Love - Day 7

Well I guess it's about time I post about Riley, huh? She's the girl stuck in the middle of two rough and tumble boys. The princess of the family and oh does she wear the tiara proudly. Before I had Austin I always pictured myself as a mom of girls. I couldn't imagine parenting a boy. But I did, and it just felt "right". When I was pregnant with Riley I prayed for a little girl. I thought I'd had my fill of all the boy stuff--the trucks and trains and blocks and footballs. I was ready for a house full of dresses and bows and dolls. I thought I was ready for all that a girl entails. I was wrong.

I'm not a girly-mom. I get irritated by all the frou-frou and fluff. And oh, the drama and the emotions? Can't stand it. I'm not a very girly-girl myself. Riley is. We're polar opposites in so many ways. She's got my looks but she has the personality of her daddy. She's extremely outgoing, very hyper, very much into fashion and her hair, she's funny and weird and super sweet all rolled into one. We clash in so many ways. We butt heads on just about everything. She's got her dad wrapped around her little finger and it drives me nuts.

But she's my Ri-girl. The only one I have and I know that one day we'll be super close and will be able to appreciate our differences and embrace them. She makes me laugh (even when I'm rolling my eyes at the same time). Just as I was typing this she comes in (when she's supposed to be getting into the shower) and says "Mom let me show you my new move". She then proceeds to do some funky dance where one foot is stationary and she is spinning on it and shaking her hips and bouncing the other foot. It was weird and hysterical and so just a totally Riley move. She's just that way. Whacky. The girl loves life. She loves making people smile. She's just that kinda girl.

I can't wait to see the woman she'll become. I know she'll be something else, that's for sure. She has the best qualities of her father and me. She's going to be a great mother to her children. She already has such a strong and loving maternal instinct. Riley truly loves her baby brother. He is everything to her and she shows it proudly. She hugs him and kisses him and comforts him when he's hurt or sad. She loves to entertain him and keep him happy. And Matthew adores her. He waits for her to come home from school every day. He kisses her before she leaves every morning (I've got to literally pull teeth to get him to kiss me!!). They have a great relationship and it makes me so proud of her to see the way she cares for him.

Riley makes me strive to be a better mother. She's hard to deal with sometimes because we are so different but I'm learning so much from her. I find that she's the one that I blow up with more that the other two. I know I'm harder on her than I am on Austin and I try not to be. I know my weaknesses and unfortunately for her, she is the one that bears the brunt of it and receives the Monster Mommy yellings. I don't intentionally do it but because of our different personalities she's the one who gets to me most. It's horrible of me and I feel so guilty. But Riley takes it in stride. I think she understands me and knows that I'm not trying to get so frustrated.

One evening a few months ago I had had it with Riley not listening to me or doing what I asked of her. She has a tendency to get distracted easily and flitters back and forth between things. I don't remember the exact things that happened but I know that I was in a foul mood and Riley was driving me batty. I went off on a yelling rampage (I'm horrible with that and really need to vent my frustrations in a better way). Riley went to her room, upset. A few hours later I walked into my bedroom to get ready to go to bed and I found a yellow handmade card on the nightstand. The cover said "To Mom". On the inside was two sad faces and two happy faces with the words "Sad Mom. I'm sorry that I make you upset. Happy Mom. I will always love you no matter what. Love Riley". Oh my goodness. My heart broke and the tears flowed from my eyes. I felt horrible. HORRIBLE. How could I be so mean to such a sweet loving little girl. I felt like I was crushing her spirit and her self-esteem. I don't want to be that kind of mother, the kind of mom that my own mom was to me. The next morning I thanked Riley for the beautiful card and apologized to her for yelling at her. I told her that I was so sorry for being mean and that I just wished that she would listen to me and do the things I asked of her. I will forever keep that card that Riley made me, as a reminder to myself that I need to be a better mom to my daughter.

We don't always agree on things. She may physically look like my Mini-Me but we're so different in so many ways. I love that girl with all of my heart and I don't want to make her feel worthless or unloved or unappreciated. I don't want to ever make her feel bad about who she is, because she is the person that God intended her to be. I need to learn from her and enjoy things a little more, take life a little less seriously. Do my hair and wear glittery lipgloss and stinky cotton candy perfume. Sing at the top of my lungs, crack up at dumb jokes, create funky dance moves. But more than anything I just need to show my little girl that I absolutely love and adore her, despite our differences. She's the only girl I've got and I'm lucky to have her!

Love - Day 5

I love federal holidays. Love 'em. It's an extra day that my husband gets off and my kids are home from school as well. It's sometimes hard being the wife of a mail carrier 'cause right now Jason works 6 days a week, 10-12 hrs each day. The only day off for him is Sundays, and on that day he's so beat from the previous work week that all he wants to do is veg out on the couch most of the day.

But on federal holidays, we get one extra day with him! The kids love it and so do I. Yesterday was Presidents Day so of course he didn't have to work. We decided to take the kids to the Whittaker Center, a kids science museum in Harrisburg. Normally the day would have cost us more than $60 for our family to go and visit the museum. However, we learned that on MLK Day and Presidents Day a local bank sponsors the museum and opens it to the public for free!

We called up Jason's sister and BIL and invited them and their kids (Jake, 4 and Summer, 2) to join us. Unfortunately his sister had to work but BIL, Andy, was able to come along with the kiddos. We all had such a blast, even my big kids. There were all kinds of hands-on activities for them to do. We got to feel what Category 1 Hurricane winds would feel like. We made giant bubbles, completed a simple electrical current, learned about our anatomy. We saw an experiment with liquid nitrogen which was awesome. There also was a Kids Place that was intended for children under 5. Andy and I took Matthew, Jake and Summer through that. They played with water, climbed up and down equipment, created vehicles using supplies similar to K'nex. Matthew's favorite area was the Farmers Market where he got to play with plastic fruits and veggies and food. I think I'm oing to have to buy the kid some playfood because I could hardly get him to leave that area.

I think the best part of the day was the egg drop. The kids had to use recycled boxes, balloons, newspaper, plastic bags and other assorted materials to create a contained that would allow an egg to be dropped more than one story without breaking. We all had so much fun creating it. Austin and I worked together, Riley and Jason worked together and Andy and the little kids created one as well. The museum employees then dropped our eggs to see which ones survived. All three of our eggs made it and the kids were all so ecstatic. It was fun watching the others' contraptions, especially the ones that just went *SPLAT*!

We all had such a great time together, playing and learning and just being together. I just wish there were more federal holidays each calendar year. Only three more months until Memorial Day!

Here's a few pictures from our day:

Matthew loved the water play table...

...and the Farmers Market

Riley and Jake learned about Sound Waves

My niece and nephew, Summer and Jake

Riley got to feel a tornado and learn about its formation

Matthew and his daddy

Egg drop!

Riley and Jason and their egg drop contraption

Austin and his egg container

Beauty Day 5

Have you seen pictures of my daughter Riley? She just turned 8 in November. The girl is beautiful - inside and out. She's very outgoing. Very thoughtful. She cares about other people. She's a great help with Matthew - always the doting and loving big sister. She wants to please people and wants them to be happy. Not to say that Riley doesn't have her moments when I'd like to string her up and hang her from the ceiling fan by her toenails. 'Cause there's a few times like that every day. She can talk your ears off. She bounces nonstop. The girl cannot sit still. She can get mouthy and throw temper tantrums and has already begun having those little pre-adolescent mood swings. But overall, she's just a good, sweet, beautiful girl.

She just didn't start out that way. Riley was an ugly newborn. Uhhhh-ggggly! Ugly ugly. That's horrible to say but its true. Good thing for you all, I don't have any of her newborn photos scanned. You're welcome. But really she was not an attractive baby. She had a big bald head, a teeny-tiny little nose (a nose way too small for her face), huge ears that stuck out of the sides of her head (that would be her dad's genes to be blamed for that), and these blue eyes that were the size of half dollars and took up most of her face. She also had a red stork's bite on the back of her neckas well as on on her forehead that became very prominent when she was screaming bloody murder because she was hungry or wet.

But as she grew, she grew into that big head of hers. Her eyes are still huge and a very prominent feature on her face. But they're beautiful and perfect. Her nose is tiny but it fits her. The ears? Well her hair is long enough to cover them most of the time and they seem to lay flatter against her head than they did when she was younger. She's tall and lean. She's going to be stunning as a teenager and young woman.

Jason has already purchased the shotgun and its hanging prominently on the the living room wall. We're also looking into permanently locking her into her bedroom until she's 40.