Natalie and Abigail

I am amazed...

2011-11-30T23:30:00.004-05:00

It's been a long time since I've blogged. Too long - not necessarily because of all those waiting eagerly for updates (all 4 of you?), but because I feel like I am letting so much be forgotten and I can never those little moments back.

Natalie and Abby are my absolute joy. I never cease to be amazed every day at the adorable things they do, how smart they are, how funny they are and well, how amazing they are. I could be biased about that though:-)

Who needs toys when you have a really big box?

Pretending to be cats curled up in the box

I think what mesmerizes me most about Natalie and Abby is their incredible curiosity about everything. They love to learn about everything around them. Natalie and Abby love books and we read on a variety of subjects: dinosaurs (a current favorite), cats, dolphins, whales, sharks, Bible stories, fiction stories, princess stories, Highlights magazine, the human body, illnesses, castles...everything. Obviously, animals of any kind are a favorite subject - especially babies and mommies.

Wait! We need toys!

I am also always amazed by how much Natalie and Abby absorb from the world around them from books, tv, and their environment. One day, Abby excitedly informed me, "we are investigating the dark". I think this is the influence of Dino Dan on Nick Jr. Dan is a young boy who sees dinosaurs and spends his days "investigating" and learning about them. Dan is also the source of their current dinosaur obsession, and along with supplemental books and a little teaching from mommy and daddy, has also influenced their vocabulary with words like carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, as well as a number of dinosaurs I can barely pronounce.

From Sesame Street they have learned about experiments thanks to the Three Little Pigs and their attempts to determine the best building materials to thwart the Big Bad Wolf. Last week I was cleaning the garage and I had a fan on. When they noticed a plastic bag blowing around they gathered up a few items to test (like the Little Pigs) to see what would stand up against the fan. (Plastic bags = no. Pieces of wood = yes)

Possibly riding on a boat to escape the sharks

In another example, a few days ago Abby can running excitedly to get me to come see an experiment she had set up. She kept saying, "the paper doesn't move, the paper doesn't move". She had made a little track on 8x10 pieces of paper overlapping to run her little cars over. She was so excited that she could run the cars over the paper without it moving. She kept saying, "I thought the paper would move, I thought it would move!". I asked her if her hypothesis was that the paper would move. She said yes, and then she said, "my hypothesis was wrong!" I was so proud.

Roasting marshmellows (packing peanuts)

In addition to curiosity about everything, the depths of their imaginations knows no end. They can turn anything into a toy, game or moment of extreme excitement, ie: hurry, Abby, there's a shark coming! They love to re-create moments of their own life (camping) or things they've seen on tv. They also re-enact books like The Good Samaritan or Bambi. They are still very much into their "babies" both doll-like and stuffed animal. Dolly the Horse (a 4 foot tall Christmas present from Grammy last year) is still a huge hit (who knew?) Dolly and her friends, Strawberry and Blueberry are well fed and cared for. Dolly, though, does have a propensity for attracting predators and has suffered a number of injuries from hyenas and other pesky creatures which requires intensive medical veterinarian care.

With Natalie, I am always amazed at how sweet and thoughtful she is. She is so sensitive, especially to Abby. When Abby was a little sick last week, Natalie disappeared into the playroom and returned with a little flower she had made for Abby. She gave it to her to help her feel better. It was precious. She is always aware of Abby, and if she can't find her, she will ask, "where's Abby?" Early one morning, after she had climbed into our bed during the night, she woke up, and wanted to know where Abby was. We told her Abby was in her bed, in their room. She wanted to go back to her bed to be near Abby.

Natalie headed out on a little trip:-)

Natalie also loves her tricycle and rides it around the house relentlessly. She started out only riding it back in forth in the hall on the hard floor. Now, she can ride it all the way around the house in a circle across the carpet. Abby, who until recently refused to ride the bike, also rides it around "the circle". But, it's not simple bike riding. Natalie will often dress up as a princess with her crown, put a baby (or two) in the bike basket and away she'll go! She gets so, so excited and loves it so much. Just today she said, "when I ride by bike so fast it feels like I'm flying!"

Outdoor Fun

They love their swing set and make-shift climbing wall.

Abby is VERY proud of the sunflower seeds she planted

Rock painting

Dressing up is so much fun!

Abby

Natalie at Kidzu Museum in Chapel Hill

Natalie and Abby

Natalie

Abby

Where to start...

2011-10-23T18:33:00.005-04:00

Goodness, where do I even start to catch you all up on everything Natalie and Abby have been up to over the summer and this fall? Time has flown by SO fast and I can't believe they are already approaching 4.5 years old.

They are growing up so quickly and I confess, I really, really hate it. I really just want them to stay just they way they are - forever. I love this age and every day I feel like it is slipping away too fast. Every night I go to sleep feeling like I have failed as a parent and haven't spent enough time with them or taught them enough or been gentle enough or yelled too much. Every night I pledge to do better the next day, and then at night, I start the cycle over again.

But, Natalie and Abby are joyous children. They are full of laughter and smiles. They spend hours playing and making up games. They are curious and love to explore the world. They are generous with hugs, kisses, and "I love yous". And, then, yesterday, while Ben and I were painting the shutters of our house, the girls were playing a game and Abby led Natalie to sit down on one of the tarps on the ground. She then proceeded to lead her in a prayer. "Now, first you say, Dear God", and Natalie would say, "dear God". It went on and on with Abby saying a phrase and Natalie repeating it. I don't know what all they said; some of it didn't make any sense, but they were saying thank you for something, and well, they were praying.

In the end, I guess we are doing something right after all.

Happy Birthday Natalie and Abby!

2011-08-04T22:55:00.016-04:00

Well, this is only 2.5 months late, but I still wanted to get the birthday post out there for all to see.

It's been 4 years! FOUR YEARS!! I can't believe it. It's absolutely incredible that we have come from this....

Natalie Kimberly 1#5oz, 604 grams, 11.5 inches

Abigail Elianna 1#13.5oz 840grams 12.5 inches

to this!

Abby and Natalie

The girls had a relatively low key birthday, but full of activity. Their birthday was Sunday, May 15, but because of a ballet recital, we had their little party on Saturday.

As in the past two years, it was simple and really just family. Although, this year, I'm thrilled to report that the girls actually have a little friend that we were able to invite. Since meeting at Little Gym last summer, Kenan, Natalie and Abby have been bosom buddies and have enjoyed many a play date between Kenan's house and ours. Her mom, Regan, and I have become close friends which has been wonderful for me as well.

Since Natalie and Abby are all about princesses these days, it was only fitting we had a princess party!

Introducing...the three pretty, pretty princesses!

A great shot of Princess Abby

Our Princess party included a Princess Pinata

great gifts (and thank you hugs)

And, absolutely amazing Princess cakes courtesy of Grammy (my mom)! She did an incredibly job on Snow White (for Natalie) and Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty (for Abby). In Natalie's words, "wow!"

No birthday would be complete without a shot of the little sleeping twins that graced the cake at my baby shower.

Family picture

When it comes to chocolate, the girls are very serious!

Yaya and Grandpa enjoying some cake!

I love this picture of Ben and his family

The girls really enjoyed their party and loved playing Princess with Kenan and all our family. We are so blessed to have so many people who love them so much.

These are the "semi-official" 4 year old pictures - taken on their birthday.

Natalie

Abby

Sisters and Friends Forever

A few more Birthday Day Pictures!

Natalie

Abby

Happy Birthday Natalie and Abby!
We love you so much!

Moving on up....

2011-06-16T21:55:00.003-04:00

Blah, blah, blah, bad blogger, blah, blah, blah....

Now that that is out of the way...on to the news.

Today is a momentous occasion. No, it's not their birthday (I still have to blog about that). It's even better. Today is the day we moved their cribs out of their room. Yes, they just turned 4. Yes, they were still in cribs. I figured as long as they still fit, why mess with it. But, a few nights ago, we discovered we were out of pull-ups for the night. Well, we had one left. So, we decided they could go without for the night and practice getting up to go potty. I'll get to how that worked out in a minute.

In order to make getting to the potty easier, we put their mattresses on the floor and the potty nearby on a mat. Sounds like a plan, right? Not so much. The girls were wet by the time Ben went to bed. I checked again around 2 or so, and they were wet again. I think they were wet again in the morning. The next day, I bought more pull-ups. Experiment - over.

But, they seemed to enjoy sleeping out of their cribs, so we left them on the floor. Here's the problem, however, with crib mattresses. They are small. You also have to know that Natalie and Abby are very busy sleepers. They often turn completely around in their cribs. This is not a problem when you are behind bars. It's more of an issue when there is nothing keeping you off the floor. We tired the pillow route, we even tried the laundry basket route, but when I went in to check on them in the middle of the night and I couldn't find Natalie (she was nearly in the middle of the floor), I knew the crib mattresses had to go.

So, without much fanfare, tonight the cribs were disassembled and regulated to the attic. We borrowed a page from Yaya and Grandpa's and brought out the queen air mattress which helpfully came with a built-in pillow back which works great as a bed rail. With princess pillows creating a divide, the girls are now back in the same bed.

Now, we just have to keep them from jumping on it:-)

Wow - I've been a really bad blogger

2011-05-04T23:35:00.010-04:00

Looking at the blog history, Mommy has been a very bad girl. It's now May (how did that happen?) and I have made a total of 7 posts. 8 if you count this one. That is not a very good average. I'm determined to fall back on the wagon.

So, what have we all been up to lately...
Well, it's been just over one year since we've moved into our new house. I'm disappointed to say that I have not accomplished half of what I had planned for the first year.

Not Accomplished:
#1 - Unpacking all boxes. - Yes, there are still a few. In my defense, they all contain pictures, which leads me to #2.
#2 -Decorating and hanging pictures including some of the 10,000 plus we have of the girls.
#3 - Painting. We have painted exactly 2 rooms of the 8 rooms that need painting. And don't tell Ben, but I want to paint the hall too, which I suppose makes it 9.
#4 - Cutting down the trees in the yard to make room for girls play set and room to play.
#5 - Building girls' playset. Fortunately, there was one already here, but it is smack in the middle of the yard and I want some additional stuff for it.
#6 - Expanding the deck so we can take advantage, or perhaps, minimize the widely sloping backyard and define the flat areas in a way that are useable.
#7 - Add planters to above mentioned deck to have more room for flowers and vegetables.
#8 - Create patio area to left of deck and add water feature and fire pit area (or designated chimenea spot).
#9 - Organized play room to my satisfaction including learning materials.
#10 - Implement Montessori at home/home school materials for the girls.

Well, I'm sure there are more, but I'm starting to feel bad about myself.

So, to balance, here are some things that have been accomplished in the past year.
#1 - Tamed the jungle of the back yard. You couldn't even see the fence. I've worked my butt off clearing stuff out and Ben and I even took down some trees ourselves. Big trees, I have to say. It was pretty impressive.
#2 - Ben built flower beds on the side and this year the flowers are gorgeous! I love them!!!
#3 - I dug up the unbelievably huge hostas in the front yard and replanted the front beds.
#4 - I created a flower bed around the mailbox.
#5 - I finally bought frames for the black and white photos I printed to go above the fireplace.
#6 - We finally got family room furniture! This took longer than one might think - as in not until September.
#7 - In the same vane...we also finally got a beautiful dining room set - in October.
#8 - We cleaned out the garage! - well, we cleaned it and it gets junky again, but it's way, way, way better.
#9 - I finally got the bookshelves like I always wanted for my own personal library. I now have 5 bookshelves lining the walls of my office. Unfortunately, they are now all full. So, I think I need more. Again, don't tell Ben:-)
#10 - Ben tore out the master bath shower because it was leaking. We haven't rebuilt it yet, but tearing it out was quite a bit so maybe we will get that done in the next year.

As you can see, many of our accomplishments are yard related (as are many of our not-yet-accomplished). I've really spent most of my energy in the yard trying to get things cleaned up and established so we can enjoy it for years to come. When I come in at night, I'm just too tired to do anything else. But, once it gets crazy hot here, the outside work will cease and the inside work begin!

I suppose this is more about Ben and I than the girls, but their environment is about them, right? They have been amazing through all this, actually. They, of course, could care less about the paint or pictures on the walls. They are just happy with their playroom full of toys (however disorganized) and a yard with plenty of dirt to poke around in. They love it when I garden if only because I give them all the worms I find. They have thoroughly enjoyed their new house and yard. They adore their playroom and will spend hours playing in their by themselves. They also love their room too, and will play in there as well, especially in the morning.

Next time I promise to give more Natalie and Abby details, such as what they've been up to as they approach the big 4 - which, I have decided to refuse to accept:-)

A few recent pics

2011-04-14T13:21:00.004-04:00

Just Natalie and Abby looking cute!

Abby - she wanted to have her picture taken with KitKat. KitKat was less than enthused.

Natalie and Abby

Natalie - in front of the gigantic hosta I had to dig up. I have 6 or so more bunches similar to this...anyone want some hostas??

Gone Fishin'

2011-03-29T00:56:00.001-04:00

The gorgeous weather of late has given us the urge to enjoy the great outdoors. What better way to spend an afternoon than to go fishing! There's a lovely little lake at a nearby subdivision that we love to visit. It also just so happens that Ben's place of work has several small ponds and large lakes. They are situated such that you can feel you are off in the woods somewhere, miles from civilization. Okay, maybe not miles, but at least several thousand feet:-)

Let's start with the most important, and most impressive, catch of the season. That would be my gigantic, nearly record breaking, awe-inspiring Crappie - caught on a worm on the girls 3ft pink, princess fishing road. Prepare to be impressed!

Told ya! Pretty awesome, huh? Here are a few more to put it in perspective.

Here's a link to the current NC Crappie record. I don't think it would have beat it, but it would have been close. We figured mine was about almost 14in. long but we couldn't figure the girth and of course we didn't weigh it. (I have now added a scale to our fishing gear:-))

http://www.ifished.com/blog/new-north-carolina-white-crappie-record

And to give credit where credit is due, the infamous Princess fishing rod.

Most recently, we, along with Grammy, spent an entire Sunday afternoon enjoying the weather, a picnic, and daylight savings time.

The best part of the day just may have been watching the girls eat, an activity of which we never seem to tire. Natalie and Abby both went to town on chicken legs with much gusto.

Natalie finished hers off first, with Abby close behind. Yes, folks, you heard that correctly, they each ate an entire chicken leg. Life's simple pleasures...

We didn't catch any monster fish like mine above, but we did have a great time with a number of small bream, catfish, and bass. Grammy also got in on the action...

Alas, the princess poles did let us down on two occasions. Both mom and I hooked fish that broke the line before we could get them in. I'm not sure what test pound the line is on those poles, but it probably isn't terribly high. That means I was really lucky to catch that crappie (which I think was at least 2-2.5#) or those were some darn big fish that got away!

As mentioned before, the girls' favorite activity is playing with the worms. We now buy 2 containers of worms. One for fishing and one for the girls. The worms for fishing actually end up fairing better since we don't get to all of them! The girls like to create worm families: mommy worms, daddy worms, baby worms, sister worms, etc. They dip them in the water to give them something to drink. And, when they are tired of that (or maybe when the worms stop moving), they often throw the worms into water "to feed the fish". Abby also really enjoys trying to feed the fish when we catch them which involves trying to stuff a worm down the throat of the poor fish we have hooked. I guess it's kind of a consolation prize.

Before anyone worries about their treatment of animals and possible future psychopathic tendencies, I assure everyone that they show great kindness to kitties, puppies, and old people. Their somewhat torturous behavior only extends to worms, and since we are spearing the other worms with hooks, I'm not too worried about it.

Abby giving the worm some water.

Natalie getting worms from their container.more worm fun...

A few random fishing moments

Fishing always brings back great memories for me of my childhood and fishing with my family. My dad and I had a running ledger of who had caught the most fish. We also had a saying, "big enough to catch, big enough to eat". I think we must have caught bigger fish back then because some of the ones we've caught recently would have pushed the reality of that axiom to its limit.

I am so thankful we have introduced this wonderful and relaxing past time to Natalie and Abby. There is nothing better than enjoying the great outdoors. And, of course, everyone needs a few good fish stories to tell...

March of Dimes Fiasco

2011-03-16T22:45:00.004-04:00

With permission, I copy the following from fellow micropreemie mom, Anne. Her blog about her daughter Eliza can be reached here: http://eliza-grace-micro-preemie.blogspot.com. I encourage you all to add it to your blog lists because Anne is a gifted writer and full of wit and wisdom.

The March of Dimes and KV Pharmacueticals

Unless you spend time in preemie-land this article may not have caught your attention: Premature labor drug spikes from $10 to $1,500

Up until this week there was a drug known simply as 17P which was used to prevent premature labor in certain pregnant women. It was a compounded drug, widely available, at a cost of about $10 to $20 per injection. In the world of pharmaceuticals this was a bit of a bargain drug. This past week a drug company, KV Pharmaceuticals won FDA approval to be the exclusive manufacturer of this drug which KV Pharma has named Makena. KV Pharma, by all accounts, has a pretty shaky past, only recently having avoided bankruptcy and whose CEO was recently sentenced to prison. You can read about KV Pharma here and here, but I am sure you can find many more tidbits on your own.

KV Pharma seemingly performed no research and development into this drug but got lucky when it purchased the rights to Gestiva (now known as Makena) in 2008. You can read the press release here.

So what does all this have to do with the March of Dimes you ask?

The following is a post from Dr. Davis (a specialist who places Transabdominal Cerclages (TACs) which was posted on "Abbyloopers" (a yahoo support group for incompetent cervix).

As many of you have become aware, KV Pharmaceuticals has received FDA approval to be the exclusive distributor for P17. They are planning to charge $1500 per injection for a total cost, per pregnancy, of $30,000!!!!

The current cost is $10 per injection, or $200 per pregnancy.

There are several points that I would like to emphasize.

The rationale for a commercial manufacturer is to ensure a standard concentration. In theory, this can be a problem with compounding pharmacies although the vast majority of the compounding pharmacies producing this product tat present have extremely exacting standard. The March of Dimes has, unfortunately, bought into this rationale with absolutely no proof that a variation in strength is of any clinical significance. By law, once a drug is commercially available, compounding pharmacies must stop production of that drug.

We have been using P17 for the past ten years from these compounding pharmacies with obvious beneficial effect. So where is the rationale for this change?

March of Dimes receives several million dollars a year in support from KV Pharmaceuticals - I wonder why! This suggests to me that March of Dimes can be bought. I, personally, have informed the March of Dimes that I am ceasing all support of their organization, financial and otherwise, until they divorce themselves from KV Pharmaceuticals and support for Makena. They do not realize that they are going to cause an increase in the preterm birth rate, not a decrease. At best, there will be no change other that a massive over-expenditure of health-care dollars.

You have seen the propaganda stating that no-one will be denied the medication because of ability to pay. However, what they don't tell you is that they are going to use very strict criteria. In essence, the only women who will qualify is those who have had a prior preterm birth before 32 weeks secondary to preterm labor. To illustrate this more fully, Aetna/US Health care (one of the largest insurers in the country) covers this therapy when patients meet their strict criteria. Currently, they are paying for P17 for only 1,000 women nationwide per year! There are 4.2 million births in the US annually. 10 - 15%, or 420,000 to 610,000 are premature. And Aetna is only going to cover 1,000 of these women.

30% of all prenatal care is covered by Medicaid. An additional 10% is covered by charity care. KV is going to insist that since this care is not coming out of the patient's pocket, the cost should be borne by Medicaid and charity care. Currently, we can provide good prenatal care for about $2,000 per pregnancy. So for every patient placed on P17, we have to somehow find away to cover an additional 15 pregnant patient. And who pays the medicaid and charity care bill? We all do through higher taxes and higher healthcare premiums!

Studies show that approximately 30 women need to be treated with P17 to prevent one preterm birth. At $200 per patient, this is very cost effective. That is an expenditure of $6,000 to save the average of $51,000 per preterm delivery. With current pricing, we will have to spend $9 million dollars in P17 therapy to save $51,000. Does this make sense? And people want to know why health care costs so much.

Most of you (greater than 90%) who will be on P17 now will be faced with doing without or paying $1500 per injection out-of-pocket. If you are currently on this medication, make sure that your doctors order enough for you right away to cover the entire pregnancy. You could have as little as one week. If you are early in pregnancy or planning a pregnancy soon, talk to your doctors about getting this now to have on hand. Most suppliers warrant the drug to be effective for one year.

So, what can you do?

Firstly, contact KV Pharmaceutical and voice your displeasure:

KV Pharmaceuticals Contact Information: investorrelations@ kvpharmaceutical.com

Second, notify your local media outlets about this issue.

Third, write or email your congressman and senator:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senatorscfm.cfm

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Fourth, contact the FDA and find out why they elected to give KV exclusivity for this product. Competition will bring down the price dramatically.

http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/default.htm

Fifth, write to the president:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Sixth, contact your state Medicaid offices and your insurance carriers. Get them involved

Seventh, get as many of your friends, family members, co-workers, etc. as possible to do the above.

Eighth, feel free to cut/paste/email the above to as many contacts as you can. Let's make this issue go viral!

If we can get enough of a protest mounted, we stand a chance of averting this "rape" of the healthcare system that is motivated almost entirely by a profit motive. Even if KV decides to not manufacture the drug for fear of losing money, we will be better off than with what they are currently planning.

Thank you.

Dr. D

When the public, or at least the public in preemie-land got wind that the MOD endorsed the proposal to give KV Pharma the exclusive manufacturing rights, there was, well, outrage. All was not well in preemie-land. Many parents of preemies, like myself, had raised tens of thousands of dollars for the MOD and we were disappointed to see that the MOD had made such a bone-headed and irresponsible (and possibly deliberate) decision to endorse KV Pharma's exclusive rights to manufacture this drug.

There are only a few reasons that the MOD blindly endorsed KV Pharma's application to be the exclusive manufacturer of Makena. Either (a) the MOD was so tickled pink with the continued contributions from KV Pharma and its subsidiaries that it ignored the fact that having an exclusive manufacturer of the drug would lead to a price increase (particularly a manufacturer that seems to have had its recent share of financial troubles); (b) the MOD, despite being a huge corporate entity, felt no obligation to perform any due diligence into whether or not the granting of exclusive rights to KV Pharma would be beneficial to the very population the MOD purports to serve or (c) someone at the MOD was so naive as to think that switching to an exclusive manufacturer and thereby creating a monopoly would not have an ill effect on the price of the drug (under this scenario one must accept that no one in the employ of the MOD majored in history or has a law degree).

The MOD's response to the outcry today was posted on the MOD's Facebook page:

Thank you to everyone who has shared their concerns about the cost of Makena. The March of Dimes agrees that the price of Makena is too high. We have shared our concerns about the price with Ther-Rx in the past and will do so again today. Ther-Rx has promised that every eligible woman will get care regardless of their ability to pay and we will hold them to that promise.

The MOD also stated on its Facebook page that:

We will also work with insurance companies and Medicaid to be sure that there is coverage. The needs of moms and babies are our only priority and your voices will be heard.

The MOD's responses are nonresponsive to the question of why the MOD chose to endorse this decision. Now the MOD shares its concerns about pricing? The MOD is relying on the promise of a subsidiary of KV Pharma (Ther-Rx) to provide the drug to "eligible" women who can't pay for it? The MOD is going to "work with" insurance companies to be sure there is coverage? Exactly how does the MOD plan to do this? The MOD can't even get insurers to offer Synagis to babies who need it so why should anyone have faith in the MOD's newly found powers of persuasion?

My decision to no longer fund raise for the MOD was made last year, before this latest debacle. There are many charities that perform admirable work toward preventing birth defects and prematurity and which support families of premature babies in ways far more effective than the MOD. Those charities and non-profits are no doubt not immune from problems, but at least so far none of them to my knowledge have contributed, directly or indirectly, to the financial burdens already faced by families raising premature children or who are having an already difficult (and therefore more costly) pregnancy.

I resign...

2011-03-16T18:48:00.004-04:00

Tonight I witnessed Natalie and Abby eat chicken with BBQ sauce (Abby asked for seconds), cooked carrots, a bite of potato casserole, croutons (crunchy things), and start on some corn on the cob.

This is something I never thought I would see. I think the most amazing part of it was hearing them beg for more carrots and having Abby ask for more chicken.

So, I officially resign - from the "My kids have eating issues" club. I do this out of respect for my fellow preemie moms whose kids really do have eating issues, like my friend Anne who daughter eats about 5 foods (and by eat I mean takes one or two bites of A chip) and gets only about 200-400 calories a day from food. The rest comes from a highly concentrated formula that costs about $50ish a gallon. Parents like Anne would give their front teeth if their kid would eat just one of the above mentioned foods, nevermind all at the same time.

So, our time to whine and complain is over. Natalie and Abby are now "normal" eaters. Of course, as pre-schoolers that means they may only eat 1 or 2 decent meals a day every other day. But, they are eating, and for that, we are grateful, astonished, and overjoyed.

Out of the Mouths of Babes...

2011-03-13T22:03:00.005-04:00

Natalie: When I get bigger and bigger and turn into a boy, I can drink coffee.

Mommy: But you won't turn into a boy, you'll turn into a woman.

Natalie: But, I don't want to be a woman.

Mommy: You want to be a boy and drink coffee?

Natalie: Yes.

Scene: Waiting at a stop sign to turn towards home. Natalie and Abby are notoriously impatient in these situations.
Abby: Go mommy, Go.

Mommy: I have to wait for the cars.
(horn honks behind us)

Abby: Get out of the way, DUDE!

Uh-oh. Good thing "dude" is the extent of my road-rage!

January...

2011-02-10T21:23:00.035-05:00

So, what's been happening in January? Well, as I sit here and think back...really, not much at all. I'm trying to actually think of something exciting we've done this month, and I'm drawing a complete blank. January has just been incredibly slow. Mostly, we enjoyed just hanging out and enjoying ourselves.

There is a wonderful lake nearby and they have a resident population of geese (in the big pond) and ducks (in the little pond). Since the weather was nice and the girls love feeding the ducks, we spent a little time in the cold sunshine with our feathered friends.

Dolly the horse is still a big hit and she really enjoy photo ops with Natalie (upper) and Abby (lower).

Uh-Oh...caught! Not in the cookie jar but with the sacred jar of Nutella! Abby is a chocoholic. We are considering treatment options.

Including Natalie in her chocolate schemes...

We also took some time to bake and have some fun with crafts.

We can thank Olivia (remember that swiney upstart who usurped The Wonder Pets?) for the inspiration for what will become our paper-mache planet Earths. Sarcasm aside, I actually love Olivia. I think she's pretty adorable. I do miss The Wonder Pets though, and have to speak up on their behalf. Anyway, I regress. One Olivia episode involved a school assignment to make a model of the planets. Olivia, of course, ended up making the whole solar system plus Planet Olivia. The girls enthusiastically wished to follow suit and Earth was our first attempt. We have since added our continents and hung them on a string...just like Olivia.

The biggest event of January was probably the end of the fall session of their Little Gym class. It culminated with a display of skills on all the major apparatus: Uneven bars, balance beam and floor. They actually had little routines and it was really, really cute. At the end they received ribbons - their first ribbons! Natalie is in the purple and Abby is brown (I think she was being chocolate that day). In that last picture, their little friend, Kenan, is between them.

We did have a special visitor in January. Unfortunately, I don't think he felt the same way. I'm not sure how, but somehow this poor little guy slipped into our garage. I don't know how long he was in there (we don't open it daily) but one day we found him curled up at the foot of the stairs. I had been in the garage the day before and saw no evidence of the little fellow. He was barely alive, but we scooped him into a box, gave him some water and a banana, and covered him up. Sadly, I think he was too far gone (I'm guessing starvation and dehydration) and the next morning he was dead. Bye-bye little possum, we hardly knew you.

January did have a few nice days where the girls could run around outside. Natalie is becoming quite the tricycle-riding expert. Abby enjoys speeding down the oh-so-slightly inclined driveway on her little blue car. Even on the not-as-nice days, the girls were thrilled to put on their jackets and gloves and have a little fun digging in the dirt (or spilled bird-seed) and playing on their own little gym. (These pictures are just Abby. It's hard to tell, but in the third picture, Abby is throwing hand-fulls of birdseed into the air - and into her hair:-))

We capped off the month with a post-Christmas gathering of my dad's family. He has 5 brothers and we generally all get together at Christmas. I think this was the first year since I was a child that we didn't have it. I guess it's harder now that all the cousins are grown-up with kids of their own and going in so many different directions. This year, Ben and I were happy to host everyone who could come in a post-Christmas event. We had a lot of fun and might just start it has a new tradition.

Hanging around the kitchen - where all good parties start!

Cousins having fun - or hiding - in the playroom:-)

My dad and 3 of his brothers.

Looking back, it's possible January was more exciting than I thought! Thank goodness for a visual record or I wouldn't remember anything:-)

I had hoped to stay up-to-date in February, but clearly that battle has already been lost. I will try to get February's "post of the month" up asap and do better in March.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-16T03:26:00.062-05:00

Christmas was the most wonderful event this year. Natalie and Abby were fully into it and watching their excitement was contagious.

Natalie and Abby fell in love with Santa this year - especially Abby. Even before Christmas she would say, "I miss Santa" or "I love Santa". Since Christmas she has talked about how Santa left her Ariel (The Little Mermaid) and how she wishes he could come back and that she misses him. It's really cute.

Christmas was officially kicked off by a visit to Santa. This year was very different than years past. Natalie and Abby were ALL about Santa. Abby waited with baited breath and beamed when Santa waved at her. Christmas Eve was very busy for us this year. We started the say participating in our first Mitzvah Day sponsored by the Durham/Chapel Hill Jewish Federation. We chose to help out with the Genesis Home (http://www.genesishome.org/) which works to end homelessness. We bought hats and gloves for a family and a bag full of "like-new" books and had a wonderful time spending the morning wrapping presents for all the mothers and their children.

We also had to join with kids everywhere and prepare cookies for Santa. The girls had a great time adding icing and sprinkles to their cookies.

We also spent Christmas Eve engaged in a few traditions: some old (the reading of The Night Before Christmas) and some new: discussing the Christmas Story and having the girls act it out with their Nativity. Ben's dad used to read The Night Before Christmas to Ben and Jeff every Christmas Eve. We were thrilled Grandpa was at our house to read it to the girls.
Thankfully, the girls are equally as excited about Baby Jesus as they are about Santa. I'd given them each a Nativity Set and they played with it often. They loved to circle all the characters around Baby Jesus. They also love hearing the story - and know it quite well. They often say to me, "Tell the story, Mommy".

We spent Christmas Eve at Duke Chapel for the 10:30pm service bringing in Christmas Day. It was how we spent our first Christmas with the girls as well. Not that much had changed...Auntie rocked the girls to sleep and they were out through most of the service. That first year, we were joined by Grammy, Auntie and Mema. This year, Auntie and Grammy were joined by Ya-Ya and Grandpa. Duke Chapel is technically a Methodist Church, though it functions in the spirit of non-denominational-ism. However, in ceremony it what one would call "high church" in the liturgical fashion. In other words, the service is traditional in nature complete with vestments, crosses and processions. I think it was quite an experience for Ya-Ya and Grandpa:-) although hopefully they enjoyed it.

It really was a beautiful service though. It was a series of scripture readings each followed by a musical selection that corresponded to the reading. They finished with the Hallelujah Chorus, which is truly a glorious way to bring in Christmas Day.

Christmas Morning was an absolute delight. The funny thing was though, that despite all their talk and excitement, Natalie and Abby forgot all about Santa when they woke up Christmas morning. Ben and I were sleeping in the loft and the girls piled into bed with us at a decent hour (8ish). We decided to see how long it would take them to remember it was Christmas. They never really did! Finally, after Auntie got up, we gave them hints and suddenly the light bulbs went off. And then it was Abby shouting down the stairs, "Santa came, Santa came!

I can understand why the girls are in love. Santa was VERY good to them this year:-) It was quite a spread.

Of course, this doesn't even take into account the rest of the loot from mommy and daddy, grandparents, and aunts and uncles.

It was so much fun seeing the girls come into the room and see what Santa left them. Abby ran straight for the Princess pillow and shouted, "I got a pillow, I got a pillow!" Natalie wanted to know if her Polar Bear was ok since he likes it cold.

Natalie and Abby only had one real request for Santa this year. Wait for it....cookies. Every time they were asked what they wanted Santa to bring them, the answer was cookies. (Maybe Santa should have stopped there!) So, Santa obliged, and the girls loved their cookies.

This year there were actually few things I felt like they needed. I generally pick their toys very carefully. So, although it appears that their playroom looks like Toys R Us exploded, nearly every single toy was chosen for a specific developmental purpose. Even the multitude of kitchen stuff and baby dolls has a specific aim of developing imaginative play. I usually have list of new toys I want to get for the girls to work on some new skill. This year...I was stumped. So, in the absence of sensible, practical, educational toys...everyone went a little wild.

Exhibit A: The 4 foot tall horse - named Dolly (horse in the Apple Tree Farm books) (Grammy)

(also makes a nice tent)

Daddy is hopeful, Dolly the Horse will take the place of this:

Exhibit B: The double-seater Princess car (Poppy, Nanny, Mommy and Daddy)

Exhibit C: Camping Out Princess Style (Ya-Ya and Grandpa)

Exhibit C1: Coordinating Camping Chairs (Mommy and Daddy)
Exhibit D: Everything Else! As you can see, Princesses ruled the day!

The girls also got something called "Calico Critters" (courtesy of Aunt Joyce). They are a new-fangled thing and absolutely the most adorable things. They are little families of animals: Mouse, Hedgehog, various Cats, Panda, Cow, Elephant, Dog, Bunnies, Fox, Pig...you get the idea. And you can get pairs of little twins which are even more adorable. And, if that's not enough and you have any money left, you can purchase Tree Houses, Townhomes, a Manor, furniture, and Playground stuff. It's awesome.

Abby received a set of Pandas and Natalie Cows. Grammy pitched in with some playground equipment. Abby adores them. She actually plays with them quite a bit. A few days ago, I heard a conversation like this:
"Do you want to ride on Daddy's back...ok...that was fun...now it's your turn..." So. Cute.

This Christmas was full of so much joy and laughter and delight. Natalie and Abby experience everything with un-abandoned jubilance that is infectious. But, this year was tempered with some sadness as well. It was our first Christmas without Mema and we miss her terribly. It was fitting then, that Auntie had prepared a very special present for Grammy.

Mema was very fond of flannel pajamas. It seemed she had dozens of them - partly because her sister, my Aunt Joyce, was quite fond of gifting her with pjs on many occasions:-) After Mema died, Kimberly gathered a number of these PJs and had them made into a quilt - two quilts actually. One for my mom and one for Aunt Joyce. They are beautiful and a perfect memorial for my Mema who loved being warm and who warmed our souls as well.

And if all that wasn't enough fun, we also had snow. Not quite a White Christmas, but the day after. It was beautiful and enough for the girls to stomp around in.

And if that wasn't enough fun for one week...while Poppy and Nanny were here, we decided to cap off Christmas with our first ice skating trip. Natalie and especially Abby, have long been expert "sock skaters" (sliding around the kitchen floor in their socks shouting, "wee, wee look at me, this is fun!" Unfortunately, ice skating wasn't nearly as successful.

We headed out to Hillsborough Sports Plex and after some trial and error with sizes, we laced up our skates. That's where the fun ended. Poor little Natalie and Abby couldn't even stand up NOT on the ice. Keep in mind that Ben has never been ice skating and I went for the first time in 20 years this summer. I also have an exaggerated fear of falling. Put us all on the ice (Ben and I clinging desperately to the edge and the girls clinging desperately to us), and well, it wasn't pretty. Natalie and Abby were crying and sobbing and begging to get off the ice.

Fortunately, the rink has these amazing gadgets that are basically old people walkers for the ice - child size. The kid holds on to the walker and mom or dad pushes the walker. Instant fun.

Natalie loved it. Mommy did too. No longer impeded by the fear of falling and breaking my wrist, I could fly like Michelle Kwan. With the wind in our hair, we breezed around the rink and Natalie beamed.
Unfortunately, Abby had already been traumatized and not even the thrill of speed could endear her to ice skating. She could just never keep her little ankles straight and her experience is pretty much summed up by this shot:

In the end, it was decided that they would stick to sock skating for a while:-)

So, Christmas is over for another year and I have a feeling Abby will be counting the days until Santa comes again. She's already stated a few times how much she misses him. I really loved this year's Christmas Season - decorating our new home, buying stuff for the girls, visiting with family and friends, and remembering the birth of our Lord and Savior. I am excited to see what this year brings and can't wait to deck the halls in only ...349 more days!

A few more Christmas pics:

Yes, we did celebrate Thanksgiving...

2010-12-20T00:11:00.007-05:00

We actually had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend...I just haven't written about it yet!

I can honestly say it was the least stressful and most pleasant Thanksgiving I have ever experienced. Despite the fact that we had two different parties and I cooked and cleaned and prepped for a week, I wasn't stressed, everyone had fun and it was generally delightful.

Thanksgiving Day saw most of our family gathered 'round the table for our first Thanksgiving in our new home. The only absence was my mom, Grammy. Unfortunately, she was sandbagged at work buried under charts and the threat of an impending state audit. She simply has too much work to do and not enough time to do it. We really missed her and it was very different not having her around.

But we did get to celebrate with many others: Poppy, Nanny, Ya-Ya, Grandpa, Auntie, Reagan, Jeff, Wayne and Jane. It was wonderful and we were so glad everyone could come.

We were also pleased to host this year's Annual SCAT Christmas party. SCAT stands for Summer Camp Assistance Team - the staff at Johns River Valley Camp - which I attended as a child and where I worked both as a volunteer and on staff for several years. My friends from camp are my closest and dearest and being with them thrills my soul and brings me great joy. It was such a pleasure to host everyone this year and it was just perfect. The younger kids enjoyed the playroom, the pre-teens made good use of the air hockey table, a few friends hung out by the fire in the chimenea, and the rest milled about talking and laughing and watching football. As always, we had a great time catching up and playing the "Dirty Santa" game. If only we could get together more often...

Changing of the Guard

2010-12-08T15:49:00.009-05:00

Life is full of transitions. Sometimes they are big: moving, death, starting school. Sometimes they are more subtle: the new favorite toy, changes in speech, and new ways of playing.

The girls have been full of small and subtle changes lately, especially Abby. It makes me a little sad since each new development means they are getting older and giving up some of their "baby" ways.

Abby has probably shifted the most lately. She has had the cutest little way of saying Natalie's name - "Nannie". I think it evolved out of an attempt to say "Natne" and somehow the "t" just disappeared. Natalie calls her self Nannie too, and Ben and have also taken to calling her that. I think we like it better than the nickname "Nat" or worse, "Nat-Nat". Plus, it's been so cute hearing the girls say it. Of late, however, Abby has started calling her Na(t)-a-lie. It's hard to explain and it sounds very much like Natalie, but I think the "t" is still under-pronounced so it sounds a bit different. It's still cute, but I liked that she had a special little name for her sister. I blame their speech therapist. I think she spent a day on their names and Abby fell for it. Natalie is still stubbornly referring to herself as Nannie, and speech issues aside, I'm thrilled with it.

Abby has also started showing preference for her baby doll, Baby Sam, over Mouse. (I failed to document when Natalie gave up Elmo for Baby Bean and Abby "Dorge"/Curious George for Mouse, so I want to be sure to catch this...) It's not a complete transition, but I can see it coming (through my tears, I might add). Mouse is still required for sleep, but rarely makes it out of the bed. Most all day-time play is done with Baby Sam. This could simply be because Sam is actually a doll, vs a mouse, and falls more easily into Abby's love of pretend Mommy play. Baby Sam is regularly given a bottle, fed bear soup, put to bed, put in the swing to swing, pushed in the stroller and comforted when sick or hurt. It's hard to say which is more preferred, Mouse or Baby Sam, since she is very tied to both at bedtime. I do, however, see Sam gaining ground in the future.

Abby's Babies

(from left to right: Dorge (George), Mouse, Baby Sam, Panda, Pink Baby - aka Car Baby - meant to stay in the car)

Natalie's Babies
(Baby Bean, Elmo, Yellow Baby, Polie, Baby Susie)

and the whole crowd...

For the record, Natalie's Baby Bean has never been quite as involved in daily play as Baby Sam. Baby Bean often spends all day in the bed. But, Natalie is quite insistent on her at night and in comfort situations. I think this is in part because Natalie is less consumed by "Mommy play" than Abby. She does rock, feed, etc Baby Bean (in fact, she just fetched her from her bed about an hour ago), but she is also just as likely to pick up whatever is closest (bunny, duck, other doll) and plop it into the high chair or give it a bottle. (Natalie swinging Baby Bean)

Another rather surprising switch is the hostile takeover of a oinky little upstart named Olivia. For a change in pace (for me), I let the girls watch an episode of Olivia instead of Wonder Pets, and they've become quite hooked. Now, instead of "I want to watch Wonder Pets" at 8am, I'm hearing, "mommy, I want to watch Olivia!" Sesame Street is also getting popular, but we only watch it downstairs. (It's an hour vs only 30 minutes and gives me more time to cook or clean or do whatever if I need to.)

Play time is getting more sophisticated too. They still spend a good bit of time engaged in imaginative imitation play: feeding, rocking, and putting their babies to bed and cooking (usually bear soup). They also do a lot of climbing: on the stairs, on the couches, on Mommy. They love to jump and will sometimes place pillows around to create things to jump on on. Spinning is also popular and various forms of ballet and dance movements.

They are also starting to create games and give directions to each other. "Now, Nannie, you do this..." They are also beginning to independently seek out puzzles and more fine motor activities. We have started playing a couple of games and they are getting the idea of taking turns and how games work. They also like to color and cut. Books are still a favorite activity and I've caught them "reading" the books to themselves and to their babies.

Other favorite games include pretending to fish, hiding, chasing daddy, playing with their little animals and building block "houses", taking care of the cats, and Natalie loves riding her little tractor around the house with a few animals or babies in the trailer. They also love to help us cook. They are also getting really independent and like to get their own water from the dispenser with one ice for Natalie and 2 for Abby:-)

Some of mommy and daddy's favorites:
- Having the girls come running and climb in our bed in the morning (we took the crib tents off so they can get out by themselves).
- The girls like to fix daddy coffee in their little kitchen and bring it to him on the weekends.
- Mommy loves to watch the girls play together, make up games and help each other.
- Watching them take care of Baby Sam - the real one:-) They are so sweet with him. They bring him toys and hug him and kiss the top of his head. It's so sweet. Today the girls held him in their laps and just beamed - especially Abby - she is incredibly maternal.

I'm a bit nostalgic about all these changes - especially the switches of the beloved comfort item. I have this Velveteen Rabbit complex that the forsaken toys are now lonely and sad because they have been rejected and replaced...(Names and numbers of competent psychiatrist can be submitted in the comments section). Mostly, I'm just sad because it means they are growing up and I'm really, really, really not a fan. I love this stage. They could stay 3.5 years old forever. Maybe what I have is a reverse Peter Pan complex. I want to go to Never Never Land not so that I won't grow up, but so my girls never will. Well, there's always the grandchildren...

Now to wax a bit philosophical...

I've always loved watching children play. If you really just sit back and watch and listen, it's quite an extraordinary experience. To see their little minds at work, watching as they work out problems, express their own fears through their babies or toys, and find fun and joy in something as simple as a pipe cleaner (snake, fishing rod, a little shot). It's truly amazing what a child can do given the space, time, and encouragement and even just a few simple toys.

We have spent a number of afternoons at the Marbles Museum in Raleigh which is an enormous and astonishing hands on museum for kids. There is a pretend bus, ambulance, fire truck and burning house, grocery store, kitchen, garden, stage, post office, and barn. And that's just in one part downstairs. Upstairs, there are art spaces, a sock hockey rink, giant legos, fashion design station, pet spa, pizza restaurant and woodworking area where you can make your own birdhouse with a hand saw, hand drill and some screws.

What is absolutely amazing is to watch the children at work in these spaces. They know exactly what to do and they are so intent on doing it. There are no electronics, TVs, video games or music. Yet, the kids are completely engaged and entertained. The revel in the freedom and opportunity to be creative and explore. It's a world of make-believe where they can be firemen, bus drivers, cooks, architects, fashion designers, or pirates on a giant ship that frankly is probably not much smaller than the actual Santa Maria. It's truly joyous to watch and if you have never had the opportunity to observe children at play, I suggest you find a way. It will open your eyes to a whole new world.

Halloween!

2010-11-06T23:49:00.006-04:00

This was the girls' first "real" Halloween. Last year, we were at my mema's and went to my aunt's and a friend of mema's, but the Natalie and Abby didn't really get the whole thing. This year, they were all about it.

This year we also did jack 'o' lanterns, which were more about Ben than the girls. Natalie and Abby were less than enthusiastic about reaching into the squishy pumpkins. So, we let Ben handle the muck and we just enjoyed the results.

Natalie had expressed for about a month that she wanted to be a cow for Halloween. I looked everywhere but couldn't find one. I was not especially inclined to get creative and make one, so I did the next best thing. I convinced Natalie she could be a farmer instead and carry around a cow.

This worked for me in two ways. One: I already had a funny "farmer" costume that was free in a bag of a bunch of hand-me-downs. Two: I no longer had to search for a cow costume.

So, I told Natalie she was Old McDonald and hooked up a little wagon to their little tractor. We visited the thrift store, found some stuffed pigs, a deer and of course, a cow. They joined a few other stuffed friends in the wagon for some trick-or-treating fun. Natalie bought into it completely and actually had a blast. She drove her little tractor up and down our street just as happy as could be. It was pretty adorable. She would park the tractor in the driveway, climb off, get her candy, get back on, back-up, turn and travel on down the road. She loved it.

Abby didn't seem to have any strong feelings about her costume, so she was a Bumble Bee (also found in the hand-me-down bag). She was the bee gathering pollen to make honey on Old McDonald's Farm.

We only visited about 6 houses, partly because it took a while to travel from house to house on the little tractor. But, it was plenty for the girls. They had a great time. After returning to the house, we had these comments:

Natalie: That was FUN! ....and my favorite

Abby: That was some good trick-or-treating.

Being very kind and generous parents who well-remember our stingy and mean parents on Halloween, we let the girls have several of their pieces of candy. (What's with that "only one piece on Halloween" crap...it's like saying you can stare at all the gifts from Santa but only open one!)

They tried out the sour worms, the Tootsie Roll Sucker, and of course, some chocolate. Ahhh....happy kids.

We've had several requests to go trick-or-treating again. They've accepted well the idea they will have to wait until next year.

Sister, sister

2010-10-28T17:52:00.003-04:00

Ben just asked Abby if she would like to go out with him for dinner for some special one on one time.
Abby: No, I want to stay with Nannie.
Ben: Why?
Abby: I want to stay with Nannie because I love her.

Ahhhhh.

Teeny-Tiny Tushy

2010-10-26T13:33:00.003-04:00

We have a few of the girls' old preemie outfits around. I've discovered they are great for dolls, and especially fit the Cabbage Patch Kids perfectly. So, Abby just found and put on a pair of bloomers that go with a PREEMIE outfit that she wore when she was 4 or 5 months old (at about 8lbs).

They fit.

*sigh*

Fall Fun

2010-10-15T21:35:00.020-04:00

Wow! We spent last weekend at Poppy and Nanny's house and we had the most fantastic time. It is amazing how much we managed to cram into 3 days.

We started with the Luray Rescue Zoo. It's quite a nice little place (although Zoo might be generous) considering the size of Luray. The most impressive part of the Zoo is their extensive snake/reptile collection. They have an impressive number of highly venomous snakes (cobras, Gabon Viper, Mambas) as well as US and local venomous and non-venomous snakes. To me, the most impressive was the Canebrake Rattlesnake (sub-species of the Timber Rattlesnake). This snake was massive. It was easily 6 inches in width - maybe more. I had no idea they were they wide and it was quite impressive.

Natalie was impressed by the very large pythons, which both she and Abby seemed delighted to think were going to eat them. They find this more amusing then scary - fortunately.

The Zoo also has a host of owls, birds, some kind of monkey, a petting area of a pig, donkey, yaks, deer, goats, etc. There are also a few cats: a bobcat and their pride and joy - a Bengal Tiger.

Friday afternoon was spent on a canoe trip I'd been wanting to take forever. Luray has a wonderful walking "Greenway" through the middle of town that hugs a little creek perfect of canoeing. The water was a bit low, but it was enough to have a little fun. Ben started out with us, but the water was too low for all of us. He and the girls abandoned ship to feed the ducks, but I picked the girls up again a little downstream. The girls seemed to have a great time and I was happy to do something I haven't had a chance to do in probably 9 years.

Saturday night we closed the day with a roaring bonfire and smore's and hot cider. My chocoholic children were mostly interested in tossing the graham cracker and marshmellow parts and scarfing down the chocolate. It was a wonderful way to end an amazing day.

Saturday we started the day with a wonderful breakfast with a former member of Poppy's church who had always offered such wonderful support and prayers. Then we headed off to Syria, Virginia to Graves Mountain Apple Farm for the Apple Festival. This year was much more crowded, and hotter, so we didn't stay as long. But, we had plenty of time to ride some ponies, check out the hay bales, and visit the petting area of the farm. They even had baby pigs, which were a real treat to watch as they ran around chasing each other.

Saturday afternoon we headed back to Poppy and Nanny's to get in a little more fun. Ben and Nanny hung out with the girls and Poppy and Mommy took a little canoeing adventure. We put in on the Shenandoah River behind their house and followed the river to see where it would go! We knew it would hit under the bridge (our pick-up spot) but we weren't sure how long it would take or what water conditions we would find. (I was hoping for white water all the way:-)) What we discovered was a wonderful stretch of river with some beautiful smooth cruising water and a few fun little rapids.

After picking us up, Dad and Ben dropped me off at the same spot we ran the day before so I could run it myself and go a bit further. It was wonderful, although going "a little further" turned out not to be so smart since there was not actually a good place to take out the canoe. So, Ben and I ended up carrying it a good bit back to the truck. Did I mention it was dark by then? While I was gone, Poppy gave the girls his own version of a hay ride in the little trailer pulled by his lawn mower. They loved it! The next time we are there in the snow, we will have to hook up a sled and go for a spin.

Sunday we enjoyed attending church at Poppy's church and seeing all our Luray Church friends. The girls were actually wonderful and made it all the way through the service up to the sermon when Natalie said she needed to go the potty. I think they would have made it through if not for that. (It was a short sermon:-))

At lunch, the girls continued to make liars out of our complaints about their eating habits as we watch them eat salsa with a spoon as if it were soup, handfuls of chips, and 2 or 3 chicken wings. It was remarkable.

After lunch we headed to Luray's Heritage Festival where Poppy had a friend who would give us a horse and buggy ride. The girls loved it. We also rode more ponies and took a ride on the cutest homemade train made from barrels - and pulled by a tractor! It was so much fun.

And to cap the whole weekend off - we found a lovely little garter snake on the road that we were able to hurry along before it was smushed.

As always, our time in Luray ended too soon. It was amazing to at least have a 3 day weekend instead of just two and it made all the difference in being able to relax and have fun.

Coming soon to a blog near you: Natalie and Abby's first trip to the NC State Fair!

My Ingenious Laundry Sorting Solution

2010-10-15T21:32:00.003-04:00

I'm rather proud of this. I hate the laundry ending up all over the floor. This works great for us!

Extreme Yard Makeover

2010-10-05T00:05:00.013-04:00

The backyard of our new house is pretty much a mess. I think it might have been nicer at one point until the owners moved out well over a year ago and God took over the landscape maintenance and fired the gardener.

When we first saw the house in March, it looked like this:
Not so bad - very doable.

Once spring hit...it turned into this:

Basically, the backyard has been terribly overgrown to the point that you could barely see the side and back fence. There was a grapevine on the left side that had taken over some trees and created a canopy and nearly impenetrable hedge. The right side had a stack of nearly rotten wood (maybe stacked firewood) that created a rather significant mound. The back fence is a mess of who knows what and more wisteria than I have ever seen on my life. I think, although I can't imagine why, that the previous owners had planted it along the fence line every few feet. Pretty stuff, but a bear to get rid of - and it will take down a fence. Not a good idea. The grapevine, BTW, appears to not actually even be in our yard, but is migrating from the neighbor's yard on the other side of the fence. (Thanks neighbors).

The weekend of the girls' birthday in May, I worked really hard to try to clean out the corner where I wanted the girls' play set to go. I made a lot of progress, although grass tried quickly tried to take over.

This past weekend we spent most of Saturday working on the left side of the yard (where I plan for our future pool to go:-) ) We cleared SO much brush and that dreaded grapevine, rescued some maple saplings (again from the grapevine), and even cut down some small trees. The plan is to let the nicer hardwoods grow up and get rid of the yucky gum trees and pines. There's a lot left to do, but we made progress.

All the slate you see on top of the flower bed were pieces I found on the ground under all the brush. I foresee a slate patio in my future:-)

I still have a lot to do, but I have a grand plan. When I'm done, it will be beautiful. The kids will have a wonderful corner with the awesomest daddy-built play set and a wonderful grassy area where they can run around a play. Everyone is invited over for a cookout - and a swim in the pool I'm still trying to convince Ben we should get one day:-)

Animal Planet

2010-10-04T15:48:00.011-04:00

*warning: snake phobics should skip this post*

Natalie and Abby love animals. They may not know all their ABC's, but they can tell you where a Panda Bear lives and what it eats (China - Bamboo), what kind of animals have a pouch and some examples (marsupials - kangaroo, koala), and identify at 3 kids of sharks (hammerhead, tiger and great white) and 2 kids of whales (orca and humpback), and a whole bunch of other cool stuff.

They get this mostly from me as I could watch Animal Planet all day (the good stuff - not the weird Animal Cops and Pet Psychics), although Ben does have a healthy fascination with Blue Planet and Planet Earth. I especially love the cats, particularly big cats, dolphins, whales, sharks, and snakes. Yes, snakes. Just call me The Crocodile Hunter.

I have this thing about snakes - and the fear of snakes. I believe the fear of snakes is taught - not inherent. Therefore, the opposite can also be taught - fascination and a healthy dose of respect.

The good thing about living in NC is that there are only 4 types of poisonous snakes here so one's chances of coming across one are relatively small, unlike some countries, like Australia, where practically every snake you see will kill you. Here, even the most common venomous snake in this area, the copperhead, is extremely unlikely to kill you. Oh, it will hurt, but you won't die. Contrary to popular belief however, NC is not run amok with Copperheads. People just think they are everywhere They mistakenly confuse any number of poor non-venomous snakes with the copperhead, resulting in many, many needless deaths (of the snakes, not people).

A favorite story of mine:
My little friend, Hannah (about 9) and I were traveling to my mom's in the mountains. Just before her house, I saw a snake on the road, and of course, stopped to investigate and get it off the road. It was already severely injured and I believe was either some kind of corn snake or water snake, snakes with coloring that are often mistaken for copperheads. As we were looking at it, someone stopped to see if we needed help. As they pulled over, I whispered to Hannah, "watch, they are going to think it's a copperhead. Everyone always thinks EVERY snake is a copperhead". The man looked out, took a look at the snake, and announced, "that's a copperhead." Nope. Sorry.

All this to calm the fears of all those who are about to freak out at the following picture:

While working in the yard Saturday, I found two little snakes hiding under some slate. Two different kinds, I think, but both too small to even bite - and of course, they weren't copperheads.

The kids loved them. They have no fear. But, they do have healthy respect. They been drilled to know to never touch a snake without asking Mommy first. (Frankly, even Daddy wouldn't touch it without asking Mommy first.) They know snakes can bite and some can hurt you and make you sick and even kill you. I'm not into sugar-coating it. But, I'm also teaching them that snakes play an important part in the ecosystem and that there is no reason to be paranoid and afraid. Respect is good. Fear - not so much.

I believe strongly that educating reduces fear. Another favorite story:

One summer at camp, where I was on staff, it seemed we had an unusual number of snakes on the river that runs through the camp. The same river we tube, canoe and swim in. On one tubing run, I remember looking over at a rock and seeing 3 or 4 snakes sunning themselves. 99.9% of the snakes we see at camp are harmless - water snakes or black snakes. On the water, they are almost all water snakes.

One particular tubing run, I was with a boy, JC, who was about 10ish. He was deathly afraid of snakes. He made me stick by him to protect him from the snakes for the whole run. I wisely failed to point out the several snakes I saw along the way. Near the end, however, we both spotted a snake on the bank. He promptly freaked out. I calmly and confidently told him that the snake wouldn't hurt us, was more afraid of us and would just go the other way. JC is still freaking out. Then, the snake, a rather sizable water snake, did something I'd never seen a snake do. It left it's perch on the bank, entered the water, and swam straight for us. I put my tube out between us and the snake, because, what else could I do? (There was no way to get out of the water, expect towards the snake. JC is really freaking out now, and I'm beginning to consider joining him especially when the snake disappears under the water about ten feet in front of us.

Well, we high-tail it out of there, JC's bum held high above the water on his tube and me praying I don't feel anything slithering by my legs. At the first place to exit the water, JC was outta there.

I really felt bad for JC's overwhelming fear. He was really, really shaken up. (He later declared me one of the heroes in his life for "saving him from the snake", which might have been a bit over dramatic.) So, I pulled out my trusty snake books and persuaded him to sit with me and look at the pictures and try to identify the snake. After a while, he became interested. Later that day, there just so happened to be another snake in the swimming area. This time, JC agreed to approach it with me to check it out and after, helped me try to figure out what kind it was. At some time after that, he said to me, "you know, snakes aren't so scary when you know a little about them".

Ding..ding..ding...A little education goes a long way.

I don't want my girls to fear nature. I want them to respect it and know that some things can hurt them and that they have to be careful and always listen to mommy and daddy. I also don't want to sugar-coat the reality of the animal world either. You can't watch Big Cat Diary for long without seeing the lions go after the gazelle. The girls are learning that "some animals eat other animals because that's the way God made them".

Well, that's my little science lesson for the day:-) For those still with me, here are some more pics of the girls and a video.

Potty Experts

2010-09-21T11:53:00.003-04:00

I'm going to be paying my sister back for years. Between her rates for sleep training and now, potty training, I owe her big time.

The girls are amazing. Natalie and Abby are now potty experts. After 6 days, they are doing amazing. They will now either announce they need to potty and then run to the potty at our urging, or, simply go there on their own, and return to us announcing they pee-peed in the potty. A few minutes ago, the most marvelous thing occurred - I walked past the bathroom to see Natalie sitting on her little frog potty and heard her announce, "I went poopy."

Any parent will tell you that pooping in the potty is the creme de la creme and we.are.there. Abby has been pooping in the potty for several days so now, we are set.

Of course, diapers are still for sleeping and long drives (and for another week, Little Gym, Ballet, and therapies - can't have them peeing all over everything). But, I think next week, we may even try those things diaper-free.

Diaper-less nights will also involve moving out of the cribs so they can get to the potty, so we will have to figure out what we are doing about that.

I am so proud of my big (sniff*sniff) girls, and am eternally grateful to Auntie.

Potty Training - Part Deux

2010-09-16T20:29:00.003-04:00

So, my sister whirls into town and in all her wisdom and knowledge starts the potty training. I learned this was the plan when she sent me a text while I was in my real estate class: "Potty training, need flushable wipes". It's for the best really, because I am a potty-training wuss.

I really don't like potty training. Hate it, really. Kids peeing, and worse, pooping on the floor. Ick. Having to stop every 15 minutes to potty - which takes 10 minutes. I can't get anything done. Look at me, I'm whining and my sister is the one who did most of the work on Wednesday. God bless her.

Why can't kids just go from diapers to toilet instinctively? I'll have to take that up with the Big Guy when I get to Heaven. If God was a woman, we wouldn't have this problem.

On to the potty report:
It's going okay. I think. Abby is doing slightly better as she seems to recognize more when she is about to go. Even sitting on the potty she will announce, "I'm going to tinkle", and then go. She is also pooping quite a bit, but I think this is happy consequence of the antibiotic she is taking for the massive ear infection she had last week.

Natalie has been successful as well, but I think more luck than anything. Because she is on the potty so much, she has to pee on the potty sometime. She doesn't seem to know when she is about to go nor can she force it. She could easily sit on the potty 10 minutes without going, then get up and tinkle in her pants 3 minutes later. --Wait - breaking news...Natalie just announced she needed to go pee-pee - and SHE WENT!!!! WOO-HOO!-- Stay tuned for more information as it comes in.

Moments like these...

2010-09-14T13:43:00.003-04:00

My sister is on her way to town, so I am attempting to clean up a bit. This leaves Natalie and Abby to entertain themselves in their amply supplied playroom. It was a bit quiet, which as all parents know, is generally not a good sign.

I pop my head around the corner and find this:

Natalie, Abby and an assortment of babies sitting quietly against the door staring at the ground. They looked up at me and declared, "we're watching a movie". I inquired as to what their movie was about and was told "the stars". (We visited the Planetarium a few weeks ago).

It was absolutely the cutest thing. These are the moments I wish I could capture forever and never forget. Natalie and Abby do so many darling things every day, and I know I won't remember a fraction of them. I wish I could make a movie of every moment of their lives so I could watch it when I'm old and gray and remember...

Thank you, God, for the imagination of a child.

Checking in

2010-09-03T23:39:00.006-04:00

I know, I know...I'll skip the apologies and get right to the updating.

We have been busy. It's been a very busy summer for our whole family.

In April we celebrated Easter and had an Egg Hunt with Grammy. We enjoyed the beautiful weather and spent many afternoons at nearby parks and finally made it to the Zoo. We bought a house and started moving, sadly said goodbye to the girls long-time feeding/speech therapist (she moved) and took Natalie and Abby fishing for the first time.

In May, we finished moving and said good-bye to our old house. Natalie and Abby turned 3 and we had a little party, even though they were sick (again). Mommy and the girls took a trip to NYC, Daddy started a new job, and Mommy started working again (babysitting).

In June, Natalie and Abby started Little Gym (and loved it!) and did all kinds of fun things with Walker and Bean like going to the coolest drive through zoo. We visited Grammy in the mountains and spent a day with old friends, Jerry and Gayle, in Winston at Old Salem. Mommy also had the honor of assisting as a birthing partner for her dear friends, Michael and Lori, and their new baby, Sam (and older sister, Awa).

Poppy came to visit in July and we went fishing again (which the girls LOVE - they like to play with the worms). We also took an amazing trip down memory lane with Poppy as we visited his old churches and neighborhood and learned more about his childhood and life as a young adult. We also took a trip to the beach with Auntie. We discovered the fun of the big pool and more fishing with Walker and Bean, discovered an amazing new museum in Raleigh, Marbles, and tried to potty train.

August involved more swimming, more Marbles, a family reunion and playing with baby goats at the Carl Sandburg house. There was more hanging out with Walker and Bean, visits from Poppy and Grammy, and weekend sleepovers at Ya-Ya and Grandpa's. The girls gave up their bottles (but not the special milk), started ballet at Uncle Johnny's studio in Burlington (where Mommy and Auntie also took as little girls) and started a new session of Little Gym. They even attended a Little Gym half-day camp for 3 hours. They have also started some of their old and new therapies - PT and OT (still waiting on speech). Daddy had to work lots and lots of overtime and Mommy started babysitting for Baby Sam.

Whew. Oh, and somewhere in there, Mommy and Daddy made an attempt to get the new house in order with some painting and organizing, new furniture (just this week), a yard sale, and with LOTS of help from Grammy. Thank God for my mom or we'd still be living in boxes.

And, just to make sure we don't leave anything out...the cats are thoroughly enjoying their new environment. They are happy their kitty perches (cat towers) are back and have each claimed their own. They also have favorite spots in the yard. Kitkat likes to hang out in the bushes and both have taken to hiding in the cool of the storm drain. And, as the girls like to say, "the kitties like to chase the bunny rabbits!"

Ok. That's 5 months in review:-)

Now, it's picture time! - and hopefully, more of the little details.

Bye-Bye Bottles

2010-08-13T09:55:00.002-04:00

Well, at 3 years, 3 months, Natalie and Abby have finally ditched the bottles. We were still doing bottles of their special lactose free milk and carnation mixture at night before bed and at nap (when they take one). They really do still need the nutrition and calories. Plus, in all honesty, I kind-of liked holding them and feeding them.

But, babies grow up, and Ben has been pushing to lose the bottles. I thought it would be way hard and that the girls would be psychologically tied to them and refuse to sleep without them. As usual, my easy-going girls surprised me.

A few nights ago, we announced no more bottles and gave them milk in a cup with a straw. They drank it all up - no problem. And that was that.

They've been drinking from cups for a while, of course. They've even had milk in a cup during the day. I was just sure they equated sleep-time with bottles and would balk at the change in routine. But, they are thrilled to drink "milk from a cup" like big girls.

Now, if only potty-training were so easy.....

Oh dear....

2010-07-30T19:09:00.002-04:00

I think Ben and I need to revamp some parenting strategies.

Scene: Daddy gets the girls up from a nap. Natalie and Abby are snuggling on the couch with Mommy where the tv is showing the local news. The weather outside is actually rather nice. A big storm last night cooled things off a bit.

Daddy: Let's go outside and take a walk and get some exercise.

Natalie: No. We don't need to get some exercise. We need to stay inside the house and watch tv.

Oh dear.

They really don't watch that much tv. And then, really only Wonder Pets. But, they do like it. A lot. We haven't been outside much lately - because it's been 102 degrees. That's a good excuse, right?

Ok, Mommy and Daddy. Less tv. More playing. Got it.

Four little words

2010-07-25T18:28:00.001-04:00

I hate potty training.

'nuff said.

Checking in...

2010-07-20T22:10:00.007-04:00

Yes, yes, we are still here.

Natalie and Abby are having a busy summer. We've traveled some, visited grandparents, had grandparents visit and started babysitting again with Walker and Bean. We've been to museums, beaches, and pools and are having a wonderful time.

We've also been busy going to evaluations for a variety of potential therapies. I'm not sure I mentioned it, but when the girls turned 3, they aged out of the CDSA program and the free therapies it provided. The next step was an eval to determine whether they would qualify for an IEP (Individual Education Plan) through the state public school system. If they were to need significant therapies and assistance, then they could attend public pre-school for free.

We weren't at all expecting to qualify for services to the extent of free pre-school. I was really only hoping they would qualify for speech. Qualifying for Occupational Therapy would also have been nice, but Speech was the most important.

In a strange twist of irony, Abby did qualify for Speech based on articulation. Natalie...did not. I was...perplexed. All our therapists, and I agreed that Natalie is the more difficult to understand. And so goes the subjective world of testing...

So, in response to the IEP exams and at the prompting of the OT's who evaluated them, I set them up for appointments in all areas. The OT's suggestive that there was a quality to their fine motor movements that might need attention. I wholeheartedly agreed. There's just something a little "off" about they way they use their hands and bodies. They can do almost everything any other 3 year old can do, they look a little different doing it.

All of these therapies will have to be done (and paid for) through our insurance and its providers, ie: Duke Hospital and its various clinics. We've already had our OT evals and they both qualified. Abby had her Speech eval and qualified. Natalie's is tomorrow. If you are wondering why I had Abby retested, it's because her therapy through the state would be 30 min twice a week at a nearby school. So, it would take me at least an hour out of the day twice a week to take her. That would be on top of taking Natalie to speech somewhere else and taking them both to OT and potentially Physical Therapy as well. If I can get all their therapies in the same place and co-current, then I may be able to do two in one day and one on another. Result: 3 sets of therapies (6 separate appts) done in 3 hours on only two days vs potentially running all over town 3 or 4 days a week. All we have left (after tomorrow) are the PT evals. Abby has been receiving PT but it will be new for Natalie. I'm not sure how those will go actually. They could go either way. They seems to have some low tone or strength issues but they may be able to be addressed through the OT therapies so we will just have to see.

You may be wondering why all of a sudden it seems that Natalie and Abby are having all these problems and are in need of so much help. Well. Such is the nature of micro-preemiehood. Without a doubt, Natalie and Abby escaped many of the issues that plague many micro-preemies: ROP, surgeries, brain bleeds, CP, major development issues, autistic-spectrum disorders, severe sensory issues, feeding tubes....the list can go on and on.

However, it's only as our children get older and the "norms" narrow in expectation, that problems show up. For instance, children are expected to learn to walk anywhere from 9 months to 18 months. That's quite a range. Even a child with delays might manage to do fall in the "normal" range. However, by age 3, kids are generally expected to be more on the same page in what they are able to do. As they are expected to be able to do more and more, areas of concern crop up.

For Natalie and Abby these concerns are primarily in the areas of fine motor, ie: how they use scissors, the ability to copy and draw a straight line horizontally, vertically, in a circle and as a cross, etc. That's where the OT comes in. That's the stuff they work on.

Could they continue to do ok without all these therapies? Maybe. But speech interferes in their social skills if none of their little friends can understand them. The fine motor skills will affect their pre-writing skills and make school that much more difficult for them. So, why risk it. If we can give them a better chance to be "normal", why not take it?

I promise (once again) to try to be better about posting. I get so busy and I have so much to say. If you haven't noticed, I'm not very good a being brief:-)

Busy, Busy, Busy

2010-06-05T01:21:00.002-04:00

I've been quite delinquent in writing lately. Unpacking - or at times, avoiding unpacking - keeps me busy. We also took a trip to New York to visit my sister. And, I've started back babysitting for Walker and Bean. So, life goes on...

Natalie and Abby are doing great. They love their new playroom, despite the chaos it stays in, and spend a great deal of time making food in their kitchen. They are also really into their babies (especially Abby) and spend time rocking them, feeding them, and carrying them around. They have also discovered legos - much to Ben's delight. We have the little bitty ones (the traditional "real" legos) and they are great exercises in fine motor for their little fingers.

Since our house is so much bigger with more rooms than before, we still have a few empty rooms that are awaiting new furniture. The family room is nearly completely empty and the girls love running around in circles and chasing each other. The living room is mostly empty with some boxes piled in a corner near a window. The girls have decided to use them as a personal jungle gym and climb all over them.

The stairs are also a favorite play spot. I remember spending hours playing on stairs when I was a kid too. We did some brilliant things like take blankets and ride them down the stairs like a sled. The girls haven't figured that out yet. If they do, at least our stairs are the split kind so there's a shorter distance to go before hitting a wall. They just sit and play on the stairs with toys or babies quite a bit. They also "help" each other up and down. One will reach up and call "help me, Abby/Nanny, help me". The other takes her hand and "pulls" her up. They also enjoy figuring out new ways to get down the stairs: walking, sliding on their bums, sliding on their tummies feet first...Sliding head first is just around the corner and I'm just hoping I can intervene before they get started.

The back yard isn't quite where I want it yet, but the girls still have fun meandering around just playing in the dirt and looking at ants. They are fascinated by insect life. They'll squat and watch the ants going to and fro. They love when I find worms in the garden. Two days ago, I (joyfully) found a little snake. (I love snakes and never seem to find them. It was just a little harmless thing. Abby was all about holding and touching it. It was a bit of a surprise actually, since it's usually Natalie who wants to hold things and Abby who backs off. But, Abby went right for it and Natalie refused to touch it. (Fear not: we did the whole song and dance about never picking up a snake unless mommy or daddy say it's ok. They are actually really good at asking if they can touch things and know ants and spiders give ouchies.)

I've gotten a lot of cute pictures lately -especially of a photo shoot we did on the beach in New York. I'll post them asap. I just wanted to check in and let everyone know we are still out here:-)

Happy Birthday Natalie and Abby!

2010-05-15T23:38:00.003-04:00

It's hard to believe. Natalie and Abby turned 3 years old today. I have pictures and more to say about their party, but I wanted to take a few minutes before midnight to tell them how much I love them.

Natalie and Abby,

You can't possibly imagine how much you are loved. 3 years ago, we were preparing for your far-too-early birth. Despite our fears, we were so excited - and yes, happy. We knew you were very, very early. We knew you would be very, very tiny. We knew you might not make it. But, we also knew being born was your best chance. Outside of Mommy the doctors could help you. This gave me hope - and made me happy.

It's been a long road, but when I look at you both, you are so beautiful and so amazing, and I can't believe how far you have come. I love your humor and the things you both say. I love the way you play and imagine and explore your world. I love the way you love to "read" your books and hug your Mouse and Baby Bean. I love the way you love each other and check on each other and take care of each other. You fill me with joy and make me smile. You bring more happiness to my life than I could have ever imagined.

There are times I wish I could keep you as my little girls forever. Poppy says that all daddies (and mommies) should have one day a year they can make their children any age they want to live it all over again. I know I will one day wish I could re-capture this time and spend a day with you again as 2 year olds. You are growing up so fast, and even though I spend all day almost every day with you...I sometimes feel it slipping by and think I'm missing it. My goal for your third year, is to slow down, spend more time with you and live every day in the moment. I want to hang on and cherish every moment of how precious you are and how much I love you.

As much I wish I could slow time down and live in this moment forever, I am also so excited to see what the next year brings. I can't wait to explore the world with you, experience the wonder of it through your eyes and embrace the magic of it all.

Natalie and Abby, Mommy loves you so much. So, so, so much. Thank you for being in my life. Thank you for being you. Thank you for being my precious little girls. Happy Birthday Babies! I adore you.

All my love,
Mommy

Moving...grrrr....

2010-05-06T13:20:00.002-04:00

We been really busy. We moved into our new house Saturday and it's been crazy trying to get everything straight. We have also not had internet (or tv ) until this morning (and still no tv), so I haven't been able to post. But, we are reconnected to the world and I will start posting again soon.

til then...

Grrrr..new post a few posts back

2010-04-26T00:31:00.002-04:00

So, I started a post a few weeks ago. Apparently on April 5. I'm just getting around to finishing it. When I posted it, yep, it posted under April 5 - a few posts back. So. Move your little mousey thing on down until you find the post dated April 5 - about the month of February and March. Yeah, I'm a little behind...

Here's the link to make it easier - just click...
http://natandabby.blogspot.com/2010/04/recent-happenings.html

You Know You're the Parent of a Preemie When...

2010-04-19T23:12:00.002-04:00

You know you're the parent of a preemie when...

1.You use strange initials (C-PAP, CCs, NICU, NG) when discussing your child.

2.You actually remember how many CCs make up an ounce.

3.You count her weight in grams.

4. The skin on your hands is peeling from washing so often!

5.You hesitate when someone asks his/her age, but you know exactly how much he/she weighs!

6. The answer to "How old is your baby?" is a story 30 minutes long!

7. When someone asks his birthday, you reply, "Which one?"

8. You start to understand some of the things they say on ER!

9. You turn into Kung-Fu Mom when someone tries to touch your baby.

10. You attempt to measure just how much spit-up he/she just had before you clean it up!

11. You know how much he weighs before putting him on the scale at the doctor's office

12. You cry at Maternity Ward and get mad at Baby Story.

13. You see a 7lb newborn and say "Wow! She's so BIG!"

14. Your baby is months old before she can even go to the mall.

15. You have never explained why your baby is on an apnea monitor.

16. When someone says how tiny your baby is, you argue that she is huge -- and to demonstrate, you whip out pictures of her in NICU.

17. You do a health check on people when they come to your house to visit .

18. You make people wash their hands before going near your child.

19. You want to scream when someone says that she just wants to have this baby now - at week 28, 32, or 34.

20. You are so amazed when someone actually tells you your baby is big for his age!

21. You tried to find a place to buy newborn size diapers in bulk.

22. You called half your relatives when the baby grew out of their first pair of pajamas!

23. You never take your child for granted.

24. You worry about RSV season and it is still weeks away . . .

25. You know what "RSV" stands for.

26. You donate his/her tiny clothes to the NICU and marvel that they seem so small - when they were too darn large!

27. Your daughter gets a simple cold and her doc sees her within the hour!

28. People say, "She CAN'T be __ old...she's too little!"

29. It has taken them 5 months to grow INTO newborn clothes!

30. You pick up 2 pounds of ground beef and think that your baby was born weighing less than that!

31. You buy "Purell" in bulk

32. You know about oxygen tanks and regulators more than the company supplying it to the airplanes

33. You can stare at your baby for hours when she sleeps

34. The security guards just wave you by when they see you come in the front door of the hospital.

35. When someone asks what sent you're wearing, you reply, "Germ-X" without batting an eye.

36. In the course of a day you have wanted to slap and bear hug the same NICU nurse.

37.The statement "breastfeeding is simple and natural" makes you laugh -- or cry, depending on the day and the hour.

38. You could drive the route from your house to the hospital in your sleep... and maybe you have.

39. You can't remember what you talked about before feeding schedules, diapers, and growth charts.

40. The sound of your baby crying is beautiful, not annoying.

41. You not only know what "bilirubin" is, you have had several extensive conversations about it.

**I did not make this up, BTW - I copied them from a post from my micro-preemie group. But, I thought they were pretty spot on.

Just Seen...

2010-04-12T18:42:00.003-04:00

I was in my room and I could hear the pitter patter of little feet slapping up and down the hall way. Slap, slap, slap, slap...pause...slap, slap, slap, slap...pause...slap, slap, slap.

I nearly collided with Natalie and she ran back and forth from her room, down the hall, and back. She was on a lap away from her room and I realized what she was doing.

In her little hands were the rolled-up diapers ready for the trash. There were about four that needed to be thrown away. She was running back and forth carrying them one at a time to the trash can in the kitchen. No one asked her to; she just decided to clean up.

It's little moments like these that just make me smile. Natalie was just so cute in her intense determination and focus on getting all those diapers to the trash can. Gosh, I just love this age:-)

Of course, when they are teenagers, I won't be able to pay them to clean their rooms. But, for now, I will relish in the cuteness that is Natalie.

Recent Happenings

2010-04-05T17:14:00.050-04:00

I'm a little behind on reporting what the girls have been doing. It's been quite busy around here.

If you didn't already know, we have had our house for sale. I am VERY happy to report that we went under contract at the end of March. The buyers are an incoming UNC resident and his wife and love our house and all the work we have put into it. We are very happy that someone who appreciates what we have done is going to be able to enjoy it. We are set to close the last week of May.

Of course, we didn't get quite as much as we would have hoped considering all the work we have done (remodeled kitchen, new bamboo floors, gorgeous landscaping (if I may say so myself)), but that's the market, so all in all we are happy.

We are especially happy because after 6 months and dozens and dozens and dozens of houses - we found the perfect house! We are so excited. It's 3100 sq ft. and has a garage, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a loft, a family room and living room AND a sun room which will be the girls' downstairs playroom. Of course - it also has a kitchen:-), a dining room and laundry room. There is also a nice sized yard (which needs a lot of clean-up and work, but I'm pretty excited about that!). There is already a play set with swings and a slide and the girls have already loved playing there when we have been over. It's an amazing house and we feel so lucky to have it. It had been on the market forever and the price had been lowered and lowered and lowered until it finally popped up on our radar. We got a great deal for the house so in this case, the market worked in our favor. We are closing April 26 and we can't wait! We will have a month to move from our current house (and two storage buildings) to our new house which will allow us to paint and put in some carpet and do a few other things. Personally, I can't wait to get my hands in the yard:-)

So, between cleaning and showings and cleaning and open houses and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning...we've been busy. We also managed to take a few trips and have a little fun - in between the cleaning...

Poppy and Nanny's (Feb 19-24)
We went to visit Poppy and Nanny for Poppy's birthday (23rd). It was a fun trip for the girls because of the remaining 2 feet of snow on the ground. The snow was less fun when we tried to leave a few days later, got stuck in the slush and had to call AAA... But, the girls had fun clomping around:-)

Natalie and Abby also had a great time taking a pony ride! We visited Poppy's friend at the stables she works out and enjoyed a great 30ish minute ride on two sweet ponies. Natalie was very excited about it. On the way to Poppy's she kept saying, "I want ride horses!" When asked if she wanted to ride the horse, she said enthusiastically, "yes!". She also seemed to have a natural gait - bumping up and down in rhythm to the walking. She loved every minute of it. I foresee riding lessons in the future...

Abby also enjoyed her pony - once she was persuaded to get on. It was just a week or so after she broke her clavicle, so we protected her arm well with a bandage and sling - and of course, made sure she didn't fall off. I couldn't see letting Natalie ride while Abby was forced to watch, and the risk seemed minimal. It was well worth it. She was fine and had a great time.

We had a great time celebrating Poppy's birthday with special cakes Auntie brought from a bakery in New York. Carrot, Strawberry and Chocolate. The girls went nuts for the chocolate. In fact, Abby had a mini-meltdown over it. Poppy tried to mix a little carrot cake in with the chocolate on her plate, and Abby would have absolutely none of that. She cried and cried - "chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!". Can't say they don't come by it honestly....

We also had a few eating breakthroughs in Luray. Pizza Hut had a fantastic lunch buffet that included a HUGE salad - for $4.99. The girls were free. They each ate almost 3 pieces of pizzas (well, most of each piece of pizza). I was ecstatic. Mindy's Mexican restaurant's Sunday special of 25 cent wings were also a hit. They loved them. It was pretty exciting for me to watch them eat like normal kids. It's great to feel like we are moving away from the frustration of eating challenges. I still worry about their weight when they don't eat well, but it's getting better and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

On our final day, the morning after we had to be pulled out of the snowy slush, we had a chance to visit Poppy's bus. For Natalie and Abby, all school buses are Poppy buses. Every time we see one they shout "Poppy's Bus, it's a Poppy Bus!" So, getting to sit on the real Poppy's bus was a treat. It was our second visit, but they loved it all the same. They picked out their favorite seats, checked out the back windows and joined Poppy in a rousing rendition of "The Wheels on the Bus". A new verse was added to the song: the Poppy's on the bus say "I love you". It was a great time.

We had a great time visiting with Poppy and Nanny and seeing Auntie. The girls love the mountains and country and are always so excited to see the roadside cows, horses and other animals. We are so lucky to have such a beautiful place to visit.

Ya-Ya and Grandpa's (Feb 27-28)
The end of February also meant some special time with Ya-Ya and Grandpa. Natalie and Abby had not spent as much time with them as usual because we had spent most of our time at my mom's with Mema. Staying with Ya-Ya and Grandpa is always fun. Ya-ya feeds them very well and always makes their special soup (and sends home some for Mommy too!). This time Natalie and Abby got to take their naps in the big bed - with a little help from Ya-Ya!

(Sorry there aren't any pictures of Grandpa. He suffers from the same syndrome Mommy does - the "no pictures of the picture taker" syndrome!

March

Looking back, March seems to have been filled with general silliness. The girls have a lot of fun playing together and watching them is so much fun.

The weather was mostly beautiful and we started taking lots of trips to the park - which the girls have grown to love with gusto. They have started saying randomly "I want to go to the park". One park has a great huge sandbox (with water features once the weather gets warmer). They love it. Abby has finally gotten very brave and started going down the slides by herself. Once particular day in March, she finally went down the slide all by herself with no encouragement and declared, "that was fun!" Then she did it a few more times:-) (On the right, Abby took some time out of her busy sliding schedule to check out a magazine someone left behind.

We also visited the Museum of Life and Science which is always a treat. They loved, loved, loved the animals. Old McDonald is one of their favorite songs and will shout "Old McDonald's Farm!" at all barns or barn shaped buildings. On this particular day, the newest little pig was quite active and they were able to rub his back and listen to him snort.

Natalie and Abby also love playing on our wrap-around deck - which is great for me. I can cook/clean in the kitchen with the front door and sliding door open and see the girls through the windows. We have a very strict rule about staying ON THE PORCH and not going down the steps. After a few time-outs, they adhere very well to the rule and have a great time. Sometimes I put bowls full of water on the porch and let them play. They also like to push their strollers around and around in a circle. It's a great way for them to be outside while I can still get dinner made!

March also seemed to be when Abby suddenly took to coloring with a vengeance. She became very enthusiastic about it and very deliberate about trying to color inside the lines. She is also very proud. Abby likes to declare, "I colored it myself!" Here's a brief video on her working very hard on Mickey Mouse's Christmas lights...

One of the funniest things Abby has said recently involves our neighbor's yard across the street.
Look closely...do you see the carrot for the bunnies?
Look again - it's a giant carrot - for giant bunnies!

Abby was looking across the street and said, "look mommy, a carrot for the bunnies..." I didn't understand her at first. Then I figured out what she was saying, and I thought it was hysterical. It's actually our neighbor's little boy's orange plastic baseball bat, but in the eyes of a child...

Here are just some cute pictures I got of the girls sleeping. Abby and the Wonder Pets and Natalie and her beloved Baby Bean and Elmo.

Grammy's (Mar 26-29)
At the end of March, we took our first weekend trip back to Grammy's since Mema died. We'd driven Grammy back when she came to stay with us right after the funeral but this was our first real trip back. It was strange for me without Mema there. She was always so excited when we arrived. She would often stay up later than usual just to be able to say hello to us. The girls brought her so much joy and her face lit up every time she heard their voices. I am so happy we could be there in her last months. And, I am happy she is with God and free of pain. But, I sure do miss her...

I was actually surprised that the girls haven't asked more questions about her, especially when we arrived. They seem to have accepted our explanation that she's in Heaven with Baby Jesus pretty well. It's good really. I'd rather have it that way than have them be sad and confused.

We had a great time hanging out with Grammy and Uncle Wayne (who went with us). Friday, we picked up some chicken and had a lovely picnic at the park. Franklin, by the way, has absolutely the best park I've ever seen. It's incredible - and the girls love it. We played there for the longest time. Natalie, true to form, managed to wander from the little kid part, down the hill to the big kid section. It was just a second and I saw her, so no freaking out please. She does tend to wander though. Give her a minute, and she'll take a mile.

They also had a great time playing with the ridiculous amount of toys left at Grammy's. I had forgotten how much we left. When I walked in, I swear, there were more toys there than at our house. Saturday afternoon, the girls also had a great time playing in the bird bath and chillin' in their cool blue chairs.

Sunday was Palm Sunday and we enjoyed a great service at Cowee Baptist Church. The choir there is amazing and I would have been happy to listen to them all day. Natalie and Abby had a great time in the nursery and no longer seem to throw a fit when left without us.

Grammy wanted very much to take a picture with the girls in their gorgeous dresses, but Natalie and Abby were very uncooperative. Only the baby doll and Raggedy Ann were willing.

The girls were willing to take a picture with me and we have a rare, and if I may say, lovely, picture of Mommy and her beautiful girls.

Checking over it, I realize this post is a little Abby-heavy. I think all the videos are about her. Sorry, Natalie. Tomorrow, I'll work on a Natalie post. I have some great videos of her dancing. But, I want to get this published (since I actually started it 3 weeks ago, and well, it's about March and it's now the end of April.) I'll try to do better keeping up...

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grrr...I spend a great deal of time trying to get the pictures in exactly the right places and make it all look pretty. Then, I post it and it messes it all up! I think the posting area is more narrow than the writing area. So, blogspot people, you should really fix that. So if the pictures look all strange and the writing is going every which way...blame the programmers and not me. I tried really hard...:-(

Time to Transition

2010-03-24T22:07:00.002-04:00

As the girls approach the age of 3 (less than two months!!!), they will age out of the wonderful CDSA (early intervention program). The state still generously provides options for kids who still require extended services that will help prepare them to succeed in school.

This involves a meeting and evaluation with the Durham Public School system therapists: speech, physical therapy, occupational therapy and the psychologist who administers the cognitive tests. It takes several hours and involves a battery of tests disguised as play to see where the child is developmentally.

The girls did very well. I have to give kudos to our therapists, Elizabeth and Lindsay, who prepared them so well. For the most part, tested at average or above average on most tests. (I will have full details in a month or so). The only area they fell short in was speech, which was expected and actually desired. I really wanted them to be able to qualify for speech therapy, and was concerned they would be delayed, but not delayed enough. Their comprehension and vocabulary were fine, but their articulation is very poor. It's often very hard to understand them.

We get more details at the recap meeting in a month, but for now we can look forward to speech therapy in the fall. Soon we will be able to understand all the funny little things they say!

Baby Jail

2010-03-14T15:58:00.013-04:00

Have no fear...no more broken bones for us!

We've had our crib tents for a week or two and the girls love them. Their favorite storybook is Farmyard Tales which takes place on "Apple Tree Farm" about "Poppy, Sam and a dog called Rusty" . (turn the pages and you can look inside the book!)
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Farmyard-Tales-Usbourne/dp/0794509029#reader_0794509029

There is one story about Poppy and Sam, the children who live on the farm, which involves them camping in a tent. So, I told the girls we were getting tents like Poppy and Sam. They completely bought into it and now they love to "camp out" like Apple Tree Farm. One day, we will bring out the real tent and have a camp out in the back yard. Natalie and Abby will love it!

The most important thing, of course, is that Natalie and Abby are now safe and sound. It also means we can keep them in their cribs until they literally don't fit anymore. And, Mommy loves that!

Just heard snuggling in bed...

2010-03-09T09:26:00.001-05:00

Scene: Natalie and Abby in Mommy's bed

out of nowhere, and actually moments after Abby was annoying Natalie by putting her feet on Natalie...

Abby: I love you Nannie
Natalie: (leans down and lays on Abby) I love you too, Abby
Abby: I love you, Nannie
Natalie: I love you too Abby
Abby: I love you Nannie
Natalie: I love you too Abby

Mommy's heart melts a little:-)

Things We Say

2010-03-05T23:58:00.003-05:00

Natalie and Abby say the cutest things. They have a few phrases they repeat a lot.

I'm sorry - I'm not really sure why they say this. I hear them saying it to their babies. Ex: "Here Baby Bean...I'm sorry..." I'm not sure they are actually apologizing for anything or just repeating a phrase they hear. They also say it to each other during their play. They are less enthusiastic about saying it to each other when they actually do something they need to apologize for!

I miss(ed) you (mommy, daddy, abby, nannie, baby bean, mouse, etc.) This is a new phrase - popping up in just the last few days. I'm not sure exactly where they picked this up. It seemed to start after they were at Ya-Ya's and Grandpa's last weekend. Perhaps they picked it up from hearing us tell them we missed them. Today, after PT, Abby took her car mouse, gave it a big hug and said, I missed you, Mouse.

She/he/it's so cute - This especially comes from Abby. I think this is a combination of me saying things are cute and the Wonder Pets. There are a few episodes, particularly the "Save the Kitten" episode where one of them says, "she's so cute..."

"mommy, mommy" - this is not actually about me - but what one animal (the baby) says to another (the mommy). If they have a pair of animals (two sheep, two pigs, two cows, etc), one is also a mommy and one is a baby. Natalie likes to take her kitties and play mommy and baby. She has one large mommy black and white stuffed cat (Abby has a gray one) and then several little stuffed kitties. She also has a larger "mommy Elmo" (a plush Elmo from Grammy) and a Daddy Elmo (A tickle-me-elmo from Aunt Joyce) and then the two plush Elmo's I bought for them serve as the babies.

Come on Mommy/Daddy/Abby - This is usually from Natalie. She will hold out her hand and say, "come on mommy" and want to take me to see something or do something. She says it to Abby a lot too. The response she gets is Okay, I'm coming Nannie.

I love you, too or even just I love you - Hearing your child say this to you is the most amazing thing in the world. They are starting to say it more and more and very often in response to us saying it to them.

What's that, Mommy - *sigh* this is said nearly every other minute. It's their version of "why?" They even say what's that to things they can easily identify. I think they are just saying it out of habit at this point.

Abby, are you okay - Natalie is so incredibly concerned about Abby. If she coughs, she'll ask, are you okay, Abby. Abby will say, yes, or I'm okay. Natalie will then say, ok. Abby sometimes checks on Natalie, but usually it's Natalie to Abby. Today, during a diaper change I was just wiping the tinkle off of Abby while she was standing. She was fussing about it and Natalie came over and said, it's okay, Abby, I hold you - and she held her hands while I did it. She is such the caretaker.

Excuse me, Abby/Nannie/Mommy/Daddy - manners are just so cute coming from little people. They use this quite appropriately too. When they want you to move or get past you, they sweetly say, excuse me please...

Bless you - again - cute little manners - if someone sneezes, they'll say bless you mommy. Once I heard Abby sneeze and then to herself she said, bless me :-)

please (pease), thank you (tank you), and no thank you- the girls use these phrases all the time and appropriately. They direct them to us, each other and to grandparents, aunts, etc. We are actually pretty proud of this.

Last (that I can think of), but not the least important, by any means...

more Wonder Pets, I want Wonder Pets, Wooooonder Peeeeets... sadly, this becomes the refrain if they watch one or two episodes and we then turn it off. This, we are NOT so proud of. They are far too addicted to Wonder Pets. We are ashamed. But, I have to say, it does have its merits. They are learning to identify a number of animals. If they see an animal seen on Wonder Pets they will say, wonder pets save the baby .... So, we then test their memory and talk about how they saved the animal, etc. They remember quite a bit. It also enhances their imaginative play. They take their little animals, like a large stuffed kitty and a smaller stuffed kitty, and have the mommy say, thank you wonder pets for saving my baby or I missed you baby. It's really fun to watch and listen to them play.

These are just a few of the most repeated phrases. They are both talking more and more. Natalie has especially come out of her shell. She talks all.the.time. She narrates what she is doing a lot and describes what she sees. She also speaks in really complex, long sentences. For instance, the other day she saw a picture of a dolphin and she said, the Wonder Pets save the baby dolphin in the water in the net. The problem is, I can't always understand what she is saying. Sometimes, I can piece a few words together or use context clues, but sometimes - not. Abby is a little easier to understand, but not always. Obviously, their diction is the focus of their speech therapy. In fact, we are trying to get an extra day each week added so they will have it twice a week.

I keep trying to capture some of this cuteness on video, but it's really hard. By then time I grab the camera, they've stopped or gone on to something else. I'll keep trying though!

Bone Update

2010-02-27T22:57:00.002-05:00

Abby is doing very, very with her broken clavicle. At about 12 days out, she has started moving it and using it more. She still doesn't reach up with it, push on it or pull hard on it, but she is reaching out for things, and starting to color and eat with it. The most delicate times are when changing her clothes - and when we forget and start to pick her up the wrong way.

Someone suggested to me I wrap an Ace bandage around the sling to hold it in place. I did this for a few days and it was very effective. Yesterday, I dropped the sling and just used the bandage. I think it did help Abby, but it's most important use was to remind us that her arm is hurt. It's helps us to remember not to pick her up under the arms or hold that hand.

Abby has learned a few phrases to help us remember too. "No touching, no touching" - usually if it's already been moved wrong. "Be careful with my arm, Mommy" or "Watch my arm Mommy" when I get her in or out of her car seat so I don't hurt it.

Natalie showed a great deal of compassion for Abby by rubbing and kissing her arm when we told her about it. She forgets about it though, as easily as we do, because if Abby has something she wants, she has no hesitation in trying to grab the arm or push her.

So, over all, Abby is doing very, very well. A doctor in our church said that if you put two clavicle bones in a room, they will grow together. So far, they are mending as easily and fairly painlessly as expected. A follow-up X-ray in about another month will make sure she has healed properly.

For now, it hasn't slowed her down. She's quite the little trooper.

Heard 'Round the House

2010-02-18T22:09:00.006-05:00

Abby and Natalie love to sing. And Mommy and Daddy love hearing them sing. They've been picking up a number of songs and it's so cute.

Natalie and Abby's Songlist
Old MacDonald Had a Farm
Itsy Bitsy Spider
The Wheels on the Bus
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
ABC - alphabet song
5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
and the beginnings of Row, Row, Row your Boat
and the crowd favorite...
The Wonder Pets!

They sing so much that it's hard to tell when they are talking and when they are singing. They move easily from one to the other. I've mentioned before how Abby even uses the songs as a comfort mechanism. When she's upset or crying, she starts singing - even through the tears.

Not too long ago, the most often heard song was easily ABC's. Now, it's a toss up between Wonder Pets and Old MacDonald. There are actually a number of different parts of the Wonder Pets song. There's the initial "Wonder Pets, Wonder Pets, we're on our way, to help a baby animal and save the day" theme song. Then there's "the phone, the phone is ringing, there's an animal in trouble, an animal in trouble, there's an animal in trouble some where". Additionally, there's "what's going to work, TEAMWORK, what's going to work, TEAMWORK". And and all of these verses can be heard throughout our house.

The verses from various songs can also be intermingled. For instance, you might hear, "Old McDonald had a farm, EIEIO, with a moo-moo here, GOOOOO Wonder Pets!" It's really funny.

Abby is definitely the singer. She sings as much as she talks. I've been playing a game with her when we brush her teeth. We open our mouths and sing "Ahhhhhh" on different pitches. Abby does an amazing job of matching my pitch. She and Natalie are both very accurate at coming in on pitch when I start a song and with each other. If one starts a song and the other joins in, they are right in unison.

Natalie is a talker. She has been talking so much lately. She talks to her babies..."here you go Baby Bean, okay, I'm sorry, come on Baby Bean" as she puts her in and pushes her stroller. She is also extremely aware of Abby. If Abby coughs, Natalie says, "are you okay, Abby?" Abby will say yes and Natalie says, "okay". The girls have also picked up on the niceties of common courtesy. If one sneezes, the other says, "Bless you Abby/Nannie". The other day Abby sneezed, and said, to no one in particular, "Bless me". Natalie will also call to Abby, "come on Abby" if she is lagging behind. It's all so very cute.

Oh, Abby has a new phrase too. "It's so cute". She applies this to animals usually - the cows, our cats. I'm sure she picked it up from me. I'll try to catch it on video, along with Natalie's little sayings, because it is really, really so cute:-)

My Achy-Breaky...Clavicle

2010-02-16T21:18:00.008-05:00

One little monkey climbing out of bed
she fell out and broke her...

If you can't see the very prominent break in her clavicle, I suggest you visit your local eye doctor.

Which little monkey, you ask? Well, the prize for 1st broken bone goes to our little Abby.

Yesterday, about 3:30pm, during their (non)nap time in which Abby had already presented me with poopy fingers, she tried to climb out of her bed and fell right on the floor. I heard the thump - and then the crying. When I rushed in, I found her on her hands and knees, crying, of course.

Nap time was clearly over, and I spent some time checking her out. She had a bump on her head but knew her name and her sister's name. (I would have asked her the name of the President but that seemed futile:-)) She calmed down after a short while and didn't seem to be in intense pain. We read some books and she identified what I asked and named things she pointed to. I wasn't too worried about her head - or anything else at that point.

An hour or so later, she was still periodically crying and seemed unhappy if she moved her right arm too much. I did a few tests - asking her to grab something above her head (she refused - even chocolate) and decided we might have a problem. I called our doctor neighbor who agreed if she still had a reduced range of motion in another hour or so, I should probably take her in. She fell asleep in my arms for a while and even in her sleep would react if I moved her arm or pressed her shoulder. My mom happened to call around this time who insisted I take her to the doctor, citing her experience with my sister when she rolled off a table and broke her clavicle as a baby.

Fortunately, Ben was on his way home, and about 6:30 Abby and I headed off to a local Urgent Care for x-rays. This was my attempt to avoid the ER. They had us back quickly - and just as quickly booted us out. As soon as the doctor was told she also bumped her head (and was sporting a little abrasion), he said we had to go to the ER to be evaluated for a CT scan. Great. They did kindly refund the $20 I had already paid, so at least there's that.

I took the time to get gas, since I didn't want to walk to Duke, and a quick drive-through dinner for Abby and I. We settled in to the Duke ER about 7:30 to wait. And wait we did. The ER was full - with many pitiful, sickly-looking people with masks. I just praying we didn't catch something awful. 6 hours later, and with NO head CT, her little broken clavicle was confirmed and, finally, home we went.

Abby was really such a trooper though. She was so, so good at the ER. She finally fell asleep on me about 11:30 and got an hour or so of sleep before we headed home.

I have to tell of one sweet, sweet thing between Natalie and Abby. As we were in the car leaving for the doctor's, Abby was saying "Nanny, Nanny?" I told her Natalie was staying home with Daddy. Apparently, at the same time, Natalie was crying and asking for Abby and Mommy. Ben distracted her with the ever-useful Wonder Pets. A little later, Ben was sitting with her on the couch and asked Natalie if she would pray with him for Abby. She immediately bowed her little head and put her hands together. Ben prayed and Natalie appeared to be praying too, or at least repeating what he said. After Ben's in Jesus' name, she gave a hearty, Amen! Then she promptly asked, more Wonder Pets, please. :-)

For the most part, there's nothing the doctors can do for a broken clavicle. They told me it's the best bone to break though, because it heals to quickly and without any real intervention. Basically, her own discomfort will keep her from using it. They did give her a sling - which she can only wear under direct supervision for fear of strangling (in other words NOT while sleeping or playing out of our sight). That's if she will wear it, of course. She wore it a while today, but her elbow slips out of the pocket so her arms basically hangs straight anyway, so it's pretty useless. Cute sling, though:-)

For the most part, Abby is fine. The doctors saw no reason to scan her head. She'll take it easy for a while and her shoulder will heal.

I am a bit disappointed that one of the few things Abby has inherited from me is a propensity for broken bones. She even beat me to the punch as I was 3 when I had my first break - a severe concussion and skull fracture from falling out of a moving car. Five concussions and four breaks later, it's a wonder I'm as witty and charming as I am:-) I'm hopeful that this was a fluke for Abby and not the beginning of a childhood pattern.

At the very least, I do think she's learned her lesson for now. I've been asking the girls if they are going to climb out of their beds again. Natalie grins and says, "yes!". Abby's eyes get wide and she vehmently shakes her head while she answers "NO!" Hopefully, the lesson will stick.

Co-winky-dink? I think not.

2010-02-12T22:12:00.003-05:00

As part of my New Year's Resolutions of socializing Natalie and Abigail, I have filled up their social calendar this week. Tuesday we visited the Barnes and Nobles Bookstore at Southpoint for story and craft time. The girls sat quietly and listened to the story about Splat the Cat. Valentine Day hearts were handed out for coloring and Abby did a great job on hers. Natalie was a little distracted and didn't really color much on her picture.

B&N also has a train table and the girls did venture over and play a bit with the trains - even near some other children! which I was pleased with. We stayed quite a while and the girls enjoyed pulling books off the shelves (which I replaced, for the record) and looking through them. When we finally left, they were fascinated with the escalators so we took a quick trip up and down.

Thursday, we didn't get up in time for story time at the library, but we did go to Southpoint Mall for lunch and playing. This was partly because Mommy was really tired and was afraid if she sat on the couch, she would fall asleep. So, after a big bowl of extremely delicious Broccoli and Cheddar soup at Panera Bread, we made our way to the indoor play area. The girls were actually quite excited when they saw where we were going and were much less timid than they have been in the past.

We did have some issues of being willing to climb on things if other children were already there. For instance, Abby kept trying to go up the steps to go down the little slide. Every time another kid would get on the stairs with her, or pop their little heads at the bottom of the slide as if they were going to climb up the slide, Abby would turn and run back down the stairs. It took a while before she finally made it down the slide.

A slight tangent on kids and play areas: seriously, parents, if your kid is keeping another kid from doing something, say going down a slide because your kid is climbing up it, please stop them. If your kid is pushing past all the other kids and not waiting their turn - stop them. If your kid is butting in to something another kid is doing and making that poor little kid cry, STOP THEM. And, if you won't, I will. I have no problems telling your kid to wait their turn or to stop trying to climb up the slide while other kids are trying to go down. If you aren't interested in teaching your child proper playground etiquette, I am more than happy to. End tangent.

After a while, they did much better and were playing and climbing like old pros. They even played next to other children and didn't run off if someone got too close. They really had a great time.

We had more plans to attend a Valentine's Day playgroup and craft time through Triangle Mommies today (Friday). Unfortunately, we couldn't make it. Why? Well, within a few hours of coming home from the mall, Abby started sporting a runny nose. After she went to bed, she started coughing so hard she threw up. This morning, when I went in to get the girls, I found poor little Natalie with her hair all stuck to the snot all over her face. I've spent the day chasing after them with tissues.

The girls haven't been sick in forever. Well, Abby had a weird little stomach thing at Thanksgiving but they haven't had a cold in forever. So, literally hours after hanging out with a bunch of kids, they are both sick. Coincidence - I think not. I'm not actually sure you can pick up a cold in a matter of hours, so I suppose they could have been exposed at the bookstore. Either way, it's way not cool.

So, now I have to wait for them to get well so I can then take them to another play group and wait for them to get sick again. And thus begins the viscous cycle. I can only hope, though, that they continue to eat well enough to hold their weight steady. I hope they build up some immunity - FAST.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2010-02-08T00:17:00.002-05:00

We have been very busy of late and blogging has taken a back seat. But hopefully things are calming down now and I can do lots of updates.

The last two weeks have been busy. Of course, Mema died two weeks ago and everyone was up there for a few days. I brought my mom home with us the Wednesday after the Monday funeral. We stayed until Monday (an extra day thanks to the snow) then headed back. I stayed at her house until Thursday (I didn't want her to come home to an empty house her first days back at work) and we arrived home in the evening. Since then, it's been clean, clean, clean.

We have FINALLY gotten our house to a point where we can sell it. We think. The weekend my mom was here she helped us out immensely. We never could have done it without her. She washed windows, cleaned the stove (yuck!) and helped me in the yard Thursday - the only pretty day we've had here in forever. I hated that she worked so hard, but she called it "work therapy".

The girls were really cute the day we worked in the yard. It really was beautiful and they just played all around us, helping us pick up leaves and rake. We put the leaves in huge trash bags and after we tied them up the girls sat on them like big bean bags! Abby was so funny; at one point, she laid down on one all snuggly like she was going to sleep. It was a great day and we got SO much done. The only bad part of the day (other than the later aches and pains) was that Abby took a tumble down the front steps. Scared me to death. She fell from about half way up (maybe 4 or 5 steps) and fortunately landed on the last step and NOT the concrete sidewalk. It was horrible to watch though. She landed with her neck all sideways. I think she lucked out because there were some things on the steps below from where she fell. She tumbled over them and think they helped break her fall and slow her down so she didn't go all the way down. She was a trooper though. She only cried a few minutes and after I asked her if she wanted to sing "ABC's", we did, and she ran off to play some more. I think it scared her more than hurt.

When we got back from Mom's Thursday, there were still a 1000 things to do. Understand that we've been "getting our house ready to sell" for about 4 months. I was getting kind of embarrassed to keep telling our buyer's agent, "this weekend, really". But we've worked like crazy all weekend and finally had another decent day (cool, but at least there was sunshine) to work outside, and we are basically through. I say basically because we still have to take about 2 more loads to storage, take another load to the dump, clean off the front porch and powerwash the house and deck. But that's all. Really.

Nevertheless, I listed the house anyway last night on owners.com - a for sale by owner site. One of our problems was that we needed to finish cleaning up outside and clear the porch (darned weather) so we could get a picture of the front of the house (not in rain or snow). We still don't have one, so I used one from about 5 years ago - just to give the idea. We can change it as soon as we take another. I figured people weren't house hunting on Superbowl Sunday anyway, and it would help truly motivate us. At least it's out there now. Now all I have to do is make the flyers, get the little flyer box, put the sign and box in the yard and put out a few more signs. Oh, and the list of other stuff above:-(

The girls have been amazing through all of this. This is where having twins comes in handy. The completely entertain each other. They have just played, played, played. They were outside with us some today and were playing in the dirt with me, "planting" and generally getting wet and messy. It was great. When they do start needing some attention, I have tried to stop and read books or color and play a little. And if I really can't, there's always the 6 or 7 Wonder Pets episodes we've DVR'd. That's good for what, 3 or 4 hours of babysitting...

It is nice to have a house so clean. I am not the best housekeeper. Stop laughing. Really, I'm not. But, I know it. And, for the record, since everyone always thinks it's just me, it's not. Ben is messy too. It's a joint (non)effort. At this point, once we take the last few boxes to storage and Ben's tools are all put up, there's just not much left in the house to create a mess. We have 2 storage building stuffed full of 70%-80% of everything we own. Even most of the kids toys are packed away - or at my mom's. There's more stuff there than here. (And there it shall stay until we have a new huge playroom in which it can go!) The girls still manage to leave a small path of destruction with the things they do have around, but it's not too bad.

My biggest concern is actually how to keep the floors clean. Ben installed the most beautiful bamboo hardwood floors everywhere but the bedrooms. They are dark - kind of cherry wood colored - gorgeous, and show every.single.speck.of.dirt.ever. I can't believe how dirty our floors are - or how dirty our carpet must have been at all times. I feel like I could dustmop every hour. Oh well. Hopefully, it will be worth it and some one will fall in love with them and make an offer on the spot. Ahhh, a girl can dream.

I have many Abby and Natalie adventures to relate, but they will have to wait. For now, know we are back and now that the house is ready, I should be blogging again regularly.

Changing of the guard?

2010-02-03T23:29:00.001-05:00

I think I may be a little sad. For as long as I can remember, Natalie has been attached to her Elmo. I know she's only two, but I can't remember when we got Elmo - at least a year ago. And ever since, Elmo is her number #1 comfort item and companion when having her bottle.

About 3 or 4 days ago, Natalie started taking her bottle with Baby Bean (an adorable baby cabbage patch doll that we used to tell mom and mema I was pregnant). I'm really not sure how I feel about this. I am extremely attached to the visual of Natalie, blanket, and Elmo (and Abby, blanket and Mouse). I'm not sure I like this little switch-o-roo.

Fortunately for me, she still snuggled with Elmo (and Baby Bean and something else) when she settled down to bed. Maybe Elmo's dethroning is temporary. I think I hope so.

Yea Auntie!

2010-02-02T19:36:00.002-05:00

My sister's website is up and running. Check it out and spread the word!

www.parentingunlimited.com

Mema

2010-01-23T06:45:00.002-05:00

This morning, at 3am, Mema passed away. I had spent about an hour before holding her hand and singing to her. I was actually on the other side of the bed next to her when she took her final breath.

My mom, her brother and I were able to sit with her for the next 2 hours or so while hospice and the funeral home arrived.

We are thinking that the funeral will be Monday. Thanks to all who have sent their prayers and kind thoughts.

Here and Back Again

2010-01-23T00:54:00.006-05:00

Sorry I haven't blogged much lately. It's been pretty busy - mostly with a lot of driving. The girls and I went home last Friday to see Daddy. We had a great time, went to church, and went house hunting - again. We returned Monday night.

Tuesday, we decided to make an offer on one the houses we saw. This is a pretty big deal for us since we have been looking for about 5 months. Once we decided, I got all freaked out about everything we needed to finish to put our house on the market, and decided to go home Wednesday night. I spent Thursday packing and scrubbing paint and caulk off the bathroom floor while the girls took a bath in the tub. When they took their nap, I scrubbed the tub til my wrists hurt. Thursday afternoon, I met Grandpa after work and he took the kids to their house - where they could stay until Monday or Tuesday! Thursday night, we made our offer! I also had a wonderful and long conversation with my mema. I sang to her: Amazing Grace. She had me sing it again and sang along with me as best she could. At the end, she said, "it's true, it's so true, you know?" I said, "I know Mema. Soon you will see Heaven." She said, "I already see some of it." I asked her what part she could see. "The people on the hill." I told her they were waiting for her and soon she would be with them. And I told her to save me a spot.

Friday, I spent the day working in the cold, wet yard and packing up everything else I could think of. Then, I received a series of phone calls from my mom who indicated that my mema's condition had worsened. She was in a lot of pain and they had to render her basically unconscious with codine and morphine. I gave Grandpa and Ya-Ya a call and asked if they could bring the girls back Saturday so I could leave with them in the early afternoon. Of course, they agreed.

Around 6:30, mom called again. Mema's breathing was labored; only 5-6 breaths a minute. She and Wayne thought it could be tonight or tomorrow. So, I got back into the car and drove back another 5 hours arriving here shortly before midnight. Ben left at the same time to get the girls and will leave in the morning to join us. I'm hoping she will make it so the girls can say good-bye.

So, I sit here now, beside her bed, acutely understanding the term "sitting vigil". Her breathing is better, but she is completely unconscious. I know she may never wake up. Even so, it was imperative to me that I be here with her. Before I left, I had my mom hold the phone up to her ear. I told Mema I was on my way and if she would just hold on a little bit longer, I would sing her into Heaven. I intend to do so.

She may leave us tonight - or tomorrow - or the next day. I am so thankful I can be here with her to hold her hand - and say goodbye.

Posts may be sporadic over the next few days. I will get back to regular posting and highlight some of our recent activities as soon as I can.

2010-01-14T00:19:00.004-05:00

Natalie and Abby hanging out on Grammy's bed in Mema's room. They like to crawl on her bed, snuggle under the covers and pile all the pillows around them. They also like to pretend to read mommy and grammy's books. I've been trying to catch the girls singing, which should be easy since they do it all the time. I finally succeeded - almost - until the card ran out or the batteries died...

New Year's Goals

2010-01-09T23:52:00.001-05:00

I thought if I didn't call them "resolutions", I'd have a better chance of keeping them.

I have long stopped making resolutions for myself. Let's face it; there are only so many years one can say "this year I will lose weight" and still remain credible.

So, instead, I shall focus on Natalie and Abigail. There are a few things I want for them this year.

Socialization
While the girls are excellent playmates with each other, put them with other kids and they clam up a bit. On playgrounds, they stand still and stare at the other children. Since our neighbors (and their 6 months older son) moved, we have have had almost zero playdates. We did spend a lot of time with Walker and Bean, with whom the girls interacted well, but we've had little exposure to kids closer to their age. Traveling so much and being at mom's and mema's also makes playdates and making friends harder.

So, this year (once things calm down and we return home), I am going to pursue playdates and friendships for the girls. They need to practice those wonderful playing skills they have with other children. Also, I am very much a homebody and could easily go weeks without hanging out with anyone. I do enjoy getting out to Walmart, etc., but I'm not the type to call a girlfriend up to shop, hang out, or even to talk. (I generally dislike talking on the phone). Ben is even worse. He's a classic introvert. I'm very conscious of not letting our personalities and preferences dictate the girls' social life.

Class Participation
Along the same lines of socialization, I would like to see Natalie and Abby enrolled in Little Gym or some similar activity this spring. We once started Little Gym, but the girls soon became ill and it seemed best not to continue. They are older now, eating better and weigh more, so I think we need to give it a try. We may not be able to enroll this spring semester; it depends on how long we stay here in Franklin. However, I'm hoping there will be a summer camp they can try out. If not, I will look for something similar so they can have a group activity to enjoy.

Sunday School and Church
We have been very, very, very bad Christian parents. I'm afraid the girls have never been to Sunday School and to extended care only a dozen times or more. Some of it is due to all our travel. We are frequently gone on Sundays. A majority, however, is due to our own laziness. I am not a morning person. Yes, I know Sunday School is at 10am, which is not "early" by most people's standards. But, I can sleep until noon with no trouble at all, so 10am is early - to me. However, that is no excuse.

We have worked on their religious education at home. Natalie and Abby love Baby Jesus and love to read the Christmas Story. They have learned the story very well. They loved the little cardboard Baby Jesus we made and they love playing with the figures in the Nativity. We have a number of Bible story books and Children's Bibles and we reads stories from them. We have learned to sing Jesus Loves Me, and for a while we were saying our prayers at night (we need to start this again). They also know how to fold their hands for prayer and give a resounding "amen" after, "in Jesus' name, we pray". But, it's not enough, so this year, we are taking the girls to church.

A Pre-school type organized day
I've been flirting with the idea of homeschooling, but in preparation I have some work to do. To start, I need to get up at a decent hour. This is probably the hardest thing for me. As I said, I am NOT a morning person. I am a night owl. I was born to burn the midnight oil - and the 4am oil. In my perfect world, I would stay up until 3ish and sleep until noon every day. Clearly, this is not a good plan for toddlers or pre-school. I have been most fortunate that the one thing Natalie and Abby got from me is the sleeping gene. They usually sleep until 9am, and rarely awaken before 8:30am. I honestly don't know what I would do if they got up at 6am every day. But, starting at 9 does shorten the day. Plus they often nap two or more hours, which also cuts into the day. So, something has to change, mainly, me.

I also want to start a more organized method of instruction for them. I'm not talking about hours spent in a desk, but at least several minutes throughout the day spent focused on sitting still and concentrating on an activity. Right now, we are sort-of in the "teachable moment" style of education, which I fully believe in and will continue, but they need some more organized learning as well.

Clean-up and listening
Natalie and Abby are very, very good little girls. They really are. They are sweet, loving, kind, playful, funny, happy, energized, and delightful. They have their moments of whining, but are generally very agreeable. They also follow instructions pretty well most of the time. However, clean-up time is NOT one of those times. They can destroy a room in minutes - and are generally disinclined to help put it back together. I need to be more consistent about insisting they help (instead of just doing it myself) and they have to learn to listen a little better.

It goes without saying that feeding and gaining weight remain, as always, a goal. I've spent so much time in the past 2.5 years on that subject, that I am weary of it. So, in the words of Forest Gump: that's all I have to say about that.

I guess I will throw out a few goals for Ben and I. For the most part, they boil down to two main goals:
One: Sell our house.
Two: Buy new house.

So, if anyone wants to help us with goal one, we have a cute 3brm/2 ba home with a beautiful new kitchen and gorgeous new bamboo floors. It has a small yard, but nicely landscaped and also has a great deck with wisteria (that provides both privacy and gorgeous flowers in the spring). It's a great house and we'd LOVE to sell it to you!

Happy New Year to all - and I wish you all the best of luck on your New Year's Resolutions!

mil"K"

2010-01-09T00:11:00.000-05:00

This is going to sound really silly, and it's a really minor thing. But, Natalie is usually behind Abby in her speech development so I wanted to celebrate this little step forward.

Endings of words are one of the things we have been working on in speech. Natalie has dropped the endings of many words for a long time. She's done much better recently and is putting more endings on her words. Milk is a word we have been working on for a while. For a long time, it was just "mi". A month or so ago (maybe longer, it's hard to keep track if I don't write it down), she (and Abby) started saying milT, with a T on the end. Their speech therapist said this was very appropriate since the "k" sound is a sound that comes later.

Today, as we were getting ready for our bottle, Natalie said, "milk" - with a very clear K on the end. She was sitting on the couch and clear as day said, "nanny's milk". I was so proud! (Nanny (sometimes Natnee) is her name for herself. This is also what Abby calls her).

In general, their speech is coming along well. Their vocabulary is pretty extensive. They know the words for pretty much every common thing and most foods. They also know a few unusual words like oxygen (mema's oxgen), computer, and opossum (thanks to the little porch visitor last night). Okay, maybe those aren't that unusual - except oxygen.

The biggest problem right now is how well they can be understood. I can understand most of what they say, especially in context of where they are or what they are pointing to. Sometimes, however, Abby will break out in a multi-syllabic multi-word sentence and I have no idea what she is saying. Natalie's speech is not quite as developed. She knows the words, but she drops more endings (and sometimes beginnings) and is just harder to understand.

It's really fun listening to them talk to each other. As far as I can tell, they have not developed a twin language, which makes me a little sad. I've always wondered what that sounded like. I don't always understand everything they say to each other, but they seem too. I do pick up words and phrases. The best thing is listening to them play in their bed as they go to sleep or are supposed to be napping. They are just too funny. They appear to have real conversations and coordinate their play. Abby remains the more dominant and outspoken sister. I've noticed she tends to tell Natalie what to do. Yesterday, they were playing in their little tent with their babies. At one point Natalie exited the tent. Abby was very upset. She said, "sit here, sit here". She really wanted Natalie to come back inside the tent and sit down. Natalie did go back in but sat in a different place. Abby was still not happy. "Sit here, sit here, sit right here". Bossy, much?

I can see that we are going to have to help Natalie learn to stand up for herself and be assertive with Abby. Otherwise, Abby is going to run all over her!

The girls have been in speech therapy for a while now, and are certainly doing much better. If they were tested at this point, they probably would not qualify for services. Although, they could possibly qualify for articulation speech therapy. It's amazing to think that in a few months they will age out of the Early Intervention State programs. When we started, 3 years seemed like a long time away. We will soon make appointments for comprehensive testing to see if they qualify for an educational IEP (individual education plan)
that would allow us to enroll them in public pre-school free of charge. I would be very surprised if they qualified for that. Their only really issue at this time is speech.

In any case, I just had to report on Natalie's little speech achievement. With the exception of being born and coming home first, she's doesn't usually get to be first at much, so I wanted to celebrate! Yea Natalie!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-06T13:38:00.000-05:00

The new year has just begun and I'm already behind on posts! I promise to post the big Christmas post, but it includes lots of pictures, and that takes more time....But, keep checking, I promise it's coming.

"I love You"

2009-12-28T13:01:00.000-05:00

We have our first spontaneous, unprovoked, "I love you".

In the past few weeks, Natalie and Abby would repeat, I love you, if asked to - especially to Mema. A few times theywould respond with I love you if she was told I love you first. Today, Natalie did it all on her own.

The girls have just been running around playing, "I'll get you", ie. chase. Natalie came running in from the living room into our dining room and said, "I love you, Mommy. I love you, Mommy." It took me a minute or two to figure out what she was saying, and then, of course, my heart just melted. I knelt down, gave her big hugs and said, "I love you too, Natalie." I have been awaiting this day (as it seems a little late to me), and it was just as wonderful as I imagined:-)

"Check on Mema"

2009-12-24T00:27:00.002-05:00

Every morning when we get up, I tell the girls we have to go "check on Mema". They run towards her room shouting "check on mema, check on mema". It's hard to describe the level of love and devotion they have for her. They display a remarkable sense of empathy for their young age. (My mother, the social worker, has assured me that we do not have to worry about them being sociopaths. Well, yes, that's good to know.)

Natalie and Abby ask to "get on the bed" and sit beside mema to give her a hug and kiss. Today, Natalie kept asking for "hand, hand" because she wanted to hold Mema's hand. They love to make sure she has her tissues boxes and always make sure her "little Buddy" (a little stuffed green doggy) and Biscuit* (another stuffed doggy) are with her. They even know about Mema's "oxgen" and make sure she has it on as well. If they hear us talking about her pillows, they will bring us one, and they like to pull the blankets up and tuck her in. They seem to understand that Mema is sick and that her leg hurts and they aren't to touch it. They also know the things mema uses. She always drinks out of the small plastic yellow cups (like a child's cup). I've been using one in the tub to wash the girls' hair. Every time we get in the tub, Abby says, "this is mema's, this is mema's."

I'm so glad the girls can be here to get to know Mema. And, I'm glad they can bring her joy. When she hears their voices she says, "I hear a little one" and her face just lights up. When they touch her hand, she says, " I feel a little hand" with a smile. In the last few days, which have been very hard, they have been nearly the only thing that has made her really smile.

Having the girls here is such a blessing, for all involved, I believe. But it also poses the potential problem of the confusion they will experience when they come in to check on Mema and she is no longer here. Christmas has actually worked in our favor since we have talked a lot about Baby Jesus being born. I've been preparing them by talking about how Baby Jesus lives in Heaven with God and we can't see him. Then I say that Mema is going to go live with Baby Jesus and we won't be able to see her anymore either. I'm pretty sure they have no idea what I am saying or what I mean. But, if I can keep preparing them, maybe it will come together when we have to say good-bye to mema and they can't see her anymore. Explaining death to 2.5 year olds is tough. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to share.

*Biscuit is really more than just a stuffed animal. He is a part of our family. Years ago, maybe 20ish, my Aunt Joyce (mema's sister) bought Biscuit for Granny (their mother, my great-grandmother) when she was sick. Since then, whenever someone was sick, Biscuit was sent to stay with them. He has been mailed and carried across a number of states to whichever member of the family was in the most need.

Sing, sing a song, sing out loud, sing out strong!

2009-12-23T22:05:00.000-05:00

The girls are becoming quite the little song birds. I've mentioned before how Abby likes to sing - all.day.long. Natalie has been singing more of late as well. We have finally progressed past just the ABC's and onto other selections. We can sing most of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Jesus Loves Me. And, I'm not so very proud to say, they now know the theme song to Wonder Pets. They also picked up pretty quickly on Jingle Bells when I had it on in the car.

The songs sometimes mix all together. It's very common to start with ABC's and finish with Wonder Pets. Or, start with anything and end with the ABC's. In fact, the ABC song is just as often as not started somewhere in the middle, LMNOP or QRS seem to be popular starting points for Abby. She also frequently mixes talking and singing, especially when playing alone with her babies in her bed. The ABC's also seem to act as a comfort item for her. It's really pretty funny. Abby will be in the middle of whining or crying about something and she's "Mommy, whine, whine, A B C LMNOP...cry...cry". I can't help but laugh at her. She's a pretty funny little kid.

Natalie has her funny things too. One thing she likes to do is make a production about leaving a room. She'll start to walk out and then turn around and wave with a grin, "bye mommy, bye mommy, bye mommy". It's hilarious. Then she'll come right back in, "hi mommy, hi mommy." The girls do it to each other in play as well. "Bye, Abby, Bye Abby". The other day, she was doing it in the bath tub. She took her little pail of water and started towards the back on the tub, "bye, bye, bye". I asked her if she was going on a trip. She said, "yes." So, so funny.

Potty Time!

2009-12-23T21:51:00.000-05:00

Abby went tinkle on the potty today!! She's been showing some interest and about two days ago wanted to sit on the potty. Today, Ben asked her if she wanted to. She said, "yes" and she did!

I really haven't pushed the potty training. I decided that at my mother's house in the middle of all this chaos really wasn't the best time. Plus, we are hoping to sell our house and move soon, so I thought I'd wait until then. It appears Abby has other ideas.

Natalie doesn't show any real interest herself. If you ask her if she wants to sit on the potty, she very clearly and strongly says, "NO." But, she is very concerned about Abby using the potty. She says, "Abby potty?" and points to the bathroom.

My mom picked up a Sesame Street toilet seat today. Maybe once Natalie can pee while sitting on Elmo she'll be more interested.

Working Class Girls

2009-12-20T23:41:00.000-05:00

Natalie and Abby have officially joined the ranks of working class America. They have each earned their first dollars.

Saturday, after our Santa excursion, we went for a bite to eat at a nearby restaurant. While in line to pay, a woman commented on how well behaved they were and how cute, etc. I thanked her, of course, and we chatted a bit. After leaving the restaurant, we popped in next door to Goodwill. After buying a few plain white T-shirts for bibs and some books, we were getting back into the car, when the woman came up to me and handed me two one dollar bills. "For their piggy banks," she said. I was quite surprised, and thanked her profusely and wished her a Merry Christmas.

Mom, on the other side of the car, missed part of the exchange and when I told her what she did, she was also quite surprised. Mom said the woman had been sitting near us and had spoken to mom about the girls when I was in the restroom.

I'm not quite sure what to think about the whole exchange. It's not every day people hand me money on the streets - or in parking lots. Maybe the girls reminded her of her own children or grandchildren or the children/grandchildren she wished she had. Maybe she was really impressed they were so well behaved instead of running loud and wild as kids are prone to do nowadays while their parents watch or ignore them completely. Maybe she just thought they were super cute. Hopefully, she didn't think they looked they needed the two dollars. I mean, I was wearing my best jeans and my best pink Johns River Valley Camp T-shirt (a pretty swanky outfit, for me.)

Whatever her reasons, I thank her. She did a very kind and generous thing in the spirit of Christmas and it is a story I will remember forever and be sure to tell the girls. So, thank you, kind woman in Franklin. I hope God blesses you ten-fold for your kindness. Merry Christmas.

Project Santa: Success!!

2009-12-20T01:39:00.003-05:00

Attention: We have a successful interaction with Santa! I am very excited. No one cried, there was minimal clinging, and we actually sat with Santa.

I was actually getting stressed about getting a Santa picture since Franklin has no actual mall. I was even contemplating driving an hour and a half to Asheville just to go to the mall. But, small towns, like animals trapped on an isolated island, have their own methods of adaptation, so instead of the mall - Santa shows up at Kmart. He also shows up at The WhistleStop, which is, I suppose, the closest thing Franklin has to a mall. It's a bunch of crafty stores and antique shops inside one giant building (well, the size of a couple of Walmarts, maybe). Santa was on site from 1pm to 5pm and we were there to greet him.

I will lament that poor Santa didn't have much in way of decoration or throne to sit upon. The Gazebo had lights on it, but no one turned them on. There wasn't a Christmas tree in his Gazebo (although the rest of the "mall" had one every 10 feet), and his traditional big cushy, velvet chair to sit on was replaced by a hard wooden bench. His little Elf (a rather pathetic, sad looking teenagish girl) looked pretty void of Christmas spirit, and common sense - like that required to GET OUT OF THE WAY when parents are trying to take a picture. The poor mom before us was trying all sorts of angles to get just her adorable baby on Santa's lap and cut out the sour-faced elf.

I will say this about small towns and Santa's in random places: you don't have to wait and they are very patient. Operation Santa Picture took some time - at least a good 20-30 minutes from the time Santa was first spotted and the clinging and crawling over Mommy began. It was quite a process.

First, there was the acknowledgment of Santa. Hi Santa - Look, there's Santa - When Santa first walked in, it really didn't go very well. First, he (actually a she, but for tradition's sake..,), he came walking in shouting ho-ho-ho and ringing these very loud jingle bells. Scared the girls to bits. Other parents with sensory kids will appreciate this. Clinging, almost crying and climbing over mommy ( literally, climbing up as if trying to climb over me) was the result. Thank goodness we were actually a good 30 yards or more away from Santa when this happened. Imagine had we been right next to him...

So, Step One: seeing Santa from afar. This included watched an adorable 14ish month old baby in a red Santa dress waddle towards the steps to get to Santa.

Step Two (after Santa stopped ringing the stupid bells), approach the Gazebo and see Santa from about 20 feet away. I sat on the floor with them and let them cling while Grammy and I talked up Santa.

Step Three: Observe other happy children with Santa (see adorable baby above). Adorable baby modeled how to pick a toy from Grumpy Elf's box, how to look up at Santa adoringly, and how to sit on Santa's lap and look right at the camera while mom took a picture. Abby and Natalie never did any of these things, by the way, despite the baby's lovely demonstration.

Step Four: Avoid Santa and look at giant blow-up Penquin on the steps of the Gazebo.

Step Five: Sit on steps of Gazebo with - not looking at Santa. (ps - at the time, I thought this might be our only picture with Natalie, Abby, and Santa!)

Step Six: Acknowledge Santa exists.

Step Seven: Allow Grammy to introduce Elmo and Mouse to Santa.

Step Eight: Wonder how to rescue Elmo and Mouse.

Step Nine: Watch as Mommy takes a picture with Santa not realizing that is a part of the ploy to get us to approach Santa. This also has the desired effect of booting Miss Grumpy Elf off the bench and out of the pictures.

Step Ten: Mommy gets Natalie to come to her by picking little snow men out of Grumpy's box and tantalizing her with it. (Natalie is the less squeamish of the two) It had the desired effect and I was able to pick her up and sit her on the bench. It was my hope that if Natalie didn't freak out, Abby would be willing to approach us as well. And, it worked! At first Natalie and Abby have to appear nonchalant and not pay too much attention to the guy in the Big Red Suit (or Mommy who is desperately calling their names to try to get them to look at the camera.)

But, finally, finally, they relax enough to smile (sort-of) and look at Mommy. Success!

Okay, so this isn't your typical kids on Santa's lap picture, but considering last year's crying and wailing, I'd say this was a huge improvement and I am quite pleased.

Project Santa Desensitization is a success.

Natalie and Coloring - Take II

2009-12-15T15:50:00.000-05:00

Little Miss Abigail touched my computer and deleted my first, and nearly complete first attempt...grrrrr.

So, Natalie has taken to coloring. I have introduced coloring several times in the past but the girls have shown only passing interest. Just in the past few days, Natalie has developed quite a passion.

When I started the first post, she was sitting to my left, bending over (practically climbing on) the dining room table and intensely working on Cookie Monster in her Elmo coloring book.

She has started covering nearly the whole page instead of just a few passing scribbles. And, as of today, she has started something I am very pleased with - changing colors. Before, her pictures were mostly monochromatic and she would usually keep the same color for multiple pages.

Today, she is using one color, then putting it down and picking a different color to use on the same page - sometimes two or three colors.

She's not using "appropriate" color choices yet, ie. Elmo is not red or Grover Blue. But then again, I think a red, black, and orange flying Grover is pretty cool!

Abby shows no such inclination towards coloring. I did manage to get her to color this:

after I told her I would take a picture of it (she saw me taking pictures of Natalie's). She is still in your basic scribble, scribble, scribble, done stage.

It's not really that surprising as it fits with their personalities. Natalie tends to be better at the fine motor activities that require more patience - like coloring, stringing beads and puzzles. She easily focused on her coloring for at least 15 minutes just now - maybe longer. Abby tends to be busier, not really in a hyperactive way, just busier. She will sit and focus for long periods of time on pretend play: feed her babies, stir soup, etc. But even this is busy. There's lots of moving around, talking and action. I think she likes/needs to input more than Natalie. It may explain why she also sings all.day.long. Really. If she sings her ABC once a day, she sings them 100 times. Or hums them, or do-do-do's them or starts and stops or starts in the middle of them. Twinkle, twinkle is also being a favorite. She really does vocalize almost all day. It's actually very adorable. Mema can actually tell who is who it is now because with minutes Abby identifies herself by breaking into song.

As I mentioned once before, Abby appears to have excellent pitch for a 2.5 year old. I am very pleased. As I also said before, I hadn't really heard Natalie sing enough to really judge but it wasn't looking that good. Natalie is starting to sing her ABC's more - and it's still not looking so good. I'm afraid twin Grammy winners are not likely in their future. However, Natalie does love to dance, and clearly, likes to color, so there's great hope for visual arts in her future.

Eating Christmas Miracle

2009-12-10T16:53:00.000-05:00

I am so happy to report that my girls are beginning to eat like normal children. This morning Abby ate 1.5 pieces of sausage, and few bites of egg, a few bites of banana, and a bite of bread. Natalie ate one sausage, some egg, banana and a bite of toast. I am so excited.

The "not-so-much-formula" experiment is going well. They are now only getting two bottles: one at nap of lactose-free milk, and one at bedtime of bright beginnings. Everything else is food.

Sausage has long been a favorite food, as well as most kinds of fruit, especially grapes. I swear they can eat a pound of grapes in a few days. Eggs are also becoming highly coveted. They have eaten as many as 4 eggs in a sitting (between them). One night last week, we had eggs and ham for dinner. My mom scrambled 7 eggs. When they were gone, I made 4 more. 3 adults and 2 kids ate 11 eggs!!

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I started this post a few days ago on a particularly good eating day. I may have gotten ahead of myself with this "miracle" bit. Our very-good-eating-day was followed by our not so good day yesterday where they ate one piece of sausage, half a bowl of manderian oranges from Wendy's each (of these they would have each eaten 2 or 3 bowls had I bought them), one chicken nugget each, a few spoonfuls of chili liquid (NOT the beans or hamburger), about 4-6 oz each of some chicken and rice soup, and only one bottle for the day. A not-so-great-eating day.

But, I'm not getting discouraged. Just like "regular" toddlers, some days are better than others. I'm still pretty excited when I see Natalie and Abby spooning soup into their mouths or devouring a whole cup of grapes. It's actually been just over 2 years since we first brought them to Mema's - that first November. We were starting the one ounce, every 2 hours feeding schedule. I remember how we struggled for 30 minutes each hour (for each baby) to try, try, TRY to get them to drink one ounce of milk. Measure out an ounce some time and see how little it is. The saddest thing is: most of the time we failed getting them to drink even that.

Now, they are drinking 9 ounces a bottle on a daily basis, eating cups of fruit, bowls of soup, patties of sausage, nearly a whole box of mac and cheese, ice cream, crackers, eggs, chicken, rice, and anything with chocolate.

We've come a long way, babies!

Thanksgiving Pictures

2009-12-06T20:23:00.000-05:00

We did make it to Mema and Grammy's for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed a great dinner on Friday and lots of left-overs. We shared it with Uncle Wayne, Aunt Jane, and then Cousin Rachel and her family, husband, Mike, and kids, Michael and Maria. Aunt Joyce wasn't feeling well and couldn't join us.

Here are just a few family photos to remember the day!

Project: Santa Desensitization

2009-12-02T22:00:00.116-05:00

This year Natalie and Abby have shown a lot of interest in Christmas - especially Christmas trees and Santa. They can spot a Santa and tree a mile away - kind of like Elmo and Mouse. I have taken advantage of this newfound interest to begin Santa Desensitization in hopes of avoiding this:

I would really love to get a great picture this year and more importantly, have the girls enjoy Santa. Project Santa involves talking about going to see Santa, looking at books about Santa, looking up pictures of happy kids sitting on Santa's lap on the internet, and most recently, seeing Santa in person without the pressure of trying to get a picture.

As you know, we are visiting indefinitely with my mom and mema here in the beautiful mountains of Franklin, NC. Franklin is the kind of town kids can't wait to get out of and tourists love to visit. The town is really quite darling and somewhat quaint with a neat little town square with such things as painted trash cans.

Also, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the town held a "Cookies with Santa". It seemed like the perfect opportunity for Project Santa. I wasn't sure if it would be a sit down at a table thing with Santa (it was really just "have a cookie while you stand in line"), but it sounded good. We arrived at the Gazebo in the middle of town in time to see Santa wander around a bit before taking his seat. Natalie and Abby were quite excited. We had our cookies while waiting in line and took the opportunity to write a letter to Santa telling him that they had been very good little girls.

Natalie and Abby did well until we started to approach Santa. There wasn't any crying, but there was a lot of clinging. I think the did great though. They introduced Santa to Elmo and Mouse and handed him their letters. (They will be getting return letters from Santa soon in the mail.) They were willing to stand pretty close to Santa as long as they were holding on to Mommy or Daddy.

We also walked around town a bit and enjoyed the Christmas decorations. There was a huge live tree decorated and the girls loved it. Natalie loved the huge red "emlo balls".

Elmo and Mouse also enjoyed the Christmas Tree.

We took a few family photos and one with Grammy.

We also did a little window shopping.

And made sure everyone stayed warm and cozy.

We also had a chance to see the bricks that members of our family donated and dedicated. The town has a little garden with a brick pathway made of the donated bricks.

Daphne is my grandmother and John, Louree and Joyce are her siblings. Clayton and Pallie are their parents. There is another brick we couldn't find for Louree, donated by her children. Louree passed away quite a while ago.

All in all, it was a great day and I think, a very successful introduction to Santa for Natalie and Santa. Next step, seeing Santa at the mall. If all goes well, we should have a picture by Christmas.

Thanksgiving Blues

2009-11-25T22:30:00.000-05:00

*sigh* It's been rough around here. We girls have been a little sick. And by we, I mean mostly me. To make a long week short, I've been sick since last Wednesday with a variety of ailments the most annoying of which is a very sore throat which will not go away. I have not had a traditional cold in the sense of a stuffy nose, however, just a very sore throat and periodic coughing in an attempt to cough up a lung. After 7 days, I finally went to the "Minute Clinic" at CVS (brilliant idea, btw) to determine that I do NOT have strep throat and that my lungs are perfectly clear. So, I suffer through it.

My little doctor trip was only after spending the morning at the doctor's office with Natalie and Abby. Abby has had a fever off and on since Friday. Natalie off and on since Sunday. Tylenol/Motrin seemed to control it so I wasn't too worried. Also no cold symptoms and no flu symptoms. Then yesterday Abby woke up from her nap with another fever and a rash on her face, stomach and back. 2 hours, $40 and a poor tortured wax filled ear (abby), I'm told she probably has a viral rash. Natalie seemed fine. I was told that they would be "significantly less contagious" once they were without fever for a day. On the bright side as well, tonight Abby woke up crying and pulling at the poor tortured ear from which the doctor tried vainly to get enough wax so he could see the ear drum. So, that means they probably scratched it with their little scrape-y tool which will likely inflame and cause Abby pain for the next few days. Goody.

I've been trying to get back to my Mema for the past 3 days, so this is good to hear. The plan was to leave Monday after the girls spent a pre-Thanksgiving weekend with Yaya and grandpa (and Ben). Yes, Mommy was blissfully home alone but unable to enjoy it. I spent most the time sleeping and sitting miserably on the couch. Since I apparently have nothing diagnosable wrong with me and the girls are "significantly less contagious", we will try to head to Mema's tomorrow.

At the traffic won't be bad.

Bedtime for Natalie and Abby

2009-11-19T22:07:00.000-05:00

Abby and Natalie are just so cute at bedtime that I just have to share.

We generally put them down around 8ish. We have a little routine. After we change diapers, take medicine, and change clothes, we turn off the lights and with each of us holding one, we sway and sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". At the end we say, "kisses for mommy" (and get kisses), "kisses for daddy" (and get kisses), and "kisses for sister" (and get kisses). Then they go in their beds.

Usually at this point we tell them we will be right back with their milk. We've been trying to stretch this out a bit lately and come back a while later. The girls aren't crazy about this new plan. They are very conditioned to having their milk right away so the interim is sometimes noisy.

When we go back to get them for their bottles, they always bring "their babies". Over the months, this has meant their special blanket and any number of stuffed animals or babies. Natalie has been far more consistent. She attached herself to her Elmo since we got it and has pretty much stuck with it. Sometimes another baby comes too, but always Elmo. Abby is more fickle. For a while, it was Elmo, and then Elmo and "dorge", her little Curious George monkey. Then it was just "dorge", although like Natalie, occasionally a visiting baby doll was chosen as well. For a while now though, she has been extremely attached to a black and white mickey mouse, or simply, "mouse". So, drinking a bottle must involve Elmo or mouse and "baby" - their name for their blankets. It took me a while to figure out how the blankets were so named. Finally, I realized that when I go in, I say, "get your babies" by which I meant Elmo, mouse, or whoever, and their blankets. I realized however, that they had associated the name "baby" with their blankets, and have now assigned them that name. So, "baby" and Elmo/Mouse it is.

Once we finish their bottles, they go back in their beds and the fun really begins. For example, for the past hour, we have listened to Abby (mainly) singing and talking and generally running her mouth. She loves to sing. She sings the ABC song about 100 times a day, not always completely though. Sometimes you just get phrases of letters. She also sings "Twinkle, Twinkle" but it's more the tune to which she puts the words, "dodo,dodo, dodo do," She can say some of the words but seems to like to ad lib it most often. Speaking of Abby's singing, I've actually been quite impressed with her sense of pitch. She is really quite spot on. I have high hopes for her:-) Natalie also talks in her bed, but she is much more quiet. She generally talks to her babies. She also doesn't sing as much as Abby although she has recently begun to sing parts of the ABC song. I'm afraid, though, I have not been as impressed with her sense of pitch...Natalie also tends to talk more in the morning and at nap time.

Listening to Natalie and Abby talk and sing is one of the sweetest sounds one could ever hear. It fills me with so much joy to hear them entertain and delight themselves. In our case, we also have the added blessing of hearing them interact and play with each other as they laugh, play and talk.

Watching Natalie and Abby play is actually one of my favorite activities. I love the way they are so deliberate about what they do whether it's putting a baby in the stroller for a ride or stirring some bears for some soup. It's such a gift to get to glimpse the mind of a child.

I have lots of video of the girls playing that I will try to get around to editing and posting. Of course, friends and family are always invited over to experience the real thing first hand:-)

An Eating Epiphany

2009-11-19T21:37:00.000-05:00

I have had an epiphany. I learned something this weekend that both relieves me, and at the same time, annoys me and angers me to no end.

I saw my cousin (up from Florida) who has a 2 year old granddaughter born full-term just days(8 days) later than Natalie and Abby. I learned she weighs a grand total of....21 pounds. And is only 30 inches tall. I was floored. Natalie and Abby are 33-34 inches and weigh 23.5-24 pounds. This kid is smaller than they are.

Now, have their doctors driven them mad with talk of g-tubes, calories, weight charts, special formulas, and foods to add calories? HELL NO. They just say, "as long as she's growing, she's fine". Well, damn.

AND, the little girl drinks only water. No milk or juice. And based on what grandma said, eats almost nothing. She ran down a day's menu (of which, of course, I knew the caloric count for everything she named), and I counted maybe, 800 calories. And apparently, that's a good day.

So. I've decided I'm done. No more worrying, no more apologizing, no more adding lard to their food to add calories. I'm also done with their $350 a month bright beginnings habit. I think I may give them one can each a day for nutritional value, but we are going to move to regular soy milk instead of Bright Beginnings. And, after our allergist appointment Wednesday, we may get to try whole milk. I also want to start feeding them more healthy foods and not the junk I've settled for because of the calories it has.

I'm so annoyed that the doctors have given us such a hard time and acted as if our daughters' lives depended on getting 1200 or more calories a day and gaining 8 oz a week. What 2 year old gains 2 pounds a month, anyway?

Obviously, I'm venting and I may decide to freak out again next week, but for now, I'm done.

So - take THAT Mr. Doctors! Mommy is done.

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Since starting this post several days ago, I have indeed relaxed considerably. Most days the girls are now getting only 2 bottles: one of regular soy, and now, lactose-free milk, and one of BB soy. Some days they've only gotten one bottle. I feed them normal food, although a little heavy on the soup. They like it a lot and will eat a good bit. But, if they don't eat much. Oh well. I'm offering sippy cups of milk (usually rejected) and plenty of water for fluids. I do expect they will lose a little weight, but I also think they will shortly begin to eat more regularly. I'm going to encourage more healthy foods and just not stress as much about it.

If they do begin to lose a significant amount of weight or begin to show signs of dehydration or lethargy, I will make some changes again. But, I'm beginning to feel very strongly that they are fully capable of eating when they want to. Case in point: this morning they each ate a whole scrambled egg - each. For lunch, their speech/feeding therapist brought one of those microwaveable lunch things of pasta, peas and corn** and an orange, which happens to be one of their favorite things to eat. I added some more corn to the plate and they ate a few pieces of pasta and a good bit of corn and peas along with a number of orange slices. They also finished up nearly 14 ounces of broccoli soup, most of which was eaten by Abby, who I think ate at least 8-10 ounces of it herself - and by feeding it to herself. Dinner was mostly grapes, mommy's Honey Nut Cherrioes and some more oranges. Not too bad, I think.

**Btw, the little toddler lunchable thing had a grand total of 150 calories. 150. I'm assuming since it is marketed to toddlers it is an appropriate serving size for a toddler and has an appropriate calorie count. Even if you add a piece of fruit and a cup of milk, the whole meal would be about 250 calories. So, if a child ate 3 of these a day plus maybe a snack - that's a max of maybe 800-900 calories, well below the 1200 my kids are supposed to consume. Well, I guess I can always make up the difference with a couple of 200 calorie a piece cookies...

I'm sure I'll have more to say on the subject of eating and weight, but for now, Mommy's going to take a nice little break from the stress of worrying about food. We will have to see how long it lasts:-)

Allergist Review

2009-11-19T21:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we attended our long awaited appointment with the pediatric allergist. It started out well. They had us headed to the back within minutes. Then, at least for poor Abby, it went downhill fast.

A little background: A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to get the girls' H1N1 shots at a free health department clinic. It was quite traumatic for Abby. Apparently, I did not have her secured as well as I thought and she slipped her arms out. She then proceeded to grab the needle, yank it out and drag it across her leg creating a scratch about 1.5 inches long. She was screaming and crying, "no,no,no,no". It was awful. And then, once we finally got the bleeding stopped and a band-aid applied, we then had to turn her over to actually give the shot in the other leg. Poor little thing. It was pretty awful.

Present day: It appears Abby remembered her recent trauma. As soon as the nurse made a move towards her - just to have her stand on a scale - she completely freaked out. Little Abby was crying, "no,no,no" sitting on the ground, and flailing about. She has never acted like that before. Never. I definitely think she remembered her last trip to the doctor. I did finally get her calmed down enough to stand briefly on the scale, but she still wasn't very happy.

Things were better after that. Not knowing how long the appointment would take, I had the good sense to bring along my new laptop. I connected to the kindly provided "guest" network and was able to access oodles of Elmo u-tube videos. They were a great diversion.

After talking to the Fellow and then the doctor, we had excellent news. They confirmed what I have recently begun to suspect: Natalie and Abby don't show any real signs of milk protein allergy. They also didn't think the bumps on their arms (which were better than I've ever seen them, of course) were allergy related. Just to be sure, they did the skin scratch test for milk protein and it tested negative for both girls. In fact, one of them had a greater reaction to the saline control than to the milk.

The doctors' thoughts were that IF they had a senstivity to something, it was most likely the lactose in milk. It would explain why they tolerate cheese and other forms of milk which have less lactose than straight milk. With this information, we are going to give lactose-free milk a try and see how that goes.

Personally, I'm beginning to doubt any of it and am beginning to feel that the Pedisure was the culprit all along. Other parents also have anecdotal evidence that suggests that Pedicure can just wreck havoc on sensitive systems. The difference once we switched them to the soy was incredible. But, it's hard to know what exactly they were reacting to.

In any case, I'm very happy the girls are not officially allergic to anything. I can begin to introduce different amounts of milk back to their diet and see what happens. I'm especially happy that they didn't think we needed to test for wheat or gluten or some of the ingredients you find in just about everything. That makes our life much easier.

I'm working on another post about their eating woes, so stay tuned:-)

ps - our little trip to the health department actually landed us on tv. A local channel was there to do a report and filmed us a little (pre-shot) and we made the 5, 5:30 and briefly the 11pm news. Yaya called to say she'd seen us on tv! I have it taped, of course, if anyone is interested in the girls' television debut.

Beach Recap - Part I

2009-11-09T23:11:00.000-05:00

It's hard to know where to start. We had the most amazing time at Holden Beach with Mema and the rest of our family. We had the most beautiful weather, especially after the first day (which was a little windy and cool). It was even hot one day - sweaty, wear a bathing suit hot. The water was more calm than we had ever seen it. Most days it was completely flat - like a lake. The waves were breaking only inches from the shore. It would have been perfect if it hadn't been to cold to go in! We did get to have a little water fun. On Friday, we went to the Point and were there at the perfect time as the tide went out leaving a tidal pool. The girls immediately ran into the water and were right at home. (our house, Inn Between, above (left))

The days were mostly frolicking on the beach with Natalie and Abby playing in the sand. They just loved it. They would even lay down in the sand on their bellies! We also spent a lot of time hanging out with Mema and enjoying the rest of the family. We ate some great food, read some good books, and made some amazing memories.

The most wonderful part of all was watching the joy and happiness on Mema's face. In addition to family, Mema was visited from a number of old friends and co-workers who came down from various points: Lumberton, Fayetteville, Southport, and Willmington. She was so delighted to get to see so many old friends and it was so kind of them to take the time to visit.

Mema also spent time on the porch listening to the waves and even walked to the end of the walkway to the beach and hung out for a while sitting on the steps. We even managed to get her to the beach. We rented a "beach wheelchair", a unique contraption made of PVC pipes and huge tires, and rolled her out on the sand at the point. She wiggled her feet in the sand, took a walk down the beach, and let the waves chase her feet. Her energy and spirit were amazing. She kept saying, "it's even better than I imagined it would be". What more could we have asked for?

I dare say that some of Mema's favorite moments were those spent listening to Natalie and Abby putter about. We took a few of their favorite toys: their baby stroller, bowls, cups, and spoons for cooking "swoup", little counting bears (often the main ingredient in swoup). They also enjoyed climbing into Mema's wheelchair and pushing each other around. The girls could also often be found snuggled up beside Mema - usually feeding her some homemade swoup. Evenings were precious. Natalie and Abby would often climb up in her bed to tuck her in. It was beautiful.

There were so many beautiful moments and it was a blessing to spend such precious time with Mema. Although I know Natalie and Abby will probably not remember Mema, I hope the love she has for them will have imprinted their souls in a way that is always with them. I know she has touched the rest of us in ways we will treasure forever.

Brenda, Natalie, Mema, John, Ben

Abby, Johelen, Joyce, Kimberly, Wayne

Fall Fun at Poppy and Nanny's

2009-11-05T21:47:00.000-05:00

What an amazing weekend (10/8-10/12) Natalie and Abby have had at Poppy and Nanny's! We've had beautiful fall weather and oh, so much fun!

It started Thursday afternoon when we FINALLY hit the road at about 2:30pm. I was quite tired and between getting gas, food, bathroom breaks and pull-over-so-mommy-can-rest breaks...it was taking a while. Then, we had one of mommy's Jo-Jo driving adventures. About halfway through the trip, I stopped off of Hwy 64 for a rest break. Somehow, when I got back on the interstate - I went the wrong way. I I didn't realize it until I was back at Hwy 288 - which is where you get ON I-64. At this point I'm probably 20-30 minutes out of my way and the babies are getting restless. I decide to stop, get gas (in case I get lost again) and give the girls a break. We are doing pretty well: I use the bathroom and the girls are happily walking around the gas station - pleased to be free. I turn around to get a drink from the cold case and suddenly hear a crash and then screaming and crying. Spinning around, I'm blasted by some kind of liquid in my face, momentarily blinding me, while I try to locate the source of the crying. Abby has run to one side of the store and is crying absolutely hysterically. Natalie is closer and upset, but not as bad as Abby. A 2 liter bottle of mountain dew is spinning wildly and loudly on the floor, spewing dew EVERYWHERE from a puncture in the bottle. It was chaos.

I find the girls and pull them away from the torpedo bottle and try to calm them down. I felt terrible. I wasn't sure what had happened but I was sure the girls' were responsible. Moments before they were touching the bottles and saying, "mama's juice". (Sad, I know). The store was a mess. There was mountain dew everywhere - all over the cold case, in the aisles, and there was probably spray a good 8-10 feet from the bottle. For good measure, there was also dew on me and on Abby - although we weren't soaked through, thankfully.

Abby remained pretty upset until we left the store. I think the combination of the crashing sound, the feel of the spray, the sound of the squirting (which was really loud) and the bottle spinning around on the floor was just sensory overload for her. Some chocolate chip cookies picked up at the checkout counter seemed to help. I did offer to pay for the bottle as I checked out. The guy was super nice (he had brought us tissues before). He kept saying it wasn't our fault, and something about a delivery guy. I was completely confused until I saw a delivery guy unloading pallets from his truck. I finally pieced together what the clerk had been saying. The clerk said that the delivery guy bumped the bottle display, which apparently caused the bottle to fall - probably from the top shelf. It then hit the corner of the metal shelving which punched a hole in it like a knife. Since it's under pressue, the 2-liter then became a spinning little torpedo.

I don't know how long we were at the store, but my plans for a restful little pit-stop were definately blown. Fortunately, all the dram made the girls very tired, and after eating their coveted cookies, they dropped off to sleep for the rest of the trip. Finally, at least an hour later, I was back at the point where I'd first stopped to rest in the first place.

We finally at 10:30 we arrived at Poppy and Nanny's. What should have been a 6 hour trip - took about 8. Fortunately, it went much better from that point on:-)

Friday
We were fortunate that Poppy had the day off from working at the community college where he works as an Academia Adviser and teaches classes. Our first field trip was to the bus garage to see "Poppy's Bus" (yet another one of his jobs). Quite a while ago, Poppy and Nanny gave the girls a

Fisher Price bus, which we have always referred to as "Poppy's bus". Now, the girls love buses and whenever they see one on the road, they call out, "Poppy's bus, poppy's bus" and "more bus, more bus". So, Friday, we were able to see his bus live and in person. I couldn't help but be aware that in only 3 or so short years, Natalie and Abby could board the bus for their first day of school...:-(

After our bus adventure, we visited Nanny's elementary school to have lunch with her. Natalie and Abigail tried their hand at some classwork and had their first taste of school lunch food. They were unimpressed.

After "lunch" we headed out to the stables to see the horses. One of the members of Poppy's church (job #4, btw), works at the stables. (It's nice to be connected!) I was fully expecting the girls, especially Abby, to be pretty hesitant, if not fearful. But, they did amazingly well.
We immediately spotted the cutest little ponies - who were very eager to eat straw or grass from the girls hands (whose enthusiasm to feed them cooled once they saw the ponies' teeth.)

Inside the stables, we found the most beautiful horses. Natalie and Abby were very excited. They rubbed the horses and even sat in the saddle of one. They were really so cute. They kept pointing and shouting, "more horses". They were also thrilled to discover that the stables were home to several stable kitties. Kitties are always a welcome and happy diversion.

Outside, we discovered a llama and a few donkeys. They weren't as friendly though, so we went back to visit the little ponies. Abby wanted to much to feed them, but wouldn't get closer than about 2 feet. She would pull up grass and toss it in their direction. So cute:-)

After a real lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant, where the girls' ate almost nothing, of course, we dropped Poppy off for bus driving and hit Walmart - always a must. The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent hanging out and playing at Poppy and Nanny's.

Saturday

Saturday was just an amazing, fun day. We traveled about an hour to Graves Mountain Apple Harvest Festival. The day was a little overcast, but nice. There were crafts, pony rides, music cloggers, hay rides, animals, food, pumpkins, and lots and lots of apples!

After their experience at the stables, Natalie and Abby took the the riding ponies like pros. They absolutely LOVED their first pony ride.

We played in a pumpkin patch...

...and visited the farm area. The girls saw goats, cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, pheasants and peacocks.

Poppy picked apples for them to eat right off the trees.

We took a hay ride (another first) through the beautiful grounds of Graves Farm.

We finished up the day by watching the cloggers and clapping along.

It was really a wonderful, perfect fall day. The only downside was that Ben wasn't with us.

Sunday was truly a day of rest. We popped by church to say hello to everyone there then had a little lunch. The girls took their first nap since going to Poppy and Nanny's. We hung out, played and just relaxed. Monday we had to head home, but not before we stopped by the College to say hi to Poppy's co-workers. After lunch, we headed home. Although I had to stop and rest a few times, the trip wasn't as bad as the trip up. We were home around 8pm.

It's always so much fun visiting Luray. It's such a beautiful place and there is so much to do. We've just begun to scratch the surface of fun things to do at Poppy and Nanny's!