Going to Church

We recently started bringing all four children into the worship service with us on Sunday mornings. For the longest time, we only brought two and left the other two in the nursery.

Technically, the toddler nursery at our church is only for kids up to age 2, but they kindly let us continue to leave our kids there even after their second birthday...WAY after! However, as their third birthday began to draw closer, I knew we had to stop. It just wasn't fair to the toddlers who were of the right age for the nursery to be in there with my big 3-year-olds! No one ever said a thing to us about it, but my conscience just wouldn't let it continue.

So we bit the bullet and went to church with all four kids. The first Sunday, we stayed for the entire service, and it was awful! I'm sure it seemed much worse to me and Jim than it did to anyone around us. It's always worse to the parents, no matter how many kids you have! The worst part of all was that it ended badly. The memory we carried with us as we fled the building as soon as the service was over was that of four simultaneous meltdowns because they couldn't have the same toy that the little girl in front of us had. It was an unfortunate way to end the morning. The whole service wasn't as bad as that, but that was the lingering memory.

After that, my friend Betsy gave me the idea to back off a little and work our way up to staying the whole service, so the last two Sundays, we have only stayed through the end of the Lord's Supper. After the contribution, everyone stands up to sing, and we head for the door.

It's been a little better. The shortened time is easier for the kids to handle, and therefore easier on us too. It's just so hard to keep four 3-year-olds entertained and moderately quiet for any length of time, much less an entire church service. And at the end, Jim and I have spent most of it either shoving anything at them that we think will keep them happy and quiet or whispering angrily at them to hush. We're mad at them and irritated at each other. It's not a pleasant experience for us or for them, and that makes us sad because that isn't what a worship service should be about.

Potty Progress

I started potty training the boys almost three weeks ago. Here's how it's going...

I started out with all three boys in underwear, but it wasn't long before I moved Zachary into Pull-ups. He just has zero interest in the potty. He also doesn't care one bit if he has an accident. I would discover a pee puddle in the floor and ask everyone, "who had an accident?" All children would respond, "not me!" so I'd go around feeling for wet underpants and it was always Zachary! he just didn't care and he didn't want to sit on the potty when everyone else did, so I have moved him to the back burner and given my attention to Jonathan and Thomas. I continue to put Zachary in Pull-ups for ease of use on the rare occasions he does want to sit on the potty, but he has yet to do anything.

Jonathan and Thomas, on the other hand, are doing great! They caught on much faster than Reagan did back when I started her! I made potty pages for the boys just like I did for Reagan and used the same reward system. It wasn't long before they were almost always doing #1 in the potty. They would have whole days with no accidents, as long as they didn't poop all day.

Pooping has been our issue. Jonathan always did his in his pants, and Thomas just wouldn't do it at all, until maybe at night in his diaper, and then he'd lose his mind needing to be changed. But we're starting to turn the corner there too as both boys have pooped in the potty in the last two days.

Overall, I have to say Jonathan and Thomas have been much easier than Reagan, but that probably has a lot to do with age since the kids just turned three. (I started Reagan back in March) It also helps that Reagan is already using the potty and almost never has an accident anymore. The boys wanted to be "big like Reagan." So cute!

Still, my potty journey isn't over yet. I still have Zachary to tackle. I don't know what I'm going to do about him yet. I tried to entice him with the option of peeing outside on a tree, but he wasn't interested in that either. Jonathan thought it was fun though! (Thanks, Jennifer!) So the Zachary chapter has yet to be written. I don't want to push him too much and make it impossibly hard on both of us. He's a pretty stubborn kid! I just keep reminding myself that nobody starts kindergarten in diapers. At least, that's what everyone keeps telling me! I'll keep you posted!

A Question for the Readers

Recently I was glancing through an old Parenting magazine and came across the following information:


"More babies are born on Tuesdays than any other day."

Now it just so happens that my babies WERE born on a Tuesday! And I'm kind of thinking I was born on a Tuesday too, although I could be wrong about that.

So I'm curious, on what day of the week were you and/or your babies born?

Wishing You a Happy and SAFE 4th!

And certainly wishing you a safer 4th than our 3rd was! Yesterday was a rough day for JonZReaTom! Well, more accurately, it was a rough night for half of JonZReaTom and their parents!


It had the makings of a great evening! We went to Michelle and Judah's house for dinner and planned on shooting off some fireworks after it got dark. All the kids could run about and play and we could visit and enjoy Judah's return from China. All went well for awhile. We played. We ate dinner. The kids had all left the table to play, while the adults enjoyed some whine-free conversation, when suddenly Michelle screams as someone hits the floor HARD. From where we were sitting, neither Jim nor I could see who had just fallen from the stairs, but as soon as the crying started, we knew it was Jonathan. Jim rushed to pick him up and headed for the backyard because that's what Jim instinctively does with a hurt child.


Crying child=need for fresh air


I followed him out and we calmed Jonathan down a little and examined his head. He had a bruising scrape on his forehead right along his hairline. I went inside knowing Michelle kept child-friendly ice packs in the freezer for just such occasions as this and she reported seeing him fall from the stairs, apparently having tripped or missed a step about three steps from the bottom. He stuck his hands out to brace himself from the fall, so that should have helped it from being as serious as it could have been.


Naturally he didn't like the ice pack and soon was ready to return to playing with the other kids who had by now all spilled out into the backyard. After forcing him to answer lots of questions and follow fingers around to check his eyesight, we decided he was probably okay and let him go play, but WE KEPT AN EYE ON HIM in case he suddenly started acting strange. Just in case, we decided we would also wake him up a few times during the night. Better safe than sorry!


All returned to normal. Jim and Judah headed to the front of the house to retrieve the fireworks, and Michelle went inside to finish cleaning off the table. I was out back with all the kids. Although it's a little vague in my memory, I believe I was talking to Reagan, telling her for the millionth time what had happened to Jonathan, when I heard Thomas start crying. I looked toward him and he was headed in my direction with his hands up over his face. I assumed he had tripped and fallen and headed to comfort him.



Then he took his hands away from his face and revealed a bloody mess! I ran and scooped him up, then hurried back to the house, knowing all the while that I was leaving the rest of the kids unattended in the backyard. What else could I do? I headed for the kitchen (it's the best sink downstairs and you can see the backyard from the window) and called to Michelle. She set right to work applying pressure and trying to clean him up while I comforted and watched the window.


He hadn't just tripped and hit his head on the ground. He had been hit accidentally with a plastic ball bat! David was practicing and just didn't see him. Poor Thomas! It bled like crazy all over both of us, but the cut itself wasn't too bad, just badly placed. He had a nice straight cut just below his left eyebrow. We're certainly thankful it wasn't any lower! But the proximity to the eye combined with his wriggly age meant (according to Michelle's dr whom she immediately and thankfully called) that he wouldn't get stitches. The dr said an ER visit would result in steri-strips and liquid bandage, all of which Michelle had at her house. So, for better or worse, we decided to attend to the would at Michelle's house, rather than taking him to the ER.


He did pretty well during the doctoring, considering. Michelle is really good at explaining what she's about to do in a way that isn't scary to a child. The bandaging may not be as pretty as what he would have gotten at the ER, but the end result should be pretty much the same. We gave him a sucker for being such a good brave boy, and it wasn't long before he was out running around in the yard with the rest of the kids.


By then it was beginning to get dark, so I settled in on the deck with Abby and Reagan who claimed they were "scared" of the fireworks and spent the rest of the night telling Reagan why there was blood all over my shirt.

Both boys seemed fine the rest of the night. We came home and put them all to bed WAY past their bedtime! We woke Jonathan up when we went to bed and made him tell us his full name. He didn't appreciate that one bit. Around 3 AM we woke up Jonathan and Thomas and made them tell us their names. I woke J up again around 5.

They have both been fine all day. We'll continue to keep an eye on them and particularly on Thomas' wound.

My sincerest hopes that your holiday is happy and injury free! God bless America! Happy 4th!

Talking with Threes

I can't really title these posts about cute and funny things the kids say as "Talking with Toddlers" anymore. The title just no longer fits them! Sigh.

Anyway, here's a cute conversation I had with Reagan in the car on the way to jasper last weekend for the birthday party.

We were coming through Chattanooga when Reagan suddenly exclaimed, "Look! I see blue!"

She was excitedly pointing out the front window where you could see blue mountains in the distance. "Those are mountains, " I told her.

"I see mountains! How can I climb those mountains?"

Smile. "I don't know, honey." I was about to launch into an explanation of how maybe someday we could climb the mountains, blah, blah, blah, when I was interrupted by Reagan's proud resolution to the mountain-climbing problem.

"I will use a ladder!"

The Big 3

JonZReaTom Turns Three!!!!

I know, it was almost 2 weeks ago. I'VE BEEN BUSY! (And I've had trouble moving pictures around in this post and this post alone is taking multiples days to finish!) We had already decided to go to Jasper (where Jim's family lives) for their party this year, so we didn't have a party at home this time. This kind of threw me off for their birthday. Apparently as far as my brain was concerned, no party meant I didn't have to plan ANYTHING AT ALL. So the day of their birthday arrived and I had nothing special planned. I had ideas floating about in my head, but had not actually PLANNED anything. Can you believe that?!? I don't know what's wrong with me sometimes. In my defense, I did have a VBS center to run during the days prior to their birthday and was also distracted by Father's Day being the day after their birthday. It was just a lot going on all at once, and i dropped the birthday ball.



Kids, I truly apologize. I felt awful. I still feel awful. I'm really sorry. Lucky for me, you didn't care. Next year, I promise something amazing for your birthday!


Not that the day wasn't fun. It was! Jim made special pancakes...

Look, it's a three!

The kids got to play Guitar Hero, Zachary's favorite thing in the world these days. (Dad, can we play the buh-tar game?)

You rock!

We blew out the candles on last-minute store-bought cupcakes (really, I've never been so ashamed...at least not until the next day, but that's another post)

And we played in the kids' new pool! This was our birthday present to the kids (and ourselves!). We all love this pool! It's big enough for the whole family to get in and enjoy, but small enough that the kids can still touch the bottom easily. In fact, they can sit on their knees and still have their heads above the water.

And finally, the one birthday ball I didn't drop...taking their pictures at 4:30, their actual birth moments! I've done this every year so far, and hopefully I'll never forget! Here they are during the very minutes they turned three! In birth order of course!

Jonathan


Zachary

Reagan

Thomas

This past weekend we went to Jasper for the birthday party at Gammy and Granny Kat's house! It was great, but unfortunately, because this birthday is cursed for me or something, we left home without the camera! I'M NOT KIDDING! Gammy took some pictures, which i hope to have copies of someday, but we had no way of bringing them home with us, so I have nothing to show you.

But you know what? The kids didn't no the difference! There was cake and candles and presents and singing and lots of love and that is all they needed to have a great birthday!

Next year they may need a little more! I solemnly swear to do better when they turn 4.

I have resigned my status as supermom and removed myself from the running for parent of the year. I will reapply at a later date.

A Final Beach Memory

Okay, I know, the beach trip was a month ago, but I happened to think of this and wanted to share...

Personally, I had had no intention of telling the kids we were going to the beach until maybe the day before, maybe not even then! I didn't want to have to spend the weeks leading up to the trip saying, "No, we aren't going to the beach today. We don't leave until (add length of time here)" and then listening to the resulting whining and crying.

Alas, I forgot to share this decision with other important people, namely their Daddy and their KayKay, and the kids were informed way early that we were going to the beach. However, the adorable side effect of this news was that the kids LOVED to tell everyone we saw that we were going to the beach...and then invite them to come with us!

Reagan to nice lady being entertained by us getting haircuts at Great Clips: We're goin' to da BEACH!

Nice lady: You are? That sounds like fun!

Reagan: You wanna come?

Seriously, they invited everyone we spoke to for weeks leading up to the trip! It was very cute, and luckily no one accepted the invitations!

One More VBS Story

Okay, here's what I learned from VBS...breakfast does not have to be eaten at the kitchen table!

I know, I'm a little slow sometimes, and once I'm in the habit of always feeding the kids their meals at the table, it's hard for me to get out of the rut. Pity me.

Anyway, first I discovered that waffles are great for eating in the car. Hardin Valley is way across town and VBS started at 9. That meant we had to leave the house by 8:30 at the LATEST, and preferably before that. That is really early for me to have kids up and ready to walk out the door. A couple of those days we had to take Jim to work first, which meant leaving even earlier, but at least I had his help getting ready!

In addition to feeding the kids in the car, I also discovered I could feed them in their room. I would walk through the door with breakfast, lay it out on the train table, and they would eat while I got diapers and clothes ready. They could alternate getting ready and eating, and by the time everyone was ready to go, they had all finished their breakfasts! Genius!

Good Grief!

VBS, 3rd birthday, Father's Day, potty training.

All of these things have happened in the last 2 weeks and I have blogged about NONE OF THEM! Why? Well, duh, look at all the things that have been going on the last two weeks! I didn't have TIME to blog about anything! Thank goodness for twitter so I could quickly send out little spurts of information rather than completely disappear from the computer world. Oh, and I made a slideshow for the kids' birthday. That took up a lot of my time too. I'm a glutton for punishment.

BUT NOW, all of these activities are over, and thankfully nothing big looms in the future for at least three weeks! So I look forward to lots of posts coming soon. I have a list! A very random list.

In my few spare minutes left of naptime, I'll try to relate a couple of stories from our VBS experience.

This is the first year that the kids were old enough to go to VBS. They loved it! We went to two, first at Hardin Valley Church of Christ and then at West End Church of Christ. The first day, after i picked them up (I'm not even going to begin to tell you about the horrendous trouble i had trying to find the property, mostly because it was really EASY to find if you weren't as stubborn as me and just asked someone how to get there instead of trying to find it yourself when you have nothing to guide you except incorrect Google directions) Anyway, after I picked the kids up, and we're headed home, I asked the kids what songs they sang, and they all started shouting, "The cracky song! The cracky song!" I wracked my brains trying to remember any children's church songs that sounded remotely like "cracky" to no avail. The next day when i dropped them off, the song leader starts singing an Australian-themed version of "I'm in the Lord's Army" all about jumping with kangaroos and swimming with crocodiles and at the end, instead of yelling "Yes sir!" they yelled "Crikey!" The little lightbulb went off over my head immediately. This was what the kids were talking about. "Crikey" not "cracky" and that day on the way home, Jonathan taught me almost the entire song. Seriously! I sang a snippet of what i remembered from the song, and he said, "No, momma, that's not how it goes!" and then he corrected me. Almost the entire song! I was amazed he remembered it!

I was amazed often by the things they remembered from VBS. Each night when Jim got home, I would ask them to tell Daddy what they learned about God today, and they would shout out something that they had learned that day. Always impressive!

Well, I know this is probably so much less than you wanted to hear after the long blog silence. I promise there is more to come and at least some of it will be really good!

It's Potty Time Once Again!

I don't have much time, but wanted to post this real quick...

I have my stickers. I have my candy. I have my potty pages, my potties, and stacks of little boy briefs.

It's time to potty train the boys.

YIKES!!!!!!

I'll keep you posted! Check out my Twitter posts in the sidebar for more frequent updates!

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day! And JonZReaTom turned THREE on Saturday! So much to post, so little time!