First days of Kindergarten

Last week on Tuesday, Meredith started Kindergarten.  Wow.  It's such a milestone year.  Everything I ever learned, I learned in Kindergarten.  It's the start of a crazy, big adventure.  It was one I was not ready for.  I mean where have the past five and half years gone?  Meredith was excited, however she really did not want to go.   She would have been perfectly content to stay home with me, Noah and Margot all day.  Unfortunately that's not a reality and off she went.  There were no tears from Meredith for her first day and actually none from me either.  Of course I still have two monkeys at home to keep me very occupied.  

She was very excited about her teacher this year and the fact that lots of her little friends are in the class....excuse me....lots of her big friends...I'm not allowed to call them little anymore.  A few of her friends were not in her class, but she told me that was okay because she plays with them on the playground.  To hear how big she sounds saying all of that is what amazes me the most.  The way she says things....it's bigger this year.  

I already went to school and ate lunch with her.  I was anxious.  I also stayed after to watch her on the playground and help in art.  This year her personality seems to be blossoming.  She's not the shy, quiet child I saw last year.  She was excited I was there,  She wanted to show me two very important things.  One the big slide and the other a big mushroom.  First, she climbed to the very top of the play structure to go down the very biggest slide.  Then she jumped right off and took me to see an "amazing mushroom" growing high up in one of the trees. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I did not picture a real mushroom.  Apparently it is all the rage with kindergarten girls on the playground.  The entire group was amazed by this mushroom.   After that she ran and played with lots of different friends and had a smile from ear to ear.  She didn't sit next to me, or hang out by me like some of her friends did.  She was too busy.  After art when it was time for me to leave I expected her to cry or get sad, instead she had a big smile, gave me a big kiss and said see you later alligator and marched right into line.

My baby is growing up...

Her new beautiful princess school bag for her big year.  She loves it...

And of course the "Meredith pose"

When we got to school we met up with her friend Grace, they are in the same class this year and wanted to walk in together.  I think both girls were very happy about that.  

We found her classroom.

And once we were inside she asked me in a whisper, to please help her find her cubby and seat.  There were tons of parents and children in the room it was very chaotic, and boy did it melt my heart for her to ask me for help.  And here she is ready to go.  After this I gave her a quick kiss and headed out the door.  It was a long first day and a long first week for me, but I survived and she loved it.

Before we headed out, I had to get one more superstar's picture.  Although this super star was sad and going to miss his big sister, he was very happy to be going home with his momma.

The Beach

Last year we missed it,  but this year we loaded up the crew and our neighbor Kennedy and headed back to the beach.  We made sand castles, caught crabs, boogie boarded, floated in boats, played games, watched movies, rode go carts and rides, played putt-putt, had ice cream, got air brush shirts and had a really good time.  Meredith learned to boogie board.  Noah got in the ocean a lot without freaking out.  Margot LOVED the ocean and would scream when we took her out.  We found some awesome seashells....the kind you buy!

We went again with our good friends and neighbors,  and had a blast.  The kids enjoyed it too.  Thankfully Kennedy agreed to come along and be a 3rd set of hands and watch Margot during naps.  We could not have done it without her.

Here are the tikes at the beach....it's the best we could do.

Here is the boat....the kids loved the boat....hell I loved the boat.

My how we have changed....this years pic and here is last years.

And that my friends is all I really got for you.  I guess the camera stayed in the camera bag the entire trip.  But the memories, they will last a lifetime!

Margot's First Birthday Party....better late then never

Okay this post is a whole lot of late, but here it is.  We celebrated Margot's first birthday party with a couple of celebrations this year.   First we had dinner and cake for her birthday at home.  I cooked her favorite meal and got her a cake and petit fors.  She loved them!

Here is my beautiful girl on her birthday.

She was very generous with her petit fors....for that her brother and sister were grateful.

but she did do her fair share of damage to them.

After cake we opened gifts and she got her very on wheels.....I think she was a tad disappointed it wasn't a power wheels.

That weekend we threw a big party to celebrate.  Because it is not everyday you get to celebrate your baby's first birthday.  We invited a few close friends and family to help us sing.

I did lots of decorating to turn Mimi's pool into a magical first birthday.  Margot's Aunt Lei Lei, Aunt Carrie and Mimi helped out a lot too!

Friends and family starting arriving and everyone jumped right in the pool.  There was lots of splashing, good food, laughter and plenty of Popsicles and balloons.  Even the birthday girl had fun swimming.

After an hour or so we made the birthday girl get out to sing.  She was not happy.  It was almost naptime and she had just spent a long time in the sun.  I know it's cliche' but...."It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!"

Josh explained to her that after we sang she was going to get to eat that cake.  This calmed her down a little.

After a little taste of the cake.....

she pushed me away and went back for more....

then she tried to take it away from Josh....

With that we put her on the ground with it and she got right to it....

After cake everyone swam again until the party was over.  Margot went down for a nap before her party ended and when she awoke we opened a few gifts with the few friends and family who hung around.

Although she was way more into the cupcakes then the gifts.

The caboose is one....I'm still trying to figure out where the year went.

Follw me on over....

Hey you, come on over and check out my new blog.....

What's for Dinner!

I'm still going to post on this one too, that one is just a project!

Out of the mouth of babes

Today was an interesting day around the homestead.  After enjoying a wonderful and relaxing afternoon with adult friends at the movie, I picked Meredith up from school and returned home to relieve the babysitter that had the other two tikes.  The house was chaos.  Not chaos caused by the babysitter, but the chaos we had been living in for a week and half now.  There is crap everywhere, my life is spiraling out of control and now that school is starting back up I have a great plan.  A plan to get everything back in order, to clean out closets and junk drawers and toys rooms.  It's the same plan I had at the beginning of the summer.  It didn't quite work out.

Today though, I walked in and was greeted by hugs and kisses and pleas to go outside and play.  Particularly to play with a new remote control helicopter that really flies.  Well one that did fly until it crashed one too many times, now it just hobbles along.  And although I know messes can wait and life is meant to be enjoyed, the toll of the mess and the toys strewn everywhere, including said helicopter and remote just got to me.

My answer was no, not until all the other toys were picked up and put away, the ones specifically downstairs.  Upstairs is another gorilla that I plan to tackle later.  And I knew that if I made them pick that up too, then we might be able to get outside with the helicopter by Saturday.  After hearing my condition the kids readily agreed to it.  But no picking up was done.  A few minutes later they made the same request with smiles parked from ear to ear.  Because normally I oblige, but my reply was the same, when the toy room is picked up.  Then came the whining and complaining about how unfair I was.  I know.... I cook, I clean, I wash clothes, I bathe you and pick up your toys....life is devastatingly unfair.

After several more minutes of pleading to go outside, my refusals along with pleading to get them to pick up and of course the empty threat of putting all the toys in a bag for children who didn't have any and would treat them with respect, I did it......

I followed through.

I marched and got myself a garbage bag.  I didn't say another word.  I went into the toy room and starting putting whatever I got my hands on into the bag.  Wii remotes,  monster trucks, a Justin Beiber barbie, and so on and so on.  One by one I calmly and rationally tossed barbie after barbie and monster truck after monster truck into the bag.  Meanwhile my children lost it.  Crocodile tears, screaming, crying, flinging toys around at the unfairness of my actions.  There cries were loud, you would have thought I just announced that air was now being rationed.  They were so hysterical that it scared my baby girl to death and quickly her face scrunched up, tears began flowing and wails ensued.  My heart broke for her, poor thing was scared to death.  Hell I was too.  I put down my bag, forbid anyone to get anything out and scooped up my baby to comfort her.

This made them quiet down a little and the tearful begging to  please give it back, we promise to do better, loads of apologies and plenty of please mamma's, began.  When my response was no, it was too late, things quickly got very disrespectful and with that I sent them to their rooms.  More protests and crying and screaming ensued.  Since Margot was in my arms I did not raise my voice.  I simply pointed to the steps and very sternly said "GO".  More dramatic behavior, apologies, tears and begging, which followed with my arm stretched out and my finger pointed at the steps with me repeating "go....go.....go....GO".  They slowly picked themselves up and started heading that way.

At this point, Margot realized what was going on. Well she at least got the overall picture.  Her big brother and sister were being punished and sent to their rooms.  She began to scramble out of my arms and then crawled over to the steps with them, stood up at the bottom, raised her arm and pointed her finger to the top and yelled "DOE.....DOE.....DOE.....DOE!"

After the bigs had tearfully retreated upstairs, she turned around and clapped and said "YAAAAY!"  And so it begins, the caboose....calling the shots...Lord help me!

Dearest Margot,

Today you are one! It's been one of the quickest years of my life. It doesn't even seem possible that you are a year old already. It seems like in the blink of an eye you went from this little blob of a baby having bilirubin checks to sitting, crawling and emptying out cabinets. Where did the time go?

In the tradition of my tikes' birthdays, I will also tell you your birth story on your very first birthday and each year I will tell it again and again.  Because I will always celebrate the 13th of July of 2010.  It was one of the best days of my life.  It was the day I met you.  And so...

Bright and early on the morning of July 13, 2010 I woke up and took a shower and headed to the hospital for 6am. You were the first c-section scheduled for that morning. I patiently waited for 7:30am to arrive.  That was my scheduled surgery time.  But when 7:30 rolled around, we were told I had to wait, because I had yet to get my IV to receive the two bags of fluid I needed to have the surgery. I surprisingly kept my cool and did not bite off my very sweet RN's head when I realized that this meant a delay. You see I was having a pretty good morning.  I  mean I was nervous as hell.  You see I'm a big chicken and you required a surgery to make your way into the world.  However, I was cool, calm and collected as compared to your brother and sister's birth days, in which I was scared shitless.  I'm not sure why, maybe because I knew sort of what to expect.  So this delay, was not doing much for my nerves.  I quickly began to move from the cool, calm and collected stage to the "okay I've changed my mind and am ready to go home" stage.

After I talked your dad and Dr.C, my anesthesiologist, into squeezing the bag to make it drip faster, I was wheeled back to the surgery suite. All was a go.  Dr. B, the ob/gyn was ready and now I just needed to be prepped and grounded and get my spinal in to get the show on the road.  That is where all the fun began. It took Dr.C over 40 minutes to get my spinal inserted. Yes, drugs are a huge necessity in a ceserean section and so therefore when it didn't happen on the first try like we all thought it would, it was another small delay. Dr. C is the head of anesthesia over at the hospital and so I'm not really sure of why it took quite so long or why I had to endure a few unnecessary pokes at my spinal column. He did eventually ask if I and worked out during my pregnancy because my back was very muscular. Since I did work out this seemed like a feasible reason for the amount of time it was taking.  That or he was just trying to keep me from freaking out.

After a few hundred pokes at my back, my mood went from upbeat and ready to just worn out.  The feeling was not pleasant and I was ready to head home and come back a different day to try.  Fortunately that was not an option.  After a few tears and deep breaths and the sweet nurse hands that I almost squeezed off, we were ready.  Except for the small fact that Dr. B was now delivering another baby somewhere in the hospital.  Apparently spinals only last for so long because after Dr. C repeatedly asked a nurse or someone to call Dr. B to begin, he finally got on the phone and called him, himself.  He was pretty demanding and it made me happy he was my anesthesiologist that morning.  100+ pokes and all.  Finally, Dr. B came running into the room a few minutes later and apologized, talking about another woman's baby crowning.  I know she needed help, but at this point I was beyond ready and so were you.

Your c-section was hard.  My blood pressure dropped twice.  I was scared.  While I'm sure I was never in any real danger, your blood pressure dropping while you are laying on an operating table is not a very pleasant experience in fact it is downright scary.  I felt like there as an elephant on my chest and I couldn't breathe.  Thankfully, Dr. C was on it and brought it right back up.

And right after that scare is when you arrived.  Dr. B said it's a big baby girl.  The first thing I remember was you were quiet.  That freaked me out more than a little.  I remember praying, please let her cry, please let her cry, then asking out loud "why isn't she crying?"  While your other two siblings came out very loud, you were very quiet.  However, a few seconds later you were crying and it was the sweetest sound I  had ever heard.  It was at that point I was able to breathe again.  Your cry wasn't a scream or a wail, but the daintiest, little girl cry.  I was in love, and upon hearing your first cry I grew a 3rd heart that I knew right, then and there I would forever wear on the outside of my chest forever.

After they cleaned you up, they brought you over so I could see you.  You were gorgeous and so pink!  Everyone in the room commented on your beautiful coloring.  Apparently not all newborns have that gorgeous coloring.  You were amazing and so beautiful and LOVED.  After a few minutes the nurses and your dad took you down to nursery.  Your dad carried you and apparently posted a picture of you on Facebook, before he made it down to the waiting room.  Needless to say people on the world wide web saw you, before the people who were camped out in the waiting room waiting a very long time to meet you.  They were not happy as you can imagine when they saw you on Facebook first.  Oh technology and the world we live in today, I can't  imagine what it will be like by the time you are having your babies.

When I was finally sewn back up they wheeled me to recovery, that is where I finally got to hold you for the first time.  And I could not get over how incredibly gorgeous you really were.  Don't tell your brother and sister, but you were the most beautiful newborn baby.  We stayed in recovery a long time.  My uterus had to be manually contracted back down and sweet girl that is a more unpleasant feeling than your blood pressure dropping during surgery.  When we finally had a green light to head to our room we had to wait on transport.  At this point I believe it was close to 2pm in the afternoon.  Your brother and sister had been waiting in our room for over an hour to meet you.

Your Mimi came back to recovery to see what was going on after picking up the other two tikes.  And believe it or not when we were finally able to leave recovery, she is the one who wheeled you from the recovery room to our room.  I'm pretty sure that is not standard hospital policy, but even my nurse was tired of us waiting at this point.  Finally we arrived and you were introduced to the chaos that became your new life.  It took your older siblings one second for the squeals and excitement to kick in.  They had been so excited and could not wait to meet you.  We even had a cake and presents and sang Happy Birthday to you for the first time.  They were just a touch excited.  You had several visitors awaiting your arrival that morning. Your Mimi, Poppa, Poppy Greg, Aunt Lei Lei, Nanny, Aunt Jamie, Aunt Katey, Memaw and Pepaw were there.  And you had so many visitors in and out the next few days to see you.  Everyone wanted to see you and hold you and love on you.

So that my sweet girl is the story of how you arrived....that is your birth story.  It's a story about how you entered the world and our family and changed 4 lives for the better.  It's your story and I can't wait to tell it to you year after year.

I love you my sweet Margot.  Happy Birthday sweet baby girl.

Love,
Momma

What a difference a year makes....or 6 for that matter!

One year ago on the 4th of July we took this picture....

this year we took this one....

 Life is constantly chaning and boy does it change FAST.  A year ago, we were missing one tiny human in that picture.  She had not even made her presence into this world.  Yet to make her mark on our family.  Amazing isn't it.  The whole process.  That is nine months time, you can make one of these...

 And that in a single year she will become this....a talking little thing with a personality out of this world.  Always smiling, always happy, but oh so demanding and tough.

It really is incredible.  Six years ago this past May, Josh and I stood on the porch steps of St. Mary's Assumption and took this photograph. 

Then six years ago this very month we decided to start a family.  We were newlyweds and old enough to begin a family, but we had no idea how much it would change us.  How much we would grow, and how quickly it would all happen.  These past six years have been some of the most incredible years of my life.  So much change in what appears to be such a very short time....but enough time to turn the two of us into this...

And I have to say....it is simply amazing.  I'm not sure where the next six years will take us.  However, I do know, that we don't plan on adding anymore to our brood.  In fact if we do, it will be nothing short of a miracle.  A miracle that will cause me to visit my OB and question his knot tying techniques.  But to think that we created these guys is a miracle in and of itself!  And for these tiny three little miracles, Josh and I could not be more grateful.  I just wish they would stay this little.

Great-Grandpa

Growing up my grandfather was one of my most favorite people ever.  In fact he was probably second in line....right behind my grandmother.  But they were neck and neck.  I was always known as the apple of his eye, that's what he called me.

My grandfather was a little bit different than my grandmother, he was loud, some might say even a little obnoxious.  He always had something to say and while most made me laugh, it often times got other people upset.  He always told me stories, sometime he would tell the same ones over again, but they never got old.  I loved hearing them and I admired him.  I especially loved hearing the ones about him and my grandmother dating or how when he first married her they lived in an apartment that shared a bathroom with another apartment and he would wait outside the bathroom door while she showered.  I loved hearing about his life, his life before me, before he was a grandfather or a father or even a husband.  He was a great storyteller.

My grandparents were the best and were happily married for so many years.  And anyone who knows them, knows they were like oil and water, but then two peas in a pod.  While I only grew up knowing one set of grandparents it was all that I ever needed.  They made me feel loved and valued and I looked forward to spending time with them.  And for being one of 16 grandchildren they gave me lots of their time as well as all of my cousins.  Lots of their time, their home was an extension of mine and as I grew older I tried to do the same for them.  Even in grad school I made it a point to stop by their house for weekly visits and watch TLC or the rebroadcast of the news with them.  I did this because I knew one day I would no longer have that luxury.  I look back on those visits and hold them so near and dear to my heart.  

You see, my mom was raised by wonderful people.  People who taught her that above all else family is what really matters.  And my mom, being the wonderful mom that she is taught that to me and my sister.  Friends, jobs, hardships will come and go, but family is always with you for the long haul.  Always.  

My grandmother passed away 8 years ago this year, the weekend I started dating my husband.  It saddens me to think that my husband never got to know her or meet her, because she was one of the people I loved most in this world and the one who I always looked up to.  And I know she would have loved my husband.  But what saddens me the most is the fact that my grandmother will never get to know my children, however I am making damn sure their grandfather does and that they know him.

God I miss them both.  While my grandmother is no longer with us  you can understand my missing her, I miss my Grandfather because I don't get to see him often enough. He lives a little over two hours away and though we try to visit him at least once a month, with 3 babies and call schedules we don't always get there.  But when I do I am so very grateful that I took that time to make him a priority, because that means he is getting to see my children and that my children are getting to know their one and only great-grandparent here on this earth.  And that is truly is a blessing.

I cannot tell you how overjoyed I was that my parents went down to get him the week of Noah's preschool program.  It warmed my heart knowing that Noah had a very special visitor in the audience watching him.

And it warmed my heart that after his performance he jumped right in his lap to tell him something.

and then he gave him a great big hug.

And it brings tears to my eyes to have these photos to one day share with kids when the only way they are going to be able to see him and remember him is through these photos.

And I smile knowing that my sweet baby girl who never wants to go to anyone but me, will sit in her great-grandfathers lap because she knows him.  

And she may only be old enough to remember him by these pictures, but it's okay because I have lots taken each month when we visit since the time she is but just a few weeks old.

Yes there is nothing that makes my heart melt....than seeing photos like this.  I can only imagine what he is telling  the boy (as he likes to call Noah.)

Or this....the only thing that could make this one better is if my grandmother were in it.

Dancing

Here is my bug at her 3rd dance recital.

And with her best friend, her brother.

 And here is Noah checking out his sweet Bella!

 After the recital....I know I'm a bit biased, but I think she is gorgeous.

And one of our few family photos, with three it doesn't happen often.

Time is flying....

Look who finished his first year of preschool....

(this is noah and his best little friend Bella....I have no pictures of Noah without Bella and for his two year old preschool year I will always remember Noah tagging along with his sweet friend Bella.  They were obviously looking at Bella's momma.)

And look who got the keys to kindergarten....

Here she is with her key and sweet friend Grace.

And look who got a tad emotional.....okay A LOT emotional....(and who might need a tad of botox!)

And look who is literally hell on wheels......in the blink of an eye it will be her....the baby going to kindergarten....time please slow down!