year seven

from caroline's 7th birthday party, which was a slumber party. she had so much fun with her cousins and friends.

sporting her "7" shirt made by grandma of course

a little front yard golf with dad waiting for the party to begin

the party room. a little decorating by both me and sweet cheeks! wonder if you can guess which picks were hers and which were mine?
the pretty seven year old. i can't believe she is SEVEN!
dinner time

(please do your absolute best to ignore the husband's shop in the backyard in this picture... keep focus on those pretty smiles instead)

the silly girls during root beer float time, which was caroline's request since she isn't a cake eater

so much fun. and such well behaved girls!

a truthful tee

caroline so needs this old navy tee.

though i would love for it to quote caroline directly when she confidently proclaims, "i'm pretty much the smartest kid in my class." i won't lie. we are supporters of her self-confidence. hopefully it will last a long, long time and get her very far in life.

the best in the biggest

hadley doesn't sleep well. translation... we don't sleep well. and sadly in my case a tired mommy usually ends up a crabby mommy. i don't like that i end up that way when i wake up for the day at 6:30 am after only the longest stretch of my sleep being 2 hours. it is tough. i know i signed up for the job when becoming a mommy, a job which i love more than anything in the world. that doesn't change the fact that i am human and require sleep to be my usual happy self. so when i don't get it, i tend to be cranky and in need of a little time in the mornings to get going.

the reason i tell you about me playing the role of the crabby mom sometimes is not to brag. i tell you because when i am at my worst there is aways someone in the house that seems to be at her best.

l.b. (did you guys even know that is caroline's main nickname)

sweet cheeks.

caroline.

she is so amazing. not just saying it because i am her mom. i think a lot of people will attest to this statement. i really don't give this young lady enough credit. my gosh she is such a mature, smart, responsible 7 year old. i am amazed with her daily. i really am. (i don't know i am not bawling as i type about this little hero in my life)

so picture me tired and struggling to change hadley's first diaper in the morning. as her usual self when it comes to diaper time, hadley is struggling, squirming, and crying. it isn't pretty. tears are being shed and not just from the baby. it is a bit disastrous in those few seconds. then the great one steps in. caroline holds up a toy over hadley and begins to either sing or dance or act a bit silly, all with the purpose of distracting her sister and allowing me to get my job done.

(feel free to visualize caroline with a big "c" on her chest and a cape blowing about behind her. that is pretty much what i see too.)

now picture our house at 7 a.m. on a school day. the husband happens to be out of town for work. all the crazy rushing around still has to happen. caroline has already eaten breakfast and gotten herself ready for school. she has gotten so good at doing her own ponytails. i am still sporting morning breath and mismatched pj's. caroline lovingly pushes hadley in car for a good 15 minutes around my bedroom while i get myself ready. i didn't ask her to.

i really don't give caroline enough credit. she is such a patient person. she gets the brunt of my crankiness and in return, still helps me out daily with a smile on her face. i seriously don't think i would survive the day without her. how lucky am i, right. never mind that though. how lucky is hadley! she has the best big sister in the world (sorry, don't take is personally melis). the thing that really amazes me about caroline is how all of this is just the true nature of her personality. she is just genuinely a generous and thoughtful girl. we did something so right here.

this is my small way of saying thank you to caroline today. a true mommy's helper.

now i have to go do something really sweet for caroline because words on a blog don't mean much to 7 year old.

wordless wednesday

a sore throat squared

i missed wordless wednesday. you miss lots when you have a sick kid.

last weekend caroline and her dad were able to take a quick spring break vacay to st. simons. of course as she always does, caroline came down with strep while away. 9 out of 10 caroline vacations result in strep. seriously. i hated that i wasn't there to take care of her. not that her dad couldn't do a fine job. in fact he did a great job. i just like being there when my kids are sick. thankfully the strep symptoms came on two days in to their vacation so she still had plenty of scooter riding and swim time.

i'm pretty certain that caroline probably had strep before she even left and that hadley caught an off shoot virus from that. she went to the doctor friday for a rash, then sunday came down with a fever and vomiting. i took her back to the doc on monday to which they did a strep and uti test (won't even go into details on how painful that was for my poor girl). both tests were negative and proved she just had a nasty virus. the worst of the symptoms for her though has been her sore throat. it has made her miserable... not eating, not sleeping, and lots of crying. poor baby has been miserable for 5 days. we both desperately need a good night sleep for sure.waking up 5-6 times a night makes me appreciate her well nights with just one wake up. easy to take that for granted, the sleep and the healthy that is.

two points i guess i am trying to make in my short post are:

1. moms want to take care of their babies & kids when they are sick. i think this just might be instinctual, right.
2. nothing else gets accomplished when there are sick kids in the house (ie- wordless wednesday). and i had to come to grips with the fact that this is ok. that it is ok for everything else in the house and elsewhere to suffer when someone needs taking care of. that's that. period. the laundry, dishes, cleaning, organizing... all could wait.

so caroline is healthy and hadley is on her way to healthy. and that makes me a happy mom.

wordless wednesday (from april 2011)

anchors aweigh

just did a little window shopping over at mini boden today. they always have such cute clothes.

i love their sweet applique tops. i do think boys had a better selection than girls. that's rare. if you are a mom to a boy, i bet you will agree with me.




my favorite- the cowboy



i thought these pieces were cute from their johnnie b line. it is meant to be a tween line that starts at age 10, so may be a bit big for caroline. the tops could work though.

makes me want to whisk her away for a weekend in the hamptons. you know how often this posh family visits the hamptons!