Making Room for New Growth

Well, I have not written in a looooong time.  Duh.  A lot has been going on.  But you all know me - I write in droughts and floods.  So here's to the end of the drought and to the beginning of a nice long flood!

To begin with, the kids and I now live in Chapel Hill, NC!  Whoo hoo for being closer to family!  I'll post more about this later, but it's been a great transition so far and I'm expecting great things in the future.

Which brings me to today's topic.  Making room for new growth.  

Very fittingly, Emily lost her first tooth two days after moving into our new house.  It's been wiggly for months.  I've been checking it regularly, but it was never quite right for pulling.  (And let me just tell you that I LOVE to pull loose teeth.  I've pulled most of my own, many of my nieces', and all but one of Renton's.  I have a pretty good knack for knowing when they are ready and for making the process painless.)

Anyway . . . a couple nights ago, Emily asked me to check her tooth again, and sure enough, it was feeling "ready".  We wrapped the floss around the tooth, making sure to get the floss snug up and over the back part of the tooth, so that it nearly disappeared between the gumline and the tooth itself (that's a pretty good test right there).  

The first yank produced a sort of ripping sound, and Emily's eyes got HUGE.  That was it, we were going all the way.  One more firm tug and the tooth popped out to squeals of joy!  This is always a big event in our house, and all three kids were dancing around singing and passing Emily's tooth around in all it's glory.  Even better was the fact that if you looked closely you could see the new tooth budding through the hole. 

Emily immediately tucked it in a little plastic baggie (never got around to getting those really cool tooth pillows for my kids - I know - I suck), and slid it under her pillow.  So true to Emily's nature, she made sure to put it under the pillow she was NOT sleeping on, so that the tooth fairy wouldn't have a hard time getting under it to retrieve the tooth.  One of Emily's best traits is her empathy.

The tooth fairy came right on time (a first for the fairy in our house) and even left Emily a note with her name.  This was Renton and Emily's biggest excitement because they were dying to find out if it would be the SAME tooth fairy or if they each had a different one.  It was the same fairy.  Her name is Esmerelda.

So what does all this have to do with anything?  Sometimes you have to lose something that once was a very integral part of your life, your being, your identity, to make room for better, more permanent things.  A baby tooth is beautiful and white and tiny and perfect.  But it will not serve you as you grow and become an adult.  For that, you need something bigger, stronger, and more permanent.  The transition can be long, scary and sometimes a little painful.  Getting help from another, experienced person helps. Being surrounded by cheerleaders and family makes it even a little bit exciting.  And in the end you can smile a big, HUGE, GLORIOUS smile - showing off your gaping hole to the world - the proud the symbol of your growth and progress.

So here's to new beginnings!  (Even if it's not the first set of new beginnings.)  There are better, more permanent things ahead for all of us.

Pin It

Happy Birthday Emily!

Six years ago today, my beautiful baby girl, Emily was born! It was a crazy pregnancy. She was so ready to come out and join the world! So many times and so many weeks before she was due. In the end, she was born six weeks early. I should have known she was going to have a determined, energetic personality, and that she would leave an impression on everyone who knew her.

My darling Emily Ann, I cannot imagine my life without you. Your strong heart and a gentle smile. You are the nursemaid to us all; quick with an icepack, a band aid and a kiss to soothe away our pain. Flanked by two boys, you can hold your own in any fight; verbal or hand-to-hand. Your laugh fills up any room, and your generosity is endless.

Your love of Ninjagos, Paper Rockets and Suped up Mustangs perfectly complements your silly giggles and giant hugs and mountains of stuffed animals; every one of them your “absolute favorite”.

You are my heart!





Here's a link to the fantastic eggless cookies I made for her class party (2 boys have allergies).
I added the cocoa powder, baking powder and rolled in pink sugar. Yummy!!!




More posts about Emily

Pin It

Merry Mondays: Party All Day

Emily's quote this morning, "I hate to tell you this Mommy . . . But today I'm gonna party all day!" Gotta love a 5 year old's outlook on life. :)

Pin It

Shameless Self Promotion

Contest details

Contest details

Pin It

Say it Now, Mean it Later – A Lesson in Contrition



An apology is the superglue of life. 
It can repair just about anything. 
~Lynn Johnston


This morning was a particularly (though quite normal) crazy morning in the Plummer house with three little ones trying to get dressed, fed and out the door to school in less than 30 minutes.  I had overslept, myself, so when I came downstairs I found Renton and Emily re-packing their school snack bags (adding more fruit snacks and yogurt) - and Micky trying to eat everything out of his right then and there.  There was going to be little time for breakfast and I think the kids knew it.

I scooped them up and announced cheerily that we’d have breakfast at the school coffee bar that morning as a treat!   (Hoping to spur them to move a little faster out the door).  Everyone went happily to the car and it even looked like Micky was going to get in his own carseat without any complaints.  (The usual process is he sits in Emily’s seat til she drags or screams him out of it, then he sits in Renton’s screaming himself as Renton tries to coax him out, then he plays alternating limp noodle/stiff-as-a-board as I try to pick him up from the back of a three-row SUV and get him into his own seat in the front and buckled in without getting kicked in the face or jewelry or clothes ripped off in the process.)  Then Micky spotted one of his school drawings in the back of the car and made a beeline for it.  No Micky!  In your seat.  “No, Mommy!”  Was the confident, determined, defiant, challenging . . . (you get the idea) reply I got and I knew all hope was lost.

Let’s just fast-forward through the part where I had to force-buckle Micky into his seat then carry him kicking and screaming to his pre-school room where a quick peck on the check and “I love you Micky Moo” earned  me a slap in the face.

Yes, let’s just skip right to the calm breakfast of home-made apple struedel and Horizon milk for the kids and me enjoying a small coffee in the serene Elim café. . . . Ah . . . I feel more relaxed already. 

Okay, back to reality.  Emily decided she wanted a bottle of water instead of the milk.  She had a re-useable bottle of water in her snack bag so I suggested she drink that rather than me paying a dollar for a tiny bottle of water from the café.  Wasn’t going to fly.  The lip curled.  The tears began to well.  “Emily,” I said.  “That’s not how you get what you want.  Try breathing it out and we can talk about it some more.” 

(“Breathing it out” is a technique I learned to combat my own anxiety attacks and I have found it works WONDERS with forestalling or shortening full-blown meltdowns with the kids too!  Here’s how it works:  Take in a REALLY deep breath just through your nose, then blow out like you’re blowing out candles on a birthday cake.  The breathing out is the key – the louder the better!  Instant relaxation.  Try it – it works – I promise you.)

So, Emily had to “breathe it out” a few times, but she finally calmed down enough to explain she wanted to save her water in her water bottle for class when she couldn’t get to the water fountain.  Fair enough – I got her the water.

By now, the kids were running late and had about 2 minutes to get from the café to their rooms upstairs.  Normally, Tuesday is the dropping-off-Emily-first day.   But today we were running late and we were getting ready to pass Renton’s classroom first.  “Renton, we’re going to have to drop you off first today, honey.”

“What?!?!”  he shouted.  Oh boy, I thought to myself, here we go again.  “Renton, we’ll drop Emily off first the next two days to make up for it, okay?  You’re late this morning so we’re making an exception to the rule.”  Before I knew it, he’d turned his back to me, slipped in through a side door and disappeared, without so much as a “Good-Bye.”

Emily and I passed the second door to his classroom as Renton was hanging up his bookbag.  When he saw us he started to close that door too, making sure I saw the very serious scowl on his face.  I stopped and motioned for him to come outside.

I squatted down so that I was eye-to-eye on his level, placed my hand gently on his arm, and said to him calmly but seriously, “Renton, it is not okay to act like that to your Mom.  You need to apologize right now.” 

Renton just looked at me, waiting. Emily was watching intently, too.

I continued, undaunted, “Renton, you can mean it later, but you’re going to say it right now.”

Renton took a deep breath in and breathed it out.  Then he gave me a big hug and said, “I’m sorry, Mommy," and ran back into his room.

I think he may even have actually meant it.

Pin It

My Little Orphan Annie



Emily Ann as
Little Orphan Annie

Emily showing off her
"Annie Attitude"

Amazing how time flies! 

I recently received a few requests to make Little Orphan Annie costumes for Halloween based off the pictures of my Emily on my Rebecca's Reproductions website. It feels like just yesterday I was making that Annie costume for Emily. 

Now when I look at the pictures she seems like a totally different little girl.  The same spunk and fire!  But more grown-up.  Hard to beleive she was ever this little - but she made the PERFECT  Little Orphan Annie! 

What are your kids going to be for Halloween?



Original Annie Comic

Pin It

Something Bugging You?

Emily and her pet bug . . .

So it's been months since my last post here. Not really sure how to explain it . . . other than perhaps the combination of giving up cable/internet in the favor of using my cellphone as a hotspot (not really the best idea - more on that later), and the fact that Renton and Emily spent the remainder of the summer down at my parents' in NC leaving me with little but the "woes of raising a two-year-old" as a subject to write about. Even I knew that was just down right, way too depressing for a repetitive topic all summer.

So my friends, I apologize for the long silence and I promise to have more "Expeditions" soon! I will start with a post on bugs . . . if you follow me on Facebook, you have an idea of what I'm talking about. If not, stay tuned . . . It will make you laugh, cry and proably want to puke.

Pin It