Weird Birth Stories Week!

I am so excited about this week and have been since we added it to our lineup! Basically, we're going to share some wild birth stories with you this week! We're not talking ones with the longest list of complications...but the ones with strange things occurring during pregnancy or delivery.

Our first one this week comes from a friend of mine, Laura. I've known Laura since we were little girls and she has two sons, Jackson and Matthew. The story below happened during her pregnancy with her second son, Matthew. Her doctors decided to induce her and here is what happened next.....


After being assigned a room and getting all hooked up, the doctor decided to try to further jumpstart my labor by breaking my water. This is when things started to interesting. As soon as the doctor broke my water, I noticed a panicked look in his face. My first thought was something along the lines of a prolapsed cord. But after a minute or so, he told the nurse that he needed her help to reposition the baby due to my son's hand coming out when my water broke. The nurse and doctor spent the next few minutes trying to manually maneuver the baby's body to get his hand back past his head and up near his chest.

The doctor was able to reposition my son, pitocin was started, and everyone thought that things would now progress smoothly. Unfortunately we were wrong. I labored for about two more hours till I decided to have an epidural. About an hour later I was checked for progress and it was at this time that we discovered that my multi-talented unborn son had performed an even better escape tactic. Instead of his having just his hand being over his head, he had now gone into full "I have a question" mode and raised his WHOLE arm be before his head. Knowing him now like I do, I can only assume he wanted to ask when dinner was.

It was at this point that the doctor informed me that I would likely be forced to have a C-section due to my son's presentation and his inquisitive nature. However the doctor checked his medical books and saw that, according to them, we could continue to try to labor on. The nurse to cranked up the pitocin and the doctor went to reserve an Operating Room just in case things went south from here. Not wanting a C-Section I was praying as hard as I could that everything would work out in the end.

Needing something to lighten the mood, it was actually my still unborn son Matthew that provided me with a smile. In all the commotion, the doctor had forgotten to tell the nurse was my dilation was up to. She had to recheck upon doing so, Matthew actually grabbed her finger and held it while she was doing the exam. Needless to say she was a little freaked and her facial expression was priceless, and it gave me a little chuckle.

Later that evening after a nursing shift change a progress check showed that I had not made significant headway in two hours. The belief was that due to Matthew's arm being before his head I might not be able to progress anymore, however I was given one more hour to try for natural childbirth.

The pitocin was turned up as high as possible and a lot of prayers were said during that timeframe. When I was checked that hour later, somehow by the Grace of God I had dilated from 5 to 9 1/2 cm! After many thank you's and smiles I was given permission to begin pushing.

It only took one push for Matthew's arm to come out and two more before the rest of him followed. Matthew was born showing a compound presentation (having his arm being born before his head was) and was also sunny-side up. After delivery the doctor told us that this was only the second case like this he had seen in his 31 years of practice. Thank goodness God provided us with an experienced doctor who was willing to listen to my desires and not jump to a C-section.


My favorite part is when Matthew grabbed the nurse's finger. How hilarious! Now that you've read this story...we want to know if YOU have one to share!! Please email us if you do and we'll get it posted.

The Finnlings' television favorites

I am very grateful for Christina’s post “The Slippery Slope that is our TV”. Let me say upfront that I am dealing with this slippery slope right now, as I am in the first trimester of my third pregnancy and can easily slip into a pattern of allowing the television to babysit my children. Thankfully, this is something of which my husband and I are aware, that we are working through, and we are seeking the Lord’s guidance in it. Can we, as Prayer of Hannah readers, agree to encourage each other on to excellency and God’s glory in this matter, and in all other matters of life and parenting?

Now, on to my children’s favorite television shows and movies! We use antenna to pick up our television channels, and consequently receive all major networks, including PBS and PBS Kids. My children, Georgia who is 3 ½, and Baxter, who is 20 months, enjoy several shows on PBS Kids. If we did not have this channel, we would not watch much television, if any at all. Georgia’s favorites are Super Why!, Dinosaur Train and Word World. Baxter will generally watch a little bit of whatever G is watching, of course. When we have the privilege of visiting of grandparents, and take advantage of their cable, my children LOVE Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, and Special Agent Oso. I have purchased a couple of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes on ITunes that I keep on my computer for ‘emergencies’, and those are special treats for the children. In addition, my family subscribes to Netflix, and as such we have access to their Instant Play catalog. G and B love watching episodes of Kipper, SuperWhy! and Angelina Ballerina on the computer. Georgia especially finds Kipper amusing right now—Something in these simple, short episodes about a British dog named Kipper make her laugh every time. I enjoy hearing her laugh!

A confession about myself: I love musicals, and I have passed along that love to my children. My kids enjoy Mary Poppins, The Music Man, Oklahoma!, and The Sound of Music. Mary Poppins was one of the first movies Georgia and I watched together—one of us was sick, but I don’t remember which one. She didn’t watch all of it, but she enjoyed the singing and dancing (and the penguins, of course!). They also enjoy several Disney cartoons, with Georgia prefers princess movies like Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, while Baxter likes boy movies like Cars and Peter Pan. Right now, though, G’s favorite movie is what she simply calls “Jessie”, or Toy Story 2. As an aside, we fast-forward through different parts of movies if they are inappropriate/scary/too slow. For instance, in the movie Oklahoma! there is a dream dance sequence that is long and drawn out, and involves women dressed as bar girls in the wild west—we fast forward through that!

My general rule of thumb is to not allow my kids to watch more than 1 – 1.5 hours of television a day, with movies being watched a couple of times a week. We will have several days that the television is not turned on at all, and then a few days where we watch PBS Kids for 30 minutes to an hour every morning. It varies. Life changes. I get sick, the kids get sick, it rains, it pours, I am lazy, it is a reward—you know the drill. Most importantly, we try not to allow the television or movies to rule our lives. We do not HAVE to watch a show every day or every week (that applies to me and my husband as well) and we do not HAVE to watch a movie at a particular time.

Just for fun, a few of MY favorite television shows are The Today Show, Mythbusters (via Netflix), NCIS, and Glee (current shows), and West Wing, Frasier, and Star Trek: TNG (cancelled). What shows do you, our readers, watch—not your kids, but you?

Will and Adeline's Top Picks

This is probably the most requested video at the moment. Toy Story and Toy Story 2! With the upcoming release of Toy Story 3 (on June 18th, just ask Will...he's counting down) - we upgraded to DVD copies of the movies for a very good price thanks to good deals and coupons! Will especially LOVES Woody and Buzz right now. As far as Disney movies go, we're ok with this one.

(There are others we aren't ok with - including Princess and the Frog. But I only know this because my friend Rebecca share with me their concerns about the voodoo in the movie!)

I am actually SO EXCITED about Toy Story 3 and can't wait to see it! I feel like Buzz Lightyear is a third child in our house sometimes...


Special Agent Oso is a playhouse Disney show. Jacob really likes this one because all of the episodes are named after Bond movies. The premise of the show is that Oso is given a special assignment to help a kid learn a certain skill. They learn three special steps and master the skill (learning to play hopscotch, tying the shoe, washing the dishes, etc.) I think its really cute and Will loves it!

The other day, I told Will we were going strawberry picking. He told me he was going to "twist and pull" the strawberries!? Apparently, there an Oso episode where they learned how to pick strawberries.

The Wiggles are still going strong in our house - nearly three years after Will first discovered them. (Even having seen them LIVE when some friends won tickets two years ago!) Adeline is really the most into Wiggles right now, but both kids love them. The Wiggles show comes on a channel that we have "on demand" so we have a few shorter episodes to watch in addition to some DVDs we've collected.

Franklin is the first on my list of what we don't watch! The bottom line is that I think Franklin whines and doesn't always have a good attitude. He used to come on Noggin (now Nick Jr.) which is a channel we prefer because of the no commercials. But, I don't let Will watch Franklin and he knows why.

Max and Ruby is another one we avoid. Ruby is a little bossy to Max and seems to be in charge. The parents are almost never seen. The bottom line is that we're not going to be able to shelter Will from all "bad examples" - but there are plenty of options that don't include characters like these.

(Word World and the Leap Frog videos were also mentioned by Leah and these are other favorites of ours as well.)

A few others that have cycled through as favorites include:

Hide 'em in your heart DVD

Cedarmont Kids Bible Songs

Little People DVDs from Fisher Price (given free with toys or through online promotion)

Jonah the Veggie Tales movie (though I can't convince them to watch any other Veggie Tales)

Dinosaur Train on PBS

I'm saying this as a reminder to myself as well - but its so easy to assume that all preschool programming (and videos) is "safe" when there may be themes and examples we don't agree with. There are a couple of websites to use when trying to get an idea of the movie or tv show and what it might include. They are:

Plugged In - a Focus on the Family ministry

Kids In Mind

Screen It

Any final thoughts on tv/video viewing for our little ones? Thanks for the comments this week!

The slippery slope that is our tv....

Since it has already been addressed and discussed a little, I thought I would take a minute and explain our history with tv usage. This wasn't the intended direction of this weeks' topic - but I think its necessary to address while we discuss our favorite shows!

Well, when we first got married, Jacob was in seminary, working and I was teaching full time. There wasn't much time for tv watching - though we do have a few fav shows and love to watch NCSU sports. We had an antennae at that time. Until we started having trouble getting the antennae to pick up CBS...which is the Survivor channel and many wolfpack sporting events...

So we upgraded to basic cable (20 channels) to ensure we got CBS.

And then I went on bedrest with Will, so we upgraded our service to include all 75ish channels of standard cable. We reduced it back to basic when maternity leave ended.

Another bedrest (this one much longer) came in 2008, so we once again got full cable and have had it ever since. I think the hook for us that time around was the fact that Will was two and would watch tv more than before. In addition, I was now a stay at home Mom.

At first, we limited it to 30 minutes a day. Then we settled at 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes just before Daddy got home. Do you see the slippery slope??

There have been times where we have very easily slipped into a bad habit of having the tv on consistently all morning. Usually it follows a sickness or busy time when we have one day that leads to several...It is SUCH a slippery slope and you don't even realize its happening!

Thankfully, we're at a stage now where my kids are getting a little older and we're out of the house more (more than the infant stage...) for activities - especially in the warm months - so naturally less tv is watched.

I share all of this so you have a real picture of how much tv we watch. It is a continual process of evaluating how we spend our time and making changes to avoid the tv. I try to be intentional about sending them outside to play. We just moved into a house with a great side deck that I can block off and see from my kitchen. It's great to get the kids out of the house. We also retreat to our upstairs bonus area to do puzzles, color, etc. and there is NO TV upstairs.

The other day I needed my kids (2 and almost 4) to sit still for about 10 minutes while I finished getting ready. Instead of turning on the tv, I had them pick out a stack of books and take a seat on the couch (separate couches, actually :) I was SHOCKED when they sat that for MORE than ten minutes and quietly looked at books! It was a rare moment of obedience and much better than turning on the tv, even for just 10 minutes.

I'll do a separate post about the actual shows/DVDs that are our favorites! And some that I avoid and why. Anyone else struggle with letting their kids watch too much tv?

Meet Leah F!

From here on out, we will have a Leah P. and now a Leah F! We're excited to have another Leah on board as a new author on POH. Here is a little more about her:

Leah has been married to her husband Nathan since January 2001. They are the proud parents of Georgia (born October 21, 2006 –Leah’s birthday!) and Baxter (born September 28, 2008), and are awaiting the birth of their third child in January 2011. The Finns live in Wake Forest, NC, where Nathan attended seminary and is now a professor. Leah was an administrative assistant to a business executive before “retiring” to stay at home with her children. Leah has been a follower of Jesus Christ for over twenty years, and deeply desires to know God more, serve him better, and share that love with her family and friends. When not chasing the Finnlings around the house, Leah enjoys blogging, reading, sewing (and other crafty things), and entertaining in her home. Most importantly, though, she wants to help her children grow to be “trees planted by the water” (Jer. 17.7-8; Ps. 1) as believers in Jesus.

Thanks, Leah F for coming on board with POH! We are so excited to have another wonderful woman to add to our growing blog!

TV at our house...

I had to laugh when I saw the topic I would be writing about for my first post as a POH author, because I'm not going to be much help when it comes to kid shows -- we pretty much keep the TV off at our house when the girls are awake. I know that there are a lot of great educational shows available, but my husband and I simply decided that we didn't want the TV to be a focus at our house. Karis is three years old and has learned all the basics easily from books and puzzles.

Every now and then Karis will wake up from a nap on the weekends and find her Daddy watching a tennis match or basketball game, but after snuggling for a minute, she is usually asking him to read to her instead. I have, however, let her watch a Praise Baby or Cedarmont Kids music DVD on 2 different occasions when she was utterly sick and miserable and needed distraction. She absolutely LOVED both of them and I would gladly recommend them both. However, please keep in mind that we have only watched them once so I can't promise that they would not get annoying if watched in repetition :)

We have also on occasion let her watch a short, funny YouTube video about silly puppies or kittens or a familiar musical clip (like the Sound of Music train station clip). But once again, it is usually only when she is hurt and would benefit from a quick distraction or for short educational purposes. (For instance, when Karis first started soccer, the coach asked her to walk like a penguin and keep the ball between her feet. She had no concept of a penguin, so when we got home, I pulled up a quick You Tube video to show her.)

I don't want you to think that we are ridiculous about our no-TV policy because we really don't treat it as a big deal. If there is an historical event or a major sports game on, we will turn the TV on for a while. But it doesn't happen regularly and we usually don't just sit in front of the TV to watch it; we go about our normal routines and just catch what we can. And we definitely do not make a big deal about TV elsewhere. My girls see the TV on all the time at relatives' and friends' houses, restaurants, etc., and do fine with it.

I have to be honest and admit that because my girls have early bedtimes (Karlie, 6:00 and Karis, 7:00), my husband and I do enjoy watching TV in the evenings after they are asleep. We do not pay for cable but get a surprising number of channels through the free digital box. Once the girls are older and staying up later, however, I'm hoping that we will kick the habit and do family activities instead :)

So how long will we keep the TV off? To be honest, we haven't really set an age or a time. It is just one of those things that we will figure out as we go. I really doubt that we will ever get into the habit of watching regular shows with them. But as they get older, I think it will be beneficial to watch different things with them to discuss what they see and help them learn to evaluate media with a Biblical perspective. And I'm sure that in the future I will greatly utilize the educational aspects of DVD's and the internet.

Welcome, Meg!

We're getting ready to change things up a bit on Prayer of Hannah! We're adding some new authors! Our goal is to add some fresh perspective and increase the number of posts we can produce each week. Our lives look a lot different now than they did almost 3 years ago when we started Prayer of Hannah - so its time for some change! Stay tuned for some introductions throughout this week, in addition to the regularly scheduled topic - TV shows! :)



Our first new author is Meg DeLong. (You may have already noticed her new picture in our left sidebar. I added it last night - before this post was scheduled to appear. :) Here is a little more information about Meg and her family!


Meagan and her husband, Mark were married October 16, 2004. They feel incredibly blessed to be the parents of two precious girls, Karis, born May 2007, and Karlie, born January 2009. Meagan taught preschool before leaving the workplace to be a stay-at-home wife and Mama. She has a passion for learning about nutrition, natural solutions, education, biblical parenting, and financial stewardship. Her deepest desire is to raise her children to love the Lord and His Word. She has been walking with the Lord for 13 years. Meagan enjoys cooking, blogging, reading, online scrap-booking, spending time outdoors, and having fun with her sweet girls and handsome husband.

Thanks, Meg, for joining our POH team and we look forward to the great and wonderful things we know you'll contribute to Prayer of Hannah!

[Closed] Book Review and Giveaway!

"Likewise we ought to read simple and devout books as willingly as learned and profound ones. We ought not to be swayed by the authority of the writer, whether he be a great literary light or an insignificant person, but by the love of simple truth. We ought not to ask who is speaking, but mark what is said. Men pass away, but the truth of the Lord remains forever. God speaks to us in many ways without regard for persons."
-Thomas à Kempis

Kevin Harvey is a friend from church. We've known him and his family for at least five years now. We see them weekly at a dinner club started by my mother-in-law (years ago when my husband was in middle school! but that's another story for another day). Our kids are close in age and play together weekly. We appreciate their friendship and the ways they minister to our church! Recently, Kevin wrote a book. He asked me if I would read it and do a review on POH....

I'll be honest, I was not super excited about the idea because I am FAMOUS for not finishing books for various reasons. But, Amy (Kevin's sweet wife) assurred me it was an easy read! And I'm here to say now that she was so right! I finished the book in less than two days and really enjoyed it.

The quote I posted above was taken from the blog of my friend, Jenn. (Also a friend of the Harveys and also did a blog review of the book. :) When I read it, I thought it was perfect. She was sure to point out that she is not calling Kevin "insignificant." But it was meant to be a reminder to not dismiss a writer you've never heard of. This book is a truly refreshing read and Kevin is a great writer!

Before I get to my quick review, here's the description of the book from Kevin's website:

For too long, the body of Christ has been focused on too many things that, quite simply, haven’t been working. The answer to a lasting, true revival in today’s world isn’t going to come from a continued focus on what we can and cannot do, which denomination has the most biblical theology, or achieving victories in social issues such as definition of family and the right to life. Instead, what our attention should be fixed upon is that the Son of God said the second greatest commandment we’ve been given is to love our neighbors as ourselves.

In this book, Kevin Harvey has taken a biblical approach to help the body of believers define just who their neighbor is and what it means to truly love them as Jesus intended. If the body of Christ began to focus daily on following that one simple idea, then maybe—just maybe—the world would finally begin viewing the church as the salt of the earth and light of the world that Jesus had in mind.

Basically, Kevin related to seemingly unrelatable books of the Bible. Jonah and First John. He uses the story of Jonah to illustrate how we are fleeing from God's "second greatest commandment" to love our neighbor. It was a really wonderful and different look at the book of Jonah. I definitely walked away with some fresh convictions on how I fall short in loving my neighbors. The verses from First John were especially convicting when used to supplement the story in Jonah.

Here's how the book is set up. Each chapter looks a different part of the book of Jonah and is broken into three sections. The first section in each chapter is basically Kevin's summary of what the scripture from Jonah is saying. The second section he calls "The Unavoidable Red Letters" and are the teachings of Jesus that relate to the passages of Jonah covered in that chapter. The third section is "A Friendly Reminder" and is a breakdown of passages from First John that also relate to Jonah.

Kevin uses tons of scripture - even apart from the passages of Jonah, the teachings of Jesus and the verses from First John. He does that too, while writing in a way that you'll feel as though you're sitting in a room with him discussing Jonah. (And I'm not just saying that because I know him and can literally hear him saying many of the lines I read in the book!)

The end of each chapter contains a section he calls "Take it Personally" with questions for individual and group reflection. This book would be great to read on your own or with a group!

If you'd like to get your own copy - you can go to Kevin's website to purchase the book.

OR you can win it here! Kevin gave us a copy of his book (titled Jonah, John, and the Second Greatest (but most avoided) Commandment - since I haven't written that once in this review!!) to give away to one of our lovely POH readers. Be prepared to be challenged in your view of who your neighbor is and whether or not you are loving them as God calls you too!

All you have to do is leave a comment here! (Be sure to leave a way for us to contact you - especially if your blogger profile isn't public!) I'll pick a winner next Sunday, May 30th.

Oh, to TV or not to TV

Hello everyone! Welcome to a new week! This week's topic is "Favorite TV Shows and DVDs" - and I'm pretty sure we mean for our kids, but I suppose we could add our own favorites as well!

Before I even delve into WHAT we watch on TV/DVD, I suppose I should cover WHEN/IF we watch TV/DVDs. After Samuel was born, we didn't consistently have a TV in our home until we moved to Chicago when he was 17 months old. We did get a little TV from the thrift store when we were in CA to watch football games, but it stayed in the closet during the week. Samuel didn't really see much TV until we got Comcast in Chicago. When he was 19 months old, Joel was born and I discovered the kids shows you could choose on the Comcast OnDemand. We had our TV for the 6 months we lived in that house. When we moved to our new house (Samuel 22 months, Joel 3 months) we had the TV out for a little bit, but then put it away. We have since had it out off and on in the two years we've lived here. All that to say that Samuel wasn't exposed to much TV for the first 2 years of his life. Joel has definitely seen more in his first 2 years than Samuel did. I will say that I am a No TV supporter - especially before the age of 2 and especially in the summer. But I also don't want to be a hypocrite and act like my children have never feasted their innocent eyes on a TV program! :)

Now that Samuel is 3.5 and Joel is 2, they watch maybe 30 minutes of TV 4-5 days a week (that's my best estimate). We watch a combination of TV programs with DVDs from the library. We have our TV out right now b/c the college student that lives with us likes to watch it, but it will go back in the closet once he moves out next month.

TV Shows We Like:

Word World. This is probably the boys favorite. It is cute and fun and the boys are entertained by it. It comes on at 5:00pm here in Chicago, so it can be a handy distraction if I need to do some hands-on dinner prep. It is 2 15-minute segments that are about building words. It's pretty cute and tolerable to me. :)

Dinosaur Train. We catch this one about once every other week. I think it is on about 9:30am and we're not usually home during this time. But I know the boys really like it, so if I notice it's 9:30 and we're not doing much I'll let them watch. It is about dinosaurs that ride a train to visit other dinosaurs from different periods. The boys like it because they are really into learning all the different kinds of dinosaurs.

Handy Manny. Same here - probably once every other week. Maybe less. It isn't too bad of a show. Just a guy fixing things. I couldn't tell you what time it's on, if that gives you any idea of how infrequently we watch it.

Those are the only shows my boys watch with any consistency. They have also seen Dora once (mind-numbing - I HATE that show), Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (cute but on before they are awake), Martha Speaks (over their head), Arthur (on during naps), and Curious George (also a very cute show but usually on during naps. Joel has probably seen more of it than Sam b/c it is on at 3 and if he wakes up early from a nap I will let him watch this while I finish what I'm doing).

DVDs we watch:

My boys probably watch DVDs more than they watch TV. We have a portable DVD player that they watch their DVDs on. We own a few DVDs that they used to watch, but now we get all our DVDs from the library.

Leap Frog Letter Factory/Talking Words Factory (1&2)/Let's Go to School. OUR ALL TIME FAVORITE DVDs!! Both of my boys can sing their alphabet song and tell you the name and sound of each letter. Both could do this before the age of 2 and all from watching the Letter Factory video. It's a good length (35 minutes) and pretty cute. Here is Joel showing off for you (I took this video the week before his 2nd birthday - now that he is 2 and 2 months he can do them all without help):
[VIDEO FORTHCOMING]
The Talking Words videos (35 minutes, 30 minutes) teach how to sound out words. Here is Samuel at 3 sounding out and spelling words:

The Let's Go to School one is the least exciting of the bunch (in my opinion, but my boys really loved it). But it does manage to pack in the alphabet, counting, animal families, days of the week and more in 35 minutes.

We also get different Non-Fiction DVDs from our library's children's section. I think I wrote a week or two back about getting books from the library on topics Samuel is interested in. I'll also check the DVD section to see if there is anything of interest. We currently have in our house a DVD about the life cycle of the frog, a Spanish video about animals, and a phonics video.

That about sums up our TV/DVD viewing. What's on at your house?

Cold Turkey Paci Weaning - Do not try this at home!

The only experience I have for this week's topic is weaning Will from his pacifier. My kids have never had any other blankets or stuffed animals that they are majorly attached to. They go through phases and we're always sure to limit how many "things" they require for sleep times. So nothing has stuck in that area! But, little Will sure loved his paci. This is what I wrote the week of January 19th, 2008. He was 19 months old when we took his paci away. Disclaimer: I do not recommend our method of paci weaning. See my notes at the bottom, also in red.

Jacob and I decided a while ago that we really wanted to wean Will of his pacifier before baby #2 comes along. Ever since about 10 months old - he has never used his paci outside of his crib for naps and bedtime. (Sometimes he would if we were out of the house during a "sleep time" such as traveling and such...) He knows the crib is where it stays and dutifully would throw it in the crib after waking each time. Lately, he had been waking up a lot at night and not being able to find a paci. We had developed a bad habit of going in to find it for him and I just didn't want to have to worry about having TWO waking in the middle of the night. So this definitely fueled our decision to the kick the habit now instead of later.

I knew I wanted him to be rid of it by age 2 (this June) but we had a lot of changes coming that just wouldn't allow for an easy transition off the paci. The baby coming...possibly moving...getting into a toddler bed...would all happen before or around age 2. So, at the suggestion of my friend Mary, we decided MLK weekend would be a great time to drop the paci! We actually have four days at home with him because Jacob will stay home with him this Tuesday for a regular "Dad day."

We got a good nights sleep last night and Will enjoyed his final night with his paci. We didn't really do anything to prep him because I'm not sure he would have understood. Instead, we went cold turkey with this morning's nap. He kept asking for his "bapa" (completely new word for paci that we have never heard before today...probably because he's never had to ask for it!) and searching his crib. He pretty much cried (not wailing - just whining and protesting) off and on throughout the whole nap. The only time he wasn't crying was when Copper the cat got locked in his room. He thought that was hysterical! But got mad again when I had to go and let her out.

Oh - we did try to do the whole "broken paci" thing and cut off the tip. Jacob said to Will..."There's been a terrible accident." (I thought that was kind of mean...) But seeing the "broken" paci only made him more mad. So we just took it away before his first nap without the paci.

He only cried for about 20 minutes off and on before falling asleep at his second nap around 1pm. He has woken up twice since then and cried for a few minutes but then fell back asleep. As of 3:45 he's still sleeping!

I feel like we're sleep training all over again and it kind of motivates me to maybe drop the paci sooner with #2. I definitely think Will was not this attached to his paci even 6 months ago. We're hopeful that tonight will be relatively easy and that tomorrow he'll be over it. He's always been such a GREAT sleeper that we're pretty certain he'll get over this quickly. But...It's still so pitiful to hear him crying for his paci and not knowing what to do with himself.

The next day's update:

Saturday Bedtime: He didn't even ask for his "bapa" but he did try to ask for extra hugs. He also cried for maybe 5 minutes before calming down and eventually conking out. He slept completely through the night and didn't wake up until 7:45!

Sunday Morning Nap: This one really can barely be called a nap anymore. Especially without the paci - I think he'll have a hard time falling asleep in the morning because he is not always tired enough. We are pretty much letting it be quiet time in the crib. I think because I gave him books to read, he didn't think twice about the paci. He stayed quiet in his crib for almost an hour, just reading books. He was in a great mood this morning.

Sunday Afternoon Nap: No tears! Still lots of begging for extra hugs, but no tears when I put him down. However...he is really fighting sleep and after an HOUR of talking and playing we had to go in and turn on his sound machine. The sound of the waves was all it took before he conked out. I think he doesn't have a way to soothe himself to sleep without the paci, especially for naps. He slept for a little over an hour before waking up and has been whining off an on for about 20 minutes now. He REALLY needs more sleep than just an hour nap...I don't know what we're going to do!! Oh and the waves are still going - they just aren't getting him back to sleep this time.

My current thoughts are that bedtime is going to be easy, but naps are different story. Hopefully that will improve or we'll have a grumpy boy pretty soon!

Update one week later:

This week has been rough for Will. He seems to be sleeping GREAT at night, but daytime sleep is still a battle. He did pretty good at the sitters on Wednesday, but not on Thursday. He also didn't do well for Gigi and Grandy on Friday. Both Thursday and Friday he fussed most of his 2nd nap and probably only slept for about an hour each day.

This morning he fell asleep during his first "nap" but we only let him stay in his crib for about an hour. He went down around 12:45 (with lots of pitiful protest tears) and cried for about 10 minutes before conking out. He's still asleep now and we hope he sleeps for a LONG time today to catch up.

I'm still not convinced the sleep battles are all paci related. I think sleep has been difficult for four reasons:

1. No paci is definitely part of it.

2. Teething. I thought all of his molars were in, but there is one that is still working through the gums. On top of that, his bottom eye teeth (the pointy ones - what are they called?) are just starting to show signs of appearing. He has indicated to us during meals that his teeth hurt several times recently. So I think this is probably 50% of our problem. We have tried some regular Tylenol the past day or so to see if this helps.

3. Dropping the morning nap. He's definitely in that in between time where he could sometimes use the morning sleep, but most of the time it just makes his 2nd nap poor. I think its going to take a while for his sleep schedule to even out without the actual sleep in the morning. I'm certain that we'll at least maintain the quiet time with books in the morning until the new baby is on a decent schedule. If for no other reason than my sanity!

4. Typical 19 month old rebellion. I've heard of a lot of other kids going through a phase of sleep rebellion around 18 months or so. For this reason - he is just going to have work through this and learn that nap time is going to last at least 2 hours whether he sleeps or not!

The pacifiers are still packed away and will meet the trash can once I decide that they're too gross to use for #2. :)

My thoughts more than two years later...

-Adeline NEVER took a paci as an infant. When she was about 16 (?) months old, she found one and instantly fell in love. However, I never let her take them to bed. (Completely opposite than I did with Will - Ha!) Weaning will be simple. If she doesn't see them, she doesn't ask. She's not really attached.

-If I have to wean a child from a serious paci addiction in the future - I won't use the cold turkey method. Don't recommend it. Especially not when your child is in the process of dropping the morning nap and teething. We really decided on a whim and jumped in without a plan. BAD idea.

Anyone else have any tips for weaning from these comfort items?

Ditching the Pacifier the Payneful Way

Here is the blog entry I posted in November 2008 when Samuel gave up the pacifier at 2 years and 3 months...


So long, farewell, aufwerdersein (ha, ha - I have no idea how to spell that word!! and I'm too lazy to google it), goodbye...

The pacifiers are G-O-N-E!! I finally got fed up enough with them and told Ed, "that's it. let's get rid of them." So we laid Samuel down for his nap today without them. Here's the exchange:

Sam: Pacis. Pacis.
Me: Sorry, no more pacis. They're all gone.
Sam: All gone?
Me: Yep. Go nigh-night with Bear and Baa and Kitty (his three stuffed friends featured in the photo above).
Sam: Pacis.
Me: Tell Kitty, sorry, no more pacis.
He got up out of his bed two times and I put him down where he stayed and cried for 30 minutes. Then he got up and went into the bathroom. I thought he was pulling my chain as an excuse to get out of bed, but oops, he had gone number two in his undies! We cleaned him up and he laid back down to finish his nap with no tears.

Flash forward to later this afternoon. We are playing around in the bathroom.

Sam: Pacis. Pacis.
Me: Sorry, remember, pacis are all gone.
Sam: Sorry, Kitty, pacis all done.
No tears.

Bedtime.

Sam: Pacis.
Me: Sorry, pacis are all done. Go nigh-night with Bear and Baa. Oops, we left Kitty at Dustin's house. We'll see him in the morning. (Dumb me!! I forgot the stupid cat at the neighbors' house!)
I close the door and stand outside to see what will happen. I hear...
Sam: Kitty? Where are you Kitty? Kitty?
Break my heart!! I ran down to the neighbors and got the cat back.
Me: Here's Kitty Samuel.
Sam: Sorry, Kitty, pacis all done. Here Kitty, lay right here.

And that's it!! We'll see how tomorrow goes, but I am doing a little victory dance tonight!!

Here's a video I made yesterday that made me realize how much we needed to ditch those stupid pacifiers.

Paci-free

I am posting this for Hollie who is currently without internet access. It's too good not to share, so I told her I'd copy a post on her family blog about how she was able to finally call Laney "paci-free."

I can't believe I am even able to type the words "paci-free" when referring to Laney, but indeed she is. I really didn't think it would be possible to pry that paci out of Laney's mouth for good without some serious gnashing of teeth. I have longed for this day, and I'm happy to say that there was no gnashing of teeth.

How did we wean her from the paci? Easy. My friend Stacey and an author from Prayer of Hannah gave me great advice. Simply cut the paci vertically from the end of the paci ( not cutting off the end, but just making a vertical slit in the paci). The paci will still look the same, but they will know something is different.




Laney was old enough to know, after putting the paci in her mouth and then examining it, that it didn't look the same because it now had a cut in it. She looked at it and said, "I need a new one. It's broken." I just told her, "Let's put it back in your mouth and go nite-nite Laney." So, she did, but the desire for her paci just wasn't the same. For two-to-three days she kept that paci loosely in her mouth. We'd go and take it out of her mouth after she was asleep. (FYI: Laney only used the paci during sleep hours, not during awake time.) Within those two-to-three days, she would complain that it was "too big" because it wouldn't stay in her mouth. She never screamed or seemed really upset that it wasn't meeting her need to soothe her to sleep. It was just different. By me still giving her the paci at bedtime for those few days and her deciding it just wasn't "cutting it" anymore, we didn't seem like the bad guys taking away her beloved paci she's had all her life.

Day three: I didn't give her the paci at all, for she fell asleep faster than lightening due to the fact that she didn't have a nap that day.

Day four: I told Hugh about her not even having the paci the night before. He encouraged me to not mention it at all, unless she asked for it. Come to find out, she didn't ask for it that night. Hugh and I were FLOORED. FLOORED! She did request the paci at bedtime that night, but I distracted her with the books we were reading.

**One thing that I would advise the parents who want to use the method is to try giving something for your child to physically hold onto, whether it be a blanket, new stuffed animal, etc.. Coincidentally, during this week, Laney found a few of her baby blankets (as I was getting the nursery ready) that she totally remembered were hers from infancy. It was as if she fell in love with them and wanted to carry one particular one from room to room. When she went to bed at night, she wanted it close by. So, I jumped at that opportunity to fill that desire for something and tried to mention her blankie at bedtime. I'm fine with her having a blankie until she's thirty even, if she truly wants it, just not a paci.

The rest is history my friends. She hasn't asked for it since, and we haven't mentioned it. I was in prayer over this weaning process while we were going through it. It's definitely a HUGE answer to prayer. H-U-G-E. I'm so thankful that this is behind us and it wasn't even a painful process.

Spending my Days with these Guys

Many thanks to Margaret for getting us back on track. I want to continue with the theme "Training our Children" by sharing some of the things I am trying to train our boys to do. Samuel is 3.5 and Joel is 2. Here are things we work on:

1. What do you do if you are lost. I ask my boys the following questions and provide the answers every day when we go on a walk. I have no idea why I started doing this. But then I figured it's good information for them to have stored away in their noggins in case of emergency.
-What is your mom's name? Your dad's name?
-Where do you live? (Samuel knows his street name and city name. Joel knows his city name)
-Where does your daddy work?
-What do you do if you get lost? (First look for a police officer. If you don't see one, look for another mommy and tell her you can't find your mommy.)

2. Put your shoes in the basket. My kids hate wearing shoes. So the first thing they do when they get in the house is peel off their shoes and socks. I trained them to put them in the basket by the back door after they take them off so I'm not tripping over shoes all day long.

3. Table Manners. Ugh. This is our weak point. It's not for lack of trying - just too much silliness between the boys at the table! My goals for table manners are to stay in your seat, you must eat at least one bite of something even if you don't think you like it, ask "may I be excused please?", clear your plate, put your cup back in the fridge and say "thank you for my dinner". They can do all of these, but not without a prompt first. My goal is to not prompt them. I don't know whether that will happen by kindergarten or by high school!

4. Speaking to adults. This works out in a variety of ways. First, I have my children call everyone by "Ms. Amy" or "Mr. Chad" (well, not all girls are Ms. Amy, but you get the idea!), unless they ask to be called something else. For example, my husband's name is Ed, and he LOATHES being called Mr. Ed. So he tells other children to call him Ed or Mr. Payne. We try to do the same for others. Anyways...this rule mostly applies to Samuel right now, but Joel is learning by example. I am training them to greet their adult teachers and say goodbye and thank you when they leave. This has helped Samuel to spontaneously go up and greet his AWANA teachers when he sees them in "big church".

5. Using the Library. This is kind of attached to #4, but that paragraph was getting long. I am training my boys to take advantage of the great resources at the library - the librarians! If Samuel asks me a question during the week (ex. Why is the moon big sometimes and small sometimes?) I tell him that's an interesting question and he should ask the librarian about that. The next time we go to the library, I have him go up to the desk and say "Excuse me, I'm interested in why the moon is big sometimes or small sometimes." Other things he's said are "I'm interested in where squirrels sleep", "I'm interested in what Maisauras eat", or "I'm interested in how to take care of animals." I always try to hang back and let him handle it himself. They are very patient at listening to him and then they walk him back into the Non-Fiction section and help him pick out 2 or 3 books about the subject. This is a great way to teach him how to interact politely with adults and learn something at the same time! (Plus it lets me off the hook for having no idea where squirrels sleep. Nests, by the way).

6. Parking Lots. Everytime I get the boys out of their carseats I say "okay, now we're in a parking lot. What do we do in a parking lot?" And they respond "Hold hands". When I set one of them out of the van, I say "Hold hands or hands on the van." That way the one will keep their hand on the van while I lift the other one out. This is especially helpful when I have to unload 3 kids.

7. First Time Obedience. I teach my children to obey me the first time. That means no warnings, no counting to three, no repeating myself a million times. This is part training them and part training me. I need to learn to follow through with consequences when they don't obey right away. I ask a million times a day "When do we obey?" and they know to answer "the first time". Here is a typical scenario: Samuel is playing with Joel and takes something from him. I say "Samuel, come here." If he comes to me I say "thank you for obeying the first time." (and then I deal with the other issue.) If he doesn't come the first time, I go over to him and say "when do we obey?" and he says "the first time" and I say "now you need to sit in time out for not obeying the first time." Then I deal with the obeying the first time thing and the taking toys thing. Since we're in the beginning stages of working on this, I try to really praise the heck out of them for obeying the first time. Samuel (in typical first-born style) has taken to pointing out to me each time he obeys the first time ("look, mommy, I obeyed the first time. Are you happy with me?")

I know this may seem like a weird, random list of things we do in our house, but that's probably more of a reflection of the weird house we live in! I just wanted to give you a flavor for some of the things we work on day-to-day around here. Let me know if you have questions.

Child Training Ideas - Reminding and Repeating

This week is Child Training Idea week, and although I don't think I have anything new or innovative to offer it is nice for me to think through what we do in our home to train our children. It is helpful to remember that child training isn't something that happens only when we plan it. We are always training our kids. We can be purposefully training them in godliness and correct behavior, or we can be negligent and training them to follow their own desires.

So much of what I do in training my children involves reminding and repeating. Proper child training is tough work and it is CONSTANT! I find myself often thinking, "how many times do I have to say (fill in the blank)." But, children are children and need reminders. I don't mean they should be lovingly reminded a hundred times not to get near the fireplace or not to hit someone, those things should be corrected and appropriate discipline administered right away. What I mean is that many discipline issues can be avoided altogether if we use good reminders. For example, my kids do well if I remind them at the beginning of playing that God is pleased when we do good and share. If I say it with a smile before the playing even begins, they are more likely to remember and play nicely. I feel better too because I am able to lay out the boundaries while smiling instead of during the more heated moments of correction. Another time I frequently use reminders is before we enter any public place. I always make it a game to run through the standard "rules" of what is expected of them. They enjoy listing things they should and shouldn't do in the grocery store (not grabbing things, staying close to mommy, no running or shouting). I do notice that when I forget to remind them before going somewhere, I feel like I'm playing catch up the whole time we are out and have to discipline them more than I would have if I had laid out the rules before we even began.

I've put together a quick list of some times that I use reminders. I had no idea it was so often! No wonder I feel like I repeat myself!

before church (no running, stand for songs, pray quietly when everyone is praying)
before going to the grocery store (no grabbing, stay with mommy)
before getting the kids ready for bed (remind them to put their dirty clothes away, brush teeth)
before meal times (use a napkin, keep your cup above your plate, etc.)
when coming in from outside (hang up your coat, put away shoes)
before play dates (share toys, be nice to everyone)

I hope this was helpful in some way!

Oops!

So...here's our excuse...Five out of six Prayer of Hannah writers are MOVING. As in over the course of a very few months, all but Leah (unless she's not telling us something!) have moved or will be moving their families to a new location. AND for all of us, this is a temporary move with another move coming within a year!

So, POH got put on the back burner for a while. We're in the process of evaluating things and will hopefully be back next week.

In the meantime - while we're evaluating - take this week to...

1. Ask a random question we'll consider for our next lineup.

2. Give us your thoughts on the direction POH should take...got a new idea for a revamping of the POH focus?

3. Tell us your thoughts on POH in general. (Getting redundant? Not enough regular posts?)

We may do a more formal survey in the near future, but for now, just share with us in the comments.

Thanks for understanding.