First day of school

Happy first day of school to Julie... Off to 2nd grade!

Time to be a kid

It rained today and on the way back from the mailbox, Lily stopped to splash in a puddle. The overall effect wasn't much of a splash, so I pointed her to a bigger puddle and she went to town! When we got inside, she told Steve that I made her splash, but when she was asked if I "made her" or " let her" she corrected herself 

Happy Easter!

This was the first Easter without Grandma Lawatsch and we vowed to continue getting together with Chrissy and David. This year they came here and we had a great time! The four girls have so much fun together and we love seeing the relationship between them develop. After a fun morning of finding eggs we had a great lunch at Meat BBQ in Lansing.

Getting ready to find eggs

Lily tried and tried but couldn't reach the egg so Ceci stepped in and knocked it to the ground for her

Julie and Ceci both filled their baskets!

Lily and her daddy

Celebrating their success

Ceci was the first one to find $ in her egg

First day of soccer!

Miss Lil had her first day of soccer today and it was a success! Walking up to her coach, I asked her to introduce herself and she said, "Hi, I'm Lillian Mae Lawatsch"... Although it was more like Wiwwian Mae Wawatsch because she still struggles with her L's. She loved the drills that they did, although the interesting part will be their first game, 4 year olds playing 4 on 4, it'll be interesting!

St Patty's Day

Tonight when it was time for dinner we called the girls to the table but Lil didn't show up, so I went looking and found her asleep on the couch... After dinner I took advantage of the opportunity to cuddle with her. I know I don't get many more chances to have her sleep on my chest and I want to soak up every moment of it that I can!

Crunchy's and MSU Basketball

Got to spend time at Crunchy's with these beauties and Grandma Kat and Papa Mike today for the MSU game ... my memories of Crunchy's as a kid brought me back to this blog, I remember taking books with me to read while we were there and wish I could see a picture of what it and we looked like back in the day.

Easter 2014

Easter was last weekend and that meant cousin fun around here! Ceci and Izzy came to stay with us the night before Easter and we got to do an egg hunt here on Easter morning. After that we all headed to Great Grandma Lawatsch's in Sterling Heights and spent the day with the Lawatsch side of the family. Brandon was there with Keegan and Ethan so Great Grandma had 6 of her 8 great grandchildren at her house for the day. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone and I loved watching you all playing together. While we don't see everyone all that often you always have a great time when we do get together, I'm already looking forward to our week in Wisconsin this summer!

 

First hair cut!

Yesterday, Lily had her first hair cut. I was so nervous about this moment and put it off for way too long. Lily, I apologize for letting you run around with baby hair mullett for so long ... your hair looks so much better now that it is cut, you actually look like a 3 year old! You were so quiet while Jessica was cutting your hair but jumped right into the chair and were taking it all in. This morning when we got to Marcie's you were loving showing off your new hair cut.

Where to start ...

If my new year's resolution were to write more often I would have failed already, so I'm going to make this a birthday resolution. When I look at the time since my last post I feel diarhea of the mouth coming on with all of the things I want to try to remember and make note of. I know that I will never get it all written down, so I will try to start with the most recent things and work my way back. As it is the eve of Lily's 3rd birthday, I'll start with her and do another update later this week for Jules, when she turns 6. Let me just start by saying, what the H*%% happened that Lily is going to be 3 tomorrow? She is supposed to be my baby!!!!

The house currently smells like the yellow cake that Lily wanted and I am so excited to celebrate her birthday tomorrow. Lily, you are an amazing little girl, so like your sister at times and so yourself at other times. You recently started using the potty all the time and I am so proud of you. After weeks of frustration your dad and I had sort of given up and were going to wait it out, when one afternoon your dad took your diaper off and had you try using the potty, because you would often pee in the potty but refused to poop in it. You tried that day and then we left your diaper off while you went to play. I remember being in the kitchen and hearing you running to the bathroom, after a few minutes I went to check on you and you said "I did it, mama, I went poop" and when I congratulated you, you said "it just slid right out of my butt" which left me speechless, I mean, how else can you describe it? You started wearing big girl underwear that day and have done great since then, with only 1 accident that I can recall.

Your speech is amazing, you talk in complete sentences and use words that some teenagers probably couldn't use. A lot of that is due to your dad who was always impressed with your papa Mike's vocabulary and makes sure to use words that will expand your vocabulary. When I think back over the last year I can't remember when the transition happened that made you easier to understand, over the summer we still relied on Jules to translate for us and would often say "what'd she say" while looking at Jules. There are still times that we turn to her for a translation, however, more often than not she is just as stumped as we are at what you are trying to say. Tonight you were saying something about Parmesan and we all spent a few minutes trying to figure out what the heck you were saying.

We just finished our most recent round of swim lessons and I couldn't be more proud of you! In the beginning of the session it was just parents holding you in the water and doing everything with you (which brings back memories of Papa Mike trying to take you last year after my eye surgery and having the teacher take you from him in pity and use you as the example for other kids because he didn't know all of the tricks to calm you down, like looking for monkeys on the ceiling when working on your back). After a couple of classes they had us try putting the float packs on you and at first you were very resistant, however, I reminded you of the swim vest you wear at Zack and Leigh's and showed you how this was very similar, so eventually you agreed to try it on. Once you had it on you agreed that it was OK and then before I knew it you were off, kicking and scooping all over the pool.

Another thing that you recently tried was skiing and you LOVED it :) We had such a great weekend with Zack and Leigh up north and your first day out you skied for about 7 hours. We went the second day and it was a rough start but you ended up getting out there again and having a blast. So, this weekend we went and got your birthday present which was a set of ski's. Today when I got home from work, you were outside with your dad and Jules skiing down the barn ramp! When you came inside, dad was showing you all the parts of the ski and then you cleaned your own ski.

In August your cousin Liam was born and it was love at first sight for you. He has joined you at Marcie's and I love picking you up and hearing about your day with Liam. He isn't always there and the days that he isn't you are often quick to report that Wiam wasn't there. When he is there you are all about helping as I found out the other day when we picked him up and brought him home with us. He was in the kitchen with me while I made dinner and was starting to get a little fussy when I turned around to see you digging through his diaper bag for his toys and his pacifier. You brought his toys over one at a time and played with him and when he still wasn't happy you found his pacifier and put it in his mouth. You have always been fascinated with babies who have pacifiers and know that you didn't use one because you suck your thumb. I loved it when you were little and I didn't have to always have a pacifier, however, now I wish you had a paci because I could take that away, but you are ALWAYS sucking your thumb! We have started talking more and more about how big girls don't suck their thumbs and we have success at times, but not very often.

I am so proud of the amazing little girl you have become! I certainly miss the baby that you were (at times, but I don't miss the grumpy baby. I was reminded recently that I used to call you the grumpiest baby ever, which was so true at times) but I am having so much fun on this adventure that is your childhood. Keep on being you, because you are amazing!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lillian Mae!

Off she goes ...

Today is the first day of Kindergarten for Jules and it was full of excitement and some trepidation. Last night she was bursting with excitement as she made her lunch, pushing me out of the way to make her own sandwich and packed her teddy bear in her bag for teddy bear week. This morning when I woke her up, the first thing she said was "mom, since the school bus drives sort of slow do you think I can sleep on it?" Apparently she wasn't so excited about getting up at 6:30. Our morning went well, breakfast with banana bread we made yesterday, brushing teeth, hair, getting dressed ... all things we have been practicing and adding to our morning since we have always been able to drop the girls at Marcie's in their pj's and she did the whole morning routine. Lily isn't one to be left out so she is doing everything right along Jules. We got outside with plenty of time for a couple of pictures before heading to Marcie's. The walk to the bus only takes a couple of minutes and Jules wanted Marcie and the little kids to walk with us this morning so we headed off to the bus stop where there were lots of other kids. Jules kept to herself while we waited and after a little while the bus came, it was running a few minutes behind which didn't really surprise me. I was surprised though at the ease with which Jules gave me a hug and headed off to the bus! Lily and I blew her kisses as I tried not to cry.

Lily was excited on the walk back to Marcie's and talked about how Jules is going to go "listen to Gregory" and how next year she is going to go "listen to Gregory". Jules' teacher is Mrs. Gregory and Lily has taken to just calling her Gregory. She is convinced that she is going to school next year, although she has a few years.I left Lil at Marcie's and headed to the school to be with Jules. By the time I arrived she had already gotten off the bus and was standing with the other kids in her class. I enjoyed the moment of just watching her, she was taking it all in and not quite ready to jump in and talk with other kids. When she saw me she headed straight over and waited with me until her class was heading in. Her trepidation started to show at this point when she didn't want to let go of my hand and walk in with the other kids. Eventually I convinced her to do that and met her in the classroom. Because her bus and some others had been running late her class had already started their morning activities. Jules found her seat and put her backpack away before she wrapped herself around my legs again. I wanted to cry with my little girl but had to continue to be excited as I helped her go over to the reading rug to sit criss-cross applesauce with spoons in the bowl (cross legged on the floor with hands in your lap). Moments later, with a sort of heavy heart I blew my little girl a kiss and walked back to my car.

I know that Jules will have an amazing time at Kindergarten and I am so excited for her. I can't wait to hear her stories tonight. I will bottle up these moments because they are coming too quickly. While I have never been home with the girls I have always had the knowledge that they are just down the road at Marcie's and know the home that they are spending their days in. This is a weird feeling to not know what Jules is doing at any given moment and that from here on out her days are her own. I am so excited though for her to make new friends and memories.

Good luck, Jules, you will do great in Kindergarten. I am so proud of you!!!!