Nine

Nine
Andrew's birthday letter 9



Andrew,

You have turned nine years old. I feel like the next time I blink you will be as old as I am. This has been an extremely tough year for you. You have had to deal with bullies at school and the most insane amount of homework that I have seen placed upon a 3rd grader.

I have questioned my ability to parent you on a daily basis. Sometimes I feel like I am failing you. It seems like there are all these things I should be saying and doing to nature and love you better but I can't seem to get it right. Mostly I feel like I am out of my league and so not equipped to parent a little man. That's what you are now, a little man.

You have become an independent thinker who feels more then I ever felt at nine. You're a leader and nothing close to being a follower. For nine you are way beyond your years.

I hope that I am doing things right. I love you so much that it literally hurts at times. Every time I pick you up from school and you are sad from something that happened during the day it breaks my hurt. I hate to see you sad. I think it is going to have to be a feeling that I will have to live with. Growing up is a messy affair filled with all of sorts of moments of happiness and sadness.

I have realized this year that I cannot protect you from the world. I naively thought that I could shield you from all things ugly but it's proved impossible. No matter how hard I try you will get hurt.

I have also learned that you are resilient and strong. You are one tough little guy. I have had to let go of you a little bit to let you be that person that you are going to become. You have realized this year that I am flawed. I have fallen from the mommy pedestal you once held me on. That's been hard for me but it needed to happen. It's all part of growing up. It is fun seeing your personality shift and shape. I think you're fantastic. I am proud of the boy your becoming! I am looking forward to seeing what this year holds for you.

Love,

Mom

Pictures through the years:

8 months old

First Halloween

Andrew 13 months old, We have the same facial expressions

Andrew, 2 years old

3 years old

age 4

First time you rode a two wheeler

First day of kindergarten age 5

With your oldest friends and brother

Age 6

Age 7

Age 8

Age 9

Banana bread

Since we had a couple of nasty looking bananas I decided to have the kids help me cook up some bread. WE killed a couple of hours and Jake and Amelia really enjoyed helping me bake!

The fine art of thrifting

My friend Nicole clued me in to the most awesome thrift store. We took a trip there last week. I managed to find some great stuff. I would have gotten more but Amelia and Lehlahnia decided to wheel two big plastic trucks around the store while crawling around on there hands in knees getting in everyone’s way. You would be amazed over just how annoyed people get at little people getting in their way when they are trying to score some bargains. I have to admit that I too am a little psychotic when I go thrifting. I have a system and it really bothers me when people disrupt it! I like to go through the racks from right to left. It pisses me off way more then it should when someone starts thumbing through the middle of the rack that I am working my way through. I am fine if they look at the stuff behind me, (you know, the stuff that I have looked at already ) but if they dare rummage through the clothes that I am about to look at I get a little agro. I start making inappropriate heavy sighs and clearing my throat. I am kind of a big asshole when it comes to thrift shopping. Frankly I am shocked that no one has ever punched me right in my face.

Despite getting in people's way, the girls managed to cover themselves in thrift store muck. Also Amelia was having a heart attack that Lelahnia was not following her every command. It was annoying and a little too much for me to handle. We left sooner then I would have liked. Next time I will be more prepared with better snacks to keep them better occupied. Here is couple of my favorite finds:



Everything minus the tights and boots. The little black circles on her stockings are evidence of the thrift store muck I mentioned.


Andrew's Rusty sweatshirt was a measley $1.99



Spring shirts for Amelia

Why meg ryan, why!

I have always found Meg Ryan to be adorable. I love sleepless in Seattle and when a man loves a woman. That woman can act! She is always so charming and down to earth in all of her movies.

My love for Meg Ryan started to dwindle, only slightly, when she left Dennis Quaid for Russell Crowe. There is something greasy about Russell Crowe and his leg muscles annoy me. They don’t seem to go with the rest of his body. Then there was an awkward interview I watched of Meg with Oprah where she admitted to changing her daughters name randomly out of the blue whene she was one years old. She said it was because she was looking at her daughter one day and thought she just didn’t look like a charlotte anymore and that daisy was much more fitting. Who does that? If I did that with Amelia at age one she would now be dolly because she used to do this freaky thing with her lips that reminded me of dolly Parton in the movie 9 to 5.

I overlooked these small petty things and chalked them up to quirkiness. After all there was a point in my life when I wanted Meg Ryan to be my mother. I wanted her to take me shopping and teach me how to have cool crazy hair. Now she has gone and done this to her face. All I can ask is why Meg Ryan, why? How is she going to get any acting gigs when she literally cannot move her face?

Before:


After:

A Serious case of the grumps

We have all been sick for the last few days, with the exception of Aaron, who is out on a dive trip and Andrew who has the immune system of supernatural being. The entire family could be deathly ill coughing and blowing our nose's all over Andrew's face and he would still be completely healthy. I think it may be his love of raw vegetables and oranges that keeps him immune.

I kept Andrew out of school on Monday and Tuesday despite the fact taht he is the picture of health. I didn't want to be driving back and forth with a car full of sick people. It was just an easier plan. He got all of his homework done and a ton of video game time in.

Today I made him go back. He was never sick to begin with. He should be kissing my feet for those two free days off of school he jut had. Instead he decided to be a humongous sour puss about it. The fifteen minute drive to his school this morning was filled with little rants and grumblings and stream of negativity. I was certain my ear lobes would bleed if I had to listen to him complain for a second longer. I turned up the radio and tried my best to ignore him.


When we got to the school he told me that he absolutely was not getting out of the car.

"I am not going." He pronounced as if he had a say in the matter.

I did a long exhale trying really hard not to completely lose my temper with him.

"You need to get out of the car." I told him in the most calm mom voice that I could muster.

He didn't budge and had the most obnoxious smirk on his face. I proceeded to get out of the car in my dirty cut off sweat pants, braless, and with birds nest hair. I was quite the sight! I went to the passenger side to open the door. He locked it and stared calmly at me through his window.

At that point my threshold of patience had run out. I was livid. I started banging on the window and demanded that he open the door pronto. Meanwhile, there was a dad across the parking lot staring on in complete horror and shock. Andrew still did not open the door. I sprinted to the other side of the car. I opened my door just in time for him to hightail it out of the car slamming the door shut and making stink eyes at me. "You are the meanest mom in the world," I saw him mouth. Unbelievable!



Currentlly I am dreaming up fantastic punishments for him, ones that involve manual labor. I' m thinking along the lines of toliet bowl cleaning and dog crap pick up!

A case of the grumps

We have all been sick for the last few days. Everyone, that is, with the exception of Aaron who is out on a dive trip and Andrew who has the immune system of supernatural being. We could all be deathly ill and coughing all over his face and he would still be completely healthy. I think it may be his love of raw vegetables. I kept him out of school on Monday and Tuesday because I didn’t want to be driving back and forth with a car full of sick people. It was just an easier plan. He got all of his homework done and a ton of video game time in. Today I made him go back afterall he isn’t even sick, never was to begin with. He should be kissing my feet for those two free days he just had. Instead he is being a humongous sour puss about it. The fifteen minute drive to his school this morning was filled with grumblings and hostile comments. I was certain my ear lobes would bleed if I had to listen to him complain for a second longer.

When we got to the school he told me that he was absolutely not getting out of the car. I did a long exhale trying really hard not to completely lose my temper with him. “You need to get out of the car.” I told him in my most calm mom voice that I could muster. The kid didn’t budge and sat there with a smirk. I got out of the car in my dirty cut off sweat pants, braless, and with birds nest hair. I was quite the sight! I went to the passenger side to open the door. He locked it and stared calmly through his window. At that point I had passed my threshold of patience. I was livid. I started banging on the window and demanded that he open the door pronto. Meanwhile, there was a dad on the other side of the parking lot staring on in complete horror and shock. Andrew still didn't not open the door. I sprinted to the other side of the car. I opened my door just in time for him to hightail it out of the car slamming the door shut and making stink eyes at me. You are the meanest mom in the world, I saw him mouth. With that he stomped off in the direction of his calssroom. Unbelievable!

Currently I am dreaming up fantastic punishments for him. Ones that involve manual labor. I’m thinking toilet bowl scrubbing, laundry duty, and dog crap pick up.