Button Pusher

When Gianna was 3.5/4, she had all the opinions and expressed them sometimes very loudy, but she generally listened and took her punishment when necessary. She could certainly push our buttons but overall, her issues were her issues and typically she didn’t make things harder on herself by misbehaving that much more.

Aleesia at 3.5/now 4? She is what I have deemed the button pusher. When she misbehaves? It is 100% on purpose and typically compounded by additional misbehavior. When she’s tired, the button pushing becomes even more intense. She’s in the “I don’t ever need to nap” stage so if she has a bad nights sleep, doesn’t nap, we are pretty much setting ourselve up for a rough patch at some point in the afternoon/evening.

Case-in-point: tonight, she needed to put on her pajamas but she didn’t want to (which I already said was fine) so she laid on hallway floor and purposely tripped Gianna. So then she had to stay in her room for the rest of the night. Since she wouldn’t go to her room voluntarily, I had to bring her in there. Once she got in her room, she was super mad so she threw everything from her bed on the floor, screamed and kicked her feet repeatedly. When she was done with that she kept coming out of her room. We eventually got her all calmed down, tucked in (still in her regular clothes) and asleep but WHEW that girl!

Just when I think I know what will either a) hold off a meltdown and/or b) shorten a meltdown she proves me wrong and my normal tricks don’t work. We’ve been using essential oils to help (we have a trantrum tamer blend that works along with just bermgamont on the back of her neck) but sometimes I forget to grab them in the middle of dealing with her current issue. We’ve been diffusing orange and cedarwood too which sometimes helps.

In the middle of the chaos, it can be so difficult to remain calm, and I don’t always. I want her to feel comfortable expressing her feelings, but screaming, yelling, disrupting the entire house isn’t the appropriate way to do it – she understands that (afterwards) and it’s getting slightly better. But she’s also getting better at figuring out EXACTLY which of my buttons to push and when.

The belly is growing!

I love to capture our life in pictures and we recently had maternity pictures taken. It had been gorgeous the entire week EXCEPT for the morning that we were to be outside – it was cold, the girls were marginally cooperative, but nonetheless our beloved photographer was able to capture some great shots of who we are.

Spring Fever!

Here in Ohio we’ve had a pretty mild winter that has most certainly had us forgetting all about snow and looking forward to consistently warmer temperatures.

Which means, of course, that as we approach the start of official spring in 10 days that it is going to be freezing and snowy! There is no question that I live in the wrong area of the country with as much as I (have always) despise winter and being cold.

Regardless, we are STILL looking forward to spring because it is sure to bring a lot of fun for our family! And with the fun, comes a totally crazy schedule. And you know, a new baby!

Gianna and Aleesia (& their cousin Luci) are preparing for their dance recital in May – they have 2 dances each this year and it is sure to be stinking adorable. Aleesia just started a once a week sports class, which she LOVES. Gianna will be starting softball in a couple of weeks, which should be interesting. I hope she enjoys it! On top of the kids stuff, Mike is back to being a head lacrosse coach so we have to take his practice/game schedule into consideration also.

Gianna will be turning 8 in April (which I can’t believe at all) and she is preparing for her First Communion in May as well.  We also have Easter approaching, my niece will turn 1 soon and the girls have spring break and Mike and I will be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary (again, kind of unbelievable how fast that went by)!  Our weekends through June are pretty jam-packed with the exception of my recently instituted “no plans Sunday afternoons” so that we can get our house clean, laundry done, projects accomplished and try to fit in some snuggling and quality time before the total chaos of each week begins.

I feel like there are other things happening simultaneously as well, but I think they are mostly school related and some of what’s going on there requires a whole separate post. We wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves if there wasn’t 100 things happening at one time, right?! This new baby will fit right into our routine, at least that’s been one of my prayers lately – for a smooth adaptation and entry into our family.

Some things that have helped me to (attempt) remain calm amidst the chaos are to be diligent with keeping an organized schedule (in 3 different places!), meal planning, preparing all of Gianna’s lunches on Sunday nights so it’s one less thing to do during the week, keeping things picked up before I go to bed (it helps, even when I don’t want to do it) and honestly, giving the 2 older girls some responsibility to manage their own stuff/stay organized. As I tell them on the days when cooperation is lacking – most of what we do every day is FOR THEM, not me so when they don’t help out by listening and being ready when I need them to be, they suffer in the end.

It sometimes feels overwhelming, but then I remember that this is our season of life – the chaos, adventure, etc. won’t be here forever so I try to find the joy in it even when really I just want to pull my hair out and hide under the covers!

Talk to me about your spring – what is going on in your life? What are you looking forward to (or not!)? What helps you to stay organized and maintain a cooperative household?!