Four Smocked Sisters: October 2009

I survived a week alone with all four girls!

Rodney left on Sunday for 5 nights in Dallas. I was petrified to be on my own, but we made it. Even with Lila and her stomach bug. I hate to ask for help. I am the type of person who really wants to do it myself...well, that is no longer the case!

I asked our next door neighbors to watch Vivian yesterday while I cleaned up my car and Lila (who had thrown up all over herself on the way home from preschool - NASTY!) and I also asked a friend to bring Anna Beth home from dance last night. I definitely could not have made it through yesterday's "trauma" without these special friends. They were such blessings since our family is 3+ hours away. I almost made an "emergency" phone call to have Gran Jan come down here to help. Lila is fine now & I am hoping that no one else comes down with the bug.

I am definitely more confident about a few days of being a "single mom", but I am not ready to try it again anytime soon. Having Rodney gone this week definitely makes me more appreciative of his involvement as a father and husband. I will now overlook his dirty laundry on the floor!

Here we are....over here at Four Smocked Sisters! I haven't found the time to bring over my old blog, so I am starting over.

Here is a bit of an update for each of our four smocked sisters...

Anna Beth - She auditioned for a lyrical group dance on Sunday. We were nervous about the outcome since she had attended her first slumber party the night prior to the audition. Really, how much sleep was she going to get & then expect to dance her best the next afternoon. She had a blast at the party, came home to nap for almost 3 hours, then head to another birthday party before her audition. We found out the results tonight. Beaming, she pulled me over to the dance studio bulletin board and I knew....she had made it! I am so proud of her. I would have been proud of her had she not made it, but she really wanted this. I certainly couldn't learn several eight counts of a dance and then perform it half and hour later. Way to go, AB!!!

Corinne - She just turned SIX and loves everything American Girl. She got her own "Just Like Me" American Girl doll for her birthday & "Hannah" goes almost everywhere with her. Too cute! She is blossoming in Dual Language Kindergarten. She is already reading Spanish sentences. I was blown away when she read "Yo quiero mi mama y mi papi." (I think I wrote it correctly!) Her teacher had many compliments at our recent parent/teacher conference (which takes place for all kinder students in lieu of a first six weeks report card). He told us that he can see why she was chosen for the Dual Language program and that he sees how excited she is to learn Spanish. We also found out that she is the "teacher" at her table. She is the only native English speaker at the table, so she has taken her fellow tablemates under her wing. Bueno Trabajo, Corinne!

Lila - I recently tagged along on a field trip with Lila's school. We visited a local pumpkin patch and had a ball. Her class played games, read a story & painted pumpkins. She discovered that not all pumpkins are smooth...she loved the bumpy ones. She hopes to take her sisters & Daddy to the pumpkin patch this weekend so that she can show them the ropes. Lila did almost give me heart attack this week. She was crawling on the kitchen floor and slipped, chipping her tooth when she fell. We made an emergency trip to our wonderful dentist and they xrayed the tooth, filed the jagged edge & told me to watch it in case it turns grey/black (which means dead tooth!). Dr. W told me that it was just a slight possibility, thank goodness. I was worried about that room brightening smile! Lila was such a brave (and motionless in the dental chair!) three year old during the whole experience. It helps that she recently had her teeth cleaned for the first time so all she really cared about was getting to choose something fun from the treasure chest.

Vivian - Sweet Vivian will be three months old tomorrow. Time certainly flies or maybe it's the lack of sleep/rest that simply makes it all a blur. Vivian has started to swat at toys. Her favorite toy is a rattle penguin on her playmat (loves that black/white contrast!). Her smiles will melt your heart. Her reflux has flared up again, so we're trying to keep her comfortable. Playing with your baby while upright is getting old, but we're managing. I keep reminding myself that the first three months are the worst, so we are definitely in the home stretch (I hope!)