The Second First Day of School

The girl had her second first day of school the same time as the baby, but being the forgotten middle child, she gets a separate posting just for her.

She graduated from Maternal last November at a fun program and ceremony at a the Monica theme park. "Turma da Monica" is a very popular cartoon in Brazil (it reminds me of Family Circus) and has their own mini theme park inside a local mall.

The owner and administrators of the school talked about the success of the year. Below are the owner (can't remember her name), assistant principal - Simone, and principal Carla (also daughter of the owner). The school has classes up to the equivalent of Kindergarten.

Then each class did a few dance performances. The girl is all the way to the right in this picture and although she looks less than enthusiastic, she did much better than the last time she was supposed to dance (festa junina, another post for another day) because she didn't cry, actually moved and looked up every once in a while. Her teacher, Adriana (Tia Dri), is on the left.

Here is the girl actually dancing...

At the end, everyone got on stage and sang Christmas songs.

Then there was a stage show with the characters from Monica. It was quite entertaining.

We were served lunch and the kids were treated to a visit from Santa and a gift.

Then came the fun of the amusement park. Oh, side note on the shirt... it is another children's show "Castelo Ra-Tim-Bum" the latter part which is pronounced "Hah-cheen-boon" and is totally cute when the girl asks if she can wear her "ha-chee-boo" shirt.

The kids really enjoyed the construction site with hard hats and foam bricks

This is a arm powered bicycle ride that she totally loved. Part of the requested costume was lots of colored hair thingies. Instead of lots of little piggy tails she suggested we use all her colored barrettes. I think it turned out great.

So, with last year all done, the girl was counting down the days until she could go back to school again. She actually asked if she could go to school many times during her vacation. But when the day came, she was a little less than energetic.

Her favorite school uniform accessories are her "Moranguinho" socks and black boots. Everyone makes a statement in their own way.

She did a great job posing for the obligatory front door shot.

Not so sure what happened when she got on the bus, but she is certainly entertaining.

And a really good faker. She was happy to return to school. And even found a few friends in her class again from last year. She is one happy little go back to school girl.

Baby's First Day of School

Two days before my baby's third birthday, I sent her off to school for the first time. She began at the same Brazilian pre-school that her sister was in last year, interestingly, she is in the same class with the same teacher the girl had last year (the Brazilian school calendar is Feb - Nov). The girl learned Portuguese so well that we couldn't pass up the chance to give the baby the same opportunity, since she seemed to have forgotten all she knew over our vacation. She is much more social and was totally excited when we went to visit the school before Christmas. Thanks to new-best-friend-Serena, we already had a uniform for her, so we got her up and ready (along with her siblings) for the 7am bus pick-up.

Here she is getting one last snuggle with her bankie and baby...


She seems excited and all ready to go. She really liked having a backpack and lunch box.

Here are the others being supportive.

She even opened the elevator door for everyone.

She was so excited that her cute pose on the steps of the bus didn't last long enough for me to take the picture.

Here is a helpful big brother giving her toys from the onboard toybox for her to play with.

Now everyone is ready to go. Hopefully the baby will learn how to correctly hold a book at her new school.

Baby returned very happy with interesting things to report and also very tired.

She continues to like school, and is quickly remembering the language, but some days we have a bit of trouble getting her to wear her uniform instead of a pretty princess dress.

Pack Rat

Last night I went to put my baby in her bed and in the process, she tried hiding under her pillow. She wasn't the only thing under there, though. I found a book of her sister's that they had been fighting over earlier, Bionicle instructions of her brother (probably swiped off the table amid a cacaphony of screaming and run to her room) and the outsides of an Oreo-like cookie.

This little girl just cracks me up!

What will we find tonight?

Look! I'm famous!

I was quoted on someone else's blog!

http://danimillecam.blogspot.com/2009/02/celebrity-boyfriends.html

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday, My Boy! (part II)

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My sweet boy turned 7 yesterday.

Seven years ago I had my first baby. We were very excited to start a new chapter in our life. This baby (codenamed Bud) was due on the 4th of March 2002. The pregnancy was completely unremarkable. We had a few ultrasounds and found out that we were having a boy. The day before I went to the hospital I worked a full day at JoAnns and even surprised a few people by telling them I was pregnant who didn’t believe me. I’m pretty sure I was offended. Just what exactly did that mean?

Early one Sunday morning (Feb 10th) we got sure signs that Bud wanted out early.
 
OK. We can do this.  

Call the doctor (5am on Sunday, I admit I hesitated), get ourselves and stuff together, put the puppy in her room and drive to the hospital. We did our check-in and preliminary exams and this three-week-early baby was estimated to be just over six pounds. It soon became apparent that even though signs said that the time had come, Bud had changed his mind. There was no progress after doing laps in the hall, so I was hooked up to petocin (never really learned how to spell that, so forgive me). I survived eight hours of “labor” with minimal change before asking for the beloved epidural.  

MMmmm. Epidural. 

The next 24 hours were jam-packed with fun. Here goes the short version:
 
No progess = more petocin 

More petocin = baby’s heart rate down
 
Rest and repeat. 

Oh no! Another bottle of happy epidural juice ran out!
 
Anesthesiologist busy with an emergency! What am I? Chopped liver? 

Plan for c-section, get prepped, get daddy dressed.
 
You’re still not numb? With all that medicine? 

Better do this fast! Leave dad out in the hall.
 
Knock mommy out. Baby is stuck! Get the vacuum. 

It’s a boy! He’s bigger than we expected (8lbs 12oz)!!
 
Baby is not breathing. Rush him to the NICU!
  Let daddy see mommy. Let mommy see baby.
 
Daddy gives video updates of Bud to mommy.
    Mommy recovers. Baby is breathing on his own and is eating without a tube.

Everyone goes home.

Aaahhh. Blissful new parenthood with grandma in town.

The boy was such a sweet baby and really enjoyed being held. He didn’t like sleeping on his back at all. I tried using the recommended methods of swaddling and such, but is favorite place to sleep was on the floor next to my bed in his car seat which was propped up in a laundry basket so I could hold his plug in while we both went back to sleep after the nighttime feedings. Finally after a few months I put him on his belly and he began sleeping through the night.
 

He loved attention, especially from mommy. The poor puppy was jealous, but she eventually warmed up and started dropping her tennis ball in front of his bouncy chair.
 

On his first Christmas he was given a set of balls, scattered around under the tree. Daddy and I had bets on what he would be interested in first. We put him down in the doorway of the room and he crawled straight for the mini-baseball. Daddy was so proud.

He went on a trip with daddy to see the grandparents on his first birthday and left mommy at home. When he got back and I reached for him, he turned around and held daddy with a death grip. Daddy liked that. 

He used to sit on the couch watching his shows with me while holding my hand and feeling the skin between my thumb and pointer finger. 

He went thorough obsessions with Jay-Jay, Thomas, Blue, Dora, and Diego until daddy introduced him to Star Wars and it has been jedis, storm troopers and droids ever since.

He is possessive of his things, even his sisters.

He is quite creative when explaining or describing something.

He loves to sing and can catch a tune very quickly.

My boy has evolved from cars to trains to airplanes to spaceships.

He doesn’t even like the sight of beans or vegetables.

He was so happy when he could stand up in the pool.

He loves Bionicles.

He LOVES legos.

He likes to have money. Coins are best. That paper stuff can’t be worth much.

He heats up when he gets tired and always sweats when he is sleeping.

Mommy and daddy agreed on his name even before they were married.

He has a current obsession with nature and letting all the bugs to free.

He loves the lego Star Wars and Indiana Jones Video Games.

Until he was two my boy used a plug (pacifier). His favorite one had a basketball on it.

He loves cheese noodles (mac n cheese), but only from a box.

He got his first passport when he was a year old.

He loves hugging and cuddling.

He loves Star Wars legos.

Legoland is his happiest place on Earth.


He could eat rice for every meal and be quite content.

He has a new favorite toy called gogos.

My boy can make a game out of anything, but watch out for the rules to change spontaneously.

He plays well with his sisters and really loves them.

He wasn’t interested in coloring or drawing until he went to pre-school.

My boy now loves to draw and write notes to people.

He likes to eat cookies and chocolate and milk.

He loves playing in the snow.

He likes to find patterns with numbers and says math is so easy. *aww*

When he was six months old he wouldn’t even put his feet down on the sand on the beach. Now he is boogie-boarding in the waves and building roads in the sand. 

He loves looking at ‘old’ pictures.

For his 100th day of school he was assigned to bring in a collection of 100 things. He took a collage of 100 pictures of him.


When he was sick he said his “cough spilled.”

He has a goal of one day having enough legos to fill a swimming pool, and then getting in.
 
When he was four, he wanted a “favorite color number four birthday cake.” He got it. 
 
He current favorite color is orange and his favorite shape has always been a circle.
 
He likes to display his favorite toys and collections in random places through the house. 

He is pale and burns very easily like his mommy.
 
He has never-ending energy like his daddy. 

He is very good at puzzles like his baby sister.
 
He says very thoughtful nighttime prayers like his other sister. 

I am happy to have my sweet boy and see him grow and learn and be in my family for the past seven years. 

Happy birthday, sweet boy.

.


 

Happy Birthday, My Boy!

So, I did a great job posting for baby's birthday. The boy's… not so much. I did get my "mommy tag" done on Facebook so I am using that as some preliminary information until I get my act together and come up with a list of endearing characteristics and adorable pictures of my first-born.

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Woo-hoo! Finally.

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? Absolutely not

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 26

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Home pregnancy test

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? My sweetie, then flew to AZ for the day to tell our parents at dinner

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? We got to have super-duper ultrasounds so we found out, then confirmed it, but daddy didn't believe it until he could verify with his own eyes.

9. DUE DATE? March 4 2002

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? None at all (wipe forehead in great relief)

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Ice

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? People who were surprised to find out that I was pregnant- including the day before I went into the hospital. Was I really that fat normally?

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? Boy

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? No. I wanted six of them. Past tense.

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 45 pounds? I've blocked that part out.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew and all my favorite PA people were there.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? Pregnancy was a breeze. Labor, not so much and then he was in the NICU for three days.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem (we went to church in Nazareth)

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? about 32

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? My sweetie

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Only the OR doctors, not even me.

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? Emergency C-section

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? After 8 hours of petocin I just couldn't handle it anymore.

27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 8lbs. 12 oz. Doctors estimated 6lbs 5oz.

28. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? Feb 11 2002

30. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? We knew from very early on in our relationship that our first son would be named Eric Robert.

31. WAS HE/SHE NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Robert is his daddy's name and Eric is daddy's best friend.

31. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 7 years today. Happy Birthday, sweet boy.

I hate scales.

So, I have had goals and I have been doing very well with these goals. I am proud of myself. But I am also very frustrated.

I know a lot of you will have no sympathy for me in my first goal. My goal is to get up every morning around 6:15 and get all the kids ready to get on the bus at 7am. I have a person that can do this for me with no questions asked. And absolutely no guilt on my part (no matter how hard my sweetie tries). I stay up too late and then sleep in to make up for it. This is no more. I have been getting up and not going back to bed (except once) but going straight from the bus to my exercise machine (part of the second goal below). I am proud of this. But frustrated, too. I am still tired even though I am going to bed earlier, but I really do need 10 hours of sleep to feel refreshed, or maybe just those three hours between 6 and 9. Maybe it is because my kids have forgotten how to sleep through the night. I am frustrated with this.

My exercise machine is my friend (although I haven't named her yet). It is an elliptical machine (Lippy sounds good, eh?). I really like using it, especially when I am watching a movie on my computer to distract me. I've been mostly faithful in this and also have been playing tennis for an hour in the scorching sun (if it isn't pouring rain) sometimes twice a week. I've been trying to eat less, cutting out the snacks that I really don't enjoy (I spit out a chocolate soccer ball this morning and passed on the last piece of my baby's birthday cake). This has had a mostly negative (not in a good way) effect. I weighed myself on Sunday (down 1.2 from the previous week, thank you Wii Fit) and then again on Thursday. I had GAINED 2.4 pounds!!! I weighed myself again yesterday and I was back down those 2.4 pounds (wipe forehead with relief) but then weighed myself AFTER TENNIS today and was back up those 2.4 pounds (strangle the Wiimote). Those 2.4 pounds are driving me crazy. I am really frustrated with this.

I am hoping that I can persevere through these tough pounds and sleepiness and continue working on and achieving these goals, but right now I just want to pound that unopened mini milk carton of peanut butter Whoppers hidden in my underwear drawer and sleep for the next week.

Movie Tag

SUPPOSEDLY if you've seen over 94 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. Copy this list, go to your own blog, paste this as a post. Then, put x's next to the films you've seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun.¶

( ) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
( ) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
(x) The Princess Bride
(x) Anchorman
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
(x) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
( ) Harry Potter 1
( ) Harry Potter 2
( ) Harry Potter 3
( ) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
( ) Lilo & Stitch
(x) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
(x) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
(x) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
( ) Robots
(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(x) Universal Soldier
( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
( ) KING KONG
( ) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
(x) Flubber --the original one and Son of Flubber
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
(x) I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards
(x) The Whole Ten Yards
(x) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
(x) Just Married
( ) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
(x) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
(x) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(x) Curious George
(x) Independence Day
(x) Cujo
(x)A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
(x) My Boss's Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She's All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks “ack-ack!”
(x) Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
(x) The Terminator 3
( ) X-Men
( ) X-2
( ) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday (original –I love Jodie Foster in braces...)
( ) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
( ) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
(x)The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
(x) The Notebook
(x) K-Pax
(x) Krippendorf's Tribe (unfortunately)
(x) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(x) The 40-year-old Virgin
( ) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
( ) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
( ) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
( ) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
( ) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
( ) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
( ) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
(x) Waterworld
( ) Kill Bill vol 1
( ) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
(x) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
() Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
() Ewoks The Battle For Endor
(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal

Total 100. I don’t know who came up with this list, but most of it seems like garbage. Where are more of the classics like Back to the Future or the GOOD Disney movies? And what is with the focus on the horror or scare the everluvin *&#(* out of me? I will freely admit that I am a movie addict, but this list does not do anything for me. OK, so I have seen 100 of them, but I can think of 100 movies not on this list that were better than most of these.

That is a blog for another day.

Babyzinha

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Today my baby turns 3.

At 10:44am EST (about).

Three years ago, right now, I was sitting in a hospital on a Saturday morning signing a form to say that I was intentionally going against the recommendations of my doctor. I had exciting things happen with every pregnancy, each building on the problems of the previous ones. This time, in addition to not being allowed to go into labor on my own (thanks #1) and having elevated whateverthathormonewas (thanks #2) I had a condition where my liver was not behaving properly and was allowing toxins to build up in my body. My favorite term for it was "Itchy Mom". Among other things (including incessant itching) bile acids were building in my blood and consequently could be transferred to the baby. This made me quite worried. I could potentially harm my baby and with a higher risk after week 36 I could end up having a still birth.

Three years ago today was Day 1 of week 36.

I had an amneosenesis to determine the baby's lung maturity. I was shopping in Kohls for bargains when I received the call that the test results came back as not quite ready. I had already scheduled my c-section (thanks #1) as early as they would let me (coincidentally 02-04-06) and they were telling me to wait over the weekend (three whole days!!!) and have the baby on Tuesday. I politely told the nurse that I would have to call back, hung up and left the cart, kids and grandma in the store. I cried all the way to my van and through a pleading prayer before I received a reassurance that everything would be ok if I went forward as planned. I calmly called back and told the nurse that I would not change my delivery date (hello? did you see those cool numbers?) because I would rather have a baby in the NICU than none at all. I know that in the NICU (thanks again, #1) there is individual attention and very competent doctors to take care of my baby. She said I'd have to sign a release form and I agreed.

That was Thursday.
Notice the dramatic hand on forehead, even in utero she was a drama queen.

Saturday morning we were bumped from 8am to 9, then 10am delivery. We sat and talked, took pictures, of course signed the form, discussed baby names (we didn't know girl or boy) and waited for our time to come. I was prepped, my sweetie got dressed and about two minutes after he came in, baby #3 entered the world. All fat and purple and puffy with tons of red hair.

It was a girl!!!


We posed for a picture (sortof) and sent her off to the NICU because, as predicted, she wasn't breathing quite right. She was put on a machine to help her lungs stay inflated and recovered quickly and fully. No one can doubt her lung strength these days.


I got to visit her a few times before being able to hold her, but she seemed content. She was no longer attached to anything when I went to see her 24 hours later. She was a great eater (still is to this day) so they moved her to the regular nursery, but not before they demanded that we give her a name. The evening of day 2 she got her name. We wanted to name her Amber, but "we named the dog" Amber.


I love her name.


She developed a bit of jaundice and lost a lot of weight, resulting in too may trips to the hospital and pricks in the heel. Poor baby. She seemed to enjoy the sunbathing, though, under the watchful eye of her very curious sister.


She was a sweet baby, not too fussy and quite tolerant of her siblings (this has changed a bit, the tolerant part).



Her brother used to hold her and then give her back when she got fussy. I remember once when she was quite content sitting on his lap and he said "Mom, she is taking too long to cry."

As she has gotten older I can see a lot of each of her siblings (and parents) in her.

She loves a hug and a cuddle, but on her own terms.

She takes things just to make her siblings mad, but gives them back nicely two seconds later.

She loves her baby and her bankie.

She sucks her thumb AND finger together.

She adamantly refused to drink milk from a bottle, but wouldn't drink juice any other way.


She loves cookies and chocolate and milk.


She loves going places. Anywhere.

She started pre-school on Monday.

She has beautiful red, curly hair that forms ringlets at the beach and relaxes in Arizona.

I love her hair.

She loves to wear "princesses." This is her code name for dresses.

She loves to dance and sing.

She is fearless and curious, not so safe a combination.

She loves the beach and sand, but hates the water.

She can take a bath or shower for hours, singing and playing.

She loves stickers and will sniff them out and put them anywhere.

She has had two concussions and nine stitches.


She turns tennis rackets into guitars.

She loves to pretend she is a cat or a dog.


She loves the park and nature.

She loves princesses (not just their dresses).

She likes to hold the edge of the swimming pool without a floatie.

She loves having her picture taken and pulls a cheesy, yet acceptable smile.

She loves brownies, candy bars and chocolate chips.

She holds her arms out gracefully while putting on a "princess" and slowly tilts her head from side to side depending on how long it takes mommy to button and tie.

She loves to empty her (and her sister's) school backpack multiple times a day.

Have I mentioned her love of chocolate?

This is one of the brigadeiro cupcakes I made for her birthday.

She loves sleeping like her mommy.

She loves waking up early like her daddy.

She likes pink like her sister.

She likes cars like her brother.

We all love her.

She loves everyone.

I am very happy to have her as part of our family, as my daughter, as my baby, which she will be forever (or at least until I can find another anonymous online name for her).

Happy 3rd birthday, baby.

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*additional note* I started posting this at 8am Sao Paulo time which is currently 3 hours ahead of EST. I had the text of the posting done by 9am, but it took me all day (minus a few adventures and a birthday party) to add pictures then re-format and finally get it posted. I may just be switching back to livejournal if this is how it goes. Any tips on how to insert pictures without messing up formatting would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you and goodnight. (10:12pm, here)

My little secret

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I have been living a double life. I have been making life difficult for others for my own selfish reasons. I would like to apologize for the inconveniences I caused and ask for your forgiveness. I feel that we can get past this hurdle together and all come out better people in the end.


I have a blogspot blog. There, I said it. I gave in to peer pressure and did it. I didn't feel good about it, it was uncomfortable and awkward. I was ashamed at first, but now have come to grips with it and admit it. (of course you know all this if you are here reading, but as I said, I am still trying to feel normal agian)

For those of you who can find it in your heart to forgive me, you can find the blog at www.myflyingprincess.blogspot.com. Please continue to have patience with me as I am still adjusting to this new reality. I am truly apologetic for the deception and hope we can still be friends.


Thank you for your continued support.

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