Thankfulness - Day 1

Im going to try and do some regular Thankfulness posts. I am more and more of a "glass is half empty" person as I get older and I dont want to be that way! As crazy as life is, I have so much to be thankful for.

Day 1: Thankful that Abram is potty trained!!!!!

With all we've been through in the last month (Abram caught Whooping Cough and bilateral/double pneumonia as a result. it was horrible) I never could have imagined that such a wonderful silver lining would come out of it!

he has shown many signs of readiness for months and I figured if we were going to be stuck home, we might as well go for it! (We have to keep him from getting sick from other kids for several months. Even a small cold can bring the cough back.He still coughs periodically anyways and its still bad. We will do anything to protect him right now!)

It was pretty easy! We used some tips from the "3 day" method that a friend shared - straight to underwear, no pull ups, letting him start going or tell me he has to go, not regularly taking him (so they learn the feeling of needing to go), etc. He has been dry at his nap for days and yesterday was accident free on Day 6. Im sooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy and THANKFUL :) :) :)

(here he is recently. He got stung by a bee about 1/2hr before this shot. He was still very traumatized :) Look at those eyes!)

Confessions - part 2

The longer you are a mommy (and especially the more children you have) the more you learn to "never say never". So many times I have judged other moms only to find myself in the same situation doing the same thing. You know when you are a new mom and you think, "Ill never bribe my kids" or "why is she letting her kids act like that at the store?!" (ahahaha just typing them makes me laugh!!!) Humility. choose humility.

I still cant imagine taking my kids to walmart at 10pm and giving them all Ring Pops to keep them quiet but hey, "never say never" ;)

I confess, whenever someone would say they couldnt get their child to take medicine I'd always think, "You are the parent, they are the child. You sit on them, you get it in however you can, you do what you have to do. Man up!" Well ..... leave it to my 4th child to throw me for yet another loop and teach me yet another lesson.

This child is TOUGH. I lay him down, I wedge his head between my legs, I hold his arms down, I get the syringe in the back of his mouth .... but no matter what I do, he can find a way to spit it out. Blowing in his face doesn't make him swallow (that always worked before!), N.O.T.H.I.N.G. WORKS. Slowly but surely, I get in what I can. Its torture for both of us :(

Thank you Abram, for the lesson in humility.

See y'all in Walmart at 10pm in the candy isle.