The one with the nearly severed ear.

Let me start this by saying that I wrote this days ago on my phone with the handy dandy Blogger app.  If you don't have the Blogger app for your phone- don't bother getting it. It's completely worthless!  No copy & pasting allowed.  You can't pick where you want the photo to go, and when do you get a post written it refuses to post OR Save! ARGH.  Hence the reason I am now re-writing this post and possibly loosing any humor that was in the first telling.  Again, I say ARGH.

So this was meant to be the story of Spoiled Princess' ear and how it is that she ended up with it nearly severed.  It's really not as gloriously gory as it sounds but who could resist a title like that?

Several months ago, Spoiled Princess started complaining of pain in her right ear (yes the particular ear is important for later).  It started out after swim lessons but eventually it was hurting on days that she didn't have swim lessons.   So off to the doc we went .

Dr H, our absolutely favorite pediatrician - so beloved that my nearly 20yo still goes there b/c she doesn't want to lose him, came in and asked what was wrong and what we should do about it.  Spoiled Princess said that her ear hurt and Mom said we could give a shot in the ear or two in the butt to fix the problem.  (Mom is nice like that!).  I also piped in with the thought that we could just cut it off.  Dr H agreed that we could do any of those, which would SP like to do?  She rolled her eyes at both of us and huffed that she didn't want to do any of those options.   Ha. We tried.

Once Dr H looked in both ears and reaffirmed which ear hurt, he decided that we needed to go to ENT.  You see when Spoiled Princess was around 3, she got tubes in her ears and she was still tubed in the left ear.  Dr H's theory was that right ear pain as caused by the tube still being in the left ear and not being able to adjust to the water pressure.

Off to ENT we go.  I called and made the appt- clearly stating that we needed to get a tube removed. Naturally they scheduled us with a dr who does NOT specialize in ear surgeries.  Imagine that.  So we had our initial appt, discovered that Spoiled Princess had mild hearing loss, a small hole in her right ear (the ear that hurt) and a much larger hole & retained tube in the left ear.  Yep, definitely needing surgery but of course we need to wait and have a consult with the actual dr that specializes in ear surgeries. 

3 weeks later and we finally see the dr we need who confirms that yes we need surgery.

1 week later and we are into surgery!

Boy oh boy was that rough!  Spoiled Princess did good and was so brave. She elected to get the IV and go to sleep that way vs the smelly gas. No flinching or tears!  Brave girl!   Surgery itself went well.  They put a paper patch on the tiny hole in the rt ear.  The left ear was more in depth and had a significantly larger hole which required a graft.  In order to see clearly,  the dr had to make an incision behind her ear.   I finally looked at the incision several days later and realized that it was pretty much an ear removal. LOL. That thing was hanging on just barely!

From tippy top to the bottom.

Waking up was pretty rough and some of her anxiety kicked in but once we got out of the hospital she was doing better.  Its now been 1 week since surgery and she's doing well!  She goes back next week for a check up but at least now she has a story to tell and a scar that no one will see  :)

The one with the forgetting...

It was a typical evening in the Chaos household : all of the boys were downstairs playing, Spoiled Princess was at cheerleading & Southern Darlin' was at the kitchen table working on homework.   I had just sat down on my bed while I looked through a pile of papers  when Southern Darlin' pops her head in and says "Uhmm, Mom? Dad?  Are you guys going to go get Spoiled Princess? Did you forget about her?? I mean it's 5:58 !!"  

She was actually getting upset. LOL. I gently reminded her that SP was cheering at a game tonight and wouldn't be done until after 7pm which had SD breathing a sigh of relief.    Normal cheerleading practice is over at 5pm so if we had forgotten her - we had really  forgotten her. lol!

I'm not sure why in the world she thought we had forgotten SP, it's not like I forget the kids on a regular basis.  Sure there was this ONE time a few weeks ago and I wasn't even late to pick them up!

Once a month SD & SP have student council after school.  It just so happen that SP also has cheerleading practice (both at the school building) and so she splits her time between the two. Adding to the craziness, Dimples has group therapy after school 15mins away and Yep! you guessed it, they all get out at the exact same time!   On this particular day, Daddy Chaos was at home with a sore back and so I assured him that I would pick up Dimples a few minutes early and then swing by to get the girls.  Off I went, grabbed Dimples - who happened to be in a talkative mood- and chatted with him the entire way home.  It wasn't until I walked into the house that I realized (okay I admit it, Daddy Chaos realized it first) that I had driven home vs going from therapy to school to grab the girls.  So I hightailed it off to school and arrived toward the end of the line of parents picking up kids.  STILL I wasn't technically late.   But I made the mistake of mentioning to Southern Darlin' that I had forgotten to get them and had to rush over.  She apparently it going to let this one go. 

In my head - no one sat outside alone and wondering, I was there with the other parents and so it doesn't count. In her head - I admitted that I had forgotten them for a brief moment and therefore it can and will happen again.    sigh.

The One with the catch-all

Dear bloggy friends,

I have been neglecting you something awful.  Do I have excuses? Sure tons!! But like I tell my kids, excuses don't make things better. Just say you're sorry.  And so - I'm sorry.

I'm trying to figure out some sort of schedule so I will have a certain topic to post every day (or at least several days a week).  Not that I'm so conceited to think you guys actually read here often, but I started this blog as a way to remember all the ups and downs, the little things that pass by so quickly and then the kids are grown and away.  If anyone has any ideas - feel free to shout them out!

For now, a major catch up :

Let's just go down the list -

Drama Queen- is back in school and still living with her cousin.  Next semester she'll either be moving back home and commuting or more likely getting her own place. She enjoys her freedom but also seems to get a little homesick from time to time.She comes home probably twice a week on average. :) It's hard basically living alone when you come from a large family. Just the general chaos is soothing sometimes!  But all in all, she's good! Classes are going well and she's happy!

Attitude King - is a senior in high school this year. We are slowly bypassing the teenage boy stage where the only communication consists of grunts and eye rolls. He actually comes home from school and tells us what he did that day.  PROGRESS!  He's starting to get excited about college and we have 2 college visits planned this month!  Ahhh!!  Just when you finally start getting the kid back and he's ready to move away! lol! 

Southern Darlin -  is a 6th grader this year!  In our school system, our elementary goes until 6th grade, then you go to the middle school for 7-8 and the huge high school after that.  So this is the last year that she gets to stay in the same school with all her younger siblings. In fact, it's the LAST year that all four will be in the same school ever again! Ahhh ! So anyway, things are starting to get a little tougher for Southern Darlin.. She has switched from having math in a small group setting back to the regular classroom - which means homework every.single.night.  Ohh the horrors!  She is finally starting to learn the ins and outs of friendship and a bully (who she swore was a friend but was really a controlling brat) finally moved away leaving her with the ability to actually make more friends who are actually nice to her! Yay!  In her eyes, the most exciting thing so far about 6th grade is that they get to use iPads! lol!  They are supposed to eventually be able to bring them home, but honestly to me- that's just too much responsibility and I don't think she needs the extra screen time anyway. I mean this is the kid who loses her jacket on a weekly basis and breaks a water bottle (how?!) monthly.  Yeah, no.  So she's not thrilled that I told her the iPads were for school use only. lol.  Oops, mean mom strikes again!   She's a tad bit worried about 7th grade already. I keep telling her it's an entire year away!! Worry later!  But big worries - #1. She will have to ride the bus (I currently drive the group to school but middle school starts way earlier and it's just not going to happen) #2. No recess!!   So far those are the main worries. lol.

Spoiled Princess - is now in 5th grade! I still remember her first day of kindergarten; I don't know how they grow up so darn fast! She is my straight A student with tons of friends and no school worries. I worry a little that she's going to become too popular and become the mean girl but I've been firmly nipping any signs of that in the bud! lol!  She got the brand new teacher at school this year but is totally in love with her :)  Lots of new friends.  Life is good for her :)   All of the kids have been in swim lessons all summer but Spoiled Princess floats about like a cement brick! lol This kid struggles so hard to get this figured out. lol.  DH says it's because she doesn't have much fat, just all muscle and us fatties just float easier. lol But of the 4 she certainly tries the hardest!!

Fishing Pole - is now in 4th grade. He's creeping up there! He's struggling bit with paying attention and behaving but overall is having a good year. His grades are decent, of course he gets a C on his midterm and is immediately worried that they will hold him back!  lol.  Southern Darlin' had an F and could care less. lol.  I explained to him that he needed to always do his best but a C would not have them hold him back and again it's way too early to even be worrying about stuff like that! lol!  Other than that, the boy has been a medical stress point for me.  We saw genetics for both little boys over the summer. Genetics feels that they both possibly have ARND (alcohol related neurodevelopmental deficient) but also with all of Fishing Pole's many different medical issues they want to do chromosomal testing.  So now we wait months and months to get insurance approval to get the testing done.  If anything comes back ++ on him, then we'll check Dimples too.  Next came a routine EKG to check things after we finally convinced the psych dr to put him on a stimulant to help his ADHD instead of the crap stuff he had him on that did nothing.  Of course the EKG came back wonky and we had to stop the meds :(  wait a while do another EKG - which came back fine - and restart meds.  So now we wait for enough time to pass and do yet another EKG.  Fun times I tell ya!   Oh but that's not all, then the boy has been having severe leg pains and weakness. Dr appt = bloodwork = neg. for any arthritis type factors so now we sit and wait for a PT eval..  I'm honestly wondering if it's just not another sign of his Dystautonomia coming through?    Life is always busy and crazy with this kid!

Dimples - is now in 2nd grade! He's finally gained a little weight and grown so he doesn't look like quite the munchkin in the class. lol.  This year his IEP is finally in place. He doesn't have a 1on1 para but another student in the classroom does and they share.  This year has been hard for him. He's having a lot of anxiety and is more restlessness/distractability.  It's that fine line - the para who has known him for a few years is thrilled that they finally can see some of his personality coming thru which we definitely don't want to squash by raising meds too high, but he's also a distraction in class and having a hard time focusing. Some days it's great and he gets all his work done with no extra help, other days he gets nothing done.  This year he has also become more socially aware - in that he says no one is his friend and/or plays with him.  Yet he also hasn't really figured out how to play with others well.  It's heartbreaking to hear several times a day that he has no friends but I'm at a loss on how to help right now.  We've tried steering him towards the girls (who love him) because girls are more nurturing and forgiving than boys.  Let's be honest, boys at this age can be little brats. lol.  Medical wise, he is doing well.  We have a sleep study coming up b/c the boy is having issues sleeping. His sleep meds used to help but don't seem to be working quite as well any longer.   He also has some weird puking spells (middle of the night) and is fine the next day, along with random low grade temperatures that are driving me insane.  I need to start making a chart so I can see if I can find a pattern. Lol.  


Daddy Chaos & I  are doing well. We've been working on remodeling the dining room.  New paint *gasp* which has brightened the house significantly! My entire house was basically one color when we bought it and I finally got sick of it. lol.  New flooring is in the dining room, we plan on putting it into the living room as well once DH recovers from the dining room installation! lol!   I'm still doing final touches - I need to find new drapes and an area rug but then I'll post a picture! :)   I would LOVE to redo the kitchen but that project is just above and beyond my ambitions for quite some time. lol!  I know our limits :)    


In other news, my niece moved in with us in June right after my great nephew was born. O.M.G. we are all so in love with the newest member to the family!  Baby fest in the house every day!  Sadly, she just moved out a week ago so we went from playing with the baby daily to not seeing him but maybe once a week. It's an adjustment for us all! lol   He'll be 4months old this week, just another example of how quickly time flies by!  Baby D is the cutest, squishiest little boy you've ever met!  I'm not the slightest bit biased :) LOL

If you don't read the review blog and need some  (or know someone that needs some) proofreading, head over here and check me out!  I'm branching out and hoping to add a few more clients to my list! *Note- don't ever look at my writing and judge from there! lol. I'm actually a pretty good proofreader (shameless plug) but I never proofread my blog writing because otherwise I'd never publish anything! LOL! :)

Take care all!  

It's been 7 hours and 15 days....

Quick, did anyone get the song reference?  I hope so because now I can't get it out of my flippin head!  Argh!  Sinead, please no more singing in my head!  Apparently, I'm showing my age today! lol!  Okay, it's really been quite longer since I've posted but it was catchy.   We'll just say it's been a while.  We've passed thru Christmas, New Years, and two birthdays.  Drama Queen turned 19 and moved back home (she's switching to a college closer to home and commuting this semester).  Southern Darlin' turned 11 and this was the big birthday. This was the year that she has officially been with us for more birthdays than not.   Some days it still seems crazy to me that she hasn't spent her entire life here.  She has wormed her way right into the family and it's not until questions about when she was a baby arise that I have to remind myself that we didn't meet her until she was 5.

Once again, I got to play mean mom.  I scheduled both girls for oral surgery over Christmas break.  What?? They were off school, why not?   Drama Queen got all four wisdom teeth out (the day before her bday... ooops) and she is super lucky and ended up with a nice case of dry socket as well.  Bonus!!  I was given access to her cell phone and given instructions to video tape her when she came out all goofy.  Sadly, she woke up and was fine.  I was just a tiny bit disappointed.  Southern Darlin', on the other hand, was enough laughter to make up for it.  She had 4 baby teeth pulled plus 3 exposures (where they cut into the gums, hook little brackets & chains onto the teeth that have decided to go completely sideways instead of down and hook the chains onto her braces).  Apparently she was not cooperative with the sedation.  She sat there just fine but would not go to sleep. Of course once they got her knocked out, she didn't want to wake up.  lol.  The dr came out and said he gave her enough meds to knock me & Daddy Chaos out.  Eeek!  That girl was all over the place.  Crying because she was scared (which was super sad), then wanting to sit up and just flopping all over.  She had double vision which she thought was quite hilarious and kept giving commentary. Blackmail, my friends, I have blackmail..

Thankfully both girls are healed up from oral surgery and we can finally *hopefully* move forward with Southern Darlin's braces.
 
We are all trying to adjust to being back in school.  We were supposed to start back last week from Christmas break and went for 1.5days but had delays & snow days (which technically were because it was cold as can be and no one goes to school in such --- temps).. Another closure yesterday but we finally went back today.  All these delays and closures are playing havoc on Dimples and his need to know what's going to happen next.   He did fine for Christmas break because we were able to count down how many days of no school.  Sudden changes in the schedule make for an unhappy kiddo.  Well that and the fact that he doesn't particularly care for school.  lol.  I keep hoping that one of these days he'll decide it's not half bad, but I am not holding my breath.. If you hate school in 1st grade, I don't see how it's going to get any better.. lol.

The Birthday Tree- seems appropriate for a Season of Birthdays...

December began the Season of Birthdays.  2 in Dec, 2 in Jan, 2 in March (4 if we count my BIL & niece)..  Life is busy and hectic this time of year.  And costly.  Life is definitely costly during the Season of Birthdays.  Along with birthdays come annual well checks.  Dimples & Southern Darlin' go to the dr every three months to get a med check (height, weight, blood pressure) so it's nice to see a little growth there.  What surprised me this year was that Southern Darlin' has finally left Spoiled Princess in the dust!  For years and years, Spoiled Princess was the bigger of the two despite being a year younger.  This year Southern Darlin' has finally taken the lead at 4'10.5" & 80lbs!  Woot ! Woot!  Spoiled Princess is 4'9" & 74lbs.  No wonder all the sweat pants/ yoga pants (Soft pants as Dimples calls them ) won't fit around her waist and just fall off.  Even more amazing is that Dimples grew 1 inch & gained 1 lb in the past 3 months!!  If you recall, this is the kid that has been tiny forever. He's not a whopping 39lbs & 3'9" tall.  Yeah, he's still a bit of a munchkin for a 6yo but hey, he's finally grown into 5T pants & size 4/5 shirts (not 4T!!!).  It's the little things, people.

I could write on and on about the IEP madness that is about to make me pull my hair out, or the thoughts of another surrogacy and random email I received, or Fishing Pole and his increasing anxiety issues which directly turn into behavioral issues..  But I think this is enough playing catch up for now.

Until another day...

Spoiled Princess turns 7

I've pretty much spent the past few years talking about how much I love my kids on their birthdays so I decided to switch it up this year.   This year I'm doing some things I want to remember because quite frankly, in case you haven't noticed, I don't have a lot of memory left up in the old noggin..

~wears size 7x pants and 7/8 shirts
~ weighs  56  lbs   and is  50.5 " tall !
~is growing her hair out for a "rapunzel" hairstyle.
~
~
~

Let's play 20 questions!

1. What is your favorite color? Pink & Purple
2. What is your favorite toy?  Leopard
3. What is your favorite fruit? bananas
4. What is your favorite TV show? Jessie
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Spaghetti
6. What is your favorite outfit? Dresses
7. What is your favorite game? Tag
8. What is your favorite snack?  Fruit
9. What is your favorite animal?  Horses
10. What is your favorite song?  Baby by Justin Bieber
11. What is your favorite book? All kinds of books
12. Who is your best friend? Addi
13. What is your favorite cereal? chocolate cereal
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? sidewalk chalk
15. What is your favorite drink?  Pop (ha, she gets it maybe once a month.. lol)
16. What is your favorite holiday?Easter
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Leopard & Jessie (From toystory)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?Chocolate cereal
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Spaghetti, garlic bread
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?Cowgirl !!






xoxo,

MLK - from the eyes of a 6yr old

Spoiled Princess tells us what Martin Luther King, Jr did -

" He spoke out because he wanted all the black children to be able to do the same things that the white children could do.. So he spoke out and it happened."


Apparently they actually do teach about MLK in our whitey white school.. I was beginning to wonder.  Even a friend comment when she came over to visit last week, she had driven past the highschool and saw on the sign that we had today off.     All the schools around her have signs that said "  No School Monday -- Martin Luther King Day" .   Our school had a sign that said " No school Monday-- Teacher Record Day".   Really?? We had the day off but they couldn't even acknowledge it as a real observance?    I felt moderately better that the 1st grade was taught somewhat about MLK.. Although when questioned the 2nd grade and kindergarten weren't told anything.  Hmmp.. 

Apparently the teaching wasn't explained quite as well as it should be.   After hearing Spoiled Princess proudly proclaim her newly learned knowledge, I asked her "Great... so what does that mean? What are white children and black children?"

Her response - " I dunno.  We didn't talk about that. "

sigh.  We quickly started going thru the family and having her look at them and tell me whether she thought they were "white" or "black".

What color are you, Spoiled Princess?   " uhmm... white?"
Good!   What color am I?   " White!"
What color is Dimples?  " Black??"
Yep!   What color is Drama Queen ?   (Drama Queen pipes in BLACK!) " uhmm, she looks white but I guess she wants to be black so she can be black ok?"

Leave it to the 16yr old to try and confuse the matter.. No she's white as can be.

What color is Fishing Pole?  "Black!  Ohhh, so Fishing Pole is black and he can do the same things that I do ? That's what it means?"

Yep!

"That's great!  I love Martin Luther King!!"


me too.  me too.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr  Day :-)


Don't forget to check out my book giveaway right here !


xoxo,

It's all fun and games until someone loses a toe..

ok, ok it's supposed to be an eye.. But in this case it was a toe.. or rather a toe NAIL.

You see something spurred Gma to put up a tire swing at her house. 

Kids were eager to rush out and try it!  Swing! Fun! 

Daddy Chaos & I dropped off the two little girls and the big boy with Gpa while we took the lil boys to get some groceries.. We figured those three would be pretty well entertained on the swing and it was easier to shop with less.  Right?

Apparently our Wally World is beyond sucktastic when it comes to cell reception. Phones only pick up at the ends of the aisles but not actually in the aisles.  So we get to the end of an aisle and I get a little vibration and noise from my phone... hmmm.. 

I have 2 missed calls?  That's weird!

Ohh, I have a txt from Gpa?  Even odder..

" Call back when you get this text immediately me"

So I called and it was busy.  (I will note that when I got home, I had 4 messages from Gpa each with more fluent cursing about my lack of answering the phone so we will just assume it was yet another call coming in that put us at cross wires).   Dialed again.

Gpa is a tad bit freaked out.  There was a mishap with the tire-swing - I will say here and no I was against a tire swing.  Dirty, smelly.. I voted for a plain ole board swing like I had when I was little.   Spoiled Princess was bleeding and her toenail was half off.. No carseats, come home now!

We checked out with our purchases (thankfully mostly done anyway) and hurried back to Gpa's house.   So much for getting Gpa to babysit anymore, right? lol. 

My brave girl is no longer crying as long as you don't look too closely at the toe or even think about touching it..  Personally, I had Daddy Chaos look at it because I was feeling gaggy just thinking about it.   Toes and Tongues, something about them just gets to me.


Off to the lovely ER we went with Miss Don't-Look-At-My-Toe-Let's-Just-Put-A-Big-Bandage-On-And-Pretend-It's-Fine.

The adventures of Big Toe.

She was fine unless a dr or nurse were in the room because O.M.G they might look or even think about touching her toe!! The Nerve! 

She tried valiantly to convince me that we should just let the ER Doc just look at it, maybe put a bandaid on and then we could all just go home and maybe grab a shake on the way.. oh and a kids meal with smurf toy, please.   All the while declaring that she never should have went on the swing to begin with.

And then the Dr had the nerve to touch it and boy did my little banshee scream.   It was determined that the nail needed to come off because it was ripped all the way back (it hurts my toes just writing about it!).

There were lots of shots and lots more screaming.. 

The worst was when she screamed "Mommy!! HELP ME! HELP ME!" 

I died just a little right then.  (Someone please remind me to make Daddy Chaos take her next time, I'll stay home with the rest of the kids.)

But it's over now.  They decided to trim up her nail and carefully place it back over the nail-bed  (like a press on nail because it's already painted pretty- said the dr) to help protect it from damage.   

We took lots of pics- many I didn't share of the graphic icky toe.  The only one Spoiled Princess didn't want me to share is above in the collage-- the end result of her toe all big and bandaged bc it's just uhh -gly.   Sorry, my dear, it was uglier before the bandage.. lol.

Moral of the story- Beware of all tire swings.. they may take a toe.   Or maybe just don't try to stop a tire swing when it hangs too low and you are just wearing flip-flops.  either way.. lol.


           xoxo,

Two-fer

All things must come to an end. 

The great Blizzard of 2011 puttered out and (at least in my opinion) wasn't all it was hoped to be. Sure we missed school but we never lost power, and that my dears is a failure in the Great Storm department.

Another thing that ended this week-  Spoiled Princess finally crossed that threshold that separates the littles from the bigs.  She lost her first tooth!  And her second was to follow immediately after! If only it were a Tuesday it could have been a Two-fer Tuesday.  Alas it was a Two-fer Thursday which doesn't quite have the same ring to it.     Naturally, I have a picture..

See that gap up there?  Two bottom teeth are now lining the pockets of the Tooth Fairy.  Spoiled Princess woke up and immediately SQUEALED her delight that the Tooth Fairy had left her not one but TWO moneys.  Yay! Happy cheer.. I'm thinking that the next teeth may not take months to wiggle and wiggle and finally let Daddy pull out =)

Southern Darlin' has decided maybe it would be nice to have a tooth fall out of her head- just for the money, of course.  And naturally it's not fair that Spoiled Princess who is an entire year younger lost not one but two teeth first.  :sigh:    At least she's gotten over the thought that she would keep her baby teeth forever and ever amen.

~*~*~*~*~

In other news...

Today is wear RED to support Heart Disease Awareness.  We are definitely wearing red in the house today !  The lil boys wore red and I tried to take a picture, however TheToddler was not cooperating.. booger!

You might notice the pink necklace that TheToddler has on.. It's his newest addiction. He wants to wear either that pink heart necklace or his sisters' pink heart hat.  One is always on him .  Silly boy.  Real men wear pink, right?



                       xoxo,

Spoiled Princess turns 6!

It's that time of year again..

The time where I sit and marvel at the birthday of our first adopted kiddo. There's some magical about it all. Not that all my kids aren't magical in their own way but I spent 10months pregnant and awaiting the birth of Drama Queen & Attitude King.   With Spoiled Princess, I found out about her when she was already a day old. I waited exactly 26hrs (kinda like Drama Queen's labor.. hmmm) from the moment I knew about her to the moment she came home with us.  She signifies the beginning of a new path in our lives.  the foster/adoption path.

So it's been 6 years now.  I know I say it all the time but I honestly can't figure out how the time goes by so quickly.  One minute they are itty bitty and the next they are in school!  Don't even get me started on how much faster time seems to go once they get into school! ugh!

As I mentioned in a previous post,  we made cupcakes for her bday at school.  Note to self- do not let the 6yr old crack eggs no matter how much she tells you that she is an expert at it. You'll end up with egg down the cabinets & on the floor. Yum.  She's just lucky I happened to have an over abundance of eggs that nite!

Fishing Pole & Spoiled Princess made the cupcakes all by themselves.  They were a pretty good team!  Spoiled Princess then had fun telling everyone at school that SHE made them. lol.

Unlike Southern Darlin',  Spoiled Princess wanted to stay at home , eat "basketti" and have ice cream cake for her bday!   

All dressed up in her new 'gear'. 

It was a quiet birthday but a good one.  She's changed so much in just a year. She went from a preschooler who would tolerate ½days but couldn't imagine being away from Momma for a full day and therefore was not going to Kindergarten  into a little girl who absolutely loves Kindergarten!  She loves her friends! recess! learning!  Everyday she comes home to tell me exactly what they did that day -every little detail.  Her sentence always beings with "Mommy you will be so proud of me!!"  Yep, I'm always proud of her.  She's growing up so fast.

Let's look thru the last couple of years to see how she's grown..

4 years old :

 5 years old :

 

6 years old :

                    
 I could have went back further but that would just make us all cry.. My baby girl is growing up way too fast!  Happy Birthday Spoiled Princess!!!



                 xoxo,

Back to School :)

It's that time of year again..  Time for school to start up.

I am one of those mom's that others hate. I don't look forward to school most years. I miss my kids. I like having them at home.   This year was especially tough as it's Spoiled Princess' first year of Kindergarten (all day)..

It's odd to be at home all day long with just my two little boys.  It's quiet (which in itself is odd to say since I happen to have the two loudest kids on the planet at home with me).   We'll adjust in time.. Next year Drool Prince will be at Kindergarten too- then I'll really be going crazy!

So while I wasn't eager for school to start, the kids were.  They missed their friends. They wanted to go back Now!  Southern Darlin' was the only one who had the slightest bit of hesitation about going to school and even she did well!

With no further ado- the official First Day of School 2010 picture :

You can clearly see Spoiled Princess' excitement..

Drama Queen- voted child to make Momma feel old at every turn.  So what if I had her when I was not quite 19.. The kid constantly makes me feel old. How can I possibly have a FRESHMAN in highschool?  When did this happen?   It's going to be really weird when she's a Senior and The Toddler is in Kindergarten..  hmm, I see what Daddy meant when he cried- "We were almost done!!".  Too late now. oops!

Attitude King- starting 7th grade this year.. Unfortunately for his sister, this year also happens to be the year that our school system decided to combine 7 &8th grade with the highschool.. So her first year at Highschool is also his first year at highschool.. ohh burn! To make things worse funnier  they actually have Study Hall together.. I almost couldn't quit the laughing when I heard that..

Southern Darlin' was not really looking forward to 1st grade.. She wanted to stay in Kindergarten with her old teacher . She was comfortable there.  Just talking about going to 1st grade could result in tears.  Oh the anxiety!  The first day of school revealed a calm Southern Darlin'.  She immediately insisted on taking her pill because she didn't want Momma to forget (ha!).  Into her class she strode and sat down like a big girl! No crying, no running after me!  Yay!!   side note- apparently I need to have her brush her teeth before she gets dressed..

 Spoiled Princess is my poser.. She's always striking up her model poses and requesting a picture now please!  

She surprises me daily.

She was the clingy one.

The one that you couldn't get out of her sight or Else.

She never spent the nite at Gma & Gpa's because she had to be touching me at all times.


Finally she has grown into her own little person.  This independent child who happily walks into her classroom with a hug, kiss & a bye Mom!

:sigh:  It makes a Momma proud and a tiny sad all at once. Where'd my baby go?

Count to 3.. 1, 2..THREE.. Wait girls, Don't say three.. I'll count.

Ok. I know I said no counting and close your mouth. but you have to smile a little SD..

What? SD- why do you look surprised? SP- smile!!

Thanks girls! That will work :)

And another year starts....

To #1 of 4

Four years ago today, our lives changed yet again. 

That little bug that wormed her way into our hearts seventeen months earlier when I arrived home from the hospital with her was officially a legal part of our family..

Forever. 

From early on, I would tell Spoiled Princess the story of her birth.. 

Once upon a time, a beautiful little baby girl was born in the hospital.

A princess baby girl, right mommy?

A princess baby girl.. Once upon a time, a beautiful Princess  baby girl was born in the hospital.  She needed a mommy and daddy who could take care of her and love her. 

So the dr called YOU , right mommy?

So the hospital called me and said "Do you want a pretty little princess baby to take care of?: and I said ...

You said OF COURSE!

I said Of course!  Mommy & Daddy didn't have any baby things anymore because Drama Queen & Attitude King were bigger.. So we got to go shopping and buy all the fun baby things. We bought a cradle and diapers and wipes and..

bottles and pacis!!

and bottles and pacis and a carseat.. Then Mommy went to the hospital and got to hold this special baby.. And play with her.. and dress her.. and snuggle with her..  Then I put her in the carseat and tucked her in and took her home..  Once we got home, I handed her to Daddy and he..

hogged her the rest of the nite..

 And he held her and hogged that baby the rest of the nite..  And that little Princess baby was..

me !! Princess "  Spoiled Princess"

 It was you!! 

I've added to it a bit more as she's gotten older but that was our initial story..  We talk about how she and Southern Darlin' came from the same tummy.. and how that Mama couldn't take care of her (Southern Darlin' usually pops in and says how she was mean to her & went to jail) so she came to live with us.  We talk about what a forever family is but to her it's natural.  She's always been here, unlike Southern Darlin' and doesn't know any different. Adoption is a normal part of her life and won't shock her later in life.  Everyone has their own ways of dealing with adopting and telling their kids, this was ours.. Let them know the truth from the beginning and it will seem normal.  Some prefer to wait until the kids are older or not tell at all.. To each their own.

Today to celebrate her Adoption Day, she chose french toast for breakfast..  Drama Queen pampered her and did her hair.. We had planned on going swimming or to the movies (per her request) but Daddy Chaos' back is just not up to it yet.. So we are planning a swimming day later in the week and are going to go see Toy Story 3 when it comes out (yay!)..  Since nothing else worked out, we did manage to sneak out of the house for some special Momma, Daddy & Spoiled Princess time this afternoon while the others napped..

Princess at heart but eats ice cream like a little piggy.. 

She did not appreciate Momma calling her Princess Piggy..

There's my baby.. She's growing up fast..