A Small Bit About My Girls

The Princess--I am learning that there are parts to her personality that I cannot change. I can tell her, and tell her, and tell her that her voice sounds rude. She doesn't get it. That's just the way her voice sounds.

--I am also learning that I need to be strict with her. It's easier to back off my discipline because I know she's going to get mad, fuss, yell. But I am the grown up here and I know why I'm doing what I'm doing (most of the time). If I back off, even a little, she walks all over us. And while some of it may be cute now, those habits won't be so cute when she's older (although she will still be adorable!).

Big Sister--I felt sick this evening and went straight to bed before dinner. My sweet 7 year old made me dinner. Pretzels, crackers, raisins, an apple (which she washed and took the sticker off!) a cereal bar, and a DanActive drink. I ate the crackers and raisins to be nice, but really, my stomach wasn't up to it. Then she brought me all my stuffed animals. Yes, I still own stuffed animals at 35 years of age. My husband is learning that when he buys the girls a stuffed animal, Momma needs one, too! Then Big Sis brought me water. Then she went to the kitchen and made me the most beautiful picture. She loves to draw and color, and she loves to share her art with others. When I'm feeling better I'll take a pic of the artwork and post it. She then got in her pjs and snuggled next to me in bed and hugged and kissed me all night. How could I NOT feel better after all that lovin? What a precious, sweet girl God has blessed us with.

I love my girls.

The Princess is Sneaky

As she was avoiding bedtime tonight, The Princess announced to me that she regularly sneaks down the stairs when we think she's asleep. I asked her how many times she has done this and she rolled her eyes, smiled, and said, "I don't know."

I laughed. It's just so...HER.

She sleeps upstairs, in the only bedroom we have upstairs. It is ridiculously simple for her to come down the stairs, through the kitchen and into the front living room without us knowing. Or, what she usually does, is stop in the kitchen and watch the living room TV. We can't see her from our places on the couch.

One night I found her sitting on the red couch in the front living room; just sitting. Hands folded in her lap, looking out the window, waiting for her Daddy to come home. She scared the fool out of me. But I sat down with her, and we laughed and hugged till her Daddy came home and carried her to bed.

She is amazing.

Building A Snowman

I don't get it. I know that admitting this will make me look like an idiot, but I am ready to face that label.

I just don't get how to build a snowman. Is it because I grew up in North Texas, where we rarely ever have enough snow to build a snowman?! It's something that I have NEVER been able to do.

I get the physics. Snow. Ball. Set on top. Repeat.

But when I build a snowman, he turns out looking like a lumpy mess.

I'm not even going to include pictures from today's snow day. It's too pathetic. I can't even make it look better with a scarf or hat.

Luckily, my kids aren't too interested in snowman building. They'd rather throw snow at each other. Or find "clean" patches of snow and eat it.

Can someone please explain this to me? Or send me a YouTube link so I can finally figure this out?! It's embarrassing, really.

Update on Depression

Today is Day 11 of Lexapro. The doctor said that at a minimum I might maybe be able to tell a difference on Day 10.

Maybe I'm imagining things, but today is less gloomy.

Who cares if I'm imagining it?! Bring on the less gloomy!

I always compared myself to the TV ads (because, you know, TV is such a true reflection of reality) about depression meds and thought, "That's not me. I don't feel like a nobody, I don't sit on the couch all day. I get out. I do things. I don't want to do things, but I do them." But there was always a gloominess to my days. A heaviness on my shoulders. A "another day of this??" type of attitude.

Day 11 has not magically changed everything. But I see some light shooting through the gloominess. :-) Bring it on!

The Karate Chronicles

Last weekend our karate studio had an in-house tournament. The Princess, Big Sis, and I participated.

Princess walked in, straight from a basketball game, and performed the first half of Form 1, with her own special somersault and front kick thrown in at the end. She walked out onto the mat, in front of the 4 judges and a room full of people, and with courage beyond her years, performed. Sweet thing! She earned a special medal for her courage. I am so proud of her!

Big Sis and I competed in 3 categories: Family Forms, Family Self-Defense Demo, and Friend Forms.

The other families in the Family Forms division were all higher level belts, and that made me so nervous. The first family performed, TO MUSIC, and they blew everyone out of the water. Big Sis and I had practiced for 2 weeks, daily, for the tournament. And in our first tournament we earned a Special Recognition for our Form 1. Yay! Reagan did SO well, and we performed very well.

Next we had Family Self-Defense; we also practiced this daily for two weeks. She and I both added our own humor into the Demo, and we both were very happy with the Demo we created. Again, we competed against families with different belt levels. And we had fun with it. Reagan was so self-assured and confident. I was NOWHERE that competent at 7 years old! In this Demo we placed third. Honestly, I was disappointed with this placement, but Reagan was thrilled, and really, for our first tournament, we did great!

Friend Forms. I knew we wouldn't win this category. The two brothers who won Family Self-Defense Demos were also in this category and they are just amazing. But, we did our best. And it was fun. It was fun to see our hard work pay off, it was fun to perform with my daughter, and it was fun to show others that we can do Form 1. We earned second in this category.

So, three medals and two ribbons later, we went home. A happy, tired family.

Competing in this tournament has really made me eager to earn my yellow belt. I know I still have some time before this happens, but I know that Reagan and I CAN do it. And sweet little Princess will earn her white belt soon enough!