Overshadowed: The curse of the middle child

In true middle child fashion, Sydney turned twelve right after I got back from Colorado and then immediately after we all got hit with "Not Coronovirus but still really sucks" So my poor middle child's birthday post is only a teensy bit behind. 

This girl. I like this girl a lot. 

She is an old soul with a sarcastic, dry sense of humor that always makes adults feel just a little bit bad about laughing. In short, the best kind of humor. She's brave and thoughtful and adventurous and of all of my kids, I think she's probably the most likely to backpack across Europe or try fried grasshoppers or hop onto a questionably legitimate bus headed...somewhere. 

She wanted to go as a family to the trampoline park so we all bounced and flipped and climbed ALL DAY, and then promptly we all fell ill with whatever feels like hell and is not COVID. Then just as she was feeling better she decided to try to learn how to flip on solid ground (as opposed to on trampolines) and broke her hand. So we're kicking off the new year pretty spectacularly!

 

This and that

The kids went back to school. Averson and Eli are thrilled. Syd is... less so. We had her anxiety pretty dialed in but the last half of the quarantine has been tougher. She's doing okay and for her at least, I'm grateful that school is only 2 hours/ 2 days a week. Eli is back to wrestling practice and next week they're back on the mat. I have mixed feelings, but they're all getting tested weekly so I think it's as safe as it can be. And with half of the house vaccinated I feel a bit more risk tolerant. 

Literally the only picture I took of Easter and you'd never know what it was. Our baskets were ON POINT this year. New swimsuits, a new pool toy (from the "pool toys for teens" list on Amazon), a paper airplane kit, a new book, and a bunch of candy. I snuck an anime action figure into Eli's basket and he played with it all afternoon :) 

I had Cesar Chavez day off and the weather was gorgeous, so we ventured to find this bridge and tree that everyone's been posting pictures of. I did not take a picture (SMH). Then we realized that one of my favorite little pubs was across said bridge and decided to stop for lunch. Which Eli had to pay for because C and I had forgotten our wallets in the car. 

Ahh! Here's the tree! But you can't tell that it's cool from this angle. Trust me. It's cool. 

We celebrated my mom's birthday by going out to an actual restaurant! It was so fun and exactly what we all needed. We even got dressed up(ish)

Birthday donuts. She'll be so mad that I posted this picture, but I love it

There are about 700 pictures of braids on my phone because I bribe the girls with tv if they'll play with my hair. Most are kind of a mess but Syd gave me a bubble braid the other night and I really like it! Also, my hair has gotten ridiculous. 

In other, quiet announcement news, I sort of got a new job and will be leaving prison work at the end of the month. It feels SUPER weird and I'll dedicate a better post to it later. In true Corey fashion I 100% tripped into it. It's totally different from what I'm doing now (back to direct patient care!) I'm excited and nervous and also having a very hard time continuing to make my heinous commute. So more on that soon! 

 

Girls Trip

The girls and I took a day trip to the coast hoping to see the whales and the elephant seals. While it was too foggy to see any whales, we did see the seals! We also found a trail that runs along the San Andreas fault line and had signs for the kids explaining the 1906 San Francisco earthquake 

We’re at a lighthouse with the ocean behind us. Or so we were told by the ranger :)

Elephant seal! They’re enormous and don’t move at all. 

This fence was in all one piece before the earthquake! 

Not at all reassured by the “steep cliff” signage along this trail

The girls were completely enamored with this tree

And the pooping deer

 

We all got a little hangry out in the middle of nowhere. Luckily we found a little deli that was open and had this stump table on the beach. The girls loved it

I was a little nervous about spending hours in the car with the Bicker Twins, but it was great. On the way home, as Syd nestled in for a car nap, she quietly said “Today was a fun day.” And if that’s not the highest praise from an angsty ten-year-old, I don’t know what is.

Quarantine Birthday Club

Syd turned TEN! Like two weeks ago! I haven't been spending as much time on my laptop and quite honestly blogging from your phone is a real PITA.

Syd was supposed to have a big birthday party this year and has been planning her llama-themed slumber party (complete with matching jammies) since January. I was really worried that her quarantine birthday was going to fall woefully short. At the end of the day though she declared that it was one of her best birthdays yet. It seems perhaps that when you're an anxious, introverted, newly minted ten-year-old, a day of indulgence and intermittent social interaction is exactly what you want, even if you didn't know it.

Traditional birthday donuts! We tried to go to our favorite local place, but when Syd and I walked in no one was wearing a mask so we decided to break tradition and go to Dunkin instead. 

A gallon of glue, merch from her favorite youtuber, and a hydroflask. Basically the VSCO girl starter kit.  

Friends dropped off birthday gifts and sang to her from the street. Included is a lapdesk that her friend's little sister made her, so she can do Zooms from the couch. :) 

 Syd asked if she could make her own cake this year. Strawberry with funfetti frosting and llama sprinkles. She did the whole thing herself with no help from us. Between that and the Chipotle takeout she asked for for dinner, it really was the most hands off birthday any of my kids have ever had. She and a couple of neighborhood girls made socially-distant slime in our driveway (I put together the kits and the girls sat 10 feet apart), she made friendship bracelets, and spent the rest of the day with unlimited screen time and candy. 

She also asked for a pair of traditional pajamas (which are surprisingly hard to find) and I am here for it. 

I had a lot of anxiety about her birthday and was sure that, between being the middle child, being fundamentally somewhat angsty, AND missing the party she's been planning forEVER, that this was going to be a rough day. In retrospect though, I think it was pretty perfectly Syd.

One of the cutest things you'll ever see

Seriously. Don't you just want to eat her up?

 

 

 

Gore. By OPI

I just love how proud she looks of herself. And her aim is pretty good too.

When C first showed this to me, I totally thought it was blood and for the life of me couldn't figure out 1) why she was smiling and 2) why we weren't in the emergency room. So if you had the same reaction, I feel for you. Rest assured, it's not blood but a very cheap bottle of very red nail polish. Coincidentally the same shade that she shattered all over the grocery store a few weeks back. 

Happy Birthday, Sunshine!

 

Helping me make cupcakes :) 

She's been asking for a month to ride the carousel, but when we got to the mall this bus was a much bigger deal.

 

All day. All day I tried for a single decent family picture and this is the best I got. Also, note Syd's totally fake pout. 

 

 

It just kills me how daintily she's eating this cupcake!

 

We had an awesome birthday celebration! We sang "Happy To You!," hit the mall for a carousel ride (and subsequently freaked out and refused to sit on a carousel animal), made cupcakes, took a walk to the duck pond, and opened presents. Syd ROCKED the cupcake dress and was perfectly adorable all day. One of her first gifts was an elephant that sings a birthday song, so all day she'd turn it on a dance. Someone asked me today if it was sad that she's two already, and all I could think is that two suits her.

She'll hate me for this

but it's got to be documented. I was getting the kids settled in for a movie and I noticed that Syd had a finger in her mouth and a mischievous look in her eye. I asked, "Sydney, are you eating boogers?" She giggled and said "Yes, Mama!" "Well don't! That's disgusting!" Then she giggled again, stuck her finger back in her mouth and gave me the friggin' booger. I seriously couldn't decide whether to laugh or gag.

Bruiser