growing up.

this is a busy week. we had reese's teachers come over on monday to visit before school. ive never seen her giggle for that long. literally the whole time they were here. tuesday was "meet the teacher" for her - which meant we brought supplies in and said hello. she got the warmest welcome as she pushed that walker through the door. she had on fake purple glasses, a top knot headband, her rainbow shirt, and cut off lace shorts. just so her. and when i remembered that these are the things she picked out. the ensemble she put together, i realized how much she has grown up.

sunday night i said to EJ, "i bet she has a fever. i can tell." he rolled his eyes, got the thermometer, then made the "damn, you're right" face lol

100.

not even a fever for most, but reese's natural temperature is lower than most (tumor location, mainly), and i didnt want it to possibly go higher and us have to leave for the ER even later than it was. she responds like normal - "can we go to the dr to get you some med meds?" "yah. but not my port!"

sigh.

she walks in w me using her walker. no stroller. i don't carry her. i carry my sonic drink - because we obviously stopped for cheese-cheese before we got there ;)

it was a longer night than i expected. i knew that the fever was just something going around our house - i mean, sawyer had a fever only days before. and since then, actually, miller had up to 102.5 and aidan had a low-grade fever. it is just what was floating around here. she sticks her arm out for blood pressure and smiles at the nurses. she made the dr bribe her with stickers before chatting w him, though.

we had to get a "clean catch" on urine to test for UTI so we shuffled our way to the bathroom with a cup. we came back to the room and waited until we [finally] got some emla cream for her port.

she is strong now. after the 30 mins w cream on, they came in with their gloves and accessing stuff. she watched. she surprisingly put a mask on. then we put one on foxy.

when it was time to access her, she tried to kick her legs so we had to hold her legs down.


"im stuck in mud! im stuck in mud!" and my heart broke.

thats from super why. "jasper's cowboy wish". which we have seen three dozen times. jasper has to be a hero and save the horse from the mud. we play "stuck in mud" all the time at home. and we save reese from "the mud" as she is stuck on all 4's on the floor.

but she was just crying. she couldn't move.

we were done in a flash, but i couldn't seem to get her to understand we weren't staying. i told her a dozen times that we weren't sleeping there. we were sleeping at home. port out. bandaid on. she wouldn't even lay down to relax.

"stop your talking, mommy!"

lol so that didn't work.

within a few mins, she settled down. i went to get her a snack and she facetimed EJ. eventually she got it. and in reality, i assume she just thought i was lying. i've told her a dozen times before "meds in. port out." but the length of times have varied. antibiotics, chemo... it just depends. and that's my fault, i suppose.

but now she's older. now she understands more.

so now she goes to school. every day. only this year she gets full day 3x a week. what an absolute blessing. not only will this help with her endurance, and pretty much all things PT, but will get her so much more ready for kindergarten next year. she's learning her letters and numbers. figuring out sounds, recognizing them, and counting. things that i was not even thinking about almost 2 years ago when this all began.

i am just so proud.

the rest of the week consists of more "meet the teachers", play dates, sleepovers, and celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary which is next monday. which is also the first day of school, of course.

since reese will be in school on fridays, i want to join a MOPS group. as a friend said, "only you would find free time and then try to fill it up..."

i am spending today organizing more of the "back to school" portions of the house and im really geeked out about starting this year.

this one is different. this is going to be a good year. a normal year.

...whatever that means.

holy catch up.

I hate not keeping up with blogging.

But i also love that we are so busy doing normal things that i dont have time ;)

this entry is full of fun. starting off with relay for life.

yet again, dancer strong and their family went above and beyond in reese's name. they had a walk team, raised money for RFL -- and reese got a medal (which she adores haha), we walked the survivor's lap, and met new friends while laughing all night with the old ones. such an amazing night.  everyone rocked their gingerfight tees and i teared up all night over the love.

and then there was just hanging out -- the park after sawyer's soccer practice with miller made me giggle.


one morning aidan said she made reese breakfast.
um. this is not breakfast.
but look how happy reese is.


one night we decided to pack up and head to the splash park/sand beach one night. it was so fun. miller freaked out in excitement (and, uh, stood on her head 100 times lol) over the water. reese liked the sand more.


photography tidbit: these next two are with the sun facing them. it twitches me out to do that, but i was too lazy to flip around til later. but you can see the difference.


at 7pm, they had a water show -- and you'll see the girls' reactions to that! they were amazed.


swoon.

aidan is 5.

how is that possible? seriously.

5 years ago i was staring at this 6lb 11oz little wide-eyed bundle. for HOURS after she was born, she just... stared around. she barely cried when she was born. she gave a little "ehhh so its YOU, eh?" whine and then that was it.

and now youre telling me to send her off to kindergarten next year?

nope. not having it.

i teared up (ok, kinda cried lol) a few times today just thinking about how lucky i am. and how i cant believe how quickly the past 5 years have flown. aidan saw me tearing up when talking about it today - she asked me "please dont cry again when i turn 6, okay?" lol

i have a 5 year old. a sweet, sensitive, compassionate, funny, silly, slightly shy, but totally crazy, loving, and big hearted 5 year old. who sings to crying sisters and rubs tired heads. who exclaims that she "JUST LOVES YOU!" when she's frustrated and just has to get it out. and who has 2 (almost 3) girls who have an amazing girl to call their big(gest) sister.

a friend to everyone. the nice girl. the teacher's pet. she can sound out letters and words. and spends her free time figuring out what words rhyme and seeing if we can name some compound words. lol she likes to color, write, practice letters and tattle on sawyer ;)

aidan, i love you. you changed our lives in ways that you could never understand and i thank God for you everyday :)

let me backtrack.

friday night we went to splitsville (with intentions of bowling, but the wait was 2 hours) but we did eat. we got home and there was a package from mark and liz!! :)


saturday, i had a shoot. :)

sunday was aidan's party!! we did it super small bc the plan is for her to have a "friends" bday party in jan - as long as i can book the place lol (toss that under "things to do". sigh)

before her party, though, we went to take her 5 year old photos. so much fun. i just adore her.





































and a small comparison. she's not a baby anymore. :tear:


party time!


















rachael told aidan she'd give her princess makeup :) and sawyer played, too! they loved it!!






yesterday (on her actual bday) i woke her up with a happy birthday song. well, i didnt wake her up - she was already in sawyer's bed and they were quietly watching a movie ;)



then this morning, i grabbed some "now youre 5!!" morning photos. lol and 2 of sawyer ;)


kinda missed the focus on that 2nd one LOL


sweetie.


eek! pink!


speedlight/catchlights gone bad? eh? haha


happy birthday my lovey dovey :)