The beach

We took a vacation from everyday life today and escaped to the beach as a family.  The sand was deliciously warm and our toes peaked out from being nestled underneath.  Norah and Bella showed William how to dig in the sand and make sandcastles with the wet sand.  We dug for seashells and were excited when we found just the right one.

When the kids look back at summers, I hope they remember the ones where we vacationed at home and celebrated summer from our backyard just as much as they remember the ones where we visited out of town family, oceans, and lakes.

It's easy to get wrapped up in the day to day business, but it's important to remember it's okay to leave behind the laundry, the dishes, the cleaning - and get away to relax, explore, and tend to the things that matter most.

 

The perfect way to end the day was dinner with friends and spending time running, playing ball, and exporing the garden....summer is here...

Fariy Tales, Tea Parties, and Whispering Trees

The dress up bin made it's way open this week and the girls played for hours putting on different dresses and costumes.  The final pics - a purple sparkly dress and a green fairy dress...fairy tales await.

The temptation of sequins - tiny 5 year old hands

Bella and I had "Bella and Mommy time" and ran errands the afternoon they played dress-up.  Frequent shoppers commented on how cute Bella looked and they thought she made a cute princess...to which Bella told me "I'm not a princess, I'm playing dress up"!  She cracks me up with the things she says and how independently minded she is.

We also had an American Girl Doll tea party with our cousin and friend.  The kids had a great time and loved drinking "tea".  William joined in the fun and drank his tea with all the pretty ladies.

One year old feet - adorable

This weekend we made our way to Tower Grove park for the farmer's market.  Sadly, we were too late - we took our time enjoying the beautiful morning weather and had breakfast outside.  While walking through the park, we stumbled upon Weeping Willows - magical trees in their own sense.  The kids haven't seen one for a long time - if ever- so we took our time whispering through the branches and playing in the swaying leaves.  

I love the ages of the kids...still able to see the magic in the world and also able to rationalize their own thoughts and comments.  Can you see what I see - the sparkle in their eyes and the wonder that lives there? 

Summertime

Although summer hasn't officially started - we've been celebrating like it has and enjoying the beautiful June weather.  The school the kids go to has a school garden and families were asked to volunteer to weed and water for a week over the summer.  I'll admit, part of the reason I volunteered for last week was that it rained on Monday - ahem, but weeding doesn't take care of itself!  The kids and I made a mid-week trip to weed and water and all of us went on the weekend to tend to the garden.  It's really a beautiful place - they have planted a lot of veggies, sunflowers, and even have fruit trees!  They seem to be having better luck keeping animals away and allowing fruit to grow - I wish we could learn their secret.

The girl's pottery was ready this week - glazed, orange, and perfectly handmade. 

They are proudly displayed in various locations throughout our home - depending on the mood of the children and where they feel it looks the best on any particular day.

Father's Day Weekend was a lot of fun and we had a great time hanging out together and taking it easy.  We visited the pool - and found the kids are very adventurous when it comes to the water...good and bad I would say.  Norah and Bella both went under water and can walk to the "deep end" of the kiddie pool at the park and William loves to crawl around the shallow end - it doesn't bother him to get his face wet or get splashed  - water babies for sure! 

The kids are doing really well.  Norah is extremely excited to start kindergarten and is having a lot of fun learning how to read this summer.  She can read a few words by herself which is great to see.  I love the excitement she has for reading and seeing the look of understanding when she reads a word by herself!  She continues to amaze me with her nurturing personality and how she loves to help take care of her little sister and brother.

Bella waivers on being excited for school in the fall.  Some days she is very excited and other days she...well, to quote..."I'm going to be naughty for Ms. Reid (new teacher)."  hmm...I suspect she will do great because she loved being able to go to school for a day last year!  Bella has a new favorite saying as well - "that's what toddlers do"  she says this when she is explaining something she knows she and Norah should not be doing - jumping on the furniture, playing ball in the house...etc.!   Bella has some of the best rhythm and loves to break out in a dance regardless of the location.  She broke it down in H&M last week - good moves in a good store.

William is doing really well crawling and is cruising around like crazy.  He is starting to do the "crab crawl" which we think is the pre-cursor to walking...I know we should be rooting for this, but I have to admit it scares me a little to think of him walking and running around the house!  We met with his PT and she let us know she thinks he needs to wear orthodics to help strenghten his ankles.  We're glad we were able to meet with Angela (his PT) early enough so he shouldn't have problems with walking later.

Yes...all photos were of the kids playing "airplane"...

To part, I'll leave you with some images of dancing - which we love to do in this house...and playing the flute, a necessary addition sometimes

 



Summer Bucket List

The girls and I decided it would be fun to have a "Summer bucket list" and we found a list online that (mostly) met our interests.  So far we've been able to mark off a few items including making pizza and playing in the sprinkler.  There is only one item on the list that we crossed off and added our own - visit a lizard shop and we replaced it with take ballet - clearly a more family friendly task!

We also started doing nighttime "pajama walks".  We usually walk around the neighborhood but this past week we made a family trip to the farmer's market and had our "pajama walk" there.

They had everything from hula hoops to dress up to snow cones - it was a lot of fun and a great way to spend our "pajama walk".  Favorites for the evening were: Bella - dress up, Norah - dress up (they had a booth last year and that is all the girls talked about throughout the day - wondering if they would be there this day; lucky for us it was!) and William - the apple chairs.  The little man talked the whole time he was in the apple - non-stop! 

William - updates

William showing me that he is 1

We had a medical filled week this past week while William had a few follow up appointments and his 12 month (adjusted age) NICU follow up appointment.  We met with Dr. Nasir, his GI, on Tuesday to see if William has gained enough weight to justify removing his g-button.  We haven't had to use the g-button for about 2 months for food and have used it sparingly for medicine in the past 2 months.  At his 1 year check-up, we were told by Dr. Coln (pediatric surgeon) that he was okay with the g-button being removed as long as Dr. Nasir agreed.  After talking, they decided that because William was dropping below the 3rd percentile on the growth chart, he needed to keep it in just in case.

With hopeful hearts, William was weighed and he hasn't gained any weight since March.  (He has had weeks of gain, but also weeks of loss; so overall it's even).  There is a LARGE amount of brain development that takes place the first two years of life; and to help that development, you need fat and calories.  William was following his own little growth curve until his Fundo in February; ever since the Fundo, he's continued to drop on both his growth curve and the "master" curve used to gage all kids' growth.

The solution - supplemental tube feeds.  He needs to get (for right now at least) 4 oz of high calorie pediatric formula through the g-button throughout the day.  Thankfully he doesn't need this overnight because he is now lying flat and out of his tucker sling - not quite sure how to keep a 1 year old still all night so the feeding tube doesn't come out or get tangled!  (It's concerning enough with the apnea monitor cord, I'm terrified he'll wrap it around his neck somehow)  He can't handle bolus feeds (a "normal" volume of food through the g-button - basically pushing food through at the same volume he eats) through the g-button, so we are currently trying to ease him into feeds by giving him 1 oz over a 30-40 minute time frame.  We're also trying not to overwhelm his system and are gradually increasing the ounces each day.  We're up to 2 oz now and will try 3 this weekend.

We both know this is not a huge setback for William, but it is a setback none-the-less and it's hard to have those pop up.  There isn't anything we wouldn't do for him, and to quote Dr. Nasir "...we have a door per se into his stomach, we need to use it"  We are grateful for the hundredth time that he has the g-button as the alternative is not as pleasant.

William received good news on Tuesday as well!  He is cognitively a 12 month old (his adjusted age) and is doing wonderfully well!  He is slightly delayed regarding some motor skills - specifically walking and abdominal strength.  He is roughly a 10 month old when it comes to those skill sets.  This isn't a surprise as he couldn't breathe enough to roll over until he was 7 months old, and still struggled with breathing to not allow him to get to crawling until he was 10 months old.  All in all, it's not something anyone is worried about; just something to be aware of for his development.

Overall, he is doing extremely well considering what monumental challenges he had to overcome his first year of life.  He is a fighter, he is a miracle.

Art and Air Fair - 2012

We had a wonderfully art-filled, friend-filled, loving-summer-filled weekend.  One of our closest friends came in this weekend and the kids were thrilled to get to spend time with "Uncle Derek".  My favorite quote from Bella "When I wake up, can I go snuggle with Uncle Derek?" They love having family here for sleep-overs; and really, who doesn't love sleep-overs?!

You might notice the recycle tattoo on Bella's leg - a hard won prise from the Webster Groves farmer's market.  We searched and searched for the magic turtle and found him hiding in a wonderfully delicious place - a chocolate stand!  We hurried home with all our treasures and quickly put the tattoo's on arms and legs....

We went to one of our favorite summer fairs this weekend - the Art and Air Fair in Webster Groves - with good friends.  It's filled with all kinds of artist booths, food trucks, foodie booths, and our all time favorite - kid art booths.  This year, they had everything from free-for-all painting, straw painting, pottery wheel, and many, many more.  We enjoyed walking around the fair peeking at photographs and paintings, jewelery and fabric arts.  We spent most of our time at the kid's area - time well spent! 

Norah picked out her first piece of artwork this year - exciting to see your children develop their sense of appreciation for art. 

"Happy Butterfly"....or as Norah described it on the way home "Happy Birthday Butterfly".  It found a place to rest on the girl's bedroom wall - Bella approved.

 Enjoying the view from Daddy's shoulders

Bella was so timid and shy to work at the pottery wheel.  Having Norah go first helped and of course, having Mommy at her side was helpful too :) 

I know how lucky I am to be able to stay at home with the kids and even though there are days where it is very hard - most of the days are fantastic.  I get to see the smiles, I get all the snuggles, I get to put band-aids on the boo-boos, I get to see them grow into who they are each and every day...bliss.