Some new pictures and a mommy vent

We are all recovering from stomach flu, it has been a bad two weeks here, I am weary of whining and moaning, and so grateful to have happy girls back again, or somewhat happy...LOL

Kara is a little ham, no question she loves having her picture taken, so it makes taking hers so much more fun, Amanda drops her head and ignores me half the time, and Meghan has to be in the right mood, but little Kara loves it! I got this picture trying to take one of Amanda, Kara saw the camera and walked in front of Amanda. LOL

Yes, she is pretty dirty, we trimmed our overgrown trees and all of a sudden Kara has realized that our yard was bigger than she thought at first and has many more wonders to explore. Dirt, dog poop (gross), plants, bits of bark, etc.

Bath time is something else Kara loves, and she truly needs quite often, she plays hard in the dirt and comes in smelling like a wet dog, ugh, yuck. Good thing she likes getting cleaned up, first thing is a shower to wash off all the dust, then a nice bath with her sisters.

Another one stepping in front of the camera when I was trying to get Amanda. She is behind Kara in the blue dog..no I can't see her either, but she was there.

Kara is so funny, she also wants all the attention and we have had some sibling squabbles lately. Meghan is fed up with Kara pushing her off the sofa, pulling her hair out by the handfuls (Meghan has alopecia, her hair comes out easily), they had a slapping fight the other day, it was upsetting to me as I do not like it when children hurt each other. Part of me was relieved Meghan learned to stop her sisters behavior BUT, we do not allow hitting, so not only did Kara get in trouble, but Meghan as well. I have never been one to sit back and allow this type of sibling check and balances.

Kara needs to stop being such a bully, even docile Amanda had a whack at her, something we never expected, but she growled at Kara and dove for her scratching and attempting to slap her. Now Kara outweighs Amanda by 13 pounds, so it was no contest brawl, but Amanda was that angry with her sister is telling of the issue we face with her behavior. Kara gets sent to time out a lot. I also saw the same behavior at Kara's orphanage, so this is something she has done for a long time.

At times she seems unaware she is doing anything hurtful, but sometimes she celebrates knocking Meghan or Amanda (even her big brothers and sister) off the sofa laughing and she throws her arms in the air in a "Touchdown" motion. I can imagine that comes from a orphanage mentality too, survival of the strongest kid so to speak.

Meghan and Amanda ignore her. Kara is a sweet and sensitive little girl and when her sisters ignore her, it hurts her feelings, but she has no idea it was her doing, she gets whiny and clingy with us when her sisters decide they have had enough.

Amanda gets mad at Kara for sitting with HER mama and comes over to be held. Kara pushes Amanda down, Meghan runs to Amanda's rescue and yells at Kara, and mama has to separate all the girls then. Seems pretty normal to me, they want attention, except Kara gets mean. We do a lot of reminding.

Her behavior wears me (us) out, by the end of the day we are very ready for her to go to bed.

I go in and check on her after she has gone to sleep, her angelic face serene, and I wonder how such a cherubic child can cause so much angst, life is a journey that is never boring, isn't it?