re: September baby!

wait heres a couple pics

hers one of Aryah on July 4th...

here is chloe at ten months...

Well all I have a huge problem and I need a vent... so here goes....

My older kids were brought home yesterday afternoon from playing outside my our apt manager. Seems my BRILLIANT and so well behaved (can you just taste the sarcasm here???) were up to no good. They stole the mantainace mans keys off his golf cart that he uses to get around our complex since it is so big. They were over heard by another resident plotting to break into the clubhouse (which is where the office is). And when the manager went to find them, she found them in an electic box that had been locked and they had gotten open with the stolen keys.

WTH! I wanted to strangle their 8 & 12 yr old necks.
So now this is the punishment that they have been dished.... plus whatever else I can come up with......
1) Grounded - complete and total grounding... no radio, cd player, mp3, no tv, no toys, no board games. I made them pack everything except books and their clothes in their room. They get none of it back until after we move.

2) They must write a full page apology letter to the management and take it over to the office and read it to them.

3) They are getting up at 4:30 on Sunday morning and each taking a kitchen sized garbage bag and picking up trash around the complex until each bag is full.

4) Bedtime for the summerwas 9 during the week and 10 on weekends - Now it is 8pm until further notice

5) They both have kitchen detail all on their own until after we move.

6) Since all they can practically do is sit in their room and read, they will also have to write book reports for each book they read.

Im not sure if I'm being too harsh or not.... On one hand, they were busted before anything irreversable happened. And of course they are kids and kids are going to mess up.... BUT
on the other hand when kids mess up, its our jobs to make sure they learn from their mistake... Plus the could have been hauled off to juvie if they did break into the office (there is an alarm in there) and worse they could have been seriously hurt if not killed by getting into that electrical box.
Ugh! it's 6:30am... gotta go get my little prisoners up. The oldest one has her last day of summer school today.

SSS long.... i just needed to vent and you ladies are so understanding......

mrsh....and can you believe that teenagers want to have kids. Parenting is the hardest job in the whole world!!!!! Finding the right disipline can also be hard at times...you want to disipline them in a way that they learn from the experience and you dont want to be too harsh to the point that they rebel and do something worse. We had my stepson living with us for awhile and when he came his old school said that he was beating up kids so we expected the same when he came here but he did none of that instead he started stealing stuff and not only from us but from the school, his uncles and his grandparents. The hard thing with him is that he is adhd and his mom brought him up. His mom is a socialpath(i know i spelled that wrong, maybe i need to go back to school) and a compulsuve (anouther spelled wrong) lier so that was anouther thing we had to deal with. I have a big thing against people who think they have to lie!! So anyways we started taking thngs away from him and the school would give him inschool suspension and we had him going to therapy and we started getting everything figured out then he would go to his moms and things would be all messed up and he would be worse. Anyways, I am sorry about the long story but i just want to let you know that your not the only one dealing with this...i am always here for you to talk to if you need anybody. I think youdid the right thing and whatever you do dont back down. Let us know how it goes.

dONT BACK DOWN GIRL!!!!!!! You have done exactly what I would have done. Just remember that if they hate the punishment, you are sure to know that they wont do it again! I hope all goes well.

im taking notes on all of this LOL. sounds like a good punishment though!!

Thanks guys. Hubby and I just needed some reassurance that we weren't the only ones dealing with misbehavior that's this extreme and we just wanted to make sure that the punishment fit the crime.

Now my biggest challenge is enforcing it when the are with their father. For the summer, the spend a week with me and week with him for the entire summer. They do spend "his parenting time" with me during the day when he is at work, but the go to his home for evenings or if he takes a day off or has no work for the day, they are with him. And then there is the weekends... the idiot bought a vacation home in AZ (we are in SD CA and he doesn't even own a home here) and they go there during the weekends they are with him. Jet skiing, ATV's, etc... he is not good at all at enforcing punishment that I institute. Quite honestly I don't think he even cares about what I do... he just wants to do what he wants.....

Hello Ladies...been forever yet again, but I'm finding it harder and harder to make it on here these days. Well let me re-phrase that. I make it on here but just for a minute to read the posts then I just leave it on and disappear to get stuff done! Lifes just been busy lately, it seems =) Anyways, McKenzie is doing great! She's just getting so big it's crazy. She'll be one in less than two months...where has this past year gone?? She is also getting to be quite stubborn and likes to throw fits if she doesn't get her way...kind of a drama queen! But we still love her to pieces! She keeps us constantly laughing with her silliness! Kenzie seems so much shorter than everyone else's babies, though. She only measures about 28 inches even according to the tape measure I just used to measure her. At her 9 month check up she was 27 1/8 inches. She can still wear 6 month onesies (carter's brand) to bed. And her clothes depending on the brand are 9 months (carters) and 12-18 months pretty much anything else. Whats everyone else's babies wearing these days. We are also still in size 3 diapers. I guess she'll catch up eventually lol.
*This next part is long. Don't feel like you have to read LOL I'm just at a loss on what to do anymore and need to vent!*
Anyways, on to the topic that makes my life crazy these days. I don't know if any of you saw my post a while back about my step son and my hubby and the problems we've been having but I made one a while back and it should be on my page still if you are interested in some background here. Well since that post my hubby and his ex g/f - son's mother have worked things out, I guess you could say to the point that we now have my stepson on Wed one week and Tues and overnight Fri the next. Between both of their goofy work schedules that works out the best. It was decided that she would drop him off in the morning and we would take him home. Well a few times now she will just not call on his days to come over. My husband will call and ask whats going on for the day and she says things like " I just can't get the kids (she has an almost 2 year old as well) ready in time to bring him out to your house so he is at the baby sitters already" Or like this past Wed it was that she didn't work that day so he was with some friends or something and not around. Well these are our days to have him and she won't even call to let us know what is going on, or if he is even going to be coming over. My husband is so tired of arguing with her over things that he just lets her get by with this and it makes me ANGRY. I make plans for him to be here, so we can do stuff with him and then she goes and does this. Finally my FIL got a taste of what we put up with with her when he was for a week planning to pick Gaige up for a family get together and he got to her house only for her so say "oh I thought it was tomorrow, he alreayd has plans tonight and can't go" My FIL was upset and I just said don't you see now that it's HER causing problems!!! UGH. And to top all of this off, my stepson has turned into the biggest baby because of this woman and it drives my hubby and I nuts! We can't get him to do anything or enjoy anything with us unless it involves the TV or a video game. This is all he does at home and I refuse for that to be what goes on here. But he will cry and pout if we try to get him to do things like learn how to ride his bike or play outside for a bit. We just don't know what to do with him. It's getting to the point that its causing problems between my husband and I. And I don't think its fair. Like I said, for the first 2 years we were together everything was fine. It's only been like this and getting worse for the last 2 years, since we got married and had McKenzie. I just don't know what to do. I try to just sit back and not let it bother me but I can't. Well I'm sorry that this is so long. I'll stop now!

Mrs H- I would have done the same thing as you! I think your "ideas" for discipline are perfect and the apology is the best part. You are making them take responsibility for their actions.

mrsh first of all let me say that you are going easier on them than what my mother would have done to me. she would have beat me senslessand i am not kidding. i think you have set a good set of rules there for them and don't back down. i think that it is very inconsiderate of his dad to undermine your punshiment. how will any child ever learn anything if both the mother and father, whether together or not, don't work together. i think that is what is wrong with most kids today is both parents don't stick together and try to parent the same way. anyhow let me get off my soapbox lol!!!!

chloe is wearing size 4 diapers, and her clothes well she can wear some 9 months depending on how it is made but i just had to buy her some new oneies that are 12-18 month. she has a set of pjs that are 12 month and she won't be able to wear them much longer. so it all depends on the brand and make of the clothes. well yet another long day has gone and i have done nothing but wash clothes so i should go and get something done. hollar at you ladies later.

Quoting bensbama:“ mrsh first of all let me say that you are going easier on them than what my mother would have done to ... [snip!] ... long day has gone and i have done nothing but wash clothes so i should go and get something done. hollar at you ladies later.”

katelyn and chloe are in all the same sizes, but she cant wear any 9mo stuff due to the short length.

oh and ditto on the beating. my dad would have beat the crap out of me with his belt.

Quoting Aggie♥Mommy:“ oh and ditto on the beating. my dad would have beat the crap out of me with his belt

lol my mother would have used what ever she could have gotten ahold of. belt, hand, fly swatter, it wouldn't have mattered to her lol!!!

chloe can wear some 9 month stuff but most of it is too short like the oneies when i snap them the neck of the shirt is half way down her chest. now the other day she had on an outfit that was 18 month. it was one of the short shirts that is elastic and scruchy and the jeans was the same size well the shirt she won't be able to wear much longer but the jeans she will get a little more wear out of them. baby clothes are so weird i think every company should have to follow the same size charts.

Quoting bensbama:“ . baby clothes are so weird i think every company should have to follow the same size charts.”

i totally agree!! its not like we try their clothes on them first.......that would be a nightmare!

Quoting Aggie♥Mommy:“ i totally agree!! its not like we try their clothes on them first.......that would be a nightmare!”

oh dear isn't that the truth. i do good to get her dressed at home just to go to bed. ugh!!!! i swear getting her dressed or changing her diaper is like an olympic event. mothers should recieve the gold medal for raising kids. lol!!!

Quoting bensbama:“ oh dear isn't that the truth. i do good to get her dressed at home just to go to bed. ugh!!!! i swear ... [snip!] ... her dressed or changing her diaper is like an olympic event. mothers should recieve the gold medal for raising kids. lol!!!”

that reminds me.....has anyone else had a problem with diaper changes lately? katelyn screams and wiggles and hates stopping for diaper changes now. its frustrating.

omg chloe hates it. i have tried to distract her with everything and it don't work. so i just have to do it as quickly as i can. i have figured out how to do it all with only one hand. cause if i let her feet go it is all done with. so i change her diaper then open the clean one with one hand slide it under her butt. it is tricky but i manange.