5th Annual Pumpkin Carving

Here are the pumpkins from our 5th annual pumpkin carving with the Anstines.  Of course, the origin of this night dates back to a time when all three little girls were held prisoners in their NICU isolettes.  We, as their parents, can't imagine a year without the pumpkin carving because it always serves as tangible evidence of our incredible luck.  We always make comments like, "We should send this picture to their NICU docs because not in a million years would they have predicted this!" 

While this night is full of remarkable milestones, for the kids it is just plain fun.  Because they are getting older, I decided to serve a spooky dinner by candlelight.  The girls thought it was great fun.  Decorating the table and finding as many candles as we could muster up was a good time for me and my oldest.  Although we don't have a great picture, it turned out to be a very festive.

After dinner we jumped into the carving.  All of the children thought they were perfectly capable of carving their own pumpkin and were a little disappointed when the parents said, "NO!"  Here is Lila Grace reinforcing our decision to keep sharp objects out of the hands of little children.  While she tried to put a pumpkin carver through my heart, she quickly made up for it with a sweet smile for her picture with mommy.

Savannah worked very hard at her kitty pumpkin. She drew the face on paper first and then transferred it to her pumpkin. This year she was able to cut some of the pieces out but still needed help. Savannah was proud of her kitty because it was her design and not one off of the computer - mommy and daddy are very guilty of stealing images off of the computer.

This year Adeline sketched her own design on her pumpkin.  Daddy had to use a little hand over hand to make sure the Sharpie didn't go flying but the design is all her own.  She was a very proud girl and had some pretty spectacular daddy time.  Lately, all she wants to do is be attached to her daddy and carving a pumpkin with him was one way to ensure he would pay attention to her and only her.

Lila ended up with two pumpkins.  She had been saying for week that she wanted a ducky pumpkin but was clearly unsatisfied with the duck I carved.  Luckily, daddy saved the day and found a way to make an Ernie pumpkin for her.  It certainly was the best of both worlds for her when she realized that she had Ernie and his rubber ducky for pumpkins.

It was an evening of fun.  The kids enjoy it every year and the parents certainly do as well.  Not to state the obvious but. . .  carving pumpkins with your children is much better than carving pumpkins for your children - as was done the first year because the little girls were fighting for their lives in the NICU.

Itchy, Scratchy, Witch Costume is On!

Adeline had her Halloween party in her developmental classroom. I wasn't able to attend (Did I really put a tennis clinic over my Belle's party?). I was there last year so daddy took the reins this year. I presume it was good for him to make a classroom appearance without me.

I was able to catch the last five minutes of the party because I had to drop Lila at the same school for speech therapy. Upon arriving, I was nervous about the report. Did Adeline behave normally, did she wear her costume, and how did she stack up against her new classmates?

It seems that when parents come to Adeline's IU preschool classroom, the kids fall apart. Let's remember that these are children with developmental issues and, more than not, change isn't welcome - even if it is a parent. Adeline always acts much more clingy when I am invited in and I usually have Lila in tow which makes for the two of them fighting over my lap.

Today, this was not the case. According to Daddy, Adeline did great. While some children were falling apart, Adeline stood strong. She engaged, ate her snack and. . . drum roll please. . . put on her scratchy witch costume. For a month she has been set on being Thomas or Lightening McQueen for Halloween. Take a minute and Google those costumes and you will see why she isn't. They just aren't cute. I like cute! I am pretty sure that is stating the obvious but I wanted to put it out there. What is cute is Savannah's old witch costume. It is flowy, scratchy, and wiggly which is enough to turn Adeline against it while it is still on the hanger. But guess what? She put it on and paraded around her school. I think she is pretty darn cute in to too!  I can only guess being in school contributed to the successful outcome. To put it in perspective, I was just going to leave her in a pumpkin shirt and call it good. I figured it wasn't worth the fight. I am sure glad I didn't because every other kid had a costume.

My final question about stacking up against her peers is hard for anyone to answer on a day that is out of the ordinary. What Daddy did say was that Adeline was very composed and met all expectations. This was not true for a handful of the other kids. While this makes me happy, I am also nervous about Adeline getting too close to the top of the class. This line of thinking will be saved for another post but for now, I will just say that Adeline is a shining leader this year. This being a first for the Belle, and for now, being at the top of the class is okay.

Tiniest Jack-O-Lantern

Tonight, I carved a pumpkin at the dinner table. It was so small that it fit in the palm of our hands which made the girls doubt that it could be done. Not only were they surprised when the pumpkin adorned a cute little face, they were very surprised to see all of the seeds and pulp. All three girls have seen a larger pumpkin carved this week in their classrooms. It was fun to watch them discover the tiniest pumpkins have the same features as the larger pumpkins, just in a smaller format.

Here is our tiny masterpiece.

Pumpkin Patch

I went to the pumpkin patch with my oldest today.  It seems like the little girls have had ample opportunity to find their pumpkins for carving.  School seems to get in the way of this for Savannah.  So, instead of just buying one for her, we stopped by a local farm and picked one out.

It just so happened that this outing coincided with her classroom exploration of pumpkins.  Multiple pumpkins were brought into Savannah's classroom and the students collected data on their weight, circumference, and seed count.  It was fun to watch Savannah put her knowledge to work in the real world as she examined the pumpkin she picked out today.  Upon plopping it onto the scale, she noticed it was very close in weight to that of her school pumpkin.  This connection made her predict that there would be close to 500 seeds, the number she retrieved out of her 14 pound pumpkin at school.

While it was a nice school to world connection, it was also a nice mommy to daughter connection.  We had fun playing on the playground, checking out the farm animals and sampling the cider doughnuts.  Moments like these remind of how important it is to spend time with my kids individually.  It certainly gave Savannah an added boost today.

Glasses

Miss Adeline is going to start wearing glasses.  It doesn't thrill me, to say the least, but as it sinks in, I am becoming more and more comfortable with the idea.  Adeline has an eye that turns in toward her nose when she tries to focus on something near.  She has some farsightedness in the eye.  Her eye sight isn't terrible but it does make her strain to focus which tugs her eye inward.  According to the doctor, this is very common in the average population but preemies have a lower tolerance to the farsightedness.  Thus, lazy eyes are more common in the world of prematurity.  

Upon hearing the news, I immediately made a second opinion consult.  I feel that we saw the best of the best doctors.  Adeline's regular ophthalmologist is the chair of her department at DuPont and the second opinion came from a MD/Ph.D.  The two doctors differed in their approach.  Dr. Lehman from DuPont wanted to put Adeline in bifocals but Dr. Forbes from Chop opted for single vision lenses.  His opinion was that starting with the least amount of correction is better in the long run.  If single vision lenses fix the problem, Adeline will have the option of jumping into contacts at a young age.  Bifocals often become a dependency problem which is hard to wean from.  Contacts are out of the question if bifocals are in the picture.

So here we are.  At age four Miss Belle has to start wearing glasses.  It saddens me as it is just one more thing that sets her apart from the average population.  For a girl who has worked harder than any of us will ever know to try and fit under the "normal" bell curve, I feel that glasses is a set back.  Glasses, in conjunction with her raspy voice, orthotics, and developmental delays come together as a package that screams premature.  I never hide the girls' early birth but have always been very thankful that we look perfectly normal to the untrained eye.  I just hope glasses don't tip the scale in the other direction.

Leaf Hunt

We went on our annual leaf hunt today.  Despite all five of us being under the weather this week and the parents continuing to be so, we made our books and headed out.  It was a HOT fall day that almost did the parents in.  The kids didn't mind as they showed much enthusiasm about finding their perfect leaves.  I was thrilled that Adeline trekked through the park, found her leaves, and placed them on the appropriate pages without many sensory obstacles.  Just for the record, each girl was able to find a yellow, orange, red, green, brown, purple, big and little leaf. 

 

Along the way, we found a mammoth caterpillar that Adeline referred to as Baby Einstein.  The girls thoroughly enjoyed watching it move.  I must admit that it was pretty impressive.  Everyone was brave enough to touch it except for Daddy.


After nearly and an hour of hunting and exploring, we stopped by the playground to let the girls play. Whenever I watch my girls play from a distance, I am always amazed by the delight they take in one another. There is rarely any fighting. More often than not, they are calling for one another with huge smiles on their faces. They really adore one another. Just today, as we walked to the playground, Savannah mentioned how lucky she is to have her sisters and how much fun they are to be around. I doubt many seven year olds pause and reflect on their luck in the sibling department while walking into a playground. I know I am biased, but I rarely see kids get along with each other as well as our girls do. I think I am the lucky one!!

Nose in a Book

Today something happened.  It was a new sight.  It was a first. 

My big girl had her nose in a book all morning!  From the time she got dressed this morning, Savannah was sitting down and reading one of her Magic Tree House books.  She took the book with her this morning to read while her Daddy and I attended her parent-teacher conference.  She read while waiting for Adeline's doctor appointment.  She just kept reading. 

Before, she has read a few pages at a time to me.  Savannah as even read an entire chapter.  But never have I seen her pick up a book and read for no other reason than to just read.  Another change was that she was reading silently.  First grade teachers know how challenging it is to transition children from reading out loud during independent reading time to reading silently. 

I felt like a switch was flipped today.  Savannah matured in her reading.  She certainly looked like a big girl kicked back on the couch with her book in her hands.  This in conjunction with a glowing report from T. Connie, makes me more than proud.  Savannah continues to be the ideal student who functions above grade level with thoughtful and meticulous work habits. 

It is times like this that make me sit back and think that we are so lucky to be her parents.  It is such an easy and enjoyable job!

Potty Talk

Miss Lila seems to be my potty talk girl.  She giggles every time she hears the word poop and loves to laugh when she lets a little gas sneak out.  Recently, she came into her sister's room and pulled up her nightgown in order to show her big sister her - well, let's just call it her private area.  She quickly learned that it was a BIG NO NO!  It didn't help that Savannah was laughing her head off  but I am pretty confident I got the message across.

After feeling as though I am raising a boy with all of this potty talk and giggling, I was refreshed when Lila struck up the following conversation with me in the car today. 


L:  Mommy, I am not going to say potty talk anymore. 

Me:  Really, that makes me very happy.

L:  Yeah, I am not going to say poop and pee pee because it is potty talk Mommy.  I am not going  show anyone my __________ any more either.  It's not nice.

Me:  You're right, you don't show people your private parts.  Never ever!

L:  Mommy, I am just going to make you happy and not say potty talk.  I be a big girl now.

Me:  Good Lila Grace.  You are such a good girl.

L:  Yep I am.  (pause) Actually, potty talk is just a little funny. 

Clearly there is some inner struggle between making Mommy happy and giving into the hilarity of potty talk. 

A Little Blurb about Me

I rarely post about myself.  My world is my girls and would have nothing interesting to blog about if it weren't for them.  However, I do sneak in a few hours during the week for me.  Instead of shopping, resting, or cleaning, I workout.  I don't know if it is more for me or my girls.  I always say that working out makes me a better mommy.  It really does. 

This year, Alex and I signed up to do the Philly Marathon.  Actually, I am only doing a "halfer."  The marathon is fast approaching so I decided to give my self a trial run.  I signed up for a ten mile race that took place this weekend. 

Boy, was I nervous.  I didn't want to have anything to do with it when the day came.  Luckily, my friend Melissa talked me off the ledge just an hour before race time.  She reminded me that the only race I am running was my own.  She was right.  It didn't matter if I came in last.  One thing is for certain, I DON'T RUN FOR TIME!

As Alex and I approached the starting line, all I saw were real runners.  All skinny, long and lanky people!  It ended up being a good thing because everyone left me and I ran by myself most of the way.

I am proud to say that . . .

I ran the entire 10 miles. 

I didn't come in last. 

I averaged a sub-eleven minute mile (don't laugh, that is good for me). 


Before

The home stretch.

Backfire

My previous post about how my girls play together endlessly without fighting and bugging me backfired yesterday.  As I dosed on the couch, my girls decided to wreak havoc in their room.  Groggily, I opened my eyes a few times and noticed their clothing was different with each time.  I called up to them and reminded them that I don't want a mess and that they should leave their clothes alone.  I remember hearing a very enthusiastic, "Okay," and a "We aren't making a mess.  We just have a pile."  Well in my half asleep state, that didn't register as a red flag.  It wasn't until I walked into their room an hour later that I knew what they meant by pile.

Each dresser drawer was completely empty.

Putting the Fire Extinguisher to Bed

Alex has been driving around with a fire extinguisher on his lap. The Explorer  sprung a leak, a gas leak. While trying to find a way to avoid the purchase of a new car, Alex has had to drive to various mechanics to try and get the fuel line serviced. The consensus is that the car is too old, the part isn't manufactured anymore, and the part is unattainable. He was told to stop driving it and if he absolutely had to drive the car, make sure he had a fire extinguisher with him.  The news forced us to say goodbye to our little dumper and replace it with something new, at least new to us. It was hard to walk away from the car that brought every one of my girls home from the hospital. It was a dump of a car, but it held a warm place in our hearts.

Savannah being loaded into the Explorer

Lila Grace, strapped in the car for the first time.

Adeline settled into the Explorer for her first car ride.

One thing I learned after looking at way too many SUV's, is that the minivan has it all figured out.  Everything just works in a van.  It was meant to carry children.  What I don't understand is why the large SUV's  (which are 8 passenger) haven't figured out some of the minivan's conveniences.  Like, why don't they have cup holders that you can reach while strapped into a car seat?  Where is the mommy mirror?  Why does changing a DVD have to be a major production?  And what about the cargo space?  Seriously, shouldn't a SUV be able to carry more than a van?  SUV's are large, but they just don't have the flow of a van.  We ended up buying one of the big SUV gas guzzlers but each time I drive it, I find one more thing that it doesn't have.  Yep, I like my swagger wagon. . .

Going to the Station

As I have mentioned before, the twins just play, play, play, together.  There is rarely fighting or checking in with me.  After school, the girls come home and eat lunch quickly so that they can get their playtime started.  Once down from lunch, they disappear into their make believe world.  There are days that I can't break it up for nap time.  It is just too precious and sweet.  This play is unique and is rooted in the twins' special bond.  Having twins is really paying off now.

Lately, the girls are always pushing a stroller or shopping cart, or pulling a wagon.  They are always packing for a trip which typically involves going to the train station.  We are mildly obsessed with trains in this house.  Savannah loved them, Adeline lives for them, and Lila has decided that being for them is much more fun than being against them.  We are members of a train museum and ride the Santa train annually.  Trains are a part of our life.

The girls will play this game for hours.  They will ride to and from the station, take naps along the way, catch a boat in between, and sneak in some time for a little mommy/baby role play.  They leave me completely alone!  Shh. . . don't tell them I said so because it will jinx it.  I remember when I couldn't go to the bathroom without someone crying and forget making dinner.  It had to be done during nap time.  Just last night I told Alex that I kind of miss the little girls.  It seems that they like spending time with each other more than they like spending time with me.


Lately, I feel that we haven't had any real family unit time.  I have also heard Adeline ask me over and over again if she can ride our local rail line that she sees daily.  She is convinced it is Geo from GeoTrax.  Finally, it dawned on me.  Why don't we hop the local rail and ride it down a few stops?  And so we did it last night.  We hopped the train to Paoli where we had nice dinner with Charlotte and her family (minus her mommy).  After dinner, we experienced waiting for the train in the dark which was very exciting.  Adeline didn't want to get off once back at our local stop.  She would prefer to live her life on a train. 

Working Together

The little girls have become best of friends over the past couple of months.  It really warms my heart and makes life much nicer around the house.  Just this morning, I heard them getting down a puzzle that they have never put together before.  They were very resourceful as they pulled the bean bag up to the closet and scaled the shelves to get to it.  I assumed that they would start arguing and grabbing pieces because they have never worked on the same puzzle before without adult supervision. 

Adeline and Lila amazed me.  They took turns, worked on different parts and completed the puzzle with only encouraging words for one another.  I was pleased with their behavior and that they had the skill to complete it too.  The puzzle wasn't complete for more than two seconds because the girls immediately tore it apart.  What they did next blew me away.  They carefully put all of the pieces into the box and walked over to the closet. Then Lila said this. . ."Okay Adeline, which puzzle do you want?  It is your turn to choose."

Ahh, music to my ears and it was a mere 8:00 a.m.  I wish every morning could start like this.

Spread Across Four Different Schools

When you have three children spread across four different schools, you might find yourself in my shoes.  For example, when your four year old is studying a new letter each week, you may take a picture of Lila holding LEAVES to serve as her picture of something that starts with L. 

When you come and pick your child up you might glance at the alphabet tree and notice a helicopter hanging right beside Lila's picture.  You might look a bit harder and notice a hamburger, hammock, and Haunted House.  Then you might feel like a complete idiot because you did the the letter L when it was supposed be H!

I can't keep up.  I did find it amusing that Lila's teacher was able to turn Lila holding leaves into Happy Lila for their H alphabet tree.

And the Hard Work Pays Off!

 (Miss Belle working on her smile)

I had the opportunity to chaperon Adeline's class field trip to Milky Way Farm today.  I signed up because I knew that I had to be there if Adeline was going.  I couldn't expect her teacher to deal with her sensory issues while herding 13 other kids around the farm.  One never knows how Adeline will handle situations such as this.  Today, I just crossed my fingers and put on my patience hat.  The rest was out of my control.

When we arrived, I realized that three other preschool classes were joining us.  It was controlled chaos, but chaos no less.  I was pleased to see that Adeline knew who her classmates were and naturally gravitated toward them.  Since Miss Belle is spread across two different schools and has missed numerous days of school already, I fear that she doesn't know the kids in her classes.  Apparently, this fear is unfounded.

Soon we were moving toward the barn.  While walking into the barn, Adeline had to walk by a large tractor that was sitting in the very dark entry way.  To put this in perspective, part of her Hippotherapy session is to ride past a tractor and touch it.  Can I just say that Adeline really dislikes tractors!  She loves them from the safety of her car but being up close to one makes her panic.  Well, Miss Belle walked by that tractor today.  Her pace quickened and her grip tightened but she walked past it in such a normal fashion that no one knew how difficult it was for her.

Once in the barn, we were surrounded by flies.  They were every where.  There was also a cow that was very close to all of the children.  Adeline demanded that I hold her hand but I was able to pawn her off on her friend Lauren for some hand holding which worked.  I was pretty sure that Adeline was pushed to her limits by the flies and the moving cow and straw underfoot.  At this point, I was confident that all of her energy was put into just being in that barn.  I was wrong!  Adeline was listening and was answering questions.  In fact, she was the first one to answer, "What do cows eat?"  I just have to say it again.  Adeline was the FIRST response!  Her voice was quiet and went unheard (she suffers from the raspy preemie voice), especially since all the other kids were chiming in right behind her, but she answered first.  I was so proud.  In the middle of a very challenging sensory experience, Adeline was still on her game.  I was amazed.

Next we moved into the room with the robotic milker.  Again, noisy machines throw my little girl off of her game.  But. . . she held it together and fit in with the group.  No one would have know that she was initially terrified of the monstrous machine on the other side of the glass.

We moved on to the other animals.  Adeline pet a chicken, goat and calf.  She navigated very rough terrain and continued to battle bees and flies along the way.  Miss Belle didn't let me leave her side but she walked the entire way.  If we would have been anywhere other than with her classmates, she would have begged me to hold her.  Thank goodness for peer pressure.

The day ended with a hayride.  And what pulled the large carts covered in hay?  A big and noisy tractor.  Not to worry.  Adeline climbed up the steps and sat on the hay.  I wanted to take a moment and point to all around how brave my little girl was being but, instead, swelled with pride quietly on the inside.  Seriously, Savannah doesn't even like hayrides because of all the poky hay.   To the contrary, my Adeline put a smile on her face and enjoyed her ride.  The tractor took us to the pumpkin patch which was one too many battles for Adeline.  Walking over thick vines with bugs and leaves biting at your legs, wasn't Adeline's idea of fun.  She solved the problem by quickly choosing a pumpkin.  It wouldn't have surprised me if she didn't step foot in the pumpkin patch.  She didn't like it but she completed the task that was expected of her. 

So once again, my little Belle takes the high road.  She overcomes her sensory fears (which are VERY real) and finds a way to enjoy herself.  As we drove home, I couldn't help but think that all of the hard work is paying off.  I remember when Adeline was one, her occupational therapist would make her touch a certain ball that she couldn't stand.  Soon after, she was forced to have part of her sessions sitting in grass.  When she could walk, multiple therapists would incorporate walking in grass and many other sensory noxious experiences into each session.  Adeline would fight it every time but always powered through in the end.

I am so pleased to report that it is working.  Therapy works.  It becomes a way of life.  Four years down the road of prematurity and my little girl is touring a farm with very little additional support.  This is the same girl who would not touch grass for the first two years of her life.  Her brain is being retrained and Adeline's coping skills are getting better each day.  I can't imagine where we would be if we didn't meet this head on when she was released from NICU.

Adeline Belle - I am so proud of you baby girl!  You make my heart sing!  You make me want to work harder, be better, and complain less.