Madeline Paige Cornwall

This post is long overdue. In fact I think I started writing this orginal post in August as you can see by the date.....and it is now the 11th of September (I will never write that date again without a sigh). My September has been slammed with busyness. I am pinch hitting in a twice a week tutoring situation where I teach two home school girls. I am also working with them to figure out curriculum so it is take a bit of my time (researching books etc.). I am also trying to run because I am running in another race (only a 5k) tomorrow and I am doing a bit of SAT and Geometry tutoring in my "spare time". I also have started keeping a precious little girl 12 days a month for a friend. It is so fun to have a little girl around. The differences in boys and girls are astounding to me and always fun to watch. Both of my boys love her and literally glow when they see her coming. Her name is Anna and she is a petite little 18 month old girl. We have enjoyed having her around. Either way, I have been very busy and therefore have neglected to post- returning emails seem to be enough of a challenge! Obviously it's because I am keeping my house spotless and my boys well disciplined! :)







I failed to post in celebration of our newest niece Madeline Paige Cornwall, born on August 25th 7 pounds 2 ounces. Originally it was because I wanted to put up pictures that I didn't have....now I have no excuse. I eagerly await our first meeting! She has had a bit of a tramatic entry as she spent a long week in the hospital from a menengitis scare, but appears to be doing well now! My sister is currently adjusting to having 3 fulltime. Shew....

My boys are being pretty normal little boys. Sam is currently using a walker to cruise around the house and is very proud of himself as he does it. He always sports a big smile as he walks! Steven Edward likes to try to steal the walker and run around with it himself and we have had to make it an off limits toy seeing as he is attempting to lay on it, ride on it, climb on it....you name it. Sam is cruising quite quickly on furniture and refuses to nap longer than 45 minutes. He has gotten himself some discipline lately as he smiling does what I ask him not to....be it throwing food on the floor or going for outlets on the wall. He has such a dramatic cry! He bucks his back and screams like all is lost - yet when a toy he likes is put in front of him.....he miraculously recovers.


The other day Steven Edward climbed into Sam's crib, put in Sam's passy and told me he was tired. He also told me he wanted Sam to come in and play with him. So they played together in Sam's crib for at least 15 minutes where Sam actually learned to jump. Now this is a daily ritual





Steven walked out into the sun the other day and told me the sun was hurting him. I informed him the sun was not hurting him to which he replied, "the sun is looking at me mamma."

Steven's newest saying is, "that would be great mamma." So I asked him if he wanted to go visit his Daddy at school and he responds, "that would be great mamma!" or "that is a great idea mamma!" He also likes to correct me using the word actually. He makes up his own words that are essentially giberious and when I tell him that isn't a word he responds with, "actually it is a word mamma." He also likes to respond to questions with, "I'd love to mamma." So I ask him if he'd like to do something he will say, "I'd love to mamma, thank you for saying that." He is constantly cracking me up with what he comes out with.



Steven also loves to talk about the stories that he hears. He will often make up his own twists to the stories. The other day he asked me if I remembered a story about David, Goliath, and Lach (the newest Dellinger son). He quickly added, I remember that story mamma. Or he will tell me that we are going to Zacharias's house (or sometimes it's Mary and Jesus's house) and start marching over to our neighbors porch. He has me role play where I am Jesus or a giant (depending on my instructions I am asked to fight or not to fight), or he is the sick man from the good Samaritan story and I have to tend to his wounds. His imagination is so much fun to watch. While the age of two brings lots of testing and time outs - it also bring moments of sheer delight. Obviously God knew we'd need that to make it through the defining boundaries stage!

The Reasons Why We Discipline

This post is intended for all the mothers out there who ever wonder why they discipline on a daily basis....why they continue on a tiring uphill battle that feels endless. You do it to avoid such scenarios....

Today I was at the park. It's a fun new time because Sam is starting to enjoy it too. He crawls around, pulls up on things, climbs up the tube slides and overall, has a great time. He and Steven Edward actually play and laugh together as they climb up the slide. Even though I am at a point in my life where I feel remotely housebound as Sam takes two naps and Steven Edward still takes one, I try to make it out so the kids have a place to get out their energy. Today we finally made it out of the house at 11 for a short hour of play. I had noticed another family there - a mother with two boys, the oldest of which was four. I heard a commotion over by the water fountain and turned to see the four year old with his pants down attempting to pee on someone else's child. Seriously?! The mother didn't even react in horror....so this must have happened before! I don't know about you but when I'm confronted with a situation I never dreamed of happening, calm is NOT generally my response. She called her son over and asked him what he needed to do when he need to tinkle outside. She continued without waiting for an answer...... "We find a private place, and that was not a private place," as she helps him pull his pants up. Not the response I was looking for....ESPECIALLY if I am the mother who is standing beside her watching her son attempt to pee on mine. That may be a friendship stopper for me.

Keep disciplining mothers or we're going to have a peeing four year old with a water gun on our hands. Keep trekking up that seemingly uphill battle and eventually it will hopefully pay off.

The Greenville Zoo

Before the summer was over we went with a couple of our friends on a short morning road trip to Greenville to go to the zoo. It was a small zoo that was perfect for a morning outing. It was actually comparable to the Central Park Zoo in terms of its size and almost in quality. It had all the major animals and because of the size of their "roaming" space the kids could easily see them. PETA may not approve but it sure was great for toddlers - they even had little wooden benches for the kid to stand on in order to see each exhibit. It was a great half day activity. Not to mention the 100 degree humid weather made me very thankful for our mountain weather!

Takin a Hard Line

So Sam has had a fever this week and therefore sleeping hasn't been optimal. Not to mention that I was wrong about the three teeth in one week....what I should have said was FOUR teeth in a week and a half. All four top teeth have popped through the skin over the last week and a half. Moral of the story - take a 9 month old who is sleeping from 7pm to 6-7:30 am....give him a two week vacation where he gets four teeth and his sleeping schedule is all moved around.....and then give him a temp. when he gets home and he turns into a 9 month old who wants to feed about four times a night. So today was the day when I was going to take hard line.....with both boys really. We are facing a new round of tantrums with Steven Edward and I would use nap time to help him see that I as actually the one in charge.......this preface is intended to help you see my side of the story.

So after giving Steven Edward every small toy he could possibly need I turn out the lights and head to my 30 minutes of me time. You know.....the time when you start dinner, make calls to heating companies to get estimates on heaters..... that type of thing. Eventually Steven Edward's whiny cries for me turn into a real cry. I decide to check on him. It is SERIOUS! He wants a different car. I politely tell him it's time to rest and close the door. Five minutes later he begins to cry again. Obviously he has just figured out that crying will make me come, so I let him cry a bit longer. Eventually I decide I should go talk him through it so he won't wake up Sam. So I go check on him and he says, "my arm is stuck!" Sure enough....his arm is stuck in between the wall and the crib. He must have been trying to get a toy. I suppose next time I'll check a bit earlier. Now Sam is crying.....30 minutes over.

Teeth and Laughter

I thought it was note worthy that Sam has gotten 3 new teeth in the last week. Really! It amazes me but this little 9 month old has 6 teeth already. Just another attempt to keep up with his brother I suppose.

I also wanted to mention that Steven Edward and Sam are actually starting to enjoy playing together. Now this totally depends on Steven Edward's mood, but when it is a good one they will laugh together for almost an hour. Today they crawled around on the floor together chasing one another laughing while I cooked dinner. In fact once I picked up Sam, Steven ran to my feet and said, "Sam wants to get back down and crawl." And on the way to the beach (9 hours mind you) when I thought I was about to go crazy, they would grab hands in the car and cackle while Steven Edward yelled, "Yea Sam!" It was so fun to watch...not to mention how much easier it makes my life!

A tiring rest....

**Side note- children and computers do not mix. I was once told never to do something during naptime that you could do while your children were awake.....now as a mother of two doing anything on the computer is not really an option anymore. If Sam is around his new favorite past time is to pull keys off of my computer. Nice.

We have just returned from two weeks of vacation. We were so incredibly lucky to have time with our families, but somehow at this age our children don't really like to sleep when they are not in their own beds. I was blessed though, with many helping hands and the privilege of not having to do all the dinners! We spent the first week camping at a lake with my family (somewhere between a tent and an over-crowded camper) and then the second week at the Gulf in Alabama with Steven's family. Our children were even quite good on the drive which was such a blessing!

Pictures from our time in Alabama:




Pictures from our time camping: