Welcoming a New Family Member

So last night we welcomed a new family member into our household! His name is P.J and he is a 5 year old yellow Labrador! We are re-naming him Pajamas! :) He is THE sweetest thing I've ever met! Last night was a bit rough. We didn't get him until 8pm and so when we came home and wanted to go to bed, he was not okay with that. He whined quite a bit and paced ALLLLL night! Eventually around 2a.m. I closed our bedroom door and I think he got the hint. It was fairly quiet until around 6a.m. when we woke up to get him ready to go to the vet. We wanted to get his shots up to date asap and get him spayed. So he'll probably hate me when I pick him up this afternoon. But we gotta make sure he's healthy and up to date on shots just in case something happens! The only issue thus far? My allergies. I have lived with Labs and Golden Retrievers....so I can't figure out why my eyes are itching so badly and I'm sneezing like crazy. OH! And the itchy throat. NOT cool! However, I was having some allergies BEFORE he came here. Also, his previous owner said she bathed him the night before...so maybe it's the shampoo she used. Plus she was a smoker...so maybe all of that is just on him and I'm having issues with that. I'm PRAYING that's it! Because I'd hate to have to give him up. :( Hopefully I'm not really allergic to him and we'll get to keep him. The boys are pretty excited. Well, Isaiah. Collin really doesn't have a clue. They've met him already but they have yet to see him in their own home. They were asleep when we came home with him, and I had to leave before they were up this morning to take him to the vet. So we'll see how things go tonight! But so far....so good! :) Also, I want to make note that I was SOOOOO impressed at his behavior at the vet. There were a TON of cats and other dogs and he sat when I told him too and didn't bark and really was the best behaved dog there! Hooray for that! :)

Spare the rod....spoil the child....

So something happened today. Recently I moved the boys bedroom to the guest room. Basically switching the rooms around. And by recently I mean, yesterday. Anyways, the boys now have a WAY bigger bedroom that's attached to the sunroom (which is their playroom). Besides their beds I basically only added a toy organizing shelf structure. Well both boys have happily played today either in the sunroom or the bedroom. Which-as a side note....I have enjoyed immensely! LOL Anyways, at one point I heard the bucket of cars being poured onto the carpet! Eh, whatever. They were giggling and happy...no worries. Eventually things seemed a bit TOO quiet...so I ventured to the "Great UnKnown!" hahahahahaha! Anyways, I open their door and find the buckets to the organizing structure all over the place, every content dumped onto the floor and the structure itself? On the floor with BOTH boys on top of it! Seriously?! So the very first thing out of my mouth? "What do you think you're doing?!" Of course Collin scampers off like he was never a part of the situation (Theo and I frequently die of laughter at the fact that Collin is forever stirring things up/initiating things and then just scurrying away like he was never a part of it....it's funny now cause he's barely 1yr....but eventually that's gonna get old! LOL) and Isaiah immediately looks guilty. Here's how the conversation goes.


Hannah: You knew you were doing something you weren't supposed to, didn't you?
Isaiah:*extremely guilty look and slight nod of the head*
Hannah:Isaiah Brent. I am not happy with your decisions. I'm very dissapointed in you.
Isaiah: *lowers his head in sadness*

*We then start to clean up and organize the toys (which I am VERY proud to say, Isaiah at a little over 2.5 can organize toys and sort them and put them in the right buckets-as long as I leave 1 example in each one)*

Isaiah:I'm sorry Momma! I didn't want to make bad decisions. I'm sorry Momma! I don't wanna disappoint you anymore!"


So sweet right? The point of me recording this is because I wanted to record my parenting style. As most of you who read this (as few of you as there is)know I try my HARDEST to parent according to how God says we should. I use the Bible as my guideline. Which brings me to the verse in Proverbs 13:24 (KJV) "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." The Bible is VERY clear that you are to spank your child. VERY clear! However, people have different interpretations of how that should be done. My parents philosophy? Spank for every offence....period. Okay, maybe I exaggerate...but my parents were definitely heavy on the spanking. VERY heavy. Being the oldest, I received the full on brunt of "how do we go about disciplining and raising our children?" All oldest children know EXACTLY what I'm talking about! I was spanked WELL into my teens...my youngest siblings last spanking was probably when he was 9! LOL Anyways, my point is....I'm not my parents. I believe that God tells us in the Bible TOOLS to teach and raise our children. I do believe things like the above quoted verse are very clear that you should spank and that it's good for your child. Anyone ever notice that he didn't say "But" afterwards? Or "Certain children shouldn't be spanked because of disabilities etc"? I find it interesting! He gave a blanket rule to raise a child. Period end of story. But I've found through reading the whole Bible over and over that sometimes we as Children of God need a "spanking" so to speak. We have hard trails that feel like we'll never survive. That's what I call the spankings. But have you ever been through life and gone over a slight pump and the whole time you just feel God speaking to your heart: teaching you, loving you, encouraging you. I believe that should be mirrored in raising my children. I was very happy today when I made the conscious decision to not yell at my child, not spank him, not assume things upon him (something that happened to me FREQUENTLY in my childhood....being the oldest of 4 my parents were quick to jump on me and discipline me and not ask me/listen to me etc as to what really happened...but that's another story in itself) and simply speak to my child. And guess what? I feel he learned his lesson FAR more than he would've had I spanked him etc. So it made me happy that a conscious decision I made in my mind right then and there was really the right thing to do! Some may see this as criticizing my parents or being disrespectful to them or someone else's beliefs. That's not why I'm blogging about this. I am blogging about MY experiences and what God has convicted of MY heart. What you choose to do with your children is your own thing. My parents chose to raise my siblings and I a certain way...that was their choice. And as their child, I saw things I didn't agree with and wanted to change when raising my children. So that's my whole point in this blog. Simply to record my dealings/raising/beliefs of my children! :)

To Continue Cribbing or Toddler Bed It!

So I've decided to upgrade the boys room a bit. I've always had it as their sleeping quarters and that's about it. I kept things simple and breakables out of their room because Isaiah has been in the toddler bed since we moved here. He was about 15mo when we moved here. He was so past ready for his toddler bed. Ever since he slept in it he's loved it to death! Well now Collin is expressing interest of Isaiah's toddler bed. Which is awesome. So now the question is whether to keep him in his crib or move to the toddler bed? Honestly, he might be ready for the toddler bed if I "baby proof" their room a bit more. But I'm not so sure my heart can take it. Besides the move here....it'll be the first time the crib will be taken down. :( Until goodness knows when. At least when I took it down for the move I knew it was going back up for another baby. Now? It'll just be taken down for goodness knows how long and I'm not so sure my heart can take it. Plus do I honestly want a wild child free to roam around his room any time of night? haha! I don't think so. So for my hearts sake...and probably more sanity's sake.....cribbing it will stay! :)