heyMamas

My Baby is Eight

Yesterday this beautiful little girl turned EIGHT!

 

 

My baby's eight.   

How can this be happening so fast?

 

 

When she was one, she carried two pacifiers around in her mouth and three in each hand.  They were purple.

When she was two, she had a voice deeper than her Father's. 

When she was three, she would scream bloody murder when Mommy or Daddy left her with anyone other than us.

When she was four, she still needed me to fall asleep with her.

When she was five, I told her now that she was a big girl she needed to fall asleep by herself.

When she was six, I felt like she needed me less and her friends more.

When she was seven, I felt like she was leaving for college at any moment. 

And now that she is eight, I just wish for time to slow down.

 

 

My little birthday girl, I love you more than I ever thought I could love someone.

Saturday Night

It was a long day of sporting events yesterday, coupled with overbearing, over-involved parents and copious amounts of politics.  When we got home, this was the first thing on our to do list.  

Even before I unpacked the bags...

And this, plus some good friends enjoying this with us, turned things around.

Funny how alcohol sometimes has a way of doing that.

 

Sisters

In the almost three years that I have been writing here at heyMamas, I don't think I have ever posted a full on frontal shot of my girls. 

I came across these photos the other day when I was scrolling through the two hundred pages of Flickr photos that I have, and asked Drew if I could post them.

He of course, said no, but that exchange got interrupted and we didn't get to finish discussing it, so I went ahead and posted them so I could check blogging off the list of things that I had to do tonight.  I am not sure how long he will let me keep them up, but they are here now. 

These photos are about three years old and my girls look about forty compared to what they looked like here, but this little collage encapsulates their relationship perfectly.

 

 

Happy Mother's Day

I hope all the Mother's in the world who work tirelessly, day in and day out with almost no thanks at all.....had a chance yesterday to be doted on, even if it only lasted for five minutes and even if it was self induced doting.  

Happy Mother's Day!!

This was what I had to show for my Mother's Day before we headed out to two different back to back sporting events on two totally different parts of Long Island along with a side excursion to Ikea because that can't be a bad thing.

{Lily made me this tiny plant holder which says, "Mom, my love blooms for you..."  Precious.}

 

{This is the view from the top of the plant holder.} 

{Lily's card, which cracked me up for a few different reasons, the biggest being that she painted my nails red which would NEVER, EVER happen.} 

{Belle's card which I loved, especially the face to the side of the big heart with arms and legs.  What is that?}

{Lily gave me this amazing paper weight which gave me a laugh because do people even use paperweights any more?  Do people even have paper on their desks anymore??  I sure as shit don't.}

{And last but not least, Belle gave me this picture frame because Duh, I am the coolest Mom in the world.}

Much love to all your Mother's!  Rock on!!

Parent Teacher Conferences

It happens every time without fail, we head into the parent teacher conferences with Belle and Lily's teachers and when the teacher starts saying wonderful things about my girls, a giant lump begins to form in my throat. 

 

This lump and trying to keep it at bay, actually hurts.

 

What usually happens is, the lump sits in my throat and I try for the rest of the conference to not break down, and because I am concentrating so hard on not breaking down, I end up missing all of the wonderful comments and stories about their behavior in class.  

 

This time, I tried to stay in the moment, ignored the lump and absorbed everything the teacher said.

 

 

Belle, your teacher said you were a wonderful person and had no idea how beautiful you were inside and out.  She said you wrote a poem that day and the last line of the poem was... I am unstoppable.

 

You are so right.  You are unstoppable.  You need a TON of encouragement and prodding to get things started, but once you hit your stride, you are unstoppable.

 

 

Lily, your teacher said you exemplified excellence in just about everything you do. She told us stories of how everyone always wants to sit near you or be next to you and you always manage to accommodate everyone while hurting no one.

 

After both conferences, I met you guys out in the hallway and practically suffocated you with my hugs. I was so full of pride in that moment and vowed to myself the next time I got mad at you and thought you were rotten little eggs, I would remember all the beautiful things your teachers said about you both. 

 

I even promised manicures.