The kids were playing w the sticker book our beloved babysitter Tara bought for the kids in Disney.
Below is Jack reading Harold and the Purple Crayon, one of my favorite children's books.
Hilly's Wed afternoon yoga with her buddy Em.
Wed afternoon Evelyn came to our house for a play date. This girl has an incredible
Imagination and includes all 3 of my kids in play. Def one of my fave little kids.
Jack playing with her human body model. This is her toy only- little kids can't touch it. Makes it all the more sacred.
I took Benny shopping for vacation clothes. He was DONE. But also looked up to tell me I'm beautiful every so often.
Bedtime stories w dada.
Reading together.
Before I knew this would be our last healthy snuggle session, Mac and I chilled Thurs AM.
Swimming Thurs.
Dance. Spirit week so Hill was in PJ's but it was actually beach day. Thank God Hilly is laid back and loves to dress as a princess.
We got home Thurs from swim and Hill noticed Macky's eye glued shut. I put the kids to bed and then wiped his eye clean and gently opened it. As Jim and I ate dinner I was explaining the eye thing and we decided to let him walk on table to see how he was doing. He tried to get up his little ladder but couldn't. I held him and his body temperature has dropped. Jim was hoping he was hibernating but I knew. The next day the kids had high hopes he would heal.
But they missed me- here is Hill weeping over my childhood pic.
Jim dropped hill of at school and took Jack and Ben to Lucky's to eat.
They also hung w Grammy ans Pops and Hill discovered she loves cheeseburgers.
But when they got home Saturday Jack found Macky had died. She expressed her sadness through art. That is Macky in a ziploc bag. Which is still in our freezer. I keep looking at him and feeling sad. Jack insisted on kissing the bag before school, even though we told her that he is in heaven. That is just what is left of him. Hilly calls it his "she'll."
Jack's teacher said a prayer for Macky in school yesterday and Jack drew the pic below at school. I love the black stripe down his back.
Benny and Pops talked baseball. I love this pic for so many reasons. For starters, I still have and have had grandparents I love so much. I am so happy my kids have the same. Also, I try so hard to teach my kids about stuff ALL the time. Whether we are driving or reading or around the house. When someone else educates them about something, I actually feel a weight lifted because I feel like I am receiving help. I recognize I sound crazy, but this is how I feel. So thanks, Pops, for tapping into my kids' intellectual side.
Below is Jack. Jim took this pic and that is some marqcroni inspired artwork. This makes me so sad.
Before Mack passed, all 3 kids played Elf on a Shelf. Hilly was the elf (dressed in Jackie's Xmas recital dance costume) and the game was the other kids had to find her and couldn't touch her.
Below is Hannie laying by dying Macaroni's side. Louie was on the chair next to them. They stayed there until he passed and then moved to their usual spot in the other room.
Jim took the kids to play at can-do park on Friday.
Initially when we realized Mack was passing away, I wondered whether I should've even gotten them a pet with such a short lifespan bc now they have to go through this painful life experience. I still get teary eyed when I remember my mom coming home from work one morning (she worked night shift for awhile and told me she took my sick Guinea pig to work bc he was sick and she works at a hospital), and as she walked toward the door she started sadly shaking her head letting me know that my Guinea pig had died. I was in first grade and just broke down. It was terrible. I didn't want my kids to experience this loss so young.
Then I thought back to what a joy that little furball brought to this house- the companionship, the belly laughs as he did something the kids found funny, the bonding he brought among my kids. Even jim and I would take him about after the kids were in bed. Mack and pets like Hannie and Louie enrich our lives and generate so much love.
As he was dying, Jack and Jim face timed me crying. I told Jack that our job in the face of Mack's illness is to care for him and keep him comfortable and see him through to whatever lie ahead. And they did. Kept him warm with loads of baby doll blankets and fed him small piece of food by small piece of food. Helped him drink by the drop. And I can't think of a better lesson to learn early than how to care for a loved one in their time of need.
Godspeed, Macky. We miss you.
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