Baby Kitty Named Cookie

I'm not sure if every little girl goes through this phase, but both of mine have. Abby used to pretend she was a puppy every single day. I think she crawled around on her hands and knees more often than she walked on two legs for three straight years. She still enjoys bounding around on all fours to this day. That being said, Evie is way more obsessed with it than Abby ever was. She doesn't really pretend to be a puppy as much though. She's a kitty. And she takes it way more seriously than her older sister. In fact, she has gone as far as saying that she wishes that she was a real kitty and not a silly human.

She utters the same phrase every single day...more times a day than I care to count. "I'm your baby kitty named Cookie and I'm a girl." She says it to daddy, mommy, Alex, Abby, and pretty much anyone who will listen. I've had to "adopt" her from the pound many times. She has even gone as far as filling bowls of water up and lapping it up on the floor just like a real kitty. It cracks me up how serious she takes it. She even lines up on the floor when it's feeding time for the real cats of the house and pretends to be eating with them. I've actually have to get mad at her when she chases the cats away so she can "eat". She hisses at him and growls. Oh this little girl is a hoot!

She's pretending to lick the fork with canned cat food on it that the kittens clean off every night.

Abby's 9th Birthday

My kids switch through their obsessions so quickly that my head can start spinning. One year ago on Abby's birthday, it was everything Star Wars. She was so obsessed with it that it was the only thing she wanted. One year later and Star Wars is a thing of the past (sadly). Now it's all things Trolls. So the cake, presents and chatter was just that: Trolls. (The kids movie...not the creepy thing that lives under bridges.) Abby was hoping for a big birthday party with a ton of friends, but I told her not until she's ten...maybe.

For her birthday at school I made blue (her favorite color) cupcakes and Troll fruitsnacks. And then on her party day, it was a Smidge (her favorite Troll) cake with cookie dough ice cream (coconut version for the allergic kid). She got most everything she wanted, including another stuffed animal that she is in love with. It's a dachshund named Chloe. It was a good time and the kids had fun with Wesley and Greta over for the day.

I'm super proud of the way Abby has grown in the last year. She's a super talented kid with lots of art skills and is kind and sweet to everyone she meets. It will be fun to watch the next year of growth again. Happy Birthday Abby! We love you!

Tweenagers

What I look like inside as I try to figure out the parenting thing...

I had to look this up to make sure I wasn't losing my mind, but I was dead on. The official years that are considered "tweens" in children are ages 8 to 12. For the last twenty years few years, raising these kids has gotten significantly...well...frustrating. I love them forever and always and to the moon and back.

But.

Oh my gosh...they can drive me CRAZY!

It started with Alex (as he is ten now) but Abby showed the signs of it earlier than him. Attitude. That's the best word for it. They flip me attitude. Not good attitudes, either. The kind that makes me want to pull my hair out and try gluing it back on backwards so I don't let them see my frustrated "crazy" eyes. Because I truly believe that when they see that crazy look in my eyes, they know they've secretly won the battle they brought down upon me - their poor helpless mom.

And it's only getting worse as the years go by. I believe that the tween age is there to get you slowly prepared for the frightening things that true teenagers will bring, but that doesn't make it better. Most of the time, they aren't testing my very last nerve. But a good chunk of it is filled with snippy comments, bad attitudes, drama, and sarcastic quips. As a highly sarcastic person, this shouldn't bother me. But their sarcasm can be almost over the top. Some say I deserve it. Oh well.

One day, I will look back on the constant battles, "I don't want to clean my room!" comments, screaming nonsense, fighting to the death, and (my personal favorite) the "you hate me!" accusations and I will miss it.

Right?

...and what the general public sees as I try to hide my crazy.

Early Thumb Victory

Thumb sucking has been in this house since Abby was just a few months old. That's a whole lotta thumb sucking, to be honest. Evie came out of me just as eager to suck her thumb as her sister was. Abby didn't stop sucking her thumb until this past Fall. It came down to an ultimatum. She had stopped temporarily back in Pre-K, but the moment her last day of school was over she plopped that bad boy back in her mouth uttering, "Good. Now I can suck my thumb again." I told her it was either stop sucking it on her own, or she'd be using the nasty stuff you paint on their nails to stop them. We had to use the stuff. She reverted a few times but is now thumb free.

Evie, only being half of Abby's age, was still sucking hers. And honestly? I was okay with it. I knew she'd be going to pre-K earlier than the other two, but she needed it to get to sleep at night. After long days of school, she needed the comfort. I expected she'd be sucking that thumb well into Kindergarten or first grade.

Until...

One evening, she thought it would be a good idea to jump head-first into the couch. I'm not even sure how she did it, really. All I know is that I was walking into the kitchen when I heard her jump. Then I heard blood-curdling screams and she came at me with a mouth full of blood and a gash in her tongue that was quite frightening. The blood wouldn't stop and the nurse on the phone said if it didn't stop to get an ambulance out here. I called and they were here lickety-split. She was very brave as the nice firemen helped her out (who have been here more times than I'd like to admit). When the took a closer look at the gaping wound, it was called a through and through. She bit clear through her entire tongue. The paramedics came and we made the choice to go ahead and go with them in fear she'd puke up and aspirate on her blood on the drive there or (even worse) bite off her tongue completely.

Luckily, they said it would heal in no time and it required no further attention. Unluckily, it didn't heal like they promised. It took almost two weeks before it was fully closed. Poor Evie couldn't suck her thumb. It was extremely painful for her. She couldn't eat anything salty or crunchy for a week and I had to cut her food very small. It was horrible. But by the end of two weeks (still having some pain that lingered for a couple weeks after that), she hadn't sucked her thumb. It was hard and heart-breaking at first. But she got used to sleeping without it after a week. A month later and no thumb. She did try it once and cried telling me how much she missed her thumb. But then I convinced her that she was a big girl and didn't need it anymore.

Truth be told, as much as I complained about the germs and other lovely things that thumb sucking brings, having her suck her thumb was a reminder of her being my last baby. No thumb, no more baby. It tugged on my heartstrings way more than I ever thought possible. But she's a big girl now and I'm proud of her. Even if it was a mere side effect of a very bad night.

Our local heroes...again. We love our firefighters and take them cookies often. They know Evie very well now and always ask her how her tongue is when they see her. She loves it!

First ambulance ride at not quite four years old. On another note, those pajamas still have blood stains on them.

Her paramedics. It may have not been a life-threatening emergency, but for this scared mama...they sure helped.

It was way worse than it appears on camera. You could see straight through her tongue.

My brave little turkey with her blanket, baby kitty, and the bear the paramedics gave her that she named "Stacy" after one of them.

Christmas 2016

We had a fantastic Christmas this year. Not only did we have Christmas at home with all the fun and excited air that the holidays bring, but we also had the joy of having almost all my brothers home to celebrate with us. Which, of course, means that we had a surplus of cousins running around. It was tons of fun and reminded me of the days growing up. We got to play games, eat lots of food (which I now regret horribly), and share some good times and laughs. The kids got tons of new stuff (which they didn't really need) and it was a great time for all. We even got a huge family picture taken by yours truly. I love the magic of Christmas. As always, I missed dad. But that goes without saying. I wish that I could say that it gets easier every year, but I'd be lying. What a way to end the year though! Fun with family and my mom got all her kids under one roof.

The Christmas Eve traditional new jammies. With slippers this year!

Look at all those people! And dad even made it into the picture. (Picture on the wall on the right.)

My favorite picture. Evie loves Grandma so much! (new year's eve.)

Margie adores Evie.

We went to a live show that encompasses the entire Christmas story outside. Beautiful!

Me and the dorky kids.

Lexi loves Alex! She tagged along with him a lot.

Aaron and Michelle flew in to surprise mom for Christmas. She was beside herself with joy!

Uncle Jeremy teaching Alex how to shoot for the first time.

 

Thanksgiving 2016

Thanksgiving seems to get lower key every year, but I'm kind of okay with that. Growing up with giant Thanksgivings weren't horrible, they were just crazy. Seeing as how I prefer not to have to leave my oldest child out of the fun of eating everything he wants, I just make it all myself now. This year we had the pleasure of a partially broken oven. The stove top was only half working (which is why we got a new stove shortly after this). And my mom's oven broke at the same time, sooo....yeah. It was fun making food. It was a nice day altogether though. The temperature outside was spectacular and even though Josh was on call, he managed to make it through dinner before getting called out to work.

On a more personal note, after ten years of dealing with food allergies, I officially made a full Thanksgiving dinner with desserts 100% milk, peanut, and tree nut free. It may not seem like much, but it is very gratifying. Everything, from the turkey to the pumpkin pie with whipped topping was safe for the kid to eat. I even found a recipe for a "pecan" pie that is made with toasted rice crispies rather than pecans. We call it the un-pecan pie. It was delicious and Alex was grateful for it.  See my impressive allergen friendly food? It was tasty. What a great day! Happy Thanksgiving 2016!

Oh, and the weather was so nice, we got to spend it outside...jumping into leaves. Naturally.

 

And also lots of reading on the school break. Alex with Jasmine. 

 

Evie's 4th Birthday

Evie is officially four years old! Nearly five years ago when I found out I was pregnant with a third child, I remember thinking how crazy it was going to be to start over. Abby was in preschool and turning four years old and I had leapt over and dodged all of those crazy hurdles that having a very young one held. I kept thinking that starting over with a baby was going to be crazy and that getting back to that point in my life was going to be another very long and winding road. As it turns out, it wasn't all that long at all. I feel like I blinked and my baby became a preschooler with a huge personality.

For her fourth birthday, we kept it extremely low key. Only Mandy and her brood came with Grandma because we were all sick with the same germs. I didn't want to spread that around to anyone else. (It's been a crazy cold season already.) It was fine because she had a ball. She got lots of fun gifts and I made her the cake she wanted. She is into the Shopkins stuff and wanted Cheeky Chocolate on her cake. Done and done. A fun time was had, which is the most important thing.

So far, at four years old, this girl is like neither of the other kids. She marches to the beat of a different drum, for certain. She started Pre-K early and is in love with it. In fact, she loves it more than Alex or Abby ever did. Socially, she is a butterfly and has soaked up the friend life at school like no other. No tears and only joy when I drop her off every morning. She is my pickiest eater. By far. Fruit is a minimum palette - apples and bananas for the most part. Veggies are just as bad. And breakfast? Not a chance. She hates everything and is very vocal about it. It drives me nuts but I know it won't last forever. She loves to dance, sing, draw, play outside, and can't get enough of the cats. Her best animal friend is Luke. Unless she is at Grandma's house, and then it's Milo and Margie. She loves big and tells everyone she knows this. She finds friends in the strangest places. If you break through her shell, she will tell you that you are her best friend. And it's adorable. She still sleeps in our bed at night, but only after I've gone to sleep. She loves Warm snuggles in the morning and adores her brother and sister.

Evie is a blessing and I love her to pieces. She drives me nuts, but I love her all the more for it. Happy Birthday Evie! We are so blessed to be your mom and dad!

Getting the Cheeky chocolate stuffed animal she wanted.

Cheeky Chocolate Cake (Shopkins)

Evie with Grandma.