Rewards vs Discipline

So for the last few weeks Juliet has been......stubborn is what we will call it. Juliet and I are very much alike so we are either best friends or at each others throats. I love her to pieces and I recognize that one: she is growing up and desperately wants to independent (that's how I am) and two: there have been a lot of changes in her life lately that are very hard for a four year old to process. so I've tried to be understanding and what not. But sometimes I get hardheaded too (who me? hardheaded? never right? hehe) and I lose my temper and yell.

so here is Juliet acting out and me yelling... not the best combination. The daycare told me the other day that she has been acting out at school too, to the point where she has to go to time out on her mat in a separate room. She just doesn't listen and when she does get in trouble it just rolls of her back like she's being told what color the sky is. She just doesn't' care or respond very well to discipline.

The daycare owner told me that for one of her kids she had to start doing the reward system. Stars to be exact. This is the plan we put into place. If she can go the whole day at daycare with out getting on the mat and go at home with out being put in the corner more then two times then she gets a star. If she gets stars for the whole week she gets to go to Gymnastics....if she gets stars for the whole month then she gets to go to a movie or someplace special.

I was sceptical....but we've been doing it for about a week and the difference (at least at home) is phenomenal. she listens, she's helpful and all I have to do is remind her about her stars and her attitude turns completely around...which makes me happy and less stressed, which I'm sure helps with both of our attitude problems (yes I have an attitude problem too....imagine that!)

I don't' know how long this will last but I hope for a while. :) Its making both of our lives a tad bit easier.

Bee's Honey

This is a conversation Juliet and I had on the way home from school on Wednesday. She cracks me up!

Juliet: Lara and I squished a bee today

Me: Oh ya, how come?

Juliet: It was trying to sting us so Lara waited till it rested on the ground and then she sneaked up to it and stomped on it with her foot. Then me and Ty squished it too

Me: Goodness

Juliet: Ya all its honey came out

Me: I don't' think that was honey babe. That was the bee's guts and blood most likely

(stop for thinking pause)

Juliet: So bee's don't pee out honey.....they make it?

Me: Yes

Juliet: giggling.....ewww I squished bee guts



Yup.....that's my daughter. Loves the color pink, dreams of being a princess, squishes bugs and picks up mice. Gotta love it.

Look what the cat brought me

We got home the other night and the cat had brought Juliet a surprise. yes, a mouse.

The cat has done this before. He loves her to pieces.....which I'm not sure why because the poor thing gets squished from hugs, dressed up and sometimes left in a dresser drawer for hours all because of her...but he still adores her. so of course what do animals do when they adore/love someone...they bring it barely alive things they've been playing with for the last hour.

This would have been bad enough but my fearless daughter decided she would be proud of what the cat brought and show me. No, not bring me to it.....bring IT to ME! she picked it up (thankfully she knows enough not to touch it with bare hands) she picked it up with a towel and brought it to me saying "look what the cat brought me"

I tried my hardest to not show my surprise, disgust and frankly girl like squeal that wanted to escape.....I guess I didn't do a very good job because one look at my face I guess made Juliet realize what exactly she was holding....of course it picked that very moment to squirm, which made her scream and throw it.....at me! which made me scream...which made her scream harder.

so there we are two screaming girls in the middle of the hallway with the mouse trying to run away and the cat leaping out from the shadows..and i swore he gave us a 'what the heck did you let it get away for' look as he was pouncing.

We finally caught it. I took it outside and across the street. I know I should have killed it but ick. I just couldn't.

we washed our hands for about ten minutes and had a good chuckle.

Family

So we've had most of the kids home for the last few weeks and I asked my mom if it feels weird to have them all there. She said no, she absolutely loves it. :) which is nice.

Deb and Tyler are here and of course the cutest nephew ever...Seth. (don't you just love that name!). Juliet likes to call him her Seth, its cute.

I'll be super sad when they leave but they have family and a home waiting for them in Idaho and we are happy and blessed they get to spend some of their time here for a bit.

I get to hold him every once and a while (D and T are being super good about sharing...its so nice of them!) and absolutely love it (even though I don't get my picture taken with him...... ;~) j/k didder)

Family is very important to me and I'm glad I have such an awesome one.

I'm here I promise

Hey all,

It's been a crazy month so far and its barely halfway over. I'm just going to give you some highlights.

As most of you know. I filed for divorce. Jason and I have allowed each other to grow and we are still good friends but this needed to happen. I will tell you there was no abuse or cheating, nothing dramatic or anything.....just a chapter in my life that did not turn out the way I had planned but what can you say, when do life plans usually turn out? He will still hang around the family as he is great friends with my parents and siblings and why not? he is the father of our beautiful daughter and still a dear person in my life.

on lighter news I am an aunt. First time on my side of the family. My wonderful sister and brother in law had there very first child come to them on October 19th 2009. How exciting is that. It makes me cry a little every time I think about it. I love them so much and can't even express how excited I am for them and for both the families. They have waited a very long time and little Seth (that's his name...oh my goodness isn't it the cutest name ever?) and we are so elated to finally have him in our family. :) here is a link to Deborah and Tylers blog...they have pictures up of him and Deb is an awesome blogger you can catch up on his amazing story there. http://deborahandtylerandreasen.blogspot.com/

I'm officially old.... we went to wal-mart last night and I picked up some cute outfits for my nephew (got to spoil while he's here. hehe) and then Juliet needed a new winter jacket and some more shirts. So we are in the baby/toddler section and I can not find one thing to fit her....when it hits me. She will probably fit things from the jr section. I tried with all my might to find one thing to fit her from the baby section. I just didn't want to admit that my child is growing up so incredibly fast. So over I trudge with a mixed feeling of heavy heart and new excitement. we picked out clothes and yes my friends she fits the xxs in the jr section. Yes she is only four but she is tall always has been. so my baby girl is no longer baby, frankly there is nothing baby about her and I both love it and hate it. She of course loves it because she can now officially shop in the section that has Hannah Tanna (Hannah Montana) clothes.

all right you all. I'm outy for now. I will have more stuff to tell you but I probably need to get to work. :)

Patchwork

Patchwork is the title of the book in which I am a featured author.

I have two short stories written under a pen name and they are in as of today. I hope to pick them up later tonight.

I'm so jazzed. I'm catching up with the rest of my ever so talented family and glad they let me in and showed me the ropes.

books are available for sale, but I will also have a copy that I would be more then happy to let anyone borrow. :)

( FYI - there are other authors in the book and I do not know the integrity of their stories, but most of them should be good ones)

Juliet paid off

When I had my daughter back in 2005, I was not on an HMO I had the PPO. Which meant I got 20% of the hospital bill. Ok so that wouldn't have been a problem except my little angel didn't want to ruin her pretty little head so refused to come out!

I was in the hospital 24 hours before I finally consented to a C-Section. It was considered an emergency so I had to stay in the hospital another four days.

So 20% of an emergency C-Section, five days in a hospital and all the extra drugs that came with it.....added up to more then we had anticipated about seven thousand more then we had anticipated. I had to take out a consolidation loan for the hospital bills and some credit cards we maxed out trying to keep up on the said bills.

Today I got a letter from Wells Fargo saying that loan is finally paid off! It took four years to pay for her but worth every penny! I'm excited its finally paid off. Now I have my school loans and my car is almost paid off. I'm slowly but finally getting to be debt free and it feels great!