I want.

I need.

I love.

Life is so full of wants... I want a nicer car. I want a newer house. I want more time. I want a less stressful job. I want this, I want that. I want the beautiful necklace in the picture (hint hint for Mother's Day, Greg... :) ) hehehe.... Sending subliminal messages your way... You are getting sleeeepy... :)

I know I don't have the best home, but I love it. I know I don't have the perfect marriage, but I love it. And, I know I don't have enough time, but I do know that I'm thankful for what I've been given. Bear with me while I reflect on life while listening to my kiddo play. I may not keep up with the Joneses, but life isn't about the money and the nice things. It's about the people you love. The people who love you back. And, it's about making someone else's life better - not trying to tear them down because they don't have the best in this or that. It's about making your kids lives better and teaching them to love all of God's people. It's about remembering your committments. It's about faith. There's only one go 'round. I don't want to be sorry that I treated someone worse than they were worth. I want to go to bed at night and feel like I helped someone that day. These are my goals and I fall short. But, this is what I try to be.

terrific 3's?

When Gabe turned three, it was literally like a switch was flipped and these crazy temper tantrums started occuring... making me wonder if three was worse than two ('terrible two's'). But now, all of a sudden, it seems like the 'good boy' switch has been turned back on! :) Gabe has been such a joy the past couple of days! He's always a joy, don't get me wrong, but some days are tougher than others! He has been so cuddly the last few days and he's really only been cranky when he's been tired. The tantrums are down to maybe 1 a day, and we can definitely deal with that. They're also becoming shorter in duration.

Greg and I were having trouble with the tantrums and ended up spending one night watching an episode on Dr. Phil called "Controlling the Chaos". (Click on Controlling the Chaos to watch the episode) We learned so much from that! We saw ourselves in the parents that gave empty threats. We also saw ourselves in the parents that got emotional with the tantrums. We learned to basically become "deaf" when Gabe has been put in time out. When he's in time out, the goal should be for him to stay there... even if he's crying and yelling that he wants to get down. Only keep him there for the 2 minutes, and then take him out. This will show him that we're not taking him out because of his crying and screaming, we're taking him out because he listened and stayed for two minutes. It's hard to stay calm, deaf, and unemotional during a tantrum, but it really has helped in the duration and frequency of them. It really feels good to see something working. That Dr. Phil might know what he's talking about!

The kitchen is coming along very well. Greg has done an awesome job and has spent many hours working his tail off to get it done quickly. I'm very thankful to have a handy husband so we don't have to hire everything done. And, I'm thankful that he's willing to put in the extra work. I've watched him come home from a tiring day at work, only to get on his hands and knees and grout the new tile. Then, bracing himself for a toddler to jump up on his lap. I got a good one. I think I'll keep him! :) I'll take some pictures and get them posted tomorrow while the little dude is at preschool.

the champ

Last night we had a blast seeing Rodney Carrington. We have all of his CD's and think he's hilarious. Sure, he's pretty crude, but he's flippin' hilarious. I had gotten Greg the tickets for his birthday as a surprise. We had a great evening... We had a great meal at Lonestar with some friends and then headed to the show. He was the best comedian I've seen live. Most of the time you hear the same stuff at the show that's on the CD's, but almost all of his material was new to us. I'd definitely go see him again!