Emily is 3 Years and 8 Months Old!

It's time for a new monthly update!  Oh what a difference a month makes....I am SO glad the last month is over!

In the last month we have:
- moved
- flown on an airplane
- spent the night in 4 different places
- packed and unpacked 2 houses
- changed schools and jobs

and much more.  To say it's been a challenge would be an understatement but the girls, especially Emily (since Audrey is largely unaware of what's going on) have done wonderfully.  Here's what Emily is like right now:

-she is very, very imaginative.  Nothing is as it seems- there are crocodiles in the kitchen, sticks are magic wands, Audrey is a little boy, Emily is Princess Frostine, etc etc etc.  Sometimes this is fun, sometimes this is infuriating, especially when we want her to listen to us and *not* be pretending (like in the middle of a parking lot when it's raining and we want to rush inside but instead we have to tiptoe or else we'll wake up the pirates on the ship nearby).

- She is constantly in the refrigerator.  Literally IN it.  She opens the door, stands inside, and paws through EVERYTHING.  Somehow our fridge lock got lost in the move.  We desperately need a new one!

- She has progressed with her drawing skills- now people have large heads, dots or small circles for eyes and nose, a line mouth, and very, very, very long legs.  Most "people" have no arms.  It looks a lot like this (click here)... not surprisingly, she is drawing what a "typical 4.5 year old" draws.  This girl is SMART.

- She has also continued to do better with her math skills.  She can see a set of objects and know how many are there without counting up to about 5.  She is also starting to understand the concept of "total" or "in all"...as in, she asks how many toes she has, we encourage her to count them...she says she has 5 on one foot and 5 on the other foot.  Then we ask, "How many do you have in all/ total?" and she can add the two together, or count on, to find the answer.  It is ABSOLUTELY CRAZY for me to think that I worked on these exact skills with my first graders who were twice her age.

- She has gotten a little sassy lately.  OK, that's a lie.  A LOT sassy.  Everyone says that it gets better at age 4...so I'm sort of hoping the next 120 days can pass quickly enough!  She has a response for everything- like if she asks for candy (she is an ADDICT, I swear!!!!) and I respond that she can have some later, or (even better), if I flat out say NO, she just says, "Yes I can" and then will do her best to help herself.  DRIVES. ME. CRAZY. I don't know how to break her of it...Paul and I are trying.  It's not even just candy- it's everything...playing outside, cleaning up (or NOT cleaning up), sharing, getting dressed.... Any tips? 

- She loves to talk on the phone.  She wants to call everyone in our family and will actually have conversations with them now- so cute!  Thank goodness for free long distance because that girl has a LOT to say!

- She absolutely LOVES her new school, and for that I am so thankful!  Her new teacher, Mrs Theresa, is an angel.  She loves Emily and is constantly telling us how well behaved Em is (I am so thankful Emily saves her not-so-pleasant behavior for US...I much prefer it this way!!) and is amazed at how much Emily already knows.  I love her new school too- no, they don't have all the fancy Lakeshore furniture and a lot of the toys are obviously donated by families who go there...but all of the kids are well cared for, there is video surveillance in the rooms (very important to me after our horrible experience in NC), and the teachers treat the children like they are absolute treasures.  I. Love. This. Center.  I am so excited that Emily got a spot there!  She has also met some sweet kiddos and has already made friends- I need to get in touch with some moms and see about playdates so she can have friends over.

- She is able to cut with a knife-- the other day we were making homemade applesauce (funny story-- it was completely inedible because I let Em pour the sugar...it was so sugary it was gritty!!) and I was peeling and using the corer.  I gave Emmy a butter knife and let her cut the apple slices and I was amazed at how adept she was at cutting!  She did such a great job.  Next time we just have to remember to use a whole lot less sugar, ha ha!

- She understands more and more of what we mean when we're talking about more abstract things (like feelings, emotions, behaviors, etc).  It's a sure sign she's growing up and it makes me a little sad, although it is making life a little easier, too.  It's nice to know that she has started to understand WHY I want her to do certain things (or don't want her to do certain things!)

- She loves to swim and play with Audrey-- I have started bathing them together (SO thankful Audrey can finally go in the tub with Emmy!) and Em just loves it.  Audrey does too!  We set up a pool outside for them and then just love to pour the water and splash.

Well, that's all we've got for now. As always, thanks for checking on our sweet girls and be sure to look at the Picasa albums for all the pics.  Happy first day of summer!!

Photo Update

Audrey and I had a photo session of sorts yesterday.  We have a breakfast room here at the new house that is filled with windows and has the most gorgeous natural light streaming in...so we took advantage!  Here are some from yesterday, mixed in with some of Emily at the same age that I thought looked so similar...my little twins!

Look at those eyelashes...could you just die?!?!

And now for my twins:

Vacation Recap!

We're home!  Actually, we've been home for a few days, but this is the first moment I've had to update!

We had a wonderful vacation- the girls loved spending the time with the grandparents and getting to see Uncle Bill.  Emily LOVED the beach this year- it's funny that we could have totally been that family that goes down first thing in the morning and comes back at dinner time...Emily would have gladly stayed all day!  (We didn't, of course, turn into that family because we had Audrey, who needs her mommy and daddy and we didn't want to leave her with the grandparents all day, you know?)  Audrey took only one trip to the beach, where she promptly shoved handfuls of sand into her mouth!  What a mess!  We quickly decided she needed to go back up and sit on the blanket...something just didn't seem right about a baby with oropharyngeal dysphasia shoveling sand into her mouth, lol! 

Emily loved all the beach and pool time. She wore her puddle jumper float from last year, and did wonderfully with it.  She is really getting strong! She kicked all the way across the pool over and over again.  You'd think she'd have worn herself out by night time each night...but no.  She was wide awake until 9 or so each night (sometimes till 11!!)  I guess it was the excitement of sharing a room with Grandma!

The girls did SO well on the flight down- Emily was very excited and Audrey stayed quiet, for the most part.  Em looked so big sitting in her airplane seat and watching her portable dvd player.  On the flight back I think both girls were just so tired and off schedule that it was ridiculously terrible didn't go so smoothly. ;)  Emily was crabby, sassy, and grouchy...Audrey cried constantly unless I fed her (in the 3 hours from when we got dropped off till the end of the flight she drank two 7oz bottles, ate 2 4.5oz baby foods, and ate every.single.one. of the puffs and Cheerios that I had with me)!!!  I was so shocked!  She never threw up that enormous amount of food, which completely amazed me! I have never been so glad to see my car as I was when we landed and got to the parking lot-- if we'd had that flight first I might have asked Paul to drive us home, ha ha!!  I have to say, though, that despite the stress of flying with 2 little kids, and getting charged $90 for our checked bag (that would be $40 just to have it and an additional $50 for being over the weight limit...ugh!), it was SO much nicer to be at the beach in an hour as opposed to 8 or 9!

Here are some pics of our fun time-  these are only 1/2 of what I have- my father in law took a bunch and I'm waiting to get them from him! :)

Plumber's what?!

Em's favorite part of the trip? SNACKS.

SO there you have it!  There are plenty more pictures in the Picasa albums, and I'll be adding more once I get the others from my FIL.

I'll leave you with this-- this is the river behind our house and the full moon over it.  Paul and I sat outside and celebrated the end of his residency on Monday night, and this was our backdrop.  Beautiful!  

Beach Bound!

Tomorrow my sweet girls and I are flying to a beach for vacation- Emily is so excited! (Audrey is just hoping there's some food involved, haha).  I am slightly nervous about taking them on a plane (Paul is meeting us there since he's still in NC working) but I figure after our 'Murphy's Law' move last week, I get a free pass for flying alone with 2 kids....right? RIGHT?!  Look for a nice long post one day next week when I've had time to sort the pictures and videos.  Have a great rest of the week and weekend, friends! :)

The Big Move!

Well, we've finally made it!  The move back to WV has been absolutely crazy...I am amazed we all made it without losing our minds- it was quite the eventful occasion! Here's a synopsis:

Friday, May 27

- the movers showed up an hour late and had 2 fewer men to pack than what they said (supposed to have 5 men, they had 3; supposed to arrive between 9 and 10, arrived at 10:50).

- I discuss with the movers about what happened LAST TIME we moved (at the last minute we discovered that things weren't going to fit on the truck and I had to frantically find a trailer at the last minute).  Lead mover assures me that that will NOT happen this time- we have "plenty of room" on this truck. He swears it won't happen again.

- 5pm- in our original plan, we were leaving for WV now.  In reality, not ANY furniture has been loaded on the truck at this point. 

- 5:30ish- movers begin loading furniture and boxes.  I begin my worrying that it isn't going to fit on the truck.  

- 10:30pm- I take ALL of our refrigerated food to a dumpster and throw it away due to the fact that it's now been outside the fridge for almost 14 hours and is warm to the touch.  (Movers advised me to empty and unplug the fridge first thing in the morning so they could load it first).  At 10:30pm the fridge was still in the kitchen. 

- 11pm- I return from throwing away our food and Paul comes to the car. My heart drops because I KNOW what he's going to say.  The movers aren't able to get all our stuff on the truck!!  Are you KIDDING ME?  It's Memorial Day weekend- where are we going to get a trailer? Where will we sleep for the night? I start crying.

Saturday, May 28

- 2:45am- the movers finish loading the last things on the truck (literally on the outside of the truck, on a pull out panel and using tie down straps. You'll never guess what was on the back- the sandbox, our patio furniture, AND THE REFRIGERATOR.  No joke. 

- We have a mattress, box springs, 2 sofa tables, an end table, 2 big screen tvs, the dog crate, my teacher chair from school, and Emily's mattress left in the house.  The house is an utter disaster- trash everywhere, nothing cleaned, really...I am totally overwhelmed.  We fall into bed and pray we get a trailer in the morning on the busiest moving weekend of the year. 

- 8:30am- Paul leaves for the Uhaul place and returns about an hour later. I do my best to pack up what's left and clean the upstairs. 

- 9:30- Our neighbors Marie, Eugene, and Kristen come out to help us load.  NATURALLY, we aren't able to get all our stuff on the trailer (do you see a pattern here?!) so we leave behind a mattress, box springs, and my beautiful polka dot teacher chair in Kristen's garage.

- 11am Paul and I say our grateful goodbyes and head out.  We stop at the dumpster (more trash!), Wendy's for lunch, and then he starts hauling the trailer with my car.  I have to stop at the ATM and get money for the tolls.  We plan to meet in Virginia so I can give him the money.  I, of course, make a wrong turn and get on the WRONG HIGHWAY (seriously?! we've lived here for 3 years!!)  and end up about 20 minutes behind Paul. 

- We stop in Virginia and I give him the money.  He leaves again and I go in to use the restroom, get a drink, get some gas, and then get on the road.   

- Then I call Paul on the road, miss my exit and begin driving in the WRONG DIRECTION (this has to be a joke, right!? How many times have I made this trip? 100?!) I am on the phone with mother in law and begin remarking about how the Virginia DOH has really put a lot of new signs out.  And then I notice a little airport..."That's funny", I think, "Wonder when they put that in?"  I continue on, beginning to notice that NOTHING looks familiar.  Then I come up on a HUGE warehouse type business- I mention the name to MIL (I have called her back now) and we discover that I have driven TWENTY MILES in the wrong direction.  I beg the GPS to give me a detour so I won't have to backtrack.  No dice.  I make a u-turn and begin going back the correct way, further delaying my arrival at the new house by about an hour.  OMG.

- I stop at Walmart to buy our replacement fridge items.  The movers just happen to be coming off that exit at the same time so I meet up with them and we begin the trek to the new house.  We arrive at the new house 21 hours after we had "planned".

Sunday, May 29

- The movers unpack the truck until 3am (and we were awake that whole time with them!)  Paul and I are both beat down and tired.  However, we rally like crazy and get the entire kitchen unpacked, washed, and put away.  Also, we get a phone call that his mom seems to have that evil stomach bug that's going around.

- Paul gets the stomach flu and spends all day Sunday in the bathroom, cramping, or napping.

- both of his parents (who have the girls, remember) also get the stomach flu and each girl gets it too...  Emily has thrown up repeatedly over night and while Audrey seems to be ok, she keeps having some loose stools so we wonder if she's getting it too.  Paul and I are torn- do we go get the girls? Can Paul even be in the car for that long? His parents insist that they're ok- they are tag-team parenting and picking up when the other one feels bad.  Way to go, Granny and Grandaddy!

Monday, May 30

- Paul's dad gets the stomach bug.  Granny doesn't want to drive the girls alone because they are super distracting (you got that right!), so even though they were supposed to come home this day, everyone was caught by this tummy trouble so they'll come home tomorrow. If everyone is feeling better. 

- We keep unpacking and unearthing rooms.

Tuesday, May 31

- Girls arrive home and we love on them like crazy.  Now Audrey has super messy diapers and we're pretty sure SHE has the stomach bug.  I just want to scream, "HEY VIRUS-- YOU'RE LIKE AN EX BOYFRIEND WHO CAN'T TAKE A HINT-- IT'S OVER!  WE DON'T WANT YOU HERE!"  This is the same virus that had me out of school at the beginning of the month....the same virus that caused me to lose 9lbs...the same virus that took me DAYS to get over. Ugh!

- Emily visits her new school for an hour or so in the afternoon.  She says she likes it!! :)

Wednesday, June 1

- Paul and I do the DMV thing all. day. long.  It's tedious, expensive, and tries our patience but we are both officially legal drivers in our new state.  Hooray!

- Paul drives back to NC to finish working- he will be home in a few weeks but we will see him on the weekends. 

- Emily goes to school for the majority of the day...again, a good day and she comes home happy!

Thursday, June 2

- I wake up with the stomach bug.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!  I already had it!!!!  I spend the day trying not to puke and trying to be productive.  I even take a nap in the afternoon because I am feeling so bad.  GO AWAY, VIRUS!!  

So that's our move.  Kind of a comedy of errors, right?!  Now some of it is funny but in the moment it was very emotional, lots of tense situations and all my planning basically gone to waste!  I guess this was a lesson in "the best laid plans often go awry". We certainly had an awful lot of "awry" moments!

However, we are thrilled to be home, in our town with good friends.  This weekend I'm driving the girls to see Paul's family in Princeton, and next week I'm flying with them to the beach and Paul will meet us there too.  Then the next week he is home with us!  I am not working for now so expect lots of news and updates now that I have some time to be calm and think clearly. :) 

Audrey is 9 Months Old!

I can't believe we're already 3/4 of the way to sweet Audrey's first birthday!  It honestly seems like just yesterday that we were getting the huge shock that she was going to be born that day, a full month early.  Guess time flies, right?

Here's the monthly update on precious Audrey:

- she can sit completely unsupported now for long periods of time.  I still put the boppy around her due when she's on hardwood floors, but if we're on carpet I let her be.  She's doing so well and is trying to learn to get herself back into a sitting position from lying down.  Not quite there yet, but close!

- with the permission of our pediatrician, she is starting to eat table foods- we've held off mostly because of her swallowing dysfunction and prematurity, but there's no time like the present, right?  So she's had some corn, some wheat teething crackers (she promptly bit off a huge piece and choked...great, just great.)  She's also tried little bites of cheese, green beans and yogurt too!

- she is trying to learn how to use a sippy cup.

- she is up to 6 ounce bottles during the day and eats a fruit and oatmeal for breakfast, veggies at lunch, and fruits and veggies for dinner.  It seems like we're ALWAYS feeding her!

- she STILL cannot wear her 6-12 month Robeez shoes...she has the tiniest feet EVER. I swear they have not grown since she was born!  Even a size 1 shoe is too big...such a problem for a baby girl. 

- she is trying to crawl...she gets sort of into position but she doesn't lift her belly off the floor yet.  We still have a while, especially since she subscribes to Emily's method of getting around (when she was a baby)-- she rolls around and scoots on the back of her head!  At this rate, her tiny bald spot is never going to fill in.

- She is wearing 6 or 9 month clothes, but if it's a one piece it has to be 9 month.  She is looooong!

- She has her 2 bottom middle teeth.  They are razor sharp and she constantly bites her fingers with them and then cries and cries.

- she is in LOVE with Emily, especially if Emily sings to her. Audrey hates to ride in the car but she'll stop crying if Emily sings to her....so we beg Emily to sing to her now!

- she has adjusted to the new house very well- I think she was really glad to get back to her bed...the girls stayed with my in laws for a few days while we unpacked and when Audrey came home she took a 3 hour nap and then slept for 13 hours in her bed!

- she is about to experience 2 big events-- flying in an airplane and going to the beach! I'm flying down with the girls next week and meeting Paul and his family there.  So excited for the beach and the quick travel time (only an hour and 20 minutes on the plane each way) but I am WAY NERVOUS to take these girls on a plane alone!

- she is getting much much stronger- can roll herself almost to a sitting position now and loves to stand up on your lap or the floor.

- she is babbling and screeching a LOT-- she says gaga, dada, a-dah, and has a whole host of very loud, very shrill sounds that she likes to make.

That's it for now- thanks for checking on my sweet baby! 

Audrey's 9 Month Well Child visit!

Audrey was feeling under the weather over the weekend so I got her an appointment with the pediatrician.  While we were there she went ahead and did Audrey's 9 month visit since we're moving on FRIDAY (yes, as in 3 days from now...I'm so excited!).  Here's the stats on our little lady:

Weight: 16lbs 6oz
Height: 26 1/2 inches
Head Circ: 17 inches

Now, here's the tricky part.  She was measured against the statistics of all other 9 month old baby girls-- her chronological age.  However, because of her prematurity, she is *really* only supposed to be turning 8 months old...so the numbers are skewed a little.  Here's her stats with the 8 month percentiles in purple  and the 9 month percentiles in green:

                                8 Months                9 Months 

Weight: 16lbs 6oz       17th %                     9th %

Height: 26 1/2 inches   24th %                   12th %
Head Circ: 17 inches   33rd%                    21st %

As you can see, when she's measured against babies her adjusted age, she doesn't seem so shrimpy!!  Regardless, she is small, smaller than I thought.  Our pediatrician said to go ahead and "treat her like a regular baby" and feed her table food instead of just baby food.  We got the go ahead for pretty much anything she will eat (except things like peanut butter, honey, cow's milk, etc. of course..)  So it looks like she's going to get to try some new foods soon!  Last night I looked to see what we had available-- it's not much considering we've been trying so hard to eat all the food in our house so we don't have to move it, haha!  But I was able to find her some corn and some shredded cheese, which she really liked.  I feel guilty that we don't have much to offer her but next week will be better. :)   She also needs to get better with her pincer grasp, because right now she mostly palms the food and then she can't figure out to open up her palm to find it.  It's cute to watch but I feel bad for her since she gets frustrated when she's not getting to eat! 

Look for an update about that sweet princess on the 2nd, when she's really 9 months old.  Thanks for checking on my little ladies!