A Girl and Her Balloon

The first balloon

Lila Grace has recently adopted a fascination of balloons. Her particular, borderline obsessive behavior is perfectly demonstrated by her love of balloons. One day, I took just Lila to the store. What a treat that was. She asked for a balloon and I gladly obliged. I didn't know at the time that she was going to hold that balloon for EIGHT hours. She quietly sat in the cart holding the string with both hands as if it were a bouquet of flowers. When arriving home, she continued to hold tight to her balloon and even ate with it in one hand. It was a bit tricky when putting her down for a nap. She flipped her lid when I took the balloon away. Not her typical orneriness but hysterical - something is very wrong in my world - cry. It has became obvious that she was terrified that her balloon was going to float away. I ended up letting her sleep with the balloon and checked on her a few times to ensure it wouldn't become tangled around her body. When she woke up, she was in the same position and still holding that darn balloon.

That night we decided to go to Costco and, of course, the balloon came too. Unfortunately, Daddy didn't anchor it and it slipped through Lila's fingers just as I looked up. We all watched it float away and suffered through Lila's heartbroken screams. Thankfully, Costco was pushing the Children's Miracle Network with balloons and only by the grace of God did Lila take to one of those. Of course that started the cycle all over, potty, sleeping etc. In fact, that night Lila started crying at 11:30 pm and we believe she had laid there awake the entire evening. She was so tired but too scared to take her eyes off of her balloon. She settled for Daddy tying it to her crib.

Frustrations grew when the balloon sagged the next morning. Luckily, our trip to Chuck E. Cheese brought a Chuckie balloon into Miss Lila's grasp. It has been over a week now and Chuckie still sits tethered to a a corner in my kitchen. Lila panics if anyone moves it. Somehow the balloon is "safe" if in that corner which relieves her of the holding duty.

Same position she started in


The Costco replacement finally tied to the crib for the very tired girl

The sagging balloon the next morning

All I can say is this behavior is not unlike Miss Grace. It is this behavior that also makes her undeniable cute but a pain in the you know what to raise at times. God give me patience. I don't know what I will do when Chuckie starts to deflate.

A Night in Philly

Although the girls are rooted in Philly, they very much associate themselves with the burbs. The twins never experienced the city outside my belly and Savannah was 2.5 when we moved. Since Alex was at a conference in the city, I decided to take the girls into the city for night. It was strange to be back in the same city I taught for for five years and traveling down the same road I used to take to work every morning.

First, we headed to the Please Touch Museum. It was open late Wednesday night so we were able to enjoy all it had to offer until 7:00 pm. The girls really liked it and were lucky to be joined by neighbors and friends. Daddy met us there which was a good thing because it was one big free for all playground. Below you can see the girls having fun.

After the museum closed, we were off to dinner with our neighbors. We trekked into the city which made me wary. My girls are never good in restaurants and it was already passed their bedtime. Of course they surprised me with fantastic behavior which allowed me to eat my first adult restaurant meal in quite some time. Kids always seem to remind you to not underestimate them.

We headed to the hotel around 9:30 and were bouncing on the beds by 10:00. The girls loved the windows overlooking city hall and got a kick out of the cars beeping below. We colored, played with balls and watched TV until everyone looked as though they were ready to crash. Lights were finally out by 11:00 pm. All but daddy's of course. It still surprises me that the girls will just lay down and sleep while Alex works and I watch TV. Of course the next day we paid for the late night.




All tired out and assuming her position at the hotel. (as if she knows how to work a remote)

Who is the Therapy Really For

After an hour and a half of OT today, I was ready for a nap. I don't know about Adeline, but it wore me out. Don't get me wrong, our OT is fabulous. But what it takes to get the Belle, to feel right in this world, goes against my every sensory need.

Today was pudding. Working on combing the powder and milk with her hands was a challenge. Eventually, she warmed up and was thrilled to have Miss Dot hide objects that Adeline had to dig for. Needless to say a bath was necessary, really for both of us. I was sweating bullets watching the whole thing.

In the end I try to remind myself that this therapy has gotten Adeline to the top, if not over, the art hump. If given the time and attention she needs to warm up to an art activity, Adeline will happily participate. OT has also helped Adeline become comfortable in grass and mulch. She still won't do it barefoot but walking across our yard is something she will do with shoes on. Adeline is getting better with loud noises and lawn mowers. Just yesterday I brought the blender in from out of the garage. I might get away with blending in my own house! Clearly Adeline is making progress. I don't see much progress on my front though. The mess still stresses me out.

Interior Design, I Think NOT! Architect, I Think YES!

Savannah is getting older. With that comes an independent mind. What I think doesn't necessarily get adopted as quickly as it once did. Many of you know that I am pretty big neat freak. I try very hard to "let it go" but am still pretty neat. Savannah thinks she is neat. She loves order. She folds her clothes and reorganizes her drawers, lines everything up in her art desk and will even try to clean up my bathroom from time to time (it is the one room where I truly "let it go.")

Lately, Savannah has been decorating her room. She used to do this before her weekly playdates but now, it seems like an everyday occurrence. My girl can get lost up in her room for hours and when I open her door, I have to plaster on the smile as I am always greeted with, "Look how I decorated my room Mommy!" It takes everything in me to not maker her put it all away. Instead, I try and let her express her individuality and hope she doesn't become the old lady that owns 20 cats and can't find the front door through her horded piles of junk. My relief comes twice a month when I take a bucket and remove it all for the cleaners. Savannah and I both end up rather giddy. I am happy that it is gone, she is excited at the prospect of redecorating it all over again.

Note that the tape is tipped on its side for added appeal.

I personally think she should put her energy into building. One day she took cardboard lid, computer paper, scissors and glue stick up on the island for a couple of hours. Come to find out she made a reinforced bed (headboard and all), table and surfboard for the girls' Sesame Street characters. She told me, "Now we can start working on pretend play with the girls mommy." That's my Savannah.

Although the craftsmanship doesn't translate, I thought I would include some pictures.

Quiet is Never good

Potty Trained

Since I haven't gotten around to posting Lila Grace's big milestone, I will slip it in here. I want to at least document it so I can look back and know how young she was when she gave up the diapers. I am sure I will turn into every other grandparent out there and have a selective memory, meaning only good ones that are a bit inflated. When Lila Grace comes to me frustrated about potty training her own children, I can look back here and tell her that it took three tries and that the third one was successful at 2.5 years old - 2 years 9 months to be exact.

I posted previously about trying to train Lila and never mentioned that after April's attempt, she remained in Pull-ups. Not my intention but just how things worked out. She would go to the potty here and there but the Pull-up was always wet. It managed to get drier and drier over time and Lila started making quick pit stops on the potty. This encouraged me to toss the Pull-ups and break out the big girl panties for good.

Surprisingly. . . Lila went one full week without an accident. She did mark the end of that week in a crying fit while in Time Out. Who knew she was crying because she had to go potty and not that she was generally angry. She peed on the floor but was really upset by it and now knows she can sneak to the potty if need be, even when in Time Out.

So there you have it, potty trained and accident free before three. Not bad for a 1 pound 15 ounce baby. She only marginally lagged behind Savannah. I must note that we are still using the diaper when sleeping. I have no desire to change sheets unnecessarily. It hasn't instilled any sort of "diaper confusion" and, like sippy cups, are a form of mess prevention that I plan to use for a VERY long time.

I sigh in exhaustion when thinking about doing this all over again. Adeline. . . your turn.

People Magazine and Micro Preemies

Adeline Belle 2 days old

I am going to try and make this short and to the point. I could go on and on.

Recently, People Magazine spotlighted six micro preemies. It was an attempt to inspire. In the preemie community, it infuriated. Unfortunately, this article portrays the micro preemie road as pretty uneventful. A stay in the NICU, a few steam baths in the tub and all is well. We, who raise these micro preemies beg to differ. The statistics quoted are taken from a cohort of surviving micros in the 80's and state how nearly 90% finished high school and more than half went on to college. The article failed to mention how many didn't make it out of the NICU. In the 80's only the strongest micro preemies would survive. I am positive the statistics would have been much more grim had they included the percentage of babies that were never brought home.

This easily segways to the fact that more babies are surviving with the progression of science and technology. Some of these babies would have not survived in the 80's and most likely suffer from a disablility today. If these same babies have escaped a diagnosis, they are certainly traveling with Adeline on her "not so smooth road" of prematurity.

I think that People Magazine had good intentions but covering a topic such as prematurity/micro prematurity isn't something that can be done in a brief article. Yes, I want to hear stories of hope. I want to hear them but don't necessarily think that they need to shower down on society. I scoured the Internet for stories similar to that of my babies in order to find hope and finding these six grown preemies would have lifted my spirits. However, feeding these slightly skewed stories to society only undermines the road of my girls. Most micro preemies don't live a normal life - plain and simple. Being born under two pounds isn't easy, the NICU isn't a mere hospitalization and steam baths don't fix chronic lung disease.

Possibly spotlighting one micro preemie and their very precarious road in the NICU and thereafter could have been a better way to go. This might be the way to get society to understand that babies like mine aren't assumed to live and most certainly are not expected to live a normal life. The odds are stacks against a micro preemie, not for a micro like People Magazine portrayed.

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