Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Blogging Through the Alphabet: D is for Daughters!

For some reason, before we had children, I always assumed we'd have all, or at least mostly, sons. I'm not sure why, but that was just a "fact" in my head. So when we first found out I was pregnant, and Rodney jokingly said that I was going to have twin boys, I replied with "boy, yes, twins, no!"

Boy was the joke on us!!! At approximately 20 weeks, we went in for our ultrasound and were rather blindsided to find out that we were having TWIN GIRLS! Even so, I didn't really trust the u/s to determine gender, especially for girls (not because I still was sure we'd have all boys, but because that whole "we don't see a penis, so it must be a girl" thing seems . . . subjective to me) so, as the pregnancy progressed, now with LOTS of ultrasounds, as the most non-invasive way to watch for some common twin complications, every time I asked them to double check that they were really girls (and we didn't tell anyone else the gender). By the end of the pregnancy, after having had PLENTY of "double checks" that they really were girls, I was pretty well convinced, and so, on March 28, 2009, we became the parents of two DAUGHTERS!!!

Six years later, on March 26, we were ready to meet another child. This time we hadn't had any ultrasounds, so didn't know the gender. I was very content with that. I loved the idea of having a boy so we'd have at least "one of each", but I also kind of liked the thought of another girl, I knew what to do with girls, I had plenty of STUFF for girls and, this baby was already going to be "different" because he/she wasn't a twin, so at least being one of "the girls" would be nice too . . . So we would have been happy either way, and were thrilled to welcome our third DAUGHTER into our family.

Life with all girls is FUN! We have plenty of pink and frills and nail polish and glitter. But they also love helping Papa with building projects and holding snakes and such, so it all balances out. Although much to Rodney's disgust, they are NOT at all interested in watching football (or baseball, or basketball) with him LOL.

So, I decided to take this "D Week" of Blogging through the Alphabet, to brag on my wonderful daughters!

I can't believe they are 10 1/2 and 4 1/2 already! They are turning into such lovely young ladies. They are full of spunk, and won't take any "guff" from anyone. But we also get frequent compliments on how well behaved, helpful, pleasant, they are.

Lexie, the "oldest", has such incredibly strong ideas about what she wants out of life. While, what she wants isn't always what I would WANT her to want, but at least I don't have to worry about her giving in to peer pressure LOL.  This has been a challenging year with her. She has all the answers and doesn't want to hear if she's wrong. But she has such a soft heart for little kids. She "melts" when Little Bit is upset about anything, and pretty much always "gives in" to any of her requests. She never.stops.talking! We've joked, since she was a toddler, that the reason we have twins was that she talks so much she "split" so she'd always have a twin to talk to, and she does (always talk to her). And if she's alone, she talks to herself.

I have to admit, I pray about this daughter a LOT . . . I see too much of me (the parts of me that I struggle with) in her some days. . . she challenges me, and worries me, but she also inspires me!

Ashlyn, will be very quick to tell you that she is ONLY 4 minutes younger AND if they'd been delivered c-section, SHE would be the oldest. And she's right . . . when they were babies, I read somewhere, advice from a mom of multiples to NEVER say one was "older", and for awhile I tried to do that, but I got SOO tired of people just NOT letting it go . . . they'd ask who's the oldest, and I'd say "they're the same age" and they would say "but who was born first?" and STILL wouldn't drop it, even when I said "that doesn't matter", so I gave up, and just answered the question, and now, yes, it's an annoyance to the girls (so tip-of-the-day: Do NOT ask twins, or their parents, who's oldest, it's an idiotic question!). Ashlyn is my perfectionist. She gets sooo frustrated with herself if she can't do everything perfectly. Whereas Lexie rushes through most school work, Ashlyn moves through it painfully slow, making sure to do it as thoroughly and perfectly as possible. She thinks everything to death! She craves alone time with Mommy to the nth degree. The preschooler who begged to come with me to the grocery store, when Daddy was home so she didn't HAVE to come with me, for once, will still sometimes choose to run errands with me, just for the time with me. The "reward" of a "date" with Mommy will motivate her more than anything else. She blossoms under praise, and needs it CONSTANTLY. She wilts under the slightest criticism, no matter how deserved . . . I still struggle with that mightily . . . She still mothers her dolls, and enjoys playing "mommy baby" type games with Little Bit.

And then there's Little Bit. Such a spit-fire! When I was pregnant with her, I said that this baby was going to have to either be SUPER laid back, so much so that s/he didn't mind big sisters walking all over him/her, or SUPER strong-willed to successfully stand up to his/her sisters. And, we definitely got the later. She holds her own quite well against her big sisters. She is my "feeler". She has a natural empathy that her sisters (and I) do NOT have. If someone is sad and upset, she cannot bear to leave them alone, even if one of her sisters is upset because of consequences that resulted from them doing something mean to HER. She's bossy and loving and full of life! I often thank God for allowing me this baby that I waited so long for . . . she is so different from her sisters, and so very, very special!

So those are my daughters. They challenge me, but they also inspire me and I am so blessed to have each of them in my life!

Blogging Through the Alphabet

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