I recently found my document files with all my old journal entries from our ancient computer. I haven't seen these in years. It was fun reading about things I had long ago forgotten about. It was great having some of my memories verified as real and not overly exaggerated (i.e. how chaotic life really was with 3 little girls under the age of five). A few things even made me cry (doesn't take much), as I realized how fast my little family is growing up. I haven't written much in my journal ever since I went back to school in Idaho. That's one reason I decided to start this blog so I could get better at documenting family life and memories.
Here's a few of my favorite excerpts (from 2000-2005):
From various days in November 2000 (when Aspen was 2 and Kylee was 4 mo. old):
"My house is a disaster. My life is an unorganized, cluttered, confused disaster. AAAGGGGHHHHHHH!"
"Kylee is so colicky all the time. That statement’s not fair I guess. She sleeps a third of the time and is pure delight a third of the time. It’s that other third of the time that is really getting to me!"
"Ahhhhhh, nap time. I love this time. I actually got both Aspen and Kylee to go to sleep at the same time too.”
"Aspen ripped up 2 books tonight! I’m so upset about that. She ripped up a few last week too. I thought I already nipped it in the bud, but she doesn’t get it. I don’t know how to get through to her. She thinks it just doesn't matter. She thinks we can “fix” anything.”
July 2001 (when we found out we were having a THIRD GIRL):
"Aspen and Sean both wanted a boy. I wanted a boy for their sakes, but honestly I personally didn’t care at all. Aspen cried for 15 minutes–a heartbroken kind of cry–when she found out at the ultrasound visit. Sean cried for a minute or two in the car on the way home. He already had a strong feeling that it was going to be a girl before we actually knew, but he was still hoping he was wrong. He wasn’t necessarily sad because we’re having another girl, but was sad because he thought he’d be too old to do anything with a boy by the time we actually have one. He’s also scared that we aren’t ever going to have a boy. He feels like his time is running out already. I joked that I was doing the best I could to have so many babies in a short amount of time, so he wouldn’t run out of time.”
Aug. 2001 (lol, this still happens):
"I just get to the point where I starve for adult conversation, and wow, those few adults that I get to talk to during the day just get an ear full sometimes.”
Sept. 2001 (wow, I knew I wasn’t exaggerating this!):
"I can’t get over how verbal Kylee is for just being 14 months old. The other day she declared to me (word for word), “I want to go outside and play with Mallory.” That's NINE words strung along in a distinct, clearly spoken sentence!”
Nov. 2001 (Celeste 3 weeks old):
"Kylee and Aspen love Celeste dearly. Kylee has learned to be more gentle around her (ie, no more poking her in the eye or bopping her on the head). Aspen loves holding Celeste for about 30 seconds at a time.”
Dec. 2001 (oh, so sweet. I used to be so sensitive and compassionate with my kids):
"Tarzan and the song “You’ll be in my heart” first came out when I had just had Aspen. I remember singing it her as a baby, rocking her to sleep, and me balling like a baby as I’m singing it to her. I remember singing it to her when she was two years old, and she just clutched onto my hand with hers when I got to the second line, “Just take my hand, hold it tight.” You guessed it, I cried again when I sang it to her that time. Now anytime that I sing that song to her, she has to hold my hand the whole way through. She listens to that soundtrack every night while going to sleep. She has that song memorized word for word. She sings it to Celeste when she’s cranky. Now that song reminds me of Heavenly Father. I thought of him singing that song to me and holding my hand tightly. “I will protect you from all around you. I will be here don’t you cry.” It’s funny how fitting the words are when you think of them in that perspective.”
Jan. 2002 (This next entry is so funny to me because although Celeste didn't turn into a permanent thumb-sucker, she is left handed, and is still constantly sticking things in her mouth):
"We have a major thumb sucker on our hands. I remember seeing Celeste in the ultrasound pictures with her sucking on her hand and guessing that she would be our thumb-sucker. But for two months—nothing. Now all of the sudden in the last week she has discovered the joys of her left thumb. It’s always the same one. I can’t believe that they start habits like this at such a young age; she’s not even 3 months old yet! Things like this I think they are definitely born with, it’s not some coincidence or chance.”
Feb. 2003 (Aspen 4 1/2, Kylee 2 1/2, Celeste 16 mo. And I want another kid?!? Why?!?):
"Why I chose today to let Kylee wear big girl panties, I will never know. Kylee did go in the toilet, yea! Then comes lunchtime. The only problem is that the table is filled with tons of stuff like Aspen's hundreds of papers and crayons, plastic dishes, and toy food. Then Celeste decides to dump her cottage cheese all over the carpet. My fault for giving her cottage cheese in a bowl in her highchair on the carpet. Then Kylee pees all over her booster seat. Meanwhile, I still haven't had a bite to eat. Aspen and Kylee get cleaned up and are playing while I try to eat. They keep asking me for bites of my lunch of course, after they wouldn't eat their own. Then Celeste starts screaming (she wants down too), but I want to finish my lunch first, I know real selfish, huh? Celeste has been screaming all morning, so I'm used to it anyway. I give them all donuts so I can finish. They're a little messy but reasonable, so when Celeste is done, she starts squirming out and screaming some more. When I go to get her there is poop everywhere! It was all over her highchair, from her feet to her hands, gross! She had a quick bath in the kitchen sink. I wiped down the high chair, but it should probably be sanitized or something. As I got Celeste out of the sink, she slips on the kitchen floor and conks her head pretty good. I cuddled with her, got her dressed, and put her to bed. I tried to get Kylee to go potty again, tried, but she didn't go. 5 minutes later, she had an accident (3rd one today).”
March 2003 (Celeste is still our biggest daredevil):
"We went to the park today for an hour and a half. Celeste is definitely the bravest girl we've had yet,or maybe it's just cause she has two older sisters and wants to keep up with them. Of her own initiative, she sat down, turned around, crawled backwards, and slid down backward on the slide Kylee had just gone down. She was just all over that playground. The funniest was that she couldn't get it into her head that slides weren't meant for going up as well as down. She kept climbing back up a slide, for 2-3 steps doing great, then she'd fall flat, or she'd try crawling up it and slide down. I thought if I kept letting her do it, she'd learn it wouldn't work, but she kept trying to climb up those slides."
Sept. 2004 (Aspen 6, Kylee 4, Celeste 3 (almost), Will 3 mo.)
"As a newborn Will really was my prettiest looking baby. Sean got upset that I kept calling his BOY pretty. But he was, everyone agreed. He just had the finest delicate features, nicely shaped head with lots of dark hair, intensely dark grey-blue eyes that seemed to pop out of his face, and long fingers and toes. He’s our only child not to be born with the “Neahusan” nose. He looked like a lot of my baby pictures”.
“Celeste is major mayhem and mischief and oblivion all wrapped up in the smileyest, sparkliest eyed package of a two year old you’ll ever meet. It’s impossible to stay mad with her even in the midst of her destructive path.”
"Kylee and Celeste change their outfits 2-3 times a day when I’m not looking.”
“Aspen reminds me a lot of me only more self-assured. She had her first show-and-tell day the other day, and I forgot to send her anything. When she came home, she wasn’t upset or embarrassed about it. She instantly told me how she “showed-and-telled” her shoes that her cousin Eden gave her. I was so impressed. At that age, I think I would have shrunk and whispered that I forgot. Aspen seems fairly well-rounded already. She’s social. Everyone within four years of her loves Aspen. This summer we had ten-year-olds come ask if Aspen could play, boys included.”
Dec. 2004 (Teamwork, eh?)
“Sean is like a hot air balloon that just wants to soar as high as possible without caring where the wind takes him, or the logistics and feasibility of his journey. Since I've known him I've heard him passionately talking about being a baseball coach, being a high school teacher, owning a game store, being a game designer, being a fantasy writer, being a financial planner, owning a computer-support business, being a computer network technician, and now being a patent/copywrite attorney or even a sports agent. Sean's dreams never end, nor should they. All I can do is try to help his dreams touch the ground into reality, and occasionally remind him that his hot-air balloon needs direction, purpose, and fuel to fulfill a promising journey. I think we make a pretty good team. I attempt to keep him and his ideas grounded once in a while, and he whisks me away to the clouds when I'm TOO grounded in reality.”
Jan. 2005 (It’s documented, I have proof of the torture they’ve put me through!):
“This week, we have found Celeste naked at least five times already, or in her new black velvet dress late at night instead of the pajamas she went to bed in. She colored marker all over the toy box, unrolled (and used) almost half a roll of toilet paper, and left the fridge door wide open for who-knows-how-long half a dozen times at least. Kylee is often Celeste's secret accomplice. They work in tandem, or all together for those really big projects.”
“Kylee's red-headed temper is definitely more pronounced this week. She wants to go to Kindergarten soooo badly it hurts. I’m reading Ramona the Pest every night to the girls (I loved Ramona Quimby when I was little), and that character Ramona might as well have been named Kylee for how similar they are. Both little spitfires of energy with no slow release valve, so it all comes out in a great big noisy fuss.”
“Aspen has also found out a sneaky alternative to the same old boring sack lunch: forgetting her lunch box. Her school does not allow kids to go hungry. This results in her getting a hot yummy cooked school lunch (at our expense). She has learned not to leave it at home, as I will rush it to her (if I see it in time). So yesterday she left it in her friends car on her way to school. I'm sure it really is on accident, that girl would forget her head if it wasn't permanently attached. Some months our budget just doesn't allow her so many hot lunches. I just wish the school would let her starve one day (that's all I'm asking is one day, that's not abusive is it?), then she would learn. I remember going without lunch more than once when I forgot it; I learned. I'm such a mean Mom.”
2 Comments
| 
|
