Growing Pains

Ever want to put your kids in a bubble so no one can ever hurt them? I do. I know its unreasonable and they have to learn and blah blah blah, but last night was extrememly hard for me. It was also a glimps of the future and how cruel life can be.

Lizzy is just entering the age of realization. She's begining to grasp that her words can hurt others and that she needs to be kind, not only because she'll get in trouble if she isn't but mainly because other people can be her hurt by her unkind actions. Because of this newfound realization I'm able to glimps a bit of who she really is and its both scary and neat that I see a lot of myself in my daughter. One thing I've noticed is that she reaches out to everyone. She loves kids the same age, younger and older. She sees no colors, hears no accents and could care less what a childs "status" is. That's not to say she doesn't notice the differances but as I watch her study people I can see her mind go from curiosity, to acceptance with no boundries to extending kindness. Now, having said that, she's 3. She does have bad attitudes and bad days but fortunately she directs those at me and rarely other people.

So... Where does all this lead us? Well, for all
her faults (and they are many) she is a kind child. And I absolutley love that about her. We were in Walmart on Sunday and there was a black woman decked to the nines in her Sunday best, pastel suit, matching shoes, big hat. Totally normal for Sunday around here. Anyway she was standing by us in line and Lizzy looked over and said, "oh mommy, oh she is beautiful mommy" it was completely unprompted and out of the blue. The lady said "thank you so much, really... Thank you" I have no idea what was going on in that lady's life but she was so appreciative that a random little girl thought she was beautiful. Liz often tells women they're beautiful when they're dressed up and it never fails to make them smile.

Anyway, these are just a few instances of how Liz reaches out to everyone.

And that's probably why it was so hard to watch her feelings get hurt last night when one of her dearest friends was continually nasty to her over and over. I really wanted to step in and say something but I wanted her to learn from it as well. But I have to say it hurt that nothing was said by her parents. I know I'm being sensitive, but its hard not to be, she's my little girl.

So here's what happened. I'll leave out names because these are our friends. So we get to dinner last night and Liz sees her best buddy and runs over to give her a hug. The girl pushed Liz away and said "I don't want to hug you." Liz was hurt but hey, they're 3 I chalked it up to a bad mood. So I go to set Liz by her friend at dinner and the little girl throws a fit and says "no! I don't want you to sit by me." Liz was completely confused... And hurt. But the part that gets me is instead of correcting the behaviour with telling her to be kind and identifying that she's hurting another childs feelings her mom (a good friend of mine) merely said "if you want to choose another seat you can" so she did! She moved across the table and at this point Liz had tears in her eyes. She wouldn't even eat her dinner. Now at this point I was getting annoyed... But I didn't say anything. After dinner the kids went upstairs to watch a movie while we had small group. About 30 minutes in I hear Liz crying upstairs so I go up to see what's going on and she's sitting about 10 feet away from the other kids crying. I asked her what was wrong and the gist of it was that the little girl didn't want Liz to sit with the group while watching the movie so Liz had walked 10 feet away and sat by herself. At that point I was getting mad, I said to the whole group "guys we need to be nice, everyone is included in movie time" I waited until Liz had gotten herself settled again (albeit a few feet away still) but she was watching the movie so I figured all was fine. Then as it was time to go Liz tried to give her friend a hug goodbye and the girl ran off and said "no" her mom was standing right there and said "we give her the freedom to choose if she wants to hug people or not" which, I respect... Somewhat. However watching my 3 year old with her arms out trying to give her friend a hug was heartbraking. All in all I was really bothered by the whole evening. I know I'm being sensitive but on the way home lizzy was very quiet. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I'm sad... ___ doesn't like me."

*sigh* It made me cry. Jay was furious with the whole evening he wanted to say something so badly but these are good friends of ours and we don't want to sever that relationship so we figured we'd better cool off for a few days and then I'll mention how hurt Liz was to my friend. But watching Liz get her feelings hurt was awful. I wish I could put her in a bubble and protect her from the meanness and hurtful things of the world.

But... This is where I have to trust that God is watching over my girls. He alone can heal their hurts and shelter them through the storms of life. As mild as this was in the grand scheme of things it still broke my heart to hear my baby say "I'm sad."

Picture time! (Video below)

Okay, here's what's going on in our lives... Princess dresses, scottish highland games, and lots of fun hanging outdoors in this beautiful weather! Maddy is getting chubby... just look at those cheeks! :)

The tail of Madeline...

You know how it's funny to watch a dog chase its tail? Well this is kind of like that... but with my kid. And please excuse the laughter in the background... I was dying laughing and my goofy baby running in circles.

Enjoy!

Winds of change...

Ah, so its been more than a little crazy around here lately. Maddy is up to 16 lbs and is trying to crawl! She gets up on all fours but then she just rocks back and forth and eventually face plants herself into the carpet before pulling herself back up and trying again. She's sleeping very well, most nights are at least 10 hours. Our only problem at the moment (and I mean that quite litterally as she's screaming in the other room as I type this) is that she HATES nap time. Hates it! It is so annoying! Once asleep she'll be out for 3-4 hours in the afternoon, but getting her to slow down long enough to actually fall asleep is darn near impossible! And frustrating to boot as she keeps Lizzy up when she starts screaming meaning I have two miserable nap needing kids every afternoon, which really, really sucks!

In between that last sentance and this one I finally gave in and rocked her to sleep, so now my house is blissfully quiet. For now anyways...

So what's new around here? I can't remember if I've mentioned Princess Charming but that's what Lizzy calls prince charming, which cracks me up. In school this month they're teaching the kids their parents names in case the kids would ever get lost they can tell someone who they're with. So lizzy likes to call us "Dessica Cwemmons" and "damie cwemmons" but they funny one is when you ask her Maddys full name... "Maddy Goose!" she'll reply. I guess I need to start calling Madeline Maddy Jane instead of Maddy Goose.

I ordered Jays birthday cake from Publix today, its the same flavor as Lizzy's cake but the theme is all green with a tree stump in the middle and a chain saw laying on the stump... I cracked up when I saw the picture of it in the Publix cake book. I just knew I had to order it for him! His birthday is on Friday so we'll be celebrating at small group. I'm making lasagna and we'll have garlic bread, salad and then ice cream and cake for dessert, should be fun! He told me he wants tools for his birthday which translates to a card from me and whatever he wants from the catalog of tools he always has laying around. Lol

Oh yeah, another lizzy moment: Liz got a camera for her birthday from her uncle, it came with a camera case. Yesterday Liz walks up to me and asks where her suitcase for her camera is... It took me a minute to realize she was asking about her camera case. Too cute.

Anyway! I need a nap, its been a looong morning. More updates to come!

New Stuff

Yes I realize that's not the most creative title but the title "birthday parties, well check visits and other things going on in our lives" seemed a bit long. So it is what it is. Moving on!

Let's go in order, last Friday lizzy turned 3 which was lots of fun. We didn't do too much on her actual birthday as she got an upset tummy after her lunch (she wanted Chinese... Ew, I blame the chicken) so she had an accident (a very messy one) while we were at small group, in front of 15 kids. Was she embarassed? Not my kid. Nope, she merely said "I feel better mommy" when she was through ruining the carpet. Fun times.

Saturday morning however brought lots of stress for mommy and great times for Lizzy. The reason I was stressing was that we had 50 people RSVP for her party... Which I wasn't expecting, and most of which RSVP'd the night before. Oh and it was from 11-1 which meant we needed to feed everyone so I was stressing about that big time. Linda took care of the fruit which was wonderful (huge platters of watermelon, grapes, canteloupe, strawberries and honeydew. I made a big platter of cheese cubes and picked up 6 lbs of popcorn chicken. We added some goldfish and things like that and then topped it all off with palmtree coolers of capri suns, apple juice and bottled water.

The cake was vanilla with raspberry filling and whipped buttercream frosting which was the best cake I'd ever tasted. Seriously, better than our overpriced wedding cake... Lol we also had an ice cream bar with peaches, rasberries, chocolate chips, gummy bears, bitterscotch chips and sprinkles for toppings. That was a huge hit with the parents and kids both. I had some games planned but we had 25 kids there so we didn't end up playing any games as it was too chaotic. I did however have a rub on tattoo station for the kids which was a HUGE hit. The kids loved getting those and the parents sll thought it was fun as well. Due to the ginormous guest count the gift table was out of control. She got more than any 3 year old should ever have so I'm putting the things we got her, back for Christmas. And we'll be donating an old toy for each of the new ones she opens.

All in all it was a blast although both lizzy and I were overwhelmed with everything. Jay hung out with my brothers and Maddy had a great time with all the attention while lizzy and I tackled the mountain of presents. It took us 2 days to recover from all that fun.

Then today was Maddy's 6 month well check visit. Her head is in the 10th percentile, her height and weight around the 40th percentile. She's up to 16 lbs 3 oz now! She got 3 shots and only cried while she was getting them. As soon as I picked her up afterwards she started smiling at the nurse. It was sad and cute, big ol tears streaming down her cheeks and a grin on her face... That's my baby.

I have to say I am SO thankful that she is a good baby. Lizzy is proving to be a handful these days and I don't know what I'd do if Maddy was a difficult baby on top of that. Fortunately I don't have to worry about that. Maddy is angelic and so sweet to be around.

Lizzy's an awesome kid and I love her more than life, but I swear she'll be the death of me. She is so sassy these days and independant! (which is the nice way of saying she doesn't listen worth a darn most days and its driving me ape wall!) I'm working with her though, Jay says I'm too soft on her. I just say I choose my battles. If I were to correct her every single time she didn't listen or talked back I'd spend all day putting her in time out and taking away privledges. Instead I try to pick the things I most want her to learn (good manners, kindness, and listening skills) and I overlook the bossy boots comments or rolling of the eyes. (which I realize both of those fall under good manners, but seriously, she's 3. I'll take please and thank you even if its sometimes said more like "please I want that this very instant" or "please but I'm really just saying please because I know that's the only way to get what I want even if I don't have a thankful attitude at all right now" yeah, its a lot to put into one little "please" but trust me, they can do it)

I guess she's just really trying her boundries right now and is looking to me to set the guidelines for all future communication between us. Its hard, but no one ever said parenting would be easy. And its definetly not.

But to end on a happy note. Lizzys preschool is working on safety right now so they're teaching the kids their full names and their parents full names in case they ever get lost the kids will know what to tell a police officer. So tonight I asked Liz, what's your name? And she replies "Wizabeth Doy Kwemmons" then I asked her "what's mommy's name?" she replied "Jessica" I said "what's mommy's last name?" she replies... "mommy... Jessica mommy" so I tried two for two of that cuteness and asked what daddy's last name is... She said "daddy. Daddy's name is Jamie Daddy" lol gotta love it.

That's all for this update but I'll upload some pics soon. :)

Not so long ago...

Not so long ago I knew this was almost it. The moment I'd been waiting for since I was a little girl who loved swaddling her cabbage patch doll. It was within reach, my contractions had started and in my mind I could picture this amazing little person. My first born, my Elizabeth Joy. There was no way of preparing myself for the mass of emotions that comes along with seeing a new life that God, my husband and I had by some miracle created but it was the most amazing feeling I'd ever had.

Not too long ago I was waking Jamie up with a panicked "this is it."

Not too long ago I got my first glimpse of the rest of my life. As she lay there in my arms flashes of first steps, backpacks, proms and weddings were dancing through my imagination.

Not too long ago those first steps became a reality as I watched the world come alive for my little girl. As she toddled over with an expression of one who recently won an Olympic gold medal, full of spirit and excitement as she mastered this new life tool, I knew this would change everything. And it did. We've moved on to backpacks and no more diapers. She has manners and attitudes, preferances and a voice. A beautiful voice which often grates my last nerve but can melt me in a heartbeat with a whispered "I love you mommy." or "want to play with me mommy?"

Today my lizzy will be turning 3. I'm so proud of her. Not only for her accomplishments, which are growing in number every day, but for her heart. She is a passioniate little girl who loves life and is full of laughter and sweetness. Not so long ago she was 7 lbs 11oz and relied on me for everything. Now she is growing more independent by the day, both breaking my heart and giving me hope that someday she'll be an amazing woman.

For now however she's my sweet angel, the voice I look forward to in the mornings with my favorite words in the whole world. "I love you mommy."

Its that time again!

Back to school! Oh how I despise getting up at the butt crack of dawn to wake up my toddler who is 3 going on 13 with her little morning attitudes of "5 more minutes!" and "I don't wanna go to school." and all the drama that goes along with getting her up before she's ready. However, she needs to go to preschool, she learns SO much and she has a really fabulous teacher this year. First day back was a huge success, no tears when I left and she got a great report after school. Today they had a sub who was very sarcastic, and Liz doesn't do well with sarcasm so she got in trouble for pushing the subs hand away. When I asked her about it on the way home she said "well she pointed in my face mommy" which, I know Liz is the kid and should never push her teachers hand away but I'm not really cool with a teacher pointing in my kids face either so we had a light talk about it and hopefully her regular teacher will be back next week.

In the mean time, Lizzy started ballet and tap dance! She LOVES dancing. I worked with her all week on her positioning and pointing her toes, heel toe and all that fun dance stuff and last night her teacher said she came alive in class and did an excellant job. Yay! I love those reports!

Now for a Maddy update. We're fast approaching 6 months old and I still have to say I have never met such a pleasant baby. I know kids that are more advanced, ones that sleep longer and some that eat better but anyone who's ever met Madeline always comments on how happy, smiley and just generally pleasant she is. Its so great waking up to her smiles every day and watching her suck her bottom lip and grin at the same time. She's ticklish all over and completely adores her big sister, laughing and coo'ing whenever Lizzy looks at her. The girls are becoming fast friends sharing blankets while watching movies (yes Maddy watches movies with Liz) and talking to each other in the car. Lizzy's a huge help when it comes to entertaining the baby so I can make dinner or whatever.

Both the girls go in for their well check visits the first week of September. I can't wait to see how much they've grown!

I'll post some new pictures soon and update some more on our recent trip to Ohio. For now I need to go finish Lizzy's invites for her birthday party next Saturday!