If you could relive one day from your past, which day would it be and why?
The day I had my last child.
He is almost in the double – digits now. (10).
I miss when he was a newborn and I used to watch him sleep so peacefully in his swing or crib.
I miss when he was little (2 and 3) and used to do “Stinky faces”, and “Scrunchie noses”. I miss when he used to ask to watch “Em-O” because he couldn’t say the “L” to pronounce “Elmo”. 😄 I miss when he would say “Mama” and take baby steps learning how to walk.
I miss him dancing to the “Oohhh na na na” song.
He loved that song and I used to have to play it over and over and over, so he could dance. 🩵 I don’t know the name of the song and I’ve tried to find it, but I can’t. I just know we called it the “Oohhh na na na” song. 😁
I would absolutely relive the day he was born, because at the moment – I knew he’d probably be my last child, and I cherished that moment.
My cousin was in the room with me and she was the first to hold him. She was amazing and I was so blessed to have her there. That woman stayed with me all night, and took so many pictures for me once he was born.
I remember her crying, looking at me and telling me, “He’s perfect”. I was so tired and dozing in and out from the medication they gave me.
Elijah and I both almost died, but those doctors – the nurses – my cousin – all great people with me that day to make sure we were both Okay.
Yes. He’s about to be 10 in a few months and my heart is so happy that he’s healthy, smart and funny, but my heart has a little piece that just wants to go back to the day he was born – and relive it all over again – taking in every moment and every memory as he grows, learns, laughs, makes me laugh, and plays with toys again.
He doesn’t really play with toys anymore and it’s sad.
I have bins and bins of toys from when he was younger, and he used to love them. Now that he’s older, they’ve sat and collected dust while he plays video games, and Baseball, and does everything except touch those toys. 🫤
If you have babies, little ones, toddlers, kindergarten kids who still want to play, and be cuddled and held – trust me – cherish it because they grow, get older and take interest in other things.
One day – they no longer ask to watch Em-O …(lol) or dance to their favorite songs, and touch those toys they loved – so much.
If only I could go back and take it all in one more time. 🩵
Of course, I’d absolutely choose to go back and relive the day all 3 of my other kids were born as well, but knowing Elijah was my last – it just hits and feels different.
…………..
With that being said – my youngest daughter just turned 18 yesterday. 18!!!!!! Where the hell does the time go?
See what I mean?
Cherish them while they’re young. Time flies!
She and I went out and spent the entire day together.
I told her we could do whatever she wanted to do.
She wanted to go to Hot Topic.
I’ve never been there, so we drove an hour away to a huge mall (Gurnee Mills) and good Lord. I didn’t know that mall was that big and had almost every store you could think of – in it.
What made me giggle – were the signs that said, “K-9 patrolling”, and we saw police walking around with K-9 dogs.
That was pretty awesome. 🤗
My daughter joked that the dogs were so alert and standing / walking so proper. They have to be. They’re working! They’re waiting for something to go down. They’re ready!
This mall is so fancy, that I joked that it’s a “LeLe Pons” mall.
The Lele Pons story:
My kids and I were coming home from somewhere one day, and they were talking about Lele Pons being pregnant.
The way that they said her name and the way it sounded….it sounded so fancy, so I asked, “Who is Lele Pons? That sounds fancy!”, and my kids couldn’t stop laughing – as they showed me who she was.
So, now any time something is fancy or expensive – we say, “Lele Pons”, as our inside joke. (Not really an inside joke anymore, since I just told y’all). 😉
This was definitely a Lele Pons type of mall.
Back to my daughter’s birthday:
She’s my 3rd young adult.
My oldest would have been 26. My older son is 23. So, I now have another one.
We went to this mall, and walked inside Hot Topic.
It’s one of those alternative / emo stores you have to just try to understand if you’re my age. 🤣
They have so many crazy things, including dog collars that people (mostly teenagers) wear. Those dog collars had spikes. They had these crazy cat / dog ear ear headbands, and tons of dark and weird hoodies / T-shirts, earrings.
They have hotdog earrings. 👀
As I walked around and followed my daughter as she looked through everything, everything we passed became crazier and crazier.
I almost giggled when I looked on the side of me and saw an older woman that looked like a grandma – possibly with her teenage granddaughter – giving the granddaughter a funny kind of face like she didn’t understand things in that store, either.
I wanted to tell her, “Me too, grandma! Me too!”. That was totally my face when I saw everything in this store.
I smiled even more when I looked around and noticed a mother shaking her head (no) at her daughter who wanted some wild choker chain. 😂
I mean to be fair – Spencer’s is a lot worse, but I actually don’t mind Spencer’s. They have some really cool stuff in there.
Hot Topic is not a store I’d ever shop in, but I will say for the younger generations….it’s a fun store, and they do have a lot of cute things.
I planned to buy her some things, and she was ready to pick some things, but as she was grabbing this huge cross necklace that was way too big for her neck, I asked if she may want to try looking throughout the mall to make sure she wanted something from Hot Topic – or elsewhere.
I told her we can definitely come back if she wants to, and so – we went to look around the rest of the mall.
She ended up wanting a Chicago Bulls top from an amazing store that just opened up two weeks ago, and had tons of sports items.
I paid for that and then we went to Bath N’ Body works because she had some gift cards I gave her when she graduated high school a few months ago.
She ended up getting a few body sprays.
We got a few other things and walked around a bit more, before we left and tried to figure out where to grab lunch.
Stake N’ Shake.
After that, we stopped at Dollar General, went to get gas, and I asked what else she wanted to do. It was getting pretty late, and she had never seen the Home Alone house in person, so I planned to surprise her and take her there.
However, my brother messaged me and said that he and his fiance got my daughter a cake, so we ended up going back there instead.
My brother leaves his mark by placing ducks in different places for people to find, so we know he’s been there, and yesterday – you know he had to (duck her cake). 🤣
I did plan to stop and get her a cake before we went home, but I was grateful I didn’t have to, because I was exhausted from us being out all day.
She was so excited and loved her cake. ❤️
Oh.
We also stopped at the Bass Pro shop in the mall.
My daughter loves that store.
She laughed about it and joked that I don’t follow the rules. I told her I didn’t even see the rules.
We also stopped at Starbucks, so we could grab a few snacks and she could get her free birthday drink.
All in all, she said she had an amazing day and she was so happy, so that’s all that matters.
I even let her put the Bluetooth on in the car, and listen to her music. *Sigh*. Haha.
I can’t believe she’s 18.
If you want to laugh – my daughter isn’t allowed to swear. I don’t want to hear it, and while I don’t know if she’s ever sworn in front of her friends, I do know she has never sworn in front of me.
She always said when she turns 18, she’s letting every curse word fly out of her mouth, and we’ve joked about it, so yesterday – she asked if she could swear now.
I laughed and told her she can have one word, and then I never want to hear her swearing again.
She didn’t even want to do it.
She told me that because I’ve never allowed her to swear or wanted her to, and because I taught her to be so respectful, she feels awkward if she were to swear in front of me now. 🤣
I guess I raised her right, huh?
My older son was trying so hard to get her to say some curse words, and she just felt so weird about it.
I told him to stop encouraging her, but we had a good laugh about it.
I’m guessing I won’t be hearing her swearing often, and that’s more than okay with me. It means she’s respectful, and likes to keep it classy.
Last – but not least –
I went and got a rental while my car is still in the dang shop, and I almost don’t want to give it back.
I can keep it for however long I’d like, and it is not cheap, so I don’t know how long I’ll keep it, but it has been such a blessing and a huge help to me being able to get around IL. now.
They gave me a beautiful black Nissan Rouge, and this thing does so much – that I had to sit there and play “What does this button do?” – when I first got it. lol.
I love it though. It’s a 2025, and I almost want to see if I can just outright purchase it. I almost don’t want to go get my regular car back, but I know I have to.
So, that’s all I have going on right now.
As I sit here drinking my morning coffee, I smiled because I’m also watching the news and they just mentioned downtown Chicagos popular Christkindlmarket – and when it’s opening up for the holiday season.
It’s a bunch of pop up tents where you can buy all kinds of Christmas items, and so much more.
It usually brings out thousands and thousands of people from all over – who attend this thing. 🎄
Alright.
Let me get out of here, shower and start my day.
Have a beautiful one my loves!
Big hugs.
🫂Shel🫂