Discipline or Death

"Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death." Proverbs 23:13-14.

In America today, these verses would not be well-accepted. I can see it now, CPS at my door for posting this verse on my blog! However, it's a good thing for me that I do not answer to American culture. Instead, I answer to God.

He has given me these precious (sometimes) children to nurture, love, and raise for His glory. And, He has given me instructions on how to do so. If He tells me not to withhold discipline, then I should probably obey! When I read this verse a couple of days ago, I felt my face turn red. Why? Well, I was ashamed of myself. I'd been having a rough couple of weeks with my kids misbehaving and I realized that it was because I was being slow to discipline. As a mom, I never get a break and sometimes it's just easier to be inconsistent or to bribe them out of making a scene. Reading this was like a slap in the face! By being lazy, I was contributing to their bad behavior and making life worse for myself. If I want to incline their souls toward Jesus, I must teach them obedience, selflessness, and self-control now. If that means bringing out the spanking spoon a little quicker and more often, then so be it. I've got to stop being so lazy because the alternative to disciplining them is to incline "their souls to death." How scary is that?

Anyways, I just thought I'd share...deep thoughts from the Confession Mama!

My Ideal Vs. My Reality

Ideal: My kids would wake up in a happy mood at 7:00. Get their own breakfast, eat it by themselves within 5 minutes without needing bribes, get dressed on their own without me begging, and brush their teeth without whining. I'd have time to pack everyone's things for the day including my own. We'd all get into the car in 3 minutes flat by 7:30 a.m. and have a pleasant drive to school without anyone having to go potty and no traffic. I'd walk into the office 15 minutes early with a smile on my face genuinely asking everyone how they are doing.


My Reality: Kids wake up at 7:00 a.m. whiny and Noah wet the bed. I have to beg them and chase them down to get them to eat, get dressed, brush their teeth, do their hair and carry their luggage out the door. I am flustered by all the begging and whining that I forget to feed myself, make my lunch, take something out for dinner, and put my shoes on. I bribe the kids to get into the car at 7:43 a.m. We are late. We get to the freeway and there is a ton of traffic. Noah whines and lets me know that he does not like traffic. 10 minutes into the traffic, Maia informs me that her tummy hurts which usually translates to, "I have to go poop." I tell her that I will take her potty as soon as we get there. I start to gag from the stress of being stuck in traffic with 1 toddler that has to poop and 1 toddler that is whining about the traffic. We finally get out of the traffic and off the freeway and Maia starts to cry over her tummy hurting. As I look in the rear view mirror I notice that she looks a little pale and before I can process the meaning of that, she pukes all over herself and her car seat. It smells. I gag. Noah panics. I ask if she has to throw up more and throw her a grocery bag that happened to be in my purse. She cries. Did I mention it's raining and I have no umbrella? We make it to the school parking lot and I search the car for my spare wipees that I leave in the car for situations such as these. They are nowhere to be found. I call Ricky to yell at him for taking the wipees out and tell him how stressed out I am (I needed to take out my frustration on someone...don't judge me). I throw Noah's nap time blanket over my head and attempt to remove Maia from her vomit covered seat and clothes. I dress her in the spare outfit I packed, a Summer dress in which she will freeze on this rainy day. Perfect. Meanwhile, Noah is crying because his nap time blanket is getting all wet from the rain. We finally get everyone cleaned up and we run to drop Noah off at his classroom. He is late. When I drop Maia off at her classroom, she screams and cries and begs me not to go. I start to wonder if maybe she has the flu. But, I have no other options. I have to leave her. I need to go to work. As I make my way to the office, I hold back tears while gagging from the stress. I walk into the office late and am so consumed by my crazy morning that I don't even notice everyone saying hi to me. I feel like a horrible person, a horrible mom, and a horrible employee.

Yup, this is my reality. Someday, I will laugh about all this chaos...

P.S. Maia did not have the flu. She was just carsick. Today on our drive I left the windows open the whole time to save us from another vomit incident. I didn't care that it was raining. I told the kids that it was their bath for the day. I think they thought I was crazy!

Toddler Conversations

Ever since Noah and Maia were away from each other for a couple of days, Noah has been very sweet to his sister. (I can't say the same for Maia...the bite mark on Noah's arm is all the evidence you need to tell that). The other day, Noah sat in her chair while she was away from it, but when she came back, he kindly gave it to her and apologized for sitting in it. Today, when getting into the car, he let her go first announcing, "Ladies always go first." However, my favorite picture of his kindness toward her happened on our walk to the car after church. Noah gently placed his hand on Maia's back as they walked...

Noah: What story did you learn in your class today Maia?

Maia: We had a story about Jesus.

Noah: (taking her hand) Oh, that's a good story.

Maia: What story did you learn Noah?

Noah: We had a story about Jesus too! (Noah, then eyed their crafts and noticed the differences) Why is your Jesus so big?

Maia: Oh because my Jesus has a heart in his belly.

Noah: Ooooh! My Jesus has a door on his heart.

Maia: Oh!

Normally, this would lead to a brawl over whose "Jesus" was better. But, today they appreciated the differences in the "Jesus" crafts and continued to walk hand in hand to the car ever so sweetly. Toddlers are so entertaining!

Maia's "Jesus"

Noah's "Jesus"

Words with Toddlers

My kids say the funniest things. When they say these types of things, I try to store them in my memory bank until I can make it to a computer to blog about them. However, being pregnant and semi-crazy does not lend itself to remembering things. So, many of those things are long lost. But, today I did remember a couple of things that my kids said recently.

A couple weeks ago Maia was trying to tell me that "cows eat hay" but, she forgot the word "cow" so she said: "Moos eat hay mommy."

Noah wanted to play with the Play-doh, but couldn't quite remember the word:
"After dinner mommy, can you get the potato out for me to play with?"

Maia: (Loudly in a public setting) I gotta go poop!
Me: (Whispering to her) You mean you have to go potty?
Maia: No, I don't have to go potty. I gotta go POOP!

Emotional Wreck

Oh my gosh! I am a complete mess...I blame pregnancy hormones. I just dropped the kids off at separate houses for the night for the first time ever. I cried like a baby the whole way home (well until Ricky bought me ice cream). My mother-in-law who usually watches Maia on Thursdays is going to San Diego for a couple of days and asked to take Maia with her since it falls on her babysitting day. I thought it was a great idea and a great way for Maia to get some one on one time with her "Bamma." But, when I dropped Maia off tonight, she cried and cried as she watched us leave. She never does that, but because Noah was not there with her, it was different. I know that she will be fine, but my pregnancy hormones are making everything so much more dramatic. I just can't stop crying. She is so used to being with Noah everywhere. He is her comfort. She never cries when I leave her places because he is there with her. They've never slept overnight in separate rooms let alone separate houses! Can you tell I'm emotional about this?

I knew that the first day of pre-school would be tough. I know that the first day of kindergarten, Jr. High, and High School graduation will be hard. I am prepared to be a mess when I see them off to college and watch them get married. But, I was NOT prepared for the first time they would spend the night in separate houses.

I'm telling you, this pregnancy is going to land me in the mental institution. Sheesh!

**I called this morning and my sweet mother-in-law assured me that she slept in the same room as Maia so that she wouldn't be lonely and Maia slept great and woke up happy as can be. Now they are off for a fun vacation!

The Scale

You know that scale in the doctor's office that is always broken and adds about 5 pounds to your true weight? Well, I hate that scale. The last time I was on it, was about 9 weeks into my pregnancy and it said I'd gained 8 pounds in 9 weeks! Ridiculous! What's worse is that they would not let me take my shoes off nor did any amount of my begging get them to lower my weight by 5 pounds on my chart because of my shoes.

So, for my 12 week doctor's appointment, I came prepared to challenge that stupid scale to a duel. I wore the lightest Summer dress I could find in my closet and flip flops that only weighed 1 pound as opposed to my 5 pound wedges. Holding a steady gaze on that little screen, I stepped up onto the scale daring it to disappoint me again. It beeped and beeped and beeped again toying with the idea of giving me an unsatisfactory number but then thought better of it fearing my violent reaction. And what'dya know? I weighed 4 pounds less than the last time! Woo Hoo! I showed that scale who was boss and I will never wear jeans and wedges to the doctor ever again.

Tidbits From This Weekend

* Maia decided to throw one of her daily tantrums while on the beach on Saturday in front of an audience. She plunged herself face first into the sand protesting my decision to take the shovel away from her. Then, in an effort to really sock it to me, she picked up a handful of sand and shoved it in her mouth. Immediately, she realized the mistake she'd made. Mommy and Daddy were not reacting as she intended. Instead, we both turned around and stifled our laughter. Then, we just watched her to see what she would do next. She discreetly tried to rid her mouth the grainy substance, pushing it out slowly with her tongue, all while keeping a pouty face to assure us that she was still angry. Definitely, a tantrum to remember.

* Conversation while paying for parking at the beach:

Ricky: HOLY CRAP! $15.00 for parking? This is ridiculous!

Noah: Daddy? (Thoughtful pause) Did you just say a naughty word?

Me: Yes, he did Noah, and daddy is sorry. Right, Babe?

Ricky: Yes, daddy shouldn't have said that word.

Noah: Next time when you wanna say that word, you should say, 'Aww nuts' instead. Kay Daddy?

Ricky: Okay Noah.

* Ricky, Maia, and Noah have all been sick with a cold, so the kids have been asking why they get sick? Here are the reasons they've come up with...

Maia: Maybe the sun got Noah sick

Noah: I think it's cuz I watched too much t.v.

Maia: Daddy ate too much sugar, that's why he's sick

Noah: I think it's cuz daddy didn't eat all his vej-a-vuls.