A Man's Love

I have heard many times that there are women who get jealous of their "daughter" taking too much attention away from the husband/dad. I never really got that. I just don't quite understand how jealousy could make its way into that kind of interaction.

Tonight Kimani and Naomi were just falling in love. They stayed comfortably in cloud nine as she babbled to her daddy and he showered her with kisses. It was so beautiful it moved me. I was in heaven too, but in a different way. I was so glad to see them bonding and connecting.

At that moment I got it. When a marriage is rocky, unstable, or a woman is unsure and vulnerable it can be easy to feel like the daughter is taking attention and maybe even 'love' away from her.

The sad part is that they are two separate relationships. Totally different and apart. Fulfilling different needs and needing different things to make them successful.

When those lines/boundaries are crossed I can then see how a woman may feel jealous of her little girl emitting so much love from her father when she, as a woman, is having difficulties in the relationship and may yearn for such responses.

As for me... I'll stand a room away for a little while longer and watch the loves of my life fall in love with each other again...and again.

Challah bread

My good friend Leah brought her awesome bread maker over and we made this delicious loaf of bread (below).

It tasted so good. I'm gonna try to make some bread without the machine and see if I have any success.

Baby or Not!

I was feeding N in her feeding chair recently, which was D's chair for the past two years. Once done eating her carrots I took her out of the chair and D squeezed himself past me and sat on it.

- "I'm a baby mommy!"
- "you are. So I have to feed you." I took a spoon of the left over carrots, began the airplane sound towards his mouth. He quickly covers his mouth. "Come on baby, time to eat."
- "no Mommy it's just pretend."

Ha ha ha!

I chased him for a bit 'trying' to feed him. So funny.

Tutu... and it's cute too!

I made this cute tutu for K and she absolutely loved it. She wore it all day...literally!

It was so easy to make. The only reason it took me a couple of hours to do is that I started right at bedtime and the kids kept interrupting me. Other than that easy peasy!

When I finished I put it on N to test it out and she looked so cute! Now I'll just use the left over tulle to make her her own.

Applebee's

Tonight we were invited to an adult birthday celebratory dinner. We were actually quite excited to go, but of course with no sitters to call upon we had the crew.

Wow! Did we turn that place upside down. Our kids had a bad case... a very bad case of cabin fever. So when I say they went wild at that restaurant it may be a little under statement.

Somehow or other Kimani and I got home full of joy having had a really good time out with the kids. Yes we did it to ourselves by giving the kids ice cream at 8pm. Yes we had them walk 20 laps (from couch to kitchen) once we got home to burn off the sugar high, but even in that we laughed the whole time. Below are the 'sane' pictures before the desserts arrived.

Fun night for sure!

Sister Love

Tonight Naomi had finally fallen asleep while at the same time Kimberlee woke up. Unfortunately, I HAD to take a shower. So Kimberlee was sitting quietly eating her cereal next to Naomi while I hurried to shower.

I get started and what do I hear, N crying on and off. i also hear K talking to her, trying to keep her quiet. I begin to really hurry and finish up my shower when I hear K say, "no N don't touch my cereal". I then jump out of the tub and peek out at the girls and I see K holding N on her lap and trying to sooth her. That touched my heart so much. N was being a true baby and tried to take K's bowl of cereal, but it was so beautiful to see how K just took it upon herself to help her sister while I was in the bathroom. That girl is a true gem of a daughter and sister.

Kimberlee's First Cake

Very many times when we go to the store with our children they add items to our final order not initially in our list. However, at a recent trip to Shop Rite Kimberlee saw this cute piggy spatula that she said she would make me a cake with.

How can I resist such cuteness? Well we finally got the chance to make the cake and she did quite well. We had a good time.

******Kimberlee you did a great job with the cake today! I'm so proud of all your enthusiasm and abilities. The cake was super delicious.

cheerleader

(this post is so old, but I thought I'd put it up anyway)

Kimberlee is the sweetest sister ever. The greatest  cheerleader. Recently she would break out into a loud round of applause when ever Daniel would sing or hum or stumble through the ABC song.  Such a supportive sister.

Egg-citing Projects

I recently ran across this lovely Egg Candle project on Pinterest and have been wanting to do it for a while to see how easy it really is to make. (Sometimes people have projects online and claim they are super easy and it turns out that they are more cumbersome than the author lets on).

Well, I got a chance to work on making the eggs and it was actually fun to do and quite easy.  I am now thinking of the next step.

I (of course) made my own adjustments. I used scented, colorful candles (not crayons). I used the wick that came inside the purchased candle for the egg I was creating.

Next time I plan to do four colors simultaneously and alternate the colors throughout for a striped look.  I may not be able to use scented candles for that as all the scents may not blend nicely together.. We will see..

Anyway here is a picture of the first two candles.  Mountain Green and Clean Linen scents.

Poopy talk

Naomi is such a sweet happy girl. Actually all our kids are happy sweet kids.

After four kids I find myself a lot more versed in the unspoken language of babble! So it is so cute to see Naomi smile when I approach her to sooth her cry and discover she has a surprise for me. I can see in her smile that she's thinking, 'yay! Mommy understood me!'

My own

I think since Kimberlee began to speak she has always said how she wanted her own things when she gets big. She is very expressive with get desires. Here is a list of things she wants when she gets big.

"When I get big I:
Want my own house"
Will have my own kids"
Will clean my own dishes"
Will drive my own car"
Will get my own makeup"
Will drink soda"
Will get my own husband"

And so on. You get the picture. Recently she came to me and said, "mommy can daddy be my husband?" I said, "no sweetly. Daddy is my husband but we are gonna ask God to lead us and get you your own husband".
"Ok. Can it be Daniel?"
"No mama, Daniel will have his own wife!"
"His own wife????!!!!!" (Almost with horror)
"And God will do that (with a bit of relief)
"Yes love"

I laughed so hard at this conversation.

Morning Announcements by Nemi

What an amazing Tuesday we have had.

It started with an amazing event.  Nehemiah was selected to read this morning announcements at his school for the entire school.

What an honor! I was so excited for him and practiced the words that he was given. We talked about what to do and what not to do.

"Ok Nemi, you have to speak loud.
"You have to make sure you say ever word.. do not mumble.
"If you get nervous, that is ok. Just read all the words and then tell Ms. Doering you are nervous."

Since I was home with the kids I was not able to be there in person and see him. Kimani recorded this video for me and when I saw it I cried so much - I was so proud of him.

Anyway, after school we all went to the movies to see Rise of the Guardians and celebrate Nemi's big day in school.

Daniel's Way

My brother came to NY again recently and we got to spend a little time on Thanksgiving. We were hanging out and I was drinking a cup of soda with some ice.  The kids had come and asked for ice and after a few cubes for each I had told them it was enough. With that they went on their way and my brother and I continued to catch up.

At one point Daniel came back and asked me for a hug.  I gave it to him.  My brother says, "oh! oh! It's coming"

Then he asked for a kiss. I gave it to him. My brother says, "get ready!"

Then Daniel says, "Can I have more ice?"  My brother says, "told you" we broke out laughing.

Did I give him the ice? Of course, even though I knew full well how he got it.

The next time he came with the same song and dance he did not get any ice, but it is good to see how his little brain is working.

Nemi's Lunches

You know how I have my monthly dinner calendar, well I just finished Nemi's lunch calendar for December. This is a first - thankfully it is a short month. We will see if I do it again or not. Wish me luck. :)

Here is the link that helped me get started, but by no means am I gonna do so many different types of lunches.  

I created five lunches one for each day of the week and then repeat them throughout the month. 

Snack Time Heartbreak

I am pretty in tuned with the time frame I have in the mornings to get the kids fed and dressed in time for Kimani to take them to school when he gets home from work. To the point that I am a bit prideful about the fact that the kids 'are never late to school because of me'.

Well..... never say never.  Today not only did I "get up" and start my duties late, but I totally forgot to place a snack in Kimberlee's backpack and Nehemiah went to school with no backpack at all [I mean you can see this was a really bad morning for me]

Fast forward a few hours and, like I do everyday, I asked Kimberlee what she had for a snack.  She begins to tell me how she did not have a snack in her backpack because when she left I was in the bathroom and I forgot and she did not get a snack.  I said, 'I know I am sorry - so what did you eat?' and her eyes opened up so big and she exclaimed. NOTHING! it was like she was saying "what do you mean. I didn't have a snack what else was I gonna eat!" the tone in her voice broke my heart in pieces.

To top it off she told me all her friends were eating their snack and she just sat there with her water.  [poor girl didn't even get milk - it was just a sad story all around] Kimani had to hold me to his chest as I cried I felt so bad. I could just imagine her sitting there looking at everyone eat.  urgh!!!  I'm gonna cry again.
_________________________________________
UPDATE: (NOV. 21, 2012)
I contacted my daughter's wonderful teacher regarding our conversation about snack time and below is the response from her.

Mary Leslie via gmail.com	1:21 PM (2 hours ago)
to datneesmith

We gave her a snack yesterday... she had a cheese stick :)  You were still PLAYED!

Datnee Smith datneesmith@gmail.com	3:34 PM (3 minutes ago)
to Mary

oh! snap...  I want my tears back. LOL that is too stinking funny. 

Nemi's birthday

Last year Nemi's birthday was quite an ordeal at the school this year.  I made for him cake pops to share with his classmates.  I even created the display box to hold the pops.  Unfortunately, not all the pops fit in the display so I had to improvise and arrange them all around.  We had so many pops even the teachers and the aides got a couple.

Once we arrived at the classroom we had to wit a few minutes for him because he was coming from his group therapy session and was not finished yet. Suddenly, we hear a commotion and it was Nemi with his aide, two other teachers and like an entourage of kids.  His aide told me that he kept inviting his friends to the 'party' as he made his way through the hallways and so they came and so did some of the teachers.  That was so sweet.

The kids in his classroom had been told that it was Nemi's birthday and when they saw us with the cake pops they got really excited and sang him the Birthday song and almost on queue music began to play everyone began to dance.  It was so much fun. At one point I was looking for Kimberlee and she was at the front of the class dancing with Nemi and his other classmates.

The best snack time celebration for Nemi ever. I am so thankful to his teachers and the kids at that school so much who love Nemi and all his ways.

Kimberlee says...

the other day Baby Naomi had been crying while I was seasoning some chicken for dinner and I asked Kimberlee to go talk to her little sister.

And suddenly I hear Kim's little feet running to her sister and she says, "Hi! I'm Kimberlee and I'm here to help you!" and she begins rocking her chair to quiet the baby down.  I laughed so hard.

Nemi and his toys

We have put away a few toys from the kids because there are too many and they are just everywhere.  Today, Nemi asked me for his teddy bears, which are a few TY toys he plays with and when I gave them to him he was so excited and this is what he said,,, with is broken speech... too cute

"oh! wow!  

"that's so exciting

"I lost you

"That's ok I apologize!!"  

Awww!!! too cute telling the toys sorry I lost you and apologizing for it. 

Baby Testing

So this past week I took a whole bunch of blood tests I should've taken earlier in the pregnancy if we'd known earlier.  LOL!  So now I am just waiting on the glucose (orange soda) test. Yum!

Life is full of Surprises!

I know it has been quite a while since I have written. It seems like once our camera went kaputs I just kind of gave up on the whole connecting thing. Now that we have a new camera, I feel like I have so much to share.

Well, the funniest story I can start with is that this very day ( Thur 4/5/2012) we found out we were pregnant with our fourth child.

Yup! we were a little shocked as well.

The kicker is that while at the doctor's office I was sent to do a sonogram to see how far along I am since I have been on the pill for the past 6 months (the ones that I thought get rid of your menstrual) and I remembered I had only missed one pill about two months ago.

When the scanner was placed on my belly a big baby face appeared. The tech said, 'Datnee, you're not a little pregnant. You are 19 weeks along.'

Yup! we were a little shocked at that too!

I've been pregnant since December. Wowsers!!!!!!

So the next question was, 'well, do you want to know what you're having?' Sure, might as well since we are just getting a boat load of news today. She searched around a bit and then said it is a girl.

What! How cool! Boy - girl - boy - girl. The exact opposite of my friend Leah. How awesome!

The news that it was a girl actually gave me a great deal of peace. I am really happy to know it is a girl.

At the end of the sonogram we called Kimani in to see the baby and told him I am almost 5 months along and his jaw dropped to the floor. We all laughed because I had warned them he would be very shocked, but I had underestimated his reaction. "How can that be? There is no way!" He said. 'Well, there is a way', the midwife told him.

Over all we are pretty excited to add another family member to our troop though we had actually decided to close up shop and be a happy family of 5. Too late for that.

We are just now in high gear to get our living situation addressed to get a better place to accommodate us all. We'll see how far we get with that. I am thinking we are in this little place one more year and then we will definitely have to move.

At first you think you have about 8 months to have a baby, but then you are told you will meet your bundle in about 4 months and things begin to melt together in your head.

Yeah! 4 months - that is a bit shocking too. Whew!!! Breath in breath out. We can do this.

- - -

As for me I really had no idea I was pregnant. My body was a little sore here and there, but dealing with kids on a daily basis it is easy to ignore that as everyday activity. I had no nausea, no body weight changes - everything still fits, my eating habits have not changed, nothing out of the ordinary at all. I had recently had two blood tests and I assumed if I was pregnant my PCP would have mentioned something from those tests. Well, I guess he did not check for that.

For whatever reason, recently when Kimani got home I was compelled, no driven - literally- to go to the store to get the test. I was not even sure why I was taking the test. It seemed like a bit of a waste of money since I expected a negative result. As a matter of fact, the next morning when I took the test I forgot all about it and it was hours later when I went back to check the results.

And surprise!!!! Two lines.