Happy Birthday sweet Abby girl. I cannot believe you are 12! I say it every year, and every year you get one year older and I'm in disbelief that another year has passed. It's going way too fast. This has been a year filled with change, learning and finally getting some answers about why you've been feeling so crappy for 2+ years. It's been a long journey to get here, but I have to say, the little girl I see standing in the dining room working on a puzzle right now is so very different from the kid I knew last summer. We figured out that you had some allergies (mostly gluten at this point) and that was the key that unlocked a whole new child in you! You're eating and growing and feeling great and it shows in your attitude, in your willingness to accept change and in your ability to be flexible and adaptable. I'm so proud of you, it wasn't an easy road to get here. In the last year we put you on some medication to try and help, you gave 7 vials of blood to find out you had a gluten, dairy and beef allergy. You did a 12 week full elimination diet that honestly you took in stride in ways I think most adults wouldn't...I'm really very proud of you my sweet peanut.
Current events:
- The 2024 Presidential Election and all the drama surrounding it including Trumps guilty verdict and many Supreme Court rulings reversed to being more conservative.
- 2024 was a leap year.
- We had a total solar eclipse and the whole family got to see it!
- The 2024 Summer Olympics which just finished up a few days ago.
- Joe Biden backed out as the democratic candidate just 20 something days before the convention - he's backing the current Vice President, Kamala Harris but we're a few days out from the convention and that'll be the real answer on who we'll be picking from in the election. There's one thing we know for sure - this year will be one for the history books for sure.
Are Owies still around?: They sure are! I have no idea how much longer, but for now,
they are still very much in your every single night.
Current prices:
- Eggs: $4.00
- Gas: $4.25 a gallon though for the first time in a long while diesel is less expensive than regular gas around $3.90 a gallon.
- Plane ticket: $300
Things you’ve learned in the past year:
- Age 11 has been a big year for you. You’ve been through a lot of change over the last 12 months and you’ve handled it better than I could have ever expected. Here are all the things I recorded over the last year:
- Visited Lambeau Field for the first time
- You stopped asking for chocolate milk every morning for breakfast
- You got your ears pierced and got braces this year!
- You started shaving your armpits (and also your legs). My goodness, you are getting more and more like a teenager every day.
- You got both your yellow and now orange belt in karate.
- Makeup! Can you believe it?! Auntie got you makeup for Christmas and now you’ve added that to your routine for getting ready each day. I can hardly believe I have a kid old enough for make-up.
- So many things happened at school this year – you tried track and also started playing the guitar in band. You were also a Riley Viking Award winner (one of the first 6th graders to win it this year!).
- We all know anything teeth related really isn’t your favorite but this year you lost three teeth all in one night (!!) AND you lost your last baby tooth just a month or so ago. Goodbye teeth drama (I hope!).
- You went gluten, dairy and beef free for 12 whole weeks while we figured out what was going on with your diet. It’s taken us a LONG time to figure it out, but the difference this new diet has made is truly amazing. You’re feeling better than you have in a long long time and we’re learning to be gluten free around here. I’m thankful we were able to reintroduce dairy and beef though! Those 12 weeks were tough.
Current President: Joe Biden
Your best friends: Evie, Amelia, Janell, Katrina and Calloway are my best
school friends. My other favorite
friends are Stella, Natalie, Tanner, Parker and Reese and Kayden.
Pop Culture:
- Red light masks
- Beyonce released a country album (which I personally really enjoy!)
- ASMR – so strange!
- The Taylor Swift Era’s tour
- AI really took hold in 2024 – everyone is talking about ChatGPT
A sweet story about you:
Sixth grade was a tough year for you. We had a lot going to try and figure out your belly issues and all of the middle school drama was swirling for sure. I think you spent the last year feeling like a bit of an odd duck, an outsider who didn't quite find "her people" yet at school. But I have high hopes for seventh grade. We just got your school schedule and you already texted your friends to see who'd be in the class with you and I can tell you're a little excited to return to school. If I ask you directly, you say you don't like school but I don't really believe you. In nearly the same breath you told me "I really liked doing band and choir and rock band last year, I can't wait to do that all again this year...but not track. I'm not doing that again". I'm vowing to try and help get some play dates and sleep overs on the books with some of the girls in your class this year, but a lot of this is just figuring it out on your own. I wish I could give you all my perspective and all my own life experiences to save you the hurt feelings and broken hearts I know are ahead of us. But even as I type that, I'm thinking "said every parent ever". It's part of growing up, learning all these lessons for yourself. I just want you to know that Daddy and I are here for you forever and for always. We're your biggest fans and we can't wait to see what you've got in your future.
Fashion trends:
90’s/early 2000’s style is somehow
back. Wide-leg jeans, brands like the Limited
and Dehlia’s are coming back…high rise trousers, metallics, cropped denim etc.
Current prices:
- Eggs: $4.00
- Gas: $4.25 a gallon though for the first time in a long while diesel is less expensive than regular gas around $3.90 a gallon.
- Plane ticket: $300
What was on your birthday list this year? Hoop earrings, a mermaid tail, guinea pigs (!), a horse barn house and Legos....and how could I even forget about the guinea pigs!?! That's right, I've already committed to it so there's no ruining the suprise. With Ashy passing away just a week or so before we went to Acadia I knew we were in for some new pets in the family. We're headed to a guinea pig resuce in Rockford on Friday night so we'll have some new friends to share about here soon.
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