Sleeping Arrangements and Fit Throwing

I'm having a struggle and I'm not sure how to handle it. Ever since Doug left for Boston, Carter has been having nightmares and has been coming to sleep in my bed every night. I tuck him into his own bed and he falls asleep in his own room, but he often wakes up crying, comes into my room and snuggles up next to me until he falls back to sleep. I've let him sleep with me because when I asked him why he was sleeping with me he said it was because he was afraid to wake up and find everyone had disappeared.

The big problem with this is that I can't sleep at all when he sleeps with me. He travels in his sleep and snores and takes up the entire bed. I've done some reading on the subject and everything I've read says to send him back to his bed when he comes into my room. However, I feel so guilty doing this, especially when he's crying. So, when he's crying, I let him lay down with me and I rub his back and let him calm down and then I send him back to bed. But I still feel so bad, like I'm doing something harmful. He's 7 years old and I know he's too big to be sleeping with me, but he's my baby and he's obviously hurting and afraid.

We're also dealing with some major fits. It doesn't seem to matter what I say to him, if it's contrary to what he wants to hear, he has a complete melt down. And this isn't just once a day, it happens several times a day. It happens over anything from telling him that he can't have a fruit snack for breakfast to telling him he has to wear socks with his shoes. He screams and runs to his room and slams his door. The fit only lasts a few seconds and then he'll do what he's told. I have tried everything from ignoring the fits to making threats. Nothing works. He's always had a stubborn personality, it's just gotten really difficult lately. He's such a precious little thing. I'm trying to be patient with what he's going through. I'm just not sure we're both going to make it to his 8th birthday....

Corrections, Apologies, Exciting News, and Sweet Anecdotes

So, I made a comment in my last post about a policy my Relief Society presidency had regarding unwed mothers. I have since had a very sweet conversation with my RS president and I feel I should apologize for assuming that what I had heard was true. I should have gone to the source instead of passive-aggressively continuing a chain of gossip. I believe that the comment had been made by someone in my ward, and this person is a consistent source of gossip, but it is not a RS policy. My RS president is my neighbor and her children are friends with my children and I would hate for bad blood to exist between us. She and her husband have done a lot for me. Therefore, I publicly and sincerely apologize.

Our super exciting news for the week is that my very shy Ethan ran for Student Council Vice-President and won!! We are so excited for him that we can hardly stand it. We celebrated by taking him, his friend Skyler (who won Student Council President) and Brayden (who also ran) to Pizza Pie Cafe in Provo. Then we went to Eric's to play night games. I am so proud of Ethan and his friends for being brave enough to run. They are an awesome group of boys.

Tonight as we were taking Brayden home (again, I apologize to his parents for making him late....) my kids noticed that someone had toilet papered our neighbor's house. Ethan got really mad about it because he thinks my neighbor has enough to worry about and didn't need to clean up a mess in the morning. So my kids grabbed garbage bags and headed over there to clean up the toilet paper. Mckenzie then comes inside when they're done and declares that she will find out WHO did that to our neighbors and WHY they did it and she will report it as soon as she finds out. I know I brag a ton about my kids, but how sweet are they? I have to beg and threaten to get them to do anything at home, but they see a beloved neighbor who needs help and they're there!! Gotta love it!

Baby Seth!

We found out last week that we're having a baby boy! I could not be more excited to meet my baby boy in January. It was so fun to see him on screen. He moves so much and the ultrasound tech had trouble getting good angles. You can also see that our Baby Seth has his daddy's Navajo lips. Even the ultrasound tech commented several times about how cute the baby's lips are.

I think I'm past the really crappy part of this pregnancy and despite finding out things like my ward Relief Society doesn't support unwed mothers, I'm starting to really enjoy being pregnant with this baby. Like I said, he moves ALL the time. It's starting to be full on kicks and nudges, not just flutters. And Baby likes to swim from one side of my tummy to the other.

I'm starting to show and Mckenzie LOVES to hug my tummy and feel the baby kick. Carter talks non-stop about Baby Seth. Everyone is excited to prepare for him.

This experience has been full of a lot of crazy emotions. People who think they know more than me tend to think they need to remind me that I'm not married and this isn't the best situation to bring a baby into or to expose my children to. Well, DUH!! To those people, mind your own damn business. Let my kids and Eric and I enjoy this baby. We are fully aware that the circumstances are not the best, but what's done is done and we're having a precious baby boy.

We've decided to name him Seth William McCabe. William is after my grandpa whom I miss like crazy.