A few happy things (in way too many words):

I am just a little excited about several things going on in our lives right now – mind you, they are small things, but exciting for me nonetheless – and I wanted to share them, mostly to remember them myself!

The disappearing paci:

This is very exciting to me.  We took away Noa’s paci about a month before Martha was born, using the logic with her that pacis are for babies and Noa was about to be a big sister.  It was actually quite hard for a few days, especially naps, but then it was wonderful to not have to worry about it anymore. I had really been wanting to use the same plan with Martha, but just didn’t have the same will power that I felt with Noa, and I kept making excuses: long plane ride, lots of driving, incredible changes for such a little girl, jet lag, new bed, etc.  And then, for a while after we moved she was having serious napping issues so we weren’t about to take it away then.  Martha was way more addicted that Noa ever was and I was losing hope of it being gone before baby arrives.

But alas, our God is good and he knew that I needed this (and I truly truly believe this: that God uses seemingly small things like these to communicate his love and care for us).  Last week I was putting the girls to bed and couldn’t for the life of me locate a paci for Martha.  So I thought,  “why not?  I’ll just see what she does if I don’t give it to her.”  And let me tell you, it has been amazing.  We’ve (read NOA) mentioned it a few times and it doesn’t phase her.  She’s sleeping great, for the most part, and not having any trouble going down (unless, you know, her sister is in there with her leading her in a chorus of pleas for water, light, music, or anything else to put off falling asleep at bedtime).  I am just so grateful that this much-dreaded battle hasn’t been a battle at all.  I give God the glory for that, because I wasn’t gonna have much of a fight in me…

Potty-training: the last stand

In my mind I had two tasks to complete before baby #3 is born: potty train Noa (leaving myself with only two in diapers for this next stage of parenthood) and get rid of the paci.  In that order.  This has been the plan probably since I found out I was pregnant (nope, still haven’t checked to make sure we have an appropriate car seat, or at least a few newborn clothes unpacked and clean, or started stocking up on a stash of newborn diapers… I guess that plan will get in motion sometime in the next few weeks).  Unfortunately, I stunk at following through with my plan.  We had a few good goes at potty-training this spring, but both of us (and I really believe it was both of us… we both needed training when it came to this) kept digressing and reverting back to the comfortable and convenient.  Needless to say, the last months have been filled with excuses to not potty train (see list of excuses above to not get rid of the paci) and I became more and more panicked that I would, in fact, be that mother who couldn’t teach my kid to use the bathroom and she’d be having accidents in kindergarten. (Just kidding, I knew that wouldn’t happen, because Eric was a kindergarten teacher for several years and had students who couldn’t use the toilet and has sworn his would never do that to a teacher.  So, I knew that if she became 4 or 5 and was still in pull-ups I could count on Eric to fill in where I had failed…) Anyway, I was feeling like an utter failure in this (especially hearing other moms’ opinions about late-potty-trainers and/or hearing of kids Martha’s age potty training) and broke down on the phone to my mother, crying about how awful it was going to be that Noa will be three soon and I will have three children that I will be wiping and changing all day every day for the rest of my life …or something like that.  I was pretty defeated and sad that it just didn’t seem to be working out.  And my dear mother, wise woman that she is, advised me to just let it go.   She said there’s nothing magical about turning three or getting a new sibling that makes a kid too old to be in diapers.  She’ll get it when she gets it and you’re stressing yourself and her out if you’re pushing her and she’s not ready.  I don’t know why I needed that “permission” to give up the goal, but it really was amazing how quickly I felt the burden of it lift and the freedom to say, “I may be changing three kids day in and day out but if this is how God designed me and my kids, then so be it… I’m better off getting used to the idea than fighting it!”  Wow, it was a great feeling…

ALMOST as good as the feeling I am having right now having had Noa in underwear for 4 days with a lot of super encouraging progress.  She was trying to use the toilet a lot last week, and asking to wear underwear so I decided to try a last-ditch effort that would be completely fun and with no pressure if it failed.  I made her a beautiful (in my opinion) sticker chart with pretty presents all over it (idea courtesy of my friend Sarah who also had a later-potty-trainer of a girl and went to target and bought cheap but exciting things that she wants/needs (new socks, a new set of water color paints, etc.) and wrapped them up pretty and put them on display by the kitchen table.  Every time she goes to the bathroom successfully, she get to put a sticker on a present, and then she and Martha each get a treat (a sweet tart).  After she got a sticker on each present on the chart, she got to open a real present.  It has been really fun.  We found Eric’s old sticker box from when he taught so we’ve been having fun with the hundreds of stickers to choose from.  Plus, it’s fun because she gets to share her success with Martha, which it’s just obvious she LOVES.  Martha gets super excited when Noa makes a deposit in the potty because she knows it means a treat for her   Today was the best yet as she stayed dry all day and even held it for like 15-20 minutes while we were driving.

Anyway, all of that to say, this is another area that I am just so thankful for God’s hand in.  I feel like it is him working in my children in these very small things, to show me that he cares for me and to encourage me in this job of mothering.  Obviously, these are good things for my kids too, and important steps for them, and I am thankful that HE is their perfect parent, perfectly able to accomplish anything, even what I think feels impossible, in their little minds, hearts, and bodies.

Mommy’s helpers

I am loving having a dishwasher, that is not Eric, for the first time in my married life.  It is really a treat in so many ways.  But I think my favorite part is unloading the clean dishes with the girls.  They LOVE to help me with it.  Martha brings me the silverware and Noa stacks the bowls and plates on the counter for me to put away.  It’s a fun chore to do together.

Another new thing is Noa helping to wash the other dishes.  I don’t put our kids plastic dishes or our big pots and pans in the dishwasher so there are always some dishes in the sink to be washed up the old-fashioned way.  In the last week or so, Noa has started pulling up a chair after dinner and rinsing the dishes that I wash and stacking them in the drainer.  It is SO FUN to work alongside my girl and see her learn this important chore that she’ll do her whole life long, most likely.  We talk and/or sing and/or (if she’s not still in her chair) think of tasks we can send Martha to do while we finish up so that she doesn’t try to pull up a chair too (let’s be honest: Martha+water+chair+hard kitchen floor= a big mess or a bumped head or both!).  It has been a true joy and, while I don’t think it saves time yet, doesn’t add any time on to my post-dinner cleanup.  I love it.

That’s all for now. If I tried to write about all the happy little moments every day, I would be writing instead of enjoying them.  But these three especially have been very exciting to me, and have been means of reminding me of my Father’s love for me.  It may sounds strange, but that’s just my life right now and I am basking in the joy of these few happy things and who they come from.