It's been a minute- I know! So I'll just dive right in with all the things!
(Please excuse any errors in this post! I don't have time to proof-read much of it! Eeek! It's been a DAY!)
Easter was beautiful in every little way. Honestly, it could not have been a more perfect day. All the traditional things took place (plus a neighborhood party the day before) and it was a day of pure joy for all of us!
And now for all the individual updates!
I'll start with Sully:
He started soccer and boy is he obsessed! But it didn’t happen overnight.... On the Cowboys 1st soccer game of the season (yes, his team is The Cowboys) he cried on the sidelines for 45 min of the hour long game. No one could get him out there, not even his best bud, Tucker. We tried every bribe there is to get him to play but he had every excuse not to. He was too tired, he was too hungry, he didn’t want anyone to watch him, he was too hot, etc. It was sooooo frustrating and my head was about to explode when suddenly, out of the blue he decided he wanted to play for the last 15 minutes. As soon as he got out there and got his dang head in the game he had a blast. GO FIGURE! (P.S. He is our Lucky Number 7!)
(Good thing he has the most patient coach in the world and thankfully it was the 1st and last time he had a meltdown at a game because watching him play is the best thing ever!!)
NOW he loves it so much that he absolutely hates taking turns and sitting out. He wants to play the entire game- and he’s got enough energy to do it!🤪 We go to Braum’s afterward for ice-cream for all the goals he’s been scoring! He scored 4 goals his last game!
Now onto Piper:
Piper’s mouth has a myriad of problems. Big problems that will require surgery if we don’t get it molded and reshaped now while she’s young. So we had an appointment for braces one day but it didn’t happen.... some of you don’t know that Piper has been clinically diagnosed with anxiety disorder. Therapy/holistic approaches and sometimes medication have been a part of her life for years. While I knew she was nervous and anxious that day, I didn’t expect the panic attack to happen while sitting in that chair. I have not witnessed something like that (it was SEVERE and extreme) from her in a public place ever, except when she came off of anesthesia last May and that was from something in her system, not just being “scared”.
At first I was patient with her. Then I was sad. Then I was frustrated and we both left over an hour later extremely upset. Me for different reasons than her. But then after I thought about it for awhile, the reality of the situation clicked like a lightbulb. She inherited her anxiety from me, 100%- I already knew this. I have never had panic attacks at a dentist, but I have at other times in my life. I have had to leave social situations when my anxiety starts to take over. I have had to cancel plans when a panic attack strikes and I can’t bring myself to show up. The vice grip it has had on me before is debilitating. It’s not a fun thing to talk about but it’s real. I have an amazing husband who has always helped me when my anxiety takes over, and also great doctors I can go to when needed. Anyway. This is one of those vulnerable posts that I don’t love to make, but sometimes it’s good to talk about things like this so that others can understand us better or heck, maybe even relate to us a bit. So if those who knew she was getting them put on see her without braces for the next couple of months, you now know why. We are going to try again soon but for now I’m just going to lift her up and let her know that it’s ok to feel unsettled. But I will always be here for her to lean on when the going gets tough, because that’s what a Mother’s love is all about.🖤
She turns 10 in just 22 days but she acts like a 16 year old. They say “tweens” used to be 11 and 12 years old, but in today’s society it’s 9-12 year olds. And boy is she ever a “tween.” She desperately wants to be older. She tries so hard to be cool. She cries and whines like a little girl, but she wants to be treated like an adult so we are just trying to find a balance. I’m trying to let her express herself in a way that doesn’t suppress her and make her feel like I'm CONSTANTLY saying "no", but also give her boundaries and rules to keep her on the right path. This age has been hard on me, as a mom. And unfortunately for her, I’m just winging it. I have no idea how to navigate through these choppy waters but I’m trying. I don’t feel like I’m succeeding, but all I can do is keep trying to move forward...
Anyway, Lucy’s also way too cool to match with her sis these days... they used to LOVE dressing like twins, but man! All of a sudden it’s not the cool thing to do anymore :(
So when she asked Piper to dress the same as her for the first time in almost a year, I had to document it because it will probably be the very last time🥺
Update on me!
The time came to say goodbye to CeCe (my van). We wanted to see what the response would be if we tried to sell our car right now in this market. I thought it would be awhile before it sold so I listed it just to see if we got any bites. Well! It sold 12 hours later! I didn’t have a back up and didn’t even know what I wanted! On the one hand, I would have loved to have a regular SUV, but on the other hand, I didn’t think I was quite ready to give up a minivan. If you have a minivan, you can understand my dilemma..... either way, we loved my Sienna. She was so good to us. So we all took one last ride in her and said “Bye bye CeCe!"
As I said, I didn’t know what I wanted and I was car-less for a beat. I had to spend a whole day driving Shawn’s truck around (without sliding doors) and it 100% convinced me that I’m not ready to move on from a minivan. The door situation was so stressful for me, especially on windy days like that day. We are just not ready for normal doors! The kids flung them open without even thinking about hitting cars next to us and we *narrowly* missed but it stressed me out. Also, having to load things into cars without the huge opening of a van isn’t fun.
And finally, I had to stand there and hold the door open for all of them to climb in so that the wind wouldn’t push it closed. I don’t have time for that! They’re slow as molasses! In a van I can just open the doors and let them take their sweet time while I get in my own seat and get ready to drive off- closing the doors with a push of a button once they’re ready; I don’t have to hold doors for anyone.
So a couple of days later, Shawn and I snuck away on a day date and came home with a sweet set of wheels! Not quite ready to give up the Sienna’s yet and perfectly ok with that!
(By the way- the 2021 Siennas are AWESOME!)
Update on Shawn!
As you might know, he works on software programs for car dealerships. He used someone he works with at a great dealership to buy my car. They were so nice and worked out a good deal for us. I was on cloud 9, thanking them for e everything when they turned to Shawn and said “now if you want a new truck, you know where to shop!”
Of course that got Shawn’s mind working...
His truck was almost at 160k miles. It was clunky and old and not in great shape (the windshield alone looked like cracked ice with all the cracks in it). In fact, it’s been stressing me out for the past year; if something happened to it, it would wreck us because we couldn’t sell it for what we needed to pay it off. So he basically said to the guys at the dealership, “it would be a miracle, but if you can pay me what I owe on my current truck and get me a payment on a newer truck that’s not much more than I’m paying now, I’ll buy from you guys.” He thought that was impossible. Because as I said, his truck was junky PLUS the transmission was about to go out as well!
Well! Amazingly these nice men worked some magic and said “we have a 2021 Tacoma coming in and we will pay off your Ford, plus keep you within your budget.” Even MY jaw dropped because it didn’t seem real! How did they work a deal like that!? The GM of the dealership really likes Shawn so they really hooked him up!
That means that less than a week after I got my new van, he got a new truck! I don’t have pictures of it- I need to take one just for the memory. But I’m so happy for him! His is cloth seats and just has the stock system in it; it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles like mine does, but it still has a whole lot more than his last truck AND we know it’s reliable! You better believe we got down on our knees and thanked God for blessing us in this way! Yes, we now will be paying more each month for our 2 new cars, but it's within our budget and we both have beautiful new Toyotas- you can't beat that! Or maybe you can- but this is a first for us :) Proud of Shawn for always working so hard to provide for our family!
I think that's all of it. I know, it was a lot. But we are just one busy little family!
There are 22 days left of school and I'm feeling the insanity of the "end of the year" creeping in. It is NUTS! And Rusty is also old enough to get fixed! So even though we love him, maybe he will stop shredding paper all day if we go ahead and get that crossed off our list, haha!
And I'll just leave you with this cute face of a boy who has struggled with asthma all week long, but still picks flowers for me even when he isn't feeling well. We had a little one-on-one day date today to the doctor but he's on the mend!
