Halloween

Well here we are at the season for haunting! I am so excited to get the kids all dressed up in their costumes this weekend for the many events they have scheduled. Their parade is tomorrow and I cannot wait to see my little princess and little monkey walking among their friends and enjoying the day. This weekend the kids are booked with Halloween Activities and I know they are going to remember this Halloween for years to come. They are both at such a great age now. I love this time of year, and I love this holiday!!

So many opportunities lost

I think the worst thing a parent can do is play favoritism among their children. Believe me, I know how much it hurts to watch as the other child gets all of the attention. I try so hard as a mother to keep everything fair among my two kids because I would never want either of my kids to feel like he/she is not good enough or needs to earn my love. As an adult I know that can really hurt because that is how I felt my whole life. I have always felt like when it came to my parents I was just not good enough. No matter how well I did in school or how many responsibilities I took on at home and in school, I was just never going to be good enough. I watch now as my parents dedicate a great deal of their time to my nephews and very little to my kids. It hurts to watch, but it is not much different than how I was brought up. Of course, I have mentioned this to my parents and get the same old, "We treat all of our kids and grandkids the same all of the time," which is a complete lie. Granted my sister does invite them on many excursions while I have stopped inviting them since they usually said no to me when I did invite them. A person can only be rejected so many times before they give up.
For years my sister, her husband and their kids had season tickets to the Phillies with my parents. When my sister decided not to do it anymore I offered to buy her half of the tickets so that my kids could have the same experience. I called a few times to see how much I owed and my mother had bought all of the season tickets instead of allowing my husband, kids and I to enjoy the same quality time they did for all of those years. I was really hurt, but when I told them that I was the crazy one and somehow must have made it all up in my head. My husband and I were disappointed and saddened by their lack of respect for us.
My oldest is now starting to ask why my parents do not love her as much as my nephews and sadly I do not know what to tell her. All I can say is, "Honey, it is me and not you that they do not love." I am thankful that their lack of attention for her has not put a wedge in the relationship she has with my nephews. She knows it is not their fault that my parents favor them over her or my son. At the same time, how sad for a child to feel unloved by their own parents or grandparents.
Over the years I have become uninvolved with family things because I never feel welcome even when I am there. I feel as though I am the mistake they got stuck with instead of the child they were blessed with to raise. I hope my children never feel this way about their upbringing. I work so hard every day to make each child feel special! I hope I am successful in doing so!

Swim Lessons Again

My youngest has recently started swim lessons. He is doing great; however, he is not afraid of the water at all. If he had his way we would let him loose in the water. He forgets that he has not idea how to swim. I am hoping this class teachers him how to be safe in the water, but I do not think he is paying attention enough to understand the teacher. He is so busy during the whole class trying to get out of our hands and do his own thing. He will learn eventually...I hope!!
My oldest has started private lessons because I did not think she was learning too much in group lessons. She is doing great and really learning how to swim. The techniques she has learned in just a few weeks are great. She is even practicing outside of the water. This is her 6th swim class, but the first one where she is one on one with the teacher and I think it makes all of the difference. I will definitely sign my youngest up for private sessions when he is 3. I think by that age kids are ready to learn and need more than just games to get comfortable in the water.

The summer of broken plans

I am not sure why this is, but for some reason this summer everyone makes plans with my kids and than never follow through. I actually stopped telling them what plans we had because my 3 year old would get so disappointed when the other person would not show up. It started right in the beginning of summer with someone inviting us to Longwood and the day of cancelled. Than there was the person who invited us over to swim and never followed through, which was followed by the person who asked us to meet at a park for a play date and never followed through. The final one was someone inviting us to a museum and than again NOT FOLLOWING THROUGH!!! What is the deal with people? I always try to keep my appointments in order not to disappoint the other adults children, but it seems no one has trouble disappointing my kids!! Here is the crazy thing, they were the ones inviting us! Why invite us somewhere and than not follow through? Whatever. My kids and I still have a great time together. We tend not to invite people along because I am sure they WOULD NEVER SHOW UP!!!

Sometimes life is busy

The kids are getting big. The baby is going to be one next week. We are so busy with two kids that life is flying right by us. This year has flown by us and we are in amazement that he is going to be one already. It seems like yesterday I was bringing him home from the hospital. I can say it has been an busy, but enjoyable, year for us!
Recently I have noticed that the kids, especially Kiki's, schedule/s are filling up and things we would have been able to do before, such as attend events for family members, take a backseat to the kids activities. Their activities have to come first since we pay so much money to have them in them and more importantly they enjoy them so much. Life is getting to be so busy.
I hope that the kids never get too overbooked, but I think that is sure to happen. Recently, for example, Kiki was invited to three different parties on the same day and we already accepted tickets to an event. I RSVP to one event and then had to call the mom back up to let her know that we would not be able to make it because we already accepted tickets to an event. I need to keep up with my daily planner so I do not over accept invites again.
Wish me luck as they get older and more involved in activities. I am going to need all the luck I can get.