To Bow or Not to Bow!

Oh my, having two girls can be the most wonderful experience and the most outrageous experience!

Second week in to the new school year and my daughters were already fighting over who got to wear the new zebra print hair bow purchased at the elementary school’s Spirit Sale. 

Well of course, being the Mom I am, I purchased the bow with the pinstripes, the bow with the polka dots and the bow with the zebra print -- thinking, my sweet girls will just share the bows and switch out throughout the week. 

Little did I know that would NOT happen! 

An adorable little fashionista

Looking at my firstborn mature at such a rapid pace (far faster than I would like), I often wonder where she gets her sense of fashion and her amazing memory.

If you ask my parents, they say Nandi looks and acts the way I did as a child. My husband’s parents tell us that Nandi looks like him, but her demeanor is a mystery to them. Personally, I think she looks like both of us, but that personality is definitely little Miss Nandi’s, and hers alone.

When she turned two years old, all of a sudden Nandi had an obsession with shopping. Shoes are always top of mind, sandals, to be exact. If it looks as if I’m reaching for my purse or my keys, she’ll say, “Mama, we go shopping?” And no matter the destination, she’ll ask, “Wear my sandals?”

The Journal

My 5th grade daughter and I decided to share a journal with one another. At least once a week, I write a journal note to Sarah to tell her how proud I am of her or how much I enjoyed spending time with her that week having dinner or helping with her Girl Scout troop.  She sometimes writes back to thank me for taking her on a trip and just to tell me she loves me.  It is something she can keep as she grows and will be able to look back on and know that her Mom thinks she is a very special young lady and that I love her so very much.

The tween years

As a Mom of a tween girl can tell you these years can be a challenge. I’m constantly on the lookout for articles and tips from other Moms about how to navigate these tumultuous years, which can be full of landmines even when your daughter is as grounded and kind as mine.

It can sometimes be tough to find time just the two of us where we have an opening to talk about the sensitive topics these years bring. That’s why I was excited to learn about the GiRL (Girls in Real Life) Power event, which was held late last year in Plano, and we had a great time. The event was what I had expected for my daughter -- a day designed to uplift her self-esteem, learn about ways to stay healthy, and hear role models with sage advice on how to handle the tween years of life. What I did not expect was that I took away several key insights as well -- especially from the keynote presenters, DaNae Couch, Miss America and Dana Vollmer, Olympic gold medalist. They delivered excellent keynote presentations around achieving your dreams through hard work, encouraging all of us in attendance to never give up on our dreams.

Kids and their costumes

When I brought the Halloween box down from the attic a few weeks ago, my daughter Livi  found her big sister Jenna’s old cat costume and said “I want it! Mommy, this is SO me!”

She put it on and wouldn’t take it off all day. She even fell asleep in it! Since then, she has insisted on wearing the gloves to school every single day. I wash the gloves often and hang them up to dry so they’re ready for her to wear the next day.

Needless to say, 4-year-old Livi is going to be a neon pink cat for Halloween. My 8-year-old, Jenna, will be a skeleton princess. Both costumes are glow in the dark so the girls will be easily seen by oncoming cars. Safety is important on Halloween, and so is making sure your kids keep with their nightly routine and get enough sleep after all the trick-or-treating fun! Otherwise they’ll end up like Livi in this picture, fast asleep in their costumes.

What costumes are your kids wearing this year?

Jeanine Andersen is a Marketing Manager for Texas Health Resources and Mom of two daughters who love Halloween.

Shoe success

Learning to walk is a monumental process. After weeks – and sometimes months – of crawling or scooting around, then “cruising” while holding onto furniture, taking those first steps changes the life of a child – and the adults around him/her!

As a parent, it’s my responsibility to give my kids the best start in life – including orthopedically sound walking shoes. So now that my daughter is an official toddler, it was time to take the plunge…

Wishing more for boy or girl?

Have you ever just wished and hoped that you would have a girl?  Those frilly little dresses and giant hairbows are so much fun! What about a bouncing baby boy? They are supposed to be Mommy’s boys, right? When you have an expectation and dream of having one or the other, it is somewhat disappointing when you find out that your expectation is actually not reality.

This is my third pregnancy. I wanted a little girl so bad when I was pregnant the first time and that is what I got! I was actually surprised and had psyched myself up for a boy because that was my “feeling.” I loved the pink and all of the “girly” things. My Rachel was perfect and I could not have been happier with the boy/girl situation.

From dancin' feet to soccer cleats

Like many mothers, I had a grand vision that my little girl would grow up with a love for dolls, playing dress up and wanting to don tutus whether it be at the dinner table or at a winter dance recital. Naively, I was excited about the prospect of her father and I having to cart her around to dance practices and the small fortune we would pay for her to prance on a stage for all the world (or Fort Worth) to see.

Now that I’m a little bit wiser, I’ve come to realize that children really do come with their own agendas and my daughter is certainly no exception to that fact. My preconceived notions of what activities a little girl should be involved in were nothing like what she had in mind.

The power of princesses

My 3.5-year-old daughter recently got glasses. She was born with a cataract – a small spot near the pupil on her left eye. So she has been going to a pediatric ophthalmologist since birth. At her last appointment, she was old enough to take a vision test (which involves black and white pictures of familiar objects instead of letters); and some nearsightedness and astigmatism were detected. They also sensed that she’s starting to favor the “good” eye, so patch therapy was prescribed.

I was a bit anxious about the glasses, not knowing how she would take to them. Luckily, I wear glasses, and she’s of an age where she actually wants to be like Mommy (yeah, I know that won’t last) so my first comment to her when we got in the car was “You get to wear glasses like Mommy!” I called my husband and relayed the news to him in an equally upbeat and perky fashion. No pushback from the backseat. Whew! Maybe this will be okay, I thought.