Emily likes to shop!

Today was Jeff's day off. Emily, Joel, and I went shopping. I love to take Emily places with me. She is so easy going and in no hurry. Today my plan was to just go to Meijer to return something and then go to Walmart and Aldi to buy groceries. Emily actually asked me to go to two extra stores. Not just any stores, but two FUN stores!! We went to Goodwill and to the Dollar Tree. We had a great time. Joel was very tired by the end of our time, but he had fun getting out of the house too!! He enjoyed the freedom of walking around the Dollar Tree.

I am having some trouble with Joel that I never had with the other children. He will not let us leave his sight when we are away from home. He won't go to nursery without one of us there with him. Yes, I have left him there and let him cry, but the nursery workers can't handle his crying, because he doesn't just cry, he SCREAMS.....the entire time!!! They always come get me after not too long. So I have just given up and send one of the kids with him into nursery. Well, he is now SCREAMING at home when he gets put to bed. I am the toughest person in this house and I let him scream for how ever long it takes him to go to sleep on his own, but the rest of the house doesn't like me for doing it! I must say though, that after several days of this, the girls are starting to see the benefit of his crying himself to sleep. (He has gone from SCREAMING for over half an hour, to crying/yawning for about five or ten minutes.) Daniel on the other hand is not yet convinced that this is how a mommy should treat her baby! He gets angry with me when Joel is crying. I never had to deal with this when they all were young. They just went to bed without crying and joyfully went to nursery. I have seen the need to change Joel's dependence on us for sometime and I think that Jeff is finally seeing it too. I am determined to change Joel's behavior and SOON!!

I should have mentioned this earlier, but please pray for my mother-in-law, Sharon Herdklotz. Tomorrow, March 8th, she is going in to get some blockage near her heart taken care of. She is very nervous. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors and that they can just put in a stent and not have to do any major surgery!