My Girls have grown and their taste in clothing is a different as their hair colors. I was shocked beyond belief today when we went shopping for dresses for the Father and Daughter dance. All three girls picked the exact same dress and they were all excited to be matching! I quickly paid and left the store before they had second thoughts.

Inside I was anxiously awaiting seeing all three of them in the matching dresses. The way the three of them looked was adorable and as expected I did have some heart melt.

She is determined to do a good job and is excited to be learning again.

You can see the tooth dangling in this photo.

And here is her most adorable grin with the tooth missing. I think I like this look much better.

Finally they are coming around to having me fix their hair in the mornings. This morning they asked me to do some braids and pony tails. It isn’t much but I welcome their desires. (On a side note: I can’t do fancy schmancy hair styles anyhow so pony tails and braids work for me.)

This morning I had to sit on my hands when I saw Mimi. Kimberly had done her hair for her and they were both so proud of it. Kimberly had pulled it back in a simple pony tail at the base of Mimi’s neck and had put a headband around her head to secure the extra little hairs. It was a cute hairstyle and wonderful that the two of them had worked together on the hair, but I would have loved to have been able to comb through it once and put it back. So many lumps and bumps in the pony tail.

It is nice to see them finally more concerned about the appearance of their hair.

Mimi and Emma were on a team to spend $50 and buy gifts for a boy and a girl. They were such good shoppers. Here they are checking the prices.

I just love the part that Girl Scouts plays in our family.

We all have a couple from our childhood that we look back on and wonder, “wow, really?!?” Now they offer all kinds of photographs and different angles but I just go with the standard photo so that I can get a good gauge of how they are growing and changing each year.

Paul’s Preschool Photo

Madeline’s First Grade Photo

Kimberly’s Second Grade Photo

Annie’s Second Grade Photo

I love how cute they all are. I explained retakes to Annie but she didn’t want to have her photo redone because her earring was so shiny. Crazy girl. Now we know that one day she has a picture to look back on and wonder, “wow, really?!?”

I thought it was so cute that Mimi and Paul picked matching pajamas when we were out shopping. That night they chose to put on the same ones. So cute!

P.S. That was twins in a Danny Devito/Arnold Schwarzenegger kind of way.

She hopes to have the other one out by Christmas and to have no front teeth.

She is super cute without the tooth in her mouth. She has a slight lisp which is adorable.

It was a brisk day up there so we all wore long pants and brought sweatshirts.

We picked perfect pumpkins.

Pretended to drive tractors.

Pet animals in the petting zoo.

Took a hay ride and ate kettle corn.

Found our way through the corn maze.

Took pictures next to the cut outs.

Measured ourselves.

Paul was the only still young enough to ride the mini tractors.

Annie and Kimberly were even brave enough to dance on stage!

We waited patiently for a train ride.

And had some delicious apples!

Perfect day. Perfect weather. Perfect family.

Because I am an adoptive parent and have read plenty of adoption parenting books this behavior presents itself just like an attachment issue. How can Mimi have an attachment issue? I have been with her her entire life. I have spent countless hours holding her. I would wager that I have held her more than any other of my children because of her medical history. There really isn’t anything do in a hospital room but hold the sick child. So it can’t really be an attachment issue, can it?

It comes and goes and right now it is here. She needs physical contact and direct interaction. How does a Momma of 4 little ones get this amount of time in with one little lady? I juggle it all. The others have never needed this much attention and they don’t seem to be upset when Mimi gets it. Maybe they too understand on some level that the only way to get back to our nice sweet Mimi is for Mom to spend time on this.

I try to have her sit on my lap, or do a project with me. When she is needy it makes it even more challenging because she doesn’t behave like someone you really want to hang out with. But I know she needs it so I push through.

Each time we go through a cycle like this I wonder if it will be the last time. I hope and pray that someday Mimi will not need to seek outside love or approval to feel good. I cannot imagine the bad choices that feeling like this later in life could create when you no longer can go curl up on your Mom’s lap.

Attachment Issue? Love Language? Whatever it is Mimi needs it so we are working diligently on filling her love tank.

When I count up the bad days in my life this day is in the top three. Mimi could have died. She could have had far more brain damage and never woken up. I could have lost her.

I have spent the last 1,825 days never forgetting the fragility of life and enjoying every day with Madeline (and her siblings) as though it could be our last.

Today I stand in awe of every moment that almost wasn’t.

“I don’t know Mimi.” ~ Mommy as her heart is breaking with the knowledge of all Mimi has had to endure in her lifetime.

“I don’t like it” ~ Mimi

“Me either.” ~ Mommy

This morning Madeline had to go to the dentist to have the tooth she previously had a cavity in extracted due to an abscess. Bill tends to have more dental problems and I am assuming Madeline inherited some of his teeth genes. It doesn’t make sense how she can have so many dental issues. Not to her or me.

Mimi started getting nervous once she had to climb up in the dentist chair. As you may remember reading I feel very confident that children need to learn to control their emotions and the dentist is a perfectly stressful situation to really work on that skill. We had discussed it on the ride in and she was ready to calm herself. Several tears streamed down her cheeks as they were laying her back but she only winced a little when they did her shot and felt uncomfortable when they extracted the tooth.

Driving away we were both relieved to have it over. Tears streamed down my cheeks as we were leaving. It is so amazing to me how strong Madeline is. She seems to have some sort of super power to be able to handle anything. She impresses me with her strength.

Typically I am not a rewards based parent but seeing her act so mature and so brave I couldn’t help but take her to get a new game for her DS.

She is now relaxing watching Monsters vs. Aliens cuddled up with her BOB stuffie.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great having a pool in your own backyard. You can act on a passing desire to go swimming and we control the chemical balances, keeping it nice and gentle on the eyes. On the other hand, you miss out on the melting pot that is the public pool. I think it’s important to get to one at least once a swim season.

We take them down to the school the next day and get them settled into their classes. Since we now have two second graders and one first grader there really isn’t any clinging and everyone goes happily off to their classes.

Once Bill and I get home we create their first day cakes. This year we colored them with each girls favorite color. Kimmie’s was purple.

Annie’s was pink.

Madeline’s was yellow.

When the Girls arrive home from school we have the cakes set out and we sing “Happy First Day to You”. We replace the words birthday with first day and sing it to the tune of Happy Birthday. The kids make a wish for the school year and they blow out their candle.

This year I borrowed an idea from a friend and did a Girls Night out for the kids in each class. On Friday night we hosted girls from Annie and Kimberly’s 2nd grade class. It was so nice and easy to do, we served pizza, fruit, veggies and homemade cookies. The girls swam and screamed and bonded. We did the same thing for Madeline’s 1st grade class the following night. The kids had such a wonderful time I know we will continue this tradition.

The school year is off and running. Paul and I are at home adjusting to the quiet. (Paul doesn’t start preschool until the end of the month.) I know the kids are going to grow and change so much this year, just like every other year. So many memories will be created and cherished.

Hard to believe we have two 2nd graders and one 1st grader now! The years certainly are flying by.

Today I helped each of them sew a sock monkey from socks. I HATE hand sewing so the fact that I got through both of them is a true testiment to how much I love those ladies. I can’t say I would hand sew that much for anyone else, except Annie or Paul, and thankfully they didn’t want a sock monkey.

Just look at the happiness they exude with their new stuffies.

Madeline with Candy Corn. Yes, Candy Corn has a belly button. Get it! Madeline thinks she is so clever insisting that her monkey have a belly button that is a real button.

Kimberly with Rosie, which I suggested many times should be named after me considering I did all the handsewing on her. Kimberly wasn’t big on the idea.

She found a heart button in my button stash and wanted to use it for Rosie’s nose. Cute idea, even though I thought it should be sewn to the chest. Again, we disagreed. Since it is her sock monkey and I was just the manual labor putting the thing together stitch by stitch* we went with her ideas.

*It should be clearby now how many stitches were done by hand and how each one pained me more than the last. Next time Kimberly or Madeline suggest that I “never” do anything for them I am going to bring these monkeys out and have them count the stitches.

With all that said about how much I can’t stand hand sewing the girls really do adore their sock monkeys and I loved spending the time with them. They read the directions to me and I worked my fingers to the bone. Yes, I love them that much!

I took that time to drop my own coin in the fountain with a special wish for each girl. My wishes and hopes revolved around a successful school year for them. I wonder what their wishes were for.

Madeline has sensory issues and finding shoes that she likes the feeling of is often very difficult. Last year it took the patience of a saint to get her to find a pair of shoes and I anticipated the same today. However, since I have become adept at what she is able to handle I had a good idea of the style and type of shoe she preferred. At the first store I got out a pair of shoes and to both of our surprise they were PERFECT!

Having gotten her shoes out of the way in record time we had plenty of time to mill around the mall. Of course we had to stop in at Hallmark and listen to the Hoops and YoYo cards, which Madeline calls Funny Bunny cards because they are so funny.

On our drive to the mall I told her that I had seen some clip on earrings at Claire’s when I was there the day before with Kimmie. She was excited to see these and try them on. Again, to my surprise, these didn’t trigger her sensory issues so she bought three pairs.

While looking for hair clips at Claire’s we found some fake hair and tried it on Mimi. Her hair was so full and long. Odd to see her with so much hair. Just check out the reflection of the back of her hair.

We went to a couple of stores looking for a perfect outfit but she didn’t find anything she wanted. I told her I had some Kohl’s cash and if we went to Kohl’s we could get her outfit for free. This child loves a bargain so she decided that we should leave the mall and head off to Kohl’s.

We made a pit stop at Chick-a-fil for lunch and she even got a yellow balloon. Bill surprised her at lunch and came to join us.

At Kohl’s we found an outfit that Mimi adored. I am not the biggest fan of the outfit but she thinks it is wonderful so that is what matters.

Remember how I said Annie is so much like Bill, well, for as much as Annie is like Bill Mimi is like me. Bill often complains that I don’t show much emotion. That when he gives me a big surprise I just thank him nicely and don’t go gaga. Well, Mimi is the exact same way. I know she had a wonderful day, but she wasn’t giddy like Annie was. I found myself wondering if she was truly having a fun time. It was the first time I really understood Bill’s complaint. Certainly something to think on.

Because of Madeline’s health issues we have spent a lot of time one on one. Even though she doesn’t verbalize a lot it is easy for me to know what she wants or how she is feeling. Spending this time with her was nice. We had a fun time hanging out and finding the right things for her to get her ready for first grade.