Seven Years Old

My big baby girl is seven. How did that happen already?? It's overwhelming how quickly it goes by. I look at her now, so tall, with her big girl teeth and her sassy little outfits and I think "too fast!" Although I do treasure every day and I reflect every night on the day we've had and appreciate all the little moments, I'm acutely aware that they won't last forever. So I still hold her - a lot! - and carry her and read with her and play games and probably baby her a little too much sometimes. But she's not a baby anymore.

As I typed that I began sobbing. Because I've struggled with Mia this year. A lot. I am suddenly very unsure of myself when it comes to parenting her. She doesn't react to situations like I do. She's sensitive, but doesn't like to be cuddled when she's feeling sensitive. She's stubborn and doesn't listen to reason in those moments. She's very jealous and reassurances don't seem to get through to her. She's very smart and beautiful, but doubts and criticizes herself. She's very silly, but gets self-conscious when other kids laugh at the things she does, thinking they're mocking her. So I worry all the time about how to get her to see herself for the amazing person she is, and how to get her to grow more confident.

The funny thing is that most people would not know she questions herself or doubts herself because she's so outgoing. She's an amazing big sister, so generous and loving with Callie. She's very friendly and loves to make people laugh. She likes to be the center of attention. She loves fashion and isn't afraid to take risks, so she gives off a confident air when she's bold with her choices. She's a great athlete and plays volleyball, soccer, basketball, gymnastics and swims. She even recently attended her first dance camp. She never has trouble interacting with new kids and quickly plays with others in new situations.

Maybe I'm overreacting. Mike says I baby her and am too lenient with her. I just worry about the sensitive side of her and the side that doubts herself. I hate to see that because she is such a smart, funny, sweet girl. I will continue to love her and encourage her and help her develop her strengths and hope that before long she sees in herself the amazing girl we've seen all along.

Happy birthday to my little love, Mia Marie.

September Update

Callie just walked up to me, grabbed me by the hand, and started blowing kisses to Mia (Bia, as she calls her) and saying bye-bye. Then she led me to her room and pointed to her bed. It's only 6:30, but when the girl is tired, she's ready to go!

She's doing so well in her class at school. They say she loves when they talk about animals, and is starting to have more fun outside. Everyone is enamored with her!

She talks up a storm and likes to try to repeat what she hears us say. She says "ay-oh" for hello, "ay-iss" for there it is. She still loves to put her hands out, palms up, for "I don't know". She also makes an O with her mouth when she's excited or surprised. A-DORABLE!!

She's taken a few baths this week and has only cried when I've rinsed her hair. Otherwise she plays with her ducks, fish, blocks and other bath toys, lining them up along the side of the tub and organizing them. She's always very busy. :-)

Mia has been super busy this week as well. She started back up with tumbling and is flipping all around the living room as I type this. She is also doing volleyball, making for a tired girl. But since Callie goes to sleep so early, it's easy to get Mia in bed early as well. I can still fool her a bit with time. ;-)

Beautiful Girls

Oh my little Callie...how you've stolen my heart!!! You are so sweet, so smart and so happy! You are always smiling and rarely cry. How I look forward to your little laughs and kisses each day.

You are getting so big so quickly. At your 15 month check up you were 24 lbs, 8 oz (75th percentile) and 31 in tall (75th percentile). You talk up a storm and know so many words now! You try to repeat words too, so it seems you talk all the time. You love to blow kisses and will do it very fast, saying bye-bye anytime anyone walks out the room. You love to stand at the back door and blow kisses to the doggies as they go out to go to the bathroom.

You are always busy, either coloring, playing with blocks, putting things in drawers or cabinets and taking them out again, "cleaning" with dishtowels, or looking at books. You still love to eat and there is little you don't like.

But you don't like taking a bath. I'm not sure if it's the acoustics in the bathroom or the water itself, but you aren't happy in there. You aren't too keen on the pool either, so I think it may be the water. We are holding off on swim lessons for you for that very reason. We'll try again next year.

You love your daddy and any time the phone rings you come running from the other room, excitedly saying, "Dada" over and over. You kiss the phone when he is on there. You also love talking to your grandparents and are not shy with any of them anymore.

You love your teachers in your new room and they all write long notes about your progress. It's clear they love you and you have stolen their hearts as you have ours. You are starting to snuggle with me more before bedtime at night, which I love. I still lay you down easily but I treasure my moments alone with you.

Your favorite person is still your "sis". You constantly climb on her, lay your head on her, and want to be wherever she is going. Seeing you two together is something I absolutely treasure, and I'm always snapping pictures of the two of you. I couldn't have asked for better gifts in my life than you girls.

My sweet Mia...you are such a big girl now!!! As I type this, you are outside playing in the yard of neighbors I don't know. I'm trying hard not to panic, but I can't believe it's appropriate for you to be doing that already. You are wearing new clothes I got you from Justice...not Gymboree or Children's Place. You are developing quite a sense of style and want to wear big girl, trendy clothes now. So I am allowing you to spread your wings.

You have transitioned easily into first grade. You have done outstanding on your first tests and experiences with homework. I pick you up from school and we do homework together. You then play while I finish working, then we go get Callie. You actually seem to be doing a bit better without Cara in your class. I wondered if that would be a positive or a negative for you, but I think it has allowed you two to focus more on other relationships and academics, and you seem to have more fun (as opposed to fighting) when you do see each other.

You are playing volleyball and doing gymnastics, both of which you really love. You love reading and excel in that area. You still talk of being a fashion designer one day and love to play fashion games on the computer or with stickers and paper dolls. You have a great sense of style.

You are definitely my emotional girl. You get worked up easily over things. But that's always been your nature. I hope to help you better manage that as you get older, so that little things don't upset you so much.

You seem to be focusing much less on boys, which thrills me to no end, and enjoying your girlfriends much more. You sit at an all-girl table at school with GG, Whitney, Olivia, Ella Kate, and Makenzie. As a result, you don't talk much about the boys and seem to be having a better school year.

You still say the funniest things. For example, this week I told you I scheduled an eye exam for you. You replied, "But I don't want to get glasses. They will get in the way of my beauty." Then, 10 minutes later you told me you want to get your lip pierced. I said, "So you don't want glasses because they will get in the way of your beauty, but you want to put a permanent hole in your lip?" Your hilarious, six year-old logic!

I love you girls more than you will ever know...

Mommy

Dear Callie...

 Please don't think for one moment that because I don't write here as often as I did with your sister that I am not as enamored with you as I was with Mia, or that I don't hang on to your every expression or achievement. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am so absolutely smitten with you, to the point where I have to watch Mia's jealousy. She's used to being our only child and the only one who captivated us, so we have to be careful that you girls know we are head over heels for you both equally.

One of the differences in my posting is that blogging simply isn't the "popular" communication format anymore. Now everyone uses Facebook for quick, daily updates to family and friends. I talk about you on there ENDLESSLY! :-)  Also, I was alone more when Mia was a baby. Daddy had his store, so once Mia was in bed I had a lot more time to reflect and write. Now I have two girls to keep me busy and we do so much more as a family. We are always together having fun, so there isn't so much free time to write! I was also less confident as a mother with Mia. I was figuring it all out and to a degree I felt pressure. Aunt Miss and some friends also had babies, so I used my writing to build confidence in my abilities and almost to reaffirm that I was making the best decisions for Mia. Now I'm secure in my skills as a mother and don't need to write about them for confidence.

Regardless, I am so afraid I'm going to forget timelines that you will one day be curious to know. So I'll try to jot down a few thoughts now, before I go pick you girls up from school and the party gets started!

• You had a wonderful first birthday party! All your grandparents, your cousins, aunts and uncles and friends (Macee, Dylan, Grayson) were here. You wore little ruffled pants with "Birthday Girl" on the bottom, an adorable pink dress that Nana got you and a big tulle bow that Mommy made. You ate yummy cupcakes made by Emie, and had so much fun opening your presents. Some of your "big" presents were Hershey stock given to you by Nana and Papa and an heirloom ring that belonged to your great grandmother, Helen, that Mamaw gave to you. Mommy cried when giving that to you. What a special gift. Many of your family members also pitched in for a swing set for you girls, but Mommy and Daddy have since decided to use that money to join the neighborhood pool this summer, to get you girls swimming and socializing.
• By your first birthday you could say mama, dada and "hi dih-dih", which means "hi doggies".
• At nearly 14 months old, you still only have your bottom two teeth. However, I can see your top left front tooth about to poke through any day!
• It sure doesn't stop you from eating though! You have a great appetite and love to try new foods. Mamaw fed you your first Cheeto this weekend and you loved it. Some of your favorite foods are bananas, blueberries, edamame, and waffles. You don't really care for the texture of pasta, and often spit that out. You are also very generous in dropping food to the doggies during each meal. :-)
• You have had one illness after the other! In the past couple months you've had bronchitis, strep, pink eye and numerous ear infections. You got tubes inserted in your first surgery on May 15. Dr. Murphy (who did Mia's tubes) performed the surgery and you did very well. Mommy and Daddy were both with you and stayed with you that afternoon. You definitely seem to hear and walk better since getting them.
• You took your first steps the night before your 1st birthday. You walked about 5 steps between Mommy and Daddy. You love walking to us, and especially to Mia. You get close to us and just fall into our arms, laughing and smiling. We all love you so much and just hug on you and swing you around.
• You moved to the Toddler room at school May 12. You now eat your meals at a table, in bowls with spoons (that you may or may not use). You also nap on a cot and not in a bed. You make artwork and Mommy, Daddy and Mia all go nuts over it. We think you're quite the artist!
• You are walking now, really with confidence just in the past couple days. You still love to come stand in front of us, turn around with your back to us, grab our fingers and start walking. You make us walk you wherever you want to go, and we get a kick out of seeing where you take us.
• You love playing with your kitchen and will occupy yourself for very long periods of time, opening and closing doors and putting items in and out of the cabinets. 
• You and Mia are so wonderful to watch. She adores you and you want to be right next to her. You go fall into her arms for her to hold you, and she can't get enough. She loves to pick you up, play games with you, read to you, etc. The other night when she and Daddy weren't here, you walked me around the house looking for her. When you realized she wasn't here, you started crying, saying, "Meeeee!" over and over. It was so sad to see how much you missed your sissy!
• You can now climb and are giving us a run for our money keeping you out of danger. You like to climb on the couch and try to get over the back. Mia is wonderful in helping us keep an eye on you.
• You can now say "Me" for Mia, "ssssss" for sissy, "bobby" for baby, bye-bye, up, all done, duck, "bok bok" (what the ducks say), and "uf" (what the doggies say). You also point wherever you want to go, so you certainly know your mind!

We are crazy about you, baby girl. I feel blessed every single moment of every single day to be your Mommy.

She knows her name!

It's so adorable!! For the first time, this morning I knew Callie understood I was talking about her when I said her name. It made me so happy!! Her back was to me and I was talking to Mia. Then I said, "Cal-lie" and she turned around and smiled at me. It was so cute!!

Where does the time go??

These past two months have flown by so quickly! On my last post, I noted I was home with the girls on a snow day. That trend has continued as we've had an unusual winter. Last week the girls had two snow days and another early dismissal due to ice. In one week there was a snow day and school was delayed every other day that week due to snow or severely cold temperatures. We've been cooped up a lot this year and if Mia didn't have gymnastics, I think she'd be losing her mind!

Looking back to December, Callie turned 8 months and started eating table food. She gobbled up everything we tried, including edamame, which she loved. She saw Santa Claus twice. She saw him when he visited her classroom. Mommy, Daddy, Nana and Papa came to take pictures of the big event. She also saw him with her sissy at a Christmas party with Nana, Cara and Ramsey. She also became very sick. The night of Mia's Christmas play we ended up in the Emergency Room and she was diagnosed with the flu. Two days later, we were back and added RSV. She was one sick little baby. But she made it through in time to enjoy her first Christmas. I can't even begin to describe how overcome with happiness I was on Christmas morning, as we sat there opening presents with our two beautiful girls. It was a whirlwind of visits, since we had so many places to go, but that didn't mean I wasn't silently giving thanks all day for the blessings of our family.

When she turned 9 months, Callie began using a "big girl" sippy cup at school and at home. She also got her two bottom teeth and began crawling, pulling up and clapping her hands. She always has that big beautiful smile on her face through it all. She's such a happy girl and we can't get enough of her. Other adorable things about Callie:

• She loves to grab onto her diaper when she's being changed. If I don't watch it, she'll grab ahold of the front, yank down then pull up, ripping it off. This seems to happen most often when the diaper is full of poop.
• She hates just laying on her changing table. She likes to roll side to side, put her legs up on the wall, hang her head off the side, or use her feet to push herself backward until her head and neck are hanging off. She thinks these things are hilarious.
• She loves the dogs! She's constantly crawling to them, trying to grab their hair and "pet" (hit) them. The other day she crawled up to Grace and layed across her neck, petting her and squealing. I guess all the squealing was too much for Grace because she stood up and Callie's feet went flying into the air and she flipped right over onto her back. It was so unexpected and funny that Mia and I began laughing, so Callie did too. She always follows her sister's lead. :-)
• As much as she is crazy about her mommy, she's even more enthralled with her daddy. She gets so excited to see him, kicking her legs, squealing and now clapping her hands.
• She is now saying "bye bye," "dada" and "mama." She's also saying "dada" for the dogs.

Mia is doing great in school and in gymnastics. She's reading up a storm and does great with art, writing and math too. We're signing her up for soccer tonight so she'll have that and gymnastics going on. It's difficult for her to walk around the house without incorporating a cartwheel or handstand into her movements.

Snow Day!

Home with my girls today because of snow and ice. I'm working but get to play with them in between emails and calls.

Mia is so wonderful with Callie, playing with her, talking to her and entertaining her. Callie just babbles away at her sister, "Dadadada, mamamamama, bababababa". It's adorable!!! Callie is getting close to crawling, so she is trying her best to climb all over Mia.

Callie is the little light in our world. She is so happy, always smiling, talking and laughing. We are all desperately in love with her. Every struggle we endured was to bring her to us and my God, she is so worth every moment. She is what we waited for and our hearts are so full now that she's here with us.

Some things about Callie:

• She loves to eat. She eats about four containers of food each day and only drinks her milk out of her sippy cup. She also eats yogurt bites and puffs and does well with picking them up. She just still has trouble getting them into her mouth, as she pushes them back into her fist after she grabs them.
• Callie's a very consistent sleeper, unless she's sick or going through a growth spurt. She goes to be right around 7 each night, after her bath and Mommy or Mia reads her a book. She typically wakes up once around 4 or 5, plays and talks for a bit, then goes back to sleep until about 6:30. We all get up at that time for school/work anyway, so it works out perfectly.
• Callie also falls asleep very easily. She rubs her eyes when she's tired, doesn't really want to snuggle much, just arches her back and you know she wants to be put down. I rarely put her down when she's already asleep.
• She's super ticklish on the little fat rolls on her legs. She will squeal and belly laugh if tickled there.
• Callie had her first ear infection last month. She barely made a peep about it, although looking back, we're pretty sure she had it for awhile. We ended up at the doctor because she had a fever and kept tilting her head to the side.
• Callie LOVES her rattles! She will play with rattles more than just about any toy. She loves to shake them and say, "Dadadadadada". She also plays a lot with the little people and toy house at Nana and Papa's. She puts the people on the shelves, then takes them down, then puts them up again. She just may be getting one of those for Christmas!
• That girl is obsessed with jewelry! If she sees a ring, earrings, necklace, etc., she will pick at it and get super excited, kicking her little legs. She knows where my rings are and if I'm close, she's looking for them.
• She saw Santa for the first time last week. She was not afraid at all. She just sat there with Mia, smiling and staring at him. She did try to take some of his beard with her as a souvenir, but otherwise, it went very well.

Some things about Mia:

• Mia is doing very well in school. She's gotten a free dress pass for her reading, and has all As in school so far. Her first report card was excellent. We just need to work on how she writes her letters (for example, sometimes she starts at the bottom when she's supposed to start forming the letter from the top) but otherwise all was well.
• Mia has had some trouble at after school care. She and Cara are getting into it, saying mean things to each other. Missy and I aren't sure if they're just acting like normal kids or if we need to be concerned. We've told them if they can't get along better, they aren't going to be able to play together as much outside of school. Mia has an odd reaction to Cara. All she talks about is wanting to play with Cara, then when she sees her she's cold and/or mean. I don't get it and am not sure what to do about it. She's like that with her daddy too. We'll have to see how this develops. I've kept her home from after school care the last week or so to give it a rest.
• Mia continues to have recurring UTIs. Plan to take her to the doctor to investigate further.
• Mia is learning a lot about religion at school and is very interested in Jesus and his mommy. We say our prayers together each night and I'm going to church with her and her class on Wednesdays. We were all at Dad's the other night for dinner and took a walk to see the Christmas lights. Every time we saw a nativity scene, Mia and Cara would make the sign of the cross and say the dinner prayer. :-)