Fact or FIC-SHUN?

A couple weeks ago, Georgia celebrated her seventh birthday.  This time in our nation's capitol of Washington D.C.  That child has not had a birthday at home for the past 3 years.  The pitfalls of having a summer birthday.  She doesn't seem to care though. In fact I think she likes being on vacation for her birthday.  Really- who wouldn't?

Let me just reiterate the fact that she is SEVEN.  You guys-I have been pregnant free for over seven years now!  Yay!  Although in all honesty, I am sad about that fact as well.  However, having older kids does have it's benefits, like being able to travel much easier and having three slaves capable children to do my bidding.  You know like oil changes and plumbing repair.  Okay fine!  Just unloading the dishwasher and making their beds, but still, at least it's less for me to do.  

Georgia has grown up so much in this past year.  She looks more like a little girl now than a kindergarten baby of last year.  She reads like crazy and she can do so much for herself now.  Although she still won't walk to my bedroom in the middle of the day.  You know we have monsters in our hallway that like to eat little kids.  Did I not tell you that?  Yes, if a child under 10 walks down our hall alone, the monsters will get you.   At least this is what I'm fairly certain Georgia thinks.  She is also getting better with the lying.  Well, let me rephrase that.  She is getting better with telling us when she is lying or telling us a FIC-SHUN story.  No, no.  I didn't misspell that.  That is how she says it.  "This story is FIC-SHUN!!"  That is something I started making her say to us about a year ago when we realized she was making up stories that sounded very real but in fact were not.  One of these stories led me to talking to her teacher, when she claimed she was having problems with a boy at school and told a entire story about him that was not true.  So now when she starts to tell a story that sounds like it might be a tad outlandish I give her a look and she will say-"Oh!  This is a FIC-SHUN story!"  Her sisters will even call her on it when they feel like it's being made up asking her, "Georgia is this a FIC-SHUN story?"  The good news is she always cops to it and while she still makes things up, she at least lets us know she is doing so.  

Regardless of all that, she will still start off with a lie now and then.  Especially when she feels like it will make her sound or look better than another person, usually her sister.  The last week of school was more or less nothing but fun times for them, as it always is in elementary school.  Lana was telling me about all the fun things her teacher had planned for the week and Georgia was standing there listening.  Now I don't know why this is the favorite fun thing for them to do at school but it is,  wear their pajamas one day.  Georgia and Lana love doing this.  Lana's teacher had planned a PJ day, but Georgia's teacher had not, even though they had other fun things planned that week.  The fact that Georgia was not getting to wear her pajamas, made her a bit jealous of Lana.   I wasn't surprised at her response to Lana telling me,

"We get to have pajama day on Tuesday!! I'm so excited!"

Georgia looked at Lana and said, "Yeah well my teacher said we get to wear our pajamas watch a movie, have popcorn AND pizza!"  

Now I don't know about you, but that sounds like a pretty kick ass day in first grade.  I also know that about 75% of what she said was completely untrue.  Even though she said this to Lana, I was sitting at the counter in the kitchen and heard every word.  She looked over at me, caught me starting at her and before I even had a chance to open my mouth she said, 

"I just made all that up."  

All I could do was laugh.  So far I think I have curbed the lying without squelching her imagination.  Point in the mommy column!  I only hope that when she's 16 she continues to tell me when it's a FIC-SHUN story or that she made something up.  You know -like this...

"I'm spending the night at Luna's.  Okay no.  That's FIC-SHUN, I'm really going to a party over at the abandoned where house where there will be lots of drinking."

That's totally plausible right?  

In the meantime, I will enjoy this win and wish my beautiful last baby a Happy (belated) 7th Birthday.  You are the sunshine in our mornings and the laughter throughout our days, and I promise that is not FIC-SHUN!

What's In a Name? -An 8th Birthday Story

Tomorrow is Miss Lana Lu's 8th birthday.  Lana Lu.  Some of you might think Lu is her middle name since I call her that a lot.  However, it is not.  Her middle name is Drew, after her father, Andrew, and not Drew Barrymore like some people have also asked me.  Although eight years ago when she was born all she had was a middle name for a while.  For Andy and I middle names for the girls were the easier part.  Coming up with the first names led us to divorce proceedings.  Then we thought getting divorced over choosing a baby name was kinda stupid so you know, we worked it out, and settled on a name, or so we thought.  We are good like that.  However, little Lana didn't have a name on the day she was born.

Eight years ago today I went to the hospital to give birth to my second girl.  Andy and I had settled on giving her Drew for her middle name, because Sonya had Lynne for hers, which is also my middle name.  At the time we thought we were going to name Lana, Holly.  Holly was a name I had always liked, partially because of the British character on General Hospital I had watched growing up, but also because I think it's a pretty name.  Plus there was the fact that we really couldn't agree on anything else.  We had lists of names, but Holly was the only one we both were ok with, so we thought we would go with it.  The only bit of a problem with the name was that it also belonged to a girl Andy dated in college.

I know all of you women out there just gasped and now think I'm crazy for even entertaining this idea. To be honest, I didn't care.  I mean she was a girl he dated for a few months in college. It's not like she was ever someone he was planning on marrying.  Far from it in fact. She may have been a bit of a um...how do I put this nicely...promiscuous girl.  Yeah that's a nice word than what I was thinking of in my head (slut). What? She was!  I'm not being mean, it really is just a fact.  However,  I've never been the type to care about who dated who in their past.  I mean it's their past.  I have past boyfriends too and we were married now and pregnant with our 2nd baby.  It's not like I had a reason to be insecure.  I can't help it if the girl he dated had a name we both liked.  And dammit it was the ONLY name we both liked.  So I said- who cares.  Andy had more reservations about it than I did.  She isn't someone he keeps in contact with at all, but he worried that if he ever did run into her one day what would she think about us having a daughter with her name.  Would she think Andy harbored some burning desire for her still?  He didn't want that, because he certainly didn't.  I offered other names like Lila, or Georgia (yes that name was in the running since I had Sonya), but he wasn't keen on any of those at the moment, so we stuck with Holly.

Then I went through 23 hours of labor with the soon to be little Holly.  I was doing everything I could to not have a c-section again and I succeeded.  After I gave birth to my second daughter I was on a high I don't think I could even describe.  Okay some of that might have been the pain medication. The rest of it was the feeling of accomplishment that I hadn't been wheeled to the operating room again to have my stomach cut open.  No this baby got pushed out and I had done it.  I was elated. I was ready to run marathon!  Okay maybe not a marathon.  And perhaps not run, but I could sit up and gingerly walk to the bathroom on my own.  A million times better then right after a c-section.  

"Let me see her!" I said as they weighed and checked her APGAR.

Andy was standing with her talking to her as they looked her over.

"So?" I asked, "Is she still Holly?"

He looked up and me and definitively shook his head no.   Then when they brought her to me I saw why.  She really in no way looked like a Holly.  I don't know how else to say it.  This is why when people name their babies in the womb, then start calling them that name, I personally think it's a big mistake.  That baby can come out not looking like your name choice at all.  My second daughter was NOT a Holly.

"Then what are we going to name her?" I asked Andy, hoping he had an answer.  He did not.  Back to the proverbial drawing board.

After we had moved to our room and we had a number of people ask her name, to which we had no answer, I pulled out my notebook.  I had brought it with me with all the names we had gone over throughout the nine months.  I was calling out names I had written down for each letter to Andy and he said no or I did.  Then we got to "L".

"Lonnie?" I asked.

Andy paused for a minute.  "That's not bad," he said.

"Or how about Lana?" I said looking at the other "L" name on my list.

"That's a good one too," he admitted.

I looked down at my sleeping baby and tried out both names.  She had been born with a set of full lips anyone who's had collagen injections would have killed for.  The names both seemed to suit her, but we were still unsure.  It was late and Andy had to get home to relieve our friend Melinda who had been staying with Sonya for over a day at that point.  He left and we decided to sleep on it.  Throughout the night when I was awake with my newborn I kept trying out both names, but Lana was that one that sat  best with me.  Something about it was cute and fiery.  

Andy had gone home that night and told Melinda the names we were thinking about and she had sent me a message saying that she loved the name Lana.  So the next day when Andy came in with Sonya we both agreed.  On March 22, 2007 we introduced Sonya to her little sister, Lana Drew Dadekian.  A cute and fiery name indeed.  One that she has lived up to in her short eight years on this earth.  The name Lana means light and then I found this on a website called sheknows.com: 

"People with this name tend to initiate events, to be leaders rather than followers, with powerful personalities. They tend to be focused on specific goals, experience a wealth of creative new ideas, and have the ability to implement these ideas with efficiency and determination. They tend to be courageous and sometimes aggressive. As unique, creative individuals, they tend to resent authority, and are sometimes stubborn, proud, and impatient."


Perhaps I should have researched more before we just decided that she "looked like a Lana", and went with it.  Although most of those qualities are great and definitely Lana, it's the "aggressive, stubborn, proud and impatient" ones that have given me grief over the last eight years.  On the other hand it makes her who she is.  The kid who will decide she is going to do something and then you better stay out of her way because she is doing it. And she is doing it the way she wants to.  She is definitely determined with certain things. I've always said that Lana is the one of my three I will worry about the least in getting ahead in life.  She will make things happen if she wants them to.   Then there is the stubborn and proud part, like the morning she argued with me for ten minutes on what day my birthday was on.  She insisted it was April 28th.  Even though I've been celebrating it on April 18th for 40 years, she made me wonder for a second if I'd been on the wrong day all along.  I mean her way would make me 10 days younger.  It is well documented  on here over the years about her aggression and her temper, however, what the paragraph doesn't include is her ability to make up for her aggression.  It might take her a minute or 60 to cool off, but when she does she always apologizes to whoever she wronged.  Then everything  just goes back to normal with her.  There is no grudge holding with Lana.  What's done is done, let's move on.  Sorry if you are now sporting a 2 inch scratch across your cheek.  I will ask mom to cut my nails later.  (That really happened about 2 weeks ago.)  Don't get me wrong though, she is a friendly and kind little girl as well.  Although, those are traits I believe she works on more they are still something she aspires to be.  

Yup, tomorrow is Lana's 8th birthday.  She has developed such a great little personality in these 8 years, good and bad.  It was a personality you could see from day one, which is why the name Holly would have never suited her.  So I don't know if we chose the name Lana for her or if she chose it for herself, but I couldn't imagine her as anyone else.  She is our light. Our unique, determined, courageous, impatient, stubborn, cute fiery and yes, even sweet, light of our family.  I can't imagine my life for these past 8 years without her in it.  I love you Lana La, Lana Drew for infinity times infinity. I can't wait to see where your fantastic personality with your matching name takes you in this life.  

  

Double Digits

My baby turned 120 months last week.  Can you believe she is that old already?  I mean 120 months is so big.  Fine she is 10.  Ten years old.  I was trying to still feel like she was little but 120 months just sounds so ridiculous.  Just about as ridiculous as people who refer to toddlers as being 39 months.  Come on!  They are three!  Don't make me do math in my head to figure out how old your kid is in years.  Once a kid gets past a year and a half the months should end.  Just saying.  But I digress.  Ten.  My oldest daughter is ten.

I'm not quite sure how ten years past so fast.  There was a time I thought ten days was taking a lifetime, but now time just seems to sprout wings and take off whenever I try to hold on to it.  It's amazing how much you learn in ten years of raising a human being.  I realized my capacity for how much I can love someone else.  Someone, who for a very long time, gave me nothing in return, but smiles and giggles.  Who would ever put up with someone in their life who took everything, and did nothing but smile at us and be okay with it?  A parent.  Although, I will say that once they leave the toddler stage the just smiling thing doesn't work all the time.  They do have to up their game with a hug or two.  

I discovered I had more patience than I imagined and how hard it is to keep that patience a good 99% of the time.  I love my girls so much though, that I have no choice but to try and harness that patience as much as possible.  It doesn't always work, as you all may have read.  From time to time I lose that patience and then I pay for it later with the other emotion that has taken over as a mom...guilt.   Mom guilt is a serious affliction and it effects 100% of the moms I know in one way or another.  It doesn't matter if you stay at home, work full time, part time or are Martha Stewart.  At some point in time, and in a lot of cases all the time, mom guilt will get you.  It is my least favorite part about being a mom and it's impossible to get rid of because of the love for your kids.  Ah! Vicious cycle!  

I've learned how to be more empathetic, trying to see things from another perspective.  Not only from my daughters' side of things, but through the eyes of my own mother who experienced many of the same things raising three girls herself.  There have been a number of "Oooohhhhh...." moments over the years, when I've thought about my own childhood and realized where she may have been coming from.  I have a feeling those moments may start to come more fast and furious now that the teen years loom ahead.  I've also developed more empathy for both of my younger sisters.  Because I'm raising three girls, I see the dynamic of their relationship from this side.  I see where I might have been somewhat of a pain in the ass big sister from time to time.  I see it in Sonya.  She is constantly saying the very cliched "You don't understand!" when it comes to matters of her sisters, to which I tell her, "Nobody understand better than I do."  I see it from all sides now and it has helped me to be a better older sister and try to teach Sonya to be better to her sisters.

Then there is the selfless part of all of this.  The putting your kids' needs above every one of your own.  That might be the hardest lesson to learn, because let's face it, we are all selfish by nature.  We all want what is best for ourselves, until we have a kid.  Then we only want what is best for them.  I suppose they are an extension of ourselves, so in a way it's still a bit selfish, but it doesn't feel like it when you give up the last piece of chocolate cake to your little one.  Dammit, you love chocolate!  Then again you don't need the calories anyway, and she looks so cute with chocolate all over her face.    Although, we know it's not just giving  up cake, but your entire life.  Sleep means something entirely different after kids.  Free time is basically sleep.  You give everything of yourself, because you want them to be as happy as possible.  Plus this helps alleviate the mom guilt.  There is that fine line of being selfless and spoiling, so you have to be careful.  Still you will do what it takes to make sure they are happy-without being to spoiled.  

My entire life I wanted to have kids.  It was never a question of if for me, but always of when, when when?  I was excited to have kids.  I thought I was going to be the best mother there ever was.  God was I deluded.  Don't get me wrong, I love my girls more than anything and would not change a thing about having them, but this job is harder than I ever expected.  Learning this much patience (even as I write this and the girls are in the other room doing exactly what they are NOT supposed to be doing), having this much empathy, trying to be selfless...it's not easy.  The easy part is loving them, because you just do.  Although that can also be hard, because anytime something doesn't work out for them or hurts them, it kills you.  Plus there are the times they act like jerks and you don't like them very much, but I know I will always love them no matter what.  

So as I look back over these last ten years and see what Andy and I have accomplished as parents, I am proud of what we have done so far.  Our girls are not perfect, far from it, but most of the time they try so hard to be good kids.  They are friendly, kind, courteous, caring, loving, silly little girls. When we were in Hawaii, every place we went people told us how well behaved our girls were.  How amazed they were at their politeness.  Sonya is leading that pack.  The constantly screaming infant from a decade ago has turned into such a sweet, smart, empathetic, fun loving, kind hearted, independent, curious girl.  Yes, she has her moments where she has too much attitude or thinks she knows all about the world, but I remember being there.  All it will take is for her to have her own daughter one day to knock her down a peg or two and become an even better person.  (But not for a long long time.) 

Happy tenth birthday beautiful girl.   Who knew raising a human being would help make me a better one?  Thank you for doing that for me. 

10 days

10 years

Lucky Number 7

Where were you seven years ago today?  Do you know?  Because I do.  I was at Cedar Sinai in Los Angeles in Labor and Delivery giving birth to my second baby.  Today is Miss Lana's seventh birthday.

Yes, every year I marvel at how old my girls are now.  I know it gets old, but damn I just can't get over how FAST this is all going.  Everyone warned me, but when you are chained to your house waist deep in diapers you just don't believe those people.  It wasn't until the girls started school and leaving the house from time to time that I thought maybe there was something to what those people had told me.  Now I work hard to take a minute every once in a while to commit to memory where my girls are in their lives and enjoy the great little ladies they are becoming.  Even if they are a pain in the ass every day as well.  

Earlier today I was talking to the mom of one of Lana's friends in her class.  This is a recent friend for Lana, maybe since December.  We didn't really hear much about her before, but then she and Lana started playing at school and it was, "Sienna this and Sienna that."  So naturally we invited her to Lana's little party tomorrow.  Well, it's not really a party, because we don't do big ones anymore.  We are taking her and 3 of her friends mini golfing then having pizza and cake at home.  No biggie. 

 This mom called to tell me that unfortunately Sienna wasn't going to be able to make it and she felt bad about.  I understand though, we always have things going on all weekend too.  However, her mom really wanted Sienna to come to the party to hang out with Lana and her friends, because apparently she  had some trouble with other girls in the class earlier in the year.  Problems like these other girls leaving her out of playing when they felt like it, and something about a point system that can only be reminiscent of middle school mean girls.  REALLY?? We are doing this in FIRST grade?? 

I felt so bad because her little girl is so sweet.  Then I realized how extremely proud I was of Lana.  Sienna's mom had told her to find some other kids to play with when this all happened a few months ago.   Apparently she approached Lana who welcomed playing with her without incident, even though she already had a group of girls she payed with.

I guess I shouldn't be to surprised.  Lana has never been one to exclude others from playing.  Granted kids gravitate to certain other kids and form little playgroups at school.  This is something that is completely natural and  we also do as adults.  I certainly have some mom friends I'd rather go have a glass of wine with over others.  It just depends on personality.  However, if someone wants to play in her group, Lana has never been one to say no.  The more people the bigger party for her.  In a time where there seems to be so many bullies and "mean girls", I am so proud that my daughter is not falling into those categories and that she is accepting of everyone.  

In the seven years I have known my Lana, I have seen what a strong personality she has.  She is loving and loyal.  She is brave and not afraid to do something that might make her slightly uncomfortable like this:

That was her audition for the play she is doing at school.  She sang it in front of about 30 other kids from the school most of them older than she is.  She sang every word, and the musical interlude in the beginning and in between just kills me!  

On the other hand, she can also be brutally honest(wonder where she gets THAT from) and a bit temperamental(or that?).  However, she has grown into such a lovable little girl who doesn't let much bother her and is willing to accept anyone for who they are. This past year with her has most definitely been the best.  She's learned to deal with her temper and found ways to calm herself down.  That's not to say we don't still have issues here and there, but less than ever before.  As she's grown older, she's learned to deal with her temper and her anger better and has become more loving and kind.  Six for Lana has been a dream.  I  only hope seven will bring us even better times. But no matter what it brings I love this little girl with all of my heart and I am so grateful to have her in our lives. Sure there were some rough times with her in the past, but looking back it doesn't seems so bad anymore.  Funny how that happens.  Just like how "everyone" was right about how quickly this goes by.

Happy Birthday Lana Lu!  You are the second of the three extremely brilliant shining parts of my life. 

Spider-Man Strikes Again!

Last weekend we celebrated Georgia's 5th birthday.  As I said in my last post, her birthday isn't until the 28th, but since we will be gone, we celebrated early.  When we talked about what kind of cake and theme she wanted for her birthday this year, I got the same response as I have the past two years,

"Sthpider-Man."

STILL?  Yup, still.  Since we haven't had a big birthday party for her in a while and we were this year, I decided to really Spider-Man it up.  Cake, cupcakes, decorations, invitation, paper goods, the works.  The guests contributed by buying every Spider-Man toy in a 50 mile radius.  Anybody who has a boy come over here to play and thinks he's going to a house full of girl toys would be happily mistaken.

Thank you to everyone for the toys.  She loved them!

Since it was a big party, I had so much to do the night before.  I was making and decorating cupcakes when Sonya asked to help.  I'll be honest.  I have a hard time giving up control over some things and decorating the cake and cupcakes is one of them.  Then I looked around at everything I had left to get done and realized that if I was ever going to get to bed before 1am, I would have to give in.  So I did.  And  you know what-Sonya did a fabulous job.  I forget I have a little artist on my hands, and she did just as good if not better a job than I would have.  She saved me at least an hour of sleep!

Sonya helps out

Proud of her creation

Webbed cupcakes

Here's the guy who kept me up until Midnight.

So yes, we Spider-Maned it up for my Georgia.  The important part is she had a great time and LOVED all the Spiderman everywhere.  I thought perhaps this would be it.  She would see all the decorations and toys she received and think, "Okay-too much.  Maybe I'm done with this Spiderman thing. Back to princesses!"  Nope.  Last week we went to Toys R Us so she could spend her $3 coupon she got from them for her birthday and here is what she pick out:

Yeah-we're not done by a long shot.  Which is fine with me, because we have too many princess things anyway.  Thanks for being our "boy" Georgia.  Happy (early) Birthday!

Face painting also by Sonya

 On a completely different note-I will be taking a break from writing for a of couple weeks.  You might remember me mentioning a cruise?  We leave tomorrow and everyone in my house couldn't be more excited.  I promise to come back with more cruise stories than you will know what to do with.  Bon Voyage!

Now She is Six

Today is little Miss Lana's sixth birthday.  Yup-six.  I can't believe it.  She can't really either.  In fact, she didn't even realize she was turning six.

Just about every night when I put the girls to bed, Lana will ask me to lie in her bed with her for a bit.  I'm usually in the middle of finishing making dinner for Andy and I, cleaning up dinner, folding clothes, washing dishes, or just about any other number of chores I have yet to finish.  Some nights, I'm just to crazed or sometimes frankly just done with being mommy.  On those days I tell her I will be back in a bit, knowing she will fall asleep within five minutes.  Lately though, I take a beat and think to myself-"she will not asking me to do this for much longer".  Then I climb the stairs to the top bunk and lay next to her for just a couple minutes.  I try to commit her adoring little girl face to my memory to draw from when she's 16 and hating me.  Sure it sets back my chores, but for what, five minutes?  It's so worth it to be able to remember those times with her and have her remember that I took the time out for her.

Last week one night, as I was kissing her goodnight, she asked me to come lay down with her.  I threw my dish towel over my shoulder and walked up the stairs.

"Okay, but only for a couple minutes," I told her.

"Okay," she agreed.

Then we started to talk about how her birthday was just a week away.  Kids get so damn excited about their birthday and talk about it for months before it comes.  So much so that they give themselves half and three quarter marks during the year, showing that they are that much closer to their big day and another year older.  This is something that immediately stops once you hit 21.  With her birthday only a week away, she was beside herself and did nothing but constantly talk about it.

"I know you're excited for you're birthday, huh?"  I asked.

"Yes!" she admitted.

"Lana, I can't believe you're going to be 6!" I told her.

Then she looked at me a little confused and  said, "I thought I was going to be five and a half?"

I giggled at her for a moment thinking she was joking, except she wasn't laughing with me.

"Wait," I said.  "You really thought you were turning five and a half on your birthday?" I asked her.

She nodded her head yes.

"Haha!  Oh Lana!"  I couldn't help but be amused.   "No, girlie.  You're going to be six.  Last year when you had your birthday you turned five and it's been a whole year since that birthday.  So five plus one equals what?"  I asked.

"Six," she answered correctly.

 "Right! So do you understand," I asked.

"Yeah," she said.  "Okay."

I'm still not sure if she really got it, but at least when people ask her how old she is turning today she will tell them six and not five and a half.  It will keep the weird looks toward me down to a minimum.  For today anyway.

Happy SIXTH birthday Lana Drew!  We love you lots and more every day.

Heading Toward The Wonder Years

Monday was Sonya's 8th birthday.  EIGHT!  As in -she was one, then two, then three...all the way to eight!  How I ask?  HOW?!!  Time goes way to fast when you have kids.  Anyway, over the weekend for her birthday we took her and two of her friends to get their nails done.  Then we went out to lunch.  They were all very excited and such little ladies.  And also gentleman, because Carter joined us as well, but not until lunch.  He decided he wasn't into getting his nails done.  Although there are quite a few men who do that now.  Well, at least here in Los Angeles, and no they aren't all gay.  

After lunch we came back to our house and had cake and ice cream with everyone.  It was a fun little birthday celebration for her.  Sure it cost a bit with the nails and lunch, but all I had to do was make a cake,  so I'll take it!  I spent many years planning and hosting big birthdays at our house.  We decided once the girls turned five that would be the end of the big parties.  Now they pick a couple of close friends and do something fun, like nails or mini golf.  Hey I still make my own cakes, so I'm still working!  Just a bit less, and it's fabulous.  I actually get to enjoy their birthdays now.  

The other thing that is nice about having only a couple of friends to celebrate with is less presents.  She doesn't receive dozens of toys or other things that she won't use and we have no room for.  She got three gifts from three good friends who know her well and got things she will use. 

My favorite part of the day was after Sonya opened her gift from her friend Gwen.  It was a salon chair for her American Girl Doll.  I don't know if you know about the American Girl Doll craze or the complete racket that store has going on. If you don't then here's a piece of advice: STAY AWAY!  I can't get over how much crap they have for those dolls.  You can buy furniture for them that is better than what I have in my house, and just about as expensive.  I am so not kidding about this.  The good news is that places like Target and Kohls have knock off furniture, clothes, etc for a fraction of what the "real" AG wants to sell it for.  Sorry, I digress.

So, Sonya opens this salon chair, and it's exactly as it sounds.  You can put the doll in the chair and fix her hair.  It came with all kind of accessories to play beauty salon.  Sonya was completely excited about the gift and was ready to play the minute she opened it.  Carter, the only boy amongst all these girls, eyed it for minute or two.  He looked interested in it, but I could tell he didn't want to look interested in it, so he said to Sonya,

"Sonya, I am probably going to regret saying this, BUT I will play American Girl Doll with you if you want."

Well, don't let us twist your arm Carter!  Andy and I looked at each other and we both surpressed our laughter.  Then I immediately texted Stacy to let her know how funny her son was.  Sonya was more than happy to oblige Carter and let him play dolls with her.  

Monday was her birthday, and lucky for her, they had the day off school in honor of Veterens Day. (Thanks to all those soldiers who do and did so much for our country, my Daddy being one of them.) I told her, since she didn't have school, we could do whatever she wanted that day.  We could go anywhere, the zoo, aquarium, park.  What did she most want to do?

"I want to go to the farm and pick vegetables," was her reply. 

Yup, my daughter WANTED to go pick vegetables.  So that is what we did.  Since Stacy doesn't work  I invited her and Carter to come along with us.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize the farm we go to doesn't have 'pick your own' after October during the week.  Sonya was slightly disappointed, but there were so many other things to do there she got over it quickly.  They ran around and fed the chickens, sheep, and horses.  They had fun in the petting zoo with the baby goats, which I was ready to put in my pocket and take home they were so damn cute, and they rode the cow train a couple of times.  Then we bought some vegetables from the famers market there.  They sell the veggies they grow on that farm.  So we sorta picked our own.  Just not directly out of the ground.  

All in all, she had a fantastic birthday.  Still, 8 has been hard for me to wrap my head around. 

On Sunday night, as I was putting her to bed, I said to her, "This is your last night of being 7, I can't believe it!"

"Why?" She asked.  "It's not that big of a difference from 7 to 8."

"No?" I said.

"No! It's not like I'm turning 13 or something," she told me.

"Why, then it would be a big difference?" I asked.

"Well, yeah!" She said.  "Because then I will be old and almost dead!"

Soooo...if she thinks 13 is old and almost dead, I must be living on serious borrowed time.  Maybe she thinks we live in 1812 when 13 was old and 38 was unheard of.  The truth is, her turning 8 has made me feel old, especially because of how grown up she acts now. I guess that's what it is.  She's a big kid now, not a little girl at all.  I was prepared, somewhat, to raise babies and toddlers, but this big kid to tween to teen stuff...I am so screwed!  Help.

8 days old to...

8 years!

Happy Birthday baby girl!  I love you! No matter how old and sassy you get, you will always be that baby in my heart.

Pregnant Free For Four Years

Last Thursday was Georgia's fourth birthday.  I know, I know I'm behind.  I'm behind on all the holidays and birthdays lately.  Some days I feel like I'm barely keeping my face above water, but here I am still writing twice a week.  Better late than never, or better late than pregnant in my case.  I guess I shouldn't say that.  It's no secret and well documented on here that Georgia was a surprise baby.  A good surprise, after I got over the initial shock of being pregnant, despite the fact that I was taking care of an eight month old.   However, without Georgia our family would never have been complete.  Some higher power knew that.  


Georgia has always been easier than the other two, from the day she was born.  She wasn't a screamy baby like Sonya, and she wasn't stubborn like Lana.  She was, and still is, almost always happy.  She is the comic relief in our family, definitely her father's daughter.  A couple weeks before we left for Florida I was reminded of this.


Georgia does not like to be in situations that feel tense or heated, especially when it's her getting in trouble. She will do what she can to try to lighten the mood.  Much like her father.  We were having dinner one night, and the girls were talking about pigs and oinking, just being silly.  Then GG did something she wasn't supposed to.  Who knows what it was-not sitting in her seat properly, not eating over the plate, spilling her drink, playing with food.  These are just a few things that we encounter with all of them at mealtimes on a daily basis.  My favorite is Sonya sitting half on and half off her chair, like she has to be ready to run out of the kitchen at any moment.  What is THAT about?  Anyway-Andy was lecturing Georgia about something.  She was half listening, but he was pretty upset at the time, so she was trying to smile and make light of what was going on.  She dislikes having anyone made at her.  He realized she was only half paying attention and he stopped his lecture and said to her, 


"Do you understand what I'm telling you, Georgia?  Do you hear me?"


She looked at him, smiled a bit and said, "OINK!"


I had to get up and leave the room.  There was no way I wasn't going to laugh at that, which I knew would only make Andy more upset and fuel Georgia's comedy.    How could I NOT laugh at that?  

Always making funny faces for the camera.

I love how adventurous she is too.  She is always willing to try something knew and is hardly ever afraid.  This is completely opposite of Lana who is always apprehensive about new things and rarely changes her mind to try it.  Sonya is usually apprehensive at first too, but more ready to let down her guard.  When we were in Florida we visited a place called The Jungle Gardens.  They had an area filled with all kinds of Parrots, parakeets, cockatoos, and any other type bird you could have hang out on your shoulder or arm.  You got to pick which bird you wanted and the wrangler would place it on your outstretched arm, then you could pose for a picture.  As soon as Georgia heard about what she could do she ran over and picked out one of the biggest birds.  


"I want to do it!!  I want dat one mommy!" She said pointing to a bit white cockatoo.  


"Maybe you should pick a smaller one," I said.


"Noooo!!!  DAT ONE!!" She insisted, her arm already outstretched waiting.    


Luckily the bird wrangler talked her out of it, knowing the bird was probably about half her weight and she'd never be able to hold it.  She was the first of all the girls, including her cousins, to hold a bird and was ready to do it again  seconds after they took it away.  Sonya gave it a go, after seeing Georgia do it.  Lana stood her stubborn ground for a while, but relented when she realized that the small parakeet her sisters had been holding hadn't pecked their eyes out, so she was probably safe. However, she insisted on having the exact same one they had held.  No big bird for her.  Had it not been for Georgia, though, I doubt any of them would have held one.  Her throw caution to the wind attitude helps to free her sisters at times. I think it might help that she's the youngest.  I mean because if you're little sister is doing it, there is no reason you shouldn't be.   Although this doesn't always work.  Especially with Lana.  Especially with food.  Georgia will take a bite of anything I put in front of her, including sushi.  Not many four year olds are up for that. 

As she's grown in this past year, I've seen these two sides of her personality really develop.  They were always underlying in her before, but it's only been in the past  year that she will try to do whatever she can to make someone laugh.  It's only been in the past couple months that I've realized how brave and adventurous she is. Before I thought that was a trait she had because she was young, but the other two were not like that at her age.  They've always been more suspicious.  Sometimes that is better, but that is why they have each other.  Sonya and Lana will keep Georgia from jumping off the bridge, but Georgia will show them that with a bungee cord, it could be fun.  Hmmm...maybe I need to rethink this part of her personality as being a good thing.  

She loves playing in the waves.

She was the first one to feed the Giraffes at Lion Country.  

In Sonya and Lana's recent birthday posts I did throwback stories from the time they were babies.  I didn't do that this time, because I started this blog when Georgia was eleven months old and truth be told, I can't remember much in the ten months before that.  The first year of her life is somewhat of a blur to me.  It was probably one of the most difficult times I've ever been through, dealing with the three of them all so young and two so close together.  There wasn't much sleep back then.  Now that I'm on this side of things, the side where it's a bit easier-no diapers, no breastfeeding, they can entertain themselves-I can say how incredibly lucky I am to have had a surprise baby.  I honestly could not imagine a world without her in it.  She is a super sweet, sympathetic,  funny, fun loving, try anything, silly, sunshiny little girl.  As my friend Melissa put it yesterday, "she's a good egg". Yes, she is.   Best. Surprise. Ever.  I love you, baby girl.  Happy fourth birthday!

Hello Kitty Cupcakes For Lana

I thought before it got to far away from Lana's birthday, I would share with you the Hello Kitty cupcakes I made for her party and to take to her school.  Because, you know, I'm getting all creative with my cupcakes lately, and "Cupcake Wars" is sooo going to be calling me any day now.  These gals were a bit easier to make than the giraffes from a couple months ago, but still all my own creation.  Here's what you need:


Cupcakes-(duh)
white frosting
black frosting or a small black gel frosting tube
yellow skittles or M&Ms
white fudge Flipz pretzels
sour patch kids




Frost the cupcakes with white frosting.  Then, using the black frosting or gel tube, make the eyes and the whiskers.  The eyes are more vertically oval than they are round.

After that I took a yellow skittle or M&M and put it in between the eyes for the nose.

Then I took a Flipz pretzel and carefully cut it into thirds.  Be careful cutting these, because they have a tendency to break into more than three pieces.  I chose the best two to stick in the top of the cupcake for her ears.

The finishing touch was the bow.  At first I had no idea what I was going to use.  As it turns out, Sour Patch Kids look like a hair bow.  So I placed a Sour Patch Kid horizontally on the right "ear".

Viola!  Hello Kitty Cupcakes.  Please direct "Cupcake Wars" to this blog so they know who to contact for their "Kids Birthday Parties" episode.

Birthday Party Disaster, Averted

So, let's see...where was I?  Oh right!  Pouring rain outside at least 40 people inside, half of them kids, husband unable to move, all for Lana's fifth birthday party.  YAY!  Well, after I got Andy situated on the bed in a position that wasn't killing him, and after my small inner freak out, my mind started racing.  How could I fix him?  Who do I know that has good drugs?  Do WE have any good drugs?  I mean other than the very strong sangria I made.  Although, Andy's not really a big drinker, so that wouldn't work anyway.  And what about all the food he was supposed to be picking up right then?  How was THAT going to happen?  I could go get everything myself, but Andy was in no shape to watch the girls and I still had things to do in the house.  What about the PINATA??  How the hell were we going to do a piñata in my little house??  So I did the one thing I don't usually like to do, I asked for help.


No, I am not one to ask for help.  I am the woman you see walking out of the grocery with one kid on her hip throwing a tantrum, dragging another by the hand, carrying four grocery bags and insisting I'm fine.  I don't know why I don't like asking for help.  I guess it's a combination of me wanting to do everything for myself, and not wanting to put anyone else out.  This time I had no choice.  I guess I could have done it all myself, but it would have been more stress than I needed at that point.  Not to mention, I wouldn't have been able to shower.  Something I believe everyone should do before having a party with 40 people at their house.  Just sayin'.  


The first call I made was to the awesome, fantastic, amazing, always there for me in a pinch, Melinda.  It wasn't even a hesitation for her, but a "what do you need and where is it?"  She showed up at my house by 12:30, in the pouring rain, with a car full of food and balloons.  I had totally forgotten what kind of balloons I had ordered, and the gigantic Hello Kitty completely took over her small car.  I have no idea how she even got them in there to begin with!


The pickups were taken care of, which left me free to finish up what I needed to at home.  Now I just had to figure out what to do for my husband.  The second call I made was to my best friend and walking pharmacy, Melissa.  For a long time,  Melissa would have whatever kind of pill you needed on her.  Motrin, Tylenol, Excedrin.  You need something stronger?  She might have some Vicodin or Tylenol with Codeine. Anxiety?  There's some Xanex in there somewhere.  It's not like she ever obtained anything illegally.  Just the opposite.  She would have a prescription for something, and never liked to take all of it, so she had leftovers. Unfortunately, all those prescriptions expired at some point and a few months ago she got rid of most of them.  I tried to tell her that the expiration dates were just a suggestion. What about her friends who might need that stuff for back pain or anxiety from throwing her five year old daughter's birthday party inside.  Apparently we weren't in her thoughts when she flushed them down the toilet.  Whatever Melissa!  However,  she did find some Tylenol with Codeine that made the cut. She was willing to bring a few to help ease Andy's pain.  The only problem was that she lives about 35 minutes from us and wasn't going to be at the party until later in the afternoon.  I had to find something before then or Andy was destined to spend the afternoon in our bedroom.  Then I remembered the last time this happened, Andy got some muscle relaxers from our friends Norb and Cecelia.  Cecelia had back problems at one point and she too had some left over medication.  What were the chances hers weren't expired and flushed down the toilet to dope up the fish in the ocean?


I called them to find out and spoke to Norb.  Luckily, Cecelia did have some left.  The even better news was that they only live a mile from us. I asked if he could pretty please bring them over and he agreed.  We have some fantastic friends, is all I'll say.


About thirty minutes after taking the pill, Andy was able to move around a VERY little.  But it was enough to get him to take a shower and at least make him party presentable.  I showered with him to make sure he didn't fall over and have  a concussion.  That was all we would need!  I had to help him get dried off and dressed, since every move he made led to more pain.  He kept saying how humiliated he felt, but I help three kids get dressed every day, so really, what's the difference?  Besides, I think there was something about this in our vows somewhere, so I'm obligated to do it.  Once we got a heating wrap and his back brace on him, he was a bit more mobile.  Enough where he could at least come out and attend the party, even if he couldn't really help do to much.  


I rushed to get myself ready, which having kids has taught me to do quickly and still look good.  I remember the days it would take me an HOUR AND A HALF to get ready.  Seriously??  Well, that was in the days of high hair too, and if the bangs were to long and in need of a cut you could tack on an extra twenty minutes.  Not now though.  Now I can get showered, hair dried, makeup on, dressed and out the door in thirty minutes.  Well, as long as I'm left alone and don't have to break up fights.  To avoid this I let the girls sit in front of the TV for an hour, so I could get Andy and myself ready.  It was all I could do at that point.  They certainly didn't argue about it.  


Just after I was done getting dressed, I realized it was 12:25.  I didn't have the guacamole made, drinks ready or any of the snacks out.  No big deal though, because nobody comes to these things on time and certainly not when it's raining in Los Angeles.  Except my friend Stacy and her family.  They gave themselves to much time to get to our house and as I was trying to get everything together, I head the girls yell "someone is here!!" and there they were knocking on our door.  Damn!  Well, let's just continue with the asking for the help theme.  I was on a roll, so why stop now?


Of all my friends, Stacy is the most like me as far as cooking goes.  Meaning, she does.  So when they walked in and saw I wasn't ready yet and I explained the situation, they immediately asked what they could do.  I had no problem having her make the guacamole, while her husband and my girls helped get drinks in the coolers.  Within minutes, Melinda arrived and we had what food we needed.  Then before I knew it there were 40 people in my house.  I'm not sure when it happened or how fast, all I know is it got  very crowded and very LOUD very quickly. My Grandpa showed up at one point with his girlfriend (yes, my 85 year old Grandpa has a GIRLFRIEND!  SO cute!) They didn't stay very long, however, because I think it was just to much for them.  Can't say I blame them.  I was ready to stand outside in the rain at one point.  


It did go well though.  The kids all went to the bedrooms and played or got their faces painted by Sonya, The adults hung out in the kitchen or living room, ate, drank and chatted.  Time went by quickly and the rain came down harder.  We played pin the tail on the donkey, an old time fav and perfect for the rainy day party.  Happy birthday was sung to Lana, cake was eaten and good times were  had.  I even figured out a way to have the kids do the piñata.  


One of our friends who was at the party, who's name also happens to be Andy, is VERY tall.  I'm not even sure how tall.  6'3", 6'5" maybe?  I don't know, when you're 5'1" anything over 5'5" looks tall.  Anyway, I had Andy hold the piñata up. Instead of using a bat, because I didn't want anyone to injure tall Andy, we just had the kids pull the strings they put on the pinatas nowadays.  I never liked those strings and always thought it was cop out to use them.  What fun is that?  The fun part of the piñata is being able to beat the shit out of it, right?  Well, now I know what those strings are there for.  Inside birthday parties.  Plus, as it turns out, hitting the piñata is secondary.  All the kids really want is the candy anyway.  


So that was that.  Lana had a great time, which is all that mattered to me to begin with. I think everyone else did too.  A few of the moms hung out  past the party end time sipping (or recovering from) the sangria and chatting around my island in the kitchen, while the kids continued to play.  Andy had taken himself out of the festivities a little before then to lay down on the bed, since he was not doing well at all. Still, he was a trooper and made it though the whole party, which was awesome of him.  He's a good dad like that.  


Well, even though it took some doing I pulled it off.  I was kinda proud at myself, because there was a point where I thought about canceling altogether, but I'm glad we didn't.  It was fun and it's a great story for now and even in later years.  "Oh God!  Remember Lana's fifth birthday party when it poured and your back went out??  Fun times!"  Now it's a party we will remember and not some run of the mill, uneventful, bounce house and birthday cake, beautiful weather party.  Where's the fun in that?


 Oh! I almost forgot!  Lana threw up toward the end of the party.  Nothing big, just from coughing to hard and gagging, not a stomach bug or anything.  But, chocolate cake came up and her dress and the rug in her room had to be washed.  Not to mention, she effectively ended the tea party she and her friends were having.  Aaaannnnd, Georgia pooped her pants.  But, still good and still fun!  Just a bit crazy.


I think perhaps, after all this, that maybe Chuck E Cheese is not such a bad place after all.  It's starting to look like a real good option for Georgia's fifth birthday party next year.
   

The birthday girl.  Yes, she's wearing
her Christmas dress as a party dress.

The disaster area of toys.

Andy and the piñata

Sonya's face painting station

The kids pulling the piñata strings.

side note-Thank you again to all our friends who helped make the party happen; Melinda, Norb, Cecelia, Stacy-you rock. Tall Andy- thanks for holding the piñata.  Melissa-thank you for the Tylenol with Codeine.  Good thing those weren't expired!