A humbling, yet very valuable lesson.

We had our friends Jennifer and Chris and their two girls come visit over spring break from South Carolina. They came on Wed and left yesterday. Chris and Craig met at Vandy in orthodontic residency and Jennifer and I became instant friends. Jennifer is the nicest person you would ever meet. Such a sweet sweet girl. She never raises her voice at their girls EVER. I, however, can be a yeller and can get quite impatient when I am under a lot of stress. Well, for 5 days I watched her handle her 5 and 2 1/2 year old with the utmost patience and was amazed. Her 2 1/2 year old is in that 2 year old stage right now and the tears could fill a bathtub. But, Jennifer maintained her composure with Meri all the time. Not wanting to let the cat out of the bag that I can be a yeller to my kids I, of course, did not yell at them once. I was totally the Mommy that I have always wished I could be and you know what I discovered? I CAN be her and it WORKS. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not emotionally abusing my children. But, under stress I can yell and get aggravated with them....but I HATE it. And, when they are pushing my buttons I am quick to discipline them by putting them in their room instead of talking to them. But, what I discovered was that I CAN talk to them. I do NOT have to yell at them. Yes, they occasionally still need time out in their room (like when Lydia disobeyed me to stop and hold still and instead ran behind an SUV that was backing up), but not for every little thing. And, when I behaved like the mommy I want to be for 5 days straight I found my kids to be more gentle with their words, their actions, and RARELY needing discipline.

Whoa.

I am NOT afraid to admit I am wrong. My children have found themselves a new mommy and they have Miss Jennifer to thank for it.