Randomness I never want to forget:)
Justus while we were drinking milkshakes: "Mom, we need a lot of milkshake, cause we're really thirsty. That's just b/c God made us that way."
9/11/09 - Eli has been walking around, pushing a kitchen chair, the high chair, a toy, etc. He loves it, and Derek told me he held something standing up without support for a few seconds the other day. Oh, brother!!!!
9/1/09 - Justus and Titus share a room now. Titus sleeps on a twin mattress on the floor, and Justus sleeps in his twin bed (1/2 of their future bunk bed.) Derek or I read books or color with them, pray, then sing songs, say Goodnight, and close the door. They talk for a few minutes, and then it's quiet!!!!! Piece of cake:) They love it, we love it. They are the BEST friends...play together all day long. It's amazing. I can't believe they don't fight MORE!! (Don't get me wrong, they fight plenty!!)
Last night, it was storming outside, and Justus and Titus went on the back porch to play. It thundered once, and I looked outside to see the boys. Justus was standing in front of Titus with his hands gently cupped over Titus' ears. How sweet is that?:) He is such a great big brother.
Derek had boards yesterday and didn't get home until after we had eaten dinner. Making dinner and sitting with three boys, ages 4 and under, to eat without Derek being here is so stressful in and of itself, even if everyone is behaving!:) Last night, everyone was NOT behaving, so the stress was tenfold!! We finally sat down to eat, and the lovely non-adult conversation and noises began. I was holding myself together and just trying to get enough food shoved into everyone's mouths so as to meet the dinner requirements, so they could all get back down and go play. Of course, they all need things at different times, so I basically get about 5 bites of my own meal in my mouth before it's all said and done for everyone else (and I'm already a slow eater to begin with.) Titus needed more chicken (praise the Lord, he asked for seconds!!), Justus didn't want his noodles and he needed more water, Eli was shoving chicken AND noodles in his mouth like nobody's business and constantly needing more added to his tray, and on and on.
Once the little boys finished, I cleaned them up and let them loose, and of course, Justus decided he was done at this point, too. I told J and T to go have separate room time while I finished MY dinner and cleaned up the kitchen, since they hadn't had any alone time today. They ran down the hallway like a stampede, with even Eli slamming his hands on the floor and crawling as fast as possible.
This is where the story gets ugly. Justus ran back to his room and slammed the door (trying to be funny but making me mad b/c I have told him a million times JUST today NOT to slam the doors b/c he might hurt someone's little fingers.) Titus started crying, but it was a feelings-hurt, not fingers-hurt kind of cry, so I decided to stay at the table and yell from there...first mistake on my part. Titus was crying, Justus was playing loudly in his room, and Eli was slamming his hands against Justus' door, so of COURSE, no one could hear my yells from the kitchen, telling Titus to go play in Eli's room until I finished dinner. Mistake number 2, I hit my hand on the table and get up to take care of business. After getting everyone into their separate corners to play, I returned, yet again, to the table to finish my cold dinner. I was mad, and I'm sure my blood pressure was rising!!
Let me just stop here and say that, truly, my anger was not warranted based on the events listed above. The problem was not simply the dinnertime stress, but it just topped off the stress built up from the day we had had. I know I overreacted, and in my anger, I sinned. I needed to go apologize to everyone.
Finally, we get to the cute part of the story...the part I REALLY want to remember:) I always talk to Justus about "being angry, but not sinning," so I once again went with that lesson...however, it was all me admitting MY fault this time. I explained how I should have taken a "time out" way before I got that mad, so that I could have calmed myself down. I told J and T that I lost my temper and did something I shouldn't have done. I yelled and I hit the table, and that's not how I should have behaved. We all hugged, I apologized, and we went on our merry way (kids are so forgiving, aren't they?) As we walked down the hall, Justus stopped and looked at me and with his cute, innocent, confused look he asked, "Mom...where did your temper go?"
9/11/09 - Eli has been walking around, pushing a kitchen chair, the high chair, a toy, etc. He loves it, and Derek told me he held something standing up without support for a few seconds the other day. Oh, brother!!!!
9/1/09 - Justus and Titus share a room now. Titus sleeps on a twin mattress on the floor, and Justus sleeps in his twin bed (1/2 of their future bunk bed.) Derek or I read books or color with them, pray, then sing songs, say Goodnight, and close the door. They talk for a few minutes, and then it's quiet!!!!! Piece of cake:) They love it, we love it. They are the BEST friends...play together all day long. It's amazing. I can't believe they don't fight MORE!! (Don't get me wrong, they fight plenty!!)
Last night, it was storming outside, and Justus and Titus went on the back porch to play. It thundered once, and I looked outside to see the boys. Justus was standing in front of Titus with his hands gently cupped over Titus' ears. How sweet is that?:) He is such a great big brother.
Derek had boards yesterday and didn't get home until after we had eaten dinner. Making dinner and sitting with three boys, ages 4 and under, to eat without Derek being here is so stressful in and of itself, even if everyone is behaving!:) Last night, everyone was NOT behaving, so the stress was tenfold!! We finally sat down to eat, and the lovely non-adult conversation and noises began. I was holding myself together and just trying to get enough food shoved into everyone's mouths so as to meet the dinner requirements, so they could all get back down and go play. Of course, they all need things at different times, so I basically get about 5 bites of my own meal in my mouth before it's all said and done for everyone else (and I'm already a slow eater to begin with.) Titus needed more chicken (praise the Lord, he asked for seconds!!), Justus didn't want his noodles and he needed more water, Eli was shoving chicken AND noodles in his mouth like nobody's business and constantly needing more added to his tray, and on and on.
Once the little boys finished, I cleaned them up and let them loose, and of course, Justus decided he was done at this point, too. I told J and T to go have separate room time while I finished MY dinner and cleaned up the kitchen, since they hadn't had any alone time today. They ran down the hallway like a stampede, with even Eli slamming his hands on the floor and crawling as fast as possible.
This is where the story gets ugly. Justus ran back to his room and slammed the door (trying to be funny but making me mad b/c I have told him a million times JUST today NOT to slam the doors b/c he might hurt someone's little fingers.) Titus started crying, but it was a feelings-hurt, not fingers-hurt kind of cry, so I decided to stay at the table and yell from there...first mistake on my part. Titus was crying, Justus was playing loudly in his room, and Eli was slamming his hands against Justus' door, so of COURSE, no one could hear my yells from the kitchen, telling Titus to go play in Eli's room until I finished dinner. Mistake number 2, I hit my hand on the table and get up to take care of business. After getting everyone into their separate corners to play, I returned, yet again, to the table to finish my cold dinner. I was mad, and I'm sure my blood pressure was rising!!
Let me just stop here and say that, truly, my anger was not warranted based on the events listed above. The problem was not simply the dinnertime stress, but it just topped off the stress built up from the day we had had. I know I overreacted, and in my anger, I sinned. I needed to go apologize to everyone.
Finally, we get to the cute part of the story...the part I REALLY want to remember:) I always talk to Justus about "being angry, but not sinning," so I once again went with that lesson...however, it was all me admitting MY fault this time. I explained how I should have taken a "time out" way before I got that mad, so that I could have calmed myself down. I told J and T that I lost my temper and did something I shouldn't have done. I yelled and I hit the table, and that's not how I should have behaved. We all hugged, I apologized, and we went on our merry way (kids are so forgiving, aren't they?) As we walked down the hall, Justus stopped and looked at me and with his cute, innocent, confused look he asked, "Mom...where did your temper go?"
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