Katie's 9th Birthday... Just Beginning to Party

This is Katie and her friend, Rachel, who share the same birthday and are in the same third grade class. It was fun, games and treats galore due to two birthdays and the last day of school before Spring Break.
Each birthday child is given a chance to play "The Claw" - my children and I have been blessed with the most phenomenal teachers. My motto always has been to nurture the child's self esteem and self-worth, the academics will follow. That has been our experience and I hope it to always be so.

Now we are on to the "friend" party. We have started a tradition that I can't seem to break, even though out of our five family members, four birthdays are celebrated between March 23rd and April 23rd. Each child is given a party for friends, then we celebrate with another party with our extended family. That's a lot of parties...

Katie hates to pose for pictures and, as you can tell, I love to take them. I am pinching her leg to smile for the camera. I am not going to all this work and not be rewarded with my photo -ops.

We are eating pizza, then cupcakes and then we are off to Build-A-Bear. That is where the real fun begins. Maddy is the oldest one attending, but she is a great helper.

Bella is having the time of her life, she doesn't know yet that her birthday does not fall into 30 day celebration.

Quincy came to celebrate her birthday and keep Bella company.

Nobody can take a bite of ANYTHING until Katie does. She loves her birthday because we have a rule at our house that whoever is the birthday girl (or boy) gets to be boss for the whole day. Well, this party isn't even on Katie's real birthday, but she is preparing her Hitler tactics.

Rachel and Lydia Walker - check out those blue eyes... We love the Walker's, our eternal friends.

Ok, here are all the March 23rd birthday girls. (L-R) Anna Nelson, Quincy Peterson, Katie Bug, and Rachel Pierce.

How cool of a mom am I? Build-a-Bear Birthday. You're welcome, Katie

It is very hard for Katie to be the center of attention, but she had a great time and participated in all the fun activities.

Hey, who's that big guy in the back?

Dang, I love this kid.

Aren't they so cute? The funniest thing was to watch Bella, she took everything so seriously. I have a feeling she will be asking for a B-a-B party in November...

Katie, surprisingly, picked a bear instead of a monkey and named him Kingston, after her second cousin.

The whole store sang Happy Birthday to Katie and, as her mama, I was the only one who knew how much she hated it!

Here's the gang with their goods and ready to go home. (Well, not really, they all BEGGED for a sleep over on the way home, but I was tired!)

And so was Katie. Happy early birthday, baby. I love you.

My Thoughts On Vomit

I used to have a great fear of vomit. I mean it, it was right up there with wolf spiders and scary noises in the night. To cure that fear I was blessed with two children who vomit and do not stop. I keep a barf bowl under my bed and my home is always stocked with the needed supplies - saltines, 7-Up, popsicles, you name it... But for Bella that is never enough. She has a childhood condition called Ketotic Hypoglycemia (google it, I won't be able to accurately describe it). Basically her body does not store sugar, so in times of fasting, ie. barfing, she becomes very ill and always ends up lodging at Hotel St. Lukes. Katie Bug used to be a good little throw-upper, but last time she was sick she stayed over night at the hospital with very similar symptoms to Bella's. When Katie woke me the other night complaining of a stomach ache, I almost cried. (Now, remember I am still very sick myself with some alien virus similar to influenza, therefore I have totally over medicated myself with Benadryl and Thera-Flu) But I did what any good mom would do and made her a bed and the floor and pulled out the barf bowl.
This is Katie on Day #2. She has been throwing up for about 36 hours. I've had it. I hate to see my babies this sick, so I put a call in to the Doc. and with our history, he says to go to the ER. Katie is so glad to be going to the hospital because she knows she will feel better, I just hope I can drive without crashing due to lack of sleep....
Ah... Relief. We are in a room and the Dr. is going to give us some magic drugs to stop the vomiting. (After they collected my $100.00 co-pay...) This is a picture of me happy at the hospital.

This is a picture of Katie not happy at the hospital because the anti-nausea pill isn't working yet.

Yeah!! The medicine worked and I have to catch the moment on camera for my blog. My fear of vomit is now gone. Throw up all you want, I know what to do - just TRY to make it in the bowl.

Katie, you are a tough girl and I love to take care of you. I am proud of your strength and obedience to the Dr.'s orders. Now, go wash your hands while I disinfect the whole house...

Blankie

For anyone who doesn't know the story of Katie and her blankie, it goes like this: When Katie was about 4 months old she cried ALL the time (since birth). One night she was sleeping in bed with Pat and I when I noticed she was pinching and rubbing our new Jersey Knit sheets on her face and nose. It seemed to give her great comfort. The next night I decided an experiment and put her in her crib with the sheet laid flat under her. It has been true love ever since! For quite a while everywhere Katie went, so did the queen size sheet, but after 9 years all that is left is about 30 fragments that she still is very attached to. She loves to chew on it and then stick it up her nose. She is always trying to find ways to do this hands free. As you can see, this is her latest and greatest idea.
I especially love the circle of spit. Believe me, she is the only one who likes the smell of her blanket.

Katie treats her blankie as an extra appendage, so it always strikes me funny that we never really give it that much notice. She has no embarrassment about having it in front of friends and family and the only reason she doesn't take it to school is she is afraid it will get lost.

My Second Baby

Oh, my Katie Bug... She really hasn't changed all that much! Notice she still has that blankie (it just isn't stuffed up her nose in this picture). This girl makes me laugh like no other and she was born with a spirit that cannot be broken - I wouldn't have her any other way.