready to come out.

MaeLyn loves that I've shared these pictures of her looking like a rabbit or a wood chuck, but I told her I just had to share them.

There was even Gabriel's efforts at throwing himself onto the top of Isabelle's crib rails to get it to come out.  See below.  Instead it only left him with a chipped front tooth and blood stains for mom to get out of Isabelle's sheet.

And then there was yesterday.  Again, Gabriel had a day where he insisted that his tooth get pulled out right then and there.  Aaron had promised him that before he and MaeLyn leave to go back to Iowa that he would make sure his tooth was out.  With less than a week left, Gabriel decided it had to be the day.

So Aaron attempted to grab it with his hands, no such luck.  And then Gabriel went to get his trusty piece of floss. Together him and Aaron wrapped it around and around to the point that there was no other way for the floss to come out of his mouth than without the tooth with it.  A few minutes into the task Gabriel started to get cold feet about Aaron pulling it and decided MaeLyn should do the job instead. 

After her failed attempts it was back to Aaron to "attempt to get the floss off."  Of course Mom wanted to get it all on video but had filled up all her memory cards and  the boys couldn't wait until I could get another one.  Mark it down for another one of Mom's mistakes.  As Aaron pretended to try and unwrap or look at the floss Gabriel pulled his head away in fear.  Minutes later as I sat watching I saw a piece of floss fly through the air with a tooth on the end.  Before I could even realize was had happened, Gabriel's eyes bulged out of his head and he said, "You'll got my tooth!!!! You pulled my tooth!!!"

And with celebrations, cheers and laughter, we celebrated bloody mouth Gabriel as he beamed in pride he had lost his first front tooth the good old fashion way, by pulling it himself (of course with Aaron's help).

Celebrations turned to excited recounts by each of the boys and immediately preparations got underway to prepare for the Tooth Fairy's arrival.  Gabriel went to the counter, pulled out a baggy to put his tooth in and immediately started walking to his room to put under his pillow.

Meanwhile Michael disappeared into the other room to his art table.  In all the commotion we didn't notice what he was going until he appeared back in the kitchen to retrieve a baggy of his own.  When I asked him what he was doing he said, "Look I lost a tooth too!"  and inside his baggy was a tiny square piece of white paper he had cut out.  He said, "Mom, I'm going to trick the tooth fairy so I get money too!"  I responded, "Oh really Michael, you think you can trick the tooth fairy?" "I am mom, I'll show you my money in the morning" and off he went to put his baggy under his pillow.

Early this morning before the sun rose, I found the boys in their bathroom having a very excited conversation  Although I couldn't tell what they were saying as I approached the door, I knew they were excited because they were speaking loudly although I could tell they were trying with all their might to whisper.  As I opened the door they said, "MOM!!!! The tooth fairy came.  Gabriel said, "Mom, look what I got...

and attached to it was a baggie with some quarters in it.

He was so proud he read the message with his now Jack-O-Lantern smile. 

And then I saw Michael holding something too.  I said, "Honey, what did you get?"  He bashfully smiled and with his I'm instigating a plan in my head look, he said, "look mom"...

He said, "Mom, the tooth fairy knew it wasn't a real tooth. How did she know?"  I responded, "Michael, the tooth fairy is smarter than you think." 

The famous "tooth" Michael left for the smart fairy"

He then went onto laugh and laugh and laugh about how he almost pulled a trick on the tooth fairy.  Both Gabriel and Michael carried around their notes all morning.  And when Aaron and MaeLyn joined us that morning they each excitedly described the story of the tooth fairy's visit over and over.

There's something special about being a kid and believing in all the impossible.  There's also something special about being a mom and believing in the impossible, or at least helping to make the impossible possible.

Until next time,
Angie

Compliment Jar...

Well, it actually isn’t a jar, more of an old cool whip container. But slap some duct tape on it, write a name, paste some stickers, cut a slit in the top of the plastic lid and you’ve got yourself a compliment jar. It isn’t the prettiest but it works.

The brainchild of the compliment jar came from me spending many a nights fretting over how not being the best mom i can be and how some days, scratch that most days, I feel like all I spend my time doing is correcting behaviors and providing discipline. Don’t get me wrong, Gabriel and Michael are not terrible, in fact, most of the time they can be great. However, in my duty to try and make them be the best children and future adults they can be, I feel like most of the words coming out of my mouth are “Don’t do that, NO, I said what I meant, Why did you think that (fill in the blank) was okay to do” and so on.

Some days I admit it, they get the best of me and what comes after the best isn’t pretty. I give up; the frustration and the lack of patience pushes me to the edge and I yell at them. I have many many faults and I feel guilty for the days when I let their bad choices get the best of me. But the truth is, it happens, I say I’m sorry, tell myself to do better next time, and then go forward.

The other day, at dawn, I was out at walking before anyone else in the house stirred (and from my previous posts you know it has to be early), taking my 45 minutes of the day for myself (which by the way will be another post as I didn’t realize just how important that time is and what I was missing). While I looked up at the sky as the sun started to meet the horizon, I reflected back on the night before when the boys decided to have a “challenging” day. I pondered what I could do to turn the consequence train around and replace it with something chugging in a positive direction.  That’s when I came up with the duct tape compliment jar.

Before I go any further, let me share with you that we’ve tried many things to encourage positive choices. We’ve used bribery, sticker charts, bribery, trips/vacations, bribery, rewards systems; did I say bribery?  I feel like we’ve run the gamut of options and although intentions start out great, often 2 or 3 days into it, the boys loose interest, we lack the follow through and soon the boys are back to their old tricks.

Returning from my walk, the boys were up and playing. I told them to come to the kitchen as I had a surprise for them. I explained that I/we wanted them to work on trying to do make as many good choices as they could to get as many compliments as possible. For example, if you listen and do what is asked on the first time and you receive a compliment, you get a penny. If you do something on your own without asking (for example, help change a load of laundry or set the table), you will get 3 pennies. I said, “ You keep track of how many compliments you think you get, and at the end of each day, over dinner, we’ll talk about it. Before bed you get to add your pennies to your compliment jar” Jarrett immediately expressed concern thinking we were going to go bankrupt in the first week, but I assured him we wouldn’t, for there is a second part of my plan. I then went onto explain, that for each compliment you get, you will have at least one penny added to your jar, however, if you decide to make a bad choice, you will lose one penny. Hearing that second part, the relief was clear for Jarrett, indeed, we would not go bankrupt on my new plan.

Unlike the sticker chart, our excellent efforts at bribery, and the reward systems, this was also a plan that involved mom and dad’s active participation as well. See I’ve become really good at giving consequences. It seems sometimes the timer on the microwave (what we use for timeouts) resets itself to the exact time I need for how long the boys spend in the time out chair or their room. That just gives you an idea of how often it is used sometimes. So giving consequences, I’ve mastered.  Giving positive reinforcement and compliments,  I have NOT. It isn’t that I never do it, it is just that I expect the boys to behave in a certain way and when they do it, I guess I just take it for granted and don’t verbally give them the praise they need. Or I look at a period of a day and instead of complimenting them on the 50 things they did well, I focus on the 2 choices that weren’t so great. It is one of my many bad habits and one I need to break. I need to be more aware of and encouraging of the positive behavior.

The other benefit is that the boys are interested in saving their pennies so they can go to “Toys for Me” as Michael calls it also know as, “Toys R Us” to buy something they’ve long wanted. So far they’ve each picked out a Spiderman web shooter. We stopped by another store on Sunday to show them the web shooter and to see how much it costs so we know how many compliments they have to get to buy it. Although they’ll be working at it for a few weeks, I told them if they can get to a certain amount, Mom and Dad will help pay for a few dollars of it too. Jarrett reminded me pennies don’t go too far these days, and most people, if they see a penny on a street, won’t even pick it up. Not this cheap mom, I love to find pennies, but I digress.

 So here we are day 4 into our compliment jar as so far it has been going well. I am quite determined to keep up this efforts as I at least want to see the plan through the boys getting to purchase their first reward on their own. By then I hope they’ve learned they have to work hard to earn enough money to get a toy, that positive choices and compliments are far more enjoyable than consequences and time wasted in time out, and that mom can give more compliments than consequences.

And the lessons to be learned are not exclusive for the two boys. There are very important lessons here for mom to learn as well. That praise and encouragement can go a lot farther than frustration, yelling and punishments. That demonstrating my love instead of my anger is how I want them to remember me when they are grown, and that in the whole spectrum of problems or choices, to let a few of the minor ones go by the wayside.

 My hope is, that with two gaudy looking duct tape jars sitting for all to see on the high counter in our kitchen, I will be reminded daily to make more of an effort at encouraging.

 Please wish us good luck.

Until next time,

Angie

The monster....

at the end of this book.

As a child, it one of my favorite books. And now it is a book I get to share with my sons.

The other night I asked Gabriel to read it to us.

Michael paid very close attention as you can see here.

and here, still playing close attention.  But Gabriel really liked the story and laughed as he turned each page and Grover became even more angry.  If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it for your kids! 

Gabriel continued reading and at the end I asked them to get together so I could take a picture.

 Smile!

It is amazing to me how big the boys have gotten, in some ways it seems they should still be small. But then I look at them and realize they've already grown so much.

And how can it be that Michael has learned to start reading?  He's doing such a great job and we are very proud of him.

As he read it was Gabriel's turn to listen.  And even though Michael didn't listen too well to Gabriel's story, Gabriel played close attention to Michael's and was a great helper when Michael needed help sounding out a new word.

I am proud of the boys and each new accomplishment they reach.  Each stage of them growing up has been fun and I look forward to all that they can and will accomplish as they get older. 

It still appears we need some help finding matching pajamas but, I've learned now with three kids, you can't sweat the small stuff.

Until next time,

angie

Christmas in July?

This morning as Jarrett and I were getting ready for work, as usual we had 2 children at foot (one decided to sleep in), one in the bouncer staring as us and the other just hanging out talking as we got ready to begin the day. I had been blow drying my hair and as I finished, I started wrapping up the cord and complaining about how I was already sweating and I hadn’t even left the house. That’s when Jarrett chimed in and said, “Man I’m ready for winter and for summer to be over.” From there we continued our conversation talking about how he was excited for college football and I was excited for Halloween. As we talked Gabriel played with Isabelle talking silliness to her, until he stopped looked up and said with more excitement than I’ve seen from him in months, “Oh I can’t wait for Christmas!” “I know exactly what I’m going to ask Santa for and he’ll have to bring it to me!” “What?”, I asked him, but knowing what his answer was going to be. “I’m going to ask for an I-Pad and I can’t wait to get it. Oh and I’m going to tell Michael to ask for one too, that way we won’t have to share!”


Thinking quickly to myself about what an appropriate response would be, I said, “Gabriel, I don’t think you are old enough yet for an I-Pad.” “Oh yes Mom, I am, and don’t worry, you don’t have to buy it, Santa can bring it.”


And with that, I had no response. I sure hope Santa wins the lottery otherwise Gabriel might be getting an “IOU I-Pad” for Christmas.


Until next time,

Angie

Still on a high....

Since Friday we've all been living on a high.  The daily stresses about getting to work on time, or deciding what to make for dinner, who didn't listen and got in trouble for 100th time about the same lesson we've been teaching for 2 years.  It all doesn't matter.  The stresses that come across my desk, I deal with them and I move on.  Really, it isn't that big of a deal.

The main stressor in my life has been lifted and each day when I race home from work to see the three little faces (usually one covered in sweat from playing outside, one covered in ketchup from lunch several hours early and one covered in drool), I am grounded. I am happy. I am home... I am blessed.

I don't think I realized just how much time I had spent worrying about what could happen, the what if's, the scaryness of the unknown.  Although she is not yet offically ours, taking that one step closer gives me so much relief, I realize now, how important last Friday was for us.
And although that day will be very important to us for the rest of our lives, we look to the future now.  To the date when the judge delcares she is ours forever.  So we now prepare the legal paperwork and start dreaming of what her adoption party should look like.

I'm so much more enjoying this aspect of the what ifs.  For now I spend my spare time looking at Pintrest to decide if we should have this type of party, or this type of theme, or no, what if we have that menu?  Those details are so much more fun to think about and plan.

Until next time
Angie