36 Months

Dear Sylvia,

I hope you enjoyed your birthday extravaganza weekend!  I certainly enjoyed watching you.  There's something about you now that screams "Big Girl" and it's not your big girl screams, although they are fantastic.  There's something about the way you look and the way you act that make you seem like such a grown up, even though you're still so tiny.  In fact, just tonight you asked me, "Mommy, am I a big girl?"  I said yes.  You said, "But I'm not all the way big."  I said, no, not yet.  You said, "I'm just a little bit big."  Yes, honey, you're getting bigger every day.  "But I'm still tiny."

Indeed.

How is it that you can seem so big and so tiny all at once?  You are not a baby anymore and having Margot around just reminds me of that fact.  You talk like a big girl and walk like a big girl, but sometimes you seem so, so small.  I think you're starting to understand what it means to be small.  Not just physically, either.  You starting to think that small means scared.  And small means sick.  And small means I can't I can't I can't!  That's why I introduced you to a wonderful new word recently.  A word that fits you well, especially while you're still small...

Brave.

You're learning that you need to be brave.  You're learning that all kids do brave things.  Like go to school.  Or ride your bike.  Or try that new vegetable.  It finally dawned on me that you say, "My belly hurts!" when you're nervous or scared.  I know what that feels like in my belly and it's weird and uncomfortable.  But I also know what it feels like to be brave.  To walk away from my Mommy and hop on a school bus.  To paddle that canoe by myself for the first time.  To ask that little girl if she wants to play with me and my friends.  When I do those important things, the feeling in my belly changes.  It starts to feel better and I start to feel happy.  That's what I want you to do.  Do brave things.

Sylvia, you asked me what brave means and I told you: it means that you do important things, even when you're scared.  You said, "I'm not brave, Mommy, I'm scared."  I tried to rephrase it in a way you'd understand, so I said, "That's okay!  You can be brave AND scared, in fact, every brave person is usually scared, too.  That's what makes them brave!  They do things they're scared of!"  It started to sink in.  You asked if your favorite princesses were brave and I had to be honest.  Rapunzel was brave when she left her tower.  Cinderella was brave when she asked her stepmother if she could go to the ball.  Tianna was brave when she kissed that frog and Belle was brave when she agreed to live in the Beast's castle.  Ariel's not brave, she's an idiot.  Snow White...I'm on the fence about her.  And there's a new princess in a new movie called....wait for it...BRAVE!  Can you believe that?  I have no idea if she's brave or not because we haven't seen it, but I'm willing to bet she is.

The point is, I wanted brave to be more than a story for you.  So, I told you how brave Grammy is when she invites everyone over for dinner.  And how brave Grandpa is when he goes camping in the woods.  And how brave Uncle Evan is because he lives far, far away.  And how brave all of your friends are because they leave their mommies and daddies every day to go to school.

But what I wanted to tell you are the real stories of bravery in your family.  These are stories you can't understand yet because you don't know what it's like to be afraid of dying.  I wanted to tell you that Uncle Evan is fighting in a war, just like my Grandpa did.  I wanted to tell you that G.G. raised six kids by herself after her husband died.  I wanted to tell you that Mamie and Papi moved to the United States and Daddy had to go to an American school even though he couldn't speak English!  Someday we'll tell you these stories, but for now, I just want you to know that....you can be brave, too.  You ARE brave.  It's in your blood.

We asked you where you wanted to go for your birthday today and you said, "The MOO ZEE UM!" So we took you to the Children's Museum and the Natural History Museum and you had a wonderful day.  As we were walking through the cave, with its narrow pathways and dripping water and dimly lit rock walls, you asked if you could go in front.  Daddy and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders.  We knew there were lots of steps and uneven floors, but we knew you'd be fine.  We approached a corner in the cave that was very dark and we could hear the running water on the other side.  I was holding Margot, so you asked Daddy to pick you up and he did.  We stood there together as a family for a minute when I said to you, "Sylvia, are you scared?" You nuzzled into Daddy's shoulder and said, "Yeah...I'm scared."  I said, "Do you want to walk around that corner by yourself?"  You straightened up, smiled at me, and narrowed your eyes as if to say, "Oh YEAH!  I know what you're getting at, lady - and I LIKE IT!"  You didn't even say yes, you just lunged out of Daddy's arms and started to tiptoe toward the corner, giggling like a maniac.  You jumped into the next cave room, a beautiful waterfall with stalactites and stalagmites everywhere.  You shouted, "Oh, dis is COOL!!!" and you maneuvered your way through more tunnels and staircases.  When we were out of the cave, I said, "Wow, Sylvia, you were a good leader in there, even though you were scared."  I was hoping you would get the point, and you did.  You shouted, "Yes, I WAS a good leader!  And I'm BRAVE!"  Yes, you are, my dear.  You are totally brave.

So, as you drift of to sleep (actually, you're jumping up and down in your bed right now at 9:09pm which is quite brave of you because you know Daddy's going to come up there and he will NOT be happy!) please know that I'm sitting here soaking in the beauty of this third birthday.  I'm trying to imagine my life before you, when I repelled off of cliffs and flew off to foreign countries by myself.  But NOTHING has made me as brave, or as grateful, humble and proud, as being your Mama.  You truly are my greatest adventure.  Thank you for being you.  I love you beyond words.

Always and Forever,
Mama 

P.S.  I'm all for you being a princess when you grow up, but you better be the kind of princess that serves the poor and takes in a ton of orphans.  And you better buy me a BOAT!

Birthday, Round 2: Puke Free!

Okay!  I'm totally digging this idea for separate parties!  Now that Sylvia's fast asleep and I didn't poison anyone with my meal (I don't cook much - okay...EVER - and I had to do it all by MYSELF tonight because Sylvain was working, so....I was worried), I can safely say that Birthday Weekend was a success!  In the middle of all that cooking and talking I didn't take many pictures, but here are the ones I do have from tonight's festivities.

Tearing open the first gifts from us - some new dress up clothes that are NOT princesses.  Not that there's anything wrong with princesses, but she has a jillion dresses and I thought her dress up bin could use a little balancing.  Luckily, she loved them!

She wanted to be a firefighter as soon as she opened the outfit.  Uncle Jerry would be proud!

I thought it was funny watching a Fire Chief blow out birthday candles!  How cute is that princess cake from Grammy?

She checked everyone's temperature and gave us all shots.  She was one busy doctor!

And that's it!  It was wonderful to see the grandparents and she got some adorable presents from everyone.  A doll house, a *new* soccer ball, some French fairy tales, and a princess folding chair!  I'll be back tomorrow as I try to put into words what it's like to see my sweet girl turn three.  It's bizarre and beautiful and bewildering all at the same time!  Happy Birthday, Sylvia!

Birthday, Round 1

Sylvia turns three on Monday - THREE, people, THREE!  So, since this is only the third time I've planned a kid's birthday party, I think it's safe to say I still have no clue what I'm doing.  However, I am learning and I'm pretty happy with the way things are turning out, not counting the car puke.  I'll get to that in a minute. 

We decided to do two things differently this year. 
1.  Have her party at the beginning of my spring break instead of the end, so I wouldn't spend a week trying to get all Martha up in here and thoroughly disappointing myself.
2.  Have a separate and SMALL friend party so I don't have a house full of people to look after.  We decided to stick to the "invite as many friends as your age rule."  Just another attempt to keep the total number of bodies in this house to a minimum!  We might have to rethink this rule when she turns 16. 

So far, I'm very glad we did both of these things.  I was still up until midnight last night doing all the things I thought wouldn't take very long, but oh well.  All of my plans were EASY and I actually had time to sit down for a few minutes before guests showed up.  The party was a hit, everyone had fun, and both girls took a nice, long afternoon nap, (so I did, too)!  Here are the pics:

Sylvia waited patiently for her friends.

Baby Claire (who's not a baby anymore!) had no problem keeping up with the big kids.

Okay, so maybe I made some Martha pom poms, but they were super easy.

AJ was digging his heart shaped ring pop!

Margot's all dolled up for big sister's party!

Minnie Mouse dress from Brooklyn.

Hugs for Charlie - thanks for the Rapunzel doll!  (She's sleeping with it at this very moment!)

The Princess Bike.  I could write a whole post on it.  Let's just say it's her dream come true and leave it at that.  She is one happy kid!

Steering practice.

We took a break from biking to hunt for treasures in the backyard.  When you're three, every rock is a treasure.

Lighting the candles on her princess cupcakes.

"Happy Birthday to Sylviaaaaa!"

It took them forever to blow them all out!

Stuffing our faces.  Those cupcakes were g.o.o.d!

He loves my ladies.

This is the best we could do with the grandkids.  They aren't all looking at the camera, but they aren't crying either.  Good enough!

Now, the party was great and everyone had fun and everyone took naps and all was right with the world.  Sylvia woke up from her nap complaining of a belly ache, but what else is new?  She complains that her belly hurts every. single. DAY!  All day long.  "My beeeeeelllllly hurts."  Okay.  Usually, to counteract the whining and complaining, we need to get out of the house, so we decided to take some books back to the library.  On the way home, Sylvia was reading her new library book in the back seat and WHAM!  Out of nowhere she starts projectile vomiting all over the inside of the car, the back of Sylvain's neck and the pages of her book.  Awesome.  It was then that I realized she had eaten nothing but potato chips and cupcakes for the last six hours.  Epic. Parent. Fail!  I felt terrible for the poor girl!  I started yelling at Sylvain to pull over, even though we were two minutes away from our house.  All I wanted to do was hold her and pet her hair and tell her it was going to be okay!  She cried because...well, because she was covered in puke, and we changed her clothes on the side of the road.  I knew she felt better immediately, but I was very concerned about the lack of any food at all in her belly!  I made her some toast when we got home, we snuggled on the couch for a few minutes, and she ate all of her dinner without any problems, so I think it's safe to say she's better.
Tomorrow we have the Family Party.  Just grandparents, cake and ice cream!  Here's to hoping she doesn't wake up with a fever, or an ear infection, or a disease caused by eating too many cupcakes! 

Thirty-One

Fun Fact:  I was born in the same hospital as Margot, but I was born thirty-one years ago and she was born three weeks ago.  She doesn't look a day over two weeks old, though, does she?

One thing I've really been looking forward to is the World Choir Games in Cincinnati this July.  To be honest, I was a little bummed when I realized that the dates for the WCG were so close to my due date because I wanted to be a volunteer and score some free tickets to the competitions and concerts.  Earlier this week, I reserved some tickets for today's Children's Choir competition and I really, REALLY wanted to take Sylvia with me.  I thought it would be fun for her to see kids singing and it would be a great thing for us to do together on my birthday.  I understood that she may not sit through all of it (especially since I know she can't even sit through church on Sundays), so I was prepared to leave if we had to.  Well....we had to. 

It was no fault of hers, though.  We waited in line for an hour before the show started, and even though I had an arsenal of snacks, new toys and even a book about trains in my bag, I just couldn't keep that sweet girl as quiet as she was supposed to be.  She wasn't bad AT ALL, she was just an excited two year old, and after the first couple of songs, she had no business being in a small auditorium during a choir competition.  She has absolutely no idea how to whisper, especially when she's excited.  After the third song, an usher said to me, "Ma'am, if you want to take her to the lobby until she calms down, I can let you back in for the next performance?"  I felt bad for her.  She felt bad for me.  I decided it was best for us to just cut our losses and go home.  I didn't want Sylvia to think she was bad, so when we got to the lobby I said, "Yay!  Wasn't that a fun show?!  Did you love it?  What pretty music!  Now, let's go home."  And she was totally down with that.  I didn't mind one bit, either, because my body was telling me to GO HOME AND FEED YOUR BABY!!  We sang show tunes in the car and I was completely satisfied, because in the end I knew that I got exactly what I wanted - some musical one-on-one time with Sylvia.

We gave it the ol' college try...

...but she had much more fun outside with the pigs.

After I came home and fed Margot, I took a nap, then we all had a lovely lunch together.  Sylvain took Sylvia shopping, then put her down for a nap, and I held a sleeping Margot on my chest while I watched more consecutive minutes of TV than I've been able to watch in a very long time.  After naps, we loaded up the car and headed to my Dad's house for pizza and birthday pie!  Sylvia loved singing Happy Birthday and blowing out my candles for me.

I missed the opportunity to photograph Sylvia riding around the backyard in my Dad's wheel barrow, but I didn't miss the chance to snap a picture of Dad and The Girls after dinner.  Margot woke up for the occasion!  She sat on my Dad's lap (and Sally's lap) for a good solid hour without falling asleep!  She's getting so big.

Fun times with Grandpa!

All in all, it was a marvelous birthday!  I certainly can't complain about my age when I have two beautiful girls and a sweet, loving family to make me feel so special.

Birthday Season!

This weekend we ventured to Lexington for the third birthday party in our slew of babies born a year ago!  I'm so sad that my camera battery died last weekend at Clover's party.  We had oodles of fun at John and Megan's Cinco De Mayo De Derby De Clover!  Sylvia loved the tiny sombreros and shakers and we all giggled when the babies put on their moustaches.  It doesn't get any cuter than that, so you'll have to use your imagination instead of a picture.  Sorry.

Today, though, my camera was up and running!  Audrey's party was a roaring good time.  Emily and Michael pulled out all the stops to provide a circus themed extravaganza in their backyard, and I've never seen so many kids in one place before.  Someone mentioned that our parties sure have changed, now that all these little ones are running around.  So true!

We were the first ones there, which meant we had first dibs on the hat making table.  There were also balloon animals, provided by Emily's brother, and hot dogs, so...Sylvia was in heaven all afternoon.

And just when she thought the party couldn't get better, they busted out the cupcakes!

Audrey opened all of her wonderful presents and ate some delicious one-year birthday cake.

During the present opening, Sylvia got drenched in the baby pool so I changed her into her spare dress (which, by some miracle, we remembered to toss in the diaper bag), and then I let her drink from a bottle of water, so she drenched dress number two!  Thank goodness it's spring and she's only two years old, because I just whipped the second dress off and let her run around in her diaper, which she LOVED.  We tossed both dresses in the dryer and they were done by the time we left, so she didn't have to ride home naked, thank goodness!

Clover contemplates the meaning of life.  She'll have it figured out in no time.

They had a really cute photo booth set up, but of course, by the time we got in it, Sylvia was playing "naked baby" and all she wanted to put on were the necklaces.  All of them.  Girl wasn't satisfied until the prop table was completely cleared of beads.  Look at that ding-dong!  She makes me laugh.

It's all fun and games when you're two, but I better not see this same picture in 16 years!

As always, it was a great time visiting with friends in Lexington, some of whom we haven't seen in a very long time!  Sylvia was pooped when we got home, and frankly, so am I at the moment, so I'm going to log off, take a bath, and go to bed early so I can sleep in LATE tomorrow!  (That's all I want for Mother's Day - sleep.  Which is hard to come by when one daughter wants to jump on your bed and the other one wants to kick you from the inside.  We'll see how it goes.)

Birthday!

Last Friday, I attempted to have a "small family gathering" to celebrate Sylvia's second birthday.  I didn't want anything too big, since we had a huge party for her first birthday, and almost all of our friends have their own one-year-old birthdays to orchestrate this spring.  However, I did make two rookie mistakes.

1.  I forgot that our family is gigantic and once I invited the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, we ended up with twenty people at our house.
2.  Her birthday was at the end of Spring Break, so I spent a week planning and prepping and cooking up all sorts of ridiculous ideas (i.e. let's blow up a hundred balloons and leave them all over the house!!  She'll LOVE it!). 

The party was not a failure by any means, I'm sure everyone had a good time, and I know Sylvia had a B.A.L.L. so it was actually a great success.  But I won't lie, it wore me out.  And I was glad when it was over.  Next year we're all going to Chuck E. Cheese, or some equally germ-filled snot fest, and I'll have a beer.

Anyway, here's the rundown of all the excitement: 

Two-year-olds do not understand the idea of WAITING to open everyone's present at the same time, so we let her open Gran and Grandpa's present shortly after they arrived.  Luckily, it was a Thomas the Tank Big Wheel (oh my WORD, the excitement!!!) and it took my Dad a good long time to put together, which kept Sylvia entertained until everyone else got there. 

Then, her best buddy Charlie showed up, and we no longer had to entertain/distract/wrangle her in any way.  They immediately started running and screaming and laughing.  Every time they're together, they shock me.  Within minutes of his arrival, they ran into her room, grabbed some books, ran back into the living room, climbed up in these chairs and started READING.  Thank goodness I was close and had my camera. 

Once everyone was there and had a plate of food in their laps, we let her have a free-for-all with the gifts.  Charlie helped.  I'm still finding wrapping paper and deflated balloons all over the house.  Sylvia got some wonderful presents that she has really enjoyed this week.  Lots of toys, THREE tea sets (that's how we roll, good and fancy!), quite a few outside toys (balls, kiddie pool, etc.), and a play kitchen with food and an apron!  What a lucky little girl.

 Uncle Jordan was there!  He gave her some new pink Nike sneakers and every time she sees them, she calls them "Unca Joe-din shoes!" 

After presents it was time for cake!  See that plate full of cookies to the left?  They are the reason I will curse Martha Stewart until the day I die.  That lady is NUTS!  My cookie plans failed miserably, and I was up until midnight the night before the party trying to salvage the remains of my pathetic project and turn them into regular old iced butterfly cookies, which turned out just fine, thank you very much.  Mom made the adorable bunny cake, I made the cupcakes (easy peasy, from a box, no complaints!) and yes, I put the 2 candle on backwards.  But I fixed it before we sang to her, so it won't bring her bad luck or anything.  I hope.

Matt and Claire, hanging out in the playroom.  Sylvia lights up when she sees her and shouts "Bay-bee Quare!!!"  She also thinks every baby is "Baby Quare" or "Baby _____" (our baby name, not approved for Internet posting, but approved enough for household use).

Four generations photo.  Sylvia, me, my Grandma Marge (Sylvia's "G.G."), and my Mom, Joyce (Sylvia's "Grammy").  Love those ladies!

Sylvia was pretty excited about the singing and the candles.  She certainly doesn't remember all this hoopla from last year, but she's been to a few birthday parties since then and she knows how this works.  It was fun to see her realize this was HER turn. 

Blowing out the candles!  Happy Birthday, sweet girl! 

Enjoying our birthday cookies.  Can we just talk about those pigtails for a second?  I'm pretty sure that when she walks across the graduation stage, or down a wedding aisle, I'm going to bawl my ever-loving eyes out thinking about her two-year-old pigtails.  No matter how big she gets, this is the face I will always see.  Always.

Sylvia and Cecilia were sitting at the table together, but when we pulled up a chair for Charlie, Sylvia decided she needed to be as close to him as possible.  Or maybe they were just fighting over the chair and realized they could both fit.  Either way, it was adorable.

After cake, we spent a few minutes playing outside with the new soccer ball, looking for airplanes, and watching the sun go down.  After everyone left, my brothers stayed behind to help Sylvain build a fire in the backyard, and I gladly joined them after I put my sweet girl to bed and cleaned up a little bit.  It was a day full of fun and blessings!  We are so lucky to be close to our family, and I'd gladly wear myself out time and time again if it means we all get to spend this much time together!

Happy Birthday, Scarlett!

Sylvia and I took a delightful springtime drive to Lexington today for a special birthday party - Scarlett is ONE year old!  Remember all those babies I was hoarding last spring?  They're all about to turn one and today they were all dolled up in their springy best!

Sylvia dove into a cupcake within ten minutes of arriving.  She's her Mama's daughter!

Emily made these adorable little Mad Hatter Hats for the kiddos.  Sylvia tried to wear hers to bed tonight.

Megan with Clover and Emily with Scarlett - these two babies are besties forever!

Audrey and Ellie, chilling together on the baby play mat.

Sylvia, Scarlett, and Clover, checking out the yard.

Audrey and her Daddy, Michael - LOVE.

Double LOVE!

Emily also made this amazing pull string pinata for the li'l uns to open.  It was full of snack bags of goldfish!  Score!!

Scarlett tears into her birthday cupcake - yummers!!

Sylvia and Clover watch the slide show from the couch...

...then enjoy some tickle time.

Scarlett, Clover, and Sylvia.

Pictures like that last one really get me choked up.  Scarlett's mama, Emily, and Clover's mama, Megan, were my best girlfriends and roommates in college.  Sometimes it seems like yesterday that we were painting our kitchen red and dancing on the coffee table.  Then I look at these three girls and I'm all...holy cupcake!  We have KIDS!  And we're allowed to KEEP THEM!  I wish I could go back in time and show this picture to those crazy college girls.  They wouldn't believe how well things turned out.

I wish I had more pictures of Ellie and Audrey, but alas, 'tis the nature of parties and cameras.  Those mamas are awfully special to me, too, and I know they know it!  It was so nice to visit with old friends today and celebrate the awesomeness of Scarlett!  Happy Birthday, sweet girl!