What happened when my kids drove me crazy...

Sometime last year, my kids were driving me crazy.  Not just momentary chaos, but really, crazy. 

While they'll probably always be categorized as "good kids", if yours are anything like mine, they are winsome and charming while out of the house, and downright terrible when I'm on duty all by myself.

At that particular time in our household history, they were picking at each other nonstop, disobedient, and - to add an even greater element of community - completely unreliable when Chore Time came each day.

So one morning, I'd had enough, and decided to put off our homeschool studies that day in favor of the study of some New Rules.  We don't really have "rules" in our house besides Obedience & Respect, which cover most bases.  Occasionally someone will lose the privilege of using scissors, and they're usually not supposed to turn on water outdoors without permission, etc., but being obedient and respectful is the main focus.

However...these children needed some additional focus.  (I always call them Children when they're pesky.  heh)

Martin (then 10yo) had begun memorizing George Washington's Rules of Civility as compiled in The Book of Virtues for part of his schoolwork, so I was probably somewhat inspired by them.  Instead of honing in on good manners/situational ethics and backing myself and the kids into a corner, I chose to make a list of what I call:

Rules for Peaceable Living

1. Speak in a polite way.
2. Show kindness to everyone (even enemies!).
3. Obey quickly and cheerfully.
4. Be honest and trustworthy.
5. Do your work well.

That day, I begin by writing them out on our new handy-dandy white board in the dining room while they watched in somber silence.  I briefly expounded the points, and then we memorized the Rules together.  They each copied them out, even Laura who was doing kindergarten.  We repeated them nearly every day at breakfast, and still refer to them.  Not as frequently as we probably should, and I haven't done anything cool or creative with them (like paint them on my stairs), but they're a part of our family life now.  I hope this post will give you some ideas for making your own Rules.  I'm certainly challenging myself by sharing them.  Isn't Pinterest the coolest?

If only I had some stairs.  ;-)

The Day of Emily...

Three years ago today was the due date for my fourth pregnancy.  Lucky me, my brilliant (Jamaican!) OB pulled rank on me and chose to induce a couple days early.  I'm an advocate for natural labor whenever possible, plus I always imagine/prepare for the worst, so I was terrified to be induced.  (Because if anyone's going to be paralyzed from an epidural gone awry, it'd be me.  No doubt.)

But induce he did, then facilitated the smoothest labo(u)r and delivery than we ever imagined - or experienced.  I'm still not a promoter of inductions and epidurals outside of necessity, but fourth-time moms are sort of on autopilot in normal cases, so it was a absolute breeze.  And my wise doctor saved me an even later birth than my others, trauma to the baby with meconium en utero and post-birth, and, a dramatic side-of-the-highway delivery since we live more than an hour from the hospital.  It was a win-win scenario, besides the teeny baby girl I got out of the arrangement!

The Day of Emily 

(May 9, 2007)

This is me, a few minutes before the induction.  

Nervous and slightly weirded out to be in the Labor Room

...but *not* in labo(u)r.

Four hours later!  Teeny Emily with the Labor Nurse, Doctor, and the proud (relieved!) Dude.

A strange sensation to be holding a newborn minutes after delivery!

Martin (6), very excited to be an even bigger brother.

Little Philip (4) happy but slightly mystified at the New Baby.

And sweet, fiery Laura (2), still practically a baby herself.

My little sister who drove down as fast as she could 

from Little Rock to be here for the homecoming.  

Here she and I are giggling at that 

nothing-can-wake-me-up deep newborn sleep.

Me, holding Little Em, and washing bottles and pump pieces 

a few days after delivery.  *long Napolean breath*  

(Breastfeed!  It's so much better!)

One of my favorite pictures ever.

...and here she is, Miss 3!  Finding her Happy Birthday Cake.

...with her giant Birthday Dog from Uncle Mark & Auntie Sandra.

...taking the dutiful photo in front of the Picture Door.

(I started a tradition last year of painting them a birthday shirt. Yay!)

...and a new favorite picture.
A rare, holding-still-yet-expressive pose while

listening to Auntie Tina sing "Happy Birthday" over the phone.

Happy Birthday little Em'y.  What a blessing you are!

What happened outside...

So little Em and I went outside, and had a great time. She went up and down the slide, laughed at Philip and Laura on the trampoline, and I gave her a ride on the trike, and pulled a few weeds in the garden. She "helped" me cut flowers from our zinnia plants (that grew from year-old seeds!), and I snapped these:

She's very cheeky, now she's nearly 2 1/2,
and will hardly look at the camera
...but this shot just captured her perfectly!

Until later...

Emily, 2 years old,
eating her soynut butter sandwich
at the lakefront yesterday

I sat down to catch up here, but simply cannot deny this tiny girl.

The three olders are playing outside in the (cool! delicious! breezy!) outdoors, and after listening to little Em'y putter about happily in here, chattering to herself, I just can't sit here glued to the screen - I have to be with this child. She hasn't asked for anything, she isn't whining, and she is perfectly happy to toddle about by herself, singing snatches of Sunday School songs, and peering out the window at the others outside. But I can't do it...her sweet contentment is making me feel like a complete heel!

Homeschooling posts can wait - *sigh* - tinies cannot. :-)



p.s. While I was browsing, she paused now and then to glance at the 'puter, and was filled with glee to see the mamas, daddies and babies on your blog pages, and air-kissed them all. "I tiss a-baby!!" Then she was suddenly woeful when she played with the water cooler (illegally) and spilled on her shirt. "My shoat! My shoat! Diddit OUT, mummy!!" rofl


Ah, me...

Stepping away from the children...

Yesterday was one of those rare occasions when the Dude and I go somewhere for more than a couple of hours. Together. At the same time.

When you have one child, this is quite a normative experience. (Especially when your parents live in the same town.) When you have two children, it's not quite as regular, but can happen as often as necessary. (Even when you move far away from everyone you know, but especially when you are blessed enough to move down the street from people who adore children and love God even more.) When you have three children, it's more difficult to pull off, but still...not out of the question. (Especially when the college-aged son of your best friends lives 2 apartment buildings down and is a very good sport. Or when your little sister lives with you for 6 months.)

But when you have four children? Not so much. In fact, not really at all. (Unless your little sister marries the college-aged son of friends and moves a day's drive away. And for two blissful years...before moving far, far away again.)

We did manage to pull off a business trip recently, but as amazing as that was (amazing = moving heaven & earth to place 4 children in 4 homes for 4 days during VBS week), it was business. We had little to no down time, and any ministry wife can relate to sharing your husband with a laptop and Powerpoint presentations in a hotel room.

Despite the impossible, however, I managed to gain enough babysitting credits and/or charity with a friend - who has three tiny girls of her own! - to cash in on TWELVE HOURS of babysitting my four tinies. *blink* It's always such a huge undertaking, in my mind, for someone else to watch my kids. I'm always loathe to be thought an imposition. I mean, I have four children!! It takes a lot of grace and sacrifice for someone to even offer to keep them.

Finally, I had to make myself allow her to do this for me. I've done it for her, numerous times over the last year or so. Sometimes for pay (when it's work-related), sometimes not. Sometimes planned in advance, sometimes day-of or even night-before. And it's always fine. She knows she can drop them and go - we have everything we need here: kid-friendly food, sippy cups, toys, diapers, blankets, tiny-girl clothes, crayons, and kid movies. It came down to me packing hardly anything for them and letting she and her husband caravan away from the church parking lot in their Suburban and our van. You'd think it would be simple, but I had to tell myself to literally...

...step AWAY from the children!!!

And so I did. It was very freeing, and I didn't worry a bit, because I know she doesn't worry about hers when they're with me. (Sound so simple, doesn't it?) Here's what we did:

A friend of ours from the Chinese church that the Dude preaches at occasionally is a HUGE Chelsea fan. (For you Americans, Chelsea is an English football [soccer] team.) Apparently, Chelsea were coming to D/FW, to play at the brand new Dallas Cowboys stadium. Naturally, our friend got tickets, and naturally, he invited the Dude! Somehow I got invited to go, too, but we didn't find out till last week. Brilliant!

We were supporting Chelsea - of course, because the Dude is English - but were absolutely outnumbered by the Club America fans. The parking lot was even full of cars with Mexico license plates. I mean, I honestly respect anyone who drives more than a day across an international border to attend a soccer match! It was the final match of the World Football Challenge...something I'd never heard of. But I'm game for any sort of competition that will encourage the USA to get involved with (or, even aware of!) what the rest of the world have been doing for the last century and longer. "Our" team beat the Mexican team soundly! 2-o. It was very exciting. Personally, I'm glad for the pre-World Cup 2010 exposure (the only time we get cable TV - every 4 years, for a month. ha) If you're a soccer/"foot"ball fan, you can read about this final match here, and Angry Trey posted pix of the match, and the beautiful new stadium on his blog today.

One more thing...during the World Cup soccer tournament, and, again last night, I always suppress a big pahahahaha when some of the Mexican teams come out in their "Bimbo"-sponsored uniforms. Bimbo is Mexico's brand of of Wonder Bread. I always try to pronounce it in Spanish in my head. But sometimes my giggles still get the best of me...

Loose & Lose...

Philip and I have a deal - he pulls out his tooth today, or I do it after dinner tonight. Terms of the deal include no screams of terror, no loud wailing, and no wrestling him down to do it. The tooth is begging to come out, but it's been a tenacious one that's taken ages to get properly loose...unlike the first one, which was a piece of cake.

He lost Tooth #1 (shown, missing) on June 15th, 3 weeks before his 7th birthday. It was a long-awaited triumph! He's been impatient to cash in on the Tooth Fairy, you know...

So tonight, it's me vs. Tooth #2. You can see it there, just to the left of the space left by Tooth #1. One of us is going down. I've never been bettered by a tooth before, and Phil and I do have our deal, so the chances are pretty good that I'll make it out of this alive.

Then again...I've learned to never underestimate the tinies' mortal dread of any physical procedure - medical or non. 8-l