It's Been A While

Well the blog is still here. How quickly I stopped posting my everyday thoughts. I found my way back after reading my cousin's blog on her recovery from being hit by a truck.

Maybe I will start again. Maybe not. I miss it, but not sure if I have the time. I was surprised to see that people still visit. I apologize to those of you who have "stopped by" looking for new posts.

So much has happened since my last post. Our new baby, Rylee Grace, was born on March 14th. She is such a beautiful baby. I am so in love with her as is everyone else. The kids are all doing well. Baseball season is about to start for Alex. Aubrie just won a county wide essay contest for the D.A.R.E. program and we will be attending a dinner and awards ceremony next month for her. Hallie is enjoying being a part of the Gifted and Talented Program. They did Mentos/Diet Coke Fountains last week. How fun is that? Madeline is getting over yet another bout of tonsillitus. Thank God we go to the ENT in two weeks. She needs those darn things OUT! She is enjoying school (as always.) Kaitlyn is getting so smart it just amazes me daily. She will be four in July and just seems so much older. Isabelle, ah, Isabelle. Our Isadevil on some days. She is a complete crack up. I get a good dose of laughter each day just because of Isabelle. She is such her own little person. She adores Rylee to pieces.

The two year anniversary of my Mom passing was on March 31st. It was a quiet day. I think I underestimated what my emotions would be like after just having a baby. It really sucks to be only 30 and have a new baby and your Mom is gone. I had a rough patch in the hospital just after we had Rylee and another one the 31st. I knew it would be hard, but never what it has been. I find myself saying again that she is supposed to be here. Ugh, gotta stop thinking about it.

We had snow this morning when we woke up! It is April 6th! It's not supposed to snow! Thank goodness the sun came out and has melted much of it. I am glad I cut my daffodils to arrange yesterday. The ones left outside are all wilted now.

Parent Teacher Conferences: After

Well the conferences went great. Nothing but good new about the girls. They are both getting great grades, have read way more than the required quiz books, and have lots of friends and fun. Hallie is in the gifted and talented program and her work there is great as well. Her standardized test scores came in the day of the conference, and they reflect that she is very gifted.

I even got nothing but positive comments about being pregnant again! Yeah! Here I was worried about possible drama, but there was none. That was a welcome relief.

I was asked to take part in a story for a local newspaper on shopping trends and our economy. It was a pretty long article and I enjoyed doing it. In the piece it was stated that I had 6 children with #7 on the way. So I had o tell you that to get to this: Madeline came home from school yesterday and said to me "Mom, Mrs. W says congratulations on the new baby!" I thought to myself that is odd how did she know? I hadn't seen her recently. So I asked Maddie "Did you tell here?" Madeline replied, "No she said she read it in the paper. Why are you in the paper for having a baby Mom?" I cracked up laughing and realized I had not told her about the shopping article.

Terrible Two's Already?

So I think my darling Isabelle has officially hit her "Terrible Twos". She officially turns two on December 26th, but the stage is already rearing its ugly head.

For example, yesterday I took her and Kaitlyn out shopping for Aubrie's birthday. Isabelle proceeded to run through Justice, pulling at nearly every rack and display she could find! Who is this monster cleverly disguised as my once sweet Belle? Next onto Old Navy where she squealed nearly the whole time because I had buckled the "monster" into a shopping cart! After that I figured it was close to lunch, maybe she is misbehaving because she is hungry. I thought I'd feed them lunch before we went to the other couple of places I was hoping to go.

HA! No such luck. We got our food at Chic Fil A and picked a seat. No sooner did I open Isabelle's apple juice she is screaming about being in the highchair buckled in. The juice pacified her long enough for me to get Kaitlyn's and her lunch set up. Then Isabelle decided she wasn't eating. Pushing the food every where, screaming, spitting her juice out, writhing to get out of the highchair. All the while poor Kaitlyn sits across from me with her ears covered. Nearly the entire place turned their heads in my direction and I know what they were thinking. "Why doesn't she have control over that child?" My dear readers, I am not accustomed to being stared at in public places. Isabelle is my first child who has gone through this stage in such an aggressive way. Hard to believe, I know. To sum up from this point on, I took her out of the highchair and sat her next to me. She still refused to eat, only wanting the juice. I was just happy she was quiet. Kaitlyn and I hurriedly finished our lunch and off we darted to the Suburban and headed for home. I was not about to try to go anywhere else.

I guess I should have seen this stage coming. There have been signs for weeks, hair pulling being fun, complete disobedience (Hey Mom look at me, I am standing on the dining room table!), throwing of toys, the new word "NO!" in her vocabulary........

Please tell me this goes away. Please tell me it gets better. Please, please, please don't tell me I am now doomed for the next so many months to being quarantined to my own home. It's a phase, right? Right?