Trustworthy

My little four year old is a super sweet little girl. We have so much fun together. She is helpful, fun, obedient...of course we have difficult moments, but overall she is SO much fun! It hasn't always been that way with her. We went through some extremely difficult times during her ones, twos and threes! It is a relief to be through those and really be able to enjoy time with her more. Life has generally gotten easier by the day since she was born!

One thing that has progressively gotten harder though is lying. Eeeek! Not a fun issue to deal with. We tell her that lying is a hurtful way to treat someone and we will not treat each other that way in our family...then she has to sit in a timeout. We have also added another element to our response.

A accepted Jesus the summer she turned three. We were unsure about it-thinking she was too young. Who are we to decide that though? God gave her the sweet little faith of a child and she responded to Him to the best of her understanding.

We are trying to teach her that when she is truthful, we and others will trust her to be truthful. When she consistently tells lies, then we and others lose trust in her truthfulness. In all of this we are constantly reminding her of the truth of who she is "in Christ." Since she has trusted Him as Lord, His Spirit lives in her and has united Himself with her. Therefore, she has the trustworthy nature of Christ as the core of who she is. She is no longer a sinner in her true identity, but she now can identify with Christ and His nature. Instead of telling her that she is not being trustworthy, we have changed our semantics. We say, "The truth is that you are trustworthy because Jesus lives in you and He is trustworthy. However, you are not making choices that go along with what is true about you. You are making untrustworthy choices."

So far, it has effected her. We have seen a decrease in the amount of lies she tells and we also feel a very intimate bond with her on an emotional level. Here is one of her lies from last night...

Matt and I went on our first real date since L was born!!! We had a really fun dinner out while my parents watched the three girls. They put the girls to bed and everything seemed ok. Then S had to go potty. Mimi had baby and Papa took her to the bathroom. When he brought S back to bed, A was standing in the middle of her bed. Papa said, "A, lay down and put your head on your pillow." She answered, "But Mommy lets me do this!" Papa, "Mommy lets you sleep standing up?" A, "Yes! Mommy lets me sleep standing up!" Haha!

Needless to say, Papa did not fall for this one and he asked her to lay her head on her pillow anyway. Mommy has said some crazy things according to my kids! :)

Ratio

The parent:child ratio in our house right now is awesome! My parents are visiting so we have more adults in the house than children. Plenty of arms and ears for all three kiddos. They are so excited to have their Mimi and Papa here. They got to have their tea party this morning before church...finally! They have been waiting months for it and they loved every minute of it.

Yesterday in the car on the way down to the Austin airport S was singing:

"What a mighty God we erve, what a mighty God we erve. Angels, heaven, what a mighty God we erve." So cute. I love little versions of these songs.

They ask Matt to play Never Let Go by Matt Redman most of the time and then sing along so passionately. It makes for a pretty fun ride.

It's going to be a fun week!

Dog Bite

A got bit by a dog in the mouth several weeks ago. We're not sure why neighbors let their dogs out in the neighborhood without leashes...

The Joys of Nursing my Third Child

The best parts of breastfeeding are that my baby gets awesome natural nutrition and it's relatively cheap...at least cheaper than formula. Add up the pump, hot water washing pump parts, milk storage bags, nursing pads, freezer/refrigerator for milk storage, etc and it's definitely not free! Anyway, I am thankful that my body produces a wonderful nutrient for my babies...:)

One of the worst parts is that my baby is on a nursing strike which means that my pump is my best friend. Because I spend so much time with my pump I feel like a cow...not a mommy bonding with baby. I have come to realize that she isn't going to nurse and my body is really not ever going to learn how much milk to make. My body is quite learning disabled and doesn't take the cues: when baby eats 5 oz...that means I only need to make 5 oz...not 15. Fifteen doesn't feel very good. :( Overproducing, mastitis, antibiotics, thrush, gentian violet, it's an ugly cycle.

This being my third child means that my body and pumping get analyzed by my older children. Everyday I get to answer question after question...why is that one hard and that one soft? Why are you pumping? Is that your wipple? Is it full? Is that milk for baby? Why are you pumping? Can I turn the pump off? Can I carry the bottle? Why are you pumping? Are you going to nurse baby? After the 20 questions I get the stare. Not at my eyes of course. I'm sitting there bonded with my pump looking at my four-year-old who is staring at my chest. Lovely, what a way to start the morning!

The other day we were visiting with a friend. I was nursing my newborn and look over and my two year old is sitting on the ground with her shirt up while my 4 year old is laying across her lap pretending to nurse. Wow, that was a fun one.

Tonight in the car my two year old was sitting in her car seat holding her baby doll. "Look Mommy, see my wipple? I'm feeding my baby." She has also taken the little faucet part of her pretend kitchen out of it's spot and spent a lot of time pretending to pump with it. She lifts her shirt, pumps, pours from the faucet into her play bottle, feeds her baby, and then starts all over.

What an adventure. This very "natural" process sure is complicated! When my baby turns a year old I will be so thrilled to never make another ounce of milk! It will be a glorious day! For now I will be thankful for the provision and continue on with my trusty pump. Our little one is SO worth it!

Can any of the Mommies out there relate?

Tea Party

My girls are so excited because my parents are coming to visit on Saturday. They are especially excited to have a tea party with Mimi and Papa. I told them I would have a tea party with them tomorrow, but they are not interested. Tea Parties with Mom are so not fun!
In fact, the girls don't like me to do ANYTHING that Mimi does. Sometimes when I am talking they say, "That what Mimi says, please don't say it." Intruding on Mimi's turf is not appreciated!

We have a family dictionary thanks to our daughters:

wormaid=mermaid "Little Wormaid"
coffee=copies "She coffees me Daddy!"
air conditioner= conditioner (bath)
baff=bath

Our little one rolled over for the first time today. She went from her back to her tummy and then onto her back again! It's a big day around here!

Good Day

Sometimes I feel sad for my girls that they are victims of my daily moods. I wonder if they feel any stability in my behavior. I notice that I will respond completely different to their actions on a "good day" than on a "bad day." I think bad days are days that I am very irritable and occur unfortunately more than I would like. Good days are days that I feel an abundance of patience and am able to objectively respond to issues. I know that my good and bad days are directly related to how much I am living in my identity in Christ and how much I am resting and receiving. Last night I had a really nice time with God expressing my emotions, experience, and troubles. After I expressed it, I took some time to rest and listen. I felt that I was able to receive much love, grace and truth from Him and it definitely had a positive effect on me today. I did not start the day emotionally empty, but I started it full from all that I received from Him last night.

Yesterday was the opposite...I have high hopes for tomorrow!