YMCA

Just a quick update about my kids and strangers. I have heard a lot about how the girls should be watched by other people or consistently go to story times or music classes in order to get them used to strangers. Since we don't have family around and all of our friends seem to have their hands full with their own children (why does three kids have to be the trend right now 3+3=6!!!) our girls are with me 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. Okay, 364 days a year because my parents watched them once for us this year when we were out in Washington. Our therapists have expressed concern about how they will react when they go to preschool and are watched by someone other than me. I understand this concern because Lila Grace flips her lid if a neighbor tries to pick her up let alone a stranger.

To take matters into my own hands and in order to kill two birds with one stone, I joined the YMCA. Yes, I am in desperate need of some exercise. It really does make me a better mommy. While I work out, the girls are dropped in the babysitting room. I am shocked but incredibly pleased to say they do just fine. Lila may whimper but moves on to the toys by the time I am walking out the door. This babysitting room is a disaster and the staff are terrible about interacting with the kids. I am very fortunate that my girls have taken the high road on this one because I couldn't leave them crying in that not so nurturing environment.

I feel the need to share an aside. I took Savannah to the babysitting room today (I usually go when she is in preschool) and she was brought down to me crying 45 minutes later. Somethings never change. We took all three on Saturday and Savannah was happy as could be. When we picked her up she was walking around holding Lila's hand. That moment defines the reason why we worked so hard to give her a sibling(s). She found comfort and love in her youngest sister. Isn't that what siblings are for? To fill the void when parents aren't there to do so. Today, Savannah told me she never wants to to go to the babysitting room without her sisters again.

Feeding Update II

Adeline has made huge strides in the feeding department. Now that daddy is home for a few consecutive days and Adeline is feeling better, we have hit two out of three meals with the feeding protocol. Surprisingly, she is very accepting for the most part. She hasn't had a naptime bottle in almost a week and has done a pretty good job of supplementing her calories. By good job I mean at least half. Here is how this every evolving process works for the moment. . .

Adeline has a bottle when she wakes up and sits out of breakfast. There is a strong "skipping breakfast" gene running through this family anyway.

For lunch, she is up to a quarter of a PB&J or 12-16 centimeter cube bites. There is certainly work involved with the lunch time feeding as she isn't starving and is used to having yogurt and puffs. She tolerates the PB&J but there needs to be a lot of play with the cars or peek-a-boo in between bites. Realistically, this will be dropped when daddy leaves because lunch time is a crazy - walk in the door from preschool and two kids are wanting food etc. - time. Hopefully, in the next few days, Adeline will be willing to self feed some of her sandwich. Finally, when the girls go down for naps, I hold Adeline up for a few minutes and get 4 oz. of whole milk yogurt in her (140 very quality calories).

Dinner has gone exceptionally well the last few nights. I made a roast with baby carrots and garlic mashed potatoes. All of my family, except Lila, love the potatoes. Even Adeline will take decent sized bites and sign for more over and over again. The best part is they are made with heavy cream that has simmered with smashed garlic cloves. Yummy and super high in calories. In addition to the potatoes, every one except daddy devour the baby carrots. It is the only thing Lila Grace will eat from this dinner. Adeline has taken almost two whole baby carrots each night without too much encouragement. I still haven't pushed the roast on her. Tonight she ate a half cup of applesauce too which is something she was refusing a week ago (120 calories). Not bad for a dinner.

We follow all this up with nighttime bottle.

I am trying not to get my hopes up because things are running smoothly due to two parents in the house. When everything falls on me (cooking, feeding, cleaning up afterward etc.) meal times get a bit hairy. Regardless of how quickly we progress from this day forward, we are miles ahead of where we started. Let's just hope this isn't the preemie pattern or two steps forward, one step back.

The Cake

We had cake for Savannah tonight. It was very informal and consisted of friends from the cul-de-sac. She had a nice time celebrating with her girl friends. It is the last birthday she will celebrate in the Keystone State. Hard to believe this is her fifth time blowing out the candles.

Earlier today, Savannah helped me decorate her cake. She told me she wanted a cake on her cake, so that is what I did. She was very pleased with the final product. Everyone else was pleased with the taste. You can't beat a Costco cake! Of course, I feel the need to personalize/decorate all of my children's cakes so I order them with just white icing and let the kids decide how it should be decorated. I was surprised that Elmo wasn't ordered for yet another year. I am sure it will be requested next year by the little girls!

The little girls seemed to enjoy themselves during the first five minutes of Savannah's party. Unfortunately, they were soon upstairs getting ready for bed as their beastly disposition was too much to endure. I think we are all partied out in this house. Even the five year old seems a bit feisty.

Sesame Place

All Savannah wanted for her big day was to spend time with Mommy, Daddy and Elmo. Thus, we headed to Sesame Place after dropping the twins with Neely (God bless her for taking both of them when she has three kids 5 and under). The weather was misty which set us up for an amusement park all to ourselves. Savannah got ample time with all of the characters and most importantly, was able to show some love to Elmo. He was so excited to see her and helped make her birthday extra special. I have been hearing for weeks that she hopes Elmo holds her. Well, he held her up and swung her around like she was his long lost friend. I couldn't have planned it better.

We had a great time and Savannah repeatedly told us that she was having a great birthday. She thanked us time and time again which makes days like this priceless. She is so deserving of days like this.

The Face of Five

I couldn't resist posting this picture of my little girl, moments away from 5 years old. Her head still sleeps on bunny just like it did when she was oh, so little. A promise from her to me that she is still my sweet little girl!

The Last Day of Four

Sniff Sniff. . . How did it pass so quickly? My little girl is going to be five!! I remember the day I touched her cheek to mine for the very first time. It is imprinted on me forever. Now, she is talking with words I never dreamed a four year old would use and thinking on levels I didn't know existed in childhood. We are truly blessed to be raising such a compassionate, pensive and loving daughter. I believe that she plays a large part in my making it through my day. Just ten minutes ago she was telling me that even when she is five she is going to fit in my lap. She also told me she will never stop wanting to snuggle so if she is playing with her friends, I should just call her and she will come running for snuggles. Too bad I know that won't always be true. What is so touching is that she believes with ever fiber of her being that it will ALWAYS be true. She is my "refill", my snuggler, my sweetie pie!

Feeding Update

Adeline has been sick and pukey all week. All three girls are snotty and I am sure food doesn't taste right in their condition. Basically, I have turned all of my focus on Savannah and Lila Grace. Savannah has taken to eating three bites of everything and, for the most part, doesn't give me problems at the dinner table. She is eating foods that she would never try before because she is in control of the bite size and knows there are only three to take. Often, one of the foods she is eating will disappear (hunger does have a role in this). We have adopted carrots or apples dipped in yogurt for an after dinner snack.

Things have been moving along for Lila too. She has found herself in timeout many times and oddly enough, she sits for the entire five minutes without trying to get up. She still tries to pull her little tricks and is very impatient when it comes to food. Overall, I feel that she has become more independent but I am still never more than a foot away from her at the dinner table. Just to give you an example of what my Miss Grace does whenever I turn my head, take a peek at the picture below and see if you see anything strange. NO, I didn't put the sippy cup there!

Like I mentioned, Adeline has been put on hold for the week until tonight. Instead of letting her sit on the sidelines and eat veggie sticks, I tried the feeding protocol. First, I set Savannah and Lila up and then I got the cars out for Adeline. She was clearly hungry and signing "I want" when she saw the french bread slices. I thought that was very good sign since most feedings she would fling it onto the ground. I started with little bites of bread and then moved to bites of baked potato on a spoon. These bites were very small and, initially, hard to get in but by the third or fourth bite, she was willingly taking them. They graduated to the size of two peas. I dipped a few in ketchup which she didn't like but ended up taking to get her car back. I even snuck in the tiniest bite of meat. All in all, I would say she had quite a bit to eat. Potatoes, bread, meat (well sort of) and applesauce. I realize this was all so successful because the afternoon bottle was dropped. I still have a hard time doing it to her because I know she is hungry and never has the sensation of a full tummy until bedtime. That is 12 hours between bottles!!

Savannah loves getting Lila Grace up from her naps. You can typically hear the screams of laughter and jumping all through the house. It is certainly fun to watch their relationship evolve.

The last two nights we have gathered in the twins' room to listen to a half an hour of our Theraputic Listening music. Lila Grace loves to relax in the chair with her Bunny and Binki. Savannah has taken it upon herself to read Lila her two bedtime stories. She does a really good job and Lila seems to enjoy it just as much as when I am reading to her.

Before I Forget

I feel that there are so many things that I am going to forget about my girls once the weather turns cold. We spend countless hours outdoors and the girls absolutely love it. Months will go by before we are playing in the cul-de-sac and they will be very different girls by then. The things that I love to watch them do today, won't be the same in the spring.

For Lila Grace, this summer has been about rocks. It began with her eating rocks which gave me a heart attack on a daily basis. She was so predictable about putting them in her mouth that I could yell across the driveway for her to show me what was in her mouth and she would open up and take the rock out. I was barely able to function during this time because Adeline wasn't really walking outdoors and Lila would take off and before I knew it, have a rock in her mouth.

Her love of rocks has blossomed into a little perch at the end of my driveway. There is a pile of dirt and rocks which happen to be conveniently located next to a large storm drain. Miss Grace loves to hunt for the two medium sized rocks that she can hold in one hand. She will keep hold of these the entire evening. If they fall, she carefully examines the rocks in order to find the exact rocks she was holding. With the other hand, she picks out large rocks and throws them down the storm drain. She will also load her many cars, or in tonight's case it was stroller, and take her rocks for a walk. I know I would have never let Savannah play in the dirt or street for that matter but I just can't keep Lila away from something she truly loves. She will most likely find a different "spot" in the spring but for these last few days of nice weather, I know where to find my little blue eyed girl - playing with her rocks.

It's That Time of Year

We woke up to this


And went to bed with this


In between. . .

103.9 fever
vomiting
Savannah stepping out of the room to pray for Adeline's speedy recovery(such a sweetie)
writhing in pain
Heart rate of 190
Sats 90

So. . . I am gearing up for a tough week ahead. Adeline and Savannah are my fever queens. I am sure Savannah will catch this and run with it up to 105. Let's just hope it doesn't happen on her birthday like last year (9/28).

Luckily, Adeline was able to keep down the Tylenol which allowed her to take a few walks around the cul-de-sac in the stroller. Every time we stopped, she said, "Go!" It was better than watching her tug at her cannula and say and sign, "All done" over and over again.

Here is hoping for better tomorrow. Maybe Savannah's prayers will be answered. She is sitting at the island making get well decorations for Adeline's room.

This one is a picture of God and Adeline. God is giving Adeline love (the heart) and an Easter Egg. I love the ponytail in Adeline's hair. Savannah is such a sweet little artist.

Feeding Clinic

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with Adeline at the Hershey Feeding Clinic. Her speech therapist also accompanied us which was above and beyond the call of duty. We met with Dr. Williams and discussed Adeline's food routines and food related behavior. It was hard to describe how hard she could be during a feeding when she was a sweet angel for the two plus hour consultation. By the end of the visit she was curled up in the doctor's lap saying, "Hi!"

After spending much time discussing her eating habits, Dr. Williams placed her in a high chair with yogurt, applesauce and bread on the plate. I informed him that she really likes matchbox cars and that is what he used for motivation. He would take the tiniest bite of bread and place it on the spoon. After telling her over and over again that she had to take her bite if she wanted to play with the car, Adeline would finally give in. She wasn't real willing but she wasn't fighting him as hard as she does me at home. Each bite was followed by time playing with the cars. The car would be removed after 30 seconds or so and the process would start again. The timer was set for 15 minutes and when it beeped she was done.

In the 15 minute minute time period, Dr. Williams was successful at getting Adeline to eat all three foods. There was very little caloric value due to the small quantity but he assured me that practice makes perfect. She will eventually like food, stop gagging and WANT to eat. He does this day in and day out so I guess I will believe him.

After her feeding we went back into the consultation room and talked about family mealtime. I told him it was the most stressful part of my day, especially dinner. When most families are finding relief during dinner, I am low on patience, fighting three kids to eat food they typically don't want to eat and doing this on my own as there is no Daddy at the end of our day. This lead the conversation to both Lila Grace and Savannah. Both girls contribute to the stress. Savannah never wants to eat what I cook and Lila Grace is either hot or cold. Some days she will shovel it in and then want down in two seconds and other days she will scream and tantrum over what I put in front of her. Dr. Williams wrote a plan for both:

Lila Grace - When behavior isn't acceptable put her in time out for five minutes. Let her come back and try again but adhere to a "three strikes you're out rule." He promised she would learn to sit quietly for 15 minutes. I am not supposed to push her to eat if she doesn't want to.

Savannah - She is supposed to try pea sized bits of all our food. If she doesn't like them she doesn't have to eat it. The only after dinner snack she can have is fresh veggies and fruits. No more bowls of cereal and bars. She is what he considers a classic "avoider" by using a bowl of cereal as her supplement to dinner.

The above sounds great but putting it into practice is another issue. I will give it a week and see where we are. I think Lila is still going to exhibit behaviors that put me over the top.

Once I have the other two under control it is his belief that I will have a nonstressful environment and at that point I can turn my focus to Adeline. I think he is simplifying the stresses of dinner time or any meal time for that matter but I am going to try.

Adeline's plan is as follows: Decrease the amount of Pediasure she receives through a bottle. Set the timer for 15 minutes and use pea sized bites of a variety of foods. Gradually grow the bite when she is no longer showing refusal. Eventually, she is supposed to self feed. Boy, won't that be the day!

Dr. Williams thought Adeline would resolve most of her issues in a week's time if admitted to the day treatment program. However, he didn't admit her. Due to the family dynamics of the meal, he felt that there wouldn't be any carry over when brought back into the natural environment. Thus, the intervention must be done at home! Yikes!!

I don't know how I am going to do this on my own. Dinners are a disaster, breakfasts are all of five minutes and then we are rushing to get Savannah to preschool and lunch is squeezed in between preschool pick up and therapy. It isn't like we have all day to work on feeding. I understand his point though. It has to be done at home because there are so many behaviors that are tied into her successful outcome. Savannah and Lila are going to have to step up to the plate in order to allow me to have time with Adeline - undistracted time that is. Any mother of three kids four and under knows how how tall of an order that really is.

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Words are Emerging

Adeline is finally talking!! I couldn't be more excited. We have moved away from signing and are now working on vocalizing. She gets it!! Adeline concentrates on my mouth as I say a word repeatedly and then with a little grin she tries to say it back. Most of her words only I can understand but that doesn't matter one bit. She understands the purpose of language and she is applying it to her everyday life. Words she has recently picked up:

Sticks (veggie sticks)
no
yogurt
Charlotte
night night
car (she transitioned nicely from the sign to using the word)
Oscar
Cookie
Ernie

I am surprised how much influence Lila Grace has on Adeline's speech. I figured most of the learning would be done when observing Savannah. Today, as we were pulling away from Charlotte's house Lila Grace was saying, "Charlotte, Charlotte." Adeline chimed right with her own version of the name.

Sisterhood

Today, when unbuckling the girls during preschool pickup, Lila Grace grabbed Savannah's Bunny from her car seat and yells, "Anna!" She hops out of the van and walks very purposefully (holding my hand of course) to the school's door. Once in the basement, I let go of her hand and she ran right for Savannah's classroom. She got a bit confused and poked her head in the wrong door and then was thoroughly confused by the door being shut to Savannah's class. She ran around the large room and looked in every classroom in hopes of finding her sister. Once the door to Savannah's class opened, Lila darted in and handed Savannah her Bunny. She was so proud. She can be so sweet.
Even better is watching the two of them navigate the parking lot hand in hand. Lila behaves much better for Savannah than she does for me.

Heaven Post 2,398 - or so it seems

As we were driving to preschool this morning Savannah asks me, "Why is daddy older than you?" I told her that he just is. Well, that wasn't good enough so she answered her own question with, "Is it because he was in Grandma's belly before you were in Grammy's belly?" "Yes," I say quite impressed that she GETS it. Savannah then tells me that she thinks babies are actually BUILT in heaven and then put in the right mommy's belly. I grin and think to myself, "She is so stinkin smart!"

A Perfect Morning

The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that this was a perfect morning. I dropped Savannah off at preschool and then strapped the babies in their jogger for a run - more like run/walk since I haven't done it in three months! They sat for 40 minutes without a peep. Once we got home, I let them play outside while I stretched out and talked to our new OT about scheduling. Again, not a peep. I looked at my watch and decided I needed to shower so I brought the girls inside and locked them behind the gate. Oh, I love the gate! I even turned on Elmo's World since it was just starting (I am working very hard on not feeling guilty about it) and took a nice long shower. Not a peep!

I am now in the office writing this post as the girls are laying on the couch/floor of the playroom. They are happy to relax for a few minutes before we pick Savannah up.

I don't know how I got so lucky but there is something magical about the gate during morning hours. We usually have therapy or I have errands to run but on mornings I don't, they just play without me. I need to remember this morning and commit to running and make my reward, time behind the gate! I just wish the gate worked during evening hours.

Do I Dare Say, "On the Charts!"

Not something I put a lot of stock into but being on the charts is better than being off of them. At age two, both girls made the leap and are tracking on the charts for both height and weight. Lila Grace is holding strong to 10th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height. The Belle is holding tightly to the 4th percentile for weight (I realize she could fall off very easily) and 5th percentile for height.

Adeline and Lila Grace are still the size of a 12-18 month old child and most often appear MUCH smaller than their peers. I am okay with it. Being small and thin has its advantages. I can snuggle them like babies much longer than the average child.

Proof . . .

that all three of my girls can play independently at the same time. Alex caught them playing by themselves in the family room the other day while I was out and about. Why don't they do this for me?

Ants in her Pants

Believe it or not, that describes my youngest a couple of nights ago. I decided to let the girls play on the front porch and sidewalk while I sat in a beach chair relaxing. It was quite nice because Adeline was entertained by the steps, Savannah was playing with the neighbor kids that stopped by and Lila Grace was sitting behind my chair doing and undoing the buckle. Buckles are her favorite.

After about five "hands free" moments I wasn't surprised to hear Lila start to fuss. Our neighbor girl said that Miss Grace had ants on her feet. At this point she was crying and I was getting up to get a good look. Lila is the type of kid who cries if she gets marker or dirt on her hands. A couple ants would definitely set her off. After I brushed about 10 ants off her legs I couldn't figure out why she was getting more worked up. She was wearing a dress so I decided to strip her to make sure there weren't ants hiding anywhere. When I lifted her dress, I saw over a hundred ants swarming my little girl's body. Trying not to panic which would surely make everyone more upset, I calmly brushed them off of her body. They were in her diaper cover, all over her torso and working their way into her diaper. At this point, it was obvious they were biting her because they were biting me. After two or three minutes she was ant free and wanting her Bunny. Come to find out, Lila wasn't the only one being attacked. Bunny was covered which upset her even more.

Eventually, I got both Lila and Bunny ant free and snuggled them both. After a few minutes I took her up for a bath while my neighbor rounded up my other two so I could assess the damage. Poor Miss Grace! She had white welts covering her body. Thank goodness she is tough as nails or I would have been up with her well into the night.

To end on a brighter note, I am posting a picture of Lila's work. Believe it or not she can unload the dishwasher. If it wasn't her for her vertical challenge she would have put everything away. Instead, she handed me things that went up high and put the pots and silverware away herself. She is too short to see in the silverware drawer so I was pretty impressed that she got everything in. I guess I can finally let her touch the things in the dishwasher. Up until now, this has been a very big NO TOUCH!


Although it is blurry it is clear that Miss Grace is quite proud

Flying home

I realize my posts are long over due at this point but I am still struggling with settling into the juggling act of a single mom during the week.

Just wanted to mention that the girls were stars on the flights home. We had to yank them out of their warm beds at 3:30 a.m. which really sets you up for failure. This time around we had a layover and were going to be traveling during daylight hours. Not ideal in my book.

Once on the plane, Lila was strapped into a car seat as well as Savannah. Savannah managed to squeeze herself into Adeline's so that we could then switch Adeline to the seat and have Savannah as our "lap child." Much easier holding her than a squirmy toddler.

Adeline pulled her old trick again. She vomited multiple times and dropped her sats to the high 80's. She was pretty miserable until she finally fell asleep. I am assuming flying makes her motion sick. Once asleep she was fine but that took until the end of the first flight. Lila didn't sleep during the first flight but hung out like a champ and required very little attention.

At the end of the first flight we chose to be the last people off. While we were gathering up our many items the pilot took Savannah to the cockpit and let her pretend to fly the plane. He was so kind. He took time to talk to her about where she lived and was able to understand her very soft and quiet voice. He had her push all sorts of buttons. In addition, he had her type in her city in order to print its weather report. She was sent home with wings for her and her sisters and a hot and humid weather forecast for our arrival into Philly. What was most impressive was that the pilot then helped us carry our car seats off the plane. I wish there was some way I could recognize his kindness.

The second flight was pretty uneventful. Adeline had an empty stomach which prevented the puking episodes. She wasn't real sleepy and enjoyed saying "hi" to everyone reading their papers in first class. Lila fell asleep for a couple of hours and later woke up to watch Sesame Steet on my iPod. Savannah also napped in Adeline's car seat. We usually had two kids asleep and one awake. Not bad for a long day of traveling.

I must say our kids are amazing travelers. No crying, disruption or an overbearing family presence by us and our children when on a plane. I would have never dreamed of being so lucky.

She was a Star

Yes, she still takes Bunny in car and whatever other stuffed animal that she is enjoying for the day





Did I think she would be anything less? Not really but the start of anything can go either way with Savannah. Brandywine seems different for her. She has been there for the past two years and knows all of the staff members except, oddly enough, her head teacher. I guess that didn't matter because she said, "good morning" and hung her backpack up like a pro. I was proud and exceedingly happy to have her in preschool again -that is, not Kindergarten.

Oddly enough, I was a bit unsettled as I drove away. I didn't take her to orientation (Daddy did) which left me meeting the teacher for the first time on the first day of school. I didn't have the "warm fuzzies" and felt like I just left her there. I am sure Mrs. Moscorelli is a great teacher and is very kind and loving but I don't KNOW that. I stood in the aisle of Giant across the street from Savannah's school a bit worried. Was she okay? Did she need bit more assurance than she was receiving? Would they call if she cried? Oh goodness, is she crying? It is hard to not KNOW.

Of course, it all ended up being fine and we are three days into the year now. Savannah is as happy as ever to be going to school. I don't know what I am going to do when I drop her off on her first day of Kindergarten not knowing the staff, teacher or parents. How do people do this, I just don't know.


The face that greeted me at pick up

Last Year of Preschool

Tomorrow is Savannah's fist day of her last year of preschool. She is excited and has shown little sign of nerves. I am confident we made the right decision holding her back. No need to rush the little ones off to the real world. I want her to feel safe and protected as long as possible. I feel as though I only have one more year with her. Next year, she will spend more time at school than she does with me.

I can't believe how old she is and how mature she looks. Everyone thinks she is at least in Kindergarten. She likes to tell me that no matter how big and old she is, she will always fit in my lap and always have time for snuggles. I might have to quote her on that when she is a teenager.

Good Luck Sweetie Pie.

Transition Home

I have always been one to say that my girls can sleep anywhere, will travel just fine and adjust to just about any new environment. This has been true up until this trip. We have traveled through the night in the car, put them down in strange houses and transitioned them from crib to crib without any problem. Unfortunately, they seem to have lost this trait somewhere during their trek back home.

We have been home for four nights and they have only gone to bed once without crying. These are girls who love to sleep, especially Lila. Lila seems to be the culprit in this situation too. One night she cried for almost two hours. What is the deal? Shouldn't she be melting into her crib that she missed for 28 days? That is what I expected but that isn't what we are experiencing.

It would be different if we were trying to transition her to a new place. I would have much more sympathy. Right now I am just plain frustrated. Last night, Lila got Adeline going as well which, of course, caused Adeline to throw up her entire bottle all over herself and her crib.

We have never had problems with our girls going down. And no, it isn't selective memory that most parents use when describing their child's sleep habits. These girls are excellent sleepers and sleep more hours of the day than any other children I know. If I loose this or their easy transition to their beds, what will I do?

Here is hoping that we go down tonight without a fight.

Seattle

I don't quite know how to do a Seattle post. The pictures really tell the story. Savannah has been asking about the Space Needle for at least a year and finally has it checked off on her list. The girls were absolutely amazing. They were taken out of their beds at 7:00 a.m., driven across a mountain pass, and then drug through Seattle for seven hours. They didn't fuss, break down or nap. They really enjoyed the sights, especially the Space Needle, and sat back and relaxed when they were feeling tired. They actually let us eat dinner without being rushed. I was in awe of how well they did. It was nice to do something as family unit.

Here are many pictures telling the events of the day. We had such a good time that I really feel the need to post all of these. Sorry.

The famous home of the flying fish! Not ideal for two strollers but we made our way through and down to the water front.


Savannah is in love with carousels!


A ferris wheel right under the Space Needle was a must for Savannah and Daddy.

And I thought she was sleeping down there. Hah!


Finally, Savannah gets to travel to the top of the Space Needle


She really enjoyed it and it was delight to watch her experience something completely new to her - the height, crazy winds, telescopes etc.



Lila LOVED being up there. The girls decided to play a jumping game and Lila Grace jumped her way around the Needle. She caught many people's attention as she was just so darn cute.

Adeline loved it too but would check in with one of us from time to time as it was quite the sensory experience. We were surprised that she got down and walked but she did!


Can you say Marilyn Monroe! Yes, the winds are strong.







The famous Seattle fountain was a big hit with all the girls. Lila Grace headed right down to it. Surprisingly, Adeline walked (holding my hand) up from the bottom all the way to the top. It is very steep and long - the picture doesn't do it justice.


On the waterfront with Daddy. All three girls are smiling!


We met up with a friend (we hadn't seen Dan since he was in our wedding) for dinner. Again, the 4 year old photographer already working an SLR. You should see the looks of amazement people give her.