March is Changeable

How could anyone ever get upset at this little cherub?
(Spoiler: I'm about to admit that I've done it.)

Parenting Woes
This month, our weather had not been very consistent: a week of sunny warmth, followed by a week of rain, followed by a week of hot, hot sun -- or at least that's what the weather tells us to expect next week. This reflects fairly well the temperament of the little man, as well.

He was sick for about a week. I took him to the doctor yesterday and she gave us a breathing machine. Since having a child (one who is sick way too often especially), I have come to the realization that the medical field is overly enthusiastic about "fixing" things that probably ought to be left to themselves. For example, around six months, the kiddo got bronchialitis (or something) and they gave us a prescription to go get suctioned out at the hospital. We went once and it cleared him out really well. However, they advised us to come back every morning and every night! We thought that did not make financial sense and clearly it wasn't that effective if we were supposed to go that often. We weren't sorry to have gone once, but we thought their advice to come two times a day was ridiculous. Though I took the machine they gave us, I suspect it's a very similar device. If they would just tell me, "Hey, there isn't anything we can do. It's just going to take two weeks for this to pass," I would be okay with that. I just go to the doctor in case he does have something that can be fixed quickly with medication.

Anyway, the kiddo did seem to be healthier yesterday before we actually made it to his appointment, with just lingering wheeziness and coughing. However, he had an early dose of what must be the "Terrible Twos" and I HATED it! Sadly, this little phase has carried over to today. It involves hitting and biting and throwing tantrums to get his way. I am not certain how to deal with this. I sometimes lose my temper (because I don't like to be bitten) and I dislike feeling out of control. That's not to say that I've actually done anything serious, but I end up yelling at him and being rougher with him and I just recognize that all in all it is NOT effective. I feel ridiculous losing my temper with a child of this age, but gosh darn it, I admit that I do. What's a mother to do?! Normally, my little boy is so mellow, pleasant, and even obedient, so it always exhausts me when his temperament seems to change so suddenly.

Help put a smile back on my face with any advice you can muster-- PLEASE!

In Other News
There are a lot of other events going on in our lives in the upcoming future. This next weekend we are celebrating Easter, of course. I long for good traditions for holidays, especially Easter, which religiously-speaking is THE most important holiday of the year when you think about it. I'm not very good at doing them, but I absolutely love the idea of great traditions. I have a great friend who is amazing at doing holidays right. I would like to be more like her. Leading up to this Easter, we did our Family Home Evening lesson out of the Primary manual on Easter and talked about resurrection. Obviously, not a concept that the kid's going to quite get yet since he has no idea even about death, but I still felt pleased with ourselves for focusing on the religious meaning of Easter. We are also planning on sending him on an Easter egg hunt because, hey, it's fun. It's yet to be determined what the little plastic eggs will actually contain.

Also, we will be attending General Conference this weekend for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love General Conference. The leaders of our church speak with inspiration and power and give us simple, clear doctrines to live by. They teach us from the scriptures and they testify of Jesus Christ. We hear from a prophet, called of God, just as in olden days like Adam, Noah, or Isaiah. And we hear from apostles, just as Jesus Christ organized upon the earth when he lived here. We also hear from female leaders who direct the Relief Society, Young Womens program, and Primary (for children) of our church. These are some pretty incredible people. The more often I hear them, the more I love and admire them.

Then, soon after, the kiddo and I will be heading to visit the families in good ol' Wisconsin. I hate to be apart from Patrick and we have rarely been apart in the entirety of our marriage (about three days being the extent of it). However, another of our friends will be leaving her husband for a bit too, so the men-folk have plans to study for school and play Wii.

When we get back, I am hosting a baby shower for a friend. I am so lucky to have great people who are helping me pull it together. So we will have a pretty busy next month. I'm sure there will be updates to follow, although I recognize that I am slackerish about it lately.