Praise You in this storm

The night of my 32nd birthday I had a slight sore throat. The next day I had a full blown holy-crap-I-can't-swallow sore thoat. Well, one of the sacrifices we made when we decided I would stay home was for me to not have health insurance. It's a small price to pay in my eyes but it also means I can't run out to the doctor at every ache and pain either. So I didn't go to the doctor but I had a feeling that it was strep throat. I had never had it before but the symptoms were definitely there. I had some antibiotics left from when I had mastitis right after Kenly was born so I took those and it appeared to work...at least for a few days. Well, that following Monday Taylor came home from school early with a sore throat. I made an appointment for him to go to the doctor the following day. That morning he woke up and felt fine but Booboo didn't feel so good. I took him and the test showed positive for strep. A shot of antibiotic later, he is fine. (The shot made his leg sore but other than that it's a miracle drug) So this morning...9 days after my initial sore throat Kenly is running a fever. The doctor has called in a prescription for her so I don't have to take her into the office. And of course once again MY throat hurts. I may just have to suck it up and go to the doctor. argh. This leads me to asking God to first of all heal my children and second of all thanking Him for these minor illnesses that make me truly grateful for otherwise very healthy kids. Lord, I praise you in this storm! It will pass and You will remain forever!!!

Tiger Scout and Guitar Lessons

We're so excited for Taylor and the things he is involved in. At 6 years old he has shown tremendous interest in playing the guitar and he works great with Josh McClure. He's a wonderful young man that Taylor really looks up to. The other big thing in Taylor's life is being a Tiger Scout. His first meeting was this week and next month is their first big camp out. Time really does fly by so fast.

Poop

I have learned over the past 6 years that poop is very important. I never thought my life would revolve around poop as much as it does. The absense of poop is miserable, both for mommy and baby. Too much poop is miserable, both for mommy and baby. There is a happy medium and that's when all is well in the world. There is something about a screaming, constipated baby at 2am that will just about make you want to jump off a bridge. Then when you have other kids in the house that are trying to sleep while said baby is screaming it opens up a whole new set of issues. My suggestion to new parents would be to invest in gas drops and fleet suppositories. They will save your baby from some misery and it will save your sanity.

On the poop subject, I long for the day when the only butt I wipe is my own!

rewards and consequences

It is so true that a parent has to deal with each child differently. For instance, time out has never been very effective with Taylor but it's fine with BooBoo. When Taylor is told to go to time out he freaks out, calls names, yells and whatever else he can think of. Then the issue becomes the attitude and ugliness instead of the original offense. BooBoo on the other hand will go straight to the spot in the kitchen by the door that goes into the garage and sit there quietly until he's told to get up. We have found that taking away privileges (games, outside play time, etc) is way more effective with Taylor than anything else. Our latest realization is that in the morning when he's not very motivated to get dressed, brush his teeth and get out the door we need to have a consequence. Man, why does this have to be so complicated? Anyway, we've set his outside play time from the time he finishes his homework until 5:30. If we have to repeat ourselves in the morning or if he has an ugly attitude he gets 5 minutes taken away. I then write on the dry erase board on the fridge what time he has to come inside from playing after school. If he does great in the morning he could add minutes to his outside play time. His teacher sort of uses a system like this at school too. Seems to be working out so far.