birthdays

I’m feeling like waxing (a little) poetic tonight.  I’ll apologize in advance … but keep writing anyway.

The days are marching by faster and faster.  Sometimes, it seems that all I can do is think in clichés about how fast kids grow up and how quickly time marches on.  I don’t think I can keep up with the changes in my children.  My sweet friend (and “secret twin”) Marie informed me that it has to do with my age … hmm, just what I wanted to hear. 

In the midst of all this fast moving time, I have missed several important events that should have warranted a blog post.  A good mommy-blogger would probably give each a separate post … oh well, judge me if you must, but I’ll just lump them together here.

Last month, my first-born child turned 15 years old.  This beautiful little girl has grown into a lovely young woman.  She has entered high-school and I have been pleasantly surprised that she is beginning to take initiative and pride in her schoolwork.  She still needs some encouragement, but that is okay ~ I am not quite ready for her to grow out of her need for me just yet.  I saw a quote the other day and I can’t help but look forward to the time when this is true for us … “Daughters are just little girls who grow up to be our best friends.”

Last week my “baby” turned 9 years old.  Somehow this one has been hard for me.  I am now one week into my last year with a child in single-digits.  Maybe this has something to do with how fast time seems to be flying.  This little wild-child of mine is changing faster than I can keep up.  He may still be the baby of the family, but he is finding his own way in the world, apart from his older siblings, and I am loving it and hating it at the same time.  At least he still loves to cuddle with his Mama and he’ll even still let me kiss him in public.  I know that these things won’t last forever, but I’ll enjoy it as long as he will let me.

There was another birthday last week, but this one brought only sadness instead of celebrating.  My Mama would have been 66 on Wednesday of last week.  It has been 18 months since Mama died and I really thought that it would be easier to deal with by now, but it isn’t and I really wonder if it ever will be.  I have made a couple attempts to write a post about just that, but so far I just can’t seem to get it done.  The words just won’t come.  Maybe someday.

 

I’ll end on a happier note … my middle child will be celebrating his 13^th birthday in just under a month.  I think that milestone birthday should warrant a post all of its own.  I’ll try really hard to actually accomplish just that!

fourteen

I say it every year on this day.

How can it be possible that I am old enough to have a ____ year old daughter.

Here we are again and this year I have a fourteen year old!

I spent the morning looking through old pictures ~ you know from back in the dark ages when we actually printed pictures ~ and it dawned on me that I really miss those carefree days before the real world crowded in and we all had to grow up and go to school and such.  

But there is joy in these new days as well.  Today that joy is found in celebrating the young woman that my beautiful baby girl is becoming.  I find joy in the little things I notice about my girl ... this has been a hard year for our family and I can see her coming through it stronger, but a little softer and more willing to look for the good instead of the bad.  She's learning the value of working hard at things that aren't as easy as she thought they would be. That lesson alone will serve her well as she continues to become the woman that God created her to be.  Sometimes, I miss that tiny little girl who used to talk my ear off but that is mainly because I realize that she is quickly growing up and I want to hold on to our days together.  

I wish I had something witty or memorable to say at this point, but all I know is that I love this little girl with all my heart and I am excited to see how God is going to use her for His glory.

My little angel ... I didn't even feel like a Mama yet when this picture was taken :)

I loved this outfit!

With her Daddy on her first Easter

LB with my Mama ... we didn't know then that Mama would be
LB's first best friend.  I am so thankful for the time they spent
together while they had the opportunity.

I think this is one of the cutest pictures ever taken of my girl!
She was dressed up for her first trip to the Dixie Stampede.

On the tire swing at my parents' house

LB's third birthday

Her first day of Mother's Morning Out

The day she was recognized at church for memorizing 100 Bible Verses.
She sure misses her friend Poptart since she moved away!

At Disney, with the only character she really wanted to meet!

At a family reunion last weekend

Me and Mama ~ I was 20 ... several people have looked at this
and thought it is a picture of LB and Mama.

Beautiful girl!

not your traditional turkey day

I love tradition.  That said, I don't mind breaking with tradition once in a while, and we most definitely did just that this Thanksgiving.

Not my Mama's Thanksgiving dinner ...

Since we had no way to cook dinner here in our hotel, we decided to head down to the nearest Cracker Barrel for lunch.  They had a special dinner for the day ... turkey, ham, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin streusel pie.  Let's just say that the turkey and ham were great.  Remember how I said that I love tradition?  Well, one tradition I missed was my Mama's cornbread dressing ... moist and lightly seasoned with lots of chicken cooked in and most importantly ... absolutely no sage!  Everything was okay, but it just made me miss being at home cooking with Mama and watching (or listening to) the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while we work.  Of course, that was the Thanksgiving of my childhood and it hasn't been like that in a long time.

A birthday he won't soon forget ...

Besides celebrating Thanksgiving, we also celebrated JW's 10th birthday.  It was an unusual birthday, but I don't think he minded.  After lunch, we went to Stone Mountain Park.  I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be a fun day.  The Polar Express 4-D experience was quite interesting.  I didn't know what the whole 4-D thing was about and I am not sure that I would want to watch an entire movie with water blowing in my face and foam snow falling from the ceiling, etc ... but the movie was pretty cool.  I think that the only thing that the kids didn't like was that it was only a 12 minute version on the movie.  While at the park, we also rode the train twice, played mini-golf, watched the Christmas parade and the fireworks show, ate supper, and even did a little shopping, which included buying myself a snowman ornament.  :o)

If I had any question about whether or not JW enjoyed his birthday, they were put to rest as I listened to him talking to my Mama on the phone as we drove back to the hotel.  He was talking 90 to nothing and fairly bubbling with excitement as he told his Grandmother about his day.  It was sweet to hear how much he enjoyed the day, even though it wasn't all about him.

Why I don't do the whole black Friday thing ...

As we drove back to our hotel, tired from our long day, we passed several Wal-mart stores with their parking lots overflowing.  I was reminded of how glad I was to be headed to my comfortable room with a nice bed and no one pushing and shoving and such.  I know that there are some people who thrive on the excitement of getting the great deals and the whole shop 'til you drop concept, but I am NOT one of those people.  I don't even bother to look at the sale papers to see what I am missing.  I am happy for those who think it is fun to line up to shop, but I don't have any desire to join them!

All in all, I would say that we had a good Thanksgiving.  I won't say that I want to travel every year, but doing something different isn't bad once in a while. 

Still, I think I'll go home and make my Mama's turkey and dressing for supper one night next week!

because this one should come first ... even if I am a month late

A little over a month ago, on September 17th, we celebrated LB's 12th birthday, but I failed to blog about it, so I am doing it today, on D's 6th birthday, before I write about him sometime this week (I hope!!!).

So, we've entered new territory with this girl of ours.  In less than one year eleven months, there will be a teen-ager living in our house!  But, I am trying not to spend too much time dwelling on such a disturbing thought and I am also not sold on what seems to be the general concensus that if you have a teen, you have to put up with, ahem, shall we say, difficult behavior until those terrible years have passed.  I am just not sure that being rude, disrespectful and generally disrupting the rest of the family has to come with the territory.

Anyway, off my soapbox and back to my girl.

It has been a big year.  LB is growing into a young woman in every way.  She is learning to cook and help out around the house.  Most importantly, she is growing in her sensitivity to others.  This is important, but it does also make some things harder.

I am proud of the young woman she is becoming, but I probably don't tell her that often enough.  I do love the fact that she still loves to play dolls and I think she would still play dress-up if any of her old dress-up clothes still fit :o).   She hasn't started asking to wear make up yet and she had the guts (or just didn't know better than) to tell some friends last month that her Mama doesn't want her dressing hot to attract boys.  One of the girls then told her that she didn't understand because she is home schooled ... well, maybe that is true, but it certainly isn't a bad thing!  This little incident opened the door for a good discussion about her future and the things that her Daddy and I think are important for her to know.

Many times in the last year, my Mama and I have talked about how our little girl has disappeared and been replaced by this preteen girl who is still struggling to figure out who she is and where she is going.  It would be a lie for me to say that I don't miss the bubbly motor-mouth of days gone by, but I know that this transformation is necessary.  The older she gets, the more I realize the need for me to pray harder and more for her as she navigates waters that seem much muddier for her generation than they were for mine.  Still, there can be no doubt that God has a plan for her life and even though I sometimes feel a sadness for the little girl, I can't wait to see where He will lead her.

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.  Philippians 1:6

Complimentary Caramel Pie ... after supper at O'Charley's

The set of Julie books Grandmother and Papa gave LB

Her gently used Nikki and Sprocket (American Girl) doll that her Daddy
and I bought from a family member for LB



JW chose a set of American Girl paper flowers for LB
(are you seeing the theme here?)



D actually went a little different and gave her a set of stamps ... which she
used today to make his birthday card!

ninety five ... oh my!

We spent last weekend in Gulfport celebrating Ronnie's Grandmother's 95th birthday.  We had a great weekend with the family, especially since almost everyone was there (except two great-grandkids - Ashlee and Eva and one grandchild - Allison). 

Five generations

MeeMee finally got to meet her first great-grandson ... Wyatt



MeeMee and all the grandchildren and great grandchildren who could be there


While the focus of the day was supposed to be MeeMee, I think little Wyatt may have stolen the show ....

Granny lovin' on Wyatt

Wyatt and his Nana

Trying to decide what to give someone who is turning 95 is a little difficult.  When Granny was here last we talked about it and I decided to make her a small afghan.  I will have to admit that it took longer than I thought it would, but I was very pleased with the final result.

We spent Sunday afternoon with Ronnie's Uncle Charlie, Aunt Pat and Bianca (their granddaughter) boating, swimming and grilling (actually, Pat grilled while the rest of us played!)  My children love going out on Charlie's boat ... they don't get to do this but a couple of times a year and it is always exciting to them.  Charlie is a great sport and enjoys letting the kids drive the boat.  The boys always look forward to their turn and this time, even LB took a turn ... though she wasn't as excited as the boys were.

MeeMee is the only great-grandparent that my children have left and I am thrilled that they got to celebrate her 95th birthday with her.  I hope that this is something they will always remember and that they will know how important it is to take the time to get to know the older people in their lives who have so much to offer and yet are so often overlooked by young people.

another belated birthday post

Just over two weeks ago, on November 24th, my oldest son turned 9. 
One more year in single digits.

Unfortunately for JW, his birthday always gets caught up in Thanksgiving.  This year was even worse.  Not only was Thanksgiving the day after his birthday, we were leaving for our vacation the day after Thanksgiving and there just wasn't time to have much of a party.  I did make his favorite cake and had a "celebration" of sorts while we got together with Ronnie's family.

Sadly, I took very few pictures of JW on his birthday.  Here's the best of what I got.






please ignore the unfolded socks on the couch behind him ;-)



JW has been asking for his own bat (not a hand-me-down) and batting gloves for a while now, but we just couldn't justify the money.  BUT, this year when Wal-Mart had all their summer sports stuff on clearance, we got a really good deal on these items and put them up for his birthday.  He was thrilled, even if baseball season is still several months away.  He is still hoping for a spend-the-night party with a couple of friends, but that may have to wait until school is out for Christmas break ... we'll just have to see!

Happy 8th ~ another late birthday post

Once again, I have missed posting about a birthday until well past the day, but this time I had a good excuse ... we were out of town on JW's day and I didn't have access to my pictures to post.  Of course that doesn't explain the time that has passed since we got home, nor does it explain why I had such a hard time writing this post.  It may be that I just don't want my young'uns to grow up so fast.  No matter, we'll just go with better late than never, so with out further delay . . . .

On November 24, 2001, JW made his entrance into this world.  His birth was fairly uneventful for me, but his birthday came with major storms and destruction.  This was the day that a tornado wiped out large neighborhoods of beautiful, expensive homes just a little north of here.  Fortunately for us, the only real problem was getting ready to go to the hospital without electricity.

I never really had any contractions with James; I went to the hospital because my water broke and of course that meant that the baby had to come sometime soon.  When I arrived at the hospital and got checked in and everything, I waited for my doctor to come in.  I believe that it was a nurse who finally told us that since I wasn't having contractions or progressing in any way that I had two options.  They could give me drugs to encourage labor, but if they worked I would probably need another doctor to deliver the baby because my doctor was at another hospital delivering twins.  The second option was to wait and see what happened and then decide what to do when my doctor finished with the twins.  We opted for the latter choice and settled in for the day.  It was pretty uneventful ... we watched weather reports and damage reports from the storm that morning as family began to arrive.

Sometime that afternoon, my doctor finally arrived and we discussed my options for delivery.  After discussing the situation with my doctor, we opted for another c-section.  I had hoped for a different outcome, but this seemed like the best choice at the time.  I am not sure I would make the same decision today, but I can't really complain since within an hour I had my healthy baby boy.

From the beginning, JW was a great baby.   He had a bit of a disadvantage, since his 26 month old sister wasn't too sure that she liked the idea of having a little brother.  When he was a couple of weeks old she wanted to know if we could put him back.  The worst part was at night.  Every time he woke up during the night, so would she.  She would cry for me and so Ronnie would get up and take care of JW.  I must admit that I missed those quiet feedings at night.  They were some of my favorite times with the other two, but I didn't get many of them with JW.  Even with the missing sleep, Ronnie enjoyed those times and will still talk about forming a special bond with JW during those crazy nights.

JW has now grown into a sensitive little boy.  I am sure that he would cringe at my calling him a "little boy" but the Mommy in me is not ready to give up that title yet.  Sometimes he is a worrier.  He can't stand for his little brother to do something that he thinks is truly dangerous.  Which happens often since his little brother is a daredevil.

JW loves to make people laugh and is very talented when it comes to imitating voices.  One of our favorite is his Astro voice from the Jetsons.  He can also do Scooby Doo pretty well and loves to use these and the other voices he creates to entertain anyone who will listen.   He won't hesitate to tell you that he loves to be silly.  I'll tell you that he is good at it, probably because he practices ... a lot.

This past year has been a big one for my little guy.  He played baseball for the first time ~ and loved it.  He began 2nd grade and for the first time is able to take co-op classes with his big sister.  He has become fascinated by science and is interested in learning all he can.  All of these are wonderful things ... things that make a Mama proud.  But, this year he also made a decision that takes his Mama and Daddy much farther than pride, to pure joy.  This year, JW accepted Jesus as his Savior and was baptized.  Nothing can compare to this life changing event.  There just aren't words.


So, happy 8th birthday (a little late) to my little boy who is fast becoming a young man .... I love you.

Helping Uncle Bob

looking sharp!

Baseball ~ end of the year party @ M-Braves game

Driving Uncle Charlie's boat

finally 4 ~ better late than never

I can only hope that since he can't read yet and thinks that the best use of a computer is to play his bunny game, maybe my youngest son will forgive me for being more than a week late announcing his birthday.

On October 20, 2005, a tiny Hurricane was born via a scheduled c-section. He was the biggest of my babies and had by far given me the hardest time while I was expecting him. In his defense though, much of what made my pregnancy with D so difficult had little to do with him ... 2005 was a turbulent year for our family all around, but all mommies know that once you hold that tiny baby in your arms, any difficulties seem to fade to a distant memory rather quickly.

This little guy was welcomed by his two older siblings with great eagerness. His sister saw a live doll to play with and his brother was excited because everyone else was excited, so surely his arrival must be a good thing.

With the exception of only having a one kidney, D was a healthy baby ... at least until he was about 24 hours old and the nurses began to notice that his breathing was labored and some other issues that I honestly can't remember. They began to run tests and discovered an elevated c-reactive protein (at least I think that was what it was called) which could indicate the presence of some sort of infection. Before I could really grasp what was happening, the nurses removed my child from my care and whisked him off to the NICU. I'll spare you the gory details of how incredibly upset I was. Suffice it to say that I was inconsolable. While I am sure that he received adequate care in the NICU, I hated every moment he was there. Fortunately, his stay was relatively short lived and by the time he was a week old he was home with us.

If I wasn't too lazy to find them, I could show you his newborn pictures, but instead here are some from when he was about 18 months (when we got our 1st digital camera!).

D was our only child to use a pacifier. I tried with LB, but she wouldn't take one. He got hooked on the vanilla scented ones they used in the NICU, but these were the only ones he would take after we came home. Unfortunately, they were bulb shaped ~ I feel sure that there will be orthodontic work in his future because of these.

This child was born a dare-devil. He pulled up to the ottoman before he could crawl and was climbing on and off of furniture before he was 9 months old. His daddy had to lower the mattress on his crib very early because he would climb out of it. By his first birthday, I had a hard time corralling him anywhere. It was around this time that my mom gave him the nickname The Hurricane, I think because it was so hard to stop him when he put his mind to doing something. I am sure that this will be a very useful trait ... someday!

Did I mention that he isn't afraid of anything? This was D somewhere close to 18 months standing on the top bunk, looking for all the world like he was thinking about jumping ... and by the time he was 2 he had done just that!

Now this little guy is leaving behind the toddler years and is heading full speed into preschool. He told me this week that he wants to learn to read ... wow! I wasn't quite ready for that, but here we go. His favorite things include cars, construction vehicles and trains ... specifically, Thomas the train ... mostly he loves anything he can make go! He also likes Curious George ... which is pretty fitting. So now, without further ado ...

Welcome to 4 years old, my little man ... you finally made it!

D and his best friend S (aka: Poptart) at his party

This is how he spent his birthday ... a hayride, seeing animals, a maze of hay bales, and getting to choose his own pumpkin, all followed by a picnic. I'd say that's a pretty good day, if your 4!