Ella Elizabeth Graham

I had originally planned on writing this right after she was born so I didn't forget any details, however, life took over and here we are, nearly 7 weeks later. Don't remind me that 7 is close to 8, which in turn means my Ellie is nearly 2 months old already. So, here is the scoop on her birth.

September 10, 2009 ~ 5:00 AM

My alarm goes off. I couldn't eat after 6, so I was getting up early to eat something with lots of protein to get me through the day.

5:28 AM

Still in bed. 5 AM is too early to be getting up

5:40 AM

I finally get up because I know I have to eat and drink something. 2 slices of peanut butter toast are the verdict.

10:30 AM

By now, I am dying of thirst. Of all the coolness we've had over the summer, this day just has to be one of the hottest. I'm trying not to move too much and we're making the final preparations to leave by 11.

11:00 AM

We meet up with my parents and take off for our drive down to Lansing. As it was a scheduled c-section, I needed to arrive by noon for the prep work and our time slot was 2 PM.

Sparrow

Seriously?!? Do the nurses and anesthesiologists not compare notes? I was asked the same questions by 3 different people. Not that I have, but honestly... how many people are going to admit in front of their mother that they used illicit drugs during their pregnancy? I'm guessing... not too many! Amazingly, everything was running smoothly and I even made it down to the surgical room a little early. The anesthesiologist was excellent and was very professional and made sure I was very comfortable. In surgery, everyone acts a little different, a little more relaxed and personable. I learned the anesthesiologist and my doctor have children the same age who play on a flag football team together. I'm sure not every surgery is so relaxed, but when they know there aren't complications and it's planned....

So I later learned from my husband that when they have done the spinal and everything is supposed to be numb and they do a feel test to make sure it's taken effect.... yeah, they made the first cut. Yikes! My favorite comment by far while on the operating table, as it were, was "Yeah, she's a lot skinnier than most." I may have been a little out of it, but when I looked at Shawn for confirmation, he was like, "Yep, you heard them correctly." Would have been the thing that made my day, except that it was the same day my baby girl was born and nothing could have topped that!

She arrived in the world at 3:08 PM rather quietly, not unlike her big brother Benjamin. While we were still in the surgical room, she really started trying to suck on her blanket and even turned her little head towards daddy's chest as he held her. It simply amazes me that though she'd never nursed, she already knew exactly what to do and where she needed to go for it. Once we were in recovery, I took her and she did nurse a little. However, I was so tired and still not quite with it, that she did have some formula. That is a downside to having a c-section is that you have many more drugs than even an epidural that holding your newborn for awhile is just impossible. I certainly do not regret my decision to have a scheduled c-section because Benjamin had to be born c-section after trying to deliver and him turning sideways, and I felt it was the safest for both her and I. As I type this, she is sleeping peacefully in her bed next to me and I wouldn't change a thing.

Her Name

This is something very special to me and I chose it long before I was pregnant. It just came to me one day and I really don't even remember why or how. Ella is my grandmother's first name and she and I were very close. I was the first grandchild and spent most of my first week at her house with my mom. She has now been gone nearly 9 years now, but I still think of her very often and wish she could meet her great-grandchildren. Elizabeth is my mom's first name. I don't know what I would do without my mom. Each of our children have a part of their name after a family member, but Ellie's full name comes from two very special ladies. I'm just starting to be able to tell people, who don't already know, the origin of Ellie's name and why we chose it without getting too emotional. We are still mostly calling her Ellie as it is a bit difficult to call her Ella just yet. I'm sure though that as she gets older she'll be hearing "Ella Elizabeth!" when she gets into trouble!! If she grows up with the godly, compassionate, loving, generous (I could go on and on here) spirit that the heritage of her name holds, she will truly be a phenomenal lady.

With all my heart, I love you, my precious Ellie. Happy birth-day.

Not Me! Monday... err, Tuesday

Ok, so I'm trying something a little new.... out of the box, never done this before. Get the idea? Click on over to MckMama's blog to get the full idea and maybe you'll feel inspired!

I did not allow my 2 1/2 year old son to run around my parents' pool sans diaper, meanwhile, a complete stranger was over. Nor did I laugh out loud when he went over to the metal wash bowl where a few frogs had become stranded and pee directly in the water and then announce that "I peed on the frogs!"

Also, I absolutely did not scratch the underside very pregnant belly while out in public with my husband, for our anniversary, no less... and continue scratching when he made a comment simply because I was uncomfortable and did not care in the least.

Nor would I ever send my child to bed in a t-shirt that he had stained during the day because I was too tired to fight him over taking it off. Nope, absolutely Not Me!

Baby Update

Last week I had a doctor's appointment-- my normal 32 week appointment. However, this appointment revealed much information. The last time I had gone to the doctor at 28 weeks, I did my glucose testing for gestational diabetes. This revealed that my blood sugar was actually low and that my iron levels were low. They asked me to start taking iron pills (which I have been doing on and off). I didn't know how low my blood sugar was though until I went to the doctor this time, and he told me I was borderline hypoglycemic. Ah ha! That explains why I feel so weak and dizzy when it's been a few hours since I've eaten. He also discovered that Baby Girl Graham is breech. Considering how late in the game we are and that Benjamin turned sideways during delivery, the chances of her turning around are not very high. (Speaking of which, she is turning somersaults in my belly as I type.... does she know she's being talked about??) Which again, explains a lot... like why I am so uncomfortable, out of breath all the time, and why she looks so high. The one thing we want to remain low, my blood pressure, still is! I think it was around 105/64???

Despite the fact that mommy is having some issues, she is doing great! When the nurse checked her heartbeat we were touching my belly and her heart was racing about 20 beats per minute higher than normal. When we stopped "messing with her," it returned to where it should be, and then went way up as soon as we touched her again. It was very cool to see how she responded to touch, even in utero, which made me realize how much we all need human contact on a daily basis.

I had also pretty much decided to go with another c-section, and with her breech, it seems likely that that'll be my only option. Funny, I was ok with a c-section until learning that it might be my only choice. So, as of right now, we are set to deliver on September 10, 2:00 PM. I still think that she'll decide to come earlier than that, and I hope so. I really wanted to schedule for 9/9/09 but the schedule was already full. I hope she comes on that day just to say "HA HA!" =)

Independently Innocent

This past Fourth of July is the first one I can remember in a long time that we haven't been out of town. We spent the day with family while Shawn worked on the house and my parents did some odd and end jobs around their house. First of all, however, we started the day off right.... blueberry pancakes and bacon outside.... just as if we were camping. =)

Behind my parents house is a rather large area dug out and filled with sand. The previous owners of their house had a large swingset placed in that spot. It had become overgrown and needed cleaning out, which my dad had completed the day before. Well, after a little encouragement, Alexandar fell in love with the sand. He did not fall in love with the feeling of sand all over him. Which caused him to strip down not just to his diaper, but completely down to nothing! I won't post the pictures I took of him on here, butt (yes, misspelled on purpose) they were quite cute. He threw sand all over and and greatly enjoyed the shovel. That boy spent the greater part of his day in the sand. He enjoyed pulling the wagon all over and we had to convince him that was best left to the back yard and not in the front!

Which is when it really struck me that he is so innocent at this young age. He has no embarrassment of walking around without any clothes and is completely comfortable going pee pee on the tree in front of everyone. (No, daddy didn't teach him to do this.... I did, surprisingly enough, as I didn't want him to realize he had that ability for awhile. But, being out in the sand sans all clothing, I figured it was the lesser of the two evils: pee in the sand or on the tree.) His pure innocence is something I wish he could hold onto forever, but knowing that's impossible, I'll settle for the smile it brings to my face when I see him strip down to nothing. He's like his mama, I'm told, as I did the same thing at his age!

Home at last... soon!

I have been rather stressed out lately about our housing situation. Our house now is less than 900 square feet. With 3 children now and one more on the way, we needed to find something bigger. We aren't quite ready to buy a house yet and didn't really want to move into another rental for a few years before we purchased a home, but couldn't find another option. Until my parents' purchased their house. It was all approved and we were going to be moving into the parsonage for a few years. However, the details didn't all work out and we were back to square one. We had pretty much decided to just stay in this house and save the hassle of moving, but God had another plan.

Why is it that we as humans think we need to be in control of everything and that God certainly couldn't handle a problem so big as a large enough home for us? For a few days, I was at peace about where we would live and put it in God's hands, but then I really started to have doubts and was very upset that our previous plan didn't work out. But God had a reason for that. He had a more perfect plan that we could have never imagined.

See, there is a man in Ithaca who believes in God, but tried to take care of everything himself. On Tuesday, April 28th, he told his wife he just couldn't do it all anymore and was going to give it to God. His problem? He has a large, 2 story, 4 bedroom house that no one is living in right now and in his retirement years, doesn't feel he has the energy to keep up with it anymore. Where is this house you ask? Well, it is about 2 acres away from my parent's new home. On Thursday, April 30th, he tells his wife he just feels he should go by and see if he can meet his new neighbor. As luck would have it, my dad and Alexandar are outside on the quad and he introduces himself. He lets my dad know that he doesn't live in that house, he and his wife live in town. He's been thinking about renting it out, but didn't want to post anything because he wanted to get someone good in there. Hmmmm..... my dad then responds by saying that his daughter and son-in-law were possibly looking for something, but hadn't really decided what their plans were. Are you seeing where this is going? Good. You are smart. You can certainly catch on quickly. However, there is sooo much more to the story.

See, while this house has new siding and almost all new windows, it does not have an updated inside. The carpet is shag, and the wallpaper and all the coloring is from the 50s-70s era. What makes this story absolutely amazing is that the owner wants it all updated and Shawn is phenominal at all of the building "stuff." But it gets even better. We (but mostly I) have free reign as to what we want to do and HE WILL PAY FOR THE MATERIALS. But it gets even better. (I hope you aren't tired of reading that, because there is at least one more of those) Shawn will also be paid for all of his time he spends working on the house, including some of the lawn care. (Did I mention there are a couple of out buildings sitting on 6 acres?) Our rent money is not needed to make a mortgage payment, so if we work off our rent in the month, we don't owe anything. But it gets even better. (Told ya) At first, when he spoke to my dad, he was not interested in selling it. However, once talking to us, he thinks in a few years he might want to sell. Oh yes, and our rent will go towards the down payment.

See? God had a perfect plan. We can certainly see this house as our first home. The kids went nuts over the property and Isabelle is old enough to understand that we will be living next to Nana and Papa. What's nice is that there is plenty of land between the two homes, so we neither of us feel like we're living on top of the other. I could have never dreamed that I would get to live in our first house before we were able to purchase it, totally redesign it and update it, have someone else foot the bill, AND pay us to do it.

Thank you God. We are so blessed.

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Many may recognize that post title to a very familiar children's book, which pretty much sums up our day yesterday. Two little things might have changed the course of my day slightly... my purse and extra blankets. Intrigued? Read on...

Usually Shawn takes Isabelle to school, however, this week and possibly for the next several weeks, he will be filling in as a supervisor and going to work earlier, which will not allow him to take her to school. Other circumstances dictated that I would need to bring both boys with me as well. I must admit, I was a very prepared Mama. A toy bag was packed, a small cooler with plenty of extra milk, juice, and snacks for the boys was ready. They were diapered, dressed, and ready to go in time to take sissy to school. But two little boys simply cannot be entertained inside of a car while it sits, waiting to pick up sister from school. So, my plan was to take them to McDonald's for pancakes and let them play in the playland for a few hours while we waited. (sidenote: Izi is in school for 3 hours. It takes nearly an hour to drive down there. As a conserver of gas, there was no way we were driving all the way home to turn around and drive back down)

I was feeling pretty good. We got off on time and everyone was quite content. We were far enough down the road that Isabelle would have been late had we turned around to go back when I realized I had forgotten my purse at home. Alright, no driver's license... I'll just drive extra careful, watch my speed. No cash... I'll head down to our bank real quick and pull some out and just go to a different Mickey D's. Unfortunately, my perfect Plan A turned into a very acceptable Plan B, which went horribly arry upon turning down the road to Isabelle's school. All of a sudden, my content children were not so content. It started when Benjamin lost his morning milk all over his blanket and pjs. Alexandar did not appreciate the sight, sound, or smell, and decided to toss his milk all over his blanket and pjs. Fortunately, Isabelle held it together, although she was not thrilled to have to walk past them to get out of the car. I went in the school and wet down some paper towels. The very nice secretary recognized me and brought out some trash bags. I cleaned them the best I could, stripped them down, had the windows cracked and the heat up as I tried to figure out a Plan C. You haven't forgotten that I left my purse at home, right? Because I certainly had not.

I no longer could drive down to the bank because I needed to go inside to get cash (only diapered boys now) as my debit card is missing. I can't take them to get a new outfit = naked boys. They threw up, probably don't want to eat. However, on this last point, I was very wrong. They started chowing down on the raisins and granola bars as soon as we started moving. My best bet was to drive over to Shawn's work, see if he could help me out in some capacity. Oh, did I mention that I don't yet have a cell phone? Yeah, crappy day not to have one.

Since Shawn had meetings and inspections to do and couldn't leave the office, he gave me his debit card, I got what I needed and took the boys home. My wonderful parents left their moving for a few hours (they just bought a new house and are trying to get things situated) and went down to pick up Isabelle while I took the boys home, got them a bath and settled. The only upside to the day? I had time to put the ham in the oven, get sweet potatoes and green bean casserole ready.... make a salad and cut up some fruit before I had to head to work for the afternoon. What a wonderful dinner to come home to!!!

Newsboys!

I remember singing "I'm Not Ashamed" in front of girls camp when I was a teen counselor back on Chicago Central District. Much to our parents' dismay, my brother and I enjoyed all of the loud bass and drums and cranked it up as loud as we could. My, how times do change when you get "old" and are the parent!

While I have been to a couple of Newsboys concerts in the past, I was quite excited to be able to attend one this past Friday. I heard about their tour, Bring One Win One, about a month or so ago on the radio. The fact that this was a FREE concert ($10 suggested donation per person) had me very excited and right away, I knew I wanted to take Isabelle. Well, on Thursday, my mom and I decided to take the afternoon off (after taking the morning off to go to the salon) and took Isabelle shopping. Family Life Radio happened to be on site in Lansing at the Christian book store and we stopped in to register to win a four pack of front row tickets and backstage passes to meet the band. Well, Isabelle spun the prize wheel for me and I scored a beautiful aqua FLR hoodie. I however, did not win the tickets. But, I was let in on a little secret... the next morning, they would be in Saginaw from 6-10AM and if you brought some canned goods, you could secure 2 floor seats. They had been announcing on the radio that once the tickets ran out, you would be out of luck as they were first come, first served basis. They would try to keep track and announce when all tickets were gone so you weren't standing there or driving in and then find out the tickets were gone. I know how many disappointments Isabelle faces that are beyond our control and she was sooo excited to go that I decided I would get up early and drive over to get the tickets.

Unbelievably, I was like a kid at Christmas and barely slept past 3:30 AM, finally got up around 5:40 and was out the door by 6:20AM. From here, Saginaw is an hour drive. I did manage to get 2 floor seats so I knew Isabelle and I would be guaranteed seats. Daddy would have LOVED to come with us, but with as late as he is from work, he couldn't make it, so it became a special mommy/daughter time. I didn't know they were giving away another 4 pack of front row seats and backstage passes, and went ahead and registered again. I have never won anything on the radio, drawings, or anything else and did not expect this to be any different. Things went downhill from here.

Shawn called me around 9AM to say that Isabelle was sick and I needed to drive down to pick her up so he could continue on to work. Her school is nearly an hour south of where we live, so I left immediately. I was thinking that I had gotten up so early and gone through all that trouble, only to have a sick little girl that couldn't go to the concert. Even though I was thinking at that point that we wouldn't be able to make it, I kept the radio on and had all of my family listening just in case I did win. They would be announcing the winner by 10 AM. At 9:53, I had picked up Isabelle and we were listening as they drew............... MELISSA GRAHAM, from St. Louis! I glanced back at Isabelle and screamed, "THAT'S US!!! WE WON!!!!!" Isabelle was excited and I nearly drove off the road!! I just couldn't stop thinking all day that I had actually won something and was going to be sitting right up front!

My parents ended up coming with Isabelle and I and we all took our ear plugs (shhh, don't tell the Newsboys) and Isabelle absolutely loved it. I bought her a shirt to have signed by the Newsboys since we would get to meet them afterwards (did you know they now charge $25 for those things??) It was such an amazing concert and this group is really doing so much to make a positive difference in our world. If you are interested in supporting their cause Global Tribe, or want to read that Michael Tait will now be the lead singer, please visit the Newsboys site.

I know Isabelle will remember this concert for many years to come and I am so very glad that I sacrificed a little sleep and my ear drums to make it happen for her. After all, what are parents for?

Scary Night

I'll skip to the chase and start with the ending: everything turned out ok. Now you can breathe much easier as you read about our eventful evening that we certainly hope does not repeat itself until after at least 37 weeks gestation.

Wednesday was an ordinary enough day. I was busy working, but didn't think I had overdone anything. I drove down for Isabelle's parent/teacher conference and had a very good chat with her teacher. Towards the end of the conference, my belly started tightening and you could see it on my face. She did not yet know we were expecting, and so I told her what was going on. I had felt a few Braxton-Hicks contractions within the past week or so, and didn't think much of it..... at first. I continued to have them however, and it was very frequent. Being that I'm only 14 weeks along, I was starting to worry. Shawn was not able to make the conference and attended by speaker phone. He was picking up Isabelle, and we met about 10 minutes away from the school. By this time, I had been feeling this tightening for about 20 minutes, and they were sometimes closer than a minute apart, but never more than 2 minutes apart. I started to panic, as most pregnant women would at this point, and as I was driving to meet Shawn, my mind raced to worst-case-scenario: That I would need to be transported to the hospital (which is about 20-30 minutes away from Izi's school) by ambulance. I kid you not, there was an ambulance in the parking lot of the park-and-ride where we met. Which of course, only confirmed my worst fears. I had Shawn call his mom for my doctor's number, which was on our fridge. I ended up calling the answering service twice because the on-call doctor did not return my call which is highly unusual for my doctor's office. In the meantime, we drove down to the hospital because by this time, I was still experiencing the contractions at very close intervals and it had now been over an hour. By the time they stopped, they had continued for 2 solid hours. They checked everything over to be sure there wasn't any type of infection and it all came back negative. I already had a regular doctor's appointment scheduled for the next day, which made me feel a whole lot better.

Now for the only comical moment of the evening: The doctor in triage asked about constipation because that can simulate contractions. As that was not an issue, she went on to tell us she was the "Poop Nazi" and didn't think enough people paid attention to colon health. We both about lost it at that moment, and are still making jokes about the "Poop Nazi." The other possibility was dehydration and over-exerting myself. I'm leaning more towards that explanation, but my regular doctor is still going to do a cervical ultrasound to be sure of no other problems.

The following night, I did start to feeling the contractions again, but I had a drink and laid down and let Shawn handle the rest of bedtime. Since then, no tightening so I'm just trying to take it easy and drink plenty of fluids.

Cute New Sayings

Alexandar is increasing his vocabulary daily, adding sometimes 5 and more words a day. Benjamin has several new sounds that are sounding more and more like words.

But yesterday does top all of the "where did that come from?" things Alexandar says. In the afternoon, he started replying to everything he would answer yes to by saying "yessir" and today he has added "no sir." Now, when I lived in Georgia, I would talk like that all the time, but we live in the north and people look at you funny if you say that. I would really love to know where he heard that and what caused him to start saying it, but there is no way a 2 year old can tell you that information. It does not matter to whom he is speaking, but every time he would say yes or no, it now ends with a "sir."

Another adorable thing he was saying the other day concerned cookies. Now, I'm not a big one on letting the kids have a bunch of sweets, but I had some rice krispy treats and let the boys share one. The step stool was out in the kitchen for some reason or another, and Alexandar was standing on it by the counter. Grandma was over as I had been working as was just home for lunch and was out in the living room. Alexandar has a bite or two and starts literally shouting, "I wuv cookies, Gamma. I wuv cookies, Gamma." It was the the cutest thing.

Going Crazy

My ramblings tonight stem from a status message on Facebook, reading something along the lines of "I think I just might go crazy today!" My comment was, "I've been there for a few days now... it's not so bad, just have to learn to enjoy the white padded walls!" (little did you know, Rachel, that you would be the inspiration for my blog!) So as I re-read it tonight, I got to thinking.... (probably a bad idea) how many of us moms think on a regular basis that we might go crazy? I'm guessing the number is right around 100%. But as I smiled at my comment, I began to ponder, would it really be so bad going crazy, and if not, what would make going crazy such a possible option. So, I have begun to compile a list of Pro-Reasons For Going Crazy!

1. Someone would be changing your diapers, for a change!

2. Everything would be white, tidy, and neat.

3. No more millions of loads of laundry each day.

4. When you drilled or spilled your food, you wouldn't be required to wipe it up.

5. No one will blink twice when your voice takes a higher pitch and you start talking "baby talk."

6. You are so used to being around children all day that life will not seem as if it has changed at all... you can even have the same conversations.

7. When you repeat yourself over and over again, people will just smile and nod.

8. You'll be put to bed at a regular bedtime and may even be given a sleeping pill so you don't wake up until morning!

9. Your roommate (pre-crazy state, this would be your spouse) will be just as crazy as you and won't think anything of your off the wall remarks.

and finally....

10. You get to throw a fit and your food on the floor when what is being served is not something you enjoy.

So really, stay-at-home mom's..... would it be so terrible to go crazy? I'm thinking, probably not. =)

On the Job

So I have now been officially working for just over a month now. I am spending a little more time away from home than I imagined, but it's still not too bad. What I really enjoy is on Tuesday afternoons I take the boys to playgroup, but I am getting paid to be there and mileage reimbursment for the 22 mile trip, one way. The boys are getting used to grandma being there and mommy leaving, so that makes it easier to get out the door when I don't have two boys who are whiny because mommy is leaving them. And the bonus is, I really enjoy my job!!! I only am in the office for a few hours each week, I'm driving around to meet with clients, so I don't have to stay in one spot for very long and I really enjoy my clients. They come from a much different background than I do and even teaching in a classroom, I would not come across these parents very often because they wouldn't be the ones at the school all the time. Not saying that in a negative way, but these are the parents that weren't given a chance to become educated and they have to work very hard for what little they have. At first I thought I wouldn't know what to say to be able to help these parents, but just in the few times I met them and just listening, areas for improvement jumped right out at me. Not that I feel that I'm an expert by any stretch, but that I will be able to help them succeed. In just the few weeks that I've been working with clients, I have been very humbled, moved to tears listening to one woman's story, and felt so blessed with what we have. I've always been on the other side where I see how the child comes into the classroom and try to meet their needs there. I am finding it more empowering to be working with those parents because as a teacher, you can try everything you know, but if they don't have the support system at home to back up that child, your efforts can oftentimes be fruitless. By being able to be on the other side, I am still a strong advocate for the child, but can do more to help everyone become successful. It's truly a blessing.

Happy Birthday, Benjamin

I can't believe my baby is 1 today. Officially, at 1:51 this afternoon, he turned the Big One. He entered this world weighing 7 lbs. 15 oz. and we'll have an appointment in a week or so to see what he weighs in now as, but I'm guessing right up near 25 lbs.

We had a doctor's appointment scheduled for the 31st, and considered inducing, but I wasn't entirely convinced I wanted to do that. Around 3 or 4 AM, I woke up a little and some lower abdominal pains, but I rolled over and went back to sleep. Around 5:30 or 6, I got up to take a shower and still felt kinda blah and had some pressure, so I called my mom and after discussing how I was feeling and what was going on, she confirmed that I was in labor and that we needed to get going. We drove an hour down to the hospital while Papa stayed with Alexandar. There was a big snow storm predicted for the day, and it was snowing as we were driving. Contractions continued to get closer and closer as we drove. Once arriving and the nurses had time to examine me, they broke my water and not too much longer, I started to push. The nurse found that Benjamin's head was face up instead of face down and as I pushed, he turned it sideways and refused to budge! I was given the option of waiting it out or going to a c-section. Since there wasn't any trauma at the time and I didn't want for that to happen, I chose the c-section. A few hours later, Benjamin arrived.

Now, we had much discussion on him name, let me tell ya! We still had not yet decided on a name at the point. Once he was born, he just looked like a Benjamin to me and Martin comes from Shawn's grandfather's middle name.

My boy has changed so much! He was walking by around 10 months, he says a few words the cutest being "all done" which he does actually say at appropriate times! It is pretty adorable too when he says "ni-night" when I'm rocking him and tell him to go "ni-night." He is an explorer, a mama's boy, and watches everything big brother does and tries to copy him, quite successfully many times. He also has a sense of humor and thinks it is great fun to take Alexandar's pacifier out of his mouth first thing in the morning, or to scurry down the hall before someone catches him and take it out of brother's mouth while he's napping. Benjamin is my morning child, and would prefer to go to bed around 6:30 or 7 and get up around 7. This is why he considers it so hilarious to take brother's plug in the morning, and Alexandar is simply not a morning child at all. Oh, I absolutely adore my boys.

Benjamin, you are mommy's sweetheart. I know God has amazing things planned for your life and I hope you live your life to the fullest and rise to reach your full potential. I love you.

Battle of the Wills

Have I mentioned my son is extremely strong- willed? This would be Alexandar, of course. Here's the latest in our challenges with our son. On Sunday, we turn on the Christian music on TV (we have digital cable) and have that on as we are getting ready. Well, Alexandar did not want to have that on, he wanted to watch a cartoon. He gave me the " 'mote" and when I said no, we were going to listen to music, he proceeded to throw himself on the floor and holler. Mommy and Daddy decided to give him a time out, where he continued to pitch a fit. He refused to say he was sorry, and screamed instead so the time out escalated to sending him to his crib. After a few minutes in there, I went back in to ask him if he was ready to say sorry, have him milk and breakfast. He reached up him arms, said "Mama, sowwry" and continued on with his day in a compliant and happy mood.

Monday, however, presented more battles.

I have debated the whole eating struggle. When he was starting to eat table food, he ate whatever we were having, no problem. Now he seems to have more of an opinion and is lately, refusing all types of pasta, which had always been a staple with him. However, now I'm not sure if I should just make whatever we are having and if he doesn't want it, he doesn't eat.... or should I have him sit at the table and insist he tries one bite?? I don't mind asking him what he would like and making a healthy choice for lunch. Breakfast always goes well.... I don't mind making him a bagel if sister is having cereal.... no biggie. Anyhow, at lunch on Monday all he would eat were green beans. After two good sized helpings, he wanted more but I figured that was plenty of green veggies for his little system in one day and tried to get him to eat macaroni and cheese. Just one little piece. I think he would like some things he won't try if he'd just taste one bite. I made him sit at the table and he intermittently cried and sat him protesting silence. While he carried on, I was able to put Benjamin to sleep through the fit and then tried to work with Alexandar on just trying one little piece. Well, while sitting on my lap after carrying on for approximately 1 1/2 hours, he fell asleep.

Who won that battle? Hmm, I don't think anyone did. I don't know what I would have done differently, but I figured once I had insisted he take a bite, I shouldn't back down and give in to the fit. I think some more reading on raising a strong-willed child is in order!