Life with the Thurman Girls: 2009

I am amazed at how quickly this year has gone by. The girls are growing up so quickly. Abby is just two weeks from being a first grader. Mia is about to turn four this week and Paige is crawling. It is so busy with these three girls that I have hardly recorded any of the fun, crazy, and sweet things that they do.
Abby has lost nine teeth this year. . . .you heard . me. nine. Five of them were pulled by the dentist because they were decalcified. She was put to sleep for the first time. . . I have to tell you that it was really hard to walk out of that room with her knocked out. She did awesome though and we were so proud of her. Her last one she refused to let Greg pull and she swallowed it at school. . .gross. She has learned so much at school this year. . . She is reading. I love to hear her read to me, her sisters or her make believe class. She loves math and is very good at it. I could not be more proud of how she has excelled in school and how she has enjoyed it. In May her class was in charge of the Friday morning "Rise and Shine" program for school. Their theme was Mothers Day and Abby's job was to talk about a picture she drew of me and her. When she got the mike, she looked right at the audience and spoke loudly and clearly about her picture. There are no words to describe how proud of her we were. Her favorite thing to do right now is playing school. She serioulsy comes home from school and heads to her room and plays school. I love to hear her in there teaching her class, reading to them and discipling them. I get so tickled thinking that she is modeling her teachers behavior. What a blessing she is to us. We have gotten a taste of the ups and downs of girls and their friends and feelings and emotions. . . wont highschool be fun. I spend lots of time praying that I will have the right words to guide her through these times, these clashes of personalities so that she will be able to stand up for herself, to have kind words and compassion for others but to also not care what others think about her. Sometimes it is so overwhelming to think about the task of raising girls these days. Anyway, enough about that. . . .

Mia has kept us in stitches all year. Seriously, she is about the funniest kid I have ever been around. It is hard to punish her for some of her stunts because they are so funny. I am scared about what the future holds for this little one. We caught her lieing to us about eating easter candy after we told her not too. There were candy wrappers all over the bathroom as well as a stash of candy behind the potty. She hid that candy so that she could go back to it. Oh my. The other day she did not like what Greg told her so she stomped his foot. She is stubborn and very strong willed. Finding the right way to discipline her has been a huge challenge. Yet her little personality is so charming. She loves hanging out with her sister and just being a part of things. She loves to play with her boy friends. . . she mostly has boy friends very few girl friends. She likes to talk about how she is going to marry her friend Cade and they are going to live in NY. She is very adamant abou this. Good thing we like Cade's parents. . . :) She gets upset when she sees Greg and I kissing and tells us that those are her kisses. I love it when she looks at me or Greg and tells us we need some Mia time. She has definitely made her place in this family known. She turns four this week. One more year until kindergarten. . . Where did the time go.

Paige is changing daily. She has three teeth and has at least three more coming in. This weekend she started to crawl. Oh my goodness, that has happened so quickly. The house is not at all ready for a ten month old that wants to get everywhere and put everything in her mouth. She is so precious. She loves to play patty cake, clap for herself, eat cheerios and yogurt bites, smile at me and pull my hair, laugh at her sisters and watch her daddy walk in from work. When I go in to her room in the morning she always smiles at me and then gives me a squeeze when I pick her up. We got her a pink swing for the swing set and she loves to be in it. It puts her to sleep almost every time. Honestly, she is such a delightful baby. We are teaching her to wave goodbye and to give us five. She is saying dada, but not mama. Bless her heart she has struggled on and off since this Thanksgiving with respiratory problems brought on by colds. We are back there again but this time it has turned into pneumonia. We are so tired of this and hoping that this new round of medicine will help get this under control. Sadly she is just following in the footsteps of her older sister.

Girls, I am definitely not a perfect mom. . .far from it in fact. But I love you. I wont always do everything right, I wont always have the cleanest house or have the laundry put up, But I will always love you. I wont always react the way I should or have the right words to explain the world to you. . . But I will always love you. I wouldnt give up this last crazy year with you and I look forward to even more adventures with my Thurman Girls.

I am back for the moment!

Paige is nine months old today. How crazy is that. The last time I posted she was 12 weeks old. How fast the time has flown by! Paige is sitting up and reaching for everything. She hates being on her stomach, I mean hates it. Most likely this is why she is not crawling. She is reaching for everything and trying to scoot to what she cant reach. She would much rather stand than sit. She LOVES to pull my hair. She loves her food groups and cant get enough of the sweet potato puffs. She has her two bottom teeth. Every morning when we go in to get her she is smiling. I mean really every morning. She starts to kick her legs and reaches for us. She is saying dada and mama some. She laughs at her sisters when they are being silly, it is my most favorite sound. We have definitely hit the more difficult phase of the first year. She is not happy hanging out in her bouncy or on the floor while I try and get things done around the house or play with the other girls. She wants to have me around all the time. She spends a lot of time on my hip walking around the house or playing with the girls. We got her a swing for the swingset, she loves being in it. When we push her, her little feet move around feeling the breeze on them. She is such a joy to us and her sisters. I genuinely cannot believe that we are three months from her first birthday. Where did the time go.