Things I'll leave off my application for Mother of the Year

[sheila]

So, someone suggested that I should start a journal again. So I am.

If you don't know me & my crew:
Sheila - 35 for a couple more weeks, SAHM with a couple side jobs I can do from the house
Stagg - husband at large, has his own company works all the time
Maggie - 4.5 year old, going to full day Pre-K
Katie - a couple months away from being 3, MMO 2 mornings a week
supporting characters to be introduced as needed

This past weekend, we went to a Pumpkin Patch about an hour and a half from here. It seems like a crazy long way to drive for pumpkins, but it is sort of a tradition. Usually, we go with Lisa and her crew, but this year that didn't work out, so we went with MIL. We did the hayride, had some pumpkin pie and hot cider and got some pumpkins. And the fun came with pictures:


Maggie was being pissy and refusing to cooperate with any pictures, but I can see that we caught her smiling in this one.
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=472&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=6e37b6c56a87bdcb0e907fe2db983546


Stagg and I
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=466&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=6e37b6c56a87bdcb0e907fe2db983546

http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=470&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=6e37b6c56a87bdcb0e907fe2db983546

Katie decided to join Maggie in her pouting for a minute
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=468&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=6e37b6c56a87bdcb0e907fe2db983546ki

[sheila]

Having Maggie in Pre-K means that I am now an official member of a carpool. There are 2 other little girls in the neighborhood going to the same school, so that means I only drive 3 afternoons a week. How cool is that? It seems like we end up having lots of playdates here after school, too.

Snack outside:
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=464&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=6e37b6c56a87bdcb0e907fe2db983546

How watching the girls can be considered a cardio workout
(they were trying (and succeeding!0 to touch the leaves with their feet)
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=461&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=6e37b6c56a87bdcb0e907fe2db983546


Katie is now in a playgroup, too. There are a couple other 2 year olds who have 4yo sisters in the neighborhood, so we get them together once a week and 2 moms get the morning off. :aok: It is nice that they are all used to an older sibling, because they can be bossy and no one freaks out. :giggle:

[TtownAnne]

:bliss: :woot2: :hi5: :git: Whoooo, Sheila has a journal again! What a good idea your friend suggested! :dude:

Maggie the Drama Queen. Woe is me, I'm stuck at the pumpkin patch! :lol2: And nice to see a new picture of Stagg too!

[sheila]

She is a very smart friend.

[sheila]

This morning we had our bloodwork and mini-checkups for our Life Insurance. It was weird. I mean, it was fine, and a little cool to have a nurse in the house to check us out, but still weird because we are getting life insurance. When did we become grownups? I don't remember signing up for that.

Anyway, it feels good to know that it is taken care of and we can breathe easier just in case the worst case scenario presents itself.

[gulp!]

Well, hey there! :hithere

Great to see you have a journal again. I love reading about your family's tales. :)

[Darcy]

:wavey: Hope you don't mind that I join along for the ride. Nice to know that my daughter isn't the only one who pouts when the camera comes out.

[TtownAnne]

Heck, I'm impressed a nurse would come to the house - most places would make you schlep into the office!

[Sandy]

Welcome back to journalland!!!

Hey, what kind of swing set is that? Where did you get it? Do you like it? We are on the hunt.

We did the life insurance thing about a year ago. It is totally weird, but does give a sense of comfort, just in case.

[tuesdayswife]

:wavey:

Cute pictures!!!

[sheila]

I tried this before and Katie turned my computer off when I was just about done with the post. :complain:

Anne - I was pretty shocked, too. But I guess the insurance company values speed enough that they'd rather send a nurse than wait on our schedules. :dunno:

Stef & Jolene - :wavey: Thanks for the pic love!

Darcy - Nope, Maggie is a champion pouter at the camera. Katie is more of a ham, but still does her fair share of pouting.

Sandy - I like having a swingset in the backyard. Ours is Creative Playthings (http://www.creativeplaythings.com/) and if we were to do it over again, I would get a bigger one. The thing I am least crazy about is that the swings hang from the monkey bars. And you can't use them while the swings are up.

This is taken from my personal website that I attempt to keep up to date for my family:

If you know Maggie, you know that she is very touchy-feely. And you know that she loves moles. It is one of the reasons that Granpa is her favorite. And it was the reason why she always wanted access to my left arm. She loved to stroke my arm and play with my mole.

Until yesterday.

She pulled it off. Maggie was sitting on my lap, snuggling and all of a sudden, it hurt! I looked at her and she was rolling something around between her fingers, and my arm was missing a small, familiar bump. She felt horrible about it, but I was mostly amused. We’d always joked about something like this happening, but I didn’t think she could really remove a mole.

____

Maggie is currently at school, and I'm getting ready to take Katie to hers. And so shall begin my morning of worship at the Church of the T Days. :lol:

This afternoon, Maggie has her first gymnastics class of the year with Morgan. Actually, today is her trial class, and I am hoping that the place will let me transfer the classes I pulled Katie out of to Maggie for the rest of the semester. :crossfing. Katie, though she loved gymnastics and talked about it at home all week and practiced the balance beam and forward rolls whenever she got the chance flat out REFUSED to take part in anything in the class. After 6 weeks, I had far more than enough and I just gave up.

After that, we'll have to pick up some fast food for dinner and then head to Katie's school's Open House.

Stagg is leaving around lunchtime for his 4 day fishing trip, so it will be just us girls this weekend.

[gulp!]

She actually pulled the mole off your arm?! Ouch!

Enjoy your child-free morning. What are you going to do with your down time? Hopefully grab a latte and a book...

[TtownAnne]

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWCCCCCCHHH! Ewww, that makes my spine accordion-fold just to think about!

Woo for free time! Stef's idea is much better than what I've been doing lately, which is tons of SHOPPING! At least I'm buying Christmas presents...

[Shannan]

Yay for starting a new journal. Did you enjoy your morning off??

[sheila]

:gah: I just went up to bed (well, to watch Grey's, but whatever). Stopped in to kiss the girls goodnight and discovered that not only had Katie taken her nightgown off before going to sleep, she also managed to get her pullup off. :complain: And of course she peed all over the bed. And of course I didn't put the bed protector thing back on last time I did her sheets so the egg crate pad got all wet, too. Ick. :gah:

I stuck her in bed with Maggie while I was changing her bed, and they looked so sweet sleeping together. For about half a second, I considered leaving her there, but realized that it would mean they'd both be up in less than an hour and coming into bed with me. No bueno.

[TtownAnne]

Dude, I do everything I can to prevent Caroline waking up for any reason. The trashmen are coming tomorrow morning? Caroline sleeps with her fan on tonight to drown out the noise! Multiple bathroom trips? No drinks after 7pm! So you aren't alone at all.

[sheila]

Weird. I wrote this out in notepad and then C&Ped. I swear I saw it after I posted, but now its missing. Eh, that's ok because I found more to bitch about. :giggle:


Last night was Katie's Open House for school. She was far more excited about showing her sister her room, her teacher and her friends than she was about showing me. Whatever it takes, right?

Maggie loved seeing some of her friends from last year, and insisted that we go see her teachers from last year. It was sweet to see that everyone remembered her. And when we went to the classroom she would have been in this year, the teacher came up to me and said she had been begging to have Maggie in her class. I guess she had seen her around school last year and talked with some of the other teachers and such and really, really wanted her. How's that for a nice thing to hear about your kid?

I'll admit, it took me a little while to catch on that the woman talking to me was the teacher in the class. :loser: Sometimes the brain just does not function properly.

Oh, and Maggie loved gymnastics. She's got the same teacher she had last year and is very excited about it. Katie is not happy that Maggie is using the rest of her classes. She promised the whole way that she would listen now if I let her go again, but I told her we'd try again after her birthday and see if she learned to listen by then. :crossfing I hope this works.

Stagg has little to no cell reception in Flordia, so I won't be getting phone calls this weekend. Great. :sigh:

[sheila]

And this morning's compaint:

Katie woke up not too long ago and came downstairs sans pullup. I asked her about it and she said she didn't want to wear it anymore. Considering the peeing in her bed last night, it made me nervous... especially since she was sleeping in my bed this morning.

Yep, the little *darling* peed in my bed. MY BED. :gah:

That's teach me to think I am getting caught up on laundry.

[TtownAnne]

Hey, it's always nice to hear compliments about your kids from people that don't HAVE to pay you the compliment! :)

How amusing that now Maggie wants to go back to gymnastics just because Katie is having a good time. :devil:

Sorry to hear you won't be hearing from Stagg. :(

[MrsPeacefrog]

Well considering your oh so inconspicuous slide into my journal, I thought I would do the same thing :giggle:

Loved the photos of the pumpkin patch, holy crap they were huge, we have NOTHING like that here, I have never seen anything like it! it sounds like a fun day.

:spit: I literally laughed out loud at the mole removal, and to think people pay dr's to do that for them!

Sorry about the pull up issue, I am dealing with these issues with Riley, although it's a poop thing, but the constant bed sheet laundry is getting old verah verah fast! :rolleyes:

I am looking forward to the days when escrements are no longer a problem! mind you when they are teenagers and driving us crazy we will be wishing our only problems were piss in the bed :lol:

[Darcy]

How nice to hear from someone else compliments about your child. :) That must've made your day (of course after you realized who was saying it. :lol: ).

Sorry about the peeing incidents. :hug99: Hope the rest of your day goes better.

[Shannan]

That's cool that Maggie loved the gymnastics. Hope you have a good day today.

[sheila]

:wavey: Anne, Deb. Darcy and Shannan!

Stagg's fishing trip went well. He didn't catch anything he could keep, but he had a good time with his dad, and that's all that really matters, right?

The girls and I survived pretty well, too. Saturday night, we had a sleepover at Lisa's house, which was wonderful. It was nothing compared to Maggie's last sleepover but oh well. And, since Katie fell while jumping on the bed, we had blood, which Maggie's last sleepover didn't have. :lol: Katie is fine. She just smacked her lip on a chair and cut it in a couple spots.

Of course, the girls all had a hard time settling down when it was time for sleep. So I started with threatening them that if they didn't stay in bed, we would leave. 15 minutes later, I had Maggie out of bed again saying she wanted to go home. :gah: I told her to get in bed and stay there because we were staying. Hey. It was MY sleepover, too. :lol:

[Trish]

:wavey: back later. owen in my lap.

[tuesdayswife]

Hey Sheila! Just wanted to pop in and say hey!!!

Glad Stagg had a good time on his fishing trip. Jeremy just found out this weekend that he is going to be going to Canada with my brother, nephew, uncle and (hopefully) my dad next summer. He's super pumped about it!!! I think it's nice that he wants to "bond" with the males in MY family! :lol:

OUCH about the mole!!! HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!! She must have REALLY given it a pull/pinch whatever!!! YIKES!!!!!

Can I just say that I am SOOOOOOOOO not looking forward to potty-training? I'm thinking Mia in diapers for FOREVER is just fine!!!! :lol: Stay tuned... I'm sure I'll be having my PTing stories soon enough.

[sheila]

OK, now I remember why I don't keep a journal. I've been running around trying to get things done this week and just not online too much. And when I am, I'm trying to cover as much ground as possible getting caught up and the journal just seems to be the lowest priority. :shuffle:

Eh, it hasn't been that exciting of a week anyway. I had coffee with a friend on Tuesday morning, which was nice. Tuesday afternoon, we ended up looking at a house for sale just down the street from Lisa. We weren't/aren't really thinking of moving, but considering it is sort of Stagg's way of being supportive. He might not be there to offer a hug or whatever, but he'd consider moving us into a position where he could literally be at her service within 45 seconds. Unfortunately, we won't even consider the house because of the pool they had in the backyard (designed for adults) and the lack of a basement.

Katie has the sniffles again. I feel badly for her because she is miserable, but the miserable is getting old. And she isn't really sick... just a little stuffy.

Boovie was last night, and it is always good to see my girls. Vicki just breaks my heart, though. The good news is that her son has gotten into the Autism school they were hoping for. Great program at Emory, 35-ish hours a week of intense work/play. But, his levels (I don't know what to call them for real) are sliding down all the time. He has gone from being at about a 22 month old level in June to now being at a 16 month old level. And they have a 15 month old at home, which makes things even weirder.

I think we are going to try to get Katie and the 15 month old together for playdates so Vicki and I can hang out and the two of them can have a little fun.

I don't like grown up problems. I like the other kind that actually have solutions. :blue:

Anyway...something happy. I have my Hilton Head reservations set for spring break with Lisa. I have my Polar Express tickets set for Dec 1. I have our plane reservations set to go to CT for xmas, and we are doing what we can to ensure a white xmas.

And Maggie's crush on her teacher, Miss Stephanie, continues. She looooooves her. :giggle: I am happy she is so happy at school.

This afternoon is gymnastics for Maggie, and she might be wearing her Halloween cheerleading costume. :aok:

[MrsPeacefrog]

I go through spurts too, I find I can come in and be active in the journals one week, then weeks will go by and I haven't even touched them :blush: it can be so hard sometimes! damn life getting in the way of OUAL! :giggle:

Sorry about Vicki's son :blue: what a sad situation, it must be so hard on her! She is lucky to have a friend like you though :hug99:

[Alysia]

Happy New Journal almost a week late!! :flower:

[Sandy]

Yea, those are some serious grown up problems. That sucks ass. :blue:

Sweet words re: Stagg's way of helping.

It is a great thing that she loves her teacher so much! We just had to move Rayna from a teacher she LOVED to one she...well...she really doesn't. It makes it a lot harder.

Glad you had fun at the sleepover! Hate it when they use your words against you!!! :lol:

[sheila]

Pictures of assorted Halloween festivites (http://www.staggandsheila.com/wp-gallery2.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=474&g2_navId=x4d5d444d)

I just uploaded them without cropping, so they are big & bluky. I'll fix them someday.

[TtownAnne]

Yeah, blukyness is a hard thing to deal with when you're getting ready for Halloween. :lol2:

Glad to see one final appearance of Batgirl for Halloween. Did you ever say what the girls are going to be tonight?

[sheila]

Maggie is being a cheerleader and Katie is being Cinderella. Maggie painted bats for her teachers yesterday, which reminded me of batgirl. Last week was bat and pumpkin week at school.

This week is skeletons and the letter E. Maggie is going to bring in Stagg's xray for show & tell. She is psyched!

[JolieC]

Happy Spookiness!
http://www.onceuponalife.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8230&stc=1

[MrsPeacefrog]

Your Mini Me's are as georgous as ever..... Wait.. does that mean I am saying you are georgous :scratch:

Okay I will rephrase! the girls are looking adorable and it looks like they enjoyed themselves with the halloween festivities!

[sheila]

Deb, I've always that you were pretty gorgeous yourself... :shuffle:


I guess I have some 'splaining to do with the pics, huh?

The bat curtains: I found that fabric at Joanns for .99/yard. So I grabbed some for me and for my friend Lisa. I had planned to use it as a cheap tablecloth, but it was about 3 inches to narrow to work well. So I cut it up and made curtains for my door and over my sink. I was shocked by my crafty-spasm. And I think I scared Lisa a little with it, too. I didn't do a great job, but they work, and they make me happy.

The decorated van hatches: Katie's school did a Trunk or Treat instead of Halloween party this year. In years past, the classes would ToT the other classrooms. The parents who came would stand around not having a clue what they should be doing. This year, they had all the parents who wanted to come and decorate their cars (and dress up, etc). Then the kids ToTed the cars. There were probably about 30 cars in the lot. And in about 10 minutes, Katie grabbed more treats than she did in an hour and a half of walking the n'hood last night. I think I might be recommending this for the n'hood next year. Or something like it.

Crappy news from yesterday:
And, the little boy in Katie's playgroup is in the hospital. Apparently his mom & grandma noticed that he was drinking & peeing alot, so they took him to the dr and found out that his blood sugar was 600. Normal is around 60-100. :faint: He was taken immediately to the ER and is in the hospital until tomorrow. Luckily, one of our neighbors who happens to do a big portion of the diabetes education/outreach in the area happened to be on call that night, so she was right there and made sure they knew that they ccould call at any time since she is right around the corner.

We had a nice time ToT, though. We walked with our neighbors, and made it almost halfway around the block before turning around, which is about twice as far as we have ever made it before. Maggie cracked me up the whole time. She was so very mucht he cruise director. The funniest was one house that was really scary: flying bat, creepy music, smoke, skeletons and a doormat that screamed when you stepped on it. Maggie kept telling everyone not to worry because she KNEW it was all fake-believe and she remembered it from last year. Then she held everyone's hands while they went up and came back so they wouldn't be scared. :lol: :heart: :pumpkin::

I managed to sneak a rock in her pumpkin a la Charlie Brown, too. She watched it a couple times this year and was horrified at the idea that people might do that. She has asked me about it several times and then told me that people don't really do that. Well, I couldn't resist. Is that mean?

Oh, and Maggie couldn't find her cheerleader outfit last night when we went out. So she decided to be Sleeping Beauty instead. But she still wanted the pom poms I had gotten, so she decided she was a cheerleading princess. And when we were a tthe n'hood pizza party, she couldn't resist getting some Irish Dancing in, so she was an Irish Dancing Cheerleading Princess. Can you believe she didn't win a prize for most original costume? :lol:

[sheila]

Quick depressing post.

Wednesday afternoon, I got a call from my brother telling me that our cousin had a baby girl. 5:35 in the morning, at home with a midwife, 6lbs 14 oz. No name yet, but they are working on it. Absoutley beautiful, of course.

But she has spina bifida. So she was rushed to a hospital, then transferred to a hospital with a better nicu.

Yesterday she underwent her first surgery. It was successful (the repaired the melang-whatever) on her back. But, they think it is almost impossible that she will ever walk, not too likely that she will have control over her bowels & bladder and quite likely that she will have diminished mental capacity.

Her second surgery, putting a brain shunt in, will be on Tuesday.

I'm worried and I don't like bing 1000 miles away when all this is going on. I know I couldn't do anything if I were closer, but at least I could be there. And that seems like alot right now.

I am planning to fly up the weekend of the 18th for a little support and congratulations. And, as my dad pointed out, if she doesn't make it, it is much easier to change reservation dates than to start over from scratch. :cry:

[Alysia]

Oh Sheila... that is so sad! I will keep her and your family in my thoughts!

[MrsPeacefrog]

Oh that is tragic, did they know about the spina bifida before she gave birth? I hope that she beats the odds. :hug99: You are such a great cousin being there for them!

[sheila]

I have reservations to go up there on the 16th. And, since my dad is flying from Florida back to NY that day, we'll be on the same plane from Atlanta. That strikes me as funny.

It sounds like if things continue on the same track they are going, this will be a happy visit. My cousin has gotten to hold Ariana (the official name) a few times, and was even allowed to nurse her yesterday. :ok: Great news!

[Darcy]

:hug99: I'm so sorry to hear about the baby. I'm glad you're going to be there for the family, and it is rather funny that you'll be on the same flight as your dad. :)

[Karin]

Delurking to say that I'm so sorry about your cousin's baby. I will keep her in my prayers.

[Sandy]

First and foremost, I am so sorry to hear about your cousins baby. Glad to hear the news is improving and she is getting to hold Ariana. Beautiful name.

I must comment on the halloween stuff b/c it is so fabulous. I LOVED the Humpty Dumpty w/ mommy as the wall. OMG, hilarious. Your girls looked so freakin adorable. Did I happen to see somewhat of a repeat of the famous "sitting on Santa's lap" picture? The one of Stagg and the girls on the porch w/ the pumpkins? :lol:

[sheila]

Since school started, Maggie is getting more of a handle on eating what is put in front of her without (as much) complaint. She still asks for something different, still occasionally takes a look at her plate and declares it disgusting, but she seems to be getting a better understanding that the odds are good that a second, alternative dinner isn't going to appear before her.

She credits this to the phrase they've taught her at school, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." Well, unless you're Mags. Then you say, "You get what you get and you don't catch a fit." :giggle:

__

We took a trip to the phone store today because my phone was acting up. While we were there, Katie made her usual trip to the employees' bathroom. She loves it in there. I have no idea why, but she is completely fascinated.

On the way back from "the back," the tech support person told me my phone was ready and we started talking about it. This meant that I was not there to guide Katie around the counter piece that is at her cheek level-- the one that she never sees because she is far too busy looking at all the amazing things behind the counter that she can't see from the other side. So today, she plowed right into it. Oops. A few minutes of tears, and she is ok, but does have a little boo-boo on her face.

When Stagg came home, she was showing it to him and he asked he how it happened. She looked right at him and without missing a beat told him, "Mommy spanked me." :jawdrop:

[Alysia]

:jawdrop:

OMG! That is too much! That's like one time Genavieve told my FIL that we spank her with a "spanking stick". I dont know where they get these things! She has never been spanked in her life! :lol:

[sheila]

Oh my, it has been a while. But you know what? Life is too short to waste time worrying about the meaningless irritations in life.

Things have been going well.

Ariande is home, safe and sound. :woo: I'm up in CT, and I get to meet her tomorrow and give my cousin some hugs and catch up for a while. :woo: My brother passed the NY bar (first time!) :woo:

Maggie's first performance at school was today and I missed it. I'm supposed to be getting a link to video soon, so if you'd like to see it, PM me and I will share it with you. She sang me one of the songs on the phone and told me she did a really good job and had a great time doing it. She is such a good kid.

Lately, it has been interesting watching her navigate her friendship with Morgan in the post-Dave world. She wants so badly to make it ok for her, and while some of her understands what has happened, there are parts of it that she just doesn't get.

A little while ago, we were over there and Morgan was trying to put a picture of Dave into a locket. It was clearly important to Morgan, and Maggie was trying to comfort her by telling ther that since she had the picture, she shouldn't be sad. And if her dad died, and she had a picture that she wouldn't be sad. She was so sincere, and so earnestly wanting to make her feel better. It was so heartbreaking understanding that what she was saying was hurting Morgan so much with her words when I knew that they were coming from such a full longing to make losing her daddy easier.

How do you talk about death and loss in a meaningful way with a 4 year old? How do you do it in a way that isnt' going to freak her out forever? How can it make it make sense to her when it doesn't make sense to me?

And for myself, it has been an intersesting ride with my friend. One of the new balances I am trying to find is where is the line between attempting to maintain my normal friendship with her and attempting to be a supportive friend when her life has completely changed? Do I not mention my own husband at all? Is complaining about him ok? What about when he does something pretty good? Is it really fair to bitch about his working late and not having him around when she won't have hers around ever again?

[stass]

Hey I just found this place! Subbing :popcorn:


I am sorry you have to deal with these dificult issues. :hug99:

[gulp!]

:hug99: I don't have any words of wisdom for you Sheila, but I think you're probably doing a darn good job at it.

Glad Ariadne is doing so well!

[sheila]

Thanks, guys.

Well, I'm home and I've got the sick & whiny 2 year old to prove it. Ugh, I feel so bad for her when she isn't feeling well. I understand that she doesn't quite get how to manage a cold, but at the same time, ugh, I am over it already. She's whiny and miserable and messy. She doesn't want to do anything other than cling. :blue: 3 days, right?


Anyway, the weekend was great. The baby is so cute. Everyone sees lots of leg movement, but I must be a pessimist (or maybe a realist) because I think that a good part of it is actually abdominal muscle contraction. The really good news is that she is having actual BMs that she seems to be in control of... with grunting and grimaces and everything. :woo: And that was a big concern, so her pooping is a really happy thing.

And I got to see my brother, SIL and niece. :woo: So cute! My brother got a haircut, and my SIL looks so cute-- teeny tiny for being due at the end of January. And Win is so excited to have a little brother. And even more excited to see Maggie and Katie in less than a month!

[Lisa!]

:hug99:

For the record and for the world to see, you are doing an awesome job. I am so fortunate to have you and Stagg and Maggie and Katie in my life. Don't ever, EVER think twice about saying anything to me about ANYthing, ok? It's not wrong to talk about Stagg in any way and it doesn't make me uncomfortable so I don't want you to be uncomfortable. It is more comforting to me if you just act like you always have.

And another thing :lol:....

where is the line between attempting to maintain my normal friendship with her and attempting to be a supportive friend when her life has completely changed?

There is no line - you are doing both, equally well.

I love you my friend, and I am grateful for you. Every moment of every day for the past 4+ years. We have the kind of friendship that doesn't require us to analyze what we say to one another because no matter what we say, it's OK.

[TtownAnne]

:bawl: And those are happy tears...

[Darcy]

I kinda feel like I shouldn't be reading what Lisa posted because it's so personal. :blush: I'm so glad you both have each other. :hug99: Your friendship sounds so wonderful.

[Sandy]

Wow. That is amazing.

[sheila]

Thanks.

My parents met Lisa and her girls in NYC yesterday for drinks and dinner. How cool is that? I got a pic of my mom in front of the Mr. Potato Head float (for the parade) from Lisa's phone, and then I got a pic of Lisa & Kelsey from my mom's phone. This ranks so freaking high on the cool meter for me. I hope it doesn't sound dorky to you.

[sheila]

Lisa, Kelsey, Morgan, my mom and dad
http://onceuponalife.com/sheila/Thanksgiving2006-126.jpg

I showed this to Maggie and asked what was funny about this picture, thinking it might strike her as odd that her best friend was sitting on her grandmother's lap and she was nowhere around. She looked at it and got a very surprised look on her face. I asked why and she said, Kelsey got her hair cut!

[MrsPeacefrog]

Okay, totally ignore the PM I sent asking about your cousin! If I was as smart as I thought I was, I would have come here :shuffle:

I am so happy to hear that she came home. I hope that she is going to be ok, I know that she probably has a long road ahead of her, but it definatley sounds like she is on her way! :hug99:

I think you are such an amazing friend, and seeing your post and then Lisa's just made me cry. You are both lucky to have each other!

:hug99:

I love the hair cut comment about kelsey! How funny!!

[Lisa!]

:lol2: now your text msg makes sense to me....Kelsey didn't get her hair cut; Deirdre has been braiding it for her....

Maggie :lol:

[TtownAnne]

Sheila, I had to let you know that I thought of you today. Our local newspaper is running a contest for funny/cute/sad/generally weird pictures of kids with Santa. If you send me the picture with a screaming Katie, I can guarantee you'll win a steak dinner! :lol2:

[Sandy]

That is super cool about the parade. We watched it on TV and, other than the fact it was freezing cold and raining, we wished we were there! :lol:

[TtownAnne]

Not going to post those bee-you-tiful Christmas pictures of the girls?

[sheila]

pictures? You want pictures?

Well, then... here you go:

Our sit with Santa (I will admit to being a little sad no one is crying)
http://onceuponalife.com/sheila/santa2006b.jpg

After doing the Santa pic, we stopped by Picture People because I had a coupon. I walked out with a 10x13 free one of this:
http://onceuponalife.com/sheila/mk1-pp.jpg

And left these two sitting there. It was har to do, but after telling Stagg that the free coupon was not going to cost us $150, it had to be done.
http://onceuponalife.com/sheila/maggiekatie-pp2.jpg

http://onceuponalife.com/sheila/touchnose.jpg

http://onceuponalife.com/sheila/rappermaggie.jpg

[sheila]

The other reason I had to leave without getting those pics was because we had another appointment for pictures this week. While these aren't bad pics, they really make me wish I had gotten the ones above.

http://onceuponalife.com/sheila/fmaily.jpg

http://onceuponalife.com/sheila/mkdown.jpg

I really like this one:
http://onceuponalife.com/sheila/mkstnad.jpg

This one is an example of why I ended up getting frustrated with this place. In this pose, Maggie kept trying to tell Katie a secret. And rather than going with it, the woman kept telling her to put her hand down and look at her. To me, it looked like a great post to capitalize on the secret thing. :blue:
http://onceuponalife.com/sheila/mksecret.jpg

[sheila]

(Santa picture and some other pictures are on the previous page)

[stass]

Those are awesome! Nice lookin family!:nod:

[MrsPeacefrog]

Love the pics! :love1:

The family shot is AWESOME! and the girls are beyond adorable! how can you stand it!

okay I need a moment :tantrum: I want a girl!!!! okay, moment has passed. :giggle:

[sheila]

Deb, I had many of those moments looking at pictures of Alyssa's boys in their hockey gear. Oh, to have hockey playing boys.

OK, quick rundown of the last couple weeks.

The first weekend of the month, we took the girls a couple hours north and went on The Polar Express. OK, it wasn't the *real* PE, but it was pretty cool anyway. We got on the train at 6:30, when it was already dark. The people staffing the train were dressed up in white chef gear and served hot chocolate while they played the hot chocolate song over the intercom.

After that, they read the Polar Express over the intercom and we followed along with the book we brought. Maggie & Katie didn't quite get that the words coming over the loudspeaker were the book and got a little frustrated with me for not reading.

We looked at the lights along the way, then as we approached the north pole, we heard Santa fly overhead and then saw him and an elf in his sleigh next to the train. And lucky for us, he happened to have a little time, so he got on board and gave all the kids a jingle bell.

http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=573&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=567&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e


There was much turmoil about xmas with MIL this past week. She is being incredibly immature and doing a fine job making Stagg feel terrible for going to CT this year. He card, which came yesterday even told us that she wanted to have a good time "even though" we were leaving her. :jack: Grow up, woman. (I realize that sounds insensitive, but instead of getting into the details, I'll live with sounding insensitive)

Tuesday night our water heater broke. I'm counting myself incredibly lucky because I happened to walk into the basement within the first minute of the leak. In the amount of time it had leaked before I found it and then was able to get some stuff to start catching it, I would say only about a half gallon of water or so was on the floor. If I had missed it, it would have been so much worse. The plumber came and fixed it on Wednesday, and for now, we are enjoying that the temp is a little hotter than the old one and making sure that the girls are aware of that. Ahhhh, really hot showers. :ok:

Friday night Stagg and the girls went to dinner and then looking at Christmas lights with June while I went to Lisa's for her ornament exchange. Saturday was breakfast with Santa at Katie's school which was nice.

Saturday and Sunday, FIL came over to repair a leak we've had in our basement floor since we moved in (it is only a problem when we've had alot of rain for several consecutive days). So there was a big hole in the foundation, followed by a big section of our lawn being dug up to dig a hold under the house and then to put a drain underground to flow off property. What a mess. They didn't put sheeting up to contain the dust the first day and there was dust everywhere. Oh, man, it was a mess. Still is. And I don't think it is such a coincidence that we all have the sniffles now.

Last night was holiday boovie. It was originally scheduled to be dinner & a movie on Sunday, but MIL's xmas desires changed that (and then changed again). So we had a lovely dinner and gift exchange. I got a summer sausage. :lol: $5 limit, draw names during dinner and we have some pranksters.

Stagg informed me about 20 minutes ago that a client is taking him out to dinner tonight and asked if I could come. :lol: Oh boy, I love looking for sitters on the day of.

Coming up for us:
Thurs. neighborhood ornament exchange/get together
Fri. Christmas with Lisa
Sat. am: xmas with MIL
Sat. pm: Christmas dinner with FIL's side of the family
Tues. Leave for CT!

[Sandy]

:wavey: Love all the pictures! Glad you caught the water heater literally at the moment of breakage! Any luck finding that last minute sitter? How was dinner?

[MrsPeacefrog]

Ok, I totally hear you on the "hockey boys" thing. I guess it goes both ways hey!

That Polar express sounded awesome! that is so cute about the kids getting frustrated that you weren't reading :giggle:

What a relief you got to your water heater in time! what a disaster that would have been!

Sorry about MIL :rolleyes:

[Alyssa]

Deb, I had many of those moments looking at pictures of Alyssa's boys in their hockey gear. Oh, to have hockey playing boys.Aw, and to think I've been sitting here shaking my head at how cute the sisters pictures (and their dresses) are, and trying to suppress that jealousy. :lol:

[Kara]

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6cf04b3127cce8f46336c6ba600000016108caNG7RnA
THank you for all you do here Sheila!
Merry Christmas!!

[Trish]

OK, all caught up :) Loved the pics from Christmas and am proudly displaying some on my fridge ;)

Hope the trip to CT went well and that June survived :rolleyes: the holiday w/o you all. Serously, that woman!

How is your cousins baby doing and what is the finaly verdict on Winter's brothers name? :giggle:

[sheila]

:gah: I hate it when I get so behind. Getting caught up again is so, so hard!

Lets see.

Ornament exchange with the neighborhood was nice. There ended up being only 5 of us at a local restaurant, but it was good. :aok: Nice and relaxing and small enough for some very good chatting.

Christmas with Lisa was good. Lisa's sister and BIL were there, so part of Stagg's gift was the testosterone in the house. :lol: He also got a bottle of Crown Royal, which he dropped and broke all over the driveway as we were leaving. :blue: Maggie got an American Girl school set up thing-- it has a white board, a chalkboard and magnets and all sorts of stuff. Very cool, and she loves it. Katie got a room and a family for a dollhouse. She loves it so much. And Lisa made me frames with pictures from our last 2 years of Hilton Head trips. They rock. :aok: Now I just have to find the perfect place to put them.


Saturday with the ILs was a long, long day. Stagg's older sister Shannon came to MILs in the morning. She is manic depressive, so I am not a fan. She was clearly in a manic mood all day long, and Katie thought it was pretty cool. The girls got tons of stuff, and really had a nice time.

Saturday night was dinner at Stagg's little sister's house with his dad's side of the family. It was very nice to hang out with them and relax little.

CT was nice. Getting there went smoothly, and everyone had a nice time. Maggie had a cold the whole time, complete with 1 vomit episode and 1 day of fever, but she was mostly ok. The baby's name will be Keir Joseph. We made my cousin cry because my brothers and cousin decided we weren't doing gifts for each other this year, and we pooled our money to give her a check to help out with some of the dr bills for Ariadne. :aok:

At home again, we had Katie's birthday dinner (eggs & waffles, her choice) with Lisa and crew. Then they went off to the Disney Cruise.

Katie was sick yesterday, throwing up about 5 seperate times. Once was at a neighbor's house. :shuffle: There was a playdate scheduled, and I told her that Katie had thrown up, but we thought it was probably just from the cold she had. I think it may have been mostly the cold, but something made yesterday the day for her. :errr:

Ideally, I'll get back with a couple details (so I remember) and some other things. It is my goal to start updating this journal more often. Call it a resolution of sorts...

[Trish]

Aww, how sweet of you all the help out your cousin. That's what the holidays are about :nod:

Sounds like a nice holiday, all in all.

Sorry that Katie was sick and I hope she's better today :crossfing

[Sandy]

We made my cousin cry because my brothers and cousin decided we weren't doing gifts for each other this year, and we pooled our money to give her a check to help out with some of the dr bills for Ariadne. :aok:


This is awesome.

Hopefully everyone is feeling better! Puking is no fun at all for anyone!!!

[sheila]

I'm still behind with xmas pictures and other stuff, but I wanted to drop these off. This morning, Stagg told Maggie she needed a trim. She decided it was high time to do this:



http://www.onceuponalife.com/sheila/maggie1.jpg

http://www.onceuponalife.com/sheila/maggieb.jpg

She is so, so happy about it. I'm a little sad... Oh, and do you like the scratch in the center of her forehead? Yeah, we have no idea where that came from.

[TtownAnne]

Maggie looks ADORABLE! How very cute and girly and fun. Can Stagg call Caroline and tell her she needs a trim? 'Cause she's not accepting it from me. :tapfoot:

[sheila]

Pics from xmas:

Christmas Eve
(this was the first year that my mom actually cut down on the number of gifts instead of just saying she was going to.
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=585&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

Making cookies for Santa
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=589&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

The girls and I before church
We actually did go, but we only made it through half. It was so, so hot in there, and Maggie wasn't feeling well and was trying to go to sleep on the floor. Katie just wanted to RUN RUN RUN.
We cut our losses and decided it was the thought that counts.
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=595&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

Maggie's favorite gift was the bubble gum she got. The electric guitar sitting next to her? She didn't care. She just wanted some gum.
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=591&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

This is Katie sitting on one of her gifts to open another one. :lol:
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=597&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

[sheila]

Picture of Maggie draped on Timmy :lol:
TImmy did dress up as Santa, but only for his friends who had a party at the house on the 23rd. Man, they had so much more fun than I did in high school.
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=583&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e


Winnie, clearly excited about something she got. And notice the lack of long hair? This was the final straw for Maggie wanting to get hers chopped off, too.
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=580&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

As Maggie refers to them, cousints.
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=587&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

All the kids who were there on Christmas night. Well, there was an infant too, but she isn't in the picture.
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=593&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

[sheila]

Katie's 3rd Birthday shirt pictures:

Big, bg cheesy grin
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=609&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

Action shot!
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=615&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

Full shot
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=604&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e


Last year:
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=122&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

1st Birthday:
http://www.staggandsheila.com/sheila/katie2.jpg

[gulp!]

Such cute pics. Love Maggie's hair, though it makes her all grown up. :(

Xmas looks like it was a blast!

Katie has grown quite a bit in the past year. :nod: She's adorable!

[tuesdayswife]

Color me stupid... What is the "birthday shirt"? Do you put that shirt on her every year to see how much she's grown? I like that idea!!! :)

[sheila]

Yes, I have a special shirt for both girls that I take pictures of them in on their birthdays. It is an easy way to see how much they've changed over the year. And, the shirts are special to me because my aunt made them before she died, and it is a way for me to have her still be a part of their lives.

[tuesdayswife]

That is a GREAT idea Sheila!!!!!! VERY special...

BTW... I meant to say this before... You have a BEAUTIFUL family!!!!!!

[Karin]

Your girls are absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! I love the holida pictures as well as the birthday pictures. What happy, sweet girls you have! I also love the birthday shirt!

[sheila]

Thanks for the picture love!

Things have been good around here, lately. It is still hard to get up in time for school, but it seems to be getting better every morning.

Maggie has quit ballet/tap at school. I took her to Irish Dancing on Monday afternoon for the first time. She's been talking about non-stop since the summer, so I was very surprised when she said she was too scared to do the dancing during the class. She eventually did some, but it was like pulling teeth. I'll probably take her back next week and see what happens.

I had her conference at school yesterday afternoon. Nothing earth shattering. She's smart, is probably a secret reader and isn't a fan of being singled out for attention, whether it is good or bad. She's gotten better about sticking up for herself with her friends and plays well with everyone. The one odd thing is that she doesn't like to draw. I've sort of noticed that before, but never really given it a whole lot of thought. But it is odd... she will draw a person if you specifically ask her to, but most other things, she will just refuse to draw. :dunno: She'd rather write out what she is supposed to draw. :giggle:

Katie has been doing well, too. She seems to be enjoying being 3, and so far (knock wood) the bathroom issues we've been having have diminished. We aren't quite at 100%, but we are running far closer to 90% than to the 50% we had at the end of last year. I'll take what I can get at this point!

Stagg has been having some testing done for some medical issues. Nothing to worry about, I think, but we are checking everything out as well as we can because you never know.

I've been doing ok, too. Stressing because of Stagg's stuff, but my house is getting clean, so it isn't all bad. :lol: And my house has really needed to be cleaned. And the girls are enjoying the extra home made muffins (and cookies planned for today) that are also a product of the stress.

[tuesdayswife]

So, you clean when you are stressed or upset too, huh? That was always the big joke with Brook and Heather (both members on here) is that if my room was clean or if I was cleaning, it meant STEER CLEAR!!!!! She's pissed about something!!!!! :lol:

[sheila]

Jolene & Karin, thanks for visiting. Someday I'll be getting around to journals again, but I have no idea when that is. :lol:

I've been knocking a couple things off my to do list, but I seem to be much, much more effective at adding things to it. :gah: Lately, I've also been trying to get stuff together for this girls' weekend at Lisa's next weeked, too. Fun stuff, but it is starting to make my head spin. (not a hard task lately)

I called a new Irish Dancing school for Maggie and we are going to try that one on Monday. I think it is better suited for her personality. A slightly larger class (10 kids) some she might recognize from the irish dancing camp over the summer and they all do the dancing together in a line. So she won't be singled out, and I think there a couple other kids who have just started this month, too. :ok: All good things. But we'll see how it goes.

Katie desperately wants to get into something. I think I am going to call the gymnastics place to see if they will let her try out a class before I pay for the whole session. Last year she claimed to love the classes, but refused to do anything at all during them. It was bad enough that I pulled her out. Again, time will tell, I suppose.

I am actually going out to dinner with Stagg tonight. We even have a babysitter. Need to figure out where to go.

[Sandy]

:woo: for going out for dinner.

:hug99: for the Stagg medical stuff. Don't think it will be any surprise to hear from me that it is certainly better to get stuff checked out.

Let me know how it goes w/ Katie and if they will let you do a tester gymnastics run. I have been thinking about something like that for Rayna, but have been thinking it may be better suited for her next year.

Try not to stress too much!!!!

[sheila]

Katie had her 3 year check up this morning. 31.8lbs (50-75%) and 38" (75%). So, she is almost 2lbs heavier and 1.25 inches taller than Maggie was at 3. I think that there will be a point when Katie is taller than Maggie, and I just hope we can put it off for as long as possible.

She peed in the cup ok, and then shook the crap out of the cup. I am so glad I had it well closed. She really enjoyed looking at her pee. Odd child. I explained the finger prick and the special straw and she thought she was ok with it. Then the nurse stuck her and she cried for a second until she saw the special straw. It wasn't quite as entertaining as the cup o' urine, but it dried up the tears pretty quickly. The hepB shot did not go over well at all. :blue:

But we're done with shots until she is 5. And Lisa once told me that dads should take the kids to the 5 year appt because there are lots of shots. And why be associated with pain if we can avoid it, right?

[Sandy]

Dang, you ain't kiddin.

Funny, my ped said he really didn't need to do a three year check up. We finish w/ all shots at 15 months, until they hit five. :dunno:

I am all on the "Daddy takes you to the doctor" bandwagon for that five year check up.

We need to get this journal just one more page so you can get the ...last page on your threat title!

[Sandy]

Just

[Sandy]

one

[Sandy]

more

[Sandy]

page!!!

[Sandy]

Page six

[Sandy]

Come on page six

[Sandy]

sixes come on sixes

[Sandy]

Holy Crap!!! How hard is it to get to page six? :lol:

[Sandy]

This has gotten personal.

[Sandy]

Run Forrest Run!!!

[Sandy]

Beuller? Beuller?

[Sandy]

McFly?

[Sandy]

:woo: :cheer:

[tuesdayswife]

:lol: Sandy :lol2:

At first I couldn't figure out WTH you were doing but now I understand!!! :lol:

[Bonnie]

Just doing a little lurking and noticed your excellent advice about the 5 year doctor appt. and having daddy take them! I think I'm hopping on that bandwagon since Caroline has been talking about her 5 year appt. and not wanting to go since her 4 year appt.! :lol: Hope you and your girls are doing well. :)

[sheila]

:lol2: Thanks, Sandy.


Katie has been all about protection lately. Maggie got Narnia for Christmas, and she looooooves watching it. But I'm a little concerned about it because it can be a little scary. So whenever Maggie wants to watch it, Katie will give her a hug and tell her, "you can 'tect me, Maggie" It is very sweet. She has also recently added that she will 'tect Maggie, too.

The other night, Katie was very excited and kept telling Stagg how Mickey 'tected Seesa, Kelsey, Morgan and Deirdre but not Derby. She talked about it for a few minutes, and must have used the word 'tected 20 times. She was waving her arms around and jumping up and down like this was the most important and exciting thing in the world. Which is why it took a little while to figure out that she was not talking about something new, but was reminding us that when Lisa was on the cruise, Mickey "saved" the ship from Capt. Hook on Pirate night. :lol: And he didn't 'tect Derby, because Derby was with us.

And yesterday afternoon, Maggie came home from school to tell me that Anna was coming over because they had arranges a play date while waiting in the car pool line. :giggle: She was heartbroken to learn that 4 year olds can't set up playdates on their own because they can't actually get to one another's houses. I had to promise her that I would let Anna's mom know where we lived so they could play together. (Anna is now scheduled to come over next Thursday. I have a happy, happy camper on my hands)

Those are my nuggests for this morning.

[sheila]

After a wonderful; and tiring weekend away from home, the girls were excited to see me. We all snuggled in bed until I was too exhausted to keep watching TV. When I told them I was turning it off, I complained and Stagg said he was going to go into the basement to watch Mythbusters. Maggie jumped up and said she wanted to go downstairs with him. Katie, as usual, chimed in with Me too! So I told them they could have the bed and I would go elsewhere to sleep. The girls were fine with it. As I was leaving the room, I heard Katie ask very sweetly, "daddy, can we watch Dirty Jobs?"

Seriously, how long was I gone?

[TtownAnne]

Yeah, we had that same lecture about asking the moms first before setting up play dates with friends. If I followed along with all the plans Caroline makes with her friends, we'd never be home anymore!

[gulp!]

As I was leaving the room, I heard Katie ask very sweetly, "daddy, can we watch Dirty Jobs?"

Seriously, how long was I gone?


:lol2: Emma informed me that after Daddy gave them hot chocolate and popcorn, he let them feast on chocolate chip cookies. :giggle:

[Nocona]

Dirty Jobs is good for them, I think. They know what jobs not to strive for :lol:

[sheila]

I won't be complaining about it. Apparently Stagg cleaned the litter box while I was gone and Katie decided she wanted to help because it was a dirty job. Hey, if it makes her happy to clean it, I am more than happy to indulge her on that one.

[sheila]

Stagg told me that Katie woke up around midnight last night. He found her in the toy room, playing dressup. :wtf: I guess that is why she is so tired today.

[Lisa!]

I've got some dirty jobs over here for her :lol:

[Karri]

:giggle:

[sheila]

My brother and his wife had a baby boy yesterday. Keir Joseph was born about 5:30 last night. He is 21.5 inches long and a whopping 8lbs, 11oz.

The grandparents waited until the brand new big sister Winter got there and was able to be the very first person to meet her baby brother.

And, with all the competition for maternity service, my brother and sister in law get a champagne dinner at the hospital tonight.

http://www.staggandsheila.com/sheila/keir/keir.jpg

[stass]

Congratulations! How is his name pronounced? Like Deer?

[sheila]

:nod: Yep, like deer (but with a "k" sound at the beginning)

[Nocona]

awwww congratulations!

[Sandy]

Congrats again!!!

Hey, Tommy watches Dirty JObs. Maybe I should make Rayna watch it and then put her on litter box duty.

[tuesdayswife]

Awwww Sheila!!!!! He's adorable!!!!! I really like the name Keir too!!! :up:

How does that work that they get a champaigne dinner? I got a "here. congrats. now feed the baby!!! and oh, btw, call the crappy hospital diner to order your food" :lol: ok so they didn't say that last part and the hospital food wasn't all that bad but WOW!!!!!! that's cool for them to get that meal!!!

[sheila]

Well, I'm jumping in the deep end and moving my journal to the public area. I can't let Bev's good luck thread hang out there alone. And hey, if it gets some more people to stumble across this place, so much the better, right?

I've become one of the Scholastic book ordering volunteers for Katie's school. I don't know what I was thinking when I volunteered. Actually, yes I do -- I was thinking about the points. Oh, the glorious points that you can use to get some pretty good stuff. But the school gives them back to the teachers so they can get books for the classroom. Seriously-- books for the classroom? What kind of school is this? :lol:

I got my baby gift sent out to Keir. But I have to find my camera before I can post a picture of it.

Maggie is having a playdate a friend's house today. This is the rescheduling of the one I had to cancel when she was sick. Maggie left school that day and tried to run over to her mom during carpool to let Mrs. W know she was feeling better and beg for the playdate to be reinstated. So, to say that she is excited about today is putting it a little mildly.

[tuesdayswife]

So, you actually know about this playdate then, right? It wasn't just sprung on you then? :giggle:

[Alysia]

awww I can see sick Maggie begging for the playdate to be reinstated! :lol: I hope the rescheduled playdate lives up to her expectations!

[sheila]

Yes, I knew about it. But since there was a weather issue last night, neither of the girls knew about the playdate until this morning. :giggle:

I had to go to school anyway to pick up the other girl in my carpool. Oh, man, did Maggie give me a sad (and a little mean) look. She did not want to go home with me! She was very relieved when I told her I wasn't taking her.

[tuesdayswife]

Cute!!!!!!!

[sheila]

Maggie is loving her Irish dancing. For the most part, she just flails about as she wishes, but she watches the other kids and tries to copy them. The teacher is wonderful and is very pleased, though. She says Maggie will be this way because she is so young (she is about 1.5 - 2 years younger than the rest of the class) and one day everything will come together for her and she'll just get it. It makes me feel better that she is willing to have her in the class just playing and having fun and she isn't getting upset that she isn't doing it "properly." Maggie finally got her class Tshirt last Monday and she was sooooo excited. She wore it to school the next day to show it off. And, she might need to get the fancy dress so that she can do some little stuff in some of the St. Paddy's performances they do.

Last week, Maggie got a guitar. She loves, loves, loves it and plays it everyday. I had been bribing her with the promise of a new sleeper if she slept in her bed all night long 4 nights in a row, but when she did it she changed her mind and asked for a pick instead. :aok: No problemo, kidlet.

I'm getting ready for preschool registration for next year for Katie. I think that if I can get her in with the teachers Maggie had, I'll send her 3 days/week. Otherwise, she'll go 4. My other thing is that I'd rather have her with the older 3s instead of the younger 3s, since she thinks she is 23 already. Damn, I'm picky.

Katie's new favorite things to say are "Your're joking" and "Told ya" both of which crack me up because she looks so offended when she says it. She has also learned to say yellow and Lisa, but enjoys saying that Daddy likes her to say yayow and Lisa likes her to call her Seesa. :giggle:

Katie and Maggie had a conversation at dinner the other night about their respective friends named David. It was funny to listen to because it was very clear that they each knew their David was not the other one's David, but both thought the other one didn't understand that. :lol: Back and forth, back and forth with more and more details about who they were talking about. It was pretty cool and very funny.

My dad sent Valentine's Day cards that the girls opened the other day. Katie mocked terror because hers had a bee on it. Then she took great joy in making it fly around and touch Maggie and saying it was stinging her. Maggie opened hers and wanted to know where her dollar was (June sent $1 bills). So, I let her call my dad to ask. She went into this whole story about how George Washington was her favorite president and how it sure would have been nice to see his picture in her card.

[sheila]

I've been alerted to a crisis. Tomorrow night is boovie. It will be the first time in a very, very long time that we are supposed to watch a movie (Time to Kill, to ogle Matthew Mac). Of course, it is the 3rd in the 3part Grey's arc.

What to do!

[sheila]

For the past couple weeks, I've been giving the girls 3 or 4 cents for little chores they do around the house. Sleeping in their bed all night long, trying the food I make a dinner and not saying bad words (like "disgusting" or "eeeewwww") at the table. And there are the normal cleaning/helping ones that they can earn money for as well. It has been working very well. The girls love earning their own money, and Maggie has been very interested in learning the different coins.

Yesterday, they were able to buy their first surprise. They traded me $2 each for a pair of crocs. Before they knew what their surpise was, they were really not sure about handing over the hard earned bills (ok, not really that hard earned, since my parents sent them each $1 for no reason on Sat). Once they saw the crocs, though, they decided they got a really, really good deal. Maggie even coughed up an extra penny as a tip.

I need to start thinking about what the next thing they can earn is.

[stass]

Can I send you $2 for some Crocs? :lol:

[sheila]

:lol: That would be nice, wouldn't it stass?

Today is Maggie's first Irish Dancing performance. She is very, very excited. It is at a retirement home, and she keeps telling people she is going to dance for the old people. She invited Stagg and I, since we are old. :lol:

Things here feel like they've been busy, but I think some of it is that I've been struggling against a strong desire to do absolutely nothing. I think that makes me feel busier than I actually am. Or, maybe I am busy. Who knows.

The weather is getting warmer, and it is wonderful to be able to have the girls playing outside for a long time again. They are really enjoying it, too.

And, we've decided that the trampoline is coming down. :woo: The girls love the trampoline, but it is currently in a place where it isn't level, making it even more dangerous than normal. So they aren't allowed on it. And we don 't want to move it back to the level part of the yard because that means there is no room for running or anything else. The girls aren't going to be happy about it, but oh well.

17 days until Hilton Head. I can't wait.

[sheila]

The parade today was cooooold. And more than that, it was windy. There were a couple times when we were on the float behind a building for 20 minute stretchs-- in the shade an in a wind tunnel. I felt so bad for all the little kids. Maggie was wearing her dress, 2 pair of tights, knee socks, an undershirt, and 2 long sleeve shirts and my sweatshirt and she was still shivering in my lap.

In the sunshine, it wasn't too bad. And when we were off the float, Maggie was happy to walk around without the sweatshirt. But before that, man. I thought we left the house pretty prepared, but 45 sounds so much warmer when you are sitting in your house. And I didn't factor in the wind, either.

Oh well. Being on the float was fun. Maggie liked it, even though she was shy and didn't want to wave or smile.

And I broke the news to her that she is going to have to start with a new school in the fall. There is one that is so much closer to us. In addition to the classes being closer, it also likely means that the events are closer and she is more likely to know some of the kids. She seems completely fine with the idea.

[tuesdayswife]

I had to put this in here quick...

I thought of you and your family the other night. I was watching "Dirty Jobs" and they were on an alpaca farm. Have you seen this one? I was laughing my butt off!!!! All I could think of towards the end of their visit to the farm was "I hope Sheilas kiddos aren't watching this!!" They were mating the alpacas and the guy had to check to make sure the females' tail was out of the way. It was HYSTERICAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kara]

Happy Easter!!

http://images24.fotki.com/v768/free/30faf/9/949108/4800674/KARA_PKEggBunnyss-vi.gif?1175871599

[sheila]

:lol2: Jolene! Thanks Kara!

___
For Maggie and Morgan’s birthday party, the party favor will be a CD of some of their favorite songs. Amazingly, they have pretty good taste, and I’ve gotten good reviews of the CD from a wide range of people. Of course, the first version of the CD needed some changes made: they didn’t love a song or two, and there were two that had the word “hell” in it, so we wanted to change it instead of running the risk of upsetting their friends’ parents.

The other night, we were going through the CD and Maggie was telling me which songs she liked and which ones she thought we should take off. When we got to Big Yellow Taxi (Don’t it always seem to go– you don’t know what you’ve got ’til its gone. They’ve paved paradise and put up a parking lot), she said, “Well, we have to get rid of this one.” I was completely caught off guard. She loved the song and sings along whenever we hear it, which, considering we have been listening to the “M&M CD Take 1″ pretty much non-stop for a couple weeks, is quite a lot. Of course, I asked why it had to go.

“Because they say fucking,” she said. She was calm, casual and completely comfortable telling me that. I tried to be breezy when I told her that they didn’t say that and ask her to show me where they did. We listened several times, and she kept giving me the look (complete with pointing and knowing nod) that said, “Right there. You see? Fucking.”

Finally, I realized that as far as Maggie was concerned, the Counting Crows were singing, “Don’t it always seem to go– you don’t know what you’ve got ’til its gone. They’ve paved paradise and put up a fucking lot.”

[sheila]

Some pictures from our Hilton Head trip:


This was the first year that we made it to Hilton Head when it was light enough for us to take a walk on the beach the day we arrived. They were just a leeetle happy about it.
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=631&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

Ocean!
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=635&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

Kelsey and Katie taking off after Maggie and Morgan.
Kelsey was kind enough to keep waiting for Katie who was so amazed that she liked the sand that she had to keep stopping to tell us. Like we could have forgotten how much fun her refusing to allow any part of her body to come into contact with any bit of sand had made the first trip.
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=642&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

[sheila]

I thought I would have more time to post an update, but Katie woke up before I got around to it. In the meantime, here is the birthday shirt progression for this year. Maggie wanted very little to do with the birthday shirt this year. I can't decide if I'll try again.
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=690&g2_serialNumber=2&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

[sheila]

I just want to document that Katie is an amazingly happy little girl when she wakes up. I often forget about that because her moods tend to turn her back into a three year old so completely in such a short amount of time. But it really is an amazing thing to have her come down the stairs giggling and running up to me to yell “boo!” with a huge grin on her face. She gives amazing hugs and big kisses unprompted and just wants to cuddle for a little while. It is absolutely one of the highlights of my day, and somehow an incredible little surprise every morning.

[sheila]

Well, so far summer is as is has been for the past couple years. Very busy and very relaxing. We spend a whole bunch of time at the pool and with friends. Aaaah. What could be finer?

Maggie did swim team this year and rocked the hizzy, if I do say so myself. She swam backstroke & freestyle and ended the season with 14 ribbons. :aok: She desperately wanted a first place ribbon, but didn't get one. She was ok with that because we told her (honestly) that in the relay at the last meet, she won her leg. And, she got the Coach's Award for her age group, so I got to be superproud.

Katie is incredibly excited for her turn to start swim team next year. In preparation, she has decided that she is done with a float and has started swimming underwater. She'll also swim backstroke if you ask her... her body is at sort of a 60 degree angle when she does it, but she is trying. She's also decided that she will go off the diving board. I was not ready for any of this.

Both girls are in VBS next week and then we are headed to CT for our annual pilgrimage. I'm looking forward to it, and both girls are so very excited to meet their brand new cousin, Keir.

And now, some pics.




http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=713&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=709&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=711&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

[TtownAnne]

Any chance of travel through MD?

then we are headed to CT for our annual pilgrimage. I'm looking forward to it, and both girls are so very excited to meet their brand new cousin, Keir.

[sheila]

I will. I have to figure out what time... IIRC, we were through really early last year.

[Girlo]

OMG Sheila......you have cute little midget teenagers!! :eek:

http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=711&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=48138be1d25440a9a684052ab56b869e

How on earth did that happen???? :giggle:

I can't believe that Katie is swimming underwater by herself. :faint: I think that's amazing!
Alex has been going to the pool pretty regularly since he was 5 months old - he screams when I suggest we put our heads underwater and if I even think about letting go of him, he panics. :disbelief Needless to say, he's starting lessons in a couple of months so he can get over himself. :lol:

[sheila]

I think Katie's swimming abiliites can be attributed to her need to keep up with Maggie & Morgan and then Kelsey & Emily (10 & 11). She's discovered that they all think she is much more fun to play with when she can at least sort of keep up.

[sheila]

The other morning, I ended up doing sit ups while the girls were watching TV. Katie yelled out, “MOM! What are you doing?” and Maggie looked over and echoed the sentiment. I told them and Katie wanted to know why I was doing sit ups. I explained that I do them so I can get rid of my big belly.

I finished up and got them something to eat. When I handed Maggie hers, she looked at me and said, “it didn’t work.”

[JolieC]

:rotflmao: (http://www.onceuponalife.com/forums/misc.php?do=getsmilies&wysiwyg=1&forumid=194#)I am so dreading the time when my children have opinions that they're able to share about my body...crap I had better get exercising quick smart!!!!

love love love all the photos!!!

[kika]

When I handed Maggie hers, she looked at me and said, “it didn’t work.”

:lol2:

My daughter told me at three, "Mommy, your stomach is BIG". I almost retorted, "Yeah, thanks to you!" ...But I caught myself!

[sheila]

Maggie's first day of kindergarten was this past Monday. I was ok with the idea most of the summer, then started to get a little nervous and choked up the last week or two. I mean, how did she get old enough to go to school... on the bus?

Monday morning, we all walked her over to the bus stop and took some pictures. Maggie was jumping out of her skin excited about everything. When the bus came, she turned from us and ran to it. No hug, no kiss, not even a see ya later. She saw what she wanted and she was going after it without holding back. That's my girl. How can I get teary when she makes me so happy and proud?

So far, she loves it. Katie misses her, though.

Last night I had my meeting on how to be a soccer coach for the team Maggie is going to play on. And today is Katie's first gymnastics class of the school year. Maggie's dance (ballet and tap instead of Irish this year-- her choice) starts next Friday, and Katie's dance will be at her school, which doesn't start until after labor day. It is nice to be able to ease into the year a little bit.

[sheila]

Last weekend, we went to Tybee Island for a little getaway. This trip was my MIL's idea, so we sort of went with her.

We picked Maggie up from school early. She was really excited to see me in the hall. She ran to me, and took me into her classroom-- the other kids were still coming back from lunch, so we had it all to ourselves. She was very proud of her room, but really, really in a rush to leave to go to the beach.

The drive went well and we got to Tybee just about dinner time, which is what we planned. Katie refused to eat anything at all, but Maggie did ok. They were rambunctious in the restaurant so I took them for a little walk and they enjoyed being able ot walk around. They were really surprised and excited to see the ocean right across the street from where we were standing.

After dinner, we checked into the hotel (apparently when Stagg went in, there was a guy saying he wanted his money back because someone had taken a shower in his room :dead: ). Then we went for a walk on the beach. The girls got to splash in the water a little bit and then we wandered down to the pier.

The view from our balcony.
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=845&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=0b9219888edb75d2d245b42428539105

All of them on the beach
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=825&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=0b9219888edb75d2d245b42428539105


When we were done with the walk, June was apparently in very scary shape. She was sweaty and near tears because she was so shaky and feeling so poorly from the exertion. It was unsettling and weird. She gets no exercise and has smoked forever. The girls were very uncomfortable because they didn't understand what was going on. As much as we have not gotten along, it really makes me sad to see her in such poor physical condition.

We watched a bit of the sunrise because we were woken up by the near freezing temps the a/c kept the room.

[sheila]

We went to the beach for a while after breakfast. And the nice thing about being at the beach at 8am is that you pretty much have it all to yourself. Of course, the weather looked a little dicey, too.
http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=831&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=0b9219888edb75d2d245b42428539105

The girls had fun anyway.They started off slowly, running up to the water's edge and running away from the waves. Then they jumped over the foam edges. Then they started going in a little more. Maggie was all about it and just wanted more, more, more. Katie loved it until she got saltwater in her eyes. Then she decided she'd had enough. :lol:

http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=837&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=0b9219888edb75d2d245b42428539105

http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=839&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=0b9219888edb75d2d245b42428539105

We had until about 9:30 and then it started to rain, so we packed it in and went back to the room. While the girls and I were walking, we had seen a sign for a Marine Science Center, so we called it. And lo and behold, it was right by the pier. So we got cleaned up and went down. It was a really small place, but the girls loved it and we were able to stretch it out for an hour or so. There were alligators and a teeny octopus, and the girls were in heaven.

It looked lighter, so we headed back to the beach and stayed there for the afternoon-- or at least until 4ish, when it started to rain again. We had a good time while we were there. Maggie made it me so happy that we go to Hilton Head in the spring while the water is still pretty chilly. She got the hang of riding waves.

Dinner was some local joint that had alligators out front. They were small -- maybe 2-3 feet long. After we ate, we bought a little pack of food and the girls fed the alligators. They thought that was sooooo cool. Outside the alligator area, there was a rabbit pen. Several signs made it clear that the rabbits were NOT alligator food. :giggle:

[sheila]

Sunday morning we were on the beach until 10ish and we had a good couple hours to play in the water. We made a quick stop a tthe lighthouse on the way out and that was the end of the trip.

http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=823&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=0b9219888edb75d2d245b42428539105

http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=829&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=0b9219888edb75d2d245b42428539105

http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=841&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=0b9219888edb75d2d245b42428539105

http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=849&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=0b9219888edb75d2d245b42428539105

[Karin]

Sounds like a great time! I love the beach pictures, especially the ones of the girls jumping in the waves, and the one of the 3 of you. Feeding alligators - you guys are brave!

[Alysia]

What a beautiful pic of you and the girls!

http://www.staggandsheila.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=841&g2_serialNumber=1&g2_GALLERYSID=0b9219888edb75d2d245b42428539105

[sheila]

Katie started school this morning. She clearly had mixed feelings about it. I let Stagg be the one to take her into the room because she is usually more willing to let him go than she is me (I hugged her and said goodbye at the door to the room). She was still clingy with him, but her teacher took her and carried her while he left the room.

Her teacher this year was her favorite person to take her out of the car last year during carpool and was also the assistant teacher in her room 2 years ago, when she was a toddler. So it is really nice knowing that this teacher likes her and knows her well. Gotta love that. :biggrin:

And, the big news of the weekend: While my parents were visiting, my mom found a
LOOSE TOOTH

in Maggie's mouth. It is only the eensy weensiest bit loose, but it is enough to count and Maggie is practically beside herself with joy.

[TtownAnne]

Hey, once it's actually loose, it will go surprisingly fast!

[JolieC]

love the pics of your getaway, especially the one of your three girls! Gorgeous!

And wow, school and loose teeth...it's all happening!

[sheila]

I'm home from Disney. What an amazing week! I'm looking forward to posting more about it, but I am still trying to get everything back in order after being away for so long.

[sheila]

Some pictures from Disney: sheltondisney.shutterfly.com the password is september


Overall, the trip was great. We were very lucky to have decent weather, low crowds and the dining plan that allowed us to have more character meals than would normally have been possible. It was great. The girls surprised us by loving the roller coasters-- the bigger the better! And we were fortunate enough to have Katie clock in at 40" exactly and Maggie just hit the 44" mark so they could enjoy them.


--
Yesterday, Maggie had to scrub a neighbor's kitchen floor on her hands & knees. Apparently, before vacation, Maggie and Riley drew & wrote all over their wall with green magic marker. Being kind, they decided not to mention it to us until after we got back since they discovered the full extent of it the Thursday before we left. It was a mess, and it was all on sheetrock & studs (basement stairwell that is in progress). Since the girls couldn't clean the wall, we all decided that they would need to clean something else. They had a good time with it once they figured out they could slide all over the wet floor.

Afterwards, all the kids played and had a good time. They made a mess and had to clean it up, so we didn't end up leaving until after 5. Katie had a juicebox and when we got home, managed to stab herself in the mouth with it. I'm not sure where she did it, or what the straw actually did, but she cried for a while and I saw no blood. :blue: :dunno:

I fell asleep at 11, and then not 4 minutes later, Katie was up crying and wanting me. Stagg tried to lay down with her, but she wanted nothing to do with him. She told me that she had a dream that a monster came and at me & stagg & maggie. :blue: I assured her that we were all ok, offered to spray some more monster spray and generally got her calmed down. She cried so much-- she was terrified. But just when that was over, her mouth started hurting. She was so tired that she would just about fall asleep and then break into a new cycle of tears because it hurt. And she wouldn't let me see what happened. Finally, the motrin kicked in and she fell asleep. With me in her bed. :suffle:

I'm really hoping I can sneak a peek into her mouth this morning.

[TtownAnne]

Sheila, it looks like a fabulous trip! Were the girls just completely blown away the whole time? I should have had you send us a post card since we leave in a month. I see you hit the Cinderella dinner at 1900 Park Faire; did they have the awesome strawberry soup? :lick: We went there on our first trip and still talk about how great it was! Are they back at the Grand Floridian or are they still holding it somewhere else? You made me nostalgic for my picture of Caroline with Prince Charming. :)

[JolieC]

Love the pics! What an amazing trip...looks like everyone had a fabulous time!

[sheila]

Anne-- I thought of you and the postcards you sent several times during the trip. If I had your address, I would have sent one back. I think those postcards are part of the reason their favorites are their favorites. :biggrin:

No strawberry soup at 1900 Park Faire-- it was at the GF. I liked that dinner, though. The stepsisters were funny! Well, the one in the pink was funny. The other one was more obnoxious than funny. And the stepmother was so wickedly cool it was great.

[sheila]

Stagg's sister sent some halloween cookies to decorate so I sent some pictures back to her www.staggandsheila.com/?page_id=76

[TtownAnne]

How fun! Caroline would love something like that - I will have to look for something like that at Target. (and I recognize Katie's outfit in that picture - is that one I sent for Maggie way back when, or do you just happen to have an outfit matching one that we had? :giggle: )

[sheila]

It is the same outfit. Maggie still recognizes it as one that came from Caroline, too. I was sad putting it on her yesterday because it is probably the last time she'll wear it. And that outfit has been a big favorite for a looooong time.

[sheila]

Katie managed to fall off the coffee table in our living room yesterday and hit her head on the edge of the entertainment unit. Oh, wow, was that a lot of blood. A quick trip to Urgent Care and 4 stitches later, all is well again.

Maggie was so impressed when it happened. My thoughts were racing, trying to decide if I needed to go to Urgent Care or the actual ER, wondering who was going to take Maggie and if Maggie would want to come with us and so many other things. Katie was crying and screaming both because it hurt and because the blood was freaking her out. Maggie followed behind us, saying, Wow, that is so cool. All that blood makes it look like Katie has red hair! And look, it looks like her shirt is red, too! Apparently, Maggie is not a child who gets weak at the sight of blood.

Katie did incredibly getting the stitches. The doctor and nurse had offered a medicine that would relax her, but I said I thought she might be ok. And she really was. Once she got the cold pack on her, it seemed like she had mostly forgotten about her head being hurt. On our last trip to the bathroom before the stitches, she bent over and then lifted her head up quickly. She looked at me with a surprised expression on her face and said that it hurt just a little bit when she did it. And then, she did it again just to make sure. In the suture room, she felt well enough to argue with me about what movie was playing– she said it was Happy Feet while I said it was Surf’s Up. I was right, and she admitted it once she realized she could not remember surfboards in Happy Feet. Then she was just happy to see a little bit of a new movie.
By the time we left Urgent Care with the stitches, Katie felt fine. She was mad because she wanted to stay in the waiting area and play with more of the toys. She was also mad because I told her she probably wouldn’t be able to go to school today. But Stagg and I were able to rinse enough blood out of her hair before bed that I was able to send her in. And boy, was she ever happy about that.

Yesterday, we did a lot of talking about why we don’t sit on the coffee table, and especially why we don’t do it in a big bucket. Katie assured us that she was never, ever going to do that again because she understood how dangerous it was. But guess what she was climbing into this morning? I just hope she isn’t going to try to settle the score.

[AmyP]

I feel for you on the stitches. Sarah hit her head on a nail on the steps a month ago and needed five stitches. Scared the crap out of me! Sarah reacted similarly to Katie. Once they got the cold pack on her (and some numbing medicine), she was calmly sitting up in bed watching the Cartoon Network and drinking the sippy cup of milk they gave her.

We get home, and what's the first thing she does? Heads right up the steps!!! Even a month later, I'm still apprehensive about her climbing the steps by herself, although I guess I should be glad she'll still climb them.

It sounds like you guys handled everything well. Maggie's reaction sure was interesting. I would have expected her to freak out. Maybe she'll be a doctor or nurse when she's older. :dunno:

[Alysia]

OMG Sheila! What a day! Glad Katie is ok!

[JolieC]

Happy new year!
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8df23b3127cceb2a931f4615400000026108AcNWTRi2btP