Thirteen

Billie will be thirteen years old on Monday.  I will officially be the mom of a teenager! How the heck did that happen so quickly?! I know everyone says it, but they truly do grow up in the blink of an eye. I am trying to savor every last second of her childhood. I am so blessed by this kid! We have some celebrations planned (and some BIG SURPRISES for her-I'll update when I can share the secret), but I thought everyone would enjoy a snap shot into her 13 years.  She is the best kid a mom could ever ask for.  I really hit the jack pot when it comes to daughters! Enjoy!

7 lbs 11 oz-Born on Inauguration Day 2001 (We watched George W. inaugurated as I labored, and it snowed, too.)

She had such chubby cheeks! She was a great baby; very easy, and a sleeper-oh how that baby slept!

Did I mention how much hair she had? She has more hair here at 5 months than Harper has now at almost 3!

3.5 years old. 

5 Years old-Beach trip to Outer Banks, NC

Look how proud she is!

First Day of Kindergarten.  She looks happy here, but when I dropped her off she screamed and had to be peeled off of me by Mrs. Bounds.  Mrs. Bounds called me about an hour later to let me know she was doing fine and had settled down not long after I left.  I am totally getting all verklempt thinking about that morning, one of my hardest as a mom.

Proud Big Sister. I would not have planned them 10 years apart, but God had a great plan.  Those two have the most precious sibling relationship.  I feel in my heart God gave Harper as a gift not only to grieving parents, but to grieving Billie, too.  She has gone through so much loss in her 13 years and it has given her such compassion and gratefulness. She would have been a great sister anyway, but I know losing her brothers made an impact on the kind of sister she is today.

My beautiful ballerina.  She loves to dance. She loves to sing. She loves music, books, and movies.

So Grown up! Funny fact: Billie had blue eyes until she was almost 5, when they changed from blue to green. I love her green eyes, they are beautiful and I can always tell if she is sick because they turn gray.  I have no idea where she got them from, because my eyes are brown and Michael's were blue! It bothered me when they changed at first,  I felt sad that her daddy didn't get to see them change, but I think he knows.

Look at those eyelashes! Sarah Mcaffry took this in the spring

Her ballet recital will be Peter Pan this spring.  She was so excited when her costume came in this week, she danced around the house in it most of the evening saying "Aye Matey."

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! May 2014 be the happiest, healthiest year for all of us! Just a quick update to bring you up to speed.  I am finally healed - mostly! I do not think my leg will ever be the same, but I am now released from PT and working out hoping to build my quad and strength back and I walk with a slight limp, especially after I have been sitting for a while. 
I had a female related surgery in November to remove endometriosis that was causing me lots of pain, although we didn't know that was what it was until they got in there.  I had lots all around my bowels and bladder that were really making me feel lousy.  He also pinned my ovaries back up where they are supposed to go, and removed a large part of my right ovary along with my tubes.  Funny thing, I was told when I had Harper and my hysterectomy that they took my tubes, but they were still in there and they had cysts in them that may have been causing some of the pain, but maybe not.  The doctor explained to us that because there was so much blood when I had Harper (my uterus had ruptured and I had been bleeding for 14 hours by the time they took me into surgery) and it was an emergency situation, that it is very hard to see everything and be sure of what you are getting.  That seems crazy to me, but since he was also there for Harper's birth, I am tempted to just believe him.
Two weeks after my surgery, Matt went in to have his ACL repaired, again.  They also removed a large bone growth from the front of his knee.  He is still in PT and on crutches, and hopefully will be weening off them beginning next week. 
Billie broke her arm in two places back in October.  Not kidding.  She fell at ballet class and tried to catch herself, fell wrong, and Snap!  Bless her heart.  We knew the instant we saw it it was broken, no question on that one.  She is all better now.  If you got our Christmas Card, you know we tried to make light of the situation, I will post the picture below.  At this point, we really just have to laugh to keep from crying.
On to 2014, it is going to be healthy for us! No question, there will be no surgeries and no breaks.  Period. End of story. No negotiating it. 
We had a wonderful Christmas, in spite of our trials.  God is always good, right?  My mom and step-dad came over for the first annual "Christmas Adam." (Christmas-Eve-Eve) We had so much fun and I made a delicious lemon-pepper-rosemary Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, and Huge Salad. I have historically made a huge Christmas morning brunch, and then felt rushed and late all day Christmas day- rushed through "santa" gifts to get to cooking, rushed through brunch to get to Christmas dinner at 2, rushed through that to get to Christmas Dinner #2 at 6 (or 8, because they are always waiting on us.) So I got wise this year, and knew my limitations with my health and Matt's, and I spaced everything out over three days.  Genius! Best decision I made all year! And now it can just be tradition.  My kids got to spend time with Ya-Ya and Papou and have them all to their selves,  and the grown ups got to enjoy breaking bread together. 
Then, on Christmas Eve we had the Williams and Rosecrance's over for brunch.  More perfectness! The Grandpas got to bond and get to know each other better, we all had yummy food (I make a mean brunch, let me just tell you), and Grandma and Grandpa Williams got to see Harper open her gifts for the first time ever! It was lovely, and we took our time and enjoyed each other so much.
Christmas Day was even more perfect - not even kidding! Billie woke us all at 7:30, so excited.  We relaxed opening Santa gifts and enjoying left over home-made cinnamon rolls from brunch the day before.  Billie and I went to The Williams for dinner later in the afternoon and had a wonderful time, and Grandpa and Grandma Rosecrance came over to get Matt and Harper over to David's after Harper got in a nice long nap.  Then we joined everyone at David's for another meal and our fun Christmas tradition of Dirty Santa (Although we all get fabulous gifts so the only dirty thing about it is who ever steals!)
I was given the gift of pampering and time off from my family.  Complete with babysitter for Harper and appointments already made, I set out the Friday after Christmas for a luxury facial, a hairstyle at Be styled, a movie with Billie, and then dinner with Matt.  I had nothing to worry about and it was so rejuvenating! I kinda wish I could do that once a month! I will settle for a two hour reprieve once a month for coffee or a pedicure! I have learned I do need time for myself, otherwise I am just grumpy and not fun to be around, just ask Matt!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and A Happy New Year, too.  I have actually started a few blogs, just getting some thoughts off my chest, that I hope to finish and share with you before the end of January. Check back in a week or two for those! I'm not promising, but I am promising I will try my best.  They are really good, it's just so hard to find the time to get all my thoughts down.  You all know how long-winded I am! HA!

Christmas Card 2013