Missing Caiden

Since last Thursday, our house has been a little more quiet. Caiden went back to "grammie & papa's" to spend a few days. Although the plan didn't originally work out as we had hoped, he was still able to stay and enjoy a few days in the snow. He loves being there alone so he can have all of grammie & papa's attention.

At first, the idea of him going to my parents house for a few days sounded like heaven to me. You see, Caiden is 3.5 years old. According to most of the mom's I know, it is not the terrible 2's you must worry about but the terrible 3's. And boy, have we had our share of terrible 3's. Lately, he's had more of an attitude and temper than he has ever had. I know this is totally normal and every child goes through this but I was hoping my child would just avoid all the attitude issues.

But now, we miss him! Even his little brother misses him. Dawson doesn't know what to do without Caiden to bug. Its been interesting watching Dawson adapt to a few days without someone to boss him around.

With all this said, it has reminded me of a poem that hangs on our refridgerator but I rarely read. I thought I would share it with you...mostly so that you can remind in a few days how much I missed my little guy, Caiden.

If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again by Diane Loomans

If I had my child to raise all over again,
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging.
I'd see the oak tree in the acorn more often.
I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I'd model less about the love of power, and more about the power of love.

Heaven - Michigan, same thing?

I apologize for my lack of blogging lately. We have been out of town (in Michigan) visiting our family for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was a wonderful, restful time spent with the people that we love and that love us unconditionally.

We returned to church yesterday recieving lots of hugs and "we missed you"s. That also truly touched our hearts. The cutest thing happened yesterday. One of my friends little girls ran up to me, threw her hands around my neck for a big hug and said to me, "We are so glad you are back from Heaven." Michigan - Heaven, same thing, right? Either way, that was Heaven just having hugs, knowing we were missed and back with our friends or should I say "family" again.

I haven't weighed in yet since my return so I'm trying to get back on track with my weight loss this week. The past 10 days were spent not caring about what I put in my mouth and totally enjoying every second of it. Oh...and also as promised in a prior post, I'm going to get back to the Y for exercise this week too. After a brief discussion with a friend yesterday, maybe we should just try to maintain during the Christmas season. That way, we can still enjoy the treats and really hit it hard in January.