How Does Your Garden Grow?

Since it looks like we will live in this house through the summer, I decided the kids and I should start a garden. It is more for the process than the produce but I would love to be able to eat a few of the veggies. We will see how green our thumbs are.

The girls and I went to Walmart last night and picked out some seeds. It was very hard for the girls to ignore the flowers and focus on produce so we compromised and did a little of both.

Today, Savannah and I started the seeds inside. She helped plan and organize the mini green house with her idea of rows. She had a lot of fun discovering the differences in seeds.

Because no project that lends itself to science would be complete without a journal, I had Savannah start a Seed Journal. We picked four of our seeds to sprout in a clear bag so that she can see the differences in the roots and sprouts. Much harder to ascertain when in soil. I had her draw her hypothesis and she is currently at my side asking me what we can do next. I guess waiting for the seeds to grow is too much for her. This will not only be a science lesson but a lesson in patience as well.

Where does she come up with this?

As I was uploading the pictures of Adeline for the previous post, Savannah sat beside me looking through an album I put together while in graduate school. She asked how old I was and I told her around 21. She responds, "Wow, so that was the first time you drank beer huh?" Of course my response was, "Yes," just like any good mother would say.

Miss Bellie Belle

I never thought Adeline would look normal and certainly not cute. I stand corrected!!!

Art Work

I never understood the magic of children's artwork until the children became my own. I have always appreciated the talent, patience and creativity but never have I had a simple drawing take my breath away and well my eyes with tears. This picture did. Savannah will never know what a magical moment it was when she handed me a picture of me and her daddy on our wedding day.



These other two pieces have made me stop in my tracks with warm fuzzies from my head to my toes. The first is self portrait that Savannah drew for her sisters. "Just so that they remember what I look like and don't miss me when I am not with them." The second is portrait she drew of me. She loves to draw me over and over again. It is magical to be loved by someone so much that they want to create you on paper over and over again. I guess I should also mention that I think she is pretty darn talented to. You should see the book (chapter book she would tell you) she is writing and illustrating about protecting our environment. She amazes me each and ever day!

A Weekend as a Family Unit

We were able to enjoy a wonderful weekend as a family of five. Daddy had very little work which allowed him out of the desk shackles. We had no plans other than to just be together as a family.

One of the most exciting events of the weekend was Savannah's first piano lesson. I was so proud watching her listen and learn her way through the keys. We bought her a timer to set for 10 minutes of practice time each day. Each time it beeps, she is clearly disappointed that practice time is done. We will see how long this continues.

Friday night ended with a cul-de-sac get together. Before heading over, we discovered that all three girls love quesedilla with taco meat. It is always fun to start the night off with a fuss free dinner. Soon after, we threw together a tray of nachos and headed out. Good friends, a couple of beers and kids playing with other kids is my idea of a nice evening. This was the cul-de-sac's first emergence since last fall and it was very nice to see how delighted the kids were to play with one another. The twins have made a lot of headway as they were pretty independent and self entertained by all of the the other children. That is, when they weren't hovering over the nachos and eating them down to crumbs. Do I dare start to think that I will soon be that parent sitting in a chair socializing instead of constantly being needed by my children????

On Saturday we headed out to Strausburg, PA to visit the train museum. This museum has everything my kids need to stay entertained. There is a huge play room that is flanked with model trains of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Hands on Lego, Thomas, Geo Track, and Kinex displays kept everyone entertained for at least an hour and a half. Just when everyone got antsy, we headed out to see the real trains. Translation. . . very wide open spaces to run, rocks for Lila Grace to hold and stairs for all to climb. We had a wonderful time. It was nice to fully invest in our kids without the temptation of multitasking.

Lila was utterly fascinated by the ball loader/dumper

Savannah spent quite a bit of time constructing a train out of legos

We put it on the test track and worked!









After lunch at Target and a 45 minute ride home, it was already 3:30. I had to work and Alex had a lot to get done after the girls went down for the night. For the first time in the twins' two and a half years of life, they were allowed to skip their naps! This was done in order to get them down super early so Daddy could get to work. Daddy reported a little fussiness at the end of the day but all in all they were pretty good for not taking their usual three hour daytime snooze. The reward, 13 hours of sleep and wake up time of 8:30! Yes, that is an hour later than usual and I was happy to snooze a little longer myself.

Today was beautiful. It was warm and humid. The girls played outside while we worked in the yard. They were covered in dirt and I was happy to see it. I guess spring is making its way into this section of the country.

During today's naps, Savannah and I made a little craft that I thought was pretty darn cute. I got it out of Family Fun and think it is well worth the time required. During this time, Daddy finished up his first home improvement project in well over a year. We took Savannah's closet and made it more reachable and spacious. She loves it and I am thrilled to have the toys up off of the floor. Since we have been in limbo land for over a year now, it is hard to do anything in the house. I guess we are breaking down and making our house a home again since no one seems to be looking to buy.


That is our weekend in a nutshell. Most likely a bit boring to read but for me it was worth documenting. I am always thankful for weekends like this. Kids, few plans and beautiful weather. Why does Monday come so soon?


I have to end this post with a video of Adeline at the museum. She was pushing a button to make the model train go but couldn't hold it down. Thus, the train inched along. This really shows her perseverance. I know I would have given up at the third or forth push.

Tubes and Stints

The beginning of the day






Today both girls headed into the OR. Lila Grace had her tubes replaced and Adeline had her tear ducts reopened by stints backed by a fresh set of tubes. We knew it was going to be a long days since both the these surgeries were a repeat from a year ago. Unfortunately, this year we were slotted for 2:30 OR visits which meant the girls had to go nearly 12 hours without eating and 5 hours without drinking. Fun Fun!!

We started the day at 5:00 a.m. and woke both girls to give them Pediasure in a bottle. It seems to stick in the stomach longer than milk. Both girls took the bottles and rolled over until 7:45. They didn't complain about not having bottles in the morning (Adeline still starts her day with a bottle of Pediasure and Lila a bottle of milk to make things fair). We skipped breakfast and then started our busy morning. Adeline headed off to with me to drop Savannah at school and then to the gym. Lila stayed behind with Miss Kathy for speech therapy. Lila drank her way through the morning which kept her content. I thought is would be much more of a battle. We packed up all three girls at 11:45 and headed down to duPont.

The girls got a half an hour of playground time before going inside. Once in the pre-op waiting room we waited and waited while Lila continued to beg for drinks. The girls were entertained momentarily by some of the play structures they had but it was a long wait nonetheless.



Finally we were taken back but only to wait another hour or so in the pre-surgical holding area. One bed and a curtain for our family of five. Nap time was upon us and the girls were hungry. Adeline held it together (our non-eater and non-sleeper if need be) but Lila was clearly fed up.


We handed Adeline off to the nurses after hugs and kisses. It was enjoyable watching her separate so easily. This left us with very difficult and very tired Lila Grace. It was all I could do to keep her from screaming. The tv wasn't cutting it and all she wanted to do was run around the room naked!


Finally at 4:15 (nearly two hours late) Lila was ready to go. She screamed and kicked her way into the OR due to our choice of not using the Versed sedative. I figure the less meds the better. I guess she was quite a bear as the post-op nurse had already heard about her feisty nature.

Immediately after handing Lila off we were headed to post-op to watch Adeline regain consciousness. She was out! Soon little sister was wheeled in next to her and all was quiet for about five minutes. During the removal of Lila's IV, Lila shot up to a sitting position and started screaming. Talk about an abrupt "coming to." She laid in my arms and screamed for thirty minutes in between bites of a Popsicle and drinks of juice. Savannah was trying everything she could to sooth her. She asked the nurses for kitty and Ernie stickers. She brought her the IPod that had Elmo shows. Nothing worked. It was clear she was ready for discharge so we went to see the train display and she was magically better - running around and singing. Who knew that was all she needed?



Adeline took longer than expected to come off the O's. She was dipping below a 90% saturation which kept us there until 6:00 p.m. She was pretty lifeless and when we were discharged but had finally taken a bottle and brought her sats up to 96%.

Both girls came home and devoured some Cheerios. All three girls were down by 7:45 pm which is record timing in this house. It was a long day but a necessary one. I am glad we got both girls knocked out at once. I would hate to go back for a repeat.

The end of the day

Processing

It has been awhile since I have updated Adeline's development. I know that many times I sneak in the word processing to describe what contributes to her deficits. Of course, I feel as though her processing issues are almost tangible even though processing is a quite yet complex task of the brain.

Adeline is no doubt a bright little girl. We are quite surprised that she knows all that she does. However, she is often unable to access her understanding or knowledge that is needed for the task at hand. Adeline is overwhelmed by her environment. She finds it extremely difficult to multitask which causes her to give everything of interest her undivided attention. This is only true until something else catches and receives that attention. For example, I may be doing a puzzle with Adeline while an airplane flies over our house. She freezes and points out the window saying, "Airplane, up high in the sky," over and over again until the airplane leaves. It doesn't matter that I am trying to refocus her back to the puzzle and using hand over hand to help her get the puzzle in. Another example that we see all too often is when we ask Adeline to go and get something like her coat. She will walk to the mud room but is distracted by the car on the floor and sits down to play with it instead of carrying out the task. I have to remind her two or three times for her to redirect her attention to her coat. You might think that this is typical two year old behavior but when observing Adeline during one of the above examples you will see that she doesn't have the ability to keep on task no matter how motivated she is.

Another area of processing that is difficult of her is speech. When asked to repeat something or answer a question that involves multiple syllables or words, Adeline often can't. Her lips quiver, her eyes reflect concentration but her brain won't give her the support she needs for her output. Information goes in but it seems to get scrambled or lost. I don't feel that any of the above reflects a cognitive deficit. I do feel as though she is delayed partially due to her brain not holding information in a typical fashion.

I don't feel like I am making any sense here but processing is pretty hard to describe. I have a video of Adeline trying to hopscotch. She is highly motivated to try and jump down the squares and is often quite proud when she finishes. In the video I ask her jump jump again but she is distracted by the star she sees. She is then distracted by doors and points out the door by the stairs and then our front door. Next, the overhead light catches her eye and she begins labeling that instead of turning around and jumping. Eventually, I bring her attention back to me and remind her to jump jump and she happily does. She wanted to jump the entire time but couldn't tune out the distractions in her environment and hold the task in her head long enough to complete it. She reminds me of Robin William's HBO special when he is speaking of George Bush and his distraction during a public address when he sees a kitty. Of course the HBO special is pretty funny but watching Adeline struggle with her focus is not.

I must mention that we don't have a video camera that works at the moment so I was using our SLR. I can't follow Adeline around when recording because it won't refocus in the process. I hope the video helps you wrap your head around some of Adeline's struggles.