Monday, May 7, 2012

On Friday morning at 4:45 am, our little girl Seren Alexia turned six. Six! I feel like I always do on birthdays. That it all moves too fast. I brought myself to tears with the realization that one whole third of our time with her under our roof is behind us. A third! I'm being overly sentimental, I fully realize that. But wow, sigh.


Dear Seren,

Today you turn six years old. Mom and Dad are flooded with memories of you as a baby in the NICU, of feeding tubes, of being just scared of parenting. And then we are flooded with memories of you as a smiling baby, a busy toddler, an ethusiastic preschooler and now a brint, curious kindergartener. You remain one of the most creative people I've met. Full of ideas and questions. Your happy spirit is truly contagious. You weren't a very happy baby. You were serious. Quiet. Very reserved. Now, my dear, you live life LOUD.

I love your confidence! You have tried soccer again and love it this time. Three goals so far this season! And Dad is your coach which is just way too fun. And this year you have been in year round gymnastics. Watching you bend and climb and learn many skills amazes me! And watching you navigate your relationship with your brother is a fine balancing act. Sometimes your patience gets worn thin and you get into this face. Yelling and screaming at some 'horrible' thing he has done. Other times, you are calm and patient. You encourage him. He adores you for who you are. He wanted you to paint his toes last week so he could match you.

Your father has instilled a love of words in you. A desire to write stories. Write poems. I love seeing you thrive in his encouragement.

And I love our adventures too. Our simple, silly weekends where we always have an adventure. Most of the time it is the mundane moments that I love the best. Today we walked around the block- the LONG block. You held my hand the entire time. And you skipped. It is impossible to not skip when you are holding the hands of someone who is. So our afternoon walk consisted of us both skipping up and down the block- laughing and winded.

We didn't have a big celebration this year. Instead, we made a list of special things to celebrate your sixth birthday. We celebrated for 10 days! On the list was sesame place, guacamole, shredded wheat cereal, seeing two movies and eating dinner in front of the (rented) movie, having fondue (more our suggestion than yours), watching a live concert of Billy Jonas, spending time with Grammy and Poppy, going out to dinner to Friendly's, having cookies with frosting instead of cupcakes for your friends at school, going out to lunch with the four of us and visiting Ringing Rocks Park.

We loved this approach to your birthday! And more importantly, you did too. Tonight, as I sung the Rainbow Connection - the song I have now sung for six years, you asked if your birthday celebration was complete. I said, yup, pretty much. You sighed for a moment. Then paused. And said, "Thanks so much mom."

You are more than welcome. Thank YOU Seren for being 100% you. For loving us. For loving your friends and your brother. And for teaching us on a daily basis, how to truly enjoy the simple things.

Pics from your day


New googles from brother Wyeth. SHE LOVED THEM!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Easter 2012

Easter 2012 was a beautiful day! The day before we had an Easter celebration with my mom and dad! We got up early and went to thier house for a fun day of egg hunting. We dressed the kids up in thier Easter finest! Despite the cold, they had a blast looking for eggs that my mom and dad had hidden around the yard! Mom and Dad also hid thier baskets. They wrote hand written clues for Seren to read and race around the house to find. Wyeth followed a trail of string to his basket. They loved it as much as I did as a kid! We then had an amazing lunch with them!





The next day, Easter morning, I slept in a bit and then we discovered what the Easter bunny left us! What fun that was! Seren and Wyeth were very excited about the Easter Bunny and what the giant rodent (!) delivered to us.

Here is the list to the Easter bunny. I'll translate. Apparetly Seren left a list.
The penny (a bribe!?) and the three d carrot were a nice touch. "Dear Easter Bunny. I want some hexbugs. Some red, one yellow, one blue. And one for Juliet too." (Translation is approximate)


We took lots of fancy pictures and had our own egg hunt. The eggs were filled with yogurt covered raisins and cheez-its.





We then all went to Church where we did another egg hunt! Three egg hunts in one day? Not bad. Not bad at all.



Big Boy Bed

Big Boy bed!  Two weeks ago Friday Wyeth finally got his big boy bed! Seren and Wyeth were bouncing with excitement! Seren even made him a pin to pin to his shirt that said, "I'm a big boy!" He couldn't wait!! The first and second night went well. He was so excited that he couldn't sleep. The third night at 11:30 pm, just when I went to bed, I heard a huge THUMP that made me shudder. And then the screaming started! Poor little man fell plain out of bed. Despite the bed rail! Oh, it was horrible to hear! Daddy ran up and put him back to bed. He fell asleep very quickly. The next morning, he woke up with a black and blue eye. Oy. The trials and tribulations. But he has done very well with his big boy bed. And I'm very proud of him. The first night though, when the crib was packed away and I had a crap work week? I cried. I cried for a while. My baby? He is officially a big boy.