A dance to remember

We are coming out of the fog in the House of Francl. Connor came down with Roseola on Monday night, so we slept little and fought a super high fever until Thursday evening when his fever broke.  By Friday morning a rash appeared confirming the diagnosis.  But we still didn't get much sleep Thursday night or Friday night.  Finally yesterday I felt around in Connor's mouth and it turns out he's also been cutting his 2nd molar through all of this.  Poor guy!

I am pleased to say that after a good night's sleep I am coming out of the first trimester fog and feeling much more like myself and that Connor and Lily finally slept well last night!  Hurray!  

But this post isn't really supposed to be about all that.  It's supposed to be about my Lily.  Every season with her just seems to get better and better.  Maybe it's that we're experiencing everything together for the first time, or maybe it's that she's just a joyful little thing, or maybe it's simply that she's my girl so I get such joy out of experiencing life through her eyes.  At any rate, we've had a delightful month.

Yesterday just she and I got to go shopping for the first time I can remember since Connor was born.  She picked where we ate, she got to pick one candy from the candy store for dessert, we searched for a robe for her (to no avail, so we ended up ordering online).  It was just so fun to have her along for the ride.  

Usually of necessity, I take both kids with me when I do just about anything, or I take Connor and Chase takes Lily.  So yesterday's time together brought back memories of what life was like before Connor.  I felt like I had it all together - she wanted a snack and I had a snack in the car for her, she wanted a drink and I was ready with water, she was tired of walking and I could carry just her for a little ways.  No rushing to make nap time, no containing a 1 year old through lunch in a restaurant, no need for wipes (that I usually forget to stick in the diaper bag).  It was truly amazing!  

It was good for me to experience the importance of that special, individually invested time.  Lily and I do special things during Connor's nap, but it's not the same as the better part of a day devoted to doing something special together.  All I'm really trying to say is she's marvelous, and I love spending time with her.

A week ago, Lily got to do something extra special too - her dance recital.  (Quick disclaimer for the aunts/uncles/cousins out there who didn't get invited: This was our first year doing this and to be honest, I wasn't sure how it would go.  I was worried she wouldn't do anything on stage at all, so I didn't invite too widely.  IF we do dance again next year, I'll invite you and get you tickets ahead.  We didn't mean to "leave you out" of this event in Lily's life.  It's just it was a first for all of us, and I learned a lot.  We'll do better next time, if we do it again!)

Recital was on a Saturday at the Performing Arts Center in town.  It seats about 500 people, and it was packed out for both of the performances on Saturday.  Our dance studio in town is actually really good and puts on a great show.  I don't know how many dancers there were, but a LOT. Lily's class was one of 2 preschool classes, the youngest dancers.  

Here's my little dancer. This was after it was all over - can you see the elation and relief on my face?
I'm proud to say her performances peaked at recital.  I couldn't get her to practice at home,
and she was distracted by all the new stuff at dress rehearsal, but recital was quite good!

Each of the two shows that Saturday was 3 hours long - a 1pm matinee and a 5:30pm evening performance.  Each age group had their own "home room" where room moms (attempted) to keep the kids happy, clean, and dressed for their next dance.  I was a room mom along with a few others during the matinee in the preschool room.  While Lily's class only had 8 dancers in it, the other preschool class had 12 or 14.  *sigh*  We had over 20 little girls between the ages of 3 and 5 in a small room for 3 hours...  It was possibly the longest 3 hours of my life!!! 

Most of Lily's class watching Frozen on my Kindle.

There were many bathroom runs, lots of costume adjusting, and countless snacks handed out.  You'd think from the way the kids ate that parents never fed them!  I guess boredom results in hungry preschoolers?

Coloring and snacks.

As Lily explained, she was on the blue team, and the other preschool class was the yellow team.  We mixed up and played together.  But honestly, the electronics were a LIFE SAVER!!!  I don't know how we would have done it without Tinkerbell and Frozen and iPads and DVD players and Kindles and phones.

Parts of both teams watching Tinkerbell on a portable DVD player.
The only thing that would have made this more effective was having
a bigger screen.

Lily's costume was darling, and for the most part comfortable for her. It wasn't scratchy or anything. But you always knew where the blue team had been...  We left a trail of feathers wherever we went.  During the evening performance after Lily's group did their first dance, a blue feather flitted around on the stage for about the next 3 dances!  Also, as a room mom it was important to have a needle and blue thread to sew feathers back onto costumes.  For all the money we paid for the stupid things, you'd think the feathers should stay on...  None the less, they were adorable.  :)

Getting ready for her tap dance!

I recently had a mom ask what I thought of dance.  Here is my assessment:  it's expensive.  And it's not just that the lessons are expensive (because paying for that doesn't bother me too much).  It's the shoes ($34 for tap shoes!  and we got her ballet ones for $0.50 at a garage sale last summer. I don't even want to know what they cost if you buy new.), and the costume ($55), and the recital tickets ($8/ea), and the recital tights, and the t-shirts you can buy, and the summer dance camps, and the dance studio sweat suits, and the... It's really unending.  I didn't buy anything I didn't have to buy, I borrowed what I could, and we were still in the $300-400 range.

So if you can afford it, I think dance can be really good.  It added structure to Lily's week.  She got to be in a classroom setting under a teacher other than me, and they moved and wiggled the whole time.  Her teacher was amazing with her and all the other little girls, and Lily learned a lot in terms of physical development.  Little things like toe pointing, the crab walk, point and plies, standing on her toes, tapping her heel, etc, etc.  All these things are things I would never teach at home, but they develop motor skills as well as the fact that she and 8 little girls learned to do something together.

I don't know if we'll keep going with dance.  Based on watching all the little girls, Lily's not a natural, but she's not bad either.  Of course she wants to do it again, but what 3 year old doesn't want to be a ballerina?  The coming year will hold a LOT of new things for our family, so we'll make the decision when the time comes.  But for now, I can say that I am glad we did it this last year, and it certainly made for a lot of good memories!

Happy 1st Birthday Connor!

I'm shamefully late in posting this - almost a whole month late.  Connor turned 1 on March 28, and I couldn't be more proud to be his mommy!  

Before I really dive into this, I want to establish something.  In our home we celebrate birthdays. I mean we CELEBRATE birthdays.  They're not always huge blowouts, not always big cakes or lots of presents.  But we spend the day gratefully celebrating and enjoying the birthday person.  Surviving another year is no small thing.  In this world we have NO guarantees for our next breath let alone our next year.  I hope that whatever your style, you truly celebrate birthdays - it doesn't matter if it's 1 or 5 or 86.  Each one is priceless and each person should feel, (every day, but especially) one day a year, how very cherished, treasured, valued and loved they are.

Connor's 1st birthday was on a Saturday, and I woke up extra exhausted.  So the massive to do list I had (which included decorating the cake and making some of the food) got put off in favor of a nap at about noon.  The party started at 5.  Thanks to help from friends and family it all got done on time and we had a wonderful party!  

As you can see below, the cake and cupcakes got finished in time. (It was a good thing I picked a simple design!)

We didn't get a family picture that day, but we did get a Mommy, Connor, Daddy picture.

Having seen how much cake I made, you probably realized that the party was big.  Like 30+ people big.  That's a little absurd, considering a 1 year old will have NO memory of this party, and who really has that many people to celebrate with anyway?  

Well, the answer is, we do.  First birthdays are big for me.  It's not about the 1 year old (although it is).  For me, this party was about thanking all of the people who made the first year of Connor's life possible, survivable, and even enjoyable.  Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and dear friends who support our family in a million ways came to celebrate with us.  Without these people's time, attention, care, and love of Connor, Lily, Chase, and I, Connor would not be the healthy, delightful, jolly, curious, marvelous, brilliant little boy that he is.  These people have poured into us, especially in this last year, and this was our chance to say "thanks."

Lily and cousin Ella.  That Ella was there was the best part of the party for Lily, I think!

These handsome cousins helped us set up and tear down. They are also fantastic gentlemen that I'm excited for Connor to watch as he grows.

*sigh*  Oh that little darling.  I just love him!

Connor had lots of help opening presents.  This year he actually needed the help, so all was well!

One candle for the handsome one year old.

He liked the candle and knows how to blow, so he *almost* got it blown out by himself.  Sister helped just to be sure it was totally blown out. :)

Digging in.  He didn't get too terribly messy.

But he did love the experience.  :)

Connor Bear, you're our favorite Connor in the whole world.  You've taught this mama a lot about patience, discipline, growth, and development.  You've also reminded me how valuable a whole night's uninterrupted sleep is. (Thank you for FINALLY sleeping through the night!!!)  Our family is much brighter because of you, and the days are more joyful.  May you grow in curiosity, health, gratitude, patience, and wisdom in the coming year.  WE LOVE YOU!!!!