I would like to ask everyone who is reading this to please take a moment to pray for baby Gracie. I first asked you to pray for her several weeks ago.
Since then she has had her ups and downs, but it seemed as if she was about to turn a corner. However, according to the latest update on her Caring Bridge page, it seems as if things have taken a turn for the worse. Following is the entry that her mom, Amanda, made this afternoon at 1:00pm.
URGENT!
THINGS HAVE TAKEN A TRAGIC TURN THIS MORNING. IN THE LAST 40 MINUTES GRACIE HAS BEEN CODED THREE TIMES IN THE PICU.
AT ONE TIME SHE FLAT-LINED AND RECEIVED CHEST COMPRESSIONS. THE DOCTOR ON CALL SAID HER HEART IS LOCKING UP AND THE VENTRICLE IS STOPPING FUNCTION AND THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS CAUSING THIS.
PLEASE PRAY GOD IS IN CONTROL -TODD AND I ARE HEART SICK AND VERY EMOTIONALLY DISTRAUGHT. PLEASE PRAY. WE WILL UPDATE AS SOON AS WE CAN.
Here is Gracie's Caring Bridge link if you would like to receive updates or if you would like to read more about the time she has spent in the hospital:
I decided long ago that home schooling is probably not for me and my kids. I don't have anything against home schooling. In fact, I have a lot of admiration and respect for home schoolers.
Unfortunately, whenever I try to teach my kids anything, they resist. It's almost as if they will do anything in their power not to learn what I am trying to teach them.
So I have become a "stealth teacher". If there is something I want them to learn or to know, I casually mention it, tell them something about it and then leave it at that.
For instance, I am trying to teach Peter to count to 100. I have offered to give him $1 when he makes it all the way without any help from me. (I'm sure bribery is not a Charlotte Mason approved technique, but money always talks in our house.)
And he's doing pretty well, except that he wants to get to 100 and that 1 dollar bill so badly that he will count from 1-29 and then will scream out "Ninety?" and then I will help him to remember what comes after 29 and he will count from 29-39 and scream, "Ninety?".
You get the gist.
But he's getting there. He understands the concept and he is starting to remember the numbers so he will be there before too long. It would be so much easier though if I could just sit down with him at the table and teach him about the "tens". If I try to get him to sit at the table to learn anything, I am met with a lot of resistance.
The only time I can teach him anything is if we are in the car. If he is strapped into his car seat, he will listen to me briefly as I try to explain something to him. But I only have about 1 minute before he becomes completely bored with me and asks me to turn up the music. So whatever I am trying to explain has to be quick.
Sarah is much like her brother. She doesn't want to learn anything from her silly ole mother so I have to use my stealth teacher mode on her as well. For instance, I would like her to know how to write her name. But every time I try to sit down with her to go over the letters in her name she tells me to go away.
So after she began making scribblings that looked like her attempt at letters, I wrote her name down on a piece of paper and said, "This is your name. See if you can write it."
And then I walked away as instructed
We have done this a couple of times now and here is what she produced yesterday...
Sarah has never really liked her name (that's a whole post for a different day) and has decided to change it. She will know be known only by this tracing of her hand and these letters. So from now on please only refer to her as the symbol above.
And if you are speaking about her or to her, please refer to her as "The Preschooler Formerly Known As Sarah".
I'm a huge fan of Big Mama ,so when she said to head over here to get a free CD, well, I went as fast as I could.
If you write a blog, enjoy Christian music and would like a free Matt Maher CD, then get over there while the getting is good.
And let me just say, Sarah is rolling on the floor "crying" because her shoes are too loose and there's a fly in the house. I wish the CD was already in my grubby little hands because it would be cranked up right this very minute.
Edited to add - well, it looks like they had an overwhelming response and have given away all the free CDs for now. Sorry!
And after a 20 minute whining session, the shoes have been tightened and the fly has been killed. And alll is right with the world - for now.
So I spent the better part of last week telling her I loved her. At every turn, I was saying I love you. And if she asked me if I loved her more, my response was always Yes! I do!
On Saturday afternoon, I had just set her up at the computer to put crossword puzzles together on Jigzone and she curtly told me to leave the room while she played. As I was leaving the room, I said, "I love you Sarah."
And she replied with exasperation, "Mom, I know. You've told me like a million times already." (This quote is verbatim. I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget the exact words she used.)
If she sounds like this now at 3 and a half, how is she going to sound when she's 13?
It's Miracle Monday again! Thanks for coming by to share a miracle or to read about the amazing things that God has done to show us that he loves us.
If you are going to participate in Miracle Monday this week it's simple. Just post a miracle on your blog and link it back here using Mr. Linky below. Please mention A Mom's Life in your post. And if you want, you can use the Miracle Monday button in your post.
PLEASE NOTE - when linking make sure to link to your Miracle Monday post. Do not link to the front page of your blog. It is important that you link to the Miracle Monday post so that when others are reading your miracle in the future, the link will take them directly to your miracle and not to the front of your blog.
If you don't link to the miracle only, and someone browses through the miracles next month, they may get your meatloaf recipe if you link to the front/top of your blog, instead of your miracle. And while your meatloaf recipe my be delicious, I doubt it's miraculous!
For an explanation on how to do this, please check here. Or, you can always email me and I will be glad to help you. My email address is in my profile.
Have a great Miracle Monday everyone and thanks for participating!
Edited: This edition of Miracle Monday is now closed! Thanks to all who participated. I love reading your miracles. I truly feel closer to God every Monday when I read them! Please come back next Monday to post more miracles and in the meantime, please enjoy reading these.
I wanted to share with everyone a couple of places that I have really been loving this week.
The first is The Nesting Place. I am not sure how I have missed The Nester before now because her blog and her house are like, totally cool. And best of all, she lives in North Carolina. I mean how totally awesome is that???!!!!!!
O.k. I apologize if I sound like an excited high school kid (or at least a high school kid in the 80's because I'm sure they don't say things like "cool" and "awesome" anymore, but I bet they still completely overuse exclamation points!!!!!!!) but if I wanted to, I could probably like totally find her house and drive by it like 1000 times until she noticed me. (Kind of like I used to do with boys I liked back in the 80's.)
And I mean that in an innocent bloggy kind of way. I would never really stalk her. I don't think...
But check out her blog. And if you have extra time check out Blissfully Domestic. She also posts over there. I love that site as well.
The Nester has an amazing way with junk(found objects), fabric scraps and paint. I wish I knew her in real life because if I could ever get over the embarrassment of my house full of 10 year old Rooms To Go furniture, I would invite her over for decorating suggestions and then I would take her shopping with me. And then my poor husband would be repainting everything in our house.
Again.
My other favorite website this week is Jigzone. Jennifer turned me on to this website about a year and a half ago and my son had a blast with it. But somewhere along the way, he became completely enamored with Lego.com and Hotwheels.com and Funschool.com and CartoonNetwork.com and he completely forget about the thrill of online jigsaw puzzles.
But several days ago, Sarah was bugging me about computer games. She tries to play games at all of Peter's favorite sites but she either gets overwhelmed because they are too hard for her or she gets bored because they are "borin'".
She's going to make a great Southerner.
So a light bulb went off in my head and I remembered Jigzone and she has been happily putting puzzles together ever since. And the added beauty of this site? When she asks me to sit with her and watch her do a puzzle, I actually will. It's nice to watch a 3-year-old mind solve a puzzle and it's even nicer still that there is no mess for me to clean up when she's finished.
Have I mentioned before that I love the computer? If not, let me just mention it right here and right now - I like totally love my computer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It had to be big if I heard it multiple times. Because I get to watch a total of 3 minutes of non cartoon TV per day, prior to the kid's bedtime of course. Because, after bedtime, I am all about the TV, but none of that includes actual news. Because who's got time for the news when there's Top Chef, American Idol, Survivor, Hell's Kitchen, The Office...
The Office? Did she say The Office?
Yes, she did! The fruits of the labor of the writers who finally ended their strike are beginning to be seen all across network TV. I was about to offer to pay them myself if I had to watch one more episode of Deal or No Deal.
But anyway, back to The Office. Let me take a moment to do a little happy dance. I am so excited that The Office is back on. I love me some Office. Woo Hoo! We have it recorded on the DVR to be savored tonight. Some people savor a good book, good conversation, good wine.
Not here. We savor The Office.
Please don't judge me.
O.k. Where was I?
Oh, I was telling you that I don't normally get to watch any TV during the day and even though that is the case, yesterday, I heard multiple times that you do not need to drink 8 glasses of water a day! I was overjoyed to hear this because I never drink 8 glasses a day. In fact, I drink maybe one glass a day. OK, who are we kidding? I probably drink one glass a week.
Unless you count the water in coffee, sweet tea and Diet Coke. Does that count?
Because if that counts, then I am well over the 8 glasses a day.
But I was always pretty sure that didn't count so I just walked around sipping my non water drinks feeling guilty with every sip I took. But now, I don't have to feel glum because according to this new study all the myths of the benefits of water have been debunked.
Water doesn't fill you up before meals (I never used this tactic anyway. I always used cookies and candy), it doesn't reduce headaches (sending the kids to Grandma's house works wonders for me) and it doesn't improve your skin (that's what Clearasil is for people).
So, I am going to head to the kitchen right with a big smile on my face and pour myself another cup of coffee. Coffee is good for you, right?
I am not sure what I've done to Sarah, but she thinks that I don't love her. For the past several weeks she has been saying things to me like, "You don't love me" or "You love Cheyanne and Caity more than me." (Cheyanne and Caity are my friend Jennifer's children.)
And, while it's true that I do love Cheyanne and Caity, I love them in a different way than I love Sarah. But how do you explain to a 3 1/2 year old the different types and levels of love and that the heart is big enough to love many, many different people, many, many different ways?
I don't think I've done a good job with my explanations, because she continues to say these same things over and over again. And she continues to ask if I love Daddy and Peter more than I love her. So I have to try to explain that I love Daddy, Peter and Sarah the same and that I love the three of them more than anyone in the whole world.
And then she gets me with, "What about Grandma and Grandpa? Don't you love them as much as me?"
I have tried to be equitable in my conversations with her, trying to be fair about explaining who I love and how much, and trying not to leave anyone out, but last night, I gave up. And while Peter wasn't listening, I told her what I think she wanted to hear.
I said, "Sarah, I love you more than anybody in the whole wide world."
And the questions finally stopped.
I'm sure there will be more questions today, but for just one brief moment, I wanted her to feel that all of my love was just for her.
I'm not sure what I've done to make her question my love for her, but I want to erase all doubts. I want her to know that I love her. I don't think I will ever be able to explain just how much I love her, but I don't want her to question or doubt.
Yesterday morning started out as any other. Sarah and I had a heated discussion over her outfit. She didn't want to wear what I had chosen so she picked out another outfit. The plaid skirt and leopard print kitty cat shirt did not go together. Especially with the silver Birkenstock like sandals she had chosen to go with it. And the fact that it was 37 degrees outside made the choice in outfit even worse.
But I normally don't fight with her over clothing and since we were only headed to Wal-Mart, I let her wear the outfit. However, immediately after I said "fine, you can wear this" she decided she wanted to wear something else.
She and I finally made it to Wal-Mart and the real fun began. Lately, I have been letting her stay out of the cart as long as she stays with me. And she usually does a great job staying with me. In fact, she is usually "helping" me push the cart so what should be a 45 minute trip to Wal-Mart usually ends up taking an hour and a half.
As soon as we walked into the health and beauty section, she looked at me, tilted her head and smiled. This wasn't her sweet smile this was her devilish smile. I swear I saw an actual gleam in her eye.
And then she took off. She started running through the aisles of Wal-Mart. And as she was running I could hear her giggling in delight.
I decided not to start running after her because I knew that would only make her fun faster. And since I could hear her giggles, I could keep up with her even though I couldn't see her. But then, I couldn't hear her any more. And I couldn't see her. So I said a quick prayer and started running through the aisles of Wal-Mart calling out for her.
Luckily, our Wal-Mart is pretty empty at 9:00 on a Monday morning . Usually it's just a few elderly people and other stay-at-home moms. But you never know when the random creep or pervert is going to be out and about so I started to get nervous.
I ran through other aisles calling her name and finally I spotted her. She had one of her silver sandals in her hand and the devilish gleam was still in her eye.
This time I was able to chase her and grab her and as I put her in the cart, I started telling her that in addition to being stuck in the cart for the next 5 maybe 6 years, she wouldn't get any TV or computer time for the rest of the day.
And let me tell you folks, that punishment hurt Mommy just as much as it hurt her. No TV or computer meant that I had to come up with lots of extra activities to fill the time.
We planted flower seeds in the rain (it was only a light mist at the time but it was rain none the less), we made two crafts (pretty cheesy ones but still, they were crafts and one of them even required that I get out the glue gun), we baked banana bread (have I ever mentioned that I don't enjoy the mess of baking with kids) and we whined.
A lot.
All in all, I think her punishment was harder on me than it was on her but I hope she learned her lesson. And I'm sure she and I will be reminded of it every Monday for the next 5 years as I plop her in the cart and have to hear her whine and whimper for 45 minutes as we make our way through the aisles of Wal-Mart.
And I just keep telling myself that her defiance and disobedience is just a phase but I hope it is one that we pass through quickly because quite frankly, I've had enough of it!
And the funny thing is, that when we got into the car to head home, I turned on the radio and Trace Adkin's song, "You're Gonna Miss This" was playing.
And as I started singing along, I laughed and realized that yes, one of these days I am gonna miss this.
Sarah has never really liked her name (that's a whole post for a different day) and has decided to change it. She will know be known only by this tracing of her hand and these letters. So from now on please only refer to her as the symbol above. 