Happy Birthday, Lil'S!!! (2)

Okay, now it's official,

Lil'S is ONE!!!!

Birthday Lunch: Cheese! (for the first time?) and a few Cheerios . . . and a few bites of chili. (You'd think it was C day. . . .) The cheddar shreds were certainly a hit. I had to have H sing to him to distract him while I snuck the chili into his mouth. That's generally how we feed him breakfast, too, although often it's S doing the singing while making his lunch.

(Yes, Lil'S still puts his feet up on the table at every meal. Thanks, H.)

While I was reading a naptime story to H, Lil'S headed over to play with his favorite "toy". He just happened to turn it on to a country station and started rocking out to this song.

"Man I don't know, where the time goes

"But it sure goes fast, just like that"

Just too perfect.

A little playtime with Sister--

like REAL playtime!

Mmm...yummy dinner. Thanks, Dad!

He ate quite well!

I just love the look on his face.

Happy Birthday!!!

We opted for chocolate pudding

instead of another cake this time.

Interpretation of Sam's actions:

waving his hand after food is offered = "all done"

grabbing Mom's sleeve = "Get me out of here! I'm done!"

[offering pudding 3]

Holding the spoon and letting Mom

put food in his mouth is Lil'S's new skill

. . . last month or this month?

We debated just getting him straight to bed since he was so tired, but then we went ahead decided to let him open a few presents since H was so eager for him to open the box of toys she'd collected from her room for him. The pictures above (chronological from middle, to left, and then clockwise) show how "let[ting] him open a few presents" went. After the first few tears he was off to play with his balloon and read the book Gma C got him for Christmas!

[insert present opening video]

Try Number 2

Happy Birthday, Little Man!!!

My Baby's turning ONE!!!

(And he loved Daddy's cool trick of turning fire into smoke.)

Tonight we began Lil'S's birthday week by celebrating with our dear friends MM & AM and their boys HM & JM and dog Mr. T. These guys are like family to us. We met our first Sunday in NC and have been taking turns keeping each other sane ever since! AM pointed out today that when we first met, our H was younger than her boys are now. Wow.

Hey! A big kid's in my playpen!

Lil'S and HM were just too funny playing together!

Ack! MM Attack!

Lil'S cried when we initially put the cake down in front of him and then took it away when Mom realized the camera was out of batteries. Sorry, Kiddo! Check out his reaction when S blows out the candle for him. I wish I knew how to zoom in on his face and put it into slow-motion!

Cake or balloons?

Surprise!

Little J got the truck!

Dinosaurs!

(oh, those were the twins' :) )

Card from G&G C

(we'll open everything else Tuesday)

Tears and Smiles and Huh?s

Tears: "No! I don't want to wear my patch!!! Everything's wobbly!!!

Smiles: "Yay! I told you that packages were going to arrive soon (Lands End and Gma S's pkg for Lil'S first bday!), and they came while you were gone with Daddy!"

Huh?s: Finding appropriately fitting clothes for H.

beautiful red hair, peachy complexion, grey-blue eyes,

dark purple glasses, pudgy build, long torso, short legs,

scoliosis in lower back (C-curve, 11 degrees),

and parents who are strict on modesty

=

Colors: pastels, chocolate browns beautiful, dark purple;

No dark blue / black / pale colors (wash her out)

No bright colors (blind her mother)

Dresses: regular size 6 or 6x if designed to below knee,

plus size 5/6 if calf length, no stripes, no horizontal seams,

Sleeve-less styles must include coordinating, sleeved shirt

Skirts: regular size 8 if designed to knee or below,

plus size 5 if calf length (24" waist),

no stripes, no wide waist-lines

Shirts: plus size 5/6, sleeves required,

horizontal stripes okay (so far, it seems),

Must coordinate with existing skirts

Long pants: Mom isn't even going to bother

unless have Dora, Hello Kitty, etc.

If attempted, regular size 7/8 & hemmed 3-5 inches,

or plus size 5.

Shorts: See comment on long pants....at least the past 2-3 days

and earlier today. How I pulled off getting her

into her denim shorts this afternoon

(Lands End plus size 4, lucky clearance find two summers ago

because they rarely have plus size now for little girls, only big girls)

when ten minutes prior she was crying about wanting to wear a skirt?

I just don't even know.

Did I miss anything?

Oh, yes, hardly anybody sells plus-size little girls clothes.

So, I guess its a boon that she wants to wear skirts/dresses.

:)

Glasses!

Here they are!

They arrived a day early, but we were unable to get them until late tonight, so we're going to wait until tomorrow to start her patching. She's actually excited about her patches. She even took the box of them into Walmart to show them to the Vision Center workers! So far, so good! I hope it lasts!

11 Months!

Actually, 11.5 months now....only two more weeks to the big 1!

(Sorry picts are late as usual.....although this time I really did have 11mo ones taken on time. They were deleted while "uploading" to the computer. Sad!)

Poor kid was recovering from the high fevers of Roseola,

though, so he was SO TIRED!!!

(I'd take Roseola over about any other illness to be honest.)

See?

Whatta loopy kid!

I love my boys!

Promenade

Not bad a bad pict, esp considering I was holding a kiddo at the same time.

Really, I was holding Lil'S during every shot I took--excepting those in which it's obvious he was on his own or being held by daddy, of course!

(Confession: I cropped the above pict. Gasp! Just had to get that off my chest.)

Tasty!

Please ignore the major mullet in this picture

and just look at how absolutely gorgeous

this baby--nix that--little girl is!

(Her curls tighten up when her hair has actually been done,

so, no, I don't normally let her run around looking like this...

um, at least when we actually leave the house....) ;)

God is kind

Sales like the ones below are how we have clothed our daughter for the past four years. (She got a lot of gifts and hand-me-downs that first year....although she has just recently started getting some good hand-me-downs again, which has been great.) After H outgrew the baby section at Target and I found she didn't fit the long and lanky clothes in the girls' section, I was in a panic. No more Target Clearance!?! What was I to do!?!?! Gratefully, God has shown me other options: Lands End Clearance, paired with free shipping. Earlier this week was simply awesome: Lands End Clearance PLUS 25% off everything PLUS free shipping. Oh, and I used Shortcuts.com, so I'll get 3% cash back as well. Oh, and I also (finally) signed up for Shop Your Way which gives me a tiny percentage toward future purchases. Again, Awesome.

Sure, I purchased clothes for her at the end of last summer, that I foolishly thought would make it to next fall (fall here is summer in Idaho). And these ones were serious splurges. Like $4.50 for a shirt. And $6 for a pair of shorts. ;) However, I'm finding myself needing to give in to her pleadings to let her wear half of them simply because she's going to outgrow them before summer even starts! :) I'm grateful that I didn't try to stock up more on jeans or other pants. She has one pair of jeans and one pair of khakis. She doesn't wear them. Period. Oh, wait, she wore them over Thanksgiving, but that was because I packed the clothes. She wears Dresses. Skirts. And sometimes, every now and then, she'll wear Shorts. Oh, although an exception is a very cute Hello Kitty outfit--long pants, long sleeves--that my German Sister sent her a year or so ago. I think it's the only thing long-sleeved that she's put on, of her own volition, in two months. Except her fleece pjs, that is. They don't come short-sleeved. I learned the hard way not to leave out summer clothes during the winter, just as I have learned the hard way not to leave clothes set aside for future seasons in H-accessible locations. And I'm afraid it took me four months to learn from my mistakes. And I'm grateful I was minimalistic on purchases for her winter clothing as she pretty much didn't wear them. Oh, yes, except during the Thanksgiving holiday. ;)

Anyway, here are the goods. I realized while typing this that I should have shared the, excuse me, good news. I'll have to do better at that in the future! And, yes, I have purchased a variety of sizes of some dresses because with her build I wasn't 100% certain how they'd fit her. Good thing about buying big is she can wear them next year. Or of course I can always return them. And, yes, I just realized she won't fit those tights for 8 years--Girls Lg, not Little Girls Lg--but oh, well....my mistake. I'm allowed those at time, right? Okay, so frequently? Maybe they'll fit me....or, again, I could return them. Their tights are just such amazing quality (at least the pair we bought at Christmas time for a good deal--ok, so it was still a splurge, but I wanted something stronger than your cheapy everyday tights that look trashed after the first wearing) that I couldn't pass them up. And, seriously, how likely is it that she won't wear ivory? Oh, and the backpack and lunch bag are splurges. I could find a backpack a few dollars cheaper elsewhere. The lunch bag....well, I'd spend that much over a year or two on brown paper bags, right? So, why not? (It's insulated, the inner liner is removable for easy cleaning, and it clips to the backpack with an included carabiner. Cool, huh. Back to my vanities....) I'll save the backpack and lunch bag for a "You get to go to Kindergarten!" gift.

I can't wait to see her grin....

SHIPPED
Girls' Plus Microfiber Tights
Item # 1662406Q8 $2.22
Size Large Qty 1
Color Ivory

SHIPPED
Little Girls' Short Sleeve Stripe Heritage T-shirt
Item # 3906256Q4 $3.72
Size Medium Qty 1
Color Coral Blush Stripe

SHIPPED
Little Girls' Short Sleeve Stripe Heritage T-shirt
Item # 3906256Q4 $3.72
Size Medium Qty 1
Color Purple Sky Stripe

SHIPPED
Little Girls' Long Sleeve Shirred T-shirt
Item # 3922216Q9 $3.72
Size Medium Qty 1
Color Teaberry Multi Stripe

SHIPPED
Little Girls' Long Sleeve Shirred T-shirt
Item # 3922216Q9 $3.72
Size Medium Qty 1
Color Classic Navy Multi Stripe

SHIPPED
Little Girls' Long Sleeve Jersey Dress
Item # 3923526Q7 $7.47
Size 5 Qty 1
Color Pink Bloom

SHIPPED
Little Girls' Shirred Ruffle Dress
Item # 3924466Q4 $8.22
Size 6 Qty 1
Color Dark Chocolate

SHIPPED
Girls' ClassMate® Lunch Sack
Item # 3948106Q0 $5.97
Qty 1
Color Pink Bloom

SHIPPED
Girls' Solid ClassMate® SmallHaul Backpack
Item # 3948436Q5 $14.97
Qty 1
Color Light Pink

SHIPPED
Little Girls' Long Sleeve Twisted Neck Dress
Item # 397404WC0 $5.99
Size 6X Qty 1
Color Loganberry

SHIPPED
Girls' Long Sleeve Twisted Neck Dress
Item # 397405WC5 $5.99
Size 7 Qty 1
Color Raspberry

Where are the boy clothes? A neighbor gave us a huge bin of the cutest name brand 2t-3t clothes. (Although I should review which seasons there were....) And I got a bin of infant-5t from a friend moving out of state. And I got two or three bags of 18mo to 3t from my sis-in-law. And a friend loaned us Sunday outfits 18mo-2t. (Oh, yes, Lil'S started fitting 18mo. clothes at ....9mo? Gratefully, his growth has plateaued!) God is kind.

....and certainly even kinder than I thought. We could use these items as leverage if H has a hard time adjusting to her eye treatments. NICE. One dress for each week of cooperation. Looks like I'd better make sure she doesn't see the package arrive, huh!

Although, I have to admit I'm feeling a little guilty now for spending money on clothes when there have been so many natural disasters lately.....not to mention unmet needs everywhere you look. My daughter does need to be clothed, however. Someday things will be more fair......

Happy Birthday, Miss H!

Little Miss is 5!!!

There was present opening in the morning. . . .

What a perfect gift for a little princess:

A book written by a real princess!

(Thank you to G&G Call video isn't uploading, sorry!

Will have to try posting it again later.)

She got another dress for playing dress up.

(Thanks, Kelseys, for the hand-me-downs!)

A Belgian Waffles birthday lunch

(don't forget you can click on the collages to see them bigger)

And present opening in the evening!

After opening her Holy Bible, H said, "This is heavy."

And I can't help but note that she later quipped,

"This one has tons of stories in it."

After opening the Fancy Nancy puppy from her cousins, she said,

"She has a dog, and I have a cat.

Now I don't have to keep whining about a dog."

And then S and I busted a gut!

Hmm...how did I know G&G Shaw

would send H a dance outfit?

H really liked this card. When she first looked at it,

she said with a straight face, "Wow, this is really cool."

Thanks for the birthday presents!

whatta goof!

She requested stir-fry for her birthday dinner

because it was also Chinese New Year.

After we sat down to eat and said the prayer,

she made an announcement that

topped everything she'd said the entire day:

"Today we're celebrating two things:

my birthday and a restaurant called Chinese."

And, of course, chocolate cake!

Even Lil'S got some chocolate cake.

Sister shared too!

Happy Birthday, Angel Girl!

February's Hiatus

So, how is it that I haven't posted since before H's birthday???

Oh, yeah, I'm a Mom, huh....that's right....

Glasses!

Long story short, we just learned H has amblyopia, which is where the brain favors one eye, resulting in the loss of vision in the other eye. She has mild strabismus, which is likely the cause of it. I really wish we'd been aware of the fact that st. can cause a., but, oh well. She'll soon be starting patch therapy, where the working eye is patched to force the brain to recognize the ignored eye. We'll start with just a couple hours a day, and depending on the random pick of a computer, we may go up to six hours a day if her improvement plateaus down the road. Living where we do has its perks. She's going to be in a research study that will provide money for co-payments as well as free patches--that is, if we can convince her to say yes! ;) Have to ask her on a good day, I suppose!

This afternoon she picked out her glasses. :) After much consideration, and after arriving at the chosen optics place before it opened, we ended up getting the $38 Walmart special, in hopes that she'll only wear these a short time as her eyes improve. Although I just realized, she could just change lenses in the current frames, huh.... Anyway, the frames we picked are like the ones above, except that the frame transitions from purple at the top to clear at the bottom. Unfortunately, it'll take a full two weeks to get them, so we'll all just have to sit in suspense until then!