Mighty Spirit Kids

As a mom, I love nothing more than hearing my kids worship the Lord - it's such a beautiful thing.  They are so young and unconcerned with what others think about them or if they look silly dancing all over the place and signing at the top of their lungs.  They just love to worship.  We have lots of different music that we listen to in our house - but my favorites are those that are full of scripture.  We all find ourselves singing the word of God and meditating on scripture without even knowing it, and those scriptures become stored in our hearts.  This is what I want for my kids.

Anyone else have a child that watches/listens to everything and will repeat over and over and over a line from a movie, show or song? And usually the most annoying line? haha.  Maybe that's just a 4 yr old boy thing.  They will pick up and repeat whatever they hear - that's why it's such an important job for us as parents to be the filter of what they hear until they are old enough and have learned how to make those choices for themselves. 

This is why I'm SO excited about the new Mighty Spirit Kids worship album!  Our friends, Will and Laura Stern created this album of fun pop songs packed full of scripture for the very purpose of hiding God's word in our children's hearts.  Check our this intro video to preview the songs and hear their heart behind the music.

My kids LOVE this album - the music is really upbeat and it sticks in your head - I have seriously been singing their songs in my head pretty much constantly since we got the cd.  Which is exactly what I want...I want to hear my kids singing and repeating the scriptures and hiding them in their hearts.

I really encourage you to check out www.mightyspiritkids.com to hear previews or order a cd, you can also download it on itunes or amazon.com - and it's only $10!  Your kids will love it and so will you.

They're getting it

Every once in a while I have one of those days where I wonder why in the world I am a stay at home mom?  My kids are driving me crazy.... I'm pretty sure I'm driving them crazy.... and once in a while I have the thought that they would be happier in daycare with a more consistent structure, playing with their friends all day.  I know from talking to other moms that I'm not alone in having this feeling occasionally (or everyday).

It's a big task.  Being a mom is not the most glorious job on the planet, and sometimes I think it's quite possibly the hardest.  And I'm not always confident that I'm any good at it.

Because the kids are fighting....and I'm yelling. Sometimes I feel like I'm the professional time-out enforcer. They're whining...a lot. Claire refuses to use the toilet.  And has no desire to learn her colors (really, she just says everything is pink so we can move on. lol)  I don't always provide the most structured day.  And sometimes they watch more cartoons than they should.... and I begin to wonder if I'm qualified to do this.

 But every once in a while something happens that reminds me that even in the midst of all that....they're getting it.

Today, Boden ran out to the curb as the bus was pulling up and Claire ran after him and they both got there before me.  I grabbed Titus and followed.  I looked up and nearly started crying at what I saw.  Claire had her hand on Boden's head and was praying for him.

I couldn't make out what exactly she said (because I was scrambling for my iphone to capture the moment) but it didn't matter.  What mattered to me is that she's getting it.

And then it no longer mattered she thinks every single color is pink...or that that she has no desire to potty train.  What she does know is that she should pray for her brother.  She has watched me pray over him before he gets on the bus everyday.  She has learned something from me.  And it's way more important than colors or numbers or reading or writing, she'll get to those eventually.

I'm reminded today that I know I'm here for a reason.  God put me here to raise up these little children to know and love the Lord.  To be a reflection of Christ to them everyday.  And I'm so thankful for these reminders that God gives me once in awhile to show me that even though I don't always feel like I'm doing a good job - I am on the right track.  They're getting it.  Thank you Jesus.


Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

naptime adventures, part II

On Thursday afternoon I put Boden down for a nap, after about 30 minutes of not hearing him running around anymore I was certain he was asleep. So, I decided to take a nap myself. About 1 1/2 hrs later I woke up to him screaming "Mama! Get me down!" I ran into his room to find him standing inside the second drawer of his dresser! (this was one moment I wish I had a picture of, but wasn't going to just leave the poor kid in the dresser while I went to find my camera, besides...it didn't look all that safe :) )

After I got him down from the drawer I looked over to his bed....

It's probably hard to tell by the picture, but he has gotten into the changing table and found all kinds of interesting things that I didn't even realize were in there - cortizone cream, tubes of vaseline, tubes of antibiotic ointment, lansinol cream, various thermometers, pacifiers, combs & brushes...and of course some books and stuffed animals too. Looks like he had quite the party while I was napping!

I notice there is quite a strong smell in the room too, and as I take a closer look at Boden I realize he's definitely got something in his hair....
I look a little more closely at the items on the bed and it hits me...

A tub of vicks baby rub. Nice job Boden. He proudly tells me he was fixing his hair for the hockey game. ??? No idea why he thought he was going to a hockey game, or why he thought he needed to fix his hair for said hockey game, but he was VERY proud of himself. Apparently he thought it looked a lot like Daddy's pomade that we sometimes put in his hair.

In case you're wondering - it takes 3 days and approximately 17 washes with various shampoos, dish soaps, and household cleaners to remove vicks rub from ones hair. I seriously considered shaving his head after about 10 washes.

This naptime nonsense is driving me crazy, but how can you stay mad when they're this adorable?

sleep update

Thanks everyone for all the great advice you left me here or emailed to me. I know most all parents go through these things, so its encouraging to hear what you've done that works. We're still not "there" yet, but we've had a few good days and a few rough ones. For example, today he's down for a nap without a fight and didn't try to come out of his room once. But, yesterday was a completely different story. It was by far the most entertaining to me (probably because I wasn't home and Michael was dealing with it, but I'm sure Michael will laugh about it one day). Yesterday, Michael put Boden down for a nap around 1:30. By about 2:30 he started coming out of his room throwing his clothes (which he had emptied out of his dresser) into the hallway. Around 3pm he took all the books of his bookshelf and piled them up on his bed. And I think it was around 3:30 that Michael took this photo with his phone when he came into the room:

little stinker had moved his bed across the room, climbed into the crib, and was jumping in the crib (which is pretty unsafe considering I had adjusted the mattress to it's highest position in preparation for the new baby).

My, oh, my - children do make life interesting, don't they?

Parenting Advice Needed!

Believe it or not my adorable little 2 year old can be quite stubborn sometimes. Over the past several weeks he's become more and more stubborn and demanding about getting his way regarding snacks, toys, cartoons etc. He will argue with me that he wants to watch a certain cartoon when it isn't even on at that time, and throw a tantrum because he wants to watch it NOW. Two days ago we were driving down the highway and he kept trying to pull the handle on the door open because, as he told me "I want to drive in MY OWN car!" I had never checked to make sure the child lock was set on the door before, but it sure is now! I realize that all these things are just him trying to assert his independence and find out what he does and does not have control over, and while it's driving me crazy, I can handle it.

But, this new thing he has started has me at a complete loss on what to do. The past few nights he has refused to go to bed. He's been in his toddler bed for several weeks now, and doing just fine, but suddenly he won't stay in bed, or in his room (he recently learned how to open doors). He keeps running out of his room and asking me to cover him back up. Thursday night it took probably an hour and a half of taking him back to bed every 5 minutes before he finally went to sleep. Last night we started around 8:30 and finally all went to bed, in our bed, after 11pm and he was up bright and early at 6:30am. Then today, at naptime it took an hour and a half to get him to stay in his room. He's in there now, and I think he's sleeping, but I'm not totally sure.

I realize we probably did the worst possible thing by letting him fall asleep in our bed last night, but honestly, we've had a rough week, were physically and emotionally exhausted and we just couldn't handle it anymore, so we caved.

I've tried encouraging him that if he stays in his room during naptime/at bedtime that he can have a sticker/special treat when he gets up, which worked when we first put him in the toddler bed. I've tried just putting him back in bed without talking to him. I've tried leaving a night light on (at bedtime). I've prayed over him. Michael has prayed over him. We've prayed over him together. I've tried warning him that he'll get a spanking if he comes out of his room again - which isn't working at all because he doesn't seem to care (well, he gets upset when I spank him, but he does the same thing 2 minutes later).

So - all you parents who've been here before...what did you find that works? doesn't work? ideas? I fully expected him to act out a little after the baby arrived, but if he's already acting this way before she gets here, what should I be expecting in a few weeks?!