Beau Archives - Nesting Story

Triple Flip Haul And Giveaway!

Being the middle child of four kids can be tricky. Being one of three girls in the family can be even harder at times. That is why I make sure I carve out very specific one-on-one time with each of my kids… especially our five-year-old, Beau.

When the children’s clothing and accessories store, Triple Flip approached us asking Beau if she wanted to go for a mini shopping spree at their store, she and I jumped at the opportunity!

Beau was excited about all of the fun colours, textures and patterns that Triple Flip is known for, and I was excited to add some quality pieces to Beau’s wardrobe, knowing that her two little sisters would one day be receiving these hand-me-downs.

Walking into Triple Flip’s Oakville, Ontario location, we were immediately blown away by everything from their sparkly sunscreen to their fresh and colourful summer accessories. Oh, and of course the clothes!

After doing a few laps around the store I was able to narrow Beau in on a very special outfit which included Triple Flip’s wildly popular Minky Bubble Hoodie in Spring Tie Dye Green. Check out the video below of our entire shopping experience!

When we finished shopping, Beau decided to wear her new outfit home, so the friendly staff cut off the tags for her. As soon as we left the store, Beau began to inform me that she was no longer five-years-old. She was now a ten-year-old dance instructor named Clara who teaches class B.

I played along struggling to keep a straight face while I was beaming inside at Beau’s new-found confidence. This new outfit truly made her feel empowered.

Here’s your chance to win $50 off your own Triple Flip online purchase by entering our Instagram contest!

Here are the rules:

Follow Triple Flip and Nesting Story on Instagram
Tag three friends in the comments section of Nesting Story’s Instagram post that you think would like to be entered
The winner will be selected randomly and announced on Nesting Story’s Instagram page post on Monday June 27th
Contest open to Canadians and US residents only

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Triple Flip. While clothing was provided, all opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the opinions of Triple Flip.

Remembering The Forgotten Middle Child

As we sat waiting for my niece’s first communion to start, I watched as Beau, our five-year-old, middle child squirmed in her seat. We had opted to have a babysitter watch our twin toddlers that day since this event was during their nap time. It was rare that I was out with Beau and her older brother Holden, without having to fuss over their younger sisters.

I reached over, picked Beau up, and placed her on my lap. She immediately cuddled into me as I softly kissed her forehead, rubbed her back and played with her hair.

We sat like this for a while, uninterrupted. She had my undivided attention, which was something she almost never gets.

Instead of complaining about how long the ceremony was, or racing around and then melting down like she usually would, she sat so still. Her breathing matched mine, and I could feel her lapping up every second of attention and affection.

Although this moment melted my heart, it also made me so sad.

Having four kids is so wonderful in more ways than I can count. But there is a lot of jugging involved. I do my best to spend time with each child and fit in as much one-on-one time as possible. But unfortunately Beau is the forgotten child.

Beau was a surprise. Before Holden turned one, we had been discussing when we might have our second, only to find out a day after Holden’s birthday that the decision was made for us.

As my belly grew, issues with Holden started cropping up. He was having a very hard time enjoying life, and had a glaring language delay that we had to address.

My pregnancy with Beau was a blur. I only can recall a few moments, and Mike maybe felt her kick once, because we were so preoccupied with Holden.

The day Beau was born is a vivid memory. One that I will cherish for the rest of my life. It’s not the easy labour, or delivery that has taken up a large space in my heart. It is after Mike left to be with Holden and for what seemed like endless blissful hours without any visitors, I held Beau and just enjoyed my girl.

That day in the church with Beau resting her head on my chest reminded me so much of that first day together in the hospital. I just enjoyed my girl.

Beau was always great at entertaining herself, fiercely independent and ready to go with the flow. From a young age we relied on her tough-as-nails personality and ability to adapt, as we focused on guiding Holden out of the dark.

When Beau was 11-months-old, she had the flu. Although she had been sick multiples times in one day, she didn’t seem too bothered by it. She had a placid look in her eyes, and although I was aware she was ill, I didnt think it was anything urgent. So, we went on as usual.

As the day came to a close, I stopped in my tracks, realizing that Beau hadn’t had a wet diaper all day.

I rushed her to the hospital, and sure enough, Beau was very dehydrated and needed IV fluids. Even as a team of doctors poked Beau for two hours, trying to find a vein, she barely whimpered.

My heart broke for my little girl. I kept thinking, “if only she had complained.” From that day on, whenever I see that placid look in Beau’s eyes, I know to monitor her closely, otherwise she will fly under my radar.

Beau growing up so far is a blur to me. At least up to when our twins were born, when Beau was three-and-a-half. That is when she found her voice, and started to make sure she was heard.

That voice, has many times brought me to my knees. She can drive me crazy, be so stubborn, and is easily the loudest person in our house.

It took her a little while, but she is now carving out her place in the world (and this family) in a big way.

Although she can be trying sometimes, I am grateful that she has become such a force. It’s not easy being the middle child. I know. I was her too.

For a long time, I always compromised, apologized, kept the peace and flew under the radar.

I applaud Beau for insisting the sky is green when we tell her it’s blue. For turning up her volume when we ask her to take it down a notch. And for being the pack leader among all four of our kids.

The days following our lengthly cuddle, I noticed a shift. Beau was still loud, and still leading the pack, but her meltdowns were almost non-existent. Her emotions didn’t always resemble a rollercoaster, and a calm confidence started to emerge.

Since that day, I am remembering the forgotten child. I am not only relying on our occasional one-on-one time together, or our bedtime routine to connect. I am grabbing her as she bounces by, multiple times each day, and sitting her on my lap, as I softly kiss her forehead, rub her back and play with her hair.

Watch as Beau has found her place….

What’s In A Name? The Story Behind Holden, Beau, Mia And Everly’s Names

Choosing a name for your baby is hard. In fact, its a HUGE responsibility, and you basically need to nail it, or else your child is screwed. No pressure though.

A few days ago, I got a message from a reader asking me if I could share the stories behind each of our kids’ names…

“Could you do a post on how you decided on your kids names? They are all so unique and different that I thought it would be fun to hear where you got them from.” -Danielle

I loved this idea! I really do have some great stories behind each of our kids’ names too. So grab your popcorn.Let’s start at the beginning. Holden.I remember being around 20 months pregnant, sitting in Florida with Mike and family, and flipping through baby name books. It was eventually Mike that came across the name Holden. We had only ever heard “Holden” from the famous book, The Catcher in the Rye. But something about that name stuck.

We were having a hard time deciding between the names Holden and Hayden. We loved both. But it was a co-worker of Mike’s that posed this question: “what if he becomes CEO of a company one day, what name would suit that kind of position of power?” Easy, Holden.

Holden’s name suits him so well. To me, Holden is a strong, serious name, which is a perfect fit for our sweet little rule-follower.

Full name: Holden Michael Venditti

Next in line… Beau.Beau’s name was one that we had ready to go if we were having a girl. I have this tiny obsession with the movie Signs. You know, the one where Aliens invade the planet, but the focus of the movie is on a family living on a farm? The little girl’s name in it is Bo. I absolutely loved that name since the first time I watched Signs.

The only problem was the spelling. The female spelling of Beau is actually Bo, like Bo Derek. But we were worried that Beau would get teased at school and be called B.O. – body odour. So, last minute we made the decision to change the spelling to the male version, Beau.

Beau completely suits her name. The only problem is, anytime her name is called from a list, like at a doctor’s office, they think she is a boy. Oh well. You can’t win them all.

Full name: Beau Bianca Venditti

Then came the daunting task of naming two people at once. Twins.

Shhhhh, Mia and Everly and pretending to sleep in this photo. Pretty convincing, right?

When I was first pregnant with our twins, I was absolutely convinced I was having two boys. So, we went ahead and picked out two boy names: Sawyer (from Lost) and Landon (from A Walk to Remember).

We were completely shocked when we found out that we were having two girls. I could think of lots of girls names I loved. Daisy, Ella, Mila and Maisy, just to name a few. But Mike kept vetoing every one of them. Mike found it so hard naming our girls.

Then I got really stuck on the name Ever. I loved the simplicity of it. But Mike still wasn’t sold. It was when I heard that Channing Tatum mmmmmm…. and Jenna Dewan Tatum named their daughter Everly, that I knew that we had found our name. It was such a beautiful name. Mike was sold immediately although I initially thought I would shorten it to Ever, I never have.

Everly

Full name: Everly Mae Venditti

For a long time we thought that the two names would be Everly and Ellie. Have you seen the movie Up? That’s where we got the name Ellie from. But the more we thought about it, the more we wanted them to have very different names.

So, we threw around Mila for a bit, but then we read Mia in a baby name book and it stuck, (this was just before the name Mia exploded in popularity). Mia was simple, (which we love), and pretty.

Mia

Full name: Mia Lilian Venditti

How did we decide who got which name? When I was late in my twin pregnancy and we had FINALLY settled on our names, we let Holden decided who would get what name. So, he turned to my belly, and first pointed to the bottom, which he knew was where baby A was, and said “this is Mia.” Then he pointed to my top left, where baby B was camping out in my ribs, and said “and this is Everly.”

So when they were born, and the doctor held the first baby up, we said “that’s Mia” and when the second baby was held up we said “and that’s Everly.”

They each really suit their names perfectly. Good job Holden.

We overall opted for somewhat unique names, and we will probably never find personalized water bottles, or key chains with their names on them, (well, maybe Mia). But we love how unique they are, and fingers crossed, we are pretty sure we nailed the whole naming people thing.

Beau’s 5th Birthday, Managing Expectations And Our Kids’ Craft Studio Surprise

Yesterday, my spunky, vibrant, nurturing, loud, and beautiful little girl turned 5-years-old. This past year has been a challenging one for Beau. I have watched her bright light, dim, while she wrestled with anxiety, and lost herself for a little while. With a lot of love, support and encouragement, her spark has been relit, and a confident little lady is re-emerging.

We have always given Beau’s older brother, Holden, fairly big gifts for his birthdays. He thinks big, and knows exactly what he wants. But when we asked Beau what she wanted for her birthday, it was simple: bubbles, craft supplies and anything green, (her favourite colour).

During the last year, our active Beau has found a new passion, creating. She has the most incredible imagination, and her teachers were raving to me recently during my in-class visit, that she is so talented. She will build and craft the most imaginative things.

I must admit, I hadn’t really noticed. I am so busy with all of our kids, that sometimes, I can miss these budding interests. Holden has always been into drawing (like I was as a kid), but I don’t think I really realized, not just how much Beau loves doing crafts, but how much it feeds her soul.

So, after a lot of thought, Mike and I used part of our date night last Thursday to shop for Beau. But our biggest surprise up our sleeves was to create a craft studio for her. We have an unfinished basement where Beau had a craft table. But it was always a mess and there was zero organization. I wanted to create a space that was hers and where she could let her imagination fly.

So we used an old Ikea bookshelf and desk that we had, and went to our local dollar store and bought tons of green bins, and went nuts with the craft supplies.

The morning of Beau’s birthday though, was a bit of a gong show. Beau woke up bossing everyone around, melting down constantly and being downright mean. We hadn’t even given her her big surprise yet, and she still had her birthday party in the afternoon.

I gave Beau a talk, letting her know that when she woke up that morning, no one put a crown on her head and said she could treat everyone around her like garbage. This wake-up call seemed to work. After adjusting Beau’s mood and expectations, as well as opening a few presents, we finally revealed her craft studio to her.

It was a massive hit! We have not seen Beau or Holden since the reveal.

That afternoon, and after Beau spent a lot of therapeutic time crafting, we were ready to head out to Beau’s party. I had hired a babysitter to stay with our twins, (who were too young to take and keep track of all of the other kids).

Although I occasionally go all-out with our kids’ birthday parties, I decided to book Beau’s party at an indoor trampoline park. We had gone there for Holden’s birthday in June and it was great. The pizza, cupcakes and even loot bags were all provided, which saved me a lot of time and stress.

I was a little worried that Beau would start melting down, shy away from her guests, and cling to me like she did at her cousins birthday party the week before.

But I was relived when I saw Beau’s cousins and friends take initiative, holding her hand and wanting to play with Beau.

In the end she had a blast, and I am pretty sure she wasn’t the only one…

It is so wonderful seeing Beau enjoy life and develop new interests after the year we had with her. Watching your once vibrant child loose their way can be heartbreaking as a parent to watch.

Although I am beyond exhausted today, I am thrilled that Beau was able to enjoy a really special day with the focus completely on her. Happy Birthday Beau!

To read more about Beau’s struggles and triumphs this past year, read: I regret having our daughter visit me in the hospital after giving birth.