Binky Breaker Part 2

Jenna screamed for about a half and hour last night. We heard some phrases like,
"Mommy broke all of my binkies!"

"Oh, I need my binkies."

"My daddy will buy new binkies for me."

"I love binkies."

Nate couldn't take it after a while, and took her a stack of her movie cases that she loves to play with. Don't ask, she's just obsessed with looking at the pictures on the front and making up stories about them. She often tries to get us to let her sleep with them. We thought the movies would replace the comfort of the binky.

It worked. Jenna was asleep in no time. Hopefully, this is the end of the binkies!

Binky Breaker

I am a binky breaker.

Last week I took Jenna to the dentist for the first time, and even though we got no where because she refused to open her mouth, I became motivated to get rid of the binky. As I was filling out her paperwork, there was a question asking about "mouth habits." Basically, it was a list of things a 2 1/2 year old shouldn't be doing or have--like the binky. I had to write that yes, she still had a pacifier.

So, tonight, I cut the end of her pacifiers (leaving one in tact just in case we cave). I gave one to her and she immediately told me that it was broken. She, of course, asked for her other ones and I told her they were broken too. That little smarty pants asked to see all of them. So, I brought her one more and left the one in reserve in hiding.

At first, she seemed okay to just hold the binkies, but then she got really upset and started crying because "Mommy broke her binkies." How did she know that I cut the end of them?!?

Nate and I are trying to be strong, but she's still in her room crying her head off because Mommy broke her binkies. I'll let you know tomorrow how things go.

Care Calendar

For those of you in ministry, I found this resource on a friend's blog that turns out to be very useful and something we'll be implementing in our church. It's called a CareCalendar and can be found at www.carecalendar.org. CareCalendar is a web based system to organize efforts to help families during a time of illness or after a life changing event, such as the birth of a baby or death of a family member. CareCalendar can also be used for long term situations, including homebound and respite care needs. It's worth checking out!

Ghirardelli Chocolate

Jenna and I love Ghirardelli chocolate. Especially the dark chocolate. At Target today, there were bags of the little squares on sale for $2, so of course, I had to get one. We each had one when we got home.

Jenna's been asking me for more ever since we ate our first one, but I kept saying no. I finally said, "Jenna, you can have one if you finish all your dinner tonight."

Jenna replied,"Oh thank you my mommy! I'll eat my dinner and get chocolate and if you eat your dinner too, you'll get chocolate too! I'll be so proud of you!"

The Potty Song

I have never been fond of hearing about other childrens' potty training experiences, and I never thought this would be exciting for me, but I have a 2 1/2 year old and it's a big part of our world at this point.

Jenna started potty training a few months ago and did REALLY WELL until a few weeks ago. It was like she just flipped a switch and was trained! She's been on a potty training strike for a few weeks now which is entirely frustrating because I know she can do it.

Yesterday at church, she successfully went in the nursery, and she knew how proud of her I was. I sang the potty song--one Nate made up a while ago. I don't know the tune, but it sounds like some sort of song you would do the Congo dance to. "Pee pee in the potty. Pee pee in the potty. Pee pee in the potty. PEE PEE! POTTY!" Jenna loves to sing that song and up until yesterday, never sang it in public.

We walked out of the bathroom into the lobby area of the church with many church members around and she sang the potty song as loud as she could and at the end added, "I went potty, just like Mommy!"

I was mortified.

How many kids?

We've had a really busy few weeks and I had about 45 minutes today when both girls were sleeping and I could vege out and watch TV. I found myself watching this show on the Discovery Channel about this family who has 16 kids. It was pretty intriguing--a trip to the grocery store costs $700 and they have bus to transport the family around. They are a Christian family who sees each child as a blessing from God! It got me thinking about the number of children we might have. And, of course, that is a popular topic these days.

Nate is the oldest of 8 children, and I have a twin brother. We get the question all the time . . . "So, do want 8 children like Nate's mom too?" (And for the record, she really wanted 19). The other question I get is if we want to try to have a boy due to the fact that we have two daughters. I never really know how to answer that question because I don't really know how I feel yet.

Nate and I are leaning more towards the idea of being done having children, but even writing that makes me a little bit sad. Neither of us feel the need to have another baby for the sole reason of having a boy. We're perfectly content with our two princesses. The big thing for us is that we want to be able to financially provide for Jenna and Abby. If they want to be dancers or chess champions, we want to be able to give them those opportunities and not let money hold us back. We want them to go to college and go on family adventures and someday help with weddings:) I guess in a nutshell, we don't want to have more children than we can afford.

On the other hand, I'm not sure our family really is complete yet. I don't know when I'll know that because Abby is so young, but thinking about not having more babies around is sad. Our children are such a blessing to us and we know that God has given us a special gift in them. And even if we had ten more children, I know that God would take care of us (we made it through seminary!) and bless our family.

So, am I not trusting God enough, being selfish, or being practical?

I don't know who really reads this, but I'd be interested to hear about how others feel about this subject.

Friday Fives

I thought it would be fun to have something that I post every Friday called Friday Fives. Each Friday, I'll post a list of five of something. We'll start with my five favorite songs. This could very well change tomorrow. However, I'm pretty sure that the first three will always be the same. In order, they are:

1. Anna Begins-Counting Crows
2. Ghost-Indigo Girls
3. Crash Into Me-Dave Matthews Band
4. I'm Movin' On-Rascal Flatts
5. Cowboy Take Me Away-The Dixie Chicks