My Little Fancy Nancy

For awhile now Rory has had a love affair with Fancy Nancy.  We have almost every Fancy Nancy book there is (thank you Mammy!) and we read one at bedtime every night.  If you've never read one, you really have too, it's quite a good laugh!

Well, the other morning Rory was having quite a fit about not wanting to eat breakfast, so I suggested that she have a "Yogurt Parfait" just like Fancy Nancy made for her mom in the latest book we read.  Well, didn't I seem like the smartest person when her response was, "Great idea Mom, very fancy!"  So I got down a little glass bowl, emptied some yogurt in it and topped it off with some dry Dora cereal, as that can double as granola, at least in our house!  She was delighted and ate every bite of it, and even asked for more....drama avoided!

Fancy Nancy also believes that "even little frilly toothpicks make everything taste better."  Rory also thinks the same thing.  We always seem to have a battle over lunch, but Fancy Nancy has given her whole life a new perspective, and has made things a little easier too....a little Fancy Nancy pressure makes my life easier!  Rory ran to her room and wheeled out her play Wal-Mart shopping cart, which is now the home to her Fancy Nancy library (a reference library on wheels if you will) and she grabbed the very first Fancy Nancy book and turned to the page out how toothpicks make everything taste better.  Well, I tried my luck with the toothpicks I had on hand, and I Fanc-i-fied them...sure enough, Rory ate every crumb of that sandwich!

If you are laughing out loud now, and if you really think I have fallen off my rocker, just wait....today we had a Fancy Nancy tea party!  Since the boys we are daycare today, Rory thought that it would be a good idea for Rory and Mommy to go to the store and use her credit card (you might call it a gift card) and buy the Fancy Nancy doll that she has been wanting for a while.....so off we went!

When we got home, Rory cleaned her room without any complaint and actual put things where they belonged....now tell me that Fancy Nancy doesn't have magical powers!  After cleaning her room we were finally able to release Fancy Nancy from her box! (insert heavenly music here).  Now Rory told me that we should have a Fancy Nancy tea party, and we had to wear fancy clothes....OK.  So off she went to change and prepare her room for the party.  Out she came in a skirt, a pink shirt with diamonds around the neckline, a stunning cardigan and her patent leather shoes.  Now she had to go and look for some Fancy clothes for me!  She chose a long black dress with "diamonds" on it and shiny shoes.  I would have had a bag to go with the outfit, but they were too high!  I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story....

Pinky Up!

We had a lot of fun today, and even though I think I am a little wacky, Rory thinks I'm pretty fabulous, and that's pretty cool with me!

Goodbyes stink....

One of the great things about being a military family is that you get to go places that you would probably have never experienced otherwise, and you meet so many people that touch your lives, and touch your hearts.  The bad part of being a military family is that you pack up and move so often that you always leave great friends, and places and you wonder when and where you will meet up again. 

Today was one of those days that being a military family stinks.  We had to say goodbye dear wonderful friends who are on their way to California.  We have been so fortunate to be at the same duty stations 3 times, and trust me that's pretty rare.  Kate was one of my very first "Army Wives" friends, and they don't get much better than her.  Together, her and I and Bryan and John watched our kids be born and grow up together, we made it through deployments, and during some of our darkest days we were there. 

We all have family who are always there for us no matter what, a phone call or a plane ride away.  They know us inside and out, and now the Perrines have forever become a part of our family, for better or for worse!

I am so lucky to add Kate as another sister from another mother, just like Becky, and my sister Kath from our actual mother!  While I am so blessed I am also so sad, but looking forward and never forgetting.

It happend....she really is 5!

It really is hard to believe how fast time flies, especially when you take time to reflect on the passing and you can remember times when you said "This will only last for so long, and then things get easier."

I can't believe that 5 years ago today I became a Mom, I really had no clue as to what I was in for, really.  I remember the night that my mom and I went into the hospital to start in the induction process and I was so good and ready to have this child out of my belly!  My original due date was May 1, and the night of the induction was May 11....so 10 days extra was plenty for me, I was huge and uncomfortable and just longed to be not pregnant anymore.  Then I remember getting my bag and getting ready to take the last few pictures with a very pregnant belly, and I burst into tears.  For the first time it hit me, Bryan really wasn't going to be here to see our baby come into this world.  Now you should know I was very prepared for Bryan not being there, we had talked and talked about the timing of starting our family and we knew that with the world that we were living in that Bryan was going to deploy from our next duty station, no matter where we went from Fort Sill.  Really, there is no such thing as "the right time" to start a family, anyone who says that is completely kidding themselves.


So there we were, Mom and I getting into the car to go to hospital to get this kid out......yeah, not really that easy.  I  had heard from everyone with an opinion about anything, that first time labors are going to take a long time, but I thought, hey I've already suffered enough carrying this kid around for all this extra time...HA! (That's God laughing at me)  36 hours of labor, many many many phone calls from Iraq, a mom and a dad who proved that night that they are saints, and out came Rory.  I admit that I was sooo tired and drained from the labor, and the complications that happened after delivery, that when Bryan called just in time to hear her first cries, I asked him to tell my parents what name we had chosen for our baby girl.  Now, I would like to say that I did this to give him a special moment since he couldn't be there, but honestly I couldn't remember what we had finally settled on for a first name!

Fast forward to today, and my first born baby is 5.  During those first 9 months of her life, when I was a single parent I can vividly remember saying at many different times "She is going to get past this phase of screaming at night" or "I can't wait until I don't have to get up and feed her in the middle of the night".  I miss those days, as tired and as stressed out as I was, those were the easy days, the ones that I long for now from a 5 year old.

Thankfully Rory does love a good snuggle, and will always throw out a "I love you Mommy" just because.  So 5 years down, and many many more years to go to see what amazing things that Rory Ann has in store.

Mothers Day 2010

What a wonderfully typical Sunday it was in our house today.  I slept in until the very late hour of 7:30, (trust me, that really is sleeping in!) and I walked out of the bedroom greeted by the loud cheer of "Mom-meeeee" from Rory.  It's funny because every morning she greets me with that, like we hadn't seen each other for months and months and months, and everytime I hear it, it warms my heart. 

The most handsome and caring man in the world was feeding the 2 messiest most adorable boys at the table.  Bryan broke into his very own chorus of Happy Mothers Day, and Brendan and Jack just looked at him as if to say "that was horribly off key, so could you continue to feed us, you are much better at that!"  Oh those sweet boys, oatmeal and yogurt smeared every which way around their face, and they are still the most beautiful boys I have ever laid eyes on.

 I was then showered with cards, one handmade from Rory, of course

Bryan spoiled me with a new camera, just the kind that he knows that is perfect for me.  I am so obsessed with documenting every moment, so he got me the newer version of what I already had, and it is perfect, he is perfect.  Then came the one thing that I asked for, a mimosa! 

Silly I know, but it is the little things that make me happy, and trust me, this made me very happy!

Then I took time to watch my 3 perfect children in amazement.  They amaze me everyday, they also know how to make me crazy, but I wouldn't change one thing, well maybe the very early risers, I might change that.

I remember that just about 5 years ago we became parents, and where did the time go???  I think ahead, what do these children have in store for us, and I hope that it won't go by as quickly.....

Some Kilbride Funnies from the week

Rory has had some real gems this week...

Wednesday she was not happy with the choice of pants she had to wear...she called her khaki pants "boring".  She continued on with "Mommy, these are so boring, I like color, lots and lots of color!"  So back into her room she went, and then she came out, wearing the same pants, and I said "Rory, you are still wearing the boring pants?" "Yes Mommy, I am, but my top is exciting!  Lots of colors!" 


This week, we were luck enough to babysit precious Elizabeth Perrine, and Rory took her "babysitter-ing" very seriously.  "Mommy, is she buckled in the right way?, "Mommy I think she needs a diaper, Mommy she is hungry, and I know she is hungry because I am hungry and I am a very so babysitter-er"

We have a walker!

It's official....Jack is a walker! All day today he was just walking around freely, nothing to lean onto for support, no flopping down and crawling to get something, just straight two footed transporting today! Brendan is almost there, but no quite, so with that, we have the official passing.....

People had warned me even before Jack was born that at some point Jack would pass Brendan in some way. They told me to prepared, it would be hard. So why don't I feel that? Why don't we feel that? We marvel and celebrate every milestone of every child. There are pictures and videos to mark the occasions, there are high fives and plenty of clapping, for everyone. I want to celebrate Jack's accomplishments and milestones just as we celebrate Rory and Brendan's.

There is no sadness, there is no difficulty. Brendan's day is coming, he'll probably skip the walking and go straight to running...and we will celebrate it, then we'll celebrate Jack running too! Then I'll probably need a bottle of wine!

Sometimes being a Military family really stinks..

The other night while Rory and I were watching Dancing with the Stars, she was looking through the drawer in my nightstand and came across some old pictures. There were 2 in there from the very early morning that Bryan deployed in 2008 and we were on the way to take him to the drop off. Then Rory asked, "When is Daddy going on the airplane again to be with his soldiers?" I told her it wasn't for a few more months, and we would talk about it more as it got closer.




Fast forward to this morning.....Bryan and I got the kids in the car, all buckled in, said the goodbyes for the day, and then I started backing the car out of the garage and Bryan went back in the house. Then Rory pipes up from the back seat "Why did Daddy, kiss us goodbye?" "Rory, doesn't Daddy kiss all of us goodbye every morning that he goes to school?" "Umm, yes. But why did he go back into the house? Is he going on the plane today?" Rip your heart out and throw it on the ground. Guess this is going to be a long summer....