5 Years Old

My sweet Halle turned five yesterday! Oh how quickly time goes by. She was my sweetest baby, and then she turned 2 and her full personality blossomed. She has been keeping us on our toes every day since. Here are the things that I love about Halle:

• She loves to sing and dance, and does not have a care in the world who is listening. In fact, she likes it even more if people are paying attention to her!


• Halle loves to be the center of attention, whether it is positive or negative attention, she does not care.


• She changes her clothes multiple times a day, and comes up with some crazy outfits. Somehow she can pull it off and look cute. (I am not sure I love the laundry, however)


• I love her long, blonde shiny hair...and wish that I had it!


• I love how she wants 10 kisses and hugs from her dad or I before we leave to go anywhere.


• I love how she must tell Kason and Jaicee that she loves them before they go to school everyday, even if it means screaming it down the street while they run to the bus stop.


• I love her firey personality that always keeps up on our toes.


• I love her belly laugh.


• I love that she puts on makeup, lipstick, sparkes, nail polish, and anything girly all day long!


• Her smile can and does light up a room.


• Her cries can and will clear a room, or store, or any other place we are.


• I love that she will come home from a friend's house so that she can play with her best friend, Jaicee.

Halle, I love everything about you. You bring so much joy and happiness to our family, and we love you so much!

Success!

It is Halle's 5th Birthday today. It is crazy to think that I had her five years ago! Shortly after she was born she started sucking her thumb just like her sister Jaicee did. Jaicee finally did quit sucking her thumb just before she turned four because she wanted her ears pierced. She quit cold turkey for two months...it was so easy!

Not so with Halle! This girl literally sucked her thumb most of the day unless she was occupied. I have tried for the last year and a half to offer everything from getting her ears pierced, new clothes, shoes, money, toys...you name it I offered it. She did want to get her ears pierced, but every time she tried to stop sucking her thumb for a day, she would end up saying "Mom, I don't really want my ears pierced" - and then immediately stick her thumb in her mouth. I even went as far as telling her how ugly her teeth would be if she didn't stop and that her thumb and thumb nail would be big and flat. NOTHING WORKED....until.....

Her Dad decided to intervene. He sat down a month ago and had a heart to heart with his little girl. He explained that if she would stop sucking her thumb for 21 days he would take her to get her ears pierced, out to dinner, and shopping for clothes and shoes. She thought that was a great idea....and stopped sucking her thumb that day!!

WHAT????????

I have tried every one of those bribes to no avail. She always has responded better to her Dad - and this is even more proof!

So, last night was the BIG NIGHT! She was so excited to get her ears pierced. And, of course we all had to come along to witness. Jaicee warned her it would hurt a little, but Halle didn't care and was ready!

This is the before picture....notice the kids behind cheering her on! (But they didn't want to hear her scream so they waited outside).

And, here is the after!

Yes, she screamed! And to make matters worse they didn't have two workers there, so we had to do them separately. I had to pretty much hold her down for the second one! She didn't even want to look in the mirror after to see her new earrings....she was so sad! It took her about an hour to get over it, and then she loved them. However, I don't think I could ever get her to do it again! I felt like the worst mother holding her down crying to get the second ear pierced. I am sure the onlookers in the mall were thinking, "Look at that crazy mother that is forcing her little girl to get her ears pierced!" I wanted to exclaim to everyone, "It was her choice, and I can't let her only have one ear pierced!"

Here is the "happy proof". Ears pierced, and no more sucking her thumb!

I was proud of her bravery, and love my little Halle so much. I will post later today about her birthday!

Tooth Box

Jaicee has had a loose tooth for weeks. She is the type that it has to fall out on its own - she won't pull it. She doesn't like any unneccessary pain. All year she has been wanting to loose a tooth at school so that she could get the "tooth box". Well, she was brave and pulled her tooth out at school the other day. She was proud of how brave she was, and so was I! So, I had to document the monumental occasion.

Craziness!!

I have not posted the past couple of weeks, not because I haven't desparately wanted to, but because of pure craziness! It seems like we have had more things/projects to do the past couple of weeks than normal. And my large belly in front of me is stopping me from going as fast as I am usually able to. So, here is a little recap....

First a weekend with 10 of my closest friends!

We started doing this three years ago, and it has become a yearly tradition. We were all great friends in high school, and still see each other regularly. I have had many people tell me how rare this is - and I believe it. What is even more rare is that all of these women are remarkable, and I learn so much from them about being a mother, friend, wife, and person from them. I feel so blessed to have them in my life. This was the first time that we were all together - many flying in from very far away - and it was wonderful!

We laughed, cried, ate, stayed up way to late talking, and shopped until we were exhausted. It was pure joy! We also gave each other our "favorite things". This is always a highlight of the trip. We each bring/make our favorite thing for the year - and give one to each person. We decided that it is better than Christmas, because we will genuinely use everything we receive.

It was such a fun weekend, and I am so grateful for wonderful friends.

Next was preparing for my Dad's 60th Birthday Party. It was a surprise - and that is no easy feat to pull off with my Dad! I decided to make a DVD of his life, which turned out great - but was a lot of time. I had to scan most of the pictures (because they were older), and of course my scanner didn't work which meant I had to go to my mother-in-laws house. This makes it so much more difficult. Not to mention that I really didn't start until the week of, (I always work better under pressure). Needless to say, it turned out great, and I had fun doing it!

He really was happy - just didn't smile for the camera

We actually did surprise my Dad, and the party was a success! Many friends and family were there and it was a night to remember.

Looking pretty good at 60!

There was actually another surprise to add to the party, that even my mom did not know about. My sister Sharielle flew into town to surprise my parents. She arrived after the party started, rang the doorbell, and my Dad answered. Lets just say it was the best surprise....tears were flowing from both parents. That is always the way we know if we pulled off a good surprise! Shaundee and I definitely had to do some creative lying to pull this one off - but it was worth it.

Best of all, we got to take a picture of all of our pregnant bellies together. Something that will not happen again, seeing as Shaundee is ready to have a baby any day now!

Shar - 20 wks, Me- 34 wks, Shaundee - 38 wks


Oh yea, and on Saturday was my dance group's spring show! Halle and Jaicee did so great, and it is nice to have it finished. My body couldn't take another week of jumping up and down with 3 year olds! So, between the dress rehearsal the day before, and the show, it was a busy weekend to say the least!

Best of all, however, was being with my sisters! We don't get to all be together very often, so it is definitely time I cherish. We laugh until we cry - literally, and it is so much fun. Thanks Shar for flying out and spending time with us!

I Finally Did It

This 5th pregnancy has been so hard on my body. I can definitely feel that I am not 25 years old anymore! Things are happening that have never happened before. Many that I won't go into detail about....but one new thing in particular is the developing vericose veins on my leg! I have never had any problems with veins throughout all of my pregnancies. My mom didn't have vericose veins - and so I thought I was safe!

Well, think again....from the minute I found out I was pregnant my right leg began to throb. Even though I couldn't see any veins, I knew they were coming. And, boy did they. With every new week - I would get more and more of the ugly, black and blue, spidery veins. It looks like my leg is extremely bruised. So ugly! And, they hurt like nothing else. By the end of the day, I wouldn't even be able to walk and then I would check out my legs....horrified to find yet another patch of veins!!

I had heard of the "compression tights" that you could buy to help this problem. I like to refer to them as "old lady tights" because they just look like something my grandma used to wear. They were expensive (for a pair of tights), so I kept putting it off.

The legs got the best of me, and I broke down and bought the tights. They are not cute, you can't wear flip flops or any open toed shoes, they are extremely hard to get on, and by the end of the night I want to rip them off.....but I LOVE THEM!!! They have saved me. I can actually make it until the end of the day without having to sit down because my legs are killing me! I wish that I would have bought them earlier. My veins have actually stopped spreading as fast, and look a little better than they did before.

So here is to "old lady tights", and relief of vericose veins. But, I have told Brandon to save his pennies because I am definitely getting them fixed after I have the baby!

Is it Already Happening?

Kason came home from school about a month ago to inform me that "he had the best day of his life!" He has said this many times before, but of course I asked him why. He proceeded to tell me that a girl in his grade had come up and asked him if he would "go out" with her friend.

WHAT?? I thought to myself, does this happen in the fourth grade? I didn't respond like that however, just calmly said, "so what did you say?"

Kason replied, "I said yes!"

I then asked Kason, "what does going out mean to you?"

"Well, it just means that you hang out with each other at recess and stuff", was his reply.

So, as I was partially freaking out in my head I tried to explain to him that it is probably best just to be friends with a lot of girls and not "go out" with anyone quite yet. He assured me all was fine and that they were just friends anyway. However, the smile on his face made me think that he was pretty excited about all of this!

Fast forward a week:

Kason came home sad from school because his friends were mad that he wasn't playing with them at school and was "hanging out" with this girl. He didn't know what to do, because he wanted to make everyone happy. I tried to lovingly explain that there are going to be a lot of girls he will like through his life, but none are worth losing your best friends over. He seemed to understand and was resolved to "break up" with this girl the next day at recess.

He came home the next day and solemnly declared that he had done it! He broke up with her because "she was breaking up his other friendships" as he put it. I was definitely relieved....this cannot already be happening to my little boy!

All was well for a couple of weeks, until one day Kason came home and declared "Mom, we got back together!" (How does he already know all this language?) Oh great - I thought, we are starting all over. I didn't have to worry long because the next day he came home to announce that they had broken up again, and that now she wouldn't even talk to him!

Oh, girls...they are all the same! "That is the reason you want to just stay friends", I told him!

He agreed and said, "You're right mom - it is dumb to 'go out' with a girl right now!"

He actually agreed with me - I know this will not happen often.

I have to laugh at this whole situation, because I remember when these things happened to me...however not in the fourth grade. I laugh that the kids still use the same "language". And that the result of breaking up is always the same - they don't even want to talk to each other anymore! And, I especially had to smile about the friend asking Kason if he would 'go out' with her friend!

I am not old enough to have to already experience this...I am afraid that there will be much more to come!

For Posterity

I don't think I have taken any pictures of my belly this pregnancy...must be because it is number 5! So, not for any other reason than having a record for my children, I will post this...

I couldn't think of anyone else I would rather share this picture with, than my sister! What is even greater is that my youngest sister is also pregnant with her 1st baby! She lives much too far away - or she would be smack in the middle of our two bellies!

Yes, Shaundee is 31 weeks pregnant with her 2nd baby (a boy) in this picture and I am only 27 weeks pregnant. Funny that I am so much bigger than she is! I just keep reminding her that my stomach muscles are not as tight as hers are anymore!

Oh, and don't mind my belly button sticking straight out! That thing popped out when I was only 4 months pregnant...I thought that only happened when you were ready to deliver.

So, for posterity, here is a documentation of my pregnant belly. It is even bigger now - 3 weeks later. If I get brave I will have to post again. I know it is fun to look back on your belly, but in the moment it just doesn't seem very appealing.