Catching Up

It seems like our life has been a whirlwind ever since we got back from Washington. The girls have celebrated a birthday, everyone started back to school - two of which are in new schools, we had an earthquake, a hurricane and rumor of tornadoes. In an attempt to catch up, here are some snippets of our life leading up to today. I'm still working on the twins' birthday.

Adeline is on her seventh round of orthotics. She has graduated from the Sure Steps that run up and around her ankles to regular flat PattiBob inserts that are worn inside her shoe. No one knows she has them and they seem to do the trick. Adeline is much less of a toe walker when she is wearing them. Of course, that means she has to wear her sneakers and when it is hot outside, that is a problem. It is also a problem when she wants to wear sneakers likes this! The girl loves her rainbows and big flashy lights make these even more desireable. She was too cute running around Nordstrom and banging the shoes together while telling anyone who would listen, "Look my shoes light up." I could tell she had suckered her Daddy so I gave in and let her have them. The lights are like LED lights and can potentially blind a person.. They can light up a room. Her poor teachers.

She is also back in night time stretching braces. Her heel chords are tight again and she has limited flexibility in her ankles and calves.  This will always be true for her but any increased range of motion we can give her, the better.  Just a little gift of prematurity.

She loves the idea of these braces and was thrilled to pick out her pattern and strap color. Can you guess what color they are? Blue of course. No pretty butterflies and pink straps anymore. Adeline is choosing. Blue, well not just blue.  Blue on blue!

Can you tell which ones I have chosen and which pair was designed by Adeline?

It is important to stretch out Adeline's heel cords but the process has been painful. Adeline asks to put on her braces each night, but each nights spends hours crying in her sleep. We haven't even gotten to the point where they are tight and holding the foot at a 90 degree angle. This has got to change.

Next up. . . Irene. Hurricane Irene shut things down for us last weekend. I never watch TV and wasn't tuning into the news. I did know that a Hurricane was on its way but because I wasn't tuned in, I didn't take things too seriously. I needed to run some errands a couple days before and you would have thought the world was running out of water, gas and food. I just needed Trader Joe's yogurt. Lucky me, panicked shoppers were elsewhere and I was able to manage with my two little helpers. I never take them into TJ's but today I had no choice. While I think the little shopping carts are cute, the other shoppers have to get tired of little kids taking their feet off at the ankles. I struggled letting both girls have their own cart but I must say, I enjoyed not carrying a heavy basket full of yogurt. 

Saturday, we moved everything that Irene could possibly damage into the garage and made a nice cozy vantage point from which to watch the storm. Unfortunately, the storm didn't come until way after dark.

We lost power immediately which woke all three girls. Adeline and Lila are terrified of thunderstorms which are minor compared to the loud winds we experienced. With a tornado warning in place and very tender girls on our laps, we decided to set the tent up in the basement in order to coerce the girls down into the basement for a quieter night's sleep. We finally got their buy in and set up an eight man tent by candle light. We woke up to very little damage and a dry basement; something many of the neighbors didn't have. We were lucky. Our power stayed off for the next couple days but we can't really complain. Irene was more of a camping adventure than anything else.

Finally. . . cute moments in time. Savannah got to go school supply shopping for the first time. She was very excited about this. Her old school provided all of her supplies so picking out pencils and erasers was a very big deal. I took her out one night, just the two of us. We had a great time. She is such a good girl - respectful, appreciative and mature. I love her to the moon and back and love it when we carve time out for just the two of us. She makes my heart sing. Here are her prized supplies. She used some handmade paper from her Japanese unit in first grade to decorate her new binder. 

I woke up to find this yesterday morning. My anxious-to-go-to-school-girlies are rising pretty early and when told to go back to bed, they decided to make good use of their time. I love it.

Adeline threw this duck down from upstairs and said, "Now that is pretty weird!" Followed by an under her breath, "A duck with _____________________!" Can you fill in the blank?

That would be, "A duck with four feet!" She would be the one to notice. Alex and I have seen this duck lying around for at least a year and never thought anything of it.

My final cute snippet is a video clip. Lila and I had some special one on one time yesterday. Our goal was to find her some school shoes that fit her annoying narrow feet. She stopped to dance in front of one of the stores that has a stage like structure. This girl can't wait to grow up and be a singer but dancing isn't far behind.  She sings more words than she speaks and she dances as a form of locomotion.