A Run Through History

This past weekend was predominately centered on a 13.1 mile run through Washington DC.  After a not so stellar half marathon in Philly last November, I quickly registered for the National Half Marathon in hopes of a better knee and ultimately, a better time.  Alex hopped on board and got my friend, Natalie, on the running train as well.  There was no turning back.

Natalie and I trained together via text.  Since hundreds of miles separate us, we held each other accountable with quick text messages.  We encouraged each other, whined together and, eventually found that pounding the pavement was the only answer.  I was plagued with kneed injuries and Natalie with unbearable shin splints.  Can you say, “Getting older?”  We pushed through the pain and were determined to this.

Race day finally came – thank goodness.  I was so done with running!!  The weather was bitter and we were fearful of rain.  Luckily, it ended up being blue skies.  Our bodies seemed to stay warm with the help of adrenaline.  Twenty minutes after the first runner crossed the start line, Natalie, Alex and I joined them – takes a long time to get 15,000 runners through a bottle neck start line.  Alex and I decided to run together while Nat did her own thing.

Run I did.  For the record, I ran faster than I ever have.  At 7 miles in I was just a tad over a 9 minute mile.  I was running all out because I knew that my knee would eventually pull me down.  We passed the Capital, the White House and Washington Monument.  It was beautiful.  I was on a high.  Of course all good things must come to an end.  By mile 8 I had to stop and stretch my knee and by mile 11 I was limp running while my knee was seething in pain.  A quarter of a mile later something snapped in my knee and I couldn’t take another step.  That would have been it for me had I been by myself.  Luckily, Alex was there and I felt with his help I could gimp the last 1.75.  It was a LONG ways.  I couldn’t go any faster than a sideways shuffle and was very frustrated that I couldn’t bring it home to the finish line.  Instead, I hobbled to the end.  Even with a sideways shuffle, we finished in two and half hours.  If you take out the time I was standing on the side of the road dealing with my knee, we had a time of 2 hours 21 minutes.  Not bad for this non-runner who was forced to walk the last two miles.

Once across the finish we waited for Natalie to cross.  I don’t know what was better.  Watching her cross or knowing that I ran under a ten minute mile – while I was actually running and not hobbling.  We left all we had on the streets of DC and are really proud of it.  It was nice to share the experience with a friend and extremely nice to run beside my husband for the first time.

We were only able to do all of this because our good friends, who live in DC, were willing to be gracious hosts and babysitters.  Not only did they watch our kids but Steve grilled up the most fantastic steaks for a post run dinner.  We had an adult dinner in the dining room while EIGHT children left us alone.  That alone is an amazing accomplishment. 

What a weekend!!

Here are a few pics from the rest of our trip - taken with my phone so not so great.


The girls with the Capital in the background

 In the Natural History Smithsonian.  Little Miss Adeline loved the giraffe and disliked the rest.  Too scary.

 The Smithsonian Castle

Here are the eight lovely children that played quietly while the adults dined and visited. Ahhh, we are finally getting there!

Questions

Lila:  Mommy do we say, "Oh my gosh or oh my goodness."

Me:  Oh my goodness.

L:  Why?  Do people not like oh my gosh?

M:  It makes Jesus sad.

L:  Oh.  Jesus is up in heaven?

Adeline:  Yes Lila, he isn't a baby anymore!

L:  Is it dark up there?

A:  No there is a light bulb!

Special Night Out with Daddy

We try to find time to take each girl out individually for some quality Mommy and/or Daddy time.  It is important to shower them with our love in the absence of their sisters.  Just recently, it was Lila's turn.  A couple weeks back we decided to purchase Elmo Live tickets for Lila and Daddy.  To put a new spin on the outing, we purchased tickets for Lila's good friend and her daddy too.  It was a double date!  I am trying to pay more attention to friendships and play dates for the little ones now that they are nearing Kindergarten age.  This was a perfect opportunity. 

Unfortunately, Lila's friend and daddy backed out which left Alex and Lila with two spare tickets.  As many of you know by now, Lila has an affinity for Ernie.  While most children of this age are growing out of Sesame Street, my Lila is not.  This left us with few options when trying to decide who else to invite.  Then, much to our surprise, Adeline piped up with a, "I want to go.  I like Elmo.  Lila, I go with you?  It will be fun Lila!"  Well that decided it.  Lila's special night out was going to include Adeline.  Luckily, the two get along so well that having the other in tow  just makes times like these more fun.  We will have to find another opportunity for the undivided attention piece.

The girls had a great time with their daddy.  Later that evening, I heard them burst through the door.  Two very smiley faces proceeded to tell me how funny it was when Ernie played his horn and Bert fell down.  In their hands, they held tight to very large Elmo balloons that cost Daddy $20.00 and 20 minutes of standing in line at the ATM machine. 

Here are a couple of pictures before the show and some during.  Although we can't check off a special night out with just Lila or Lila and a friend, I think we succeeded in making Lila feel special.  While Ernie didn't have a strong presence in the show, it was enough.  It doesn't take much to please these two and a special night out with Daddy will always do the trick. 

75 Degrees and Winning Me Over

Usaully I am pretty pumped to spring our clocks ahead.  This year was different for some reason.  I found myself enjoying the dark and quiet our winter nights had to offer.  We ate dinners early and then settled into some of our best family time.  With no distractions or lingering around outside, we were one as a family.  We conversed over dinner and even found ourselves still talking after the food had long since been cleared.  I had ample opportunity to reinforce the girls' therapies and also found the time to hang with my big girl.  There was just something about the dark descending early which made us hunker down and really enjoy each other.

Last weekend, when we lost our dark and quiet nights, I could only think of missed bedtimes, tired girls, and divided time with friends in the cul-de-sac.  Of course, outside time with neighbors has huge value but I just wasn't ready to share my kiddos yet.

Today, it was 75 degrees.  Today, all three of my girls were home.  Today, we rode bikes, played on the playground, and were outside as a family until 7:00 p.m.  It wasn't so bad.  In fact, it was pretty great.  Sure enough, dinner was late and the kids weren't in bed until close to 10:00 p.m. but it is Friday.  Who's counting.

In the end we are going to trade our quiet and punctual nights for days like this.

Here is a run down of our day in pictures.

Miss Savannah is on spring break which allowed for some special Mommy and Savannah time at Longwood Gardens.  Spring was certainly in the air!

Lila Grace had her first official playdate. Official meaning that I don't know the family which indicates the friendship was formed on her own accord. Here she is with her special friend from school.

It was so hot on the deck that we had to get the water table out. That resulted in the girls setting up a pretend party with dishes full of water.

Once we were officially soaked, Savannah and Adeline snuggled up for some special reading time.

Of course there were many more moments but those weren't caught on film. I did manage to take a picture of my absolute dream child (we are still holding our breath to see if this new disposition is going to stick) snuggled up with me on the couch. She is so funny.

I Talk Like Savannah Now

I have mentioned before that Lila Grace understands that she has difficulty trying to express herself.  That expressive language delay still plagues my little girl and gets her very hung up at times.  When trying to retell a story that I know she knows, Lila often finds herself pausing for long periods which end in one or two word phrases.  I don't know what it is that causes the glitch but know that it stems from her prematurity.  Once I cue her with a few of the words I believe she is searching for, her language explodes.  She is then able to tell me much of what she couldn't just a few seconds before.

Just recently, Miss Lila has come up to me with a very big smile and said, "I talk like Savannah now!"  "I am a big girl now!"  I guess her expressive language isn't as labored or at least doesn't feel that way to her.  I haven't seen a huge difference but I am hopeful that an expressive langauge explosion is in our near future.  It is very hard to watch my kid struggle with words when I know that SHE knows she is struggling.

Reading Readiness Emerges

Adeline is always the one that ends up knocking my socks off in the academic department.  It isn't that my other girls aren't bright or that Adeline can out perform them.  While my other two girls fall right where I expect them to be, Adeline continues to rise above the expectations I have set for her.

A couple nights ago we were looking at pictures of helicopters in different colors.  Each helicopter had the color word written underneath it.  As we moved across the page, I asked Adeline what letter each color word started with and she answered correctly.  When I turned the page we found a color by number activity that had each color word written in black.  I don't know why I did this but I asked Adeline to read the words to me and. . . she did!  I was pretty impressed.  I repeated it and found the same outcome.  Savannah was so impressed that she quickly made some color word flash cards for Adeline which included the color words we had just covered and couple more.  She threw in pink to try to trick her because the set included purple as well.  I went over them twice with Adeline and she got most of them the first time and then all of them second.  I was astounded.  It was obvious that she was looking at the words, their letters and then thinking of those letter sounds when reading the words like green and gray or blue and brown.

Here is a clip of her third time through the cards.  The last card is brown and Adeline begins to sound it out with a bl blend but then corrects herself with a br blend and proceeds to say "brown."  Savannah misunderstands and thinks she says blue.  Please excuse Lila's piano playing in the background.

By the way, she got them all right the next morning.  It is reproducible which makes Alex and I scratch our head in wonder.

Lila is Swimming with Big Arms!

We started swim lessons in order to kill two birds with one stone. Since Lila was showing opposition when moving to the deeper end of pools even when being held and was not receiving any physical therapy, I figured a private swim lesson with Miss Trish was the perfect fit.

Miss Lila resisted these lessons. They are intense as the child is moving the majority of the 30 minute lesson. Lila was forced to hang onto the floating bar and kick the length of pool, go under water and float on her back. None of which she liked. Eventually, something clicked. I finally felt that we were not just covering the PT piece but also learning to swim.

Lila's last and final session of lessons was a soaring success. Miss Lila put her brave face on and learned to swim with her big arms. She puts her face in the water and appears to be a bit of a power house when watching her stroke. Maybe she will follow in her daddy's footsteps?

Alex and I attended Lila's last lesson in order to show her how proud we are of her success. She kicked it in high gear for us and started taking breaths while continuing on with her stroke. It wasn't pretty and still needs probably a year's worth of work to perfect, but it was progress and bravery. We are very proud!

Here is a clip of Lila Grace swimming back and forth to her teacher Miss Trish before taking breaths clicked. She is definitely tired in this one as her arms aren't moving as quickly or as high but it took a minute to get my camera.

Giraffeeee

That's how Miss Adeline says it.  She loves them and has acquired a few too many over the years.  These are just the ones within reach when sitting on her bedroom floor.

Lila needed a giraffe to take to school because they are studying the letter G.  Adeline was glad to let her pick one from her collection.

My Not So Sporty Girl Tries Basketball

Savannah has a long history of not wanting to play sports.  She isn't 100% against them but, clearly, has had zero desire to get her feet wet on any sort of court or field.  Elementary school and maturity has magically changed this attitude over the past couple of months.  While Savannah doesn't ask to play soccer or any form of baseball, she has jumped into tennis and LOVES it.  Of course this is most likely a result of a heavy mommy influence as I love the sport and try to get myself to clinic on a weekly basis.  Tennis has helped boost Savannah's confidence which made her willing to try a basketball clinic (something I wanted her to do in order to get some ball skills under her belt for future gym classes.  I don't want her to be the LAST one picked on the play ground etc. )

Today was her first day.  To appreciate this step forward, I should note that Savannah doesn't ever play with a basketball and has no understanding of the game.  Alex and I are convinced that she doesn't have the capability to be competitive.  Let's just say that "natural" isn't a term one would use when Miss Savannah shows up to play.  She is sweet, attentive, and respectful in her play.  It is almost a breath of fresh air when watching other kids hog the balls with their over inflated view of their ability on the court.

Savannah's clinic was INTENSE.  I thought I was in high school basketball practice.  The coach commanded respect, expected way more than the girls could produce, and threw them all into a game situation after an hour of drills.  Savannah was one of the youngest and least experienced players.  I thought she wouldn't be back.  To top it off, the coach had them running lines until the girls were begging for drink with rosy, red cheeks.  I believe this is the first time Savannah has really worked out.  Gym class at school doesn't come close to what these girls did for two hours.  Miss Savannah was hanging on me when we left and complaining of tired legs.  I thought it was great!


Here are a couple of drill clips. Savannah is in the pink shirt.

 

My girl hung with the big kids.  She got in there and played the game even though she didn't know what I meant when I told her to guard her man.  "What man, where is a man? I only see girls!"  There were big time ball hogs.  She was only passed the ball twice but she didn't panic.  She dribbled toward the basket and, well instead of shooting, kept dribbling to the top of the key.  She is pretty frustrated that she forgot to shoot!  Baby steps. . .

Africa Money

Over the past year, we have been supporting three children from Senegal.  Our church partnered with World Vision in effort to adopt 450 children spread over three communities in this country.  This, in conjunction with Savannah's study of Africa in Kindergarten, prompted her to save every last cent for Africa.  She has done a pretty good job.  As of late, she is up to $100.00.  Frequently, she asks me, "How am I going to pay my money to Africa?"  Good question.  We have our monthly support debited from our Visa so there is no tangible evidence or model to show our children.  We can't pack up Savannah's large zip lock bag of money and send it to the child we sponsor in her name.  We are discouraged from sending large care packages too. 

Finally, Savannah got her break.  We walked into church on Sunday and saw that there was an area allocated for school supplies.  After further investigation, I realized that there was a school supply list passed out over the last two Sundays (we were not there).  These supplies were going to be physically delivered to a new school in Senegal by a team from our church.  I quickly grabbed a list off the table and once church was over, offered Savannah the opportunity to use her money to buy supplies needed for the school.  She was thrilled.  Off we went to buy paper, scissors, chalk and many more supplies our children take for granted.  My big girl spent $22.26 and was thrilled to do so.  The same scissors that Savannah held in her hands will soon be held in the hands of the children she has longed to help in Africa.

We can't wait for the next opportunity for her to spend the remaining $80.00.  I am so grateful for her selfless heart and compassion.  It continues to push me to be a better person.