A Day at Home

Today was a change from my normal schedule a little because I had the day off with Elijah and Karlena. I wanted to think of something fun to do with them - but in all reality with a 1 yr old and a 2 1/2 yr old it can be tough to get anything accomplished.

My biggest problem is that things seem to happen in a matter of seconds and I can't do much but roll with it - and maybe even take a few pictures for some laughs.

So here is a look into my day with the 2 kids.

I found some blank paper for Elijah and some crayons. I thought he was sitting at the table coloring....instead he apparently thought it would be fun to color a large area of the wall in our kitchen.

So I got a Magic Eraser and put him to work cleaning it up...can you see the joy on his face?! (This was 1 of 4-5 areas that needed to be scrubbed!)

The reality was that you had to scrub pretty hard to get the crayon off so I knew I would be doing most of the work, but I let him spend a few minutes on it. And then I had him sit and watch me take care of the rest. 

Elijah is potty trained and recently has taught himself how to "go" standing up. We have this little stool and he has a few times, gone in and taken care of his business and come out. No problem.

No problem that is unless he comes out to have me help him get his pants on and leaves the bathroom door open and the toilet seat up.

Cue a wondering Karlena....  

By the time I got in there she was quite pleased with herself and it was honestly hilarious....so yes I did let her keep playing so that I could go and get my camera and capture the moment. (Shameless I know! But won't she love to see these pictures when she is a teenager?!)

But she was having so much fun....

I don't know that any of our other children have made a mess like she did this morning.

Of course she was soaked and needed a bath - so at 10am she and Elijah were in the bath once again!

She was loving the water. Normally everyone takes showers so this was extra fun today!

Elijah was pretty content to play too.

I had the opportunity to re-wash my floor after they were done - there was a lot of splashing going on!!

I knew that I needed a plan if I was going to keep them contained while I made lunch so I decided it was time for the "pen"....

We haven't really ever used this - they had one at the old daycare center we went to and they would put the babies inside to play so the older kids could play in the same space but not potentially hurt them. I bought one and then we moved and it never really came back out again.

Elijah wasn't happy though and asked to get out so I told him he had to sit on the rocker and watch his Little Einstein movie. And a few minutes later I found him like this. Sweet boy! 

While he was sleeping and Karlena was playing peacefully I went into the other room and found this....

Elijah had found my secret stash of Dove chocolates at some point in the morning, eaten them all and stashed the wrappers somewhat hidden behind a cushion on our couch. No wonder why he was so crazy hyper and then crashed before lunch....his chocolate buzz wore off!

Karlena on the other hand was really hungry at lunch time and ate more mashed potatoes than I can believe!

She likes to feed herself right now so I just put a big scoop on her tray and let her go at it.

It was a mess and there were potatoes everywhere - even in her 2nd-washed clean hair! :)

 Once she was done Elijah woke up so I put her back in the "pen" so that I could feed Elijah.

I went to check on her and found her like this....

She had climbed inside the basket of toys that was in there with her and was just playing away!

She is all about climbing right now so I wasn't that surprised to find her this way!

And before you know it we had to leave to get Gabriel from school.

Elijah cried the whole time we waited for Gabriel. It was glorious...his little chocolate-come-down nap was obviously not enough and he is resting now in his room.

The other fun thing I did today was to dye some white hankies for Gabriel to use in some of the magic tricks he does. We tried to find them online but they were pretty spendy so I found 10 white ones and thought we could dye them! He is pretty excited about it!

Now I think I am going to go to Walmart for a few things and let Isaac take the helm for a few minutes.  I don't know how SAH moms do this every day!! Just chasing after 2 little ones for a few hours and I am tired and got nothing else accomplished!

How about you - how is parenting different in reality than you imagined it might be? I'd love to hear your stories! :)

What Every Mom Wants....

Well at least this mom was touched by it...

When Isaac called me from the Miami airport to say that they were safe back in the US from Haiti, he could hear in my voice - or lack there of - that I was sick.

When he and my dad showed up the next day Isaac handed me these. He said they were because he felt bad I was sick and because he was bringing me a ton of laundry to do from his trip!

Isn't that sweet?!

He is such a thoughtful kid and I am so blessed to be able to be his mom!

If you didn't see it earlier - please check out this link about another Isaac I know who is very sick and in need of prayer. There is a prayer meeting at our old church happening tonight at 6:30pm. Will you please join me at that time in lifting another mom's son up?

Thank you friends!

URGENT Prayer Needed!!!

Dear friends, family I coming to you this morning with an urgent prayer request. I believe in the power of prayer and am asking that you join with me in praying for a very sick little boy.

Isaac is 3 and is a little boy from our former home church in SD. Two days before Christmas Isaac was diagnosed with JMML, a very rare form of Leukemia.

The only form of treatment is a bone marrow transplant. Isaac's sister has been tested and was found to be a match! Praise the Lord.

But right now Isaac is fighting for his life. He developed pnuemonia in both of his lungs and right now is sedated and on a ventilator.  His mom Jennifer posted last night that the doctors are not optimistic that he will recover from this so that he can even try the bone marrow transplant as an option.

I am seriously just aching for his parents. And because there isn't much else I can do I am praying fervently for a miracle.

Will you join me?

At 6:30pm (CST) tonight our church is holding a prayer service to lift up Isaac. I won't be able to be there in person but I will be joining them in prayer.

Will you join me?

Praying that God would heal his little lungs and remove the pnuemonia from his body so that he can be healthy enough to receive the bone marrow transplant.

I know that God hears our prayers of healing for little Isaac - so please ask others to join us in praying for him.

The other request I am going to make is that if you are not already a donor on the Be The Match registry - would you please consider joining today?

The testing process is simple - fill out a form on their website and they will send you a kit in the mail. Swab your cheek with the 4 Qtips and send them back in a postage-paid envelope. They will test you and put you on their registry as a pontential donor.

I sent mine in last week  - Will you join me?

Thank you for your prayers for little Isaac.

I Don't Want to Forget

Our Elijah  - or "My Elijah" as he likes to call himself is just a little more than 4 months away from turning 3.

He is in that phase that is so challenging for many of us parents. I struggle daily with getting him to listen to me..the first or even second time I ask him something.

When I ask him if he is going to behave he often tells me "No!" - and he usually holds true to his word! ;)

He is spirited to say the least and often when I am telling Dominic about how he was I will say "He was being Elijah" and that explains it all!

I have tried the Love and Logic Parenting with him recently and it works....some of the time. It is all about empowering your kids to make choices and encouraging and praising the good ones.

This morning when I asked him to put his shoes on he said no. When I then asked if he wanted his right or his left on first he chose the left and they went on no problem. Once he had them on I told him what a GOOD choice he made and thanked him for being a good boy.

Every child loves to hear praise and Elijah is no exception. So when he does something good I try to really make a big deal out of it.

But it can still be a struggle and I lose my patience with him way too easily. I forget that he is still only 2 and he does have a lot of maturing left to do!

Last night I had all the kids in bed and sat down just to relax and watch a few episodes of House Hunter before I went to bed and I heard "My Elijah's" little foot steps across the kitchen floor.

He came to where I was and said "I wanted to see you mom". I told him that it was bedtime and he needed to go back up to bed but he asked if he could sit with me.

So I pulled him up on my lap and he snuggled in and as he was falling asleep he was rubbing his chin and his neck...just the way I used to when he was a small baby and we would relax on that same recliner together.

And in that moment I saw him as that little baby again. Beautiful and peaceful and every bit "My Elijah". 

And I knew that I didn't want to forget him like that.

In the craziness of our mornings and evenings together I am seeking order and quietness and you just don't get that with a 2 yr old and a 1 yr old in the house! 

But I am the one that need to change my focus....my expectations.

I need to see their sweet precious faces and be grateful for the chaos, because there is always a time of peace and quiet that follows.  Last night I got some one on one time to just love on my boy. To help him go from awake to dreamland and I am so glad that I didn't just force him back to his room - so that I could have the wind-down time I thought I needed.

God continues to bless me with these moments with my kids and I am so very grateful for each of them.

My Little Helper

Karlena decided that she wanted to be my helper tonight!

I brought the laundry basket out into the front room and walked away for a minute and when I came back she had climbed inside.

I just adore this girls personality - she is such a sweet pea.

Even when she is sick and not feeling 100%, she still has smiles for her mommy!

This chair is her favorite thing to climb on right now. She climbs up, rocks herself and climbs back down. Over and over again!

I love this picture of her holding one of her computers. She actually got 2 for Christmas but it was a good thing because Elijah really likes it too and so they can both have one to play with and they don't have to share! :)

This picture is blurry because she was running at me but I had to post it because I just love her toothy grin.

Hope you are having a good start to your week! It is my mom's birthday today and she is in Greece - awesome way to spend your birthday huh? So wish my mom a Happy Birthday along with me!!

Without A Voice

It has been a couple of tough days here in the Smith household.

It started with Elijah feeling under the weather all weekend. We spent the New Years inside because he was not in any condition to go anywhere.  By Tuesday he seemed to be doing better and they went to school/daycare while I went to work.

By Tuesday afternoon he was really coughing badly and so I brought him into the doctor. He had an ear infection so once we got him on meds he seemed to quickly improve.

Wednesday afternoon Karlena started to get sick and I have been home with her the past two days.  I took her in this morning after a very rough night with little sleep and the poor girl has croup and an ear infection.

To top it all off I have had a cold and now have lost my voice. Any talking of any length causes me to cough - so I am trying to avoid it as much as possible.

It is a strange place to be without a voice. Especially when you have a very "spirited" 2 1/2 year old at home! ;)  Who really has a hard time listening to mom when she can't raise her voice!

And with that I have no energy. I have had 2 days to take down the Christmas tree (I know yikes that it is still up!) and instead I have just been relaxing. Probably what I need now - but I annoy myself just a little. I like to be more productive than that!

Hopefully we are turning the corner with all of this though and no one else gets sick! I would appreciate any prayers for health and energy to return to our family!

Purposeful

Purposeful:

having a purpose, meaningful, intentional, full of determination

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions.

When I was in Jr High I would make these silly resolutions like "I will have a boyfriend this year", or "I will be more popular"....

I will be honest - they never turned out as I hoped and I usually felt like I let myself down.

I don't like setting goals for myself that I know I won't really care about in a week or two. I don't buy into the "lose weight now with the newest exercise fad" and although I know it is good for me....setting a resolution to floss more will be left by the wayside in very quick order.

By February I have forgotten what it was that was so important to me on January 1st and I usually won't think about it until the end of the year and I realize that I once again I haven't met my resolution.

But this year I heard about "One Word 365".

The premise is simple. Decide on a word that you want to define your year.

This I think I can handle....and so for the past few days I have been thinking about what word best describes what I would like to see for myself in 2012.

And this is what I have come up with....

Purposeful.

I want to be more purposeful in my marriage. To really spend time strengthening the relationship I have with Dominic. He is my best friend and I often take him for granted. I want to be more purposeful about showing him respect and supporting him in all that he does.

I want to be more purposeful with my kids. So often in the business of the week I get caught up with what needs to be done and get frustrated when I don't feel the kids are cooperating. I want to make sure that they know how important they are, to encourage conversations and to just plain have fun with them.

I need to be more purposeful about my relationship with God. I don't want God to be a "phone a friend" when I need something kind of relationship. I need to be more purposeful about getting into His Word and asking for His guidance and direction in ALL things.

I also want to be more purposeful in my prayer life. I pray all the time, but I want to start praying specifically each day for people in my life. I believe that God answers prayers and so I am going to start keeping track of the prayer requests I receive and watching as God answers those prayers throughout the year.

And finally I want to be more purposeful about my time. Admitedlly I spend more time than I probably should on the computer. And while I love blogging, I have to make sure that it isn't cutting into time that should be spent on one of the things listed above.

So as I go through 2012 I hope to share with you where I am being more purposeful and hopefully how it is changing who I am.

How about you? What word would you chose to define your 2012??