Two graduations in one night!

My baby....my oldest baby, graduated into the toothless club tonight! She's had a loose tooth for months now, but it was hanging on strong. Actually, now both of the bottom ones are really loose. Today I noticed you could see her adult tooth coming through right behind the back edge of her loose tooth. She's quite the scaredy cat, but I convinced her it would be fun to pull it. So we sat down and I tried very unsuccessfuly to grab a hold of that tooth. Baby teeth are incredibly tiny when you think about it. Yeah, yeah, I know, stating the obvious. Anyway, we attempted the old tried and true dental floss method, but I had the hardest time getting the dental floss around her tooth! It just wouldn't stay on. It didn't help that she was a little stressed out and her bottom lip would tighten up and get in the way. I finally grabbed the tweezers to help hold the back side of the floss in place. Bingo! I know she was really nervous, but I honestly think that I was more nervous than she was. I knew that if I failed to pull that tooth out, it would 1) hurt her and 2) increase her paranoia about loosing a tooth. So after I made her a giggle a bit I yanked with all of my might. It actually came out quite easily. She had this look of shock on her face, and then I dangled the tooth in front of her. She was all grins! She started this uncontrollable, excited giggle and started chanting, "it's out! it's out! it's out"...but that excitement slowly morphed into a full blown panic attack.
"It's out! It's out...........oh no...It's out! Aaahhhh, I'm scared, I'm scared (imagine her now running around in circles petrified) I'm scared." I should have video taped it. I probably could have won some money on America's Funniest Home Video because the extreme emotions she bounced to in that 5 seconds was quite funny!

I guess she'd seen the blood on the end of the tooth and was really worried. So of course, I couldn't let her look in the mirror for about 5 minutes because she actually bled quite a bit. I was grateful Megan didn't say anything to her.

So now my baby is toothless and she is loving it. Most of her friends have all lost teeth already so she was feeling left out. Now I just have to remember not to go to bed before doing my part!



The second graduation was my precious Megan! She had her preschool graduation today. They had cute little graduation caps and everything. They called the kids' names and they would walk down the aisle gingerly, most of them acting shy. Then Megan came bounding out when it was her turn and skipped and twirled her way down the aisle! I'm so bummed I didn't get a picture. She was moving so much and so fast that the only two pictures I snapped were way to fuzzy to even post.

My little girls are growing up.

A French Kiss

When my oldest daughter was younger (around 3), she would ask for a "turn kiss", which meant a kiss where your heads turned, like at the end of the fairytale. She also knew that the mouth was slightly open. Man, kids are really observant, even of cartoons! She would try to "turn kiss" us all of the time.

So today, when she asked for a French Kiss, I assumed she had renamed the Turn Kiss and wondered where she had even learned that term in the first place. What is a kindergartner doing learning about French kissing? I began to giver her a speach about how some kisses are for Mommy's and Daddy's and other kisses are for kids when she lamented, "But I just REALLY want to kiss you on both cheeks".

Ahhhh......a French kiss. Ok, I get it. Sure Emilee, French kiss all you want.

Birthday on a Birthday!

So Monday was my birthday! Happy Birthday to me! I had a pretty fun one! Since becoming a mother, Birthdays are pretty much a regular day most years, but this one was fun! My husband took the day off of work and my MIL and GMIL were staying with us and they watched the kids while James and I went out. They baked me a birthday cake, helped the girls wrap presents and then MIL took us out to dinner as a family that night! It was really a great day!

I also got to go to a birth on my birthday! I had a client who was due in the middle of June but had been having a lot of health issues. She decided to have a C-section (her first had been C-section, her second a VBAC homebirth) because of some liver issues and her baby boy was born Monday morning at 37weeks, 1 day weighing 9lbs 9oz!!!!!!!!! That's right! 9 1/2 pounds and 3 weeks early! Wowsers! He was absolutely adorable and my client was happy. It was fun to get to go to a birth on my birthday! What better way to celebrate than that?

My talents lie in other places.

I love to do my girls' hair up in cute little hair styles. I'm pretty good at it too. Now, don't mistake that to mean that I actually DO it very often, because really, who has time to get three little girls all spiffy every morning? And even if I did have the time, who would want the fight? I don't feel like listening to the shrieks of horror every morning. I get enough of that just brushing their hair. Especially when it will be all messed up by the time lunch rolls around. But when we buckle down and do it, it's cute! However, there is one aspect of hair care that I just can not get the hang of.

Parting.

I can not part my children's hair for the life of me. I try, I really do. But it's not uncommon for me to have to redo a part 4 or 5 times before I get it to where it is even enough to call it good. Not great, just good enough that people won't be able to notice how bad it is from a distance of more than 20 ft. Perhaps that's why I don't do their hair more often.

Megan wanted her hair is "two braids, mom, two braids" the other day. I eyed her head, looked from the front, from the back, from every angle I thought would be helpful. I parted a little, rechecked, parted some more. I had done a pretty good job for my first part of the day. I felt good about my part. It was even! I had mastered it, finally! I hate to say it, but I was......proud! That is, until I got both sides braided and took a step back.
*sigh*

Childhood memories

So sorry for the terribly dim picture, but it was super sunny outside, they were sitting in the shade and well, I'm not a photographer! And I realize only one has a "normal" smile, but if you've ever tried to take a picture of 3 children, you probably know this is the best out of 30.

Here they are, enjoying a favorite memory of mine from childhood! Dipping fresh strawberries in powdered sugar! No summer in childhood is complete without it!

So what are your favorite childhood summer memories?

On another note, day 12 and still struggling with a voice. The good news, is that while horrible sounding, there IS noise coming out now. So I can talk and be understood which is truly a blessing. So, improvement at least!

6 days and still counting....

So, small update....voice went away again. Didn't make it to the Dr.'s today because I had some issues scheduling issues. So I'll go tomorrow. My good friend around the corner offered to come and sit with my kids during naptime (the only time I could get an appointment).


And no, Stacy, I wouldn't call. Although you can; It might give you a good laugh. I can't promise you'll be able to hear me though. :)


Oh, and just because saying it once in my last entry isn't enough, Do you know how hard it is to parent without a voice?!?!?!?!?!

Let's just say there are 4 garbage bags full of toys, shoes, DVD's, etc out by my back door right now because the kid's must not have thought I was serious when I told them to pick them up or they'd get thrown away. Since I am NOT going to say it twice on a day when each word takes great effort, they now are going to be missing a lot of things. I'm trying to contemplate if I'm going to be mean enough to make Emilee go to school with just socks on because her shoes are gone. With how cranky I'm feeling right now, I just might....although I'm sure I'll get a good night's rest and feel sorry for her in the morning.

6 days....

That is how long I've been without a voice. I started getting sick last Friday night. I woke up on Saturday, started loosing my voice and got a horrible flu!!!! Man, I was really sick. Sunday was a little better, but the cold had really moved to my chest/thoat area, my voice became worse and I started a really bad cough. That night I was short of breath and my poor husband was really started to worry. Each day, I would wake up feeling better, but my voice would be worse. Yesterday I really couldn't speak much. This morning, I couldn't speak at all. As in, just air came out. I was literally louder if I whispered.

It was quite frustrating, at that point, trying to call my husband and communicate to him that I needed him to call the Dr's and set up an appointment. I literally shouted into the phone, with my mouth right at the reciever. I shouted one word at a time....often 2 or 3 times until he could understand. It was really pathetic.

So now I have an appointment at 3pm. Guess what just happened?

Yeah, you guessed it....I just got part of my voice back. it's certianly still "gone"....but at least noise comes out now.

So, does that mean I'm getting better? It will be just my luck that by the time I go to the Dr. it will be all better and I'll look like an idiot. But maybe it won't. It went in and out a lot yesterday. I guess only time will tell.

One thing I can say, It SUCKS to try to parent three small children when you can't talk!

Don't bother me unless the house is burning down....

You all remember comments like that from your parents, right? Well, they don't work with young children. It sure didn't work when I used it in the desperate attempt at 10 minutes alone in the shower this morning. 10 minutes is all I wanted. 10 minutes with no one else touching me, snotting on me or talking to me. My kids didn't listen.

However, that was actually a good thing. But, next time I make that statement, it will need to have some amendments made to it.


"Don't bother me unless the house is burning down, the 4 year old is about to pee her pants if she doesn't get into the bathroom right now, the toddler has found the paints and is attempting to decorate the couch, or the neighbor boy has walked into our house."


I'm sure I'll have to add more next time.