So what do you do when you wake up hacking from allergies and you can't breathe and can't sleep? Well, I did the obvious first...checked email, checked FB, read my favorite news sites. So, now, it's time to write.
First, updates are in order.
Nazi-parenting status update - We are getting excellent results. Though there have been a few tears and some frustrating moments, Holloway has turned back into the kid that we've always enjoyed being around. Of course, training never ends. We had about 3 days of uninterrupted great behavior, and the other morning, I was thrown for a loop when I put a plate of food in front of him, and he blurted out, "is that all?" without thinking. Well, that little moment of selfishness and ungratefulness cost him a day of no screen time - no tv, no DS, no Wii, no computer, etc. And I think we've had about 48 hours of great behavior since then. But what's really cool is the change I'm seeing in the independent decisions he's making. He's not just following our rules, he's actually processing the "why" behind the rules and is making some cool decisions on his own. For instance, he noticed yesterday how crappy I've been feeling because of allergies, and he said something like "I'm so sorry you don't feel good," and he just got up and started cleaning up the toys from the living room floor and putting away all of the baby stuff after the babies got picked up. After the initial shock wore off, I was almost in tears over how proud I was at his display of selflessness.
Speaking of daycare - here's a status update on that. To respect the privacy of the kids I care for, I won't discuss specifics about them, other than to say that I am blessed with sweet babies to care for and great parents to work with. But, what I can and do want to write about is the impact it's had on our family. I can't even count the number of times every day that I am thankful for making this decision. Bren is so happy at home, and I am so happy with what she is learning by watching me care for babies. She LOVES these babies like they are her little sisters and brother, and what's really cool is that I have an opportunity to show her how precious babies are and how God wants us to love them and nurture them - an opportunity I wouldn't otherwise often have since she is the youngest child in the family. She's already playing more with her baby dolls (which she was never super interested in) - pretending to give them bottles and change their diapers. There's a new doll being peddled on all of the kids' channels called the Little Mommy Wipey Dipey Doll that she really wants for her birthday...hopefully grandma and papa will read this since we already got her her bday present. ;)
And Holloway is getting a review in all of this too when he comes home from school. He got a huge dose of all of this when Bren was born and he was 4, and I cared for 2 other little babies and a toddler in addition to Bren. I get lots of proud mommy moments when he walks in from school and sees the babies playing or sees me feeding one a bottle and he says, "aww...she's so cute."
I hope a good future daddy is in development here.
And for me, well, life is much more simple now, and I get to do things that I enjoy doing and am pretty good at, which is exactly what I was shooting for. After being out of a corporate work environment for a couple of weeks now, it's even more obvious to me that I am just not wired for that stuff. I'm not administrative, I'm not good at hiding what I really think and feel...it's just not a world where I can succeed. What I am good at is taking care of babies, teaching my kids, and cooking, and I'm getting to do a lot of that.
Oh, and I get to go to church where I want to now, which is super cool. One thing that I can now freely say about church staff structures is that I do not think it's a good policy to force all of the staff to worship at the same church. For some staff, it's necessary - for worship staff, for the pastors, etc. But for the administrative people like me, it's not necessary. And especially for the financial people and the HR people, I think it's actually healthier for them to NOT worship at the church they work for. When you're in those roles, it's just too much of a conflict and it's harder to compartmentalize work from worship. So, anyway, there's my two cents on that topic.
Ok, I think I've rambled long enough. Now for phase 3 of insomnia...mindless television. Actually, what I want to watch isn't so mindless...it's a documentary called Loose Change. Very interesting.
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