Lost a Post, No Relief in Sight

I just wrote a long involved post about our over-scheduled lives and it disappeared. I'll never be able to recreate it as eloquently as it was. Suffice it to say, we're running crazy between dance lessons, dance recitals, public speeches in front of school boards, chorus and band concerts and just general life.

Brigid has been a screaming banshee lately and has discovered what the time out really means, especially when she couples screaming in your face with smacking it with her hand.

And I have an agent who is interested in reading the novel I've been working on for some time, thanks to my good and dear friend, Anne Easter Smith, author of "A Rose for the Crown," and "Daughter of York."

Again, the original post was much more elegant, and if it was autosaved, it may appear. But if not, just know I'm looking forward to the end of the school year when our lives will resemble something of a big sigh of relief.

Even Pretty Princesses Need to Sleep

Brigid I may have said before has entered a princess phase. Not the commercial Disney princess obsession but just pretty princess obsession. Everything is princess this, princess that. Every dress is a pretty princess dress, every top is a pretty princess top. The other night she insisted on wearing a pretty princess dress over her PJs. It's fine with me; I enjoy dressing her up, and now that the weather is getting a little warmer, I can dress her in the pretty dresses I've been collecting for her for a while now. We may have our girly girl after all.

She has also started skipping -- that toddler galloping-kind of skipping -- the last week or so. She sings Skip to My Lou with Patricia and skips around the living room. When she's outside she likes to skip around. It's very cute.

The other day was doctor's visit day. I had the whole gang in there -- Patricia and Brigid to have their ears re-examined and Margaret for her well-child visit. Patricia's ears look good. Brigid still has fluid on one of them, and although it's clear, he wants to see her again in six weeks. Margaret is doing exceptionally well. She hasn't had an asthma concern in more than a year. In fact, Dr. Chaskey suggested she not have to have a note at school for her inhaler, but we all decided in the end it couldn't hurt. Margaret felt a little better about having that in place, just in case. She hasn't used an inhaler in a year, her peak flows have been great. She just said she didn't want to take a chance. Of course, he had to have the note for her migraine medication as needed. She has been able to manage it pretty well on her own, going down to the nurse's office for an Advil as she feels one coming on. The nurse, who was the nurse at St. Peter's, knows Margaret well and takes good care of her. She has to lie down with a cold compress for a while until the Advil takes hold, and then she's fine. I haven't had to take her out of school once this year for a migraine, not because she hasn't had any but because she's been able to nip them in the bud. I was hoping, like asthma, she may grow out of them, but so far, no such luck.

We're all getting down to the wire for the dance recital. With only a few classes left, we're all worrying a little about knowing the dances well enough to perform. The girls will do fine. They memorize their steps easily. I'm the one who's having trouble this year. It should be interesting.

A Mother's Day Fit for a Grateful Mom

I had a wonderful Mother's Day thanks to the girls' and Jack's efforts to make it so wonderful. I awoke to breakfast in bed and presents from everyone -- a gift card to Christopher and Banks from Margaret, a gift card to Bath and Body (the smelly store) from Baby B, a frame made by Patricia with an inside joke attached, and a digital picture frame key chain from Jack, which I can't wait to use but probably have to do so from work since our computer at home is too ancient to too many of those new fangled things. We went to mass where the girls served and Brigid was pretty good except when she wasn't. Jack took her out for a walk, and later, when he returned and we got through the rest of mass, the woman in front of us turned around to tell us how good Brigid had been, to which I responded, "Sure, she wasn't here for half of it." "Oh," the lady said, and turned around again. It was Pentecost Sunday, and everyone was encouraged to wear red, so we were in a sea of red. Brigid had a very cute red dress on with her red Robeez and looked adorable, I must say. Like everything lately, it was another princess dress. Jack had to go to work after, so we went to do some grocery shopping for dinner. His folks were joining us from the lake to do a combination Margaret birthday celebration and Mother's Day gift exchange. Margaret's bike was a combo present, so Grandma and Granddad Downs gave her (yet another) "small" gift to open, a nice blouse and silver necklace for the teenager. Dinner turned out quite nice if I do say so myself -- roast beef with Yorkshire pudding (my father-in-law's favorite, which I learned how to make by my mother, so will give a shout-out to Mom, "Thanks, Mom, and Happy Mother's Day!!")

Brigid was a non-napping baby this weekend -- no surprise since she wasn't in her day care center routine -- so bedtime wasn't too bad. She was asleep easily.

All in all, it was a wonderfully blessed Mother's Day, serving to remind me just how grateful I am to be a mom to these three gloriously gifted, loving and generous girls, and to be wife to their wonderful father. To my friends and family out there who read this (all three of you LOL) I hope Mother's Day was as wonderful for you as well.

If Hay is For Horses, Maybe It's Cheaper Than Gas

Margaret got a new bike today for her birthday AND a new horse. If gas prices continue to rise as we all expect them to, we may be relying more and more on the bi-ped and quadra-ped modes of transportation ourselves. The bike is a combination birthday gift from Mom and Dad and Grandma and Granddad Downs. The horse, a rental, is from Grandma. The horse she owns is too flighty for Margaret to ride; the other horse, Curly Sue, whom they rent every summer, is a nice horse but kind of pokey and entry level, perfect for Patricia. Grandma decided Margaret needed something with a little more life but not so lively that she'll be tossed off, which, unfortunately is what happened to Grandma this past fall, resulting in a fall. She broke her pelvis and really screwed up her neck. So, the new horse, whom they are calling "Dexter," and Curly Sue were both picked up today and delivered to the lake. Jack and Margaret went on the journey to Vermont to get the horses with Grandma and Granddad while Patricia, Brigid and I went garage-sale shopping. We picked up a bunch of stuff here and there, and everyone kept their good humor about them. Brigid didn't get a nap in -- her days are always thrown off when she doesn't go to Sibley. And by 6 p.m. she was a bit moody to say the least. She also seemed to be a bit floppy and fell a lot today. She has scrapes on her arms and legs and hit her face during one of her falls. I'm hoping she'll pass out early tonight and get a good night's sleep. She needs to be cheerful tomorrow for Mother's Day.

She's been having wonderful days at Sibley. She's happy to go. She's happy when she's there, and she's happy -- not weepy -- when I arrive to pick her up. She calls out the kids and the teachers by name to say hello or goodbye, and she's made a friend, a little girl named Ava. The two spend a lot of time parallel playing, but they often hold hands on the playground, the teacher said. Brigid calls her "Hava." The teacher also said on the playground, Brigid tends to play with a couple of the toddler girls when they're out there at the same time. They hold hands and play Ring Around the Rosey a lot. I think it's because she has the two older sisters to play with that she seems to gravitate to the older kids.

Her repertoire of songs has increased tremendously, and in addition to the old Middle Ages plague anthem referenced above, she sings the ABC Song, B I N G O, the Itsy Bitsy Spider, the songs from the Winnie the Pooh movie, songs from a Barbie movie they have, and just about anything else she's heard a few times. She'll sing out in tune and hold the notes at the end for as long as they go. She dances about the living room, twirling as well.

Brigid has also entered into a princess phase where she loves anything princess. Every dress is a princess dress, every sweater is a princess sweater. Her shoes are princess shoes. She enjoys princess movies like Cinderella and Enchanted (the songs from which she also sings). I don't remember the other two girls being quite so enchanted themselves by princesses. I have to go through the bins in the attic and see if I can find any of the princess Barbies we collected through the years. She'd probably enjoy them, but I cringe at the thought of having Barbies all over the house again. Maybe if we only produce one or two, and keep the moratorium on them as gifts, we can get away with a minimal number at any one time. You can only take so much of Barbie.

Margaret Hits the Lucky 13

Happy 13th birthday, Margaret Mary! I can’t believe my little sweetie peetie is a teenager now. Aside from the fact that I resent her turning 13 – I cannot possibly be old enough to have a 13-year-old child, I am astonished at how quickly the time has flown by and how she has matured into such a well-mannered, graceful and capable young woman. We’ve seen snippets of teen-dom and a little attitude, all to be expected. But she’s a good kid, she’s a smart kid and we’re so very, very proud of her.

Third-term report cards came home the other day from the middle school, and I told Margaret, “I’m afraid you’ve been slacking off. You’re going to have to figure out a way to beat these straight-A+ grades. How can you ever improve if you’re perfect?” She just rolled her teenager eyes at me and went back to her book.

Yesterday was a fairly busy one for me because I had a 3:15 appointment for Brigid to get her hair cut. She has had little tiny bits clipped here and there when either I or Daddy went to Kimmie to have hair cut, but this was her first real styled haircut. I regret I didn’t bring the camera to the salon with me, but I will post a photo of her cute do when I get a chance today. I told Kim that it in no way endorses the family, but I kind of like the cut that Suri Cruise had and we found some photos in a People Magazine they had at the salon. Brigid had some initial anxiety about having her hair touched – I was never able to really brush it or pull it into a pony tail without her freaking out – she settled on my lap and let Kimmie do her magic through diversion with a sucker and the spray bottle. When she was done, she ran around striking a few poses here and there. She is a hambone.

Then later, when the girls had gone to tap class and Jack was home for his dinner hour, I ran out to pick up a balloon bouquet with a dozen white and blue balloons and a mylar balloon that said Happy 13th Birthday on it. I hid it upstairs until after the girls had gone to bed and brought it back downstairs with a Happy Birthday Margaret sign to greet her this morning. She was very excited and surprised, but probably not as excited as Brigid was when she ran out into the living room and saw the balloons. She kept saying, “Happy Birf-day balloons! Happy Birf-day balloons!” because she got some on her birthday, too. Margaret was very good about giving Brigid a few to play with.

Patricia has been feeling much, much better this past week than the previous weeks when she was suffering with her head and chest cold and then the ear infection. Brigid finished her antibiotics yesterday for the ear infection; Patricia winds up hers tomorrow. Then they go back to see the doctor on May 13, the same day Margaret goes for a well-child visit. I asked if we could please just get them all in the same time. Patricia is very proud of her change in lifestyle. She made a resolution this past New Year’s that she wanted to make better choices and do more exercise. She has consistently gone to the YMCA with Jack days they have off together. Of course, she takes jazz and tap class, but she’s also changed her views of food choices. She isn’t “dieting,” and she makes it clear that she’s not. She’s just choosing not to eat the candy or chips or excessive snacks. When she chooses a snack, it tends to be fruit or yogurt instead. She’ll have her treats at times, but she’s got a very different attitude. It’s paid off for her and she’s lost nearly 20 pounds. Believe me, as someone who’s well aware of what can happen to young girls with regards to body image and eating disorders, I have frank discussions with Patricia about the issues. She’s got a good head on her shoulders. She looks good and very healthy and seems to enjoy looking for opportunities to be active. Having Brigid chase her around must help, too.