Beckys Blog

Some recent conversations with my kids. Me - "You need to obey me now because I am all out of patients!" Raquelle - "Why are you all out of patients?" Me - "Because you used it all up!" Raquelle - "Well mommy, maybe you should pray and ask God to give you some more patients!" Titus is in the stage of mispronouncing most of his words.  Sometimes we can tell what he is saying, sometimes we can't.  There are a few though that I cringe when he uses in public... "A-hole" = apple... this one is embarrassing at the grocery store as people standing near the apples think he is talking to them. "Fruck" = truck...imagine him excitedly yelling about a "big fruck" as you go through a parking lot! "Hor" = horse ...he consistently misses the "S" on the end.  He has a horse costume and will run around the house saying "I a hor!  I a hor!"  Thad and I have a hard time not laughing as I t...

Now that Titus has received his new car seat in the mail, we are back to rear facing.  Why?  Because it is safer!  Technically, it is safer for EVERYONE to ride rear facing, but that just doesn't work.  Someone has to drive!  In a forward facing seat, a child's torso is held in place while their head whips forward potentially breaking the neck of a young child.  Rear facing, the head and neck are cradled by the seat and protected in a crash.  Titus outgrew the rear facing limits on his old seat, but the new seat (Sunshine Kids Radian 65) can be used rear facing up to 45 lbs!  He thinks it is cool to ride backwards.  The AAP recommends that children remain rear facing to the limits of the seat.  The law is 20 lbs and 1 yr old before they can turn around.  Moving up in car seats is not a milestone I look forward to.  Every time they outgrow a seat (turn forward, then move into a booster, etc) they are a little less protected in a...

I am currently potty training my 3rd child before the age of 2 and keep coming across people asking me how I do it...or commenting that my kids are amazing.  So I thought I would dedicate a post to my methods on how to potty train a toddler. I will start with my philosophy.  I do not believe in "waiting until they are ready" like you hear from the Dr's office and on all the suggestion fliers you get from diaper companies in the mail.  I believe in teaching them how to succeed.  30 years ago (and still today in other countries), it was totally normal for kids to be potty trained at 18 months to 2 years old.  Why are people waiting until 3 or 4 now?  I believe it is because they are waiting for the kid to be ready.  By waiting, you are then dealing with an opinionated preschool rather then an eager to please toddler which I believe CAN make the process more difficult.  There are plenty of success stories of kids being trained in a few days at olde...

We have had a lot going on lately!  We had a garage sale 2 weeks ago, followed by our 6 month inspection today.  Add to that 4 kids 4 and under most days and our house tends to take a beating!  We had to sort through everything in the garage and closets in a very short stretch of time for our sale, then we had to get everything organized and put away after that.  Here are some before and after pictures.  Before pictures are areas that were torn apart due to garage sale aftermath, or areas that were just plain neglected for 2 weeks.  After pics are after a fair bit or work.  More to come.    It's not perfect, but it is much improved over the last week!  I still need to finish up my room and Raquelle's room.  I tried to give her a chance to clean it on her own first, but her standards of clean do not match mine.  Thad has been working mostly in the garage.  We are close to having it organized enough to turn into a game ro...

At Keziah's last check up, her dr told me that she has the vocabulary of a 3 year old.  I believe it!  She talks more then any of my other kids at this age...however, with that vocabulary of a 3 year old comes the tact of a 1 1/2 yr old.  Here are some of the things she has been saying lately. Kez - "I love you!" Me - "I love you too." Kez - "No mommy!  I love you waffle!"  (points at the waffle iron) As I am chasing Kezzy down the hall with a rag after dinner Me - "Kezzy, where do you think you're going?" Kez - stopps..."Um, I don't know...church?" Playing with her little friend Kez - "Ring round rosies, posies, ashes, fall down!  (pause) Stand up Charlotte!  Again!" Potty training...she comes running into the kitchen - "Help mommy, Help...Oh no!  Poopies!" She also has "That's not nice" and "Be nice to me" down quite well.  She calls any bird the flies in the sky ...

From the dr's this week Raquelle Height - 40 1/4" - 40% Weight - 36 lbs - 44% Vision - 20/30 Titus Height - 38 3/4" - 65% Weight - 34 lbs - 60% Keziah Height - 33" - 58% Weight - 24 lbs 2.5 oz - 31% Head - 49 cm - 93%