Rocken' Roller

For the last several months, my Brown Eyed Girl has been asking to take gymnastics classes. She has been practicing her cartwheels and handstands in the living room for a while now. I echo the words of my own mother on an almost daily basis, "Stop flipping in my living room!" My sister, Rah-Rah, was always doing handstands against the coat closet door, splits and back-bends in the living room. Gymnastics was Rah-Rah's thing and she was constantly flipping or dancing around the house.

My Brown Eyed Girl asked for formal classes around Christmas time.
She asked for classes again as her birthday grew near.

A year ago, I wouldn't have even thought twice about signing my Brown Eyed Girl up for gymnastics.

It's really, really hard as a parent to see a desire in your child's eyes and not do everything in your power to foster that desire. Make those dreams possible. Give them every opportunity to find themselves and build those memories together.

The uncertainty of the last few months with my Brown Eyed Girl's health has been emotionally challenging for me as a parent. Just deciding what kind of a birthday party to have was a challenge. Should we plan an ice skating party like she wants? What happens if she is having a bad pain day and can't skate that day with all of her friends? Should we play it safe and plan a more low key painting party instead? Am I pushing this painting party idea on her? Am I really listening to what she wants to do? But what if...

I struggled so much with one day of physical activity and the off chance that Murphy's Law would strike us with full force and that would be the one day she would wake up with bone pain. Gymnastics classes - we are talking about 8 weeks of jumping, flipping, and bouncing around. Can she handle that? Should I try to convince her that she should go back to non-impact, swimming lessons? But she really wants gymnastics lessons... What if we wait a year? What if in a year she has a really bad flare up and gymnastics is completely out of the question. Will I have regrets of not letting her try it now?

The final word came back on her full body MRI and my Brown Eyed Girl only has one bone lesion at this time, in her left knee. I did a lot of soul searching and I decided to live in the moment!

If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change us.


My Brown Eyed Girl got a brand new leotard and gymnastics classes for her birthday!

Yesterday was her very first class, a new Rocken' Roller gymnast! I was so nervous looking down at her from the parent crow's nest. Please have fun, please don't hurt yourself.

She got right to work and was following directions well. She practiced those hand stands. 

She learned how to run fast for vaulting some day.

The coach would tell her to run hard and then jog back into line. She did not jog. She skipped and bounced and frolicked in excitement from point A to point B. She was bubbling over with excitement and having the time of her life!  

She learned some moves on the bars. 

The coach was so impressed with how strong she is. She kept asking my Brown Eyed Girl, "Are you sure you have never done this?"

Only my daughter would be allergic to horses. But we make it work. So what if she has to take some allergy medicine before we head out to the barn. She still rides and spends time with me in the barn petting and feeding the horses. We do what we need to do to do what we love to do.

She looked so cute out there in her little leotard.
More importantly, she looked so capable and strong.

She can do this.
She can do anything she sets her mind to.

And for the record, we had that ice skating party too!

Seven Lives (or Less)

We have the most amazing barn cat in the history of barn cats. I mean hands down the blue-ribbon-winning greatest cat on the planet! Both of my kids have overly loved Miss Kitty over the last 7 years.

We can't imagine our life with out her.

Miss Kitty sits and waits for my Brown Eyed Girl to get home from school every single day. She knows which car door my Brown Eyed Girl climbs out of and waits by the door for it to open and my daughter to climb out. She greats us with mews and endless purring.

All of those great memories with our beloved Miss Kitty almost came crashing to a sudden, horrific halt yesterday afternoon.

Mr Blue Eyes and I left the house about 2:55 pm so we could scoop our Brown Eyed Girl up from school. Ten minutes there... about five minutes waiting for her to come out of the building... a short ten minute drive home. Just another day. The same ten minute drive home as the day before, and the day before that. Time they spend snacking on whatever warm, stale remnants they manage to scrounge up from the bottom of their back packs. Plenty of time for laying the ground work for jabs and future arguments over who gets to choose what cartoon they will watch when we get home. Ten minutes of both the happiest (and anxiety clouding) part of my day. And like every day, I spend that ten minutes in a diversion game of twenty-questions. How was your day today? What specials did you have today? Did anything funny happen at school today? How did you do on your spelling test? What kind of games did you play on the playground at recess?

We were just pulling into the drive way when I looked back over my shoulder to remind our Brown Eyed Girl not to forget to put her Valentines in her back pack first thing when she walked in the door. As I was reminding her, my Brown Eyed Girls face faded to that of pure horror. Her eyes shot wide open and she shouted, "What... What is going on?!?!?"

I turned to see the most terrible sight I could imagine. Not just terrible for my eyes, but for my two young children in the back seat. There, dangling lifeless by her neck from the top of the garage door, was our beloved Miss Kitty!

What happened next was nothing shy of utter panic, hysteria and complete loss of emotional control.

I remember screaming No! No! No! as I reached for the garage door opener. My Brown Eyed Girl starting to wail from the back seat. The garage door started to open and Miss Kitty fell firmly to the ground. She lifted her head and let out a cry as she tried to get to her feet. Oh. My. God. She was still alive!

I sped to the end of the drive way, and in one fluid motion threw the car into park and jumped out making my way towards Miss Kitty. Panic and a miserable lump rising in my throat. Miss Kitty staggered around like she was intoxicated. Her back legs not able to support her own weight. Cries and sobs echoing behind me from the driver's door left open. What do I do? What do I do?

Miss Kitty fumbled around to the side of the house and collapsed on her side. I pursued her around the corner, talking to her in what I hoped were gentile and soothing words. Realistically, they were more likely riddled with panic and fear. Desperately trying to assess the situation. She was looking up at me mewing in strain, her mouth held open in stress. Without a second thought I scooped her up and ran to my Brown Eyed Girls door and placed her amazing and loving cat in her arms.

My daughter was sobbing and I told her to hold Miss Kitty, pet her and talk to her. We were taking her right to the vets office. I frantically called the vet and let them know we were on our way.

The vet's office is about fifteen minutes from our house. The drive seemed excruciatingly long. Every time I glanced back at my Brown Eyed Girls blotchy, tear stained face my heart broke a little more. Twice I looked back to see Miss Kitty's head limply laying in my Brown Eyed Girls lap. Oh God please don't let Miss Kitty die in her lap. My Brown Eyed Girl would stir Miss Kitty just enough to get her to lift her head, confirming she was still hanging on.

I was convinced that tonight was going to be a horrible night. Tonight would be the first night we wouldn't kiss Missy Kitty good night in her little Cat House. Tears. Lots and lots of tears. The rest of the day would be a loss for words replaced with nothing but tears.

We prayed. We begged Miss Kitty to keep fighting and told her we loved her so much. I found myself apologizing to my daughter. You know I would never do anything to hurt Miss Kitty. This was a terrible accident. You know Mommy would never want Miss Kitty to get hurt. I am so, so sorry honey. I am so, so sorry Miss Kitty. 

As we started getting closer to the vet's office, Miss Kitty started to get a little restless. My Brown Eyed Girl suddenly shrieked, "Mom, she's making noises."

"What kind of noises?"

"Mommy, she's purring."

Yes! Yes! Please let this be a good sign. We parked and all hustled into the office with our beloved Miss Kitty. The wonderful staff was waiting for us. We set Miss Kitty on the table and she was standing well on her own. Purring and rubbing up against each one of us. Smiles started to filter on our faces.

Within a minute our awesome Dr Anderson came into the room and I told him what had happened.

Dr Anderson examined Miss Kitty and with a confident smile said, "I think she is going to be okay. Her neck is a little stiff. She'll probably feel like she has whip lash tomorrow, like she was in a car accident. But everything looks good. With something like this, the big thing I would worry about is the possible lack of oxygen she suffered, but her eyes and pupils are responding normally. I think she was completely exhausted from struggling and limited oxygen by the time you found her that she was just too spent to stand up right away. Her breathing is a little labored, but I think she's just exhausted and pretty stressed out. But I really think she's going to be okay!"

Music to my ears!

Dr Anderson sent us home with some pain meds for three days, and told us to keep Miss Kitty quiet and in her Cat House for 24 hours. She just needs a little rest. 

That smile on my Brown Eyed Girl's face is priceless. Hearing Miss Kitty purring is priceless. 

I am pretty sure Miss Kitty used up 1-2 of her nine lives. I am just so over the moon glad that the most amazing cat the world has ever known is still in our lives.

Seventh Heaven

Happy 7th Birthday to my Brown Eyed Girl!

You, my love, are the bravest person I have ever known. Your smile is infections. You light up every room you are in. You are amazing and creative and original. Each day that passes, I am in constant awe at the wonderfully, beautiful young lady you are becoming.

She has had a wonderful Birthday so far! She kicked it off by heading to the American Girl Doll store with Grandma Rhonda for a very special new purchase!

A little overwhelmed and oozing with excitement, she wondered the store soaking it all in! Just FYI, these doll guys thought of pretty much everything!!

Grandma was probably just as excited as the Birthday Girl. Mom was having heart palpitations from sticker shock.

Hmmm... there was one section I would consider splurging on...

Of course, AG was all sold out of the Just Like Me doll that looked the most like our Brown Eyed Girl. Rather than leave empty handed - cause that would have been a total let down - we ventured over to the Be Forever dolls. These dolls come with a name and a story already in place. My Brown Eyed Girl latched onto this little pretty doll named Rebecca. She came in a purple dress, loves to sing and be on the stage performing - sounded like a perfect fit!

She also got a little AGD Kitten thanks to Aunt Christi.

Shopping made us hungry! We walked across the way for a girls-night-out Birthday Dinner. We get ready to be seated and the hostess asked us if we needed a chair for her American Girl Doll... kudos amazing marketing professional, you are brilliant. 

So, Rebecca joined us for dinner.  

The novelty of Rebecca was up bright and early the next morning at 5:00 am!!!

 

We were not quite sure what the predicted snow storm would do this week. So, this mom stayed up late baking two dozen homemade cupcakes just in case school didn't get cancelled. 

But of course... it was!!

Snow Day Birthday!!!

Birthday Girl wanted pancakes for breakfast!

We spent the whole day in our jammies. 

We ate a lot of frosting by frosting all of those cupcakes. All signs were pointing to school the next day, so we had to finish the decorations.

Mr Blue Eyes has mad sprinkle skills!

I was a tiny bit super excited to finally get to use the new cupcake holder I got for Christmas. Probably my favorite gift this year. 

Amazing huh!?!?

22 delicious Frozen themed cupcakes ready for school!

After dinner, we taste tested those cupcakes. It was a good thing I baked all those little cupcakes because otherwise our Brown Eyed Girl would be blowing her candles out of a mini sugar donuts. Having been snowed in all day, I never made it to the store as "planned" for a small cake, balloons, or last minute gifts. Surprised?? Of course I waited until the last minute. Mother Nature, you think you are sooooo funny!

Fire extinguisher close by, we all sang Happy Birthday to our sweet Birthday Girl. 

Just in time, she blew out all 7 candles and made a glorious wish!

I pray her wishes all come true. I pray that 7 brings her a wonderful year filled with smiles, love, laughter, health and joy. 

Happy Birthday Beautiful Brown Eyed Girl!

xoxoxo ~Mommy