Pacifier Diaries

As we have said farewell to the beloved "night-nights" in our household we have had some interesting moments. Here are a few things I have learned through this process that I wanted to share with those of you who are preparing to go through this process soon...

1) The first 24 hours are hell on earth. You will be sleep deprived, over emotional, and everything will be really dramatic! For example, Noah was acting up really bad that day and I had to issue three spankings and like 5 time outs. Instead of just attributing this to change and deeming it a temporary phase, I convinced myself that my son would be in jail at 18 all because I took his pacifiers away. I actually cried over this thought.

2)You will get desperate and will forget to feel bad for your child and instead threaten him with ridiculous things when you get sick of him crying and whining for his pacifier for the 100th time that day. Don't feel bad about these threats, they work. Exhibit A: It was bed time and I had sung to Noah and rubbed his back for 30 minutes and finally told him that it was now time for him to go to sleep. As soon as I left the room, he began to scream and cry as though someone was torturing him. I thought I would pull out the old "let him cry it out" method but after 15 minutes, my ears hurt and I was developing an eye twitch, not to mention Maia was trying to fall asleep in the same room so I intervened. I barged into the room and firmly warned him that the police were on their way to pick him up and take him to jail unless he stopped crying. He begged me to not let them take him, stopped crying, and fell asleep 5 minutes later.

3) Prepare ahead of time for the questions they will ask about where their pacifiers went or you will end up having to come up with some crazy story on the spot. Exhibit B: Ricky and I have always had this aversion to making our kids believe in Santa, Easter Bunny, or Tooth Fairy for a few reasons that I won't get into here, but the most prominent one is that we feel weird about lying to our kids (just ignore the fact that I lied to Noah in point #2 about the police). So, we just had Noah throw his pacifiers in the trash instead of doing the pacifier fairy thing. Well, on the way to Bup's house on Tuesday morning, Noah had a light bulb moment. His face lit up as the thought entered his head and he said, "Mommy, Bup has night-nights for me at her house!" Oh shoot! I was not prepared for this. "No buddy, she doesn't. They're all gone," I replied. "Where did they go, mommy?" Quick, think fast! I don't want to make Bup look bad by saying she threw them away. I can't do the pacifier fairy thing. I can't lie...ummmm... "Well, they knew that you were a big boy now and they disappeared!" He was not satisfied, "Where did they go?" Ay yaiy yaiy, here comes the lies, "They disappeared and flew away to the babies who need them. They knew you were a big boy and that you didn't need them any more. They went to the babies' houses who need night nights, like Baby Ava."
This ridiculous lie, seemed to satisfy him and he was okay with Bup not having night nights for him. But the moral of the story is to BE PREPARED to discuss where night-nights go when they "die!"
In case you are wondering how he is doing now, I am please to report that he is not in jail and I know that I have not permanently wounded him emotionally as he is just fine now. He sleeps through the night, falls asleep within 15 minutes of going to bed, and is down to only asking for his "night nights" once a day. Woo hoo!

I'm On a Budget

I am sitting here at my desk at work on my lunch break eating my salad that I packed from my house and sulking because I couldn't go to lunch with all the office ladies to celebrate a birthday.
Why? I'm on a budget...a real one this time. I could have gone and just not ordered anything, but I don't have the will power yet.
Even as I am sitting here sulking, I am rejoicing in the fact that I am not out spending $15.00 that I should be spending on something else. This whole budget thing has been quite eye opening for me. I've seen that although I've never done credit cards, I still spend frivolously. As I have begun to track my money, I am shocked at how much I save by being self-controlled and by planning in advance. So, my goal is to get everyone I can to go through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, it will change your life and bring you freedom (even if you do have moments of sulking at your desk at work). My other goal is to be debt free in 3 years (besides our house). That is a lofty goal for us as we have mounds of school loan debt and business loan debt, but I know that if we are committed and self controlled, we will be free in 3 years; free to spend our income on things we want to do, free to go on vacations, free to bless our kids, and mostly free to give generously to our church and those in need.
Check out your local church to see if they offer Dave Ramsey's class and also check out this DF3 blog for tips on how to budget and encouragement to stay on course.

No Pacifier = Pain

I am sitting on my computer on the verge of tears all over pacifiers being thrown in the trash.

Yesterday evening while I was church, I received a text from Ricky saying that Noah decided that he wanted to be a "big boy" and throw all his "night-nights" in the trash. WHAT?! I was not prepared for this...did Ricky understand that this would mean no sleep for days? Did he know that there was no going back? Did he know that we hadn't discussed our plan of action in detail yet? Did he know that I had not put my "emotional armor" on yet? I was not ready for this! WHY ON EARTH would he let Noah do this?

After church I called and asked what had happened and he said that Noah decided he wanted a Cranky toy more than his night-nights so he just got them out of his crib, threw them in the trash and said, "Where is my Cranky?" I explained to my hubby that there was no turning back now, which he totally did not understand. But, he agreed to go about things my way. So, we went to the store as a family and bought Noah his toy and made a big deal out of the whole thing.

At bed time, Noah took 2 hours to fall asleep. It was torture for me to watch him long for his security and his comfort. He was just so restless. At 12:30 a.m., he cried for me. At 1:19 he asked for his night-nights. At At 3:29 a.m., he asked me to sing to him. At 5:00 a.m. he said that he didn't want Cranky anymore, he just wanted his night-nights. At 5:15 a.m. he cried again. At 5:35 a.m. he whined and moaned. At 5:55 a.m., he cried for daddy. At 6:00 a.m. I finally got him up and we watched a movie.

I am physically and emotionally exhausted. Whenever he has been disobedient today, I've blamed it on myself for taking away his security, his night-nights. I know this is not true but I feel awful. It's my own fault for letting him have them for so long. The doctor told me to take them away when he turned 1 but I didn't listen.

Right now is nap time and he is crying for his night-nights. He is so tired but he can't seem to fall asleep without them. I am a wreck. If I go in his room and see his big tears, I might just run to the store and get him a pacifier.

I know that I will look back at this moment later and think how silly it was to be so emotional over a pacifier, but right now it feels like the end of the world.

Ricky just got Noah to fall asleep by rubbing his back. I am going to go enjoy what is sure to be a short nap time...

Pray for me...

Throw Elmo Away

We have been prepping Noah for the day that he will be done with his "night-nights" (pacifiers). I am planning to have him throw them away when he turns three and I tell him that I will buy him a Cranky Toy (crane from Thomas the Train) as a reward. I also have been telling him that throwing away his night-nights is the first step to being able to go to pre-school which he always seems to get really excited about.

Today, on our way home from church, I was having this conversation with him about becoming a big boy, throwing away his night-nights, getting a Cranky, and going to school. Out of nowhere Maia looks at me and says, "I be a big goo-low (girl) and get a Thomas and go to skoo and throw my Elmo away?" I was amazed. I cannot believe that little girl is only one and that she understands and grasps concepts the way that she does. I have never mentioned her throwing Elmo away or getting her a Thomas toy but she figured if it applied to Noah then it would apply to her as well.

I told her that she didn't have to worry about throwing Elmo away any time soon!

Time out

"Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death." Proverbs 19:18

I love that verse. I read it in my quiet time this past week and it is what gets me through the day sometimes! It is pretty straight forward: if you discipline your children, they have the potential to have a great life. If we don't discipline, then we are a willing party (contributor) to their death.

Today, my sister-in-law asked if I ever go a day without putting a kid in time out. The answer is NO! As a matter of fact today consisted of a total of 7 time outs and 3 spankings. I think that's just to be expected when you've got 1 kid in the terrible twos and one kid learning how to be a terrible two from the 2 year old. There is one positive aspect to this whole discipline thing: seeing the differences in my children in how they take their punishment.

Noah is complete drama. He will scream at the top of his lungs, cry, whine and make everyone in the house miserable for the duration of his time out sentence.

Maia, on the other hand will try to weasel her way out by saying, "My butt hurts," or "I've got poop." When we tell her to lie on her belly if her butt hurts, she will then say, "My belly hurts." When we respond with, "No, it doesn't," she gives up her battle and takes her time out sentence like a champ, sitting quietly and inspecting my dirty carpet for old food remnants or lint balls. She is so good in time out that I often forget she is there and feel awful when I remember 7 minutes later.

Nerd Alert

So I've been absent this week due to a Dave Ramsey and the website mvelopes.com. Our Bible Study Group has decided to go through the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University course and I am now totally obsessed with budgeting. Every free second I get I am on the website checking on my funds and making sure we are within budget. I may be driving my husband crazy because I use the phrase, "Dave Ramsey says..." about 10 times a day.

I must say that we have always been pretty good with money management however, this course has challenged us to be even better and more structured. I am so excited about being on the road to financial freedom and honoring God with our finances!

Princess Poop

Today, I was in the kids' room putting laundry away (miraculous, I know) when I heard a very alarmed, worried, and disturbed Maia say, "Daddy, my piss-ess chair has poop." He asked her to repeat herself because he was not sure he understood. "My piss-ess chair has POOP! I show you." By this time she was almost in tears and I came out to see what was going on. I asked, "Did you go poop while sitting in your princess chair? Can I check your diaper?" She adamantly responded, "NO!" So we let her take us to her princess chair to show us what she was talking about. She took us to the chair and said, "See? Poop."

I did what any good mom would do, I inspected the questionable object closely, performed a sniff test, and took a picture. I still do not know what it was, but I do know that it was not poop! I cleaned it up and now Maia's "piss-ess" chair is poop free. Ahhh, the life of a mom!