 | Diary Navigation:
|
February 29, 2004
Hold on to your hats, because this is going to be one mega-super long entry!
First to remember where I left off...ah, yes, okay. Josh was 3 weeks old in my last entry. Boy, do I have a lot of ground to cover!
Joshua-9 weeks
Sarah-26 months
I'll start with Josh. He is fabulous. He sleeps though the night consistently 8+ hours. He does have his cranky times, usually like clockwork in the late afternoon, where he just wants you to walk around holding him. I guess he needs a change of scenery-LOL.
He eats every 2-3 hours during the day. Then, when I go to bed at night, usually around midnight, I change him. That wakes him up enough so I can feed him, and we both fall asleep in bed, where he sleeps with me until morning. He wakes up at pretty much the same time every day- 7:30a.m. It's wonderful!
He is also interacting with us so much. He smiles the biggest smiles, coos at us, and even laughs a little at times. He is such a sweet, beautiful baby and I am enjoying every minute with him! =)
The only problem I have with him is his naps. It seems he has to be moving to sleep. He always falls asleep in the car, and when we are home, he will only nap in his swing. I worry that I am letting him for bad sleep habits. Does anyone else have this problem?
Also, as you may know, our 2-year-old still won't sleep by herself. This has resulted in a sleep arrangement of my husband and her in one room, and me and my son in another. Currently, Josh is sleeping in my bed, but I don't want to have another situation like I do with my first where I can't get him out of my bed and sleeping on his own. I want him to be able to soothe himself to sleep. Sarah still can't go to bed without one of us lying down with her, and that is something I want to avoid this time around.
So, what is the problem, you may ask? This sound silly to a lot of you, but here it is:
I literally do not know how to do it any other way. This is the way that seems natural to me. I don't know how to stand by stoically while my baby cries out from their bed. I just have to see it from their point-of-view: They have never been alone. This is a big, scary new world. They depend on me for everything and being away from me has to be terrifying. They don't know I am just in the other room. The concept of object permanence is lost on them. So, what do I do? When is the "right" timing to make that transition? Clearly with Sarah, we waited to long, but with Josh is it still too soon? He is only 2 months old, and the fact of the matter is, I believe I am physically incapable of letting my baby "cry it out".
(WARNING: POSSIBLY OFFENSIVE MATERIAL IMPENDING. PLEASE READ WITH AN OPEN MIND, AND IN NO WAY CONSIDER IT AN ATTACK ON YOUR PERSONAL CHOICES.)
It is my belief that babies who are left to cry it out, do not "learn" so much as they give up. They realize no one in going to come for them, and eventually they abandon that hope. And I am sorry, but to me that is a very sad thing. So, what to do? Where is that acceptable middle ground for me? I just don't know. Any positive suggestions would be welcome. Please, no nasty posters just looking to be negative or start conflict on my board. TIA!
Now onto Sarah...
She caught a cold from school and brought it home to share with all of us. Wasn't that nice? Now as we're finally all almost over it, I think she has caught another one. Poor thing!
Aside from that, she is doing very well. She absolutely adores her baby brother! She always wants to touch him, talk to him, help me change him, etc. She's so affectionate towards him and it is so sweet.
Potty learning is going really well, too. She is in pull-ups now, and her new favorite sentence is "I do it all by myself!" And she does! She can climb up on the step stool, pull down her pants and sit on the potty. Sometimes she goes, sometimes she doesn't, but she is doing great for someone who just turned 2!! We are so proud of her and tell her so all the time. She gets LOTS of encouragement and praise when she goes potty, and she loves it. =)
**Time to brag**
Sarah is very smart. She can count to 10, knows her alphabet, her first and last name, and has an enormous vocabulary. Everyone we meet is amazed at how much she can say and how clearly she speaks. People can almost always understand everything she says. She is in preschool (K-2), and her teacher says she is really advanced enough to be in K-3, but the school won't let kids in the grades until they're the appropriate age (i.e. 3 years old for K-3, and so on). Plus they need to be fully potty trained to enter K-3. According to their rules, kids only move up to the next grade once a year, when the new school year starts in August. Since Sarah won't be 3 until December, that would mean she would have to stay in K-2 until August of 2005. However, her teacher said she would recommend that Sarah move up immediately upon turning 3, because if she had to repeat K-2 again, she would be bored to tears. We are so proud of our little brainiac! =D
As for me and Moe, (wow! I never talk about us! LOL) we are doing good. Very busy, though. It is extremely hard to find time for ourselves, together and individual time. Two young children sure are a lot of work! (Now all of you with two or more say "Duh!" LOL.) I guess you can never fully prepare for parenthood and the changes it brings. If anyone has suggestions on creative ways of making more time to be with your husband, or just be alone, I'd love to hear them.
LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST...
Now, as promised, I am going to talk about my experience viewing "The Passion of the Christ". I will say in advance that I am a Christian and I will be speaking freely, so if this is something you would rather not read, feel free to skip it.
There really are no words that can fully describe this film, but I sure am going to try. Graphic, intense, incredibly accurate, a masterpiece... I suppose all of these terms could be used, but they don't convey what I really want to say. The fact is, this movie changed my life. I gave my life to the Lord 5 years ago, but until I saw this movie, I never fully understood Christ's sacrifice. Yes, it was extremely hard to watch, but that is exactly the point. It is that awful because it WAS that awful. No man has ever or will ever suffer as much as Christ did on this earth. There are many things that you can take away from this movie, but what God showed me through it was this:
You cannot go by feelings in life- everything is a choice. Jesus sure didn't FEEL like being beaten beyond all recognition and brutally murdered, dying a slow death on the cross. Right before His capture, when he was praying in the garden, He asked God if there was ANY way that this cup could pass from Him. But still He told God that He wanted God's will to be done, not His. Jesus made the choice to follow through with this ultimate act of love, to save us all from our sins, which lead to death and eternity without God.
Surely, if Jesus can do that, then I can put myself aside, my emotions aside, and do what I need to do, even if I don't feel like it. You have to choose how you want to live.
When you and your spouse are at each other's throats, you have to make the choice to stay together anyway. When your kids are making you crazy, you have to make the choice not to walk out the door. I am going to start making better choices in my life. And the most important one I have made is this: I am not going to compromise anymore. I am going to examine everything in my life, and measure it by the standards of God; the shows I watch, the things I say, even the very thoughts I think. Too many Christians have been lukewarm for too long. It's time to get radical for Jesus and let the whole world know how much He loves them!
Before anything else though, I have to work on myself. I have to be in a close relationship with Him, really learn His ways and experience His love, before I can share it with anyone else. Someone once said, "You can't give away what you don't have." So I am going to dedicate my life in full to serving and glorifying my Lord. Will it be easy? No. Will I mess up? It's a given. But at the end of the day, all I want to know is that I did my absolute best to live a life that is pleasing to Him. I want to hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joys of life eternal." And I want as many people as possible to come with me.
 |  |
|
want to keep a diary on iParenting?
Authoring a diary on the iParenting network allows you to chronicle your family's story, preserving it for years to come. It's also a great way to get the most out of the iParenting community. Click here to start...
|
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families. 
