Farm Days

Madeline holds a sweet, one day old baby quail.  She loves tiny, baby creatures.  Ryan also loved these sweet chicks.  There are no pictures of him though because he has not quite grasped the fact that squeezing chicks, especially around their necks, does not relay affection to them.

Look at my country girl posing for a picture with a John Deer tractor wheel.

My little love bugs loving on each other.

Fasten your seat belt Madeline.  There's no telling what this guy might do behind the wheel!

I love being a mom and am so grateful to be home with Madeline and Ryan and spend so much time with them.  And though we spend almost all, but the sleeping hours, together I still experience guilt that I am not pouring into them the way I should.  I hate that at times I am more focused on socializing with other moms during an outing than lavishing attention on my own children.  So mid week (last week), I cleared my schedule and spent quality time with the kids and it was wonderful.  Parenting two children is difficult.  I have no idea how moms who have more children do it.  There is nothing worse than hearing your children fight or having to deal with them both when they are cranky or having simultaneous bad behavior.  There are times when all I can do is focus on not yelling or getting angry.  When I just had Madeline I thought I was the most patient mom and could take anything parenting had to throw at me. How different things have become since Ryan turned 18 months old!!!  Though I am so grateful to be in North Carolina, I miss the older, godly women from our church in Virginia, who had such great wisdom, experience and words of encouragement.  

This week has been HUGE in the Wells' household.  Madeline has gone a whole week without sucking her thumb.  She initiated the change, but every night we have had a terrible struggle as she cries over her thumb and we encourage her that she can do it (that is, not suck her thumb). It is heartbreaking, but we know she can do it and she is so proud of herself every morning. She has been wearing socks on her hands to bed.  Each night she picks out the socks (the color makes a big difference) and puts them on her hands by herself.  And every day she gets a special treat, whether it be pancakes for breakfast or a trip to the dollar store or picking out a movie, or something else.  And if she keeps on, we will go to Build A Bear Workshop for the first time in three more weeks.  Though I know this is difficult for her, it is almost as difficult for Mommy.  As Mommy, I don't want her to experience pain, sadness and discomfort, but, intellectually, I know that she has to experience these things to grow and mature.  Thank goodness for Matt's wisdom and counsel. . .I would have caved the first night of not sucking the thumb if he had not reassured me that we were doing the right thing.

When we were in the car this week, Ryan, who was very chatty, said, "Mommy, I love blankie sooooooooooooo much".  It was SO cute!  He has also been coming up to Matt and me and telling us that he loves us so much (of course, less than a minute later he is often defiant and not listening to us, but it is sweet in the moment).  Though he is strong-willed and can be blatantly defiant, he is also sweet and incredibly funny.  One thing about Ry that really grabs my attention is his love for his friends.  He loves Jackson, Ty, Jacob, Chase, Lance and Jason so much.  Every time he sees them he squeals in delight and cannot wait to start playing.  I have a feeling that our house is going to be filled with boys and crazy activity in the years to come.  

One thing Matt and I often say to each other is that Ryan does not know how good he has it.  If his sibling was anyone other than Madeline, he would have experienced some serious beat downs.  Though we discipline him often for being unkind to Madeline (yelling at her, hitting her, pulling her hair. . .), she continues to lavish love on him with kind words and affection and is so quick to forgive him.  I hope one day he will look back and appreciate this.

The blessed joys of experiencing parenthood!