Raising an Almost 4 Year Old Daughter....AHHHH!

My Sweet Angel Baby

Aubrey Rose....oh how I love this little ray of sunshine. She has really taught me so much about life and being a parent. She has especially taught me a lot about using patience. I don't know who came up with the "terrible two's," but I would have to debate that year three is a LOT more challenging.
Aubrey has been a tester of patience since day one. I remember for the first month of her life pacing the house for hours each night while she screamed bloody murder. She hated being swaddled, held, using a pacifier, being in a swing, baby carrier, etc. Nothing made her happy. After almost losing my mind, I took her back to the doctor and demanded that they tell me what was wrong with my sweet baby girl. Finally, it was determined that she had a milk allergy. Within two days of me changing my diet to dairy-free while breastfeeding, I had a happy baby. Thank the Lord:)

My little  cutie pie

Year one and two were pretty calm for the most part. Aubrey was a typical toddler, getting her many bumps and bruises. She took her first steps on my birthday 2010 at 9 months. She loved to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear and had it memorized by 18 months. She could talk in full sentences from 18 months on. Potty training took one week and I can count on one hand the number of accidents she has had since. Her toddler years went by so incredibly fast which makes me sad just thinking about it.

Aubrey on her "big girl" bed made by her Uncle Tyler

Everything changed when Aubrey turned 3 this past summer. She became a strong-willed, independent, opinionated, imaginative preschooler. Oh my was I in for it. Over the past 10 months, we have been on a wild ride with our princess. The worst of it is bedtime. She would become the devil child at bedtime. We were always tried to be very consistent with our routine, but since she was our first born and the only child for 2 1/2 years my husband and I would let Aubrey fall asleep on the couch with us while we were watching TV. This worked against us when we wanted her to start falling asleep in her own bed. Then prior to Maverick being born we switched her into a toddler bed first in the nursery and then in her new "big girl" room." This also turned into a nightmare. We went for a month straight of a screaming child and major meltdowns at bedtime. My husband and I were stressed out and not getting sleep. Many nights she ended up in our bed or we would sleep on her floor just to get some rest. It was terrible.

Sometime before Maverick's birth, it finally got better and she was sleeping in a twin size bed in her own room every night. Every now and then Aubrey will still wake up in the middle of the night with night terrors or give us a hard time with going to bed, but it is no where near as bad as before.

Aubrey enjoys licking the cookie batter off the spatula

More than ever Aubrey seems to be pushing the limits with Dustin and I. The littlest thing sets her off into a meltdown. She makes herself cry so hard she starts gagging. It drives me crazy.  I feel like we have tried everything...ignoring her, time-out, spanking, taking things away, going to bed early and nothing really works. The biggest meltdowns lately have been happening during bath time. She freaks when it comes time to wash her hair. I use tear free shampoo, but no matter how many times I tell her it won't hurt her eyes, she won't believe me. I have tried many different techniques to make sure no amount of soap suds get into her eyes, but she will thrash around and it always ends up happening anyways. Other sources of meltdowns are dinner and mornings times. Dinnertime is usually troublesome because Aubrey can be quite the picky eater. I am always just happy when she eats anything at all and my husband demands that she eat everything on her plate. Once she gets yelled at by dad it's all over. Dinner is ruined and Aubrey isn't going to eat ANYTHING. Grrr! Mornings can be hit or miss. You never know which Aubrey you are going to get. Some mornings she is just fine and gets out of bed with no troubles and other mornings she is a whiny mess from the get-go. It is a battle to get her out of bed, dressed, and her hair done. A lot of times, it turns into a wrestling match. Then she usually hates the clothes I pick out for her to wear, she doesn't want me to brush her hair or do anything cute with it.

Aubrey's 3 year old preschool Mother's Day program 2013

Not sure if any of you can relate to this craziness. I know this is all normal stuff that many moms deal with.  I am absolutely blessed to have two beautiful children and couldn't imagine one day without them. Even though every day is an adventure, I wouldn't change it for the world. Many days I just have to let some things go and laugh it off. Otherwise I would lose my mind, right?