Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Happy Birthday Mags!

Yesterday was Maggie's 3rd birthday. It is funny how 3 seems so young this year (now that I have a four year old) where as, last year it seemed too old.

I have been sick for a while, so I have not really seen Maggie in a few days. I was upset about the pain and the kidney stones and the hospital, etc, but I was more sad about all the fun stuff I would be missing in the girls' lives. I was so sad that Mags would not be waking up at home on her big day. I was sad that I was too sick to make her treat for school. I had to cancel her party (I was in the hospital, so I had a small excuse). Well, let me just say, I think she made out just fine.

She woke up to breakfast in bed with Mimi, Maura, and B. She had a birthday tiara to wear. She had made fun cookies with Mimi to bring to school and was very excited to bring them in to her class. She said she got a new crown at school to wear and they all sang to her. She spent the day being the birthday princess, then the O'Reillys brought the girls over for a small birthday party for her last night. She was in heaven opening all her presents. She truly loved each one and wanted to take her time and enjoy it. Unfortunately for her, Maura wanted to move on and had half her presents already opened before Mags even knew they were there. She tried on each dress she got, laid in her sleeping bag, opened up her "mommy stuff" looked through her books. She just really enjoyed the day.

I was able to pop a few Percosets and make it through the party; she then headed up to my room to "nuggle" with me and talk about each of her gifts. It was precious. The most precious moment of the night was when Mags stopped, right in the middle of opening her gifts, and came over to me. Put her hand gently on me and said "Mommy, are you feeling any better?" How sweet.

Maggie you are my emotional one. I love the way you feel things so deeply. I love the way you truly show empathy to others. You are just one of the sweetest little ones I know. You melt my heart at least five times a day. You make me smile at least 10. I am lucky to have you in my life. I can picture us twenty years from now with you coming home from college, "nuggling" in bed and chatting about all the things that are important to you. You'll stop in the middle of the conversation, put your hand on mine, and say "How are YOU feeling Mom?" You are just that kind of person.

Enjoy being three!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Mags loves her Momma

Yes, that is surely true. Maggie loves her Momma. A little too much. She really is the sweetest thing, and it breaks my heart to see her so sad, but Maggie does not like being away from me. She can even be sitting on my lap and ycrying Mommy. Not sure how much closer she wants to get... the womb?

Still, when I drop her off at school, after one month (well, really she started when she was fifteen months, so 1 1/2 years) of school, she still cries, and cries hard. She says, "I want to go with you Mommy. I want to go to the gym. I will be good." It would be so much easier to just take her with me. Dropping her off does not give me a free day, I still have B, so I am limited in what I can do anyway. A lot of times I am just going to the gym where I already pay for her babysitting, so, why not? Well, because I KNOW in my MIND it would be a bad precedent to set, but in my heart (and my tired body) I say what the heck... let's skip school today. I haven't done it yet, but I am close. (Well, I did already drop her out of Wednesdays because her little friend is not in school that day!)

I wish Mags could cope with change better. I am hoping it is just a 2 year old (or at least toddler thing) but she really is painfully shy at some times. And what is so weird, is if she is comfortable, she is so darn outgoing and talkative you have to beg her to be quiet. She is so loud and chatty. It really is strange. She also goes from being perfectly happy to totally flipping out in a heartbeat. You never know what will trigger it. Weird, crazy, exhausting.

But then it just breaks my heart to see her little self sad. She is so darn cute otherwise. And her teachers say once school starts, she is great, a real class leader. Who knows? I'd love to be a fly on the wall in her class and really see how she is doing.

My little outdoorsy girl.

Maura headed out for a camping trip with my dad, brother and nephew, Ryan last weekend. My mom was supposed to go, but got shingles (ugh!) so she had to stay home. I worried that it would be a little hard for Maura, being the only girl. I was a little worried that she would need some Momma (or OBA) loving and might not get it. Well, when my dad arrived she was ready to go. (It always cracks me up when my parents come to get the girls, they are climbing into their carseats before we even have them buckled in.) She cheerfully waved goodbye from the back seat and was off to a weekend in the wilderness.

We would call, usually in the morning and at bedtime to talk. She always sounds so old to me when I talk to her on the phone. She asked if Maggie and B missed her. She asked to talk to each of them, but was as happy as a clam being away. She asked to extend the trip a day, which they did. She even called me from five minutes away when they were driving home, to ask if she could stop home for lunch, then continue with my dad to visit Oba.

My dad said she did great. She hiked and biked. She roasted marshmallows and ate hotdogs (and shrimp!) She went to bed when she was told and woke up in the AM well rested and ready for more.

I am very glad that Maura is always ready for a challenge. She may take a minute or two (or three) to get comfortable, but once she does, she rarely looks back; she looks straight ahead and takes off in that direction. I was definitely not like this at her age. You go girl!

When she got home, she asked Mags if she missed her. Mags said yes she did. We then asked if she missed Maggie. She said "I didn't have time; I was too busy having a blast!"

Monday, October 6, 2008

A different kind of girls' weekend

Well, I got to spend some "quality" time with my three girls this weekend. It was not exactly the girls' weekend I had planned, but hey...

For months, well, years, I have been jealous of Sean and all his boy's football/golf/ gambling/bachelor weekends. I have been moaning about never getting to do anything fun and feeling quite the martyr. So finally, I planned something. I convinced Katie and Jenn to come along. In August we planned and booked a spa weekend for this weekend. We had two treatments each and booked a room for the night. There was going to be good food, great wine (for them) and lots of relaxation and laughs. I was SO looking forward to it.

Well, Wednesday night B threw up a few times. When she woke up in the AM she seemed fine. She was generally happy and upbeat. I was waiting for the waterfall effect of everyone getting it, but it did not happen. All was good. We got all packed up and ready to go to VA to meet up with Katie and start our weekend.

I was feeling a little car sick in the car, but I thought the traffic, kids, pregnancy all combined was doing it. Not so. About an hour after we got there, I got sick for the first time. I just knew it was this darn bug. I hoped otherwise, but knew it was. Luckily Katie and Jenn could still go out to dinner, while I spent the evening destroying Katie's bathroom.

At around 8:00 pm Mags joined in the fun, then around 5:00am, Maura jumped on the band wagon. It sure was fun. The next morning we kind of let it go through Mo's system a bit the packed the car back up and headed back home. I don't think Sean understood why I would want to come home (he said, I don't know why you want to go home) until he got it around 4:00 am on Saturday night. It was not fun, but it was quick, so thank God for small favors. The ride home was not too bad, just one stop to clean up throw up and one a couple uses of the bucket we took from the Short's house. I do not think we will be returning that one.. unless they really want it back!

The rest of the weekend consisted of sleeping, lying around, drinking Gatorade, general unhappiness and whining. Poor B felt great and just wanted to play. She couldn't understand why everyone was so boring. Mags slept from about 3:00pm Saturday until 8:00 am Sunday, then took a few hour long naps throughout the day. She was starting to worry me. Maura was fine by Sunday morning, but very cautious about her eating and drinking. She did NOT want to get sick again. Smart girl. Today is Monday, and all is well, so far. Sean said he was feeling fine, until about 2 minutes before he walked out the door to go to work. Keep your fingers crossed!

eta: Sick again... this is just not fair.