To My Sassy Daphy

Oh my Sweet Pea, Happy 2nd birthday! So full of life, boundless amounts of sass, energy and character. Daddy thought we used all the good genetics up on Thing 1 and Thing 2, man did we prove him wrong. ;)
I will admit, that you had me so smitten and fooled as a baby, that I could not have imagined who you would be in these two short years.

You were so calm and sure of yourself, even as an infant. You slept well, ate VERY well and were generally, always happy, unless I was away and you couldn't eat. ;) We like our food in this family!

You started smiling at a couple weeks old and you have never seemed to stop.

With every passing day your lack of fear, the knowledge you have of yourself and your willingness to give it all you have, no matter the consequences makes me throw everything I "thought I knew" out the window.

Everything I said "I would never do", I'm pretty sure with and because of you, I've had to re-evaluate and deviate from. ;)

You are the fear in fearless, the wonder in wonderment and the joy in joyful. You live everyday, every moment to the fullest. Even in these short two years, I know that you will be someone to reckon with. And I am proud and honored to have the privilege to be your mother. You make me face myself like I never thought I would have to. I can't (and partially don't want to ;)) imagine what else you are going to teach me in the years to come.
We all love you and can't imagine our lives without you. Happy 2nd Birthday my Sassy Daphy!

Love,
Your Mom aka Da' Boss! ;) (hey come on now, I have to at least try ;))

School, how I love thee... let me count the ways

So school has started again... yea!! And for all of you moms out there who are like oh my poor babies are in school and I'm so sad, I want it to be summer all year long. I'm sorry, I'm not one of them ;). Don't get me wrong, summer was great, we had fun. Not to mention, see this face. I know right, she's adorable!

That doesn't mean however, that I don't understand the importance of her being with other adults, children her own age, and not me, all. day. long. This one especially, has a brain, that does not quit. And I admit, at home with her other siblings, I cannot fulfill those constant mental needs, which definitely affects my mental needs. Plus, I'm pretty sure she is smarter than me already and I'm doing a lot of research to answer most of her "questions". So number one on my count the ways, yea to her teacher, have fun with that ;).

It's also no secret that I raise some pretty independent women, which is completely shocking, I know.  This one, wouldn't even let me walk her into first grade. Bye mom, have a good day, don't cry, I'll be fine. I'm not crying, nope, I don't know what you are talking about, those are happy tears.  So that opinionated, independent spirit (also known as my Karma), yep, count the ways number two!

Then there's thing 2, starts PreK and I'll admit, being my little man, a bit more attached to this one not wanting to say goodbye. Running into class, like peace out, but have you seen all the women he is surrounded by? I'd be running too!! Reason number three, needs to be surrounded by other little boys.

In addition to being surrounded by girls, this one is more sensitive then both of my girls put together. See this face, it was followed by a tantrum because he didn't want to "smile" for anymore pictures. I took 3 people, 3 pictures! Not 300. I think it will be good for other adults to endure his crying phases... as in general, I have just started joining in and crying with him and I don't think that's very healthy. Reason number 4.

I know there are many more reasons, such as a good education, more structure (although if you ask others I'm a nut about structure, sooo), not to mention an objective perspective from teachers who aren't emotionally attached to your child's behavior, etc. 
But even with all those other reasons, sending your kids off to school is always a cross emotional period. You, okay or I, feel guilty, like I should want to be around them 24 hours a day. However, the truth is, I love my kids enough to know, being home with me all day, for the rest of their educational life, (because we have an out at 18 rule) will not produce healthy human beings. It also allows me to be extra grateful to the teachers who have my children, as I have been that teacher. So extra Starbucks and supplies all around!

So I guess the next thing I will be pondering is how to sneak this "Thing" into school early. Hmmmmm.... any takers ;)

Not a "dance mom" ...sigh!

I'm back!! Sorry folks, seems the summer got away from me. I thought it would be relaxing, it would feel never ending, and the "things" would be driving me nuts. Only one of those three things happened. Can you guess which one ;).

So July has been especially busy and one of our new adventures was putting Thing 1, aka Belle, into dance class. Let it be known, I am not a Dance Mom! I have no dancing skills, at all, and my father likes to tell stories of me glaring at him during the semester they made me take dance because my little sister wanted to. So needless to say, dropping her off and playing nice with other moms who have their kids in tutu's, hair perfectly in a bun, with all the dance gear, made me slightly uncomfortable. I was day dreaming of her dribbling a basketball down the court, her hair thrown up in a pony tail, buying athletic shoes...and POP! There she is as cute as a button in her little dance outfit.

Don't worry folks, it gets even better from here. So this happened to be the class where family got to come "watch". Every ten seconds my daughter would turn around and look at me, shrug, try to talk to me, holy cow child, pay attention and you might actually know what the teacher is trying to teach you. Not like I could ever be any help in this department. See that kid behind her... to sum it up, that was me ;).

Annnddd I should have pictures of her constantly talking to me, instead I deleted them. Bwhahaha, had to show I was getting my monies worth right? Prima Ballerina in the making!

She can be the ballet dancer and Thing 3, Daphne,  can do crunk and table dancing? Yes??

Oh help!!