Two Months (really almost three!)

I am sure you all have detected that I am running a month or so behind.  I had hope of catching up over the last two weeks but having the kiddos home from school quickly squelched it. 

So. . . before she turns three months next week! I thought I would post month two. 

My sweet baby girl.  I love her more each day. 

What Saves Me and What Sinks Me.

These two girls can either save me or sink me.  For the most part, they save me.  They are still best of friends and partake in the most imaginative play I have seen.  They know each other better than I know each of them.  It's strange to say that but it is true.  I am so thankful that they love each other deeply, have each others back, and crave time together.  Summer will serve them well.  The school year was crazy which took away a lot of their free play.  Now, they have days and days of free play ahead. I LOVE watching them together.  It warms my heart and makes all the hard work of twins in the early years worth it. 

Let's just pray my tolerance for mess is strengthened.  They are a tornado that flies through my house each and every day!  Sometimes, the tornado sinks me.  Yesterday, I locked them OUT of their room.  I just needed it to stay clean for one day.  Doesn't that seem backwards?  Don't most parents want to secretly lock their children IN their rooms.  I am a neat freak.  Blame it on my mother.  May my children not inherit this gene. 

Dance and T-Ball

Goodness Gracious!!  It's June already.  Things just keep getting busier and busier which means I am more tired by the minute.  Sitting down and catching up with this blog doesn't seem to happen.  Some days, I think I have mastered how to sleep while sitting up with EYES OPEN.  Beat that people!  Who said I don't have a hidden talent?!

On to more mainstream talents. . . T-ball.  I guess I use the word talent loooooosely.  There are days where both girls hit the ball and then there are times when they are identifying cloud formations as rockets and ducks when out of the field.  T-ball wasn't all that it was last year.  The coach, although an admirable volunteer, wasn't super organized and relied heavily on parents running the games and practices.  It felt far from official to the girls.  I really wanted Lila to like it but with the less than structured/official setting, t-ball was kind of a joke.  And yes, I recognize that t-ball is inherently fluff baseball to begin with.  But there is the structured fluff that makes your kid feel like a heavy hitter and then there is the t-ball that makes your kid gaze at clouds and ask, "Where is first base?"  Sad but true.

Here are my little Cubbies.  They powered through all sorts of weather this spring.  I couldn't seem to get the camera going during an actual game.  Nor did I ever get a picture BEFORE a game.  Their appearance seems to change over the course of an hour.  Oh well, the bar is slowly lowering in many areas for this family.  Don't feel bad for us.  We are perfectly happy to lower it so that we have more time to squeeze the baby!


Wait, I have an picture from a game!!!  Look at that determination.  Did I mention that Lila played t-ball just so she could have the snack after the game.  I guess watching Adeline get a snack last season was enough to propel her into the sport.  I'll take what I can get. 

 And here is the proof.  She is pretty happy about that ring pop!

Savannah got to run some bases after a game. 

 Look at that fierce swing!

The last game.  It was blazing hot!!  Lila had already played in a piano recital.  This is the picture we got.  Don't trip over the bar.  It's fallen to ankle height.  Next year. . . there is always next year and the hope of better pictures.  The hope keeps me going. 

Possibly Lila needing to leave games early or arrive late, contributed to her lack of enthusiasm.  She was juggling dance and t-ball each Saturday for the months of April, May and June.  She loves dance!  It's her calling.  While she isn't headed to the stage later in life, for now she shines bright.  Lila takes dance seriously and works very hard.  This year, the recital costume was Popcorn Princess for the carnival themed show.  She was delighted when it arrived.  All yellow.  One of her favorite colors.

This girl loves to be fancy.  I am very proud of her focus and hard work. 

She looks way too old.  I still feel like she should look like this. . .

Catching Up

Time flies when you are a mommy of four busy girls (Sleeping, pooping, and eating counts as busy!)> Here are some moments that are worth documenting from April.

Savannah got the opportunity to travel to NYC with friends.  Typically, I would have gone with her but Evelyn was only three weeks old and I was barely back on my feet.  Savannah saw the Broadway show Cinderella which is said to have fantastic costumes.  She agreed and loved it.  Before the show, the girls went to the American Girl Doll store which was something Savannah had been looking forward to for months.  She eagerly did all sorts of jobs beforehand which resulted in a pocket full of cash.  She spent it all!  Not hard to do at the AG stores.

Don't these sweet girls look like true New Yorkers?!

While Savannah was in NYC, Alex and I took the other three (it still surprises me when I do the head count!) to Costco. While there, the twins fought over who was going to marry Alex. They weren't too happy that I get him all to myself. They decided they were going to marry him anyway.

On the way to checkout, Lila found some Easter clearance. She had enough money, $6.97 to be exact, so home came this hideous/too-big-for-my-liking chick.

Did I mention that my dear sweet friend lined up meals for five weeks? I have never been so spoiled! Can I just say the day after coming home from having the twins, I was in my kitchen cooking dinner! (Neighbors did bring lots of meals when the girls came home.) After having Evelyn, the kindness of so many overwhelmed me. Even Savannah's favorite teacher brought us dinner! This teacher is amazing on all fronts. May my girls grow to be like her!

Since I wasn't busy cooking dinner, I had a chance to squeeze in some baking with the girls. We had fun making this sunflower cake with Peeps.

Lila got to go on a special Mommy date and paint pottery. We had a great time. When you get this girl one on one she is a dream. She acts so grown up and sweet. Here she is painting her piggy.

 

That pretty much catches us up on the first month of life with four.   I will end this very long post with some cute pics of the ever changing Big E!  I love, love, love this baby.  She has moved into each and every heart in this house. 

 In case you wonder whether or not Evelyn Rose has a personality. . .

Back at the Races

Spring is always a busy time of year.  It is especially so for us now that we participate in so many running events. 

The girls just finished up their running series.  Savannah did extremely well and continues to prove herself as a runner.  Lila surprised everyone and came in 3rd and 4th out of 30 or more kids.  She is chasing after Savannah for sure!  Adeline still struggles and told us she feels like she needs more oxygen when she runs.  We have decided to let this be her last series unless she asks to do it again in the future.  She is just as happy cheering everyone on.  We also recognize that at some point, coming in last (although her effort is just as admirable as the first place finishers) will be embarrassing.

I can't say enough about Lila and her running these past five weeks.  She told me that she spreads her legs to make big steps just like Savannah does.  If you have seen Savannah run, her stride is amazing!!  Lila had nerves this time as it was obvious she had a goal of a first place finish.  She led the entire group of Kindergarteners and First Graders until the last 20 seconds of race last week.  Two girls were able to catch her at the end.  They were much taller and most likely in 1st grade.  Next year. . .

Savannah won the trophy again this year.  She also had the opportunity to run in a high school meet.  There was an open run for the elementary kids.  Savannah came in first for the girls.  She ran this race after running a very hard 5k for her Girls on the Run practice.  Did I mention this girl runs a lot?


Look at Lila getting her leg out there for a quick start.  

Two peas in a pod when it comes to running.  They have amazing strides.  The only picture I have of Adeline with her medal (my excuse for lack of pictures is that I have a baby strapped to me during all of these races.)

Savannah running on a track for the first time.  There were 1,000 people in attendance.  Good times for the big girl!

Another medal to add to her collection. 

The last week of the running series, the adults were given the opportunity to run a cross country mile.  Savannah has to run this same run next year as she bumps up in distance so she hopped right in with the adults and gave it a try.  This, after running her own race.  Daddy got third (6:07) and Savannah fell in the middle of the pack (about 8:30). 

 Look at her beating those adults!

 Medals and friends. 

 First place for the 2nd and 3rd grade half mile.  Best time was 3:12.  Not bad. 

Two Weeks Old

Weeks two and three were a little rough with Miss Evelyn.  After losing so much weight and fighting jaundice, it was clear that our "tongue tied" baby needed to have her tongue/frenulum clipped.  Evelyn's latch wasn't great which had made feeding her very difficult.  Even using a bottle wasn't the answer.

Since the procedure isn't very invasive, we decided to do it.  All seemed to go well, she cried very little, until three or five days after the clipping.  Our somewhat content baby was very difficult.  During this time her mouth was often open because she was screaming.  We were given ample opportunity to see her frenulum and it was looking less and less normal by the day.  In fact, we took her to the pediatrician and he called in another doctor because he had never seen anything like it.  This forced us to trek the hour long journey back to Lankenau to see the Dr. Clip It.  He was surprised at how bad Evelyn's tongue looked.  She was badly burned from the cauterizing agent.  The doctor mentioned that she was most likely in a lot of pain.  He even called me on a Friday night to see how she was doing and clearly felt bad.

Long story short, the tongue healed and Evelyn became less fussy.  She still isn't the best latch but feeding has become easier.

Here is a picture of her waiting for Dr. Clip It

Here are some very cute two week old baby pictures. . .

 Her two favorite things.  A swaddle blanket and swing. 

Jaundice

On Easter, we started to notice Evelyn's orange hue.  Lila mentioned she was starting to look like Ernie.  That should have been the first clue that something wasn't right.  All babies are jaundice, it seems. Everyone has a story about their orange kids and how they had to sit them in the sun etc.  This was different.  We just didn't know it. 

We were having a hard time choosing a pediatrician which happened to make the first visit land on day eight of Evelyn's life.  While some might think that is irresponsible, I think it was blind luck.  Evelyn looked great on days four and five, the typical day for the first doctor appointment.  It wasn't until days seven and eight, that it was clear something was wrong.  Her skin was orange and eyes yellow.  We didn't fret since we were headed to the doctor.

The doctor sent us away for labs with the prediction of a high bilirubin but not so high that Evelyn would be hospitalized.  The prediction was wrong.  Our doctor was going to admit her only if her levels were close to 18 or 19.  Miss Evelyn Rose came in at 22.7.  Dangerously high. Toxins can be deposited on the brain at 25 which causes a multitude of developmental delays and cognitive deficits.  We couldn't believe we were flirting with going down this road AGAIN!

We drove straight to hospital, still unaware of the above.  After Evelyn was put under the lights and on the blanket, the doctors explained the situation.  Evelyn took longer than most kids to come down on her numbers.  She was under lights the entire night.  I struggled to get her to sleep in that tiny bed since all she knew up until that point was sleeping in our bed and on our chest.  It was a long night.  It was a tough night for the big girls too.  I had just come home from the hospital and now was headed back with Evelyn.  Just a lot of juggling for them.

The next morning, Evelyn's numbers dropped and we were discharged later that afternoon.  She stayed a nice orange color for a couple of weeks and her eyes yellow.  Hopefully, that is the first and last of her hospital stays for many years.