Us girls

Day 2 of school.

Super attitudes from the boys, though my tummy still somersaulted a bit. Wes was especially excited to inform mrs pitcher that daddy punches him. (Bear is referring to last night's bedtime during which Brad tickled him, only weston is well aware that using the word punch may get more reaction than tickle. .. stay tuned for any child protection services communication)

My fave part of school is the girl time. While we fiercely miss the boys,  I adore bonding as just us girls.  Ever since baby Molly was born, ( ps- we had our baby 7 months ago!  It's a girl! it's so busy!) I have felt a constant need to really pour into ayla jo.  Pre molls,  we were beyond close as the only girls and because she was my baby.  Now there's another princess and aylaroo has been bumped to middle. And, babies are crazy high maintenance.

Sweet little ayla has been absolutely amazing with the introduction of baby sis. Blue cheers Molly up with loud yet somehow entertaining babytalk. Ayla jo helps out by telling me that Molly needs me,  and interacts so darling with her sissy.  Whenever ayla has to wait for something until I get molls settled she does so with little complaint. But it's different.  I don't typically get to just snuggle with just blue anymore at night. Ayla has depended a lot more on Brad than she used to, which is so precious, but also confusing for her. The other day Brad and I were like teasing roo roo about who loves her more and when I said mommy loves you so much she said I love you too mom, but I love daddy more.  Ouch

Having molly is such a blessing and I am so excited for the girls relationship because my sisters are my besties and I pray my girls get that fabulous sister benefit. Living your childhood with a sister to share it with builds such a foundation for a friendship so deep with beauty and love. So, anyway,  so glad Molly and ayla have each other.  At this point, however,  the relationship is sorta one sided. Ayla works hard and baby responds.

But now I have this beautiful opportunity to spend time with my oldest cupcake and reestablish our connection while the brothers are off at school.  My oldest daughter and I have a lot in common: we both become very close friends with anyone who will listen as we divulge intimate details about ourselves, we both have a flair for the dramatic,  we both really like mirrors and talking.  Most of our time together I spend giggling at her or with her due to the extreme hilarity of watching oneself as a child.

There are also some significant differences.  Ayla jo just loves ponies. She is not afraid of nature (other than bees or insects of any kind), she loves chasing down the kittens with the boys. Her best friend is currently a husky stuffed animal.

The past few days have been treasures for me. While the boys are constantly remembered and spoken of, us girls are grateful for our time. We have been able to spend some incredible moments in the hot tub as ayla pretends to be a dolphin named swimmy and proceeds to splash most of the water in my eyes while performing jubilant tricks. We have done a little birthday shopping for bear bear at target where ayla made friends with the checkout lady telling her age, the names of her siblings,  what she wants for her birthday next august, what she wants for a snack right now, etc. And cabelas where aylaroo laid on the floor crying because she did not get another wolf. We have taken a special girls bike ride with the burley during which ayla quoted from the movie shark tale the I like big butts song until I finally got across to her that the song was inappropriate and we would not watch sharks tale again if she kept singing so she therefore changed the lyrics to I like big mama's. At this point I was sweating so profusely and so extremely out of breath I just let it go and made a mental note to use Pandora next time we I rode the burley so she does not feel the need singing songs about my size.

We have played a letter recognition game and what ayla lacked in knowledge (my we have some work ahead of us during preschool), she made up for in enthusiasm.  And we have logged several hours of pony play. This last episode,  she even played the role of a daughter unicorn (named horse horse horn horn) learning to jump over the lineup of baby ponies. I consider this progress from yesterday's episode starring ayla as daddy pony (papa) hunting for dinner. (The menu consisted of the boys toy deer and the older, worn ponies purchased from garage sales)

I sometimes looked back on being a mama to just two in vague wonderment at how little I had to do compared to my current load of 4 adorables. These past days have reminded me that the busyness is the same. And different. And exhausting. And awesome.