7 Years Ago

Seven (short..oh so short) years ago we were blessed with the arrival of our 2nd beautiful daughter..Lily Grace. It all started after playing this long, frustrating waiting game that began a week earlier where I called the hospital to see if they'd induce me and they'd say - oh, we're really full today - call back later. After about 6 days of this I was literally about to strangle someone my doctor told me to come in that she'd find room to induce me. She didn't want me to risk having to wait until after her July 4th vacation. I remember being on the way to the hospital and stopping for Wendy's because I wanted to eat before I got the IV and they cut me off. I also remember Paul saying.."are you sure you want to be induced - if you wait until July 4th her birthday would be 7/4/04" I remember throwing a large object at his head. (Men: please note - do not ever, ever suggest to an overdue pregnant lady that they wait another 4 days to have the baby..especially in the middle of the summer).

We got the hospital in the early afternoon and by 2ish they had me set up on the IV and the antibiotics. Sometime later that afternoon I got the pictocin to start the labor. I remember the nurse saying that the dr said I could have the epidural whenever I wanted so I took full advantage - the first time I felt some discomfort I suggested she go ahead and call for it..you just never know how long those docs will take. He didn't take long but I don't remember feeling any contractions. Her labor was pretty easy as far as labors go and at 7:31 pm our little bit was born.

The hospital was not that great - I remember being wheeled to our room and a prison guard was outside one door. The nurse then tried to tell me that Paul couldn't stay the night because I might get a roommate. I then had a complete mental breakdown and she must have felt real sorry for me because she brought Paul some bedding and said he could stay. We left that hospital as soon as the pedi said we could go.

It's been an adventure with her ever since. A super smiley baby, a very spunky toddler, a spirited preschooler and now a sassy seven year old second grader. She's always loved accessories - she's had a purse since she could walk and now she's a peace sign loving fashionista who I couldn't love any more! I expect there to be many more adventures ahead with her! Happy Birthday Pooh Bear!!

Ch..ch..changes

For the past few weeks whenever Jacob wakes up he screams "Daddy" and then "Daddy get me" and then "DDAADDYYY GET ME UP" Loudly. Very loudly. Add this to the fact that he climbs in the crib all the time we've been discussing the thought of setting up the toddler bed for him. I long live by the philosophy that kids (especially toddlers) should remain in the crib as long as humanly possible but the incessant early morning screaming is about to send me over the edge. And I really don't like how Jacob routinely dives into his crib headfirst.

Sooo...while I was at the swim meet with the girls Saturday morning Paul and Jacob set up the toddler bed in his room. When we got home from the pool Jacob was very excited to tell us about the big boy bed. He told me "it's so cool." So I spent some time that afternoon redoing his room. I figured if he had that much freedom I needed to take out the "climbing wall" aka changing table and add a basket of toys for him. Paul hasn't taken out the crib just yet - we wanted to make sure this was going to work before taking it down. But so far it's OK. He got out of bed once Saturday night but he did nap OK so we'll see how it goes.

This is the first time in nearly 8 1/2 years that we don't have a crib up in the house! And we'll be getting rid of the crib instead of saving it for another kid (after being moved to 4 different houses and 8 kids it's on it's last leg. Not to mention it's a drop down crib which is apparently now evil). I think I'm a little sentimental about it...sniff...sniff....Ch..ch...changes....moving on the next stages of life....

The Lollipop Shop!

My middle girl turns 7 this week and we celebrated her birthday over the weekend at the Lollipop Shop. She's been celebrating her birthday for about a week already and we still have a few days to go. And if anyone asks how old she is she already tells them she's 7. Sigh. She can't wait to get older. Anyways this girl loves, loves candy and I was looking for fun birthday party locations (after doing many home parties I've decided that going out for parties is the way to go and Totally. Worth. It.) and The Lollipop Shop sprang to mind. So we went over to North Hills to check it out and she loved it. It's a pretty small place so we had to keep her guest list smaller than she would have liked but it worked out great. We had a few school friends, some neighbors and a couple sweet girls.

It was a great location. I can not say enough good things about the shop or the girl who led our birthday party. She was a sweet teenager with a ton of patience for 6 year olds! The girls did some coloring pages while waiting for all the guest. Then they did a sandy candy craft. Then it was the main event - picking a stuffed animal and stuffing it with candy! Then we had our peace sign cookie cake and Lily even had a little time to open her gifts which she was thrilled about.

Overall a super fun way to celebrate turning 7!!

Big Weekend

Phew...it's 9:54 on Sunday night and I feel like I'm just sitting down for the first time this weekend! Friday we kicked off the busy weekend with Lily's "Aloha to 1st Grade Luau." It was a super cute celebration and I'm so thankful Paul was around so I could volunteer. She was super thrilled to get a playdate with bff after school too! Emma rushed home from school to get ready for her big weekend activity - The Zoo Snooze! Her Brownie troop went to the NC Zoo for a special overnight trip as a cookie selling reward. Emma absolutely loved it. Pretty much she loves any activity that involves sleeping away from home but this was especially cool. They had a program, learned about nocturnal animals and made a bat house (that is apparently supposed to reside in our backyard??) and generally had a great time with her friends. I'm so happy that she loved it and so thankful for the moms to went with them!

Saturday morning we were up bright and early for our last swim time trial. All the girls are swimming our new neighborhood team. It's been so exciting to see how much they've learned over the course of the last 5 weeks. Julia swam the whole 15 yards unassisted on 2 of her races - she was so excited. After the time trial we came home to get ready for Lily's 7th Birthday Party!! She requested a "Peace Sign Cookie Cake" which was easy peasy (especially considering some of her cake requests). I'll do a separate post on her party but it was super fun and she loved it!

I opened the door after getting home from the party and saw a huge bouquet of flowers on the kitchen counter. I was a bit confused at first because they were GORGEOUS and HUGE and it wasn't my birthday, anniversary, Mother's Day or any holiday. And Paul and I weren't fighting so it couldn't be apology flowers. And it was far more than "I just stopped by Whole Foods and got these pretty flowers" that Paul brings home every once in a blue moon. I notice there's a card and let me tell you - I was blown away...My sweet, wonderful, thoughtful and incredibly generous PTA board ladies sent me this bouquet and sweetest note. I think I've said how much I love those girls and seriously I do. They make the PTA fun and eventful (in a good way) and easy and I'm delighted to work with them again. It just made my day and they still smell so fragrant and lovely and I'm so spoiled.

The girls had a great friend spend the night last night. So everyone was up late. Again. We had church this morning, lunch to return our friend and then Emma had dance team auditions for a musical she's doing at church. And then we went to our friends to celebrate their daughter's baptism. They also have 4 kids (3 of their kids are the exact ages of 3 of ours) and we all had a blast. It was a wonderful reason to celebrate and it was really fun for the kids. And they were all completely exhausted by the time we got home.

Thankfully the kids fell asleep pretty easy tonight. It's going to be a big week - last 4 days of school, field day, swim meet, Lily's birthday and swim team awards night. But then...then...vacation!!!

The Things They Say...

Yesterday was a real gem of funny things in our house. Here are a few things that made me laugh out loud:

Emma really wanted to make cupcakes (??) so I told her to find a recipe and we could make them. Paul was totally procrastinating some work and offered to help her. He wasn't down with homemade frosting so they decided to run up to Walmart to get some canned stuff. Emma was wearing pajama pants and said.."it's Ok if I got to Walmart in pajamas." Paul said "yep..we're going to be with our people." Thankfully they did not end up on peopleofwalmart.com...yet.

At dinner we were talking about Jacob getting older and Emma said this winner:

Emma (8): Can you imagine Jacob at 3? I imagine it's going to be a wild time.

Me too kid...me too.

And...as I was putting Jacob to bed I told him I love him. He said to me: "I love you too. But I love Daddy more." Thanks dude...thanks a lot.

Bittersweet

My baby is growing up. It's so bittersweet. I sometimes look at this toddler..full of words and expressions (like "you old dude") and think who are you? Where is my bald headed baby? How did nearly 3 years pass in what feels like a blink of an eye? How are you walking, talking, running, trying to swim and I missed it? Or at least it feels like it. Do you always think of your youngest child as "the baby"?

My baby is starting to potty train and we're seriously contemplating taking down his crib soon (his incessant screaming for someone to get him up at 6:30 is about to send me over the edge). And as much as I look forward to the next chapter (preschool? Yes please!) It's still bittersweet to have your baby growing up. I suppose any time you leave one stage it feels this way. No worries - I'm not emotional enough to actually have another baby or anything crazy like that...just thinking about how much he's growing up!

Five for Friday

It's been a while since I posted so here's what we've been up to:

1. Swim team is going swimmingly. The girls love it! Our coach is awesome and they've had a ton of fun! They've all 3 learned so much it's amazing. I'm so proud of how hard they've worked. And I'm eternally grateful that Julia can swim.

2. Lily has started referring to herself as "Lollipop." I don't know why either.

3. Jacob has begun calling everyone "old lady" and "old man". As in "get me some milk you old lady." Or worse, in Walmart "Mom..who's that old lady?" Have I mentioned his volume is loud and louder?

4. Speaking of the little monster - I've stopped having so many panic attacks at the pool with him. He continues to amaze me with his fearlessness. I just keep reminding myself that perhaps this is how Michael Phelps started.

5. 9 more days of school for the big girls! I still can't get over how fast the year is going. But alas, even with no school there is still loads of PTA work to be done. No break for the year round.

And that about sums it up.

The Proposal

Emma (8) noticed in Sundays Target that there is a new Dork Diaries (book) coming out.  She immediately asked to drive to Target right then to get it. First, I told her the book wasn't available until Tuesday and then I asked her how she was going to earn the book.  She looked a little puzzled about this news and then said.."I will do stuff around the house."  Thinking this vague answer would suffice and the book would be waiting for her afterschool.  Like what "stuff" I asked?  Clearly she wasn't expecting this and she said you know, extra chores.  Like what exactly?  I told her to think about and write down what she could to earn the book.  I had sort of forgotten about it.  Until tonight when she brought this down.  Her proposal to earn a book.  It made me laugh so I thought I'd share.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top ten things I'm looking forward to this summer:

1. Less driving around to activities

2. Lots of pool fun with the kiddos

3. The Beach!

4. No waiting for an hour and half with Jacob while girls dance and do gymnastics

5. 45 minutes on Wed when Jacob an Julia are both in gymnastics classes

6. No jackets

7. Way less socks to wash

8. Eating more ice cream/frozen yogurt/popsicles

9. Cheap movies on summer mornings

10. One month off from taking kids to school!

Top Ten Things that sort of suck about summer:

1. Coming home from the pool and the wet towels and bathing suits x 6 people

2. More laundry - i.e. pool towels

3. Air conditioning bills

4. Sticking to the car seats because it's so freaking hot

5. Being too hot to be outside

6. Sunscreening up 4 kids, daily

7. 12 weeks of Julia asking when she goes back to school

8. Kids that wake up earlier than when school is in

9. Daily heart attacks from Jacob being super dare devil at the pool

10. Sweating just from going to get the mail.

We Built This City

Save The Last Dance For Me

Emma Taps

Fame

Today was Emma's dance recital, Fame. She was so so excited about it! She loves to dance and she was excited to perform and show off her super sparkly outfit. She takes a tap/ballet/jazz combo classes so she had 3 dances plus the finale to perform. She did awesome! You can just tell how much she loves to dance. We couldn't be prouder of her effort and dedication!!

My mom couldn't make it up for the performance but she graciously bought us a video camera so we could record it for her (thanks mom!). Though I'm sure she's sad she missed it live she won't be overly sorry when she finds out it was 45 numbers and 2 1/2 hours and we had Jacob with us. I know..what were we thinking? He was great the first hour but after that it was hit or miss. Thankfully (?) we knew the people in front of us though I'm sure they were wishing we were sitting elsewhere. However we survived and Em's smile afterward made it all worthwhile.

One Down, Two to Go

Julia finished up her second year of preschool last week. I honestly can't believe how quickly the year flew by. I mean for reals. It feels like she just started and now it's over. She had a great year. We had the same teachers that Lily had when she was 3 and we love, love them. Only one more year until Jacob gets them too! They did some fun things last week to wrap up the year including a cutie Spring Sing and picnic. I will post some pics soon.

I'm not sure she completely understands this summer vacation business. Perhaps it's because her older sisters have always been in year round schools. She asks at least a couple times a day when does she get to go back to school. When I told her today it would be 3 whole months she replied: "Well, I don't really want to go back to preschool, can't I just go right to Kindergarten?" Sweet thing.

So...one summer vacation on and 2 to go! The older girls still have 4 weeks until their next break. But..it's such a freaking sauna outside they might as well be in school!