A new look

 

This morning I had finally had it. The crying, screaming and hiding the hair brush had to end. I have a total of 6 hairbrushes in this house and all of them were in hiding because my darling daughter hates to get her hair brushed. She wants it to be long and beautiful and down to the middle of her back, but can't stand the brushing. I can't stand the brushing either.

So, we talked about it and decided it was time for a cut, a new style, something different and fun. We searched the internet for some pictures of something she might like to try and she picked out the above picture. She loves the colors and the lipstick. {Ummm. you are 5. Not going to happen. Even when you are 15, NOT going to happen.} We kept looking. She didn't like most of what she saw. When I asked her what it was she wanted, she chose a short wedge style. That was a little shorter than I wanted to go, so we compromised. Not quite to the ear, higher than the chin with some layering in the back to give it some style.

It turned out really cute but I still wasn't prepared for the change, even though I wanted it. She went from little girl to big girl in just a few snips. Kindergarten, here we come!

School

Justin's in a photography class right now. I don't know how much he's loving it, but I think it's kind of cool. We have had some interesting conversations lately about pictures, editing and cameras. He took these cute photos for an assignment this weekend. We are just in love with this crazy little girl.

Basketball Babe

Meg has picked up some great basketball skills lately by playing with her brother and dad. When the next oldest player is more than a foot taller and 6 years older than you, I guess you learn quick or get out of the game. Today she showed off for me a little. She's getting so big... how do I slow down time?

We can do hard things

Some things are hard and some things are easy. One of the things we talk about in our family all of the time is our ability to do hard things. We have the ability, the faith and the support to try something new and scary. We may not succeed the very first time, but we can try again and again. We also talk a lot about not making others feel bad for thinking something is hard when we think it may be easy for us. Everyone has their own fears and stumbling blocks and we are all different. If we use a little compassion in dealing with others and instead focus on helping them do hard things, everyone feels better about themselves.
   A few months ago Meg developed a fear of dogs. Not just a mild fear, as in not wanting to pet them, but an all out, cross the street, stay far far away fear. They scared her to her toes. She was knocked down by a bulldog and after that, she wanted nothing to do with any kind of dog at all. The neighbors barking dogs in their yard scared her when she was outside, even though she knew they couldn't get over to her.
   Today for no other reason than her brother was standing next to her, Meg decided to pet a friend's dog. This is the most calm, sweet dog on the planet. She allows her little girl to dress her up, haul her around and play mercilessly with her. Meg took her time but managed to sit down and pet the sweet dog. She was so proud of herself. Thanks to Ms. Christine who took the picture and was sweet and patient enough to allow her to try again and again until she was ready.
   This was a hard thing for Meg. Just something small for others. I have no illusions that this is the end of her fear, but know she has proven to herself that she can do something even when it's scary. She's proud of herself and we are happy for her too. Small steps lead to great places.

A Pinkalicious Day

    Just after Meg's birthday party a friend sent me a note that Pinkalicious, the Musical was coming to our area performed by the Junior Theater. I bought tickets in May. I waited over a month to tell her about it, but I should have waited longer. It's an eternity when you are 4 to wait more than 3 days for something fun you just can't WAIT to do. Today was FINALLY the day.

 We headed out to the Casa Del Prado theater in Balboa Park for our day of fun. It was a short play but very fun with 7 musical numbers and lots of costume changes, which we are still talking about here at home. The dancing Cupcakes golden legs are also a topic of conversation. The first thing she said as we were walking away is that she loved it and she wants to see another play right away. I love how excited she was and how much she enjoyed herself. My favorite song... You Get What You Get and You Don't Get Upset.

   After leaving Balboa Park we wandered around a little and found the Goodwill Boutique on 16th. My baby sister spent all last year telling people she wasn't turning 30 until she had a Dooney and Bourke handbag. Her birthday was a couple of months ago, and she did turn 30 without it, but today I found the perfect bag at the perfect price. A mere $35 for this darling bag that you can find for full retail price here. I guess that goes to show that great things happen after the big 3-0. Meg likes "the B bag" a lot too and tried to convince me to let her keep it. By the time you turn 30, I told her, you might just have one, but it won't be this one.

   We left out shopping expedition in search of lunch. I tried to talk her into a few different places we haven't been before, but she was stuck on MCD's. It's her favorite place. I can't eat anything good there anymore because of diabetes, but she had a good lunch and I did have my diet coke with sugar free vanilla syrup. Ah, the indulgence.
  We got home about the same time as Dad and Bug who had gone to a new chief meet and greet BBQ. They had a great time, got a little too much sun and were glad to be home. Meg jumped on dad's lap and told him all about the costumes, songs and pink cupcakes that were for sale afterwards that Mom wouldn't stand in line to get for her. She wants to go and see Harold and the Purple Crayon next. I don't have a clue if she knows what that's about, but I remember it from my childhood. We might be looking for tickets sometime soon. If you are in the area, join us. It's going to be fun!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Happy Happy Birthday Baby

It's Meg's 3rd birthday and she was so looking forward to a Dora Party. She informed me of that the Sunday before her birthday. What does a Dora party entail? A cute Dora outfit, of course. Do you think you can just walk into any old store and find orange pants? Wrong. A purple backpack and a map. She tried hard to talk me into making Swiper too, but it didn't work.  It can't be a birthday party without some sewing, right? 

She was a cute Dora. She was a little dissapointed that the backpack didn't actually talk. (Those were her words, "It doesn't acutally talk, Mom.")

We had playgroup today with friends from church, so we took cupcakes and goodie bags and called it a party. She had a blast. I can't believe she's already 3 and I can't wait to see what the next 20 years hold for her.

Today I Took the Time

Today I took the time

to go for a walk

to play in the park

to hunt for lady bugs

to watch her smile, and discover.

Today I took the time

to ride a bike,

to dance with dad,

to make silly faces

to hear her laugh and be joyful.

Today I took the time

to draw a picture

to make up a story

to watch her face

to see her imagine, and wonder.

Today I took the time

to read some books,

to build with blocks,

to take a nap,

to listen to her breathe and be still.

Today I took the time.

I played with my little girl.

I discovered,

I watched,

I listened,

I learned,

Today, I took the time.

~A. Hubbs, 3/4/2010

Meg's top 10 quotes

Meggy's quotes this week:

1. Those are NOT my favorite clothes.


2. But I NEED the chocolate.


3. I am walking fast mom (as she pokes along at a snails pace), see? The kitty is slow. (who is sitting in the middle of the road watching us.)


4. I need a dandelion flower to make me happy.


5. I will be happy mom, I am not naughty now. I need a little girl show.


6. I will get a granola bar and you will open it for me, right?


7. Flowers is my new favorite game. (Thanks Annie, for that one. She loves it!)


8. (watching Scooby Doo) I will not be scared this time. It's not scary, not scary.


9. Will you be a nice Mama and get me a Scooby Snack now?


10. Brother is not being nice. He's naughty. He doesn't get a little girl show.

I love my Meggy. She's such a delight and she makes us smile every single day.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Today was Meg's surgery to insert ear tubes. We are hoping they will let her ears drain better and prevent a few of those nasty ear infections she is so prone to getting. I was scared to go in by myself and wait for her, but things went smoothly. She was unhappy with me to not get her milk when I woke her up early, but other than that, she was a trooper.

We answered lots of questions for lots of people. Mostly the same questions over and over, but I guess they must have been important. I stressed over and over that her skin was extremely sensitive and asked them to use as little adhesive tape as possible. She would end up with welts. She sat and watched PBS for a while before they were ready for her. They gave her a little Versed, to take the edge off before she went to sleep and she got a little goofy. I carried her to the OR, where they took her out of my arms and promised to deliver her safely back to me.

The actual procedure took less than 15 minutes. She was back to me in 23 minutes. I went into recovery with her and when she woke up she was so sad. Confused, not feeling good and just not happy. It took some time before she settled down. She got a little oxygen and that helped get the goofy gas out of her system and she started to feel better. She already had marks on her eyes, marks where the EKG had been and where the blood pressure cuff had been on her leg. We transferred back to the other room to hang out for a while and make sure she would tolerate some food and drink. She drank two small bottles of apple juice and ate some saltine crackers. Less than 45 minutes later, they let us go home. Her doctor did say he suctioned out a lot of fluid from her ears and he was amazed she spoke as well as she did in light of all of the issues she's had with them. Now that she can hear better, how much will she talk? Will we be able to handle it? She slept until about 2, when it was time to go and get Bug from the bus and then she decided to hang out on the couch for a while. By 4:30, she was back to her old self, running around, doing the happy dance, and pouring all of the money out of brother's piggy bank. Your typical 2 year old. What a good kid.

I am glad things went so well and I know the credit goes in no small part to the friends and family who sent prayers on our behalf. It's scary to do things like this when your husband is home to support you, but when he's gone it's doubly hard. I am grateful for a happy, healthy and crazy daughter who is the one of the lights of my life.

2 Years Ago Today

I don't think I ever posted Meg's birth story. Today is a great day to do that.

Two years ago today, my beautiful Meg was born late at night to a Dad who was nervous about leaving for sea and a Mom who was tired of being on bed rest.

It was the day before Justin was supposed to leave for sea. His first run as a new chief and there was a lot going on. I had been off of bedrest for about 3 days, after having been there for almost 8 weeks. I was 36 weeks pregnant. Mom was visiting, so Justin and I went to get some patrol things completed. We walked around the NEX and ran other errands for a couple of hours and I was tired when we got home. I washed baby clothes, loaded the dishwasher and counted contractions. I always had contractions, so I didn't think anything of them. About 2 in the afternoon I went to lay down for a nap and by 4, woke up having serious contractions. I walked around the house for a while, and then put my feet up wondering if they would go away with some rest. It wasn't to be.

Everyone was having dinner, except me, I couldn't eat and my back was killing me, when I decided I should go and get checked out. Contractions every 4 minutes and back pain that was to distracting to talk through were pushing me towards pain killers, however I could get them. We left for the hospital at 5:30, arrived at 6:00 and by 7 mom had arrived and they were administering and epidural. That was amazing. I didn't get one with Adam and the difference was night and day. I stopped yelling, stopped crying and decided to settle down and have a baby. There was some talk of trying to send me to Madigan because I was less than 37 weeks and had gestational diabetes. There just wasn't time. I was moving too fast.

We knew the boat was leaving the next morning and so Justin had made some calls to let people know where he was. At some point the Engineer for the boat came into my hospital room to talk to him. Nice of him to visit, but a call would have been fine. Especially since I didn't know the man at all and the first time he meets me in is labor. Not cool.

They asked if I thought I could wait until a pediatric specialist could be there before I started pushing and I was feeling no pain, so didn't think it was a problem. At 10:45 I was done waiting. The nurses were called and I pushed once before she freaked out, asked my not to push, breathe or move and called the team in. Within about 10 minutes I was ready to go and at 11:15 I had a beautiful baby girl, healthy and happy. She was 6 lbs and 1/2 an ounce and 19 inches long. Her APGAR's were great and she cried right away. No complications at all.

Justin stayed with me that night and she really did want some daddy time.She stayed up all night talking to dad. She grunted and groaned and cooed. He held her all night. I had to ask for her to feed her. He left for sea at about 7 the next morning and came home again when she was almost 3 months old. She was thrilled to see him then too and they have always had a special bond.

It took years of prayer, faith and fertility treatments to get Meg here. She is such a blessing in our lives, we wouldn't be the same without her. Happy Birthday Baby.

Spotlighting Meg

Oh Sweet Meg. What a joy and a challenge you are. Here are a few of Meg's favorites right now...

Movie: Food Panda (Kung Fu Panda for those of you who don't speak 2 year old)

Food: Scrambled eggs and yogurt. She talked Grandma into to making her 3 eggs for dinner one night, and she ate every one of them and some toast. Offer her noodles and she'd rather go hungry. She also can't use the same eating utensil for different foods. If yogurt and oatmeal are being served, she needs two spoons. No cross-contamination for this kid.

Sleep: In her bed only and only when SHE is ready to go. Bedtime is ambiguous to her and what mom and dad say have little bearing on her attitude about it. I caught this sweet photo the other day and it's probably the only one I have of her sleeping somewhere other than her bed or car seat.

Play time favorite: She loves to push her babies around the house in her stroller and put them to bed. She also loves to play Wii with brother and jump on the trampoline.

Biggest comfort: Thumb and ear. I know she's needs some down time when she finds her thumb and ear. I have never seen her suck her thumb without playing with her ear at the same time From the time she was tiny that was her comfort.

Book: Meg loves books. She will read to herself for a long, long time. Her top favorites right now are Mr. Brown Can Moo and The Foot Book. She also has a Curious George book from the library I am going to have a really hard time returning soon.

The Girl's Got Game: Watch out when there's a ball around. She's got an arm and the other day while playing with Dad, stuck this ball to his glasses from a few feet away. She likes to throw it at the TV and piano books too. She can throw the length of our hall way and she's occasionally pretty accurate.

Other things about Meg: She loves her brother dearly and can't wait for him to get home from school each day. She's also thrilled to see daddy return home. She does the Happy Dance on request and loves to count, although not always in the order you expect. She likes to sing to herself too and loves to listen to her Melodies About Me cd. She's starting to get into the tantrum phase and is astounded when I step over her after she's thrown herself on the floor in protest over something. She loves the cat, sometimes too much and is reluctant to let her go all of the time. She helps with the laundry and dishes. She loves baths, socks (on hands or feet) and to read my scriptures. She says "all done" instead of Amen after we say the prayer and is very proud of herself for doing that. She's silly, sweet, funny and full of little girl joy. I am eternally grateful to have her here in our little family.