A little known secret

All of my children have been pacifier children. Calvin still is - we'll tackle that here soon! Juliet had her pacifier until she was two and a half. When we were in Yosemite for my brother's wedding, she fell asleep without it pretty much the whole trip. I think mostly because we were completely out of our normal schedule and she was just sleeping whenever she could that weekend. We were thrilled because she broke that habit so naturally that it never was a big deal getting rid of it. She was without it for about 4 months before she found that her finger was a comfortable thing!

She is now almost 8 years old and still sucks her finger at night. (Fortunately only at night) Shhh.....there is a bit of a pride thing there. It can be embarrassing for her at times, and I hate to admit it, but it is embarrassing for me too. We have tried everything in the last 5 years. I mean everything short of hot sauce. (I just can't do that) She had a bridge expander put in her mouth for about 8 months because the sucking had narrowed her roof so drastically that there wasn't room enough for her adult teeth to grow in.

Recently we had another appliance put in that is supposed to make it so that she cannot create a suction with her finger. Well.....that was on for about 6 weeks and she managed to push it up enough against the roof of her mouth so she could get a suction! I tell ya, this has been so frustrating. I get so annoyed with it that I have had to completely back off and try to convince myself that she will out grow it at some point. But, when? She's almost 8. About to start 3rd grade. Ugh.

I have been reading a book about the finger sucking subject, and it really dawned on me today that I have been telling her all this time that she has to stop. I have been trying to convince her that she has to stop. I've bribed her, I've gotten mad at her, I've given up.
It wasn't until this afternoon that I realized I have not let her own the decision yet.

So tonight we talked about it. I told her that she can do it. She has to make a choice that she is no longer a baby, and doesn't need it. I explained that I know it's comfortable for her and she likes it, but that she doesn't need it to sleep. We talked about praying and asking Jesus to help her. I told her that I would pray for her constantly and that at night when she felt like she wanted to put her finger in her mouth that she could ask Jesus to be there and help her and then make the choice not to put it in her mouth. I explained that Jesus always wants to help us and that when we pray in times like this, if we truly believe in our heart that He will help us, He will.

I reminded her of Philippians 4:13 "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." I told her that when we ask for His strength, He will give it to us. He will also comfort and encourage her, and strengthen her to do this. But she has to own the decision. I told her that when she does this for a week with no finger, she will make a new habit of no finger and she can get another Webkins. So, there still is some bribery there, which I see nothing wrong with, but this time she was ready to make the choice. I never once mentioned the "what if I can't" scenario. I'm having confidence in my prayers that she will do it this time.

So, I am asking that you would say a prayer of confidence and courage for Jules. She could really use some extra prayers so that she can accomplish this huge decision of hers. We appreciate it! I know she's capable of doing it, she's done it a few nights here and there, but I just want her to see that she can do it without the finger.

Our Golf Pro in the making...

Enough Said!

What can I say?!

My Loves

This is my new favorite picture! It was on Father's Day. After a lovely breakfast, we went to Fairy Tale Town. It's been quite a few years since we've been, so it was like a whole to place again!

We then went over to some friend's house to bbq dinner and play on the "jumpy jump" (Calvin language!) The Dad's then went out to a movie while we hung out and played. Mike is such an awesome Daddy!

11 Years

15 years ago today we met. Mike had just graduated high school and I was going to be a senior. Little did we know the life God had planned out for us. I'm so thankful for our marriage. There really isn't much I would change. We have spent many years focusing on our marrage, specifically communication. We have learned a great deal about how each of us communicates differently by nature. Fortunately early on in our marriage we read a great book called, A Lasting Promise. It brought us to a common ground of communication and taught us how to listen to each other. I'd have to say the strongest aspect of our marriage is our communication.

The best advice we like to share with newly married couples is to not have a television. We didn't have television for the first 4 years of our marriage. It was the best thing for us. We played a lot of games, talked, went for a lot of walks, listened to a lot of talk radio, listened to a ton or worship music, and enjoyed every minute of it. We purposely don't have a television in our living room because we feel that it discourages communication. We strive to make our home a comfortable place. A place that people may want to come to hang out and chat. We have had many friends over the years do just that, and we feel like we are doing just what God wants us to.

We have had our share of heartache, don't get me wrong, what marriage doesn't. But overall, these last 11 years have been very positive. We have grown from every struggle. And we have 3 gorgeous (of course I'm biased!) children who we are called to parent in a specific manner.

11 wonderful years down and many more good ones to come!

The Trio

The last day of swim lessons for this session. Mia completed the Goldfish level and was swimming about 15 yds on her own! Jules did the Manta Ray class and is now swimming freestyle and backstroke all the way across the pool...several times! Cal did the parent/tot class and warmed up to it a bit after a while!

Mia and her funnies

Lately she and I have been making funny faces at each other. She likes to mimic whatever face I make. Needless to say we have a lot of fun with it! Tonight we were making faces and Calvin started calling her. She ran to see what he wanted and then came back. She then tells me, "Ok Mom, I'm ready for more funny faces!" She just cracks me up! I'll have to get some pics of our funny faces tomorrow!

Mr. 5:45am

This is getting old really fast! I'm thinking it may be his new molars coming in that are bugging him, but yea, 5:45am and not going to work...ugh! This morning he was not going back to sleep for me and I really didn't want him to wake anyone else in the house up, so Calvin, Happy and I went for a walk...jammies and all! We started to go up the street, but then noticed a firetruck down the street a ways. Of course, we had to go check it out and see what we could see.

Calvin was constantly, "Hear some ting, Mom? Firetruck!" As we got closer we saw 4 Sheriff as well. Hmm...wonder what was happening? Well, the firetruck took off as Cal screamed, "Too loud, Mommy! Too loud!" As we approached, all the Sheriff officers were starting to disburse. As one went to pass by us, he stopped and waved at Calvin. He was all smiles! Then the officer turned on the lights and Cal was enthralled! It was really cute! I thought the guy was very nice to have done that for him. He must be a dad!

But our walk around two blocks, took nearly an hour! We had to stop at every ant, stick, sprinkler, you name it - we stopped! Even every bird he heard, "Mommy, hear some ting? Birdie!" It really made our early morning time fun. I enjoyed every step of it, BUT I really hope it's not that early tomorrow morning!

Mia-isms

Lately Mia has just been cracking us up with her new discoveries of language. She doesn't have all her pronouns correct and we love it. I know I should change it, but it's just so darn cute. I love when she says stuff like, "Her is going to the store." or "When is her going to wake up?" It just reminds us how little she still is. Maybe we're holding on to her little-ness, I guess. Who can blame us?

-Mia, you're a smarty pants.
"No I'm not. I'm not a pants!"

"Come on, let's go for a bike-a-ride!"

Her poodle Webkins is named, White Ploodle!

She is getting so darn independent too. Yesterday we were eating outside and she was thirsty. She disappears for a little bit and returns with a glass of lemonade with ice in it! She had gotten the glass down, poured herself some lemonade, gotten the ice out of the freezer and helped herself! What a little stinker. She just floors us with stuff like that all the time!

She loves to clean. She cleans her room all the time by herself. When she's asked to pick up the bathroom, she will clean it all including the floor! All on her own free will. I just love this little girl!

Another year done

Yesterday was the last day of school for me. So Mike came to my classroom with me today to pack up my room. Since I'm switching grade levels, I'm also moving to a new classroom. That means all my stuff had to be packed up! Yikes, that's a lot of stuff! I am really looking forward to Kindergarten. I'm looking forward to the hours, the lack of projects to grade, no test prep, and just a different pace. 5/6 year olds have a lot more energy that will have to be directed differently than 8/9 year olds, but I'm looking forward to a new adventure. I think it will also be fun to be teaching the same grade as Mia will be in. With Jules in third next year, I will know exactly what she's learning an doing. That part will be fun too.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to my time at home with the family. Can't wait to get back into the routine of waking up whenever, daily bike rides and picnics, playing at the sprinkler parks, swimming at our friends' house, and eating outside in the evenings. Some things I long for throughout the school year.