It Ain’t All Roses

I write a lot about the good in our lives. What accomplishments the children well, accomplish, the wonderful family time we spend. All things that I want to remember and enjoy writing about. It’s not all like that, and boy do I have a whopper, with video, of today’s spectacle.

It’s Noelle’s birthday. She is 6. My little girl, the one that tossed me into the throngs of Motherhood, is growing up. It’s been a magical six years and as always, I will recall that moment when the doctor announced she was a girl and held her tiny body over the curtain, on her day. Oh, pure magic.

That moment was lost during this evenings shenanigans . She was in in rare form! Before this I enjoyed helping in her class Christmas party and picking her up from school on this last day before break. Then we went and picked up her cake. A grand horse cake.

A cake that had Noelle lighting up from the inside out. Her goofy, hole filled smile was plastered on her face and she stared at the cake. It was a exactly what she wanted.

We opened presents. She was smiles and enjoyed them all. Gracious and sweet, our Noelle.

And then it was time for cake. Noelle shed her adorable outer shell and a demon appeared. The cake, beautiful, and donned with horses was not about to be cut into and destroyed. She wouldn’t have it. She climbed and clambered with all her might to not let us cut it. Tom and I were in shock. It quickly wore off as we tried to get the situation under control. Soon we were annoyed and chalked it up to being tired and just overwhelmed with the day. She was out-of-control to the tenth degree.

And without further ado, for future blackmail purposes, I give you a ridiculous video. A video that will go down in history as a typical display of embarrassing magnitude!

Upon viewing the video Noelle was apologetic. She said, "I look ridiculous" then proceeded to give me a hug and say sorry for acting that way. Yep, that helped. It doesn't take away the sheer hilarity of the situation. This video will be stored in the, "BC" (blackmailing children) folder.

See, it's not always as lovely as I write about. Tantrums are frequent and situations are blown way out of proportion by little ones that are learning how to deal with emotions, disappointment, and life. You can only chuckle, teach a little life lesson, and move on.

Oh, Well

My girl.  My big girl.  I have to talk about her.  A fast approaching 6th birthday is next week.  A post about her over the past year was going to be written on her birthday, but after Monday I needed to write now.

It started about a year ago.  I noticed some adult teeth coming in BEHIND her baby teeth.  More and more came in and we would refer to her mouth as a shark.  It was bad.  The money signs of orthodontist bills spilled out of her mouth when she showed her teeth.  I made an appointment and left with a diagnoses of “severe overcrowding” with an appointment with our dentist to get three teeth removed.

We talked it over.  She was prepared and ready.  Heck, the Tooth Fairy is leaving $5 a tooth these days and Noelle thought of many things to buy with her money.  She tossed around the thought of saving money.  It was exciting and she was ready. 

Nothing is easy as we have learned, with children.  The dentist found an abscessed molar that needed to be removed right away too.  Only two would be removed, the molar and one other next to it this trip.  They were not loose.  They were not ready to come out.

Noelle sat in the chair.  One arm was gripping Special Puppy, the other was held in mine.  The numbing went off fine.  Her mouth was open wide and she took the multiple shots (I think four or five) with a grain of salt.  She giggled how large her lip felt and laughed how she was just like Zane with the drool that she couldn’t seem to keep in her mouth. 

It was time to extract the teeth.  Noelle inhaled and squeezed my hand.  The dentist picked up a large metal set of pliers.  My eyes widened and I controlled my fear.  She gripped the tooth and wiggled a little.  She glanced in my direction, eyes telling me that this was not going to be easy, but delicately said to Noelle, “this might take a little time, your tooth doesn’t want to come out for me.” 

Noelle’s eye’s shifted to me and tears formed.  She was strong with her mouth held wide.  The tears were dripping down her cheeks, fear was all over her little face, controlling her doe eyes.  I squeezed her hand and talked in a soothing voice, muttering that I loved her and that she was doing so well.

The dentist switched back and forth between a few pairs of pliers.  The wrenching was unbelievable.  The blood began to flow.  It seemed to spurt out and go all over.  It dripped down her chin and throat.  Noelle tasted it and a fear spewed over her face even more. 

The dentist had to stand up to get a better angle.  I’m not a squeamish person, but what was happening to my little girl was more than I could handle.  My face was set in concern and love, my stomach was in knots and completely nauseous.  I wanted  this to be over, and then a distinct “pop” was heard and out came the tooth.  Blood flowed even more and along with her more tears.  Noelle was a wreck.  She held her mouth open still and her body was stiff. 

One more tooth had to come out.  The same opposition was met and wrenching, pulling, and huffing by the dentist continued.  Noelle was in a full cry, but yet still held open her mouth and sat still.  I was in awe and filled with pride.  My nausea continued as I couldn’t believe how difficult of a procedure this was.  I wanted to switch places and take over for my girl.

The second tooth finally came out and gauze was placed in the bleeding holes.  We were done, for now.  She handled it so well, much beyond her almost six years.  I was proud.  She was hurting and hating it. 

The rest of the evening consisted of switching gauze over and over as it saturated with her blood.  Tom and I took turns holding her, pouring all the love we could over her.  It was rough and much more difficult than any of us anticipated.

Today it was better.  She was still in pain, but the bleeding was minimal and she was smiling.  That's my girl.  She can handle situations very well!

Last week Tom went to our first parent conference.  As known, she is academically at the top of her class.  But we found out something else.  She has confidence.  Yes, she is quiet, but she does stand up for herself and can speak up with no problem.  The teacher told Tom a story of a her and another little girl having a dispute.  They had to sit down and talk.  The teacher overheard Noelle saying, “You can’t talk to me like that.”  My girl knows when to speak up, knows when to defend herself, and knows how to handle situations. 

She is quiet, and wonderful, and strong, and confident.  Yes, she is dramatic, sometimes overly so.  She is young and we can see instances, like with the dentist, where a glimpse of this strong girl is there, present.  I’m proud of her!

Perfect In It’s Own Way

There was a time when I pictured myself as a Mother around the Christmas season.  Our tree would fill our great room, straight, tall, expensive coordinating ornaments would delicately be hung with equal space all around the tree.  White lights would be sprinkled around as the child (as previously stated I wanted only one child!) would be well groomed and attentive.  Reality has changed and molded everything I used to view as what I had wanted.  Perfection isn’t in the end result but in how we get there. 

This weekend we went and lumber-jacked down our tree.  Christmas music blared from the radio and we all sang along during the drive to the Christmas Tree Farm.  No, we didn’t all sing along, a few of the Little's were whining/complaining about something behind us.  Tom and I held hands and shared glances as we tried to ignore the normality of whining. 

Upon arrival we donned coats, hats, and gloves while waiting for the tractor ride out to the rows of beckoning trees.  The tractor was a thrill for the children as it bumped along the muddy trail.  This would be in my former view of what perfection was a horse drawn sleigh, snow falling gently onto our blanketed beings as we all sipped hot cocoa and giggled with glee.  We laughed and smiled on hay bales, they worked just fine for us.

Within the rows and rows of trees little ones ran around chasing each other.  Max found a stick and whacked at each and every tree around. The boy resonates “boy” and yields the stick like a pro. "Hi-ya” was heard through the trees.  Tom and I glanced at each other, admiring our oldest little man.

Zane desperately wanted to be like his older siblings and walked around even with his dreaded boots on his feet.  He longs to be as quick and mobile as his beloved brother.  Give it time, Little One. 

I chased children and played hide and seek within the bushy trees.  Their giggles gave them away as I pretended to not know where they were.  Soon, Zane was getting restless and we settled on a tree.  The perfectly symmetrical tree with no bare spots eluded us, but we found one that left a twinkle in the children’s eye. 

The tree was chopped and we hauled it to the trail to wait on the tractor.  I gripped one end and Tom the other.  The troops followed.  A blood curdling scream was heard behind us.  I whipped around and there was Violette, legs spread, screaming that she was stuck.  This was a true scream, one that I immediately assumed she was in pain, stuck in an awkward position.  The tree was put down and I jogged back to her spot, worried.  As I got closer nothing seemed to be holding her down and I asked her what was wrong.  A little weed was draped across her boot.  I laughed and picked up my girly girl!  What a little Diva!

At home my vision of matching outfits and children delicately attaching ornaments gave way to boys who climbed and stole ornaments as girls yelled at them.

The girls did get into decorating.  Noelle unwrapped each ornament, would stare at the tree, searching for the perfect spot.  Oh, she was really into it.  Violette placed them all in one little spot, rearranging the ornaments over and over.  She went for the sparkly ones, of course. 

In the end the tree looks like Our Tree.  It’s ornaments are not equally spaced, it leans a bit due to a crooked stem, but it’s perfect in just the right way. 

RECAP…

I busted out the crafty in me and made up some Thanksgiving shirts for my foursome.  The kids loved them and they looked cute for the Holiday. 

And a picture of Max, sporting the oh, so typical “Max Face”

Oh, wait, this one is even better:

We feasted divinely in St. Clair with my parents, Uncle Alex, Great Grandpa, and the Shaune family.  The elongated table was set elegantly, even with little wine glasses for the children!

We laughed, talked, lounged, indulged, watched football, were merry, and thankful.  All the necessities of Thanksgiving! 

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At home we decorated.  We splashed Christmas to every corner available, crafted, and baked and immersed ourselves in continuing days of Roehrig Togetherness.

Our Christmas Village was brought out to be turned into a parking lot for matchbox cars.  In the evening I could pick them up, but they add a certain quality to the set up.  It’s a we-have-a-little-boy-in-our-midst quality and I like it that way.

Friday evening the warm weather was beckoning and we decided to head to the zoo and see the lights on display.  The crowd was overwhelming, but the beauty of millions of lights made for an enjoyable time.

Violette was successfully potty trained and Zane became a full time walker.

The girls skillfully applied makeup and Zeus showed us once again that he is a very understanding dog.

It was good, all five days of it.  When Sunday evening came there was a sadness upon the house.  No one wanted Noelle to head back to school or Daddy back to work.  We count down, with great anticipation, to Christmas Break and we are back together again.

Guest Blogger

I was asked to be a guest blogger on our local Great Start blog. Here is the post I wrote: Special Moments

Notable Week

A lot of weeks continue on just as the week before.  Nothing too notable occurs.  Yes, we laugh, play and enjoy our time together, but those jump-up-and-shout moments are few and far between.  Last week was a pretty good week.

On Tuesday a dense fog surrounded our area and created a two hour fog delay for school.  Noelle loved it, snuggling me for long periods.  I rocked her and she snuggled in my arms.  Her almost six year old body still fighting just right on my lap.  The sun came out and the fog dissipated.  Noelle went off to school and I went on with our daily tasks until it was time to pick Noelle up.

Tuesdays are horseback riding lessons.  We all love them.  I tour the barns, petting and talking with the horses.  Max loves it.  Violette shies from the horses saying, “I’m so little and they are SO big!”.  Zane giggles in his stroller, reaching for outstretched muzzles to feel.  It’s always a good time for us all.

On this Tuesday, it was a big one.  We had our three year old neighbor buddy, Luke, tagging along.  Noelle started her lesson and we went to the barns.  As we walked to the end of one barn, butting up to the indoor arena I noticed something.  My girl was riding without the lead (big leash from horse to teacher)!  I stopped and stared in awe at the sight before me.  She was in complete control of the horse, leading him around with no help.  Again, I was in amazement. 

She saw me.  Our eyes locked and a pride filled smile spread across her face.  I tried not to shriek with delight.  I played it cool, raised my eyebrows and smiled at her while blowing a kiss.  My eyes could not leave the sight before me and I was so proud of her.  She was confident and beautiful up there.  Max was proud too, bragging to his buddy that his big sister was riding by herself, for the first time.  Violette was impressed too, commenting that “my Well is riding on her own!”. 

We continued on to the other barns, not wanting to interrupt her lesson.  I was sneaky as I could be with four kids in tow, lingering at the spots with the best vantage point.  The lesson ended and Noelle ran to me saying, “That was my dream come true!”.  She was in seventh heaven and has stayed that way for the week.

That was big for us all, but Max had a big week too.  He successfully learned to write his name!  Yes, Noelle was younger, but I have learned each child is different.  Max is a boy, wanting to play, and play hard instead of working his letters.  We haven’t pushed him, only tried to encourage him when he showed interest.  This week he showed interest, lots of it and without much direction he wrote a pretty darn great “M” followed by “A” and “X”.  Now it was his turn to beam with pride.  Oh, he was proud and called Daddy immediately to tell him.  When Noelle came home he showed her saying, “Can you believe it?  I can actually write my name!”. 

Zane had an noteworthy accomplishment as well.  My little boy learned to say, “dog”.  He seems to be the most smitten with our dog, Zeus.  Crawling on the large 125 lb. body, he rides Zeus like nobody’s business, doing it all the time.  When tiredness sets in, Zeus is his go-to pillow.  Zane snuggles up, lounging against Zeus, savoring the warmth and softness underneath him.  He has taken more of a liking to “dog” than the other children and we all enjoy watching his precious interaction.

It’s November and we experienced our first snowfall too.  The sky opened up and the white, fluffy goodness fell.  The jubilation of the children was contagious and we all ran from window to window watching the large flakes dance towards the ground.  Oh, it was definitely noteworthy.  It didn’t stick, but it did wet our appetite for the winter and anticipation for Thanksgiving and Christmas has been heightened.