Anna Claire has gotten to play Upwards basketball at church this season. We really didn't plan for her to play, but it turned out that Andy was going to need to coach a 1st-2nd grade team, so there was no reason for her not to participate. I kind of wanted her to have an experience of trying a team sport, plus the exercise was a plus, so we signed her up. She is the very youngest child on the team and only one of two girls. I feel a little sorry for her because I know she is at a disadvantage, but she doesn't really realize it for the most part. She is very hard on herself though and gets frustrated if she can't get something correct right off the bat. Her Daddy has had *fun* coaching the team (sarcasm intended) - he says it is like herding cats at this age! Haha! He also has said that he thinks almost the whole team has ADHD!! :-) Probably not, but he's definitely had an experience trying to teach basketball to these little ones! Bro. Kevin is his co-coach, but Kevin isn't the athletic type, so Andy is stuck with the actual coaching on his own. I think it's good for him. ::wink, wink::
I made a quilt for Candice for her new baby girl, Lillian. Her family isn't crafty - they are cooking and baking people, not crafting and quilting people. I knew she couldn't find what she was looking for for Lillian's nursery and I wanted to do something really special for her, so I found the supplies and did it myself. I mailed it to my Aunts Carol and Nancy and they machine quilted it for me. I'm so pleased at how it turned out! Candice nearly cried when I gave it to her. Made it totally worth it.
I had a rough time getting started breastfeeding (like with all my babies) and Anna Claire has been just precious. I've been super duper sore and mastitis kicked in and it's just been miserable. Every time baby Isabella would latch I would have just excruciating pain right at first. It eases after a minute when she gets going, but the initial latch is just terrible. I've tried to hide it from the girls, but Anna Claire walked in on me crying as baby latched and she was really bothered by it. She came over and hugged me and then she said, "I'm going to pray for her, Mama" and she prayed the sweetest prayer asking Jesus to make Mommy better and not hurt anymore. It was one of the most precious memories of my mama experience so far. A couple of days later Anna Claire said, "Mama, when I have a baby I just want her to drink from a bottle - I don't want her to drink from me!" Poor thing got a bad impression of breastfeeding!
Today 2-8-17 - Eliza was quiet so I went looking for her. I went into my bedroom and looked into our bathroom straight ahead. Eliza saw me walk in and I saw her throw something into the top drawer with a guilty expression. I said, "What are you doing?" and she said, "I"m beautiful, Mama! I have wipstick!" I knew there was no lipstick in the top drawer so I coyly asked, "you are beautiful! Can you show me your lipstick?" So she opened the drawer and took out her DADDY'S DEODERANT!!!!!! YUCK!! She was so proud of herself for using the lipstick all by herself! hahahaha!!
12-23-16 - Grammy Kim got the girls a Disney Princess Castle and Eliza went NUCLEAR with excitement. Juliana did also, but Eliza just went crazy and sat on the box and wouldn't focus on anything else while we were at her house. Since she was so absolutely taken with it, Andy and Papa snuck out early and took it home to put together before we came home separately. When we got home he was still working on it. There were a couple of parts that weren't going together the way he thought they ought (since he didn't read the instructions of course! haha!) and so Juliana was watching him as half the dollhouse fell over. She succinctly says, "Daddy, you almost did good." She is so matter of fact! Hilarious! Of course Papa cracked up at that! After he got it all together and was putting the finishing stickers and such on it, Eliza came over and sweetly says, "Thank you for making my dollhouse beautiful, Daddy." It was sooooooo precious. She has such a sweet nature (most of the time) and really knows how to melt your heart!
Juliana took a shower with me recently (early January), which she doesn't do often, and with her usual tact she looks at me and gives me a hug and says, "Mama, I love your squishy boobs!" Hahahaha! The things kids say - you just don't know how to respond sometimes!
Everyone loves Baby Isabella though. The girls fuss over who gets to get her pacifer or feed her or hold her or get close and talk to her. When she smiles at them, they go crazy with joy and then try to repeat the action over and over. Anna Claire is a great help, especially in the car and has fed her and replaced her binky more times than I could possibly keep up with. She gets tired of tending her sometimes, but mostly she is very good with her. None of the girls have ever expressed even an inkling of jealousy or irritation with Isabella at this point. Irritation with competing with the other sisters for time with her, yes, but not with Isabella herself. Juliana is the mothering one though - more than the other two, she seems to really enjoy just being with her. She talks to her just the way an adult would talk to a baby - "look at that smile!," "Look at your pretty toes - I'm going to tickle those little toes" - "Do you want your binky?" She tends to her at every opportunity and scares me a bit with how much responsibility she wants to take for Baby Bella's wellbeing. I've caught her picking Bella up two or three times and it terrifies me. I've talked with her about it and explained that she shouldn't do it without me there because Baby Bella can break easily, but I can tell she's like, "Well, duh she can break. It's not like I'm going to drop her." I don't really want to scold her too harshly because I don't want her to think for a minute that I don't want her to be involved with Bella, because I absolutely love her devotion to her. Just have to keep a close watch. She's a precious girl - love my Juliana.
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