5 Years Ago. . .

I brought my blue eyed girl home from the NICU.  Her eyes were bright but we had yet to discover the spirit behind them.  Lila Grace makes us laugh louder, snuggle closer and paints our world with vibrant colors.  She has delightful highs and can celebrate the smallest detail when most would over look it.  She challenges us when those highs turn to lows but, in the end, she adds just the right amount of spice to this very quiet family. 

I love this girl.  I love her for loving and me telling me daily, "You're the best Mommy ever."  Who would have thought that this little baby, that barely filled a car seat, would fill our family with love and laughter.

Prematurity Awareness Day

Over five years ago, we joined the prematurity community.  Before having the twins, I never stopped to think about babies that were born early and the subsequent implications of their early birth.  I didn't understand what was behind the NICU's closed doors or what the families of those babies went through.  Now I know all too well.

Today, I pause to celebrate our successful outcome while recognizing those babies and families that are not as fortunate.  I give thanks for the doctors, nurses and research funding that played a role in my babies coming home.  I pray for the tiny babies laying in their isolettes clinging to life on their breathing tubes.

Those were my babies five years ago.

Here the girls are on their first Prematurity Awareness Day. 

Today is a day to call attention to babies like mine because awareness leads to funding.  Funding is what provided my girls with the medical equipment and knowledge doctors needed to keep the girls alive. Funding is what provided the countless hours of therapy my girls have received and still receive.  Funding is what helped pay for the million plus dollars in medical bills.  Funding is everything when you are born at one pound! 

Here are my girls five years later at yesterday's swim lesson; alive, well and happily jumping into the pool together.  We are so darn lucky.

Our Family According to Lila Grace

This is Lila's first drawing of our complete family sans sticks!  In fact, it is the first time she has drawing a non-stick figure male.  It threw her.  She didn't know where to start.  While princess dresses with puffy sleeves and scalloped hems are nothing new, pants and shirts are.  I guess that is why Daddy has one arm coming out of his head.  Bobby, our cat, made it in the picture too.   Lila isn't one to move slowly and neatly, she likes to get the job done quickly.  This was done without my knowledge which made it a fantastic surprise. 

I love pictures like these.  In case you don't follow the line up, left to right reads like this:  Daddy, Lila, Mommy, Adeline (smallest yes, but not as small as she appears in this picture) and Savannah. 

100's Club

Done!!!  She did it.  Lila can name and order all numbers between 1 and 100.  She had to make a hundreds grid out of her tiny flash cards before joining the club.  It was painful and long but she named all her numbers and put them in a perfect grid.  I am so VERY Proud of her. 

She was the 19th kid to out of morning and afternoon kindergarten classes to accomplish this milestone.  Not bad for the youngest kid out of both classes.   Miss Lila entered kindergarten still struggling to order her numbers 1-10.  No longer!

The Last Run

The girls finished up the Healthy Kids Running Series last month.  It was a tremendous accomplishment for all three.  They certainly ended on a high note.  All three girls ran their best time yet.

Miss Lila worked hard on her last run.  She brought her time from 2 minutes 34 seconds to 2 minutes 16 seconds.  I am so proud of her.  She is my girl that has little drive to push herself in a competitive situation.  Lila is just happy being Lila.  This time was different.  She ran her heart out.  Here is a clip of her last chug up the hill to the finish line.

I am very proud that Lila could cross the finish line and independently walk through the shoot and then wait patiently without a parent until Adeline finished. Lila just had to hang by herself in a large crowd and for her, it is a milestone.

My oldest and most competitive runner, ran her socks off for this last race. She also learned about positioning herself at the start line. Savannah was positioned so that she bottlenecked into last place a the beginning of the run. She over came this and ran her best time ever, which of course would have been even faster had she been on the opposite side of the starting group. Here are some pictures of her start.

Savannah's times were excellent.  She hung in fourth place for three races and then her last race, was joined by a new runner which bumped her down to fifth place.  She was disappointed until she saw her time.  She went from 3 minutes 56 seconds to 3 minutes 38 seconds.  That is a pretty fast half mile!  She has really learned to use those long legs.

This post wouldn't be complete without a video clip of Miss Adeline crossing the finish line.  As noted before, she won the hearts of many at this race.  It was very apparent this time as well.   I can't put into words how emotional it is to watch my girl fight for every step of her quarter mile.  She knows going in that it is going to be hard but never complains and is happy to do it.   No other runner worked as hard as Adeline did during this running series.  Most would have quit if they had to run her race.

Each and ever race my eyes overflowed with tears as I held the camera up to get a clip of my girl finishing.  This clip is shaky because I started down the hill and followed her up.  The voices you hear are her fans, as I was too choked up to say anything. The best two seconds are when she gives Jeff Long (the man responsible for this running series) a high five.  He was her loudest cheerleader and met her at that finish line EVERY time.  Adeline's race was over when her high five was complete.  I hold a very special place in my heart for Jeff and yet, I don't even know him.

Here is my AMAZING girl!!!


Each girl received a medal for their efforts.  They were very proud.  Adeline insisted on holding it in front of her face, "so everyone can see it in the picture." 

Here are my running girls and their running friend.  Next spring they will be at it again. 

Trick - or - Treat

Monday was a very busy day for the girls.  For starters, our local elementary school decided to have Pajama Day in lieu of costumes.  This increased the excitement level for an already exciting day.  Once at school, Savannah and Lila had class parties before coming home and trick-or-treating.  Between my committments in Lila and Savannah's classrooms, I was at their school all day.

Lila's party kicked off at 9:00 a.m.  Luckily, they have a "No Food" policy so the kids weren't shoving candy in their mouths at this early hour.  I went into help with the party and fill my little girl's bucket.  Lila was engaged in the activities but seemed a tad overwhelmed by the number of people in the room and change of routine.  She hung close to her very good friend Mya and especially enjoyed the freeze dance activity at the end of the party. 

Here is my little Halloween Kitty girl sporting her pajamas after her school. 

 

During Lila's party, I was pulled to be a mystery reader for Savannah's class.  She has such a nice class this year and I really enjoyed my time reading.  I was asked to provide three clues and it wasn't until the third clue that the students knew who was knocking at the door.

1.  I have a daughter in the class.

2.  She has a sibling in Kindergarten. 

3.  She eats lunch on a cloth napkin.  (Everyone enjoys this novelty when observing Savannah eating lunch.)

I put on my bathrobe and slippers (like my big girl requested) and brought all the slumber party essentials - a Thomas Train pillow, Hello Kitty Blanket, stuffed animal, flashlight and favorite book.  I was surprised at how anxious the students were when I asked them to hold my items while I read. 

After my mystery read, I took Lila Grace out to lunch and then quickly put her down for a nap before rushing back to the school for the pajama parade.  Lila could have participated as many of the morning Kindergarteners did, but I figured a nap was best.  Here is a picture of Savannah during the parade and before we headed into her classroom party.  

Once back at home, the girls rushed to eat dinner and get into their costumes.  They were very excited that our old neighbors were joining us again this year.  It just wouldn't be Halloween without them. 

Here is everybody chomping at the bit to collect their candy!

 It was chilly on Halloween.  After all, there was snow on the ground in places.  The girls are really bundled under their costumes and look a little heftier than usual. 

This was the first year that I didn't coordinate their costumes in some way or another.  In fact, Adeline is wearing her costume from last year and Lila is using Savannah's old butterfly costume.  Life is just too busy and opinions are too strong for me to take the reigns in this department.  Sign of the times. . .

Happy Halloween!