Molly's 5th Birthday

Clearly I have not blogged in quite awhile. Wonder if anyone is even still out there...hello? Hellooooooo...

A little girl can be sweeter (and badder) oftener than anyone else in the world. she can jitter around, and stomp, and make funny noises that frazzle your nerves yet just when you open your mouth she stands there demure with that special look in her eyes. A girl is Innocence playing in the mud, Beauty standing on its head, and Motherhood dragging a doll by the foot.
-- Alan Beck

I try to post on the kids' birthdays. I missed a few, but am trying to get back on track. Tomorrow, January 19th my sweet Molly turns 5. I can hardly believe it has already been 5 years, and yet I find it difficult to remember my life before she came scratching and clawing (quite literally, actually, but I won't share that part of the story) her way into the world. 


Molly is, in a nutshell, my firecracker. She is all energy, all heart and meets each day with a vivaciousness and vigor that is exhausting to watch at times!  She lives each moment of each day to the absolute fullest.  Her enthusiasm for life is as contagious as her tears when something upsets her, she can make you laugh with her as easily as she can make you cry with her.


This year I watched Molly become a little girl, not so much a baby girl. She will tell you her favorite colors are pink and purple, she enjoys Barbie dolls, Disney Princesses, Paper Dolls, Polly Pockets and playing Mommy to her Cabbage Patch baby "Emily".   Abby enjoyed a few of these things but was never very "girlie-girlie", Molly, on the other hand seems to be finding great joy in all things "Pinkalicious".

It is so much fun to watch Molly mother her baby dolls.  She has asked me to show her the proper way to hold the bottle, change the baby's diapers and swaddle her.  I treasure these moments with my sweet girl.  At the same time that she seems to be embracing her "girlie" side she is still my strong, amazingly brave girl.  This past month she scaled a 35 foot climbing wall as a crowd grew to watch in amazement.  There is nothing this girl can't do, I am convinced, and the best part? So is she.


Molly seems to slowly be outgrowing the breathing issues.  We have only had a couple of episodes the past few months, but when it flares up I am right there to calm her, cuddle her, love her.  I try to embrace the middle of the night treatments as I know our moments when everyone else is asleep and it's just the two of us are going to become more and more rare.

Since Julio works night shift four nights a week and since the kids are only with me every other week, I let them rotate nights in my bed.  I don't let them do it all the time, but it is so very special to me to cuddle with them and listen to them breathe as they drift off to sleep.  I find myself staring at them and sneaking kisses on their cheeks as they softly slumber.


So here I sit, another birthday in the books. Time sure does fly, but I have learned to embrace and appreciate every single moment with the kids. 

What I wanted most for my daughter was that she be able to 

soar confidently in her own sky, whatever that may be.

-- Helen Claes