I have been trying to do some reading on how to make hailey have an easy transition for when baby Abby comes home. We will be moving a month after Abby is born to a new house, and Haliey will be getting a new room, and her very own ” BIG girl bed”. I dont want her to feel like she is getting the boot from her safe familiar cozy little crib just because the new baby needs it.  I have read that it is best to make this transition 6 weeks before the new addition comes, but i feel this is to soon being Hailey is olny 16 months. I dont want to rush her out of being a baby just because Abby is coming. I wish she could stay my little baby forever! Soon enough she will be driving, dating and will be too cool for her mamma!

Also, i have been trying to get her use to holding her own baby doll. I show her how to feed her doll a bottle and rub its head, saying nice baby. She looses interest after a few minutes and tosses  the baby to the floor laughing! Hailey is also in the hitting stage, and she has a pretty mean hook!!  I am a little nervous just because i have heard do many horror stories about siblings trying to hurt the new baby. 

I will definitley have my work cut out for me because they will be so close in age, but these are my girls and it will be worth it. Everyone has their own take on things to do or not do.  I think i will just play things by ear and see how Hailey responds. I can read her pretty well, and i will adjust Abby and i so that she feels as comfortable and special  as before.  Say a prayer for us! One month to go!! The count down begins!!

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My little sweet pea is just recovering from a three day fever.  Its her second fever in 3 weeks!  Poor baby!  At first we thought she was just doing her normal teething but the fever spiked up to 103.7.   I kept her home from daycare for a few days to be sure I kept a close eye on her, being that the last time she had a fever at daycare she ended up in the ER!  This is starting to worry me a little bit that the fevers are so high and becoming more frequent.  She had no other symptoms.  I know being in daycare she is exposed to germs and other sicklings but I didnt know it would be this bad!  Dont get me wrong, daycare has a lot of positive things as well, Hailey is very social and doesn’t just cling to “mommy”.  I am anxious to see when Abby is born in August and Hailey is at home, if she will still have these fevers.  

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Someone que up the ‘tense’ music.  This is a topic Jamie and I don’t necessarily agree on, who would have ever thought a mom wouldn’t want to spank her kids? (End Sarcasm) Now before you freak out on me, no we aren’t even considering disciplining Hailey right now.  First, she is much to cute, ya she’s at that age.  And while we’re on age she’s also way to young. 

Now maybe our opinions stem from how we were disciplined while we were kids.  Her dad had a bigger paddle than mine I guess.  I was spanked with hands, belts and this little old ping pong paddle.  They all hurt.  But it wasn’t so much they hurt that made me cry and made me fear the spanking.  The thing I remember making me cry is knowing I was in trouble and I was getting punished.  Dad definitely spanked harder than mom.  Mom would at the most do an open hand slap to my butt.  She would barely tap me but I’d cry as if she were holding a bull whip in her hands. 

When Hailey or Abby are old enough to understand that they are being punished for doing wrong, not just being beaten by an angry parent, I want to make sure Jamie and I are on the same page for punishment.  My vote?  A good spanking.  I don’t need anything but my palm to do the job, no paddles, belts, sticks or whips.  No thank you, just my hand.  To me it’s enough to get the point across of “don’t do that again”.  Whatever that was, I’m sure they’ll get the idea.

Maybe it’s just because Hailey is so cute and cuddly right now that Jamie doesn’t want to spank her at all.  I can understand that, a mother will always want to protect her daughter.  So do I, but in my opinion disclipine is a form of protection.  How?  Glad you asked, if a child has a sense of disclipline they are less likely to be one of those teenagers walking around in those clothes that you swear you’d never let your kid wear out of the house.  I see them all the time, teenager girls dressed like strippers and talking like sailors.  Never seen one?  Just go down to the mall or stand in line at your local movie theater.  They are there.  It’s my opinion a little discipline would have helped those kids out and gave them a little self respect.  Now, I’m not talking military school kind of discipline, but parents that didn’t just let them do whatever they wanted to do.

Every time you turn around there seems to be government rules tightening down on how parents can discipline their kids.  Now, if someone gets crazy and pulls out a baseball bat because little Johnny says something he shouldn’t, well that kind of thing shouldn’t happen.  But let’s not let it get to the point where you can’t even give your kids a good stern talking to.  Sometimes a spanking is just what a kid needs. 

Who’s with me?

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