One Mom’s Lifesong

It was a big day for Natalie(5) – she got her ears pierced. That would be 11 years earlier than I was ever allowed to get my ears pierced (ahem…dad).

I didn’t do it when she was born – just figured I would wait until she wanted it done. She’s asked about it a few times before and I’ve explained to her that it will hurt a bit – kind of like getting a shot. That’s usually been enough for her to say never mind. But this time she said she still wanted to do it. We checked with dad lest he have any problems with it and he said he didn’t.

So I made plans with Stacey to go to the mall today so that a) we could finally catch up and have some hang time and b) I could have a photographer on hand. (THANKS STACE!) She recommended a place in the mall where her cousin took her daughter and they had two people on hand and did both ears at one time.

Unfortunately Natalie was not so lucky. In hindsight I should have asked the woman if an additional worker would be coming in later (since we would be at the mall for a bit) but I didn’t.

First Natty picked out some pretty gold crosses for the earrings (which just makes my heart melt – she loves here JESUS!) But they advised against it since they weren’t 14k gold which is better against infection (so why show them?) So instead we went with little red stones for Christmas (and bought a different pair of cross earrings for later because it was buy one, get one 1/2 off

Sat her in my lap…cleaned ears…put dots to mark place…did first ear.

Much wailing and hand went straight to other ear and remained tightly clamped there! "I don’t want to do the other one!" she said over and over again. There was no reasoning with the girl at the time so she agreed that we would go play in the mall play area for a bit and then come back.

So we returned probably a good 45 minutes later (of course now there were 2 workers). The hand went back over the ear and despite my reasoning I ended up just having to hold her tight and pull her hand away (MAN, is she strong!) until it was done. She’ll probably be scarred for life.

Of course now she says "They’re ADORABLE mama!"

My brain is already partial in Mexican Cruise mode but I couldn’t leave without a post for the birthday girl. My dear sweet Natalie turned 5 last week – I am officially not allowed to call her "baby" anymore.

She began preparations for her "5 Birthday Party" about 90 minutes after the last guest left from her 4 Birthday Party. The theme changed about 30 times in those 364 days, including the day we bought party supplies at Wal-Mart. It could be because mom ever-so-subtlety promoted the "Barbie Island Princess" so  we would not have to make a separate trip to the party store to find My Little Pony. (I wouldn’t have done it if she didn’t love the movie

We have a tradition of waking up the birthday child the morning of their actual birthday with a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" and one gift. This year it was the Veggie Tales nativity set. Yes, she’s a little old for Veggie Tales but she fell in love with it while I was at the Christian book store a few weeks ago and it’s all she’s talked about. That and the Princess Rosella Sing Along Styling Head (which she now has thanks to Grammie and PaPa). This is her pretending to be grumpy when in reality she had been half way out the room 30 seconds before she remembered she was supposed to be "sleeping."

The actual party was the next day and she had a blast with all of her friends and got lots of fun presents including a HSM Gabriella doll which mom sings along too

It has been such a joy to watch her personality develop as she grows. She has always been an energetic, happy and joyful little girl. The kind that gets "She’s so cute" comments from strangers wherever we go. But more than that she has developed into such a kind hearted girl. She will literally give away a brand new toy if she thinks that another kid doesn’t have nice toys.

For the last year if you asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up she would have said "A Princess….or a teacher."  Not surprising for a 5 year old. A few weeks ago that changed and now she has decided that she is going to "Be a missionary so I can tell everyone about Jesus." While driving to school last week she regaled me with her plans to get a basket (a REALLY big basket) and fill it with Bibles so that everyone who didn’t know about Jesus could have a Bible. Brings tears to a proud mama’s eyes!

Happy Birthday Natalie! We’re so proud of you.

Well, 4 days later and I am finally recovered from Halloween.

Actually it wasn’t Halloween that was so bad, it was the last minute costume shopping excursion.

Yes, I do it every year. Somehow between planning Noah’s(8) bday on Oct. 2 and Natalie’s (5) bday on Nov. 2, Halloween preparations seem to escape me.

I managed to get Natalie’s costume around the beginning of October – but it was pure luck as she happened to be with me in Wal-Mart and we happened to walk by the aisle when she screamed "Stop, mommy. Princess dresses!" After much debate and changing of the mind (she is ALL girl) she decided on Snow White. I’m not sure who told the costume people that little girls wearing a size 4-6 costume would have feet that are 3 inches wide but we paired it with some pretty patent black shoes we already had and we were all set.

It was for DS that I braved the party store on a SATURDAY, a mere 4 days before Halloween. For months he’s been asking to be Red Operation Overdrive Power Ranger. Problem is, is that last year he was the Red Mystic Force Power Ranger and I politely refused to buy a slightly different red power ranger costume. He was given 3 choices 1) pick something different 2) buy it w/ his own money or 3) wear last years costume. Unfortunately for me he choose #1.

So after a 3 hour church picnic where the kids drank copious amounts of soda and bounced their little brains out in the bounce houses, we headed to Party City. Did I mention it was a Saturday? And 4 days before Halloween? I knew this couldn’t be good.

I managed to snag a parking space right in front and was glad to see that they had pictures of all the costumes on the front window. Noah spent a few minutes debating before he had his choices – Transformer or Clone Trooper.

We went inside about 3 steps before we met what was apparently the back of the line. The line to just tell them what number costume you wanted. While we waited about 30 minutes we came upon another picture display. This one had the sizes crossed out for costumes they were out of. Of course, they were out of Transformers and Clone Troopers. He finally decided on Darth Vader despite my best attempts to get him to buy the Air Force Pilot costume.

Upon finally reaching the front of the line we say "#141 in a medium, please".  We give our name and are told to exit to the side and stand in yet another "line" (I use that term VERY loosely). After about 10 minutes they call our name. I happily clutch the precious costume to my chest, prepared to make a run for the front of the store. I hadn’t gone a mere 4 feet when I find myself at a table with two employees who now want to take my hard-earned costume in exchange for a red raffle-type ticket. They tell me my costume will be brought up to the front as they toss it into a shopping cart. Apparently they have a bit of a shoplifting problem???

I rolled my eyes, but politely made my way up to the front where we encountered yet ANOTHER line. By this time Natalie was pretty much sitting on my feet the entire time while Noah was picking up every noise-making costume accessory he could find. Forty minutes later (and I am NOT exaggerating) we finally made our way out of the store.

When we got home I promptly opened my 2008 Day Planner, found September 1st and wrote "BUY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES!"