#4 has Arrived!

I sincerely hope that how K Bear spent her fourth birthday is not an omen for the year to come. It's one of the joys of being a parent, and we all know it...the stomach bug. Yes, it hit her at school the day before her birthday and had her down for the count on her birthday. Luckily around lunch time- right at 24 hours in- things started looking up. But, the note Abbs posted for K Bear on the mantel did kind of define what she was like yesterday.

It's been funny being back in the working world for the past year. I can't tell you the number of people who have said to me, "And to think, you and BK said you never wanted kids. It's crazy that you've been a parent for three/four year now!" I don't really think about it, but we've obviously had a lot of time to get used to this fact. Whereas, we just kind of popped back onto the scene with two kids- a bit of a surprise to some.

Oh our sweet girl. K Bear is funny, has a huge imagination, is fiercely independent, loves Barbies and baby dolls, dances, plays soccer, prefers sushi over any other type of food...I could go on and on. There is such life in everything she does, and I love it. We have so many people tell us she is one who is spirited, a natural leader and doesn't fall far from the tree. K Bear often overshadows her quieter brother, but often he's the first person she asks about when she wakes each morning. Her teachers tell me she is kind, which is something I hope for the most.

I love seeing her start to develop friendships and put pieces together about where people live, who is related to whom, imitate jobs that need to be done and start to understand her relationship to different things in this world. She is often going to meetings and talking on the phone handling things at work. I can't decide what I think about that, but it's part of the reality she lives in, so there it is. She treats Abbs and Lala like it's been years since they've seen each other. And right now she wants nothing more than to spend the night at someone else's house each night. We typically go through the list of family members each night, with her asking if she can spend the night at each person's house. Sometimes yes; sometimes no; sometimes we call and see what the answer is.

There's part of me that likes that K Bear's and my birthday are close together- it's a celebratory time at the end of March in our house. The one thing I feel a little bit bad about though, is that BK and I typically go somewhere to celebrate my birthday. So after hers is over it's kind of like we say, "It's been fun and all, but we'll see you later." I'm sure at some point she and H Berry might be invited.

At some point...we're not there yet. So tomorrow BK and I head out for our next trip, which is apparently going to be a very snowy spring trip to NYC. More to come soon. Happy birthday to our sweet girl!