Toddler Training, Series Overview

I'm SO excited to begin this series! This will be a two-part series covering everything from parenting philosophies to potty-training.

Part One of this series is going to cover Purposeful Parenting, while Part Two will cover the practical Toddler Training Tips.

Toddler, Defined

The word toddler could mean different things to different people, but for the sake of this series, we're going to consider all little ones between the crawling stage and kindergarten age "toddlers".  Our expectations--and their abilities---will grow with their age, but most of the things we'll be talking about will apply to this age range.

Clarification

I'm not the world's greatest parent. Shocker, I know. :) I'm not writing this series because I have all the answers. I don't. I do think I have great children, but they're certainly not perfect. Nor do I expect that they ever will be. Without their sin, they would never realize their need of a Saviour, so in a way, I'm thankful for their childish misbehavior.

This is not a "How to Have a Perfectly Behaved Child in 3 Days" series, nor is it a method guaranteeing Godly children because it's the only Biblical way to parent toddlers. Nope. (Neither one of those really exists anyway.) It's not the ONLY way to successfully parent toddlers,  SO if you have a better or more efficient way of parenting, don't listen to a word I say! :) Better yet, add your ideas to the comments as I'd love to try them sometime!

My goal in writing this series is simply this: To share what works for the Bergey Bunch and offer encouragement to other Mommies in the midst of the busy toddler years.  

Topics

Here's a few of the topics I have planned:

--The Heart of the Matter: Parenting With a Purpose
--Parenting Philosophies: Which One Works For You?
--Jesus' Take on Toddlers
--Potty Training 101
--Manners: How Scripting Can Teach Our Children Manners
--Bedtime: Back to Basics
--Discipline, From Do-Overs to Spankings
--and many more!

Have a topic you'd like to see covered? Let me know!

Are you an experienced Mommy who would like to contribute to this series? Leave a comment or email me with your ideas!

Showered With Blessings

We are blessed.

Last night, my friend Teresa from church and my younger sister Lauren threw our newly adopted daughters --- all three of them!--- an Adoption Shower.

It was unexpected and so precious to me.

My sister Catherine made these beautiful pictures with each of my girls' names on it!

Johanna's smile lets you know how she felt about the whole thing.....

I was and am truly overwhelmed at the outpouring of love from family and friends. We were spoiled with toys, clothes, books, scrapbook supplies, pajamas, gift cards/cash, and much, much more.

As I found a place for all of the new things late last night and re-read the cards.........tears of joy. Not so much for myself, but for our girls.......their hearts are mending, day-by-day, and we are forever grateful to those who come along side us in this process and love our girlies like we do. :)

Yummy Cake!!!

Cameron with Gabbey and Bethany with Lyssie:

Me with my four girls!

Brent's sister Rhonda came for the weekend. We all love her and are so thankful for her part in our lives.

With two of my sisters: Catherine on the left, and Lauren on the right. Love you, dearly!!!


Alyssia received her first doll!!! Teresa gave her a little Chinese baby doll. Lyssie just giggled and smiled when she opened it, and then hugged it over and over again.

It was such a lovely outpouring of love on our family. The girls and I are very thankful to each one of you! Special thanks to Teresa, Lauren, and Catherine for the time and hard work they put into giving us such a lovely evening.

A Song for Mommy....

(I haven't forgotten about the new series I promised! Please continue to give me feedback as I pretty much have even votes for each topic!)

The other night, Johanna (14 and home from China for 3 months) called me into the girls' room.

"I sing for you, Mommy." she shyly whispered.

Knowing how much she loves to sing, I smiled and replied, "Okay! I will listen!"

"I sing this song in my bed in China." Then she proceeded to sing a lovely Chinese song.

The only word I was able to make out was "mama", which was repeated several times....

"What is the song about, Johanna?" I asked.

"It is 'I Miss My Mama' and I sing it in China at night in my bed." she answered quietly, as little tears started to trickle down her cheeks....

"Oh, Johanna!" I exclaimed. "Come to Mommy." She climbed onto my lap and wrapped her arms around me tightly.

I snuggled and loved on this precious child, sang her our special song, stroked her hair and wiped away the tears while shedding some of my own.....Thinking all the while of her childhood that was spent in a orphanage---warm and fed, yet deprived of the one thing every child needs and deserves:

Her Mommy.

The Blog

Messing around with the layout of my blog a bit.

Trying out a new header, one that I think will work until we get a new family picture (a monumental feat these days! :))

Wondering if anyone knows how to categorize my posts and label them? I haven't got a clue how to do this.

I'd like to start a series and have several topics in mind. If you have a second (and an opinion) would you let me know which series interests you the most?

Attaching with toddler adoption/Attaching with teen adoption/Why International Adoption/How to start the process for international adoption/Disciplining Toddlers

Thanks and good-night all! :)

Just Some Lyssie Sweetness

Brent took me to P. F. Changs for dinner Friday night, in celebration of my birthday. We took Alyssia along and had some wonderful time with each other AND her :)

Here's a glimpse of our little dinner companion:

My Birthday

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday.

 I must admit, I do love birthdays, especially my own :)

This year was extra-special, for a myriad of reasons. The biggest one? The fact that all three of our three Chinese blessings were here to share it with me.

Last year at this time, we were anxiously waiting to travel for Gabbey.

And this year, not only was Gabbey sitting next to me at my party, but two more sweet China-girls have since joined her!

My oldest two girls (Johanna, 14, and Eliana, 9) were just precious about Mommy's birthday.

First, they bought a cake mix, icing, candles, and two birthday cards while I was grocery shopping (they had permission to surprise me).

Then they made the cake, iced it, and cleaned up the mess, with only a little help from Daddy, and ZERO help from me! Eliana covered the cake with foil and I was forbidden to take even a PEEK before my birthday party. :)

Here's the proud cake-bakers:

The morning of my birthday, Johanna, Eliana, and Nathaniel told me to "sit down and read a book or the computer" because they were going to do all of "my" jobs for me since it was my birthday. The three of them whirled around like a tornado, going from room to room, vacuuming, straightening, cleaning, sweeping, mopping, etc. I kept trying to "help" and kept being told quite sternly to "SIT DOWN, MOMMY!" :)

We ate dinner as a family and then came the time for cake and gifts. Each of the older four children had purchased a gift for me-with their own money-and the look on their faces when I opened "their" gift was an adorable mixture of pride and excitement.

Eliana got me a coffee mug that says "FAMILY" on it. Johanna picked out a purple butterfly notebook with a matching pen. Nathaniel went for a little floral globe that has sparklies in it when you shake it, and Noah, sweet-four-year-old Noah......

He got me a box of candy. :) Brent told me that when Noah was picking out my candy, he wanted to know if Daddy thought Mommy would share with him?

I also received some new pj's from Brent :) He's taking me out to dinner on Friday, our first "date" (outside of our living room, lol) in several months. Of course, little Lyssie is going to chaperone us and keep us in line :)

Johanna, Eliana, and Nathaniel gave me beautiful cards. I was especially touched by the inside of Eliana's card. She wrote a list of "10 Whole Things About My Mother".....

1. sweet
2. kind
3. thankful
4. loving
5. caring
6. giving
7. sharing
8. care for us when we're sick
9. work when you're sick
10.protecting (spelled perchecking :))

Seriously. Does it get any more special than this?

I wouldn't have traded my birthday--complete with a little "box" cake and dollar store gifts for ANYTHING this year.

My children are starting to show the fruit of countless hours of repeating myself over and over teaching, training, disciplining and discipling.

And I am indeed blessed.

We put the children to bed (except for Lyssie, who we sometimes let stay up later so we can snuggle with her) and I picked her up and sat down in my rocker.

For the first time EVER, she laid her little head down on my shoulder and let me rock her to sleep.

 So, yes, I think that my 33rd birthday was my Very. Best. Birthday. Ever.

Three Peas in a Pod....

We have three 2 year olds in our home right now. I won't lie---they are work, and alot of it ;)

One 2 year old can make a mess, but you should see what THREE of them can do!

Getting them ready to go somewhere (and being on time, lol) and feeding them are two of the hardest things for me right now. They're VERY messy little eaters and it seems as if they need a bath (and the floor needs mopping!) after every meal!

BUT......they're also positively adorable. Sigh. I truly LOVE 2 year olds (and I guess that's a good thing, huh?) and I'm just lovin' having our three little "peas in a pod"....

Whether they're freshly bathed and going for a ride on Daddy's back.....

Falling off and coming up for "more!".....

Laughing hysterically at absolutely nothing......

Or just being plain cute as a button......

Yep, I love these three! Who needs TV when you have three 2 year olds to watch?! :)