A blossoming 6 year old!

     Catalina turned 6 years old. She is an amazing little woman. Yes, a little woman. She surprises me daily with her maturity, her well developed ideas, her sophistication and her imagination. I hope she knows how proud of her we are, how our lives truly revolve only around making her happy, helping her grow beautifully from now on too.
     We would have liked to have a bog party to celebrate her, but last year experiences taught us better. So we asked her what she wants. She clearly stated she wants a small party at home. So this is what we planned for. She is in love with Shopkins, some silly little rubber characters that girls her age like to collect. So this was her "theme". No an easy one, but we did our best to accommodate her wishes :).

The morning of the party Catalina wanted to open her presents. We got her a small basket with plastic food for her American Girl Doll when we were in NY and told her that is her present for her birthday (as we spent SO much money in that store at that time...). She desperately wanted that basket, but we made her promise she will not open it till her birthday. And she listened! Of course, she got plenty of other surprises, she loved everything that had a Shopkin on it!

It was the time for the party. The house was beautifully decorated, Catalina was excited, mommy and daddy emotional. Our daughter is (almost) 6!

The center piece of the party was without a doubt the beautifully decorated cake. I have to say, it was absolutely breathtaking looking. But that was all...Inside it was all dry, way to sweet and really a disappointment. Good thing Catalina doesn't really care about cakes, she loved the look and just wanted to look at it. After the first bite she declared it the best cake ever and never touched it again :)

 The kids made their own necklaces, with a Shopkin character hanging.

 We played Shopkin Bingo and the prizes were litte Shopkins.

 Once again, Catalina was overwhelmed by the girls and the noise they were making. So she retreated to her room to have some quiet time.

 We served pizza and lots of other treats.

 And then we all sang. We did not have any Romanian guests, so it was all in English. Maybe this is why the party felt like just a party, and not something to melt my heart with emotion. But this face, this smile will always stay stamped in my memory.

Our dear neighbors came for a short visit because they saw the pink balloon we hanged outside to "mark" the party house. They are Catalina's adopted american grandparents and she loves them dearly. They are also the only ones with whom she stays when school is off but mommy and daddy are not. We are lucky to have them.

After the guests left we spent the evening quietly, Catalina was exhausted once again. She opened her presents and rested. We cleaned and marveled at the speed of time.

It was then March 8th, women's day. We got presents and flowers again from daddy. I picked up Catalina a little early. It was sunny and warm and we were happy. We went to the park together and had a lovely time.

But I can't think of anything else anymore, but March 9th. It's unbelievable how much hold this date has on my brain and on my soul.
The morning was special, I sang to her, we kissed and hugged and had fun. I measured her, so we know how tall she was at 6years old.

 We had a fun breakfast and we went to school. That day I surprised Catalina at school, I went there as a "mystery reader". I read a book for the whole class and Catalina felt special. Because she is SO special! The trees blossomed for her, it was the first blooming tree we saw this spring, in front of her school, on her birthday.

 After reading the book we went home together. It was the warmest day of the year so far and Catalina wanted to wear her summer dress and have an ice cream cone outside, and mommy was happy to oblige. Later on we went in the back of our house, to the little creek. The dress got soaked, but we picked some ghiocei :). We had way too much fun to even take the phone for pictures. We had such an amazing time!
We later went to Panera Bread for dinner. That was quiet and lovely, and Catalina was in such a good mood. Memories that are so warm to my heart.

Happy birthday my sweet, lovely girl! I could not love you more, there is no higher limit.

A lovely time

We are enjoying a lovely period in our lives. Nothing major happening, just little, fun things happening around the house and at Catalina's school. Spring is coming early this year (the groundhog was right after all...) so we got some outside fun as well.

Catalina's school held a girl's night out dance night that at the last minute I found out that is actually a daughter/father dance night. Why exactly they named it girl's night out beats me. My kid wanted a girl's night out, so she took mommy instead of daddy for the night. We had fun nonetheless, we danced, had some pizza and Catalina went on a ghost hunt with her classmates.

The first warmer day we ventured outside. It seems that the outdoors hold a lot of really amazing opportunities to discover and entertain the young minds.

 Making daddy burn some calories. Catalina is the perfect personal trainer, no second is wasted and she does not believe in being tired :)

 Bird watching is taken very seriously.

Inside you can get quite a few giggles as well...

 Catalina is still enjoying ballet classes. She is getting really good at some parts and postures, while being silly and losing balance more than once. For her age I think she is quite advanced though and her instructor often praises her. She definitely looks like a ballerina!

To continue on the Spring events. March first came and with it the beautiful Romanian spring. This year Catalina took martisoare to school to share with everybody our beautiful tradition. The kids loved it, but I think Catalina liked it even more that she comes from such a rich heritage.

And, March 2nd, for Dr. Seuss day Catalina had to wear a funny hat. That she did :).

These are small little things that make our lives so, so complete. These are also the posts I re-read with the most interest, as they are the ones that truly bring back the spirit around us. We are soon to be a family of four and I could not imagine a happier crowd.

THE dream

My little bean has been in my belly for 26 full weeks now and I can't wait to get a real glimpse at her. It is frustrating, guilt loaded...but I did not have a dream about her. I had the funny, scary dreams in the beginning, but never a dream where I could see her, feel her, touch her. With Catalina these dreams came early, sometimes she was a boy, sometimes she was beautiful, sometimes not that much :). But I dreamt about her face, about holding her, about who she is. Of course, I can't remember any of those dreams and for sure some were very far from the truth (she is definitely not a boy and she is gorgeous!). But they kept me company and made the waiting a little easier.

Last night I started having a very complicated and upsetting dream. Catalina was in it, she was part of our lives, but the little bean was not there. I woke up very early and very upset that I still did not see her. And then I fell asleep and I had THE dream. My little one was ready to be born and she came out looking amazingly beautiful. More like a 6 month old baby, with very strong personality. She did not want to be held, she wanted to just look around. Catalina was there with us, loving her sister. My baby had very white and chubby arms and I was thinking she looks exactly like her father (ha ha). Her face was chubby and round as well and her eyes were magnificent: a dark brown, very well defined, nothing like the usual baby eyes greyish/brownish/blueish. I still have her face stamped in my memory and it is an amazing feeling, getting to know what at least my subconscious thinks of her.

Of course, the big question of the dream was about her name. In my dream, in the car Marius said her name should be Medea, or some sort of derivative. I did not like it in the dream and I don't really like it in real life. So my little bean is still waiting for a final name. But I held her and cuddled her in my dream, I got to feel what it is to be a mother of two.

I love my life so much at this moment. I hope and pray that nothing changes dramatically, that we stay this small, happy family who enjoys day to day activities, nice vacations, sunshine and rain.