How easy I forget... I found the missing link!!

I see something or do something and think what a wonderful blog post that would be... Then later that night or a few days later I have no clue what I was thinking about blogging. I know I am not alone.

I think we have found the missing key to the final step of potty training for Ruth. After we came home from campmeeting last July we have had a host of problems. It started I believe with her falling into the stool at the hotel and getting stuck. Then we were scared to potty on the potty. We would sit on the edge and pee all over herself and the floor. Then we would pull up our now wet clothing and walk around. After we were no longer scared to go potty by ourselves it became harder. She would take her self and then run off to do her own thing. As it was winter and we were wearing tights most days we would chafe from being wet for an extended time. Then to make things worse we started to wet the bed every night. I decided to take her in to be checked for an UTI. She had no signs, except the content bed wetting after not for months.

Well my doctor told me something that I didn't know. The chemical your body makes to keep you from wetting the bed isn't always made consistently. It is normal for a small child to go through a time of bed wetting as the body adjusts and the chemical production gets back to normal. I thought once you had the bed wetting thing down it was done. Silly mommy...

Ruth did have a UTI and was put on medicine and the bed wetting was getting better. We still had the walking around wet to deal with. I am very careful to not punish a small child for having an accident. I do know that some children stop having accidents and start having on purpose messes. I didn't believe this was the problem. I believed the problem was we had no problem walking around wet. Something that before had been the end of the world. I tried setting timers and making her sit on a baby mat*. Nothing seemed to make a dent in any way shape or form.

Last week I tried a completely new approach. I told her that babies that walked around wet and threw fits until they wet there pants took naps like baby Elsie and didn't get to do big girl school. She turned pail and started to cry again.

This morning she woke up wet and sat right down to eat breakfast. When I realized it and started to say something she quickly hopped down went potty and dressed in dry clothes. I looked at her and explained that if she was wet again she would take a nap with Elsie.

I want my daughter to do school and learn. She is learning most things right along with Cecilia. I even told my husband about it and my concern about her not doing school. He said we needed to find what worked and it seemed to have the effect we needed.

Potty training is right about top of the things I really could do without when it comes to being a mommy. Everyone struggles in one shape or form. So I want to encourage all those mommies out there it just keep celebrating all those little accomplishments and it will happen.

BABY MAT: A towel placed on the floor. I began to realize that Cecilia was having accidents because she wasn't taking time to pay attention to her body's signs that it needed to go. So if we had an accident we had to sit on the baby mat. Babies who wet in there pants could not sit on my new furniture or floor and leave messes. So we would sit with no toys, no TV, and a sippy cup. The sippy cup is the key as then we were taking in liquid so we could go potty and then get up and play. It was just what Cecilia needed.

Philip was GROUP POTTY. I would drag him kicking and screaming to the restroom. The whole time he was telling me he didn't need to go. As I was told to take Silas every hour to keep his kidney as empty as possible; every hour EVERYTHING stopped for group potty time. As soon as he realized every one had to stop having fun and playing to go potty he was good to go.

Silas was stickers.

I have heard that people used gum, candy, new underwear.

Try not to stress and keep your eyes open for the KEY.

A Sunday Plan

I am having issues with my website program so I decided to post this to the blog and then it will be done when I fix the problem.

I have struggled for years with getting all kids and myself ready for church on Sunday without fighting, screaming, someone ending up in tennis shoes, and bad attitudes all around. So I will pass on the things I have worked out that have made our Sundays much better.

First I do all that I can on Saturday so it doesn't have to be done Sunday mornings before church.

Saturday
1. Do all baths and showers possible on Saturday.
2. Make sure all laundry is done, folded, ironed, and put away properly.
3. Locate all Bibles, papers, and dress shoes.
4. Pick out all outfits (now I am not as good at this step yet).

Sunday
1. If you have one do not turn the TV on.
2. Get up 2 hours before church starts. We live 3 blocks from out church and do not need a lot of travel time. I try to have as close to two hours of get ready time.
3. Play church music or preaching. This helps get minds ready for church.
4. Eat breakfast, do clean up, and brush teeth in jammies.
5.I save those who are more likely to get dirty or drool all over them self for last to get dresses in church clothes.
6. Get all bathroom things done ASAP so as not to be in dad's way when he gets up.
7. Watch for possible problems. Try to head them off before they start.

I have struggled from the time we were first married that my hubby wanted me to get up first on Sundays. I remember getting mad that he wouldn't let me have those extra minutes of sleep. He gets up without anyone and goes to work most days with all of us still in bed.

When I stopped trying to get him to let me sleep in and I realized that I needed to get up earlier than I was so we wouldn't be so stressed on Sundays, things got so much nicer.

Then if we are done and finishing up on shoes and hair as dad gets up then we aren't in his way and things go smoother.

We try to keep all if the kids shoes in our entry way closet. Elsie's are so small that hers go in a basket on the girls' dresser. If we are good during the week about keeping all shoes mated and in the entry way then Sunday morning we just go to the spot for church shoes and get ours!

I want my family to be ready learn what God would have us at church, to be able to worship and praise Him. The better the morning goes the better church seems to go.

I pray this helps someone have a better, smoother Sunday. I hate showing up to church stressed and mad at all my family.

A Day a Long Time Coming!

Today at 1 in the afternoon we were done with school. Even the girls.

I love Preschool and Kindergarten. It doesn't take a lot of time and it is all new. Everyone is excited. I always get excited when we officially start Kindergarten.

I will have to say that this time was different. As we have been struggling to get school done diligently and we have a 14 month old distraction, things didn't go as well as they had before. I found it hard to find time to sit down and give one on one or two on two time with Cecilia and Ruth. If the boys aren't done then they immediately need my help as soon as we get going.

We have been trying to do afternoon Kindergarten so the boys are finishing up and Elsie is sleeping. Well on a perfect day.

Lately we have been not working at school well, Elsie is taking shorter naps, and a host of other things seem to be trying to keep us from doing Kindergarten. BUT, when I start Kindergarten officially then we do it every day we do school.

Today we got up on time, ate breakfast and got ready for school quickly and with out incident. By break time at 9:30 the boys had done almost a half a day of school. I fed the girls lunch early and put Elsie down for a nap. The boys finished up school and ate their lunch as we did Kindergarten. I looked up and realized that it was just after one. I was so excited.

To make the day better we got chores done quickly and had time to play and hang out. I found Cecilia making cursive letters with her new necklace. It makes my heart soar when I see my children using what we learned on their own in a new and creative way.

I am not saying that my house is spotless, but, I didn't feel like I was running around and not getting anything done.

When dad came home with big beautiful yellow flowers for Cecilia, it just finished off a wonderful day.

Best Vacation Ever!

Well we took a week and went to Ohio. They let us stay at the ranch and were having a revival.

We left Tuesday morning and were going to have plenty of time to settle in and get ready for church that evening. As soon as we hit Ohio it started to snow. It got worse the closer we got to Toledo. We pulled into the church and were rushed to the ranch to get dressed and ready for church. They asked Bill to play piano as the pianist was sick.

We got back to church just in time. The pastor asked Bill to sing a special before the evangelist preached and then had all the preachers sing a special. So he got to do two in a row.

We woke up to it still snowing and we were snowed in at the ranch. They ended up have to come with a 4x4 SUV and ferry us in two trips to church.

Lets see Bill fell down the hard wood stairs in the ranch and then I fell down the concrete stairs outside the ranch while holding Elsie. We are both OK and Elsie never knew there was anything wrong.


Thursday the revival broke out and the song leaders wife got saved! Friday night the pastor's son surrendered to preach. He feels led to reach the Muslims in the Toledo area. A young lady in the church also surrendered to be a preacher's wife.

Saturday we went shopping with the Pastor's family. Bill had told me to buy two new outfits. I am not a good shopper when it comes to myself. The pastor's wife told me that I wasn't buying for me I was doing what my husband told me to do. Then she told me that I had the jean skirt I was wearing for ten years and needed some new clothes. Later the next day my husband said I have had the same clothes for the last 20 years. I had not told him that Mrs. Stogsdill had said the same thing.

I have really gotten frumpy. As a nursing mother of 5 I tend to be at the bottom of the priority list. I leave my hairdo til last on most Sunday mornings and then don't have time to do a whole lot with it. Mrs. Stogsdill said that I need to start dressing for my husband and she is right. Not for me but for my husband. As a preacher's wife I need to look the part. I did find two new outfits and know I need to make an effort to wear the nicer things in my closet and be more presentable.

Sunday my husband preached twice. I love hearing my husband preach. We also did a walk through of a house that is for Sale/rent that is right next door to the church.

I don't know where we will end up, but, I know God is working and it is all His doing as we strive to do His will.