Giselle Ballet Recital 2009

Last night was the BIG ballet recital at Wallace's Auditorium. We are so proud of our little ballerina! So many practices and rehearsals have paid off for our Katie. She did great! Of course, she along with her little ballerina buddies (3-5 year olds) were the entertainment for the night.

Katie in Dressing Room before the recital

While we were getting ready for the recital, I explained to Katie about this being the big night and a lot of her family would be there to watch her dance. She went through her list of who all would be there. "Is Whitney going to be there? Is Leslie going to be there? Let's see, who else will be there?" she asked.

I wondered what Anna would do to keep the girls occupied until their number because they had to stay in the dressing room until then. She said, she brought movies to watch and coloring books to color. Katie was so excited, especially when she saw her friend, Zoe. I wanted to make sure Anna knew she was there before I left the room. Katie was getting frustrated at me because she didn't want to go see Mrs. Anna, she wanted to go over to Zoe and wanted me to leave. Ugh! I have a feeling she won't miss me when she starts school next fall. In a way, that's a good thing.

Katie posing for pictures

Pink flower arrangement came from Doug & I

(BTW, I don't know where she got the lipstick from)

Maryann gave her this arrangement

Our family nearly filled up a whole row with an exception of maybe 5 chairs. I want to send a special "Thank You" out to those who did come and share this moment with us: Millard, Peggy, Mom, Dad, Maryann, Whitney, June & KimAnn.

THANK YOU!

It wasn't far into the recital before Doug began asking me, "when does Katie come? Is it time for her to come out yet?" Bless his heart, I don't think he enjoys ballet recitals. I have to say, this was my very first ballet and I really enjoyed it. Sure, you have to pay attention to figure out what's going on. What helped was on the program, Elaine typed out the full story. If you read the story before the performance began, you could easily understand what's going on. I think my dad even enjoyed the ballet, especially when he read the story before hand. When Katie and her two little ballerina friends were wheeled out onto the stage, there was a room full of "Awwww! " It was so sweet. At first, everyone on our row began asking which one was Katie until she began waving to everyone in the crowd. Her waving to everyone caused a room full of giggles and more "Awwww!" and "look at that". Again, she did so good and almost did everything she was suppose to do. But hey, she's only 3. Right? I wished you could have seen them.

I was so impressed with all the older ballerinas, during their performance. I think a lot of people in our group were impressed as well. I have to say, it was beautiful and I was very touched at times. I was glad that I could pick Katie up from the dressing room during intermission, so she could watch Act II. She seemed to really enjoy watching the big girls and boys dance. The only problem is she began dancing where she was sitting; therefore, bumping into a sleeping Colton. Doug made her sit by us, so she wouldn't wake him up. She didn't like that too good because that meant leaving her grandparents. Uh, oh!

After the recital was over, I took her to Dairy Queen to get us some supper and treat her to a vanilla ice cream (her favorite). Peggy, Millard and Doug met us back at home with their supper. Katie was so happy to get flowers at the recital. She and Peggy arranged them in vases. She loves flowers! She was really excited when we agreed that she could go home with Grandma Peggy and Paw-Paw Millard.

Colton Update

Would you believe not only did Colton make it through the entire recital without fussing, but I fed him at 11:30 PM and he didn't wake up hungry until 4:00 AM. Yes! I can handle this feeding time. I fed him at 4:00 AM, put him to bed around 4:45 AM and he woke up again around 7:30 AM. What a difference? I told Doug that I actually got some sleep. Am I finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel?

It's hard to imagine Colton is 2 months old. He doesn't miss a thing. He loves to sit up and look around, especially at anything that's bright (lights or bright colors). He's beginning to talk to you, if you give him some attention. I think it's so sweet to hear him say, "a lah". I've stopped rocking and holding him so much during nap time. I think I was getting into the same routine that I did with Katie as far as rocking until he fell into a deep sleep and then put him to bed. He would wake up suddenly and began crying again. Now, I try to place him in his pack & play (fully awake) and let him fall asleep on his own. At night, I rock him a little and then put him to bed. He wakes back up, but at least he's not in a deep sleep. So far, he seems to be okay with it because I'll give him his pacifier and turn on the musical aquarium. As soon as I see that he's not going to start crying, I leave the room. Most of the time, he falls asleep on his own. He's on formula now, full time. He got to where he didn't want me, so I would have to pump. Of course, who has time to pump when you have a 3 year old running around. Right? It just got to be difficult and I kept forgetting to sit down and drink lots of water and pump. Susan warned me that it would get this way and to not feel bad, if I didn't make it to my goal (3 months). Even though I'm pretty much dried up, I still have some milk in the freezer for Colton to drink. Besides, I think he gets along with the Enfamil Lipil for fussy & gassy babies much better. I don't want to say it too loud, but I think the colic is much better. Sure, he has his off days where he doesn't feel good and I end up bouncing or holding him. Doug and I also have come to a conclusion that he doesn't like his car seat or he doesn't like to ride in the car. I think the riding causes him to build up a lot of gas, which makes him cranky.