August 3 = Uncle Matt's Here Day!

Matt got into town yesterday evening so today was our first full day with him!  He is such a great help when he's here.  He went with us to Liam's appointments.  Liam's PT appointment is an hour every six weeks for a reevaluation.  However, I never realize it's going to be an extra long appointment until I notice he hasn't come out and it's five minutes past the hour.  So we were there for an hour and a half today and Malia wasn't having it.  It definitely took both me and Matt to keep her entertained!

August 2 = Mom Gets a Nap Day

Oh little Miss Malia.  Every night she hates going to bed.  But last night was exceptionally rough.  We tried to let her cry it out but she was so very angry- it was such a different cry- that I couldn't leave her in there.  Zachary got her out of the crib and that made her happy but she could sense when he even thought about putting her back and started screaming.  Zachary's patience goes a little quicker than mine so I went in for reinforcements.  I started rocking her and she was pretty happy with that.  When I started rocking her, the fifth song of her "Guitar for Stress Relief."  When we got to the end of the last track, the fourteenth, she had been lifting her head up with her eyes closed, turning her head, and putting it back down.  She was asleep.  So I decided to try to put her down.  Nope.  Sat back down and tried again.  Got back to the fifth song and decided to try something different.  I thought we could go back to our co-sleeping days so I took her downstairs and tried to see if I could fall asleep in the recliner.  I'm a picky sleeper and I could tell immediately this wasn't going to work but it led me to my next idea- I thought I would try to get her to fall asleep on the floor of her room and then I could sneak out.  I took my sleepy little lady upstairs, got a blanket out and spread it on the floor, put her on it and waited for the magic to happen.  Nope again.  She came alive.  She wanted to play with everything on the changing table and just thought everything was so funny.  I decided to grab a glass of water so I put her in her crib and turned the light on for her and when I came back to rejoin this party of two I heard nothing coming from her room.  I waited for a few seconds... still nothing.  Apparently all she wanted was a light on.  So I finally got to go to sleep.  We don't have an alarm clock in our room- thanks iPhone!- so I didn't see what time it was when I finally got to sleep but I know it was late.  So this morning I woke up at 7:00 and couldn't go back to sleep.  Instead of wasting time just laying there, I decided to go downstairs and make breakfast for my perfect sleeping family.  The smell woke Zachary up and so we got the kids dressed and ready for the day and had some taters 'n' eggs.  Then the fatigue hit.  I asked Zachary if he minded if I grabbed a nap and he encouraged me to do so.  Fast forward- I wake up and come downstairs to a completely clean house.  The dishes are done, the toys are picked up, the counters are cleaned- everything!  It was amazing.  And getting out of a round of dishes made up for the late night!

August 1 = Big Helper Day

Both of my children have developed the habit of throwing their plates down when they are finished eating.  It is infuriating and there is nothing I can do about it except not giving them a plate which is what I've started doing with Malia but with Liam I'm holding out hope that one day my methods will work and he'll stop.  Today was not the day it stopped.  But!  The positive side of this story is that he cleaned up his mess.  I was hoping making him clean up the mess would make him more hesitant to make said mess but he enjoyed cleaning it so I may have reinforced his bad habit.

 

July 29 = First Steps Day

With the integration of so much technology in our lives, I think parenting has changed a little bit.  Every generation has a new challenge to deal with that the generation before didn't.  Technology isn't new but the prevalence of it in our lives is new- one challenge my peers and I face is taking advantage of technology but keeping it in check.  Yes, we want to document important milestones but if you watch every milestone through the screen on your phone, you miss out on real life that's happening right in front of you.  So- for Malia's first steps- I knew they were coming and the temptation to grab the phone and get a video (especially since Zachary wasn't home to see them) was there but I decided to just enjoy the moment.  That's when it is awesome to have a thoughtful mother-in-law who has a quick mind and was able to snap a screenshot of our FaceTime session!  Even though Zachary wasn't there to see it, it was so awesome that Grandma and Pops were able to see them.  So see- it's important to take advantage of technology- living far away from our families, we are so blessed to have FaceTime- Liam and Malia have great relationships with their grandparents and while all four grandparents make a lot of effort to come up and see them as often as they can I think we can thank FaceTime a little bit for bringing them even closer.

I think Malia's first steps came today because she got a lot of practice walking with the help of holding on to the chair as she chased Liam around it.  These two were being so silly, walking and crawling around the chair, laughing and laughing at each other and themselves.  It was so very funny.

Another funny thing that happened today- we have a nightlight outside of Malia's room so that when we walk around upstairs at night we don't have to turn a light on to see where we're going.  However- this nightlight is, for some reason, so appealing to my children.  Both of them yank it out of the outlet as often as they can.  Today Liam got to it, threw it down the stairs, and on his own, said, "No, no Liam."  What a nut.

July 28 = Overdue Picture Day

Another thing I forgot during Malia's birthday party was to take a picture of the birthday girl with this sign I made listing her favorite foods, her abilities, her favorite things and her height and weight.  So ten days later, I did a mini photo shoot- we didn't get any pictures where she's smiling and the information is 100% visible in the background but we got some good ones all the same:

July 27 = Challenging Day

Remember that quote about peacefully parenting a strong willed child?  I've reminded myself of it multiple times today.  I tell you- Liam has been a challenge today- here's just a little taste.

Also- I want to share the lyrics of two songs I listened to today that really spoke to me.

The first is "Greater" by MercyMe:

Bring your tired (got it)

and bring your shame

Bring your guilt

and bring your pain

Don't you know that's not your name?

You will always be much more to me

Everyday I wrestle with the voices that keep telling me I'm not right but that's alright.

'Cause I hear a voice and He calls me redeemed when others (myself) say I'll never be enough.  And greater is the One living inside of me than he (me) who is living in the world.

Bring your doubt

Bring your fears

Bring your hurt

Bring your tears

There'll be no condemnation here

You are holy, righteous and redeemed 

Every time I fall there'll be those who will call me a mistake.  Well that's okay.

'Cause I hear a voice and He calls me redeemed when others say I'll never be enough.  And greater is the One living inside of me than he who is living in the world.

There'll be days I lose the battle.

Grace says that it doesn't matter.

'Cause the cross already won the war.

I am learning to run freely

Understanding just how He sees

and it makes me love Him more and more.

'Cause I hear a voice and He calls me redeemed when others say I'll never be enough.  And greater is the One living inside of me than he who is living in the world.

And the other song is "Nothing More" by Alternate Routes.  One of my yoga teachers played this during class a few months back and I thought it was so great.

To be humble, to be kind

It is the giving of the peace in your mind.

To a stranger, to a friend,

To give in such a way that has no end.

We are love.  We are one.  We are how we treat each other when the day is done.

When we are peace.  We are war.  We are how we treat each other, nothing more.

To be bold, to be brave

It is the thinking that the heart can still be saved.

And the darkness can come quick,

The dangers in the anger and the hanging on to it.

We are love.  We are one.  We are how we treat each other when the day is done.

When we are peace.  We are war.  We are how we treat each other, nothing more.

Tell me what it is that you see.

A world that's filled with endless possibilities.

Heroes don't look like they used to, 

They look like you do.

 

We are love.  We are one.  We are how we treat each other when the day is done.

When we are peace.  We are war.  We are how we treat each other, nothing more.

That's something I really hope to teach my kids by example- one of the things that matters most in this life is treating other people well.  I believe that because as a Christian, I am called to strive to be like Jesus who taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  I look forward to one day having conversations with my kids about how to treat and others and why we make the decisions we do but until then, the only strategy I have to teach them is to do it myself- good motivation!

July 26 = New Recipe Day

We have been recording episodes of "Pioneer Woman," "Giada at Home" and "Barefoot Contessa" from the Food Network and I'll look at the description and see if what they're cooking interests me- sometimes I delete it because there's no way I'm eating anything on the menu but I'd say half intrigue me.  Well, Barefoot Contessa made an oven fried chicken recipe and we had to try it.  It was delicious.

I also tried a new recipe for the mashed potatoes- I read in a light cooking magazine (I recently discovered you can borrow magazines from the library and it has transformed my life) that you can add roasted cauliflower to mashed potatoes to cut the calories in half.  We tried it.  I hated it.

The kids loved the chicken and mac 'n' cheese- neither is a big potato fan without the cauliflower so they really didn't like my new creation.

I have no real reason for including this picture except he's cute.