Category: Arianna

A summer wouldn’t be a summer without a trip for a slushy, right? Especially when that slushy is accompanied by stitches and a trip to the ER.

On Tuesday (gosh, it now seems years ago), this was the scene (I’m sparing you the gory one).

After a fall, Arianna ended up with nine stitches in the underside of her chin. She is so brave, sitting still on the bed while the doctors stitched her up. She tried to see under her chin to watch what they were doing, but you know that doesn’t work!

It meant missing her last softball games, but she seemed okay with it because that slushy though. For the next week she has to keep her face dry. That’s a challenge with how much she loves to swim at the Y for lunch!

Arianna says thanks for all the prayers and love she’s felt over the last few days. xoxo

This girl is blessed. She’s blessed because she is not an only child. Although there are plenty of other things that make her blessed, I’m going to stop and focus in on this fact for a few minutes. 

This weekend, Greg and Evan are away camping with the Rangers. As a mom, I really should have been excited to have a weekend with just my girls. The honest truth is that I was scared.

No, I wasn’t scared of being outnumbered (which includes two two-year-olds). I wasn’t scared of someone breaking in or creeping on the house. I wasn’t scared of someone getting sick and me having to clean it up (one of my worst mom-qualities).

I was scared of Arianna being alone without her brother. 

Those two are such a pair. They might fight like cats and  dogs, but they are truly a pair. Perhaps not gifted as built-in besties like Ava and Isla, but one would think The Bigs are more the twins than The Twins are.

Without Evan, Arianna faced the need for constant attention. She was bored. She was tired (but wouldn’t nap or sleep because SCARED). She was hungry. She was not hungry. She was clingy. I knew this is what I was in for, but I didn’t really prepare myself.

Driving to work on Friday, I remembered that the Y had Kids Club, so I registered her. When I got home, she was mad that I had. Registering meant she was going and going meant she needed to take a swim test that she knew she wouldn’t pass. Not passing meant she was going to have to stick in the kiddie pool without her brother. Deep down, she finally admitted that taking the test was the thing because she was scared. I told her to just admit she couldn’t pass and that she wanted to stick in the kiddie pool. It worked, and I got an hour and a half to power clean the toy room while the girls played in the living room. Mom win.

On Saturday, she woke with the sun and had to entertain herself until I was ready to get out of bed. When I finally did, I found her in the bed with me (sneaky chick!). We worked on breakfast together then headed off to softball practice.

The afternoon was an impromptu visit to a Lularoe fundraiser so I could pick up something from a friend and I left with an unexpected gift from another. We dropped supplies (blankets) off to Greg and Evan and she clearly wanted to stay. But little brother was in the boy zone and no girls allowed was heard loud and clear. Before we left, he did give her some candy, to which she noted was a nice thing.

But the rest of the weekend has been everything I was afraid of. It was like she was magnetized to me. I’ve yet to use the restroom alone. I’ve been paying bills and trying to blog and she’s right beside me. I only got to write this post because I told her it was time to shower before church.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my kids, all of them. But Arianna is definitely blessed that she is not an only child. Especially blessed with her little brother, her partner in crime. And she, like me, is counting down the hours until he gets home.

Maybe I should have just got her the darn fidget spinner. 😉

Greg and I are so proud of our oldest. She keeps growing up in ways that we don’t explicitly teach her, ways that she just gets from being with us.

Like when we were at the theme park in Wisconsin. Greg and I were busy trying to keep the twins entertained and ensuring Evan wasn’t throwing up everywhere (he had a stomach bug a few days before, we were overly cautious for good reason). Arianna took matters of having fun into her own hands and made a new friend.

The girls played and played until the park closed down, running back and forth between all the rides in the (indoor) theme park then checking in with us every so often. Like, we didn’t have to tell her to make sure we knew where she was, she just did it. This filled up my mama heart with joy.

As moms, we often worry that we aren’t doing the right thing. We get anxious over wondering what someone is going to say because you are letting your kid run around an enclosed theme park and ride rides without you being there riding the bench to be sure everything was okay. We worry that we haven’t taught them to be kind. We worry that we aren’t doing enough.

But then one day, your kids will wake up and surprise the heck out of you just like mine did. She acted grown up but not disrespectful. She was kind and attentive, far less shy than I have come to expect. She blew me away with her attitude and energy that day.

And she gave me hope that the next generation will be able to see beyond the things that matter not at all and see the things that matter most. Love and kindness.

Thank you, Arianna, for making a new friend. Your Mama and Daddy are so proud.