From the time this girl was born, she has bitten her nails.
She even graduated to biting her toenails on a regular basis.
My mom wanted it stopped and made me get yucky nail polish that would prevent her from doing it, but it didn’t really work after a few weeks when I misplaced it.
I’ll admit that I wasn’t totally opposed to the biting for one major reason — her nail care was REALLY easy.
There just wasn’t any.
But when I saw my sweet little girl eying other people’s toes and fingers, and then go over for a nibble, I knew I should probably put a stop to it before she became “that weird girl”.
I would love to say that something I did was magical — and in a round about way, it kind of was.
What I did was…..
NOTHING.
It goes back to my potty training days.
I can force the issue and make my life miserable, or I can wait until the kid personally takes action.
I figured, one day and some how or some way, Icka would stop.
And if she didn’t, I would take full responsibility.
Well, the transformation came when Bella was painting her nails and Icka wanted matching ones.
Bella told her she couldn’t because she barely had any nails to paint and it was ugly that way.
Cold turkey — my girl stopped biting.
I literally hadn’t seen her slip up even once, and I was amazed!
Navy was even more enticed when she heard that Bella had painted Rosie’s nails and they looked so cute.
Icka let hers grow and grow, and the second Bella came home from Utah, she showed them off.
And first thing the next morning — Icka had beautifully painted fingers and toes.
And then as I tucked her in at night, I said, “Let me see your beautiful fingers!”
To which she showed me 8 polka-dotted pink fingers and 2 that were bare.
I asked what happened, and she said, “I ONLY bited off two of the polishes!”
It was true — the temptation came back a bit, but she stopped at the polish, and the nail stayed long.
I’ll take it, and in the meantime…you know what I will do?
NOTHING!
Who is who?
Apparently I make cookie cutter kids.
(Answers — I put them in order — Scout, Navy, Dash, Scout, Navy, Dash, etc.)
There is something about seeing your child in all white that is to die for. Maybe it is because he looks like an adorable abominable snowman. But more likely — it is because white is my favorite color (yellow was until I was an adult — but now it’s white like the temple).
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There is also something about seeing your third child in something your first two used too.
When I put him in the jumper for the first time, it was almost nostalgic.
He is liking it. He isn’t up to Scout’s utter love of it yet, but I am sure he will get there. He likes the lights, the music and that he can move around a bit. But technically, I think he is still a bit too small for it since the only thing that touches the floor is his itty bitty toe.
But that is how Scout started — and he grew to be a jumping maniac.
And Ickity Dickity started out on tippy toes also.
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WOW….these three kids look pretty similar.
But do you notice of the three — who is grinning from ear to ear?
Here is a decent close up of Scout’s spray of freckles across his nose and cheeks.
I often hear that our kids look a lot like Micah, but I don’t see freckles on Micah!
I am so glad that Scout is basically like my twin!
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On a broader note — Scout is doing amazing with his leg. He is walking totally straight up and down (vs. hunched over). He has a limp, and will until his leg lengthens a bit, but it is getting less and less visible. Mostly because he has gotten really good at walking on his bad leg’s tip toe. He still doesn’t complain. The first few days, I was decently stern about “Scout I would help you, but you can do it yourself.” It killed me as a mom, but I didn’t want him to become high maintenance because he was really used to me doing everything. But now, he insists on doing everything himself. Including getting in and out of the slippery bath, running, jumping and about anything else you can imagine. I am really proud of him — REALLY proud of him.
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He is as sweet as ever. Now, for anyone reading this — he certainly has his moments. He still frequents time out a few times a week. But overall, he is a very nice boy, and I absolutely adore him. And who wouldn’t when he said this last night in his prayer:
“Thank you so much for our afternoon of the funnest joy.”
Micah and I both were grinning ear to ear after his prayer because it was so classic!
I saw some adorable alphabet pasta, and had to purchase.
I knew I could come up with some good crafts for the kids that were educational at the same time. So when Scout and I wanted to write a thank you letter to Samuel for his Legos, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to break out the pasta.
Before I found my blank cards, I had Scout and Navy picking out letters. I put some glue on the paper for Navy, and told her to find as many A’s as she could and then stick them in that glue. We then moved onto B’s and then C’s, etc.
But I wasn’t surprised at all when Icka decided to forgo the directions and start eating the dry pasta instead.
I made Scout’s a bit more complicated, and had him find the whole alphabet and glue it down.
We were having a good time searching and gluing.
Once I found my blank cards, we started making a card for Samuel. Scout would find me the letters, and I would glue. I realized after the front cover that I should glue each individual letter instead of making a smear of glue and then putting the letters on. Oh well.
I learned for the inside. But after that, I realized that the glue is still noticeable, and I need to keep things a bit cleaner.
I guess it is all a learning process.
Now, hopefully the pasta will last until it gets to Samuel.
Brit — if you are reading this, you will have to let me know if the letter survives!
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I love having fun with my kids.
They loved it.
And so did Bella and I, who closed down the crafting house about an hour after the kids were off and playing.
My mom was sleeping with Icka the other night. She said she woke up at the same time Navy did. As she watched Navy wake up, she was just opening one eye while she tried to keep the other closed. My mom just studied her for a bit when she heard Navy finally say, “You know if you open one eye and shut the other one, you are a pirate.” Interesting first words of the morning. Apparently she was having some mighty adventurous dreams during the night.
It is really sad to say that I like this baby the best, but I do. I think the reason why is because I just wanted Scout to grow up and interact with me at this point. And Navy would just spit up all over me. Both Scout and Navy were pretty stone-faced, and I think they gave me dirty looks! Okay — in all honesty, I loved them all 100%. But there is something special about this third one. I think part of my love comes from appreciating this really simple stage he is in. He literally eats, seeps, poops and smiles. I can’t believe how much he smiles — and his smiles contort his whole face. Better yet– in this past week, he is cracking up at things. My mom was saying “Boo” to him today, and he was cracking up. He has been laughing for a while now, but he hasn’t been cracking up like this. I love him with everything in me. He is my little slice of Heaven. And who wouldn’t like that the best?
It was finally baby shower time.
Diane rolled in first to deliver the croissants, but was quickly followed by the woman of the hour and Meghan her surrogate.
Of course the first stop was saying hello to the sweetest baby on earth.
But Auntie Gail quickly came in and swiped him.
And some of the hottest cousins around(soon to add another to the brood - not by blood but by in-lawness).
By the time everyone got there, the scissors/tape/boxes were all put away, and the food was freshly out.
Bree’s Grandma is soon to be a 4th time great grandma.
Her 2nd Great Grandchild was so darling during this girl party. She brought down her own desserts to be like her mom.
And then she discovered the candy table that within her reach. After she spotted it, she would take handfuls and eat them. But when we put a kibosh on that, she kept sneaking them and distributing them out to the party goers.
I was game to do the shower, but I am not a fan of coming up with the game. So Bree’s friend Kendra came with a cute match the celebrity babies to their mom game. It was simple and great.
After the game, Bree thanked everyone for coming and told us a little bit about her story trying to conceive. It was pretty emotional, and was nice for everyone to hear more about it. And then it was present time. She must be pretty loved, because she got some really amazing things.
I was so happy with how everything turned out. It was a really nice afternoon. But the very best part might have been after it was all over and I just got to sit on the couch and relax with most of my sisters for the rest of the afternoon. Here is Tristen eating one of the darling bon bons. Can you get over the glitter?
Clean up started later that evening.
But if you call getting rid of the sugar cookies by shoving them down the hatch, cleaning up — then Icka did a little herself early on.
At the end of the night, we finally had to say goodbye to Doey and Megan.
Which meant Dash had to say goodbye to his best buddy from the day.
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It was a really fun day to celebrate — and an even better reason to celebrate!
Congrats Bree!
The night before Bree’s shower, Brit came over for a bit to help set up. After she left, I was up for a few more hours wrapping and setting up some more stuff, and then woke up the morning of to finish up. And guess who was back the next morning — bright and early? My trusty friend Brit.
One of the doosies of setting up was the “skirt”. My vision finally came around, and I knew exactly where I wanted it, but we were up a creek on hanging it where I wanted it. But luckily my handy husband found a solution. the problem was that he needed to hang it on an antique chest that we couldn’t tape onto or staple into.
After bending a few paperclips and tying a few tight knots….
voila!
It was exactly right.
After putting the candy counter together, and adding some fresh flowers — it was ready for showtime.
The puffs I had made were a great accent around the house.
My flower of choice — ranunculus.
I die over them!
And simple in glass jars was the perfect touch.
For a little extra oomph, they sat in glittered jars as the centerpiece of the table with some hearts around the base.
Brit spent most of the morning frosting her sugar cookies.
They were darling, and I have to say, they tasted as good as they looked.
The cookies were on platters, and I also put them on my tiered cake stands alongside one of my favorite touches — my glittered BonBons.
(Obviously the glitter was edible.)
The combo was amazing.
And I literally can’t get enough of the BonBons.
They were hazelnut, and were mighty delish.
Here I am about an hour before the shower.
I was chopping cashews for the chicken salad.
I had to quickly leave my post when I heard Navy spotted the candy counter, and was on the prowl.
Thank goodness Scout saved the day, and they started to play “pirates”.
My mom was the silent hero in all of this. She did the food — pasta salad and croissant chicken salad sandwiches — which were both to die for!
Right before the shower, they were set out.
Along with the cold waters and lemonades.
The flowers, cookies and everything else was all in place….
and the rest is history!
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Props go out to this crazy lady for the best help a girl could find!
Even if she is a bit cross-eyed!
Pops showed up one morning to plant pansies in front of our house. I love a good morning of manual labor, and hope my kids will also. So when I saw Icka jump right in, I was thrilled.
At first, she was just checking out what was going on as she carried on an extensive conversation with Pops. And then he was getting her some pet worms to hang out with. At first she was too afraid to touch them, and then she remembered she is “Icka” and she likes all things gross — and has had many stints with worms in the past. Soon after her memory was jarred, they were fast friends.
But Pops put her to work pretty quickly, and she was all for it.
I am hoping the “monkey see, monkey do” effect is taking place right here. Because if it does, Dash will be carrying his own flat of pansies in a few years.
Look at this little gardening princess.
And look at this little gardening queen!
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Pops — thanks for making the place look great!
X O
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