Good Bye Early Intervention, Hello IEP

Tomorrow is the "IEP day." We will sit down with the Intermediate Unit and plan out the services the girls will be receiving. They have exited the Early Intervention program and with that comes all new therapists.

Adeline has been recommended for a developmental classroom which is made up of kids with delays and disabilities. After observing this classroom, I found it pretty difficult to picture the Belle there four days a week. Receiving therapy in our home is one thing, joining a group of delayed and disabled kids in a classroom is another. It is hard to see her in this environment when she is doing so well. That is not to say that I don't appreciated her needs and all this classroom will offer her. I just plan to offset the peer group by enrolling her in a mainstream classroom as well. The downside is that Adeline will potentially spend five mornings a week at school with additional speech therapy and special instruction on the side. I guess time will tell how all of this works out.

Lila is only receiving speech therapy and special instruction. She will attend a mainstream classroom and meet with a speech therapist once or twice a week. A special instructor will follow her in order to track her overall progress in the attempt to catch that other shoe if it decides to drop.

With this transition comes very sad and tearful goodbyes. We will miss all of our EI therapists. The week before we left on vacation the girls had their last therapy sessions with these wonderful women. Miss Ruby, Miss Adrienne and Miss Cynthia gave the girls an early birthday party as a going away gift. The girls were all smiles.

Miss Ruby

Miss Adrienne

The cupcakes and candles



The very hard and tearful goodbye with Miss Cynthia. She has been with us from almost the beginning. We love her dearly and attribute much of Adeline's motor success to her endless work with the Belle. Adeline adores her and melted right into her for one last, long hug.

Home Again, Home Again

We are settling back into our Pennsylvania way of life. We left for the Seattle airport at 12:00 p.m. (PST) and arrived home at 2:00 a.m. (EST). It was a long day as this trip was our first cross country adventure that included layovers. We managed just fine and had the car seats strapped to strollers etc. like pros. We did get a many looks but after scanning the airport and planes for traveling families, we seemed to have it pretty easy. Our girls were superstars yet again and even had the routine down of letting daddy board first with car seats and carry-ons while we waited at the gate.

It felt like we were walking down the red carpet when boarding. I followed my three girls. Savannah was all smiles, Lila would stop at every third person and give them an unintelligible earful all while Adeline brought up the rear with her waves (two inches from people's faces - each aisle person that is). The passengers thought they were something else and one was even nice enough to seek us out after the flight and tell us how good our girls were for the long flight. Luckily, Lila and Savannah slept a good portion of the first flight while Adeline was asleep before the second flight ever made it off the ground.

I remember flying with baby Savannah and know how much more difficult flying could be. Thank goodness these girls are good travelers!!

Happy Amazing 3rd Birthday, Little Girls!

The Beautiful Northwest

One of those beautiful Seattle (actually Gig Harbor) days that makes you say, "I could live here." Two seconds later you remind yourself that clouds are plentiful and rain dominates the weather forecast. However, when it is beautiful, there is no better place to be.


No pictures by the water's edge because it was just too risky. The boat house had to do.

Flying the Nest Too Soon

We are currently at my parent's house and Savannah and I are staying in my old bedroom. In this bedroom there is a collage of my graduation pictures. I have caught Savannah eying them each night. Last night, she burst into tears after I had tucked her in and left the room. I ran downstairs as I was confident she had hurt herself. Hurt herself she did. I just wasn't expecting a broken heart. She told me she was so sad because she was thinking about when she grows up and leaves me. I was floored. To be honest, I almost started crying myself. I told her we could always be together and that she never has to leave me.

Fast forward to tonight. Savannah starts crying when standing in front of the same pictures. We replay the above conversation but this time she adds, "I am sad because I think I might want to leave you when I grow up." It is like she has realized that part of growing up means flying the nest. As much as the thought breaks my heart, I think it hurts her even more. I tried to calm her and told her that we could live next door if she feels the need to leave me. It didn't really work but lessened her anxiety to some degree.

Alex says that he remembers the day he realized that all people die, including himself. I guess that really freaked him out pretty bad for a few days. He thinks this is pretty similar. I don't know, but what I wish is that it would no longer be the center of her thoughts.

I think it was an ah-hah moment for both of us. Is this child really going to leave someday? She is the light of my life and I can't bare even thinking of it.

Napping?

A couple of days before we left on our trip we were very focused on napping the girls. Adeline had other ideas. She was having such a "nap party" in her room that daddy moved her to our sitting room crib. Alex went to check on her and this is what he found. I guess I should be happy about the pretend play she was doing with her kitty.

There is text in the middle of the video because I left my video software at home and am dependent on a watermarked version.

We Made It

We made it in all of our glory. I won't bore you with too many details but I do want to note that Adeline kept her sats up and didn't have any trouble flying. Such a difference from last year when we were dealing with nonstop vomiting and plummeting sats. We looked like your average family on the plane this year. Well, I take that back. I think most people took one look at me walking down the aisle with my three girls and assumed they were in for a noisy flight. I am so proud to report that there were no tears, meltdowns or time out of the car seat. The twins were perfect for both flights which totaled seven plus hours. Savannah on the other hand was a sick little girl with a rising fever and painful congestion. I felt terrible for her as the misery was very apparent in her eyes. Unfortunately, Savannah threw up in the car after getting off the plane and Adeline followed in her footsteps once arriving at Grandma and Grandpas.

Wish Us Luck

Our family will be sleeping in the friendly skies tonight. . . or at least trying to.

August 1, 2006

August 1, 2006 was our first glimpse of NICU life. We were trying grapple with Adeline's struggle to survive while at the same time trying to decide whether or not to deliver the twins at the precariously early age of 24 weeks gestation. Three years ago today, Dr. Kaplan discussed our options/outcomes and took us on an intimate tour of the NICU. One baby stuck in our minds. She was so little, vibrating away on the oscillating ventilator and certainly not easy on a pregnant mother's eyes. She was said to be a 24 weeker. Right then we knew that 24 weeks wasn't an option for our girls. For how could a baby so small and fragile every make it out of the NICU?

The mother of that baby wrote in her journal on that same day. . .


"Dr. Kaplan told me he showed you to a mom who is pregnant with 24-week twins. She may have to deliver as one of her babies isn't doing well. I told Dr. Kaplan to please use our situation to help other families."

That baby was Charlotte, our NICU sorority sister and beloved friend.


We feel very blessed to have watched the girls have fun in the sun today. It takes my breath away to think about where we were three years ago today.