Baby Esther Adlai turns 3!

Esther is a joy. She is fun. She is smart. She is sensitive. She is wild. She is tenacious. she has added so much to our lives. the last 3 years with her have been wonderful & i wouldnt trade them for anything.
I told her today about her delivery. when i told her that having her almost killed me - literally - she just laughed and said "yea, me almost kill you." i love how kids accept things and move on.

anyway, Esther had a full day. we picked up her cake, bought balloons, went to applebees - where they sang to her & she got a free ice cream sunday, then we came home, opened presents & had cake. then she & Abigail & Asher played with her gifts. all & all it was a good day for Esther. Her expressions are priceless. there are pictures of all of us thrown in here & there except for Rachel. she did most of the photo taking today & she caught some good ones too!
the following is picture heavy so beware.
also if you want to see her videos from today & one from a few weeks ago of her dancing to" Moves Like Jaggar" by Maroon 5 you can check out my YouTube channel - chickenwendy & look for them. especially the one of her opening her presents. she was hilarious and so very happy.

too cute

i know i keep posting pictures of esther or levi lately...but they are really cute & at a fun stage. rachel was pulling them around in the wagon today while i was getting clothes in off the clothes line & she rode them past me & i had to snap some pictures. Our beloved Georgia's cherry blossom tree is blooming & rachel picked off a couple of the flowers & stuck them behind their ears. esther thought it was hilarious that levi had one on his ear.
anyway, they were happy.

also here are a couple of SHORT videos that rachel took of levi today dancing. the boy has some moves!! again they are short - very short videos. if you blink you might miss them. and you will notice a few other little people dancing around him.

esther

so esther doesnt want to sleep in her bed anymore. she, lately, has fallen asleep on my bed, or on the floor out by the couch while i was using the computer, etc. she just wont go to sleep in her bed right now. it's a stage. it will pass. for now we are enjoying her. well i should say, for now i will enjoy her. she is majorly a clingy mama's girl at bedtime. i'm hoping we can get her through this before the baby gets here. (yes i'm already looking into that). the last few times has been really hard. abigail & asher took it hard when esther was born & abigail, asher, & esther were all miserable while i was in the hospital having levi. its going to be difficult period, but we need to find a way to deal with their anxiety at not having mom home. they are not use to that. i have only left any of them (except rachel elizabeth who travel regularly with clay) at night to just go have babies. no other times. and the older i get and the more i learn and believe...i think that's a good thing....that i dont leave them. they are my children. my babies. they shouldnt be sent off to feel insecure - even if they think it will be fun at the onset of a spend the night away. i think abigail is getting to the age where she would do better for an extended period of time away from mom & i'm talking like 2 days max. but the other ones....no way. it's not suppose to be that way. i'm not saying that they, on occasion, shouldnt be at home without mom & dad - if we go off on a mini trip. but they need to be at home with each other & not shipped off to stay away at other's homes. and we have had to do that - send them off for a night...but it's always worse when they get home...the clinginess & insecurity. as for clay & i taking mini-trips. that generally does not happen. he works too hard & just doesnt find time to do it. and i'm a bit of a homebody. i like my house. i like my kids. i like my animals. i like my stuff around me. for now.

so i have been looking into these homeopathic remedies to help aid sleep & suppress anxiety in little children for short periods of time: (i was turned on to them off of a blog i read so i didnt come up with this by myself - i even borrowed her picture: http://bakersdozenandapolloxiv.com/ ). anyway, at this point, clay is open to any help considering he has lived it the last few times. i even left the hospital a day early with esther's delivery, when i was close to cardiac arrest because of a belly bleed - against my doctor's better judgement - because abigail & asher were miserable -which in turn made Clay miserable. and considering we dont usually have help during my hospital stays, Clay & the 2 older girls go it alone with the little ones. and this time around wont be any different. and my recovery time here at home we are planning something a bit different. possibly paying for help to come in. we are throwing around ideas. my mother has come up with 3 out of the last 4 deliveries to help here at home with my recovery. she works & is a vital part of her company so it is hard for her to be gone for extended periods of time. plus, she is so much like Clay in that if she leaves then things get done wrong & she has to fix them when she gets back & it just makes more work for her. plus my dad relies on her a lot. if she isnt there to feed him, he doesnt eat well. so i dont think that will be an option this time around. i would rather she & my dad come up for a visit together to see the baby & the kids rather than she feel like we just want her to come up and work. so anyway, time will tell. we will see. plus Clay & I will do what we have to - we always do. being 6-9 hours away from family - we always have. this is our family & our children. our responsibility.
anyway, here is a picture of the 2 items i am going to look into for the kids. might get it & try it to see if it works. especially with esther's lack of sleep lately.

here esther is last night in my bed. she's so crazy but in a good way! love this wild girl!

Esther Adlai

Esther is such a delight. She, recently, has become a serious Mama's girl - literally my shadow. No one else is allowed to do anything for her....except on occasion Rachel & that's if Mama has ok'd it. I guess its a stage. I can't say that I have trouble with it - as I don't. She is so much fun. She enjoys a good joke. She enjoys a good cup of coffee & she will sit in silence & just be with me.
As a matter of fact we are in the little van, sitting at Rachel's co-op, waiting for Rachel to be done with classes. We are sitting here...not talking, listening to Rush (ditto heads here), just being together.
I think she likes me so much right now because I really try to understand her needs. Esther has a mild speech impediment. Probably not even that - she's just #5 of 6 & hasn't had a need to talk much. But I really strive to find out what she is trying to say rather than ignore her or shut her down. And generally everyone else does also, but generally they try to guess & distract her instead of really find out what she is saying. And I get that...its easier.
But Esther is my little buddy girl. I adore her and am blessed that she is my daughter.
And on that note I must express how blessed I am by Elizabeth. She has grown up so much lately. I am able to be here with Esther, waiting on Rachel because Elizabeth is at home with Abigail, Asher & Levi holding down the fort. If you have more than one child and are over the age of about 36, then you can probably relate. It Is tiring to have to load up all the kids, make sure they are all buckled, run 5 miles up the road, just to turn around & go back home. And its especially draining if there are several in car or booster seats & refuse to anyone but Mama or Daddy buckle them. It also gets very tiring when some.of the children think because they are getting in the.car they must bring something to entertain themselves or they immediately declare as you are pulling out of the driveway that they need to potty &/or they need you to stop at the nearest fast-food joint and buy them a drink or else they will surely die of thirst.
So yep, Elizabeth is a blessing. I am so excited for her this year. Her 13th birthday is this year & she gets her trip to NYC with her Dad. Plus she loves the Nancy Drew series. We were able to get 50 books of the 56 book set off of Ebay for her birthday. She has some duplicates (about 10) that we can resell. & 1 that was missing out of the set we bought she already has, so now I just have to hunt down the last 5. (They are all on Ebay, I just have to order them). She is going to be thrilled. Her birthday isn't until July tho. I guess I can wait!
Hope you have a good day.
Here's a picture of my Esther playing "babydoll".

gloomy sunday

yes i know that is the title to a hungarian suicide song that the great billie holiday made famous back in 1941. while i am not suicidal i am not happy either.

esther decided after 4 1/2 months of trying to grow her hair out, to give herself another hair cut today and this time...i laughed....and then i got mad.
i laughed because i couldnt believe it.

and FOR THE RECORD...i was in the bathtub. she was under Clay's watch this time.

here is the picture i got after i spanked her good. and it's not a great picture. i took it with my cell phone. i didnt want to glorify what she had done.

yep, right up front. a bald spot...no bangs.  i showed her this picture & i asked  her if she liked it & the way she looked & she said "no mommy, no..."

thankfully i can brush the remaining top hair & it looks like we are just brushing it to the side. i tried to put a clip in it & man she flipped. so we will see. i'm going to have to gel it or either force her into cute hair clips...but there isnt much you force Esther to do.
she is the most willful child i have ever known. but even as i type that....i am so proud of who she is.......so proud that she knows her own mind, that she stands her ground - nothing changes her mind unless she is ready to change it.

i love that she seems to fit the character of her biblical namesake:

Esther 2:7 "And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter."

i dont know why, but i do know that esther is here for a purpose & that one day she will recognize what her purpose is. Thank you Lord for my precious Esther. I wouldnt change her for anything!

Esther 4:14 "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"