No matter how we fight it, tides of change find us.

As you know from my last post, my family and I have been undergoing some huge changes. So large, that we have just needed time to digest everything. I dont want to make it sound like everything that has happened has been bad... because that would be grossly untrue. We have just definately learned how to be apprecative of all of the blessings that we have been given, and how just how precious our sweet angels really are to us.

One of my most favorite pictures of Kyrie as a baby!

The latest update on the Rayroux family is this; Miss Kyrie is going to be seen by a pediatric cardiologist for a murmmur that is a possible VSD (Ventral Septal defect, a hole in the dividing wall of the heart). The murmur is VERY loud. For all my medical friends out there.. It's like a grade 4, on S1, valve clicks are present, and it nearly sounds like a Pleural friction rub. She's had spells of cyanosis and syncope ( not getting enough oxygen, and fainting as a result) after strenous activity, and she just now passing 30 lbs, but eats constantly. She's always pale, tires easily... and I am petrified. If the issue is bad, her cardiologist will take her to surgery immediantly to close the hole. I know that I should be thankful that the condition can be corrected, but knowing that there is a possibility that someone will have to operate on my 5 year old's heart completely undoes me. So, I've spent most of the last two weeks bawling my eyes out, and praying for her little heart to be healed.

My water baby at the lake.

 I never thought that for one second that I would try to barganing with God for miracles, but almost every night I've pleaded with God to heal and protect my baby girl. I'm so vigilant with them. I don't even take my children to the park alone, because with three small children I don' feel that two protective eyes, in a world full of onlookers is enough. Neurotic, maybe..yes...but I want them safe. I always pray over them, I just thought that I would be able to protect them more. I promised them that I would never let anything bad happen to them.. so here I am now, wondering how the heck I can protect her from this. No matter how hard I cry, or how hard I work to keep her safe from the dangers of this world.. I am helpless to save her from a heart condition. I can't forsee how this is going to play out. I can't plan for how this is going to affect her. I'm her mother, I'm supposed to be able to fix everything. It kills me that I can't fix her broken little heart. I don't even know how to explain this to her. I can't breathe, I can't sleep, I can't eat... all I do is pray for guidance. Just looking for some sign as to what direction I am supposed to be going in, because I am totally and completely lost.

Kyrie Nicole

I know that even though I want to heal her, and I want to fix everything.... I know that there is a plan. Even though I can't see it, I don't understand it... I know that God is going to use her to teach someone something. I know that..and I know that every time I praise God.. praising Him through the hurt, and the confusion and the fear, we win a small battle. Even if I can't see that small battle right now, I know that in the end He will find the final victory. I don't know what direction that I am supposed to go, or how I am going to get there, but I know that the whole picture will soon emerge from the darkness. It's just so hard, and conflicting. My everything hurts. She is so precious to me, she brings so much to my life. Her sacrcastic sassy way beyond her years intelligence is what I need to get me through most days. Her little smile, and laugh.. when she crawls into my bed in the morning and wraps her little arms around me.... I need it, I need them...I need her. As selfish as that sounds, sometimes I think I need her more than she's ever needed me. I just love that little soul.. so much.

"I think I need her more that she's ever needed me." <3

Ugh, okay enough... My face is red and swollen, that heaviness is back in my chest making it hard to breathe... and I cant see out of my glasses any longer.

If I don't do any cool posts in the next few weeks, please bear with me. We head to see the cardiologis on the 16th, and depending on how things go from there.. the only things that I may post will be updates on Ky's condition. I promise, I will get back to the scheduled list of awesome things... but I have to be with my baby. I know you can all understand what it's like to have a sick child.. but still.... I just feel like I needed to explain my absence. I really love my blog, and being able to help others. I'm not going to write this off! No matter how we fight it sometimes...the tides of change find us. Whether we are surfing glissining waves, or hanging back on the beach.. it always finds us.

In closing, please please please...if you find yourself with a few moments, please say a prayer for Kyrie, send good thoughts, well wishes, whatever, and for our family. We would be much appreciative of anything.

 I'll post again as soon as I am not a huge ball of mushy, sappy mess. Blessings and love to you as your week continues.

xoxoxo!
Audrie

Parenting is a life long road trip, without a map.

Hello Everyone! I hope you have had an awesome week! The last two weeks have totally flown by me! Easter weekend we had family visiting, this week I have been getting all of my readmission forms and stuff together so that I can go back to nursing school and finish my degree in the fall...not to mention that we are frantically planning our baby boy's 3rd birthday! =) I have been working on some special things for that, and I will be taking pictures and posting instructions with everything that I make!

This week's post is for the mama who spends half day trying to plan snacks and trying to figure out how to sneak extra veggies into their kids diet. I'm almost sure that I have the pickiest child in the world. Okay, we're talking she will search through a taco that I have intentionally ordered without lettuce to make sure that their isn't a sliver hidden in there. And let me tell ya, If there is one in there and it ends up in her mouth... she'll bring it to my attention. You would not believe the small amounts of a distasteful food that my child can find. To the point, that one night I jokingly asked, "Kyrie.. what's the deal? Is it going to choke you?!" Her response..."It might, ya never know."

How do you remedy that? Well, you get creative. Let's start with the snacks.. let me tell you what I do. I keep a Tupperware container regularly stocked, and I have a snack drawer that's replenished twice a week. The first thing that you have to do, is decide on what you think is suitable for your children to have as a snack! When we started this, we pulled out just about all of the junk food and soda in the house. We have one small box of cookies that have individual packages, and are only for special occasions. Other than that... They are stuck with what my husband and I have decided is okay for them to eat.

Now, I'm all for teaching portion control and independence. Which is why I buy everything in bulk and divide it up into toddler/child sized portions. I also don't think that my 5 year old needs me to go to the fridge and get her a juice box and a cheese stick, when she is perfectly capable of opening the door and getting it herself. That is why I chose a container, and a drawer to put things in. I chose a drawer that is kid height, and away from anything dangerous, and a Tupperware container to keep in the fridge as the "safe box". Meaning anything in the safe box, they don't have to ask to take. I was afraid that they would blow through everything in one or two days..but there's something cool about being able to go get a snack without having to ask mom first. Our box usually lasts about a week, but sometimes I like to add little changes in there midweek, to break up the monotony.

In my safe box, I usually keep sliced apples, gogurts, string cheese, grapes, carrots.. stuff like that. Sometimes for my change, I'll cut up the cheese sticks, throw them in with a bag and add some mini turkey pepperoni.. just something to change it up a it. I also keep small 8 ounce water bottles, and juice boxes right next to them. Every once in a while, I can find small individual jugs of chocolate milk... and we really like those!

For our drawer, I keep gold fish and wheat ritz crackers,  packaged in snack sized bags (hence the snack, not sand which bags!) granola bars, small tubs of peanut butter.. snack sized bags of cheerios, the stuff that doesn't have to go in the fridge. Let's face it... You just can't have apple slices without peanut butter on them, I'm pretty sure it's written somewhere.

Set rules, and explain it to them. If they break the rules...take it away. I only had to take our box away once, before they were begging me to bring it back. It hasn't happened since then. This system makes it possible to control what they snack on, but still gives them some sense of control because they have a few choices. If you give them options, they will choose from what they are given. This way there is no fighting at snack time, because you have already won the battle!

Meals, what do you feed a picky eater for dinner? What can I make that everyone will eat, that wont cause me to pull out all of my hair?!?! I've been there. First of all, there are tons and tons of recipes online for picky eaters. First things first, you have to take the "bad" out of food. If you serve your child something that you don't like...odds are, they aren't going to eat it. Especially if you follow the refusal to eat it with "Ugh, I hate asparagus!" If you don't like to eat something, but your going to try to poke it down your kids...it's best to keep that secret yourself. The message you are sending them..."Holy cow, this is gross!" Silence really is golden sometimes.

Also, when you introduce a new food...be encouraging. Encourage them for trying it, and if they decide that they don't like whatever it is this time...Don't force it. We have a two bite rule in our house. You have to take two bites of something, and actually taste it. If you don't like it, then you have to tell me exactly why you don't like it. Sometimes, just figuring out why they don't like it can make a difference. "Well, Jenny had them in her lunchbox, and she said that they were yucky, and so I don't like it either?" Which is usually followed up with, "Did you do two bites? If you didn't even try it, then how do you know you don't like it?"

Also, if you refuse to serve them the foods that they didn't like the first time, then you are setting them up. Studies show that after being served a food 6 or 7 times and being made try it, most children will at least eat it. It may not be their favorite, but they will eat it. Kids develop at a totally different rate. Give them time and be patient, but don't give up. Always be encouraging and offer praise for something new. Rome wasn't built in a day, and I highly doubt you haven't found something that as a kid you wouldn't touch...but you do now.

Substitution and creativity can create a world of options. Think about what foods look similar.. for example, if your kid eats mashed potatoes. Steamed cauliflower mashed up, can be mixed in the potatoes, or substituted all together. I have skipped the potatoes, and loaded the cauliflower up with garlic and threw in a little cheese.. they never knew the difference. Neither did my husband for that matter! Spaghetti sauce is one of my favorite places to be creative. Most of the time I use ground turkey, just because I don't like greasy foods. One of my most favorite ways to make spaghetti is with a tomato, basil, and spaghetti squash sauce. Quarter the squash, clean it, bake it in the oven at 350 until it's soft. Throw one of those quarters (or two) in the blender with your sauce..mix until smooth.. and then finish it like you always do. I've also been known to make my own mac n cheese with squash. Same baking concept, just when I add in my cheese, I also add in the squash. Butternut works well with mac n cheese, it makes it a bit orange, but that's about the only difference!

There are a ton of different options.. baked sweet potato french fries, instead of regular fries. You can do this! Start reading labels on boxes. Certain pastas are made with veggies instead of wheat, kick out your vanilla ice cream and make a frozen yogurt banana split, or sundae. I've been known to steam carrots, throw them in the food processor, and sneak them into meatloaf. If you can think it, you can try it. Don't be afraid to experiment. The worst that happens, is you know not to make that combination next time. Just be brave, and step out of your comfort zone. Remember, that first impressions are everything. Be sure that the impression that you are making is positive, because picky eaters are born when we project our prejudices.

Patience is the key, and I believe that I read once in the bible that patience comes through great trials and endeavors. Parenting is a life long road trip without a map. It is what you make of it. Please take time out of your week to stop, and look at the awesome gift God has blessed you with. Marvel in the splendor, and generosity of our awesome King. And most importantly, remember to thank Him for the little hand prints on your coffee table and television. =) Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day..and no kid is perfect. Things take time!

Blessings and Love as your weekend begins!
xoxoxox!
Audrie

The most important and powerful influence in your child's life is ....you.

It's been a while since my last post! Sorry it took so long, I took a few weeks off to spend some much needed time doing a few small home things.. Not repairs, but things like painting, gardening, organizing.. basically a honeydo list. =) We also got our oldest daughter in Tball, so I have been busy with that as well.
 I'm working on a bunch of projects with the kids.. most of which I have left the camera behind for. With Easter and our sweet nephews coming this weekend, I have come up with lots of fun stuff to do with the little guys. I'm also stocking up on ribbon, and other stuff to start the tutorial for my bows and funky ribbon shoes. Be sure to look for those coming soon!....

Lesson of the week!

My latest streak of genius came with my children last week. For some reason they were all in bad moods, and were constantly saying fairly harsh things to each other. After thinking about it for a while, I came up with a lesson for them. I must say, that even with my little guy... I could see the wheels turning as we did this.

I've added a few things to my craft drawers. I added foam stickers, some medals that I found at the dollar store, silly string, and a few other things that I have already forgotten about! =D After looking through all of my stuff trying to figure out what in the world I was going to do to help my children.. a can of silly string fell off my counter top and hit my foot. Voila! A creative way to teach was born.

We bought a small Disney princess dry erase table for the kids to do their crafts at,and enjoy a snack. I sat all 3 of our children around this table, and we began. I began with questioning them about the things that they had said to one another. I started with my eldest, and wrote them all on the sheet of paper, leaving a few spaces between sentences. After I had questioned each children and recorded their phrases of the day, I asked them to cut out each of their sentences.

From there, I got each of them a solo cup and a can of silly string. I wrote their names on each of the cups, and then questioned them as to who they said their phrases to. For example: Kyrie said " Your stupid." to Nataleigh, so that strip of paper went into the cup that was labeled, "Nataleigh". After placing a strip of paper in the cup...I explained the purpose of the silly string. The silly string represents the other person's feelings. Nataleigh was then allowed to spray the silly string in the cup and cover the strip of paper. We went back and fourth like that for nearly 30 minutes. And as soon as each strip was done.. we left them there to dry. Because no one had bothered to even say that they were sorry, so the awful things that they had said to each other were now buried.

About 2 hours later after the string had gotten hard, I brought them to the table again and asked them to get the strips of paper out of the silly string. Which at this point, was impossible. The paper had absorbed the moisture from the silly string and was falling apart,and the silly string was breaking apart in pieces. The lesson was.. " You can't take back nasty and hurtful things that you say to people. When you are careless with your words, they become a part of that person's feelings forever."

After giving hugs to each other, and a little prayer.. all was well in the neighborhood again. And sure, they're kids.. they forget about stuff like that. They aren't going to remember every single thing we teach them all of the time, so that's why it is our job to keep teaching them! Ignoring this kind of behavior, teaches them that being mean is alright. Being a bully is okay. With as many children being bullied and the tragic ends that some of these kids are seeing, it is your job to teach your kids how to act.

I really believe that some, not all, but some issues that children are facing now could be resolved with a stronger home base. Providing them with morals and rules, setting boundaries are just some of the things that we can do to prevent them from making the same mistakes we made. I know that some parent's will not agree with me, and that's fine. I would like you to remember that you child, doesn't want you to be their friend. Your old, out of touch, and really not as cool as you think you are. I am not nears as cool as I think I am.. but the thing is... Your not supposed to be their friend. You are their parent. You are who they learn from, and if they don't learn from you, then they will learn from someone else. Who do you want your children to learn from? What do you want your children to learn from? The kid that has no rules and no boundaries, no consequences for his/her actions...or From having their cell phone, game boy, car keys, etc. taken away from you after breaking curfew.. or in the case of a little guy..taking away a favorite toy, and sitting in time out for saying mean things to someone else?

You are the most important and most powerful influence in your child's life. Make sure the impact that you are leaving counts. Even if that means rocking their world after they have done something that makes you want to pull your hair out. If you don't fill in the holes that life tends to create with love, support, guidance, and discipline... they fill find someone else to help them fill those holes. Love, treasure, and hold on to them, but remember that along the road, we have to guide them.


Blessings and Love,

Audrie  xoxoxo