The One With More on Parenting

Some of you are going to think, "There she goes on a tangent again..." and you are right. LOL!

I'm reading Scream Free Parenting right now. I was a little hesitant to read this book as I don't really have a problem with yelling. Yes, I do raise my voice once in a while but it's not even on a weekly basis. However, this book goes beyond actually yelling to learning to control ourselves and not project our feelings onto our children. Finding out why we react the way we do and how to use self control and react in a different way.

On page 69 he starts talking about letting go of the final results. This is huge for me. I'm constantly thinking "if I do X will they turn out like Y". He says that if you want your children to become self directed adults you have to face the truth that you cannot do it for them. He uses the example of faith. The goal for many of us Christian parents is to raise children to love and honor God. The author writes, "I assert this is actually not their most important goal. Again and again I tell them that launching their children into a self directed adulthood is far more important." I was a little taken aback at this until I read this sentence a little further down, " He cannot authentically choose to follow God if he cannot choose, on his own, to follow God. Such a faith would be a borrowed faith at best, one that is still seeking to appease or please others..... If you want to make sure your child follows God, then you need to let go of your need to make sure your child follows God. You need to create a space for your child to develop a relationship with God on his own terms." He goes on to say that it doesn't mean you do nothing... you actively create faith discussions and introduce him to the faith tradition that's led you thus far... and most importantly live in a way that reflects your faith.

This really hit me. As a parent who believe in this Lord, one of my main goals is to bring my children up in that way. I'm always worried that someday they may turn away from the Lord and live a life not pleasing to Him. But like this author said, I need to let go of that. And create a safe environment in which the Lord is first and foremost w/out beating them over the heads with it. It makes sense...

The One With Continued Observations

After I posted yesterday Erich started having a headache & a sore throat. He may have had a low grade fever, but as fevers aren't high on my list to check /cure I didn't take his temp. I gave him a few extra doses of the elderberry syrup and popped in a movie to ensure that he rested. He did. He slept for hours in the late morning and then again in the late afternoon. He woke up fine, ate a great dinner and then proceeded to stay up til 9. LOL! He slept fine all night and is bouncing around like nothing ever happened today.

Katie STILL has a runny nose. She slept all night last night tho! Yay!

The boys are still coughing and sniffling. No signs of anything else yet.

Matt reported a sniffle.... and I have a slight sore throat. Due to the elderberry syrup being almost gone I'm saving it for the children and I'm just taking extra doses of Vit. C and echinacea. Plus tea... I love tea, so ginger tea and chamomile tea are high on my list to drink today.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

In other news: I filed my taxes last night. I somehow messed up both of the girl's s.s. numbers. I have no idea how that was possible when I had the cards RIGHT in front of me and I thought I'd double checked it. DOH!! So needless to say the Federal government rejected it. I corrected it and e-filed again. Hoping it goes through this time. I love e-filing! Imagine how long it would have taken to come back and then be corrected & sent back through the mail?! This took less than 12 hrs! It looks like we're getting back enough to pay off all our debt except our house! Praise the Lord!! This has been a goal for us: to be debt free (except our home) at 30. It looks like it'll happen!! woohooo!!

The One With Observations on Illness

Here's the rundown of this week... I find this interesting, so I'm posting it.

Friday ~ Exposed to a child I thought may be sick.

Saturday morning ~ Gave Karah & Erich 1 tspn each of elderberry syrup. Gave Michael & Nathan 2 tspn of elderberry syrup each. (This is what is recommended on the bottle for their ages) Gave Katie nothing. Matt & I each took 2 tspns as well.

Sunday morning ~ Repeat of the day before.

Monday morning ~ Repeat of Saturday.

Monday later morning ~ Katie has a low grade fever and over-all fussiness.

Monday afternoon ~ Karah now has a low grade fever and tiredness.

(I left the fevers alone. No tylenol)

Monday evening ~ Katie now has a very stuffy nose accompanied by the fever. Karah still have a fever. Karah threw up (tho I think this was related to falling asleep and then being awakened fast) She ate/drank fine.

Monday Night ~ Katie up A LOT. Fever ranged from 99.7-101.7 Karah slept all night. Erich woke up with a high fever and fever nightmares. I gave tylenol to Katie as she seemed to be in pain, but none to the others.

Throughout Monday I gave Karah doses of 1 tspn elderberry 3 times. I gave katie 1/2 doses twice, but she wouldn't take it more. I gave the boys regular doses twice.

Tuesday morning ~ Karah woke up feeling better. Still tired, but no fever and barely any runny nose. Erich woke up fine. Katie woke up exhausted and with a majorly runny nose and runny eyes. Boys woke up coughing a bit.

Tuesday ~ No fevers in anyone. Continued elderberry dosage twice/day for all kiddos.

Tuesday night ~ No fevers in anyway, everyone went to bed fine. Katie still has lots of congestion in her nose, but it's clear and coming out. She woke up twice.

Wednesday morning ~ Boys coughing/sneezing a bit. Karah & Erich 100% fine. Katie still has a bit of a runny nose, but it's much better than previous day.

So far Matt & I have nothing more than a little extra mucous in the nose.

The reason I find all this interesting is because the children who have the highest dosage of elderberry never got the fever and exhaustion... just a bit of a runny nose. The children with the medium amount of elderberry ended up w/ fevers, but got over it quickly. The child who wasn't taking the elderberry until she got sick and then only took a little bit of it has stayed sick the longest.

Perhaps the elderberry works? FWIW ~ I say elderberry, but it's a syrup that is made of elderberry, echinacea & propolus. The adult one has Vit. C in it as well. (The boys have been getting 1/2 doses of the adult one since yesterday as I was almost out of the kids one and wanted to make sure Katie & Erich got that one)

The One With a TV Day

After making it through most of the cold/flu season with no sickness, we were hit. Yesterday Karah & Katie had fevers and Erich woke up in the middle of the night with one. I'm a firm believer in medicating for pain, but not for fevers unless they get too high. I learned quite a few years ago that fevers aren't bad... they are the body's way of fighting off viruses & that we can actually prolong illnesses by stifling the fevers. So I just monitored them and let the fevers run their courses. None of them have a fever this morning, they all ate breakfast & look like they are on the mend. I started giving them elderberry/echinacea/propilus syrup on Friday when they were exposed to the illness & I think it's helping the coldish thing to not last too long. Tho it's hard to know for sure... maybe it's just a short one anyway.

So today is "TV/Game" day... lots of resting, lots of drinking & on the menu? Chicken soup with loads of garlic and onions. I'm thinking about looking for a spicy chicken soup.

The One With Decisions

"Should we stay or should we go now?" You know that annoying commercial w/ the lady sniffling/sneezing & the song "Should I stay or should I go now?" is running in the background? Anyway... that song is playing around in my head today.

We are feeling sooo directionless (is that even a word?!) There are definitely more pros to moving to VT than to staying in NY. The pros to staying in NY are 99% monetary, but when you look at the amount of gas we're spending because we live in NY and our lives are in VT we realized we could be spending at least $160 less each month on gas just by moving to VT. So last night, as we drove that long drive home at 9 pm, we hashed it out. We listed the pros of staying here, the pros of going, the cons of each... and still didn't come up w/ a concrete decision. It's so hard to know: do we continue to pursue selling? Do we renew our contract w/ our realtor at the end of next month? Do we give up the idea, build on an addition and stay put?

I keep praying for a sheepskin... an obvious sign of what to do!

The One With Knitting

One of my Christmas presents this year was knitting needles. I had requested them & my Mom gave them to me. :) Since then these are some of the items I've knitted. In addition to these I've knitted another scarf (pink to match the hat in progress that is pictured below) & another green washcloth. The orange & blue scarves were knitted for my older boys. :) I'm having fun with it. :)

The One With The Kid's Camera

The children got a Vtech Kid's Camera for Christmas this year. They've been having a blast w/ it!! Here are some pictures from my budding photographers...

A child's view of Grandpa... Erich keeps pointing it the wrong direction...
A beautiful picture of Katie... Love that smile!
I don't even remember them taking this picture of me! LOL!
My handsome hubby. <3

The One With The Workouts

I bought myself a Christmas present.. Wii Fit Plus. I've been using it often... I love the updates from the original Wii Fit.

Today I tallied up my hours & calories burned for January so far. 987 calories in 3.4 hrs. That's pretty good for me... the professed exercise avoider. I've been starting out each exercise w/ a 20 minute run which burns app. 130 or so calories. Then I change up the last 15-20 mins of working out. Sometimes I do yoga, sometimes boxing, sometimes strength training... and sometimes I mix in the games that are so fun to play like the obstacle course or snowball fight. :)

According to the Wii Fit scale I'm down 4 lbs since when I started on Jan 1st. "Only" 20 more to go... I'm sure that a lot of my weight loss was Holiday gain. I'm where I was about 2 mos ago... before the Holiday season. :P

The One With New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions. I don't like to make them because I don't enjoy failing. However, last year I made a 'resolution' to read 40 books in 52 weeks and I made it! Woohoo!! I was going to go for 52 this year, but think I'll just up it by 5. So 45 books in 52 weeks this year. I have a few other goals too: loosing weight, family fun activities, more outdoor time once the good weather hits. And I'd love to have a garden this year. We'll see what happens...