~HELP~

This is NOT a girl......Oh No...

This is a MONKEY!!

The girl...I mean monkey...is climbing onto everything! She climbs onto that train table then onto the couch and yesterday even tried to climb over the couch! My goodness, I thought girls were suppose to be easier then boys {at least when they're little} but so far this has not been the case! She gets into everything, loves to tear things apart, explore every corner of the house...especially loves trashing the bathroom and the kitchen. Will not stay out of the recycling bin and loves to "help" her brothers empty the dishwasher {only her dishes end up all over the floor}. She's sassy and loud, dramatic and busy beyond belief.

Good thing she's so stinkin' cute. She is a smart one too, very early in speech. It's amazing. She is calling herself by {one of} her nicknames, she says all of her brothers names...well two are there nicknames but that's what we all normally say for those two. We are big on nicknames around here. She is saying hi and bye, mama and dada, and of course the good ol' NO! Although it comes out sounding more like Na na na with a firm shake of the head. She can parrot almost anything...it's shocking really. People are constantly saying "did she actually just say that?" She's signing for nursing and all done and almost has potty and diaper change figured out, she gets the idea across anyways when she wants too. I usually only teach the basics because by the time I expect them to use things like their manners {please, thank you, etc...} on a regular basis they are already talking. I just teach the stuff that helps with keeping down the frustration before they can talk well. With my first born I went above and beyond but all the time spent teaching him tons of baby sign didn't really pay off because he wasn't into it by the time he could talk. For me baby sign language is just a great tool to keep the pre-verbal frustration down. Anyways it seems like every time I turn around she is picking up on something new! And now her first birthday is right around the corner...ack! I have a birthday party planned for her for next weekend and then her actually birthday is a few days after that...I'm going to be a mess, a sobbing overly emotional lady...brace yourself for some super mushy posts!

The things kids say...

There are some private body parts mentioned in this post although as nicely as possible, so if your uncomfortable with that don't read this post.

So flash back to a week or so ago and I was looking at pictures of Lala's birth and infancy. Oh so tiny, don't know how the time flew by so fast! I'll admit I shed a tear or two. The boys saw me sniffling and of course wondered what their old mother was get all emotional about now...so I showed them the pictures, for the first time, of the birth. Pictures. of. the. birth. Lots of questions followed that I answered simply and honestly. Actually felt pretty good about it afterwards, I didn't squirm to much, told them a bit {barely} about the birds and the bees and where babies come from, etc, etc...With their curiosity satisfied and my desperate want to not have to repeat that conversation any time soon I put the pictures away and forgot about it.

Flash forward, sitting in the living room with one of the daycare moms. Atty is looking at a photo flip book I have in there and we come across one of a little tiny Lala and I mention that it was taken soon after she was born. Unwittingly I have set the stage and Bubu pipes up "Mom baby sister came out of your bagina right?" seemingly out of the blue. Awkward silence for a moment, then of course I start giggling and stuttering because I do, that's what I'm good at in awkward moments...that and my face turning bright red...which it did. Ahhhh kids, they always know what to say and pick the best times to say it. At least he didn't say what he asked me the first time around, is baby sister coming out of your butt? Which is what started the whole talk in the first place.

Go ahead call me crazy

Trying not to get overwhelmed as I start on this journey of homeschooling my kids.

It's only preschool and preK {Bubu needed to feel a little bigger then his brothers...} after all. I think I'm making a bigger deal out of it then necessary. I've already been offering a preschool program in my daycare for years. Of course I've switched everything up this year and stopped ordering from the company I was going through before, so that is a good part of my stress. For some reason I felt like tackling my own lesson plans and setting up my own curriculum this year. Go ahead call me crazy. Really. I don't mind. If I had a spare moment to actually complete my over view for the year I'd feel a whole lot better. It has become apparent to me that I need to do a whole lot more research before next year. Write out my long term goal for my kids education, things like that. I already know that we are going to use the Sonlight program. It's a very complete beautiful homeschooling program, I feel strongly that it's the right one for us. Of course I need to see it in action, but I've spoken to a few people who use it and I've researched it and gone over the catalogs with a fine tooth comb for the last two years and I feel really good about it. I do have to figure out a way to budget it though. One thing I really like about it is that you can use the program for more then one kid, so you really get to stretch your dollar that way. I'm not yet sure what will work best for Atty, as I know he will need thing really tailored to his special needs. I'm looking into the listening program right now for him as well as visual and auditory therapies to help him reach his full potential. I have so much running around in my brain right now about all of this but it's late and I really need some sleep {if I'm lucky enough to get any}. I will have to ramble on another time.

This is sort of just a teaser post...and an explanation as to why I'm missing from the bloggy world as of lately. {Besides posting pictures with captions, which is about all I've been doing lately.}

BFF

These are a little late but I just had to share. Bubu had a sleep over with his best friend forever for his birthday. I told him he could pick one friend for a fun sleep over and he picked her, of course! I took them out for food and ice cream and they had a blast! He opened his presents from her there and got some pretty awesome books. They get along so well, it's extremely cute. Considering her mom and I are the closest of friends, sisters really, Bubu has know his best friend forever since the day he was born! He hangs on her every word. His eyes shine and he bubbles over with excitement when he knows he's going to see her. I'm pretty sure she feels like a superstar around him, ha, ha! Awesome books

Awesome food

Awesome company

Can it get any better then this?

Oh yes, yes it can!

Getting older + grey hairs = new hair do...

My natural hair color is a very dark brown {almost black} with red highlights. I've been lightening it and putting henna in it for years {as in I don't know if my husband has ever know my natural color!} to get a brighter red. But I decided I wanted to go back to a color closer to my natural color so I went and picked out a dark brown hair color. I've tried to do dark reds before and they always seem to look purplish or burgundy on me, which I don't like. I figure I can always add some red later or just let my natural color grow back in...although I probably can't do that because my natural color now includes A LOT of grey. :( Any ways because of all the henna I've been putting in my hair it turned a blackish color instead of a dark warm brown {as you can see from the pictures above}. I sort of knew that was probably going to happen. Henna doesn't like hair dye. I don't either normally, but I really wanted a bigger change then I can get with henna. Now that my hair is dark again I can always add some red henna later and it will just add a reddish sheen to it, I probably won't do anymore hair dye, it's sooooo stinky!

So there you have it, my big birthday change...something had to happen and my husband didn't want me to shave my head. {I have done that before...}

Feeling it.

It's my birthday.

First thing this morning Bubu says to me, "Happy birthday mom...................................................you look so Old!"

So yeah, it's my birthday and apparently I look it.

OLD.

Who's trying to walk?

She is!

Until she gets distracted, this walker is a little too much fun ...

A five strand ponytail

Do you see that?
Look really closely.

I know it's hard to see.

We though it was pretty funny, and super cute. {By the way it is extremely hard to get a picture of this girl now a days...she is a wiggle worm!}

I'm thinking it will be a while before she actually wears hair pretties, but it was fun none the less. She actually kept it in for quite a while, and it made me giggle every time I looked at her. Too cute. My bald little princess.

And now he is five!

My first born is turning five today.On his first birthday I could hardly believe my baby wasn't a "baby" anymore, I cried. Looking back on this picture I can't believe I even though he was not a baby, look at him...he was still sooooooo little! Everything was so much more dramatic, being as he was my first.
Here he is on his second birthday and again I cried thinking he was getting so grown...ummmm no, still a baby. Little round toddler. Bald beauty. It took him so long to get any hair, hope it's not the same for his sister, ha! The only thing he wanted for his birthday was a bike, talked about it all the time. So we got him one with training wheels and all...he just started riding it this year, silly boy. Silly parents. He did enjoy staring at it for years. ;)

My wise little three year old. He's always been wise beyond his years. I'm not sure if I cried on his third birthday, but I probably did because I'm a sap. This was the year I noticed he was leaving the baby years behind, and looking more like a little man.

My proud little four year old. I was shocked at the changes that happened between three and four. He grew like a sunflower! Like the giant sunflowers in my front yard. He blossomed and grew. No baby left, unless I looked really well into his baby blue eyes!

*

And now he is FIVE! The big day is here. He's been talking about being five for years now. When I'm five I will...bla, bla, bla...that's been the constant phrase around here. When ever he wasn't old enough for something he was sure he could do it when he was five. He would conquer the world at five, go to the moon and set world records. He's got a huge imagination. I don't know about conquering the world but I have a feeling that this year is going to bring some pretty big things for my amazingly wonderful five year old. I feel so blessed to have my young man in my life. He is so caring and compassionate. Loving. Responsible. Funny. I look forward to what is to come.