We Celebrated and Saved The Day

I'm happy to report we are on the mend.  It's a good thing too because we had some major celebrating to do.  It isn't every day that a girl turns 4!

Yesterday we had Zoe's birthday party with 23 of her little friends.  This year's theme was a superhero party.  They diffused bombs (23 black balloons) to save the city.  They colored emblems on their capes.  They found all the kryptonite (rocks painted green with glitter) so Super Dad could get his strength back.  They ate hero sandwiches and cake. 

It was a Super day. 

The best part was that Zoe felt totally loved and I didn't have a major coughing spell until the party was over.  Can I get an amen?  Anyone?

There Have Been 4 of Many Things This Week

This is the week of 4's.  Yesterday, the bad mommy blogger that I am, didn't even turn on the computer to write a post dedicated to my Zoe.  She turned 4 yesterday.  There's many things she wants to do now that she's 4:

1) Read all by herself
2) Put herself to sleep (she likes me to lay with her for a bit at night)
3) Eat broccoli (although, she's not sure, this may happen when she's 48 instead)
4) Get a bounce house and big trampoline that she can play on in the backyard.

There's also been hints of wanting a puppy.  She typically spells out words now and then asks, "what does that spell?"  It never fails, she spells out things like:

P-E-T-C-O
P-E-T-S-M-A-R-T

I don't know how those two stores in particular speak to her, but every time we're in the car, she finds one of those, asks what P-E-T-C-O spells and then gets all excited because we.could.go.there.NOW.and.get.a.puppy.to.take.home.and.love.and.play.with.mommypleeease!

She had a great day at school yesterday and took brownies for all her classmates.  What she really wanted was a surprise party, where she walks into a dark room, all her friends are hiding, then they turn on the lights and yell "SURPRISE" and she gets all excited because it's a surprise party just for her.  If you can't already tell, age 4 has brought a wealth of new imagination and ideas!

Last night, N, D, E, Grandma Lily and I waited at McDonald's for Zoe and Grandma Kathy to show up.  When they walked through the door, we all yelled "SURPRISE!"  The look on her face was absolutely priceless.  She said that was her favorite part of her day.

In addition to all the celebrations, other things have been happening in 4's this week.  Here they are in random order:

1)  4 sick days off work.
2)  4 visits to the doctor.
3)  4 decibels is about as high as my voice can go right now, if I'm lucky.
4)  4 cough drops per hour is the going rate right now.

This past weekend Zoe and I got sick.  She has bilateral ear infections and has to take medication 4 times per day.  If you don't know, getting Zoe to take "the pink medicine" is similar to trying to make a frog stay in a hot pan.  I'm sure the neighbors think we are severely hurting our child and some may even think we are torturing her.  There's much gagging, bribing and sweating that goes into the 4 times a day ritual.  We're only day 4 of 10 on this routine. 

I came down with strep.  However, that has quickly turned into something that is bigger than a sore throat.  It involves coughing, lots of coughing and shortness of breath.  It has also caused me to lose my voice.  Which N is counting as a small blessing of the illness.  It did make it hard to yell "SURPRISE" for Zoe's surprise, but fortunately I can fake it and get real excited, wave my arms and generally look like I'm actually talking.  When we tried to sing Happy Birthday to her, N said I sounded like William Hung (that really horrible singer who somehow put out a CD).  I couldn't even deny it.  I totally sound like that guy.

A friend of ours said I sounded like a man.  I've gone well past that sexy Kathleen Turner voice to a tone-deaf singer.  Awesome!
Today I'm headed back to the doctor for the official appointment #4 to see if we can get me better.  I only have 4 days before Zoe's big birthday party and I must be better by then.  It's all about being a super hero and, if I don't have my voice back by then, I'll get to be Super Mime and that's not nearly as cool as Super Mom!

There is Music in Her Blood

It's no secret that Zoe loves all things musical.  She loves to sing, loves to play instruments and loves to dance.  99.8% of her day is filled with one of these activities.  Last night I was doing a little workout to Just Dance 2 and the song Crazy In Love was playing.  There's a part of the song that goes, "oh oh ohohohoh oh."  Something like that.  It's hard to write how Beyonce sings.

Anyway, I turned the TV off and Zoe was singing that part perfectly.  N was beaming from the kitchen.

I've learned, as the mother of a musically inclined daughter and the wife of a guy who is constantly beatboxing, I've got quite a bit to learn. 

This weekend we were in the car, Zoe was playing her Disney Princess Recorder and stopped mid-note.  She looks at me and said:

"Mom, give me a beat!"

It Was The Best of Both and The Most Irritating

It's funny to watch your children grow and to see how their personalities come through.  There are times when you look at your husband and say, "she totally gets that from you" and there are times he looks at you and says the exact same thing.  Then there are times you watch your child and have no freakin' clue where they get something and realize it's 100% just them. 

What's been fun about Zoe is seeing both N and I come out in her and realizing what is all Zoe.  When we went to visit family in Austin, they'd make comments that she's just like N was at that age.  Apparently N and I were very similar as children.  We would've both been described as hams and very social.  If you've met Zoe, you know that's true for her as well.

Some qualities are coming out in her that are found in both N and me and I'm scared for her.  Yesterday at the playland a little girl who was 4 was there with her older brother, who was 10 and their grandma.  The little boy picked up his 4 year old sister.  Immediately Zoe thought she could lift the girl too.  She tried.  I'm almost positive I've never attempted to lift anything that I was sure I couldn't lift.  That is all N coming out in her.  He routinely tests his strength.  I find Zoe's act very dear and a little disturbing.  We will have to work on who you should and shouldn't attempt to pick up. 

I fear that will be an easier lesson than the other quality that has been coming out:  perfectionism. 

I hate to admit it, but she gets this one from me.  If I couldn't immediately do something, I just wouldn't even try it.  On one hand, it gave me a desire to excel.  On the other, it crippled me from trying new things.  Yesterday Zoe mentioned she cried at school.  When asked why, she said it was because she didn't know her numbers.

Zoe can identify her numbers.  She can even read time on a digital clock.  So I was confused.

When I pulled out her paper from the day I noticed they were tracing numbers.  The paper had several "3" in dotted lines that she was to trace.  Then there was a place without any dotted number that she was to write her own.  Instead of attempting, there were angry scribbles.

I asked her if that was what she meant, that she didn't know how to write her numbers?  She said yes and that she cried.

The teachers handled it well and told her we all had to practice writing them to learn how.  Which is exactly what we told her. 

I was the kid who would get so upset with myself for not being perfect or not immediately knowing how to do something.  My mother was someone who constantly encouraged me and never put pressure on me to be perfect.  It was all the notion from my very own mind.

Zoe has it too.

At age 3.

I know what I put my mom through.  She wished me luck yesterday.

Sew Happy

I've absolutely caught the quilting bug.  I did a wall hanging for our home for Christmas and have officially crossed over into the "can't get enough of it" place.

Several months ago I bought a kit from a wonderful quilt store called Quilt Patch Lane.  It was in beautiful blues and browns that actually match our bed set.  I thought it would look so cool on our bed.  Then I put it in a closet and forgot about it.

At Christmas I had some time and wonderful family that just let me sew.  It had a really difficult outer border because the blue and brown squares had to alternate.  I actually "worked it" so it matched up. 

When I was just learning to quilt, my mom, a totally seasoned quilter/queen of all things sewn would tell me to just "work it."  I would roll my eyes, thrown down the project and tell her to "work it" because that frustrated me.  All those times she said it and I never understood it.  Now I'm doing it.  Here's the finished quilt top in really bad quality taken on my phone.

Then my family gave me some additional time to sew and watch Modern Family season 1 on DVD and I made this too:

It's a really cute pattern called Soul Mates by Sandy Gervais.  If I could give a little shout out to Ms. Gervais!  Her fabric and patterns are awesome.  If I could buy stock in her creativity I so totally would.

Just thought I'd share.  Now I'm onto the next project.  27 capes for a certain girl's upcoming birthday party.  We're going to be superheros.

The Darndest Things

Zoe is becoming increasingly more vocal.  Which, if you know her, seems impossible.  Instead of just talking and asking questions, she's now got sayings and opinions.  Here are two conversations this week:

Before bed, as we talk about the day and what we liked:

Zoe:  I really want a puppy, you know.
Me:  I know sweetie.  Do you still want a black one?
It doesn't matter, I just want one.  We will need to get you and daddy one too. 
We need three dogs?
Yes.
Can you and I just share a dog?
Well, okay.  I guess.  Daddy needs one.
What if we all just share one dog?  Like we have a family dog?
If you want to do this the easy way!

During a conversation with Grandma Kathy:

Grandma, do you have a garage?No sweetie, I don't.
Do you want us to build you one?I would love that!
Well, that seems like a lot of work Grandma.  How about we just order one online for you?

I love how her mind works!

Unbroken

Over the holidays I did two things in addition to being with my people.  The first was I quilted.  I'm about this close (picture me showing you an inch with my fingers) to finishing a quilt top.  I'm beyond excited to have it done.  I bought the kit about 8 months ago and am just getting around to starting and finishing it.  It makes me happy!

The second was I read.  A gentleman I work for told me about a new book called Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  It came with the pitch of, "if you don't read any other book ever again, this is the book to read."

I put it on my Christmas list and planned on reading it.  Someday.

I had time between quilting and dancing, so I cracked it open.  Around the third sentence I couldn't put it down.  It's a biography on a man named Louie Zamperini.  He was a rebellious teen, a running sensation and then a Japanese P.O.W. 

To say it's an incredible story is an understatement.  That's only half the story.  What he did post-war is just as amazing.

It's a story of forgiveness.  If you have some time, I highly recommend the read.  It brought me to tears on more than on occasion.  Yet it left me with a hope that I can't quite describe.  It is worth your time.

If you never read another book ever again, this is the book to read.

I promise!