Potty Training with a New Baby

I was once told not to make any changes when a new baby comes. That was thrown out the window when Jacob was born. You see our life is crazy busy. We have no less 6 appointments a week. So potty training has been on the back burner. My husband took time off when Jacob was born. He decided it was a great time to potty train and guess what HE WAS RIGHT! Yes, I just admitted my husband was right about something. I think James enjoys the special attention he is getting. I am enjoying that there will soon be less diapers to change. My budget is grateful for fewer diapers. On the negative note it is 3:30AM and I am awake. James did not make it to the bathroom and woke up. Poor thing, I don’t mind at all but feel bad that it woke him up. Have you done anything crazy like potty train a toddler while caring for a newborn? It can be done. Pamela

No Guilt When Parenting

I know I should be making packing list, I should be cleaning out closets, I should be sleeping more. Laundry is not getting put away every day, floors are not getting mopped. Bed time is not happening right at 8pm. I am not putting on makeup daily, heck I often do not even make it out of my nursing tank top when I am home. But it is okay because I am snuggling this growing baby. I am nursing this snuggling baby. I am taking time to snuggle other growing blessings. This time is flying by, the kids are growing fast. I look at my 16 year old who will be turning 17 year old soon and cannot believe he is taller than me now. So for today I will take time each day to love on this baby before he gets too big to want to snuggle with me. When I am over whelmed with life I will remember that it will pass. Sometimes I have to just stop in the middle of a math lesson and pray with my kids for strength and energy to make it through the day. Sometimes I even have to drink caffeine to help not fall asleep during reading. Sometimes I have to nap, stop what I am doing and just rest. And you know what that is okay. If I do not take care of myself then I cannot take care of my blessings. I have to be honest and say I am writing this at 3:30 in the morning. The baby is asleep in the swing, the house is quiet. I should be sleeping. I am exhausted but right now I just needed a few minutes to play on the computer. I wish I could tell all new moms to take a breath and take care of themselves. I wish I could take time to snuggle and blog and eat a cookie without guilt. I wish I could ask for help, accept help when it is offered. But I am human and often feel like I have to do it all myself. Pamela

Just Roll With It

Just roll with it! My goal for this blog is to be honest with my blog. Honestly, I have so much I want to write about but then life gets busy and then I worry about my spelling and grammar. I do not want to go back and read everything again. Which is comical because this is what I fuss about on a daily basis to my teen. I have talked about life with a son who has asbergers before. Some of the social skills issues he has. I have to be honest the thought of moving is made harder by the fact that he has to meet new people. First impressions are not always great with him. But once you know him for a couple of minutes you will love him. He is the most giving, helpful child you will meet. He is great with little kids , patient beyond what seems possible and has a love for any child with special needs. This will all make sense in a few minutes. I have posted hundreds of pictures of my newest blessing Jacob. He is so precious and so snuggly and content to just set in my arms and look at the walls. I constantly get comments about how bright his eyes are and they have been since birth, how he looks around constantly. All of this is true. But I have noticed something recently he looks around all the time but not at one thing and not at anyone. He does not follow objects or even look at the ceiling fan. I think what startles me most is that you can literally touch his eye lashes before he will blink. At first I reminded myself he is a infant. Stop reading the what to expect app because he is not doing what it says. Then I noticed something else. He does not smile. Sure when he is nursing he smiles and a couple of times he has smiled at someone. They ooh and ahh about a cute little chubby smile. In my heart I knew it was just a coincidence. I kept telling myself that he is only 5 weeks, then 6, then 7 and finally 8 weeks. I did decide I should have his eyes examined. I have eye issues and my husband had eye issues. So I made a apointment. Remember we are moving in 3 weeks. Well this week we had Jacobs two month appointment. He weighed 11.12 pounds which means he has gained 3 pounds since birth. He has also grown 3 inches. He looked great. He is super strong and has had great head control since birth. She asked if I had any concerns. I told her about him not looking at me or smiling. Honestly, I just knew she would say give it time. So she examines him and looks at his eyes for several minutes before saying “I need to talk to someone” and then walks out of the room. Talk about scary. She comes back and says she agrees he needs to see the eye doctor ASAP. Then says she is putting in a referral for early intervention. That shocked me. I asked why and she said the words that made me want to cry and laugh out loud at the same time. She said “because he has no social skills”. No social skills, that is funny. I know all about lack of social skills. We see the eye doctor next Thursday. She is pretty sure Early Intervention will get me in before the move. If not she will type something out before we move to take with us. So now back to the title. I took my daughter to reading therapy yesterday and at the end I was talking to her therapist about Jacob. Really laughing about the social skills statement because she has heard some of the craziness. Her comment to me made me smile and think. She said well if there is ever a parent to have a child with special needs it is you. She said some parents hear there child is delayed and they can think of nothing else. That I hear it and think okay what do we do to help them. Please know I am not saying Jacob has anything wrong. Heck, he could start smiling and cooing today. He could just be lazy and enjoying his time and be on his own schedule. But I do think the correct thing is to watch him closely and make sure we are staying on top of it. I ask you to pray with us. Pray that Early Intervention can get us in quickly and give us some idea about what is going on before we move. Pray for our appointment with the eye doctor on Thursday. I ask you to pray for our family as we move and find new therapist for my other two and find new doctors. Pray as we find a church and meet new people. Pamela

Feeling Beachie

The statements: 1. _Moving_____ make me _say things that make no sense and babble like a baby_____ because_I am juggling ten different things at one time.___ 2. Whenever someone _tells me ____ that _i have my hands full____ I get very _annoyed because I really want them to understand I do not have my hands full but my heart is full. ____ 3. I know I should never __yell at my kids or husband___ but sometimes I can’t help it 4. I have fond memories of having a big sister through big brothers/big sisters____ from childhood Pamela

I Miss Daddy

I recently received a book to review. When I first heard about the book I knew I would enjoy it. Any book that helps my children deal with deployment is a great book. We have gone through 8 deployments and let me tell you they never get easier. This book dealt with something that no other book I have read dealt with. I Miss Daddy , deals with how kids behave and feel while dad is deployed. In “I Miss Daddy” Jana acts out. She acts out because her routine is not the same and dad is not there. I have experienced this several times. It is so hard to understand what our children are feeling. Acacia Slaton Beumer is a amazing author and really touched me. She really understands what being a military wife feels like. I would love for you to read this amazing book. You can find this book on Amazon.I think it would make a great gift for anyone who is new to the military. Or for a special child whose father or mother is deployed or about to deploy. I love that this book has discussion questions in the back. Something I do not see in very many books. Thank you Acacia Beumer for allowing me to review your book. Pamela