Happy 3 months sweet pea! Want to try
a. potty training
b. dressing yourself
c. entertaining yourself
d. feeding yourself
e. communicating all of your needs
or
f. none of the above
haha…silly mommy! You have AT LEAST 2.5 more years of diaper duties! My answer is F. NONE OF THE ABOVE!!!
Just got a little ahead of myself for a moment…oh Phoebe…
For my friend Stephanie…I think you can relate
‘some houses try to hide the fact that children shelter there
ours boasts of it quite openly, the signs are everywhere
for smears are on the windows
little smudges on the doors
I should apologize I guess for toys strewn on the floor
but I sat down with the children
and we played and laughed and read
and if the doorbell doesn’t shine
their eyes will shine instead
For when at times I am forced to choose
the one job or the other
I like to be a housewife
but I love to be a mother’
Author Unknown
I was so excited when Miss Cecilia woke up at 5 am this morning! I ran up stairs, got her out of her crib, changed her little diaper, pulled down the covers on the spare bed and we climbed on in! We snuggled up so tight to one another. I thought I was going to try and go back to sleep, but she is so cute I just wanted to watch her. She is doing so many new things right now; she has been cooing and ahhing a lot lately…we are having our own private ooh and aah conversation
she has been bringing her hand up to her head – when she does this it looks as if she is carrying the weight of the world on her little 2.5 month old shoulders
she is locking eyes with me…so we are really ‘gazing’ into one another’s eyes right now, and she is beginning the belly laugh stage…so I find myself doing the strangest things in order to make her giggle.
Baby love.
I am knee deep in it folks!
So in love with Miss Cecilia!
She is YUMMY GOODNESS!!!
I am itching to get my hands into something…
yesterday afternoon I took the girls to the park. We sat out in the sun, had a picnic, played with toys and managed to snap some photos. It was a great day.
I was really looking forward to knitting last night, but someone was SUPER hungry. By the time I finally got Miss Cecilia to sleep, I was too tired to knit.
I did get a chance to dump my pix on the comp. I was anxious to see if there were any goodies in the bunch…and there were a few.
Here we are on Thursday and once again I am in a mad rush to ‘stick to the schedule’.
Laundry…check.
Kitchen…check.
Vacuum and girls rooms…check, check.
Dusting…check.
Clean clothes put away…ha!
The one thing that holds me up every single time…actually putting away clean clothes. I don’t mind laundry. I don’t mind folding. It’s the putting away part that bugs me so much.
All the toys have been put away and everything for the next 4 hours will remain in it’s place. By 3 o’clock, everything will be pulled out again, food on the floor and naked dolls strewn about once again.
By the time we get ready for bed, I will be looking at my house and wondering what I did all day?
Miss Phoebe enjoying her lunch outside. I hope the girls remember these picnics because in a month or so they will be non-existent.
Letting mommy take advantage of her ‘stillness’. And below miss Cecilia is taking her afternoon catnap…she enjoys being warmed by the suns rays!
I am so stirred up inside.
I have a lot to do and find myself getting overwhelmed by the amount that is on my plate. Balancing ‘have to’s’ with ‘want to’s’. It’s tough. I need to remind myself to calm down and ‘live in the moment’!
BREATH!
Hula girl…she is pretty awesome with that thing!
AND that pretty much concludes my post on this dreary Thursday afternoon…I have lots to do today!!!
Busy, busy, busy!!!
I am desperately trying to put off fall removal at our house.
I do a spring cleaning and a ‘fall remov-ALL‘…every room in this house is jam packed with STUFF we can’t use either because of the season or someone is growing or I didn’t like that particular basket under the table and had to replace it and now I don’t know what to do with this basket so I am going to hide it in the closet ‘STUFF’.
So I am procrastinating in the only way I know how…by exploring my yarns and trying to decide whose next in line for a fall hat…
oh the textures, the detail of the colors and the softness of the yarns…
begging me to get out my knitting needles and ‘come play with us’ instead of housework
my friend Stephanie is quite the artist…very inspiring.
She always tells me to feed my soul.
well my soul is VERY HUNGRY this season and desperately wants to knit and take pictures and take the kids outside and go on long walks, grill out, listen to the band Beach Fossils really loud, dance with my kids in our living room, drink a beer, eat salted peanuts, have long talks with my husband, surround myself with good people …
I have been noticing a lot lately…there are two kinds of people in this world
1. people who make you feel great about yourself. People who make you feel like no matter what you do, it’s the right thing to do or that you are capable when you doubt yourself. Positive people. People who accept you for the crazy zany sensitive person you are.
and the other kind
2. people who make you feel ‘not-so-great-about-yourself’. The people who make you feel that no matter what you do, they could have done it better. People that point out your mistakes ALL THE TIME. People who seem to constantly want you to change and adopt their ways of life, because they are the real ‘happy’ ones. Negative people.
My soul is hungry for the first kind of people…of the positive persuasion. Cheers to those individuals who really love life and enjoy bringing other people up instead of down!
I can’t wait to dive into my pile of beautiful, bright, highly textured yarns…
I’M FEEDING MY SOUL
oh we had a blast in Michigan with our relatives!
AND
it was absolutely beautiful!
Fall truly inspires me to get more in touch with my creative side. I was inspired by my surroundings and made a conscious effort to take snapshots of some of the things that were inspiring to me.
the sweetness of life
overlooked angles
long forever winding roads
red leaves
solitary winding paths
falling sticks and leaves
toys spread out on the floor
the sky peeking through the branches and leaves of trees
the textures of everyday life
empty swings hanging from a tree begging to be used
sweet little feet
bright orange leaves against a bright blue sky
Brilliant and vibrant oranges, yellows, greens and browns
leaves on the ground lining the sidewalks
naked dogs wearing tutu’s around their necks…
my beautiful children having a blast outside in an enormous leaf pile created by Grandpa
beautiful sweet smelling sleeping babies…taking long afternoon catnaps
These are just a few things I am inspired by in this wonderful season!!!
AUGH we made it through the week! Abby loves her boots and so do I! Great purchase!!!
We all ventured out to show our support for Phoebe. She needed a flu shot. It has been a while since she has had a shot. I was a little worried. She had her temperature taken and the nurse was ready right when we arrived with the shot…she stuck the needle in Phoebe’s leg and I am looking at her waiting for her to object and …nothing. No whimper, no tears, no anything. She really took me by surprise. She did give the nurse a look that kind of made me laugh…it reminded me of my brother JB, he has this priceless look he gives when he thinks you’ve said something absurd. It’s almost like he’s getting ready to smile – pulling up one corner of his mouth and crinkling his brow…that’s the look my little girl gave this nurse today! It was almost as if she was saying to the nurse, “that’s all you got?” OR “WTH? I thought we were pals?”…the look could have gone either way. Whatever she was thinking…she was pretty darn cute! I have to say AGAIN, I did not expect her to be so freakin cool about it. She’s such a rock star!
I have been cleaning, laundering and packing today…we are headed up to Michigan for some R&R with Greg’s family and friends! It’s always fun to visit the people you love and don’t get to see very often. Greg’s brother’s family hasn’t met Cecilia yet. I am excited for her to meet her Aunt, Uncle and cousins.
I am always worried about the kids sleeping patterns when we go somewhere. It can never be ‘easy’. We are never able to carry over our good sleeping habits when we go away from home, for whatever reason. I tend to think it’s because we aren’t in our natural environment…the sounds in another home are different and probably my worrying about it only makes it worse.
I am excited about the 12 hours in the car…knitting projects, eek!!! So I am taking along a lot of yarns I think Miss Cecilia would look good in…she needs a nice fall hat.
I am loving this fall weather and I am chomping at the bit to take my camera up north!!! I know their colors have got to be insane right now!!!
AND on a more serious note, sometimes I think about the right way to introduce Cecilia to other people…I know what others will say…’there is no right way’ or ‘how ever you want to do it will be the ‘right’ way’.
But it has been on my mind a lot.
On the one hand, I am so proud of her that in the beginning I would just blurt it out, as sort of ‘by the way’ kind of thing. I quickly found out that approach really made people feel uncomfortable. AND by ‘uncomfortable’ I mean they weren’t exactly sure how to respond…I am sure it seemed like I was ‘in denial’ by the way I simply stated it as fact with a smile on my face.
I know ‘who cares what other people think’ but if I don’t mention it, does it mean I am hiding it or embarrassed by her?
I prepped my dentist the other day by saying ‘we are so happy and proud and I don’t want to make you feel awkward, but sweet Cecilia has Down syndrome’.
Some people I just want to tell because I hope 1. they will say something inspiring and insightful and potentially life altering and 2. they will say, congratulations, she is beautiful and she will bring many gifts to your family’. Luckily my dentist proved to be one of those inspiring and insightful people…as did my hairdresser.
Who knew? But I think I have decided, at least for now, not to tell people…just for a little while. Writing that just now, made me feel like I was ‘coping out’ or lying or…I don’t know. It felt dishonest and I don’t want to be dishonest. I think if I am with the other person, in the middle of a conversation and I want or feel let sharing with the other person, then I will.
I have read some horror stories about newbies (new parents) breaking the news about their baby and having to deal with off the wall comments some individuals make. I don’t think I can handle something like that right now. If it happens to me, I hope I can be the kind of parent who will educate and have sensitivity about the issue, be mature – at least for my children.
I feel on the one hand, If I get upset in front of Abby and Phoebe, it will be a source of tension and embarrassment in our household…and I definitely don’t want to send that message.
BUT if I show tolerance and patience and work to educate people, hopefully Abby and Phoebe will see that and try to emulate that in their own lives as they grow.
Sweet sweet girl. so sleepy! When I look at her all she wants is to be held, changed, cuddled, fed, kissed and talked to. So simple. So complex. So beautiful, sweet and powerful.
Wow, for a Friday this post really became HEAVY!!! Happy weekend!!
There’s a reason for the phrase ‘retail therapy’.
I am one of the reasons that phrase exists.
My motto in life: If your sad get your nails done, color/cut your hair, buy a new shirt, pants and pair of shoes. Voila…instant gratification’! I went on a mini spree today not knowing what I was looking for, but finding EXACTLY what I was looking for.
Nice! I love it when that happens! Cause it usually doesn’t happen with me.
After we rushed the girls off to their MDO program, Miss Cecilia and I went looking for clothes for Abby…being the oldest and tallest and with the weather forever changing, she is in constant need.
BUT today ended up being more about mommy than Abby.
I am ok with that!
Although I did purchase her some rockin cowgirl boots! So excited! She really has her very own style.
About a year ago, I chopped all of her hair off revealing the knock out face and she really got into wearing princess dresses…really dresses of any kind. I must say, she’s a girl who knows just what she likes!
But like I wrote, today was all about MOMMA!!! I haven’t bought myself anything due to the ‘in-between’ sizes…BUT I am drowning in my pregnancy clothes and my pre-pregnancy clothes are still VERY SNUG!!
So, Jeans and some new lotion to the rescue!!! Also…and this is a key piece of the puzzle…today I visited one of my most favorite stores…
I have to backtrack…
one year ago I was doing some Christmas shopping in Pigeon Forge. I came across the most amazing puffer vest I have ever laid eyes on…with cool little toggles. The vest was destined to be mine…ALL MINE!!! But because it was the season of ‘giving’ I couldn’t really justify ‘giving’ myself a hefty $85 dollar gift.
I was sad…and have thought about my decision the whole year….REGRETTING every minute of it.
Fast forward to my amazing shopping experience today…I visited one of my most favorite store, the same one from Christmas and there before my very eyes was the puffer vest…AND it was on SALE!!!!! MINE!!! That’s all I can say!!! EEK!!! Very exciting to have something new!
I feel much better. I sure wish my retail ‘partner in crime’ was with me!!! We can really tear it up can’t we girl! You know who you are! Missed you today Jana!!!
Sweet Sassy Abby in her princess dress talking with Cecilia…
I love to peak on my girls when they are sleeping. They each look so different to me. And now I am going to let my freak flag fly high, I really love to get down close to their faces and smell their breaths.
Looking at Abby, I feel as if I get a glimpse of what she will look like three years from now. Her beautiful lily white skin with her pink cheeks and those full naturally red lips…so delicate yet so in your face.
I am able to see he with her mouth closed at least once during the day. Definitely a rare moment in this house. This little girl loves life. She explores her environment with everything she has. She touches everything, brings things to her nose so she can breathe in their inherent goodness, she is almost willing to taste any food at least once assuming her daddy and I aren’t pestering her to eat it, and she watches very intently with those beautiful blue eyes, and unfortunately for the two adults in the house she HEARS everything!
We have begun catching Howard Stern reruns at night. the phrase that best suits Abby is this: she wakes up talking and doesn’t stop until she falls asleep. The truth is, I am envious of her zest and energy for life. I could use more of that!
Then there’s Phoebe. Right from the start this little girl has been a great sleeper. Greg and I used to joke that she slept the firstyear of her life away. It certainly felt like it anyway. She sleeps exactly how she lives..purposefully and with her whole body! she is beautiful in every way.
Physically she had me in the palm of her hand with her cuddly little body, her sweet round face, those enormous hazel/green eyes, big red poutty lips and sweet pink cheeks.
I have a saying about all of our kids that deals with old school real sugar bubble gum and chewing them on my back teeth to get all those yummy flavors out…really letting the freak flag fly now! She has a sweet sensitive side about her…she really tries to savor things.
For instance, in the morning she wants to hang on just a little bit longer to the early morning hug, before life gets too busy, she really enjoys food and will linger around before and after mealtime to make sure she has sampled everything on the menu, she breaks down at the slightest raise in pitch when communicating with her, she’s careful and deliberate in her choices and if you give her space to let her make her own decisions, she’ll love you with everything she’s got!
Sweet Cecilia…the third girl. The baby sister.
The new ‘squeaker beeker’…she squeeks just like her big sister Phoebe did. Her arms are out from her body as are her little legs…it looks almost as if she might melt into the mattress. Mouth wide open with that sweet baby breath.
She longs to be held, cuddled, cooed to, sung to. Recently she’s all about smiling and laughing. Just another way she is making me fall in love with her!
I love my sleeping babies!
It is Distraction Wednesday at the Spranger house.
I have so many things to get done today, but I am in my usual 2 p.m. funk…my ‘I desperately need another cup of coffee’ funk.
Mid-day I always find myself getting tired and feeling as if I could immediately fall asleep if I laid my head down on a pillow. BUT I cannot. It is hump day Wednesday in the Spranger house.
Phoebe our middle child who is a month shy of turning 2 receives speech therapy through Tennessee Early Intervention. We are beginning to combine her therapies with her new baby sister Cecilia. At our house today we have had her home speech therapist (whom we love!!!) at our house by 9 am working with Phoebe for 45 minutes following with Cecilia for another 45 minutes.
Then our Service Coordinator (also whom we love!!!) came by for a 6 month review for Phoebe and a review change for Cecilia at 12 noon. During both visits, Abby, who is also one month shy of turning 5 made several attempts ‘to get away’ with various things she knows I will disapprove of: standing on the end table of our couch, standing on the couch, hiding behind the plant, rough housing with Phoebe, being loud and generally avoiding any instruction I give.
I know the problem can either be one of two things or quite possibly both…1. I am not focusing all of my attention on her and/or 2. she may be bored.
Maybe here is where I need to mention we are homeschooling Abby. Again she is only 4, wasn’t old enough for Kindergarten anyway…and obviously didn’t make the cut-off time. I have been ‘schooling’ her since the age of 3…working on our colors, letters, shapes and talking about emotions.
During the spring and Summer we focused on phonics instruction and learning how to read as well as Kindergarten Math. She has been doing great…it was an everyday event and she was soaring.
Now, since Cecilia has joined our little family and Abby and Phoebe are attending a MDO (Moms Day Out) program, Cecilia has a lot of appointments I feel as if homeschooling is unfairly put on the back burner.
There are those days where everything goes smoothly: I wake up before the kids, go for an early morning run, stretch, shower, have a cup of coffee, watch the news, greet sleepy faces, have everyone fed, dressed and groomed by 8:30…and the rest of the day goes just as smoothly. And for the most part, I am thinking to myself, “I can do this…I can do this everyday!”
Unfortunately those special days usually fall on a Friday…just as the week is coming to a close. Mondays are always hairy, Tuesday’s it’s a race to get the kids out the door and Phoebe has speech therapy in the afternoons, Wednesday’s everything is put on hold for the morning therapy sessions, Thursday’s again is a race to get the kids to MDO as well as to Phoebe’s speech therapy and then Abby has Ballet at 5 pm. Friday also known as ‘Free Day’ no appointments or anything to rush off to.
I know the weekends are coming so I am much more relaxed.
Why can’t everyday be like Friday?
I know I need to ‘rethink’ the whole homeschooling issue due to everything Miss Cecilia is going to need but Abby is doing so great I have a hard time letting go. People keep telling me ‘I won’t be able to homeschool given our current conditions’. A statement which may be more of a reality than I care to admit, the statement itself really gets under my skin…other people telling me what I CAN or CAN’T do, WILL or WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DO….It’s always been an issue with me.
It’s very limiting and I don’t do well with limits. I prefer people just be quietly supportive and let me figure things out on my own rather than tell me how ‘they believe’ I should live my life.
I am a 34-year-old woman capable of asking for advice if I need it. Maybe I leave myself open to other’s comments and opinions….maybe I appear to be out of control and in sore need of someone’s ‘guidance’. Whatever. I am feeling ‘glass is half empty’ today.
And before I know it, it is night-time. I have just fed Cecilia. Abby and Phoebe both had baths, hair washed, dried and BRUSHED, smelling sweet and sleeping in their footed pajamas that show off their big dinner bellies.
I have a moment to reflect on the busyness of the day. I look at some of the pictures I was able to capture throughout the day.
Life is not as hectic as it seems. Yes, sometimes we are rushing from one thing to another, sometimes we listen better than others, and sometimes DISTRACTIONS are a daily reality…but we are all happy, healthy, have a solid roof over our heads and most importantly we are all together.
Tomorrow will be a better day!!!
Here are some pictures of our ‘Distraction Wednesday’
Here, Cecilia is paying homage to the Sun Gods…she’s my kind of gal!
I met my husband Gregory Kenneth in 2003 in northeastern Tennessee. We were both working for a small private college. He was a Professor in Computer Science and I was an Assistant Director for an Arts Outreach Program. We were the only two SINGLE people younger than 30 in the small rural bible belt town.
Luckily we hit it off and ended up glued at the hip, despite our default status.
Our first date was pretty amazing…I convinced him to ride along in my jeep Cherokee for 45 minutes of real mountain driving, otherwise known as BACKROADS!
I am a shoulder hugger which doesn’t sit well with middle-of-the-road drivers like Gregory Kenneth. I wanted to take him to the Smokey Mountain Brewery in Gatlinburg, TN.
Driving in a car for 45 minutes with someone you have never spoken with could have been nerve-racking. But from the moment he opened the car door, I felt completely at ease. We didn’t stop talking until he was safely returned to his Jeep 4.5 hours later. We had beer and apps, we listened to some great music, walked along the streets in downtown Gatlinburg, and stopped at an arcade so I could ‘school’ him on a civil game of air hockey.
I WON of course!
He doesn’t remember it that way, but when it comes to air hockey, I always win!
A year and a half later we eloped on April 1, 2004 in the oldest courthouse in Tennessee. Afterwards we ate crab cakes, fried green tomatoes and sipped on cold chardonnay in a quaint little restaurant. Greg paid the bill and we were on our way. Until the nice waitress ran after us to hand me the marriage certificate I had forgotten at the table. …and I headed back to my part-time job as a front desk clerk in a hotel.
Thus began the quirky story of our little family. After a year of marriage, we decided we were ready to grow our little family. A dog was the perfect addition to our family and would allow us to practice our parenting skills. We decided on a Golden Retriever puppy and chose the name Bear (due to the abnormally large size of his butt in comparison with the rest of his tiny furry body).
In 2004, I began a Master’s program for Early Childhood Education at ETSU. I was two classes shy of my degree when my husband applied and received a position at a state college in northwestern Nebraska. Yet another small rural town.
What is it about us and small rural towns?
We were interested in an adventure, so we packed up and moved across the country. 
He was loving life in his new position and after a semester of teaching Kindergarten, I found a job that suited my degree and goals a little bit better…a Director of an Early Childhood Program.
We were fitting in so well into our new surroundings, getting to know everyone in our small town, visiting the park 2 blocks from our house and our New Year tradition of visiting Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
It was in this rural northwestern Nebraska town that we welcomed our first daughter Abigail Leigh on November 6, 2006. We were smitten, nervous, anxious, protective and overwhelmed with love right from the start.
After Abby was born I had a strong desire to stay home with her. So, Greg went into the computer industry…which meant he was going to travel, sometimes for weeks at a time.
For a year, our little one car Subaru Forester, family drove together to take daddy to the airport sending him off to the big world only to pick him up a week later. It was an hour and a half trip one way. We wanted another child and were quickly growing out of our 950 square foot home as well as my coveted Subaru Forester.
We ditched the cool urban car and went for the mini-van. We searched the area for new homes, but decided with the amount of travel Greg was committed to, we would move closer to my family until we could find out ‘where’ we wanted to live.
Our first rental in TN was in a growing city in northeastern TN. The neighborhood was a little scary and the house was ok. Not completely desirable, but it was a step in a direction. 2 months after moving, I was pregnant with our second child…another girl.
On November 5, 2009 we welcomed our second baby girl, Phoebe June Spranger.
Our little family was getting a little bit bigger and I was hormonal and growing impatient with our living situation.
My mother had a condo in a neighboring town that was rather large and currently unoccupied, so I persuaded her to let us rent it for a small fee and promised I would make small repairs on the home so she might have better luck selling in the future.
I think now might be a good time to mention I grew up in this condo…all the way from 5th grade to senior year in High School. Here we are, my husband, dog and two daughters living in the home I grew up in.
Low and behold, 8 months after moving in I found I was pregnant yet again.
On July 29th, 2011 Greg, Abby, Phoebe and I ….and Bear, welcomed Cecilia Rae Spranger into the world. Our third girl. I had always hoped for 3 girls…and now my dream was complete…
or so I thought.
6 hours after Cecilia Rae was born we were told the on site pediatrician who was observing her suspected she might have Down syndrome.
My body felt like a furnace that had just been lit. Heat began to rise in my body from my feet all the way to the top of my head.
In the hours/days that followed I came to know what the definition of ‘marriage’ meant to me.
The pediatricians suspicions were correct, she did have Down syndrome. I have shared her birth story in another post, but for now…2 months 1 week and 5 days later I am completely consumed with love for this beautiful little girl who continues to surprise us with her development and her emerging personality everyday.
We are SLOWLY getting into our groove as a family of three beautiful, happy and healthy little girls.