Time Has Passed & It's Almost Time Again.. (Picture-filled post!)

Now you are probably sitting here, reading that title and wondering, "what in the world is this chick talking about with this wacky riddle?!".

On November 18th, my oldest of the three kids had turned twelve years old. Yes, she is one more year closer to the dreaded tag known as "teenager". All in all though, with her maturity level (both mentally, as well as physically) she is more like a fourteen year old.

I'm thirty-five. She is twelve. I am 100 pounds on the nose. She last weighed in at 98. I am five feet tall. She is too. I don't have a set of "boobage". She does.

Basically, if you were to ask her thoughts about all this "you're as tall as your Mama" talk, that may just be what she would do to me after snickering. Like she did in the doctor's office when he asked how old I was, when discussing reading glasses.

As for the second part of the answer to my awesome riddle-title...

The youngest of the three "angels" of mine will be turning seven years old on Monday. Hard to believe. Already, seven years have just up and flown past like a speeding NASCAR racer doing 250 on the inside stretch.

In many ways she is taking after her big sister. She looks up to her (especially being that Big Sissy is about a foot and a half or so taller than her lol) and severely misses her when my oldest has to go on bi-weekly visits with her biological father.

Both of my girls have shown me (albeit the hard way) just what all it had taken my parents to raise me. Raging hormones, attitudes, "Princess-tude".

And thank God, the oldest (who now wears makeup), puts it on and still looks natural, but accentuates her features. Especially those beautiful blue eyes of her's.

At the end of the day, no matter how old they get, and no matter how tall they grow, they will ALWAYS be the apple of their Daddy's eye. My husband may not be my oldest's biological father with not a shred of DNA shared between them, but she is HIS, and he will tell you that to your face.

The little one is so wrapped around her Dad's finger, it's not funny. Okay. It is. But geez! And I thought that I got away with "murder" as a kid. Wrong. I kind of wish I could do that "Freaky Friday" thing and trade places with her for about 24 hours and enjoy some of the (tons of) freedom that she gets.

This past Summer's trip to Richmond has been one of the best I think that we have enjoyed as a family. And now, with all three of my kids growing up, and inching ever so much closer to being teens and "big kids", I find myself reflecting more on the Summers past, when the kids were so innocent, that it never seemed like we as parents would have to deal with more than scraped knees and the occasional "she/he took my toy".

To those of you with "young" (as in under the age of eight years old), take my advice and heed it well. Cherish EVERY single moment with your child(ren). Relish in each hug and kiss (yes, even the open-mouthed baby ones!). Enjoy the fanciness of every tea party and doll playtime.

The young years fly by faster than a Santa Ana wind.

Energy... I "had" it.

Sometimes, I will sit on our living room side porch outside. As I do, I will see the kids playing, running around and chasing one another.

And this is after a full day at school learning from their books, learning social skills and playing outside on the playground.

My children are normally on a school day up no later than 7:30 in the morning. They are on the go all day long at school. Then, they have to come home and change, do their homework and sometimes also do a couple of chores.

Still though, even after all of that, they manage to find the time and the energy to be active and energetic. And knowing them as well as I do, if one is slacking and not moving or talking much, then they have got to be sick with something.

This past week, since about Monday, it's been go here and there, do this and that for me. With barely any time for myself to sit and rest. In fact TODAY is my only real day "off" and not do a single thing. For the most part.

I've been readying for my oldest's upcoming birthday party (she turned 11 TODAY, but the party is Sunday), had gone on a trip with her class Tuesday, helped with a Staff Breakfast at school yesterday and then stayed for most of the day to help in the K class and with my weekly Art classes, being that I will be out of town with my son and his class tomorrow on another field trip.

Add in the get together for early Thanksgiving dinner with my FIL's side of the family and the party on Sunday, there's just no stopping or slowing down.

But it all caught up to me yesterday evening. I was so dead tired, that when I went to "snuggle" with my (soon to be) six year old (who's party will be the following Sunday) in bed, I fell asleep and was snoozing as soon as my head hit her pillow.

Now, I did get up about an hour later, thanks to her snoring. I moved in to MY bed downstairs and drifted right back off to sleep. And apparently, my husband let our other two children sleep on the Family Room couch downstairs. What a surprise to wake up to.

But it's safe to say that one, I went to be extremely early (which is highly unusual, and being it was 8:30). And two, I slept a good oh, ten hours almost straight. Neither of which I think I have honestly done in YEARS like that.

The more that I think of it, I have a feeling that in (less than) a week's time, I have given the Energizer Bunny a run for his moola. Although, I certainly now know, thanks to my body telling me so, I am not as young as I used to be and that age TRULY IS catching up to me. As is the arthritis and tendinitis in my knees.

Dear Lord! I *am* turning in to my father. (cries)

Reality Sets In Three Fold For Me As A Mom...In One Morning.

That time for them has finally come to pass. No longer are they small, helpless, needy children. Now they are increasingly independent, strong, knowledgeable 'tweens'.

In one fail swoop, I'm being forced to not only start letting go of one of the three, but TWO of them at one time. And it will only get more difficult to do so as the next few years fly by.

Hayley started walking the five minutes to school last week, but still coming home on the bus. Now, her brother who is seventeen months her junior is starting to walk to school as well. And again, come home on the bus.

Which in turn has forced my (soon to be) six year old to be a "big girl" and ride the school bus on her own. But starting last week, she started riding ONE day a week after school to come home, being that both Hayley and Bryce are now in the after school program of Art Club.

This coming Thursday, Hayley, who is my oldest, will be eleven. Lord how these years have just flown on past. It's been a ride thus far. And with her mature attitude being more of a fourteen year old, her wings are spreading faster than I had hoped.

The week after, Skyler, who is the "baby" of the family will be six! So, soon, she will no longer officially be a "baby" of sorts to the world. She will no longer be a toddler or a preschooler. She will be an adolescent. Again, I am at a loss of where all the years have gone. Like a wind, they blew past with nary a care of what a mother's heart feels.

When I watched (through the closed front door's glass) Hayley and Bryce cross the street and head down the block towards school, I had them flash in my head as they were when they were little. I saw them as they used to be. Suddenly, I got back in to the reality of what I was witnessing, and for a brief moment, longed for those days once more.

Then, watching Skyler cross from about half way at the bus stop on her own (I walked her half way in to the street) to get on to it alone for the first time, my heart sank and I had to fight my wanting to walk her the rest of the way, it hurt to know that she too has stepped one closer away from me and becoming her own individual.

In these two brief moments of one morning, I wished to God I could stop time. Just for a few seconds. I wanted to turn back the clock to the times where they inherently needed me to the fullest extent. I have witnessed this morning the anxiety of a mother "losing" their children to the world. All at once. Each one making their own individual paths in the world.

How many ways can a mother's heart ache and break? Many. Including watching them all take their own paths in society and forming their own identities.

It's one thing to watch them do this one at a time. But to see all three of your children do this on different levels at once is completely overwhelming. Gone are the days of cooing, learning to walk and talk, being dependent even on me for the simplest of things and asking silly questions such as why the sky is one color and the ground another.

These are the days where you are extremely proud of who you are raising your children to be. But it sucks also, because in the same thought, you wish you could do it all over again with them and keep time as it is.

What a Week it Was!! Vacation, redecorating and partying...Oh My!!

It was nice. It was not-so-nice. It was everything in between. It was my husband's first of three week's worth of vacation time for this year.

We had fun spending time alone. For the most part. He did A LOT of work both inside, as well as outside the house. Mainly painting the living room, the dining area and the bathroom. As well as placing border up in all three of said rooms as well. We did a "Rustic Country" theme in the living room area. Then, a "Country Modern" type theme in the dining area. We then went "all out" in the bathroom with the Lighthouses theme. It was started months ago with a bath mat and outside shower curtain....Now we got the rest of it done.

How? By spending more money than we REALLY wanted too! The cost of the three rolls of border and the coordinating paint came to a whopping $162.00 freaking bucks!! The paint was only like 40. But the border did us in, being we had to go to a Specialty shop.

Then, we went and bought some flowers for the back yard, as well as noticed that some of our Perennial flowers have sprung alive again (like the one by my basement foyer area).

Sure there were some arguments and spats. What else would you think would happen to a couple stuck together 24/7 for a whole week. Add in a kid's birthday party and it can be so stressful that the Devil himself would stay away. Especially being that I have been PMSing and just HAD TO "start" the day of my son's party.

Plus toss in getting his gift that we had to hunt down, getting the last minute stuff for it, setting it up, seeing that basically almost no one showed that was invited from both family and friends from school that were invited to attend (note to self...only invite the ONE and only kid from school that showed up out of 12 invited next year and any other CLOSE buddies of his).

Yep, it was a wild ride to say the least.

Here are a few pics from the past week....Party and home.

The (Not So) Happy Birthday

Today is a day that was supposed to be "exciting" and full of wishes.

Today there was supposed to have a cake and candles.

Today there were supposed to be balloons and gifts.

Today was supposed to be your day...Your birthday.

Instead, I can only wish you a "Happy Birthday" in my heart. And remember the birthdays of past when you were here.

I'm only able to have you in my memory to hold on to.

You would have been 64 years young today, if that Stroke had not done its life-ending damage.

So Mom, for what it's worth, Happy Birthday. I love you.

Love,

Missy Mouse

Our new baby Great Niece and what she is already giving us as a family. The flashbacks started.

It never ceases to amaze me. Even though I myself have brought forth the world's future three times over.

But there is something to be said when it comes to seeing a new life come in to this old world of ours. With them, we hold the torch in hopes of a better tomorrow for the future. We hand them our dreams to grasp and make their own.

When eying my new Great Niece this morning, I flashed back to the days when I was the one in that hospital, in that bed, holding that new life within my arms. It hit me in my mind as if I just gave birth yesterday.

What made this birth even more "close" to me was that Kirra Sage was only an ounce off, as well as 1/2 an inch off from my oldest, Hayley's birth totals. That little tiny girl sent me back ten years in the space of about five minutes.

She is an adorable little thing. Chubby, round cheeks. Long legs that were just kicking up a storm when her Daddy placed her in the bassinet from her Mommy's arms.

Kirra was born at 5:58 this morning, weighing in at 8 pounds, 8 ounces. She was also 20 1/2 inches long.

We all welcome this new bundle of happiness and joy in to the family. She was greatly anticipated. If only she knew just how big of a family she came in to. Then again, Kirra will know all too soon enough.

Thanks, Kirra (and Mama Kala) for bringing a little more love, joy, happiness and two more little feet in to our lives, not to mention, our hearts as well. We love you both, and Kirra's Dad, Jon as well. May you all have a happy, prosperous and joyous life as a family and an extended part of ours (and our hearts).

Uh yeah. I'm so excited...It's that time of year again. *sigh*

It's time for mistletoe and kisses, wreaths hung on the door, trees with needles that fall everywhere, and wrapping presents for hours on end.

It's also time to drive me freaking I-N-S-A-N-E for the next two weeks, two days, and twenty three hours. Yes, the kids are now on Winter Break...Oh I mean Christmas Break. Damnit!! No, I mean....

Oh bloody hell! It's just pure Make Mama Want To Go Running With Scissors In To A Funny Farm Break.

So far, all of the presents are wrapped. The stockings are hung with care. The tree is decked out. And my Christmas breakables are in plain view as I bite my nails daily as to how many I will be lessened down to before this holiday season is over with.

Did I mention, that today is also my birthday? Yes sir. Or ma'am... I am now thirty three years young. And I was able to celebrate with a school full of children.

There was the school assembly for a Christmas Sing Along. Plus, my running the Class Party in Bryce's class. And helping out to get things in the office distributed, and the kids in line...Literally.

Oh and there were the three boys that in three separate occasions, I had to break up in three separate lines. They had seen the "Mean Mama" side of me. And I think it honestly scared them, being that their mouths were basically dragging on the ground.

Now sadly, the evening of my birthday had been ruined. Not by the kids or the husband. But by Mother Nature herself. No not THAT Mother Nature, silly! S-N-O-W. And lots of it.

Plus, Hayley is with her father for the weekend. So, I'm sort of glad it worked this way. We can go later in the week to celebrate.

Now, if you like reading commentary about different news articles, please stop in and check out my latest blog page, "That's News To Me!". Today is Friday Freak Fest, where I do my opinionated commentary on the news of the weird, strange, freaky and funny. The link is http://newz2mee.blogspot.com/

That's about it for now. Until next time, have a great day/evening!

A Tribute To My Birthday Girl!!

Once again in my home, another special day is upon me. One that I will never forget for as long as I breath.

It was a bitter-sweet day for me at that time. Now, it's just sweet.

Today, my "baby" is no longer a baby herself. She has turned five years old.

Three days after Thanksgiving of 2004, I gave birth via Cessarian Section to a healthy, lively, six pound, fifteen ounce, nineteen inch long baby girl.

The reason that day was so bitter-sweet is because just a year before, I had lost a baby in my sixteenth week of pregnancy. It was due around my son's birthday. In my mind, this wasn't supposed to be happening.

In fact, if I had that baby, my youngest would never have been born.

Her road is long on this journey we call life. But my daughter is taking it in stride. She is now in Preschool, loves playing with her big brother and sister, has a heart of gold, and is the sunshine in the midst of rain.

What it all comes down to is that I wouldn't trade this path of life for anything.

As I went through my journey with my eye (transplant and all), Skyler was right there, side by side with me. Being my "Medicine Doctor", my "Tape Doctor" and my "Eye Doctor". She made sure I was okay and had everything I needed. Especially my tape for placing my patch over my eye.

How many four/five year olds do you know of that do those things for their parents or siblings? Not many. She cried when I was hurting. She hugged me to "feel better", she kissed my "boo-boo" (my cheek).

While I know that my two older children were concerned and helpful, Skyler really put herself out there. Then again, since she could walk and babble, she has been the type to make sure YOU were okay.

What did I do to deserve a child such as she? Skyler is here to teach US something. Although I have yet to figure out what. Maybe it's to love others as you wish to be loved. 

Or, to do unto others as you wish to have done unto you.

It could even be to take life by the reins and hold on. It will be a bumpy ride, but a thrilling one to cherish.

Better yet, maybe its all of the above....

Whatever we are to learn from my precious birthday girl, she is doing a fine job of teaching me. And I am so happy and proud to be her mother. Always have been, always will be.

I LOVE YOU MY DEAR BIRTHDAY GIRL, SKYLER! YOU ARE THE BEAT TO MY HEART. YOU AND YOUR SIBLINGS!!

 

Friday Fluff

It hit me like a ton of bricks. Literally out of the blue. Why, I have no idea.

When did my life start to speed up?! It's as if it is going a thousand miles an hour. And before long, my road will be ending.

Was it after my mom died and it was just me and Dad? That's when I had to "grow up" at the age of twelve and do many of the house chores that my mom would do. Including cooking and the laundry (which I still hate doing to this day!).

Maybe it was after having a first boyfriend. After all, all us girls think that we are the shnitz when we land a "man" in our teen years.

Or was it after a failed marriage? Boy was a I stupid then! I was so blind, Stevie Wonder could have seen what came, coming along like a train wreck waiting to happen....Oh wait! It WAS a train wreck!!

Holy smokes! I think I got it. I started to get old after having my kids. After all, they are always telling me I'm ancient and that Grandma is REAAAALY old.

In all honesty, it seems that once I hit twenty five, my age started to skyrocket. Every birthday now seems to come faster and faster. 

Hell, the last ten years have gone by so fast, it hit me in the face twice. Once with my oldest turning ten. Then, with my mind just racing about how my birthday has once again snuck up on me.

So, with all that in mind, I shall leave you all with the following....

It was a great evening! That is until....

As I had stated in a previous post, my son suffers from ADHD. But he also has a Mood Disorder, Axiety Disorder, and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

Due to all of these mental problems, he is also mentally immature. Let's just say that I have two four-year olds in my house. Only, one is really eight in chronological and biological aspects.

Today was my oldest daughter's birthday. She is now ten years old. That's right! The big 1-0!! And we took her out to a buffet restaurant named Golden Corral Buffet, which was her choice.

Her "big gift" from us was a Nintendo DS. I got the original version as a "test run" to see how responsible she will be with such a "grown up" piece of private property. She about knocked me out of the chair after opening it.

When we were coming home, Scott, my husband and I knew what would soon happen. And sure enough, like clock work, it did. Bryce had a meltdown because Hayley got "special stuff" and he didn't.

He was fussing, crying, carrying on. As if he was a toddler not getting his way. He kept on saying he doesn't get anything today, but Hayley did, so it's not fair.

We have been constantly letting him know that he will be getting a "special thing" at Christmas. Plus, on his birthday, only HE will get presents. No one else.

As of now, he has calmed down a bit. But he is still pretty upset that the world has revolved around someone other than him. And I think that to Bryce, that is worse than not getting things on Hayley's special day.