Use Your Words!

Things have been kinda crazy around our house lately! We've been keeping up with our New Year's Resolutions and I'm already seeing the differences in our girls! If we are running late or sit down to a meal, they will remind us that it's "Scripture and prayer time" or "Mommy, bless the food!"! I love our girls! They keep us on our toes.

Caitlin and Rosalie playing nicely on the couch!

We have been working on the ABCs with Caitlin and within 2 days, she was walking around the house singing the entire song on her own! Not to mention the fact that Rosalie is now trying to sing hers too! But she mostly just says, "A, B, A, B, A, B.... " It's SUPER cute! Rosalie just LOVES Caitlin and wants to do everything she's doing! From singing her ABC's to going potty on the potty chair! I love these two girls!

Caitlin reading to Rosalie!

It's been a lot of fun watching Vivian grow so quickly! She's a tank! She breastfeeds A LOT and I'm doing very well with keeping up with her. Although some days I really feel like I'm going to have the life sucked out of me... literally. Breastfeeding really is a joy, but it is not for the faint of heart. There have been many times in the past 2 1/2 years that I've wanted to stop... but then I think about all that goes into bottles, boiling water, and measuring formula, my head starts to ache. I have what Vivian needs on tap, so why give it up? My plate is already full so adding bottles, formula, and more would make me go insane. For reals! She's plumping up real fast!

Webcam photo of Vivian teething on my finger!

Tummy time!

Vivan LOVES her aunts!

You will hear us say, "Use your words!" quite a bit around our house. It is quite common. So common that Caitlin now says it to Rosalie. We usually say this when our girls are fussing at us and not telling us what is wrong or what they want. It is quite irritating when something happens and all we hear is constant whining and fussing. It gets to me fast and I have to work hard on not losing my temper and yelling. So I say nicely, "Use your words. Tell me what's wrong." This works about 50% of the time. Caitlin and Rosalie are in a stage where if one has a toy, the other wants it. If Caity has a book that Rosalie wants, Rosie will scream at the top of her lungs. *Grrrrr....* And if Rosalie has something Caity wants, she will push Rosalie down and take whatever it is away from her. Which leads to more screaming. *Grrrrrr....*  So we have been encouraging our girls to use their words and tell us what happened or what's going on.

Parenting is hard.

No matter what, though, we love our girls and it shows. Caitlin and Rosalie are very sweet to Vivian and they both share. Once in a while... :) But that's fine with me! We are trying to teach our girls that we love each other very much and part of loving each other means that we don't hit, take things away, or yell at each other. They are learning. Slowly. But they are learning!

Caitlin and Rosalie nicely eating breakfast together!

Rosalie and Caitlin eating their Goldfish while watching Dora!

I'm not sure Charles and I were quite aware of what we were "signing up for" when we became parents, but we've had the exact same amount of time parenting as the other. We aren't experts, but we we have found out the hard way that teaching with patience and love is the most effective way. I hate to admit it, but we did, and sometimes still do, yell at Caitlin and Rosalie. Yelling to get their attention, to discipline them, etc. I don't like the yelling. We use to only yell at Caitlin when she did something really bad. But then that morphed into yelling at every thing. We've slipped down the slope and now we're trying to get out of this hole. I know that the Lord understands us and our lives, but I know for a fact that I never learned a thing when I was getting yelled at. The things I learned the best were taught to me with love and patience. Charles and I made a promise to each other to do better about acting instead of reacting when our girls do something wrong. We saw a quote the other day that made us realize just how bad things were getting with our yelling.

I want my girls to remember that they were taught in a home of love, respect, and reverence. A reverence to the Lord. Our homes should be a place where the Spirit can be felt. And when we're yelling at our girls, I know the Spirit leaves. I hate that. It's amazing the difference that is in our home already since we've stopped yelling so much. We slip every now and then, but we are working on it! The Lord is going to have to help us with this one!

There are many people that I know and love who are struggling with hardships right now and I pray for them daily. It has made me realize just how much I have to be thankful for. I never take a day for granted. Every single day is a blessing. I am grateful for the time the Lord has given me with my girls and I can only pray that he allows me to have many, many more years here with them.

Count your blessings. Name them one by one.