Friday, July 20, 2012

Shopping ain't what it used to be...

I have been asked how on earth I can shop and go into public so often with all three kids and not lose my mind.  These parents always sound tired and desperate.  This post is dedicated to you all.  The ones who think I am different than you.  Shopping ain't what it used to be...

When I think back to myself before children I think of shopping and movies and lunch with friends.  Shopping was usually a focal point to any day out with another girl.  We would slowly walk through every isle of every store we came to picking out little treasures of awesome to buy.  This would go on for hours.  There would be stories and laughing and stopping for coffee. Stopping as in stopping with sitting and sipping involved.

Fast forward to life with one baby.  Man I thought life was tough.  I would plan my whole day around going to the store so as not to mess with Natalie's nap or a feeding.  I mean, heaven forbid my perfect angel have to nap in the car or even worse...miss one all together!  **Gasp**  I would pack the nine bazillion things that I thought I would need in the two hours I would be gone.  Diapers, wipes, creams, bibs, clothes, food, bottle, dresser, bedroom set...you know, the norm.


We would shop and I would talk to her like she gave a crap what I had to say.  I would rush through the store and get everything I needed and if I was lucky I would hit up a Star. bucks on the way home and try to slurp it down in between the massive amount of work it was taking care of her.  Did you hear the sarcasm there?  It was intended.  Go back and listen again if you missed it.


I would get home just in time to feed her again and get her down for her very important nap.  Ahhhh, "I am the perfect mom!" I would tell myself.  What a douche I was.  sigh


Fast forward again to the present.  I now have three children in tow.  One of whom goes through random spurts throughout the day where her sole purpose is to only do what she feels like doing along with little to no impulse control, one dramatic four year old (who thankfully is a dream when we are in public...it's like she knows I would literally duct tape her to the cart) and a 9 month old....who needs to eat and have naps and stuff.  


Now shopping looks like this:


"Ok, before we go in just remember to be safe.  Stay with me." 
I take 10 minutes getting the stroller or carseat out, unbuckling the girls, getting Alyssa situated next to Bennett while I coax Natalie out of the car because she dawdles just a tad.  Sarcasm...get used to it.  I then get her situated trained holding onto either the cart or stroller and we are ready to shop.  


We walk into the grocery store looking like the trains in India covered in people.  Natalie on one side, Alyssa on the other and Bennett riding.  Got the visual? 

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Yep, we really do look like that.  

Then we proceed to start shopping.  *I do have to add here that I am super impressed with Natalie this summer and staying with us in public.  Hardly any running off and if she does, one time out takes care of it for the rest of the trip.  Completely amazing and a 180 from last year.  Thank you kindergarten!*


"Natalie do not poke your finger through the meat package.  Alyssa stay here or Natalie will bolt after you.  Hi Bennett!  Natalie please don't put things in the cart without checking with me.  (I have found the most random crap in my cart at checkout) Here Alyssa go find x,y,z in this isle for me.  Natalie you go find x."  I hurry and get the other things I need from that isle and we carry on to the next one. They don't ever ride in a fun kid cart since I hate pushing those things.  Whuck is up with putting the part that turns in the center?  May as well just put a sign on me that says "Hi my name is Lori and I will be knocking over every display in the store today"...for real.  Plus I think it's important and honestly, just expected, that a 4 and 6 year old should be able to walk like humans for an hour while we shop.  


This continues until we finish.  At some point Bennett will fall asleep and reawaken thus ruining the chance at a super long nap for the morning.  He will also sleep in the car on the way home...it's kinda the same as a real nap right?  Welcome to being the third kid.  Get used to it.  Mommy is busy.  ;)  We checkout where Natalie will try and run everything across the scanner for the grocer like they just can't be trusted to handle it.  Sometimes they think it's cute and she gets to "help".  With others I have to find her a different job like getting things out of the cart instead.  Hey, whatever works!  Then it's "Everybody back on the cart!" and we run, yes I did say run, it's quite a sight, back to the van.  Bennett goes in as the girls climb in and buckle in... kinda.  I put all the groceries in the car and finish buckling them in.  We are off!  I usually feel like I have earned a coffee at this point so I drive through and get one, drinking as we arrive home.  Kids out of car, unlock house door, get Bennett settled somewhere, unpack car, put groceries away then usually make lunch, feed B and get him down for a real nap (finally) and we move on with our day.  "Plan my whole day around a nap?" ...uh yea, that was about two babies ago.  That is something that new moms do because you can and think it's needed.  In reality, you are just stupid.  HAHA!  B is a great sleeper both for naps and at night.  He is not suffering due to living this way.  He is actually much more laid back and able to go with flow....duh. I wish I had believed this when I only had Natalie.  Oh the things I could have accomplished in a day!

Seriously.  This is my normal.  This is shopping now. It looks identical to this if I go to the mall so I just used grocery shopping as an example.  What happened to relaxing?  The difference is instead of feeling relaxed now I just feel like I have accomplished a mission equal to going to the moon.  Do you think they stop for a Star.bucks on the way back from the moon?  No?  Well then, I am definitely more accomplished.  :) 

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Blog rewind- Field day, an unexpected lesson in happiness

When you are pregnant you lay with your hand on your belly and dream of all of the things you will do with your child.  Their first steps, first words, riding a bike, learning to read, their proms, graduation, college, wedding...you get the idea.  Being a former teacher I could not wait for school activities.  I saw myself volunteering in my children's classrooms and being there to see them on fun days like field day.  When Natalie was born I (hangs head in embarrassed shame) felt like those dreams shattered.  I felt like she wouldn't be able to do them and selfishly that meant I was going to miss out.  Do you see how a new parent still puts their own hopes and wants onto their children?  I wasn't thinking in terms of the experiences being hers to do with and feel however she wanted to.  I wanted to experience it.  Me.

Six years later here I sit.  Mommy to the most amazing three children.  I look at them and all I hope for in their lives is good health and for them to be happy....whatever that may look like to them. 

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Yes, yes she did painstakingly choose that outfit for field day....down to the flower.  When I told her she needed to have some kind of pants on since it was sports she found pants and put them under her tutu.  Happiness!


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She was too small to jump the hurdles so I told her to just run around them.  :)


 I don't care if they are doctors or hauling garbage.  I only hope that whatever they do it is something that they choose and something that fulfills them and leaves them smiling at the end of the day.  Natalie in particular has taught me that having children has nothing to do with me and everything to do with them.  It doesn't matter if I envisioned volunteering on field day and watching my child be awesome and win.  What matters is that she was there and had a good time.  THIS is the part of me that is changed still changing and evolving the longer I have been a mom.  

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Notice all of the other children pulling and fighting to get that rope across the line and win....notice my girl not pulling at all.  Notice her smile, notice their lack there of.  Happy!

Field day.  It was finally here.  The real deal, at the school I used to teach at, surrounded by former colleagues with their students.  I was there as a parent.  I was there to cheer on my daughter no matter how she chose to enjoy HER field day.  I wanted (note, it shouldn't have been about what I wanted at all) to see her fit in.  To mainstream in with all of the kindergarten classes and not stand out.  After six years I want her to be happy first but that damned little voice in the back of my head still insists that fitting in means happiness.  Lesson learned my girl.... lesson learned. 

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Joy and being able to find it no matter what is the essence of what happiness is really all about.  I watched my girl get a bit overwhelmed by all of the rules of the games and the amount of people on the field.  I watched her not really comprehend what the heck was going on on what is usually her playground and gymnasium.  I watched that last itty bitty piece of the old me shatter (FINALLY) and what was left behind was the knowledge that it doesn't matter what I feel should make her day fun.  SHE FINDS FUN.  SHE MAKES FUN.  She IS fun. If she doesn't understand what is going on she just does what is fun to her and in the end she had the blast that I wanted her to have to begin with. 

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 It was tear jerking and awesome and I went home feeling a bit emotionally raw.  I feel like I walked away from that field that day just a little wiser, a little bit of a better parent and even more in awe of the girl sent here to teach me all of it.  I watched her sister compete with Natalie's class and do everything I used to hope Natalie would do.  I also watched her cheer for her sister and stop to help her succeed.  I watched her get sidetracked into Natalie's world and just have fun.  I watched her naturally be the person I have spent six years morphing into.  I love that.  I love that she just gets "it" and at the end of the day everyone had a blast.  Thank you big girl.  Thank you for teaching us all what happiness really is about and how to just not give a crap what people think.  What would our lives have been without you?  "Perfect"?  Full of blue ribbons and competition to be the best at everything?  No thanks.  I choose belly laughing at my girl having the time of her life running away from the finish line.  I choose a field day all about living in the Id. I choose laid back fun and supportive siblings.  I choose her.  I choose happiness. 

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Monday, July 9, 2012

Blog rewind- Natalie and school

This post has been written and rewritten in my head all before I have had a chance to sit down and get it onto this blog.  I keep saying I WILL make time to post here, I take photos and think "THIS WILL BE SUCH A GREAT POST!" ...then I never get to it and something new happens and I take more pictures and think "THIS WILL BE SUCH A GREAT POST!" ...then I don't post, and so it goes.  So I am going to go back to a very important time that needs to be written about even though I am almost two months late in posting it.  hahahaha  

Natalie turned six this year....SIX!  She (and her teachers) survived the whirlwind that was her kindergarten year.  I hesitated for a fraction on the first day of school when they wouldn't let me walk her to her room.  It was the beginning of REALLY letting go and trusting a school.  I had to let her be a big girl and it was so insanely hard I can't even describe it.  Teachers lovingly take her hand and think nothing at all of walking away with her.  It's what they do.  It's what I used to do, only now it's so different.  Now I have her.  My girl who won't necessarily tell me what happened at school that day.  My girl who is so sensitive and empathetic but who also gets lost in a world of sensory overload.  My independent girl who knows what she wants and how to do it if only she could be consistent in doing things.  It's the 10% of the time that she runs the wrong way or lingers too long and gets separated that kills it.  

It's hard to trust that a teacher will love her like we do.  It is HARD to walk away from her not knowing if they will take the time to really know Natalie or if they will just put her in the box of "Down syndrome" and treat her the way they think kids with Ds always act.  Just to be clear I have run into that.  Not with her teachers but it has happened.  The old "Well, every kid with Ds I have known does x,y,z".  Really?  Every single one?  Just because of a chromosome?  I think not.  It is the number one way to make a parent distrust you just so you all know.  ;)  

Natalie is such a tough cookie sometimes.  She doesn't fit the Ds stereotype AT ALL and in some ways that actually scares me where school is concerned.  There are so many things about her that are tough when not dealt with correctly (her correct) and it scares the crap out of me every time I have to trust someone I don't know well to watch out for her and love her all day, every day.  


That being said, this year was AMAZING!  Her teacher (I'll just call her Ms. A for Ms. Awesome) and her para blew my mind!  This was a tough year with adding Bennett to our family and having Natalie and Alyssa in school and preschool.  It was survival mode there for a bit.  I didn't know which way was up half the time....and I was the room mom.  FAIL!  Poor Ms. A. 


Overall I am so, SO happy with this school year.  Within a week her teacher had her personality pegged and knew how to reach her.  She completely amazed me time and time again.  She gained my girls trust, she taught her how to read, sit on the carpet and participate, how to walk in the hall independently and helped navigate the world of fears and sensory stuff that is Natalie's normal.  I got so I trusted her so much that I would go a week or more without emailing which for me is unheard of.  I KNEW she was ok, better than ok, she was flourishing.  The proof was in the girl I saw getting off the bus.  There is nothing like having a teacher you trust that much taking care of your child.  Now if I could just get her to quit her job and be Natalie's teacher until she graduates....I mean, is that really so much to ask?  ha!


My girl left kindergarten reading on grade level.  I cried the first time she brought a baggy book home and read it to me.  That memory is tucked away alongside her first steps, signs, and words.  love <3


We are now about 6ish weeks into summer and as school approaches I am starting to get the new year anxiety again.  Will her teachers really "get" her.  Will they take the time to build her confidence so she can successfully be independent or am I going to have issues with her feeling dejected and pulled around all day?  Will they truly understand that out of sight is GONE since she won't answer to her name?  Will they always be in full control of the gluten free issues?  It's hard being a mommy of a child with special needs.  It's hard to let go of my other children BUT I know they will hold their own.  I know they will be ok because we talk and communicate about their lives.  Natalie doesn't do that.  I won't know if someone is hurting her feelings or making her feel small.  


So if you see me in panic mode at the beginning of the school year you will know why.  Until then, I shall show you how we greeted our big girl on her last day of kindergarten.


Cliff came home early so he could be here to get her off the bus with me.  We gave her big hugs then proceeded to eat big bowls of ice cream to kick off the summer. (Thanks Debbie for the idea!)  She was just a little happy about this new arrangement...Alyssa didn't seem too disappointed either.  haha!

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This was the first bite.  She is so dainty like a little flower. 


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I know you are as impressed as I am that she got all of the whipped cream in in one bite.  


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I love this one!  She is all "What?"  HAHAHA!

Now onto some summer posts!  Stay tuned...I really am trying to keep you all updated.  Unfortunately, playing house and cuddling (and laundry. BOO!) come first.  

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

The boy!

My baby is six months old!!!!!  

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No, I'm not kidding!  Yes, it does feel like he was just born!  I think back over the last six months and feel like it has gone by in about a week but when I think of a specific memory, like our first night home with him, it feels like it was a million years ago.  It's such an odd sensation to remember your children's lives in vivid detail note that I can't ever remember where my keys are and at the same time feel like it has gone by and you haven't soaked them up enough.  I feel like I was just battling learning how to breastfeed thinking that solid foods were as far away as college.....yet, here we are.  My boy is eating foods and eating them like he has been doing so all his life. Actually he took the first bite, grabbed the spoon and shoved it back in his mouth then proceeded to look at me like "HOW have you been keeping this from me all this time woman!?" 

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He is changing a little more every day.  Every morning I swear he is bigger than when I put him to bed.  His laugh is contagious and makes parts of my heart sing that I didn't know were there until he opened the door to them.  He is content and calm like his Papa and Daddy all while making the same serious face.  Note to self, find a picture of my dad making the same face and post here.  Hey dad!  Remember all those times you embarrassed me at the mall? .... Kind of regretting it now that your daughter found her voice on a public blog?  Bwahahahaha!  

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By the way, that's the face my dad is making as that realization sinks in.  ;)

Bennett is such a snuggler and I LOVE it.  He is independent and plays on the floor or in a seat while I tend to things that need to get done but he also loves to sit up checking the world out from the perch of someone's knee or the crook of my arm.  


He is an excellent napper taking 2-3 good, hour or more naps a day.  He then sleeps from about 7pm to 5am (wakes to eat) then back out until 6:30 or 7am.  I get called to put his paci in once or twice sometimes but I don't have to stay up for that.


As of five months ish he has been rolling over both ways, although much more from tummy to back.  

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He is tripod sitting and actually staying up as of TODAY!  He knows how to get my attention and laughs so hard when it works.  He makes me cry with relief when I think of how close we both came to having a much different outcome at the beginning of his life. Click here for that story. He can melt my heart with one of his little smirks and calm my nerves as he reaches up and holds my cheeks. 


Before we got pregnant with him I had such a hard time picturing our family with a boy in it.  I would try my hardest to imagine it but just couldn't.  As soon as I got pregnant I KNEW he was a boy.  I was so excited but I still couldn't quite picture how it all would look/feel.  It has only been six months but I already wouldn't recognize our family without him.  He has affectionately become known as " the boy" or just "boy" in our house.  Not kidding, that is his honest to god knick name.  Sorry boy....see?  The girls love him and instinctively know how to make him laugh.  Alyssa can calm him even when I can't. They were all meant to be siblings and it is amazing to watch.  I feel like I have waited my whole life to have all my people together and I am just trying to absorb every minute while not losing the ability to function in the world.  It's hard to soak up all of the seconds in a day while trying to remember all the details of everyone's schedules.  Maybe by the time they move out I will figure it out.  Until then, just keep texting me reminders.  You know who you are.  :)

Dear Bennett,
I dreamed of you before anyone knew you were there.  I held you in my heart before anyone else could see or feel you.  I learned your personality before we knew what you looked like.  I memorized your soul before you took your first breath. Happy six months boy.  You are the perfect ending to our baby journey.
Love,
Mommy

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Monday, April 16, 2012

Don't know where to start....

My poor little blog.  I think of posts to write then never get around to sitting down to write them.  I will try to update over the next few days so the posts may seem a bit disjointed.  Here goes...deep breath in.

I loved the randomness of being a kid.  I miss it really.  That frame of thinking that things just happen magically and are awesome all by chance.  The reality is that behind every "random" activity there is a parent who planned for at least 3 hours 30 minutes to make that magic seem, well, seamless.  Take picnicking at the park for instance.  I decided that we needed some spontaneity in our lives and we were going to up and have a picnic dinner at the park and play until the girls were worn out.  The kid in my head was all "THE PARK!  Ok, out the door we go with dinner and everything fun to play with at the park!".  Then it hit me, that reminder that I am the parent and not the kid. hahaha! There is a lot of prep work to be spontaneous with three kids.  My goal is for them not to notice and to just remember us randomly jumping in the van and heading to the park for dinner and evening family time.  What really happened was about 45 minutes of me making said picnic dinner, gathering blankets, changing baby, packing bubbles and other goodies and finally getting girls ready. 

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It's not quite the same as being the kid in the scenario but watching them run to the car all excited for a break in routine then acting like eating on a blanket in the grass is the coolest thing EVER kind of made the effort seem.....effortless. It's kind of how mom's look back on labor like "Pishaw! That wasn't SO bad, I could do that again."  

Stay tuned for future picnics and evenings at the park.  I am now a hero to two little girls and I have to admit I kinda like it.  :)


Monday, February 27, 2012

Parenting ain't for sissies...

Parenting is a weird creature.  It single handedly strips away all that you thought was so important before you had kids, rearranges it and throws it back in your face.  For example, in your teens and early 20's you spend all of your time trying to find yourself.  You obsess over clothes, makeup, boys, friends, what you want to be when you grow up, where you want to live...me,me,me,me.  The world is your oyster.  You plan and envision everything that you will do out in that big, bad ass world.  Then you meet a boy (or girl), possibly get married, buy a house, and ....have kids.  You are still a bad ass woman out in the world working and being all independent and stuff.  You are pregnant, still feeling like the world is your oyster, people give up their seats on buses, throw showers, and overall oogle over you.  Then you have your little perfect bundle of awesome.  You still have a great sense of style only none of your clothes fit so you kind of live in pj pants and t-shirts.  You may still have that awesome career you worked so hard for but you spend your day thinking about what your new little human is doing.  You may have given up that career that you worked so hard for so you are actually staring at your little human all day as not to miss a single thing. 

Makeup?  What's that?  Boys?...Got one!  Friends?  LOVE THEM!  Well, when I can find the time in between feeding the baby to escape for a bit to enjoy them.  Finding yourself?  Did that!....then kind of got sidetracked by said little human and became their mommy instead of strictly my own person. 

Parenting is weird.  You think you are doing awesome and have it all together without giving up any of yourself in the process until you walk by a mirror one day and realize that your shirt has barf on the shoulder, your hair is in a pony tail for the tenth day in a row, your jeans have a stain on them that you are pretty sure has something to do with your mini's food (although you can't remember which meal) and you haven't done anything for yourself in what feels like a million years.  Those without children by choice are now saying "WELL DUH!  That's why I don't have children!!!"

Those of us with children are saying ...."You have no idea how wonderful it is."  See?  It doesn't make sense at all.  Parenting is weird!  Nothing about it follows the rules of life. Having a baby in the house is like parenting boot camp.  It is the hardest yet easiest part of parenting.  How can that even make sense?!  I am here to tell you that it does.  Parenting is SO hard.  SO tiring.  SO mind numbingly boring yet overwhelming all at the same time.  WEIRD I SAY!

It is hidden moments during a day where you want to just cry because you love your mini(s) so much.
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There are playroom tent days for no other reason than that you are finally the parent and you can if you wanna. :)
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It is staring at your children for hours trying hard to memorize every face they make so that you never forget that specific moment in time.
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It's realizing that even though time seems to stand still when you are in the thick of it, it is really flying by faster than you can ever wrap your head around.
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Birth

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3 months

It is feeling like you have lost yourself for a bit and being totally ok with it because you are busy making their lives better....and you know that parenting is weird and your time to shine will return.
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Parenting makes you randomly step back and assess your life and what's important.  You all of a sudden look at your "baby" and realize that she is the big girl now, and she loves her brother more than you ever dared to hope she would.
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You look at your first "baby" and realize that she is about to be a first grader and it makes your heart skip a beat and your eyes fill with tears because wasn't she just his age?
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You are tired and burned out.  You feel like you will never do anything for yourself again.  You go to the bathroom and on the odd occasion they let you keep the door shut the entire time, you feel like you are on a vacation.  Five hours of consecutive sleep feels like a day a the spa.  You think "Why did I do this again?"

....and then you remember...
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...and remembering it all is half the battle...
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Monday, January 9, 2012

The past and present (s)

So along came the holidays yet again.  I LOVE Christmas.  Seriously, I want to just stay home and roll around in it all.  I am usually the first one getting all of the decorations out, making Cliff smell everything we own that smells like cinnamon (because evidently in my head this is what Christmas smells like), cut out snowflakes, hope for snow, drive around like a crazy lady looking at lights.... well, you get the idea.

This year, this year was different.  I wasn't feeling it.  It was HOT here for December...as in in the 60's and 70's for one thing which completely throws off my holiday chi.  I need freeze your nose off cold and no sun for a month to REALLY get in that holiday spirit. hahaha Then there was the whole "I just had a baby and I have absolutely no idea what time it is much less what month I'm in" thing going on.  So I wasn't "all in" at Christmas this year to begin with.

All of that brings me to the "Past" part of this post.  Stay with me, we are going way back here.  I grew up with dogs.  Never had a cat, was actually kind of freaked out by them....like they knew something I didn't.  (turns out they do by the way)  I went off to college, moved off campus and decided I missed having a pet.  I was a big girl now and wanted to start my own little first family.  First families are pets and sometimes a boyfriend in case you weren't aware.  Felix was the animal who crawled into my heartstrings and got all tangled up.  He was in a home that couldn't really care for him, he was small and the last of a litter and I SWEAR he said "take me home and love me forever and ever" the first time I picked him up.  He was not so scary and didn't freak me out at all and he was the teeniest thing that had ever needed me.  I took him home and loved him up.  Fast forward to this year.  He started to look a bit shabby and unkept which was very unlike my OCD cat.  Then he began to lose weight. Then all of a sudden he just looked terrible.  Literally overnight.  He went from kind of looking like he was going downhill to "holy cow, how is he holding on".  He was stumbling around and wouldn't eat....and I knew it was time to put on my big girl panties and do what I needed to do.  On December 23rd we found out he had been suffering from kidney disease which is always fatal.  He was in the VERY end stages of it.  It was time for me to love him enough to let him go....and it totally sucked.  I took him to the vet alone, told him everything I wanted to, then held and hugged him as he passed into sleep then away forever.  It was pretty much a horrific experience and one I hope I never have to do again (although I know better since he was one of three kitties in our house).  I came home to life as normal only my brain was stuck in that horrid moment when I knew he was gone.  I have this terrible need to relive things in my head that are hard to deal with until my brain kind of desensitizes to it.  It may seem like I am being dramatic or closed off but my brain doesn't care what it makes me come across looking like...it kind of has a mind of it's own. (buddum bum ching) This took about 5 days with Felix.  Over and over and over it played out in my head, in my dreams and in my heart.  Christmas fell 2 days into this process....and I feel like I wasn't really all there.  I had a great time don't get me wrong.  I mean, it WAS Christmas after all.  How bad could it really be?  But I just wasn't all there and I feel kind of bad about it.  Next year we shall rock it out loud, but this year....I just needed to miss my cat.

Ok, mop up the tears and onto the Presents!  I mean, present.  ;)

Even in the funk I cannot deny how much I love this season.  My girlies are both at an age where they really know what is going on and anticipate.  Their eyes lit up with each passing house that was all decorated and twinkly.  Their little bodies quivered with excitement as we decorated the tree.  Note to self: LED lights suck.  Blue and purple?  Really?  C'mon people!  Holiday lights should be red, orange, yellow, and green.  How did you miss this memo!?  Case in point...

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As my friend Kristi pointed out "LED lights make it look like a disco ball" (referring to her house but it applies here as well).  Kind of misses the mark on warm and fuzzy.  

Christmas in our house starts on Christmas eve with my parents.  We do gifts for the kids, have an awesome meal (this year it was prime rib...droooool) then after the kids go to bed we do a nice and relaxing evening of opening gifts and enjoying dessert and coffee.  It's a bit sinful really.

My mom has literally been chomping at the bit to buy the girls a dollhouse pretty much since we found out Natalie was a girl.  Each year they just didn't quite seem ready...until this year.  Oh.My.Gosh. The hours they have played with this! It tandems as a gift for mommy too. haha

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Seriously, don't you just want to shove them out of the way and play? 


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I just love how into it all she is.

 
Real men....


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Natalie is our big uncertainty at the holidays.  Will she understand?  Will it be too overwhelming?  Overstimulating?  Will she even care?  Well, I am here to say that my girl has arrived.  Since going gluten free she is like a different child.  I know I have said it before but OMG she is seriously so different!  She LOVED it all this year.  She opened all of her own gifts and got excited by the contents.  Last year she meandered off before we were even finished...this year?  This year she opened some of Bennett's when hers were finished.  Why hello big girl!  Welcome <3


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Next up? Christmas morning of course! With it we saw faces like this:

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..and excitement like this:

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If you know us at all then you have heard of the famous "Pete the Cat".  She got two books and the stuffed animal and her face was priceless!  You would have been able to see it if she weren't holding the book in front of herself saying "PETE THE CAT!"  aaaah...love me some excited big girlness.


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Then there was this next moment.  My girl asked and asked for a Tangled Tower.  I had just happened to have already bought one...before she started asking.  Why yes, I really am that good.  ;) It must be a genetic super power because my parents do the same thing with me every year.  She opened it up and yelled "IT'S A TANGLED TOWER!"  With the magical wonder and excitement that only a child can have at Christmas.

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Then she proceeded to lay on it so Natalie couldn't touch it.  


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Have I mentioned lately how much I love the 3's?  No? hmmmm interesting.  Even Gary looks offended.

The rest of the morning was a blur of this:
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Don't worry, I didn't forget about it being Bennett's first Christmas.  As soon as he woke up (cause he loves us and sleeps in) I got some of him hamming it up.


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Don't you just want to eat his cheeks off?  ME TOO!


We always spend Christmas day home with just the five of us then get up and out of the house bright and early on the 26th and head to see Cliff's family.  Bennett was a champion and made the entire trip without a tear or needing to stop.  LOVE HIM!  Alyssa spent the entire trip telling us who we were going to see, how we were all related and how excited she was.  :)  

We got there, said hello and passed around some hugs.  Ever since the beach Natalie has taken a shine to her Uncle Darren.  It's kind of the cutest thing ever.

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Bennett got in on that action too. 



After all of the hello's it was time to get down to business. haha  PRESENTS!

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Cliff's sister Tay got both of the girls a set like this with their names on them.  SO CUTE!!!!

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I managed to snag one picture of Allen.  He is at the "I hate getting my picture taken" stage. I take what I can get.  


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Seriously, is there anything better than this expression on a kids face at Christmas?!  I think not!


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Sara is SO into babies and baby dolls so when we showed up with Bennett and she got to hold him....well....

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Let's just say he gave her perma grin.  Cousins are good like that. 

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I wish they lived closer so my kids could have Sara babysit.  I don't think Alyssa would let me come home if that ever happened. hahaha  

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Does anyone else totally LOVE that they match in this picture?  Did you just look back at the picture to see if I was right?

Natalie might not either...




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Then you have the grandparent factor.  There are only 3 little girls in the whole world who can worm their way into that chair with Dodaddy....


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It's kind of a super power. ;)



There is nothing quite as fun as watching all of the kids together.  I love how the older ones have learned to play with the littles and how the littles have learned how to idolize the biggies.  So fun all around!


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Overall I would say that Christmas was a gigantic success.  Bennett was beside himself with excitement...


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...and doctors Natalie and Alyssa are still loving all of the presents and memories.  (I know because Alyssa is still reiterating it all haha)


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I hope that you all had wonderful holidays too!  Now back to our regularly scheduled lives.