Sibling Togetherness

I am really trying to promote a healthy sibling relationship between Claire and Emily but it's just so hard!  They have skipped the bickering, teasing part and go straight for the kill: hitting, biting, pushing and kicking. It's so hard to watch two kids that you would do anything for cause that kind of harm on each other. Not to mention it's exhausting physically and mentally to keep up with them, keep tabs on them and make sure I am not missing a beat and everyone gets the love, attention and discipline they need.

 In my desperation I have searched for some tips. I came across some good tips from the Dr. Sears website that I thought I would share (http://www.askdrsears.com/html/6/T064200.asp)

Now I just need this all to magically work!

 Parents of more then one children; feel free to leave me some perals of wisdom of how you keep the peace and togetherness with your kids, I'd love to hear about it

One Of Those Days

Yeah, It was a tough one today!
    The day started off with both girls going into time-out for fighting nonstop. and I mean FIGHTING. The day ended with Claire coming downstairs saying "mom, I put a hole in the wall" She was trying to throw a book at Emily and (thank God) missed- Emily was throwing things on the bed while Claire was trying to sleep (or so I was told) and Claire felt she had to put a stop to Emily's behavior

I am sitting here just about ready to pass out but I know I will be up tonight , desperate to get some 'me' time, no matter how tired I am.

Tomorrow I hope to make it a better day. Claire and I will go through her allowance money and she will give some of it to Matt to help pay to fix the hole in the wall. She's not too happy about. She told me that she hopes all her teeth fall out so the tooth fairy will give her more money. Maybe she's too young to really get it but I told her that when I break things then I have to pay to fix them; so when she breaks things, she will have to pay as well.  I never feel very sure about what I'm doing as far as discipline but I guess at least I am doing something, right?

I am feeling a bit worn out lately, I have so much looming over my head and yet can not seem to get motivated to do it all. Overwhelmed.  When I feel overwhelmed I pretty much shut down but shutting down is not ideal when you have 3 young kiddos.

I'm determined to give tomorrow a better start. I hope I can do it.

so much randomness stuffed in a post

   This morning I heard yelling and screaming from the girl's room at about 6:45am. Then I heard Noah crying at about 7:00 (because of the yelling/screeching) I am just not a morning person. I am the most miserable and unmotivated person in the mornings and screeching children doesn't help!
.
  The girls quiet down and then Noah quiets so I sneak just a few more minutes of rest in. It's so hard to get out of bed!

    I'm just not sure how to go about the girls sharing a room. In some ways it has helped their relationship I believe. Claire isn't so possessive about her room now and is getting a little better with "her" toys as well. I see her hugging Emily more and reading her stories. Even so, sharing a room is not a magical cure for sisterly battles, that is one thing I am sure of!  I wonder, does anyone else seem to have so much trouble with their kids sharing a room?  I know others did it all the time (maybe not as much now a days?) Did their kids stay up all night screaming, yelling , fighting and giggling too? Did they also wake up at an ungodly hour in the morning and act tired and grumpy all day due to sleep deprivation?  How strict should I be about this issue? I don't know if it's a battle I want to fight or not. I think (hope) it will solve it's self with time. It's only been a few weeks- this HAS to get better soon. It has to.

Noah isn't doing so great in the sleep department either, waking up at night. I never had this problem with the girls. Could it be because they were formula fed, I wonder. I will admit that I baby this little guy. He IS a baby though, so that's not too terrible, I guess.

On another note, Matt and I went for a run today . I am feeling pretty good. I really love my 'Couch 2 5K' app on my iPod! it really makes the idea of running a 5K seem possible.  Matt signed up for the Warrior Dash- it looks like a TON of fun so I may sign up too so I can stay motivated. I'll admit though, part of me just really wants one of those warrior hats :)

I actually think I could love running as much as I want to love it if i keep this up!
I won't be surprised if Claire turns out to be a little runner. she loves to run. and wants to go jogging with us. She has more stamina then I do- she puts me to shame!

Also another exciting thing today is that Matt got his official offer letter for the new job today! He had a verbal offer a week or two ago and has been waiting for what seemed like forever for the written letter. It really hit me when I read it. I think this was the first time I actually cried about moving to SC.  I feel confident that this is a right decision for us but it just is starting to seem so real now.  I was born here, I grew up here. This is my home.  It fits my personality just right. It's going to be really hard to leave it all. and it's really going to be hard to leave my family and my friends. It's scary to imagine that I will be in a place and not know a single soul besides my husband and kids. I will have to really put myself out there but that is terrifying to me in a whole other way. But I know God will be looking out for us and I need to just keep that thought in the back of my mind. I am allowed to be sad and even upset about it at times but I will not let it get to me and consume me. There is so much for me to think about while laying in bed tonight. I have a lot of random things on my mind right now. Thanks for those who bothered to read this random post that is pretty much about nothing.

Butternut Squash

    Today I made butternut squash for Noah- first time I ever made that. It was so easy!  It tastes like a cross between sweet potato and pumpkin.

    I really am having fun making baby food for him. Not only is it way cheaper (and we are cheap thrifty) it feels good knowing that i just made that for him and it's as fresh as fresh can be. and it's fun! I never really did it with my other two- not often at least I thought it was too much of a hassle but with the right tools (a blender or decent size food processor that works well) and the knowledge (http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/) it's really easy.

 I'm kinda strange in that I enjoy taking pictures of food- I always have! So here is how I made it:

cut butternut squash lengthwise and fill a baking dish with about 1"  water, scoop out seeds

put flesh side down in dish and bake at 400 for 40 min

Ding! it's done!

let it cool

scoop out and put in blender

freeze in ice cube trays

Warm it up and it's ready to eat!

Yum!

Breaking out the sewing machine

Yes, I'm breaking out the sewing machine.. again! I'm pretty darn terrible at it., can't even sew a straight line. This totally brings me back to my 7th grade days of sewing a pillow and our "possessed" sewing machine, haha!

   So anyway, I am starting out with sewing some fleece liners for Noah's cloth diapers (only when he is in the prefolds- the fleece helps keep him dry, the other diaper have fleece in them already) they look like a first grader did it, haha it's really bad.

Since I am no good and I hate to waste money on fabric, I plan on practicing with the thousands of receiving blankets I have from when Claire was a baby. I think I will start with making an apron for the girls and see how that goes.

Once I feel more confident, I'll move onto making my own diaper covers and pocket diapers!

                                           

                                           

    Claire went to Home Dept with Matt. We just found out they have a kids thing the first Saturday of every month at all Home Dept.  Matt said she really loved it. The project was a football stand (or a little table for girls) She received her own apron and worked with a hammer, wood and wood glue!

      

CUPCAKES

It was a boring,hot day today where all I wanted to do waas just stay in the house, so I decided to make cupcakes with the girls.  Cooking with them can be hard for me; I'll admit that I get a bit uptight about messes and doing it "just so".  This time I told myself that the only way any of us will have fun is if I just let it go and have fun.

Taking turns with the mixing

This was Emily's 'smile'

Filling up the cupcakes

Emily's nose practically touching it. 

This is serious work

Are they done yet?

Time for frosting!

I let them lick the spoon after frosting

Emily scooped up a huge spoonful before licking her spoon.

Time to eat!

Yum!

Emmy even licked her plate clean

Let me try this again...

I am going to try and start my blog again, let's hope I am better at keeping up with it this time!