Happy 6th Birthday Karly Q!

Today my Karly Q turns 6 years old! I wanted to take a picture of her this morning, all dressed up in her pretty dress, and she refused. Those of you who know Karly know that she really doesn't like to have her picture taken, especially by me. She normally turns her head, puts her hand in front of her face and lets out a ughh, as if she is too busy to be bothered by mom and her camera.

Karly has been such a blessing to me. As a baby, she had acid reflux, and I spent hours bouncing with her as she fussed. I think because of that she and I have a bond that she will never have with anyone else. She really is a mommy's girl.

My Karly Q is quite spunky and is really a comedian without knowing it. At least once a day I find myself laughing at something that she has said or done that she doesn't even realize.

I have noticed so many changes in Karly over the last year. The first being that she is finally starting to grow. Karly has always been very petite for her age, and in fact we used to refer to her as runt baby. But over the last year she has started to fill out a little and has finally gotten taller, though at 6, she still wears a size 4 waist in pants. I am also amazed at how much she learned this year in kindergarten, not only is she learning to read and write, but she has really turned into a big girl in the way she acts and speaks. This year she has finally let me fix her hair in the mornings as opposed to just combing it, which is a feat with her curls.

While I really don't want her to grow up, I look forward to seeing her as she learns and grows over the coming year.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY PRINCESS!!

It's a kitchen table... No it's a fort!

Juliana thinks that the kitchen table and chairs are her own personal jungle gym. She can quite often be found climbing through them and stuck under them. She also loves sitting on the bottom of the table, and sometimes gets Karly to join her....

Happy Mother's Day! Or in my case... Mother's Weekend!

First let me start by wishing all of the mother's who read this a very Happy Mother's Day! I have had the privilege over the last year of meeting a lot of very wonderful, inspiring mothers and reconnecting with some old friends who have since become wonderful inspiring mothers as well. You are all truly a blessing to me. It has been so great to develop such a support system, but also to learn and grow from your experiences as well.

A very special Happy Mother's Day to my own mom, and my girls wonderful grandma, Grandma Billie. My mom has been such a role model to me through out her life and has always encouraged me, stood behind me and been there for me. Through her, I have learned to be strong, independent, hard working and have a strong belief of what it is to be a good mother.

Our weekend started quite early Saturday morning running errands. Kinsley needed new tennis shoes, which we found quite easily, actually agreed on, and found on sale. Our next stop was Dollar Tree to get some supplies to work on Kinsley's Homework Project. This week they will be having a History night at school and Kinsley needed to fill a poster board with information about herself and her family. We then met Mrs Alicia and Momma B at church to practice a skit for the mother daughter banquet. Afterwards, Momma B joined us for lunch at China Palace, where all three of the girls ate really well and behaved themselves! We went home and worked on Kinsley's project. She and I had such a great time looking at pictures and talking about things that we enjoy doing as a family as well as trips that we have taken and memories that she has. She is very creative and had some great ideas for how to put the project together. I struggled of course with trying not to take over and do it myself. Karly and Juliana napped, and it gave Kins and I some much needed mother daughter time. While I was getting Karly and Jules ready for the banquet, Kins pretended to continue working on her project, really though she was creating a gift for me, a picture of she and Karly that she mounted with a ribbon that she had picked out earlier at Dollar Tree. It turned out really good, and again I was impressed by her creativity and touched by her thoughtful and caring nature.

Later that evening we attended the Mother Daughter Banquet at church. It was such a wonderful opportunity to spend time in fellowship with the other mothers and daughters from church and enjoy some great food and an inspirational lesson by Mrs Robin. The girls and I had a great time at the banquet, as well as just hanging out afterwards with Momma B and her girls, Pastor Tom and Alicia and their kiddos, Patrick and sons and Dawnie Girl. The weather was perfect for the kids to romp and play outside on the church lawn.

Sunday Morning, Mother's Day, Kinsley enlisted Adam's help to cook me breakfast. They made homemade waffles and sausage and of course, coffee. Breakfast was wonderful. I am however going to have to watch my daughter as she has proven to be quite sneaky over the weekend, first with the picture and then breakfast. Off to church where Karly's Sunday school class sang a special song for their Mommy's and presented us each with a special poem and their hand print. It is such a blessing to watch Karly in church. She is learning so much so quickly, and is becoming much more comfortable singing and performing in front of the congregation. After church, our girls treated Momma B and I to pizza hut for lunch. While it's sometimes hectic and chaotic getting all 6 of the girls together, I would not trade one minute of it. I enjoy all the time that we get to spend together, and wish that we had more opportunities to do so.

After lunch, we all headed home and all three girls and myself took a nap. That's one for the record book, I don't know that they have ever all taken a nap together. It was such a relaxing and wonderful day, and such a blessing to spend it with my amazing little girls!

Parotitis

Wednesday night while we were eating dinner before church, Karly kept complaining that her jaw was popping and hurt. My jaw tends to pop if I use it in a repetitive motion, such as chewing gum, so I didn't get very concerned, other than to encourage her to chew on the other side of her mouth and eat her oranges and soft french fries. When she woke up yesterday morning, she complained of a stomach ache and was somewhat whiny and seemed very tired, so I told her to lay back down on the couch for a while. She later got dressed and then complained further of her jaw hurting, when I looked at it, I could see that she had a hard swollen spot along her jawline near her left ear that was slightly purple in color. My first reaction was that she had popped her jaw out of place. After I dropped Kinsley off at school, I took Karly to the ER. She was such a trooper while they poked at her and took 6 or 7 x-ray pictures. She snuggled in moms lap the majority of the time and held my hand tightly while the x-rays were taken.

Much to my relief, she had not popped her jaw out of place, she was however diagnosed with Parotits, or Swollen Parotid. What this means is that her salivary gland, which is located between the ear and the jar has become swollen and inflamed. This can be caused by many things, including mumps, diabetes or because it is blocked by a stone or sometimes even food. As she appeared to be healthy otherwise, no fever or other symptoms, and the x rays did not show a stone, we are leaning towards a simple blockage which will clear itself over the next few days and weeks.

In the meantime, she takes Tylenol and Advil every 4 and 6 hours respectively, and we apply warm compresses to her face. She is also encouraged to eat lemon things, such as lemon drops and or lemon juice. The lemon causes the salivary gland to contract and will help to clear it faster. Karly thought this sounded great at first, lemon candy, lemon Popsicles, lemonade, but we quickly discovered, she really doesn't LIKE lemon that much, so it has been a little more difficult. She stayed home yesterday and rested throughout the day, but did feel well enough to go to school today.

I want my tooth back...

Karly lost her first tooth yesterday. Last Friday she came home from school very excited that she had a loose tooth. At first I was skeptical, because she always says she has a loose tooth and then points to one of her molars in the very back. But sure enough, when I said "show me" she opened her mouth and wiggled her bottom front tooth. She played with it all weekend and I kept thinking at any minute it would come out, but it never did. I offered to pull it out for her several times, but she just shook her head no. Yesterday at school, one of her teachers Mrs. Alexander, pulled it out for her. She came home with her tooth in a small treasure box and was excited to show everyone.



The tooth fairy visited our house last night. Karly woke up to find that her treasure box and tooth had been replaced by $5. Now, mind you the tooth fairy does not leave $5 for every tooth, only the first one because it is special. This actually started when Kinsley lost her first tooth just before bed one night and all I had on me was $5 or hand fulls of change. When Karly discovered her tooth was gone, she got mad and said she didn't want the money, she wanted her tooth back. She told Kinsley could she have the money, to which Kinsley promptly snatched up, and ordered me to tell the tooth fairy to bring her tooth back tonight. Karly was adamant throughout the rest of the morning that she didn't want or need the money and really just wanted her tooth back. I'm not sure yet how the tooth fairy is going to handle this one. Any suggestions?




On a side note, just this past weekend, I found Kinsley's first tooth in a plastic baggy that I had saved. I tend to be the mom that saves EVERYTHING... but looking at this tooth in a plastic bag, I wondered, is that something that people actually save? I mean really, when my children get older, are they going to want a 20 year old baby tooth? I don't believe that my mom saved my tooth, or if she did, she hasn't yet given it to me yet. My tendency is to think that if she did, I'd probably wrinkle my nose at it, say oh that's nice and then likely throw it away. I'd like to hear what others have to say about this. Where do we draw the line at what and how much we save for our children and will they really care that we did save these things?

It's been 2 1/2 months....

I realized this morning it has been 2 1/2 months since I blogged and updated all of you. Needless to say it has been quite busy and chaotic around our house. Pardon this long entry as I catch you up on all our adventures.

Jules is now 14 1/2 months old and has developed quite the personality. While I am having so much fun watching her grow and learn, I'm realizing we are quickly entering the toddler stage. She is not yet walking, but is taking steps, when she wants to. Some days she seems very determined to learn to walk, and others, no amount of bribing or coaxing will get her to even think about it. She has also started throwing fits when she is mad or doesn't get her way. Unfortunately for her, mommy has been through this stage twice already and it doesn't garner much attention, nor the results she is looking for. She has been without her bottle now for nearly two months, and really didn't mind giving it up. She likes to drink out of her big girl cup, and really likes to drink from a straw. Her asthma seems to be getting better, Praise the Lord. She had a mild cold last week, which normally would aggravate her asthma and cause us to put her on antibiotics and or increase her breathing treatments drastically. It seems that she has recovered from this cold without having to do either. I'm hopeful that this is a sign that she is growing out of it. She is talking quite a bit now and says Momma, Dadda, Baby, bye, thank you and sissy.

We went to the zoo at the end of April. Juliana loves riding in the stroller, so she was very content all day and seemed to enjoy it as much as the big girls. The picture above was taking while we were waiting outside the Jurassic Park ride. She loved riding the carousel as well.

Karly has almost finished kindergarten. Wow, just typing that makes me realize how big she is getting and how much she has grown up! Karly is by far my most animated child. Her first school music program was last Thursday night, they performed "Three Billy Goats Tuff". We all had such a blast watching her sing and dance with such expression. She is doing really well in school and impresses me every day with her improving reading abilities. In March, she got "Student of the Month" so we celebrated with ice cream. Getting ready every morning with Karly is such an adventure. She has finally agreed to let me fix her hair each morning. This is a feat, as Karly has curly hair that can be quite unruly at times. We have made a deal that as long as she lets me comb it and fix it, she can choose how she wants to wear it. She has been seen leaving the house with some very unique styles, including multiple pigtails all over her head.

Miss Kins keeps me going... and going...and going... While they other two are content to stay at home and hang out, Kins likes to stay active and busy and is constantly looking for activities or adventures for us all. Sitting at home is a downer to her, unless there are friends, games or staying up late watching movies involved. She is doing really well in school and her reading has improved dramatically over the course of this year. She is now well above grade level in reading, showing her that hard work pays off. She enjoys reading Junie B. Jones and some mysteries like Nancy Drew as well. She has developed her own sense of style and LOVES to accessorize. This morning as we were getting ready to leave, I had to run back into the house to hurry her along to find that she was in the bathroom deciding what necklace to wear. She enjoys sports and we are gearing up for softball season again, with her first practice next week.

We went to a cardinals game recently and Kins was modeling for me. I don't normally photograph my children's bathroom behaviors, lol, but we were bored and waiting for Karly to finish. This picture captures Kins so perfectly.

I'm plugging away, trying to keep up with the girls and work and school. I finished my first MBA class a few weeks ago and I really enjoyed it. It took a lot of late nights and hard work, but I got an A. I started my next class, Business Law, last week. I am enjoying it quite a bit, but feel that the class isn't quite living up to its full potential. It is a lot of work and I'm learning a lot about different aspects of the law, but it doesn't excite me the way I expected this class to.

As I mentioned, we went to the zoo in late April, and it was wonderful. The weather was perfect, not too hot or cold and just a light breeze. It did rain late in the day, but only briefly. Here are a few more pictures from our trip.

Kinsley, Karly and I also went to a cardinals game in April. Kinsley has been wanting to go to one for a long time, so I got them out of school early one day and we went to watch the Cardinals vs the Mets. We had awesome seats right behind home plate about 15 rows up. They had a blast!!! Kinsley is already asking to go again.

Its Official... I am a Graduate Student

There are a million cliche phrases, life is what happens when you are busy making other plans, if you want to tell God laugh tell him your plans, you've probably heard them all. Well once, I had a plan to go to graduate school. In fact, I believe my plan was to pursue my MBA immediately after finishing my Bachelor's degree. Well, life happened, and here I am several years later, still without my Master's degree. I have found every reason that "now" is not a good time, too busy, can't afford it, not sure that I really need it, not sure which school to go to, I'm sure you know the drill. I finally decided this winter though, that if I have that attitude, I will always find a reason not to go back, so instead I am going to go back to school and put that same energy into finding reasons and ways to make it work.

So... I applied, I've been accepted and on March 9th, I will start my first class. The first step towards getting my MBA. I am officially a Graduate Student, with a full time job and three kids. I'm overwhelmed and excited at the same time. Right now, I am scheduled to finish and Graduate December 2010.

Happy 1st Birthday Juliana!

Today my baby girl turns one year old. It amazes me how much she has grown in the past year, especially in the past few months. She is becoming very independent and very opinionated. Juliana is truly the happiest baby I have ever met, rarely is there a moment that she isn't smiling and now laughing and giggling.

She LOVES splashing in the bathtub with her big sisters. No matter how tired she is, there is always time to squeeze in a bath before bed time. She loves the bath so much that anytime anyone is in it, she thinks she needs to be as well. On Sunday morning as I was taking a shower for church, she thought she needed to join me. She crawled over to the tub and pulled back the curtain and stood their bouncing and laughing as the water splashed on her, soaking her from head to toe.

She enjoys playing with her big sisters, and I would take the liberty in saying that her sister

Karly is her best friend. They get a long so well and are always getting into mischief together. One of their favorite activities lately has been climbing into this plastic tub and pretending that it is whatever their heart desires, on this particular day, they were pirates on a pirate ship. I'm pretty sure that Juliana has no clue what they are playing, she is just excited to be spending time with her big sister.

She is not walking yet, though she is becoming very steady on her legs, standing by herself and raising and lowering herself from sitting to standing. She loves to do things for herself, including feeding herself, grabbing things herself, and she has recently developed an affinity for brushing her own hair.

Happy First Birthday Juliana!!!

Whew! It's been a busy couple weeks!

Things have been busy around our house lately. I thought with having a few days off at Christmas and New Year's, I would have some time to relax. I should have known better. Between cleaning up from Christmas morning, taking down the tree and trying to find places for all the new Christmas gifts, I didn't do much else. Grandma Billie, my mom, came to stay with us for a week or so over Christmas and she was brave enough to keep all the girls for a couple days while they were off school. They had a blast with Grandma and Kinsley is already asking when Grandma is coming back. Grandma, I think, probably needs a vacation to rest from the girls.



Grandma Billie got the girls and I a Wii for Christmas, which we absolutely love! Kinsley, has become addicted to Guitar Hero, that is when she can steal it away from her dad long enough to play it. Karly likes it as well, but has better luck with Wii Sports than Guitar Hero, she particular likes baseball. Needless to say, they were not looking forward to going back to school today.




Juliana has now started eating table food and in doing so has become so independent. She nearly refuses to eat baby food out of a jar, or as they come now a plastic tub, and insists on feeding herself. I don't know that she has developed any favorites yet, although she really likes strawberry cereal bars (she's showing it off in the picture).



I normally don't make New Years Resolutions, why set myself up for failure? Especially resolutions about diet, exercise or weight. But, after playing Wii Boxing and being nearly breathless after a couple rounds and having sore back muscles the next day, I decided it's time to do more with my Y membership than just having the dues deducted from my checking account. Saturday morning I went to Step Aerobics. Yesterday I didn't feel so bad, today my abs and calves are a little sore, but I actually feel like maybe I'm not as in bad a shape as I thought I was. My "goal" is to make it 3 out of 4 Saturdays a month. Momma B and I have also decided that 2 nights a week we are going to take the girls to the Y and just be active, climb the wall, play basketball, walk the track, do something with the girls to encourage more physical activity in all of us. Tonight is the first night. Getting in the routine of doing it is going to be the hardest part, but hopefully between her and I and the 4 biggest girls, we can all keep each other motivated.