Mr & Mrs Smith

  So his post haircut & potty training photo should have it's own post. In most ways he has done so great with potty training. He understands when he has to go & he can hold it until he gets there. He will even take his diaper off to go since we put that on him at bedtime still. One perk to doing it early I can see is that it's more accepted as the normal, the diaper isn't a crutch & there isn't this mental battle. However, the downside to doing it early is the amount of energy it has taken me to listen out for him to tell me he needs to go since he doesn't go on his own & even if he is there, messes happen due to the lack of aiming. However, we still have our little fights about holding it too long and those are the worst. He hasn't had a poo accident in a long time, but let me back track & say those are the worst. He doesn't like to see me freak out so I definitely know it puts a new level of caring in him when he tries t...

I almost forget love day isn't just for sugar cookies & heart shaped breakfastes. But that's what makes this little girl glow. A craft party with friends that lets her get out the glitter glue makes her go woohoo! I tried something different with the cookies this year & it's my new tradition - baking the cookie bars first and then cutting them out. These were delicious thanks to the foodnanny! I believe our actual valentine's day will be a little low key. Lexi is just looking forward to Gammi's package. It's so hard for her to make enough good choices to earn it. I praised her for listening so well yesterday morning & she admitted it was so she could get Gammi's package, haha! For Dallin's treat, he is back to telling me when he has to go pee since he went on a 2-day hiatus that made me really stress out.  And they've also been staying in their bedroom through the night. I'm h...

For me, "negative" or "positive" emotions have never really existed. Perhaps they should, but I do think happy people feel both. I understand where we are encouraged to show gratitude & hope, but those things only come from feeling the pains of ordinary life. It all works together, the good & the bad, to help us grow. You should know I'm growing. But there are negative people in the world, those who never choose to accept that ordinary life is a gift no matter what the day brings. There are those who refuse to accept the flaws of others or that we live in a fallen world full of imperfect people trying to do their best. And even still, we can only choose how we act & react. I will get frustrated when I'm frustrated, but I will own it & I will fight the urge to linger in it. Because of a quote that has stayed with me, "it's not a sin to get discouraged, it's a sin to linger in discouragement" & maybe I should add "by...

I'm not sure what unhappy feelings feels like on an unborn, but I already feel bad for this child.  So many minutes in a day my kids are adorable, and we are gliding by & they are laughing. Two seconds later & they are screaming like someone chopped their arm off.  I wouldn't know when an ER visit is imminent because those lungs have already given me PTSD over nothing. Yeah, let's add potty training to emotional children & again, I feel bad for the unborn, and my brain. It takes a lot of energy to fuss too. I'm so drained & I hate that.  But their screaming has to stop. I'm pretty sure Lexi taught Dallin how to do it when they are excited and frustrated. I'm supposed to be calm, but firm back? Lexi already cannot hear. Literally, she is deaf to any sort of instruction or request. That will literally be her biggest challenge in school - how to follow instructions.  But make her a promise about a treat or let her retell a story from TV and apparen...