My Little Challenge

Look at that sweet, beautiful face. How could anything bad come from that precious little being? Well...let me just say it's a good thing she's cute. Let me give you some insights on this little one that God has seen fit to torture me with have me raise.

This one never stops talking and she always makes sure that someone is listening. This is weekend, my brain was tired from all of her talking so when she said, "Mommy" for the 5,037th time in 30 minutes, I answered with a very frustrated and tired, "What now, Maia." Maia very quickly let me know that I am not to "talk to her that way. It is not very nice."

My "little challenge" is prone to violence but always feels the need to confess. This weekend she bit her cousin when I was not present. She felt the need to confess, but in her own timing. About 12 hours after the fact, out of the blue, Miss Maia informed me, "I bite Hay-wee." We talked about why that is never an appropriate response and about how she is to respond to those situations in the future.

If she can't get her way then someone has to pay, but she will quickly maneuver a way not to get in trouble for making someone pay. This morning, she and Noah were playing with their trains and train tracks. She wanted the trains Noah was playing with but had already been told to play with her own trains. Since she was not happy, she played Godzilla and stomped on the tracks, making them all come apart. Noah started to cry loudly. Maia, knowing a spanking would soon be landing on her little bottom, tried to get him to calm down saying, "It's okay Noah, daddy can fix them." She ran to our room and sweetly looked up at her daddy and said, "Uh oh daddy, the tracks came apart. Can you fix them please? It was an accident."

This sweet little face seems to wish she was God so she could determine the sex of the baby in my belly. This morning, out of the blue, she begins to throw a tantrum because she wants the baby in my belly to be a girl. When I tried to convince her that she is so lucky because she gets to have 2 brothers, she hits my belly (remember the violence part?) and says, "NO, Malakai is a GIRL!"

So, as you can see, I have my work cut out for me with this big personality! Any words of encouragement or advice from someone who has successfully raised one of these types without killing them or yourself will be very much appreciated.

Fun with the Camera

Ricky and I were blessed by his parents with a beautiful new camera for Christmas. I am so excited to have a nice camera to take pictures of my kids with. The greatest part of it all is that Ricky is turning out to be an awesome photographer with a hunger to learn all about how the camera works. So, he suggested we take the kids out to a fun setting so he could practice taking pictures. He got some awesome shots and my kids had a blast!

Murray Family Photo Shoot

Shooting our annual Murray Family Photos are always quite an adventure! Trying to get 5 kids to cooperate and all at the same time is definitely a trying task. But all the adults always end up getting a good laugh out of this event. Here are a few pics...

Yes, there are better pictures than this but this one illustrates our family photo shoots perfectly!

Silly Murray kids!

Handsome Murray boys
My beautiful sisters-in-law (The Murray boys are lucky!)
My cuties!

Yup! This is as good as it gets. My munchkins refused to cooperate at the same time for a nice family portrait.

Highs and Lows

I am sitting here eating my milk chocolate molasses chips from See's Candy and reminiscing on the highs and lows of this past week. I seem to be extra emotional this pregnancy which means I go from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other in a matter of seconds. This week has been a doozy.

Lows:

Slicing my finger really badly while being home alone with the kids. I was trying to avoid having to wash another cutting board by holding a carrot in my hand while cutting it. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Maia's continuous determination to do things her own way and call the shots in this household led to many many tantrums this week. I was at a loss as to what to do with this child about one hundred times this week.

Being in a deep conversation and pouring my heart out only to realize by the person's response that they had not listened to a word I'd said. (Maybe I just talk too much...who knows!)

Feeling like the Goodyear Blimp and knowing that there is nothing I can do about it. I am only going to get bigger.

Tuesday. Tuesday was chalk full of miscommunication, plan changes, anger, no naps, tantrums by both me and my kids, a quick painful jab to my hubby with my mean words, a burst of anger, and going to sleep at 8:30 because I was such a mess.

Wednesday morning I was wracked with guilt for two reasons: 1) I felt horrible about my behavior the night before and 2) I was dreading having to deal with my defiant two-year-old for another day.

Discovering that my pedicure is about 6 weeks old and my toe nails are so long that they get sore if I wear close toed shoes.

Highs:

My hubby bringing me some Molasses Chips!

Building a Ginger Bread House with the kids. I have never built one before in my life! So fun

Watching Noah sing in his first pre-school Christmas Program. Putting hundreds of 3 and 4 year olds on stage is bound to be entertaining. This event did not disappoint. From watching Noah get annoyed with the little boy next to him who insisted on holding his hand to only seeing the back of Noah's head most of the time because he wanted to watch himself on "t.v" was awesome. (Noah is the little boy in the green shirt with his hands high in the sky...as a side note: the cute little girl next to him was in "time-out" that morning, for kicking the teacher. This actually gave me comfort because I can picture Maia doing that when she gets to pre-school next year)

God reminding me of His sweet limitless amount of grace.

Going to dinner at my good friend Kathy's house and laughing together at the hilarious things that our kids do.

Going to FUSE which is our church's couples' Bible Study. I laughed until I almost peed my pants. I love those people so much!

Hearing Noah pray for his daddy, "Lord, thank you for my daddy. He is the best daddy in the whole world. Help him not to burnt today at work or to get sweaty or to get freezing. Help his pools not to be too yucky. In Jesus Name Amen."

Hearing Maia sing "Blessed Be Your Name" while "cleaning" the sliding glass door and the floor with a wipee.

Having lunch with my dad

Seeing my cleaning lady on my front door step this morning.

Buying cute cheap maternity shirts from Ross!

Color Me Mine

I've always wanted to take my kids to Color Me Mine so that they could paint a dish. I figured they would have fun doing it and I would have fun watching. Here are some pictures of our first Color Me Mine experience...

Noah chose a mug and wanted green, blue, and yellow for his colors

Maia wanted a plate and of course only pinks and purples

There was no specific design in mind, just mix all the colors together and paint!

After we were done the lady asked if I wanted her to out the kids' names on the dishes with the year. I thought it was a great idea! They turned out so cute!

We didn't even make it through the front door with our finished products before one got broken. Noah was devastated but insisted on still drinking from his prized creation. If you see him with a cut on his lip, it's not my fault!

Channeling My Inner Michelle Duggar

I have a confession to make: I have been a terrible mom this past week, losing my temper, yelling a lot, and running out of patience very quickly. I keep getting so frustrated that my kids are not responding to me, that they whine for everything, and that we have a daily overdose of tantrums in my household. I feel like I am at my wits end everyday. What am I doing wrong?!

Well, right when I was thinking that there was no way I could add another child to this horrendous situation, a friend of mine reminded me of the ultimate super mom: Michelle Duggar. Now, I know that many people may have a much different opinion of this woman than I do, but I seem to think that this woman is amazing! She's got 19 (or 20 I lost count) kids and she is always so cool, calm, and collected. Even when disciplining her kids, her voice remains sweet as can be and HER KIDS RESPOND TO HER! I am baffled and inspired by this woman. So, I decided that from now on, when things get dicey around the Murray household with misbehaving children, I will try my best to channel my inner Michelle Duggar. That sweet, cool, calm, collected demeanor has got to be in me somewhere...right?

Today, I tried it out and it totally worked! We were in the car and Maia decided that she was going to throw the tantrum of all tantrums. I am talking about the kind where you have to stop and question whether your child may be possessed. She was so angry at me for not giving into her demands that she wrote all over her hand with a pen, then threw her water cup, then she proceeded to take off her socks and shoes and throw them, and then took her arms out of her car seat straps and began to writhe around trying to make an escape all the while screaming at the top of her lungs (I told you it was bad)! Now, normally, I would be yelling and threatening spankings and letting her get me all riled up. Instead, I tried my new tactic, What would Michelle Duggar do in this situation? I remained calm and took a deep breath and ignored her until I could get my thoughts together. Then, I politely but firmly let her know that I would not be giving into her demands and that if she continued her behavior, when we arrived at our destination, I would have to give her a spanking. To my utter surprise, the girl, put her arms back through her car seat straps and stopped writhing. She did continue to cry for a little while, but she was not out of control and neither was I and by the time we reached our destination, I did not feel like I wanted to just leave her there and run away!

I have a whole new outlook now. Michelle Duggar definitely knows what she is doing and from now on, whenever my kids decide to be devilish, I am going to ask myself, what would Michelle Duggar do?! I am confident that this will help me get through this phase of excessive toddler tantrums and whining without going insane...at least for now!

I've Got Plans and then I've Got My Kids

"We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God, who will thwart our plans and frustrates our ways time and again, even daily, by sending people across our path with their demands and requests." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I read this today on a friend of mine's Facebook page and it kind of slapped me across the face! I am a planner. So, I seem to think that my children's demands and requests such as tantrums, needing to go potty at inopportune times, and waking up at the crack of dawn are a thorn in my side; a hitch in my plans. However, according to Bonhoeffer (some wise person who I've never heard of before) these demands and requests could be God-sent and I need a change of perspective. God may be giving me an opportunity to be patient and loving and show His character to my children. Enlightening mommy moment for me today, one that I just had to share!