Seven!

Happy 7th birthday, Margaret Julia. 

Seven. Whoa. 

I know, I know. There are people reading this who's children have celebrated their 17th birthday. Or 27th. Or 37th (hi, mom!) But today my girl turns seven. And that's huge for me.

As I watched her working on homework one night last week, chewing on her pencil eraser (she totally gets that from me) I was kind of overcome with the realization that she is growing into a GIRL. I mean, duh... I always knew she was a girl... but all of a sudden she's not a toddler, not a preschooler, not even a kindergartener... she is this... PERSON. This little lady with ideas and stories and dreams. She can read chapter books. She can make her own bed. She answers the phone on her own. She likes to have "alone time" in her bedroom to write in her journal. When did this happen? 

I always, always, always hoped and dreamed about being a mommy. I have been blessed... times three. In all my dreams, however, I was holding a baby or pushing a toddler on a swing set, or snuggling a teeny one in a rocking chair. I never really thought past that part... yet, here it is, staring me in the face. Right now we're in that super spot where Barbies and Disney movies are still fun. She still wants mom to chaperone her field trips. And she can be easily persuaded into wearing the clothes I so lovingly choose for her, even when she has other ideas. Soon enough we'll be entering the world of makeup, and bras, and boy bands, and girl drama.... and while that scares me something fierce, I can't imagine a better kid to take this crazy journey with. 

I made you, but you made me a mom. Happy 7th birthday, Mags. I love you with every part of my heart!

Birthday p"ART"y Time!

Maggie chose to have a birthday party this year... and wanted to invite her entire class. After tossing around lots of different party ideas that would be fun for both girls AND boys... we came up with an "art" theme... and had so much fun! (side note: my vote was for a tie-dye party, but Maggie was just not having it... Thank GOD because it rained all day today..... and that was not a project I was willing to take on INSIDE my house!) 

We made the invitations a few weeks back. As complicated as they look, they were actually quite simple. The words were printed on white cardstock and we simply cut them out in a "palette" shape. Maggie and Lucy fingerpainted some colors on them, and we added a brush. Originally, we had planned to stick a real paintbrush in slits in the invitation, but the dollar store by us didn't have the package of cheap brushes I wanted, so we moved on to Plan B. Oh, and my favorite part of the invitations? The fact that I printed my parents' phone number as an RSVP instead of ours. I blame the anesthesia from my foot surgery. Duh. 

The first few days after Maggie passed them out, a handful of RSVPs trickled in. We had about 8 (with Maggie and Lucy) the day before the RSVPs were due, and I was feeling pretty good. Then.... there were more. And more. And more. Three MORE kids RSVP'd in the 2 days leading up to the party. In the end, we had 18 kids. But no sweat, I've worked with larger groups of first graders... for longer periods of time. Maggie and I worked hard all week to prepare for her party. I'm not gonna lie. The "inner teacher" in me had a total plan in my head of how the party was going to flow. We set up one big group project first, then had a handful of other "stations" for the kids to work on while the big project was drying. Then cake, presents, and BOOM! time to go home. 

And... surprisingly, everything went pretty smoothly! I did learn a few things however: 

* Boys play different. Rough, different. Girls are loud and silly. Boys like to wrestle and jump off furniture. This is new to me. 

* Kids love juice. Although I didn't take a picture of it, I bought enough "creative juice" bottles for each kid to have 2. They were all gone in the first hour. Holy crap. Next time, I'll put enough out for every one to have one, and save the rest for cake. 

* Kids freakin' love spin art. I spent around $10 on a spin art machine at Toys R Us to use as a "station." I think everyone would have spent their entire time making them. When we surveyed the kids during cake time, 90% of them said this was their favorite activity. So... need an easy, gender-neutral birthday gift idea for the 5-8 year old set? Spin Art machine. 

* I miss working with first graders. Today was fun!

Here are some party highlights: 

  Rainbow cake! I was too lazy to frost the sides. 

I think it was more fun this way, anyway!

 Station 1: Playdough! We made a homemade batch on Saturday, and divided them up into little containers (10/$1- thanks, Dollar Tree!) There was food coloring and glitter for the kids to add to make it more "fun!" 

 Snacks! I (conveniently) planned the party for AFTER lunch... snacks were "rainbow" fruit, rice krispie paint brushes, and pretzel "pencils." I had cute juice bottles labeled "creative juice" but took the picture before I took them out of the fridge. Oops. 

 Rice Krispie paint brushes! I'll admit, I cheated here, too. The treats were store bought. We only dipped them and added the stick. Shhh. 

Self-Portraits. Thank goodness for Google Images of "blank picture" frames!

 The super popular "spin art!" 

 "Let's Draw Maggie" game- the kids were blindfolded and told to draw a different "part" of the birthday girl. The end result was ridiculous!

 Party favors! The original plan was for a set of Crayola watercolors... but we found these for $1 each at OfficeMax... so there was a quick change of plans!

 Table set and ready for the big paint project. Each child had their initial to paint, and then an 8X10 canvas to decorate. We glued their letter to the canvas when dry. In all the chaos, I never took any pictures of the finished products- but they turned out great!

 Art Easel Greeting

 Hard at work. I took a million and one pictures of the kids working all afternoon, but don't feel comfortable posting other people's kids on my blog. Trust me when I say they worked hard and were paint-covered! 

My little artist!

 Maggie and the finished product of the "Let's Draw Maggie" activity. She was not as amused as the rest of us!

 Lots of presents to open! (which means lots of 'thank you' cards to write!) 

 The cake turned out so cool. There were EXACTLY 18 pieces. Which meant the grown ups (namely, me... ) got NONE. 

Art gallery of self-portraits!

Ouch

So... Friday I had a little surgery on my foot. It was a long time coming. Back in July, we were headed home from a weekend in Minnesota, when I noticed my right foot was a little sore. Not a huge deal, but it was a little uncomfortable. A week later, my foot (specifically the joint where my second toe meets my foot) was super sore and starting to swell. Because I didn't have a primary care physician, it ended up with a visit to Urgent Care where, without taking any x-rays, diagnosed it as gout and prescribed some pain meds. It helped somewhat. Eventually the swelling went down, but the pain never completely went away. In fact, shortly after Christmas, the pain became much, much worse. Frustrated, I finally made an appointment to see a foot doctor (um, duh!) Because of the location of the pain, he was quick to diagnose a "plantar plate tear" - a fairly common problem that most occurs most often in the joint of the second toe. 

TA DA! There were several treatment options- but most of the less invasive ones were temporary fixes... leading back to a surgical "fix" in a matter of time. So... I opted for  surgery. THIS is what should have happened on Friday... but it's not quite what transpired. 

When the doctor opened my foot up, there was no plantar plate tear after all. What he did find, however, what that the cartilage in my foot was flapping and unattached to any bone. Hmmm. He ended up trimming the loose cartilage, shooting my toe full of cortisone, and still proceeded with some of the bone shortening, screws, etc to alleviate the pressure on my toe. Lovely. At some point prior to surgery, my foot suffered some sort of "trauma." While I can't specifically remember injuring it last summer, I did fall in the shower about a week before Hattie was born (try NOT to picture that, OK?) and I bruised my foot pretty bad and was fairly certain I had broken my toe (Dan was under strict orders to not let ANY nurse come near my foot when they were in stirrups for delivery....) I may never know if that was the source of the problem... and, because it wasn't the repair he was planning on, my foot doctor cannot guarantee that I won't have more problems with this toe in the future... Sigh. 

Long story short- I have 3 inch incision across the top of my foot, a prescription for Vicodin, and a wonderful "boot" I get to wear for the next 4-6 weeks. Dan and the girls have been outstandingly patient and helpful. Today Dan went back to work and my parents were so amazing and jumped in to help drive me to doctor appointments and get the girls to and from school. 

Oh, and at the rate we're going in Wisconsin, my foot will be healed LOOOOOOOONG before flip-flop season gets here. 

So.. This Happened Today...

Today started out normal. Typical Thursday. Get Lucy on the bus. Get Maggie to school. Hang out with Hattie. Thursdays are normally our "stay-home-and-catch-up-on-all-the-things-that-didn't-get-done-during-the-week-so-we-can-enjoy-our-weekend" day. But not today. Let me explain:

* Yesterday I bought the big girls a bag of gummy worms. We put them in a candy dish on the counter in the kitchen. Hattie got to sample one last night and has been a little obsessed ever since. The begging ("I want one dose nacks, peeeze Momma!") started shortly after breakfast. I kept putting her off, telling her she could have one when Lucy came home from school. A little bit before 9:00, I ran downstairs to switch a load into the dryer. Gone 2 minutes... max. When I came back up, one of the kitchen chairs was next to the cupboard. The candy dish was empty. And Hattie was nowhere to be seen. I wishwishwishwishwish I had a camera on hand... I found her hiding behind the recliner in the family room, cheeks FULL, with 2 little gummy worm tails dangling from her lips, and an "OH SH*T!" look in her eyes. It was so, so funny, I couldn't even get mad. 

* Fast forward a few hours. Had to wake Hattie up from a nap (I HATE doing that!) in order to pick Maggie up from school to get to a dentist appointment on time. Lucy was getting into the van, and I was busy chasing Hattie in circles AROUND the van in an attempt to get her into her carseat. As I closed in on her, she made a dash for the door- the same door Lucy was starting to slide closed. Everything happened in slow motion- as I leapt towards Hattie and yelled at Lucy to stop closing the door. Too little. Too late. Thank God Lucy doesn't have much strength and the door didn't close all the way. Hattie started crying so hard I was afraid she was going to throw up. Her hand had a horrible indentation from the door, and she was screaming so hard I was certain she had broken her hand in a million pieces. I got her into her carseat, frantically called my mom- unsure of whether I should still go pick up Maggie or drive poor Hattie to the ER.... Thank goodness for mommies... mine talked me down and offered to meet me at the dentists' office to sit with the girls if I needed to take Hattie in. By the time I got Maggie signed out and drove across town, Hattie had settled down and was busy singing along to the Frozen soundtrack. Her hand seems fine- she doesn't seem to have any pain, but she will have one heck of a bruise come tomorrow. Whew. Crisis averted. 

*Now, we're at the dentist. The 2 big girls had an appointment to get their teeth cleaned. While I got them signed in, all three of the girls ran into the little side room of the waiting room with all the toys. I sat down with the latest issue of "O" magazine and took a deep breath, happy to have a few minutes of peace and quiet with everyone occupied and a few minutes to wait until the appointment. Then I smelled it. Perfect timing, Hattie had a load in her pants. Lovely. I had not packed a real diaper bag for an hour long visit to the dentist. Thank goodness I always keep a spare diaper in my car and wipes in my purse. Dentist bathrooms, however, are NOT conducive to changing an angry two year old who would much rather be playing with the dentists' Legos than getting her butt wiped. And then... what do I do with the diaper? There was no way I could leave that stinky thing in that small bathroom. Thank goodness for a friendly office staff... I asked for an extra plastic bag and offered to set it outside and take it with me to throw away at home when I left... but they took care of it for me. I really shouldn't have been too embarrassed. The best was yet to come. Just wait.... 

*Maggie gets to get her teeth cleaned first, because she's the "big sister." (This would be a great time to point out that this was NOT either's first visit... and they both LOVE to go to the dentist) While she was in the chair, I sent Lucy back out to the waiting room to grab a book for Hattie. All of a sudden, I heard Lucy's frantic footsteps in the tile hallway and heard her yelling "MOM! I have to go potty!" Then I saw her in the doorway, legs crossed, and a puddle growing between her feet. She looked at me with her big, blue eyes and said, "I couldn't hold it. Someone was in the bathroom!" Oh, my. I jumped up and grabbed her to run to the potty (Why is this a mom's first instinct? Obviously it's too late.... ) When I got in the hallway, I saw it. Not only did she pee in the doorway, she peed ALL. THE. WAY. DOWN. THE. HALL. Holy God- I thought for sure I was going to be one of the first people ever kicked out of a dentists' office. Again, I am so thankful for amazing, wonderful, patient, kind, understanding staff... While I took Lucy into the bathroom to clean up, someone else offered to sit with Hattie and keep her busy, a different staff member started mopping (even though I offered to do that myself, too!) and my dear dentist knocked on the bathroom door and handed Lucy her cardigan to wear (because I haven't carried spare clothes for my four year old in years!) This would also be a great time to mention that Lucy was wearing a skirt, tights, and boots. I am not lying when I tell you I POURED pee out of her boots. It was lovely. The tights, well.. I just threw those away. I rinsed her underpants and skirt out the best I could in the sink and washed Lucy up. We put on the dentists' sweater (and not much else) and Lucy went on to get her teeth cleaned. Like I told Dan, better her wearing the dentists' sweater and no underpants NOW than in 20 years.... Gramma saved the day (again) by bringing some spare clothes and meeting us at the office so the ride home wasn't  too cold! 

Poor Lucy was so upset about having an accident (she hasn't had one in almost 2 years!) but I reassured her that one day we would laugh about her wetting her pants at the dentists' office. She just looked at me and said, "I'm just not ready for that today, Mom." My life is never, ever dull. But... I wouldn't change it for the world... but I do deserve a beer tonight. 

Spring is in the air!

As I type this, the temperature outside is a whopping 48 degrees and the sun is SHINING! Hattie and I dusted off the stroller this morning and walked up to pick Lucy up from school. I brought the double stroller, but "encouraged" Lucy to walk... she is a small bundle of energy lately! And... she managed to find EVERY puddle along the way. Oh, well! That's what spring is all about, right?

Yay for warmer temperatures and melting snow! Let's hope we've finally rounded the corner to springtime!

 Strapped in and ready to roll!

Lots of puddles!

We *almost* missed this....buried under all the slush and dead leaves... but it looks like tulips are sprouting!

The Terrible 2's... Bring it on!

Hattie celebrated her second birthday on Saturday. Yesterday, she went for her two year well-visit. And, it went.. okay. Healthwise, she's awesome... Behavior-wise? Well, that's another story. After calling "Haiti" (seriously, how hard is it to pronounce HAT-TIE?) to a room and completely screwing up her "playing-with-the-train-and-watching-the-fish-in-the-waiting-room" agenda, the screaming began. And didn't really stop. After trying for almost five minutes to get a weight on the big scale, then the baby scale, the nurse finally left and said "Mom, maybe you can get a weight and just let me know." Um, okay.... and I did. Then, the doctor came in. God bless our pediatrician. I adore him. While Hattie screamed "Stop it! Ow! Stop it! Ow!" every time he came near  her, he just laughed and joked about the 5 two year well visits he had scheduled yesterday and how he thinks his office staff is trying to drive him away.... Which made me feel a teeny bit better- apparently NO ONE behaves for their two year appointments... 

We finally made it to the end. Hattie (somehow) got a sticker and raced back out to look at the fish in the waiting room before I even picked up my purse. Here's her stats and how she stacks up to her to big sisters: 

Height: 34"          Weight: 25 lbs 6 oz          Head Circ: 18.75" 
    (50th %)                       (25-50th %)                            (50th %) 

Maggie: 34.75"      Maggie: 26 lbs 14 oz        Maggie: 19" 
Lucy: 33.5"           Lucy: 24 lbs                    Lucy: 19" 

So, if there's one thing I've taken away from all those numbers... 

it's that Lucy is our giant-headed runt. 

Here's a picture of each of them at their 2nd birthday parties: 

 Hattie Irene- March 2014

Lucy Elizabeth- June 2011

Margaret Julia- April 2009

Sing! Sing! Sing!

Maggie sings in the childrens' choir at our church... and LOVES it! A few weeks ago, her choir director mentioned that she would like Maggie to sing a solo during one of the masses. When I talked to Maggie about it, she kind of freaked out and said she really, really didn't want to (this from a kid who wants to be a "rock star" when she grows up... hmmmm....) Anyway, after some conversation, she was willing to agree to sing WITH someone else, but not alone. Yesterday was her big day, and she did such an amazing job! Her and another little girl sang the opening verse to "Go Light Your World." 

(Forgetful mommy didn't bring the camcorder- but the song is awesome... 

check it out here) 

At least I remembered the camera: 

Yeah, so we had some time to kill before mass while the choir rehearsed. Snapped this one of Miss Lucy....

...and then Lucy took the camera. I had 47 pictures of empty pews and her feet... and this gem!