Mom Lesson #4375

A year ago I posted this post.

I have come to say, I highly regret agreeing to tell Madi the truth about Santa Clause at such a young age.

I did read an article or two about how mature children may associate the lies of Santa Clause to Jesus not being real. But, I wasn't completely comfortable robbing my daughter of her childhood. I agreed to it though and she knew the truth about Santa at three years old.

Today she told me "I wish I didn't know Santa wasn't real so that we could do Elf on the Shelf." I've never talked to her about Elf on the Shelf because frankly that thing drives me nuts, but when she said that my heart ached a little.

I told her we can believe in anything we want. I said I still believed in Santa. She said "maybe if we don't talk about it for a while, I'll forget." Another heart pain.

She loves Jesus and loves telling others about Him. I should have thought about that and realized her faith could uphold the truth about Santa, in a few years down the road.

I've learned a lesson though and hopefully she'll believe in the tooth fairy for a while longer.

Weekend Snapshots

This past weekend was really great. I'm sad it's over but glad it's already almost Wednesday!

Friday night Madi and I picked up a pizza, made a pallet on the floor, and watched The Wizard of Oz. This was the first time Madi's ever seen it. She said she liked it but I don't really think she paid much attention to it after the first few minutes. I personally, cannot believe I ever used to love that movie. I find it very boring now! It was fun having a girl's night with my mini-me. We definitely need to do it more often! 

Saturday morning we stopped by my friend's house to visit for a bit. Madi, Baker, and Preston had a great time playing and it was nice to catch up with Jessica!

That afternoon I took Madi to her good friend Rylee's birthday party at the YMCA. She had a really good time at the party and didn't want to leave! Saturday evening we went to dinner with Pop. We were majorly overdue for some Pop time! 

These pictures just warm my heart. I love seeing them together.

We ended our very busy Saturday by Paul coming in to town! Paul took off a few days from work so he could spend some time with us. So sweet!

We did a lot of eating at great restaurants (Zoe's Kitchen, Lizard's Thicket, BWW, Cook Out, and of course, Zaxby's). Yes, those are our definitions of great restaurants. Leave the small portions, high prices, and fru-fru names for someone else. 

We took some naps and played some board games (Clifford & Candy Land, of course), watched some football and did some shopping too! Paul left this morning so he could get back to work tomorrow. Super sad! And I just realized we didn't take any pictures this weekend at all. What the heck! Not acceptable! I'll make up for that next week. :) 

Happy weekend. 8 days until Madi turns FIVE and 8 days until I get to see BPC again! :) 

My butt hurts.

This is going to be a super brief post because I am worn out. I've been sitting on the couch for so long that my butt hurts. Like bad. In my defense - I've been working. I wasn't just eating and watching TV. (I was doing that too…but add working in there and that sounds so much more acceptable.)

Anywho, I'm going to join in on the Friday 5 because that just looks like fun. Now maybe I'm blind but I can't find the code for the link-up button so here's the link and below is the pretty little picture.

1. Saturday we are celebrating Madi's 5th birthday! Her party is going to be at a local park. The theme is butterflies/nature so we will be doing a scavenger hunt and of course playing on the playground. Her actual birthday isn't until the end of the month but November seems to be THE month for birthdays so I had to claim the date early!

2. Paul and Addison are coming tomorrow!!! Madi and I are so excited! It's only been two weeks since I've seen them but it feels like forever. We don't have any plans except for Madi's party so I'm thinking the girls will get in a lot of play time and Paul and I will get in a lot of relaxing. Here's to hoping!

3. Crap, I didn't think this through. I had two topics ready to go but I suppose I need 5. Tomorrow is Friday. That deserves a # all it's own. Longest week ever.

4. I do not feel like making 48 cupcakes tomorrow. I wish I was rich. $30 for cupcakes wouldn't seem like a lot if I was rich. Instead, I must spend my "relaxing" Friday night making $9 cupcakes. 

5. I'm hungry. Not just right now. All the time. Like constantly. I drink lots of water these days so scratch that comment you were about to write. I am going to be the size of a whale by the end of the week if something doesn't change.

911 Follow-Up

Thank you to those who gave me their advice both here, on FB, and via text. I got some good advice and will definitely try what y'all suggested!

After mulling things over, I decided to take the shoes away and take away the iPad & sweets for a week. I did still go to the concert at the fair - for multiple reasons. #1 - I paid $30 for my ticket and feel like mom needed some fun. #2 - Madi stayed the night at her gma's. Gma can punish better than me ;) and I filled her in on Madi's restrictions. #3 - I felt like the above was enough.

Some may think children should always, no matter what behave 100%. I disagree. I wrote the post last night when I was still very much upset by the nights events. Although I do not think being tired, dealing with stresses of her parents divorcing, or changes of routine are an excuse, I do think they should be considered.

I guess this post is somewhat justifying my decision. I don't want to do that. I feel good with my decision! I really am going to try y'alls suggestions to get M to fall asleep on her own. I will let y'all know how it turns out!

I'll post a concert/fair recap eventually. It was a blast!

911 for Mommy Advice

I need your advice. Anyone's. Everyone's. I'm clueless right now.

I've finally got Madi sleeping in her bed, throughout the night (most of the time). The current behavior I'm trying to change is that I have to sing her to sleep. Sometimes this takes 5 minutes, sometimes this takes 30 minutes - it just depends on how tired she is. So I talked to her last night and tonight about going to sleep on her own. I also told her counselor and she talked to her about it today. I knew Madi was still not pleased with the idea so tonight I sang her 7 songs before even trying to leave. When I did try to leave she basically panicked and clung to me for dear life. I sang one more song and then the same thing happened when I tried to leave.

I tried everything y'all.

I tried the super nanny method of telling her what I expect, telling her I'm only going to tell her once, and then I did not say a word. I put her in her bed, walked out, put her back in her bed, repeat. I did this at least 10 times. Now, I know Super Nanny would have kept going until she couldn't walk anymore, but well, she's super. I'm not. I'm a tired mom who has worked all day, taken her child to dance, returned something at Kohl's, stopped at Publix, given her child a bath, and barely eaten dinner. So I proceeded with the typical "if you do not stay in your bed then..." I realize this is probably not effective at this point in the game. I was/am desperate.

I just bought her some new shoes tonight. I am not a fan of them at all but she HAD TO HAVE THEM. I told her before things got out of control that if she did not stay in her bed I would return the shoes. I even resorted to telling her I would cancel my plans tomorrow night meaning she would not spend the night at grandma's and I would be sure she went to bed right after dinner. Again, made no impression on her at the moment; however, I'm thinking it may be a good idea.

So I guess these are my questions to y'all -

• She is seriously in love with her new shoes. I've never seen her so excited about something. Do I have to return them since I said I would or can I simply take them away for a week?
• Should I stay home tomorrow night (my plans are a concert at the State Fair) in order to make sure she goes to bed early and to prove that I was serious? My thought here is that she truly needs some consistency on this bedtime thing. I'm thinking this might be a good idea even though it would stink for me. If I did stay home though she would also not get any tv for a week because this is causing me to change my plans.
• What can I do to help her go to bed by herself? She has music, a fan, and a night light already.

Thanks moms!

Help is appreciated!

SOBs and other things...

I haven't done a Toddler Talk Tuesday post in forever! I guess I need to rename it soon too, since my 4 year old is hardly a toddler anymore. 

Oh do I have some funny ones today. 

Let me say first, that some of my absolute best memories with Madi are right before bed. For some reason she's hilarious before she goes to sleep. Last night we laughed so much for at least 30 minutes. And it wasn't even about anything that made any kind of sense. Those are the best laughs! 

So here you go... Enjoy! 

"Everyone only has one Heaven father. Well, two kinda since Jesus and God are the same. They must be twins. Really good twins." 

"I like SOBs." (She meant SUVs, of course.) 

I asked her if I could play her new game on the iPad and she said "you can play after I play. I gotta check it out and make sure it's appropriate for you." 

Her dentist office will be named "Princess Sailboat Madi's Job." Because there will be a princess room for girls and a sailboat room for boys. Makes sense to me! 

And just because I find this humorous - 

"What's the Holy Spirit?" 

Me - "That's an excellent question. Go ask GiGi." :) 

Madi-isms.

Madi is almost five. FIVE! In a way, I feel like she's older because I can't remember when she wasn't a part of my life and I feel like she's always been with me! In another way, I feel like she was a baby just yesterday. I'm sure all of you parents know what I mean.

A new phrase she says now is "lady polite" instead of "lady-like." It seriously cracks me up. It makes sense too!

The other day I was explaining to her how I used to wash my hair when I was younger - I would lean my head back under the faucet in the tub. She said "is that because they didn't have cups back then?" Okay now, I'm not *that* old!!

I want to share this video with y'all too. It's uh-dorable. This is from a song she learned at VBS last month.

ER Drama 2013

As many of your know this past week has been rough in the Morris household. Madi has been sick since Tuesday and we're praying it's almost over. She had a fever Tuesday and Wednesday so I took her to her pediatrician Wednesday afternoon. She diagnosed her with a sinus infection and prescribed an antibiotic. We've been giving Madi the antibiotic but she has had multiple fevers every day even still. Her fevers were getting higher, up to 103*, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. I'm very cautious and wanted to rule out the flu so we took her to the ER last night. They checked her for the flu and pneumonia. She was negative for both, thank goodness. The dr just said it's upper respiratory (viral) which is why the antibiotics aren't helping. We just have to keep her rested and full of liquids. She seems to be doing fine today (no fever!) so I'm just hoping tonight she stays fever-free too.

The ER visit probably warrants it's own post. My child is not a fan of nurses. Some of you may remember my post a few years ago when Madi TORE UP the sheet on the dr's table from kicking so hard. (I couldn't find it but it's in the archives somewhere.)

(If you make it through this whole post, you deserve a cookie.)

Well, last night she reverted to that. The nurses needed to get her pulse but she did not want that thing on her finger (looked too much like a finger prick-thingy). Keep in mind she had a 103* fever, it was midnight and she was very sick -- So, they tried putting it on her finger, then tried putting it on her toe all the while Madi is screaming at them "GIVE ME MY FINGER BACK!!!!" "I DON'T LIKE THIS NURSE!!" "SOMEBODY HELLLPPPP MEE!!!" Oh my it was hard not to laugh at some of the things she was saying BUT here's my commentary - She's breathing. Is it really that necessary to get her pulse?? Anyway, after that trauma they had to take her temperature. Now, it's the 21st century, right? We have thermometers that can read your temp in 1 second. This huge, popular, million dollar hospital still uses the regular thermometers that have to go under your tongue for 2 minutes. Insane. Anyway - so here is this nurse trying to stick a foreign object in my child's mouth. She's never had her temp taken that way. We do under-arm. So back goes the screaming and pulling on the nurse's shirt and kicking. We do this for a good 10 minutes and then she starts to cry that she has to pee. At this point I'm annoyed at the nurse's for putting her through this but then they tell her she can't go to the bathroom until we take her temperature. And now a nurse is rolling her eyes and huffing and puffing and throwing her hands in the air.

Now, I'm not a confrontational person, but any mama knows when it comes to someone messing with your babies - especially your sick babies - you can go country on their butts. So I went straight country and blessed this lady out. Okay, not really blessed her out but I said something along the lines of  "I am sure this is not the first 4 year  old that has not cooperated before and she has to pee! I'm taking her to the bathroom NOW. There is no need for your attitude. My child is SICK." Grrrr I was mad. I got up and walked right out of there. And then the dang lady wanted to get a urine sample from my poor screaming child! Are you serious right now?!!!

SO after the bathroom we still had to get M's temp. I wanted this because she was burning up and knew it was important to know how high it was. So, they had to take it rectally. She is still screaming and crying and now screaming "YOU'RE BREAKING MY ARM!!!!" So the eye-rolling nurse is holding Madi's legs so the other nurse can take her temp and she POPS my daughters behind a few times and says calm down. Now I don't know about you but that caught me so off-guard that I didn't say anything. It wasn't a hard pop, but still, I just don't even know how I feel about that. I am not still a little shocked. This nurse needs to get herself in a better suited profession, if you ask me.

So, that's our midnight-3:30am hospital visit story.

That hospital sends us a survey after every visit and I am anxiously awaiting my opportunity to describe the ridiculousness of this all.

But I am comforted knowing Madi doesn't have the flu and hopefully she will feel better soon.

What would you have done in my situation? Got any similar doctor horror stories?

Now, go get that cookie.

M's Bday Party Continued

As promised, here are some more pictures from the party.

Face painting by my sweet step-sister! 

The girls :) 

Madi's cousins sporting cool mustaches.

My new all-time favorite picture of Miss Madi T. 

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Madi's 4th Birthday Party!

This past Saturday we celebrated Madi's 4th birthday with a Doc McStuffins party at our house. It was a total success! (I must add a HUGE thank you to my husband & Morgan for helping me with everything. They were awesome!)

image via

Doc McStuffins, for those of you without little kids, is a new show on Disney Jr about a little girl who takes care of injured stuffed animals and toys. It's actually a really cute show with fun characters and story lines. Madi absolutely loves it so a Doc party was definitely in order! Unfortunately for me, since it's such a new show, there were very little ideas/pictures online. So, all of these ideas below are pretty much mine! I'm kind of proud of myself, because party planning/decorating of any kind are NOT my forte.

In this post I'll just show you all the decorations. Come back later to see the party pics!

Stethoscopes & Name Tags for the guests to wear when they arrive.

Party favors - A Big Book of Boo Boos, stethoscope, 

band-aid cookie, thermometer, & a clip-board.

Food table

Decorations

Heart-shaped PB&J and turkey & cheese

To be continued... :)