...one week as just one

I'm the oldest of three daughters. For two and a half years I was an only child. I (jokingly, of course) often call that time "the good ol' days"!! Now, I realize how important my best friends and sisters are to me. I also know that I CANNOT imagine life without them. I'm sure one day Little "B" and Big "B" will feel the same way, but for now being just one, at least every once in awhile, is proving to be a lot of fun for them.

While Big "B" has been away at her grandparents home taking part in Vacation Bible School there, Little "B" has been able to experience, for really the first time, what it's like to be an only child. At 23 months old, I thought she would be missing her big sister A LOT. They play well together and Big "B" is usually the first person she asks for when she wakes up. But, Little "B" is having a blast getting all the attention this week. She hasn't asked for Big "B" one time and when I ask if she wants to go see Big "B" she answers with her quick, little, insistent "No!".

I realized this week how often I rely on them to entertain each other while I do other things. Without Big "B" here I've focused completely on Little "B". We've played a lot, run errands together and she's even joined me in some of the things I normally do while she's busy with Big "B". (Like read a trashy tabloid! - I know it's terrible. I tried to read Elmo Enjoys Summer, but she preferred OK! magazine...I swear!)

Anyway, it has been so much fun to connect with her individually. She is learning new words daily, developing her own personality and during this week she's loved on me and given me more of her sweet kisses than ever before. She's also been better behaved. It has been a reminder of how much one-on-one time each child needs. I have missed "Big" B terribly, but I am grateful for such a special time with my baby.

Siblings are such a blessing...it's something, though, that obviously takes time to realize. I'll bet in 25 years or so she'll be sitting at her own home (probably reading a trashy tabloid) wishing her sister was there beside her so they could talk about all that Hollywood gossip together! I know it's something I wish daily...

Mommy, are you jokin' me?

We laugh A LOT at our house! Ask Big "B" what her favorite holiday is and she'll tell you it's April Fool's Day. She gets this from me. There's not much I take seriously. I love to joke around and I do it often with my girls. So much, in fact, Big "B" is constantly questioning whether or not I'm "for real". Yes, these jokes have gotten me in trouble before and it probably isn't the best parenting tool but my number one rule is to have fun! Big "B" is pretty good at following rules so we have a lot of fun.

Recently, when it started pouring down rain Big "B" ran to the door and was staring at the dark sky. I said, "You can go out there if you want." She turned around with a confused look on her face. I repeated myself. She then said something I hear quite often, "Mommy, are you jokin' me?" "No," I responded. Now, we do love spontaneity and I let the girls do things I probably shouldn't sometimes, but I am not a fan of letting them get dirty or of allowing them to ruin their clothes that I've spent waaay too much on. So Big "B" gave me another, "Mommy, are you SURE you're not joking me?" I said, "Go ahead. Dance in the rain. It will be fun!"

She finally realized I wasn't 'joking' her and she asked me where her rain boots and rain coat were. I told her to just go out in her clothes. She got really excited and yelled to her daddy, "Mommy said we could go out in the rain! This is gonna be sooo much fun!" She ran out the door and Little "B" followed. They were apprehensive at first. They still thought they were doing something they shouldn't be. It was so much fun for us to watch. It didn't take long before they were spinning around. They splashed in the puddles. As their hair started to straighten their lips began to curl. Those smiles were some of the biggest I'd ever seen. Their laughter and mine started to rival the thunder. I grabbed the camera! It was a moment when I wished time could have stood still.

I love jokin' my girls, but this time I was so glad that I was for real. It is one of those things Big "B" is still talking about. And by the way, I learned a little rain - even a little mud isn't going to ruin clothes and if it does who cares!?! We'll never remember those clothes anyway -- we will remember....forever....dancing in the rain!

God bless America and God bless moms and dads who go through heck to make their kids happy...

Every summer for the past three years Big "B" has eagerly looked forward to the Patriotic Bike Parade at her school. We look forward to it, too. It's simple, it's fun and the kids are adorable riding on their decorated bicycles dressed in all red, white and blue.

I'm not the best at going all out when it comes to decorating bikes. The past two years, her bike...well, let's just say it didn't stand out. What I am good at, is making HER stand out! (hence the sparkly, star shades! And if you're wondering, she did have a bow that matched but it was so big the paper hat she made at school wouldn't fit over it and I figured I would appear a little obnoxious making her wear them both.)

Anyway, I decided I would try a little harder at the bike decorating this year. So, on the afternoon before the parade we went to Michael's and bought lots of independence day garland, some bells, ribbon and stars to hang on the handlebars. While Little "B" slept the two of us had fun sweating in the sun, turning her pink and purple Hello Kitty bike into a fancy, shiny, red, white and blue one she could be proud of at the parade.

After putting on the finishing touches it was time to test it out for a practice spin. Not having ridden the bike in a few weeks because of the heat, she hopped on and started peddling, but the bike wouldn't go anywhere. I realized the back tire was flat and the training wheels were loose. That became Daddy's problem. Big "B" promptly got on the phone to call him. The conversation went something like this...."Daddy, I need you to come home on your dinner break so you can fix my bike. The back tire is flat and my training wheels are loose and I don't want to be the joke of the parade!" He agreed and came home in his suit and tie for what he thought was going to be a quick flat fix. Oh, was he in for something more!!

After about 15 minutes of trying to pump air in the dirty tire on the bike that he sat on our kitchen bar -- I realized it was not just a low tire. He still had hope and kept pumping. We were both growing frustrated. Then out came the tools - ALL the tools we own, spread out all over the kitchen. I was, at that point, convinced he didn't know what he's doing and this fix-it project seemed doomed.

Determined not to let my poor Big "B" be the "joke" of the parade, my solution was to just go to Wal-Mart and buy a new bike, but if we did that we would have to redecorate ANOTHER bike and time was running out! Frustrated and sweaty, my husband had to leave to return to work. I called him on his way back with a couple of suggestions on what we could do. He thought they were all dumb and the conversation ended with me yelling, "No! She can't ride her EZ Roller in the parade. It's a BIKE parade not an EZ Roller parade! And you're the worst dad EVER!!" Click.

It's one of those experiences we've all had as mothers and fathers numerous times. I knew one day I'd look back and laugh at this mishap, but at that moment I was livid!!! I went to bed hoping when I woke up on bike parade day Big "B" 's bike would be in riding condition and the laughter could begin. Instead, I woke up to the bike in worse condition. It was no longer on the kitchen bar. It was in a million pieces in the living room. Nuts and bolts and tools were scattered everywhere! I fought the urge to wake a sleeping house and left for work. When I got home my husband made a trip to Wal-Mart and after a couple of hours the bike was fixed and ready to go JUST in time for the parade.

When Big "B" saw it lined up on the breezeway with all the other bikes, she yelled, "Daddy, thanks SOOOOOO much for fixing my bike!" She didn't know he would have preferred she rode her EZ Roller instead of him fixing the bike, but he did it and he was the hero! She was happy, he was happy, I was happy....it was time to start laughing...

So here it goes...

I've been inspired to start a blog and so it begins with, of course, an introduction to my life and my initiation into The Big Pink Bow Club. That happened about 30 years ago when my mother tied the first pink ribbon in my hair. It wasn't until I was around 3 years old that happened because up until then I had NO hair!!!

That pink bow was like a tiara for me. It was all I needed to feel like a princess and it was what my mom needed to feel like she was raising a princess. Isn't that what all mothers of little girls want - a little princess. I imagine it is what my grandmother, Edris, and her mother before that wanted, too - a girly, girl, a "little" friend to play dress-up with, to share tea with, to buy baby dolls for, teach to paint her nails and curl her eyelashes. For us, nothing says tiny, southern princess quite like a big, pink bow. The tradition of those bows in my family continued with my two younger sisters and now with my daughters and my niece. They aren't just pink anymore, but certainly, pink is and always will be our favorite.

My daughters are 4 and 22 months. Big "B" and Little "B" never, ever, ever leave the house without a bow and neither does my 8 month old niece, Tiny "B". They actually all left the hospital with one around their heads. Their bows are part of them. It is the signature accessory that defines and binds the Courtney girls.

This blog will be about everything girly - from bows, to baby dolls, frilly dresses and family ties --all the fun that goes along with raising our precious daughters. You'll also hear a lot about my 2 -year-old, twin nephews. They may have ended the all girl streak in our family but, boy oh boy are we thrilled to have them in our lives to remind us how fun it is to get dirty, climb trees and karate chop our cousins! Hiiiiii - yaaahh! (By the way - I even put a bow in their heads - but just once and if my brother-in-law ever knew that he would KILL me and never let me see them again!)