Double Digits: Happy Birthday Halie

Double digits already?  Tween?  No more baby girl?  No more little girl?  I am treading lightly into this unknown territory.  I feel more unprepared for this next phase of parenting then I did being a first time mom,  I  honestly do.  I always imagined having kids under the age of five.  I always imagined up happily playing in grassy fields, under a warm sunlight, with our faces plastered with smiles.  Most of these things materialized but as you can imagine the picture painted above is not reality or a resemblance of  a real day to day life.  LOL. Regardless of the fact that my life is not a movie and we aren't the Brady Bunch, we do have a great life, ups and downs for sure, but a great family life.  Now my little baby girl is 10 and I find it both thrilling and terrifying at the same time because never have I imagined this phase of my life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I look at Halie and even though there are days that it's clear that she is about to moving into the double digits she is still very much our little girl.  She still dances, twirls, leaps and cartwheels all around the house like nobody is watching. She still asks to be read to, loves cuddling up on the couch,  comes into our bed on the weekend to visit, asks to be tucked in,  and sleeps with her "medo" (bear).    She is imaginative and creative through her art and dance and now her YouTube channel, yep she is on YouTube(check out the video below).  She is compassionate and determined to accomplish whatever she sets her mind to.  Even though she exhibits some behaviors of a tween, mood swings, eye roll, the "OKAY!" that is delivered in an far from okay tone of voice, etc, she still exhibits the innocence of a little girl in many so many ways.   Some days when I look at her I get chocked up especially when I think of how my life changed at the age of 10; it's when my family fled a war torn country and my life changed drastically (sidenote: I thought I was going to share a bit of that with you today but it just doesn't feel quite right).   I look at her and I am thankful that she has this opportunity to toe the line between innocence of childhood and young adult for a few more years.  I want to preserve and protect her childhood while also providing her with space and time to grew up in the most natural way. 

Halie learning to snowboard last weekend at Table Mountain!  We were so proud of the fact that she stuck to the bunny hill to practice her leafing while the rest of us had fun on the big hill.  By the end of the day she was able to turn both ways and get down the big hill slowly.  Her determination, dedication and perseverance made us truly proud.

 

I want Halie to grow up to be an empathetic, generous, open-minded, smart, realistic,  and a hard working individual but NOT yet.   I still wish for her to hold on to the innocence and to look onto  her life with  hopes and dreams and without boundaries. 

 

 

For her birthday party we will be going swimming, having pizza supper, movie night and a sleepover with 8-10 little girls.  HELP ME!  😅😊