Tag: five

sick for her 5th

MarthaKimball3 Comments

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My giggly, happy, bright little Philippa turned 5 last Friday.  We were supposed to have grandparents, aunts and uncles over, and Philippa’s cousin BFF was going to stay for a sleepover.  But as we approached her birthday, Wren and Philippa became so sick.  Phoebe, Noah, and myself had already had some sort of sickness for about a week and I thought we were in the clear, but everyone seemed to decline so we had to cancel the birthday festivities.  Philippa was disappointed at first but she was just happy there would still be cake and presents.  We promised her we would make up the sleepover soon.

I love the children at this stage of life, how they wake up and can’t wait to dig into their presents.  Phoebe’s getting older and she’s starting to want to save presents for later in the day to make it last longer, but Philippa is young enough to feel like she’s waited long enough for presents to open.  She’s sort of a hard one to buy for because she rarely asks for anything and happily plays along with whatever everyone else has.  In the  weeks leading up to her birthday she randomly asked Brandon to make her a sword, as well as asking for a slinky.  Brandon made her a beautiful sword and she just loved it.  He made the grip to look like dragon scales and inscribed her initials near the bottom of it.  She was truly delighted.  I knit her a sweater, which she still hasn’t worn exactly, but she’s not a huge fan of sweaters.  She was still excited to see it, and I think she’ll wear it eventually. 🙂  This was the first year Phoebe and Noah wanted to give their own gifts to Philippa which was so sweet.  Noah wrote her a book and illustrated it all, what a treasure.  It’s quite originally called, The Gingerbread Man.  Phoebe bought her a new journal from the dollar spot at Target.  Paper of any sort is always on high demand at our house.  We bought her a “toothless dragon” as that has long been on her wish list.  We took a gamble and bought her a pair of rollerblades and she isn’t super into them yet, but I think with more practice she will love them.  Last year we purchased a scooter for her for Christmas and it took her a long time to really enjoy it but now she has completely worn the tires off of it.

My mom came by on her birthday morning to drop off her gifts since they wouldn’t be coming for a party, which was a fun treat for Philippa.

As the day went on, Philippa seemed to feel worse.  When Wren got up from afternoon nap she was hot and listless, and I strapped her into the ergo so I could try to frost Philippa’s cake.  But as I held her I realized her breathing was shallow and she was wheezing, so I loaded everyone up and we hurried to the doctor for help.  I felt so bad for Philippa, but she was easy going about it.  Brandon hurried home from work to pick up the other kids from the doctor, while I waited with Wren for her to respond to breathing treatments and fever reduces or the doctor said we would be admitting her.  She finally recovered enough for the doctor to feel safe sending us home.  By the time I got back a couple of hours later, Philippa also had a raging fever.  We sang her happy birthday at 9 pm and she had a little bit of cake but certainly not with much gusto.  Within a few hours she was also wheezing and needing a breathing treatment.

All in all, it was still a fun day but its hard not to be disappointed with all of the sickness and the distraction from celebrating like we usually do.  However, it’s just life with kids.  She didn’t mind as much as I did, and in the end, we’ll always remember being all so very sick for her 5th.

 

Noey’s day (5!)

MarthaKimballLeave a comment

DSC_0003 (1)DSC_0005DSC_0006DSC_0011DSC_0016DSC_0017DSC_0018DSC_0020DSC_0022DSC_0025DSC_0027DSC_0030DSC_0033DSC_0034DSC_0036DSC_0038DSC_0039DSC_0043DSC_0048DSC_0054DSC_0004DSC_0012DSC_0013DSC_0016 (1)DSC_0019DSC_0020 (1)DSC_0024DSC_0025 (1)DSC_0030 (1)DSC_0033 (1)DSC_0039 (1)DSC_0041DSC_0050DSC_0065DSC_0073DSC_0075DSC_0076DSC_0078DSC_0164DSC_0165DSC_0167Oh my sweet son.  I’m so very proud of you.  Five years old feels like a big deal and seeing you reach this milestone—one whole hand—it squeezes my heart a little bit hard.  I’m happy and excited to see you grow, but mostly just feel like I’m grasping at sand slipping through my busy fingers.  How to really not miss a moment of these fleeting days?  So often busy with necessary work, with hurdles in front of us, with decisions to be made and mundane things that preoccupy.  And then here you are, my once quiet snuggly little man child, now all long and tall and losing all that baby chub.  It’s so wonderful to have a boy in the home–all the pants with holes in the knees, the stinky boy breath, the noise and cars and the way that everything morphs into a weapon.  Also to see the special bond and understanding you have with your daddy.  The way he knows just what treats and toys will light up your world.  The way you two love to run errands together and have little pockets of man time.  It was a special memory for us all this past summer when he took just you for a long weekend to the beach to visit with your Baba and Nain.  I don’t think you’ll ever forget all the fun you had together.  This past year was the year you quietly and without fanfare asked Jesus into your heart.  Your little spirit is coming to life, delighting in Jesus, asking to pray at most meals, loving to learn about God and His Word.  Can I tell you, there really is no greater delight for a parent than to share my greatest delight with you?  To see Him at work in you, growing and shaping you.  You’re learning how to be a little gentlemen, too, with so many ladies in the house to look after and take care of.  I love to see your bond with your sisters, the way you are learning to gently care for them, to use your strength not to harm or hurt but to protect.  You take joy in being the one to hold open the door for us, and I see your delight in using your strength to serve.  We have our hurdles at times, son, of course–but

Your favorite foods are pizza (in your daddy’s footsteps), applesauce, cereal and pancakes, chips and popcorn.  You are still addicted to your dee-T (blankie) which is fine by me.  Rue the day you outgrow dee-T!  You are sensitive, careful, a tinkerer, loud and wiggly, bouncy and giggly, a lover of music (drums especially) and riding bikes.  You can’t wait to grow up and have a “real race car with a trailer behind it.”

This was maybe the most fun birthday we’ve had with you yet because you were actually excited about opening presents and didn’t mind us singing happy birthday to you since it was just us.  When you opened your playmobil “trash truck” (recycling) you said, “Yes!! Now we can go trashing all day!”  You held it up at the window for the trash men to see when they went by the next day, and they honked at you and gave a thumbs up.  It was a treat to see you build your lego airplane with daddy and I think you’re finally at the age where you really enjoy legos and playmobil.  It always surprises me how much you love your hand knits, and you wanted to put your new birthday sweater on right away.  I’m just glad it actually fit well!  You reminded me all day that you wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and that you wanted cereal for dinner.  I made spaghetti, which is another of your favorites, hoping to entice you with it, but in the end relented and let you have cereal.

I look forward to the adventures we’ll have in the coming year!  Welcoming a new baby with you as my big boy helper, spring and planting our garden, fall and your official start of school.  So many new things to come!  Your daddy and I adore you and thank God for you.  Happy 5th birthday!

Love,
Mom

five years old

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You.

With all your laughter.  With all your curiosity, your creativity.  Your huge imagination.  Your happy approach to life.

I just marvel over you.  The unexpected and undeserved gift that you are and continue to be to me, to us, to this family.  In a hundred ways, you are wild grace to me from the Lord.

You’re my first, and in basically every way, you pave the way.  That can be a hard burden to bear, my girl, but I know the Lord equipped you specifically for that role.  This year with you has been so full of change.  You seemed to have transformed slowly before our very eyes into this grown up little girl child.  Still young at heart and little, but different somehow.  This year has been both death + life to us.  In the very middle of the year, we found out about your diagnosis with Celiacs disease, which felt very much like a death sentence in some ways.  Death to whatever was normal before.  I look at everything basically though the lens of “that was before we knew,” and “this is after we found out.”  And yet, that very same month, you so quietly decided to give your heart to Jesus.  I was skeptical at first that you really understood what you were doing, but I have SEEN HIM so change you.  How can that be?  I can’t explain it.  But a huge shift happened after that, and you have been such a conduit of grace in our family since then.  I have seen Him working in your heart, I have seen you become so repentant over any sin, and such a desire for God on your own, independent of our promptings.  How can this be for a four-year-old?  I don’t know, I can’t understand it.  But it is precious.

I love the way you pray.  The way you run in at night to your sister’s room as I’m putting her to sleep, the way you run in to pray over her and to sing her “Jesus Loves Me,” and kiss her goodnight.  The way you are protective over your brother + sister, and love on them so well.  The sweet bond I see forming between all of you, even amidst the days where there is fighting and tears.

I love the way you put creatures to sleep in tiny beds all over our house and dress up in the most gawdy of outfits, layers upon layers of tutus and dresses.  I love the way you still have to start the day with snuggle time with me first, and the way you don’t really feel like the day has begun until we’ve had that time.  I love your love for books and stories.  I love the way your coloring has taken off to a whole new artistic level the past few weeks.

You are hilarious and fun and I think you are a light to everyone who knows you.  Which is why we named you Phoebe, our little ray of light.  You are my girl forever and I adore you so much.  I look so forward to all that is ahead in the year to come!

Happy 5th birthday.  Now, how ’bout those birthday spankings!?

Love
Momma