Happy Birthday to my Princess Margaret Rose

The current queen of England had a sister.  She died a few years ago but she was named Margaret Rose.  And she was a real live Princess.  Apparently she was a little feisty and was known to be a diva.  However, MY Princess Margaret Rose is a real sweetie and brings joy to my day EVERYDAY!  She gives the absolute BEST hugs and has a way to smile that makes your heart melt.  Today we got the pleasure of spending a day celebrating her for her 1srt birthday...

Italo took Annabelle to school this morning so I could spend some more time getting ready for Maggie's big gathering this evening.  We actually started getting ready in full force last night and Italo and I stayed up for several hours prepping Mac and Cheese, Bakes Beans and Meatballs for her party and gluing flowers on plates.  It was a really nice evening for me even though we were working because we were able to talk and catch up while we worked.  It was a GREAT!

Maggie finally woke up at 8:30 and I was able to get some extra long Birthday hugs since I did not have to share them with anyone else in the house.  What a treat!  We then went to Target (we tried a different one out this time) to get some pictures.  Her magical smile did not appear because she was a little sleepy.  I was hoping she would wake up in time this afternoon for a re shoot but it did not happen so we are left with what we got.  She is still a cutie even with a different than normal smile. 

After the photo shoot the model was hungry so we meet Daddy for a special birthday lunch and Uncle Julios.  Maggie feasted on chicken and beef fajitas, rice and beans.  The waiter noticed it was her birthday (because of her bday shirt) and he brought us an order of sopapiallas.  She really enjoyed tearing those apart and eating those as well. 

After lunch we headed over to Hobby Lobby to look for some party favors for her party.  We found some cute things for Mommy to work on during naptime.  Here is the finished product:

 

Mommy needed to run some more errands but Maggie was too sleepy so we headed home for her nap.  During her nap, I got everything set up for her party and tried to get everything ready for Italo to come home and help put the finishing touches on the gathering. 

During Maggie's nap my brother came over to deliver the girls' birthday present and stayed at home while Kimberly and I went to get Annabelle from school.  Annabelle was very glad to get home so we could start partying!  She was even more excited to get home and see what her surprise was!

The Sandbox was a great success to have at the party and I know it will provide lots of good memories over the years with the girls!  Thanks Redmons!

We got everything ready and everyone started to arrive!  We were able to see so many good friends and of course our devoted family who has been at each and everything gathering for generations!  So many folks we have not seen in a while and others we see each week were there to celebrate Maggie and it was great too see each of their faces.  After a feat of Brisket Sandwiches, Sausage, Meatballs, Baked beans, Mac and Cheese and Corn on the Cob we were able to let Maggie taste her first taste of Cake!  Things got off to a rotten start when she put her finger in the candle flame but once Daddy got her to taste what was on her finger-she was set!

In no time at all our princess was covered in icing as should be the case on a first birthday!

Since Mommy did not get the bib on in time, Maggie got a outfit change for the present opening time.  She was much more interested in walking with her "Car" than opening presents but her sister and some of her friends came to the rescue and helped her get it done!  I am beyond blown away at all the stuff Maggie got for her birthday.  WOW-she is going to be playing and dressing well for quite some time!

It was AWESOME day and an great celebration of her first year.  We made a book of Words for Maggie to commemorate her first birthday and I CAN NOT wait to have it delivered.  I hope she will cherish it as much as I enjoyed making it for her.  I will try to see how to get a link to the online book so you guys can see what everyone wrote.  It was so fun and will be such a great way for her to read the thoughts of those who have loved on her through her first year.  I pray that we will have MANY MANY years with each person in that book and all those that have been with us in this exciting adventure called parenting!

  

Breaking my Daughter's Heart

On Easter morning, I went in to Annabelle's room and we had our usual moring chat. I have been doing this since she was a small baby because I wanted to have some special time with her and could not let myself rock her to sleep at night so I chose to have morning time with her instead. This week, I sang my Good Morning song and opened the blinds and sat on her bed and was talking to her about Easter. I talked to her about Jesus and how He was hurt by people that were scared of what he wanted to do in their city and that he was killed by those people. I then went on to tell her that Jesus was buried and then 3 days later he was healed of all his cuts, bruises and boo boos and was raised from the dead.  I then told her that Jesus was taking care of things for us in Heaven with God and that we could trust Him to keeps things in control.  She was not saying much back so I asked her what she thought about Jesus.  She said that Jesus had a boo boo.  And that He was crying.  I said yes, he was crying because the people that were hurting her did not understand what they were doing and he asked God to forgive them.  She then looked at me with a serious face and said, "I dont have a band-aid".  I asked her what she needed a band aid for and she said, "For Jesus".  I told her that Jesus did not need a band aid because he was healed from all his boo boos and he was in Heaven all better now.  And I told her that because he had those boo boos, we could go to Heaven as well.  BUT, she just kept saying she wanted a band aid for Jesus.  I really felt bad for her at first because she was really sad she could not help Jesus.  I was trying to talk her out of her sadness, but later on I realized I needed to let her stay in that place.

Annabelle needs to have her heart broken over what happened to Jesus.  If her heart is not broken, she will not grasp the reality of what happened to our Savior for HER.

If her heart is not broken, she will not be able to recognize that she can not DO ANYTHING to "fix" Jesus boo boos or the state of her our soul.

My prayers for her have changed since that conversation.  I now pray that her life will guide her into moments of truth instead of ease.  I pray that Jesus will reveal the truth of who He is to her in full and not just in part.  I pray that she will understand the state of her heart and that she will desire God more than anything.

Happy 3rd Birthday to my Princess Annabelle!

I am a day late in getting this written but I have been busy celebrating Annabelle!  I have made it a tradition to take off of work on the day of Annabelle's birthday to celebrate with my little girl all day long.  This year we had a blast! 

We started the day of by taking Maggie to school and going to a playdate with some of Annabelle's friends at Pump It Up.  We then went next door for some yummy pizza and pasta with our friends and Mommy loved chatting with mommies while Annabelle ran around playing with Ryland, Avery and Ethan.  She was so excited about having her birthday with her buddies and they did not disappoint!  It was a great morning. 

We tried to go home and take a nap, but the excitment got the better of her and she played more than slept during her rest time.  Of course, the big change in our regular routine this week has been the departure of the paci and this change has caused a SHARP decrease into Annabelle's willingness to take a nap.  So, I was not thinking we would have much success in this area but Mommy needed to clean the house so I thought that a rest time was in order for the birthday girl!

I then put curls in Annabelle's hair to get her ready for her photos at Target.  That is the other tradition we have for the birthday-Pictures!  The first year Annabelle and I actually went to 2 different places for pictures because the first place we went did not go very well.  So we went home to let her have a nap and then went out for another session. 

Last year on Annabelle's 2nd birthday-I was 2 weeks from delivering Maggie so we had some birthday pics and maternity pics. 

 This year Annabelle actually posed for some pictures and we got some great photos of my little princess.  Even though I had to fake cry to get her to smile-they were worth it!

 After the photo session, we went to get Maggie from school and we were both glad to have the girls together.  We then went home to a GREAT suprise of having our living room full of ballons from Grandpa and Annie!  Annabelle had a GREAT time playing with all the ribbons and pulling down balloons and then throwing them back into the bunch.  It was FUN! 

After getting some dinner we had all of the family over for a great night of cake and hugs and kisses.  Annabelle was looking forward to her birthday cake for HOURS and was very glad when we told her it was time for the blowing out of the candles!  This year she actually blew then out---this was the first! 

After the cake we opened some fun presents and then Annabelle kinda walked around in a daze playing with all of her new prizes and trying to figure out what to do next.  Luckily there were lots of people there to give her kisses while she tried to figure out which toy to play with next.  

It was a fantastic day and I am so grateful for each of the last 1096 days that I have had the privelidge of being a mommy! 

Annabelle is a wonderful joy in our house and provides lost of lessons for mommy and daddy.  She has made parents out of 2 people who had no idea what she had in store for us!  She has rewarded us with so many kisses and hugs I could not count them if I tried and is turning into quite the little lady with a heart that is eager to please and hears that are always open to hear what we think of her.  I know that God has given me this beautiful little girl to teach me more about Himself and more about the state of my heart.  Being a wife is one step into the idea of seeing how Christ loves us, but being a mommy leads us to see how much we dont deserve His love and how much He really wants to give it to us.  Thank you Jesus for allowing me to be Annabelle's mommy.  I know you chose us for each other for a reason and I am so excited to see what lessons I learn from my daugther!       

My Ode to the Paci

Oh Paci My Paci---How do I Love you, let me count the ways! Almost 3 years ago (on Sunday) I brought a little baby home from the hospital...I can not say she was an immediate fan of our home but the one thing that seemed to make things better was a PACI. Car rides were made better (not pleasant, but tolerable) because of the paci. I was able to enjoy 11 sweet months of cuddle time and a movies with my little baby because of the sweet paci that went with us to the movie theaters. My little bundle of joy sleep through the night (11-6) at 5 weeks old because of that piece of rubber in her mouth. She would spit it out and want some milk, but if I had enough energy to flip over and give her the paci, she would go back to sleep for several hours. We could go anywhere we wanted with our baby and when it was time for a nap or even bed--we changed her into PJs, gave her a paci and she cuddled up with Mommy and off to sleep she went. As an older paci addict I told her it was time to go to bed and she would often RUN to her room knowing it was paci time. When it was bedtime I would close the door and have only had to open it a handful of times in 3 years before it was time to get up for the day. What a splendid life we had-me and that paci!


Now the time has come to part ways with my pacis and I am not happy about it at all! Annabelle has cried herself to sleep all but one evening this week-including right now and has cried immediately when she wokes up each day this week. She has only had one nap this week. I fear my bliss is over! There are NOT a lot of things that are easy about Annabelle, but one thing that has always been that way is her SLEEP. I have to be strong and resist the urge to buy her a bag full of pacis for her birthday tomorrow!

Right now I am really thinking what is so wrong with a kid with buck teeth...I mean it may be cute ;) If I only let Annabelle have it while she is sleeping how much damage can it really cause?? Maybe if I give her a paci made for preemies it may not be as bad....Maybe she will get old enough one day that she just stops sucking on the dang thing. Really, there has to be some other answer than sticking to this plan of mine!!!!

In all seriousness, I know I must stick to my plan-if only for the fact that we have talked about it so much and Annabelle seems to be on board with trying out this big girl thing and giving up her pacis. If I go back now I think she will remember that if she just cried for enough days she can get whatever she wants. However, it is really frustrating that this has become so hard on my little girl. I heard from SO MANY people that once the paci was taken away, it was no big deal. Hard core addicts have over night gone from NEEDING the paci to just not asking about it anymore---certainly they liked it as much as Annabelle. I guess I did not implement the removal correctly but at this point, what is done is done. I guess there is nothing else to do but to listen to the crying and try to get through each night one day at a time ;)

The good news is that I still have Maggie to pass along my addiction to...

MINE

I got an email from babycenter.com today about Annabelle and the fact that kids her age are going to be going through the stage where they have the need for their own possesions.  They will want to label things as "mine" and be sure that they can have control over those things.  Well-Annabelle has been in this stage for a few weeks now and this has proven to be problamtic in the sibling relationship particularly.  If Maggie is playing with one of Annabelle's toys, Annabelle comes unglued.  Well, lets face it-all of the toys in the house were once Annabelle's.... However, everything is in the house is meant to be shared among everyone in the house except for a few special things each person can have.  Annabelle has a special blanket that she does not have to share but beyond that-everything else is fair game. 

BUT-the funny thing is that Annabelle has taken this to a new level by declaring me as HER mommy!  When I go to school to pick Annabelle up, if any of her friends talk to me, she tells them-That is MY mommy.  She does not want me to talk to them or pick up any of the babies in Maggie's room.  This is fine and I understand her wanting me to be hers, but recently she has started telling Maggie that.  She tries to pull Maggie off of me and says-MY MOMMY!  I have tried to explain things to her, but she still insists on her stance!

Well-my sweet girl...I will always be YOURS .  From the first time I held you, I was yours...

BUT you will have to share me as your mommy with at least one other little one!

MY Little Maggie Rose

This weekend, I got the priviledge of having my second child be my only child for a few days!  This has not happened since she was born and I was able to hold and spoil her all day long while Annabelle was at school during the day.  I knew some things about Maggie prior to this weekend, but I feel like I was able to concentrate only on her (and my husband) for a few days to really get to know her in a new way. 

One of the things I have known from the beginning about Maggie is that she goes with the flow very well.  During her first week of life, Italo and I were taking her to movies and to test drive cars and she did not mind one bit.  She happily waited until we had time to feed her, change her diaper or play with her.  SUCH A CHANGE from our first child who really wanted everything done exactly as the day before.  During the last 11 months, she has taken Annabelle's lead with what we were going to do everyday.  The saying, "The squeeky wheel gets the greese" is sadly very true in our house.  To make the house run peacefully, we often cater to Annabelle's needs as long as Maggie is happy.  Which is most of the time.   

The other thing I have known about Maggie is that she loves to smile!  She smiles with the slightest glance in her direction and it melts your heart.  She is so happy when people talk to her and happiest when people hold her.  She loves to give full body hugs and eats up tickles!

Some things I learned this weekend were that she does not like being the car by herself---she is used to Annabelle being in the back with her.  And she is not a fan of new places or new faces.  She is quite shy-which suprises me since she likes people so much. 

I also learned that she really has a lot to say!  She talked and talked to us this weekend.  She tried to mimic sounds we made and words we said.  This is very normal for a child her age, but when our chatterbox child is around, she does not even try to talk. 

The best suprise to me was that she is one of those dream children that sleep in when they are put to bed late!  Annabelle has NEVER done this.  If she goes to bed at 8:00pm, she is getting up at 7:00.  If she goes to bed at 10pm, she is getting up at 7:00.  Maggie slept til 9:00 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  What a nice treat for a mommy who has not slept in past 7:00 in 3 years!

I have a lot to learn about you my sweet Maggie---I just need to listen to you more in the midst of the chatter of your family!  

No Commands??? Seriously...

I have not had much time to read the book that I am loving to learn from-Parenting with Love and Logic, but I have made it through a bit more during the kids bathtimes.  This is really the only time I can read a book because the kids are not clawing at me and I can keep an eye on them while I am reading!

One thing that has proven quite difficult is re-training myself to offer Annabelle advice instead of commands.  And-trying to re-train Italo to do the same.  He told me yesterday, "You trained me all wrong!"  Since Annabelle was quite small, if she was doing something that Italo did not like, he would try to convience her to do things his way and my response was always..."You are bigger than her, make her do what you want!"  This is VERY different than the wisdom that I am finding in Love and Logic.  Of course there are times they have to do something they dont want to do, but for the most part we are encouraged to offer advice instead of commands.

Example:  We want Annabelle to come to the car after leaving Babies R Us yesterday.  We explain that Maggie is sleepy and needs to leave now.  She says she does not want to leave.  We tell her, that is not an option, but you do have the choice of walking to the car or being carried.  She chooses to walk....until she sees the Mickey Mouse ride at the front of the store.  So-we let her play there while Italo is checking out and then we have to leave...Maggie is fading fast!  Again, we tell her it is time to go and she can walk or be carried.  She does not start walking so Italo picks her up and carries her to the car, telling her-I guess you choose to be carried.  This sets her off-of course.

She NEEDS to see Mickie Mouse.  She NEEDS to see Mickie Mouse.  This is her cry...all the way home.  She then proceeds to start kicking the seat.  Her cry has started to get me over the edge, so I am far from amused at this point and I really want to tell her-STOP KICKING THE SEAT in my best stern voice that has been practiced over 3 years.  But instead, I try to put the new technique into practice.

ME:  Annabelle-do you want to kick the seat or go to time out when we get home?   

ANNABELLE:  Stops crying all the sudden and says-"Kick the seat"

I look at Italo kinda dumbfunded....hmm, I did not offer that choice correctly!  I guess I need some more practice ;)