Spanking Children!? Ok or Not Ok?

http://www.drmomma.org/2010/09/why-spanking-is-never-okay.html

It's easy to look at your 10 month old baby; so sweet and innocent, and think that he or she will never be bad or get into any kind of trouble. I read this article today that really made me think about my future as a mother. Growing up I was always spanked when I was bad. Granted, it was not a daily occurrence and rarely ever happened...but I was spanked. I don't think it had any negative impacts on my life or relationships, but I can see how in some cases it can.

I know this is a really retarded comparison but reading this article also made me think about this. I have a dog named Rookie. If you've met him you'll know what I'm talking about when I say that he's a little "fireball." He LOVES to play and run around, barks when the doorbell rings, begs when food is around, and jumps on you when he wants attention. He is the typical hyper puppy. There are days; like yesterday, that I want to kill him. Here I am dealing with a sick baby screaming in the middle of the night, and my dog goes in his room, grabs a poopy diaper from the trash, and shreds it to pieces! I was FURIOUS! So, out of anger I picked him up, put him in the bath and spanked his bum hard! I felt horrible after. I know dogs are nothing like an actual child, but if I can't control my anger around my crazy dog then how will I control it when I'm dealing with my kids in the future? Also, if Cayman watches me do this, what is that teaching him? So, I figure if I can change the way I take care of our dog, I can definitely teach myself not to spank my children in the future.

After talking to Skyler, we've decided on a "no spanking policy!" Cayman has been through a lot and we want to make sure we are the best parents we can possibly be. I don't want him to have even one second where he doesn't feel loved, and I certainly do not want him to learn pain from us. Same goes for our dog. He can be a little turd sometimes, but we love him regardless. Last night while I stayed up with Cayman, he stayed up with me and didn't leave my side. Now he's walking around like a zombie with his ears down; because like me, he is exhausted! haha So today marks our first day of no spanking. I have a feeling ill get a better dog out of it, and a better future for our family. :)

What is your stance on spanking? Im interested to know what other peoples opinions are. :)

Christmas!

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?" 

I wanted Christmas to be perfect this year. Now that we have a new addition to the family, it made it that much more meaningful and I wanted to start new traditions for our own family. I went all out on our Christmas decor, I made Rookie wear Christmas attire all month, and we watch Christmas movies and the Hallmark channel every day. Ha I'm pretty sure I drove Skyler insane with my crazy baking and Christmas music, but it was so worth it. There was never a day in December that we didn't think about the true meaning of Christmas. At least once a week we tried to do something nice for someone, help out a friend in need, or just by bringing treats to a friend. It was a lot of fun and I hope it is a tradition we can share with Cayman when he is old enough to understand.

I made oreo truffles, red velvet cake balls, and chocolate covered pretzels for our friends and neighbors for Christmas. They turned out so good and it was so fun to play Betty Crocker! 

Temple Square~

Temple square this year was a lot of fun. We celebrated my nephew Emmetts birthday that day and then decided to go see the temple lights that night. Skyler was really tired that day, he had just gotten back from a trip to Minnesota and had only gotten an hour of sleep the night before. He knew how much I wanted to go, so he went anyway and didn't complain even once. We had such a good time looking at all the beautiful lights together. Cayman was in his stroller all bundled up and pretty much slept the entire time. We have SUCH a good baby its ridiculous! Skyler even took pictures with me and didn't complain once! He is such a guy in that sense, he absolutely hates taking pictures. Picture taking is more of a girl thing I think. hehe

                                   

                                                

Ward Christmas Party~

I am so happy to say that we were FINALLY able to make it to our ward Christmas party! Every year it seems like we are always out of town, or not able to make it. I have to say it was the best one yet! The food was amazing, our ward is fantastic, and the best part was that Cayman got to enjoy it with us!

Towards the end of the evening, they had everyone sing the song "Here comes Santa Clause," and Santa walked in the door. The kids got so excited and it was cute to witness. One of the kids yelled, "Thats not Santa, thats brother so in so!" haha I got a good laugh out of that!

Family Christmas Photo's~

This year we decided to take our own Christmas photo's with our camera and tripod. Let me just say, this was not my idea, it was Skylers. NEVER AGAIN will I do this. We tried to get some with our dog Rookie, but we could never get him to look and the camera, and Cayman was always trying to grab Rookies ears. It was a nightmare. We tried it, its was an epic FAIL, and we'll know better next year! :) I did however get some really adorable photos of Cayman. 

Cayman met SANTA!~
Yep, that's right. My son did not cry when he met Santa! I thought for sure he would, but he was just way too fascinated with his beard. He was talking to Santa, smiling at him, playing with his coat, and tugging on his beard. A huge crowd of people stopped to watch them together because he was being so cute. Yep, my boys a cutie. I am one proud mommy! :)

Its...Christmas eve!!

We stayed in Layton with my mom for Christmas so all of my sisters were together, it was an absolute blast! The Downing family has some fun Christmas traditions. My favorite? Christmas pj's! Every year we get a new set of pajamas, and fuzzy socks. It just makes Christmas eve that much more exciting, and gets us more excited for Christmas day. Here are all the girls showing off our new pajamas, Charlies Angels style! :)

My aunt Mary was in town so during the day we did some last minute Christmas shopping, baked cookies, and watched the Grinch. I stayed up till 3 in the morning helping my mom wrap presents, but I didn't mind. Christmas just wouldn't really feel like Christmas if I didn't have to do some last minute shopping, or stay up late wrapping presents. It's what we did growing up, so I've learned to love it. 

Christmas!~

My aunt Mary and her husband Danny came over for Christmas and to open presents, then my cousin Nancy and her boys came later that day. There were tons of kids running around, but it was a lot of fun. Im so glad Cayman has so many cousins to play with when he gets older. Christmas dinner was amazing as usual. My mom is the best at Christmas dinner, just thinking about it makes me hungry! We opened out presents that morning, but Cayman was still tired so we let him sleep while we all unwrapped presents. The cool part about that was when he woke up, he had his own little mini christmas with all of the attention!

Christmas with a little one is so much fun. It was awesome watching Cayman open all his presents (with our help of course). He gave us this face like, "for me?" every present. 

Our big present to him was the "combi adventure walker." Its a race car walker with fake leather seats, a detachable play table, and bouncer. A race car just seemed fitting, considering he was named after a sports car! lol We could't fit it in the car so we gave it to him when we got home from Utah. He LOVES it!

Not only did Cayman get spoiled, but I got spoiled too! My mom went all out this Christmas and I was overwhelmed with all the awesome things I got. I seriously have a whole new wardrobe. Skyler spoiled me too, I wasn't expecting to get anything because he bought me an SUV and new iPhone for Christmas. BUT he surprised me and got me these really cute Diesel jeans I wanted from Volt  at Fashion Place. I tried them on and fell in LOVE, but Skyler said they were too expensive. He's so sneaky! I started screaming when I opened the box and saw the jeans, then ran and gave him  huge hug. haha he also got me the Kinect for xbox, its so much fun. Except for I've learned I'm a really poor sport. I absolutely HATE losing to him! Skyler got tons of stuff too, I made sure to spoil him this year. Although I might regret getting him every single video game he asked for. whoops.

Last but not least. I married a SUPER DAD! I cannot tell you how much I love my husband, I've noticed lately that I am super protective of him. Well, I always have been but its intensified as of late. I see him every day and the sacrifice he makes for other people, and what a good heart he has. The week before Christmas while on a drive to one of our friends houses, he told me that he wanted to become a better person. He didn't want us to only do acts of service just for Christmas; but all year, and next year he wanted to help out at homeless shelters and show Cayman what the true meaning of Christmas is. Who say's that? I thought that was MY job? On Christmas while everyone was opening their stockings and enjoying there mini Christmas (my mom goes all out on our stockings) Skyler didn't even open his. He sat there with Cayman on his lap and showed him every toy he got in his stocking. He opened them for him and just enjoyed watching him delight in every present we got him. Not only that, but the week of Christmas was very hectic. My mom had family coming in town, a house to clean, last minute shopping to do, Christmas presents to wrap. So, I tried to help her out as much as I could. Skyler pretty much played mom all week. He watched him and played with him, changed his diapers, put him to sleep, and never complained even once. Not that he usually doesn't do that, he just usually doesn't do it 24/7. He will never know how much the little things he does help me. I love my husband, I love my family. I am truly blessed.