Don't pray for patience.

I'm sure I've heard the statement "don't pray for patience, or God will test yours" plenty of times in my life but I don't think I've ever needed patience like I've needed it since having children. I would definately say that we are still a much happier bunch around here since I stopped talking on the phone so much. Of course being the humans that we are, some days are more trying than others.

Every child has their own way of "throwing fits" some children do it all kick, scream, cry etc. Others just pick their favorite and stick to it. Danielle cries. Its sort of a whining, grating, angry cry. I hate the sound of it. It makes my shoulders tense up and my teeth clench. I love my daughter immeasurably more than I ever thought I could... but when she starts that crying, I feel so frustrated. Today, I tried to just keep praying. While she was crying at me, I prayed. I didn't pray for patience I just prayed that God would help me to handle her crying appropriately and I really feel that it helped. I was able to calmly explain to her how inappropriate her behavior was and that she needed to stop. Usually, that works once but then I lose my patience and often will shout at her - that doesn't help.

Then there is Jack. I stopped scheduling him again... that was WRONG! He was so predictable. 7am wake up, 9am - 10:30am nap, 1pm-3pm nap and 7pm bedtime. I got lazy. When he would get up at 7am I started bringing him to my bed to nurse him, this part isn't new, but usually after he'd finished I'd bring him out here and plop him with some toys while I made tea and read emails etc. The lazy part is that I started just dozing off and letting him doze too. The results were not concerning at first, he would just sleep till 9am and then take one afternoon nap and still go to bed around 7pm. But now this week has been HORRIBLE! He sleeps till 9:30 or 10am and then gets really tired and grump by 11 or 12 to the point where I figure "fine, go to sleep then" and then he only naps for about an hour, wakes up miserable then is tired again by about 2 or 3pm and again naps for an hour waking up miserable. By 6pm he's losing it and so I try putting him to bed only to have him wake up in 30mins freaking out! Jack NEEDS his schedule back. Its now 9pm and he's awake again... so I have to go. I will be busy putting Jack back on his schedule next week.