Valentines Thoughts

    I am going to be busy for the next week or two.  Valentine's Day is coming up I have been thinking about what I hope for my kids to find in a relationship when they are way older.  Here is what I have come up with.

    For my girls, I hope they find someone as thoughtful and loving as their father is to me.  He always does things for me that he doesn't have too.  He always puts me first and makes me smile even when I am sad. He treats me like I am the most special thing in the world.  He shows me how much he loves me and never would raise a hand to me.  I want that for them. 

    I hope my son is like his father with his wife.  I hope his wife appreciates him and treats him with respect.  I want her to feel like he is the most important thing in the world.  I hope all my children have spouses that are kind and loving.  I want them to be happy.  I use husband and wife for them but if they are happy with whoever they decide to share their lives with I will be happy.  I wouldn't mind having lots of grand babies though.

    I know it will be along time before I have to deal with this.  It was what I was thinking about today.  I hope they are happy and find lots of love. They are my pride and joy.  Their father is the love of my life.  What I have is rare and beautiful.  I want that for them.  I am a very lucky woman to have such wonderful children and a very special, amazing husband.

Kids Drive Me Crazy

    Today is Sunday.  We always go to church on Sundays, but didn't go today because we didn't have the gas to get there.   I put the kids down at noon, their normal nap time, and sat down to watch a sermon online.  They didn't go to sleep.
    The first time I went up there Trina and Nina had found zip lock bags and were filling them with water and taking them to Phoenix's room to pour it on the floor. I busted their bottoms and sent them to bed.  This is when I notice Trina has taken the toilet paper torn to bits. So she was told it would all be cleaned up when she got up from her nap.  I was downstairs trying to listen to the Lord's word and managed for about 5 minutes. Then I hear them in the bathroom again. Trina had found another bag for water and Nina was helping her fill it up. So I smacked their hands and told them if they get out of bed then they would get a spanking again.  I really hate spanking them but I have tried everything else and sometimes it is the only thing that gets the point across that something they are doing is wrong.
    Since their nap where they didn't sleep they have been doing well. Though they are aggravating each other they haven't been worse than normal.  They cleaned their rooms and are currently playing with the baby. The only one driving me crazy now is my son. He is potty training and though he knows when he potty's he doesn't try.  He poops and pees on my floor and I am constantly cleaning up after him.  I am going to have the cleanest floors if he keeps this up. They will be clean because I have been and will continue to clean them every single day till he quites this. 
    On the upside we are going to Sea World next weekend.  That should be a blast.  The places we are close to are one of the few things I like about California.  I enjoy the Zoo, Safari Park and Sea World.  Plus there are several museums to take the kids to also.  I hope the girls are good so I can go.  We told them if they don't listen this week they cant go and I will stay home with them while their Daddy takes their baby brother and sister.

Day 4 Trina

    Raising a 5 year old has become a scary thing.  As much as I love Trina she drives me crazy.  She talks back, agravates her brother and sisters constantly, rolls her eyes and never listens. I swear she should be a teenager. She has a lot of responsibility though.  She is the oldest of 4 and while I dont expect her to be perfect.  I let her know that she is an example for her younger siblings.
    I dont know if I am doing everything right.  I do know she is pretty well behaved in public. I also know she is a very caring person.  She loves others, even people she doesnt know.She has worried for over a year about the fact my grandma died.  She died before my son turned 1, and though I talk about her sometimes, it is always to tell them that she is happy in a better place and how wonderful a woman she was.  I never cry about it any more and havent for a really long time.  I know my grandma is at peace and I try to let my girls know it is ok.
    Besides being sassy, my Trina is incrediably smart. She can add small numbers in her head, read several words, and is learning to blend letters.  This is all before kindergarten.  She doesnt start till next year, but we are doing an early enrollment program that is homeschool from the public school system.  When I go down there and fill out a piece of paper she will be taking dance for a pt class. Trina loves music and dancing.  She is almost always singing and dancing around the house.
    All in all Trina is an amazing little girl.  Any mother would be lucky to have her, attitude and all. She is mine though and I will love her through the hard times and easy. When she is bad I may wish I could beat her, but I love her all the more.   When she is good I am so proud and happy.  I know that she is learning her way and it is really hard.  It is a long path to learning who you are and what you want or should do with your life.  She is just begining that journey and I will be there every step of the way to help her up when she falls and praise her when she does it by herself.  I am a very lucky woman to know this little girl and be her mother.

Day 3 Homeschooling

    I don't know if I mentioned it in my original blog but for now I am homeschooling my kids.  My husband is all for it for a year or two but really doesn't see it as something we should do for their entire childhood.  I agree in away but it may be a mute point.
   Trina has a problem with being nosy. I don't know where she gets it from. I do actually but hate to admit that I use to be very nosy as a child. I did grow out of it but it is crazy that she is so much like me that way. She doesn't pay attention if there are other kids around.
    Nina loves school at home or in a classroom. Right now she is doing both. She goes to head start Mondays and Wednesdays and I teach her all the rest of the week.  She is starting to learn the letter sounds. She recognizes all her letters and can write most of them. So we may just leave her in public school, I don't know we will have to see.
    As for Phoenix and Angel who knows how they will do in school. Phoenix has his very one issues and smarts. Where as Angel is still a baby who is going through severe separation anxiety. I cant put her down for a minute. What I will need to do for them is still up in the air.
    I start school with just Trina.  We do her math and reading work for the day. It takes only a hour and a half to two hours. Then it is Nina's turn. We go over letters, do worksheets and just talk. She has fun and it takes about an hour.  By this time it is usually near lunch time so we eat and nap. Then it is microphone time for Trina, Nina and Phoenix. We talk about why we are special, do art and science and try to have fun in a way that Phoenix can join in but the girls learn too.
    During nap time and bed time if I can get them all to sleep at the same time is when I clean my house and read if I have time. Sometimes I nap, especially since right now Angel wants to be awake all night. It drives me nuts and I am so exhausted I drink about a 3 liter of diet coke a day just to try to stay awake. If I could ever get a schedule set and people wouldn't break it then I would be set with this homeschooling thing.

Day 2 Phoenix

  

    I am so excited. Phoenix used the potty today and he used it once yesterday. He is doing really well. I cant believe he finally got it. He has been sitting on that potty off and on for months. But now he is ready. Yay!!!!!!

    I worry a lot about Phoenix. Before he was born they told me his kidneys were not going to work properly and he would probably be in the NICU for a couple of weeks. Well he came out peeing like a champ. They decided though his kidneys work weird it is normal for him. He just needed to be watched a little closer than most but he would be normal. He had reflux starting at about 3 weeks and ending at 5 months. He took forever to walk. He was 15 months. He barely said 15 words at his 18 month check up. And now he doesn't put 2 words together and he is almost 2.

    Now it may seem like my son is a lot behind on the power curb even though he makes the mark just barely. But Phoenix has said Thank you (a phrase that he thinks is one word) since about a year. He knows how to open doors. He can do wooden puzzles all by himself. He knows how to put all the dishes away and where they go. He loves helping me with the dishes. He already says 3 different color words but has no clue what they are. His alphabet is A,B,D,E,G. and he can count to 3. So I know he is smart. Maybe not as advanced as his big sisters and he may need help with his speech, but he is smart.

   

Day 2 Nina has a field trip

    So my Nina, the sensitive, gentle one, had a school field trip today and I got to go because my hubby works nights and could stay home with the other 3. It was fun. Did you know some school bus' if not all have seat belts now? I had no clue.
    Anyway, we went to Trader Joe's which is a grocery store. They had banana's for 19 cents per banana. I thought that was neat. But they talked to the kids about where different foods came from and showed them and let them touch the fruits. Then they were amazed by the card board recycling machine. Next we went in their fridge and the kids were shocked and amazed that they could walk in.  About this time my Nina started getting really tired and I had to pick her up.  She's not sleeping well lately. Then we went and saw the meats and then the milk. The whole time the nice lady giving us the tour was asking them questions and keeping them involved. It was lots of fun for them. Then we went to a little corner stand and they gave them chocolate granola bars. Yikes. My kids hardly ever get sugar and it is even rarer that they get chocolate because it has lots of sugar. But the kids all thanked Ms Sue for the food then we walked to the cash register and she explained that you have to pay before you take the food home. The last thing we did was she gave us Trader Joe's shopping bags, the non throw away kind. It had lots of snacks and things in it. Nina was so happy. So were we because we had to wait on the bus and it took about 5 minutes for it to get there. So they had a snack.
    When we got back to school all the kids were really tired but it was outside playtime then lunch before we went home. So all the adults had to try to help ease the frustrations of the kids. But they were really pretty good considering. Almost as soon as we got home Nina went down for a nap and I hope she takes a long nap after the excitement. After nap time Trina and I will do school and then if they all feel up to it I will take them to the park.

Day 1

    My name is Debra. I am the busy mother of 4 wonderful children. My husband is in the US Marine Corps, and we are very proud of him. I am a very disorganized person and have a hard time keeping a schedule that works for us because of this. So my life is very crazy.  This blog is to write about my life and my kids, mostly the later. I hope this will help me think more about how I am raising them and to distress after a very long day.  Enough about me now let me introduce my children.

    Trina is my oldest. At 5 years old she thinks she knows everything. She has a mouth like a teenager and the attitude to match. It drives me crazy. But on the other hand she is extremely smart. I know it sounds like bragging but its just the truth. Trina hasn't started Kindergarten yet because she was born at the end of December in 2005. She is currently enrolled in an Early Enrollment Kindergarten home school program I found. She started this month. She is bored with her math because she already knows it and I have her do like 3 lessons a day now at least till we find something she cant do. She can read several words though she doesn't yet get how to mix the letter sounds but she can read words. I don't get it. If she trys hard she can count to a hundred with only help with twenty, thirty and so on. She knows the rest. So she is scary smart. When Trina puts her mind to it she is the best child you will ever meet. She is polite and helpful and just all around delightful, when she wants to be. Trina can sing like an angel. She loves music and is almost always singing and dancing. It is so cute. She loves being a big sister but hates the responsibility that comes with being the oldest. But we try to give her more privilege's to. That way she sees the benefits.

   

    Nina is my secound child. She followed her sister a little over a year later. She is my gentel, and sweet child. She is very tender hearted. She is a great child 99.9% of the time. She is kind to everyone and crys at the simplest things. Nina does have a problem with tearing things up. She has poured formula out, tore things up and colored all over the walls since she was two and has not stopped yet. She never has an idea why she does it. Everytime I ask her she says I dont know. She just does it all the time. No matter how I punish her, or how much extra time, attention and talking I give her she just does it. But all kids have to thier faults I guess.

   Phoenix is my third child and only son. He followed Nina by 2 years. Phoenix came really fast. I went into labor at 6 in the morning and he was born at 830 in the morning. He was born with kidneys that function strangely but they work for him. We have to keep an eye on that. He is a very sweet boy. His favorite thing is cars and his Scout puppy.  The only problems we are currently having is that he calls me baby instead of Mommy. He gets it from his Daddy who calls me baby all the time.

   My last child was a suprise. She is 9 months old next week. Her name is Angel. She is a sweet baby and is very sweet. She recently changed her schedule and stays up all night. I am so tired trying to be awake for all of them. My other kids get up at 6 am in the morning and Angel stays up till 2 am in the morning. I hope she gets back to a normal schedule. But other than that she is a very clingy normal baby that loves to be held by her mommy and no one else.