Our One Year Miracle

She really just wanted to play with the paper.

Party for a Princess!  We never have big birthday parties, we are a party wherever we go.  When you almost don't make it, a party you get!

Monkey Cupcakes made by Aidan.  Not sure why the picture is sideways.

"For ME?!?!?!"

We did chocolate (dairy free) cupcakes.  She devoured her cupcake.  Guess we know how to get her to gain weight. 

I was grateful that the day was so busy I didn't really have time to be emotional.  My parents came in the night before and we went up to the NICU to bring everyone some bagels and show off our one-year-old.  Felicity had a great day.  She wasn't sure what the big deal was, but demanded constant attention anyway (naturally).

This past year seems to have gone by quickly yet it will be remembered as one of the longest years of my life.  I've never been "willing" my baby to grow up so fast.  At the beginning we were told that no one really knew what to expect as far as development.  We were told she will probably have some delays, some major, some minor.  We were told that we would have to get another MRI of her brain to see what sort of damage had been done since the first was when she was so little that it was hard to see (although the initial MRI was very hopeful). 

Fast forward to the present.  Felicity has hit all her major milestones.  She is on the brink of walking.  She jabbers constantly (although I don't think she'll be an early talker).  She has a great sense of humor and is super lovey.  She is small as she's had that darned reflux to deal with.  Hopefully we're getting that under control and she will gain some more weight. 

We are more than pleased with her progress.  It seems weird to say that, because we are really just happy she's here with us, and we would have loved her no matter what extra challenges she may have brought. 

I feel like I can breathe a sigh of relief now that we've hit the 1-year mark.  1-year-olds are still super baby to me so hopefully I can just sit back and enjoy the sweet baby that she is instead of looking for the next milestone.

Now It Is Winter

We have a favorite book in this house.  Well, we have a lot of favorites, but that's beside the point.

"Now It Is Winter" is about a little mouse who wants to do all sorts of "springish" things, but his mom keeps repeating, "Now it is winter....".  We haven't had much of a winter this year, but it finally came.  We are currently under a "Winter Storm Warning" for hopefully close to a foot and a half of snow.  A foot and a half!!!! 

I love snow.  I love how snow makes the house feel so much warmer and "snuggly".  I love that my husband loves making fires in our a fireplace and I love cooking "comfort food".  I love that we have the perfect sledding hill right out our back door.  I love almost everything about snow.

Warning

Consider yourselves warned.  I'm a mess.  I'm a big a-year-ago-the-Monday-before-Mardi-Gras-was-the-last-time-I-felt-our-unborn-baby-move mess.  Oh yes, it's true.  I expected to be like this on her birthday, but this?  I did not expect this. 

Our Big Backyard

Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather and went for a hike...out our back door.  I haven't posted much about our new place.  We are on about 5 acres and quite a bit of that is woods.  We've spent most if not all of our "free" time fixing up the house and haven't paid much attention to the land yet.  We have a lot of clearing to do and years and years worth of wood we will be burning. 

So, out we went, hatchet in hand, and went to explore.  I will admit that the thought of taking every one for an afternoon hike was not mine.  Like many things, it never really sounds like a good idea, but I'm always so happy we did it.  I never used to be like that.  Weird.  Anyway, Felicity loved being outside and pointed and enjoyed the trees, watching the cats hike with us (I'm telling ya, they think they are dogs), and feeling the maybe-a-little-too-cool breeze on her face.

 

Learning Obedience

We are studying character qualities in school this year.  I vividly remember doing a program in school called "Character Counts" and I thought it was the cheesiest, worst waste of time ever.  I was ten, what can I say?

I hesitated doing this to my children, but in the end I decided that I can't expect my children to understand what it means to be a person of character if they didn't know what character was in the first place.  So, enter our character study.  It's been pretty fun actually, and I have to say that I love being able to say things like, "What is obedience again?  Was what you just did obedience?"

So, this post is on obedience.  I don't expect my children to be little robots who just say (now use your best "robot" voice), "Yes, master.  Whatever you say, master."  But, when given an instruction, we do expect them to do it.  Preferable without telling us what they think about our instruction. 

I had a moment today when I saw the beautiful fruits of all of our hard work.  Veronica and Gianna were in the school room arguing about something.  They were in the typical, "stop it", "no, you stop it", "no, you stop it", "no, you stop it", part of the fight when Nica took it to the next level, volume level, and yelled at her sister.  This mother went down the stairs, looked at the sweet red-head and said, "We do not yell at our sister.  You need to take a little break and go sit in your chair in the family room.  Do you understand?".

It was made clear that yes, she did understand and off she went.  Not happily skipping, but dramatically stomping to her chair.  Okay, good.

I was helping Gianna with a craft that she had gotten for her birthday when it dawned on me how obedient Veronica was.  She was sitting in that chair, not fussing or saying a word.  By-golly I was going to go in there and tell her what a big girl she was for doing just as she was told.

 So much for that!

Gianna's Turn

Gianna turned six today!  Six?!?! I guess I should probably get used to this kids-are-growing-up-way-too-fast feeling because we have a few years left of this.  Okay, maybe more than a few. 

To date Gianna's entrance into this world is my favorite.  Small town hospital, family practice doc, quiet, low-key, intervention free, calm, joking about wine right up to delivery type birth.  I will never forget when the doctor handed me a girl who looked exactly like the first girl I had given birth to 2 1/2 years earlier. 

Gianna is and has always been our lovey, super affectionate little girl.  If you're not the affectionate-loving type, too bad.  Gigi has no problem with that.  You will be hugged or snuggled with anyway. 

Gigi is currently our middle child.  Not currently because I'm making an announcement, just currently because that's a fact.  She wears her spot well.  That's all that will be said about that topic.

I think she had a great day.  She had fun with her presents and looked forward to a special friend of hers and his family coming over for dinner tonight.  Her friend is from our karate academy and the two of them are so stinkin' cute together.  I think they both had a great time tonight playing and just being kids.  Too fun!  I much prefer this type of birthday party. 

Gigi was so excited about all the cool stuff she just had to hug someone.  Felicity happened to be in the right place at the right time.

You're Welcome

Dear Future-Spouse of my son,
   I'm raising a man who knows how to have fun while doing the dishes. 

Sincerely,
  Your Future-Mother-in-Law

P.S.  He also knows how to cook as is evidenced by the bacon-grease scar under his nose.  It's fading, don't worry.