Augusta is Growing Up

 It has been awhile since I've watched my babies outgrown baby-related things, but noticing that our littlest baby has stopped sucking her thumb lately is shaking me quite a bit.  I thought she would suck her thumb for quite awhile longer.  It never has bothered me.  I know there are concerns, mainly with teeth, and also speech, but I've heard from many moms and even adults who have experienced their children (or themselves) thumb sucking that lasted into older years.  

Augusta gets stricken with a cough about once or twice a year.  I attribute it to allergies, because I feel the same symptoms when it starts up for her.  Keane reminds her often the germs she is putting in her mouth by sucking her thumb, and has encouraged her to refrain from it as much.  It was like an overnight change that our little girl who literally has eaten candy she FOUND ON THE GYM FLOOR has become quite literally a germaphobe and is washing her hands constantly -- and also not sucking her thumb.  She had been sucking her thumbs more or less only when she was sleepy or needing comforting, and it is always in conjunction with holding her beloved blankie.  

Can I take a moment to tear up and let my Momma heart feel what might be the last of our "baby" things coming to an end?

I am so proud of how much she has grown up, but I have been constantly taking notice of the changes I see in her lately.  

She begs me constantly to let her play on my phone or an extra old phone we have loaded with games, but she has a tendency to become extremely enveloped in anything screen-related, so the answer is usually no.  So instead she still plays, and I love that.  She still plays with all of her many Paw Patrol toys.  Or she'll play with her new Gabby's Dollhouse.  Or her Bluey house.  She will get her marble run out or the Magna-Tiles.  She is so creative and I just adore watching her play while she still does.  I know that this too will end soon, so I'm soaking it up.

Augusta loves all things rainbow, and "golden."  She wants to be a rich girl when she grows up.  She wants to be a teacher, a ballerina teacher, and a vet, also while having a family.  We think she would be an amazing engineer or designer, and I think she'd have an interest in interior designing or an interest in real estate because she has an almost obsession with "seeing inside" people's houses.

The girls pretty much watch Full House on repeat right now, and sometimes Augusta will watch Gabby's Dollhouse, but Farrah doesn't agree, so they usually stick to Full House.

Augusta's "every day activity after school" is eating a bowl of cereal, either Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Reese's Puffs.  She really wants Fruity Pebbles, but we have casted out all (or most) foods with dye, especially red.  She has such a tendency to want sweets, but we have really worked hard to cut it out most of the time.

She is doing amazing in school, and is rocking her spelling tests and Rocket Math tests, and has picked up on so much.  She reads almost fluently now!  It started with her reading our entire hard copy of Dick and Jane, and now she reads any and all of her library books. 

We are so proud of all of our kids, but I needed to document this big change in Augusta, since I have written the least about her since I haven't been keeping up like I used to!

Summer Fun

 

I am very thankful for having a month off work each summer.  I don't take that opportunity lightly by any means.  I feel it is my duty to fill that month with a lot of family time, fun, and some mindfulness.  I probably should fill it with more cleaning and organizing, but I save that for later.

This summer started out a bit cruddy.  I had to have a bowel resection surgery the day before my official summer break began due to Crohn's Disease I was recently diagnosed with.  I was in the hospital for two nights, and then was sent home only to get worse over the next several days and over the 4th of July holiday to find out my hemoglobin levels were dangerously low and I needed a blood transfusion.  After that, I was able to heal and feel a lot better and enjoyed the remainder of June the best I could.

I had made a July "bucket list" of some things I would like to do.  These are the ones we got done:

Hair cuts!

Kylie has had the longest hair for quite some time, and Keane and I often let her know it would still be beautiful if she could cut some of it off, and this summer she agreed to!  She was so nervous, until the cut finally happened, and she was extremely happy with it!

Augusta, like Kylie, loves her long hair so was not ready to have much changed with it, but we got her first ever hair trim and she was so proud of it!

Farrah decided to cut her hair short and she was begging to get bangs again - and man, can she rock this hair cut!

I also got my hair cut back to a shorter length, which I loved the medium length it was at, but didn't want it to keep growing beyond that.

Berry Picking:

For the last couple of summers, I have picked blueberries at a blueberry farm nearby.  Sometimes it is extremely warm, but this year we ended up going on a stormy-like day and it was so perfect.  My mom came with me, Farrah, and Augusta, and the girls helped picked nonstop for over thirty minutes straight.  It is almost relaxing to just do nothing but pick.  And then you're blessed with the most delicious fruit!

 

Park: 

I hope to take the girls to the park when the weather cools down a little, but cousin Julie took them to the park across from her house when we visited Lindsay and Lunden while they were home!

Play Date:

Miranda invited Farrah over to play with her best friend, Brenlynn, one day this summer and she also said Augusta and I were invited also, so she had some things planned for them to play (reusable water balloons, a slip-in-slide obstacle course, canvas painting)!  Then, Miranda babysat the girls on my first day back to work, so we'll consider that a playdate too and I have photos from that day!

Swimming:

Me and the littles were able to spend a couple of days swimming at our neighbor's pool while they were on vacation (and Kylie was with them) and we took care of their pets.  We had a lot of fun going down the slide and spending too much time in the sun.  Then on the last day of my summer vacation, another neighbor and friend of mine, Allie, invited me and the girls to join her and her kiddos at the Vandalia pool!

Lake of the Ozarks!

We had this one planned for quite awhile - to spend a weekend at Uncle Dana and Aunt Michelle's lake house.  I took the kids go-karting when we first got to the lake, and Keane arrived the morning after.  They took us on a couple pontoon boat rides, we swam off their dock, they kept us nicely fed, and we also went out to eat at Mexican before we left on Sunday.  Then we got an Old Time Family Photo done!

Fireworks (of course!):

I was unable to attend the 4th of July parade and activities as I was not feeling well after surgery, but Keane and the kids went.  It's always very hot, so they didn't stay long, but Nana had found a turtle the day before for the turtle race, and Kaden looked hard and found a frog also!  I think the frog got 2nd and I'm not sure the turtle placed.  That evening, we all went to Laddonia to watch the fireworks, and they were beautiful as always!

Beach:

We don't often go to our semi-local beach at Mark Twain since we have our own lake to swim at home, but one afternoon, Kylie, Farrah, Augusta, and I headed to the beach to check out the waves and the sand, and we had a really good time.  We then stopped by and fed the fish and got some yummy food (to go) at the marina.

Parade:

As I mentioned early, I was not able to attend the 4th of July parade, so I made the effort to go to the Montgomery County fair parade.  I used to always try taking Kaden and Kylie to this although it was always hard to work around their summer ball schedules, and we even sat in the same spot.  We got so much candy!  Then the big kids went back that evening and another evening to hang out at the fair and ride some carnival rides with their friends and Kylie's boyfriend, Chase.  

Paint Rocks: 

I intended to find rocks and let the girls paint them, but then Farrah got a rock painting kit from a friend for her birthday, so they painted several of the rocks that came in that set!  (And then I never know what to do with the rocks...)  I need to make a fairy garden for them to add stuff to like that.  

Ceramic Shoppe:

An old pharmacy building was turned into a ceramic shop and while Lindsay and Lunden were home, we checked it out.  It was a lot of fun!  I could pick up the items two weekends later so I had to mail Lunden's dinosaur to him, but Farrah and Augusta painted unicorn nightlights, I painted a little pottery container with a lid, and Lindsay painted a cross box with a lid for her momma.

Movie Theater:

I had hoped to go to a drive-in theater but kid shows weren't showing, and cooler weather would probably be best anyway.  Instead, we went to Fulton afternoon matinee and Keane and I watched Where the Crawdads Sing (loved the book, also loved the movie) and Kylie, Farrah, and Augusta watched a Minions movie.  Then we got Mexican for lunch!

Homemade Pizza:

This was on my list but I kept putting it off because it requires a good list of ingredients, but one day Keane and I went to Bowling Green to pick up some things and together we got some amazing ingredients for pizza like better sauce than I usually get and extra toppings like banana peppers and Imo's cheese, mmmm!  The kids make individual pizzas using biscuits they flatten out, and Keane grilled one of our two pizzas on the smoker grill, and it turned out really good.

Slip & Slide:

Farrah (and Augusta) did this with her friends at her birthday party so I called that good and checked this one off our list.

Ride Carousel:

I had a couple of follow-up doctor appointments so I incorporated riding the carousel into one of these days and invited my friend, Allie, to come along since her kids were out of town with their grandparents.  This is always such a fun and easy thing to do with the kiddos!

Catch Lightening Bugs:

In the beginning of the summer, lightening bugs are e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e. and this year, Farrah and Augusta were dominating at catching lightening bus.  They would literally come back to the deck with three or so lightening bugs in their hands, each!  We would put them in a jar, they would bring them in for the night, and we would let them go early the next morning.  One evening, Keane, Farrah, and I took a trip up the road to check some cattle, and we parked the side by side and just watched the masses of twinkling fireflies light up in the pastures - a sight I could never get tired of.  Farrah got to sit on top of the side by side, and she absolutely loved that!

We also added another one that wasn't on our list - Ear Piercing!

Augusta asked to get her ears pierced and I tried to put it off.  I wasn't quite ready, and I didn't feel she was.  But then she excitedly asked me the very next morning if that was the day she gets her ears pierced, so I started considering it.  I almost took her to a tattoo / piercing parlor, but I chickened out, and instead, we went to Claire's.  Augusta was so brave.  She really wanted "big" earrings, but settled for some teal ones that were the biggest on the list of earrings suggested.  She jumped big time when the two ladies squeezed their triggers, but she didn't even cry!  Then Kylie got her second piercings in her ears, and Augusta was quick to tell her that it would only hurt right when it happened, but by the time we leave the store, it won't hurt anymore.  Kylie anticipated a lot more pain than she said it ended up being.  The two brave girls and Farrah got to pick out a couple items at Claire's which included a rainbow pop-it purse and makeup compact for Augusta, earrings and stick-on nails for Farrah, and some hoop earrings for Kylie.

Some of the things that didn't get checked off, will be moving to a Fall Bucket List!  As I head back to work, I am forever grateful for the time I was off during the month of June, making bacon and eggs or BLTs for my husband each mid-morning, letting our chickens out, riding with Keane around the farm in the side by side, watching movies, and so much more!  Augusta wanted to pick out her outfit to where to Miranda's on my first day back to work, and she wanted a "rock & roll" outfit but wanted to pick out a shirt that said "don't miss mommy." My heart constantly feels like it's exploding lately with all the little sweet comments she makes. 

Augusta calls skunks "stunks" and wasps "waps." She also says "stinky winky pigs" when we smell something stinky. She told me I'm the best mommy, and compliments don't come quick and plentiful from that girl.