Patience is a virtue

My mom would ALWAYS say, "Patience....is a virtue...my child".  I didn't really understand what that meant until I had children.  I think today, of all days since, has been the day that it really sunk in . 

I was on the recliner nursing the baby when Natalie came walking out of the bathroom.  With her came a sweet smell of perfume.  I don't spray perfume on 5 year old little girls.  This tells me that she certainly wasn't using the bathroom for it's intended purpose, she was spraying my perfume ALL OVER THE BATHROOM. 

I took in a deep breath, looked her in the eyes, and told her I knew EXACTLY what she did.  Now, mind you, this wasn't the most awful thing she's ever done, but it was disobedience just the same.  I walked over to the bathroom, took a step inside and my feet slipped a bit on the floor.  JUST GREAT.  The floor needed to be washed down.  (another deep breath - Exhale . . . . )  The floor needed to be washed, and Natalie was going to do it.  I generally resign myself to the fact that I'm going to do the work.  *I* am being inconvenienced.  *I* have better things to do with my time.  ::sigh::  Natalie needed to do it.

The craziness needs to end in this house.  I have NO IDEA what I need to do to break through to that little girl.  No matter what I do or don't do, her sinful nature persists.  My kids do something totally crazy and all I can do at this point is look their way in absolute astonishment. 

I've heard a few times that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.  I thought, "Yeah, that's me alright!"  But then I did some digging and found that it indeed is NOT the definition of insanity and I am certainly NOT deranged.  :) 

It was then that I heard my mother's voice in my head.  Yep.  I get it, mom.  I do.  It's not that I'm insane or deranged.  I'm a mother of young children. 

Another quick search found me looking up the meaning behind the words.  I came upon the information about a medieval poem that, apparently,  describes the conflict of vices and virtues.  In this poem, Anger and Patience are characters.  Anger attacks Patience, is unable to defeat her and destroys herself instead.  WOW!!!  What an in-you-face picture THAT is. 

I know anger will not benefit anyone in this house and, in the end, I'll end up defeating myself.  Patience will get me through it.  It might be with more grey hairs than when we started out, but I will get through it.  Hopefully with happy, healthy children to show for it. 

8 Months!

We seriously cannot believe that 8 months have gone by since we've welcomed little Ian into the world!

Our friend, Nate, was dancing 'at' Ian.  It was followed by giggles and clapping.

Ian's showing off his lady's man gaze.

Ian and Katy  <3

Posing with Miss Pepper

 

 

 

Snuggling with daddy <3

Ian, at 8 months you:

~ are finally starting to crawl.  You've moved on from moving like and inch worm to the army crawl

~ would much rather be held that explore.  Well, that's MOSTLY true

~ are a cuddle bug.  You're our only one.

~ adore your siblings.  I swear I even heard you say "bra-bra" (brother).

~ are a ladies man.  Dude, it's the way you smile and turn your head that does it EVERY. TIME.

~ still have a bit of a clogged tear duct. I *really* don't want to have the docs fix it.....

~ don't eat food yet.  Each time you do you gag terribly.

~ according to the doctor you have enlarged tonsils.  We have yet to see if this will cause any issues.

~ have only gained a few ounces in the last few months but you've shot up 2 inches.  Perhaps you'll be the only tall one of the Bergren children?

~ are FINALLY saying "mama".  It melts my heart every time, even though I *know* you love daddy more.  

~ have given me a few hearty laughs.  Up until now, it's really been a bunch of chuckles.

~ will wake up, even if you are on the verge of sleep, if you hear the intro music to DS9.  You will sit straight up, watch the whole thing, then throw yourself back down when it's done.  Cutest thing EVER.

I can't wait to see what the next few months will bring.  Love you, little man!

Natalie is 5!

 My first born girl has reached the age of five and I'm not too sure how I feel about that.  She's getting so big and learning so much. 

Natalie with her friend, Ellie.

Katy came by to help us celebrate, too.

Natalie, at 5 years old you:

~ are as much 'sugar and spice' as you are 'snips and snails'

~ love to play with barbies as much as you do actions figures/heroes

~ enjoy watching X-Men, The Avengers and The Swan Princess

~ want to do school work like your brothers do

~ take advantage of every opportunity to color

~ have an interesting sense of humor

~ love playing with your brothers' friends

~ can be a naughty little girl - I think I have steam cleaned the carpeting in your room 4 times in the last 6 months, cleaned toothpaste from places I never should have, and have found SEVERAL different substances you've used to play 'tea party'

~ adore your baby brother and play with him all the time

Love you, baby girl!!

Introductions

Before it gets lost on facebook, I wanted to post this tidbit onto my blog:

Natalie was introducing herself to my mother-in-law's friends one evening.  It was the cutest this ever. She said, "my mom calls me 'Natalie-Boo' and my dad calls me 'walk much'".

Ian is 7 months old!

Okay, so I'm a bit behind. :P  Life is crazy busy and I find it hard to come up for air.  BUT - I MUST post about my munchkin.  Our little man turned 7 months old yesterday. 

Ian, at seven months you:

~ roll around to get where you need to go.  We're VERY thankful you can't crawl yet! 

~ have this crazy tuft of hair that mommy doesn't want to cut

~ are a very sensitive little man.  You don't like any yelling AT ALL.

~ love your siblings.  They're the only ones that can make you laugh.  Natalie most of all.

~ aren't that crazy about real food.  You still gag.  :P

~ can finally sit.  Well, until you're tired and you plop yourself over, causing you to cry.  Silly boy!

~Say "dada" when you're happy and "mama" when you're not.  

~ you don't sleep very well since you're teething.  No teeth yet, tough!

~ LOVE to be held. Upright only.  You don't snuggle too much, but that'll come, I'm sure. 

~ need to be by people.  Independent you are not.  

Asleep on mama's lap.  Again.  Seems like this is the ONLY way he'll go to sleep!

Still has the babyish fingers.  

Our little man.  ::smooches!::

Oops! They did it again.

At this point, we just don't know what to do with these girls.  We've put on safety locks on the appropriate doors.  Anything the shouldn't have was placed well out of reach.  However, where there's a will, there's a way. 

Again this morning, Natalie woke us up saying that Leah was being 'naughty'.  The casualties this morning were the qtips (which were strewn about their room), a full container of Victoria's Secret lotion (which got smeared all over their carpeting) and a pair of scissors.  Yes. Scissors.

At first, I was relieved to see that there was no hair on the bedroom floor.  These scissors were WELL out of reach of BOTH girls.  However, miss Natalie got the stool and helped herself ONTO the counter to get them. 

After using the bathroom and seeing hair on the floor, my heart dropped a bit:

I *know* that most little girls do this to each other.  I was really hoping my girls wouldn't do this.  REALLY hoping.  

I have to admit, it made me cry.  Little Leah has the most gorgeous hair and I had NO INTENTIONS of cutting it.  

Would you take her in to have it cut?  

Aside from sticking our girls in a cage or padded room, I haven't a clue of what to do with them.  I guess I expected a bit more sugar than spice from my girls and this 'everything nice' has yet to be seen.  

Natalie knows she's been naughty and will tell us just that.  Yet she continues to do stuff like this.  Prevention is key, yes.  But I doubt CPS will approve of the solutions I provided above.  'Til then, I guess we just have to brace ourselves.

Too Christian?

I struggle with parenting some times, I'll admit it.  I don't know if I'm doing too much or too little with OR for them.  I don't know if I'm being too lenient or too strict.   Austin is now to the age where I need to back off when it comes to his peers and how he deals with them and let HIM to charge.  The mama bear in me wants to take care of things.  It's a learning process for me as much as it is for him.

There is a certain child in our neighborhood who isn't quite the sweetest.  We've lived here for roughly 6-1/2 years and she has only gotten worse.  We live in a town home and there are 30 homes that face our backyard.  It's kinda hard to avoid ANYONE. 

So today, Austin came in the house and said, "so-and-so said I'm too Christian".  My mama bear wanted to kick in, but I decided to inquire further. I asked him what else she said.  He mentioned that she said our family is really "Christiany", made a comment about us homeschooling and how she thinks she has more friends than him, yada, yada, yada (my guess is there was a bit about our number of children, too, but he didn't mention that). 

I just told him to take it as a compliment.  I mean, if we as Christians are to try and live LIKE Christ and FOR Christ, then being "Christiany" means he's doing a good job, right?  I wanted to make the hurt go away for him, as teasing DOES hurt, even if you're NOT a kid. 

However, he still needs to make the choice in whether or not he continues to play with this person.  I explained what is required in a friendship.  If someone makes you feel bad, then they're really NOT your friend.  I'm hoping he is able to stand up for himself and what he believes in.  I hope that he feels PROUD of his family and what we stand for. 

How do you handle these kinds of things?  Do you let mama bear step in?  What kind of words would you share if this was YOUR child?