Nakita Baby

The weekend was a blast. Nothing out of the ordinary, but just fabulous. I think I already touched on Saturday’s happenings, and Sunday was much of the same. I had a meeting in the AM with a new group I am joining with D. It’s called Gentle Circle and a group of 6 moms and daughters who are coming together, girls all about the same age (5-7 year range), to grow and cherish special times together as friends and as mother/daughters. I’m looking forward to the group evolving more as we have only had the opportunity to unite twice as mothers. There is the hope that we are able to meet a few more times before the girls join in and we plan more activities with them on a monthly basis. I have enjoyed getting to know the women little by little, but also feel that many are hesitant to share a ton with each other. I feel the sense that the women are worried or cautious about what to, and what not to, share with each other just yet, and wonder if that will evolve to closer more trusting relationships as time elapses. I do hope so, as each woman seems to bring very unique traits to the group and I look forward to learning from each of them and becoming closer friends with each.

After my AM meeting I took the kids over to the garden for some watering. Things are growing well now! I am eager to see what will flourish for us to eat in the next month! We have had a couple strawberries blossom already and the kiddos were able to share 2 of them recently : ) Since it was so stinkin’ hot Sunday I drove to our favorite Dairy Queen spot for our super duper favorite Chocolate French Silk blizzards! SO yum! Brought those over to G’pa’s and since they were melting and a mess, they had a blast running through water and eventually the sprinkler. Oh, well actually, we brought squirt guns to play with, but those just did not hold enough water. G’pa was home and dug out a sprinkler for some real water action!

Monday was Big D’s birthday and this was the same day (Memorial Day 2004) that was born on 6 years back. That was kinda fun! She had an amazing b-day and I have to add… quite pleasant. B’day’s past have not always been so much. There always seemed to be some emotional rupture of tears or what not that made her b-day kinda not as enjoyable as a mother would have hoped : ) However this year, it was quite blissful! She did receive lots of goodies that were on her wish-list and we had G’ma over for homemade pizza and cake. It was very fun. Today we went to an indoor pool in Glenview with G’pa and Subway after for her favorite sandwich. G’pa stuck candles in a cookie for her, and that was quite sweet. She had a remarkably fun b-day celebration! OH… OH… and how can I forget? She lost a tooth on her b-day as well! : )

She is just a remarkable girl I must add as well. Her growth this past year has far surpassed what I would/could have imagined. Makes a mama tear at how quickly time flies, and I get to be with her 24/7! It feels like I just blinked my eyes and yet…. AHHHH. She is amazing in her unknown beauty. Her strength and athletic ability is more than I know what to do with. She thoroughly enjoyed gymnastics this year, and I still have not figured out if it is b/c she just loves to run and throw her body around, or if gymnastic skills are what she really wants to acquire. She is hesitant to try other sports just yet. We may have gotten the nerve up to attempt soccer this fall, but still unsure if she will agree before the deadline. (This season she decided afterwards and so we decided to wait till the fall.) I wish there was someone interested in starting a homeschool track team or practice for this age as she just really truly loves to run a LOT! Basketball seems to be on the ‘maybe’ list and swimming is a definite yes… if I would actually sign her up! ; ) I am hesitant to just do lessons b/c I don’t feel they accomplish more than what she already does on her own. But if I found a team where they actually taught her technique, that’s something she’d really benefit from.

Aside from the logistics, she is just an all around sweet girl. She has her rough moments of course, and much of that stems (IMO) from the middle-child and/or only-girl syndrome. She requires lots more one-on-one in general, and not just with me. She just loves to be with people and constantly ‘doing’ with people. She loves to be busy a full 12 hrs a day and crashes hard the other 10-12. She sleeps so well… and plays so hard! She is coming into her own slowly but surely. She is a very easy-going, kinda fickle, yet not-so-much… a lot like her mother : ) And by that I mean, she finds just about anything interesting and does not fall into a certain “category” of personality type or character. I could never say she’s a girly-girl, but yet she loves to play around with make-up, nail polish and dress up and look pretty. I could never say she is a tom-boy b/c she loves all things girly despite her being a complete jock at times. She is quite smart, but at this stage in life seems to always second-guess herself. I do hope that homeschooling will provide more confidence in her own personal choices and decisions and build a stronger self-esteem (for lack of better words)…. b/c she does not necessarily lack esteem, but this second -guessing if she is right or knows certain things weighs heavily on her at times.

She is a complete giver. She loves art and is always drawing my pictures and writing to me, giving me gifts. It’s precious to see her evolving hand and heart. She is a nurturer as well. She loves her brothers so much, and cares for them as a mama-figure. She is this way with her friends as well. She is everyone’s friend and does not understand when others choose to be only one person’s friend, or is exclusive of others. She cherishes interactions with older girls. Girls Scouts was tremendous for her this year for both this and her independence boost. She is a planner and organizer. This year she enjoyed girl scouts, gymnastics, park days, gym days, clay class, girls club, and probably more that I’m forgetting. She did delve into pen pals in a way she has not before and is enjoying that interaction with kids around the world.

It is an honor to be her mama and I am eager to follow her on her path. She is and will continue to be a truly interesting soul.

You know we have had a perfect end to a beautiful week. We had gorgeous weather Thursday for park day and after the last trip to gymnastics and after quick grocery run, we even made it out to our first full moon jam of the season. We had missed last month’s due to complete exhaustion among the majority of us, and this time we made it out there for a bit. I always love a good jam, and especially love when we can actually view the incredible, large, full moon come up over that lake. It’s breath-taking.

Friday K and I had a ploy that we were going to game club while D and S hung with SBJ at home. But what we really did was head to the stores to b-day shop for Big D as her 6th b-day is just around the bend here. It was super fun to be on a secret mission with K, that is, after he got over his grippiness about not buying anything for himself while we were out. He had a rough start, but it did end on a very positive note, and he even enjoyed picking things out for his lil’ sis’. Quite sweet. We had planned on getting to NUG’s beach day, but by the time we returned home and downed some lunch it was well after 2pm, so we headed to an Evanston beach to at least enjoy some beach time during the amazing afternoon sunshine. Just perfect.

Today I took D out with S to pick out/up her b-day balloons. It’s a fun little tradition that we have developed over the b-days past, that they get to go pick out their own helium balloon stash to enjoy at home. So that was our fun for the early day. Later we had contemplated heading fishing but I don’t know that everyone had enough energy for that, so we headed to a park in Morton Grove we had not been to for some time. One the kids really really enjoy and had not been to for some time. Worked out fabulously for me b/c I had wanted to swing by this phone repair shop I spotted on Oakton to get my phone a desperately needed new battery. I don’t really know how it happened, but S fell asleep in the car sitting in front of the store! No car in motion, and no music on even…. just passed out. : ) So at the park SBJ got to trek around with the kiddos while I hung with the sleeping S in the blissful shade. The weather was just amazing today.

After homemade tacos for dinner we all cuddled up on the couch for a family film night. I just love those as well… What fun, cuddlin’ up and watchin’ Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Of course the kicker for the kids was the special ice cream sundaes I concocted before the film started : )

And during these past few days or more… I have had this overwhelming gratitude. I mean what an amazing blessing to not only be home with my kiddos, but that my kiddos are able to be home with each other! This phenomena has truly shown it’s colors this week in more ways than maybe I can recount. But what I do know for certain is their relationships with each other are far better now than mine are with my brothers as grown adults. Of course, they obviously have their moments when they don’t care for each other all that much, get frustrated, jealous or the like. But…. and the BIG but here, is that they have so much more time to work through those moments and so much MORE time to truly enjoy and love on each other. Their mutual respect for each other sometimes brings happy tears to my eyes. When I see K say, “hey let’s play this game.” And D says, “yes! I want to be ‘x’ person in the game.” And K says, “Yea, ok, and S…. who do you want to be?” And S mumbles something past his ‘geegee’ (pacifier) and they just totally know exactly what he is saying, respect his choices, and help him dress up as that character. Ugh…. I just love that. Makes me melt inside and out and cherish this homeschooling journey even more. For without that time they have together, K and D would not even have a relationship with S due to him being so much younger, and they certainly would not respect him as a true individual either. Their relationships are beautiful beyond words, and it is a blessing to be on this journey with them.

Only other ‘big’ thing I’ll note today is that my belly is actually moving now! : ) Isn’t that the best? I’ve been feeling baby for quite some time, but now baby is big enough that my belly will move and the kids can experience it as well. Of course everytime I call them to see or feel baby, baby stops moving. However one day recently S was laying on my belly and was kicked in the head, literally. He really seemed to have felt it b/c he lifted his head and looked at me funny. SO MUCH FUN!

So yesterday was the Big S’s birthday celebration. It was quite a lovely day. The weather cooperated for our excursion to the kids for kites festival. The AM started with present opening and the afternoon of flying kites. The evening was a perfect little birthday party with G’ma over for pizza and cake. He had a blast the entire day and it was fun for all.

S is quite the little fellow. Talking up a storm and many can’t believe that he’s only 2 years old. He’s extremely active all day long and sleeping quite well at night. He loves just about anything his brother and sister are into. Trains, cars, trucks, motorcycles, babies, strollers, baby carriers, playdough, sword fighting (and playing dead! ; ) , and just about anything anyone has their hands on. He never likes to be left behind. If someone is going somewhere, he must be along for the ride. He is really enjoying his music class with Ms Leah, and enjoys park days with friends. He is among the big-kid group of whatever they have going on and is just in the midst of it all. He’s sweet as can be and pretty darn smart for his age. (If I do say so myself ; ) He is having the typical 2 year old phase of having challenges with sharing and understanding ‘taking turns’. He has this impenetrable piercing screech when it’s not the way he anticipates and expects anyone to succumb to that screech ; ) . Hard not to love it though. Part of that amazing personality that’s “all his own”. We’ve always said that since the day he was born…. this lil’ dude is all his own lil’ man. He’s been a pleasure to be a mama to and looking forward to seeing how his life evolves.

Happy “Bo-bay” Mr. S!

This week has been off to a rough start and I’d be glad if that’s all that’s in store for me. I’d love to know that all of D’s b-day plans go off without a hitch, and that the worst is done. Monday D was sure she could scale a slippery wet shower wall by grabbing onto a bar on the wall overhead. Sure enough, too slippery to shimmy her way up and on the way down gashed her right knee on this sharp porceline (from the broken soap holder on the wall)! Ugh….

So things here feel like they are moving at a very fast pace…. While trying to keep up with everything we are usually up to, there is much more happening as well. K’s show is vast approaching and in the spirit of performing he has written his own play that his friends will be performing in! They will be here for his b-day to make a movie of his play and we are creating costumes, scenery and the like! It’s been busy! But just so much fun and exciting.

The whirlwind of it all D got some wierd stomach bug last Friday. She puked enormously that night and just once more Saturday, so really not that bad. But worse than any of the big kids could ever remember feeling. She has recovered quickly, but you can tell there are times when she’s just too scared to eat something. The sweet stuff has no problem going down nicely though! ; )

Other, Dad sent me this cool link and I really really like this. Not only how amazing it plays out forwards and backwards, but the impact the words have. Check THIS out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

Time has sure flown by! I had a fabulous birthday at the end of last month! I got to sleep in till 9:30am because SBJ just happened to be working late that particular day (thus leaving later in the AM)… the kids made me breakfast in bed! I got the little chip-thingy I wanted for my new phone to be able to hold video, pics and music… had a great day at open gym, and a pizza dinner at my moms, with chocolate cake of course! ; ) My brother sent me Birthday Munch, but says he calls it Crack b/c it’s so good you just can’t stop eatin’ it (I suppose I have to agree, but trying to explain that name to the kids proves a tad difficult!). The day before my b-day Dad took us to Le Peep, my choice b/c I love to get the Harvest Benedict there and only seem to get there if it’s my birthday! ; ) Yum! And then we poked around a bookstore and enjoyed what we could of the BITTERLY cold day.

Other… K’s been doing Fantastic Fridays (including clowning and MacSith classes) and we’ve been regular at open gym, storytimes, weekly library visits, play with friends, and trying to bare the rest of this nasty winter. I am truly sick of winter at this point, and it’s not been easy to tolerate come this time of the season!

I’ve ventured onto Facebook, but have to admit I am quite a rooky. I find it amazing how much time some people spend on there! Not quite sure I get the point of it, but it’s interesting catching up with people…. secretly. Brings new meaning to “fly on a wall”.

Recently, D and I decided to venture into the outdoor skating arena. I am not sure why I have never thought of it before. Maybe b/c it seems to be consistently FREEZING out… but this past weekend it was in the 30’s!! Yea, 30’s and we were excited to be outdoors! Frightening. Anyway, we ventured to some outdoor skating by the lakefront and I figured out how to take a video with my phone/camera! (The trickier part was figuring out how to upload to the computer! ; )

Can you tell how proud we are?!

She’s had a pretty big month! First we had ‘caved’ and bought the birthday bike early b/c we ha been having such awesome weather, we just could not wait till the end of the month!!!

Then… a Chucky-Cheese birthday with Uncle P and Aunt J b/c they were taking off for Asia before the big day! So they wanted to celebrate with her early…

Then…. she had a fun party with Grandpa which included a viewing of the new movie Speedracer in the theater (I’d recommend waiting for the dvd = ) And then lunch out and about. It was a fun afternoon! And then finally, she had “the” day celebrated with us and Grandma at Leona’s. Was quite a pleasant afternoon despite her just getting over a roaring ear infection and not being up to tip-top speed. But she seemed to enjoy!

And then….

The big “S” man is 5 weeks old today! He’s been growing amazingly fast. Has turned over already!!! And a nursing-mania-little-man! Everyone is so over-the-top in love! = )

And other fun stuff going on is tracing Uncle P and Aunt J’s travels all over the world!

Check them out: http://hp3ba.smugmug.com/

And of course we can not forget the recent karate-kid’s belt test! We have now advanced to the green stripe!

It’s been such a long time since I’ve been in touch. So much has been happening it’s been quite exciting and yet too busy to write! Where to start? Well… I was in St. Louis for a conference with CCAP and that was actually pretty fun. I was quite nervous about it because I had never slept away from the kids before, so it was nerve-wrecking at first, but soon came to enjoy my adult time away. = ) And then we had K’s BIG #5 b-day! That was a BLAST! We went to Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament and what a memory that created for us all! Hmmm… OH, immediately after that SBJ was sworn in as a US citizen! That was so exciting! Then… I’ve been working on getting the craft site up and running and that’s slowly but surely getting going. I’ve filled an order for 3 new slings and that was so much fun! We’ve been wrapping up our homeschool year with the group and that’s sort of relieving to me. I am ready to move on to a new session… maybe mostly looking forward to summer… or the idea of warmth!! And lastly… just got my fun new toy! A new laptop! It’s a lot of fun! = ) *Maybe* it will encourage me to keep tabs here more often!?