My life as a SAHM

Happy anniversary

2005-06-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our 8th anniversary. I can't believe it's been that long already. The time has gone by so quickly. My Grandma Gilbertson called. I was really surprised since we don't have a great relationship. I think she's really trying though. I ended up having to call her back since Curtis hung up on her. UUUGGHHHHH!!!! He loves playing with the phone and won't listen when I tell him to stop. My Grandma and Grandpa Robins called too. It was so good to talk to them. I haven't seen them since Honey Joy's funeral. I hate being so far away from my family. We've always been so close that it's hard not to see them.

That was about it for our anniversary. We did eat out alone over the week-end since mom and dad were here to watch the kids. It was the first time we've been anywhere alons since before Jenea was born, so that was nice. I really missed them though. They had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa though. They always spoil them rotten.

Memorial week-end

2005-05-31T16:37:00.000-07:00

My parents were able to come this week-end, so that was nice. We hadn't seen them since February. They wanted to make sure they were here for Jenea's dedication on Sunday. I really wanted my Grandpa to come, but apparently me and my kids aren't special enough to warrent a trip over. I was really upset. Grandpa has participated in every one of his grandkids and great-grandkids dedications until now. Jenea is the only one he wasn't part of. THe dedication itself was great though, so it was his loss.

The rest of the day pretty well stunk. We had my parents, Brian's parents, and his Uncle Bob over for a barbecue. His mom was in a terrible mood. The deck that Brian worked so hard on didn't look good enough, she hated our church, we didn't eat early enough, Brian didn't clean the table well enough, Curtis was too noisy, Jenea was too cranky, I didn't have all the right condiments, etc . . . THe list of complaints was endless. I just can't handle being around that woman. Nothing is ever good enough for her.

And to make my week-end even worse, I went shopping for some jeans. I am SO much bigger than I have ever been in my life. I can't stand looking at myself in the mirror. I disgust myself. So far my attempt at a diet is doing no good. I've lost no weight even though I am eating almost nothing most days. This really stinks. I just don't know how much of this I can handle before I try something more serious.

Being me

2005-05-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

Fat, ugly cow. That's what I am. I'm so tired of it. I am just starting a diet, and I'm so bad at it. I'm afraid I'll slip back into the anorexic type eating habits. I've never tried a real diet. The scary part is, at times I want to just stop eating again. At least then I'll lose the weight. I weigh more now than wnen I was full-term with Jenea. It's been so tempting. I hate the way I look, and I know that would fix the weight issue. Of course, it won't fix the other problems. I truly wish I could afford plastic surgery to remove the flabby belly and this hideous Jay Leno chin. I wish I could just look normal. It stinks to have this bone disorder that makes me look so different.

I've fallen into a rut and I can't get out!

2005-05-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

I'm just so sick of my life right now. Don't get me wrong, I love being a SAHM, but it's really wearing on me right now. I honestly can't remember the last time I went somewhere without the kids. I know it was before Jenea was born. My week consists of taking care ot the kids all day every day. I'm home alone all day with no car, so I literally don't get out of the house. Occasionally we go somewhere Saturday, but Brian usually won't let us because it costs to much to drive anywhere. I do get out on Sunday to go to church and do grocery shopping, but that it. My one time during the week to see something different. I don't know anyone in this neighborhood. We've been here over two years, but the people pretty much stick to themselves. Of course, I'm so shy that I can't approach people on my own anyway. There are no mommy and me groups or anything like that. I have a wonderful church, but everyone lives way out of walking distance, so that only really helps on Sunday when I get to church. My family all lives in Idaho and I only see them a few times a year. I'm literally going stir crazy. Brian is a great dad, don't get me wrong, but overall he is helpless when dealing with the kids. He either ignores them or turns everything over to me to do. When I was in the hospital after having Jenea he brought Curtis to the hospital first thing every morning and didn't leave until visiting hours were over so that mom and I could watch him. I feel like I have no support from anyone. I'm all alone and drowning with no help in sight.

What is support?

2005-05-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to give or receive support. Does it mean always agreeing with everything someone does? I can't really think that's true. If it is, no one would be able to support anyone. We all disagree on something somewhere. I guess the best I can come up with is that when you support someone you care about them no matter what you agree or disagree about. My best friends sometimes support me by telling me they disagree with me and why. Does it hurt? Sure it does! Who likes to be told someone thinks they're wrong. I know that my friends will care about me even when our opinions are different. Sometimes they're right, sometimes I am. Sometimes we both are. All I know is that they are always there for me. Even when I am wrong they are there to let me cry on their shoulders for a while. I hope I do the same for them. I've decided that to me support is not always agreement, but it is always care.

Precious moments

2005-05-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but I'm in kind of a melancholy mood today. I've been thinking about my kids and how fast they are growing up. I'm trying so hard to cherish every sweet moment of their childhood. It's so fleeting. I treasure those times when Curtis comes up and gives me a hug and a kiss for no reason other than that he loves me. THose moments when Jenea sees me and her face lights up with the most beautiful smile. Hearing Curtis say "I love you." Watching them while they sleep so I can marvel at how amazing they are. All too soon they will be too embarassed to kiss me. They'll want to hang out with their friends instead of their mom. They are tuly mine for such a short time. I wish sometimes that I could freeze time right here. It's such a wonderful stage in my life. To know that my babies love me completely.

Not the Mother's Day I expected

2005-05-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

Lucky me, I got to spend MOther's Day running to the urgent care clinic. It all started Saturday night. I was nursing Jenea and she started to play with my hair as she often does. All of a sudden I felt the most incredible pain in my right eye. It felt like someone stuck a knife in my eye. I couldn't get my eye to open, so I figured I must have gotten something in it. Instinct kicked in and I rubbed at it trying desperately to get the offending item out. I finally settled enough to find Brian and ask if he could see anything in there. Well, he did. It was a fairly large scratch. It had all happened so quickly that I had no idea Jenea had scratched me. I spent the rest of the night in severe pain just praying it would feel better in the morning. No such luck. By the time I woke up it hurt even worse. And to make it worse, my eyelid was all swollen. I looked like a freak, and I couldn't see much at all. THe vision in my left eye is about 20/300, so I count on my right eye a lot. With that out of commission I was in trouble. DH took one look at me and decided to run me to the doctor. To save some money he insisted on driving to our doctor's same day clinic. We rushed there only to find out it didn't open for another 3 hours. We went to the more expensive clinic, and I was seen right away. They gave me some amazing drops that stopped the pain instantly. The doctor looked at my eye and prescribed some ointment to prevent infection, but there wasn't much else they could do. The miracle drops aren't something they can prescribe. So, I spent the rest of the night in pain. I even missed my church's Mother's Day celebration. They always give out beautiful roses to all the women. I was so upset. I's been looking forward to it all week. I do feel a bit better today. My eye is just irritated now, not the severe pain from before. Everything is still blurry though. I can't wait for my sight to get back to normal again.

Idol chatter

2005-05-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit it . . . I have no life. I am a shameless American Idol addict. I am just so excited about last night! I was so sure we'd be stuck with Scott for another week. I will give credit where credit is due. He has an okay voice when he gets his nerves under control. It's that attitude! I can't believe how cocky he is. How priceless was it when he realized that the ones on the couch were in the bottom two! Especially after all the gloating he did on the way over to the couch! I was laughing so hard. I thought I was going to wake the kids up when he goot the boot. Yea!!!!! No more Scott! Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Changes

2005-05-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

I don't handle change well. Our once somewhat private house is being surrounded. A house was just finished 2 lots down, and the owners moved in this week-end. A second house is going up right next to us, and one is going in right behind that. 3 more are going in across the road. ACK!! Our nice, quiet, secluded house is disappearing! I'm just praying that nice people move in. Maybe families with kids for ours to play with. I miss the peace though.

Not much else is happening in my world right now. I'm just enjoying a rare few minutes to myself while Jenea naps and Curtis is occupied with the Wiggles. I almost don't know what to do with myself when neither one needs me for something. I guess I should enjoy it while I can. I'll be running again soon enough, and be back to complaining that I don't get any "me" time.

The day from h--l.

2005-04-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

It all started when I woke up at 6:00 with the beginings of a migraine. Never a good way to start the day. Fortunately, the kids were still asleep, so I let myself drift off again. Next thing I knew it was 10:00!! OMG!! Curtis was playing in his room banging on his wall and wanting breakfast, Jenea was screaming in her room, Cloud was scratching at his kennel and mewing to be let out, and Cisco was running in circles wanting to be let out. And I still had my headache. What a way to start the day.

I finally got all my morning stuff done. Everyone was dressed, fed, and whatever else they needed was done. Curtis finished his breakfast and immediately started throwing a tantrum. I'm not even sure why. He wouldn't talk, just scream. He was like that all day long. He'd ask for something, then when I'd get it for him he'd push it away and say "no". THen I'd put it away and he'd scream. Too bad, when he says no he doesn't get it back. He never did eat any lunch.

By the time Brian got home I was wiped out. I hoped he'd help out, but no, he wanted to do yardwork. I took Curtis and Jenea out with daddy. What a mistake! Jenea insisted on being held the whole time. Meanwhile, Curtis was continually in the way of what Brian wanted to do. So Brian got frustrated and was yelling at Curtis for everything he did. Curtis eventually scratched his hand, so we had to take him in. When I tried to clean him up he screamed bloody murder! I literally had to wrestle him down to clean up his hand. He asked me for a bandaid, and promptly pulled it off and then was mad because it was gone. Meanwhile, Jenea was screaming her head off because she wanted mommy. AARRGGHH!!!!

I finally managed to get some dinner made. Curtis didn't want to sit in his chair. He wanted to play. I plopped him into the chair. Would he eat dinner? Of course not. He wanted Jenea's baby food. When I told him no he screamed and kicked at the table. Brian had to grab the chair before it crashed over backwards! The little man ended up going to bed without any dinner. Unfortunately, it didn't end there. I lost track of how many times we had to go in to make him get back to bed. What a day. I'm so glad it's over. I hope today is at least a little better.

Stupid American Idol.

2005-04-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

I am SO upset! Okay, I have no life, I admit it. That show has me so mad though. No way should Constantine have gone home before Scott or Anthony. My personal faves are Bo and Carrie, and I can live without Constantine, but really . . . who can possibly believe that Scott is better than him? Scott does have talent, I'll give him that. BUT he can't seem to perform under pressure. How is he possibly going to handle a career in the music industry when he falls apart under any kind of pressure? I really don't think he can make it. Who the heck is watching him and saying "I'll buy his album"? Definitely not me. Is the entire American voting public tone deaf? I swore last night I'd never watch again, but that'll only last 'til next week. Please let Scott go home! If he wins I swear I won't watch next year.

Coughing, coughing, coughing!

2005-04-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

I am so tired this morning. Brian was up most of the night coughing. I should feel bad, but he coughs more than any person I've ever met before. Anytime he gets even the slightest cold or allergy he coughs incessantly for weeks. It is SO frustrating. If he hears someone else cough he does too. It's just gotten to be a habit for him. He insists it's not, but it definitely is. I wish I knew what to do about it. He actually coughs so much and so loud at night that he wakes up the kids. We're all tired and cranky this morning.

In other topics, I just read that the democrats here in Washington state forced a gas tax hike through. Since Gregoire "won" the election they have raised nearly every tax they can think of. Along with getting rid of the super-majority required to raise taxes. How is anyone supposed to live around here? We already have a tough time making ends meet. We already have one of the highest gas takes in the country, and now it's going up by another 9 cents a gallon! I hate living here.

Hollywood hype

2005-04-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one who is sick of hollywood telling me what I have to be like to be attractive and well-liked? I mean, why should I have to look and act like Britney Spears, J-Lo, Lindsay Lohan, or Paris Hilton? What have they ever really done except win a lucky birth lottery? They were born with what some consider to be good looks and the luck to be spotted by the right people at the right time. Or, in some cases, they are popular simply by virtue of being rich. How fair is that. I was born in a rural area of North Idaho to lower middle class parents. What were my chances of being "discovered"? I wouldn't want to be famous even if I had been. I want to be accepted for who I am and what I look like. Okay, I'm not really beautiful, my hair is impossible to deal with, and I really need to lose at least 30 pounds. I'm a nice person though. People should like me for that and accept the rest as part of the package. Anyway, that's my rant for the day. Not really sure what sparked it except that I was thinking about the kind of world my kids are growing up in. Here's hoping that they will be able to gain acceptance for who they are, not who they were born to or who discovered them, or what they look like.

Chaos reigns in my house

2005-04-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, yesterday was something else. Jenea was sick with a bad cold, and so was I. Curtis was feeling better, so that was interesting. I did okay for a while, but by about 1 pm Jenea and I needed a nap, so I put Curtis in his room to play. Jenea fell asleep in her bouncer, and I promptly passed out on the couch. About 2 hours later I was awakened by a sound in the hallway. I heard a little voice calling "Is anyone awake out here?" I was confused for a minute, because I knew it was Curtis, but he hasn't been able to open his door to let himself out of his room . . . or so I thought. I sat up and looked around. OH MY GOSH!! Do you have any idea how much havoc a 2 year old can cause in 2 hours! I don't think I have ever seen such a mess. He had grabbed a salt shaker and poured salt all over his room. He dumped the kitchen garbage, and he and Cisco had a great time spreading that all over the kitchen. There was bits of celery everywhere! Clothes, paper, toys were scattered all over. I don't think I could see the floor anywhere! Oh Yuck!! Just what you want to deal with when you already don't feel good. I finally got some of it cleaned up before Brian got home. He was horrified. I was lucky though because I didn't have to cook dinner. My friend Sondra from church heard we were sick, so she made dinner for us. It was so nice to not have to worry about that. Now I just need to finish cleaning up this mess, and tackle the mountains of dirty dishes and laundry that piled up while I was sick. Anyone feel like doing it for me? No takers? LOL!! Maybe Brian will take pity on me. Oh wait, he's sick now too. Although according to him men make much better sick people then women because "men work right through it." HA!!!!! That's a story for another time.

Sickies, sickies, go away

2005-04-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

I've been so delinquent in blogging lately. I just haven't been up to it for one reason or another. Anyway, here's some catch -up stuff.

I got to hold a 7 day old baby yesterday! He was so cute. It was my first Sunday volunteering in the infant nursery. His mom didn't leave him, but she asked me to hold him while she took care of some things. It was so fun! He was born a month early, so he was tiny. I think of Jenea as small, which she is, but this little guy made her seem huge. Brian was worried that it gave me baby fever, but I told him I still want to wait a bit longer before trying for a third. He was SO relieved! He's still agreeing to a third down the road though. I'm so thankful for that.

After church yesterday we went to our friend Susie's house for her son Jack's first birthday. We're really starting to make some connections in this church. I just love it! I feel so at home there. Curtis has such good friend's there. He always comes home talking about Alex and James and Liam. And Jenea has Jack. And there are at least 4 more babies on the way in the next few months. Wow! A real baby boom! I volunteered for nursery at just the right time. Right now it's just Jenea and sometimes Jack. It'll be crazy pretty soon!

That's my boring update for now. Life is pretty quiet right now. MY good friend is moving closer to me very soon though, so hopefully we'll be able to get together over the summer. We've never seen each other's babies yet. I can't wait!

Fun in the sun.

2005-04-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

THis was taken a few weeks ago. NOw it's too cold and rainy to go out. We're all going a little stir crazy!

Blessed be the maid?!?!?!

2005-04-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

LOL! It's not what you think. There's a song out right now called "Blessed be the Name." Curtis LOVES it. He dances around and claps every time it comes on. He tries to sing along, but he always sings "Blessed be the Maid." I think he knows the right words now, but he knows it makes us laugh, so he always grins and sings it that way. He's such a clown. I feel sorry for his future teachers. I was helping him say his prayers last night, and I said "thank you for my mommy." He got this silly smile and promptly said "thank you for daddy." Then he went on to add thank you for my car and my window and my chair and my firestove (fireplace, LOL!) and thank you for my potty. What a kid!!

Jenea is growing up fast too. She pulled herself up for the first time last night. She is so much different that Curtis. She is much more serious and quiet. More like me. It just melted my heart when I picked her up from nursery yesterday. As soon as she saw me she got the most beautiful smile. It lit up her whole face. It's just amazing how much you can love someone. I feel like I've been a mother forever.

In church yesterday Pastor Michael-Jaye was talking about how God's love for us is like a parents love for their child. That is such an amazing thought. And one I never really understood before I had children. God loves me. Despite my failures and my faults. No matter how often I hurt or disappoint him. That is so hard for me to comprehend. I feel so ugly and unloveable. It is impossible to fathom that someone can love me so totally.

Life is full of blessings

2005-03-29T10:26:00.000-08:00

I am blessed. I have the two most amazing kids in the world. I have the most incredible group of internet friends anyone could ever ask for. I am more grateful for all of them than they will ever know. Life has it's trials, and they are certainly piling up for me right now, but I know I'm going to be okay. At my lowest points over the last few days all I needed to do was see my sweeties and I couldn't help but smile. Curtis' hugs and kisses and hearing him say "I love you Mommy." Jenea reaching out for me to hold her, and smiling when she sees me. What could be better and more fulfilling? Being a mom is the most difficult thing I've ever done or will ever do, but I love it. I can hardly remember what life was like before I was blessed with my babies. I will survive.

Can I go hibernate for a while?

2005-03-25T14:06:00.000-08:00

I'm really struggling today. I'm having a miscarriage. Now is a really bad time for another baby, but it's still hard. Not like when I lost Sammy, but still sad. Fortunately I have some pain killers left over from when Jenea was born, so the pain is minimal so far. I really didn't expect to be able to get pregnant again anyway, so this was a total shock. I don't even want to tell Brian about it. He'll freak out. He doesn't want another baby anyway. Especially not right now. And this is happening the day after what would have been RuthAnne's 22nd birthday. Not to mention that yesterday I found out that my Grandma has diabetes, and my cousin went to the ER with chest pains. Very scary since his sister died in October from a heart condition. What a day. I just want to take a break from life, but I know I can't. My kids need me. That's good though. It'll keep me going. Things have got to get better someday. I know God won't give me more than I can handle, but on days like this I have a hard time believing that.

Chocolate, two-year-olds, and various other ramblings

2005-03-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

Oh, the trouble two-year-olds can cause when mom has to step out of the room. It's scary. I took about 2 minutes for a bathroom break on Monday. Big mistake. When I came back into the living room I saw Curtis kneeling down by the coffee table. When he looked up his face was streaked with brown. I looked closer, and realized he had somehow gotten past the child locks on the pantry and had taken out a tin of hot chocolate mix! It was everywhere! All over the table and the rug and his face and clothes! And to make matters worse, Cisco had tried to lick it up, so instead of being a powder I could vacuum up, it was now a gooey, sticky, stain. UGHHHH!!!!! I finally got it as cleaned up as well as I could, which was no easy task. There's still a stain, so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Meanwhile, Jenea was screaming. Brian got home and tried to help her, but she only wanted Mommy. When I went to get her I noticed that her hair didn't look right. Curtis had put chocolate all over her head! The poor baby! What a day.

Tuesday was pretty quiet, but we had a WIC appointment at 5. The people there are really nice, but they are making me feel like I'm starving my baby to death. She is nearly 9 months old and still only weighs 14 pounds 2 ounces. I know she's small, but she is definitely healthy. Her weight and height are both around the 5th percentile. They always lecture me and tell me I don't feed her enough. I feed her as often and as much as she wants! What else can I do? It's frustrating. I know she's small, but I was a tiny kid too. Not that you'd believe that to see me now! LOL!! My doctor isn't worried, so I'm trying not to let it bother me.

In other news, Brian is once again not getting a raise. THis is three years in a row without even a cost of living increase even though our insurance premiums have more than doubled. How do they expect people to survive? Poor Brian is so upset. He really wants a new job, but doesn't know where to turn. He didn't need this on top of having to deal with his mom. He's so worried about her and his dad. They are both in such poor health and refuse to make plans for when one or the other of them goes. Brian has literally been losing sleep over the whole thing. I wish I could help take some of the stress off of him.

What a wild week-end!

2005-03-21T12:29:00.000-08:00

It all started on Saturday. We all woke up early because Brian had a ton of projects to do around the house. The house was a disaster area all morning. Furniture moved, wire strewn everywhere, all kinds of things I had to keep the kids and the pets out of. Do you know how hard it is to keep a very active 2 year old, a crawling baby, a cat and a dog out of anything? Let me tell you, it was a zoo. Anyway, by about 1 everything was back to normal. The rest of the afternoon was relatively quiet other than Kurt's normal 2 year old tantrums. By evening it was reallywindy, and pouring down rain. There were branches falling everywhere. It was wild. That kept up all night long. I know, because Jenea has a bad cold so she's not sleeping. Which, of course, means I'm not sleeping either.

Sunday morning we woke up and got ready for church. The road into Gid Harbor was covered with branches and assorted litter from the storm. You literally could not see bare road in some places. Church was good. It was the Palm Sunday service, so we had a wonderful ham dinner afterwad. Always a challenge with 2 very active children to watch while you're trying to eat. We had to do our shopping after church, so we didn't get home until around 3. As we were pulling into our neighborhood we saw flashing police lights. I looked over just in time to see a man hit the police officer! It was really scary. The officer immediately called for backup. We drove on since we didn't want to be in the way. Less then half a block up the road we saw an ambulance. There was a man on the ground with paramedics around him and a huge crowd of people. We have no idea what was going on, but it was really scary! Our neighborhood is usually relatively quiet. Up around the lake we saw a guy with a camera. I looked over and saw that he was taking pictures of a car with a tree on top of it. It turns out it was his neighbors car, and the large tree had been uprooted during the storm. The owner wasn't home, so he hadn't seen the damage yet. Wow! I guess it's good that it wasn't his house though. By bedtime we were all exhausted and ready to sleep. Even Jenea! She only woke up once!

Thoughts about life

2005-03-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

Life is an amazing thing. We have had so many experiences lately that illustrate that so well. Brian's mom had a minor heart attack and had to have surgery. My dear Grandpa is living with cancer. It's so scary. I can't imagine life without him. We have always been so close. He was the officiant at our wedding. He taught me to drive. He has been there to help me through all the toughest moments in my life. I'm not ready to let him go. I know life will keep going, just as it always does, but I dread that moment in time when I hear that he's gone. No matter how ready a person is to go it still hurts those that are left behind. I have been through it more times that I want to think about. My friend Jenny, My sister RuthAnne, my GG, my cousin Honey Joy, and my two precious angels to name just a few. I still miss them all so much. Sometimes I think it would have been easier if I'd never known them, but then I realize that's not true. I have learned so much from all of them. I'd rather have my memories of my times with them then to have never experienced the pain of losing them.

ON the other end of the spectrum is birth. My cousin Jeff and his wife just had a baby girl this morning. Tara Joy weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces and was 21 inches long. This is their second little girl, and they are so thrilled. I am excited for them. Life continues on in it's grand circle.

A good week-end!

2005-03-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

I'ts probably lame, but I'm so excited! I got a new vacuum! Our old one was a joke, and since we got a bigger tax refund than we expected Brian got me a Dyson! It'll be nice to have a vacuum that picks stuff up instead of pushing it around. I'll feel so much better about letting Jenea crawl around the floor.

This week-end was so busy. We had so much running around to do. Brian has several home improvement things going on, so we had to go all over getting stuff. Neither of the kids handled it well. Curtis had a total meltdown in Home Depot. I had to carry him kicking and screaming to the car. It was humiliating. I'm sure people thought I was killing him. We've been so lucky with him. He's never done this before. Jenea was just plain cranky because she doesn't handle busy days like that well. Fortunately Sunday evening was pretty quiet and today will be too. We all need to recover from the week-end.

MY first post

2005-03-10T12:05:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm going to give it a try . . . I'm going to try blogging. I want a way to record my daily thoughts and experiences as a SAHM of 2 wonderful kids. Curtis is 2 and a half and is definitely in the terrible twos. I love him to death, but he is a handful. He wants his way on everything. He has a mind of his own. Jenea is 8 months old and is much more easygoing. She is crawling, and sitting, and saying mama and dada. She is such a sweet little girl. They adore each other. I love how they interact. I hope they keep it up and don't get like me and my sister. We have virtually no relationship. It's hard not being close to the one sister I have left. Anyway, enough rambling for now. I'll try to keep this updated when I get a chance and have anything to say.