My baby is 6

Six years ago was the scariest time in my life thus far. My water broke at just 27 weeks pregnant. Hospitalized on best rest hoping for the best possible outcome. Just seven days later my placenta ruptured causing me to have an emergency c section. (During the c section my doctor noticed I had valamentous cord insertion: A condition that occurs in less than 1% of single pregnancy and  is routinely detected during ultra sound (mine was not) and if not detected causes premature labor and stillbirth.)  It was at that time during my c section, my wonderful doctor kissed my forehead and said to me, "she is a true miracle..." It was not until later when she explained what was really going on inside. It was hours later when I got to go the NICU to see my precious 2 pound baby and the neurologist said, "...she is one feisty little girl..." She was already off her ventilator. Although I was still scared and the 85 day NICU stay had its ups and down, not once did I think I was going to lose my baby. She is the light of my life & someone who has forever changed me.

Today, Tori turns 6! What a great 6 years it has been having our family complete. She brings us so much joy & positive energy. This year she requested a cooking party- so a cooking party it is! I know how ironic, considering how much I love to cook...*note sarcasm. So 12 of her closest friends came together to make some fun food.

We made homemade lasagnas to go, fruit kabobs and chex mix. We had egg races on the driveway and decorated aprons! It was a fun way to spend her day & most importantly she LOVED it. It feels good to be six!! 

~ It's My Life

Baseball.Baseball.Baseball

Summer has hit the half way point, I can't believe it. Time sure flies when you are busy having fun. It is our first summer that a sport has mildly taken over our lives and I love it! It brings me back to being a kid and those summer days and weekends of playing!

Wylie is playing in the 9U junior league in Hudson but also made the 9 year old select Hudson team. This puts him playing ball anywhere from 4-7 days a week depending on if he has a tournament on the weekend. One would think, that is an awful lot of baseball for a young little guy and he might get burnt out.  NOT Wylie. This past weekend was a great example. The boys play 8 games, four in a row on Sunday. We get home, Wylie showers, plops on the couch and immediately turns on the Twins game that he dvr'd from that day. This kid LOVES baseball and I LOVE that he loves it so much. 

It brings me so much joy to watch him play. Such a different feeling than playing, it is actually harder to watch. You see the joy, excitement, frustration and disappointment on his face and realize you can't help him and that you need to let him learn and figure out the highs and lows,  that is all part of the game. Learning to manage all these feelings through out one day/ 4 games is a challenge for a 9 year old (and their mother).  

Through out the weekend I realized a few things about myself. 1)  I have not lost any of my competitive fire that once existed when I played. 2.) Wylie inherited all of it from me and some from Jacques so he might have a little extra than the norm! But hey, better to have too much then not enough, right??? 

This is just the beginning and I am embracing it all and learning myself how to parent an athlete and to keep my emotions and competitiveness in check....I am not going to lie, I still have a ways to go! 

                                               2nd place in the Hudson Tournament

                                             3rd place in the New Richmond Tournament

Thankful for these girls~their friendship & their patience at all these games! 

                           Thankful for these friendships~ the Moms of the boys who make it so fun!

                                                                   ~ It's My Life  

Another year comes to an end...

Another school year comes to an end. Where does the time go? It is true, that the older the kids get, the fast time goes. I can vividly remember having a 3 year old, 2 year old and an infant just hoping the day goes faster. Now, I wish the days would go slower.  The things we thought we could successfully do with two toddlers and an infant we can actually "successfully" do now with out looking like crazy fools.  Life is good with kids ages 9 1/2, almost 8 and almost 6!

Wylie just finished 3rd grade and was counting the days until summer break. He was ready for hanging out with his friends, swim lessons, lots of baseball and baseball tournaments, a couple basketball camps and our summer trips. He wasn't so excited to learn that I had signed him up for a 7 week book club. Although he had his first one and the morning after he woke up and read before turning on Sports Center. HaHa. Wylie is definitely our sporty kid & I love that!

 Kasey just finished up her 2nd grade year and I think she loved every minute of school. She is going to be my school kid. She embraces every bit of it, except gym in which she is not very fond of.  Kasey will be doing book club all summer,  taking summer classes (for fun), doing a couple art camps and swim lessons. Five days after school was out we drove to school for her summer class and she said, "Oh my school! I have missed you." I couldn't help but laugh. So glad she loves school so much!

Tori finished up her PreK year and will heading into kindergarten in the fall. She is definitely excited to go! Tori's summer is filled with gymnastics, K summer class, swim lessons and being really excited for her birthday and our trip to the ocean. She asks daily, "How many days til my birthday?" and "How many days til the ocean?" Love that she LOVES life so much.

 So here's to another summer with my kids at this precious age. Here's to making new memories and teaching them new things & lots of fun in the sun!

           
                                                                ~ It's My Life 

Mother's Day

 I will let them be little, fill their hearts with laughter, help them grow wings, nurture their sense of wonder, inspire them to believe, and LOVE them like there is no tomorrow. 

Waking up to extra hugs and kisses is always a good way to start a day. Reading endless handmade notes and cards that are made with so much love, priceless. I try to teach them to love and love big, be emotional, tell people you love them, take chances (while making the right choices), be who you are and be proud of that and to be a good friend. There are many more things but those are some that we talk about regularly. This morning, I was confident that I am doing an okay job of making sure they love and love big. Their faces when giving me their homemade cards were not just them being proud of what they made but watching their reaction to how happy that they made me. It is such a great day to take time to remember why you wanted to bring these beautiful people into the world a day to think about your responsibilities to these little people but also a day to be reminded of love, unconditional love that we, as a family have for each other.  I love my kids, to the moon and back (even the smiley moon). 

My Mother's Day gift: we planted our very own orchard. I have to laugh a little because it was only last year that we started our own garden and I am still learning so much about that. We planted 5 fruit trees, one for each member of our family. Two apple trees, two pear trees and a cherry tree. We read and learned about what to do, we talked about bees and their importance and how to nurture our trees to become strong, healthy fruit bearing trees.  We also talked about how we have to have patience because it takes a few seasons before we can eat the fruit. Wylie said, "mom you are not very patient." (Oh how my kids know me too well. HA. )

               The three people who made me a Mom and our 5 new fruit trees in our new Orchard....

Top 10 Reason I love You: By Wylie 

10. You drive me to my sports practices and games

9. You are the best baseball fan

8. you sit with me when I am hurt or feeling bad

7. You have movie night with us

6. You tuck me into bed every night

5. You make my favorite meals on my birthday

4. After try outs you take our family out for dinner or ice cream for trying our best

3. You sit with me when I am sick

2. You buy me Christmas toys and birthday presents

1. You are the best- YOU LOVE ME.  

~ It's My Life 

One tiny clementine

On a Sunday where a lot of people are celebrating St. Patrick's Day, drinking green beer or watching championship Sunday, awaiting Selection Sunday we try to figure out who threw away their clementine.  At our house, we don't throw away our fruit and/or vegetables... it's a rule. As their Mom, I know which veggies /fruits are not their favorite (in which they don't get much on their plate) and I know which they love and are then expected to eat what they are given.  In this case, it was one clementine with their lunch.

(The Clementine itself) 

So cleaning up the kitchen after lunch, I realize that one of the kids threw away their entire clementine. So I very nicely ask all three kids, "Who didn't eat their fruit?" And all three kids had the same answer, "I ate all of mine." So I asked three more times and when their answers didn't change they were all sent to sit on the "dog couch" (only cause it is smallest) until one of them wanted to admit to throwing it away. After 20 minutes or so and still no confession, I ask "This is your last time to tell mom you threw away your orange before I get really mad now for lying about it. I wasn't even that mad about the orange and I was just going to make you eat it. But now, you are in trouble for lying about it. So you will sit there all day until one of you tells me." Keep in mind, I know my kids and I had a good idea after asking them the first time which one did it but that's not the point here. It's a good lesson for all.  Twenty more minutes go by with no one confessing, so I had them go into the office (aka interrogation room) and talk to Jacques. He very calmly asked each kid the same two questions: "Did you eat all your orange?" and "Did you throw away your orange?" Each kid, yet again, said the same thing, "yep I ate ALL my orange" and "NO I did NOT throw it away." So back to the couch they go, by this time Wylie has crawled onto the end table because he is just mad that one of the girls has not admitted it yet... oh and that way he can also partially see the t.v and the basketball game that's on.

 

 (Tori above in "interrogation room," while other two wait their turns)

One hour later, yep they sat there for one hour, doing nothing just sitting there. We talked about how terrible it was to not admit to doing something wrong, let someone else get in trouble for what they did, not taking responsibility etc and how even if they might get in trouble, telling the truth is always the best way.   So we asked Tori to look Kasey in the eyes and repeat after us and we asked Kasey to do the same. As soon as Tori had to repeat, "Kasey I ate my orange. I would never lie to get you into trouble because that is not what sisters do," she started bawling... Kasey could repeat it all pretty sharply cause she is pissed that she was getting into trouble for something she didn't do. So I ask Tori, "Do you want to come with mom and talk to me?" She says "no, I ate all my orange." Finally, after nearly 2 1/2 hours (in total) I say, "I am giving which ever one of you who did this 3 minutes to fess up I am going to freak out, yell at both of you and send you both to your rooms until dinner." Tori is crying this whole time when I announce there is only 30 seconds left, she stares at me with those big blue eyes and says "I want to talk to you." So off we go.... She admits through lots of tears that she did it. She had to go apologize to Kasey first and then up to spend the rest of the afternoon in her room for lying.

Kasey also learned a valuable lesson because I got to explain to her that it would have been easier to believe her if she hadn't lied to me about things before. She said, "that's a horrible feeling for you not to believe me when I love oranges, they are the first thing I eat if you pack them in my lunch."


Who would have thought that this tiny little clementine would cause a 2 1/2 hour stand off, lots of tears, some interrogating, a confession and one tough (but ever so important) lesson.


                                                 ~It's My Life

Road trip with a friend

"Friends are siblings God forgot to give us." This is a quote that has always been dear to me. Growing up I had always wished I had a sister.  I am so thankful that Kasey and Tori will have each other, what a special relationship.

 One of the benefits of growing up with out a sister is that I have tried really really hard to value my relationships in my life, especially the ones with my girlfriends. The older I get, the tighter I hold on to these people in my life. The more I realize that although having a sister would have been great, having  close friends can be just as great!

Something I think everyone should do sometime with their girlfriends.... Take a road trip! Even if you don't have a certain place to go, get in the car, play your favorite music, talk about life, LAUGH A LOT & just drive.  This can be the best therapy in the world & give you some of the best memories.

I was fortunate enough to have just completed yet another road trip with a friend. A 13 hour (one way) trip to Nashville, TN to spend 3 nights in Music City and also to see the one and only, Mister Jon Bon Jovi. Yes, JBJ may be the "reason" for these trips and he is certainly the highlight of the trip, but it doesn't compare to the talks in car, getting lost on the way, stories that make you laugh til you cry & sharing the experience with someone who means a lot to you.

And.... I get to do it all over again next month with another friend to Iowa.  Get in the car & drive....

"As we grow up, we don't lose friends, we just learn who are real ones are."




                                   ~ It's My Life

Bittersweet days, yes another one

Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday that my little 2 pounder was born. I knew she would change our lives, mine specifically.  I have had these last few years at home during the school year with just her. We do so much together, run errands, make lunch every day, play lalaloopsies and talk....A LOT. These are days I will always look back on and cherish. Absolutely cherish.

   

Today I registered Tori for Kindergarden. It was bittersweet. I am so excited for her, wait no I am not. I would keep her home again if I could. Let's try that again. I know it is inevitable and I know she will strive to do great things but I am just so not ready to let my little, innocent, sweet girl out into the big bad world of kindergarden. (haha)

I consider Tori and myself so so lucky this year. Tori has had such a great experience in her preK class and absolutely loves her teacher and her friends in the class. I love the environment, the school, the teacher, the kids and the kids parents. I mean does it get better than that? We can't even fit all the play dates in.... It is such a great group of Moms and kids. We are so lucky.

I know kindergarden will be okay, I really do. Today was just another reality check that time just keeps on ticking and that my babies are growing up. Bittersweet day.


Loving preK and not ready to move on yet.....

                                                              Tori's Class out to lunch

                                                       Adam, Tori and Willy having a playdate

                                                          Tori and her dear friend Jonas

                                                    Willy came to watch Tori's gymnastics

                                           Sydnee, Tori and Kenley having some girl time

                                                     Such good girlfriends, Tori & Kenley

                                               Tori, Kenley and Declan having a play date

                                               
                                                      ~It's My Life