Happy 7th birthday to Devyn

Happy Happy Birthday to my sweet Heavenly Devyn Leigh! Seven years ago you joined our family and on our anniversary we were able to bring you home from the hospital. We could not have asked for a better gift or celebration!

How do I put into words how blessed we are to have you as our daughter? You are such a joy to all that know and love you. Your sweetness radiates as much as your beautiful red hair and hazel-green eyes.

I remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. They brought you back from the nursery while I was recovering from surgery and that was when we first got a glimpse of that beautiful red hair. The nurses said you had a temper to match your hair. We thought we had some wild years ahead of us! Not the Baughman temper, Please! You have proven to be the exact opposite. You are such a mellow and even tempered child. You are loving and kind. You are gentle and sweet. You love your baby sister even when she pulls your hair. You share with your brother even after he picks on you. You do amazing in school and your teachers all adore you. You keep your room clean without mom and dad having to ask you. You are an easy good spirited child. You are quiet and shy with strangers and it takes a while for you to let people in, but once you do you love them wholeheartedly and your personality sparkles. You are sensitive and your feelings get hurt very easily but I think that is what makes you the sweet girl that you are. In so many ways you are exactly the same as I was as a child.

You love to go shopping with mom and love when we can sit down together and work on our scrapbooks together. We love to turn on Hannah Montana, Taylor Swift and P!nk and dance in the living room for hours. You prefer a trip to the salon to get a mani/pedi with me over a trip to the toy store. Just yesterday you saw a new nail place "that we just have to try!". You are my beautiful girly girl. I look forward to years of love and friendship as you grow up into a beautiful adult.

People always ask where your red hair came from. Even though you hear it everywhere you go you are still kind and say "I am not too sure." You are told how beautiful you are every time we are out and yet you are gracious every time someone tells you. If only they could all know the beauty that lies beneath the ivory skin, freckles and red hair. It far exceeds what could ever be seen on the outside.

You are such a wonderful example for your baby sister and I am so happy she will have you to grow up with and look up too. What better example could she ever have? You are both so lucky to have a sister and I pray that you two have a bond that will never be broken. When she is sad she calls for her sissy and bro-bro. She wants to be a part of whatever you are doing at all times. What a lucky little girl she is to have you. You and Trey fight. A lot. I feel your pain baby - I was the little sister too! I know that in time, like me, you will grow up to love and adore your big brother. You will look back on these years together and laugh just like your Uncle Ryan and I do all the time. You will be so happy that you have a big brother that loves you unconditionally and would lay down his life for yours (even if it doesn't seem like it now, he would). He is such a great example of strength, hope and goodness and one day you will be so proud to call him your big brother. The greatest gift I will ever give you is your siblings.

Tonight we will head to Bath & Body Works at your request and pick out a few fun girly things, ride the Carousel, and enjoy a night out with our family. Enjoy your special day sweet girl. I love you to the moon and back, more than there are stars in the sky, more than I love ice cream and pumpkin pie.

Love,
Mama

Date night with the sweetest guy under 4 foot tall

Once a month the kids get a special date night. This month it is with me and next month it is with dad.

Tonight Trey and I went and finished some Christmas shopping and picked up 2 gifts for birthday parties tomorrow. We had dinner while we were out and they headed to Blades to go ice skating. It was so good to get some much needed one-on-one time with my son. Since Audrey's birth, our time together has been as a family. The time we have had as a family of 5 has been great but we also really needed some time to re-connect individually. Both Trey and Devyn really thrive on special time with Dante and I and it reaps so many rewards for our family. Overall behavior is better and they just seem more happy.

Last Friday night Devyn and I went to dinner, My Little Pony Live, and to Starbucks for hot chocolate after. I didn't tell her what we were doing until we got there. I told her to get dressed up and we were going to have a special night. She was so excited once she figured out where we were. :) She is such a sweet little girl and our night together was very special for both of us.

Here are a few pics from our night out:

I am so sad I forgot the camera tonight when we went skating. :(

Parent teacher conferences 2007

Devyn - Kindergarten:

"Your daughter is just precious. No really, she is just a precious, precious person. We love her to pieces." That is what her teacher told me. Of course I know that, I am her mother. But when someone sees in your child what you see as a parent, it is wonderful. She really is a sweet, sweet, kind soul. My God, she is so much like me as a child. She is really quiet and reserved if she is not 100% comfortable with people. She is loving and strives to do well. She is a "people pleaser" as her teacher says. This can be good and bad. She loves school and tries really hard to do well but it also means she doesn't take risks in her learning. She doesn't not want to be wrong and that may mean not speaking up and taking the chance. Again, so me as a child. She has grown leaps and bounds in a matter of a few months. She is reading really well and according to her teacher, her abstract thinking is beyond the Kindergarten level. **mama beams**

Trey is an amazing boy and truly, he is a brilliant witty child. He is so smart. My goodness, you never know what is going to come out of that child's mouth. LOL. But man, it is really nice going into a conference and hearing, "your child is doing great, no areas to work on, no behavior issues".....with that segway, I will move on to my little man.

Trey - 2nd grade:

I have to say, this is the first year where he has actually said he really enjoys school. He teacher is exceptional. Her class is so calm and controlled and you can see the gears spinning in her students minds when you walk through the door. She has been such a blessing in Trey's eduction. This however, is the third year in a row that I have heard how Trey has a difficult time focusing and he is not finishing his work on time. He does not do well in writing workshop and has a hard time get his thoughts onto paper. Those comments are always followed with how smart he is and how well he does in Math and Science. He thrives in discussion type learning because he can vocalize his thought amazingly well. He aces spelling tests and his vocabulary is way above level.

So where do we go with that?? His teacher has talked to the site OT about him and unfortunately, because he is making progress every year he is not eligible for assistance at school. So he is struggling, but not struggling enough??? Gotta love a public education. I have made appointments with his pediatrician as well as a private OT to have him screened to see what is going on. It could be anything from ADD to sensory issues. Daniele (my cousin) is an OT and she is doing a screening for us and has also been giving me a lot of advice on refocusing strategies for him to use in class when he is feeling like he needs it. So were are working in the right direction at least. I am finally realizing that this is less of "boys will be boys" and more of we need to take care of this issue while he is young.

I am heading out here in a few minutes. I am going to see Annie with Trey's class today at the Kimo theatre. I am excited. Annie was the first real play I saw as a child. I saw it at Popejoy when I was 5 or so. I loved it (and still do). It should be fun!! If it is good I am going to take Devyn to see it sometime this weekend. I have forced the movie upon her and she has conformed, rightly so, into an Annie fan. LOL

It feels really good to be writing again. Really Good.