This girl....

Just had to post a few pictures of Sadie to remind myself what a sweet little girl she can be.....the operative word being 'can' be. She has perfected the art of independence and listening to Matt or I only when it fits in to her life, which is not very often these days. I alternate between frustration with her and feeling sorry for her. Don't get me wrong, she's got it pretty good! But I try and be sensitive to the 'middle child' thing right now. Her big brother gets to do lots of fun and exciting things that she doesn't (school, Tball, play dates with friends, etc) and her little brother gets lots of attention for being a baby (and a really great baby at that). So she has managed to figure out a way to get lots of attention herself, albeit negative attention! And all of her 'friends' are really Wyatt's friends that she likes to think are her friends. So come this fall, I think preschool will be really good for her to meet other kids her age and give her something that is all her own. But in the meantime, I've got to figure out how to give her the attention she needs to help bring out that sweet girl that I see glimpses of each day.





And the other difficult part right now is that any form of discipline we use with her doesn't seem to be negative. She doesn't seem to mind any of it!! And that is seriously frustrating. So I've now added these concerns to my ever-growing list of things that are on my mind lately (and I don't think my brain can handle anymore, although I'm sure there will be about 4 more things before the day is done--that's a post all on its own!)

So whenever I get so darn frustrated with her that I just want to spit, I will look at these pictures and be reminded of my sweet Sades, hiding somewhere in there!

A quick side-note: I have had several people tell me they thought this post was a bit harsh (including Matt). I would say it's not harsh, but real. Sometimes it's easy to sit down and write about all the great, easy things but not talk about the difficult times. And there are many difficult things when it comes to parenting. So some day, when I look back, I want to be able to remember what life was really like at this point--the good and the bad. So while this isn't that bad, it's something that has been frustrating lately and is a part of our life, so I wrote about it. I love my daughter fiercely and know that she is so sweet. But she is also a sinful person who needs Christ, just as we all are! I'm not perfect and neither is she, so we are navigating this together!