Happy 2013!

Well we are now eight days into the New Year and I am already down for the count! Our family (with the exception of my middle kiddo, who is usually the one to catch any virus within 10 feet of him), has been battling a stomach bug/sinus head colds. I thought we were on the mend, and then Lily started acting up today. Time to disinfect the entire house-does Clorox make a bomb?

On a more positive note, we rang in the New Year at Redemption! As is typical of RWOC style, it was a really fun night filled with laughs, great worship and the Word and ending with fireworks (yes, INSIDE the church) and balloons dropping, confetti flying everywhere and just a great celebration! On the long list of all the great things that Redemption does well, throwing parties is somewhere on there!

In other news...Potty training started yesterday again. When I was younger, before I had children, I swore I would never bribe my kids. I have discovered over the past 11 years that I was very naive before I had children. But instead of "bribery", I like to refer to it as the "rewards system"...that way I have no guilt and sleep well at night. In the past I would "reward" Lily with candy...but she soon grew tired of the candy and realized that she could just decide she didn't want it, and waddle away victorious from the potty negotiations, Huggies on. So yesterday I decided, "new week, new year...new attempt at making diapers history". I convinced Lily to sit on the potty again. I armed myself with exciting reading material to increase her potty exposure time, thus increasing the potential of a ripple in the commode. Page after page, second after painstaking second, I sat on the edge of the bathtub trying to make Winnie the Pooh sound even more exciting the third time around. Then in the middle of her "Where are you Going, Maisy?" lift the flap book, I had a breakthrough. No, nothing had actually happened, but I found the best bargaining chip yet. On that particular page, Maisy was going on a picnic...and Lily's face just lit up as she asked, "Mama, can WE go on a picnic?" I felt like the Grinch at that part in the movie when he gets his "wonderful awful idea". My hair may have even curled at the ends. So, for two days, I have not had to beg, threaten or carry Lily to the potty. All I have to say is "picnic" and she's on her way to the bathroom. I'm sure there are moms out there reading this right now that are just appalled at the thought of bribing a child...oh well...don't be looking for your picnic invitation in the mail!

That's about all for now. Here's wishing you a happy, safe and prosperous New Year filled with all the blessings that God has for you, and hoping Lily is potty trained before Kindergarten is supposed to start!