Aimee is doing wonderful at school.  I worry about her because she has not been invited to any playdates or birthdays from the other girls in her class and that causes a lot of hurt feelings when her other sisters do.  I’ve asked her if she wants to ask any friends over to play but it’s not the same thing and so I don’t know what to do.  It breaks my heart to see her cry when Natalie gets invited somewhere. 

Aimee LOVES gymnastics and tries so hard to perfect everything she is being taught.  She can now do cartwheels and even walk on her hands for a few steps.  I love to watch her do anything to do with sports.  She’s got her fathers genes in the athletic department and she’s usually great at anything she tries. 

Aimee decided she wanted to get her ears pierced the other day.  Her mind was set on it because another little girl in her class had her ears pierced.  So I took her, told her it would hurt like a needle, and she was so brave.  She tried so hard to hold back her tears and she didn’t let it all out until I told her that it was OK to cry and that when I got my ears pierced at 18 years old, I cried.  A little bit of an exaggeration but it made her feel better, so whatever.   

Natalie decided a week later that she wanted her ears pierced too.  Her daddy took her and she brought her duck blanket with her.  So now I’ve got two little girls with pierced ears and they are over the moon.  When I told Steve that I wouldn’t pierce their ears until they were old enough to ask for them, stupidly I believed that they would be closer to 10 years old. 

Natalie got invited to a sleep over the other night.  At 5????  We couldn’t go because we had a birthday party to go to and I was happy about that because I don’t think I’m ready to let that happen yet.  Natalie is an extremely social little girl.  She must get that from her father as well.  She’s been invited to over 5 birthday parties this year and playdates and I love seeing her interact with her friends.  It’s so adorable.

Natalie is doing great at school but at home we are struggling.  I’m trying to find the type of discipline that works for her and it’s been hard.  Having both parents home for over 5 months was great for the kids and us as a family.  It was an amazing break for all of us but it was a tremendous adjustment to get back into Steve being at work and me starting my new part-time job.  It’s been hardest for Natalie I think.  She started acting up soon after Steve went back to work and so I’ve tried to be patient with her yet stay firm and consistent when it comes to following the rules of the house.  I’ll be scheduling Natalie for surgery to get her tonsils and adenoids out soon.  She is so afraid and I wish I had done this when she was younger. 

Natalie is most happy when she’s playing with her little sister.  (I think maybe because she gets to lead the way.)  She loves creating new things for them to play and she LOVES to draw and make books.  Natalie also loves going to gymnastics but I think she’d like it more if she could decide what she could do instead of listening to her instructors.  She loves the trampoline and the balance beams. 

Kamryn has been doing wonderfully at school.  On her report card she had mastered everything EXCEPT the transition of mommy saying goodbye at the door.  Some days she’s OK and just runs right into the teachers arms, other days are not so good (ie.  screaming and crying at the top of her lungs and holding on to me for dear life).  She is not even 4 years old and she writes her name with no help, she knows how to spell “love” and does so frequently on her pictures, she draws great detail in her pictures, she can spell the entire alphabet with some help from me.  She is amazing.  This girl loves to learn and in her mind she can do anything that her older sisters can do. 

Kamryn has speech therapy once a week and although we haven’t seen much of a change, her speech therapists say she is progressing nicely.  Kamryn still has issues at night.  She doesn’t like to sleep alone and so she sleeps in the twins room.  She hates hearing “no” and I know that’s my fault but I’m working on it. 

Sticker charts, time outs, ignoring negative behavior, acknowledging good behavior, we’re using a little bit of everything.  We don’t know what we’re doing most of the time but I have faith that no one really knows what they’re doing so it’s all good.

After the movies we came home for lunch and then we went right back out to run some errands.  The girls were tired of running around and let out a huge “Hooray!” when we finally got home. 

I was rushing the girls out of the van and trying to get them into the house as quickly as possible so that I could get some cleaning in before I had to start dinner.  Natalie was dragging her feet and I started to holler for her to hurry up until I saw her bend down and take not one, but two deeply exaggerated sniffs of my lilies.  I found it simply beautiful, shut my mouth and smiled while she slowly sauntered to the front door.  She had a grin of contentment on her face as well.

Not two minutes later, as we walked in the door, Natalie began scratching her nose feverishly.  I asked her what was wrong and she started screaming, “My nose hurts!  It’s burning!”  I hadn’t put two and two together but went to get a wet wipe to blow her nose, wondering what in the heck was wrong but mostly shaking my head at my drama queen.

She grabbed the wipe out of my hand and started digging in her nose with all her might.  When she pulled that wipe out of her nose it was covered in pollen!  I cleaned her nose for a good five minutes, all the while wondering if maybe she would decide to never again stop and smell the flowers. 

I hope not.

My husband will be unemployed in a little over 6 weeks.  Which is very scary.  The wonderful news is that he has been offered a job in Chicago.  He goes there in a week to meet with some people in the company.  Although I wonder about what salary they will offer my main concern is whether or not my husband will be happy if he decides to accept.  We are happy here in Ohio.  We’ve made some wonderful friends in the three years we’ve lived here.  We’ve carved out a great life for ourselves and our family here and there’s a part of me that is afraid to lose it and to have to start over a second time. 

If his trip to Chicago next week goes well and they offer a great salary, I am all for the move.  I think maybe moreso than my husband.  It’s not that I WANT to leave but I don’t see how we can skip out on such a wonderful opportunity.  This job position is everything he said he wanted before he even knew it existed.  I honestly think that we will be happy no matter where we go.   

If we have to move I will choose to see it as a chance to meet even more wonderful people.  A chance to experience living in another wonderful city.  A chance to grow.  A chance to experience life to the fullest. 

This waiting game is not fun though.  I hate not knowing.

After lunch I got all of their snow gear out and one by one got them dressed.  I was exhausted already by the time I had the third child done.  Of course, the third (and last) child to get dressed was Natalie because I have to ask her at least ten times to do everything.  It is so exhausting getting her ready.  I ask her to pick up her mittens, that happen to be a couple of feet from her face, and halfway there she’ll get distracted by something else (say, a ponytail) that is along the same path as her mittens.  This is how I imagine what it’s like inside Natalie’s brain…Mittens, mittens, I have to get my mittens so I can go outsi…ohhhh look a ponytail!  I can take that ponytail and twist it on my fingers and make a ring so I can be a princess…what is that loud screaming???  Oh it’s just mommy calling my name…pretty ponytail I love pink ponytails….what?  What do you want mommy?  I’m TRYING to dress up like a princess.  My mittens?  Why do you want me to get my mittens?  Oh right, to go out and play in the snow.  I can’t find my mittens!!! 

Mind you, this is what happens with every single article of clothing that must be put on before we go outside in the snow.  Meanwhile, as I am trying to keep my cool and instruct Natalie on getting dressed, Kamryn is complaining that she’s too hot and Aimee is calling after Natalie to come see something or play with her.  Poor Buddy waits by the door so patiently.  He’s such a good dog.

We finally got out into the snow and I got to work shovelling the driveway.  The girls helped me out a bit with their little shovels but mostly jumped in the piles, threw snow at each other and made snow angels.  The neighbors came out to play with them and they had a blast.  Aimee and Natalie love playing with Luke and Brennan.  Kamryn was content to chill on the snow, seated or laying down, as long as she had a snowball to munch on. 

When we came in I made them a snack and some hot chocolate.  While they were sitting at the table enjoying their drink Aimee exclaimed ”Mmmmm, this is the life!”

How perfect. 

A:  “Mommy, who made me?”

Me:  “Your daddy and I did.”

A:  “But HOW did you DO it?”

Me:  “We used daddy’s sperm and mommy’s egg.”

A:  “That sounds gross.”

1)  They don’t listen the first through tenth time I ask them to do something. 

2)  The later we are for something, the slower they go.  This one is so painful for me.  I HATE being late.  I remember one day last summer when we were going to be late for soccer.  I was asking them to get their shoes on and they were running around the house chasing each other, screaming at the tops of their lungs not listening to a word I said.  Asking turned to demanding, demanding to threatening, threatening to begging.  Finally I just sat down on the floor in front of the door and started to cry.  They stopped what they were doing immediately and came to ask me what was wrong and when I explained to them that I was sad because they weren’t listening to me, they did what they were told immediately.  We ended up being late by five or ten minutes but it wasn’t the end of the world. 

3)  Kamryn is at the age where she says “No!” to every request I make.   She won’t get dressed when I want her to, she won’t eat when I want her to, she won’t get her stanky butt changed when I want her to.  She seems to think we are on HER schedule.  It gets quite frustrating when I have to go pick up the twins from preschool and I’m so worried of being late.  I wish I had more patience with her during those moments.

4)  Accidents in their pants…every once in a while is understandable but sometimes it’s 3 or 4 times in one day!  Really?  I’ve noticed this happens most during the weekends, when they are on a different schedule, when daddy is home.  I don’t think daddy realizes that the girls still need to be reminded of potty time.  Not that I’m blaming daddy or anything…it happens on my watch too (just not as often). 

5)  Fighting.  It’s never-ending and ear-piercing and it almost inevitably ends in tears.

6)  Asking me to do something for them when I KNOW they can do it for themselves.  Example:  “Mommy can you get my blankets?”  Ummm, no.  Get up off the couch and get them yourself!  Hmmmm, I think I remember hearing my mother say to me more than once “Are YOUR legs broken?”  LOL

7)  When they think my floor is their garbage can.  Do NOT spit apple peels on my carpet!  Don’t throw your dirty snot rags there either!  They tend to throw everything on the floor when they’re done with it.  It drives me insane!

Me:  “Who?” 

Aimee:  “The wind!”

Me:  “I don’t know.  Why do you think he’s so mad?”

Aimee:  “I think that he’s angry because someone stole his snack!”

Kamryn woke up a little later and went downstairs to say good morning to the twins.  Aimee and Natalie were running from window to window getting different views of the snow.  Kamryn was so excited to see snow on the ground.  She ran upstairs into the bathroom where I was getting ready and she came over to me and pulled on my shirt.  “Mama!  Mama!  S’no!  S’no!  Come on mama!!!”  Last year Kamryn was only 18 months old and not as verbal about her excitement.  It was absolutely amazing to hear her talk about the snowfall.  What a wonderful morning!

While the girls were quick to get dressed this morning, they definitely slowed down as we made our way from the front door to our car.  They were all jumping in the snow and shrieking in delight.  Kamryn was picking up the snow and shoving it into her mouth.  When she climbed up into her car seat I asked her “Kamryn, are you eating the snow?”  She exlaimed “Yes mamma!  It’s dee-ish-us!”  She melts my heart. 

Unfortunately by the time I picked the twins up from preschool, the snow on the ground had already vanished.  The girls were quite upset over the fact that they couldn’t play in the snow.  I can’t wait to get a good foot of snow on the ground so that we can all go outside and play in it!  One thing I miss about living in Canada, we definitely got a lot more snow. 

“Daddy, I DON’T know the muffin man!”